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Rutstein's new CD is political, but also fun

Me, Too

Sonia Rutstein Disappear Records

Reviewed by Harriet L. Schwartz

From the opening funky moments of lead track "opinion #33," Sonia Rutstein's new album is decidedly personal and political, while also emerging as accessible and often fun.

Rutstein has a gift for penning lyrics that are deep and beg several listens, yet she delivers her words in a catchy and friendly musicality, making her music easy to take in and worthy of return.

While "opinion #33" grooves along in funk land, she opts for warmer and smoother tones with "good morning (this is god)." Rarely one to go for the obvious rhyme, Rutstein writes, "I guess I over-reacted/I was feeling so subtracted/all I really want to do is/ oooo on top of you."

Later, Rutstein, who could easily snag a Gay and Lesbian American Music Award

nomination for best out song with "Grass for the Lamb," sings, "I think I should tell the world/what Harvey said in Amsterdam, he said 'We're not different, we're extraordinary' that's what I think."

Rutstein, who was likely referring to a conversation at the 1998 Gay Games, adds "embarrassed politician/searching for the cool technician/to erase the truth, while some kid/almost jumped off the roof." Despite the political edge, "Grass for the Lamb" is a rousing and upbeat feel-good song.

Though she often visits tried-and-true pop song themes like the complications of love, Rutstein offers vivid imagery and fresh metaphors combined with a range of musical influences for a powerful music trip. Musically, she has a progressive edge, but clearly honors her folk roots while also dipping into funk, rockabilly, and even Caribbean influ-

ences.

Me, Too is one of the finest albums of 1999, and a welcome return by Sonia Rutstein, who first emerged as half of the musical duo Disappear Fear.

Sonia Rutstein

in the afroff the press

An American version of 'Queer as Folk' may be coming

by John Graves

Showtime may produce an American version of the critically acclaimed and controversial British TV series Queer as Folk.

The original series, creator Russell T. Davies' exploration of the complex lives of gay men, could not air as-is in this country as the first episode depicted one of the show's main characters having sex with a 15-yearold boy.

Word is, the Joel Schumacher-directed U.S. version of Queer as Folk would up the youngest character to legal age (at least) in this country, although I would still expect an outcry from the religious right.

Although Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker picked it as "The Best TV Series You'll Probably Never See," he did say that Queer as Folk would rank number two on his top ten list if it were to air in the U.S.

discussed over cocktails) so I really resonated with the main character, Ford. He is a ⚫ recently divorced gay man who was still working on coming-out issues in a loving way with his ex-wife. The recurring gay character is none other than the macho boss of Hunter, the show's womanizing ex-jock, giving that character a new gay sensitivity.

Papers speak against 'don't ask'

Thanks to USA Today and the Cleveland Plain Dealer for coming out with strong editorials calling for an end to the military's discredited "don't ask, don't tell" policy. In its editorial, USA Today said, "The facts are plain, and the conclusion is unavoidable: 'Don't ask, don't tell' doesn't work. What's more, it never will."

The national daily went on to say that "fixing" it "commits the military to a policy that discriminate while simultaneously de-

Bristow is now on comedy game show nying that very fact."

Openly gay former Ellen co-star Patrick Bristow has resurfaced as one of the regular comics on the Fox Family Channel quiz show Random Acts of Comedy.

In the show, contestants try to answer three disconnected "who," "what" and "where" questions through clues in a composite scene the comics try to act out. It can be seen on the Fox Family Channel several times a day in the late afternoon and evening.

Director to play dad

Film director Sydney Pollack will be a guest star as Will's dad on NBC's Will & Grace. In the storyline, set to air in February, Will's father pretends Will and Grace are married because he doesn't want the world to know his son is gay.

Goodbye to 'Oh Grow Up'

Sad to say, I just found out that ABC has cancelled Oh Grow Up! Personally, I really liked the show, which featured not one but two non-stereotypical gay men.

As some of you already know, I am out and, like National Organization for Women president Patricia Ireland and folk singer Holly Near, still married (a long story best

"There is only one solution: Abandon the contemptible 'don't ask' compromise and order the military to integrate homosexuals into military service completely" the paper concluded.

The Plain Dealer said, “The U.S. armed forces, 50 years ago among the most segregated and sexist of institutions, have provided exemplary leadership in breaking down barriers of color and gender... If soldiers and sailors can get past these two historic divides, they can surely surmount sexual preference differences. The rest of society is learning that lesson. It's time the uniformed branches did as well."

Yes to partner rights

In another editorial, USA Today came out in support of the recent decision by the Vermont Supreme Court that lesbigay couples were entitled to the same benefits afforded heterosexual married couples while still leaving the definition of “marriage" up to the legislature.

"Enacted during the American Revolution, the [Vermont] constitution's common-benefit clause reflected the radical notion at that time that 'all the people should be afforded all the benefits and

protections bestowed by government,' with special privileges for none... Traditional marriage won't be slapped in the face, but neither will that quaint Yankee notion of government providing equal treatment of all its citizens."

No to Ohio marriage ban

The Dayton Daily News strongly condemned the reintroduction of an Ohio bill to deny recognition of same-sex marriage by State Sen. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Urbana, who used the Vermont decision to justify their bill. In a January 3 editorial, the paper called the measure "hysterical" and "redundant."

"Rep. Jordan argues that 'we need . . . to protect families from the nontraditional values others may try to bring into the state'." the Daily News said. “Really, have some faith: Neither marriage nor the family is so fragile or 'traditional' values so vulnerable that they'll crumble at mere exposure to differing beliefsbeliefs that, incidentally, the constitution guarantees those 'others' the right to hold." Although it has not taken an editorial stance of its own on the Vermont decision or Hottinger and Jordan's bill, the Cleveland Plain Dealer carried a piece by Boston Globe columnist Eileen McNamara that said the Vermont Supreme Court didn't go far enough.

"The Emancipation Proclamation made people uncomfortable. So did women's suffrage. To say nothing of the social upease prompted by interfaith marriages and school desegregation," McNamara said. "Yet the governor of Vermont would deny same-sex couples the right to marry for no more substantive reason than because he says it 'makes me uncomfortable, the same as anybody else.' Forget, for a moment, that 'anybody else' is not everybody else. When did we begin apportioning civil rights in this country on the basis of the citizenry's comfort level? . . .”

"Domestic partnership proposals are no more than a political dodge, an unconscionable sop to bigots who will tolerate homosexuality only if it can be segregated in

some parallel universe,” McNamara continued. "But gay and lesbian people do not live in a parallel universe. They live in this one... The debate Vermont lawmakers promise to begin after the first of the year should focus not on what religious leaders claim the Bible commands, but on what the state's supreme court justices insist that the Constitution mandates."

Our own state legislators should keep that in mind when they consider Hottinger and Jordan's legislation.

Brazile profiled

USA Today ran a profile recently of Donna Brazile, whom Al Gore has picked to be his campaign manager in his run for the presidency, and the first AfricanAmerican woman to hold such a position.

The story noted that Brazile "helped found the National Political Congress of Black Women, worked for [Rev. Jesse Jackson's] Rainbow Coalition and more recently has been a member of the board of the Millennium March on Washington [for lesbigay rights]."

According to the article, Brazile, who already aroused protests from Democratic centrists by stating that the "four pillars" of the party are African-Americans, organized labor, women and ethnic minorities, caused an even bigger stir by telling the Washington Post that the party's "emerging constituencies" are environmentalists, the disabled, and gay men and lesbians."

But she dodged the Post's question about her own sexual orientation.

"I'm not about to make my personal life public. I'm single and available. If I had a personal life, I'd have a sexual orientation," Brazile said in the November 16 Post. ♡

John Graves is the producer and host of Gaywaves, an LGBT public affairs show on Cleveland's WRUW 91.1 FM Fridays at 7 pm, and at http://radio.cwru.edu. Dave Haskell, Jim McGrattan and Kim Jones also contribute to this column.