Get Out! GAY Magazine – Issue 387 –October 3, 2018
Featuring content from the hottest gay and gay-friendly spots in New York, each (free!) issue of Get Out! highlights the bars, nightclubs, restaurants, spas and other businesses throughout NYC’s metropolitan area that the city’s gay population is interested in.
Featuring content from the hottest gay and gay-friendly spots in New York, each (free!) issue of Get Out! highlights the bars, nightclubs, restaurants, spas and other businesses throughout NYC’s metropolitan area that the city’s gay population is interested in.
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INTERVIEW<br />
Zach<br />
Zimmerman<br />
WANTS TO HAVE<br />
SEX WITH YOU<br />
Zach Zimmerman is a queer<br />
comedian who is making quite a<br />
splash since moving to New York<br />
last year. Time <strong>Out</strong> New York called<br />
him a “hyper-prolific, wickedly<br />
funny stand-up,” he has had humor<br />
pieces published in The New<br />
Yorker and McSweeney’s and he<br />
has performed with The Second<br />
City Theatricals. He sat down with<br />
<strong>Get</strong> <strong>Out</strong>! to talk comedy, remote<br />
control butt plugs and social<br />
media plugs (@zzdoublezz).<br />
Zach! Welcome to New York.<br />
Thank you! I’ve been waiting<br />
to be welcomed.<br />
Do you feel like a New<br />
Yorker?<br />
I do! Last week, I made plans<br />
to get coffee with a friend.<br />
Three days later, we both<br />
realized we had forgotten. It<br />
was in that moment: I become<br />
a New Yorker.<br />
Haha. Tell me about your<br />
comedy. You’ve got a show<br />
at the Museum of Sex?<br />
Yes! It’s called Let’s Have<br />
Sex With Zach Zimmerman,<br />
because I am subtle and do<br />
stand-up to find a husband.<br />
It’s a new monthly sex/<br />
comedy/talk show with<br />
stand-up comedians, drag<br />
queens and an interview with<br />
a sexpert who you can ask all<br />
your questions. I’ll give you<br />
terrible answers; they give you<br />
factual ones. It’s a goddamn<br />
blast.<br />
Have you learned anything<br />
from the show?<br />
Put lube INSIDE the condom.<br />
Game changer. I had no idea.<br />
Also, be careful who you give<br />
the remote to when you’re<br />
wearing a remote control butt<br />
plug on stage. Drag queens<br />
can be cruel.<br />
What got you into comedy?<br />
Oof. Great q. I’d say at first<br />
I was drawn to comedy<br />
in a search for immediate<br />
validation. My dad used to<br />
give dinner table sermons to<br />
me as a kid in an evangelical<br />
household, and I never got<br />
to talk, so now...I talk a lot.<br />
So word of caution, parents:<br />
Let your kids talk! Or you’re<br />
gonna make more stand-up<br />
comedians, and no one wants<br />
that.<br />
Now that I’ve matured<br />
and don’t need (as much)<br />
validation (though it never<br />
hurts), I’m drawn to comedy<br />
because of its immediacy—it<br />
can react rapidly to events<br />
of the week and even in the<br />
room, its interactivity—it<br />
invites the audience into<br />
a dialogue while other art<br />
forms can be a bit more oneway,<br />
and its ability to bring<br />
people together—literally and<br />
figuratively.<br />
Also, again, I am looking for a<br />
husband.<br />
Where can people catch you<br />
next?<br />
@zzdoublezz on all social<br />
media platforms, sweetheart!<br />
I recently did a thing on my<br />
Instagram where I posted<br />
just the letters to spell<br />
out an upcoming show,<br />
and it decimated my likes.<br />
Zuckerberg was not happy. So<br />
please, find it in your heart:<br />
Dig deep, and give those likes<br />
today.<br />
And live shows?<br />
Yes. Come see Queer<br />
EyeRL at The Bell House on<br />
October 18. It’s a Queer Eye<br />
satire where we make over<br />
an audience member. The<br />
cast is stacked. It’s too fun.<br />
And, of course, check out<br />
the Let’s Have Sex With Zach<br />
Zimmerman show. The next<br />
one is October 25! Devil<br />
emoji.
DEAR HIV,<br />
WE DIDN ’ T<br />
GIVE UP.<br />
XOXO,<br />
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XOXOSCIENCE.COM, GILEAD, and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc.,<br />
or its related companies. © <strong>2018</strong> Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. UNBC5738 06/18
BY IAN-MICHAEL BERGERON<br />
@ianmichaelinwonderland<br />
PHOTO BY STEVE BRENNAN<br />
Tale as Old as Time<br />
Saturday night, my boyfriend J<br />
convinced me to go out.<br />
I’d spent the day with Southern<br />
Belle C, helping him put<br />
together what was sure to be<br />
the murder mystery party of the<br />
century. (We bopped around<br />
Chelsea for hours, searching<br />
for costumes at Housing<br />
Works thrift shop, props at<br />
Abracadabra and invitations at<br />
Paper Presentation.) He told<br />
me my character early (Freda,<br />
a gypsy), and I’d already<br />
purchased my costume (a full<br />
silk satin fantasy from the Prada<br />
2007 collection, turban and<br />
all), so I was able to focus on<br />
helping him pull everything<br />
together.<br />
I didn’t have time to change,<br />
showing up in a crop top,<br />
denim overall shorts and my<br />
Coach backpack, a Lindsay<br />
Clan plaid shirt tied around my<br />
waist. (Fun fact: I’m Scottish,<br />
Clan of Lindsay, I just haven’t<br />
had any occasion to wear my<br />
kilt to yet.)<br />
Everyone arrived by 11, and the<br />
bar was in full swing. I had no<br />
idea what to expect: Despite<br />
the fact that Boxers has been<br />
popular enough to spawn<br />
locations in Chelsea, Hell’s<br />
Kitchen, The Upper East Side<br />
and now Washington Heights,<br />
I didn’t know if a gay bar so far<br />
uptown would do well.<br />
But by 12, the bar was<br />
shoulder-to-shoulder packed,<br />
our animated host Zarria<br />
Van Wales dancing around<br />
and keeping spirits up. (I<br />
wished she was doing a show<br />
that night: I’m way better at<br />
cheering for drag queens<br />
doing the splits than dancing<br />
myself.) Despite her energy,<br />
something in me switched off.<br />
Everyone was dancing and<br />
having fun—but I wasn’t<br />
having fun anymore. The<br />
drinks were strong and bitter, I<br />
couldn’t move without hitting<br />
someone and people kept<br />
bumping my backpack. (Who<br />
the fuck is stupid enough to<br />
bring a backpack to a bar on<br />
a Saturday night? …Me, that’s<br />
who.)<br />
At one point, it became too<br />
much, and I felt claustrophobic.<br />
I slipped through the crowd<br />
onto the upper platform, by<br />
the front door, and managed to<br />
snag a seat in a booth to take a<br />
breather.<br />
I desperately wanted to be<br />
the fun one. I used to be the<br />
fun one: the one who insisted<br />
everyone go out when they<br />
were tired, the one who<br />
bopped from bar to bar, doing<br />
bumps in bathrooms to make<br />
it to 4 a.m., and that’s when the<br />
after-party<br />
began.<br />
But now, just<br />
28, barely past<br />
midnight, I<br />
was tired and<br />
grumpy, and I<br />
wanted to go<br />
home.<br />
So I left,<br />
slowly walking<br />
the 10-block<br />
walk home,<br />
listening to<br />
Fleetwood<br />
Mac. Is this<br />
me now? I<br />
wondered,<br />
waiting for a<br />
streetlight to<br />
change. Am I<br />
having an off<br />
night, or have<br />
I outgrown<br />
going out and having fun? Is<br />
this what it feels like to get<br />
older?<br />
“But time makes you bolder,<br />
even children get older—and<br />
I’m getting older, too.” Stevie<br />
Nicks gets me.<br />
My boyfriend stumbled in<br />
around 3 a.m., drunk and<br />
happy and young enough<br />
to not be hungover the next<br />
morning. A little jealous, I<br />
helped him get off his jeans<br />
and into bed before he passed<br />
out.<br />
I vowed to go back to Boxers<br />
Washington Heights on a<br />
weeknight, after work, when I<br />
could have a quiet drink at the<br />
bar, without having to dance<br />
or stay up past my bedtime—<br />
once 6 a.m., now 10 p.m.—<br />
10:30 if the chapter of the book<br />
I’m reading is too good to put<br />
down.
I QUIT FOR OUR FUTURE.<br />
I QUIT FOR GOOD.<br />
You may be eligible for the<br />
Nicotine Patch & Lozenge Giveaway<br />
ENDS OCTOBER 18 TH<br />
QUIT SMOKING TODAY. Visit nysmokefree.com or call 1-866-NY-QUITS.
BY OWEN KEEHNEN<br />
EVERYTHING’S<br />
COMING UP<br />
ROSES FOR<br />
LEO SCHWARTZ<br />
Leo Schwartz became<br />
a fan of musical theater<br />
in the 1980s, when<br />
he toured with the<br />
company of Evita as<br />
a professional horn<br />
player. “A friend on the<br />
tour had cassettes of<br />
Company and Sweeney<br />
Todd, and I was<br />
mesmerized. I wanted<br />
to write with that level<br />
of sophistication and<br />
emotional drama,” he<br />
says.<br />
PHOTO CREDIT: RUSS ROWLAND<br />
The more he explored<br />
musical theater, the<br />
more he admired much<br />
of the work. “There was<br />
cleverness and character<br />
in the lyrics and score,”<br />
he says. “There was<br />
craft. With some musical<br />
theater writers, there<br />
is astounding craft. It<br />
appealed to my intellect<br />
as well as my heart.”
For Schwartz, becoming a produced lyricist/composer has<br />
been a dream come true, but one that took 30 years to<br />
materialize. Despite daytime gigs as a fundraiser and a realtor,<br />
he kept writing. “It’s hard to make a living as a non-degreed<br />
composer; plus, I can’t play the piano, so that was an obstacle.<br />
I kept juggling my time as best I could to cover my jobs and<br />
learn how to write. I was ready to throw it all in five years ago,<br />
but my husband [Dan] told me that regardless of where I<br />
thought I should be by the time I was 60, I should keep writing,<br />
because that’s who I am.” Dan’s sage advice was well timed.<br />
Last April, Schwartz turned 60. Two weeks later, his mentor, Ken<br />
Davenport, charged him with producing The Book of Merman<br />
off-Broadway.<br />
The idea for the show came after rehearsals for another<br />
Schwartz production, Under a Rainbow Flag. “The director said<br />
he and a friend were drinking martinis and laughing about what<br />
would happen if two Mormon missionaries rang Ethel Merman’s<br />
doorbell, and they could call it The Book of Merman,” Schwartz<br />
says. “I probably rolled my eyes. The idea of writing a parody<br />
was not appealing to me. But three days later I had a story arch<br />
and realized I could craft an original story from that setup.”
In the show, Mormon missionaries Elder Shumway and Elder Braithwaite are<br />
having a tough day carrying the message when the two discover that the<br />
woman they are visiting is named Ethel Merman. As a closet theater queen,<br />
Shumway is beside himself, but Braithwaite is hesitant to believe it is really<br />
the Broadway legend.<br />
For Schwartz,<br />
the diva proved<br />
a wonderful<br />
inspiration.<br />
“Ethel Merman<br />
is an element,<br />
primary and<br />
foundational.<br />
No one<br />
embraces<br />
musical theater<br />
without<br />
embracing<br />
her. She’s like<br />
the Mona Lisa,<br />
always there,<br />
always smiling.”<br />
Originally<br />
produced by<br />
Pride Films<br />
and Plays,<br />
The Book<br />
of Merman<br />
enjoyed a<br />
critically<br />
acclaimed,<br />
sold-out, threemonth<br />
run<br />
at Chicago’s<br />
Apollo Theater,<br />
followed by<br />
engagements<br />
nationwide.<br />
The off-<br />
Broadway<br />
production<br />
features an<br />
original score<br />
of 17 full songs.<br />
Performances<br />
begin October<br />
5 at St. Luke’s<br />
Theatre (308<br />
West 46th<br />
Street).<br />
Schwartz still does a double take when he sees his name on the marquee. “It<br />
is totally surreal,” he says. “My heart palpitates every time I see it. In an odd<br />
way, it’s a little embarrassing, and I have a reaction like, ‘Did anyone notice?’”
It’s Delightful. It’s Delicious. It’s De-Merman!<br />
A DIVA-DRIVEN MUSICAL<br />
PLAYING OFF BROADWAY<br />
OCTOBER <strong>2018</strong><br />
BookOfMermanMusical.com
“A NIFTY GLIMPSE OF <strong>GAY</strong>S GONE BY.”<br />
—Michael Musto, <strong>Out</strong> <strong>Magazine</strong><br />
BOOK, MUSIC, AND LYRICS BY MARK SONNENBLICK<br />
CO-CONCIEVED BY SAM BOLEN<br />
CHOREOGRAPHY BY ANDREW PALERMO<br />
DIRECTED BY MAX FRIEDMAN<br />
BY ARRANGEMENT WITH VISCERAL ENTERTAINMENT<br />
AND MARK CORTALE PRODUCTIONS<br />
1965. An Illegal Greenwich Village gay bar. Two men caught in a passion<br />
they can’t control and a political revolution they don’t understand.<br />
A timeless musical romance inspired by the Great American Songbook.<br />
A NEW MUSICAL IN THE<br />
HEART OF NYC’S MIDTOWN<br />
EAST ARTS DISTRICT<br />
“SO SMART, SO FUNNY, SO MOVING!<br />
THE AUDIENCE BRISTLES WITH THE EXCITEMENT<br />
OF BEING PRESENT AT THE BIRTH OF WHAT<br />
COULD BE A MAJOR MUSICAL.”<br />
-The Bistro Awards (2017 Bistro Award Winner)<br />
OCTOBER 2<strong>–</strong>NOVEMBER 4, <strong>2018</strong> | AT SAINT PETER’S<br />
E M 6<br />
ENTRANCE ON 54TH STREET JUST EAST OF LEXINGTON AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY<br />
YORKTHEATRE.ORG | (212) 935-5820 | #MIDNIGHTATTHEYORK
week in pictures >> BY WILSONMODELS / wilsonmodels.blogspot.com<br />
RUPAUL’S DRAG CON NYC - JAVITZ CONVENTION CENTER
week in pictures >> BY WILSONMODELS / wilsonmodels.blogspot.com<br />
CORONA BEACH BOWL @ LUCKY STRIKE
week in pictures >> BY WILSONMODELS / wilsonmodels.blogspot.com<br />
MISS'D AMERICA @ BORGATA ATLANTIC CITY
BY MARK CHESNUT<br />
THE PERFECT<br />
<strong>GAY</strong> GETAWAY<br />
IN ATLANTIC CITY<br />
Once the autumn and<br />
winter months roll around,<br />
many people assume you<br />
need to board a plane if you<br />
want to enjoy a great gay<br />
getaway. But a year-round<br />
LGBT vacation paradise lies<br />
much closer: Borgata Hotel<br />
Casino & Spa (theborgata.<br />
com), the upscale resort in<br />
Atlantic City, New Jersey.<br />
Decidedly one of the best<br />
hotels in Atlantic City,<br />
Borgata offers an impressive<br />
array of LGBT-friendly<br />
activities through its OUT<br />
at Borgata (out.theborgata.<br />
com) program, which<br />
includes hotel packages,<br />
entertainment and special<br />
events year-round. I recently<br />
attended Pride Bingo, which<br />
starred “RuPaul’s Drag Race<br />
All-Stars” winner Trixie<br />
Mattel, and the property<br />
also hosts the annual<br />
Miss’d America Pageant in<br />
September. Every Thursday,<br />
hotel guests can enjoy the<br />
Burlesque Show, a glittering<br />
production with male<br />
and female dancers and<br />
performers.
In case you’re considering tying the<br />
knot, the resort also provides lots of<br />
possibilities for same-sex weddings and<br />
honeymoons.<br />
Borgata offers so many options for<br />
relaxation and excitement that you<br />
could easily spend several days there<br />
without leaving the grounds. I stayed<br />
in the Water Club, the luxurious tower<br />
with stylish accommodations that offer<br />
spectacular water views. We sampled<br />
mouthwatering cuisine at several of the<br />
15 dining venues, including a variety of<br />
hip restaurants run by celebrity chefs<br />
including Bobby Flay and Wolfgang<br />
Puck. And the Borgata bakery is a true<br />
delight, with thick sandwiches and<br />
sweet treats like “cupcake in a jar” and<br />
adults-only spiked milkshakes.
Must-try amenities include<br />
two expansive spas as well<br />
as two beautiful indoor<br />
swimming pools, where the<br />
lush landscaping just might<br />
make you feel like you’ve<br />
jetted off to a tropical getaway<br />
(there are also two large<br />
outdoor pools for the warmer<br />
months). You can also indulge<br />
in some elegant shopping,<br />
and there are four unique<br />
nightlife options, including<br />
Premier Nightclub, where top<br />
DJs from around the globe<br />
often keep the beats flowing,<br />
and the light system is simply<br />
hypnotizing. And let’s not<br />
forget the 161,000-square-foot<br />
casino, for travelers who crave<br />
gaming.<br />
Borgata also proves its LGBT friendliness<br />
through its membership in the International<br />
Gay and Lesbian Travel Association and<br />
the Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance.<br />
In addition, the Human Rights Campaign<br />
Foundation named Borgata one of the “Best<br />
Places to Work for LGBT Equality” in both<br />
2016 and 2017.<br />
OUT at Borgata: OUT.THEBORGATA.COM<br />
In case you do decide to<br />
leave the property, both the<br />
legendary boardwalk and<br />
the Rainbow Room, Atlantic<br />
City’s gay bar, are less than 10<br />
minutes away by car.<br />
Big-name performers are<br />
among the draws at Borgata,<br />
with upcoming shows by Sting<br />
and Shaggy (September 21),<br />
Modest Mouse (October 7),<br />
The Temptations and the Four<br />
Tops (October 26), Garbage<br />
(October 26), the Doobie<br />
Brothers (November 3), Il<br />
Divo (November 24) and 98<br />
Degrees (December 15).
THOMAS<br />
TALKS<br />
ABOUT: BOYFRIEND<br />
Thinking about going<br />
to a sex party with<br />
your significant other?<br />
It would absolutely<br />
be in your benefit<br />
to have a few very<br />
direct conversations<br />
about boundaries and<br />
expectations before<br />
going. You can even<br />
make an exit plan<br />
should one of you<br />
decide that you don’t<br />
want to go through with<br />
it. For many, this first<br />
conversation might seem<br />
like the most difficult to<br />
have, but there may be<br />
plenty more to come.<br />
Rules and boundaries<br />
may have to be adjusted.<br />
My boyfriend and I<br />
went to our first sex<br />
party! I think we did<br />
everything right:<br />
We talked about<br />
boundaries and stuff<br />
before, and neither of<br />
us stepped outside of<br />
them. It was fine, but<br />
he enjoyed it more<br />
than me. The issue now<br />
is that he wants us to<br />
keep going, but I don’t<br />
want us to. How do<br />
you close the door<br />
after you’ve already<br />
opened it? - Male, Gay,<br />
31<br />
It’s great that you guys<br />
set up predetermined<br />
boundaries before going<br />
to your first party. It’s<br />
really important that<br />
people going in with<br />
their significant others<br />
have conversations<br />
beforehand about what<br />
is and isn’t acceptable.<br />
I’d recommend you<br />
both now talk about<br />
why you do and don’t<br />
want to keep going.<br />
Did you just not enjoy<br />
it? What would make it<br />
more enjoyable for you?<br />
Was it difficult for you<br />
to see him with others?<br />
What did he like about<br />
it? How would you feel<br />
about him going without<br />
you? Unfortunately, it<br />
may not be as simple<br />
as just closing the door,<br />
but a new approach or<br />
an adjustment to the<br />
boundaries might allow<br />
both of you to have your<br />
needs met.<br />
I’ve been going to<br />
group sex events with<br />
my partner for a while<br />
now, and it’s usually<br />
very fun. These events<br />
are the only time we<br />
allow each other to<br />
have sex with other<br />
& PARTIES<br />
people. I recently<br />
found out he’s been<br />
meeting people on<br />
apps and then telling<br />
them to come to the<br />
sex party to hook up.<br />
Technically, he’s only<br />
having sex at the party,<br />
but he’s like setting it<br />
up beforehand. This<br />
seems like a grey area?<br />
IDK. Thoughts? - Male,<br />
Gay, 26<br />
Yikes. Total grey area,<br />
and perhaps even a bit<br />
deceptive. Technically,<br />
he abided by the rules<br />
of no sex outside of the<br />
parties, but it sounds<br />
like he was planning for<br />
these parties in a way<br />
that you didn’t know<br />
about. I imagine, to<br />
some degree, you may<br />
feel left out, and this is a<br />
good place to start. I’m<br />
curious if you’d prefer<br />
he doesn’t plan for them<br />
beforehand, or if you’d<br />
just like to be kept in<br />
the loop. Both would<br />
require an adjustment<br />
to what he’s currently<br />
doing. I’d begin here,<br />
with exploring exactly<br />
what you’d like him to<br />
change. I’d also open<br />
up the discussion to<br />
see what else might be<br />
going on that should<br />
be addressed (is he<br />
planning in other ways<br />
too?).<br />
Sex/Love/ReLationShip advice? Send youR queStionS to: thomaStaLkSabout@gmaiL.com<br />
@thomaSWhitfieLd84
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Cover: The Book Of Merman<br />
Photo Credit Russ Rowland<br />
ISSUE <strong>387</strong> - OCTOBER 3 <strong>2018</strong><br />
PUBLISHER<br />
MIKE TODD<br />
MIKE@GETOUTMAG.COM<br />
(646) 761-3325<br />
DESIGN<br />
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NATIONAL ADVERTISNG<br />
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CONTRIBUTORS<br />
CELEBRITY CORRESPONDENT<br />
EILEEN SHAPIRO<br />
IAN-MICHAEL BERGERON
JOIN US IF YOU (TRUTH OR) DARE...<br />
OCTOBER 31 ✟ 8PM<br />
COSTUME CONTEST<br />
AT MIDNIGHT!<br />
MADONNATHON.COM<br />
TICKETWEB.COM<br />
HIGHLINEBALLROOM.COM<br />
431 W 16TH STREET BTW 9/10 AVE