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8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • February 20-26, 2014
AOF prepares for ‘Emerald’ gala by Seth Hemmelgarn
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San Francisco nonprofit that’s raised more than $8.5 million to support Bay Area HIV and AIDS charities since it started more than 30 years ago is preparing for its annual Academy Awards gala. Academy of Friends will hold “Return to the Emerald City” from 5 to 11:30 p.m. Sunday, March 2 at Terra Gallery, 511 Harrison Street, San Francisco. AOF board Chair Howard Edelman noted that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the film The Wizard of Oz, and the theme also honors Oz-related works such as the film The Wiz and the musical Wicked, all of which have huge followings in the LGBT community. For the gala, “the feeling is like you’re going to Oz, and when you
enter you’ll be wowed with magic and the mystical, and exciting props and characters,” said Edelman. “It should be a lot of fun.” He quipped that there may not be any Munchkins at the gala, but “I’m sure we’re going to have some Dorothies and witches.” Last year, the organization gave away $75,000 to its benefitting organizations, and Edelman said the goal this year is to exceed that. All of the money raised through gala and raffle ticket sales, and through the silent auction, goes to beneficiaries. AOF uses money from corporate and individual sponsors to pay for the gala. The budget for this year’s event is “just over” $100,000, which is about the same as the cost of last year’s budget. “We’ve raised enough money to
pay for the gala,” said Edelman, so any money that comes in now will go to beneficiaries, including funds from sponsors. There are “no set requirements” for beneficiaries, but money the groups raise is tracked and is distributed to them after the gala, he said. LGBTQ Connection, which is based in Napa, is one AOF’s six partners for 2014. Ian Stanley, the group’s program director, said LGBTQ Connection’s budget is approximately $170,000, and being an AOF partner will help “dramatically.” Among other benefits, the distribution from the gala will help the group expand its HIV prevention offerings. “The San Francisco Bay Area community cares about people living with HIV and AIDS,” said Edelman. “That’s what they show when they
support our organization. ... I wish we had a cure and there was no more HIV and no more AIDS,” but the disease is “still here, and I’m just touched there are still a lot of really caring people out there.” Aside from viewing the Oscar program on large-screen TVs, entertainment will include Melange, which Edelman described as a group “that promotes diversity in fashion.” The organization will do “a high-powered fashion show.” Some of the Bay Area’s finest restaurants and caterers will provide food, and there will also be champagne and wine. General admission tickets are $250 each. VIP tickets are only offered to individual and corporate sponsors. For more information visit www.academyoffriends.org.t
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Steven Underhill
The Academy of Friends Oscar viewing party is known for its eye candy, such as dancer Chad Stewart, who performed at last year’s event.
Midsize sedans vary in style, handling by Philip Ruth
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his month, we’ll look at three midsize sedans with different powerplants – a turbo four-cylinder (VW Passat SEL), a four-cylinder hybrid (Kia Optima Hybrid), and a V6 (Toyota Camry XLE). Then click over to the web, and we’ll look at the hybrid versus gas benefits with two small hatchbacks, the Toyota Prius C and the Nissan Versa Note SL.
VW
Volkswagen Passat SEL, $31,715, 192-inch length, 28 mpg. Let’s start with the car equipped
with the turbo, which in this case works as a booster for the Passat’s 1.8-liter four-cylinder. This engine has similar power ratings to the larger 2.5-liter four that comes with the lower S trim, but it notches up a couple more miles per gallon, with an EPA rated 24 mpg city and 28 mpg projected overall. That’s competitive with others in this segment, but the long shadow of the Honda Accord is felt here, as that car’s 2.4-liter four pulls 27 mpg city and produces more horsepower and torque than the VW’s turbo. Where the Passat kills the Accord – and pretty much everything else in the
Stuart Morrison Smith
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December 7, 1940–February 3, 2014
Stuart (Stu) Morrison Smith died after a brief battle with cancer on Monday, February 3, surrounded by old friends and family members including his beloved husband, Dave Earl. Mr. Smith was 73.
Stu was a lifelong Bay Area resident and a larger-thanlife figure in San Francisco, the city he adored and where he had lived for more than 40 years. A fifth-generation Californian, he was born on December 7, 1940 in Palo Alto to Morrison Stuart Smith and Carolyn Elizabeth Smith, both now deceased.
After attending Foothill College and majoring in philosophy at San Jose State University Stu partnered with a childhood friend to lead an electronics manufacturing firm in Palo Alto. He worked there until the early 1970s, when he departed for San Francisco to enter the bar and restaurant business. From then until the mid-1990s he owned or managed a series of quintessentially San Francisco dining and drinking establishments, including Zott’s, the Chestnut Street Bar and Grill, the Baja Beach Club, 39 Main in Tiburon and Harpoon Louie’s. Stu was a “front-of-the-house” operator - a master publican - seemingly always present and happily working the crowd, telling stories (some of them true) and making his customers feel like they were right at the center of the action. In the mid 1990s, Stu pivoted yet again, this time to a life dedicated almost entirely to serving others. He worked for many civic and nonprofit organizations as both a volunteer and a leader. Last year he received the KQED LGBT Local Hero Award, in recognition of his contributions, at a gala event held at the Castro Theater. Stu’s efforts as an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous, with which he was intensely involved almost daily from 1993 until only days before his death, became his passion and served as his philosophical touchstone for all his work that followed with other organizations. He was a sponsor, mentor and friend to innumerable people in recovery. He was Board Chair and later Board Chair Emeritus at the Shanti Project, where he also served as a volunteer for 18 years. He was a board member of the Gladstone Institute and the San Francisco Paratransit Coordinating Council. He served on the San Francisco LGBT Aging Policy Task Force, as a member of the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury, and as a volunteer adjudicator for the District Attorney’s office. He worked with the UCSF AIDS Research Center and the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation. He was actively involved for many years with the Castro Country Club, a clean and sober gathering place and one of his favorite places to hangout and find fellowship. Stu’s passion for hamburgers led him on quests far and wide to find the best burger, and he wrote “The Burger Bible” to share his findings. On Yelp, his tireless and well-documented pursuit of this elusive goal earned him the title “Burger Guru.” He hosted two local television shows – Face 2 Face with Stu Smith and The Drag Show. And he was a frequent contributing columnist the San Francisco Bay Times, opining on an eclectic range of topics from the abuse of handicapped parking privileges to the scarcity of affordable housing in San Francisco. Through the arc of his remarkable life, Stu touched countless people with his gentle wisdom, his sense of humor, his seemingly endless energy, his quiet humility and his uncanny ability to make others feel like they really mattered. He is survived by his husband, William David Earl of San Francisco, his brother, Stephen Baxter Smith of Sarasota, FL, his nieces Samantha Jeanne Smith of Burlingame and Julie Black of Oregon and niece-by-marriage Nancy Carolyn Glover of Campbell, his nephews Spencer Calvin Smith, also of Campbell and Cameron Baxter Smith, of Sunnyvale, his cousin Sharon Anne von Haesler of Lower Lake (CA), and Janet Ely, his former sister-in-law and dear friend since high school. His other brother, Gary Arthur Smith, predeceased him. A celebration of Stu’s life will be held on Sunday, March 23, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Julia Morgan Ballroom of the Merchant’s Exchange Building, 465 California Street, San Francisco. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Shanti Project at www.razoo.com/story/The-Stu-Smith-Memorial-Fund
Philip Ruth
Philip Ruth
The Volkswagen Passat comes with comfortable rear legroom and competent handling.
The Kia Optima Hybrid comes with great styling, not so great throttle response.
mid-size segment – is in rear legroom, with a measurement that tops 39 inches. Whether you’re hauling clients or cuddling up with your honey at the Twin Peaks overlook, the Passat’s rear expansiveness never gets old. Competent handling also helps the Passat earn its keep. It’s not the sporty European car you were hoping it would be – VW has to appeal to too many buyers for that kind of specialized feel – but there’s enough starch in the suspension to continually feed your confidence. Of course VW’s hot ticket is its TDI turbo-diesel engine, which is available across its car lines and would be my choice. City mileage jumps to 30 mpg, and while horsepower dips to 140, there lies 54 more pound-feet of torque under your right foot than with an Accord LX’s four, and that means clean and clear takeoffs from a stop. That kind of instant power is gratifying indeed. The four grand or so you’ll spend extra for the TDI will be more than made up for in resale value; take a look at used TDI values on Craigslist, and you’ll see what I mean. If I were in the market, the TDI’s benefit might be enough for me to overlook the interior’s slight cheapness. Priced about the same as the TDI is the new-for-2014 Passat Sport, which has larger wheels and upgraded trim. It comes with the 1.8-liter and aims a target at the Accord Sport, which is a car all buyers in this segment should drive before buying.
Kia
Kia Optima Hybrid, $32,725, 191-inch length, 37 mpg. The Optima is a pretty amazing car, but I’d skip this hybrid version. The extra efficiency is great, but initial throttle response is weak enough that I developed a habit of flooring the accelerator and then backing off when the power finally kicked in. That’s a sure way to kill the hybrid’s benefit, and in the city’s stop-andgo, drastic measures are needed to keep the Optima Hybrid in the mix. But back to the amazing part: this Kia’s boutique styling and relentlessly high quality makes this upstart marque seem like it’s older than Oldsmobile and more underdog than Mini. Forget the crap Kia put out out a decade ago; this Optima had ‘luxury sedan’ written all over it, from the elegant sweep of the roof to the gentle hug of the seats. The instrument panel clusters the controls in cozy frame, and the panoramic sunroof that comes standard in the EX feels expansive. Value for the money? Kia makes it look easy. This Optima Hybrid also earned its stripes with emergency handling that prevented a collision with a car that ran a stop sign. I slammed on the brakes and then let up enough for the front tires to get a bite for the steer-around, and unlike some other heavy-feeling hybrids, the Optima was totally cool with all the sudden braking and steering. Like the Passat, it had a reassuring com-
Obituaries >> Roy Gager July 5, 1948 – January 26, 2014 Roy Gager died in Albuquerque, New Mexico on January 26, 2014. Cause of death was prostate cancer. Born on July 5, 1948, in San Francisco, Roy will be remembered for his love and support of the arts, his generous nature, and his many friendships in New Mexico and California. Roy graduated with a B.A. in history from Sonoma State University. Most recently he served as a supervisor for Bernalillo County Metropolitan Assessment and
Treatment Services. He worked for many years in the Sonoma County HIV Prevention and Testing Program, as well as Drug Abuse Alternatives Center in Santa Rosa as coordinator of its HIV program, later serving as director of HIV prevention for the state of California. Many friends and relatives, including his brother, Ray Gager, and wife, Deborah Akers, of Portland, Oregon; his sister, Linda, and husband, Gary Schindler, of Petaluma; and nephews Shawn and Ryan, survive him. A memorial service is being planned at a later date. Contributions can be made to the Hammer LGBT Educational Archives Project, P.O. Box 25881, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87125 (www.hammerarchives. com), or a charity of your choice.
Philip Ruth
The new Toyota Camry is muscle-car powerful.
petence that endeared it. I’m sure that either the four- or six-cylinder engine would endear it even more.
Toyota
Toyota Camry XLE V6, $34,120, 189-inch length, 25 mpg. It’s a bit ironic that hybrid-happy Toyota is represented here by a stomping V6 engine, with 268 horses bridling under your right foot. City gas mileage drops to 21 mpg with 25 overall, but who cares? This thing is muscle-car powerful, and its shining moment was passing a smoky old truck heading up to the Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin side: it launched up that long hill like it was juiced from a round of squats. Other mid-size sedans have powerful V6s too, so it’s not a Toyota exclusive, but anyone who calls a Camry boring hasn’t been through a week of trying to restrain themselves from attracting some very expensive speeding tickets. The rest of the Camry retains its extremely mainstream focus; it feels simple and durable, like a car you’d buy at Target. Two aspects that took it a little too far down the discount road were leather seating surfaces that appeared vinyl-like and molded fake stitching around the center stack that recalled the tacky door panels of the Chevette on which I learned to drive. Gag me with a spoon! Otherwise it was as you’d expect – comfortable, and easy to use. If you’re buying a Camry, you’ll want to seek out a 2014 model that was built after December 2013, as its crash design was significantly improved on the heels of receiving a “Poor” rating in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s punishing new offset crash test. Later Camrys earn a “Good” rating, and one look online at the difference between those crashed Camrys shows how much more crumple space the driver has with the upgrades. The post-December 2013 Camry looks no different on the outside but is clearly a safer car, and Toyota gets props for giving more than a damn about safety.t Philip Ruth is an automotive journalist and consultant at http://www.gaycarguy.com.