LGCSF History Corner: Chorus-related events from 1990

Greetings and hello to all of my faithful readers,
 
This week as I have gone through my archives from 1990 I thought I would write about three chorus-related events that occurred that year.
 
On December 28, there was "An Evening to Remember Bob Cramer". This was held in the City Hall Rotunda. Bob was the founder of the Cable Car Awards which began in 1974. A couple of weeks ago at rehearsal Calliope asked what the Cable Car Awards were and Jesse Lanou and I explained what they were. They were an annual awards show honoring accomplishments within San Francisco's lesbian/gay community. The show had been acknowledged and gained respect as the largest gay awards show anywhere. It started out in Bimbo's nightclub then moved to the Japan Center Theatre and then to the San Francisco Giftcenter. As Chair of the Awards Bob is credited by many for bringing together the emerging lesbian and gay men's communities. As the show was presented each year, he insisted that gay women be included in every area of planning, production, award judging and as recipients of the awards. Mayor Art Agnos, Supervisor Harry Britt, Jose Sarria, State Senator Milton Marks and Richard Hongisto were some of the dignitaries who participated. Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco sang "Hand in Hand" by our own Jesse Lanou. One more historical note is that Gilbert Baker, the creator of the Rainbow flag, did the building lighting and donated the flags. I included a photo of the cover of the program with a photo of Bob Cramer.
 
The second item I want to talk about is fundraising booklet of discount coupons from businesses that join with you in supporting community and AIDS-related organizations. The trio that put this together were known as MxIII, R. Guy McGinnis, Gary Menger and our own Rose Mary Mitchell. They did the outreach to the businesses in the booklet and they note that they had personally visited every business advertising in the book so they gave their three thumbs in recommending these businesses. All proceeds from this equally benefitted Project Open Hand, Gay Rescue Mission, the SF Band Foundation, the AIDS Emergency Fund and Lesbian/Gay Chorus of SF. I included a photo of the cover and one of Guy, Gary and Rose Mary.
 
The third item to talk about is our inclusion in the Old First Concerts which were held at the Old First Church on Sacramento Street in San Francisco. The chorus was part of their Spring 1990 season. We sang on April 20 and presented our classical concert, Brahms and Bernstein, which was part of our 10th Anniversary season of making music and creating community. Under the direction of Pat Parr and with guest soprano, Teresa Cardinale, we present Brahms "Zigeunerlieder, Op. 103", "Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53" and Leonard Bernstein's "Gloria" from "Mass" and the "Chichester Psalms".  This was challenging music for us but we were inspired by singing in this beautiful church. I have included two photos, one of us and one of the program. Please enjoy all of these photos and thank you for coming along on my journey through the history of our wonderful chorus. Please give me any feedback you have and let me know what you enjoy or anything you might want to learn more about. See you next week with more of our history.
 
In love and harmony, Michael Lucero