Sunday in Japantown
Archive for the ‘etc’ Category
Yule Tales
An article I wrote for BARtab magazine. You can read it in its entirety on BARtab’s site.
Local Celebs’ Heavenly and Hellish Holidays
by Michael McAllister
The holiday season is upon us, bringing cold rain, pretty lights, and familial obligations. Maybe you get a little sentimental, putting on Mariah Carey’s Christmas album, or forking out $4.75 for a Venti-sized Gingerbread Latte. Whatever your preferred trigger, memories of holidays past can come rushing back to warm or haunt you. BARtab asked some locals about their own memories of past holiday get-togethers.
Fudgie Frottage, drag king legend and the man with “the biggest balls in show business,” several years ago foolishly allowed himself to be persuaded to meet his girlfriend’s parents in Sacramento for Thanksgiving. “I was assured her mother was a fantastic cook and that it would be well worth it,” he says. “Oddly, when we arrived, the house did not have the pleasant aroma of a bird or anything at all roasting in the oven. I inquired and was told she was cooking a turkey breast instead of a complete bird. The stuffing was generic Stove Top, out of a bag. The potatoes were boiled for hours before being mashed and drenched with liquid margarine. And there were no vegetables whatsoever, not even in the fridge! The one bottle of wine I brought did not last into the meal, which was served on paper plates! Both her Mother and sister were chain-smoking the entire time. After dinner, one of my girlfriend’s nieces, who was developmentally challenged, sat and watched the movie Forrest Gump and recited every word of the script verbatim. Two hours after dinner, her father went into the bathroom and proceeded to hurl loudly for at least 20 minutes. It sounded like he was turning inside out, and it lasted on and off, for hours, yet no one but me seemed concerned in the least – I guess the uncooked piece of turkey breast he ate is a family tradition…”
Read the rest of the article here on BARtab’s site.
Get Lit
An article I wrote about San Francisco literary events in bars, for BarTAB magazine:
You can trace the marriage of booze and books in San Francisco back to the 1950s, when Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac passed around bottles of cheap red wine during live readings at North Beach bars like The Black Cat, The Cellar, and Vesuvio.
That tradition is alive and well today. Several local series blow the cobwebs off the typical staid literary reading with raucous, unpredictable events where you can always slip away from the rare tedious author for a shot of whiskey at the bar, or a quick smoke out front.
October is by far the greatest month for local book and bar lovers. Litquake, the city’s annual literary festival, runs from October 1–9 and brings together an astonishing array of writers and fans for readings and panels in unusual locations (www.litquake.org).
(You can read the rest of the article on BarTAB’s site.)
Plugging Away
One last reminder for tonight’s reading, 7:30 pm at the Center.
Also, I recently wrote an article for the new BarTAB magazine, which covers the San Francisco nightlife scene. The article is essentially a collection of locals’ memories of their first time at a Pride march, or their first time at a gay bar. Special thanks to editor Jim Provenzano for the assignment.
Virgin Territory
Notable First Pride Tales
by Michael McAllister
Another June, another Pride – another chance to reflect on how far we’ve come. We can measure our progress as a community by examining our own memories. If we’ve been out for a long time, we can forget the early obstacles we faced. BarTAB asked several locals about their first time at a Gay Pride parade, or their first time at a gay bar.
Monica Nolan, author of Bobby Blanchard, Lesbian Gym Teacher, came close to her first Pride in 1984. “I was working in an ice cream shop on North Halsted in Chicago. One night the place was suddenly packed with men. Two guys (I think wearing leather chaps but I may be embroidering my memories) said, ‘Wish us “Happy Gay Pride”.’ ‘Okay. Happy gay pride,’ I said in monotone obedience. I was, after all, only being paid $4 an hour, which wasn’t enough if the customers were going to start writing my dialogue. However, I did genuinely wish them well. In 1988 I marched in the enormous New York Pride Parade, and it seemed impossible that I could ever have been so oblivious and disinterested…”
Read the rest of the article at BarTAB’s site.
Confirmed Bachelors Click Below
Daniel Rhatigan, aka Ultrasparky, editor of Pink Mince, the journal for the “confirmed bachelor of exceptional taste,” holds up the latest issue, which features the article I wrote on the bear fashion show, along with work by or about Sina Shamsavari, Sean Welker, Greg Thorpe, Paul Baker, James Goss, João Braz, Pablo Leon Dela Barra, Terry Vietheer, Jonathan Dredge, and Mark Walton. The issue, “The Louche, Limp-wristed Lifestyle,” is now available for ordering online. Find it here at the Pink Mince site. Beefcake shot included.
Pink Mince
Blog friend, super type geek/graphic designer Dan Rhatigan aka Ultrasparky, lives in the UK and edits the zine Pink Mince, now heading for its first anniversary this summer.
Tagline: “For the confirmed bachelor of exquisite taste.” One reviewer summed it up: “Depending on your perspective it’s a smart homage to old physique mags, or a journal of contemporary type and vintage lettering with pictures of dudes.”
The latest issue, “Your Dad Was Hot:” a tribute to the men of yesteryear, in all their virile glory. See heroic astronauts, vigorous athletes, well-polished scholars, and even read some poems by Mark Walton and Gil Scott-Heron. Subscriptions and t-shirts are both available.
BARtab Launch Party
The Bay Area Reporter is launching a new San Francisco nightlife magazine this week. Tomorrow night is the launch party for BARtab, starting with cocktails at Blackbird, 2124 Market St. at Church, from 6 – 8 pm. Then the party moves on to the Stud, where the Manly Fireplug and I will join the festivities, with Bob Mould (you may know him from his solo music, from Husker Du, or from the Blowoff parties) spinning. DJs 50 Pound Note and Medic will also spin.
Thursday, May 6th
The Stud: 399 9th St. at Harrison
10 pm – 2 a.m. (Free cake at 10 pm. Mmmm…cake)
$5 with all proceeds going to the DJ’s
From Your Humble Athletic Supporter
My new dog tag logo was designed by Jon Stoa, pictured here. He looks just as hot from the front, but you’re gonna have to take my word for it since he’s also a little mysterious. He’s working on his physical trainer certification so pretty soon you could hire him to brand you AND break you down. For you font geeks (typeface geeks? What do you call yourselves?) “dog” is in Futura, and “poet” is a typeface used in textbooks for practicing cursive writing, a nice touch. I think it’s kinda brilliant. I’m already picturing t-shirts. Coffee mugs. Embroidered jock straps. Any takers?
Even Dawgs Need Makeovers
I’ll be messing around with this dawg the next few days, trying to teach it some new tricks. Sleep too long and the internets pass you by.
The Not So Pretty Wine Country
(Via The Bilerico Project)
“Sonoma County CA separates elderly gay couple and sells all of their worldly possessions
Filed by: Kate Kendell
Clay and his partner of 20 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place–wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives, all naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health.
One evening, Harold fell down the front steps of their home and was taken to the hospital. Based on their medical directives alone, Clay should have been consulted in Harold’s care from the first moment. Tragically, county and health care workers instead refused to allow Clay to see Harold in the hospital. The county then ultimately went one step further by isolating the couple from each other, placing the men in separate nursing homes.
Ignoring Clay’s significant role in Harold’s life, the county continued to treat Harold like he had no family and went to court seeking the power to make financial decisions on his behalf. Outrageously, the county represented to the judge that Clay was merely Harold’s “roommate.” The court denied their efforts, but did grant the county limited access to one of Harold’s bank accounts to pay for his care.
What happened next is even more chilling.
Without authority, without determining the value of Clay and Harold’s possessions accumulated over the course of their 20 years together or making any effort to determine which items belonged to whom, the county took everything Harold and Clay owned and auctioned off all of their belongings. Adding further insult to grave injury, the county removed Clay from his home and confined him to a nursing home against his will. The county workers then terminated Clay and Harold’s lease and surrendered the home they had shared for many years to the landlord.
Three months after he was hospitalized, Harold died in the nursing home. Because of the county’s actions, Clay missed the final months he should have had with his partner of 20 years. Compounding this tragedy, Clay has literally nothing left of the home he had shared with Harold or the life he was living up until the day that Harold fell, because he has been unable to recover any of his property. The only memento Clay has is a photo album that Harold painstakingly put together for Clay during the last three months of his life.
With the help of a dedicated and persistent court-appointed attorney, Anne Dennis of Santa Rosa, Clay was finally released from the nursing home. Ms. Dennis, along with Stephen O’Neill and Margaret Flynn of Tarkington, O’Neill, Barrack & Chong, now represent Clay in a lawsuit against the county, the auction company, and the nursing home, with technical assistance from NCLR. A trial date has been set for July 16, 2010 in the Superior Court for the County of Sonoma.
Read more about NCLR’s Elder Law Project.
Are you disturbed by the story of how Clay Greene was treated by the County? Please blog about this, pass it on over Facebook or Twitter, just do whatever you can to help raise the visibility of what happened to Clay. Send a letter to the local paper, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat at letters@pressdemocrat.com. Send them this link to NCLR’s page.” (end article)
Dogpoet says: I should caution against a rush to judgment here, as this is all third-hand information and since all of the extenuating circumstances are not known. But I think it is worth investigating, worth transparency, and since gays on Facebook and blogs successfully brought higher visibility to cases like the Rainbow Lounge raid in Ft. Worth.
