Election Day Brings More Of The Same For Gay Couples
Anti-Gay Marriage Ballot Measures Win in Arizona, California And Florida
November 4 was ballyhooed as an historic election, marking a seed change in civil rights history in the United States. The electoral landslide election of African-American candidate Barack Obama to the nation’s highest office brought tears of joy and dancing in the streets that Tuesday night to millions of Americans of all ages, races, ethnicities, creeds, genders and even sexual orientations.
  But by dawn on Wednesday, November 5, the cold light of day brought news of stunning losses in three states for gay and lesbian couples. Voters in Arizona, California and Florida added amendments prohibiting gay marriages to their state constitutions. For the LGBT community it was just more of the same.
  There are now 29 states with explicit constitutional bans on gay marriage, most passed within the past four years. They include Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota. Fifteen more states, among them Minnesota and Iowa, have laws restricting marriage to one man and one woman.
  Two states - Massachusetts and Connecticut - permit same sex marriages, with latter state’s weddings now set to start November 12. Gay and lesbian civil unions are legally recognized in New Hampshire, New Jersey and Vermont, while Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, the District of Columbia and Maine have domestic-partnership laws granting gay couples varying degrees of spousal rights.
  If there was a glimmer of hope for gay couples, the expansion of Democrat majorities in both houses of Congress plus the nation’s economic meltdown probably mean any attempts by Republican lawmakers to resurrect the Federal Marriage Amendment will be DOA.
  For the LGBT community in Arizona, the ballot measure had was expected. Senior citizens, who scuttled the anti-gay marriage and domestic partner benefit amendment there in 2006, had no problems with the twenty words of Proposition 102 that restricted recognizing only marriages between “one man and one woman.”
  Gay Floridians had been a bit more hopeful since their Proposition 2 would need 60% of the electorate to vote “yes.” On November 4, 62.1% did. The Florida amendment had broad-based language similar to Wisconsin’s, though squeezed into one sentence to avoid “two question” lawsuits similar to those filed here and in Georgia: “Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.”
  The real shock, however, was the success of California’s Proposition 8. After looking like a sure loser in late summer, the gay marriage ban that overturned last May’s state Supreme Court ruling in favor of such unions passed by 52-48%, though at Quest’s deadline about 2.7 million ballots - many in those in San Francisco - had yet to be counted. However, the odds aren’t in favor of beating out the gay marriage ban’s lead of more than half a million votes.
 Over $74 million, including $20 million from the Mormon supporters, had been poured into the ballot fight. In the end, the same surge in minority voters that helped elect Obama denied the LGBT minority their right to marriage equality. Seven in 10 African Americans who went to the polls voted yes on Proposition 8, while 53% of Latinos voted similarly. Those votes overwhelmed California white voters who voted “no” by only a bare majority.
  Protests against the Proposition 8 victory started in San Francisco and Los Angeles late on November 5 and continued up to Quest’s deadline all over California, with events in San Francisco, Mission Viejo, Palm Springs, Long Beach, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Laguna Beach, Sacramento, San Jose, and Los Angeles. Protesters numbered from the hundreds to the thousands, in some cases blocking traffic in several cities. Many of the marches were ad hoc events, not organized by any of the “No on 8” groups, but generated through mobile phone text messages and social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
  Anger over Proposition 8’s victory spilled over the California border into Utah as well. On November 7 opponents took their outrage to the spiritual hub of Mormonism. More than 3,000 people swarmed downtown Salt Lake City to march past the LDS temple and church headquarters, protesting Mormon involvement in the Prop 8 campaign.
  Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and three openly gay Utah state legislators spoke out in support. At one point, the crowd took up the mantra made famous by the country’s new president-elect: “Yes, we can!”
   In addition to taking to the streets, gay marriage supporters also have gone to court. On November 5, gay rights supporters filed three lawsuits asking the California Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8. The first action was filed by the ACLU, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Lambda Legal. Santa Clara County and the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles also sued, and Los Angeles lawyer Gloria Allred filed a third suit on behalf of a married lesbian couple.
  Lawyers for same-sex couples argued that the anti-gay-marriage measure was an illegal constitutional revision - not a more limited amendment, as backers maintained - because it fundamentally altered the guarantee of equal protection. A constitutional revision, unlike an amendment, must be approved by the Legislature before going to voters.
  All the lawsuits cited the constitutional revision argument, and two of them asked the court to block Proposition 8 from taking effect while the legal cases were pending. A California Supreme Court spokesperson said the court would act “as quickly as possible” on the challenges.

World & National News:

Gay Candidates Elected Across The U.S.
Washington, D.C. - Dozens of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender candidates - including three openly gay Congressional Representatives -  won election to public offices across the U.S. on November 4, according to the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund. The group, which endorsed a record-breaking 111 candidates in 2008, reported more than 70% of its endorsed candidates had won their races.
 Most prominent among the 2008 winners was Jared Polis of Colorado who became the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Congress as a non-incumbent. He joins Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), both reelected Tuesday night, as the the three openly LGBT Members of Congress.
  In Oregon, openly bisexual Kate Brown became the first openly LGBT Secretary of State in the U.S., and the second-highest ranking elected official in that state. Sam Adams was elected mayor of Portland earlier in the year. He will become the first openly gay mayor of one of the 30 largest cities in the country when he’s sworn in next year.
  In Connecticut, Jason Bartlett, who came out as gay in his current term, was reelected to the State House. He is only the second openly gay African-American state legislator in the nation.
  In Texas, Lupe Valdez was reelected to a second term as sheriff of Dallas County. First elected in 2004, Valdez was the first woman, the first Latina and the first out lesbian ever to win the post.
  In Florida, Kevin Beckner won a seat on the Hillsborough County Commission unseating an anti-gay incumbent.  Beckner is the first openly LGBT candidate elected in the county.
  In California, Rebecca Kaplan will be the first out lesbian to serve on the Oakland City Council after winning her race.
   “This was a watershed election. Our government became more representative and our democracy became stronger. As we near the 30th anniversary of the death of Harvey Milk, it’s enormously gratifying to see his dream realized in so many brave men and women heeding the call to run for office, and doing so openly, honestly and unafraid,” Victory Fund President and CEO Chuck Wolfe said..
  Milk, a San Francisco Supervisor who was one of the first openly gay elected officials in the U.S., was shot to death in San Francisco City Hall in November 1978. Milk urged his contemporaries to embrace the power of electoral politics as a path to change.
  Despite the successes, running as openly LGBT continued to have its risks. In the closing days of the election season Victory Fund candidates in Oklahoma, Michigan, South Carolina and elsewhere were subject to gay-baiting political attacks.
  In Oklahoma, Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth was narrowly defeated in a statewide race after last-minute attack ads and mailers suggested he would push a “homosexual agenda” in his role as a regulator of the state’s energy industry. While in Michigan, Garnet Lewis, lost her race for a seat in the State House after suffering an onslaught of anti-gay attacks in print and radio media outlets during the final week of her campaign.
  Wolfe used the context of the first African-American elected the nation’s highest office to put Victory Fund’s work in perspective. “This election was an affirmation of the African-American civil rights movement that is more than a century old. The LGBT movement is much younger, and it’s clear we still have much work to do to win true equality,” he said.
  Wolfe cited the passage of Constitutional bans on gay marriage in Arizona, California and Florida as evidence. “The politics of fear and bigotry are not yet behind us, and we saw some heartbreaking examples of that in this election. On a day that demonstrated Americans’ commitment to inclusivity and equality, the sabotage of several openly LGBT candidates and the devastating outcomes of three statewide marriage bans were disappointingly inconsistent. I am confident that history will give us an opportunity to right those wrongs as we continue the journey toward full equality for all Americans,” he said.
  Full election results are available at www.victoryfund.org. Visit www.GayPolitics.com for information gathered from campaigns throughout the election season.
  The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund works to grow the number of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender elected officials at all levels of government. At its founding in 1991, just 49 openly LGBT elected officials served in the U.S. Today, that number has grown more than 420.

State News:

Statewide - Since the early 1970’s the Great American Smokeout has occurred on the third Tuesday in November, when about 46% of all U. S. smokers try their best to give up the dirty weed for at least a day. This year’s Smokeout will be held on November 20 and partners in a new program in Wisconsin targeting queer nicotine fiends is using the date to advance their efforts.
  Rm2Breathe is a state wide anti-tobacco program for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual people in Wisconsin. This program is funded by The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health’s Wisconsin Partnership Program and implemented by the Milwaukee-based Diverse & Resilient LGBT health program.
   Partners in Rm2Breathe are the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health, the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, the LGBT Resource Center of the 7 Rivers Region, OutReach, the Chippewa Falls LGBT Community Center, SAGE-Milwaukee, Positive Voice, the Wisconsin State Department of Health and Family Services, the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, the American Lung Association of Wisconsin, the LaCrosse County Health Department and the Milwaukee City Health Department.
  The facts about smoking in the Badger State’s gay community will take your breath away, even if you aren’t reading this story with a cigarette in your hand. The likelihood is that you might well be, however. Current estimates suggest that 44% of the Wisconsin LGBT population smokes, nearly double the national average.
  It’s a trend that is not declining either. In a recent national study on adolescent health, 45% of females and 35% of males who reported same-sex attraction or behavior smoked; compared to only 29% for the rest of the youth.
  If you are taking a puff between paragraphs, the consequences likely will kill you. The American Cancer Society estimates that over 30,000 LGBT people die each year of tobacco related diseases. In Wisconsin that works out to 6,960 years of LGBT life lost due to premature death annually, with a negative economic impact of $297,632,000 to our community.
  Rm2Breathe plans to start offering Stop Smoking Seminars by the end of 2008. The seminars will provide a safe space to learn how to be successful stopping smoking for Wisconsin Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults.. It also assists people to set up a personal program to stop smoking and get the support the person needs to stop successfully. The seminars will be offered in 3 sites around Wisconsin: at the Milwaukee LGBT Center and  Madison’s OutReach, starting at the end of 2008 and the LGBT Resource Center of the 7 Rivers Region in LaCrosse, beginning in the summer of 2009.
  On November 20, the Milwaukee LGBT Center will hold a “Smoke Free” town hall meeting from 6 -8 PM at the Center, 315 Court St. In addition to enjoying light refreshments, attendees will network with like-minded individuals, learn about the impact of second hand smoke, and find out ways to address the gay smoking issue such as contacting legislators or writing letters to the editor. RSVPs are requested. For reservations or more information about the Milwaukee event, contact Dave Martin by Tuesday, November 18 by phone at: 414-271-2656 or by email at: dmartin@mkelgbt.org.
  Two other Rm2Breathe programs will seek to assist gay smokers in choking off their tobacco habits. Already under way is the Health Promoters program. Health Promoters are community leaders who will be having face-to-face conversations with people in their own communities about the harms of using tobacco products and where to get help stopping tobacco use. They will be able to answer basic questions about tobacco use risk, methods to stop using tobacco and where people can find resources to stop smoking as well as connecting people to the services their agencies offer.
  Six sites around Wisconsin are offering the Health Promoters program. In addition to the three community centers listed above, SAGE-Milwaukee, the Chippewa Valley LGBT Community Center in Eau Claire and Positive Voice at sites in the Harmony Cafés in Green Bay and Appleton are involved in the program.
   The Quit Buddies program will provide coaching services to those people who have decided to stop smoking and are looking for assistance setting up and maintaining a personal stop program. This program will start at the end of 2008 and it will be offered by the same partners as the Health Promoters program.
  On November 20, the Chippewa Valley LGBT Community Center, 510 S. Farwell St. in Eau Claire will host an Open House to describe the Rm2Breathe programs.  The Open House will start at 7 PM with an introduction to the resources available to help LGBT people in the Chippewa Valley, followed by a 7:30 viewing of the 45-minute long movie “Queer Lives Up in Smoke.”  The evening will end with questions and answers and more details about the Community Center’s work in this statewide coalition. For more information, contact the Center at 715-552-5428.
  OutReach in Madison is now seeking a volunteer Health Promoters. Individuals with a well developed social network of people they can approach are strongly urged to apply. Health Promoters will participate in a structured training designed to increase their knowledge of tobacco use disparities within the Wisconsin LGBT community, the biology of smoking, local smoking cessation resources, motivational interviewing, and effective outreach strategies.
  Volunteers receive a $40 per month stipend in consideration of services rendered and incidental expenses.   If you identify as LGBT or queer, are a non-tobacco user or former tobacco user and are interested in serving as a Health Promoter, please contact Harry at OutReach by phone at: 608-255-8582 or e-mail at: harrys@lgbtoutreach.org.
  OutReach is also looking for two Quit Buddies.  Quit Buddies will coach and motivate on a one-to-one basis individuals who have decided to stop smoking so they remain smoke free. They also provide information   about resources for individuals quitting or who want to quit.  The agency is looking for folks who are personable and caring.  Those interested should contact Harry at the above phone number or email address.
  The LGBT Resource Center of the 7 Rivers Region in LaCrosse  is continuing to seek Health Promoter and Quit Buddies volunteers, a task they began last August at the LaCrosse Pride event. The job descriptions are the same as those offered above by OutReach. Those interested are asked to contact Rosanne St. Sauver at the Center by phone at: 608-784-0452 or by email at: r.st.sauver@7riverslgbt.org.

$400,000 Legacy Supports Milwaukee LGBT Community
Milwaukee - The Cream City Foundation (CCF) has announced the receipt of a $400,000 legacy gift from the estate of Clarence Germershausen, also known as one-time Cest La Vie owner John Clayton.  The bequest to southeastern Wisconsin’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is the largest gift to the CCF in its 26 year history.
  Germerhausen’s gift will be invested in Cream City Foundation’s Mission Fund where only the interest growth from the fund will be available for efforts to create a more respectful and fair community, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.  The structure of the gift ensures a permanent financial source for LGBT funding.
  “Mr. Germershausen was one of Cream City Foundation’s first supporters,” CCF President Tim Clark said in a prepared statement. “We are honored to receive the generous and thoughtful bequest from Clarence.  His gift makes it possible for us to strengthen our Mission Fund and future grant making efforts that advance LGBT equality.”
  Prior to his death, Germershausen made sure that the work he cared about in his life would continue. He subsequently left the majority of his estate to Cream City Foundation, a LGBT community foundation. 
  “We are all thankful for his commitment and initiative in creating a legacy that will benefit LGBT individuals well into the future,” CCF Executive Director Maria Cadenas said. “His legacy lives on through the work of Cream City Foundation and the charitable organizations it supports.”
  Germershausen first connected to CCF by providing office space during the early years of the organization. He passed away in August 2005, after a brief but serious illness.
   The Cream City Foundation serves as the leader in mobilizing philanthropic resources, fostering strategic collaboration, effecting positive change and the advancement of the quality, dignity, and health of LGBT people in Southeastern Wisconsin. Founded in 1982, CCF has funded over $600,000 in organizational grants and projects. To learn more about Cream City Foundation visit” www.creamcityfoundation.org.

LGBT Community Breakfast & Gift Exchange November 15
Milwaukee - A Community Breakfast will be held Saturday, November 15, beginning at 9:30 AM at the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, 315 W Court St. Attendees will be offered a continental breakfast style menu of juices, harvest breads, and coffee.
  During the meal a panel presentation will focus on the upcoming holidays, giving and gifting.  The presenters, who are currently conducting the Spiritual Wellness Program at the Community Center, hope to offer several techniques and approaches from various traditions to reinterpret the spirit of the season for members of the gay community.
  Presenters will share a Gifting Blanket from the Native American tradition that teaches about the interdependent web of all things.  Attendees are asked to bring a small gift for exchange of personal significance, perhaps something you already own. The gift should be wrapped in brown paper or newsprint with their name included inside. For more information about the breakfast and gift exchange, call 414-271-2656.

Chippewa Valley LGBT Community Center Observes Transgender Awareness Month
Eau Claire - The Chippewa Valley LGBT Community Center will observe Transgender Awareness Month by holding two events at the agency, located at 510 South Farwell St. here.
  On Thursday, November 13, the center’s monthly discussion group will focus on “The Transgender Experience in Relationships and Life,”  with a panel featuring local transgender woman Ann Marie Hoeppner and counselor/researcher Erica Idso. The group will run from 7 - 9 PM.  .
  On Saturday, November 15, the Center’s Saturday Night at the Movies will feature the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated film “Normal.” The 2003 drama stars Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson.
  After being married to Irma for 25 years, Roy decides the stress of being a woman in a man’s body has grown intolerable. He unburdens himself to Irma and their pastor, shocking them both. Roy’s decision to pursue a sex-change operation is greeted with intolerance and disgust by some of his co-workers and members of his church. Irma eventually comes to some understanding, and supports Roy through his journey to becoming “Ruth.” 
  Doors open at 7:45 PM and the movie rolls at 8. Admission and popcorn are free. Beverages and movie snacks are also available for purchase.
  For more information about these and other regularly scheduled events, contact the Center at 715-552-5428.

In-Service on Domestic Violence Issues Planned
Madison - Meg Worthley the Crisis Response Coordinator for Domestic Abuse Intervention Services (DAIS) will present an in-service at Outreach, 600 Williamson St., on Saturday, November 22, from Noon to 2 PM.  The in-service will cover DAIS services, domestic violence in general, domestic violence in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. An open discussion with Q&A will follow. Those interested in attending, are asked to RSVP with Harry at OutReach by phone at: 608-255-8582 or  by email at: harrys@lgbtoutreach.org as space is limited.

Midwest Trans Youth Conference 2008 Set
Hartland - The 2nd Annual Midwest Trans Youth Conference, a weekend event for transgender youth will be held November 14-16 at  Camp Whitcomb-Mason. The conference is open to transgender, transsexual, gender queer, gender diverse, gender nonconforming, gender fabulous, questioning and SOFFA (significant other, family, friends and allies) youth, ages 13-24.
  Want to spark personal change?  Change in your community?  Join other youth leaders and activists to focus on the issues that are important to you. Attendees will build skills and knowledge through engaging workshops and caucuses.
 Camp Whitcomb-Mason is a year round facility located near Hartland, approximately 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee, on Lake Keesus. Situated on 306 acres of hills, fields, wetlands, and forests, the facility provides campers with a variety of natural experiences. 
  For more information or to register visit the conference site online at: www.mtyc.org or contact Jay Botsford by email at: at jbotsford@mkelgbt.org or by phone at: 414-292-3068.

Ten Percent Society’s 25th Anniversary Dance Set For November 15
Madison -   Madi-Scene and the Ten Percent Society (TPS) at UW-Madison have joined forces for the first ever off-campus Ten Percent Dance. The event will celebrate the Ten Percent Society 25th Anniversary Coming Out (to dance) Party on Saturday November, 15 at the Orpheum Theatre on State Street.
  DJ Chen Cheng will be rocking the night. Doors will open at 10 PM. Tickets are $5 each. You must be 18 or over with proof of identification to attend.
  TPS was founded in 1983 upon passage of Wisconsin’s gay rights legislation. As a University of Wisconsin registered student organization, TPS provides educational, social and cultural opportunities for students, faculty and staff, guard against university-sponsored discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and work toward creating a campus free of homophobia.
  TPS holds five dances per year, additionally we participate in two annual LGBT awareness series: Coming Out Week in the fall and Out and About Week in the spring.
  TPS has also supported and donated to organizations such as WI AIDS Network, Queer People Of Color, Student Global AIDS Campaign, and others.
  For more information about the Anniversary dance visit Madi-Scene.com.  To learn more about TPS, please contact Co-President Kia Block at UW Madison Ten Percent Society by email at: tenpercentsociety@gmail.com or visit the TPS website at: tps.rso.wisc.edu.

5th Annual ROW Dinner Set For November 22
Green Bay - Tickets for the 5th Annual “An Evening With Rainbow Over Wisconsin” will be on sale throughout northeast Wisconsin until November 18. The November 22 event will be held at the Liberty Hall Banquet and Convention Center in Kimberly, with cocktails and silent auction opening at 6 PM.
  Nearly a dozen entertainers will perform at the event. The lilting sounds of harpist Cheryl Murphy will serenade both dinner attendees during the meal and those bidding on the silent auction. Entertainers performing before and after the dinner in the lounge area include a number of current and former state title holders such as Josie Lynn, Kurtis Ryan and Bryanna Banx, and vocalist Jeff Jennings, who will be making his first appearance in front of a gay audience in five years. 
  Menu items for this year’s dinner include Chicken Marsala, Medallions Of Roasted Tenderloin, Parmesan Potatoes, Fettuccine with Garlic, Olive Oil Sauce, Stir-Fried Vegetables, Baby Green Salad, Cole Slaw, Tropical Fresh Fruit, croissants, Southern  Pecan Pie, and Double Chocolate Brownie Pie. The meal will served family style, allowing those wishing to enjoy only vegetarian items the opportunity to do so.
  The annual ROW dinner is the foundation’s signature fund-raising event Dayton noted. “It’s an opportunity for old friends to make new friends at a fun event that also advances the northeast Wisconsin community’s ‘gay agenda’ by donating to Rainbow’s Community Enrichment Fund,” he said.
  Tickets for the “An Evening With Rainbow Over Wisconsin” are available from ROW members and businesses, or can be ordered by calling 920-437-0994. Tickets may also be ordered by emailing ROW at: rainbowoverwi@aol.com.

Annual Thanksgiving Potluck Set
Milwaukee – The Cream City’s annual LGBT Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner will be held Saturday, November 29 at Plymouth Church, 2717 East Hampshire on city’s East Side. The holiday tradition cosponsored by Black & White Men Together, the Brew City Bears, the Lesbian Alliance of Metro Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Community Church, Project Q, PFLAG, and SAGE/Milwaukee. Doors will open at 4:30 PM, and with dinner following at 5:30.
  Attendees are asked to bring dishes based on where their last name falls in the alphabet.  This year, if your last name begins with A-E, please bring a dessert. Those whose names start with F-K  are asked to bring an appetizer. Last names with L-S should provide a side dish and the T-Zs are asked to toss up a salad. Dishes should serve 6 to 8 people.
  RSVPs are also requested. Call the SAGE/Milwaukee office at 414-224-0517 by November 26 to confirm. Volunteers for set up and clean up will be both much appreciated and welcomed.

Ear Candy: Hymns To Him: Matt Alber’s “Hide Nothing”
Feature Review By Mike Fitzpatrick
I first had the opportunity to sample Matt Alber’s music on the “Noah’s Arc” movie soundtrack that I reviewed in the last issue of Quest. Stuck in the middle of that musical mélange, I pegged his “End of The World” as “overwrought.”
  However, dozens of listens later, I find that Alber’s song still sticks out from the rest of the pack because of its sheer intensity. It’s the ultimate break-up song. The singer is a wreck. If you only have a single, honest, emotionally resonant bone left in your bitter and jaded body, you will be overwhelmed by the song’s plaintive power.
  You may also imagine my surprise to be offered the very first full album of Alber’s work less than two weeks after the last issue hit the stands. The extreme close-up of the emerald-eyed singer’s five-o’clock shadowed face on “Hide Nothing” is a kind of “truth in advertising” for what lies embedded on the disk within: ten very up-close and personal songs - nine of them original - whose lyrics peer deeply into the gay soul. Alber’s renditions of the material take on an almost spiritual quality as well - pop hymns to the gay male experience.
  Then there was an added bonus: the opportunity for Matt to share his thoughts and feelings about the songs on the album. I’ll get to that in a bit and mix in his musings with mine.
  Kansas born and bred Matt Alber is an openly-gay 33 year-old singer/songwriter now living in Los Angeles. He shares two Grammys with Chanticleer, garnered during his five year stint with the three decades old San Francisco-based classical male ensemble known best for its interpretations of Renaissance music. Alber has made a YouTube video of his soprano solo of “But He Who May Abide” from Handel’s “Messiah” available for his fans who are also classical music buffs. If you like to go for Baroque, it’s yummy.
   (For those of you who may be interested, Matt’s been single for a year and a half. “I’ve been lucky in love before” he admitted. “Definitely up for meeting the right guy, but it takes quite a bit of energy and time just doing what I’m doing.” As a fellow lifelong workaholic, that sounds sadly familiar, darlin’.)
  Also available online at YouTube and LOGO.com is a video of “Hide Nothing’s” lead-off track and single “Monarch.” Matt’s inspiration for the song was a field trip with his friend Peter Elliot to see the namesake butterflies nesting among the redwoods in Monterey.
  “It really is quite a sight to see them all clinging together, weighing down the branches of those ancient trees,” Alber said.  “We took some photos and wandered beneath them for quite a while and marveled at them. I learned later that Monarch butterflies have rather miraculous little lives. They migrate each year between Monterey, CA and Alaska. It takes four generations of Monarchs to make the journey north. The 5th generation, however makes the entire flight back to Monterey in one lifetime. Though they make the trip alone on simultaneous solo journeys, they arrive at the same grove of trees, the same specific trees and the same places on the trees where their great great grandparents started. It makes me wonder which lifetime I’m living in.”
  Musically “Monarch” matches the butterflies’ journey. From its electronic opening to its fading echo, the song is at once soaring, solitary and transcendent - almost other worldly. It is also the perfect introduction to the deeply personal, autobiographical tracks that follow.
  “Field-Trip Buddy,” the wistfully-delivered third song on the album, is not about Elliot but a school boy crush: that first, innocent yet life-changing attraction to one of our own gender that just about every one of us born-gay folks has somewhere between kindergarten and puberty. The song’s lyrics share the unintentional circumstances that gestate the experience and the owner’s secret that must ultimately be closely kept.
  Alber wrote the song from real-life. “My first crush was on my buddy Zach in 3rd grade,” he revealed. “We were on the same soccer team. My dad was the coach. Awkward! In 5th grade, it was John Gisi I was completely in love with. He was so tall and was great at math, like me. David Clark was my church youth group crush. He was a tall redheaded violinist who loved basketball. Just getting to sit next to these guys was enough to give me the goose bumps. Those moments when you’re wondering if their elbow is lingering on the armrest against yours just by accident, or if they are getting goose bumps too. Well, that is what the song is really trying to capture. ‘Field Trip Buddy’ is for anyone who’s had a crush on a friend and had the guts to tell them about it.”
  Alber added a personal message for one of those crushes: “David Clark, if you ever read this, thanks for being cool when I told you about mine,” he said.
  Midway through the album, you’ll find “End Of the World,” the heartbreaking tune I mentioned at the beginning of this article. On “Hide Nothing” however, the song’s setting is much more appropriate in the song stack, not unlike a diamond on a ring.
  “Hide Nothing’s” sole cover tune is of Imogen Heap’s “Hide And Seek.” Anyone who has watched TV in the last three years likely has encountered Heap’s arresting digitized a capella original. It’s been used in episodes of The O.C., The L Word, Heroes, CSI: Miami and Lost to name some of the more than a dozen exposures the song has had. “Hide And Seek” fans have also added multiple online viral videos of the “Saturday Night Live” digital short using a portion of the song.
  Alber freely admitted his adoration of both the singer and people’s response to his take the song’s technique made “Hide And Seek” an appropriate add to “Hide Nothing.”
  “I’m not hiding it – I think Imogen is the bee’s knees,” he said. “She offered up a sound no one had ever heard before with this song, and I’ve been singing it in my head (and in the shower) ever since. I worked up an arrangement of it on a nylon (acoustic) guitar and tried it live here in LA. People really dug it so we decided to include it on the album rather late in the game.”
  Alber’s melancholy take on “Hide And Seek” gives the song a gritty yet gentle humanity that compliments shimmering, icy sadness of the original. It’s not unlike like lighting a candle in a cold room. You long for the warmth the candle light suggests, but will settle for cool promise the glow actually provides.
  However, Alber has a different, more violent take on the song’s oblique lyrics, possibly influenced by the SNL video, something I’ve only read about rather than seen. “Her imagery seems purposely vague, like there is a hidden message in it,” Abler thinks. “Whenever I sing it I picture people jumping from the burning World Trade Towers, a coliseum full of families displaced by a hurricane, an Iraqi family being murdered in their own home, and I wonder, ‘Where are we? What the hell is going on?’”
  “Song Of Stars” is the penultimate “big production” piece on this otherwise very intimate album. Starting with tentative strings, then growing bolder with a swelling, György Ligeti-like female chorus, Alber’s voice enters the scene distant but triumphant. “We are the stars we sing. We sing with the light,” Alber intones. The song continues to grow, with full orchestra, overlapping lead lines and call-and-response with the chorus before diminishing to Alber solo once again affirming “We are the stars,” followed by the sound effect of waves reaching which signals the album’s final track “Rivers And Tides,” a gentle, folk song that brings the listener full circle to the interdependent but solitary journey of life first alluded to in “Monarch.”
  Alber described the gestation of that final song. “About 10 years ago a good friend introduced me to the poetry of Hafiz, a mystic poet from Persia (Iran) whose poems are to this day are the best-selling printed books in circulation,” he said. “Unfortunately it is quite rare for Americans to know about Hafiz. I’m hoping to change that. Hafiz, a contemporary of Geoffrey Chaucer, is known to blur the lines between himself, ourselves and God. ‘Rivers & Tides’ is the description of a vision I had after reading some of Hafiz’ poems in the collection translated by Daniel Ladinsky called The Gift.”
  Matt Alber’s “Hide Nothing” is a must-have album for lovers of pop, acoustic music. His pure vocals and intelligent, introspective lyrics may be reminiscent of Rufus Wainwright, but Alber’s artistry is one-of-a-kind. Preview it at www.mattalber.com, then go out and buy it!

Comedienne Karen Williams To Headline New Harvest Dinner Dance
Madison - Nationally known comedian Karen Williams will bring her special brand of humor to the February 28 New Harvest Foundation Dinner Dance. Williams has twenty-five years in stand up, having played nearly every major comedy venue in the country. She’s often compared to Lenny Bruce for her irreverent brand of humor.
  Karen has been popping up all over gay TV. Karen’s hilarious solo show, “I Need a Snack,” recently was a hit on LOGO. Also shown regularly on here! and LOGO is the Williams-starring feature “Laughing Matters.” A film festival audience favorite, the comedy-documentary showcases Karen’s star quality while intriguing interviews highlight her social activism. Karen is also a featured comic in “We’re Funny That Way,” shown regularly on HBO.
 As a solo entertainer, Karen Williams delights SRO audiences from San Francisco to South Beach to Sydney, and is a comic favorite on the Olivia Cruises. Williams was a former television host of the syndicated PBS program “In The Life.” Williams’ humor writings appear in numerous print anthologies, including Joke Stew,  Revolutionary Laughter, Out in All Directions, and Out Loud & Laughing.
  Williams has also turned her comedy to the task of trying to heal individuals, communities, and the world. As founder and CEO of the HaHa Institute, she leads workshops and classes around the country. The mission of HaHa Institute is to encourage the fullest and highest activation of human potential for compassion, wisdom, and life force through the daily use of humor. For more information, check out www.hahainstitute.com.
  Tickets for the dinner will go on sale in December. For more information go to the foundation’s website at: www.newharvestfoundation.org. Ticket information is also available by phone at: 608-256-4204 or by email at: nhf@chorus.net
  The New Harvest Foundation is the only foundation in Dane County that channels charitable contributions exclusively to organizations working to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, services, culture and community development. It pools contributions of hundreds of donors each year to provide grant money to LGBT causes.