I’ve been more than a little surprised to see lots and lots of discounted tickets popping up on online bargain websites for the American Conservatory Theater’s production of The Normal Heart. Last year, A.C.T.’s lighthearted Tales of the City was a tough ticket, and its run was extended multiple times. But this season’s gay-themed mainstage production appears to be lacking buzz. As playwright Larry Kramer might say (or scream): Shame!

Kramer’s scorching 1985 autobiographical drama about the early days of AIDS in New York is a ferociously emotional and political work of theater that was “ripped from the headlines” when first produced and today might be called “ripped from the history books.” The play helped catalyze and amplify community anger over the dismissal of the burgeoning epidemic by government and the medical institutions, and begin to move our country forward toward saner policy. The Normal Heart proved that art can make a difference in American society.

Michael Berresse, left, and Tom Berklund in The Normal Heart. (Photo: Scott Suchman)

The production at A.C.T., directed by George C. Wolfe, won last year’s Tony for Best Revival of a Play. Currently in preview performances, it officially opens next Wednesday.

Do San Franciscans feel The Normal Heart will bring back too many difficult memories? In the face of Prop 8, Mitt Romney, and rising presence of AIDS among younger generations, are today’s gay men so ready to bury our heads and ignore the still urgent messages of this landmark piece of political art? Here’s a fascinating interview with Kramer, conducted in conjunction with the play’sopening in New York last year.

Man up, San Francisco, and support this important production.

The tour was created for the Oakland Pride celebration earlier this month and will be offered again on 9/28.

The history of the gay rights movement in the Bay Area and throughout the state of California will be explored on a special docent led tour at the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) on Friday, September 28 at 7 p.m.  A selection of artifacts from the museum’s permanent collection will be spotlighted in a program that will trace from the early 20th Century to today, touching upon the emergence of sexual identity politics, the overlap of gay liberation with the hippie and beatnik movements, the rise of Harvey Milk and the LGBT community as a political force, and the current drive for gay marriage equality. The tour is included with admission, only $6 after 5pm.

Dedicated to the art, history, and culture of our state, the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA), is often overshadowed by San Francisco’s powerhouse DeYoung, MOMA, Academy of Sciences and other museums. But—in addition to permanent collections focused art, history, and nature as seen through a distinctively Californian lens—OMCA steadfastly mounts some of the Bay Area’s most intriguing temporaryexhibitions and special programs, such as this month’s LGBT tour.

Come early on tour night to check out the recently extended The 1968 Exhibit, which spotlights that watershed year of Vietnam, the assasinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, feminist protests at the Miss America pageant, Black Power demonstrations at the Olympics, and more.

Throughout 2012, OMCA has presented shows at once provocative and crowd-pleasing, including a retrospective of internationally acclaimed Oakland graphic novelist and cartoonist Daniel Clowes; an eye-popping, mindbending collection of social justice posters; and a installation featuring thematically interwoven video interviews of 1500 black men throughout the United States.

There’s more to come in 2013…so keep posted on their programs and make sure that OMCA gets out from under your radar.

The Agenda is a big advocate of seeing movies on a big screen, surrounded by a crowd of friends and strangers connected by laughter, suspense, pathos, and excitement. Sure, the ability to watch Mark Ruffalo while sprawled on your couch in nothing but boxers and a blankie is a benefit to home viewing, but we spend so much solo screen time these days that the communal experience of film in a theater is well-worth hanging on to.

But the economics can feel tough to justify:  Up to $12 a ticket (never mind popcorn and parking) at many SF theaters makes regular moviegoing a hard pill to swallow.  For goodness’ sake, its only five bucks or so to rent a film and squeeze a whole gang of skivvy-clad Mark Ruffalo fans onto your comfy loveseat (Don’t forget to factor in the cost of a massive afghan).

Enter compromise, in the form of the SF MovieBears, a group of furry, film-loving fellows who—out of pure sociability and movie love—organize weekly group movie nights which allow members of the general public (regardless of physique, hirsuteness, and gender) to purchase discount tickets (usually $8) to screenings of first run films. You just reserve online, show up at the theater to get your ticket, and enjoy.  You can even sit wherever you want, although introducing yourself and sitting with other MovieBear participants offers a great opportunity for making new friends with at least one (movies) and quite possibly two (bears) common interests.

Jake Grrrrr..ylenhall in End of Watch, the MovieBear screening on October 3

Among upcoming outings are:

—Keep the Lights On,  the much buzzed about film about a gay relationship sullied by drug abuse

—The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a coming of age comedy featuring Ezra Miller, the demon seed from We Need to Talk About Kevin

—End of Watch, with Jake Gyllenhall as a cop

Check out th SF Movie Bears website to learn about their other social events, including nights at the theater, karaoke parties, hiking excursions, and more.

John Epperson

Last week, we took our own Agenda advice and checked out John Epperson performing as his alter ego Lypskinka…who was in turn performing as one of her many alter egos, Joan Crawford. The Passion of the Crawford is a rich, sly salute to one of the great gay icons, in which Epperson recreates an interview with the legend in her later years, disappearing into character while flawlessly lip-syncing to a recording of the actual event. Lip-syncing the spoken word requires a level of precision beyond what’s required to mouth along to pop songs, but Epperson is so technically on point that one actually forgets that he isn’t speaking—this is no drag show, its a display of extraordinary acting and remarkable physical discipline.

While post-modern drag is all the rage here in San Francisco, the evening had me feeling a tinge of mournfulness for studious exercises in camp and diva worship like Epperson’s. My partner and I—both in our mid-40s—were among the youngest gay men in the audience. Even as The New Normal takes to the airwaves and new norms begin to elevate society as a whole, one senses that a certain reverence for the gay past is beginning to wane. “Gay history” has really only been a topic of study for the past half century or so, yet—reflecting other ageist ways of our tribe—cultural touchstones that go back more than a few decades are starting to be treated like “gay ancient history.”

Are there any twentysomething gay boys who will carry the torch for Joan Crawford? Seems like Lady Gaga is already over for most of them.

So, if you’re over 35, here’s your assignment:  Be a Daddy Dearest.School a twink! Treat a young friend to The Passion of the Crawford,—which continues through this Sunday at The Rrazz Room, lend them some classic movie DVDs (How quaint…haven’t you heard of streaming?), take them to task!

And for you discerning gentlemen who recognize timeless classics and have no inclination to ever brush them aside, come share your good taste with John Epperson, himself, making a rare public appearance in trousers, and at the piano, for a one night cabaret performance of “An Evening with Lypsinka’s Maid”  on Monday night, September 17, at the Rrazz. Expect songs, stories, and appropriate deference to our distant 20th century past.

More drag delights? Check out a local star in and out of character, here.

Welcome to a special “Double Take” Edition of Insider Tips.

J. Conrad Frank (Photo: Werner Images)

About three years ago, I was enjoying a Saturday lunch at the late lamented Blue restaurant in the Castro when I glanced across the room and spotted a tall lanky fellow with a handsome profile that struck me familiar. I racked my brain trying to figure out where I recognized him from before finally catching his eye and asking him where he worked, assuming I’d seen him at some shop, bar, or cafe I frequented.

“I’m a performer,” he said, introducing himself as Conrad. In that moment, it all clicked—I’d seen his face for weeks, made-up and bewigged, in advertisements for a Christmas show he was performing as his drag persona, the Countess Katya Smirnoff-Skyy. What a strange—and slightly embarrassing—sensation it was, to realize that I’d not been able to break through my perceptual gender wall to recognize Frank’s striking, singular face out of female context.

Well, Frank—who’s performed male roles in local productions of The Temperamentals and Sweeney Todd over the past year as well as doing regular gigs as Katya—is taking gender-blending one step further as the first drag headliner at San Francisco’s Penthouse Club, in a special Divas! Cabaret Brunch on Sunday, September 16.  The club—regularly packed with conventioneers and other afficionadoes of authentic boobage—advertises with the slogan: “Where the magazine comes to life.” Well, next Sunday, we can amend that to “Where the magazine comes to life…for those of us who read the Forum column with a cockeyed perspective.”

We’ve asked Conrad to answer our Insider Tips questionnaire below.  And if you click here, you can read Katya’s answers to the same queries.

One week from today marks the first San Francisco performance in 5 years of Lypsinka, the brilliant neo-drag creation of actor John Epperson, who—for 30 years—has been channeling the recorded voices of Hollywood royalty through his masterfully gestural body. Once a pianist for the American Ballet Theater, Epperson crossbreeds the camp of a diva-duping drag with the poetic control and technical precision of a dancer.

Epperson lip synchs speech more than song, performing to dialogue from movies or recorded interviews— as is the the case in The Passion of The Crawford, which he’ll be performing at the Rrazz Room from September 4th through the 16th. It’s easy to forget that Epperson is performing silently; his physical fusion with his soundtracks is uncanny. And spooky. And hilarious.

Without speaking, he speaks to us about the substance of style, and the ways in which celebrity is at once disembodied and all-encompassing.

If you’ve never seen Lypsinka before, this run is a don’t-miss start to your fall arts season.  Don’t believe us? See the video after the jump… Read more…

Paco Cifuentes (rear) and Matt Shuster

For over 25 years, 2272 Market Street was home to Capri, an unassuming, uninspiring red sauce Italian joint which—in its last years—offered a weeknight dinner special of green salad, pasta, and a glass of non-descript wine for 10 bucks. Like all too many Castro district eateries, it was less a dining destination than a filling station, a place to lay down a base for the evening’s alcohol intake elsewhere.

Things have changed. Radically.

A friendly communal counter for chatting over tapas

Just shy of a year ago, Madrid-born Paco Cifuentes—who works in biotech—and his partner, chef Mat Shuster dramatically transformed the space into Canela. The warm, charmingly designed dining room features comfortable, cheerfully striped banquettes, dramatic floral art, and clever bottle-bottom styled lighting fixtures. Its a setting that invites you to linger, and combined with Shuster’s lengthy menu of  Iberian-accented small plates and Cifuentes’ personally curated collection of hard-to-find Spanish wines, it makes Canela the single restaurant along the Upper Market/Castro axis of our gayborhood that merits a special trip from elsewhere in the city. Canela deserves to be known not as a “Castro restaurant” but as a “San Francisco restaurant,” happily located in the Castro.

Cifuentes and Shuster have been a couple for almost 9 years. Over that time, they’ve made many trips to Madrid to visit Cifuentes mother, who speaks no English. Shuster, as it happens, speaks no Spanish. Mother- and son-in-law bonded in the kitchen, with Shuster shadowing Madre Cifuentes as she cooked her son’s favorite dishes—always by eye, without measuring cups or spoons.

The cuisine is as vibrant and attractive as the decor

According to Cifuentes, Shuster—who has been a culinary instructor as well as a chef—is a stellar participant-observer, almost osmotically absorbing the soul of his mother’s cooking—and then successfully integrating modest twists that take advantage of local produce without compromising authentic flavors. Among the don’t-miss dishes are the seared calamari served with sautéed white beans—at once briny, and earthy with a terrific textural contrast; okra with Serrano ham, garlic, and lemon—the pencil-thin okra, cut lengthwise, is entirely slime-free and snappy; and two exemplary renditions of traditional standbys: rich ham and béchamel-filled croquettas, and a perfectly textured Spanish tortilla, the egg simply layered with potatoes and onion.

Cifuentes is a passionate oenophile, but also focused on value.  Among the wine list’s surprises are an affordable house blend of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot made exclusively for Canela by Joseph Gary Cellars and a showcase of choice Spanish sherries and reds—including a mouthwatering 2006 Montecastro. If you’d like a charming tutorial on Iberian vintages, be sure to ask for Cifuentes personally.

Canela was previously cited in one of our Insider Tips columns…check out author Jim Provenzano’s recommendation here.

Earlier this week, we introduced you to the year’s greatest gift idea: mink penis bones.

In the future, they may be harder to acquire if minks take up after their fellow woodland creatures and begin wearing protective apparel, such as these sweet tighty whities we came across at an outpost of Therapy, the groovy seven store Bay Area mini-chain.

Next year, opossum thongs!

Which reminded us…the biggest SF skivvie disco of the summer is next weekend’s Underworld, on Saturday night at 525 Harrison Street. As Daniel Day Lewis once said: There will be nuts.

Larger animals may want to do their partying over at the Rickshaw Stop on Fell Street, where Bearracuda will take over for the evening.

Squirrels, otters, and the occasional wombat partied at last Labor Day’s Underworld. (Photo: Marques Daniels Photography)

Before you scurry along to seek more nutritious internet fare, please enjoy the official Squirrel Underpants video, after the jump. Read more…