November 15, 2012 edition of the Bay Area Reporter

Boies talks about Prop 8

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Art student wins prize

ARTS

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Rhino season

The

www.ebar.com

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

Vol. 42 • No. 46 • November 15-21, 2012

LGBT candidates win big

Pelosi to remain Dem leader

by Lisa Keen

A

first-ever openly gay person elected U.S. senator, the largest ever number of openly lesbian and gay people elected to Congress, three new leaders at statehouses, the first-ever Courtesy Baldwin for Senate campaign openly transgender person elected to a Senator-elect state legislature, and Tammy Baldwin the first openly LGBT candidates elected in numerous states.

And after a week of counting votes, it also appears that Arizona voters will send the first openly bisexual person to Congress.

That’s just a snapshot of what made Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund President Chuck Wolfe call November 6 a “breathtaking leap forward.”

Election Day 2012 contests for LGBT candidates spanned 37 states, including such conservative bastions as North Dakota and West Virginia. They included victories in seven out of eight federal office races, 71 out of 94 state offices, and 40 out of 50 local offices.

Of 152 LGBT candidates on the ballot last week, 77 percent (118) won, while 22 percent (33) lost. One local election race is still pending. By comparison, in 2010, 65 percent (106) of 164 openly LGBT candidates won, according to the Victory Fund.

Historic firsts There were many historic firsts this year, including the high-profile victory of Representative Tammy Baldwin, overcoming a multi-million-dollar super PAC campaign against her by right-wing operative Karl Rove, to become the first openly gay person elected to the Senate.

“It goes right up there in history with Ed Brooke of Massachusetts,” said longtime gay Democratic activist David Mixner. Brooke, a Republican, became the first African American elected to the Senate, in 1966.

“Words almost can’t describe the barriers this has broken down and it is a moment in the institution of the U.S. Senate that will be forever remembered,” said Mixner. He said Baldwin’s victory was in large part due to her being “a really great candidate who worked her ass off.”

But he also said Baldwin’s victory and that of so many others November 6 was a “shift in attitudes” of American voters about LGBT officials and issues.

In California, teacher Mark Takano became the first openly gay person of color See page 9 >>

by Lisa Keen and Matthew S. Bajko

R Rick Gerharter

Veterans honored at parade M

embers of the predominately gay Alexander Hamilton Post 448 of the American Legion carried their flags in San Francisco’s annual Veterans Day Parade down Market Street Sunday, November 11. The Bob Basker American Legion Post 315, which includes openly gay veterans, also marched.

e p re s e n t a t i ve Nancy Pelosi announced Wednesday that she will stay on as minority leader for the coming new session of Congress.

“I have made the decision to submit my name to my colleagues Jane Philomen Cleland to once again serve as the House Democratic Nancy Pelosi leader,” Pelosi said at a news conference November 14.

The announcement followed a few days of speculation in the media that Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat, might not seek the position as leader of the Democratic Caucus in the House.

See page 9 >>

Bisexual network celebrates 25 years

by Heather Cassell

a community. We have a movement,” said Ka’ahumanu.

BABN currently operates on about $5,000 that was raised at its 20th anniversary. The money funds general operations and a presence at events, such as San Francisco Pride, said Martin Rawlings-Fein, a core organizing member of BABN.

T

he world was a very different place a quarter century ago. AIDS was decimating the gay and bisexual men’s community while bi women and lesbians cared for their brothers. At the same time the bi community was under attack, being scapegoated as the carriers of HIV/AIDS to the straight community.

The Bay Area Bisexual Network was launched in 1987 to combat the negative image and misconceptions about bisexual people and to create community and a movement locally.

To celebrate its silver anniversary, BABN kicks off a series of events at the GLBT History Museum on Friday, November 16 Bi authors Betty Blue (better known by her pen name Jane Kindred) and award-winning poet Jan Steckel will read from their popular works.

“It’s important to let people in the bi community know that there is fiction out there that is geared toward them as well as trans people,” said Blue, 46, who has made a lot of friends through BABN during the past 15 years.

“I’m very excited about the celebration,” said Steckel, 50, who will read from her Lambda Literary award-winning book of poetry, Horizontal Poet.

BABN, a 25-year-old all-volunteer organization, is also seeing a new generation of leaders taking the reins.

A quarter of a century later, Lani Ka’ahumanu, who co-founded BABN with

Birth of a movement

Jane Philomen Cleland

Award-winning bi poet Jan Steckel

Ann Justi and Maggi Rubenstein, Ph.D., said she feels proud that the organization remains strong.

“It’s still not easy coming out with bisexual people, there is still so much misinformation out there that work still continues and BABN still provides a solid foundation to counter that,” said Ka’ahumanu five years ago when BABN hit the 20-year mark. It remains true today.

“The longevity of the Bay Area Bisexual Network ... just shows that bisexuals do have

{ FIRST OF TWO SECTIONS }

BABN was founded in 1987 after the historic March on Washington for gay and lesbian rights. The Boston Bisexual Women’s Network organized a national contingent of bisexuals for the March on Washington. They marched alongside gays and lesbians, pushing back against the backlash against the bisexual community and against accusations from the gay and lesbian and straight communities that bisexuals helped spread the AIDS epidemic.

AIDS and the climate for bisexual people, in particular bisexual men, in the late 1980s was hostile, said Ka’ahumanu, noting that it is only a little bit easier to be openly bisexual today.

Justi and Rubenstein attended a conference hosted by the East Coast Bisexual Network in New York City around the same time.

Fueled by biphobia and the toll the AIDS epidemic was taking on the LGBT community, there was no place for bisexuals to turn to for support or to educate the broader community about bisexuality.

The Bisexual Center of San Francisco closed See page 3 >>

<< Community News

2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 15-21, 2012

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Jane Philomen Cleland

That’s a wrap T

he annual check presentation signifies the end of an event for the year, and usually generates smiles from the nonprofit recipients. On Thursday, November 8 Grass Roots Gay Rights West, producers of the Real Bad XXIV dance party that closed out the Folsom Street Fair, announced that this year’s event had raised a record $200,000 for LGBT and HIV/AIDS beneficiaries.

This year’s groups, which are represented above, included the AIDS Emergency Fund, UCSF Alliance Health Project, Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center, Bay Area Young Positives, and the GLBT Historical Society. The beneficiaries will share the funds raised, which include 100 percent of the money collected from general admission ticket sales.

Boies discusses Prop 8 options

by Chris Carson

T

he excitement of the presidential election is passed; it is time for Washington, D.C. to get back to work.

At the top of the schedule is a conference of the Supreme Court justices on November 30, where they will discuss whether to take cases involving the Defense of Marriage Act and the federal challenge to Proposition 8.

The justices had indicated they would consider the marriage cases next week, but on Tuesday said that they would be on the conference schedule at the end of the month.

Representing two same-sex couples challenging Prop 8, along with Theodore Olson, is attorney David Boies,

Rick Gerharter

The University of San Francisco School of Law’s Public Interest Law Foundation presented its 2012 Public Interest Excellence Award to David Boies, third from left, at a recent auction and award ceremony. Congratulating Boies are Dean of the School of Law Jeffrey Brand, event co-chair Natasia de Silva, and event co-chair Catherine Crider, right.

who was awarded the Public Interest Excellence Award by the University of San Francisco’s School of Law on November 9.

Before the event, Boies sat down with the Bay Area Reporter to discuss what he expects from the nation’s highest court at the end of the month.

In regards to Prop 8, the justices will make one of three decisions. They could “deny cert,” as Boies said, which would allow the ruling by the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals striking down Prop 8 to go in to effect. If that happens, same-sex couples in California could once again legally wed.

The justices could also decide to hear the case, which would require Boies and Olson to submit written briefs and present oral arguments, most likely in April. If the Supreme Court decides to hear the case, as Boies said, they could essentially “decide this issue once and for all. So that, not only could people get married in California, they could get married in Alabama,” and everywhere else in the country. A final decision would be expected in June 2013.

However, the court could also decide to “in effect, just hold the petition in our case, not make a decision one way or another,” which would leave Boies’s clients, and same-sex couples in the state, in limbo, not knowing if or when they will be able to legally marry.

The Supreme Court conference comes at the end of a month full of big gains for supporters of marriage equality. On election night, November 6, Maine, Maryland, and Washington state all passed ballot measures supporting legal unions for gay and lesbian couples. Couples can begin marrying in Washington next month;

Maine and Maryland will follow in January.

Those states join Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. in allowing same-sex marriage.

In Minnesota last week, voters rejected a constitutional ban on samesex marriage, although it is still not legal to marry in the North Star State.

Boies was asked if this year’s election results would have any effect on the Supreme Court’s decision.

“I think it could have an effect,” Boise said, “because I think the court does look to whether its decisions will be accepted.

“The reason you need a Supreme Court and a written Constitution is to deal with the situations in which the majority, of any particular point in time, takes action that is inconsistent with fundamental rights. At that point, the court is always, to some extent, on the side of the minority,” he added.

The last time the Supreme Court made a major decision on the definition of marriage was in 1967, in Loving v. Virginia, when it ruled Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which prohibited interracial marriage, to be unconstitutional.

At the time, Boies said, “64 percent of the American people believed interracial marriages were wrong.”

In recent years, public support for marriage equality has increased. In May 2011, Gallup published a report stating that for the first time ever, a majority of Americans, 53 percent, were in favor of allowing gays and lesbians to marry.

See page 3 >>

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Commentary>>

November 15-21, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 3

A lot of our friends are being killed

by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

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t a visit to an Obama campaign field office in Sarasota, Florida last month, Vice President Joe Biden singled out a woman who, it was reported, he thought had beautiful eyes. That woman is Linda Carragher Bourne.

A pool reporter at the event did not catch what Bourne said to Biden, but we do know that Biden replied to her, saying that it was “the civil rights issue of our time.” Bourne made it clear afterward that what she asked of Biden was help for her daughter and others like her.

Her daughter is Lorelei Erisis – Miss Trans Northampton/New England 2009.

“A lot of my friends are being killed, and they don’t have the civil rights yet,” said Bourne. “These guys are gonna make that happen.”

The story flew largely under the political radar, buried under news of Hurricane Sandy. For me, of course, this was a very big thing. This was the sitting vice president of the United States, in the midst of a heated political campaign, who publicly pointed out the need to tackle transgender discrimination.

Now, Vice President Biden is reelected.

Just two short weeks after the election is the 14th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. I founded the event way back then to help create a sense of history within the transgender community, and as a way to point out just how prevalent anti-transgender violence is in our world.

At our first event, we had about 30 known cases. Today we know of thousands. This year, while we have 38 listed on the Transgender Day of Remembrance website – www.transgenderdor.org – we know there are far more anti-transgender murders that we will never know of, or never have a full picture of.

To paraphrase Bourne, a lot of our friends are being killed.

These deaths are happening all around the world, to people of all ages, all races, all genders. Not everyone killed in an anti-transgender violent crime is transgender identified, either: all it really takes is someone perceiving you to be transgender. Say they think you’re a male who is effem-

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Prop 8

From page 2

According to an article published by Reuters the day of Boies’s visit to San Francisco, “legal analysis that applies to equal protection challenges, laws that discriminate against politically powerless groups receive greater scrutiny from the court.”

Some opponents to marriage equality have said that the votes in states that extended marriage rights

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BABN

From page 1

its doors in 1985 after nearly a decade of providing services to the community.

To fill the void – and to stop the growing misunderstanding about bisexuality and bisexuals – BABN was launched in 1987.

BABN quickly grew into an educational network that hosted a speaker’s bureau, retreats, festival booths and parade contingents, monthly cultural and education fo-

Heather Rose Brown

inate, or a woman who isn’t. Perhaps you are a young child who’s considered not to conform to the gender expectations of a caregiver, or a straight man who happened to be holding his wife’s purse at just the wrong time.

Yet when I talk about these murders, understand they are not something abstract, happening in the far-flung reaches of the world. These are cases like that of Brandy Martell, who was killed in Oakland in April.

Or 19-year-old Tiffany Gooden of Chicago, who was stabbed to death in August, or Deoni Jones, who was shot to death in Baltimore in February.

These are our friends who are being killed.

Now I suspect that many would call Biden’s comments to task. Not just those who may be transphobic, but I suspect many would point to the larger community, and the continued emphasis on same-sex marriage. One can also point to continuing issues over race, religion, and socioeconomic matters as also being civil rights battles of our time. One could even point to women’s rights in the wake of an election cycle that brought us the phrases “legitimate rape” and “binders full of women.” I’m not saying that these are not important, even vital, as we look at basic human rights. Yet when I consider that one of the third-party presidential candidates took issue with transgender people even having the right to public accommodation, the fact that transgender people still face health care restrictions, and the reality that we’re still held up for public mockery and scorn, and yes, we are still murdered at a rate greater than one every two weeks, I would contend that Biden has a very valid point.

In the last four years, we have seen this administration take great steps as passport rules and immigration

policies were eased for transgender people. We saw the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and other agencies speak out on behalf of transgender people.

Title VII protections have been defined as transgender-inclusive. The administration has even appointed three transgender people.

Over the next four years, in between battles over the economy, over possible Supreme Court nominations, and over everything else that will cross the president’s desk, I hope we will see transgender rights given more attention. I hope to see more work done to help transgender people, including seeing a transgender-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act signed by President Barack Obama in the next four years. I want to see – and will see – transgender people served under the Affordable Care Act. And yes, I want to see more done by the Department of Justice and other federal agencies to bring attention to and strengthen laws against anti-transgender violence. I would love to see our own government putting as much attention to these antitransgender violent crimes as we do.

I would love to see the Transgender Day of Remembrance – which was honored by the Department of Justice for the very first time last year – continue to be federally recognized. I would even go so far as to say that I’d like to see Obama proclaim November 20 as the national Transgender Day of Remembrance.

What is really important, though, is that transgender civil rights be secured. A lot of our friends are being killed, and the most important right is simply the right to live. Let’s make that happen.▼

on election night may prove that gays and lesbians are no longer an oppressed, politically powerless minority, and therefore no longer need protection from the Supreme Court.

Boies laughed when he heard that argument.

“I mean it really is delusional.

There is not a better way to describe it,” he said.

He added that the whole point of having the court system and having the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868, “is to make sure that

individual states can’t act to deprive their citizens equal protection of the laws, no matter how many people in that state want to do that.”

But Boies is hopeful. He thinks the country is at the start of “an era in which you are seeing a new trend toward greater and greater equality, greater and greater social integration, a recognition that we are long passed the time when we should have fulfilled the promise of the Constitution, of the Deceleration of Independence.”▼

rums, and a newsletter that became the first national bisexual magazine, Anything That Moves. BABN became the umbrella organization that spun off a political arm, BiPOL, the bisexual political group founded in 1983, and a social arm, Bi Friendly, the bisexual social group founded in 1988, Ka’ahumanu said.

In 1990, the first national bisexual conference welcomed more than 400 bisexual individuals representing 20 states and five countries during Pride Week in San Francisco.

The conference was organized by

members of BiPOL. Other members continued the momentum in the 1990s creating change for the bisexual community.

As board members of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee, at the time known as the Gay and Lesbian Freedom Day Parade, bisexual leaders Matthew L. Le Grant and Bill Beasley successfully had the organization’s name changed to include bisexual and transgender in 1994.

Le Grant was co-chair of BABN See page 9 >>

Gwen Smith encourages you to go to a local Transgender Day of Remembrance event, a listing of which can be found in the News Briefs. You can find Smith online at www.gwensmith.com.

<< Open Forum

4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 15-21, 2012

Volume 42, Number 46 November 15-21, 2012 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 Liz Highleyman • Brandon Judell John F. Karr • Matthew Kennedy David Lamble • Michael McDonagh David-Elijah Nahmod • Elliot Owen Paul Parish • Lois Pearlman • Tim Pfaff Jim Piechota • Bob Roehr • Donna Sachet Adam Sandel • Jason Serinus • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith • Ed Walsh • Sura Wood

ART DIRECTION Kurt Thomas PRODUCTION MANAGER T. Scott King 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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News Editor • news@ebar.com Arts Editor • arts@ebar.com Out & About listings • events@ebar.com Advertising • scott@ebar.com Letters • letters@ebar.com A division of Benro Enterprises, Inc. © 2012 Published weekly. Bay Area Reporter reserves the right to edit or reject any advertisement which the publisher believes is in poor taste or which advertises illegal items which might result in legal action against Bay Area Reporter. Ads will not be rejected solely on the basis of politics, philosophy, religion, race, age, or sexual orientation.

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A 21st century Congress L

ast week’s elections weren’t only a validation of President Barack Obama and progress on marriage equality. Indeed, after a week of counting votes and verifying returns, when the new Congress convenes in January it will have a record seven out members – a lesbian, a bi woman, and five gay men, including one of Asian descent. And although that’s a small number given that there are 535 members of Congress (435 in the House and 100 in the Senate), it’s a milestone that even a few years ago did not seem possible. That number will only increase with time; more LGBTs were elected to state legislative positions last week, providing depth to the community’s bench of future political leaders.

It’s not easy running for Congress, and even harder to win; it takes a lot of money and time.

But once a person is elected, it’s a pretty safe bet that they will remain in the Capitol. On average, nearly 90 percent of House members are reelected, meaning that the incoming class of LGB politicos has a good chance of retaining their seats in two years. In the Senate, the re-election rate isn’t quite as high, but Tammy Baldwin, who won the open Wisconsin Senate seat last week, is quite capable of fending off challengers, as she proved by beating Tommy Thompson, a popular former governor and Bush administration official.

Another positive sign is that the states represented run the gamut, from large to small. The newly elected representatives include Mark Takano, from Riverside, California (once a conservative stronghold); Kyrsten Sinema from Mesa, Arizona; Mark Pocan from Madison, Wisconsin (Baldwin’s old seat); and Sean Maloney from upstate New York. They join incumbents Jared Polis from Colorado and David Cicilline from Rhode Island.

The most extraordinary thing about new members is how ordinary they are. Some are raising children, all are Democratic (a gay GOPer lost his congressional race in Massachusetts). We suspect that they will fight for issues of fairness and policies that help working Americans, the middle class, and women’s rights.

All of these areas proved problematic to the Republicans in this election cycle, thanks to GOP men who decided to make rape an election issue.

In fact, it was reported in the Washington Blade this week that Polis will take the lead on the long-stalled Employment Non-Discrimination Act, serving as chief sponsor of the legislation in the wake of gay Representative Barney Frank’s (D-Massachusetts) retirement. Polis told the pa-

per that he will introduce the bill in the House next session, but that he still wants the president to sign an executive order requiring federal contractors to institute LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination policies. House Republicans, long an obstacle to holding a vote on ENDA, would be smart to see the legislation as a jobs bill that could help in the economic recovery. It’s clear from the election that the American public is on board with the president’s position that the economy is doing better, albeit it’s nowhere near the robust level it should be. Putting people to work, instead of firing them for who they are, should be a top priority of Congress.

We expect progress in the 113th Congress.

The last two years have been a virtual stalemate as Republicans focused on defeating the president. That didn’t happen, and now is the time to forge consensus and help get the country moving again.▼

A turning point for LGBTs

by Geoff Kors

H

istoric. Momentous. Groundbreaking.

Whatever terminology we use, the 2012 election will go down in history as a major turning point for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to publicly embrace marriage equality, and his decision is rightly acknowledged as a factor in his re-election. Tammy Baldwin became the first openly LGBT person elected to the Senate, breaking a glass ceiling and doing so from the heartland. And after more than 30 losses, our community was victorious in every state where marriage was on the ballot.

In Maine, Maryland and Washington, the voters affirmatively granted marriage equality to samesex couples – something that has never before been done anywhere else in the United States, or, for that matter, the world. Meanwhile, in Minnesota, voters defeated a proposed amendment barring same-sex couples from marriage.

In analyzing these victories, there is much to be proud of – and much to learn as the fight for equality moves forward. While we may wish these victories were the end of the road, they are actually just one more step in the journey to full equality. Now more than ever, we must keep the momentum going.

These victories were only possible because of perseverance, smart strategy and hard work, and significant resources.

Perseverance Our community, time and time again, has demonstrated that we are fighters and that giving up is never an option. It is that perseverance in the face of adversity that has brought us from being criminals for who we loved to living in a country where almost 40 percent of the population lives in a state with broad legal recognition for same-sex couples. From ending sodomy laws to fighting the AIDS pandemic to gaining legal recognition as parents to ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” our community has fought each and every battle with the conviction that we were in the right and the determination never to settle for anything less than the true equality we deserve. Evan Wolfson, the visionary leader of Freedom to Marry, long ago coined the

Rick Gerharter

Geoff Kors

term “losing forward,” knowing that each time we pushed forward – even when we lost – we were moving another step closer to victory. By continuing to come out, share our stories and demand equality – even when it seemed almost out of reach – we often put ourselves and even our lives at risk – but we never, ever gave up. Now, as equality is closer than ever before, we must continue the fight until every LGBT person can live with dignity, safety and equality.

Smart strategy and hard work No minority group should have to win equality by a vote of the majority. But these were the cards we were dealt and the results this year are a testament to the careful strategy and enormous amount of work that have gone into getting us to this moment. As many pundits have pointed out, as more young people who grew up knowing LGBT people reach voting age, the better we do at the polls. But make no mistake. While changing demographics are a factor, they do not come close to accounting for the 18 point movement in support for marriage equality in California between Proposition 22 in 2000 and Proposition 8 in 2008, or the 10-point movement in Maine between 2009 and this year.

The changes we have seen have been the product of an intensively deliberate effort. We learned

from each battle what worked, and what didn’t.

And we used that information to grow support for marriage equality. The losses in California in 2008 and Maine in 2009 brought us significantly closer than ever before to winning at the ballot but we still fell short. Freedom to Marry then greatly expanded its staff and funding and undertook a mammoth project to analyze every available piece of data on LGBT acceptance and marriage equality in order to create the best possible messages and utilize them in each of the four states. This work played an essential role in these victories as did the amazing state organizations on the ground, the national organizations that sent campaign staff to the states, and the thousands of volunteers who knocked on doors, made phone calls and ensured pro-equality voters voted. And our many allies played a central role. As with the presidential election, when the social justice community comes together, we win.

Resources Thanks to record-setting contributions by Freedom to Marry and the Human Rights Campaign, as well as generous individuals and phenomenal fundraising by the four campaigns, our side far outraised our opponents. This was critical to our victory. By having more money, and raising so much of it early in the campaigns, we were able to get out our message and counter our opponents fear-mongering and lies. For every ad they run, we often need to run two – one to get out our message and then another to counter their lies. As the fight continues we need to continue outraising our opponents.

These victories not only will result in thousands more loving same-sex couples being able to marry, but will propel our entire movement forward. Although courts should not consider public opinion when deciding civil rights cases, history shows that they do. The Supreme Court has always been reluctant to get too far ahead of public opinion. But thanks to the clean sweep on November 6, if the court restores marriage equality to California and overturns the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act next year, they will not be ahead of public opinion. They will simply be following it.▼ Geoff Kors is senior legislative and policy strategist at the National Center for Lesbian Rights and a member of the board of directors of Freedom to Marry.

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Letters >>

November 15-21, 2012 â&#x20AC;˘ BAY AREA REPORTER â&#x20AC;˘ 5

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all we have Our impetus to write a letter to the Bay Area Reporter is to rectify some incorrect information about our nonprofit, Queer LifeSpace, that was relayed to the B.A.R. in the article, â&#x20AC;&#x153;SFAF, therapists spar over spaceâ&#x20AC;? [November 1].

Everyone at Queer LifeSpace respects and appreciates the San Francisco AIDS Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s immensely positive impact on our community. This isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t about the many people who work to better our community through SFAFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s many amazing services, many of whom are our friends and colleagues. This is about respecting our clients and the many people who donate time and energy to making Queer LifeSpace happen, this is about fighting for our very existence.

SFAFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s insistence that Queer LifeSpace and our small private practice, SF Therapy Collective, is a â&#x20AC;&#x153;hybridâ&#x20AC;? organization, so less desirable to funders, is extremely damaging. The entities are two very distinct organizations. Queer LifeSpace is a 501(c)3 and SF Therapy Collective an MFT Corp.

We are therapists at SF Therapy Collective. We are volunteer staff and four of nine board members at Queer LifeSpace. The only salient connection is that SF Therapy Collective provided start-up funds, volunteer time, and overflow session space to Queer LifeSpace when it needed it. In this economic environment where public and private sector monies are virtually impossible to procure for new organizations like ours, starting a private practice and using its profits to start a nonprofit to serve those in need and create a training program was a smart idea, not a shady idea. We see a strong need for services in the Castro that serve our entire wonderfully diverse community in addition to a menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s-focused center which is being started by SFAF. Most importantly, this misrepresentation of who Queer LifeSpace is hurts clients that are seeking low-fee service referrals, and confuses other nonprofits and clinicians we work with. To portray us as a hybrid as they have severely compromises our ability to raise funds and rightfully hold ourselves out to the therapeutic community as a queer nonprofit low-fee agency to send their low-fee referrals to. When asked for help with relocation expenses, SFAF said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;That would put us in a precarious position to cut a check to a for-profit/nonprofit hybrid.â&#x20AC;?

This is exactly why being portrayed as a hybrid is so detrimental to our raising funds and continuing to offer services.

We hope to get past this and work with SFAF in the future to continue to expand and serve our community together. We hope to partner with more like-minded nonprofits and find funders, donors, and more board members that are interested in the types of services we provide and who we provide them to. We also hope this story being told encourages large nonprofits and grassroots nonprofits to work together without contention or intimidation.

Queer LifeSpace is one of those many small organizations with little funding and power. That, however, does not take away the concern we have for our clients. It does not take away our concern and admiration for our 45plus colleagues and volunteers that have graciously donated their time to help Queer LifeSpace grow and operate. Lastly, which is why you are reading this now, we have a vested interest in our reputation. These things we most certainly have. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all we have.

Nancy Heilner, LCSW, Executive Director Stacey Rodgers, Director of Communications Joe Voors, Director of Finance Christopher Holleran, Director of Operations Queer LifeSpace San Francisco

Sad at closure of gay bar

memories at the bar but what the owner Paul Xavier failed to mention or recognize was the barâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s longtime manager, the late Ron Rios.

Rios was the Deco and the Deco was Rios; he made the Deco the place to go. After his passing the Deco fell into the hands of a team that failed to keep the bar anywhere near the standards Rios did.

It turned into a bunch of queens fighting for control of the bar, the Deco website events were not updated for months at a time.

Rios gave his heart and soul to the Deco lounge and was honored by the city of San Francisco and Gavin Newsom.

I find it heartbreaking and appalling, as I am sure everyone that knew Rios and the Deco when he was alive, that neither the staff nor Xavier honored Rios with a simple acknowledgment in the final farewell to the Deco Lounge.

But in the end that explains why they closed, it was not the â&#x20AC;&#x153;running of a small businessâ&#x20AC;? that closed the Deco it was Riosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s passing, and the lack of business and failed management after he died.

Mark Manz Honolulu, Hawaii

Consider donating to GSAs As the annual giving season arrives, I encourage readers of this publication to donate directly to high school gay-straight alliances or similar clubs. Most GSAs and student LGBT groups do not have the capacity to actively seek donations. These student groups are critical for the betterment of the members of their group, staff development campus-wide, and the student body at large. You may not have considered donating to a student GSA or student LGBT group before. You should.

I recently began reaching out and making contributions to such groups where I grew up and live today, Stanislaus County and the surrounding area. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m glad I did; response from students has been heartwarming.

Many of the school clubs have been in more rural areas, where outside support is uncommon, and even more needed and appreciated.

Send a check to a GSA or on-campus LGBT group at the high school you attended. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re financially able, go further and make donations to multiple schools where you grew up or live now. To ensure the monies you send reach the correct campus group, include the name of the staff adviser on the mailing envelope. As schools are out later in December for a holiday break, send a donation now so you can deduct it from your 2012 taxes.

Many charities are seeking contributions this time of year. GSAs and other student LGBT groups are amongst the worthiest. If we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t assist these kids, nobody else will.

Keith Highiet Modesto, California

IOA should look at other venues The Institute on Agingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s choice of St. Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Catholic Conference Center for the LGBT and aging educational event is insensitive and was made without any thought about the LGBT communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s feelings [â&#x20AC;&#x153;LGBT aging confab at St. Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, News Briefs, November 1]. How much more provocative could it be to have a conference underneath the very church where the archbishop resides, who is the sworn enemy of LGBT people, the same person who was one of the architects of Proposition 8 to take away our civil rights. I for one make sure that not one dollar of my money makes its way to the Catholic Church. Though the conference center is nondenominational, it is still a part of the church and benefits financially. This old person did not attend the conference.

I was sad to hear the Deco Lounge is closing [â&#x20AC;&#x153;TL gay bar Deco Lounge closes,â&#x20AC;? November 8]. I had many great

Jerry Royer San Francisco

Transgender Day of Remembrance events set compiled by Cynthia Laird

E

vents have been announced in the East Bay, San Francisco, and the South Bay to commemorate the 14th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, which is November 20.

In Oakland, the Tri-City Health Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s TransVision program will remember one of its own, Brandy Martell, who was killed in late April as she sat in her car with friends on a downtown Oakland street. Martell was a former peer advocate for the program.

This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day of Remembrance will be held Friday, November 16

from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Oakland Peace Center, 111 Fairmont Avenue (off 29th Street).

In addition, Tiffany Woods, TransVision program coordinator, said that Sylvia Guerrero, the mother of Gwen Araujo, will be a keynote speaker. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Arajuoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s murder at a Newark house party.

Honorary co-hosts for the program include Representatives George Miller (DRichmond) and Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), and state Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro).

In addition to mourning those lost to anti-transgender violence, the

Oakland program also recognizes HIV/AIDS as an epidemic that disproportionately affects transgender women of color living in Alameda County. Tri-City Health Center is the sole Alameda County Office of AIDS contractor providing HIV prevention education services to transgender women in the county.

As part of the weekendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s events, TransVision will host a screening of the award-winning film Trans at the historic Bal Theatre, 14808 East 14th Street, on Sunday, November 18 from 3 to 6 p.m. There will be a question and answer session with local cast members and director Chris Arnold.

In San Jose, the Transgender Day of Remembrance event will be held See page 9 >>

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<< Politics

6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 15-21, 2012

▼

Cisneros plans to run again for SF treasurer

by Matthew S. Bajko

S

www.ebar.com

an Francisco Treasurer Jose Cisneros is looking at running back-to-back re-election campaigns in 2013 and 2015 due to a voter-approved switch to the city’s election calendar.

The reason – voters adopted Proposition D by an overwhelming majority last Tuesday. The measure passed with 84 percent of the vote and changes the timing of elections for both city attorney and treasurer.

Next year, elections will be held in November for two-year terms for both positions rather than the normal four-year terms. In 2015 the positions will revert back to being four-year terms when they are once again up for grabs on the fall ballot.

Beginning in 2015 the city attorney and treasurer races will be consolidated on the same ballot as that of races for mayor, district attorney, and sheriff. The reason for the switch was to save the city money in election costs.

Cisneros, the highest-ranking gay officeholder of an elected city position, has held the post since 2004.

Then-Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed Cisneros to fill the vacancy created by his decision to move lesbian Treasurer Susan Leal over to the city’s Public Utilities Commission as its general manager.

In 2005 Cisneros won election to a full term, and in 2009, he ran unopposed for re-election to the seat. He has been with his partner, Human Rights Commissioner Mark Kelleher, for 21 years.

On election night the Bay Area Reporter caught up with Cisneros at the Castro street party and asked about his political plans. He said he expects to announce his campaign for a third term as treasurer sometime in early January.

“I will run for re-election next year and run for the two-year term,” said Cisneros, who has $9,333 remaining in his 2009 campaign account according to the latest disclosure form filed with the city’s Ethics Commission.

While he was less certain about his plans in 2015, Cisneros indicated that he would run again that year.

“That is three years away, but I love my job,” he said.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera,

Rick Gerharter

Treasurer Jose Cisneros

who also ran unopposed three years ago, is expected to once again seek re-election next year. Though in 2015 he will be faced with a choice of either seeking another term as the city’s legal defender or making a second stab at becoming mayor.

Last year he lost his bid for Room 200 at City Hall. He landed in third place with 11 percent of the vote behind District 11 Supervisor John Avalos and the winner, Mayor Ed Lee. A spokesman for Herrera said this week that he does plan to seek reelection next year and will make a formal announcement soon. According to his latest campaign finance disclosure form, Herrera has $2,330 remaining in his city attorney campaign account from 2009.

LGBT historic landmarks up for votes Two LGBT historic landmark proposals will be up for votes at City Hall in the coming weeks.

The Board of Supervisor’s Land Use and Economic Development Committee is set to vote Monday, December 10 on adding the Twin Peaks Tavern to the city’s list of historical landmarks. Located at 401 Castro Street, it was the first gay bar in the city to have clear glass windows at a time when people could be fired based on their sexual orientation.

The San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission voted last month to support the bar’s nomi-

nation, and gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener has sponsored the ordinance before the board to landmark the bar. It is expected the request will be adopted and signed into law by the mayor.

It would become the third LGBT site to win local recognition for being historically important. The others are the camera shop and residence of the late gay Supervisor Harvey Milk (573-575 Castro Street) and the original home of the Jose Theater and the Names Project, which oversees the AIDS Memorial Quilt (2362 Market Street).

The Planning Commission is expected to vote at its meeting Thursday, December 7 on a proposal to create an LGBT Cultural Heritage District in a part of South of Market. The area has been home to a number of gay leather bars since the 1970s and plays host each year to two fetish street fairs.

The heritage district is part of the Western SOMA Community Plan, a major rezoning effort for the area that has been under way for years and is nearing its final steps. The commissioners heard an informal presentation on it last week and will take up the most controversial part of the plan at their meeting today (Thursday, November 15).

Neighborhood activists and the entertainment industry have been at loggerheads over what to do about the entertainment corridor along 11th Street. District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim has asked that the plan’s regulations toward new clubs and housing in the area be re-examined.

A number of proposals are being floated and will be discussed by the commission when it meets at noon in Room 400 at City Hall. For more information visit www.sfplanning. org/index.aspx?page=3324.▼ Got a tip on LGBT politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 861-5019 or e-mail m.bajko@ebar.com.

On the web Online content this week includes the Bay Area Reporter’s online columns, Political Notes and Wedding Bell Blues; an analysis of the marriage equality wins; and articles on the Nia Collective’s 25th anniversary and a gay man’s foreclosure battle. www.ebar.com.

Rick Gerharter

Charities benefit from Folsom F

olsom Street Events distributed $324,030 to organizations throughout the Bay Area during a reception at the Armory Tuesday, November 13. Shown are staff and volunteers from Folsom Street Events and representatives from the benefiting

organizations. The revenue was generated from this year’s Folsom Street Fair, Up Your Alley Fair, and the Magnitude and Bay of Pigs dance parties. The amount that was distributed is slightly lower than last year’s $330,745.

▼

Sports >>

November 15-21, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7

Sports groups spring up to foster inclusion

by Roger Brigham

W

e can argue how old the LGBT sports rights movement is, whether we choose to go back to the 1970s when former NFL player David Kopay became the first major professional male American athlete to come out and transgender tennis player Renee Richards fought for the right to play in the U.S. Open; or we grab a convenient 30-year benchmark in 1982, when the first Gay Olympic Games was forced to drop the use of the O-word when the bigwigs of the elite athletic world cringed at the very idea. There can be no argument, however, that the movement exploded in 2011-12, when a plethora of initiatives launched and being out became a very in thing to do.

Little argument, either, that the movement has benefited from a troubled global economy, rapidly evolving social media technology – and armies of lesbians determined to make this a better world a better place to play in.

It’s a fusion of need, opportunity, and an unwillingness to remain sidelined by sexism and homophobia.

When Kopay and Richards were waging their battles in the 1970s, there was not a single major organization to deal specifically with LGBT sports issues. Sports did not rate as a pressing social issue, and LGBT news media traditionally have given much less attention to sports than their mainstream counterparts.

So it is no surprise that in 1996, when people were just starting to get home computers and social media

was still years in the future, it took a battery of diverse sports organizations (the Women’s Sports Foundation and the National Collegiate Athletic Association) and non-sports organizations (the Ms. Foundation; Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network; National Center for Lesbian Rights; Uncommon Legacy; Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice) working together to launch the Project to Eliminate Homophobia in Sports, with tennis icon Martina Navratilova its leading fundraiser. Now known as It Takes a Team, the project released its first educational packets for coaches, athletes, and parents in 2002.

In 2001, another behind-the-scenes effort started when NCLR launched its Sports Project; that same year, the first forum dedicated to queer spectators and athletes alike, Outsports.com, was launched. Still the go-to place for athletes to tell their coming out stories, Outsports marked a turning point in the movement, because it was the first time LGBT sports fans and athletes had a global chance to connect with each other beyond their own sports and outside of the quadrennial Gay Games.

It was also arguably the first major post-Gay Games LGBT sports enterprise that was created mostly by gay men rather than lesbians.

Los Angeles photographer Jeff Sheng began work in 2003 on his Fearless Campaign (http://www.fearlessproject.org), in which he photographed out LGBT athletes on their school campuses, and in 2008 queer athletes began directly networking

Jane Philomen Cleland

David Kopay attended last week’s news conference of the Last Closet campaign.

online through Our Group.

So what caused the explosion we have seen in the last 20 months after relative quiet? In that time we have seen the creation of: Changing the Game, GLSEN’s Sports Project (http://www.sports.glsen.org); You Can Play Project (http://www. youcanplayproject.org), founded by Brian Burke and Patrick Burke of the National Hockey League and Glenn Witman and Brian Kitts of GForce Sports; the Last Closet campaign (http://www.thelastcloset.org), to get major pro sports commissioners to publicly encourage out pro athletes; Equality Coaching Alliance (http:// www.equalitycoachingalliance.org), an online network for LGBT coaches; Br{ache the Silence, a repository founded by former basketball players Nevin Caple and Colleen McCaffrey for young athletes to share their sports experiences; Campus Pride’s Out to Play project (http://www. campuspride.org/outtoplay), which ranks the queer climate of college

sports programs; the Stand Up Foundation (http://www.standupfoundation.com), founded by straight rugby player Ben Cohen following a yearlong visibility tour; and Athlete Ally (http://www.athleteally.com), founded by straight wrestler Hudson Taylor – as well as the rebranding and reorganization of Our Group as a 501(c)3 nonprofit (http://www.goathletes. org); the staging of the first-ever LGBT Sports Summit at Nike corporate headquarters; and the launch of Kye Allums’s Transition Tour to talk on high school and college campuses about being a transgender athlete.

Why the sudden surge of action?

First, there is the legacy of the greater and older gay rights movement, which created the larger groups such as NCLR and GLSEN and worked behind the scenes to do a lot of the heavy lifting of fighting lawsuits and creating training experiences; and groups such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, which created its first sports position in 2007 and now is able to create events such as Spirit Day, in which major pro sports speak out against homophobia. They provided the institutional stability and gravitas to help push the engine of change.

Jennifer Pizer, who recently rejoined Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund as the director of its new law and public policy project, said bursts of activity that have been seen the past two years in LGBT sports are normal after many people have been working behind the scenes for many years.

“The simplest answer is that breakthroughs happen when people have worked a long time,” Pizer said. “We say this is the ‘last bastion’ – until we see what the next one is. But it is defi-

nitely a difficult one.”

A second factor has been the grassroots empowerment made possible through social media. Initiatives such as Go Athlete and Equality Coaching Alliance are primarily online networks of formed communities, reliant on volunteerism and donations for the rudimentary tools of communication such as websites and email lists. These are organizations made possible by technology that did not exist 30 years ago.

Then there is the tightening economy, which has forced larger nonprofits to search for new sources of revenue. As they have racked up success on the battlefields of same-sex marriage, ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and striking down sodomy laws, the American obsession with sports has loomed as a tempting tower of homophobic intolerance just begging to be toppled.

Those earlier successes made it possible for straight allies such as Cohen and Taylor to speak up, and that created an entirely new source of leadership and possible funding from mainstream pockets that had not been accessible before.

At first blush, it may seem ironic that the LGBT sports rights movement is growing even as many LGBTcentric sports clubs find their membership becoming ever less gay and ever more integrated.

Then again, that’s the predictable result of the success of the clubs to reduce the barriers that were holding them back: the clubs now survive by realizing they have never been about being gay, but about being safe, supportive, and tolerant.▼ Next week: Lesbians lead the battle.

Student wins Artist of the Year award

by Elliot Owen

A

queer Oakland woman has won the grand prize in an artistic competition and is looking forward to a residency program in New York next year.

Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, a selfidentified racially mixed, artistically inclined, lover-of-all-things-nerdy, queer femme woman of color, is being celebrated for all the identities she embodies and expresses through her dynamic and spirited artwork.

ArtLA.com, a Santa Monicabased professional platform that connects artists with private collectors, interior designers, galleries, and museums in over 100 countries, called for entries into its Student Artist of the Year 2012 competition back in January. When DeJesus Moleski saw a poster advertising the contest hanging in the hallway at Oakland’s California College of the Arts campus, the third year art student took notice.

“I’m always looking for scholarships and grants to support my education,” DeJesus Moleski, 27, said.

“The competition was really easy to enter and had high stakes.”

Over 500 students enrolled in a licensed educational institution entered the international contest, which lasted from January 17 through September 17. Each contestant uploaded one piece to the contest website, where fans could cast votes for their favorite artist. Once the eight-month voting period ended, the five entries that garnered the most votes were judged by a panel of art experts.

One piece was selected, and that was DeJesus Moleski’s. She won $10,000, an Apple MacBook Pro, Adobe Creative Suite, an Epson printer, a $500 gift certificate to

Elliot Owen

Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski .

Blick Art Materials, and a solo exhibition at the ArtLA Gallery in Santa Monica.

DeJesus Moleski initially had a piece in mind for the contest: a 31x41 inch portrait of her sweetheart, Zahyr, made with acrylic paint, airbrush paint and paint marker on wood.

“It’s called Dream Boi,” she said.

“The reason I wanted to enter that piece was to represent for queer people. It’s about acknowledging the sacredness and godliness of us.

I say godliness because that’s something so often used against us in this world – the idea that there’s a lack of purity in who we are and what we do.”

But after asking her teachers for opinions and reflecting, DeJesus Moleski decided to enter another piece. Her skill level had improved since creating Dream Boi and she wanted her entry to reflect that.

She selected an equally compelling piece called Quasi-Mojo, a 19x24 inch self-portrait made with watercolor, ink, coffee and tea on bristol board and grounded in the same principles as Dream Boi – queer

sacredness, godliness, power and resilience.

In entering Quasi-Mojo, DeJesus Moleski was lifting the queer community up. In return, the same community rallied behind her.

Friends, family, and acquaintances cast their votes and spread the word via Facebook, Twitter, and email to their respective communities, which manifested into a tangible example of how powerful support networks can be.

“My life has completely shifted because people took the time – people that I didn’t even know,” DeJesus Moleski said. “When you see the same experience in someone else, you can show them you have their back. There’s a way the queer community does that for each other. It’s an understanding, a way of participating in each other’s dreams.”

After advancing to the panel of art experts, she was selected as ArtLA.com Student Artist of the Year 2012 and notified on September 18. DeJesus Moleski believes in reciprocity. As she credits her community with her win, the principles that shape her artistic vision have been reaffirmed.

“We are inundated with visual images,” she said, “waifs of resemblances of ourselves that are depicted as vulnerable, distressed, belittled or whatever. I want to be a part of the movement that’s creating images of us as extravagant, powerful and with honor, respect and dignity.”

DeJesus Moleski does exactly that.

Not only does she create artwork that represents queer people but also working class communities and communities of color. Always telling more than one story, her portrayals of people often reflect her own experiences as being racially mixed (Puerto Rican, white) and raised by

a working class mother who by the time she was 14, had moved her 16 times throughout the East Coast, South and Midwest due to financial and familial circumstances.

“I’m working on what it means to create visual representations of hybridity,” she said. “Two or more things that have become something else. Whether that be cultural hybridity or a kind of ambiguity that hybridity is read as – racial ambiguity, ambiguously gendered people or ambiguously classed people. I want to be able to represent what it looks like to be both/and rather than either/or – to exist in multiple worlds.”

Aside from illustrating the intersections of her identities, DeJesus Moleski’s winning entry also represents her ability to work in col-

laboration with her environment.

Quasi-Mojo combines four mediums including coffee and tea, both “mundane things” that underwent a degree of “transmutation” – a testament to her creativity ingenuity.

From acrylics to watercolor, Sharpies to spray paint, glitter to wood, if it’s around DeJesus Moleski will use it.

In January, she’ll be headed to New York for a six-month studio residency program. After returning to Oakland, she’ll finish her last year at CCA. While it’s unclear what will happen after that, DeJesus Moleski is sure about impact she wants her work to have on the world.▼ To view the DeJesus Moleski’s artwork, visit http://www.amaryllisdejesusmoleski.com.

8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 15-21, 2012

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

▼ <<

Community News>>

BABN

From page 3

from 1987 to 1997. Beasley was a BABN organizer.

Anything That Moves was founded

by Karla Rossi in 1991. Rossi, 56, was the managing editor of the editorial collective until 1993. The magazine, which folded in 2002, addressed a

<<

News Briefs

From page 5

Sunday, November 18 from 5 to 10 p.m. at the Billy DeFrank Center, 938 The Alameda.

San Francisco has two events planned. There will be a march and program on Tuesday, November 20 that is being organized by the Transgender Law Center, Trans March, UCSF Center for Excellence, Community United Against Violence, Transgender San Francisco, and other groups.

Tracy Garza, who’s handling communications for the event, said the march will begin at 5 p.m. at San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B.

<<

Pelosi

From page 1

Those rumors began last December after her daughter told a political blogger that her mother “would retire right now if the donors she has didn’t want her to stay so badly.” Alexandra Pelosi later told other reporters that she had never discussed the issue specifically with her mother and a Pelosi spokesman said the claim that Pelosi was ready to retire was “untrue.”

But the rumor apparently fed a news-hungry post-election media, as did Pelosi herself, when she told reporters Tuesday that she would reveal her decision about seeking the minority leader position again after meeting with the Democratic Caucus Wednesday morning. The fact that the Democrats failed to retake the House in last week’s elections, for the second consecutive cycle, also fueled speculation that she would step down from leadership and possibly retire in two years. The Democrats gained only seven seats; they needed 25 to take control of the House.

“I thought maybe I would talk to

<<

LGBT candidates

From page 1

elected to Congress, winning a seat representing conservative Riverside, California.

The LGBT community also celebrated the elevation of four of its own to positions as state legislative speaker of the House – two new to the position and two re-installed.

Oregon state Representative Tina Kotek, 46, who has been serving as the House Democratic leader, is now in a position to become the state’s first openly gay speaker and, thus, the first lesbian to head a state legislative chamber anywhere in the country.

Kotek, a three-term representative of North Portland, helped pass legislation in 2007 to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination. Her areas of focus have been education, health, and fighting hunger.

State Representative Mark Ferrandino, 35, a Democrat representing Denver, was the unanimous choice of the Democratic majority in Colorado’s 65-member House of Representatives. Ferrandino will receive the gavel in January from outgoing Republican Speaker Frank McNulty, who killed a civil union bill poised for passage by sending it back to committee last May. Openly gay Colorado state Senator Pat Steadman was a potential candidate for president of that body but was beat out by a strong LGBT civil rights supporter, John Morse, from conservative Colorado Springs.

And two incumbent speakers will

November 15-21, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9

variety of bi-related issues from spirituality to health care to community news, and included bisexual themed fiction and poetry.

As the Internet burst onto the scene, BABN created its web presence in 2000 with two active listserves – one for events and the other social – that has grown to more than 800 members today. The listserves are vibrantly active today, the website is gaining a new

life, and BABN has a Facebook group with 114 members.

BABN members also participate in local festivals, such as the Folsom Street Fair, and the San Francisco LGBT Pride Parade.

A core group of about five bisexual leaders, including Rawlings-Fein, a 35-year-old bisexual trans man, are re-energizing the BABN and giving the organization a fresh new look for

a new generation.

Older bi leaders, such as Ka’ahumanu, are lending their expertise in advisory roles as the new generation takes the lead.

“This is something worth maintaining,” said Rawlings-Fein, who has co-led the bi brunches for the past seven years with his wife, Shelli Rawlings-Fein. He joined the BABN leadership six months ago. “It’s important

that we have a space to be ourselves and not have it dictated to us.”▼

Goodlett Place, and go to the City of Refuge Church, 1025 Howard Street, where the program will begin at 6.

Guerrero is also expected to be the keynote speaker at that event, along with Woods, who will be speaking about Martell. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/ events/374274065988154/.

The second event is a march to the Castro on Monday, November 19, where the trans flag is supposed to be raised. According to the Million Trans March for Inclusion and Tolerance’s Facebook page, the march begins at 5 p.m. and ends in the Castro.

A Day of Remembrance observance will also be held in Berke-

ley on November 20 at Starr King School for the Ministry, 2441 LeConte Avenue, near the Pacific School of Religion. The first service will be held at 1 p.m.; there will be an evening service at 7.

Finally, there will be a Transgender Day of Remembrance Shabbat at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, 290 Dolores Street in San Francisco, on Friday, November 23 at 7:30 p.m.

The service will be led by Martin Rawlings-Fein. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/ events/522290277798588/.

Ross

Mirkarimi will speak at the Commonwealth Club on Tuesday, November 20 at the club’s offices, 595 Market Street, second floor. Checkin is at 5:15 p.m., followed by the program at 6.

Mirkarimi won his job back last month after the Board of Supervisors failed to remove him from office on official misconduct charges.

Those charges stemmed from his pleading guilty to misdemeanor false imprisonment in a domestic violence case involving his wife, Eliana Lopez.

Mirkarimi will be in conversation with Scott Shafer, the openly gay host of KQED’s California Report.

A news release from the club notes that Mayor Ed Lee still refuses to speak with Mirkarimi, who will discuss the recent controversy and his view of his circumstances.

He will also talk about his plans moving forward, including new strategies to improve the sheriff ’s department. The news that two San Francisco lesbians, Andrea Shorter and Joyce Newstat, are looking into launching a recall against him is also likely to come up.

Tickets for the program are $12 for club members, $20 for non-members, and $7 for students. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.commonwealthclub.org.▼

my own caucus before I share that information with you,” Pelosi, 72, told reporters in a press conference Tuesday. Since most political observers considered Pelosi a shoo-in for the leadership job if she wanted it, her decision to “talk to my own caucus” hinted she might have some news.

Pelosi is a strong supporter of LGBT civil rights and HIV/AIDS issues. The Human Rights Campaign’s legislative scorecard gave Pelosi a perfect score of 100 for the 112th Congress, which ends next month.

“Leader Pelosi has been a tremendous advocate for our community – from her work in passing the hate crimes law to repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ to funding for HIV/ AIDS,” said Michael Cole-Schwartz, a spokesman for HRC. “Her continued leadership will mean that the cares and concerns of all LGBT people will remain a priority for her caucus and we look forward to working with her for years to come.”

Should Pelosi opt not to run for re-election in 2014, it is widely ex-

pected that gay state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) would jump into the race to replace her.

Leno just won re-election to his Senate seat and will be termed out of the state Legislature in 2016.

Asked by the Bay Area Reporter on election night about the possibility of his running for Congress if Pelosi does retire in two years, Leno simply smiled and said that he “appreciated the question” and that it is “too early for having that conversation.”

He praised Pelosi’s leadership in the House and said that he and many others hope she “will be there quite a while.”

Leno was more forthcoming about his political aspirations at a San Francisco fundraiser in September for Mark Takano, a gay man who won a congressional seat in Riverside County to become the first out member of California’s House delegation. He joked to the small crowd who had gathered at a Noe Valley home to support Takano that, “In a perfect world this would be a fundraiser for me.”

As it is rare for there to be an open House seat in the Bay Area, Pelosi’s eventual departure is sure to draw a number of local politicians into the race to succeed her. Another possibility is seeing former Pelosi aide Michael Yaki, who served on the Board of Supervisors, run for his old boss’s seat.

Asked about his intentions by the B.A.R. this week, Yaki dodged the question.

Gay state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) would be another potential candidate, as he is termed out of office in 2014. Or Ammiano could opt to sit the race out, and should Leno win, then he would be able to run for his Senate seat in the special election to fill the vacancy.

A Pelosi retirement could have a domino effect on several races for down ticket offices on the local ballot.

Talk is already centering on seeing gay District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener also run for Leno’s Senate seat.

An Ammiano versus Wiener race would serve as a rematch of sorts

of the 2008 Senate race when the moderate Leno knocked out the more progressive lesbian state Senator Carole Migden. The moderate Wiener is a protege of Leno’s, while Ammiano is the highest-ranking progressive politician in the city.

Meanwhile gay District 9 Supervisor David Campos is widely expected to seek Ammiano’s Assembly seat. With District 11 Supervisor John Avalos and District 3 Supervisor David Chiu termed out of office in 2016, as is Campos, they also could opt to seek either the Senate or Assembly seats.

A win by any of the supervisors would open up having a mayoral appointee fill their vacancies and likely lead to spirited contests for the seat in the next election.

Pelosi has served as a representative of the 8th Congressional District in San Francisco for 25 years and became the first woman to be elected minority leader in 2003.

When Democrats took control of the House in 2007, she became the first woman speaker of the House, serving there for four years.▼

hold onto their positions: Rhode Island Speaker Gordon Fox and California Speaker John A. Perez.

Fox, re-nominated House speaker November 9, was at the center of controversy recently for setting aside a marriage equality bill and pushing instead for a civil unions bill. The bill passed and represented a step forward for the state, but many LGBT activists were sorely disappointed at Fox’s tactical decision – to push for what he knew would pass, rather than insist on full equality. Fox, 50, represents Providence and is an attorney. He was first elected to the House in 1992, was elected majority leader in 2002, and was first elected speaker in 2010.

California Assembly Democrats unanimously chose Perez to serve as speaker again. Perez, a 43-year-old union organizer from Los Angeles, was first elected speaker in 2010, becoming the state’s first openly gay speaker.

In Washington state, openly gay state Senator Ed Murray was chosen Tuesday to lead that chamber, becoming the second out gay person to lead a state Senate.

The first openly gay speaker of any state legislative chamber in the country was Allan Spear. Spear, a staunch leader for LGBT civil rights, led the Minnesota Senate from 1992 until 2000. He was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the nation, having come out two years after his first election to the state Senate in 1972. He died in 2008, from complications of heart surgery.

In other historic election news November 6, Democrat Stacie Laughton became the first openly transgender person to be elected to a state legislature, winning a seat representing her hometown of Nashua in the New Hampshire Statehouse. Laughton, who owns and operates a small business selling environmentally friendly products, had already been elected to public office once, serving on the Nashua Board of Selectmen. Her issues of focus have been helping the homeless and supporting a proposed commuter rail.

The Victory Fund, which helps direct funding to openly LGBT candidates, did not include Laughton on its list of endorsed candidates but issued a statement celebrating her historic victory. Laughton lives with her campaign manager and former wife Lisa Laughton.

Almost as remarkable as the first transgender election was the election of openly gay candidates in North Dakota and West Virginia. Democrat Joshua Boschee won a seat to the North Dakota Statehouse, being the top vote-getter (3,411 votes) out of four candidates for two seats representing North Fargo. Boschee, a native of North Dakota, has been involved in city, community, and LGBT institutions. And Democrat Stephen Skinner, an attorney and founder of Fairness West Virginia, a statewide LGBT civil rights group, beat his Republican opponent by 699 votes – less than 1 percent of the 7,475 cast in the House of Delegates race – to become

the state’s first openly gay legislator.

And the list goes on. Other standout LGBT candidates on November 6: Following her primary campaign for the Texas Legislature this summer, Democrat Mary Gonzalez identified herself as a pansexual and ran unopposed in the general election, securing a seat representing El Paso. On her campaign website, she noted that she is board co-chair of Allgo, a “statewide queer people of color organization” and has been involved with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Democrat Jacob Candelaria, 25, won a New Mexico state Senate seat representing Albuquerque in his first run for public office. After winning 69 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, he was unopposed for the seat from the heavily Democratic district November 6 and became the first openly gay man to be elected to the New Mexico Legislature.

Angie Buhl, 27, won re-election to her state Senate seat in South Dakota, representing Sioux Falls.

Before her first election in 2010, she worked as a consultant to Equality South Dakota. She beat her competitor by winning 2,973 votes, or 55 percent of the Senate voting district. The Argus Leader newspaper characterized Buhl’s race as one of the “most hotly contested legislative match ups this year.” Her opponent was another Democrat who had held the seat until 2010 and ran as an independent to oppose Buhl in the general election. The newspaper endorsed Buhl.

Democrat Kay Floyd took 69 percent of the vote to win her Oklahoma City district Statehouse seat held by openly gay politician Al McAffrey, who is now in the state Senate.

Marcus Brandon, who in 2010 won his first-time run for state representative in North Carolina, becoming the state’s first openly gay member of the House, won re-election unopposed November 6.

Lesbian Kate Brown won re-election as Oregon’s secretary of state, despite a well-funded Republican challenge.

Kyrsten Sinema was declared the winner of a congressional House seat representing the Mesa, Arizona area Monday, becoming the first openly bisexual person elected to Congress. “We are thrilled that Kyrsten Sinema will be bringing her passion for the needs of the people of her district, as well as those of LGBT people nationwide, to Washington,” said Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin.

Sinema has served as a member of HRC’s Arizona steering committee.

At deadline, biotech manager Steve Hansen was awaiting results of a tally of 4,000 remaining votes in his race for the Sacramento City Council. As of November 13, he was 1 of only 46 votes ahead of opponent Joe Yee. Throughout 2012, the Victory Fund tracked a total of 177 LGBT candidates in all in 2012, though 25 of those lost their primary races earlier in the year.▼

Future musical chairs?

Mirkarimi to appear at Commonwealth Club San

Francisco

Sheriff

The BABN 25th anniversary kickoff, from 7 to 9 p.m. on November 16, is free to the public. Donations to the GLBT Historical Society are welcome. For more information about BABN, visit www.babn.org or contact Martin Rawlings-Fein at martin@feinmentsch.com.

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10 • Bay Area Reporter • November 15-21, 2012

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NOV 15, 22, 29, DEC 6, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034714100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TAGCK - MISSION, 2400 Harrison St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Project Cheese 2 LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/09/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/13/12.

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ARROZ DOCE, 301 Main St. #22B, SF, CA 94105.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Arroz Doce 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 11/07/12.

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The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE CITY KITCHEN; THE CITY KITCHENETTE. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed The City Kitchen LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/08/12.

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NOV 15, 22, 29, DEC 6, 2012 SUMMONS SUPERIOR COURT OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, 222 E. WEBER AVE., STOCKTON, CA 95202 Case Number: 39-2012-00286630-CU-PA-STK Notice to Defendant: ARMANDO CATANYAG; DOES 1 to 10 You are being sued by plaintiff: BRANDON SERPA The name, address, and telephone number of the plaintiff’s attorney, or plaintiff without an attorney, is: MARK V. CONNOLLY, CONNOLLY LAW BUILDING, 121 E. 11th ST., TRACY, CA 95376 NOTICE: You have been sued. The court may decide against you without being heard unless you respond within 30 days. Read the information below. You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff.

A letter or phone call will not protect you. Your written response must be in proper legal form if you want the court to hear your case. There may be court forms that you can use for your response. You can find these court forms and more information at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp), your county law library, or the courthouse nearest you. If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the court clerk for a waiver form. If you do not file your response on time, you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court. There are other legal requirements.

You may want to call an attorney right away. If you do not know an attorney, you may want to call an attorney referral service. If you cannot afford an attorney, you may be eligible for free legal services from a nonprofit legal services program. You can locate these nonprofit groups at the California Legal Services Web site (www. lawhelpcalifornia.org), the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.ca.gov/ selfhelp), or by contacting your local court or county bar association. NOTE: The court has a statutory lien for waived fees and costs on any settlement or arbitration award of $10,000.or more in a civil case. The court’s lien must be paid before the court will dismiss the case.

Date: Sep 07, 2012; Rosa Junqueiro, Clerk; Theresa Carleton, Deputy; NOTICE TO PERSON BEING SERVED: You are served as an individual defendant.

STATEMENT OF DAMAGES (Personal Injury or Wrongful Death) To: ARMANDO CATANYAG Plaintiff: BRANDON SERPA seeks damages in the above-entitled action, as follows: 1. General Damages a. Pain, suffering, and inconvenience $100,000.00 b. Emotional distress $50,000.00 2. Special Damages a. Medical expenses to date $25,000.00 Date: Oct 18, 2012; signed Mark V. Connolly

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November 15-21, 2012 • Bay Area Reporter • 11

Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034656000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SOMA APPS, 550 S Van Ness Ave. #205, SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Dwayne A. Ratleff. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/12/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/17/12.

OCT 25, NOV 1, 8, 15, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034626000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GOLDEN RULE PLUMBING, 285 Justin Dr., SF, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Dennis Gilchrist. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/05/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/04/12.

OCT 25, NOV 1, 8, 15, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034628700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MARLA BAKERY, 710 42nd Ave., SF, CA 94121.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Amy Marietta Brown. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/04/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/04/12.

OCT 25, NOV 1, 8, 15, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034658900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GARCIA DESIGN STUDIO, 647 Connecticut St. #2, SF, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Garcia Studio, Architects Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/13/12.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/18/12.

OCT 25, NOV 1, 8, 15, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034610300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: PRESTIGE LIMOUSINE, 350 Bay St. #100-73, SF, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Prestige Limousine, Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/29/96. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/27/12.

OCT 25, NOV 1, 8, 15, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034639800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CAPT. EDDIE RICKENBACKER’S, 133 2nd St., SF, CA 94105. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed ER Partners, LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/28/12.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/10/12.

OCT 25, NOV 1, 8, 15, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 10/23/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: F M SMOKES AND WINES 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 57 New Montgomery St., SF, CA 94105-3438. Type of license applied for

21 - OFF-SALE GENERAL NOV 1, 8, 15, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 10/26/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: BRAINWASH 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 1122 Folsom St., SF, CA 94103-3928. Type of license applied for

41 - ON-SALE BEER & WINE - EATING PLACE NOV 1, 8, 15, 2012 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF california, county of san francisco file CNC12-549017 In the matter of the application of: PAULINA MARIE OLAYA SMITH for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner PAULINA MARIE OLAYA SMITH is requesting that the name PAULINA MARIE OLAYA SMITH be changed to MASON JAIRO SMITH. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 13th of December 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034666000

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF california, county of san francisco file CNC12-549067 In the matter of the application of: AMY LYNN HARPER for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner AMY LYNN HARPER, is requesting that the name AMY LYNN HARPER, be changed to TOBI AMY- LYNN HARPER. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 8th of January 2013 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034682300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WC GALLERIES; WC SOLUTIONS, 2166 44th Ave., SF, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Andrew Nunez Agliata.

The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/10/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/29/12.

NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034634800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ILIMO, 2383 26th Ave., SF, CA 94122.

This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Ismail Ezzikhe. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/09/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/09/12.

NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034665400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AP AUTO SERVICE, 3501 Geary Blvd., SF, CA 94118-3212. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Aung Shwe Maung. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 02/29/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/19/12.

NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034666200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: POST STREET DEVELOPMENT, 1355 Post St., SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Anne Molloy. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/12/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/22/12.

NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034673600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BIGPAULYFILMS, 8 Sala Tr., SF, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Paul Harper. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/24/12.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/24/12.

NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034668100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: COMPASS FOR FAMILIES, 3611 California St. #202, SF, CA 94118. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Lorenza Arnal.

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 10/22/12.

NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034644800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: INSTA, 931 Steiner St., SF, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Brian S. Haight. 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 10/12/12.

NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034686000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EL CALAMAR, 428 11th St., SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Juan C. Gonzales. 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 10/30/12.

NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034679700

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034643100

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034699900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ENTERTAINMENT DESIGNER, 2690 Filbert St., SF, CA 94123. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed The Evan Bailyn Foundation 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 10/11/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FOCUSED LIVING COACHING, 2043 Fulton St., SF, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Maureen Gammon. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/05/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/05/12.

NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-033757700

NOV 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034701300

The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: POST STREET DEVELOPMENT, 1355 Post St., SF, CA 94109. This business was conducted by a husband & wife and signed by Patrick Molloy & Anne Molloy. The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 08/15/11.

NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2012 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF california, county of san francisco file CNC12-548822 In the matter of the application of: TANYA B. BERNSTEIN for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner TANYA B. BERNSTEIN is requesting that the name TANYA B. BERNSTEIN be changed to TANYA KAMINSKY BERNSTEIN. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 17th of January 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

NOV 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034681000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SF CITY IMPACT HEALTH AND WELLNESS CENTER, 140 Turk St., SF, CA 94102. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Clint Ladine. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/26/12.

The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/26/12.

NOV 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034675300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FOOD RUNNERS, 430 31st Ave. #430, SF, CA 94121. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Yuriy Aydinyan. 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 10/24/12.

NOV 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034676800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ROY TRANSLATION SERVICES, 88 Yukon St., SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Corey J. Roy. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 06/14/11. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/25/12.

NOV 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034652100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TWINKYCLEAN; MODEL MAIDS, 33 Higuera Ave., SF, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Eric Michael Moren. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/15/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/15/12.

NOV 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034687600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: VAGABOND INN CIVIC CENTER, 385 9th St., SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Ninth Street Lodging LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/26/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/31/12.

NOV 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034699100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BULLION ONE, 130 Clement St., SF, CA 94118.

This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed JD Bullion Exchange 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 11/05/12.

NOV 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034693100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CAKE COQUETTE, 1501 Cortland Ave., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Gabrielle Feuersinger. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/17/07. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/22/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EM CAFE, 2407 Ocean Ave., SF, CA 94127.

This business is conducted by a general partnership, and is signed Young Wang, Zhen Xing Deng, Chong Tseng & Shao Lun Zhang. 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 10/26/12.

The following person(s) is/are doing business as: HUSEYIN OZYOL LIMO, 229 Font Blvd., SF, CA 94132. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Huseyin Ozyol. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/02/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/02/12.

NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2012

NOV 1, 8, 15, 22, 2012

NOV 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012

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The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/05/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 11/05/12.

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The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 05/29/08.

NOV 8, 15, 22, 29, 2012 notice of application FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF alcoholic beverage LICENSE Dated 08/27/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: ER PARTNERS, 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 133 2nd St., SF, CA 94105-3714. Type of license applied for

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Type of license applied for

47 - ON-SALE GENERAL EATING PLACE NOV 15, 22, 29, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 11/02/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: B PATISSERIE, 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 2821 California St., SF, CA 94115-2515. Type of license applied for

41 – ON SALE BEER & WINE – EATING PLACE NOV 15, 22, 29, 2012

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Around the world

25

Next to normal

20

Out &About

Flight patterns

19

O&A

18

The

Vol. 42 • No. 46 • November 15-21, 2012

www.ebar.com/arts

SEXUALLY CONFLICTED DRAMA STUDENTS John Fisher’s ‘Slugs and Kicks’ opens Theatre Rhino’s season

by Richard Dodds

C

Kent Taylor

The characters in Slugs and Kicks, opening Theatre Rhino’s season, were inspired by directorplaywright John Fisher’s awkward sexual awakenings as a college student in the 1980s.

ollege kids are playing college kids in Slugs and Kicks, writer-director John Fisher’s new play launching Theatre Rhino’s 35th season. “At our auditions, all these college students were interested in trying out for a gay theater,” Fisher said. “At callbacks, I said, ‘Look, there’s a lot of kissing in the play, and at this point you don’t have to actually kiss.’ And one of them said, ‘Can we?’ I never would have auditioned for myself when I was in college.”

Fisher was an undergraduate at UC Berkeley in the early 1980s who was discovering sexuality, but not at all certain he wanted to uncover homosexuality in the process. Slugs and Kicks, set in and around a college drama department at that time, looks back comically, ruefully, and a bit farcically at the widely shared time when self-drama-

tization beat out anything that might appear on a stage. “I think of myself as pretty ridiculous now as I look back,” said Fisher, who is Rhino’s executive director.

The play, beginning performances Nov. 24 at Thick House, is not meant to be strictly autobiographical, but Fisher has no problem identifying that sexually conflicted drama student Rory is a variation on himself. “I think he is a little more idealized than the truth,” Fisher said. “I was a pretty big geek, and he is a little more streamlined. But he’s quirky and different even from the drama department kids, and that’s me.”

Other student characters include the girl who’s tired of being the fag hag in the scenario, even though Rory is not ready to address the accuracy that leads to that description. The only openly gay character is the very openly gay director, older than the students and not sure he’s allowed to See page 24 >>

Poet of visual perception ‘Jasper Johns: Seeing with the Mind’s Eye’ at SFMOMA

by Sura Wood

F

or Jasper Johns, the wily modern artist credited with laying the foundation for Minimalism and Pop Art, subject matter takes a back seat to his primary interest, which is sight – the phenomenon of how and why we see the way we do. A master of multiple mediums, he has employed the visual languages of sculpture, painting, drawing, illustrated books and printmaking in an ongoing process of reinvention, taking familiar subjects and reconsidering them in a variety of media and from diverse perspectives over the course of his prolific 60-year career. Think of Johns as versed in the art of possibil-

ity, a composer investigating variations on a theme. What I’m doing may look like repetition, he seems to say, but look again. The opportunity to do just that is offered by Jasper Johns: Seeing with the Mind’s Eye, a new overview at SFMOMA that includes 90 artworks produced from 1956 to the present. The show also highlights the artist’s special relationship with the Bay Area, especially SFMOMA, to whom Johns gave Richard Serra’s lead Splash sculpture, a piece with a permanent installation and a room of its own at the museum.

If there’s any doubt as to whether Johns has truly arrived, note that he

has achieved the pinnacle of success: he played himself on “Mom and Pop Art,” an episode of The Simpsons, and architect Philip Johnson designed one of his houses. Still going strong at 82, he grew up in the South and moved to New York City, where, in 1954, he met Robert Rauschenberg, who became his longtime lover. Johns was discovered, the story goes, when art dealer Leo Castelli met him at Rauschenberg’s studio, and soon after gave the younger artist a crack at his first solo show. Johns was also shaped by his friendship with another See page 25 >>

{ SECOND OF TWO SECTIONS }

Target with Four Faces (1979) by Jasper Johns; color etching, soft-ground etching, and aquatint, ed. 45/88.

Jasper Johns and Petersburg Press/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

<< Out There

14 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 15-21, 2012

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Entertainmen & women

by Roberto Friedman

I

n November, our attention turns to promising events and productions through the end of the year.

Here are a few entertainments on the horizon that have caught the Out There eye.

In her highly anticipated comeback movie role, talented actress and frequent basket-case Lindsay Lohan (Mean Girls) stars as the legendary dame of all hearts Elizabeth Taylor alongside Grant Bowler (Defiance) as celebrated thespian Richard Burton in the Lifetime Original Movie Liz & Dick.

Its world premiere comes up Sun., Nov. 25, 9 p.m. on Lifetime. Based on the true story of the couple’s passionate, tumultuous love affair, the film is from executive producer Larry A. Thompson (Amish Grace) and was directed by Lloyd Kramer (Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven) with a script by Chris-

topher Monger (Temple Grandin).

Favorite film: Set in the razzledazzle world of Las Vegas, the new film Lay the Favorite boasts a cast including Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Vince Vaughn and Rebecca Hall, and is directed by Stephen Frears (The Grifters, High Fidelity). Hall plays a small-town stripper who moves to Vegas and becomes involved in the legal and illegal world of sports gambling. Willis is the booker who hires her to place wages all over town to gain advantage over the casinos – hence the film’s title.

He finds his new employee a lucky charm, but his wife (Zeta-Jones) thinks she is quite ditzy and wants her gone, baby, gone. A fun caper, the film will roll in a special screening on Sat., Dec. 1, 11 a.m. at the Vogue Theater, Sacramento at Presidio in SF. For free tickets, e-mail voguersvp@gmail. com with “Favorite’’ and your name in the subject line, and how many tickets (up to two per person) you

request in the body of the e-mail.

See you at the movies!

Dome deal Westfield San Francisco Centre has teamed up with the San Francisco Ballet to kick off the 3D holiday light spectacular Illuminique Under the Dome today (Thurs., Nov. 15). As part of the celebration, SF Ballet will lead children in a special dance demonstration and will hand out commemorative tutus to aspiring ballerinas.

In this second annual 3D light spectacle, Westfield’s iconic dome comes to life with sugar-plum fairies, toy soldiers, and gingerbread men – sounds like a night bar-hopping in SoMa. Illuminique Under the Dome will show nightly from Nov. 15-Dec. 31, every half-hour from 5 p.m. until 30 minutes prior to the Centre’s closing. Free and open to the public, today’s launch event begins at 4:30 p.m. on Level 4 under the dome, with a demonstration of dance steps for children 8 and younger by SF Ballet’s Nutcracker Snowflakes. The first 100 children 8 and under will receive tutus. The light show begins promptly at 5 p.m. Look for us under the dome.

What a charming couple: Lindsay Lohan as legendary movie star Elizabeth Taylor and Grant Bowler as celebrated actor Richard Burton in the Lifetime Original Movie Liz & Dick.

Art beats As arts writer Sura Wood’s review in this issue points out, the new Jasper Johns retrospective now showing at SFMOMA is about perception and the act of seeing as much as it’s about what’s seen. The show’s subtitle, Seeing with the Mind’s Eye, also points there. Johns’ art is as much about intellectual constructs as about visual delight. In fact, some of his later paintings – we’re thinking of Bridge (1997), the Bushbaby (2004-05) and Shrinky Dink (2011) series – seem as much puzzles as artistic expressions. They’re like crosswords, double acrostics, cryptograms or rebuses in their canny references to patterns and motifs, and allusions to other artworks.

This is an artist who is intellectually engaged, and in an era when art appreciation is reduced to whether one “likes” something or not, this is a refreshing stance.

Johns doesn’t paint objects as much as he paints signs of objects.

What is a flag, a target or a map of the U.S. but a sign pointing to an idea? The artist’s much-favored subject, the numeral, has no intrinsic meaning as a shape. A number is just a shape we have all agreed has

Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

0 through 9 (1960) by Jasper Johns, charcoal on paper.

Whitney/Yale

Untitled, from the Water Goggles series (1977) by Jay DeFeo, polymer, charcoal, ink, grease pencil and graphite on paper.

some quantifying measure, not the measure itself. It’s a sign in Arabic.

But all this doesn’t mean it’s not possible to find personal resonance in Johns’ artworks. For Out There, the early works in which the words Red, Yellow and Blue are spelled out, not in the colors they represent – in this show, the works Land’s End and Periscope (Hart Crane) (both

1963) continue this conceit – have always called out to us. That’s because OT is red-green color blind, so this business of color identification has always raised interesting issues. When the world says something is red, but you see it as blue, you grow up questioning authority by default. We would love to know if See page 15 >>

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Theatre >>

November 15-21, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 15

Lois Tema

Tensions rise between a playwright (Eric Carr, center) and the actress (Sam Jackson) he has hired to impersonate a fictitious black playwright, as his friend and lover (Chris Morrell and Alex Kirschner) look on in The Submission at NCTC.

Across the racial divide

by Richard Dodds

A

s they sing in Avenue Q, everyone’s a little bit racist. Or at least racially fixated as depicted in Jeff Talbott’s The Submission, a play that doesn’t lose our interest even as it progressively loses its balance. New Conservatory Theatre Center is presenting the West Coast premiere of Talbott’s 2011 play that goes down a Mametlike path, in themes and language, but doesn’t leave an audience debating who the moral victor is. It isn’t the playwright, and by that I don’t mean Talbott, but rather the playwright he has created for this play about a play.

That play is titled Call a Spade, the story of an African-American family finding a ray of hope despite dire circumstances. Its author is Shaleeha G’ntamobi, a black woman who turns out to be a persona concocted by a frustrated gay white playwright who thinks his play will have a better chance if theaters think it is an authentically black work. He turns out to be right, and enlists a dubious black actress to impersonate Shaleeha G’ntamobi, at least until opening night, when all will be revealed to a stunned audience.

The scenario provides obvious opportunities for social commentary, both comedic and dramatic, and The Submission delivers on both these fronts in director Ben Randle’s well-paced production. The natty playwright and his best friend reveal themselves as wannabe urban hipsters as they debate the wisdom of sending off the play to theaters. “Should I submit this bitch?” playwright Danny asks of friend Trevor. “You should submit the fuck out of it,” his buddy replies. And in his first meeting with black actress Emilie, the racial divide is comically approached. “I don’t even know how to say it,” declares Emilie after she first sees “by Shaleeha G’ntamobi” on the title page. “It’s just a bunch of sounds put together.”

As Danny, Eric Kerr offers an ap-

<<

Out There

From page 14

gay poet Crane was color blind, but Wikipedia is not forthcoming on the subject.

In fact, the Numbers and Numerals series reinforce our idiosyncratic take on the oeuvre, because they remind us of those color blindness tests we were subjected to in childhood as the disability was discovered. They were fields of colored dots that would resolve themselves into numerals – say, 76 if you had normal color vision, or 29 if you were color-handicapped. These were always games of torture to us as, try as we might, we could not squint out a 76 when the reds and the greens were spelling out

pealing combination of sensitivity and benign cluelessness in these early scenes, and Sam Jackson as Emilie has a friendly edginess as she tries to get her head around Danny’s plan.

But gradually, and then rapidly, the relationship goes south as Danny becomes an anxious outsider as Emilie gets to attend auditions and rehearsals. His benign cluelessness gives way to gross racial insults and resentments that, despite the conviction of Kerr’s delivery, register as manufactured ways to heated arguments. There is more truth in Emilie’s character, which Jackson continues to effectively connect with, as she increasingly lashes back as her buttons are pushed. “Your shit is not my shit,” she exclaims as Danny plays the gay card to claim identification with the realities of being a black woman.

There are a couple of supporting characters whose purpose seems to be in providing peace-promoting observers to rationally react as the Danny-Emilie conflict moves into verbal nuclear weaponry. Chris Morrell plays Danny’s straight friend Trevor, and Alex Kirschner is Danny’s theatrically unaware boyfriend Pete, though both seem a notch or two away from fitting casting.

Director Randle effectively handles the rising heat between Danny and Emilie, and the objectives of the playwright, as out of balance as they can become, are well met.

What is not necessarily an asset to this end is the minimalistic, angular blank set by Kuo-Hao Lo, occasionally used for blurry projections and silhouettes, and the techno-thwangs that ominously mark each change of scene. More suggestions of a real world might benefit a play that increasingly moves out of it.▼ The Submission will run through Dec. 16 at New Conservatory Theatre Center. Tickets are $25-$37. Call 861-8972 or go to www.nctcsf.org.

their illusory 29.

The Jay DeFeo retrospective now showing at SFMOMA (reviewed in last week’s issue) also rings personal bells for us. The show has one and the catalog has four untitled drawings from DeFeo’s Water Goggles series (1977) (polymer, graphite and charcoal on paper). We know the artist’s interest in the swimmer’s eyegear was probably in the shapes and shadows that the rubber and plastic goggles make when they twist around on their straps.

Her Shoetree and Tripod series are similarly about shape and shading, not the devices themselves. But for OT, who clamps goggles to our face every time we do our laps, it’s a revelation, Duchampian even, to see them as the subject of art. Last one in’s a rotten egg.▼

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

16 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 15-21, 2012

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Theatre>>

Family matters

by Richard Dodds

T

bartabsf.com

hornton Wilder was hardly what you would call a family man – no spouse, no children, few close relatives – which makes it ironic how deeply he roots around family affairs in his plays. Ironic, but perhaps also inevitable. Whatever the motivation, his circumstances gave him a perspective that could appreciate the importance of family as well as dyspeptically poke at its more infuriating components.

The four short plays that Aurora Theatre is presenting and that Barbara Oliver has deftly directed illustrate this aspect of the playwright’s writings, the exemplar of which is Our Town. And in two of the four plays that share the umbrella title Wilder Times, children and even infants get to commiserate on the state of their worlds dominated by those infuriating creatures known as grownups.

In Infancy, written in the early 1960s, two babies whose perambulators are stationed together in a park by their respective guardians exchange knowledge and vocabulary that the adults only hear as variations on goo-goo. Patrick Russell and Brian Trybom play the amusingly surly tykes fitted into oversized prams, while mother (Stacy Ross) and nanny (Heather Gordon) exchange pleasantries that indicate deep caring tinged with a drop of disdain for their charges. Soren Oliver is a comically muttering Italian-American patrolman who wonders of the unruly children in his park, “Why can’t they nuisance at home?”

In the second playlet, Childhood, three siblings are sufficiently grown to cause their mother (Ross) to moan, “Nobody told me children are halfcrazy when I first got married.” Big sister Caroline (Marcia Pizzo) corrals her little sister and brother (Heather Gordon and Patrick Russell) into playing games like Funeral and Orphans, while their mother wishes they’d play such games as Shopping or Going to School. Wilder digs deeper in this piece, exploring the minds of children as they build up resentments over basic parental activities that get interpreted as neglect. It is capped by a wonderful scene that twists through reality and fantasy as the siblings make their escape aboard a bus with an unusually compliant driver (Trybom).

Childhood also dates from the early 1960s, while the two plays of the second act both debuted in 1931.

A chronological regression, but fit-

Jessica Palopoli

Stacy Ross, Patrick Russell, Heather Gordon, and Soren Oliver marvel at the sights of New Jersey in The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden, one of four short plays by Thornton Wilder that make up Wilder Times at the Aurora Theatre.

ting in the production’s timeline as children grow progressively older. In The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden, Wilder makes use of a stage manager character as he would so famously do again in Our Town. But the stage manager isn’t essential and fades away as Wilder takes a mundane scenario – a family auto trip – and makes it vital through crisp observation. What is unsaid is as important as what is said, and the words and the spaces between them are served up in loving detail by Ross and Oliver as the parents, and Russell, Gordon, and Pizzo as their offspring.

Wilder Times culminates in the exquisitely written and presented The Long Christmas Dinner, in which the entire cast plays a family evolving through births, deaths, and marriages in a series of scenes set at successive Christmas dinners. This piece presages the life-death cycle that Wilder explored in Our Town, and while the

dead don’t rise to tell us to better embrace the fleeting moments that make up a life, the message is clear if more melancholy than as evoked in Our Town.

And as with Our Town, rearranged chairs comprise most of the scenic elements. But such is the precision of Wilder’s words, and with the finely tuned performances under Oliver’s direction, we tumble into the deceptively simple lives being led onstage.

Life starts off as a confusing affair and pretty much stays that way despite any respites of confidence. As one baby observes with some frustration to the other in the opening playlet, holding up a hand and spreading digits, “Sometimes they’re called fingers, and sometimes they’re called piggies.”▼ Wilder Times will run at the Aurora Theatre through Dec. 9. Tickets are $32-$50. Call (510) 843-4822 or go to www.auroratheatre.org.

Music >>

Still sounding gorgeous

by David-Elijah Nahmod

I

t was a rare moment at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, the night before Election Day, 2012. Living legend Barbra Streisand, looking far younger than her 70 years, packed the stadium.

Her fans screamed and cheered as she stepped out on stage. Clad in a stunning, floor-length black gown, she opened with “You’ll Never Know,” the first song she ever performed, as a teen in 1955. It was a joyous night, filled with memories of a life lived in the spotlight. The diva’s tour might also be the launching pad for Jason Gould, her handsome, openly gay son, to begin a singing career of his own.

Streisand’s legendary stage fright was nowhere to be seen as she sang, kibitzed with her audience, and introduced an impressive list of guest performers. Early on, she was joined

by Il Volo, a trio of handsome teenage opera singers from Italy. The boys joined Babs for a stunning rendition of the Charlie Chaplin-penned classic “Smile,” then gave the star a break while they brought down the house by belting out a rousing “O Sole Mio.” When Streisand returned to the stage, she paid a moving tribute to her recently deceased friend Marvin Hamlisch, who for years was her concert musical arranger. Streisand and Hamlisch had a close bond ever since they met on the rehearsal stage for Funny Girl in 1963. It was easy to see that Barbra was singing from her heart when she performed the Hamlisch-composed “The Way We Were.” She paid tribute to her beloved friends, composers Alan and Marilyn Bergman, saying she and they were born in the same Brooklyn hospital.

She toasted her lifelong friends with lovely versions of their songs “Nice and Easy” and “That Face.” She inspired cheers from women in the audience with her rousing, off-the-cuff rendition of Laura Nyro’s lesbian anthem “Stoney End,” which she did at

Barbra Streisand remains a consummate performer at 70.

the request of an audience member.

Act II was quite a show-stopper.

First, filmed 1970s interviews with Barbra’s former Brooklyn NY neighbors were shown. This was followed by the final dialogue scene from her Oscar-winning film debut, Funny Girl (1968). Then the orchestra began playing the familiar strains. The star returned to the stage dressed in a floor-length red dress to offer a breathtaking performance of the great torch song “My Man,” Funny Girl’s unforgettable finale. The crowd roared.

Then came her other co-stars. Jazz great Chris Botti took to the stage with Streisand. With his horn, he accompanied his idol on “What’ll I Do,” “My Funny Valentine,” and the Oscar-winning Streisand composition “Evergreen.” Barbra then took a break while Botti was joined onstage by violinist Caroline Campbell.

Soon after, Streisand shared the stage with her handsome son Jason Gould. Streisand and son are generally very private people, but they gave fans a rare peek into their private lives.

The audience was treated to a short

film Gould had made in honor of his Mom’s birthday. The proud mom then joined her son for a lovely duet of “How Deep is the Ocean.”

Perhaps the highlight of the evening came when the star recalled her legendary 1963 duet with the great Judy Garland. History was made when the pair held hands and sang “Happy Days Are Here Again”/“Get Happy” on Garland’s TV show. Many have viewed this as a passing of the torch, as Streisand is now the standard-bearer for American popular music. Magic was made again when Streisand recreated the duet with her sister Roslyn Kind. The concert’s entire lineup returned to the stage for a rousing finale, which included a surprise appearance by the San Jose Symphonic Choir.

It was a magical night. More than 50 years after she first stepped onstage at the Bon Soir club in New York’s Greenwich Village, Streisand remains not only the consummate performer, but perhaps our generation’s greatest gift to music. Her awesome voice has retained its power to move people to tears. She is a true legend.▼

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Books >>

November 15-21, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 17

Wagnerian creation

by Tim Pfaff

I

t’s surprising how many rabid Wagner opera fans know next to nothing about Wagner, particularly since there is so much to know, hardly any of it is dull, and a good deal of it is spine-tingling. London music critic Barry Millington, author of seven previous books as well as numerous articles on Wagner, goes a very great distance toward setting that right in his juicily titled The Sorcerer of Bayreuth: Richard Wagner, His Work and His World (Oxford).

It’s hard to imagine a better book to kick off the Wagner bicentennial in 2013, during which all manner of balderdash is sure to be bantered about. The book communicates Millington’s immense knowledge of the composer in chapters, organized by topic, that both satisfy and leave you wanting more. Chapters on the life are chronological, interspersed with chapters on the individual works presented as chronologically as possible given Wagner’s penchant for overlapping work on the operas.

Topics include Wagner’s crossdressing and love of lavish (and usually pink) silks and satins, his perennial problems with money, his womanizing (“The tally of his serious and casual affairs taken together barely exceeds a dozen”), the explo-

sion of Wagnerism after the composer’s death in Venice, and, perhaps most difficult, his trenchant and altogether sincere anti-Semitism.

Incorporating the latest scholarship, some of it his own, Millington provides some of the most satisfactory explorations of these potentially sensational topics to date, placing them in the largest possible context as they relate to the work of one of music’s great geniuses without once using that genius as Wagner’s getout-of-jail-free card. As my most Wagner-admiring friend likes to say, “You’ll eat it, lady.”

I don’t recall ever having read a scholarly book faster, a tribute both to Millington’s energetic prose and to Oxford’s lavish pictorial illustration of the text, which they bring in at a tidy 300 pages. You can easily name lots of other things that could have been included, particularly in the chapters on the works. But Millington gets directly to things you want and need to know about those, and specific things to look and listen for in them – and how all the pieces fit into the enormous canvas that is the picture of Wagner the creator (and not just composer).

Anyway, anything more you want to know can usually be found in another Millington book or in countless others to which Millington generously points. A reader who

Spit shined

by Jim Piechota Sister Spit: Writing, Rants & Reminiscence from the Road, edited by Michelle Tea; City Lights Books, $16.95

S

an Francisco’s own prolific literary powerhouse Michelle Tea has embarked on a new project that puts her groundbreaking, outspoken, alternative feminist writing/

performance art group Sister Spit in the position of publishing its own members’ works. Through a unique collaboration with local bookstore and publishing house City Lights Publishers, the Sister Spit imprint will produce a yearly selection of writings from several of the collective’s participants and reprint deserving works from the past. Here, in the imprint’s inaugural offering, Tea presents herself as an impressive editor in the artful arrangement of ruminations, memories, poetry, visions, pen-and-ink drawings, comics, and bold statements from the Sister Spit collaborative.

Included are pieces by Lambda Literary Award winners like local writer Ali Liebegott, who contributes a vibrant story of New York life in 1994 in “Cha-Ching!,” along with adventures abroad in Paris along the

Sister Spit Eurotrash tour with Rhiannon Argo.

Variations on Sister Spitters’ tour diaries proliferate throughout the collection in both text and graphic formulations. San Francisco graphic artist MariNaomi offers a crudely drawn but funny tale of the 2011 tour, while Nicole Georges colors in girl-powered memories of the exhaustive 2010 trip through Connecticut, New York City, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Michigan.

Toronto-based artist Elisha L Lim offers “The Hong Moon L Lesbians of the Sacred Heart,” a beautifully illustrated yarn o of lesbian obsession with Ling L Ling, “the coolest girl in our sschool” (a Catholic Convent ggirls’ institution), who also h happened to be “as queer as tthe sisters were pious.” On the m male front, local personality K Kirk Read’s piece “Belle” is a sshort but sweetly reminiscent ttale of mischief involving a m marijuana farm and a cat.

Perhaps the most informattive and thought-provoking p piece for those unfamiliar with the Sister Spit movement is Tea’s own introductory essay, written while en route to predetermined destinations far and wide in the 2012 Sister Spit Tour Van. In it, Tea writes of the movement’s amazing history of resilient revelry, of her intricate and dedicated involvement in it, and where this travelling band of outspoken writers and artists has gone and where they plan to go in the notso-distant future. There’s a feeling of freedom and unadulterated fun in her descriptions, yet it’s paired with a purpose and a culturally unifying meaning: to get the word out about the raw power of queer art.

Tea’s collection makes a bold statement about the state of lesbianism, feminism, and the world in general that’s “hard and vulnerable, quiet and fragile.” These essays will have an impact on the reader whether by way of a subtle nudge or a commanding salute, a hilarious anecdote or a poignant deduction about life, love, friendship, and the female experience.▼

had never been to a Wagner opera could read this book without undue difficulty.

Tellingly, Millington’s chapter on Wagner’s cross-dressing (particularly while composing), and swaddling himself and his rooms in bolts of pink silks and satins and asphyxiating amounts of attar of rose, comes immediately after the one about how the composer’s drive for extravagances of luxury left him with “never enough” money and fleeing creditors more than half his life. He provides more detail about the soft-fabric fetish than even Lawrence Dreyfus in his Wagner and the Erotic Impulse (though far less than Dreyfus does on Wagner’s intimate if non-sexual relationships with gay friends, including Nietzsche and of course King Ludwig).

“In the final analysis,” Millington writes, Wagner’s fetishes are “not an embarrassment to be swept under one of his deep-pile Smyrna carpets. On the contrary, these tendencies provide a key to the music. It is entirely appropriate that such a man should take his leave of the world in a pink satin dressing gown.”

His discussion of Wagner’s antiSemitism, including some very recent research about it, is one of the most penetrating now available. While making it clear enough that the prejudice was very much a part of the intellectual air Wagner breathed, Millington never excuses it, and accounts for its particulars in scathing detail. “As Barry Emslie’s important new study makes clear, Wagner anathematized the Jews as incapable of both genuine creativity and love,” he writes in his chapter on Die Meistersinger. Controversially, he points out how anti-Semitism surfaces in the operas, claiming that “if we are to penetrate to the essence of Parsifal,” Wagner’s late “concepts of racial purity and regeneration”

must be factored in.

Millington’s discussion of Wagner’s music, how it works and how it develops, is a model of concision and clarity, and regularly sends you back to the music itself. Even the pictorial illustrations, mostly apposite, carefully selected, and beautifully presented, are often literally revelatory, such as the ones showing Joseph Hoffmann’s design concepts for the first Ring as they appear in a

succession of recently rediscovered paintings and sketches.

Millington perhaps goes farthest out on a limb in his appreciation of artistic merits of Bayreuth productions under the new family regime.

But considering his deft handling of Bayreuth post-Wagner, and particularly its connection with Hitler, there’s context for his viewing what goes on at Bayreuth today as comparatively small potatoes.▼

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 15-21, 2012

▼

Film >>

Frequent flyers

by David Lamble

F

light, the new airborne drama from Robert Zemeckis, is a thrillpacked near-death experience, a very funny manual on how to conceal a hard-core drug habit, an improbable romance, and a bumpy testimonial to a man overcoming inner demons.

On first sight Captain William “Whip” Whitaker, the latest charismatic everyman from two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington, is not the guy you’d most like to fly with. Flight opens in Whip’s Orlando hotel room, where it’s very clear that our man has spent the night having

way too much fun with flight attendant Katenna Marquez (Nadine Velazquez). The good times are interrupted by a dunning call from his ex-wife and the fact that he and Katenna are due to transport 102 souls to Atlanta in just over an hour.

Miraculously, Whip sobers up, makes the flight, and straps himself in, sharing the controls with churchgoing co-pilot Ken Evans (Brian Geraghty). After a takeoff marred by extreme turbulence, Whip jokes with the passengers on the PA, while mixing himself a vodka screwdriver just out of their view. That extra drink will become a real deal-breaker in

the third act.

Whip’s in-flight nap is rudely interrupted by a loud banging sound.

Suddenly the plane is in a seemingly fatal dive. Whip’s instincts take over.

Rolling the plane over to achieve stability, he somehow manages to crash-land the jet in an empty field, whereupon he loses consciousness.

Zemeckis brings all his talents to bear in a drama whose spectacular set-piece is actually a mere prelude, CGI foreplay, for the film’s meatier subject: a hero who’s his own worst enemy. The doomed flight, featured prominently in the film’s TV ads, is no cheat. The filmmakers are so good at simulating the stark outof-body terror of 100 people facing their last moments plunging to the earth upside-down – particularly harrowing is the sight of a flight attendant attempting to rescue a small unbelted boy – that Flight will probably join a select list of movies (Peter Weir’s Fearless, Paul Greenglass’ United 93) permanently banned from in-flight play lists.

But it’s when Whip awakens in an Atlanta hospital room that the real fun begins. At his bedside are a lawyer (Don Cheadle) and pilots’ union rep (Bruce Greenwood). Both seek to convince Whip that while he’s presently considered a hero, danger awaits. Six people are dead, and there is a damaging toxicology report indicating illegal alcohol blood-levels for both him and the deceased Katenna.

The lawyer (another of Cheadle’s charming, lecturing control freaks) and the affable pilots’ rep acknowledge the paradox that Whip is one hero who could do some heavy prison time.

“I’m trying to save your life.”

“What life? I drank the night before the flight. But nobody could’ve

Denzel Washington in Flight: overcoming personal demons.

landed the plane like I did.”

“Right, the FAA placed 10 pilots in simulators, recreated the events. Every pilot killed everybody on board!

You were the only one who could do it!”

Whip’s next visitor, Harling Mays (John Goodman, returning to his Big Lebowski pop-ninja form) is Whip’s good friend and steady drug connection. Harling not only supplies the film’s best one-liners, but does he ever have a formula for cocaine as the world’s greatest hangover cure.

The final piece in the Whip redemption drama is love interest Nicole Maggen (Kelly Reilly). In a parallel-universe moment, just as Whip guides the plane down, Nicole undergoes a nearly fatal overdose. The two connect on the hospital’s staircase during a surreal cigarette break with a recovering cancer patient.

While it seems a bit of a stretch to claim that the multi-awarded Denzel Washington, whose 41 features have grossed just north of $2 billion, is underappreciated, consider the position he maintains in the culture compared to any of his contemporaries, black or white. Washington embodies the full range of emotions Americans have traditionally demanded in

their heroes. But the legends – Gable, Tracy, Cooper, Wayne, Reynolds, Eastwood – dominated the box office by running out slightly altered carbon copies of their branded personalities. Washington, on the other hand, can bounce between top dog and underdog, enraged everyman, crooked cop and mob boss, messianic race hero, homophobic lawyer, every kind of athlete way past his own prime. He has brilliantly made obsolete Sidney Poitier’s patented burden of having to be “a credit to his race.” In each role, Washington exposes the burdens to the soul borne by his nastiest knaves, such as a brutally charming LA drug cop (Training Day), while allowing us to appreciate that the devil we behold is a hero in his own eyes.

Whip Whitaker may be his greatest achievement. He has the piloting instincts of “Sully” Sullenberger, but he’s a flawed, abusive and selfdestructive addict. We understand at the end why Nicole is both healed and sent fleeing from his daunting embrace. John Gatins’ genre-crossing screenplay makes Flight an entertaining must-see, while Washington’s See page 19 >>

DVD >>

Twisted sister

by Tavo Amador

T

he year 1946 was a landmark one for Classic Hollywood, and not just because several memorable films were released. Among those were Roberto Rossellini’s explosive Rome: Open City, Alfred Hitchcock’s suspenseful Notorious, William Wyler’s moving The Best Years of Our Lives, Laurence Olivier’s imaginative Henry V, Jean Renoir’s witty Diary of a Chambermaid, Charles Vidor’s erotic Gilda, and Robert Siodmark’s edgy The Killers. The major event that year was the California Supreme Court’s decision known as the De Havilland Law, which ruled that personal service contracts couldn’t run longer than seven calendar years.

Prior to that, when studios suspended stars, they extended the contract by the suspension period. This decision laid the foundation for actors breaking the hold that studios had on them, for good or ill. The suit was brought

by Olivia de Havilland (b. 1916), and while it proceeded through the courts, she was off the screen for three years, unable to work.

She returned to win her first Best Actress Oscar for To Each His Own, one of several movies she made that year. She also starred in the less wellknown The Dark Mirror, a fascinating noir directed by Siodmark that has just been released on DVD. Perhaps influenced by Mildred Pierce (1945), it opens with a violent crime scene – an elegant apartment, a smashed mirror, and a man’s body.

The body is identified as that of Dr. Frank Peralta. Neighbors say they saw him with a pretty young woman earlier that night. Lt. Stevenson (Thomas Mitchell) thinks he knows who the

woman is: Ruth Collins (de Havilland). She runs a newsstand in an office building. The neighbors confirm that she was with Dr. Peralta on the night he was killed. But she has an unshakeable alibi, she was at a band concert and has several reliable witnesses, including a cop, who can confirm her story. How is that possible?

Stevenson answers that question when he meets Ruth’s identical twin, Terry.

No one at work knew they were twins – they alternated days, never appearing together. The sisters insist one of them stayed home that night while the other was at the concert. They refuse, however, to say which one did what. Stevenson asks psychiatrist Scott Elliot (Lew Ayres) for professional assistance. Elliot specializes in studies of identical twins. Ruth and Terry need money – the notoriety has made it impossible to return to their job – and Dr. Elliot offers a stipend to each if they agree to individually spend time with him, answering questions, taking tests, and otherwise providing him with information about themselves. They accept – Ruth more willingly than the younger (by seven minutes) Terry.

During the next few weeks, the sisters become smitten with Scott, and he with one of them. The tests reveal significant differences in their personalities. He concludes that one of them

was likely Dr. Peralta’s killer, and tells Stevenson of his belief. In time, Scott and Stevenson trap the murderess into revealing herself. Although the movie’s psychological insights and discussions are simplistic, the clever plot, smooth direction, and effective performances keep the viewer engrossed. Even after viewers know who the killer is, the ending is a surprise.

De Havilland had on many occasions made nice women interesting and showed their strength: her resourceful Maid Marion in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), and most notably, her courageous Melanie in Gone With the Wind (1939).

She’s equally effective here, as one of the twins is honest and kind, the other See page 24 >>

▼

Read more online at www.ebar.com

November 15-21, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19

Film >>

Global focus in the art-house cinema

by David Lamble

largely invisible legacy of the Nixon years is Tricky Dick’s “reform” of the then-fledging Public Broadcasting System. Nixon, exasperated by docmakers probing his Latin American

T

he San Francisco-based Global Film Initiative has for several years attempted to create an alternative distribution network for foreign-language narrative films. This year, the Global Lens film series is offering a couple of challenging features illustrating how modernity is complicating life in some very remote corners of the world.

The Light Thief The hero of Kyrgyzstan writer/director Aktan Arym Kubat’s vibrant parable is secretly trying to connect his rural neighbors to the nascent Central Asian power grid. “Mr. Light” runs up against the interests of crooked politicians and developers scheming to buy up the region’s grazing land, traditionally thought to be the property of all the people in the village. Mr. Light’s dream of creating a giant turbine wind-farm to generate cheap electricity for his peasant community hits a wall when he gets a peek at the lifestyles of the thuggish men who mean to control the juice.

Director Kubat has a talent for soft-peddling his political message with vignettes illustrating the playful side of his ancient people’s culture. There’s just a trace of a John Ford-style corny sense of humor at work in a landscape where horses, bicycles and SUVs compete and collide on the path to a perilous future.

Soul of Sand Viewers whose concept of Indian filmmaking is limited to Bollywood-style prudish kisses are in for a big shock as writer/director Sidharth Srinivasan provides a terrifying glimpse of the collision between feudal caste customs and capitalism run amok. His hero is a simple, illiterate watchman, guard-

Scene from The Light Thief: an ancient people’s culture.

ing an abandoned mine on the outskirts of Delhi. Holding down a job taught him by his late father, the watchman places too much trust in the good intentions of his employer and caste superior. One night his impetuous decision to aid a young couple fleeing a masked gunman causes a deadly conflict whose tragic implications will touch all the characters.

Srinivasan has a talent for letting us inside the head of a primitive soul who still eats with his fingers, and whose only connection to the outside world lies in a battery radio’s broadcast of a faraway cricket match. Warning: explicit violence and sexual misconduct.

On the Web>>

Catholic tastes

by Ernie Alderete

M

y one-time virgin Roman Catholic schoolboy heart raced when I ran across the Facebook page Gay Catholic Schoolboys. I expected fallen altar boys committing sins both venial and cardinal in their sacred vestments, pouring molten wax from dripping holy candles onto their tender torsos, masturbating in the close confines of the darkened confessional, sucking off the “celibate” parish priest, young men with visible erections in their parochial school uniform corduroy pants.

Nothing could be further from the reality. Gay Catholic Schoolboys is just another name for twinks. Gorgeous, lean, young, clean-cut, almost hairless, white European twinks with no indication as to religious preference. Not so much as a silver crucifix on the wall, a Bible on the dresser, or a glass-bead rosary around the neck.

But the misnomer is no reason not to enjoy the sensual site. Gay Catholic Schoolboy #1 presents a wonderful example of the genre, an innocent yet atmospheric bedroom pose. This choice twink looks like the real McCoy, an authentic young man caught in repose in his actual messy bed-

<<

Flight

From page 18

flawed broken hero may find the actor copping that third Oscar.

Skyfall There are three reasons to see the new James Bond: an exhausting but thrilling opening sequence where 007 (Daniel Craig) defeats an implacable assassin with a crafty use of farm equipment; the farewell appearance of the amazing Judy Dench

Seen on the Gay Catholic Schoolboys Facebook page.

room, not some overly coiffed model photographed in a classy hotel bed with crisp 1,000-thread-count Egyptian cotton linens. This is the strength of Gay Catholic Schoolboys, real subjects at home, in their backyards, at the beach, and around town doing See page 23 >>

as M16 spy chief “M”; and the glorious introduction of Ben Whishaw as the franchise’s gadget-inventing quartermaster “Q.” The side-by-side scene where Q chats up Bond as both actors stare straight at the camera is as improbable but delicious a meet as any since Craig’s own early bigscreen moment crashing through a skylight to become British painter Francis Bacon’s burglar-turned-boyfriend in Love is the Devil.▼

For dates and times, go to the Global Film Initiative at www.globalfilm.org.

The final week of the SF DocFest at the Roxie Theater and Berkeley’s Shattuck Cinemas is loaded with not-to-miss gems, concluding with Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet, an inspirational tribute to the Richmond, CA metal-rock genius. Diagnosed at 19 with Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Becker has not only survived his “fiveyear death sentence,” but with the help of communications technology developed by his dad, continues, at 43, to compose cutting-edge music.

Jesse Vile’s award-winning doc plays the Roxie Sun., Nov. 18, at 9:30 p.m.

Big Boys Go Bananas A lasting if

policies and the American banking system, pushed for a decentralized PBS network that would resist muckraking programs the way the See page 25 >>

<< Out&About

20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 15-21, 2012

Thu 15>>

Metamorphosis by Steven J. Levin

Age, Diversity & Gender Fluidity @ GLBT Museum Forum sponsored by the San Francisco Dyke March, 7pm-9pm. Also, see the exhibits Play Fair! The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Make Sex Safer, an exhibit of safe sex promotional efforts. Also, For Love and Community: Queer Asian Pacific Islanders Take Action 1960-1990s, an exhibit organized by queer and transgender Asian Pacific Islanders. Mon-Sat 11am-7pm. Sun 12pm-5pm. 4127 18th St. 621-1107. www.glbthistorymuseum.org

Carmelina @ Eureka Theatre

Magical; realism

by Jim Provenzano

T

his week’s title, inspired by author Isabel Allende’s genre of literature, expands beyond a form of fiction writing. The real world is often more amazing than a dreamt-up tale. Take the elections, for example.

While you can read all about those dream scenario realities in our News section, sample the array of real shows, exhibits and performers who are a sort of dream come true.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

42nd Street Moon’s production of the rarely performed musical about a WWII “widow” who gathers three men who may be the father of her daughter. This is the musical that inspired the Broadway hit Mamma Mia! $25-$75. Wed 7pm. Thu & Fri 8pm. Sat 6pm.

Sun 3pm. Thru Nov 18. 215 Jackson St. 2558207. www.42ndstmoon.org

Classical Recitals @ SF Music Conservatory Students and faculty perform various classical music concerts; piano, string quartets and more, almost nightly 8pm. Sundays 2pm & 5pm,. thru Nov 28. Free-$20. Usually 8pm.

50 Oak St. at Gough. www.sfcm.edu

Cypress String Quartet @ Various Venues The talented local ensemble performs Dvorák’s Love Songs, the Cypresses in three venues. Nov 16, 8pm at Pearson Theater at Meyer Sound, 2832 San Pablo Ave. Nov 18, 8pm at Gallery Wendi Norris, 161 Jessie St, Nov 18, 3pm at Stonebrook Court Manor, 123 Stonebrook Ct. $50-$120 (3-concert pass). www.cypressquartet.com

Dazzle @ Guerrero Gallery Benefit for Lyon-Martin Health Services, with cocktails, Off the Grid food trucks, and music with DJ Olga T. $75-$250 and up. 6pm-9pm. 2700 19th St. www.lyon-martin.org/dazzle

Isabel Allende

Thu 15: Isabel Allende @ MOAD Bestselling Chilean author ( The House of the Spirits) discusses her new novel Island Beneath the Sea, with local author Carolina de Robertis. Free with museum admission ($6-$18). 6:30pm-8pm.

Museum of the African Diaspora, 685 Mission St. at 3rd. 358-7200. www.moadsf.org

Double Features @ Castro Theatre

Fri 16: A Midsummer Night’s Dream @ Archbishop Riordan High School Students perform the magical Shakespeare comedy about fairies who turn humans into lovestruck fools. $5-$8. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru Nov 18. 175 Phelan Ave. 587-5866. www.riordanhs.org

Fri 16: Steven J. Levin, Jacob A. Pfeiffer @ John Pence Gallery Ana Gasteyer

Fri 16: Ana Gasteyer @ The Rrazz Room

Opening reception for a dual exhibit of the two painters, who explore realism, portraits and still lives with vibrant colors and imagery( see above). 6pm-8pm. Reg hours Mon-Fri 10am-6pm. Sat til 5pm. 750 Post St. 441-1138. www.johnpence.com

From Sweeney sister to Ephelba to neurotic characters galore, the comic actress (Saturday Night Live, Suburgatory) will amaze you even more with her singing, as she performs Elegant Songs from a Handsom Woman, a comic show of songs and stories. $40. 9:15pm. Also Nov 17, 9:15 and Nov 18, 7pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Interestingly paired films continue: Nov 15, The Intouchables (2:30, 7pm) and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (4:45, 9pm). Nov 16, Warren Miller’s Flow State (snowboarding film). Nov 17: Screenings of restored prints of masterpieces of French cinema Port of Shadows (2:45, 7pm) and Grand Illusion (4:35, 8:45). Nov 19: Sleepwalk With Me (7pm) and The Science of Sleep (8:45). Nov 20: The Big Lebowski ( 2:30, 7pm) and Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (4:45, 9:15) $8.50-$11. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com

Thu 15: Fran Lebowitz @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley The sardonic New York author, columnist and actress speaks on current issues and events in a lecture and Q&A with the audience. $20. 8pm. Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave., UC Berkeley campus. (510) 642-9988. www.calperformances.org

Goapele @ Yoshi’s, Oakland Singer-songwriter and Bay Area vocalist who blends soul, jazz and hiphop in a unique blend, performs live. $30. (dinner and menu items extra) 8pm & 10pm. Sun 7pm & 9pm. Thru Sun Nov 18. 510 Embarcadero West. (510) 238-9200. www.yoshis.com

History: The Musical @ Un-Scripted Theater Improv theatre company, in a new theatre, performs sketches through different time periods; a different era and show each night. $10-$20. Thu-Sat 8pm.

Thru Dec 22. 533 Sutter St. 322-8738. www.un-scripted.com

Hip Hop DanceFest

Lady Rizo @ The Rrazz Room The slightly zany yet vocally serious New York performer returns. $30. 9pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

The White Snake

Fri 16: Hip Hop DanceFest @ Palace of Fine Arts They fly through the air with the greatest of cool in two programs full of energetic dancing ensembles from SF, East Bay, LA, London, Tokyo, Oslo, even all-female and disability-inclusive groups. $40-$75. 8pm.

Also Nov 17, 8pm. Nov 18 at 2pm & 7pm.

3301 Lyon St. 392-4400. www.cityboxoffice.com

Sat 17: The White Snake @ Berkeley Rep Tony Award-winning director Mary Zimmerman’s (Argonautika, Arabian Nights) visually stunning mystical drama is based on a Chinese legend of romance and magical powers. $22-$99. Tue, Thu, Fri, Sat 8pm. Wed 7pm. Sun 7pm. Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Dec 23. Special events thru run. Roda Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. (510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

The Lion King @ Orpheum Theatre Disney’s long-running musical (and the highest grossing Broadway show in history) based on the animated film makes a return to the Bay Area. $32.50-$150.

Tue-Sat 8pm. Sat 2pm, Sun 1pm. (closed or different times for some holidays).

Thru Jan. 13, 2013. (888) 746-1799. www.shnsf.com

Lois Banner @ Books Inc. Author of Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox discusses her book about Marilyn Monroe. 7:30pm. 2275 Market St. 864-6777. www.booksinc.net

▼

Our Daily Bread @ CounterPulse

Prince Herman @ Magnet

Amara Tabor-Smith’s Deep Waters Dance Theater’s performance work about the rituals of food, folkslore and traditions, versus fast food and the global food crisis. $20-$30. 8pm. Thru Nov 18.

1310 Mission St. www.counterpulse.org

“Stained Glass Pornography,” an exhibit of the local artist’s fascinating religious erotica glassworks. Thru Nov. 4122 18th St. www.magnetsf.org

Shocktoberfest 13 @ Hypnodrome Thrillpeddlers presents Shocktoberfest 13, an evening of horror and unhinged comedy with two world-premiere one-act plays and a classic: Coals of Fire by Fredrick Whitney, The Bride of Death by Michael Phillis, and Rob Keefe’s The Twisted Pair. $25-$35.

Thu-Sat 8pm. Thru Nov 17. 575 10th St. (800) 838-3006. www.thrillpeddlers.com

The Songbird of Paris @ The Marsh, Berkeley Joni Takanikos stars as French singer Edith Piaf in an intimate production of Martha Furey’s musical near-solo drama. Thu & Fri 8pm. Sat 8:30pm. Thru Dec 1.

2120 Allston Way near Shattuck.

282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Susanna Hoffs @ Red Devil Lounge Lead singer for The Bangles performs music from her third solo album. Evolution Eden opens. $20-$25. 8pm. 1695 Polk St. www.reddevillounge.com

Fri 16>> Another Way Home @ Magic Theatre Family drama about Jewish parents whose values are questioned when they visit their son’s summer camp. $22-$62. Wed-Sat 8pm.

Sat & Sun 2:30pm. Thru Dec 2. Fort Mason Center, Bldg. D, 3rd fl. Marina Blvd, at Buchanan. 441-8822. www.magictheatre.org

Artists-in-Residence @ RayKo Photo Opening reception for a trio exhibit; Kirk Crippens’ Ten Thousand Scrolls, Maggie Preston’s Contact, and David Wolf’s The After Life of Things. 6pm-8pm. Reg hours Tue-Thu 10am-10pm Fri-Sun 10am-8pm.

Thru Dec 14. 428 3rd St. 495-3773. www.raykophoto.com

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson @ SF Playhouse Local singer/actor Ashkon Davaran (the Giants’ “Don’t Stop Believin’” anthem, Beardo) stars in Alex Timbers and Michael Friedman’s presidential musical, an acclaimed rock rendition of the life of one our first and most controversial elected leaders. $30-$70. TueThu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat 3pm. Thru Nov 24. 450 Post St. (2nd floor of Kensington Park Hotel). 677-9596. www.sfplayhouse.org

Electra @ American Conservatory Theatre A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff directed this new translation (by Timberlake Wertenbaker) of the timeless Greek tragedy, which features actress Olympia Dukakis. $30-$100. Wed-Sat 8pm. Also Wed, Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Nov 18. 415 Geary St. 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

The Hundred Flowers Project @ Thick House Crowded Fire’s world premiere production of Christopher Chen’s political dystopic drama where a theatre troupe struggles with producing a play about the rise of Mao Tse Tung, only to see the world outside their stage changing drastically. $15-$35. Wed-Sat 8pm. Thru Nov 17. 1695 18th St. 746-9238. www.crowdedfire.org

An Iliad @ Berkeley Repertory Theatre Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare’s adaptation of Homer’s epic poem about the Trojan War and its effect on soldiers and families on both sides, as told by one elderly survivor. $17-$73. Tue, Fri, Sat 8pm. Wed & Sun 7pm. Also Sat & Sun 2pm. Thru Nov 18. 2015 Addison St. at Shattuck, Berkeley.

(510) 647-2949. www.berkeleyrep.org

Jan Steckel, Betty Blue @ GLBT History Museum The Bay Area Bisexual Network celebrates 25 years of bringing bisexuals together with a reception and a reading by two bisexual authors, Jan Steckel ( Mixing Tracks) and Betty Blue, who also writes as Jane Kindred ( The Fallen Queen ).

7pm-9pm. 4127 18th St. 621-1107. www.glbthistorymuseum.org

Nuns Rock @ The Lookout Fundraiser for a memorial stone for Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence who’ve died, at the AIDS Memorial Grove. $5 and up. Jell-o shots and fun. 9pm-2am. 3600 16th St. www.lookoutsf.com www.thesisters.org

The Rainmaker @ Shelton Theater N. Richard Nash’s drama about a traveling con man who romances a small town woman, gets a local production. $38.

Fri & Sat 8pm. Thru Dec 22. 533 Sutter St. at Powell. (800) 838-3006. www.sheltontheater.org

Richard III @ Live Oak Theatre, Berkeley Shakespeare’s drama about an evil king gets a production by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. $12-$15. Fri & Sat 8pm. Thru Nov 17. (510) 649-5999. www.aeofberkeley.org

SF Sailing Team @ La Mar Cebicheria Happy Hour and social celebrating the tenth anniversary of the LGBT sailing team, which premiered at the 2002 Sydney Gay Games.

4:30pm. Pier 1 1/2. (650) 740-4641. www.lamarcebicheria.com/san-francisco/

The Submission @ New Conservatory Theatre Jeff Talbot’s edgy play explores racism, affirmative-action and bias in literary contests, when a white gay writer submits a play about life in the projects, and hires an African American actress to pretend to be the author. $25-$45. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru Dec. 16. 25 Van Ness Ave. at Market, lower level. 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org

The Waiting Period @ The Marsh Brian Copeland’s popular solo show about his struggle with depression. $25-$50. Fri 8pm, Sat 5pm. Extended thru Dec 8. 1062 Valencia St. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org

Wilder Times @ Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Four one-act plays by Pulitzer Prize winner, former Berkeley resident and closeted gay playwright and author Thornton Wilder. $32-$60. Tue 7pm. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm & 7pm. Thru Dec. 9. 2081 Addison St., Berkeley (510) 843-4822. www.auroratheatre.org

Sat 17>> 100 Years of Rural California @ California Historical Society Exhibit of 150 large-scale color prints by writer-photographer Lisa Hamilton, and archival selections dating back to the 1880s. Thru Mar. 24. 2013.

678 Mission St. 357-1848. www.californiahistoricalsociety.org

(Affordable) Art From the Heart @ NIAD Art Center, Richmond Opening reception for an exhibit and holiday sale of art made by adults with developmental disabilities; all priced from $15-$150. 2pm-5pm. Exhibit thru Dec. 25.

551 23rd St., Richmond. (510) 620-0326. www.niadart.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. 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

Couture Funding a Cure @ Westfield Valley Fair Santa Clara County Gala benefit for the American Cancer Society, with Project Runway’s Anthony Ryan Auld; food, wines, champagne, décor and fashion shows. $125 and up. 6pm-9pm. 2855 Stevens Creek Blvd., Santa Clara (Forest Avenue Entrance). www.gala.acsevents.org

Jasper Johns, Jay DeFeo @ SF MOMA Two exhibits of the American’ artists’ works. Thru Feb 3. Also, Paul Klee’s Circus, Alessandro Pessoli, and other works and ongoing Modern art exhibits. Free-$18.

151 3rd St. at Mission. Thu-Tue 11am5:45pm (8:45 Thursdays). 357-4000. www.sfmoma.org

Mascara @ Castro Country Club The Gratitude Show, hosted by U-Phoria, at the LGBT sober space. $3-$6. 4058 18th St. www.castrocountryclub.org

▼

Out&About >>

November 15-21, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21

with accompanying art works (event is the closing party for the exhibit), collectively performed and composed by a Bay Area ensemble of artists. $7. 9pm. 853 Valencia St. 970-0012. www.michaelzapruder.com www.amnesiathebar.com

Sony Holland @ Yoshi’s Local vocalist with a sweet jazz voice performs with her quintet. $20. 7pm. 1330 Fillmore St. 655-5600. www.yoshis.com

Wesla Whitfield @ The Rrazz Room

Sat 17 Cello Street Quartet @ Stage Werx Theater San Francisco Conservatory of Music graduates’ ensemble performs a concert of classical and pop music. Partial proceeds benefit Magnet SF. Donations. 8pm. 446 Valencia St. Also Dec 2 , 3pm at Magnet SF, 4122 18th St. www.CelloStreetQuartet.com

Nayland Blake @ YBCA FREE!LOVE!TOOL!BOX! , the former Bay Area artist’s new exhibit of conceptual and assembled found-object, personal installations and artworks, each with queer themes, including a DJ booth with his own large record collection; and Nathalie Djurberg’s amazing colorful creature sculptures. $12-$15. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. 979-2787. www.naylandblake.net www.ybca.org

Phantoms of Asia @ Asian Art Museum Exhibit of bold contemporary art with perspectives on life, death, nature and other themes. $12-$15. 200 Larkin St. 581-3500. www.asianart.org

Royal Treasures from the Louvre @ Legion of Honor Exhibit of decorative arts, most never seen in the U.S., from the reigns of Louis XIV to Marie-Antoinette, from the Musée du Louvre, Paris. Free-$20. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. Thru March 17.

Lincoln Park, 34th Ave and Clement St. www.legionofhonor.org

Rudolf Nureyev: A Life in Dance @ de Young Museum Direct from the Centre National du Costume de Scène in Moulins, France, this exhibit displays costumes, photos, videos and ephemera documenting the amazing dancing and choreography of the world-famous gay dancer. Thru Feb 17.

Nov 17, From Tutus to Trunks, special guest lecture with costume designer Connie Strayer, 10am at Koret Auditorium. $6-$20.

Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park.

750-3600. www.famsf.org

trian struggle with a new nanny, and Nazis, gets a local production. $17-$35. Thu-Sat 7pm. Also Sat 2pm. Sun 12pm, 5pm. Thru Dec 2. 2640 College Ave., Berkeley. (510) 845-8542. www.berkeleyplayhouse.org

Toil and Trouble @ La Val’s Subterranean, Berkeley Impact Theatre’s comic update on Shakespeare’s …Scottish play ( MacBeth ). $10$20. Thu-Sat 8pm (no show Thanksgiving).

Thru Dec. 8. 1834 Euclid Ave., Berkeley. www.impacttheatre.com

William S. Paley Collection: A Taste for Modernism @ de Young Museum New exhibit of varied and little seen Modern Art works collected by the New York art patron with a diverse taste, including paintings by Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec and others. $10$20. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. (til 8:45pm Fridays) Thru Dec. 30. Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive. 750-3600. www.famsf.org

Wilson Phillips @ Davies Symphony Hall Grammy-nominated women’s pop band, each kids of Beach Boys or Mamas and the Papas bands, perform songs from Dedicated, their new CD of songs their parents made famous. $15-$75. 8pm. 201 Van Ness Ave. 864-6000. www.sfsymphony.org

Xavier MTW @ Glamarama Foucault at the Food Co., a whimsical visual story exhibit by a local gay artist, at the fab hair salon. Thru Jan. 5, 2013. 304 Valencia St. www.glamarama.com

SF Hiking Club @ Redwood Regional Park

Sun 18>>

Join GLBT hikers for a 9.5-mile loop hike in Redwood Regional Park and Anthony Chabot Park in the Oakland hills. Carpool meets 9:45 at Safeway sign, Market & Dolores. 706-5335. www.sfhiking.com

Josh Klipp and the Klipptones @ Condor Club

SoMa Country @ Beatbox Sundance Saloon’s South of Market event (3rd Saturdays), with two-stepping, linedancing lessons for beginners, and friendly regulars. Cowboy gear not required, but boots or smooth-heeled shoes recommended. $8. 6pm-10pm. 314 11th St. www.sundancesaloon.org

Local crooner and his jazz band perform at the strip club. 3-6pm. 560 Broadway.

781-8222. www.joshklipp.com

LGBT Mixer @ Max’s Lounge, Corte Madera Enjoy a prix fixe menu, drinks and live music with different acts at the weekly LGBT mixer. 6pm-9pm. 60 Madera Blvd., Corte Madera. 924-6297. www.maxscortemadera.blogspot.com

The Sound of Music @ Julia Morgan Theatre, Berkeley

Michael Zapruder @ Amnesia

Rogers & Hammerstein’s classic musical about the Von Trapp family, and their Aus-

Innovative multimedia artist premieres Pink Thunder, a prose poem song cycle

Classy local singer performs jazz and R&B classics with the mike Greensill Trio. $35$45. Various times thru Nov 21. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com

Mon 19>> Piano Bar 101 @ Martuni’s Sing-along night with talented locals, and charming accompanist Joe Wicht (aka Trauma Flintstone). 9pm. 4 Valencia St. at Market. www.dragatmartunis.com

Ten Percent @ Comcast 104 David Perry’s talk show about LGBT people and issues. Mon-Fri 11:30am & 10:30pm.

Sat & Sun 10:30pm. www.comcasthometown.com

Tue 20>> The Drag Show @ Various Channels Stu Smith’s weekly LGBT variety show features local talents, and not just drag artistes. Channels 29 & 76 on Comcast; 99 on AT&T and 30 on Astound. www.thedragshow.org

Funny Tuesdays @ Harvey’s 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

Start Out @ Hot Italian, Emeryville East Bay fall networking event for LGBT entrepreneurs, investors and professionals, at the acclaimed new pizzeria/restaurant. 6pm-8pm. 5959 Shellmound St., Emeryville. (510) 922-1369. www.startout.org/city/san-francisco

Wed 21>> Art With Elders @ City Hall Large group exhibit of works by 90 artists in 30+ local arts programs, all seniors with a lengthy life perspective. Thru Jan. 4.

Reg hours Mon-Fri 8am-8pm. Ground floor, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place. www.sfgov.org

Thu 22 >> (Thanksgiving Day) Dark Sparkle @ Café DuNord

Goth romance spectacle band performs. $5. 9pm. 21+. 2170 Market St. at Sanchez.

861-5016. www.cafedunord.com

Potluck Party @ Castro Country Club Annual open dinner party at the LGBT sober space; Bring a dish to share. 1pm.

4058 18th St. www.castrocountryclub.org

Thanksgiving Brunch + Dinner Buffet @ MarkHopkins Hotel Michael Ethans performs (11am-3pm) and Richardo Scales (3pm-8pm) at two delicious meal servings at the elegant hotel. $59 (kids 4-12)- $105 (adults). 616-6941.

1 Nob Hill www.topofthemark.com

Tubesteak Connection @ Aunt Charlie’s Lounge

Thu 22 Henry Rollins @ Yoshi’s A hot older dude who’s straight but defend us homos, and is performing on a holiday?

Magically delicious. The former punk rocker Black Flag and Rollins Band front man (and unofficial f*g stag) shares his thought-provoking monologue show, The Long March. $25-$30. 7:30pm. Also Nov 23, 7:30pm and Nov 25, 7pm. 1330 Fillmore St. 655-5600. www.yoshis.com

Special “shake your giblets” post-Thanksgiving night, with retro disco tunes and retro cruisy crowd, each Thursday; DJ Bus Station John plays records. $4.

10pm-2am. 133 Turk St. at Taylor. www.auntcharlieslounge.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

<< Leather

22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 15-21, 2012

▼

Scott Brogan

Marlena (Gary) poses with Mr. Hayes Valley Leather 2012 Michael Zane.

Farewell, Mr. Hayes Valley Leather

by Scott Brogan

I

t’s with some sadness that I report that the Mr. Hayes Valley Leather title has been retired. I remember 11 years ago when Gary (aka Marlena) announced the new title, sponsored by Marlena’s Bar on Hayes & Octavia. Some folks in the community scoffed. “How can a drag bar have a leather title?” they asked with more than a hint of sarcasm. Well, didn’t Marlena and her guys, as she called them, prove everyone wrong. Within a few short years, the title became one of the most respected titles this side of the Rockies. Marlena was one of the best sponsors around, never shirking at any cost for her guys.

She almost always doubled the tally of any fundraiser the men had in her bar, out of her own money.

Perhaps more important than Marlena’s unending generosity was the brotherhood of the men who held the title. They certainly embodied what a fraternal organization can and should be. They worked together to help each new Mr. Hayes Valley Leather succeed.

They weren’t the type who solely came out at contest time to wear their vests and smile and wave.

Nope, they were there year-round giving support and advice to each other. Now that’s a real brotherhood.

I’m sorry to see the title retire, but I understand. These days it’s tough to get people interested in running for a leather title, at least a men’s title here in San Francisco. Everything ebbs and flows, and maybe interest will increase in the future, but that’s a discussion for another time. Thank you, guys, and of course Marlena, for 11 great years. You’ve left a wonderful legacy. For the record, here is a list of the 11 Mr. Hayes Valley Leathers: Michael Schaefer (2002); Michael Dumont (2003); Darryl Jansson (2004); Jay Harcourt (2005); Sean Kline (2006); Steve Mayers (2007); Desmond Perrotto (2008); Bryan Duke (2009); Gary Rhodes (2010); JB Kern (2011); and Michael Zane (2012). A retirement/celebration party will be held at Marlena’s on Sun., Jan. 6, 2013.

Nerine named Ms. SF Leather 2012: Nerine was named Ms. SF Leather 2012 on Sat., Oct. 27. First Runner-Up went to Summer Hill. I was unable to attend due to a bad cold, so wasn’t able to get all the details in time for my deadline. I’m told that it was another big success.

I’m not surprised. Each year, the folks who put together the contest

weekend always manage to do a fantastic job. Miranda was back to perform the emcee duties as only she can. She’s hysterical, and one of the best emcees I’ve ever seen. I’m sorry I missed her and the premiere of the new San Francisco Leather Community Chorus, who debuted at the contest.

Nerine now heads to the International Ms. Leather contest next year. Congratulations, Nerine! Thank you, Ms. SF Leather 2011 Miss Bethie Bee, for a wonderful year.

Miss Bethie Bee is relocating to Phoenix, AZ, but I’m sure she’ll be back as often as possible. You can’t shirk this city once it gets in your blood!

No more leather flag: The big news recently has centered on the decision of the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro (MUMC) to stop flying the Leather Pride and Bear Pride flags, or any flags other than the rainbow flag, over the Harvey Milk Plaza at Market & Castro.

The decision comes after the petition by the transgender community to have their flag flown on Nov. 20, which is the Transgender Day of Remembrance. The flag will be flown

on Nov. 20 for 24 hours, but that will be the only time it’s flown unless policies change.

I’m not happy about their decision. On the one hand, I understand the argument that the rainbow flag is meant to represent everyone in our community. On the other hand, I don’t see anything wrong with recognizing our vital and important subcommunities.

On Dec. 1, a red ribbon will be attached to the rainbow flag in honor of World AIDS Day. After that, the rainbow flag will fly, unaltered, 365 days a year. No other flags will be flown. I think it will look odd to have the leather flag banners on the light posts up and down Market Street during Leather Week, but no leather flag. For details about the decision, check out the BAR’s Nov. 1 article by Matthew S. Bajko.

Songs of the Season turns 20: Our very own Leather Empress Donna Sachet’s annual Songs of the Season hits 20 this year. The show is not to be missed, especially this year as there will be a 20-year commemorative CD available at the shows for the first time. Get your tickets fast, this fills up quick! The show runs Sun.-Wed., Nov. 25-28 at the Rrazz Room, and benefits the AIDS Emergency Fund. For tickets and details, go to: www.songsoftheseason.net.▼

Deborah Isadora

(L.-R.:) Miss Bethie Bee, Ms. SF Leather 2011; Nerine, Ms. SF Leather 2012; Summer Hill, First Runner Up, Ms. SF Leather 2012.

▼

Karrnal >>

November 15-21, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23

Happy returns

by John F. Karr

T

he distributor Pornteam has re-issued two flicks featuring a pair of stars I was – and remain – in lust with.

Although both were coincidentally 6’1” tall, they couldn’t have been more different in other ways. Sam Tyson was composed, adult, and groomed to shiny perfection – he’d had several professional careers before becoming a personal trainer.

Dempsey Stearns was a little goofy, twink-ish, and sorta scraggy – he was a skaterboi, after all, with a Peter Pan attitude. Sam was meaty, blue-eyed and blond, with a hairless body and a cock of some girth around which he always wrapped a tight, very tight, cockring; his pubes were tonsured toward oblivion. Dempsey was lean, brown-eyed and black-haired, with a slightly furry body and a thin cock of impressive length which he bandied without accessories – except for a healthy patch of pubic hair, which he left in nearly natural bloom.

Sam’s brightly blond hair was pomaded, controlled; Dempsey’s tousle of Midnight black was free and floppy – most especially his trademark bangs, which were sometimes so long they touched the tip of his nose. I frequently wondered how he could see through them, but he tossed them around, casual and carefree. As I said, Sam and Dempsey were totally different types, but so confident and finelooking that I had turned on to both.

And here they were again, in a pair of blasts from the past that I was eager to see.

Sam had a brief mainstream career.

He was 28 years old and quite robust when he made his debut in Chi Chi LaRue’s 2: The Movie. He bottomed so memorably for fierce Adam Wolfe that Instinct magazine named him Best Newcomer of 2002 (the scene was filmed in Chi Chi’s living room, which was not at all chi-chi). He appeared in only a handful of flicks, and retired from porn in 2003. He’s currently living in LA, running his training business, is investigating a return to porn. I’d vote for that.

I wouldn’t vote for the solo scene filmed by Steve Jerome that’s in the CustomBoys video WebBoys Volume 9. This scene’s a disappointment. He preens and poses, oiled up and shiny, in front of a black backdrop, but stays soft. After a long spell, his cock finally gets as steely as we remember it, but the entire time he’s looking at something out of our sight – perhaps a monitor. I don’t know. He doesn’t look at his cock at all, and though his reaction to cumming is strong, there’s little liquid evidence it happened.

What redeemed the three-scene collection for me was Jose Lopez (who doesn’t look at all ethnic). He’s hung, with cock very hard and very upright. On a webcam at his desk, he receives a viewer’s request for some dildo action, and applies a pair of rather large examples to his smooth asshole. As in the movie’s other scenes, the image is imprecise, but there are nicely filmed and rewarding closeups. The rudimentary lighting can be harsh – not at all flattering to Jose’s acne.

Dempsey Stearns spent the majority of his career, from 2007-09, film-

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Gay Catholic From page 19

their thing, rather than professionally posed pictures.

We find Catholic Schoolboy #2 in his backyard wearing nothing but a pair of wrinkled red boxer shorts that have seen at least 200 punishing wash cycles. While his threadbare underwear may be second-class, his tight,

Dempsey Stearns, in a portrait from Suite 703.

www.ebar.com Sam Tyson, on the cover of WebBoys Volume 9.

ing scenes for the Suite 703 website, where he was usually a bottom. He was around 24 years old (born 1984). He’s in four scenes of AlternaDude’s Skater Sex Vol. 2. The movie’s better-made amateur porn, with creative editing that helps flow. Dempsey gives a chatty interview before a solo (he says he likes 69ing more than anything: “There’s just something about the genital to mouth contact that’s extremely erotic.”)

He’s enraptured with his cock, bearing down hard on the long strokes he applies while jacking off. There are many moments in which he can just barely contain himself, leading to a splashy finale when he flips his legs over his head and squirts his precious boy-juice into

his mouth.

Dempsey also appears in three duo scenes. Jean Luc is 38, long-haired and raunchy. He’s PA-ed, circumcised, and has, says Dempsey, the biggest dick he’s ever taken. “It’s very, very, very, very large.” Jean Luc digs in deep, but it’s a passion-free fuck.

More entertaining is Kade, a cute, long-haired, green-eyed, slutty dude. He sports ball-stretcher, both shaft ring and cock ring, nipple suckers, and a glass dildo, which his sphincter eagerly milks. He eats his cum as he gazes fondly at us. After that, he’s got a three-way with Luke and Orion Cross (they’re not related), who get into dildo play, chain fucking, and cum eating. And, of course, in another scene Kade gets well-fucked by the ever enthusiastic Dempsey. www.PornTeam.com▼

firm build is first-class.

My favorite picture, of Catholic Schoolboy #3, features a textbook example of a perfect, body hair-free, flawless-skin twink in form-fitting turquoise blue Calvin Klein briefs.

He’s peering out an unseen motel room window, holding the purplish curtain back with his left hand, completely oblivious to the camera capturing his boyish magnificence.

Catholic Schoolboy #4 is unique in the collection, posed in a rustic setting on a stone floor, next to a roughhewn adobe or stucco structure, drying off with a towel after a perhaps al fresco shower following a swim at the beach.

There is very little of interest on this site for buns lovers. Almost all of the pictures feature clean-shaven faces and full-frontal visions of masculine perfection.▼

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 15-21, 2012

▼

Music >>

Welcome to the gay club

by Gregg Shapiro

T

he opening cut on Bob Mould’s new disc Silver Age (Merge) “Star Machine” has a familiar ring and crunch to it. The recognizable elements include his trademark plaintive vocals tinged with frustration, and the soaring electric guitar sonics. Working as part of a trio again (see Husker Du and Sugar), Mould has some additional tricks up his sleeve, including the punky pop of “The Descent,” the fury of “Briefest Moment,” the galloping “Fugue State” and the warmth of “First Time Joy.” Aside from the renewed musical force of the disc, Mould has written some of his most memorable lyrics here as well.

Dudley Saunders continues to travel the acoustic path on his striking fourth disc Monsters (Strange Troubadours). You can still hear Joni Mitchell’s influence on Saunders, particularly in the vocals on “Zero Out (in These Boxes)” and in the guitar on “What I Won’t Do.” Saunders displays his literary leanings on “Roving,” based on the poem by Lord Byron. The touch of twang on “Rosewood Casket” and “Wheelchair in the 7-11 Parking Lot” are also pleasing to the ear.

Pet Shop Boys are 25 years into a recording career that first found them at the forefront of electronic Brit-pop and then becoming danceclub chart-toppers, before dabbling in theatrical and acoustic music. After a dozen studio albums, the gay duo begin their latest Elysium (Astralwerks) on a mellow note with “Leaving” and

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The Dark Mirror

From page 18

untrustworthy and manipulative. For the latter, de Havilland reveals a sexy, seductive, ultimately dangerous persona. She’s not a flamboyant femme fatale, but she’s just as deadly. She makes each sister distinct

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“Invisible.” But the payoff comes in the snarky humor of “Your Early Stuff,” sung in the voice of an honest fan who longs for the old days. PSB unleash one full-fledged dance track, “A Face Like That,” but show that they are still interested in exploring electronic possibilities on songs “Ego Music” and “Requiem in Denim and Leopardskin.”

“Crate & Barrel” from Ian Wilson’s This Is Water (ianwilsonmusic.com) is one of the rawest breakup songs ever written.

A song about someone who “took everything that wasn’t nailed down,” it sticks with you long after it’s over.

Bay Area institution Jim e Sparkle Pants returns with the 17-track disc Beyond the Boundaries, a benefit for Positive Being (positivebeing.org).

Sparkle Pants is an acquired taste worth acquiring, especially for the forgiveness mantra of “Under the Ceiba Tree” and the hip-shaking electro-pop of “Dancing on Sage Leaves.” A celebration of those who came before and paved the way, including Henry Gerber, Harry Hay, Jameses Broughton and Baldwin, Bayard Rustin and others, “Sage Leaves” doesn’t neglect the women either (“the lesbians who pushed through their struggle on their own two feet”).

There’s no problem finding some-

thing to like about Problematical Animals (Scenic Route) by Joseph Mulhollen. The Baltimore-based singer/ songwriter has a knack for writing and performing catchy tunes of a folk/ pop nature. Animals are represented in the 16 songs on the disc. Further highlights include the rock-edged “A Matter of Division,” the layered “I Was a Hammer Hitting Air,” the pianodriven “We Mark Our Homes,” and the strings of “Singing in a Well.”

Stephen Nance, “a singer-songwriter specializing in awkwardly charming, vegan, straight-edge, queer, alternative, piano folk rock,” makes his delightful debut on A Troubled Piece of Fruit (stephannance.com).

Eminently cuddly on “Cuddlefish,” Nance also excels on the jagged waltz “Fall,” the lightly brassy “Made in Vermont,” and the fragrant bloom of “Japanese Garden,” with its nod to Regina Spektor.

With his third album Because I Am Always Talking (terrorbird.com), Careful (aka Eric Lindley) could teach home-schooled horror show Owl City a thing or two about being a oneperson operation. More akin to the brilliance of Perfume Genius, Careful is as willing as ever to try new things.

The audible evidence of that can be heard on the Auto-Tunes effects of “It’s Funny.”

On the ambitious and reward-

ing Nameless and Awake (reubenbutchart.com), eight poems by John William Carroll are set to music and performed by Reuben Butchart & The Millworkers. Matt Zarley is back to set your body and emotions in motion with his disc Change Begins with Me (mattzarley.com). Jon Arterton (of The Flirtations fame) and his husband James Mack celebrate same-sex love and life on Legally Married – and the sky didn’t fall! (jonandjames.com).

Canadian piano man Jeffery Straker returns to tickle the ivories in his own fashion on Under the Soles of My Shoes (jeffstraker.com). Lucid (Emote) is the latest from prolific singer/songwriter Gregory Douglass.▼

and believable. In a few scenes, she’s burdened by histrionic conventions of the era, but for the most part, she’s first-rate, especially in the final scenes, where the twisted sister has a mesmerizing breakdown.

Ayres brings conviction and authority to what could have been a thankless role. Mitchell gives a char-

acteristically fine performance. Also in the cast is a strikingly handsome Richard Long, years before television’s The Big Valley.

Producer Nunnaly Johnson wrote the sharp screenplay, based on a novel by Vladimir Pozner. Irene Sharaff designed the costumes. Milton Krasner’s shadowy cinematog-

raphy adds to the suspense, as does Dimitri Tiomkin’s score.

The Dark Mirror helped de Havilland broaden her range. She would play another woman with a severe mental condition in The Snake Pit (1948), winning a New York Film Critics Award for her performance.

She would garner that award again

and collect a second Best Actress Oscar as the vengeful Catherine Sloper in The Heiress (1949). She was appropriately ambiguous as the mysterious My Cousin Rachel (1952), and in Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), her glamorous, villainous Miriam nearly drove Bette Davis mad.▼

Rhino season

From page 13

actually like himself. “I think that was going on with a lot of gay men at the time,” Fisher said. “These were supposed to be my gay role models, which I think is part of the reason I didn’t feel comfortable being gay.”

Serious ruminations are more in the subtext, while the overt action opts for a comedic and at times “naughty” tone, to use Fisher’s word.

“It’s mostly about sex and love and finding yourself,” he said. “I think of it like a John Hughes movie, like The Breakfast Club or Pretty in Pink.”

Slugs and Kicks is the first of four theatrical productions making up a season that also includes a New Year’s Eve show returning singer-comedian Lea DeLaria to the Victoria Theatre, and a benefit show featuring big names in local LGBT entertainment at the Eureka Theatre on March 24. The series will unfold at multiple venues, an itinerancy that began when Theatre Rhino abandoned its 16th Street digs in 2009.

“We dialed back when we moved, but we’ve grown for the past four years,” Fisher said. “Funding has increased, and our budget is actually larger this year than last. It feels healthy.”

Eureka Theatre will be home to the second play of the season, Tennessee Williams’ Something Cloudy, Something Clear, beginning performances on Jan. 2. The heavily autobiographical play, about a playwright’s unrequited love for another man during a Provincetown summer, continues Fisher’s interest in lesser-known Williams. “A lot of other theaters take care of the big stuff,” Fisher said, “but I

Courtesy Joe Hazan

Singer-comedian Lea DeLaria returns to the Victoria Theatre for her second New Year’s Eve appearance for Theatre Rhino.

think there’s a lot in these other works that people don’t always see, and I love that.”

It will again be the Eureka Theatre for the March production of A Lady and a Woman that examines the love between two African-American women in the late 19th century.

Fisher discovered Georgia-based Shirlene Holmes’ scant-produced

1997 play while browsing the gay/ lesbian shelves at the public library.

“When I read it, I was just amazed,” he said. “I thought it was one of the most consistent plays about a lesbian relationship that I had ever read.”

Rhino will move into the Costume Shop, ACT’s Mid-Market performing space, for its final production of the season in late spring.

Tennessee Williams is seen in Provincetown in the early 1940s, when he began writing what became Something Cloudy, Something Clear.

Drunk Enough to Say I Love You, a recent play by Caryl Churchill (Cloud Nine), looks at applications of U.S. power around the world, and specifically the Bush-Blair relationship, through a homosexual affair between two men. “I think if you were gay-lib minded enough you could get upset by the way she uses

a gay relationship,” Fisher said, “but that’s what makes it challenging and exciting. That’s Churchill as an ultimate provocateur.”▼ For season tickets, as well as single tickets to Slugs and Kicks, call (800) 838-3006 or go to www.therhino.org.

▼

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November 15-21, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25

Books>>

Rainbow lifesavers

by Jim Piechota Oddly Normal: A Memoir by John Schwartz; Gotham Books, $26

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ew York Times national correspondent John Schwartz’s relevant and beautifully affecting memoir Oddly Normal begins with tragedy and ends with hope and the kind of epiphany that only comes from being a parent with an open mind and an unconditional heart.

It’s an important book for parents about raising and nurturing a gay child “in the age of Tyler Clementi, Proposition 8, and Glee,” but it’s also for gay kids who may have lost hope because either their parents, their friends, or their school administrators consider them a lost cause just because of their sexuality.

In 2009, when the author’s wife called him frantically to report that their 13-year-old son Joe had “taken a lot of pills” (dozens of Benadryl tablets) and attempted suicide, his trip, via mass transit during rush hour from Manhattan to New Jersey, was an excruciating one. Young Joe had been complaining to his father recently about becoming “seized with dark thoughts,” but had refused Schwartz’s offer of therapy, and now this. Joe had been outing himself to his classmates at school after coming out to his parents a week earlier, a move that was met

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continue to horrify the American public like the Tyler Clementi case, where a Rutgers University student leapt off the George Washington Bridge. He and his wife Jeanne’s involvement in PFLAG brought a new understanding of the coming out experience for gay kids. Books like Schwartz’s get the word out that there is hope.

At the close of the book, Joe Schwartz announces his decision during the spring of his freshman year in high school to dye his hair purple. His father is cautionary about the possible backlash from other students, but it all worked out, surprisingly enough with the aid of one of the school jocks, who displayed unexpected respect and maturity. Joseph closes out the memoir with his hand-drawn fable about an odd boy named Leo who liked boys and was “quite normal in many ways, but quite odd in other ways.”

In coming to their son’s rescue with support, patience, education, and information, Schwartz and his wife set a smart example of the loving upbringing of a gay child. These are the kinds of parents who make being gay a different kind of wonderful blessing.▼ Author John Schwartz will read from Oddly Normal on Tues., Nov. 20, 7:30 p.m., at Books, Inc., 2275 Market St., SF.

Jasper Johns

though, that hint at the personal and psychological, like the series of paintings and works on paper (1962-63) that ruminate on the life, writing and untimely death of gay poet Hart Crane, who committed suicide by jumping from a cruise ship in 1932. In “Land’s End,” a large oil on canvas, an outstretched arm with a raised hand reaches upward, suggesting Crane’s drowning and the last moments before he was swallowed by the ocean. Words, the poet’s tools of the trade, are used in unexpected ways with letters reversed or falling off the edge of the canvas.

Johns meditates on the life cycle in “The Seasons” (1989-90), a trio

From page 13

power couple, choreographer Merce Cunningham and John Cage, the visual artist, composer, theorist, writer and exponent of so-called “chance operations.” All were part of a lively Neo-Dada scene in New York during the late 1950s.

A step ahead of fashionable trends, Johns turned away, early on, from the then-prevailing infatuation with Abstract Expressionism and its chokehold on postwar art, opting instead for conventional pop-cultural symbols like targets, alphabet letters and numbers that he appropriated for his own purposes. Yes, that’s the Mona Lisa enigmatically smiling, swathed in a sea of orange and peering out from underneath the diagonal stem of the number 7.

The American flag, his seminal, best-known work, is a favorite ritual image he often revisited (several incarnations are on view here). He once said that as he wasn’t required to design it, he had plenty of room to toy with layers of meaning. The same could be said of his lead and bronze sculptures of flashlights and light bulbs divorced from their power sources.

Subscribing to the theories of Marcel Duchamp, Johns places the onus on viewers to complete a work, and makes them complicit in giving it meaning. These esoteric explorations of knowing, seeing and believing, and the relationship between language and image can come off as a detached intellectual exercise

<<

with solid acceptance and support.

That was not the particular case at his school, where Joe bonded more with the girls than the boys. Most of his so-called “friendly” classmates became uncomfortable with his openness, began mocking him, and reported his disclosure to counselors. Subsequently, schoolteachers accused him of having “boundary issues,” and administrators urged him to seek medical and psychiatric evaluations for an alphabetic amalgam of neurological and behavioral abnormalities. The Schwartzs would spend years considering these possibilities, but inside they truly believed that Joe’s main issue was an inability of those around him to accept that he was a gay teenager who was fully at ease in his own rainbow skin.

Schwartz compassionately describes Joe’s childhood as “flamboyant.” The boy was more interested in dressing up Barbie to the nines and wearing pink light-up shoes than in participating in sports. Schwartz’s futile efforts to get him on the playing field were “frustrating bordering on the disastrous.” Still, they just “rolled with it – initially surprised, and occasionally amused.”

Schwartz flexes his reporting acumen and delves deep into the fixations troubling gay teens. He plumbs the ways in which gay youth are cruelly bullied, and dispenses harrowing suicide statistics that

SF DocFest

From page 19

Republican-dominated House has resisted the Obama administration’s domestic revival policies. Since the early 70s, maverick filmmakers have had to depend on the film festival circuit and cable TV to bring their product to the public.

Swedish director Fredrik Gertten ran up against the spirit of the Nixon info-suppressing policies when his 2009 doc exposing health prob-

Jasper Johns and Gemini G.E.L./Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Figure 2, from Black Numeral Series (1968) by Jasper Johns; lithograph, ed. 22/70: explorations of knowing and seeing.

and leave one cold. They engage the mind and remain remote. That impression is reinforced by the Jay DeFeo retrospective, which by coincidence or design opened on the same date and on the same floor.

Contrasted with the sensual, earth-

moving art on the walls of the DeFeo galleries just across the way, the Johns exhibit seems oblique, cerebral. Given the proximity of the shows, the impulse to compare them is inescapable.

There are areas of Johns’ work,

lems facing Nicaraguan bananaplantation workers was attacked by the Dole Corporation. Invited to show Bananas at the LA Film Festival, Gertten found himself the target of a Dole-sponsored lawsuit and PR campaign. As the LA Festival folks developed cold feet, insisting that a disclaimer alleging there was fraudulent reporting in the film be read before its screening, Gertten found his reputation under attack, his film business facing ruinous penalties and a toxic media climate fueled by

a Dole-sponsored e-mail whispering campaign.

Gertten’s story has an improbable happy ending thanks to the efforts of a pro bono legal team and the unexpected alliance of Swedish politicians from the left to the right hitting back at the perceived threat of “Yankee” Big Brother censorship to long-cherished Swedish press freedoms. (Roxie, 11/17, 20; Shattuck, 11/15)▼ www.sfindie.com

of prints inspired by Picasso’s painting “Minotaur Moving his House.”

Originally created as paintings, they reflect on the ephemeral, fluid nature of time. A tall, shadowy, faceless figure, an intimation of mortality, or perhaps the artist, is a constant in the changing tableaux. A rendering of a partially obscured Mona Lisa (and a flag) appear in “Summer”; a profile of Johns’ patron saint, Duchamp, has a cameo in “Fall”; and, in the cool lavender light of “Winter,” childhood memories of snowmen stalk the memory in old age.▼ Jasper Johns: Seeing with the Mind’s Eye, at SFMOMA through Feb. 3.

Serving the LGBT communities since 1971

26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • November 15-21, 2012

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by Gregg Shapiro

Y

ou have to pity poor Michael Jackson. As if an early death (at 50, in 2009) wasn’t probably already in the cards for the eternal child star, the King of Pop had the daunting task of following up his bazillionselling Thriller album. While 1987’s Bad fell short of what came before it, including Jackson’s previous Quincy Jones collaborations Off the Wall (1979) and Thriller (1982), it wasn’t half-bad. The newly reissued deluxe (3 CD/1 DVD) 25th anniversary edition of Bad (MJJ Productions/Epic/Legacy) consists of a remastered version of the original album, a disc of rare and unreleased tracks (French and Spanish versions of “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” and the bizarre and controversial

“Song Groove, aka Abortion Papers”), the live CD/DVD from Jackson’s July 1988 Wembley concert, a pair of booklets, a sticker and a poster.

Bad opens with the title track, retaining the MJ-as-tough-guy spirit of “Beat It” from Thriller. “The Way You Make Me Feel,” a well-deserved hit single, is a triumph, but “Speed Demon” hints at the hiccup-singing style that Jackson unfortunately mined until his death. While “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” also ranks among his best (listen to him sing!), the inexplicably popular “Man in the Mirror” was Jackson at his most manipulative. Frankly, Jackson was a man who desperately needed to take a look in the mirror, not just sing about pretending to do so. “Leave Me Alone,” the final track, originally a CD-only bonus cut (back when Bad was originally

released on vinyl, too), is the strongest song on the disc, and one of the best he ever wrote. Pissed off and rocking, it’s the declaration of independence Jackson always needed to make.

If Michael Jackson was the King of Pop, then R.E.M. were the Kings of College Radio (later known as alternative music). In a career spanning 30 years, Athens, Georgia’s R.E.M., led by queer frontman Michael Stipe, defined modern rock.

On their early recordings, from the exposed jangle-pop roots of beloved recordings such as Murmur and Reckoning to the dark folk of Fables of the Reconstruction to the beginnings of their mainstream pop breakthrough on Life’s Rich Pageant, R.E.M. paved the way for themselves and the multitude of im imitators grabbing at t their crown, who arr rived in their wake. It w was probably unint tentional, but Docum ment (I.R.S./Capitol), R R.E.M.’s fifth album, r released in 1987 (the l last one before they r relocated to Warner B Brothers), could easi be the soundtrack ily f 2012. That works for o well for the reout r released, expanded, d double-CD, 25th ann niversary edition of Document. As prescient as anything in R R.E.M.’s oeuvre, Stipe sings about signs of the times in the aptly titled “Exhuming McCarthy,” including being “loyal to the Bank of America” as well as “vested interest united ties, landed gentry rationalize.”

If that isn’t enough, the list of cheerily delivered catastrophes in “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine),” including the eerie line “don’t get caught in foreign towers” indicates that there may have been a crystal ball present. An innovative disc in its own right, Document also featured the modest hit “The One I Love” and a blistering electric edge beginning with “Finest Worksong” and concluding with “Oddfellows Local 151.” The attractively packaged anniversary set includes a 20-track live disc recorded in Holland, a large poster, booklet and postcards.▼

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November 15-21, 2012 • Bay Area Reporter • 27

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