Montrose Star – Houston's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Trans Community Newspaper | April 3, 2019

The Frivolist

5 Ways Laziness is Costing you

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PAGE 2 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019

HRH Report

Texas legislature targets cosmetologists, barbers, and LGBTQ’s C

ommentary: Heard enough about story reading drag queens? Do you not quite believe the Attorney General’s accounting of the Russia investigation? And Jussie Smollett. Boy, bye!

While these stories have dominated the last few news cycles, our GOP friends in the Texas legislature have quietly been working on a few bills that should be of pronounced interest to the LGBTQ community.

Delegitimizing licensed professionals T H E S TA R C O N T R I B U T I N G W R I T E R S JIM AYRES by day is an employee benefits and human resources writer. By night he turns his creativity toward the local food and restaurant scene. Do you know of a restaurant that needs a review? Info@montrose-star.com NANCY FORD has enjoyed a front row seat to the most remarkable and sparkly Cultural Revolution in the history of mankind. “What a world!” She reflects appropriately. After moving to Houston from Ohio in 1981, Ford became a highly visible player in Texas’ LGBT publishing circles as an editor and contributor to myriad other local and statewide LGBT magazines and newspapers.

RANDALL JOBE has been a fixture in the Houston LGBT Community for several decades in marketing and promotions for top nightclubs, as an actor/director/writer for dozens of theatrical productions, and is also known for his whimsical art pieces. He is the author of the 12-part series “This Old Queen”, which summarized his many experiences living in the gay Mecca, Montrose.

VIC GERAMI is journalist, media contributor and Editor & Publisher of The Blunt Post. Vic grew up in LA and has a BA in Theater Arts. He spent six years at Frontiers Magazine, followed

by LA Weekly and Voice Media Group. His syndicated celebrity Q&A column, 10 Questions with Vic, is a LA Press Club’s National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award finalist. Vic is a contributor for Montrose Star, DC Life Magazine, Out & About Nashville, Q Virginia, GNI MAG, QNotes, Windy City Times, WeHo Times, GoWeHo, Los Angeles Blade, Asbarez, California Courier, Desert Daily Guide, Armenian Weekly, GED, The Pride LA, IN Magazine and The Advocate Magazine.

FOREST RIGGS is no stranger to the adventures of life, he bills himself as a “raconteur with a gypsy spirit.” A former educator, public speaker, hospital administrator, counselor and gay B&B owner, he was instrumental in the formation of OutSmart Magazine in the early 1990s. He has written for several newspapers, magazines and other publications.

Recently he completed a collection of short stories about his beloved Galveston and is working on a novel. He currently resides on the island where he can be found wasting bait and searching for the meaning of life.

JOHNNY TRLICA has called the Houston area home all of his life. Four years ago he founded and still edits the Houston Rainbow Herald and has worked in the apartment leasing industry for the past two years. His passion is keeping the battle for LGBT rights at the forefront of today’s headlines and fighting complacency in the LGBT community.

Plano Republican Matt Shaheen filed House Bill 1705 in February. The Texas Barber and Cosmetology Abolishment bill deems licenses in those two fields would no longer be recognized nor required in the state of Texas.

At first read, this sounds like reduced training, making it easier for unqualified persons and unlicensed persons to practice cosmetology and barbering. We’ll keep watching.

Legalized discrimination The Texas legislature isn’t stopping at making it risky to get your hair dyed the latest color trend.

(You know who you are). Not to be outdone by its fanatics in the House, the Texas Senate is contemplating Senate Bill 17, a bill that would allow state-licensed professionals to refuse to serve LGBTQ people if they cite their religion. Lubbock Republican Charles Perry authored the bill which advanced out of committee with a 7-1 vote.

“Living our faith does not stop when we start to work,” said Perry. “When we see what we may perceive as immoralities, those people who hold those beliefs should be able to defend their faith…without fear of losing their livelihood and their license.”

What this bill does, if passed, is grant a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people. It specifically singles out sexual identity as who can be denied services. It may start with a state licensed mental health professional or lawyer who refuses to see a lesbian patient by saying, “Due to deeply

HB 1705 directly affects a large portion of the LGBTQ community. Not to stereotype but when is the last time you met a straight male hair stylist? A large number of makeup artists are part of our community, as well.

These professionals have spent countless hours studying and perfecting their craft. Barbering and cosmetology education consists of learning about the anatomy and physiology of hair, skin and nails, chemistry, ecology, trichology, and more.

“I studied full-time 1500 clock hours which took about 10 months straight with no breaks. Parttime students go a year and a half,” licensed salon operator/ cosmetologist Cesar Umana said.

“For those that are new to the Cos Industry, this bill that’s trying to do away with Cos licenses, has been raising its head for several years!

Many have lobbied against this and we will still! However, think about this, would you let an unlicensed Doctor perform surgery on you? I think not!

Cosmetology is far more that creating Cesar Umana (left and center) and Houston runway/fashion model Ania Chanelle. hairdos, using PUMP IT UP, Clairol BOXED Color, Dark and Lovely and held religious beliefs I cannot help you.” over the counter “perms” as the population calls Maybe a state licensed teacher refuses to teach it! I am passionate about this INDUSTRY and the a gay high schooler by saying, “Due to deeply education that comes with it. To do away with our held religious beliefs I cannot teach you.” licenses is a slap in the face, saying our profession Then a pharmacist refuses to fill a prescription to a is worthless! The day that happens, I’ll NEVER visit, transsexual and says, “Due to deeply held religious sit or allow anyone unlicensed and uneducated beliefs I cannot fill this for you.” Maybe a real estate to even part my hair!” Umana wrote to HRH. agent refuses to show you your dream house.

Having unlicensed personnel performing these and Eventually bigots and racists in other professions other tasks will result in unnecessary injuries and will start to clamor for the same religious deaths. As recently as February of this year, officers protections. Waiters will refuse service to drag with the Houston Police Department arrested a medical assistant for performing non-surgical cosmetic queens, bartenders can deny a drink to a queer, procedures, including injections, without a license or or maybe even a landlord will refuse to rent to you doctor supervision. Luckily no one died in that case for whatever religious reason he chooses to cite. but there are others where fatalities have occurred.

The fact that these two bills have advanced as Allowing non-licensed professionals to practice far as they have should be concerning to everyone. would be an insult to the people who currently have Passing the Texas Barber and Cosmetology licensure and have worked and struggled to obtain a Abolishment bill places every Texan at risk and certificate that they proudly hang at their stations. invalidates the hard work and dedication of people Removing that requirement places clients at risk like Cesar Umana. Passing SB 17 is state endorsed of chemical exposure and burns, infection, hair loss, discrimination against LGBTQ people. Both of these bills must be defeated where they stand. e communicable diseases, and a really bad hair day.

NOTE: Just before press time, Shaheen made changes Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the MONTROSE STAR. to the bill that was filed after meeting with members of the cosmetology industry. In a statement, Shaheen Johnny Trlica is the manager of the Houston Rainbow Herald Facebook page, your source for the latest LGBTQ news and information. Contact him said that the bill will no longer abolish cosmetology at HRHeditor@gmail.com. licensing requirements, but will change the approach for reducing the barriers to employment instead.

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Photos courtesy Cesar Umana

e By Johnny Trlica

MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019 | PAGE 3

OP-ED

Creep of the Week: Brenton Harrison Tarrant e By D’Anne Witkowski

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Let’s get this party started.” That’s how Brenton Harrison Tarrant kicked off his livestream video of his massacre at the first of two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.

I want to say this: “It goes without saying that Tarrant is a vile person deserving of universal condemnation.”

But I can’t. Because in this world of ours it sadly does not go without saying.

There are plenty of people praising Tarrant and admiring his actions.

And wouldn’t you know it, if you made a Venn diagram of people who have contributed to the anti-Muslim hatred that enabled this attack and people I’ve called out as creeps in this very column over the years, well, there’d be overlap, to say the least.

First and foremost is Donald Trump, a man who stoked and encouraged racists his entire career and capitalized on his White Supremacy cred while running for president.

And wouldn’t you know it, Tarrant, in a manifesto he published online before his murder spree, praised Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.”

Trump of course quickly condemned Tarrant’s murders in the strongest possible terms.

Just kidding. But he did Tweet.

“My warmest sympathy and best wishes go out to the people of New Zealand after the horrible massacre in the Mosques,” Trump tweeted.

First of all, “best wishes?” Does he think he’s signing a birthday card?

Secondly, on the very same day Trump best-wished New Zealand, he issued his first veto against a bipartisan resolution

against his make-believe crisis media trying to get us to pay attention to declaration to claw money for his border these Muslims is “the old bait and switch.” wall. And during the veto “ceremony,” Jesse Lee Peterson who said on Trump used the same language as his radio show, “In this country, the Tarrant, calling immigration “an invasion.” Muslims are treated better than the Christians and white people in America.

“Congress’ vote to deny the crisis on We just saw where they allowed two the southern border is a vote against Muslims to become congressmen in reality,” Trump said. “People hate the our government, and that is not good. word ‘invasion,’ but that’s what it is.

Those two women hate Israel and they It’s an invasion of drugs, criminals, & hate America.” Note: the two women people ... in some cases, they are killers.” he’s referring to do not hate America The only crisis at our southern border or Israel, though they have raised is one of the Trump Administration’s some very uncomfortable questions own making and it is a humanitarian (albeit sometimes in clumsy ways). crisis. There’s no large-scale invasion.

Matt Barber, who tweeted, “Praying Those who are seeking to enter the for #NewZealand & the families of United States are, by and large, the innocents murdered by evil, coldpeople seeking refugee status as blooded monsters.” And yet, Barber they flee from violence and poverty. has a long and well-documented Lots of them are women and kids. history of anti-Muslim rhetoric. He’s So, did he call the New Zealand claimed that there’s no such thing mosque shootings a terrorist attack? as a “moderate Muslim” and that all No. Despite the growing threat of white Muslims want to murder Americans. supremacist-fueled terrorism in the He also wrote this line of hot trash: United States and internationally, Trump “Islam is the ‘religion of peace’ in the said, “I think it’s a small group of people same way that rape is snuggling.” that have very, very serious problems.”

Bryan Fischer, who took to his Serious problems, yes. But no matter radio program to say that while he what the size of the group (and it is doesn’t condone shooting people, he undoubtedly larger than Trump is said, “I hate Islam” and agreed with willing to acknowledge), Trump’s antiTarrant that “Islam is something immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric have that does need to be stopped.” emboldened the people who hold these The list goes on. What these views and are most prone to violence. folks all have in common is hate.

Other folks called out as creeps in this Against Muslims, against LGBTQ column who have really shitty takes on people, against anyone who doesn’t the New Zealand massacre include: fit into their worldview. When hate Dave Daubenmire, who used the word “fantastic” to refer to Tarrant’s video, said, goes unchecked it explodes. White supremacy is a cancer. The longer “Please pay zero attention to the mosque we ignore it, the harder it is to cure. shooting,” because according to him way more Christians are killed by Muslims Ignore it too long and it’s terminal. e than the other way around so the news D’Anne Witkowski is a poet, writer and comedian living in Michigan

TOC APRIL 3, 2019 | VOL. X, 1

COOKING WITH PAULA DREAM Take the cake

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with her wife and son. She has been writing about LGBT politics for over a decade. Follow her on Twitter @MamaDWitkowski.

DEEP INSIDE HOLLYWOOD IHugh Jackman is your new ‘Music Man’

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HRH Report.......................................................... 2 OP-ED.....................................................................3 The Frivolist......................................................... 4 Spotlight................................................................ 6 Cooking with Paula Dream........................... 10 Foodie Diaries.....................................................11 Deep Inside Hollywood................................... 13 Across the Causeway........................................17 Out At The Theater.......................................... 19 Crossword Queeries......................................... 21 What A World....................................................22 PFLAG Houston News.....................................23 Star Buds.............................................................24 Guide to the Clubs............................................26

April 3, 2019. None as of press time.

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The Frivolist

5 Ways laziness is costing you e By Mikey Rox

L

aziness is the byproduct of many catalysts – fear, depression, general unhappiness – and it can negatively affect all facets of your life. From costing you money to ruining relation-ships, here are five ways laziness can turn your world upside down if you let it.

1. FINANCIALLY There’s a rather exhaustive list on Forbes.com on the ways laziness can bleed your bank account dry – from failing to negotiate better deals to putting off opening a retirement fund – but these expensive oversights begin on a micro-level, like buying memberships you don’t justify with enough use, for instance.

And then there’s the bad habit of simply paying full price for things you buy because you don’t “feel like” looking for discounts or convince yourself you don’t have the time.

With regards to the latter, let me change your mind. Consider, as an example, planning a trip to the supermarket or, on a larger scale, vacation. If you dedicated time to researching savings and discounts, you will find money that you can keep.

Using coupons, cash-back deals, and shopping only sale items at the supermarket can rea-sonably save you

upwards of $30 or more on a large order if you’re hitting the savings at all angles. You might think of that as an amount not worthy of your effort, but what if you think of the savings as reward for your time dedication. How much do you make an hour at your fulltime? Do you get paid $30 per hour at work? Do you think you deserve to pay yourself $30 an hour at home?

Same principle applies to vacations.

I spend several hours searching for savings on every getaway and vacation I take. If at the end I’ve spent, say, three hours rounding up deals and I’ve saved $200, I can celebrate a job well done that I’ve managed to make nearly $67 an hour for myself, money that will now be better spent on the actual trip for dinners, drinks, or an experience I’ll remember for a lifetime.

2. IN LOVE My marriage didn’t work for many reasons – both faults of our own – but one of my big-gest gripes with my husband was his laziness. For most of our union, I was chef, maid, caregiver to our dog, planner of date nights and vacations, and the instigator of what little sex we had, especially in the later years, and that took a major toll on my self-worth and eventually my general outlook on life. After years of trying to change his behavior (a fu-tile effort in

4. PERSONALLY

any relationship), I gave up. Not because I wanted to, but rather because I realized that his laziness was a result of not being in love with me. As complicated as our situation was, the root problem was as simple as that. If he could have admitted that about six or seven years earlier, we would’ve saved ourselves a hell of a lot of heart-ache… and money.

3. HEALTH-WISE Your sedentary lifestyle manifests itself in ways that directly impact your health, like weight gain, depression and early death. Any study ever done on exercise will tell you that staying active improves your physical, mental and emotional health in myriad ways. But even if you don’t get too fat to feel good about yourself anymore or kick the bucket in an untimely fashion, the money you will spend on medical services to put a patch on the damage you’re doing to yourself could take you into a debt with no escape or at the very least limit your quality of life because you’re consistently in the doctor’s office when you would have been better off in a gym.

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We’re so involved with ourselves these days (when our faces aren’t buried in a device) that we’re all but convinced that we don’t have time for relationships. The memes are right – like the one where we make plans but cancel at the last minute because we never intended to follow through anyway. Why though? Don’t our “friends” deserve a couple hours of our time and attention? If not, are they even our friends? Why do we play that game with them then instead of being truthful about not wanting to be around them in the first place? This mentality bleeds right into romantic relationships, too, with the swip-ing right and left and serial dating and the ADD of settling down ruining prospects of happiness that we’re disallowing ourselves. And for what – casual sex and Netflix binges? We can do better than that.

5. PROFESSIONALLY Laziness at work can get you fired, but it also prevents you from progressing.

Your goal should be to show your company your capabilities and that you want to move up the ladder. And if you think you’re doing a killer job at that but not being recognized or compensated for it, schedule a talk with your boss to talk about more responsibilities and, yes, a raise. You may not get it immediately, but at least it’ll be on the table because you were motivated to address the situation. If the answer is no, reflect on what you have to offer, if those skills are better suited somewhere else, and pursue something greater. You’re singly in control of that. It’s just a matter of how much effort you want to put into your own overall life satisfaction. e Mikey Rox is an award-winning journalist and LGBT lifestyle expert whose work has been published in more than 100 outlets across the world. He spends his time writing from the beach with his dog Jaxon. Connect with Mikey on Instagram @mikeyrox

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Spotlight

Dreaming a Dream in Ptown Brass Key Guesthouse owners gear up for inclusive summer fun e By Chris Azzopardi

I

t’s September in Provincetown, Massachusetts, the cool-crisp calm before the bitter-cold calm: wintertime, when travelers admire the cozy Cape Cod resort town’s frosted beauty beside a fireplace inside a cabin. The iced rich-blue Provincetown Harbor to the southeast, Cape Cod Bay to the south and west, Massachusetts Bay to the northwest and north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the northeast catch peeks of sunshine that the boys of summer cannot enjoy until they eagerly return again.

After a long stretch of hibernation, those boys fly or ferry back to the island, beachready. When temps reach a desirable enough high (60 degrees is fine), they rush over in droves to one of the hottest gay vacation getaways to partake in the reason for the season: pool parties. They are reunited with direct sun, gyrating porn stars, unicorn floats and Mr. Turk speedos.

A luxury resort owned and run by three gay men who are partners in business and life, Thomas Walter, David Sanford and Ken Masi, the Brass Key Guesthouse has established itself as a home away from home for LGBTQ (and sometimes straight, married) vacationers. For the town’s biggest party, Carnival Week, last year at the Brass Key, held as a benefit for the Provincetown Business Guild, everything that might restrain pool-goers’ pure water fun – tables, lounge chairs – was stashed away to accommodate a line so long it looped around the block. A couple hundred attendees splashed and romped around in the pool, riding their gay floats, sipping their festive margs.

It’s busy. How busy? Because of shampoo and “whatever else,” “the water’s not so clear” at the end of the day, said Walter, sitting in a quiet, conversational nook near the pool where, come 1 p.m.

Aug. 19, porn star Trenton Ducati will greet sunbathers with a smile and a bulge. (Ducati will meet-and-greet guests and visitors inside the Shipwreck Lounge, a laid-back bar that also serves as the Brass Key’s check-in lobby.)

Nestled within the Brass Key’s 43 rooms and suites, housed in nine buildings, is an enchanting, flower-filled playground: the heated infinity-edge outdoor pool, a sizable 15-person hot tub, with rows of poolside recliners for ogling nearby frolickers (there’s even a small nudist section if you prefer an even, full-body tan). Within the pool area is an inviting communal patio, where every day at 9 a.m. I stepped down from my pleasantly new-old upstairs room and enjoyed a hot, hearty breakfast; at 5 p.m., I sipped wine and overindulged on hearty spreads of artisan cheese set up for happy hour.

Guests will say hi. They might pull up a seat. This happened to me; as a lone traveler, I greatly relished their amiable

company. I met a polite and selfeffacing gay guy and his spunky gal pal, a lovely gay couple who invited me on their afternoon bike-riding excursion into town, some chatty lesbian wives, and a manager of a nearby boarding house known for its bathhouse-type appeal who took a late-night dip in the hot tub with me. His budget lodge is far from a resort, and he said he really loves their jacuzzi. In Provincetown, everyone is dreaming the same dream.

Convenient adventures await you elsewhere: Brass Key is just steps from Commercial Street, Ptown’s main drag, lined with art galleries, clothing boutiques, trendy restaurants and glimpses of the bluest of water. Like clockwork, the everpopular Tea Dance, the town’s outdoor gay dance party, begins at 4 p.m. and runs through 7 p.m. at the Boatslip Beach Club (beginning May 3).

Charming, right? Walter and Sanford, who met in their senior year of high school, thought so too. Even though Fire Island was closer, they would occasionally leave New York, where they were living, to head to Ptown. “We were just drawn to Ptown,” Walter said. “We just fell in love.”

They envisioned themselves living there one day, but thought it a long shot. “It was always a pipe dream,” Walter said.

But when they eyed a corner property, the Dusty Miller Inn, on Bradford Street, their hearts were set on owning it. Aware of their interest, their friend Adam left a message on their answering machine: the current owners of the guesthouse at the time were willing to sell, he told them. In 1998, Walter and Sanford officially became the owners of the property, now called Crowne Pointe Historic Inn & Spa (Masi would join them as a proprietor in 2007).

Their quaint sprawl comprises six buildings, including the full service Shui Spa, one of two spas in the country exclusively using Kiehl’s products, and The Pointe Restaurant. Named one of “The Best Hotel Restaurants in Cape Cod” by Fodor’s Travel, the pier-to-plate restaurant impresses with a modern, premier dining experience and a full wine bar.

Across the street is the Brass Key, a property they bought in 2008 (altogether, Walter said they own “around 20” buildings in Ptown, including the Provincetown Pet Resort). Unit by unit, the owners gutted the Brass Key’s buildings to modernize their “grandma” look, adding luxury suites and the Shipwreck.

Now, the property is coastal chic, but still of another time. Walter calls it “historically hip.” With big hand-carved headboards and antique furniture, “each building has its own identity,” he said.

“Ken and I were saying it was closed off and known as the place rich old men would stay and it’s not friendly,” Walter said. “We worked really hard to change that culture and change that perception.” On Shipwreck’s patio, a giant fire pit sizzles, occupied by a small crowd of diverse, friendly blend minglers. The non-guests look on through the gate, curious of what dreaminess and late-night debauchery awaits.

Inside the bar, Masi or Walter sometimes tend bar, because if you own a business, everything is your responsibility. As a business developer for a major entertainment TV giant (he said he’s unable to mention the company by name, per their request), Walter wore many hats, involving marketing, accounting and creative ventures, which offered him insight when it came to running his own business. Staying in a variety of hotels, he said, is where he learned hospitality dos and don’ts.

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As for Sanford, his engineering background aids in maintaining the physical plan and overseeing renovations and maintenance, while Masi, a Duke grad who Walter calls “chameleon-like,” was an editor for Boating magazine and does promo and website writing for their properties. He said their dayto-day is wildly unpredictable.

One late night during my visit, Walter was handling a diabetic guest who wasn’t responsibly managing his alcohol intake (he sent a pizza to the man’s room); the next morning Walter was checking on – and, naturally, playing with – the dogs at their pet resort. “Because there’s three of us, we’re able to divide and conquer,” he said. “David always thinks of the business as a cruise ship: I’m the captain and my job is to just get the cruise ship from one place to another.”

Their operation is fine-tuned, their dream realized. The three of them split their time between two gay-friendly places, Fort Lauderdale and Ptown.

Walter said Ptown “is not necessarily a gay town; it’s a town where being gay is a non-issue; it’s not even really considered; it’s not even a factor in town politics.”

“It’s a town where sexual orientation is a non-issue, which is unique and special,” he emphasizes, “and one of the things that drew us to it.”

For this reason, my new Ptown friends Jay and Alan return to Brass Key every year. They love it in September, just as the party winds down and solitude sets in. I loved it then too.

One early afternoon, we walked the magnificent breakwater, a mile-long stretch of granite boulders, snapping photos of each other as we trekked through scattered brush and the damp low-tide bed, bound for the lighthouse near the shore of Herring Cove Beach.

They kindly treated me to dinner at Mistralino Ristorante on our last night.

After we finished our meal, we laughed some hearty laughs over more wine on the porch of the two-level Brass Key suite they book every year. For one night, we were all experiencing the same magic of a shared dream in the wine-drenched stillness rendered by our postcard-perfect surroundings.

Chris Azzopardi is the editor of Q Syndicate, the international LGBT wire service. His work has also appeared in GQ, Vanity Fair and Billboard. Reach him via Twitter @chrisazzopardi.

MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019 | PAGE 7

Festival

April 18, 19 & 20, 2019 7:30 p.m.

Wortham Center

•

Cullen Theater

Dancers of Royal Danish Ballet Copenhagen, Denmark Marcos Morau, Kristian Lever

Maria Kochetkova, Sebastian Kloborg Royal Danish Ballet Copenhagen, Denmark Benjamin Millepied William Forsythe

Ashley Bouder & Joaquin De Luz New York City Ballet Victor Ullate

Semperoper Ballet Dresden, Germany Alexander Ekman

Spellbound Contemporary Ballet Rome, Italy Mauro Astolfi

Susanna Leinonen Company Helsinki, Finland Susanna Leinonen

Donlon Dance Collective Berlin, Germany Marguerite Donlon

Sokvannara Sar, Carolina Ballet North Carolina Marco Goecke

co-presents Choreographers’ Forum on April 17 at 7pm at MFAH, Brown Auditorium, 1001 Bissonnet, FREE EVENT.

BUY TiCKETS AT

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PAGE 8 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019 Has a gay man ever told you your full name would make a good drag name?

(Laughs) Oh, I love that.

If I asked you to say your full name, would you?

Do I have to? (Laughs) It’s just terrifying.

I love getting other people to say it and it’s actually really funny because they always say it slightly differently, but I’ve never thought about it like that. But I feel better about it now!

In dance clubs and collaborations with your brother Rollo’s dance act Faithless you cultivated an LGBTQ fanbase early. When did you realize you had a loyal LGBTQ following?

I don’t know. I think it’s just always been there. Probably because everything I was doing at the beginning was in the clubs, and I think because I just started off in the dance music world, I didn’t really know any different.

You grew up as a Madonna fan, like many gay boys.

Yeah, like most everyone!

She’s just amazing.

Was your interest in her something you shared with your gay friends?

Has stories She might Tell you With her first album in six years out, the musician talks confidence from Madonna and her real-life drag name

With everybody. I was trying to dress like her in the “Papa Don’t Preach” video as soon as I could, as soon as I was allowed to cut my hair off and dye it blonde. But I remember going to see Desperately Seeking Susan with my mom, and I think even my dad came, and we were all just completely enamored with her. She was just the most awesome thing ever.

What about Madonna appealed to you at that age?

She just felt so strong and could sort of do everything, and so unique and so confident. She just has this confidence that as a teenage girl I was looking at like, “Wow.” Everything she wore in the video, when you’re a teenage girl and you’re just feeling really insecure and anxious and not comfortable in your own skin, you see this woman being so proud to be herself. I think she’s so inspiring.

e By Chris Azzopardi

I

f you want Dido to tell you a story, don’t be weird. It helps if you’re a fan.

It especially helps if you’re a fan in a sea of other fans, “White Flag” sweeping you away to that soothingly introspective Dido place at one of her shows. Just don’t be some nosy journalist out to get a good Dido story – you won’t get a good Dido story. And don’t ask her to say her full, iconic birth name. She’ll playfully decline because the name, Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O’Malley Armstrong, is “terrifying,” she says.

But when I recently jumped on the phone to discuss the British chillqueen’s first album in six years, Still on My Mind, Dido did tell stories (“Sand in My Shoes,” from her 2004 album Life for Rent, is literally about sand in her shoes). In fact, according to a rep for the artist who called me after with some feedback, she apparently broke through her usual press-shyness, laughing her way through our talk about dressing like Madonna, getting over stage fright and being a “messy” producer.

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And you dressed like her for a period of time, didn’t you?

I did! Allegedly, according to my husband, I still do! (Laughs) I came down the other day and he was just like, “You know you’re dressed as the ‘Papa Don’t Preach’ video right now?” And he was just laughing because my hair is really white-blonde at the moment.

My next question was gonna be: When did you realize that being Madonna wasn’t possible? But, well…

I can still dream. (Laughs)

What song of yours do gay fans tell you they connect with most?

Originally it might’ve been “Take My Hand.” That was the first song I wrote, I think, that ever got recorded and I remember that always used to connect.

After 20 years, how do you end up coming back to a sound that is quintessential Dido?

Photo: Simon Emmett.

I don’t really know. I did this album in a very instinctive way, I didn’t really overthink anything. Because when I was making the record, I didn’t have a record deal. When I was doing this album and I wasn’t even sure I was gonna put this out, I just thought, “We’re just gonna do it.” It inadvertently ended up very similar to when I made No Angel and I didn’t think anyone was going to hear that record. I think a lot of the feeling of starting again and that feeling around that time 20 years ago sort of crept into this record, just because I felt like what I’m having is a good time here and I might put it out; there was a point I even thought I’d give these songs to someone else. I just didn’t know.

I was learning all sorts of stuff about production, so a lot of them, I was producing and doing the beats more so than I’d done before on songs like “Hell After This” and “Mad Love.” I was experimenting and people started really enjoying that sound because it was a bit less professional than my brother (laughs) – he’s much more professional with his productions; mine are way more haphazard. I have such low patience and everything I do has to be in one take because I’m just like, “I don’t know, this edit button is just driving me mad,” and I’m always deleting stuff.

I basically record everything in one take, every beat and every bassline, so it’s a mess. But I think it’s created a bit of fun on this record as well.

I wondered what you thought of Uncut referring to the dancier songs on this album as “mum at the disco.”

(Laughs) I love it.

I mean, I’m here for “mum at the disco” music.

Could be a whole new genre of music!

(Laughs) Can you imagine? I love it!

I didn’t read that, but yeah, I do think that should be a new genre, basically.

I just think on this album I’m pretty unashamedly just doing the music I like and also, a lot of people on this album – well, it’s basically me and my brother – were on the first record as well. So, it’s sort of nice. I mean, I haven’t changed my friends much in the last 25 years, so I think there’s a familiarity there. It’s so nice that that can just be who you work with through your whole career.

Is there a genre of music you want to explore completely outside the musical identity you’ve created for yourself?

I don’t know if I know how to. I think the nice thing about what I do is I do so many different things on a record,

so I can go from dance music to more hip-hip stuff. I don’t feel restricted. If I wanted to do something in a genre I haven’t done, I would do it because, in a way, it all works as long as there’s a song at the core. For me, that’s always been the sort of principle: to make whatever music you wanna make but have a good song. That’s what I tried to do anyway.

Are the long breaks you take between album releases a necessary part of your creative process?

What’s the most unusual place that has given you inspiration for a song?

I think it is. It just sort of happens. I don’t know how to write any differently because I’m writing from such a personal point of view, like I have to go through the experiences to be able to write them. I’ve never approached making records in any sort of methodical way; it just happened. I go through life and I write songs because that’s how I see the world, and it’s what I see when I look around the world and how I process any thought I have, and then it sort of builds up into a record. It feels like they all sort of just appear.

I wrote “Sand in my Shoes” literally on a plane when I took my shoes off and they were full of sand. One of those really stupid moments (laughs). It was actually a really stressful flight because my dad had got really ill and I just arrived in L.A. and I wanted to go straight home. While I was on the plane, I was just writing, because it’s all I know how to do to get through. I sort of took my shoes off and I literally had just run off the beach onto a plane and all this sand went everywhere and sort of followed. Anyway, it was cool. It gave me the idea for the song.

I wrote that whole song on the plane.

Do you read reviews?

I read some of them, yeah. I read a couple really lovely reviews.

What about songs on Still on My Mind?

The last song on the album, “Have to

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Stay,” we recorded it as I was writing it and that’s what’s on there, as in that’s all just a first thought. (“Have to Stay” was written about Dido’s son, Stanley Gavin.)

That probably doesn’t happen very often, does it?

No, and it was really cool: I had the idea for the song and I knew what I was singing, and the guy I was writing with was literally feeling out the chords and that’s why he doesn’t actually move chords for the first two verses, because he’s getting to grips with what I’m singing. So, it’s actually making it up as we go along. I just love the feel of it. When I came to record it properly, it never felt the same, so I just kept that very original idea of it.

Because you’re used to recording in an intimate setting with your brother, I imagine taking songs from the record this close to you and performing them in front of massive crowds must feel a little different.

It does.

How so?

I sort of love it. When I first went on tour with No Angel, I was just like, “Oh my god, why are you making me sing these songs with other people (around)?” Like, they are so personal.

I remember my manager saying to me, after running on stage and running away as soon as I’d sung, “It wouldn’t hurt for you to talk a little.

You could say your name. You could say what city you’re in. Anything, just the basics. Like, ‘Hello, New York!’

Anything. Just say something because you just look so scared right now.”

And it was really scary for me! Then I performed on stage for nine years, and I just have to say I genuinely have such cool fans and they make me feel we’re part of something together.

Before the days of having recording devices at shows, I remember journalists used to get so annoyed with me, like, “Why do you tell all these stories when you’re on stage that you would never tell us?” Like, “You taell stuff to your fans that you don’t ever say in an interview.”

It’s not intentional. It just felt like a really friendly environment and I’m quite an instinctive person and if I feel comfortable, I’m a very open person, so it was just really funny. Because they’d come to the show and they were like, “I just did an hour interview with you and you didn’t tell me anything and then you get on stage and tell all these stories.” With fans, the feeling that I get back is such a twoway thing and such a magical thing.

Do you feel comfortable now?

Yeah. Now I’m older so I’m like, “Yeah, whatever!”

So you’ll tell me a story then?

(Laughs) No. You’re gonna have to come to a show. I just think I’ve always felt pretty comfortable singing the songs because I always have felt a lot of love coming from the fans, that they’ve made the effort to come out and see you and you’re sharing an experience, and it just feels good to sing the songs live. It always feels different every night. e As editor of Q Syndicate, the international LGBTQ wire service, Chris Azzopardi has interviewed a multitude of superstars, including Cher, Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé. His work has also appeared in GQ, Vanity Fair and Billboard. Reach him via Twitter @chrisazzopardi.

PAGE 10 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019

Cooking with Paula Dream

Take the cake e By Paula Dream (A K A K AL E HAYGO O D)

H

ello again, everyone. While writing this, I am enjoying a beautiful spring morning while wiping the yellow dust from my screen. Breathe deep.

As you can tell, in this issue Paula has a sweet tooth. I always get one this time of the year as we approach Easter season, as the dogwoods start blooming and I flash back to remembrances of my mother and grandmother filling the table with cakes and pies.

As I was looking through my shoebox of inherited recipes, I ran across the Earthquake Cake recipe. It brought to mind a recent incident where one of my buddies (George W., AKA Daisy) was making this chocolate cake with a very rich chocolate frosting that wouldn’t bind the layers together. He named it Avalanche Cake. I called it the Slide Cake. Anyway, it sure was good if you could chase it down.

You won’t have that problem with the Earthquake Cake.

Enjoy these easy recipes. And please don’t forget our advertisers!

1/2 cup sugar 4 eggs 1/4 cup vodka (or water) 1/4 cup Kahlua 3/4 cup water 1 teaspoon vanilla

For the glaze:

1/2 cup powdered sugar 1/4 cup Kahlua

Combine all cake ingredients in a mixing bowl. Blend at low speed for one minute, then at medium speed for four minutes. Pour into a greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 to 70 minutes. Leave in pan for 10 minutes. Combine glaze ingredients. Poke holes in hot cake and pour glaze over top.

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1 cup pecans, chopped 1 cup coconut 1 box cake mix (your choice of flavor) 1 stick margarine 8 ounces cream cheese 1 pound powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla Cooking spray Coat a 9x13-inch metal baking dish with cooking spray. Sprinkle pan with pecans and coconut. Mix cake mix according to directions. Pour over pecans and coconut. In a mixing bowl and using an electric mixer, combine cream cheese and margarine. Beat until fluffy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and mix ’til well blended. Spoon globs of cream cheese mixture over uncooked cake. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until it passes toothpick test. The icing will sink into cake and look like lava. Cake should be baked in metal dish. Otherwise, if cooked in glass dish, it will overflow.

BLACK RUSSIAN BUNDT CAKE

For the cake: 1 box yellow cake mix 1 small box instant chocolate pudding 1 cup cooking oil Find us on P v Facebook.com & t Twitter

1 box yellow cake mix 1 small box instant pudding mix 5 eggs, slightly beaten 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup Jack Daniels whiskey 3/4 cup margarine, softened 12 ounces butterscotch morsels 1 cup pecans

Sift cake mix and pudding mix into a bowl. Add eggs, milk, whiskey, and margarine. Beat by hand. Add morsels and pecans, reserving 1/2 cup of each.

Pour batter into a greased 9x13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with reserved pecans and morsels. Bake 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes. Turn cake out of pan immediately after removing from oven, or serve from pan. e Paula Dream, AKA Kale Haygood, owns Beyond Service, a Montrose-based, home-cooking catering company. For more information, call 713-805-4106 or email barrykale@yahoo.com.

Foodie Diaries

MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019 | PAGE 11

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Gloria’s Camarones al Mojo de Ajo Gloria’s Chicken Soup

Rodeo Goat’s Tennessee Strawberry Lemonade

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On the Houston comfort trail e By Jim Ayres

Stockyards have never been my thing.

Fairground food annoys me. Houston’s steer wrestling and bull riding are certainly world-class, but TGRA is more fun and just as world-class, to boot. I really wanted to go to the Zedd concert, but my glow stick days are behind me.

No, friends, I didn’t go to the Houston Rodeo this year. I went to Rodeo Goat. Seemed a fair trade to me.

Certainly, a more delicious one.

Rodeo Goat is all about burgers.

Sumptuous burgers, the kind where that first drippy, massively flavorful bite is as good as the last. Aside from a couple of salads and the usual chili-cheesy fried sides, food-wise, burgers are all Rodeo Goat’s got.

My friend Anthony and I stopped in on a cloudy Saturday afternoon after navigating the endless construction for street parking. He arrived first and had waiting a basket of chips and some of the silkiest queso I’ve ever had.

But we were here for burgers. Rodeo Goat has this gimmick where two fancy burgers go head-to-head for bragging rights and a spot on the menu. One order equals one vote.

Anthony chose the Bodacious Burger over the competing Truffle Shuffle. Good move. With bacon, crispy onions, jalapenos, BBQ sauce, and jalapeno mayo, it looked bodacious and he said it was, though maybe a bit much in toppings.

I, the purist, went right for the River Oaks Country Club burger, “just like Eloise made in 1963” according to the menu. Lettuce, tomato, onions, pickle and cheddar — nothing else but mustard and mayo — and I was a happy guy.

Cocktails are a nice surprise at Rodeo Goat, where the bar is geared to beer.

On our visit the lemonade, strawberry and whiskey combo was made with Jack Daniels. The online menu says blackberries and Texas whiskey.

Whatever combo you find, order it!

Need more comfort? After a rough day, head to Gloria’s. Best known for brunch, Gloria’s also serves hands down the best chicken soup I’ve ever had.

Chicken soup recipes are something families feud over. But I think everyone would agree that Gloria’s lightly salted but nicely seasoned broth with huge chunks of chicken, vegetables, and rice is just the thing for feeding a cold.

Another comforting secret at Gloria’s is Camarones al Mojo de Ajo. More than one employee has whispered that this is his or her favorite dish.

Six jumbo shrimp are sautéed in a garlic, butter, and wine sauce, dusted with something akin to Old Bay, and served with rice and grilled veggies.

Of course, who can measure the comfort of the bean dip dropped off with the chips and salsa at Gloria’s? It’s just one more reason why I keep coming back.

Some say comfort food is all about decadence or childhood memories. I find comfort in many kinds of food, healthy and otherwise. Rodeo Goat and Gloria’s are great examples of both sides of the coin. e

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prime rib pizza

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PAGE 12 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019

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MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019 | PAGE 13

Hugh Jackman is your new Music Man e By Romeo San Vicente

I

t was inevitable. It’s an impossible task trying to keep Hugh Jackman from busting out his song-and-danceman persona. He loves musical theater so much we imagine he just walks down busy streets trying to get everyone around him to burst into song and perform meticulously choreographed group dance numbers. So it’s good news for the former Wolverine that he’ll be taking on the role of con man Harold Hill in a 2020 revival of Meredith Willson’s 1957 classic musical The Music Man. Produced

by Scott Rudin, directed by Jerry Zaks, and with choreography by Tony Award winner Warren Carlyle, the revival will head back to Broadway in September of next year. Jackman himself posted an Instagram teaser picture of a suitcase, a trombone and an ID tag that read “Harold Hill,” none of which is particularly subtle, but entertaining all the same, much like crowd-pleasing musical itself.

Lance Bass presents The Boy Band Con Fan or not back in those golden TRL days, you probably always imagined there was something not quite authentic about manufactured groups like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. And you were right, only it wasn’t the music that was fake: it was the entire

system. In the new documentary, The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story, directed by Aaron Kunkel and produced by former *NSYNC-er Lance Bass for YouTube Originals, all the dirty details are laid bare. Producer and music mogul Pearlman organized those two cash-cow groups, among others, and it would have appeared from the outside that everyone was getting rich.

Turns out, though, that Pearlman was a criminal running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded everyone in his orbit.

Caught and sentenced to 25 years in prison, he died there in 2016. Lance is calling it a cautionary tale for young people entering the music industry, and it’d be wise to watch it before signing any of those dotted lines. The film just premiered at SXSW, and will be streaming soon on a phone near you.

interpretation of fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly to the stage to complete this web of interconnectivity, but we can dream (and Streep can sing, too, so please, Queen Meryl, consider the possibilities, and if the answer is still no, THEN GET US PATTI LUPONE).

And in case you think these things have nothing to do with you and don’t know the story, Prada concerns a serious young female journalist who takes a job as an assistant to what amounts to the cartoon version of Anna Wintour. Then she learns that no amount of stunning outfits can make her amazing enough for a life in fashion. It happens. And since we’ve already begged Streep to make Broadway Great Again, we’d like to put in a request for an Elton John song called “Cerulean.”

Broadway (and Elton John) Wears Prada

Rock Hudson biopic coming from Love, Simon director

Anna D. Shapiro won a Tony Award in 2008 for directing August: Osage County.

Later, Meryl Streep would star in the film version of August, much like she starred in the film adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada. And soon The Devil Wears Prada will come to Broadway in musical form, under Shapiro’s direction, with a book by Paul Rudnick (Addams Family Values) and songs by Elton John. It’s unlikely that Streep will take her singular

Universal is in talks with screenwriter Richard LaGravenese (The Fisher King) to adapt Mark Griffin’s book All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson for a planned biopic to be directed by Greg Berlanti (Love, Simon).

Hudson’s story is one of fame and fear, one predicated on the other, because the traditionally masculine sex symbol and star of films like Giant was gay. He spent decades hiding in plain sight,

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Photo: KathClick.

Deep Inside Hollywood

Hugh Jackman even until his death in 1985, trapped in a Hollywood system that did not allow for openly LGBTQ performers. The recent success of the Freddie Mercury biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, hinged on music rather than on an uncomfortable exploration of the closet, and the film never really bothered to find out what toll that experience took on Mercury.

Instead, it focused on the construction of the band’s hit songs, the singer’s reputation of general flamboyance and Queen’s Live Aid triumph. But LaGravenese knows this terrain very well, having already penned the Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra, a film that didn’t flinch from the realities of gay oppression in the bad old days, so let’s hope this one gets it right. e Romeo San Vicente is breaking out the short shorts for spring.

PAGE 14 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019

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MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019 | PAGE 15

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Please note: Events, dates and times subject to change without notice.

Ġ Wed › April 3

Q Ensemble Theatre presents Freeda Peoples, by award-winning writer Joyce Sylvester (Thru 4/14) ensemblehouston.com Q Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents Vincent van Gogh: Lis Life in Art (Thru 6/27) mfah.org Q Stages Repertory Theatre presents the smash hit sci-fi musical Little Shop of Horrors, 7:30p (Thru 4/28) stagestheatre.com Q Tony’s Lopez George Corner Pocket presents ‘WEPA Wednesdays’ hosted by Alexis Nicole Whitney, 8:30p, plus Houston’s Hottest Male Dancers 6 Nights A Week, 10p

Ġ Sat › April 13

Viva Frida, the 2019 Frida Festival

Q Downtown Houston hosts the 32nd Annual Houston Art Car Parade, 12p, thehoustonartcarparade.com Q House of Blues presents the Burlesque VarieTEASE Show featuring The Burly Qutie Showgirls and hosted by Kiki Maroon, 8p, burlyqlounge.com Robert Frank’s Cocksucker Blues

Ġ Thu › April 4

Q Matchbox 1: Next Iteration Ensemble presents the 4th Annual Intercultural Play Reading Series to celebrate female playwrights starting with Friend Art

by Sofía Álvarez, 8pm, nextiterationensemble.com Q Mi Luna Tapas Restaurant presents Niche Manrique & Guateque Band, 7:30p, milunahouston.com Q Tony’s Corner Pocket Bar hosts a night of entertainment by Houston’s hottest Male Dancers for your entertainment, 10p Ġ Fri › April 5

Q Matchbox 1: Next Iteration Ensemble presents the 4th Annual Intercultural Play Reading Series to celebrate female playwrights with Queen by Madhuri Shekar, 8pm, nextiterationensemble.com Q Tony’s Corner Pocket Bar invites you to an evening of entertainment by Houston’s hottest male dancers, 10p Ġ Sat › April 6

Q Bering Memorial UMC Fellowship Hall: Bering UMC presents Oodles of Noodles, a benefit for Bering Connect, 5-8p, beringsupportnetwork.org Q Discovery Green: Aranda’s Bakery presents The Princess Bride, 8:30p, discoverygreen.com Q Matchbox 1: Next Iteration Ensemble presents the 4th Annual Intercultural Play Reading Series to celebrate female playwrights with We, the Invisibles by Susan Soon He Stanton, 8pm, nextiterationensemble.com Q Tony’s Corner Pocket invites all to a night of entertainment feat. Houston’s Hottest Male Dancers 6 Nights A Week, 10p Ġ Sun › April 7

Q Discovery Green: Latino Art Now! Presents Viva Frida, the 2019 Frida Festival, 11a–7p, discoverygreen.com Q Tony’s Corner Pocket presents s night of entertainment feat. Houston’s Hottest Male Dancers, 10p Ġ Mon › April 8

Q Rich’s Nightclub presents Dessie’s Drag Race, Season of Redemption, 9:30p, richsnightclub.com

Ġ Thu › April 11

Q Matchbox 3: the Catastrophic Theatre presents Brian Jucha’s Toast, 7:30p (Thru 5/5) catastrophictheatre.com Ġ Fri › April 12

Ġ Sun › April 14

Q Alley Theatre presents the awardwinner Beth Henley’s play Crimes of the Heart, 8p (Thru 5/5) alleytheatre.org Q Club Houston presents the Exposed Party, 10p, theclubs.com Q Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents the classic cult documentary about the legendary Rolling Stones 1972 Tour in Robert Frank’s Cocksucker Blues, 7p, mfah.org Q Tony’s Corner Pocket presents a night of entertainment featuring Hot Male Dancers at 10p

Ġ Tue › April 9

Q Rich’s Houston celebrates the opening of CounterCurrent19 with dancing, drinks and DJs at Rich’s Nightclub, 8:30p, matchouston.org Q Tony’s Corner Pocket presents Twisted Tuesdays, a variety show hosted by Amanda, Ashleey and Alexis Nicole, 9p, followed

by Amateur Male Dance Contest, 10p

Gladys Knight

Q Humble Civic Center Arena: Burnt Brisket presents the 7th Annual Houston Barbecue Festival, 1-4p, @HoustonBarbecueFestival Q Jones Plaza hosts the 7th Annual Houston Latin Fest, a family-friendly event, houstonlatinfest.com Q Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents the classic cult documentary about the legendary Rolling Stones 1972 Tour in Robert Frank’s Cocksucker Blues, 5p, mfah.org Q South Houston: 3rd Coast Eats! presents the 2019 Crawfish Music Festival featuring over 30,000 lbs of boiled crawfish, 11a-7p Q Tony’s Corner Pocket hosts Sunday Funday featuring entertainment by Houston’s Hot Male Dancers at 10p Q VFW Post 581: The Real Texas Gun Show featuring over 100 of the best firearms dealers in the state, 10a-4p, therealtexasgunshow.com Ġ Mon › April 15

Q Rich’s Nightclub presents Dessie’s Drag Race, Season of Redemption, 9:30p, richsnightclub.com

Ġ Wed › April 10 Courtesy Photos

Burlesque Varie-TEASE Show

Q Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents Robert Altman’s biopic on the relationship between artist Vincent van Gogh and his brother in Vincent & Theo, 7p, mfah.org Q Smart Financial Centre presents the seven-time Grammy winner Gladys Knight Live in Concert, 7:30p, smartfinancialcentre.com Q VFW Post 581: The Real Texas Gun Show featuring over 100 of the best firearms dealers in the state, 9a-5p, therealtexasgunshow.com

Ġ Wed › April 17

Q Tony’s Corner Pocket presents ‘WEPA Wednesdays’ hosted by Alexis Nicole Whitney, 8:30p, plus Houston’s Hottest Male Dancers 6 Nights A Week, 10p

Q Dance Salad Festival,m Wortham Center, Cullen Theater. April 18–20, 7:30pm Find us on P v Facebook.com & t Twitter

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THE GAY-ETY STARTS HERE! Wednesday April 3, 2019 e VOL. X, 1

Anthony Rios opens the door to spirituality and healing e By Forest Riggs

S

pring has finally arrived and with it comes a time of renewal, rebirth, and growth. There is no better time than springtime to come out of old patterns, habits, and ways — the very things that impede our progress as human beings. It’s in the air, as “they” say.

For over 20 years now, Galveston BOI (Born on the Island) Anthony Rios has been studying, training, and teaching in the much-needed fields of Spiritual Awareness and Shamanism.

This is certainly no new thing; however, a quick internet search will reveal just how strong the movement has become in the LGBT world. The little island of Galveston is no exception as opportunities for growth and selffulfillment have become available.

“The message to all is that you are a divine creature.

There is nothing wrong or flawed with you.

You have to own this and live with acceptance, love and respect of yourself.

Once you do this, awaken yourself fully, the rest falls into place.”

Born into a Galveston family of strong, Latino Catholics, Rios from early on was taught religion, faith and dogma. A lot of dogma. Quick to be told what is a sin or bad, a child grows with burdens, fears, chains, and bars around their spiritual self. Compound that pain by knowing you are gay or different, and over time you lose the spirituality with which you were born.

Feelings of “I am not good enough” or “I will never fit in” can cause one to feel unloved, unwanted and unworthy.

Sadly, many gays turn to alcohol, drugs and even sex as a way to bandage their pain. Society pretty

much screams at us that “You cannot be gay and be good or spiritual.”

Fortunately, there is a huge Azariel “Alex” Sanchez. difference between being January 28, 1962 – March 4, 2019 religious and being spiritual.

Over the years, Rios encountered numerous gay men that felt spiritual inside, but had closed themselves to it or denied it. Many stated they had no outlet or place to renew their spirituality. Who do you talk to about such things? Certainly not the church that condemns you.

Unfortunately, society tends to equate anything “gay” as sexual.

Over the years this has caused gays to lose their spirituality and certainly to not celebrate it.

“In truth, spirituality and sexuality are compatible. There is spirituality in our sexuality,” Rios says. “It is us that has separated the two. We as gay men need to reconnect and reclaim our spirituality and divinity. In a sense, we need to move beyond gay.

This is what challenges us most.”

With a degree in communications and after leaving the family business in 2016, Rios decided to devote his life and purpose (his spiritual path or journey) to helping others along their way to awakening and healing. With years of training, retreats, and courses in spiritual awakening and Shamanism, Rios started the program “Beyond Gay.” This programs offers assistance and guidance to gay men looking to move beyond “gay” and develop or enhance their spiritual side while remaining true to their identity.

“I wanted to create a program where like-minded men can gather, learn and enhance their spiritual journey,” he says. “For those that chose drugs, alcohol, sex, or other bandages, this is a way to reconnect with the Divine and move beyond the negatives.”

Being aware of such needs, in 2013 Rios launched “Gay Male Spirituality”, a Facebook group.

Currently there are over 1000 members in various states and countries.

Through the group, Rios offers instructional and informational videos and teachings.

Rios, the facilitator, is always ready to meet one-on-one or with a group, either in person or via video to teach and share. The group is

“closed” and interested parties must contact Rios and request to join.

Participants have found the group page to be enlightening and rewarding.

(It seems that men, especially those between the ages of 40 and 60, find a yearning for something more, but have no way or outlet to find it.) For Rios, this spiritual awakening or renewal movement among gay men offers a way, especially for recovering Catholics and others, to stay connected but not be burdened with dogma S 18

PAGE 18 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019

S 17 or be bound by the often bitterness and sadness of their youth. The renewal is with the individual and not a physical church or set of man-made rules.

Around the country and, in fact, the world, there are groups, “fairy retreats”, seminars, camps and even communities of gay men that have taken an active role in their spiritual journey. One might be so bold as to say that spiritual gay men have come out of the closet.

Along with the spiritual renewal teachings, Rios has also studied, trained and is a practicing Shaman. Just the word “Shaman” can, and often does, scare people away: “Bunch of weirdo, hocus-pocus crap, witchcraft.”

In fact, it is far from those things.

Shamanism is an ancient spiritual practice that has roots in indigenous cultures throughout the world. It strives for universal peace. So misunderstood, it is often overlooked; however, the teachings are beautiful and very real. From herbs and medicines to drumming and shamanic journeys, the practice is always harmonious and meant for enlightenment and healing. The journeys teach how to ask for guidance, communicate with guardian spirits, and cleanse the soul through various practices. There are many variations when it comes to types and communities (cultures and traditions); however, the main message is the same for all participants.

In January, Rios held a three-day retreat with his basic workshop “Way

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of the Shaman.” The retreat was so well accepted, he will be hosting another, scheduled June 1–2.

“This is an introduction and experiential workshop,” Rios says. “It can open the door to more study and growth. These workshops give you the tools to take your journey and ask questions for yourself.”

After numerous trips to Mexico in order to train and attend retreats, Rios says his path has taken him full circle from a boy with questions and doubts in a dogmatic faith system to one of a sensible structure that includes traditional healing, blessings, rituals, the use of plants and natural items, and, of course, prayers. The practice is alive and well, and available to all who seek it.

Rios lives in Galveston and is a guest faculty member with the Foundation for Shamanic studies in San Francisco and can be reached by email at Arios797@ gmail.com or the Facebook page Gay Male Spirituality. His blog can be found at TheGayShaman.wordpress.com. For more information, log on to Shamanism.org. e (Note: Spiritual awakening and Shaman practices are certainly not limited to gay men only. Rios says there are groups, classes and retreats for lesbians, heterosexuals, and transgender communities. He is in touch with many; however, being a gay man, this is the group with which he is most closely related and connected. He is available to assist anyone seeking information.)

Forest Riggs, a resident of Galveston is no stranger to the adventures of life. A former educator and business owner, he enjoys Island life and all that comes with it. He says he is a “raconteur with a quixotic, gypsy spirit.” Forest has written for several newspapers and magazines as well as other writing pursuits, including a novel and collection of short stories.

MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019 | PAGE 19

Out At The Theater

‘Crimes of the Heart’, sins of the church, and other Trojan horses e By Randall Jobe

F

Mitchell Greco, with musical direction by Steven Jones. Through April 28. 3201 Allen Parkway. 3201 Allen Parkway. Tickets: StagesTheatre.com or 713-527-0123.

A.D. Players celebrates founder Jeanette Cliff George with the Black Box Legacy Series.

A prolific playwright, Mrs. George left a powerful legacy in the hundreds of scripts she wrote. This week allows the privilege of sharing some favorites. The George stage converts to a black box theater to honor special shows in this limited engagement.

April 4 through 14. 5420 Westheimer Road.

Tickets: ADPlayers.org or 713-526-2721.

The Alley Theatre presents Crimes of the Heart, Beth Henley’s 1981 Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Circle Awards winner. The author’s first play brings you to the Mississippi home of the Magrath sisters. Babe has just shot her husband because she didn’t like his looks. This brings middle sister Meg back to town from Los Angeles, where she is unsuccessfully pursuing a music career.

And poor Lenny, everyone has forgotten her birthday! Warmhearted, irreverent and imaginative, Crimes of the Heart teems with humanity as the sisters forgive the past, face the present, and embrace the future. Renowned director Theresa Rebeck returns to the Alley to direct. Suitable for high school-aged audiences and up. April 12 through May 5. 615 Texas Avenue.

Tickets: AlleyTheatre.org or 713-220-5700.

Theatre Under The Stars continues its 50th anniversary season with Ragtime with book by Terrance McNally, music

by Stephen Flaherty, and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Based on E.L. Doctorow’s powerful novel about immigrants and the fight for the American soul in the early 1920s, Ragtime is a deeply moving musical featuring a Tony Awardwinning score and book set at a time when cultures are colliding on issues of race, gender identity, and politics. This ensemble piece takes a look at the past; in it, we see our present. April 16 through 28. Hobby Center, 801 Bagby Street.

Tickets: TUTS.com or 713-558-8887. e

Photo via AlleyTheatre.org

inal weekend! Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company presents The Hunchback of Seville by Charise Castro Smith. Set at the turn of the century, after Christopher Columbus’ return from the New World, the play is a re-telling of Spanish history and the evils of colonialism. As Queen Isabella is dying, her brilliant and disfigured adopted sister, Maxima Terrible Segunda, is called from her forced seclusion to run the country Maxima then works her way through politics, religion and prejudice to save her country without sacrificing herself in the process. Through April 6. Alley Theatre Neuhaus Theatre, 615 Texas Avenue.

Tickets: Artful.ly/store/events/15510.

The Ensemble Theatre presents the regional premiere of Joyce Sylvester’s Freeda Peeples. The Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; there is none righteous, not even one (Romans 3:32). Therefore, the church is the perfect place for spiritual growth.

Freeda Peeples deals with the relationships among the deacon, trustees, and the new pastor, and how no one is who they really seem to be. This comedy/drama will have you rolling in the aisles. Through April 14. 3535 Main Street. Tickets: EnsembleTheatre.com or 713-520-0055.

Queensbury Theatre presents Side Show.

Based on the true story of Violet and Daisy Hilton during the Depression, Side Show is a moving portrait of two women joined at the hip whose extraordinary bondage brings them fame but denies them love. Told almost entirely in song, the show follows their progression from England to America, around the vaudeville circuit and to Hollywood on the eve of their appearance in the 1932 movie Freaks. With the implementation of the twin’s relationship with Harry Houdini and of a proposed separation surgery, the new book fleshes out characters and situations that endow the songs with more sophistication and truth. Through April 14. 12777 Queensbury Place. Tickets:

QueensburyTheatre.org or 713-467-4497.

The Music Box Theater salutes Broadway in Best of Broadway. The talented resident cast promises to provide non-stop entertainment while performing songs from Tony award winning musicals from across the decades. This troupe’s music-filled and hilarious cabaret features such favorites as the classic “Luck Be A Lady Tonight” from Guys and Dolls, “Memories” from Cats, “Age of Aquarius” from Hair, “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables and many more. For the seventh year in a row, the talented singers and formidable band members have created a new show entirely dedicated to Broadway. Through April 20. 2623 Colquitt Avenue. Tickets: TheMusicBoxTheater. com or 713-522-7722.

The Trojan War Project is the epic undertaking by Main Street Theater to present three productions: Shakespeare, Euripides and Homer’s unique perspectives of The Trojan War. For centuries, the triumphs and the struggles of Helen, Achilles, Hecuba, Ulysses, and the heroes and heroines of the Bronze Age have inspired, shocked and warned of the horrors of war and the consequences of destructive human behavior. Troilus and Cressida and Hecuba and The Trojan Woman play in repertory. This collaboration with Prague Shakespeare Company is co-directed by Guy Roberts and Rebecca Greene Udden with music composed by Patrick Neil Doyle. Through April 20. 2540 Times Boulevard. Tickets: MainStreetTheater.com or 713-524-6706.

Stages Repertory Theatre presents the smash hit musical that has devoured the hearts of theatregoers for over 30 years: Little Shop of Horrors. A nerdy flower shop clerk named Seymour stumbles across a new breed of plant that he affectionately names after his secret crush, Audrey.

The exotic bloom offers the promise of fame and fortune, but Seymour soon discovers that the mysterious “Audrey II” also has a taste for blood, ominous origins and an insatiable appetite for power! Directed and choreographed by

The Alley Theatre presents Crimes of the Heart.

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PAGE 20 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019

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Crossword Queeries

AUTO EROTICISM Across

44 More of the quote

20 Still getting around

1 Start of a quote by

47 Hub-to-rim lines

21 Mouthful for a stallion

Amanita on Sens8

48 Author Crowley and others

24 Blows away

4 Kate McKinnon bits on SNL

49 End of the quote

25 Where to find Norma Bates

9 More of the quote

53 Moby Dick chaser

26 One of a nice pair of melons

56 Ballet rail

28 Chewy candy

14 Like sex with a historian?

57 Added stipulations

29 Wilde with a statuette?

15 Like the Indy 500?

61 Time that drags

30 “A Boy Named Sue”

16 Zami: A New Spelling

62 Rampagers go on it

writer Silverstein

of My

63 Big top barker

32 Whipping boy

17 Former hotelier Helmsley

64 Cheese for Ms. van de Kamp?

33 Vet, of a sort, for short

18 Nabor’s branch, on TV

65 Goes public

34 Son of Eric the Red

19 More of the quote

66 Hair’s “

12 “

your pardon!”

to Be Hard”

22 Went lickety-split

Down

23 Consenting votes

1 Brief amount of secs?

24 International agreement

2 Israeli statesman

27 Pool parties?

3 DeGeneres voice role

31 Fagged out

4 Like one’s nuts, perhaps

32 Come together

5 Rub the right way

35 Sound of three men in a tub

6 Party to

36 Besides that

7 Jessica of Fried

37 Hotties

Green Tomatoes

39 Activist Clare

8 Log Cabin lists

Boothe

9 Job for Burr’s Mason

40 ‘70s org. of kidnappers

10 Zenith

41 Like Trump’s ego

11 B’way locale

43 k. d. lang’s “Big

13 Forget to use the KY?

Boned

”

15 Lyricist Bill of Side Show fame

37 Gay nocturnal flyer?

38 Enjoys the bedroom, perhaps 41 Gladly, old-style 42 Airline to Ben Gurion 45 Safe to swallow 46 Line of Todd Oldham clothing?

50 Part of APR 51 Pitcher Hershiser 52 Russian river 53 Vestment for Mychal Judge 54 Heston’s Ben 55 Disney prince 58 Three R’s supporter 59 Article of Marlene Dietrich 60 Like a cunning linguist

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MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019 | PAGE 21

PAGE 22 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019

What A World

PEOPLE WILL TALK:

The diversity of perspective edition e By Nancy Ford

“You don’t often [hear about radical girl groups], and my heart skipped a beat. And I thought, ‘Oh my God, there’s hope for the future.’ And I just had to find out what they were about. I just thought, ‘These women are inspiration, they’re real, they’re human. They have real incredible, busy lives and they are making this happen because they believe in it.’ I like being around people who have a vision and just go for it. They can’t know if they’re going to succeed or not. It’s the striving [that matters].”

—Linda Goldstein Knowlton, director of We Are the Radical Monarchs. The Radical Monarchs, an alternative to Girl Scouts of America is dedicated to “creating opportunities for young girls of color to form fierce sisterhood, celebrating their identities and contributing radically to their communities.” Via LGBTQNation.com.

acting against trans-competent medical advice are life-threatening behaviours likely to make gender-affirming surgeries impossible. Safe options and transgender resources exist if you or a loved one wish to medically transition.

If you are considering self-harm or suicide, support is available. You are not alone.”

—A warning card preceding Netflix’s streaming of the controversial Belgian film, Girl. Directed and co-written

by Lukas Dhont, Girl depicts a 15-year-old transgender girl pursing her dream of being a ballerina while preparing for sexual reassignment surgery. Via Houston-Today.com.

“

I lived in a country where if I’d tried to be myself at the time, it would have ended up breaking laws. I stand here as the leader of my country. Flawed and human, but judged by my political actions, not by my sexual orientation, my skin tone, gender, or religious beliefs. We are, after all, all God’s children.”

culture of sexual harassment. She was advised by her attorney (who said he was concerned for her safety) to resign after a subordinate complained that Lehnertz wrongfully proposed a one-day suspension, that she bullied or retaliated against male leaders, and that she wasted $180,000 to renovate a park residence. Via AssociatedPress.com.

“The actions portrayed in this work of fiction are extremely dangerous and should not be attempted. Genital mutilation, hormone overdose, and

—Openly gay Prime Minister of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, after he and his partner, Matthew Barrett, joined U.S. Vice President Mike Pence for breakfast at the Naval Observatory.

Varadkar, whose father was born in India and immigrated to Ireland, said that his story is possible in “every country where freedom and liberty are cherished.” Via LGBTQNation.com.

added a whole extra “layerIt really of relevance for us that Hazel walked our corridors and classrooms. The firsthand knowledge she had was invaluable to us as we thought about how we can grow.”

—Noah Tennant, chief executive officer of Boys Latin of Philadelphia Charter School, lauding former student, Hazel Edwards on educating the school’s students on transgender equality. After transitioning, Edwards returned to her alma mater after being bullied. Via LGBTQNation.com.

“Stop trying to navigate systems of power and start building your own power. There are so many subconscious forces that make us try to act like somebody else … but when you’re woman of color, there are so many things about you that is nonconforming.”

—Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, advising young women of color looking to enter politics. Via LGBTQNation.com.

“It’s kind of a pity party now. You’ll hear people say, ‘I was at Sam’s Club or Aldi’s and I saw Michelle Duggar and three of her kids. They all looked really tired, and they’re buying Styrofoam plates.’”

—Laura Bell Phillips, a co-founder of For Fayetteville a pro-equality group based in Fayetteville, Arkansas on the decline in popularity of the Duggars, far-right extremists and Lifetime reality television stars. Via Rewire.News.

My experiences have “served to reinforce the core of my life’s values — compassion, fairness, honesty, civility and respect — and I will always stay involved in protecting our nation’s public lands and democratic principles.”

—Christine Lehnertz, the United States’ first female and openly lesbian superintendent of Grand Canyon National Park in an email to Grand Canyon employees announcing her resignation. She started the job in August 2016, tasked with changing what federal investigators said was a pervasive

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“The whole kind of sexuality of it all has been encouragingly innocuous, like it has not been this big (deal). Hopefully, we’re past the time where it’s gotta be this whole giant announcement and it can just be part of who you are and part of the work.”

—Tony and Emmy-award-winning actor Ben Platt, a gay, white, cisgender male, discussing his experience coming out in the 21st century. Via LGBTQNation.com.

MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019 | PAGE 23

PFLAG Houston News

Learn all about Tony’s Place at April meeting e By Janice Anderson

P

lease join us April 14 for our general meeting for a discussion of “Tony’s Place.”

Tony’s Place is a drop-in shelter for LGBTQ+ youth up to 25 years of age who are unstably housed, couch surfing, or homeless. Their goal is to provide for kids’ immediate needs and to be a place where they can learn life skills for a better future.

Tony’s Place was named after Tony Carroll, a long-time member of PFLAG Houston. Carroll, along with his husband, Dr. Bruce Smith, was a pillar of the Houston community and a tireless advocate for numerous LGBTQ+ causes.

Carroll and Smith were strong advocates for a drop-in center for LGBTQ+ young people. Carroll’s dream became a reality with the opening of Tony’s Place.

Tony’s Place is currently open Fridays and Saturdays from 12 p.m. ’til 5 p.m., co-located with Young Adult Resource Center (YARC) at 1621 McGowen Street, Houston, TX 77004. YARC is available Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. ’til 4 p.m.

Doors open at 1:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 5501 Main Street. Parking is available between Fannin and San Jacinto, across from the art museum parking. The general meeting runs from 2 ’til 3 p.m. with small groups meeting until 4:20 p.m. We have a small group for people who want support for issues of sexuality (LGB) and one for gender identity (TQI+).

PFLAG Houston has four other small groups that meet during the month to share support throughout the metro area: Third Thursday of each month, 7 p.m. at Bering United Methodist Church, 1140 Harold Street, Houston, Texas Use entrance beside back parking lot.

Fourth Sunday of each month, 2 p.m. at Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church, Fellowship Hall. 17503 El Camino Real Drive, Clear Lake, Texas.

Fourth Tuesday of each month, 7 p.m. at First Christian Church, 22101 Morton Ranch Road, Katy, Texas. Enter through front doors.

Last Sunday of the month, 2 ’til 3:30 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 2314 N. Grand Boulevard, Pearland, Texas. Use Jasmine St. entrance, room B211 in the Bethel building.

PFLAG relies on membership and volunteers. Our membership drive will continue through the end of February.

We invite all to join us in our three-fold mission of supporting families, educating communities concerning LGBTQ issues, and advocating for inclusive policies in order to end discrimination and promote equality. Some day, we hope that there will be no need for PFLAG. Until then, we look forward to expanding our membership so that our important work can continue. Information about joining PFLAG Houston is available on the website, PFLAGHouston.org.

PFLAG Houston is committed to supporting families and educating the public about LGBTQ issues, and invites all to consider the group’s numerous volunteer opportunities.

PFLAG Houston is also passionate about advocacy to ensure equal human rights and end discrimination. PFLAG Houston invites all family members, parents and/or youth who are having problems with coming out issues, and welcomes everyone, regardless of religious affiliation, ethnicity or political persuasion. The group is proud of its rich history and the continued contributions of members, and invites all to learn more about the organization and join in efforts to create a more diverse, accepting society. Find a home in PFLAG. e

For information about support, upcoming events and meetings, as well as up-to-date news relevant to PFLAG Houston’s family and friends, visit PFLAGHouston.org, email janice_anderson@yahoo. com, or call the PFLAG Helpline at 713-467-3524.

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PAGE 24 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019

Star Buds

The ABC’s of CBD’s e By Rena McCain

H

appy Weedsday to all of you beautiful people!

Did you know that the cannabis plant has more than 85 compounds called cannabinoids? They all collectively provide the health benefits we associate with cannabis. Studying each one lets us understand how we can use cannabis to help people. Cannabis activists and advocates alike praise cannabis as being a miracle remedy while prohibitionists claim it is dangerous.

In actuality, many cannabinoids are present in cannabis, which provide people with therapeutic relief and adapt seamlessly into the endocannabinoid receptors of your organs, brain, and nervous system. One of these cannabinoids is called cannabigerol (CBG).

So what makes CBG so special?

While we don’t often talk about CBG, it as well known as other major cannabinoids like THC and CBD, and it is still a very essential cannabinoid. You wouldn’t have the high you get from cannabis without CBG. Did you know that it serves as the parent compound of THC, CBD and CBC? I didn’t until I started researching this! There really is so much to learn!

The enzymes in a young cannabis plant break down the CBGA (cannabigerolic acid) and turns it into CBDA (cannabidiolic acid), CBCA (cannabichromene acid), or THCA (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid), respectively. Once one of these acids become light exposed it turns into the THC, CBD or CBC. This works out the same way when it is exposed to ultraviolet light, as well.

Generally, there is more CBG in hemp plants and younger marijuana plants than older ones. CBG and its relatives also do not have psychoactive properties, so you don’t have to worry about getting high when you take medicine based on it. The

reason is that CBG doesn’t produce the high associated with cannabis is because CBG is said to block the psychoactive effects and the metabolic action of THC. So far, CBG has the potential of helping with numerous conditions.

It curtails anxiety and depression. Many people already know the power THC has in helping patients suffering from anxiety and depression. CBG also produces similar effects — however, it does so without creating the high you get from THC. According to a 2016 report, nonpsychoactive cannabinoids such as CBG make excellent potential alternatives for treating depression and anxiety.

It stimulates bone healing and formation. A study in 2007 investigated CBG and other cannabinoid effects on bone marrow cultures. Results of the study showed they worked through the CB2 receptor indirectly to stimulate bone marrow cells, suggesting CBG could help promote new bone formation and growth to help heal bone fractures.

It relieves pain. CBG has analgesic effects in numerous ailments, like pain caused by cancer and multiple sclerosis.

A review article in 2008 shows individuals tolerate synthetic cannabinoids well, and they’re effective. Plus, when you combine them with other pharmaceuticals, they provide an analgesic effect to relieve pain.

It provides neuroprotective effects: Researchers studied animal models in a 2015 study with Huntington’s disease.

They found CBG to be very active as a neuroprotectant and CBG treatment improved movement in the mice with Huntington’s and recovery. It also showed potential antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects and protected neurons from degeneration, suggesting CBG could be used to treat neurodegenerative disorders.

However, researchers need to study this potential further.

It slows tumor growth. Another review article in 2009 showed CBG, CBD, CBC,

and several other cannabinoids slowed the growth and progression of numerous cancer cells and tumors. As they slowed tumor growth, they also extended people’s lives who were fighting cancer.

It reduces inflammation. CBG can also reduce inflammation. It targets specific molecules causing inflammation in different disease states, including cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and pain syndromes. In fact, studies indicate CBG may work as a COX-2 inhibitor, comparable to the widely used non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

It treats overactive bladder. Cannabis medication can treat numerous bladder dysfunctions. Researchers tested CBG’s effects in a 2015 study on experimentally induced bladder contractions and found the cannabinoids most able to reduce bladder contractions were CBG and THCV. It treats psoriasis and other skin conditions. CBG, along with other cannabinoids, may help treat numerous skin conditions because cannabinoid receptors exist in the skin. According to a 2007 study, CBG hindered keratinocyte proliferation, suggesting CBG treatment is a potential psoriasis treatment.

It acts as an antibacterial and antifungal agent. Researchers are investigating the antimicrobial and antifungal properties of a variety of cannabinoids, including CBG. In a study in 2008, researchers found CBG is remarkably effective in treating Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), an antibiotic-resistant bacteria strain high in prevalence.

It decreases intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients. CBG and THC treatment increased aqueous flow in animal models with glaucoma by two to three times. In glaucoma cases, increased aqueous flow helps decrease intraocular pressure.

It helps treat cachexia. Researchers found a type of CBG that cultivators purified to eliminate THC to be a highly effective appetite stimulant in rat models.

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This could mean CBG will be a potential treatment for cachexia, the severe weight loss and muscle wasting people experience in the late stages of cancer and other diseases.

So all cannabinoids interact with cannabinoid receptors found inside your body. CBG acts on both your CB1 and CB2 receptors as a partial agonist.

But CBG’s effect on these receptors is relatively weak when you compare it with THCs. CBG may also increase your body’s anandamide levels. Your body’s anandamide is a cannabinoid occurring naturally in your body and helps to regulate various biological functions like memory, sleep, and appetite.

Anandamide, like THC, also acts on your CB1 and CB2 receptors, which produce its effects. Pretty cool! When it says it acts on CB1 andCB2 receptors, it is referring to breaking the blood brain barrier for those who don’t know.

Because CBG is showing so much promise, some seed companies are growing cannabis strains purposefully high in CBG. But, because of the entourage effect — the notion that terpenes and cannabinoids work better together to produce medical efficacy — a lot of marijuana growers also include THC purposefully in the mix.

Doctors and researchers are becoming more aware of how cannabinoids interact synergistically, despite cannabinoid functionality ignorance. Even though isolating certain cannabinoids can help prevent undesirable side effects to some patients, doing so could be a weak strategy overall for patients. To be continued.

There is so much more to tell so don’t forget to get your copy of MONTROSE STAR next week! e Rena McCain is a co-founder of the Cannabis Open Carry Walks. Find her on Facebook at GanjaGrrl420, or via Twitter @sassikatt24 and Instagram at ganja_grrl420. Listen to Conversations with Ganja Grrl & 420 News HQ, McCain’s broadcast on MixLR.com every Sunday morning, 11 a.m. ’til 2 p.m. CST on the MountainHighX station. To listen, download the MIXLR APP for android or Apple. Make an account. Search for and follow MountainHigh10.

MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019 | PAGE 25

DAILY SPECIALS

SUN: (1 pm) WED: 1 /2 Off Lockers (4pm-11 :45pm) TUE: 1 /2 Off Rooms (4pm-11 :45pm) FRI: d'{appg ff/out 1 /2 Off Rooms (4pm-7:45pm)

2205 Fannin Street, Houston • (713)659-4998 • theclubs.com always open

I

steam

I sauna I

private dressings rooms

I huge outdoor pool & patio I guest membership available I 1 s only

whirlpool

I

lockers

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+

PAGE 26 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday April 3, 2019

Guide to the Clubs HOUSTON

n MONTROSE - MIDTOWN Crocker Bar 2312 Crocker St, Houston (713) 529-3355 Large Deck | Karaoke George’s Country Sports Bar 617 Fairview Ave, Houston (713) 528-8102 Sports Bar | Pool & Darts | Patio Guava Lamp 570 Waugh Dr, Houston (713) 524-3359 • guavalamphouston.com Video Lounge | Karaoke | Mixed JR’s Bar and Grill & Santa Fe 808 Pacific St, Houston (713) 521-2519 • jrsbarandgrill.com Videos | Patio | Karaoke | Shows Michael’s Outpost Piano Bar 1419 Richmond Ave, Houston (713) 520-8446 Neighborhood Bar | Pub | Piano Rich's Houston 2401 San Jacinto (281) 846-6685 RichsNightclub.com Barcode Houston 817 Fairview Ave, Houston (713) 526-2625 • facebook.com/barcode77006

Shows | Neighborhood Bar | CD/Trans The Ripcord 715 Fairview St, Houston (713) 521-2792 • facebook.com/ripcordhouston Leather | Uniform | Fetish | Men

n DOWNTOWN / EADO Lucky’s Pub - Downtown 801 St Emanuel St, 77003 (713) 522-2010 • Luckyspub.com Sports Bar | Food

n NW HOUSTON La Granja Disco & Cantina 5505 Pinemont Dr., Houston (713) 518-6753 • lagranjadisco.com Latin dance club

Moon Tower Inn 3004 Canal St, 77003 (832) 969-1934 • damngoodfoodcoldassbeer.com Hot Dogs | Beer Gardens

Neon Boots Dancehall & Saloon 11410 Hempstead Highway Houston, TX 77092 (713) 677-0828 • neonbootsclub.com

Neil’s Bahr 2006 Walker St, 77003 (281) 352-7456 • NeilsBahr.com Premier Nerd | Gamer | Intellectual hangout Tout Suite 2001 Commerce, 77002 713-227-8688 • toutsuitetx.com Bakery | Cafe | Pub Voodoo Queen 322 Milby St, 77003 713-555-5666 • damngoodfoodcoldassbeer.com Casual | Po’ Boys | Games n DOWNTOWN / WARDS 1-4 Tony’s Corner Pocket 817 West Dallas Street, Houston (713) 571-7870 • tonyscornerpocket.com Neighborhood Bar | Pool | Dancers n HOUSTON - NORTH SIDE Ranch Hill Saloon 24704 Interstate 45, Spring (281) 298-9035 • ranchhill.com Country | Cowgirl | Neighborhood Bar The Room Bar 4915 FM 2920 Rd, Spring (281) 907-6866 • roombarspring.com Neighborhood Bar | Shows | Dance | Mixed

Viviana’s Night Club 4624 Dacoma St, Houston (713) 681-4101 • vivianasniteclub.com Latino | Tejano | Dance n SW HOUSTON Crystal Night Club 6684 SW Fwy, Houston (713) 278- 2582 • crystaltheclub.com Latin Dance | Salsa n HEIGHTS / WASHINGTON CORRIDOR Pearl Lounge 4216 Washington, Houston 832-740-4933 • pearlhouston.com Neighborhood Art Bar | Live Music | Women

GALVESTON 23rd Street Station 1706 23rd St, Galveston (409) 443-5678 • 23rdstreetstation.com Piano Bar | Pub | Live Entertainment Robert’s Lafitte 2501 Ave Q, Galveston (409) 765-9092 • galveston.com/robertslafitte Neighborhood Bar | Pub | Cruise | Shows Rumors Beach Bar 3102 Seawall Blvd., Galveston (409) 497-4617 • RumorsBeachBar.com Beach bar | Shows

SOLUTION FROM PAGE 21

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Festival

April 18, 19 & 20, 2019 7:30 p.m.

Wortham Center

•

Cullen Theater

Dancers of Royal Danish Ballet Copenhagen, Denmark Marcos Morau, Kristian Lever

Maria Kochetkova, Sebastian Kloborg Royal Danish Ballet Copenhagen, Denmark Benjamin Millepied William Forsythe

Ashley Bouder & Joaquin De Luz New York City Ballet Victor Ullate

Semperoper Ballet Dresden, Germany Alexander Ekman

Spellbound Contemporary Ballet Rome, Italy Mauro Astolfi

Susanna Leinonen Company Helsinki, Finland Susanna Leinonen

Donlon Dance Collective Berlin, Germany Marguerite Donlon

Sokvannara Sar, Carolina Ballet North Carolina Marco Goecke

co-presents Choreographers’ Forum on April 17 at 7pm at MFAH, Brown Auditorium, 1001 Bissonnet, FREE EVENT.

BUY TiCKETS AT

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