Arts & Culture :: Culture

Blair Fell's 'The Sign for Home' - Gay ASL interpreter and straight DeafBlind young man's lives intersect

Blair Fell's 'The Sign for Home' - Gay ASL interpreter and straight DeafBlind young man's lives intersect

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • Mar 29, 2022

In his debut novel, 'The Sign for Home,' author Blair Fell explores the friendship between Arlo, a young, straight DeafBlind Jehovah's Witness, and Cyril, his gay older ASL interpreter. Fell shared his inspiration and ideas behind his novel.

Lauren McBrayer's 'Like a House on Fire'

Lauren McBrayer's 'Like a House on Fire'

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Mar 29, 2022

2022 is proving to be one of the queerest ever in terms of literature, including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry titles. If it's not already on your reading list, by all means, add lesbian writer Lauren McBrayer's debut novel 'Like a House on Fire.'

Steve Fellner's 'Eating Lightbulbs and Other Essays'

Steve Fellner's 'Eating Lightbulbs and Other Essays'

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Mar 29, 2022

Steve Fellner's new book is at turns hysterically funny and cause for hysteria. Fellner is relentlessly open in the way he details his struggles with mental illness that is alternately clinical and casual.

Poet Richie Hofmann's new orbit of intimacy

Poet Richie Hofmann's new orbit of intimacy

  • by Mark William Norby
  • Mar 29, 2022

San Francisco poet Richie Hofmann combines memoir and fiction in order to detail the character's interior monologue in his new book of poems, 'A Hundred Lovers.'

50 years in 50 weeks: 2021's anniversary

50 years in 50 weeks: 2021's anniversary

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • Mar 23, 2022

For our final arts and nightlife-themed 50 years in 50 weeks tribute, we'd like to share our April 1, 2021 64-page special edition, which included more than a dozen expansive features on the Bay Area Reporter's five decades of coverage.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns: out dancer Vernard J. Gilmore celebrates 25 years with the iconic company

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns: out dancer Vernard J. Gilmore celebrates 25 years with the iconic company

  • by Philip Mayard
  • Mar 22, 2022

Having danced with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for an astounding 25 years, dancer Vernard J. Gilmore's love and passion for the company, and in particular the classic work "Revelations," is still radiant.

Sang Young Park's 'Love in the Big City'

Sang Young Park's 'Love in the Big City'

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Mar 15, 2022

Sang Young Park's gay-themed 'Love in the Big City,' his first to be newly translated into English, has been a runaway bestseller (nine printings) in South Korea, astounding for such a socially conservative nation.

Playing The Pines: classic dance mixes rediscovered and restored

Playing The Pines: classic dance mixes rediscovered and restored

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • Mar 15, 2022

Music mixes from the halcyon days of 1970s and '80s Fire Island and New York City nightclubs have been rediscovered in a series of remastered cassette mixes found in boxes at a Fire Island house. The Pine Walk Collection is now listenable on MixCloud.

11th B.A.R. Talk focuses on arts

11th B.A.R. Talk focuses on arts

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • Mar 2, 2022

In our nearly final yearlong celebrations of the Bay Area Reporter's 50th anniversary, our eleventh monthly online panel, set for March 10, will focus on fifty years of arts coverage with former and current editors and writers.

'Sticker' author Henry Hoke

'Sticker' author Henry Hoke

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Mar 1, 2022

With his breathtaking and brief memoir 'Sticker,' queer writer Henry Hoke challenges our notions and expectations of the genre and does it all in under 125 pages.

The good son: Neel Patel's 'Tell Me How To Be'

The good son: Neel Patel's 'Tell Me How To Be'

  • by Tim Pfaff
  • Feb 22, 2022

Akash, the protagonist of Neel Patel's debut novel, 'Tell Me How To Be,' ralphs at important family gatherings, behavior that evinces a certain sincerity in a clan infested with secrets.

Enemy lines: 'Heroes of the Fourth Turning' at SF Playhouse

Enemy lines: 'Heroes of the Fourth Turning' at SF Playhouse

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Feb 22, 2022

At times when society feels divided into radically opposed camps, theater can remind us of a common humanity that transcends any singular ideology. But Will Arbery's play, 'Heroes of the Fourth Turning,' is a non-Kumbaya if ever there was one.

San Francisco Ballet's two dramatic mixed bills, through Feb. 13

San Francisco Ballet's two dramatic mixed bills, through Feb. 13

  • by Paul Parish
  • Feb 8, 2022

San Francisco Ballet is back in the Opera House, looking strong, with two very different yet captivating programs of premieres and repertory works by choreographers Helgi Tomasson, Cathy Marston, William Forsythe, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.

Karinda Dobbins' new 'Black & Blue' comedy album's out

Karinda Dobbins' new 'Black & Blue' comedy album's out

  • by Cornelius Washington
  • Feb 8, 2022

She's black, beautiful and brilliant. Stand-up comic Karinda Dobbins, a regular on the comedy circuit for years, has released 'Black & Blue,' a new album of her recent acts.