www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com August 26, 2011
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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 5
Film pioneer Vito Russo's biographer to speak
by Jim Ebbenga
Cleveland-Michael Schiavi, author of
the new book, Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo (University of Wisconsin Press, 2011), will speak at Liberation United Church of Christ on Friday, September 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Russo was a gay rights giant at the center of the cultural and political turning points in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. He witnessed the Stonewall riots in 1969; emceed New York's earliest Pride parade rallies; and hosted America's first gay show on public television, Our Time. He was a cofounder of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power and was a founding member of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamationwhich presented its 2011 Vito Russo Award to singer Ricky Martin.
Russo's entertaining and insightful interviews with celebrities, many of whom became his friends (including Bette Midler, Lily Tomlin, Valerie Harper, Harvey Fierstein and Whoopie Goldberg), appeared
Michael Schiavi
Schiqvi
in the Advocate, Film Comment, Moviegoer and numerous other publications.
Russo wrote The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies, generally regarded as the foundational text of gay and lesbian film studies. A 1995 feature documentary film by Academy Award-winning directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman was based on Russo's work. [Russo had assembled a reel of film clips and outtakes that he used with his lectures, sometimes reading the script aloud to replace a lost soundtrack. He showed it with a talk at a Case Western Reserve University gay and lesbian conference in the 1980s. The clips formed the basis of the 1995 movie.]
Vito Russo embodied the spirit of early gay liberation and his death in 1990 epitomized how AIDS had wiped out a generation of the movement's best and brightest movers and shakers.
Film writer and biographer Schiavi, professor of English at the New York Institute of Technology, never met Russo, but when he was "17, closeted and very scared," Schiavi came across The Celluloid Closet on a library shelf and soon claimed the spellbinding gay activist writer as his per-
sonal hero. Schiavi's engrossing biography draws on archival materials, unpublished letters and journals, and more than 200 interviews with family members and friends.
His presentation will include commentary, video, readings from Celluloid Activist, and Q&A.
"I'm excited to introduce Cleveland to one of our movement's most important activists," says Schiavi. "Vito was visionary, articulate, fiery, extremely funny, charismatic, sexually precocious, and wholly loving. His inspiring life created lasting change for us all."
Schiavi's appearance is part of Liberation United Church of Christ's 18th anniversary celebration. The church, with a special mission to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied communities, is located at 13714 Madison Avenue in Lakewood, one block east of Bunts Road. Books will be available for purchase for $20 (list price is $29.95) at the event, which will include a reception and book signing. A free-will offering will be received.
For more information, call 216-521-5556 or go to www.liberationucc.org.
Jim Ebbenga is editor of Liberation UCC's publications.
charlie'scalendar
To Saturday, September 10
Five Flights, play by Adam Bock about two siblings who inherit their father's crumbling aviary, and the son's courtship with a hockey player, directed by Clyde Simon, presented by Covergence-Continuum Theater, the Liminis Theater, 2438 Scranton Rd, Cleveland; www.convergence-continuum.org, 216-
687-0074.
Friday, August 26
Youngstown Pride, third year celebrating Mahoning Valley's LGBT community, picnic, games, two entertainment stages, 4 to 11 pm, B&O Station Banquet Center and Park, 530 Mahoning Ave., Youngstown; 330-747-7433; www.mypridecenter.com.
Saturday, August 27
Muse Auditions, for Cincinnati's Women's Choir, 9 am-3 pm, St. John's Unitarian Universalist Church, 320 Resor Ave, Cincinnati; http://musechoir.org/contactlinks/auditions. Toledo Pride, 2 pm parade, 3 pm Community Connection Carnival, entertainment until 11:30 pm, at the riverfront Promenade Park, on Water Street between Madison and Jefferson Avenues, Toledo; www.toledopride.com.
HRC Cleveland Dinner, 18th annual event benefits the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, D.C., 5 pm VIP reception, 6 pm grand reception, 7 pm dinner and auction; $175, or $225 for VIP; student $75; CSU Wolstein Center, 2000 Prospect Ave, Cleveland; www.cleveland.hrc.org.
Living OutLoud, multicultural event presented by Project OutLoud, entertainment by DJ Harvination and the Black Mondays, raffles, drink specials, donations accepted at door to benefit Fathers & Families in honor of Michele Hobbs, 9 pm, Avenue Lounge, 411 Madison Ave, Covington, Ky. (Cincinnati); www.projectoutloud.vpweb.com.
Sunday, August 28
North Coast Men's Chorus Picnic, for members, former members and men wanting to join, bring a dish to share, 1 pm, Edgewater Park Upper Pavilion, Cleveland, enter park near West Blvd. and Edgewater Drive, follow road to the last parking lot; 216-556-0590 or membership@ncmchorus.org.
Drag Bingo, monthly event presented by the Community AIDS Network, $20 includes ninecard bingo sheets for each of the five games, $50 minimum jackpost for the first four games, $250 for the fifth game, hors d'oeuvres, water, coffee, tea, cash bar, drag show follows bingo, 5 pm doors, 6 pm start time, limited to 200 patrons, free parking in city deck across the street, Greystone Hall, 103 South High St, Akron; 330-252-1559, www.canapi.org.
Wednesday, August 31
Fire, a stop on the Cleveland LGBT Center's restaurant tour, tell your server you're on the tour and 25% of your bill is donated to the center, 13220 Shaker Square, Cleveland; 216921-3473, www.lgbtcleveland.org.
Thursday, September 1
Lori Molesky: Reflections III, opening of show by nature photographer Lori Molesky, 6 pm, Annex Gallery, Loganberry Books, 13015 Larchmere Blvd, Shaker Hts (Cleveland); 216795-9800, www.loganberrybooks.com.
Wednesday, September 7
Momocho, a stop on the Cleveland LGBT Center's restaurant tour, tell your server you're on the tour and 25% of your bill is donated to the center, 1835 Fulton Rd. in Ohio City, Cleveland 216-694-2122 www.lgbtcleveland.
org.
Joy B. Savren
Attorney at Law
Divorce & Dissolution Custody & Support Personal Injury ~ Accidents
Wills Probate of Estates Real Estate
Personal attention to provide individual solutions for issues faced by singles and
717 Hanna Building, Cleveland 44115 (216) 771-6597 jbsavren@aol.com
Thursday, September 8
Gene's Jazz Hot, performance by jazz band headed by Gene Epstein, 7 pm, Annex Gallery, Loganberry Books, 13015 Larchmere Blvd, Shaker Hts (Cleveland); 216-795-9800, www.loganberrybooks.com.
Friday, September 9
Center Flashback, part of the TaDa! Dinner Series benefiting the Cleveland LGBT Center, $25, limited to 30 guests, 6 pm, west side Cleveland location; 216-651-5428,
www.lgbtcleveland.org.
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Michael Schiavi to speak, author of Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo, biography of gay rights campaigner and film historian, copies available for $20, 7:30 pm, Liberation UCC, 13714 Madison Avenue, Lakewood (Cleveland); www.liberation ucc.org, 216-521-5556.
Friday to Sunday, September 9 to 11 Ohio Lesbian Festival, held annually at Frontier Ranch, 8836 York Rd, Pataskala, Ohio (1⁄2 mile north of U.S. 40, two miles west of Kirkersville, 18 miles east of Columbus); www.ohiolba.org.
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