Out country star Chely Wright coming to Seattle ARTS, TRAVEL

Seattle Gay News
Issue 26, Volume 42, June 27, 2014
Michael Granberry
ARTS, TRAVEL, & WEDDINGS
Out country star
Chely Wright
coming to Seattle
by Egan Orion
Festival Director Seattle PrideFest
Special to the SGN
In 2010, a music industry contact
of mine in Nashville reached out to
me, eager to bring country star Chely
Wright to PrideFest that year, and I
hesitated. Honestly, I wasn’t following
country music at the time, and I didn’t
know how big a star Chely was. But I
did know that she was getting ready
for what in Nashville is a bombshell
confession: Chely was Gay. Festival directors make all sorts of decisions to
ensure the continued viability of their
events, so I don’t regret that decision;
but in the back of my mind, the name
Chely Wright found a home and had
no plans on moving.
The request to bring Chely to Seattle came in 2010, a month before she
came out. A “Lesbian country star,”
that was a story the world didn’t know;
but when the film documenting her
coming-out process, Wish Me Away,
came out in 2011, it was a story we
could see up close and personal. She
was petrified of what people would
think. She feared she would lose her
career. She was scared, and she had a
right to be.
Fast forward a few years to 2014,
and this festival director finally returned to the story he first encountered in 2010. In the meantime, I’ve
seen Chely’s documentary and listened to her music. I’ve followed her
story and her travails. And I’ve come
to the conclusion that PrideFest attendees deserve the chance to see Chely Wright and discover the gifts of this
amazing artist.
Chely’s career started with a bang.
After her debut album released in
1994, the Academy of Country Music
named her Top New Female Vocal-
ist in 1995. Her first Top 40 country hit
came just three years after her debut,
with the release of “Shut Up and Drive.”
Not satisfied with a mere Top 40 song,
Chely came back with a vengeance in
1997 and the title track of her fourth album, Single White Female, shot to number one.
By May 2010, Chely had made seven
studio albums and had sold over 1 million records. She had become a major
country star, but that ascendency was
weighted down by a secret, one that was
ultimately too heavy a burden to carry
any longer. At age 39, she decided to
come out.
At that time, she told The Advocate: “It
would break my heart if I were to lose
my career in country music because of
being gay, but I fully expect to. I had to
finally come to realize that there was
more to me than just country music.
I had to figure out a way to become a
fully-realized human being, or I wasn’t
gonna last.”
The 2011 documentary about Chely’s
extended coming out, Wish Me Away,
was filmed over three painful and revealing years. Since then, her life has
undergone many other major transformations. In April 2011, she announced
her engagement to LGBT rights activist
Lauren Blitzer, whom she married a few
months later. In May 2013, Chely gave
birth to twins, George and Everett. Today, Chely is working on a new album,
slated for release in 2015. So despite the
hard turns she’s had to take on a sometimes rocky road, Chely arrives at today
her own woman, and has found herself
part of a movement. “One can’t be part
of the equality movement from the sidelines,” she says.
Country music was largely silent about
Chely Wright’s coming-out story. In
2012, she told “CBS This Morning”: “As
my friend said, ‘I don’t think (the rejec-
tion is) going to be fire and brimstone,
I think they’re going to freeze her out.’”
And that’s pretty much how things unfolded. While once she shared the stage
with Shania Twain and Faith Hill, in the
years since her coming out she’s experienced a “rejection of silence.”
But that’s Nashville. The LGBT community has welcomed Chely with open
arms and she’s returned the love, doing things that just a few years ago she
would have found impossible to do as
a country star. She founded the Like
Me Lighthouse, an LGBT community
center in Kansas City, KS, where she
was born and raised, and also where
she married her wife Lauren Blitzer
Laura Crosta
last year. She’s headlined LGBT
events around the country, including Dinah!, in Palm Spring, and
Capital Pride in Washington, D.C.,
and most recently as a headliner at
WorldPride in Toronto.
This weekend, we get Chely
Wright all to ourselves here in Seattle.
We are pleased to bring this country star to Seattle, so that we can
share in her journey and acknowledge the courage it took to get to
this point. Whether you’re a country
music fan or a proponent of LGBT
rights, Chely’s music is all about the
long arc of her unique story, and if
you’ve ever had to fight to be who
you are, had to struggle to have your
voice be heard, and risked it all to
live authentically, Chely’s music will
resonate with you.
You can see Chely Wright and hear
that music for yourself at the Closing
Concert for Seattle PrideFest this
Sunday evening.
I, for one, can’t wait.
The PrideFest Closing Concert
with Chely Wright will be held Sunday, June 29, at the Delta Stage Mural Amphitheatre at Seattle Center.
Gates open at 7:15 p.m. Steve Grand
opens the show at 7:45 p.m., and
Chely Wright performs at 8:30 p.m.
to benefit marriage equality. ALL
AGES: Tickets: $25 pre-sale and
$30 at the gates, limited VIP available $60+. BEER GARDEN: 21+.
www.pridefest.org/concert; 1-800838-3006; www.brownpapertickets/com/event/688293.
2 14ALA1523_10x16_EMSL_SGN_NP_ad_e4_OF.indd
Seattle Gay News
1
June 27, 2014
6/16/14
1:43 PM
Celebrating 41
Years!
Visit us online www.sgn.org
June 27, 2014
Seattle Gay News 3
YOUR
FEAST
HAS
ENDED
MAIKOIYO ALLEY-BARNES, NICHOLAS GALANIN, AND NEP SIDHU
June 14–September 14, 2014
The exhibition is funded by the Frye Foundation with the generous support of Frye Art Museum
members and donors. It is sponsored by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. Seasonal support is
provided by 4Culture and ArtsFund. Media sponsorship is provided by City Arts.
Inert, 2009. Wolf pelts and felt. Collection of the Burke Museum, Seattle. Photo: Wayne Leidenfrost / Vancouver Sun
4 Seattle Gay News
June 27, 2014
FRYE ART MUSEUM
fryemuseum.org | Always Free
Celebrating 41 Years!
June 14, 2014–January 11, 2015
de Young
SAN FRANCISCO – The Fine Arts
Museums of San Francisco are pleased
to present “Anthony Friedkin: The Gay
Essay,” a photographic series of more
than 75 vintage prints that chronicles
the Gay communities of Los Angeles
and San Francisco from 1969 to 1973.
Coinciding with San Francisco’s annual
Pride events and the 45th anniversary
of the Stonewall Riots in New York City,
this exhibition will be on view at the
de Young Museum from June 14, 2014
through January 11, 2015.
For more than 40 years, American
photographer Anthony Friedkin (b.
1949) has documented people, cities
and landscapes primarily in his home
state of California. “The Gay Essay,” created during the culturally tumultuous
years of the late 1960s and early 1970s
– a turning point in the history of political activism in the Gay community in
the United States – offers an expressive
visual chronology of a vital moment of
historic change in our culture.
“We are proud to present “The Gay Essay” in its full depth and range for the
first time. It accords with our goal of
bringing to light important, and sometimes neglected or overlooked, bodies of
work that enrich the history and study
of photography, a medium that is central to art and society today,” said Co© Anthony Friedkin
kin found his place in an approach that
retained the outward-looking spirit of
reportage combined with individual
discovery. As an extrovert with an avid
curiosity, he developed close relationships with his subjects that enabled
him to create portraits that are intimate and devoid of judgment. He did
not aim to document Gay life in Los
Angeles and San Francisco slavishly,
but rather to show men and women
who were trying to live openly, expressing their individualities and sexualities
on their own terms, and improvising
ways to challenge the dominant culture.
Whether photographing in city streets,
motels, bars or dancehalls, Friedkin approached his subjects with an open and
inquiring mind to achieve empathic
portraits that celebrate pride, dignity
and the expression of love between people of the same gender.
“More than four decades after this
work was created, “The Gay Essay”
stands as both a record of historic
change in our culture and an eloquent
testimony to Anthony Friedkin’s passion for the art of photography,” said
Julian Cox, curator of the exhibition and
chief administrative curator and founding curator of photography at the Fine
Arts Museums of San Francisco. “We
are left with a beautiful, sensitive record
fit for the ages.”
While selections from “The Gay Essay” have been on public display in museums and galleries in the past, the entire scope of the series will be shown for
the first time at the de Young. Accompanying the original full-frame blackand-white prints will be contact prints,
documents and other materials from
the photographer’s archive and loans
from the San Francisco Public Library
and the San Francisco Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, and Transgender Historical
Society that provide valuable historical
context and insight into the conception
and execution of the work.
Exhibition Organization
This exhibition is organized by the
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
Exhibition Catalogue
144 pages. $45 hardcover. Published
in association with Yale University
Press.
Purchase at the FAMSF Museum
Stores or online at shop.famsf.org.
Sundays; open select holidays; closed
most Mondays
Admission Tickets
$10 adults; $7 seniors (65 and above);
$6 students with current ID; $6 youths
13–17. Members and children 12 and
under are admitted free. General admission is free the first Tuesday of every
month. Tickets available at deyoungmuseum.org. Prices subject to change.
About the Fine Arts Museums of
San Francisco
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, comprising the de Young Museum
in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of
Honor in Lincoln Park, are the largest
public arts institution in San Francisco.
The de Young originated from the
1894 California Midwinter International Exposition and was established as the
Memorial Museum. Thirty years later, it
was renamed in honor of Michael H. de
Young, a longtime champion of the museum. The present copper-clad, landmark building, designed by Herzog and
de Meuron, opened in October 2005. It
June 27, 2014
showcases the institution’s significant
collections of American painting, sculpture, and decorative arts from the 17th
to the 21st centuries; art from Africa,
Oceania, and the Americas; costume
and textile arts; and international modern and contemporary art.
The Legion of Honor was inspired
by the French pavilion, a replica of the
Palais de la Légion d’Honneur in Paris,
at San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915. The
museum opened in 1924 in the Beaux
Arts–style building designed by George
Applegarth on a bluff overlooking the
Golden Gate Bridge. Its holdings span
four thousand years and include European painting, sculpture, and decorative arts; ancient art from the Mediterranean basin; and the largest collection
of works on paper in the American West.
Media Contacts
Erin Garcia [email protected]
Clara Hatcher [email protected]
© Anthony Friedkin
Visit us online www.sgn.org
Anthony Enton Friedkin (American, b. 1949)
Jean Harlow,
Drag Queen Ball, Long Beach, 1971
Gelatin silver print. 14 x 11 in. Anonymous gift 2011.58.2
© Anthony Friedkin
lin B. Bailey, director of the Fine Arts
Museums of San Francisco. “We are delighted that 94 vintage prints from “The
Gay Essay” are now part of our permanent collection, thanks to the generosity
of donors Dan and Mary Solomon and
Nancy Ascher and John Roberts.”
A native of Los Angeles, Friedkin began taking photographs at age 8 and
was developing film in a darkroom at
age 11. The artist formed a deep connection to the medium and later sought to
combine a photojournalistic tradition
with an individual statement. In the
spring of 1969, when Friedkin was 19
years old, he embarked on “The Gay Essay” as a self-assigned project. His goal
was to create the first extensive record
of Gay life in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and to chart the emerging and
shifting visibility of the Gay communities in California.
Inf luenced by the work of Henri
Cartier-Bresson, André Kertész and
Josef Koudelka, among others, Fried-
Visiting de Young
Golden Gate Park, 50 Hagiwara Tea
Garden Drive, San Francisco, CA 94118
Open 9:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m. Tuesdays–
© Anthony Friedkin
“Anthony Friedkin:
The Gay Essay”
Seattle Gay News 5
Seattle Art Museum presents “Modernism in the
Pacific Northwest: the Mythic and the Mystical”
© Estate of Tobey
“Electric Night,”1944, Mark Tobey, American, 1890 - 1976
Seattle, Washington, Tempera on board, 17 1/2 x 13 in., Seattle Art Museum
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, 44.78
by James Whitely
SGN Staff Writer
6 Seattle Gay News
His post-WWII work immediately follows these later pieces in the exhibition.
These surrealist images on black paper
begin the trend of Biblical/Revelations
imagery that continues throughout the
rest of the show in fairly stark contrast
to what has so far been seen.
The first half of Modernism in the
Pacific Northwest tells a thrilling story
which any fan of abstraction will adore,
however the latter half feels like a different exhibit altogether. Each artist used
their work to find spiritual meaning and
this lifelong journey certainly shows
in the dramatic changes – four rooms
abounding in Biblical imagery and a
strong sense of isolation and abandonment.
Even Callahan becomes much more
emotionally weighted. In “First Seed
into Last Harvest” (1943), there is no
sense of impending danger like in “Riders.” The nine visible figures here are
crucified; further, his staging of the vertical and horizontal lines of the crosses
as they move up and out from the central axis inform the viewer there are
many more such figures we don’t see.
I left still too preoccupied by it all to
rekindle the excitement I’d felt earlier
on in the exhibit, and it seemed I wasn’t
alone. All that said, these ten artists
have a story to tell; one that their talent
merits be followed to completion.
“Modernism in the Pacific Northwest:
the Mythic and the Mystical” runs from
June 19-September 7 at the Seattle Art
Museum (1300 1st Ave.). Other featured
artists are painter Paul Horiuchi, whose
non-lineated, abundant use of white in
“Trail in the Snow” (1959) proves arresting in ways quite distinct from Tobey,
when each uses “white writing” so liberally. Four sculptors are also featured,
primarily in the exhibit’s first half:
James W. Washington Jr., who began
working primarily in stone sculpture
after spending time with muralist Diego
Rivera during a trip to Mexico in 1951;
bronze sculptor George Tsutakawa,
known for many public works like his
“Fountain of Wisdom” (1960), which
now stands outside the Downtown Seattle Public Library; and Philip McCracken and Tony Angell, who, like Graves,
focus heavily on natural imagery and
are generally less geared towards abstraction. Visit the SAM online at www.
seattleartmuseum.org to learn more.
© Estate of Kenneth Callahan
Seattle Art Museum’s (SAM) newest exhibit, “Modernism in the Pacific
Northwest: the Mythic and the Mystical,” opened Thursday, June 19, in the
museum’s Simonyi Special Exhibition
Galleries. Most prominently featured
are Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, Kenneth Callahan and Guy Anderson – four
locals, whose work in the late 1930s and
‘40s led to the rise of what some called,
“The Northwest School.” Their work
might surprise you. The ten artists featured here were largely self-taught and
commonly shifted between varying
degrees of abstraction. SAM’s exhibition, the largest yet of its kind, certainly
reflects why it didn’t take long for New
York to catch on.
At the forefront of the movement was
Tobey, a Cornish teacher, who developed
what would later become the school’s
trademark, “white writing.” The distinct
style dominates “White Night” (1942),
one of his most famous works; it is a full
abstraction, where layers of white linear
networks overlay a dark ground. Pike
Place Market is the subject of several
of Tobey’s works on display: In “Rummage” (1941), his “white writing” lends
energy and movement to the vertical
contours of his many subjects.
His 1944 cityscape, “Electric Night,”
was a particularly profound experience:
the eye is drawn to the center of a mass
of thousands of lines before the mind
knows what it’s looking at. Focus then
goes downward, where figures can be
seen. As the eye takes in the rest of the
work, a city in nighttime is brought to
life by vibrant lights. Only after all this
does one realize the range of abstraction
within the work.
Three pieces from Tobey’s 1957 series,
“Space Rituals” show the artist’s evolu-
tion in regards to his “white writing”
style. Heavily influenced by East Asian
calligraphic style, Tobey uses black ink,
splattered with controlled thrusts on
white paper to produce full abstractions
of the world around him. While the lineation brought the subjects of his earlier
work to life, here, he appears to be showing us that the energy is the life itself.
Clement Greenburg credited Tobey
with inventing gestural painting. One of
Jackson Pollock’s major backers, the art
critic was with Pollock when he saw Tobey’s work in New York in 1944, which
he believed to be a major influence of the
great abstractionist.
Guy Anderson’s “Deception Pass
through Indian County” (1959), uses
white much more liberally than Tobey,
but manages to raise the same questions
about space. While abstract, Native in-
fluence is perhaps most clear in Anderson’s work; and it is the subject of another one of his highlights, “Language
Wheel” (1962).
Morris Graves’ “Waking, Walking,
Singing in the Next Dimension” (1979)
and “The Genesis of Life Lay Deep”
(1944) are particularly impactful. A
sense of looming dread lead Graves to
leave wartime Seattle, moving some 70
miles north to Skagit County, where he
built himself a house. Inspired by his
natural surroundings there, he had produced approximately 80 works by late
1941, when the Museum of Modern Art
came looking for him.
The last work you’ll see in the exhibit
is a self-portrait Graves did in the early
‘30s. It conveys despondency and tremendous isolation, partly perhaps because of his homosexuality.
Kenneth Callahan’s “Riders on the
Mountain” (1956) demanded my attention more than any other piece in the
exhibition. The work is an abstraction
of horseback riders, but Callahan has
inverted Tobey’s lineation color scheme;
an amalgam of white strokes give form
to the subjects, while sharp black lineation brings them thrashing to life. Pastel flares only sow more disorder on the
range of browns, reds and rusty oils that
ground the painting.
I was instantly reminded of Vassily
Kandinsky’s “Improvisation No. 30
(Cannons)” (1913). The madness and
danger of each piece come from similar
directions. Both use a strange palette –
dark unnatural background made further disorienting by the sparse use of a
blue tone the viewer would expect to be
more soothing. Like the cannon fodder
in Kandinsky’s work, human figures in
Callahan’s work stand motionless at the
far left, as if waiting to be engulfed by
the madness. Still, both works are beautiful.
“Riders on the Mountain” is only 21 x
35 1/2 inches and it’s tucked away in a
corner. Don’t miss it, it sets the tone for
the second half of the exhibit, in which
apocalyptical imagery abounds.
Leo Kenney’s geometric juxtapositions are another highlight of the exhibition. Kenney embraces rich colors and
instead translates the black and white
binary into one of polygons and circles,
exploring space in a whole different way.
Done from the ‘60s-‘80s, these are some
of the latest works of his career and the
exhibition altogether.
“Riders on the Mountain,” 1956, Kenneth Callahan, American, 1905-1986
Seattle, Washington, oil on canvas, 21 x 35 1/2 in. Seattle Art Museum,
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, 56.284
June 27, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
E
L
A
S
ON AY!
TOD
SEPTEMBER 3-28, 2014
(206) 625-1900 WWW.5THAVENUE.ORG
GROUPS OF 10 OR MORE CALL 1-888-625-1418 ON 5TH AVENUE IN DOWNTOWN SEATTLE
2014/15 SEASON SPONSORS
OFFICIAL AIRLINE
CONTRIBUTING SPONSOR
RESTAURANT SPONSOR
Photos by Jeff Carpenter
Visit us online www.sgn.org
June 27, 2014
Seattle Gay News 7
8 Seattle Gay News
June 27, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
by Reverend Eric O’del
Special to the SGN
This past March I got married at Amazing Grace Spiritual Center, a newly renovated historic church in Seattle’s Ballard
neighborhood. The Sanctuary, which seats
200, has soaring 22-foot ceilings and great
period architecture, including seven arched,
Gothic windows (one featuring a beautiful,
clear art glass image of a crow). The acoustics were great for our live music and the
creamy yellow walls with white trim banished the winter grey outside.
This was the second time I was marrying my partner Ken, a couples’ counselor,
and the love of my life for the past 18 years.
Once Gay marriage became legal in Canada, we hurried up there in 2004 for a simple
ceremony in the balcony of the gourmet
restaurant at the Beau Soleil Hotel in downtown Vancouver, BC. The wedding party
was just a quartet of friends and Ken’s dad,
with a very nice meal afterwards.
Once Gay marriage became legal in our
home state of Washington, though, it seemed
important to get our partnership validated
in the U.S. as well. This second American
wedding was very different from the first
one. We had both my brothers and their
wives in the party, plus six people in Ken’s
Amazing Grace
Ballard’s cute new
wedding chapel
Seattle family. There was a full band and not
a dry eye in the house as my friend Garnett
sang “The Road That Never Ends” by Hawaiian recording artist Keali’i Reichel.
In the side room off the sanctuary we
hosted a cake reception with a fabulous
sea-themed wedding cake by Crème de
la Crème in Renton, four tiers with white
chocolate coral and seashell decorations.
While my friend and co-minister Colette
invited us to kiss, our two hundred guests
roared their approval at the end of the ceremony. But then, they had to, for one other
very good reason – I am a minister at Amazing Grace, and this was my congregation.
As I perform Gay and Lesbian nuptials
these days, the people at these weddings all
have a sense of occasion, beyond just the
miracle of two people committing themselves to the spiritual path that is marriage.
Everyone is aware that we are making history. The power of being part of a positive
change for the whole human race just adds
something rich to the ceremony.
When we decided to get married at my
church in Ballard, there were a number of
decisions to hash out, but there was one
thing I was absolutely certain of – I knew
I was going to love the colors, the look and
the atmosphere of the venue. After all, I’d
picked them out myself!
Visit us online www.sgn.org
June 27, 2014
Seattle Gay News 9
Outbound Travels to
South Florida (Miami, Fort
Lauderdale and Wilton Manors)
Shirtless, sexy and sweaty men are as abundant in the Florida and as flannels are in the Northwest!
10 Seattle Gay News
June 27, 2014
Teriyaki temple
Teriyaki temple
Seattle Gay News’ own traveling columnist Teriyaki Temple (aka DLN) visited South Florida to answer a question
that’s been nagging him for years now.
What is it with the cult-like fascination with Gay men and the Hallmark
Channel’s AARP diva’s from Miami,
“The Golden Girls?” Could it just be
the weather, beautiful people, or that
maybe Bea Arthur (God Rest Her Soul)
felt she fit in better or even “stealthy,” as
there are many Transgender beauties
that live there?
After arriving in Miami I expected to
find a gaggle of extravagant homos covered in designer duds, gorgeous bodies
donning oh-so-tiny swimwear, sunning
themselves on the beautiful beaches or
“on the deck of their multi-million dollar yachts anchored just off shore.” Instead, I found Miami’s world famous
South Beach has become a tourist trap
accessorized by tacky t-shirts flapping
in the ocean breeze.
I had always wanted to experience the
life that I saw in magazines and heard
about from my friends. Life here is now
much different than during the reign of
South Beach’s former Queen Socialite,
Gianna Versace. The palace the fashion
genius once ruled from Casa Casuarina
on Ocean Drive (aka Versace Mansion)
is now gated up and hidden away (much
like the Gay life here).
The steps in front of the iconic architecture have become a popular place
where tourists take “selfies.” Of course,
being such an “Asian tourist” I did the
same thing…. “Herro, you take picture
now? Tanks very much!”
They are probably unaware or ignoring the fact that where they stand is
where the visionary designer was senselessly murdered almost two decades
ago. 17 years have passed since Versace’s
forced abdication. During that time,
“The Fabulous Gays” began to leave the
area and migrate northward.
Miami/South Beach (dubbed the
Magic City) had lost its sparkle and was
kind of a letdown. There was about as
much magic to be seen as David Blaine’s
tacky parlor tricks he repeats night after
night at his show in Vegas.
(On a side note: Maybe Miami has lost
its magic because as we all know part of
a Gay man’s uniform is a tank top. How
are you going keep any tricks up your
sleeve, if you don’t have any?)
After some purely “scientific research”
provided by two muscular hotties in
bulging speedos, we realized we were in
the wrong place, and we found ourselves
on a quest to find “the golden ticket and
gorge ourselves on the sun kissed golden
brown bodies” in South Florida. (Additional research note: the notation of
the above mentioned respondents out-
by Teriyaki Temple
(David Luc Nguyen)
SGN Contributing Writer
Teriyaki temple
fits were observed and noted for demographic and maybe some self-inbulging
purposes.) The rivers of luxury and
fabulosity that once flowed freely into
South Beach must have suffered the effects of global warming, because it’s apparent the “magically Gay” waters have
changed courses, flowing northward
into the Fort Lauderdale suburbs.
The “pink and glitter filled” streams
carrying the flamboyant culture and
feather boas that I associated with the
movie, The Bird Cage have changed
course, draining into the Middle River’s
North and South Fork, which creates a
mote surrounding Wilton Manors (also
known to the locals as The Island City
and The Gay Village). The “Queens”
now reside here in their Castles. Imagine my surprise to find out the “New
Gay Mecca” shares its southern border
with Fort Lauderdale (the place I have
always associated with drunk, messy,
hormonal college kids on Spring Break).
One of the popular places, Pompano
Beach, was once overflowing with immature, hyper-macho, backwards ballcap wearing Neanderthal frat boys trying to pick up skanky drunk girls. These
are the same girls with their smeared
lipstick and uneven make-up sadly
mixed with tequila, sweat, Copper Tone
and Cover Girl true blend. Fort Lauderdale was also once the backdrop for
the documented mistakes of these girls
who couldn’t handle their liquor and
ended up flashing their boobs in a cheap
hotel for the cameramen of the “Girls
Gone Wild” videos. The beaches in this
area that once hosted the “MTV (Jerry)
Springer Break” hell are now the homo
beach heaven (but don’t be fooled it is
still very “whore-monal”).
Did you know, according to the 2012
U.S. Census, Wilton Manors ranks 2nd
in the nation for its percentage of Gay
residents (proportional to the total
population)! That means that for every
1,000 residents, 140 of them identify as
Gay! Wilton Manors has approximately
1270% more Gay men per capita than
the national average! Who would have
guessed?!? This would the perfect spot
to film a new reality show “Gays Gone
Wild!”
Just in case you were wondering, Provincetown, Massachusetts (aka P-Town)
ranks 1st in the nation for percentage of
Gay residents (proportional to the City’s
total population). SGN is also excited to
visit P-Town later this year and tell you
all about it in an upcoming travel issue!
GETTING THERE
We couldn’t have picked a further
destination to visit from Seattle in the
continental United States than South
Florida. Luckily many of the airlines
have direct flights from SEA to the
South Florida’s two regional airports
(MIA – Miami International Airport)
and (FLL – Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood
International Airport). Personally, I
recommend flying into FLL since there
are more convenient flight times and the
price of the airline ticket can be significantly less.
Depending on how far you book your
tickets in advance and the time of year,
round trip tickets aren’t too bad. (I recently found non-stop R/T tickets for
$358.00 on Alaska Airlines.) The total
time spent in the air for the non-stop
cross-country trip is about (5.5) hours
– the time should go by quickly if you
pop an Ambien, two Netflix movies and/
or a few of those tiny airplane bottles of
booze. Just don’t forget to factor in the
(3) hour time difference. The change in
time zones makes it a full day-trip, but
I look at it this way: on the return flight,
“gain” that time back. You can take a
late afternoon return flight and still get
home in the early evening.
If you choose to arrive in Fort Lauderdale, a cab ride to Wilton Manors
shouldn’t cost you more than $25 + tip.
If you fly into Miami and catch a cab
to Wilton Manors, it can cost around
$130-$165 + tip. If the airline ticket is
cheaper to Miami, consider some of
these frugal cab-alternatives to try:
book a rental car (price varies), take Super Shuttle (about $30 + tip), or be adventurous and hop on the free airport
shuttles to the train station and take the
train to Fort Lauderdale for only $3.50
each way.
Another cheap (but not easy) option could be using the on-board Wi-Fi
to be productive. Make use of the 5.5
hour flight to post your travel ads midflight on Adam4Adam and Craigslist.
Don’t forget to update your social me-
Celebrating 41 Years!
Teriyaki temple
Cabanas
Teriyaki temple
“My Love Don’t Cost a Thing” video
pulling up to this show palace (Middle
River Landing) in that $100,000 Mercedes. I was blown away when the gates
opened, revealing a stunning property
that was previously shrouded behind
the high walls and tropical trees that
could easily keep out pesky onlookers
and paparazzi stalkers.)
Of course, being a clothes and jewelry whore, I wouldn’t have tossed my
“bling and designer clothes out of a moving car like JLo.” Instead, I put my bags
down and stripped down to my swim
suit and toyed with the idea of trying
to recreate one of her trademark music
video dance breaks, but realized I would
look like a hot mess. Instead, I imaged
the great meals we would make on the
outdoor gas BBQ grill and the trouble I
could cause after soaking in the hot tub
and rinsing off in the private outdoor
shower.
My favorite memories were created
sitting under the shade of the lanai and
gazebo grazing on lunch and sipping on
cocktails with old and new friends. Also
very memorable was getting my “lush”
on, drinking a whole bottle of wine over
a romantic candle lit dinner that lasted
late into the evening.
After lounging around the house and
enjoying its beauty, it’s not hard to get to
the conveniently located Wilton Drive
(reminiscent of the way that the Broadway-that-we-all-grew-up-enjoying-inSeattle-before-it-“changed” was.) You’ll
find yourself surrounded by an abundance of Gay bars, pubs, restaurants
and boutique shops to explore and socialize in.
MIDDLE RIVER LANDING: NE 3rd
Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL 33305
CONTACT: Tel: 202-997-9265;
Email: Owner using booking site
WEBSITE: h t t p : // w w w . v r b o .
com/595585#location
Teriyaki temple
Cabanas
dia apps to “visitor status” on Grindr,
Scruff, Hornet, Grunt and Jack’d (*wink
wink*). Who knows, maybe you’ll make
a new friend that will even give you a
“ride” from the airport to Wilton Manors. (NOTE: I propose this choice playfully. I take no responsibility for any malarkey, trouble or “sticky” situations you
find yourself in from what you choose to
do homo-bitch hiking).
see FLORIDA page 12
spired by the manicured grounds. Not
a bad idea for those more “free spirited
folks” who enjoy getting the opportunity
to work on their “all over tan.”
Middle River Landing
Teriyaki temple
Visit us online www.sgn.org
Middle River Landing
Teriyaki temple
CABANAS GUESTHOUSE: 2209 NE
26th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33305
USA
CONTACT: Tel: 954.564.7764 • Toll
Free: 866.564.7764 • [email protected]
ACCOMODATIONS
WEBSITE: http://thecabanasguestGay Fort Lauderdale/Wilton Man- house.com/
ors offers a wide assortment of accommodations for the most discerning Gay
If you’re like me, when you’re on vaand Lesbian traveler. Whether you are cation, you expect a few simple things.
searching for large, all-welcoming, Gay- Essentials for enjoyable travel include:
friendly hotels or intimate Gay only Immaculate and beautiful accommoguesthouses, “The Gay Village” provides dations, privacy, ample amenities, and
a plethora of options for a wide range of convenience. As a spontaneous traveler
tastes. Leave your cares and, in some (or, as my friends would say, indecisive
places, leave your clothes behind, too. biatch) I may decide I want to stay in,
Opulent Gay-only guesthouses, inti- sip cocktails, make dinner and enjoy the
mate inns, and luxury homes provide company of sarcastic friends. Or maybe
even the most uptight Princess (yes, I’ll decide on a whim we need to hit the
I’m talking about me) the right place to town, try some local cuisine, check out
hang her tiara during her vacation.
“da club,” or flirt with the cute local boys.
For lodging and some “full-Monty, Some instances even include, “all of the
eye-candy voyeurism,” the locals and above.”
visitors overwhelmingly recommended
A newly available gem, Middle River
“The Cabanas Guesthouse and Spa,” Landing, was able to satisfy the fluctuwhich has received the honorable dis- ating moods of this frigid queen. The
tinction of being one of South Florida’s recently purchased (and renovated)
private luxury home is tastefully decobest Gay guesthouses.
The all-male, clothing optional Gay rated in a contemporary style that welresort is centrally located in Wilton comes guests and infuses that luxuriManors (the heart of Gay Fort Lauder- ous feeling. Middle River Landing credale) and is reasonably priced from $129 ates a secluded environment, but is still
a night for a studio to $329 for a two just minutes away from the fantastic
shopping, dining, entertainment and
bedroom waterfront suite.
A previous visitor on Yelp commented: nightlife that South Florida has to of“Love this place. Can’t wait to visit fer. Once you see the beautiful, wateragain! So relaxing and met some nice front paradise you’ll instantly fall in
people staying in the guesthouse next to love.
I was so excited to see where I’d be
ours. This place is a wonderful blend of
spending
the rest of my week as the
fun and sophistication. The tropical sethome
began
to slowly expose itself (like
tings of this private gay resort are methe
strippers,
I mean the “exotic dancticulously landscaped with royal palms,
ers,”
at
local
hot
spot Swinging Richgorgeous flowers, and lush foliage. It’s
ards).
The
house
is
located right next to
like your paradise.”
a
waterway
with
its
own private dock,
Teriyaki Temple:
heated
pool,
a
Jacuzzi
hot tub, pool side
How convenient that Cabanas Guestlounge
area
–
and
a
gazebo
came into
house is also well known for their Spa!
view
that
invoked
relaxation
that has
Enjoy being pampered surrounded by
been
long
over-due.
the “meticulously landscaped gardens”
(Pardon my side-note random dayas you get a facial, manicure, pedicure,
dream
tangent: Not gonna lie, I totally
massages and maybe even some hair rehad
a
JLo
moment! I imaged myself as
moval! That means your own “personal
the
big
bootied
Latina stunner in her
garden, bush, can be manscaped” in-
Middle River Landing
June 27, 2014
Seattle Gay News 11
Florida
continued from pg. 11
ACTIVITIES:
There are too many activities to choose from but some recommendations include:
Teriyaki temple
Luxury/Boutique Shopping on Wilton Drive or South Beach
Teriyaki temple
Swimming with my new buddy “Riddley the dolphin” at the Miami Seaquarium.
I recommend going with a Florida resident (they get a local rate versus tourists
($199.00 vs. $94.00).
Teriyaki temple
Check out some of the local bars, clubs and brunch places.
We recommend:
Georgie’s Alibi: Recommended by local as their favorite watering hole.
www.alibiwiltonmanors.com/
(Make sure to say hi to the cutie waiter Scott when you visit!)
Kayaking or Paddle Boarding on the waterways behind Middle River Landing
Teriyaki temple
Enjoying the surrounding beaches (some of them are even nude -Floppy Rooster Beach)
and popular tourist sites
The Manor Complex: A combination
of vintage style and cosmopolitan sophistication engulfs the Epic Nightclub.
The two level Nightclub is adorned with
an abundance of crystal chandeliers, a
covered outside arcade with a modern
flair, a large performance stage and the
best of the best in sound and lighting.
There is a lavish, exclusive VIP room
for guests looking to go the extra mile.
The sprawling dance club hosts many
special events and get your circuit and
drink on. Recently, Deborah Cox was
performing and RuPaul’s Drag Race’s
recent winner Bianca Del Rio was also
there. www.themanorcomplex.com
Bill’s Filling Station – Great local pub
and very cute security!
www.billsfillingstation.com
Village Pub Wilton Manors – Younger
crowd with good music and huge dance floor.
www.VillagePubWM.com
Rosie’s Bar and Grill – Check this
place out for brunch and its the place to
be on Sunday Funday! Love the outdoor
seating, cute waiters and valet parking!
www.rosiesbarandgrill.com
Great resources for South Florida
nightlife, dining and shopping can be
found at:
www.guymag.net
www.wiltondriveonline.com
www.gayftlauderdale.com
Now I see why the Golden Girls love
South Florida so much. Good weather,
fun things to do, a relaxing environment and beautiful people. I definitely
recommend a visit! As many cruises
leave from Fort Lauderdale, it might be
good to plan a few extra days into your
trip to enjoy the city before and/or after
your trip to sea. It is after all home to
the “Golden Gays.”
June 28 - Sept. 7
2014
World Class
Chamber Music
~
Northwest Panache
Saturdays & Sundays
at 2PM
(360) 732-4800 or www.olympicmusicfestival.org
12 Seattle Gay News
June 27, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
Free Choral Concert • June 29 • Portland State Chamber Choir
4 p.m•7IEXXPI*MVWX&ETXMWX•1111 Harvard Ave., Seattle • www.seattlefirstbaptist.org
Offering benefits DIVERSE HARMONY, the nation’s first gay-straight alliance youth chorus
Visit us online www.sgn.org
June 27, 2014
Seattle Gay News 13
2014 SEASON AT KING COUNT Y’S MARYMOOR PARK
JUNE
17
JUNE
24
THE FRAY
JAUG
1
with BARCELONA,
OH HONEY
GAVIN DEGRAW
AND MATT
NATHANSON
AUG
2
with MARY LAMBERT
JUNE
26
AUG
3
ROBYN+
RÖYKSOPP
DO IT AGAIN TOUR 2014
JUNE
27
1
JULY
5&6
JULY
10
4
THE SOULSHINE TOUR feat.
MICHAEL
FRANTI
& SPEARHEAD
with SOJA, BRETT DENNEN
AND TREVOR HALL
JULY
AUG
AUG
5
17
JULY
19
FOREIGNER
AND STYX
THE VOICE
TOUR
SARAH
BRIGHTMAN
AUSTIN
MAHONE
AUG
13
RAY
LAMONTAGNE
with THE
BELLE
BRIGADE
17
DIRTY HEADS
AND PEPPER
AUG
REBELUTION
AUG
19
with THE VAMPS,
FIFTH HARMONY,
SHAWN MENDES
20
SARA
BAREILLES
23
with LUCIUS,
AUG
AUG
with IRATION,
THE GREEN, STICK
FIGURE, DJ MACKLE
BECK
AMERICAN
IDOL LIVE
HANNAH GEORGAS
HEART
AUG
with MICHAEL GRIMM
9
STEELY DAN
2 NIGHTS! SATURDAY & SUNDAY
AUG
10
SLIGHTLY
STOOPID with
STEPHEN “RAGGA” MARLEY,
G. LOVE & SPECIAL SAUCE
JULY
THE SOUNDTRACK
OF SUMMER feat.
TEDESCHI
TRUCKS BAND
1077 THE END’S
SUMMER
CAMP
AUG
25
DAVID GRAY
HONDA CIVIC TOUR
PRESENTS
GROUPLOVE
& PORTUGAL.
THE MAN
with TYPHOON
AUG
with THE WOOD BROTHERS
UP IN SMOKE 2014
12
COUNTING
CROWS
with TOAD
THE
WET SPROCKET
CHEECH &
CHONG
AND WAR
MARYMOORCONCERTS.COM
Show info & tickets available at MarymoorConcerts.com,
AXS.com, charge by phone 888-929-7849, in person
at the Marymoor Park Office, The Showbox and
Showbox SoDo Box Office locations.
14 Seattle Gay News
June 27, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
“PourS on the razzle Dazzle
wIth glItzy costuMes and lIghtIng.”
- the seattle tIMes
“I was raIsed watchIng and lIstenIng to BarBra
streIsand everyday. Sarah roSe DaviS iS
giving BaBS a run for her money!”
- audIence MeMBer
ISSAQUAH: Now - July 6
Box Office: (425) 392-2202
Visit us online www.sgn.org
VillageTheatre.org
EVERETT: July 11 - August 3
Box Office: (425) 257-8600
June 27, 2014
Seattle Gay News 15
M I CH A EL PA L M ER, A RT I ST I C D I R EC TO R
and THE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA AND CHORUS
2014 SEASON • JULY 5 TH – 20 TH
JULY 5
Stefan Jackiw
violin
JULY 8 & 10
Calidore
String Quartet
JULY 12
Lisette Oropesa
soprano
JULY 16
Richard Goode
piano
JULY 18 & 20
Pablo Sáinz Villegas
guitar
SEASON INCLUDES
Brahms Symphony No 4
Mozart Piano Concerto No 25 K 503
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No 2
Schumann Symphony No 3 “Rhenish”
Elgar Introduction and Allegro
for String Quartet and Orchestra
Mozart Abduction from the Seraglio (concert version)
Visit the Website for a Complete List of Artists, Programs, and Venues
Tickets available by phone at (360) 650-6146,
email at [email protected] or online
bellinghamfesti val.org • (360) 201–6621 • facebook .com/bellingham.festi val
16 Seattle Gay News
June 27, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
Nine ways to save money on
your wedding reception
ABCNEWS.go.com
by Sharon Snuffin
Special to the SGN
After over 30 years of helping couples
plan their weddings, I’ve refined the following ideas as the easiest and most common ways to keep costs under control:
1. Invite fewer guests. It sounds silly,
but this one choice can have the single
largest impact on your total budget. Caterers charge by the person for food plus
you may need to rent additional equipment for larger groups. Often, having
fewer guests will mean that you are able
to choose a nicer menu that would be beyond your budget for a larger group.
2. Schedule your wedding for very
early afternoon. An afternoon reception is usually shorter than an evening
reception, resulting in lower staff costs.
It is perfectly acceptable to offer only
light appetizers or a light lunch for an
afternoon reception. Guests will expect
a meal to be served at evening receptions.
3. Have your wedding during the
week. Saturdays are the most popular
days for weddings and venue rates are
Visit us online www.sgn.org
always highest on weekends. Many locations offer lower rental rates on weekdays, Fridays or Sundays. Caterers and
other vendors often will charge less for
receptions held on weekdays.
4. Pick a date during the off-season.
Most weddings in Puget Sound are held
May through September. Have your
wedding during the slow season when
venue rates are usually lower. Many
wedding vendors offer lower prices or
other incentives during their slow season as well. (As an example, my company, Snuffin’s Catering, offers a free butlered appetizer during our off-season.)
5. Choose a location that includes
tables and chairs in the rental rate.
Having to rent your own tables and
chairs can add substantially to your total cost.
6. Choose a location and caterer
that will allow you to provide your
own alcoholic beverages. Clubs and
other locations that provide liquor service make a substantial amount of their
profit on alcohol sales. Providing your
own beverages can save a great deal of
money. Check with your caterer to see if
they allow you to bring your own beverages and if they charge corkage fees.
7. Hire a disc jockey rather than a
band. Disc jockeys will play any type of
music you want – at a much lower rate
than a band.
8. Have your friends and family set
up and decorate the hall. Friends will
offer to help you with your wedding – let
them!
9. Use disposable serving items instead of china and glass. Not only are
china and glassware more expensive
than disposables, their use also requires
additional staff for set up, bussing and
dishwashing.
By choosing one or several of the above
money saving ideas, you can reduce the
total costs for your wedding reception.
My most important piece of advice is
saved for last: decide what’s most important to you about your reception and allow enough in your budget to accomplish
that dream. Make less costly choices on
items that are not as important to you.
Your wedding day should be joyous
and stress-free. Once you’ve made your
choices, relax and have a wonderful day!
June 27, 2014
Seattle Gay News 17
Sharon Snuffin is president of Snuffin’s Catering, the award-winning caterer in the South Puget Sound area of
Washington state. She can be contacted
at [email protected]. Menu and
pricing information are available at
www.snuffins.com
The Unholy Three
A review of The Pink Triangle: The Feuds and
Private Lives Of Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, and
Truman Capote & Famous Members Of Their Entourages by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, Blood
Moon Productions (www.bloodmoonproductions.com)
bloodmooon Productions
by Maggie Bloodstone
SGN Staff Writer
The mid-20th century had more than
its share of brilliant, beautiful, blazing,
and beat artists and celebrities, but we
can thank the much-maligned American South for producing a trifecta of genius that turned Broadway, Hollywood,
and the literary world on it collective ear
in the space of two and a half decades.
Imagine Blanche DuBois, Holly Golightly and Myra Breckenridge attending the Black And White Ball accompanied by Caligula and Stanley Kowalski,
sharing their drugs, booze, and carnal
charms with anyone who was anyone.
That’s pretty much the tone and tenor of
The Pink Triangle.
This is a book that should be included
in the curriculum of Gay 101 for every
20-something Gay man (and an elective for Lesbian women) who have never
experienced the trashy catastrophe that
was Boom! And only knew of In Cold
Blood from the Phillip Seymour Hoffman flick. It’s also primo beach reading
for any Gay theatre/gossip queen over
the age of 35. And it is definitely one of
the top achievements of writer Darwin
Porter, co-author/publisher Danforth
Prince, and the notorious imprint Blood
Great
theater
up close.
Moon Productions.
Blood Moon has produced a plethora
of delectable dirt and blistering biographies since 2004, including two sequels
to the grandmama of golden age celebrity scandal, Hollywood Babylon, plus
deep-dish bios of Marilyn, Brando, The
Kennedys, Linda Lovelace, The Gabors,
Olivier, Vivien Leigh, J. Edgar Hoover,
Bogart, Howard Hughes and more,
all with a decidedly lavender tint most
mainstream biographers would shun
for fear of limited appeal and/or sales.
Like Anger, Porter no doubt had to wait
until his subjects were beyond this vale
of tears and litigation to tell numerous
tales out of school, some that have been
told before, but many far too hot to handle, even for serious gossip mongers of
the 2000s, much less the ‘50s and ‘60s.
But the reader never gets the impression Porter digs up dirt for dirt’s sake.
Unlike other better-known celebrity biographers, Porter doesn’t have a vicious
bone in his body, even when his subjects
indulge in some pretty unconscionable
behavior. They’re not gods to be demolished, but fallible fellow humans to be
chronicled without judgment, but honestly, veneral warts and all. And Porter
was a mere one-degree of separation
from one of those subjects for a time in
the ‘50s, as a journalist for the Miami
Herald in Key West, namely Tennessee Williams and his longtime partner,
Frank Merlo. Along with the mother-ofall-fag hags, Tallulah Bankhead, Porter
got a horse’s-mouth serving of vintage
gossip that dare not speak its name.
Porter doesn’t indulge in Anger’s purple
prose, but that doesn’t make his revelations any less mouth-watering.
Williams, Vidal, and Capote’s artistic
and personal lives provided the hot-pink
(and often tacky) adhesive that connected most of the most brilliant and fabulous names in theater, film, literature,
dance, music, and politics from the postWW2 years to the disco-fied ‘70s. It’s depressing to contemplate what America’s
cultural landscape would look like without the influence of these three men – a
lot more dull, a lot less passionate and
transgressive, and definitely less trashy
and spectacular.
The Pink Triangle posits some interesting cultural questions: what if Mon-
Slip/Shot
roe had played Williams’ Baby Doll on
screen? Would she have been taken
more seriously as an actor and a person
at last? What if Vidal (who is, actually,
a distant relation to Al ‘Inconvenient
Truth’ Gore) had gone into politics instead of writing screenplays and mindfucking novels? Would we have had an
openly Gay politician before Harvey
Milk? (And would he have survived the
inevitable mudslinging?) What if Candy
Darling – an actual Transsexual – had
played Myra Breckenridge instead
of the more bankable Raquel Welch?
Would Trans visibility in the have broken earlier?
All the rumors and the more-thanrumors about these three legends and
the even more legendary heavenly bodies in their orbit can be found here in
one big juicy brick of a book, plus their
not-exactly-idyllic upbringings, which
would provide Freudians with fodder
for many a dominating-mothers-makesons-Gay theory. (In reality, if hating/
idolizing one’s mother guaranteed a Gay
fate, it would be a miracle there are any
straight men at all.)
One could literally throw out the name
of any influential human from the years
of ‘45-’70, and there would be some
connection to any or all three of these
men, either professionally, personally,
or sexually (often all at the same time):
Marlon Brando, Anais Nin, Liz Taylor,
Langston Hughes, Christopher Isherwood, Montgomery Clift (note the ‘raw
meat’ scene on page 91), Aleister Crowley, J. Edgar Hoover (who once called
Williams “degenerate” – talk about shit
calling dirt brown), Warhol, Bob Guccione, Jack Kerouac, Yukio Mishima,
Paul Newman, Carson McCullers, Fidel Castro (see page 497 for one of the
most unlikely pairings since Marlon
Brando and Wally Cox), Nureyev, JFK,
Katherine Hepburn, Gloria Vanderbilt,
Hemingway, C.Z. Guest, Dietrich, Garbo, Lee Radizwill, James Baldwin, and
scores of lesser-known and long-gone
lights that made up the collective firmament of three extraordinary men who
partied, feuded, admired and despised
each other for a sizable chunk of late
20th century cultural history.
The Best Christmas
Pageant Ever, 2014
Christmastown:
A Holiday Noir
SEP 25 – OCT 12
directed by Emily Purlington
directed by Kelly Kitchens
DEC 13–24
DEC 4–21
Humble Boy
Slow Girl
Talley’s Folly
directed by Marcus Goodwin
directed by Kelly Kitchens
directed by Shana Bestock
JAN 29 –FEB 15
MAR 26–APR 12
MAY 14–31
by Jacqueline Goldfinger
directed by Kelly Kitchens
by Charlotte Jones
by Barbara Robinson
by Greg Pierce
by Wayne Rowley
by Lanford Wilson
2014-15 Season Subscriptions Available.
www.seattlepublictheater.org
18 Seattle Gay News
June 27, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
2014–2015 ECA TICKET SALES:
Full Season Subscriptions: June 23
8+ and 5+ Show Packs: July 7
Single Tickets: August 1
SEE THE COMPLETE ECA 2014–2015 SEASON
AT WWW.EC4ARTS.ORG
ACTPass
Never buy a ticket again.
SPENCER DAY
February 14, 2015
© Sebastien Scandiuzzi
$29, $24 & $19
$15 youth/student
February 19, 2015
$54, $49 & $44
$15 youth/student
Presenting a playful, entertaining
view of traditional, classical ballet in
parody form and en travesti, “the
TROCKS” first performed in the latelate shows in Off-Off Broadway lofts.
By mid 1975, their inspired blend of
their loving knowledge of dance, their
comic approach, and the astounding
fact that men can, indeed, dance en pointe without falling flat on their faces,
was being noted beyond New York. Since those beginnings, the TROCKS have
established themselves as a major dance phenomenon throughout the world.
ONE NIGHT OF QUEEN
April 9, 2015
$44, $39 & $34
$15 youth/student
One Night of Queen, performed by Gary
Mullen and the Works, is a spectacular
live concert, recreating the look, sound,
pomp and showmanship of arguably the
greatest rock band of all time. They have
been hailed as the World’s Premiere
Queen Tribute Band and have received
rave reviews from over 500 Performing
Arts Centers in the USA since 2008.
© Chris Bennion
LES BALLETS TROCKADERO
DE MONTE CARLO
All the shows
you can fit
into your busy
schedule.
© LaRae Lobdell
Spencer Day is inspired by the works
of Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Roy
Orbison, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon,
and many others. These artists are
the foundation of Spencer’s creative
process and continue to influence his
writing and performance style.
Sign up today!
ACTPass is your ticket to fun.
From An Evening of One Acts,
to The Construction Zone,
Ham for the Holidays, and dozens more!
10% discount for Seniors 62+ and
Military on events presented by ECA!
CONNECT
WITH
ECA ON:
© LaRae Lobdell
ec4arts.org | 425.275.9595
410FOURTHAVENUENORTH
EDMONDSWA98020
Just $30 per month.
Or save $10 with a Dual Pass!
2014–2015
SEASON
presented by
ECA is just one of the many reasons to visit!
Visit us online www.sgn.org
snohomish.org
acttheatre.org
(206) 292-7676
June 27, 2014
Seattle Gay News 19
20 Seattle Gay News
June 27, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
Visit us online www.sgn.org
June 27, 2014
Seattle Gay News 21
Las Vegas is the ultimate
bachelor party spot,
even for Gay men
ALBERT RODGRIguez
The New Tropicana Las Vegas
by Albert Rodriguez
SGN A&E Writer
PLAY
You can’t have a party without fun,
and it begins at the pool. All hotels have
outdoor pools and most of them host
daytime – nightime, as well – bashes
with live DJs, themed events, drink
specials and an abundance of swimsuitwearing hotties scattered about. These
are usually offered seasonally, during
the warmer months – March through
September. Two properties actually host
LGBT-themed pool parties, the Tropicana and Luxor.
“Xposed!” (www.XposedLV.com)
launched at the Tropicana Beach Club a
few months ago to overwhelming popularity. Perhaps it’s the scantily-clad gogo boys, or maybe the club music penetrating through the pool deck’s speaker
system, or possibly, it’s the tropical setting of palm trees and waterfalls that
keeps drawing the crowds in. There
are two pools – one with lots of action
and another that’s more laid back – to
satisfy your mood. Whoever’s treating
the bachelor to this Las Vegas weekend might want to pony up for a luxury
daybed or beach cabana, which can be
reserved for a $200 or $400 mininum
food and beverage charge, respectively.
Otherwise, guests pay a $20 admission
fee for “Xposed!”, happening Saturday
afternoons between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.
“Temptation Sundays” at the Luxor (www.luxor.com/LGBT/calendar)
kicked off its 2014 season in May and
is also LGBT-themed with much of the
TRANSPORTATION
Because of the heat and the size of the
hotel-casinos taking up entire blocks,
most visitors take cabs or shuttle service to get from Point A to Point B in Las
Vegas. To save money, try the Monorail
(www.lvmonorail.com), providing limited service, although it does stop at
several major hotels and it’s affordable.
Otherwise, Presidential Limousine
(www.presidentiallimolv.com) can assist with getting your group everywhere
they need to go; it helps immensely to
share your itinerary with them to secure
transportation throughout your trip.
The taxi lines are incredibly long at each
resort on evenings and weekends, so
you’ll want to figure something out before embarking on your adventure.
STAY
When Bianca Del Rio snatched the
crown on the May 19 finale of RuPaul’s
Drag Race, she did so at the New Tropicana Las Vegas (www.TropLV.com).
The last episode of Season 6 was filmed
inside the resort’s 1,045 oversize-seat
EAT
Tropicana Theater, now home to the
You can’t eat every night at Buca di
Broadway musical hit MAMMA MIA! Beppo, nor should you, not when there
The New Tropicana Las Vegas isn’t real- are hundreds of great original restauly “new” – it’s been there since 1957 – but rants that cater to all palates in Las Ve-
22 Seattle Gay News
of the hotel’s iconic fountains. Eggs
benedict, prime rib, sausages, made-toorder omelets and potato roulettes meet
braised short ribs, Peking duck with
pancakes and steamed buns at Jasmine.
I was impressed with the excellent
prompt service, never allowing my bottomless champagne glass to go empty
(tip: orange juice is free upon request,
so combine that with the champagne to
make your make own mimosas). A tower of fresh pastries with butter and jams
was also delivered to my table immediately upon ordering.
ALBERT RODGRIguez
Nowhere screams bachelor party quite
like Las Vegas. The desert city is perhaps the most sought after destination
for grooms-to-be – a place where “boys
will be boys” is stretched to its limit and
where “girls gone wild” is an understatement. And while straight men and women have routinely picked this popular
Nevada getaway to abandon singlehood,
it’s equally tempting for Gay guys to get
their crazy on before marching down
the aisle.
The main attraction in Las Vegas used
to be gambling, and although many visitors still crowd slot machines and card
tables at the big casinos, there’s so much
else to see and do that you can spend an
entire weekend without trying to win
any money. From live concerts to pool
parties, bowling alleys to premiere restaurants, Cirque du Soleil shows to busy
nightclubs, mostly all concentrated
within a 5-mile radius, there’s so much
to experience that you won’t even have
time to gamble.
Las Vegas is a quick and easy dash
from Seattle, a 2-hour and 15-minute
trek by plane followed by a 5-minute zip
to the majority of the hotels. For help
with planning your trip, go to www.lasvegas.com/gaytravel. If you do choose
Sin City for your bachelor party, allow
me to assist you in assembling your itinerary. I was just there a month ago and
here are my suggestions.
it just received a $200 million makeover
that includes renovations to every bestin-class room and suite on the property. In total, the Tropicana boasts 1,467
rooms, suites and villas, aside from
several restaurants, multiple cocktail
lounges, food court, Starbucks, gaming
casino, outdoor pools and Glow, a Mandara Spa and fitness center. I stayed in
the Bungalows section of the resort, in
a Deluxe Room w/Pool View Balconies,
which had a retro tropical feel to it, understated yet simple and beautiful. But
for parties of 3 or more, you might want
to book the Sky Villa 2 that includes 4
rooms, 2 1/2 baths, floor-to-ceiling windows with views of the Las Vegas Strip,
70-inch LED flatscreen TVs, 72-inch
dining table with seating for 6, furnished lounge area, spa/massage room,
sub-zero refrigerator and freezer, and
special amenities for the master bedroom, like walk-in closets, double steam
walk-in showers and whirlpool tub.
gas. My top recommendation remains
Andrea’s at the Wynn (www.wynnlasvegas.com). This stylish, lively restaurant
offers sumptuous Asian dishes with a
twist, such as Five Spice Garlic Lobster, Peanut Braised Wagyu Beef Short
Rib, Lemongrass Beef Tenderloin and
Saikyo Miso Black Cod. The menu options also include “Table Shares,” from
Ramen Sliders to Rock Shrimp Tempura to Seared Albacore Sashimi, that
can be divided by multiple persons. Off
the “Extras” menu section, definitely order the Wok-Fried Broccoli and Chinese
Sausage + Pineapple Fried Rice, or the
steamed Chicken Potstickers from the
“Dim Sum” selections.
Kumi Japanese Restaurant + Bar at
Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino (www.
kumilasvegas.com) is another suggested option for the bachelor party. Under the helm of celebrated chef Akira
Back, guests are treated to traditional
and imaginative Asian cuisine in a chic,
dim-lit space, with additional seating
along a sushi bar counter. Start with the
Crispy Rice with blackened tuna, seaweed and Screaming O sauce, or Seared
Albacore with crispy onion, bubu arare
and 1015 onion-ginger sauce. For an entree, share a Toban Filet, presented in
hot pot-style with mixed mushrooms
and Nanbanzu soy. Are you a fan of nouveau sushi? Then try the Pop Rockin’
Roll with spicy tuna, crab, salmon, avocado and Pop Rocks, or the 007 Octopussy with crab salad, spicy octopus and
crispy potatoes, or add a little heat to a
boys night out with the Fireball (crab,
cucumber, XXX hot Kimchee sauce).
Every vacay, no matter the occasion,
should end on a brunch note and in Las
Vegas I discovered a terrific Sunday late
morning buffet that features American
favorites and Cantonese specialties.
Fountains Brunch at Jasmine (www.
bellagio.com/hotel/fountain-brunch),
inside the Bellagio, is probably not the
place to nurse hangovers in sloppy attire, though if you can round up the guys
and get them into nice jeans and polos,
you’ll love the food and stunning views
June 27, 2014
High Roller
Celebrating 41 Years!
same – DJs, hot men, non-stop cocktails, and large pool. Daybed rentals
(up to four people, $10 for each person
after that) run between $150 and $200,
cabanas (up to six people, $10 for each
person after that) are between $300
and $400, and VIP chairs will set you
back $25 without umbrella or $35 with
umbrella. All of these extra charge amenities come with entry, water, complimentary WiFi and towels. “Temptation
Sundays” goes from 1 to 7 p.m.
You can play indoors, too. Brooklyn
Bowl (www.vegas.brooklynbowl.com),
part of the newly developed shopping/
entertainment quarter called The Linq,
has 32 Brunswick bowling lanes on two
levels that can accommodate groups of
eight, aside from three bar areas and
Blue Ribbon restaurant, which serves
darn good French Bread pizzas, fried
chicken dinners, mac n’ cheese, burgers
and the must-have Rock and Roll Fries
with gravy, cajun spice, Provolone and
cheddar. Brooklyn Bowl also features
a concert stage, where major national
talent – from Spoon to Cut Copy to The
Avett Brothers – perform live. Footsteps
away is the High Roller (www.caesars.
com/thelinq/high-roller), a brand new
attraction and visible addition to the
Las Vegas skyline that is now the world’s
largest observation wheel at 550 feet
tall. Each pod can fit up to 40 persons,
allowing your festive crew to experience the 30-minute ride with magnificent, unobstructed views. Keep in mind,
however, that there are no restrooms on
any of the pods, so use the facilities before hopping on.
RECUPERATE
So, the bachelor party trip was a success and everyone had the best time
ever. It’s time now for some last-minute
indulgence before heading to the airport for the short flight home, and what
a way to end it all than with a pampering treatment at Sahra Spa & Hammam, located inside The Cosmopolitan (www.cosmopolitanlasvegas.com).
With separate relaxation areas for men
and women, it’s a place to unwind with
the boys and recall the past few days (or,
what you can remember from it). Signature treatments, such as the Hammam
Soap Ritual, are experienced in an intimate space that encompasses a heated stone slab, steam rooms and stone
loungers. Massages, facials, baths, skin
care and body services (i.e. body peel)
are on the spa menu as well. My 50-minute Essential Massage was outstanding;
my therapist worked out a lot of knots
and helped loosen my neck, shoulders
and lower back. Inquire within about
the Sahra Suite for small groups that affords you private spa accommodations,
flatscreen TV, iPod docking station, wet
bar, side-by-side whirlpool tubs, steam
room, shower, exclusive changing area,
and private treatment rooms.
CELEBRITIES NIGHTCLUB 1022 DAVIE ST. VANCOUVER, CANADA
ALBERT RODtGRIguez
3 PRIDE CRUISES IN 2 DAYS!
Fountains Brunch at Jasmine
Visit us online www.sgn.org
TICKETS & INFO: THISISPRIDE.CA
June 27, 2014
Seattle Gay News 23
www.TheTuxShops.com
Visit a Location Near You
South Center: 206.246.4921
Northgate: 206.363.5020
Lynnwood: 425.712.8317
Redmond: 425.882.0323
Tacoma Mall: 253.475.0405
Puyallup: 253.770.2761
Marysville: 360.653.2322
Let Us Be Part Of Your Special Day
Top Designers
&
Latest Fashions
$40 off
Each Tuxedo Rental
Bring to The Tux Shops to redeem. Not valid with any other offer, see store for details. Free Rental with 5 or more paid rentals.
24 Seattle Gay News
June 27, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
Visit us online www.sgn.org
June 27, 2014
Seattle Gay News 25
26 Seattle Gay News
June 27, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
BIG JOY: The Adventures of James Broughton
Stephen Silha speaks about his friendship with James Broughton and his role as
producer and co-director of this award-winning documentary film
bigjoy.org
James Broughton
by Stephen Silha
Special to the SGN
When I met James Broughton at a
Radical Faerie Gathering in 1989, it
was like a door opening in my soul. Here
was a master of images and words, who
was also sexy and 75 and surrounded by
beautiful young admirers. “What can I
learn from/with this guy?” I wondered.
Now, I have spent the past 5 years making a film about him, and probably have
read more of his journals than anyone.
As our team has taken the award-winning documentary BIG JOY: The Adven-
tures of James Broughton around the
world, we’ve reflected on what BIG JOY
can mean to LGBT people and their allies as we move into a new era. I feel that
this film is a gift from the LGBT community to the culture at large, encouraging a wider vision of what’s possible.
The poet/filmmaker James Broughton
was pre-Gay, post-Gay and right in the
middle. He called himself pansexual.
He would delight in the gender fluidity
now coming to the fore in culture.
It was my pleasure to connect regularly with James and Joel Singer, his adoring soul mate, during the 10 years be-
Visit us online www.sgn.org
fore James died when they lived in Port
Townsend. James became a mentor, and
we went on “writing retreats” together,
visiting the ocean, the mountains, and
the wine country of Washington state.
His death (which I witnessed) was
transcendent for me. He carried around
a snakeskin all day to remind himself
that he was just shedding a skin. He listened to his poetry put to music by the
Chilean singer-songwriter Ludar, and
music by his friend Lou Harrison. He
drank champagne and praised his life
adventures. His last words: “Praise and
thanks. And more bubbly, please.”
Who doesn’t want to be able to express
their deepest longings, their wildest
dreams, their human confusion? James
seemed wired into this. His poetry embraces “Yes and No singing together.”
At first, I thought I would write a biography, as I’ve spent much of my life
writing. But there’s no way you could
adequately get across this guy’s voice
and visions adequately without film.
He made his first experimental film in
1946, and even though he won a special
award at Cannes in the ‘50s from Jean
Cocteau, his visionary films had little
commercial success in the U.S. I think
he’s little known because he straddled
so many worlds, and never fit neatly into
them.
Is he a poet or a filmmaker? Is he
straight or Gay? Male or female? Is he
wealthy or poor? All of the above.
Making BIG JOY: The Adventures of
James Broughton caused me to probe
much more deeply into Broughton’s early life. We were fortunate that he journaled from age 13 until he died, so we’re
able to share the artist’s inner voice. I
took the Artist’s Way course – a kind of
guide to opening your creativity, or as
Broughton would say, “follow your own
weird” – while the film was in production, which helped me to take the leap
from words on paper to images, music,
and different kinds of storytelling. I
journaled a lot, too.
I got depressed. Would we ever finish?
Could we raise enough money? Are we
doing justice to his work, and being honest about his humanity? My much more
experienced co-director Eric Slade and
I lost sleep over whether we were getting
the story right, and at the same time being true to our own “weirds.” Actually,
inviting our whole team to follow their
weird made the film much more strong,
creative, and true to the spirit of our
subject.
Now, 40 festivals later, we are rejoicing that the film works: after seeing it,
people tell us they’re inspired to write
the poem they’ve always wanted to
write, make the film they’ve wanted to
make, or dance the dance they never
dared.
In fact, several artists embarked on
their own journeys inspired by or using James Broughton’s films and poetry.
You can see them at http://www.bigjoy.
org.
And, in this shifting world of independent film distribution, we are doing our
own theatrical distribution. We teamed
with our new distribution partner, Kino
Lorber, to make the DVD and digital
versions available for Gay Pride. It’s
scary, and thrilling!
June 27, 2014
Seattle Gay News 27
Hilarious
and heartfelt
stories about
life at the keys.
Jul 10–20
28 Seattle Gay News
On Sale Now
(206) 292–7676
acttheatre.org
June 27, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
Sat. July 12th • Fremont Studios
40 Washington Distilleries
Bites from Seattle Restaurants, including
Blazing Bagels • Bluebird Ice Cream • Cheeseland • Hot Cakes Molten Chocolate Cakery
Kaosamai Thai Restaurant and Catering • Kickin’ Boot Whiskey Kitchen • Manhattan
Percy’s & Co. • Moonishine BBQ • Theo Chocolate • TRACE Seattle • Uli’s Famous Sausage • Urbane
TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT PROOFWASHINGTON.ORG
Featuring KEXP’s
DJ RIZ
Spinning Your Sipping Soundtrack Live
SPONSORED BY
Visit us online www.sgn.org
June 27, 2014
Seattle Gay News 29
Stay and Play on the Kitsap Peninsula
SPECIAL EVENTS
Port
Ludlow
Fathoms O’Fun Summer Festival
June 27-29 - Port Orchard
3rd of July Fireworks
July 3 - Poulsbo
Chris Craft Rendezvous
July 10-13 - Port Orchard
Bremerton Summer Brewfest
July 12 - Bremerton
Kitsap Pride Festival 2014
July 20 - Bremerton
Kitsap Arts & Crafts Fair
July 25-27 - Kingston
Whaling Days Festival
July 25-27 - Silverdale
Paddle Kitsap
Aug 9 - Silverdale
Kitsap Wine Festival
Aug 9 - Bremerton
Cruz-Classic Car Show &
Festival by the Bay
Aug 10 - Port Orchard
Olalla Blue Grass Festival
Aug 17 - Olalla
Hansville
104
101
Olympic
Peninsula
Hood Canal
Bridge
Port
Gamble
Kingston
104
3
Edmonds
307
Indianola
Poulsbo
Suquamish
Bangor
3
Keyport
101
Puget
Sound
305
Silverdale
Brownsville
Bainbridge
Island
Bellevue
Seabeck
303
od
sp
ort
Ho
od
Ca
na
l
SEATTLE
Kitsap
Peninsula
Bremerton
166
Manchester
Ho
Blake
Island
Port
Orchard
Southworth
Gorst
West
Seattle
Fauntleroy-Vashon
Southworth Ferry
3
Belfair
106
Vashon
Island
Olalla
North Hood
Canal Area
16
Allyn
Union
Gig
Harbor
Grapeview
Peni
nsul
Key
to Shelton
a
3
TACOMA
Tacoma 16
Narrows
Bridge
RSVP for your Weekend Getaway
Your Kitsap Peninsula adventure
is just a click away! For great
places to eat, sleep, drink,
meet and play...go to:
Visit
us on
your
mobile
device or
computer
24/7.
VisitKitsap.com
Go to: VisitKitsap.com
Calender, Things To Do &
for details & more events.
30 Seattle Gay News
June 27, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
WWW.PATTERSONG.ORG
BAGLEY WRIGHT THEATRE
JULY 11-13, 18-20, 25-26
. .
TICKETS
800 838 3006 OR
themikado.brownpapertickets.com
Say I Do... With A View
801 2nd Ave 17th Floor Seattle, WA 98104
206-623-3532 x 306 www.harborclub.org/weddings
Visit us online www.sgn.org
June 27, 2014
Seattle Gay News 31
W a s h i n g t o n ’s S e a s i d e R e t r e a t .
[email protected] | 360.318.2063
BLAINE, WA
Mt. Hood. Naturally.
FINALLY. Your turn.
[email protected] | 503.622.2223
CEDARBROOK
LODGE
MT. HOOD, OR
Bride and ring images courtesy of Jenny GG.
Bride image courtesy of White Rabbit Studioz.
[email protected] | 206.214.4150
SEATTLE, WA