The holiday season got off to a cool start at the November 7 opening day ceremonies for the Safeway Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square.

Christine Andreas, elle ne parle pas francais. While the acclaimed soprano's Bay Area Cabaret performance, at the Venetian Room on December 2, is a tribute to iconic French singer Edith Piaf, Andreas doesn't speak the Little Sparrow's native tongue.

One of the many attractions to San Francisco when I moved here in 1994 was how readily it embraced older gay men. I was always pleasantly surprised at how well older gay men were integrated into the larger LGBTQ whole, especially in the leather scene.

Lavender Country, the first gay country band, featuring Patrick Haggerty, returns to the Bay Area On Nov. 18. The now-revived band will perform at The Ivy Room with LGBT bands The Secret Emchy Society and Velvetta.

With the holidays fast approaching, consider adding some locally-made delicious cheese to your party plates or brunch menu. Sonoma and Marin artisan cheese makers Laura Chenel and Marin French Cheese recently sent us some delicious samples.

On Nov 9 at SoMa nightclub Halcyon (314 11th St.), the 30th annual Real Bad party presenters, Grass Roots Gay Rights Fund, hosted their wrap-up party and check presentation.

Dixie Longate's show, which has toured nationally since 2007 and has played two successful Off-Broadway runs, is just now making its local debut with a three-night engagement a Feinstein's at the Nikko next Thursday through Saturday.

We're a month past National Coming Out Day, but the issue of coming out is something that anyone within the LGBTQ communities struggles with 365 days a year.

Candidates in Supervisor, local and state offices celebrated their victories (including Matt Haney and Gordon Mar), the Democratic House majority flip, as well as 100s of progressive victories nationwide, at Oasis and Calle 11.

When Cole Escola makes his San Francisco debut at the Great American Music Hall on November 12 with his sketch show, Help! I'm Stuck!, he'll play an array of mostly female characters; a suburban mom, a New York office worker, and Bernadette Peters.

October was cute, and it was sweet to end it with such gorgeous weather. My two monthly parties at Powerhouse have helped to raise great money for two organizations that I really care deeply about.

Mention Halloween violence in the LGBT community, and most people think of events of the last decade, which ended the closing of Castro Street for the holiday. But history does repeat itself, as the '60s and'70s Halloween celebrations prove.

When I attend the Tory Sivan concert Nov. 1, I suspect that some of his millennial fans may cast suspicious sidelong glances at me. "What is this balding guy our fathers' age doing here," they may ask each other. "Is he some kind of perv?"

The sold-out third annual Mr. International Freedom contest, held at Oasis on Octover 17, raised funds for the LGBT Asylum Project.