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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE December1,2 ,2000

the WineRoom

2317 Lee Rd.

216-932-3170

Saturdays 8 pm 12 md

CASUAL DINING ♦ Full Bar

Live Music

Smoke Free

NEW LOCATION

IN AURORA

Cafe Tandoor

Award Winning Indian Cuisine

2096 S. Taylor Cleveland Hts. 216-371-8500

96 Barrington Town Center in Aurora 330-562-5334

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NEW YOGA & MEDITATION CLASSES START SEPT. 5-10 YOGA 1-6, PRENATAL & YOGA FOR KIDS

ATMA CENTER

2319 Lee Rd Cleveland Hts 216-371-9760

Holiday

Art Walk

MURRAY HILL

ART

WALK

Friday December 1 5:00p.m. 9:00p.m.

Saturday December 2 Noon-9:00p.m.

Sunday December 3 Noon-6:00p.m.

Sponsored by the Murray Hill Area Arts Association

For more information please call:

(216) 231-5540

The Ohio Arts Councit helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth. educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

out

Inggcut

Stalker's diary is a gripping tale, whether it is real or not

Testosterone

by James Robert Baker Alyson Books, $22.95

Reviewed by Anthony Glassman

You're familiar with The Blair Witch Project, aren't you? That's the one where three "student filmmakers" went into the woods looking into a local folk tale, and were never seen again. Supposedly.

In the beginning, it stirred up a lot of controversy as the real filmmakers behind it put up a web site and a slew of other promotional materials making it seem like a true story. They claimed that the film was made from the tapes the film students had shot, which were later found in the woods, but there was still no sign of the students themselves a few years after the events caught on tape.

Right.

As, hopefully everyone knows now, it was simply a great marketing ploy, like not telling the "secret" in The Crying Game. But it worked. That's the big thing. It had a lot of people convinced it was real, even after the stars started appearing on late-night television and in other movies.

Alyson Books is doing the same thing. Testosterone, by the late James Robert Baker, is transcripts of tapes sent to Baker by his friend Dean Seagrove, an accomplished graphic novelist. Graphic novels, by the way, are like comic books, only longer and usually written at a more mature level.

Seagrove, at the point the first tape starts, has basically gone nuts. He's stalking an exboyfriend that he is convinced set fire to his

house, killed his dog, and is an "emotional serial killer." He's going to find his ex, Pablo Ortega, and he's going to kill him before he can add to the list of emotional cripples he has built.

As the liner notes say, "Problem is, Dean might be crazy. Or everyone might be lying. But now Dean has a machete (because the chain saw made too much noise), and he just found Pablo.”

The book itself is fast-paced, with a definite stream-of-consciousness, conversational feel. Which, one supposes, is to be expected from a novel which is comprised of the confessional tapes of someone on the edge of sanity, talking into a tape recorder, trying to explain to his best friend what he's doing and why.

It's a tale of great depravity, with everything from the sleaziest of Los Angeles bathhouses to Chilean death squads and Caribbean cults, references to '80s punk bands, and more drugs than Hunter S. Thompson could handle in a month of Sundays.

Why should you read it? That's the ultimate question you should ask. You should read it because it's incredible. It's so engrossing, you'll find yourself taking extralong lunches just to get through it.

The question you shouldn't ask, however, is "Is it real?” I talked to someone at Alyson, and he filled me in on the details, and I'm not telling you. Read the book, and whether or not it's a real story no longer matters. What matters is Dean's quest to find Pablo, to exact some measure of justice for himself and the others hurt over the years by Ortega's emotional manipulations.

I wish we'd called Hospice sooner... much sooner

The sooner you call Hospice of the Western Reserve, the more we can do together. We can help you deal with the emotions and the fears. We can make your time together more meaningful. Call us today.

HOSPICE For information: 216-383-2222

of the Western Reserve

For referral: 216-383-3700 www.hospicewr.org

Hospice House • Offices in Cleveland, Mentor, Solon and Westlake

Queer

Continued from page 11

well, more of the same. He is Bacchus and Don Juan rolled into one, except that he is gay, a successful advertising executive and has more charm than Bill Clinton.

Gale Harold's acting is bold, brash and beautiful to behold. A character like Brian would be easy to hate, and yet Harold's performance lends a complexity to this perpetual Peter Pan that begs the audience to understand his complex and contorted psyche. Harold's performance is, in many ways, akin to that of Megan Mullaly as the hedonistic, self-centered Karen on Will and Grace. Just like Mullaly, Harold is able to take us to the pain and loneliness behind the bravura and belligerence of a person who on the surface seems one thing and deep down is something so different.

Justin is the neophyte 17-year-old who swiftly falls for Brian and is sucked into the vortex of coming out, coming to terms with himself and coming in general. As played by Randy Harrison, Justin is the epitome of angelic youth struggling with coming out, mistaking great sex for deep love, misunderstanding coming out as a panacea to all that it means to be gay, and making many missteps along the way to adulthood.

Harrison aptly captures the trials and tribulations of being young and gay from the pain of rejection to the ecstatic jubilations of just having had one's jewels jangled for the very first time.

Thea Gill plays Lindsay Peterson and Michelle Clunie plays Melanie Marcus, a lesbian couple who have a child by the party boy Brian. Sharon Gless of Cagney and Lacey fame portrays Debbie Novotny, Michael's mother. She is a sassy, sharptongued woman who loves and accepts her son totally. Gless seems to be having a ball in this role, and it is good to see a woman who made TV history as Detective Cagney

do it one more time with this show.

The ensemble cast is truly well put together and everyone sparkles in their roles. The level of realism and the comfort level of the actors is evident in every scene, from the lighter moments to the more emotional scenes-and the sultry and sometimes sordid sex scenes. The visual and sound aspects of the show are slick, seductive and sensual.

The title derives from an old Yorkshire saying, "There's nowt so queer as folk," meaning that there's nothing so odd as people. One could also argue that the title alludes to the fact that the gay and lesbian people in these stories are just as human, just as screwed up and just as real as straight people. It is here that the show is truly groundbreaking, not just because of its frank portrayals of rimming, anal sex, oral sex and copulation in all their romantic and kinky incarnations.

Shocking sex is hardly a novelty these days, gay or straight, but to see gay people portrayed with realism, complexity, humanity and depth is indeed shocking. And long overdue!

When I first set eyes on the British series I questioned whether the show was just being made for its shock value. Watching further and truly understanding the ways in which these stories unfold gave me a true appreciation for its reality and bluntness. The same is true with the American series. This is about so much more than just sex, but it will take time and a closer, intelligent viewing to understand that.

The British series was six episodes long with a two-hour finale. Showtime has 22 one-hour episodes, beginning with with a two-hour première December 3. The other episodes will air Sundays at 10 pm.

If the series succeeds, and it is most certain to do so, then Queer as Folk is set to come into our living rooms for a long, long time. Tune in check out this savagely funny, deeply emotional, super sexual and stunningly made series. Television is finally grown up and completely out of the closet.