Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Curtis-y Call

As I've said before, summer is lesbian season. Back in my Ann Arbor days we would marvel at how you'd only see a handful of lesbians during the winter at the /aut/ bar, but the minute the patio opened they were all over it, drinking beer in large groups with their dogs and softball accoutrements and generally being lesbish. And that trend holds true here in Metro Detroit, so much so that Como's Patio is sapphic summer central and was actually declared "Best Lesbian Bar" back in 2006 by HOUR Detroit.

I do love seeing lesbians out and about. Just this year I've been delighted by huge lesbian turnouts to
Motor City Pride and the True Colors Tour. Lesbians have their own kind of cool fun going on - it's not all brown rice and tofu and fibromyalgia.

This coming Sunday I am going to scratch my lesbi-curious itch by going to a concert by "folk rock goddess"
Catie Curtis at the Central United Methodist Church, that beautiful church right on the corner of Woodward and Adams on Grand Circus Park.

(click for a larger version)

Although she may be new to you, Catie Curtis is actually a famous lesbian folk singer, and she has performed with artists such as the Bare Naked Ladies and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Her sound is classic folk-pop - to me, she's got a little bit of Amiee Mann in there, and a little Suzanne Vega thing too, but of course it's all her own sound. You can get a sample on her website. Give a couple of the songs a listen!

If the idea of going to a performance in a church gives you pause (and it very probably should), there is nothing to fear. The
Central United Methodist Church is a very liberal and diverse congregation, and actually declared themselves a Reconciling Congregation, which means they are welcoming to people regardless of sexual orientation and they work toward changing Central Methodist policies regarding gay and lesbian unions. They adopted this policy in 2000, a time we can all acknowledge was way ahead of the curve. And that's just a single instance of Central United Methodist's long history of progressive thinking. I have several friends who are members of this church and I can personally vouch that they are much better people than I am.

Just look at the craftspersonship!


I have a special bonus for SupergayDetroit readers! I have four free (free) tickets to the show available (after keeping two for myself), which I am giving away in pairs. All you have to do to earn these tickets is claim them! The first two people who write me at supergaydetroit@gmail.com and ask for them are winners - it's the perfect weekend wrap-up for you and lesbian life partner, no matter what your orientation may be!

There is no time like summer for a folk music concert, and could there be a better venue than a historic church in downtown Detroit? Personally, I'm very excited to go - I haven't been to a lesbian folk singer/songwriter show since
Phranc back in Boston in 1990! I'm overdue, and you might be too!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

. . . it's not all brown rice and tofu and fibromyalgia. LOL!

Anonymous said...

A few words about Central Methodist Church. If you look at the church from Grand Circus Park, it looks somewhat scrunched up and smaller than you'd expect for such a grand looking church. Back in the 1920's, Woodward Avenue was widened and many churches (which were built right up to the sidewalk) had to be altered. Here's how CM did it. Picture a loaf of Wonder Bread sitting on your counter. (If you're a lesbian, you can imagine a loaf of whole wheat, multi-grain organic bread from Avalon.) Take out the center seven slices, then push the remaining sections back together. It looks out of proportion and scrunched up. That's what happened to Central Methodist.

A second thought and a few more words about Central United Methodist Church's long history of progressive ACTION. (It's easy to think progressively; but often hard to move from thought into action.) Back in 1977, they welcomed Detroit's first Gay AA group to meet in their church. Nowadays, all sorts of suburban churches are hosting Gay AA groups; but in the mid-1970's, most churches considered us to be, at best, sinners or to be suffering from some type of mental illness, and wanted nothing to do with the gay community. Central Methodist supported us long before was fashionable to do so.

Supergay Detroit said...

Hey gang, contest's closed! It actually was closed about two hours after I posted this - who knew about the phenomenal response to Catie Curtis and her "sweet soccer mom style"?

In a different vein, I've heard from several people since I posted this thread about the good works of Central United Methodist. There may need to be a visitation.

D-Tales said...

This post made me giggle...the lesbian community is a fascinating yet elusive one...and they DO love patios...I don't know why...

Supergay Detroit said...

Hey, just noticed that Como's won the HOUR Detroit "Best Lesbian Bar" distinction again this year!

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