Sexion Q_3-14 - To Parent Directory

www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
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Q1
Cover
Cover Story
Story
Even though her astonishing voice makes
it seem predestined, stardom has been a
long time coming for Anastacia.
The Chicago-born diva went
through many start-and-stop career
moments before her chops were
recognized. She traipsed along the
edge of the music world as a backup
dancer and upscale hair salon receptionist
for years with her biggest talent going
unrecognized, mostly because nobody
could quite figure out what to do with her.
She was ready to give up until an
appearance on the now-defunct MTV
talent show The Cut gave her the chance
to shine. Although she didn’t win top prize
on the show, the budding vocalist did
scoop up a record deal and recognition
from the likes of pop superstar Michael
Jackson and megaproducer David
Foster.
Now, she has finally earned
her stripes after years of honing
her sound and gaining a
massive European following. Her debut album,
Not That Kind,
(See ANASTACIA
on page Q9)
Q2
www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
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In
In Review
Review
The first clue that Nixon’s Nixon is not fact that the Kennedys were assassinated or
supposed to be historically accurate is that else they would be stuck with the whole
there are 68 stars on the American flag that Vietnam mess and toy with the idea of starting
World War III in order to distract people from
rises from behind the set.
The play, which is the latest production that little Watergate and impeachment
at the GableStage Theatre, takes place the night headache.
before President Richard M.
Nixon’s resignation. As
legend has it, the soon-tobe-ex-pres met with his
secretary of state, Henry
Kissinger, in the Lincoln
Room of the White House.
No one knows what
the two men talked about,
but playwright Russell Lees
wrote Nixon’s Nixon to give
his version.
And what a version it
is. Kissinger is portrayed
as a man desperate to keep
his job, and Nixon is
portrayed as a man who’s
just plain desperate, and a
little nuts too.
Together, they worry
about how history will
remember them, lament the Peter Haig, Nixon, and John Felix, Kissinger
The funniest scenes are when Nixon
goads Kissinger into playacting conversations
with Brezhnev and Mao Tse Tung. Watching
John Felix, who plays Kissinger, taking on
Mao’s persona and language is hysterical.
Nixon’s Nixon paints a picture of two men
who are just that—men.
The play provides an
opportunity to look
beyond the history to see
that it all boils down to
problems anyone can have,
trying to hold onto a job
and trying to leave one
gracefully.
While an author’s
note in the program tells the
audience that it’s not
important that the actors
look like Nixon and
Kissinger, and that too
great a resemblance would
border on parody, John
Felix nails Kissinger.
Make-up helps Felix look
like Kissinger, but it’s his
mannerisms, posture and
accent that make one feel
that they are watching the real thing. His
performance is so dead on that it makes you
wonder if Kissinger had given up politics for
theater—admittedly not a big jump.
Peter Haig does an equally good job as
Nixon, though he has a much tougher task on
his hands. Nixon’s own mannerisms have
already become such a staple of American
parody that Haig must walk a very fine line
between portrayal and imitation. He rarely
falters, though Nixon does come off as kind of
nutty, maybe even nutty enough to add another
18 states when nobody was looking.
Nixon’s Nixon runs through July 7 at the
GableStage Theatre, 1200 Anastasia Avenue,
at the Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables. For
information and tickets, call 305.445.1119.
Former Nixon
Council John Dean
Talks about 30th
Anniversary of
Watergate
See Page 28 of This
Week’s ‘Express’
www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
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Q3
The Art of the Dance
Florida Dance Festival Gives Miami Whirl
By Mary Damiano
Dance—what magical images the word conjures up.
Dance is a rite of passage. A little girl standing on her father’s shoes as he whirls her around a dance floor.
The sock hop in the junior high gym with the battle lines drawn, the girls on one side and the boys on the
other. The prom. A couple’s first dance after being betrothed.
Dance is romantic. It’s two lovers claiming the first song they danced to as their song, as a way
to capture and relive that moment. It’s asking a stranger to dance in order to hold that special someone
against you, so you can feel their heat and their hearts and discover them within the intimacy of an
embrace.
Dance is sexy. How does the old joke go? Why don’t Baptists have sex standing
up? Because people will think they’re dancing. Mating Dance. Dance with the devil.
The horizontal bop. Go-go girls and go-go boys and strippers who bump and
gyrate their way into our minds and loins.
Dance is ingrained in our celluloid psyches. How many
of us fell in love with the dance at the movies, or watching old
black and white films on TV? Fred Astaire and Ginger
Rogers—he was great, but remember: She did everything
he did, but backwards and in heels. John Travolta in
Saturday Night Fever or Grease or Urban Cowboy, Pulp Fiction, even—every time
the man danced onscreen, he started a nationwide trend and kick-started a different
genre of music. Has anyone ever been out in the rain and not had a Gene Kelly
moment that made us want to splash in puddles and spin around a lamp post?
Dance is movement, poetry in motion. It’s ballet dancers who train and
train to be able to support their bodies on the edges of their toes. It’s contorting
a body into pretzeled positions and leaps that turn a human being into a human
projectile. It’s a dedication to art, a devotion to grace, a creation of beauty.
Dance is life.
Whatever kind of dance you love or crave, you’re sure to find
it at the Florida Dance Festival, which runs through June 29 at different
venues in Miami. Ballet, modern dance, traditional folk dancing from
various countries—all of these facets of dance are represented. So do
yourself a favor. Go to a performance. Watch dancers do what they do
best. Get swept away. Experience the glory of dance.
Seán Curran—From Boston to Broadway
Dancer/Choreographer Brings His Troupe to Miami Beach
By Mary Damiano
Seán Curran describes his dance
company as accessibility with an edge. “I
want to make poetry,” says the 40-year-old
dancer/choreographer, “but I also want to
dazzle and entertain.”
The Seán Curran Company will perform
Friday, June 21, at the Colony Theatre on
Lincoln Road as part of the Florida Dance
Festival.
Audiences who catch the performance
will be treated to the full range of Curran’s
diverse repertoire, from the melancholy of
Sonata and From the Ether, With Instinct to
the flashiness of Abstract Concrete, Metal
Garden. Curran likes to keep things fresh;
the first two works have never been
performed on the road.
Curran became interested in dance early.
He grew up in Boston, the son of parents
who were both from Ireland. His parents were
determined to instill in him and his sisters a
sense of cultural identity, so the Curran
children were trained in all things Irish—
language, theatre, music and step dancing.
The dancing is what made the biggest
impression, and in high school, a teacher
encouraged Curran to try his hand at
choreography. “I’d never taken a jazz class
or a modern dance class, so there were
productions of Bye Bye Birdie and Carousel
with lots of Irish step dancing,” Curran says.
Curran attended New York University
(NYU) with the intention of becoming the
next Ben Vereen or Joel Grey, specializing in
musical comedy. There, he discovered
modern dance and switched from theater to
the dance department.
At NYU, dancers were encouraged to
also create dances, and that whetted Curran’s
appetite for choreography. He spent 10 years
with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance
Company, which shaped his foundation as a
choreographer, and four years in Stomp,
where he created his own solos and
improvisation. “It’s always been in my nature
to make dances,” he says.
One of his pieces, Folk Dance for the
Future, became what Curran calls his
reluctant hit. The dance involves three
Q4
interracial couples, “homo, hetero and
lesbian,” each with a baby. The piece, which
deals with the issue of gay parents, has given
Curran some of his most satisfying moments.
A few months ago, while performing in
Portland, Oregon, Curran invited the Steve
Lofton/Roger Croteau family, who were
featured in the Primetime Thursday special
on gay adoption, to attend a performance of
the piece. He was able to meet the family,
who later sent Curran a family photo. It is
posted on his fridge along with other photos
of gay parents and their children, who have
written letters to Curran after seeing the piece.
“Basically, the letters say thank you for
putting us onstage,” he says.
Curran is also a teacher, traveling to
different universities to give dance classes
in technique and body percussion, and to
create a dance piece for a large cast in a short
amount of time. Curran’s company has also
been in residence at NYU for the past three
summers. “It’s my teaching that makes
having a dance company possible,” says
Curran.
One of the greatest influences on his
work has been the silent movies of Charlie
Chaplin and Buster Keaton, which he grew
up watching on TV. “All of those silent movie
comedians are dancers, in a way, because
they’re telling a story through movement and
reaction,” Curran says. “They didn’t have
language or words. I love the physicalized
comedy they portray.”
He once toured with a series of short
dances that he later realized were heavily
influenced by Chaplin and Keaton films, right
down to the black and white costumes,
prompting a Boston Globe critic to declare
him the dance world’s answer to Buster
Keaton. “It was a great compliment,” Curran
says. “It clicked for me then that somewhere
I absorbed some influence or through
osmosis was channeling back out my love
for these films.”
Curran’s love of film and his training in
all things Irish synthesized when he was
asked to choreograph the Broadway musical
The Dead, based on James Joyce’s short
story and the film starring Anjelica Huston,
www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
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about a turn of the 20th century Irish
Christmas party. One of the producers told
Curran that he wanted The Dead to feature
historically accurate Irish dance but with
Curran’s eccentric twist.
“I went into it with all these highfaluting
ideas about Broadway, and when it came right
down to it, what got onstage were the dances
that my aunts taught me at Christmas parties
and weddings,” he says.
Next year, Curran begins rehearsals with
the same team who did The Dead, this time a
musical based on Marcel Proust’s
Remembrance of Things Past. But right now,
Curran is looking forward to the Florida
Dance Festival and presenting the audience
with new dance pieces. “I think I’m in the
theater because no two performances or
audiences are ever alike,” he says. “As
frustrating as that can be, it’s also very
exciting.”
Curran lets his dance pieces evolve to
work in harmony with his dancers. As dancers
come and go, already established pieces are
fine-tuned to capitalize on the new dancer’s
strengths.
“It’s not like a novel or a painting or a
sculpture or a movie, where there’s that point
when you finish it and you put it on the wall
or the bookshelf,” Curran says. “A dance is
so fleeting that in a way, it’s never done.”
“I went into it with
all these high-faluting
ideas about Broadway
and when it came right
down to it, what got
onstage were the dances
that my aunts taught
me at Christmas parties
and weddings.”
—Seán Curran
Florida Dance Festival Schedule
June 16-29, 2002 - Miami/Miami Beach
Photo by Steven Caras
Photo by Eric Saulitis
Florida Dances
Together & Alone
June 20, 2002, 8pm
Colony Theater
Compania Marta Carrasco
June 16, 2002, 8pm
Colony Theater
Tuesday, June 18, 8pm, Wednesday, June 19,
8pm, and Monday, June 24, 8pm. New World School
of the Arts Dance Theater, 25 NE 2nd Street, 8th
Floor, downtown Miami Tickets: $10; student and
senior rates available
This series of three different programs
celebrates the work of Florida-based dance artists,
companies and schools. The mixed programs
showcase works from performing groups and artists
from across Florida including Orlando’s VOCI Dance
Group, Tampa’s Moving Current, Miami’s La Rosa
Flamenco Theater and Karen Peterson & Dancers,
the dance programs of New World School of the
Arts, University of Florida and Florida State
University, and the works of independent
choreographers.
Together and Alone
An evening of solo and duet works by festival
guest artists Chris Aiken, Cathy Young, Michael
Foley, Raymond Sullivan, Octavio Campos
(Improvisation, Modern and Contemporary dance)
Thursday, June 20, 8pm. Colony Theatre,
1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach Tickets: $25,
student and senior rates available
Married dancers Chris Aiken and Cathy Young
combine her choreographic virtuosity and his
improvisational mastery in a duet work of ingenious
and intricate partnering. Michael Foley’s
complicated, lighthearted and intellectual solo and
duet works beguile and captivate. Raymond Sullivan’s
work casts both hope and uncertainty on a young
couple’s turbulent relationship, and Octavio Campos’
dramatic Pina Bausch-esque dance-theatre style will
keep you guessing.
Seán Curran Company
(New York)
Friday, June 21, 8pm Colony Theatre, 1040
Lincoln Road, Miami Beach Tickets: $25, student
and senior rates available
Dubbed a “choreographer’s choreographer” by
Backstage Magazine, Seán Curran was a favorite
dancer of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance
Company for 10 years and an original cast member
of Stomp. Curran’s young, contemporary company
presents works featuring his signature virtuosity,
complex musicality and powerful emotion. Says
Curran: “I am a choreographer who depends heavily
on my dancers as collaborators. The Seán Curran
Company will perform three new works, Absract
Concrete, Metal Garden; From the Ether, With
Instinct and Sonata.
Ballet Florida
Photo by Jo Kirchherr
DIN A 13
The Colours of Longing
June 27, 2002, 8pm
New World School of
the Arts Dance Theatre
Contemporary Ballet
(West Palm Beach)
Saturday, June 22, 8pm Colony Theatre, 1040
Lincoln Road, Miami Beach Tickets: $25, student
and senior rates available
Maximo Damian
Scissors Dancers
Traditional folkloric
dance and music
(Peru)
Sunday, June 24, 7pm New World School of
the Arts Dance Theater, 25 NE 2nd Street, 8th
Floor, downtown Miami Tickets: $10; student and
senior rates available
A figure of nearly mythical stature among
Andean traditional artists, professional musician and
teacher Maximo Damian brings music, culture and
tradition from his tiny home village of Ayacucho in
the central highlands of Peru. Danza de las Tijeras
(the scissors dance) is an acrobatic dance
competition most often performed at patron saint
festivals and other celebrations. In this folkloric
dance, two dancers challenge and compete with one
another for the finest and most athletic steps, the
longest physical endurance and the most astonishing
slight of hand and magic.
Photo by Lois Greenfield
Monday, June 17, 7-9pm The Wolfsonian-FIU,
1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach Tickets:
Free event
Co-presented with Dance/USA and the National
Initiative to Preserve America’s Dance (NIPAD),
this evening is dedicated to the work of dance artists
and filmmakers who have created full-length and
short films, and film documentaries, for and about
dance or icons of the dance field.
Modern Daydreams, by Mitchell Rose, is a suite
of three dances for the camera with which
incorporates heavy construction equipment and office
furniture into the dance, has seen wide distribution
and won numerous awards since its 2000 premiere.
Returning Home, by Andy Abrahams Wilson,
combines a documentary style with improvisatory
dance for the camera to show the musings, thoughts
and philosophies of living dance legend Anna Halprin
as she explores her eighth decade of life.
From the Horse’s Mouth: The Documentary
Director Sharon Kinney reveals, through interviews
with Jamie Cunningham, Tina Croll and the dancers,
the inspiration and structure of From the Horses
Mouth at its premiere in 1998. The film follows the
performers and choreographers through the rehearsal
process to the performances, juxtaposing and
interlacing the events and their interviews leading up
to opening night, against their performances in the
piece. The film captures reality as the artists reveal
their passion for their art form and for each other at
that moment in time.
Sean Curran Company
June 21, 2002, 8pm
Colony Theater
Looking at Dance
Informal showing and
audience feedback session
Monday, June 25, 7-9pm New World School of
the Arts Dance Theater, 25 NE 2nd Street, 8th Floor,
downtown Miami Tickets: Free event.
This session, loosely based on choreographer
Liz Lerman’s Critical Response format, shows
excerpts of works-in-progress or completed works
by local emerging or established choreographers
followed by audience response and discussion.
Conducted in a positive and supportive environment,
the facilitated session serves to enlighten audience
members, helps educate dancers and young
choreographers in elements of composition, and gives
the presenting choreographer important feedback
and insight into their own creative process.
Pascal Rioult
Dance Theatre
Maximo Damian
Scissors Dancers
Photo by PAMAR
Dance Film and Documentary
June 23, 2002, 7pm
New World School of
the Arts Dance Theatre
Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre
June 26, 2002, 8pm
Colony Theater
Modern dance
(New York)
Wednesday, June 26, 8pm Colony Theatre,
1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach Tickets: $25;
student and senior rates available
French choreographer Pascal Rioult brings his
own unique choreographic style and heritage as a
former principal dancer with the Martha Graham
Dance Company. The company presents Rioult’s
Ravel Project, combining his choreographic genius
and a deep, shared sensibility with fellow Frenchman
and late romantic composer Maurice Ravel.
Photo by Charles-Turner O’Neal
June 22, 2002, 8pm
Colony Theater
Guided by the inspired vision of artistic director
Marie Hale, this troupe of 22 exceptionally talented
dancers is one of Florida’s most dynamic and versatile
ballet companies, featuring a repertoire of fulllength classical ballets and contemporary works of
choreographers ranging from Peter Martins and Ben
Stevenson to Lar Lubovitch.
DIN A 13
The Colours of Longing
Contemporary modern dance
(Cologne, Germany)
Quasar
Thursday, June 27, 8pm New World School of
the Arts Dance Theater, 25 NE 2nd Street, 8th Floor,
downtown Miami Tickets: $20; student and senior
rates available
Beauty, fear, individuality and desire are the
central themes in artistic director Gerda König’s
provocative work, The Colours of Longing. Expressed
through dance, music and video projection the work
creates a dreamlike environment that exposes
people’s innermost desires, puts so-called normality
into question and makes taboos an open issue.
June 28 & 29, 2002, 8pm
Colony Theater
Quasar Dance Company
Dividuo, Contemporary Modern dance
(Goiânia, Brazil)
Friday, June 28 and Saturday, June 29, 8pm
Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach
Tickets: $25; student and senior rates available
Jointly presented by Tigertail Productions FLA/
BRA Festival and the Florida Dance Festival, Brazil’s
Quasar Dance Company is known for its quirky dark
humor, youth culture sensibility and extraordinary
dancing. Choreographer Henrique Rodovalho
describes his Dividual, a musing on the real versus the
visual, as an exploration of how people are highly
connected with the rest of the world and, at the same
time, isolated in their homes or rooms.
Photo by Mila Petrillo
Dance and
Dancemakers on Film
Ballet Florida
www.fldance.org
www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
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Q5
Maximum Volume
By Ian Drew
Avril Lavigne
The Ones
Let Go (Arista)
Flawless (Groovilicious)
Always looking for an easy box to tape up, the music industry
has finally decided to add some girl power to the current teen punkpop movement.
With bands like Blink-182, New Found Glory, Sum 41 and
their ever-present forefather, Green Day, clobbering rap in the
suburban teen consciousness, out pops the Fiona Apple of the pack.
Coming out like a skater-punk Alanis Morrissette minus several
iotas of punch, 17-year-old Avril Lavigne wrote all 13 tracks on
her debut album, Let Go, and pounds out the chords on her electric guitar just like the boys. What
she adds is the haunting neo-realism of lovelorn lyrics in a way that only a girl can kick it. What
harms her is taking the easy way out with cheap sentimentality during several stops along the way.
The pop sensibility of the record is unquestionable, and it can only be attributed to Lavigne’s
experienced writing partners and producers. On the hit candidate “Complicated,” she strums out
a Natalie Imbruglia-esque ode to a relationship she is not old enough to understand, a waywardness
she displays again on similar tracks such as “Unwanted” and “Nobody’s Fool.”
Lavigne can pull all of this off somewhat eloquently because the album doesn’t try too hard
to outweigh its intentions. While the phrasing seems somewhat studied and the lyrics rock in and
out of cliché territory—as on the sappy ballad “Too Much to Ask”—this girl has obviously
learned from others that the hits need to be established before things can get more experimental.
Overall, the teen angst thing and simplified hooks work for Lavigne here because, much like
her punk and wanna-be emo contemporaries, it reflects the charming innocence and growth
spurts of her misguided age bracket.
Here we go again. Downtown Manhattan is making
another statement.
From the area that has brought out an endless stream
of fashion trends and underground personalities, The Ones
emerge with one of the biggest dance hits of the year, even
though it was produced over two years ago.
Three of the the Village’s most notable personalities –
Jackie 60 DJ Paul Alexander, Patricia Field mascot JoJo
Americo and Nashom (a.k.a. drag queen amazon Mona Foot) – combine their fierceness for
Flawless, a single that has overtaken dance floors with its ’90s-throwback nod to the
runways and fashion inspired rhyming.
Nashom and Alexander originally wrote the song for the 1999 Robert De Niro flick of
the same name, in which Nashom also appeared in drag regalia. The track wasn’t finished
in time for the soundtrack, and it spent the following two years appearing on several
bootlegged compilations. It was eventually picked up by Positiva Records and became a
huge summer smash in Ibiza, even making it to number seven on the U.K. Pop charts and
hitting number one on Canada’s dance chart.
The trio is busy completing their first full-length CD, but in the meantime, they give
us this pumping ditty in five different versions just ripe for the picking.
The best of these, for those that have the time, is Sono’s lengthy Tuxedo Main Mix,
a coasting classic that busts the full journey out of the song. For true fashion fabulousness,
the snip clacking of the original is also hard to beat.
David Knapp
Motorball (Centaur)
The prince of pumping circuit noise returns with another
addition to his mix discology, this one gliding by on familiar voices
with a decidedly lighter feel.
Motorball is named after the annual Detroit circuit party that
benefits Motor City HIV/AIDS organizations. The CD is the latest
in a series that attempts to capture the sounds of the parties, from
Miami’s White and Winter soirees to Philadelphia’s Blue Ball.
Knapp is a known bandleader at these events, and he knows
what he’s talking about. He is an expert at bringing out the boys, which means supplying endless
hours of uplifting and throbbing tracks that keep it going into the wee hours.
Current vocal queen Inaya Day opens it all up with the catchy “I Will,” while the rest of the
album stays airy and bouncy with traces of darkness thrown in for kicks. Knapp relies heavily on
catchy vocal hooks throughout, particularly on the unforgettable Purple God by Anny. He uses
such noted divas as Pepper Mashay and Sevana Stone to bring his vision into reality.
Still, the album leaves open the question of whether we need yet another mix album with
Kim English’s Everyday on it. The song has become the most overused dance single of the year
and it isn’t even that good.
Whatever the analysis, the disc is made to represent that special sound that keeps them
coming back for more. It gives a great taste of one of the sweetest nights of the year.
Q6
Pumping It Up with
New Album Releases
www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
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Kreo
burn for you (Groovilicious)
Miami’s Winter Music Conference can often be just a
bunch of hubbub for wanna-be music industry pushers looking
for something to get crazy about, but it can also help to
introduce some interesting stuff.
One import track that scooped up considerable buzz
this year was Kreo’s “burn for you.” With its minimalist,
retro-inspired synth lines and paired-down vocals reminiscent
of Everything But the Girl meets Enya, the song uses familiar
emotive elements to tell a new story.
The single is set to start burning up the charts when it is released on June 18, but it will
first have to suffer through obvious production comparisons to Kylie Minogue’s latest
reclaiming of the American charts.
Regardless, its somber subterfuge will surely gather steam among trendier mixed audiences.
Readonline
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Concert Review
Theatre Review
Little Miss Rock and Roller An Evening of Winners—Sort of
Melissa Etheridge Thrills South Florida
Local Playwrights Get a Taste of Fame
By Mary Damiano
At one point during her concert at Mars
Music Ampitheatre June 9, Melissa Etheridge
introduced herself to the crowd. “My name is
Melissa Etheridge.” Then she pondered,
“Melissa.... It’s just not a very rock and roll name.”
That may have been true once, but not
anymore. Thanks to Etheridge, Melissa is
now the rock and roll name, conjuring up the
image of a raw-voiced rocker whose rhythm
and soul spills out her fingers and soars from
her gut.
Her voice filled the sultry night before
she appeared onstage, with lyrics from “I
Want To Be in Love,” from last summer’s
Skin. That song kicked off a spare, pared
down rock and roll show. There were no
dancers, no backup singers, no costumes,
no MTV camera ready dance moves—just
Etheridge and her band playing their hearts
out. When you’re this good, you don’t need
frills in order to thrill.
She sang her litany of hits: “Come to
My Window,” “Similar Features,” an
incredible heartfelt acoustic version of
“Nowhere to Go” and “I’m the Only One.”
She proved why she’s every inch a rock and
roll goddess and brought the house down
with an extended version of her first hit,
“Bring Me Some Water,” a version so
palpably hot and sexy that it probably left
more than a few women in the audience
needing a cold shower afterward, or perhaps
in need of another kind of drenching.
Etheridge reveled in her audience. They
showed their love for her with signs, posters,
flowers—some ladies even tossed their bras
onstage.
Photo By Pompano Bill
Full Company of “Evening of Winners”
By Mary Damiano
At 40, Etheridge wears her age and her
attitude well. She wore black and white, a
classic combo for a classic rocker. These
days, she looks and sounds better than ever,
as if she’s had a chance to grow into herself
and her music.
She switched off between piano and
guitar throughout the show, and capped off
her two-hour, solid-as-a-rock set with three
encores, including the lovely “Please Forgive
Me” and the raucous “Like the Way I Do.”
Yes, Melissa, we definitely like the way
you do.
The recent Public Theatre offering was
called An Evening of Winners because the
one-act plays presented all won the
organization’s local play contest. In that
sense, each play was a winner. In reality, it
should have been called An Evening of Hits
and Misses.
While the acting was for the most part
excellent—sometimes astounding given
what the actors had to work with—the
quality of the plays was not.
The standout plays fell into two
categories—simple ideas that people could
relate to and clever ideas that people could
laugh at. When the more abstract, surreal ideas
were explored, the plays failed.
There was no real cohesion or order to
the program, though it began on a promising
note. Bill Yule’s The Game, about a man and a
woman having a few drinks in a bar, had some
nice banter and a great punchline to boot. Say
Goodbye to Paula, by Jo-Aynne von Born,
was a pleasant comedy about a woman who
prowls funerals trying to pick up men. The
Ladies’ Home Companion, by Roger Martin,
was a broad but funny story about a widow
purchasing some very satisfying underwear.
The dramas were more uneven. The
Galileo Prize by Jim Tommaney, about a
professor being questioned about his ideas,
was an example of style over substance. Is
There Anyone There? by Roger Martin was a
pedestrian and formulaic tale of a powerhungry, immoral priest judging another priest
who’s not exactly pure himself.
Combatting Terrorism, by Charles Aye
and Bonnie Benson, was the topical play of
the group, a satirical look at what would
happen if all airline passengers were required
to arm themselves with a personal terrorist
deterrent device.
The standout was The Beginning, by
Dan Clancy, about an older gay couple at a
wedding. One man wants to be open about
their long relationship, but the other is too
closeted and too worried about what his
family will say. The dialogue was fresh and
believable and helped create real flesh and
blood characters in a short time. The
Beginning managed to be funny, touching
and insightful, a nice triple play to pull off in
one act.
The biggest miss was Vodkalogue, by
Inez Geller, which seemed to serve no other
purpose than to provide a bravura showcase
for its actress. The result, unfortunately, was
disjointed shrillness.
www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
CYMK
CYMK
Q7
Heard It Through the Gayvine
Queers, Quotes and Quips of Interest
MTV Keeps Pushing Out Flamers and Dead Bodies
Angry Mantle Still Clucking Away
The MTV cable network is going gay… again!
The network is rolling out a new documentary about young gays as part of their True Life series
on June 27. True Life: I’m Coming Out will feature five coming out stories of gay and lesbian young
people, focusing on both the strides in acceptance made during the last decade and the anguish young
people go through when revealing their sexuality.
The network has a history of showing and promoting gay issues. Gay people have been featured
prominently in its The Real World reality series and in numerous ads. MTV is also working with
Showtime to put together a gay cable network that will air later this year.
In not-so-good news for the network, a Washington, D.C. couple has filed an invasion-ofprivacy lawsuit against them and Las Vegas’s Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for planting a mutilated
corpse in a hotel room as part of a new show.
The pair is suing the network and hotel for $10
million because they say they were unwittingly involved
Andy Dick
in a new series called Harassment.
relieves stress
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the
on an
couple checked-in to the hotel in January for a Vegas
MTV set
vacation only to find their room equipped with hidden
cameras and the corpse rotting in the bathtub. The couple
tried to leave the room, but were stopped by two actors
dressed as security guards who held them until That ’70s
Show star Ashton Kutcher could jump out and reveal that
they were caught on MTV’s sordid candid camera.
This kind of trouble is not new for the edgy channel.
Last April, two 14-year-old girls sued the network after
they were showered with human feces on the show Jackass.
At around the same time, an 86-year-old woman filed suit
against MTV and comedian Andy Dick, claiming that she
suffered emotional stress while taping an episode of Dick’s
comedy show.
Temperamental Express coverboy Arthur Mantle is back in
town and getting naked!
The manic photographer was front-page news in February
after he terrorized the nonprofit organization ArtsUnited with a
series of threatening e-mails. His dramatic exhibition of female
nude photographs was pulled from a Stonewall Library and Archives
exhibit by the group after he referred to the intended audience as
“old faggots who have had too much intake of combination therapy,”
among other epithets. He then threatened The Express with a
“lawsiut” [sic] for running the article in a series of linguistically
challenged e-mails.
Arthur Mantle
Even though the lensman repeatedly crowed about how he was
leaving South Florida for more elite European shores (as if nasty,
self-hating black queens are somehow more popular in London or
Moscow), he has apparently decided to scrape the bottom of the barrel again by returning to South
Florida to show of his newest series of male nudes.
Somehow the little devil managed to finagle his images into the current issue of Australia’s BLUE
magazine, and he has come back to South Florida, where he has received the most attention, to show
it off. The snapshots are also on display until August 3 at Plantation’s Schacknow Museum of Fine
Arts.
For those wishing to take a peek at Mantle in the flesh, the snapper will appear at Fort
Lauderdale’s Cathode Ray Club on Wednesday, June 26, at 9pm to sign some posters with some of his
models. Who knows? He might even score at Pick-a-Trick, the club’s smoking dating gayme that has
certainly seen some more attractive picks on its stages before.
Despite his internalized homophobia, Mantle is smooching up to the community by also holding
a silent auction with proceeds going to a local gay and lesbian charity. He is also negotiating with an
unnamed gay merchandising company to license selected images on posters, postcards and calendars.
Ladies Take Their Hats Off for Charity
The first annual Bachelorette Bash will take place on June 22.
It will be the Official Women’s Event of this year’s Stonewall Pride weekend and the Mad
Hatters Ball with celebrity bartenders and go-go girls going on the auction block for charity.
Some of the bachelorettes up for auction include: Nikki, Geiset, Dani, Julian and the Ultra GoGo girls (Michelle, Nicole and Crystal). Dream date packages include dinners, limousine rides, concerts
and picnics.
After the auction, DJ Alex H will spin an explosive mix of the hottest dance, house and salsa
music on the main floor featuring special performances by the Ultra Go-Go dancers. DJ Annie will
spin hip-hop on the patio.
The celebrity host for the evening is Elaine Lancaster, who will MC the auction and perform.
The whole she-bang will take place on Ultra Saturday’s at the Sea Monster.
Proceeds from the Bachelorette Bash will benefit Gilda’s Club, Pride of
Greater Fort Lauderdale and Pride South Florida.
The Sea Monster is located at 2 South New River Drive in Fort Lauderdale. Doors open at 9 pm
and the auction starts at 10 pm.
For more information, call 954.424.0070.
Q8
www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
CYMK
Girls Gone Crazy
A new weekly party for women has just opened at one of Miami’s hottest nightspots.
On Friday, June 14, Ultra and Pandora Events opened their newest venture, Tease Fridays. The
new party for the estrogen-only set brings together pumping music, gorgeous go-go girls, a funky and
friendly staff and innovative themes, shows and events.
Tease Fridays finds its home at the new club STEEL (formerly Splash), located at 5922 South
Dixie Highway in Miami. The legendary space has been completely renovated and boasts a new stateof-the-art sound and lighting system, a tropical garden terrace, an exclusive VIP room and a sexy
décor.
Ultra Events and Pandora Events have been bringing parties to South Florida for over four years
and have had their hands in some of the most successful women’s events and fundraisers, including
Aqua Girl, Women’s White Party, Bang at Bongos, Pandora, Ultra Saturdays and Girls In Wonderland.
“We have wanted to bring a quality weekly party to the women of Miami and we finally feel we
have all the elements together to accomplish that,” says promoter Yesi Leon. “ Tease Fridays will
have that sexy, elegant Miami feel to it with a focus on a great variety of music and sexy visuals. We
will play a mix of dance, salsa, lounge, hip-hop and disco. From music to pool tables to shows to gogo girls, there will definitely be something for everyone.” Doors open at 9pm every Friday. The cover
is $8 before 11 pm and $10 after.
For more information, visit www.ultra-events.com or www.pandoraevents.com, or call the
Tease hotline at 954.424.0070.
ANASTACIA
(from Q2)
earned her record sales in over a dozen
countries and awards around the globe. Her
new album, Freak of Nature, has already
soared to the number one spot on Billboard’s
European Hot 100 charts and has sold more
than 2 million copies.
While so much of the world has already
caught on to “that voice,” American success
has continued to elude her. However, she is
now primed to change all of that with an
aggressive plan to wake up the country and
show what kind of artist she really is.
With a voice that is equal parts Chaka
Khan and Tina Turner smeared with huge
dollops of Taylor Dayne, Anastacia has again
returned to work with Grammy-winning
producer Rick Wake with an album that spans
rock, disco and R&B genres and cannot be
pinned down—just like the voice.
Although she has performed all over the
world with the likes of Elton John, Luciano
Pavarotti and the Prince of Pop himself, it was
a show-stealing American appearance on the
recent VH1 Divas Live Las Vegas special that
perhaps made the boldest statement of the hold
she is destined to have. It might have taken
awhile, but this is one diva who is live, kicking
and ready to show us all that she’s got it.
Ian Drew: We have a history together,
baby. I was actually working for your record
label when the tape came in of you on The Cut.
The impression of your talent was so
immediate, yet it has taken you some time to
break out here.
Anastacia: Epic has shown me nothing
but love ever since, and it didn’t change. I
really give them credit for going wherever the
coals were hot. We decided not to put pressure
on America because Europe was where it was
hot first. The majority of my last two years has
been overseas because the success was there
and so I built that up. In order to break in
America, you really do have to be here for a
period of time. So the company and I set aside
six months on this album for the majority of my
time to be in America.
ID: Part of that exposure came recently
on that incredible Divas Live appearance. How
do you think you managed to upstage all of
those music legends?
A: I think because I was the most unknown
is why people were just like ‘wow.’ If they knew
who I was, it wouldn’t have mattered. I didn’t
give the best performance that I know I am
capable of giving, but, in my heart, I was trying
not to be bigger than what I believed those
ladies deserved. I am very glad that VH-1
believed in me enough to give me that much
on the show. I was the unknown name on the
bill and they honored me with special guest
status and gave me so much airtime, my own
solo and a duet with Celine Dion. It was such a
pleasure.
ID: To what do you attribute your
phenomenal European success as opposed to
your lack of recognition here?
A: First of all, we didn’t put the first record
out here the way that we are with Freak of
Nature. You gotta think about what it takes to
break a record in America. You can’t just put it
out in the stores. It requires a huge marketing
and publicity launch. On the other hand, I
didn’t do anything special to make the first
album sell so much overseas. I have not done
anything else on the second album for it to do
the numbers that it did off the bat. I think I just
finally have a fan base that I never had before,
and I have the chance to put a record out and
to just be myself. That is more endearing to an
audience – knowing that your performance is
not manufactured. My fans would be the best
ones to ask because they tell me that it is
because I keep it real and they don’t feel like
they are being jipped as fans.
‘Freak doesn’t have to
be a negative word. It
can be an entirely
positive word about the
embrace of one’s self.’
ID: But don’t you think a part of the
problem in getting American audiences to bite
is that you are hard to pin down as an artist?
First of all, you are this little white girl with a
booming, soulful voice, and your music doesn’t
fit into one category.
A: Before I got the deal, it was hard to get
anyone to believe in what they could do with
me. Now, though, they did what they needed
to do, which is to put me out as myself. Epic
believed in me, allowed me to write music that
I felt and allowed me to sing it as I felt. They
also put out nice, conservative pictures that
didn’t punch on the sexpot thing too much on
the first album.
ID: I notice that you are just busting out
with the sexuality now.
A: Now I am just showing it off before it
falls to the ground! Seriously, they are very
sweet because they are going along with my
journey. I was more conservative on the first
album and then, as I found myself as an artist,
my second album became me more. It’s
completely me, from the outfits to the package
design to the title — Freak of Nature — that
is about celebrating individuality because we
are all freaks. Freak doesn’t have to be a
negative word. It can be an entirely positive
word about the embrace of one’s self.
ID: Has that included coming out publicly
about your Crohn’s Disease?
A: Yes. It is one of the biggest blessings I
ever got. I compare my journey as one of AIDS
or cancer because it really forces you to be
very present in your existence. I treat every
day as if it’s the last and with a kind heart.
Crohn’s has been a growing experience, and I
wear my scar like a medal because I am here. I
just felt like I needed to let my fans know that
I am a girl with a disease and I’m proud of it.
ID: You have so many different sounds on
both of your albums. Do you think that has
stood in your way because the music industry
is so centered on categorization?
A: To me, I have a universal sound and an
infusion of music that balances what my voice
is. My voice has a lot of different elements
while maintaining its own character. It is an
instrument that balances well with both rock
or dance, but it doesn’t balance 100 percent
with one kind of music. I can’t do an only rock
album, for example. My voice has so much to
offer; it’s not one-dimensional. That’s why my
music is not one-dimensional. My music can
go to pop, rock or funk, and it can also go to all
those things in one song. What makes music
beautiful is to bring together different types of
music. My fans like my music because it gives
elements of what they like with a different taste.
I think that my audience is the type of audience
that, even though one type of music might be
their favorite, they can fit me into their CD
selections.
ID: And that voice makes it possible. It
defies boundaries. Did it just come out like
that from day one?
A: Yep, and that is why I didn’t really
understand that it was a gift, and it took me so
long to make it. If I had worked at it and went to
singing classes, I would have understood what
I had and what I had developed. I always had
it, although I never attempted to be a singer
until I was 18. That was because I started
dancing and producers asked me if I sang. I
then started developing and finding out what
I was as a singer throughout the years. The
first time that I really realized what I liked to do
singing-wise was on The Cut, which is how
we connected. That was the first time that I
ever really got to sing the way that I wanted
to sing with my own look. Some judges didn’t
like what I was wearing but said my voice
blew them away. I think I was very
intimidated to show my sexuality because
I didn’t think they would listen to me
sing. Now I am comfortable with my
art, and I am comfortable to show more
of my womanhood.
ID: Do you feel any pressure as a
female artist that you have to do that?
A: No. It is the opposite. Now I feel
comfortable that I don’t have to hide it. I felt
like I had to hide it because it was such a
factor that I didn’t want it to be a deterrent, as
strange as that may sound. I wanted to be an
artist, and that was my struggle coming out. In
time, I realized that I could do both. Every day it
took more of me realizing more about myself as it
started taking off.
ID: Do you feel that self-acceptance has
become a bigger part of the music?
A: My main premise to the whole album is
about inner strength. My own daily struggle to
stay in self, and my biggest method is, without
sounding programmed, to take things one day at
a time. It is about being present at every moment,
whether at home or on the red carpet. If I could
share one message, it’s about the beauty of what
I love to do. I am not shy to say I really love to
sing. If I can share anything with people, listen to
my words and hear my journey.
ID: What have you learned the most from
your success after the long road to get there?
A: Nobody wears their own hair [laughs].
I am so in shock.
I look at
everything
differently
now!
www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
CYMK
Q9
Q10
www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
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www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
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Q11
Expressions
Naked Curiosity
Let’s Pretend
By Dennis Scott-Bush
“The Horse likes it stinky,” James
announced. “And kinky, too,” he added.
The Horse was what James called the
man he’d been dating for nearly three weeks.
He was very well hung, as the nickname
implied, and James enjoyed riding him.
“Not stinky like body odor all the time,”
James clarified. “But he loves to get sweaty
and smelly and have sex that way.”
The Horse wasn’t alone. I know many
gay men who prefer the primal aroma to a
cleaner, antiseptic alternative.
James had always been among the latter
group. He wanted his bedmates to be freshly
scrubbed and soap-scented before they
crawled between his sheets.
But, now, James was pretending to relish
the musky mansex.
“Last week, he suggested that we do it
in the shower and I was thrilled at the idea
of getting clean, first,” James related.
“Then, he proceeded to pee on me,
while I was washing his chest.”
James pretended to like
that, too.
Q12
I wondered what happened to the James
that I knew — the man who would launch a
tirade about the simplest infractions of
behavior from a boyfriend or trick. That
James would have said, “I am what I am. I’ve
got to be me. I’m not fond of your funk and
I don’t like the pee.”
Instead, he was taking his would-be
boyfriend’s kinks in stride. He was mellow.
And yellow.
What had gotten into him?
The Horse.
And not just in the way one immediately
assumes. Of course, The Horse was a forceful
source of jam-packed pleasure. But it was
the attention his equine appendage brought
to James in other situations that
made the difference.
www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
CYMK
“He went with
me to a hot tub
party and I was
the envy of every
guy there!”
“He went with me to a hot tub party and
I was the envy of every guy there!” James
boasted. “They were literally drooling when
they got a look at him naked.”
So, for the time being, James was willing
to stomach stinky and kinky in order to mesh
with horseflesh and squire him around.
My friend Cameron would have
completely understood James’ mind-set. Cam
referred to himself as a sexual chameleon
because he subjugated his own likes and
dislikes to those of whomever he was
sleeping with at the time.
It’s not that he didn’t have preferences
of his own. Cam just believed that he would
be more appealing to tricks if he was able to
buy into their fantasies rather than impose
his druthers on others.
At what point, though, do we stop
pretending and show our playmates the real
us? How much do we suppress our own
desires to fit into someone else’s idea of good
sex.
For Cam, after two or three times of
faking fascination with other people’s
predilections, his interest in playing let’s
pretend began to wane.
He would try to add some of his favorites
to their sexual menu and would get annoyed
when the tricks weren’t accommodating.
The problem was even more pronounced,
when Cam got serious with a guy. Typically,
he’d put his whole hard and soul into whatever
floated his sexual skipper’s boat. He’d rave
about how much he loved the bondage, armpit
sniffing, intense nipple work or whatever else
the other guy was into. And he’d wax
rhapsodic about how well everything was
going between him and the potential partner.
Bliss was fleeting.
Soon, Cam began to resent being stuck
in the role of gleeful follower, especially when
the terrain got especially twisted. He whined
that he wasn’t being appreciated for who his
was. Eventually, even the most zealous child
loses interest in pretending and wants to just
be. Yet, Cam was the one who put aside his
personal preferences and played the bogus
part with such selfless gusto from the start.
Possible love connections usually went
the way of quick tricks. And Cam was left
with the question, “Did they only like me
because I pretended to like what they like?”
He never took the next step to try and answer
that question. He figured that someone would
have stayed around, by then, if the real Cam
had real value.
To a certain degree, most of us are guilty
of trying to be who someone else wants us
to be—at least for a while. And, if it’s a shortterm situation, it often feels like it’s worth it.
But, when the possibility of a longer linking
exists, all the masquerading does is lay a faux
foundation for a shaky future.
Let’s pretend?
Let’s not.
Dennis Scott-Bush’s work appears
in publications throughout the
country. E-mail may be directed to
him at NakedCuriosity@aol.com
www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
CYMK
Q13
Theatre Preview
A Black Dyke’s Journey from
the Projects to the Pulpit
Bishop Ma-Hee Presents One Woman Show
The vignettes incorporate spoken word
Bishop S.F. Ma-Hee has an interesting performance, a capella singing and African
way of describing her one woman show: “If I drumming to illustrate messages of affirmation.
had to pin it down, it would be elements of For While the piece is about Ma-Heé’s own
Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide personal journey, she believes that Sistah from
the Hood deals with issues
When the Rainbow Is Enuf
that are universal—love,
meets Stomp.”
acceptance, family, patriotism
Ma-Heé’s
original
and a person’s relationship
performance piece, Sistah
with God.
from the Hood, will be
“When I came out, I didn’t
presented June 21-23, and
just have to question my
July 5-7 at the Gay and
sexuality with the church, I had
Lesbian Community Center in
to question the church’s
Fort Lauderdale. The July 5
stance on sexism, classism and
performance will be done as a
I had to question their
fundraiser for the efforts being
contribution to racism,” she
waged to preserve Miamisays. “I had to figure out
Dade’s human rights Bishop S.F. Ma-Hee
where I fit in to the whole
ordinance.
Sistah from the Hood is a series of program.”
Each performance will feature a
autobiographical vignettes about what it was
like for a black lesbian from a single parent question an answer session afterwards,
household to grow up in the Pentecostal which Ma-Heé feels helps people
understand the issues raised in the show.
community.
The idea started out as a book Ma-Hee She says that for her, the rehearsals and the
wrote about her life. When she completed the feedback has been free therapy. “We take
book, she dictated it into a tape recorder so it you for a ride,” she says, laughing. “But the
could be transcribed in proper manuscript form. fact is, I had to be willing to take the ride
“It hit me that this would be an awesome first.”
Sistah from the Hood runs June 21-23
performance art piece,” she says.
Performing comes naturally to Ma-Hee; and July 5-7 at the Gay and Lesbian
she belonged to theatrical troupes before Community Center, 1717 N. Andrews
attending seminary and beginning her ministry. Avenue in Fort Lauderdale. Showtimes are
“It was an interesting, emotionally challenging Friday and Saturday, 8pm, with a special
process to transpose the piece form a piece of Pride Service on Sundays at 6pm. Tickets
literature to something that people could feel, are $10; tickets for the July 5 fundraiser
are $20.
see and connect with,” Ma-Hee says.
By Mary Damiano
Q14
www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
CYMK
By Mary Damiano
Jim Caruso is the kind of guy whose birthday party gets a
three-page spread in In Style magazine.
Of course, when your birthday party takes place at
actress Linda Lavin’s fabulous Manhattan apartment and guests
include pal Liza Minnelli, who wouldn’t want to do a three-page
spread on you?
For those of you not up on such Broadway fetes, Jim
Caruso is a top cabaret entertainer. He has toured with Liza,
performed at Carnegie Hall Rosemary Clooney and has played
some of the most fabled New York hotspots—the Oak Room,
Michael’s Pub and the Russian Tea Room. He is also a correspondent for E!, manning the red carpet at the recent Tony
Awards and doing sit-down interviews with Mary Tyler Moore
and John Leguizamo.
Caruso, who’s known for both his crooning and comedy, will bring his show to West Palm Beach’s Colony Hotel for
his Florida debut. He will perform in the hotel’s Royal Room
two weekends, June 20-22 and June 27-29.
Tickets are $25 for the show only; $59 for dinner and
show packages. Dinner begins at 6:15; all shows begin at 8pm.
For more information and to purchase tickets, call the Colony
Hotel at 561.655.5430.
Live Theater • Dance
Music • Art Exhibitions
Radio
•
Television
Q CulturalEvents
Events
Through July 18: Turtle Walk - Learn
about sea turtles at John D. MacArthur Beach
State Park, 10900 State Road 703/A1A in
North Palm Beach. This one of the area’s most
popular sites for viewing turtle nesting. The
viewing will be done from a distance so that
the mother will not be disturbed. Flash
photography is not permitted. $5 per person.
Mondays and Thursdays at 9 p.m. For
Information and Reservations call (561) 6246952.
Tuesday, June 18: Miami SOL vs.
Houston Comets – The
game starts at 7 p.m. at
American Airlines Arena.
For information or to
purchase tickets call
(786) 777-4765 or
visit www.miamisol.com.
Thursday
–
Sunday, June 20 – 23:
Mad Hatters Ball 2002 Four days of events and
specials offered around Fort
Lauderdale benefiting four
local
charity
organizations: The
Poverello Center,
Gildas Club of
South Florida,
Wansiki
AIDS
Foundation and the
GLCCSF. For information
go to www.MadHattersBall.com
or call (954) 567-4489.
Friday, June 21: Miami SOL vs.
Washington Mystics - The game starts at
12:30 p.m. at American Airlines Arena. For
information or to purchase tickets call (786)
777-4765 or visit www.miami-sol.com.
Saturday, June 22: Mangos, Mangos,
Mangos - Everything about mangos: how to
grow them, their insect and disease problems,
recipes and the many varieties. Sample fruits
until the juice drips from your elbows. Visit
the more than 100 varieties growing in the
Fruit & Spice Park. 10 AM to 1 PM, Instructor:
Chris Rollins, Fee: $25. Fruit and Spice Park,
24801 SW 187th Ave. in Homestead.
Reservations are required. Please call (305)
247-5727.
June 22: Miami Fury vs. Tennessee –
The Miami Fury, is a Professional Women’s
Football team that plays full-contact NFL
rules football. All home games are played at
the legendary Orange Bowl Stadium located
at 1501 NW 3rd Street in Miami. Game Time
is at 5 p.m. and parking is free. For more
information or to order tickets contact team
owner, Lisa McAllister, at (305)-631-1164 or
visit www.miamifury.com.
Saturday - Sunday, June 22 - 23: 4th
Annual Wise Women Weekend – An
empowering weekend of health and wellness
created by and for women, with keynote
speaker, Marianne Williamson and special
guest, Rosie O’Donnell. Plus global
peace activist Naomi Tutu, songweaver
Amy Carol Webb and a team of South
Florida’s expert facilitators. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
at the Radisson Deauville Resort Hotel,
6701 Collins Ave, Miami Beach.
Admission is $225. For
information call (305)-865-8511.
Sunday, June 23: 2002
Stonewall Street Festival &
Parade – The parade will start
off at 11 a.m. from Ft.
Lauderdale High School on N.E.
4th Ave and will proceed along 4th
(becomes Wilton Dr.). The street
festival begins at noon on Wilton
Drive. For more information call
(954) 566-7876 or visit
www.pgftl.org.
Monday – Wednesday, June 24 – 26:
SAA Dry Tortugas Dive – This dive is for
skill level “Experienced Open Water” or
above. Cost for liveaboard dive trip is $675/
person. Nitrox is available at an extra cost of
$75 otherwise everything else is supplied.
Contact Bernardo at ecuadivr@aol.com for
full details.
Tuesday, June 25: South Middle River
Civic Association – The SMRCA monthly
general membership meeting will be held at
7:15 p.m. at the GLCC, 1717 North Andrews
Ave. For more information call the SMRCA
Hotline at (954) 523-6900, or e-mail:
SMRCA1@aol.com.
Wednesday, June 26: Renowned
Relationship Psychic, Jill Dahne – Jill is
ranked in America’s top 100 psychics. She
was recently featured on Lifetime television
for her prediction of 756 marriages. Join her
for an open reading from 7:30 – 10 p.m. at
Borders, 2240 E. Sunrise Blvd, Ft. Lauderdale.
For more information call (954) 566-6335.
Thursday, June 27: “TimeBomb” – Dr.
Lee Reichman is a professor of Medicine,
Professor of Preventive Medicine and
Community Health, the Executive Director of
New Jersey School of Medicine’s Tuberulosis
Center and author of “TimeBomb.” Dr.
Reichman will discuss and sign copies of his
book. 10 a.m. at Borders, 2240 E. Sunrise Blvd,
Ft. Lauderdale. For more information call (954)
566-6335.
Live Theatre and Dance
Through June 23: “Victor/Victoria” –
Matinees are Wed, Thurs, Sat & Sun at 2 p.m.
Evening performances are Thurs, Fri & Sat at 8
p.m. and Sun at 7 p.m. Tickets are $27. To order
contact the Stage Door Theatre at (954) 344-7765.
The Coral Springs Stage Door Theatre is located
at 8036 W. Sample Rd.
Through June 30: “Jesus Hopped the
‘A’ Train” – A hard-hitting portrayal of prison
life at New York’s Rikers Island, where an
inmate is confronted by a religious fanatic.
Performances are Sundays, 2 p.m., 7 p.m.;
Thursdays, 8 p.m.; Fridays, 8 p.m. and
Saturdays, 8 p.m. GableStage , 1200 Anastasia
Ave., Coral Gables. Tickets are $32. For
information and tickets call the Box office:
(305)-445-1119.
Through July 5: “Summer Shorts” Even the theater puts on shorts for the Florida
summer. The seventh annual series features
14 brief comedies and dramas that last under
20 minutes each. Nine Southeastern
premieres and five world premieres will debut
in the new play festival. Two mini-musicals
— one set in a restaurant, the other on a park
bench — join in the festival lineup for the
first time. Performances through June 30 are
at Ring Theater, 1380 Miller Drive, Miami.
For information and tickets call (305) 3655400. Performances from July 5 – 21 are at
Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201
Southwest Fifth Avenue. For information and
tickets call (954) 462-0222 or 1-800 564-9539.
Through July 6: “Retch” - Miami Light
Project Presents “Retch,” written by Ivonne
Azurdia and directed by Ivonne Azurdia and
Ricky Martinez. Azurdia is the resident
playwright of the Mad Cat Theatre Company
and Retch is her directorial/producing debut.
Five women play multiple characters in this
collection of raw, uncensored monologues
about modern life and relationships.
Performances are Thursdays, Fridays and
Saturdays at 8 p.m. at The Light Box, 3000
Biscayne Boulevard. Special Opening Night
Gala June 14th - $25. General admission is
$12 and students are $7 with valid I.D. Call
(786) 201-0615 for more information.
Through July 7: “Nixon’s Nixon” – This
play by Russell Lees is at the Gable Stage,
1200 Anastasia Ave. in Coral Gables.
Performances are Thursday – Saturday at 8
p.m. and Sunday at 2 & 7 p.m. For information
and tickets call (305) 446-1116.
Tuesday – Saturday, June 18 – 22: Mr.
A’s Sizzling Summer Magic - Think summer
is hot? Mr. A’s magic is hotter! In fact it
sizzles! Experience the heat as four-time
Florida State Magic Champion Richard Adler
dazzles you with magic, ventriloquism and
just plain fun. Shows are at the Puppetry
Arts Center, 1200 S. Congress Ave., West
Palm Beach. June 18 – 21 at 10:30 a.m. and
June 22 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Admission is $4.
For information call (561) 967-3231.
Saturday, June 22: Ellen DeGeneres –
Catch Ellen in Concert! The curtain rises at 8
p.m. at the Broward Center for the Performing
Arts, 201 Southwest Fifth Avenue. For
information and tickets call (954) 462-0222 or
1-800 564-9539. http://www.curtainup.org/
Saturday, June 22: Cinderella – Classic
ballet performed by the South Broward Ballet
Company at Hollywood Central Performing
Arts Center, 1770 Monroe Street in Hollywood.
Performances are at 2 and 8 p.m. Tickets are
$25 and VIP seating is $50. For information
and tickets call (954) 924-8175.
Fridays: “Separate Checks”- This
Comedy Improv Troupe performs every Friday
night at 9:30 p.m. at the Hollywood Playhouse,
2640 Washington St., (954) 922-0404.
Music
Saturday & Sunday, June 22 & 23:
“Rhythm of Life” - Join the Gay Men’s Chorus
for this tuneful celebration of pride as we kick
off the summer with your favorite selections.
Sunday, June 16: 2:00 p.m. at the Metropolitan
Community Church of the Palm Beaches, 4857
Northlake Boulevard, Palm Beach Gardens,
Florida. All tickets are $20 for general admission
seating. Saturday, June 22: 8 p.m. at the
Broward Center’s Amaturo Theatre, 210 S.W.
5th Ave., Ft. Lauderdale. Tickets are $15, $21 &
$25. Sunday, June 23: 2 p.m. Art & Culture
Center of Hollywood, 1650 Harrison St.,
Hollywood. All tickets are $20 for general
admission seating. For tickets go to https://
www.pride-shoppe.com.
Friday, June 28: Hot Brass Monkey - Live
at Holiday Park, located at Sunrise Boulevard
& Federal Highway in Sunrise. 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
For information call (954) 828-6500.
Saturday, June 29: RoughRiders
Variety Show - The RoughRiders
present their most elaborate, most wild
and most anticipated Variety Show.
Included as entertainment are:
RoughRiders, Gay Men’s Chorus of
South Florida, The Julie Christies,
Lambda Chorale, The Return of The
Weather Girls, The Abba Queens, and
many more. It’s an evening not to be
missed! The curtain rises at 8 p.m. at the
Broward Center for the Performing Arts.
Tickets are $23 and $18. For information and
tickets call Mike Banfield at (954) 977-5257 or
the Broward Center’s Box Office at (954) 4620222.
Sunday, June 30: Tramaine
Hawkins – This KCLLWS
Foundation Benefit concert
is at 5 p.m. at Coral Springs
Center for the Arts, 2855
Coral Springs Drive in
Coral Springs. Admission
is $26.50. For tickets and
information call (954)
344-5990.
Saturday, July
13th: Britney Spears concert. 7:30 p.m. at
National Car Rental
Center To order tickets
go to Ticketmaster.com.
Art
Exhibitions
Through June
28: “United and Proud!” - An exhibition in
Celebration of Gay and Lesbian Pride Month
will be on display at four libraries. The exhibits
are designed to promote local artists who
present a positive message about gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in
the community. The “United and Proud!”
exhibits will be on display at: Main Library,
100 S. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale;
Fort Lauderdale Branch, 1300 E. Sunrise Blvd.,
Ft. Lauderdale; North Regional/BCC Library,
1100 Coconut Creek Blvd., Coconut Creek;
South Regional/BCC Library, 7300 Pines Blvd.,
Pembroke Pines. Free and open to the public.
Through July 7: “Florida Photographers:
The Ordinary to the Extraordinary” - The nature
of photography is one of description. However
the goal is not only to describe the world but to
transform it as well. An eclectic group of south
Florida photographers come together and exhibit
works that explore the mundane, a surrogate
record of an ordinary experience, place or person
that becomes heightened and exaggerated
through perception. The Art and Culture Center
of Hollywood, 1650 Harrison Street in Hollywood.
Admission is free to members; $5 adults; $3
students; free to children 13 or younger with adult.
Free family day on the third Sunday of every
month.
Through July 28: Maria MartinezCanas: A Retrospective - This retrospective of
Cuban-born, Miami resident photographer,
Maria Martinez-Canas, will feature many of her
most notable photographs, as well as recent
work. Ms. Martinez-Canas has been widely
exhibited nationally and internationally;
however, this will be the artist’s first solo show
in South Florida. This exhibition is at the
Museum of Art, 1 East Las Olas Boulevard. For
information call (954) 525-5500.
The Espanola Way FESTIVART- Every
Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m.- midnight at
Washington Ave. and Espanola Way, Miami
Beach. Live music. For more information call
(305) 673-4166.
Radio
The Alternative Radio Show - The only
GLBT Talk and Entertainment radio program
in South Florida, the Keys and the Bahamas.
Live every Thursday evening at 9 p.m. on
WAXY 790 AM and worldwide on the
Internet at www.radioalternative.com.
The Norm Kent Show – He’s Back!
Interviews and commentary with Norm Kent,
weekday mornings at 10 a.m. on WFTL 1400
AM radio.
Issues Over the Rainbow - MarkyG
hosts this new gay and lesbian early morning
talk show. Sunday mornings at 6:30 a.m. on
PARTY 93.1 FM. www.Party931.com
Television
SoFla Q TV- Television for the
alternative lifestyle. For information call (305)
534-3975 or visit www.soflaqtv.com.
www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
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Q15
Concert Preview
I’ve Got Rhythm, I’ve Got Music
Gay Men’s Chorus Presents Pride Concert
By Mary Damiano
The things people have in common
rather than the things that make them different
will be the theme of this year’s Pride concert
by the Gay Men’s Chorus South Florida.
The concerts, called “The Rhythm
of Life,” will combine jazz, Broadway
show tunes, ballads, and poetry set to
music, with a little camp thrown into the
mix.
According to Artistic Director Todd
Wiley, the theme was chosen because the
essence of the concert is summed up in
the lyrics to the song, The Rhythm of Life.
“What the song is saying is that no matter
how different we are, we all go through
the same experiences—searching for love,
happiness and fulfillment, dealing with the
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www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002
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ebbs and flows and highs and lows of our
own lives.”
“The Rhythm of Life” will be presented
on Saturday, June 22, at the Amaturo Theatre,
Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201
SW 5 Avenue, Fort Lauderdale. Showtime is
8pm. Tickets are $25, $20, and $15. For more
information and to purchase tickets, call
954.462.0222.
The next afternoon, Sunday, June 23, the
Gay Men’s Chorus will present their show at
the Hollywood Central Performing Arts
Center, 1770 Monroe Street, Hollywood.
Showtime is 2pm. Tickets are $20. For more
information or to purchase tickets, call
954.924.8175.
To find out more about the Gay Men’s
Chorus South Florida, visit www.gmcsf.net.
Artistic Expression
Erotic Exhibition Opens at Miami Gallery
‘Art and Lust’ Show Is First at Wild Seduction Space
By Ian Drew
A landmark exhibit of erotic art has helped to
establish a new home for the underground in a Miami
gallery.
The Wild Seduction Gallery has mounted the
Art & Lust exhibition since early April, bringing erotic
art in a variety of media to the newly opened avantgarde art space.
The exhibit embodies the
gallery’s mission, which is to
exhibit lowbrow, outside and
erotic art. It is the first show to
be put up in the space,
showcasing drawings, sculpture
and photographs by artists from
several continents along with
classic erotica and works by
respected artists not usually
associated with erotic art.
“Erotic art has been
considered a second- or
even third-class art form,
prescribed
to
underground
cult
status,” says gallery
co-founder Pili Cano.
“We want to provide a
prominent place for erotic
and underground artists who
have been neglected for too long by official
cultural organizations.”
The exhibit features rare pieces by the fetish
art master Eric Stanton and gay erotica mainstay
Tom of Finland. Also included in the show are
works by Swiss Surrealist painter and sculptor
H.R. Giger, visionary painter Joe Coleman,
Smithsonian artist Alfredo Ceibal and Eduard
Duval Carrié, a prominent artist in the Miami art
scene.
Among the contemporary figures in the
show are fetish photographer Eric Kroll, Los
Angeles performer Ron Athey, Japanese
illustrator Toshio Saeki, Italian comic artist
Giovanna Casotto and painters Michael Manning
and John John Jesse.
In addition to the visual submissions, the
gallery will present related videos, lectures and
performances throughout the summer by
Guillermo Gomez Pena, Ron Athey, Annie Sprinkle
and others during the exhibit dates.
The exhibit will be on view until August
31. It will run from Tuesdays to Saturdays,
11am to 3pm. Following the Miami debut, it
will tour Spain.
The Wild Seduction Gallery is located at 2762
NW 22nd Street in Miami.
For more information, call 305.633.8951
or visit www.wildseduction.com.
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Q17
By Charlene Lichtenstein
For the week of 6/03/02
Randy retrograde Mercury fully redirects now and sends our plaintive missives
into the stratosphere. At the same time, sexy Venus pushes into lusty Leo.
Finally we mean what we say and say what we mean. So what EXACTLY are you
saying compadre??
ARIES (MARCH 21 - APRIL 20)
Proud Rambos get the word Out in no uncertain terms. Mercury goes direct
and so do you. Have a little fun, courtesy of flirty Venus. The planets will
find a way to deliver the perfect social companion to your soiree. Hmm,
just how social are you??
TAURUS (APRIL 21 - MAY 21)
Have you been standing under an economic raincloud? As Mercury redirects,
queer Bulls shed their raincoats and bask in the sun. Venus in Leo and
encourages you to nestle in your nest. Don’t nestle alone. Venus shares the
love and so should you.
GEMINI (MAY 22 - JUNE 21)
Redeem yourself this week as Mercury redirects and charming Venus transits
generous Leo. Spread the good cheer and pass on a few love notes while you
are at it. Pink Twins will need quite a few cheery exchanges to get back in
the social graces.
CANCER (JUNE 22 - JULY 23)
Gay Crabs might have conjured all sorts of wooly scenarios during retro
Mercury but are now back to rock solid earth and ready to rock and roll. And
Venus in Leo pours on the good times with a vengeance. How about making
that chocolate sauce instead....
LEO (JULY 24 - AUGUST 23)
As Mercury redirects you have the opportunity to reconstruct friendships
that might have deconstructed. Venus in your own sign helps by giving you
an extra dollop of charm. Package it and sell it on the street while it is still
fresh, you fresh thing!
VIRGO (AUGUST 24 - SEPTEMBER 23)
If retro Mercury caused some potholes in your professional superhighway in
May, direct Mercury helps fill them in and avoid more roadkill in June. Try
again queer Virgo. Venus gives you a reprieve if you can state your case. Do
you want a reprieve?
LIBRA (SEPTEMBER 24 - OCTOBER 23)
Travel might have been more trouble than it was worth but now, as Mercury
redirects, proud Libras should dip a toe into the global pond. But don’t dog
paddle alone; Venus in Leo provides the wilde party for your pool. Don’t
forget your bathing cap....
SCORPIO (OCTOBER 24 - NOVEMBER 22)
Gay Scorps might have slipped up in the romance department with retro
Mercury. Make up for lost time now. Good timing; lusty Venus ambles into
robust Leo and casts your spell in the corporate arena. Mixing business with
pleasure? Oh why not!
SAGITTARIUS (NOVEMBER 23 - DECEMBER 22)
If partnerships have lost their luster, direct Mercury can now mop and glow.
Gay Archers make their randy intentions known. Venus in Leo gets into the
matchmaking act offering the two of you a romantic launch. Explore every
coastline and cavern with your dingy.
CAPRICORN (DECEMBER 23 - JANUARY 20)
Pink Caps are usually fairly politic but this past month might have made you
more pouty than usual on the job. Make your best move now. As sexy Venus
enters Leo, your desire to push your pencil is heightened.... but not
anywhere near the office!
AQUARIUS (JANUARY 21 - FEBRUARY 19)
As Mercury redirects, party hearty Aqueerians are ripe and ready for almost
anything. Charismatic Venus is moving into Leo and turns your attention
and desire to one particular lucky person. Let your actions speak louder and
prouder than words.
PISCES (FEBRUARY 20 - MARCH 20)
Mercury redirects and helps you get a handle on domestic situations. Things
have been said that rocked the boat but now Guppies know just what to say
to calm the turgid waters. Mean what you say and say what you mean,
especially to relatives.
© 2002 MADAM LICHTENSTEIN, LLC., All Rights Reserved.For Entertainment Purposes Only. Check out her
site www.AccessNewAge.com/Stargayzer for egreetings, horoscopes and Pride jewelry. Her book “HerScopes; A
Guide To Astrology For Lesbians” from Simon & Schuster is available at bookstores and major booksites.
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