When It's Working, It Feels Like Magic

Q Comedy Showcase, 11/26/07. Thanks for watching, enjoy!

Q Comedy Tonight!

Monday Nov 26, doors 7:30, show 8 pm, sliding scale $8-$15:
Qcomedy Showcase -- SF's flagship queer comedy showcase returns in its seventh year in a great new location, featuring as always a stellar cast of San Francisco's funniest Queer and/or Queer friendly comedians and performers. This month's show is hosted by Dana Cory, the Host of Improv Slam and the HomoRevolution Tour and features Kenny Yun, Pippi Lovestocking, Ryan Kasmier, Kenny Altman, and more! Now on Mondays again! New location -- At the Women's Building, 3543 18th St. between Valencia and Guerrero in the Audre Lorde room. http://www.qcomedy.com

You Couldn't Beat This Lineup With A Stick!

Gays and Dolls, Sunday 11/25/07, 7 pm. $8. At the SFCC Clubhouse, 414 Mason Street, 7th Floor (between Geary and Post), SF. 415/921-2051.

It's the best comedy showcase in town, the only weekly show to exclusively feature female and gay male comics.

Maitre D’ – Ryan Kasmier
Appetizers – Kenny Altman, Bev Owen, Cara Tramontano, Steve Reede
1st Course – Dhaya Lak, Katie Compa
Main Course – Beth Schumann
Dessert and Other Finishing Touches – YOU, THE AUDIENCE! TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND COME OUT AND SUPPORT!

Mention this bulletin and get $1 off your ticket!

Holy Gays and Dolls, Batman, It's the 40th Anniversary of My Bar Mitzvah!

Come and celebrate with me:

Saturday, 9 a.m. at Congregation Beth Sholom at St. James Church, 4620 California Street (at 8th Avenue), SF. I will be leading portions of the service and reading from and speaking about my Torah portion, Vayishlach, followed by a bitchin' kiddush (luncheon) sponsored by my brother and sister-in-law, Howard and Karen Altman.

Saturday, 6 p.m. New Faces of Comedy at the Clubhouse, 414 Mason Street, 7th Floor (between Geary and Post), SF. $5. 415/921-2051.

Sunday, 7 p.m. Gays and Dolls at the Clubhouse. This weekly comedy showcase features female and gay male comics, and it kicks ass! $8. 415/921-2051. Purchase advance tix here.

Thanks for listening, thanks for watching, thanks for your support - Shabbat Shalom!

Kenny A.

Zichrona L'vracha (may her memory be for a blessing)

This obituary for my dear friend Goldie Rassen appears in today's (San Francisco) Chronicle; she was a remarkable woman and I will miss her very much.

Goldie Hiatt Rassen In San Francisco on November 18, 2007 at age 93. Beloved wife of the late Jacob Rassen for 41 years. Loving mother of Dr. Joshua (and Amy) Rassen and Rachel Rassen. Proud grandmother of Jeremy and Elisa Rassen. Goldie was born in Lithuania, the youngest of 12 children. Her first husband and daughter, as well as her parents and three siblings, were victims of the Holocaust. Following World War II, she married another survivor, Jacob Rassen, who had also returned to Lithuania in 1945. From the first moment that Goldie and Jacob saw each other wandering and looking for family and friends, they were drawn together and remained with each other. Their first child was born in a deportation camp in 1946. Shortly afterwards they emigrated to Worcester, MA, joining the three Hiatt brothers who had left Lithuania before the war. Goldie and Jacob were married for 41 years and raised two children in the Boston area. They moved to San Francisco in 1985 to be with their children and grandchildren. Jacob passed away one year later. While raising her children, Goldie taught Hebrew to first and second graders at a local synagogue. Once in San Francisco, she began teaching Hebrew to individual adults. She was an ardent supporter of Israel, and was dedicated to making sure that the memory of the six million stayed alive. She was practical, clever and wise. All interactions offered an opportunity for her to share her wisdom and advice; she was always generous in offering her opinions. Goldie was a devoted member of Congregation Beth Sholom and a supporter of many Jewish causes. In her latter years, Goldie was one of the first residents at Rhoda Goldman Plaza where she lived independently and continued to teach Hebrew for six years. She spent the last three months of her life at the Jewish Home. Funeral Services will be held on Tuesday (TODAY), November 20th, 1:00PM at SINAI MEMORIAL CHAPEL, 1501 Divisadero Street at Geary Blvd., SF, followed by interment at Hills of Eternity Cemetery, 1301 El Camino Real, Colma. Contributions to Congregation Beth Sholom preferred, 318 15th Avenue, SF 94118.

Comedy Gold

Sex Scandal Hits Atlanta-Area Megachurch

DECATUR, Ga. (AP) — The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother's wife and fathered a child by her.

Members of Archbishop Earl Paulk's family stood at the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church a few Sundays ago and revealed the secret exposed by a recent court-ordered paternity test.

In truth, this is not the first — or even the second — sex scandal to engulf Paulk and the independent, charismatic church. But this time, he could be in trouble with the law for lying under oath about the affair.

The living proof of that lie is 34-year-old D.E. Paulk, who for years was known publicly as Earl Paulk's nephew.

"I am so very sorry for the collateral damage it's caused our family and the families hurt by the removing of the veil that hid our humanity and our sinfulness," said D.E. Paulk, who received the mantle of head pastor a year and a half ago.

D.E. Paulk said he did not learn the secret of his parentage until the paternity test. "I was disappointed, and I was surprised," he said.

Earl Paulk, his brother, Don, and his sister-in-law, Clariece, did not return calls for comment.

A judge ordered the test at the request of the Cobb County district attorney's office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which are investigating Earl Paulk for possible perjury and false-swearing charges stemming from a lawsuit.

The archbishop, his brother and the church are being sued by former church employee Mona Brewer, who says Earl Paulk manipulated her into an affair from 1989 to 2003 by telling her it was her only path to salvation. Earl Paulk admitted to the affair in front of the church last January.

In a 2006 deposition stemming from the lawsuit, the archbishop said under oath that the only woman he had ever had sex with outside of his marriage was Brewer. But the paternity test said otherwise.

So far no charges have been filed against Earl Paulk. District Attorney Pat Head and GBI spokesman John Bankhead would not comment.

The shocking results of the paternity test are speeding up a transformation already under way in the church after more than a decade of sex scandals and lawsuits involving the Paulks, D.E. Paulk said.

"It was a necessary evil to bring us back to a God-consciousness," said the younger Paulk, explaining that the church had become too personality-driven and prone to pastor worship.

The flashy megachurch began in 1960 with just a few dozen members in the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta. Now, it is in the suburbs on a 100-acre expanse, a collection of buildings surrounding a neo-Gothic cathedral.

For years the church was at the forefront of many social movements — admitting black members in the 1960s, ordaining women and opening its doors to gays.

At its peak in the early 1990s, it claimed about 10,000 members and 24 pastors and was a media powerhouse. By soliciting tithes of 10 percent from each member's income, the church was able to build a Bible college, two schools, a worldwide TV ministry and a $12 million sanctuary the size of a fortress.

Today, though, membership is down to about 1,500, the church has 18 pastors, most of them volunteers, and the Bible college and TV ministry have shuttered — a downturn blamed largely on complaints about the alleged sexual transgressions of the elder Paulks.

In 1992, a church member claimed she was pressured into a sexual relationship with Don Paulk. Other women also claimed they had been coerced into sex with Earl Paulk and other members of the church's administration.

The church countered with a $24 million libel suit against seven former church members. The lawsuit was later dropped.

Jan Royston, who left the church in 1992, started an online support group for former members to discuss their crushed faith and hurt feelings.

"This is a cult. And you escape from a cult," she said. "We all escaped."

These days, Earl Paulk has a much-reduced role at the cathedral, giving 10-minute lectures as part of Sunday morning worship each week.

"My uncle is 100 percent guilty, but his accusers are guilty as well," D.E. Paulk said, declining to talk further about the lawsuits.

Gays and Dolls 11/18 with Headliner Lilibeth Helson!

Our lineup for Gays and Dolls this coming Sunday night, November 18, includes the charming "me" as your host, along with Bev Owen, Mary Strong, Loren Kraut, Morgan, featured performers Ryan Kasmier and Dana Lovecchio and headliner Lilibeth Helson. Holy crap, that is one rockin' lineup! If I weren't hosting this show, I'd PAY to get in!

Gays and Dolls plays at 7 pm at the Clubhouse, 414 Mason Street, 7th Floor (between Geary and Post), SF. Tix are $8, available at 415/921-2051; click here to purchase online.

Gays and Dolls - don't miss it!

Tivo Desperate Housewives, Gays and Dolls is the Place to Be!

Come out and see Gays and Dolls this Sunday evening, November 11, 7 pm at the Clubhouse, 414 Mason Street (between Post and Geary), 7th floor, SF. This week’s show is hosted by Ryan Kasmier, and features Kelly McCarron (The Unladylike Tour), and Marty Grimes (2nd Place, Rooster T. Feathers 2007 Comedy Competition, and a hunka-hunka-burnin’ gay love to boot), along with Morgan, Mary Strong, Loren Kraut, Bev Owen, Laura Gallegos and ME!

Tix are $8. Reserve at 415/921-2051 or just show up. 18+, BYOB for 21+

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

From the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, (Mark Knopfler playing lead guitar on the left?), Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Dhani Harrison and Prince honoring inductee, the late George Harrison, with a smokin' version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." Prince takes over towards the end and it is truly something to behold. I attended the first two R&R Hall of Fame events, in 1986 and 1987, way back when I was managing Tower Records in New York City, and seeing this sort of makes me miss my rock and roll life. Those were fun times. These are fun times now, too. Enjoy.

The Apple Fell REALLY Far From The Tree

Pictured on the right, above, is Lucie Arnaz, the fabulously untalented daughter of the late Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. At left is her younger brother, Desi Arnaz, Jr., who has achieved the near-impossible feat of being even less talented than his sister. They each have lots and lots of money. Now, isn't that special?!

The Reviews Are In, Ann Coulter Hates Gays and Dolls, and We Couldn't Be Happier!

Come out and see Gays and Dolls this Sunday evening, November 11, 7 pm at the Clubhouse, 414 Mason Street (between Post and Geary), 7th floor, SF. This week’s show is hosted by Ryan Kasmier, and features Kelly McCarron (The Unladylike Tour), Marty Grimes (2nd Place, Rooster T. Feathers 2007 Comedy Competition, and a hunka-hunka-burnin’ gay love to boot) and headliner Debbie Campo (Finalist, America’s Funniest Mom Competition; Host, Naked Comedy). Also on the bill are Morgan, Mary Strong, and ME!

Tix are $8. Reserve in advance at 415/921-2051 or buy online here:

We had a good crowd last Sunday night for our first show. If you were there, you know it rocked! Thanks to Bev Owen, Veronica Porras, Ryan Kasmier, Amy Klaas, Katie Compa, Loren Kraut, Dhaya Lakshminarayanan and headliner Sandy Stec for poppin’ the Gays and Dolls cherry – we are properly inaugurated.

Tell your friends. Bring groups for special discounts (contact me in advance so I’ll know you’re coming.) We are the ONLY comedy club in San Francisco that provides a weekly venue for female and gay male comics – and we’re gonna make you laugh!

Gays and Dolls - it's the hottest ticket in town, and don’t forget my offer – bring Eric Balfour and get in free, forever!

Thank you for supporting live comedy.

Kenny A.

Here's a great pic - of me - circa 1973, future gay, all dolled up to go and see Elton John at Madison Square Garden!

One Person, Many Lives

Johtje Vos, Who Saved Wartime Jews, Dies at 97

By DENNIS HEVESI

Johtje Vos, a Dutch woman who with her husband hid three dozen Jews in their home during World War II, shepherding them through a tunnel under the backyard and into the woods whenever the Gestapo pounded on the door, died on Oct. 10 in Saugerties, N.Y. She was 97, and had lived in Woodstock from 1951 until a year ago.

Her death was confirmed by her daughter Barbara Moorman.

During the war years, Mrs. Vos and her husband, Aart, lived in a three-bedroom house on a dead-end road in the town of Laren in the Netherlands, with acres of forest behind it. Mr. Vos, who died in 1990, grew up in Laren and knew every stream and field in the area. That allowed him to lead Jews through the woods to the house at night and back into the woods when the Nazis were coming. Each time a German raid was imminent, a sympathetic Dutch police chief in Laren, a friend of the Voses, would dial their phone, let it ring twice, hang up, then repeat the code.

In all, 36 people were saved by the Voses, with as many as 14 hiding in their home at any one time after the German invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940.

Evelyn Loeb Garfinkel and her mother, Ilse Loeb, were among the three dozen.

“If Johtje hadn’t done what she did, my mother wouldn’t have survived and I wouldn’t be alive,” Mrs. Garfinkel, of Delmar, N.Y., told The Times Union of Albany after attending Mrs. Vos’s funeral on Oct. 16.

Mr. and Mrs. Vos resisted the notion that they had done something out of the ordinary. Interviewed for the 1992 book “Rescuers: Portraits of Moral Courage in the Holocaust,” by Gay Block and Malka Drucker (Holmes & Meier), Mrs. Vos said, “I want to say right away that the words ‘hero’ and ‘righteous gentile’ are terribly misplaced.”

“I don’t feel righteous,” said Mrs. Vos, who, like her husband, was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, “and we are certainly not heroes, because we didn’t sit at the table when the misery started and say, ‘O.K., now we are going to risk our lives to save some people.’ ”

It started one night in 1942 when a Jewish couple asked to be sheltered for just that night as they ran from the Germans. Soon after, another friend asked them to keep a suitcase containing valuables before he was sent to a ghetto.

The Voses were surprised to discover that their friend was Jewish. “We never talked about Jews,” Mrs. Vos recalled. “They were all just Dutch, that’s all.”

A 3-year-old boy, Mark de Klijn, was later taken in by Mr. and Mrs. Vos as his parents faced deportation. Word filtered through the Jewish community, and other escapees began seeking shelter. Soon, mattresses covered the floor. Unless they were trying to flee even farther, the guests would never leave the house.

Except when the phone rang twice, then twice again. Then Mr. Vos would lead them into a shed attached to the back of the house, down through a camouflaged trapdoor under a coal bin and into a 150-foot tunnel through which they would crawl before slipping into the woods.

Every time the Gestapo came, Mrs. Vos said, “I would take questions from them and lie and lie and lie.”

Johanna (she preferred the nickname Johtje, pronounced YO-tya) Kuyper was born on Dec. 29, 1909, in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, the second of three daughters of Guillaume and Henrietta Storm van Leeuwen Kuyper. Her father, a retired army officer, was the mayor of Amersfoort. Her grandfather Abraham Kuyper had been prime minister of the Netherlands from 1901 to 1905.

As a young woman, Johanna Kuyper went to Paris to work as a freelance journalist, “which was a scandalous thing at the time,” she said. There, she married a young German artist, Heinrich Molenaar, who hated Hitler, she said. The couple left France and moved into the family-owned house in Laren, where their two children were born: Mrs. Moorman, of Glenford, N.Y., and Hetty Crews, who died in 2001. The marriage ended in divorce.

In 1942, Johanna Kuyper and Aart Vos were married. They had four sons, three of whom survive: Dominique, of Woodstock; John, of Saugerties; and Sebastian, of the Netherlands. Their son Peter died in 1973. Mrs. Vos is also survived by 15 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.

As far as Mrs. Vos’s children are concerned, they have another sibling: Moana Hilfman Brinkman, of Amsterdam.

When Mr. and Mrs. Vos were living in the house in Laren, they regularly beseeched Moana Hilfman’s parents to take refuge with them. The Hilfmans refused.

“They said: ‘We are Jews. This is our fate,’ ” Mrs. Vos once recalled. “I begged them to at least let me take their 3-year-old daughter, Moana.”

Only on the night that the Gestapo came did the Hilfmans hand over their daughter to a friend, who spirited her to the Vos home.

“She lived with us for years after the war,” Mrs. Moorman said on Friday. “We consider her our sister.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, Let the Christmas Tunes Begin!

This time of year, I love identifying myself as a nice Jewish boy who absolutely loves rock and roll Christmas music (not to mention good ol' black gospel as well.)

Let's start the season off right, with the woman who has never sung a bad note in her life, my dear friend Darlene Love, singing one of the greatest rock and roll Christmas songs of all time, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"

Enjoy yourselves - life is good, comedy and music are gooder.

Where the Name of this Blog Originated

Check this video of "Little Pony" by The Pointer Sisters, 1974, specifically about 2:30 in.

A little bit of listening with a passable ear will get an awful lot of messages anywhere. Ain't that the plain truth?!

See A Comedy Show, Don't Get Shot!

Documented research shows that no President of the United States has ever been shot to death in a comedy club or while listening to a comic promote himself on the radio. A theater? Yes. A motorcade? Yes (too soon?) A train station? Yes. The Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York? Sadly, yes.

Stay safe this weekend by taking refuge in San Francisco's finest comedy club, The Clubhouse, on the seventh floor at 414 Mason Street (between Geary and Post). I promise to make you laugh, as will the other amazing comics on the bills.

Here's my schedule for this weekend - one show is all I ask! Tix available at the door or at respective Web links.

1. Saturday, November 3, 6 pm - New Faces of Comedy at The Clubhouse - the best and the brightest of San Francisco's up and coming comics. $5 at the door.

2. Saturday, November 3, 9 pm - Naked Comedy at The Clubhouse with host Debbie Campo and headliner Aundre the Wonderwoman. $10 at the door or in advance at http://brownpapertickets.com/event/15145/

3. Saturday night/Sunday morning, November 3/4, 2 am (the second 1 am due to time change), KGO Radio, 810 AM, with John Rothmann. Call in at 415/808-0810.

3. Sunday, November 4, 7 pm - Gays and Dolls. This is the premiere of a weekly show that will feature female and gay male comics. I am hosting this show and will alternate hosting duties with Ryan Kasmier. Features and headliners our first week include Loren Kraut, Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, and Sandy Stec. $8 at the door or in advance at http://brownpapertickets.com/event/22403/

Thanks for coming out to enjoy live comedy, and give yourselves a pat on the back for keeping yourselves safe!