Pride board gets an earful
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Film looks at Prop 8 campaign
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Mayor backfills some HIV money
Pride is catching on
by Seth Hemmelgarn
SF ready to litigate Prop 8 if needed by Matthew S. Bajko
M
ayor Ed Lee announced that he’s proposing $4 million to cover HIV health and prevention service cuts from the federal government in the coming fiscal year, bringing praise from advocates for people living with HIV and AIDS. More federal reductions are expected, though, and a funding gap remains. The budget “reflects a lot of work between the city government and the people we serve,” Lee said Friday, May 31 as he presented his proposed two-year budget for 2013-15 Rick Gerharter at City Hall. The total spending plan is Mayor Ed Lee nearly $16 billion. The mayor has worked for years to try to protect services. The backfilled $4 million is for the 201314 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The mayor had also filled in almost $8 million for 2012-13, and he’s budgeted a full $8 million for 2014-15, according to District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener, who represents the Castro and other neighborhoods. “The mayor deserves all the credit in the world for stepping up for our community,” Wiener said. The gay supervisor believes that since Lee has budgeted the full $8 million for 201415, the mayor has moved federal money and Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Modernization Act funding into the baseline Department of Public Health budget. Wiener called that move “terrific.” However, Wiener said, “Now, the board has work to do.” In 2013-14, there will be another $3 million in federal cuts due to reductions in Ryan White and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding, and cuts related to the federal sequestration. Wiener noted the city’s budget offers a “limited pie” for funds. “There’s a lot of competition for that money for very, very worthy areas, and we just need to make sure that HIV services stay front and center, and that we’re able to backfill that $3 million,” Wiener said. “It’s in our hands now,” Wiener said. “As a member of the budget committee, my top budget priority is going to be backfilling See page 12 >>
Vol. 43 • No. 23 • June 6-12, 2013
T Jane Philomen Cleland
I
t’s not only big cities like San Francisco that are raising the rainbow flag for Pride Month. On Monday, June 3, leaders in the East Bay city of El Cerrito held their own flag-raising ceremony. Gathered at City Hall were, from left, Damian Alarcon, field representative for constituent services for Representative George Miller (D-Richmond), Commissioner Gabriel Quinto of the city’s Human Relations Committee, Mayor Pro Tem Janet Abelson, and Joan L. Carpenter, district coordinator for Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia. San Jose officials raised the rainbow flag Tuesday; City Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio hosted that event.
he easiest solution would be for the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a sweeping decision making same-sex marriage legal throughout the country, similar to its 1967 ruling outlawing bans against interracial marriage. But hardly anyone predicts that the nation’s highest court will take such a bold step in either of its rulings in two marriage cases now before Rick Gerharter it. The justices are expected to announce Therese Stewart their decisions sometime this month. Most legal observers expect that the court See page 11 >>
Town hall addresses suicide, solutions by Seth Hemmelgarn
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bout 50 people recently gathered in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood to discuss suicide and what can be done to help those in need. The town hall, “When the Rainbow Isn’t Enough,” which was held in a room near Mr. S Leather, 385 8th Street, originated after the recent suicides of several gay men, including Castro travel agent Jonathan Klein, 61, who is believed to have jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge in April. The Community Initiative hosted the town hall. Panelists included porn star Michael Brandon and transgender activist Veronika Fimbres, among others. Those in attendance were mostly men in their 40s and over, and struggles with growing older and isolation were recurring themes. Moderator Tim Vollmer said the goal was to “get the word out and start talking about this issue in a sensitive, safe way.” He said he didn’t “want this to be a bitchfest ... about how bitchy gay men are.” Brandon spoke of some of the struggles he’s had, including depression and drugs. He encouraged people to check in with each other and “create community.” “Look around you,” he said. “All the people here are of the same vein.” Panelist Race Bannon, 58, talked about “Race’s Bar,” his Facebook group that brings
Rick Gerharter
The Community Initiative sponsored a town hall meeting about suicide among gay men. Offering their experiences and views on the panel, “When the Rainbow Isn’t Enough,” were from left, Veronika Fimbres, Jorge Vieto Jr., Michael Brandon, Race Bannon, and Blue Buddha.
people together both online and off. Social media “has tremendous power to bring us together,” Bannon said. At one point, Fimbres, 60, asked how many in the room had ever thought about suicide. Almost everyone raised their hand. Lewis Nightingale, 63, talked about the challenges of aging with HIV, including financial concerns, with a lack of support. “This is not my beautiful life,” he said. Like others at the forum, another man
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talked about how difficult it can be to reach out. “You try to talk to somebody in a bar, and they’re all looking at their phones,” he said. Attendee Billie Cooper, a transgender woman, asked about what could be done to get people to be open. “We can assume what they’re going through, but we don’t know,” Cooper said. Video of the May 29 forum is available at http://tinyurl.com/klpcpn2.t
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June 6-12, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 3 CharlesSpiegel_2x2_2313
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Rick Gerharter
Advocates honored for LGBT work
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ublic broadcast station KQED and Union Bank honored four LGBT Local Heroes this year who were feted at a celebration at the Castro Theatre June 4. The awardees for 2013 are, from left, Dr. Dawn Harbatkin, executive director of Lyon-Martin Health Services; Michael V. Discepola, director of the Stonewall Project of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation;
Elaine Genevro, representing sponsor Union Bank; Stu Smith, executive director of Tin Pan Alley Productions; John L. Boland, representing sponsor KQED, and Jodi L. Schwartz, executive director of the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center. Tuesday’s awards show will air several times on channel 9, beginning Sunday, June 23 at 7 p.m.
Trial opens in gay man’s murder by Seth Hemmelgarn
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he prosecutor of a San Francisco man accused of murdering his partner of almost 20 years indicated in his opening statements this week that the motive was money. The man’s defense attorney maintained he’s innocent, while suggesting police conducted a shoddy investigation and saying they failed to follow up on numerous leads. Timothy Stewart, 48, allegedly bashed in the skull of Terry Rex Spray, 60, on August 3, 2012 in the garage of their apartment building at 1135 Ellis Street. Spray died September 18, and police arrested Stewart on September 24.
Courtesy SFPD
Defendant Timothy Stewart
Assistant District Attorney John Rowland told jurors Monday, June 3 how Spray was found with “massive head injuries” lying in a pool of blood between his car and another vehicle. Spray, whose career included working for years as a psychiatric nurse at San Francisco General Hospital, had “built up a sizable pension account” worth about $187,000, Rowland said. Spray’s keys had been at the scene, and there was no evidence anyone had attempted to take his car, Rowland said. He also told jurors of a relationSee page 7 >>
Family, friends in shock over man’s death by Seth Hemmelgarn
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amily and friends of a popular gay San Francisco man are expressing shock after he died this week, several days after he was found unconscious on a Castro sidewalk. James Cunningham, 55, is believed to have been walking his dog on Hartford Street late Tuesday night, May 28, when he sustained injury to his head, according to his sister Maureen Cunningham, who cited information from a hospital social worker. Someone eventually discovered him, and he was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where a coma was induced. He died Monday morning, June 3. What happened “came as such a shock to us,” said Maureen Cunningham, 57, of San Jose. Police and other officials had little information this week about what happened, and it’s not clear whether Cunningham was assaulted or fell. The medical examiner’s office confirmed he had died but wouldn’t provide many details. Citing information from a hospital social worker, Maureen Cunningham said her brother “was found sometime after midnight” at 174 Hartford Street. His dog, Jett, a black Labrador mix, was with him. The location isn’t far from her brother’s home at 166 Caselli Avenue. Maureen Cunningham said it’s not clear “when the trauma happened.” Someone apparently saw him and called for help. Paramedics from the fire department took him to the hospital, she said. A fire department spokeswoman
Courtesy Gregg Gleasner
James Cunningham and his dog, Jett
wasn’t able to find any information about Cunningham based on the limited details the Bay Area Reporter was able to provide to her. Cunningham didn’t have any identification on him (friends said he often didn’t carry a wallet when walking his dog), and it wasn’t known who he was until Jett’s microchip was scanned. The social worker notified police, who went to his home for further confirmation of his identity. Hospital staff first told the family that Cunningham had been assaulted, but later said he could have been injured from a fall, Maureen Cunningham said. She said he developed an infection in the hospital that eventually killed him. The family is expecting to hear from the medical examiner’s office this week about the agency’s conclusion on Cunningham’s injuries and the cause of his death.
It’s not clear if police were ever called to the scene. “There isn’t a police report we can look at,” Maureen Cunningham said. Officer Albie Esparza, a spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department, wasn’t able to find any information about Cunningham Tuesday, June 4. “A lot of times we have to wait for the medical examiner’s office to complete their autopsy and find the cause of death before they notify police,” Esparza said, and that may take a while. Maureen Cunningham said her brother, a retired banker, got Jett about a year and a half ago and “did a lot of walking” with the dog. She and her family are keeping Jett. “He had such a wonderful heart,” she said. “... He was looking for what were the important things in life and he went out there to forge his way, to identify who he wanted to be and what he wanted to become.” “I believe he found what he was looking for,” Maureen Cunningham said. He enjoyed traveling and art, and he had “a lot of great friends in San Francisco, a great community,” she said. David Wheeler, 54, of San Francisco, said Cunningham was “a sweet, gentle man,” and in interviews, many people were eager to talk about his kindness and diverse interests in everything from astrology to music. In addition to his sister, Cunningham’s survivors include his parents, another sister, four nephews, and three nieces. Memorial services were pending as of Tuesday.t
<< Community News
4 • Bay Area Reporter • June 6-12, 2013
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Milk is a ‘Champion’
O Jane Philomen Cleland
akland officials unveiled a new bronze monument, “Remembering Them: Champions for Humanity” Friday, May 31 at Henry J. Kaiser Memorial Park in the city’s Uptown district. The late San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, top, is one of 25 humanitarians that creator and master artist Mario
Chiodo, right, included in the massive, 25 feet high artwork. Photographer Dan Nicoletta, left, who was a longtime friend of Milk’s, was also honored at the dedication. Others who are depicted in the monument include Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez. The park is located at 19th and Rashida Muhammad streets.
Pride board expected to make decision on Manning matter by James Patterson
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ebar.com
an Francisco Pride officials are expected to decide this week whether to take any action in response to their decision to rescind grand marshal honors for gay Army soldier Bradley Manning. Following a sometimes-tense community meeting, the board of directors of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee is set to consider several options mentioned by speakers at a May 31 town hall held at Metropolitan Community Church-San Francisco. Those options include reinstating Manning as a grand marshal, letting the Bradley Manning contingent lead the Pride parade, or finding an alternative symbolic honor for Manning. Manning, 25, is the gay Army private accused of leaking 700,000 classified government documents to WikiLeaks. His military court-martial began this week, where he faces several charges that could result in a life sentence for him. Manning was initially named a community grand marshal by the Pride Committee in late April. But the Pride board rescinded the honor two days later, claiming it was a “mistake.” Since then, critics – locally, nationally and internationally – have denounced the Pride board. During the meeting, SF Pride CEO Earl Plante, board President Lisa Williams, and other board members listened quietly, respectfully, and took notes as 50 predominantly angry community members largely used their two minutes to call them liars and demand they reinstate Manning as a grand marshal. Another estimated 50 people watched from their seats and often shouted remarks at Plante and Williams. They also expressed their loud support for speakers with whom they agreed. Most speakers read anti-war and anti-corporate statements. One man compared Manning’s persecution to that of Jesus. Other Manning supporters became emotional as they read their statements. After making their com-
Rick Gerharter
The line of people waiting to speak at the May 31 community meeting called by San Francisco Pride officials stretched out of the sanctuary at Metropolitan Community Church-San Francisco.
ments, some speakers rejoined the long queue to comment more. Williams and Plante were confronted many times with their poorly chosen words from past news releases on the Manning matter. They appeared uncomfortable but did not try to defend any of their past statements. Manning supporter Patricia Jackson of Gray Panthers quoted the imprisoned soldier. “I want to make a difference in the world.” She asked the Pride board to make a difference and reinstate Manning. Longtime LGBT activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca passionately recalled Pride marches from the 1970s. He brought a shouting crowd to its feet when he called on the board to “do the right fucking thing and reinstate Bradley Manning.” Military veteran Stephen Funk, who said he had been jailed by the military, told the board, “You do not represent us. Do your job or quit.” Manning supporter Charlie Hinton told the board, “We are more than dicks and pussies. We are people.” Several speakers said SF Pride was too conservative. Becka Shertzer demanded the board do more than listen. “We want a dialogue,” she said. The crowd roared its approval.
Other speakers also demanded that board members answer questions rather than just listen. Only three people spoke in support of the board’s decision to rescind Manning’s grand marshal honor. One of them, Chris Bowman, called Williams “courageous.” When Bowman, a local gay Republican and political consultant, said the Log Cabin Republicans supported the board’s decision not to honor Manning, he was greeted with loud hissing from the crowd. Katherine Kline, who blogs at GOP Tranny, also supported the board’s decision. “Bradley Manning is no hero,” she said, as the crowd hissed her away from the microphone. An emotional Paul Cummings, a veteran, said Manning hurt gay people and reinforced the stereotype that “gays are security risks.” The crowd hissed at him. Gay radio journalist Scott Shafer, host of KQED’s “California Report,” moderated the meeting and tried to keep speakers civil and within their time allotment, but he was largely ignored and disrespected. This went on for two hours and 15 minutes before chaos erupted. Daniel Kim took the microphone and angrily called Williams a murSee page 12 >>
Grand marshal drops out by Cynthia Laird
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ay former San Francisco supervisor Bevan Dufty won’t be a community grand marshal in this year’s LGBT Pride parade after all. Dufty, who was announced as a grand marshal with the original slate in late April, told the Bay Area Reporter that he has declined the honor. “I very much wanted to be a Pride grand marshal but I don’t feel this is the right time,” Dufty wrote in an email to the B.A.R. Dufty had been selected by Pride’s membership. He is currently director of the city’s Housing, Opportunity, Partnership, and Empowerment program in Mayor Ed Lee’s admin-
Rick Gerharter
Supervisor Bevan Dufty
istration. Asked whether his decision to step down had anything to do with the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee’s handling of the Bradley Manning grand marshal brouhaha, Dufty declined to answer directly. “I’m going to let my actions speak for me in this situation,” he wrote in an email. Dufty said he alerted Pride staff May 9 that he would turn down the invitation. The B.A.R. learned of his decision late Friday, when checking on the various grand marshals with Pride officials and saw that Dufty’s name wasn’t on a recent list.t
<< Open Forum
6 • Bay Area Reporter • June 6-12, 2013
Volume 43, Number 23 June 6-12, 6-13, 2013 www.ebar.com PUBLISHER Thomas E. Horn Bob Ross (Founder, 1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird ARTS EDITOR Roberto Friedman ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko Seth Hemmelgarn Jim Provenzano CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dan Aiello • Tavo Amador • Erin Blackwell Roger Brigham • Scott Brogan Victoria A. Brownworth • Philip Campbell Heather Cassell • Chuck Colbert Richard Dodds • David Duran Raymond Flournoy • David Guarino Peter Hernandez • Liz Highleyman Brandon Judell • John F. Karr Matthew Kennedy • David Lamble Michael McDonagh • David-Elijah Nahmod Elliot Owen• Paul Parish • James Lois Pearlman Patterson Tim Pfaff Lois Pearlman • Jim•Piechota Tim Pfaff••Bob JimRoehr Piechota Donna Bob Roehr Sachet • Philip AdamRuth Sandel • Donna • Jason Sachet Serinus Gregg Sandel Adam Shapiro••Jason Gwendolyn SerinusSmith • Gregg Shapiro Ed Walsh • Sura Gwendolyn SmithWood • Ed Walsh • Sura Wood ART DIRECTION T. Scott King ONLINE PRODUCTION Jay Cribas PHOTOGRAPHERS Danny Buskirk Jane Philomen Cleland Marc Geller Rick Gerharter Lydia Gonzales Rudy K. Lawidjaja Steven Underhill Bill Wilson ILLUSTRATORS & CARTOONISTS Paul Berge Christine Smith GENERAL MANAGER Michael M. Yamashita DISPLAY ADVERTISING Simma Baghbanbashi Colleen Small Scott Wazlowski NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE Rivendell Media – 212.242.6863
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The broken American dream
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t may be Pride Month but that doesn’t mean we’ve achieved full equality yet. In fact, when it comes to LGBTs and their families, the American dream needs fixing, as a newly released report amply reveals. “A Broken Bargain” was released by the Movement Advancement Project, the Human Rights Campaign, and the Center for American Progress. The report looks at how discrimination, fewer benefits, and more taxes actually harm LGBT workers and prevent them from receiving equal treatment. Several other organizations partnered on the project, including the Service Employees International Union and Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, which is based in San Francisco. According to the report’s executive summary, the basic American economic promise provides that people who work hard and meet their responsibilities should be able to get ahead; but due to a litany of factors, that bargain is broken for LGBT workers. “Instead of having a fair chance to get ahead, LGBT workers and their families often are held back by bias, fewer workplace benefits, and higher taxes,” the report notes. And while some employers have taken steps to ease the burden of unfair treatment, they can’t fix the problem on their own because of unequal treatment of LGBT workers under the law. The report also considers new trends that weren’t in evidence five or even 10 years ago. One of those is that LGBT workers are raising children in significant numbers, with new analyses showing that 37 percent of LGBT adults are raising children. Other factors have long been issues in the community, such as the fact that LGBT workers experience unemployment at an equal or higher rate than others. For transgender people, the unemployment rate is twice the rate of the population as a whole, and higher still for trans people of color. LGBT workers face what the report’s authors call the “1-2-3 punch” that hurts their families. First, couples have to be married, and workers must have a legal parent-child relationship to access most family benefits and tax relief. Of course, same-sex marriage is legal in only 12 states (some of them have yet to begin
performing marriages), and most states have no mechanism for some LGBT parents to create legal ties to the children they are raising. Finally, even when LGBT workers can marry a same-sex partner, the federal Defense of Marriage Act prevents the federal government from recognizing their marriages. DOMA, of course, may not be around much longer, given the federal lawsuit currently under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court, but at the moment, it is the law. There are two overreaching problems, the report states: job discrimination without legal protections makes it harder for LGBT workers to find and keep a job, and LGBT workers receive fewer benefits and pay more taxes, which puts them and their families at risk. As for solutions, most must come from the federal government. The government oversees policies dealing with taxes and Social Security survivor and disability benefits, so if DOMA is struck down, there may be relief in these areas. Still, all LGBT workers, whether married or not, will benefit from protections provided by the Employment Non-Discrimination Act,
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which has been stalled in Congress for decades. It’s time that Congress take action and pass ENDA. But in the meantime, President Barack Obama should sign an executive order that prohibits federal contractors from discriminating against LGBTs. A few months ago, 110 members of Congress urged the president to sign the order, according to Metro Weekly. Finally, the federal government must provide pathways to immigration and citizenship for binational LGBT families. The Senate rejected this a few weeks ago, when an amendment was withdrawn that would have extended such protections. So in reality, even as Democratic lawmakers and the president have said they support us, policies implemented by the government continue to cause real harm to LGBT families. We’ve been calling attention to these problems for many years and this report does a good job of drawing a comprehensive picture and putting our issues into context. It should be required reading by lawmakers and their aides, as well as those working in the White House. If our leaders are going to be wishing us “Happy Pride” for the rest of the month, they should at least have a thorough understanding of the systemic biases that LGBTs confront everyday, in every state. t
How not to handle a crisis by Bruce Mirken
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he board of San Francisco Pride has an opportunity to start healing the self-inflicted wounds to its reputation caused by its decision to remove Bradley Manning as a community grand marshal. Board members need to get it right this time. As a reporter for many years and a nonprofit PR person for the last 12, I’ve seen a fair amount of crisis management from both sides of the fence. If Pride is to right its sinking ship, the board needs to understand how badly it handled this; its members must accept that they cannot continue down the path they’ve been taking if Pride is to retain any credibility. At Friday night’s public meeting, thanks to the impassioned pleas of a wide cross-section of our community and a much-appreciated assist from Supervisor David Campos, board members took what could be the first step toward putting this behind them, agreeing to reassess Manning’s status within seven days. But that should be only the start. Pride’s handling of this should disturb even those who support the decision to remove Manning. To be blunt, if they aren’t lying to us all, they’ve done a brilliant job of making it look like they are. Pride’s official line, as repeated by CEO Earl Plante Friday night, is that the sudden about-face – first announcing Manning as a community grand marshal and then hastily retracting that decision – was just a procedural oopsie. It was “policy [regarding selection of grand marshals], not politics,” Plante said. The problem wasn’t what Manning represents politically or his actions to expose U.S. war crimes, it was just that he wasn’t local and thus wasn’t eligible.
Rick Gerharter
San Francisco Pride CEO Earl Plante speaks at the May 31 community meeting held to discuss the Bradley Manning controversy.
So why, then, did Pride devote a full third of its original statement announcing that Manning wouldn’t be a grand marshal to disavowing “even the hint of support for actions which placed in harm’s way the lives of our men and women in uniform – and countless others?” Why did the statement fail to even mention what we were later told was the only reason Manning was removed? No one running a huge community event needlessly picks that sort of a fight two months before showtime. If the reason for rescinding Manning’s selection is what Plante and the board say it is, issuing that statement wasn’t just inept, it was nuts. The Pride board is not nuts. And Pride’s shifting stories have been compounded by a complete lack of transparency as to exactly when and how key decisions were made.
Meanwhile, other mysteries have cropped up. A couple weeks ago, what had been a simple, online application form to become a Pride member suddenly shifted to a PDF that had to be printed out and physically mailed in. Asked about that last Friday, Plante and the board members claimed to have no idea this was the case, shrugging as if they were hearing it for the first time. Really? Membership procedure changes in the middle of a crisis that’s causing a flood of new applications, and no one in charge knows about it? Even if the present situation is successfully resolved – a resolution which must involve Manning being honored at this year’s parade as the gay American hero he is – Pride’s credibility is in tatters. Even those who oppose Manning as a grand marshal should find that concerning if they truly care about this community institution. There is only one way out of this, as every organization that’s ever had a communications crisis learns – usually the hard way – and that is complete transparency. Tell the truth, even if it’s difficult, so that the healing can begin. Tell us what happened. Tell us when the decisions were made, what items the board voted on, and who voted. Release the full, unedited minutes of all relevant meetings. Indeed, start posting all board minutes on Pride’s website. If the facts – all of the facts – validate the story Pride has been telling, fine. If they don’t, they will come out eventually, and every day of delay will further shred Pride’s already dissolving credibility. Level with us, please. It’s time.t Bruce Mirken is a longtime community journalist and activist who has handled nonprofit media relations since 2001. The views expressed are his own and not those of any organization.
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Community News>>
June 6-12, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 7
AIDS LifeCycle rolls out
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Jane Philomen Cleland
iders and volunteers stood at attention Sunday, June 2 as the riderless bike was escorted by Michael Dix and Mary Vencil, front, and Katie Meza (not pictured) and Tim Wood, back, in the Cow Palace during opening ceremonies of the AIDS LifeCycle. Participants are now in the midst of their 545-mile journey, which ends Saturday in Los Angeles. The ride is a fundraiser for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center. According to SFAF officials, this year’s ride raised a record-setting $14.2 million. There are 2,755 participants from 44 states and 16 countries taking part in this year’s ride. To register for next year’s event, visit http://www.aidslifecycle.org.
LGBT, allied businesses set for Pride expo compiled by Cynthia Laird
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he Golden Gate Business Association will host its 12th annual Pride Business Expo Wednesday, June 12 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Hotel Whitcomb, 1231 Market Street (at 8th Street) in San Francisco. The event will be a showcase of LGBT-owned businesses and those that are allied with LGBT equality issues. The expo is expected to feature more than 70 businesses, as well as food and wine tastings, a silent auction, prizes, and much more. Additions to this year’s event include an online virtual trade show spotlighting all participating exhibitors. While there is no charge to attend, GGBA officials note that a $5-$10 donation is encouraged. All door proceeds go to the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy and charities that are supported by the Grand Ducal Court. For more info, visit www.ggba. com or call (415) 862-4422.
B.A.R. editor wins press award
Bay Area Reporter assistant editor Matthew S. Bajko took top honors in the non-daily columns category at this year’s San Francisco Peninsula Press Club Awards. Bajko, 38, won in the newscolumns category for his Political Notebook column. His was the only winner in the category. “This is great news for Matthew and the Bay Area Reporter,” said publisher Thomas E. Horn. “Matthew is a very talented journalist, and we are very proud of him and grateful that he is being recognized by his peers.” Bajko has been with the B.A.R. since 2001.
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Trial
From page 3
ship Stewart had developed with a San Mateo woman and said they would hear “a lot of evidence” regarding Stewart’s relationships with Spray and the woman. Rowland also raised the timing of phone calls between the woman and Stewart around the time of the alleged attack. Surveillance video shows Stewart and Spray in the garage, separately, the morning Spray was injured, but the camera didn’t capture what happened to Spray. In her opening remarks Monday, Deputy Public Defender Danielle Harris said Spray named Stewart the
Community discussion for older lesbian, bi women
Doing It For Ourselves, a health and wellness program for lesbian and bisexual women, will host a community discussion for older sexual minority women Monday, June 10 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, 1800 Market Street. There is no cost to attend. Organizers noted that many older sexual minority women complain that there is a lack of community for women in the city. As a result, this session will share ideas about community activities and events that would appeal to lesbian and bisexual women over 40 and strategies to build a sense of community for older women in a youthful city. The evening will be facilitated by Mickey Eliason, a professor at San Francisco State University, who is currently doing research on health needs and health programming for older lesbian and bisexual women. For more information, contact Eliason at meliason52245@yahoo. com.
Commonwealth Club announces gay programming
It’s Pride Month and the Commonwealth Club has lined up three gay-specific programs. First up, sex advice columnist and author Dan Savage will be in conversation with Daniel Handler Tuesday, June 11 at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street. Doors open at 6 p.m. for the program at 7, which is followed by a book signing. Savage, a longtime gay activist and writer, is promoting his new book, American Savage. Tickets are $25 for non-members and $15 for members. For prior-
beneficiary of his estate shortly after they became domestic partners in 1994. (They married in 2004.) “This is not a new development,” she said. Harris said after Spray was hospitalized, Stewart had figured he himself was broke, and he “had no idea what he eventually might inherit.” He also asked Spray’s sister to manage her brother’s finances, but she wasn’t interested, Harris said. She said that police initially involved in the case “badly botched” their investigation of the video and didn’t try to view footage that could have been helpful. Homicide inspectors eventually sought more video, but by then it was too late to
ity seating with a book, tickets are $50 for non-members and $40 for members. Premium tickets, which include a pre-reception with an appearance by Savage and the book, are $80 for non-members and $60 for members. The Commonwealth Club’s LGBT member-led forum is presenting two programs, both of which will take place at the club’s offices at 595 Market Street. On June 13 officials from Out and Equal Workplace Advocates will talk about Executive Director Selisse Berry’s recently released book, From Closet to Corner Office, which is an anthology chronicling the stories of executives who have come out and thrived at their companies. The program comes on the heels of an LGBT workplace report released by the organization. There will be a networking reception at 5:30 p.m. followed by the program at 6. Toward the end of June, right before Pride, on Wednesday, June 26, the SF Pride speaker series will feature gay Supervisors David Campos and Scott Wiener, who will talk about the unique way the city hosts Pride for the world. A networking reception takes place at 4:45 p.m. followed by the program at 5:15. Tickets for both programs are $20 for non-members, $8 for members, and $7 for students with valid ID. For more information, visit www.commonwealthclub.org.
Gay day for Berkeley seniors
The city of Berkeley’s Community Services Department will hold its 11th annual LGBTQ Gay Pride Celebration Tuesday, June 11 at the North Berkeley Senior Center, 1901 Hearst Avenue (at MLK Jr. Way). The party takes place from 1 to 4 p.m. and will include entertainment, booths, food, and friendship. Everyone is welcome.t
retrieve it, she said. Additionally, Harris said, there were many people “police never thought” to talk to. Spray had experienced injuries “from the hands of multiple patients over the years,” and she noted he had obtained a restraining order against one patient who’d threatened to kill him. She also repeatedly suggested it was possible for non-residents of the building to gain access to the garage. Spray and others’ cars had been broken into, and the garage gate was known to get stuck open, Harris said. Among other items police didn’t See page 12 >>
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<< Politics
8 • Bay Area Reporter • June 6-12, 2013
LYRIC school program receives partial funding
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by Matthew S. Bajko
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et to unveil a report about the effectiveness of its school-based initiative, an LGBT youth agency received partial funding for the program from San Francisco officials last week. In his budget released May 31, Mayor Ed Lee proposed allocating $75,000 toward the program, overseen by the Castro-based Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center. The amount is half of what LYRIC had been seeking, and the agency plans to continue to press City Hall for the full amount as the Board of Supervisors begins its budget talks. As a story in last week’s Bay Area Reporter detailed, LYRIC was passed over for a $250,000 grant from the city’s Department of Children, Youth and their Families to help cover the expansion of its school-based work on LGBT issues during the 2013-2014 school year. In response, the agency had lobbied the mayor and the board to award it $150,000 to maintain the program. Since it launched the curriculum in 2011, LYRIC has taught the weekly course about LGBT issues once a week at public middle and high schools. This past school year it was at Balboa High School and Everett Middle School. It has also taught the course at Buena Vista/Horace Mann, a K-8 school, and Mission High School. LYRIC plans to teach the initiative at three schools in the fall during
Rick Gerharter
Rick Gerharter
LYRIC Executive Director Jodi Schwartz
City College Trustee Rafael Mandelman
the 2013-2014 school year: Everett, Buena Vista, and Balboa. In an email to the B.A.R. last week, LYRIC Executive Director Jodi Schwartz said the mayor’s proposed funding amount would cover the costs of teaching the course at the middle schools but not the high school. “We will need to secure additional funds in order to support the work at the comprehensive level required and across all three sites, which also includes Balboa HS,” she wrote. “We are in conversation with multiple members of the Board of Supervisors as to whether they will support funding for the school-based initiative.” Schwartz sounded a positive note on seeing the city award it the full amount. “It remains our hope that we can secure the full $150K from the city, as we are still committed to match those public funds, dollar-for-dollar, with private funds,” she wrote. Gay Supervisors David Campos (District 9) and Scott Wiener (D8) worked with the mayor’s office to secure the partial funding for LYRIC through Lee’s middle school initiative. It is likely they will push for LYRIC to receive its full funding request, though neither supervisor has yet to publicly pledge to do so. Campos did not respond to the B.A.R.’s request for comment this week, while Wiener declined to specify what changes in the budget he would be seeking. “I’m working on various LGBT youth budget proposals at the moment, and I’m not prepared to comment on any specific add-back requests,” Wiener, who sits on the board’s budget committee, wrote in an email. Amid the funding fight LYRIC will unveil a new report about its program’s impact in the schools at a City Hall press conference Thursday, June 6. Based on surveys taken by students enrolled in the program, an education evaluation firm concluded the school-based initiative had achieved “promising evidence of positive outcome” in several areas. LYRIC will discuss the report at the 4 p.m. press conference on the steps of City Hall. Campos and Wiener are both expected to attend.
Rafael Mandelman. His gay board colleague, Lawrence Wong, is featured as are gay Campbell Mayor Evan Low, lesbian Oakland City Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, and gay state Assembly Speaker John A. Perez, (D-Los Angeles), who has yet to take part in the city’s parade or festival since being elected in 2008. Mandelman told the B.A.R. that Pride had asked him to send in a greeting for the guide. “I don’t know what happened,” said Mandelman, an attorney elected in November to the oversight body for City College of San Francisco. “I am sure they will get to right it next year.” Robert Sokol, whose company, Via Media, publishes the guide, said Pride officials determine the list of politicians to include and in which order to print their statements. Two other gay electeds, Berkeley City Councilmen Kriss Worthington and Darryl Moore, had been asked to submit Pride greetings but didn’t make the final list, said Sokol. “The editorial content is directed by Pride staff and its contractors. I go with what they tell me,” he said. SF Pride CEO Earl Plante said several Bay Area out politicians were cut due to space limitations. They will be included in the smaller Pride guide that will be published June 27. “We are doing our due diligence to get everyone in the Pocket Pride guide,” said Plante. “We increased the pages to ensure we get everyone in there.” Mandelman shared his Pride message with the B.A.R. “From November’s ballot box victories in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington to the election of Senator Tammy Baldwin, from Barack Obama’s re-election and inauguration to NBA player Jason Collins’ courageous coming out, this has been a good year to be queer,” wrote Mandelman, referring to same-sex marriage wins and the lesbian lawmaker becoming the first out member of the U.S. Senate. “And yet ... as far as we have come, we know the road ahead is still long, longer still for the queerest among us. So as we celebrate our victories this Pride, let us rededicate ourselves to continuing our struggle until we have won justice for every last one of us.”t
SF Pride snubs gay college board member
Each year the local guide to San Francisco Pride, known as Inside Pride, features greetings from local out politicians in addition to ones from the governor and mayor. This year the list included every single gay San Francisco elected official except for one: freshman community college board member
On the web Online content this week includes the Bay Area Reporter’s online columns, Political Notes and Wedding Bell Blues; the Out in the World column; more News Briefs; and articles on an LGBT photography project and a Catholic priest who came out as gay. www.ebar.com.
<< Same-Sex Marriage
10 • Bay Area Reporter • June 6-12, 2013
Prop 8 film debuts at Frameline by Matthew S. Bajko
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ocal filmmaker Christie Herring initially joined the No on 8 campaign in 2008 as a volunteer. An out lesbian, she was alarmed at the possibility California voters could strip her right to marry the woman of her dreams someday by passing the antigay ballot measure that November. She enlisted early on before Proposition 8, which codified marriage as being between a man and a woman
in the state constitution, had been cleared for the ballot. She drove up to a Target in Sacramento as part of a decline-to-sign effort aimed at keeping Prop 8 from going before voters. “It was a great disappointment to see my rights on the ballot here,� said Herring, 39, who purposefully left her home state of Mississippi for the LGBT-friendly Golden State. Once it became clear that Prop 8’s proponents had gathered enough signatures to qualify the constitutional
amendment for the ballot, Herring found herself in a unique position not only to witness LGBT history in the making but to document it for posterity. She grabbed her camera – a Panasonic DVX 100 B – and sought permission to film the behind-thescenes, day-to-day operations of the No on 8 campaign team. The headquarters was based in San Francisco on the second floor of the vacant Market Noe Center a block from the heart of the gay Castro district. Due to their familiarity with Herring as a volunteer, the local campaign workers agreed to let her film them. Several filmmakers had requested permission to cover the campaign, but only Herring was given access. “She was the only one who was one of us; that made a difference,� recalled Oakland resident Anne Marks, who worked as a field director for No on 8. “Her reasons weren’t self-serving.� Over the summer and fall of 2008 Herring conducted interviews with the main leaders of the No on 8 campaign, such as former Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors and National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Kate Kendell. But her camera lens mostly focused on the daily staffers, people like Dani “Claudia� Gardner, an African
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Courtesy Christie Herring
No on 8 campaign staffer Dani “Claudia� Gardner is one of the people featured in The Campaign.
American lesbian from a Christian family, and Holli Banks, the campaign’s volunteer coordinator whose mother opposed her marrying her partner. By the end of the campaign – Prop 8 passed by a vote of 52.3 percent to 47.7 percent – Herring had amassed 200 hours of footage all filmed on tape. Election Day alone she spent 21 hours shooting nonstop. “I was numb after that. I slept for three or four days,� recalled Herring. Then she went to work on review-
ing what she had caught on camera. What emerged over the last five years is a 60-minute film centered on the stories of a few No on 8 staffers and two unpaid volunteers. The more senior leaders, such as Kors and Kendell, show up in passing. “I spent a lot of time thinking about it and looking through the footage,� said Herring. “I wanted to create something that is timeless so people in other states can relate to it. I feel like Prop 8 is so much bigger than California.� The resulting narrative in the film doesn’t delve into what went wrong to cause the Yes on 8 side to prevail. But it doesn’t shy away from the No on 8 side’s missteps; there are criticisms of the advertising used and complaints about the gay community’s lack of engagement in the campaign until late in the process. Asked about the focus she chose for the film, Herring explained that she “wanted the viewer to feel they were there. I wanted to drop you into that room and feel the energy there. I want people to emotionally connect with the people on the screen and their stories.� Called The Campaign, the documentary will have its world premiere during this year’s Frameline LGBT film festival. The screening will take place at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 23 at the Castro Theatre followed by a Q&A with some of the stars of the film and the filmmakers. Marks, 37, now the director of nonprofit Youth Alive, which works with Oakland gunshot victims up to the age of 24, plans to take part. She married her wife, Yara Herman, during the campaign in a “quickie wedding� in a friend’s kitchen. Later, in 2010, they held a more formal ceremony with their families. She has yet to see the film but has seen some of the footage Herring captured. “For me it shocks me how much I was on camera,� said Marks. “I didn’t notice when it was happening. In my mind, I was never the one she had her camera on.� The screening will likely be an emotional event, said Marks, as fellow campaign worker Hannah Johnson, a straight ally whom Marks became close friends with, is also featured in the film. Johnson met and later married fellow Prop 8 volunteer Matthew LeBlanc; the couple was in a car accident in May in which only LeBlanc survived. LouiseLouise McCallion, Executive Director McCallion, Louise McCallion, Executive DirectorHannah LeBlanc died May 20 at the Executive Director Executive Director As Executive Director of Reflections, I amLouise McCallion, As Executive Director of Reflections, I am age of 29. Her friends in the Bay Area passionate about my responsibility to ensure passionate about my responsibility to ensure plan to raise money at a private party Executive Director of Reflections, I am best-in-class at our facility and toAscreate As service Executive Director of Reflections, I am best-in-class service at our facility and to create following the film premiere in order passionate about my responsibility to ensure the highest quality experience conducive to the highest quality experience conducive to passionate aboutbest-in-class my responsibility to service at our facility and to create recovery. The team at Reflections will help your recovery. The team at Reflections will help to yourestablish a straight ally scholarship ensure service at our facility the highest quality experience conducive to clients finally conquerbest-in-class this battle. named The Hannah Fund overseen clients finally conquer this battle. Louise McCallion, Director The team at Reflections will help your Executive and to create therecovery. highest quality experiby the National Gay and Lesbian Task Contact me directly if you have any questions: Contactthis me battle. directly if you have any questions: clients finally conquer ence conducive to recovery. The team at (415) 706-8906 Force. (415) 706-8906 As Executive Director of Reflections, I am louise@livingatreflections.com Reflections will help clients finally louise@livingatreflections.com “I know it is going to be hard to Contactyour me directly if you have any questions: (800) 611-7316 passionate about my responsibility to 611-7316 conquer this battle. me directly (415) Contact 706-8906 (800) watch,� saidensure Marks, particularly the louise@livingatreflections.com if you have any questions: best-in-class service at our footage facility and to create of her friend. “She dedicated (800) 611-7316 the highest quality experience her life to this and conducive to now she is gone. It (415) 706-8906 makes will me feel recovery. The team at Reflections helpeven yourmore committed louise@livingatreflections.comclients finally conquer this to it and her legacy; even more so than battle. my own wedding.� person featured in the Contact me directly if you haveAnother any questions:
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See page 11 >>
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Same-Sex Marriage>>
June 6-12, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 11
Lesbian pioneer awaits court decision by James Patterson
they worked for a magazine in Seattle. Three years later, in San Francisco, they became a couple and bought the one bedroom house in which Lyon still lives. Of their lives together before marriage, Lyon said it was “close to a marriage without having it.” The couple’s 181-day marriage ended in August 2004 when the California Supreme Court voided
all the San Francisco same-sex marriages that year because, it said, Newsom lacked state authority to marry same-sex couples. In May 2008, the California Supreme Court overturned Proposition 22 and ruled in favor of samesex marriage. Lyon and Martin exchanged vows again on June 16. They were the first same-sex couple to wed on the first day that such
couples could marry in California. “We wore the same suits,” Lyon said. Lyon said they received well wishes from friends across the country. The couple was married only 74 days when Martin died. Lyon has photographs of her two marriages to Martin in her home. “It’s hard for me tell which photographs are from which marriage,” she said. State passage of Prop 8 in November 2008 did not affect their marriage. The California Supreme Court later upheld Prop 8 but also upheld the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who wed during the five-month span. The federal case now before the U.S. Supreme Court is about the constitutionality of Prop 8. Lyon said she followed the oral arguments in the Prop 8 case mostly from newspapers. She said Prop 8 was “a silly thing” and she was looking forward to a decision on it. In past decades, people reacted with surprise to hear of two women or two men discussing marriage, she said. “Not so much anymore.” Lyon said same-sex marriage “should have been legal a long time ago.” “No reason against it,” she said,
California’s anti-gay constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage known as Proposition 8. But opinions differ on how the court will decide the matter, and its ruling could result in more litigation within the state courts. “I think there is a significant possibility the court will make a ruling on standing grounds,” Chief Deputy City Attorney Therese Stewart, who has litigated the case on behalf of San Francisco, said during a roundtable discussion about the lawsuits in April. “If it does not rule based
on standing, I didn’t get a warm and fuzzy feeling the justices will say the 50 states will now all have gay marriage.” There is differing legal opinion on just when same-sex marriages could resume again in California if Prop 8 is indeed struck down, and questions have been raised if a narrowly tailored decision from the Supreme Court would mean just the named plaintiffs in the case, a male and a female same-sex couple, could marry. No matter what the outcome is, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera told the Bay Area Reporter this week that his office is prepared to again litigate Prop 8, if need be, in the state court system. “Absolutely, we have been involved in this case for nine years in state court actions and in federal court actions. We are prepared to do whatever we can to assure we have marriage equality in California,” said Herrera. “If that means we need to continue litigating this issue, we will do so with the full force of my office and are standing at the ready to continue the battle we are involved in.” It was Herrera’s decision to file a lawsuit back in 2004 against California’s anti-gay marriage statutes that first set off the legal fight to secure marriage equality in the Golden State. That litigation, known as In Re: Marriage Cases, was sparked by former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ordering city officials to marry same-sex couples in the winter of 2004. After the state Supreme Court invalidated those marriages that had taken place, it invited Herrera to
file a new case focused on the state statutes. Four years later the court ruled in favor of marriage equality, leading anti-gay groups to put Prop 8 on the ballot. Shortly after Prop 8 passed in 2008, the American Foundation for Equal Rights filed the federal lawsuit against the law and Herrera’s office was a party to the case. Both a federal district judge and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found Prop 8 to be unconstitutional, though their rulings differed in scope. The Yes on 8 proponents appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which accepted the case but then questioned if the group had proper standing to bring the litigation before it. It held oral arguments in both of the marriage cases in late March. Herrera would not speculate on how the court would rule in the Prop 8 case or say exactly when city officials could begin marrying same-sex couples again if the law is overturned. “It is dangerous to speculate on what the court will do. For us, we plan to be prepared for any potentiality,” he said. “In the event there is an avenue to let the marriages go forth immediately, we stand willing and able to facilitate that and work with the clerk’s office to make that happen.” His office issued a press advisory Wednesday detailing the possible outcomes of the court’s ruling. It specified that from the date of the ruling it would be one month before the same-sex marriages could resume. The reason being that normally there is a period of 25 days before
the court’s final judgment is entered to allow for parties to petition for rehearing. The court, however, almost never grants such petitions. There could also be lengthy delays, warned the memo, because of post-ruling litigation, citing as an example if Prop 8 proponents or other parties sue to dispute the statewide scope of the U.S. District Court’s ruling. If the court finds Prop 8’s backers had no standing to bring the case, then some have suggested only the two plaintiff couples or those living in Los Angeles and Alameda counties, which were named as defendants in the case, could marry. In its brief to the court, Herrera’s office disputed such arguments in a footnote that argued that the district court’s judgment applies to all state officials charged with enforcing marriage laws and all those acting in concert with them or under their supervision. It based its reasoning on the very first same-sex marriage case, Lockyer v. City and County of San Francisco, it filed in 2004 to argue that the roughly 4,000 same-sex marriages that year should be upheld. In invalidating those marriages, the state Supreme Court ruled that a mayor could not override state laws and that county clerks must abide by them. “We have had a lot of ups and downs, highs and lows over the last nine years,” said Herrera. “We anxiously look forward to the high court’s ruling and are very confident in the positions we outlined and are hopeful, once and for all, we will have marriage equality here in the state of California.”t
for its FilmHouse Residency Program as she completes the final cut of the film. Due to the U.S. Supreme Court expected to rule on the constitutionality of Prop 8 sometime in the coming days, Herring has worked out an unusual deal with Frameline where she can deliver last-minute changes to The Campaign just days prior to the film’s premiere. “We have a plan for the worst-case scenario,” she said. In late summer Herring and her producing team, which includes producer Marc Smolowitz and coproducer Brook Holston, plan to re-
lease a slightly shorter version of the film for purchase by local PBS stations for them to air in the fall. They have also submitted it to other film festivals and plan to do screenings across the country. Even though it is based in one state, said Herring, the story of Prop 8 is universal. “The concerns, issues, challenges we faced here is also not isolated to Prop 8 or California,” she said. “It relates to other states and also other issues.” For more information about the film or to donate to it, visit http:// thecampaigndocumentary.com/.t
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esbian pioneer Phyllis Lyon is waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court decision on California’s Proposition 8 and said that if the state’s same-sex marriage ban is struck down, couples considering marriage should “Do it.” Lyon, 88, a longtime Noe Valley resident, said her marriage to activist Dorothy “Del” Martin, who died in 2008, did not change their relationship. “We had already been together 50 years,” she said. “We felt it was about time,” Lyon said when she and Martin learned they could marry in 2004. “Let’s do it,” they said to each other. She said they honeymooned at home with their cats. On February 12, 2004, thenMayor Gavin Newsom married Lyon and Martin in City Hall. Lyon said they wanted to get married because it was “a good thing to do and it would make it easier for others.” The couple was among about 4,000 same-sex couples married by city officials during a monthlong “Winter of Love.” “Our ceremony was pretty quick,” Lyon said, “but it was a 50-year wait.” Lyon met Martin in 1950 when
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Prop 8
From page 1
will strike down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, thus allowing federal recognition of same-sex marriages sanctioned by the states, in its decision in the U.S. v. Windsor case. Such a ruling would not overturn the bans against same-sex marriage at the state level. In the second case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, it is expected that the court’s ruling will lead to the overturning of
Jane Philomen Cleland
Phyllis Lyon, right, cuts the wedding cake as her wife, Del Martin, looks on following their wedding on June 16, 2008.
Obituaries >> Hiram Douglas Hall December 30, 1972 – May 27, 2013
Hiram Douglas Hall passed in the early morning hours of May 27, 2013 at his home in Oakland, California. He is survived by his father, James Hall Sr.; brothers James Jr., and Kenny, and their families in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Hiram was pre-deceased by his loving mother in recent years. His former partner Mark Kramer, who remained his close friend and caregiver, and their dog Bella of Oakland, were with him when he passed. Hiram recently graduated from the University of Phoenix with his AA degree and was working on his bachelor’s degree in psychology. Please make any donations to the American Kidney Foundation, or Glide Memorial Church in his name. Service will be held June 7 in Spartanburg, South Carolina through the J. Woodward Funeral Home.
Manfred Schaechtle May 14, 1977 – May 27, 2013
M a n f r e d Schaechtle died on Memorial Day at his mother’s home in Wilton, New York after a lifelong battle with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. He was a devoted son, brother, and uncle, and an incomparable friend to many around the world. Until 2007 Manfred was able to overcome his disease’s assaults and live his vocation as a magnificent ballet and modern dancer; he lived and danced in San Francisco between 2000 and 2007, and when his body could
no longer dance, his tender, hilarious, and unconquerable spirit continued to – even in the midst of frequent hospitalizations Manfred encouraged his friends to turn to him as confidant, consoler, and nurturer. Thank you, Manfred, for your inspiring life and undying love: our hearts are broken to lose your irreplaceable self so soon.
Memorial set for Ron Lanza A memorial for Ron Lanza, the co-owner of two pioneering gay comedy clubs in San Francisco, will be held at El Rio, 3158 Mission Street, Dirk Alphin Saturday, June 15, the day before what would have been Mr. Lanza’s 77th birthday. Mr. Lanza died of colon cancer April 9. A former schoolteacher, Mr. Lanza was instrumental in the operation of the Valencia Rose in the early 1980s and Josie’s Cabaret and Juice Joint in the 1990s. Both served as performance spaces, launching the comedy careers of many a comic, including Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Cho, Lea Delaria, Tom Ammiano (now a state assemblyman), and Marga Gomez. After Josie’s closed, Mr. Lanza worked as a limo driver. A lifelong dog lover, Mr. Lanza always had a few stray dogs at his side. In the spirit of Mr. Lanza’s comedy clubs, the memorial, which runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. will have an open mic format. People are asked to share a story, a song, or a remembrance and to bring a potluck dish and photos or other memorabilia. Attendees must be 21 and over. For Mr. Lanza’s obituary that was published shortly after his death, see http://www.ebar.com/news/article.p?s ec=news&article=68711.
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Frameline
From page 10
film, gay Castro resident Alfonso “Richard” Lamori, who volunteered for No on 8, passed away in 2011. He was 76. The film has cost $362,500 to make. An Indiegogo campaign raised $11,626 from public donations while the Independent Television Service contributed $270,000. Herring is trying to raise another $30,000 to help with post-production costs. The San Francisco Film Society is helping with the fundraising on its website. The society selected Herring
“but stupidity and the concept of marriage as only between a man and a woman.” Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, is a longtime friend. She said the Lyon and Martin were central figures in the fight for marriage equality. “Del and Phyllis contributed so much to the fight for an end to discrimination and stigma,” Kendell said. Martin and Lyon’s 50-year relationship made a strong public case for marriage equality, according to Kendell. “Their picture and story put a human and deeply moving face on the issue for millions of Americans and helped to move understanding about our relationships,” she said. Lyon said that these days, she enjoys reading and working crossword puzzles. “I am very fortunate,” Lyon said. “I feel fine and I am very healthy.” She said she doesn’t “go galloping around the Castro” anymore. She has also given up driving. With their fifth wedding anniversary only days away, Lyon said she plans a quiet celebration alone at home with memories of the wife she affectionately called “Sweetie.”t
<< Community News
12 • Bay Area Reporter • June 6-12, 2013
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Pride
From page 4
derer to her face. Plante then jumped from his seat, screaming, “Don’t call her a murderer. This meeting is over.” He started to walk out, but Williams and other board members restrained him. In an email after the event, Plante explained, “I reacted because I was disgusted and wanting to defend Lisa after all the hateful crap she has had to take the past month.” San Francisco Patrol Special Police Officer Ken Craig and other community members led Kim away from the microphone. Williams and others calmed Plante and he tried to resume the meeting, but it was out of control and no one knew what to do. It was at that point that gay San Francisco Supervisor David Campos, who had put pressure on the Pride board to hold the public forum, calmed the crowd. To a quieted audience, Campos called Manning “courageous.” “The LGBT community is not afraid to speak truth to power,” Campos said. He suggested Manning “saw a wrong and tried to right it.” To the Pride board, Campos said, “you can’t be disconnected from the community.” This brought loud applause, as the board sat silent. He told the board he spoke with love and suggested they have “meaningful” dialogue with the crowd. “You can’t just listen,” Campos said, “you must respond.” He asked the board to rescind its decision or consider the options suggested by Manning supporters. He urged them to find a way to a decision that honored everyone. Campos asked the Pride board “to move us forward collectively” and “reconsider” its decision. The capacity crowd shouted and gave Campos a standing ovation. A noticeably frustrated Plante and the board tried to answer ques-
tions from speakers, but there was little order and nothing he or board members said were popular with the crowd. He denied corporate or military pressures caused the board to reverse its decision on Manning. When Plante tried to explain how the Manning “mistake” occurred, angry supporters repeatedly shouted him down. He said the decision “was about policy not politics.” Loud audience laughter was the response. After saying Manning was not “vetted properly” Plante took no more questions. The board has maintained that Manning is not eligible for community grand marshal because he is not local. A board member who did not identify himself but who the Bay Area Reporter later identified from Pride’s website as Mark Linn-Degrassi, also invoked the audience’s ire. “You want us all to resign,” Degrassi said, “but if we did there would be no Pride.” Woody Miller grabbed the microphone and shouted, “Yes, hell there would be a Pride without you people because we would take the fucking streets just like we did in the 1970s.” There was thunderous shouting, stomping of feet, applause, and cheers. “Testify,” shouted a man, who wore an elaborate headdress. Board treasurer David Currie said Pride would cost $1.8 million and the LGBT community’s financial support, which he estimated at $100,000, could not fund the event. He said it was “100 percent necessary to have sponsors.” “If you don’t like us, replace us,” Currie told the audience. It was the only thing any board member said on which the crowd agreed. Currie also said he had “learned a lot tonight,” but did not elaborate. “Mistakes were made,” Currie finally said to laughter from the crowd. Dr. Dianne Budd, who identifies
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Mayor
From page 1
these additional federal HIV cuts.” Health Director Barbara Garcia mentioned the remaining gap, too, but said the mayor’s proposed HIV-related funding is “a great start for being able to secure the stability of services.” Mike Smith, president of the city’s HIV/AIDS Provider Network and executive director of the nonprofit AIDS Emergency Fund, also expressed concern about the remaining shortfall. “I think the mayor’s commitment to HIV is unwavering,” Smith said, and “it’s wonderful” that, for two years in a row, he’s “stepped up” to provide money, “rather than let funds for care and prevention programs be cut.” However, Smith added, the size of the budget challenge continually “seems to get worse,” with the shortfall from Ryan White and other sources. He said the network would continue to work withWiener and others to address the problem.
Other budget items
The mayor’s budget proposal
<<
Trial
From page 7
follow up on, they didn’t investigate a bloody shoe print that had been in the garage the day Spray was found there and that didn’t match boots Stewart had been wearing, she said. The alleged murder weapon – a flat metal bar – wasn’t located at the scene until several days after Spray was injured, despite the fact that 19 police officers had been at the scene
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as bisexual, told board members that she was glad they admitted to a mistake, but something more was needed. “Given the number of mistakes and the depth of the mistakes, the only honorable thing for you to do is resign,” she said. The board held a brief session before the audience in which members agreed to a meeting to decide “the next step” on Manning in seven days. Attorney David Waggoner and others demanded an immediate decision before the meeting ended.
HRC complaint
Waggoner, along with other activists, filed a discrimination complaint last month with the San Francisco Human Rights Commission against SF Pride for its reversal on Manning. He reminded the board how quickly they acted to reverse the Manning decision when they were under pressure from military and corporate groups. “You can act quickly under pressure,” he told them. There were conflicting reports on the status of that complaint. Plante sent out an email last weekend saying the complaint was “dismissed.” He included with it a note from Pride’s attorney Brooke Oliver who wrote that HRC “has declined to investigate the discrimination claims filed against SF Pride.” But HRC manager Mullane Ahern told the B.A.R. Monday, June 3 that while HRC proceedings are confidential, the complaint against Pride “has not been deemed closed.” Waggoner sent out an email Monday confirming that HRC would not investigate the matter but that the agency has offered to mediate the complaint if both parties consent. In other Manning news, those supporting efforts to reinstate him as a grand marshal plan a teachin and discussion Saturday, June 8 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the former Tower Records site, 2278 Market Street (at Noe).t
closes deficits of $124 million for 2013-14 and $256 million for 2014-15. Lee cited investments in job creation and other factors for the positive outlook. The city’s unemployment rate dropped from 9.5 percent in January 2011 to 5.4 percent in April. However, according to the mayor’s office, almost 26,000 San Franciscans are unemployed. Lee has rejected all proposed cuts related to mental health and substance abuse services from the health department. His budget proposal includes no service reductions and funds 300 new police officers and 120 firefighters over the next two years. The budget also contains $3.8 million in additional funding for homelessness prevention services and housing subsidies, including funding for a dedicated family shelter in the South of Market neighborhood. The shelter will serve transitional age youth. By the end of the 2014-15 fiscal year the city will have $157 million in reserves, according to the Lee’s office. For more details about the mayor’s proposed budget, visit http://sfmayor.org/index. aspx?page=880.t
the day he was found, she said. Harris said it was important to understand the “longstanding, peaceful nature” of Stewart and Spray’s relationship. She also said the men had “allowed each other a lot of freedom,” and Spray and the San Mateo woman knew about each other. The trial, which is in San Francisco Superior Court, is expected to stretch well into July. Superior Court Judge Jeffrey S. Ross is presiding.t
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Sports>>
June 6-12, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 13
Paris, London, Limerick vie to host Gay Games by Roger Brigham London, Paris and Limerick Tell us they all know the trick Of hosting the games For gay dudes and dames So now we’ll see what makes ‘em tick.
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he past few quadrennial cycles have offered spirited races among competing bidders hoping to win the rights to host the Gay Games, the San Francisco treat created in 1982 to offer a stage for LGBT individuals to flex their muscles and batter stereotypes. The June 1 announcement by the Federation of Gay Games that Paris; London; and Limerick, Ireland are the three finalists in the running to host Gay Games X in 2018 is about as intriguing a match-up as could have been hoped for. Five cities had been vying to host the 2018 Gay Games heading into the first round of voting by the board and assembly members of the FGG to cut the list to three finalists. Amsterdam, which hosted the biggest Gay Games ever in 1998, and Orlando, bidding for the first time, were dropped from the competition. As faithful readers know, I am a diehard supporter of the Gay Games. I have volunteered or served as a board member in one capacity or another for the past decade and competed in wrestling in the past two editions. As an outgoing board member I will have a vote on the site selection to take place this October in Cleveland, site of next year’s Gay Games. I’m intrigued and fascinated by this year’s slate and the discussions that will occur with the bidders over the next few months as we try to get a better idea of whom we think would make the best host. There are many things voters look at when they consider whom to select, and sometimes the choices are not so obvious to outsiders. The gay tourism appeal of large, glamorous cities is an obvious draw, but as the past few cycles have shown, being the smallest city in the race is not a major handicap when it is time to tally votes. For 2006, the FGG chose Chicago over Los Angeles; for 2010, Cologne over Paris and Johannesburg; for 2014, Cleveland over Boston and Washington, D.C. How much potential do the Gay Games have to make in local attitudes in each location? Will our athletes be safe there? How much will the games cost our participants? What are the venues like? How well do the bidders seem to understand our mission, and why are they bidding? Will our athletes want to go there? How much experience do they have running LGBT sports programs? What will political support be like? These and dozens of other questions, some objective but many highly subjective, are currently racing through the minds of FGG voters. Before a face-to-face meeting between bidders and the FGG membership and the vote to pick the host, the three cities will be visited by a team of three FGG-elected volunteer site inspectors: Annette Wachter, CEO of the Cologne Gay Games; Toronto’s Rob Lavery, former FGG site selection committee chair; and Outsports cofounder Cyd Zeigler, who has never served as an FGG volunteer before. I’ve teased Zeigler for years that he needed to step into the “sausage factory” if he really wanted to understand how the Gay Games are put on. “The Gay Games have been a very important part of my life,” Zeigler said when I asked him why he decided to become a site inspector. “Since I went to my first one in 2002, they’ve changed how I look at myself and
how I look at the community. While I’ve had professional disagreements with the FGG at times, I like the messaging and direction I see out of the FGG. I just wanted to be a part of it in a way I haven’t before.” Site inspections involve whirlwind visits to the proposed venues, attending meetings of the bidding organizations, and meeting as many involved stakeholders as possible. “Being a journalist, I know how to ask tough questions and get good answers from people,” Zeigler said. “In a very short period of time, we have to get the very best answers we can.” The guidelines provided to bidders by the FGG call for a maximum of 36 sports so that bids do not become overly ambitious and bite off too much. Paris was the only one of the five contenders to list 36 sports, and London (33) and Limerick (32) were second and third. Amsterdam proposed 31 and did not include several perennial sports such as bodybuilding, martial arts, powerlifting and the marathon; Orlando proposed just 28 sports.
Outsports co-founder Cyd Zeigler will be on the site selection team for the Gay Games X.
With an Irish contender in the mix, I contacted Irish bookmaker Paddy Power, who had given odds on Bingham Cup teams when that tournament was played in Dublin. Alas, they have set no odds on the site selection yet. A few notes on the sports the bidders are and are not proposing: When Paris bid for Gay Games VIII, it dropped ice hockey as being
too costly for a summer program. This go round it is the only one of the three finalists to offer both ice hockey and figure skating. London proposes figure skating but not hockey and Limerick has neither. Paris would not have an open water swim, London would not have mountain bike racing, and Limerick would have neither beach volleyball nor table tennis. Both Paris and London would offer roller derby for the first time, and Limerick would introduce wheelchair basketball and boxing. Boxing was contested in the first Gay Games but has not been in the event since. Holding the games in Orlando would have put the event in the same country for back-to-back cycles, something that has not been done since the first two were held in San Francisco. It also would have focused the LGBT sports calendar in Florida two years in a row, as earlier this year it was announced that Miami will host the World Outgames in 2017.
The variable price of hate speech
These stories appear so frequently and are so formulaic you can pretty well use one stock sentence and plug in the variables: “(Athlete’s name) of the (team’s name) made a casual ho-
mophobic slur and has been (fined/ suspended) a total of (amount of games, days and/or dollars) by the league after saying the remark was unintended and he never meant to show disrespect and absolutely will never do it again.” I’ll let you fill in the blanks for the incident that happened during the NBA playoffs June 1: Center Roy Hibbert, Indiana Pacers, $75,000. That varies from two years ago (guard Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, $100,000; and center Joakim Noah, Chicago Bulls, $50,000), and a year ago (shortstop Yunel Escobar, Toronto Blue Jays, three games; and forward Amare Stoudemire, New York Knicks, $50,000). Odd thing is, you can read about apologies after slurs made by NFL players (San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver, Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson, Cleveland Browns linebacker Tank Carder), but never hear anything about fines or suspensions. And although the NHL earlier this year announced pro-active steps such as education and post-comment interviews to try to make the sports more accepting and tolerant, it did not specify that fines would be standard practice for infractions.t
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June 6-12, 2013 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15
Legal Notices>> NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LICENSE Dated 05/20/2013 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: ONEILLS IRISH PUB SAN FRANCISCO LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 33 New Montgomery St. #1230, SF, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 747 3RD ST., SF, CA 94107-1903. Type of license applied for
47 - ON-SALE GENERAL EATING PLACE JUNE 6, 2013 NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LICENSE Dated 05/09/2013 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: SERVICE SYSTEMS ASSOCIATES INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 33 New Montgomery St. #1230, SF, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 1 ZOO RD. 2, SF, CA 94132-1027. Type of license applied for
41 - ON-SALE BEER & WINE - EATING PLACE JUNE 6, 2013 NOTICE OF APPLICATION FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE LICENSE Dated 05/28/2013 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: TASTY RESTAURANT, INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 33 New Montgomery St. #1230, SF, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 5530 GEARY BLVD., SF, CA 94121-2209. Type of license applied for
41 - ON-SALE BEER & WINE - EATING PLACE JUNE 6, 2013 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES Dated 05/31/13 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: ST. JORGE, LLC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 33 New Montgomery St. #1230, SF, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 3438 MISSION ST., SF, CA 94110-5437. Type of license applied for
41 - ON-SALE BEER & WINE - EATING PLACE JUNE 6, 13, 20, 2013 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES Dated 05/30/13 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: S HANNA INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 33 New Montgomery St. #1230, SF, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 531 HAIGHT ST., SF, CA 94117. Type of license applied for
41 - ON-SALE BEER & WINE - EATING PLACE JUNE 6, 13, 20, 2013 NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO SELL ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES Dated 05/24/13 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: JOIN INDUSTRIES INC. The applicants listed above are applying to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control at 33 New Montgomery St. #1230, SF, CA 94105 to sell alcoholic beverages at 968 VALENCIA ST., SF, CA 94110-2322. Type of license applied for
41 - ON-SALE BEER & WINE - EATING PLACE JUNE 6, 13, 20, 2013 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC13-549545
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035141000
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035112800
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035129100
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035078300
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FILLMORE FLORIST; FILLMORE FLOWERS; 1880 FILLMORE ST., SF, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Faramarz Tabar. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/21/01. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/30/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: R.G. GENERAL BUILDING MAINTENANCE, 402 CAMPBELL AVE., SF, CA 94134. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Rolando Madjus. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/16/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/16/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: KD COMMERCIAL SERVICES 925 GEARY ST. #506, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Widjaja Winata Corporation (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/24/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WORLD GATE JEWELERS, 1 MARKET ST., SF, CA 94112. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Diva Poulos & Sophia Poulos. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/01/13.
JUNE 6, 13, 20, 27, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A- 035142100
MAY 23, 30 JUNE 6, 13, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035104900
MAY 30, JUNE 6, 13, 20 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035113100
MAY 16, 23, 30, JUNE 6, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A- 035098000
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PAT CHAN PHOTOGRAPHY, 660 4TH ST. #353, SF, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Pacharin Pisansatherawonge. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/02. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/30/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LAW OFFICE OF JESSE JONG, 1142 EDDY ST. UNIT D, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Jesse Jong. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/14/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MOBILEY, 859 HARRISON ST. #B, SF, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Mobile Lab 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 05/10/13.
JUNE 6, 13, 20, 27, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A- 035150500
MAY 23, 30 JUNE 6, 13, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035093600
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ARC USA SAN FRANCISCO, 30 HOTALING PLACE, SF, CA 94111. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Leo Burnett Company Inc. (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/01/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/16/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SOAPS HAIR SALON, 323 IVY ST., SF, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Barbara McLean. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/04/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: COBANNA, 298 4th AVE. #313, SF, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a Limited Liability Company, and is signed Cobanna LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/08/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/08/13.
JUNE 6, 13, 20, 27, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035102400
MAY 23, 30, JUNE 6, 13, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035107800
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SALON D, 660 MARKET ST. #204, SF, CA 94104. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Diane H. Oertwig. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/13/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/13/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 26TH STREET BOOKKEEPERS, 3861 26TH ST., SF, CA 94131. This business is conducted by a Limited Liability Company, and is signed Robert & Company LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/15/13.
JUNE 6, 13, 20, 27, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035134600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CARAVAN, 3424 SACRAMENTO ST., SF, CA 94118. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Lucinda Chovick & Peter Consello. 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 05/28/13.
JUNE 6, 13, 20, 27, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035134100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE RINCON GROUP, 425 1ST ST. #2702, SF, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Tarslin Real Estate (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/28/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/28/13.
JUNE 6, 13, 20, 27, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035147100
MAY 23, 30, JUNE 6, 13, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035104500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LUXSME, 888 BRANNAN ST. #2055, SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Amber #1 Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/14/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/14/13.
MAY 23, 30, JUNE 6, 13, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035098500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TAYLOR STREET COFFEE SHOP, 375 TAYLOR ST., SF, CA 94102. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Taylor Street Coffee Shop Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/10/13.
MAY 23, 30, JUNE 6, 13 2013 STATEMENT OF ABANDONMENT OF USE OF FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME FILE A-034283300
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CALIFORNIA IRON WORKS, 1405 EGBERT AVE, SF, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed Alfonso Ramirez & Marisela Ramirez. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/03/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 06/03/13.
The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: TAI CHI RESTAURANT. This business was conducted by a corporation and signed by Colin TC Inc. (CA). The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/18/12.
JUNE 6, 13, 20, 27, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035152400
MAY 23, 30 JUNE 6, 13 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035113700
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SABAI TEA, 1557 8TH AVE., SF, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Sabai Tea 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 06/04/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: R P M COMPLETE AUTOCARE INC., 160 RUSS ST., SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed R P M Complete Autocare Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/16/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/16/13.
JUNE 6, 13, 20, 27, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035143600
MAY 30, JUNE 6, 13, 20 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035113000
In the matter of the application of: ELLIOT GEORGE SZKUP, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner ELLIOT GEORGE SZKUP, is requesting that the name ELLIOT GEORGE SZKUP, be changed to ELLIOT ARIEL RYAN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 1st of August 2013 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GLAZE TERIYAKI, 1946 FILLMORE ST., SF, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Seatown Fillmore LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/25/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/31/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: RINEY, 2001 THE EMBARCADERO, SF, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Publicis Inc. (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 03/15/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/16/13.
JUNE 6, 13, 20, 27, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035136200
JUNE 6, 13, 20, 27, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035139900
MAY 30, JUNE 6, 13, 20 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035124100
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE VISUAL, 1677 BUSH ST. #4, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Jeff Mark Munar. 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 05/28/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 2130, 2130 FILLMORE ST., SF, CA 94115. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Oska Mill Valley 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 05/30/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MILANO PIZZERIA 1330 9TH AVE., SF, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed BM Holdings Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on N/A. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/22/13.
JUNE 6, 13, 20, 27, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035133700
JUNE 6, 13, 20, 27, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035116600
MAY 30, JUNE 6, 13, 20 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035131200
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LUXE SOJOURNS, 771 14TH AVE., SF, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Susan K. Lukrich. 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 05/28/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ORCHID’S ORGANICS, 257 BRADFORD, SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Richard Slayen. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/01/2013. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/17/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ALINA SEPEDA ACUPUNCTURE, 183 FRANKLIN ST. #3, SF, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Bianca Alina Sepeda. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/24/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/24/13.
JUNE 6, 13, 20, 27, 2013
MAY 23, 30 JUNE 6, 13, 2013
MAY 30, JUNE 6, 13, 20 2013
MAY 30, JUNE 6, 13, 20 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035120700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ENTERPRISE SELLING GROUP, 788 CAROLINA ST., SF, CA 94107. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Michael Andrew Holland. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/20/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/20/13.
MAY 30, JUNE 6, 13, 20 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035123400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MOBLEY BLOOMFIELD, 208 PENNSYLVANIA AVE. #110 SF, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a married couple, and is signed Jennifer Mobley & Frank W. Bloomfield Jr. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/22/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/22/13.
MAY 30, JUNE 6, 13, 20, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035106000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MENDESKARR LIMO SERVICE, 3845 LAWTON ST., SF, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Camila Mendes Severino. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/14/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/14/13.
MAY 16, 23, 30, JUNE 6, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035046600
MAY 16, 23, 30, JUNE 6, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035089800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ISLA STUDIO, 1945 WASHINGTON ST. #304, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Isla Studio LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/07/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/0713.
MAY 16, 23, 30, JUNE 6, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035091200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HEARWHOSATTHECLUBS.COM, 1353 BUSH ST. #112, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Music City LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/07/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/07/13.
MAY 16, 23, 30, JUNE 6, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035050400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: QUINTANA ALBERT LLP, 201 SPEAR ST., SF, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a limited liability partnership, and is signed Hallie Albert & Rory Quintara. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/09/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/18/13.
MAY 16, 23, 30, JUNE 6, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035100900
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE PAMPERED GIRL, 225 GOUGH ST., SF, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Hong Thi Nguyen. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/17/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/17/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SAN FRANCISCO REENTRY CENTER-SFRC, 3012 16TH ST. #201, SF, CA 94103-5933. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Recovery Survival Network (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 05/13/13.
MAY 16, 23, 30, JUNE 6, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035081100
MAY 16, 23, 30, JUNE 6, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035105500
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JAPHICDESIGN, JAPHIC DESIGN, 74 NEW MONTGOMERY ST. #314, SF, CA 94105. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Jackie Phung. 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 05/02/13.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ALIMENT, 790 BUSH ST., SF, CA 94108. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed 790 Bush St Ventures Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/10/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/14/13.
MAY 16, 23, 30, JUNE 6, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035044200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ROUGH NECTAR, 47 PALM AVE. #4, SF, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Erin Eisenhower. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/16/13 The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/16/13.
MAY 16, 23, 30, JUNE 6, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035104200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CITY DWELLER, 1440 DE SOLO DR., SF, CA 94044. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed David Brian Gohn. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/25/13. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/14/13.
MAY 16, 23, 30, JUNE 6, 2013 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-035040600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THIRD EAR DEAR, 1180 HOWARD ST #308, SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Mary Ann Masagca & Michael Masagca. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 04/15/13.
MAY 16, 23, 30, JUNE 6, 2013
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www.ebar.com/arts “Sunflowers along the Seine” (“Soleils, au Bord de la Seine”) (about 1885-86), oil on canvas by Gustave Caillebotte.
A habit for nuns
Vol. 43 • No. 23 • June 6-12, 2013
by David-Elijah Nahmod
T Light on the water by Sura Wood
A
s diverting as a day at the beach and as light as a summer breeze, Impressionists on the Water, the California Palace of the Legion of Honor’s new summertime exhibi-
tion featuring works by Seurat, Signac, Monet, Caillebotte, Sisley, Renoir, Pissarro and the other usual suspects, is as delightful as it is wafer-thin. Its See page 28 >>
he Divine Sister, Charles Busch’s wild and woolly send-up of Hollywood nuns, is now on view at New Conservatory Theatre Center. The legendary, cross-dressing star does not appear in the San Francisco production, but he gave NCTC his blessing. In a telephone interview from his home in New York City, Busch explains his fascination with ladies in habits. “I’m Jewish, but I was raised with no religion,” he says. “I got my spirituality from old movies. I’ve always been fascinated with nuns and Catholicism. To me, nuns were romantic and ethereal.” He refers to Black Narcissus as “nun noir.” In the 1947 film, Deborah Kerr plays the leader of a group of Anglican nuns who travel to the Himalayas to open a hospital for the local residents. They become seduced by the sensuality of their surroundings as the drama unfolds. But the playwright is equally fascinated with the lighter fare that was produced during the 1960s. “They were a
FAM-SF
Cindy Wonderful and Sandra Adorable of Scream Club in And You Belong.
Documentarily yours by David Lamble
T
he 12th San Francisco Documentary Film Festival (SF DocFest) returns at a new time of year and at a greatly expanded roster of venues: Roxie, 6/6-20;
SF DocFest
Balboa, 6/7-9; Palo Alto’s Aquarius 6/9-11; Oakland’s New Parkway, 6/14-16; and Santa Cruz’s Rio Theater, 6/21-23; plus special events at Bad Art Gallery (518 Valencia) and
the SF Women’s Building (3543 18th St.). This year finds a special emphasis on queer and erotic cinema, and the usual array of quirky parties, including Roller Disco and,
{ SECOND OF TWO SECTIONS }
Playwright/performer Charles Busch. Lois Tema
relief from Vietnam,” he says of hit films like The Trouble With Angels and The Singing Nun. Busch had a difficult childhood, but not due to his sexuality. His mom died when he was seven. Although his dad remained in his life, he lived with his aunt. “I’m the complete product of a permissible childhood,” he recalls. See page 20 >> new this year, a Bingo party at the Women’s Building. And You Belong Early on in this crowdpleasing music doc, our heroines overcome a lousy sound system at an impromptu street concert. “We’re going to do one more song, and it will be the best thing you’ve ever heard in your life. It will be like Satan himself, Jesus Christ, French kissing, making love, world peace.” Later, on a train to another gig, the gals connect the dots between their music and their private personas. “We see bands that make great music together, that seem onstage like they would be best friends, and are just not. We really like each other, are our own best friends.” The term “embedded” has taken on tricky connotations since the Pentagon coopted it for our Rudyard Kipling wars, but fans of the sizzling Olympia, WA-founded lesbian electronic music duo Scream Club should feel no shame, ambivalence or any hesitation about lapping up this insider account from director Julia Osterberg. The duo of Cindy Wonderful and Sandra Adorable combine electro hip-hop and supercool personas to set a high bar for aspiring LGBTQ musicians. “We can get dressed up, go out to the movies,/And I can pretend to be the feminine one.” This densely detailed doc follows Scream Club to that queer cultural capital Berlin as they squat in the flat of a fan/fellow musiSee page 26 >>
<< Out There
18 • Bay Area Reporter • June 6-12, 2013
A # of art moments w/Out There by Roberto Friedman
1.
Listening to a cast album of a Broadway show is a little like talking over the phone to someone who’s hanging out at a happening party. You can hear what’s going on: there are people singing, dancing and carrying on in the background, glasses are shattering, everyone’s clearly having a great time. But it’s still not the same as being there. Yet we were excited to slap the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Kinky Boots (Masterworks Broadway) onto our sound system. The new musical, with book by Harvey Fierstein, music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper, directed and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, is nominated for a field-leading 13 Tony Awards (June 9). Fierstein and Mitchell are among the honored nominees, but we are most rooting for Lauper, of course a staunch ally of LGBTs everywhere, and the first woman not part of a songwriting team to be nom’ed for a Tony for her original score. Music and lyrics just wanna have fun! As for the show on recording, it sounds typically upbeat and as up-tempo as Lauper herself, and amped up all the way. As drag queen Lola (Billy Porter, nom’ed for best actor, leading role in a musical, along with Boots’ Stark Sands) sings, “Got Ginger Rogers’ savoir faire,/With the moves of Fred Astaire./I’m black Jesus, I’m black Mary,/But this Mary’s legs are hairy.” In short, there’s lots of singing, dancing and carrying on, glasses are shattering, and everyone’s clearly having a great time. One day the show will make it to the provinces, and we’ll see it for ourselves. Meantime we can listen in and pretend we’re there.
2. The coffee-table book Kylie/Fashion (Running Press) has giant color photos of pop-music icon Kylie Minogue dressed in fashions by Dolce & Gabbana (wings), Christian Louboutin, John Gal-
liano (ostrich plumes), Stella McCartney and illustrious others, curated by Minogue and her creative director William Baker. In a foreword, Jean Paul Gaultier is her best girlfriend. He writes, “Kylie, cherie, another point I have in common with you: your absolute eye and taste for good-looking men.” But there are not many g-l. men here – it’s all Kylie, all the time. Now, we know some cultivated chaps who are all about Kylie, they write poetic odes to her (we’re looking at you, Kevin Killian). But of course, love for pop culture is tricky – it’s highly subjective, whimsical and capricious in nature. One man’s Madonna is another man’s Melanie. We think Gaga tries too hard, but we’re all agog for Kate Bush. Go figure! Just call us a
Spiced Girl. The parade of fashion-as-costumes is fun, as is the running commentary from Kylie and Baker. Kylie: “When William put this look together, I thought he had lost his mind! But the combination of Balenciaga, leopard tights and Givenchy shoes looked great. I was probably thankful for a lie-down, as we shot intensively for three days at The Lido.” 3. We’ve been reading through recent issues of B, the new soft-core gay youth glossy mag from editor Peter Ian Cummings and much of his team from the folded XY magazine. It’s basically XY pushed up the alphabet, and we all remember XY. Barely legals in barely nothings with photo features of out high school athletes cheek by cheek (so to speak) with underwear spreads (so to speak) and “content.” Like it, B is a periodical that comes out periodically. In both recent issues we perused (with both hands), we recognized characteristic contributions from the uniquely Underhillian universe of SF photographer Steven Underhill. Geez, there’s even a monologue that sounds like him. “Once I was a famous pho-
t
tographer. In case you don’t know what that means, I used to use this machine with film in it, created images of hot guys, published them in magazines and books, got paid to do that, and used the money to buy coffee and salads for models at Café Flore.” But that was then, this is now, and B is all bout the boys of 2day. Just drop a copy in your knapsack, and don’t forget your lunch money. 4. Lest you think Out There is all about kinky fetishwear, twinks, Broadway babies and Australian pop stars, our most profound “art moment” last week came when we dipped into a newly revised and expanded bilingual edition of great gay Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca’s Poet in New York (FSG). An earlier edition of the book Lorca wrote as a student at Columbia in 1929-30 has long been a treasure in our library, but the new paperback let us read its verses in Spanish, with translation easily at hand on facing pages. The edition also includes photos and letters found in recent Lorca scholarship, his own interpretative lecture, and letters he wrote home. The poet and playwright was murdered by the Fascists in his hometown of Granada, during the Spanish Civil War. “Ni un solo momento, viejo hermoso Walt Whitman,/he dejado de ver tu barba llena de mariposas,/ni tu hombros de pana gastados por la luna,/ni tus muslos de Apolo virginal,/ni tu voz como una columna ceniza;” (“Not for a moment, Walt Whitman, lovely old man,/have I failed to see your beard full of butterflies,/nor your corduroy shoulders frayed by the moon,/ nor your thighs as pure as Apollo’s,/ nor your voice like a column of ash;” “Anciano hermoso como la niebla,/que gemias igual que un pajaro/ con el sexo atravesado por una aguja./Enemigo del saturo,/enemigo de la vid/y amante de los cuerpos bajo la burda tela.” (“Old man, beautiful as the mist,/you moaned like a bird/ with its sex pierced by a needle./ Enemy of the satyr,/enemy of the vine,/and lover of bodies beneath rough cloth.”t
t
Film >>
June 6-12, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 19
Steven Underhill
The Kings of Summer actors Moises Arias, Nick Robinson and Gabriel Basso appeared at a screening during the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Escaping adolescence
by David Lamble
R
ight out of the box, I found myself identifying with the disgruntled teen at the heart of The Kings of Summer, Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ off-kilter Sundance coming-ofage comedy. For Joe (Nick Robinson), the shower is his only refuge from a divorced dad with a caustic sense of humor and an irrational set of house rules. After a humiliating episode where a school chum is rudely informed that Joe’s bedtime is now 7:30 p.m., the boy lures his best friend, school jock Patrick (Gabriel Basso), into a lush wilderness barely a stone’s throw from their ranch-house suburban jails. Joe proposes the boys build a home for themselves in the woods. “No one will find us here, Patrick!” “Joe, what do you tell your dad?” “Nothing, he’s a lonely old prick. I’m out of here before I become like him. We swear to never speak of this enterprise to any adult, to be our own men, to kill our own food.” Joe, Patrick and Biaggio (Moises Arias) fall short of their goal to create an adolescent utopia in the forest under the noses of their eccentric parents. First to go is the injunction to kill and cook. Joe stumbles into a mini-mart at the edge of the forest that becomes a river of roast chicken and bottled beer. Then there’s Joe killing and skinning a rabbit. Actor Nick Robinson says the rabbit came to him frozen, but that the skinning was all-too-real. The film’s quirky parents are a tad derivative of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom. TV star Nick Offerman aces his role as Joe’s surly dad, who quizzes his grown daughter about his role in Joe’s fleeing the nest. “Heather, I’m not a bastard, am I?” “No, Dad, a bastard would make everyone else miserable because he is.” Roberts and writer Chris Galletta
Magnolia Pictures
Director James Marsh on location with his film Shadow Dancer.
reboot the more risible clichés of the raging-hormones flick. There is a blessed absence of pounding hiphop or any wall-to-wall teen Top 40s tie-ins. The boys can virtually hear their hearts pounding in the forest. If I have any reservations about this gleeful summer romp, it’s a wish that the filmmakers had taken their spoofing of teen gender anxieties to a slightly more dangerous place. But Moises Arias dances his way into our hearts as the boy who defies labels. “I don’t see myself having a gender. I’m gay.” When I told Nick, Gabe and Moises that I was slightly nonplussed by the gay punchline, they explained that it was meant to set up an odd joke about Biaggio having cystic fibrosis, a gag that sailed over the heads of preview audiences. The boys, cable-show veterans (Boardwalk Empire, The Big C, Hanna Montana), were ecstatic with their movie baptism, crediting the filmmakers with making the experience vastly more exciting through a series of improvisation exercises allowing them to pull off the film’s highly touted moments, climaxing in the poster leap into the void of impending manhood via a summer neither the young actors nor you will soon forget. Shadow Dancer is director James Marsh’s tragic tale of a Belfast family so exposed to the collateral damage of “the Troubles” that they turn on each other in ways more barbarous than the war waged by their IRA comrades against the British Crown. A young girl sends her kid brother out to fetch their dad a pack of “fags.” Flash-forward 20 years, and Collette (self-contained Andrea Riseborough) is still atoning for the memory of the pale nine-year-old body laid out in the family parlor. We watch as she exits a subway train, leaving a bag on an isolated station stairwell. Soon she’s nabbed by two silent, burly human refrigerators, the arms of Her Majesty’s justice. Hauled up into a sterile interrogation room, Collette leafs through a dastardly kind of family scrapbook: the Queen’s men have been watching her family since she was a wee one; particularly disturbing is a morgue-slab photo of her brother, with a horrible clue as to who may have shot him. A tall, stern man enters the room and makes Collette a proposition she will not refuse. “You’re a terrorist! We’ve got you, you’re finished. You agree to watch him and talk to us and you’re out of here like nothing ever happened, back to your boy, nobody dies.” Mac (Clive Owen), the MI5 man who’s bringing Collette in out of the cold to inform on her family, has unwittingly made her a promise he won’t be able to keep. Flash-forward, and the half-naked torso of a handsome red-haired man emerges from a bathtub. Andrea’s brother Conner (Domhnall
Gleeson) is being waterboarded by his IRA “brothers,” who are willing to execute him to flush out the informer in their midst. Director Marsh confesses he intended the Irish torture victim’s plight to provide an erotic charge, similar to a scene in his Cain and Abel fratricide/religious drama The King. “I was quite conscious of the perverse and hateful sensuality [found] in those moments where people are intimate with each other in the most appalling ways.” David Lamble: The scene works because his body is framed almost like a gay S&M scene. It’s a torture scene, it’s all of these different things at the same time, but it makes you uncomfortable because you can’t figure out which one. James Marsh: The intimacy of physical torture is an appalling thing, but the imagery of it can definitely have other meanings. As a filmmaker, you look to expose those, as well as tell your story.t
ebar.com
<< Theatre
20 • Bay Area Reporter • June 6-12, 2013
Dysfunction junction by Erin Blackwell
C
ongratulate 35-year-old queer Theatre Rhinoceros for staging a controversial 10-minute play by English theatrical genius Caryl Churchill that dares question the divine right of Israelis to kill Palestinians. Seven Jewish Children, a poetic evocation of the lies, truths, and half-truths adults tell children about war, immediately provoked accusations of anti-Semitism when it premiered in London after the December 2008 bombing of Gaza. Tell any friends who enjoy political theater they might like seeing Seven Jewish Children paired with an imitative 10-minute play by American Deb Margolin called Seven Palestinian Children that counter-denounces the parents of suicide bombers. Plus the evening’s main event: Churchill’s 45-minute configuration of the Anglo-American special relationship as a dysfunctional gay couple. Drunk Enough to Say I Love
You? (2006) demands a lot from its cast of two. The American has to bully his love object, or sex slave, into facilitating his quest for world domination, while the Brit has to believably descend into addiction to deaden his guilt at enabling geopolitical mayhem. They must simultaneously play two parallel tracks: high-rhetorical agitprop grounded in shameless behavior and emotion. Tell Rudy Guerrero, who plays the Yank, his upper-body workouts have paid off, but his sleek, hairless torso looks like a surrealist GI Joe, and this plastic perfection undermines his character’s humanity. No humanity, no heat. Young hunk Sam Cohen neither sounds like a Brit nor behaves like a self-destructive passion victim, but predictably spits his lines out almost as fast as cues arise. In Churchill, this is veddy fast. Neither actor gets under the skin of character or audience. Tell odd-girl-out Kim Stephenson she’s the only one accessing communicable emotion, and her
t
hyperventilating maternal panic as both Jew and Palestinian breathes life into geopolitical abstractions. Her hysteria aria under stock footage of warheads launching is the closest we get to orgasm. Tell artistic director John Fisher he needn’t explain plays to an audience half-an-hour before curtain. Tell him the fun of theater is exercising your imagination, and if his staging can’t elucidate Churchill’s dramaturgy, no upfront verbiage will save him. Tell him not to tell the audience what they’re watching. Tell him lengthy black-outs between short scenes deflate dramatic tumescence, and with a single set are indefensible every six minutes. Tell him replacing props with slides of objects projected on the rear wall saps the kineticism of the characters’ interactions until the whole thing starts to feel like a radio play. Directing actors to lock eyes for the duration creates a vacuum center stage the audience can’t penetrate. Tell him the bed doesn’t work.
Kent Taylor
Sam Cohen as Jack and Rudy Guerrero as Sam in Drunk Enough to Say I Love You?, a Theatre Rhinoceros production at The Costume Shop.
Don’t tell him. Tell them they’re beautiful gay artists. Tell them they’re heroes keeping live theater live. Tell them what matters is the age-old ritual of standing up in front of a crowd and slipping into make-believe skin. Tell them critics don’t get how hard it is to survive in this city. Tell them to
<<
Charles Busch
From page 17
“I watched The Late Show and became fascinated with women’s pictures. I identified my mom and aunt with those films – my mom was 41 when she died, and my aunt had an embattled nobility. I was living the movies that I watched.” The Divine Sister pays homage to the film classics that inspired Busch, albeit with his inimitable over-thetop outrageousness. The play tells the tale of a Mother Superior dealing with a young postulate who’s having “visions,” while an older suitor attempts to lure Mother away from her vows. “I had fun with the Mother’s straightness,” he says. “I take a satiric jab at the church. I’m sure it’ll be a great production at NCTC.”
ignore the critics. Tell the critic to get a life.t Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? through June 16, Theatre Rhinoceros at The Costume Shop, 1117 Market St., SF. Tickets: (800) 838-3006, www.therhino.org.
Busch’s reputation is built on his loving fascination with classic Hollywood. He’s enjoyed a great deal of success with stage homages like Psycho Beach Party, the legendary Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, and the Bette Davis tribute Die Mommie Die, which was brought to the screen starring Busch himself. “It’s hard to say at this point if my audience is gay or straight,” he observes. “I’ve got such a peculiar career. I do have a core audience of ‘certain-age gay men.’” He expresses his love for San Francisco, pointing out that he got his start here in the city. “It was a dream to perform in San Francisco,” he says. “I performed frequently at the Valencia Rose, and I was embraced by everyone. I always wanted to be in one of my plays in San Francisco, but it See page 21 >>
Lois Tema
Marie O’Donnell as Sister Acacius, Joe Wicht as Mother Superior, and Conrad Frank as Sister Welburga in Charles Busch’s The Divine Sister.
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Music >>
June 6-12, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 21
Bursting with pride by Gregg Shapiro
G
ay poet Jeremy Reed has a thing for collaboration. He collaborated with queer music legend Marc Almond (Soft Cell) on the book Piccadilly Bongo. A song with the same title opens Big City Dilemma (SFE/ Cherry Red) by Reed & The Ginger Light (aka musician/producer Itchy Ear). “Ambiguously gay” and “gender bent,” as Reed says in “Nifty Jim,” the spoken-word with instrumentation combination works well with Reed’s poetry, which the poet reads with great authority and accessibility. Delivering on and surpassing the promise of its 2011 debut, Mount Moriah, now a trio featuring out lesbian Heather McEntire, Jenks Miller and new addition Casey Toll, burns it down on Miracle Temple (Merge). Sounding like an insurgent country band fronted by a young Dolly Parton, Mount Moriah lures us upward with “Younger Days,” then nearly blinds us with the flash of “Bright Light.” That’s Indigo Girl Amy Ray providing backing vocals on “I Built a Town,” “Connecticut to Carolina” and the bluesy gospel of “Miracle Temple Holiness.” “White Sands” would sound great blasting out of a radio at the beach, and the same can be said of the fragrant “Rosemary” (love that keyboard and those backing vocals!). Now a little something for the bears! Gay and Southern, Nakia has been winning and collecting fans including CeeLo Green wherever he goes. Big and bearded with a voice that raises goosebumps, Nakia comes ashore with the six-song EP Drown in the Crimson Tide (nakia. net), a taste and a teaser meant to hold us over until he raises enough funds for his full-length album. Anyone looking for a reason to contribute to the cause on his website need look no further than mindblowing numbers such as “Make Up with a Gun,” the barn-burner “Pieces and Castles” and the brass blast of “Walking on a Slant.” Don’t hesitate, donate! Banjo-plucking and strumming Dar Stellabotta brings an aching quality that recalls Mary Gauthier to her 10 songs on The Black Owl Demos (darstellabotta.com). Not to be taken lightly, these almost unrelentingly bleak songs offer up an unsettling portrait of small-town queer life. “Black Soul,” “Your Worry Today” and “O What a Day” unveil a litany of difficulties that would take down the average person. But Stellabotta’s message seems to be that these challenges not only strengthen her, they provide her material with which to create her art. Album closer “Huntingtown” breaks up some of the monotony with a pleasant beat that fits its theme. If it were not for groundbreaking all-female rock band Fanny, many female musicians, gay and straight, might not have had the chance to
<<
Charles Busch
From page 20
can be expensive to bring New York actors out to the coast.” There have been forays into mainstream work, in both male and female roles. In 2001 he played Peg Barlow on the popular, recently revived soap opera One Life to Live. He also had a recurring role as effeminate death-row inmate Nat Ginzburg on HBO’s Oz. “I’ve gotten Oz residual checks for 22 cents and 46 cents,” he says
rock out. The hard-rocking quartet, featuring lesbian music legend June Millington and her sister Jean (see, sisterhood is powerful!), broke all sorts of ground, including releasing an album on a major label in 1970 (!) and working with in-demand producer Richard Perry (now known as Jane Fonda’s beau). But what really matters is that they were topnotch musicians, performing mostly original material (including knockouts such as “Come and Hold Me,” “I Just Realized,” “Seven Roads” and “Conversation with a Cop”) on their self-titled debut disc, newly reissued by Real Gone Music.
The xx factor
Real Gone Music), have been reissued in expanded CD editions. Not much of a singer (he makes Leonard Cohen sound like Pavarotti) or a poet (he makes Maya Angelou sounds like Frank O’Hara), McKuen nevertheless made important contributions to contemporary popular music and culture. He is the man who brought Jacques Brel to the attention of the American public. Hardcore Maggie Smith fans may recognize McKuen as the man who wrote “Jean,” the theme song from Smith’s Oscar-winning turn in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. McKuen is also responsible for the sappy mid-70s chart-topper “Seasons in the Sun” (originally recorded by Terry Jacks). Also out there: The prolific Melissa Ferrick returns with The Truth Is (MPress), on which she explores her torch-and-twang side on “Wreck Me” (featuring Paula Cole); Book of Shadows (daniellink.com) by Daniel Link features a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Save Me a Place” and 10 originals; gay, Canadian cowboy (!) Drake Jensen’s third CD is OUTlaw (drakejensen.ca); Chicago-based singer/songwriter Stephen Leonard’s latest is His Fire (stephenleonardmusic.com); Three Black Nights of Little Black Bites (Cherry Red) is a limited edition live CD/DVD set from 1983 performed by Marc Almond’s esoteric and daring side project Marc & The Mambas.t
with a laugh. In 2006, Busch made his debut as a film director. He’s immensely proud of A Very Serious Person, which he also wrote and starred in. He played Jan, a live-in nurse to a terminally ill woman who is called Mrs. A (Hollywood veteran Polly Bergen). During her final summer, the introverted Jan bonds with Mrs. A’s grandson, and comes out of his shell. “It won an award at the Tribeca Film Festival,” he says proudly. “It’s aired on Showtime and is on DVD, but it never really caught on with
moviegoers. Sometimes small stories play better on the small screen.” The film was a rare attempt at serious drama from the cross-dressing comic. It’s the more familiar, zany Busch persona that will be on display in The Divine Sister, which promises to be a wild ride, even though a local actor will be wearing Busch’s habit. Busch urges his San Francisco fan-base to check it out.t
Moody Brit-pop group The xx were already too cool for words before Romy Madley Croft came out as a lesbian. But now that there is the addition of the queer factor, it just makes you love them more, doesn’t it? The xx, now a trio, has a distinctive, immediately recognizable sound that’s become their trademark over the course of two brilliant albums. The latest, Coexist (XL/Young Turks), is as darkly ethereal as its predecessor, although it does take its time serving up the sexy beats of “Swept Away” and “Sunset.” Songs such as “Angels” and “Reunion” make the journey worthwhile. Also high on the hipness scale, Grizzly Bear, featuring out vocalist Ed Droste, had the challenge of following up their unexpectedly successful 2009 album Veckatimest with Shields (Warp). The good news is that they met the challenge head-on and don’t disappoint listeners. Album opener “Sleeping Ute” is a 21st-century prog-rock tune, and “Speak in Rounds” is one of Grizzly Bear’s most exhilarating songs. Further highlights include the irresistible “A Simple Answer,” “Gun-Shy” and “Yet Again.” Gay poet and folk singer Rod McKuen turns 80 (!) in 2013. To commemorate the event, a pair of his best-known recordings, Listen to the Warm (RCA Victor/Stanyan/ Real Gone Music) and Sold Out at Carnegie Hall (Stanyan/WB7Arts/
The Divine Sister plays NCTC, 25 Van Ness Ave., SF, through June 29. Tickets: www.nctcsf.org
www.ebar.com
<< Out&About
22 • Bay Area Reporter • June 6-12, 2013
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Strange Shorts @ Oddball Films
Flagging in the Park, Sun 9
Odd and vintage short films and excerpts. June 6: Sid Davis: Nightmare Maker, a tribute to the educational shock film master. June 7: Submerged Cinema, excerpts from Jacques Cousteau and other diving docs, plus a little Creature from the Black Lagoon. Each $10, 8pm. 275 Capp St. 5588117. www.oddballfilms.blogspot.com
Terminus @ Magic Theatre U.S. premiere of Irish playwright Mark O’Rowe’s poetic fantastical drama about three people ripped from their ordinary lives into a strange underworld of serial killers and lovesick demons. $20-$60. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun at 2:30pm. Fort Mason Center, Bldg D., 3rd floor. 441-8822. www.magictheatre.com
Junerisms by Jim Provenzano
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ainbows are sprouting up here and there, soaring in parks and on flagpoles. The annual rev-up toward the month’s LGBTQetc celebrations is underway, but at a measured pace. Still, it’s getting crowded, so gay stuff moves to the front of the list here. Taste the rainbow before they run out of cones.
Thu 6
The Decameron @ Fort Mason Center
99% Gay Comedy Festival @ Esta Noche
Ten-day series of café-style storytelling theatre; site-specific performances of chapters in Boccaccio’s fanciful classic work of literature. Various nights 8:30pm, thru June 9. $35. The Firehouse, Bay St. at Buchanan. 424-7249. www.thedecameron.org
Comedy Bodega celebrates Pride month with a new weekly series of stand-up acts. This week: Micia Mosely, Marga Gomez, Miss Persia, David Hawkins, Loren Kraut and Robert Parra. 8pm-9:30pm. 3079 16th St. at Mission. www.comedybodega.com
American Idiot @ San Jose Performing Arts Center National touring company of the Broadway hit of Green Day songs, first born at Berkeley Rep, returns to the Bay Area again. $20-$65. Tue-Thu 7:30pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat 1pm. Sun 1pm & 6:30pm. Thru June 9. 255 Almaden Blvd., San Jose. (408) 2959600. www.broadwaysanjose.com
Angus Whyte @ Books Inc. Author of After-Dinner Tales discusses his story collection about celebrities, food and life. 7:30pm. 2275 Market St. 864-6777. www.booksinc.net
Arcadia @ A.C.T. Tom Stoppard’s masterpiece of romance and literary intrigue, with 19th and 20thcentury scenes in an English country house, is performed in a new production directed by American Conservatory Theatre’s Artistic Director Carey Perloff. $25-$200. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. (some Sun 7pm or 8pm, weekdays matiness 2pm). Extended thru June 16. 415 Geary St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org
Beach Blanket Babylon @ Club Fugazi Musical comedy revue, now in its 35th year, with an ever-changing lineup of political and pop culture icons, all in gigantic wigs. Special night June 6 with the SF Gay Men’s Chorus in the audience. Reg: $25-$130. Wed, Thu, Fri at 8pm. Sat 6:30, 9:30pm. Sun 2pm, 5pm. (Beer/wine served; cash only). 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd (Green St.). 421-4222. www.beachblanketbabylon.com
Drunk Enough to Say I Love You? @ The Costume Shop Politics and sex go together in Theatre Rhinoceros’ production of Caryl Churchill’s provocative play about gay men obsessed and in love. Also, two short one-acts, Seven Jewish Children (by Churchill) and Seven Palestinian Children (by Deborah S. Margolin). $15-$30. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 3pm. Thru June 16. 1117 Market St. (800) 838-3006. www.therhino.org
Fela! @ Paramount Theatre, Oakland
Thrillpeddlers perform Scrumbly Koldewyn and Pam Tent’s new, full-length restored version of The Cockettes’ 1971 wacky drag musical comedy on the 42nd anniversary of the original production. $30-$35. Thu-Sat 8pm. Extended thru June 29. 575 10th St. at Bryant. (800) 838-3006. www.thrillpeddlers.com
Fri 7 Abigail's Party @ SF Playhouse Mike Leigh’s biting comedy pokes fun at straight suburban Brits in the ‘70s disco era, where a cocktail party goes overboard. $30-$100. Tue-Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Also Sat 3pm. Thru July 6. 450 Post St. 2nd. floor of Kensington Park Hotel. 677-9596. www.sfplayhouse.org
Andrea Marcovicci @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko The celebrated actress performs her cabaret act, Moonlight Cocktail. $65-$95 (includes $30 drink/meal credit). 8pm. Also June 8. 7pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. 394-1111. www.hotelnikkosf.com
Blake Tucker @ GLBT Center
Opening reception for the local photographer’s large exhibit of prints. 6pm. 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors. Thru July. 1800 Market St. www.BlakeTucker.com www.sfcenter.org
By & By @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley
The national touring production of Bill T. Jones’ hit Broadway Tony-winning musical about the African pop music star returns. $37-$77. Tue-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Also Sun 7:30pm. Thru June 9. 2025 Broadway, Oakland. (800) 745-3000. www.FelaOnBroadway.com
Shotgun Players’ production of Lauren Gunderson’s scifi thriller drama about an eccentric professor of cloning who puts his skills to use after a family tragedy. $20-$30. Wed & Thu7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm. Thru June 23. 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org
Krispy Kritters in the Scarlett Night @ Exit Theatre
Ethnic Dance Festival @ Various Venues
Cutting Ball Theater’s production of Andrew Saito’s poetic Beat-like family saga, full of eccentric characters. $10-$50. Thu 7:30. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat 2pm, Sun 5pm. Thru June 16. Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor St. 525-1205. www.cuttingball.com
Rova Saxophone Quartet @ Kanbar Hall The jazz-experimental ensemble performs in collaboration with Gino Robair and visual artist Ikue Mori. $12-$20. 8pm. Also June 7. Jewish Community Center, 3200 California St. 292-1200. www.jccsf.org
First of the large annual four-weekend festival of local and international dance companies. Free/$18-$58. 12pm kick-off at SF City Hall Rotunda, with Ballet Folklórico, Netzahualcoyotl Fogo Na Roupa Performing Company. Second show, Sat., June 8, 8pm at Florence Gould Theater, Legion of Honor Museum, with Charya Burt Cambodian Dance (100 34th Ave.) Subsequent weekend concerts Sat & Sun at Lam Research Theater, YBCA700 Howard St. Thru June 30. www.sfethnicdancefestival.org
Justin Richardson (And Tango Makes Three), Sat 8
Dear Elizabeth @ Berkeley Repertory Theatre Sarah Ruhl and Les Waters’ new play based on the letters between 20th-century poets Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell. $29-$72. Tue, Thu-Sat 8pm. Wed & Sun 7pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru July 7. Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 647-2949. www.BerkeleyRep.org
Supporters of the gay military whistleblower who was nominated, then removed from SF Pride’s grand marshall list, explain their political-activist perspective. 4pm6pm. 2278 Market St. at Noe.
Ray of Light Theatre’s new production of the whimsical dramatic fairy tale-gonewrong musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. $15-$36. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru June 29. 215 Jackson St. at Battery. 788-7469. www.rayoflighttheatre.com
Josh Klipp & The Klipptones @ Piper Bar & Grill Weekly jazz concerts at the classy bar in the Palace Hotel. 7pm-11pm. 2 Montgomery St. www.joshklipp.com
The Medea Hypothesis @ Berkeley City Club Three actors play several roles in Marian Berges’ modern adaptation of Euripedes’ Medea. $15-$28. Thu-Sat 8pm. Sun 5pm. 2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley. (510) 5581381. www.centralworks.org
Pebo Bryson @ Yoshi’s Grammy-winning pop-soul vocalist performs with his band. $40-$65. 8p, & 10pm. Also June 8. 1330 Fillmore St. 655-5600. www.yoshis.com
Push Dance Company @ Zaccho SF Eighth season of Raissa Simpson’s local dance company, with works and repertory. $15-$25. 8pm. Thru June 9. 1777 Yosemite Ave. www.PushDance.org
Roller Disco @ Women’s Building
Former Stone Temple Pilots lead singer performs with Purple at the Core. $39-$52. 9pm. 1805 Geary Blvd. www.TheFillmore.com
Susan Schorn @ Books Inc. Black belt self-defense instructor and author discusses her book Smile at Strangers, about safety and self-defense. 7:30pm. 2275 Market St. 864-6777. www.booksinc.net
Blake Tucker’s exhibit, Fri 7
Janani at East BayDar, Sat. 8
Into the Woods @ Eureka Theatre
Scott Weiland @ The Fillmore
Double features in great combos: Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (7pm) and TwoLane Blacktop (9:05). June 7: Midnites for Maniacs presents a Depp-fest, with Benny & Joon (7:30), What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? (9:30) and Cry Baby (11:59). June 8: Baz Luhrman’s Romeo & Juliet (2:45, 7pm) and Strictly Ballroom (1pm, 5pm, 9:20). June 9: Ingrid Bergman in restored prints of Journey to Italy (3:55, 7pm) and Stromboli (1, 4:50, 8:40). June 12, Ryan Gosling’s The Place Beyond the Pines (2, 5pm, 8pm). June 13: Knife in the Water (7pm) and Belle du Jour (8:50). $8-$12. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com
The award-winning actress, playwright and educator has an arts discussion with Steven Anthony Jones. Free-$30. 8pm. 701 Mission St. 978-2787. www.ybca.org
Charles Busch’s musical comedy parody of every Hollywood nun movie gets a local production, with drag-music stars Joe Wicht (Trauma Flintstone), J. Conrad Frank (Katya Smirnoff-Skky), David Bicha ( Christmas With the Crawfords) and other talents. $25-$45. Wed-Sat 8pm Sun 2pm. Thru June 29. 25 Van Ness Ave., lower level. 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org
Opening reception for a solo exhibit by the local photographer, about Oakland people and life, images that hold a searing intimacy. 6pm-9pm. Thru July 13. 480 23rd St. Fri & Sat 1pm-5pm. (510) 229-7035. www.krowswork.com/sashakelley.html
Classic and New Films @ Castro Theatre
Anne Deavere Smith @ YBCA
Bradley Manning Teach-In @ Former Tower Records
Sasha Kelley @ Krowswork, Oakland
American Conservatory Theatre presents the National Theatre of Scotland’s globally acclaimed military drama-dance performance work, appropriately staged in the enormous Mission District Armory’s Drill Court. $44-$82. Tue-Sat 8pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Sun 7pm. Thru June 9. 333 14th St. at Mission. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org
Sat 8
The Divine Sister @ New Conservatory Theatre
SF Indiefest’s annual party’s now monthly. Roll on and groove it; costumes encouraged. $10. 8pm-12am. 21+. 3543 18th St. www.SFindie.com
Black Watch @ Armory Community Center
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Tinsel Tarts in a Hot Coma @ The Hypnodrome
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East BayDar @ La Peña Community Center Radar Reading series, hosted by Michelle Tea, continues its East Bay edition, with Tom Cho, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Brian Bauman, Marci Blackman, Janani and Tara Jepsen. $12-$15. 8pm. 3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. www.lapena.org
From Heather’s Mommies to Tango’s Daddies @ SF Public Library The Evolution of Family Affirming Children’s Literature, exhibit curator Randall Tarpey-Schwed shares his unique collection of children’s books that portray gay or lesbian parents. Thru Aug. 1. Hormel Center, 3rd floor, 100 Larkin St. 557-4400. www.sfpl.org
George Gershwin Alone @ Berkeley Repertory Hershey Felder’s solo show and stage biography tells the composer’s life story and plays classic songs in this acclaimed theatrical tribute. $29-$77. Tue, Thu-Sat 8pm. Wed & Sun7pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru June 23. Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St. (510) 647-2917. www.BerkeleyRep.org
Hedwig and the Angry Inch @ Boxcar Theatre Special 100th performance of the hit local production of John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s popular transgender rock operetta, with multiple actor-singers performing the lead. Post-show after-party with champagne, DJed music and VIPs. $25-$40. Wed-Sat 8pm. Also Sat 5pm. Extended with open-ended run. 505 Natoma St. 967-2227. www.boxcartheatre.org
Justin Richardson @ Books Inc. Author of the popular illustrated kids’ book, And Tango Makes Three discusses his endearing work (illustrated by Henry Cole) about New York’s Central Park Zoo gay penguins and their adopted baby. 2275 Market St. 864-6777. www.booksinc.net
Migrating Archives @ GLBT History Museum Migrating Archives: LGBT Delegates From Collections Around the World features historical items from nearly a dozen countries and archives. $5. Reg hours Mon & WedSat 11am-7pm. Sun 12pm-5pm. 4127 18th St. www.glbthistorymuseum.org
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Out&About >>
June 6-12, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 23
Wed 12 Chanticleer @ Various Venues The Grammy-winning men’s a cappella choral ensemble presents La Serenissima, a concert of works from Renaissance Venice. June 12: 8pm at First Congregational Church, Berkeley. June 14: 8pm at Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, San Jose. June 15: 8pm at Mission Dolores, SF. June 16: 5pm at St. Francisci of Assisi Church, SF. $10-$50. 392-4400. www.chanticleer.org
Clint Holmes @ Feinstein’s at the Nikko
Rufus Wainwright, Sun 9
Sun 9
Mon 10
Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg @ Contemporary Jewish Museum
Comedy Returns @ El Rio
Celebrate the CJM’s five-year anniversary with a special indoor-outdoor show and party, 12pm-3pm: free museum admission all day, and afternoon entertainment by SF Poet Laureate Alejandro Murguía, AXIS Dance Company, The Conspiracy of Beards, True Life Trio, and Porto Franco Klezmer All-Stars; as well as arts and crafts, music and dancing, poetry and magic, and food and drink. Inside, enjoy the new exhibit of vintage prints taken by gay Beat poet of his friends Jack Kerouac and others. Exhibit thru Sept. 8. Free (members)-$12. Thu-Tue 11am-5pm (Thu 1pm-8pm) 736 Mission St. 655-7800. www.thecjm.org
Cosi Fan Tutte @ War Memorial Opera House San Francisco Opera’s production of Mozart’s farcical drama, reset in a 1900s Mediterranean resort; in Italian with English subtitles. $22-$340. 2pm. June 12, 7:30pm. June 18, 8pm. June 21 8pm. June 26 7:30pm. June 29, 8pm. July 1, 7:30pm. 301 Van Ness Ave. 864-3330. www.sfopera.com
The monthly comedy show (2nd Mon) this time includes Karinda Dobbins, Bob McIntyre, Bobby Golden, Maggie Dolan and hostess Lisa Geduldig. $7-$20. 8pm. 3158 Mission St. at Precita. www.ElRioSF.com
Piano Bar 101 @ Martuni’s Sing-along night with talented locals, and charming accompanist Joe Wicht (aka Trauma Flintstone). 9pm-1:30am. 4 Valencia St. at Market.
Tue 11 Butterflies & Blooms @ Conservatory of Flowers Popular exhibit transforms the floral gallery into a fluttering garden with 20 species of butterflies and moths. Free-$7. Tue-Sun 10am-4:30pm. Thru Oct. 20. 100 JFK Drive, Golden Gate Park. 831-2090. www.conservatoryofflowers.org
Rufus Wainwright @ Davies Symphony Hall The acclaimed melancholy singer-songwriter returns for a concert. $20-$88. 8pm. 201 Van Ness Ave. 864-6000. www.sfsymphony.org
SF Hiking Club @ Redwood Creek Join GLBT hikers for a 9-mile hike on Mt. Tam along shady Redwood Creek, then up the endorphin-inducing switchbacks of Heather Cutoff and coastal trail with increasingly better views of the ocean; then down through the magnificent redwoods on Bootjack Trail, and return through Muir Woods. Carpool meets 9:15 at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores. (510) 342-2623. www.sfhiking.com
Shih Chieh Huang @ YBCA Taiwanese artist’s colorful installations create sculptural ecosystems from found objects. $8-$12. Exhibit thru June 30. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. 979-2787. www.ybca.org
Ojai North @ Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Celebrated choreographer Mark Morris presents a four-day music and dance mini-festival, with his own new dance for Mark Morris Dance Group, set to a jazz trio version of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (June 12 & 13, 8pm). Outdoor performance June 12, 6pm, of John Luther Adam’s Strange and Sacred Noise. June 14 & 15, six music concerts of works by John Cage, Lou Harrison, Cowell, Ives and more. $20-$186 (full program subscription). Various venues, UC Berkeley campus. (510) 642-9988. www.CalPerformances.org
Comedy Bodega celebrates Pride month with a new weekly series of stand-up acts. This week: Marilyn Pittman, Pippi Lovestocking, Bob Mcintyre, Julia Jackson and Justin O’Neil. 8pm-9:30pm. 3079 16th St. at Mission. www.comedybodega.com
California Native Plants @ SF Botanical Gardens
Hella Gay Comedy @ 1772
New touring exhibit of French Impressionist aquatic works. Also, Gifts From the Gods: Art and the Olympic Ideal (thru June 23); Darren Waterston: A Compendium of Creatures (thru Dec), and permanent exhibits (ongoing). $10-$25. Lincoln Park, 100 34th Aver. 750-3600. www.legionofhonor.famsf.org
Vanity Fair writer discusses his new book, Dreadful: The Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns, a notable yet overlooked gay WWII-era author. 8pm. 2275 Market St. 864-6777. www.booksinc.net
99% Gay Comedy Festival @ Esta Noche
Open daytime event for fanning, flagging, poi and flow amateurs and pros. Bring a beverage, lunch, watch and/or participate. 1pm-4pm. Middle Drive E., Golden Gate Park. www.flaggercentral.com www.aidsmemorial.org
Impressionists on the Water @ Legion of Honor
David Margolick @ Books Inc.
Thu 13
Flagging in the Park @ AIDS Memorial Grove
Nicole Turley hosts a “Donkey Punch Comedy & Burlesque Show,” with Moore Devine, Eloisa Bravo, Ferosha Titties, Griffin Daley and Kittie Von Tittie. $10. 21+. 8pm. 1772 Market St. 371-9705. www.charlieballard.com
Strong vocalist and suave entertainer performs classic American Songbook hits with his band. $70-$95 ($30 drink/menu credit). 8pm. Also June 13 & 14, 8pm. June 15, 7pm & 10:30pm. June 16, 7pm. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. 394-1111. www.hotelnikkosf.com
Dan Savage, Tue 11
Seasonal flowering of hundreds of species of native wildflowers in a century-old grove of towering Coast Redwoods. Free$15. Daily. Golden Gate Park. 6612-1316. www.SFBotanicalGarden.org
LEVYdance @ Heron Street
The Commonwealth Club presents the author, columnist, and gay media pundit, who has an onstage chat with Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket). $25-$60 (includes book, reception and gift bag). 429 Castro St. www.castrotheatre.com
The innovative local dance company peforms Spring Season at Home, a unique outdoor showcase of the company’s 10th anniversary best repertory. Opening night 7pm-12am celebration (food trucks, libations, silent auction; dessert lounge, live muisc with Midtown Social), with concert at 8:30pm. $30-$200. June 14-16 at 8:30pm. 19 Heron Street off 8th at Folsom. 701-1300. www.LEVYdance.org
Funny Tuesdays @ Harvey’s
Pride Reading @ Books Inc.
Dan Savage @ Castro Theatre
Ronn Vigh hosts the weekly LGBT and gayfriendly comedy night. One drink or menu item minimum. 9pm. 500 Castro St. at 18th. 431-HARV. www.harveyssf.com
Seth Lerer @ Books Inc. The author discusses his memoir Prospero’s Son: Life, Books, Love and Theater. 7:30pm. 2275 Market St. 864-6777. www.booksinc.net
Veronica Klaus @ Martuni’s The local chanteuse’s new weekly concerts, thru June, feature new and classic music. $15. 7pm. 4 Valencia St. www.facebook.com/veronica.klaus
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LGBT authors Daniel LeVesque, Justin Chin, Alvin Orloff, Larry-bob Roberts, Thea Hillman, Daphne Gottleib, Michelle Tea and Stephanie Robinson read from eclectic queer works published by Manic D Press. 7:30pm. 2275 Market St. 864-6777. www.booksinc.net
Thursday Night Live @ SF Eagle The weekly live rock shows have returned. 9pm-ish. 398 12th St. at Harrison. www.sf-eagle.com
To submit event listings, email jim@ebar.com. Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication. For more bar and nightlife events, go to www.bartabsf.com
Mark Morris’ Ohai North, Wed 12
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. Big Dive a special Memorial Day weekend event follows with drink specials. 450 Powell St. in Union Square. 395-8595. www.harrydenton.com
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Stephanie Berger
<< Society
24 • Bay Area Reporter • June 6-12, 2013
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Steven Underhill
Libera-She entertains at HBO’s special preview of Behind the Candelabra at the Castro Theatre.
Crowd-pleasing parties by Donna Sachet
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arriage Equality USA hosted its inaugural San Francisco awards ceremony last Wednesday at Chambers restaurant in the Hotel Phoenix. About 100 people gathered to meet Executive Director Brian Silva, to enjoy the music of Matt Alber, and to congratulate awardees Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, City Attorney Dennis Herrera, and law firm Bingham McCutchen. Attendees included Stuart Gaffney & John Lewis, Zack Lyons, Molly McKay, Marvin Burrows, Jeff Parker & Jim Collins, Jason Dorn, Carrie Asby, and Richard Sablatura. Immediately afterwards, we dashed to The Edge for one of the best themed fundraisers in recent memory, benefiting the Imperial Court. Cockatielia and Kevin Lisle hosted A Horse of a Different Color, inviting entertainers to perform musical numbers from The Wizard of Oz, Wicked, or The Wiz. Elaborate costumes, theatrical makeup, and well-rehearsed numbers were the rule of the night! Crowdpleasing performers included John Weber, Galilea, Alexis Miranda, Stephen Dorsey, Lady Tia, Renita Valdez, Sissy St. Clair, Brian Benamati, and Kit Tapata. Last Saturday’s Mr. & Miss Gay San Francisco Pageant, produced by David Lassman aka Empress Chablis, exceeded all expectations with a capacity crowd at Hotel Whitcomb and nine qualified competitors. Among the crowd were John Brosnan & Chad McLaughlin, Ray McKenzie & Matt Homier, Gladys & Keith Bumps, Karin Lee
Jaffie, Coco Butter, Nick Jimenez, Terence Taylor, Misty Blue, Maxwell Lynch, and the Reigning Emperor and Empress of Sacramento, Gerald Filice Archer & Misha Rockafeller. Mr. Gay SF Myles Cooper and Miss Gay SF Carla Gay kicked off the evening with a hilarious mock wrestling match, where furniture crashed and wigs flew. Then, emcees T.J. Istvan and Chika introduced State Senator Mark Leno and city Supervisor Scott Wiener, who presented certificates of recognition to Myles and Carla, followed by a musical number by Reigning Emperor Drew Cutler and Empress Patty McGroin. The judging panel of Bebe Sweetbriar, Lance Brittan, Ron Ross, Brett Andrews, Kylie Minono, and Reverend Diana Wheeler had no easy job as the contestants, Joseph Nunez, Austin Lowerey, Rob Huddleston, and Nic Hunter for Mr. Gay, and Tora Hymen, Synergy, Felicia Lamar, Piper Angelique, and Jezebel Patel for Miss Gay, were put through their paces in categories of personal interview, creative costume, talent, and evening wear. Miss Gay 2003 Manley Lennox was warmly received by the audience as she performed to commemorate her 10-year anniversary, as was this columnist, who was Miss Gay 1993 20 years ago. After the introduction of all the former Mr. & Miss Gay San Francisco titleholders present, most notably Mr. Gay SF 1974 Ron Ross and Miss Gay SF 1985 Goldblatt, and final walks by Myles and Carla, it was time to announce the winners of the night. First runnersup for Mr. Gay SF was Nic, and for
Miss Gay SF was Synergy. Our new Mr. Gay SF is Rob Huddleston, and Miss Gay SF is Jezebel Patel! Just prior to the pageant, we welcomed Mr. SF Leather and now International Mr. Leather Andy Cross back from Chicago to Powerhouse bar for a celebration worthy of this momentous occasion. Ray Tilton announced each title-holder as they arrived, several entertainers performed, and the local leather community warmly congratulated the first IML from San Francisco in 20 years! On Sunday afternoon, an incredibly diverse group assembled at Aunt Charlie’s in the Tenderloin in support of the renaming of a block of Turk Street after legendary transgender performer Vicki Marlane. The rollicking party was hosted by Felicia Flames and Collette La Grande, emceed by Gina La Divina, supported by the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, and attended by Anna Conda, Alex Walker, Jackie, Patti LaBelle, Trey Allen, Susan Englander, Gypsy Rosalie, and Reverends Tommy Dillon and Lyle Beckman. We’re betting that the money raised there from raffle-ticket sales, performer tips, and auction bids will make this historic street designation a reality. It’s never too early to start planning your Pride Weekend! June 26, 27, & 28, the SF Gay Men’s Chorus presents Harvey Milk 2013 at Nourse Theatre; June 27, the Starlight Room of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel presents Swallow Your Pride 2, benefiting Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation, starting at 6 p.m.; and June 29, Hotel Whitcomb hosts the 15th Annual Pride Brunch, benefiting Positive Resource Center and honoring the Grand Marshals of the Pride Parade, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. These are all events that demand early ticket purchase, so don’t put it off!t
Steven Underhill
Instagram founders Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom speak at a Commonwealth Club forum held at the Castro Theatre.
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Karrnal >>
June 6-12, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 25
Indoor fireworks by John F. Karr
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here are two reasons I felt sad when Jake Genesis repulsed himself from porn. First, it revealed that he was a conflicted person. He’s careered from career to career (as the poet said), from psychology student to seminarian to policeman to porn star to Catholic penitent. And he still hasn’t found what he’s looking for. The second reason for sadness is that we shall be forever deprived of performances by Jake that might have equaled the stature of two scenes he filmed at Naked Sword for director Mr. Pam. There’s the fireworks of his three way with Adam Killian and Trenton Ducati in Grindhouse, and, just released, his scene with JD Phoenix in Hooker Stories 2. This pair will hover forever right near the top of my shortlisted All-Time Classic Sexo Scenes. If the earlier scene was all dazzle, the newer one is remarkable for its hushed intimacy. Jake brings us in so close with an assured command and socko strength of sexual presentation that is just so masculine. I’m not talking machismo here (we get that in the movie’s last scene, in a charade played out with greatly loud and tiresome insistence by Diesel Washington). Just rooty-tooty butch. It’s the opening moments that establish this intimate world, so calm yourself and partake of Jake’s near-silent authority and extraordinary male beauty. He’s so ruggedly pretty I can only say, goddammit. His scene partner is JD Phoenix, a young man of good nature and delectable rump. Will JD ever again have a scene partner like Jake? Scene Two presents Seth Roberts and Sean Duran as a hustling couple who must thrill handsome, rather monstrously hung Luke Milan. They all fuck each other to Hades and back in every possible combination and position. A doctor might say the scene shows advanced ankylosis because a doctor knows that’s the consolidation of bones to form a single unit. This is a pretty good scene – and the guys are always so personable. Do hustlers all have such advanced interpersonal skills? Scene Three cools down a bit, as Kyle Quinn’s bumpy life is smoothed out by feisty youngster Doug Acres. His is the kind of dick you’d be glad to pay for – so pink, so long and fulsome. The first story is told from the client’s POV – he controls the hooker. The second reverses that relationship, showing the hooker’s POV as a couple rises to the challenge of pleasing their client. The third story has a more equalized POV, as we see the client hiring because he needs to get off, and the hooker working because he needs to satisfy that need. The finale turns everything on its head. The other stories didn’t seem to involve play-acting – they seem to be real people in real life. But real life now becomes a stage set in which a sub/dom scene is enacted. It’s also revealed at the start that its star, Diesel Washington, is just as butch as you or me. Meaning, in his real life he flutters a limp wrist and gives out the girlish dish. He’s only professionally Butch. But this masquerade of masculinity proves to be rather empty after the truth (okay, the ostensible truth) of the preceding scenes. Mr. Genesis dominates with a whispered word or two, while Washington has to holler himself horse just to get his
Naked Sword
You’d cling to Jake Genesis, too, if you were JD Phoenix of the delectable rump, in Hooker Stories 2.
“boy” to call him “Sir.” But if you go for such role-playing – particularly after it’s been revealed as posturing – it’s well done, I guess. I think you could say I just don’t get it. I enjoyed the plentiful oral cum-shots, and although it’s heard quite rightly only for moments, the hypnotic, minimalist theme music by Keith Kurtis is swell. Finally, it’s curious that in the stories of common hookers, aka hustlers and whores, we should see blossoming between performers the sort of relationships that
porn most usually lacks. The hustlers don’t seem to be merely pretending affection, for their clients’ benefit. Along with its affecting moods, and the quality of the acting, I credit this effect to Mr. Pam, who becomes with each film more and more of a director. I know only her exterior boisterousness, the palsy camaraderie on the set, the blowsy hair and clothes. It’s an unseeable and probably unnamable skill she has; I wonder – is she aware of it? I also wonder why a woman would want to hear the term “bitch” bandied about in her movies.t www.NakedSword.com
Naked Sword
Jake Genesis: he’s just so rooty-tooty butch, in Hooker Stories 2.
<< Books
26 • Bay Area Reporter • June 6-12, 2013
Windows 95 by Jim Piechota
The Tenderloin by John Butler; Picador, $12.95
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ortified by the Arts Council of Ireland, media journalist John Butler has crafted The Tenderloin, a humorous and multifaceted tale of discovery set in our own City by the Bay. The novel begins in the final month of 1995, as lead character Evan finds himself exhausted after having “worked ourselves into the ground” at Forwardslash, the Internet start-up where he works.
It’s an upwardly mobile company at the mercy of “the volcanic temper of a 33-year-old wunderkind.” The bulk of the book spans the previous 10 months of Evan’s life in San Francisco during the mid1990s’ ever-expanding Internet bubble. With a mixture of fearfulness and giddy anticipation, Evan departs his native Dublin with best friend Milo and Milo’s girlfriend Roisin, all headed for the windswept wonder of Northern California. A culture clash ensues as Evan snags a temp job as a programmers’ errand boy at Forwardslash. He is
somewhat left to his own devices after Milo departs for the Deadhead-governed streets of the Upper Haight. But he has a lot more to worry about than keeping his rent paid. Evan finds himself a stranger in a strange land, exacerbated by the fact that he’s sexually repressed, He’s a nervous, unconfident cub tossed into a wolves’ den of sensual expressiveness. Cultural references make up many of the novel’s best parts. The action is set in that wonderful era where no one missed an episode of Party of Five, roommate services were booming, e-mail addresses were a mark of forward-thinking distinction, coin-operated PCs dotted the back of SF’s overflowing cafes, the lighting of tightly-rolled “doobies” was a friendship prerequisite prior to dinner at the Tonga Room at
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SF DocFest
From page 17
cian. We observe a multilingual punk-music community that plays like a companion to the ragged S/M band of outlaws depicted in Bruce LaBruce movies. And Scream Club’s colorful thrift-shop attire definitely becomes its own movie. (Roxie, 6/8, 11; New Parkway, 6/16) Bettie Page Reveals All If the small-town gal who was Bettie Page had never existed, Playboy magazine founder Hugh Hefner might have dreamed her up himself. And in some sense, he may have done just that. In Oscar nominee Mark Mori’s absorbing
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the Fairmont or shopping for 3.5” floppy disks at Compuland. Butler’s prose can be gorgeous. His descriptive passages of San Francisco (and his hot-spot namedropping) will remind local readers of the city’s unfettered beauty and privileged abandon. Even San
Francisco’s fog is unique, Butler observes, not the conventional graying “descend and shroud,” but instead, it “prefers to cross the road and confront you directly, or slink right around a corner, accosting you like an old schoolfriend.” Evan’s many wild forays South of Market include this gem at a bar “on Folsom and Dore” where “I saw a man on his knees in front of two others in the backyard. The standing men’s trousers were around their ankles, but they were chatting as if they were getting pedicures instead of head.” Simply fabulous. The Tenderloin is rewarding reading that will strike a nostalgic chord for those who relocated to San Francisco in search of some kind of freaky solidarity, only to discover themselves in a playground of swelling melodrama. A tale of an Irish trio in search of love and self-awareness, Butler’s story represents San Franciscans’ nottoo-distant past and our immediate present; a funny and beautiful book not to be missed.t
culture doc, the pajama-attired Hefner sits inside his mansion and describes what was so special about the Nashville-born pin-up model who became an unlikely soldier in the 60s’ sexual revolution. We observe how Page combined physical beauty, personal audacity and a surprisingly clean-cut image, becoming the very embodiment of Hefner’s drive to make straight boys feel like diving into a slick package of soft-core erotica and big-league consumerism. In an interview recorded just before her death, Page narrates her lifetime battle against censorship and repression. This doc, intended as both an insider’s view and a rebuttal to aspects of Mary Harron’s widely acclaimed 2005 narrative biopic The Notorious Bettie Page,
comes with a lively soundtrack featuring Los Straightjackets and Jack Rabbit Slim. The film is heartbreakingly precise about Bettie’s post-pin-up decline, ultimately resulting in a nine-year commitment for a religious-fueled mental breakdown. (Roxie, 6/7; Rio, 6/22) The Women and the Passenger begins in a grungy-looking locker room that could be a rundown vocational high school, but isn’t. The four women who report for duty are way past their co-ed days. Ranging from their 30s to early 50s, the quartet is part of a dynamic, growing segment of the Chilean economy that General Pinochet probably wouldn’t approve of. Co-directors Patricia Correa and Valentina MacPherson discover just how far their subjects See page 30 >>
SF DocFest
Postcard image from director Mark Mori’s Bettie Page Reveals All.
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Music>>
June 6-12, 2013 • Bay Area Reporter • 27
Biblical lovebirds by Tim Pfaff
beautiful note. Ana Quintans takes vocal honors as Jonathas, searing in her great fourth-act lament, which the camera captures in such detail that we have her whole dental history. The star turn is by countertenor
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he Biblical David and Jonathan – as ancient an iconic youngmale-lover duo as Western civilization has to offer – have popped back up as the hit-makers of the last year in the international early-music industry. Gay early-music guru William Christie, who has had MarcAntoine Charpentier’s David et Jonathas in the active repertoire of his Les Arts Florissants for nearly a quarter-century, has brought it back for a very high-profile turn, fully staged, in a production that was one of the highlights of the 2012 Festival at Aix-en-Provence and went on to such prestigious venues as BAM. The remarkable piece – a tragedie Biblique, being neither opera nor oratorio – certainly warrants a place in the active repertoire. Pity, then, that Andreas Homoki’s production, in a frantic effort to make it contemporary, leaves it as time-bound, if helplessly beautiful, as a beetle trapped in amber, or, in this case, on a single DVD (BelAir Classiques). Homoki is among the legion of European stage directors who see no difference between finding something pertinent to our day in an old work and simply stirring up trouble in it. Cutting a swath between Peter Sellars’ highly stylized Middle East fetish and Richard Jones’ obsession with the dollhouse – but with the genius of neither – Homoki lands our lads in an identifiably 20thcentury time warp that looks suspiciously like a Provencal remake of The Wizard of Oz, with enough of the choristers in fezzes to give the impression of a Shriner’s convention gone awry. Paul Zoller’s visually strained unit-set looks like giant, up-ended, fake-plywood file boxes from Office Depot, except that they shrink and expand to express degrees of tension. Franck Evin’s harsh lighting design flatters nothing, including Gideon Davey’s all-too-predictable melange of costumes, which nonetheless look almost distractingly comfortable. The cast deserves a break. They’re a game bunch, hard workers all with their minds on their business because there’s so much of it, and the music is so unrelievedly hard. To everyone’s credit, you never think that. The perfectionist Christie believes so strongly in the music that he adds little to it, including human passion; Homoki trusts it so little he can’t leave a measure of it alone. The stagecraft reminded me of the bad old Lotfi Mansouri days at SF Opera. The kind of mugging Homoki imposes, universally and without differentiation, on his singers, down to the last chorister, is achieved only by a director’s jumping up and down, striking poses, and pulling faces – and then demanding that his actors ape him. The results, of course, are vaguely imbecilic. This cast gives evidence that it could do just about anything. Instead, the singers come off like inexperienced child actors, ants in their pants, caught on the stage all needing to pee. In his first reunion with Jonathan, David – singing his head off – jumps from chair to chair in in his prefab dollhouse, clearly unable to contain himself. The supreme irony is that the two actual child actors, Gabriel Di Giorgio and Stefano Sojae as the very young David and Jonathan, drummed into service because Homoki needs flashbacks in most of the act interludes, are
BelAir Classiques
Ana Quintans as Jonathas, and Pascal Charbonneau as David, in composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s David et Jonathas.
terrific, stage naturals, and models of expressive focus. As for those flashbacks, the one at the beginning of Act IV, when Charpentier’s music becomes almost unbearably beautiful, depicts Jonathan’s father coming in on the embracing boys (David is comforting Jonathan over the death of his mother). Clearly, he thinks the two are up to hanky-panky, and he reacts with dudgeon. Jonathan’s father, of course, is King Saul, who gets some of the best music and is a character of at least comparable importance to the boys. Smack in the middle of the piece, there’s a moment, as Saul confronts his own implacable hatred, when it seems that a genuine interiority is about to unfold (overlooking the fact that the overtaxed baritone Neal Davies is choking on his words). But in seconds it’s back to the cucaracha. And when the characters aren’t jumping around, the camera is. It has been said, with bad consequences, that because Charpentier’s score was meant to be heard in sections, as entertainment during the reading of a long Latin poem about Saul at a Jesuit fete, “nothing happens” in David et Jonathas. Plenty does. Compared to Parsifal and Pelleas, D&J is like Fast and Furious 6. Homoki takes it as license to pepper Charpentier’s (nonexistent) longueurs. Doff chapeaux to any French divertissement that can dispatch five acts and a prologue (here ingeniously – I mean that – relocated as a midgame stretch) in the time of a feature-length movie. The music could hardly be more involving, making unavoidable the realization that the final tableau of Jonathan expiring in David’s arms is a complete knockoff of Ralph Fiennes with the dying Kristin Scott Thomas in his arms in The English Patient. When you should be weeping disconsolately, you’re wondering if copyrights have been infringed.
Pascal Charbonneau, thin, handsome, and intense, sings the very high tenor part with unflagging commitment and hardly a single
Dominique Visse as La Phytonisse (the Witch), a role he’s been singing with Christie for decades. This time we’re glad the camera reveals his five-o’clock shadow, because it perfectly offsets the Auntie Em drag.t
Serving the LGBT communities since 1971
28 • Bay Area Reporter • June 6-12, 2013
Impressionists
From page 17
premise – that a number of these artists had connections to the water and/or participated in sailing, pleasure boating and yacht racing, and that those activities opened up opportunities to explore their artistic preoccupations with light and color – is contrived. But let’s face it: tourists and local visitors will take their friends, flock to the museum and have a pleasurable experience, no matter what the critics say. There’s still nothing quite like seeing Impressionist paintings in person to fully appreciate their colorful vitality, technical virtuosity and luminosity. Though it’s derided in some quarters as too easy and clichÊ, Impressionism affords a refuge from the harshness of modern life. One of the great pleasures these artists offer, aside from sharing their love of beauty and sumptuous women, is that they allow us to enter their worlds of glistening water, soul-warming sun, the spectacular light show of a waning day, and the bonhomie of stylish men in straw boaters escorting fashionable female companions. That said, only a third of the 80-odd paintings, lithographs, sketches and a smattering of photographs here fall into the category of what’s considered true Impressionism, works produced from 1874 to 1884. Although beautifully installed and lit to maximum effect, this exhibition has neither the depth nor breadth of the Women Impressionists or Musee d’Orsay shows that have graced the city in recent years, a fact that substantial padding can’t disguise. For example, this may be the first time sailboat models and life-size replicas of wooden skiffs have been displayed in the context of a museum art exhibit; guaranteed to put you in the mind of a seashore
FAM-SF
“Boats Moored at Le Petit-Gennevilliers� (“Barques au repos, au Petit-Gennevilliers�) (traditionally “Sailboats on the Seine�) (1874), oil on canvas by Claude Monet.
idyll, yes, but another gallery full of paintings would have been preferable. Further rounding-out includes an introductory gallery of Impressionist precursors, traditional French marine painters such as Eugene Louis Boudin and Charles-Francois Daubigny, formative influences on the budding Monet. Boudin is represented by the aptly titled “Storm over Antwerp� (1872), an ominous, high-contrast expanse of turbulent sky reflected in roiling seas. Daubigny, who was partial to serene river settings, came up with the floating studio, a brilliant concept Monet adopted for his own. In 1874, Monet painted a picture of his roving houseboat, a simple vessel that gave him a unique perspective of water and shoreline. He, like his fellow Impressionists,
painted outdoors, a revolutionary practice condemned as sauvage in conservative art circles. Even from across a room, Alfred Sisley’s stunning “Banks of the Loing� (1891) catches your eye and won’t let go. In it, a boat rests on a beach as shadows begin to fall, while across a glassy, deep green river, sunlight shimmers on the front row of trees whose darker hues suggest the depth of the woods that lay behind them. A high point is a section focusing on Argenteuil, a popular 19thcentury tourist destination close to Paris where Renoir and Monet, who had a house there, worked. Both Renoir and Monet painted sailboats at Argenteuil in 1874, from the same vantage point. Details in their respective paintings reflect differences in their person-
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
“Oarsmen at Chatouâ€? (“Les Canotier Ă Chatouâ€?) (1879), oil on canvas by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
alities and artistic choices. Monet grew up in nearby Le Havre on the banks of the River Seine; ergo, his sublime “The Seine at Argenteuil� (1874). (The Impressionists at Argenteuil, a 2000 exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, emphasized the important role the suburban town played in the early development of the movement.) Not as famous as his contemporaries, Gustave Caillebotte, the heir to a wealthy family, may be better-known as a yachtsman and boat designer than as an artist, but his paintings that depict his twin passions, boat racing and gardening, attest to the multiple talents of a renaissance man. An avid collector and a staunch supporter of Impressionist ideology, he purchased many of his friends’ paintings; his family bequest later went to the Musee d’Orsay.
The show concludes with Neo- and Post-Impressionist pieces, some quite breathtaking like “Night at Sea� (1897), Henri Riviere’s Japanese-inflected lithograph of sailboats adrift in a magical azure ocean where the dazzling primal blue of sea and sky appear to merge, and Edouard Vuillard’s “The Boatman� (1897). Done in hyperreal colors – glacier-blue skies and even bluer water, saffron trees rising up on the hillside – this hallucinatory oil painting on cardboard, with an unconventional, photograph-like composition of a man piloting a terracotta-colored rowboat, seems to have been created in a dream state. Suspended somewhere between Naturalism and Symbolism, it signals the imminent arrival of modernism, thundering in the near distance. (Through Oct. 13.)t
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<< Television
30 • Bay Area Reporter • June 6-12, 2013
Invitation to a gay wedding by Victoria A. Brownworth
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ometimes we think the Stonewall Rebellion happened in June because queers were freaking tired of being forced out from their cool air-conditioned bars onto the hot pavement by police, and it was just finally enough already. It’s always the little things that make you realize just how discriminated against you are. We are so glad the networks and cable finally got it that a lot of people hate the heat and just want to be inside with the flatscreen and DVR all summer long with a bunch of Mad Men cocktails and MasterChef tapas. June isn’t just for Pride, of course. It’s also for weddings, and marriage equality is a hot topic near and far these days. The ACLU thinks that the marriage equality trend – six states in less than a year, with others on the cusp – is linked to the positive images Americans have been seeing on TV of gay and lesbian couples, and they are beginning a new marriage-equality campaign around that very idea. While the ACLU loves all the LGBT characters on TV, they want to know: Why no weddings? Using the Emmy Award-winning sitcom Modern Family as their focus, the ACLU wants to promote gay marriage on the tube as a way to get Americans engaged in the marriage-equality fight. Okay, we love this idea. ACLU director Anthony Romero, who is a fabulous LGBT ally, has devised a faux invitation with Modern Family’s gay couple, Cam and Mitchell, as the headliners: “America wants to see Cam & Mitch get hitched on Modern Family,” it reads. The invitation has a wedding-cake topper couple: two men in tuxedos, one hefty like Cam. So cute. And so clever. The invitation will be making the rounds of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Vine, because the marriage fight is far from over. Tell your friends! And send the ACLU a little thank you for making LGBT issues as important as the other civil rights issues they address. On her Super Soul Sunday show, Oprah discussed the importance of marriage equality with Rev. Ed Bacon and best-selling authors and spirituality gurus Elizabeth Lesser and Mark Nepo. Bacon was succinct, saying that none of his parishioners had ever come to him complaining that same-sex marriage was destroying their straight marriage. Instead, he said, some had told him that seeing the love between same-sex couples had reinforced their own love for each other. Check it out on OWN (the hard-to-find network). It’s good to know that some religious people are standing up for marriage equality. But not everyone is getting cozy with the queers. Daystar TV, the Christian TV network, is the “fastest-growing faith-based network in the world.” They are also still
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SF DocFest
From page 26
have come from the days when, as one of the women recalls, she would never allow her husband to see her without the lights down. The subjects of this subtly lensed doc are housemaids who toil inside a Santiago sex hotel, where their job description includes cleaning an elaborate jungle gym-like apparatus called the “sex chair.” “We had a client who
promoting conversion therapy and myriad lunatic theories bolstering why it could work. So on Joni’s Table Talk, you can see Anne Paulk, former lesbian. Here’s a cool quote from Anne: “I said, ‘Lord, you know that I really enjoy this lifestyle, but I want you to be my first love.’ Shortly after that prayer, I met a Christian woman, a former lesbian, who listened patiently to my story and led me to a ministry helping people overcome homosexuality.” Anne (not to be confused with her ex-gay, ex-husband John, who keeps running in and out of the closet, and in and out of gay bars) is the author of Restoring Sexual Identity, a book telling women how not to be queer. John was head of Exodus International, and Anne was on the board. Both have been involved with Focus on the Family, and have three kids. Just like Michael Jackson. Anne told Joni Lamb that the reason lesbians are lesbians is because they were sexually abused. Yes, Anne Paulk did an in-depth study of lesbians (sometimes the jokes just write themselves), and that study led her to the conclusion that 66% of lesbians were victims of sexual abuse, and this had caused their lesbianism. Paulk also determined that 90% of women leaving the “lesbian lifestyle” had witnessed a sexual assault, so they, too were lesbians tainted by sexual abuse. According to these numbers, almost every woman alive is really a lesbian or is a lesbian going in and out of the “lifestyle.” Like Anne’s former husband is doing. Be sure to check out Ms. Paulk if your blood pressure is too low. The thing about these fundamentalist-based TV shows is they aren’t really funny or campy, they just make some LGBT people who are already dealing with misplaced guilt or shame more traumatized. And we’re pretty sure that makes Jesus cry. There’s more furor among the right over a new cartoon series on Hub TV, the kids’ cartoon network. It seems like just yesterday we were writing here about Teletubbies and the fundies thinking they had a queer message. SheZow doesn’t have a queer message, but it does have a gender-fluid one. Guy is a 12-year-old boy who turns himself into a female superhero when he twists his magic ring and says, “You go, girl!” We think that’s really cute. For generations, girls have had to yearn from afar to be superheroes. We love that a boy turns into a female superhero. But if you watch the cartoon, it’s not about a transgender boy, it’s about a superhero. Which makes the huffing and puffing from the right all the more ridiculous. GLAAD called out the naysayers, calling their response “laughable.” We agree. The show debuted last year in Australia and Canada, and just debuted here. Guess the Australian and Canadian right-wingers just don’t care enough.
came frequently with the most ‘trashy women.’ I used to tell him, ‘All the money you have, and the women you see!’ He said, ‘You think wealthy women are decent. They’re all whores.’” A playful interlude finds a maid fantasizing about how much her own domestic bliss could be enhanced as she romps on one of motel’s expensive waterbeds. Plays with Maria Fredriksson’s short Coffee Time. (Balboa, 6/8; Roxie, 6/15, 17) Bill W Several times during
ACLU director Anthony Romero wants gay marriage onscreen.
Speaking of love affairs, it’s been a stressful time over at Days of Our Lives. Will (Chandler Massey) was in a coma for what seemed like weeks
after he stepped in to save Nick’s (Blake Berris) life as Jensen (Derek Magyar) tried to kill him. But fortunately, in soapland, comas can be healing, and this one has been. Will being in a coma has brought his parents, Sami and Lucas, together again, and allowed them to witness how much Sonny loves Will. Right after the attack, Sonny (Freddie Smith) came into Will’s hospital room and sat on the bed. He told Will how much he loved him, and how he knew it the first time they met. Sami and Lucas watched from the doorway, and Sami had tears in her eyes. Then Sonny told Will he has a daughter. But Will doesn’t wake up. Time passes, Will remains unconscious. On May 30, Nick brings the baby in to see his daddy. Will (naturally) wakes up. Nick puts the baby girl in Will’s shaky arms, well aware that Will has saved his life and that he, Gabi, Sonny and Will now have to find a way to be parents together. Sonny comes in, and Nick says the two of them should be alone. That’s when Will discovers that Sonny delivered the baby. Will tells his baby, “Oh, my God, I love you,” then tells Sonny, “And I love you.” Sonny tells Will he loves him, also, then he kisses him tenderly. Lots of kissing. We heart that. Nick leaves the hospital and goes to the park. Maggie follows her nephew, fearing something is wrong. Maggie finally gets the truth out of Nick. When Nick was in prison with Jensen, “I just pretended it didn’t happen. And if it didn’t happen, it didn’t matter.” Is Nick’s homophobia the result of the brutal rape at the hands of the older and bigger Jensen? When the whole fight scene was going down, Jensen had taunted Nick with, “You were my bitch, right?” and Nick kept saying no and pulling away from Jensen. We think over the next few weeks Nick will have to talk to Will
this labyrinthine portrait of the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, I found myself recalling that classic W. C. Fields’ short The Fatal Glass of Beer. As the ancient audiorecordings unspool, we hear Bill W sounding almost like Fields’ parody as he delivers pep talks to 40s-era AA members about the now-legendry 12 steps to sobriety. Dan Carrachino and Kevin Hanlon’s hybrid doc, illustrated with historical reenactments, probes the contradictions in the life of this
charismatic but tortured soul. Bill W. would live long enough to hand the reigns over to a younger generation, but not before indulging in some controversial experiments to see if LSD could relieve his lifetime depression, The film’s soundtrack includes Bach cello suites performed by Yo-Yo Ma. (Balboa, 6/9; Roxie, 6/10; Aquarius, 6/10) The Mayor Jared Scheib explores life behind the respectable façade of a Dallas retirement home. The star of the movie is an 88-year-
Meanwhile, no one said anything negative or creepy about the fact that Don Ennis, longtime ABC News editor, has come out as transgender. Ennis, 49, surprised longtime friends and staff by arriving at work on May 8 in a little black dress and wig, and announcing that he was now she. Don was Dawn, and was leaving her wife of 17 years and their three children, and beginning her new life as a woman. We think it says a lot about the people Ennis works with and the level of acceptance in that newsroom that Dawn was able to transition so smoothly at work, even receiving a letter of support from the ABC president. To quote SheZow, “You go, girl!” We’re not sure how long it will take for right-wingers to get incensed over ABC’s steamy new drama Mistresses, but we think relatively soon. The show was a hit in the UK on BBC, where it was a Sex and the City-style series about several women, their friendships and affairs. That version had a lesbian character, and so does the ABC version. It also has some very hot stars: Alyssa Milano, Yunjin Kim (Lost), Rochelle Aytes and Jes Macallan. Macallan plays Josslyn, a real estate agent who meets a lesbian couple and becomes friends with one of them, Alex (Shannyn Sossamon). The friendship develops into a romance. The other mistresses, her friends, are all very supportive of the relationship because it’s her first deep romance. We aren’t going to pass judgment on the morality issues here and the cheating part, but we are glad that ABC brought the lesbian element over along with the heterosexual steaminess.
Comatose days
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and Sonny about being raped. There will have to be healing. And hopefully some discussion of male-male rape. Speaking of soaps, All My Children and One Life to Live are in full swing now as web series on Hulu. Three major stars that were drifting back and forth between OLTL and GH will indeed continue on both soaps, but not as the same characters. We were confused by this, too, but you get used to it. We are happy to see sexy Tuc Watkins, who came out on Marie Osmond’s show last month, back at OLTL. We hope some other cast members join him in walking out of the closet. The Fosters, ABC Family’s new series about a lesbian couple and their kids, has to be the most talked-about TV show in a really long time. And for good reason. ABC Family has already had queer success with its sexy teen guilty pleasure Pretty Little Liars. The Fosters is poised to be another critical and ratings success for the cable network. It also has star power behind it. Produced by Jennifer Lopez and her company Nuyorican Productions, the show features a whole lot of multiculturalism. The show’s interracial couple (African-American and white) has both adoptive children and biological children who are various races as well. Lopez said of the show it’s “all about love,” and has been promoting it widely. Lena Adams (Sherri Saum) and Stef Foster (Teri Polo) make a believable and strong lesbian couple with believable and seemingly insurmountable issues. Lena is the altruistic social worker mom, and Stef is a tough police officer. Lena’s decision to take a troubled teen girl into their complex family provides the catalyst for much of the action, between both the women and the other kids in their family. We’ve liked Saum for a long time. Polo has been in interracial TV relationships before: she played Helen Santos, wife of presidential contender Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits), on several seasons of The West Wing, and was on this past season’s superb The Following. If Modern Family is making America laugh along with queer families, The Fosters will make them feel that queer families are more like their own than they could have ever imagined. This feels like groundbreaking TV to us. So: watch. Meanwhile, the Tony Awards will be broadcast live June 9 on CBS, with the biggest queer name on the small screen as the host yet again. Neil Patrick Harris is always a magnificent host, and it makes sense for a gay actor to be hosting the gayest of awards. It makes us miss Smash, since that’s how the series ended, with the fight for the Tonys. Having out actors like Harris still making big money playing straight despite discussing their queer lives on talk shows hopefully means the tide is turning. Hopefully there will be more Wills, Sonnys and Bullets in our TV future, too. But you won’t know for sure unless you stay tuned.t
old retired businessman who still seeks out the company of women with a little meat on their bones. A widow makes a weekly pilgrimage to her late husband’s grave, and a feisty female resident gives a Thelma Ritter-worthy running commentary on the pathetic state of the home’s male citizens. It’s a bracing, at times bitterly funny preview of coming attractions. (Balboa, 6/7; Roxie, 6/8; Rio, 6/22)t www.SFindie.com
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