And of course, the other performers!  All the usuals were phenomenal: Raya, Suppositori, Rahni, Garza and Farrokh (whose number really was delightful, especially the twist at the end).  And then there were the vets who really pulled it out.  Oh, and Artist.  Dear, Artist.

Here’s video of our number — I think someone else took video with a more profesh camera, so I’ll post that if/when I see it:

And some backstage photos (I insisted on some cheesy poses):

(the last one is with some CODEPINK friends I met a couple weeks ago.  photo courtesy of Infinity.)

Oh, and I need to share a little Halloween miracle that also proves a point: The Israeli flag you see in the video I found at Thrift Town on Friday afternoon for $3.99.  I was really trying to find a little black and white number to match the one I already had, but was having no luck.  I wanted American and Israeli flags, but I was resigned to making them since I didn’t expect to find an Israeli flag in a day.  Then, on a whim, I looked at the area where there are flags and fabrics.  Lo and behold.  The moral of the story?  At Thrift Town, if you’re really desperate, it will deliver exactly what you need.  I don’t normally endorse brands like this, but I’m serious.  I one time needed a tambourine.  I was in the shoe section and dropped something, and when I bent down to pick it up, there was a tambourine under the shoe rack.  I kid you not.  The other moral?  If there is a God, she’s anti-zionist and wants me to have the props I need.

Anyway…

Later that night, I ditched my imperialist drag for my real costume: Bee Arthur!  (Get it?  Some people got it right away.  Some people never got it.  Two people thought I was Mrs. Doubtfire in a bee costume.)  Ed and Ryan and Julie and Ellie and Jesse had a phenomenal party, though mama drank a little more of her $4 wine than she should’ve.  Oops.  I did, however, walk all the way from the Castro to 18th & Portrero in my new Zara heels (fine, a low heel).

And there are some pictures to prove it, after the jump:

Bobby was some artist whose name I forget, but who did conceptual work involving gold leaf on his face and dead bunnies.

Matt was the Red Death from Poe.  It was creepy in a good way.

Kevin’s costume made me die a little bit inside in the best possible way.  This photo does not in any way capture my joy and ecstasy.

Danyol and Ed were competing Fridas.

Maura is was a nerd.

Apparently Bee Arthur attacked Sweetcheeks, who was dressed as Lil Miss Hot Mess (!) as Little Orphan Annie!

But we still can bee friends.

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of not only seeing The Gossip in concert (again this year!), but also of going back stage to hang out with them.  Oh. My. God.  First of all, I owe major major thanks to Jerry Lee, who the day-of, when I still didn’t have a ticket, asked me if I wanted one and said “oh, by the way, I think they’re all access.”  !!!!! When he said that I knew it was time to shave and put on mama’s face.

(And, for the record, I should actually be thanking the wonderful Tara Perkins, their tour manager and former mama of the Sex Workers’ Art Show tour, who really sealed the deal.  It was great to see her, and I said it once, but I’ll say it again: she looks great as a blonde.)

So a couple words of wisdom to share before we got there:

1. White zinfandel in a small plastic bottle = priceless.
2. Don’t leave your friend’s ticket in your house.  Oops.  But if you do, note that it’s cheaper to beg him to go get it and offer to pay for the ticket than it is to take a roundtrip cab to fetch it.  (Thanks, Alex!)

When we got there, we went backstage.  It was funny, because the only other time I’d been to the Regency was for the Trannyshack Kiss-Off Party, where I served drinks to Heklina and the girls backstage.  Which is to say: hanging out with stars backstage is only natural to me.

Beth Ditto was sitting in one of the tiny rooms with a cute friend of hers from high school, and his even cuter boyfriend.  She knew Jerry a bit, so screamed his name when she saw him and then asked me mine after.  When I told her she asked me, “Sweetie, are you drunk and on drugs?”  I told her “no, but we’ll see.”  Foreshadowing.

It was cute — lots of San Francisco queers who either lived in Olympia at some point or know Tara.  Beth clearly had fun being the center of attention, and enjoyed the gifts people brought her, including a plastic pumpkin filled with candy, condoms, and hand sanitizer.  She ate olives out of a jar (which were on the rider), and talked about high school and her family and Olympia, and said she was going to keep eating the olives until she couldn’t reach them in the jar.  She also smoked cigarettes, had a juicer (though I didn’t see it in action), and drank throat-coat tea.  I drank some (well, a lot of some) of her wine.

And just for a moment of politics: fuck people who act like they’ve sold out.  They’ve gotten “bigger,” they’ve changed a bit, fine.  But until Beth starts hawking McDonalds or Bank of America or some bullshit like that, I’m fine with it.  It is amazing to see this beautiful, talented, sassy, political, fat, queer, working-class, femme from Arkansas be on the move.  And it’s amazing to see her working it in designer fashion every now and then.  Street cred be damned, because girl’s got it.

Overall, the show was fantastic, though I was a little drunker than I’d realized.  (I realized later it was four, not three, glasses of wine, which is a lot for this one.  Be careful what you wish for, honey.)  MEN (JD from Le Tigre’s new band) was pretty cute and fun, especially with their giant props that Chris and Greg got to be in charge of.  But, whoa, Beth Ditto can sing.  She was complaining about being hoarse, but I would kill to have her pipes on a bad day.   And she’s just so in control.  I couldn’t help screaming along with a lot of the songs, which hopefully didn’t drive people too crazy.  I was jealous when friends from backstage ran out, and Jerry dove off the stage but fell on his ass.  Is this not the stuff that dreams are made of?

Later, we all went to Paradise Lounge (which I’d never been to and, for the record, reminded me of the under-18 “club” attached to the roller-skating rink in high school), where fags just attacked Beth and the others.  (I should add that while I spent most of my time that night around Beth — and “around” is probably the most appropriate word — I also met Hannah, who seemed like a giant sweetheart in that way that I tend to fall in love with butch women/genderqueers.)  Apparently I flirted with boys, but of course that’s the part that I don’t remember so clearly!  I called it quits a little early, because darling, sometimes you need to while you’re ahead.

And now the pictures, mostly courtesy of BrownDownCrown:

In case you didn’t believe it.  And I think that was glass of wine 2 of 3 (not counting the white zin).

This boy claimed to be a bigger hot mess than me.  See below for proof otherwise.  Also, doesn’t he look like it’s his job to pose like this?  I have no idea who he was or if we were flirting.

Beth and I are clearly in love.  I secretly wish we had a more formal/posed shot too, but I wouldn’t trade this for the world.

Bearzbub must have heard that there was a “hot mess” challenge going on because he came out of nowhere to put me in my place.  I never do my lips that big — it was a mistake that turned into an opportunity — but honestly, ths photo scares me a little bit.

So, if you missed the concert, you should probably be sad.  You should also listen to the concert that was on NPR, though it’s not as good.  (Although, Carrie Brownstein sounds like she’s announcing at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which is creepy and amazing.)  You should also find people who know people and start talking.

I had so much fun dancing on Saturday night at Midnight Mass — I wish I’d gotten up the energy to do both nights, because now I just want to go-go-go.  And I’m so excited that someone posted video, and that my bootie shaking looks good!  (And yes, that is my bootie that’s the video still, okay?)  Lap dances are harder than they seem!

Also, thanks to L. Ron Hubby for taking this photo (link will take you to her other pictures from the evening):

I loved everyone’s looks, especially Evan the Bee, Kegel’s pseudo-Dolly,  Faux King’s little boy, Raya’s Michelle Myers, and Pristine’s dirty condom.

If you haven’t made it to Midnight Mass yet this season, you’ve only got a few more chances.  Sadly, this is the last full summer season of Midnight Mass, so get going girls!

Anyway, I just read that Newsom vetoed what could have been a really super piece of rent control legislation, aimed at helping renters through the current economic crisis.  Basically, the legislation would have done three things:

1. Allowed renters to take on additional roommates to help pay rent. There are certain cases (ie. marriage or DPs) in which this is already kosher, but in this case, they wouldn’t have to be related.
2. Limited “banked” rent increases to 8% per year. That’s because even though they can only raise your rent a certain percentage per year, they can also choose to “bank” it and raise it later to make up for years in which they haven’t.  While this feels somewhat fair, it also means that during tough times on everyone, rents could suddenly go way up on your apartment in just one year.
3. Prevent landlords from increasing rent to more than 33% of one’s income. The initial bill didn’t have any restrictions, but the version that passed already limited this financial hardship restriction to people who were unemployed, lost more than 20% of their income, or were on government assistance and didn’t receive a COLA.

More background is here and here.

Needless to say, I’m pissed off.  Here’s what Ted Gullicksen of the Tenants’ Union had to say:

[Newsom]’s more concerned about getting contributions from the real estate industry for his run for governor than he is about the people of San Francisco being hit by recession.  He has vetoed almost every piece of pro-tenant legislation as a mayor, and opposed every piece when he was a supervisor.

And here’s a bit more background on his voting record.

I’m also totally sick of all the gays who fawn over him because of his marriage stunt.  He’s like the gross straight boys who flirt with you but you know they’re not really going to put out.  In this case, putting out means supporting tenants’ rights.

And while we’re at it, what’s up with Bevan Dufty, the gay Supervisor of the Castro?  Apparently he supported item #2 up there, but not the other two, leaving them one vote shy to override the veto.  Does he realize what’s happening to the Castro?  Gentrification is getting so bad even the gays  are moving out.  It feels ironic because I actually went to his apartment once, after a United ENDA demonstration against the HRC, and I thought it was really nice to have a City Supervisor on our side and welcoming us into his home for the afterparty.  And it was a nice home.  And I’m not sure if he’s a renter, but I’d assume not.  But I also feel like he’s not on our side anymore. And I hope people remember these things when it’s time for re-election.

But if you don’t: Do I think that having a constitutional amendment preventing a particular class of people from accessing a particular privilege is wrong?  Yes.  Do I think that marriage should be the forefront of queer activism?  No.  And don’t even get me started on the whole “separate is inherently unequal” bullshit.

I’m finally catching up on news, and I wanted to share some interesting pieces I’ve been reading today about gay marriage:

• Back to the California voters in 2010: Alex Blaze at the Bilerico Project on the debate about whether to put an initiative on the ballot in 2010, and quotes from the ridiculous rhetoric an organization called Love. Honor. Cherish. — which, hi, despite making me think of Love! Valour! Compassion! is just about the gayest and more boring name ever — that is run, surprise surprise!, by equally boring-looking (mostly) white gay men who apparently have no sense of communications or strategy.  Here is one of their arguments:

Seniors. There are about 4.5 million Californians over 65 years old. Of these, 450,000 are gay or lesbian. In any two-year period, more than 13,000 of those people will die. Thus, if Prop 8 is repealed in 2010, there will be 13,000 more elderly gays and lesbians who will have lived to see their right to marry affirmed by a vote of the people. If we wait until 2012, these men and women will never experience that affirmation. [my emphasis added]

• Prepare to Prevail: A statement issued by the Jordan/Rustin Coalition, API Equality, HONOR PAC and others urging folks to wait until legalized gay marriage is winnable.  Even though I don’t really want to see this come to another vote at any point in the foreseeable future (it just doesn’t make sense in California, given Domestic Partnerships!), I’m grateful for more mainstream organizations putting out a call to slow down, and especially their call to not waste/steal resources from more deserving projects.
• A Look at the Gay Rights Movement Beyond Marriage and the Military and What’s Right With Utah: Lisa Duggan is a brilliant thinker and writer.  The first is her appearance on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman, and the second is her piece in The Nation about the way the gays and queers in Utah are building a truly broad-based coalition, and advocating for an “Adult Joint Support Declaration” registry as a way of getting around their “Super DOMA,” but which actually offers more possibilities for legal caring relationships than gay marriage.

• Inequality in the Marriage Equality Movement: Amy Sueyoshi’s arguments are similar to Duggan’s and others’, but still worth reading, and she has some good documentation of orgs losing funding because gay marriage isn’t their primary goal.  Also, one thing that she brings forward that I hadn’t considered: it’s not only gay dollars that are being diverted to marriage rather than social services, but also anti-gay dollars (ie. churches that run soup kitchens may divert some of that money to political action).  I’m not sure I’m particularly invested in where that kind of money goes, but in a time of decreased social services across the board, it feels noteworthy.

• Proof: The Gay Marriage Movement Is Draining Resources from Queer Activism: Yasmin Nair’s latest piece on the Bilerico Project, through which I found Sueyoshi’s.  She’s also got a good analysis.

Oh, and as an interesting ongoing source of information about this, I’ve been following Nancy Polikoff’s blog, Beyond (Straight or Gay) Marriage, which is often very legal, but which I find interesting.

Anyway, I wish these viewpoints could be expressed in more mainstream places, and wanted to do my part to put them out there!