6 • 6 • 6 • 6 • 6 • The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM • • • • • Facebook.COM/AmbushMag • April 30-May 13, 2013 • Of• April 30-May 13, 2013 • Of• April 30-May 13, 2013 • Of• April 30-May 13, 2013 • Of• April 30-May 13, 2013 • Official Pride Guide • NOLAPride.ORGficial Pride Guide • NOLAPride.ORGficial Pride Guide • NOLAPride.ORGficial Pride Guide • NOLAPride.ORGficial Pride Guide • NOLAPride.ORG

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Orleans-based painter whose style isas recognizable as Aaron Neville’s voice.With five previous JazzFest posters tohis credit, Michalopoulos is well-knownfor his exuberant, colorful and richlytextured paintings that celebrate thespirit of New Orleans and other favoritelocales through architecture, people,and landscapes, among other inspira-tions,

Nowhere else will you find suchmatchless cuisine as is found atJazzFest. The Food Fair offers classicNew Orleans staples and over time hasexpanded to include Creole and Cajunofferings as well as international cui-sine. You’ll find everything from appe-tizers to yummy desserts: whateveryour tastes happen to be.

In addition to the dozens of finefoods offered, there are two cookingstages at the Fair Grounds Grand-stand demonstrating the rich culinaryhistory of New Orleans and offeringsamples of signature dishes featuringlocal ingredients from celebrated chefs,farmers, fishermen, and home cooks.

The Fair Grounds Race Course islocated at 1731 Gentilly Boulevard, justminutes from downtown and the FrenchQuarter. However, the immediate areaaround the site will be barricaded and

off-limits to most vehicular traffic. Con-venient bus service on the Esplanaderoute will take festival-goers to withinwalking distance of the festival gates,as will shuttle bus service from variouspark-and-ride lots and other conve-nient pick-up points around the city.

For a scenic route to the festivalyou can take the Canal Street Street-car line, transfer to the North CarrolltonAvenue branch and take it to the end atCity Park. From there the festival isabout a half-mile walk down EsplanadeAvenue. Follow the crowd and youcan’t miss it.

Tickets are $50 Adult (Advance),$65 Adult (Gate), $5 Child (Age 2-10 atGate), To order tickets or receive moreinformation on JazzFest 2013 visit theirwebsite at www.nojazzfest.com.

Billy's Celebrates 20thAnniversary May 4 & 5

Billy's Lounge will celebrate its 20thAnniversary: A Spectacular Weekendon Saturday and Sunday, May 4th and5th in Slidell hosted by club proprietorsChuck Turner and Bill Miller.

The 20th Anniversary Show onSaturday at 10:30pm features Slidell'sQueen of Comedy Big Momma Lavougewith guests special KlorocksBleachman, Princesse Stephaney, andSherry Laveaux.

Sunday is the Anniversary Cookoutat 5pm. It's $5 all you can eat whilesupply last.

Located at 2600 Hwy. 190 West,you can follow Billy's Lounge onwww.Facebook.COM.

Memorial Day WeekendPensacola May 23-27

Pensacola is gearing up for itsgiant Memorial Day Weekend blowoutThursday, May 23rd-Monday, May 27th.

The annual Splash Beach Party isset for Friday-Sunday, 10am-7pm, withfree admission at Park East PensacolaBeach. It is three fun filled days withmusic, bars, vendors and food. An ATMis available, along with ice for sale.

The big event is the Wave BeachParty at the same location Saturdaynight, 10pm-4am featuring the talentsof DJ/Producer Roland Belmares. Infoand tickets ($50) are available atwww.MemorialWeekendPensacola.COM.

Emerald City, 406 E. Wright Street,

has four days of action packed eventsas well. Thursday is Fore Play with DJDewight Barkley, Friday Strip Downwith DJ Dewight Barkley, SaturdaySweat with DJ Jay-R, Sunday FrictionBlack Light Underwear Party with DJDewight Barkley, and Monday ClimaxDrink & Drown with DJ Jay-R. Visitwww.EmeraldCityPensacola.COM formore information.

Reunion Pool PartiesReturn to One MightyWeekend May 31-June 2

Johnny Chisholm and One MightyWeekend are proud to announce thereturn of the Reunion Pool Parties tothe Buena Vista Palace at Walt DisneyWorld Resort in Orlando, FL.

The addition of the much-lovedReunion Pool Parties along with thereturn of Magic Journeys at ArabianNights will set the stage for an unfor-gettable experience and hearken backto the spectacular Gay Day weekendsof years past.

Held at the ever-popular host ho-tel, The Buena Vista Palace, the Re-union Pool Parties will feature lots ofhot bodies, fun in the sun and an incred-ible line-up of the fantastic DJs you’vecome to expect from One Mighty Week-end. There are limited rooms still avail-able so book your room now and don’tmiss the chance to “Stay where youPlay!”

Friday, May 31st:The weekend kicks-off on Friday

with the opening of the One MightyWeekend Welcome Center at the BuenaVista Palace at 10am (daily) where youcan take care of all of your ticket andinformation needs.

At noon, the first Reunion PoolParty gets under way with the multi-

talented DJ Power Infiniti followed bythe energizing sounds of DJ Mike Cruz.The afternoon festivities continue untilthe sun sets.

Midnight marks the triumphant re-turn of Magic Journeys to ArabianNights. Miami-based DJ Miik Martorellgets the party jumping, paving the wayfor the return of Grammy Award Win-ner DJ/Producer Peter Rauhofer ofNew York until 8am. (Shuttle servicewill be available from the Buena VistaPalace to Arabian Nights each night ofMagic Journeys.)

Saturday, June 1st:DJ Eddie Martinez gets the pool

balls bouncing at noon for the secondReunion Pool Party. Later in the after-noon, groove to the high energy of DJRoland Belmares as he keeps thecrowd hopping until the sun goes down.

Your Magic Journey continues atmidnight with the Brazilian flare of DJ/Producer Gustavo Scorpio of Rio DeJaneiro. As the night heats up, world-renowned DJ/Producer JoeGauthreaux of New York takes controlof the dance floor until the wee hours ofthe morning.

Sunday, June 2nd:Reunion Pool Party’s last install-

ment of the weekend begins with DJDani Toro of Barcelona at noon. DJ PhilB wraps up the Reunion Pool Partieswith his unique stylings until day’s end.

Miami-based Grammy AwardNominated, DJ/Producers Rosabel rulethe dance floor at your last MagicJourney. This promises to be an unfor-gettable night and a fitting end to anincredible One Mighty Weekend.

Visit OneMightyWeekend.COM formore information and to purchase tick-ets or visit us FaceBook @ One MightyWeekend.

Slidell's Queen of Comedy BigMomma Lavouge at Billy's

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a community within communities

by The Rev. Bill Terry, Rector St. Anna’s Episcopal ChurchEmail: fr.bill@stannanola.org

The Dodwell House Extravaganza the After PartyMore parties, more concerts, more of everything! What, New Orleans a city

of excess?! Why never! Just the right balance between party and oh party;concert and oh party; food oh yes and part! There is so much of this that culturallywe are not quite sure what R.S.V.P. means other than maybe don’t arrive too late.

Rejoice! It is still Easter and whitelinen is still to be worn. Rejoice! Theweather still allows us lovely eveningswithout perspiring like a pole dancer inJuly. Rejoice! Crawfish are still to behad with that perfect confluence ofshrimp season and oyster season. Withall of that music abounds, hard bodiesare marathoning, and fund raisersabound. Rejoice life is good.

A slice of LIFE a Community withinCommunities was hosted on St. CharlesAve. at Christ Church Cathedral. THEDODWELL EXTRAVAGANZA! TonyLeggio was heard saying to ElizabethBouvier as they walked up to the main

doors of the Cathedral, “Well girl youbetter watch it. You are now on theAvenue!” The doors were locked. For-tunately the entrance was on the side ofthe church as Tony and Elizabeth strolledin with gown, make-up, and other femi-nine accoutrement. Likely as she en-tered the stone arches she was passedby a young black man carrying BigChief David Montana’s Indian apparel.As they wove their way to dressingrooms they stepped aside from chil-dren ages 6 to 12 scuttling about hypedfor their evening’s performance.

The line grew at the entry way as6pm came and went and at last count

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we entertained about 220 men, women,children of all sorts. Uptown was pro-foundly visited by down town…we thankour friends at the Cathedral, a commu-nity that is now in our Community. Wehope the glitter on the floor of thechapel is not too distracting. That nightpeople from all manner of milieu gath-ered. I am sure some were shocked,some amused, all filled with joy.

The Dodwell House Extravaganzahid nothing and was proud of every-thing. Mothers from neighborhoods thatwould never step into an EpiscopalCathedral herded their children andwere welcomed; good ol boys fromLake Charles were taken aback by that6’2" elegantly dressed Elizabeth Bou-vier that man uh woman…”heck I don’tknow but ain’t she a hoot!” Visitors fromCanada stood stoically by and juststared (with small smiles) saying, “Wehave a lot of Indians in Canada but I’venot seen any that look or dress likethese” Iko Iko an nay. Two people atdifferent times approached me and thisis what they said:

Bob, one of the most noted archi-tects in Manhattan, recently retiredsaid, “Father, I have been to moreblack tie charity events than I can num-ber in New York and this is the mostwonderful event I have ever attended.”

A parishioner of St. Anna’s Churchsaid, “Father you’ve got a great church!”I said,” We have a great church be-cause you are the church and you arewhat makes it great.” This older gayman simply walked away with a smile.

There were a lot of fundraisers thatweekend; there were a lot of partiesthat weekend. When are there not. Butbe assured very few of them hostedblack, white, gay, straight, rich, poor,eccentric and mainstream all in onevenue on with one purpose. That pur-pose to me in something like this; toexperience Communities within a Com-munity; to be a part of transforming aworld fraught with fear and anxiety intoone that says, “yes maybe we can allbe a part of one community respectingthe dignity of every human being.”

A special thanks to Warren EastonHigh School students

Dozens of St. Anna’s VolunteersDr. Shannon Bergeron and his crewThe Ambush and Rip and MarshaElizabeth Bouvier (Jeff Mallon) and

Tony LeggioDarryl Durham and the Treme Com-

munity ChoirN.O.Vation a great Rap duoDozens of donors and restaurants

We raised over $20,000 this yearthat will help the missions of St. Anna’sChurch. Next year we hope to do bet-ter. Quoting that great bard of Espla-nade the most loquacious, eccentric,co-founder of the Faerie Play HouseStewart Butler, “It was better than lastyear.”

Now go out and have some fun andpraise to the Lord that you can for it truethat God created all things, yes, evensmiles.

celebration

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RicRicRicRicRicharharharharhard d d d d TTTTThomsonhomsonhomsonhomsonhomsonSept. 19, 1939-Oct. 24, 2012

Celebration of LifeCelebration of LifeCelebration of LifeCelebration of LifeCelebration of LifeSunday, May 5th 4pmTTTTThe Fhe Fhe Fhe Fhe Friendlriendlriendlriendlriendly Bary Bary Bary Bary Bar

2301 ChartresNew Orleans

Hidden Treasures:Commemorative ArtsEdition Up Next

Join the Friends of the Cabildo asthe Louisiana State Museum’s impres-sive collection of awards, medals andtokens of appreciation from importantevents in Louisiana history are exam-ined for an exclusive behind-the-scenesviewing May 7th and 8th. Katie Burlison,Curator of the Decorative Arts for theLouisiana State Museum, will guideguests through collections of Napole-onic awards given to war heroes andpoliticians, souvenirs from the 1984World’s Fair, 20th century sports tro-phies and more behind the hidden wingsof the Old U.S. Mint.

Hidden Treasures of the Louisi-ana State Museum: Decorative ArtsEdition takes place Tuesday andWednesday, May 7th and 8th. Tours areat 6pm and 7pm at the Old U.S. Mint,located at 400 Esplanade Avenue, inthe French Quarter. Cost is $20 perperson, or $15 for Friends of theCabildo/Louisiana Museum Foundation

members. Reservations are required,and space is extremely limited.

To reserve your space, pleasecontact Kaydee Nenninger at504.523.3939.

Irma Thomas ToHeadline Old U.S. Mint

The Friends of the Cabildo presentIrma Thomas, the “Soul Queen of NewOrleans," playing her first concert atthe Old U.S. Mint’s 3rd Floor Perfor-mance Space at 7pm Friday, May 24th.Tickets are $35 for general admissionand $25 for FOC/LMF member. Seatsare limited to 175 people and can bepurchased by calling the FOC office at504.523.3939 or online atwww.friendsofthecabildo.org. Ticketsare not expected be available the nightof the event.

Playing the event as a fundraiserfor the Friends of the Cabildo, Thomashas been active in the New Orleansmusic scene over 50 years and had hitssuch as Ruler of My Heart and It’sRaining. Thomas won her first Grammyin 2007 for the album After the Rain.She also recorded Time is on My Side

in 1964, which was recorded by theRolling Stones the same year. Sinceher first album in 1964, Thomas hasrecorded 19 albums and collaboratedwith legends such as Allen Toussaint,B.B. King and Dr. John. Finished in2012, the 3rd Floor Performance Spaceat the Old U.S. Mint is a $4-million jointcollaboration between the LouisianaState Museum and the National ParkService. The space includes a sound-proof performance hall with video andaudio recording capabilities as well asa full recording studio.

New Orleans FringeFestival 2013 Call forSubmissions,Applications due July 2

The New Orleans Fringe announcesits call for submissions for performinggroups for the sixth annual Fringe The-ater Festival. The Fringe welcomesvirtually any type of theater perfor-mance - the wilder and the weirder, thebetter! Fringe particularly encouragesoriginal works or innovative adapta-tions. Application and instructions canbe downloaded at www.nofringe.organd are due by July 2. Notifications areon August 15.

The 2013 New Orleans Fringe Fes-tival is set for November 20-24.

The Fringe is excited to announcetwo new performance categories thisyear, “live documentary” and “immersiveexperience,” both of which embraceand encourage the innovative, bound-ary-blurring work for which the NewOrleans Fringe has come to be known.Other categories include cabaret, cir-cus arts, comedy, dance, drama, im-provisational, interdisciplinary, multime-dia, musical theater, poetry/spokenword, puppetry, storytelling, burlesque,sideshow, variety and other creativemadness.

Last year’s Fringe welcomed 136applications. Of these, only 24 per-forming groups were selected by theFringe panel of peer reviewers – work-ing artists who represent the spectrumof New Orleans performance. At the2012 Festival, over 13,000 visitors cameto see over 300 total performances in34 different venues. The diverse rangeof live performance along with the mul-titude of free events at the Free-for-AllTent, including Buskers’ Happy Hour,Family Fringe, live music as well as theGoodChildren Fringe Parade meansthat there is absolutely something foreveryone at the Fringe. The New Or-leans Fringe Festival is now consid-ered one of the country’s most excitingand fringe-y theater festivals and theplace to be for innovative, thought pro-

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In addition to not knowing our gayancestors, one of the most frustratingaspects of the historical closet is notrecognizing the contributions gay peoplehave made to society. The word gayand our modern concept of gaynessare 20th Century constructions, ofcourse. The word “homosexual” wasnot coined until 1869 and then only inclinical, psychiatric contexts. This raisesthe question of how gay people inprevious ages viewed themselves.

President Buchanan and his partnerwould not have thought of themselvesas “gay” as we understand that termtoday. And yet they shared a life and abed together, as did countless othersame-sex couples.

One of the earliest known gay mento live in New Orleans was the greatAmerican poet Walt Whitman. Whitmanarrived in the city in 1848 to work as areporter for the Crescent, one of thecity’s several daily newspapers at thetime. Although he lived only threemonths in New Orleans, the city pro-foundly influenced him and his poetry.In his leisure time, Whitman was fond ofperusing the French Market beforecruising the riverfront where he de-lighted in meeting stevedores and long-shoremen. The gay graybeard ab-sorbed all the sensory imagery the cityhad to offer and later immortalizedthose images in much of his master-piece, Leaves of Grass. The poem “ISaw in Louisiana a Live Oak” is ameditation on romantic male compan-ionship and “Once I Pass’d Through aPopulous City” is a poetic tribute to amale lover Whitman met in New Or-leans. When the poem was published,the word “man” was changed to“woman”—an unfortunate consequenceof the historical closet.

Where Whitman met his trick, andhow, is uncertain. Gay social network-ing for the purposes for finding sexpartners has been around for centu-ries. 15th Century Florence, for ex-ample, had quite an extensive network,a Renaissance version of Grindr, if youwill. It’s safe to assume 19th CenturyNew Orleans also had such a network.We do know there was a “gay scene”at the time for it is referenced by BaronLudwig Von Reizenstein, a Germanexpatriate living in New Orleans in the1850s who wrote a serialized novelentitled The Mysteries of New Or-leans for a German language newspa-

by Frank PerezE-mail: f.perez@sbcglobal.net

moments in gay new orleans history

“The Historical Closet:Mid-19th Century Gay New Orleans”

Not long ago, a friend and I were discussing the significance of PresidentObama’s support for marriage equality. He was convinced it wasn’t all thatimportant and told me, “What will really be significant is when we elect a gaypresident.” I replied by telling him we already have. He, like many people, wassurprised to learn that James Buchanan, our nation’s 15th president, was and iswidely considered to have been gay. Buchanan was the only president to nevermarry and he lived with his “good friend” William Rufus King (who was a U.S.Senator and Vice President under President Franklin Pierce) for twenty-threeyears. Andrew Jackson referred to the couple as “Miss Nancy” and “Aunt Fancy”and Aaron Brown called King “Buchanan’s better half.” In his biography ofAbraham Lincoln, Carl Sandburg described Buchanan and King’s relationship ashaving “a streak of lavender and spots soft as May violets.” Buchanan wasPresident from 1857 to 1861.

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the "official" dish ...from 8voking and envelope-pushing artists. Atthe 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Fest, whenthe question “What Fringe next?” wasposed to a panel of theater folks, theanswer was New Orleans Fringe.

“Artists love performing for NewOrleans audiences. And they know theywill have a great time while they are inNew Orleans. That’s why we haveperformers applying from all over theUS and even abroad,” says KristenEvans, Fringe Executive Director.

Artists can apply to perform in aFringe-sponsored venue in the Bywaterand Marigny neighborhoods of NewOrleans. All performances must bebetween 30 and 60 minutes. $25 appli-cation fee with no performance fee.Box office returns are split with per-formers.

Applications and more info are avail-able online at www.nofringe.org.

The Bring Your Own Venue (BYOV)option is available for those artists whowant to organize their own venue. Thoseregistration forms will be available May15.

The Fringe is a 501(c)3 non-profitthat was founded in 2008 by local artsorganizers to nurture fearless theaterin New Orleans and to benefit artists,venues, neighborhoods and local busi-nesses. Fringe is supported by a SEEDgrant from the Robert RauschenbergFoundation.