18

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE DECEMBER 5, 1997

Auto

D.L. Dunkle & Associates

A LESBIAN & GAY PSYCHOTHERAPY PRACTICE

Debra L. Dunkle, LISW

Jane Miller, MSSA, LSW

Martha Webb, CCDC, LPC

John O'Connor, LISW Lisa Gilbert, MD

Offering Professional, Confidential Services To Individuals, Couples, And Groups.

12417 Cedar, Suites 21-24 Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44106 216/229-2100

Life

Health

Home

For all your insurance needs!

Business

Betsy Warner Agent

3091 Mayfield Road #217 Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118 Office (216) 932-6900

Roseto Club

Akron's Only Private Gay Club

627 S. Arlington St. Akron, Ohio 44306

1/2 block N. of Lovers Lane

(330) 724-4228

Your Barmaid Anna

HIGH DRAMA: THE REAL

JOHNNIE RAY

EVENINGS OUT

Cartoonist brings black

gay erotica to the fore

by Lincoln Pettaway

If black on black love was considered serious news, Belasco's name would be in the headlines, or at least the funny pages. Belasco is a Los Angeles animator who has created a series of comic books that deal provocatively with sexual situations between African-American gay men.

A natural born artist, Belasco-his pen name---started drawing when he was a kid. "I have always drawn, it's the only thing I really enjoy doing and know how to do well," he said. "They say follow your dream or your vice, and I'm doing both.”

Uncertain at first of exactly how he would follow his dream, he gave it a test run.

"I did my first issue of Belasco on my own at Kinko's. I did it myself because I was too embarrassed to give it to anyone to copy. I did 30 copies of this book and took them to D.C. [for 1993 Black Pride] and meekly handed them out to people."

He was shocked by the crowd's response. "People went crazy," Belasco said. "I had a really good response, and then I started soliciting orders for them from other black publications."

Since then Belasco's comic strips have appeared in numerous publications, including GBM magazine. He designed the cover for James Earl Hardy's books B-Boy Blues and Second Time Around, and has created another series of comic books which he distributes independently.

Belasco remembers a time when no one wanted to use his work.

"First I would show my work to different groups or different companies and their response was usually that this is interesting and it would be usable or salable if there were white people in it or if it were interracial. They looked at it as an oddity, but not as something that was marketable," he said.

"So I went out and did it on my own and proved that people would buying it, by getting it into the bookstores myself and then people started coming around. Now I've got a distributor, the bookstores are interested. It's like anything else--you have to prove yourself on your own, and then they'll come

around. It's like black gay erotica is coming into its own, because we need it, and we like seeing ourselves in it, apart from them.”

Belasco's work takes on added significance when compared to other images of

BELISCO

African-Americans in the gay community. His decision to portray African-Americans having sex with each other is not necessarily a political act on his part.

He explained, "I can't say that it's particularly political, it wasn't being done before I started doing it. So it might be my political statement against the so-called white homoerotic art that was out there."

As a point of reference, Belasco mentioned African-American images among the muscular men drawn by the famed Tom of Finland.

"If you did actually see [African-Americans] they were usually in the background, not having much more importance than a jockstrap or a shiny black boot."

Belasco is an artist to keep our eyes on, bringing African-American images from the background of the comic books to the front cover of our best-selling fiction.

"THE FIRST SINGER WHOSE VOICE AND STYLE I TOTALLY FELL IN LOVE WITH." -BOB DYLAN

THE #1 HIT "CRY" IS HIS SIGNATURE SONG...BUT JOHNNIE RAY'S SUBVERSIVE FORAYS INTO LOWDOWN R&B AND BIG

BAND BALLADS REVEAL THE TRUE ARTISTRY OF THIS 50's POP IDOL, WHO BALANCED

ON THE HIGH WIRE OF A

MUSICAL CAREER AS

TURBULENT AS HIS INNER LIFE.

Produced by A: Quaglient

www.sony.com

COLEMBEN

LEGACY

MUSIC

JAR WORLD

1-800-221-8180

$8.99 ON SALE

THROUGH 12/31/97

HIGH DRAMA

MAL JOHNNIE RAY

ALL PHASE INTERIORS

• Drywall • Plaster Repair • Interior Painting Prompt Professional Service • Residential & Commercial Specializing in Renovations and Restorations.

Installation, Finishing & Painting "No Job Too Big or Too Small"

Gay Owned & Operated

FREE ESTIMATES

216/281-9366

STOP

FORECLOSURES I.R.S ACTIONS

■ GARNISHMENTS ■ LAWSUITS

CHAPTER 7 Cancel debits while

..

CHAPTER 11

sguide.

CHAPTER 13

keeping most property

Control business operations & personal affairs while restructuring

Save your home by consolidating debts into a monthly payment plan

Joan Allyn Kodish Co., LPA

1015 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44115

•

(216)566-0580