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Monday, 30 August 2010 00:59 |
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He outed Carrie Fisher as a member of his AA group, told how his most famous character was based on his mom’s church friend, and called Betty White the “c” word. Leslie Jordan, best known as Will and Grace’s Beverley Leslie, kept attendees rolling with laughter as the surprise entertainer at yesterday’s 21st annual Garden Party.
More than 350 people attended the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland’s largest yearly fundraiser. A celebration of the organization’s 35th year, the event took over the fabulous Hunting Valley property of benefactors Bill Edwards and Ron Bailey.
As guests dined on tasty fare from Bob Sferra, Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman handled auctioneer duties with aplomb. In a stunning twist, longtime Center staff members Mary Zaller and Mary Prevel announced their departures. They’ll be missed.
Check out the Marys, Leslie Jordan and the rest of the action with this Spangle-exclusive photo gallery.
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Wednesday, 25 August 2010 00:59 |
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Hard to believe it, but the fall theater season kicks off in just a matter of weeks. After a summer of outdoor shows, all the drama soon moves inside, where a packed schedule promises to fill your fall and winter nights.
Season tickets are already on sale, and they’re a great way to save. But are they worth your hard-earned, Great Recession dollars?
We took a look at the seasons of each of the major theater companies. You’ll find our Spangle-exclusive ratings below so you can fill your calendar early.
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Friday, 20 August 2010 00:27 |
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LGBT Community Center benefactors Bill Edwards and Ron Bailey recently finished renovations on their gorgeous home in Hunting Valley — and you’re among the very first to be invited to check it out.
Edwards and Bailey, who in the past year have helped the Center raise $94,000 through matching grants, will welcome some 300 guests to their house as hosts of this year’s Garden Party. And you can still join in the fun next Saturday, August 29 — but hurry, ticket prices go up after today.
Mary Zaller, the Center’s development associate, tells us attendees will cross a one-lane bridge to find a 17-acre private lake that’s so large it has four islands, all part of industrialist Courtney Burton’s estate. He was chairman of the iron-ore firm Oglebay Norton Co., mayor of Gates Mills, and, ironically, a major player in the Republican Party.
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Written by Brian Patrick Thornton
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Friday, 27 August 2010 00:29 |
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Since when did we get bumped to the D-List of scapegoats?
Back in the good old days, any national election could be counted to bring out the Republican talk of the Dirty Gays. Who can forget 2004, when same-sex-marriage-ban ballot initiatives in 11 states were rolled out as a way of ginning up the conservative base and thus reelecting W. Bush?
But yesterday, one of the architects of that plan, Ken Mehlman, came bursting out of the closet at age 44. So much of a shrug is it that the former chair of the Republican National Committee is a ‘mo that apparently his former boss, Georgie W., and his wife, Laura, were incredibly supportive.
For a while, it seemed you could fire up the base by bringing up the Dark Storm of the Gay. (Marriage, adoption, converting kids in preschool, you name it — we were the reliable boogeyman.)
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Written by Maria Miranda
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Monday, 23 August 2010 00:50 |
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There is a quiet crisis afoot.
ADAP, or AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, provide life-sustaining medication to low-income persons living with HIV/AIDS. Starting on July 1, severe cuts were made to the Ohio HIV Drug Assistance Program (OHDAP) to plug a projected $16.4 million deficit. Despite measures to hemorrhage the bleeding, there is a $5-7 million dollar and growing funding gap — and that translates from dollar signs to human lives. If this gap is not addressed, funding for the entire OHDAP program could run out by January 2011.
The cries for help in the ADAP crisis are being drowned out by pundits and armchair politicos who are up in arms about Proposition 8. We have HRC and others pounding on Target’s front door demanding … what? An apology? A check? Some sort of shameful admission of wrong-doing? Somewhere in this mix, we have The Patriotic Gays who love their country so much that they want to die for it in the military, but the military doesn’t want them.
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Written by Brian Patrick Thornton
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Wednesday, 18 August 2010 00:18 |
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(Brace yourselves: This is about to be a super-serious intro to a story that includes Thurston Howell III and a man affectionately referred to as "little buddy.")
When the HIV/AIDS pandemic exploded, the theater community responded. Whether it was Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS producing a multimillion-dollar benefit or local actors raising spirits in a hospice, performers have stepped forward to assist as they could.
Northeast Ohio is part of that effort. For nine years, one group of Northeast Ohio actors, directors and designers has teamed up, offered their services and produced an annual two-night benefit performance to raise funds for the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland and the Community AIDS Network in Akron.
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