page 14

ASK THE DOCTOR

By PETER BEEBE, Ph.D.

There is much to celebrate in being gay:

My cousin David, considerably older and considerably wiser in the ways of this world than I, died a few years ago. E But not before I had had the chance to meet and know the "relative my grandmother had told would be happier if he lived in California"--instead of Kalamazoo, Michigan.

He and his lover, Ray, met shortly after his move and were together for 35 years. They had a home in a valley north of San Francisco and friends there and in the city.

David had been a stuntman for the movie industry; he had filled in for some legends," and in his later

years had painted and taught piano and organ to wives and children, anyone interested from their neighborhood.

Ray, always the less dramatic, had been a salesman for those years of their marriage, quietly providing a stability for David's more quixotic personality. They

were

Gay Peoples Chronicle

a couple. This was clear from the first meeting.

David was 75 when he returned home for the family reunion I happened to attend. I had dutifully avoided these gatherings for some time, but my own divorce and a bit of guilt that my sons needed to see their grandmother and great-grandmother got me to Michigan that hot August Sunday.

David, Ray and I sat under the canopy, provided for those who wanted to escape the sun, and we talked. Not about our sexuality, but about the family. Ours was a simple communion. They knew I was gay. I knew this of them.

David's hair was long and still blonde--only slightly that blonde of older years. Ray was grey, clipped close, like his clothes. David flowed. All I remember was the white, loose top. His skin was tanned. And I thought of what he must have been like as a younger man: handsome (I was always told

ROMANOVSKY & PHILLIPS

By SEBASTIAN MELMOTH

Romanovsky & Phillips, known for their soaring hår-

monies, uproarious styles, and magnetic stage presence, have won unanimous praise from critics and are excit-

CLEVELAND MODERN

DANCE

presents

les Ballets TROCKADERO

de Monte Carlo

The Fabulous All-Male Dance Company

April 11 8:30 p.m.

April 12 2:30 p.m. & 8:30 p.m.

Tickets $12.00 $20.00

OHIO

THEATRE

PLAYHOUSE SQUARE CENTER

CALL 241-6000

Clever parodists evoke great gusts of laughter.

The Trocks spoof classical dance in this side-splitting show.

by my grandmother), fiery tender. Now he was all of these, but tempered by his years.

He told me "family secrets"--of the times not-tobe-revealed family members (male) would meet other young men, off away from their wives. And I can still remember the mixture of excitement and anger I felt as he talked. Younger and more determined than my cousin, I felt the outrage that one family member could be exiled for what several were doing secretly. I was outraged. David lived his life.

As he talked, he would, from time to time, reach over and touch Ray--take his hand or call him some endearing name.

And as the morning became afternoon, I left David and returned to him several times. Some little piece of history, some look, a walk through their California home, gestures of brotherhood--these were mine each time I came back to him. He enjoved his life.

ing new voices in the world of gay men's music.

Called "the darlings of the gay cabaret scene," they prefer to see themselves as singing about their lives as gay men and lovers openly, honestly, and with humor.

They last played Cleveland in January, 1984, appearing at Trinity Cathedral under the sponsorship of Integrity and WRUW-FM. This time they are part of the Conference concert, booked by Oven Productions, which was formed to showcase women's music.

Why is Oven sponsoring two men? Part of the answer lies in Marsha Levine's review of their act in the Gay Community News. While gay male music usually celebrates the sexual act itself or revels in suffering, Romanovsky & Phillips celebrate gay men and their lives, and ao so with humor.

In

The Advocate Ray O'Laughlin compared their

88

KEYS

April 1986

That afternoon David grew in me as a new feeling might move slowly from the middle region of the body toward the throat and mouth--moving toward some expression. David became me, the me who had needed to see how someone had done well what I had always yearned to do: live loving another man. I can remember that as I took off my shirt to join my boys waterskiing, David looked. Our skins were in some distant way from the same birth. I could see his beauty and I could feel my own.

When I heard that David had died, of course I felt sad, but I rejoiced in knowing that what we were, I still am. Now I am the family member who might have moved to California. And I am delighted to represent our tenderness, our fieriness, our gayness for whatever others of our family's children, our children, may gather under the reunion's tent.

There is much to celebrate.

performance to "a cabaret revue with music, satire, and chat. What Ron Romanovsky and Paul Phillips say they are doing is musically documenting gay experience, from tender moments of boyhood love to the harsh political realities of maturity.

Phillips described their style to O'Laughlin as "message music, but with humor.

want to help people be positive about being gay. Movement music runs the risk of being weighty and sad."

Levine, who first heard them by accident, admits their opening number knocked her right off her seat. "The songs were original, uplifting, warm. The lyrics were incredibly sensitive, bordering on genius in their choice and composition." She immediately lined them up for the Boston Lesbian/Gay Pride Rally.

Romanovsky & Phillips have just released their second album, Trouble in Paradise, on Fresh Fruit Records.

COCKTAILS & COMPANY

1028 PROSPECT AVE. CLEVELAND, OHIO 44115 PHONE: (216) 566-0060