TELL 14: Vacations
2015-07-30 19:30 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | Online event, New York, NY, United States
TELL is an evening of story telling from the mouths and minds of queers in NYC hosted by Drae Campbell at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division since February 2014.
Vacations is the theme of the fourteenth installment of TELL. Featuring Mizz June, Mariel Reyes, Jamila Hammami, & Larry Darnell Penn Whitfield.
$5-10 suggested donation – no one turned away for lack of funds

Drae Campbell is a writer, actor, director, story teller, dancer, and nightlife emcee. Besides winning the 2011 Miss LEZ title, Drae has been featured on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and on stages all over NYC. Drae’s directing work has appeared in Iceland, NYC, Budapest and in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. The short film Drae wrote and starred in, YOU MOVE ME won the Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Short at OUTFEST 2010 and has been shown in fesivals globally. She just won the grand prize at the first annual San Miguel De Allende Storytelling Festival in Mexico. Drae was dubbed “the next lezzie comedian on the block” by AfterEllen.com for her comedic stylings on the interwebs. Campbell throws a monthly party in Brooklyn called PRIME. Check her out online (her reel and her website www.draecampbell.com) and around town.

Jamila Hammami is a queer first generation Tunisian Arab American woman of color community organizer & social worker from the south, now based in NYC. She is a hard high femme homo and a founder and Executive Director of the Queer Detainee Empowerment Project and on the advisory board of the Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project (QUIP), a project of United We Dream (UWD). She comes to this work with a background in reproductive justice, working to center woman, specifically trans and queer, of color’s voices in movements, and witnessing the impacts of migration and racism in her formative years in Texas.

Photograph by Kelsey Dickey (2015)
From the planet of the Lower East Side….Mizz June got her start in activism and musical theater. She was the first out black transwoman to be a guest cast member on a daytime soap opera (“All My Children”). She has appeared in two music videos (Tamar-Kali’s “Pearl” (Album Version) and Justin Vivian Bond’s “Golden Age of Hustlers”). She has performed at multiple venues and she is about to be featured in a soon to be released independent musical titled “Wild Ponies”. She just released a demo version of her debut single, “Get Lifted”(https://www.reverbnation.com/mizzjune/song/22152061-get-lifted) and she will be releasing her debut EP “Who Is Mizz June” soon (Release date TBA).
www.facebook.com/the1theonlymizzjune
https://twitter.com/mizzjunemusic
youtube.com/mizzjunemusic

While somewhat of a shy performer and storyteller, Mariel Reyes has written & produced works for some of your favorite experimental theater spaces in NYC (Dixon Place, Brooklyn Arts Exchange) and has also appeared on screen in the film “Appropriate Behaviour” which premiered at Sundance in 2014.

Larry Darnell Penn Whitfield is a NYC based actor, writer, singer and aggressive mover. He is creator of Confessions of a Plussizetwink a one man cabaret series. Southern and sassy roots govern his everyday creativity. Live. Love. Create.

An Evening with Richard Stevenson and Mark Zubro
2015-08-05 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Join us for a talk with and readings from two of the giants of the LGBT mystery genre.

Richard Stevenson is the pseudonym of Richard Lipez, author of fifteen books, including the Don Strachey private eye series. A former editorial writer at The Berkshire Eagle, Lipez contributed to Crimes of the Scene: A Mystery Novel Guide for the International Traveler and reviews mysteries for The Washington Post. His reporting, reviews, and fiction have appeared in Newsday, the Boston Globe, The Atlantic, and many other publications. Four of the Strachey books have been filmed by HereTV. Red White Black and Blue, the twelfth Strachey book, won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Mystery of 2011. Lipez grew up and was educated in Pennsylvania and as a Peace Corps volunteer taught English in Ethiopia. He is married to sculptor and video artist Joe Wheaton and lives in Becket, Massachusetts.

Mark Zubro is the author of thirty-two novels and five short stories. His book A Simple Suburban Murder won the lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Men’s mystery. Dying to Play is his most recent mystery and features gay private eye Mike King. His latest book is the third and last volume in his epic gay science fiction trilogy Alien Victory. Mark spends his time reading, writing, napping, and eating chocolate.

DEADLINE: Part 1 of Two-Part August Edition on Racism
2015-08-06 19:00 - 22:00 | NY
On August 6th and 13th, curator Sabrina Chap will host a special two-part edition of Deadline focusing on racism.
Deadline asks performance artists, filmmakers, and writers to stop posting on Facebook and create new works that engage racism on some level. As at every edition of Deadline, audience members are asked to provide short, anonymous written responses to each performance as a way of providing feedback to the artists.

Part 1, on August 6th, will feature:

Nefertiti Asanti – poetry
Zave Martohardjono – film
Robert Hyers – personal essay
Damien Luxe – performance art
Jamie Leo – personal essay

Deadline is a works-in-progress series featuring new work from cutting-edge queer artists. Built on the notion that there’s no greater inspiration than a deadline, this series forces renegade artists to bring new and developing work to an audience for the first time. Part experimentation + part guaranteed failure = 100% awesomeness.

Hosted by Sabrina Chap.

Interested in presenting your work in a future installment of Deadline? Fill out the form!
Artists of any kind are encouraged to submit.

https://goo.gl/forms/Z84O7GgVdB

Check out this article on the August edition of Deadline in Next Magazine: “BGSQD’s Deadline Gives Queer Artists Room To Create And Grow” by Chris Hernandez

Bureau closed on Sundays: August 9th - September 6th
2015-08-09, 2015-08-16, 2015-08-23, 2015-08-30, 2015-09-06 | NY
The Bureau will be closed on Sundays until after Labor Day Weekend: August 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th, and September 6th. We will resume Sunday hours beginning on September 13th.

DEADLINE: Part 2 of Two-Part August Edition on Racism
2015-08-13 19:00 - 22:00 | NY
On August 6th and 13th, curator Sabrina Chap will host a special two-part edition of Deadline focusing on racism.
Deadline asks performance artists, filmmakers, and writers to stop posting on Facebook and create new works that engage racism on some level. As at every edition of Deadline, audience members are asked to provide short, anonymous written responses to each performance as a way of providing feedback to the artists.
Part 2, on August 13th, will feature:

Kate Brandt – film
Jamila Reddy – performance
Sacred Walker – performance

Deadline is a works-in-progress series featuring new work from cutting-edge queer artists. Built on the notion that there’s no greater inspiration than a deadline, this series forces renegade artists to bring new and developing work to an audience for the first time. Part experimentation + part guaranteed failure = 100% awesomeness.Hosted by Sabrina Chap.

Interested in presenting your work in a future installment of Deadline? Fill out the form!
Artists of any kind are encouraged to submit.
https://goo.gl/forms/Z84O7GgVdB

Check out this article on the August edition of Deadline in Next Magazine: “BGSQD’s Deadline Gives Queer Artists Room To Create And Grow” by Chris Hernandez

Real QTs: A Night of Art & Performance
2015-08-19 19:00 - 22:00 | NY
get down with REAL QTs!
Real QTs is a multi-genre showcase of intersectional lgbtq performing artists that honors and reps how multitudinous and interconnected the categories “trans*” and “queer” can be. Our aim is to create a space for off-the-margins queer and trans voices that often go unheard given a general privileging of cis, white, economically-advantaged experiences.
it’s a raw/emotive/raunchy/REAL event that celebrates our many talents, experiences, and intersecting identities.
featuring
robert reid drake
rex leonowicz
GypjaQ
Cancer Rising (ft. Jesse Manuel Graves & Devyn Manibo)
Suggested donation of $5 for the Bureau.
No one turned away for lack of funds.

GypjaQ is a musician from Harlem with eclectic artistic express. With beats from LawlySe, GQ brings a new style, a new thought, a new groove. Call it, aNvKai.

Robert Reid Drake is a soft butch, pansy poet currently living in Washington, DC. He is a former host & curator of Juniper Bends, a free & femme-centric reading series in Asheville, NC. His work has appeared in Assaracus, Wussy Magazine, and Crab Fat Magazine, as well as the collaborative zine, Doing It Mostly Wrong. On the internet he is sweet, sweet, sweeterthanspit.

if dionysus were an intersectional feminist performing artist/poet, then dionysus rex leonowicz would be. rex is a working class trans/queer/non-binary femme from queens, new york, now living in oakland, california. he’s obsessed with cats, life as drag, self-professed freaks, & sparkles. some of his work can be found in it’s night in san francisco, but it’s sunny in oakland, the queer south, lambda literary’s poetry spotlight, gertrude journal, shampoo, etc. he loves e-mail and new friends, so get in touch at leonowitch@gmail.com if you feel so inclined!

TELL 15: Housing/Home
2015-08-20 19:30 - 22:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
TELL is an evening of story telling from the mouths and minds of queers in NYC hosted by Drae Campbell at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division since February 2014.
Housing/Home is the theme of the fifteenth installment of TELL. Featuring Lady Quesa’Dilla, Kirya Traber, Kei Williams, & Chavisa Woods.
$5-10 suggested donation – no one turned away for lack of funds

Drae Campbell is a writer, actor, director, story teller, dancer, and nightlife emcee. Besides winning the 2011 Miss LEZ title, Drae has been featured on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and on stages all over NYC. Drae’s directing work has appeared in Iceland, NYC, Budapest and in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. The short film Drae wrote and starred in, YOU MOVE ME won the Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Short at OUTFEST 2010 and has been shown in fesivals globally. She just won the grand prize at the first annual San Miguel De Allende Storytelling Festival in Mexico. Drae was dubbed “the next lezzie comedian on the block” by AfterEllen.com for her comedic stylings on the interwebs. Campbell throws a monthly party in Brooklyn called PRIME. Check her out online (her reel and her website www.draecampbell.com) and around town.

Alejandro Rodríguez AKA Lady Quesa’Dilla — Alejandro is a native Tejan@ from the El Paso and Ciudad Juárez border. Their work is at the intersection of cultural identity, drag, and community. “The Brown Queen,” an autobiographical solo performance about growing up queer in the southwest, premiered at HERE Arts Center in the spring of 2010. Most recent solo performances include “My Tia Lupe” and “The Faggot in the Pink House”. Alejandro has performed in New York City, El Paso, Texas, Chiapas, Mexico, and Montreal, Canada. Alejandro is a member of The House of Bushwig, as Lady Quesa’Dilla, duties include Volunteer Coordinator for the annual Bushwig Festival.
Alejandro can also be found as an Information and Referral Specialist at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center in Manhattan; and as a Teaching Artist in The Bronx and Brooklyn.
Alejandro holds a BA in Theater from Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, and a MA in Performance Studies from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and is an alum of The Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics.
Resides in Brooklyn.
Lady Quesa’Dilla is the reigning Miss Coney Island Queen of Drag.

Artist photograph by Bethanie Hines
Kirya Traber is a cultural worker, a nationally awarded writer and performer, a Black queer woman, a high femme, and an Oakland girl with a Brooklyn address. Born and raised in northern California, Kirya relocated to New York in 2011, where she received her MFA in Acting from the New School for Drama, and just completed a year as the Lincoln Center Education Artist Fellow. Kirya is the recipient of the California Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, Robert Redford’s Sundance foundation award for Activism in the Arts, Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s Certificate of Recognition, an Astrea Lesbian Writers Fund award for Poetry, and is a former judge for the LAMBDA Literary awards in LGBT Drama. Kirya is an alumnus of the 2010 VONA/Voices retreat for writers of color, and the 2012 EmergeNYC intensive at the Hemispheric Institute, and is a 2014 Space Grantee at Brooklyn Arts Exchange. Kirya has toured the United States and Canada as a poet and solo performance artist, and her written work can be found in the pages of, Other Tongues, an anthology by Inana Press, and in her 2009 chapbook, black chick. She has worked as an arts educator with youth and adults, in school and community based settings, and within the juvenile justice system.

Kei Williams is the founder of Woodruff, a creative entity that they use to produce all of their artistic endeavors. A self-taught visual artist & graphic designer, they serve as a community manager through consulting entrepreneurs in order to sustain the economic development, along with affirming the culture, of Harlem NY. Since high school when they created the “Underground Café” located in Central NY which caters to the needs of inner-city youth, they have been dedicated to addressing the impacts of racism and sexism that have generationally plagued the communities of Black folks and people of color. They are currently an organizer and member of Black Lives Matter (NYC). When not being superboi or stoop sipping in Harlem, they play with their adorable “borkie” Spartacus. Kei connects with the world under the Twitter handle @BlackBoiKei.

Chavisa Woods is the author of two books of fiction, The Albino Album, a novel, (550 pages) Seven Stories Press (Distributed by Random House), 2013; and Love Does Not Make Me Gentle or Kind, full-length fiction (Fly by Night Press, 2009). The Second Edition of this book was released by Autonomedia Press under the Unbearables imprint in 2013. Woods was the recipient of the 2013 Cobalt Prize for fiction and was a finalist (second nomination) for the 2013 Lambda Literary Award for fiction. Woods has appeared as a featured author at such notable venues as The Whitney Museum of American Art, City Lights Bookstore, Town Hall Seattle, The Brecht Forum, The Cervantes Institute, and St. Mark’s Poetry Project. Her writing has appeared in such publications as The Evergreen Review, New York Quarterly, The Brooklyn Rail, Cleaver Magazine, and Jadaliyya. Woods was the recipient of the 2009 Jerome Foundation award for emerging authors, recently served as the guest prose editor for Great Weather for Media’s 2015 anthology, and is currently completing her third work of full-length fiction.
Woods has presented lectures and conducted workshops on short fiction and poetry at a number of academic institutions, including: New York University (NYU), Penn State, Sarah Lawrence College, Bard College, Brooklyn College, Brooklyn Tech and the New School.

Queer Love In Film and Print, Italian-American Style: An Evening with Annie “L is for Lion” Lanzillotto and Trans Writer-Director Mikki “Alt
2015-08-21 19:00 - 22:00 | NY
Writer-Director Mikki del Monico’s romantic comedy “Alto” was selected as the upcoming Feature Screening for NewFilmmakers New York, Wednesday 8/26/15 at Anthology Film Archives. Alto is: Two Girls. One Gun. The Mob. Get your first taste here.
Author-Poet-Actor-Songwriter Annie Lanzillotto will reprise her cameo in the film and read from her memoir “L is for Lion,” including the premiere of clips from her soon-to-be-released audiobook of the same title.
Don’t miss this opportunity to ask questions about the creative process from a DIY perspective. Producer Toni “From Crowd Funding to Completion” D’Antonio will be on hand to share her hard-earned knowledge on making an indie film in NYC.
Reading, Performance, Q&A, Sneak Peeks, Ticket Raffles, Special Guests. Plus surviving Italian American families in and (mostly) out of the Mob.
Learn more at www.altothemovie.com and www.annielanzillotto.com |
Suggested Donation: $5 to Benefit BGSQD but NO ONE turned away for lack of funds!

Mikki del Monico works out of a true passion for the craft of storytelling. His feature script, Indelible, won an Alfred P. Sloan Screenwriting Award and went on to win their Feature Film Production Grant. His music video for the band, Antigone Rising, premiered on CMT and was recently nominated for an OUTMUSIC Award. In addition to writing and directing, he has also worked as a film editor, book editor, researcher, proofreader, personal trainer, and digital media teaching assistant on a ship that sailed the Atlantic Ocean. He holds an MFA in Film from Columbia University. Alto is his directorial debut.

Photo: Carolina Kroon, 2011. carolinakroonphotography.com
Annie Rachele Lanzillotto is a New York poet and performance artist, author of the book of poetry, SCHISTSONG (Bordighera Press 2013), and vocalist/songwriter of the albums BLUE PILL, CARRY MY COFFEE, and ELEVEN RECITATIONS. Lanzillotto teaches solo performance to The Apprentice Company at The Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Newfangled 7: Robert Siek hosts Ricardo Hernandez, Joshua Kleinberg, & Tommy "Teebs" Pico
2015-08-22 19:00 - 22:00 | NY
Join us for the 7th installment of Newfangled, poetry readings by emerging poets hosted by Robert Siek. Newfangled 7 will feature Ricardo Hernandez, Joshua Kleinberg, & Tommy “Teebs” Pico.

RICARDO HERNANDEZ is a graduate of Baruch College and recipient of fellowships from Poets House and Lambda Literary. He lives in Queens.

JOSHUA KLEINBERG is an MFA candidate at Columbia University. His poetry was awarded an Academy of American Poets prize and has appeared in Chorus: A Literary Mixtape (2012, MTV Books) and New Poetry from the Midwest (2015, New American).

TOMMY “TEEBS” PICO is the author of absentMINDR (VERBALVISUAL, 2014)—the first chapbook APP published for iOS mobile/tablet devices—was a Queer/Art/Mentors inaugural fellow, 2013 Lambda Literary fellow in poetry, and has poems in BOMB, Guernica, and [PANK]. Originally from the Viejas Indian reservation of the Kumeyaay nation, he now lives in Brooklyn and co-curates the reading series Poets With Attitude (PWA) with Morgan Parker. @heyteebs

ROBERT SIEK is the author of the poetry collection Purpose and Devil Piss (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2013) and the chapbook Clubbed Kid (New School University, 2002). He works at a large publishing house in Manhattan and lives in Brooklyn.

Bi Book Club: The Summer of Sex: Memoirs of a Gigolo, by Livia Ellis
2015-08-27 18:30 - 20:30 | NY
The Bi Book Club meets monthly to discuss bi-themed books and the issues they raise.
Day/Time: 4th Thursdays, 6:30-8pm. Dinner after nearby (usually Village Den.)
The Bi Book Club theme for July & August is “The Summer of Sex.” Our book for August is Memoirs of a Gigolo, Omnibus Vol. 1-4, by Livia Ellis, (order your copy from BGSQD.) This is a sexy, funny, bisexual erotic novel.
In this collected omnibus edition of the first four e-books in the series, you’ll learn why Oliver turns to a life as a male escort when he is a titled English Lord (and a tabloid favorite). Follow him as he travels the globe (Tokyo, Bangkok, etc.) bedding a Latin pop star, two princesses, and a beautiful Russian fellow escort as charming and duplicitous as himself. This book has a very humorous tone. You won’t want to stop reading.
Pick out some phrases, paragraphs or scenes that you’d like to discuss, or just join in on our read-a-long. Last month we had a blast reading bisexual scenes from our erotic romance book out loud with everyone taking different roles. Give us your critique of the book. What worked, what didnt, how was bisexuality represented? If you havent had time to finish the readings, come anyway because we read passages from the book aloud for discussion. As usual, we’ll also be using the text as a jumping off point to further discussion of bisexual issues and personal experiences.
Next Book: Call It Wonder the new memoir by Kate Evans.
Getting Books: We urge you to purchase your print copy at the Bureau and support the only LGBT bookstore in New York City. Especially since they are hosting us in their space! If you prefer e-books, just get them your usual way.

RSVP on Bi Meetup

The Bi Book Club meets at the Bureau of General Services-Queer Division on the last Thursday of each month.

WRITE QUEER!
2015-09-08 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Write Queer! is an ongoing open-ended weekly writing workshop for those who identify as both Queer and Writer. Come read a variety of work by queer artists, generate new writing, and workshop with your peers. All experience levels and writing backgrounds are welcome.
Starting September 8th, classes meet every Tuesday from 7pm-9pm at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division.
Please note that the Bureau is closed on Tuesdays—we will open from 7 to 9 PM on Tuesdays for this event.
$20 per class to benefit the facilitators and the Bureau. Limited sliding scale and scholarship available. Contact Cecily at sumthn.else@gmail.com for details.

20Something Monthly Manhattan Meetup
2015-09-09 20:00 - 22:00 | NY
If you are new to the city, recently out, just looking for friends, or whatever experiences brought you to us – we offer a safe space where we can mingle and talk about our experiences as an LGBT person in New York City. We hold our meetings on the second Wednesday of every month from 8-10 PM at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division. We recommend this 20Something Meetup to anyone who is looking for a more casual space to explore their sexual/gender identity. There will be light refreshments. Bring friends!

20Something is the largest social events organization for young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in New York City, aged 21 to 30. We hold a monthly social, and two monthly icebreaker/discussion groups at the Brooklyn Pride Center and at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, the queer cultural center and bookstore on the second floor of The LGBT Community Center, in Manhattan. With more than 2,500 members, we engage young adults across all 5 boroughs with a safe, confidential, and respectful platform to meet other LGBT folk. Many of our members have made long lasting friendships, relationships, and have been connected to important LGBT services and resources. Whether you are new to the city, recently out, or just looking to make friends – 20Something offers a space for you to pave the way to your own adventures in New York City – and make living here a little easier. Become a member: meetup.com/20SomethingNYC

KNOWSGAY No. 5 - Heroes and Role Models
2015-09-10 18:00 - 21:30 | NY
The Bureau is happy to announce our next exhibition: KNOWSGAY No5 – Heroes and Role Models
Reception: Thursday, September 10 from 6:00-9:30pm
The exhibition will run from September 10 – November 15

Three part exhibition:
• Presentation of KNOWSGAY No5
• Timeline Exhibition of all previous issues of KNOWSGAY
• Exhibition of original artwork related to KNOWSGAY created by Charlie Welch and Paul Moreno

30% of all KNOWSGAY sales during the exhibition will go to New Alternatives*
*New Alternative’s mission is to provide skills and opportunities that will allow homeless LGBT youth to obtain the stable, meaningful employment that is necessary in order to obtain and maintain permanent housing. Services provided will include life skills training, case management, and supported transitional employment.
KNOWSGAY

Launch of Mouthquake by Daniel Allen Cox, with Sarah Schulman
2015-09-12 19:00 - 22:00 | NY
Please join Daniel Allen Cox and Sarah Schulman for the launch of the novel Mouthquake (Arsenal Pulp Press). Both authors will read from their work.
Copies of Mouthquake will be available for purchase.
Reception at 7, readings at 7:30
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.
About Mouthquake: Montreal, 1979. A boy’s speech starts to fracture along with the cement of le Stade olympique. Do they share a fault line? Daniel Allen Cox’s unconventional fourth novel tells the story of a boy with a stutter who grows up and uses sound to remember the past. A coming-of-age tale that telescopes through time like an amnesiac memoir, Mouthquake finds its strange beat in subliminal messages hidden in skipping records, in the stutters of celebrities, and in the wisdom of The Grand Antonio, a suspicious mystic who helps the narrator unlock the secret to his speech. This is a loudly exclaimed book of innuendo, rumours, and the tangled barbs of repressed memory that asks: How do you handle a troubling past event that behaves like a barely audible whisper? Written with a poetic bravado and in a structure that mimics a stutter, the elegiac Mouthquake is speech therapy for the bent: the signal is perverted and the sounds are thrilling.
From the Afterword by Sarah Schulman:
“Art both tells and transforms life. And it is through the juxtaposition of evocative, surprising language with intellectual awareness and the sharing of open consciousness that this process is conveyed with soul as long as the form emerges from the emotional center of the work. Daniel finds these connections and innovations within himself, partially through commitment, partially through instinct. It’s that thing we call talent.”

Author photo by Alison Slattery
Daniel Allen Cox is the author of the novels Shuck, Krakow Melt, Basement of Wolves, Mouthquake, and the novella Tattoo This Madness In. He co-wrote the screenplay for Bruce LaBruce’s 2013 film Gerontophilia. Daniel was a 2015 writer-in-residence at the Zvona i Nari Library & Literary Retreat in Ližnjan, Croatia. He lives in Montreal, where he is vice president of Quebec Writers’ Federation. www.mouthquake.com

Sarah Schulman‘s new novel, The Cosmopolitans, will be published in March 2016 by The Feminist Press. Her play Roe Versus Wade, will have a reading on Sunday, September 13, at 7 as part of the Howl Festival at 6 East 1st St between 2nd Avenue and Bowery, directed by Niegel Smith.

The Bureau serves beer, wine, and sparkling water for cash donations.
The Bureau is wheelchair accessible.
Gender-neutral bathrooms are available.

WRITE QUEER!
2015-09-15 19:00 - 21:00, 2015-09-22 19:00 - 21:00, 2015-09-29 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Write Queer! is an ongoing open-ended weekly writing workshop for those who identify as both Queer and Writer. Come read a variety of work by queer artists, generate new writing, and workshop with your peers. All experience levels and writing backgrounds are welcome.
Classes meet every Tuesday from 7pm-9pm at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division.
Please note that the Bureau is closed on Tuesdays—we will open from 7 to 9 PM on Tuesdays for this event.
$20 per class to benefit the facilitators and the Bureau. Limited sliding scale and scholarship available. Contact Cecily at sumthn.else@gmail.com for details.

Get HARD with AN OLDER MAN: Wayne Hoffman's new books
2015-09-17 19:00 - 22:00 | NY
Author Wayne Hoffman reads from his steamy new novel, AN OLDER MAN, about a gay man struggling to come to terms with getting older, while he searches for love and sex in Provincetown. Jeff Mann (CUB) called the book “as much a touching examination of aging and loneliness as it is a witty tale of sexual shenanigans during Provincetown’s Bear Week.” AN OLDER MAN is a sequel to Wayne’s debut novel, HARD, which he will also read from at the event.

Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau.
No one turned away for lack of funds.

Wayne Hoffman is the author of three books—HARD, SWEET LIKE SUGAR (winner of the Stonewall Book Award), and AN OLDER MAN. His essays and short stories have appeared in such collections as BEST GAY STORIES 2010, FRESH MEN 2, and MAMA’S BOY. As a cultural reporter, he has written for the Washington Post, Village Voice, The Nation, Billboard, and Instinct magazine; he is currently executive editor of Tablet magazine. He lives in the West Village and the Catskills.

James Baldwin: The Defiant One
2015-09-19 19:00 - 22:00 | NY
Join us for an evening focusing on the life and activism of James Baldwin, organized by James Wright, African-American scholar and union activist.
Poet and author Alicia Dunnigan, writer and librarian Stephan Likosky, union activist Reginald Manning, and James Wright will address the life, work, and activism of James Baldwin.
The evening will also include a screening of I Heard It Through the Grapevine (1982).
“Produced and directed by Dick Fontaine and Pat Hartley, this is a highly personal film essay written by James Baldwin about exactly who and what survived the civil rights movement. It features Baldwin, his brother David, Chinua Achebe, Amiri Baraka, and other friends Baldwin made “on that long, long road’ through the sixties. Music by Stuff and a host of Southern voices.” (https://www.dickfontaine.com/1980page.html)
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Bi Visibility Day Open Mic
2015-09-23 19:00 - 22:00 | NY
Bi Writers & Poets, Musicians & Singers, Artists & Photographers: express yourselves & be visible! Everyone else is invited to listen in. Sign up by email or at the door if there is still space. Contact Sheela Lambert at fuscialadybug (at) netzero (dot) com to sign up. Assume you have 5 minutes.
Reception at 7
Open Mic at 7:30
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Yarrott Benz reads from his memoir The Bone Bridge: A Brother’s Story
2015-09-24 19:00 - 22:00 | NY
Yarrott Benz reads from his recently published memoir The Bone Bridge: A Brother’s Story. This is the harrowing account of teenage brothers, as different as night and day, trapped together in a dramatic medical dilemma—a modern miracle and a modern nightmare. Despite painful and violent conflicts, Yarrott, gay, must bear the full responsibility of keeping his straight, homophobic brother alive. The only case like it in history, the story unfolds over thirteen years as the two brothers navigate through their enmeshed lives with all that they feel for each other: hatred and love, rejection and acceptance, disdain and respect. In our world of the individual, where careerism, ego, and personal gain are key, The Bone Bridge describes a vastly different human situation and also one in which the reader invariably asks, What would I have done?

Christopher Bram will introduce Yarrott Benz.

Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau
(No one turned away for lack of funds.)

Artist, memoirist, and essayist Yarrott Benz has written about architecture’s seminal role in art history and the psychology of visual trends. Having taught for many years in New York City and in Los Angeles, he now lives on a farm outside Lexington, Kentucky.

Christopher Bram is the author of, among others, FATHER OF FRANKENSTEIN, which was adapted in the film GODS AND MONSTERS. His recent book EMINENT OUTLAWS: THE GAY WRITERS WHO CHANGED AMERICA, shows how central gay literature is in the American canon.

TELL 16: Crisis/Opportunity
2015-09-25 19:30 - 22:00 | Online event, New York, NY, United States
TELL is an evening of story telling from the mouths and minds of queers in NYC hosted by Drae Campbell at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division since February 2014.
Crisis/Opportunity is the theme of the sixteenth installment of TELL. Featuring The World Famous *BOB*, Liz Glazer, Molly McCloy, and Ronnie Mae Painter.

$5-10 suggested donation – no one turned away for lack of funds

Drae Campbell is a writer, actor, director, story teller, dancer, and nightlife emcee. Drae has been featured on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and on stages all over NYC. Drae’s directing work has appeared in Iceland, NYC, Budapest and in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. The short film Drae wrote and starred in with Rebecca Drysdale, YOU MOVE ME won the Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Short at OUTFEST 2010 and has been shown in festivals globally. Drae won the grand prize at the first annual San Miguel De Allende Storytelling Festival in Mexico. She once reigned as Miss LEZ and also got dubbed “the next lezzie comedian on the block” by AfterEllen.com for her comedic stylings on the interwebs. Campbell hosts and curates a monthly queer storytelling show called TELL at BGSQD. Check her out online! www.draecampbell.com

Photograph by Marie Baronnet
The World Famous *BOB*, known for her over the top blonde bombshell image and incredible ability to mix martinis in her cleavage, has captivated audiences all over the world with her unique burlesque stylings, humorous performance art, and MC skills.
She has been photographed by hundreds of photographers including Patrick McMullan, Mario Testino, and David LaChapelle. *BOB* appears in several books including Hotel LaChapelle, New Burlesque, Striptease: From Gaslight to Spotlight, Burlesque: The New Bump and Grind, The Brooklynites, The Velvet Hammer Burlesque., Domestic Burlesque as well as The Burlesque Handbook. A collection of photos by Amy Touchette was recently published by UnGyve Press entitled Shoot the Arrow- A Portrait of The World Famous *BOB*. Believing that television is “the theatre for the poor” *BOB* is a huge fan of the boob tube and has appeared on A&E’s The History of Cleavage as well as HBO’s Real Sex. She has graced the pages of over 50 national & international publications including The New York Times. The big screen suits *BOB* as well, with screen credits including John Cameron Mitchell’s film Shortbus and Beth B.’s EXPOSED.
World Famous *BOB* is a regularly scheduled guest speaker at NYU and has performed and appeared at over 20 US Universities including Harvard, Yale, and Bard.
She has performed all over the world and recently co-created and starred in Young Jean Lee’s; Untitled Feminsit Show. From NYC’s Dance Theatre Workshop, to Taylor Mac’s The Lily’s Revenge, to Stockholm’s Sodra Teatern, World Famous *BOB* has brought crowds together by pointing out what we all have in common- the need for love and creating that with her art in the moment. *BOB* continues her life in the spotlight and is also an Ultimate Self Confidence! Coach for people worldwide. She is currently co-hosting CAMPFIRE! Queer Storytime at Dixon Place Lounge.
For more info and to see if she is coming to your town visit www.theworldfamousbob.com

Liz Glazer used to be a tenured law professor but recently gave that up to do standup, tell stories, act, sing, dance, and write about her own life. She hosts a free weekly show called Say Everything on Thursdays from 7-9 at Paddy Reilly’s Music Bar, 519 2nd Avenue at 29th Street, and co-stars as Sizzle in the web series “Sizzle and Izzle.”

Molly McCloy is a a three-time NYC Moth Slam winner with work published in Slate, Nerve, and Swink. She holds an M.F.A. in Nonfiction from The New School. On October 3, Molly will perform her one-woman show, Mad Dog Grudges, at Dixon Place. It is the dark-comic story of a screwed-up family trying to end its legacy of intergenerational violence and substance abuse. Find out more about Molly’s performance and written memoir at mollymccloy.com and https://dixonplace.org/performances/mad-dog-grudges/

A native New Yorker born and raised in Astoria, Queens, Ronnie Mae Painter is a Brooklyn-based artist who’s primary media are painting on canvas and works on paper. She is also a published author and poet. Her literary works can be found in the anthology “Are Italians White”, edited by Jennifer Guglielmo and Salvatore Salerno. Painter’s experiences growing up as a woman of African-American and Italian-American biracial descent during the 1970s are transcended through both her visual and literary works in energetic movements and a shouting tone.

Under the Mink. A Novel of Drag Kings and Queens (and the Mob)
2015-09-26 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
Under the Mink is a historical novel, based on little-known facts about the Mafia’s involvement in a gay entertainment subculture that flourished in mob-owned nightclubs in Greenwich Village in the 1940s-50s. The author was fortunate enough to know some of the performers. A short film opens the program, followed by tall tales, a show of vintage images, and a reading from the novel.
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Lisa E. Davis has lived in Greenwich Village for 40 years and loves to write about it. With a PhD in Comparative Literature, she worked for years in SUNY and CUNY, and at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College. Lately, her writing has appeared in anthologies and periodicals dedicated to LGBTQ culture. Her historical novel Under the Mink, about drag kings and queens of yesteryear, grew out of her long-time friendship with some of them. The new edition (2015) has a photo insert with vintage images. A second book in progress, The FBI’s Lesbian, is the true story of a notorious Village lesbian who worked undercover for the FBI in the American Communist Party. Lisa has a daily Iyengar yoga practice.

Queer Zine Fair
2015-10-01 17:00 - 21:30 | NY
In conjunction with the Bureau’s current exhibition, KNOWSGAY No5: Heroes and Role Models, KNOWSGAY brings together various queer zine makers and fans to meet, share and discuss their art and process. Each exhibitor will have their publications for sale as well as speak about their work and participate in a brief Q&A.
Participating artists and zines:
Elvis B.
SELFISH
3-Pack Jack Steven Reigns Darin Klein Christopher Kardambikis
Sherley Olopherne
Anthony Malone
Arno Mokros
Kyle Quinn
Stephen Grebinski
Dave Ortega
Headmaster
Pink Mince
J. Morrison
Le Gros Monsieur
Creeps Annual
FAQNP

To Russia with Love
2015-10-02 19:00 - 21:30 | NY
The project “To Russia with Love” emerged from the realization that the real moral imperative is not to remain passive in the face of hatred and injustice. That’s how a group of Montreal artists and collaborators came together with photographer Damian Siqueiros to make a stand against the recent wave of institutionalized homophobia and the ruthless violence that exists in Russia towards our gender diverse brothers and sisters. “To Russia with Love” portrays iconic and historically relevant gay and lesbian Russians with their respective partners, starting from the 19th century to our time. The project features Pyotr Tchaikovsky (composer) and his long time companion Aleksey Sofronov; Anna Yevreinova and Maria Feodorova (renowned lawyer and writer respectively from the 19 century); Sergei Diaghilev (founder of the Ballets Russes in Paris) and Vaslav Nijinsky; a contemporary fictional lesbian couple made of a police woman and an Olympic athlete; and lastly a male couple impersonating Stalin and Putin.
Writer Ivan Savvine will speak about the photographs and soprano Tatiana Poletskaya will sing from Tchaikovsky’s repertoire.
Suggested donation of $5 to benefit the Bureau. No one turned away for lack of funds.

Damian Siqueiros’s photographs will remain on display at the Bureau on Saturday, October 3, and Sunday October 4.

Damian Siqueiros is a Mexican / Quebecer photographer and multidisciplinary artist. The construction of our gender identity has a central role in his artistic research. Through the images he underlines the importance of equality between the sexes and respect for diversity. The creation of the photographs draws inspiration from the great masters of painting to add an historical perspective to these contemporary topics. Dance and movement are key elements to explore gender as performative experience.
His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout North America and Europe, such as the Art Museum of the Americas, the MOLA and the Gabarron foundation. Damian has received numerous prizes and grants, notably the Prix Coup de Coeur Scotia Bank in 2010. The photographer is most proud of his collaborations with great artists such as Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Margie Gillis, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and Cas Public.

DIRT, SEX, PASSION!
2015-10-03 19:00 - 22:00 | NY
The Bureau is very pleased to welcome back the one and only Rumi Missabu for Dirt, Sex, Passion! A benefit for the Bureau.
Promises to be nothing short of a fun-filled multi-media romp and
bizarre conversation with actor, director, producer, mentor,
counterculture figure & original Cockette RUMI MISSABU who ruminates
on such subjects as how he went from Disney to soft core porn in a
span of just three short years, what happened when he touched Andy
Warhol, why he kicked Allen Ginsberg out of his house, how he
accidentally snubbed Jean Paul Gaultier in London, why Ethel Merman
called security on him at Macy’s, the pitfalls of having sex with your
stalker and what Rasputin’s daughter told him about her very first job
in America.
All this and much more with a cast of characters with everybody from
Sally Field to Tina Turner to Jackie Curtis to Liberace to Jane
Russell!

DIRT, SEX, PASSION! is a benefit for the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division. A donation of $10 is suggested.
No one turned away for lack of funds.
