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Cover Story

Taking Pride

by Buck Quigley

In appreciation of Pride Week (6/1—6/7), Artvoice reached out to several prominent figures in our area’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Questioning community with a brief inquiry. The responses, as you’ll see below, are at turns funny, frank, thoughtful, and enlightening. Read on to learn how things have changed over the years—what battles have been fought and won, why Pride Week is a blast, and what more needs to be addressed in order for our community to become all that it can be.

Gay Rights

The Queer Triumph of Robert Uplinger

by George Sax

Thirty-one years after he appeared for the defendant in People v. Uplinger, a pioneering legal defense of gay rights that he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, William H. Gardner can recall the dramatically tense and “absolutely hushed” atmosphere in the imposing and packed courtroom. He remembers his apprehension as he rose to address the nine justices and the very serious potential consequences of the case, legally, socially and politically.

Pride Week

It's a Celebration

by Peter Soscia

Pride Week in Buffalo kicks off on Monday, June 1 with several events throughout the week for the entire community to come together and celebrate gay pride.

Theatrically Speaking

The 25th Annual Artie Awards at 710 Main

by Anthony Chase

Final preparations for this year’s Artie Awards are being made. This year reunites Charmagne Chi and Amy Jakiel—Buffalo’s Amy Poehler and Tina Fey—as co-hosts with me. The event is a fundraiser for the Immunodeficiency Clinic at ECMC and a donation of $15 general and $10 for students is payable in cash at the door.

Playball

Reyes Shines in Bisons Rehab

by Andrew Kulyk and Peter Farrell

Back in 2013, Toronto Blue Jays all star shortstop Jose Reyes made quite a splash when he was sent down to the Buffalo Bisons for a rehabilitation stint. Not only did he display his big league prowess at the plate and on the field, but he became quite the show stopper along the sidelines, signing autographs, mugging for photos and selfies with fans, even posing for a picture with a baby who was hoisted over the wall and down onto the warning track. Reyes ending up playing four games at Coca Cola Field, delighting the hometown fans.

Beer Feature

Bisontine Empire

by Erik Wollschlager

In the 90s, the business of beer had become quite stagnant. Big Beer ruled the day, and while many in the Western New York area were loyal to Genesee Brewing, still more were shackled to the aluminum lure of conglomerates like Anheusher-Busch. Those who strayed from these American standards reached across the border for Labatt or Molson, but all of these choices had one thing in common—they were adjunct beers at best; little more than fermented corn sugar and water.

Art Scene

Carrying Lincoln Home

by Jack Foran

The feature image in an exhibit on Abraham Lincoln’s post-mortem last trip to Buffalo—this is the 150th anniversary year of Lincoln’s assassination—is a huge lithograph of the coffin and black-bunting-draped horse-drawn wagon that bore it along a parade route through downtown to St. James Hall, between Main and Washington streets, site of the present M&T Plaza, where the former president lay in state, open casket, for eight hours as an estimated 100,000 mourners filed by to pay their respects. The exhibit is in the lobby of the M&T office building at Main and Chippewa.

Classical Music Notes

June in Buffalo at 40

by Jan Jezioro

This year marks a pair of significant milestones for the University at Buffalo’s June in Buffalo Festival. Not only will the Festival celebrate its 40th anniversary season, but UB professor of composition David Felder will also celebrate his 30th season as the Festival’s artistic director. The late Morton Feldman founded JIB not only as a festival of new music, but also, as even more importantly, as a festival where established composers of new music would interact with young, emerging composers.

Theater News

Stagefright

by Javier

The Tony award winning musical The Book of Mormon is back at Shea’s (by popular demand!), for one week only, June 2-7. Robert Lopez (pictured above) won the Tony Award for creating the musical’s book and score (along with Trey Parker and Matt Stone). Most recently, he and wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez, won an Oscar for Best Original Song for “Let it Go,” written for Disney’s animation feature film Frozen.

What's Brewing

Presented by Consumer Beverages

by Paul Marko, Chris Groves

Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin & Genesee Brewing Co. - Cream Ale

Books

Get Lit

by Heather Cook

On Tuesday (6/2), Michael Fournier—novelist, music writer and punk-rocker—will be at Talking Leaves on Main street to present and read from his newest novel Swing State (Three Rooms Press). The novel is set in the declining, rural Northeast and revolves around the lives of an assortment of characters who share one common goal: to escape a small town in New Hampshire.

Film Reviews

Lambert & Stamp

by Jordan Canahai

Far From the Madding Crowd

by Jordan Canahai

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

by E. Ladd

Featured Events

See You There!

AV Hit List: Top Event Picks for This Week

Listings

On The Boards Theater Listings

Movie Listings (Friday, May 29 - Thursday, June 4)

Film Now Playing

Graphic Traffic

Scalped Deluxe Edition Vol. One

by Michael Hoffert Jr.

Black Orchid

by Jack Dumpert

Offbeat News

News of the Weird

by Chuck Shepherd

The long-time swingers’ club in Nashville, Tennessee (The Social Club), is seeking to relocate to the trendy Madison neighborhood—but near two churches and an upscale private Christian school in a state that bars sex businesses within 1,000 feet of a church or school. The Social Club’s preferred solution: re-open as the United Fellowship Center and attempt to hold services on Sunday mornings, converting, for example, its “dungeon room” into the “choir room.”

Horoscopes

Free Will Astrology

by Rob Brezsny

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): You have successfully made the transition from brooding caterpillar to social butterfly. Soon you will be in your full, fluttery glory, never lingering too long with one thought, one friend, or one identity. Some heavy-duty, level-headed stalwarts might wish you would be more earthy and anchored, but I don’t share their concern.