LookOut

by Tim Brookover

DEUTSCHLAND, GO INTO YOUR DANCE

If you recognize that line, you are jazzed, too, about the impending arrival of The Producers. Put it in your Palm Pilot and plan to snag tickets early: The Mel Brooks musical (pictured, Don Stephenson and chorus) will run February 3–22, 2004. For more on the Broadway in Houston season, which includes the ingenious Urinetown, check out www.broadwayacrossamerica.com. Photo by Paul Kolnik

SHE CAN TURN BACK TIME

The glamorous Jessica Van Shelton, featured in last month’s issue as one of our Pride portraits, will present her much-anticipated Cher Extravaganza: A One-Man Show on Saturday, July 12, at EJ’s. The Imperial Court of Houston–The Space City Empire co-presents the show, in which Van Shelton will appear as the diva through the years. The evening will benefit PAWS (Pets Are Wonderful Support) Houston.

YOUTH MOVEMENT

On July 25 and 26, Justin Frazier, Ranma Kuma, Lee Longoria, Tara-Marie Martinez, and Sylvestre Rodriguez will give a multimedia performance, Turned Up Volume: Houston, at DiverseWorks. These members of H.A.T.C.H. (Houston Area Teen Coalition of Homosexuals) will have participated in a 10-day workshop led by New York video artists Barbara Bickart and Kevin Santos. Appropriate for this Independence Day season in wartime, their performance piece will address the question, “What does it mean to be a red, white, and blue queer?”

GOOD WORKS

For the second year, comedian Vicki Shaw will perform at the Extra Mile Awards brunch presented by the local chapter of An Uncommon Legacy. This Texas gal is a stitch. Here is a quip from her website, www.vickyshaw.com: “Vicky Shaw is to comedy what Mary Kay is to cosmetics . . . cheap but looks good in the dark!” Chree Boydstun and Janine Brunjes co-chair the August 3 event.

Jeff Roeske organized Taboo, an April 24 evening at Swank, the downtown bar, which benefited the Houston GLBT Community Center. Nikolai Alexeev, Nakia Keys, and David Klotz also helped put together the event. Roeske reports that once the downtown construction mess resolves, he hopes to resume Taboo nights.

Two of the community’s big fund-raising parties, the February 22 Krewe of Olympus Ball and the April 20 Bunnies on the Bayou, each raised $35,000 for local organizations.

SPEAK OUT, LOUISE!

Several years ago, friend and OutSmart contributor Deb Murphy introduced me to the term fellow traveler to indicate non-gay allies and friends of the community. Two individuals, both gifted poets in the news this month, fit that description.

On July 8, Sarah L. Crowder releases her new chapbook of poetry and prose, The Turnip Made Me Do It, available through her website, www.perverseosmosis.com. She will also have copies at the Friday, July 11, In Our Own Write reading at the Houston GLBT Community Center. Crowder will be the featured poet.

Like Crowder, skilled poetry slammer Rasul Zarinfar regularly appears at the monthly community center readings organized by their chum Thomas Blanton. Zarinfar is a member of the four-person local team prepping for the August 6–9 National Poetry Slam competition in Chicago.

AVAST, YE MATEY

Scott Craig is ready to launch his new Scotland Yard Adventure Club with a sunset cruise of Galveston Bay aboard the Captain Kidd, a replica 19th-century pirate ship. Buccaneers will set sail from Kemah on Saturday, August 9. For his club, Craig (formerly co-coordinator of the Rainbow Fishing Club) promises “parasailing, hang gliding, and other thrills!” You off-road types can contact Craig at 832/971-4900 or scotlandyardadvenureclub@hotmail.com. I will just sit here on the veranda with a cold beverage, thank you.

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