JUNE 23, 1995 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
23
EVENINGS OUT
Men's Chorus raises its voice in love of chosen families
A Family of Friends
North Coast Men's Chorus with Jamie Anderson
Euclid Ave. Congregational Church Cleveland, June 17
Reviewed by Michael A. Miller
The North Coast Men's Chorus has staged another coup, appropriately, during the weekend when we raise our voices to be heard above the pulse of daily living. They selected a program lighter and more informal than their "Jerry's Boys" concert in May, but with more voice and statement. Their controlling theme of validating ourselves with openness and acceptance on both a personal and societal level remains the same. Not only is it nearly impossible to overemphasize this motif, but it can be presented in umptillion ways, with a vast combination of complements.
This time out, the Chorus threaded their message with the concept of the chosen family. Featured guest artist Jamie Anderson wove that thread into an instant-heirloom comfy afghan on her charismatic loom of scary talent.
The first part of the program was mellow and reverent. The chorus opened with the partially a capella "There Comes A Time" and put an interesting spin on the words of Thomas Jefferson in the hymn "The God Who Gave Us Life." The company demonstrated precision harmony work on both numbers, but especially on the latter.
The next two numbers, while still on the wavelength as the openers, expressed a deeper and different type of spirituality. “Deep River” was introduced by music director Timothy Robson, who recounted the American Slavery Holocaust, lest we forget the oppressed of yesterday and today and allow history to continue in a malevolent loop. Even though the victims had a strange, new religion thrust upon
them and had to form new family alliances, Robson explained, they transcended the horrors and held dear to their faith, love and hope. Out of that cataclysm was born the spiritual, one of which was rendered here with sensitivity by both singers and interpreter Douglas Braun.
"Esperanto" was written in celebration of the centennial anniversary of the creation of a language combining English, Spanish and French into one. The language was a metaphor in a lilting, upbeat ballad with multilingual lyrics that represented a child's prayer for unity. Gregg Stickney sang in a smooth but powerful tenor, with clarity and flawless pronunciation. I'd like to see him showcased with more solo time.
Who else but the Coastliners would bring an end to the heavy subject matter for a while? The eight-member ensemble camped their way through "These Boots Are Made For Walking." The house of approximately 200 placid and harmonious gay men and lesbians relished the number before the music even began, due to Robson's tongue-in-cheek revelation that Nancy Sinatra is such an icon, he sees her in visions while lost in his meditations on Euclid Congregational's stained-glass windows.
A spiced-up version of Cole Porter's "Let's Do It" (just imagine this song being sung by a bunch of gay men full of sunshine and high spirits. As Kelly Bundy once said, “The mind wobbles") wound down into two songs from the AIDS Quilt Songbook, which is still expanding as is the Quilt itself. I'm glad "I Never Knew" has a great message about how AIDS can sneak up on us and leave us vulnerable and unable to chart our next move, or even "The Final Move," because the melody sounds like it was written by somebody not familiar with composition. The lyrics for "Walt Whitman in 1989" were published in the program. I appreciated that, because the words are just as beau-
tiful in print as they were in their haunting and hollow vocal rendition.
The company presented "I Am What I Am" as the finale of Act I. Again, it was worth the wait and I was moved by every note, as I was when they performed it in "Jerry's Boys."
Something went awry around the end of Act I, because Jamie Anderson began Act II with no intermission. This was announced as a change of plans, which was annoying, since I didn't want to leave and possibly "miss something," although I was getting fidgety by the end of the first act.
Further, when Anderson entered the stage, and throughout her act, she seemed concerned that her technical needs were not met as expected. These awkward distractions could have probably been resolved with more fine tuning behind the scenes.
Minor infractions and small personal sacrifices aside, though, Anderson was a joy I never could have anticipated through publicity nor word of mouth. In her reaffirmation of the Chorus' loving presentation of the hand-picked family theme, she embraced us with material culled from the triumphs, losses, and futilities of our daily human struggles. In a post-production interview, I was astonished to learn how autobiographical her act was.
Anderson was happy to share her viewpoint on the "family of friends" notion: "It has a personal meaning for me, as I think it does for every gay and lesbian person. We have to depend so much on our friends and the people who are around us all the time. We're never really sure what our birth family is going to do.
"Even if you have a really supportive birth family, you still need someone else who's gay or lesbian to know exactly what things are like for you. I had a very, very supportive family. In fact, just a few weeks ago, my mother called me up and said that she and my eldest brother had gone to the Gay Pride Rally in Phoenix,
where they live, and I wasn't even around. They just decided that they would go, and they had a great time."
Anderson first identified as lesbian around the age of 18, having fallen in love with a schoolmate who had also been a peer in the Girl Scouts. Too young to be in bars at 18 in the late '70s (which was not "the greatest time to be a teen-aged lesbian," either, according to Anderson), she still made the
scene.
She seems to have hit the ground running, though, as she immediately found her favorite lesbian band, discovered women's music, and patronized a bookstore that had a fine selection of gay and lesbian literature. She feels this is some of what got her through her coming out. During our chat-and it was a chat, because it came that easily-Anderson never mentioned having been deliberately closeted. Her awakening was more matterof-fact. "I though I was heterosexual in high school, even though I had a woman lover. I dated a few guys, but it was never the same as it was with her. It took a few years to figure it out."
After Anderson listened to and addressed her inner voice, she found her outer voice and began her build to the dynamic she presents today. She wrote a song called "I Don't Know About The Night," about that first same-gender relationship, and put it on her second album. Her catalyst, though, was she “always really loved to sing.”
"When I first started playing guitar, I was playing other people's songs. But, there was something missing from that picture. I really wanted to be able to sing about my own life. I discovered lesbian music in the late '70s, and that really inspired me to write songs about myself and about my friends. That's sort of what started the kind of material that I do and inspired me to write music.”
...when you need more than just the straight numbers.
In Memoriam Of Our Founder, Cecil Ray deLoach (1952-1991)
HIV+?
Ernest Giaco
Certified Public Accountant
Individual & Group Counseling:
Survivor Issues Domestic Violence Victims of Crime Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Concerns Spiritual Growth Diversity Training
3255 Warrensville Center Road, Suite 204 Shaker Heights, OH 44122 (216) 561-1212
Lynn Haley-Banez, M.Ed. Therapist
3250 W. Market St.
Suite #209 Akron, OH 44333
Akron: 867-2422
Reach Out and Let The Medical Escrow Society
Help You!
Cash Now for your life insurance through our Advance Cash Benefits Program
Our bidding process ensures the Highest Cash Settlement
We are the Oldest and Largest advocate for you, the Insured
Our service is quick, Strictly Confidential, and requires only one simple application Absolutely No Cost and No Obligation at any time
A personal representative is available 24 Hours a day to assist and help you
Consistently funding policies for clients with up to 800 T-CELLS
The Medical Escrow Society... Here Today, For Your Tomorrow!
1-800-422-1314
Founding member of both the National Viatical Association and the Viatical Association of America