Utah’s Gay and Lesbian Biweekly Newspaper Volume 2 ■ Issue 19 September 15–28
Walk for Life 17th annual fundraiser returns to its roots
Allies Dinner to Raise Thousands Former HRC Director to keynote message of ‘Ripple of Hope’
Camp Drag Troupe Hangs Up the Wigs Cyber Sluts on haitus as they get paperwork in order
Schwarzenegger to Veto Gay Marriage Bill Likely to end historic vote Ruby Examines Straight Guy Drag—Guns and Camo Laurie Has the Packing Blues Gay Agenda
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News WORLD AND NATIONAL
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Marriage Fight Heats Up site KnowThyNeighbor.org. by Ross von Metzke “Everyone’s scrambling to know who in Boston, Mass.—Mass. Governor Mitt Romtheir town would sign this,” Lang told the ney rejoined the war against gay marriage Boston Herald. “And this Web site will give Sept. 5 by urging Attorney General Thomas gay people the tools to know, to defend F. Reilly to clear the way for a 2008 ballot inithemselves and their families, to let them tiative on banning same-gender marriage. go neighbor-to-neighbor and say, ‘I don’t Romney argued in a letter to Reilly that appreciate your signing this.” “to silence the voice of the people on a “I’m going to be aggressive, personally,” question of such great consequence would be a profound injustice. No matter how one he said. “I want to know that the people I do business with are not against (gay marriage). feels about same-sex marriage, we should This is going to be won by economics.” all agree that the commonwealth’s citizens Gay marriage opponent Kristian Mineau, should not be excluded from a decision as fundamental to society as the legal definition of marriage.” Romney’s letter seeks to refute legal arguments by gay-marriage supporters that Reilly should not certify the proposed initiative because it violates a section of the state constitution governing citizen-generated ballot questions. “The sole realistic opportunity for citizens to decide the definition of marriage is being decided by Reilly first,” Romney said. “If he closes off this ballot initiative, he will be saying that Reilly knows best. And in my view, the citizens know best.” Some gay-marriage supporters are suggesting it is Romney who is playing politics. Arline Isaacson, who co-chairs the Protesters remind Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney of a campaign promise. Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Popresident of the Massachusetts Family litical Caucus, said the governor’s letter is Institute, called the Web site “intimidation designed to impress conservative voters in by no other name.” other parts of the country as he prepares Mineau is already listed on the site, for a possible presidential bid. along with the first 30 people to sign the “This is a dog and pony show for the petition, including former Boston mayor radical right,” Isaacson said. “We believe Ray Flynn. the legal argument on our side against Westerhoff already introduced himself certification is strong, compelling and irto one of the first petition signers, Madelyn refutable. Romney is being political. He is Shields of Beverly. Shields told the Boston asking Reilly to make a political decision, Herald she found the meeting “a bit odd,” too, but that’s not Reilly’s style.” but described Westerhoff as gracious. She However, Reilly certified the proposed said she hopes other exchanges between initiative a few days later, clearing the way gay marriage advocates and petition signfor opponents of gay marriage to start colers are as gracious. lecting signatures. “I have a number of gay friends and I Reilly spokesman Corey Welford said, “At treat people the same regardless, but that the end of the day, we’ll do what we always does not change my position of what I do: make decisions based on the law.” believe marriage is,” she said. Two gay activists are vowing to post Separately, state lawmakers are expected online the names and addresses of anyone to consider a proposed 2006 ballot initiawho signs a petition that could lead to a tive on September 14 that would ban gay statewide ban on gay marriage. marriage but allow civil unions. Because Thomas Lang and Alexander Westerhoff, that proposal originated in the Legislature, one of the first gay couples married by the which granted preliminary approval to it state of Massachusetts, made the announcelast year, it is governed by different rules. ment after Reilly certified the ballot initiative Romney told the Boston Globe he that bans gay marriage and civil unions. predicted the Legislature’s amendment Now, the initiative’s supporters must colwould be defeated next month because lect 65,825 signatures from registered votgay-marriage supporters and opponents of ers, and approval from 25 percent of state civil unions are now against it. Therefore, lawmakers to get it on the 2008 ballot. he argued, the citizen-generated initiative Lang, 42, said the name, street address, aimed at 2008 represents the public’s only hometown, and ZIP code of everyone who signs the petition will be posted on the Web opportunity to exercise its will.
Schwarzenegger to Veto Gay Marriage Bill San Francisco, Calif.—One day after the California state legislature approved a measure backing gay marriage, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has promised a veto. In doing so, he cited Proposition 22, the socalled “Knight Initiative,” which banned gay marriage throughout the state in 2000. “The governor believes the matter should be determined not by legislative action—which would be unconstitutional—but by a court decision or another vote of the people,’’ the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Margita Thompson, Schwarzenegger’s press secretary, as saying. “We cannot have a system where the people vote and the Legislature derails the vote. Out of respect for the will of the people, the governor will veto AB849.’’ Schwarzenegger’s decision shocked and angered gay rights activists and many in the Democrat-led senate. “For a man who claims rather grandiosely to be ‘following the will of the people’ when he doesn’t even allow the people to express his will to them as he does with every other bill is a deep disappointment to me,” said California state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica. Many have suggested the governor’s decision stems from his need for conservative support in the November 8 special election. Additionally, leaders such as Benjamin Lopez, a lobbyist for the Traditional Values Coaliton, one of the nation’s most vocal anti-gay marriage groups, had said earlier that if the governor didn’t veto the proposed bill, “many conservatives will stay home in protest.”—JV
Texas Gay Center Raises Funds for New Orleans Center
NY Fox Affiliate Rejects Gay Candidate’s TV Spot New York City—A New York Fox Television station, WNYW/Channel 5, refused to run a campaign advertisement of a Democratic candidate for Manhattan borough president because of its anti-Bush stance, according to the candidate’s campaign staff. The 30-second spot of Brian Ellner, the candidate in question, features President George W. Bush’s face superimposed over the naked torso of a middle-aged man. Accompanying the image is Ellner saying,
Lesbian Student Files Suit Newark, N.J.—Claming abuse from fellow students that included being pushed down a staircase and having her textbooks stolen and soaked with urine, a lesbian student has filed a lawsuit against the Holmdel Board of Education. Now eighteen, Nancy Wadington said she was forced to leave Holmdel High School during her junior year because of the assaults. The suit, filed with the help of Lambda Legal, seeks unspecified monetary damages and alleges that the district violated state anti-discrimination legislation by not stopping the harassment. Superintendent of Schools Maureen Flaherty said she had not heard of Wadington’s situation before the suit’s filing. “We’ll obviously look at the lawsuit and do our internal investigation,” a Newday article quoted her as saying. She added that the district had adopted an anti-bullying policy in June 1998 that specifically addressed harassment on the grounds of sexual orientation. Alphonso David, a staff attorney for Lambda Legal, said the abuse started immediately after Wadington was “outed” as a ninth grader in 2001.—JV
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Houston, Texas—In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Houston LGBT Community Center has promised to donate money raised in forthcoming events to support the Lesbian and Gay Community Center of New Orleans. The Houston Center will donate contributions from two events to a fund for the New Orleans Center—a “Featured at the Center” performance night, and a movie and game night on September 25. It has also put a separate PayPal button on its homepage to allow visitors to direct online donations to the New Orleans center. “As of today, we haven’t yet been able to reach anyone with the Lesbian and Gay Community Center of New Orleans,” said Houston center board member Tom Brookover, “But those of us in Houston certainly expect that our New Orleans friends will be able to make use of some extra financial support. We know how important a center can be for a community.”—JV
“The emperor has no clothes.” Ellner’s partner, Simon Holloway, also appears in the spot—the first time in the city’s history that a gay candidate has introduced his or her partner in a campaign advertisement, according to Ellner’s campaign. On September 5, Ellner told the New York Times that Channel 5 said it would not show the ad because of its “poor taste.” “It’s pretty clear it’s an anti-free speech decision because of our criticism of the president,” he said. A spokeswoman for the station confirmed the station’s refusal, but said Channel 5 would provide no explanation for the decision. According to Tim Arnold, Ellner’s media advisor, the station was the only local channel that rejected the advertisement.—JV
News LOCAL AND REGIONAL
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17th Walk for Life on the 17th by Kim Burgess kim@slmetro.com For the first time since 1992, the Utah AIDS Foundation is holding its annual 10K Walk for Life in September, a move designed to overcome declining participation. “We’ve always been [holding the Walk] the week after gay pride. Gay pride has gotten so big, which is wonderful, that it’s kind of a lot to ask people to participate in an event the following weekend,” Utah AIDS Foundation executive director Stan Penfold said. “There is a lot of excitement about moving it back to the fall. It’ll be cooler, which is nice. We’re also moving it back to the morning. We had been doing it in the evening for a few years.” Another advantage of the Sept. 17 date is the 9th and 9th Street Festival, where the walk will end. Hosted by the East Liberty Park Community Organization (ELPCO), the 9th & 9th Festival began in 1993 to celebrate the spirit and diversity of the 9th & 9th neighborhood. The free event will include food, artists’ booths and live performances all day. The Walk itself will also feature entertainment. “One of the things that’s unique about our Walk is that you never know when you’ll come upon a band or a juggler,” Penfold said. Current registration is on track for an estimated 500 to 1000 walkers. Many families and businesses, such as the Gap and KRCL, also put together teams of walkers who pool their pledges and provide additional visibility. There are prizes for both teams and individuals who raise the most money, with a “500 Club” party for all individuals who raise over $500. Penfold expects the Walk to raise $40,000 to $60,000, which the Utah AIDS Foundation will spread among all its programs, including the food bank, HIV testing and social support groups. This year’s Walk will be particularly
special for Utah AIDS Foundation staff as the organization honors 20 years of care. Penfold began at the Utah AIDS Foundation as a volunteer in the 1980s, progressing to associate director and then executive director in 1998. Reflecting on his years of AIDS activism, Penfold sees a need to combat new complacency about HIV. “Participation has been declining over the years at AIDS walks across the country. There’s a sense that it’s not as urgent as it used to be. There are a couple of challenges. One component is the mixed blessing of HIV meds. They’re amazing for people who have HIV. HIV is still a terminal illness, but it’s more manageable. With that is a perception that you can pop some pills and you’re fine. People don’t see the side effects or the expense of having, basically, a long-term terminal illness. Also, a person who is 20 years old today has grown up their entire life in a world with HIV. HIV is a normalized risk.” Penfold hopes that the visibility of the Walk for Life will overcome some of this complacency. “There is this real denial about risk, and there is also this perception that people can tell [who has HIV]. The reality is that there is no way you can tell if someone has HIV short of an HIV test. We have to recommit to prevention. There is no miracle vaccine on the horizon, and people still get sick on meds. People still die on meds. Prevention is where we need to focus.” The Utah AIDS Foundation Walk for Life will take place on Sept. 17. Registration starts at 7:30 a.m. with opening ceremonies at 8:00 a.m. and the walk officially beginning at 9:00 a.m. in Liberty Park. The cost is $25 for individuals, $10 for pets; kids 12 and under are free. Participants can register before the Walk as well. The route is flat and appropriate for seniors. All pledges are tax-deductible. More information is available at utahaids.org.
Tim McFeeley to Speak at Allies Dinner Clinton, who was supportive of loosening the rules and of the gay community. Frankly, we played right into it unknowingly and kind of negligently and handed them a huge victory and handed ourselves a big pain in the neck. That was a huge bad thing over which I played a part.” McFeeley says he plans on bringing up the mistakes in order to strengthen today’s gay right’s movement—and the move to legalize gay marriage in particular. “I think the punch line here is in many ways we haven’t learned anything, and that the way we’re conducting the marriage thing is GITM all over again,” he says. “I wish more people would accept the fact that mistakes are inevitable when you’re doing this,” he explains. “Whether it’s here in Washington D.C. doing national work with congress … or whether it’s in Utah. I see too much of people defending things that clearly were wrong. We don’t need to do that. Mistakes are made and successes are made and we have to learn from both of them and move on.” The Equality Utah Allies Dinner will be held Wednesday, September 21 at the Salt Palace Grand Ballroom. Dinner begins at 7:00 p.m. (following a cocktail hour beginning at six o’clock) and will be hosted by KUER’s Doug Fabrizio. Along with McFeeley’s keynote address, the annual Allies for Equality Awards will be presented to Michael Marriott, executive director of the BW Bastian Foundation, and Wendy Chandler of the National Conference for Community and Justice. Tickets cost $100.00 and all proceeds will go toward funding Equality Utah’s Political Action Committee’s efforts. According to Equality Utah’s executive director Mike Thompson, this year’s dinner promises to be the most successful in Equality Utah’s four-year history. “We had 650 people in attendance last year. The year previous it was just over 300,” he says. “This year we’re hoping and expecting to push 1000. When you have that many people involved in support of an organization that works for equality, that’s really exciting in a place like Salt Lake City. Our vision is to really work towards a fair and just Utah, and when numbers like this turn out in support of our work, then it gives us the encouragement that our vision [of GLBT equality] can truly be a reality.”
‘The Unheard Voices’ Town Hall Meeting
Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson has committed to attend, along with representatives from Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon’s office, among others. “The Unheard Voices” will take place on October 16 from 3-5pm at The Jubilee Center (100 South 309 East) auditorium. Follow the meeting will an informal social hour from 5-6pm. For more information, please contact The Center at 539-8800.
The GLBT Community Center of Utah is calling for everyone in the community to join them for a community-wide discussion about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues in Utah. Twice a year, The Center sponsors a town hall meeting to foster communication and generate ideas within the community. Past meetings have addressed topics ranging from the annual Pride festival to Utah’s anti-gay marriage amendment. This time, the topic is “the unheard voices” in the queer community and how to best meet the needs of a truly diverse community. Special invitation is being made to to ethnic minorities, bisexuals, transgender people, people with addictions, people living with HIV/AIDS, the youth, the elderly, and all other groups not typically represented in the mainstream portrayal of the Utah gay community.
AIDS Event Postponed Citing the toll Hurricane Katrina has put on resources and volunteers, the Campaign To End AIDS has postponed their countywide caravan to Saturday, Oct. 22. The local event to mark the passing, the “Pair Up to End AIDS,” has also been postponed. Planned for Sept. 25 to correspond with the caravan’s passage through Salt Lake City, the Pair Up to End AIDS was going to place 8,500 pairs of shoes in Library Square to honor the 8,500 people who die of AIDS daily.
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by JoSelle Vanderhooft joselle@slmetro.com Tim McFeeley would be the first to say he’s got a lot of opinions on a lot of subjects, from United States history to women’s suffrage to the history of the civil rights movement. He’s also got a lot to say about current developments in queer rights, including California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plan to veto a legislative bill permitting gay and lesbian couples to marry and the creation of a petition backing an anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment in Massachusetts. Despite Schwarzenegger, McFeely considers the California bill “a major step forward,” and he downplays the Massachusetts petition as “the last throes” of the anti-gay marriage movement in the Bay State. “Between the time of the effect of the marriage [amendment], which was back in May of 2004 and November of 2008, [that’s] 4 and a half years without the sky falling and the world ending in Massachusetts,” says McFeeley, a thirty-year veteran of the gay rights movement and the current executive director of the Center for Policy Alternatives. “I think our side has a good chance of prevailing in that amendment. I don’t think these things were really setbacks, I think they were expected bumps in the road in two great states of Massachusetts and California.” It’s these setbacks and road bumps in the gay rights movement, along with its triumphs, that McFeeley will address as the keynote speaker of this year’s Equality Utah Allies Dinner. Specifically, he will focus on two watershed events that occurred on his watch as the executive director of the Human Rights Campaign from 1989 to 1995. These are the creation of the Ryan White CARE Act, which allotted federal funding for HIV prevention, research and care, and the military’s adoption of the infamous “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in 1993. “In a time when just a few years before people were calling for the outright quarantine of people with AIDS, for mandatory tracing of sexual contacts, when they were talking about tattooing people with AIDS … we got money for prevention. So that was a success.” Then came the Clinton administration and the question of gays in the military. “The acronym is GITM and I always call it ‘get’em,’” he says, “because it was a perfect set up for the Republicans to get
News JERE KEYS
LOCAL
Participants of Affirmation’s candlelight vigil sit on the steps of the Meditation Chapel at Memory Grove
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Affirmation Holds Candlelight Vigil to Raise Awareness of Gay Suicide by Kim Burgess kim@slmetro.com City Creek bubbled in the early dusk as about 20 supporters of queer Mormons stood in Memory Grove silently holding candles. One by one, people came forward to a microphone and read the names and dates of young Mormons who died through suicide. After reading two names, a woman in cut-off jeans began to cry softly. “I hope no one else has to die,” she said. This moving scene was the culmination of a Sept. 7 candlelight vigil organized by Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons. The vigil coincided with National Suicide Prevention Week and highlighted the social problems and religious traditions that contribute to suicide among queers. In 2001, Affirmation held their first candlelight vigil in response to the suicide deaths of four gay Mormons shortly after leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supported the passing of Proposition 22, California’s initiative opposing gay marriage. Since then, vigils have taken place in cities across America as well as Santiago, Chile, and Mexico City. Duane Jennings, the vigil’s organizer, opened the Sept. 7 meeting with his remembrances of one of the four gay men, Stuart Matis, who fatally shot himself on the steps of an LDS Church in California. “Stuart was convinced that if he were just faithful enough, God would make him heterosexual… But he found he was still gay, and he responded with brokenhearted depression with which he struggled for
years. In his final communication to his family, Stuart wrote, ‘I simply could not live another day choking on my feelings of inferiority.’” Jennings was followed by Craig Steiner, a film producer and writer who spoke about standing firm in his identity; Marv and Geneva Peterson, LDS parents of a gay son and founders of the support group Family Fellowship; and Mark Kim Malan, a sexologist who emphasized overcoming sexual shame. Aaron Sorensen of the Salt Lake Men’s Choir provided a musical interlude, singing Don McLean’s “Vincent.” As people milled before leaving, Steiner said he hoped the vigils would encourage the LDS Church to acknowledge queer people. “It’s amazing that a church based on personal testimony ignores the testimony of gays,” he said. Jennings expressed his belief that the LDS Church would one day accept queer people. “We’ve made progress. The LDS Church President says to love gays, and we have positive TV images. But we still have a ways to go. There is not much evidence that the suicide rate has gone down.” When asked about the absence of lesbians among the suicide victims, Jennings said he feels many LDS women leave the church because of its patriarchy before confronting their lesbianism. In addition, women generally attempt suicide more frequently than men, but actually accomplish it less often. “It’s more a cry for help,” he said.
Utah Cyber Sluts Go on Hiatus of each of the officers of the group and how it’s handled if somebody wants to leave or if they have left on good or bad terms, how we handle the dispersement of money,” Bolinder said. “We have a tentative draft drawn up right now,” he added. “We just need to get the group together and finalize what we want in there, make sure that it’s written and worded the way we want and includes everything so all the basics are covered like they should be.” Bolinder also said that he doesn’t anticipate the Sluts being out of commission for much longer. If all goes well with the drafting and registering of the bylaws, the Sluts will be back on stage “in the middle or end of November” and “bigger, better, brighter than we were before.” In fact, they’ve also got several activities planned for the colder months. “I’ve been talking to [Crown Prince XXX] Juan Carlos [Channel-Prespentte] and Maya Channel, both associated with the court,” he said. “They’re both professional dancers. They’ve agreed that if we find the music they would choreograph for us so we can come back and be sharp and on top like we used to be.” The Cyber Sluts also have plans to team up with the Denver Cycle Sluts, their original inspiration. Bolinder’s currently talking to Cycle Sluts president NuClia Waste about doing some joint shows in Salt Lake City and Colorado, including bringing the Cycle Sluts to their anniversary show. “We’ve got some pretty big plans in the works right now, with trying to raise more awareness and get our names back out and see if we can’t get some more help for the different organizations we’ve helped over the years,” he said. And in true Cyber Slut form: “We plan on coming right back and being in everyone’s face again.”
‘Divided State’ on DVD
Local gay and lesbian leaders are calling on queer community members who oppose the war to join the protest and help show the Utah liberal community that we can be an organized and unified group. Queer participants are being asked to adopt a “stop sign” theme to their banners or signs. Octagon-shaped signs could bear messages such as “Stop The War | Stop the War on Gay Families” or “Another Gay Voice Calling For a Stop To the War.” For more information, check out the Utah GLBT Leadership Task Force blog at utahglbt.blogspot.com
“This Divided State,” the award-winning documentary that chronicled the events surrounding Michael Moore’s visit to the Beehive State during the 2004 elections, will be released nationally on DVD September 27. To celebrate, Minority Films will be holding a release party on September 26th at the Urban Lounge in Salt Lake City, at 10pm. Discounted copies of the film will be available and there will be live music. The DVD release will include standards such as filmmaker commentary and deleted scenes. The locally produced film has been hailed as one of the most balanced looks at the intense political divine in the nation. Information can be found at www.thisdividedstate.com
Leaders Urge Queer Visibility at Rally Queer leaders are asking for community members to show a united and visible presence at the upcoming peace rally on September 24. As part of an international day of protests calling for an end to the war, local peace activists have planned to gather in Pioneer Park at 11am followed by a march to the City/County Building (Washington Square) for a rally.
Metro Bids Farewell to Editor This marks the final issue of Salt Lake Metro under the editorial direction of Jere Keys, who has taken a position working with the Sundance Film Festival. Keys joined the Metro staff in October of last year after nearly four years as the editor of the Las Vegas gay papers QVegas, Las Vegas Bugle, and Out Las Vegas. Publisher Michael Aaron will be assuming the duties of executive editor in the coming months. Aaron joins the rest of the Metro staff in wishing Jere the best of luck in the new endeavor.
LOVE'S MYSTERY: RELATIONSHIP AS A SPIRITUAL PATH A Workshop with Dawn Menken, Ph.D., author of
Speak Out!: Talking About Love, Sex, and Eternity October 15 & 16, 2005 in Salt Lake City Together we’ll explore ways to grow from our relationships— whether with lovers, family, friends, community, or the divine. For more information, contact: Martha Hales at 532-3567 or radical_healing@xmission.com
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by JoSelle Vanderhooft joselle@slmetro.com Those who have missed the Utah Cyber Sluts colorful drag shows needn’t fear. The Sluts are still here, they’ve just gone offline to do some paperwork. “We’ve found out we do need to have bylaws registered with the state before we can legally do anything,” said Sluts president Steven Bolinder (Chevy Suburban). “We’ve been running without by-laws for the last five years. We decided it was time to get them done and the best way to do it was to go ahead and go into hiatus so we could spend all of our time getting them written and registered so we didn’t run into any problems.” As a charity that raises funds for a variety of causes throughout the year, including Toys for Tots and Camp Pinecliff Weekend (an annual camp for people with HIV/ AIDS), Bolinder says the Sluts have long known about the need for bylaws. But talks with members of fellow drag charity group the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire earlier this year convinced them to get the laws done as soon as possible. “We’ve always had kind of a tentative [set of laws] floating around,” said Bolinder. “This Madame did this or this Madame did that [and] there’s always kind of a copy floating around but nothing was ever legalized. I’m currently talking with the past Madame Superiors [presidents] of the group to see what worked and what didn’t work when they were in charge of the group so that we know when we write up the new ones that we’ve got all our bases covered.” The Sluts’ new bylaws will encompass a variety of procedural and organizational things. “We need to finalize how it’s structured and who takes over in the absence of the Madame Superior, or the president of the group, and exactly what the duties are
Publisher Michael Aaron Editor Jere Keys Arts Editor Eric J. Tierney Proofreader Nicholas Rupp
Opinion
Contributing Kim Burgess Writers Vanessa Chang Jason Clark Matthew Gerber Beau Jarvis Laurie Mecham Nicholas Rupp Mandy Q. Racer Ruby Ridge Kim Russo David Samsel Joel Shoemaker Brendan Shumway Eric J. Tierney Darren Tucker JoSelle Vanderhooft Ross von Metzke Ben Williams Contributing David Harris Photographers William H. Munk Kim Russo Art Director Michael Aaron Sales Director Steven Peterson Display Ad Dave Harris 548-6995 Sales Russ Moss 259-0844 801-323-9500 National Rivendell Media Advertising 212-242-6863 Representative 1248 Rte 22 West Mountainside NJ 07092
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Schwarzenegger Missing an Opportunity to be a Real Hero The annual reflection on the 9/11 attacks, the ongoing war in Iraq and the fallout of Hurricane Katrina have had a lot of people thinking about what constitutes a hero these days. Surely we can all agree that emergency rescue personnel who respond to catastrophic disasters deserve the title, even if they’re just doing their jobs. Also in the category of “just doing their jobs,” it’s safe to say that everyone considers soldiers who are willing to risk their lives in service to their country to be heroic, regardless of your thoughts on the reasons for the war itself. There are even some individuals and celebrities who showed true heroic spirit in responding to the gulf coast disaster by pitching in and lending a hand to the recovery efforts. These folks were roused to action even if it wasn’t part of their jobs, and that is, in some ways, more heroic. But there’s one celebrity who’s neither acting like a hero nor doing his job this month. And it’s a shame because Arnold Schwarzenegger used to be the very epitome of what we thought of when the word “hero” was thrown into a conversation. This month, he plans to veto a historic bill passed by the California legislature that would extend marriage to same-gender couples. His excuse that he’s following the law of the land from a 2000 ballot initiative known as the Knight Initiative is shamefully transparent. He’s afraid. He’s afraid of losing support from a conservative Republican base in Orange County and therefore losing his political career. Schwarzenegger claims the legislation is unconstitutional because it “goes against the will of the people.” Well, the will of the people changes and five years have passed since the 2000 vote. In that time, the state of California (and the nation) have further debated the topic as other countries have moved to make gay
marriage legal, San Francisco saw thousands of gay couples race to the altar in February 2004 and Massachusetts made it official. Schwarzenegger has every right to veto the bill. He must represent the people who voted him into office as he believes they would want him to represent them. What he should not be doing is claiming that the legislature acted unconstitutionally. We live in a republic, which means we elect people to make these decisions on our behalf. If Schwarzenegger truly believes that gay marriage is against the will of the people, it will be reflected in their voting choices at the time of elections. But we elect people to make our laws because we assume they will uphold the principals upon which our country was founded (such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness) and because we want people who can devote time to serious research and debate about the issue and not hyped-up hysteria spun by media-savvy talking heads. In short, a republic only works well if the people we elect are willing to look deeper than poll numbers and pass laws that may be unpopular but are ultimately the right thing to do. No one wants to pay higher taxes, but somebody has to decide that schools need more money. That’s why Schwarzenegger is missing an opportunity to actually be a hero instead of just playing one in movies. The California legislature has chosen to look deeper and discovered the truth: that gay marriage is a civil rights issue that has to do with fairness and equality for all American citizens. The legislators who voted in favor of the bill, even if it put them “at risk” come election time (according to popular wisdom), are just doing their jobs. Which makes them heroes, too.
From the Editor Complexity Theory by Jere Keys jere@slmetro.com While I did relatively well in high school mathematics, it was never a subject that held my interest. It was the same with most sciences, such as physics, chemistry and biology. I met all my college requirements with classes such as Math 120: Balancing Your Checkbook for Poets. That said, there are things about science and mathematics that continue to amaze me. An old roommate, a physics major, would boggle my mind with the “for dummies” explanations of some remarkable theories and phenomena. As he would explain the quantum principals behind such things, I’d see them as metaphors for human culture and behavior. I recently learned of another such theory that has captured my imagination. The simplest description I’ve found for complexity theory is: complex phenomena can arise from the interaction of seemingly simple elements. Of course, I could be getting that all wrong and the science egg-heads might be laughing at me right now, but that’s okay. Basically, my understanding of complexity theory boils down to a pretty cool concept. As an example, let’s talk about ginseng. For years, people have used ginseng to treat or prevent a variety of medical problems. Most scientists these days want to determine exactly which molecule it is that produces the desired result of lower blood pressure. If they cannot pin it down to a particular molecule or chemical equation, many will dismiss it as a psychological reaction—we “trick” our body into lowering our blood pressure. Complexity theory, on the other hand, supposes that the complex phenomena of lowered blood pressure isn’t the result of a single element or a psychosomatic response, but the result of the interaction of the many molecules, chemicals and psychological beliefs. In other words, it’s not a single cause, but many causes combined in ways that are difficult to study under current scientific method. The interaction of elements—both chemical and psychological—would be near impossible to study under controlled conditions, and may vary greatly from one person to the next. So what’s this got to do with the price of beer in a Salt Lake gay club? Well, there are metaphorical and practical applications of this theory when talking about the queer community. Like the never-ending search for the “gay gene.” Is being a homo the result of a simple genetic code, or is it the byproduct of environmental factors? Is it a choice or is it something you’re born with? Maybe the answer lies in the frightening gray area that requires people to think. Maybe the only true root of a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity is born out of the incalculably complex interaction of biology and culture. Which side wins the argument if that’s the case? Politicians don’t like complexity theory. It doesn’t make good sound bites. Is the disaster in New Orleans the fault of the federal government, local and state government, poverty, racism, the breakdown of nuclear families, or God’s wrath on us homosexuals? I’ve heard all those offered up as explanations for what happened. As a metaphor, I like complexity theory as a model of how I see the queer community (and a multicultural society, for what it’s worth) as well. It’s from the mixture of many different types and points of view that complex and seemingly unimaginable results can be accomplished. When we combine our unique talents and personalities, only our imagination can limit the possibilities. It’s not a Pollyanna-esque platitude, it’s scientific theory. Or is that idea too complex?
Letters Gender Biased Word Choice? “Who isn’t going to be a pussy about what we really want? Who has the cajones (sic) to tell the world…?” Did I really read these words in the Metro and from the Editor, no less? [“When Did We Lose Our Radicals?” Sept. 1, 2005] Sadly, he wasn’t quoting the captain of some high school football team. These were the best words he could come up with to express his dismay at the GLBT community leadership. Even though sticks and stones can break our bones, contrary to popular myth, words can hurt us. We already have to hear on an almost daily basis that “they” are better than “us.” Straights are better than gays. Twinks are better than trolls. Leathermen are better than drag queens and drag queens are better than everyone else. And now from the Metro, cojones are better than pussies. I hope that in future editorials the Metro will refrain from using metaphors suggesting that men are inherently better than women.
William H. Munk Salt Lake City Editor’s Note: Mea culpa! It was a poor word choice and illustrates the difficulty in finding language that communicates strong emotion without offending someone. However, from an individual and completely subjective point of view—which should not be interpreted as a judgment for the capa-
bilities or worth of any gender identity—I do rather prefer cojones to pussies. But that’s just a personal point of view.
LaVote Matters Dear Editor, I whole-heartedly agree that LaVar Christensen is our worst enemy in the legislature and for all queer Utahns who live in this state [“Public Enemy Number One,” Sept. 1, 2005]. That district was a good Democratic district until he unseated Trish Beck. LaVar Christensen and the Republicans totally smeared her good name by putting out lies about her. We lost that seat by a mere 33 votes and that year, 2000, we could have won some seats from those Republicans by a slim margin of 350 votes in other districts. So don’t tell me your vote doesn’t matter. It does! Now look at the mess we are in. The Stonewall Democrats and the Log Cabin Republicans had better work together to get the evil man out office. That should be our ultimate goal as a community—to give our money to whoever is running against that asshole from HELL. I know I will give what I can to see that man not elected again.
Mark Swonson Salt Lake City
Hang Around the E.R. Editor, I keep reading David Nelson’s insane letters
Lambda Lore High School Daze
Darrell Johnson Salt Lake City
Stats Can Prove Anything You Wish Dear Editor, Mr. Nelson and I may never see eye to eye on the subject of gun control, but I respect his right to voice his opinion [“Offer Rape Victims Advice About Defending Themselves,” Letters, Sept. 1, 2005]. But since opinions are like assholes (everyone has one), and statistics can prove nearly anything, I offer the following… Fact: In 1998, women were 101 times more likely to be murdered with a handgun than to use a handgun to kill in self-defense. Women were 302 times more likely to be murdered with a handgun than to use a handgun to kill a stranger in self-defense. Women were 83 times more likely to be murdered by an intimate acquaintance with a handgun than to kill an intimate acquaintance in self-defense. Fact: Guns are rarely used by rapists. In
By my junior year, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy had been murdered, the Tet Offensive in Vietnam was sending home weekly 300-plus young men in body bags, and LBJ said he would not run for re-election. His noble visions of the Great Society and War on Poverty were in shambles due to America’s military-industrial complex, which President Eisenhower had warned us against. The anti-war movement, the free speech movement, the beatnik-hippie movement, the free sex and birth control movement, and the Black Panthers were nightly distractions in the news. But since I was still in high school, these weightier issues didn’t seem very important to me. I was much more concerned with how to avoid gym class and when the next Superman comic would hit the stand. At twelve cents an issue, even I could afford to escape into the world of superheroes. I especially liked it when DC Comics started shadowing Superman’s crotch. It weaned me away from the Sears’ catalog underwear models, which were airbrushed to avoid any hit of bulginess. My high school years were a series of drudgeries to be endured. There is no other way to put it. There were no proms for me, no lettermen sweaters, no student
My sophomore year is a blur with the most vivid recognition being of the day Walt Disney died.
Utah, that number is 2.4% based on the studies we reported in the article Mr. Nelson mentions, and 93.4% of Utah’s sexual assaults involved no weapons of any kind. Women would be safer knowing self-defense to fight off an attacker than using a gun that can be turned against them. Fact: 86.2% of rape and sexual assault victims reported the attack taking place before their 18th birthday. In fact, the only time the average age for rape victims climbs above 18 is when victims are unable to consent or are drugged—situations in which guns would be useless for the victim—and even then the average age is only 19. Utah’s laws require all applicants for a concealed carry permit to be a minimum of 21 years of age. State law restricts juveniles under 18 from possessing handguns and juveniles under 14 from possessing other firearms without parental permission or authorized supervision. As to whether or not owning a firearm helps reduce crime, the arguments continue to fly back and forth with both sides citing many resources and statistics. Unless Mr. Nelson is advocating that minors be allowed to purchase and carry concealed weapons, I fail to see how gun rights apply to the topic of Utah’s rape problem.
Burt Angel Salt Lake City Salt Lake Metro welcomes letters from its readers. Please email letters@slmetro.com or mail your letter to: Editor, Salt Lake Metro, 352 S. Denver St. Ste 350, Salt Lake City, UT 84111. We reserve to right to edit for length or libel.
councils, or any other type of recognition. I said to myself at the time that I really didn’t want them, but in reality, I did not know how to achieve what seemed so easy for others, for I was a gay boy in the openlyhostile heterosexual world of high school. Now don’t think for a moment that I had any hint of gay pride! I should have said that I was a queer boy, with disturbing fantasies of being sexually aroused by other boys. I was highly ashamed of these “pathological abnormalities” and at all cost had to hide them from even the closest of friends. “Friends” is not quite the right word because if one was queer, as I, true friendships based on trust and confidentiality were not available. I was outside the pale of what others took for granted. And yet I tried to pass as normal, but I was far too artsy. I was just a tad bit too effeminate for my own good. Society had taught me well that I was contaminated by these feelings of male eroticism, therefore it became paramount not to draw attention to my sissy boy ways by being singled out or being noticed by anyone. To survive insurmountable labeling by sex-deprived teenage boys, it was necessary to be a chameleon, lest I incurred the righteous and pure indignation of someone intuitive enough to know that I was queer. After all, everyone knew that being queer was infectious, something you caught from others. Unclean! Unclean! Outside of the military, there was probably no more hostile, intimidating, and unreceptive environment than high school if one was gay in the sixties. And definitely —continued on page 23
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by Ben Williams ben@slmetro.com I read with great interest the three views of today’s queer youth in the last issue of the Metro. It got me to thinking about my own high school days some 40 years ago. I began high school in September 1965 and finished in June 1969. Lyndon B. Johnson was president and the world outside of high school was volatile. To say there was unrest in America in the sixties is, as they say, an understatement. By the time I was a high school freshman, the Vietnam War was already into its second year and would not end until I was a senior in college. That war was the single major milestone event of my generation. Here, in the land of the free, race riots erupted — not in the South where civil unrest led to marches and sit-ins, a source of constant agitation to my Texas relatives — but rather in northern cities such as Detroit and Chicago. I was not immune to these things by living in “white as wonder bread” Orange County, California either. Once, riding on a train coming home from a summer vacation in Texas, my sister and I rode through Los Angeles as the Watts Riots were in full fury. Standing between passenger cars with a black porter, I remember
at one railroad crossing a white couple getting out of their car and screaming racial obscenities at the porter. Even among my Texas relatives I had not seen such vileness directed against blacks. My sophomore year is a blur with the most vivid recognition being of the day Walt Disney died. I spent my childhood and much of my adolescence watching Disney explain things to us in his kind, reassuring tone. Whether it was the Mickey Mouse Club or the Wonderful World of Color, Walt Disney was almost like a member of my family, especially since I grew up in the shadow of Disneyland. Between the summer of my sophomore and junior year, it was the Summer of Love. I went to my first and only “love-in” at Irvine Park, where my sister drove me and my friend Jerry around while hundreds of flower children sat on the hoods of their cars or on blankets, tapping on tambourines and saying such cool things as “groovy,” “flower power,” and “peace,” while flashing two fingers, which in my father’s times stood for victory. In all that scenario of love, I didn’t see any type of love like that which secreted in my heart.
about packing guns and second amendment rights [“Offer Rape Victims Advice About Defending Themselves,” Letters, Sept. 1, 2005]. He used to be the voice of reason and still writes well, but whatever his disability or medication, something is messing with his head. As someone who sees firsthand the destructiveness of bullets, I would encourage Mr. Nelson to hang around the emergency room of the nearest hospital on a Saturday night. Perhaps this would temper his asinine stance on packing heat. Guns don’t make your penis grow or make you a man.
Ruby Ridge Living paint, and bunk them down in a confined space like a tent. Hmmm … Am I the only person on earth who thinks that’s just about as gay as gay ever gets? Puhlease, I don’t care how straight you by Ruby Ridge ruby@slmetro.com think you are, but that scenario has more blue balls than a McDonald’s playland. So, Petals, I pick When are you big, over-accessorized up the Sunday closet cases just going to get it over and Tribune and what done with and come out screaming? should cascade out Oh, come on! You know you want to, all over the floor but the clear-cut, dead and deep down Cabela’s knows you want rainforest that is the weekend ads. Most to as well. How else do you explain their of it I could live without, but Cherubs, “must have” phallus-shaped “jerky blastthere was one glossy little number that er” or the “portable big buddy heater” instantly piqued my interest and got my that provides 12 hours of “heat.” I am inner mountain man and testosterone not kidding, Pumpkins, that’s an actual just a-raging! A forty-page insert of guns, honest-to-God product on page 31, right clothes, boots, and outdoor parapherunder the ad for “smoking wood” and nalia advertising the grand opening celright next to the ebration of the new highly homoerotic Cabela’s superstore. “hot camp shower” I, for one, am (which can give really excited that For a mere $119.99 25 hot five minute Cabela’s chose showers from an to open such a and by claiming to 8 foot hose!). For convenient locaconserve water, you a mere $119.99 tion in Lehi. It’s not and by claiming surprising though can grab your best to conserve water, when you consider deer hunting buddy you can grab your all the edgy polygabest deer hunting mists in Bluffdale and commune in buddy and comand all the antithe great outdoors mune in the great government militias and survivalists in together while sharing outdoors together while sharing a Utah County. Hey, a camouflage loofah camouflage loofah they need ammunition, camouflage and some pine-scented and some pinescented soap on a and black powder soap on a rope. rope. While you’re in bulk, so it just exfoliating each makes sense to put other’s backs, you it all under one roof. can belt out some But I have to tell show tunes like “I’m gonna wash that you, the thing that just cracked me up man right out of my hair” from South all week was their ad for this king-sized Pacific at the top of your lungs and in camouflage comforter set—complete two-part harmony. Hey it’s BFE in the with a camouflage bed skirt—and two, upper Uintahs … who’s going to know? yes, count them, cherubs, TWO matching And the best thing is if he gets a boner camouflage pillow shams. How fauxtoo, do you think he’s going to tell everybutch is that? I laughed so hard I thought one on the ward’s half court basketball I was going to blow un-lady-like chunks team? Oh, I don’t think so, Cupcakes! As all over the “arts and entertainment” section. When I eventually composed myself, generations of repressed, supposedly “heterosexual” Utah men will be very it dawned on me that despite all of their quick to tell you: “What happens in Deer macho posturing, Cabela’s is living proof Camp … stays in Deer Camp!” It’s a venthat “straight” men do some seriously erable Utah tradition and, might I add, over-the-top drag. my personal favorite! Ciao campers! Take the whole camping-slash-deerhunting thing for example. You get four Ruby Ridge is a well-known Salt Lake City or five guys without their wives and entertainer who supports local charities girlfriends, drive them far away from and raises funds for worthy causes. She is anxiously waiting for Coleman to come out civilization and any type of accountwith a camouflage coffee press and matching ability, load them up with alcohol, put biscotti warmer. them in camouflage fetish drag and face
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SALT LAKE METRO ■ SEPTEMBER 15, 2005
Hunting Wabbits
AberRant Moving Daze By Laurie Mecham laurie@slmetro.com You know what I love? I love moving. Moving, oral surgery, and getting kicked repeatedly in the groin. Yep, the good life. Don’t get me wrong, I also appreciate IRS audits, food poisoning and swallowing my own tongue, but today I’d like to just focus in on the pleasures of moving. Painting, packing, cleaning, using your back instead of your knees to lift heavy objects—what could be more satisfying? Moving can be a wonderful growth experience, especially for couples. Here are just a few of the many benefits that can be gained through the process of moving.
DEEPENING INTIMACY
What we learned through this intimacy-enhancing process of packing was basic, yet priceless. Pack in separate houses if possible; if not, at least pack in separate rooms.
DEVELOPING AN AWARENESS OF THE WORLD AROUND YOU In the cleaning process, I was going through a shoebox filled with old pens, shoe polish, buttons, etc. I basically threw
TAKING TIME TO BREATHE
One of the more exciting aspects of our move has been selling our house. This exhilarating ride gives you the opportunity to show the charm and perfection of your home at a moment’s notice. It’s a dream come true, like starring in your own commercial. Yes, selling your house is a bona-fide fantasyland of daily cleaning, take-out food and spending long hours hiding in your car while the realtor shows someone through “between 1 and 5 p.m.” Did I mention that you have to make the bed every day? Selling your house is filled with suspense, wonder, and mystery. “What was that couple doing in the back yard? Did they love the kitchen? Do they really have any money? Was the older woman with them a mom or an aunt, or are they polyamorous?” It’s fun when you are expecting an offer, too, because it’s just like reading your lottery ticket as they call out the numbers, except they only call one number every 24 hours, so it kind of draws out the suspense. The process of moving can be stressful. When the stress builds up, I have good friends who remind me to breathe. Sillies! I deal quite well with stress. And besides, between the gasping and the sighing, I AM FUCKING BREATHING. Ahem. Breathing…and growing.
Laurie Mecham was kind of hoping she could get some sympathy, but then the Universe spoke to her with two words: Hurricane Katrina. So she’s sorry for being such a selfish dick.
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801.595.0666 Providing individual, couple and various support groups for the lesbian and gay community. 352 Denver Street Ste 240 • Salt Lake City UT 84111
SEPTEMBER 15, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 13
Moving offers us an opportunity to get to know one another in a whole new way, such as through the requisite inventory of personal stuff. You could probably describe your partner through an artistic method such as assembling a collection of meaningful objects, sort of a threedimensional still-life representation. Annie and I have been learning about one another through such objects, and it is a deeply personal process. At least, I take it personally. If she merely touches an item that I have set aside to pack, I immediately become defensive. It started with books. She would occasionally hold one up and read the title, “Fascinating Womanhood?” always with a question mark. Being a skilled mind reader, I knew what she really meant. “Are you freakin’ kidding me? You want to take up precious packing space with this DEBRIS?” OK, maybe she wasn’t judging. She said she wasn’t. But I felt like she must be. And when I asked a perfectly innocent question about how many of her old softball gloves she really needed, I wasn’t casting aspersions on her preferences; I was just trying to, um, plan. I was trying to plan the size of the storage shed. Then there is the packing of clothing. “Honey, should I keep this?” That is not the first line of a win—win situation. You might as well ask, “Honey, does this make me look (choose one) fat / old / matronly / clueless / like I’m in drag?” What we learned through this intimacy-enhancing process was basic, yet priceless. Pack in separate houses if possible; if not, at least pack in separate rooms.
it out because something had leaked in the shoebox and the contents were just crap anyway. There were a couple of items I salvaged, scissors and some nail clippers that just had a tiny spot of dried whatever had leaked, and I polished that away with a cloth. After a little while, I really started sneezing. You know how cleaning stirs up the dust. I went into the bathroom and blew my nose. Then a strange thing happened: both my nostrils started to kind of burn. The burning quickly intensified, so I washed my hands really well and washed my face and even inside my nostrils, just to be on the safe side. The burning was spreading to my cheeks and lips so I hurried and took a Benadryl, thinking I was terribly allergic to something. Then it hit me—one of the crap items that I tossed out of the box was an old can of PEPPER SPRAY. Who can guess what had leaked? Anyone? Looking back, I’m just glad I didn’t touch my eyes, or any other tender bits for that matter. The bigger lesson is, tune in to the world around you. Otherwise, you may end up macing yourself, or worse: someone you love.
Theatre Listings
FALL ARTS PREVIEW 2005 THEATRE
SALT LAKE METRO ■ SEPTEMBER 15, 2005 ■
Sep. 20–Oct. 16
Man from Nebraska Nov. 15–Dec. 11 I Am My Own Wife Jan. 3–29, 2006
All performances at Salt Lake Acting Company, 168 W. 500 North. Tickets available at 355-2787 or arttix.org. Info at saltlakeactingcompany.org.
PLAN-B THEATRE COMPANY Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Small Companies Rule The Scene
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SALT LAKE ACTING COMPANY Swimming in the Shallows
Boy Jan. 31–Feb. 26, 2006
Provocative Drama Rules in Utah’s Theatre Community by Eric J. Tierney eric@slmetro.com Salt Lakers are lucky to have an unusually diverse array of programming at hand when it comes to theatre. From classics at the Utah Shakespearean Festival to lavish musicals at Pioneer Theatre Company to the latest and greatest in contemporary playwriting at Salt Lake Acting Company, even the most discerning theatergoer will find something to love this season on Utah’s stages. Up first is the SLAC production of Swimming in the Shallows. Four very eclectic friends “can’t get no satisfaction.” Barb envies the Buddhist monks... they own only eight things... but is a pair of shoes one or two things, and is husband Bob one of the things she must give up? Nick is gay, lost and looking for love... but, with a Mako shark? Donna and Carla Carla’s wedding is on again, off again. Playwright Adam Bock is a wild and wonderful new voice in American theatre and in his improbable and freshly comic world anything is possible. Swimming in the Shallows opens at the SLAC Theater (168 W. 500 North) on Sept. 20, and tickets can be purchased by calling 363-SLAC. But as recent successes by the likes of Plan-B Theatre Company demonstrate, Salt Lake’s theatre scene has been invigorated in the past several years by the founding and expansion of a number of smaller, semi-professional companies. These theatres have produced some of the most challenging, innovative and exciting fare in recent seasons, and this year promises to be the best yet. One of the reasons for Plan-B’s success is returning. Due to popular demand, Plan B is reprising its 2003 production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch for 14 performances in the 240-seat Black Box Theatre. The full cast (Aaron Swenson as Hedwig, Jeanette Puhich as Yitzak) and band are intact! This show won many local awards and Salt Lake Metro is proud to be the exclusive media sponsor of this reprise performance. Opens November 17. All tickets $25 (Students get two-for-one) on sale now by calling 355ARTS. Tooth and Nail Theatre and Pygmalion Productions are two more success stories. Amongst the smallest and youngest serious companies on the scene, both have risen quickly through the ranks to join SLAC and Plan-B as go-to venues for the unexpected and provocative. Tooth and Nail’s annual mountings of David Sedaris’ The Santaland Diaries have become the kind of holiday tradition for Salt Lake’s liberal set that Hale Centre Theatre’s A Christmas Carol is for conservative suburbanites. Crumpet the misanthropic department store elf will return this December 8-30 for a fifth year, played once again by Todd Parmley, the acclaimed actor who created the role for T&N’s first production of the
Here is a selection of offerings by Utah theatres this fall:
November
Performances at Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W Broadway. Tickets at 355-2787 or arttix.org. Info at planbtheatrecompany.org.
BABCOCK THEATRE Iphegienia at Aulis Sep 17-24
Richard III Oct 12-23 Assassins Nov 9-20 On the Razzle Jan 18-29 Performances at Babcock Theatre, 300 S 1400 East. Tickets at 5817100 or arttix.org. Info at www. theatre.utah.edu/calendar_current/ babcock.htm.
EGYPTIAN THEATRE COMPANY
Cast of Salt Lake Acting Company’s Swimming in the Shallows
piece. But first, Tooth and Nail’s new season opens with Timocina and the Crocodiles (October 15-30, Rose Wagner) an original children’s play by Bennington. The piece tells the story of nineyear-old Timocina, whose enormous painting of crocodiles has the judges of the county art contest quite puzzled, especially since the girl insists the crocs have appeared to her in dreams to ask for her help in saving their doomed planet. Soon enough, the crocodiles appear in the flesh to teach Timocina and her friends about the power of art. Salt Lake is sorely lacking in decent children’s theatre, and Bennington, who has a background working with esteemed companies like the Sundance Children’s Theatre, hopes the new play will give Salt Lake families the kind of quality production they deserve. Pygmalion Productions will be equally busy in the coming year. After last season’s much-hyped production of Popcorn, as well as critical successes like Cakewalk and The Maiden’s Prayer, executive producer Nancy Roth and company will present another roster of plays featuring what has become the company’s trademark mixture of the hilarious and the heartfelt. First up is the comedy Wonder of the World (Oct. 7-29). The play, by David Lindsay Abaire, author of last year’s highly successful SLAC comedy Kimberly Akimbo, tells the story of young Cass Harris, who experiences an epiphany while watching a television program about Niagara Falls. Armed with a “wish list” of life experiences she has yet to have, she flees her husband and heads for the mythical falls, along the way encountering suicidal alcoholics,
helicopter pilots who are afraid of heights, and geriatric amateur sleuths. With previous stagings of comedies like The Food Chain, Pygmalion has demonstrated a unique flair for Abarire’s style of absurd comedy. For Wonder of the World, they’ve assembled some first-rate talent, including audience favorite Ron Jewett, Betsy West, and Lane Richins. The season will take a more serious turn with the company’s next offering, the haunting Knowing Cairo by hot young playwright Andrea Stolowitz (Feb 3-19, 2006). The play tells the story of an aging German-Jewish New Yorker, her daughter and her African-American caretaker, whom the daughter suspects of deceiving her mother. With humor, poignancy, and grace, the play deals with questions of aging, race, trust, and family obligations. Fran Pruyn will direct the sublime Marilyn Holt, one of Utah’s most treasured performers, in the pivotal role of Rose. She will join frequent Pygmalion collaborator Barb Gandy and newcomer Yolanda Wood. This fall’s theater season will offer audiences a host of programming options, and all Salt Lake theatres are sure to maintain the commitment to quality that patrons expect. This season, though, in addition to the usual stops at PTC and SLAC, audiences would do well to drop in at the Rose Wagner and experience what Utah’s smaller companies have to offer: fine work by up and coming artists who encourage us to expect the unexpected. All performances take place at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. Broadway. Tickets available- at 355-2787 or arttix.org, toothandnailtheatre.com, pygmalionproductions.org.
Seussical: the Musical Nov 25-Dec 31 Performances at Egyptian Theatre, 328 Main Street, Park City. Tickets at 435-649-9371 or arttix.org. Info at egyptiantheatrecompany.org.
PIONEER THEATRE COMPANY Metamorphoses Sep 14–Oct 1 Sherlock Holmes and the West End Horror Oct 19–Nov 5 Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Nov 30–Dec 24 Humble Boy Jan 11–28, 2006 All performances at Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, 300 S. 1400 East. Tickets at 581-6961 or pioneertheatre.org.
UTAH SHAKESPEREAN FESTIVAL All’s Well That Ends Well The Foreigner Pippin All shows run in repertory Sep 22Oct 29 at the Utah Shakesperean Festival on the campus of Southern Utah University in Cedar City. Tickets at 1-800-PLAYTIX or bard.org. Information at bard.org.
DANCE
Utah Dance Company Brings World-Class Entertainment Repertory Dance Theatre by Eric J. Tierney eric@slmetro.com
In the New York Post, legendary critic Clive Barnes called it “a dance company all America should see.” Established in 1966, it is one of the oldest professional dance companies in the country. Its dancers have graced the cover of the Smithsonian’s magazine. It has performed in more than 300 cities throughout North America and Europe. Its repertory is the stuff of legend; a living archive of a century of dance in America, it includes works by Isadora Duncan and Merce Cunningham, not to mention cutting-edge pieces the company commissions on a regular basis. Who is this legendary company? Alvin Ailey? Paul Taylor? No—it’s Utah’s own Repertory Dance Theatre, which this month will open its fortieth anniversary season. Fittingly, the company opens the season with a celebration of old and new. Titled Touchstone, the concert, opening later this month, features four dances— two world premieres, a solo piece, and a tribute to company founder Virginia Tanner, which will be performed in collaboration with Children’s Dance Theatre. Bricks, the first piece, is RDT’s sixth collaboration since 1993 with esteemed choreographer Zvi Gotheine. The piece is an exploration of “building, creation, and restoration” that features a new score by composer Scott Killian. The evening continues with World Dance, a new piece by Guggenheim fellow Kathryn Posin, a faculty member at New School University in New York. The dance is an amalgam of world dance styles, from classical ballet to tango to folkloric dance from across the globe. After a solo piece by former company member Todd Allen, the evening concludes with Together... Again, a piece originally created in part by current artistic director Linda C. Smith in 1978. The dance is a tribute to Virginia Tanner,
BALLET WEST The Nutcracker (50th Anniversary production) December 9–31 Romeo and Juliet (Prokofiev score) February 10,11 15–18, 2006 Swan Lake April 14,15, 19–22, 2006
Touchstone: September 29–October 1, 2005 at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center (138 W 300 South. Tickets are $25, ($15 for students and seniors), and are available by calling ArtTix at 801-355-ARTS
An Evening of Ballets Featuring: Hans van Manen’s In and Out Antony Tudor’s Echoing and Trumpets George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations May 26, 27, 31, June 1-3, 2006
RIRIE-WOODBURY DANCE COMPANY
ODYSSEY DANCE Thriller
Voices Sep 22-24
Oct. 21–29 Kingsbury Hall
Mama Eddy’s Right On Boarding House January 27–28, 2006
It’s a Wonderful Life Dec. 16–24 Kingsbury Hall
Vistas April 20-22, 2006
All performances at Capitol Theatre, 50 W, 200 South. Tickets at 355-2787. Information at balletwest.org.
All performances at Jeanne Wagner Theatre, 138 W. Broadway. Tickets at 355-2787. Information at ririewoodbury.com.
Shut Up and Dance March 15–25, 2006 Rose Wagner The Dance June 15–17, 2006 Capitol Theatre Tickets at 355-2787. Information at odysseydance.com.
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Dance Listings
founder of Children’s Dance Theatre and the woman whose vision for a professional dance company in Utah led to the formation of RDT. Current dancers from Children’s Dance Theatre will join RDT onstage for the piece, which promises to be an eye-popping, heartwarming finale to a great night of dance. Each performance will be preceded by a pre-concert lecture with artistic director Linda C. Smith and the concert’s guest choreographers. But the celebration does not end there. The rest of the season’s concerts will explore the history of the company and of American dance. On November 18, RDT opens Time Capsule: A Century of Dance, a tour through one hundred years of work beginning with Duncan, continuing with the avant garde and post-modern movements, and moving right through to today’s most cuttingedge contemporary work. The final major concert of the season will be a major undertaking by RDT in conjunction with the Springville Museum of Art. Postcards from Utah will feature “movement postcards” created by RDT dancers and alumni, including some of Utah’s favorite names: Brent Schneider, Stephen Brown, Todd Allen, and Michael K. Bruce, among others. The company’s monthly “Ring Around the Rose” will continue throughout the year. Each month, RDT brings a guest artist to its home at the Rose Wagner and, for only five dollars, stages a performance designed to introduce children and their families to the art of dance. Highlights in the upcoming season will include the Starry Eyed Puppets and guest artists from Ballet West performing highlights from Sleeping Beauty. Forty years after its creation, Repertory Dance Theatre has become the nation’s most valuable repository of American modern dance history. Thorough its continual commission of new work, Repertory remains on the cutting edge of the art form, contributing immeasurably to Utah’s cultural wealth. Here’s wishing Utah’s dance-loving community another forty successful years of entertainment and artistry from RDT.
On Sale Now!
FALL ARTS PREVIEW 2005
Emmy® Award Winning • Tony® Award Nominated
MUSIC
Nine Inch Nails: Oct. 4, E Center, 7:30pm. Tickets at 467-TIXX or smithstix.com
Concerts Aplenty
Of course, not every band playing Utah this fall will be selling out our vast, acoustically-muddled arenas. Some of the best shows you’ll see this season will be in Salt Lake’s theaters and clubs. Death Cab For Cutie, for example, will bring their entrancing mix of pith and melancholy to In the Venue in early October. The band shot to prominence with 2003’s critically acclaimed Transatlanticism and early buzz about the justreleased Plans is equally positive. Indie god Conor Oberst—better known as Bright Eyes—plays Kingsbury in November. Oberst is a musical force of nature—at 24, he’s twelve years into his recording career, is the founder of his own label, Saddle Creek Records, and has been hailed as the new Bob Dylan. As a musician who is totally his own man, the comparison is apt: witness his two most recent albums—I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning is the stuff of 70’s folk, and Digital Ash In a Digital Urn follows in the techno footsteps of Radiohead. Other indie acts this fall will include critical darlings My Morning Jacket (11/01/05, In the Venue, 7:30, smithstix. com) Coheed and Cambria (10/09/05, Saltair, 7pm, smithstix.com) and a host of acts at the X96 Big Ass Show (9/24/05, Utah State Fairpark, doors open at 11am, smithstix.com) Fall is as good as any time to go honky-tonkin’, and Utah’s vast number of country fans will have plenty to two-step to this year. Country legends Brooks and Dunn—who have given us everything from the Boot Scootin’ Boogie to My Maria—will strut their stuff in October, and country hearththrob and CMA Male Vocalist of the Year Keith Urban pulls into town this week. With two doubleplatinum albums, Be Here and Golden Road, and seven radio hits in three years, Urban just may one day join the ranks of the Stones and U2 himself. Better see him now while the tickets are reasonable. Brooks and Dunn: Oct. 8, Usana Amphitheatre, 7pm, smithstix.com Keith Urban: 09/16/05, E Center, 7:30pm, 467-TIXX smithstix.com
by Eric J. Tierney eric@slmetro.com
SEPTEMBER 27-OCTOBER 2 • CAPITOL THEATRE
OCTOBER 12 KINGSBURY HALL Tickets at 581-7100 or www.KingsburyHall.org
OCTOBER 25-30 • CAPITOL THEATRE
Original Broadway Cast: Photos: Joan Marcus and Paul Kolnik
AN ASTONISHING NEW AMERICAN MUSICAL
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“A GUARANTEED, DANCING-INTHE-AISLES, GET-HAPPY HIT!” UPN-9
November 15-27 • Capitol Theatre www.mamma-mia.com
CALL 355-ARTS OR ONLINE AT WWW.ARTTIX.ORG. GROUPS OF 20+ CALL 355-2200
© Littlestar
SALT LAKE METRO ■ SEPTEMBER 15, 2005
www.LittleWomenOnBroadway.com
As summer wanes, so does the concert season. After long months living on cramped busses on the road, eating endless plates of fried chicken in the charmless concrete bowels of a thousand different arenas, hardworking musicians usually pack it in when the weather gets nippy. But there are a few brave souls who, through rain, sleet, snow or hail, trudge gamely across the country to keep us entertained, and this year is no exception. This fall and winter, Utah will play host to some of the biggest, brightest, and best that music has to offer. Here’s a sampling: There is a small brotherhood of names that come up consistently whenever someone asks who the greatest live bands of all time are. Two of the most reliable names on that list will play the Delta Center this year, when the Rolling Stones and U2 roll into town. Don’t let all that talk about granddads in leather pants fool you—the Stones look a little worse for the wear, to be sure, but they are still unrivaled in showmanship, musicianship, and the general ability to, quite literally, rock you. A Stones show is not to be missed, whether you’ve been listening to them for three decades or you only know them by reputation. When a king comes to town, you go and pay your respects. An alarming number of people describe seeing a U2 show as “spiritual” or “religious.” While the most recent albums have featured a tempered, more sedate sound, any doubts that U2 is still one of the greatest rock bands of all time are dispelled in the first two minutes of a live show. There is nothing these lads can’t do, and do better than anyone else. If you see only two shows this year, these are the two to see. Rolling Stones: Nov. 22, Delta Center, 7:30pm. Tickets at ticketmaster.com U2: Dec. 17, Delta Center, 7:30pm. Tickets at ticketmaster.com Then again, some acts just seem more suited to colder weather. A smoky evening in October, when the light is failing and the chill increasing, seems like the perfect time for a Nine Inch Nails show. Trent Reznor is back with his first fulllength studio album in six years, With Teeth, and he’s mounting a rare world tour in support of it. Some say a NIN show is not so much a rock concert as it is a kind of theatrical event. Whatever you want to call it, you can trust that it will be very loud, very dark and very, very worth the price of admission.
Of course, we couldn’t get through fall without a visit from a gay icon. In late October, amidst a crowd of ass-kicking Harajuku girls, the one and only Gwen Stefani will descend from on high to spell “bananas” for us at the E Center. In tow will be the Black Eyed Peas. Oct. 25, E Center, 7:30pm, 467-TIXX or smithstix.com Summer may be over, but with a bumper-crop of hot musical acts to take in this fall, Salt Lake concert-goers are sure to find a lot to be thankful for.
CHORAL
Poetry is Music to Their Ears by Matthew Gerber matthew@slmetro.com
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” So ends the famous poem “The Road Not Taken,” one of seven Robert Frost poems adapted to song in composer Randall Thompson’s Frostiana. Jon Berry, member of the Salt Lake Men’s Choir and bass section leader, feels that the words of this poem send a powerful message, particularly to the queer community: “If you choose the path that’s right for you, [life is] going to work out.” The Salt Lake Men’s Choir, along with the Utah State University Women’s Choir, will be presenting Frostiana at their fall concert “Frost in Autumn.” Held October 26 at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, the concert is a unique collaboration between the choirs, both of which are directed separately by Lane Cheney. The combined choir will perform the piece in Logan as well. Since its inception in 1982, the Salt Lake Men’s Choir has entertained audiences with traditional and non-traditional repertoire alike. While Frostiana aims to please with a more traditional choral slant, the Christmas concert, “A Hard Campy Christmas,” will be reminiscent of lighter choir performances, such as last season’s all-male version of
Choral Listings Here is a selection of offerings from other Utah dance companies in the coming season:
ANTHEMS FOR SPRING Oct. 26 , 7:30pm Leona Wagner Black Box Theatre Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center 138 W Broadway, Salt Lake City UNEXPECTED SONGS June 25, 7:30pm Jeanne Wagner Theatre, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center 138 W Broadway, Salt Lake City Tickets available at 355-ARTS or arttix.org. For more information, visit saltlakemenschoir.org
Eu ri pi de s
Kingsbury Hall Box Office
T h e
U n i v e r s i t y
L. L. Wes t Di re ct ed by
581–710 0
o f
U t a h ’s
CELEBRATIN
4
Since 1966... America’s Premiere Modern Dance Repertory Company
September 17 & 18 24 & 25
YEA
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The Classical Greek Theatre Festival
Legacy Season 2005-2006 Touchstone Sept 29 - Oct 1
Time Capsule: A Century of Dance Nov 18, 25-26
Postcards from Utah Apr 6-8
Iphigenia in Aulis by Euripides
October 12-16 & 20-23 November 9-13 & 17-20 Richard III
by Shakespeare
Assassins
music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim book by John Weidman
January 18-22 & 26-29 March 1-5 & 8-11 On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard
Season Performances Family Concerts Adult Dance Classes
Angels in America: Perestroika by Tony Kushner
Repertory Dance Theatre 801-534-1000 www.rdtutah.org
Kingsbury Hall Box Office
5 81 - 710 0
Lower Level of Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre University of Utah • Salt Lake City, Utah
SEPTEMBER 15, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 17
A CAMPY CANDY CHRISTMAS Dec. 11, 7:30pm Jeanne Wagner Theatre, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center 138 W Broadway, Salt Lake City
m. T he 9: 00 a. w ill s pe rf or m an ce t on be he ld in fr tran ce of en of th e w es t Pi on ee r th e Si m m on s at re . he M em or ia l T
Tickets are available online at www.arttix.org or at the box office the night of the show.
SALT LAKE MEN’S CHOIR
FROST IN AUTUMN Oct. 26, 7:30pm Jeanne Wagner Theatre, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center 138 W Broadway, Salt Lake City
35th
September 17–18 • 24–25, 2005
Salt Lake Men’s Choir
Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and Oliver Button is a Sissy. Wesley Brady, a choir member for over 20 years and interim choir president, describes “A Hard Campy Christmas” as “lighter, campier holiday fare,” a break from more traditional arrangements that are generally the staple of holiday concerts. The choir will round out the season with “Anthems for Spring,” a musical celebration of that time of year. The summer concert is entitled “Unexpected Songs.” How does the predominantly gay choir stay fresh after 23 years? Brady believes the answer lies in performing “a wide variety” of music. The range of pieces performed in the past few seasons is evidence of the choir’s versatility. Berry credits artistic director Lane Cheney with unique ideas for performances. The Choir has performed in a number of venues ranging from the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, where it represented our state at the Utah Day celebration, to the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia during a trip to perform at the Gay Games. While there are currently no major tours planned, the choir will be singing at the St. George Opera House and Utah State University, as well as their regular performance space at Rose Wagner during the current season.
FALL ARTS PREVIEW 2005 TELEVISION
Television That’s Queer-Tastic! by Jere Keys jere@slmetro.com
“A
SCREWY LITTLE JEWEL OF A PLAY
”
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SALT LAKE METRO ■ SEPTEMBER 15, 2005
k c o B By Adam
An offbeat romantic comedy about 4 friends (and a shark) addicted to love, smoking, and unnecessary stuff.
Q: How in the world did you come up with the idea of a gay shark for “Swimming in the Shallows?”
Adam Bock is a wild and wonderful new voice in American theatre and in his improbable and freshly comic world anything is possible.
Adam Bock: After writing a skit about two drag queens being attacked by a shark, I thought, “what if somone fell in love with a shark?”
SEPT20OCT16 Age 30 and Under Tickets $18 For Tickets call 363-SLAC or 355-ARTS
SLAC
The Salt Lake Acting Company 1 6 8 We s t 5 0 0 N o r t h w w w. s a l t l a k e a c t i n g c o m p a n y. o r g
Post-Labor Day tends to be a time most of us don’t get too excited about. Commuting becomes slower because of school zones, hunky guys start wearing shirts again and we know it’s only a matter of weeks until it’s time to start shopping for the holidays. If there’s one thing to look forward to, it’s the new fall season of television shows. Queer television viewers have made a significant impact on the landscape of Hollywood in recent years. Not only have we set trends in what’s gossip-worthy and what’s not, we’re finally starting to see gay networks across the U.S. Perhaps you’re wondering where to turn your attention this season. Well, fire up the TiVo or adjust the rabbit ears as we present a rundown of our top picks for Queer-tastic television.
Will & Grace—I know that many people feel like Will and Grace has lost its way in the last few seasons, but tune in for the final season and enjoy it while you can, because Hollywood isn’t looking so kind for gay characters on network television after this year. A primetime line-up without Karen or Jack? Is there any reason to go on? (Thursdays, 7:30pm, NBC, live premier September 29) Smallville—Last season of the high school Superman series featured an awful lot of plot lines that involved Tom Welling naked. There was the episode where he was naked in bed, the episode where he was tied up naked in the barn, the one where he was naked in … (swoons). But this is the WB and it’s a safe bet that you can find pretty eye-candy on any of it’s hour-long teenage soap operas if there’s nothing better to watch. (Thursdays, 7pm, The WB, September 29)
RETURNING SHOWS Desperate Housewives—Of all the breakout hits in the 2004-2005 season, nothing captured the hearts of the gay community quite like the gals and (gorgeous, manly, sweaty, hot) guys of Wisteria Lane. A primetime soap opera with a campy sense of humor, we’re all waiting on pins and needles to find out if Jesse Metcalfe is going to have to help his roommate Ryan Carnes in the shower as he recovers from his injuries. (Sundays, 9pm, ABC, premiers September 25) The West Wing—A favorite of the Metro staff (if you hadn’t noticed), last season breathed new life into the series. It’s election time in an alternate universe where President Bartlett once filled two Supreme Court vacancies with an outspoken conservative and an outspoken liberal because the debate and discussion is more important than the politics of it all. The new season will let us know if Jimmy Smits or Alan Alda is the new President, and which series regulars will be calling their agents for audition work. (Sundays, 8pm, NBC, premiers September 25) Lost—During those few moments when the prettiest castaways in television history weren’t mostly undressed, I’d try to guess which background extras were the gay ones. But then Ian Somerhalder or Josh Holloway would take off their shirts and I’d forget what I was thinking about. Anyway, the season ended with the nighttime discovery of a really big hole, so who knows what could happen next. (Wednesdays, 8pm, ABC, Premiers September 21)
Tina Fey of Bravo’s ASSSSCAT Improv
Nip/Tuck—Now beginning its third season, this show has already gone places many dramas fear to tread. Of all the shows on television, few make me cringe like Nip/Tuck, whether it’s the realistic portrayals of plastic surgery, or the realistic portrayals of shallow, screwed up people. Still, like rubbernecking at a car accident, I can’t tear my eyes away. (Tuesdays, 10pm, FX, premiers September 20) NEW SHOWS ASSSSCAT Improv—The improv show featuring gay fan favorites like Tina Fey and Amy Poehler has the makings of another breakout hit for the queer-friendly Bravo channel. (Wednesdays, 10pm, Bravo, premiered September 7)
been thinking of, it’s Martha Stewart. Funny, when superwealthy celebrities act like tyrants and taskmaster bosses, it makes good television. When a liberal mayor in a conservative state does it, it makes a scandal. (Wednesdays, 7pm, NBC, September 21)
Jesse Metcalfe of ABC’s Desperate Housewives
Commander in Chief—Geena Davis as president? Sounds as unlikely as … a moderate Republican or part-Hispanic Democrat. Well, in the fantasy versions of America offered by Hollywood, we can all dream of the day it really happens. (Tuesdays, 7pm, ABC, premiers September 27) The Apprentice: Martha Stewart—Okay, reality television is starting to lose its appeal. But if there’s anyone who knows how to take something tired and mundane and turn it into a fabulous centerpiece for that dinner party you’ve
How I Met Your Mother—I’m not sure what about this show might appeal to the average gay viewer, but I’m tuning in because I love Alyson “Band-camp and Buffy’s-lesbianwitch-pal” Hannigan and Neil Patrick “Doogie” Harris. (Mondays, 7:30pm, CBS, premiers Sept. 19) Prison Break—While there probably won’t be much gay sex or prison rape in this show, fans of OZ can still get their fix of rugged, muscular, thuggish types. (Mondays, 8pm, Fox, premiered August 29) Transgeneration—What’s the difference between documentary and reality television? Is it just the subject matter? In that reality/documentary category, the Sundance Channel is presenting an 8 episode series about four college students determined to switch their physical genders. (Tuesdays, 9pm, The Sundance Channel, premiers September 20).
Lack of Diversity in 2005-06 TV Season Gay characters represent less than 2 percent of landscape Of these 16 characters, 13 are male and three are female; 13 are white, with one gay character each representing African Americans, Latinos and Asian Pacific Islanders. “If you’re looking at network television to see a good cross section of our community, you’re not going to find it. What you will find is primarily gay white males,” Romine says. Cable, meanwhile, continues to traverse boundaries by exploring our lives, families and careers in multi-dimensional ways. GLAAD counts 25 LGBT characters that will appear on cable series in the 2005-06 season. “At this critical juncture in our struggle for equality, television’s potential for driving public understanding of who we are and what we’re fighting for is more important than ever,” Romine says. “Since network television still captures a much larger audience than cable, GLAAD will continue to advocate for richer and more diverse representations from the broadcast networks.” For more of GLAAD’s analysis of queer representation on television, visit www.glaad.org.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 19
After a promising network pilot season that saw many new shows developed with gay and lesbian characters, the actual number of queer representations on the six major broadcast networks will comprise less than 2% of all characters on the networks’ 2005-06 schedule, according to an analysis conducted by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). GLAAD counts only 16 “series regular” and recurring gay, lesbian and bisexual roles (there continue to be no transgender characters) scheduled to appear on 14 different scripted programs (out of 110 total) on the broadcast networks. While this number is up from the 11 characters counted last season, the lack of representation is still cause for concern. “Out of 710 ‘series regulars’ that will appear this season on the broadcast networks, gay, lesbian and bisexual characters make up less than 2%,” says GLAAD Entertainment Media Director Damon Romine. “This is a shocking misrepresentation of reality and of the audience watching these programs.”
drinking milk is sure to shoot it right out his nose. Now I’ve made it sound more dangerous than funny.
FAITH PRINCE SEE FRIDAY, SEPT 16
8pm, Capitol Theatre, 50 W 200 South. Tickets $25 at 355-2787 or arttix.org
THE GAY AGENDA 16FRIDAY Time again for the monthly Salt Lake Gallery Stroll, which is good for several reasons: it’s your chance to see the opening of some terrific shows and exhibitions in a number of our fine Salt Lake galleries, it’s a possibility that you’ll get free hors d’oeuvres and sometimes wine, and it’s a chance to have a truly fantastic night out that costs you nothing. Here’s the skinny on a couple of new shows opening tonight: A new Group Sculpture exhibition will open tonight at A Gallery and run through Sep. 30th. The show features 3D works by Utah artists in ceramic, bronze, glass, metal, fabricated steel and natural stone. Reception 6-9pm, A Gallery, 1321 S. 2100 East. Admission is free, 583-4800
Skyscapes, the new show at Horne Fine Art, is the latest in the gallery’s series of theme exhibits. This time around, more than a dozen artists have created work based on the theme of sky. In an array of media, the artists explore the idea of the sky and the effects of weather, time of day, and light. Reception 6-9pm, 142 E 800 South. Admission is free, information at 533-4200 or hornefineart.com
Finally, two of Utah’s best loved artists, Suzanne Simpson and Jacqui Larsen, have collaborated on Lost, What’s Found, a collection of digital montages from Simpson and collages and paintings from Larsen, all based around the idea of loss. Reception 6-9pm Art Access Gallery, 339 W Pierpont Avenue. Admission is free, information at 328-0703 or accessart.org
Then again, if art ain’t your thing but you do like a good show tune, you could check out Broadway baby Faith Prince at her appearance with the Utah Symphony. Prince has a big voice that is as rich, brassy, and warm as a trumpet. She’s like Ethel Merman, but with better tone and not as much cussing. Swell! 8pm though tomorrow, Abravanel Hall, 123 W South Temple. Tickets $20-$48 at 3552787 or arttix.org
17SATURDAY Although it’s an indecorous expression, the phrase “bust a gut” was created to describe one’s reaction at seeing something like Friends of the Bob and Tom Show. A klatch of hot comedians from around the country will take the stage tonight at the Capitol, and my guess is that many a knee will be slapped and anyone
Sure, improv looks easy, but try it sometime for thirty seconds and, unless you know what you’re doing, you’ll experience a very unique sort of hell. But have no fear— master improver Jason Anfinsen, is in town today to teach an Organic Improv Workshop. It’s a five-hour intensive class that will teach students to use their entire instrument—body, voice, and mind—to create long-form improvisation. Even if you’re not a performer, studying improv is a great way to free your mind from the everyday and mundane and explore the spontaneous imp who lives inside you. Which is a fun thing to trot out at parties. 11am-4pm, Jubilee Center, 309 E 100 South. $50, 560-4507 or utahimprov.com.
20TUESDAY Yay yay yay—it’s time for the new Salt Lake Acting Company season! SLAC can always be counted on to treat you to the most brilliant new plays from around the country, and tonight they’ll open Swimming in the Shallows, a hot new comedy dealing with everything from Buddhist monks to Mako sharks to pre-wedding jitters. Oh, SLAC … you’ve gotta love a theatre that thinks Neil Simon is for sissies.
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7:30pm, continues Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm and 7pm through Oct. 16, Salt Lake Acting Company,
168 W 500 North. Tickets $20 to $30.50 tickedts at 363-SLAC or saltlakeactingcompany.org
21WEDNESDAY Once a year, Utah’s queer community comes out en masse, dressed to the nines, to celebrate our accomplishments and plan to meet our challenges. Equality Utah’s annual Allies Dinner is our annual opportunity to honor our straight advocates and one another. This year, we’ll also get to hear from Tim McFeeley, executive director of the Center for Policy Alternatives and former ED of the Human Rights Campaign. Spending $100 on dinner was never so worth it. Cocktails 6pm, Dinner 7pm, Salt Palace Convention Center. Tickets $100 at 355-3479 or equalityutah.org
22THURSDAY Join Ririe Woodbury Dance Company tonight for the premiere of Voices, an evening of three brand new dances set to music from Mexico, America, and Europe. Renowned Mexican choreographer Alicia Sanchez will premiere new work alongside the legendary Joan Woodbury and the acclaimed Charlotte Boye-Christensen. 7:30pm through Saturday, Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W Broadway. Tickets $30 at 355-2787 or arttix.org
23FRIDAY There is a reason that Beethoven’s 9th is one of the most recognizable pieces of music in the world—because it’s damn good. And until you’ve heard it live, you’ve never heard it at all, which is why
you should come hear it at the Utah Symphony this weekend. Just listen for the moment when the chorus thunders into the “Ode to Joy” theme in the finale— you’ll be amazed that your heart could beat so fast while you’re sitting still. 8pm, Abravanel Hall, 123 W South Temple. Tickets $12-$42 at 355-2787 or arttix.org
24SATURDAY If you’re like me, you’ve never even heard of, let alone seen, Rodney, comedian Rodney Carrington’s ABC sitcom. While it may be true that just telling someone you’re a comic is probably enough to get you a sitcom these days, this guy seems to be the real deal, at least according to his website. Anyway, I leave it to your judgment. 8pm, Kingsbury Hall, 1395 E Presidents’ Circle. Tickets $32.50, 355-2787 or arttix.org
26MONDAY Not just anyone has the chops to play a duo tour with Dave Matthews, but Tim Reynolds has done it more than once. Reynolds is a musician’s musician, the kind of songwriter that Ben Harper and Jack Johnson listen to for fun. In other words, if you’re a Kylie Minogue kinda person, this show probably ain’t for you.
27TUESDAY Cathy Rigby was a gymnast or something in, like, the 1920s, and ever since then she’s been on a non-stop bus and truck tour playing Peter Pan. That said, this is a show that never loses its charm—that first moment when the children start flying is as magical the twenty-fifth time as it was the first. See it now before Cathy is replaced by some whippersnapper like Mary Lou Retton or Nadia Comaneci. 7:30pm through Thursday, 8pm Friday, 2pm Saturday, Capitol Theatre, 50 W 200 South. Tickets $30-$57.50 at 355-2787 or arttix.org
28WEDNESDAY If you don’t already know who Emo Phillips is, this is not the place for me to try and explain it to you. Suffice it to say that the guy’s a comedian and he is funny. FU-N-N-Y. Not quite Eddie Izzard funny, but certainly more than Rodney Carrington funny. I’m guessing. 8pm, Wise Guys Comedy Café, 3500 S 2200 West. Tickets $10 at 463-2909 or smithstix.com.
8:30pm, Suede, 1612 Ute Boulevard, Park City. Tickets $12 at 467-TIXX or smithstix. com
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OUTstanding People KRCL 90.9 FM PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE 5:30
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thur
Fri
Morning News
Sat
Sun
6:00 Public Native Affairs American Calling
6:30 7:00
“Breakfast Jam”
7:30
Native American
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9:30 10:00 10:30
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9:00
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8:00
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7:30
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6:30
Music All Night – Industrial, Jazz, Reggae, Gothic, Hip Hop, Trance, Rock en Espñol, Alternative Rock & More
Studio 801.359.9191 RadioActive 801.303.6050
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KRCL 90.9 fm serves the community through diverse, independent, and progressive public affairs and music programming Listen along the Wasatch Front at 90.9 FM or anywhere in the world as www.krcl.or
JOEL SHOEMAKER
Public Affairs
1:00
Folk, Acoustic
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NOON 12:30
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11:00
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9:30 10:00
Jerry Rapier Continues Highlighting HIV/AIDS Issues with Patient A by Joel Shoemaker joel@slmetro.com (OUTstanding People is a new Salt Lake Metro column profiling interesting and prominent people in Utah’s GLBT community) Opening night of Patient A finds Jerry Rapier between tasks that any average producer/ director of a non-profit theater group would be doing—gathering ice and cups for the post-show party. Oh, the glamour. Rapier is known for his work with just about every local organization. He’s worked with gay pride, the GLBT Community Center of Utah, Equality Utah and the Utah AIDS Foundation, among others. But it’s his productions with Plan-B Theater Company, which is dedicated to socially conscious plays, where Rapier has been gaining most his notoriety. With Patient A, a play about the historic woman who was passed the HIV virus from her dentist (thereby helping open the public’s perception that HIV/AIDS is not just a “gay disease”), Rapier hopes to inspire new dialogue about AIDS. “The hardest thing has been to present it evenly without our points of view so it can be a seed for thoughtful discussion. I don’t like theater that feeds a point of view, so that’s what I try to create—an unbiased experience,” he says. “I never care if people agree to a point of view, all I care is that it’s presented well enough to create conversation. That’s the most validating thing for an artist—for an audience to discuss the issues presented.” Patient A isn’t the first play Rapier has presented to Salt Lake audiences concerning AIDS. In 2003, he received a grant from the Utah AIDS Foundation to write, direct and produce a play called Peculiar People. The play strung together stories of patients and employees at UAF with local media reports. Not only did the show help spark a dialogue with the audience, but it helped Rapier himself better understand the struggle of people with the disease.
“I didn’t really know people who had HIV or AIDS, so with the play the issues were humanized where I hadn’t had much exposure before.” Rapier said he later got more of an awakening working at UAF, organizing events like the Walk for Life. “Before, I had strong opinions of how people should deal with being HIV positive. Because UAF is so focused on being non-judgmental, it helped me realize it doesn’t matter and to not judge people.” He says it was not coincidental that his experience at UAF helped lead to Patient A. “The play spoke to me because I was more exposed to those issues around HIV.” Currently, Rapier also teaches AIDSthemed plays as part of a University of Utah theater class focused on queer plays. As part of the curriculum, Rapier has UAF present an AIDS 101 discussion. “It’s equally surprising how much students know about the disease and how much some people don’t know.” He says for most students, they don’t look at the subject matter with much prejudice, but instead look at the issues from a human rights standpoint. “It’s about learning history, it’s not about judging. They accept it as what’s happened and what can be learned from it.” Raised in Duncan, Arizona (population 700), Rapier has small-town roots, which probably explains his dedication to growing organizations helping the larger community. He was raised Mormon, even attending BYU, where he came out, which helps him connect with many of the underlying issues special to Utah’s queer community. Partnered for almost 10 years with boyfriend Kirt Bateman, Rapier isn’t slowing down anytime soon. This winter he’ll direct Love! Valour! Compassion! for Wasatch Theater Company, and he’s also working to help organize the next HRC fundraising dinner. “I’m not capable of giving significant amounts of money to any one cause,” he says. “But what I can do is try to give my time and my abilities.”
High School Daze Continued from page 11 none so lonely. We were so very much alone. The only portrayal of homosexuals, if any at all, was that of psychotics whose miserable and despicable existence usually ended in suicide, or worse, in flowery pastels. High school’s true purpose in the sixties was not to give a basic well-rounded education, guaranteeing success in the world of work, but rather to indoctrinate and insure the transition of society’s sets of values and prejudices among the most impressionable: the pubescent. However, merciful God compensated us queer boys in the turbulent sixties by giving us rock and roll. We had the best girl groups on the planet: the Supremes (and they were), Martha and the Vandellas, the tough-as-nails Shangri-las. We had the best bands: the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys (when they were boys), the Turtles, the Monkees, the Animals, the Birds, the Yardbirds. And we had jeremiad troubadours who gave us warning as well as hope: Peter Paul and Mary, Donavan, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan, who promised us that “the times they are a changing.” There were songs about loving one another, going to San Francisco with flowers in your hair, and magical mystery tours. We were assured that all we needed was love. But where was a gay boy to find love if that was all he needed? To be assured I had, as Doris Day sang, “my secret love.” Mostly crushes on my sisters’ boyfriends. There was Buddy the
West Texas cowboy and Ricky the sailor boy. In fact, my father’s house was a regular USO during the Vietnam War. Having been in the navy during World War II, our house was always open to my sister’s latest navy boyfriend and their buddies. Since I was the only boy in the house and had my own full size bed, I had to bunk with half of the 7th Fleet during the war. I didn’t mind. It was my patriotic duty. However, it was not until the last semester of my senior year did I truly fall in love. I was seventeen and in my 5th period creative writing class. (How queer was that?) It was a drowsy spring day in March and as I half-heartedly listened to aged and petite Mrs. Appy drone on and on about pentamic meter, my eye caught a dust fairy swirling in a sunbeam streaming through a ceiling window. I watch as it danced along the ray of light until the gleam rested on the back of this young man’s head, who, unlike me, was intently listening. I stared at the beautiful form of this golden-shrouded boy, unaware of my trance-like state, until I was interrupted by the hostile glare of Linda, who (as if she could read minds) shamed me into a deep crimson blush. No matter. I had a purpose in life. To find out who this boy was and make him my “best friend” — the only euphemism acceptable to gays in the sixties. And so began my quest to be loved as my heart dictated. It was a disaster. Ben Williams is the founder and president of the Utah Stonewall Historical Society, which is at utahstonewallhistoricalsociety.com/
SEPTEMBER 15, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 23
FREE SPEECH ZONE. AND OUR SPONSORS: PEOPLE FOR PEACE & JUSTICE OF UTAH VETERANS FOR PEACE, UTAH CHAPTER GREEN PARTY OF UTAH WASATCH COALITION FOR PEACE & JUSTICE PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS OF UTAH MILITARY FAMILIES SPEAK OUT SALT LAKE METRO
invite you to a national protest
Q! A R I ! F HOME NOW S P O O UT O R T R
BRING OU U.S. O END THE WAR! ANTI-WAR BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW! MOBILIZA TION!
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SALT LAKE METRO ■ SEPTEMBER 15, 2005
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS BRING THEM HOME NOW!
a free speech protest
leading to a massive scale protest on September 24th 11AM – Gather for Anti-War March at the southwest corner of Pioneer Park, 400 South 400 West. Bring your signs, voice and protest. 12NOON – Free Speech Protest Rally at the Salt Lake County Building, 451 South 200 East.
Downtown Farmers’ Market by Vanessa Chang vanessa@slmetro.com 300 S. 400 West, Salt Lake City Saturdays 8:00am–1:00pm through Oct. 15 I think I’ve found the next extreme sport. It’s called: shopping at the Farmers’ Market. Yes, I am well aware that a Saturday morning stroll through Pioneer Park surrounded by the state’s bounty is probably intended to reinvigorate the soul (and the local economy). But wearing flip flops and maneuvering between heavy-footed canvasbag toting deal seekers and super-strollers (complete latte holder!) in the summer heat works up as much stress and sweat as a spinning class. But I do it every Saturday. Why this torture? It’s all about the food. I’ll save you the pontification about buying local and adventures in the kitchen with seasonal produce. You don’t need to know how to cook to reap the benefits from the market. It can be as easy as grabbing a loaf of bread from Vosen’s, Crumb Brothers, or New Dough Rising to go with a wedge of Rockhill Creamery Gouda. You simply need to come hungry and with some cash. Name your pleasure. Thai? Got it. Mexican. You bet. Sudanese? Hell, even that’s no problem. One of the best things about the farmers’ market is the sensual element—it’s a visceral experience complete with plenty of appetizing smells that gets your stomach grumbling. Curiosity is often a great guide. Follow a favorite scent. It usually leads about half a dozen or so folks standing in line for Junior’s Taco Stand. The Main Street restaurant sets up shop for Saturday morning thrill seekers and hooks them up with some seriously good tacos and tamales. Someone from the family is usually grilling up asada (steak) and chicken on the spot. A huge cleaver chops the meat into morsels. A corn tortilla keeps everything convenient. It’s up to you to fill it up with radishes (no joke), cilantro, salsas, and a bit of lime. And if I happen to be within earshot and hear you asking why there isn’t any shredded cheese on the table, be warned: I’ll smack you upside the head.
A skeptical friend (of the “I don’t eat anything that isn’t processed and packaged in plastic” variety) was pleasantly shocked at the substance of things offered. We’re not talking rabbit food. Thai Spice offers satay and other tasty Thai basics from a rudimentary menu. Basil, lemon grass, cilantro, and jasmine rice are pretty intoxicating. There’s nothing better than to sweat out Friday night’s toxins. But of course, there are options for those who crave the fresh and wholesome food. Don’t pass up openfaced tomato sandwiches from various stands. These weird-looking nobs of tomatoes will be out of season soon. Savor them. A touch of pesto doesn’t hurt. And you read it right, earlier. There’s Sudanese food at Pioneer Park. Okay, so most folks don’t equate Eastern Africa with good food (which is a shame). But a visit to the lovely ladies of Abral Sudan is worth the culinary venture. Tender pieces of chicken shea are served with stewed greens, and you’d be hard pressed to find a tastier incarnation of beef and macaroni. Not so scary after all. There are plenty of pastry options to get your sugar fix. All the aforementioned bread brokers sport a drool-inducing line of pastries. Galettes of fresh fruit, scones, chocolate croissants, etc.—you can work yourself into a diabetic frenzy. A pleasant surprise is the yellow Kinkajou stand. Crusty Belgian waffles (from a Belgian guy, no less) put the 2 am-Village-Inn versions to rightful shame. And its fries served with a specialty mayo in lieu of ketchup is a delicious revelation to many. And to wash it all down, the options are just as plentiful. Uinta coffee company attracts the dreary-eyed morning crowd in serious need of caffeine. Calmer sorts seek herbal brews from the Tea Grotto. There’s plenty of limeade about the place. My verdict for the best one—Spotted Dog Creamery. Not too sweet and it actually tastes like lime! And oh yeah, the ice cream is good. So you see, it’s really a walkable feast at Pioneer Park. You can eat well. Just be somewhat agile in pursuit of the good meal. And once you finally score it, settle into a nice patch of grass or one of the scattered picnic tables and marvel at the athletic agility of the modern Farmers’ Market shopper.
Red,White Bubbly Who stole the soul? by Beau Jarvis beau@slmetro.com Author’s note—Sometimes, in the face of reality, writing about wine seems just plain pointless. I hope this column provides some food for thought to pair with a glass of contemplation. A hip-hop song in the early 1990s thunderously posed the question: Who stole the soul? The song was a lyrical tirade against racial injustice in America. As I watched the unfathomable tragedy unfold along the Gulf Coast, this question pulsed in my brain. As I read reports of thousands of fellow citizens marooned in a city that appeared to share Atlantis’ fate, sadness welled in my throat. As I listened to a contemptible radio hatemonger ask why “these people” didn’t own cars, rage burned along my jaw. As family members defended the indefensible — a sluggish federal response — I wanted to pull my hair out. Then, as an acquaintance lumped lawless looters together with helpless survivors and condemned them all, I nearly screamed in exasperation. Are we, as a nation, this callous? Are we, as a nation, this indifferent? Who stole the soul? Hurricane Katrina was an unavoidable natural disaster. The response to Hurricane Katrina was an avoidable manmade disaster. There were numerous examples of soullessness after the hurricane made landfall at 6:10 a.m. on Monday, August 29. Over the next couple of days, politicians ate cake and played guitar, bureaucrats refused assistance from well-meaning citizens and neighboring state governments and National Guard troops stood by awaiting orders to provide assistance and protection. During the deadly delay, a fundamentalist Christian group claimed God destroyed New Orleans because of local abortion clinics and Southern Decadence, an annual gay celebration in the city’s French Quarter. Meanwhile, thousands were dead and more were dying. Who stole the soul?
The remainder of the week found morgues in Mississippi receiving dozens of corpses. Nations around the globe began to offer assistance, while the United States Secretary of State attended a Broadway show and went shoe shopping on 5th Avenue. The Vice President remained on vacation. Babies, trapped in New Orleans, struggled to survive without formula. The old and infirm began to die at the city’s convention center. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded for federal help over local radio. Nursing homes and hospitals remained occupied, without power, and with no signs of help. More people died. Family pets died. For many, hope died. Who stole the soul? At the end of this nightmare week, help finally arrived. Survivors were rescued. Lost family members were found. Perhaps the soul of our nation will survive. Or perhaps America will gradually relapse into indifference. The soul won’t be so much stolen, as it will simply fade away. We must all do everything in our power to regain this country’s soul. First, the dire needs: help the hurricane survivors by donating money to charitable organizations that provide food, shelter, clothing, and medical care. Hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens will be without homes and jobs for months. Please give as much as you can (see basicjuice.blogs.com for a listing of charitable organizations). Next, the crucial needs: remind our lawmakers and leaders that the United States of America is still a democracy. This means they work for us. Ask them why they ignore the dramatic rise in poverty. Ask them why they flout science and ignore global warming. Ask them why we can’t harness America’s innovative spirit and develop practical alternatives to fossil fuels. Finally, ask them why they seek to divide us and allow racism, homophobia, and bigotry to fester. Of course we won’t be able to avoid future natural disasters. However, if more of us stand up and work toward building a caring, responsible country — with a soul — we may just be able to avoid future manmade disasters. And if we can do that, I’ll raise my glass and holler, “We got soul!” Cheers.
Di ing Guide Dining de Fiddler’s Elbow
Nick-N-Willy’s Pizza
Salt Lake Pizza & Pasta
1400 Foothill Dr. / 582-8424 HOURS: MO-TH 11:30-2, 5-9:30PM F 11:30AM-2PM, 5-10PM SA NOON-10PM, SU 5-9PM CUISINE: THAI PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V
1063 E. 2100 S. / 463-9393
4538 S, HIGHLAND DR./ 273-8282
1063 E. 2100 S. / 484-1804
fiddlerselbowslc.com
nicknwillyspizza.com
M-TH 11AM-11PM F-SA 11AM-12AM SU 9AM-10PM CUISINE: AMERICAN PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V
SU-TH 11AM-10PM F-SA 11AM-12PM CUISINE: PIZZA PRICE: $ CARDS: AE D MC V
Rated “Best Thai” 1992–2005 by local and national press.
Café Med 420 E. 3300 S. / 493-0100 HOURS: SU-TH 11AM-9PM F-SA 11AM-10PM CUISINE: MEDITERRANEAN PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V
Persian, Greek, Italian, Turkish and Vegetarian in a warm, relaxing atmosphere.
Coffee Garden 898 S 900 E / 355-3425 HOURS: SU-TH 6AM-11PM F-SA 6AM-12AM CUISINE: COFFEEHOUSE PRICE: ¢ CARDS: AE D MC V
SLC’s buzzing java shop with a diverse crowd.
HOURS:
saltlakepizzaandpasta.com HOURS:
HOURS:
CUISINE: PRICE:
M-SA 11AM-11PM SU 11AM-10PM ITALIAN $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V
Voted as Utah’s Best Pizza two years in a row! Great beer selection. Sugarhouse.
32 beers, including Utah’s best selection of microbrews.
Dine in or take-out. Call ahead and we’ll have it ready. The Original 1751 S 1100 EAST / 483-2971 Albertsons Shopping Ctr. HOURS: M-SA 11AM–7PM
Michelangelo Ristorante
Orbit Cafe
2156 S, HIGHLAND DR./ 466-0961 TU-SA 11:30AM-1:30PM 5:45-9PM CUISINE: ITALIAN PRICE: $$ CARDS: AE D MC V
540 W. 200 S. / 322-3808 orbitslc.com HOURS: SU-TH 11AM-10PM F-SA 11AM-3AM CUISINE: AMERICAN ECLECTIC PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D MC V
Begun by childhood friends Paulo Celeste and Marco Gabrielli of Tuscany.
Open late nights on Fridays and Saturdays with DJs and a special menu.
michelangeloristorante.com HOURS:
CUISINE: SANDWICHES PRICE: $ CARDS: TC AE D DC MC V
Now scoopin’ Spotted Dog Creamery Ice Cream. TC–TRAVELERS CHECKS, AE– AMERICAN EXPRESS, D–DISCOVER, DC–DINER’S CLUB, MC–MASTERCARD, V–VISA ¢=0-$10, $=$11-$20, $$=$21-30, $$$=31-40.
Restaurant Owners: Get Your Ad in the Dining Guide. Call 323-9500.
SEPTEMBER 15, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 25
Bangkok Thai
Classifieds PARK Clean, HELP WANTED LIBERTY pleasant 1500 sq ft, 3 APPLE ONE Employbdrm, 2 bath, garage, basement, fplc, cenment Services is seektral air, lg closets, w/d ing qualified call cenincl., fenced yard. $850/ ter experienced in sales. month, discount avail. Can earn $12+/hr plus No pets/smokers. Call Duff 674-8091. commission. Apply toFREE RENT. Pay no day. Employers, let us rent, deposit or utilifill your staffing needs. ties in Phoenix, AZ if you Call Steven Whittaker at watch the house when 463-4828 for an appt. I’m away and help part time with some easy REGENCY TROLLEY household tasks. Chance Squares Cinema now to earn extra monhiring Asst. Mgr. Flexiey working extra hours. ble schedule required. Plus, if you are eager to Theatre experience pre- learn, I’ll help you start ferred. Free movies and a new life as a well-paid computer professionfun environment.Conal. Friendly, congenial, tact Stephen or apply in trustworthy, single male person. seeking similar person compatible with my FOR RENT LDS values; no smoking, drinking, drugs. Will SUGARHOUSE UPhelp you relocate. Email STAIRS apt. $450/ azhomedog@yahoo.com month 1.5 bdrms, plen- or call 602-348-1379. ty of storage, A/C, carSUGARHOUSE DUPLEX. port, new windows. Quiet long term neighbor, 2 bdr, remodeled, hookGreat for one person. ups, covered parking. No smoking. 1827 S $690/month. 11th East 900 E #3. Call Valene @ area. Call Jim 718-1170. 262-0113. CDA PropTwo other rentals coming erties. available soon.
ROOMMATES WANTED
MISC.
SUGARHOUSE 400 Sq ft room w/Pvt Ent, Bath Hspd-Int-TV-cable. All Utils Inc. New Paint, fixtures. Tile floors pets nego. $475/Mo picojardin@elitenail.org LAYTON HOUSE to share. Close to Hwy 89. Two bedrooms available. Outside pet area, i-deal for sm to med size dog. $385 & $285 per month + utilities. Call 267-1388 or 725-4613. AIRPORT/DOWNTOWN. Male to share large furnished home. No smoking, no pets. $350/month Call 631-8110.
ARE YOU HIV+? Pride Counseling has restarted a Therapy/Support Group for men who are HIV infected and seeking support from others in similar situations. For information please call Jerry Buie LCSW at 801-595-0666
ROOMMATE AD SPECIAL— Advertise in the “Roommates Wanted” section for just $5 per issue. See slmetro.com/ classifieds or call 323-9500 today.
COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES PERFECT ALTERNATIVE Office Building! Affordable Space Available!(100 to 1200 sq. ft.) 801-466-5285, ask for Belinda. 1800 S West Temple Ste. 216
TIRED OF THE BAR LIFE? Pride Counseling is offering a Gay Men’s Therapy/Support Group. Gay men often find that their options to socialize limited to clubs and bars. Most insurance companies billed, sliding fee scale. For information please call Jerry Buie LCSW at 801-595-0666.
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SALT LAKE METRO ■ SEPTEMBER 15, 2005
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Service Guide ATTORNEYS
RESOURCES
A COUPLE OF GUYS by Dave Brousseau
BI MEN of Utah groups. yahoo.com/group/BiGay-Men-Utah. Social and support group for bi/gay men of Utah. GAY RM’S–SOCIAL group for return missionaries of the LDS Church. Regular parties and group activities more info at gayRMs.com UTAH MALE Naturists meets through the summer for naked lunches, clothing optional outings and overnight camping trips in a sex-free environment. groups.yahoo. com/group/ utahmalenaurists ROYAL COURT of the Golden Spike Empire. rcgse.org Membership meetings held twice monthly. Help support your community!
BITTER GIRL by Joan Hilty
GAY MENS HEALTH SUMMIT. Gay men’s health is more than just HIV. visit us at utahgaymenshealth.com CODE PINK. A women-initiated peace and social justice movement by positive social change via creative protest and non-violent direct action. www.codepinkalert.com SAME-GENDER MARRIAGE is a Feminist Issue: NOW’s mission is to promote equality for ALL women. NOW has fought for gay and lesbian rights, and we won’t stop until we achieve equality for all. Join us utahnow.org AFFIRMATION: GAY and Lesbian Mormons. members.aol.com/wasatchweb/: Sunday meetings 534-8693 NEW IN TOWN or interested in meeting new friends? Come to sWerve Monthlies, 3rd Saturday of each month, GLBT Center. Info 539-8800 ext. 25 or swerveutah.com (join email list!)
ADAM AND ANDY by James Asal
SEPTEMBER 15, 2005 ■ SALT LAKE METRO ■ 27
DO YOU Work at CONVERGYS? Would you like to meet with some of your GLBT co-workers? Join the GLBT Convergys Yahoo Group! Go to: http:// groups.yahoo.com/ group/cvg-glbt/ and sign up. If you have questions,you may EMPLOYMENT any email the group owner APPLE ONE Employat: cvg-glbt-owner@ ment is seeking qualyahoogroups.com ified people in many CAMP PINECLIFF skills. Apply and begin Weekend, Annual reyour qualification totreat for people with day. Employers, let us HIV/AIDS and their care fill your staffing needs. providers c/o Dick DotCall Steven Whittaker at son, Coordinator P. O. 801-463-4828. Box 608, Magna, Utah 84044-0608 or call ESTATE (801) 518-8733 PLANNING JANE MARQUARDT & ARE YOU a single lesbiDOUG FADEL Attorneys an? Wondering how to at Law, providing com- meet other single lesprehensive estate plan- bians for friendship and social events? If so, you ning services, custom designed to your unique are invited to sign up family situation. Trusts, for the Lesbian Singles wills, partnership agree- Social Group at groups. yahoo.com/group/lesbiments, estate admin. an_singles/ 294-7777 UTAH GAY Rodeo AssoJEWELERS ciation ugra.net PO Box CUSTOM DESIGN Jew- 511255 SLC, UT 841511255 A social & Rodeo elry. Relaxed atmoSport Organization sphere. All types of stone settings. ComWANT A HOT summitment rings, wedmer body? Queer Utah ding rings, earrings, Aquatic Club (QUAC) inpendants. Repairs wel- vites swimmers and come. Charley Hafen water polo players of Jewelers. 1411 S. 900 ANY skill level, including E. 521-7711 beginners, to join the team. Visit QuacQuac. MASSAGE org for more info. UNBELIEVABLE MASTHE SALT Lake County SAGE Athletic Male Division of Youth ServicTherapists, 440-5851 es provides youth and Contact 641-4009 families in crisis with BEST THERAPISTS, immediate and safe inbest price, best place, tervention, including best hours, call 48624-hour 7-day a week 5500 Pride Massage crisis counseling. Most 1800 S. West Temple services are provided # A224 free of charge. Please call 269-7500. DENNIS MASSAGE Dennis is Utah’s only GAY WINE group. qViphysique print model & num.com is a fabulous massage therapist...see group of wine lovers why he is so well liked who hold winetastings at www.dennismassage. at members’ homes, com, www.dennismotravel to wineries and deling.com. (801) 598hold special fund rais8344 LMT#98212332470 ers for the community. qVinum.com STIMULATE YOUR SENSES or feel deep ENGENDERED SPEpeace with a relaxing CIES 801.320.0551. A full body massage. Call social/support group reTherron at 879-3583 sources for transgender for $5 off mention this people. www.engenad. LMT #5608006 deredspecies.com MARLIN G. CRIDDLE, P.C. Serving Utah’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender communities. Estate Planning, Probate, Criminal Law, Bankruptcy, Corporations/Business. 474-2299. marlincriddle.com
AMERICAN CIVIL Liberties Union. Fighting for individual freedoms since 1958. www. acluutah.org
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