Thu. June 27, 2013
By Sukie de la Croix
Gay life in Chicago this week, back in ...
1980
The Movie Musical Event of the '80s ..."Can't Stop the Music," with the Village People is showing in theaters all over Chicago. Sarah Craig's review in Gay Life begins:
"Can't Stop the Music" is this summer's blockbuster musical. It's a highly fictionalized-even fantasized–account of a young man with a musical vision who founds the now faded supergroup, the Village People.
"The movie is big, colorful and dumb. So are its stars, Valerie Perrine and Bruce Jenner. Each was cast, no doubt, for his/her physical pulchritude rather than any acting ability–although they do the best they can under the circumstances. The script is shallow, the storyline is fluff, and the whole movie has a strange dated quality about it. This quality stems largely from the fact that disco is on the decline, being replaced gradually by new wave/punk and other styles."
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Bathhouses in Chicago include: Club Baths/Chicago, 609 N. LaSalle; Man's Country, 5015 N. Clark St.; Man's World North, 4740 N. Western; Ohio & State Health Club, 9 E. Ohio; Steamworks Ltd., 3131 N. Lincoln; and Wacker Health Club, 674 N. Clark St.
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Southern Nights, a Southern & Soul food dinner sponsored by the National Coalition of Black Gays/Chicago at 615 W. Wellington. The featured entertainer is Ms. Pam Young.
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Dance (for women only) at 3345 N. Clark (Wigton's Barn) is a benefit coordinated by the Lesbian Community Center.
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Discovery '80, the Culture and Identity Conference at Northwestern University is part of the Lesbian and Gay Pride Week activities and is Gay Horizons and the Gay Academic Union's way of "Kissing the '70s goodbye and exploring new attitudes for the Lesbian and Gay community in the '80s." The keynote speaker at the conference is Dr. Charles Silverstein, co-author of "The Joy of Gay Sex."
1988
West Suburban Gays issue a call for all lesbians and gay men to attend "AIDS: the Disease and the Issues," a presentation at the Civic Center in downtown Glen Ellyn, sponsored by Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, located between Main on Duane St., one block south of the tracks in downtown Glenn Ellyn.
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Lesbian ACOA: a meeting for women who are the adult children of alcoholic parents, at the Martha Washington Hospital Treatment Center, at Irving and Western. Room 108.
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The Open Road Riders of Chicagoland, the gay and lesbian motorcycle club, goes on a Canadian camp-out, a two-night trip/sightseeing in Windsor, Ontario.
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A letter from Robert Norris appears in this week's Gay Chicago. It reads:
"As I am watching the Channel 7 news with an interview of acting Mayor Eugene Sawyer, I can understand why the City Council and the Catholic Church is so against the passage of the gay rights in Chicago. The clips that are shown during the interview are of the Gay Pride Parade. When the rest of the city sees a bunch of queens parading around in drag, it's no doubt that gay rights are never achieved in Chicago.
"I am a member of the gay community so I'm not against Gay Pride Week. I think more constructive things could be done to show the general public that we are worthy of our rights.
"Since this parade brings out gay men in drag that don't normally, in day to day life, dress in drag. I would like to suggest saving it for Halloween, if you feel that strong of an urge.
"Let's try to show the public that we are capable of interacting with everyone. If we want our rights, let's show Chicago that we are equal, not different-that we don't want special rights, but the basic rights that everyone should have.
"If we put more emphasis on the rally in Lincoln Park we might have our rights and maybe a parade downtown."
2000
On Bravo Cable, k.d. lang hosts the "Out of the Closet" film festival. Films include "The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love.
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In the clubs and bars this week, "One Step Beyond ...Return to the '80s" at Spin, Halsted and Belmont everyThursday; every Wednesday is Miler Beer Night at Nutbush, 7201 Franklin, Forest Park; the biggest, hardest, hottest, WET BOXER CONTEST in Boystown is at Roscoe's, 3356 N. Halsted; "A Little Bitty Pissant Country Review" with the Voltaire Troupe, Amy Armstrong and Freddy Allen, is at Voltaire, 3441-43 N. Halsted; ILGRA and HIVCO host a pie toss at Hunters, 1932 E. Higgins Rd.; Michelle Malone performs at Star Gaze, 5419 N. Clark St.; and Movie Night at the Eagle, 5015 N. Clark St., is "Interview With a Vampire.
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Barbara Eden appears in Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple" ...the female version with Rita McKenzie, at the Apollo Theater, 2540 N. Lincoln.
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2nd Annual Black Pride Festival, Independence 2000 takes place with social events, club parties and workshops.
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"Eleanor Roosevelt: A Second Life," a slide-illustrated lecture by longtime activist Marie Kuda takes place at the Oak Park Public Library, 834 Lake St., Oak Park. Kuda discusses the women-loving women in Roosevelt's friendship circle and the implications of efforts to "de-lesbianize' her 36 year relationship with Lorena Hickok.
Gay Chicago Photo Rewind
Photographs of Gay Pride Parade in 1988 from Gay Chicago
Terry Gaskin photos at Crobar in Gay Chicago January 19, 1995
Gay Chicago Terry Gaskins photographs at Gentry in January 19, 1995
Homework
How much cocaine was consumed on the set of "Can't Stop the Music?"
What is Wigton's Barn?
Do the The Open Road Riders of Chicagoland still exist?
Thanks go to publishers Michael Bergeron for Chicago Gay Crusader, Ralph and Craig Gernhardt for Gay Chicago, Grant Ford and Chuck Renslow for Gay Life, Malone Sizelove for Babble/Gab, David Costanza and others for Chicago Free Press, Jeff McCourt for Windy City Times, and Tracy Baim for all the publications at the Windy City Media Group, which aided the above research. St. Sukie de la Croix is an internationally published reporter, playwright, photographer and historian. He is also the author of Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago Before Stonewall published by the University of Wisconsin Press.
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