LGCSF History Corner: More Traditions - 1992

Hello to all of my faithful readers. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving celebration with your family and friends. This time I want to write about more of some of the traditions the chorus participated in 1992. This year was a busy one for us. In addition to our concerts and our performance in Denver at the GALA Festival, we participated in three community events in the early part of the year. The photos attached are from the programs of these three events.

The first followed the coronation of the Empress and Emperor of San Francisco which was all started by Jose Sarria, (photo enclosed) the First Empress who claimed she was the Widow Norton, the widow of Emperor Joshua Norton who was a beloved character in San Francisco's past. Google him to find out more about him. Anyway he is buried in Woodlawn Memorial Park in Colma. Jose Sarria was a big supporter of LGCSF both onstage as MC and offstage and he was the first openly gay man to run for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

On Sunday, March 1, after the coronation the night before, the Imperial Court and other dignitaries go to Emperor Norton's gravesite and LGCSF and the Lesbian/Gay Freedom Marching Band were part of the entertainment. We did this for a number of years in the late 1980s and early 1990s under Pat Parr's direction and this was always a sort of hoot for everyone involved.

The second event was our appearance at the 18th Annual Cable Car Awards & Show which was on March 14 at the San Francisco Fashion Center. The MCs for the evening were newscasters Ginger Casey and Hank Plante from KPIX TV, and our own Linda Rohde & Tony White. The Cable Car Awards was founded by Bob Cramer who dedicated 20 years of his life to serving the lesbian and gay community and he had a high standard of excellence. Following his death to AIDS, the board of directors established the Bob Cramer Award for Excellence which was presented to San Francisco's Lesbian & Gay Performing Arts Organizations - City Swing with Gail Wilson, S.F. Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, San Francisco Tap Troupe, Vocal Minority with Wayne Love directing, Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco, Menage, San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, Theatre Rhinoceros, and VOICES: Bay Area Lesbian Choral Ensemble. The Band, LGCSF, SFGMC and VOICES performed as the finale to this wonderful night of celebrating the best of all of us.

The third event we participated in was An Event in 3 Acts - Heart Strings, The AIDS Memorial Quilt and You. The show at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre was the Heart Strings part of the evening and featured an array of singers, actors and dancers from all over the country. The part we played was as backup singers for Nell Carter as she sang her heart out and got the audience up on their feet as I remember it.

That is it for this week but I will be back next week with more of our traditions so look for it.

In harmony, Michael Lucero