www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002 Q1

CYMK CoverCover StoryStory

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 follow- ing. Her debut album, Not That Kind, (See ANASTACIA on page Q9)

Q2 www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002

CYMK InIn ReviewReview

The first clue that Nixon’s Nixon is not fact that the Kennedys were assassinated or The funniest scenes are when Nixon that they are watching the real thing. His supposed to be historically accurate is that else they would be stuck with the whole goads Kissinger into playacting conversations performance is so dead on that it makes you there are 68 stars on the American flag that Vietnam mess and toy with the idea of starting with Brezhnev and Mao Tse Tung. Watching wonder if Kissinger had given up politics for rises from behind the set. World War III in order to distract people from John Felix, who plays Kissinger, taking on theater—admittedly not a big jump. The play, which is the latest production that little Watergate and impeachment Mao’s persona and language is hysterical. Peter Haig does an equally good job as at the GableStage Theatre, takes place the night headache. Nixon’s Nixon paints a picture of two men Nixon, though he has a much tougher task on before President Richard M. who are just that—men. his hands. Nixon’s own mannerisms have Nixon’s resignation. As The play provides an already become such a staple of American legend has it, the soon-to- opportunity to look parody that Haig must walk a very fine line be-ex-pres met with his beyond the history to see between portrayal and imitation. He rarely secretary of state, Henry that it all boils down to falters, though Nixon does come off as kind of Kissinger, in the Lincoln problems anyone can have, nutty, maybe even nutty enough to add another Room of the White House. trying to hold onto a job 18 states when nobody was looking. No one knows what and trying to leave one Nixon’s Nixon runs through July 7 at the the two men talked about, gracefully. GableStage Theatre, 1200 Anastasia Avenue, but playwright Russell Lees While an author’s at the Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables. For wrote Nixon’s Nixon to give note in the program tells the information and tickets, call 305.445.1119. his version. audience that it’s not And what a version it important that the actors is. Kissinger is portrayed look like Nixon and Former Nixon as a man desperate to keep Kissinger, and that too Council John Dean his job, and Nixon is great a resemblance would Talks about 30th portrayed as a man who’s border on parody, John Anniversary of just plain desperate, and a Felix nails Kissinger. Watergate little nuts too. Make-up helps Felix look Together, they worry like Kissinger, but it’s his See Page 28 of This about how history will mannerisms, posture and Week’s ‘Express’ remember them, lament the Peter Haig, Nixon, and John Felix, Kissinger accent that make one feel

www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002 Q3

CYMK 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 “I went into it with Dancer/Choreographer Brings His Troupe to Miami Beach all these high-faluting By Mary Damiano interracial couples, “homo, hetero and about a turn of the 20th century Irish ideas about Broadway Seán Curran describes his dance lesbian,” each with a baby. The piece, which Christmas party. One of the producers told and when it came right company as accessibility with an edge. “I deals with the issue of gay parents, has given Curran that he wanted The Dead to feature down to it, what got want to make poetry,” says the 40-year-old Curran some of his most satisfying moments. historically accurate Irish dance but with dancer/choreographer, “but I also want to A few months ago, while performing in Curran’s eccentric twist. onstage were the dances dazzle and entertain.” Portland, Oregon, Curran invited the Steve “I went into it with all these highfaluting that my aunts taught The Seán Curran Company will perform Lofton/Roger Croteau family, who were ideas about Broadway, and when it came right Friday, June 21, at the Colony Theatre on featured in the Primetime Thursday special down to it, what got onstage were the dances me at Christmas parties Lincoln Road as part of the Florida Dance on gay adoption, to attend a performance of that my aunts taught me at Christmas parties and weddings.” Festival. the piece. He was able to meet the family, and weddings,” he says. —Seán Curran Audiences who catch the performance who later sent Curran a family photo. It is Next year, Curran begins rehearsals with will be treated to the full range of Curran’s posted on his fridge along with other photos the same team who did The Dead, this time a diverse repertoire, from the melancholy of of gay parents and their children, who have musical based on Marcel Proust’s Sonata and From the Ether, With Instinct to written letters to Curran after seeing the piece. Remembrance of Things Past. But right now, the flashiness of Abstract Concrete, Metal “Basically, the letters say thank you for Curran is looking forward to the Florida Garden. Curran likes to keep things fresh; putting us onstage,” he says. Dance Festival and presenting the audience the first two works have never been Curran is also a teacher, traveling to with new dance pieces. “I think I’m in the performed on the road. different universities to give dance classes theater because no two performances or Curran became interested in dance early. in technique and body percussion, and to audiences are ever alike,” he says. “As He grew up in Boston, the son of parents create a dance piece for a large cast in a short frustrating as that can be, it’s also very who were both from Ireland. His parents were amount of time. Curran’s company has also exciting.” determined to instill in him and his sisters a been in residence at NYU for the past three Curran lets his dance pieces evolve to sense of cultural identity, so the Curran summers. “It’s my teaching that makes work in harmony with his dancers. As dancers children were trained in all things Irish— having a dance company possible,” says come and go, already established pieces are language, theatre, music and step dancing. Curran. fine-tuned to capitalize on the new dancer’s The dancing is what made the biggest One of the greatest influences on his strengths. impression, and in high school, a teacher work has been the silent movies of Charlie “It’s not like a novel or a painting or a encouraged Curran to try his hand at Chaplin and Buster Keaton, which he grew sculpture or a movie, where there’s that point choreography. “I’d never taken a jazz class up watching on TV. “All of those silent movie when you finish it and you put it on the wall or a modern dance class, so there were comedians are dancers, in a way, because or the bookshelf,” Curran says. “A dance is productions of Bye Bye Birdie and Carousel they’re telling a story through movement and so fleeting that in a way, it’s never done.” with lots of Irish step dancing,” Curran says. reaction,” Curran says. “They didn’t have Curran attended New York University language or words. I love the physicalized (NYU) with the intention of becoming the comedy they portray.” next Ben Vereen or Joel Grey, specializing in He once toured with a series of short musical comedy. There, he discovered dances that he later realized were heavily modern dance and switched from theater to influenced by Chaplin and Keaton films, right the dance department. down to the black and white costumes, At NYU, dancers were encouraged to prompting a Boston Globe critic to declare also create dances, and that whetted Curran’s him the dance world’s answer to Buster appetite for choreography. He spent 10 years Keaton. “It was a great compliment,” Curran with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance says. “It clicked for me then that somewhere Company, which shaped his foundation as a I absorbed some influence or through choreographer, and four years in Stomp, osmosis was channeling back out my love where he created his own solos and for these films.” improvisation. “It’s always been in my nature Curran’s love of film and his training in to make dances,” he says. all things Irish synthesized when he was One of his pieces, Folk Dance for the asked to choreograph the Broadway musical Future, became what Curran calls his The Dead, based on James Joyce’s short reluctant hit. The dance involves three story and the film starring Anjelica Huston,

Q4 www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002

CYMK Florida Dance Festival Schedule June 16-29, 2002 - Miami/Miami Beach

Dance and Guided by the inspired vision of artistic director Ballet Florida Marie Hale, this troupe of 22 exceptionally talented June 22, 2002, 8pm Dancemakers on Film dancers is one of Florida’s most dynamic and versatile Colony Theater Dance Film and Documentary ballet companies, featuring a repertoire of full- Monday, June 17, 7-9pm The Wolfsonian-FIU, length classical ballets and contemporary works of 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach Tickets: choreographers ranging from Peter Martins and Ben Free event Stevenson to Lar Lubovitch. Co-presented with Dance/USA and the National Initiative to Preserve America’s Dance (NIPAD), Maximo Damian this evening is dedicated to the work of dance artists Scissors Dancers and filmmakers who have created full-length and short films, and film documentaries, for and about Traditional folkloric dance or icons of the dance field. dance and music Modern Daydreams, by Mitchell Rose, is a suite (Peru) of three dances for the camera with which Sunday, June 24, 7pm New World School of Sean Curran Company incorporates heavy construction equipment and office the Arts Dance Theater, 25 NE 2nd Street, 8th June 21, 2002, 8pm furniture into the dance, has seen wide distribution Floor, downtown Miami Tickets: $10; student and Colony Theater Photo by Lois Greenfield and won numerous awards since its 2000 premiere. senior rates available Returning Home, by Andy Abrahams Wilson, A figure of nearly mythical stature among combines a documentary style with improvisatory Andean traditional artists, professional musician and dance for the camera to show the musings, thoughts teacher Maximo Damian brings music, culture and and philosophies of living dance legend Anna Halprin tradition from his tiny home village of Ayacucho in as she explores her eighth decade of life. the central highlands of Peru. Danza de las Tijeras From the Horse’s Mouth: The Documentary (the scissors dance) is an acrobatic dance Director Sharon Kinney reveals, through interviews competition most often performed at patron saint with Jamie Cunningham, Tina Croll and the dancers, festivals and other celebrations. In this folkloric the inspiration and structure of From the Horses Photo by Steven Caras dance, two dancers challenge and compete with one Mouth at its premiere in 1998. The film follows the another for the finest and most athletic steps, the performers and choreographers through the rehearsal longest physical endurance and the most astonishing process to the performances, juxtaposing and slight of hand and magic. interlacing the events and their interviews leading up to opening night, against their performances in the Looking at Dance piece. The film captures reality as the artists reveal their passion for their art form and for each other at Informal showing and that moment in time. audience feedback session Monday, June 25, 7-9pm New World School of Florida Dances the Arts Dance Theater, 25 NE 2nd Street, 8th Floor, Tuesday, June 18, 8pm, Wednesday, June 19, downtown Miami Tickets: Free event. 8pm, and Monday, June 24, 8pm. New World School This session, loosely based on choreographer of the Arts Dance Theater, 25 NE 2nd Street, 8th Liz Lerman’s Critical Response format, shows Floor, downtown Miami Tickets: $10; student and excerpts of works-in-progress or completed works Maximo Damian senior rates available by local emerging or established choreographers This series of three different programs followed by audience response and discussion. Scissors Dancers celebrates the work of Florida-based dance artists, Conducted in a positive and supportive environment, June 23, 2002, 7pm companies and schools. The mixed programs the facilitated session serves to enlighten audience New World School of showcase works from performing groups and artists members, helps educate dancers and young the Arts Dance Theatre Photo by PAMAR Together & Alone from across Florida including Orlando’s VOCI Dance choreographers in elements of composition, and gives Group, Tampa’s Moving Current, Miami’s La Rosa the presenting choreographer important feedback June 20, 2002, 8pm Flamenco Theater and Karen Peterson & Dancers, and insight into their own creative process. Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre

Photo by Eric Saulitis Colony Theater the dance programs of New World School of the June 26, 2002, 8pm Arts, University of Florida and Florida State Pascal Rioult Colony Theater Compania Marta Carrasco University, and the works of independent Dance Theatre June 16, 2002, 8pm choreographers. Colony Theater Modern dance Together and Alone (New York) An evening of solo and duet works by festival Wednesday, June 26, 8pm Colony Theatre, guest artists Chris Aiken, Cathy Young, Michael 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach Tickets: $25; Foley, Raymond Sullivan, Octavio Campos student and senior rates available (Improvisation, Modern and Contemporary dance) French choreographer Pascal Rioult brings his Thursday, June 20, 8pm. Colony Theatre, own unique choreographic style and heritage as a 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach Tickets: $25, former principal dancer with the Martha Graham student and senior rates available Dance Company. The company presents Rioult’s Married dancers Chris Aiken and Cathy Young Ravel Project, combining his choreographic genius combine her choreographic virtuosity and his and a deep, shared sensibility with fellow Frenchman improvisational mastery in a duet work of ingenious and late romantic composer Maurice Ravel. and intricate partnering. Michael Foley’s complicated, lighthearted and intellectual solo and DIN A 13 duet works beguile and captivate. Raymond Sullivan’s The Colours of Longing work casts both hope and uncertainty on a young Contemporary modern dance O’Neal Photo by Charles-Turner couple’s turbulent relationship, and Octavio Campos’ dramatic Pina Bausch-esque dance-theatre style will (Cologne, Germany) Quasar keep you guessing. Thursday, June 27, 8pm New World School of June 28 & 29, 2002, 8pm the Arts Dance Theater, 25 NE 2nd Street, 8th Floor, Colony Theater Seán Curran Company downtown Miami Tickets: $20; student and senior (New York) rates available Beauty, fear, individuality and desire are the Friday, June 21, 8pm Colony Theatre, 1040 central themes in artistic director Gerda König’s Lincoln Road, Miami Beach Tickets: $25, student provocative work, The Colours of Longing. Expressed and senior rates available through dance, music and video projection the work Dubbed a “choreographer’s choreographer” by creates a dreamlike environment that exposes Backstage Magazine, Seán Curran was a favorite people’s innermost desires, puts so-called normality dancer of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance into question and makes taboos an open issue. Company for 10 years and an original cast member of Stomp. Curran’s young, contemporary company Quasar Dance Company presents works featuring his signature virtuosity, complex musicality and powerful emotion. Says Dividuo, Contemporary Modern dance Curran: “I am a choreographer who depends heavily (Goiânia, Brazil) on my dancers as collaborators. The Seán Curran Friday, June 28 and Saturday, June 29, 8pm Company will perform three new works, Absract Colony Theatre, 1040 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach Concrete, Metal Garden; From the Ether, With Tickets: $25; student and senior rates available Instinct and Sonata. Jointly presented by Tigertail Productions FLA/ BRA Festival and the Florida Dance Festival, Brazil’s Ballet Florida Quasar Dance Company is known for its quirky dark Contemporary Ballet humor, youth culture sensibility and extraordinary DIN A 13 dancing. Choreographer Henrique Rodovalho The Colours of Longing (West Palm Beach) describes his Dividual, a musing on the real versus the June 27, 2002, 8pm Saturday, June 22, 8pm Colony Theatre, 1040 visual, as an exploration of how people are highly New World School of Lincoln Road, Miami Beach Tickets: $25, student connected with the rest of the world and, at the same the Arts Dance Theatre and senior rates available time, isolated in their homes or rooms. Photo by Mila Petrillo Photo by Jo Kirchherr

www.fldance.org

www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002 Q5

CYMK Pumping It Up with By Ian Drew Maximum Volume New Album Releases Avril Lavigne The Ones Let Go (Arista) Flawless (Groovilicious) Always looking for an easy box to tape up, the music industry Here we go again. Downtown Manhattan is making has finally decided to add some girl power to the current teen punk- another statement. pop movement. From the area that has brought out an endless stream With bands like Blink-182, New Found Glory, Sum 41 and their ever-present forefather, Green Day, clobbering rap in the of fashion trends and underground personalities, The Ones suburban teen consciousness, out pops the Fiona Apple of the pack. emerge with one of the biggest dance hits of the year, even Coming out like a skater-punk Alanis Morrissette minus several though it was produced over two years ago. iotas of punch, 17-year-old Avril Lavigne wrote all 13 tracks on Three of the the Village’s most notable personalities – her debut album, Let Go, and pounds out the chords on her electric guitar just like the boys. What Jackie 60 DJ Paul Alexander, Patricia Field mascot JoJo she adds is the haunting neo-realism of lovelorn lyrics in a way that only a girl can kick it. What Americo and Nashom (a.k.a. drag queen amazon Mona Foot) – combine their fierceness for harms her is taking the easy way out with cheap sentimentality during several stops along the way. Flawless, a single that has overtaken dance floors with its ’90s-throwback nod to the The pop sensibility of the record is unquestionable, and it can only be attributed to Lavigne’s runways and fashion inspired rhyming. 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 Nashom and Alexander originally wrote the song for the 1999 Robert De Niro flick of she displays again on similar tracks such as “Unwanted” and “Nobody’s Fool.” the same name, in which Nashom also appeared in drag regalia. The track wasn’t finished Lavigne can pull all of this off somewhat eloquently because the album doesn’t try too hard in time for the soundtrack, and it spent the following two years appearing on several to outweigh its intentions. While the phrasing seems somewhat studied and the lyrics rock in and bootlegged compilations. It was eventually picked up by Positiva Records and became a out of cliché territory—as on the sappy ballad “Too Much to Ask”—this girl has obviously huge summer smash in Ibiza, even making it to number seven on the U.K. Pop charts and learned from others that the hits need to be established before things can get more experimental. hitting number one on Canada’s dance chart. Overall, the teen angst thing and simplified hooks work for Lavigne here because, much like The trio is busy completing their first full-length CD, but in the meantime, they give her punk and wanna-be emo contemporaries, it reflects the charming innocence and growth us this pumping ditty in five different versions just ripe for the picking. spurts of her misguided age bracket. 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, David Knapp the snip clacking of the original is also hard to beat. Motorball (Centaur) The prince of pumping circuit noise returns with another Kreo addition to his mix discology, this one gliding by on familiar voices burn for you (Groovilicious) with a decidedly lighter feel. Miami’s Winter Music Conference can often be just a Motorball is named after the annual Detroit circuit party that bunch of hubbub for wanna-be music industry pushers looking benefits Motor City HIV/AIDS organizations. The CD is the latest for something to get crazy about, but it can also help to in a series that attempts to capture the sounds of the parties, from Miami’s White and Winter soirees to Philadelphia’s Blue Ball. introduce some interesting stuff. Knapp is a known bandleader at these events, and he knows One import track that scooped up considerable buzz what he’s talking about. He is an expert at bringing out the boys, which means supplying endless this year was Kreo’s “burn for you.” With its minimalist, hours of uplifting and throbbing tracks that keep it going into the wee hours. retro-inspired synth lines and paired-down vocals reminiscent Current vocal queen Inaya Day opens it all up with the catchy “I Will,” while the rest of the of Everything But the Girl meets Enya, the song uses familiar album stays airy and bouncy with traces of darkness thrown in for kicks. Knapp relies heavily on emotive elements to tell a new story. catchy vocal hooks throughout, particularly on the unforgettable Purple God by Anny. He uses The single is set to start burning up the charts when it is released on June 18, but it will such noted divas as Pepper Mashay and Sevana Stone to bring his vision into reality. first have to suffer through obvious production comparisons to Kylie Minogue’s latest 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 reclaiming of the American charts. and it isn’t even that good. Regardless, its somber subterfuge will surely gather steam among trendier mixed audiences. 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. Readonline www.ExpressGayNews.com

Q6 www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002

CYMK 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 woman having a few drinks in a bar, had some At one point during her concert at Mars nice banter and a great punchline to boot. Say Music Ampitheatre June 9, Melissa Etheridge Goodbye to Paula, by Jo-Aynne von Born, introduced herself to the crowd. “My name is was a pleasant comedy about a woman who Melissa Etheridge.” Then she pondered, prowls funerals trying to pick up men. The “Melissa.... It’s just not a very rock and roll name.” Ladies’ Home Companion, by Roger Martin, That may have been true once, but not was a broad but funny story about a widow anymore. Thanks to Etheridge, Melissa is purchasing some very satisfying underwear. now the rock and roll name, conjuring up the The dramas were more uneven. The image of a raw-voiced rocker whose rhythm Galileo Prize by Jim Tommaney, about a and soul spills out her fingers and soars from professor being questioned about his ideas, her gut. was an example of style over substance. Is Her voice filled the sultry night before There Anyone There? by Roger Martin was a she appeared onstage, with lyrics from “I pedestrian and formulaic tale of a power- Want To Be in Love,” from last summer’s hungry, immoral priest judging another priest Skin. That song kicked off a spare, pared who’s not exactly pure himself. down rock and roll show. There were no Photo By Pompano Bill Combatting Terrorism, by Charles Aye dancers, no backup singers, no costumes, Full Company of “Evening of Winners” and Bonnie Benson, was the topical play of no MTV camera ready dance moves—just By Mary Damiano the group, a satirical look at what would Etheridge and her band playing their hearts The recent Public Theatre offering was happen if all airline passengers were required out. When you’re this good, you don’t need called An Evening of Winners because the to arm themselves with a personal terrorist frills in order to thrill. one-act plays presented all won the deterrent device. She sang her litany of hits: “Come to organization’s local play contest. In that The standout was The Beginning, by My Window,” “Similar Features,” an sense, each play was a winner. In reality, it Dan Clancy, about an older gay couple at a incredible heartfelt acoustic version of should have been called An Evening of Hits wedding. One man wants to be open about “Nowhere to Go” and “I’m the Only One.” At 40, Etheridge wears her age and her and Misses. their long relationship, but the other is too She proved why she’s every inch a rock and attitude well. She wore black and white, a While the acting was for the most part closeted and too worried about what his roll goddess and brought the house down classic combo for a classic rocker. These excellent—sometimes astounding given family will say. The dialogue was fresh and with an extended version of her first hit, days, she looks and sounds better than ever, what the actors had to work with—the believable and helped create real flesh and “Bring Me Some Water,” a version so as if she’s had a chance to grow into herself quality of the plays was not. blood characters in a short time. The palpably hot and sexy that it probably left and her music. The standout plays fell into two Beginning managed to be funny, touching more than a few women in the audience She switched off between piano and categories—simple ideas that people could and insightful, a nice triple play to pull off in needing a cold shower afterward, or perhaps guitar throughout the show, and capped off relate to and clever ideas that people could one act. in need of another kind of drenching. her two-hour, solid-as-a-rock set with three laugh at. When the more abstract, surreal ideas The biggest miss was Vodkalogue, by Etheridge reveled in her audience. They encores, including the lovely “Please Forgive were explored, the plays failed. Inez Geller, which seemed to serve no other showed their love for her with signs, posters, Me” and the raucous “Like the Way I Do.” There was no real cohesion or order to purpose than to provide a bravura showcase flowers—some ladies even tossed their bras Yes, Melissa, we definitely like the way the program, though it began on a promising for its actress. The result, unfortunately, was onstage. you do. note. Bill Yule’s The Game, about a man and a disjointed shrillness.

www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002 Q7

CYMCKYMK 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! Temperamental Express coverboy Arthur Mantle is back in The network is rolling out a new documentary about young gays as part of their True Life series town and getting naked! on June 27. True Life: I’m Coming Out will feature five coming out stories of gay and lesbian young The manic photographer was front-page news in February people, focusing on both the strides in acceptance made during the last decade and the anguish young after he terrorized the nonprofit organization ArtsUnited with a people go through when revealing their sexuality. series of threatening e-mails. His dramatic exhibition of female The network has a history of showing and promoting gay issues. Gay people have been featured nude photographs was pulled from a Stonewall Library and Archives prominently in its The Real World reality series and in numerous ads. MTV is also working with exhibit by the group after he referred to the intended audience as Showtime to put together a gay cable network that will air later this year. “old faggots who have had too much intake of combination therapy,” In not-so-good news for the network, a Washington, D.C. couple has filed an invasion-of- among other epithets. He then threatened The Express with a privacy lawsuit against them and Las Vegas’s Hard Rock Hotel and Casino for planting a mutilated “lawsiut” [sic] for running the article in a series of linguistically corpse in a hotel room as part of a new show. challenged e-mails. The pair is suing the network and hotel for $10 Even though the lensman repeatedly crowed about how he was Arthur Mantle Andy Dick million because they say they were unwittingly involved leaving South Florida for more elite European shores (as if nasty, relieves stress in a new series called Harassment. self-hating black queens are somehow more popular in London or on an According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Moscow), he has apparently decided to scrape the bottom of the barrel again by returning to South couple checked-in to the hotel in January for a Vegas Florida to show of his newest series of male nudes. MTV set vacation only to find their room equipped with hidden Somehow the little devil managed to finagle his images into the current issue of Australia’s BLUE cameras and the corpse rotting in the bathtub. The couple magazine, and he has come back to South Florida, where he has received the most attention, to show tried to leave the room, but were stopped by two actors it off. The snapshots are also on display until August 3 at Plantation’s Schacknow Museum of Fine dressed as security guards who held them until That ’70s Arts. Show star Ashton Kutcher could jump out and reveal that For those wishing to take a peek at Mantle in the flesh, the snapper will appear at Fort they were caught on MTV’s sordid candid camera. Lauderdale’s Cathode Ray Club on Wednesday, June 26, at 9pm to sign some posters with some of his This kind of trouble is not new for the edgy channel. models. Who knows? He might even score at Pick-a-Trick, the club’s smoking dating gayme that has Last April, two 14-year-old girls sued the network after certainly seen some more attractive picks on its stages before. they were showered with human feces on the show Jackass. Despite his internalized homophobia, Mantle is smooching up to the community by also holding At around the same time, an 86-year-old woman filed suit a silent auction with proceeds going to a local gay and lesbian charity. He is also negotiating with an against MTV and comedian Andy Dick, claiming that she unnamed gay merchandising company to license selected images on posters, postcards and calendars. suffered emotional stress while taping an episode of Dick’s comedy show. Girls Gone Crazy A new weekly party for women has just opened at one of Miami’s hottest nightspots. Ladies Take Their Hats Off for Charity 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 The first annual Bachelorette Bash will take place on June 22. friendly staff and innovative themes, shows and events. It will be the Official Women’s Event of this year’s Stonewall Pride weekend and the Mad Tease Fridays finds its home at the new club STEEL (formerly Splash), located at 5922 South Hatters Ball with celebrity bartenders and go-go girls going on the auction block for charity. Dixie Highway in Miami. The legendary space has been completely renovated and boasts a new state- Some of the bachelorettes up for auction include: Nikki, Geiset, Dani, Julian and the Ultra Go- of-the-art sound and lighting system, a tropical garden terrace, an exclusive VIP room and a sexy Go girls (Michelle, Nicole and Crystal). Dream date packages include dinners, limousine rides, concerts décor. and picnics. Ultra Events and Pandora Events have been bringing parties to South Florida for over four years After the auction, DJ Alex H will spin an explosive mix of the hottest dance, house and salsa and have had their hands in some of the most successful women’s events and fundraisers, including music on the main floor featuring special performances by the Ultra Go-Go dancers. DJ Annie will Aqua Girl, Women’s White Party, Bang at Bongos, Pandora, Ultra Saturdays and Girls In Wonderland. spin hip-hop on the patio. “We have wanted to bring a quality weekly party to the women of Miami and we finally feel we The celebrity host for the evening is Elaine Lancaster, who will MC the auction and perform. have all the elements together to accomplish that,” says promoter Yesi Leon. “ Tease Fridays will The whole she-bang will take place on Ultra Saturday’s at the Sea Monster. have that sexy, elegant Miami feel to it with a focus on a great variety of music and sexy visuals. We Proceeds from the Bachelorette Bash will benefit Gilda’s Club, Pride of will play a mix of dance, salsa, lounge, hip-hop and disco. From music to pool tables to shows to go- Greater Fort Lauderdale and Pride South Florida. go girls, there will definitely be something for everyone.” Doors open at 9pm every Friday. The cover The Sea Monster is located at 2 South New River Drive in Fort Lauderdale. Doors open at 9 pm is $8 before 11 pm and $10 after. and the auction starts at 10 pm. For more information, visit www.ultra-events.com or www.pandoraevents.com, or call the For more information, call 954.424.0070. Tease hotline at 954.424.0070.

Q8 www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002

CYMK ANASTACIA (from Q2) ID: To what do you attribute your ever got. I compare my journey as one of AIDS took more of me realizing more about myself as it earned her record sales in over a dozen phenomenal European success as opposed to or cancer because it really forces you to be started taking off. countries and awards around the globe. Her your lack of recognition here? very present in your existence. I treat every ID: Do you feel that self-acceptance has new album, Freak of Nature, has already A: First of all, we didn’t put the first record day as if it’s the last and with a kind heart. become a bigger part of the music? soared to the number one spot on Billboard’s out here the way that we are with Freak of Crohn’s has been a growing experience, and I A: My main premise to the whole album is European Hot 100 charts and has sold more Nature. You gotta think about what it takes to wear my scar like a medal because I am here. I about inner strength. My own daily struggle to than 2 million copies. break a record in America. You can’t just put it just felt like I needed to let my fans know that stay in self, and my biggest method is, without While so much of the world has already out in the stores. It requires a huge marketing I am a girl with a disease and I’m proud of it. sounding programmed, to take things one day at caught on to “that voice,” American success and publicity launch. On the other hand, I ID: You have so many different sounds on a time. It is about being present at every moment, has continued to elude her. However, she is didn’t do anything special to make the first both of your albums. Do you think that has whether at home or on the red carpet. If I could now primed to change all of that with an album sell so much overseas. I have not done stood in your way because the music industry share one message, it’s about the beauty of what aggressive plan to wake up the country and anything else on the second album for it to do is so centered on categorization? I love to do. I am not shy to say I really love to show what kind of artist she really is. the numbers that it did off the bat. I think I just A: To me, I have a universal sound and an sing. If I can share anything with people, listen to With a voice that is equal parts Chaka finally have a fan base that I never had before, infusion of music that balances what my voice my words and hear my journey. Khan and Tina Turner smeared with huge and I have the chance to put a record out and is. My voice has a lot of different elements ID: What have you learned the most from dollops of Taylor Dayne, Anastacia has again to just be myself. That is more endearing to an while maintaining its own character. It is an your success after the long road to get there? returned to work with Grammy-winning audience – knowing that your performance is instrument that balances well with both rock A: Nobody wears their own hair [laughs]. producer Rick Wake with an album that spans not manufactured. My fans would be the best or dance, but it doesn’t balance 100 percent I am so in shock. rock, disco and R&B genres and cannot be ones to ask because they tell me that it is with one kind of music. I can’t do an only rock I look at pinned down—just like the voice. because I keep it real and they don’t feel like album, for example. My voice has so much to everything Although she has performed all over the they are being jipped as fans. offer; it’s not one-dimensional. That’s why my differently world with the likes of Elton John, Luciano music is not one-dimensional. My music can now! Pavarotti and the Prince of Pop himself, it was go to pop, rock or funk, and it can also go to all a show-stealing American appearance on the ‘Freak doesn’t have to those things in one song. What makes music recent VH1 Divas Live Las Vegas special that beautiful is to bring together different types of perhaps made the boldest statement of the hold be a negative word. It music. My fans like my music because it gives she is destined to have. It might have taken elements of what they like with a different taste. awhile, but this is one diva who is live, kicking can be an entirely I think that my audience is the type of audience and ready to show us all that she’s got it. positive word about the that, even though one type of music might be their favorite, they can fit me into their CD Ian Drew: We have a history together, embrace of one’s self.’ selections. baby. I was actually working for your record ID: And that voice makes it possible. It label when the tape came in of you on The Cut. defies boundaries. Did it just come out like The impression of your talent was so ID: But don’t you think a part of the that from day one? immediate, yet it has taken you some time to problem in getting American audiences to bite A: Yep, and that is why I didn’t really break out here. is that you are hard to pin down as an artist? understand that it was a gift, and it took me so Anastacia: Epic has shown me nothing First of all, you are this little white girl with a long to make it. If I had worked at it and went to but love ever since, and it didn’t change. I booming, soulful voice, and your music doesn’t singing classes, I would have understood what really give them credit for going wherever the fit into one category. I had and what I had developed. I always had coals were hot. We decided not to put pressure A: Before I got the deal, it was hard to get it, although I never attempted to be a singer on America because Europe was where it was anyone to believe in what they could do with until I was 18. That was because I started hot first. The majority of my last two years has me. Now, though, they did what they needed dancing and producers asked me if I sang. I been overseas because the success was there to do, which is to put me out as myself. Epic then started developing and finding out what and so I built that up. In order to break in believed in me, allowed me to write music that I was as a singer throughout the years. The America, you really do have to be here for a I felt and allowed me to sing it as I felt. They first time that I really realized what I liked to do period of time. So the company and I set aside also put out nice, conservative pictures that singing-wise was on The Cut, which is how six months on this album for the majority of my didn’t punch on the sexpot thing too much on we connected. That was the first time that I time to be in America. the first album. ever really got to sing the way that I wanted ID: Part of that exposure came recently ID: I notice that you are just busting out to sing with my own look. Some judges didn’t on that incredible Divas Live appearance. How with the sexuality now. like what I was wearing but said my voice do you think you managed to upstage all of A: Now I am just showing it off before it blew them away. I think I was very those music legends? falls to the ground! Seriously, they are very intimidated to show my sexuality because A: I think because I was the most unknown sweet because they are going along with my I didn’t think they would listen to me is why people were just like ‘wow.’ If they knew journey. I was more conservative on the first sing. Now I am comfortable with my who I was, it wouldn’t have mattered. I didn’t album and then, as I found myself as an artist, art, and I am comfortable to show more give the best performance that I know I am my second album became me more. It’s of my womanhood. capable of giving, but, in my heart, I was trying completely me, from the outfits to the package ID: Do you feel any pressure as a not to be bigger than what I believed those design to the title — Freak of Nature — that female artist that you have to do that? ladies deserved. I am very glad that VH-1 is about celebrating individuality because we A: No. It is the opposite. Now I feel believed in me enough to give me that much are all freaks. Freak doesn’t have to be a comfortable that I don’t have to hide it. I felt on the show. I was the unknown name on the negative word. It can be an entirely positive like I had to hide it because it was such a bill and they honored me with special guest word about the embrace of one’s self. factor that I didn’t want it to be a deterrent, as status and gave me so much airtime, my own ID: Has that included coming out publicly strange as that may sound. I wanted to be an solo and a duet with Celine Dion. It was such a about your Crohn’s Disease? artist, and that was my struggle coming out. In pleasure. A: Yes. It is one of the biggest blessings I time, I realized that I could do both. Every day it

www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002 Q9

CYMK Q10 www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002

CYMK www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002 Q11

CYMK Naked Curiosity Expressions Let’s Pretend By Dennis Scott-Bush

“The Horse likes it stinky,” James I wondered what happened to the James “He went with me to a hot tub party and the other guy was into. And he’d wax announced. “And kinky, too,” he added. that I knew — the man who would launch a I was the envy of every guy there!” James rhapsodic about how well everything was The Horse was what James called the tirade about the simplest infractions of boasted. “They were literally drooling when going between him and the potential partner. man he’d been dating for nearly three weeks. behavior from a boyfriend or trick. That they got a look at him naked.” Bliss was fleeting. He was very well hung, as the nickname James would have said, “I am what I am. I’ve So, for the time being, James was willing Soon, Cam began to resent being stuck implied, and James enjoyed riding him. got to be me. I’m not fond of your funk and to stomach stinky and kinky in order to mesh in the role of gleeful follower, especially when “Not stinky like body odor all the time,” I don’t like the pee.” with horseflesh and squire him around. the terrain got especially twisted. He whined James clarified. “But he loves to get sweaty Instead, he was taking his would-be My friend Cameron would have that he wasn’t being appreciated for who his and smelly and have sex that way.” boyfriend’s kinks in stride. He was mellow. completely understood James’ mind-set. Cam was. Eventually, even the most zealous child The Horse wasn’t alone. I know many And yellow. referred to himself as a sexual chameleon loses interest in pretending and wants to just gay men who prefer the primal aroma to a What had gotten into him? because he subjugated his own likes and be. Yet, Cam was the one who put aside his cleaner, antiseptic alternative. The Horse. dislikes to those of whomever he was personal preferences and played the bogus James had always been among the latter And not just in the way one immediately sleeping with at the time. part with such selfless gusto from the start. group. He wanted his bedmates to be freshly assumes. Of course, The Horse was a forceful It’s not that he didn’t have preferences Possible love connections usually went scrubbed and soap-scented before they source of jam-packed pleasure. But it was of his own. Cam just believed that he would the way of quick tricks. And Cam was left crawled between his sheets. the attention his equine appendage brought be more appealing to tricks if he was able to with the question, “Did they only like me But, now, James was pretending to relish to James in other situations that buy into their fantasies rather than impose because I pretended to like what they like?” the musky mansex. made the difference. his druthers on others. He never took the next step to try and answer “Last week, he suggested that we do it At what point, though, do we stop that question. He figured that someone would in the shower and I was thrilled at the idea pretending and show our playmates the real have stayed around, by then, if the real Cam of getting clean, first,” James related. us? How much do we suppress our own had real value. “Then, he proceeded to pee on me, desires to fit into someone else’s idea of good To a certain degree, most of us are guilty while I was washing his chest.” “He went with sex. of trying to be who someone else wants us James pretended to like For Cam, after two or three times of to be—at least for a while. And, if it’s a short- that, too. me to a hot tub faking fascination with other people’s term situation, it often feels like it’s worth it. party and I was predilections, his interest in playing let’s But, when the possibility of a longer linking the envy of every pretend began to wane. exists, all the masquerading does is lay a faux guy there!” He would try to add some of his favorites foundation for a shaky future. to their sexual menu and would get annoyed Let’s pretend? when the tricks weren’t accommodating. Let’s not. The problem was even more pronounced, when Cam got serious with a guy. Typically, he’d put his whole hard and soul into whatever Dennis Scott-Bush’s work appears floated his sexual skipper’s boat. He’d rave in publications throughout the about how much he loved the bondage, armpit country. E-mail may be directed to sniffing, intense nipple work or whatever else him at [email protected]

Q12 www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002

CYMK www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002 Q13

CYMK Theatre Preview A Black Dyke’s Journey from the Projects to the Pulpit Bishop Ma-Hee Presents One Woman Show By Mary Damiano 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 When the Rainbow Is Enuf the Hood deals with issues meets Stomp.” that are universal—love, Ma-Heé’s original acceptance, family, patriotism performance piece, Sistah and a person’s relationship from the Hood, will be with God. presented June 21-23, and “When I came out, I didn’t July 5-7 at the Gay and just have to question my Lesbian Community Center in sexuality with the church, I had Fort Lauderdale. The July 5 to question the church’s performance will be done as a stance on sexism, classism and fundraiser for the efforts being I had to question their waged to preserve Miami- contribution to racism,” she Dade’s human rights Bishop S.F. Ma-Hee says. “I had to figure out ordinance. where I fit in to the whole Sistah from the Hood is a series of program.” autobiographical vignettes about what it was Each performance will feature a 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 community. understand the issues raised in the show. 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.” performance art piece,” she says. Sistah from the Hood runs June 21-23 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 By Mary Damiano attending seminary and beginning her ministry. Avenue in Fort Lauderdale. Showtimes are Jim Caruso is the kind of guy whose birthday party gets a “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 three-page spread in In Style magazine. literature to something that people could feel, are $10; tickets for the July 5 fundraiser Of course, when your birthday party takes place at see and connect with,” Ma-Hee says. are $20. 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 corre- spondent 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 com- edy, 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.

Q14 www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002

CYMK Live Theater • Dance Music • Art Exhibitions Q CulturalEvents Radio • Television

Events Monday – Wednesday, June 24 – 26: Through July 6: “Retch” - Miami Light Sunday, June 30: Tramaine Through July 18: Turtle Walk - Learn SAA Dry Tortugas Dive – This dive is for Project Presents “Retch,” written by Ivonne Hawkins – This KCLLWS about sea turtles at John D. MacArthur Beach skill level “Experienced Open Water” or Azurdia and directed by Ivonne Azurdia and Foundation Benefit concert State Park, 10900 State Road 703/A1A in above. Cost for liveaboard dive trip is $675/ Ricky Martinez. Azurdia is the resident is at 5 p.m. at Coral Springs North Palm Beach. This one of the area’s most person. Nitrox is available at an extra cost of playwright of the Mad Cat Theatre Company Center for the Arts, 2855 popular sites for viewing turtle nesting. The $75 otherwise everything else is supplied. and Retch is her directorial/producing debut. Coral Springs Drive in viewing will be done from a distance so that Contact Bernardo at [email protected] for Five women play multiple characters in this Coral Springs. Admission the mother will not be disturbed. Flash full details. collection of raw, uncensored monologues is $26.50. For tickets and photography is not permitted. $5 per person. Tuesday, June 25: South Middle River about modern life and relationships. information call (954) Mondays and Thursdays at 9 p.m. For Civic Association – The SMRCA monthly Performances are Thursdays, Fridays and 344-5990. Information and Reservations call (561) 624- general membership meeting will be held at Saturdays at 8 p.m. at The Light Box, 3000 Saturday, July 6952. 7:15 p.m. at the GLCC, 1717 North Andrews Biscayne Boulevard. Special Opening Night 13th: Britney Spears - Tuesday, June 18: Miami SOL vs. Ave. For more information call the SMRCA Gala June 14th - $25. General admission is concert. 7:30 p.m. at Houston Comets – The Hotline at (954) 523-6900, or e-mail: $12 and students are $7 with valid I.D. Call National Car Rental game starts at 7 p.m. at [email protected]. (786) 201-0615 for more information. Center To order tickets American Airlines Arena. Wednesday, June 26: Renowned Through July 7: “Nixon’s Nixon” – This go to Ticketmaster.com. For information or to Relationship Psychic, Jill Dahne – Jill is play by Russell Lees is at the Gable Stage, purchase tickets call ranked in America’s top 100 psychics. She 1200 Anastasia Ave. in Coral Gables. Art (786) 777-4765 or was recently featured on Lifetime television Performances are Thursday – Saturday at 8 Exhibitions visit www.miami- for her prediction of 756 marriages. Join her p.m. and Sunday at 2 & 7 p.m. For information Through June sol.com. for an open reading from 7:30 – 10 p.m. at and tickets call (305) 446-1116. 28: “United and Proud!” - An exhibition in Thursday – Borders, 2240 E. Sunrise Blvd, Ft. Lauderdale. Tuesday – Saturday, June 18 – 22: Mr. Celebration of Gay and Lesbian Pride Month Sunday, June 20 – 23: For more information call (954) 566-6335. A’s Sizzling Summer Magic - Think summer will be on display at four libraries. The exhibits Mad Hatters Ball 2002 - Thursday, June 27: “TimeBomb” – Dr. is hot? Mr. A’s magic is hotter! In fact it are designed to promote local artists who Four days of events and Lee Reichman is a professor of Medicine, sizzles! Experience the heat as four-time present a positive message about gay, specials offered around Fort Professor of Preventive Medicine and Florida State Magic Champion Richard Adler lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Lauderdale benefiting four Community Health, the Executive Director of dazzles you with magic, ventriloquism and the community. The “United and Proud!” local charity New Jersey School of Medicine’s Tuberulosis just plain fun. Shows are at the Puppetry exhibits will be on display at: Main Library, organizations: The Center and author of “TimeBomb.” Dr. Arts Center, 1200 S. Congress Ave., West 100 S. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale; Poverello Center, Reichman will discuss and sign copies of his Palm Beach. June 18 – 21 at 10:30 a.m. and Fort Lauderdale Branch, 1300 E. Sunrise Blvd., Gildas Club of book. 10 a.m. at Borders, 2240 E. Sunrise Blvd, June 22 at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Admission is $4. Ft. Lauderdale; North Regional/BCC Library, South Florida, Ft. Lauderdale. For more information call (954) For information call (561) 967-3231. 1100 Coconut Creek Blvd., Coconut Creek; Wansiki AIDS 566-6335. Saturday, June 22: Ellen DeGeneres – South Regional/BCC Library, 7300 Pines Blvd., Foundation and the Catch Ellen in Concert! The curtain rises at 8 Pembroke Pines. Free and open to the public. GLCCSF. For information Live Theatre and Dance p.m. at the Broward Center for the Performing Through July 7: “Florida Photographers: go to www.MadHattersBall.com Through June 23: “Victor/Victoria” – Arts, 201 Southwest Fifth Avenue. For The Ordinary to the Extraordinary” - The nature or call (954) 567-4489. Matinees are Wed, Thurs, Sat & Sun at 2 p.m. information and tickets call (954) 462-0222 or of photography is one of description. However Friday, June 21: Miami SOL vs. Evening performances are Thurs, Fri & Sat at 8 1-800 564-9539. http://www.curtainup.org/ the goal is not only to describe the world but to Washington Mystics - The game starts at p.m. and Sun at 7 p.m. Tickets are $27. To order Saturday, June 22: Cinderella – Classic transform it as well. An eclectic group of south 12:30 p.m. at American Airlines Arena. For contact the Stage Door Theatre at (954) 344-7765. ballet performed by the South Broward Ballet Florida photographers come together and exhibit information or to purchase tickets call (786) The Coral Springs Stage Door Theatre is located Company at Hollywood Central Performing works that explore the mundane, a surrogate 777-4765 or visit www.miami-sol.com. at 8036 W. Sample Rd. Arts Center, 1770 Monroe Street in Hollywood. record of an ordinary experience, place or person Saturday, June 22: Mangos, Mangos, Through June 30: “Jesus Hopped the Performances are at 2 and 8 p.m. Tickets are that becomes heightened and exaggerated Mangos - Everything about mangos: how to ‘A’ Train” – A hard-hitting portrayal of prison $25 and VIP seating is $50. For information through perception. The Art and Culture Center grow them, their insect and disease problems, life at New York’s Rikers Island, where an and tickets call (954) 924-8175. of Hollywood, 1650 Harrison Street in Hollywood. recipes and the many varieties. Sample fruits inmate is confronted by a religious fanatic. Fridays: “Separate Checks”- This Admission is free to members; $5 adults; $3 until the juice drips from your elbows. Visit Performances are Sundays, 2 p.m., 7 p.m.; Comedy Improv Troupe performs every Friday students; free to children 13 or younger with adult. the more than 100 varieties growing in the Thursdays, 8 p.m.; Fridays, 8 p.m. and night at 9:30 p.m. at the Hollywood Playhouse, Free family day on the third Sunday of every Fruit & Spice Park. 10 AM to 1 PM, Instructor: Saturdays, 8 p.m. GableStage , 1200 Anastasia 2640 Washington St., (954) 922-0404. month. Chris Rollins, Fee: $25. Fruit and Spice Park, Ave., Coral Gables. Tickets are $32. For Through July 28: Maria Martinez- 24801 SW 187th Ave. in Homestead. information and tickets call the Box office: Music Canas: A Retrospective - This retrospective of Reservations are required. Please call (305) (305)-445-1119. Saturday & Sunday, June 22 & 23: Cuban-born, Miami resident photographer, 247-5727. Through July 5: “Summer Shorts” - “Rhythm of Life” - Join the Gay Men’s Chorus Maria Martinez-Canas, will feature many of her June 22: Miami Fury vs. Tennessee – Even the theater puts on shorts for the Florida for this tuneful celebration of pride as we kick most notable photographs, as well as recent The Miami Fury, is a Professional Women’s summer. The seventh annual series features off the summer with your favorite selections. work. Ms. Martinez-Canas has been widely Football team that plays full-contact NFL 14 brief comedies and dramas that last under Sunday, June 16: 2:00 p.m. at the Metropolitan exhibited nationally and internationally; rules football. All home games are played at 20 minutes each. Nine Southeastern Community Church of the Palm Beaches, 4857 however, this will be the artist’s first solo show the legendary Orange Bowl Stadium located premieres and five world premieres will debut Northlake Boulevard, Palm Beach Gardens, in South Florida. This exhibition is at the at 1501 NW 3rd Street in Miami. Game Time in the new play festival. Two mini-musicals Florida. All tickets are $20 for general admission Museum of Art, 1 East Las Olas Boulevard. For is at 5 p.m. and parking is free. For more — one set in a restaurant, the other on a park seating. Saturday, June 22: 8 p.m. at the information call (954) 525-5500. information or to order tickets contact team bench — join in the festival lineup for the Broward Center’s Amaturo Theatre, 210 S.W. The Espanola Way FESTIVART- Every owner, Lisa McAllister, at (305)-631-1164 or first time. Performances through June 30 are 5th Ave., Ft. Lauderdale. Tickets are $15, $21 & Friday and Saturday, 7 p.m.- midnight at visit www.miamifury.com. at Ring Theater, 1380 Miller Drive, Miami. $25. Sunday, June 23: 2 p.m. Art & Culture Washington Ave. and Espanola Way, Miami Saturday - Sunday, June 22 - 23: 4th For information and tickets call (305) 365- Center of Hollywood, 1650 Harrison St., Beach. Live music. For more information call Annual Wise Women Weekend – An 5400. Performances from July 5 – 21 are at Hollywood. All tickets are $20 for general (305) 673-4166. empowering weekend of health and wellness Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 admission seating. For tickets go to https:// created by and for women, with keynote Southwest Fifth Avenue. For information and www.pride-shoppe.com. Radio speaker, Marianne Williamson and special tickets call (954) 462-0222 or 1-800 564-9539. Friday, June 28: Hot Brass Monkey - Live The Alternative Radio Show - The only guest, Rosie O’Donnell. Plus global at Holiday Park, located at Sunrise Boulevard GLBT Talk and Entertainment radio program peace activist Naomi Tutu, songweaver & Federal Highway in Sunrise. 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. in South Florida, the Keys and the Bahamas. Amy Carol Webb and a team of South For information call (954) 828-6500. Live every Thursday evening at 9 p.m. on Florida’s expert facilitators. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday, June 29: RoughRiders WAXY 790 AM and worldwide on the at the Radisson Deauville Resort Hotel, Variety Show - The RoughRiders Internet at www.radioalternative.com. 6701 Collins Ave, Miami Beach. present their most elaborate, most wild The Norm Kent Show – He’s Back! Admission is $225. For and most anticipated Variety Show. Interviews and commentary with Norm Kent, information call (305)-865-8511. Included as entertainment are: weekday mornings at 10 a.m. on WFTL 1400 Sunday, June 23: 2002 RoughRiders, Gay Men’s Chorus of AM radio. Stonewall Street Festival & South Florida, The Julie Christies, Issues Over the Rainbow - MarkyG Parade – The parade will start Lambda Chorale, The Return of The hosts this new gay and lesbian early morning off at 11 a.m. from Ft. Weather Girls, The Abba Queens, and talk show. Sunday mornings at 6:30 a.m. on Lauderdale High School on N.E. many more. It’s an evening not to be PARTY 93.1 FM. www.Party931.com 4th Ave and will proceed along 4th missed! The curtain rises at 8 p.m. at the (becomes Wilton Dr.). The street Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Television festival begins at noon on Wilton Tickets are $23 and $18. For information and Drive. For more information call tickets call Mike Banfield at (954) 977-5257 or SoFla Q TV- Television for the (954) 566-7876 or visit the Broward Center’s Box Office at (954) 462- alternative lifestyle. For information call (305) www.pgftl.org. 0222. 534-3975 or visit www.soflaqtv.com.

www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002 Q15

CYMK Concert Preview

I’ve Got Rhythm, I’ve Got Music Gay Men’s Chorus Presents Pride Concert By Mary Damiano ebbs and flows and highs and lows of our The things people have in common own lives.” rather than the things that make them different “The Rhythm of Life” will be presented will be the theme of this year’s Pride concert on Saturday, June 22, at the Amaturo Theatre, by the Gay Men’s Chorus South Florida. Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 The concerts, called “The Rhythm SW 5 Avenue, Fort Lauderdale. Showtime is of Life,” will combine jazz, Broadway 8pm. Tickets are $25, $20, and $15. For more show tunes, ballads, and poetry set to information and to purchase tickets, call music, with a little camp thrown into the 954.462.0222. mix. The next afternoon, Sunday, June 23, the According to Artistic Director Todd Gay Men’s Chorus will present their show at Wiley, the theme was chosen because the the Hollywood Central Performing Arts essence of the concert is summed up in Center, 1770 Monroe Street, Hollywood. the lyrics to the song, The Rhythm of Life. Showtime is 2pm. Tickets are $20. For more “What the song is saying is that no matter information or to purchase tickets, call how different we are, we all go through 954.924.8175. the same experiences—searching for love, To find out more about the Gay Men’s happiness and fulfillment, dealing with the Chorus South Florida, visit www.gmcsf.net.

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Q16 www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002

CYMK Artistic Expression Erotic Exhibition Opens at Miami Gallery ‘Art and Lust’ Show Is First at Wild Seduction Space By Ian Drew have been neglected for too long by official A landmark exhibit of erotic art has helped to cultural organizations.” establish a new home for the underground in a Miami The exhibit features rare pieces by the fetish gallery. art master Eric Stanton and gay erotica mainstay The Wild Seduction Gallery has mounted the Tom of Finland. Also included in the show are Art & Lust exhibition since early April, bringing erotic works by Swiss Surrealist painter and sculptor art in a variety of media to the newly opened avant- H.R. Giger, visionary painter Joe Coleman, garde art space. Smithsonian artist Alfredo Ceibal and Eduard The exhibit embodies the Duval Carrié, a prominent artist in the Miami art gallery’s mission, which is to scene. exhibit lowbrow, outside and Among the contemporary figures in the erotic art. It is the first show to show are fetish photographer Eric Kroll, Los be put up in the space, Angeles performer Ron Athey, Japanese showcasing drawings, sculpture illustrator Toshio Saeki, Italian comic artist and photographs by artists from Giovanna Casotto and painters Michael Manning several continents along with and John John Jesse. classic erotica and works by In addition to the visual submissions, the respected artists not usually gallery will present related videos, lectures and associated with erotic art. performances throughout the summer by “Erotic art has been Guillermo Gomez Pena, Ron Athey, Annie Sprinkle considered a second- or and others during the exhibit dates. even third-class art form, The exhibit will be on view until August prescribed to 31. It will run from Tuesdays to Saturdays, underground cult 11am to 3pm. Following the Miami debut, it status,” says gallery will tour Spain. co-founder Pili Cano. The Wild Seduction Gallery is located at 2762 “We want to provide a NW 22nd Street in Miami. prominent place for erotic For more information, call 305.633.8951 and underground artists who or visit www.wildseduction.com.

www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002 Q17

CYMK 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.

Q18 www.ExpressGayNews.com • June 17, 2002

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