O&AN | October 2015

OUTANDABOUT NASHVILLE.COM

OCTOBER 2015

VOLUME 14 | ISSUE 10

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13 YEARS

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Nashville Scene Publisher Mike Smith to Step Down Theatrical Reboot of Cinderella Gets Political

Your Nashville Symphony | Live at the schermerhorn

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Wedding Announcement Rev. Michael Alford and Mr. Sean S. Alford

FAX 615-246-2787 PHONE 615-596-6210

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STAFF

Publisher : Jerry Jones jjones@outandaboutnashville.com

Managing Print Editor : James Grady jgrady@outandaboutnashville.com

After a twelve year engagement, Michael and Sean Alford were married at the Davidson County Clerk’s Office on Monday, June 29, 2015, at 12:30 p.m.

Reverend Michael Alford founded Mount Pisgah Fellowship in Goodlettsville (www.mpftn.com) four years ago. His church is an apostolic affirming Pentecostal church.

As they say on their church’s website, the couple is “Searching with open hearts to fellowship with like minded people of similar faith. We enjoy gardening, cooking, baking, road trips, Lucy our Jack Russell, old B&W movies, antiques, hen keeping, and travel. Remodeling our 105-year-old cottage keeps us busy and blessed.”

The couple will take their religious vows and hold a reception at the Hermitage Hotel on Friday, October 9, 2015, in what will be the first same-sex wedding at the hotel since its inception in 1905.

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CNN’S BROOKE BALDWIN ON THE SIDE OF RIGHT AMBER MORRISON

For someone who wasn’t planning on a career in journalism, Brooke Baldwin has proven herself perfect for the job. She has integrity, a great deal of heart, passion for her job, and empathy for others. If you watch CNN Newsroom weekdays from 1–3 pm you’ve seen her report on all kinds of stories: stories of heartache, stories of everyday people doing amazing things, and stories about politics. You’ve seen her go to bat for us when interviewing or reporting on stories for the LGBT community.

“I think there were rumblings that a journalism career would be great for me,” the University of North Carolina graduate told me, “but it hit me like a ton of bricks when I was at Carolina walking through the journalism school and I was interning at CNN that summer, and it all just sort of came together in this “a-ha” moment.

I just felt it in my bones, the way you feel when something is right. I didn’t even know at the time if I would be a reporter or anchor or producer or what, but I just knew that was a direction I wanted to take and I went all in.”

For CNN Newsroom Baldwin has interviewed David Pickup of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuals, certainly not a friend of the LGBT community, regarding gay conversion therapy. She asked the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins the now infamous question, “Why do homosexuals bother you so much?” In both cases, she went into the interview without an agenda, and made an effort to hear both sides of the story in order to report on it.

“I always try to be fair,” she said. “I think with the Caitlin Jenner story, for example, a lot of people are talking about the transgender issues people just need to hear. I think once you hear someone’s story, you open your heart.”

A journalist is trained to report without bias, and sometimes that can be difficult.

“I think on certain stories you can show an opinion when you’re on the side of right,” she said. “Like right now when you’re watching all the refugees streaming out of Syria and you’re looking at the rest of the world thinking, what can we do to help? Speaking about child abuse cases or

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domestic abuse cases…something has to be done.”

On the day of our interview, Baldwin hosted a segment on CNN Newsroom called, “The Loneliest Club” in which forty survivors of gun violence shared their personal stories. She was able to get the survivors to bare their souls and to not be ashamed to shed tears.

Gun violence affects us all. I myself am a survivor of gun violence. A former girlfriend raped me before putting a gun to my head and pulling the trigger. The only reason I am here today is because, by the grace of God, the gun jammed. I stared down the barrel of the gun and heard the click as the trigger was pulled.

As Baldwin interviewed a father whose son went to the movies for his birthday and was shot and killed, I found myself on the floor in tears reliving my own horrible moment in time. The flood of emotion was overwhelming. Beyond the pain, beyond the emotion, beyond the “loneliest club,” there was Baldwin asking questions that everyone wants answered.

“I am emotionally spent,” she told me after that interview. “It was one of those things. I walked away last night and I sort of held it together for the most part.

I hopped the train to New York and I got in before midnight. I walked in and saw my dog. I got on the floor and just let go, because it’s what you have to do. We’re all human.”

She said she was struck by the emotion of the moment before the interview even began. “I was emotionally gathering my strength to be able to do them justice,” she said. “I walked into this room and you see them and all of them have been touched by gun violence. I started to say hello and introduce myself and I couldn’t even get through that. I’m a professional. This isn’t about me, it’s about them. But you’re going to have those moments where your emotions come out.”

She opened her show recently with a personal message to the newsroom and colleagues of Alison Parker and Adam Ward, the reporter and cameraman who were murdered on the job in Roanoke, Virginia.

“My first job was a cub reporter was in Charlottesville, two hours up the road from Roanoke,” Baldwin told me. “I did

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OCTOBER 2015

morning live shots. I was really tight with my photographers. That could’ve been me. And as I was struggling with the whole story that day and how close to home it hit. I told my executive producer, there is no way I can tell about this story

that we stand with them. And we do.”

“I’ve been a little teary on live TV one or two times,” she continued. “When I came home last night, I was remembering covering Sandy Hook and coming home to my apartment, just sitting on my

for two hours without saying something right off the top. And so I went into the rundown and wrote a little something from the heart that I hope resonated with people but it was like I couldn’t talk about it without saying my peace. And just telling that newsroom and those families

sofa, alone. I didn’t even turn the lights on. I was watching the sunset out of my window and I just kept thinking about those first-graders and how they would never see a sunset again and I just let it go.

You have to let it go and weep for these people because we’re all human.”

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NOT YOUR GRANDMA’S Fairy Tale

accompany the classic Rogers and Hammerstein music.”

The result is a much more politically engaged tale, complete with rebel peasants and palace intrigue to accompany the traditional family strife that oppresses Cinderella.

This Cinderella, too, strikes a far more feminist note. She is a contemporary figure living in a fairytale setting. She is a spirited young woman with savvy and soul who doesn’t let her rags or her gown trip her up in her quest for kindness, compassion, and forgiveness.

Her desire to free herself from her stepmother isn’t merely the selfish desire

THEATRICAL REBOOT OF CINDERELLA GETS POLITICAL JAMES GRADY | @jamesallengrady

From October 20–25, 2015, Nashville audiences will be treated to a special engagement of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, the 2013 Tony Awardwinning Broadway musical from the creators of South Pacific and The Sound of Music, at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center’s Andrew Jackson Hall.

But those who haven’t seen this reboot should come prepared to experience the story of Cinderella in a whole new way.

The basics of the story remain the same of course: a young woman is transformed from a chambermaid into a princess, and the glass slipper, pumpkin, and a beautiful ball still figure prominently, but there are some surprising twists.

In this version, for instance, the prince’s parents have died when he was a small child and he is left in the care of a man named Sebastian. According to Blake Hammond, who plays the role of Sebastian, “The prince is just

coming back from college and feeling his oats, but Sebastian wants to hold onto power for himself. So it’s kind of a manipulative, interesting role. It’s kind of a father figure, yet he also is going behind the prince’s back to hold onto his position in the kingdom.”

“Clearly Cinderella’s traditional villain,” Hammond explained, “is the wicked stepmother, and Sebastian is an additional villain. Douglas Carter Beane has written a completely new book to

to be free: she wants to work to make the world a better place. As Hammond put it, “She feels like she is being put upon and wants to be more empowered as a woman, but she is a woman who is looking to change society.” And in the process of fighting for her dreams, she forces the prince to open his eyes to the world around him and to his responsibilities as a leader. “I think it’s important in 2015 for young girls to hear that message.”

Without Cinderella’s active role, it’s easy to see that the politics in the kingdom would have floundered: You have a prince who has been totally isolated from his people, and thus unable to see the harm that his caretaker’s rule has done to the common subject in the kingdom.

Through the ball, the prince encounters his people, not just Cinderella but also his disgruntled subjects and their rebellious leader. “He’s never met the people he governs,” Hammond explained, “and in this play he does and realizes he doesn’t want to rule that way.”

To add further complexity to this new story, one of the “wicked stepsisters” falls in love with the firebrand rebel and ends up reconciling and teaming up with Cinderella long before the conclusion of the play. “The story has been updated

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OCTOBER 2015

have more vote. But I think that’s true of some religious groups in our country.

People who have the power think that they should—look at Kim Davis—that they should have special treatment. They don’t have to follow the law.”

“Women being empowered, the part about minorities rising up,” Hammond said, “make this story very relevant to the situation of LGBT people. My character, I basically think of him as a staunch Republican. He’s very wealthy, he wants to keep his wealth, and he’s willing to take rights from others in order to see to it that that happens. I don’t see that as being very different than what’s going on in America in 2015. And I like the fact that I don’t win: I hope that that will resonate and will be the truth next year when we all go vote again!”

So Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella combines a highly updated storyline sure to speak to the twenty-first century, while preserving the music that has made the show one of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most enduringly popular.

“I always enjoy working in original stories,” Hammond said. “But I also did Cinderella when I was fourteen back in Texas, so it’s also magical to revisit that classic music all over again.”

Photos: Carol Rosegg

so many times,” Hammond said, “in movies like Ever After, but this is a new story line—a young upstart politician fighting to stop land from being taken from peasants by royalty, and one of the stepsisters falls for him. It’s a fun twist, and what you end up getting is a lot more resolution of the conflict between the ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’.”

In the end, Hammond’s character, Sebastian, is dealt with, but not in the old fashioned way. Keeping with the modern, political update, the prince holds elections for prime minister to decide between Sebastian’s rule or that of the young political rebel.

Originally, Hammond said, “I had some lines about beheading and they changed it to imprisonment. I think that they felt that, with all that’s happening with ISIS around the world, they didn’t want that to enter the story sounding like that might be the right thing to do. But I will say it’s hilarious because at one point the prince decides to hold a vote for prime minister and that everyone will get a vote, and my response is ‘One person, one vote—where’s the fun in that?’”

For Hammond, this gives the story’s second villain a very contemporary feel: “I think politically a lot of people that have the money think they should

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SYMPHONY BRINGS Best of Broadway TO NASHVILLE STARS OF THE GREAT WHITE WAY PERFORM ICONIC HITS JAMES GRADY | @jamesallengrady

From October 15–17, you don’t have to fly to New York City to see the greats performing your favorite shows: you can get it all in just one night right here in Nashville. Guest conductor Todd Ellison will oversee a performance featuring both the Nashville Symphony and guest vocalists Debbie Gravitte, Susan Egan, and Christopher Sieber.

Musical lovers are sure to be riveted by the spectacle, a night of smash-hit tunes from Chicago, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Gypsy, A Chorus Line and many more.

Ellison, whose credits include Annie, 42nd Street and Monty Python’s Spamalot explained that the eclectic choice of music was driven, of course, by public interest. But it was also a collaboration with the talent he’s working with, he said: “We chose music and songs that mean something to us.

The singers relate better to material that speaks to them.”

So audiences will not only be hearing their favorite songs, they’ll be hearing them from some of the people closest to them. “Susan Egan, who was the original Belle in Beauty and the Beast will be singing a Disney Princess Song Medley, as well as songs from other Broadway shows she’s done, like Cabaret and Thoroughly Modern Millie,” he explained.

“Debbie Gravitte won a Tony Award for her performance in Jerome Robbins Broadway, and she will sing her signature song, ‘Mr. Monotony’, by Irving Berlin,” he added. And in what should be an absolute treat, Gravitte will also be singing ‘Defying Gravity.’

This is especially important because, “She was the very first person to sing ‘Defying Gravity.’ Stephen Schwartz taught it to her for a backer’s audition, and she will knock it out of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center!’

Ellison has worked extensively with Chris Sieber, who is currently in the Broadway show Matilda. Sieber, Ellison said, “will sing from all the Broadway shows he’s done: Chicago, La Cage Aux Folles, in which I conducted with him, and Spamalot, which also we did on Broadway and London together.”

The orchestra will be featured playing the great overture from Gypsy and a medley from The Phantom of

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the Opera, as well as a medley from A Chorus Line by Marvin Hamlisch.

Hamlisch was both important in Ellison’s career and his connection to Nashville.

“I worked with Marvin on several projects, including his last musical, The Nutty Professor, when it played here in Nashville,” Ellison explained. Hamlisch died during the show’s Nashville run, before it could go to Broadway.

“We had a great time here. He was extremely instrumental in arranging for me to conduct orchestras, like the great Nashville Symphony, in the way that he did. I wouldn’t be here in Nashville if it weren’t for him; so this is my tribute to him.”

Of the selection as a whole, Ellison said, “In that we chose music that speaks to us as musicians and performers, we also want the music to bring the audience some fond memories, or some new appreciation to songs they’ve heard before. People may roll their eyes at the idea of a Phantom of the Opera medley, but listening to it, you can’t not appreciate how beautiful these melodies truly are!”

For Ellison, conducting one of the nation’s most acclaimed symphonies in a show featuring Broadway is a perfect fit, and the realization of a childhood dream. “I took piano lessons from age six and studied classical music in college (Bachelors of Music, Piano Performance, Boston University), but I always knew what I was going to do, and that was to conduct Broadway shows. I discovered musicals as a kid seeing my first one at age seven—Peter Pan, starring Nancy Dussualt, at the famed Goodspeed Opera House near where I grew up in Connecticut—and I was, pardon the pun, HOOKED! I spent all my allowances on tickets (which were $15, top price back then) and took the train down to New York during my high school years to see as many shows as possible. I just always knew that was what I was going to end up doing.

I’d watch the conductors as much as I would watch the show.”

Now, Ellison gets to live his dream daily. “Currently I’m the Music Supervisor/Conductor of Broadways “An American in Paris” which is all Gershwin music. I get to conduct this

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OCTOBER 2015

Todd Ellison

glorious Gershwin music every night!”

But still there’s something special about a show like this. He added, “Symphony orchestras are filled with incredible, versatile talent, especially in Nashville.

These people can play anything! How great is it that they get to show audiences that versatility by playing evenings like this, well beyond the usual classical music fare? And who knows, maybe that will peak a few concert goers’ interest to even becoming regulars at the symphony.”

So while the show is full of favorites, are any standout favorites

of the conductor’s? “The Chorus Line medley is truly one of my favorites, but no there’s no way to include all of my favorite pieces of music into one concert. Besides, I have to save some for NEXT time if I’m invited back!”

“The Best of Broadway” will appear at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 15, and at 8:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, October 16–17, 2015. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www. nashvillesymphony.org.

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MIKE SMITH TO STEP DOWN AS NASHVILLE SCENE PUBLISHER FOUNDING NEW SPONSORSHIP AND PROMOTIONS ENTERPRISE CODY TRACY

On September 3, 2015, Chris Ferrell, CEO of Nashville-based media company SouthComm, announced that Mike Smith will be stepping down as publisher of the Nashville Scene and Nfocus October 9 in order to start Conjure, a new sponsorship and promotions agency, which will consult with SouthComm on development for their annual events.

As one of the most prominent LGBT leaders in Nashville’s print media, Smith not only helped grow the Nashville Scene but also helped develop the paper’s strong relationship with the LGBT community. “It was important to me that the Scene support local LGBT causes and events, so I was intentional that the Scene would support Nashville Pride, AIDS Walk, Artrageous, HRC Dinners, and the LGBT Chamber of Commerce, among many others. I was intentional about this not just because I happen to be gay, but because I knew that many of our readers were gay too….

This is the same reason that the Scene’s editorial has covered LGBT issues, just as we might any other under-served or marginalized community in Nashville.”

Growing up in rural Arkansas, Smith found journalism was his connection to the outside world. “While I certainly didn’t understand that as a kid,” Smith said, “when I look back I realized how important story telling was in growing and learning about the world around us.” But it was advertising that attracted him to journalism.

“I’ve always been so intrigued about what makes people make the buying decisions they do—the psychology behind it—and how some good clever copy and imagery (advertising) can affect those buying decisions,” Smith explained. These interests, along with a fascination with design, led Smith to study marketing and economics in college. Smith began his career in retail management, which he says was much to his “parents’ chagrin. They had teaching and banking in mind for me.”

This job brought Smith to Nashville, where he first discovered the Scene. “I moved to Nashville knowing no one, and I immediately picked up the Scene and used it to find my dry cleaner, salon, restaurants that became my favorite hangs, and started learning

about my new city via the editorial-- so I was an immediate fan. Soon after I started placing ads for the retail stores that I ran and loved my advertising rep, Maggie Bond.”

After Smith expressed to Bond that he was interested in getting into advertising, she contacted him to let him know that there was a sales position open at the Scene and Nfocus.

last 8 years I’ve held that title along with about 6 others while working with the Nashville SouthComm offices and running the Nashville market.”

As he prepares to depart his post for his own venture, Smith is proud of his record, and the position in which he’s leaving the publications he oversaw.

“The future of the Scene, Nfocus and our other Nashville SouthComm

“The rest is history,” said Smith. “I was successful in sales and then had an opportunity to take on managing Nfocus with a goal of growing the sales and brand and readership of that publication in 2002 and over the following 5 year we grew the publication by 30 to 40% year over year. Then in 2007 I had the opportunity to become publisher of the Scene and Nfocus and took it. In the

publications is strong. These specific print pubs are vibrant and growing and we’ve worked hard at this.”

In addition to the significant growth, Smith says, “I would say our editorial voice is stronger now than ever and more important than ever— in our growing and more diverse city we have to have journalism to tell the stories that need to be told and the

Scene does that now and will continue to do so. I look forward to seeing what other fresh ideas and new publisher will bring to the table.”

“Mike has helped lead the Nashville market during a period of dynamic change,”said SouthComm CEO Chris Ferrell. “I want to thank him for his 18 years of service and look forward to SouthComm being Mike’s first client in his new venture.”

Smith’s new venture, Conjure, will bring together organizations running events with event sponsors, ensuring maximum value for both sides. The company will also serve as a creative resource to help organizations develop buzz-generating promotions and strong event-related engagement, providing creative direction, content generation, design, and development and sponsorship training.

“I’ve always enjoyed connecting clients with meaningful marketing endeavors that provide the best ROI,” said Smith. “With Conjure, I can build on the work I’ve done to help clients make solid decisions and connections, whether they’re seeking sponsorships for an event or cause or using sponsorship opportunities as an advertising investment.”

“We will be working closely with the community and organizations that are looking for connection,” Smith said. “Brands want to connect with consumers via wonderful stellar interesting experiences—events or promotions—that are exceptional and memorable influence commerce.

Conjure will help facilitate that and by doing so, will be engaged with the community in many different ways. Connection is what I’m about... connecting people has always been one of my favorite things to do. I get to do more of it with my new company, and we’ll be intentional about giving back to our awesome city.”

Smith, who is president of the board of directors of Nashville CARES, says he will remain engaged with the LGBT community as well. “I’m not going anywhere and will still be working diligently as a community volunteer.” @O U T A N D A B O U T N A S H

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HRC FEDERAL CLUB KICKS OFF 2015–16 WITH MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT JIM OBERGEFELL TO SPEAK IN NASHVILLE IN NOVEMBER On Tuesday, September 15, 2015, HRC Nashville’s Federal Club held a Fall Mixer at Tenn Sixteen Food & Drink Company. This event was a kick off of sorts for the many events that will culminate in the 2016 HRC Equality Dinner in Nashville. Additionally, this Fall Mixer was a celebration of the momentous decision on behalf of marriage equality, which the HRC has been advocating for over many years.

Jeffery Humble recently joined Jenny Ford as Nashville HRC Federal Club Co-Chair, and this was the duo’s first event in that capacity. Humble is filling the position vacated by Tom Coffman, who has served as Federal Club Co-Chair for the past three years.

During his tenure, Coffman has twice been honored with national awards from HRC and has been credited with breathing new life into the Federal Club, and now Coffman is turning his attention to serving other LGBT organizations in Nashville and the Southeast.

Humble and Ford are committed to continuing to enliven Nashville’s Federal Club. HRC’s membership drives the

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movement, and Federal Club members are one of the organization’s major bases of funding and activism, allowing HRC to respond quickly and effectively on issues of importance to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans.

Humble said, “We will be hosting more events at numerous locations across the Nashville Metro area and even have plans to take the HRC Federal Club to other parts of the state to truly make an impact for our HRC members outside of Nashville. Look for us at a diverse selection of venues that will allow us to gain momentum and serve every aspect of our diverse membership.”

The Fall Mixer also provided Ford and Humble with the ideal opportunity to reveal an exciting development in a major event coming up soon. “It was a major announcement for us that HRC hero and LGBT rights activist Jim Obergefell will be speaking on behalf of the Nashville HRC Federal Club at an engagement for us in November!”

Obergefell, of course, is the plaintiff in the Supreme Court decision that brought marriage equality across the country.

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OUTANDABOUTNASHVILLE.COM

OCTOBER 2015

Elan Restore • 615.269.0222 • ElanNashville.com Joe DeLozier III, MD, FACS, Medical Director • Board Certified in Plastic Surgery

VICTORY FUND CELEBRATES GAINS, RAISES FUNDS BUBBLES AND BISCUITS HONORS NATIONAL AND LOCAL LEADERS On Sunday, September 20, 2015, Nashville’s LGBT community and allies gathered at Acme Feed & Seed on Broadway for Bubbles and Biscuits.

The event was a champagne reception of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund Nashville to celebrate recent electoral successes and to raise funds to allow the organization to continue assisting LGBT leaders in seeking elected offices. This is the cornerstone of the Victory Fund’s mission, which is to use the ballot box to empower the LGBT community.

This year, there was much to celebrate, as Nashville saw two out LGBT candidates win council seats:

Brett Withers and Nancy VanReece, who with the support of the Victory Fund became the first out lesbian elected to any legislative body in Tennessee. Keynote speakers included Aisha Moodie-Mills, new president and CEO of the Victory Fund, Mayor-Elect Megan Barry and Pennsylvania State Representative Brian Sims (the first openly gay elected state legislator in Pennsylvania history).

This year’s Bubbles and Biscuits hosts were Joe Burchfield, Jeremy Davis, Paul Hoffman, Rob Sikorski, and Pam Wheeler. For more information on the Victory Fund, visit victoryfund.org.

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JAMES GRADY | @jamesallengrady

The last decade has seen amazing advances for the LGBT community, though much remains to be done to secure the rights of the most vulnerable.

And while the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges is no cure-all, it has done a great deal to cement the process of normalization that particularly gay and lesbians have enjoyed. In short, it is becoming much easier for LGBT people to make themselves at home in the wider culture, even in Middle Tennessee.

Part of that process is actually making homes for ourselves in the region—joining with the larger community in which we live and settling in amongst our neighbors. This isn’t just to keep up with the straight Jones’ and to show that we are as normal as everyone

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else. Aside from community centers and bars, LGBT homes are centers of communal existence, places of refuge for our friend groups to gather and our children to congregate.

So much community organizing and political action began in the kitchens and dining rooms of LGBT homes in middle Tennessee. Pride events were organized, funds were raised for CARES and other organizations, and life-long friendships were cemented in these harbors. As we move forward into the twenty-first century, the necessity of the home space for these functions may be diminishing, but the LGBT home still serves many purposes.

This month, four couples have invited O&AN and its readers into their private spaces. Join us on this miniature tour of LGBT homes.

OUTANDABOUTNASHVILLE.COM

OCTOBER 2015

Rana Mukherji and Curtis Allen

Rana Mukerji and Curtis Allen’s home, featured on this month’s cover, is an example of the dramatic, modern architecture that is increasing in popularity in Middle Tennessee. With its metal and glass features, the hillside structure is particularly impressive when reflecting the bright light of the sun.

The building is actually comprised of two dwellings. “We built both, and before we built here, it was basically just a bare, sloping hill,” Mukherji, a doctor at the VA Hospital, explained.

“We’ve lived here for about 5.5 years.

My mother built that side and I built this side. They are pretty much identical.”

The design reflects the aesthetic values Mukherji sought in a home: “Primarily, I wanted good natural light, and a relatively open feeling. So we

have the two story living room, and we have windows on two sides of the home.

I also wanted good, tall views, so rather than making it a sprawling house, we built it more upright.”

From the outside, with its strong vertical lines, the house draws the eye toward the sky. It’s designed to do the same inside. “The higher you go the clearer the views you have over the city or the sunset. It’s a total of four floors, but the fourth one is really a very small perch and a roof-top deck off of it.”

With its open design, the main floor is basically a large, public space. “We do occasionally hold events here,” Mukherji said. “We’ve held three art shows thus far, showcasing five Tennessee artists.

One show was photography, another was paintings, and the other was a mixture of both. We have a show coming up that

Rana Mukherji's and Curtis Allen's MODERN HOME

features three local painters. The house has also been used as the backdrop for a photo session for a country music artists.

We’ve also held some fundraisers and charity events. Beyond that it’s just been small social gatherings.”

Social functionality was definitely a design goal in laying out the house’s public spaces. “I’m a pretty social person and a pretty public person,” Mukherji said, “so the ability to entertain was very important. You know how they say everyone flocks to the kitchen? To that end I made the kitchen a kind of threetiered area, so that when people gather here they wouldn’t really be crowding the rest of the party out. And since it’s all an open space, if it gets too crowded around the islands people can move into the adjacent areas without feeling like they aren’t a part of what’s going on.”

In fact, he added with a laugh, “A friend has asked whether he can use the kitchen for a cooking demonstration, to invite a few people over to watch him prepare food.

Allen DeCuyper and Steve Sirls

In 1998, Allen DeCuyper and Steve Sirls purchased one of Nashville’s most historic homes—the Craighead House.

Built in the first decade of the nineteenth century, the Federal-style brick home would host some of Nashville’s most prominent citizens, including Charlotte Robertson (widow of James Robertson) and her daughter. The home has recently been featured in a book by Carroll van West, Nashville Architecture: A Guide to the City (below/right/left/etc).

DeCuyper and Sirls have a long history of buying and renovating homes.

“We’ve renovated several houses in the years that we’ve been together,” Sirls joked. “Like eighteen—and many of those we’ve moved into but many others have sold before we could move into them.”

Craighead wasn’t a discovery out of the blue for the couple though. “We’ve lived in this neighborhood since 1987, and we’ve been looking at this house for a long time. We tried to get our friend Hal Cato to buy it a long time ago,” Sirls said. “They chose not to do it because it was such a big project, but then it came on the market again and we fell for it.

This place is nice, it’s secluded. The only noise is neighbors and the train, which came way after the house. The house was built somewhere around 1806, but the train didn’t come through until about 1850.”

“We bought this place in 1998,” Sirls added, “with plans to restore the

old part of the house and add on the new part. The house only had one bathroom and two closets, so we definitely needed to add some stuff.”

They also knew that they had to be careful to preserve the feel of the home, however. “We called Van Pond immediately. He was brand new, but he knew the house, so we got him right over here. We wanted to do the expansion so it didn’t show from the street because it is a historic house, so the addition is set way back. There were also a number of trees we wanted to protect, too, so within that footprint we got what we needed.

Van was really good with the space and he knows our personalities, so that helped. It was one of his first jobs as an architect out on his own.”

“We looked at other country federal homes,” Sirls explained. “We checked out houses of this period that were added onto. So many of them used brick, but it would have been so hard to match because the brick was all made on-site two hundred years ago, so we went with cedar for our expansion.” In the end, the Metro Historical Commission gave them an award for the sensitivity of the work on the home.

“We started the first of August and were in by January,” he said, “but we still work on it all the time. You know, you have to. We had to renovate the front porch last year. We replaced it with something that will be there for another two hundred years, we hope. We are about to start painting the new part again after seventeen years. It just takes time and a little planning because it’s hard to pay for it all at once!”

The home is furnished eclectically— it is not at all meant to be a museum. “The house is furnished with our parents’ and grandparents’ things,” Sirls said, “and things we’ve bought. It’s not period or antique, it’s just sort of us, which is my favorite thing about it.”

Still, the couple view it as a kind of responsibility to make their home as open as possible, within reason. That includes strangers. “The house is open a lot. We are part of a lot of garden tours and whenever we do that I open the house up because that’s what people really want to see…. We try to keep it so it’s presentable. And since we put the sign up a lot of people stop by. We don’t just let everybody in, of course!”

Their homes have been centers for social gatherings and philanthropy over the years. “We had the Artrageous Thank You Party here for twenty-two years— well here and another house,” Sirls explained. “Just this year, we hosted the @O U T A N D A B O U T N A S H

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Our community is very important to us.”

“We’ve never been embarrassed to open up our homes,” Sirls said. “We’ve always been diverse in opening up this home especially, not really keeping any group out, because it’s for Nashville to see, I think.”

Conservation and protecting historic sites hasn’t just guided DeCuyper and Sirls’ ethos in home remodeling. Sirls currently sits on the board of the Metro Historical Commission Foundation, and Allen served on the Commission for seventeen years.

Mark Lopez and Patrick Armstrong

Mark Lopez and Patrick Armstrong’s century-old arts-and-crafts-style home overlooks Belmont Boulevard, which is lined with fine old houses. But when Lopez purchased it twenty years ago, it was far from fine.

It was Allen DeCuyper who brought the home to Lopez’s attention. “Allen and Steve were two of the people that I met right after coming to Nashville.

I lived out on the east side. Allen was selling this house, and he told me he had

Allen DeCuyper and Steve Sirls,The Craighead House

@O U T A N D A B O U T N A S H

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a house I just had to buy. I wasn’t looking for a house, and when I came over here it was a pretty rough neighborhood. There was drug dealing in the alleys, if you can imagine.

“When I bought it, it was in a bad state,” Lopez said. “I’m just the fourth owner of the house. The second owner turned the place into a boarding house and joined it to adjacent properties. The third owner was a woman who lived here with her two adult daughters for twenty years. It had be reconverted it into a single family dwelling, but they did nothing to the house, just lived in it.

The wiring still ran up the baseboards, and there was a light out here that had been missing for twenty years.”

“I wasn’t looking for a house at all, much less a project, but I had done some work on my house over on the east side, and I’ve always been handy. The bones of this house were just so great, and the woodwork was just amazing. It was just a great house—I could see that through

all the problems—and I fell in love with it. The house on the east side was very nice, but this just had the potential to be a really stately house—the wood beams on the ceilings and the great colonnades.

So much of the original stuff was still in place. These are original hardwood floors!”

So, with the help of contractors, Lopez set out to restore the home. The process would take years, only being truly completed a couple of years ago.

“I’ve done so much of the manual labor involved in the repairs, and I’ve worked with various contractors and handymen.

I didn’t take out any loans, so I did it in various stages over the years. I also did a carriage house that I rent out in the back of the property.”

Things didn’t always go smoothly.

“Once I got the apartment fixed,” Lopez recalled, “the first tenant I had, the car was stolen out of the alley. There was a lot of rough stuff going on—I had lawnmowers stolen, wheelbarrows

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stolen. Until I got the fence, anything in the back yard seemed to just walk away.”

But over the years, Lopez found he had been very lucky the previous owners hadn’t done work on the house.

The basement was a treasure trove of raw material. And as the restorations proceeded, so did the revitalization of his neighborhood, until he was left with a stately home in one of Nashville’s great neighborhoods.

Over the years, like other homes we’ve featured, Lopez and Armstrong’s has welcomed the LGBT community.

“I was the first co-chair for the HRC Dinner and we used to meet over here a lot. We did a fundraiser her for Nancy van Reece’s first run for office. We’ve had events for Pride—I was the marshal of the parade one year—with Del Shores and Leslie Jordan. That was a lot of fun.”

Lopez does not, however, put the house on home tours. “I did that before,” he explained, “but it’s so much wear and tear on a house. I just keep it for my friends.”

David Frederick and Gary Jaeger

David Frederick and Gary Jaeger purchased their home near Belmont in the fall of 2007, but it was early 2008 before they could move in, due to extensive renovations to the property. While it would take a great deal of work to make the house fit their needs, the couple was drawn in by the neighborhood, as well as the house’s architecture.

“First and foremost was the neighborhood,” said Frederick. “This area is so eclectic, and there is so much diversity in the area, it just seemed like this was the perfect neighborhood for us.” The location was also very conveniently located, being just minutes from Jaeger’s Vanderbilt office.

The house itself was also just the style Frederick was looking for. “I’ve always wanted a bungalow, with a great

Mark Lopez and Patrick Armstrong

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big porch and big columns,” Frederick explained. “Our house was built in the 1930s, and it just had that classic bungalow feel. Unlike a lot of houses in the area, although it looks to be one story, it actually has a full upstairs. Many other houses lose a lot of space from the sloping ceilings.”

Originally the house was about 2,000 square feet, but the couple expanded it to 3,100. “We added a great room and a master bedroom,” Frederick said, “and a big portion of the downstairs was repurposed for a large bathroom and walk-in closet. The other thing we really like is the wonderful screen porch we have. It sits at the tree line, up in the foliage, so it’s like sitting in treehouse – we do love the porch.” Michael Ward was the project’s architect, and Young Builders executed the design.

Frederick and Jaeger’s home is within an historic overlay, which was put in place to protect the look and feel of the neighborhood in the face of increasing

redevelopment. “We had to get a variance from the city to do the work we did because of some of the specifics of Michael’s design, but we definitely kept the original feel of the home. From the street it’s a rather unassuming bungalow, but it goes way back—that’s how we gained all the space.”

Frederick and Jaeger have developed their house into a home for themselves and their two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, as well as a comfortable location for entertaining. “We’ve hosted fundraisers and other events, including a Victory Fund event here in the past,” Frederick said, “as well as political fundraisers. Gary has hosted Vanderbilt functions in the house.

Since Frederick and Jaeger moved in, there has been a lot of development in their neighborhood, but the historic overlay has mostly protected the area immediately around their home from being recreated. “On our street, and streets like it, people buy smaller homes

MARK LOPEZ' and PATRICK ARMSTRONG'S CRAFTSMANSTYLE HOME

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OUTANDABOUTNASHVILLE.COM

OCTOBER 2015

DAVID FREDERICK'S and GARY JAEGER'S BUNGALOW HOME

and put on additions that make ours look small by comparison,” Frederick said. “The ones that are in the historic overlay, they have oversight.”

“The ones outside are still mostly keeping to the style of the neighborhood, with the exception of the scale,” he added. “They are classic homes and work with the look of the neighborhood, but the lots are small and the houses are huge. It’s really kind of crazy: just a few houses down on the block that’s not protected they tore down three houses just to build one!”

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At its 2015 Convention, in Memphis, the Tennessee Association of Realtors (TAR) elected Nashville’s own Brian Copeland as its 2016 President-Elect. The President-Elect is a member of the executive leadership team of the association. This is not the first election to an officer post for Copeland. He has already served as the Secretary/Treasurer for TAR. When asked what his goals were for the association Brian stated that educational standards for new realtors and those already in the industry are a top priority. Also a top priority, are the services customers receive by industry professionals.

Copeland’s roots are in East Tennessee, where he grew up in Clinton. He attended Carson-Newman University in Jefferson City, studying music and communications, and completed his master’s at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In the late 1990s, he accepted a job in Nashville’s music industry; he later transitioned into real estate in 2005.

A ten year veteran of the industry, Copeland is one of America’s most sought-after real estate speakers, emceeing and keynoting some of the largest conferences in the profession. He is also a Graduate REALTOR® Institute (GRI) instructor for Tennessee and founded one of the largest technology camps in the U.S., attracting more than 1,100 real estate professionals from more than 30 states.

Copeland is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades, including 2011Nashville Realtor of the Year, and the 2014 Inman News 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders in America List. He has also appeared on numerous television shows for HGTV and The Learning Channel, including House Hunters and Flip That House.

An East Tennessee native, by birth, Brian is a graduate of Carson-Newman University and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. He and his husband, who many know as Pastor Greg, reside on their farm in Madison with their two beautiful children, Micah and Esther.

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OUTANDABOUTNASHVILLE.COM

OCTOBER 2015

SNARKOLOGY: WHY IS DATING STILL A THING? DISCLAIMER: Amy Sulam is a comic, and not everyone thinks she’s as funny as she does. We condone nothing she says, particularly not if you decide to take the following seriously. It should not be taken as such.

AMY SULAM | @Amysulam

Why is dating still a thing? It shouldn’t be a thing. I’m exhausted by the idea. I’m reminded the most at this time of year how I’m gonna die alone. I don’t have anyone to do a matching costume with. I mean, seriously, where are you?

I feel like the things I want are reasonable. Mostly I want to be left alone unless I need a date to something, or somebody to Netflix and “chill” with, who likes Dr. Who and would be totally down to do themed Halloween costumes with me. However, to get that you have to jump through hoops.

LGBT dating is like applying for a job: either you have to apply on the internet or someone has to recommend you. Dates are like interviews, and considering I’ve never worked a daytime office job in my life, guess how great my interview skills are! I’m basically like: here’s an effort at flowers or something … are we cool?

Now ladies don’t all jump on me once.

I guess I’m lazy when it comes down to it, but aren’t we all? I mean, who seriously looks forward to dates? I have to shower, then there’s the arduous task of shaving, putting on makeup, and picking an outfit!

Sheesh! I’d honestly rather help fund the Trump campaign than pay for another match making site.

All the effort we go to and for what?

Something that’s most likely going to end badly in a few months or years because this generation doesn’t really do “forever”— years, maybe a decade. Our generation will be able to live to a hundred but the fifty year marriage seems to be gone.

Maybe I’m a pessimist. I just feel like the beginning stages of dating are awful. Not just the courting, the getting to the courting. The whole flirty texting or messaging back and forth? Good grief! I’m better in person. I spend most of my day thinking of witty shit to message someone on a dating site and suddenly the well has run dry. I’m like “I like dogs, dogs are good!” And … duuuuurrrrr, I hate myself.

Let’s get real. Yes, we all want love

but specifically what kind? I have tons of familial and platonic love. My life is pretty full, honestly. I know I bring a lot to the table, so, for me, you’ve gotta have your shit together. I’m not looking for a train wreck who needs me to pay her bills. With that said, I’ve dated some train wrecks.

What I learned from that is that my life is already pretty full between family and friends so, if I’m breaking my neck to include you, you had better be special. I’m very loyal person, seriously ask our editor, I’m his ride or die chick. What I find is that, at least in my age group, loyalty isn’t really a thing. I think it’s because we tell halftruths about ourselves, those around us, and what we want.

No one is ever actually looking for what they say they are. I’m definitely a sapiosexual, meaning I’m sexually attracted to intellect. I’m also demi sexual, meaning I have to have an emotional bond to want to have sex. Basically, I’m nerdy, and I don’t sleep around. Yeah, I want someone nice, who likes music or whatever.

What I don’t say (and never would say) in my dating profiles is I’m into a very specific type of girl. If I said what that was, I’d seem shallow. But, let’s face it, nobody sleeps with your personality at first, but at the end of the day character is what’s important.

I was dating this nurse in Memphis, and when we met in person, she didn’t totally look like her picture, if you catch my drift! But I was willing to overlook that because I had already connected with her emotionally … UNTIL I found out she

had been seeing her ex-girlfriend the whole time. At that point, I was like “you’re gross.” Carrying on that way says a lot about your character and none of it is good.

So, no she did not get a second chance or even friendship out of me. I don’t need friends who behave that way. She left me messages and what not, and I was just like, “Whatever. You’re gross” Another thing I don’t say is that I know what a handful I am (not a pun).

I’m very outspoken about causes close to my heart. I’m wild, loud and have a lot of baggage (i.e. drugs and stuff). These are

really sweet things immediately, but now it takes time … which proves my point: dating shouldn’t be a thing.

Why, for the love of god, do we do this to ourselves? I’m sure the other person isn’t super fired up either, so why not just be like, “Hey, do you wanna slowly reveal to each other over time how gross we really are? Cool.” Because that’s all relationships are, essentially: Two people slowly revealing to each other over time how disgusting they are, but with anniversaries and birthdays to remember.

So I’ve decided what I need to do

“Why, for the love of god, do we do this to ourselves?” things I have no problem talking about here. One-on-one, not so much.

Maybe it’s all worse because I’m so terrible at dating. You probably told me everything about your life, but I probably wasn’t listening. Don’t get me wrong, I CAN be a very thoughtful, caring person, but honestly years of shady chicks has nearly beaten it out of me. I USED to do

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BOYSTOWN - YOUR NEW FAVORITE GAY SOAP OPERA BOOK SERIES COMBINES INTRIGUE AND STEAM JAY GORDON

This coming November, Jake Biondi will release the fourth installment of his book series, Boystown. This storyline isn’t for everyone—it is, after all, part gay erotica and part soap opera on a page—but if you’ve ever found yourself longing for the gay counterpart to Falcon Crest or Dallas, it might be just what you’ve been missing.

At its heart, Biondi says, Boystown is “the continuing story of the Mancini family and their friends. One of the characters is married to a woman and fools around with men on the side— until he meets a man with whom he falls in love. The story follows him from there.” Then of course there are the feuds, a bombing, and secret relatives to spice things up.

Like any soap opera, “Boystown is full of crazy twists and turns—it never gets stale,” the author explained. “And with new characters being introduced along the way, the storylines keep evolving. Some end, some begin, and

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some continue from book to book.”

“Years ago,” Biondi said, “I was a viewer of such shows as Dynasty and Knots Landing. The 1980s were filled with nighttime soaps like those shows. Then that genre seemed to fade away. Now it’s back with shows like Nashville and Revenge…. Nashville inspired me to write the Boystown series because it demonstrates for me that there is a still a large audience for these kinds of shows.”

Nashville ’s success with using a gay storyline also inspired Biondi.

“In Boystown, I wanted to create a saga with gay characters at its core—a diverse group of gay characters, each struggling with his own issues, relationships, and the like.” If the popular television show could attain success with one such story line, Biondi realized that there must be a niche for such a book.

Initially Biondi released Boystown in monthly installments, but as the story’s popularity grew quickly, Biondi

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took the story “offline” and began releasing it in book-length “seasons.”

The story’s unique path to publication cemented a bond between Biondi and his readers. “Now that BOYSTOWN is offline and released in book format,” he said, “they still reach out to me.

They can still impact the story in the longer term, and … as long as the fans ask for more, I’ll keep writing.”

Some of the books’ fans have even earned themselves special “cameos”, alongside celebrities (like Steve Grand) Biondi wants to honor. Musical trio Whiskey & Cherries loved the series, Biondi said, “So, in tribute to them, I wrote them into Seasons Two and Three. Amy Armstrong is another fabulous singer who has performed all over the country and has actually given away copies of the Boystown books to audience members at her performances ... and, as a thank you, I wrote her into the third book as well.”

With the fourth book on the horizon, Biondi is angling to get the

books on screen as well. But in the meantime, you’ll soon have four “seasons” to binge read, so consider giving Netflix a break this holiday season.

JASON STUART PLAYING IT STRAIGHT

Actors Committee, and I wanted to support my fellow out actors.” He is currently national co-chair of that same committee, and his work has recently been recognized.

On September 24, in San Francisco, Stuart was presented with the Jose Julio Sarria International Civil Rights Award by the International Imperial Court System during an installment of the LGBTs In The News panel series. Stuart took it all in good humor: “No one’s ever given me an award before, and I’ve been doing stuff for twenty years! So that’s exciting!”

Stuart is extremely excited about the current direction of his career. On the one hand, his standup act remains focused on his life as a single Jewish gay man living in Hollywood. “My new show is called ‘I’m Only Gay on the Weekend’ because being gay every day, as you get older, is just too much! Dating and men, my mother, getting older, and Donald Trump are what my show is all about. I’m obsessed with Donald Trump…. I talk a lot about my mother.

She’s seventy-eight but she still shops at Forever 71….”

While Stuart believes the show will speak to audiences of all varieties, gay men are his target audience: “I want to prove comedy promoters wrong, who think that men don’t come out to the clubs. Of course I also hope that they’ll go online and become obsessed with me—maybe even half as much as

OUT COMEDIAN DEMONSTRATES VERSATILITY JAMES GRADY | @jamesallengrady

Photos: Kevin McIntyre

Jason Stuart is probably one of the busiest men in entertainment today, with his hands in everything from indie films and television spots to his weekly podcast, “Absolutely Jason Stuart,” and his new standup show, “I’m Only Gay on the Weekend.” Stuart, who has been out and proud for over twenty years, built a list of credits that includes over 175 film and television roles.

Stuart says he used to hear often that he was a groundbreaker, but he added, “There’s a question of whether groundbreakers get to walk on the ground or whether they become relics.

I think the new groundbreakers get to walk now on the same ground they prepared, and I want to be a part of that.”

He also believes strongly in the concept of “paying it forward,” and one of his goals has always been to make it easier for others in the profession.

“Nine years ago I started the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) LGBT

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roles. “What happens when you turn forty,” Stuart said, “is that there aren’t many roles for LGBT actors. There are very few, so you have to be versatile. I played an art curator in Sleepy Hollow and an a-hole bar manager in a film called Dirty, which features the male acting debut of Chaz Bono. I’m in one of James Franco’s indie films called Holy Land, where I play a hoarder.”

“I also got to play a straight guy in a horror film called The Guest House,” Stuart said. “I played the manager of a golf company…. I just pretended I was my brother, ‘cause the guy is mean 24/7.

My brother has just been so angry since Barbara Streisand lost the Oscar in 1973, and he hasn’t recovered.”

Of all his current projects, however, Stuart seemed most excited by one: “I’ll be in a film released next year with Armie Hammer called The Birth of a Nation, and get this: I play a white, heterosexual Christian plantation owner with a wife and kid in 1831.” The film is a biopic of abolitionist Nat Turner, directed by its star, Nate Parker (Beyond the Lights).

Despite the seriousness of the role, Stuart did have some funny moments off set. “I had to say the n-word more than I’ve ever had to in my entire life, because I’ve never really said it outside of a role. So I was in my hotel room on a day off practicing my lines, and the maid knocked on the door. She heard me saying the n-word and she asked me, ‘Is there anything wrong?’ I said, ‘No, no.’

So she asked, ‘Is there anyone in there with you?’ I said, ‘Just Donald Trump.’”

“There’s a question of whether groundbreakers get to walk on the ground or whether they become relics. I think the new groundbreakers get to walk now on the same ground they prepared, and I want to be a part of that.” they’re obsessed with Cathy Griffin. I’ll take half. I won’t call you my gays, but I will call you my brothers. We’re family; she’s someone who just comes over and eats all our food and then leaves. I will sleep over. That’s the difference.”

In his acting career, however, Stuart is playing more and more “straight”

All kidding aside, Stuart reflected on this major step in his career: “Here’s this talented, gifted man giving me the opportunity of a lifetime. So the times, they are a changing, and I get to be a part of it.” And in so doing he proves that versatility isn’t just something for the bedroom. @O U T A N D A B O U T N A S H

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Best overall? Can’t choose. I have favorites for different reasons. I love Manila Luzon’s camp- and Broadway-styled approach to drag. I love Pearl’s fashion sense and harsher paint and Adore Delano’s raw talent and personality. It just depends...

I’m also a bit biased from working with so many of them in West Hollywood.

A KIKI WITH PAIGE TURNER | @PaigeTurner01

This month for Untucked we decided to keep with the more outlandish style of drag that we don’t often get here in Nashville.

In this edition we feature Luxury (formerly Keri Luxury), better know on the internet as Kip Ryker. Luxury graced the stages of our glorious city long before moving out to Hollywood, where he is making quite the mark on the WeHo scene, hosting tons of events and parties. She has also worked with Drag Race and other well-known queens, featuring her iconic looks and jaw dropping performances. See what this queen is all about as we get untucked and kiki with Luxury!

Is there a drag entertainer that you model yourself or career after?

Not so much. If I see another drag artist giving a well-defined look that they are known for, I tend to go in a totally different direction. I know there are “no new ideas” but that doesn’t mean that I have to lock myself into a box of what I’m supposed to be as a performer. I want to be a performer that others look at and want to be like because it’s so drastically different.

more childhood characters from Disney, video games, and whatnot to vamp up and make an edgier and well … more offensive version. I also love taking various forms of artwork and music to design looks without a direct visual of a person or character to base it on.

How do you feel about the Drag Race?

I personally love the show and watch marathons constantly on Hulu and Logo’s website. I think it has been a positive influence as far as giving everyone new inspiration that they may not have gotten otherwise. It’s given so many people goals to push their ideas of drag and take it to a new level. Having said that, I think it has watered down certain aspects of drag in more accepting areas because EVERYONE now thinks that they should do drag just to follow the trend. It should be respected as an art form and not a fad.

Who would you say is the best drag queen from Drag Race and why?

How would you describe your style of female illusion?

Not necessarily female. I always want to push the boundaries and do something that no one expects me to do. You give me black and white event, I come in latex to the floor, with my face split in half black and white. I like creating these fantastical, over-the-top characters and looks with an avant-garde twist. I have recently started getting more into “fishy” drag and looking more like a realistic female and I definitely appreciate that style just as much. It’s not the normal gig.

What is your biggest inspiration for your looks and performances?

My initial inspiration was Raven from Season 2 of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

However, as I developed my drag style and pushed myself further, I started using

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OCTOBER 2015

Who from the show do you think most appreciates your drag style?

Out of the girls I know, probably Detox.

She seems to appreciate my weird, abrasive style. Out of the others, most likely Milk would be all up in my gig.

Have you had the ability to travel in your drag career?

I started doing drag in Nashville at Play Dance Bar but moved to West Hollywood, California, a few years later and have pursued it even further there. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to host various events, from movie premiers and album release parties to nightlife events and adult entertainment awards all over the country.

How would you describe Drag in Nashville as opposed to other cities you have visited or performed?

From my experience, Nashville is more centered on a “fishy” and more pageantfueled style of drag for the most part. There are a few artists, such as The Princess, who push the boundaries with androgynous and/ or edgier styles of drag but overall the scene is a bit monopolized in my opinion.

Did you have any problems when trying to make a name for yourself in Music City drag?

A bit. I don’t feel like my style was appreciated as much since I didn’t wear pads and gowns and whatnot starting out.

However, I was kind of awful when I started, so that’s also a factor! It gave a hard start to a career mostly but I appreciate it for what it was. I mean it did get me to where I am today!

Who in Nashville has been an inspiration to your career?

Jaidynn Diore Fierce. She’s repping for the Nashville girls and traveling the country serving the children! I miss my Play sister from another mister!

How do you feel about drag pageants?

I appreciate them for what they are, but that’s about it. It’s not really my style normally. I do think that they are extremely political overall.... It’s disheartening to a lot of the awesome newer artists because they feel inadequate on a quality level, when it was pretty much played out in registration before the competition even started.

When you were a contestant in the Calendar Girl Contest at Play Dance Bar, do you think politics held you back from a victory?

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shade of all the shade that ever was shady!! Hahahaha. But yes. Yes I do. I slayed that competition, and there are plenty YouTube videos to prove it.

Overall, how do you feel about the drag community in Nashville?

It has already and will continue to nurture some really wonderful artists.

I really appreciate what I learned from everyone while I was here and wouldn’t change a thing … except maybe that whole Calendar Girl thing. Haha.

What advice would you give someone who wants to start a drag career?

Do it! Make sure it’s for the right reasons though. Really pour your heart and soul into it and make it a spectacle. Don’t half do it, push it 110% and there will be support for you and your talent.

How can our readers keep up with you?

Follow my drag on Instagram at @TheBigKipper or Facebook under the email RougeShadow646@ yahoo.com, or for ALL of my wild adventuresm follow me on Twitter (NSFW, 18+ ONLY) at @TheKipRyker!

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the other bucket lists

BOBBI WILLIAMS

I’m not referring to the one for doing before you die, but to the transgender bucket.

That’s the one the media uses as a catchall for everything and anything relating to gender identity. They do it because most news media is targeted to a sixth grade reading level. How much complexity can the average sixth grader handle? Not much.

So even though there’s an occasional effort to distinguish between the varieties of trans folk that grow in the gender garden, when writing for public consumption, it’s all just simply “transgender.”

A couple of months ago, The Tennessean ran a series of articles titled Transgender in Tennessee. Alliteration aside, the articles were well-written and in good taste, but they were not about transgender people broadly speaking; they were about transsexuals, i.e. people in the process of transitioning from one gender to the other, as witness the subtitles: • A 24-year-old woman from Murfreesboro, recently transitioned • A 46-year-old woman from Murfreesboro…tried to kill herself before transitioning • A 49-year-old transgender man from Nashville, medically transitioned at age 45 • A former Green Beret is…in the middle of a transition from a man to a woman

Transgender was once an “umbrella term” used to describe individuals who aren’t 100% comfortable with the gender assigned to them at birth. It encompassed “transvestite,” “crossdresser,” “transsexual,” “genderqueer,” “bi-gender,” “two-spirit,” and more. And on a personal, level it’s fairly easy to ask someone how they define themselves. But the media turn to a Style Guide to choose ‘proper’ words. Most journalists and media professionals follow

learn or incorporate into one’s everyday vocabulary. And there’s also a risk that they might be regarded as ways to single out transpeople. (Most of the post-op, male-tofemale friends I have had want people to use the standard feminine pronoun. Their goal has been to be regarded as who they really are, and the pronouns signify that.)

Furthermore, I suspect that, without the endorsement of the media (e.g. the New York Times, Associated Press, CNN, etc.),

“The pronouns suggested are ze, hir, hirs, xe, xem or xyr. These are not easy to learn or incorporate into one’s everyday vocabulary.

And there’s also a risk that they might be regarded as ways to single out transpeople.” “...without the endorsement of the media...the chance of the neutral pronouns catching on is greatly diminished.”

the Associated Press Stylebook which says: “…use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth. If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.”

The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage directions are similar.

Some organizations publish a reference guide specific to their issues. The Gay &

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Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) provides a Media Reference Guide with guidelines for fairly and accurately reporting on transgender people.

Unfortunately, not every person in the media is aware of these guides, so members of the trans community often have to step up and ask for corrections after the fact.

Recently, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Office for Diversity asked students and faculty to use gender neutral pronouns. As an English teacher and writer with some experience in all this, I have to some ambivalence in this.

The University’s goal is inclusion and the neutral pronouns are meant to create

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OCTOBER 2015

a more inclusive campus. Rather than calling roll, the suggestion was that teachers ask each student to provide the name and pronoun he or she wishes to be referred by.

“The name a student uses may not be the one on the official roster,” the University of Tennessee’s Pride Center Director, Donna Braquet wrote, “and the roster name may not be the same gender as the one the student now uses.”

The pronouns suggested are ze, hir, hirs, xe, xem or xyr. These are not easy to

the chance of the neutral pronouns catching on is greatly diminished.

Some of my students have traditionally made a point of telling me how they want me to refer to them and I always oblige. And like most people, I maintain a bucket list (in my head) of who’s who and what bucket they want to be in. I have Black Students, African-American students, Hispanic students, Latinos and Latinas, and students with nicknames like Bubba and Lexi. It’s all good. And as far as I’m concerned, it’s up to the individual.

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READERS’ CHOICE AWARDS

2015

Our lgbt rEADErS’ chOicE AwArDS... nOminAtE nOw!

Gay Faves 2015 – our LGBT readers choice awards – begins its two-week nomination process on October 1. Readers can log onto the O&AN website October 1 – 15 and nominate their favorite LGBT individuals, businesses, and community events in over 50 categories.

Once the nominations have been tallied, readers will then be able to vote on the Top 3 nominations in each category. Voting will begin on October 20 and continue until close of business on Friday, November 6.

Winners will be unveiled in the O&AN year-end Gay Faves issue in December.

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