Fine Arts -
What's up at the galleries this fall?

by Sura Wood

Galleries remain the best bet for discovering adventurous art and taking the pulse of the modern art world. Unlike museums, galleries aren't required to appeal to mass tastes; they can afford to exhibit riskier projects, and we are the happy beneficiaries. Check out a brief survey of Bay Area offerings this fall. (read more)

Theatre -
What's coming to Bay Area stages?

by Richard Dodds

The fall theater previews that appear annually on these pages have at times been massaged and manipulated to assure that at least one upcoming production from the major theaters makes it into one of the categories devised for that year: promising solo shows, new musicals, star turns, etc. This year, the shows don't fall so easily into categories, but most theater schedules are sufficiently endowed that there's no need to get out the WD-40 to force a mention. So, looking ahead theatrically until the end of the year, the theaters themselves will be the categorization, a new policy that I will immediately undercut on the first entry.

The policy exception is demanded by the unique unrolling of three plays that make up rising-star Tarell Alvin McCraney's trilogy, The Brother/Sister Plays. For the first time in Bay Area theatrical history, three major theaters will each present one play in the trilogy as part of its respective season. The young, gay, African-American playwright's rich, textured dialogue got him noticed in a big way in The Brother/Sister Plays at the New York Public Theatre in 2009, with its three loosely related tales set in the Louisiana bayou. (read more)

Out There - Fall guys

For your September delectation, Brazilian model Marcello poses for photographer Steven Underhill. He's a harbinger of the upcoming fall season in the arts! So we were visiting SF's Museum of Performance & Design in the Veterans Building to see Toy Theatres: Worlds in Miniature, a modest exhibit of 21 rare toy theatres dating from the 18th century to the present, drawn from seven different countries. (read more)

Film - Sleeping around

The People I've Slept With is a brave idea executed by a talented, sexy ensemble proves a winner for Quentin Lee, who returns to making bold films that break the mold for queer characters. (read more)

Theatre - Soul sisters

The acronym LED, for light-emitting diode, did not trip off our tongues when Dreamgirls first opened on Broadway in 1981, but when the LED panels that comprise the scenery of the touring Dreamgirls at the Curran first began to glow, the opening-night audience responded with applause. (read more)

Theatre - Grand revue

When musical director Joe Wicht tells Darlene Popovic how honored he is to be playing piano for her first gig since she came out of retirement, she shoots him a look that could kill. "I'm not retired," she says icily. "I'm Equity." Popovic puts her pipes and personality on display in How Lucky Can You Get? at New Conservatory Theatre Center. (read more)

Books - Archie Comics
dives into gay waters

Veronica Lodge got her long-overdue, well-deserved comeuppance on Sept. 1. That's when the spoiled, poor little rich girl met Kevin Keller, the new boy in town. It was love at first sight, but only for Veronica. Kevin has his eye on another guy! (read more)

Books - Campers' delight

Author Mickey Rapkin is either a huge fan of Glee or a member of NAMBLA. Only such a writer could check himself into a performing arts summer camp for a three-week stay in order to create a book. Rapkin's odyssey has given birth to Theater Geek: The Real Life Drama of a Summer at Stagedoor Manor, the Premier Performing Arts Camp. (read more)

Film - What's coming
to the silver screen?

The fall season allows Hollywood to showcase the good stuff, quality art-house films with a shot at mainstream appeal. If Oscar retains last year's 10 slots, one of the following may qualify for a Best Picture nomination. This year, the best of the best features some outstanding queer contenders. (read more)

Music - Wonderful chorale

Even before his YouTube Virtual Choir recording of Lux aurumque (Light of Gold) became an international hit, Nevada-born Eric Whitacre, 40, had become the golden boy of American choral music. (read more)

Out & About - Gay-bor day

Others leave town for Labor Day picnics, Burning Man and other events. But with drag pageants, leather bar promos, Oakland Pride, and yes, pink flamingos, this week in the Bay Area is gayer than Lady Bunny on a ruby slipper rhinestone-encrusted Gay Pride float singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." (read more)

Lavender Tube - Boys,
boys, girls: fall preview

Ah, September, month of new beginnings! And hopefully endings, like the end of the hottest summer on record for most of the country. And the end of one of the most reality-driven (and thus stuporous) TV seasons in recent memory. (read more)

On the Town -
Community chests

The long-running Bare Chest Calendar, benefiting Positive Resource Center and AIDS Emergency Fund, received a powerful infusion of new life with its new Dinner Date Auction Gala last Tuesday night. (read more)

Books - Waking up to DreamWorks' reality

In 1994, Steven Spielberg, Hollywood's top director; Jeffrey Katzenberg, a former key executive at Disney; and openly gay billionaire music mogul David Geffen announced the creation of DreamWorks. (read more)

Books - Hello, Dali!

I leaf through literally hundreds of books a year searching for titles to bring to your attention. One such title was Salvador Dali: Vol. 2 by editor Montse Aguer (Planeta), a partial overview of many of the works of Spanish-born Surrealist artist Salvador Dali, who reached his greatest acclaim while residing in neighboring France. (read more)

Music - 'Ring' toss

With an updated, American, feminist Wagner Ring at the War Memorial less than a year off now, San Franciscans might be tempted to check out its European equivalent, the Copenhagen Ring filmed in live performances at the wonderful new Royal Danish Opera House in 2006 (Decca, seven DVDs). (read more)