March 24, 2011 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

San Francisco Ballet’s new restaging of ‘Coppélia.’

m co

A new online translation service hopes to make the Internet more accessible.

.

AR eB

Great ballet comedy

– ut e s. in al ko nl on ec r o ers Ch rte p po nd Re , a a s re fied y A ssi Ba cla he ts, s t ar It’ s, w ne

Taking the World Wide Web global

see Arts

page 9

BAYAREAREPORTER

Vol. 41

. No. 12 . 24 March 2011

▼

Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971

Rex Wockner

Elizabeth Taylor at the 2000 GLAAD Awards.

Elizabeth Taylor dies

by Lisa Keen

Governor Jerry Brown is running out of time to put a tax extension measure on the June ballot.

page 17

▼

A

Rick Gerharter

Lydia Gonzales

ime may be running out for state lawmakers to reach a deal on resolving California’s budget crisis. Republicans remain absolute in their opposition to Governor Jerry Brown’s proposal to extend a number of taxes set to expire this year.

At stake is $14 billion in revenues. Brown had wanted to call a special election in June to let vot-

T

ers decide on if they should continue paying the taxes.

But Brown has been unable to find two GOP members in each house of the Legislature needed to vote on his budget proposal. Frustrated by the Republicans’ unwillingness to budge, Brown this week had floated bypassing the legislators and putting the tax extension on the November ballot.

His spokesman later backtracked on the idea, and talk has now turned to the possibility that state lawmakers will have to make cuts totaling more than $26 billion to balance the 2011-2012 budget.

Lawmakers last week passed $7.4 billion in cuts to various programs; they remain deadlocked on the remaining $4 billion, which would come from a

▼

cting legend Elizabeth Taylor, who put her own reputation on the line in order to help people with AIDS at a time, in the 1980s, when society was deeply afraid of the disease, died of congestive heart failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles March 23. She was 79.

Senate Budget Committee Chair Mark Leno

page 16

Sistahs Steppin’ in Pride Spears concert to step out for the last time moved to Civic Center S

by Heather Cassell

other Nature, apparently, wasn’t a fan of seeing pop star Britney Spears singing in the Castro this weekend.

Due to forecasts for inclement weather throughout the Britney Spears weekend, producers for the ABC program Good Morning America decided to relocate her hourlong concert indoors.

The decision was prompted by safety concerns not only for Spears but also for

▼

M

page 15

•••FIRST

OF

Jane Philomen Cleland

Participants at last year’s Sistahs Steppin’ in Pride dyke march started marching at Lake Merritt.

ty to transition it that might be a softer blow.”

Another reason for the group’s decision was the return last year of Oakland Pride. Re-energized with a new board, Oakland Pride will be holding its second street festival over the Labor Day weekend. It is hoped that Pride organizers can incorporate something similar to Sistahs Steppin’ in Pride for 2012.

“We are excited about the energy in Oakland in terms of the LGBT community,” added

TWO

Moore.

Sistahs Steppin’ in Pride started as the East Bay’s version of the dyke march in conjunction with East Bay Pride, until the Pride event dissipated in 2003, said Moore. Sistahs Steppin’ stepped up the following year with the march and festival to ensure a queer presence in the East Bay. The founding members are proud of what

SECTIONS•••

page 16

▼

by Matthew S. Bajko

istahs Steppin’ in Pride, Oakland’s annual dyke march and festival, this year will mark its 10th anniversary and final year as the community has come to know it, said core committee members.

For a decade, Sistahs Steppin’ in Pride has brought the East Bay’s diverse queer women’s community together in celebration during the last weekend of August. Up to 2,000 queer women have attended the event at its peak, said Peggy Moore, co-founder and visionary.

“We were all somewhat in agreement that it was okay to let it go as we know it,” said Moore about the committee’s decision, made earlier this year. She emphasized that in the “same spirit” of the group’s decision that “we are going to go play full out” for the 10th anniversary event; the march is scheduled for August 27.

The 10 committee members, many of whom founded Sistahs Steppin’ in Pride, made the decision to let go of the event due to personal commitments, said Moore.

“All of us have stuff going on in our lives,” that was demanding more attention, said founding member Lisbet Tellefsen. “It seemed like in the grand scheme of things this is an opportuni-

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

COMMUNITY

NEWS

▼

New prevention plan likely to shuffle money for AIDS orgs

by Seth Hemmelgarn everal HIV/AIDS agencies in San Francisco are worried about funding as the city’s HIV Prevention Services office begins talks with organizations. Many say there will be cuts to programs.

Part of the concern is an increased emphasis on testing over other areas, such as health education and risk reduction. People are also worried about what HIV prevention services in the city will look like come July, when the new fiscal year starts.

The shift, which is tied to the 2010 HIV prevention plan, has been in the works for more than a year, and there have been numerous meetings, but some wonder how conclusions on which agencies to fund were reached.

San Francisco health researchers estimate that there are 736 new HIV infections each year in the city, though the number could be as low as 621. A decade ago, there were more than 1,000 new infections a year. The city’s goal is to reduce new HIV infections by 50 percent by 2017. Objectives include cutting new HIV infections among gay and bisexual men and eliminating new infections among injection drugs users.

Dr. Grant Colfax, the city’s HIV prevention director, said at a meeting last year that HIV is endemic in San Francisco, so “If we don’t do things differently, we’ll continue in this state.”

Rebecca Rolfe, executive director of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, invited representatives of several agencies to a meeting last week to talk about their concerns.

The center receives about $150,000 in city prevention funding for its SNAP program, but was not invited back for the next fiscal year.

The Bay Area Reporter was denied access to the March 18 meeting. Just before the gathering, Rolfe explained attendees “strongly” wanted to keep

Rick Gerharter

S

HIV prevention director Dr. Grant Colfax

the meeting closed because they wanted to have “an honest conversation” about what the changes mean.

In an interview later, Rolfe said, “We spent 30 years building a set of services we feel work well and really reach the needs of the diverse communities that we serve, and I think there’s concern about what’s going to happen as we move forward, and how do we make sure our clients really receive the best possible services.”

Colfax said in an interview this week that no funding decisions have been made. He said that because the city’s in the process of negotiating with providers, he was limited in what he could say.

However, he said, “As part of the process, what we look at is potential gaps, and we make efforts to fill those gaps whenever possible.” He said he was committed to ensuring that “all clients’ needs will be met as we move forward.”

RFP process

cies that made the initial cut then received invitations to negotiate earlier this month.

The RFPs included eight categories, including testing, prevention with positives, addressing HIV-related health disparities among black gay and bisexual men, and syringe exchange. About $6.7 million in awards are available. More than one agency can receive funding in most categories.

The process also consisted of review panels that scored agencies’ proposals on subcategories that addressed a range of factors, such as whether their programs would contribute significantly to the city’s goals.

San Francisco AIDS Foundation has fared well, receiving invitations to negotiate in all five categories in which it submitted proposals.

Bob Rybicki, vice president of programs and policy for the foundation, said one of the reasons the foundation did so well is that it “put together some really solid collaborations with other organizations,” including the Stop AIDS Project, which was part of its proposal for working on disparities among gay and bisexual black men.

Separately, Stop AIDS received an invitation to negotiate for prevention with positives work, which looks at reducing opportunities for HIV transmission, among other areas.

Stop AIDS also submitted proposals for two other categories but didn’t receive invitations in those.

Kyriell Noon, Stop AIDS executive director, said his agency is looking at “a fairly significant decrease” in funding from the city. He didn’t know exactly what the reduction would be, but the current budget is about $1.8 million, and approximately $1 million comes from the prevention office, he said.

Noon said what’s at risk for his agency are health education and risk

▼

The request for proposals was published last November, and proposals were due in February. Agen-

page 17

HIV continues retreat in SF his year marks a decade-long retreat in new HIV cases in San Francisco. Between 2001 and 2011 the city has witnessed a steady decline in new infections.

Ten years ago the city estimated that more than 1,000 people would become infected with HIV, the large majority of whom were gay and bisexual men. Now San Francisco health researchers estimate there are 736 new HIV infections each year, according to the latest HIV Consensus Estimates.

The number could actually be as low as 621 new HIV cases per year.

Due to statistical uncertainty, researchers in the city’s Department of Public Health Epidemiology Section advise that the “plausibility bounds” for new infections range from 534 cases at the low end to 977 cases at the upper end.

The city’s HIV incidence rate now stands at 0.09 percent, a 30.8 percent reduction in the rate since 2006. The city has also seen a 24.6 percent reduction in the number of cases over the last five years.

Dr. Grant Colfax, the city’s director of HIV prevention, said health officials remain “cautiously optimistic” that HIV cases are in decline.

He said the city still has an HIV endemic rather than an HIV epidemic, meaning rates of infection remain stable rather than rising upwards.

“We can’t conclusively make the case that HIV rates are declining. We are still in an endemic state at this

T

Researcher H. Fisher Raymond

point,” said Colfax. “There is still much work yet to go.”

If the declines continue, it could bode well for the health department’s HIV prevention section reaching its goal of a 50 percent reduction in new HIV infections, especially among gay and bisexual men, by 2017.

The majority of San Francisco’s new HIV cases remains among men who have sex with men. It is estimated that 585 gay and bisexual men will become HIV-positive this year, the bulk of whom are likely to be in their 30s.

Another 49 gay and bisexual men who use injection drugs are expected to contract HIV this year. In total, there are an estimated 15,873 gay

and bisexual men living with HIV in the city.

The HIV incidence rate among MSM who do not inject drugs stands at 1.27 percent based on a population of 59,809. The city’s HIV prevalence among this population is at 22.7 percent.

Health officials believe a variety of factors are leading to the continued downward trend. For one, while the city continues to see spikes in STDs, including syphilis, HIV-positive men account for a large portion of the cases. Combined with their continued adoption of sero-sorting, where HIV-positive men seek out other HIV-positive men as their sexual partners, the STD infections are not causing a spike in HIV cases.

Another likely factor is the health department’s policy of recommending HIV-positive people begin treatment early. It is believed to have led to less viral loads among at-risk populations, reducing the risk of HIV transmission between sex partners of sero-discordant HIV status. Researchers are currently studying the policy’s impact to verify those claims.

“We are seeing a lot of benefits from that,” said H. Fisher Raymond, director of HIV bio-behavioral surveillance in the HIV Epidemiology Section of the AIDS Office at the health department.

A third reason could be the fact that less gay men are moving to San Francisco in general, or, once they test HIV-positive elsewhere, they no

▼

by Matthew S. Bajko

Jane Philomen Cleland

2

page 14

▼

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

COMMUNITY

3

NEWS

Rick Gerharter

ER dedicated in memory of doctor

evin Pedretti speaks of his late partner of nearly 20 years, Dr. Brian Friedman, during a dedication of a plaque in his honor at California Pacific Medical Center Davies campus Sunday, March 20. Friedman was the medical director of the Davies Hospital emergency department for 20 years and the plaque, left, will be installed at the entrance to the Emergency Room. Friedman died while jogging in Palm Springs last July.

K

Dufty continues to retool mayoral campaign

by Matthew S. Bajko s he celebrates his first major endorsement for mayor, former Supervisor Bevan Dufty continues to retool his campaign.

He is ditching his mid-Market office space near 6th Street and moving into the Castro by the end of the month. His current campaign manager will be replaced; he has brought aboard a fiscal team to raise money; and he has settled on a new logo.

The changes are just the latest course adjustments Dufty has made as the field of candidates continues to expand and his own supporters’ critiques grew louder over how he was managing his mayoral bid. In February Dufty parted ways with his out-oftown consultant, Steve Hildebrand, who was dealing with his mother’s death, and hired San Franciscan Michael Terris.

Shortly thereafter Dufty announced he was abandoning his selfimposed restriction to limit donations at $200 from only people who live and work in San Francisco. That led to his gaining the endorsement last weekend of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, as the Bay Area Reporter reported on its website Saturday.

“Bevan is obviously highly qualified to lead San Francisco, and his passion for the city is well-known. He’s focused on one goal – improving the lives of all San Franciscans through government that works,” stated Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund, in officially announcing the endorsement this week. “Bevan’s commitment to city neighborhoods is legendary, and as a parent he’s focused on making sure San Francisco’s future is even brighter than its illustrious past.”

Pushing to see Dufty receive the endorsement were a trio of lesbian friends: former San Francisco Supervisor Leslie Katz, who sits on the Victory campaign board, and Joyce Newstat and Laura Spanjian, who helped organize the fund’s 2009 annual meeting in San Francisco. Newstat also sits on the fund’s Leadership Institute board of directors.

Dufty, who attended the national group’s training for candidates last month in Las Vegas, was in Washington, D.C. last weekend to attend the fund’s 20th anniversary brunch and met with its executive committee about being endorsed. He is hoping it will give him the same boost in attracting financial support nationally as Annise Parker saw when she first ran for mayor of Houston two years ago, becoming that city’s first lesbian mayor.

“The Victory Fund played a very important role of raising national visibility about her campaign and providing ongoing counsel and support,” said Dufty. “I called the Victory Fund en-

Rick Gerharter

A

Bevan Dufty continues to retool his mayoral campaign.

dorsement a tough love endorsement because they carefully assess a candidate’s viability. They were direct with me that I had made some decisions about my campaign that were making good statements but the best statement I could make was to win this election.”

While back in the nation’s capitol Dufty also hosted a fundraiser at the home of Peter Kazon, whom he dated in the 1980s, and his longtime partner, Paul Cunningham, also a friend of Dufty’s. The event netted $20,000, and Dufty expects to hold similar fundraisers with friends in Seattle, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, and New York.

Back home Dufty is in the process of hiring a seasoned campaign manager as Bob Michitarian, a lawyer with little political experience, transitions to a volunteer role as a campaign cochair. Earlier this month Dufty hired Jessica Epstein, an attorney who worked on several campaigns in New York City, as his deputy campaign manager for political affairs.

Overseeing his three-person fundraising team is finance director Jill McCarthy, who worked for the late Senator Ted Kennedy. Assisting McCarthy will be Janine Salalac and Caitlin Jacobson.

This month Dufty also settled on a new campaign logo that incorporates his much-discussed man with a square head figure and the tagline “He Gets the Big Picture.” Superimposed over a bluish background of photos from various San Francisco neighborhoods are the words “Bevan Dufty Mayor” in white lettering with the emphasis on Dufty.

“We wanted to do something that would grab the eye and hopefully help further our grassroots approach to the campaign,” said Dufty of the design.

By April 1 Dufty will have moved his headquarters into a portion of the vacant second floor space at the Market and Noe Center, the Castro District building Trader Joe’s had looked at leasing. The address is the same one

the No on Prop 8 campaign called home in 2008.

Despite that campaign’s inability to block passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California, Dufty said he is not worried of any lasting bad karma impacting his mayoral bid. He said the location is not only in the heart of his old supervisor district but will be easy for volunteers to access on nights and weekends.

“While the results of the Prop 8 campaign were very disappointing and devastating, I look at that space and remember the energy and great work done by the people on that campaign,” said Dufty. “This location will energize my volunteers. It is the perfect fit and it is where I want to be.”▼

www.ebar.com

4

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

OPEN

BAYAREAREPORTER Volume 41, Number 12 24 March 2011 eBAR.com PUBLISHER Thomas E. Horn Bob Ross (Founder, 1971 – 2003) N E W S E D I TO R Cynthia Laird A R T S E D I TO R Roberto Friedman ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko Seth Hemmelgarn Jim Provenzano CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Aiello • Tavo Amador • Matt Baume • Erin Blackwell Roger Brigham • Scott Brogan • Victoria A. Brownworth Philip Campbell • Heather Cassell • Chuck Colbert Richard Dodds • Raymond Flournoy • David Guarino Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell • Robert Julian John F. Karr • Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy • David Lamble Michael McDonagh Paul Parish • Lois Pearlman Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr • Donna Sachet Adam Sandel • Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Ed Walsh • Sura Wood

A R T D I R E C TO R Kurt Thomas DESIGNER Scott King P H OTO G R A P H E R S Jane Philomen Cleland Marc Geller Rick Gerharter Lydia Gonzales Rudy K. Lawidjaja Steven Underhill Bill Wilson I L L U S T R ATO R S & C A R TO O N I S T S Paul Berge Christine Smith G E N E R A L M A N AG E R Michael M. Yamashita D I S P L AY A DV E R T I S I N G Colleen Small Scott Wazlowski C L A S S I F I E D A DV E R T I S I N G David McBrayer N AT I O N A L A DV E R T I S I N G R E P R E S E N TAT I V E Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863 LEGAL COUNSEL Paul H. Melbostad

San Francisco Bay Area Publicity Club

Bay Area Reporter 395 Ninth Street San Francisco, CA 94103 415.861.5019 www.ebar.com News Editor • news@ebar.com Arts Editor • arts@ebar.com Advertising • advertising@ebar.com Letters • letters@ebar.com

A division of Benro Enterprises, Inc. © 2011 Published weekly. Bay Area Reporter reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement which the publisher believes is in poor taste or which advertises illegal items which might result in legal action against Bay Area Reporter. Ads will not be rejected solely on the basis of politics, philosophy, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation.

Advertising rates available upon request.

Our list of subscribers and advertisers is confidential and is not sold. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, and writers published herein is neither inferred nor implied. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

▼

California on the edge here are no more golden days in the Golden State. For years, former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger engaged in gimmicks and smokescreens to patch together budgets that were long on cuts and borrowing and short on tax hikes. The budgets were chronically late as lawmakers bickered over numbers that had no basis in reality.

When voters elected Jerry Brown there was hope that at least we had someone in Sacramento who knew what he was doing. Even before he took office in early January, Brown, a former two-term governor, was in Sacramento putting together a plan to balance the state’s budget, which has a $26 billion deficit.

In just over two months in office, Brown has tried just about everything to hold a special election in June so voters can decide whether to extend some taxes that were enacted two years ago and are set to expire. While it may be risky to pin the budget on state voters, he doesn’t have much choice. The Legislature has already approved cuts representing $7.4 billion, not including action on Brown’s controversial cuts to redevelopment and enterprise zones. Extending the taxes would bring in revenue that is expected to make up another $12 billion. Without the special election – and voters’ approval of the tax extensions – Brown said this week that even more drastic cuts would have to be made to balance the budget.

So, what’s the problem with getting the measures on the June ballot? Simply put, it’s the lack of four Republican lawmakers – two each in the Assembly and Senate – since a two-thirds vote is required. Brown has been meeting with a core group of five GOP lawmakers in an effort to secure their votes, but so far none have publicly said they would vote to support him.

Republicans currently make up about 30 percent of the electorate, yet have outsized influence over the state’s budget process. That’s shortsighted on the part of the California Republican Party because Republicans make up just 31 percent of the state’s registered voters, compared to 44 percent who are registered Democratic.

More than that, it’s the Republicans who are always screaming that “the people” should have a vote on taxes. But now that Brown wants to do just that, Republicans in Sacramento won’t vote to put the measures on the ballot. There’s a disconnect here.

T

the vote. That’s directly at odds with what ReBrown exhibited much patience during these publican legislators are doing, noted Field Poll drawn-out negotiations, but on Monday he took director Mark DiCamillo. to YouTube to “check in,” as he put it, with the Brown is right. The state’s finances will not people of California. He pointed out that in get better until the state realistically confronts previous years, lawmakers and voters alike its budget mess, and his plan is a big part of that. have had a “tendency to avoid reality” with The state is in for some tough times – $12 bilrespect to the budget. He also remindlion in cuts is not minor by any measure. ed viewers that, as he said during last And the unwillingness of GOP lawyear’s gubernatorial campaign, he makers to let the people vote is irrewould go to the people for votes on sponsible. They are charting a course taxes. His proposal, he said, is to give that will make the party more irrelevant voters the “opportunity to extend in California than it already is and will some temporary taxes that were enacted result in hardship for Californians. two years ago” or, if voters reject those meaThat $12 billion in cuts is just sures, there will have to be another the beginning if revenues aren’t in$12 billion or so in cuts. Those cuts This week, Brown floated would likely come at the expense of E DITORIAL creased. to put an initiative on tax extenuniversities, police, and firefighters, sions on the November ballot, among others. which would bypass Republican opposition in We met with state Senator Mark Leno (Dthe Legislature. It’s not his preferred plan, but San Francisco) last week to talk about the budgiven the stalemate in Sacramento thanks to the get problems. As chair of the Senate Budget GOP, he hasn’t many options. A balanced budCommittee, he is infuriated by Republicans’ get that relies solely on program cuts would be inaction. And he pointed to a just-released extremely harmful to students, the working Field Poll showing that while Republican votpoor, the elderly, and many others.▼ ers are against the tax extensions, they do want

Debate PrEP based on facts

by Drs. Robert Grant, Albert Liu, Susan Buchbinder, Kenneth Mayer; and Pedro Goicochea, and Jeff McConnell

Best Bay Area Community Newspaper 2006

FORUM

robust public debate is under way about the potential use of anti-HIV drugs to prevent HIV infection (also known as pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP). Our study, called iPrEx, provided the first conclusive evidence that the daily use of PrEP with the FDAapproved HIV treatment Truvada can significantly reduce HIV infection risk in gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men and transgender women, when delivered as part of a comprehensive package of prevention services, including condoms. The protection provided by PrEP and condoms together could have a substantial impact in reducing new HIV infections among MSM worldwide.

Recently, a private health care provider has begun a paid advertising campaign urging the FDA not to even consider approving the use G UEST of PrEP – charging, among other things, that MSM will stop using condoms if PrEP is permitted. The pros and cons of PrEP use should be vigorously debated – but that debate should be based on facts, rather than the assumption that MSM will not act to protect themselves and others from infection.

Here are the facts about the iPrEX study: • A diverse group of 2,499 HIV-negative MSM and transgender women on four continents with a range of sexual practices participated in iPrEx. All participants received a comprehensive package of HIV prevention services.

Half also received Truvada, while the other half received a placebo (blank pill). Neither the study participants nor the investigators knew which pill they received during the study.

• The group that received PrEP with Truvada in addition to condoms had 44 percent fewer HIV infections. This protective effect was seen across different groups in the study, including

A

those of different age, ethnicity, and education level.

• Men in both study groups reduced their risk behaviors and increased their condom use – demonstrating that MSM can use PrEP and condoms together. PrEP does not protect against other sexually transmitted infections and should never be considered as a substitute for condom use or other safer sex precautions.

• Ensuring daily pill use will be critical to the success of PrEP. While many iPrEx study participants used the pill consistently, about 50 percent did not – which impacted the effectiveness of PrEP in the study. Among those who took the medication consistently, the level of protection PrEP provided reached 72 percent to 95 percent.

A second phase of the iPrEx study will begin soon, in which all participants who want PrEP will receive it. We are hoping to learn whether knowing that PrEP works will help participants achieve higher rates of pill use and protection in this phase of the study.

• Truvada is widely used for HIV treatment because it is generally well tolerated. Rates of side effects were very low in the iPrEx study.

O PINION A small amount of bone loss was seen among those receiving PrEP, a finding commonly seen in HIV-positive individuals starting anti-HIV treatment; these changes had no apparent negative health impact.

Studies to date also show no evidence of HIV drug resistance associated with PrEP use. HIV testing and medical evaluation before starting PrEP and while using PrEP are important to prevent resistance.

• A daily PrEP dosing regimen was used in the iPrEx study. It is not known whether PrEP can be taken less frequently to prevent HIV infections. Additional studies are under way or being planned to look at whether different dosing regimens (e.g., taking PrEP before and after sex, or on a regular schedule several times a week) would be safe and effective.

• The iPrEx study was paid for by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and was not orga-

a

nized or run by any drug company. iPrEx requested and received a donation of the study drug from Gilead Sciences, but Gilead had no other input into the study.

Much more work lies ahead to determine whether PrEP can help stop HIV infections in other populations, such as heterosexuals and injection drug users, to better understand possible side effects of PrEP, to support consistent pill use among people who want to use it, and to ensure that PrEP is seen as one element of an HIV prevention strategy that includes regular condom use. It will also be critical to address issues of cost, and to determine how to ensure that PrEP will be available to MSM in the United States and around the world who need it most.

Additional studies are also under way to test whether other anti-HIV medicines (including pills, gels, and other formulations) are safe and effective for HIV prevention.

We believe that MSM and all communities working to protect themselves and reduce the impact of the HIV epidemic have the right to full information about PrEP, and can make informed, intelligent decisions about whether or not to utilize PrEP as one component of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy. The iPrEx study investigators are committed to providing complete information about the study findings to help ensure that those decisions are made based on the facts about PrEP. We thank the volunteers who participated in this important study, including volunteers in San Francisco and the more than 20,000 participants in PrEP trials worldwide for their commitment to advancing HIV prevention. More information about iPrEx and PrEP is available at www.preparesf.org and www.iprexnews.com.▼ Robert Grant, MD, MPH, is the iPrEx protocol chair; Albert Liu, MD, MPH, is an iPrEx medical officer and San Francisco site researcher; Susan Buchbinder, MD, is an iPrEx San Francisco site researcher; Kenneth Mayer, MD, is an iPrEx Boston site researcher; Pedro Goicochea, MSc, MA, is an iPrEx investigator; and Jeff McConnell, MA, is an iPrEx investigator.

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

▼

LETTERS

Merchant group has become ‘feckless’

younger and more fit, all can be found enjoying nature while exercising themselves along with their off-leash canines. By Apparently it never occurred to MUMC’s president the way, that current 1 percent of federal land available to [“Castro abuzz over Spears concert,” March 10] to ask Good off-leash dogs is used by others without dogs as well. Many Morning America for compensation to generally benefit the a tourist has mentioned enjoying seeing dogs at play, and neighborhood – think hanging flower baskets or rainbow many residents who themselves can’t own dogs enjoy it as banners – for yet another extraordinary and longer than well, getting their “dog fix.” promised number of street closures and associated loss of Federal limiting of the already limited space available to parking. Having been sworn to secrecy and seemingly giddy off-leash dogs will not only adversely impact the city of San with the prospect of prepubescent girls and the idly curious Francisco, it will adversely impact its citizens as well. The descending on the Castro to hear a concert by a federal land here is not pristine wilderness, it pop diva desperate to revive her flagging career was not that when the city turned over lands in must have dulled his concern for the negative question, nor was the intent that it become so. impact this “event” will have on the majority The intent of the city was, and should remain, of the district’s merchants. recreation for all who wish to use it.

Steve Adams even goes so far as to proclaim Federal intent appears to have morphed Sunday a slow business day in the neighborinto a dream of a different world from the one hood. In spite of it being the only day of the that actually exists. Past events indicate, and week visitors and, one would assume, cusM AILSTROM current events bear out, that the feds would tomers need not worry about plugging the like the GGNRA (and that “R” is for “Recremeter or beating the ever-efficient parking ation”) to become again pristine wilderness, with people control officers before they are ticketed. All you need do is only, and as few people as possible, walking sedately on look for parking on a Sunday to see how specious is this marked paths. I don’t believe the federal government is conclaim. cerned with the needs of San Francisco, or its people. So we This seems laughably out of touch until one considers rely on elected city officials to be so concerned. that after last October’s gas pipe break and evacuation of the Thank you, Mr. Wiener, and Bay Area Reporter. area including the four blocks bounded by the 18th and Castro cross affected merchants appealed to MUMC, to no avail, Shari Mann for help in placing blame and gaining compensation for loss San Francisco of business. Add in MUMC’s seeming lack of concern for member merchants requesting an explanation for the city’s Wonderful tribute to Gruber unannounced and unexplained extension of 16 yellow zone Thanks so much for this wonderful article about James meters in the 400 block of Castro Street from 3 to 6 p.m. thus “Jimmie’s” Gruber’s life [“James Gruber, last original Mattapreventing the public from using these spaces as they had chine member, dies,” March 10 ]. I found myself thinking for the last several years while they ate, shopped, and drank about it over and over again after reading it. I interviewed in the neighborhood.

Harry Hay for the Bay Times a few years back and I know MUMC’s inability to mount an offensive position against what James means when he says that, “Harry doesn’t have a handful of rabid north of Market residents who successconversations. He delivers lectures.” And how interesting that fully opposed Trader Joe’s taking over the former Tower Christopher Isherwood’s landlady was Evelyn Hooker.

Records space serves as another reminder of how feckless What a wonderful life! this merchant’s association has become.

Thanks to Jim Van Buskirk.

To paraphrase an infamous remark attributed to Gertrude Stein, it appears there is no “there” there when conMichael Zonta sidering MUMC as a force in the Upper Market and Castro.

San Francisco And that is indeed sad.

Patrick Batt, Former MUMC president San Francisco

Wiener misguided on dog policy Supervisor Scott Wiener’s opposition to the off-leash dog policy proposed for GGNRA expressed in a Guest Opinion in your March 17 issue is misguided and irresponsible [“GGNRA’s off-leash dog plan is a bad idea”]. His statement that there’s no proof that any off-leash dog has harmed the snowy plover and other endangered species in the GGNRA is false. As a former dog owner and lover, I’ve been an eyewitness to multiple instances of off-leash dogs at Ocean Beach, Crissy Field, Fort Funston, and every other natural area adjacent to urban populations (burrowing owls at Berkeley’s Cesar Chavez Park is another example) disturbing these fragile birds to the death. Being chased by a dog causes birds great stress, which hastens weakness, conception problems, and death. If Wiener was involved with an environmental conservation organization such as Audubon Society (I’m a member of the Bay Area chapter), he’d be more well informed about the damage off-leash dogs (as well as feral cats, crows, and raccoons) have done and continue to do in reducing numbers of precious endangered species. San Francisco and all cities in the same dilemma need to look at other ways for dogs to share developed urban park space that doesn’t involve destroying what little natural, undeveloped or restored wildlife habitat still exists.

Lori Higa, MBA Green Home Environmental and Disaster Preparedness Specialist SF Community Power

Feds don’t care about recreation Thank you for publishing the well thought out, well-written opinion by Supervisor Scott Wiener, and thanks to Mr. Wiener for writing it. As to his failure to heed advice not to get involved in the “dog issue,” may I respectfully suggest that the proposal by the Park Service is not just a dog issue, it is a “people issue.” May I also mention that the dog-owning population is large, and that Mr. Wiener may well find his popularity increased beyond his wildest expectations. My dog doesn’t vote, but I do. I’m 70 years old, and have never missed an election.

Dogs do not go out to exercise alone. All manner of people accompany them. The elderly, the handicapped, the

It’s the hets who need help Recently, there has been a spate of articles in the papers about certain groups that attempt to “cure” homosexuality.

Frankly, I think it’s time we talked about curing heterosexuality. Let’s face it, heterosexuality needs all the help it can get.

Heterosexuals commit virtually all crime. Heterosexual marriage is a disgrace with 50 percent of all heterosexual marriages ending in divorce, many of which are more than nasty.

How many heterosexual men have killed their estranged spouses? And what about child abuse in heterosexual homes?

Is there a day that goes by that we don’t read about children who have been abused and even killed by their heterosexual parents? Heterosexuals have a nerve to condemn homosexuals. Their attempts at “fixing” homosexuals are pathetic if not laughable and it’s high time homosexuals called a spade a spade and labeled heterosexuals for what they are: tragically dysfunctional.

AJ Buttacavoli Oakland, California

Anyone home at historical society?

Now that the GLBT Historical Society has hired another full-time archivist, I hope someone there will allow members of our communities to use the materials in the collection [“Historical society turns focus to archives,” March 10].

After all, every item in it came from a member of our communities, which entrusted the organization with our past, which supports it, and which it’s supposed to serve. Unfortunately, it no longer lets anyone do research there without an advance appointment – and nobody there answers the phone or returns phone messages or replies to emails requesting appointments. It’s no longer open on Saturdays, either, even for appointments, let alone drop-in visits, which means many of us can’t use it at all because we work, go to classes, or live outside the city. This is especially true for students in the greater Bay Area who rely on family or friends to bring them to the archive and can only do so on Saturdays.

Without access to the collection, the documents become just so much stuff in the closet. We’ve had enough of closets. It’s time to make the collections of the GLBT Historical Society accessible to all members of the community who have reason to consult them.

Austin Tobin San Francisco

Pride marshal voting starts Sat. ublic voting will begin this weekend for a community grand marshal in this year’s San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade. People can either vote at one of several polling places over the next couple weeks or online, Pride officials said.

Voters also will choose an organizational grand marshal and the “pink brick” award, a dubious honor bestowed on someone who causes harm

P

to the community.

In-person balloting will take place Saturday, March 26 at 18th and Castro streets from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Online voting is available through April 10 at www.sfpride.org.

This year’s community grand marshal nominees are: Brian Basinger, HIV/AIDS housing activist; Susie Bright, activist and sexologist; Aaron Belkin, San Francisco State professor and outspoken advocate for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal; Alex Karson, youth activist and sexuality

educator; Joanne Keatley, director, Center for Excellence for Transgender Health; Karl Knapper, HIV/AIDS advocate, writer, filmmaker, and educator; Alameda County Superior Court Judge Victoria Kolakowski, first elected out transgender trial judge; Therese Stewart, chief deputy city attorney for city of San Francisco; the Reverend Roland Stringfellow, advocate for building bridges between religious communities and LGBT people; Graylin K. Thornton, leather ac-

▼

compiled by Cynthia Laird

page 16

5

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

INTERNATIONAL

NEWS

▼

Gaga censored in Malaysia

by Rex Wockner alaysia’s largest chain of non-government-owned radio stations has removed gay lyrics from Lady Gaga’s hit “Born This Way” for fear of being fined by government censors. The words “No matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgendered life, I’m on the right track, baby, I was born to survive” have been garbled so as to be unintelligible when played, according to reports.

M

St. Lucia apologizes to gay Americans The Caribbean island of St. Lucia on March 11 apologized to three American gay men who were violently attacked and robbed inside a Lady Gaga, seen here at 2009’s National Equality March in Washington, D.C., vacation villa by assailants who has had lyrics to her song garbled on Malaysian radio. called them faggots.

The apology from the tourism minister came after one of the vicILGA-Europe is the European going to hurt to die by being shot in tims, Michael Baker, posted a graphRegion of ILGA, the International the head. I felt so trapped. I wanted ic account of the nightmarish inciLesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Into run away with Nick, get him out dent on his Facebook page – tersex Association. of there, but there was nowhere to tinyurl.com/luc-attac. escape. This was going to be it. ...

“Whether or not this crime was Guyana keeps gay sex ban, They began to kick me in the back motivated by anti-gay sentiment, or opposes discrimination and the side. I was on my side, lookduring the course of a robbery, it is ing at Nick’s face. I could feel warm The government of the South nonetheless unacceptable behavior water running down my back, American nation of Guyana said and Saint Lucia as a destinaand realized it was not water, March 10 that it opposes both antition will not tolerate it. ... it was blood. I saw the gay discrimination and advocacy of Saint Lucia has always blood flowing out of my gay “lifestyles.” been a safe destination, forearm. They began to Gay activists called the statement respectful of people’s tell us that they hated inadequate and said that if the govown choices for reliwhite people. They ernment wanted to lessen anti-gay gion, beliefs, and perhated faggots. They discrimination, it should repeal laws spectives on life,” said asked where we were that ban gay sex and cross-dressing.

Tourism Minister Allen from. We told them the The ban on cross-dressing is Chastanet.

W OCKNER’ S United States. They told presently being challenged in the In his lengthy Faceus again how much they Supreme Court on constitutional W ORLD book recounting of the hated us. They asked if grounds. attack, Baker writes: we were gay. Why had we “He pointed the gun at my head and Canada inserts gays showered together? Todd and I both said, ‘Get the fuck down!’ As I sat into citizenship guide said it was because the water heater down on the ground the door was so small. They said if we were Canada has added a gay sentence crashed open, and I put my head befaggots they would kill us.” to “Discover Canada,” the nation’s tween my knees. I wondered if it was According to the U.S. State Deofficial citizenship study guide. partment’s latest human-rights reAccording to the national LGBT port on St. Lucia: “The law criminallobby group Egale, the sentence says, izes homosexual relations, and there “Canada’s diversity includes gay and was widespread social discriminalesbian Canadians, who enjoy the tion against lesbians, gays, bisexual, full protection of and equal treatand transgender (LGBT) persons in ment under the law, including access the deeply conservative society. to civil marriage.”

There were few openly LGBT perEgale criticized the guide for sons in the country.” making no mention of transgender people, and urged Parliament to pass Moldovan anti-discrimination pending Bill C-389, which adds bill under attack “gender identity” and “gender expression” as prohibited grounds of A government-supported bill to discrimination in the Canadian ban anti-gay and other discriminaHuman Rights Act and adds transtion has come under attack in phobic crimes to the criminal code’s Moldova’s Parliament, where it is hate-crimes list. being debated.

According to ILGA-Europe, a Isle of Man passes number of MPs have called for the civil-partnership law deletion of “sexual orientation” from the draft law after being encouraged A same-sex civil-partnership law to do so by “right-wing American has passed the parliament of the Isle evangelicals.” of Man, a self-governing British On March 17, about 150 anti-gay crown dependency in the Irish Sea activists staged a protest outside Parbetween Great Britain and Ireland. liament dubbed “Homosexuals stay The law, which takes effect April at home.”

6, includes all the rights and obligaSaid ILGA: “Aggressive homotions of marriage, the same as the phobic rhetoric by religious organiUnited Kingdom’s civil-partnership zations and a number of parliamenlaw. tarians already resulted in threats British gay activist George Broadbeing made to the members of Genhead commented: “As a Manxman derDoc-M, the leading Moldovan myself who was born on the IOM in LGBTI rights organization. Alexei 1933 and realized I was gay at school Marcicov, president of the organizain the 1940s, I know only too well tion, was verbally abused and had what a frightful homophobic place it stones thrown at him near his home. was – much of it stemming, as elseOther human rights defenders supwhere, from religious bigotry. Acporting the anti-discrimination law tivists on the island itself and the rest have been threatened on the streets of the UK launched a campaign to and near their homes.” get the law changed and I am proud ILGA-Europe’s board co-chair, to have played a part in this.”

Martin K.I. Christensen, said Front-runner for Moldova has little choice but to pass Peruvian president the bill with gays included. supports civil unions “Moldova committed to passing an anti-discrimination law protectThe front-runner in Peru’s presiing all minorities under its visa-libdential campaign, Alejandro Toledo, eralization agreement with the Euhas expressed support for giving gay ropean Union,” he said. “We call on couples the rights of marriage via the EU to assert its position with the civil unions. The election is April Moldovan authorities and hold 10.▼ them accountable under their obligations.”

Bill Kelley contributed to this report.

Rex Wockner

6

▼

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

POLITIC S

Leno awaits redistricting decision on Senate boundaries

by Matthew S. Bajko penly gay state Senator Mark Leno’s (D-San Francisco) political fate rests in the hands of the state’s Citizens Redistricting Commission. The public body is tasked with redrawing the boundaries for California’s legislative districts and is expected to eliminate one of San Francisco’s two state senate seats.

Depending on what the commission decides, Leno could find himself out of a job.

“We are about to become a one Senate district city,” Leno told the Bay Area Reporter during a wideranging interview Friday, March 18.

Based on the 2010 census there are 805,235 people living in San Francisco County. The population figure is far below the 920,000-person threshold required to be in each of the state’s redrawn senate districts.

As currently drawn, Leno’s 3rd Senate District includes the eastern half of San Francisco and then runs north to southern Sonoma County.

But it falls short by about 50,000 people.

Based on the guidelines the redistricting commission has to follow, legislative boundaries are not supposed to cross bodies of water. Therefore, it is expected that Marin and Sonoma counties will no longer have a San Franciscan representing them in Sacramento.

“I have this pesky little bay separating my P OLITICAL district in half,” said Leno. “So I can’t tell you I know what the commission is going to do, but they have to respect geographical boundaries, respect the integrity of city and county lines, and respect communities of interest.”

To make up for the loss of his North Bay constituents, Leno’s district will likely be combined with that of state Senator Leland Yee’s (DSan Francisco) District 8 seat. Yee represents the western half of San Francisco and the northern parts of San Mateo County.

Yee’s district, as currently drawn, is short about 70,000 people and will likely shift southward down the Peninsula. Due to most of the state’s population growth over the last decade occurring in the Central Valley and southern California, the Bay Area’s legislative districts are all expected to shift toward the southeast.

The only question is whether the new Senate district will be Yee’s or Leno’s, and thus, if Leno will have a Senate seat to run for come 2012, when his current term expires.

Because Yee was just re-elected to another four-year term in November, he will remain a senator until 2014 no matter what happens with his district. As for Leno, it all depends on what number the new San Francisco Senate district is given.

If the redistricting commission gives it an even number, then the seat won’t be up for grabs until 2014.

But if it is given an odd number, then Leno could seek re-election next fall.

“If it is even, I couldn’t run for it, and potentially, I would be out of a seat,” said Leno. “I couldn’t run again until 2014.”

Should Yee be elected San Francisco’s next mayor, as he hopes voters will do come this November, it will likely not benefit Leno. The governor would have to call for a special election to fill Yee’s seat in 2012, and the race would be for the district as currently drawn.

Rick Gerharter

O

State Senator Mark Leno

“I could not run for it because I don’t live in his district,” said Leno.

The makeup of the Senate district will likely be settled after the redistricting commissioners redraw the state’s Assembly district lines. The reason being that they are encouraged to use what is known as nesting, the placing of two Assembly districts in one Senate district.

As the B.A.R. first reported last December, the city’s two Assembly districts are far short of the minimum number of people required.

The expectation is that openly gay Assemblyman Tom Ammiano’s 13th Assembly District will cover most of the city.

Assemblywoman Fiona Ma’s District 12 seat will include a southern portion of San Francisco and almost all of N OTEBOOK Assembly District 19, now held by Jerry Hill on the Peninsula.

Both Ma and Hill are expected to seek Yee’s senate seat should he become mayor.

Although Yee told the B.A.R. at the time that he would fight to see that the city’s clout in the statehouse would not diminish under redistricting, Leno said he has little influence on the outcome.

“I don’t see I have any participation in this at all,” said Leno. “And specifically, one of the big differences with what the Legislature used to do and this commission will do is they will be literally blind to any info of where current legislators live. When the legislators did it, they were very mindful of where legislators lived because they were looking out for themselves.”

Leno finds himself in this political pickle partly because he opted in December not to run for mayor himself or seek to be named interim mayor. Last week he insisted he would not change his mind and jump into the race later this year.

In the fall he said he had been giving a mayoral bid “serious thought” and had received encouragement from many people, friends and strangers alike.

“I like to make decisions and just move on. I was really struggling with this one,” said Leno. “I was getting lots of questions from constituents about it who said, ‘We want you to run.’ My head was getting a little blown up.”

His mind wasn’t made up until he traveled up to Sacramento to see the new legislators sworn in in early December and attended several dinners for retiring and incoming lawmakers.

“I could make a great argument for running and not for running. I wasn’t pleased with my indecisiveness,” said Leno, who finally came to the conclusion he did not want to leave the Senate. “What was I thinking? I love my job. I love the challenges, even the budget.”

Enticing as it would be to become San Francisco’s first gay mayor, Leno said that was not his main reason for weighing a run for Room 200 at City Hall.

“That would have been a part of it but it is not the reason to take on as serious a job as mayor of San Francisco,” said Leno. “It would have had an historic element to it. It was part of all the excitement and part of the encouragement I was getting from people in the LGBT community and beyond. But there is something about this job I love so much.”

He said he believes Mayor Ed Lee has been “doing a good job” and wonders himself if Lee will seek the job permanently, something Lee has been adamant he won’t do.

For now, Leno doesn’t intend to endorse in the race, preferring instead to see who else may jump into the fray.

“The make up of the field is still volatile. I think it is in flux,” said Leno. “The dust will get settled. I will give it some time. It is an amazingly well known and large field.”▼ Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check www.ebar.com Monday mornings around 10 a.m. for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. This week’s column features an interview with Californian Fred Karger, the gay GOPer who filed to run for president Wednesday, March 23.

Keep abreast of the latest LGBT political news by following the Political Notebook on Twitter @ twitter.com/politicalnotes.

Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 861-5019 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.

www.ebar.com

7

8

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

COMMENTARY

▼

A

x

books against such behavior, obviously, remains just as it is. A pedophile, for example, cannot claim that they were somehow allowed to assault children based on a claim of transgender status.

Frankly, I don’t even feel I need to point this out – yet I’m sure I do.

The counter argument is that yes, while it does not change the law, it somehow makes it easier for them to gain access to an opposite gender restroom in the first place. After all, they’re always busy looking for an opportunity. This also falls apart on examination. If a predator is indeed looking for any opportunity, then transgender accommodations laws won’t make a difference for them. If they’re acting on such urges, then it really won’t matter to them what the sign on the door says, or what rules of use are in place.

Meanwhile, transgender people themselves are no more likely to be a sexual predator than any non-transgender person. Also, of course, public accommodation needs go much further than public toilets.

There’s an obvious reason why this argument is used: it works. It is not a logical argument, but an emotional one.

In fighting against such a bill in Gainesville, Florida in 2009, ads showed a blonde Caucasian girl – amid an overdub of obvious playground noises – walking unaccompanied into a restroom. Shortly afterwards a bearded man, wearing a black ball cap and dark sunglasses, follows her in. Again, the argument was that this was exactly what the Gainesville City Commission was allowing by offering public accommodations in the city.

The footage did not show any attempt by the “predator” to claim a transgender identity. The image was obvious, a dark-clothed, sly, shady character that one conjured in their mind when they think of a sexual predator. Really, there was nothing there specific to transgender identity at all – but it was still used to fight against the law.

I suspect this argument is fully based on emotions.

When one goes into a restroom,

there is a sense of vulnerability. You are somewhat at a disadvantage. Partially exposed, perhaps sitting with your pants down, and otherwise occupied.

One might just be naturally wary in such a situation. For a parent, too, there has to be an extra level of fear at play. Your child may be out of sight of you, on hir own, and also in a vulnerable situation.

With that in mind, I can see how such an argument hits all the fears one might conjure up in such a situation, and cause someone to react without logic or critical thinking. You don’t want your kid to be assaulted, do you?

Well then, you simply can’t let transgender people in the restroom, can you?

I note, of course, that you will not see concerns about women gaining access to the men’s room. This does not seem to become part of the argument at all. The presumption is, I assume, that no self-respecting woman would want to do so.

As a transwoman, I can agree with that, though maybe not in quite the same way others might consider it. I know that I would not want to be forced into a men’s room where I could indeed be potentially assaulted,

simply based on some mistaken assumption that I am somehow also a male. Also, no consideration at all is given for female to male transpeople, who would also likely not be desired in a ladies’ room.

Of course, this also sidesteps the very issue of what a transgender person needs a restroom for in the first place. We’d be in them to use the facilities that everyone else is using. We would be urinating and defecating, perhaps changing sanitary napkins or tampons, washing our hands, perhaps even taking a moment to check ourselves in the mirror.

Indeed, just like our non-transgender friends and associates, we simply want a safe place to do our business and get on with our lives. We don’t want to see predators in the potty any more than they, and we know that our presence in a bathroom that matches our gender of preference really does not give any pedophile or rapist a green light to assault anyone.

It’s simple, isn’t it?▼ Gwen Smith also prefers clean restrooms, when it comes down to it.

You can find her online at www.gwensmith.com.

Police panel dismayed by patrol special case

by Seth Hemmelgarn pparently troubled that charges were filed in the first place, San Francisco police commissioners decided last week to send a case against an assistant patrol special police officer back to the police chief.

Assistant San Francisco Patrol Special Police Officer Roberto Ortega faced administrative charges that he picked up a prostitute and was hanging out in an area known for prostitution. The San Francisco Police Department had recommended that the Police Commission revoke Ortega’s appointment.

The case against Ortega, which was filed in December by former Police Chief George Gascón, now the city’s district attorney, said that Ortega had associated with a transgender prostitute and had frequented Divas, a transgender nightclub at 1081 Post Street.

In an interview the day after the March 16 hearing, out Commissioner Jim Hammer referred to the charge involving Divas as “outrageous.” The charge “harkened back” to decades ago, “where people were targeted for being in places, like gay bars.”

He said the first count, about associating with a prostitute, “could raise questions,” but it was the type

A

of thing “that needs to be dealt with by the chief.”

Hammer explained the commission sending the case to interim Police Chief Jeff Godown by saying, in part, “At the chief ’s level, nothing really bad can happen. Only the commission can do serious things” such as take his beat away or suspend him.

He said at most, Ortega will be “verbally talked to by the chief.”

Gascón charged Ortega with engaging in conduct which undermines the good order, efficiency, and discipline of the department and which brings discredit to the department, and failure to comply with moral character requirements.

The charges are not criminal. Patrol specials are not members of the

uniform ranks of the San Francisco Police Department and are not city employees. They are held to all written orders of the department.

During last week’s commission hearing, Hammer wasn’t the only person among the seven commissioners who appeared dismayed by the Ortega case.

Commissioner Angela Chan said the case “didn’t sit well” with her. She said whether a person associates with someone who is transgender and might have a history of prostitution doesn’t mean no one should ever interact with that person.

“It did not seem to be any conduct worthy of discipline and [seemed] not to be the most tolerant way of dealing with these issues,” said Chan of the case.

Ashley Worsham, an attorney representing the police, agreed at the hearing that the second charge shouldn’t have been alleged in the complaint. However, she said the department still felt that Ortega’s conduct could have been interpreted as an act to engage in prostitution.

Lou Silver, the attorney representing Ortega, did not respond to an interview request for this story. It is unclear if Ortega is straight or a member of the LGBT community.

According to the charging documents, San Francisco police Officer

▼

such legislation as “bathroom bills,” claiming that such laws open public restrooms to peeping Toms or worse. llowing transgender people to This argument has become so use bathrooms appropriate to pervasive that even in the case of HB their gender of preference will 235 – where public accommodation lead to pedophiles and rapists assaultlanguage has been stripped out – its ing you, your spouse, or possibly your opponents still call it the bathroom children. bill and evoke the specter of reThis argument is used in every stroom-bound predators. transgender rights battle over Of course, the argument public accommodations, from that allowing transgender early battles in the 1970s to the people public accommofight this year in Maryland dations gives access to sexover HB 235, the Gender ual predators is specious.

Identity Anti-DiscriminaWhile one could assume on tion bill. the surface that Indeed, while there is some meat this has been T RANSMISSIONS here, a closer examaround for a while, ination shows it to it is only in the last be a fallacy. five years that it has become the sinFirst and foremost, no public acgle most common argument used by commodation bill is going to directly the religious right to torpedo transallow predators to use restrooms to gender rights bills. Attack ads slam commit crimes. Every law on the

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

Christine Smith

Down the toilet

page 9

▼

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

COMMUNITY

9

NEWS

Website offers free translation service

by Matthew S. Bajko t is called the World Wide Web, but due to language barriers, that is somewhat of a misnomer.

Huge sections of the Internet are inaccessible for most online users because the pages are not written in their native tongue. And many translation services, such as Google Translate or Yahoo’s Babel Fish, are machine-based and can be lacking in the quality of the translation.

“Language is the biggest issue on the Internet that nobody talks about.

We tend to assume because we are both native English speakers that the Internet is mostly English. That was true at one point but is no longer the case,” said Ethan Zuckerman, cofounder of Global Voices, which uses volunteers from across the globe to translate blogs and citizen media into 30 different languages. “If we really want the Internet to do what we hope it does, which is makes the world smaller, you have got to take language seriously.”

Paula Goes, the multilingual editor for www.globalvoicesonline.org, noted that in 2010 websites written in English accounted for little more than 27.3 percent of Internet sites. While many foreign language speakers can read English sites, most English speakers are unable to decipher one-fourth of the web pages in other languages.

“Tens of millions of new Internet users do not speak or read English and seek content in their own languages.

China alone has 400 million people online – more than the entire US population – and the vast majority only read Chinese,” wrote Goes in an emailed response to questions.

Now a San Francisco-based company is looking to tap into the Internet’s legion of users to help make the web’s vast array of pages more accessible to anyone with a computer. It has launched the website, Dermundo.com a sort of do-it-yourself translation application.

Its name, an amalgam of the German word Der and the Spanish word Mundo, means “belonging to the world.” Its motto is “Translate the world with your friends.” Rather than have a machine translate the web, Dermundo is aimed at having bilingual people do the translating or native speakers edit other people’s work.

The site also offers the BabeLGBT

I

Police panel ▼

page 8

Michael Evans saw Diana Rivera, a “known transgender prostitute,” approach the car Ortega was driving at Van Ness Avenue and California Street and start conversing with him at about 4:21 a.m. on March 21, 2010.

After Rivera got in the car, Ortega drove away but Evans, who was driving a marked patrol car, stopped him. Ortega told Evans that he was only stopping him because Rivera was transgender, which Evans denied, and that he and Rivera were friends and he was taking her to the

Courtesy Brian McConnell

bartabsf.com

A screen grab from Dermundo.com shows the pop-up editing tool.

News Translation, described as “a community of volunteer translators who curate and translate LGBT news, commentary and blog posts from around the world.” It has created specific pages for several LGBT-focused websites, included that of the Bay Area Reporter.

“With the B.A.R. there is a huge number of LGBT people in the Bay Area who are Spanish speakers, some of whom are not fluent in English.

My guess is those people would want to be able to read the B.A.R.,” said Brian McConnell, a gay man who has spent the last three years working on Dermundo.

The way it works, said McConnell, is a user goes to www.dermundo.com and enters a URL to bring up an editable version of that page where they can then edit and score translations.

Users of Firefox or Wordpress can also download the Dermundo toolbar onto their computer and use it to translate pages themselves that are then saved for others to see. Or they can use it to scroll over blocks of text that is then automatically translated and edit the translations.

The site is a work in progress and only went live this month. It is free to use, though McConnell is adding a feature called SpeakLike where people can pay for a professionally translated page at a cost of 6 cents per word.

McConnell said he hopes the site will become a useful tool particularly for LGBT people living in countries

where they are persecuted based on their sexual orientation and have limited access to information and news about LGBT issues.

“If you are in a small town in Iran and can’t read English, you are really cut off from the world. This could really help,” said McConnell.

Pablo Melendez, 40, a gay man who immigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala at the age of 17 and now lives in San Francisco, has signed on to translate web pages from English into Spanish. He said he could see Dermundo being valuable for American LGBTs who travel overseas and want to learn about the local LGBT community.

“I predict having gay and lesbian material translated into other languages will attract people from all over the world,” said Melendez.

Zuckerman said Dermundo’s success depends on if it can attract enough citizen translators.

“The key is going to be whether it is able to get enough of a user base,” he said. “What I found about volunteer translation is people really want to translate things they are interested in.”

McConnell said his company, World Wide Lexicon, is also adapting the technology for major publishers of newspapers and magazines looking to expand their readership online.

“Most major papers in the U.S. have huge Latino audiences they are not reaching. Many magazines have readers they could be attracting from all over the world,” said McConnell.▼

bank in order to give her money.

Evans admonished Ortega and Rivera that prostitution was illegal and released them, the charges say.

Rivera couldn’t be reached for comment.

The documents also say that police officials learned that Ortega frequents Divas, where there were 46 calls for service from July 2009 to the time of the charges. In addition, he “presumably” wore his uniform to the bar.

Divas’ Alexis Miranda didn’t respond to an interview request.

The city doesn’t consider patrol special officers – who are approved by the police department but hired by private businesses and individu-

als to provide security – to be police officers. According to a California Court of Appeal decision issued in 1996, patrol special officers aren’t police officers.

In a letter to the Bay Area Reporter Alan Byard, president of the San Francisco Patrol Special Police Officers Association, has previously said that in the ruling by the California Appellate Court in 1995, “The court did not issue a determination that a ‘Patrol Special’ is not a police officer, but it did say a ‘Patrol Special’ is not a ‘peace officer.’”

Spokesmen for the San Francisco Police Department and for Gascón didn’t provide comment for this story by deadline.▼

Help Celebrate 40 years of the BAY AREA REPORTER! Look for our special 40th Anniversary Issue out April 7.

For advertising rates call

861.5019

www.ebar.com

10

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

11

12

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

13

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

THE

SPORTS

PAGE

▼

Sharks send mixed signals on LGBT night

by Roger Brigham he Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants have held LGBT nights for years. (This year’s LGBT night for the world champion Giants will be Monday, August 29, versus the Chicago Cubs.) The San Francisco 49ers started holding LGBT fan appreciation nights in the Castro after Garrison Hearst’s comment in 2002 to a Fresno Bee reporter that, “Hell, no, I don’t want any faggots on my team!” The Golden State Warriors held its second LGBT night last month. Now, the Bay Area’s entry in the country’s other major sport, ice hockey, is making its first tentative foray into the field.

The San Jose Sharks, which began the week atop the tightly packed Pacific Division, will hold its first LGBT night Thursday, March 31, at HP Pavilion with a 7:30 game against the Dallas Stars.

Now, whether this is “a big deal” or “no big deal” depends very much on your perspective. Several players from the NBA, the NFL and Major League Baseball have come out after finishing their playing careers, and numerous teams in all three of those sports have actively factored the LGBT community into the marketing and public relations plans.

No former NHL player has ever

T

Courtesy San Jose Sharks

14

The San Jose Sharks, shown playing the Dallas Stars earlier this month, will meet the team again next week, which happens to be the Sharks’ first LGBT night.

come out. LGBT nights in the league are unheard of. And even with San Jose’s historic first, the Sharks are playing this one cool.

“There’s not a huge promotion,” Ken Arnold, Sharks senior director of communications, told the Bay Area Reporter. “This is just another group coming to our game, buying a block of tickets to sit with each other.”

Giants or Warriors LGBT nights might feature entertainment from Cheer SF, the Gay Men’s Chorus, the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, or pre-game competition with players from the local gay leagues. No such distractions with the Sharks. An email sent by the group ticket sales department referring to the game as “our first ever LGBT Night!” says fans will save up to $12 per ticket, an unspecified portion of the sales will go toward San Jose Pride, and fans will receive a commemorative Sharks LGBT Night beanie, but Arnold said, “It’s not an evening. It’s not a night. It just means if you J OCK buy a block of tickets you pay less and you sit in a special section. It happens with several other groups throughout the year.”

After Brendan Burke, the son of Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke, came out in 2009, his father became a strong advocate for LGBT rights. He has continued his advocacy since the death of Brendan Burke in a car crash a year ago and in fact is a supporter of the youth sports program mentioned below.

Asked if the genesis of the Sharks LGBT night was stimulated by Burke’s

advocacy, Arnold said, “I think that would be a stretch.”

Offered through the San Jose Pride Web site (www.sanjosepride.com), the $36 tickets sold out swiftly but a few $73 and $46 tickets were reported still available this week.

GLSEN unveils youth sports program The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network announced last week the launch of Changing the Game: the GLSEN Sports Project. The sports project (see Jan. 27 Jock Talk) focuses on sports and physical education programs from kindergarten through high school and working to create a safer and more inclusive environment for athletes regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or sexual identity.

The program’s website, sports.glsen.org, offers resources such as videos from supporters about making a difference, and recompractices for TALK mended athletes, parents, coaches and administrators.

The project is led by Pat Griffin, formerly director of the It Takes a Team campaign with the Women’s Sports Foundation, and has a 19member advisory group. The group also lists an All Star team of athlete supporters, including tennis legends Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King, former major league baseball player Billy Bean, former NBA player John Amaechi, former Stanford basketball player Candice Wiggins, and former Cal linebacker Scott Fujita.▼

S

HIV ▼

Help Celebrate 40 years of the

BAY AREA REPORTER! Look for our special 40th Anniversary Issue out April 7.

For advertising rates call 861.5019

page 2

longer feel the need to relocate to the city. Thus, they are not driving up the city’s HIV caseload. And among those people newly arrived to San Francisco, they are not accounting for a large number of HIV cases.

“Newcomers being at risk didn’t seem to hold up,” said Raymond of the long held belief that recent transplants to the city had a greater chance of becoming HIV-positive.

“As for positive people coming to San Francisco for services, that might have happened early on in the epidemic. But there is less migration now; the days of the gay ghetto are over.”

In fact, Raymond said he suspects the reverse may be true. As the city’s AIDS and HIV population ages – the majority of new AIDS cases are now among people 50 and older – they are retiring to other areas such as Palm Springs or Sonoma County.

“I do think there is an exodus of

older people. That is why Sonoma is asking why their HIV prevalence among MSM is rising,” said Raymond. “Well, the guys are old enough to buy a home, live in Sonoma and retire there.”

The city continues to project it will not see any new HIV cases among newborns or people given blood transfusions, though there are 57 people living in San Francisco who acquired HIV either as infants or from infected blood.

The total number of new cases among straight men and women, including injection drug users, is estimated at 69. There are 2,012 heterosexual people living with HIV in the city.

Transgender women, including injection drug users, are expected to account for 32 new HIV cases. There are 583 transgender women living with HIV. Overall, the number of people living with HIV in San Francisco is now believed to be 18,576, which results in an HIV prevalence rate of 2.27 percent.▼

▼

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

15

OBITUARIES

Former airport official Peter Nardoza dies

by Cynthia Laird eter Nardoza, a longtime staffer in various San Francisco city departments, died March 16 at his home. He was 62.

The cause of death was cancer, his former partner, Thomas Stevens, said in an interview last week.

Supervisor Scott Wiener presented an In Memoriam at Tuesday’s board meeting.

Mr. Nardoza most recently served as the deputy director at San Francisco International Airport from 1998-2002, where he oversaw a staff of 45 and a budget of $6 million. He also served in other capacities at SFO, where he worked from 1984 until his retirement in July 2002.

But perhaps more significantly, Mr. Nardoza worked for Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) when she was a city supervisor and when she served as mayor. He is shown beside Feinstein in the television news footage when she announced that then-Mayor George Moscone and then-Supervisor Harvey Milk were murdered in their City Hall offices on November 27, 1978.

“He’s holding her up,” Stevens said of that moment in San Francisco history.

Stevens said that Mr. Nardoza was well-connected when he started working at City Hall in the mid1970s. He was also an out gay man, something that wasn’t as common back then.

Marcia Smolens, now a lobbyist but who worked on Feinstein’s mayoral campaign in 1975, said Mr. Nardoza was hired at about that time to serve as an aide to Feinstein, who was on the Board of Supervisors. Feinstein did not win the mayor’s race that year, but was elected president of

Jeff Corich April 16, 1965 – March 14, 2011

Jeff Corich, 45, of San Francisco, died in his sleep Monday, March 14 from natural causes. Jeff was born on April 16, 1965, and lived in Texas for most of his life. He moved to San Francisco in 2003 from Houston, while working in retail Management for FYE Records. He was an avid music lover – always sharing his love and passion with everyone around him. Jeff was also a member of the San Francisco bear community and was loved by many.

In 2006 Jeff suffered a debilitating stroke, but was a fighter and an inspiration to so many. He never gave up. Jeff lived with his close friend Dave Hayes. He was pre-deceased by his mother and father, Jody and Bert Corich, and is survived by his brother Al, sister Sandy Vinyard, and nieces and nephews (Nicole, Andrea, Lewis, and Kody). A memorial service was held Friday, March 18 at the MCCSan Francisco at 150 Eureka Street at 6 p.m. Donations in Jeff ’s name can be made to KQED Public Broadcasting.

You were our angel in life and

Spears ▼

page 1

the various dancers and other performers scheduled to join her on stage.

The new venue will be the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium across the street from San Francisco’s City Hall, Mark Robertson, a producer for GMA, told the Bay Area Reporter Wednesday morning.

It will provide a far less dramatic backdrop than the city’s gayborhood. As initially planned, Spears was set to perform on a makeshift stage in front of the iconic Castro Theatre this Sunday, March 27 from noon to 1 p.m.

Courtesy San Francisco International Airport

P

Peter Nardoza

the board in 1978. She became acting mayor after Moscone was killed, serving out the remainder of his term before winning election in 1979.

Mr. Nardoza worked for Feinstein until 1984, when he went to SFO. “He was ego-less in a political world. I can’t tell you how unusual that was,” Smolens told the Bay Area Reporter. “He was very straightforward and knew how to work within the bureaucracy and political structure.”

Smolens said that a few things stood out for her regarding Mr. Nardoza’s career.

“Being by Dianne’s side in 1978 when she was board president, and being with her as acting mayor and then as mayor,” Smolens said. “That was a very different and potentially explosive time.”

She also singled out one of the big projects at the airport.

“His handling of the politics of the new international terminal at

now you are the angel in our hearts keeping us motivated and striving to never lose faith in life. May you never hurt again.

Charles Richard Ostergrant September 15, 1933 – March 9, 2011

Charles Richard Ostergrant (a.k.a. Tony Midnight), born September 15, 1933, passed on March 9, 2011. He grew up in Aurora, Illinois, where as a young man he and friend Anita Phillips produced and starred in a celebrity radio program. Drafted in 1953, he served in the U.S. Army, Far East Command, stationed on Okinawa. Honorably discharged in 1955 he returned to San Francisco and worked for Southern Pacific Railway. He was well known as an entertainer, raconteur, host at Gordon’s Restaurant, and human rights activist in gay circles.

In the early 1970s he moved to Los Angeles to write with army friend Daniel Whiteside. During his years in southern California he worked for the 1994 Olympic Committee. As director of communications for 30 years at

The news of the cancellation has upset nearby residents who had planned viewing parties at their apartments and rooftops.

“I think people are just really crushed,” said Jason Villalobos, who lives above A.G. Ferrari on the 400 block of Castro Street. “This was supposed to be special, a gift to the gay community. Now it will just be another Britney Spears concert. It is losing that special quality that made it so exciting.”

Villalobos and his roommates had been planning to host a “giant party,” he said, and are now unsure if those plans will go forward.

“The draw was the fact Britney Spears was going to be on Castro Street. We will take the pulse of peo-

SFO,” Smolens said.

John Martin, the out director of SFO, said Mr. Nardoza would be missed.

“Peter truly was a great diplomat in that he was someone who was universally respected and trusted,” Martin told the B.A.R. “He had great political acumen.”

Mary Ellen Nardoza, Mr. Nardoza’s younger sister, was very close to her brother. She said he was proud of the work he did at City Hall.

“He was the right hand of Dianne Feinstein,” Nardoza said. “He was instrumental in getting Dianne elected mayor.”

She said that Mr. Nardoza was well-respected and very effective in his work.

“He was a big thinker and very up to date in world, national, and local events,” said Nardoza.

The eldest of five children, Mr. Nardoza was born August 2, 1948 and was raised in Manhattan. He received his Master of Arts degree in public and mass communication from City University of New York.

He moved to San Francisco in 1974.

Mr. Nardoza’s first job at SFO was assistant deputy director in the business and finance division, where he worked on the airport’s food and concession program. After that, he served as administrator in the Bureau of Government Affairs, where he created and managed a new airport bureau that was responsible for strategic planning and execution of all airport programs through the regulatory governmental agencies and legislative bodies on the local, state, and federal level. He achieved a 100 percent legislative success rate.

Mr. Nardoza’s sister said that her brother enjoyed traveling, especially to Mexico, Hawaii, and Palm Springs. He also went to Costa Rica, Three In One Concepts he is remembered world wide for his charm, wit and wisdom.

Charles is survived by his cat Gugitzo, his sister Mary Trader, nieces and nephews. A memorial service has been held at Bethany Towers in Hollywood, where Charles last resided.

OBITUARY POLICY >> Obituaries should be e-mailed to obituaries@ebar.com. They must be no longer than 200 words. Please follow normal rules of capitalization – and no poetry. We reserve the right to edit for style, clarity, grammar, and taste.

Please provide the name and contact information for the funeral home, crematory, or organ donation agency that handled final disposition of the body. This is for verification.

Please submit a photo of the deceased. E-mail a recent color jpg. Deadline for obituaries is Monday at 9 a.m., with the exception of special display ad obituaries, which must be submitted by Friday at 3 p.m. For information on paid obituaries, call (415) 861-5019.

Obituaries can be mailed to Bay Area Reporter, 395 9th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. Write the deceased’s name on the back of the photo. If you include a SASE for the photo’s return, write the person’s name on the inside of the envelope flap.

All obituaries must include a contact name and daytime phone number. They must be submitted within a year of the death.

For archived obituaries, go to www.glbthistory.org /obituaries.

ple on Facebook,” he said. “I think a lot of people will be really disappointed.”

Due to limited capacity, the Sunday, March 27 event will now be ticketed. People interested in attending will be able to download tickets at 9 a.m. Pacific time Thursday, March 24 at www.abcnews.com /gma. All seating is general admission and doors will open to the public at 10:30 a.m.

Spears’s concert is to plug her new album Femme Fatale, which will be released March 29. The pre-taped San Francisco performance will also be shown that day on GMA. It will be the capstone to two days worth of segments about the city’s tourist attractions and LGBT community. ▼

where he helped locals with farming.

Stevens met Mr. Nardoza in 1983 and they were together for about 10 years. The men remained friends and it was Stevens who had been taking care of Mr. Nardoza over the last few months, along with assistance from care-providers. About three weeks ago, Mr. Nardoza was sent home from the hospital.

“He wanted to be at home,” Stevens said.

In addition to Stevens and his sister, Mary Ellen, Mr. Nardoza is survived by his parents, Pete and Kathleen; sisters Jeannie and Carol; brother Michael; an aunt; and many friends in San Francisco.

Plans for a memorial are pending.▼

16

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

COMMUNITY

Sistahs ▼

page 1

they created in Oakland and how they have inspired other women’s Pride events, in particular women of color pride celebrations across the nation, said Moore.

Oakland Pride is hoping to tap into Sistahs Steppin’ In Pride’s power, said Moore and Joe Hawkins, cochair of Oakland Pride. If not, Moore hopes that a new generation of community leaders will take up the reins to guide Sistahs Steppin’ In Pride into its future, she said.

“We are so available to help facilitate [new leadership] in any way

CA budget ▼

page 1

change in corporate taxes and eliminating redevelopment agencies and enterprise zones.

Despite the seemingly dead-end the legislators and the governor appear to find themselves in, openly gay state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), chair of the Senate Budget Committee, remains hopeful a compromise can be reached.

“I have always been hopeful and believe that a sufficient number of Republicans will do the right and necessary thing. I still have to hold on to that belief,” Leno told the Bay Area Reporter during a wide-ranging 70minute interview Friday, March 18 at his office on the top floor of the state building near the Civic Center. “I am optimistic. I have to be.”

Leno, however, said he was unsure which Republicans could be persuaded to break the stalemate. Nor would he venture to guess how soon a deal could be reached.

“I can’t tell you who or when and time is running out,” said Leno, who was appointed budget chair this session.

Illustrating the acrimony around the budget talks, Leno started off the interview by expressing disbelief with his Republican counterparts over their position to oppose the tax ex-

News Briefs ▼

page 5

tivist and producer of African American erotica; and Ron Wong, longtime activist for Asian Pacific Islanders and a past Pride board member.

Organizational grand marshal nominees are: the GLBT Historical Society, Lavender Seniors of the East Bay, the Lighthouse Community Center in Hayward, San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, and the San Francisco HIV Health Services Planning Council.

Nominees for the pink brick are: Lou Engle, an evangelical leader who

possible,” said Moore, adding that she hopes a new committee of community leaders can “morph it into something that is good for our community.”

“I look forward to the next generation. I know that there will be another community event,” added Tellefsen.

NEWS

▼

been in the past 10 years,” said Moore. “We’ve had 10 years that have been extraordinary celebrating the community, particularly the women’s community, which is very rich and deep. What we hope to do this year is not only celebrate where we come from, but really celebrate where we are today.”

“Sistahs Steppin’ in Pride is the one day a year where I can feel our community in its totality,” added Tellefsen.

Moore said the committee is currently planning this year’s celebration and looking at presenting the best of previous events from the past decade. The committee is also planning to produce a commemorative

program to document the historic occasion.

“We want this community to go out in a bang! We want to have a good time and tell our story,” Moore said. “I want to engage the community this year and encourage people to be a part of this story and show up to be in the march.”

Moore estimated that the annual event cost about $25,000 to produce at its most expensive, but usually was less than that. She is proud that the event was produced on a lean budget and that the core committee never overextended itself financially, she said.

It is possible that some semblance of the dyke march will be incorporated into future Oakland Pride events.

“Maybe the Sistahs [will be] stepping right into Oakland Pride,” said Hawkins. “If it’s going to go away, we want to somehow keep some of what Sistahs Steppin’ is alive and incorporate it into [Oakland] Pride, because it still has value. ... I see it as leading the way for Pride in a whole new way.”

Moore and Tellefsen couldn’t agree more with Hawkins.

“We are very excited about this year [and] what we’ve accomplished,” said Moore. “We are just really proud of Oakland and the energy that is here now.”▼

tension measure. He noted that a majority of Californians – 61 percent according to the latest Field Poll – would support extending the taxes to help resolve the budget deficit.

And he pointed to the Field Poll finding that among Republicans, 56 percent support calling the special election.

“Ronald Reagan, as you know, raised taxes by a much greater percentage of the general fund than Jerry Brown is proposing,” said Leno, who pointed to the former governor’s own words in warning Republicans their anti-tax stance was detrimental to the party.

“He said, ‘We cannot offer voters a narrow sectarian party in which all must swear allegiance to prescribed commandments. Such a party can be highly disciplined but cannot win elections.

This kind of party soon disappears in a blaze of defeat,’” said Leno quoting from Reagan’s speech. “It is prophetic; that is actually what they are doing to themselves.”

Leno lambasted the pledge put forth by state Senator Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks), by which Republicans would only vote for any tax ballot measures unless there were to

be an equal number of cuts to the budget.

“In this case, he is proposing a tax cut equal or larger to the $12 billion tax extension. It would make our budget problem a $39 billion problem,” said Leno. “Thirty-nine billion in cuts.

They are really out of their minds.”

As it is Democrats pushed forward

by requiring co-pays on participants.

Instead, Leno said legislators realized the same amount in savings by making changes to the state’s pharmacy benefit manager contract and increased federal funding under Ryan White.

“ADAP wasn’t going to work and we told him so. We found money to prevent that from happening. There will be no copays,” said Leno. “The total ADAP budget will grow in the 2011-12 budget year due to increases of drug costs and caseload.”

my Republican colleagues say these aren’t real cuts or aren’t deep enough.

But if you ask them where to cut they don’t have an alternative,” said Leno.

Leno lamented that when voters adopted Proposition 25 in November, which lowered the threshold for passing a budget in the statehouse from a two-thirds majority vote to a simple majority, that the measure didn’t do the same for putting a measure on the ballot.

“We, collectively, I believe missed an opportunity,” by not adding that language, said Leno. “We can’t have 30 percent of state lawmakers dictating to the rest of the 70 percent.”

It remains to be seen if a compromise can be reached where the tax extensions do get put on the ballot.

“We really do need a few Republican votes. This is an ongoing serious governance problem,” said Leno.

Brown’s handling of the budget talks so far did win praise from Leno, who experienced years of drawn out budget battles under former GOP Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“It is the difference between night and day. We have a governor fully engaged with the intellectual depth and experience and commitment to dealing with the budget crisis honestly,” said Leno. “Brown in his inaugural address said he is, ‘not here to delay or deny. I am here to get the job done as unpleasant as it is.’ We have got to get this behind us.”▼

supported the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill; Maggie Gallagher, board chair of the National Organization for Marriage; and George Rekers, a psychologist who testified in court that homosexuality is sinful.

Other public polling places will be at the Bench and Bar, 510 17th Street in Oakland on Friday, April 1, from 6 to 9 p.m.; Mr. S Leather (8th and Harrison streets in San Francisco) on Saturday, April 2 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; and Project Open Hand, 730 Polk Street on Saturday, April 9 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

niversary Saturday, March 26 with its “La Dolce Vita” fundraiser at the San Francisco Design Center, 101 Henry Adams Street. The festivities run from 7 to 11 p.m. The center’s annual soirees are unique and this weekend’s party is no exception. The one-of-akind celebration will channel the glamour, romance, and spirit of Rome in the 1960s. The party will include dancing, performance art, as well N EWS as food and beverages.

Celebrity emcee for the evening will be RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Raja Gemini, while Heklina will be calling a live auction. The Academy of Art University will provide courtesy shuttles from Justin Herman Plaza, the Castro Muni station, and Civic Center BART (Details are at soiree9.wordpress.com).

Tickets are $95 and available online at http://soiree9.wordpress.com/.

Center staff noted that 100 percent of ticket sales support center programming and services.

Steppin’ out To mark the occasion, the founding members are planning a bigger and better celebration this year to wrap up a decade of dyke pride, said Moore.

“This year ... my heart is really, really passionate. I really, really want the march to be the largest that it has

I have always been hopeful and believe that a sufficient number of Republicans will do the right and necessary thing.”

LGBT center turns 9 The San Francisco LGBT Community Center will mark its ninth an-

As painful as it has been to make cuts in various social programs Democrats have long championed, Leno said there is no alternative. Due to the economic downturn, projected revenues for the state in the 2011-2012 budget are down from $125 billion to $85 billion.

“A full third of our revenue has just evaporated as a result of the international fiscal crisis,” said Leno. “When a third of your revenue disappears there is going to be serious contraction.”

He argued that the budget is 18 percent smaller than the budget was three years ago and 24 percent smaller than five years ago.

“That is a quarter of the budget, yet

– Mark Leno many painful cuts, from reduced spending for state parks, state universities, childcare, and adult daycare programs.

“We did soften some of the harder edges of the budget the governor proposed,” said Leno.

One proposal the Legislature blocked was requiring co-pays in the state’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program known as ADAP. The governor had wanted to raise $17 million for ADAP

community has shown very little interest in attending the celebration and ticket sales have not been sufficient to warrant going forward with the event.”

Board President Christopher Flood said that only about 40 tickets had been sold. People are being offered refunds, but Flood said only a few people have requested them. Center officials did thank those who purchased tickets or proB RIEFS vided sponsorship.

The DeFrank center has been hobbled by financial problems in recent years and currently has no fulltime executive director.

c

DeFrank center anniversary party canceled

www.bartabsf.com

No alternative

There was supposed to be a celebratory party Saturday for the 30th anniversary of the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center in San Jose. But a lack of ticket sales forced the center’s board to cancel the event.

In an email blast and on the center’s website, center officials blamed lack of community interest for the cancellation.

“The Billy DeFrank center set an attendance minimum for our anniversary celebration event for two reasons: to provide a worthwhile, high-quality event for all attendees and to generate funds for the center,” the email said. “Unfortunately, the

Lighthouse center events Over in Hayward, the Lighthouse Community Center will be having a couple of events open to the public.

On Friday, March 25, the center will hold the third of its series on bullying. This session looks at media portrayal, parental intervention, and community activism. The workshop takes place from 7 to 9 p.m. at the center, 1217 A Street. Kari McAllister, a board member at the center, will lead the discussion.

On Saturday, March 26, from 1 to 3 p.m., the center will hold a well and fitness forum. This three-part presentation will begin with exploring energy flow and budding health through chiropractic care by Casey Hamer. That will be followed by a talk on nutrition by alternative health advocate and author Sharyn Abbott. Finally, there will be a yoga presentation by Viji Sundaram.

Light refreshments will be served. All ages are welcome.

For more information, visit the center’s new website at www.lgbtlighthousehayward.org.

For more information, visit www.sistahssteppin.org.

Russian lesbian coming to SF Fresh off the controversial visit of gay Russian activist Nikolai Alekseev, a Russian lesbian activist will be speaking in San Francisco next week.

Polina Savchenko, the assistant general manager of Vykhod (Coming Out), an LGBT civil rights organization in St. Petersburg, will speak at the LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street, on Wednesday, March 30 at 7:30 p.m. She is expected to discuss Vykhod and will answer questions.

The event is being sponsored by the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Budget activism workshop The Coalition on Homelessness, a member of San Francisco’s Budget Justice Coalition, will moderate a speaker’s panel on the city and state budget process. Attendees can learn about what is being cut, where money is allocated, how to create alternative revenues for San Francisco and stop cuts to vital programs, and how to advocate for tax fairness.

The workshop takes place Thursday, March 31 at 5 p.m. at 201 Turk Street. The cost is $20. Registration is required and can be done by sending your name, agency name and address, email address, and phone number to development@cohsf .org or Brown Paper Tickets (www.brownpapertickets.com/event /164378) or mail to: Coalition on Homelessness, 468 Turk Street, San Francisco, CA 94102. Only one name per registration form.▼ Full disclosure: SF Pride Parade grand marshal nominee Judge Victoria Kolakowski is married to B.A.R. news editor Cynthia Laird.

▼

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

COMMUNITY

Taylor ▼

page 1

Taylor was a close friend of closeted gay actor Rock Hudson, who became one of the first high-profile people with AIDS in 1985. In addition to standing by his side, Taylor helped establish the American Foundation for AIDS Research to raise money to help with what was then a very anemic attempt to search for a cure.

Taylor’s legendary status inspired participation by many – politicians, celebrities, and corporations – to contribute to AIDS research and to pressure the federal government to step up its own response, under then-President Ronald Reagan. According to AmFAR’s website, the organization has raised more than $325 million to support AIDS research.

AmFAR issued a statement Wednesday, honoring its founding international chairman. Taylor, said the organization, “was without doubt one

AIDS orgs ▼

page 2

reduction programs such as the Scene, which is geared toward gay, bi, and transgender men in their 20s to mid-30s. Stop AIDS is trying to determine whether the Scene will survive.

Many are aware that the city is having budget troubles of its own and it has gotten harder for the prevention office to provide support.

Asked about the need for agencies to merge, Noon said the health department “has made it clear they wanted agencies to start thinking about more strategic ways of restructuring,” whether that’s through mergers, sharing finance and administration staff, or other means.

He said Stop AIDS is “currently looking at a number of options” along those lines, but couldn’t share specifics.

More disappointment The Black Coalition on AIDS submitted a proposal for addressing disparities among black gay and bi men, but the invitation to negotiate in that category went to SFAF instead.

Perry Lang, the coalition’s interim executive director, said it’s as if the prevention office is “dismantling” the city’s HIV prevention network, “and the potential effect it’s having on the black community is painful.”

“I’m concerned that prevention dollars seem to be going to the best proposal writers, and not necessarily those that have the expertise and the cultural competency necessary to reach the population in a way that affirms prevention messages and cultural values,” said Lang. He declined to specify whom he was referring to as “the best proposal writers.”

Terry Smith, who works at AIDS Project Los Angeles and was a panelist in the category in which the coalition submitted its proposal, said that “clearly” officials will go with groups that are most responsive to the RFP. Smith, an African American gay man, said that panelists ranked proposals individually, then submitted information to the health department, which made the selections.

Lang estimated the reduction from the city would mean a loss of $300,000 to his agency, and he said almost 200 clients could be affected.

In addition, said Lang, probably four staff would have to be cut.

Officials at Shanti, which offers

Correction In the photo, “Solitary walk begins,” published March 17, the given name of veteran gay activist Richard Noble was incorrectly listed. The online version has been corrected.

17

NEWS

of the most inspirational figures in the fight against AIDS.” “She was among the first to speak out on behalf of people living with HIV when others reacted with fear and often outright hostility,” said the statement. “For 25 years, Dame Elizabeth has been a passionate advocate of AIDS research, treatment and care.

She has testified eloquently on Capitol Hill, while raising millions of dollars for AmFAR. Dame Elizabeth’s compassion, radiance, and generosity of spirit will be greatly missed by us all.

She leaves a monumental legacy that has improved and extended millions of lives and will enrich countless more for generations to come.”

Taylor won two Academy Awards for Best Actress – in Butterfield 8 in 1960 and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1966. She also won enormous popularity for her roles in such classics as Cleopatra and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, as well as Giant, a feature in which she starred with Hudson and James Dean.▼

support to people with life-threatening illnesses, including HIV/AIDS, and has received high marks from the city for its work, are also dismayed.

Using the acronym for Learning Immune Function Enhancement, Shanti Executive Director Kaushik Roy said, “We are very disappointed, because the decision is to de-fund Shanti’s LIFE program.” Shanti received $624,000 from the HIV prevention office this year.

Chip Supanich, who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1995 and is a graduate of the LIFE program, said the service reminded him of the benefits of meditation, among other things.

Supanich, now a Shanti board member, said LIFE programs in other cities would continue, and Shanti will look for funding to continue the program in San Francisco “at a diminished level.”

He sees a shift toward a medical model of care and away from the “San Francisco model,” which includes medical care, but also services in areas such as alternative therapies and housing. Supanich said before he received housing subsidies, he was homeless.

“I’m standing up for the model of care that has nurtured me for 16 years,” said Supanich.

No one on the review panel for the prevention with positives category, which Shanti had submitted its LIFE-related proposal in, responded to interview requests. All of them work in other parts of the country.

Mark Molnar, director of HIV programs at Shanti, said, “We’re not necessarily taking issue with the quality of the reviewers,” but he noted none of them is seen as representing agencies that solely provide support services.

Colfax, the city’s HIV prevention director, said that in addition to diversity and other considerations, “We sought out people who were experts in the field and had no conflicts of interest” and panelists went through “intensive training” about the epidemic in San Francisco and the prevention plan.

Despite all the concerns, Colfax said the health department is “building on the success of the San Francisco model” and would keep working with others “to continue to do the innovative and comprehensive work San Francisco has always done.”

He also said he’s committed to having “open and transparent” dialogue with providers and community members.▼

Web content Online content this week includes articles about the dismissal of a federal DOMA case in California and the Senate confirmation process for an openly gay appointee. www.ebar.com

BAYAREAREPORTER

CLASSIFIEDS

LEGAL NOTICES NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LICENSE To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are : IRINA LITVAK, DIANA SHPAK. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at: 2229 Clement St., San Francisco, CA 94121-2018. Type of license applied for:

41 ON-SALE BEER AND WINE EATING PLACE MAR 24,2011

STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE# CNC-11-547473

In the matter of the application of DANIEL ALAN SCRIVNER for change of name. The application of DANIEL ALAN SCRIVNER for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that DANIEL ALAN SCRIVNER filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to DANIEL MARC GATSBY. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 218 on the 19th of April, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE# CNC-11-547474

In the matter of the application of BERNADETTE CHRISTINA FAYE MEYERS-GUZMAN for change of name.

The application of BERNADETTE CHRISTINA FAYE MEYERS-GUZMAN for change of name having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that BERNADETTE CHRISTINA FAYE MEYERS-GUZMAN filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to BERNADETTE FAYE GATSBY. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 218 on the 19th of April, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTICIOUS BUSINESS NAME: #A-0310278-00

The following persons have abandoned the use of the ficticious business name known as ALLSTAR CAFE,1500 Market St., San Francisco, CA 94102. This business was conducted by an individual, signed Diana Wei. The ficticious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/21/08.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTICIOUS BUSINESS NAME: #A-0316631-00

STATEMENT FILE A-033367200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as RODEWAY INN, 101 9th St.,San Francisco, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company ,signed Divyesh Patel. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 1/02/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/23/11.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033379200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as KOK BAR SAN FRANCISCO, 1225 Folsom St.,San Francisco, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company ,signed Steven Abramson. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/28/11.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033363400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as 1.FIAT LUX, 2.BELLAFLORA JEWELRY,218 Church St.,San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual,signed Marie McCarthy. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/22/11.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033369900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as EXCELLENT AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE & REPAIR,1298 Shotwell St., Unit B, San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Marvin John Octaviano. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 1/17/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/24/11.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033372700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MIKE’S GARAGE SALES,343 Crestmont Drive,San Francisco, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual signed Michael Joseph Hutton. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 2/25/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/25/11.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033368000

The following persons have abandoned the use of the ficticious business name known as ALLSTAR CAFE,98 9th St., San Francisco, CA 94103. This business was conducted by an individual,signed William Wei. The ficticious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/02/09.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MISSION: CATS LLC, 3150 18th St.,#103,San Francisco, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Genna Darby.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 2/23/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/23/11.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033321500

STATEMENT FILE A-033364400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as FRITTS FAMILY CHIROPRACTIC,557 Waller St.,San Francisco, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual,signed Garretson VanBuren Fritts. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 2/03/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/03/11.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033340500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as EPIDEMIC IQ, One Sutter St., Suite 600,San Francisco, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a corporation ,signed Jeremy Alberga. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/11/11.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033366700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BAY BRIDGE INN, 966 Harrison St.,San Francisco, CA 94107.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company ,signed Divyesh Patel.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 1/02/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/23/11.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

ebar.com

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MULBERRY MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS LLC, 225 Bush St.,Suite 1608,San Francisco, CA 94104.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Daniel Brown.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 9/02/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/22/11.

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033353000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as OLSEN & PARTNERS SF, 2352 Market St.,#B,San Francisco, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Gina Waota. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 2/16/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/16/11.

NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are:MISSION BAY FOODS COMPANY LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:2 Henry Adams St,San Francisco, CA 94103-5016. Type of license applied for:

41 ON-SALE BEER AND WINE EATING PLACE MAR 17,24,31, 2011

NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are:FARES H MOHAMED, MOHAMED ABDULLA MOHAMED, NAGI H MOHAMED. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:500 Bayshore Blvd.,San Francisco, CA 94124. Type of license applied for:

21 OFF SALE GENERAL MAR 17,24,31, 2011

NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are:AMERICAN AIRLINES INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:San Francisco International Airport Terminal 2 SP D2 205,San Francisco, CA 94128-3161. Type of license applied for:

51- CLUB MAR 17,24, 31, 2011

STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE# CNC-11-547563

In the matter of the application of JENNIFER KRISTY KERN for change of name and change of gender. The application of JENNIFER KRISTY KERN for change of name and change of gender having been filed in Court, and it appearing from said application that JENNIFER KRISTY KERN filed an application proposing that his/her name be changed to JONATHAN FLYNN KERN and his/her gender be changed from female to male.

Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room 218 on the 5th of May, 2011 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAR 10,17,24,31,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033400200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as YUMI BOUTIQUE, 1737 Post St.,#301,San Francisco, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Mei Ng. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 3/08/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/08/11.

MAR 10,17,24,31,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033396500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as AESTHETIC LASER CONCEPTS, 490 Post St.,#1701,San Francisco, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Nui Laosaengthong. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 3/01/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/07/11.

MAR 10,17,24,31,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033383700

MAR 3,10,17,24,2011

The following person(s) is/are doing business as DESIGUAL, 101 Powell St.,San Francisco, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a limited liability company signed Thomas Meyer. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/30/10. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/02/11.

NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

STATEMENT FILE A-033363900

To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are:BUN MEE LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:2015 Fillmore St,San Francisco, CA 94115-2708. Type of license applied for:

41 ON-SALE BEER AND WINE EATING PLACE MAR 17,24,31, 2011

MAR 10,17,24,31,2011

The following person(s) is/are doing business as AMANA MEDICAL EQUIPMENT, 1298 Valencia St.,San Francisco, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a general partnership signed Francis Hamdi. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/22/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/22/11.

MAR 10,17,24,31,2011

18

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

â–ź

CLASSIFIEDS

LEGAL SERVICES

LEGAL NOTICES STATEMENT FILE A-033392700

STATEMENT FILE A-033419200

STATEMENT FILE A-033368300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as 1.YOBOKRA PRESS, 2.YOBOKRA, 555 Clayton St., #30,San Francisco, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual signed Charles Schoellenbach. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/04/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/04/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LIMO TRANSPORTATION, 2142 42nd Ave.,San Francisco,CA 94116.

This business is conducted by an individual, signed Kwok Man Chan. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/15/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/15/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MAX MAIDS, 207 Peabody St.,San Francisco,CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Haileab Gebreselassie. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/23/11.

MAR 17,24,31,APR 7,2011

MAR 24,31,APR 7,14,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033416000

STATEMENT FILE A-033426000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as QUIC PIC GROCERIES, 2146 Mission St.,San Francisco, CA 94110.

This business is conducted by an individual signed Gwen Ma. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/28/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as 780 SWEETS, 161 Capp St.,San Francisco,CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Kristopher Ramirez. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/14/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as BEST OF TIMES VINTAGE,685 Lakeview Ave.,San Francisco,CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Lorry Thomas. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/17/11.

MAR 10,17,24,31,2011

MAR 17,24,31,APR 7,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033339200

STATEMENT FILE A-033413100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LOVEBIRD PHOTOGRAPHY, 1359 Hayes St., #7,San Francisco, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual signed Jen Siska. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 02/10/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/10/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as INGENIOUS3D.,123 10th St.,San Francisco,CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Christopher Sherrill. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/11/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/11/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as REAL MANAGEMENT COMPANY, 1234 Castro St.,San Francisco,CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Jeffrey J. Panzer. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 10/01/10. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/21/11.

MAR 10,17,24,31,2011

MAR 17,24,31,APR 7,2011

MAR 24,31,APR 7,14,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033380900

STATEMENT FILE A-033378600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as CUMAICA COFFEE CO., 2800 California St., San Francisco, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual signed Sergio Guerrero. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/01/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/01/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as LA FARMACIA, 2600 Lawton St.,San Francisco,CA 94112. This business is conducted by a general partnership, signed Michael Walker. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 02/25/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/28/11.

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTICIOUS BUSINESS NAME: #A-0326567-00

MAR 10,17,24,31,2011

MAR 17,24,31,APR 7,2011

MAR 24,31,APR 7,14,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033387300

STATEMENT FILE A-033408200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as DIESEL DELIVERY SF, 237 Kearny St., #289,San Francisco, CA 94108. This business is conducted by an individual signed William Hoag. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/02/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/02/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SERENA MITNIK-MILLER, 1502 Great Highway,San Francisco,CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Mara Serena St. Peter.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 01/01/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/10/11.

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTICIOUS BUSINESS NAME: #A-0325014-01

MAR 10,17,24,31,2011

MAR 17,24,31,APR 7,2011

MAR 24,31,APR 7,14,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033381200

STATEMENT FILE A-033356100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE CITY SMOKE SHOP AND GIFTS, 644 Polk St.,San Francisco,CA 94102. This business is conducted by a husband and wife, signed TeoďŹ lo Pena. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/01/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/01/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as OPEN IMAGERY,588 Sutter St.,San Francisco,CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Charles H. Anderson. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/17/11.

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTICIOUS BUSINESS NAME: #A-0325014-02

MAR 10,17,24,31,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033379000

MAR 10,17,24,31,2011 STATEMENT FILE A-033343400

The following persons have abandoned the use of the ďŹ cticious business name known as CAFE PESCATORE,2455 Mason St., San Francisco, CA 94133. This business was conducted by a limited liability company, signed Evan M. Mallah. The ďŹ cticious name was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/23/10.

The following persons have abandoned the use of the ďŹ cticious business name known as CAFE PESCATORE,425 North Point, San Francisco, CA 94133. This business was conducted by a limited liability company, signed Evan M. Mallah. The ďŹ cticious name was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/19/10.

The following persons have abandoned the use of the ďŹ cticious business name known as TUSCAN INN,425 North Point, San Francisco, CA 94133.This business was conducted by a limited liability company, signed Evan M. Mallah. The ďŹ cticious name was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 01/19/10.

MAR 17,24,31,APR 7,2011

MAR 24,31,APR 7,14,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033388900

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTICIOUS BUSINESS NAME: #A-0275868-00

MAR 24,31,APR 7,14,2011

STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTICIOUS BUSINESS NAME: #A-0320106-00

STATEMENT FILE A-033387000

STATEMENT FILE A-033425800

The following persons have abandoned the use of the ďŹ cticious business name known as DIBBS BBQ & GRILL,1109 Fillmore St., San Francisco, CA 94115. This business was conducted by an individual, signed Issa Dabai. The ďŹ cticious name was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/21/09.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as VIET DUONG CO. LTD.,150 Escolta Way,San Francisco,CA 94116.

This business is conducted by an individual, signed Jack Vy Viet Duong. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/01/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/02/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as VICTORIOUS ADAPTATIONS, 3334 San Bruno Ave.,#6, San Francisco,CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, signed Victor Williams. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 03/17/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/17/11.

MAR 10,17,24,31,2011

MAR 17,24,31,APR 7,2011

MAR 24,31,APR 7,14,2011

NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

STATEMENT FILE A-033415700

STATEMENT FILE A-033407600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as REGENCY COMMONS I, 3344 Fillmore St.,San Francisco,CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Jonathan Soffer. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/14/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as STAR EAST HAIR & BEAUTY(II), 1100 Clement St.,San Francisco,CA 94118. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Joe Chan. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/10/11.

MAR 17,24,31,APR 7,2011

MAR 24,31,APR 7,14,2011

STATEMENT FILE A-033415600

STATEMENT FILE A-033421900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as REGENCY COMMONS II, 3334 Fillmore St.,San Francisco,CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Jonathan Soffer. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/14/11.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as KAHN & ASSOCIATES,1550 Bay St.,#251,San Francisco,CA 94123.

This business is conducted by an individual, signed Howard Kahn. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 06/15/93. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/16/11.

MAR 17,24,31,APR 7,2011

MAR 24,31,APR 7,14,2011

41 ON-SALE BEER AND WINE EATING PLACE MAR 24,31,APR 7,2011

E12W

REAL ESTATE AGENTS

MAR 17,24,31,APR 7,2011

To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are:CHILLI CHA CHA THAI NOODLE CAFE. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:3166 24th St. San Francisco, CA 94110-4033. Type of license applied for:

E16W

SAN FRANCISCO RENTAL GEM! At top of Silver Terrace Hill House.Hilltop View. Garden. Garage 2 Bedrm. 2 Bath, 2 Large Closets.

New Appliances + Washer & Dryer Double Pane Windows. W/W carpets. $2000/Mo. Leave Msg. 510-814-9875

STATEMENT FILE A-033429700

MAR 10,17,24,31,2011

NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES

Room 4 Rent In the Modesto Area.

Call Jim @ 209-840-2043 After 3pm

REAL ESTATE

The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE LIVING ROOM, 1735 Polk St.,San Francisco,CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, signed Linda Nguyen. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on NA. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/11/11.

41 ON-SALE BEER AND WINE EATING PLACE MAR 24,31,APR 7,2011

LUZ HOTEL • Daily $65/Nite • • Gay & Pet Friendly • 415-928-1917

MAR 24,31,APR 7,14,2011

The following person(s) is/are doing business as THE ALL FAMILY PROJECT, 1800 Market St.,PMB 89,San Francisco,CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, signed Charles H. Anderson. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed ďŹ ctitious business name or names on 02/19/11. The statement was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 03/03/11.

To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are:KATANA YA SF LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 71 Stevenson Street,Suite 1500, San Francisco, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at:422B Geary St. San Francisco, CA 94102-1223. Type of license applied for:

RENTALS

CHECK OUT OUR NEW IMPROVED CLASSIFIEDS ONLINE

UPLOAD 5 PHOTOS, AND A STREAMING VIDEO TO SHOW OFF YOUR PROPERTY! Check it out @

WWW.EBAR.COM Call David @ 415-861-5019 for more details

BANKRUPTCY

PATRICK MCMAHON ATTORNEY AT LAW

(415) 543-9338 ~ Hablamos Espanol We Specialize in: Chapter 7 & Chapter 13 703 Market Street, Ste 1109 San Francisco, CA FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION Law Offices

SHELLEY S. FEINBERG, ESQ. Serving the gay community since 1999 • Probate • Wills and Living Trusts • LLC/contracts • TIC Agreements • Domestic Partnership

Flood Building 870 Market St.

FLAT FEE shelleyfeinberg.com 415.421.1893

EI B

MAXWELL PARK TUDOR $492,000 - 4715 Allendale Ave. Oakland Open Sun 1:30 - 4 pm, 3 bdrm, 1 bath, updated, hdwd oors, fp landscaped yard.

Traci Lewis (510) 677-6674

E13W

Upscale San Francisco style home with low maintenance yards.

Located in the wonderful Contra Costa Country Club setting with extensive views overlooking the greenbelt and hills that back up to the 16th hole on the fairway. Features 3 bdrms, 2bths, with a division of space.

Visit www.824GolfClub.com for more info. Open Sunday 3/13/11 from 1-4. 824 Golf Club Circ.

Pleasant Hill, Ca. Priced at only $465,000. Diablo Realty, Leila and Diane 925-437-4135

E11W

WWW.GAYREALESTATE.COM Instant Free Database of San Francisco's Top Gay Realtors

11W

WINE COUNTRY RETREAT 3BD/2BA home on 1 acre w/remod kitchen & baths, sunrms, ofďŹ ce & det shed. Agt. 707-544-3500 $695K www.3530HiddenHills.com

E11W

The following persons have abandoned the use of the ďŹ cticious business name known as CORE PILATES ON 17TH, 3388 17th St.,San Francisco, CA 94110.This business was conducted by a limited liability company, signed Chandler Moore.

The ďŹ cticious name was ďŹ led with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/07/04.

ebar.com

BAY AREA REPORTER CLASSIFIEDS -GET RESULTS!

TECH SUPPORT MACINTOSH HELP * home or office * 20 years exp * sfmacman.com

Rick 415.821.1792

ebar.com

TAX DIRECTORY W.E.L. Tax Services You work hard for your money, let us work smart to help you keep it!

Bill Lentini

u

415-252-7552

www.weltax.com

]

ADVERTISE YOUR TAX SERVICE IN THE BAY AREA REPORTER CLASSIFIEDS To advertise, call David @ 415-861-5019 or for more details.

EIIBW

DOMESTIC PARTER TAXES Website: http://hrblock.com H&R Block is the expert in the intricacies of California’s QualiďŹ ed Domestic Partner taxes. 800hrblock to set up an appointment today.

E15W

Troubleshooting. Installation. Tutoring.

We’ll fix your computer - PC or Mac at your home or office throughout the Bay Area

PC/Mac troubleshooting: Rob Cohen 415.244-3305 rob@sfcomputech.com

E14W

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER 19

▼

CLASSIFIEDS

HOUSEHOLD SERVICES

COUNSELING PSYCHOTHERAPY

GOT CATS?

Individuals & Couples Work Gay Men’s Therapy Groups DAVE COOPERBERG

• • • • • •

LIC # MFT 12549

(415) 431-3220

Improve Self-Esteem Develop Meaningful Relationships Master Self-Defeating Patterns Overcome Anxiety & Depression Move beyond Fear & Grief Become More Fully Alive

www.TruthAndCompassion.com

UPKEEP

MOVERS

CAT CAREGIVER AVAILABLE

Serving the Bay Area Since 1973

Free 1/2 hour consultation Call Jeanine 415 861-7216 (SF) GAY OPERATED FOR OVER 30 YEARS

Cleaning Professional 25 Years Exp (415) 664-0513 * Roger Miller

E17W

E VA N T E R Z U L L I ʼ S

Housecleaning since 1979.

Many original clients. All supplies.

HEPA Vac. Richard 415-255-0389

E12W

Basic clean $40 wkly. Once $55.

Monthly $45. Kitchen, bath, dust, mop, +. Satisfaction guaranteed. In BAR 10 yrs John 205-0397

E12W

CLOUD 9 CANINE Dog walking, pet sitting, play groups.

Insured, CPR Certified, Dog Tech Certified. Excellent References.

Sky 415-531-5905 sky@cloud9canine.com

Handyman Services

HAULING

EIB

Hauling 24/7 441-1054 Lg. Truck

GET A JUMP ON YOUR COMPETITION

E15W

USE BAY AREA REPORTER’S ONLINE CLASSIFIEDS @ WWW.EBAR.COM

A Full2 0 Service. Handyman YRS LOCAL REFERENCES

(415) 350-4801 SFO_CARPENTER @SBCGLOBAL.NET

POST PICTURES UPLOAD VIDEO BAY AREA REPORTER CLASSIFIEDS - GET RESULTS!

EI B

CATERING

PHOTOGRAPHY

TACOS FOR YOUR PARTIES Looking for Taco Bar Catering?

We offer Mexican tacos and more. We use 100% Mesquite. Meats grilled on site. www.takobarcatering.com Juanita Repetto 888-351-6218

NURSING SERVICES

LGBT WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY City Hall Ceremonies basic package $400. Digital photography.

Including the ceremony, candid and group photos on C.D. San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin and San Mateo counties Additional services available including, use of traditional film and “non city hall” weddings Jane Philomen Cleland a lesbian professional photographer with 25 years experience weddings, events and…

Published weekly in the B.A.R. since 1989 CALL 415-505-0559 http://www.janephilomencleland.com/

E12W

LICENSED MALE NURSE 41 Seeks A Home Health Care Position.

Interested in a long term commitment to a chronic or acutely ill patient. Providing assitance in daily living. Please Contact Michael @ 415-595-8540

ebar.com

E14W

WWW.QUEERHYPNO.COM Hot Mental Resources - Results.

E12W

COUNSELORS CHECK OUT THE NEW IMPROVED BAY AREA REPORTER ONLINE CLASSIFIEDS @

WWW.EBAR.COM Upload Photos and Video and

GET RESULTS! With BAR classified advertising Call David @ 415-861-5019 for more info

EIB

BOOKS FOR SALE

PETS FOR SALE

Night Flight https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/42746 Love. Guilt. Obsession. Passion.

Determination. Emotions and events collide between a woman, her daughter and her same-sex partner in this lesbian fiction eBook by new novelist Alessa Adamo. Only .99 at Smashwords.com. Use coupon code LN63P at checkout. Avail in all eBook formats. Expires May 20, 2011.

DEADLINE NOON on MONDAY. Payment must accompany ad.

No ads taken over the telephone. If you have a question, call 415.861.5019.

Display advertising rates available upon request.

RATES Newspaper and website:

First line, Regular All subsequent lines Web or e-mail hyperlink

8.00 5.00

CAPS

5.00 double price

BOLD

double price

X-BOLD triple price PAYMENT ■ Cash ■ Personal Check ■ Money Order ■ Visa ■ MasterCard ■ American Express Minimum $10 charge.

Indicate Type Style Here ▼

RICK GERHARTER PHOTOGRAPHY

CLASSIFIED ORDER FORM

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

CONTACT INFORMATION

Card Number

Name

Expiration Date

Address

Signature

City

Name

Number of Issues

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

CAPS Stop Here ▼

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

CREDIT CARD PAYMENT

I I I I I I I I I I I I

BOLD Stops Here ▼

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

Regular Stops Here ▼

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

MAIL WITH PAYMENT TO: Bay Area Reporter 395 Ninth Street SF, CA 94103

Telephone

OR FAX TO: State

Zip

415.861.8144

OR E-MAIL: Classification

Amount Enclosed

baradv@aol.com

415-407-2765

CA. Lic# 731608

WWW.RICKGERHARTERPHO TOS.COM EIB

E11W

E12W

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

Portraits, Events, Architecture 20 years experience. Dependable.

415-823-8716 rgerharter@igc.org

Beautiful, affectionate IRWS pups 11 weeks, M/F, excellent health, good lines. $1000 show; $500 pet homes. 415-282-2929 jimhunger@sbcglobal.net

X-BOLD Stops Here ▼

• Bath/Kitchen Remodel • Windows/Siding • Decks/Dry Rot • Remodels

EIB

IRISH RED & WHITE SETTER PUPPIES

BAYAREAREPORTER

Ashfield Construction

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

NEED

AN

ELECTRICIAN?

IN HOME OR OFFICE Call 415-577-1665 Peter REMODELING, TROUBLESHOOTING, SERVICE CHANGES NO JOB TOO SMALL • LOW RATES LIC# 897793

TWIN PINNACLES CONSTRUCTION FROM THE FOUNDATIOIN TO THE FINISH License #939026

Remodeling • Foundations Additions • Kitchens Bathrooms • Decks • Painting

FREE ESTIMATES (415) 238-9349 COLORFAST PAINTING CO. • Commercial/Residential • Interior/Exterior • Quality Craftsmanship • Over 20 Yrs. Experience

(415) 861-7167....

Call for Free Estimate colorfast@gmail.com CA Lic. # 786219 Brookline Electric 415-239-5393 Small Jobs Now

CASTRO MAINTENANCE CO (415)724-2097 anthonycastro4@aol.com

E08W

E11W

On April 7, 2011 We’ll make history!

Bay Area Reporter is now the oldest continuously-published LGBT newspaper in the nation.

On April 7, 2011, we’ll produce a special expanded issue that includes a retrospective of our four-decade history.

The edition will also announce the results of our first ever readers choice awards, the Best of the Gays.

The honorable Mayor Edwin Lee will proclaim the date April 7, 2011 as “Bay Area Reporter Day” in the City and County of San Francisco. Beginning April 8, 2011 for approximately one-week following, the Bay Area Reporter will be honored with the first-ever temporary exhibit at the newly opened GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th St., San Francisco.

Become part of that history.

Advertising deadline extended until March 31.

Call 415-861-5019 The

Out-of-print records get new life

Taste of honey

Tennessee connections

The artistry of mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade is revealed in its first blossoming.

‘Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?’ at Roxie.

Williams’ career in full; his play ‘Eccentricities...’ is staged here.

page 26

page 32

pages 23, 25

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT

BAYAREAREPORTER

▼

Vol. 41 . No. 12 . 24 March 2011

Maria Kochetkova and Gennadi Nedvigin in San Francisco Ballet’s Coppélia .

j San Francisco Ballet’s ‘Coppélia’ & more • by Paul Parish “k Erik Tomasson

B

Coppélia is the greatest ballet comedy ever, and has been around for over 100 years. It’s a deceptively light, bright, and sparkling battle of the sexes, with a big idea thrown in: there’s a mad scientist (Dr. Coppélius) who’s trying to create life, and it takes a woman to show the old fool where life really comes from. The story it’s based on was written in 1817, the same year as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which approaches the same theme from a darker angle.

Central Europe, Baroque city square. Swanilda, our heroine, is a strong-minded creature (think Madonna) channeling the life force. She’s quick to stamp her foot and say “No!,” but who’s got time for niceties? The crazy professor is trying to steal the vitali-

ty out of her boyfriend and infuse it into the mechanical doll he’s created, and bring the doll to life.

San Francisco Ballet’s new production is a restaging of the one George Balanchine put together back in the 1970s, to star the bigpersonality, geeky ballerina Patricia McBride and her partner Helgi Tomasson (yes, the same HT who now heads SF Ballet).

McBride was a scream in the role, Tomasson adorable. The ballet fused acting and dancing in ways New Yorkers had never seen, and was a hit from the start. Balanchine added fabulous folk dances and a new wedding divertissement to the work, recreated

page 32

What’s up at the galleries this month? • by Sura Wood

I

ined struggles of little girls lost in the woods. Influenced equally by Looney Tunes and Lolita, Oropallo asks if ye olde cautionary tales are a repressive response to the fear of unbridled female sexuality as she investigates, in these complex portraits of women, the connections between fashion, fairy tales and female sexuality and eroticism. Fusing painting, printmaking and collage, she creates layers of imagery and meaning that produce a hypnotic effect; it’s as if you’re looking through disguises women wear and detecting their hidden, alternate selves. In “Armed,” a woman wears a gas mask and red-plumed Roman soldier’s helmet; “Entangled” appears to be a Pinocchio marionette bound up in strings designed for its manipulation; the sinister figure in “Cursed” is dressed in a blue ski mask, golden crown and a blue-and-white Snow White costume with red bows; a red-haired vixen with matching hair and gloves regards

page 27

“Entangled” by Deborah Oropallo, part of Tale Spin.

▼

nternational Women’s Day was celebrated on March 8, but of course, every day is women’s day, isn’t it? Not so fast. Though women constitute over 51% of the population, the representation of work by women artists in galleries and museums is a tiny fraction of their numbers. Here are a few shows around town correcting that imbalance.

Gallery 16 Tale Spin “There’s always a subversive edge to fairy tales – and girls are always the victims,” opines Berkeleybased artist Deborah Oropallo, who, having read those familiar, seemingly innocent children’s stories, determined that they’re loaded morality plays intended to scare girls into being good. In her beguiling bodies of work, Oropallo, a provocateur with a wicked sensibility, has been enamored of fetish costumes from scanty nurse’s uniforms to sailor outfits, and by implication, the submissive/dominant female roles they suggest. This time out, she exercises that proclivity while having her way with the imag-

Courtesy Gallery 16

•••SECOND

OF

TWO

SECTIONS•••

▼

ig-time dance-theater has been filling the houses this past weekend, and audiences have responded with emotional roars that make it clear: these spectacles have hit home. Ballets as different as the classic life-affirming Coppélia (at the Opera House) and the “lost-out-here-in-the-stars” works presented by Nederlands Dans Theater (at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley) demonstrated huge theatrical power without uttering a single word. Meanwhile at the Novellus Theater in YBCA, our contemporary dance company ODC/SF was delivering multi-valenced, big-scale modern dance, and celebrating their 40th anniversary while they were at it.

22

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

OUT

THERE

▼

Spring: sprung T

mances. Congrats to Rrazz owners Rory Paull and Robert Kotonly and the whole Rrazz Rretinue, and many happy Rreturns.

About town Doesn’t it seem like Out There has been running around a lot lately? Last week we attended a small private reception at Jardiniere, where Litquake announced the recipient of their 2011 Barbary Coast Award, East Bay author and MacArthur Fellow Ishmael Reed.

Reed joins the previous award-winners, Bay Area authors Armistead Maupin, Tobias Wolff, Amy Tan and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Reed, his wife Carla Blank, and chef Traci Des Jardins were in the house at the swank Grove St. boite. He will receive the award in October during Litquake 2011.

Last Saturday night, we joined the cinema-loving crowd at the Castro Theatre for a showing of the great gay director Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 masterpiece Battleship Potemkin, in a new 35mm restoration with a soundtrack arrangement of the original Edmund Meisel score. So magnificent to see the sailors rise up in mutiny against the Tsar’s navy in glorious black-andwhite, with the film’s only color the hand-painted red of the sailors’ flag.

Watch out, pram-held tiny tot: it’s going to be a bumpy ride!

Another cinematic milestone, Poison, director Todd Haynes’ queer 1991 film, has an upcoming two-night run (Fri.-Sat., Mar. 25-26) at the Red Vic Movie House (1727 Haight St., SF).

Haynes’ first feature was inspired by the works of author Jean Genet, whose spirit is present. It takes the form of a trio of transgressive tales: Hero, Horror and Homo. Hero, shot in mock TV-documentary style, tells a story of suburban patricide. Horror is a gothic tale of a mad sex experiment that unleashes a disfiguring plague. Homo explores the obsessive sexual relationship between two prison inmates. The film was a big art-house hit, and made national headlines when it was attacked by evil right-wing figures including Dick Armey and Ralph Reed. To those and other poisonous reactionaries, Poison remains the antidote.

Grande dame And Furthermore, by great thespian Judi Dench as told to John Miller (St. Martin’s), isn’t an autobiography as much as it is a workplace memoir of a life lived on stage, in film and television. That’s an appropriate focus, since Dame Judi has been called the first lady of British theatre. So we get

Steven Underhill

Martha & the Vandellas’ ‘Heatwave’ was used on the soundtrack to Kenneth Anger’s pioneering gay film Scorhe 3rd Annual Rrazziversary pio Rising – 50 years ago!”

Gala Celebration last Thursday Then Deana Martin, daughter of night at the Rrazz Room in the famed Ratpacker Dean Martin, very Hotel Nikko was like a greatest-hits appropriately sang “Everybody Loves procession of one of the cabaret Somebody” and “Lady Is a Tramp.” venue’s most beloved entertainers after “Hate California, it’s cold and it’s another. The show, a benefit for damp,” especially last week. FloSt. Jude Children’s Research rence Larue of the 5th DimenHospital, was charismatision let her Hair down with cally hosted by KBLX “Aquarius/Let the Sun radio personality Nikki Shine In,” then Sarah Dash Thomas, who described of LaBelle brought the her scene as “grown-up house down with “Lady Marand sexy.” First up, Tony malade.” Edna Wright & Award winner Melba Honey Cone did their kinetic Moore sold “This Is It” hits “One Monkey” and and “Lean on Me,” as“Want Ads,” and lordy suring us, “I like it when O UT T HERE there was more, star turns you holler!” Kim Nalfrom Cece Peniston, Joyce ley, looking like a later DeWitt (Three’s Company) and Paula incarnation of Billie Holiday with a West – who was seen escorting her gardenia blossom in her hair, sang adorable beast Satchmo – before the “My Man.” The great Martha Reeves, entire cast returned to the stage and undisputed Queen of Motown, ofReeves led them in the finale, “Dancin’ fered vintage versions of “Heat Wave” in the Street,” while doing that classic and “Jimmy Mack,” prompting our dance move “the Twist” by Chubby cabaret compadre Pepi to note, “Gee, Checker. What a night of perfor-

by Roberto Friedman

Martha Reeves is the Queen of Motown at the Rrazz Room’s 3rd anniversary concert and celebration last Thursday night at the Hotel Nikko.

Original Russian poster for Sergei Eisenstein’s silent-film classic Battleship Potemkin, which played the Castro Theatre last weekend.

backstage stories galore, and namedroppings early and often, with such distinguished noms as Dame Peggy Ashcroft and Sir John Gielgud. Also plenty of photos, a chronology of parts and an index, so key.

Some anecdotes seem like so much lore. “My parents came to everything I did at the Old Vic, and it was during this run [of Romeo and Juliet] that Daddy famously got so carried away when I cried out to Peggy Mount, ‘Where are my father and my mother, Nurse?’ that he called out from the stalls, ‘Here we are, darling, in row H.’” This was the Franco Zeffirelli R&J, which evidently came with heaps of Italian atmosphere, “but Edith Evans didn’t like it because, she said, we all

looked so dirty.” This becomes a motif: In Midsummer Night’s Dream, “we were a bit dirty and all barefoot, which we covered with sparkly stuff, and Ian Richardson had to be told to use a bit less.”

The book brings us right up to present-day assignments, with Dench’s film roles in the new Jane Eyre, and from 2009, Nine and Rage. Of the former, “the film didn’t seem to make much of an impression with either the critics or the cinema-going public, rather to my surprise.” It just wasn’t very good, dear. And of the latter, “I had to roll a joint in it, and Sally got this wonderful boy in from university, who showed me how to do it with just one hand.” Party on, girl!▼

▼

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

23

THEATRE

Nightingale variations

by Richard Dodds ennessee Williams was crushed when Summer and Smoke was dismissed by Broadway critics and closed after a short run. It was 1948, the success of The Glass Menagerie was still fresh, and A Streetcar Named Desire was playing to packed houses a few blocks away. In addition to the professional humiliation, Williams was deeply invested emotionally in the play’s central character.

Alma Winemiller, the sexually conflicted preacher’s daughter, “may very well be the best female portrait I have drawn in a play,” he wrote in 1975. “She simply seemed to exist somewhere in my being.” The next year, he told a reporter, “Look, I’m Alma.”

The occasion for the candid, latter comment was the 1976 Broadway premiere of Eccentricities of a Nightingale, Williams’ long-aborning reconception of Summer and Smoke.

In recognition of the 100th anniversary of Williams’ birth, the Aurora Theatre is presenting one of its rare forays into the playwright’s oeuvre with a production of the seldomseen Eccentricities of a Nightingale.

“I’m not a big fan of Summer and Smoke,” said Aurora’s Artistic Director Tom Ross, whose production of Beth Wilmurt and Thomas Gorrebeeck play small-town Southerners with a Eccentricities begins performances complicated relationship in Tennessee Williams’ Eccentricities of a April 1. “It always seemed schematic Nightingale, which is getting a new production at the Aurora Theatre. to me.”

Williams probably would not have vehemently disagreed. While he might have felt at one with Alma, the “I was thinking about classic long run as a panelist on I’ve Got a playwright knew that her vehicle was playwrights that we haven’t done very Secret. It closed after 24 perforleaky. much at the Aurora, and we realized mances.

In the 1975 Memoirs, Williams reit was going to be Williams’ 100th Eccentricities of a Nightingale called his unhappiness with the world birthday. Then I found out that Beth shares enough fundamentals with premiere of Summer and Smoke in has been dying to do this role for a Summer and Smoke that it might Dallas. “I attributed the Dallas prolong time, and I’ve been a big fan of seem merely a matter of relabeling. duction’s remarkable lack of artistry Beth for years. It was as if the planets Both are set in a small Mississippi to the fact that the play was, in my Delta town in 1910, with the main page 24 opinion at the time, not a good one, story focusing on the fluttery Alma and the leading roles had been unand her complicated feelings for the happily cast.” Unfortunately, for brash boy next door.

Williams, it was the same production But while Summer and Smoke was that soon moved to Broadway. heavily invested in an extravagant As far back as 1951, Williams was conflict between body and soul, Ecworking on the play that centricities is more the would become Eccentricstory of two specific charities of a Nightingale. “I acters with dueling idenam doing a completely tities. Though the final new version,” he wrote in scene that shows Alma’s a letter. “I think I have a move away from her sexustraight, clean dramatic al boundaries is basically line for the first time, the same as in Summer without the cloudy metaand Smoke, it resonates physics and the melodradifferently because of ma that spoiled the what has come before it. original production.” is a wonderB ACKSTAGE ful “Alma But curious casting soul who’s been sticontinued to follow the fled by her environproject. Eccentricities had its world ment,” Ross said. “She sees the dead premiere at the Tappan Zee Playend approaching, and she’s deterhouse in Nyack, N.Y., in 1964 with mined to change her life, to create Edie Adams as Alma. Adams was her own destiny.” known mainly as a light comic acRoss has cast Beth Wilmurt as tress who did a series of sultry teleAlma and Thomas Gorrebeeck as vision commercials for Muriel cigJohn to head the cast of eight. This ars, though scant record of her perwill be Ross’ first time directing a formance exists since a fire at the Williams play, though Tennessee theater closed the show after two Williams and William Shakespeare performances. When Eccentricities fiwere the first names that the adolesnally reached Broadway in 1976, cent Ross ever recognized as playBetsy Palmer was now playing Alma. wrights.

Palmer’s chief fame came from her

▼

David Allen

T

www.ebar.com

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

THEATRE

▼

Golden girls

by Richard Dodds hough my knowledge of geriatric prostitution – in which both the clients and the ladies are creaky-old – is nonexistent, I still suspect that The Oldest Profession has little do with whatever seniorcitizen sex trade may exist. But even if you can’t believe that anything like these grannies of joy has ever existed, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t great company in this Brava Theatre Company production.

Years before she won the Pulitzer Prize for How I Learned to Drive, Paula Vogel imagined a quintet of Manhattan hookers who are still at it in 1980 after fleeing Storyville 60 years before. They’re variously feisty, ornery, and sweet as they regroup daily on an Upper West Side park bench to pool their earnings, report on the state of customer relations, and reminisce about how sweet it was back in old New Orleans.

Set in a world before Viagra, erectile dysfunction is the biggest business problem for girls on the clock, except if the ED is premature ejaculation, in which case slam-bang is an efficiency expert’s dream. Turnover is a concern for Mae, the madamtreasurer who looks like the proverbial little old lady until one of the modern-day whores working the same corner calls her “granny,” and she whips out a blade.

The play takes place as Reagan is about to take office, and Vogel has said the play was partly motivated by the destructive forces of Reaganomics. But that doesn’t make much sense because his policies have yet to be put into action, and the fact is these ladies have a far more pressing problem: attrition by death. One

T

Eric Harvieux

24

The ladies of the evening, and early-bird specials, in The Oldest Profession are Patricia Silver, Linda Ayres-Frederick, Lee Brady, Tamar Cohn, and Cecele Levinson.

by one, their numbers are reduced, and each one gets a bawdy blues song to perform as they crossover to a gilded whorehouse in the sky so affectionately evoked in Jacqui Martinez’s environmental sets.

Evren Odcikin has directed the play with a smooth, sensitive hand that mines the big laughs and also makes room for the occasional poignancy. The ultimate joy is watching this golden-girl troupe of veteran performers tear into these playful and often meaty roles. Cecele Levinson is a delight as the cranky but kindly madam Mae, while Patricia Silver is the steely all-business Ursula. Linda Ayres-Frederick offers a seasoned voluptuousness as Edna, Lee Brady provides convincing warmth as the sweet Vera, and Tamar Cohn is a hoot as the haughty

glamour-puss Lillian. Angela Dwyer has an infectious way at the piano and provides the swansong-accompaniments and the toe-tapping preshow entertainment.

The Oldest Profession shows a young writer still developing her craft, but it’s a solidly built play with so many zingers and smart one-liners that I gave up trying to jot them down. With the handsome Brava production, Odcikin’s smart direction, and five irresistible performances, the hard life of the sex industry is seen through a doily of yellowing but untattered pride and feminine bonds.▼ The Oldest Profession will run at Brava Theatre Center through April 9. Tickets are $10-$22. Call 647-2822 or go to www.brava.org.

Showstopper

by Jim Piechota The Reality Shows by Karen Finley; The Feminist Press, $17.95

ince her early days in 1978 when she produced risqué, shock-theater character sketches in the window of an abandoned JC Penney store (and got arrested), notorious performance artist Karen Finley has continued to cause a commotion. Back in 1986, nightclub disc jockeys rallied around the expletive-laden, spoken-word invective found on 12” vinyl remixes of “Tales of Taboo,” and in the graphic, beat-boxed sexual assault of 1988’s “Lick It.” Volumes of astringent, unfettered writings, direct imagery, conceptual art, and pop-culture-skewering live presentations followed, ranging from the politically incensed to the sexually profane.

Finley’s latest book The Reality Shows, a collection of hardhitting performance pieces reproduced as text, doesn’t serve up the slam-dunk, knockout punch of a real-live delivery, but still resonates impressively. The best pieces in the book are “Make Love,” which opens the volume with a direct response to New York City’s

nightmarish 9/11 tragedy via an army of Liza Minnelli impersonators who attempt to soften the traumatic blow; “The Passion of Terri Schiavo,”

S

Backstage ▼

page 23

were all coming together.”

For more information on Aurora’s Eccentricities, running through May 8, call (510) 834-4822 or go to www.auroratheatre.org.

Oh, Suzanne

www.bartabsf.com

Suzanne Westenhoefer probably knows the idiosyncratic charms of the Victoria Theatre pretty well by

which channels Finley’s multiple personalities to explore and exorcise the moral and ethical demons plaguing the medical conundrum of the century; and “George and Martha: Love

now. She’ll be making her fourth appearance at the venerable venue on April 8 and 9 – and once again the sponsoring organization is Theatre Rhino.

Westenhoefer, who has laid claim to the title as “the first openly gay comedian to ever appear on television,” has titled her latest standup tour Semi-Sweet. “There’s a lot of sweet stuff to talk about and a lot of stuff that isn’t,” Westenhoefer says.

“It’s all about the changes that have occurred in my life over the past

and War,” an insanely creative, erotically-charged coupling of George W. Bush and Martha Stewart. Martha’s focus is money, while George’s is on Jesus and globalizing red-state America to foreign countries, but Martha cautions: “George, we don’t want them to be shitting red, white, and blue. Only wiping their ass on the good old USA greenback.”

In her foreword, Kathleen Hanna, who studied under the author in college (Finley is an art professor at NYU), believes that to grasp the heft of Finley’s performances transcribed into written form here “lets you get at so many other layers of meaning.”

Much like magnificent satirist Amy Sedaris, there’s a chameleon-like way Finley morphs into and out of characters and situations, with the end result sending a message of social awareness and entertainment to audiences through the prism of avant-garde art.▼ Karen Finley will be making inperson appearances at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on March 30, and at City Lights Bookstore on March 31. Visit www.feministpress.org for more details.

year. Some have been good, and some not so much.”

Westenhoefer was at the Victoria just last year with her Totally Inappropriate show. “Even if you saw me last year,” the comic says, “you’ll want to come back because there’s some crazy, fresh, new content that will knock your socks off.” To get your socks knocked, call (800) 8383006 or go to www.therhino.org. ▼ Richard Dodds can be reached at BARstage@comcast.net.

▼

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

THEATRE

Immortal gay playwright Tennessee Williams: his bravery helped change how society viewed homosexuality.

2011: 100 and Tenn Centennial of Tennessee Williams’ birth

by Tavo Amador ntil earlier this year, the Comedie-Francaise, founded

by Louis XIV in 1680, had only staged plays by French dramatists, among them Moliere, Racine, Corneille, and Voltaire. That changed with a production (in French) of Tennessee Williams’ 1947 Pulitzer Prizewinning A Streetcar Named Desire.

Selecting a work by the openly gay American poet-dramatist to end that august tradition isn’t surprising. After Shakespeare, his plays have been translated and performed more than those of any English-language playwright. March 26, 2011 marks the centennial of Williams’ birth. His great works have been regularly revived, but recently his later, once viciously denigrated pieces are getting new productions and more sympathetic assessments in New York.

Among those are The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore with Olympia Dukakis, and Vieux Carre.

Born Thomas Lanier Williams in Columbus, Mississippi, he had his first homosexual experience at 27, but then lived openly – a feat of almost unimaginable courage in an era when homosexuality was considered, at best, a mental disorder, and at worst, a perversion needing to be “cured,” with forced institutionalization and barbaric “treatments” like electric shock “therapy.”

In 1945, he revolutionized the American theatre with The Glass Menagerie, winner of the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Two years later, Streetcar created a sensation and made Marlon Brando a star.

Many heterosexual critics, some of them homophobic, were compelled to acknowledge his talent, but couldn’t wait for him to falter. The New York Times’ Brooks Atkinson was an exception – an early, strong advocate for his work. The Rose Tattoo (1952) won the Tony for Best Play. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (55) earned a second Pulitzer, and The Night of the Iguana (61), his last success, garnered the New York Drama Critics Circle prize.

In-between, he had a commercial and

U

critical triumph with Sweet Bird of Youth (59), starring Paul Newman and Geraldine Page, and failures like the experimental Camino Real (53).

During his lifetime (Williams died in 1983), critics, mostly straight, compared him with the heterosexual Eugene O’Neill, generally regarding the latter as greater, although the hardly gay-friendly John Simon conceded that Williams had a more beautiful gift for language. O’Neill was luckier – his finest play, Long Day’s Journey Into Night (written in 1941), wasn’t performed until 1956, after his death, allowing him to end his career with a masterpiece. After 1961, when Williams had one failure after another, many homophobic

Williams’ personal life was complicated. His long-time companion, Frank Merlo, was clearly his great love, although theirs was an open relationship. Merlo, who once answered a journalist’s question regarding what he did by saying, “I sleep with Mr. Williams,” managed the logistics of their lives. Except when it came to his writing, Williams was notoriously disorganized and unable to handle the simplest details of day-today living. Merlo died of cancer shortly before Iguana opened. It may be coincidental, but Williams never had another success or found the same level of devotion and trust with subsequent companions, most of whom were paid. His abuse of alcohol and prescription drugs increased, and his behavior was often erratic.

Williams saved his greatest admiration for outsiders, those at whom society sneers and humiliates. He didn’t judge – little of the human condition disgusted him except deliberate cruelty, which was unforgivable. Thus, in Streetcar, the finest play ever written by an American, both Blanche and Stanley are heartbreaking.

Williams insisted the core of his drama was their failure to communicate. Stanley’s brutality dooms Blanche, but Stella, the wife he adores, won’t ever trust him again. Theirs is a grim future.

His ongoing universal appeal reflects his remarkable compassion, expressed in dialogue that is poetic, passionate, often hilarious, and dramatic. His characters are a mix of frailty, courage and nobility. Like him, they’re often caught on the cusp between spirituality and carnality. His best plays showed, with extraordinary tension and power, how the inability to communicate at the most profound, honest level can have tragic consequences and result in unbearable loneliness.

Although Williams claimed to be apolitical, his genius and bravery helped change the way society viewed homosexuals and other once marginalized people. Art is political, and thus, Williams’ life and career had a profound political impact. His legacy grows greater by the year.▼

After 1961, when Williams had one failure after another, many homophobic critics gleefully attacked him, yet he never stopped writing, never gave up.

But his personal life was complicated.” critics gleefully attacked him, yet he never stopped writing, never gave up.

Among the most absurd criticisms leveled against him was that his women were really transvestites.

If frequency of revivals is any indication of which of these towering authors is the greater, then Williams wins. Last year, for example, saw acclaimed New York productions of Streetcar (starring Cate Blanchett) and Menagerie (with Judith Ivey).

Williams had another advantage over O’Neill. He thought “cinematically.”

Hence, from 1950 until 2008, 17 movies have been made from his writings. An unprecedented five actors won Oscars in his films, and another 13 performances were nominated. Many television versions of his plays have been produced. Despite censorship that omitted direct references to homosexuality and softened Williams’ bleak endings, films like Streetcar (1951) and Cat (58) remain powerful and moving.

Help Celebrate 40 years of the

BAY AREA REPORTER!

Look for our special 40th Anniversary Issue out April 7.

For advertising rates call

861.5019

25

26

▼

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

MUSIC

Frederica von Stade at her artistic peak

by Jason Victor Serinus priceless cache of out-of-print recordings by the beloved mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, 65, has just become available for the first time in CD format. Arriving soon after Flicka bid farewell to the operatic stage with performances of Heggie’s Dead Man Walking in Houston, and before her gala Bay Area farewell at the War Memorial Opera House in December, they afford a generous sampling of her artistry in first bloom.

First to arrive, the result of a collaboration between Sony Music and ArkivMusic.com that has also produced a collection of early Shirley Verrett recitals, are transfers of four analog LPs recorded when Flicka’s voice was in first bloom.

Judging from the repertoire on her Duets album with soprano Judith Blegen (rec. 197475), Song Recital (rec.

77), Mahler Songs (rec.

78), and Italian Opera Arias (rec. 79), all parties understood early on that, as much as Flicka’s voice and personality lent themselves to the wide-eyed, extroverted innocence of Mozart’s Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, her unique gifts were showcased best in music that expressed intimacy and sadness.

Of the four CDs, the most indispensable is her song recital with the pianist Martin Katz. Each note bespeaks a total rapport between two gifted artists. The naked sincerity of

A

their performances also reflects how close von Stade was to the font of creation. On Dec. 21, 1977, just two days after she recorded the recital, she gave birth to her first child. Von Stade’s extraordinary emotional commitment is distinguished by sincerity that can best be termed devotional. The soft, sweetly-voiced third verse of the opening selection, John Dowland’s oft-recorded “Come Again, Sweet Love Doth Now Invite,” is a revelation. The recital also contains the finest performance of Liszt’s great “Oh! Quand je dors” I have yet encountered. Taken slowly, with complete freedom from the slavery

daughter Jenny Rebecca. When Flicka sings “Jenny Rebecca, four days old,” the performance comes but six days early.

The other prize in this cache is the duet album with Blegen. Not only do their voices, Blegen’s lighter and cheerier, balance each other quite well, but their renditions of rarely heard duets by Schumann and Brahms are extremely fine. Von Stade is superb in Chausson’s Chanson Perpetuelle and Mozart’s “Non so più.”

The other two CDs are not as perfect. As much as von Stade’s emotional affect is absolutely right for Mahler’s four Songs of a Wayfarer, five Songs from Rückert, and two songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, she’s too fast in the exquisite “Ich atmet’ einen linden Duft” and too heavy in the droll “Wer hat dies Liedlein erdacht?” (“Who thought up this ditty?”).

Conductor Andrew Davis must have had something to do with that.

One wonders if, on the Italian Opera Arias reissue, conductor Mario Bernardi was responsible for the slowness of Rossini’s “Di tanti palpiti” and Bellini’s “Bel raggio lusinghier.” After all, Flicka was known to dispense the challenging coloratura of Rossini’s finale from La Cenerentola at quite a fast clip. Regardless, the beauty she brings to her 13-minute “Torna, torna” from Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria , ably partnered by mezzo Janice Taylor, makes the CD a must-listen.

On March 22, EMI released what I believe will be the first CD issue of Flicka’s recordings of Fauré’s Mélodies with Jean-Philippe Collard (as yet unheard). This very early digital effort, recorded in December 1981 and June 1982 when von Stade was 37, also includes her recording of “Mélisande’s Song” from Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande, with Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse under Michel Plasson.

The bottom line: beggars can’t be choosers. I’ve been begging silently for a CD of the Song Recital with Katz for years. At last, it and four other long out-of-print von Stade recordings are available on CD. May a host of her opera recordings and other recitals come next.▼

Out-of-print recordings by the beloved mezzosoprano Frederica von Stade, which have just become available in CD format, afford a generous sampling of her artistry in full bloom.”

www.ebar.com

of the metronome, the performance underscores the depth of intelligence with which von Stade invests her artistry. Perfectly supported by Katz, she voices Liszt’s high, arching phrases as mere wisps of sound, each more heartfelt than the other. After an extremely passionate middle section, she returns to the opening melody with even greater slowness and intimacy. The final phrase, which she miraculously manages on a single breath, ends with a wondrous, soft high A-flat that lasts a good eight seconds. If its release is not totally clean, it was probably because her eagerfor-birthing child was giving signs that there was simply no time for a retake.

In addition to music by Purcell and Canteloube for which she is ideally suited, von Stade demonstrates that she was born to sing Debussy.

Her Chansons de Bilitis, like her Mélisande in Debussy’s Pélleas et Mélisande, rivals the best. Just as treasurable is her extremely inward performance of Carol Hall’s “Jenny Rebecca.” Von Stade loved the song so much that she intended to name her

▼

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

ART

Courtesy Toomey Tourell Fine Art

FINE

“Jig of Joy,” oil on canvas (2011) by Ursula O’Farrell, part of Beneath the Surface.

Galleries

▼

us from behind the mask of a Doberman Pinscher in “Duped.” Rife with starvation, abandoned children, rape, abuse, witches and evil sorcerers, fairy tales, laden with powerful subliminal messages, have burrowed deep into the unconscious. When awakened like a bewitched princess freed from enchantment, they serve as an internal guide, steering us away from harm and wanton abandonment of the sexual variety. Danger lurks there, they warn, but why should we be afraid? (April 7, 6:30 p.m., the gallery hosts a performance by Fauxnique, followed by a conversation with Oropallo and critic Glen Helfand.) Through April 30. www.gallery16.com Toomey Tourell Beneath the Surface: New Paintings by Ursula O’Farrell Family, relationships, inner turmoil, celebration and the ties that bind are rendered with an intense color palette and thick, gestural brushstrokes by O’Farrell, who carries forward the tradition of Bay Area Figurative painters like David Park, Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff. But in contrast to her forebears, she delves deeper into complex psychological territory. Here, her subject is primarily women whom she depicts in emotionally charged oil paintings such as “Mother Daughter,” in which a dominant yet somehow recessive central figure with blurred boundaries is illuminated in a halo of warm ochre-tinged tones. A portrait infused with emotion, it conveys the web of complicated, sometimes contradictory feelings children, even grown-up ones, have toward their mothers, and how those feelings distort perception. A group of wellturned-out, exuberant women links arms in “Dance of Four,” and a fetching seated figure, shrouded in scarlet and wrapped in a coat with a luxurious fur collar, awaits the next act in “Hommage to Nathan,” a tribute to the late Nathan Oliveira, the California painter known for the sensuality and humanity that also inform O’Farrell’s work. Through April 16. www.toomey-tourell.com Jack Fischer Gallery John Hundt/Camilla Newhagen: Couplings In previous work, Newhagen, intrigued by the female body and scars left by trauma and taboo, incorporated discarded, stitched-together undergarments to create soft sculptures that expressed hardship and mental amputation. Now the Danish-born artist, one of the most exciting emerging talents around, turns her attention to the male gender and the fall from grace of invincible men. She has split open and torn apart the uniform of those power players – the dark business suit and white dress shirt – to expose a world of chaos inside; multi-colored threads hang in disarray, and cut-out chunks of padding lay underneath the carefully constructed order and surface panache the suit presents to an unsuspecting public. John Hundt, a painter and collage artist exhibited here in what is an inspired pairing, combines personal effects, such as torn ticket stubs, journal entries, and

page 32

“Pin Point Oxford” by Camilla Newhagen, part of John Hundt/Camilla Newhagen: Couplings.

Jack Fischer Gallery

▼

page 21

27

28

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

Dan Savage @ SF State, Friday

OUT&ABOUT Sing-Along The Wizard of Oz @ The Castro Theatre, Friday

Fri 25 >>

7 Sins … One More Time! @ Exit Theatre Comedian James Judd returns with his acclaimed solo show about his misadventures in various odd jobs, and a 5th grade book report about Patty Hearst. $24-$40. Fri-Sun 8pm. Thru April 10. 156 Eddy St. 2061651. www.theexit.org

Paul Taylor Dance Company

Art Auction @ The Lab

by Jim Provenzano

hese are a few of my favorite things; gay galas, new Vaudeville, classic modern dance, hunky baseball fans, and beards.

Soiree 9 at the Design Center Galleria serves up a fabulous La Dolce Vita theme (1960s Italy, paparazzi, and glamour!) at the ninth annual fundraiser gala for the LGBT Center, with guest MC Raja (RuPaul’s Drag Race) and live auction MC Heklina, plus a hosted bar, gourmet morsels, a silent auction, and entertainment (Boylesque, Fauxnique, GAPA Chorus, Glamamore, Honey Mahogany, Honey Soundsystem, Leigh Crow, Miss Rahni, Monistat, SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, Veronica Klaus and more). $95.

Saturday, March 26. 21+. 7pm11pm. 101 Henry Adams St. www.sfcenter.org www.soiree9.wordpress.com Two of the greatest modern dance companies arrive this week. Even if you know little about the terpsichorean arts, the gorgeous athletic bodies should be enough to amaze you.

Alvin Ailey American SF Performances presents Paul Taylor Dance Theatre.

Dance Company in three programs of classic works and Bay Area premieres. Program A: Cloven Kingdom, Black Tuesday, Promethean Fire. Program B: Orbs, Also Playing. Program C: Brief Encounters, Three Dubious Memories, and Brandenburgs. Post-performance cocktail party with the dancers April 2. $35-$60. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. March 30 thru April 3. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Novellus Theater, 701 Mission St. 978-ARTS. www.sfperformances.org Cal Performances presents Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall, performing classic and recent dance works by Ailey, Robert Battle, Judith Jamison and others. Program A: Anointed, Cry, The Hunt and Revelations. Program B: Three Black Kings, In/Side, Forgotten Time and Revelations. Program C: The Prodigal Prince, Memoria, and Revelations. $34-$62.

Tue-Fri 8pm. Sat 2pm & 8pm. Sun 3pm. March 29 thru April 3. Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave., UC Berkeley campus. (510) 642-9988. www.calperformances.org The San Francisco GiAshkon Davaran in Beardo ants are obviously a local favorite, as is one of their hunky superfans, Ashkon Davaran, the YouTube sensation who sang the popular Giants tribute version of “Don’t Stop Believin’”). The Giants season doesn’t start until next week, but you can “fear the beard” as Davaran stars in Beardo at Ashby Stage, Berkeley. The always entertaining Shotgun Players present playwright Jason Craig and composer Dave Malloy’s commissioned new rock musical about Rasputin the Russian mystic. Expect plenty of sex, dirt, power chords and hemophilia. $17-$26. Previews thru Mar. 25. Opening Mar. 26. Thu-Sat 8pm, Sun 5pm (Wed 7pm starting April 6). Thru April 24. www.shotgunplayers.org Pop music with a touch of Vaudeville; another favorite. At Earl Dax’s latest edition of his Tingel Tangel Club at Café duNord, Ann Magnuson, Kristian Hoffman, Glen Meadmore and Taylor Mac perform a fun variety show of music and more, with Uni and her Ukulele, Scotty the Blue Bunny, Gerri Lawlor and Ambrosia Salad. $16-$20.

March 31. 9pm. 2170 Market St. 8615016. www.cafedunord.com For our exclusive interview with gay pop composer Kristian Hoffman, go to www.BARtabSF.com ▼

Rocky Schenk

Paul Kolnik

T

Kristian Hoffman

Tom Caravaglia

PLAYING FAVORITES

Annual fundraiser for the nonprofit gallery; preview of 100s of works of art up for auction tonight, 6pm-8pm. Also April 1, 6pm-8pm.

Sale continues April 3, 1pm-6pm. $20-$50.

2948 16th St. www.thelab.org

Balenciaga and Spain @ de Young Museum Fashion exhibit focusing on the influence of Spain on the work of haute couture master Cristóbal Balenciaga. Special free performance by Theater Flamenco on opening night (Mar. 25) 6:30pm-8:30pm. $6-$17. Thru July 4. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park. 750-3600. www.famsf.org

The Busy World is Hushed @ New Conservatory Theatre San Francisco premiere of Keith Bunin’s drama about a minister who finds her faith at odds with her estranged son. $24-$40. Previews thru opening night, April 1. Runs WedSat 8pm. Sun 2pm, thru May 1. 25 Van Ness Ave at Market St., lower level. 861-5019.

8972. www.nctcsf.org

Castleton Festival Opera @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley Acclaimed music group performs The Rape of Lucretia, by gay composer Benjamin Britten. $44-$90. 8pm. Bancroft Way at Telegraph, UC Berkeley campus. (510) 642-9988. www.calperformances.org

special concerts and events. $10-$45. Most shows 8pm (Mar 27, 2pm). Thru March 27.

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. 978-2787. www.odcdance.org

Pearls Over Shanghai @ The Hypnodrome Thrillpeddlers’ revival of the comic mock operetta by Link Martin and Scrumbly Koldewyn, performed by the gender-bending Cockettes decades ago, and loosely based on the 1926 play The Shanghai Gesture; with an allstar local cast. $30-$35. 18 and over only!

Fri & Sat 8pm. Closing April 9. 575 10th St. at Division. (800) 838-3006. www.thrillpeddlers.com

Queen of the Sun @ Roxie Theater Fascinating film subtitled What Are the Bees Telling Us? explores the mysterious mass insect disappearance, and how beekeepers and environmentalists are working to show the increible inter-connectivity of insects and global agriculture. Q&A with director Taggart Siegel at eve shows 3/25, 27 & 28. $5-$10. Thru Mar. 31. 3117 16th St. at Valencia. www.queenofthesun.com www.roxie.com

Queer Performance @ The Garage Garage All-Stars presents performance and dance works with gay themes by Timonthy Rubel, Kevin Seaman and Harvey Rabbit. $10-$20. 8pm. AQlso Mar. 26. 975 Howard St. www.975howard.com

Regrets Only @ New Conservatory Theatre Gay playwright Paul Rudnick’s latest comedy, set in a Manhattan penthouse with various uptown characters about to celebrate a wedding. $15-$36. Thru April 3. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level. 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

Iran Beyond Censorship @ YBCA Films of Jafar Panahi, who was recently jailed for 6 years for making “anti-regime” films, including The Accordion (made just before he was imprisoned), two feature films and shorts.

2pm. Also Mar. 26, 7:30pm and Mar 27, 2pm. Free-$6, $8. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. 978-2787. www.ybca.org

Jon Secada @ The Rrazz Room The Grammy-winning singer performs intimate variations of his Latin music hits with a backup trio. $45-$55. 8pm. Also Mar. 26. 2drink minimum. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. at Ellis. (800) 380-3095. www.therrazzroom.com

Loveland @ The Marsh Ann Randolph returns with her solo show about a sexually frustrated woman who flies home and faces the greatest love of her life.

Fri 8pm. Sat 5pm. $20-$50. Thru Mar. 26.

1062 Valencia St. at 21st. (800) 838-3006. www.themarsh.org

Meg Stuart @ YBCA Innovative choreographer creates/presents At the Table, a large-scale improvisational-collaborative work set atop a giant table. $20$25. 8pm. Also Mar. 26. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum, 701 Mission St. 978ARTS. www.ybca.org

ODC @ Novellus Theater Innovative dance company celebrates its 40th anniversary with new and repertory works by Brenda Way, KT Nelson and Kimi Okada;

Sat 26 >> Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi Musical comedy revue, now in its 35th year, with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. $25$130. Wed, Thu, Fri at 8pm. Sat 6:30, 9:30pm. Sun 2pm, 5pm. (Beer/wine served; cash only). 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd (Green St.). 421-4222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com

Cootie Shots @ New Conservatory Theatre Family matinee of the educational sketch play focusing on respecting differences in gender, religion, races and cultures. 2pm. 25 Van Ness Ave, lower level. 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

Eadweard Muybridge @ SF Museum of Modern Art Fascinating exhibit and the first-ever retrospective examining all aspects of artist Eadweard Muybridge’s pioneering photography. $9-$18. Daily 11am-5:45pm (closed Wed.).

151 Third St. 357-4000. www.sfmoma.org

The Homecoming @ ACT

Giulio Cesare Perrone’s acrobatic small-cast stage adaptation of Homer’s epic poem about the Trojan War. $12-$24. Fri & Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm, thru April 3. 2315 Durant Ave. (510) 698-4030. www.InfernoTheatre.org

Touring production of the mirthful muse-filled musical comedy based on the strangely lovable film, complete with roller-skating disco numbers set to the original music, but a script that takes a satirical edge. $24-$44. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Extended thru May 8. 1694 Saratoga Ave. (408) 404-7711. www.TheRetroDome.com

Opening reception for the duo’s exhibit of eerie space-age toy battlescapes with a preSputnik flavor of paranoia. 5pm-7pm. Exhibit thru April 23. Reg hours Tue-Sat 11am-5pm.

77 Geary St. 2nd floor. 627-9111. www.marxzav.com

Gay columnist and author reads from and discusses his new book, It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living, written with his partner Terry Miller. Savage discusses the making of the original “It Gets Better” video that sparked an online mass reaction to anti-gay hatred and other forms of bullying. 12pm. Jack Adams Hall, Cesar Chavez Student Center, 1650 Holloway Ave. www.sfsubookstore.com

The Iliad @ Berkeley City Club

Xanadu @ Retrodome, San Jose

Davis Davis: Planet X @ Marx & Zavattero Gallery

Dan Savage @ San Francisco State University

Harold Pinter’s classic family drama is performed; directed by American Conservatory Theatre Artistic Director Carey Perloff; special programs thru the run. $10-$85. TueSat 8pm. Wed, Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Mar. 27. 415 Geary St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

amoor. Carnival and masquerade costumes encouraged. $10-$25. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm. Thru Mar. 27. 762 Fulton St. www.culterualodyssey.org

Billy Cook @ Macy’s, Tuesday

Ruined @ Berkeley Rep Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about the harrowing lives of women in Africa. $14.50-$73. Tue-Sat 8pm, (Wed 7pm). Thu, Sat, Sun 2pm. Sun eve 7pm. Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St. at Shattuck. (510) 6472949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Sing-Along The Wizard of Oz @ Castro Theatre Have a jolly old time somewhere over the rainbow as you sing along, with hosts Laurie Bushman, Joe Wicht and David Hawkins, subtitles, goody bags, a costume contest, at participatory screenings of the MGM classic. $10-$15. 2pm today. Mar. 26, 2pm & 7pm.

Mar. 27, 7pm. Mar. 28-31, 7pm. Mar. 30 also 2pm. 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com

Singing at the Edge of the World @ The Marsh Cabaret, Berkeley Randy Rutherford’s inspirational autobiographical solo show, with music, about his life as an Alaskan folksinger overcoming congenital hearing loss (captions for hearing impaired at first three Saturday shows). $15-$50. Thu & Fri 8pm, Sat 5pm. Thru April 16. 2120 Allston Way, near Shattuck. (800) 838-3006. www.themarsh.org

Talking With Angels @ Royce Gallery Shelley Mitchell’s solo play tells of multiple characters searching for meaning and survival in Nazi-occupied Hungary. $21-$35. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru May 21. 2901 Mariposa St. at Harrison. www.talkingwithangels.com www.roycegallery.com

Women of Calypso @ African American Arts & Culture Complex Underground Jazz Cabaret presents Trinidad artists Singing Sandra, Kizzie Ruiz and Shereen Caesar, with a five-piece band; directed by Rhodessa Jones and Idris Ack-

Hot Glass, Cold Beer @ Public Glass The glass art studio’s popular events, where patrons can sip beer, wine or soft drinks, enjoy music, watch glass-blowers in action, and get a souvenir mug, presents San Jose artist Vivian “Viva” Paredes. $25. 6pm-10pm. 1750 Armstrong Ave. 671-4916. www.PublicGlass.org

Hula Girls @ Viz Cinema Fundraiser for Japan earthquake relief; screening of Lee Sang-il’s popular documentary film about Hawaiian hula dancers. $10 and up. 2pm, 4:30, 7pm. 1746 Post St. www.newpeopleworld.com

Jonathan Poretz @ The Rrazz Room Local crooner brings back the classic lounge stylings of Sinatra and other great male singers. $25. 10:20pm. 2-drink minimum.

Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. at Ellis. (800) 380-3095. www.therrazzroom.com

Moment @ 111 Minna Gallery Collaborative group exhibit of diverse photography, including large-scale photo print tile works by GetBizi. Thru March. 111 Minna St. 974-1719. www.111minnagallery.com

The Oldest Profession @ Brava Theatre Evren Odcikin directs Paula Vogel’s satiric comedy about senior women prostitutes in the Reagan ‘80s who decide to work themselves to death. $10-$25. 8pm. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm. Thru April 9. 2781 24th St. at York.

647-2822. www.brava.org

Orchestral Manoeuveres in the Dark @ Fox Theatre, Oakland Iconic British band is on tour again with their first album in 18 years. $30. 9pm. 1807 Telegraph Ave. (19th St. BART). www.omdbrightantenna.com www.ticketmaster.com www.thefoxoakland.com

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

Davis Davis: Planet X @ Marx & Zavattero Gallery, Saturday

Wed 30 >> Ari Hest @ Café du Nord Gorgeous singer performs his equally gorgeous music. $15. 7pm. 21+. 2170 Market St. 861-5016. www.arihest.com www.cafedunord.com

Karen Finley @ YBCA Veteran performance artist presents excerpts from her new book The Reality Shows, with a Q&A. Free with museum admission ($6-$12) 7pm. RSVP recommended. 701 Mission St. 978-2787. www.ybca.org

Our Vast Queer Past @ GLBT History Museum Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave @ Legion of Honor Exhibit of amazing paper costumes by the acclaimed Belgian artist based on classic historical royal garb including Elizabeth I and Marie Antoinette. Free-$10. Tue-Sun 9:30am5:15pm. Thru June 5. 100 34th Ave. at Clement St. 750-3600. www.legionofhonor.famsf.org

Romeo and Juliet @ Val’s Subterranean, Berkeley Impact Theatre’s production of the Shakepeare romantic tragedy reset between contemporary Russian mafia gangs. Pizza, beer and other food & drinks available. $10-$20. ThuSat 8pm. Thru April 2. 1834 Euclid Ave. www.impacttheatre.com

Sex City Tour @ Citywide Betty’s List presents Dr. Carol Queen’s guided bus tour of San Francisco’s sexy historic locales, with complimentary beverage and gift bag; meet at a Castro locations. $45. 1pm4pm. Reservations required. 503-1375. www.BettysList.com

Teatro Zinzanni @ Pier 29

art by Mark I. Chester, Shilo McCabe, Michael Rosen, Phyllis Christopher, Lorelei Powers and Patti Beadles for sale, along with other items. $20. 2pm-5pm. 289 8th St. www.shibarirelief.org

Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room Donna Sachet and Harry Denton host the fabulous weekly brunch and drag show. $45.

11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square.

395-8595. www.harrydenton.com

Mon 28 >> In Paths Untrodden @ SF Public Library Walt Whitman’s Calamus Poems and the Radical Faeries, curated by Joey Cain; an exhibit of the gay poet’s influence on contemporary queer culture. Thru May 19. James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center, 100 Larkin St. third floor. www.sfpl.org

Marga’s Funny Mondays @ The Marsh, Berkeley

Caliente is the new show at the theatre-tentdinner extravaganza, with twin acrobats Ming and Rui, Vertical Tango rope dance, plus magic, comedy, a five-course dinner, and a lot of fun. $117-$145. Saturday 11:30am “Breve” show $63-$78. Wed-Sat 6pm (Sun 5pm). Pier 29 at Embarcadero Ave. 4382668. www.teatrozinzanni.com

Marga Gomez, “the lesbian Lenny Bruce” (Robin Williams), brings her comic talents, and special guests, to a weekly cabaret show. $10. 8pm. 2120 Allston Way. (800) 8383006. www.margagomez.com www.themarsh.org

Tom Shaw Trio @ Martuni’s

Exhibit of photographic sketches of the Castro by the local artist. 8pm. Thru March. 4122 18th St. at Castro. www.magnetsf.org

Vocalist and veteran comic storyteller Lynn Ruth Miller joins the jazz trio in an intimate concert. (Trio also performs Mar. 30, 7pm). $5. 7pm 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.dragatmartunis.com

Sun 27 >> Honey Mahogany vs. Erika Von Volkyrie @ Martuni’s Enjoy a night of classy jazz and even a little Goth music as two local musical super-talents perform with a three-piece band. $5. 7pm. 4 Valencia St. 241-0205. www.dragatmartunis.com

Happy Hour @ Energy Talk Radio Interview show with gay writer Adam Sandel as host. 8pm. www.EnergyTalkRadio.com

William Salit @ Magnet

Tue 29 >> Ashford & Simpson @ The Rrazz Room R&B legends return to the intimate nightclub for three nights of classic romantic songs. $47.50-$55. 8pm. Also April 2, 7pm & 9:30pm, and April 3, 7pm. 2-drink minimum.

Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. at Ellis. (800) 380-3095. www.therrazzroom.com

Billy Cook @ Macy’s Executive Designer at Taste Catering presents a free demonstration on floral design; part of Macy’s 65th Annual Flower Show, March 27April 10. 2pm, Tabletop, Level 6, 170 O’Farrell St. www.macys.com

Uh Huh Her @ Great American Music Hall

Auction and rocking live music show and benefit for Lyon-Martin Health Center. MC Annie Danger welcomes Coyote Grace, Joshua Klipp. Bid on artwork (paintings, photos, sculpture, tattoos) by dozens of LGBT visual artists. $10-$100. 1pm-3pm. 3158 Mission St. www.elriosf.com

Los Angeles duo, whose music has been featured on Showtime’s The L Word, perform new music. Diamonds Under Fire opens. $21. (with dinner, $45.95). 8pm. 859 O’Farrell St. (888) 233-0449. www.uhhuhher.com www.gamh.com

Monthly LGBT news show about local events; 5pm. Also airs on other dates, and streaming online. www.outlookvideo.org

Rockabilly Q @ Milk Bar The Queer Jitterbugs present Sunday Swing-out, a mixed ‘straight’ friendly weekly night of social dancing to DJed and (twice monthly) live music. $3$15. 8:30-11pm, lesson 8:30pm. 1840 Haight St. at Stanyan. (415) 305-8242. www.QueerJitterbugs.com

SF Hiking Club @ Tomales Point Join GLBT hikers for a 9-mile hike at the northernmost peninsula of Point Reyes National Seashore. See spectacular coastal and bay views, wildflowers, hopefully the Tule elk herd, and maybe a migrating whale or two. Carpool meets at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores, 8:15am.

577-9367. www.sfhiking.com

Shibari Relief @ Wicked Grounds Silent auction and fundraiser for Japan disaster relief, with kinky

Thu 31 >> Dandelion Dancetheater, Kegan Marling @ CounterPulse Duo concert of Artist Residency Commissions, Jump ship mid way and Friend, with gay and relationship themes. $14-$17. Thu-Sun 8pm.

Thru April 3. 1310 Mission St. at 9th. (800) 838-3006. www.counterpulse.org

Human Rights Watch Film Fest @ YBCA Films from around the world focus on the struggles of people abused by militaries, governments and dictatorships. $6-$8. Thursdays, 7:30pm. Thru Mar. 31. 701 Mission St. www.ybca.org

LGBT Night with the San Jose Sharks @ HP Pavilion Enjoy a hockey game vs. the Dallas Stars at a special gay-friendly night. Proceeds benefit San Jose Pride; groups of 25+ get video board name recognition. All attendees get a Sharks beanie. When purchasing online or calling, give the discount/special seating code SHARKS. $46, $73. 7:30pm-10:30pm. 525 West Santa Clara St. (408) 999-5757. www.sharks.nhl.com www.hppsj.com

Patrick McDonald @ Books Inc. New York fashion writer and author of Four Famous Dandies – Paper Dolls discusses his fabulous flamboyant style guide. 7:30pm.

2275 Market St. 864-677. www.booksinc.net

Homo Hoedown @ El Rio

Outlook Video @ Channel 29

New exhibit from the GLBT Historical Society, with a wide array of rare historic items on display. Free for members-$5. Wed-Sat 11am-7pm. Sun 12pm-5pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistory.org

Poets Rock the Randall @ Randall Museum Variety show of muisc, dance, and poetry, with vocal artist Steve Taylor, Robin Ekiss, Clara Hsu, EK Keith and Chares Getter, and choreographer Stephen Kopel. Free. 7pm9pm. 199 Museum Way at Roosevelt. www.brentcalderwood.com

Shadows in Paradise @ Jewish Community Center Screening of Shadows in Paradise: Hitler’s Exiles in Hollywood, about how the Nazi regime led to the arrival of artists Bertolt Brecht, Fritz Lang, Thomas Mann and others.

Free. 7pm. 3200 California St. 292-1233. www.jccsf.org/arts

Size Matters @ John Pence Gallery

Group exhibit of amazing photorealist paintings; landscapes, still lifes and sensual nudes, ranging from enormous to tiny in size. MonFri 10am- 6pm. Sat 10am-5pm.

750 Post St. 441-1138.

Honey Mahogany www.johnpence.com

@ Martuni’s, Sunday

Wax Candy @ Showdown The Go Bang guys host a one-off disco funk house dance night with DJs Sergio, The Worker, Andre Lucero and Travis Dalton.

No cover. 21+. 9pm-2am. 10 6th St. at Market. www.showdownsf.com

Wine Time @ Lake Chalet, Oakland Betty’s List hosts the monthly Women in Wine series, with delicious tastings. $15. 6pm-8pm.

1520 Lakeside Drive. www.bettyslist.com

To submit event listings, email jim@ebar.com.

Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.

For more bar and nightlife events, go to www.bartabsf.com

www.bartabsf.com

29

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

LEATHER+

▼

Leathermen’s discussion group

by Scott Brogan ave you been to a Leathermen’s Discussion Group (LDG) lately? If you haven’t, you’re missing out on benefiting from one of the San Francisco leather scene’s better organizations. The LDG is more than “leather,” “men” or “discussions.” Each year they offer a wide variety of demonstrations, workshops and monthly forum/panel discussions that are open to all regardless of gender, kink, age, or sexual orientation. And don’t let the “leather” fool you. As with all “leather” organizations, that moniker serves as an umbrella encompassing all leather, The men behind the continued success of the Leathermen’s Discussion kink, gear, and fetish.

Group: Brian James, Patrick Mulcahey and Tygr Yoshi.

In our age of quick, empty and sometimes dangerous online sexual fulfillment, the LDG offers a serious outlet for anyone who’s exploring his or her curiosity for the first (or 1,000th) time. They encourage those who have come to the group in the past to return and share their continuing experiences. You can’t get that online. Not that there’s anything wrong with a casual online hookup, but if you’re seriously thinking of taking your hardcore fetish/kink desires out of your head and into action, you need more than that “online Daddy” to help you navigate.

The LDG is there.

In spite of all they do, the LDG would have disbanded last year were it not for the efforts of Patrick Mulcahey, Brian James, and Tygr Yoshi.

They stepped up officially this past Mama Sandy Reindhardt and the late Marcus Hernandez attend the April January, and are broadening the or2008 opening of Chaps Bar. Chaps will reopen as Kok Bar SF on April 1. ganization’s focus as more than a gateway to the kinky men’s commuBe sure to go. Be a voyeur. Particito a sampling of the treasures he’s nity, a gateway for all. They embrace pate. Explore. Engage. Whatever you donating to the Leather Archives & our future while not forgetting desire, or think you desire, they’re Museum in Chicago, and lead the our past. Just in time, as this is there. Not only will you learn somediscussion. The May 25 discustheir 15th anniversary year. thing, but you just might discover an sion features Jim Ward, pioneer The forum/panel disaspect of yourself you didn’t know in the body-piercing induscussions are held on the existed. Go to: www.sfldg.org for try. Upcoming meetings infourth Wednesday of each more details. clude “The Art of the month in the upstairs area Whip” with Peter Fiske, of Blow Buddies, 933 HarChaps is now Kok “Taboo Play” with Mollena rison St. A glance at the Williams, and “Breath Chaps Bar closed on March 19, upcoming discussions Play” with Mark Frazier. but will re-open as Kok Bar SF. Cogives you an idea of their to sponsors owner/manager David Morgan told variety: The April 27 disL EATHER likeThanks Blow Buddies, the SF me that the new bar will be a “men’s cussion features the legCitadel and Raging Stalcruise bar in SoMa” catering to endary Fakir Musafar. lion Studios, the LDG is able to pro“jocks, punks, bears, twinks, leather Known worldwide for his 50-plus vide, in the words of Race Bannon, daddies, muscle studs, skins, biker years of research and personal explotheir “live discussion and training dudes. All races, all ages. [By changration of primitive body decoration [enhancing] one’s erotic repertoire.” and rituals, Fakir will treat the group page 31

Scott Brogan

Scott Brogan

H

▼

30

Coming up in leather & kink >> Thu., Mar. 24: 2012 Bare Chest Calendar Semi-Final #8 at the Powerhouse (1347 Folsom). 9:30 p.m. Go to: www.barechest.org or www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Thu., Mar. 24: Remedial Ropes: Beginning Bondage with Stefanos and Chey at the SF Citadel (1277 Mission).

All Remedial Ropes classes are stand-alone and don’t require any previous rope experience. 8-10 p.m. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. $15-$20. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Thu., Mar. 24: Los Angeles Leather Week continues through Sun., Mar. 27. Lots of amazing events, including the Mr. LA Leather contest on Sat. night, 7-10:30 p.m. at the Hwang Theatre (120 Judge John Aiso St., LA). Go to: www.mrlaleather.com.

Fri., Mar. 25-Sun., Mar. 27: Tom of Finland Erotic Art Fair Weekend in West Hollywood (LA). Kicks off Friday night (8-11 p.m.) at the Tom House in Echo Park. Fair is open Sat., 1-7 p.m., Sun., 12-6 p.m. Go to: www.tomoffinlandfoundation.org.

the Eagle Tavern (398 12th St.). Starts at 2 p.m. New website: www.sfleather.org.

Sun., Mar. 27: Castrobear presents Sunday Furry Sunday at 440 Castro. 4-10 p.m. Go to: www.castrobear.com.

Sun., Mar. 27: PoHo Sundays at the Powerhouse. DJ Keith, Dollar Drafts all day. Go to: www.powerhousesf.com.

Mon., Mar. 28: Trivia Night with host Casey Ley at Truck. 8-10 p.m. Featuring amazing prizes and ridiculous questions. Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Mon., Mar. 28: Flogger-Works guided by Daddy Darin and Jerry at the SF Citadel. For beginners and advanced alike! 8-9:30 p.m. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. $10 each. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Tue., Mar. 29: Daddy girl/boy panel moderated by Leland at the SF Citadel. 8-10 p.m. $20. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Fri., Mar. 25: Truck Wash at Truck (1900 Folsom). 10 p.m.–close. Enjoy the live shower boys and drink specials.

Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Tue., Mar. 29: Busted at Truck. 9 p.m.-close. $5 beer bust from 9-11 p.m. Great music and the notorious Truck boys. Go to: www.trucksf.com.

Fri., Mar. 25: TransMission: a party for transpeople and their allies at the SF Citadel. 8 p.m.-1 a.m. $25. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Tue., Mar. 29: Ink & Metal followed by Nasty at the Powerhouse. 9 p.m. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Sat., Mar. 26: Back Bar Action at the Eagle Tavern (398 12th St.). Back patio and bar open to all gear/fetish/leather. 10 p.m. to close. Go to: www.sfeagle.com.

Sat., Mar. 26: Nasty at The Powerhouse. 10 p.m. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.

Sat., Mar. 26: Castrobear presents 100% SoMa Beef & Co. All-Beef Saturday Nights at the Lone Star Saloon (1354 Harrison). Go to: www.castrobear.com.

Sat., Mar. 26: SF Leather Pride Contingent Meeting at

Wed., Mar. 30: Bear Buddies at Blow Buddies. For bears and anyone who likes them! This is a male-only club. Doors open 8 p.m.-12 a.m. Play til late. Go to: www.blowbuddies.com.

Wed., Mar. 30: Too Kinky for Words: Playing Way Off the Edge presented by Laura Antoniou at the SF Citadel. 8-10 p.m. $20. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org.

Wed., Mar. 30: SoMa Men’s Club. Every Wednesday, the SoMa Clubs (Powerhouse, Truck, Lone Star, Hole in the Wall, the Eagle) have specials for those who wear the Men’s Club dogtags.

▼

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

31

KARRNAL

Working boys

by John F. Karr wonder how many of you remember Hustler’s Corner? Before the pick-up scene shifted over to Polk Street, hustler central was at the tip of that triangular building at the corner of Market and Golden Gate, at 6th, in front of a shoe store. Was it Florsheim?

I don’t remember. But I remember the boys, generally a small flock of them, and not infrequently among them a sailor being cruised by the johns as he cruised the rent boys.

Well, my, how things have changed. You won’t find a rent boy on Market Street these days. You may still find a scruffy street urchin for sale on Polk Street, but the rest, the royalty of rent boys, are online. And I do mean Royalty. Hustling didn’t used to be a legitimate occupation.

But there aren’t many aspects of gay life lingering in the shadows, and today’s hustlers are an elite. The fit, handsome and trained-for-the-job joy-boy is right out there, commanding exorbitant prices, and – get this – rated and reviewed by clients’ online postings!

I don’t know why a Madam in New York or Hollywood can get busted for proffering a tastefully managed, high-class flock of call girls to well-heeled clients, while in the gay world, escorts are not only not arrested, but are lauded and lionized.

Yes, that’s what gay whores are called – escorts. Perhaps some of them acBoyfriend material Jayden Grey won the Best Newcomer award at the Hookies. tually are companions or walkers.

But I think most of the escorting going on is directly toward the bedroom.

Reading “escort” reviews is a lot of fun – how personable and conscientious and clean and thoughtful soand-so turned out to be. And I’ve been highly entertained by the discussion of their finer attributes, like the quality of their cock, or their sodomitic skill.

And now just in are the winners of this year’s Hookies. This award ceremony is sponsored by the world’s largest male escort site. It takes place at fabled Roseland Ballroom in New York, and is preceded by an Expo (I’d appreciate someone telling me what an Expo of Whores is) and a Red Carpet. The Hookies are proclaimed “The Oscars of Escorting,” and have a celebrity host and a fleet of entertainers celebrating the best escorts with awards in 15 categories covering all aspects of the oldest profession.

Among these are Best Pornstar Escort, Best Top, Best Ass, Best Fetish Escort, Best Tattoos, Daddy, Duo, The Hookies web ad, complete with a celebrity host, Leslie Jordan.

Biggest Cock, and Best Newcomer – I bet you have to get passed around Among this year’s Best Pornstar Like most of the nominees, he offers rather quickly to earn ratings as a Escorts, I’d take Christian Wilde over a blandishment when talking about newcomer (Jayden Grey won this Samuel Colt, but perhaps Trent his occupation: “I feel blessed to have category).

Locke trumps both (Mr. Colt won). the ability to put a smile on my Visit Hookies.net for pictures of I’d take Derrick Hanson for my client’s face, and bring them a little this year’s nominated Escorts and a Fetish escort, but Paul Stagg sure extra happy in a tuff list of previous years’ winners looks studly. Cole Streets may have world.” But he’s shrewd (the 2011 winners will be proven a little too hot to be Best when asked, “What is posted soon). I devoured the Boyfriend Fantasy, because cute Jayyour most popular atmany interviews with den Grey won. In a crowded field, my tribute?” The typical contestants that the site vote for Best Tats goes to Tat Muscle response is, my smile, offers. Like local boy Jock, but Alessio Romero won. And I my cock, my ass. Junior Dane, whose immediate have no doubt that the thick beauty (I fancy – or fantasize – answer to “Do you work of Avi Dar should take Best Body. For myself on a first-name hard for the money?”

Best Duo, stud dads Chip and Rocco basis) replies, simply, is an emphatic, “Fuck are mature stunners. But there are “Masculinity.” The guy yeah!” Junior Stellano K ARRNAL two, count them, two pairs of identiwho can bottle that will was a nominee last K NOWLEDGE make a fortune. Mean- cal twins. I’ve never hired a hustler, year. One of my faves, but I might start saving my pennies while you can sample he’s now 36 years old, for a matched set.▼ some of Stellano’s. and has been escorting for six years.

Falcon Studios

I

Leather + ▼

page 30

ing the name they] would not have to be held to the ideal that everyone had to be geared up and everyone look the same. SoMa is so diverse, young and old. And there is no reason they can’t all mingle in one space with male energy.” Fundraisers will be kept to a minimum, including one door cover each weekend benefiting a

charity. Morgan explained that women are also welcome: “[We are] serving notice to any patron that we do not tolerate discrimination – race, sex, orientation – we know people get the idea it’s a men’s cruise bar, and just because someone doesn’t look like you, they might be kinkier and playing a lot more than you!” Kok Bar SF opens April 1 with a pre-grand opening party reception for Bevan Dufty for Mayor from 7-8:30 p.m., then opening to the public at 9 p.m.

The SF Leather Pride Contingent Meeting is this Saturday at the Eagle Tavern (398 12th St.) at 2 p.m. The committee needs to know which current titleholders plan to ride in a car in the Pride Parade this June. If you don’t speak up now, you’re walking!

Go to: www.sfleather.org for details.

Apology: In my last column, I mistakenly left out Mollena Williams as one of the judges for the Mr. SF Leather contest. My apologies for the error, Mollena!▼

www.ebar.com

32

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

FILM

▼

by David Lamble eep into Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?, an entertaining 83 minutes on the fate of the planet’s honey bees, a beekeeper wittily opines on the number of stings it takes to kill a human being. That number turns out to be 500 or so, about the same number of dingers that would have gotten you into baseball’s Hall of Fame, pre-steroids. What’s that got to do with the price of honey at the Noe Street Farmer’s Market? It turns out that the bees, the food on our plates, the air we inhale, and the sanctity of baseball’s once-sacred records are all threatened by the same mentality, that of an industrial combine you might call agro-business, global economics, or the industrial/military complex.

The sly filmmaker here, Taggart Siegel, whose The Real Dirt on Farmer John was a hit on the organic farming circuit, feels that recent scuttlebutt on the disappearance of honey bees, or “Colony Collapse Dis-

D

order,” should be a planetary wakeup call akin to Rachel Carson’s 1960s pesticide exposé Silent Spring. Siegel and his delightfully eccentric cast of Anglo-American beekeepers (Hitchcock would have loved these folks) are telling us in 100 different ways that rather than fret about killer bees, we should realize we’re killing the bees. As one beekeeper puts it, without the bees, there’s no agriculture.

What’s the problem? Agro-business, its obsession with mono crops – corn, soybeans, wheat – has disconnected the bees from their pollinating duties.

The queen of the hive, like the freerange chicken, needs to roam without constraints to perform her messy sex acts that keep the plants growing and the honey flowing.

Queen of the Sun roams across a few millenniums of bee history – there was edible honey found in the Egyptian pyramids – with colorful photography, silly animation and a far-flung network of human bee-fanatics. We see that with fewer artificial chemicals and more patience, we can keep farming this tired old plan-

et, the sun willing. Fewer chemicals may keep worker bees attending to their queens. Give us additive-free, honey-sweetened ballpark treats.

Why 500 stings to kill a person?

Honey bees excrete a diluted form of the poison contained in a rattlesnake bite. Hopefully the buzz from Queen of the Sun’s run at the Roxie Theater, Mar. 25-31, will be sweet enough.

The Adjustment Bureau This Philip K. Dick lite, parallel-universe romance is a fascinating ride precisely because it doesn’t take its Twilight Zone sci-fi premise any deeper than necessary. Beginning with a Hotspur-vibrant young Senate candidate’s late-campaign gaffe, and then with a guardian angel who fails to bump into his charge in the park, writer/director George Nolfi keeps the beats coming so fast and furiously we haven’t time to question Dick’s original premise: that a creepy band of guys with hats are running our lives according to a master plan.

Adjustment Bureau benefits from its spot-on casting of the self-deprecating Matt Damon as the frustrated

Ruby Bloom

Beekeepers w/consciences

Beekeeper Sara Mapelli performs a ritual dance with 12,000 bees in filmmaker Taggart Siegel’s Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?

candidate, the cracker-jack smart Emily Blunt as the girl who tries to get away, and the incomparably smooth Anthony Mackie as the conscience-stricken guardian angel who shows Damon how to slip-slide away from the guys with the plan.

Weightier but far less pompous than The Matrix, Bureau allows us the delight of skipping through the back doors of a Brooklyn /Manhattan universe that open for men who wear hats. The clincher is the

auto-carnage, noting, “Behind every tragedy, there is an industry.” The Dog is the barely human face of that industry, the chief goon of an octopuslike syndicate, The Foundation, whose agents, or vultures, feed off the des-

peration of poor victims’ relatives.

It falls to Argentine acting legend Ricardo Darin to turn Sosa into both vulture and victim of the Dog’s e.r. scams: under Argentina’s “rules of the road,” crooked ambulance chasers

siphon off a huge percentage of millions of pesos due underclass accident victims and their survivors. Darin has emerged from the ranks of his country’s most bankable soap opera actors to carve out a career as the ruggedly handsome film noir face of Argentina’s petty crooks and scam artists. His Sosa is a beaten-down three-time loser, the big Dog’s vulture hauling human remains to the table until that moment when love calls. Spying, wooing and seducing the idealistic doc Lujan, her masculine features framed by horn-rimmed glasses, Sosa imagines himself reborn.

As the clock ticks down on their bid to escape with the Dog’s bone, with a scheme that could work, barring accidents, Sosa and Lujan discover that their cursed society doesn’t accommodate the pursuit of happiness, that its real religion is not a desiccated Catholicism but the fatalistic injunction that at best every dog has a day.▼

Addario, Teru Kuwayama, James Lee and Eros Hoagland – have embedded with military forces in Afghanistan or worked independently in harrowing circumstances, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Addario may well be the most kick-ass of the bunch. One of 20 women on Goddess Oprah’s 2010 power list and recipient of the MacArthur fellowship, the fearless Addario, who has survived kidnappings and ambushes, is no stranger to risk or controversial subject matter, i.e., her series on Afghan women who set themselves on fire. (Check out her

impressive portfolio, a travelogue of the most dangerous places on earth: www.lynseyaddario.com) Addario started photographing conflict and humanitarian crises in 2000, when she went to Afghanistan to document oppression under the Taliban, and, for the last decade, has photographed men at war in global hot spots from Iraq, Congo and Darfur to the Middle East and Afghanistan. The work displayed here, “Women at War,” which is comparatively tame, shows female Marines performing their duties as members of “engagement” teams who

connect with Afghan women and children in ways their male counterparts cannot. The soldiers are also seen flying Black Hawk helicopters and retrieving wounded troops in Helmand Province, one of country’s most volatile regions, as well as enjoying precious downtime, doing their hair or resting in a solitary patch of shade.

The perils of Addario’s profession have never been more evident: she was among four New York Times journalists captured by Qaddafi’s army in Libya last week. Through May 13. www.sfartscommission.org/gallery▼

you could tell the show’s a hit. Gennadi Nedvigin, in Tomasson’s role, was even more adorable and bigger in personality than Swanilda, the kind of really cute boy who gets away with murder because he’s that cute – and good god, can he dance!

I’m looking forward to seeing Vanessa Zahorian in the role as well, since she commands a vivid steeliness that’s likely to reveal more of the incorrigible female power that resides in the role and makes the fecundity celebrated in the last act, with its huge raft of children dancers, necessary to the ballet. The kids were staggeringly good, and the finale built to a colossal head of fizziness and glee. For a good time, check out Coppélia, through this Sunday at the Opera House.

into a spectacle that uses high-tech to warp your field of vision. Their second piece, Silent Screen, made it impossible to tell if the dancers were actual people or merely images in a film being screened, when there were people; sometimes it looked like the view from a spacecraft, stars going by. It was a tour de force of new stagecraft.

The first piece, by Jiri Kylián, never seen here before, showed tremendous invention in new moves, some very slow, others fast and turbulent, on a stage where the floor itself had been tilted. A half-naked man posed like Blake’s Urizen and drew figures in sand in front of him. The dance looked like life going by.

Meantime ODC/SF is dancing downtown. I can’t wait to see the recreation of Investigating Grace, which has been placed on the NEA’s list of heritage works, performed with its new cast. Private Freeman, on whom it was made, has moved on to chamber works, but ODC dances big as all outdoors, and the new crew will make it theirs. Set to the Goldberg Variations, in Glenn Gould’s original recording. Through March 27.▼

Argentine noir

by David Lamble n director Pablo Trapero’s gripping, violent, compellingly bleak film noir Carancho, two people who probably should never have met are cohabitating, licking each other’s wounds, and conspiring to make a big score. It’s money due victims in one of Argentina’s epidemic of fatal car crashes, claimed by a very bad guy, “The Dog,” the kind of guy who lurks in films that take nefarious behavior to the end of the line. Our hero, washed-up, disbarred, ambulance-chasing attorney Sosa (Ricardo Darin), and his girlfriend Lujan (Martina Gusman), an overworked, drug-addicted, gullible emergencyroom physician, are basking in the glow of the best moments in their ill-

I

Galleries ▼

page 27

found objects from different time periods and cultures, with handdrawn and painted images. Among the weird juxtapositions, surreal scenarios and fantasy storylines that unfold in Hundt’s own private language are images of female lower torsos, including one stuffed upsidedown into a meat grinder, whose chunky legs fill out black stockings

considered affair. They met as Sosa was chasing her ambulance. Their future rests perilously on a mad scheme to steal the big Dog’s bone.

Carancho is awash in blood and ghoulish humor. Two of the funniest moments assault Lujan as she’s tending to men whose wounds are a byproduct of misguided male pride: an old man, blood streaming from his noggin, attempts a sexual assault; and two young dudes resume their barroom duel in the emergency room, this last scene punctuated by offscreen gunshots. Sosa and Lujan are two legs of a wobbly stool representing the tattered safety net for poor accident victims in Buenos Aires. The filmmakers say Carancho illustrates the fate of many of the 8,000 annual victims of the country’s ongoing and garter belts; and a voluptuous nude who looks like she escaped from a Rubens painting (except for the bonnet on her head), and is perched on a couch across from George Washington. Through May 7. www.jackfischergallery.com San Francisco City Hall (lower level) Afghanistan in 4 Frames, an exhibition less interested in standard combat photography than in a human perspective of the war, features 80 photographs shot by four intrepid photojournalists. Although all of the experienced photographers – Lynsey

Ricardo Darin as Sosa in director Pablo Trapero’s Carancho.

Dance notes

Erik Tomasson

▼

page 21

from memories of dancing Swanilda by the great star of the Ballets Russes Alexandra Danilova, “whose dancing was like champagne.”

Dr. Coppélius has created a statue of surpassing beauty and parked her on the balcony of his mansion on the town square, where she attracts the attention of our girl and her boyfriend, who falls for her charms, becomes obsessed with her, tries and fails to get her attention, and the more he invests the sicker he becomes, aching for her kiss. So he sneaks into the house to make love to her – while at the same time, Swanilda has decided to get to the bottom of this and has also sneaked into the house. Once there, she realizes the beauty is just a doll, takes the doll’s place in the chair, and when the scientist/magician tries his potent spells for transferring life from the BF to the doll, Swanilda pretends to come to life, in a scene that is the fons et origo of all the great moviescenes where some lifeless creature be-

Gennadi Nedvigin and Damian Smith in San Francisco Ballet’s Coppélia

gins to stir in a cobwebbed setting.

This scene is such powerful theater that it has been staged by itself countless times by troupes who cannot mount a full production, starting with the impoverished Ballets Russes dancers caught between the World Wars touring the Americas. Danilova must have played this role hundreds of times to farmers and their wives, as well as to the great audiences in the major cities. It’s surefire theater.

Perhaps that’s why Willam Christensen, when he had the chance to

Damon/Mackie pairing that hits the same sweet spot as Jimmy Stewart and his angel in It’s a Wonderful Life.

These guys are true to their characters, as well as to our Twitter/Facebook version of modern friendship. They could have swapped roles without putting a crimp in our fun. This film insists on the oldest movie conceit: that everything of importance hinges on our meeting the right boy or girl, and that screen chemistry is destiny.▼

mount a full-length ballet for our company (then called the San Francisco Opera Ballet), did Coppélia first; that production, in 1939, was the first complete version by an American company. The new production, with lovely costumes and scenery by Roberta Guidi di Bagno, is shared with Pacific Northwest Ballet, and should stay in the repertory for a long time.

The dancers put it over the top from the get-go; after Maria Kochetkova’s first dance, inviting the doll to get acquainted and “let’s dance!,”

Warp speed Nederlands Dans Theater made us feel very lonely in Zellerbach Hall.

NDT evokes private, unnamable states through moves that seem pathological. They transform ballet into a mode that sinks into the floor, whirls like a tornado, or morphs into droid-like forms, and put the dance

▼

BOOKS

Words to live by A reading list for spring 2011

by Gregg Shapiro ovel approaches In her riveting debut novel The Fates Will Find Their Way (Harper Collins, $22.99), Hannah Pittard tips her hat to Jeffery Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides and Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones, and adds an unexpected queer twist. River Marked (Ace Books, 2011, $26.95), the latest installment in fantasy novelist Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series, features the character Warren, a gay werewolf.

Maize and her gay best friend Robbie are the main characters in The Intimates (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $24), the first novel by Ralph Sassone, an exploration of friendship. Lesbian novelist and AWP Award-winner Goldie Goldbloom makes her debut with The Paperbark Shoe (Picador, $15), set in 1940s Australia.

Due out in May, Chris Adrian’s latest novel, The Great Night (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $26) retells Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, transporting it to Buena Vista Park in 2008 San Francisco.

Another queer fiction debut, Hidden (Kensington Books, $15) by Tomas Mournian, delves into the realm of underground safe houses harboring teen escapees from residential treatment centers. A Single Year by Chicago transplant Dawn Mueller (Create Space, $15.99) promises “explicit sex, raw emotions” and “hysterical lesbians.”

So queer Written “in the tradition” of Howard Zinn’s beloved A People’s History of the United States is Queer America: A People’s GLBT History of the United States (The New Press, $17.95) by Vicki L. Eaklor, features essays on the Stonewall Riots, same-sex marriage, LGBT rights, AIDS and much more. Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States (Beacon, $27.95), by Joey L. Mogul, Andrea J. Ritchie and Kay Whitlock, draws on years of research to examine the “ways in which queer lives are criminalized, policed and punished.”

Leo Bersani and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick are among the writers represented in After Sex?: On Writing Since Queer Theory (Duke University Press, $23.95), edited by Janet Halley and Andrew Parker. Simon Levay, of the Gay Brain fame, returns with Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation (Oxford University Press, $27.95).

Memoir bank Gay historian Martin Duberman’s new book is the dual biography A Saving Remnant: The Radical Lives of Barbara Deming and David McReynolds (The New Press, $27.95). Now in paperback, unconventional memoir The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers (HarperCollins, $14.99) by Josh Kilmer-Purcell is the literary companion to the Planet Green TV series The Fabulous Beekman Boys.

The Jack Bank: A Memoir of a South African Childhood (St. Martin’s Press, $24.99) by Glen Retief explores what it was like for a gay, privileged white boy to grow up in a pitiless society in the late 1980s. Politicians Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank, musician Stephin Merritt, writer/cartoonist Alison Bechdel, poets Mark Doty and Joan Larkin, actor George Takei and comedian Kate Clinton are among the LGBTQ people interviewed by Philip Gambone in his book Travels in a Gay

N

33

24 March 2011 . eBAR.com . BAY AREA REPORTER

Nation: Portraits of LGBTQ Americans (University of Wisconsin Press, $26.95).

Singer/songwriter Rodney Crowell, who produced a recent disc by out musicians Chely Wright and Susan Werner (making him an honorary member of the LGBT community), follows the lead of ex-wife Rosanne Cash with his memoir Chinaberry Sidewalks (Knopf, $24.95).

Poetic license What better way to observe National Poetry Month in April than to get lost in the pages of The Best of It: New and Selected Poems (Grove Press, $24) by out poet Kay Ryan, who was the United States Poet Laureate, 2008-10?

If you prefer to have your poetry read to you, there’s Words for You: The Greatest Poems. The Finest Voices. Glorious Music. (Mighty Vil-

BAYAREAREPORTER

PERSONALS

MASSAGE

G REAT BODYWORK

CERTIFIED-MASCULINE-BUILT What you want in a massuer Licensed www.masseurfinder.com/rico6 puertoricancmt@sbcglobal.net masculinecmt@sbcglobal.net

“Revitalizing Effect” (415) 647-4423

NUDE , EROTIC MASSAGE BY WELL BUILT, WELL HUNG, MASC. GDLK / MAN. NEAR CIVICCENTER

415

IN / OUT

290-1136

LOVING STROKES Nurturing, Sensual Healing, Satisfying STRONG HANDS SENSITIVE & EXPERIENCED From Stress Reduction to Simple Relaxation

STEVE C.M.T. 821-2985

ASIAN ECSTACY Fremont, Jim CMT * Great Hands * Mature $40/HR (510) 651-2217

E18W

Castro $50/$70 Jim 415-621-4517

E15W

Call Shin # 510-502-2660

HAIRY MASSEUR

Erotic Relaxing Full Body Massage by hairy Irish/Portugese guy. All Bay Area.

(510) 912-8812 late nights ok.

E12W

Superb Full Body Sensual Massage

By Handsome friendly Asian CMT In/$45/Hr Oakland, Nr. BART EZ PARK Out To Hotels /$65/Hr. Entire Bay Area Call Shin 510-502-2660 Late Hrs. OK

E12W

DADDY MASSAGE ME SIR

510-830-8768 Out calls only. All Bay Areas. Let DADDY care for you.

E15W

lage/Universal), a 22-track CD featuring the works of queer poets Langston Hughes, Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman, alongside Shakespeare, Dickinson, Poe and Longfellow, read by Helena Bonham Carter, Terence Stamp, Meryl Streep, Garrison Keillor and others.

Kids Lit Dream Big Little Pig! (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, $16.99),

by Olympic figure-skating champion Kristi Yamaguchi and illustrations by Tim Bowers, features “pot-bellied, waddling, toddling” pig Poppy and a “follow your dreams” message to which readers of all ages will be able to relate.

Writer, activist and single, gay father of two adopted children, Brian J. Tessier has written a pair of books for young readers, The Wildest Dream and The Poet and the Painter: A Living Love Story (Xlibris), both illustrated by Donna Estabrooks.

Somewhat older readers will find all sorts of useful information in the revised, updated second edition of GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Teens (Free Spirit, $15.99) by Kelly Huegel.▼

ASIAN EAST BAY, KJ CMT

Swedish Deep Tissue Thai Massage 510-420-0112 $70/In - $90/Out

Late Hours OK Friendly, tall, hung,6'3", 190, hung 8" x 7" $80/hour & $110/90 min. for in calls. Add $20 for out calls in Call /text me at 415-235-2555. http://www.fillmorerub.com

E12W

Body Electric CMT offers full body erotic massage. 5’11’ 170lbs, mutual touch ok $80/hr willbeing.com Will 415 821 6477

E13W

SEXY ASIAN $60 Jim 269-5707

E12W

*EXCELLENT MASSAGE*

Nude,Swedish, Erotic, Prostate 60 120 min. sessions: $85 & up. 6’3”, 198#, Blond, CMT SF 415-706-9740

E11W

Asian CMT In Sunnyvale. In -$50, Out$70 Michael 408-400-9088 or 408-893-1966

E15W

Genital &/or Prostatic Certified Sexological Bodyworker Health and Pleasure. Goal Focused 415-796-3215,Post and Hyde.

Superb Sensual Massage

By Handsome Athletic CMT. Full Body Soothing Satisfying In/$45 Hr. Oakland Near Bart Clean, Pvt., Shower EZ Park Out/ $65 Hr. Entire Bay Area

E14W

HOT SENSUAL MASSAGE

Sexy white boy, 5’6”,125,brown,blue Horny rub down. Troy 415-414-1961

E12W

MASSAGE FOR SENIORS ONLY DAVID 415 806-3150 WILL TRAVEL

13W

INTEGRAL EROS for Men. 617-642-2933, ttbaum@integraleros.com www.integral-eros.com

E12W

BEST MASSAGE 23 years old 5'9 150lbs 7" uncut/thick.black hair and brown eyes smooth Soft skin 213 804 1939 eriss@eriss.net Website: eriss.net

E12W

USE THE BAY AREA REPORTER ADULT SERVICES CLASSIFIEDS! IN PRINT AND ONLINE. CALL 415-861-5019 FOR RATES AND DEADLINES. HTTP://EBAR.COM MAKE YOUR PHONE RING!

• USE CONDOMS • BE WISE - 24/7

E12W

COREMASSAGE4MEN.COM Pelvis-Hips-Thighs-Low Back-Abs Jeff Gibson 415-626-7095 SF

E13W

"Dr. BLISS" is IN! I love touching men and it shows! Massage is my artform. 415.706.6549 http://bodymagicsf.blogspot.com/ East Bay Excellent Massage Duane CMT 510.830.8549

E12W

E13W

LEANMACHINEMASSAGE.COM Welcomes slender men for deeply satisfying massage. Quiet, Private.

Near MUNI/BART 415-452-9635

E13W

Sensual, Deep, Restorative. 4 yr.exp. sexymscl, vgl, 819-2979 $75/90min.

E12W

Check out our expanded Personals Section online at

ebar.com.

EIB

E1B

34

BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com . 24 March 2011

▼

PERSONALS

PEOPLE

HOOK UP FAST!

Call. Cruise. Connect.

San Francisco

415.430.1199 Oakland

510.343.1122 Palo Alto

650.223.0505

t Try i E!* FRE

Concord

925.695.1100 San Jose

408.514.1111

USE FREE CODE 5377 TM

1-888-634-2628

MegaMatesMen.com

24/7 Friendly Customer Care 1(888)MegaMates 18+ ©2010 PC LLC

DEADLINE NOON on MONDAY. Payment must accompany ad.

No ads taken over the telephone. If you have a question, call 415.861.5019. Display advertising rates available upon request.

RATES Newspaper and website:

First line, Regular All subsequent lines Web or e-mail hyperlink

8.00 5.00

CAPS

5.00 double price

BOLD

double price

X-BOLD triple price PAYMENT ■ Cash ■ Personal Check ■ Money Order ■ Visa ■ MasterCard ■ American Express Minimum $10 charge.

Indicate Type Style Here ▼

CLASSIFIED ORDER FORM

X-BOLD Stops Here ▼

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

CONTACT INFORMATION

Card Number

Name

Expiration Date

Address

Signature

City

Name

Number of Issues

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

CAPS Stop Here ▼

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

CREDIT CARD PAYMENT

I I I I I I I I I I I I

BOLD Stops Here ▼

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I

Regular Stops Here ▼

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

MAIL WITH PAYMENT TO: Bay Area Reporter 395 Ninth Street SF, CA 94103

Telephone

OR FAX TO: State

Zip

415.861.8144

OR E-MAIL: Classification

Amount Enclosed

Check out our expanded Personals Section online at:

ebar.com.

BAYAREAREPORTER

ebar.com

Find someone special.

baradv@aol.com

I I I I I I I I I I I I I

MEN CRUISING MEN Match & Reply FREE! 415-430-1199 SF 510-343-1122 East Bay Use FREE Code 5818, 18+

EI B

Body Trim and Shaving In The Castro Call 415-626-1168 for appt

E11W

Male. 70. Active, Healthy. Interests: Sports Car Racing. 5Ks., etc. Never actively gay. Now finally realize the beauty of the male body. Want to meet men 40-60 who share same or like interests.

Help me integrate into the gay lifestyle.

209-480-7071

E12W

24 March 2011 . BAY AREA REPORTER . eBAR.com

MODEL/ESCORTS

9 .443

374

o

a rd

415.

Edu

MEAT MARKETS

CHILANGOSEXY

I like to give pleasure, versatile, horny.

35

Edgy Escort For Xtreme Clients

HOT*COOL*24HRS. Out* 860-5468*$150 Hr.* E12W

Asian uncut cute boy.Cute younger boy.Clean and smooth body 5.5” uncut Versatile.$120 in/out. 415-724-3641

E12W

BLK MASCULINE TOP Handsome, Hung, and Stays Hard.

Clean, Friendly. Older Guys & Bears Welcome. Discrete - In or Out Cedrick 510-776-5945

E10W

Thickest Dick 9X7.5 All Scenes Confident Top Nick 415-615-0933 E13W

Straight Baptist Boy. Amazing massage. Mouth watering cock.

510-221-7706. Available 24/7.

William

E12W

E12W

E12W

Bondage 2 Buttplay. Toys/FF/S&M Sling/Hose. Anthony 415-763-8677.

W/m vers. wade see pic's at myspace.com/wadew33 510-239-8442

E12W

Hard Top. Masculine dominate Italian 5’11”, 180lbs. Top Fat thick long lasting 8/5. 415-684-4837

E12W

• USE CONDOMS • BE WISE - 24/7

Middle Eastern Versatile 29yo Versatile /169cm/ 64kg/ 8" curved and cut (650)743-0036. hunk_25@live.com

E12W

MR CHEEKS. Virgin tight ass! $150 /hour Email me and give me your name and number to call. hotrodoggystyle1@hotmail.com

E12W

E13W

ERISS. SLIM LEAN LATIN GUY Massage and escort companion very clean,masculine, laid back, 7inch thick uncut. im 5'9tall and weigh 150lbs.jet black hair. brown eyes,smooth skin .

Eriss 213 804 1939 Website: eriss.net

E12W

E1B

E12W

ADULT JOBS OFFERED

Hotels outcalls/$50/80 in 724-3252

HOT GUYS 4 PORN

Asian uncut cute boy.Cute younger boy. Clean and smooth body 5.5” uncut Versatile. $120 in/out. 415-724-3641

Looking 4 Hot Guys For Adult Films. RU 18-40, In Good Shape? apply @ factoryvideos.com/casting

E12W

9” 14 EEE 24 hrs 415-730-9777.

Attractive Friendly White guy 6'1" 185lbs 30's 415-320-1040 Pictures at http://skot2trot.com

E12W

HIV+ TOP/VERS.6’3” 198# 8” Blond Hot. Friendly 415-706-9740 Youthful Caucasian, Blonde, Blue.

415-320-1040

WELL HUNG JERSERY BOY IS BACK TWENTY SOMETHING YNG. GL ,DOWN TO EARTH FRIENDLY & FUN WHITE BOY 5/5 130 LB DRK EYES & HR HUNG 8X7 THK @ 856-308-5884 (ERIC) ANY TIME E12W

E12W

E48W