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CHALLENGE The Newsletter of the Gay Activist Alliance in Morris County - Continuously Serving the GLBTI Community since 1972
Volume 38, Issue 6, Summer 2012
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by Mickey Suiter Recently a member told me that he thought GAAMC should be doing more than it is. I asked him what and he said he didn’t know, he just felt that what we were doing wasn’t enough. At first I thought the comment wasn’t very helpful — constructive criticism usually contains some kind of suggestion for improvement. But after I thought about it a while, I realized that maybe the reason his comment made me uncomfortable was that I felt exactly the same way. GAAMC does a number of things and, for the most part, I think we do them well. As I’ve written before, I feel GAAMC’s primary function is to provide a safe space for members of the LGBT community, a place to be comfortable and be with others like ourselves, a place to make friends. We have done that consistently for 40 years. We also have our weekly discussion group, Open Talk, where anyone present can share whatever is on their mind. We have weekly programs that cover a wide variety of topics. Throw in a number of socials, food events and outings such as theater trips and basketball games and we provide quite a number of activities for members of our community. And then there are our publications, Challenge and Pride Guide, which are interesting, informative and full of resources for the community. We have a speaker’s bureau that does outreach and education for the community at large. We take part in pride celebrations all over the area. We have our web site, Facebook group and Yahoo group that allow members to share thoughts, feelings and information with one another.
As a small all-volunteer organization we should be very proud of all of these. If we only accomplished a few of these things each year we would still be a very worthwhile organization. And yet, I want us to be more. There are so many people in the community we don’t reach, so many needs we are unaware of. But to do more, we need input. Those of us who are volunteering at GAAMC only have so many ideas and we tend to use up all of our available time and energy working on those that interest us personally. There are lots of things GAAMC could be doing that just don’t occur to us. What we need is a virtual suggestion box where anyone can suggest things and offer help. Of course, the best way to find out what people who are not involved in GAAMC think we could be doing is to ask them, but since we don’t know who they are, that isn’t possible. So I’m asking you, our members, to take some time and think about this. What programs, services or activities can GAAMC provide that it is not currently? How can we better reach out to the LGBT community? How can we increase our membership and attendance, not just for the sake of higher numbers, but as evidence that we are filling needs? Write to me at President @ GAAMC.org with your ideas. I will discuss every idea I get with the Board of Trustees and get back to you on it. I really do want to hear from you. We may not be able to put every idea into action, but we need your input. This is your organization as much as mine and it should be what you want it to be.
Watching Your Pennies? Tickets to GAAMC's
Ruby Ball are only
$80 per person! The event includes an open bar cocktail hour, buffet dinner, entertainment, and dancing! Where else can you find value like this? Keep an eye on future issues of Challenge for more details as they develop!
Inside Challenge Challenge Information.... ................................ page 2 GAAMC Events.............................................. page 2 Bulletin Board .............................................. page 3 GAAMC Fundraising Dinner Coming in July............page 3 Gleanings: Queer news from around the world .... page 4 Dancing to Architecture: music reviews............. page 5 The Little Box of Concerts............................... page 6 Summer Calendar .......................................... page 7 GAAMC Board Mini-Minutes, April 2011.............. page 15 Poetry: Astronomy...................................... page 15 GAAMC Information...................................... page 16
Page 2 CHALLENGE Summer 2012 CHALLENGE Volume 38, Number 6 Summer 2012 ISSN 0277-1675 Staff Editor .....................Allen Neuner Assistant Editor ............. Bill Stella Advertising Manager ............. open Circulation Manager ............. open List Manager ................ Sue Harris Submissions The deadline for all articles, inserts, and advertisements is the fifteenth of the previous month. All submissions must be provided as electronic files. E-mail submissions to Challenge @ GAAMC.org. Ad Rates Single issue: Full page, $125.00; Half page, $85.00; Quarter page, $45.00; Business card, $25.00. For multi-issue rates, contact the Editor at Challenge @ GAAMC.org. GAAMC members may place one free classified ad per month, of no more than 200 characters in length. Change of Address Please let us know your new address! All address changes should be sent to the List Manager at ChangeAddress @ GAAMC.org. Challenge is © 2012-2013 by the Gay Activist Alliance in Morris County, a 501(c)3 tax-exempt not-for-profit corporation. All rights reserved. All articles reflect the views of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of GAAMC, its officers, or executive board. All copyrights revert to the original contributors upon publication. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without the express written permission of the contributor. All articles, contributions, and advertisements are printed at the discretion of the Editor and/or GAAMC Executive Board.
GAAMC Events for July/August 2012 Discussion Groups OpenTalk: A regular weekly discussion group, open to all. Moderators: Kerry (July 23; August 13); Gordon (July 16; August 6, 27); Sherri (July 9, 30; August 20). 7:00, Library; on Film Festival nights, discussion may follow the film. NOTE: There will be NO OpenTalk Discussion on July 2. Main Events All start at 8:00 unless otherwise noted. July 2: GAAMC's Ice Cream Social cools you down while providing hot fun in the summertime! Enjoy your favorite frozen treats served in the Terrace Room and on the Terrace! Ice cream (including the no-sugaradded kind) will be on hand, and sherbet, too! If there's something special you'd like to share with us, send a quick email to Socials @ GAAMC.org and let us know what you're bringing! Our special guests will be from Triad House, a safe environment for LGBTI Youth. July 9: Summer Tales! It's time to kick back and talk about what's been amazing about the summer so far. GAAMC's Andiamo (Italian for "let's go") is an extended discussion which starts with brainstorming for a topic, letting you exercise your right to choose, then letting the discussion follow the topic where it may! July 16: Movie Discussion Group A wide-ranging discussion, from classics to the latest releases. Come tell us what you’ve seen recently, which films deserved the Oscar (and which didn't!), and more. Cinemaphiles unite! July 23: Members Market Familiar and new vendors ply their wares for discerning GAAMC connoisseurs. Everything from art to jewelry to services will be available, and the GAAMC Book Sale will be in full effect with brand new titles! Bring cash and get something marvelous for your friends with summer and fall birthdays, and who knows? Maybe a new treasure for yourself! August 6: Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s Next Stage Ensemble treats us to their production of Beaumarchais' farce The Marriage of Figaro. The course of true love has never run smoothly, but the factotum supreme, Figaro, makes sure that all’s well that ends well! This is a special event and for only $10, you can see the next generation of stars that will grace STNJ’s Madison theatre as well. Don’t miss it! August 13: Play Readings GAAMC welcomes back playwright/director Sean Pollock, who will present an evening of readings of original plays. Sean's previous programs at GAAMC were entertaining and at times thought-provoking, and this evening promises more of the same! August 20: Listening Party! Music surrounds us and inspires us. What are the songs that inspire you? Bring a CD or iPod and write Programs @ GAAMC.org to let us know what you need. We’ll have speakers on hand to connect us to the music that connects us all. August 27: The Games of Summer! During the “dog days” of summer, nothing’s more refreshing than a night of games! Come out and play with your friends from GAAMC! Bring your favorite game to share! We’ll be in the Terrace Room and the doors will be open for the balmy breezes of summer. Got a super jigsaw puzzle? Bring it! We’ll see you there, and we’ll bring the soft drinks! Coming in September! September 3: GAAMC’s Labor Day Social! Join us for one of the banner events in the GAAMC year! Bring a side-dish or dessert that may be shared with 6 friends and let’s have a BBQ! Email Socials @ GAAMC.org and let us know which specialty you’ll share! September 10: Anniversary Archive Program Founder Mickey Suiter and the Archive Committee share GAAMC’s long and storied history with friends that are new and friends of long standing. We are celebrating our Ruby Anniversary and we invite everyone who’s made us who we are to be here to share.
GAAMC Tip of the Month While Challenge tries to be as accurate as possible with event information, sometimes there are some last-minute changes. For the must up-to-date information about GAAMC events, go to GAAMC.org!
Summer 2012 CHALLENGE Page 3
Bulletin Board The Imperial Court of New York is proud to present "Jersey Girls 8", a fundraising event for Buddies of New Jersey, on Sunday, July 1st at 7 pm at Paradise in Asbury Park. The suggested donation is only $10, for which you get performances, raffles, a silent auction, and more! Buddies provides support, education, and services for people affected and infected with AIDS. For more information, go to www.icny.org. Mark your calendars! Saturday, August 18th, the 2012 Hudson Pride Festival, "Pride 365", is back at Exchange Place in Jersey City! Featuring fantastic entertainment, music, food, dancing, and speakers addressing some of the most pressing issues facing our community, "Pride 365" promises to be a fun-tastic celebration of our lives and our love! Pride is not just for one day — it is something we wear every day of ever year, it's something we live, in a connected way, 365 days a year, and it's worth celebrating! For more information, check out hudsonpride.org/events. Activities, tours, hikes, picnics, trips, dinners, socials… It’s all on GayOutdoors.org (GO), an online national webbased organization for guys to plan events and participate in those scheduled gatherings. Online membership is free, but there is an annual fee to have access to post or host events. In the NJ/PA/NY area, GAAMC member Ed Schell has posted plans for the following: July, a Pocono hike and pool day at Rainbow Mountain Resort; August, river tubing; September, a hike-nic in Schooley's Mountain Park; and October, a canal hike and lunch in Stockton. Any questions regarding the locally hosted events? Contact Ed at sche357 @ aol.com. The Carol G. Simon Cancer Center of the Morristown Medical Center provides free or reduced charge breast exams, Pap tests, and PSA/DRE prostate screenings to Morris County residents without health insurance who earn up to $27,000. Men’s clinics are held four times per year; men are examined by a male urologist. Women’s clinics take place bimonthly, but may take several months to book; women are examined by a female nurse practitioner. For more details, or to set an appointment, please call (973) 971-6581.
Reserve Now for July's Ruby Anniversary Celebration Fundraising Dinner Space is limited, so don't delay! Gordon Sauer and Javier Montalvo will host an intimate soiree at their home in East Hanover on July 21st at 7:30 pm. The $65 per person buffet will include drinks, appetizers, a full meal including omnivore and vegetarian choices, dessert, and entertainment. Funds raised from the event will be used for GAAMC's 40th Anniversary Ruby Ball to be held September 30th. Seating is limited. All reservations must be received by Sunday, July 14th. To make your reservation, send your name, address, phone number, and a $65 check to Buffet for GAAMC, PO Box 137, Convent Station, NJ 07961. All
contributions are tax-deductable. See the membership flyer inserted in this month's Challenge envelope for a reservation form, a credit card payment option, and other information. If you are unable to attend but would like to contribute or have someone go in your place, please contact Gordon Sauer at Discussions @ GAAMC.org, or talk to Gordon at any Monday night GAAMC meeting. Gordon and Javier's fundraising dinners are celebrations which are themselves celebrated by past attendees, and this year's dinner should prove to be another great time.
Page 4 CHALLENGE Summer 2012
Gleanings
Queer news from around the world The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee voted against confirming Bruce Harris, an openly gay Republican nominated to the state Supreme Court by Governor Chris Christie (R). Democrats, who control the committee, objected to Harris’ stated intention to recuse himself on issues involving marriage equality, a stance that also concerned LGBT activists. (NJ.com) The Hetrick-Martin Institute, in collaboration with Newark Mayor Cory Booker and the City Council, has launched HMI:Newark, a comprehensive after-school program serving the LGBTQ youth of Newark and its surrounding areas. Thomas Krever, the institute's executive director, said that the institute's efforts are "devoted to empowering LGBTQ youth wherever they may be." (NYC Pride Guide) The California Senate passed a bill that would regulate therapies that purport to be able to change a child's sexual orientation from gay to straight. SB 1172 would prohibit children younger than 18 from undergoing sexual orientation change efforts. "The entire medical community is opposed to these phony therapies," Senator Ted W. Lieu (D) said after passage of the bill, which he introduced. (CNN) The National Council of La Raza, the country's largest Latino civil rights organization, passed a resolution in support of marriage rights for same-sex couples. The resolution, which passed unanimously, was adopted in early June and will be formally announced at La Raza's annual convention in July. (Washington Blade) The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) has issued a report stating that 32% of those reporting antiLGBT violence and harassment cited police misconduct as part of their experience. Of that group, slightly more than half alleged unjustified arrest, a quarter said they had been subjected to excessive force, 17% cited entrapment, and 5% cited police raids. Some transgender NCAVP clients said they had been profiled as sex workers and falsely arrested. Other LGBT clients said they were arrested for public shows of affection or public sex either falsely or through selective enforcement. (Gay City News, New York) Many of the largest LGBT advocacy groups, including the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the Empire State Pride Agenda, the NYC Anti-Violence Project, Lambda Legal, the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the Family Equality Council, the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, Marriage Equality USA, the National Black Justice Coalition, and Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, stepped up at a June 5th press conference at the Stonewall Inn in solidarity with the organizers of a Manhattan march protesting the NYPD's stop and frisk policies, which starkly and disproportionately affect people of color. The "End Stop and Frisk Silent March Against Racial Profiling" took place on Father's Day, June 17th. Its lead organizers included the National Action Network, the NAACP, labor unions, and the New York Civil Liberties Union. Last year, the NYPD made nearly 685,000
stop-and-frisks, of which 53% involved African-Americans and 34% involved Latinos. (Gay City News, New York) A federal district judge in Manhattan ruled in favor of a woman who was forced to pay $363,053 in estate taxes when her wife died because she did not qualify for a marital exemption. U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones said the federal government's definition of marriage as outlined in the Defense of Marriage Act "intrude(s) upon the states' business of regulating domestic relations." The case is the latest in what one advocate called "an avalanche" of rulings undercutting DOMA. (The Boston Globe) A federal judge in California held that both the Defense of Marriage Act and a provision of tax law unconstitutionally limit same-sex couples and domestic partners from participating in the long-term care plan offered by the California Public Employees Retirement System. The decision in the class-action lawsuit came from U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken, a Clinton appointee to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. This is the first federal court decision relating to the 1996 marriagedefining law since President Obama announced on May 9 that he believes that same-sex couples should be able to marry. (Metro Weekly, DC) The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to rehear the case of the constitutionality of California's anti-gay Proposition 8, sending the battle on to the U.S. Supreme Court. Both a federal district court judge and a 3-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court have said Prop 8 violates the U.S. Constitution. If the Supreme Court decides this fall that it will not hear the case, same-sex couples will once again be allowed to marry in California. (Metro Weekly, DC) The First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston handed LGBT advocates a major victory, ruling that the Defense of Marriage Act’s treatment of same-sex couples who are legally married under Massachusetts law is unconstitutional. “Congress’ denial of federal benefits to same-sex couples lawfully married in Massachusetts has not been adequately supported by any permissible federal interest,” wrote Judge Michael Boudin, one of two judges appointed by Republican presidents on the court’s three-judge panel. The court wrote that their ruling would not be immediately implemented, saying the final word on DOMA’s constitutionality will most likely come from the U.S. Supreme Court. (The Boston Globe) Twenty-five Illinois gay and lesbian couples sued the state for the right to marry, a year after same-sex couples in Illinois were granted the right to enter into civil unions. The couples suing in Illinois say the civil union status sends the message that the state regards their relationships as inferior. The ACLU represents nine of the couples suing, while Lambda Legal represents the remaining 16 couples. Meanwhile, In a surprising turn of events, the Cook County state's attorney, Anita Alvarez, conceded in a court filing that the state's ban on same-sex marriages is unconstitutional. The Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, also plans to file a brief in favor of the plaintiffs, while Cook (continued on page 14)
Summer 2012 CHALLENGE Page 5
Dancing To Architecture™
Music Reviews & News with a Queer Ear by Bill Realman Stella "Pr eachi n g To The Un con v er t ed" The Best-So-Far, Part 3: New candidates for 2012's 150+ Favorite "Top 10" Albums This summer we'll all be Dancing To Architecture — because dancing to Club tracks just isn't enough. Exciting, entertaining, ear-grabbing albums and songs arrive faster than I can tell you all about them. We continue to capsule-review a new slew of candidates for 2012's "Top 10" Albums list. And perhaps I haven't made something clear: When I speak of 150+ Top 10 Albums, I am NOT saying that practically every album I hear gets added to the list - Far from it. At most one out of every 10 albums I hear gets added to the list. I'm saying: There's a whole lotta cream that should rise to the top but that gets ignored by music communities who don't think twice about listing only 5 or 10 albums — sometimes even only 5 or 10 tracks — at a time, "focused" on a specific subgenre or subculture. I believe that is a disservice to those communities, those cultures, those genres, and to music itself. I'm a believer in E pluribus unum, but "From many, one" is no call to conformity, it's a call to unity. And for unity to be possible, we have to include everyone we can, not just the few who seem convenient to carry or who can pay the tolls. Start the engine on your music-player of choice, Music Lovers. Here comes more of that cream you like, all available right now.
The Bond Brothers - PJ & Brian ~ Brother Bones / Baby Bones New
Brunswick based Brian (of the band Communipaw) and his brother PJ (both NJ-born) split duties here, four songs each, of Folk Punk and Raw Electric folk. Stream Brian's "Anymore" free at absolutepunk.net .
Bouncing Souls ~ Comet The Souls get
spiritual without the trappings of religion. Lead lyricist Greg Attonito, known to take inspiration from cross-country motorcycling, doesn't rest on his laurels just because he knows he has a dedicated fanbase that loves the Souls' now-deeply ingrained character. Greg's a restless soul, he is — a bouncing soul, naturally — and he writes true Punk Rock songs that don't all sound alike. This time around they range from the affable "DFA" ("Down for Anything") to the call-to-art "Static": "Do you hear the voice on the radio / screaming noise noise noise / selling us their greed" to the metaphysical road song that closes Comet, "Ship In A Bottle": "Oh my good friend let's start something / Then throw it all out to the wind / How many mountains will we conquer? / We'll never know till we begin / Oh, begin // Oh my teacher what should I believe in / And how will I stay strong? / How many misfortunes will we conquer? / How will I carry on? / Oh, carry on // With every peak and valley / With every white knuckled fist / With everything I've lost and learned / I won't let go of this grip." Or how about this from the title track: ""The storm is coming, we feel fine /
Comet's burning in the sky / Old world's burning in our minds / Watch it fall away and die /…As we open up our minds… / Paints a coat of blue and white / dissipates in heaven's high… / We're no longer asking why / As we start to realize / Change? It's just a ball of lies / I can't wait to see what it's like /— to be weightless /— transformation." That's sung to shimmering, reverberating, and chorused electric guitars and gruff/friendly New Yawk/New Joisey voices. Greg writes with a light hand, carried over from his skill at concentrating a song around a single idea. Such a talent also well serves songs like "Coin Toss Girl" with its classic 50s-Rock backbeat — "She's always cold to me… / She has two sides, changes her mind… // Call it in the air / Everything's fair / I loved her like a fool / What could I do? / My Coin Toss Girl" — and an ultimately classy, at first "What does he mean by that?" twist at the end: "I think I'd like to marry her / I think I'd like to bury her". In lines of his like those, I simply love discovering a seemingly simple, fucking elegant duality in an unassuming song, then go back over it to hear how he's extended the metaphor from the start. Bouncing Souls are among my favorite flavors of Rock'n'Roll poetry.
"Pop Pop Bang Bang" take shots at "These Boots…"'s crown for the theme song of empowered tigresses. A few mid-album sides aren't bad—the song "Real Girls" has real hit potential for someone else—but their formulaic arrangements don't compensate for vocal mediocrity comparable to Sinatra's. Not until "Black Widow" (the second song in a row fixated on "her big fat ass") do things begin to get back on track. On "Honey Honey", a love song which cleaves close to an "I Can't Help Myself" rhythm, Chantal writes something of her self upon the templates she loves so dearly. Then she pulls out a small miracle: The last songs are the album's best. "Song For The Sinners" has that blend of Mod 60s Rock+Soul with a HipHop edge Claret says she's looking for, like a Ronettes record given the Blue Note Revisited treatment. "Light It Up" has that Gnarls Barkley bass guitar sound and the perfect blend of 60s-style, R&B/Pop talksinging with contemporary HipHop vocal deliveries, propelling it further towards Claret's vision. Burying the best songs at the end may have dug a hole the album thus far isn't bulleting up the charts out of, but now you know what to look for, so get some tracks for yourself. "The One, The Only…" starts off perhaps too clever, but finishes solid, target hit, goal reached.
Chantal Claret ~ The One, The Only… To
Jon Cleary ~ Occapella
fuse "music that sounds like it could’ve been written in the 60s or 70s with a big fat hip-hoplike low end" is her goal. Brigitte Bardot and Nancy Sinatra are her icons of Retro Rock+Soul. Now Chantal Claret, former frontwoman for the band Morningwood, grabs her opportunity to make her mark. When "These Boots Are Made For Walking" hit big, Nancy's dad employed a team that helped — a lot. Chantal, no fool, is much more in charge of her image and her material, but is quick to credit collaborators Rob Kleiner (from the band Mindless Self Indulgence) and studio mixer Exit (well-suited for this project with Gnarls Barkley credits). With their help, Claret aims direct at her Nancy Sinatra-cum-Lauryn Hill target on an upbeat set. Track 1 is an "Intro" on which the MC, over Soul Revue-style drums/guitar/horns, praises Claret as "The Bad Girl of Blue-eyed Soul! The Good Girl of Rock'n'Roll!" Hype is an essential ingredient in the mix from the top, and with hooks sunk snug in your brain, the first three songs: "Bite Your Tongue", "Pleasure Seeker" (about her misbehaving real dad) and
Cleary, part of a wave of New Orleans piano masters, celebrates the songs of Allen Toussaint, and it's quite the "Everything I Do From Now On Gohn Be Fonky" party. Choosing just twelve facets of Toussaint's oeuvre to spotlight, Occapella ranges from the low-down and dirty but not all shameful "Let's Get Low Down" to the afterglow of "Such A Night", from the Latin Swing crossed NE to with Southern Soul of "Viva La Money" onW li to the heartbreak that crosses the Chall ne enge generation gap of "Wrong Number", from the good enough to chew "Popcorn Pop Pop" to the mella acappella of "Occapella". Cleary packs a heapin', stax-o-wax, time traveling punch into the album's 35 minutes, and makes every moment count. Find him also on the Treme Season 2 Soundtrack album, seen later in this column.
The dB's ~ Falling Off The Sky
Hoboken, New Jersey's Bar-None, a label that has nurtured and presented some of the finest "Should be better known" acts of the last three decades, is home to Falling Off the Sky: "The first new dB's album in a quarter-century. It's been three decades since the original lineup of Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Gene Holder and Will Rigby recorded the beloved early-'80s classics Stands for deciBels and Repercussion. The North Carolina-via-New York foursome's
Page 6 CHALLENGE Summer 2012 vintage releases are now widely revered as alt-pop landmarks. Falling Off The Sky embodies the same combination of infectious melodic craft, playful sonic experimentalism and barbed lyrical insight that established the dB's as key progenitors of the Southern indie-rock explosion of the '80s."
Dinosaur Feathers ~ Whistle Tips Delightful jangly Pop Rock, suffused with infectious giddiness and maximum melodies per meter. Top Tracks: "Young Bucks", "Beatcha", "Cure For Silence", "SURPRISE!"
DJ Food ~ The Search Engine Wearing
its beautiful freak flag where all can see, DJ Food conjures a page of groovelicious funkiness out of human/machine analog/ digital instrument hybrids apparently invented by the coolest grads of a space cadet academy. Think I'm kidding? Listen to it. And it's hella good to again hear the voice of Matt Johnson (the man who has recorded a catalog of Modern Rock classics under the name The The) on a track called "GIANT". Recommended if you like (RIYL): Gorillaz, William Shatner.
Q · EMPULSE aka Reed McGowan, feat. Zhana ~ "Fight The People (With Love)" aka "F T P (W <3)" Club music by the "Rambunctious" McGowan, who has the heart-led smarts to bring these lyrics to the dance floor: "Don't fight the people with fists / Don't fight the people with guns / Don't fight the people with bombs / it's just killing everyone. / Don't fight the people with hate / Don't fight the people with war / When push comes to shove / Fight The People With Love." His new remixes of this track (originating in 2009) keep its theme alive. Extra points for the heart-first penis icon (see above), for tying "explicit"'s more common, graphically obvious sense to the sense of explicit meaning "unambiguous".
Jay Farrar, Yim Yames, Will Johnson, Anders Parker ~ New Multitudes The Dropkick Murphys, Wilco, and
The Klezmatics had their turns. Now Woody Guthrie torchbearers from the bands Son Volt, My Morning Jacket, Centro-matic and Varnaline collaborate on more of Woody's previously unrecorded lyrics. May his spirit long reign.
T H E L I T T L E B O X O F C O NC E RTS ™
absurd reduction that gets fast feet-on-the-floor results. Extra cool: The GEORGIES' LIVE Q MUSIC FRIDAYS video for "House" has with LGBT Artists * Free Admission Kindness sweetly teachShowtime: 10 PM ing a child the basics of 812 5th Avenue at Memorial Drive, Asbury Park, NJ Dance Music. (See? I Friday July 6 BONNIE BOLAND can say nice things Friday July 20 CARRIE ASHTON about Club tracks!) Friday July 27 CHRISTINE HAVRILLA Friday August 3 CHRISTINE MARTUCCI Q · Andy Northrup ~ Friday August 17 MAMA'S BLACKSHEEP Making My Way Borne of hard expeFriday September 7 CARL CHESNA BAND rience, newfound maturity marks Q The B-52's Northrup's return to recording. His Tuesday, July 10 Morristown, NJ lightly Country Folk songwriting style Community Theatre, w/ Squeeze won't leave anyone gasping for breath Wednesday, August 8 Englewood, NJ about its head-spinning invention or Bergen Performing Arts Center (PAC) incisive insight — in other words, it's a fairly conventional set. But two asTHE ENGLISH BEAT pects stand out: Since he was last Thursday, July 12 Brooklyn, NY - Bell House heard from half a decade ago, Friday, July 13 Asbury Park, NJ - The Stone Pony Northrup's singing has gained a confiQ The Kinsey Sicks for President dence earned from hard knocks. Scars Sunday, July 15 from battles survived remain discerniHighline Ballroom, NYC, NY ble, with an audible weariness which "Electile Dysfunction: Watch as the gals take (a)back hasn't outworn its welcome. ConcurAmerica by out-pandering, out-conspiracy theorizing, rently his lyrics have risen to meet and out-outlandishing even the most cynical of the current crop of presidential candidates, all in glorious the challenges of communicating his more complicated life. "Stay If You four-part harmony." Want To" and "You Hold The Cards" are WARPED TOUR With STEPDAD, Q? iwrestledabearonce, BLOOD ON just two titles that hint at Northrup's state of mind, but "Give Up On You" is THE DANCE FLOOR, STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO, WE ARE THE OCEAN, POLAR BEAR CLUB, CHUCK RAGAN, NOT so obviously what you might think. In a smart move that's all too FOR TODAY, THE CONSTELLATIONS + many more Friday, July 13 Holmdel, NJ rare, Northrup provides both an uncenWednesday, July 18 Scranton, PA sored and a "Radio Edit" version of the Friday, July 20 Camden, NJ album highlight "I've Been Busy". The Saturday, July, 21 Uniondale, NY uncensored version is a laugh-out-loud Q JAY BRANNAN now, stifle one's choking-up emotions later experience which captures a Thursday, July 19 Hoboken, NJ, Maxwell's Friday, July 20 Philadelphia, Pa, World Cafe Live rarely admitted to aspect of any stressed-out individual's typical life: Q RUFUS WAINWRIGHT Wednesday, July 25 Philadelphia, PA, Penn's Landing "It's nice to see you here, / I wonder (continued on page 12) Friday, July 27 Purchase, NY, The PAC at SUNY Purchase Saturday, July 28 Westhampton Beach, NY Westhampton Beach PAC Q OUT IN THE WOODS Saturday, August 11 Easton Mountain, Greenwhich NY including:JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND TOM GOSS · SISTER FUNK ·FREDDY FREEMAN JEREMY GLOFF · KENDALL KELLEY · ARJUNA GREIST ROBERT URBAN · YAEL ARCHER · NEIL TOTTON MARIA SALANDRA · BEN LERMAN · · RYAN CASSATA Info: 800-553-8235, EastonMountain.org
Kindness ~ World, You Need a Change of Mind According to The OXD Mirror:
"British producer Kindness is on a mission to make the world of pop music better—through disco. If you ever thought electronic music is soulless and just noise created by nerds with their computers in a basement, Kindness is set to prove you wrong." The amazing "Erol Alkan Extended Rework" of "Gee Up" which appears on a single with "House" makes the original under-two-minutes "Gee Up" seem like a sketch. Now, as reworked, it would gladden Nile Rodgers' Chic-producer's heart. Its intertwining, funk-propulsive bass lines, angular rhythm guitar, tap-happy cymbalplay, and in-the-pocket variations on the words "Get up / Get down" ending with a single, slippery "Gee Up Get Down" are hardly the poetry of the muses, but it's also the kind of
Andy Northrup finds just the right words to express being an inarticulate mess.
Summer 2012 CHALLENGE Page 7
July / August 2012 Calendar Recurring Contact Information
* Hackensack Peer Support Groups: 800-508-7577; www.njbuddies.org † Pride Center, Highland Park: 732-846-2232; www.pridecenter.org ‡ Hudson Pride Connections Center: 201-963-4779; HudsonPride.org λ LGBT Center Rainbow Lounge, Princeton: www.princeton.edu/lgbt Monday – Friday 9:00 am - 1:00 pm - HIV testing, Asbury Park; 800-947-0020 10:00 am - 5:00 pm - HiTOPS Health Center, Princeton; www.hitops.org; 609-683-5155 x 211 2:00 - 4:00 pm - The Daily Grind, Princetonλ on hiatus until Sept. Every Monday 10:30 am - The Wellness Community, Newark; 973-565-0300; info @ hyacinth.org 6:30 pm - Kundalini Yoga, Jersey City‡ 6:30 pm - CSA Pickup at the Center, Jersey City‡ 7:00 pm - GAAMC, Morristown (see page 2) 7:30 pm - S.E.L.F. HIV Men’s support group, Hackensack* 7:30 pm - New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus choir practice, Princeton; 609-396-7774; www.njgmc.org 7:30 pm - Overeaters Anonymous, Highland Park† 8:00 pm - Bowling, Green Brook; qcrollers @ aol.com Every Tuesday 12:30 pm - The Wellness Community, Newark; 973-565-0300; info @ hyacinth.org 4:00 pm - Treatment Adherence Support Group, Jersey City; 201-432-1134; info @ hyacinth.org 6:00 pm - Transview, Jersey City‡ 7:30 pm - Tuesday Night Lesbian Connection, Bound Brook; 908-791-3764 7:30 pm - Men’s HIV support group, Asbury Park; 732-775-5084; apstillpoz @ yahoo.com 7:30 pm - Positive Yoga, Oradell* 8:45 pm - Bowling, Belleville; www.njglb.org 9:00 pm - Bowling, Jersey City; www.gsgbo.com 9:15 pm - Bowling, Piscataway; cnjpbl @ yahoo.com Every Wednesday 10:30 am - The Wellness Community, Jersey City; 201-432-1134; info @ hyacinth.org JULY 01 Sun 4:00 pm - Dignity Metro NJ Mass, Maplewood; 973-509-0118; Dignitymetronj @ msn.com 6:30 pm - Gay Men’s Opera Club; 732-249-9034; hagol @ msn.com 7:00 pm - Jersey Girls 8, Asbury Park; www.icny.org
(see Bulletin Board, pg. 3)
02 Mon 7:00 pm - Support Group for Lesbians with Cancer, New Brunswick; 732-235-6781; slirzero @ umdnj.edu 8:00 pm - Young Men's Social Network, Highland Park† 03 Tue 6:00 pm - Gay Pride Business Network, New Brunswick; www.gpbn.net 7:30 pm - LGBT Fellowship, Belleville; 973-751-0616 7:30 pm - ComeOUT & Play, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - NJ Women Coming Out Support, Highland Park† 04 Wed 5:30 pm - Hudson County HIV/AIDS Services Planning Council, Jersey City‡ 7:30 pm - Gay Dad’s discussion group, Highland Park† 05 Thu 6:00 pm - Nutrition & Wellness Education, Jersey City‡ 7:30 pm - Coffee Night, Edison; njlgh.onefireplace.com
2:30 pm - RU Pride, Newark; rupridenewark @ gmail.com on hiatus until September 6:00 pm - Positive People peer support group, Hackensack* 7:00 pm - SAGE Hudson County, Jersey City‡ 7:30 pm - Men’s Living Out group, Highland Park; njwarrior @ aol.com† 7:30 pm - Gay Men’s Coming Out group, Highland Park; pdumpert @ gmail.com† Every Thursday 6:00 pm - Our Youth weekly support group, Jersey City; www.myspacenj.org 6:30 pm - Double Jeopardy peer support group, Hackensack* 6:30 pm - M-POWER men's group, Jersey City‡ 7:00 pm - Sexual Assault Survivor Support, Princeton; www.hitops.org 7:30 pm - Rainbows on Cleveland Street, Orange; 973-256-5936; rbowsoncleveland @ aol.com 7:30 pm - Writers group, Highland Park† Every Friday 3:00 pm - Youth Connect, Jersey City‡ 3:30 pm - After School HangOUT, Highland Park† on hiatus until September Every Sunday 10:45 am - MCC of Christ the Liberator, Highland Park; mccliberator @ excite.com† Noon - St. Francis of Assisi Church, Glen Ridge; 973-731-7765; stfrancisnj.org 2:30 pm - Liberation in Truth Unity Fellowship Church, Newark; 973-621-2100 5:30 pm - Central Jersey Rainbows Bowling League, Bradley Beach; CJRBpw;omg @ gmail.com
7:30 pm - Gay Educators Group, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - Le Corsair, New York City; www.meetup.com/North-Jersey-Primetimers 06 Fri 10:00 am - LGBT Center Open House, Princetonλ 7:00 pm - Positive Women peer support group, Hackensack* 8:00 pm - Karaoke, Highland Park† 07 Sat 2:30 pm - First and Third for GLBTI youth, Princeton; 609-683-5155; www.HiTOPS.org 08 Sun 4:30 pm - Torah Queeries, Highland Park† 6:00 pm - Gay Men’s Classical Song Club, Kingston; pbrown02 @ worldnet.att.net 09 Mon 6:30 pm - HIV Testing, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - PFLAG of Morris County, Mendham; 973-727-5288; pflag.morris @ verizon.net 7:30 pm - PFLAG, Princeton; 609-663-5155; www.pflagprinceton.org 10 Tue 7:30 pm - Bisexual, Bicurious, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - PCNJ Board of Trustees meeting, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - Yoga for Men, Highland Park†
Page 8 CHALLENGE Summer 2012 11 Wed 6:00 pm - Gay Pride Business Network, Asbury Park; www.gpbn.net 6:00 pm - Booked for Supper, Highland Park† 6:30 pm - North Jersey Prime Timers' monthly meetup, Little Falls; www.meetup.com/North-Jersey-Primetimers 7:30 pm - Living Out Women, Highland Park† 12 Thu 6:00 pm - L-B-Q Women United, Jersey City‡ 6:30 pm - Volunteer orientation, Jersey City‡ 7:00 pm - QSpot Book Club, Point Pleasant; outdoorgirl @ optonline.net 7:00 pm - Under the Rainbow , Highland Park† 7:30 pm - PFLAG of North Jersey, South Orange; 908-789-7489; pflagwaver @ aol.com 7:30 pm - Alternate Thursdays, Montclair; kjdinkin @ comcast.net 7:30 pm - Kollege of Kink, Highland Park† 13 Fri Noon - Visit to Bear-idise, Milesburg, PA; www.meetup.com/North-Jersey-Primetimers 7:30 pm - United People Positive, Highland Park† 14 Sat 1:00 pm - Youth Drop-In, Highland Park† 7:00 pm - Movie Social, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - Dignity New Brunswick gay Catholic liturgy; 732-968-9263; dignitynb @ earthlink.net 15 Sun Noon - Gay Dads of Monmouth & Ocean Counties, Red Bank; gdmoc @ aol.com Noon - Family-friendly Pool Party, Millstone; njlgh.onefireplace.com 4:00 pm - Dignity Metro NJ Mass, Maplewood; 973-509-0118; Dignitymetronj @ msn.com 4:00 pm - TrueSelves trans support group, Highland Park† 16 Mon 7:00 pm - Support Group for Lesbians with Cancer, New Brunswick; 732-235-6781; slirzero @ umdnj.edu 8:00 pm - Young Men's Social Network, Highland Park† 17 Tue 7:00 pm - ComeOUT & Play, Highland Park† 7:00 pm - Are You a Stage Performer Wannabe?, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - Lesbian Alliance of Princeton; 609-924-8174; Loisj @ msn.com 7:30 pm - PFLAG of Hunterdon County, Flemington; 908-752-1370; pflaghc @ yahoo.com 8:00 pm - PFLAG of Bergen County, Paramus; 201-287-0318; www.bergenpflag.org 8:00 pm - NJ Women, Secaucus; info @ njwomen.org 18 Wed 5:00 pm - HIV+ Consumer Meeting, Jersey City‡
7:30 pm - United in Grace discussion/support group, Jersey City; 201-946-0650; greg.perez @ comcast.net 7:30 pm - Havurah board meeting, Edison; njlgh.onefireplace.com 19 Thu 6:00 pm - Nutrition & Wellness Education, Jersey City‡ 7:00 pm - GAAMC board meeting, Morristown; All GAAMC members are invited to attend. 7:00 pm - GLSEN Training, Highland Park† 7:00 pm - PCNJ HIV Planning Committee, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - NJ Women Coming Out Support Group, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - PFLAG of Northwest NJ, Sparta; 973-729-9909 20 Fri 7:00 pm - Positive Women peer support group, Hackensack* 7:30 pm - Dignity New Brunswick social; 732-968-9263; dignitynb @ earthlink.net 8:00 pm - Out of the Box open mic night, Highland Park (sign-up begins 7:30); outoftheboxinfo @ mac.com 21 Sat 2:30 pm - First and Third for GLBTI youth, Princeton; 609-683-5155; www.HiTOPS.org 7:00 pm - Rainbow Bowling, Bradley Beach; 732-774-4540 7:00 pm - NJ Gay Film Society & Potluck Dinner Club, location TBA; gayfilms @ bigfoot.com 7:00 pm - Games Night + Dessert, Highland Park†
7:30 pm - Havdalah & Potluck Dinner, Metuchen; njlgh.onefireplacecom
23 Mon 8:00 pm - Social Networking for Dummies, Highland Park† 24 Tue 3:00 pm - Health Drop-In Hours, Princetonλ (on hiatus until September) 7:00 pm - Bisexual, Bicurious, and Allies Support Group, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - Yoga for Men, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - Stonewall Democrats, Highland Park† 8:00 pm - Men's Social, Highland Park† 25 Wed 6:00 pm - Gay Pride Business Network, Asbury Park; ; GPBN.net 6:00 pm - Pride 365 Committee Meeting, Jersey City‡ 7:30 pm - Living Out Women, Highland Park† 26 Thu 6:00 pm - L-B-Q Women United, Jersey City‡ 7:00 pm - Under the Rainbow, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - United People Positive, Highland Park† 27 Fri 1:00 pm - Women With Voices, Jersey City‡ 7:30 pm - Living Soulfully, Highland Park†
Summer 2012 CHALLENGE Page 9 28 Sat 10:00 am - The Woods campground, Leighton, PA; www.meetup.com/North-Jersey-Primetimers 1:00 pm - Youth Drop-In, Highland Park† 2:00 pm - Youth Support Group, Highland Park† 7:00 pm - Gay Bowling, Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park; 732-776-6160 7:00 pm - Men's Potluck Dinner, Highland Park† AUGUST 01 Wed 5:30 pm - Hudson County HIV/AIDS Services Planning Council, Jersey City‡ 7:30 pm - Gay Dad’s discussion group, Highland Park† 02 Thu Noon - Oean House, Atlantic City; www.meetup.com/North-Jersey-Primetimers 6:00 pm - Nutrition & Wellness Education, Jersey City‡ 7:30 pm - Coffee Night, Edison; njlgh.onefireplace.com 7:30 pm - Gay Educators Group, Highland Park† 03 Fri 10:00 am - LGBT Center Open House, Princetonλ 7:00 pm - Positive Women peer support group, Hackensack* 8:00 pm - Karaoke, Highland Park† 04 Sat 2:30 pm - First and Third for GLBTI youth, Princeton; 609-683-5155; www.HiTOPS.org 05 Sun 4:00 pm - Dignity Metro NJ Mass, Maplewood; 973-509-0118; Dignitymetronj @ msn.com 6:30 pm - Gay Men’s Opera Club; 732-249-9034; hagol @ msn.com 06 Mon 7:00 pm - Support Group for Lesbians with Cancer, New Brunswick; 732-235-6781; slirzero @ umdnj.edu 07 Tue 6:00 pm - Gay Pride Business Network, New Brunswick; www.gpbn.net 7:30 pm - LGBT Fellowship, Belleville; 973-751-0616 7:30 pm - ComeOUT & Play, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - NJ Women Coming Out Support, Highland Park† 08 Wed 6:00 pm - Gay Pride Business Network, Asbury Park; www.gpbn.net 6:00 pm - Booked for Supper, Highland Park† 6:30 pm - North Jersey Prime Timers' monthly meetup, Little Falls; www.meetup.com/North-Jersey-Primetimers 7:30 pm - Living Out Women, Highland Park†
09 Thu 6:00 pm - L-B-Q Women United, Jersey City‡ 6:30 pm - Volunteer orientation, Jersey City‡ 7:00 pm - QSpot Book Club, Point Pleasant; outdoorgirl @ optonline.net 7:00 pm - Under the Rainbow, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - PFLAG of North Jersey, South Orange; 908-789-7489; pflagwaver @ aol.com 7:30 pm - Alternate Thursdays, Montclair; kjdinkin @ comcast.net 7:30 pm - Kollege of Kink, Highland Park† 10 Fri 7:30 pm - United People Positive, Highland Park† 11 Sat 1:00 pm - Youth Drop-In, Highland Park† 7:00 pm - Movie Social, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - Dignity New Brunswick gay Catholic liturgy; 732-968-9263; dignitynb @ earthlink.net 11:30 pm - Stokes State Park Weekend, Branchville; www.meetup.com/North-Jersey-Primetimers 12 Sun 6:00 pm - Gay Men’s Classical Song Club, Kingston; pbrown02 @ worldnet.att.net 13 Mon 6:30 pm - HIV Testing, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - PFLAG of Morris County, Mendham; 973-727-5288; pflag.morris @ verizon.net 7:30 pm - PFLAG, Princeton; 609-663-5155; www.pflagprinceton.org 14 Tue 7:30 pm - Bisexual, Bicurious, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - PCNJ Board of Trustees meeting, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - Yoga for Men, Highland Park† 8:00 pm - Men's Social Night, Highland Park† 15 Wed 5:00 pm - HIV+ Consumer Meeting, Jersey City‡ 7:30 pm - United in Grace discussion/support group, Jersey City; 201-946-0650; greg.perez @ comcast.net 7:30 pm - Havurah board meeting, Edison; njlgh.onefireplace.com 16 Thu 6:00 pm - Nutrition & Wellness Education, Jersey City‡ 7:00 pm - GAAMC board meeting, Morristown; All GAAMC members are invited to attend. 7:00 pm - GLSEN Training, Highland Park† 7:00 pm - PCNJ HIV Planning Committee, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - NJ Women Coming Out Support Group, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - PFLAG of Northwest NJ, Sparta; 973-729-9909
On the afternoon of June 3 during Jersey Pride in Asbury Park, a double rainbow appeared along the beach and boardwalk after a rainstorm. The double rainbow is most visible at the right. The photo, a composite using a panorama feature, was taken by GAAMC member Pratik Mamtora. Thanks Pratik for giving Challenge permission to print this great memory of a great day. See it (and all of Challenge, as always) in full color at Issuu.com/gaamc/docs/. And Thanks to all who helped distribute Pride Guides, rode the GAAMC float, and worked to make the day a success.
Page 10 CHALLENGE Summer 2012 17 Fri 7:00 pm - Positive Women peer support group, Hackensack* 7:30 pm - Dignity New Brunswick social; 732-968-9263; dignitynb @ earthlink.net 8:00 pm - Out of the Box open mic night, Highland Park (sign-up begins 7:30); outoftheboxinfo @ mac.com 18 Sat Noon - s2:30 pm - First and Third for GLBTI youth, Princeton; 609-683-5155; www.HiTOPS.org 7:00 pm - Rainbow Bowling, Bradley Beach; 732-774-4540 7:00 pm - NJ Gay Film Society & Potluck Dinner Club, location TBA; gayfilms @ bigfoot.com 7:00 pm - Games Night + Dessert, Highland Park† 19 Sun Noon - "Pride 365", Jersey City (see Bulletin Board, pg. 6) Noon - Gay Dads of Monmouth & Ocean Counties, Red Bank; gdmoc @ aol.com 4:00 pm - Dignity Metro NJ Mass, Maplewood; 973-509-0118; Dignitymetronj @ msn.com 4:00 pm - TrueSelves trans support group, Highland Park† 20 Mon 7:00 pm - Support Group for Lesbians with Cancer, New Brunswick; 732-235-6781; slirzero @ umdnj.edu 21 Tue 7:30 pm - Lesbian Alliance of Princeton; 609-924-8174; Loisj @ msn.com 7:30 pm - PFLAG of Hunterdon County, Flemington; 908-752-1370; pflaghc @ yahoo.com 8:00 pm - PFLAG of Bergen County, Paramus; 201-287-0318; www.bergenpflag.org
8:00 pm - NJ Women, Secaucus; info @ njwomen.org 22 Wed 6:00 pm - Gay Pride Business Network, Asbury Park; GPBN.net 7:30 pm - Living Out Women, Highland Park† 23 Thu 6:00 pm - L-B-Q Women United, Jersey City‡ 7:00 am - Under the Rainbow, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - United People Positive, Highland Park† 24 Fri 1:00 pm - Women With Voices, Jersey City‡ 25 Sat 1:00 pm - Youth Drop-In, Highland Park† 2:00 pm - Youth Support Group, Highland Park† 7:00 pm - Gay Bowling, Asbury Lanes, Asbury Park; 732-776-6160 7:00 pm - Men's Potluck Dinner, Highland Park† 28 Tue 3:00 pm - Health Drop-In Hours, Princetonλ (on hiatus until September) 7:00 pm - Bisexual, Bicurious, and Allies Support Group, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - Yoga for Men, Highland Park† 7:30 pm - Stonewall Democrats, Highland Park† 8:00 pm - Men's Social, Highland Park† 29 Wed 6:00 pm - Pride 365 Committee Meeting, Jersey City‡ 31 Fri 7:30 pm - Living Soulfully, Highland Park†
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Summer 2012 CHALLENGE Page 11
Page 12 CHALLENGE Summer 2012
Dancing To Architecture™ (continued from page 6)
Q · Sacha Sacket ~ Double Gemini to Add to your To Do list: "Watch for new W E N line on enge Sacha Sacket album". Only a few l tracks have appeared, whetting my Chal
why it took so long / You were saying how I'm looking tired, / You wonder what brought that about… // Well I've Been Busy fucking up / Busy fucking up / And worried 'bout the choices that I make. / I've been dreading every dream / Trying to stay afloat… // That's OK, you don't have to care / And I'll be fine if I can figure out / just what it is I need to learn…. " I recognize that man! He's trying to make sense of his life with a sense of humor, trying to accept it as-is, but neither acceptance nor so-called common sense come easily to all of us, never mind become our strong suit. Good work, Andy, for finding the right words to express being an inarticulate mess. Thanks to Northrup for kindly mailing me his CD.
Sacket contributed "At A Time" to the album "I Hear On The Streets" benefitting NYC's New Alternatives for LGBT Homeless Youth.
anticipation for all of it. Particularly after 2010's Viscera — 36 songs on one album, the project released at the rate of one song a week — which tied for #1 on my 50+ Fave Albums of 2010, but also because of each of his albums have been better than the last, I'm excited to hear what Sackett has in store for us, enough to mention it now. It'll arrive well before the next edition of DTA. The best clue to the quality of what's coming are the tracks Sacket has posted in advance of Double Gemini: Videos of a live performance of "One Day Arrive" and for the album track of another great new song, "Mr. Bates", are both at YouTube. Also at YouTube, hear the new song "At A Time": I don't know if it'll be on Double Gemini, but Sacket contributed it to the album "I Hear On The Streets" benefitting NYC's New Alternatives for LGBT Homeless Youth. If it prompts you to help the cause, all the better. I love Sacket's songs so much, I wish I could call his songwriting the voice of a generation. C'mon, Generation, discover him, already!
Smashing Pumpkins ~ Oceania It
CRITICS' DARLINGS RIP-OFF OF THE MONTH takes until one Q · Scissor Sisters ~ Magic Hour hears an entire
Consumer Alert. Do we really need another escapist, mindless, manipulative dance-rock record? I'm already not among the SS's fan club: Once I tuned into the fact that on an early hit when they sang about "Tina" they were mostly referring to crystal meth, I was appalled beyond any of my liberal leanings at the SS's hubris. Crystal meth is a no-win drug. But I entered listening to their new album with an open mind until I caught on to their latest no-win drugs references. The SS throw more glorifications of nowin drugs into Magic Hour's "San Luis Obispo" and "Shady Love" — galling because it's also where they name drop "Obama". Most galling is that all the damn online lyrics sites are idiotically inaccurate. It's a stupidity conspiracy. If the first line of "Shady Love" isn't "Give me a bump" and another line isn't really "Chops her H just like Benihana's", if they're really "Give me your bum" and "Chopstick, back benihanas" like the lyrics sites say they are, then Earth really is flat. (At the best lyric site I found, someone corrected it as "Chops as eight just like Benihana" but try as I did to fit those words to what gets sung by playing the phrase repeatedly, it just didn't.) When I first heard the track, I instantly typed "great groove" into my notes. When it was over I was back to being appalled by the lyrics. No wonder the SS want you to listen to them mindlessly: They don't want to take responsibility for the content of the pseudo-poetry of their lyrics. I could rant on about how I'm just not nostalgic for 1980s dance floor rhythms and hooks. About how most of their sounds you can buy in a box, which shouldn't impress unless you're a mental 8 year old. About how it pains me that a segment of the Q-munity has taken the SS as exemplars of successful Out musicians. But the bottom line is that the SS share an essential repugnant element in common with last month's Rip-Off of the Month: Chances are you'll use 'em up and toss 'em away for the next product you're sold, your blurry memories of them forgotten with next season's new arrivals, like the consumer products they are. Members of the SS are Out. Good. Members of the Q-munity rewarding a band for being out of good ideas? Not good.
typical-album'sworth of music before a cut with Smashing Pumpkins' characteristic vigor appears (track 10, "The Chimera"). On balance, there's a lot to chew on this first in a while full-length from Billy Corgan and/as the Pumpkins. It's one of the few recent albums formatted like classic LPs. Its two halves are analogous to an A and a B side. Side A ends on "Pinwheels", an electronica ballad that doesn't remind me of anything in Rock more than a blissed out, newagedrenched "Baba O'Riley" runner-up. Nonetheless, lyrics invoking "Mother Moon" and "Sister Sun" make for an enjoyable trip. Title track "Oceania", the album's centerpiece (Side B, Track 1 in the old LP format) is an epic miniopera, which unfurls in a series of movements or sections. The album is long: 13 tracks, nearly 60 minutes ("Oceania" is over 9 minutes), but some songs come across as noncompulsory. Considering the scoop is that Oceania is intended as only a large chunk of a 44 track Teargarden work-in-progress, I have
to wonder why Corgan felt everything here was essential, had to appear on this particular album. A trusted editor could have made a shorter release a better one. Have to mention that the song title "Glissandra" is now poised to become a trendy new name for baby girls. You heard it here first.
Q · Patti Smith ~ Banga Smith's voice —
both vocally and writerly — has always been her calling card, her reliable conduit for her muses. From the very first track on Banga, "Amerigo", Smith's voice returns like a good friend who has found a new, relaxed confidence. Smith really doesn't have anything more to prove other than the everything every fine artist has to: She intends to produce the best art she is capable of — high personal standards as motivator. By that measure, Banga is a complete success. What she sings, what she says, what she does as the leader of the band, how her band rises to meet her challenge, all have the aura of performances at their peak. This album offers a Rock'n'Roll rarity, a dream-come-true opportunity very, very few rockers have accomplished: to hear a familiar voice grow to become a voice both rooted in experience and transformed. It's striking how relaxed in her own skin Smith's singing has become, how a voice that was beautiful for how its wide, angular shoulders banged hard into your skin now is beautiful because it is beautiful: resonant and full and deeply affecting like a wellplayed cello. She sings to her children, she sings about her children. She speaks poetry, she speaks to the universe. She provokes our animal natures on the title track, she evokes Christian mythology repeatedly. She references history alive in the now, and concludes by bringing Neil Young's "After The Gold Rush" into the 21st Century. Banga will be a vintage album in years to come. Savor it now.
Bruce Springsteen ~ Wrecking Ball
With songs that rank among his best and songs that rank among his most absurd,it's almost too easy to call Wrecking Ball an inconsistent album. But, to stick to the best sides: "We Take Care Of Our Own" should become a touchstone for living if it isn't already in your life, emphasis on the E pluribus unum meaning of "Our Own" to include the universal brotherhood of all us seekers. The title track (along with "The
Summer 2012 CHALLENGE Page 13
Stepdad: ⇗ ⇙ "ultramark"
~ TRY
Land of Hope ~Someand Dreams" thing probably the NEW final times we get to hear Clarence Clemons' saxophone on a new studio recording) deserves the deathdefying, pull-out-allstops treatment it gets. "American Land" is a 99per-cent-er's anthem. "Shackled And Drawn" puts the folk back into Gospel and the gospel back into Folk. And Tom Morello, The Nightwatchman's guitar solos are a welcome presence on two tracks. Squackett ~A Life Within A Day Chris Squire, bass guitar master of Yes and Asia, and Steve Hackett, the original guitarist with Genesis, combine forces to clear away cobwebs left behind by lesser "progressive" Prog Rock talents and show how it is done. Over four years in the making, "[Squackett] was very much about a bunch of pals swapping notes and anecdotes," says Hackett. Squire adds "There is some clever prog rock stuff in there, some jazzy bits but there are parts that have vocal harmonies like Crosby, Stills and Nash." It's true. Progressive Rock hasn't sounded this good for decades.
Stepdad ~ Wildlife Pop
Includes their 2011 Psychedelic Bubblegum Dance-Pop underground hit "My Leather, My Fur, My Nails". The absurd lengths that "Will I Ever Dance Again?" and "To Ribbons" goes to keep from boring itself is like a joyride with a car-radio manned by an inspired amateur mix master perpetually button-pushing between Euro Pop stations to scan together slivers of Adam Ant, ABBA, Fleetwood Mac, Kraftwerk, Junior Senior, and Magnetic Fields without ever becoming exhausted. As for the big guy in those photos at top of this column? That's ultramark (not capitalized, at least not usually) and, yes, he's their co-founder and vocalist. RIYL: Wham!, Chumbawamba, and other flavors of 80s Brit Pop updated to now. Stepdad will play Warped Tour dates in July. See The Little Box of Concerts for info.
These United States ~ These United States A Swamp Rock blend of Boogie-
Blues-Jam Band, cheery stoner psychedelia, and deeply, chops-endowed, journeymen primitivism. "Dead & Gone" nameY TR e- drops both The Somng Wild Tchopitoulas thi W and "the banks of NE t h e S u s q u ehanna." "Born Young" leaves a strong impression, like some kind of twisted 1965 Beat-
les song. Dig to start that minor chord voiced like George Harrison might, the drumming like Ringo might, and the strumming like Lennon might. Later in the break, we get a measure or two of a very Harrison-circa-1966 like solo. "Let the River In" simply elicits joy! What a glorious, echoing, rumbling jumble of sounds in the coda! The burbling, reverberations seem about to become harsh and dissonant, but they become a gorgeous consonant vibration. The harmonica solo is a touch that doesn't hurt neither. "Miss Underground" is a bit of Neil Young-style imagination and alliterating T's taking flight. "The Park" starts without percussion, as in a reverie: "I have this problem where I / just forget to pay the rent / I have this problem where I / just want the good times to never end // The park at dusk erupts in /sweet human life, and through the air./" It's perfect timing for the drums to enter just as "You get the feeling that we / we might explode before we bend" ends. "Vince" is simply unique, a semi-spoken travelogue in the vicinity of Phoenix, with superb cello performances. "The Angel's Share" choogles with continually rumbling drums, a slide guitar clearing the way for the introduction at 1:30-ish of a pizzicato, U2/ The Edge-ish guitar just as the lyrics lightly render atmospheric forces of nature and "guardian angels /and a bargain with strangers". "Never Stop Falling" has an earnest and aspirational pace that renders the gravitas of the lyric in tones of dappled sunlight breaking through dark and shaded soundscapes. The organ & banjo playing together reminds me of The Band. The refrain is "I will never stop falling in love. / Never stop falling in love", repeated until they run out of song, and even a little bit beyond. RIYL: Wilco, Phish, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Band.
various ~ Treme, Season 2: Music From the HBO Original Series A vibrant sound-
We Are The Ocean ~ Go Now And Live It came
out last year, but not really: Go Now And Live is reto released with NEW e 10 downloadonlin able bonus lenge l a h acoustic live C versions. Makes sense: Go Now And Live could literally now be said to be Go Now And Līve. Like Gaslight Anthem, the band energetically commits serious attention to details, but on a personal scale not inclined to the GA's grander gestures. The live acoustic tracks shore up my sense while listening to the blistering originals that the songwriting, both lyrically and structurally, steps beyond solid, often holding up under unsophisticated arrangements.
Jim White ~ Where It Hits You ~ The eclectic songwriter rises again to SoTRY ~ challenge song-structure conventions thmeing and fascinate the imagination. NEW Jack Wilson ~Jack Wilson …has sincerity down cold! Singing while just playing guitar —a nylon-string guitar at that —may seem passe to many, anachronistic even. But when done well it's a way of presenting a song with a direct line to your heart and soul. The wit of "The Truth" prevents earnestness from overtaking its positive message. It starts: "To all the teachers that tried to teach me their truth / Wish that you'd tried harder. / To all the family that tried to raise me from ruin / I wish that you'd tried harder." And along the way from taunting priests and bastards in general to slinging barbs at normals everywhere, he winds up with this: "To all you women who love women and you men who love men / I know that you try harder. / We gotta give, gotta give all the love we've got."
track that revels in the abundance of New Orleans' music n o w. Where else can one's b o o t y g e t XNY ~ Through The Wall Stating the bounced from obvious: How great a name for a band is XNY?! brass bands Possible angles from which to approach it and roots rock range from the chromosomal to ex-New Yorkand R&B and ers. The musical duo Jacob Schrieber and Pam Cajun music Autouri —he's the drummer/percussionist, without your she's the vocalist/songwriter— team up on ears feeling songs that are dynamic, elegantly balanced, s o r e ? O n and which incorporate familiar percussive Treme, Sea- and rhythmic elements in unexpected ways, son 1, of course! But Season 2 is no slacker met by a voice which attacks lines uniquely. neither! Pianists carry on city-born tradi- For instance, "Trapped" starts with a repeated tions and make them contemporary: Henry white noise bleat plus electronic downbeat Butler, Jon Cleary, Dr. John, Tom McDer- figure, the kind of thing typically found in mott, David Torkanowsky (on "Spring Can Club tracks, but here it's mated with a simple Really Hang You Up the Most") all represent. guitar melody on two-strings, in eighth An unprecedented collaboration between notes, before Autouri's voice joins in, all neo-funksters Galactic, the iconic Dirty dropped for a few measures after the line "I Dozen Brass Band, and rapper Juvenile leaves wanna shake you till I break your soul", in a you wanting more after "From The Corner To move that both opens up the song and fills it The Block" ends. Most songs were recorded in, vibrant and accomplished. And the album live on the streets and in the clubs, living closes with the repeated line "You run wild" examples of the vibrant New Orleans cul- sung over a solo tympani-loud drumbeat on ture. Even if you don't love the HBO series the 2s and 4s, giving "Where We Went" a Treme, the music is a revelation. One notable conclusiveness most final tracks lack. criticism: Women's voices (and perDancing To Architecture™ ©2012 Bill Stella. All ©, ® & ™ items included formances) are under-represented. in the column for review purposes are ©, ® & ™ their respective owners. The stylized Q indicates albums by (or significantly contributed to by) Out Bisexuals, Gay Men, Lesbians and Transgendered persons.
Page 14 CHALLENGE Summer 2012
Gleanings
(continued from page 4) County Clerk David Orr, the defendant in the cases, issued a statement agreeing with the plaintiffs' position and not contesting their claims. Outside groups opposing same-sex marriage are now scrambling to get the court to grant them standing to defend the state's law. (Chicago Tribune)
views of students in certain programs, such as those training counselors, social workers and psychologists. The bill was introduced after an Eastern Michigan University student was removed from a counseling education program for refusing to work with a gay client. (The Huffington Post)
Four more Cabinet secretaries in the Obama administration have confirmed their support for the right of same-sex couples to legally marry. Commerce Secretary John Bryson, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius, and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis are the latest high-ranking executive branch officials to embrace marriage equality, joining Vice-President Joe Biden, Housing & Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. (Advocate.com)
Russian authorities arrested and detained dozens of people involved in protests demanding the right to hold an LGBT Pride event in Moscow. The protesters reportedly were also met with violence from some religious activists. Homosexuality is not a crime in Russia, but the prevailing anti-gay sentiment in the country has led to crackdowns on LGBT activism, and the national parliament is considering a nationwide ban on pro-equality “propaganda.” Meanwhile, a Moscow district court has upheld a decision by Moscow officials to forbid LGBT pride celebrations for the next 100 years. (The Huffington Post; RT.com, Russia)
Minnesota-based General Mills has announced its opposition to the effort to ban marriage for same-sex couples through a state constitutional amendment, even though one anti-gay group warned companies to remain neutral. “We respect and defend the right of others to disagree. But we truly value diversity and inclusion -- and that makes our choice clear," wrote Ken Charles, vice president for global diversity and inclusion at General Mills. Joining the effort is John Taft, chief executive of RBC Wealth Management and a Republican who is recruiting other corporate types to the cause. "I jumped in the pool first. The water's just fine," said Taft. (Star Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul)
Chile's national health system will now cover sex-change operations previously too costly to be available to the poor. Health Minister Jaime Manalich said the move would allow individuals to "recover their true sexual identity." (IOL.co.za, South Africa)
Opponents of marriage equality in two states claim to have gathered enough signatures to force referenda on marriage equality laws passed earlier this year by their respective legislatures. In Washington, Joseph Backholm of Preserve Marriage Washington claimed that the campaign for Referendum 74 has at least 150,000 signatures on hand; 120,577 valid voter signatures were required in order to qualify for the ballot. Meanwhile, in Maryland, voters will be asked whether they want to keep their marriage equality law. 70,039 signatures have been validated by elections officials so far; 55,736 signatures were required. (The Seattle Times; The Washington Post) Maine is accepting comments on the wording of a marriage ballot question. "Do you want to allow same-sex couples to marry?", a question proposed by the Maine secretary of state, will appear on ballots statewide this fall unless commenters persuade the state to change it. Marriage equality advocates want the question to include language about religious freedoms, while opponents say they'd hoped the state would ask voters if they prefer to change the definition of marriage. The deadline to submit comments is July 16. (Kennebec Journal) A new study, challenged as deeply flawed, found that adult children of parents who have had same-sex relationships do not fare as well as those raised in homes with married, opposite-sex parents. One researcher has said the methodology of author Mark Regnerus appears to have been designed to find bad outcomes. Regnerus, a University of Texas researcher with a history of producing controversial studies, denied a political motive behind the paper, but LGBT groups responding to the study pointed out it was largely funded by conservative groups that have ties to anti-gay organizations such as the Family Research Council and the self-styled National Organization for Marriage. (The New York Times) Michigan's House of Representatives passed legislation that would force public universities to accommodate the religious
The Nepalese government will start issuing citizenship certificates to members of the LGBT community. The Ministry of Home Affairs sent a letter to the Ministry of Law and Justice asking the latter to amend the annex of the existing provision of getting citizenship published in the Nepal gazette. Once a new gazette is published after amendment, the third sex community will be issued citizenship in ‘others’ category. The Nepalese Supreme Court in 2007 had ruled that third genders cannot be denied citizenship certificates. (eKantipur.com) HIV/AIDS researchers say those who are HIV positive are more likely to have heart attacks at a younger age, and have more of them, even when they are on a drug regimen to suppress the virus. “We should be screening people for coronary disease, aggressively treating blood pressure, aggressively treating cholesterol,” said one physician who treats patients with HIV and AIDS. (The New York Times) DC Comics has announced that Green Lantern, a venerable character who first appeared in the 1940's, will be reintroduced as a gay man. Alan Scott, a media corporation executive, will be presented from the start as out and proud; advance artwork has shown him and his partner publicly kissing. Scott/Green Lantern, whose powers are derived from the green energy of the earth, is situated on a parallel world designated Earth-2 where super-heroes are re-emerging after a devastating planet-wide war. (CNN) Virginia prosecutor Tracy Thorne-Begland has been temporarily appointed to a judgeship in Richmond, Va., even though social conservatives previously scuttled his nomination to the position. In May, Thorne-Begland, an out gay man, lost a confirmation vote in the House of Delegates. State Senator Adam Ebbin, an openly gay Democrat, said he thinks the vote will go differently when the body reconvenes next year. Thorne-Begland is Virginia's first openly gay judge. (Metro Weekly, DC) Dudley Clendinen, an openly gay reporter and author who cowrote a history of the LGBT movement, has died at age 67 after battling Lou Gherig's disease. His 1999 book Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America covered the period from the Stonewall riots of 1969 to the founding of ACT UP in 1987 and was co-written by New York Times political reporter Adam Nagourney. (The New York Times)
Summer 2012 CHALLENGE Page 15
GAAMC Board Mini-Minutes, May 17, 2012 Atttendance Voting Trustees: DeLeeuw, Dinkin, Kennedy, Pompei, Sauer, Skurna, Stella, Suiter, Vasios Non-Voting Attendees: Charlie Murphy, Allen Neuner, Robin Schneider, Mark Wydner, Dolores Yurkovic The meeting began at 7:10 pm. I. Adoption of minutes: The minutes of the April board meeting were adopted unanimously (moved, Skurna; seconded, Stella). II. Old Business: Ruby Ball: The committee has chosen the Westin in Morristown. The committee will come up with a final menu and price. The ball will include photos and possibly a silent auction. It was suggested that in promotional materials we should mention donations will be accepted even if one is not attending. Pride Events: NYC: GAAMC is registered to march on June 24th. The parade starts at 36th Street and 5th Avenue. Mickey will attend the marshal training. NJ Pride: GAAMC is registered for the parade and will have a float provided by Jersey Pride. People on the float will be wearing red shirts. Mickey suggested getting a second banner in celebration of the Ruby Ball. GAAMC has a corner booth with two tables; space behind the tables is limited. Andy will bring Pride Guides by van. III. New Business: Memorial Day Cookout: Charlie will donate table linens. John will pick up burgers and buns. Mickey will cook. Andy will make a Facebook promotion and list of items to be brought and who will bring them. Shakespeare festival: The Board selected The Marriage of Figaro for the August 6 program. GSE Equality Walk: GAAMC is listed as a sponsor; Andy will be team leader. GAAMC will have a link for contributions. Our goal is $2000. IV. Reports: President: Mickey Suiter — Mickey and Charlie had a GAAMC table at Clubfest; the event was not well attended. Morris County P-FLAG would like to start a youth group and asked for GAAMC's help. Gordon suggested GAAMC reach out to the Fellowship as a possible venue. Treasurer: Andy Skurna — written report (on file). Andy is looking for someone to complete GAAMC's taxes this year.
Secretary: Gordon Sauer — no report. VP Operations: Bill Stella — no report. Challenge: Allen Neuner — The June issue will be stuffed on May 28th and mailed on May 29th. The next deadline is June 15th for the July/ August issue. Member Services/Front Desk: Allen Neuner — Thanks to Claire and Dolores for their help at the front desk during Pastabilities. Programs: Sherri Rase — no report. Public Relations: Andy Skurna — GAAMC will be offering Madison Square Garden tickets for Liberty team basketball. We will be wearing red shirts at Asbury and other Pride events. Volunteerism: Sherri Rase — No report. Discussion Group Resources: Gordon Sauer — written report (on file). Socials: Charlie Murphy — no report. VP Community Services: Kerry Dinkin — Switch bar has reached out to GAAMC regarding an event during Pride month. Activism: Andy Skurna — no report. Fundraising: Andy Skurna — written report on Pastabilities (on file). Pride Guide: Andy Skurna — written report (on file). Membership: Andy Skurna — There have been four new members in the past month. Speakers' Bureau: Chris Selitto — written report (on file). Webmaster: Andy Skurna — There are 690 members on Constant Contact. An e-mail will go out about upcoming events; the home page and programs page will be updated. Archives: Mickey Suiter — no report. Information: Mitch Rubin — no report. V. Save These Dates: May 28, Memorial Day cookout; June 3, Jersey Pride; June 21, next Board meeting; June 24, NYC Pride; July 21, fundraising dinner. VI. Ideas & Suggestions: none. VII. Adjournment: Motion to adjourn passed unanimously (moved, Kennedy; seconded, Stella). The meeting adjourned at 8:52 pm.
Astronomy
by Tony Puma We masturbated under the stars, as 13 year olds, in Hayden Planetarium. Sinking and slinking into cushioned seats lights dimmed and faded out, as dark as death could be. Leaning back, unzipped and unafraid, left and right arms and thighs touching.
Grabbing each other and pumping away, as the sky moved above with the tempo of Holst’s “Planets” and a masculine oration. My friend whispers to me, “My father said that any time I do this one less baby is born.” ©TPuma/MMXII
Page 16 CHALLENGE Summer 2012
GAY ACTIVIST ALLIANCE IN MORRIS COUNTY
Officers President (President @ GAAMC.org) — Mickey Suiter VP Community Services (Info @ GAAMC.org) — Kerry Dinkin VP Operations — Bill Realman Stella Secretary (Secretary @ GAAMC.org) — Gordon Sauer Treasurer (Treasurer @ GAAMC.org) — Andy Skurna Trustees John DeLeeuw, Ron Kennedy, Claire Pompei, Mitch Rubin, Alexa Vasios Trustees Emeriti Sue Harris, Sherri Rase, Robin Schneider, Mark Wydner Committee Chairs Activism — Gordon Sauer (Activism @ GAAMC.org) Archives — Mickey Suiter (Archives @ GAAMC.org) Discussion Group Resources — Gordon Sauer (Discussions @ GAAMC.org) Fundraising — Andy Skurna (Fundraising @ GAAMC.org) Information — Mitch Rubin (FreeLibrary @ GAAMC.org) Member Services/Front Desk — Allen Neuner Membership — Andy Skurna (Memberships @ GAAMC.org) Pride Guide — Andy Skurna (PrideGuide @ GAAMC.org) Programs — Sherri Rase (Programs @ GAAMC.org) Public Relations — Sherri Rase (Info @ GAAMC.org) Socials — Charlie Murphy (Socials @ GAAMC.org) Speakers Bureau — Chris Selitto (SpeakersBureau @ GAAMC.org) Volunteerism — Sherri Rase (Volunteer @ GAAMC.org) Webmaster (inc. Facebook, Issuu, Yahoo!) — Andy Skurna (Webmaster @ GAAMC.org)
GAAMC, the Gay Activist Alliance in Morris County, has served New Jersey’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and intersexed communities since 1972. GAAMC is a notfor-profit volunteer-run organization that provides social, educational, and outreach programs. GAAMC also offers opportunities for individuals to become politically active on issues related to the GLBTI communities. Our intent is to maintain a positive, healthy, respectful, and supportive environment in a safe space. Meetings are held every Monday evening at the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, 21 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ (near the Morris Museum). Discussion groups usually meet from 7:00 to 8:00. The evening's program usually starts shortly after 8:00. Refreshments are available. For program information, call our information line or check our homepage (see below). Members and nonmembers from any locale are always welcome. Annual membership dues are: Regular, $40/single, $70/ couple; Students/Seniors, $30/single, $60/couple. Those looking to help out at GAAMC can contact the Volunteer Coordinator, Sherri Rase, at Volunteer @ GAAMC.org. How to reach GAAMC Mail: PO Box 137, Convent Station, NJ 07961 Telephone: 973-285-1595 E-Mail: info @ gaamc.org Home page: http://www.gaamc.org Mail List: http://groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/gaamc Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gaamc Challenge online edition: issuu.com/gaamc
PREVIEWS OF COMING ATTRACTIONS! July 9th
July 16th
July 23rd
Summer Tales
Movie Discussion
Members Market
See "GAAMC Events", page 2, for more details!