UPDATE: The Pre-show Reception is a private event, by invitation only. RSVP required. If you have tickets to see Avenue Q at the PAC, contact Identity for information about the invitations.
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It's finally here! Avenue Q is a hilarious, risque and thought-provoking Broadway show with positive gay content, and it's live at the Anchorage Performing Arts Center on January 21-27, 2011. There's even a GLBT mixer on opening night, for community members with tickets:
Join the LGBT community before the show for drinks and hors d'oeuvres at the PAC's Sydney Lawrence Theatre, on Friday January 21 from 6-7:45 p.m. This free event is sponsored by the Concert Association with Mad Myrna's and South. Come mingle with friends, then enjoy the show.
Bent Alaska first posted about Avenue Q almost a year ago, when the Anchorage Concert Association's 2010-2011 season was announced. It's wonderful that Anchorage will get to see this award-winning and gay-inclusive show! My partner and I saw Avenue Q several years ago on vacation in the lower 48 and we loved it. If you haven't seen it yet, see it now. (And if you saw it years ago, see it again with your Anchorage friends.)
Note: Avenue Q is a show for adults and includes scenes with puppets having sex, drinking, swearing and surfing the web for porn. ACA recommends the show only for ages 15 and up.
Tickets for Avenue Q are available online through Center-Tix HERE. Don't miss it!
The earlier post included a video of the song If You Were Gay. This time we'll post the theme song, It Sucks To Be Me, performed by the original Broadway cast:
Cheryl Wheeler writes folk music and love songs that have been performed by many other singers, for example Dan Seals and Chris LeDoux. But she's also known for her comedy songs, including humorous ditties about potatoes, politics and religion. From "Dubya, Dubya" to "Lady Gaga's Singing Program" and "Your God", she entertains audiences with funny stories and songs in between the love and folk songs.
Cheryl and her wife Cathleen were married in 2004:
Since Cheryl lives in Massachusetts, she and Cathleen were able to get married. Cheryl's sister flew up for the ceremony. When talking about the experience during her shows, Cheryl has mentioned that they are both surprised how different they feel now that they are married. They had assumed it wouldn't make that much difference (other than legal issues), but have come to find out that being married really does make a difference.
Watch a music video of Aces, a classic Cheryl Wheeler song:
October 20 is Spirit Day, when people all over the country are wearing purple to bring attention to anti-LGBT bullying and to commemorate the youth who lost their lives because of anti-LGBT prejudice.
The idea spread on Facebook, where millions of people have committed to wear purple today. Many are turning their profile picture purple and devoting their status message to stop anti-gay harassment and celebrate diversity:
It's been decided. On October 20th, 2010, we will wear purple in honor of the gay boys who committed suicide in recent weeks/months due to homophobic abuse in their homes and at their schools.
Purple represents Spirit on the LGBTQ flag and that's exactly what we'd like all of you to have with you: spirit. Please know that times will get better and that you will meet people who will love you and respect you for who you are, no matter your sexuality.
Please wear purple on October 20th. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors and schools.
RIP Tyler Clementi, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Justin Aaberg, Raymond Chase and Billy Lucas. You are loved.
This is not only for these 6 young men, but for all teenagers who have lost their lives due to bullying and abuse.
In this It Gets Better video, Broadway stars rock out in a celebration of life, in the wake of LGBT suicides across the nation:
Lady Gaga released a video message urging fans to contact their U.S. senators before Tuesday's cloture vote on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal.
Her message for her two senators:
"I'm a constituent of the senator and my name is... Lady GaGa. I am calling to ask the senator to vote with Senators Harry Reid and Carl Levin to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and oppose John McCain's shameless filibuster. We need to do this for our gay and lesbian soldiers and finally repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and leave messages for Senator Murkowski and Senator Begich to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"!
If the voice mail is full, call Sen. Murkowski at 202-224-6665 and call Sen. Begich at 202-224-3004.
Did you know that 25 years ago this month the Four A's was formed as an all volunteer agency that took helpline calls from volunteers' living rooms about the new epidemic called AIDS?
For the next year, we will be celebrating and recognizing the incredible support we've received from the community for the past 25 years. This will include a marketing campaign taking a look at the past 25 years of HIV/AIDS in Alaska to illustrate how far we've come from those beginning days and culminate in a celebration event in February of 2011. Stay tuned for more as we kick off this 25th Anniversary Adventure!
"Did You Know" Fact:
The Alaska Department of Epidemiology announced the first three cases of AIDS in Alaska in August of 1983.
Watch for more 25th Anniversary "Did You Know" Facts in e-mails, our Facebook page and on our website throughout the year! Who knows, there might be a pop quiz...
Don't forget the Arctic Siren's Cabaret on Friday, September 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the Snow Goose Theater. Tickets are $15 and proceeds of this fantastic show will benefit the Four A's!
The Ray Boltz concert in Anchorage was a hit with LGBT fans and mainstream Christians - but not with Jerry Prevo, who warned his flock to avoid the free concert and wrote a column attacking gay Christians, calling Boltz an "ex-Christian" with "deadly secrets". Boltz took the high road and answered the hate with a new song about love:
"I will choose to love, though they shake their fists at me. And I will be myself with you, living authenticity. Though they wrap their hatred in a message from above, I will choose to love."
Amen to that.
In June, Bent reported that Ray Boltz was coming to Anchorage and posted his hit song "Don't Tell Me Who to Love", featured in a video for marriage equality. Meanwhile, Prevo warned his followers about the concert in a special all-caps "BEWARE" message, and explained in the ABT bulletin why Christians should not attend the concert of one of their favorite Christian singers:
"Many of us are familiar with such Christian songs as "Thank You" and "Watch the Lamb" written by Ray Boltz. For years, Mr. Boltz performed before numerous crowds and churches, singing and preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He sold over 4.5 million records before retiring from Christian music. Why did he retire?"
Prevo is very familiar with the song "Thank You" - in fact, his congregation chose the Boltz song as their special tribute to Prevo when they celebrated his 38 years of spreading fear and hate against gays. Oops! Boltz had already come out, but ABTers are notoriously behind the times.
"In December of 2004, Boltz revealed to Carol, his wife of 30 years, and his four children that he was a homosexual. Since that time, he has divorced his wife in lieu of his settling into his new-found lifestyle."
Carol writes a blog in support of gay Christians, and gives advice to their former spouses. She also manages Ray's website, and weeds out the hate mail from people like Prevo. Boltz lives with his male partner, as an honest gay man whose family loves and accepts him. He performs at gay-friendly churches around the country, and the tickets are often free.
"How does this happen? Paul gives us a look into this phenomenon. "For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Tim 3:2-5). These are the religious people; these are the ones who exist in the community of believers; these are the ones who exhibit a "form of godliness."
Do you think he has a special grudge against gay Christians? Blasphemers, traitors, brutal - he aims that whole list of sins at gay people of faith, just because they tell the truth about how God created them and continue to believe that God loves them. Prevo hates that truth.
"How hopeless can it be to know the truth and deny the power of that truth? How can we go through the motions day after day, coming to church, and even involved in ministry, yet "denying the sovereign Lord who bought us?" (2 Peter 2:1) "They profess to know God, but in works deny Him" (Titus 1:16). Jude wrote "They have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah" (v.11)."
Actually, these quotes apply perfectly to preachers who sell hate-for-profit disguised as religion. Just sayin'.
"Only an individual and God can know what deadly secrets he/she keeps. Don't let them have power over you like Cain's hatred for Abel (Gen. 4:7). Having a clear understanding of doctrine, attending church, and working in the ministry are vital to the Christian life, but they can also be counterfeited to fit a religious form. Jesus did not say the good branch sits faithfully in pews; He said, "It abides." This is revealed in a continual desire to draw near to God, the expression of obedience, and a hatred for sin. Nothing would be more tragic than to say those hopeless words, "Did we not prophecy in your Name?" to the Lord who never knew you."
Being gay is a "deadly" secret? Yes, says Prevo, a secret that will lead to the murder of good Christian Abels who are taken in by the "counterfeit" gay Christians.
THAT is HATE.
Hate laced with the threat of violence. Don't let them have power over you like Cain... don't let them murder you with their deadly secrets... defend yourself and your family... kill them first.
Crazy dangerous hate.
Why does Prevo hate Ray Boltz so violently? He should be happy that Boltz continues to believe and has not abandoned the church.
Prevo hates Boltz because he knows that when Christians hear a believer they respect singing heartfelt songs about being gay and knowing God's love, they will forget to be afraid of him and will be touched by the truth and humanity of his music.
And when they stop fearing gays, they won't pay Prevo to protect them from a non-existent threat.
Try it for yourself. Watch the video below and the other videos from the local concert, and see if his songs move you. "Who Would Jesus Love" from the new album True is especially appropriate for Anchorage in the aftermath of the ordinance.
"Would He only love the ones who look the same as me? Would He only offer hope when He saw similarity? Would he leave the others waiting like a stranger at the gate? Would He discriminate? Tell me, who would Jesus love?"
The following video opens with photos of his Alaska visit set to "Don't Tell Me Who to Love", then switches to the concert. Boltz tells about coming out to his supportive family, and sings the new song "I Will Choose to Love." (The song starts around 4:20 and it's worth waiting for.)
The haters in Anchorage need to hear this message, even more than the gays and allies do. I hope a few disobeyed Prevo and went to this incredible concert. Perhaps they will also choose love.
Mad Myrna's, the new KFAT 92.9, and Alaska Airlines have teamed up to send two lucky Alaskans to Lady Gaga's Monster Ball concert in Tacoma, Washington.
Everyone who comes to Mad Myrna's on the next four Saturday nights will qualify for a chance to win round trip tickets for two to Lady Gaga's August 21 concert at the Tacoma Dome. Double your chances by showing up at Myrna's dressed as Lady Gaga!
Go GaGa starts on July 17 from 8-10 p.m. at Mad Myrna's, 530 E 5th Avenue in downtown Anchorage, and continues every Saturday night until the grand finale on August 7.
Several great events are happening this weekend, with two on Sunday: the Ray Boltz (Gay/Christian) Concert at MCC, and the Seven Deadly Sins Dinner at Mad Myrna's... an interesting coincidence. On Saturday, the Comedy Hypnosis Show returns to Myrna's. On Friday, the "Life's a Drag" show in Juneau is a benefit for Four A's and the ICOAA.
Next weekend's events are also listed, including the Brandi Carlile concerts in Anchorage and Fairbanks, and the Pride Picnic in Juneau.
To get the LGBT events as a weekly email newsletter, subscribe to Alaska GLBT News.
Juneau
"Life's a Drag" show and flogger making party 7/9, 8:30 p.m. at the Rendezvous Bar, $10 benefit for Four A's & the ICOAA.
SEAGLA Social Fridays (6-8 p.m.) for GLBT people and our friends over 21, at The Jaded Lounge.
SEAGLA and PFLAG Annual Pride Picnic, 7/17, 4-8 p.m. at Skater's Cabin.
Fairbanks
Brandi Carlile concert at The Blue Loon, Thursday 7/15, 8 p.m. Tickets HERE.
Angry, Young & Poor 2010, 7/17 noon-midnight, a (gay-friendly) music event at Ester Community Park.
ICOAA Ducal Ball XVIII: The Duck Awards, Pioneer Park, 7/17, doors at 7 p.m. show at 8. $15 for food and show.
Mat-Su Valley
Coyote Gardens Open Garden 7/17 from 10-5 and 7/18 from noon-4, garden tours by Les and Jerry to raise funds for The Alaska Rock Garden Society and the Willow Garden Club.
Mat-Su LGBT Community Center in Palmer is open M-F 5-8 p.m. (except 6-8 on Wed.) The social group meets Wednesdays, 5-6 p.m. at Vagabond Blues.
Anchorage
EverReady plays the Bear Paw Festival in Eagle River, 7/10, 1:00p.m.
Comedy Hypnosis (Summer Hump) Show 7/10, 9-10:30 p.m. at Mad Myrna's. Tickets HERE.
Seven Deadly Sins 3.0, on 7/11 at 5:30p.m., Mad Myrna's. Tickets $25 in advance for the 7 course meal and entertainment. Proceeds to benefit NE2010 and Identity Inc. Tickets HERE.
Ray Boltz is performing in Anchorage on July 11 - and the concert is FREE! Yes, that's right, you can hear this acclaimed gay singer perform for free by registering HERE before they run out of tickets.
Ray Boltz sold over 4.5 million records and was the recipient of two Dove awards before coming out as a gay man and retiring from Christian music. After a five year break from the stage, Boltz recorded True, with songs about same-sex marriage ("Don't Tell Me Who to Love"), bias crimes ("Swimming Hole"), and the conservative claim of a gay 'agenda' ("Following Her Dreams").
In several of the songs on True, Boltz tries to reconcile being gay with his Christian faith.
"I don't believe God hates me anymore," said Boltz in an interview with the New York Times. "I always thought if people knew the true me, they'd be disgusted, and that included God. But for all the doubts, there's this new belief that God accepts me and created me, and there's peace."
Both Bolz and his ex-wife Carol have been vilified by religious extremists for becoming LGBT advocates. She manages his website and blogs her support at My Heart Goes Out.
Mrs. Boltz also realizes better than anyone how many former fans vehemently object. She fields the e-mail messages that pour into the Web site, the ones that say, "We will be destroying all your cds cassettes etc immediately" and "Instead of converting to man-love, why not goat love?"
Ugh. Sounds like something Prevo would say. So if you enjoy gay-themed songs or contemporary Christian music, go to this free concert and support Ray Boltz in his return to the stage as an openly-gay man. And bring your straight Christian friends and relatives! They need to hear his message as much as LGBT people do.
The Anchorage concert is sponsored by the Metropolitan Community Church (MCCA) and St. Mary's Episcopal Church. For more on Boltz and his tour with another recently out singer Azariah Southworth, visit the Living True tour.
Christian singer Jennifer Knapp returned from a seven year break with a new cd Letting Go, a new tour, and a new honesty about herself - she's both a Christian and a lesbian.
It hasn't been easy for Knapp. Many have condemned her, and she was forced to debate her soul on Larry King Live. But others have embraced her and created Facebook pages to show their support, including this one by an Anchorage fan who hopes to bring Knapp to Alaska for a concert.
Here is an acoustic performance of Dive In recorded before a show in February 2010 in Tennessee:
Lesbian singer Ann Reed returns to Anchorage for a concert on Saturday May 22, at 7:30 pm in the Wilda Marston Theater at Loussac Library. Tickets are $22 in advance/ $25 at the door, order through her site or call 1-800-947-9180.
Considering her decades of performing, she should have plenty of videos, but there are none on her website. YouTube only has poor-sound-quality clips of her concert with the Twin Cities Women's Choir in February 2010, and this 1996 video of Hole in the Day. The sound is ok, but the visuals stop half way through.
Listen to Ann Reed's Hole In The Day:
At her Anchorage concert in the mid 1990's, Ann sang new-at-the-time songs and classics, like the funny parody Power Tools (are a Girl's Best Friend),Heroes, about the famous women who influenced her, and Life Gets Real, a song about turning 40.
So far this year, Latin pop star Ricky Martin came out, then Christian singer Jennifer Knapp came out, then country western singer Chely Wright (known for her hit song "Single White Female") came out - 2010 may be the year for singers with conservative audiences to come out of the closet and tell their fans that they already know and admire someone gay or lesbian and it's no big deal.
Wasn't k.d. lang was the first openly lesbian country music artist? Well, Chely's great and we should invite her to Anchorage for a book signing and concert. Alaskans love country music!
Check out Chely's website with her new cd Lifted Off the Ground and her book Like Me.
Alaskan audiences will enjoy openly lesbian singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile in two local concerts during her Give Up the Ghost tour: July 15 at The Blue Loon in Fairbanks, and July 16 at the Discovery Theater in Anchorage.
Give Up the Ghost, Carlile's third album, features collaborations with Elton John and with Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls. Her music covers pop, rock, alternative country, indie and folk. Songs from her second album, The Story, were featured on the TV show Grey's Anatomy, and she was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Give Up the Ghost.
Watch her new video of the catchy tune Dying Day:
Although she's been involved in Seattle's lesbian community for years, Carlile came out to the media in an October 2009 interview with the Los Angeles Times:
She discovered rock music, through Elton John, an artist whom she calls "my greatest hero of all time." Much to her amazement, John became her duet partner on her new album, collaborating with Carlile on the "Honky Chateau"-style rambler "Caroline." He's one of several prominent guests who appear on "Give Up the Ghost," including Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and her "childhood hero and dearest friend" Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls. Carlile has something more personal in common with John: She is gay. But unlike her idol, who suffered many travails in his long trip out of the closet, she feels that her sexuality has neither helped nor hindered her. "I don't think it factors in to the way people relate to the lyrics," she said.
Then she did an in-depth interview with Out.com, which describes her as having "a walloping, from-the-gut voice that shreds through songs like it's some kind of singing chainsaw."
You've cited Freddie Mercury, k.d. lang, the Indigo Girls, and Elton John as some of your favorites -- and they're all gay. How does it feel to know that someone might call you a role model because you're gay?
Well, when I was at the age that I found them, they were gay role models just like I hope that somewhere in the world a teenager is able to look to me and my records in the same way. I hope that they're able to say the same thing about me from a place of success and from a place of acceptance as a part of society, instead of oppression. I hope that they're able to look to me and say that I was a role model and helped them get somewhere that makes happy with themselves, because my role models helped me get to where I'm happy with myself.
Before you confirmed you were a lesbian to the Los Angeles Times, your sexuality had been a mystery to some people. What does your sexuality being no big deal say about the progress that we're making as a society?
I was just talking with Amy Ray about this before the Times interview came out, because I had heard from my publicist that I was going to get to talk to Out. Anyway, she was talking about the leaps and bounds that we've made as a community -- not that we don't have a long way to go -- and how much harder it was then when the Indigo Girls were coming out. And I could see by talking to her that they -- along with k.d. and Melissa, Ellen, Elton John, and Freddie Mercury -- really laid it out on the line and demanded nothing short of acceptance from people. I believe that if you asked them why they did it, they would tell you that they did it to be included, so for the generations to come there would be a real shot to walk through the world, including this industry. The truth is -- I'm living proof of that. Those people are the way-pavers, and the best way for me to thank them is to take my place in the world seriously and live honestly.
So, no one ever asked you to keep it on the down-low? It just never came up?
No, never. No one ever asked me to keep it on the down-low. I spent a few days in New York City with Amy around the release of her record, and I saw her doing all these interviews for gay publications. That's the first time the light bulb went on in my head, and I was like, "Wait a minute, do these people want to talk to me?" [Laughs.]
I read somewhere that you're dating a cop -- is that true?
Well ... it is. I don't like to talk about that. I don't talk about my relationship because my partner didn't really make the decision to be part of my craziness. Cops need to have their privacy. [Laughs.]
You've met a couple of your idols -- the Indigo Girls and Elton John. But I understand you want to meet Ellen DeGeneres and perform on her show.
Oh yeah, I would love to meet Ellen. She's very special to me. I've always been a fan of Ellen, since she was doing stand-up -- before I knew she was gay. My parents knew I was a huge fan of Ellen back in the day, when I was a teenager. I think that's when they started to worry. [Laughs.] I remember I taped her coming out episode and I had it on VHS hidden with all my other tapes with a fake label on it that said "David's Softball Game."
When did you actually tell them?
When I was 15. I've been out for a long time.
What was it like meeting and working with Elton John on "Caroline"?
It was amazing, and I was so nervous about it and so full of things to say that were going to be really profound and really exciting because Elton influenced me in so many ways, personally and musically. And when I came around the corner and he was sitting there in that room and I saw him, I couldn't think of a single one of them. But I was very pleased that he was wearing hot pink sunglasses. All I ever wanted was to sit in a room with Elton John when he's wearing hot pink sunglasses.
You recently did a video for Borders where you went around the store and picked out your favorite albums and books. What else interests you?
I spend a lot of time fishing. I'm a fisherman -- a fisherwoman. I watch the Food Network and I try to cook all the things on there. I'm a food enthusiast.
Maybe that's how they got her tour to include Alaska - during the mid-July salmon runs!
In 2008, Carlile created The Looking Out Foundation to provide financial support to various causes that she believes in. The Looking Out Foundation provides grants to Reverb (a non-profit environmental organization), the American Diabetes Association, and Honor The Earth, as well as numerous other organizations. Brandi also donates one dollar from every concert ticket sale to the foundation.
In January of 2010, Carlile's Looking Out Foundation partnered with the Seattle Police Department, the Indigo Girls and two local Seattle self-defense studios to fund and support the Fight the Fear Campaign. The campaign was inspired by the assault on a local Seattle woman and her partner in their South Park home and will provide free self-defense lessons to women in at-risk communities throughout 2010.
