Stuart was unable to attend the fundraiser intended to pay for extra physical therapy. All the ambulances were tied up with the wild fires in Santa Barbara and Montecito Counties. Plus, the air quality sucked (from the fires) and it was really hot (the inside of One Institute apparently lacks air conditioning).
I got to the fundraiser at 3:00pm. All the seats on the floor were filled. I had to kneel/stand in the mezzanine, which was also fairly crowded. In fact, the joint was jammed, inside and out. There was an article publicizing the event in Saturday’s LA Times, and coverage on KPFK.
The speakers were mercifully concise, which is not always the case in this kind of event. Also, the self-aggrandizement on the part of the speakers was kept to a minimum; people seemed to definitely want to be of service to Stuart, which was heartwarming.
Joey Cain(?) and Chaz Mohl(?) from the organization in ‘Frisco set up to minister to Harry Hay and John Burnside announced they were donating the $5000 left over after John Burnside’s death.
I was most interested in Bill Rosendal’s (?) talk. He reminisced about his 50th birthday party, held in the early 90’s, soon after the death of his life-mate. Stuart suggested using the occasion as a memorial for his spouse, and as a fundraiser for Harry Hay and John Burnside. As Bill spoke, I flashed on my attendance of the event. While there, I bumped into the punk/folk singer Frank. I complimented her on her song, “I Don’t Feel Romantic About You”, which I felt was an unjustly neglected class pop song. She found a guitar and played it for me right there.
Bill continued on about how thrilled he is that the young queer generation has been activised by the passage of Prop 8, and how masterfully the recent demos have been orchestrated via the Internet.
He informs youngsters coming to him for strategic guidance that he’ll support them as best he can, but won’t tell them what to do. The torch is passed.
Bill pleaded reduced financial circumstances, but pledged to donate $500 to Stuart’s Physical Therapy fund. (I had given John’s & my check for $200 to Ed Metley, who was stationed at the table in the courtyard selling books by the various speakers).
Trebor Healey, a friend from Stuart’s last job, read an unpublished essay on the queer punk/leather scene in the Early ’80’s. It was centered on the One Way, a Silverlake bar offering East Side refuge from the oppressive West Hollywood Disco scene. “Sigh”. The good old days
Felice Picano read an unpublished bit of gossipy dish. The anecdote was structured as if it were being told to a Hollywood Producer friend of Felice’s. It was about the time Felice saved Warren Beatty from getting an unwanted blowjob in “Flamenco”, a trendy 1970’s Manhattan disco. When I visited Stuart today, I asked him if he’d heard that gossipy tidbit. He nodded yes. I offered the opinion it was odd that Felice bothered “saving” Warren Beatty. I guess Felice must have been feeling perversely virtuous.
Terry Decrenzo read an edited version of a published story about trying to get her domestic partner, Betty, checked in to Cedars-Sinai for cancer treatment. They were appalled to find that they were expected to choose between “Married” and “Single” in this hospital in the Gay Capitol of America. Betty refused to give either answer, and demanded to speak to 3 different hospital administrators. Finally, the 3rd administrator promised to correct the oversight if Betty would sign “single” just this one time. Betty reluctantly did so, and assumed that the matter was handled. Prompted by a more politically savvy friend, Betty found this was not the case. She was fighting the battle for institution recognition of her domestic partner status until her death.
Derek Ringold did an excerpt of a performance piece he’s developing excoriating his brethren in the black community for helping pass Prop 8 even as they voted for Obama.
Each speaker introduced the next. Derek introduced Michael Kearns as his director on the performance piece Derek had just excerpted.
Michael did a reading of a monologue from the play “Jerker”. It was about one phone sex partner wishing he could take his friend on the other end of the line to a magical fairy tail kingdom where they could overcome various sorts of quest-time dangers and end up in a magic castle where they lived happily ever after.
Terry Wolverton read a short, touching poem about how it’s easy to bless the good in life but much more challenging to give thanks for the bad stuff, even though that’s part of life too, and should, I guess, be blessed as such.
Malcom Boyd read a poem by W. H. Auden, “September 1, 1939. The climax of the poem was, “We must love one another or die”.
Lee Metley gave a pitch for visiting Stuart at SunRay. He said visitors should do their best to raise Stuart’s spirits. One of Lee’s strategies for this was to wear outrageous hats. He then donned one of his favorite hats, black with a wide rim covered with plastic eyeballs, called “Here’s Looking At You”.