June 11, 2015 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter

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City College gets out chancellor

DA looks at bias in SF law enforcement

by Cynthia Laird

by Chris Huqueriza

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an Francisco District Attorney George Gascón wants to develop better tools for prosecutors to use in order to determine if there is bias in the city’s criminal justice system, Rick Gerharter he told the Bay Area Reporter.

District Attorney Overcoming such George Gascón bias is currently at the center of a task force Gascón announced this spring in the wake of several scandals in the police and sheriff ’s departments. Earlier this year, it was revealed that San Francisco police officers sent racist and homophobic texts. Then in late March, Public Defender Jeff Adachi said that sheriff ’s deputies allegedly forced at least two inmates to fight each other and gambled on the bouts.

As a result of the controversies, as well as problems with analyses from the police department’s DNA lab, Gascón announced that he was expanding his task force to include three retired judges: Cruz Reynoso, formerly a justice on the California Supreme Court; Dickran Tevrizian Jr., a former federal judge; and LaDoris Hazzard Cordell, a lesbian who used to serve on the Santa Clara County bench. In recent years, Cordell has also served as the independent police monitor for the city of San Jose.

“I decided we would benefit from additional help,” Gascón said in a recent editorial board meeting with the B.A.R. But the pace of the task force’s work may be slowed after it was reported last week that Mayor Ed Lee’s proposed budget does not include Gascón’s request for $383,315 to expand the task force.

Max Szabo, a spokesman for Gascón, told the B.A.R. last week that the task force will continue its work even if the funding is not in the budget.

“There’s a difference of opinion as to whether or not the integrity of our justice system is a priority worth funding,” Szabo said. “The task force will still operate but it will take longer than we hoped.”

A spokesman for Lee said the mayor allocated a 5.5 percent increase, about $2.7 million, to the DA’s budget, which will cover a variety of other requests made by Gascón, according to media reports.

Some of the task force’s work is being done at no cost to the city, as some of its members are attorneys from large law firms working pro bono. The purpose of the panel is to look at prosecutions that might be tainted and to create mechanisms to look at implicit bias in cases.

See page 21 >>

Vol. 45 • No. 24 • June 11-17, 2015

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Pride and basketball S

Jane Philomen Cleland

an Francisco Mayor Ed Lee raised the rainbow flag at City Hall Tuesday, June 9 and it’s dwarfed by the banner touting the Golden State Warriors, who are in the NBA finals for the

first time in 40 years. Unfortunately, the Warriors lost Tuesday’s Game 3 to the Cavaliers 96-91, giving Cleveland a 2-1 advantage in the best of seven series.

The two teams play Game 4 Thursday night.

ity College of San Francisco, in the midst of a reprieve from the state over accreditation issues, has hired a lesbian with ties to the school as its interim chancellor.

Susan Lamb, who Courtesy CCSF had been serving as vice chancellor of academic Interim Chancellor affairs, was named to Susan Lamb the top leadership post June 5, Special Trustee Guy Lease announced.

Lamb is the first out person to hold the chancellor position.

Gay leaders at the community college were ecstatic with the appointment.

“It’s very exciting and historic for the college as Susan is the first openly gay chancellor,” Rafael Mandelman, a gay man who is president of CCSF’s Board of Trustees, said in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter. “She is See page 21 >>

Mirkarimi plan would move trans women out of male jail

by Seth Hemmelgarn

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At the meeting last week with the sheriff and others, Janetta Johnson, executive director of the Oakland-based Transgender GenderVariant Intersex Justice Project, which works to help transgender, gender variant, genderqueer and intersex people who are incarcerated, indicated there’s a dire need for services in jail.

“You’re not getting any of those opportunities solely based on the fact that you’re transgender,” said Johnson, a trans woman who spent time in jail in Santa Clara County several years ago. When inmates are released after being isolated and not getting the help they need, “We’re fucking crazy,” she said, adding, “The only way they’re going to get access is in the women’s facility.”

an Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi plans to stop classifying transgender inmates who have not had surgery according to their birth sex, meaning that trans women would no longer be housed with men.

The same would be true for transgender men, but the jail population generally sees more trans women inmates.

Trans inmates who have had surgery are already housed based on their preferred gender identity, the sheriff’s department said.

Mirkarimi’s plan, which he’s been working with transgender advocates to develop, also means the handful of people housed Jane Philomen Cleland in the cell used for transgender inmates Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi talks to an inmate at San would be able to get access to education Francisco County Jail #4.

‘Some issues’ and other services that are currently unBut Eugene Cerbone, the president of the available to them.

San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, said at a Friday, June 5 meeting with transgenThe small cell is in a corner of County expressed some concern about the plans.

Jail #4, a men’s facility, which is on the cramped, der advocates, key members of his staff, and the “I think it can work,” Cerbone, a gay man, decrepit seventh floor of the Hall of Justice, 850 Bay Area Reporter. said in an interview after the sheriff ’s meetThe first step would be to help the transgen- ing, which he did not attend. “It just depends Bryant Street. Transgender women would be moved to the facility where women are housed, der inmates get access to programming, and on what the policy is and what he’s going to do. before the end of the year, Mirkarimi hopes to There could be some issues with it.”

County Jail #2, which is behind the Hall of Jusmake the housing move. tice. Mirkarimi and advocates say the new policy One problem Cerbone has is that he doesn’t Mirkarimi said with the proposed changes, consider people who have not had surgery to be would increase rehabilitation and public safety. his department is “breaking new ground” loDespite advances for other inmates, “this transgender.

See page 21 >> cally and nationally. population is getting left behind,” Mirkarimi

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International News>>

June 11-17, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

Trans activist killed in El Salvador

by Heather Cassell

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rancela Mendez, a transgender woman, was visiting her friend, Consuela Flores Martinez, at her home in Sonsonate, El Salvador when they were both killed May 30.

The suspect or suspects are unknown at this time. The InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights has called upon Salvadorian officials to conduct an intensive investigation, including looking into whether the murders were due to Mendez’s transgender status or because of her work on trans rights.

Martinez’s age, gender identity, and sexual orientation haven’t been reported.

Sonsonate is nearly 40 miles west of San Salvador, the Salvadoran capital.

Mendez, 29, was a defender of LGBT human rights in the Central American country.

In 2010, Mendez joined the founding board of Colectivo Alejandria, an organization dedicated to promoting the rights of LGBT people. She also implemented an HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria program and participated in the Salvadoran Human Rights Defenders Network, according to a June 8 IACHR news release.

Mendez was the 10th transgender individual murdered in El Salvador this year, according to various LGBT human rights experts. Additionally, one trans man and two gay men have also been killed this year, according to Paty Hernandez, a transgender activist from El Salvador. Hernandez, a former president of Asociacion Aspidh Arcoiris, a transgender organization, fled her home country due to the threats of violence she received and now lives in Washington, D.C., the Washington Blade reported.

David Morales, the attorney general for the Defense of Human Rights, condemned Mendez’s murder, calling it an expression of antiLGBT “hate,” according to a report in La Prensa Grafica, a Salvadorian newspaper.

“The LGBTI population is victimized by discrimination, rejection, and intolerance that can be seen in grave violations of their human rights,” he said.

Morales requested the district attorney’s office to investigate the case without discrimination.

El Salvador has made some positive progress toward anti-LGBT discrimination with the passage of some protective legislation and policies in recent years. The government has also set up a special program – Permanent Roundtable for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons – within the Office of the Attorney General for the Defense of Human Rights, but violence against the community continues to rise, according to IACHR.

Guam legalizes same-sex marriage

Guam became the first U.S. territory to legalize same-sex marriage following Federal Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood’s June 5 ruling.

Guam is the farthest U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean.

Same-sex couples, like Kathleen Aguero and Loretta Pangelianan, seeking to wed started applying for marriage licenses Tuesday, June 9. The first official marriages will begin June 14, after the mandatory five-day waiting period.

Up until Tuesday, Aguero and Pangelianan, who filed a lawsuit against Guam’s statute that stipulated marriage was only between a man and a woman, had been denied

the right to marry.

The decision followed months of confusion and debate on the issue in the island nation. Governor Eddie Calvo opposed same-sex marriage in the largely Catholic country, which has a population of 165,000.

However, upon the decision Calvo conceded, “Now that the court has ruled and the law has changed, let us move forward,” reported Agence France Presse.

In other U.S. territories, Puerto Rico is awaiting the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage later this month before proceeding with its own decision on the matter.

There is growing support for samesex marriage in the Virgin Islands, but not in American Samoa or the Northern Mariana Islands.

Costa Rica recognizes same-sex civil union

In a landmark regional court decision, Costa Rica recognized Central America’s first-ever same-sex civil union.

The Goicoechea court’s June 2 decision marked the temporary end of Gerald Castro and Cristian

Zamora’s two-year legal battle seeking the right to a state welfare credit.

The decision could set a precedent for judges considering similar cases in the future.

LGBT advocates also believe it could open the door to challenging adoption laws. Currently, same-sex couples can’t adopt because the family code doesn’t recognize their relationships.

The law grants all of the benefits of marriage, such as inheritance rights, social security, public insurance benefits, and hospital visitation rights. Straight couples can seek a judge’s approval after being together – not even living together – for at least three years, reported the Tico Times.

Castro, 37, and Zamora, 45, have lived together in the city of Goicoechea, north of San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital, for 12 years. In 2013, they challenged Costa Rica’s commonlaw marriage.

“It’s a great victory,” said Zamora, telling the Times that the couple was surprised by the decision. “Not just for us but for the whole country.”

However, the court’s decision doesn’t extend to all same-sex Costa Rican couples.

Pro-LGBT Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solis has led an

Francela Mendez, a transgender woman, was killed in El Salvador.

ongoing campaign for a national civil unions bill in the country’s conservative legislative assembly for months.

The recent ruling was based on a 2013 amendment to the Youth Code, which is a part of the family law. The code states that regardless of gender, common-law marriages should be granted “without discrimination against their human dignity,” reported the Times.

This is the first time since a flurry of LGBT couples applied for legal

recognition after former president Laura Chinchilla signed the bill into law that legal recognition of a samesex couple’s relationship has been granted, the paper reported.

Costa Rican LGBT activists hailed this month’s decision as a huge step forward, in spite of some issues. The decision only applied to Castro and Zamora, not all LGBT Costa Ricans.

“This is a big step forward,” Marco Castillo, president of Diversity Movement, told the Times. “This is the first time that the law has been recognized as such.”

Castillo pointed out that there were nine other similar cases in Heredia, San Jose, Guadalupe, Canas, and Desamparados that would have to be approved according to the new interpretation of the Youth Code.

Those cases will have to be decided individually, reported the Times.

Activists are hoping other judges will follow the decision.

However, the law is set up to meet some challenges that could go all the way up to the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, Costa Rica’s highest court.

The ruling signals another win for LGBT activists, who have seen incredible changes within the past See page 9 >>

<< Open Forum

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 11-17, 2015

Volume 45, Number 24 June 11-17, 2015 www.ebar.com PUBLISHER Michael M. Yamashita Thomas E. Horn, Publisher Emeritus (2013) Publisher (2003 – 2013) Bob Ross, Founder (1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman BARTAB EDITOR & EVENTS LISTINGS EDITOR Jim Provenzano ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko • Seth Hemmelgarn CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ray Aguilera • Tavo Amador • Race Bannon Erin Blackwell • Roger Brigham Brian Bromberger • Victoria A. Brownworth Brent Calderwood • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Belo Cipriani Richard Dodds • Michael Flanagan Jim Gladstone • David Guarino Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell • John F. Karr Lisa Keen • Matthew Kennedy • Joshua Klipp David Lamble • Max Leger Michael McDonagh • David-Elijah Nahmod Paul Parish • Sean Piverger • Lois Pearlman Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr Donna Sachet • Adam Sandel • Khaled Sayed Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Jim Stewart Sean Timberlake • Andre Torrez • Ronn Vigh Ed Walsh • Cornelius Washington Sura Wood ART DIRECTION Jay Cribas PRODUCTION/DESIGN Max Leger PHOTOGRAPHERS Jane Philomen Cleland • FBFE Rick Gerharter • Gareth Gooch Lydia Gonzales • Jose Guzman-Colon Rudy K. Lawidjaja • Georg Lester • Dan Lloyd Rich Stadtmiller • Steven Underhil Dallis Willard • Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge • Christine Smith ADVERTISING/ADMINISTRATION Colleen Small VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVERTISING Scott Wazlowski – 415.829.8937 ADVERTISING ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Lance Roberts NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863

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Military should lift trans ban

T

he American Medical Association this week approved a resolution against the ban on transgender people serving openly in the military. The AMA, one of the largest professional organizations in the country, with more than 200,000 members, has thrown its considerable weight behind open service for all. The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” nearly five years ago – and its implementation in the fall of 2011 – meant that gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members could serve openly. But the ban on trans service members persisted. And, during the debate on repealing DADT, gay and lesbian service members refrained from talking about the transgender ban (which was not codified into law) because they feared Congress might enact a formal ban. That didn’t happen, but it might as well have. Trans people are serving in silence, afraid to live their lives in their preferred gender.

Now, with more advocates pushing for full equality in the armed forces, the time may be near when that ban is lifted, too. At the Pentagon Pride ceremony this week, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter missed an opportunity when he did not specifically mention out transgender military service. He did talk about inclusivity and announced that the Pentagon would be adding sexual orientation to the Defense Department’s equal opportunity policy – a welcome development.

But with trans people in the room, Carter could have made history by advocating open service for all.

The AMA’s support of open trans

military service should bolster advocates’ efforts with military brass. According to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, there are about 15,000 transgender personnel who currently serve in active, guard, and reserve components of the military. It also noted that current military medical regulations “bar transgender individuals from enlisting in the military; require them to be discharged if discovered during military service; and prohibit doctors from providing medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria.”

Just as prohibiting LGB people from serving openly was wrong, the military’s policy against trans service members is discriminatory, dangerous, and prevents people from living their lives as their authentic selves.

Transgender civilians in the federal work force have legal protections from discrimination;

the same should apply to those in the military.

The American Psychiatric Association declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973; the American Psychological Association followed suit in 1975. The AMA’s resolution finds “that there is no medically valid reason to exclude transgender individuals from service in the U.S. Military” and affirms that “transgender service members be provided care as determined by patient and physician according to the same medical standards that apply to non-transgender personnel.”

The Palm Center, a San Francisco-based think tank that studies gender, sexuality, and the military, noted that retired and former military leaders testified in support of the AMA resolution at the association’s meetings before it was passed at its convention in Chicago. Paula Neira, a former U.S. Navy lieutenant and transgender veteran who serves on the center’s Transgender Military Advisory Committee, said the AMA resolution “acknowledges that the current exclusionary regulations are unsupported by modern medicine and prevent the military from taking care of our troops by denying them medically necessary care.” The AMA, she added, “has once again taken a stand recognizing that medical standards should reflect science and foster best practices based on evidence.”

The military should lift its prohibition on trans military service.

People who want to serve their country should be able to do so openly, honestly, and with the same benefits others enjoy. Carter should immediately begin formulating the necessary procedures to make open service for all a reality.t

Learning our history is more important than ever

by Daryl Carr

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great change and opportunity. We have secured a five-year lease to keep the GLBT n 1985, in the depths of the AIDS panHistory Museum open in the Castro, but demic, the GLBT Historical Society was we must move our archives and reading established at a meeting attended by some room from their current downtown loca50 people at the old San Francisco Main tion to a larger and more affordable space Library. As illness, death, and homophobia within the next year. The good news: as a combined to threaten our community’s excity and community, we have the means – istence, virtually no museums or libraries but only if we make preserving the stories would accept the documents that recorded of our past a priority. our lives and our contributions to history.

Working together, we can build on our Our founders had the foresight in that trysuccesses to expand our capacity and being time to establish an archive to preserve come a truly world-class cultural instituthe stories of LGBT people. These brave tion. Working together, we can solidify Rick Gerharter and visionary leaders ensured that our vast our reputation as the international go-to Daryl Carr stands in the archives of the GLBT queer past would not be forgotten. destination for research and as a model for Now one of the nation’s preeminent Historical Society. promoting LGBT history. Working togethcollections of queer historical materials, er, we can ultimately build a permanent the archives of the GLBT Historical Socicombined home for our museum and armain empty or are under development in the ety have made possible the work of many of chives that honors San Francisco’s central place Upper Market. our most celebrated and influential historians, in America’s LGBT liberation movement.

It seems clear: The Castro and the wider writers, and filmmakers. What’s more, we have Great dreams require great resources. More LGBT community are in the midst of an idenwelcomed students from middle-schoolers than ever, this vision for the GLBT Historitity crisis. We may know who we are, but not working on papers to grad students working cal Society’s future is a worthy and attainable necessarily where we are or where we should on dissertations, as well as researchers of all endeavor for all of us. Whether you’re a recent go. At times like this, as we look for guideposts kinds who are simply curious about our histoarrival to the Bay Area or a longtime resident, and resources that will help us deal with rapid ry. And since 2011, we have brought to life the whether you can offer major financial support change while maintaining our vision of social surprising stories of our past for visitors or a modest amount, you have a vital role to justice, learning about our history is from far and wide at the GLBT Hisplay. We have identified four immediate steps more important than ever. tory Museum in the Castro district. to ensure the institution’s growth as we move And that also means that our Thirty years after our founding, forward: museum and archives have essential we live in a very different world Secure a new space to expand our archives roles to play. As the Bay Area LGBT and in a much-changed city. We and support researchers. community spreads out geographhave banded together to trans Revitalize our commitment to forceful ically, it’s important that we have form HIV into a serious but manand engaging museum exhibitions and spaces where we come together to ageable disease. We have seen the programming. remember and celebrate, research movement for marriage equality Grow our staff and infrastructure to meet and educate, share our concerns, achieve stunning success. Yet the history of the needs of the community. our stories, and our hopes. And it’s incumbent our movement for social change is far from Build a cash reserve to secure our collecupon us to leverage our compelling history over. Many LGBT people even in northern tions and museum for future generations and collective voices to help secure rights for California still face exclusion and discriminaof visitors and researchers. all queer people and for all facing discrimination – and our own community still works to So how can you get involved in this excittion and exclusion. Not just in San Francisco, ensure dignity, respect, and support for all its ing project? Next time you’re in the Castro, but across the globe. members in all their diversity. come visit the museum at 4127 18th Street So as the historical society celebrates its Locally, we no longer find comfort in preand see what we’re doing. If you’re interested 30th anniversary, it’s not a time to pat ourdominantly LGBT enclaves. Many residents in research, make an appointment to use our selves on the back for a job well done. It’s a and business owners alike are now priced out archives. Next time you’re online – maybe even time to redouble our commitment to owning of the Castro, a neighborhood where we once now – make a donation at http://www.glbthisand honoring and sharing our incredible and created a safe space for at least part of our comtory.org. And please spread this message to diverse past. It’s a time to engage archive remunity. And others feel less connection to, or your friends, family, and colleagues. searchers and museum visitors of all genders need for, a gayborhood. At the same time, the Let’s do this. Together.t and orientations from around the world and latest development boom has created an influx to invite them to understand and embrace our of more than 1,000 new residents to the Castro life-affirming and history-affirming stories.

Daryl Carr is the acting executive director – most not only younger but fewer identifying of the GLBT Historical Society. For more Much like our community, the GLBT Hisinformation, visit www.glbthistory.org. as LGBT – while more than 30 storefronts retorical Society now stands at a moment of

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Politics>>

June 11-17, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

Vaccine bill debate attracts anti-gay group

by Matthew S. Bajko

T

he debate over a state law that would end parents’ ability to opt out of vaccinating their schoolage children due to their religious beliefs has attracted the attention of an anti-gay group.

SaveCalifornia.com, which helped pass Proposition 8, the nowoverturned voter initiative that had banned same-sex marriage in the state, has been urging its members to oppose SB 277, co-authored by state Senators Dr. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) and Bill Allen (DSanta Monica). It has encouraged people to call their lawmakers and demand that they “oppose forced vaccinations” and support “religious freedom.”

The bill would require all children in the state to get vaccinated against a host of communicable diseases before enrolling in school unless granted a medical exemption by their physician. The controversial legislation has elicited fierce debate among parents and medical professionals on both sides.

After a five-hour hearing Tuesday, June 9 the Assembly Health Committee passed SB 277 on a vote of 12-6.

The full Assembly will now vote on the bill, and if it passes, it will then head to the desk of Governor Jerry Brown.

In May, after the state Senate passed SB 277, SaveCalifornia. com President Randy Thomasson released a statement admonishing lawmakers for passing the “freedom-robbing bill” and called on Brown to veto the legislation.

He also claimed, “Families with a religious conscience against vaccines will be forced to abandon their dearly-held religious convictions or be forced to move out of California.”

During this week’s hearing opponents of the bill focused their comments more on the efficacy of vaccines and concerns that the immunizations can have negative consequences for some children.

“While we are all born equal under the law, we are not all born the same and do not react the same way to vaccination products,” said Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center. “Some of us are more genetically vulnerable to vaccines. But doctors cannot identify who we are because of a lack in vaccine science.”

At times the online commentary about the bill has veered into homophobic territory. Some vaccination opponents have insinuated that children can become gay if given vaccines with thimerosal, a mercury-containing preservative, and in so doing, discount sexual orientation being an inherited trait.

They point to a 2010 study published in the journal Nature that reported white male ibises exposed to mercury pollution were pairing with other males. And they link to the site of the Vaccination Information Network, which asks if thimerosal “or other vaccine ingredients could have a similar effect on baby boys.”

Yet, according to the Centers for

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Out in the World

From page 7

few years. Same-sex couples can now insure their partners with the Costa Rican Social Security System and have been granted hospital visitation rights to see their partners.

Solis raised the rainbow flag at the

State Senator Dr. Richard Pan

Disease Control and Prevention, since 2001 thimerosal has not been used as a preservative in routinely recommended childhood vaccines with the exception of some influenza (flu) vaccines.

Others point out that state law allows children with HIV or hepatitis C to attend school but children not vaccinated for diseases such as measles and whopping cough could be barred from public and private schools under SB 277.

One mother commenting on Facebook wrote, “WOW!!! Your child with AIDS has a better chance of attending school than a child who has not been vaccinated? Here I am deciding whether or not we home school or move outta California just so my kiddos have a chance. Talk about BACKWARDS.” Unlike measles, which is a highly contagious virus, HIV is spread mainly through unprotected sex or sharing injection drug equipment.

In a recent interview with the Bay Area Reporter, Pan, a pediatrician, said he is concerned at seeing such arguments based on pseudo science or a lack of understanding for how different diseases are transmitted.

“It just is disturbing that we are doing a bill to try to protect children and communities from preventable contagions and it is disturbing that anti-equality groups are not just in the opposition but helping to support the opposition and really actually having people that essentially try to gain some credibility, in my mind, by joining in this anti-vaccine movement,” said Pan. “This has become part of the anti-equality agenda.”

The anti-gay sentiments that have surfaced in the debate on his vaccination bill, said Pan, mirrors some of the debate on a 2012 bill that banned gay conversion therapy in California.

“They are not recognizing the facts that people being LGBT is not merely a lifestyle choice. It is part of your being, but they don’t want to accept that,” said Pan.

LGBT Dem clubs to early endorse in college race

The city’s two LGBT Democratic clubs are set to make early endorsements in this fall’s race for a city college board seat.

Next Tuesday, June 16 the more progressive Harvey Milk LGBT president’s house, Casa Presidencial, and he has been an LGBT ally, banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in public services.

Conservative lawmakers are considering evaluating the decision to see if it contravenes family law, they told La Nacion, a local newspaper. If

Democratic Club is expected to grant its early support to former president Thomas Temprano, a nightlife promoter and Mission bar owner.

The vote comes just days before Temprano hosts a campaign kick off dance event with a host of entertainment luminaries at the gay-owned club Oasis. It will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 20 at the venue at 298 11th Street.

Temprano, a gay man who goes

by Tom, is seeking to unseat gay college board member Alex Randolph, who was tapped by Mayor Ed Lee in April to fill the vacancy created by longtime trustee Natalie Berg’s decision to resign for personal reasons.

Randolph is expected to secure an early endorsement from the more moderate Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club when its members meet Monday, July 13. The club, on whose board Randolph has served, at its meeting Monday, June 8 approved holding the early endorsement vote for Randolph.

Also running for the seat is Wendy Aragon, a straight woman who came in fifth place in the November election for three four-year seats on the community college board.

Whoever wins will then need to stand for re-election to a full fouryear term in 2016.

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Few oppose Mayor Lee’s re-election bid

With no opponents who have high name recognition entering this year’s mayoral race, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee is expected to easily win re-election to a four-year term this November.

Two prominent gay leaders whose names had been floated as possible candidates, state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and former Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, both opted to remain out of the mayoral race. Global LGBT rights activist Michael Petrelis, who for months promoted himself on Facebook as a mayoral contender, in the end decided not to run.

Other than Lee, six people filed their paperwork by the June 9 deadline to enter the race, according to the elections department. Among them was San Francisco Examiner writer Stuart Schuffman, better known as Broke Ass Stuart, widower Kent Graham, and Amy Farah Weiss, a self-described YIMBY for Yes-In-My-Back-Yard. The other candidates are Reed Martin, Keith Freedman, and Francisco Herrera.

In an email to his supporters Tuesday evening, Lee wrote, “no matter who else declares their intention to run today, we’re not taking anything for granted. We’re going to run a campaign that inspires San Franciscans to join together around a common goal: Fighting for a San Francisco where everyone belongs and where everyone can be a part of our shared prosperity.”t

Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http://www.ebar.com Monday mornings at noon for Political Notes, the notebook’s online companion. This week’s column reported on the LGBT bills surviving votes out of their house of origin in Sacramento.

the lawmakers believe it’s against the family law statutes they will appeal the decision.t Got international LGBT news tips? Call or send them to Heather Cassell at 00+1-415-221-3541, Skype: heather.cassell, or email oitwnews@gmail.com.

Results of the PROPPR study at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center Results from the National Institutes of Health funded study known as PROPPR (Pragmatic, Randomized Optimal Platelet and Plasma Ratios) which was conducted at San Francisco General Hospital and multiple sites nationwide, compared the results between the two ratios of blood products given to injured patients with severe trauma and major bleeding.

The study showed that early administration of plasma, platelets, and red blood cells in a 1:1:1 ratio versus a 1:1:2 ratio did not result in significant differences in mortality (rate of death) at 24 hours or 30 days after admission to the hospital. However, more patients in the 1:1:1 group stopped bleeding from their injuries, and fewer patients died due to severe loss of blood within the first 24 hours of admission to the hospital. This study was conducted nationally and at San Francisco General Hospital from August 2012 through December 2013.

The results were published in The Journal of the America Medical Association (JAMA) on February 3, 2015.

To learn more about the PROPPR trial results, visit the PROPPR website at http://cetir-tmc.org/research/proppr.

<< Community News

10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 11-17, 2015

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an Mateo County will celebrate its third annual Pride celebration Saturday, June 13 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Central Park, 50 East 5th Avenue in San Mateo.

This year’s theme is “Beyond the Binary – Celebrate the Diversity of Our Community,” and highlights the importance of recognizing gender identity and sexual orientation as part of a spectrum rather than a male/female, gay/straight binary “that is not reflective of people’s true identity,” noted Jei Africa, Psy.D., director of the county’s Office of Equity and Diversity.

This year the county’s new LGBTQ Commission is a cosponsor. That body was formed last year after it was approved by the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.

Serving as emcee at the festival will be lesbian comedian Marga Gomez. Lady Char will DJ the event, which will also feature hip-hop, bluegrass, alternative rock, rap, and folk music.

There will be familyfriendly activities, resource booths and vendors, a comedy performance, queer fashion show, and a reception with members of the LGBTQ Commission.

“The LGBTQ Commission is proud to be a co-sponsor of this countywide celebration and welcomes everyone to join in the festivities,” said Jenny Walter, LGBTQ Commission co-chair.

The Pride Initiative, also a cosponsor, was established in 2007 through the county’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Services’ Office of Equity and Diversity.

There is no cost to attend. The pride celebration is alcohol and drug free.

For more information, visit www. smchealth.org/bhrs/ode/pride.

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President Barack Obama announced this week his appointment of longtime attorney Shannon Price Minter to the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships.

Minter, a transgender man, is the legal director for San Franciscobased National Center for Lesbian Rights. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and has lectured and served as an adjunct professor at various universities, including UC Berkeley School of Law and Santa Clara Law School.

“I am deeply honored to serve on the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, which provides a unique opportunity for new leaders to gain a firsthand experience of our nation’s government,” Minter said in a statement provided by the White House. “As a transgender man, I am especially grateful to President Obama for his commitment to building a government that reflects the full diversity of our country and for supporting equal opportunity for all people.”

The commission, which was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson, is composed of 20 to 30 citizens who represent a broad range of backgrounds, interests, and professions.

The commission interviews national finalists and then recommends those individuals it finds most qualified to the president for appointment as White House Fellows.

St. James Infirmary celebrates 16 years

St. James Infirmary, an occu-

Courtesy San Mateo County Behavioral Health office

People check out a resource table at the 2013 San Mateo County Pride celebration.

pational health and safety clinic for Bay Area sex workers and their partners, is having a Sweet 16 and Dirty 30 double party for the agency and its executive director, Stephany Ashley, Saturday, June 13 from 3 to 8 p.m. at El Rio, 3158 Mission Street in San Francisco.

The event will feature DJs, food, drink, and debauchery. All funds raised will go to support the organization “into its late teens,” organizers said.

Donations are $16$30, although no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

For more information about the party or St. James, visit http:// stjamesinfirmary.org/.

Queer authors hold Pride Month reading

Friends of the San Francisco Public Library will hold “One Night in June: The Second Annual Queer Reading for Pride” Wednesday, June 17 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Readers Bookstore at Fort Mason Center, Building C. New York Times best-selling author Kevin Sessums and rising star Jodi Angel will join other queer authors from the Bay Area, New York, and Los Angeles to present a live reading of their published pieces and works-in-progress.

Other authors scheduled to appear include Leslie Absher, Rebecca Chekouras, Steve Coulter, Matthew Phillp, Steven Sanchez, and Hilary Zaid.

The event is free and open to the public.

SF Beautiful launches art project

San Francisco Beautiful is soliciting entries for its inaugural Place Art program in partnership with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. Through the program, neighbors curate public spaces by voting for art in surprising public places. It will debut on 50 Muni buses this fall.

Artists from throughout the nine Bay Area counties are invited to participate. Five finalists will each be given the opportunity to display work that evokes “the spirit of San Francisco” on 10 buses traveling throughout the city from September through December.

The deadline for artists to submit proposals is June 19. A committee, which includes local gallery owners and art institutions, will choose the finalists by June 26 and the public will vote for the top five finalists starting July 14. In addition to having their art displayed on buses, the artist who receives the most votes will be awarded $2,000 and each of the remaining four will be awarded $1,250.

See page 21 >>

<< Community News

12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 11-17, 2015

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Video archive puts focus on long-term HIV survivors

by Khaled Sayed

A

n online video platform that will feature more than 1,000 stories from people living with HIV/AIDS held its launch event in San Francisco.

Coinciding with National HIV/ AIDS Long-Term Survivors Awareness Day, the June 5 news conference and viewing also took place on the same day that 34 years ago, in 1981, saw the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report the first case of AIDS in the U.S. Called Generations HIV Online Video Archive, the site is overseen by the San Francisco-based HIV Story Project, which was founded in 2009 by filmmakers Jorg Fockele and Marc Smolowitz. The filmmakers have produced two documentaries: Still Around (2011), and Keep the Promise (2013). Their latest film, Desert Migration, will world premiere at Frameline 39 June 25.

The HIV Story Project created a booth with a video camera and a touch screen to make it easy for people to record their stories. Starting in 2010 the booth was placed at many locations around San Francisco, Oakland, and at the 2012 International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C. Local officials and others present at the news conference praised the project.

“I’m proud to be here to celebrate the people who are chronicling our history, and the heroes in our community that made sure that this community survived and thrived,” said Supervisor Scott Wiener, a gay man who represents the Castro. “Because of those community heroes who stood up and said that we are not going to fold and we are going to keep on fighting.”

Wiener added that the community needs to make sure it doesn’t lose sight of its history.

“We want make sure that the people from all ages know this community history and what we went through during the HIV/AIDS epidemic,” he said.

The Generation HIV Online Video Archive includes stories from longtime survivors and people who

Khaled Sayed

Officials gathered on the steps of San Francisco City Hall to announce the launch of the Generations HIV Online Video Archive and included, from left, Vincent Fuqua from the health department; Tez Anderson, of Let’s Kick ASS (AIDS Survivor Syndrome); Marc Smolowitz, cofounder of the HIV Story Project; Supervisor Scott Wiener; and John Cunningham, of the National AIDS Memorial Grove.

witnessed that early HIV/AIDS epidemic. Initially, the site is home to about 500 videos that users can explore and share. More content is expected to be added weekly.

“Viewing some of the videos on the website was very emotional to me, having to come to terms with being a gay man in the late 1980s, during some of the worst periods of this epidemic,” Wiener said. “Having lost a friend, having a friend who became very sick and got healthy again; this is very emotional for a lot of us.”

Tez Anderson, founder of Let’s Kick ASS (AIDS Survivor Syndrome), was also at the news conference and said he supported the project.

“As we enter the 35th year of the AIDS pandemic, the Generations HIV Online Video Archive is an important chapter in our rich history,” Anderson told the Bay Area Reporter in a Facebook message. “Finally people can see how varied our stories are. Together they form a portrait of resilience of the human spirit and serve as reminders of how heroically our tribe rallied together to take care of each other when no else one would. That’s a big part of our legacy. Our stories give us context and help us make sense of our lives.”

Anderson, a long-term survivor himself, said he has not yet done a video, but plans to.

Smolowitz, executive producer of the HIV Story Project, pointed out that the archive took a long time to develop and produce, but he is glad that it is going to be live and people will be able to learn about this aspect of LGBT community history.

“For people who know me, this project was kind of a slow birth.

We started this project in 2009,” he said. “After we were approached by the Shanti Project to make a one-off web video project, we realized that something else is going on. In early 2000 there were not a lot of films about HIV/AIDS, and it seemed like everything went quiet.”

Smolowitz noticed that there was fatigue in the film world, and he wanted to reignite that fire.

“I have been HIV-positive since 1995. I wanted to tell my story and I was wondering if there were other people like me out there,” Smolowitz said. “We wanted to focus on how people with HIV are living and thriving today with that disease.”

To view the archive, visit www. generationshiv.org.t

Military updates policies for LGBT troops

by Matthew S. Bajko

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imed to coincide with its Pride Month observance, the Department of Defense announced this week it is extending non-discrimination protections to lesbian, gay, and bisexual troops.

Although the policy change does not cover transgender military personnel, two branches of the armed forces have taken steps this year to protect transgender service members from being discharged because of their gender identity.

At a ceremony at the Pentagon Tuesday, June 9, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced the DoD would update its Military Equal Opportunity program to include sexual orientation, but not gender identity, as a protected class. Sexual orientation-based discrimination will now be treated the same way as the U.S. military treats discrimination based on race, religion, color, sex, age, and national origin.

“Discrimination of any kind has no place in America’s armed forces,” Carter said.

LGBT advocates praised the move to protect LGB troops while urging for further action to protect the es-

timated 15,500 transgenare treated equally,” stated der service members.

HRC government af“This long overdue fairs director David Stacy. and critical change to the “To reach our goal of Military Equality Opporfull LGBT equality in the tunity program will help military, it’s also crucially ensure that LGB service important that the ban on members are treated transgender service memfairly with the dignity bers be lifted by updating and respect they deserve,” outdated regulations that stated Ashley Broadway- Defense Secretary prevent them from serving Mack, president of the Ashton Carter openly and honestly.”

American Military PartThere has been some ner Association. “But it’s movement toward allowincredibly important to note that we ing transgender service members to absolutely cannot leave our transserve openly without fear of being gender service members behind.” discharged.

The Human Rights Campaign The Air Force announced June 4 also praised Carter’s announcea change to its decision authority for ment, as it had called on the Obama involuntary separations for enlisted administration in its 2015 Blueprint airmen diagnosed with gender dysfor Positive Change to update the phoria or who identify themselves MEO program. At the same time, as transgender. the national LGBT rights group “Though the Air Force policy also called for the armed services regarding involuntary separation “outdated regulations to be updated of gender dysphoric airmen has not to allow open and honest service by changed, the elevation of decision transgender service members.” authority to the director, Air Force “We appreciate the leadership of Review Boards Agency, ensures the Secretary Carter in advancing this unability to consistently apply the exfinished business of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t isting policy,” stated Daniel Sitterly, Tell’ repeal which is an important See page 22 >> step to ensure LGB service members

<< Community News

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 11-17, 2015

EQUALITY WITHOUT EXCEPTION

t

Jane Philomen Cleland

Forensic lab accredited D

r. Nikolas Lemos, left, chief forensic toxicologist with the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s office, was presented with a certificate of accreditation

by Daniel Isenschmid, Ph.D., of the American Board of Forensic Toxicology Saturday, June 6. Lemos, a gay man,

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said that the city’s forensic lab is now the 36th accredited laboratory in the country and the third in California.

Lemos said he’s appreciative of support from the mayor and city administrator’s offices and the hard-working team at the medical examiner’s office.

Help sought in ’12 SF shooting deaths

When you embrace equality, it helps lead to a healthier, happier community. We want everyone to feel their best.

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hree years ago this week, Chastity Dollison, 20, was shot dead, along with her father, Allen Vance, 39, as they sat in her car in San Francisco’s Silver Terrace neighborhood.

Brunette Dollison Vance, 43, Dollison’s mother, wept as she recalled learning after her daughter’s June 13, 2012 death that she’d planned to get her GED diploma that month.

“She had all these plans,” Vance, who now lives in Greenwood, Mississippi, said in a recent phone interview about the deaths of her husband and her daughter, who was a lesbian. “She wanted to do so many things. Everything was just snatched away in one night.”

Police are still looking for whoever’s responsible for the killings, and they’re seeking the public’s help.

Citing police, the report from the medical examiner’s office says that officers who responded to the scene, at Elmira Street and Silver Avenue, that Wednesday night “found a man in the street with an apparent leg wound” pointing to Dollison’s Lexus.

She was sitting in the driver’s seat with gunshot wounds to her head, shoulder, and back, and her father, who’d been shot in the head, was sitting in the front passenger seat.

Dollison was pronounced dead at the scene at 10:33 p.m. Vance died at San Francisco General Hospital at 2:07 a.m. the next day.

San Francisco police homicide Inspector Daniel Cunningham said in an interview that the man who’d been in the street when police arrived had been in the backseat of the car and ducked when the shooting started. The man was the boyfriend of a cousin of Dollison’s.

Dollison and the others “ran out of gas,” Cunningham said, and “a short time later, the unknown suspect or suspects” approached the car and fired multiple shots.

The surviving passenger “did not get a good look at the suspects,” Cunningham said. The man reported that he hadn’t seen or heard any vehicles prior to the shooting, and the suspects fled on foot. A gun hasn’t been recovered.

Cunningham said the surviving passenger is the only witness he knows of. Despite police canvassing the neighborhood and distributing fliers, and the shooting happening across the street from a usually busy soccer field, he said, nobody has come forward to say they’d seen the shooting, although some have reported hearing the shots. There were no surveillance cameras in the area at the time of the killings.

Among possible motives, Cunningham said one was that there

Courtesy Facebook

Allen Vance, left, and his daughter, Chastity Dollison, were shot to death three years ago.

had been “a love triangle.”

A woman had been “trying to fight” with Dollison “over some girl,” he said. He knows who the other women are, but he didn’t share their names.

One of the women is a person of interest, said Cunningham.

The main challenge in the case is the motive may “not have anything to do with Chastity at all.”

He said that among other possible reasons for the killings, her father, who’d spent years in prison, may have been the person the shooters had sought.

Vance said she doesn’t know why someone would kill her family members.

“I know Chastity, she had had a couple of altercations with a couple of girls,” but she didn’t know what the fights had been about.

“Everybody liked Chastity,” Vance said. “They wouldn’t do anything that bad to her to want to kill her.”

Cunningham said he recently put in a request for evidence, including DNA, to be tested, and he’s also hoping to re-interview the surviving passenger.

Besides taking GED classes at the time she was killed, Dollison had also been working at San Francisco Conservation Corps and at a halfway house in the Excelsior neighborhood.

Someone familiar with the case said Dollison was a lesbian, but Vance said she didn’t know how her daughter identified, saying she was “a private person.” Others who knew Dollison didn’t respond to interview requests.

“She was not a mean person at all,” Vance said of her daughter.

She was “a caring person. I don’t know why someone would want to just take her out, unless jealousy or something kicked in.”

Vance, who lived with Dollison and other family members not far from where her daughter was killed when See page 22 >>

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<< National News

16 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 11-17, 2015

Abercrombie case highlights accommodation for religious beliefs analysis by Lisa Keen

I

t is a rare occasion when LGBT legal advocates find themselves on the same side of a case as the conservative Christian Legal Society and the National Association of Evangelicals.

It is also unusual to find LGBT legal activists on the same side as conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and his fondness for hewing to the original explicit language of a law.

But so it was with the June 1 decision in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch, when the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that an employer cannot escape the federal law’s requirement to accommodate a job applicant’s religious practices by claiming the applicant never told the employer about his or her religious practices.

The case did not involve an LGBT person, but it did involve a scenario with which LGBT job applicants are familiar: where an employer quietly presumes something about the applicant based on the applicant’s appearance and then denies the applicant a job based on that suspicion.

In this case, the employer made a presumption based on a piece of attire. The case involved a woman who applied for a job at a national clothing chain’s kids store in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Because the young woman, Samantha Elauf, is Muslim, she wore to the interview a black hijab, a headscarf that many Muslim women wear in response to the Quran’s directive that women cloak their sexuality in public.

During her job interview with Abercrombie & Fitch for a sales rep position, Elauf did not speak about her

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religion, and her interviewer did not ask about it. But after the interview, the interviewer asked an Abercrombie district manager whether the woman’s hijab would violate the company’s “Look” policy against sales reps wearing caps and the color black.

The interviewer said she told her supervisors that Elauf was Muslim, but the district manager said he had no knowledge that Elauf wore the headscarf for religious reasons. The district manager instructed the interviewer to reject Elauf for the job. And a friend of Elauf ’s who worked at the store told her she was rejected for the position because of her hijab.

Elauf sought help from Samantha Elauf the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed suit against Abercrimination based on religion.” crombie, saying it had violated Title “Rewarding such willful or preVII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. tended ignorance (or worse) is the In relevant part, the act says, “It shall antithesis of how Title VII is meant be an unlawful employment practo work,” said the brief. tice for an employer to fail or refuse In an online essay, Gregory Nevto hire ... any individual ... because ins, employment fairness program of such individual’s ... religion. ...” It specialist for Lambda Legal Defense also prohibits employers from clasand Education Fund, explained why sifying applicants because of their his group filed a brief on Elauf’s bereligion in order to disadvantage half. First, he said, Lambda Legal was them. concerned the Supreme Court might Title VII also prohibits discrimiissue “an overly broad ruling, extolnation based on race, color, sex, ling the primacy of workers’ religious and national origin, but not based rights, because many employees have on sexual orientation or gender cried religious discrimination when identity. However, in a 1989 decidisciplined for actions harassing and sion, Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, even menacing to their coworkers, the Supreme Court said Title VII including LGBT workers.” covered discrimination based on But Lambda’s brief also argued “sex stereotyping.” And the EEOC that Title VII simply does not inhas been accepting complaints of clude any language that gives an discrimination based on a person’s employer a pass on accommodating sexual orientation or gender idenan employee’s religious practices by tity as potential Title VII claims. claiming the employee never told the Abercrombie argued that its reemployer about his or her religion. jection of Elauf couldn’t be in violaLambda Legal said it has seen a tion of Title VII because it never had “disturbing tendency” by the lower “actual knowledge” that Elauf wore courts to dismiss certain Title VII her black headscarf for religious claims – including many by LGBT reasons. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court workers – by creating new “rules of Appeals agreed. and prerequisites” that are not in the language of Title VII. In the 10th LGBT groups offer support Circuit’s case, the new rule was that The National Center for Lesbian an employee or applicant had to inRights joined a brief filed by the form the employer of their religious American Jewish Committee that practices and work out some potencriticized the 10th Circuit opinion as tial accommodation in advance. a sort of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” apBut in the Supreme Court’s 8-1 proach “for any employer who wants decision (with only Justice Clarence to engage in intentional hiring disThomas dissenting), the justices said

t

Abercrombie violated Title VII when it failed to hire Elauf because it suspected she was Muslim and that she would likely seek accommodation at work for her religious beliefs.

The decision, authored by Scalia, said, “An employer may not make an applicant’s religious practice, confirmed or otherwise, a factor in employment decisions.”

“An employer who has actual knowledge of the need for an accommodation does not violate Title VII by refusing to hire an applicant if avoiding that accommodation is not his motive,” wrote Scalia. “Conversely, an employer who acts with the motive of avoiding accommodation may violate Title VII even if he has no more than an unsubstantiated suspicion that accommodation would be needed.”

And the 10th Circuit’s approach of requiring an employer have “actual knowledge” of an employee or applicant’s religious practices, said Scalia, is simply not in the text of Title VII that Congress enacted.

LGBT groups were pleased with the ruling.

“I’m very happy about the decision,” said Jon Davidson, Lambda Legal’s national legal director.

Lambda Legal’s brief, noted Davidson, “made the point emphasized

by Justice Scalia that courts should not add language to Title VII that Congress did not enact in order to achieve what courts may think is a desirable result.”

Meanwhile, LGBT groups are awaiting other Supreme Court decisions this month, including: Obergefell v. Hodges, an appeal challenging a 6th Circuit decision that upheld state bans on same-sex couples marrying; and King v. Burwell, an appeal challenging a 4th Circuit decision upholding the federal government’s tax subsidies to people with low incomes in all 50 states to buy health coverage. Lambda Legal, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, and other LGBT groups filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold the lower court decision. The brief noted that the subsidies have a “significant impact” on fighting HIV and that limiting those subsidies would have a “devastating public health” impact on people of color.t

Parker makes good on Warriors bet Courtesy Oakland Mayor’s office

L

esbian Houston Mayor Annise Parker on Tuesday made good on her friendly wager with Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, donning a #30 jersey and dangling mouth guard in an imitation of Warriors star Stephen Curry at a City Council meeting. Parker sent the image to Oakland officials, with the

note, “I make good on my bets! Congrats and good luck to the Warriors.” She also thanked Curry for the jersey. The Warriors need all the luck they can get, as they are down two games to one in their best of seven series with LaBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Game 4 is Thursday night.

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Obituaries>>

June 11-17, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 17

Folk song icon Ronnie Gilbert dies

by Lois Pearlman

S

inger Ronnie Gilbert, who rose to fame in the 1950s as part of the Weavers, a quartet that paved the way for the folk music explosion in the 1960s, died Saturday, June 6 at the Redwoods, a senior living community in Mill Valley. She was 88.

Although Ms. Gilbert, a lesbian, was best known as a singer, beginning in 1947 as part of the Weavers – a group she founded with Pete Seeger, Lee Hays, and Fred Hellerman – she was also a tireless peace and justice activist, an actor who appeared both on stage and screen, and a psychologist.

“We sang songs of hope in that strange time after World War II, when already the world was preparing for Cold War,” she said in the 1982 documentary The Weavers: Wasn’t That a Time. “We still had the feeling that if we could sing loud enough and strong enough and hopefully enough, it would make a difference.”

The Weavers found instant success at Manhattan’s Village Vanguard in 1949, and for two years toured the U.S., recorded albums, and appeared on radio and television as one of the most popular musical acts in the country. Then, in 1952, they were blacklisted after the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee claimed that three of the four musicians (including Gilbert) were Communists.

In 1955, in defiance of the blacklist, they played to a sold-out audience at Manhattan’s Carnegie Hall, and continued performing until 1964, when the group disbanded. Their performances of such American folk classics as “Goodnight Irene,” “On Top of Old Smoky,” songs from other countries like “Wineweh” and “Tzena, Tzena, Tzena” and original political tunes like “If I Had a Hammer,” influenced a generation of folk singers and songwriters. Among them were the Kingston Trio; Peter, Paul and Mary; Bob Dylan; Joan

Courtesy Donna Korones’ Facebook page

Folk singer Ronnie Gilbert

Baez; and Phil Ochs.

For the next couple of decades Ms. Gilbert, who was born Ruth Alice Gilbert on September 7, 1926, turned her performing skills to live theater, working with Joseph Chaikin in Manhattan’s Open Theater, Peter Brook in Paris and on the Broadway stage in The Man in the Glass Booth, Robert Shaw’s play about a man on trial for alleged Nazi war crimes. She also earned a degree in psychology and worked as a therapist.

In the 1980s she met Ukiah-born singer, songwriter, activist, and actress Holly Near and the two of them toured as a duet and, with Seeger and Arlo Guthrie as HARP – which stood for the first letter of each of their first names.

“I used to listen to Ronnie Gilbert on records when I was a little girl,” Near said in an email. “Mostly recordings of her singing with The Weavers. I loved how her powerful voice soared over the top. Of course, I had no idea that I would meet her and work with her.”

In 1974 Near had dedicated her recording, “A Live Album,” to Gilbert, not even knowing if she was still alive. Then, when she met Gil-

bert and asked her to join her on a singing tour, Gilbert agreed.

“We toured all over the U.S. and recorded several records together,” Near said. “And we attracted a multi-generational audience. If they knew Ronnie, then grandparents brought children and grandchildren. If they knew me, then young activists brought their parents and grandparents.”

It was on one of the HARP tours in 1984, with Near, Seeger and Guthrie, that Gilbert met Donna Korones. They hit it off immediately while sitting next to each other on a plane, and remained together for nearly two decades, as both business and life partners.

When asked what life with Gilbert was like Korones said, “We traveled together, lived together, worked together, vacationed together, just like any other couple.” The most important part of the relationship, she said, was “that we loved each other.”

They married in 2004 when former Mayor Gavin Newsom made same-sex marriage legal in San Francisco for a brief time.

The Reverend Jim Mitulski, a fan of Ms. Gilbert’s music, called her death a loss.

“A terrible loss,” Mitulski, formerly pastor at Metropolitan Community Church-San Francisco, said via a Facebook message. “She really influenced the politics of folk music as a means of social transformation. And she was a great performer if you ever saw her.”

Mitulski, now interim pastor at MCC Church of the Rockies in Denver, said he’s a big music fan.

“I do think she was amazing for bringing together many worlds through music,” he said.

In addition to Korones, Ms. Gilbert is survived by her daughter, Lisa, from her first marriage, and a granddaughter.

The University of California press is scheduled to publish Ms. Gilbert’s memoir Ronnie Gilbert: A Radical Life in Song this fall.t

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<< Business News

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 11-17, 2015

Gay German brewer taps SF market

by Matthew S. Bajko

I

n his home country of Germany, Peter “Pitter” Konig is as famous for wearing a kilt as he is for being the only openly gay brewer. He is the fourth generation of his family to run Fuchschen Altbier, which was first bottled in 1848.

Now Konig is broadening his company’s presence by tapping into San Francisco’s market for unique beer brands. In April, after first launching on the East Coast, the brand made its debut in the Bay Area at restaurants such as Suppenkuche and Harris Steakhouse.

Fuchschen Altbier is now also found on the shelves of all Mollie Stone’s in the city, at Ales Unlimited, the Beer Hall, Alembic, and Monk’s Kettle. It has also expanded into the East Bay at Gaumenkitzel in Berkeley and on the Peninsula at Gourmet Haus Staud in Redwood City.

The company is now planning to open a replica of its brewery taproom in Dusseldorf at a storefront on Valencia Street that had been the location of specialty soda seller the Fizzery. It would like to pair its beer with a selection of cheeses and cold cuts as well as collaborate with local brewers.

“For me this is the best city in the U.S.,” Konig told the Bay Area Reporter in April over dinner at Suppenkuche in Hayes Valley. “I have three places in my life I like to go, Ibiza, Dusseldorf, and San Francisco.”

Konig, 48, was adorned in his signature outfit, which he began wearing two years ago after meeting a Persian painter in Istanbul who wore kilts.

“I love it,” said Konig, who was named the number one most eccentric person in Dusseldorf by the regional paper. “I am not normal.”

His outfit features the brewery’s emblem on a sword of a little fox holding a beer mug and reaching for foam with its tongue. The brewery’s name translates into the little fox.

The brewery itself traces its history back to 1640, but the brand Fuchschen Altbier didn’t debut until 1848.

In 1908 the Konig family acquired it.

A trained chef who spent two years in the German military, Konig at a young age knew he wanted to carry on in his family’s tradition and run the brewery, telling his parents at age 4 that, “in the future I am the boss.”

After his paternal grandfather

died in 1972, his grandmother became the matriarch of the brewery.

He came out to her at the age of 21 after she informed him that people were spreading rumors about him.

Her reaction was supportive, Konig recalled, as she herself had faced being gossiped about for dating a 55-year-old man when she was in her late 70s.

“She said don’t worry about it.

Everything is fine,” said Konig, who served as president between 2001 and 2009 of Dusseldorf ’s Mardi Gras parade.

For the past 20 years Konig has overseen his family’s brewery, which now employs 110 people. He has increased production from 9,000 barrels to 50,000 this year.

His family’s altbier, which means old beer, is known for its hoppy taste and copper colored ale. Its recipe was developed in a time before there was refrigeration.

“The trend is not to do this beer,” explained Konig. “We have modernized the production process but there has been no change to the recipe.”

Bringing the brand to America, “it’s a big step,” said Konig.

The brewery is preparing to ship 100 kegs in a couple of weeks and will be expanding the locations its beer is served in the Bay Area. For the latest updates, follow Fuchschen on Twitter under the handle @altbier.

And Konig, who is coming back to San Francisco for Pride week, will be promoting his beer in the Castro during the Pink Party Saturday, June 27 starting at 2 p.m. at Cafe Flore, located at the corner of Market and Noe streets.

Kitchit raises funds for LGBTQ youth event

A Web-based service that provides meals cooked in users’ homes has teamed with local drag queen and party promoter Juanita More to help raise funds for an LGBTQ youth event held annually in San Francisco.

And it is also featuring meals from two out chefs who work at East Bay restaurants in honor of Pride Month.

Kitchit, which launched in November, is donating the proceeds from the $39 per person threecourse dinners created by More toward the Youth Empowerment Summit, usually held in December at Mission High School and sponsored by the GSA Network.

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Rick Gerharter

Peter “Pitter” Konig, owner of Fuchschen Brewery in Dusseldorf, Germany, sits on a keg surrounded by other beers at Beer Hall in San Francisco.

The special meal promotion launched on the website June 2 several days after More teamed with Kitchit for a one-night pop-up fundraising dinner in late May that also raised money for the YES events.

More, whose given name is Michael Rodriguez, also works as a caterer and holds her own fried chicken dinner pop-ups. For Kitchit, she decided to feature a menu in homage to her relatives.

Her mother’s side of the family was employed as farm workers who traveled throughout northern California picking various produce.

“Because I knew the menu would reach such a broader audience, I really wanted them to get a feel for how I really cook all the time,” said More, adding that her diet rarely features fried chicken. “That isn’t how I eat on a regular basis.”

Her first course is a vegetable salad and carrot hummus. The entree is a slow roasted and pulled pork, with dessert a seasonal fruit galette with fresh cream. It will be available through July 5.

“My dad really had amazing patience in the kitchen, so slow roasting pork is my dad’s style and how I still love to cook today,” said More.

The first of the featured menus by the out chefs – also $39 per person – that will become available Tuesday, June 16 and end July 12, is from Oakland resident Jen Biesty, a lesbian and the chef owner of Shakewell Restaurant, which she opened last July at 3407 Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland.

Her menu plays off her restaurant’s Mediterranean-influenced dishes and features a starter of sweet pea wheat berry salad, a main course of roasted lamb kefta, and wild berry crostada for dessert.

“It is just a delicious, fun menu that is a crowd pleaser from start to finish. I think they will like it,” said Biesty, who appeared on the fourth season of Top Chef.

Rather than seeing Kitchit as competition with her brick and mortar restaurant, Biesty said she sees her collaboration with the site as a way to promote Shakewell to a new audience of diners.

“Maybe it entices more people to come to Oakland and try us out,” she said.

The other featured chef meal is from Rick DeBeaord, a gay man and the executive chef for the past eight years at Cafe Rouge. He began working at the Berkeley restaurant, located at 1782 Fourth Street and famed for its meat and poultry dishes, 19 years ago in the pantry and worked his way up the kitchen ladder.

His meal begins with a farro, artichoke and pickled carrot salad with

pepato. His entree is a flat iron steak with scarlet runner bean and corn ragout, padron peppers and bacon.

Dessert is a plum upside down cake with fromage blanc. DeBeaord’s menu debuts June 23 and will end July 19.

“These are dishes I have done at Cafe Rouge in the past and really like them,” said DeBeaord, who lives in San Francisco. “These are things that are pretty simple and local ingredients in season. It is exactly my kind of food I cook at Cafe Rouge.”

Mat Stark, the director of marketing and partnerships at Kitchit, said the site sees its collaboration with the chefs as a way to boost business for their restaurants.

“We want to help provide the chefs we are working with a forum to amplify their presence,” said Stark.

“In a standard brick and mortar restaurant you can serve only so many diners in one night. We can reach a far greater audience if the restaurant is in Oakland, or in Juanita’s case she doesn’t have a restaurant so through Kitchit hundreds of people can now taste her food.”

The food is prepped at a commissary kitchen space in San Francisco overseen by an executive chef.

Kitchit hires local chefs as independent contractors who then cook and plate the meals in people’s homes as well as oversee the clean up.

The service is currently available in San Francisco, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Atherton. The company has plans to soon expand to the rest of the Bay Area.

To purchase one of the three out chefs’ meals, log onto www.kitchit. com and order by 1 p.m. on the day of or reserve a day up to two weeks out. Orders can range from a party of two up to a dinner for 12.

Honor Roll

At its awards dinner Tuesday, June 16 the San Francisco Small Business Network is honoring two gay business leaders. Steve Adams, a regional senior vice president with Sterling Bank and Trust, will receive the Small Business Advocate of the Year by a Non-Small Business Award.

Adams is a three-term president of the city’s Small Business Commission and a former president of what is now known as the Castro Merchants, the business association for the city’s gay district.

Receiving the Small Business Creating a “Big Impact” Award of the Year will be the Pendergast Consulting Group, owned by Paul Pendergast. It is believed to be the first time an LGBT business owner is receiving one of the group’s Small Business of the Year awards.

For more information about the event, visit www.sfbiznetwork.com.t Got a tip on LGBT business news? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or e-mail m.bajko@ ebar.com.

It’s a plane; it’s a pickle!!

Traveling the skies this summer, at speeds as high as 35 MPH, is the Flying Cucumber, an airship promoting Hendrick’s gin.

The unique aerial machine took off from Livermore, an hour east of San Francisco, April 24 and flew around the city at dusk that Thursday. It then departed for Los Angeles en route to Austin and Dallas before making its way to south Florida.

Also on its itinerary are Philadelphia, the Jersey Shore, New York City, Long Island, Boston, Indianapolis, Chicago and Ann Arbor, Michigan.

So if you happen to be on vacation in one of those cities this summer and see visions of a pickle slicing through the air, it is not heatstroke. It is, indeed, a wide-eyed dirigible promoting the cucumberinfused brand of gin.

Courtesy Hendrick’s

The Hendrick’s dirigible recently visited San Francisco and will be in more cities across the country this summer.

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Community News>>

June 11-17, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

Plan aims to end Castro retail vacancy battles

by Matthew S. Bajko

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tiny, bathroom-less storefront on upper Market Street illustrates the ongoing conversation about how to fill vacant retail locations in the city’s gay Castro district and with what sort of businesses.

Last October Drysdale Properties, a local affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, had planned to move into the roughly 300 square foot space at 2324 Market Street. But before it could open its doors, it was the target of neighborhood complaints for not seeking the required permits imposed on real estate offices wanting to open in ground floor retail spaces along upper Market Street.

The zoning controls, recently made permanent by City Hall, aim to limit the number of real estate offices, as well as financial services and other non-retail uses, moving into ground floor storefronts on Market Street between Octavia Boulevard and Castro Street.

Seeking neighborhood support ahead of a hearing before the city’s planning commission this fall, Drysdale owner Gretchen Pearson and real estate agent John Oldfield made their case to Castro Merchants members last week during an information-only presentation. The business association will be asked to vote on backing the real estate firm’s permit request at a later date.

Drysdale intends to use the storefront as a satellite location for its main office on Polk Street. Oldfield addressed concerns that it would do little to activate the street, noting that he and other agents would utilize it when showing off properties in the Castro and surrounding neighborhoods.

“This office will be open on weekends. It will not be a dead space,” said Oldfield, adding that its window display of homes for sale would also attract foot traffic at various hours. “That’s part of our business model. The window space, in the way we use it, is a draw.”

Noting the lack of plumbing in the space – there is access to a bathroom elsewhere in the building – Oldfield implied it is a challenging space to lease for more traditional retailers.

“It’s been vacant for over four years,” he said.

Yet D&H Sustainable Jewelers, which is located directly across the street at 2323 Market Street, had been interested in leasing the space in order to open a watch store.

“The landlord didn’t want to talk to us because he had a more important client,” said co-owner Lindsay Daunell. “It would be perfect for us since we are across the street.”

The question of what is the most appropriate use of the 2324 Market Street retail space is not unique when it comes to vacancies in the Castro’s commercial corridors. How to fill the gayborhood’s empty storefronts, said to currently number 33, is a long simmering debate.

Arguments have broken out over everything from the recent influx of coffee shops and banks to formula retailers seeking prominent corner storefronts and the rezoning of spaces for non-retail uses.

The backers of the under development Castro Retail Strategy hope it will provide some resolution to the retail wrangling in the neighborhood.

“The trend we have been seeing is businesses coming to the district and ending up in prolonged battles over entitlements and then the planning process ends in denials,” said Danny Yadegar, the project coordinator for the retail strategy. “We

Rick Gerharter

Castro Retail Strategy project consultant Elizabeth Libby Seifel gives a thank you hug to Danny Yadegar, who administered the survey that forms the basis for the report, during a June 4 open house where preliminary recommendations were presented to community members. Behind them are members of the technical advisory group, made up of members from the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District, which helped with the survey.

want to get ahead of the businesses and begin marketing to brokers, landlords, and property owners what the community wants to see.”

The Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District last summer launched the effort to create the strategy and has been working with the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association, the Castro/Eureka Valley Neighborhood Association, and the Castro Merchants group to develop it.

Last fall 1,200 patron surveys were gathered, both online and at various street locations in the Castro and along upper Market Street, to provide a better insight into who is shopping in the district and what stores people felt were missing.

As the Bay Area Reporter noted in a story last month, the surveys found that the most requested businesses included a bakery, butcher shop, and additional clothing stores, particularly for women. The number one retailer many survey takers said they wished would open in the neighborhood is Trader Joe’s, which twice abandoned sites along upper Market Street due to neighborhood concerns about parking and traffic.

Other businesses denoted by a green light, meaning they would likely draw wide public support in locating to the Castro, include art gallery space, ice cream, jewelry, men’s clothiers, gyms, veterinarians, specialty bookstores, and more restaurants with late night hours or outdoor spaces.

The stores marked with a red light, meaning they will likely generate opposition should they seek to open in the Castro, included coffee houses, pharmacies, fast food, nail salons, and financial services.

Businesses given a yellow light, meaning they would likely face divided support, included art supply stores, bars, technology stores, office supply stores, and women’s clothing shops, mainly due to questions about their viability in a historically gay neighborhood.

‘Dildo dilemma’

Due to past controversies over plans by Starbucks and Chipotle to open in corner storefronts at major intersections on Market Street, which not only led to permit denials for both chains but also more stringent rules for where formula retailers are allowed to open along upper Market, the Castro has a reputation among commercial brokers of not being inviting to new businesses, said Elizabeth Libby Seifel, the owner of Seifel Consulting hired to assist with the development of the retail strategy.

“Brokers say this neighborhood is being overlooked because there has been so much neighborhood opposition to certain uses. That has echoed out that you guys aren’t interested in new retail,” Seifel told Castro business leaders at a June 4 meeting to provide them with an update on the strategy.

Another issue is the perennial debate over the more adult-themed window displays along Castro Street, what Yadegar defined as “the dildo dilemma.”

At least one broker, added Seifel, has pointed to the more risque products on view as being “another challenge for family-oriented businesses” interested in opening in the Castro.

Andrea Aiello, executive director of the CBD, countered that it was a view expressed by a broker “who represents formula retail” and doubted the window displays were negatively impacting efforts to attract new businesses.

“I wouldn’t put it out there that brokers don’t want to come here,” she said.

What is often mentioned by brokers, said Seifel, is that “the windows of the Castro aren’t really that interesting, inviting, or dynamic.”

One of the recommendations expected to be in the retail strategy calls on the Castro business community to develop a brand that it can market, or select several marketing messages aimed at different groups of patrons. Ideas already cited include it being a pet-friendly neighborhood and a late-night destination.

With a number of new mixed-use housing developments to be built near the Church and Market streets intersection, the consultants have suggested focusing first on attracting businesses to empty storefronts in that vicinity as a way to test out the retail strategy.

“We want this study to be actionable and for you guys to do something with it,” said Seifel, who suggested one benchmark of its success could be looking to see how many vacancies remain after one year.

Key to seeing it be implemented is having buy-in from property owners, argued jeweler Daunell, who continues to look for nearby space to rent to open a watch store.

“I hope there is some accountability on the part of landlords and they understand this project,” she said. “If they don’t, it all goes moot.”

The final Castro Retail Strategy report is set to be unveiled in midJune and will be posted to the website http://www.castroretail.com/.t

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<< Sports

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 11-17, 2015

FIFA’s Blatter infection

by Roger Brigham

no responsibility and admitted no guilt; instead, like Nixon, Blatter ow big is FIFA, the world govsaid he was stepping down because erning body for association of a withering of popular support. football, a.k.a. soccer? So big that at “While I have a mandate from the a time when sports media should be membership of FIFA, I do not feel focused on a huge separate-but-equal that I have a mandate from the entire sexism scandal lingering over this world of football – the fans, the playyear’s Women’s World Cup, the orgaers, the clubs, the people who live, nization has successfully distracted breathe, and love football as journalists with an even bigmuch as we all do at FIFA,” ger corruption scandal that Blatter said. “Therefore, I seems destined to lop off have decided to lay down the heads of its most powmy mandate at an exerful executives. traordinary elective Let’s see if we can pack Congress.” the scope of this corIf you want to follow ruption scandal, which this story on television, mushrooms daily, into the best reporting in Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter a few sentences. Swiss this country has been and FBI investigations on ESPN’s Outside the up the legal scandal just so it could over the past few years Lines. The best comhost a World Cup. resulted in the indictment of 14 mentary, however, has been John Alas, that was a headline from the FIFA and sports marketing officials Oliver’s on HBO’s Last Week Tonight. satirical publication the Onion. To the first week of June, half of whom Sinking below this morass is the help Warner from making an even were placed under immediate argodfather-like character Jack Warbigger fool of himself, as if that were rest and the other half are exercising ner, former FIFA vice president even possible, I offer him my intertheir frequent flyer miles in hopes of from Trinidad and Tobago, who pretation of three other satirical FIFAavoiding extradition. In the course of was forced out several years ago in related headlines from the Onion. the following week, Sepp Blatter, the yet another bribery and corruption “Sepp Blatter Resigns From FIFA president of FIFA, was unanimously scandal. Warner, currently footloose With Generous Severance Bribe” is a re-elected to another term while sayon $394,601 bail on racketeering, commentary on the all-too-real and ing he could not oversee all of the wire fraud, money laundering, and all-too-prevalent practice corrupt massive corruption in FIFA, so stop bribery charges, came out blazing in FIFA officials have had of siphoning yer bitchin’; then resigned while saya series of video postings on Faceoff funds. You know, Jack, like the ing in defeat he would do more to book which in short order turned millions of dollars that were used to eliminate FIFA corruption than he the sublime into the ridiculous, and build a soccer training complex in had in all the years he was president. the ridiculous into the surreal.

Trinidad and Tobago that somehow (Truer words never spoken). MeanIn one video, Warner threatened wound up being registered in your while, indicted soccer officials were to turn over hundreds of documents pleading guilty and pointing fingers at and emails that would implicate dozstill more officials. There hasn’t been ens of other as-yet un-indicted FIFA this much squealing since Napoleon officials. Gotta love it when guys are turned on Snowball in Animal Farm. so upfront with the witness tamperBlatter’s resignation speech was ing. In another he held up a newspaso full of arrogance and lack of per whose headline proclaimed “FIFA

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith awareness it could have been a tranFrantically Announces 2015 Summer script of Richard Nixon’s presidenWorld Cup in United States” and cited he cover is stark, but arresting. tial resignation speech. It accepted that as proof the U.S. was drumming The model, with flowing brown tresses, is sitting somewhat uncomfortably on a barely-seen stool, looking directly at the camera. She’s wearing a white silk bodysuit. Beof Oakland/Fremont hind her, fogged metallic walls pick June 17, 1953 – June 1, 2015 up her blurred reflection.

Across her midriff is a simple declarative phrase, “Call me Caitlyn.”

The recent Vanity Fair cover is the latest in a series of “coming out” moments for Caitlyn Jenner, beginning with In Touch Weekly’s tawdry Photoshopped cover and progressing to a Diane Sawyer interview.

There will be much, much more to come, no doubt, with a reality program waiting in the wings. Indeed, Jenner is no babe when it comes to the media, starting back in the days of 1976 Olympic gold and Wheaties boxes up to her part in the world of Michel Antoine Cole – also known as Tawny Gold, Tony or the Kardashian clan. just “Mike” – the dearest friend , beloved brother and uncle, deThe cover is groundbreaking. Not voted partner, celebrated party host and much more than could only is it the first known transperson be given justice to in print, lives in each and every person that to grace the cover of Vanity Fair, but knew him. His gracious nature, playful spirit, hearty laugh and at age 65, Jenner is also the oldest sheer wisdom has touched the lives of countless people. Brave woman to achieve the same and humorous in the face of adversity, Tawny would share his honor. The photo, by Annie experience to raise your consciousness and cosmic awareness Leibovitz is beautiful, lacking with his intelligence and wit. the sort of shock value one Tony had been the first male cheerleader at Dorsey High might normally expect the School, class of ’71 – a high school renowned for its cheer and mainstream media to revel in. gymnastics programs. Michel was always proud of his achieveIndeed, much of the ment in becoming fluent in sign language and being able to reporting on the cover connect with other people. His long career as a waiter and has been positive, and bartender most recently led him to becoming a Centerplate for Jenner remains on our the new Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara and the San Jose Elks. culture’s lips for yet anHowever, it was his notoriety in drag performances at La Cage other week, seeing heavy Aux Folles dinner theatre and as a member of San Franciscoverage throughout the mass media. co’s “Balloon Girls” drag troupe that brought him the most The transgender community attention. It was the varied performances at the upscale dinner itself has had a mixed view of it theatre and the kissing booths - what was called “the Balloon all – though for the most part the Girls experience” at San Francisco’s first (and for several years response has been positive. Many thereafter) Folsom Street Fair that made so many smile. have also considered Jenner’s very Survivors of Michel Cole are his partner of 23 years, John high-profile transition as a teachDoughty, sisters Joan Clarice Allen and Toni Clayton, brother able moment, using her celebrity to George Parker and a host of nieces and nephews, and both springboard additional transgender grand and great nieces and nephews. Both parents Bernice and issues into the public consciousness.

John Cole of Compton, CA, preceded Michel, as well as sister The National LGBTQ Task Force Belinda Clayton and brother Tommy Clayton. highlighted the stark differences There will be a celebration, a party, of Michel’s life and between Jenner’s transition and adventures to be held at the San Jose Elks Lodge 444 W. Alma others in a series of online posts Ave. 95110 (408) 298-3880 from 5 -10 pm. on June 19, 2015. about discrimination, housing, and economic privilege.

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name and is now used to host weddings and conventions, with their fees lining your pockets.

“FIFA Assures Fans Investigation Won’t Affect 2022 Qatar Slush Fund” satirizes the ongoing haggling for media rights and marketing perks surrounding the 2022 World Cup. “Report: Underpaid Migrant Laborers Working 18 Hours Per Day On FIFA Legal Defense” mocks the all-too-real estimation by human rights organizations that 4,000 of the underpaid foreign workers in Qatar being exploited to build soccer stadia in that god-forsaken climate will die on the job and its unsafe conditions before the task is completed.

Now, the corruption of a privileged majority may unfairly cast a pall over the ethical but fatally passive few. But what can you expect when the world’s most popular sport is left in the control of a powerful and insular group of privileged men? The true cost of lack of diversity and unheard voices is evident whenever this all-male board of directors acts.

Which brings me to the ongoing women’s World Cup. It’s a wonderful showcase of women’s athletic prowess. It is also being conducted entirely on artificial surfaces. Such surfaces are believed to be more likely to cause injuries than natural turf, and no men’s World Cup matches have ever been played on artificial turf. So while slack-jawed journalists bring us the wonderful stories of the athletes, they are ig-

Cover to cover

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Ms. Tawny Gold

Annie Leibovitz

Caitlyn Jenner graces the July cover of Vanity Fair.

Caitlyn Dewey, with help from Andrew McGill, created a Twitter bot to automatically correct commentators who choose to misgender Jenner – that is, referring to her by her previous gender.

“Misgendering, as this practice is known in the LGBT community, isn’t just a style error in violation of the Associated Press’ own rules,” said Dewey in the Washington Post. “It’s a stubborn, longtime hurdle to transgender acceptance and equality, a fundamental refusal to afford those people even basic grammatical dignity.”

Dewey and McGill sought to challenge this, and while they admittedly only saw very few people change their mind on the pronouns they assigned to Jenner, they still felt the project itself was eye-opening, showing that perhaps there is a “seed of a suggestion here ... that maybe compromise and dialogue are possible on the Internet.”

Perhaps the strongest reaction to the Vanity Fair cover within the transgender community was that from Crystal Frasier and Jenn Dolari. I’ve known both of them for many years, and they were kind

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noring the big story of the separatebut-equal decision that allowed FIFA to put the women on secondclass surfaces and treat them like second-class citizens.

Of course, FIFA is not alone in such an insular, chauvinistic approach to business matters. Consider the decision of Jim Dolan, chairman of the NBA’s New York Knicks and the WNBA’s New York Liberty, to name Isiah Thomas president and part-owner of the Liberty even though Thomas was at the center of a sexual harassment and bullying case brought by former Madison Square Garden executive Anucha Browne, who alleged that Thomas and others created a hostile work environment.

Thomas, who famously drove the Knicks into the ground when he held the reins there, has never admitted guilt in the scandal, which was eventually settled by Madison Square Garden agreeing to pay Browne $11.6 million. But the insensitivity of his hiring to oversee a women’s basketball team triggered a massive protest on Friday, June 5 – a crowd not to cheer the team, but to condemn the hiring of an unrepentant harasser.

So I have spent the past week shaking my head and clucking at the tomfoolery of the Knicks and FIFA. I can’t help think this would be a better sports world if some of these guys would put down their cigars and let women have a say in their own sports.t

enough to take a fair amount of their day answering my questions about their hashtag campaign, #MyVanityFairCover, in which trans women appear on a mock-up of the magazine’s cover, complete with the “Call Me” headline, filled in with their own names. You can see them all at http://myvanityfaircover.tumblr.com/.

While Frasier and Dolari made it clear that they are plenty proud of Jenner for transitioning, they were frustrated with the expectation that transgender women – and indeed, all women – have to adhere to certain beauty standards in order to be taken seriously.

Said Frasier, “The only covers we do see featuring trans women though – Caitlyn Jenner, Laverne Cox, Janet Mock – do focus on the physical beauty of these women (just like magazine covers featuring women inevitably do), and gloss over the accomplishments and skills as human beings. So no, I don’t generally think the media offers coverage and humanizing portrayals of trans women unless we happen to be attractive.”

Dolari said the issue is about more than beauty.

“I find it sets an unrealistic expectation of how trans women should look, which sounds awfully familiar if you drop the ‘trans’ part of that sentence,” said Dolari. “For trans women, there’s an extra layer of ‘passabilty as identity’ added to the expectation of beauty – one that very few of us could ever meet.

It sets up the idea that if you’re not perfectly passable, you’re not passing as a woman ‘right.’ We do come in all shapes and sizes and colors, and by ignoring that, presenting only the best, you not only create issues with beauty, but identity.”

Added Frasier, “Trans people who can’t conceal our trans-looking traits aren’t afforded the benefit of the doubt, don’t see ourselves represented anywhere. If we’re visibly trans, then we’re told we have less value as human beings. The mainstream media likes to focus on the See page 22 >>

t <<

Community News>>

DA

From page 1

“Generally you do not see explicit bias,” Gascón noted in the May 21 meeting.

Gascón served as San Francisco’s police chief from 2009 to 2011. In January 2011 he was appointed district attorney after former DA Kamala Harris won election as state attorney general. He said the text messages were upsetting to him and others.

“The text messages, frankly, were offensive to many communities,” Gascón said.

Court documents related to a police corruption scandal involving former police Sergeant Ian Furminger around illegal searches and theft of property at single-roomoccupancy hotels in 2009 and 2010 was what revealed the racist and homophobic text messages.

“I feel horrible about any behavior that occurred when I was there.

It preceded me as well as after I left,” Gascón said.

Public defender weighs in

The public defender’s office, which brought some of the scandals

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Mirkarimi

From page 1

“Transgender is you have the surgery,” he said. “What I know of someone who’s actually transgendered [sic] is they’ve had the complete change.”

Asked about people who would find such a comment offensive, Cerbone said, “I’m not talking about civilian life, I’m talking about in a custody setting,” which is “a completely different thing. Custody is where we don’t have men and women together,” and where “over the years,” jail staff “have basically had everything based on what your genitalia was, not what you were perceived to be.”

Cerbone said he’s just concerned about safety, and he wants to ensure that while transgender people are in custody, “they’re not worried about assaults or anything like that. ... I’ve worked in the jails. I know what they have to deal with.”

He’s particularly concerned about

<<

News Briefs

From page 10

Place Art is funded in part by the Community Challenge Grant program that facilitates neighborhood beautification projects throughout the city.

For artist guidelines and sponsorship opportunities, visit www. sfbeautiful.org/muni-art.

‘Live Proud’ campaign launches for Pride Month

In celebration of LGBT Pride Month, AT&T has launched its third annual “Live Proud” campaign that is centered on awareness, empowerment, and pride.

This year’s campaign revolves

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City College

From page 1

the right person to lead us and the college community, and the board of trustees has a lot of confidence in her. I look forward to working with Susan.”

In a brief interview, Lamb, 52, said she looked forward to the job, which does come with its challenges. City College continues to deal with the fallout stemming from its accreditation being threatened with revocation by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

Earlier this year the accreditation committee granted “restoration” status to CCSF, giving it two years to fully comply with the requirements needed to be in good standing. In

June 11-17, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

to light, generally had praise for the DA’s actions.

In an interview this week, Adachi said that he supports Gascón’s decision to create the task force, but said there are limitations. For example, he said that there are protective orders in place that limit what information can be made available.

“It doesn’t ID who said what,” Adachi said, referring to the text message scandal. “Even the judges don’t have that information.

He also said that merely reviewing police reports might not present the whole story behind the cases.

“What we’ve found, as far as racial profiling is concerned, is that they’re going to need to talk to the people, the victims,” he said. “I’ve talked to the DA about that. We have clients affected by this.”

Adachi said his office formed a racial justice department a couple years ago and, with the University of Pennsylvania Law School’s Quattrone Center, is in the midst of a study of San Francisco’s criminal justice system. That report, funded by the center, is expected at the end of the year.

And, while much of the recent focus has been on African American

men, Adachi noted that LGBTs are also affected.

“Certainly we know some of the texts were homophobic and at a minimum, LGBT individuals face double or triple prejudice, particularly LGBT people of color, trans people, and women,” Adachi said.

Adachi said the city’s criminal justice system – from the courts to parole – needs to have protocols in place “to address proactively and early on” instances of bias “so we’re not reacting to it.”

“I think we are all on the same page,” he said of the DA’s plans to address implicit bias.

cis women moving into male jail facilities, but inmates who identify as transgender are typically male-to-female.

He also wondered how it would be determined whether someone is transgender.

“Is there any gender review board, or can anybody just come into custody and claim to be anything?” Cerbone said. “... You don’t think you’ll get guys trying to push their way into a female housing unit if they could?”

Cerbone added, “If they’re really what I would consider transgender, where the change is done,” he “wouldn’t have any issues” with the proposed changes.

Labor groups, including Cerbone’s, which has about 730 members, “have to agree on the policy,” since it would involve a change to work conditions and other factors, he said.

In an emailed response to Cerbone’s comment, Mirkarimi said, “We honor our union labor obliga-

community understand that prosecutors are the gate-keepers of the system,” Gascón said. “A prosecutor has the ultimate responsibility that evidence comes in free of bias and is provided to the defense.”

If there is bias on the part of police officers and they’re making arrests and that information is not made available to the defense, that’s not OK, he added.

Some indicators that bias could come into play might include instances where a group of police officers – or an officer – or prosecutor is consistently packaging information in a certain way in reports; in other words, there could be an effort to shape the investigation.

Another indicator may be if authorities see people similarly situated but treated differently.

“That’s a red flag,” Gascón said.

In light of the national conversation around black men being killed by white police officers (and in at least one case a young boy, Tamir Rice in Cleveland), Gascón was asked about his efforts to diversify the DA’s office. He acknowledged that it’s not easy.

“There’s a tremendous lack of African American and Hispanic

lawyers,” he said, noting that of the office’s 128 attorneys, 16 are African American.

“We have to be aggressive,” Gascón said, adding that the department is “better than we were a year ago.”

The office has good representation among Asians, women, and LGBTs. Gascón said that the DA’s office responds with an investigative team to every officer-involved shooting.

“It’s really important that we get there early on, see the scene and talk to witnesses,” he said.

He explained that the investigators “go in with no pre-conceived outcome” in an incident.

“An officer-involved shooting is a very high priority for us,” Gascón said.

Sometimes in such cases, he said, the DA’s office is left with a statement from the officer. Gascón wants more.

“That’s why I’m so supportive of equipping the whole force with cameras,” he said, adding that body cameras do “not solve everything.”

“Most police officers are trying to do the right thing under difficult situations,” Gascón said.t

tions relative to the meet-and-confer process. The reforms we’re advancing for the transgender population are an expansion of existing programs and procedures. While some people may try to delay this move, I say the time is now that it happens.”

Theresa Sparks, a transgender woman who was at the sheriff ’s meeting and who serves as executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, disagreed with Cerbone’s remarks.

“There’s been a lot of discussion around this,” Sparks said, and invoking concerns about inmate safety with pre-operative transgender people is “kind of a red herring.”

“More than half of transgender women never have surgery in their life,” and surgery “is not a determining factor in whether someone is transgender or not,” she said.

A classification committee would meet with incoming inmates to determine whether “they have a history” of living as transgender and

they have “a firm understanding of their own self-identity,” Sparks said.

Inmates would need to be able to show that they’re on hormones, or that they’ve been living in their preferred gender “for a period of time.”

The classification wouldn’t require any “change in anatomy whatsoever,” she said.

Education is crucial, Sparks said.

“It’s very, very important the community come in and give these people training and cultural competency sessions so they really have the correct information,” she said, referring to jail staff.

Mirkarimi and others said when inmates get the help they need, public safety is improved.

Sparks said the changes would help prepare trans women “to be successful after they get out,” since they’ll be able to adjust to being around other women again. Work would also be done to provide services for people

once they’re out of custody.

The changes are among those called for by the national Prison Rape Elimination Act, but Mirkarimi said he’d be developing the new policy anyway.

He said he didn’t yet know the cost of what the changes would be, but “We’re scraping together whatever funding we can.” Some programming is “agile enough” that it can be adjusted “without much change,” he said.

Cerbone said Mirkarimi, who’s running for re-election in November, is proposing the changes for political gain, but Mirkarimi has told the B.A.R. that he’s been working on the policy “for almost two years.”

Cerbone supports Mirkarimi’s opponent, former chief deputy sheriff Vicki Hennessy, as does the deputy sheriff ’s association.

Sparks said Friday that the sheriff has been working with transgender advocates on the policy for “a long time.”t

around people creating a unique 15-second (or less) “This is Me” video and uploading it to the Facebook page at www.att.com/ liveproud. Of the videos submitted, four lucky winners will be selected at random to win a trip for two to New York City and two tickets to the Out 100 event.

From now until August 9, participants can join the movement in a number of ways. They can “like” the AT&T Live Proud Facebook page; they can create a short video and upload it; and they can share their “This Is Me” video through social media channels, using the hashtag #ATTLiveProud to help spread awareness of the campaign.

UC San Diego launches LGBT scholarship

The Center for Networked Systems at UC San Diego is establishing the Alan Turing Memorial Scholarship in partnership with private donors. The scholarship will be awarded annually to an enrolled undergraduate computer-science or computer-engineering major in the school’s Computer Science and Engineering Department. CNS is an interdisciplinary computer science research center.

Turing, a gay man, was a mathematician, cryptanalyst, and a founder in the field of computer science.

He was credited with accelerating the Allied victory in World War II by more than a year after he devised

the techniques that led to breaking codes produced by Germany’s Enigma machine. After the war, Turing was prosecuted for being gay. He died by suicide in 1954.

“Alan Turing is a giant in the pantheon of computer science pioneers and his story is both tragic and inspirational,” said CSE Professor George Porter, associate director of CNS. “Our center wants to engage, support, and recognize diverse communities in line with UC San Diego’s strategic plan, and naming a scholarship after Turing affirms our belief in the importance and future contributions that LGBT-supportive students will make to computer science and engineering.”

A campaign on Crowdsurf aims

to raise $42,400, of which $10,600 is coming from the CNS annual giving fund, which is also matching a further $1 for every $2 contributed by other donors until the goal is reached. Donations via Crowdsurf are tax deductible.

Money raised by the campaign could be converted into an endowment if the scholarship’s cash balance reaches $50,000 by June 30, 2020, in which case CNS has a long-term goal of raising a $250,000 endowment for the Turing Scholarship.

At $10,000 per year, the scholarship will be one of the largest for LGBT students at UC San Diego.

To make a donation, visit https:// crowdsurf.ucsd.edu/project/691.t

the meantime, a city lawsuit against the commission is making its way through state court.

In fact, Lamb helped the college receive restoration status and addressed recommendations associated with the ACCJC report. She has also helped expand programs for the school’s Career Technical Education Pathways and its Metro Academy, which recently won a $6 million grant and a $3 million award from the state, respectively.

“Susan Lamb has an incredible knowledge of the college and its accreditation and I’m so happy she’s taking the challenge, as well as the responsibility,” gay City College Trustee Alex Randolph said.

“As she’s a proud lesbian, Susan received the job during Pride Month.

I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Lamb also commented on the historic nature of her selection.

“CCSF has a long history of embracing and celebrating diversity and being a trail-blazer in standing up for LGBT equality,” she said. “I am so proud to lead this institution during such historic times for our community. It is a great honor.”

Lamb replaces Chancellor Art Tyler, who served 19 months in the position.

“We want to thank Dr. Tyler for his service to this college and congratulate Ms. Lamb on her new role as chancellor,” Lease and California Community Colleges Chancellor Brice Harris said in a joint collegewide statement. “We look forward to working with her, the board of trustees, and our college community in support of the college.”

They added that Lamb’s “knowledge of the college and of accreditation makes her an excellent leader for the next phase of development of the college.”

With 28 years of experience as an educator and community college administrator, Lamb has filled many roles, including part-time faculty, full-time faculty, and department dean. She served as faculty Senate president at Contra Costa College, as well as interim senior dean of general education and transfer, and vice president of academic affairs at Diablo Valley College.

Lamb earned her bachelor’s degree and a master’s in education from Southwest Texas State University. She has also completed all coursework toward a doctorate degree at the University of San Francisco.

She has received English as a Second Language training at the University of California Extension, Berkeley.

Lamb began her management career by developing recreational therapy programs for students at the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

She is a member of the California Community Colleges’ Chief Instructional Officers, and has served as a regional chair on the organization’s executive board.

“Susan Lamb has earned the respect of students, the board and the faculty with a strong work ethic and a passion for education,” Randolph said. “CCSF is a true community college with a diverse background and she is the perfect fit for the role.”t

Potential red flags

The top priority of the task force, Gascón said, is an examination of cases involving people who are in custody. In the text messaging case, that means looking at 3,000 cases, about 1,600 of which have been prosecuted.

“We’re looking for anyone wrongfully prosecuted or wrongfully convicted,” he said, adding that next they will examine cases in which a person may have committed a crime but the case is tainted.

“I think a lot of people in the

Increased public safety

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 11-17, 2015

<<

Transmissions

From page 20

passing ones – the ‘success stories’ as I’ve heard a lot of cis people refer to them lately – and I think that pushes very unrealistic expectations for what transition is about and the results that are within the reach of the vast majority of the community. And I especially worry that that message can be damaging to young trans kids who just don’t know how to find any other narratives yet.”

What they initially started as a lark – they expected to only spread among “our friends and a few folks” – ignited social media as people took templates created by Frasier and Dolari to create their own Vanity Fair cover. These images show the true diversity of the transgender community: people of all gender presentations, all races and nation-

<<

Shooting deaths

From page 14

the incident happened, said Dollison had called that night for a ride. Her father and another man, the boyfriend of a relative, went to pick her up in her car. On the way back, they ran out of gas and were waiting for another family member to bring them some fuel when they were shot, Vance said.

One thing that’s “curious” to

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Military

From page 12

the principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs.

The change followed a similar one instituted by the Army in March.

In both branches of the military, neither gender dysphoria nor selfidentification as transgender is an automatic circumstance that generates involuntary separation.

For airmen, a recommendation for discharge because of gender dysphoria must be supported by a report of evaluation by a psychiatrist or Ph.D.-level clinical psychologist.

In addition, after consultation with medical professionals, a commander must determine that the condition interferes with duty requirements, including potential deployment, or duty performance.

Identification as transgender,

alities, and all ages have stepped up and shown their face to the world.

For me, I’m glad to see Jenner on the cover of Vanity Fair, and am more than willing to welcome her into the fold. I also agree with Frasier and Dolari that her beauty did help get her on this cover, though I feel she does have more than a little tenacity and acumen to back her up.

Now is not only Jenner’s time, but all of ours. The door is open, and it is time for all of us to step through.t Gwen Smith is strictly below the fold. You’ll find her on Twitter at @gwenners. This week, the Bay Area Reporter is running one of Smith’s classic columns, “The transgender documentary drinking game,” online. The column appeared in print March 31, 2005, a few months before the B.A.R.’s website went live.

Vance is how quiet the neighborhood had been that night.

People were “always playing sports and other things,” she said, but “this particular night, it was nothing. There was nobody out or anything. Nobody knew anything.

That was kind of weird to me.”

Cunningham asks that anyone with information related to the case, even if it seems small, contact him at daniel.cunningham@sfgov.org.t absent a record of poor duty performance, misconduct, or a medically disqualifying condition, is no longer a basis for involuntary separation from the Air Force.

If command recommends involuntary separation of an enlisted airman for gender dysphoria or for another reason and the enlisted airman has self-identified as transgender, separation action must first be reviewed by the secretary of the Air Force Personnel Council for recommendation, and is then decided by the director of the Air Force Review Boards Agency.

“This is a significant step forward for a portion of roughly 15,000 current transgender service members across all branches,” stated Allyson Robinson, director of policy at SPARTA, which is derived from Servicemembers, Partners, and Allies for Respect and Tolerance for All. “However, we need a consistent solution across all the services.”t

FREELANCE NEWS REPORTERS

Write for the best!

The Bay Area Reporter, the undisputed newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area’s LGBT community and the nation’s longest continuously-published and highest audited circulation LGBT newspaper, has immediate openings for Freelance Reporters.

Responsibilities include: attend assigned meetings or events; necessary interviews, and writing news articles weekly.

Coverage includes breaking news, City Hall, health, LGBT organizations, and other matters of interest to the community. Availability should include at least one of the following: weekday daytime hours, evenings or weekends to cover assigned events. News reporting experience preferred; newspaper background a plus. Candidates should demonstrate ability to write under deadline and be detail-oriented. Send cover letter, resume & writing samples to c.laird@ebar.com Cynthia Laird, News Editor,

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t

Legal Notices>> ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, 400 MC ALLISTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102 FILE CNC-15-551170

In the matter of the application of: CINDY LEE, 5429 B GEARY BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CINDY LEE is requesting that the name CINDY LEE; CYNTHIA LEE ENG; CYNTHIA LEE FENG, be changed to CYNTHIA LEE. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Room. 514 on the 23rd of July 2015 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

MAY 21, 28, JUNE 04, 11, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036487100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: VICTOR’S SNACK SHOP, 2380 SAN BRUNO AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed VICTOR RODRIGUEZ. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/17/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/18/15.

MAY 21, 28, JUNE 04, 11, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036488000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MANI-PEDI SPA, 1545 POLK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed QUYNH LAU. 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 05/18/15.

MAY 21, 28, JUNE 04, 11, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036488600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MUZZAMMAL K. QURESHI DBA QURESHI TRANSIT, 118 DECATUR COURT, HERCULES, CA 94547. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MUZZAMMAL K. QURESHI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/01/2014. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/18/15.

MAY 21, 28, JUNE 04, 11, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036481700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BINGHAM RENTALS, 682 SHOTWELL ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed EDWARD M. BINGHAM. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/14/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/14/15.

MAY 21, 28, JUNE 04, 11, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036479500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GREEN CONSTRUCTION BUILDER CORP, 176 CAPISTRANO AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LAWRENCE SITU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/18/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/13/15.

MAY 21, 28, JUNE 04, 11, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036477600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EAST BAY SIGN CO, 870 HARRISON, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed IMAGEWORKS MANUFACTURING INC. (IL). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/12/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/12/15.

MAY 21, 28, JUNE 04, 11, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036487900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE SMOG SHOP, 276 11TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CHRIS DISCOUNT MUFFLER & BRAKE INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/18/15.

MAY 21, 28, JUNE 04, 11, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036453500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STREAT FLEET, 428 11TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed STREAT FLEET LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/27/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/27/15.

MAY 21, 28, JUNE 04, 11, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036486700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STORIE’Z STYLE BBQ MOBILE, 2261 MARKET ST #643, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed STORIE’Z STYLE BBQ MOBILE LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/14/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/18/15.

MAY 21, 28, JUNE 04, 11, 2015 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-035803500

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: FLOURISH SKIN CARE AND WAXING, 1905 UNION ST #5, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by MACAELA P. STEELE. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/25/14.

MAY 21, 28, JUNE 04, 11, 2015

NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINSTER ESTATE OF JUANITA TENORIO IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-15-298805

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of Juanita Tenorio aka Juanita Cole Tenorio. A Petition for Probate has been filed by Anthony G. Tenorio in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that Anthony G. Tenorio be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: June 22, 2015, 9:00am, Dept., Probate, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250.

A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: Melvin Neal, 633 West 5th Street, Suite 2800, Los Angeles, CA 90071; Ph. (213) 683-5331.

JUNE 04, 11, 18, 2015 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-15-551220

In the matter of the application of: MICHAEL YINGXIAN HUANG, 418 SILVER AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner MICHAEL YINGXIAN HUANG, is requesting that the name MICHAEL YINGXIAN HUANG, be changed to SKY YINGXIAN HUANG. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514, Room 514 on the 11th of August 2015 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

JUNE 04, 11, 18, 25, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036481500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: NORTHERN SKY HEALING, 201 DUNCAN ST #5, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KATHLEEN WHITING. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/14/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/14/15.

MAY 28, JUNE 04, 11, 18, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036494500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: URBAN PACIFIC DENTAL ASSOCIATES, 450 SUTTER ST #2640, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed WENLI LOO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/19/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/21/15.

MAY 28, JUNE 04, 11, 18, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036485100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ROOMSTORM, 5758 GEARY BLVD #545, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed WALKSOURCE, INC. (DE). 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 05/15/15.

MAY 28, JUNE 04, 11, 18, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036492500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RAREFIELD DESIGN BUILD, 766 VALENCIA ST 3RD FLR, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed ONE INCH TO THE LEFT, INC. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/20/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/20/15.

MAY 28, JUNE 04, 11, 18, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036490600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: DUTCHMAN’S FLAT, 601 19TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed MORTAR & MASH ONE, LLC (DE). 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 05/20/15.

MAY 28, JUNE 04, 11, 18, 2015

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036490700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE PEARL, 601 19TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed MORTAR & MASH ONE, LLC (DE). 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 05/20/15.

MAY 28, JUNE 04, 11, 18, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036486600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AQUA SPA, 14 CLEMENT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118-2418. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed AQUA SPA, LLC (CA).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/01/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/18/15.

MAY 28, JUNE 04, 11, 18, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036496300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: REVEILLE COFFEE ROASTERS, 610 LONG BRIDGE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94158. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed SHY GIRL LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/21/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/22/15.

MAY 28, JUNE 04, 11, 18, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036474000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HUSHCONCERTS, 1 AVENUE OF THE PALMS #131, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94130. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed MAMALAYLA, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/11/15.

MAY 28, JUNE 04, 11, 18, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036511600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ITAFIT, 1910 JACKSON ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed SERGIO MELISSANO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/29/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/01/15.

JUNE 04, 11, 18, 25, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036479400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ACUTE SALON, 3450 18TH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed LINDA THOMAS-MAYFIELD. 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 05/13/15.

JUNE 04, 11, 18, 25, 2015 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT NOTICE TO PROPOSERS GENERAL INFORMATION The SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT DISTRICT (“District”), 300 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, California, is advertising for proposals for Underwriting Services for Issuance and Refunding of General Obligation Bonds and Sales Tax Revenue Bonds, Request for Proposals (RFP) No. 6M2051, on or about June 3, 2015, with proposals due by 2:00 PM local time, Tuesday, June 30, 2015.

DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District is soliciting the services of a qualified investment banker to assist the District in assembling an underwriting management group in connection with the issuance of General Obligation Bonds and Sales Tax Revenue Bonds, including refunding bonds. The first issuances contemplated by BART will be refunding bonds of its outstanding Bonds that may be currently refunded. The District in conjunction with this RFP will be assessing the advantages to the District of a negotiated sale of such bonds.

The bonds to be issued will refund Bonds of outstanding General Obligation Bonds and Sales Tax Revenue Bonds. The District also reserves the right to select Senior Managers and one or more Co-Managers in this process.

The District encourages firms to team up and propose as a team.

A Pre-Proposal Meeting will be held on Friday, June 12, 2015. The Pre-Proposal Meeting will convene at 10:00 AM at BART’s Administrative Office located at the Kaiser Center Building, 300 Lakeside Drive, 15th Floor, Room 1500, Oakland, CA. At the Pre-Proposal Meeting the District’s Non-Discrimination Program for Subcontracting and Small Business Program will be explained. All questions regarding MBE/ WBE participation should be directed to Ron Granada, Office of Civil Rights at (510) 4646103 – FAX (510) 464-7262.

WHERE TO OBTAIN OR SEE RFP DOCUMENTS

(Available on or after June 4, 2015) Copies of the RFP may be obtained: • By written request to Gary Leong, Contract Administrator, San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, 300 Lakeside Drive, 17th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612.Reference RFP No.6M2051 – Underwriting Services for Issuance and Refunding of General Obligation Bonds and Sales Tax Revenue Bonds and send requests to Fax No. (510) 464-7650.

• By arranging pick up at the above address.

Call the District’s Contract Administrator, Gary Leong (510-287-4717), prior to pickup of the RFP. • By E-mail request to the District’s Contract Administrator Gary Leong, Gary.Leong@ BART.gov.

• By attending the Pre-proposal Meeting and obtaining the RFP at the meeting.

Dated at Oakland, California this 1st day of June, 2015. _/s/ Jacqueline R. Edwards Kenneth A. Duron, District Secretary San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District 6/11/15 CNS-2759528# BAY AREA REPORTER

▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

Legal Notices>> NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINSTER ESTATE OF YOSHIO NOGUCHI IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-15-298823

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of YOSHIO NOGUCHI. A Petition for Probate has been filed by JUNJI SUZUKI in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that JUNJI SUZUKI be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: July 01, 2015, 9:00A.M. Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102 Civic Center Courthouse. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: EDWARD S. MIYAUCHI (SBN 230553), MARSHALL SUZUKI LAW GROUP, LLP, 150 SPEAR ST #725, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105 Ph. (415) 618-0090.

JUNE 11, 18, 25, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036504700

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE AVENUES SPA, 3929 CALIFORNIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed HENRY H. NGUYEN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/27/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/28/15.

JUNE 04, 11, 18, 25, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036505400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CAPIULI ARTS, 171 LIBERTY ST #401, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed KENNETH LEAF. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/28/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/28/15.

JUNE 04, 11, 18, 25, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036503800

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ALEX ILNICKI CONSULTING, 3876 CALIFORNIA, UNIT 3, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALEXEI LEON ILNICKI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/27/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/27/15.

JUNE 04, 11, 18, 25, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036503100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRANCISCO BALLOONS, 533 BAKER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CLIFF COURRIER. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/27/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/27/15.

JUNE 04, 11, 18, 25, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036489900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: OCTAVIA; CLEMENT; NOIR LUXE; SUMMER & SAGE; AVA; CAMILLA; HAYES; 3130 20TH ST #225, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed STRAPLESS INC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/19/15.

JUNE 04, 11, 18, 25, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036496600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MYMY, 1500 CALIFORNIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed DOWNTOWN MY MY, INC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/22/15.

JUNE 04, 11, 18, 25, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036501900

PUBLIC NOTICE

Pursuant to Section1988 of the Civil Code, notice is hereby given that One Of A Kind will cause to be sold at Public Auction at Ghirardelli Square 900 North Point San Francisco, CA 94109 following described property deem to have been abandoned by One Of A Kind Retail Store.

INVENTORY: Woodworking of Bruce Abbott incl. bowls, vessels, jewelry boxes, pens, letter openers, misc. decoration items, carved animal and abstract carvings and all inventory of store & storage area.

Said Public Auction will take place online only at www.huismanauction.com and begins ending at 10AM on Tuesday, June 30, 2015. Auction conducted by Huisman Auctions, Inc. 209-745-4390

June 11-17, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Classifieds The

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CA BOND # 0447219 JUNE 11, 18, 25, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036517300

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ACTISYNC; SERAPHIM PORTAL; OITATIO; THE HAPPY CEO; INSPIRED ALTERNATIVES; 45 BROSNAN ST #9, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ALEX OMAR JOERG BRANDIN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/03/15.

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JUNE 11, 18, 25, JULY 02, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036515400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: VILLYSF, 2795 41ST AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JILL MYERS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/01/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/02/15.

Household Services>>

JUNE 11, 18, 25, JULY 02, 2015 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINSTER ESTATE OF DAMIEN DONGSUN KIM IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-15-298833

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of DAMIEN DONGSUN KIM. A Petition for Probate has been filed by CRAIG KIM in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that CRAIG KIM be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: JUN 29, 2015, 9:00A.M. Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94104, Probate Branch.

If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk.

Attorney for petitioner: HEATHER R. STONEMAN, ESQ. (SB# 214917) JEWEL & STONEMAN, LLP, 220 MONTGOMERY ST #678, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104 Ph. (415) 394-6800.

JUNE 11, 18, 25, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036522100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WEB REVAMP, 18 BEAVER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed BERNARD ARIAS. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/08/15.

JUNE 11, 18, 25, JULY 02, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036525000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AGUILERA TRUCKING, 1065 IOWA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed JUAN ANTONIO AGUILERA. 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 06/09/15.

JUNE 11, 18, 25, JULY 02, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036496100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KNOW RESEARCH LLC, 605 MARKET #505, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed KNOW RESEARCH LLC, (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/27/15.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ZAMAN CLINIC, 3600 CALIFORNIA ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed TAUHEED ZAMAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/22/15.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/22/15.

JUNE 04, 11, 18, 25, 2015

JUNE 11, 18, 25, JULY 02, 2015

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036517600

When you join our team, you’ll be part of the fastest growing plumbing company in San Francisco! We offer: > Great pay and incentive programs > A positive work environment > A company vehicle > Company uniforms & equipment > Medical benefits > Paid vacation & holidays NOTE: This position is based in San Francisco. Please no phone calls Required experience: •Plumbing: 1 year To apply, visit: http://mrrooter.com/work-for-mrrooter?fid=40

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ESPANA IRON WORKS, 1318 FITZGERALD AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GABRIEL CANEDO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/04/15.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/04/15.

Pet Services>>

JUNE 11, 18, 25, JULY 02, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036517400

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JUST THE LITTLE THINGS, 601 VAN NESS AVE E805, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed JUST THE LITTLE THINGS, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/13/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/03/15.

JUNE 11, 18, 25, JULY 02, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036515000

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HEALTHY PLACES, 5128 GEARY BLVD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed MELANIE LOFTUS CONSULTING LLC (CA).

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/20/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/02/15.

JUNE 11, 18, 25, JULY 02, 2015 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-036518500

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: OREILLYS IRISH BAR & RESTAURANT, OREILLYS BAR, OREILLYS IRISH PUB & RESTAURANT, OREILLYS PUB, OREILLYS PUBLIC HOUSE, 1237 POLK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed 1237 POLK STEET, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/03/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/04/15.

JUNE 11, 18, 25, JULY 02, 2015 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-033347202

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: SERAPHIM BLUEPRINT, 45 BROSNAN ST #9, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94103. This business was conducted by an individual and signed by ALEX OMAR JOERG BRANDIN. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 02/14/2011.

JUNE 11, 18, 25, JULY 02, 2015

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Together is a beautiful thing.

This is a moment to celebrate. You’ve worked hard to get this far, and look at what you’ve accomplished. At Wells Fargo, we recognize your successes, and are committed to supporting the financial needs of our LGBT community, customers, and team members. Because when we work together to realize our dreams — it’s nothing short of a beautiful thing. wellsfargo.com/lgbt

©  Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC. (_)

Castro capsules

28

War story

30

Out &About

Garden party

28

O&A

27

Vol. 45 • No. 24 • June 11-17, 2015

www.ebar.com/arts

Chinese contemporary!

by Sura Wood

I

n recent years, the Asian Art Museum, an institution deeply embedded and perhaps most comfortable in art of the distant past, has lurched unsteadily toward modernity with a few flawed exhibitions that could be characterized as noble failures. Now comes 28 Chinese, their latest embrace of contemporary art, and it can be counted as a surefooted success. It features 48 works by 28 cutting-edge, individualistic Chinese artists, some of whom are getting their first exposure to West Coast audiences. Ranging in age

from 29-61, they respond to modern China, and their artwork, taken together, forms a loose cultural portrait of a vast country and powerful force in the world that many Westerners know only from books and media reports. One thing is for sure: China has a thriving art scene with skilled, imaginative practitioners who have a lot on their minds and much to say. The most exciting works here are the installations, which is not to say that the abstract paintings, narrative pieces, videos and color photographs aren’t equally provocative or fun.

See page 34 >>

“Boat” (2012) by Zhu Jinshi. Xuan paper, bamboo, and cotton thread.

Courtesy of Rubell Family Collection, Miami/Zhu Jinshi/ARS, New York

Express train to Hades

by Richard Dodds

W

ith the canon of revivable Cockettes musicals fairly well exhausted, Thrillpeddlers is looking into a less hazy past for its eighth Theatre of the Ridiculous revival production. Club Inferno, a “glam rock musical” first staged in 2000, opens this week at the Thrillpeddlers’ Hypnodrome home.

The first Ridiculous revival production featured Charles Busch’s Theodora, She-Bitch of the Byzantium. That was in 2008, but the following year a new tradition was established when the Cockettes’ Pearls Over Shanghai opened a limited run that extended to 22 months. Almost every year thereafter brought back another acid-washed Cockettes musical from the early 1970s, or at least some assemblage of the material that had been preserved from those shows.

See page 35 >>

Peggy L’eggs, right, plays a recently deceased rock diva who encounters Noah Haydon’s Cleopatra in hell in Thrillpeddlers’ revival of Club Inferno.

{ SECOND OF THREE SECTIONS }

davidallenstudio.com

ASIAN ART MUSEUM

JUN 5–AUG 16, 2015 W W W. A S I A N A RT. O R G

#28CHINESE

28 Chinese is organized by the Rubell Family Collection, Miami. Presentation at the Asian Art Museum is made possible with the generous support of China Art Foundation, Gorretti and Lawrence Lui, Silicon Valley Bank, The Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Fund for Excellence in Exhibitions and Presentations, William Mathews Brooks, Lucy Sun and Warren Felson, and an anonymous donor. Media sponsor: The California Sunday Magazine.Image: Rain-washed Sky, 2008, by Lan Zhenghui (Chinese, b. 1959). Ink on Xuan paper mounted on canvas. Courtesy of Rubell Family Collection, Miami. © Lan Zhenghui.

<< Out There

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 11-17, 2015

It’s the hard-knock life

by Roberto Friedman

L

et’s face it, the musical Annie was old-fashioned even when it opened on Broadway in 1977 (book: Thomas Meehan; music: Charles Strouse; lyrics: Martin Charnin).

But it’s still a crowd-pleaser for adults and children alike, as you can discover for yourself with the SHN touring production now on the boards at the Golden Gate Theatre (through June 14).

Out There was there on opening night.

Part of Annie’s eternal appeal lies in its sunny optimism, exemplified by the curly-haired orphan of the title (Issie Swickle).

Partly it’s due to its ear-worm-laden score (“Tomorrow,” “Little Girls,” “Easy Street”). Also, it’s heartening to see a Democratic President who’s charismatic, forceful and effective (FDR, played by Jeffrey B. Duncan). It’s righteous to find federal work programs, a social safety net

and Keynesian economic stimulus treated as the key to a happy ending, rather than vilified by know-nothing Republicans.

And it’s refreshing to find, in “Daddy” Oliver Warbucks (Gilgamesh Taggett), an obscenely rich individual who uses his wealth for the civic good rather than for self-aggrandizement (plaques, bridge namings, City Hall busts).

The 2015 return of Annie is tempered, however, by all that we have come to know since its last revival. Warbucks’ absolute control over the U.S. government is uncannily matched by postCitizens United billionaires buying elections to their hearts’ delight (byebye, democracy!), and his use of FBI surveillance for his own ends is post”Patriot” Act creepy.

Still, this is an entertainment you’ve got to love, whether it’s sleazy Miss Hannigan (Lynn Andrews, chewing the road-show scenery) decrying the omnipresence of “Little Girls,” or slick

t

Bert Healy (Cameron Mitchell Bell) reminding radio listeners that “You’re Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile.”

We’re happy to report that Annie’s arfready sidekick Sandy (Sunny, alternating with Macy) hits all his marks with panache.

Endnotes

Director Todd Haynes’ lesbian film Carol, starring Cate Blanchett, was the toast of the Cannes Film Fest. He told The New York Times, “I’m also, like, really, marriage? I’m not going to over-romanticize pre-Stonewall gay life, but there was no other choice but to form a critical subtext to dominant society and to use wit and humor and art and language to basically stand outside. And now the whole issue of standing outside anything I think is the question today.”

Dept. of that-word-doesn’tmean-what-you-think-it-does: “Supervisor Mark Farrell said the development fees are the primary funding source of below marketrate housing, and by halting it ‘we literally are going to be shooting ourselves in the foot.’”

In the dance column “Ballet beat” in our May 28 issue, San Francisco Ballet School Trainee Chisako Oga’s name was misspelled. Further, since publication, both Ms. Oga and her partner Haruo Niyama have been promoted to Apprenticeship with SFB. Congratulations, up-and-comers!t

Joan Marcus

Gilgamesh Taggett as Oliver Warbucks and Issie Swickle as Annie in the “Something Was Missing” number from SHN’s Annie at the Golden Gate Theatre.

Saskatchewan sojourn

by Tim Pfaff

A

t least since the first meaning of “gay” has been “homosexual,” same-sexuals of all genders have flocked to cities for the opportunity to “be themselves.” It wasn’t always so, and Patrick Gale’s new novel A Place Called Winter (Tinder Press) evokes an earlier era, when sexual outliers took to the wide open spaces to find freedom from societal constraints. One of Britain’s most prolific gay writers, Gale reaches across the Atlantic to re-imagine the story of his own great-grandfather, who took to the wilds of territorial Canada to escape a repressive if putatively more civilized Britain.

There seems to be no evidence that the real-life Harry Crane was gay, but the protagonist of Gale’s novel is,

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albeit secretly, the secrecy commonplace in suffocating Edwardian England. The fictional Harry is a loving husband and father whose sexual emotional needs are met in a clandestine affair with a voice coach, Hector Browning.

(Harry has a stammer that, like Billy Budd’s, is brought on by situational anxiety.)

During their tryst, Gale writes, “Terror of discovery would steal up on [Harry] now in idle moments, usually amidst family. In a crowded, overheated scene, it was like an icy draught only he could detect. And yet, paradoxically, this terror seemed to form an intrinsic part of the excitement his meetings with Browning brought him.” Found out and disgraced, Harry dutifully submits to his family’s command that he not sully their reputation by going abroad.

That sojourn, the book’s central episode, is as timeless and vast as the plains of Saskatchewan in which it is set. It is there that Harry, like other misfits of his day, moved to homestead and make a new, mostly solitary life. Reaching his destination by a train route that designates its stops alphabetically, Harry is deposited in the aptly named Winter, where he begins cultivation of the 160 acres that will become his if he succeeds. There his new life unfolds with the plainness of prairie sage.

Gale’s prose is straightforward, challenging the reader only with the quasi-palindromic laying out of his plot. The book begins and roughly ends in the misleadingly named Bethel, a mental institution of mysterious purpose where the post-Winter, broken Harry receives creepy hydro- and hypnotherapy to treat whatever he can be induced to name as his problem. It doesn’t take a divining rod to know what that is.

The author’s strength is characterization, achieved through effective dialogue. Even minor characters hold their ground, and the story’s big four step off the page.

What Harry lacks in complexity he

makes up in warmth and sympathetic interactions with others, who sculpt him out of a block of ice like individual jets of water. Their names can be bothersome.

The “hurricane” hiding in Harry Crane is a leitmotif in the novel, and most of the other characters have names Gale almost forces you to remember.

Brother and sister Petra and Paul Slaymaker, his homesteading neighbors on the plain, are also running, from the consequences of Paul’s impetuousness. “He gets these enthusiasms for people,” Petra explains, “and then he goes too far.”

Harry becomes so enmeshed with them that he marries the one and romances the other. Both are sharply drawn. You want Harry to become more involved with them. On the dark side is the land-broker Troels Munck. A self-appointed official fronting a black-hearted serial rapist and murderer, sexually ambivalent but omnivorous, he keeps reappearing menacingly, as if from behind the stage curtain.

The idyll at the center of the plot is the unlikely love that develops between Harry and Paul, consummated at first in an alfresco swim worthy of D.H. Lawrence. “The thing growing between them,” Gale writes, “which, with the superstition of new happiness, Harry hesitated to name, went undiscussed and barely acknowledged. At the end of a day’s labor, one or other of them would suggest a swim, and swim they did, the pleasure of it boosted by its teasing delay of what followed.”

An urban gay reader of today might dismiss that as too facile a plot line, whereas a widely traveled one could attest to the near predictability of such loves in unlikely places. For this reader, the problems come with Gale’s heated plot resolution. In the final chapters there’s a “spirit quest” led by a gender-ambiguous Native North American, an almost-great escape, and in the anticlimactic final pages, a dufus-ex-machina ending.t

t

Theatre>>

June 11-17, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 27

Dysfunction junction

by Richard Dodds

Grey Gardens was a name bestowed without irony a century ago upon the spacious East Hampton summer cottage that became the home for Edith Bouvier Beale and her same-named daughter for 50 years of depreciating circumstances.

Big Edie and Little Edie, as they were known, were respectively the aunt and first cousin to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis and sister Lee Bouvier Radziwill – a connection that helps propel the first act and created the tabloid publicity that brought the documentarians Albert and David Maysles onto the squalid scene in the mid-1970s.

The first act is set in 1941, when both Grey Gardens and the Beales are still clutching at their glory. Librettist Doug Wright has taken factual threads to weave a scenario that hits key points giving some context to the 1973 scenes to come. That’s why we have little Jackie and Lee Bouvier scampering about auntie’s house for no apparent reason other than to remind us of the Edies’ connection to future American royalty.

Little Edie is, in Wright’s retelling, all but married off to Joe Kennedy, older brother to JFK, and Big Edie is planning a soiree to announce the nuptials. The bickering between the Edies that becomes explosive in the

G

rey Gardens was the first Broadway musical to be adapted from a documentary, and that documentary was a disquietingly intimate portrait of a mother and daughter on a downward spiral of enabling dependency. The creators of the 2006 musical, which was first staged off-Broadway, tried to open up the story with a flashback first act and by occasionally trooping on the firstact characters to augment what is essentially a two-person musical in the second act. While Christine Ebersole’s highly praised performance as the mother in the first act and the daughter in the second gave Grey Gardens some Broadway heft, it’s essentially a chamber musical and a bad fit for a large proscenium theater.

But it is very much at home at the Gough Street Playhouse. This is a small venue with audiences seated on three sides of the playing area. Custom Made Theatre’s strong production lets you see the musical in a new way – the way that the documentary itself put you in the middle of a household of extreme dysfunction. It doesn’t quite solve the drawn-out exposition of the first act, but the intimacy helps illuminate the funny-sad second act.

Jay Yamada

Heather Orth and Julianna Lustenader as Big Edie and Little Edie Beale share a brief moment of happy togetherness in the musical Grey Gardens at the Gough Street Playhouse.

second act first manifests itself over a seeming trifle: How many songs will Big Edie perform for the guests with her live-in homosexual pianist at the ready? But eventually, the possessive Big Edie spitefully scares off Joe Kennedy by telling him, basically, that her daughter is a slut.

The first-act songs by Scott Frankel and Michel Korie often feel wedged into the sometimes-stilted dialogue. But then, into a situation that seems far less hospitable

for musical-theater treatment, the songs become natural extensions of the two Edies in the second act.

Little Edie (now 57) grabs at the chance to revive quashed dreams of being a performer.

Heather Orth has the choice role of Big Edie in the first act and Little Edie in the second act, and she moves from flamboyant matron to flamboyant neighborhood eccentric with panache. After intermission Mary Gibboney takes over the

role of Big Edie, now 78 and mostly bedridden, and she pulls us into her world of a cantankerous and frightened woman who still knows how to push Little Edie’s buttons.

Their only visitor is handyman Jerry – both Edies competitively flirt with him – and Nathan Brown plays the role with the same simplicity as he does Joe Kennedy in the first act.

It is a little hard to believe that the capable Juliana Lustenader’s lissome Little Edie of the first act would grow up to be Orth’s middle-aged version of the character. Dave Sikula plays Big Edie’s father with scowling conviction, and David Aaron Brown accompanies the cast from an onstage piano – in the first act in the guise of Big Edie’s pet musician.

Director Stuart Bousel has deftly staged the production in the small space, with the two primary roles of the second act eliciting performances with an authenticity appropriate to material derived from a documentary. It’s good to have the chance to see Grey Gardens in a home that lets the musical be its odd little self.t Grey Gardens will run at the Gough Street Playhouse through July 5. Tickets are $20-$50. Go to custommade.org.

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<< Film

28 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 11-17, 2015

Hawks, Crowe & frequent fliers

by David Lamble

R

epertory cinema takes a bit of a back seat in this month of LGBT Pride, but what the Castro Theatre programmers are serving up from June 11-17 is nothing to sneeze at.

Hatari! (1962) Dubbed “the Grey Fox of Hollywood,” Indiana-born director Howard Hawks (18961977) was a Tinseltown pioneer before the movies could talk and long after they had run out of witty things to say. “Hatari!,” Swahili for “Danger!,” is a unique Hawks-eye view of a big-game hunter (John “Duke” Wayne, at his most deliciously macho) who land rovers across the African plain trapping big animals for Western zoos.

Chatting with director/film historian Peter Bogdanovich, Hawks explained that even beyond his classic screwball comedy classics (Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday), his films were often a mix of pleasures that offered audiences permission to laugh. “The comedy crept up on people – they weren’t told to laugh. And the more dangerous, the more exciting, the easier it is to get a laugh.” I still fondly remember a usually dour Unitarian Churchraised gay roommate who laughed his guts out at the sight of the prim Katharine Hepburn parading her

John Cusack as romantic loser Rob in director Stephen Frears’ High Fidelity.

pet leopard, Baby, on a leash along the sidewalks of New York. (6/11; plays with 1981’s African-set wildlife drama Roar.)

Say Anything & High Fidelity (1989 & 2000) This John Cusackturns-49 double bill is an extra candy-flavored treat for fans already gorging on his turn channeling Brian Wilson along with Paul Dano in Bill Pohlad’s Love & Mercy.

Say Anything features a 20-something Cusack acing Cameron

Crowe’s writer/director debut.

Cusack’s Lloyd Dobler is a wellmeaning martial-arts-aspiring/ boombox-wielding screw-up whose pursuit of high school’s class brain Ione Skye has a truckload of unexpected consequences. Cusack’s real-life sister Joan plays his movie sis here.

High Fidelity Hold on to your $12 Castro seat (with possible door prizes) as Cusack morphs into romantic loser Rob, who uses his catbird seat

at a barely surviving Chicago record store to chart the ups and mostly downs of his love life. Store sidekicks (Jack Black and Todd Louiso) add misanthropic riffs. (both 6/12) Sing-along Sound of Music You know the drill: follow the bouncing ball across the Castro screen. (6/13, 14) I’m So Excited Spanish master Pedro Almodovar is at the controls in this madcap simulated flight scheduled to fly a rowdy human

woman’s life is irrevocably altered when the three young men closest to her (her brother and two of his chums) march off to the “Great War.” An impressive debut feature from director James Kent (written

by Juliette Towhidi, based on Vera Brittain’s memoir), the story opens

as Vera (Alicia Vikander) challenges her old-guard parents (Dominic West and Miranda Richardson), demanding to be allowed to follow her dear friend Roland (Kit Harington) to Oxford.

“What if I told you I wanted to be a writer?”

“Oh for god’s sake, stop it!”

The outbreak of war in Europe shatters dreams and deprives Vera of the company not only of Roland, but also of her sweet brother Edward (Taron Egerton) and his close friend Victor (Colin Morgan).

In a pivotal scene, Vera listens as a young boy challenges fate. “How many generations get a chance to do something like this? I can’t let others do my duty for me!”

Testament of Youth is a reminder of a not-so-distant time when young women like Vera, possessing spunk and ambition, couldn’t vote, were thought to be too delicate for a proper education, and could only attend Oxford with a female chaperone. While the Merchant/Ivory films A Room with a View and Howards End connected with art-house audiences by stressing closeted novelist E.M. Forster’s upbeat views on the possibilities of pre-war Edwardian society, Testament of Youth is informed by the sensibility of a disillusioned but strong-willed young woman. Vera’s embryonic pacifism is formed not only by the bitter

t

cargo from Madrid to Mexico City.

The highlight is a queer male flightcrew disco lip-synching to the title song. It’s as if the Gotham subwayhijack thriller The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 had been reconstructed for the screen by a Spanish Mel Brooks.

Wild Tales (2014) Almodovar disciple Damian Szifron offers six shorts on similarly perilous themes. (both 6/16) North by Northwest (1959) A fabulous twin spin with the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock illustrates both why the British-born/ American-naturalized cinema genius was so on top of his game in the 1950s, and how the message got a little mangled by the 70s. North by Northwest is one of eight features Hitch pulled off with either the suave Cary Grant or the versatile Jimmy Stewart in the lead role.

Grant is supposed to have complained to Hitchcock that the Ernest Lehman script – in which his ad-man character, Roger O. Thorhill, is kidnapped, forced to ingest huge quantities of bourbon, lied to by a beautiful femme fatale (Eva Marie Saint), pursued by a killer crop-duster pilot, and finally has to duke it out with a suspicious effeminate bad guy on top of Mount Rushmore (literally inside Lincoln’s nose) – made absolutely no See page 29 >>

Stolen youth

by David Lamble

W

hat does war mean to a really young person? As a kid, I always thought of WWI as my father’s war. Later exposure to such classics as All Quiet on the Western Front and Sergeant York would

broaden my outlook, but none so much as a new British film that makes clear how much Western societies were changed in a world where peace never returned. Testament of Youth (opens Friday at the Clay & Century 9) is the poignant story of how an independent young

fates of her three guys, but also by the searing experience of tending to a dying young German officer near the front in France. In a calculated move that pays off, the filmmakers never take us to the actual battlefront, the grotesque frontline trenches where men lay about in mud and fecal squalor, sometimes within earshot of enemy soldiers so like themselves.

For idealistic young Europeans unfamiliar with the horrors of modern warfare first glimpsed in the American Civil War, the “Great War” would be a shattering experience of an order of magnitude perhaps only hinted at for later generations by Pearl Harbor, 9/11, and the seemingly perpetual hostilities made possible by digital weapons in cyberspace.

The real-life Vera completed her memoir in the early 1930s, right about the time of the Japanese invasion of China and Herr Hitler’s annexation of ever-greater chunks of Central Europe. While popular for a short time, her peace manifesto would come to seem disloyal and unpatriotic in a world hurtling towards a truly global conflict. She died at 77 in 1970, with a resolve never to betray the memory of the young men she didn’t get to grow old with. “Our generation will never be young again! Our youth has been stolen from us!”t

Laurie Sparham, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Kit Harington as Roland Leighton and Alicia Vikander as Vera Brittain in director James Kent’s Testament of Youth.

t

Music>>

June 11-17, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 29

International stylings at DSH

by Philip Campbell

F

or the past two weeks Davies Symphony Hall has seen familiar guest conductor Charles Dutoit take charge of the San Francisco Symphony in concerts sharing an internationally flavored repertoire that also featured luscious helpings of music and arrangements by composer Maurice Ravel. The “postcards” theme of the programming included only one large selection that could be called markedly un-Gallic, but the guest soloist in the very English-sounding Cello Concerto by Sir Edward Elgar was French artist Gautier Capucon.

Last week’s program was publicized as The Rhythms and Romance of Spain, though there was only one Spanish composer on the bill. Manuel de Falla’s moody Nights in the Gardens of Spain proved suitably hushed and mysterious, with piano solos by Javier Perianes illuminating a dark, hothouse atmosphere. It is a reflective score, and Perianes made the most of his moments amidst Dutoit’s rather stiff control of the richly textured orchestra.

The night began with a very precise and luxuriantly played Alborada del gracioso by Ravel. It proved an exciting overture for a satisfying and well-planned program. The second half was given to a concert performance of Ravel’s subtly sexy one-act comic opera L’Heure espagnole (The Spanish Hour).

American lyric mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard is of Argentinean ancestry on her mother’s side, and her Latin good looks made her persuasively Hispanic (and charmingly seductive) in the central role of the would-be naughty wife Concepcion. She also sings with a lovely tone and suitably saucy French accent. Try as she might, her character is thwarted in her attempts at flirtation and adultery as the slim but amusing plot unfolds.

Married to the rather dim but ultimately successful clockmaker Torquemada (an endearing enactment by tenor Jean-Paul Fouchecourt) and awaiting a tryst with tenor John Mark Ainsley as the gushing poet Gonzalve, Concepcion tries repeatedly to get handsome muleteer Ramiro out of her husband’s shop and out of the way.

He’s just waiting for a watch repair.

Another suitor arrives to complicate matters further as the banker Don Inigo Gomez (a very funny turn by baritone David Wilson-Johnson)

<<

Courtesy SFS

Courtesy SFS

Guest conductor Charles Dutoit.

French cellist Gautier Capucon.

pitches Concepcion some woo and ends up hiding inside a large grandfather clock.

Baritone Jean-Luc Ballestra started slow and built intensity as the shy but well-built muleteer. When he and Concepcion ultimately realize their mutual attraction, they and librettist Franc-Nohain and the sweetly sensuous music of Ravel all share a very Gallic wink with the audience. After all, this is a Frenchman’s view of sunny Spain. Dutoit gave careful attention to Ravel’s

delicious orchestral detail, and all of the believably idiomatic singers made a happy meal of the swift wink-and-a-smile diversion.

The week before, Dutoit got things moving with Russian-inNew York Igor Stravinsky’s Jeu de cartes (The Card Game, Ballet in Three Deals). The composer himself led the SFO’s first and only previous performances. The 23-minute score is a brisk example of Stravinsky’s neoclassical writing, and based on recordings of other ballets con-

ducted by the composer, Dutoit’s no-nonsense approach seemed in keeping with his intentions. The orchestra was certainly drilled to perfection, but we had sort of hoped for a little more humor and swing.

We definitely got more emotion out of the following item on the program. Elgar’s big and nobly beautiful Cello Concerto also clocks in at less than half an hour, but it seems much longer and far more expressive. The maestro surrounded soloist Capucon with a deeply sympathetic orchestral backdrop. The young virtuoso offered a dry-eyed and pensive performance that didn’t shrink from bravura, but never strayed into sentimentality. This was not the first time I have appreciated

Capucon’s clean and fresh approach to repertory classics. His interpretations of the Dvorak and Schumann concertos stand convincingly strong next to his equally brilliant ventures into more modern scores.

The big Ravel orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition closed the concert. It has been another international jog with the famously-former (it wasn’t a happy split) artistic director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for 25 years and current Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London. Gautier Capucon is also becoming a regular here, and we are glad to welcome them both back again.t

FEB 11–JUN 29 2015

Castro Theatre

From page 28

sense. But that’s exactly the point of this brilliant cold war-era adventure/ dark comedy, reportedly partially inspired by the Shakespearean notion of a protagonist being “mad North

by Northwest.”

Family Plot (1976) This final entry in the Hitchcock canon is no less cleverly plotted (a reprise screenwriting contribution from Ernest Lehman) or acted than his 50s gems, but lacks the high-wattage star power of a Grant or a Stewart. Instead, he directs a quirky ensemble of grade A character actors: Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern (Laura’s dad), William Devane and the inimitable Karen Black, who gallantly and hilariously stood by her man Jack Nicholson in perhaps the most iconic 70s rebel-anthem flick, Bob Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces. Family Plot, with its fake spiritualist and madcap baddriving scenes, stands out for perhaps Hitch’s oddest ensemble, a quartet of great actors, all possessing “eye power.” And to top it off, it ends on a wink from the super-smart Harris. (both 6/17)t More info: castrotheatre.com.

IN THE PRESIDIO 104 MONTGOMERY S A N F RA NC IS C O WALTDISNEY.ORG

Revel in the golden age of Hollywood through an exhibition of photography from George Hurrell—one of America’s finest photographers, credited with creating the opulent glamour portrait of the 1930s and 40s. See rare and vintage prints of Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, Carole Lombard, and more, including Hurrell’s uncle-in-law, Walt Disney.

Image: George Hurrell, Carole Lombard in The Princess Comes Across, 1936; courtesy of Pancho Barnes Trust Estate Archive, © Estate of George Hurrell. Lights! Camera! Glamour! The Photography of George Hurrell is produced by The Walt Disney Family Museum. The Walt Disney Family Museum® Disney Enterprises, Inc. | © 2015 The Walt Disney Family Museum | The Walt Disney Family Museum is not affiliated with Disney Enterprises, Inc.

<< Out&About

Out &About

O&A

30 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 11-17, 2015

Thu 18 Fresh Meat Festival

Zoom

by Jim Provenzano

J

une’s Pride-themed events just doubled the amount of worthy arts and cultural stuff taking place this week. Pick up the pace, or zoom around at your best trot, because it’s just getting busier by the minute.

Kegan Marling

Thu 11 Angels in America @ Lohman Theatre, Los Altos Hills Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer and Tonywinning “gay fantasia” about Reagan-era AIDS and Mormons in Manhattan gets an East Bay production by Foothill Theatre Arts.

Part 1: Millennium Approaches is fully produced, with three staged readings of Part Two: Perestroika. $15-$20.

Wed & Thu 7:30pm, Fri & Sat 8pm, Sun 2pm. Thru June 14. 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills. (650) 949-7360. www.foothill.edu/theatre

Annie @ Golden Gate Theatre The hit musical based on the comics about an orphaned girl and her eventual rise to fame with the help of a rich old man. $40-$160. 1 Taylor St. Thru June 14. (888) 746-1799. www.shnsf.com

Barbary Coast Revue @ Balancoire

Heart-Shaped Nebula @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Previews begin for Marisela Trevino Orta’s magical realist drama about the aftermath of a tragic accident. $5-$28 Wed 7pm. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm. Thru June 14. 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org

Jeremy Jordan @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The Tony-nominated musical theatre actor-singer ( Newsies) and TV star ( Smash ) returns with his popular cabaret concert. $70-$85 ($20 food/ drink min.). 8pm. Also June 12, 8pm.

June 13 & 14, 7pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.jeremy-jordan.com www.ticketweb.com

John Bankston @ Rena Bransten Projects Exhibit of colorful cartoon-like paintings by the local gay artist. Thru July 3. 1639 Market St. 982-3292. www.renabranstengallery.com

The third season of the popular cabaret show returns, with Danny Kennedy as Mark Twain, a cast of diverse performers, and new guest performer Connie Champagne.

Thursdays weekly thru June. $14-$64.

8pm. 2565 Mission St. at 22nd. www.BarbaryCoastRevue.com

The Book of Mormon @ Orpheum Theatre The mega-hit musical comedy (nine Tony Awards and a Grammy) by Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez returns. $60-$225. Tue-Sat 8pm. Sat 2pm. Sun 1pm & 6:30pm. Thru June 27. 1192 Market St. (888) 746-1799. www.BookofMormonTheMusical.com www.shnsf.com

The Cable Car Nymphomanic @ Eureka Theatre FOGG Theatre’s hit musical comedy about wild news headlines from San Francisco’s past, including sex-crazed gal, returns. $30-$35. Wed-Sat 8pm.

Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru June 28. 215 Jackson St. cablecarnympho.com

Club Inferno @ Hypnodrome Thrillpeddlers’ hilarious rockin’ production of Kelly Kittell and Peter Fogel’s glam rock musical spin on Dante’s The Divine Comedy, where the road to fame can be hell, literally! $30-$35. Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru Aug. 8. 575 10th St. at Bryant. 377-4202. www.hypnodrome.org

Grey Gardens, the Musical @ Gough Street Playhouse Custom Made Theatre’s production of Scott Frankel, Doug Wright and Michael Korie’s musical based on Maysles’ brothers’ disturbing documentary about Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edie, and their sad decline into obscurity and poverty. $20-$50. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 7pm. Thru June 21. 1620 Gough St. at Bush. 7982682. www.custommade.org

Fundraiser for Swords to Plowshores, with art auctions of works made by women veterans. 6pm-9pm. www.swords-to-plowshares.org

Fri 12 AXIS Dance Company @ Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, Oakland The acclaimed disability-inclusive dance company performs to go again, a new commissioned work by Joe Goode, and works by Alex Ketley and Sonya Delwaide. $10-$30. 8pm. Also June 13, 8pm. June 14, 2pm. 1428 Alice St., Oakland. AXISdance.org

Compleat Female Stage Beauty @ New Conservatory Theatre Jeffrey Hatcher’s stylish period dramedy about 1660s a crossdressing Shakespearian actor whose life drastically changes when women are allowed to act. $25-$45. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru June 14. 25 Van Ness Ave, lower level. www.nctcsf.org

Each and Every Thing @ The Marsh Solo performer Dan Hoyle returns with his acclaimed show about about the slow-tech movement and how personal interactions outweigh technology. $20-$100. Fri 8pm, Sat 8:30pm, Sun 5pm. Thru July 18.

Mainstage Theater, 1062 Valencia St. at 21st. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Ethnic Dance Festival @ Various Venues 37th annual four-weekend dance festival of contemporary and traditional works by local and international companies. $15-$48.

2nd & 3rd weekends at Palace of Fine Arts. Week 3 (June 21) at YBCA. Thru June 27. sfethnicdancefestival.org

Falstaff @ Cinnabar Theater, Petaluma The East Bay company performs Verdi’s comic opera based on Shakespeare’s play, with 23 singers and a 12-piece orchestra. $9-$40. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru June 28.

3333 Petaluma Blvd. (707) 763-8920. www.cinnabartheater.org

Black Virgins are Not for Hipsters @ The Marsh Echo Brown’s comic solo show follows a young women’s impending sexual encounter, and its political implications. $20-$35. Thu 8pm. Sat 8:30pm. Extended thru July 25. 1062 Valencia St. at 22nd. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Shout for Women Veterans @ Fort Mason

Sat 13

Superhero Daniel J Valadez

Long-Term Survivor Project @ SF Camera Work Exhibit of AIDS-themed works by Hunter Reynolds, Frank Yamrus and Grahame Perry; Programs about HIV survivorship June 14. Thru July 18.

1011 Market St. 487-1011. www.sfcamerawork.org

Love and Information @ Strand Theater The inaugural performances at American Conservatory Theatre’s new satellite theatre; Carol Churchill’s kaleidoscopic play captures the dizzying array of electronic communication that helps and hinders true human connection. $40-$100.

Tue-Sat 7:30pm [note earlier curtain time]. Wed & Sat 2pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru Aug. 9. 1127 Market St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

The Right Side of History @ Books Inc. Editor Adrian Brooks and three contributors to the new anthology (subtitled 100 Years of LGBTQI Activism ) read from and discuss their participation in the LGBT movement, including transgender activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, historian/curator Paul Gabriel, and author Max Wolf Valerio. 7pm. 2275 Market St. www.booksinc.net

SF Docfest @ Roxie, Brava, Vogue Theatres Two weeks of compelling documentary feature and short films, including related live music and singalong nights. $12-$25. Thru June 18.

820-3907. www.sfindie.com

Heathers the Musical @ Victoria Theatre Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy’s dark musical comedy adaptation of the cult favorite 1989 film about conniving high school girls. $25-$36. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru June 13. 2961 16th St. at Mission. rayoflighttheatre.com

A Little Night Music @ Geary Theatre Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s lilting musical (based on the Ingmar Bergman Swedish film Smiles of a Summer Night) gets a lovely local production by American Conservatory Theatre, starring Patrick Cassidy, Emily Skinner, Karen Ziemba; directed by twotime Tony nominee Mark Lamos. $20$140. Tue-Sat 8pm. Wed, Sat & Sun 2pm.

(Out With A.C.T. June 3). Thru June 21.

415 Geary St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

Mount Misery @ Exit on Taylor Cutting Ball Theatre’s production of Andrew Saito’s drama about the Edward Covey plantation, where Frederick Douglass lived as a teenage slave; the property was later purchased by U.S. Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The play brings the two men together. $10-$50. Thu 7:30pm, Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat 2pm, Sun 5pm. Extended thru June 21. 277 Taylor St. 525-1205. cuttingball.com

One Man, Two Guvnors @ Berkeley Repertory Theatre Richard Bean’s comic update on Carlo Goldini’s The Servant of Two Masters, with biting one-liners, satire, live music and a bit of cross-dressing, is about a doltish butler who’s trapped between two bosses. $29-$89. Wed & Sun 7pm. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru June 21. 2025 Addison St. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Queer Women of Color Film Festival @ Brava Theater Center

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Monster Movie Salon @ Miracles Center

11th annual showcase of new feature, short and documentary films by and about women of color. $5-$20.

7:30pm. Sat 10:30-7pm screenings.

June 14 at 2pm, 6pm & 9pm. 2789 24th St. at York. qwocmap.org/festival

Doug Ronning’s fascinating interactive workshop/screening of horror/scifi movie themes takes on the queer with Sapphic Vamps, Dancerous Dandies, Transexual Trasnyvanians: Queer Identities as Monster. $40. 1pm-4pm. 2269 Market St. monstermoviesalon.com

Stranded! @ Conservatory of Flowers

Pacific Worlds @ Oakland Museum

Tropical Island Survival, a new interactive exhibit of tropical plants, with castaway kitch, island survival displays and more. Thru Oct. 18. Also, permanent floral displays. Tue-Sun 10am-4pm. $2-$8. 100 JFK Drive, Golden Gate Park, 831-2090. www.conservatoryofflowers.org

(Un)Bridaled @ CounterPulse Marina Magalhaes’ new dance theater work, infused with bossa nova and Brazilian funk, about the redefinitions of a women’s worth as a bride. $ 8pm.

Thru June 14. www.counterpulse.org

New exhibit focuses on the contemporary lives of and historic cultures of Pacific Islanders and California; thru Jan. 3. Bees: Tiny Insect, Big Impact thru Sept 20. Also, photographer Marion Gray: Within the Light thru June 21; Free/$15.

Reg. hours Wed-Sat 11am-5pm (Fri til 9pm). 1000 Oak St., Oakland. (510) 318-8400. www.museumca.org

Thu 11

Under the Golden Gate Live @ Kink.com Maria Konner and DJ Dank cohost a Pride edition of the podcast taping of the wacky talk show, with guests Marga Gomez, Trixxie Carr, Demetri Moshoyannis, Belo Cipriani, Carletta Sue Kay, Pristine Condition, Evan Johnson, DJ Sergio Fedasz. $5-$10 donations. 21+.

Cash bar provided by The Cinch Saloon.

RSVP required. 8pm-1pm. 1800 Mission St. www.underthegoldengate.com

Wesla Whitfield @ Hotel Rex The classy local songstress performs American Songbook standards, with accompanist Mike Greensill. $30-$50.

Cocktails and small plates available.

8pm. Also June 13. 562 Sutter St. www.societycabaret.com

Sat 13 Anything Goes @ Lesher Theatre, Walnut Creek Center Repertory Company’s production of the classic Cole Porter musical comedy about seafaring sailors and saucy showgirls. $37-$63.

Thu-Sat 8pm. Tue-Wed 7:30pm. Sun 2:30pm. Thru June 27. 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek. (925) 943-7469. www.CenterRep.org

Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi The musical comedy revue celebrates its 40th year with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. Reg: $25$160. Beer/wine served; cash only; 21+, except where noted. 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd (Green St.). 4214222. beachblanketbabylon.com

The Birthday Party @ Phoenix Theatre

The Right Side of History Contributors @ Books Inc.

Radical Presence @ YBCA Subtitled Black Performance in Contemporary Art, this new exhibit explores identity in a variety of media.

Opening party June 13 includes talks and performances. $5. 12pm-10pm.

Thru Oct. 11. Also, New Filipino Cinema June 11-June 28. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. www.ybca.org

The Sound of Music @ Contra Costa Civic Theatre Contra Costa Civic Theatre performs the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein musical about an ex-nun turned nanny, who charms the children of an Austrian gentleman. $15-$35. Fri & Sat 8pm.

Sun 2pm. Thru July 19. 951 Pomona Ave. (510) 524-9132. ccct.org

Superhero @ Modern Eden Gallery Opening reception for the gallery’s 4th annual portrait call selections; a group exhibit of artists’ interpretations of superheroes of all kinds. 6pm. Thru July 6. 801 Greenwich St. www.moderneden.com

Texas Rose CW Pride Dance @ Lake Merritt Dance Center, Oakland

Harold Pinter’s darkly comic play about two strangers who invade a private party is produced by the award-winning Off Broadway West Theatre Company. $25-$40. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm. Thru June 27. 414 Mason St. #601. (800) 838-3006. www.offbroadwaywest.org

The queer women’s trans-inclusive dance night includes lessons (6:30), line-dancing (7:15) and open dancing (8pm-10:30pm). $5-$10. 200 Grand Ave., Oakland. texasrosedance.com

Embodiments @ de Young Museum

Richard Dresser’s dark comedy about two executives stuck in an existential crisis as a deadline looms. $20-$45.

Tue-Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat 3pm.

Sun 2pm. Thru June 27. 450 Post St. 677-9596. www.sfplayhouse.org

Embodiments: Masterworks of African Figurative Sculpture, thru July 5; photographer Janet Delaney: South of Market, thru July 19. Other exhibits of modern art as well. Free/$25. Thru May 31. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. www.famsf.org

Hairspray @ Saratoga Civic Theatre The Tony Award-winning musical based on the John Waters film gets another local production. $20-$39. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 2:30pm. Thru June 13.

13777 Fruitvale Ave., Saratoga. (408) 266-4734. www.SouthBayMT.com

Melancholy, a Comedy @ The Marsh Sara Felder’s solo show about a lesbian college student’s romantic entanglements while researching Abraham Lincoln’s depression. $15$100. Sat 5pm. Sun 7pm. Thru June 28. 1062 Valencia St. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Trouble Cometh @ SF Playhouse

Wilde Chats @ Sweet Inspirations Community Initiative’s weekly informal discussion group at the dessert shop. 10:30am-12pm. 2239 Market St. 621-8664. www.sweetinspirationbakery.com

The Yellow Wallpaper @ Berkeley City Club Central Works’ production of Gary Graves’ adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s early feminist work, published in 1892, which follows a Victorian woman’s descent into madness when she sees a ghost. $15-$28. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm. Thru June 21. 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley.

(800) 838-3006. www.centralworks.org

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Out&About>>

June 11-17, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 31

Sun 14 Abrazo, Queer Tango @ Finnish Brotherhood Hall, Berkeley Enjoy weekly same-sex tango dancing and a potluck, with lessons early in the day. $7-$15. 3:30-6:30pm. 1970 Chestnut St., Berkeley. (510) 8455352. www.finnishhall.com

Sat 13

Flagging in the Park @ AIDS Memorial Grove DJ Russ Rich is featured at the celebratory outdoor party for flaggers, fanners and picnic patrons, all in the beautiful AIDS Grove lawn. Donations benefit Maitri Compassionate Care.

1pm-4pm. Nancy Pelosi Drive at Bowling Green, Golden Gate Park. www.flaggercentral.com

The Kinsey Sicks @ Sebastopol Cultural Center The wacky dragapella group performs their hauty naughty musical parodies. $28-$35. 7pm. 390 Morris St., Sebastopol. (707) 823-1511. seb.org/event/2661727-kinsey-sicks

OutLook Video @ Channel 29 The weekly LGBT TV show, with updates on current events.

9:30pm. outlookvideo.org

Pride Rock @ Oasis Pepperspray, the fab drag rock band, returns for a Pride-filled concert, with The Galloping Sea and Zbornak also playing. $10-$15. 6pm11pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom.

795-3180. sfoasis.com

Texas Rose CW Pride Dance

Joey Arias @ Great American Music Hall

Tom Bianchi @ Scott Nichols Gallery

The fabulous New York drag chanteuse performs a Billie Holiday Centennial Concert; Carlotta Sue Kay opens. $30-$50 (optional meet & greet, and/or dinner). 8pm. 859 O’Farrell St. 885-0750. www.slimspresents.com

Fire Island Pines: Polaroids 1975-1983, a sexy and historic exhibit of the famed gay photographer’s early Polaroids and prints (reception with Bianchi June 25, 5pm). Tue-Sat 11am-5:30pm. Thru July 15. 49 Geary St. 4th floor. 788-4641. scottnicholsgallery.com

OUTspoken @ City Hall Outspoken: Portraits of LGBTQ Luminaries, an exhibit of photographs

by Roger Erickson. Ground floor, North Light Court. Thru Sept. 11. 1 Carlton B. Goodlet Place. sfgov.org

Fri 12

Thu 18 10 Percent @ Comcast David Perry’s online interviews, broadcast through the week. Check for times on Facebook: www. facebook.com/pages/10Percent/66629477326 www.ComcastHometown.com

Dr. Katrina Kimport @ Books Inc. The author of Queering Marriage: Challenging Family Formation in the United States reads from and discusses her new book. 7pm. 2275 Market St. 864-6777. booksinc.net

SF Hiking Club @ San Bruno Mountain Join GLBT hikers for an 11mile meander through hills, ridges, and secluded glens AXIS Dance Company on the monolithic San Bruno Mountain on SF’s southern edge. Bring water, lunch, layers, hat, sunscreen, good hiking shoes. Carpool meets 9:00 at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores. 845-4940. sfhiking.com Follies @ Oasis

David Da Silva

Wed 17 Holotta Tymes hosts the new yet old-school variety show with female impersonation acts, and barbeque in the front Fez Room. $20. 7pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

Mon 15 30 Years of Collecting Art That Tells Our Stories @ GLBT History Museum

Portraits and Other Likenesses @ Museum of the African Diaspora

New exhibit of collected drawings, paintings and sculptures from three decades of queer donations, guest-curated by Elisabeth Cornu.

Free (members)-$5. 4127 18th St. glbthistory.org

Exhibit of contemporary works and historic exhibits of African cultures, with a shared group of works from SF MOMA. Thru Oct. 11. Free/$10. 685 Mission St. www.moadsf.org

The actor-singer, currently in the local touring production of The Book of Mormon, performs an unusual cabaret show with Broadway and classics songs with special guests. $25-$50 (includes post-show champagne reception). 8pm.

298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Authors Wayne Goodman, Lucy Jane Bledsoe, Bud Gundy, Rick May, and Arisa White read from their new works. 7pm. 3957 24th St. www.foliosf.com

QueerFail Festival @ The Luggage Store Radar Presents a four-day minifest of alt/queer readings, shot films, drag and more, including author Michelle Tea and Jack Halberstam, Virgie Tovar, Maggie Nelson, Brontez Purnell, Ali Liebegott and others. $5. 998 Market St. Thru June 20. www.luggagestoregallery.org

Radar Superstar @ SF Public Library The eclectic reading series, hosted by author Michelle Tea, teams up with the Queer Fail Festival; readers inlcude Maggie Nelson, CA Conrad, Jackie Wang and Christopher Soto.

Free. 6pm. 100 Larkin St, lower level. www.sfpl.org radarproductions.org

(X)change @ Counterpulse New mini-series with performers from Zürich and locals sharing unsuual performance works, including June 19’s Some Thing at The Stud bar. Thru June 21. www.counterpulse.org

Wed 17

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Yuri Kagan headlines a night of comedy at the castro bar, with Chey Bell, Carrie Avritt, Kelly Lynch and host Valerie Branch. Dinner and drink combo $12. Door $5. Show 8pm. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Julia Fordham @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko British singer performs music from her hit album Porcelain, and other songs, with accompanist Grant Mitchell. $35-$50. ($20 food/ drink min.). 8pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.juliafordham.com www.ticketweb.com

Night Begins the Day @ Contemporary Jewish Museum

Tue 16 The author of Pro-Voice: How to Keep Listening When the World Wants a Fight discusses her book and pro-reproductive rights experiences. 7pm. 2275 Market St. 864-6777. 2781 24th St. 641-7657. www.booksinc.net

San Francisco’s International LGBTQ Film Festival, with opening and closing nights at the Castro Theatre, screenings also at The Roxie, The Victoria, and The Rialto (Berkeley) and Piedmont (Oakland). Thru June 28. $12-$160 full pass www.frameline.org

WISE BUY$ ® IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS, CHANGES OR CORRECTIONS NOT INDICATED AT THIS TIME.

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Pride Readings @ Folio Books

Frameline 39 @ Various Cinemas

Subtitled Rethinking Space, Time, and Beauty, the new exhibit focuses on 25 contemporary thinkers, scientists and designers; curated by Renny Pritikin; thru Sept. 20.

Also, Tzedakah Box, Bound to be Held: A Book Show, Lamp of the Covenant ; lectures and gallery talks as well. Free (members)-$12. Fri-Tue 11am5pm, Thu 11am-8pm (closed Wed). 736 Mission St. 655-7800. www.thecjm.org

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<< DVD

32 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 11-17, 2015

Fraud alert

by Tavo Amador

O

ld age and its infirmities is a topic Hollywood has seldom found appealing or felt had boxoffice potential. It was therefore surprising that 1981’s On Golden Pond was both a critical and commercial success. Ernest Thompson’s 1979 Broadway play ran for a modest 126 performances, but interested Jane Fonda, who purchased the screen rights. One plot theme is about a troubled relationship between an adult woman and her cold, critical father – not unlike her own relationship with father Henry Fonda. It has recently been released on DVD. An elderly couple, Norman and Ethel Thayer (Fonda and Katharine Hepburn), arrive at their cottage on a New England lake called Golden Pond, where they and their only child, Chelsea (Jane Fonda). have traditionally spent the summer. When he fails to recognize the people in some family photographs, Norman reacts by lamenting old

age. Later, he gets lost on a trail he has hiked for years, but he finds his way back to the cottage, saying nothing to Ethel.

Chelsea brings her fiancee Bill (Dabney Coleman) and his 13-yearold son, Billy (Doug McKeon), to meet her parents. Norman, an angry, often sarcastic man, ridicules Chelsea, calling her “fat,” and harasses Bill, who won’t play his unpleasant games. Chelsea, now living in Los Angeles, complains to Ethel that she still feels she must win Norman’s approval – an approval that she will never get from her intensely critical, soon-to-be-80-year-old father. An impatient Ethel tells her to stop living in the past and get on with her life.

Chelsea and Bill ask Norman and Ethel to take care of Billy while they go to Europe. They agree, although Billy is far from thrilled at the prospect – he doesn’t know these people and has no age-appropriate companions nearby. Soon, however, he and Norman form a friendship

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centered around fishing. Norman is obsessed with catching a particular fish, whom he has named “Walter.”

He allows Billy to drive his motorboat, which results in an accident.

Norman suffers a mild physical injury, but his disorientation becomes more pronounced and frequent.

As the summer draws to an end, Chelsea returns, without Bill, announcing they were married in Europe. She is certain her father won’t wish her happiness. She is also jealous that he has established a relationship with Billy that she never had with him. Will Norman relent?

Will Chelsea ever win his approval?

As the film concludes, Norman and Ethel are alone. Another summer has ended. Suddenly, he collapses. Frantically, she grabs the telephone and calls for help, but none is forthcoming. She is certain he is having a fatal heart attack.

But the pain passes, and he recovers. They walk out onto the porch to gaze upon Golden Pond and to listen to the call of the loons – who

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had welcomed them when they arrived, and now seem to be saying goodbye. Death, which the audience has been expecting, is postponed.

Thompson’s screenplay is maudlin and predictable. Director Mark Rydell encourages the cast, especially Hepburn and Henry Fonda, to trade on the public’s sentimental pleasure at seeing two legendary stars working together for the first time.

Fonda, one of the most gifted screen actors in history, had an innate dignity that he loses here, forced to use expressions like “suck face” after kissing Hepburn. He was, in reality, a very cold man, and daughter Jane spent much of her life seeking evidence of his affection.

Apparently, they worked it out onscreen, to the dismay of discerning viewers.

When Hepburn’s Ethel tells Norman that he is the sweetest man in the world, but only she knows it, intelligent audiences may wonder if she is also battling dementia. Her quivery speech, “You’re my knight in shining armor,” is an embarrassment, one of the few miscalculations in her long, brilliant career.

Jane Fonda looks great, but it is painful to watch her determination to have millions of strangers wit-

ness her family therapy sessions. It’s a waste of her great gifts. Coleman escapes undamaged, and McKeon is believable as a foul-mouthed, rebellious kid.

This was Henry Fonda’s last role, and he won his only Oscar for his performance. He had long deserved one, so it is hard to begrudge him this belated recognition. Too frail to attend the ceremony, his award was collected by Jane, whose acceptance speech many found moving. Hepburn won her fourth Best Actress Award, a record that still stands and is unlikely to be matched. Ironically, none of her wins were for her truly great performances. Some wags insisted she won because she slapped Jane Fonda in one scene, something many in Hollywood had long wanted to do. Jane Fonda lost the Best Supporting Actress Oscar to Maureen Stapleton in Reds. The film lost the Best Picture award to Chariots of Fire, Warren Beatty beat Rydell in the Best Director category for Reds, but Thompson won for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film also earned nominations for cinematography, sound, and editing. It grossed nearly $120 million, astonishing for what was, in essence, a gooey Hallmark Father’s Day card illustrated

by Norman Rockwell.t

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Books>>

June 11-17, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 33

A good son

by Jim Piechota

Bettyville by George Hodgman; Viking Press, $27.95 hose fortunate enough to still have their parents around will best appreciate Bettyville, George Hodgman’s affecting memoir about the unavoidable obligation to our forebears, and the nature of role reversal, specifically when a child finds him- or herself in the urgent care of an elder.

An innocent visit becomes an indefinite stay when George discovers that his 90-year-old mother Betty requires constant care after backing her car into a ditch and thinking nothing of it. It’s clear she has early signs of dementia, yet Betty refuses to be admitted into an assisted living facility. Enter the plucky son with a heart of gold and a comedian’s knack for one-liners.

It’s a somewhat convenient turn of events, since George had just lost his job in New York City and had some time on his hands. His intend-

T

ed visit with Betty for her birthday in rural Paris, Missouri, was only for two weeks, but once he begins installing himself back into the small family home (perhaps “the last place in America with shag carpet”), his stay becomes more of a temporary relocation as he assumes the role of his needy mother’s “care inflictor.”

His impressions of her state of mind and her heartbreaking decline into deeper states of dementia are distressing. “She knows something is happening to her, but would never say so. We circle around her sadness, but she will not let me share it. Acknowledging anything would make it real. These, I fear, are her last days as herself.”

A writer of immense wit and insight, George finds levity everywhere. Betty’s hair appointment at Waikiki Coiffures results in a “lacquered bubble, blown back in a way that suggests shock.” Of gay marriage, he writes that his “gay brothers and sisters should be allowed to wed. In my experience, it is gay dat-

ing that should be outlawed.” His near-poverty-level income as a freelance editor finds him joking, “If I save my money, I will be able to retire in Penn Station.”

His hilarious casual commentary seems to dilute the pain of his more dire observances of an increasingly fretful mother and the many stinging memories from his own past, which he must now face head on. Admittedly, the memoir’s first half is a bit too jokey. Readers will soon pick up on George’s need to deflect the past and soothe his present emotional distress with comedy and snarky cultural references. But in the homestretch, the author comes clean with his feelings of self-doubt and loneliness. The home he now finds himself living in, which had always made his parents happy, never felt like a true house of love and acceptance for him.

For George, these feelings of inadequacy manifested in professional

career aspirations, including a highpressure stint at Vanity Fair, then with drugs and the dizzying Manhattan and Fire Island party circuit during the first waves of the AIDS

epidemic. These were indulgences that he became dependent upon while they stripped him of the ability to love and form friendships. Recovery brought about a new understanding of his life, he writes, and helped him adjust to life in rural Missouri, eventually to reaffirm his devotion to Betty.

George’s journey to the truth and his achievement of selfacceptance form the emotional core of this poignant memoir.

Though the story is clearly his creation, Betty remains a special guest star, enrobed in old jeans and a stained blouse, generating enough brio, quirky personality, and quick-witted retorts to propel a book of her very own.

Emotionally resonant and consistently droll, this is a story tailor-made for the gay mama’s boys out there who have always considered self-administering the later-life care of their aging, beloved mothers as a given.t

Delicious slice of life

by David-Elijah Nahmod

L

os Angeles-based filmmaker David Au recently chatted with the B.A.R. about his debut feature Eat with Me. An appearance by Star Trek-gay icon George Takei and a hilarious sequence in which Mom accidentally ingests Ecstasy are among the highlights of this delicious slice of Asian American gay life.

Au’s simple tale is about an estranged mother and son (Sharon Omi, Teddy Chen Culver) who rediscover their love for each other while Mom comes to terms with her son’s homosexuality. Through it all, he finds romantic love with a handsome musician and struggles to save his debt-ridden restaurant. Eat with Me stands out because the lead characters are Asian American, a community rarely seen in LGBT cinema. Au’s script could easily be reshot with a white or African American cast without changing the story’s emotional

depth. Beneath the surface we’re all the same.

“Most of the film is fictional,” Au told the B.A.R. “I focused on the lack of communication in a family, and how dysfunctional that is.”

As the story begins, wife and mother Emma (Omi) walks out on her loveless marriage after her husband cuts off his wedding ring, claiming it gives him headaches.

Having nowhere to go, she calls her gay son Elliot (Culver). Their distant relationship becomes even more strained when Emma realizes that Elliot’s handsome young friend Ian (Aidan Bristow) is actually his new boyfriend. Some fast advice from Elliot’s neighbor Maureen (Nicole Sullivan) and Star Trek legend George Takei, whom she meets on a park bench, causes Emma to realize that she loves Elliot for who he is, and to join in the fight to save his restaurant.

Au admitted that the wedding ring episode was true, but that his

real-life parents stayed together. “I heard that story from my mom,” he recalled. “It was so ridiculous and bizarre, but she thought it was funny.” That incident planted the seeds for Eat with Me. “Elliot and Emma don’t know how to communicate with each other. I use food as an element in their learning how to communicate.”

Au said that Takei, whose two scenes in the film were shot on the same day, was a joy to work with. In his first scene he meets Emma in a park. As they watch children play, he tells her about his husband. She speaks to him about her son. It’s a life-changing moment for the loving if confused mom. Getting Takei to appear in the film was much easier than Au thought it would be. “My producer Joyce Liu sat two seats from him at a theater opening,” he said. “She went up to him and said, ‘We want you.’”

The veteran star “had a chair set up outside his trailer,” recalled the

filmmaker. “He talked to everyone: cast, crew, even to people in the park who just happened to be there.”

Au addressed the challenges of being an Asian in Hollywood making a gay-themed film. “It’s not as hard as it used to be. There are not many stories being told from within the Asian American community, so there is a hunger for them.”

A Kickstarter campaign enabled him to complete the film, and donations came from various communities.

“I want to thank those communities.”t

dead-end love affair with a married man; religious Dana, working as an aide to a conservative female Minister of Culture and suppressed by her strict father; and Anat, a middle-aged baker whose husband leaves her and flees to Thailand. To cheer up a sad Anat, they perform impromptu a musical number, “Anat You’ve Got the Guts” (written by gay Scissor Sister band-member Babydaddy) caught on a cell-phone camera. The video goes viral, and once seen by the UniverSong judges, the group AnatOfer becomes Israel’s entry in next year’s UniverSong contest. A minor gay subplot revolves around Ofer’s closeted boyfriend, an entrepreneurial heir and hunky star of hit hummus commercials, and whether his rich family will fund the group’s trip to Paris so they can perform at UniverSong. The Israeli selection committee remakes their simple song into a ridiculous lounge act, complete with fluorescent-colored wigs. Will they recover and stay true to their original creative vision?

And if so, can they win against stiff competition?

While Cupcakes seems incongruous with Fox’s other films, the theme of the right to be yourself, to fulfill your aspirations in spite of what society dictates, unites all his

movies. Cupcakes’ message may lack subtlety, yet it seems consistent with the film’s cartoonish tone. It resembles gay Spanish director Pedro Almodovar’s repertoire, but lacks his subversive sensibility and settles for mild satire. The catchy soundtrack adds to the celebration, rehabilitating such 1970s staples as “You Light

Eat with Me is available on Video on Demand platforms, and on DVD.

Delectable treat

by Brian Bromberger

I

n his press notes, the gay Israeli film writer/director Eytan Fox observes of his latest movie, Cupcakes, just released on DVD

by Strand Releasing: “Films that change something are usually of the serious nature, with a distinct outlook on the world. But every now and then, along comes a movie which acts a little differently – a feel-good movie, which, like a great pop song, convinces you that everything is possible.”

Fox has succeeded in meeting his own high expectations. Cupcakes, a frothy and delicious morsel, doesn’t pretend to be high art, but on its own limited terms, is kitschy entertainment.

Cupcakes was one of the surprise hits at last year’s Frameline.

Fox gave us the gay soldier romance Yossi & Jagger, as well as his polemical Walk on Water and The Bubble films, with controversial Palestinian elements. Cupcakes seems a departure from Fox’s usual fare. It’s an upbeat musical comedy inspired by his experiences of the Eurovision song contest, a sort of continental American Idol TV show on steroids, complete with circus acts, fireworks, and special effects.

It’s set in contemporary Tel Aviv.

Six distinctive friends gather to watch the popular UniverSong TV competition, a parody of the garish, campy Eurovision. The ensemble cast includes a gay kindergarten teacher, Ofer, who entertains his class by performing musical numbers in drag; the shy blogger Keren, whose interactions with the world are primarily via cyberspace; (reallife) lesbian singer/songwriter Efrat, marginalized to performing in coffee shops; former beauty-pageant winner turned lawyer Yael, trapped in a

Up My Life” and “Love Will Keep Us Together.” Production designer Arad Sawat deserves special mention for his bright pastel, almost psychedelic sets (with matching rainbow-colored clothes). Is the audience being manipulated? You better believe we are, but the picture’s heart is so sweet you won’t mind.t

<< Fine Art

34 • BAY AREA REPORTER • June 11-17, 2015

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CHANTICLEER AN ORCHESTRA OF VOICES PRESENTS

SPANISH

GOLD

Choral music from the exuberant creative richness of the Spanish Golden Age JUNE 10 @ 8pm - Mission Santa Clara JUNE 12 @ 8pm - St. Mark’s Episcopal, Berkeley JUNE 13 @ 8pm - Mission Dolores, San Francisco JUNE 14 @ 5pm - St. Francis Church, Sacramento JUNE 17 @ 8pm - St. Stephen’s Episcopal, Belvedere Courtesy of Rubell Family Collection, Miami/Xu Zhen

“Spread B-051” (2010) by Xu Zhen. Embroidery on canvas, part of 28 Chinese at the Asian Art Museum.

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DATES & TICKETS: ww.chanticleer.org | 415-392-4400

28 Chinese

From page 25

On the first floor, one can’t miss “Boat” (2012) by Zhu Jinshi, a huge, 40-foot cylindrical construction that’s open at the bottom, and made from 8,000 pieces of off-white calligraphy paper, every sheet crumpled, we’re told, at least nine times.

The structure, suspended from the ceiling by cotton threads and supported by bamboo rods, is proportionally suited to its setting, the museum’s spacious North Court. It looks a little like a giant roll of paper towels, and there’s an exhilarating contrast between the airy, lightweight materials and the entity as a whole, which somehow conveys the weighty presence of steel. It’s pos-

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sible to walk under and through the colossal sculpture, whose insides resemble the bowels of an ocean liner or a mammoth underground tunnel; like those feats of engineering, it’s a marvel. The same artist also created one of my favorite pieces in the show, “Black and White Summer Palace” (2007), an imposing, thickly textured, abstract oil painting with luscious gobs of impasto that gets and deserves a wall to itself.

Residing in the South Court is He Xiangyu’s “The Man on the Chair” (2008-09), a grouping of distressed wood chairs that could have been carved from magnificent ancient gnarled trees the artist stumbled upon in an enchanted forest. Their origins, though, are more prosaic. They’re actually made from reclaimed wooden drainage pipes crafted by the Donga people in southwest China. High-backed with low-slung seats, each one a vessel for the passage of time, they’re an unmatched set arranged for tea or an assignation with a sorcerer.

The artist, who has created over 100 similar yet unique chairs in the course of this project, says they “evoke an ambiguous yet tenacious sense of collective fatalism.” For a separate, very different installation, He Xiangyu boiled down 127 tons of Coca Cola, a process that yielded 40 cubic meters of an unappetizing, lava-like substance exuding a sickly sweet aroma. A small portion of the residue fills a vitrine in his “Cola Project” (2009-10), displayed in a room containing photographs, collaged sketches, etc., documenting the project.

Don’t forget to climb up to the second and third levels, where nearly hidden among the treasures of the permanent collection are several pieces that are part of the show, including Wang Xingwei’s “Comrade Xiao He No. 3” (2008), a large, exaggerated cartoonish rendering of a harried, uniformed military nurse assistant with pursed mouth and droopy breasts. A leather satchel strapped across one shoulder and a

canteen flying away from her body, she hurtles down a deserted rural road, hustling to catch up with her regiment, an excruciatingly turquoise sky dotted with too-perfect, puffy white clouds as backdrop.

Humorous and slightly menacing, the painting’s style has the feel of an illustration from a children’s book along the lines of Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events and its cast of super-sized sinister adults.

Shanghai photographer/performance artist Zhang Yuan, a protégé of Ai Weiwei, produces startling color photographs. For “12 Square Meters” (1994), he coated his naked body in honey and fish juice and sat for an hour in a public toilet, where he was swarmed by thousands of flies.

Talk about suffering for one’s art. In “1/2” (1998), his body was marked with calligraphy characters, inked by audience members, and he draped a bloody pig carcass across his naked torso, a la Lady Gaga.

In the top-floor gallery is the shocking coup de gras that concludes the exhibit. Visitors entering a room containing Chinese funerary objects will suddenly catch sight of a dead man, dressed in the traditional dark suit of a Communist Party People’s Representative, laying face down on the floor; the flesh of his left palm, open toward the ceiling, grabs the light. The lifeless body is actually an astonishingly lifelike fiberglass sculpture of Ai Weiwei, China’s most high-profile dissident artist. The work, by He Xiangyu, is titled “The Death of Marat” (2011) after Jacques-Louis David’s famous 1793 painting of the same name depicting the aftermath of the assassination of a French politician and human rights advocate during the Reign of Terror. The artist says he was inspired by Ai’s tax evasion case and oppression by the Chinese authorities, but perhaps he was driven by an unconscious desire to eliminate the competition.t Through Aug. 16.

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June 11-17, 2015 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 35

Backstage

From page 25

Back in 2000, musician Peter Fogel, who composed the hardrocking songs for Club Inferno, referenced the Cockettes while discussing the then-new show. “We’re waving the drag flag that started with the Cockettes,” he said. “Oldschool drag is dead. We’re saying look at these fabulous new queens.”

The cast (queens and otherwise) is mostly new for the Thrillpedders’ production, though two of the original cast members are back to help guide a new arrival through the Nine Circles of Hell that 14thcentury poet Dante Alighieri wrote about in Divine Comedy. In Club Inferno, Dante becomes the name of a rock diva struck dead in a stage accident. Each level of hell that Dante must enter is populated with dead divas – of recent vintage and otherwise – who each represent a particular sin. Peggy L’eggs is playing the suddenly deceased Dante, a role originated in the 2000 cast by musical director Birdie-Bob Watt, who has moved over to the role of Hades ferryman Xaron.

Leigh Crow is the other original cast member, and she is returning to the roles of Mama Cass, Karen Carpenter, and Lucrezia Borgia. Also on hand are the poet Virgil (John Flaw), Cleopatra (Noah Haydon), and Judy Garland (Zelda Koznofski) – and it is Garland who provides the musical epiphany that returns an enlightened Dante back into the world of the living.

Thrillpeddlers founder and producing director Russell Blackwood is staging Club Inferno, which was conceived and written by Kitty Kittell. Club Inferno runs through Aug. 8; ticket info at hypnodrome.org.

Streetcar-blamed desire

The FDA looks ready to approve a new pill called a Viagra for women.

But maybe all you really need is a jolly hour on the trolley to let loose your libido instead. With a speed now only found with trending topics on the Internet, a San Francisco 1970 news story about sex and transit went viral on newsprint. And the subject of that story is at the heart of The Cable Car Nymphomaniac, a new locally grown musical running through June 28 at the Eureka Theatre.

This is the second run for the

Steven Underhill

PHOTOGRAPHY

415 370 7152

WEDDINGS, HEADSHOTS, PORTRAITS

stevenunderhill.com · stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com Courtesy FOGG Theatre

2pub-BBB_BAR_061115.pdf

Rinabeth Apostol plays the title character and David Naughton is her attorney in The Cable Car Nymphomaniac, a new based-on-atrue-story musical at Eureka Theatre.

FOGG Theatre production, first staged earlier this year at Z Space.

With songs by Tony Asaro and written by Kirsten Guenther, Cable Car Nymphomaniac recalls the 1970 trial pitting a former dance instructor against San Francisco’s transit system. Gloria Sykes claimed that a head injury sustained six years before in a cable car accident turned her into a nymphomaniac. Her lawyer claimed his client had had intercourse with more than 100 men in the last year alone. The jury ordered the city to pay out $50,000 for her suffering.

In the musical retelling, directed and choreographed by Tony Berliner, Gloria and her trial become a catalyst for explorations of female

sexuality, with the repressed wife of Gloria’s attorney pushing the story.

The musical’s creators dug up old newspaper stories and were able to interview original attorneys and courtroom observers as part of their research.

Despite the campy title and its billing as “a racy and uproarious new musical,” the show also claims a feminist bent.

“The fun part of this show is seeing how all the different groups portray the main character,” Asaro said in an interview prior to the first production. “She’s either a Marilyn coquette, a Janis Joplin heathen, or Sylvia Plath, depending on who is commenting. This story is all about vilifying women for being sexual, something that we’re very much still doing today.”

Ticket information is available at foggtheatre.org.

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Broadway babies

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A Tony-winning veteran and a rising Broadway star each have engagements on tap at Feinstein’s at the Nikko. Faith Prince is due first, bringing her Have a Little Faith cabaret show to town on June 19 & 20. It’s described as a “smorgasbord” of past, present, and future Prince songs and stories. Prince won her Tony in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls, and has since been back on Broadway in revivals of The King and I, Little Me, Bells Are Ringing, and Annie. She also got the only good reviews in the otherwise notorious Nick & Nora.

For Jerrod Spector, it’s a return to San Francisco, where he created the role of songwriter Barry Mann in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical in 2013. When the show moved to Broadway, his performance earned him a Tony nomination. He was previously seen in San Francisco and on Broadway as Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys, and his performances on June 25 & 26 trace the Valli sound over generations, starting with Enrico Caruso and moving to Little Richard, the Beach Boys, Paul McCartney, Queen, Billy Joel, and Bruno Mars. Titled A Little Help from My Friends, the show features a full band and backup singers.

Go to hotelnikkosf.com/feinsteins for more information.t Y

CM

MY

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CMY

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Courtesy Faith Prince

Tony Award-winning Broadway star Faith Prince is bringing Have a Little Faith, her new cabaret show, to Feinstein’s at the Nikko.

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Discover natureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s secret language. New exhibit opens June 12.

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PERSONALS Vol. 45 • No. 24 • June 11-17, 2015

www.ebar.com V www.bartabsf.com

Mark Abramson (center) with friends at a back yard gathering in the Castro, his 28th birthday garden party in 1980.

by Mark Abramson Wednesday, September 3, 1975 ’m at the Laundromat at Fillmore and Bush Streets. Last night I looked for a new bar I’d heard about called the City/Cabaret on Montgomery and Broadway. There’s a dance floor on the top and a showroom below. It wasn’t open yet, so I walked down Broadway past the strip-joint barkers yelling, “We’ve got tassels on the tits, folks! Step inside, sonny!”

See page 38

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eOn the Tab June 11–18

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epped up ts have really st unelacious even ytime fun’s life and even da the pace. Night bow. See in ra e y color of th forming in ever . ting on page 40 our listings, star

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Xavier Caylor

Sun 14 Flagging in the Park @ AIDS Memorial Grove

{ THIRD OF THREE SECTIONS } Spring and summer mean later sunsets and later hours at the Asian Art Museum. We’re open ‘til 9 PM on Thursdays and for just $5 after 5 PM, you can spend an evening in our beautiful building enjoying the galleries, special exhibitions, fun talks, lively gatherings and intimate hangs with artists. On first Thursdays, there are even cash bars, DJs and more. For details, visit www.asianart.org/thursdays

AT THE ASIAN ART MUSEUM

$5 AFTER 5PM

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

38 • Bay Area Reporter • June 11-17, 2015

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Tasty Dim Sum made fresh daily in-house

I walked through the Broadway tunnel with cars roaring past, starting and fading to a bass-beat throb, but high-pitched when they got close by, like racers in a speedway.

I emerged onto Polk Street, and walked uphill toward the ‘N-Touch and Buzzby’s. An older man from Minnesota named Jack told me he has lived here since 1950 and works as a chauffeur for the San Francisco Symphony. He invited me home, but I said no. I only wanted to talk.

He was interesting.

I saw a man with a beard and dark wavy hair, deep, clear eyes, and teeth so perfect that they reminded me of footlights when he smiled. Our eyes met as I lifted my beer to my lips. We held each other’s stare, and then he laughed and looked away. He saw me staring at him later and we both smiled again, more friendly this time. He left with a group of friends wearing backpacks, arm-in-arm like tourists at a parade. This bar was only one stop on their tour, maybe his first visit to the gay Mecca.

Ji’

MaMa Sum Dim

“As long-time residents of the neighborhood, we look forward to welcoming you to Mama JI’s.”

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415 Steven Underhill 370 7152

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Disco days and nights

Delicious Sichuan specialties

Great selection of Belgian beers & California wines

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From page 37

Monday, October 6, 1975 It is a cold and rainy day. They tell me it’s drizzly this time of year. The rain doesn’t pound down in sheets, cleansing things. You can’t escape under an umbrella. It spins and swirls from every direction, more penetrating and quiet than real rain.

I don’t mind, but I miss the crashes of thunder in a downpour. I have been inviting people to a Halloween party here on the 18th. John Preston said he’ll come for sure, and warned me that he’s planning to do something shocking!

We went to a bar called the Rendezvous the other night. It’s up a long flight of stairs, and has a bar in the front and a dance floor in back.

They told me until recently a law was on the books against touching when you dance. When the cops showed up to raid the place, the doorman would flip a switch to turn off the mirrored disco ball and turn the lights up bright. John told me the switch is still there. We were stoned on Columbian pot, and I had a great time.

Author Mark Abramson in the mid-1970s.

I think these women were straight.

At two in the morning, I had no way home, so I staggered down Broadway to Dave’s Baths. It was one of the few bathhouses left on my list. I figured by that hour no one would be there except hardcore

Sunday, October 26, 1975 Friday night I went to the newly reopened City/Cabaret on Montgomery and Broadway near the straight strip joints. The top floor is the disco called The City and the bottom is the showroom.

It used to be the famous Cabaret/ After Dark, but they went bank- Sex Drugs & Disco: San Francisco rupt. There were long lines to get Diaries From the Pre-AIDS Era by in. The City is a big barn with a disc Mark Abramson jockey high above the dance floor in a booth that looks like a Wurlitzer desperadoes roaming the hallways. jukebox, the kind with a rounded Then I realized that I was a hardcore top and columns of multicolored desperado, so I roamed the halllights. Other than the size and the ways, had sex I barely remember, great lighting, it was pretty much slept for a while, and had more sex like any other gay bar, but with lots with some guy who had poppers. more women. Most of the gay bars We talked. He seemed nice. I showhere have no women at all. Maybe ered and headed home before noon. gay women have their own bars, but

15.01.15 12:30

Sunday, March 11, 1979 Mia is coming to visit tomorrow from Minneapolis. Tonight, I’m going dancing with Emilio and Toshi at the I Beam. Derald is going to Sylvester’s concert at the Opera House.

He’s sitting in a box with Herb Caen and Governor Jerry Brown and his date, Linda Ronstadt, and someone else I forgot. Derald’s friend is Sylvester’s manager or something.

He and I had a great day in Marin County today, but I’m too stoned now. The full moon rose late this afternoon as we drove back across the Golden Gate Bridge. Derald has two fishing poles, and he said he knows some lakes on the other side of Mt. Tamalpais where we can go fishing one of these days. Tomorrow I start modeling for Wayne Quinn.

Sunday, April 29, 1979 It’s finally a real San Francisco weekend. The air is warm, and my health has returned. On Friday, I went to the Ambush and the Arena, where Emilio and I ran into his old friend Gene. He must be at least fifty. He’s very sweet and funny, but also very nelly. He told us about his recent train trip to L.A. They had an unexpected stop in Bakersfield, so Gene went to a coffee shop for a bite. When the waitress brought his check, she wrote, “Thank you, Fairy” on the back. Gene was so angry he was shaking. He said, “This would never happen in San Francisco!”

When he got back to the train, he found out they’d be stuck in Bakersfield another hour, so he decided to go back and give that waitress a piece of his mind. It was busier by then, but the hostess recognized him and asked if he’d forgotten something. He pointed out the waitress and said he’d like a word with her, so the hostess yelled, “Fairy! Could you come over here? This gentleman forgot something.”

Fairy came running across the room and Gene realized that all his righteous indignation was for nothing. All he could say was, “I just had to come back to tell you that was the most marvelous hamburger I ever tasted and your service was excellent! I don’t think I tipped you enough. Here’s another dollar.”

I wrote to Steven Rydberg to confirm that I will be in Minneapolis for the revival of Sitwells at Sea, but they need to find a soprano saxophone for me. I look forward to performing again and having sunny See page 39 >>

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 11-17, 2015 • Bay Area Reporter • 39

I sense that a part of me is in Minnesota already. I close my eyes on the dance floor, blocking out the lights and any familiar faces. I feel my body move and I could be in any city dancing to the same songs: “Y.M.C.A.,” “Ring My Bell,” “Le Freak,” “Funkytown,” “Don’t Rock the Boat” by the Hues Corporation and anything by Sylvester. I’ll be two thousand miles away and surrounded by different faces and different friends, but I’ll still be dancing in this body, and the disco music will all be the same.

Mark Abramson’s 1979 membership card to Jaguar Underground

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Disco days and nights

From page 38

days at the gay beach on Lake Calhoun, bicycling around Lake of the Isles and cruising the Mississippi River flats south of the Franklin Avenue Bridge. I’ll be twenty-seven in a couple of months, and I’ll be in Minnesota for my birthday.

I’m nostalgic for San Francisco already. Jackie Star, who used to work at Star Pharmacy for as long as I can remember, was working at Alfie’s tonight, collecting the door charge in her platinum wig and Ultra-nails.

Rusty Dragon was there, too. I remembered the first time I met him at the baths. I loved watching him dance with his gang of friends, all of them bare-chested in tight jeans and scuffed boots, passing the bottle of poppers around, slapping each other’s asses, all of them so sexy and high.

Guys were on the dance floor tonight that I’ve seen around since my first days in San Francisco when Alfie’s was the Mind Shaft. A column of smoke swirled in the middle where the gazebo used to be. A shirtless man in a cowboy hat appeared in the middle of the smoke amid the confetti and balloons. He waved a huge silver fan above his head and made the fog move as it caught the colored lights. The sweat

flew off his body as he danced. The fog, the colored lights, the glistening fan and the spinning mirrored ball reminded me of everything I will miss about San Francisco.

Sunday, August 5, 1979 Friday night at Alfie’s, three men asked me to dance, one right after another. I didn’t want to sleep with any of them, but the third one turned me on because we danced so well together. We must have stayed on the dance floor for an hour without a break. His name was Jason, and he was good in bed, too. In the morning, I drove him home.

Monday, May 14, 1979 I worked a cocktail party today in the Spear Street Tower for fifty guests. It was only two hours long and an easy clean-up. The host handed me two twenties as an extra tip, and thanked me privately.

I’ll also get paid by Armando for my hourly rate and travel time.

Three weeks from tonight, I’ll arrive in Minneapolis. Armando offered to pay my airfare.

I went to the I Beam yesterday to meet Ron from All American Boy. We came back to Shotwell Street to watch a new TV movie with Bette Davis and Gena Rowlands.

It’s unlike me to be so turned on by a blond. They’re a dime a dozen in Minnesota, and the fact that he works at All American Boy brings out all my leftist leanings. I want to argue against making money off fags whose insecurities drive them to emulate some impossible image. He hates my cigarette smoke, so we laugh at how unlikely we are together. A 1970s ad for Dave’s Baths, I’m leaving town in three weeks artwork by Dirk Vanden anyway, so we might as well burn this relationship out.

Jackie Star was the official greetHe invited me in, so I stayed for er in a floor-length white evening breakfast with his roommates. Then gown, and it was a sensational party. more of their friends dropped by. It Armando was there without Art, but was only noon on Saturday, but no I was occupied with a guy named one had anything to talk about but Duke. We spent the night at his place what drugs they were planning to on 16th and Castro, and we’re getting take that night, where to get them, together for dinner tomorrow. We and what time to take them to best efmight go to a new movie everyone’s fect. They exchanged a few words on the subtopic of what to wear to which club and in what order, but most of the conversation was about drugs.

Jason was still affectionate and sexy, but the rest of them made me want to scream and run out of there, get back in my car and drive up north, raise horses and chickens and plant a vegetable garden in the countryside.

Toshi had us over last night to show off his new Southern boyfriend, Frank. We actually met on Friday at Alfie’s.

I thought the guy was pretty square, but he loosened up over dinner. Toshi made potato soup, scallops in cream sauce, and boneless A matchbook from The Ambush. chicken breasts stuffed with mushrooms. He flambéed Crepes Suzette talking about called La Caj Awful or for dessert. something like that. I don’t know if I After dinner, I went to the Amwant to sit through a French movie bush by myself. I ran into Scott, with subtitles, but it’s supposed to be whom I met at the Fair Oaks very funny and gay.t baths about a year ago. He lit my cigarette and said hello, but it was too crowded to talk.

Mark Abramson reads from his Monday, August 27, 1979 All American Boy threw a party at Alfie’s last night. They had an open bar from four to nine with a continuous slide show of the Castro Fair and the gay parade this year. They served a free barbecue on the patio, and Sylvester took the stage for a few songs as well as a duo called White & White and some other disco stars. I don’t remember their names but I had danced to some of their songs stoned a hundred times.

book at You’re Going to Die, with Ed Wolf, John Ward, Linda Poelzl and Seth Eisen, June 18, 8pm at Viracocha, 998 Valencia St. $10. www.viracochasf.com.

Abramson reads at Magnet’s book club June 30, 8pm; 4122 18th St. www.magnetsf.org Abramson reads at Books Inc, July 9, 7pm; 2275 Market St. www.booksinc.net Visit Mark’s website, www.beachreading.net

Without pride, it’s just a parade.

Not every community can turn a simple stroll down Market Street into one of the world’s most extravagant displays of diversity.

The Bay Area Reporter salutes those who inspire us by being true to them selves, sharing that truth with others, and proving that the simple power of pride can not only change minds, it can change the world.

Appear in our June 25, 2015 issue celebrating the historic 45th anniversary of San Francisco Pride.

Not every community can turn a simple stroll down Marketa Street into one Without pride, it’s just parade. of the world’s most extravagant displays of diversity. Union Bank and KQED SPACE RESERVATION DEADLINE: Wed., June 17 To reserve space call Scott Wazlowski, VP, Advertising at (415) 829-8937 or (415) 574-6406 or email advertising@ebar.com

salute those in the LGBT community—the activists and the educators, the leaders and the heroes—who inspire us by being true to themselves, sharing that truth with others, and proving that the simple power of pride can not only

<< On the Tab

40 • Bay Area Reporter • June 11-17, 2015

Warriors Happy Hour @ Club BnB, Oakland

eOn the–Tabf

Basketball fans can enjoy games at the LGBT nightclub with big-screen TVs. 6pm. Also June 14 (5pm), and June 16 & 19, 6pm. No cover and drink specials. 2120 Broadway, Oakland. www.bench-and-bar.com

June 11 18

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Fri 12

Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi

FBFE

The musical comedy revue celebrates its 40th year with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. $25-$160.

678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd (Green St.). 421-4222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com

Sat 13

Barbary Coast Revue @ Balancoire The third season of the popular cabaret show returns, with Danny Kennedy as Mark Twain, a cast of diverse performers, and new guest performer Connie Champagne.

Thursdays weekly thru June. $14-$64.

8pm. 2565 Mission St. at 22nd. www.BarbaryCoastRevue.com

Bulge @ Powerhouse Grace Towers hosts the weekly gogotastic night of sexy dudes shakin’ their bulges and getting wet in their undies for $100 prize (contest at midnight), and dance beats spun by DJ DAMnation. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Fuego @ The Watergarden, San Jose Weekly event, with Latin music, halfoff locker fees and Latin men, at the South Bay private men’s bath house. $8-$39. Reg hours 24/7. 18+. 1010 The Alameda. (408) 275-1215. www.thewatergarden.com

Mary Go Round @ Lookout

Peter Murphy @ DNA Lounge

Suppositori Spelling, Mercedez Munro and Holotta Tymes host the weekly night with DJ Philip Grasso, gogo guys, drink specials, and drag acts.

10pm-2am. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

The former front man for Bauhaus performs his solo work. In Letter Form and Richard Thorne open. DJ Decay. $30 and up. 8pm. 375 11th St. www. dnalounge.com

The Monster Show @ The Edge

The popular drag parody performances of episodes from the HBO show about four Manhattan gal pals. $25 and up. Thu-Sat 7pm. Thru June 26. 298 11th St. at Folsom. 7953180. www.sfoasis.com

The weekly drag show continues, with gogo guys and hilarious fun. $5. 9pm2am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

My So-Called Night @ Beaux Carnie Asada hosts a new weekly ‘90s-themed video, dancin’, drinkin’ night, with VJs Jorge Terez. Get down with your funky bunch, and enjoy 90cent drinks. ‘90s-themed attire and costume contest. No cover. 9pm-2am.

2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

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

Funny Fun @ Club 21, Oakland

Nightlife @ California Academy of Sciences

LGBT comedy night hosted by Dan Mires. $10. 8pm. 2111 Franklin St. Oakland. (510) 268-9425. www.club21oakland.com

Themed event nights at the fascinating nature museum, with DJed dancing, cocktails, fish, frogs, food and fun. $10-$12. 6pm-10pm, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. www.calacademy.org

Gym Class @ Hi Tops Enjoy cheap/free whiskey shots from jock-strapped hotties and sexy sports videos at the popular sports bar.

10pm-2am. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Gus Presents’ weekly dance night, with DJ Kid Sysko, cute gogos and $2 beer (before 10pm).

2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Rock Fag @ Hole in the Wall Enjoy hard rock and punk music from DJ Don Baird at the wonderfully divey SoMa bar. 12pm-2am. 1369 Folsom St. 431-4695. www.hitws.com

Some Thing @ The Stud Mica Sigourney and pals’ weekly offbeat drag performance night.

10pm-2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Under the Golden Gate Live @ Kink.com Maria Konner and DJ Dank cohost a Pride edition of the podcast taping of the wacky talk show, with guests Marga Gomez, Trixxie Carr, Demetri Moshoyannis, Belo Cipriani, Carletta Sue Kay, Pristine Condition, Evan Johnson, DJ Sergio Fedasz. $5-$10 donations. 21+. Cash bar provided

by The Cinch Saloon. RSVP required.

8pm-1pm. 1800 Mission St. www.underthegoldengate.com

Chris Harder @ Nob Hill Theatre

Pound Puppy @ Eagle

Thu 11

Boy Bar @ The Cafe

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Sex & The City Live @ Oasis

Thirsty Thursdays @ The Cafe Drink specials, Top 40, gogo studs and no cover. 9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Thursday Night Live @ SF Eagle Music with local and touring bands.

398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge Disco guru DJ Bus Station John spins grooves at the intimate retro music night. 11th anniversary night!! $4.

10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com

VIP @ Club 21, Oakland Hip Hop, Top 40, and sexy Latin music; gogo dancers, appetizers, and special guest DJs. No cover before 11pm and just $5 after all night.

Dancing 9pm-3am. Happy hour 4pm8:30pm 2111 Franklin St. (510) 2689425. www.club21oakland.com

The porn actor known for his whimsical burlesque-themed strip shows, performs solo (8pm) and with a partner (10pm). Also June 13. $25. 729 Bush St. at Powell.

397-6758. www. thenobhilltheatre.com

Dragula @ Oasis The Boulet Brothers and Heklina’s ghoulishly glam night of drag, leather and more, with Grace Towers, Saint Peter Dvil, a drag contest with a $300 prize, leather gogo guys, DJ Juan Garcia. $10-$13.

10pm-2am. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Happy Friday @ Midnight Sun The popular video bar ends each work week with gogo guys (starting at 9pm) and drink specials. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. midnightsunsf.com

The festive gogo-filled dance club, with host Lulu, features Latin pop dance hits with DJs Speedy Douglas Romero and Fabricio; no cover before 10pm. $6-$12. 9pm4am. 2111 Franklin St., Oakland. (510) 268-9425. www.club21oakland.com Lance Holman’s leather-themed night, with DJ Guy Ruben, gets its Pride on. $5. 10pm-1am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Franko DJs the weekly mash-up/ pop music night. No cover. 2 for 1 well drinks, 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.qbarsf.com

Manimal @ Beaux Gogo-tastic dance night starts off your weekend. $5. 9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Jeremy Jordan @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko

Michael Buchanan @ Oasis

Latin Explosion @ Club 21, Oakland

Lick It @ Powerhouse

Homo Thursdays @ Qbar

Mon 15

Wesla Whitfield @ Hotel Rex The classy local songstress performs American Songbook standards, with accompanist Mike Greensill. $30-$50.

Cocktails and small plates available.

8pm. Also June 13. 562 Sutter St. www.societycabaret.com

Sat 13

Amber’s Disco Cabaret @ Club OMG Disco dancing with DJ Sergio Fedasz, drag fun (show at midnight) hosted

by Amber Alert. 9pm-2am. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

The Tony-nominated musical theatre actor-singer ( Newsies) and TV star ( Smash ) returns with his popular cabaret concert. $70-$85 ($20 food/ drink min.). 8pm. Also June 12, 8pm.

June 13 & 14, 7pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 663-1063. www.jeremy-jordan.com www.ticketweb.com

Midnight Show @ Divas

Karaoke Night @ Club BnB, Oakland Sing your heart out at the free lively night. 8pm-2am. 2120 Broadway.

(510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Meet & greet, happy hour and upstairs dancing with the LGBTQ BDSM folk. No cover. 2120 Broadway, Oakland. www.queersphere.net www.bench-and-bar.com

The classic leather bar’s most popular Sunday daytime event now also takes place on Saturdays. 3pm-6pm. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Karaoke Night @ The Stud

Red Hots Burlesque @ Beatbox

La Bota Loca @ Club 21, Oakland

“Sing Til It Hurts” the new weekly night with hostess Sister Flora (Floozy) Goodthyme. 8pm; happy hour drinks til 10pm. 10pm-2am. 399 9th St. www.studsf.com

Weekly drag shows at the last transgender-friendly bar in the Polk; with hosts Victoria Secret, Alexis Miranda and several performers. Also Saturdays. $10. 11pm. 1081 Polk St. www.divassf.com

Queer Sphere @ Club BnB, Oakland

Fri 12 Wesla Whitfield @ Rex Hotel

The saucy women’s burlesque revue’s weekend show; different musical guests each week. $10-$20. 7:30pm. 314 11th St. Also Wed. nights at Oasis (298 11th St.). www.redhotsburlesque.com

Beer Bust @ Hole in the Wall Saloon Beer only $8 until you bust. 4pm-8pm.

1369 Folsom St. 431-4695. www.hitws.com

Beer Bust @ SF Eagle

DJed tunes, gogo hotties, drag shows, drink specials, all at Oakland’s premiere Latin nightclub and weekly cowboy night. $10-$15. Dancing 9pm-4am. 2111 Franklin St. (510) 268-9425. www.club21oakland.com

June 11-17, 2015 • Bay Area Reporter • 41

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Fri 12

Tue 16

Dragula @ Oasis

Joey Arias @ Great American Music Hall

Get groovin’ at the weekly hip hop and R&B night at their new location. $8-$15. 9pm to 4am. 2120 Broadway.

(510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Daddy @ Powerhouse Andy Cross’ cruisy leather manly night returns, with DJ Juan and manly gogos. Leather, trash gear attire. $5.

9pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Mother @ Oasis Heklina’s weekly drag show night at the fabulous renovated SoMa nightclub; plus DJ MC2 and guests.

June 13’s a Madonna tribute night. $10. 10pm-2am. 298 11th St. at Folsom. 795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

Pound Puppy @ SF Eagle Jorge, Blake and pals return with the monthly groovy sexy canine night, with DJs Taco Tuesday and Kevin O’Connor, woofy dancing guys. $10.

10pm-2am. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Romper Room @ Beauty Supply Warehouse, Oakland Gehno Aviance presents a big afterhours party with DJs Jeno, Tyrel Williams, Benjamin Vallery, Robert Jeffrey; nig dance floor, outside area, lounge and chill spaces, aerial rigging and more. $10-$15. 11pm-6am.

Address: www.romperroom.club

Brunch @ Hi Tops

Morning After BBQ @ Oasis

Enjoy crunchy sandwiches and mimosas, among other menu items, at the popular sports bar. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

New weekly barbeque brunch on the newly opened rooftop deck, with Mimosas and Bloody Mary cocktails.

11am-3pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom.

795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

Flagging in the Park @ AIDS Memorial Grove DJ Russ Rich is featured at the celebratory outdoor party for flaggers, fanners and picnic patrons, all in the beautiful AIDS Grove lawn. Donations benefit Maitri Compassionate Care.

1pm-4pm. Nancy Pelosi Drive at Bowling Green, Golden Gate Park. www.flaggercentral.com

GlamaZone @ The Cafe Pollo del Mar’s weekly drag shows takes on different themes with a comic edge. 8:30-11:30pm. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Jock @ The Lookout The weekly jock-ular fun continues, with special sports team fundraisers.

DJed dance music 3pm-7pm. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Liquid Brunch @ Beaux No cover, no food, just drinks (Mimosas, Bloody Marys, etc.) and music. 2pm-9pm. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

FBFE

Club Rimshot @ Club BNB, Oakland

Sugar @ The Cafe Dance, drink, cruise at the Castro club.

9pm-2am. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Sun 14

Beer Bust @ Lone Star Saloon The ursine crowd converges for beer and fun. 4pm-8pm. 1354 Harrison St. www.lonestarsf.com

Beer Bust @ SF Eagle The classic leather bar’s most popular Sunday daytime event in town draws the menfolk. Beer bust donations benefit the Pink Triangle installation.

3pm-6pm. Now also on Saturdays!

398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com

Big Top @ Beaux Joshua J.’s homo disco circus night, with guest DJs and performers, hotty gogo guys and drink specials. 9pm2am. 2344 Market St. www.BeauxSF.com

Thu 11 Bulge @ Powerhouse

Pride Rock @ Oasis Pepperspray, the fab drag rock band, returns for a Pride-filled concert, with The Galloping Sea and Zbornak also playing. $10-$15. 6pm-11pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. 795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

Salsa Sundays @ El Rio Salsa dancing for LGBT folks and friends, with live merengue and cumbia bands; tapas and donations that support local causes. 2nd & 4th Sundays. 3pm-8pm. 3158 Mission St. 282-3325. www.elriosf.com

Sundance Saloon @ Space 550 Dance it up at the popular twiceweekly country-western night that includes line-dancing, two-stepping and lessons. $5. 5pm-10:30pm. Also Thursdays 6:30pm-10:30pm. 550 Barneveld Ave. at Industrial. www.sundancesaloon.org

Sunday Brunch, Xtravaganza @ Balancoire Weekly live music shows with host Galilea and various acts, along with brunch, mimosas, champagne and more, at the stylish nightclub and restaurant; shows at 12:30pm, 1:30pm and 2:45pm. After that, T-Dance drag shows at 7pm, 10pm and 11pm. 2565 Mission St. at 21st.

920-0577. www.balancoiresf.com

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

11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square. 395-8595. www.starlightroomsf.com

Mon 15

Cock and Bull Mondays @ Hole in the Wall Saloon Specials on drinks made with Cock and Bull ginger ale (Jack and Cock, Russian Mule, and more). 8pmclosing. 1369 Folsom St. 431-4695. www.hitws.com

Drag Mondays @ The Cafe Mahlae Balenciaga and DJ Kidd Sysko’s weekly drag and dance night, 2014’s last of the year. 9pm-1am.

2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Epic Karaoke @ White Horse, Oakland Mondays and Tuesdays popular weekly sing-along night. No cover.

8:30pm-1am. 6551 Telegraph Ave, (510) 652-3820. www.whitehorsebar.com

Gaymer Meetup @ Brewcade The new weekly LGBT video game enthusiast night include big-screen games, and signature beers, with a new remodeled layout, including an outdoor patio. No cover. 7pm-11pm.

2200 Market St. www.brewcadesf.com

Irish Dance Night @ Starry Plough, Berkeley Weekly dance lessons and live music at the pub-restaurant, hosted by John Slaymaker. $5. 7pm. 3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. www.thestarryplough.com

See page 42 >>

<< On the Tab

42 • Bay Area Reporter • June 11-17, 2015

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From page 41

Karaoke @ The Lookout Paul K hosts the amateur singing night. 8pm-2am. 3600 16th St. at Market. www.lookoutsf.com

Mahogany Mondays @ Midnight Sun Honey Mahogany’s weekly drag and musical talent show starts around 10pm. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Mash Up Mondays @ Club BnB, Oakland Weekly Karaoke and open mic night; RuPaul’s Drag Race screenings, too.

9pm-2am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 7597340. www.club-bnb.com

Michael Buchanan @ Oasis The actor-singer, currently in the local touring production of The Book of Mormon, performs an unusual cabaret show with Broadway and classics songs with special guests. $25-$50 (includes post-show champagne reception). 8pm. 298 11th St. www.sfoasis.com

Monday Musicals @ The Edge Sing along at the popular musical theatre night; also Wednesdays. 7pm2am. 2 for 1 cocktail, 5pm-closing.

4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Sun 14 Pepperspray, part of Pride Rock @ Oasis

Name That Beat @ Toad Hall

Opulence @ Beaux

BeBe Sweetbriar hosts a weekly musical trivia challenge and drag show. 8:30-11:30pm. 4146 18th St. at Castro. www.toadhallbar.com

New weekly dance night, with Jocques, DJs Tori, Twistmix and Andre.

9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

No No Bingo @ Virgil’s Sea Room

Piano Bar 101 @ Martuni’s

Mica Sigourney and Tom Temprano cohost the wacky weekly game night at the cool Mission bar. 8pm. 3152 Mission St. www.virgilssf.com

Sing-along night with talented locals, and charming accompanist Joe Wicht (aka Trauma Flintstone). 9pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.dragatmartunis.com

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

Tue 16

Block Party @ Midnight Sun Weekly screenings of music videos, concert footage, interviews and more, of popular pop stars. 9pm-2am. 4067 18th St. 861-4186. www.midnightsunsf.com

I am the future of the LGBT community.

I’m gay.

I’m 20 years old. I’m out to my parents. I love parties, the beach, and believe it or not, sports. I have a boyfriend, and we like to laugh at dumb online videos.

But I also read the news. I care about the planet. I’m studying Engineering at college. I voted in the last election and and I campaign for marriage equality.

Someday I might want to have kids.

I am the future of the LGBT community. And I read about that future every day on my smart phone. Because that’s where I want it to be.

Bombshell Betty & Her Burlesqueteers @ Elbo Room

Showdown @ Folsom Foundry

The weekly burlesque show of women dancers shaking their bonbons includes live music. $10. 9pm. 647 Valencia St. 552-7788. www.elbo.com

Weekly game night for board and electronic gamers at the warehouse multi-purpose nightclub. 21+. 6pm12am. 1425 Folsom St. www.showdownesports.com

Cock Shot @ Beaux Shot specials and adult Bingo games, with DJs Chad Bays and Riley Patrick, at the new weekly night. No cover.

9pm-2am. 2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Switch @ Q Bar

Funny Tuesdays @ Harvey’s

Play the trivia game at the popular new sports bar. 9pm. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Ronn Vigh hosts the weekly LGBT and gay-friendly comedy night. One-drink or menu item minimum. 9pm. 500 Castro St. at 18th. 431-HARV. www.harveyssf.com

Gay Skate Night @ Church on 8 Wheels LGBT night at the former Sacred Heart Church-turned disco roller skate party space, hosted by John D. Miles, the “Godfather of Skate.”

Actually, every night is gay-friendly, including Saturday’s Black Rock night (Burning Man garb encouraged). Also Wed, Thu, 7pm-10pm. Sat afternoon sessions 1pm-2:30pm and 3pm5:30pm. $10. Kids 12 and under $5.

Skate rentals $5. 554 Fillmore St at Fell. www.churchof8wheels.com

Gaymer Night @ Eagle No cover gay gaming fun on the bar’s big screen TVs. Have a nerdgasm and a beer with your pals. 8pm. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Ink & Metal @ Powerhouse Show off your tattoos and piercings at the weekly cruisy SoMa bar night.

10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Joey Arias @ Great American Music Hall The famous, fabulous New York drag chanteuse performs a Billie Holiday Centennial Concert; Carlotta Sue Kay opens. $30-$50 (optional meet & greet, and/or dinner). 8pm. 859 O’Farrell St. 885-0750. www.slimspresents.com

Love Potion Number 9 @ Oasis Herbalist Jordan Wheeler serves up specialty cocktails at this uniquely flavored tasting. $20-$30. 5pm-9pm.

11th St. at Folsom. 795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

Meow Mix @ The Stud The weekly themed variety cabaret showcases new and unusual talents; MC Ferosha Titties. $3-$7. Show at 11pm. 9pm-2am. 399 9th St. at Harrison. www.studsf.com

Naked Night @ Nob Hill Theatre Strip down as the strippers do as well. $20. 8pm. 729 Bush St. at Powell. 3976758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Retro Night @ 440 Castro

The person depicted here is a model. Their image is being used for illustrative purposes only.

Jim Hopkins plays classic pop oldies, with vintage music videos. 9pm-2am.

44 Castro St. www.the440.com

Weekly women’s night at the stylish intimate bar. 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.QbarSF.com

Trivia Night @ Hi Tops

Una Noche @ Club BnB, Oakland Vicky Jimenez’ drag show and contest; Latin music all night. 9pm-2am. 2120 Broadway. (510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Underwear Night @ Club OMG Weekly underwear night includes free clothes check, and drink specials; different hosts each week. $3. 10pm2am. Preceded by Open Mic Comedy, 7pm, no cover. 43 6th St. www.clubomgsf.com

Wed 17 Booty Call @ QBar

Juanita More! and her weekly intimate –yet packed– dance party. $10-$15. 9pm-2am. 456 Castro St. www.qbarsf.com

Bondage a GoGo @ Cat Club The (mostly straight) kinky weekly dance night, where fetish gear is welcome; DJs Damon and Tomas Diablo play electro, goth, industrial, etc. 9:30pm-2:30am. 1190 Folsom St. www.bondage-a-go-go.com

Bottoms Up Bingo @ Hi Tops Play board games and win offbeat prizes at the popular sports bar. 9pm.

2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

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

Miss Kitty’s Trivia Night @ Wild Side West The weekly fun night at the Bernal Heights bar includes prizes, hosted by Kitty Tapata. No cover. 7pm-10pm.

424 Cortland St. 647-3099. www.wildsidewest.com

Follies @ Oasis Holotta Tymes hosts the new yet old-school variety show with female impersonation acts, and barbeque in the front Fez Room. $20. 7pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

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June 11-17, 2015 • Bay Area Reporter • 43

Open Mic/Comedy @ SF Eagle

/lgbtsf

Kollin Holts hosts the weekly comedy and open mic talent night. 6pm-8pm.

398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Pussy Party @ Beaux Weekly women’s happy hour, with allwomen music and live performances, 2 for 1 drinks, and no cover. 5pm-9am.

2344 Market St. www.beauxsf.com

Rainbow Skate @ Redwood Roller Rink Weekly LGBT and friends skate night, with groovy disco music and themed events. $9. 8pm-10:30pm. 1303 Main Street, Redwood City. www.rainbowskate.net www.facebook.com/rainbowskating/

Red Hots Burlesque @ Oasis The weekly women’s sexy strip show, with special guests Barnaby’s Babes (male burlesque dancers). $15-$25.

8:30pm-11:30pm. 298 11th St. at Folsom. www.sfoasis.com

So You Think You Can Gogo? @ Toad Hall The weekly dancing competition for gogo wannabes. 9pm. cash prizes, $2 well drinks (2 for 1 happy hour til 9pm). Show at 9pm. 4146 18th St. www.toadhallbar.com

Way Back @ Midnight Sun Weekly screenings of vintage music videos and retro drink prices. Check out the new expanded front window lounge. 9pm-2am. 4067 18th St. 8614186. www.midnightsunsf.com

Wooden Nickel Wednesday @ 440 Buy a drink and get a wooden nickle good for another. 12pm-2am. 440 Castro St. 621-8732. www.the440.com

Wrangler Wednesday @ Rainbow Cattle Company, Guerneville The Russian River bar’s country music night attracts cowboys and those who like to ride ‘em. 8pm-1am. 16220 Main St., Guerneville. (707) 869-0206. www.queersteer.com

Thu 18 Abbey Road Night @ Martuni’s

Maria Konnor hosts the third Thursdays sing-along night at the intimate martuni bar, this time with a group performance of the entire Beatles album, with Andy Woodhouse (bass) and Marilyn Mitchell (guitar).

6:30pm. 4 Valencia St.

Barbary Coast Revue @ Balancoire The third season of the popular cabaret show returns, with Danny Kennedy as Mark Twain, a cast of diverse performers, and guest performer Connie Champagne.

Thursdays weekly thru June. $14-$64.

8pm. 2565 Mission St. at 22nd. www.BarbaryCoastRevue.com

Thu 18 Julia Fordham @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko

Bulge @ Powerhouse

Funny Fun @ Club 21, Oakland

Grace Towers hosts the weekly gogotastic night of sexy dudes shakin’ their bulges and getting wet in their undies for $100 prize (with a contest at midnight), and dance beats spun

by DJ DAMnation. 10pm-2am. 1347 Folsom St. www.powerhousebar.com

Weekly LGBT and straight comedy night hosted by Dan Mires. $10. 8pm.

2111 Franklin St. Oakland. (510) 2689425. www.club21oakland.com

Circle Jerk @ Nob Hill Theatre Muscle porn stud Nick Capra leads the very interactive event in the strip club’s downstairs arcade. $10. (Capra also performs onstage June 19 & 20).

729 Bush St. at Powell. 397-6758. www.thenobhilltheatre.com

Comedy Returns @ El Rio Sampson McCormick, Karen Ripley, Bobby Golden, and host Lisa Geduldig tell jokes you don’t have feel guilty to laugh at, with a special Pride theme. $7-$20. 8pm. 3158 Mission St. (800) 838-3006. www.elriosf.com

Fauxgirls @ Infusion Lounge Classic drag revue (3rd Thu) with Victoria secret. Mini minerva Lulu Ramirez and other talents; dinner seating 7pm, show 8pm. 124 Ellis St. 421-8700. www.fauxgirls.com

Full Frontal Comedy @ Lookout Yuri Kagan headlines a night of comedy at the castro bar, with Chey Bell, Carrie Avritt, Kelly Lynch and host Valerie Branch. Dinner and drink combo $12. Door $5. Show 8pm. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com

Gym Class @ Hi Tops Enjoy cheap whiskey shots from jock-strapped hotties and sexy sports videos at the popular new sports bar.

10pm-2am. 2247 Market St. 551-2500. www.HiTopsSF.com

Julia Fordham @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko British singer performs muisc from her hit album Porcelain, and other songs, with accompanist Grant Mitchell. $35-$50. ($20 food/drink min.). 8pm.

Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (866) 6631063. www.juliafordham.com www.ticketweb.com

Karaoke Night @ Club BnB, Oakland Sing your heart out at the free lively night. 8pm-2am. 2120 Broadway.

(510) 759-7340. www.club-bnb.com

Karaoke Night @ Club OMG Dana leads the weekly amateur singing night. 8pm. No cover. 43 6th St. 896-6473. www.clubomgsf.com

The Monster Show @ The Edge The dearly missed Cookie Dough’s weekly drag show continues, with themed events and cute gogo guys. $5. 9pm-2am. 4149 18th St. at Collingwood. www.edgesf.com

Thirsty Thursdays @ The Cafe Drink specials, Top 40, gogo studs and no cover, 2 for 1 cocktails until 10:30pm. 2369 Market St. www.cafesf.com

Thump @ White Horse, Oakland Weekly electro music night with DJ Matthew Baker and guests. 9pm-2am.

6551 Telegraph Ave, (510) 652-3820. www.whitehorsebar.com

Thursday Night Live @ Eagle Live bands- usually, rock, punk and always good- perform at the famed leather bar. 8:30pm first band. 398 12th St. www.sf-eagle.com

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge

Thu 18 Chey Bell, part of Full Frontal Comedy @ Lookout

Eleventh anniversary of the retro disco night with a fun diverse crowd, and disco master DJ Bus Station John. $4.

10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.com Want your nightlife event listed?

Email events@ebar.com, at least two weeks before your event.

Event photos welcome.

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

44 • Bay Area Reporter • June 11-17, 2015

Messages From IML

by Race Bannon

I

n my last column I reported on the International Mr. Leather (IML) weekend. For the most part, that was an accounting of the contest and event’s happenings. But as I experienced the weekend myself, some things struck me that had not occurred to me quite so readily before.

For me, IML is the iconic gay men’s leather and kink event. IML is a beautiful encapsulation in a few days of the entirety of the men’s scene – a snapshot of its current state and ethos. Seen through this lens, I was struck by some of the messages that emanated from the weekend.

I chatted with many people at the event: organizers, contestants, vendors, party producers, volunteers and attendees. I was so impressed by the level of content in the speeches from the top 20 contestants that I requested copies to reference.

From all of this I gleaned some messages, trends and themes that I think provide a high-level view of the current state of the gay men’s scene. Even if you disagree with my perceptions, perhaps this will serve as good food for thought as we ponder where we’re at and where we want our scene to go.

Anyone who has attended IML as long as I have must first and foremost be struck by the sheer diversity of erotic expression that is on display. Where once there was a fairly monolithic leather/ BDSM/kink scene, there are now dozens of distinguishable subsets of erotic networks. I’ve called this the ‘niching’ of our scene in the past and I think that description still holds.

No longer does one notice a sea of leathermen clad in essentially the same few permutations of leather garb. Sure, lots of that still exists, but today men express their sexuality with an increasingly diverse set of erotic clothing. Rubber, wrestling singlets, sports gear, pup gear, furry costumes, superhero costumes and genderfuck now take their place amid the traditional leather/Levi butch aesthetic.

Rich Stadtmiller

Bay Area resident Bamm-Bamm, International Mr. Bootblack 2015 (left) and Patrick Smith, International Mr. Leather 2015 (right).

Rich Stadtmiller

Sometimes a simple harness and hot underwear are all you need at IML these days to get your kink on.

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Along with more accurately representing some men’s erotic preferences, this trend has also given newcomer kinksters a less costly pathway for entry into the scene. While some traditionalists bemoan such changes, I personally see no downside since everyone seems to be enjoying the opportunity to express themselves honestly and with less judgment than might have happened years ago.

A stroll through IML’s vendor mart will immediately clue you into the greater diversification of our sexual practices. Whether it’s high-tech electrical play devices, dildos crafted based on the latest material science, or the array of fetish clothing that only recently mainstreamed into our scene, it’s clear the range of things we find interesting to do sexually is growing.

At the host hotel, various groups host parties of various sorts. Woof Camp gives the pup and handler crowd a place to commune and play. The party hosted by the men of ONYX represents the greater visibility for men of color at IML and elsewhere.

The many sober meetings offer those in attendance who See page 46 >>

Rich Stadtmiller

This guy at IML mixed two hot trends together – rubber and pup gear.

Rich Stadtmiller

While the number of guys in traditional full leather has decreased over the years, there are still a lot of guys who love and wear that look.

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 11-17, 2015 • Bay Area Reporter • 45

Classic cocksmen

by John F. Karr

P

orn history, as presented in Classic Reels, is just getting flushed down the drain. Listen to it gluggle as you avert your eyes.

With three discs containing twelve hours of porn from the 1940s to the 1970s, and with a sale price of only $14.99, Classic Reels seems quite the deal. But beware; it’s so inferior you wouldn’t want it if it was free.

It was made exclusively for TLAgay.com by Pleasure Productions, with scenes assembled from the 12 volumes of their series, Gay Erotica from the Past. The stuff has been digitized, alright, but not remastered. The majority of it looks like copies of copies of copies of well-worn VHS tapes. Although the scenes are chaptered, neither they, their sources, nor their performers are named.

And does there seem to be copyright infringement? I think I recognize stuff from Target films, and Magnum/Griffin, which Falcon is still selling. There’s far too much stuff from AMG (which is available in much better transfers from www.

BobMizerFoundation. org). Are some of the clips from Colt, from directors Arch Brown and Mac Larsen (a Joe Gage nom de porn).

The music on the soundtrack is an almost purposefully mismatched succession of classical violin and piano recitals, second rate pop from the ‘30s and ‘40s, bad Philly disco, even the Ave Maria – all boner-wilters, to be sure. So you’ll have to turn off the sound and supply your own music if you do watch.

A couple nuggets emerged from the mire, however. Presaging The Village People, one is a sexless but wacky daydream of a bar where

Big Bill Harrison and lover John Traynor - clothed and in action - in the memorable loop Black Velvet, partially included in Classic Reels.

leather men and sailors congregate, wearing tops above and jocks below.

Into this mix wanders a cowboy, naked but for hat, holster with pistol, and one of those wired posing straps that stays up by itself. A still photo would be better than the flick.

And then there’s a bit of truly classic footage, but only about half of the original, in a foggy reproduction. It’s John Traynor and Bill Harrison in a loop known as Black Velvet. Do you remember Traynor, with his two-toned mustache?

Blond on one side, naturally black on the other [Editor’s note: Traynor also posed for the July 1974 Playgirl magazine as John Colletti, and started the gay muscle-themed Fox Studios].

These two handsome and humungously hung dudes deep-throat and fuck in full frenzy. Watch it in

photo

“A cowboy walks into a bar…” looking as fuzzy in print as he does in Classic Reels.

Falcon founder Chuck Holmes is the subject of Seed Money, premiering at the International LGBTG Film Festival.

A documentary about Peter De Rome, seen here with one of his many awards, will screen at the International LGBTG Film Festival.

full, and in much better quality, at Falcon; buy it at Bijou within Sex Magic, or stream it at AEBN. You can’t watch Classic Reels for pleasure. It’s historic, but can hardly be recommended even for curio seekers. It might be fun on an overhead monitor in some crowded bar, with the sound off, of course.

Seeds of Success The documentary, Seed Money: The Chuck Holmes Story will be screened at the Frameline LGBTQ Film Festival on Sunday the 21st.

Because I was interviewed for the movie some time back, and because subsequently some of my comments were featured in the movie, I was invited to a private advance screening.

Also present were some other of the Seed Money talking heads, and various industry folk.

And you better believe it was impressive and a bit intimidating to be sitting right behind Steven Scarborough, Chi Chi La Rue, and John Rutherford. Chuck Holmes was the founder of Falcon Studios, and the three men in front of me are, figuratively, his children. They got their start from Holmes, learned the craft and trade from him, and then, with Chuck’s encouragement, founded their own companies (or, In Rutherford’s case, bought one). Holmes’ story is told for the most part in their words.

Holmes founded his company on very little, and built it into a huge affair that became the model for an industry. The story is fascinating, especially when it explores the growth of Holmes’ political involvement.

Porn and politics back then just weren’t done. But Holmes’ did ‘em.

And the movie’s quick sightings of all those iconic Falcon stars? My gonads twitched in muscle memory as each clip went by. Seed Money is a fine movie.

Several nights later, on June the 25, there’ll be a screening of the documentary, Peter de Rome: Grandfather of Gay Porn. I don’t know why the Festival records 2014 as the year it was made. I reviewed it right here, in the ‘you read it here first’ B.A.R., in 2012! (Search the full article at Vol: 42 Issue date 2012-11-29).

The date hardly matters, though, and I think you’ll find the movie fascinating, especially since you’ve probably never even heard of de Rome, much less seen his films.

I’m quoting myself here: “De Rome’s films have a refreshing innocence and simple honesty… if they’re only mildly steamy by today’s standards, we can admire de Rome’s creativity, and his effort to imbue gay sex films with imagination and artistic intent. They’re impressive and important – and not without entertainment.”t

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46 • Bay Area Reporter • June 11-17, 2015

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are sober a safe refuge during the weekend as well as a welcoming atmosphere for those men who might be realizing they need some assistance with alcohol or substance use problems.

The attendees themselves seem to come from more walks of gay life than during the early IML years.

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A larger number of offsite sex and play parties in recent years indicates to me the re-emergence of sex and play as the common glue that holds us together as a network of erotic adventurers. Whether it’s group

Rich Stadtmiller

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tance of coming out; leatherfuck parties, BDSM play sex and spirituality; the power parties or puppy moshes of community to improve where they romp, it seems everyone’s life; same-sex marlike sex and play are again riage, bullying and suicide; hoemerging as the vital cenmophobia; how embracing diter upon which the scene versity makes the whole of the is founded. Perhaps this is community better; the valuing the result of new HIV preof the sexual in our lives; and vention options freeing up much more. some men’s fear of sex that Those speeches touched gripped them for a long upon the plethora of issues and time. Whatever the reason, projects at work in our scene. a focus on sex and play apThey point out that as we’ve pears to be on the upswing. grown and matured, so have The higher profile of the our overall considerations and Leather Archives and Musethe spectrum of options one um (LA&M) at IML in recent might have for participating in years tells me that we underleather and kink and making stand how valuable and imboth the scene and the world portant it is to preserve and a better place. honor our true history and Yes, hot buffed men are not the sometimes mythowonderful, but it’s become logical history that’s too often clear that we now desire to attributed to the gay men’s honor a more fully rounded leather world. The opening individual who may more reception for the art show at properly reflect the realities of the LA&M by our own local the world the sash represents.

Master Morris illustrates that So these are my thoughts part of that history is honorgenerated by my time at IML. ing the artists who have reI’ve heard some men point flected back our sexualities out downsides to some of and identities to us in prothe trends and messages I’ve foundly meaningful ways. mentioned. Perhaps there are Then there’s the conRich Stadtmiller some, but I try as much as test. An increasing number possible to look at it in a colof contestants originate Another IML romance in bloom. lective, holistic way and from from regions beyond North that vantage point I don’t see America indicating the widtent the vast majority of speeches a lot of downsides. er reach of contemporary leather contained. That range of content ilChange is inevitable. The only and kink. The types of men who lustrated to me that our scene now sure thing in life is change. On balenter the contest no longer fit neatly openly wrestles with issues and ance, I think our scene is changing into a few pre-determined stereoproblems that were perhaps previfor the better, even as we work to not typical types and now include repously left unspoken or not even reghave such changes squelch our own resentatives from all walks of kink istering in our consciousness at all. sexual and erotic identity ideals.t life. The addition of the bootblack Topics covered in the speeches competition in recent years pays included: BDSM abuse and rape; homage to a growing segment of For Leather Event Listings, the acceptance of more feminine craft practitioners. see www.ebar.com/baratb men and expression; fighting for the During the speech segment of the erotic freedoms of all kink folk; trans Race Bannon is a local author, competition when the top 20 IML acceptance and inclusion; the honorblogger and activist. You can contestants deliver a short speech ing of each person’s individuality and reach him on his website, to the audience and judges, I was uniqueness; HIV phobia; the imporwww.bannon.com. blown away by the depth of con-

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Read more online at www.ebar.com

June 11-17, 2015 • Bay Area Reporter • 47

WARRIORS FANS @ HI TOPS

F

ans of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors got a big thrill at a Finals viewing party at Hi Tops last weekend. At press time, it was a tight tie with the Cleveland Caveliers, with games set through June 19. Along with scores shown on the bar’s multiple big screen TVs, Warriors fans enjoyed the generous eats and drinks served up at the popular sports bar.

Stop by for an entire game or just a beer at 2247 Market St. www.hitopssf.com More event photo albums are on BARtab’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/lgbtsf.nightlife.

See more of Steven Underhill’s photos at www.StevenUnderhill.com.

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For headshots, portraits or to arrange your wedding photos

call (415) 370-7152 or visit www.StevenUnderhill.com or email stevenunderhillphotos@gmail.com