Bay Windows
The Advocate Guide to Gay Men’s Health and Wellness
Scan most health and fitness books aimed at men and you’ll find the assumption that the reader is heterosexual. Even some books focusing on male sexuality treat the fact that some men have sex with men coyly or as an afterthought, or ignore the possibility altogether. In his new book, Dr. Spinelli argues that this is indicative of a general reluctance among the medical community to discuss homosexuality with patients, a timidity that ignores the special needs and issues of gay men.
Stonewall community plans on hold
Stonewall Audubon Circle, the LGBT-oriented retirement community planned for the Fenway neighborhood, has become the latest casualty of the bad real estate market.
Obama Takes Illinois
On Feb. 5-also known as Super Tuesday because more than 20 states held primaries or caucuses-Obama was projected to defeat rival Sen. Hillary Clinton by an almost two-to-one margin. With 95 percent of Illinois precincts reported, Obama was declared the winner, outdistancing Clinton 65 percent to 33 percent.
Lucky
Sounding older and wiser on their fifth album - or at least a bit world weary - Nada Surf delivers a pleasant disc of generally mellow indie pop that gently alternates between up-tempo, guitar heavy numbers and slower songs that put the emphasis on the band’s lovely harmonies.
’An extraordinary opportunity’
Since being elected mayor of Cambridge by her city council peers, Denise Simmons has fielded a few questions from the three grandchildren she is raising: Can they enjoy watching the Super Bowl on the flat screen TV that hangs in the mayor’s office? Does this mean extra tickets to the high school graduation? Will they get an allowance now?
Made in the Dark
What lies between soulless, twee plink-plonking and endless samples that mercilessly burrow into your brain? A really fun eloctropop album.
AIDS Action exits Project ABLE
On Jan. 30 Denise McWilliams, director of public policy and legal affairs for AIDS Action Committee (AAC), resigned from the steering committee of Project ABLE, a coalition of more than a dozen HIV/AIDS organizations across the state that bands together to lobby for increased HIV/AIDS funding. AAC as an organization also resigned from the coalition.
District Line
Give out rocker Bob Mould credit for not standing in place. He helped define punk and post punk with his 80s band Husker Du, and explored a more melodic sound with his 90s band Sugar. In his solo work he’s run the gamut from acoustic concerts deejaying and electronica.
Few facts emerge from Yakovleff murder investigation
Two weeks after 20-year-old Daniel Yakovleff was found stabbed to death in a Dorchester apartment very little information has come to light about the circumstances behind his murder. It is unclear why Yakovleff, a popular hair stylist at the South End’s Liquid Hair Studios who lived in Roxbury, traveled the evening of Jan. 16 from the South End’s Boston Eagle bar to the Tuttle Street apartment of Steven Odegard or what connection, if any, Odegard had to Yakovleff’s murder.
MassEquality supporters still willing to roll up their sleeves
MassEquality unveiled its post-marriage amendment agenda for 2008 to a crowd of about 30 supporters Jan. 29 at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Boston. The Boston event was part of a series of organizing forums MassEquality is holding across the state to urge their members who mobilized around the marriage issue to support the organization’s broader agenda.
The Bedlam in Goliath
Since I am a child of the 80s, I am a certifiable old fogey who often doesn’t quite "get" what the "kids" are "downloading" nowadays. So I can only dimly perceive the appeal of The Mars Volta.
Wanted: a few good gays
The City of Cambridge’s GLBT Commission, which grew out of an LGBT town hall meeting that current Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons organized in 2004, is looking for new members to advocate for equality for all Cambridge citizens, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
Change of heart
Marc Solomon, the campaign director of MassEquality, succinctly summed up the happenings at 9 West Broadway in Southie on Jan. 16 when he observed that the event was "probably the largest gay event in South Boston’s history perhaps."
Romanovsky Turns Up the Fun
If you’re a queer of a certain age, you no doubt remember Romanovsky & Phillips, the pioneering gay musical duo whose quirky, politically aware albums (featuring song titles like "If There’s a God, He’s a Queen" and "What Kind of Self-respecting Faggot Am I?") and real life romance earned them monikers like "the gay Sonny and Cher."
The Purrfect Murder
I don’t mean to sound like I have internalized felinophobia or anything, but a book about clever animals who have conversations and solve puzzles sounds more like a children’s story than something for adults. But this one also has murders and an abortion clinic, so like Mary Poppins, it’s hard to say what age group it’s for.
Looking toward the future
In keeping with its newly expanded mission, MassEquality has laid out an ambitious 2008 legislative agenda that aims to increase state funding for several LGBT and HIV/AIDS organizations in addition to passing key pieces of legislation.
Trans-HRC schism widens
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), came out swinging against the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) during her Jan. 17 speech at the First Event transgender conference at the Boston Marriott Peabody.
Learning Curve
Hello, I am Twofer and I am orange and I am a cat. My human has been leaving book pages in my litter box. At first I thought he was being thrifty, but then he began dropping hints about how Rita Mae Brown’s cat writes mystery novels, and wondering aloud why some cats can pay the mortgage while others just throw up on the comforter.
Hang on to your chads
Activists in Florida have about two weeks to put a constitutional amendment banning same-sex couples from marrying on the general election ballot next November. If they succeed, the question could prove to be a factor in the presidential election.
Dark Blue Almost Black
It’s a sympathetic yet uncompromising look at a contemporary family dealing with unusual problems, it’s directed with a marvelous blend of crispness and fluidity, and it flirts with melodrama and farce.