hristmas

didn't make that judgment." If Dee is reading this correctly, Mario wants to ban his idea of specific activity, but the nature of the activity is "not terribly relevant" to him. Now, Dee knows that Mario never used to be particularly stupid. But even today he surely has enough synapses intact to realize that, rather often, women suck men

uality/Gender, from January 2 till February 8. Although each artist deals with the subject from a different aesthetic approach, collectively they direct charges at what they see as culturally dictated stereotypes of sexual beliefs and behavior. Another point in common is their use of mural size photographs.

and that men fuck women in their "back PERFORMANCE

door," to coin a current heterosexual Times Square porn movie title. Dee's spies allege that heterosexuals sometimes do this to prevent conception. Catholic heterosexuals "tailgate" as well. To quote one timeless authority, here's what Molly Bloom had to say in 1921: "always having to lie down for them better for him to put it into me from behind the way Mrs Mastiansky told me her husband made her like the dogs do it and stick out her tongue as far as ever she could" (Ulysses, page 749). Don't tell him, but Dee is sending Mario Cuomo a copy of Ulysses for Christmas, in hopes that it will titillate and obfuscate his dwindling mind long enough to keep him well out of the Democratic race for the Presidency.

The Obie-Award-winning Foolsfire brings new vaudeville to Cal Performances, Zellerbach Playhouse, (UC Berkeley; 415-642-9988) on January 3 and 4 at 8 p.m. and January 5 at 2 p.m. The daffy duo of Bob Berky and Michael Moschen elevates the merry art of mischief-making to new heights in their entertainment-packed evening of mime, juggling, acrobatics, and clowning.

Baybrick Inn (1190 Folsom; 415-4318334) is sizzling every night of the week with live bands, comedy, and cabaret acts. Don't miss the Monday nights jazz jam, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. No cover, and the rhythm section includes Sapphron Obois and Julie Homi. Musicians and vocalists are encouraged to sit in. And for an $8 cover,

SAN FRANCISCO celebrate Baybrick's New Year's Eve Par-

BY MYRIAM WEISANG

ART

Lutz Bacher, Barbara DeGenevieve, and Ann Wulff are three artists who use photographic imagery to explore gender and sexuality vis-à-vis their cultural indoctrinations, political stances, and personal perspectives. Their work will be on exhibit at San Francisco Camerawork, 70 12th Street, 415-621-1001, under the heading Sex-

Didi Conn is Angela, and Todd Graff is David in Enter Laughing (Los Angeles).

ty with D.J. Chris Wasmund.

LOS ANGELES

BY MICHAEL LASSELL

MUSIC

Well, we will have to admit that we're just a weeny tad tired of Christmas already, and St. Nick ain't even come down the chimney yet. We liked Christmas a lot more when it did not come with the responsibility of giving money to strangers, like the man who delivers bottled water to our apartment, or the young man who waits tables at our favorite luncheonette and who has been boring us to death with the story of his sheltered life for the last year (not to mention sharing with us the jokes told by his seven-year-old nephew, who seems to be recalcitrantly heterosexual, at least based on his sense of humor). Lucky for us, UCLA is an equalopportunity employer, and it has scheduled a wonderful concert by the ever-popular avant-garde Kronos Quartet that will contain no holiday music, either sacred or tradi-

tional. It will, however, include the Los Angeles live premiere of Mishima Quartet I, II, III. This is the music that Philip ("Tinkling Bells") Glass wrote for the Paul Schrader film about the life and suicide of the celebrated Japanese writer, Yukio Mishima. Kronos will also play Elliott Carter's String Quartet No. 1 (1951) and two works written for Kronos, Soundtotem II by Mel Graves (1985), and a section from John Geist's tone poem to Dante's Divine Comedy for amplified quartet and pre-recorded tape. That's at Schoenberg Hall on the UCLA Campus (405 Hilgard, off Sunset in Westwood; 213-825-9261) at 8 p.m., Friday,

December 20.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Pity the poor photograph, recently the darling of the art world and collectors, then fallen into disfavor, prices off, quantities up. Well, don't look now, but the snapshot is fashionable again, and exhibitions of the mighty art print are blossoming all over

town. Irit Krygier Contemporary Art (7416 Beverly Blvd., L.A.; 213-937-2991) offers the pop-cultural witticisms of conceptualist Bonnie Schiffman, through January 18. UCLA's Wight Gallery (405 Hilgard, near Sunset; 213-835-9245) offers The World of Augustin Victor Casasola through December 29, 150 original prints by the most important photograph chronicler of the lives of the Mexican people in the years surrounding the Revolution. And the Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies (814 S. Spring Street, downtown; 213-623-9410) presents a group of four photographers under the banner of Places of Magic, featuring unpeopled landscapes in black and white and color by Linda Connor, Steve Fitch, Robin Lasser, and Brian Taylor, through January 10. Check out all three on a nice day's outing, and see a lot of the city in between.

THEATER

Los Angeles, it seems, is beginning to take itself seriously as a theater town, even if most of the good stuff is still imported from the old country (New York). And at this season-to-be-jolly (not to mention suicidally nostalgic), the city is alight with fare for the whole family. If Christmas via Truman Capote is of any interest to you, be sure to check out the "reader's theater" production of A Christmas Memory by the good folks at the Mark Taper Forum at the Itchy Foot Ristorante (801 W. Temple Street, downtown; 213-972-7337). Performances are Sundays only, at 1 and 5:30

p.m., food available, through December 22. holiday offering of East West Players (4424 Something just a little bit different is the 'Santa Monica Boulevard, Silver Lake; 213-660-0366): Christmas in Camp II. Conceived and directed by Mako, Christmas in Camp II is a funny and poignant musical account of Japanese Americans detained in a World War II internment camp. It is set during the Christmas holidays, and includes jitterbugging to the tunes of Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, among other treats.

And if a slice of comic Jewish life is your idea of perfect December delight, don't miss a new and more than moderately enthusiastic production of Enter Laughing at the Coast Playhouse (8325 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood; 213-6508507). Based on Carl Reiner's autobio-

graphical book, Enter Laughing is the story of a young nebbish's attempt to escape from the middle-class Bronx and a stultifying job in the Garment District, and to carve out a life upon the stage. Starring Emmy-winning, Tony-nominated Todd Graff, it's a slick production and a high old time. (I love you, Todd!) Non-sectarian heartwarming Americana is offered by The Ahmanson Theater (The Music Center, 135 N. Grand Avenue, downtown; 213-410-1062), which offers Foxfire, a sentimental look at the vanishing Appalachian way of life starring Carradine (who sings). About as realistic a Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, and Keith representation of Georgia hill life as Bambi is of wildlife in the forest, Foxfire is nevertheless noteworthy for performances that can only be described in the usual cliches: luminous, illuminating, and so forth. Tandy is great, and so is Cronyn. Their performances renew our flagging faith in the efficacy of the mimetic impulse to move our late-twentieth-century hardened heart.