Show time!

Saturday morning E and I fly to New York City for eight days of theatre (11 shows). Our theatre schedule is:
- Pig Farm (July 1, 7:30 pm)
- Sweeney Todd (July 2, 2 pm)
- Jacques Brel is Alive and Well... (July 2, 7 pm)
- Spamalot (July 3, 8 pm)
- The History Boys (July 4, 8 pm)
- The Lieutenant of Inishmore (July 5, 2 pm)
- Faith Healer (July 5, 8 pm)
- The Color Purple (July 6, 8 pm)
- Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (July 7, 8 pm)
- Spring Awakening (July 8, 2 pm)
- Drowsy Chaperone (July 8, 8 pm)

See you in the aisle.

Out with the kids

Late last week we decided to take the two grade school kids to San Francisco for Pride Weekend. E spent a couple hours researching hotels on the internet to find one that could accommodate our needs based on price, location and availability. He found a good one at Galleria Park Hotel.

We packed our bags and took Caltrain to the City after work on Friday. From the train station we caught a bus that dropped us off a block from the hotel. After checking in, we hiked through Chinatown to North Beach and had dinner at an Italian restaurant, Trattoria Pinocchio.

Saturday morning we had brunch at Perry’s. We then walked over to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to see the new exhibition called Matthew Barney: DRAWING RESTRAINT. We all decided that it was very strange. Sculptures/conceptual art made from petroleum jelly and other assorted stuff was crazy. E told the kids if they made this kind of art at home then they better be prepared to clean it up. Drawing on walls and spilling stuff on the floor was not acceptable. From there we walked to AT&T Park to see the Giants play. It was a great game against the across the bay rivals, the Oakland A’s. Barry Bonds hit a home run #719 and the Giants came back from behind in the bottom of the 9th inning with a Ray Durham 2-run homer. After the game we caught a trolley to Pier 39 and shopped and watched the street performers. Dinner was at a fantastic French bistro, Café Claude. The kids had Coq Au Vin and Pommes Frites. We had the Truite aux Amandes.

Sunday we were up early. We made our way down to our assigned starting area for the Pride Parade. We marched with Congregation Sha'ar Zahav. This was the kids third Pride Parade in four years. It is great fun. Afterwards we walked around the Pride Festival and had lunch. We took the 5 pm train back home.

4…3…2…1

The last couple weeks of “life on the town” has consisted of the following:
Four baseball games;
The San Francisco Giants are not playing well. They are in third place in their division.

Three operas, each one better then the last:
* The Maid of Orleans (Joan of Arc) – Tchaikovsky
* The Marriage of Figaro – Mozart
* Madama Butterfly – Puccini

Two obscure musicals. Both were interesting productions:
* john & jen - Andrew Lippa, Tom Greenwald
* Happy End - Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill

and One high school graduation!

Happy 1st Anniversary

One year ago we were married in a religious ceremony. We publicly committed our bond and love with our family and friends. We also affirmed the ground-breaking stand Reform Judaism has taken that same-sex unions are holy and valid.

May the time be not too distant that our state and federal governments understand and act to assure the fundamental right to marry for all Americans.

Happy Father's Day

Easy Activism – Urge Governor Schwarzenegger to Support Bias-Free Curriculum Bill

From Equality California (EQCA): Once again we are calling on you to take action to urge Governor Schwarzenegger to reconsider his misguided plan to veto SB 1437, a bill authored by Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) and sponsored by Equality California, to ensure inclusive and bias-free curriculum in California schools.

All students will suffer at the hands of a governor who is either uninformed about what the bill does or is pandering to the far right wing in an election year. The governor needs to hear from thousands of fair-minded Californians like you who support an inclusive and bias-free curriculum.

Governor Schwarzenegger has set up an automated phone system for this bill, pro and con, and it takes about 15 seconds to record your support. Here’s how to call:
· CALL the governor's office at (916) 445-2841
· Press 1 for English
· Press 2 for legislation
· Press 1 for SB 1437
· Press 1 to support it!
· All done. You are now an activist.

Disgusted with Macys

My letter to Macys sent to over a dozen key corporate people. The store pulled the mannequins when wingnuts complained that they were gay and offensive. See details and comments at Towleroad (http://towleroad.typepad.com/towleroad/2006/06/macys_removes_g.html).

Dear Macys:

I am appalled and disappointed to see that Macys feels
that it is important to kowtow to religious bigots and
hate mongers. (Macys removes gay mannequins from
Boston Pride window display.) I don’t understand why
Macys believes that giving in to gay bashers is a
benefit to the community.

Would you honor the requests of community wackos that
attacked and question the legitimacy of
African-Americans, Asians, or Hispanics? Would you do
the same for writers making anti-Semitic or racist
comments?

Will you next be removing Black mannequins? Mannequins
with foreign undocumented features? Single unwed women
mannequins with mannequin children?

I expect a higher standard of Macys than pandering to
the cowardly demands of small minded people.

Ed J----

San Diego

We made a quick trip down to San Diego this last weekend. Our main reason for going was to get out of town and to cheer on a good friend who was running his first marathon at the San Diego Rock-n-Roll Marathon. We also used it as an opportunity to visit some family and friends. My sister and her husband had us over for dinner in La Jolla on Friday night. Two great friends of ours drove a couple hours to have dinner with us in Hillcrest on Saturday evening.

When we travel, we make it a point to try to patronize and stay at gay owned businesses. We booked a room at a place in the middle of the gay district, Hillcrest, called the Hillcrest Inn. The place advertises itself as “location, location, location … our most obvious asset.” That was its only asset. It is basically a transient hotel that saves a few rooms for unsuspecting gays. I would not recommend it but was convenient for the weekend.

A good portion of the weekend was spent walking. We explored from one end of Hillcrest to the other. Friday night we walked all around the area checking out the different gay nightlife (clubs & bars). The area seemed almost as large and lively as the Castro in SF. We stayed out until 2am! Saturday morning we walked to Balboa Park and visited the San Diego Zoo. The new Monkey Trails exhibit was our favorite.

Sunday we were up early (6 am) to see the start of the Rock’n’Roll Marathon. Our friend was one of about 20,000 runners that morning. We missed seeing him at the 1-mile marker. Everyone was too bunched up. We did see him at the mile-10 marker. Interesting, that location was the San Diego Frontrunners’ water station. They were celebrating their 25th birthday. From there, we then walked across Hillcrest, Mission Hills, and parts of Old Town to the finish line on the Parade Deck at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Point Loma. After congratulating him on his accomplishment (4:37 time) we then hiked back to Hillcrest. We met him, his partner and his mother for dinner on Coronado Island. We flew back Monday morning. We had a great time.

Fabulous and amazing

I am 48 years old. Madonna is 47. I never paid much attention to her through out the ‘80’s and ‘90’s. I was too busy with my career, being married to woman, raising kids and keeping up our house. It wasn’t until in the early 2000’s that I even bought a CD of hers. A good friend suggested we get tickets. I have not been to a large concert in probably ten years. I thought it would be fun.

Oh my god, Madonna was amazing. And what a fabulous show! We had tickets last night at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. They were the cheap seats ($95.00!?!) up in the far corner of the multi-purpose sports arena. The sound SUCKS up there. You could not understand the vocals and the whole middle range was absent. All you can hear is the thump of the base and a few high notes. Fortunately, her live shows are not about the music. Visually it was a feast. It had gorgeous lighting, special effects staging, video production, and choreography. Even if you don’t consider all the wonderful modern technology, her utilization of entrances, exits, ramps, traps and turntables was marvelous.

Madonna’s dancers are incredible. Our favorite is the guy on the right of her in the picture. For many of the numbers he wears gray pants with a big arrow stenciled on his bottom. When he is done dancing with the tour, we would consider hiring him as an adult Au Pair.