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DANCERS DANCERS VIP 6PM-CLOSE 25¢ DRAFT 6PM-CLOSE SPECIALS SUPER OPEN-CLOSE $1 WELL & SUNDAY BEER $1 WELL& HAPPY HOUR 10PM-11PM SHOW WET BEER 11:30PM UNDERWEAR WELL & BEER NACHA 25¢ DRAFT CONTEST 12:30 OPEN TIL TYPE'S SHOW OPEN-CLOSE CLOSE 12AM -- :Eo~ =-« III THURSDAY,. <J~APRIL 2 VOLUME 24, NUMBER 4 MARCH 27 - APRIL 2, 1998 14 MOVIES Past Haunts Present in the Gay-Themed Lilies Reviewed by Gary Laird 21 LOOKING BACK Death of an Idol, Part II: Then What Happened? by Phil Johnson 26 FRESH BEATS New Album from Aretha Franklin, New Singles from Moloko and Joee by Jimmy Smith 31 HIGHLIGHT Houston's Diana Foundation Presents 44th Annual Awards Show 39 CURRENT EVENTS 47 BACKSTAGE Dallas Theater Center Presents Having Our Say April 1-26 50 ON OUR COVER Joshua A. Thompson of Fort Worth photos by Jerry Stevens 53 LETTERSTO THE EDITOR 57 STARSCOPE Mercury's Course Through the Cosmos Disrupts the Zodiac 68 TEXAS NEWS 75 TEXAS TEA 86 CLASSIFIEDS 93 GUIDE 1WT (This Week In Texas) Is published by Texas Weekly Times Newspaper Co" at 3300 Reagan Street In Dallas, Texas 75219 and 811 Westhelmer In Houston, Texas 77006. Opinions expressed by columnists are not necessarily those of TWTor of Its staff. Publication of the MOlY name or photograph of any person or organization in articles or advertising in TWTis not to be construed as any Indication of the sexual orientation of said person or organization. Subscription rates: 579 per year, $40 per half year. Back Issues available at $2 each. Payment must accompany all orders. Copyright © 1998 by Texas Weekly Times Newspaper Co. All rights reserved. Partial or complete reproduction of any advertisement news, article or feature, copy or photograph from TWTIsspecifically prohibited by federal statute THIS WEEK IN TEXAS MAGAZINE Texas' Leading Gay & Lesbian Publication Since 1975 • Weekly Circulation: 20,000 DALLAS OFFICE PUBLISHER HOUSTON OFFICE 3300 Reagan Street ALAN GELLMAN 811 Westheimer, Suite 111 Dallas, Texas 75219 EDITOR Houston. Texas 77006 Dallas Fax (214) 520-8948 RICHARDHEBERT Houston Fax (713) 527-8948 DOCK s (214) 521-0622 COMPTROLLER (713) 527-9111 E-mail: [email protected] STEVEMILES E-mail: [email protected] ARTDEPARTMENTRichard Bang. David Parnell CONTRIBUTINGWRITERSDonnie Angelle, Don Baker, Elizabeth Birch, Robert Bois. Mark Deaton, Chris Gray, Phil Johnson, Gary Laird, C. Lichtenstein, Steven Lindsey, Jimmy Smith, Cody Young STAFFPHOTOGRAPHERSJohn Bartiromo, Roy James, Robert Miller, Shawn Northcutt, Jerry Stevens, Ilo. Albert Tovar NATIONAL SALESDIRECTOR. Steve Miles. (214)521-0622 • FAX 520-TWIT Advertising rates are available on request from the salesperson in your nearest city, Austin- James Frank (512) 441-9452 - Houston / Galveston - (713) 527-9111 All other Texas cities- Steve Miles (214) 521-0622 CLASSIFIEDADVERTISING • Dallas-Chase Gutierrez. Houston-Brian Keever TWT© 1998 Miles - Gellman Enterprises Texas Weekly Times Newspaper Company Voice Personals o or -+o () o :::J :::J CD -+o To Browse Ads To Respond to Ads To Record your own Ad lIB Megaphone does not prescreen callers and assumes no liability for personal meetings. 18+ PAGE 12 Past Haunts Present in the Exquisitefy ·c'"·t'a1.J\ and A.. ,.-"~.'h;, ·"it-~u,'-~",_i'1f' ri(·,iiliIl __~__ ,.. '" • ,., Directe d Canadian drag? That's threatening, I don't think there has been a realistic gay-themed movie I t 1; import IL-I-. lIes made in the U,S. since The Boys in the Band. And before you jump on the PC bandwagon, I know - the Boys were pathetic, self-loathing, neurotic, unhappy look out, boys and girls! I'm climbing homosexuals, but they were real. Just L up on my soapbox again. And what is because we like to think that things have it this time, you ask? The gay rights agen- changed doesn't mean they never da? EI Nino? Somebody wearing white happened. before Easter? Or is it just that time of And that brings me to my next point. A month? Well, they're all excellent guesses, member of the mainstream press in Hous- but no. The spark behind this particular ton (who shall remain nameless) clubbed outburst is the opening of the Canadian film Lilies. Now let me say up front that I consider Lilies to be one of the most sen- sitively directed, beautifully acted and gor- geously photographed movies I've seen in some time. (And yes, I've seen Titanic. Give it a rest.) So what's the problem? The problem, quite simply, is that it was made in Canada. Now I have nothing against Canada, Jim Carrey notwithstanding. What frosts me is that this film wasn't made here in the good old US of A. I mean, think for a minute. Jason Cadieux [r] and Danny Gilmore star as the young Name four or five good gay-themed Simon and Vallier in Lilies, movies - Alive & Kicking, Beautiful Thing, Different for Girls, The Crying Game - all Lilies as not worth the time or money, His British-made. Ma Vie en Rose, La Cage primary gripe, it seems, was that it was just aux Folies - French. The Adventures of another "love that dare not speak its name" Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - Aus- movie; that it dared to take us back to a tralian, for heaven's sake! What do we time when that was true. Well, of course it get? To Wong Foo, with Wesley Snipes, does. That's the point. It's our history, and yet. In & Out - cute. The Birdcage - it happened. For that matter, it still hap- insulting! Love! Valour! Compassion! Did pens, no matter how enlightened we like to anybody believe Jason Alexander for one think we've become. The same asinine minute as a screaming queen? argument could be made against Schind- The sad fact is, this country isn't ready ler's List or Amistad. The realistic portrayal for an honest, upfront gay or lesbian film, of gay men and lesbians in film, in any To make it palatable to an American audi- country, is new. Thirty years, tops. It's been ence, there has to be a gimmick - most nearly a hundred' years since audiences often a notoriously straight actor in drag. gasped at the five-minute epic The Kiss, That's funny, A genuine gay character in which featured the affectionate osculatory PAGE 14 lWT MARCH 27 - APRIL 2 1998 antics of a (not very attractive) man and a woman locked in amorous embrace. Just getting equal time will take us well into the next millennium. Lilies, a film by John Greyson, does a lot toward getting us there. From a play by Michel Marc Bouchard, originally written in French, Lilies tells the story of three young boys involved in a love triangle in the provincial Canada of 1912. The affair ends tragically, and is told in flashback from the perspective of one of the boys, Simon, now (1952) in prison. Simon stages a play, with the other inmates playing all the char- acters, male and female, who took part in the story. The film has an intensely the- atrical quality. The audience is asked to suspend its disbelief again and again as the story goes from 1952 to 1912 and back, again and again, with the same pris- oners playing the parts in both times. I found this device a little confusing at first, then exciting and stimulating as the story progressed. The young Simon is played by Jason Cadieux, as heart-stoppingly beautiful as anyone you'd want to see. (Look in the dic- tionary under "eyelashes," and you may find his picture.) Danny Gilmore plays Val- lier, Simon's friend and lover, with all the passionate intensity of young love. Brent Carver, Tony Award winner for Kiss of the Spider Woman, plays The Countess, Val- lier's haunted mother. The supporting cast is superb, playing the women's roles as Shakespeare's company might have played them - for truth, never camp. Bottom line: this is a movie with a lot of levels. You may love it for some, hate it for others, but I think it'll make an impact, and it certainly deserves a showing. 'OW PAGE 16 TWT MARCH 27 - APRIL 21998 ..-- T~eDeot~of on I~ol,PolU: guson, who had been 17 at the time of the Then What crime, would be tried as a juvenile and face life in prison at most. Paul was 22; he could be sentenced to death. So Tom sub- Happened? sequently confessed to the crime. How- ever, both brothers were convicted of first- degree murder and each was sentenced to How to Commit Murder with life in prison. But that's not the end of the Near-Impunity story, for "life in prison" doesn't necessarily mean life in prison. nthe early 1950s, One Magazine re- Iported on the trial of a youth charged with murder. Defense attorneys alleged that the victim was gay and had made an indecent proposal, thereby justifying the violence. To substantiate the allegation that the murdered man was gay, the defense called his maid to the stand. She testified that her employer had slept on pastel-colored sheets! Well, what other proof was needed? The verdict: five years probation. The Trial of the Victim Similar was the trial of Ramon Novarro. Sex and violence make good newspaper copy. And a gay sexual advance makes for the justification of murder. Throw in a faded movie idol and a down-and-out hustler, and the copy becomes even better. For seven weeks, the reports of the The trial for the killers of Ramon Novarro [above] came to focus on the victim's sexual orientation rather than on the Ramon Novarro murder trial made sensa- perpetrators.

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