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Therapy center youth group
Big Moby
The
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Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
MUMC re-examines rainbow flag policy
Sponsors nervous about Pride post by Seth Hemmelgarn
S
ome sponsors who have worked with the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee for years are expressing serious concerns about the board of directors looking to replace ExJane Philomen Cleland ecutive Director Bren- Pride Executive dan Behan. Director Over the past year Brendan Behan and a half, Behan has helped bring the nonprofit out of grave financial and leadership troubles, and the board’s recent decision to seek someone new surprised many, including Behan, who said in September when the board’s intentions were publicly revealed that he planned to apply for the post. See page 13 >>
Vol. 42 • No. 42 • October 18-24, 2012
by Matthew S. Bajko
F
The giant rainbow flag flies near Market and Castro streets.
Accusations, ad rock supe races S
Rick Gerharter
acing renewed criticism over how it oversees the Castro’s iconic giant rainbow flag, the gayborhood’s merchant group is re-examining its policies regarding the flagpole at Harvey Milk Plaza. Less than eight months after it posted online written guidelines on how individuals could request to have the flag lowered to honor leaders who have died or for other commemorative purposes, the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro has rescinded the policy. The group, better known as MUMC, will no longer agree to fly the 20-by-30-foot flag at half-staff. “The reality is the flag should never be lowered. It is not safe,” said MUMC President Terry Asten Bennett, whose family owns Cliff ’s Variety. Since its dedication on November 7, 1997, the flag has been lowered less than a dozen times. But Asten Bennett now says it was a mistake to do so. “It should never have been lowered in the first place. It was designed to be flown at full-staff,” she said. See page 10 >>
BAY AREA REPORTER
election endorsements
by Matthew S. Bajko
exual misconduct accusations and a bizarre ad some are calling homophobic have rocked two San Francisco supervisor races in recent days, upending what had been a relatively quiet campaign season. The back-to-back October surprises come less than three weeks before Election Day Tuesday, November 6. In the case of the contested race for the District 5 seat on the Board of Supervisors, the campaign of nonprofit executive Julian Davis is in tumult. The SF Weekly broke the news Monday, October 15 that two women claim Davis inappropriately groped them six years ago. Davis has denied the accusations, though he admitted to the paper that he was “too forward” with the women and had apologized. According to the report, Kay Vasilyeva decided to go public after progressive leaders ignored her concerns about Davis and the candidate sent her a cease-and-desist letter last week threatening to sue her for defamation. The fallout has been swift. Both Supervisors John Avalos and David Campos rescinded their endorsements of Davis. And on Wednesday the Bay Guardian not only withdrew its backing of Davis but called for him to drop out of the race. In a press release sent Tuesday, Davis ques-
Rick Gerharter
Candidate Julian Davis
tioned the timing of the article. The statement, which included a photo of Vasilyeva with Mayor Ed Lee and described her as a “longtime political insider who works for” the mayor, claimed that she has ties to both District 5 Supervisor See page 2 >>
GENERAL ELECTION
Local Races: San Francisco Supervisors Dist. 1: Eric Mar Dist. 3: David Chiu Dist. 5: Christina Olague, first choice London Breed, second choice Dist. 7: Francis “FX” Crowley, first choice Norman Yee, second choice Joel Engardio, third choice Dist. 9: David Campos Dist. 11: John Avalos San Francisco Board of Education Matt Haney, Sandra Fewer, Rachel Norton, Jill Wynns San Francisco Community College Board Rafael Mandelman, Amy Bacharach, Rodrigo Santos BART Board, Dist. 7 Lynette Sweet
{ FIRST OF TWO SECTIONS }
BART Board, Dist. 9 Tom Radulovich
Dist. 18: Abel Guillen Dist. 24: Rich Gordon
Oakland City Council Dist. 3: Sean Sullivan At-large: Rebecca Kaplan
Congress (Bay Area) Dist. 2: Jared Huffman Dist. 3: John Garamendi Dist. 5: Mike Thompson Dist. 11: George Miller Dist. 12: Nancy Pelosi Dist. 13: Barbara Lee Dist. 14: Jackie Speier Dist. 17: Mike Honda Dist. 18: Anna Eshoo Dist. 19: Zoe Lofgren
NATIONAL RACES President Barack Obama/Joe Biden STATE RACES U.S. Senate Dianne Feinstein State Senate (San Francisco) Dist. 11: Mark Leno State Assembly (San Francisco) Dist. 17: Tom Ammiano Dist. 19: Phil Ting State Senate (East Bay) Dist. 9: Loni Hancock State Assembly (Regional) Dist. 15: Nancy Skinner
BALLOT MEASURES
San Francisco Propositions Vote YES on A, B, C, D, E, G Vote NO on F California Propositions Vote YES on 30, 34, 36, 37, 40 Vote NO on 31, 32, 33, 35, 38, 39
Remember to vote on November 6!
<< Community News
2 • BAY AREA REPORTER • October 18-24, 2012
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Shanti honors Pelosi H
ouse Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is all smiles as former Ambassador James Hormel presents her with Shanti’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the nonprofit’s 38th annual benefit October 10 at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. Pelosi (D-San Francisco) was lauded for her work on HIV/AIDS over her 25 years in Congress. Shanti was one of the early organizations to step up when the AIDS epidemic hit, and now provides practical support to people living with HIV/AIDS and those living with breast cancer.
Jane Philomen Cleland
<<
ebar.com
Supe races
From page 1
Christina Olague and candidate London Breed. “The allegation is untrue,” said Davis. “I know politics can be dirty business, and I have faith in the voters of District 5 to see through this October Surprise.” Olague described Vasilyeva as an acquaintance from past campaigns they worked on but said “I don’t know her” and that she “hasn’t volunteered at all on my campaign.” As for Davis, she criticized him for “pointing fingers at everybody else when it was their decision to go with the cease and desist letter. That is what seems to be why people went back and began asking questions.” Breed also refuted suggestions her campaign had something to do with the story. “We don’t have time to focus our efforts on taking down another candidate. I don’t operate that way,” said Breed. “It is very unfortunate. I don’t take pleasure in the misery of others.”
Jane Philomen Cleland
A crowd of about 100 people held a spirited rally outside the San Francisco Association of Realtors offices Monday, denouncing an ad by the group targeting District 1 Supervisor Eric Mar.
On Wednesday, following the Guardian’s decision, Davis vowed to remain in the race and again questioned the timing of the story. “I have met with my campaign team, and we remain confident that we can win this race, and serve the people of District 5 with honor and distinction,” stated Davis. “The city faces critical issues that need to be addressed. I believe, as others have stated, I have by far the best grasp on the policies that most affect people here.” It is the second incident where inappropriate behavior has been at issue in the race for the Haight and Western Addition seat. Last week Olague generated praise and rebukes after she joined with three of her board colleagues, including Avalos and Campos, to reinstate former District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi as sheriff. Earlier this year Lee had suspended Mirkarimi without pay on grounds of official misconduct. The decision came after Mirkarimi pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge stemming from an argument with his wife that left a bruise on her arm. The political drama that convulsed City Hall for months also shone a spotlight on the issue of domestic violence. The heated public debate sparked by Mirkarimi’s arrest has now cast a shadow over the charges Davis is facing. He addressed the contention some have made that the supervisors’ decision in the Mirkarimi case impacted their withdrawing their support of his candidacy in an email Davis sent to supporters. “No one can deny that there is
presently a particular sensitivity around domestic violence issues, and this may have been a contributing factor in their decision in this instance,” wrote Davis. “I want to emphasize that I respect this heightened sensitivity and I will not criticize those allies of mine that have chosen to withdraw support.”
Bizarre ad triggers complaints In the race for the District 1 supervisor seat in the Richmond, where incumbent Eric Mar is facing a strong challenge from David Lee, who with his wife operates a State Farm insurance business, a bizarre ad paid for by the San Francisco Association of Realtors has come under fire. Critics have called the ad homophobic due to a sequence that shows three men in a hot tub. It is a reference to a comment Mar made where he invited his board colleagues to join him in the steam room at the YMCA. Others accused the Realtors’ ad of being racist for having children, seen walking through the streets banging pots and pans, chant “Send Mar back to Mars.” They contend the phrase implies that Mar, who is Asian American, is an illegal alien or an illegal immigrant in the country. Linda Bianchi, listed as the Realtor group’s interim chief executive officer, did not respond to the B.A.R.’s request for comment. But several gay and lesbian members of the group criticized the association for producing the ad. See page 13 >>
On the web
Correction
Online content this week includes the Bay Area Reporter’s online columns, Political Notes and Wedding Bell Blues; the Jock Talk and Out in the World columns; articles on the presidential debate and a Massachusetts congressional race; and a photo from First United Lutheran’s reconciliation service. www.ebar.com.
Due to a problem with its voicemail system, the GLBT Seniors Advocacy Project has had to change its phone number to (415) 354-6379. The online version of last week’s article about GSAP, “Program offers legal help to low-income LGBT seniors,” has been updated.
Read more online at www.ebar.com
October 18-24, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 3
<< Open Forum
4 • BAY AREA REPORTER • October 18-24, 2012
Volume 42, Number 42 October 18-24, 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 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
LEGAL COUNSEL Paul H. Melbostad
Put your clothes on T
he controversy over nudists in the Castro is an example of what happens when a group of people overreach. In this case, a détente of sorts had existed between a small group of nudists, who liked to congregate in Jane Warner Plaza, and Castro residents and merchants. Last year, in an effort to address concerns from constituents, Supervisor Scott Wiener authored legislation that required the nudists – almost always men – to put a towel under themselves when they use shared seating. The law, passed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors, also banned nudity in restaurants. Reaction was mixed, however, with some saying the law didn’t go far enough, and others saying there were more pressing matters for the city to address. Since then, however, the nudists have gone too far. They have become more aggressive in the Castro. Some don cock rings – euphemistically referred to as “genital jewelry” – to simulate an erection. Others, according to witnesses, shake their dicks at oncoming traffic, obviously seeking a reaction. They seek attention by parading up and down Castro Street and have taken over Jane Warner Plaza to the point that other residents can’t enjoy it. Many families with children avoid the Castro, and it’s having a negative effect on businesses who are struggling enough already in this economy. It’s clear that the towel ordinance wasn’t enough and Wiener has now introduced legislation that would ban nudity in San Francisco. We support the nudity ordinance. We did not arrive at our decision lightly. We are well aware that gay men used to be subject to sting operations and other harassment from law enforcement; sometimes, they still are. But given the no-holds barred actions of the nudists, we say enough is enough. It’s time for everyone to enjoy the Castro, including its parklets, plazas, and businesses. We don’t think the Castro nudists are exercising the judgment expected among natur-
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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. Advertising rates available upon request. Our list of subscribers and advertisers is confidential and is not sold. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, and writers published herein is neither inferred nor implied. We are not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.
Rick Gerharter
Nudists went for a stroll through Jane Warner Plaza in August.
ist groups themselves, such as respect and decorum. Wiener’s legislation is reasonable regulation and doesn’t come with onerous consequences, such as sex offender registration, for those convicted of violating it. We admit we were somewhat amused by the “nude in” at the recent Castro Street Fair comprised of mostly young, well-toned gym bunnies who wanted the world to know that not just fat, old men enjoy nudity, and their slogan: “Weeners Not Wiener.” But when one person’s liberty infringes on the rights of others, it is time to strike a reasonable balance. In our society, freedom of expression is not without limits. As famed Supreme Court Justice and civil libertarian Oliver Wendell Holmes reminded us nearly 100 years ago, one cannot shout “Fire” in a crowded theater. Governments place reasonable restrictions on freedom of expression all the time: people can’t play loud music all night long; protest zones are established for demonstrations. A fundamental tenet of the
First Amendment is the regulation of time, place, and manner. For the nudists, that time might be the Folsom Street Fair or the Pride Parade. The place might be Baker Beach, part of which is clothing optional. And manner means lots of notice. There is no advance notice when you’re exiting the Castro Muni station or walking in the Castro and immediately confronted by a bunch of nudists. People have a right not to be subjected with that in-yourface exhibitionism. And that’s what it has become. The nudists aren’t about blending in and, in this case, individual liberty has to take a back seat to collective liberty. There are community standards and while San Francisco has decidedly more lenient standards than many other cities (that’s one of the city’s enduring characteristics) that doesn’t mean they are completely without limit. We as the LGBT community have lost a lot of blood and sweat to be acknowledged for who we are. The nudists are degrading the neighborhood. There’s a time and place for nudity in San Francisco. Public places, the Castro nudists have shown us with their exhibitionism, no longer meet those criteria.▼
Sullivan, Kaplan for Oakland council T
his year the Oakland City Council will get at least three new members and that is welcome news to residents. For too long the council has been dysfunctional, to the point that meetings have been canceled because protesters have halted proceedings. That shouldn’t happen in local government and, when it does, it’s clear that new leadership is needed. On the other hand, voters have an opportunity to retain one of the councilmembers who is effective and who has shaken things up since she took office four years ago. We’re endorsing two candidates for the November election: Sean Sullivan in District 3, and incumbent Rebecca Kaplan for the atlarge seat.
District 3
BAY AREA REPORTER
▼
Oakland’s District 3 is a vibrant mix that includes West Oakland, downtown and Uptown, Telegraph and Mosswood, Adams Point, Eastlake, and Jack London Square. Of the six candidates running, Sean Sullivan has the experience and background to begin work immediately. He almost won against the incumbent four years ago and this time the seat is open. Sullivan is a gay man who understands neighbors’ concerns about public safety, and attracting businesses to the district. One of the big problems in Oakland right now is the police department. It faces a federal takeover in December if a federal judge decides that not enough progress has been made fixing numerous deficiencies, all stemming from the infamous Riders case back in 2000 in which some officers were accused of beating and framing suspects in West Oakland. The city paid out millions of dollars in lawsuits stemming from the cases and OPD was ordered to make substantial reforms. To date, according to a San Francisco Chronicle article this week, several of the reforms have not been completed. Sullivan told us that he hopes the department is not placed in federal receivership. If that happens, he said, the city might be ordered to hire 1,000 officers and that would
Elliot Owen
Oakland City Council candidate Sean Sullivan makes a point during a recent forum.
immediately shut down libraries, parks and result in more furloughs of other city workers. Instead, he would like to see the department complete the reforms on its own. Public safety is a dominant issue in Oakland, which just had its 100th homicide of the year this week. But Sullivan does not support gang injunctions or curfews for young people. He has said that he favors more community policing in the district, where officers walk the beats and get to know people in the neighborhood. And he does support hiring more officers, but at a rate that the city can afford. Right now there is an academy in session with 35 potential officers. “What we need to do, we need to continue to fund police academies,” he told us. “We also need to get more police on the streets.” He pointed out that the city purchased a fleet of bicycles for police, but that they are largely unused – he would like to change that. Sullivan believes the culture of the police department needs to change, including greater training around diversity.
Next to public safety, the economy is an equally important issue as Oakland struggles with high unemployment, particularly in communities of color. A Target store that opened last year on the Oakland-Emeryville border employs local residents and brought in an unexpected $6 million in tax revenue, he noted. Plans for the former Oakland Army Base must include smart growth. He envisions some of the tech jobs in Emeryville migrating to West Oakland and wants to change the perception that Oakland is unfriendly to business and unsafe. Sullivan would be a strong addition to the City Council. He would be the first out gay man in several years, in a city that has an increasing LGBT population. He is an advocate for more transparency in local government – something that the city desperately needs.
At-large The city of Oakland is divided into seven council districts and then there is the eighth seat, at-large, which represents the entire city. Out lesbian Rebecca Kaplan won this seat in a landside four years ago and deserves a second term. Kaplan’s path to re-election became complicated this summer when longtime District 5 Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente decided to run against her rather than seek re-election to his Fruitvale area seat. It’s been speculated that De La Fuente entered the atlarge race in an effort to bolster his chances at running for mayor in two years. Kaplan is the city’s most popular political leader and has managed to accomplish several initiatives since taking office. Perhaps most importantly, she voted against the police layoffs a couple years ago, although she was on the short end of that vote. She supports Operation Ceasefire (as does Sullivan), an innovative crime prevention program that works with offenders and offers them help. She supports creative and successful programs to help with ex-felon re-entry, which are necessary for the city where a majority of crimes are committed by ex-offenders, who are often released from prison with no resources to make positive changes in their lives. See page 5 >>
â–ź
Letters >>
October 18-24, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 5
Fly the trans pride flag I am shocked and stunned by the decision of the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro to refuse to fly the transgender flag on November 20, the Transgender Day of Remembrance. The transgender community is a significant part of our community – they are the “T� in LGBT, after all. They are the most maligned and neglected members of our community, the most ostracized – even by other members of the LGBT community. Flying the transgender flag on a day that commemorates transgender people whose lives were lost to hate and violence would be a powerful gesture of inclusiveness for a marginalized group. I recognize MUMC’s stated policy is to always the rainbow flag at full staff to symbolize the strength and pride of the community. But that stated policy belies MUMC’s own actions. The flag always flies at full staff – except when it doesn’t. The rainbow pride flag is always flown – except when it’s switched to another flag. MUMC’s website says that the exception for the international leather flag is due to longstanding tradition. The flagpole itself has only been there for 15 years, so I don’t know exactly how they want to define “longstanding.� And I know the flying of the bear flag didn’t begin until 2011. I enjoy seeing the leather and bear flags flown, but it is offensive to cater to chosen cultural communities while denying it for the core identity for some members of our community. One’s sexual and gender orientation are fundamental, core, immutable parts of one’s identity. Being into the leather or bear cultures is not. And it is offensive to deny it for one while allowing it for the others. In the past, I have defended MUMC’s decisions to be cautious about lowering the flag. I understand and accept the reluctance to yield to every request. The flag should, in general, not be constantly changed or lowered for every whim. And MUMC, which pays for the flag’s insurance and maintenance, needs to maintain some measure of regularly adhered standards. But when the board chooses to deny a single day for a core part of our community while allowing entire weeks for lifestyle choices, I’m beginning to rethink my position. I hope MUMC will reconsider and fly the transgender flag on November 20. Kevin Goebel San Francisco
Twisted logic in nudity debate John F. Karr’s column on October 11 [“Illustrating the Butch,� Karrnal Knowledge] excoriates the “petulant, adolescent,� “self-centered,� “Castro nudists� for exercising their legal rights and therefore (supposedly) causing San Francisco to eliminate the liberties of everyone else. If this same twisted logic were applied to, say, the current controversy over voter-suppression laws in Mississippi and other states, then we should blame these restrictive, partisan voting laws on the self-centered people of color who had the audacity to exercise their legitimate voting rights in recent elections. I hope that Karr will reexamine his whole argument, this time with more clarity of thought. I think he will see that the blame for the proposed nudity ban rests not on the public nudists who have done no harm to anyone, but rather on the lying, elitist nudophobes who have shamelessly misrepresented the situation in order to impose their narrow, moralistic views on the city. Prudes have been trying for several years to wreck the Folsom Street Fair and similar events; they are now using the Castro nudism controversy as a “foot in the door� – a first step in their efforts to “Peoria-ize� San Francisco. Rusty Mills San Francisco
An extension of bathhouse fantasy I have been reading, with great interest, your articles and letters about the nudity controversy in San Francisco [“Wiener introduces nudity ban,� October 4]. What a phony issue. Despite the high-handed rhetoric about the innate beauty of the human body, the fact that we are all born nude (ahem) and the phony cries of “If they take away public nudity, what other rights will they take away?� these guys should be recognized for what they are: a small minority of horny, compulsive erotics exhibiting their small town fantasy of public nudity. This isn’t a celebration of the human form; it is an extension of bathhouse fantasy. And to think that most of these guys aren’t even attractive.
<<
Sullivan
From page 4
Kaplan helped secure funding for the free Broadway shuttle bus service that provides residents and visitors alike with transportation to work, shopping, or dining in the city’s wellknown restaurants. The formation of business improvement districts has led to safety ambassadors for downtown and Uptown, a program Kaplan would like to see expanded. Another issue Kaplan has addressed is blight and she has tried to
I am baffled by a police force which, on the one hand, says their hands are tied until someone prompts a citizen’s arrest yet think nothing of routinely beating civilians over a take-out order of fajitas. The desire to expand the nudity to Dolores Park is problematic. I remember years ago being in that park with gays prancing about in their bikinis and thongs while angry Latino residents stood their ground (dressed head-to-toe in black), culminating in the screwdriver murder of a straight man mistaken for gay by a dozen thugs. If naked men wish to convert Dolores Park into their public nude park, be my guest. As for the Castro nudists, I have seen these men before. I remember seeing them, clad only in bath towels, protesting the closure of the bathhouses in the early 1980s in front of City Hall. They are all dead today. Ken Camp Los Angeles, California
Personal boundaries and expression If public nudity is interpreted as an issue of human rights, how do we view the rights of friends or neighbors who may not be gay, or differ from nudists? Is anyone so “special� that their credo trumps a sense of appropriate limits? And if anyone asserts such a status, what exactly does that mean? To conflate issues of personal boundaries or social norms with freedom of expression begs the point. Obviously, no one is allowed to shout “Fire!� in a theater. Individual behavior impacts others. It’s Reality 101. It’s also one reason that common sense and tolerance are central to sane society. I support fully public nudity if it’s non-invasive, and if others are respected. When living in Amsterdam, for example, I saw a big area in Vondel Park – their Golden Gate Park – is clothing optional, like Munich’s English Garden. People entering are notified by posted signs. The system works perfectly. Nude beaches are natural, normal, and healthy. Our Bay to Breakers race and parades are great. Still, we have a responsibility to be mindful. After all, the Castro isn’t a gaysonly ghetto; it’s a fully integrated district. That’s only one part of its charm, and of our city’s uniquely freewheeling gutsy quality. If I had children, I’d want to protect them from anything unsettling or confusing. I’d also want others to respect the fact that they shouldn’t be exposed to jarring experience until ready. It’s a part of sensible, sensitive parenting, and of civics. To obfuscate this isn’t just sloppy or solipsistic; it’s numbing and corrosive. In Africa and ancient Greece public nudity by the young, fit or beautiful were acceptable. But if past their prime, displays were socially offensive. So let’s allow space for nudists where they don’t offend or flaunt themselves to their own disadvantage, or discredit what’s truly humane about San Francisco. Adrian Brooks San Francisco
Zombie Vixens prevail over anti-depressant Nobody likes being in a funk, least of all me. And if it gets bad enough, my shrink steps in. But when another 20mg increase in Celexa still wasn’t doing the job, I found relief with Virago Theater’s production of Zombie Vixens from Hell currently showing at the Phoenix Theater. Not that the miracle of modern medicine doesn’t have its place, but it needs balance. A pill doesn’t solve everything. Last Thursday night, I was thinking, “who needs big pharmaceutical companies telling you how to feel better when there is a Rocky Horror Picture-esque campy melodrama about science gone wrong?� With murder, mayhem (and even Mitt Romney), these sex-crazed zombie vixens had me laughing for the first time in weeks. The production was art brought to life with some excellent comedic timing. The thing I loved most about it was I really had no idea where they were going with it. The bottom line is I work too much and don’t have enough pleasure in my life. Ultimately, this will put me in the hospital. Many thanks to the vixens for a boost to my antidepressant and a couple of hours of feeling something close to normal for the first time in awhile. My advice to anyone who can’t remember the last time they laughed out loud ... a healthy dose of holiday humor with the Zombie Vixens from Hell.
make reporting easier for residents. Regarding job development Kaplan supports the Army Base redevelopment, the Coliseum City project, and the $7.7 billion countywide transportation plan that would bring thousands of good-paying union jobs to Oakland. Oakland finds itself at a turning point, as the economy slowly rebounds, the city must take advantage of programs and development that will add to its tax base, which in turn would enable the city to hire more police officers (it is woefully
Holly Larsen Oakland, California
understaffed with only 631 sworn officers). But those officers need to be better trained and respectful of the city’s residents. The city needs to strengthen its outreach to a growing LGBT community, and include out people on boards and commissions. Oakland has long been viewed as the step-sister of San Francisco; with its vibrant nightlife and foodie scene, Oakland is beginning to come into its own. But Oakland needs leadership: Sullivan and Kaplan are two capable people who can help lead the city into its future.▟
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<< Politics
6 • BAY AREA REPORTER • October 18-24, 2012
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Gay men compete for Oakland council seat by Matthew S. Bajko
T
ebar.com
wo gay men, competing this fall for the same district seat, are vying to become only the third openly LGBT person elected to the Oakland City Council. Sean Sullivan, a nonprofit vice president, and Alex Miller-Cole, a small business owner, are both seeking the city’s open District 3 seat on the council. Councilwoman Nancy Nadel has long represented the West Oakland centered district but she opted not to seek re-election this year. In 2000 Danny Wan became the first out person to ser ve on the council when he was appointed to fill the vacant District 2 seat. He resigned five years later in order to care for his ailing parents. Four years ago Rebecca Kaplan, an out lesbian, won the race for the council’s at-large seat. She is now running for a second term against District 5 Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente, who decided to seek the citywide seat instead of another term representing the city’s Fruitvale neighborhood. Sullivan was also on the ballot in 2008 when he narrowly lost to Nadel. Since then he has volunteered on numerous civic groups in the district and is seen as having the most name recognition among the six candidates in the race. The East Bay Stonewall Democrats, Alameda County’s LGBT political group, and the Bay Area Reporter both solely endorsed Sullivan in the race. While Kaplan is remaining neutral, De La Fuente endorsed Sullivan. Nadel split her endorsement be-
Courtesy Miller-Cole campaign
Courtesy Sullivan campaign
Oakland City Council candidate Alex Miller-Cole
Oakland City Council candidate Sean Sullivan
tween Miller-Cole and Nyeisha DeWitt, the program director of citywide dropout prevention at Oakland’s Promise Alliance. Lynette GibsonMcElhaney, a nonprofit housing director, has also attracted support from various East Bay officials. Another candidate, longshoreman Derrick Muhammad, is the clear underdog in the race. The sixth candidate, real estate agent Larry Lionel Young Jr., doesn’t have a campaign website but attends forums, where he injects levity with his constant refrain, “Vote for LL and Oakland will be well.” A recent story in the East Bay Express determined that, “at this point, it’s anyone’s race” to win and that there are few clear distinctions between the five serious candidates. Add in the fact that Oakland, like San Francisco, has instituted rankedchoice voting to determine council races, and it could be a nail-biter of a night on Election Day. Having built up political experience since his first council bid, Sullivan is hopeful he will be successful this year. He co-founded the Oakland Rainbow Political Action Committee to help elect more out people to public office in the East Bay and has been a vocal advocate for getting LGBT residents appointed to city commissions. “I can be an effective voice for LGBT people so we are not left out; because we are often left out,” said Sullivan during a recent editorial board meeting with the B.A.R. He also wants to change the tenor at City Hall, calling the behavior of the city council “deplorable” at times. “There is a shocking disregard for the public. We need more open data and we should be putting it online,” said Sullivan, who advocates banning lobbyists from contributing to council campaigns and has pledged to put his meeting schedule online if he is elected. Miller-Cole, a developer who owns Cypress One Properties, grew up in Mexico and came to the U.S. to escape persecution based on his sexual orientation, he told the B.A.R. during a recent editorial board meeting. His husband, clinical psychologist Christopher Miller-Cole, is originally from Canada; the couple married prior to the passage of the state’s same-sex marriage ban in 2008. “Twenty-three years ago I came as an illegal immigrant. As of May 9 I have officially been a U.S. citizen,” said Miller-Cole, adding that his decision to seek political office is his way of giving back to his adopted country. “I feel if I took that opportunity and made a life out of it with my husband at some point it is my responsibility to do something to give back.” He said he has no ambitions to use the council seat to run for mayor or
higher office. His desire to serve on the council, he said, stems from wanting to bring his community activism citywide. “The things I want to do as a city council person I am doing now,” he said, pointing to his involvement in efforts to green his neighborhood and help several of his tenants become homeowners. Heading into the final days of the campaign, Miller-Cole sounded confident of his chances. “It is going great,” he said. Sullivan also said he does not have political plans at the moment beyond winning the council seat. “I have no idea what will happen in the future. I have no greater ambitions at this time,” said Sullivan, whose boyfriend, Richard Fuentes, is seeking the District 3 seat on the Oakland Unified School District’s board. The couple is the first known out pair to seek elective office in their hometown at the same time. Sullivan said he is confident of his chances come November 6. “I think I am in the strongest position to win,” he said.
Supe candidate debates focus on streets, parks The San Francisco Parks Alliance, Friends of the Urban Forest, and Walk San Francisco are holding a series of debates for supervisorial races in the odd-numbered districts. The forums will focus on issues of public space from streets to parks. Sessions in Districts 1 and 9 have already taken place, but the other scheduled forums are as follows. District 11, 7 to 8 p.m. tonight (Thursday, October 18) at Minnie Lovie Ward Recreation Center, Montana between Plymouth and Capitol. This will be a town hall with Supervisor John Avalos, who is running unopposed. Elizabeth Stampe of Walk San Francisco will moderate. District 3, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, October 25 at Betty Ann Ong Chinese Recreation Center, 1199 Mason Street (at Washington). Board of Supervisors President David Chiu will participate, along with challengers Marc Bruno, Joseph Butler, and Wilma Pang. Matthew O’Grady of the parks alliance will moderate. District 7, 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, October 30 at the San Francisco Zoo’s Great Hall, Sloat Boulevard and 47th Avenue. Candidates Francis “FX” Crowley, Joel Engardio, Michael Garcia, Julian Lagos, and Norman Yee are expected to participate. Dan Flanagan of Friends of the Urban Forest will moderate. District 5, 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, November 1 at the Hamilton Recreation Center, Geary Boulevard at Steiner. Supervisor Christina Olague will participate, along with challengers London Breed, Julian Davis, and Andrew Resignato. O’Grady will moderate.▼
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LGBT History Month >>
October 18-24, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 7
History shows SF has long been gay mecca by Elliot Owen
I
t’s a commonly accepted fact that the world has always perceived San Francisco as a gay mecca. The city has been at the forefront of LGBT political and cultural movements, is home to a vast array of support networks, nonprofit organizations, and government institutions that are symbolic of the intellectual and financial capital that exist. That capital is leveraged every day to advance the rights of LGBT people everywhere. San Francisco is a beacon and when something happens in the city, the global LGBT community hears about it. Take for example the opening of the city’s GLBT History Museum last year. The GLBT Historical Society did a customary public relations campaign and received coverage of the opening in 38 languages across 75 countries. “From Angola to Vietnam, everyone had to do a story,” said GLBT Historical Society board member Gerard Koskovich. “San Francisco remains astoundingly marked as the world mothership for homosexuality.” For any city with far-reaching impact on any front, a particularly unique and dynamic history is always part of the story. San Francisco is no different. As far back as the Gold Rush era (1848-1855), homosexual possibility existed as the city became a boomtown that was heavily populated by men who wanted to try their luck out West. “You had a self-selected population where there was bound to be some men who didn’t fit in back home,” Koskovich said, “because they were queer and this all-male setting might be interesting to go looking for opportunities.” The transition to San Francisco as a major port city through the end
Dan Nicoletta
Rich Nichols and Harvey Milk riding a scooter in the Castro in February 1977. Rick Gerharter
It was a full house as people attended the January 13, 2011 grand opening of the GLBT History Museum in the Castro district.
of the 19th century solidified it as a place that was flexible and tolerant, which allowed for same-sex desire to be displayed in certain spaces and in nuanced ways. Cruising spots popped up in the lower Market Street area, which was connected to a very vibrant port and produce market that is today the Embarcadero. Don Romesburg, an associate professor of women and gender studies at Sonoma State University, describes the waterfront as a place where the potential for same-sex intimacy was presented. “Men were picking up men for sex,” Romesburg said. “You have what we might call faeries or either cross-dressing men or transgender women who were selling sex and having unpaid sex with men. You also have the red light district, places where there were women to-
gether and the potential connection between them.” In the1920s, venues emerged that were amenable to gay and lesbian people. Although not specifically catering to them, LGBT people weren’t turned away. Because alcohol was illegal until 1933 with the end of the Prohibition era, bars were no more illegal if they had queer people in them. The risks of running or entering a bar outweighed publically presenting a queer identity. After 1933, small bars and clubs sprung up in the North Beach area, especially around the Montgomery Building (torn down in 1959), which was called the “Monkey Block.” Progressive artists, bohemians, and queers lived in the area and became clientele to these venues, some of which were advertised as gay-specific. As alcohol became condoned but homosexuality re-
mained illegal, the ways homosexuality was expressed in those spaces began to change. Nan Alameda Boyd, author of Wide Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965 and professor in the Women and Gender Studies Department at San Francisco State University, said that queer bars began to become tourist destinations. “They were a home space for gay and lesbians but a destination for tourists who wanted to mingle with the queers and see performances,” she said. “It was an early home space for the community in the 1940s.” The end of World War II saw a lot of gay men settle in San Francisco. As the bar scene exploded, gay and lesbian entrepreneurs began to invest in other establishments and institutions. With the 1950s, a community agenda emerged. “Something happened between 1933 and the early 1960s where people didn’t feel like they had to hide and they wanted a community they
could feel safe in,” Boyd said. “The politicization of bars began to happen. The police were trying to shut the bars down so the community had to resist and fight for territory. In that act, there was this articulation of certain political ideals of the right to occupy public space.” By the 1960s, gay businesses were flourishing on Polk Street and the Tenderloin was a well-established “vice” district that was home to transgender individuals and queer youth. The Compton Cafeteria riot in 1966 marked the beginning of queer liberation. The early 1970s saw an influx of predominantly white, middle-class gay men locating to the Castro district, which resulted in a gay enclave that eventually saw Harvey Milk become the first openly gay elected supervisor, in 1977 – just four years after homosexuality was no longer declared a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association. “Milk inspired a wave of action that galvanized queer people together,” Romesburg said. “After that comes his assassination and then comes HIV/AIDS.” The AIDS virus was identified in 1981 and by the mid-1990s when antiretroviral treatments became available, the LGBT community was utterly transformed. Many bars closed and focus was redirected toward caring for the ill. “We’re only now starting to grapple with the early 1980s as a period of history,” Romesburg said. “San Francisco is a model for how the community responded to the epidemic. In the face of the federal government’s unwillingness to do for us, we did for ourselves.” Today, San Francisco still exists as a model for other cities, communities, causes, and culture. Its dynamic and resilient past will continue to guide its future.▼
<< Business News
8 • BAY AREA REPORTER • October 18-24, 2012
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Jane Philomen Cleland
Bold is beautiful T
he San Francisco LGBT Community Center continued celebrating its 10th anniversary year with its Bold Awards reception that took place on National Coming Out Day, October 11. Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe, center, honored the organization’s founding members, many of whom attended the event. Special awards were
also presented to founding members the late Dr. Brian Friedman and his partner, Kevin Pedretti; Health Commissioner Cecilia Chung (Pioneer Award); center volunteer Joshua Shrader (Good Neighbor Award); school board member Sandra Fewer (Community Spirit Award); and LEAGUE, the LGBT group at AT&T (Vanguard Award).
For these entrepreneurs, success is in fashion by Raymond Flournoy
T
he national economy may be slouching toward a slow recovery, but locally a number of queer-owned businesses are launching into the world of fashion with high hopes. As we head into the holiday season, the Bay Area Reporter talked with three new businesses that can help you stay looking sharp, from fingertips to underneath.
Jewel of the square The luxury brands of the Union Square shopping district have a sparkling new neighbor, Adam Neeley Fine Art Jewelry (255 Grant Street). The San Francisco location is out jewelry designer Adam Neeley’s second, joining his store in Laguna Beach, open since 2005. The store features Neeley’s original designs, along with a few curated selections from other designers. Among Neeley’s creations are his designer line and his couture pieces. The designer line makes up his core product offering, and multiples of these designs are created for sale in his boutiques. In contrast, the couture pieces are one-of-a-kind creations, often inspired by a particular gemstone, and costing upwards of $40,000. For a more personal touch, Neeley encourages clients to bring in unset family jewels or sketches of ideas and he will work to create an original design. “We originally looked at entering the San Francisco market back in 2008, but then the recession happened and it made us reconsider,” said Neeley, “and now we’re very glad we didn’t make the jump then.” Instead Neeley concentrated on growing his Laguna Beach clientele, with the result that 2011 was his best year of business yet. “While other jewelers looked at developing more economical lines, I found that the high-end is what continued to sell well,” said Neeley. With the new San Francisco store, Neeley is looking to expand his line of men’s jewelry. He will debut a new material called cobalt chromium, which can be finished with either a bright reflective finish like stainless steel, or darkened down to a true black. Neeley said that the cobalt chromium is “basically indestructible” and thus well-suited for men, who tend to be harder on their jewelry. For the upcoming holiday season, Neeley sees a return to classic Christ-
Steven Kasapi
Jewelry designer Adam Neeley shows off one of his creations at his new Union Square boutique.
mas colors – red and white. The resurgence of red has come with the popularity of rust-red garnets. White ceramic is another material that is being used in new ways in jewelry. Another holiday trend that Neeley sees is the return of big, bold pieces. “That’s exciting for me as a designer, because I have a much bigger canvas to work on.” To see Neeley’s portfolio of designs, visit www.adamneeley.com.
Building from the foundation garments up When Patrick York moved to San Francisco in late 2008, he found a job market that was collapsing and not many choices for a new anthropology grad. Said York, “I applied everywhere, and finally thought, ‘Forget it. If no one wants to hire me, I’ll be my own boss.’” With that inspiration, Yorkies underwear line was born. Without a background in design, York quickly taught himself everything he could about the garment production business. He found a pattern maker to help him flesh out his designs, and then began searching for materials and production facilities. “I tried to find as much as I could locally, but then went national or international when necessary. Right now the elastic and fabric is printed in China and the labels are printed in LA, but everything else – design, cutting, sewing – is all done in the Bay Area,” said York. The last piece of the puzzle was financing, and here is where York said he ran into a brick wall. He said that the message he got from the banks was “You are too young and you have no assets, so come back to us when
you are making money.” Undeterred, York turned to Kickstarter, where the young entrepreneur has successfully funded two production rounds. With crowd-sourced individual investments in amounts as small as $10, York was able to gather over $13,000 in funding to create his briefs, jockstraps, and boxer briefs. Yorkies underwear features a special printing process called “sublimation printing,” which York compares to running the fabric through an ink jet printer. “The sublimation printing allows us to create much higher quality images on the briefs, so my underwear is as much about the art as it is about the functionality. It is more expensive to manufacture them, but it pays off in how they look,” said York. Yorkies designs contain a healthy dose of York’s humor along with influences from his anthropology background. The first set of designs included a nod to our digital age, with the message “Bigger is better” spelled out in binary across the briefs, and a scannable QR code leading back to the Yorkies website. A silhouette of the SF skyline across the back of another brief features a strategically placed Transamerica building. The new Yorkies line is rolling out on the website, and will also be carried at Egoist in Chicago and Splash H2O in San Diego. Among the new designs is one that specifically benefits the AIDS Emergency Fund, with a portion of every sale going to AEF. York, who is a former AEF Bare Chest Calendar model, also hopes to hold a launch party to benefit various charities where underwear will be auctioned directly off of the models. As for holiday fashion recommendations, York has noticed a trend toward bright colors for men. “Boxer See page 11 >>
Community News >>
▼ Castro therapy center starts youth group
October 18-24, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 9
by Heather Cassell
Q
ueer LifeSpace, the nonprofit queer therapy organization launched by former New Leaf: Services for Our Community therapists, is thriving and growing in the heart of the Castro. In just over a year, the center, which offers low-income mental health services, welcomed its inaugural class of queer therapist trainees and is on the verge of launching programs for youth and people of color. “One of the things that I really appreciate about Queer LifeSpace in general is the community-centered approach to mental health. Specifically, with this program bringing some young people through the doors who might not otherwise come here or who might not have or know of other places they can reach out to for help,” said Kip Williams, one of the new trainees who formerly worked for the Trevor Project and will be working on the new youth program. One of his first clients is a homeless youth who was brought into QLS by another clinician, he said. Renee Zavislak, a 41-year-old bisexual woman who is one of the new trainees, expressed the importance of a therapy center that is more than simply queer-friendly, but is operated by LGBT people. “What is really important about this program in particular is that it’s not simply a program that is queerfriendly, it’s about more than that. It’s about having a group of clinicians who are acquainted with and trained to deal with experiences that are unique to the queer community,” said Zavislak. Four former New Leaf mental health and substance abuse therapists founded the SF Therapy Collective, a for-profit counseling collective that is housed on the same floor in the Castro Street building, spearhead QLS. The collective, which was launched
Randy Scully
Queer LifeSpace’s inaugural trainee class includes, back row, from left, Dario Martinez, Sunny Choi, Wes Smith, and Kip Williams, and, front row, from left, Regina Haugabook, Dana Aleshire, Mona Eshaiker, Renee Zavislak, and Taising Chen.
by Nancy Heilner, Chris Holleran, Stacey Rodgers, and Joe Voors, is thriving with 200 clients, said Heilner, an out lesbian. QLS was started to fill the gaping hole in mental health services left by New Leaf’s closure in 2010. It is selfsufficient, supported by client service fees and some individual donations, said Heilner, executive director. The organization is also no longer taking out loans from the therapy collective, she added. QLS currently operates on nearly $60,000, added Rodgers, director of communications. This year QLS was a beneficiary of the Castro Street Fair and it hosted a soda booth at last month’s Folsom Street Fair, said Heilner. UCSF Alliance Health Project, which also provides a queer-friendly therapist training program, and Lyon-Martin Health Services’ mental health program folded in some of the displaced clients and mental health services once provided by New Leaf. Both organizations are also located in the Castro neighborhood. Today, QLS sees an estimated 140 clients and supports two licensed social workers, seven post-master in-
terns, and 10 volunteer licensed therapists, not including the four founding therapists who volunteer their services and provide individual and group counseling. On August 30, QLS welcomed its first class of nine queer therapist trainees who will provide individual and group therapy. The trainees were selected out of more than 30 applicants from the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco State University, UCSF, and the University of San Francisco. “The group of trainees that we have are really amazing,” said Heilner. “They are all very excited to be here and each of them has their own unique things to add to our program.”
A place for youth Three of the interns – Williams, Zavislak, and Dario Martinez – will focus on developing the organization’s new youth program being headed up by Holleran. It is expected to launch Saturday, October 20. Holleran, 33, hopes to add to the services that are currently provided by other youth organizations in the city and neighborhood, he said. “There can’t ever be too many ser-
vices for youth,” Holleran, who is gay, said, adding that the desire to offer youth services harks back to the providers’ own youth, “discovering our sexualities,” filled with questions and needing help at the time. Martinez, 46, a former fashion designer, reflected on the importance of the youth group he attended when he was young and coming out. “I was personally in a queer youth group growing up. I really liked the social aspect of it,” said Martinez, who went to a youth group as a student at UC Berkeley. “I’m really excited,” added Martinez, who explained that QLS’s youth group will center on the needs of the youth and their maturity levels. “It was such a huge part of my development as a gay man. I’m hoping to return that gift to other young people.” Williams, who helped with the 2009 March on Washington and Get Equal, hopes to empower youth in spite of the challenges they face through his work at the mental health organization. He hopes to get young people to
“find their power, to find their voice” in spite of the challenges they face from the outside world. “I hope this program is a place young people can really be empowered to identify what it is what they want to do, what they hope for, find out who they are, and get the encouragement and support that they need to take those steps,” said Williams. Zavislak, who used to work in public schools in the northeast, hopes to be a connector to services for youth who seek support at QLS. In time, Heilner and Holleran envision providing a full-fledge youth program similar to the one once offered by New Leaf, they said. QLS currently offers a variety of therapy support groups, including abstinence, intersex, transgender, and support groups for men with disabilities, men’s relationships, and men’s trauma (see side bar for a listing of meeting times). A group for queer people of color is scheduled to start October 25.▼ To schedule an appointment, call the intake line at (415) 358-2000, ext. 302. For more information, visit www.queerlifespace.com or www.sftherapycollective.org.
Queer LifeSpace support group information compiled by Heather Cassell
The following is a list of the various support groups offered by Queer LifeSpace, 470 Castro St. Mondays: Men’s Disability Group, 3 to 4:30 p.m. Abstinence Support Group, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Trans Support Group, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays: Intersex Support Group, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Men’s Trauma Group, 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursdays: Men’s Relationship Group, 4:30 to 6 p.m. Queer people of color group, 6 to 7:30 p.m. (Beginning October 25. Call Taising Chen at 415-358-2000, ext. 366.) Saturdays: Queer youth group, 2 to 3 p.m. (Beginning October 20. Call Dario Martinez at 415-358-2000, ext. 368.)
<< Commentary
10 • BAY AREA REPORTER • October 18-24, 2012
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Show your colors by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
I
n the late 1990s, a group of roughly 100 transgender activists and allies held a rally in front of the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. The theater was showing The Brandon Teena Story, and we wanted to highlight the fact that the Teena murder was in no way an isolated incident. As many of us were coming in from the East Bay and elsewhere in the city, we felt that Harvey Milk Plaza – right at the Muni station and at the end of the F-Line – would be a good place from which to start. Plus, I consider Milk one of my personal heroes, and could not pass up the symbolism of starting this rally from the plaza named in his honor. We passed out cards with the names of others who had been killed in antitransgender murders, then crossed Castro Street and walked the half a block or so to the theater. I spoke some very brief words while standing in the street facing our group outside the box office. We held candles. Then, after about an hour or so, we disbanded and went our separate ways. This was the birth of the Transgender Day of Remembrance; an event now honored every year on November 20 in hundreds of locations around the world. Events run from small, private observances, or small memorials at local transgender support groups, all the way up to the memorial event held last year at the White House. For me, having been one of those who put together that first event – who got the ball rolling on Transgender Day of Remembrance itself – I always go back to that evening at Harvey Milk Plaza. I think of standing there, as sunset approached, and looking up at the massive rainbow flag that flies over the plaza, seeing people pour into the plaza, and realizing that there was a group that was willing to share our stories, our lives, and our losses with the community at large. It was, for me, a very powerful moment. Last month, I heard of Veronika Fimbres’s request to see the trans-
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Rainbow flag
From page 1
MUMC’s board discussed the issue at its meeting Wednesday night, though no further changes to its policy are expected until sometime in early 2013. One possibility is for MUMC to settle on a set schedule for when it would fly flags representing the leather, bear, and transgender communities during the year but otherwise fly the rainbow flag at full-staff the remainder of the calendar days. “We are tabling policy until after the first of the year,” Asten Bennett told the Bay Area Reporter. “However, all requests for a lowered flag will be denied for safety reasons.” Community activists fed up with MUMC’s handling of the issue are circulating their own proposal. They are calling on the city to retake control of the flagpole, set up a public committee to oversee it, and set out a transparent process for how requests to lower it will be reviewed and decided upon. “It’s time to thank MUMC for all they have done, and allow them to gracefully retire their flag management activities, focus on selling consumer goods, and leave community representation up to the community,” wrote Clinton Fein in a post shared on Facebook. District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener praised MUMC’s oversight of
Heather Rose Brown
gender pride flag raised onto the flagpole at Harvey Milk Plaza on November 20. To be honest, until that moment I did not know there was an organization that oversees the flagpole and considers all requests surrounding its use. That group is called the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro, and is currently led by Terry Asten Bennett, the general manager of Cliff ’s Variety. Recently, Fimbres got a response to her request: it was denied, citing MUMC’s flag policy which states in part, “MUMC almost always maintains the flag originators’ policy to fly the rainbow flag at full staff at all times, symbolizing the strength and pride of the community, even in times of sadness, anniversaries of important events, etc.” Yet this policy has been proven to be less than ironclad. The flag has been flown at half-staff on numerous occasions. More notable, the international leather flag has been flown for a week for more than a decade, coinciding with Leather Week and the Folsom Street Fair, and the bear pride flag has gone up the pole for Bear Weekend, hosted by the Bears of San Francisco in 2011 and 2012. Now I can’t help but draw an unfortunate comparison here: the MUMC will fly the bear flag and the leather flag to support related events, but will not fly the transgender flag on Transgender Day of Remembrance. Why the double the flagpole in an interview with the B.A.R. “MUMC has done a superb job managing the flag, replacing the flag when it needs to be replaced, and maintaining the whole structure and purchasing insurance for it,” said Wiener, a gay man who lives in the Castro. “MUMC has done a great community service to make sure this community flag is proudly flying over the neighborhood, and I support MUMC’s management role.”
Transgender flag request renews debate The issue reared itself again in September when MUMC refused to lower the rainbow flag on September 11 as it had done last year to mark the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Activists accused the group of being unpatriotic for not adhering to a presidential order asking that American flags be flown at half-staff, while MUMC officials countered that the White House request didn’t cover non-U.S. flags. A bigger brouhaha broke out in recent weeks after MUMC initially denied a request to raise the transgender flag on November 20 to denote the Transgender Day of Remembrance because it also asked that the flag be lowered that night to honor those transgender people who have been killed. In February Steve Adams, MUMC’s then-president, voiced sup-
standard? I want to tell myself that this is not a case of simple antitransgender bigotry – is it? In the wake of the denial, many from the local transgender and larger LGBT community have stood up and called upon MUMC to reconsider its decision. Some pointed to San Diego’s Hillcrest community, which will be flying the flag on November 20, or even West Hollywood and its permanent memorial to the Transgender Day of Remembrance. Why can these communities do it, and not ours? The MUMC board offered a few solutions, including encouraging businesses in the Castro to fly the transgender pride flag on November 20, and suggesting that a modified request – one that did not ask for the flag to be flown at half-staff – be sent in to the board for consideration. The issue did not go away: a large planned protest for November 11 began to gain momentum on Facebook, and more and more people pushed the board to do the right thing. Finally, on Monday MUMC put out a press release: the board, after “thoughtfully and thoroughly” considering, as well as dealing with “difficult conversation” and emotions running “very high in both directions on the issue,” relented. The MUMC board approved flying of the transgender pride flag on November 20. Members of the community have now mobilized to secure a flag of the appropriate size by that time. The board has also promised to reconsider its policies overall, sometime after the first of the year. I’m glad MUMC did step up to community pressure and make this happen, and I will be very proud to see the transgender pride flag at Harvey Milk Plaza. I just wish it had not taken so much to get this done. Of course, with whatever policy they may consider next year, we may never see this again – which would be a shame. For many in the transgender community, the Castro is not considered a welcoming place. Perhaps this is a small step in changing that.▼ Gwen Smith has one of the very first trans pride flags ever created. You can find her online at www.gwensmith.com.
port for flying the transgender flag on November 20 when asked about doing so by the B.A.R. Longtime transgender activist Veronika Fimbres in September sent MUMC a formal request to fly the transgender flag as a way for the Castro community to support their transgender neighbors, co-workers, and patrons. “I am just a person who has lost many friends in the struggle to be transgender and to be yourself,” said Fimbres, who a year ago changed her last name from Cauley, when asked what motivated her to suggest that the transgender flag be flown. “It is a way to show solidarity.” But because Fimbres’s initial request also asked that the transgender flag be lowered at night, MUMC informed Fimbres October 5 that its board had decided to reject her proposal because it “does not fall within the established policy” for altering the display of the rainbow flag. MUMC’s emailed letter to Fimbres also stated that its rejection of her request shouldn’t be “interpreted as any disrespect for the transgender flag, the November 20 Transgender Day of Remembrance, or similar issues.” In response Fimbres started an online campaign October 8 to demand that MUMC fly the transgender flag. Her petition no longer included the request to also fly the flag at half-staff. See page 11 >>
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Community News >>
Business Briefs
From page 8
briefs are going to continue to dominate, with prints preferred over solid colors,” he said. To see the full Yorkies line, including the new AEF benefit brief, visit http://www.yorkiesshop.com.
Well suited for gentlemen and gentlewomen alike As more business marketing moves toward the impersonal – mass production and e-commerce – new San Francisco clothier Artful Gentleman is aiming to reconnect male and fe-
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Rainbow flag
From page 10
As word spread via social media about the issue, it set off a firestorm of criticism against MUMC and calls by some activists for a boycott of Cliff’s. “I am astounded it has taken them so long to add what we already should have done. They fly the leather flag and the bear flag so why not fly the transgender flag? It is a no-brainer,” said Bill Wilson, a local photographer who has been pressing MUMC for more public engagement about the flagpole. Twelve years ago the leather community successfully petitioned to have the rainbow flag be replaced by the leather flag and flown the week leading up to the annual Folsom Street Fair in September.
October 18-24, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 11
male customers with the experience of a handmade suit. The inspiration for the company came from co-founder Jake Wall’s travels to Hong Kong, where he became fascinated by the custom clothing industry. After apprenticing with a production house for a month, Wall returned to the states with the goal of bringing bespoke clothing to the U.S. market. Wall and co-founder Nate Johnson established Artful Gentleman in 2010. Early on, the duo received significant support and encouragement from the Economic Development Office of the San Francisco LGBT Com-
munity Center (1800 Market Street). The queer-identified Wall credits the LGBT center with helping out with reviewing business plans, looking at financials, applying for loans, and reviewing market research. One marketing move that separates Artful Gentleman from other clothiers is that they have a growing lesbian clientele. Wall understands that some women appreciate the look and fit of men’s clothing, but often have difficulty finding pieces that fit correctly. Customers begin the process of suiting up with an hourlong style consultation, usually with Wall, who is the chief designer. Wall takes mea-
surements and probes the client with style questions. By the end of the hour he will have produced a list of suggested stores and clothing brands that will fit the client’s body type and style requirements. The initial consultation is free, but if the client is interested in moving to the next step Wall begins the process of creating the individually tailored suits. Wall stresses that the Artful Gentleman creations are “100 percent bespoke” and not merely cut down from mass-produced garments. Meticulous measurements are taken, and then the suit is produced entirely by hand by the same team in Hong Kong
with which Wall apprenticed. The entire process takes approximately 16 days, and the pricing ranges from about $1,800 to $2,400, depending on fabrics and finishing details. Looking forward to the holidays, Wall sees burgundy as the dominant color. “Anything burgundy is going to be 100 percent on point,” he said. Moving into the spring, he anticipates more muted, dusty colors, and the growing popularity of green. Artful Gentleman will be opening a pop-up boutique in Hayes Valley in November. Until then, you can view a slideshow of their creations at http:// www.artfulgentleman.com. ▼
In 2011 MUMC agreed to fly the bear flag over Presidents Day weekend in February to mark the end of the International Bear Rendezvous event after a 17-year run. When local organizers launched a smaller get-together this year, MUMC agreed to again fly the bear flag. Over the weekend Asten Bennett informed some transgender leaders and others that MUMC was reconsidering its position and would fly the transgender flag at full-staff on November 20. The board made its decision official Monday, October 15. In a news release MUMC’s board said it had “thoughtfully and thoroughly” reconsidered the matter and asked that “the community coordinate the flying of the flag with a commemoration that can bring the much needed focus, recognition and pride
to the transgender community.” [Full disclosure: B.A.R. advertising director Scott Wazlowski, who sits on MUMC’s board, supported flying the transgender flag at full-staff but voted to reject the request that included it being flown at half-staff.] In an interview Asten Bennett declined to speculate if the board would have approved Fimbres’s initial request if it was only to fly the flag at full-staff. She also defended the merchants association as having long supported the entire LGBT community. “I can’t answer what the board would have said at the time. It would have been a different conversation,” she said. “MUMC is very supportive of the entire LGBT community and understands that the transgender community has been under-represented and subjected to more violence
than the rest of the community and needs this recognition.” Fimbres told the B.A.R. that she wished MUMC, rather than reject her initial request outright, had said it would fly the transgender flag but not lower it. “All I want them to do is raise the flag and let it fly,” she said. “I didn’t think my asking would be a big thing.” An anonymous gay man who lives outside San Francisco is willing to pay for the production costs for the flag, said Fimbres, adding that she would soon be ordering it so that it arrives
before November 20. She plans to donate it so it can be flown each year. “I wouldn’t keep it; I have no need for a flag of that size,” said Fimbres. “They can fly it every year to remember those transgender people who have been murdered.” In terms of moving forward, Fimbres called on MUMC to have a public dialogue about the flagpole and its policy governing it. “I want transparency,” said Fimbres. “They need to meet with the community.”
UC Santa Cruz, moved to San Francisco and worked in Berkeley for UC. There in the height of the first wave of the HIV/AIDS crisis, Bob took care of many close friends who were sick and dying. Not long after the loss of his lover, Carter Norback, Bob entered UCSF’s accelerated nurse practitioner program in 1994 and graduated in 1997. He moved to the Capay Valley where he lived out the dream he and Carter had shared. Bob returned to his home, Santa Cruz, in 2008 eventually moving to Watsonville. He worked as a psychiatric nurse practitioner with Santa Cruz County Mental Health. He found
great joy from serving Spanish-speaking clients there. We will miss Bob’s artistic eye, his talent for design and style, and his wonderful perspectives on science and culture. He was a quick wit and a master of literature. His brilliant soul, full of love and light, lives on within us. For an expanded version of Bob’s story and information on his memorial scheduled for October 20, please go to www.blhunt.wordpress.com.
Obituaries >> Robert Hunt June 11, 1953 – September 15, 2012
Robert (Lindsay) Hunt, world traveler, poet and author, artist, healer, romantic, master gardener, and great friend passed away September 15, 2012 in Santa Cruz from advanced lung cancer. Born in Oakland, California, the fourth of five siblings, Bob grew up in nearby El Cerrito. He graduated from
See page 13 >>
<< News Briefs
12 • BAY AREA REPORTER • October 18-24, 2012
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Halloween events in San Francisco, East Bay compiled by Cynthia Laird
H
alloween is approaching and three events taking place this month offer fun for kids and adults alike. First up is the GLBT Historical Society’s annual Unmasked gala, which will be held Thursday, October 25 in the Green Room at the Veterans Memorial Building, 401 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco. A VIP reception takes place from 6 to 7 p.m., followed by the gala. Unmasked will bring together enthusiasts of LGBT history for a festive
evening. Attendees are encouraged to wear a mask or costume. Historical society Executive Director Paul Boneberg said that this year, the gala is paying tribute to the great contributions that Bay Area queer filmmakers have made to creating “GLBT culture and advancing understanding of GLBT people.” Special guests will include filmmakers Cheryl Dunye (The Watermelon Woman), Marc Huestis (Sex Is), Stu Maddux (Gen Silent), Travis Matthews (I Want Your Love), Glenne McElhinney (On These Shoulders We Stand), Pam Walton
Courtesy GLBT Historical Society
Attendees at last year’s Unmasked benefit dressed up in style.
(Grassroots: Contesting Ohio), David Weissman (We Were Here), and Alice Wu (Saving Face). Tickets are $100 for the VIP reception and $60 for general admission and are available at www.unmaskedgala.org. Also in San Francisco, the California Academy of Sciences’ Supernatural Halloween Party and benefit will be held Saturday, October 27. A benefactor party takes place from 5 to 6:30 p.m., followed by general admission party from 6:30 to 9:30. General admission tickets are $50 for adults and $35 for children; kids under age 1 are free. Family benefactor tickets and packages range from $85 to $500. “Families are invited to mingle among spooktacular animals and spine-tingling specimens,” said a news release. Other activities during the general admission party include trickor-treating through the academy after dark in a fun, educational environment; face-painting that can transform you into your favorite academy creature; a giant pumpkin carving demonstration; live animal shows; and roaming magicians. People can “boogie” to the tunes of the Crunchy Frog Band. The academy is located at 55 Music Concourse Drive in Golden Gate Park. Proceeds support the academy’s programs, including field trips for 130,000 students annually. Finally, in Contra Costa County, an LGBT-themed dance party for adults takes place Friday, October 19 in Walnut Creek when the Rainbow Community Center hosts its Ghouls Night Out party from 7 to 11 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to don costumes for the annual costume contest. The evening includes dancing, drinks, and fun. There will also be a Halloween drag show featuring Miss Holotta Tymes. The party will be held at Shadelands Art Center, 111 North Wiget Lane in Walnut Creek. Admission is $10 in advance or $15 at the door. The event is for those 21 and over with ID. To purchase tickets online, visit www. rainbowcc.org.
Financial planning day in SF San Francisco Treasurer Jose Cisneros has announced that there will be a free financial planning day Saturday, October 20, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at UC Hastings College of the Law, Snodgrass Hall, 198 McAllister Street. Attendees will receive free, no-stringsattached advice in private consultation with a certified financial planner or credit counselor. Cisneros, who is openly gay, has long made financial planning and access to services such as checking accounts for those who are unbanked a cornerstone of his department. Saturday’s event is similar in that people can talk to professionals about retirement, budgeting, investing, estate planning, foreclosure prevention, and more. To reserve a spot, visit www.financialplanningdays.org/sanfrancisco.
Night Ministry’s annual gala The San Francisco Night Ministry will hold its annual gala Saturday,
October 20 at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church and the Urban Life Center, 1101 O’Farrell Street. The red carpet gala, part of the evening’s “Star Struck” theme, begins at 5:30 p.m. with a reception and is followed by dinner and a live auction. The Bay Area Reporter’s society columnist, Donna Sachet, will serve as mistress of ceremonies. The night ministry is a valuable program that provides compassionate, non-judgmental pastoral care, counseling, referral, and crisis intervention to folks in distress during the middle of the night. Tickets start at $75. For more information about the night ministry or to purchase tickets, visit www.sfnightministry.org.
Castro Country Club’s Harvest Feast The Castro Country Club’s third annual Harvest Feast, which was banned from Most Holy Catholic Church this summer because of drag entertainment, will be held Saturday, October 20 at the Patio Cafe, 531 Castro Street in San Francisco. The country club is a sober space in the Castro that primarily serves LGBTs. The group had previously held its fall fundraiser at the Castro church but officials in August said the church had revised its policy and was not allowing drag entertainment. An uproar ensued, forcing church officials to “clarify” that all outside events were no longer permitted to use the church’s social hall. At Saturday’s fundraiser, chanteuse Veronica Klaus will perform and drag queen Precious Moments will serve as mistress of ceremonies. The event will begin with a VIP reception at 6 p.m., followed by general admission at 7 with mocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and a silent auction. A catered four-course dinner will also be served. Tickets are $100 for the VIP reception and dinner, $75 for general admission, and can be purchased online by visiting http://tinyurl. com/8zb7d7l.
ety columnist was the 30th elected empress of San Francisco; and Gary Virginia, Mr. San Francisco Leather 1996. Both have served on PRC’s board and are current advisory board members. They have raised tens of thousands of dollars for the agency at the annual Pride Brunch they started several years ago. The gala will also feature hors d’oeuvres and drinks. Individual tickets are $100 and can be purchased by visiting www.positiveresource.org or calling (415) 7770333.
Out Honduran candidate to visit SF Erick Vidal Martinez is the second openly gay candidate to run for Congress in Honduras and he will be in San Francisco next week. The first out candidate, Erick Martinez Avila, was assassinated in May, and is one of more than 70 LGBT activists who have been murdered in targeted killings since the 2009 coup against democratically elected president Manual Zelaya. Martinez is a human rights trainer who helped found the Diversity Movement in Resistance. He is running as a candidate with the Libre Party, an electoral party that has grown out of the resistance movement to the coup. Martinez will be appearing at several community events that are free and open to the public. On Thursday, October 25 at 1 p.m. he will be at Global Exchange’s brown bag lunch program, 2017 Mission Street (near 16th), second floor. On Friday, October 26 at 7 p.m. Martinez will be at a public meeting at the Eric Quezada Center, 518 Valencia Street (near 16th). Finally, on Saturday, October 27 Martinez will be at a 1 p.m. rally at Harvey Milk Plaza. The events are sponsored by the Honduran Solidarity Network, Gays Without Borders, Pride at Work, Global Exchange, and other organizations.
Bistro benefit in the Bayview Research presented in Berkeley on LGBT parents of color Mignon Moore, a professor at UCLA and an author, will be the featured speaker at a community conversation Friday, October 19 at the Ed Roberts Campus, 3075 Adeline Street in Berkeley (across from Ashby BART station). Moore will talk about her latest research on LGBT parents of color, with a focus on African American lesbians, and will speak about strategies used by same-sex families and single lesbian parents of color to create additional support networks for themselves and their families. Free childcare and refreshments will be provided. Advance registration is required. A suggested donation of $10 at the door is requested, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. The program is sponsored by Our Family Coalition and UC Berkeley Law, as well as several other organizations. To RSVP, visit ourfamily.org/ event/making-invisible-familiesvisible.
PRC’s silver jubilee Positive Resource Center, San Francisco’s leading nonprofit helping people living with HIV and/or mental health conditions access benefits and employment, will formally celebrate its 25th anniversary, themed “Windows of Opportunity” Tuesday, October 23 from 6 to 9 p.m. at RF80, 80 Missouri Street. The agency will present its 2012 Pillar Awards to two people who have donated their time and talents for many years: Donna Sachet, who, in addition to being the B.A.R.’s soci-
Ron Heckmann and the Friends of Gayview group will have an event next week in the Bayview, with proceeds benefiting the Bayview Opera House and the LGBT Community Center. Called the Bayview Bistro Benefit, the Wednesday, October 24 event takes place from 6 to 9 p.m. and starts at Limon Rotisserie, 5800 Third Street. From there, the progressive dining party will go to a few of the other hot eateries in the city’s southeast neighborhood, including Radio Africa and Kitchen, Old Skool Cafe, and Poquito Restaurant. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased at http://bayview-bistrobenefit.eventbrite.com/#. Heckmann added that on Saturday, October 20, the LGBT center will be holding a housing assistance class. To sign up for the first-time homebuyer or lending circle program email Shannon Way at shannonw@thecenter.org.
Tenderloin Tessie needs help Tenderloin Tessie, the nonprofit that puts on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter dinners for those in need, needs the community’s help. Michael Gagne, the president and volunteer coordinator, sent out an email this week highlighting two events. The first is a beer bust at the Pilsner Inn, 225 Church Street, Sunday, October 21, from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Volunteers are needed for various activities, but people are also encouraged to stop by to support Tessie’s. On Wednesday, October 24 from 7 to 10 p.m. volunteers are needed to stuff paper turkeys for the Turkey Pluck fundraiser. People should email Gagne at tenderlointessiedinners@yahoo.com for the address.▼
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Community News>>
Rainbow flag
From page 11
Ongoing debate over flagpole Controversy has long engulfed the flagpole, whose very creation was a hard fought battle. Starting in the late 1980s Gilbert Baker, who created the rainbow flag, spent 10 years campaigning to erect the flagpole at the plaza named after the city’s first gay elected official. He considered it to be an art project that would convey a sense of pride in being LGBT to the world. When Baker relocated to New York City several years after the flagpole went up, city officials entered into an agreement with MUMC in 2001 to have the group be responsible for maintaining it. MUMC spends roughly $5,000 each year on insurance, and through an annual donation from the Castro Street Fair, buys four new flags to replace those worn down by the elements. The first time the rainbow flag was lowered to honor the passing of an individual came in 2002 after the death of San Francisco Police Officer Jon Cook, the first openly gay member of the force to be killed in the line of duty. It was next lowered in 2007 when Castro history tour guide Trevor Hailey died; in 2008 to honor lesbian rights pioneer Del Martin; and in 2010 after the death of San Francisco Patrol Special Police Officer Jane Ellen Warner, whose beat covered the Castro.
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Pride post
From page 1
Behan, who referred questions for this story to the board, said last month that “the main sticking point” between him and the board is whether he should be an at-will employee, meaning the board could terminate him at any time. Doug Donnellan, vice president and general manager of San Francisco Toyota/Scion, said his concern is “the continuous revolving door.” “They can’t pick a direction,” Donnellan, whose company has sponsored Pride for nine years, said. “They can’t put their faith in a guy who obviously has done a great job for them and has some business sense. Unfortunately, I don’t think the board understands that an event like this has to be run like a business.” Behan became Pride’s interim executive director in April 2011 and eventually gained the permanent position. The top post had been vacant since former Executive
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October 18-24, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 13
The debate over when MUMC should lower the rainbow flag first gained wide attention in 2011 after the group declined to fly it at halfstaff during a rally honoring murdered Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato. Local blogger Michael Petrelis began haranguing MUMC about its decision. After an ensuing public outcry, MUMC reversed course. The issue sparked continued discourse all last year after MUMC refused to lower the flag in honor of AIDS activist Elizabeth Taylor after she died and didn’t fly a donated New York state flag when same-sex couples began marrying in New York. Petrelis renewed his attacks after MUMC rejected his suggestions it fly an American flag below the rainbow flag on Veterans Day and lower it to half-mast on World AIDS Day. The flagpole is built to only fly one flag, according to MUMC, and it did affix a red ribbon to the rainbow flag during the AIDS observance December 1. The group also agreed to lower the flag during the 9/11 anniversary that year. MUMC kept the flag lowered for two days to honor those lost in the terrorist attacks and to mark the death of Project Open Hand founder Ruth Brinker. Yet Baker said he never intended for the flag in the Castro to be acquainted with mourning. “There is more power when we celebrate our lives than our deaths,” said Baker in a recent interview.
The flagpole is meant to be a symbol of gay pride, he added, and was purposefully dedicated on the 20th anniversary of Milk’s election on November 7, 1977 to a seat on the Board of Supervisors. “It is about his life and not his death,” said Baker, referring to Milk’s assassination on November 27, 1978. “I know it is very artsy and goes over peoples’ heads. They see it as similar to the American flag and want to see it go up and down.” As for the repeated demands that the flag be lowered on certain occasions, Baker considers such requests to be censorship. “Why are you censoring my artwork? Go get your own flagpole. Go kiss ass and make it happen. It infuriates me,” he said. “I am trying to be gracious, but the merchants fucked this up by letting the leather flag up. Once they did that, it has never stopped.” But Baker himself opened the door for using the flagpole to send a political message. When the United States Supreme Court overturned the country’s anti-gay sodomy laws on June 26, 2003, he raised an American flag in place of the rainbow flag. He did so, said Baker, because “we moved as gay people in the U.S. from being criminals to being citizens. It was an incredibly important day and appropriately I went there and raised an American flag much to the consternation of many people who said, ‘What are you doing?’ I
was sending a message to the New York Times and every newspaper in the world that we are gay Americans, we are citizens.” The flagpole was used a second time to respond to a court ruling when in 2009 the California Supreme Court upheld a voter-approved ban against same-sex marriage. The rainbow flag was flown at half-staff to visually express the LGBT community’s outrage over the gay rights setback. Baker intervened again when Frank Kameny, one of the country’s first gay rights leaders, died on October 11, 2011. He asked that MUMC lower the flag. “When he passed away, I felt it was very important to get people talking about him,” explained Baker. He now laments how requests that the flag be lowered have become “a never ending thing.” His preference is for the flag to be flown at full-staff 365 days a year, said Baker, though he voiced support for having a set schedule for when the LGBT community’s other flags will be flown. “I guess that is okay if there has to be edits of my work. I guess I have to accept it. What choice do I have?” said Baker. “I just want this ugly, ugly controversy over. I can’t stand it.” By articulating its flag policy on its website earlier this year, MUMC hoped it had resolved the issue. But the debate never abated, with activ-
ists continuing to voice complaints about MUMC’s refusal to dialogue with them on finding a compromise. They also question why safety is a concern if the flag is flown at halfstaff but not when it is at full-staff. “I would emphasize to you this is not just about flying the transgender flag. It is also about whether there can be any communication between MUMC and people in the community who want to do things with the flag,” said Wilson, referring to a host of requests activists made to fly the rainbow flag at half-staff that were denied. MUMC leaders, in turn, complain they have “been overwhelmed with requests to alter or change the flag.” In its press release this week, MUMC noted that “these requests have regularly been accompanied by a great deal of personal attacks, blatant bullying and harassment. Due to these attacks it has made it very difficult to consider any requests.” As for the safety concerns, Asten Bennett said that there is a greater chance of the flag landing in the middle of traffic or nearby Muni lines if it were to break at half-staff than when it is higher up the flagpole at full-staff. The group plans “to organize a committee to reassess our policy” at the start of the new year. “We are a merchants’ association and there are so many other things we need to be focusing on,” said Asten Bennett.▼
Director Amy Andre left in November 2010, just over a year after she started the job. Soon after the 2010 celebration, several community partners complained that Pride had shortchanged them. In December 2010, the city controller’s office revealed that the nonprofit was $225,000 in debt. Donnellan said that now is when Pride should be renewing sponsorships and finding new supporters. He said whether he’ll leave if Behan does is “a huge question mark at this point.” Other sponsors also voiced confidence in Behan and want him to remain. “I do hope that the board decides to keep Brendan on. I really do think it’s in the best interest of all parties that they make an agreement,” said Val Klein, director of marketing and promotions for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, which has sponsored Pride for more than a decade. Klein said when she saw the September 20 Bay Area Reporter story
on Behan’s possible departure, her first reaction was “surprise and concern” that Clear Channel and the Pride event itself “would suffer from a change in leadership.” “I believe in the last year Brendan has been running Pride, he’s shown to be a great leader,” Klein said. She credited him with stabilizing the organization’s relationships and reputation. If Behan does leave, Klein said she’d continue working with the organization “but the nature of our continued partnership is dependent on the leadership that they would choose.” If Clear Channel did drop its support, “That could mean the discontinuation of live television coverage of the San Francisco Pride Parade. We are the only ones that carry it in its entirety,” Klein said. Jim Hollenbeck, whose Hollenbeck Associates has donated public relations services to Pride for years, said, “We want Brendan Behan to stay at Pride.” “Brendan has done phenomenal
things with Pride,” Hollenbeck said. “I don’t think anyone could say Brendan Behan has not done a great job as executive director of Pride during one of their most difficult times in history.” He said he was “very upset” when he first heard the board was looking for someone new, “because it just didn’t make sense to me. I know how passionate Brendan is about the job, and I know he does not want to leave the job.” Sponsors aren’t the only people questioning Pride’s board. Andy Copperhall, who’s held the key position of Pride’s beverage manager for 12 years, said in an email, “I cannot support them any more.” “I really feel that the board as a whole should be the ones leaving,” Copperhall said. “They should be completely and utterly ashamed of the disgrace they have afforded SF Pride over the last four years. They have such an inwardly focused view, and fail to see the bigger picture.
They constantly are repeating their mistakes, and fail to learn and or listen.” Pride board President Lisa Williams said the organization wants to open up the recruiting process. “We did not have the time to do that when SF Pride was experiencing the challenges of a couple of years ago, and we felt that it was incumbent upon us as a board to open SF Pride’s recruitment and hiring process to a broader pool of potential candidates,” Williams said in an email. She declined to respond to Copperhall’s comments, but said she plans to serve out her term on the board. The application deadline for the chief executive officer position, which is what the Pride board is calling the position for which it’s hiring, concluded September 27, and a committee is identifying qualified candidates, Williams said. “The board will make its decision in a reasonably prudent time,” she said.▼
Legal Notices>> Supe races
From page 2
“Personally, I am not a fan of a negative campaign strategy, and I do not like this ad in particular,” wrote Linda C. Harrison, an agent with Sotheby’s International Realty who resigned from the SFAR board late last month, in an emailed response. Matt Fuller, with Zephyr Real Estate and a former member of SFAR’s governance affairs committee, criticized the ad against Mar in a post on his blog. While he stopped short of calling it homophobic, Fuller did label it “inflammatory, ridiculous, and a silly distraction.” In an interview he said he wasn’t convinced that the ad is meant to trigger anti-gay animus. “I can honestly say I don’t think the San Francisco Association of Realtors would ever spend money intentionally or purposefully make something homophobic. That has not be been
my experience,” said Fuller. “It does seem amateurish.” The San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters filed a complaint about the ad with the Ethics Commission, asking the city agency to investigate if there was “potential illegal coordination” between the Lee campaign and the Realtors’ group. It is against city laws for a candidate to have anything to do with an independent expenditure committee that is supporting them in their race. The ad’s inclusion of footage of Lee canvassing the district and talking with voters is the basis for the ethics complaint. “That is something that needs to be addressed. If the David Lee campaign had cooperated with them by providing them with that footage that is a violation of the law,” said Fabiana Ochoa, a steering committee member with the league. Thomas Li, a spokesman for Lee’s campaign, said the candidate dis-
avows the ad and “wish they would take it down.” He called accusations that the campaign had anything to do with the ad “completely out of line.” “We do not coordinate with third party groups,” said Li. “We host weekend rallies open to the public and anyone can walk in with their camera and walk along with David.” Backers of Mar’s campaign held a spirited rally outside the Realtor group’s offices Monday night. The crowd of 100 people brought their own pots and pans to bang. “The whole thing is creepy and one of the worst ads I have ever seen,” said Gabriel Haaland, a transgender activist and labor leader, who was at the protest. “This is not about property rights, this is about Lee’s backers who really want to repeal rent control.” Mar told the B.A.R. that the ad “pulls us off of the day-to-day issues that people care about.” He added that he is “doing my best to run a positive campaign.”▼
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034590100
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034600300
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MARIE MAR, 1710 27th Ave., SF, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Donna Marie Romagnoli. 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 09/18/12.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GREEN ELEMENT TREE CARE, 72-1/2 Saturn St., SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Heather Kailing Ellison. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/24/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/24/12.
SEPT 27, OCT 4, 11, 18, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034597300
SEPT 27, OCT 4, 11, 18, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034599600
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BATM MAINTENANCE, 56 Seville St., SF, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Alberto Benavides. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/21/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/21/12.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: F M G & H, 1413 Valencia St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Shane Liddick. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/06/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/21/12.
SEPT 27, OCT 4, 11, 18, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034576200
SEPT 27, OCT 4, 11, 18, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-034598000
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: GOLD LIMOUSINES SERVICE, 76 Monterey Blvd., SF, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Victoria Nguyen. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/10/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/10/12.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: TOTAL RESPONSE AND PROTECTION SERVICES, 1943 28th Ave., SF, CA 94116. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Rambo Security Services Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/21/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/21/12.
SEPT 27, OCT 4, 11, 18, 2012
SEPT 27, OCT 4, 11, 18, 2012
www.ebar.com
Serving the LGBT communities since 1971
14 • Bay Area Reporter • October 18-24, 2012
Classifieds
Legal Notices>>
t
Legal Services>>
The
Legal Notices>> FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034582500
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034609800
notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FITNESS SF CASTRO, 2301 Market St., SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Superblock Fitness Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/13/12.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THE LITLE CHIHUAHUA MEXICAN RESTAURANT, 581 Valencia St., SF, CA 94110. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed TLC Foods Valencia 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 09/27/12.
Dated 09/27/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: MXB BATTERY OPERATIONS, L-PSHIP. 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 717 Battery St., SF, CA 94111-1501. Type of license applied for
SEPT 27, OCT 4, 11, 18, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034582400
OCT 4, 11, 18, 25, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034619300
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: FITNESS SF SOMA, 1001 Brannan St., SF, CA 94103. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Brannan Street Fitness Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/13/12.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: EXECUTIVE CHOICE TRANSPORTATION, 690 Cesar Chaves St., SF, CA 94124. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Damone H. Smith. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/02/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/02/12.
SEPT 27, OCT 4, 11, 18, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034594700
OCT 4, 11, 18, 25, 2012 Statement of abandonment of use of fictitious business name FILE A-031466200
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THOMAS OGAWA DDS, 180 Montgomery St. #2440, SF, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Leila Azad, DDS, Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/04/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/20/12.
SEPT 27, OCT 4, 11, 18, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034582100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SCHNEIDER INVESTMENTS, LLC, 117 Sanchez St., SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Schneider Investment, 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 09/13/12.
SEPT 27, OCT 4, 11, 18, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034569400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, 1597 Haight St., SF, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Soul Patch 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 09/05/12.
SEPT 27, OCT 4, 11, 18, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 09/24/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: BALVANTBHAI VIRJIBHAI PATEL. 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 219 7th St., SF, CA 94103-4003. Type of license applied for
21 – OFF-SALE GENERAL OCT 4, 11, 18, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034605600
The following persons have abandoned the use of the fictitious business name known as: S & E CAFE, 2406 19th Ave., SF, CA 94116. This business was conducted by a corporation and signed by Li, Choi & Fong Inc. (CA). The fictitious name was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/24/08.
OCT 4, 11, 18, 25, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034629300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: MICHAEL WILSON’S CLINICAL CONSULTING, 403 Broderick St. #2, SF, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed John Michael Wilson. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/05/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/05/12.
OCT 11, 18, 25, NOV 1, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034634700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JOE CHEN PHOTOGRAPHY, 523 Brunswick St., SF, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Joe Chen. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/08/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/09/12.
OCT 11, 18, 25, NOV 1, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034626200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: WHITCOMB MARKETING, 47 Surrey St., SF, CA 94131. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Michael Keady Whitcomb. 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 10/04/12.
OCT 11, 18, 25, NOV 1, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034618100
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: S AND E CAFE, 2406 19th Ave., SF, CA 94116. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Wei Hong Liu. 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 09/26/12.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 7 ELEVEN #2366-35696A, 221 Sansome St., SF, CA 94104. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed Mal & S Corporation (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 10/01/12.
OCT 4, 11, 18, 25, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034610500
OCT 11, 18, 25, NOV 1, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034628300
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: ART ATTACK SF, 2722 A Hyde St., SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed James Capadona. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/27/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/27/12.
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: STARSEEDS, 599 3rd St. #206, SF, CA 94107. This business is conducted by a limited partnership, and is signed Starseeds (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/04/12.
OCT 4, 11, 18, 25, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034615900
OCT 11, 18, 25, NOV 1, 2012 notice of application FOR CHANGE IN OWNERSHIP OF alcoholic beverage LICENSE
The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CARMELINA’S TAQUERIA, 500 Parnassus Ave., SF, CA 94143. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Karim Salgado. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 12/02/02. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/01/12.
OCT 4, 11, 18, 25, 2012
Dated 10/09/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: FEY ENTERPRISE, LCC. 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 1352 El Camino Real, Menlo Park, CA 94025. Type of license applied for
41 - ON-SALE BEER & WINE - EATING PLACE OCT 18, 2012
57 – SPECIAL ON-SALE GENERAL OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 2012 notice of application TO SELL alcoholic beverageS Dated 10/08/12 To Whom It May Concern: The name(s) of the applicant(s) is/are: WALGREEN CO. 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 135 Powell St., SF, CA 94102-2203. Type of license applied for
21 – OFF-SALE GENERAL OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 2012 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF california, county of san francisco file CNC12-548998 In the matter of the application of: CHELSEA ANN DEMING for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CHELSEA ANN DEMING is requesting that the name CHELSEA ANN DEMING be changed to CHELSEA DEMING ELLSWORTH. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 6th of December 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.
OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 8, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034638400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LEAH GOLDSTEIN PUBLIC RELATIONS, 1630 Sacramento St. #4, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Leah Goldstein. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/15/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/10/12.
OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 8, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034636700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: COMMUNITY LENDING NETWORK, 1 Sansome St. #3500, SF, CA 94104. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Mark Richard Moonier. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/04. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/09/12.
OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 8, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034639900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: 79, 707 Sutter St., SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed June Sun Park. 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 10/10/12.
OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 8, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034642700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: J + H LIMO SERVICES, 1435 5th Ave., Oakland, CA 94606. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Hung Huynh. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/11/12. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/11/12.
OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 8, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034651800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BIG AL’S ADULT BOOK STORE, 556 Broadway St., SF, CA 94133. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Khaldoun Al-Salti. 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.
OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 8, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034636400 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: CUP & CAKE CAFE, 2 Beach St., SF, CA 94133. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed E&Y Enterprises 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 10/09/12.
OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 8, 2012
FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034627800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: THREE BEES NURSERY; TRIPLE BK LANDSCAPE GARDENING, 1921 Clement St., SF, CA 94121. This business is conducted by a corporation and is signed Three Bees Inc. (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/01/05. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/04/12.
OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 8, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034613800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: BRIDGE AHEAD; TRU PERSONA; REQUEST QUOTES; THE HOME PROJECT; 1819 Polk St. #477, SF, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed The Bridge Ahead 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 10/01/12.
OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 8, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034632000 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: LA CHAVELA, 661-663 Divisadero St., SF, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed Latin Hospitality Group, 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 10/05/12.
OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 8, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034641500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: AVENS INTERNATIONAL, 100 Rae Ave., SF, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Kolja Rodici. 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.
OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 8, 2012 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME statement file A-034650300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as: SF HOLISTIC HEALTH; CASTRO HOLISTIC HEALTH CENTER, 2191 Market St. #D, SF, CA 94114. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed Rachele Ferraro. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/09/01. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/15/12.
OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 8, 2012ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF california, county of san francisco file CNC12-548999 In the matter of the application of: JOANNA LEA SWYERS for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner JOANNA LEA SWYERS is requesting that the name JOANNA LEA SWYERS be changed to JOANNA LEA ELLSWORTH. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 514 on the 6th of December 2012 at 9:00 am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.
OCT 18, 25, NOV 1, 8, 2012
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The
Vol. 42 • No. 42 • October 18-24, 2012
www.ebar.com/arts
One white whale San Francisco Opera’s ‘Moby-Dick’ by Philip Campbell
T
he San Francisco Opera company premiere of Moby-Dick by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer has finally opened at the War Memorial Opera House, two years and three productions after its world premiere at the Dallas Opera in 2010. The State Opera of South Australia, Calgary Opera and San Diego Opera (all co-commissioners with the SFO) have already mounted director Leonard Foglia’s magnificent staging to almost universal praise, and local buzz was growing to a deafening peak. It was a heck of an out-of-town tryout, dangerously close to creating an anti-climax, but the wait was worth it. The musicalization of Herman Melville’s iconic American novel may not be the Great American Opera, but it is definitely in the running. Amazingly, the production team has fashioned a cogent and artistically satisfying distillation of a vast and complicated work of prose. The heroic and lyrical aspects of the book have clearly moved the composer to scale the heights, and the terse poetry of Gene Scheer’s libretto makes a worthy framework for the meeting of a daunting challenge. When reviewers call a new opera triumphant or a triumph, I find myself asking, against what? Is it the odds, the economy, or just the perpetual nay-sayers? In the case of Moby-Dick it is all of the above, and you might want to throw in the literary purists as well. Choosing to end the opera with the fa-
Jay Hunter Morris (Captain Ahab), Stephen Costello (Greenhorn) and Jonathan Lemalu (Queequeg) in San Francisco Opera’s Moby-Dick. Cory Weaver
mous beginning line of the novel, “Call me Ishmael,” is just one of the many coups de theatre achieved throughout an extraordinary realization. Apart from the score itself, the physical production proves to be a breathtaking spectacle. Director and dramaturg Foglia has teamed with cleverly inventive set designer Robert Brill, costume designer Jane Greenwood (sensibly creating traditional designs), evocative lighting designer Gavan Swift and amazing projection designer Elaine J. McCarthy to make a show that continually wows the audience without overwhelming the hard-working performers. The wonder of Heggie’s music is that it could play without the visual trappings and still be powerfully effective. His characteristic sympathy for vocalists is always evident, and his knack for writing a catchy tune is abundantly on display. When the music veers towards high-end Broadway musical territory, at least it is in the direction of Stephen Sondheim and the Richard Rodgers of Carousel. I don’t really have a problem with that, and judging by the ecstatic approval of others in the audience, there are few who would make a complaint. The swell and drama of the orchestral interludes have a symphonic breadth, and conductor Patrick Summers had the Opera orchestra playing with equally symphonic weight. It was a grand night of music, and having a cast so well-rehearsed and suited to their roles only underscored the mastery See page 28 >>
You can’t always get what you want Mariinsky Ballet’s ‘Swan Lake’ plays Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley by Paul Parish
W
hen I was a Rhodes Scholar living in England, a performance by the Royal Ballet of Swan Lake drove me to the edge of terror and made me realize that this ballet is a tragedy as profound as Hamlet. Ever since, I’ve approached Swan Lake with dread, fearing that I’d be destroyed like that again, or that nothing could recreate those feelings. Hope springs eternal. The chance to see a real Russian production such as last week’s run of Swan
Lake performed in Berkeley by the Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra of St. Petersburg gave me such hopes. But on opening night, only the ballerina, the corps de ballet, and the orchestra were first-rate. The next night was much improved, since the whole company had adjusted to the cramped conditions of the stage and its slippery floor. It would be fair to say they had a triumph. Courtesy of Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra Swan Lake is a poetic tragedy told as a moving Members of the Mariinsky Ballet perform in Swan Lake. See page 29 >>
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{ SECOND OF TWO SECTIONS }
<< Out There
18 • BAY AREA REPORTER • October 18-24, 2012
▼
Ahoy there, mateys! by Roberto Friedman
T
hey walked amongst us all week. We saw them attending the Symphony, parading on the Square, strolling the city streets. It was Fleet Week, and photographer Steven Underhill was snapping photos of seamen with abandon, the way a wildlife photographer might go for broke at a well-populated wateringhole. How appropriate was it, then, that San Francisco Opera’s Bay Area premiere of composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer’s Moby-Dick should come last week at the War Memorial Opera House while visions of sailors still danced fandangos in Out There’s head? Find Philip Campbell’s opera review on this week’s arts cover. Out There was in the house for opening night, and to prepare, we’d been listening to some of our favorite sea-faring music:
Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd and the Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Debussy’s La Mer, Laurie Anderson’s Songs and Stories from Moby Dick. We also returned to one of the favorite volumes from our personal library, the great gay American author Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick, or The Whale (the title is hyphenated, but not the whale). The English Department at Stanford used to have an annual tradition of reading the tome aloud (still does?), with faculty and grad students taking on a chapter each. Our copy is a trade version of the illustrated Arion Press edition, with initial caps in a specially-designed “Leviathan” font, and drawings – of whaling tools, shipware, and processes – from engravings by artist Barry Moser. This makes the book, which let’s face it is rather short on plot for an adventure tale, and lo-o-ong on whaling
technology, less of a chore to read. There’s even an illustration of a whale’s penis, which we’ll leave to your imagination. To our relief and delight, the homoerotic overtones of the relationship between shipmates Queequeg and (call him Ishmael) Greenhorn are very much present in the opera. And as Ahab, tenor Jay Hunter Morris has nailed the mania and obsessiveness of his quixotic quest for the great white whale. He’s a veritable American type (see: George W. Bush and the non-existent WMDs). After the opening-night performance and its much-deserved ovations, SFO invited Out There and plucky plus-one Pepi to the cast party in the Green Room of the Veterans Building. The invitation specified, “Nautical attire welcomed.” Press-door concierge Bill Repp wore an “anchors aweigh” necktie. Gossip-page mistress Leah Garchik sported a jaunty fish-motif necklace. We tried to convince Pepi to dress up as a sailor, since he has the physique and haircut to pull it off, but no dice. So OT styled a sailor’s cap on the big night, and was treated to many a Fleet Week-themed ribbing. At the festive afterparty, SFO General Director David Gockley compared Moby-Dick to American opera masterpieces like Porgy & Bess and West Side Story. Composer Heggie, who began his career in the SFO Press Department, was heard to remark that, though the world premiere had transpired elsewhere, the San Francisco premiere felt like his true homecoming. Keyboard cat, play us out: “How to find you, maybe by your singing, a weird trail of notes in the water. One white whale in all these oceans, one white whale. “Slipping through the nets of silence, under polar ice-caps miles down. You leave your echoes in the water. One white whale in all these oceans, one white whale.” – from Anderson’s version of Moby-Dick.
Tooling around Last Friday night we were in the house for the openings of Nayland Blake: FREE! LOVE! TOOL! BOX! and The Parade: Nathalie Djurberg with Music by Hans Berg, two exhibitions showing at YBCA through Jan. 27, 2013. A key figure in the
Steven Underhill
Spotted during Fleet Week in San Francisco: naval personnel.
Steven Underhill
Sailors at their ease during Fleet Week in San Francisco.
San Francisco art scene when he lived here from 1984-96, Blake created the show’s pieces on-site, using spontaneous processes. The installations include Ruins of a Sensibility (1972-2002), a DJ stand stocked with Blake’s collection of over 3,000 LPs. Visitors are invited to sign up for a DJ stint using Blake’s musical archive during the run of the show, and OT plans to do this. One interesting note is that in the “toolbox” of the show’s title, Blake is referring to the Tool Box bar that was located at 4th and Harrison Sts. from 1962-71, which became famous for being the first gay leather bar in SoMa. It also had a very cool Chuck Arnett mural on one of its walls (replicated in the exhibition) that was featured in a 1964 issue of Life magazine, which brought national attention to the bar, its clientele and Arnett. Ironically, the bar was torn down to make way for what is now part of the Yerba Buena district. But Blake’s works were influenced by the emergence of that underground culture in San Francisco, and played a prominent role in moving it aboveground. The
toolbox comes full circle. A workbook supplied with the show poses questions to visitors, and encourages them to share electronic responses. The prompts include “What is the best thing about your body?,” “What is your most powerful piece of clothing and why?,” and “When was the last time you felt free?” Affiliated events include Queer Punks in Conversation, a panel featuring musician/tattoo artist Leslie Mah of Tribe 8, writer and performer Brontez Purnell of Gravy Train!!!, and others, on Fri., Nov. 20, at 6:30 p.m.; and Nayland’s Makeover: Drag + Bay Area Personae, a panel including performances by Blake, Cliff Hengst, D-L Alvarez, Club Uranus alum Shannon Trumble, and others. Look for arts writer Sura Wood’s interview with Blake in our very next issue. Just space to congratulate San Francisco Playhouse on their 10th anniversary and move to their new theatre on Post St. Opening-night for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson was bloody festive. Find Richard Dodds’ review in this issue.▼
▼
Theatre>>
October 18-24, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 19
Pomo Afro Homos redos by Richard Dodds
M
aybe it is true that you can’t go home again, but Brian Freeman has been enjoying buzzing the grounds of the old neighborhood. He is the director of, and actor in, Fierce Love, a “remix” of the seminal 1991 work of the Pomo Afro Homos that he co-authored with Djola Branner and the late Eric Gupton. The new edition opens this week at New Conservatory Theatre Center in association with AfroSolo. The stage mosaic about black gay life put the SF group – its name a shorthand for postmodern African American homosexuals – on an international map where the troupe burned brightly, if briefly, with a series of works about a theatrically neglected subject. Freeman hadn’t expected that he would be returning to Fierce Love, but a request that he perform a 10-minute excerpt at a National Performance Network gathering led to a full-scale revival that traveled to five cities last year under the NPN banner. San Francisco was not part of the tour, but Freeman couldn’t imagine that Fierce Love (remix) would not be seen in the city of its birth. Its original home venue, Josie’s Cabaret and Juice Joint, is long gone, but NCTC was eager to add it to its season as a nonsubscription special. “For this cast and production, this is probably the end,” Freeman said, “but I know better than to say ‘never.’” After all, the new production bloomed unexpectedly from the invitation to present a 10-minute excerpt, and the original production hardly arrived on a wave of anticipation. What had first inspired Freeman and his colleagues was a hole they saw in the social dialogue, especially in San
Francisco’s Castro District, where the faces of both the celebrants of gay liberation and the victims/mourners of a ravishing plague were mainly white. “The show was really created in a void,” Freeman said last week. “There was gay theater, there was black theater, and there was an occasional character in a white play or an African American play who was a gay man. For black queers of color, it was one of the first times to come into the collective-consciousness of a theater, to hear their own voices in a public space.” The original collaborators created a collection of scenes, sketches, monologues, and songs that they themselves performed. “Although we intended to create a piece for the community that it came from, it very quickly became popular with all kinds of communities,” Freeman said. The material that makes up Fierce Love (remix) has been tweaked but not fundamentally altered from the original show that was subtitled Stories from Black Gay Life. “It’s still very much of the moment when we created it,” Freeman said, “but not every joke is still funny 20 years later.” And there are times when history, be it pop cultural or gravely social, needs explaining for audiences who may have been playing in sandboxes when Fierce Love was born. Freeman is using projected video to help in that process. “The first scene is this weird collision between ACT UP and the movie-critic characters Blaine and Antoine from In Living Color. Video is a quick and easy way to locate all that.” There were also musical moments that needed some tuning. “We had a rap number in the original show which was about the ridiculousness of there being gay rap, and now there
Courtesy NCTC
Courtesy NCTC
The cast of Fierce Love (remix) performs a homo hop number that marks one of the bigger changes as the 1991 Pomo Afro Homos hit is revived at New Conservatory Theatre Center.
is a genre called homo hop,” Freeman said. “So we had a homo hop artist named Kevin ‘Kaoz’ Moore do a rewrite of the song, and the new performers actually have the skills to do it for real.” Thandiwe Thomas DeShazor, Duane Boutte, and Rashad Pridgen make up the new cast, and Freeman himself makes several cameo appearances. In the original production, each of the creators developed monologues drawn from their own experiences, and Freeman’s most prominent appearance in the new version is a recreation of that monologue. “I do a story called Sad Young Man, and the title is taken from a song from my childhood that had very queer-coded
lyrics,” Freeman said. “I found it on a very obscure Johnny Mathis record, and the sound designer finally found a copy we could use from a record dealer in Europe.” When the new production made its debut last year at Boston’s Theater Offensive, original Pomo member Djola Branner, now a faculty member at Amherst’s Hampshire College, was in the audience. “He found it very emotional to see the show again so many years later,” Freeman said. “He kind of lost it in places, especially during the monologue that he wrote. It was based on people he knew, and many of those people are no longer with us.” Freeman had a different kind of deep-seated response to the Boston
Eric Gupton, Djola Branner, and Brian Freeman were the founding members of Pomo Afro Homos, and Freeman has tweaked the group’s Fierce Love for a “remixed” edition now at New Conservatory Theatre Center.
engagement. “Theatre Offensive produced the show in Roxbury, where I was born,” he said. “They used the Hibernian Hall where my mom used to have social dances with her ladies groups. I got very emotional about it.” Audience reactions, or at least how they are openly displayed, have varied greatly from city to city. “In Boston we got a lot of loud lesbians, so it turned into a kind of call-and-response thing. When we were in Burlington, VT, the crowds were older and whiter, but they were really loving the politics of the piece. And then in Washington, D.C., the audiences were heavily black men, and it was close to what the original audiences were like. It threw the cast a little bit just because people were so zoned into the stuff. That’s when it felt like Fierce Love really had its homecoming.”▼
<<Fine Art
20 • BAY AREA REPORTER • October 18-24, 2012
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Dancer from the dance ‘Rudolf Nureyev: A Life in Dance’ at the de Young Museum by Sura Wood
H
ere are a few things you might not know about Rudolf Nureyev, the Russian virtuoso ballet dancer and uninhibited free spirit who defected to the West in 1961. At 5’7” and sensitive about his stature, he preferred abbreviated costume jackets that promoted the illusion of a longer leg line and that had extra fabric under the arms to allow greater mobility, and he eschewed the traditional baggy pants worn by many male dancers of the time in favor of sheer tights – selfconscious or modest about his attributes he was not. Also, in 1990, three years before his death at age 54 from complications from AIDS, he performed with the U.S. touring company of The King and I. Move over, Yul Brynner. These are among the details revealed in the de Young Museum’s Rudolf Nureyev: A Life in Dance, a curiously unsatisfying hybrid exhibition of costume and dance that falls frustratingly short in both areas. There’s not enough insider information on the dance side to gratify ardent ballet fans, and the costuming aspect is thinner than usual for those coming to covet the threads. So how does one design a museum show, which is by definition static, when it revolves around a world-class athlete? Though it doesn’t surmount this challenge, the exhibit does assemble video clips of several performances, and wonderful black-and-white photographs of the young Nureyev, whose high cheekbones, large piercing eyes, Slavic good looks and dramatic inclinations made him a rock star of the dance world. He was the first dance celebrity to have his visage grace the covers of Vogue
Rick Gerharter Rick Gerharter
Margot Fonteyn’s ballet slippers and Rudolf Nureyev’s rehearsal shoes, on display in the exhibit Rudolf Nureyev: A Life in Dance at the de Young Museum.
Costumes from Sleeping Beauty on display in the exhibit Rudolf Nureyev: A Life in Dance at the de Young Museum.
and Newsweek. But the true focus is a collection of over 70 costumes from ballets Nureyev danced in or choreographed. Jeweled and created with heavy brocades, silks, velvets and sequins – no spandex or breathable fabrics here – his regal costumes are displayed along with those worn by his partners, most famously Margot Fonteyn, and other cast members of productions such as La Bayadere, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote, and Fonteyn and Nureyev’s signature ballet, Marguerite and Armand. The costumes have historical value, especially to followers of the ballet, but they cry out for the theatrical lighting and artifice that would give them a grandeur that eludes them on mannequins. Despite sweaty wear and tear, the princely jackets and delicate tutus have survived surprisingly well, some more tarnished with age than others. Fonteyn’s and Nureyev’s ballet shoes, on view in a
that make-shift showcase, Fonteyn was the incarnation of elegance, grace, restraint and exquisite line. He was vital and masculine; she was beauty to his beast. Nureyev helped expand the role of the male dancer, who up until then had been little more than a technically proficient prop, a weightlifter moving the ballerina – the star – around the stage and partnering her, before he indulged in a round of crowd-pleasing pirouettes and bounding leaps across the stage. He’s credited with deepening the psychological dimensions and emotional depth of his characters, though detractors found his acting hammy and an exercise in “look at me.” He remounted Marius Petipa’s Don Quixote for himself and ballerina Maina Gielgud, who remembers him as witty and well-read, a clown and chronic cut-up with an infectious sense of humor, and an exacting taskmaster who occasion-
case here, certainly took a drubbing. There’s something poignant about seeing them separated from the talented feet that once wore – and executed marvels – in them. Not much for adhering to official Kremlin policies while on tour with the Kirov Ballet, and fearing he might never be allowed to travel again should he return to Russia, Nureyev requested and was granted asylum when the company was in Paris. Aside from his high-profile defection, he’s probably best-known for his alchemical partnership with Fonteyn, with whom he first danced in the Royal Ballet’s 1962 production of Giselle at Convent Garden. The black-velvet beaded costume he wore for his debut with her is here. A formative experience of my early childhood was seeing the duo perform on the stage of the Loews Theater, a movie house in Washington, D.C., the only ballet venue in the nation’s capital in the days before the Kennedy Center opened. Even in
ally swore under his breath during their pas de deux. More anecdotes similar to the kind Gielgud shared with me privately would have been welcome as part of the exhibition, but unfortunately, there’s precious little insight into this complex man or juicy behind-the-scenes dish balletomanes would relish. Nureyev, on and off-stage, was inherently more interesting than what he wore when he performed, though he was always charismatic when he moved through space. Projected on a wall of one of the galleries is amazing black-and-white film footage of Nureyev dancing for the camera in a bare studio. Dressed in rehearsal clothes and effortlessly defying gravity, he’s sleek, agile and positively electrifying to watch. No wonder the rest of the show pales in comparison.▼ Rudolf Nureyev: A Life in Dance, at the de Young Museum through Feb. 17, 2013.
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Theatre >>
October 18-24, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 21
Jessica Palapoli
As the title character in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Ashkon Davaran celebrates as he reaches the Oval Office with his populist message. It’s the first production at San Francisco Playhouse’s new home.
Action Jackson by Richard Dodds
T
he analogies to the politics of today are so thick and tangled that trying to line up the events in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson with contemporary counterparts could leave you dazed and confused, and metaphorically, just a little bit bloody. While many Americans may embrace such beliefs as Manifest Destiny and, more recently, American Exceptionalism, the licenses they provide require hands getting dirtied, but preferably not our own, and here is a place for the government to step in – with as much plausible deniability as possible. As a military leader and then as president, Andrew Jackson saw his dirtied hands as badges of honor. If genocide was what was needed to ensure Indian-free expansion of the nation, he owned it, while some citizens might murmur in protest and privately heave sighs of relief. “He puts the ‘man’ in Manifest Destiny,” says one of his admirers in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson as the rock musical body slams the 19th century into the 21st using our seventh president as ballast. Andrew Jackson received positive reviews but had trouble finding an audience during a 2010 Broadway run. But there is no doubting its immediate, almost visceral relevance as the upcoming election elicits reflection and bombast, and for a theater that is itself manifesting a promising destiny, the musical is a perfect choice for time and place. SF Playhouse debuted in 2003 in a small theater on Sutter Street before moving a few years later to an even smaller space on Sutter Street. But while the trajectory of venues may have been downward, the quality of productions under founding directors Bill English and Susi Damilano drew a growing and supportive audience. Now, with its name officially de-abbreviated to San Francisco Playhouse, the company has taken over what began as an Elks Lodge ballroom and has more recently been known as Theatre on the Square and the Post Street Theatre. With the spirit of Don Quixote tilting at windmills, the Playhouse undertook converting the 729-seat theater into a 200-seat auditorium with a thrusting stage while simultaneously mounting a musical of swashbuckling intensity and few of the preset parameters of more traditional material. Don Quixote lost his battle, but for San Francisco Playhouse and the theater-going community, it’s a win-win situation. The musical itself is not easily described, mixing a kind of thrashrock score by Michael Friedman and a book by Alex Timbers that sug-
gests a woozy, irreverent historical pageant put on by a cast that arrived at the theater via skateboard. It befits a president who was something of a rock star, a gun-toting populist with behavioral issues. “I’m wearing some tight, tight jeans, and we’re delving into some serious shit,” the musical’s Andrew Jackson says by way of introduction in Ashkon Davaran’s strutting, moody performance with a kind of Mark Ruffalo chill. A more-or-less chronological history tracks Jackson’s life from Tennessee childhood through his military and political exploits and a marriage that probably violated bigamy laws and involved mutual bloodletting for medical and perhaps recreational purposes. Amongst the cast wearing bits and pieces of historical finery over their own glad rags (costumes by Abra Berman and Tatjana Genser), there is one voice connected to The World as We Know It. A delightful Ann Hopkins, aboard a motorized wheelchair and in sensible clothing befitting a docent, buzzes in and out of the action to provide a narration that the other characters don’t always appreciate. Director Jon Tracy’s production may need a few more performances to mine all its possibilities, but voltage was high on opening night, the tricky rendering of carefully staged chaos was abundantly realized, and an ensemble cast that often doubles as musicians solidly grasped the spirit behind the specifics of their multiple characters. Among the more memorable creations are Safiya Fredericks as Black Fox, Jackson’s oft-betrayed emissary to the westward heave-ho’d Native Americans; Angel Burgess as the mostly woebegone Mrs. Andrew Jackson; and Michael Barrett Austin, William Elsman, Lucas Hatton, and Olive Mitra primarily as various politicos of the era. Jonathan Fadner leads the morphing band from a perch atop set designer Nina Bell’s Erector-set outline of the Capitol dome. Andrew Jackson inarguably opened that Capitol to a far wider breadth of citizenry than ever before, which is a good thing even though its decisions aren’t always based with the care any democracy needs. “He’s the candidate I’d most want to have a beer with,” says one of Jackson’s supporters before an election. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson is a rocking, frenetic, and mournful ode to the drinking buddies at the helm and those who put them there.▼ Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson will run at the San Francisco Playhouse through Nov. 24. Tickets are $30-$70. Call 677-9596 or go to www.sfplayhouse.org.
<< Film
22 • BAY AREA REPORTER • October 18-24, 2012
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Life & death in an Oakland E.R. by David Lamble
D
irector Peter Nicks’ The Waiting Room is an astonishing cinema verite doc that offers a personal day in the life of Oakland’s Highland Hospital as riveting as a great Russian novel. In its final act, the movie’s star Cynthia Y. Johnson injects a little humor into the life of a patient. The diabetic senior needs a shoulder to lean on and help getting to the AC Transit stop several tricky steps from the hospital’s front door. Johnson, whose official title is Certified Nurse Assistant, and whom the film’s press kit describes as “the scene-stealing triage nurse,” drops all formalities and treats the patient like an old friend, recalling a treasured moment when Highland Hospital is the setting of Peter Nicks’ The Waiting Room, opening Friday in the Bay Area.
she was simply a fan in the presence of greatness. “I saw James Brown at the Paramount. He did everything he always did, only a little bit slower.” “Don’t make me laugh, it hurts.” One of The Waiting Room’s virtues is the nuanced portrait it provides of Oakland’s African American community, with Johnson acting as guide through Highland’s Byzantine rules and procedures. While Johnson can function like a selfless member of the hospital’s extended family, she can also crack the whip when she thinks she’s being disrespected by a disgruntled young man wielding the vocabulary of a rap artist. “You don’t be cussing at me, I’m old enough to be your grandmother. Get a grip!” In 1971, the brilliant satirist Paddy Chayefsky imagined a 10th circle of hell, a big-city teaching hospital where God himself might perish without insurance. Chayefsky peopled The Hospital with a largely Jewish constellation of doctors, sometimes riding roughshod over female nurses. The head physician is a chain-smoking, profanity-spewing, broken man with
a savior complex, who suffers neither fools nor his own failings. George C. Scott’s towering, Oscar-nominated performance left me with a powerful example of what it means to put your community ahead of your selfish human needs. Four decades later, Peter Nicks has discovered the same dedication to community in a more rainbow-like constellation of doctors and nurses who, while eschewing Scott’s obscenities and sexism, update Chayefsky’s dystopian black comedy in subtler ways. In one heartbreaking scene, Highland’s emergency room staff is forced to pull the plug on their desperate efforts to save a young gunshot victim. “Let’s roll him over before we call it. Ready to call it: time of death is 20:16. The kid is how old?” “15.” “Can his family view the body?” “It’s a crime scene, and the body is part of the evidence. Sometimes the coroner will let the family view through a window.” Nicks’ cameras witness America’s version of socialized medicine. Highland is the last stop for desperately ill individuals unlucky enough to find themselves medically indigent or uninsured. A 40ish black carpet-layer, complaining of severe back pain, self-medicates: three gallons of cranberry juice a day for a week, no results. Highland ER doctors say he has back spurs. “How soon can I have surgery?” “They’ll call you.” “A week?” “More like a month.” “Even though I’m in pain and can’t work?” A 20ish white vegan appears with medical tests (from Kaiser) indicating he has testicular cancer. “This is a major wakeup call.” Years ago, director Nicks faced his own wakeup call as a drug-addicted college student. His short film on kicking his habit provided traction for a career that has yielded an Emmy, a stint as an ABC News producer, and now a socially conscious documentary so well cast, shot and edited that it can easily be mistaken for a scintillating narrative feature. In the course of our two chats, Nicks described how he came to The Waiting Room when its original director, the gay two-time Oscar winner Rob Epstein, was called away. Peter Nicks: I’d wanted to make the film for years, and coincidentally Rob and Jeffrey [Friedman, Epstein’s longtime film partner] were hired by investors who wanted to make a film about the uninsured. I heard about it and called up Rob and Jeff and said, “Oh man, you guys stole my film!” Now, I’d never approached the hospital, I just wanted to make the film. Well, they needed a producer, so I joined their team in 2007, and then for a variety of complicated reasons, the film went into hiatus. The fund-
The Waiting Room director Peter Nicks: dedication.
ing for [their feature] Howl came through. In 2009, I approached them and said, “I think I can raise the money myself.” So they let me take over the project. While Rob and Jeff are not official producers, they graciously gave me their blessing. David Lamble: Your astonishingly intimate doc is a kind of remake of Paddy Chayefsky’s The Hospital. Peter Nicks: We have some little dark comedy in there. There could have been a lot more, we just scratched the surface. We had to be careful with that. Your subjects feel like the kind of actors you’d pick in a casting call for a fiction film. Especially CJ [the waiting-room nurse Cynthia Johnson], she hits the ball out of the park! In a documentary you can’t feed people lines. Every time we put the camera down, CJ would have a one-liner that was just perfect, or she’d break out into song, and we kept missing it. So we set up two cameras and just rolled through a 12-hour shift. Like filmmaker Barbara Kopple’s approach in her famous doc on striking meat-packing workers, American Dream. We shot about 175 hours, while Kopple probably has north of 500 hours. We didn’t spend more than 24 hours with any one patient. We were looking for certain archetypes of characters that spoke to the larger issues of what all these safety-net hospitals and clinics were going through. You track some hard cases, like the comatose patient whose preacher had given up on him. Some patients at Highland are called “frequent fliers,” patients who keep returning by ambulance, which costs a lot of money. As opposed to stabilizing him, trying to find him a bed, convincing Pastor Boswell to take him in. So some other person is stuck in the waiting room because he’s taking up a bed. That’s how we structured the film, a day in the life, because they can clear the waiting room, but in the morning the bus rolls up again. It’s like shoveling sand against the tide.▼
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Read more online at www.ebar.com
October 18-24, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 23
<< Out&About
24 • BAY AREA REPORTER • October 18-24, 2012
Wanda Sykes
Children of Ray Bradbury @ Oddball Films
Carolyn Mark, Vagabondage @ Various Venues
City Ballet School @ Cowell Theater
Short film adaptations of stories by the award-winning scifi author. 8pm. Oct 19, Space Ghost , a doc about NASA and Florida. Oct 20, Home Movie Day! $10 each night. 275 Capp St. 558-8117. www.oddballfilms.blogspot.com
The roots-country chanteuse pairs up with the Americana-folk trio and other bands in a series of concerts. Oct 19, 7pm, at Actual Café, 6334 San Pablo Ave, Oakland. Oct 21, 8pm, at Eli’s Mile High Club, 2629 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Oakland. Oct 23, 7:30pm, at Aubergine Bar/Café, 755 Petaluma Ave, Sebastopol. www.carolynmark.com www.vagabondage.com
Fall Classic, a showcase of works featuring prominent dance students, including excerpts from Swan Lake. $20. 2pm & 7pm. Fort Mason Center, Buchanan at Marina Blvd. 345-7575. www.fortmason.org
Comedy Bodega @ Esta Nocha The weekly LGBT and indie comic stand-up night. Amy Miller, Kurt Weitzmann, Martuini Paratore, Jessia Sele perform (Oct 25: Marga Gomez, Natasha Muse, David Hawkins, Cara Tramantano). 8pm-9:30pm. 3079 16th St. at Mission. www.comedybodega.com
Sister Spi(ri)t By Jim Provenzano
G
irlfriend guile, lady smarts, womon wisdom, feminine mystiques; have it all explained to you, fellows. And wimminfolk, share, testify and enjoy these shows while we motley males try to catch up.
Peaches
Fri 19: Peaches @ 103 Harriet
enough? She played a single mom running a rock band, in the 1970s! Besides, anyone was featured on my grade school lunch book gets included. The musical theatre and TV actress performs an evening of story and song. $40-$45. 8pm. Nightly thru Oct 28 (5pm). 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 3803095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com
Unique genre-busting electro-pop singer/ DJ performs and spins along her tour promoting her new CD, Burst! As part of Blasthaus’ 17-year anniversary. $22.50. 9pm. 21+. 103 Harriet St. www.blasthaus.com
Wed 24: Hunter Valentine @ Café du Nord
Fri 19: Voices of Strength @ YBCA Two-night celebration of contemporary dance and theater by women from Africa; Nelisiwe Xaba & Kettly Noël, Nadia Beugré, Maria Helena Pinto, Sombra Bouchra Ouizguen. $20-$30. 8pm. Also Oct 21. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum, 701 Mission St. 979-2787. www.ybca.org
Sat 20: Wanda Sykes @ Masonic Auditorium The fabulous lesbian comic shares her opinions and dry wit. $39.50-$59.50. 8pm. 1111 California St. www.livenation.com
Tue 23: Shirley Jones @ The Rrazz Room Mrs. Partridge! Marion Librarian! What, she’s not ‘feminist’ or ‘empowered’
Thu 18>> Acid Test @ The Marsh Berkeley Warren David Keither performs Lynne Kaufman’s Acid Test: The Many Incarnations of Ram Dass, the story of Richard Alpert, the Harvard psychology professor and spiritual seeker, who started the LSD-fueled psychedelic movement. $15$50. Thu & Fri 8pm. Sat 5pm. Previews thru Oct 18. Thru Nov 24. 2120 Allston Way near Shattuck. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org
Women’s rock trio, fronted by Kiyomi McClosky and featured on the lesbian reality show The Real L Word, perform their bang-up tunes. Queen Caveat and Echo Twin also perform. $10. 21+. 8pm. 2170 Market St. 861-5016. www.HunterValentine.com
Wed 24: Sister Spit @ City Lights Michelle Tea and Cassie J. Sneider, Alie Liebegott, Ben McCoy, Sara Sein-bger, MariNaomi,, Rhiannon Argo, Tamara LlosaSandor and Kat Maria Yoas read from and share stories about Sister Spit: Writing, Rants and Reminiscence from thee Road, the new book about their popular tour. 7pm. 261 Columbus bus Ave. 362-8193. www.citylights.com l h
Arab Film Festival @ Castro Theatre Screenings of short, documentary and feature films from many Middle Eastern countries. $20-$25. Various times. Thru Oct 21. 429 Castro St. www.arabfilmfestival.org www.castrotheatre.com
Assassins @ Ashby Stage, Berkeley Shotgun Players’ production of Stephen Sondheim’s dark musical about political murderers. $20-$33. Wed/Thu 7pm. Fri/Sat 8pm. Sun 7pm. Extended thru Nov 4. 1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley. (510) 841-6500. www.shotgunplayers.org
Burlesque women’s revue. $20-$45. 10:30pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com
Help Is On the Way @ Everett Middle School
Veteran jazz singer-pianist performs. $40-$47.50. 8pm Various times thru Oct 21. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com
Whimsical musical retelling of the history of Alcoholics Anonymous. Part of the Western Roundup Living Sober, an LGBT AA conference. $15. 8pm. 350 Church St. www.livingsober.org
Fierce Love [Remix] @ New Conservatory Theatre Center
Nayland Blake @ YBCA
PoMo Afro Homos’ revival and restaging of their award-winning show with humor, music, stories and truths about the joy and contradictions of black gay life; with writer/director Brian Freeman, members of Deep Dickollective and B/GLAM. Special after-show discussions Oct 18, 21, 25 & 27. $25-$37. Wed-Sat 8pm. Sun 2pm. Thru Oct 28. 25 Van Ness Ave, lower level. 861-8972. www.nctcsf.org
Book party for David Sweet and Rick May’s self-published photo essay book about gay redheads and the men who fancy them. Books and T-shirts, plus games, prizes and refreshments (Books $15-$35). 7pm-9pm. 2327 Market St. 418-8878. www.blurb.com/books/3577527
One Night, One Heart @ Fort Mason Center 20th anniversary gala party and fundraiser for Zen Hospice Project, with appetizers, beer and wine; reception 425-$100. 5:30pm-7pm, dance party 7pm-10pm. Golden Gate Room, Marina Blvd at Buchanan. 913-7682. www.zenhospice.org
Shocktoberfest 13 @ Hypnodrome
Hunter Valentine
Fishnet Follies @ The Rrazz Room
Diane Schuur @ The Rrazz Room
Ginger Snaps @ Jeff Johnston Tax Group Offices
Shirley Jones
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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. Previews. Thu-Sat 8pm. Special Halloween performances Oct. 30 & 31. Thru Nov 17. 575 10th St. (800) 838-3006. www.thrillpeddlers.com
Theodore B. Olson @ Commonwealth Club Noted attorney who co-led the Prop 8 and Bush v. Gore lawsuits discusses Supreme Court decisions and the federal court, with law professor Pamela Karlan. $7-$45. 6pm. 595 Market St. www.commonwealthclub.org
Fri 19>> I Capuleti e I Montecchi @ War Memorial Opera House B Bellini’s operatic adaptation of Romeo aand Juliet is staged by the San Francisco c Opera with Munich’s Bavarian State S Opera. $22-$340. 7:30pm. 3301 Van Ness Ave. 565-6451. w www.sfopera.com
A Iliad @ Berkeley An Repertory Theatre R LLisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare’s adap 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
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 one our first and most controversial elected leaders. $30-$70. Tue-Thu 7pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Sat 3pm. Thru Nov 24. 450 Post St. (2nd floor of Kensington Park Hotel). 677-9596. www.sfplayhouse.org
FREE!LOVE!TOOL!BOX, the former Bay area artist’s new exhibit of conceptual and assembled found-object, personal installations and artoworks, each with distinctive queer themes, including a DJ booth with his own large record collection; and Nathalie Djurberg’s amazing colorful creature sculptures. $12-$15. 8pm. Grand lobby and galleries, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. 979-2787. www.naylandblake.net www.ybca.org
Of Thee I Sing @ Eureka Theatre 42nd Street Moon opens its 20th season with a production of the classic political satire by George and Ira Gershwin (book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind). $25-$75. Wed 7pm. Thu & Fri 8pm. Sat 6pm Sun 3pm. Thru Oct. 21. 215 Jackson St. 255-8207. www.42ndstmoon.org
Out of Character @ Asian Art Museum Decoding Chinese Calligraphy, a new exhibit of modern and ancient scripted art, with numerous special events, workshops and discussions. Free-$12. Tue-Sun 10am5pm. Thru Jan 13. 200 Larkin St. 581-3500. www.asianart.org
Play Fair @ GLBT History Museum 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
Open Studio @ Rob Anderson Studio Visual artist (a wide variety of prints and the famous 1982 ‘Gay Olympics’ poster) and five other artists show off new and older works. 6pm-9pm. Also Sat & Sun 11am-6pm. 1366 Mission St. Studio 5. www.RobAndersonStudio.com
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
Spirit Day @ Nationwide Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s symbolic stand against bullying. Wear purple today to show your support, and ask others to do the same. www.glaad.org/spiritday
Trebor Healey @ Alley Cat Books Gay author ( Through It Came Bright Colors) and former SF resident reads from and discusses his new novel A Horse Named Sorrow, about a man’s promise to a teen who dies of AIDS. Free. 7pm. 3036 24th St. at Folsom. www.treborhealey.com
Trick or Treat @ City Art Group exhibit of paintings and works in other media, with a macabre or Halloween theme. Reg. hours 12pm-9pm, Wed-Sun. Thru Oct. 27. 828 Valencia St. 970-9900. www.cityartgallery.org
Sat 20>> Bratfest @ Visual Aid Annual chow-down with sausage bratwurst, beer and other food (potato salad, sauerkraut, of course!) and drinks at the annual backyard benefit for the arts nonprofit. $35-$75. $5+ at the door, kids free. 4pm-9:30pm. 3737 Cesar Chavez. www.eventbrite.com/event/4485054920 www.visualaid.org
Geezer @ The Marsh Veteran comic actor Geoff Hoyle returns with his hit solo show about his youth in England, and growing older. $25-$100. Sat 8pm. Sun 7pm. Thru Nov 18. 1062 Valencia St. at 22nd. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org
Harvest Feast @ Patio Café Third annual fundraiser dinner gala for the Castro Country Club, with MC Precious Moments and chanteuse Veronica Klaus; black tie optional. $75-$100. 6pm VIP reception, 7pm hors d’oeuvres, mocktails and silent auction, 7:30pm four-course dinner. 531 Castro St. 552-6102. www.castrocountryclub.org
The Hula Show @ Palace of Fine Arts Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu performs traditional and contemporary hula dances with beauty and style, including a satiric piece exploring choreographer/director Patrick Makuakāne’s and Barack Obama’s Hawaiian birth certificates. $35-$45. 8pm. Oct 21, 3pm. 26 & 27 at 8pm, 28 at 3pm. Gala benefit Oct 27, 5:30pm, with food, preshow performances and VIP seating. 3301 Lyon St. 392-4400. www.naleihulu.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 worldfamous gay dancer. Thru Feb 17. $6-$20. Tue-Sun 9:30am-5:15pm. 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, Golden Gate Park. 750-3600. www.famsf.org
SF Composers Chamber Orchestra @ Old First Church Tenth anniversary concert, with new works by John Bilotta, Allan Crossman, Dow W. Howe, Lisa Scola Prosek and other composers. $14-$17. 8pm. 1751 Sacramento St. 474-1608. www.oldfirstconcerts.org
SF Hiking Club @ Mt. Tam Join LGBT hikers on a 7-mile trek to the scenic mountain overlook in Marin. Wellbehaved dogs welcome. Carpool meets 9:45am, at the Safeway sign, Market & Dolores. 706-5335. Also, Oct 21 8-mile hike to Mt. Tam along the Matt Davis trail. Carpool, 9:15am. 652-4676. www.sfhiking.com
SF Night Ministry Gala @ Urban Life Center Donna Sachet MCs the fundraiser gala for the outreach nonprofit, which includes silent and luve auction items, live music, drinks and dinner. $75 and up. 5:30pm11pm. 1101 O’Farrell St. 935-7862. www.sfnightministry.org
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
Strindberg Cycle: Chamber Plays @ Exit Theater Cutting Ball Theater performs August Stringberg plays in repertory; The Ghost Sonata, The Pelican and The Black Glove, and Storm and Burned House. $10-$75. Thu 7:30pm, Fri & Sat 8pm & 2pm. Sun 5pm. 277 Taylor St. 525-1205. www.cuttingball.com
Women 我們 @ Chinese Cultural Center Exhibit of video works, installation art, photography, sculpture, and more by a diverse array of LGBTQ artists. Special film screenings and panel discussion Oct 20, 11am-1:30pm. Tue-Sat 10am-4pm. 750 Kearny St., 3rd floor (inside the Hilton Hotel). 986-1822. www.c-c-c.org
Sun 21>> The Campaign @ New People Cinema Screening benefit to raise completion funds for Christie Herring’s documentary about the No on 8 campaign and same-sex marriage. $100-$250. 5:30 VIP reception (food, drinks and entertainment) and auction. 7pm screening. 8:30pm after-party. 1746 Post St. www.thecampaigndocumentary.com
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Out&About >>
October 18-24, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 25
Moscow Sretensky Monastery Choir @ Marines Memorial Theatre All-male choir from the 600-year-old Russian monastery performs beautiful ancient chants and folks songs in contemporary arrangements. $25-$50. 7:30pm. 609 Sutter St. 392-4400. www.camimusic.com/choir www.marinesmemorialtheatre.tix.com
Ten Percent @ Comcast 104
Halloween: The Ballad of Michele Myers
Costumery H
alloween celebrations get started early here in the town where more people’s everyday garb might be considered costumery in other cities. Don’t dream it, be it…or at least dress up like it, whatever “it” you want to be. - J.P.
Fri 19: Halloween: The Ballad of Michele Myers @ CounterPulse
Second annual large-scale Halloween event, with multiple stages, booths, beverages and lots of people in costumes. Mostly straight, but a good contingent of gays, with Heklina, Caswell, Hard French DJs Kink.com’s dungeon, and other unusual fun. $45-$100. 8:30pm-3am. 635 8th St. www.masquerotica.com
Greg Gandy @ John Pence Gallery Exhibit of stunning realist landscapes of San Francisco and other cities, created by the local painter. Mon-Fri 10am-6pm. Sat 10am-5pm. 750 Post St. 441-1138. www.johnpence.com
Touring production of the four-Tony-winning Broadway musical about a Tennessee DJ and a soul/R&B nightclub singer’s ascendance to stardom, with a score by Bon Jovi’s David Bryan. $20-$82. Tue-Thu 7:30pm. Fri & Sat 8pm. Also Sat 2pm, Sun 1pm & 6:30pm. Thru Oct. 28. 251 Almaden Blvd, San Jose. (408) 792-4111. www.broadwaysanjose.com
Sat 20: Death Becomes Her @ Castro Theatre
Sat 20: Masquerotica @ Concourse Exhibit.Center
Tue 23>>
Memphis @ San Jose Center for the Performing Arts
Raya Light’s musical drag parody of slasher movies returns, with Trixxie Carr, Miss Rahni, Flynn Witmeyer, Kai Medeiros, Audra Wolfmann, Steven Satyricon and others. $20-$25. Fri-Sun 8pm. 1310 Mission St. at 9th. 626-2060. www.counterpulse.org
Peaches Christ and Heklina cohost a screening of the horror comedy, with a dead celebrity contest, an Elixir Bar & Lounge, and the usual drag hilarity. $20$45. 8pm. 429 Castro St. www.peacheschrist.com www.castrotheatre.com
David Perry’s talk show about LGBT people and issues. This week, Perry interviews Hollywood and Broadway legend Julie Newmar, best known as the original Catwoman from TV’s Batman. Mon-Fri 11:30am & 10:30pm. Sat & Sun 10:30pm. www.comcasthometown.com
Window of Opportunity @ RF80 The Hunger 876-0700. www.waghotels.com
Sun 21: Unusual Films @ Castro Theatre Artistic, controversial or simply enjoyable films with a sometimes horror-and scifi edge should inspire some classic costumery. Oct 21, Logan’s Run and The Hunger. Oct 23, Cosmopolis and Fight Club. Oct 25, Dracula (Frank Langella version), and Cat People (Nastasia Kinski version). $11. 429 Castro St. 621-6120. www.castrotheatre.com
Positive Resource Center’s 25th anniversary gala, with Donna Sachet and Gary Virginia honored; enjoy hors d’oeuvres, wine, silent auction items, music and dancing with DJ Lamont Young, a live act with Ethel Merman. $100 and up. 6pm-9pm. 80 Missouri St. www.positiveresource.org
Wed 24>> Evening of Hope @ City View, Metreon Project Inform’s gala fundraiser party, with fashion shows, condom, couture, Mx Justin Vivian Bond as celebrity host, drinks, nibbly things, auction items. $175 and up. 6pm-10pm. 135 Fourth St. www.projectinform.org
Jet Black Pearl @ The Marsh Berkeley Cabaret Satirical comic accordion-playing songstress performs her show Sex, Slugs & Accordion, Wed nights, weekly thru Nov 14 (no show Oct 31). $10. 8pm. 2120 Allston Way, near Shattuck. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org
Muttsquerade
Sat 20: Muttsquerade Ball @ Wag Hotel Dog-friendly costume (for dogs and their humans) party event with live music, food, comp beer and wines, all on the rooftop of the pet hotel. Proceeds benefit Friends of Berkeley Animal Care Services. $40-$50. 21+. 3pm-6pm. 25 14th St.
Dia de los Muertos
Sun 21: Dia de los Muertos @ Oakland Museum of Art Opening of a special exhibition of Day of the Dead altars by artists, schoolkids, and museum docents; guest-curated by Eduardo Pineda. 12pm-4:30pm Also, The 1968 Exhibit, and other exhibits. $6-$12. 1000 Oak St. Oakland. (510) 318-8400. www.museumca.org
Imagining Val Travel @ Glama-Rama Salon
Sunday’s a Drag @ Starlight Room
Local collage artist Tofu’s exhibit focuses on vintage and contemporary travel imagery. Thru Nov. 3. 304 Valencia St at 14th. www.tofuart.com www.glamarama.com
Donna Sachet and Harry Denton host the weekly fabulous brunch and drag show. $45. 11am, show at noon; 1:30pm, show at 2:30pm. 450 Powell St. in Union Square. 395-8595. www.harrydenton.com
Lamplighters Gala @ Herbst Theatre The operetta theatre company’s annual champagne gala fundraiser and threecourse catered dinner with fine wines precedes a performance of favorite Gilbert & Sullivan songs, with an orchestra. $55$97. Silent aution 3pm, show 4pm, dinner, 7pm. 4012 Van Ness Ave. 392-4400. www.lamplighters.org
Moby-Dick @ War Memorial Opera House Bay Area premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s opera adaptation of Herman Melville’s classic novel of a whalehunter ship’s captain and his vengeance. $10-$340. Sung in English with English supertitles; 2pm. Oct 23, 8pm. Oct 26, 8 pm. Oct 30, 7:30pm. Nov 2, 8pm. 301 Van Ness Ave. 864-3330. www.sfopera.com
Our Lady J @ The Rrazz Room Amazing post-religious Gospel song stylings. $25. 9pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com
Tony Lucca @ Café du Nord Vocal competitor on the TV show The Voice, who’s just signed a recording contract, performs at the popular club. Justin Hopkins opens. $15. 8:30pm. 2170 Market St. 861-5016. www.cafedunord.com
Woah Nellies @ Martuni’s Pop retro folk fun music group performs an acoustic concert. $5. 6:30-8:30pm. 4 Valencia St. www.facebook.com/ TheWhoaNellies
Mon 22>>
Tina D’Elia @ The Marsh The Rita Hayworth of This Generation, the performer’s solo show about a Hollywood icon. $10-$15. 7:30pm. 1062 Valencia St. at 22nd. 282-3055. www.themarsh.org
Thu 25>> 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. (Oct 29 opening). Thru Nov 17. 1695 18th St. 746-9238. www.crowdedfire.org
Zombie Nightlife @ Cal. Academy of Sciences Get a zombie makeover, learn about the science of possibly real zombie-ism, plus a zombie drag pageant with Peaches Christ and Heklina, DJed tunes, projections and drinks. $10-$12. 6pm-10pm, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. 379-8000. www.calacademy.org
To submit event listings, email jim@ebar.com. Deadline is each Thursday, a week before publication.
Gregg Marx @ The Rrazz Room Hunky soap opera actor shares his musical talents with a Cole Porter tribute. $30. 8pm. 2-drink min. Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason St. (800) 380-3095. www.TheRrazzRoom.com
www.bartabsf.com
<< Leather+
26 • BAY AREA REPORTER • October 18-24, 2012
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Are you a sex addict? by Scott Brogan
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ex addiction: is it a real addiction? That’s the topic of this week’s Leathermen’s Discussion Group (LDG). Their guest speaker is David Ley, Ph.D., the author of a new, controversial book, The Myth of Sex Addiction. Ley writes, “Sex addiction is not a legitimate diagnosis, and is based on morality, fear and cultural bias, rather than sex. The label of sex addiction is actually a way to call male sexuality unhealthy and dangerous.” The discussion after his presentation is sure to be spirited. Personally, I agree with those who note that our society seems to want to label everything as either an “addiction” or a “disease” or both. Sex should be fun and not something that’s looked down on just because some get more of it than others. Or some always look for more, sometimes a lot more, than others. In my book, and this is my personal opinion, alcoholism and drug dependency are real addictions. I’m not so sure about sex. I’m certainly not a psychologist, psychiatrist or doctor, but I don’t think that horny guys are really addicts. Not in the true sense of the word. I think guys (sorry, ladies, I have little experience in the female realm) are simply horny and like to dip their wicks. Sure, we can go overboard in our eternal quest for great sex. We can gorge ourselves at that sex buffet table in a way that would make Bacchus blush. But is it an actual addiction or simply a case of “if it feels good, do it – and do it often?” It’s been my own experience, based on my own non-scientific personal field research, that I’m not an “addict” at all. I’m simply a “people person.” I love my fellow man. A lot. Joking aside, this edition of the LDG will definitely be fascinating and thought-provoking. It takes place this Wed., Oct. 24, at the upstairs play space at Mr. S Leather (385A 8th St.). The discussion be-
Read more on www.ebar.com
Rich Stadtmiller
Miguel Rubio after winning Mr. Bolt Leather 2012 last year. Rubio passes on the title this weekend in Sacramento.
gins at 7:30 p.m., but get there early to get a good seat. Go to: www.sfldg. org for details. American Brotherhood: Congratulations to Jeff Donaldson and Doc for winning American Leatherman and Leatherwoman 2012 last week at the American Brotherhood Weekend two weeks ago in Chicago. Our very own Mr. Powerhouse Leather 2012 was the first runner-up for American Leatherman, and Ms. Mid-Atlantic Leatherwoman 2012 was first runner-up for American
Leatherwoman. American Leatherboy 2011 Tyler Fong (also of California) will continue to represent ABW due to the fact that there were no contestants for American Leatherboy 2012. Congrats again to you all! Go to: www.americanbrotherhood.com for details. Mr. Bolt: This weekend is the one and only Mr. Bolt Leather Contest, at the Bolt (naturally) in Sacramento. The Bolt is located at 2560 Boxwood, to be exact. The contest is Sat., Oct. 20, but the weekend begins on Fri., Oct. 19, with the Meet & Greet. International Mr. Leather 2012 Woody Woodruff will be on See page 27 >>
Coming up in leather and kink Thu., Oct. 18: Daddy Thursdays at Kok Bar. Shot & drink specials. 10 p.m.-close. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com. Thu., Oct. 18: Underwear Night at The Powerhouse (1347 Folsom). Strip down for drink specials. 10 p.m.close. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com. Thu., Oct. 18: Fight Back! Resistance Play & Kinky Wrestling with Stefanos and Shay the SF Citadel (181 Eddy). $20. 8-10 p.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org. Fri., Oct. 19: Mr. Bolt Leather 2013 Contest at The Bolt (2560 Boxwood, Sacramento). See who will succeed Miguel Rubio! 9 p.m.-close. Go to: www.sacbolt.com. Fri., Oct. 19: Michael Brandon presents Edging at The Edge (4149 Collingwood). Sexiest happy-trail contest, shot specials, go-go studz. 9 p.m.-12 a.m. Go to: www.edgesf.com. Fri., Oct. 19: Invasion at the SF Citadel. Dress code: Fetish, Goth, basic black, Halloween, or just plain fabulous! $35. 8 p.m.-1 a.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org. Fri., Oct. 19: Fridays Underwear at Kok Bar. Strip down for drink specials! 11 p.m.-1:30 a.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com. Fri., Oct. 19: Men in Gear Monthly Cruise Night at Kok Bar. Off Ramp Leathers sets up shop. 10 p.m.close. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com. Fri., Oct. 19: Hardbox w/DJs Gehno Aviance & Guy Ruben at The Powerhouse. 10 p.m.-close. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com. Sat.-Sun., Oct. 20-21: Pansexual Event at the SF Citadel. 8 p.m.-1 a.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org. Sat., Oct. 20: Leather Beer Bust at Kok Bar. All beer & well $3, Rolling Rock beer bust $5. 5-9 p.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com. Sat., Oct. 20: Beatpig 2-Year Anniversary! Join Juanita More!, Sidekick, and Walter Gomez for hog-heaven fun! 9 p.m.-close. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com.
Sat., Oct. 20: Stallion Saturdays at Rebel Bar (1760 Market). Revolving DJs, afterhours fun! 9 p.m.-4 a.m. Go to: www.stallionsaturdays.com. Sat., Oct. 20: All-Beef Saturday Nights at The Lone Star (1354 Harrison). 9 p.m.-close. Go to: www.facebook.com/lonestarsf. Sun., Oct. 21: Truck Bust Sundays at Truck. $1 beer bust. 4-8 p.m. Go to: www.trucksf.com. Sun., Oct. 21: Castro Bear presents Sunday Furry Sunday at 440 Castro. 4-10 p.m. Go to: www.the440.com. Sun., Oct. 21: Jockstrap Beer Bust at Kok Bar. $8 beer bust, lots of guys in jocks. 3-7 p.m. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com. Sun., Oct. 21: PoHo Sundays at The Powerhouse. Dollar drafts all day! Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com. Sun., Oct. 21: Whip Works at the SF Citadel. 8-10 p.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org. Mon., Oct. 22: Trivia Night with host Casey Ley at Truck. 8-10 p.m. Go to: www.trucksf.com. Tue., Oct. 23: Safeword: 12-Step Kink Recovery Group at the SF Citadel. 6:30 p.m. Go to: www.sfcitadel.org/ calendar/. Tue., Oct. 23: Ink & Metal at The Powerhouse. 9 p.m.-close. Go to: www.powerhouse-sf.com. Tue., Oct. 23: Kok Block at Kok Bar. Happy hour prices. Pool tournament, 7-10 p.m., $25 prize. Go to: www.kokbarsf.com. Wed., Oct. 24: Leathermen’s Discussion Group presents The Myth of Sex Addiction with author David Ley, Ph.D., at the Mr. S. Playspace (385A 8th St.). Go to Facebook for details. Wed., Oct. 24: Leather Buddies at Blow Buddies (933 Harrison), a male-only club. Doors open 8 p.m.12 a.m. Play till late. Go to: www.blowbuddies.com.
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Karrnal >>
October 18-24, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 27
Acockalypse now by John F. Karr
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ucasEntertainment movies regularly focus on thickly plotted thrillers and, to my taste most rewarding of all, love. Herewith, a thriller, The Last Day, and a workout that connects heart to gonad, The Power of Love. The Last Day starts out intriguing, slogs its way to implausible, and then pretty quickly becomes impossible. Returning from a spell at sea on his yacht, Jonathan Agassi finds an entire city devoid of its inhabitants. It’s eerie. Then two dudes on motorbikes show up, scoop him up, and deliver him to their brother, who laconically outlines the plot. “We’re all going to die in six days. Can I get you something to eat?” It seems a newscast announced the world’s imminent destruction, which is what caused the mass exodus. I don’t know where everyone thought they were going. If the world is going to end, it’ll end someplace else just as certainly as it ends right there. Oh well. As the brother asks after delivering the news, “Would you like some pizza or a noose?” Agassi wants neither. He wants sex, and has a three-way with the bike boys. Like everyone in the film, they’re studly, hard-muscled Euro-dudes. They’re hung, uncut, and their groins are either shaved or clipped to a whisper. They’re tattooed with regulation gay designs. And they’re fierce. Although the story unfolds at great length (it’s 10 minutes until sex shows up), the sex throughout has an urgency that’s in keeping with the plot (the bad guys are trying to create a worldwide mass panic). This brusque nature fragments the sex, undercutting its continuity. And it’s only ostensibly butch. It’s also as generous with oral cum-shots (in the opening alone, Agassi downs both his buddies’ loads) as it is with murder, which occurs before and after most every sex scene. Following the movie’s second or even third fight to the death, the villain is chopped to pieces by a yacht’s propeller blades. Will Helm impressed me, and Rafael Carreras is mighty effective with Damien Crosse, who sure looks good swaggering around half-nude and half-crazed. The settings on a Mediterranean island are gorgeous and well-filmed by Mr. Pam, and, accepting the script’s indulgences, well-directed by Marc MacNamara. I don’t care much for plotted porn (I like context, not corn), but if you do, you can believe the right-on PR for The Last Day: “The men brutally fight and fuck.” Those LucasEnt movies that endeavor to infuse sexplay with
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love could be called loops of lust. Loops because they’re unrelated vignettes. The lust part testifies that their displays of affection don’t dilute surprisingly intense couplings. Power of Love continues the LucasEnt success in this genre with strongly focused, confidently paced episodes that show both the performers’ and the creators’ care and concern. Adam Killian demonstrates recently developing skill as the movie’s director; he and Chris Crisco were the fine videographers, admirably giving us the big picture, then getting in close juicy details. Larry Pangle accomplished smooth editing. The scenes were filmed on Mykonos, Greece, with four glamorous outdoor settings (plus one interior), a pair of oral cum-shots, and much sporting in wet whities. Translucent and clinging, they make boners so irresistibly inveigling. This is a movie you can bask in. This is made evident in the movie’s first and perhaps best scene, which pairs Rafael Carreras with former stud-muffin Mitchell Rock. Smooth and handsome Carreras has that s t e a m y Continental thing, and former studmuffin Mitchell is just so fuckable. If you remember, I found him insecure in his early appearances. He looked scared, like he didn’t know what he was doing. He knows now, and confidently leads Carreras into savoring his wellpadded muscle-bod and delicious ass. He still has the look of vulnerable boy about him, but it now enhances an adult sexuality. His fans, who now include me, may find this his best performance. Especially relishable is the OCS with which he’s blessed at scene’s end. Vito Gallo and hefty Alex Marte mark their scene with a flip fuck – how exquisitely slow Marte grinds it into Gallo! And whatta tat he’s got, a floral burst of color that spreads
Leather +
From page 26
hand as the head judge, as will other notable luminaries from around the country. Mr. Bolt 2012 Miguel Rubio has been an exemplary titleholder. It seems as though he’s been everywhere. He’s made the trek here to our city so many times for so many events. Good luck to the contestants and to whoever wins. And thank you, Miguel, you were great! Go to: www.sacbolt.com for details. Treasure Trove of Photographic Riches: Our unofficial, official community photographer Rich Stadtmiller celebrated the uploading of 200,000 images to his site (www. richtrove.com) last weekend with two events, a party at Truck on Oct. 13, and an afternoon recap at Beat-
Scott Brogan
Photographer Rich Stadtmiller presents some of his favorite photos at An Afternoon with Rich at the Beatbox, on Oct. 14.
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expansively across the broadest of shoulders. In one of the pair of strong scenes which follow, Michael Lucas rewards Matthew Mason with a tasty OCS for his impressive reception of the patented Lucas slow&-deep fuck. And then comes a most impressive finale. In the ocean and on the rocks beside it, redoubtable Trenton Ducati flips with Jonathan Agassi. He gobbles Ducati’s cum (jeez Louise, I want summa dat), then Trenton gets Agassi’s. Only near the end did I realize that nobody in The Power of Love had spit on their partner, for which I’m grateful. As I am for the display of emotion. It has a way of upping the ante that mere physical frenzy can’t top. A Behind the Scenes bonus lets the cast introduce themselves with welcome friendliness.▼ www.LucasEntertainment.com
box on Oct. 14. Stadtmiller has been chronicling our community since 2007. When he first came on the scene, I thought “Oh great, yet another photographer who’s always around, but we never see the photos.” Not so with Stadtmiller. He’s uploaded tons of photos (now over 200,000k) and provided prints, all on his own dime. People around the world view his site and photos every day. As he stated, part of his goal has been to “contribute to the community and give [us all] a chance to go back and relive memories.” We can’t thank you enough, Rich. Your photos and your perseverance have given our community (among others) an invaluable record of our (as you put it) “shared memories, shared stories and shared experiences that bring us together.” Keep up the great work!▼
www.ebar.com )))))))))
Serving the LGBT communities since 1971
28 • BAY AREA REPORTER • October 18-24, 2012
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Film >>
James Whale’s Frankenstein & his Bride by David-Elijah Nahmod
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wo classic Hollywood monster movies, James Whale’s Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935), will screen on Wed., Oct. 24, 7 p.m. at cinemas around the country. Bay Area venues include Cinemark’s Century 9 at Market & Powell, and the Empire Cinema on West Portal. Whale (1889-1957) was a gay man, which may have contributed to the collapse of his career in the late 1930s. But at the dawn of that decade, the director was riding high. Journey’s End (1930), his WWI drama, had been a smash hit, and the Universal Pictures suits gave him carte blanche to pick his own projects. He chose Frankenstein, the 1818 morality fable by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. In Whale’s Frankenstein, Boris Karloff played the monster as a frightened, angry man-child who desperately yearns to be accepted by a world which is repulsed by him. It’s now believed that the Monster, as conceived by Whale, was the director expressing his own frustration over how gays were treated by society. Karloff ’s remarkable performance has many levels of nu-
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Moby-Dick
From page 17
of the production. Many of the singers were making their SFO debuts, but there is little doubt we will be hearing much more from them in the future. Perhaps most notably and surprisingly, Scheer’s libretto focuses more on relationships and spiritual philosophizing than on Captain Ahab’s increasing madness and obsession with the leviathan Moby
ance, which allows viewers to peek inside the monster’s tortured soul. The film was a success, grossing $12 million, a lot of money in the early 30s. A sequel was inevitable. Bride of Frankenstein (1935) continued the first film’s themes of loneliness and isolation. This time out, the monster (Karloff) demands that his creator, Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive, also returning from the first film), give him a mate. Together with Dr. Praetorius (Ernest Thesiger), one of his old medical school professors, Frankenstein sets out to create a bride. Bride of Frankenstein is a dark comedy, filled with graveyard humor and an obvious gay subtext. As portrayed by Thesiger, Dr. Praetorius is a screaming, effeminate queen who cringes at the sight of women and stares longingly at his male pupil. The entire film is acted at a fever pitch, with over-the-top line readings and dramatic gestures that recall the early days of silent cinema. When we meet the monstrous Bride (Elsa Lanchester), she’s
clad in a long, flowing white gown. Her dark hair sports a jarring white streak shaped like a lightning bolt. Her lipstick and eye-shadow are laid on thick. The Bride is, for all intents and purposes, a drag queen. Watching BOF today, it’s hard to imagine that 1935 audiences failed to see the obvious: that this was the work of an
Dick. It makes Jay Hunter Morris, as the commander of the Pequod, a more sympathetic character, and his soliloquies become more touching than frightening. Morris has the heldentenor chops to dig into the part, as he has proved before in his appearances in the SFO’s Ring cycle, but if I could only disagree with Heggie on this one point – I honestly think Ahab should have been a bass. The moments of great angst and drama just don’t have the weight
suggested by the orchestral accompaniment. Morris still makes an indelible impression with his acting, and he has a fine voice. He successfully conveys the nuances of the score even when it is robbing his character of dramatic punch. As Greenhorn, later identified as Ishmael, tenor Stephen Costello has had plenty of time since the Dallas premiere to identify with his role. He is utterly believable and quite touching as a young man who grows to wisdom and spiritual un-
unashamed gay filmmaker. The following year, Whale directed a film adaptation of the classic musical Showboat. The all-star cast included legendary African American singer/actor Paul Robeson. Showboat was also a major hit. Yet within five years, James Whale was unemployable.
Over the years many film historians have speculated that Whale’s openness regarding h his homosexuality cost him h his career. Little is known of h how he spent his remaining yyears. The biopic Gods and M Monsters (1998) portrayed W Whale (Sir Ian McKellan) as a broken man, haunted by m memories of his past successees. In an interview included o on the G&M DVD, actress G Gloria Stuart, who worked w Whale during the direcwith t tor’s heyday, recalled going t visit him in the 1950s. She to m with him on the front met la lawn of his house, but was n never invited inside. The form colleagues never spoke mer a again, though Stuart often sp spoke of him as a genius. More than 75 years after th were made, Frankenstein they and Bride of Frankenstein have lost none of their power. Karloff ’s lonely Monster continues to tug at our heartstrings, even as he frightens. Whale’s vision made both films timeless classics.▼ Tickets and screenings, visit: www.fathomevents.com
Cory Weaver
Whaling boats in San Francisco Opera’s Moby-Dick.
derstanding as a result of his experiences at sea. Greenhorn’s relationship with the mystical harpooner Queequeg (a wonderful turn by New Zealandborn Samoan bass Jonathan Lemalu) has a depth of meaning that provides some of the score’s most beautiful duets. Costello and Lemalu make us believe in their mutual respect and curiosity. American baritone Morgan Smith makes a welcome return to the SFO as Starbuck, singing with power and conviction as the crewman who comes to admire his captain despite his alarming personal demons. As the voice of reason, Heggie and Scheer give Starbuck some moments of anchoring introspection in duets with Ahab, and some effective brief soliloquies. The cabin boy Pip has become a pants role for soprano Talise Trevi-
gne, and she made her SFO debut to great audience approval. Bright and energetic, with more than a little boyish vulnerability, Trevigne was believable and sympathetic. The rest of the cast and, notably, the willing and accomplished SFO Chorus (Ian Robertson, Director) followed the excellent physical game-plan provided by movement director and choreographer Keturah Stickann with beautifully rehearsed precision. Their contributions added immeasurably to the incredible visual appeal of the production. The SFO run will culminate in a taped performance to be aired by PBS on Great Performances sometime in 2013. What a relief! It would be a sin not to share the experience with the rest of the country. Locally, Moby-Dick continues in performances at the War Memorial through Nov. 2.▼
Cory Weaver
Jay Hunter Morris (Captain Ahab) and Morgan Smith (Starbuck) in San Francisco Opera’s Moby-Dick.
▼
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October 18-24, 2012 • BAY AREA REPORTER • 29
Film >>
Studio green-lights secret ops by David Lamble
exotic Middle Eastern vibe. Women gather, offering ecstatic libations to the sky gods – Argo, a science-fantasy adventure.” “It’s in turnaround. Can we get the option?” “Why do we need the option?” “You’re worried about the Ayatollah? Try the WGA [Writers Guild of America, the screenwriters’ union].” One of Argo’s many jokes is that the US is rescued by Canadians, from a country used by Hollywood in recent times mainly as a taxdodge stand-in for “real places” like New York. Affleck’s Mendez hectors the six into remembering their fake Canadian identities. “Where’s your passport issued?” “Vancouver.” “Where were you born?” “Toronto.” “Canadians don’t pronounce the t.” “Some revolutionary guard is ac-
tually going to know that?” “If you’re detained for questioning, they’ll bring somebody in who knows that. What’s your middle name?” “You really believe your little story is going to make a difference when there’s a gun to our heads?” “I think my story is the only thing between you and a gun to your head.” Adapting from the real Tony Mendez’s book The Master of Disguise and a Wired magazine article by Joshuah Bearman, “The Great Escape,” screenwriter Chris Terrio concocts a parallel-universe farcical thriller where the myth of the American Century gets a makeover by the boys who lie for a living. The filmmakers carefully tiptoe around getting too specific about anybody’s crimes – America’s, the Shah’s, the Ayatollah’s – there is only a short animated prologue for the terminally uninformed. Oil is never mentioned, Reagan stays off-screen. If you’re desperate for the real skinny on the great Anglo-American struggle to “democratize” the Middle East, go rent Lawrence of Arabia. Argo’s virtues are in its very lack of a messianic vision. Even Affleck damps down his hero’s charisma so as to appear little more than a bearded, overgrown Eagle Scout. The 70s threads and hairstyles are risibly authentic, and the actors playing the six give off a Nick at Night sitcom vibe. In the end it’s left to the comedy boys Goodman and Arkin to reinforce the spirit of those old John Sturges platitudes from his “a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do,” blood-and-guts 60s thrillers like The Dirty Dozen. Questioned about the wisdom of Hollywood getting in the spy business instead of just cranking out bad movies about heroes too cool for school, Arkin snaps, “Argo fuck yourself.”▼
nism in a way that inspired ordinary people to make great sacrifices for the sake of a more hopeful future. Swan Lake was turned from a tragedy into a struggle with a happy ending. In the last 20 years, especially since the rise of Putin, the Soviet outlook has been re-valorized, and the version of Swan Lake we saw is the Stalin-approved version [by Konstantin Sergeyev] from 1950. From the beginning, Sergeyev points us to a happy ending. He adds a jester to the story who is constantly mocking the prince’s tutor; the jester gets much quirky virtuoso dancing to perform and gets to win every contest with the tutor, who looks less the voice of reason than an old schoolmarm. Sergeyev trivializes the evil sorcerer Rotbart so that at the end, Siegfried can fight and destroy him. First of all, he pulls Rotbart off his power spot and makes him dance – indeed, both Rotbarts I saw (Konstantin Zverov in the first cast, Andrey Solovyov on Thursday) were brilliant dancers who made the prince look a little weak. Sergeyev did a brilliant job of creating a consistent “cheered up” Swan Lake. He has trivialized the tragic last act, made the dances almost perky, by cleverly omitting the more melancholy music for the choral dances, and by making the sorcerer a lurid charlatan in the third act. While in the original, Rotbart has outmaneuvered Odette with a brilliant intrigue, and cast a spell over his own daughter Odile to make her resemble our heroine, and brought her to court to trap Siegfried into proposing in front of the whole court to the falseseeming swan, and the rash promise cannot be undone, in Sergeyev’s version the Prince can just fight the sorcerer, break his wing, and that will
break the spell. Problem is, the music requires a Gotterdaemmerung-scale disaster, a complete destruction and drowning of everything. This is why Matthew Bourne’s all-male-swan version is the most powerful, since the stage picture matches the catastrophe we hear in the music. Ekaterina Kondaurova was thrilling as both the white swan and as her diabolical parody, the black swan. In all technical matters she reigned supreme: the white swan’s gestures unfurled magnificently, and her evil simulacrum bore a glamor so potent, so sexy, so commanding, and so thrilling in her actual dancing, she drove me crazy – so of course, she fooled the prince. The prince in the second cast, Vladimir Shklyaurov, outshone his swan queen. He was heart-breakingly beautiful. Oksana Skoryk, his very young ballerina, has imagination, musicality, a gloriously unfurling line, but her fear of the technical difficulties of Act III shone through, distorted her shoulders and neck, made her very difficult to partner – at one point, it looked like both the Prince and von Rotbart were going to have to hold her up on pointe, which scared us, though nothing disastrous happened, and she finished the act and the ballet in excellent form. The corps danced with wonderful discipline and good temper throughout. Thursday night’s first-act pas de trois deserve naming: Ekaterina Ivannikova, Nadezda Gonchar, Alexander Perish; both Rotbarts were wonderful, Konstantin Zverev and Andrey Solovyov. And the little swans were superb: Anastasya Mikheyevna, Svetlana Ivanova, Elena Chmil, Marisa Shirinkina. Again, it was the orchestra who carried them. They were out of this world.▼
I
hate to admit just how much I’ve learned about life on this perilous planet at the movies or from the boob tube. From the time JFK was shot in Dallas to Jimmy Carter’s unraveling over the storming of our embassy in Iran, Hollywood and the folks at “Black Rock” (a Tinseltowninspired metaphor for corporate CBS) paraded more and more of our dirty linen out there, and at times it did indeed seem that “the whole world was watching.” The trick of convincing movie consumers to invest in a story “based on true events” is to so quicken the pace of your storytelling that fact and fiction fly past at dizzying speed, producing a complete suspension of disbelief. And most importantly: keep them laughing. Argo, director Ben Affleck’s entertaining, wildly improbable, but at times moving tale, begins like an information-age tsunami. The time is November 4, 1979, a year before the Carter-Reagan election, and the staff at the US embassy in Tehran trembles as a howling mob gathers outside the gates. President Carter has just admitted the hated ex-Shah of Iran into the US for cancer treatment, and the mob demands he be returned to stand trial for the crimes perpetrated by his secret police. Affleck and his talented crew give us a peek inside a human tornado as the protesters leap over the gates, overwhelming the Marine guards under orders not to fire into the crowd. Meanwhile embassy workers burn and shred the files – it appears we have things to hide. The digital pastiche of chaos created for the movie is weaved in with TV archival footage, fact and fiction joined seamlessly together: the end of a world as we knew it. 52 men and women were seized
<<
John Goodman, Alan Arkin and Ben Affleck share a toast to their mission in Affleck’s Argo.
and held for 444 days, but in the chaos five embassy employees escape out a side door and, with a sixth person, make it undetected to the home of the Canadian ambassador. The big brass at the State Department fear that the secret six will suffer a far worse fate if detected. Throughout the movie, Iranian intelligence agents are shown attempting to reassemble shredded embassy photos. It’s here that Hollywood itself enters the story, and things get really weird. Affleck gives himself the pivotal role of CIA operative Tony Mendez, an agent expert at concocting far-fetched secret ops, with cover stories and disguises to match. Rejecting the State Departmenthatched scheme that the six take a 300-mile bike trip to the Turkish border, Mendez suggests that he can hide the six, in plain sight of
the revolutionary guards, disguised as a crew scouting locations for a preposterous B-movie. Enter Argo’s court jesters John Goodman and Alan Arkin – the guy who designed costumes for Planet of the Apes, and a cynical trash-movie producer. In a smart, funny set-piece, Goodman and Arkin sort through a slush pile of wretched screenplays to find one so risibly bad that the Iranians will buy into the caper. “How about The Horses of Achilles?” “No good, nobody does Westerns anymore.” “It’s ancient Troy.” “If it’s got horses in it, it’s a Western.” “It doesn’t matter, it’s a fake movie.” “If I’m doing a fake movie, it’s going to be a fake hit.” They read camera directions: “Fade in on a starship landing, an
Swan Lake
From page 17
picture with only the power of personal beauty, scenic effects, sincerity of gesture, and music to take your heart and wring you out. The orchestra (conductor Mikhail Agrest) played Tchaikovsky’s haunting score beautifully. From the oboe’s first halting melody, carried down into the clarinet and into the strings, the sound was glorious. Tchaikovsky sets up an oscillation of ominous and hopeful melodies which drives the story and breathes life into a pair of delicate creatures: Prince Siegfried, who’s unready to take on the duties of kingship; and his soulmate Odette, a princess who’s been enthralled by a sorcerer and subjected to a spell which turns her into a swan. This is a philosophic fable masquerading as a fairy tale, and just when it seems least plausible, it sucks you in. The Prince, whose 21st birthday is celebrated in a first-act party, realizes he’s about to have to cross a line he’s not ready to cross, and restless, goes out hunting by night. Beside a lake he sees a beautiful swan, aims his bow, and finds his arm paralyzed – he cannot shoot. Siegfried recognizes in Odette the only one he could ever love even as she changes from a swan into a woman. The situation requires all the absurdities of ballet technique and style – Odette steps out onto the tip of her toe, subsides into a lunge, and shakes out her wings, which turn into arms even as she lengthens her neck. All the CGI arts that made Gollum believable pale against the powers of a ballerina to make you believe she’s a swan. At this, both Ekaterina Kondaurova and Oksana Skoryk, the ballerinas for the first two performances, were
Courtesy of Mariinsky Ballet and Orchestra
Members of the Mariinsky Ballet perform in Swan Lake.
astonishingly apt. The corps de ballet similarly stylized their postures and their dance-moves so artfully, the illusion cast its spell. The audience must make a willing suspension of disbelief, but can only do so when the dancers use their imagination and project their images with complete conviction in a uniform style. In Swan Lake’s Act II both nights, the Russian dancers were flawless. The problems came in the outlying acts. Once you’re inside the story, and accept the idea of magic, what’s the
magician going to be like? Do we want a medieval magician? Do we want a restless spirit of evil, or a terrifying figure who creates despair? And what is the overall arc of feeling? Forgive me if I have to fill in some back-story. During the Soviet era, ballet survived by making the classics relevant to the proletariat – the heroic artists of the ballet presented classical technique in a clarified form, leaving behind the daintiness of the old style, and making the fairy tales into fables that presented the ideals of commu-
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Tribute to tragedy by Jim Piechota October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Leslea Newman; Candlewick Press, $15.99
T
his past week marked the 14th anniversary of the hate-crime murder of Laramie, Wyoming gay youth Matthew Shepard. Had he survived the vicious attack that claimed his life, Shepard would have celebrated his 36th birthday this year. In October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard, a fittingly beautiful and highly personal poetic tribute to this tragic moment in American gay history, award-winning Western Massachusetts-based author and Jewish feminist Leslea Newman (best known for penning the controversial 1990 gay familyfriendly picture book Heather Has Two Mommies) commits her heartfelt emotions to the page in a unique fashion. This, her “historical novel in verse,” is comprised of 68 poems, meant to be consecutively read as a whole work of literary art. When consumed together, they collectively represent Newman’s “personal interpretation” of the actual events of that fateful night, the exact truth of which may never be officially known. She opens with a poem depicting the fence where Shepard was brutally tortured – a lonely structure, sunbathed on an empty prairie – but ends with verse supplying that same fence with a personality, essentially making it an accessory to the hideous hate crime. That moment of serenity is short-lived as Newman delivers readers front and center to the bar stools where Shepard met his two attackers, Aaron McKin-
ney and Russell Henderson (who are currently serving two consecutive life sentences in prison). From there, Newman employs a variety of poetic forms to convey a stylized story of violence, lost innocence, hatred, hostility, and the fruits of intolerance. Haiku pieces express Judy Shepard’s cautionary advice for her son and beg mercy for his demise; rhyming couplets identify inanimate objects as casual observers to the horror; a pantoum describes the bloodstained fence that “held him all night long”; an acrostic literally spells out a guilty verdict; and Newman’s version of a villanelle forms a homophobic rant courtesy of the bigoted gang at the Westboro Baptist Church. These vignettes are conjoined with concrete, list, alphabetical, and classic versions of poetry that bring the sad story of Matthew Shepard together and give this slim, beautiful book a heavy heart. Most haunting are the short epigraphs preceding the poems, which feature actual quotes from folks like the two shamefully remorseless killers, Shepard’s mother Judy, law enforcement who first arrived at the murder scene, McKinney’s girlfriend, Fireside Lounge employees, and the signs carried by the Westboro Baptist anti-gay “protesters” who picketed Shepard’s funeral. It is Newman’s hope that with the economy of words presented here, the possibility of “erasing hate and replacing it with compassion, understanding, and love” might someday trump the kind of violence that befell Matthew Shepard, and make it a thing of the past. In the meantime, she offers an empathetic, heavily somber reminder of the tragedy that continues to impact the global gay community since it occurred in early October 1998.▼
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October 18-24, 2012 • Bay Area Reporter • 31
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