Arts & Culture :: Culture

Cyndi Lauper: Legendary music star takes her farewell tour on the road

Cyndi Lauper: Legendary music star takes her farewell tour on the road

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Nov 5, 2024

As we prepare to say farewell to musical trendsetter Cyndi Lauper on the concert tour circuit, she was generous enough to make time for an interview before hitting the road. Lauper performs on Nov. 26 in San Francisco at the Chase Center.

'The Book of Awesome Queer Heroes' - Pride across the ages and pages

'The Book of Awesome Queer Heroes' - Pride across the ages and pages

  • by Finbar LaBelle
  • Nov 3, 2024

"The Book of Awesome Queer Heroes: How the LGBTQ+ Community Changed the World for the Better" will make a wonderful addition to any bookshelf, especially one that may be missing a breadth of inspirational queer virtuosos from across the ages.

Geoffrey Mak: Gay author takes on the 'Mean Boys'

Geoffrey Mak: Gay author takes on the 'Mean Boys'

  • Nov 3, 2024

Queer Chinese American writer Geoffrey Mak takes the personal essay to new, and sometimes unsettling, heights, in his book "Mean Boys: A Personal History," described as a "memoir-in-essays."

'Conclave' - a papal election to rival our own

'Conclave' - a papal election to rival our own

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Nov 3, 2024

Edmund Berger's compelling film "Conclave" poses the question, "Can we still believe in this flawed institution, the church?" while knowing the machinations of its inner workings.

Chad Beguelin's 'Showmance' - Broadway lyricist publishes a gay romance novel

Chad Beguelin's 'Showmance' - Broadway lyricist publishes a gay romance novel

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Oct 29, 2024

A Broadway lyricist and book writer whose collaborations include "The Wedding Singer," "Elf: The Musical," and Disney's "Aladdin," Beguelin writes what he knows in his literary debut, "Showmance," a romantic comedy about a gay Broadway theater artist.

Words: 'Trans Anthology Project,' a new collection of stories written for and by gender-diverse teens and their parents

Words: 'Trans Anthology Project,' a new collection of stories written for and by gender-diverse teens and their parents

  • by Michele Karlsberg
  • Oct 28, 2024

It all started with a single story; a one-off essay written by a mom trying to make sense of her experience parenting her trans son. Two years later, "Trans Anthology Project" is a 310-page collection of stories and educational content.

Tamara de Lempicka exhibit at the de Young: seductive new perspective on the bisexual painter

Tamara de Lempicka exhibit at the de Young: seductive new perspective on the bisexual painter

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Oct 22, 2024

Tamara de Lempicka's first major US retrospective, with more than 120 works, is dedicated to the artist's full oeuvre (also drawings and experimental still lifes) currently at the de Young Museum.

Dagoberto Gilb's 'New Testaments: Stories'

Dagoberto Gilb's 'New Testaments: Stories'

  • by Laura Moreno
  • Oct 21, 2024

Dagoberto Gilb's impressive new collection, "New Testaments: Stories," documents the lives of ordinary Mexican Americans living along our Border, an important but overlooked part of American history.

'Halloween: A Fantasy in Three Acts' - photo book recalls Halloween celebrations of long ago

'Halloween: A Fantasy in Three Acts' - photo book recalls Halloween celebrations of long ago

  • by David-Elijah Nahmod
  • Oct 19, 2024

In 1981, photographer Ken Werner published a book of photos, titled simply, "Halloween: A Fantasy in Three Acts," that featured some of his photos from those wild street parties of long ago. The book has just been reissued in a new edition.

Valley of the Queens: queer history tours of Tenderloin, Polk Street and North Beach

Valley of the Queens: queer history tours of Tenderloin, Polk Street and North Beach

  • by David-Elijah Nahmod
  • Oct 15, 2024

Sprockett hosts queer walking tours of the Tenderloin, Polk Street and North Beach, neighborhoods that are steeped in LGBTQ history. The fact that gays were once referred to as "unspeakable" resonated with Sprockett, so he named his company Unspeakabl

Charles Ives at 150: Jeremy Denk plays the piano works

Charles Ives at 150: Jeremy Denk plays the piano works

  • by Tim Pfaff
  • Oct 14, 2024

In honor of composer Charles Ives' 150th birth anniversary, Nonesuch is releasing a two-disc set of Jeremy Denk's previous recordings of the Violin Sonatas, with Stefan Jackiw, and, newly re-mastered, his 2010 recording of the piano sonatas.

Dianne Dugaw's 'California Medieval: Nearly a Nun in 1960s San Francisco'

Dianne Dugaw's 'California Medieval: Nearly a Nun in 1960s San Francisco'

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Oct 12, 2024

Dianne Dugaw, an accomplished classical pianist and singer-musician, has created an intriguing hybrid memoir interweaving poetry, song, and rhapsodic vignettes about the three years in the 1960s spent as an aspiring nun in San Jose.

Litquake's 25th - Festival includes author events of the queer type

Litquake's 25th - Festival includes author events of the queer type

  • by Finbar LaBelle
  • Oct 8, 2024

Always a delight for San Franciscans, Litquake, the West Coast's largest independent literary festival, returns to the Bay Area, and celebrates a quarter century of programs, including a wealth of queer events, authors, and icons.

'Choir Boy' sings out strong: Shotgun Players presents drama by 'Moonlight' screenwriter

'Choir Boy' sings out strong: Shotgun Players presents drama by 'Moonlight' screenwriter

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Oct 8, 2024

Saturated in hormones and harmonies, Shotgun Players' production of "Choir Boy," is a bracing entertainment, as endearing, self-serious, and gloriously florid as the blossoming minds of the teenage boarding school boys it portrays.