OUT IN THE BAY Celebrates 10th Anniversary at Oasis Nightclub Tonight
By: BWW News Desk Apr. 29, 2015
Tickets are $20 gen. admission (advance) / $25 at door, and $50 VIP (first two rows & include 1 top shelf cocktail.) and are available at http://bit.ly/outinthebay or by calling 510-816-0450.
The live show being taped will be a retrospective with audio clips from past shows and hosts Eric Jansen and Marilyn Pittman telling some of the back-stories that didn't make it onto the public radio airwaves.
Schedule for 4/29/15 event:
5:00 - 6:00 pm Socializing, food provided by La Mediteranee, No host bar
6:00 - 7:00 pm Entertainment and half-hour show taping - live.
7:00 - 8:00 pm Socializing, opportunity to meet hosts & performers.
Performance by The Lollipop Guild, an ensemble of the SF Gay Men's Chorus, jazz crooner Joshua Klipp (accompanied by Out In The Bay theme music creator Holly Mead) plus other performers to be announced.
As lesbian and gay broadcasters, hosts Marilyn Pittman and Eric Jansen can ask questions and get answers other journalists don't. When Jansen asked Oscar-winning director Ang Lee why gay themes are in so many of his movies, Lee - who is married to a woman - answered: "maybe I'm gay." Matthew Shepard's mother, Judy Shepard, shared intimate details about her murdered son's life. Guests on Out in the Bay have included celebrities - Margaret Cho, Cybill Shepherd, Michael Feinstein, the late Lesley Gore, flamenco guitarist and "cuchi-cuchi girl" Charo, filmmakers Ang Lee and John Waters. In addition the show has interviewed authors, activists, historians and everyday people with compelling stories about the realities of LGBT life.
Out in the Bay has fans in high places, including frequent listeners State Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), who has issued official congratulations to Out in the Bay for its 10 years of service, and Kate Kendell, executive director of SF-based National Center for Lesbian Rights.
"Our stories need to be heard, and Out in the Bay allows listeners a glimpse into [our] diverse and crucial experiences," said Kendell, who has discussed legal issues affecting lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual people on the program. "I've been inspired and moved by Out in the Bay's work for years, and commend their commitment to bringing LGBT voices to the public in an elegant and accessible manner."
Jansen, a long-time broadcast and print journalist, founded the program. Pittman teaches at UC Berkeley's Journalism School and consults NPR stations. Pittman and Jansen have each racked up numerous awards for their individual work, and Out in the Bay received a 2012 "Excellence in Journalism" award and two previous awards from the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA).
Like many programs on community radio stations, Out in the Bay is an independent production. KALW provides studio use and air time, but does not pay Pittman or Jansen to produce the show. Businesses occasionally underwrite some costs in exchange for on-air credits and individual listeners donate, but it's primarily a labor of love.
"Out in the Bay has thousands of listeners, but we don't often hear from them as we are not a call-in show," says Jansen. "When we do, it can be quite moving."
One couple sponsored a gay Iranian refugee after hearing an interview describing the horrific tortures and other persecution queer people face in some countries. "We were thrilled that the young Iranian was finally resettled in Australia," the listener wrote. "My partner put him in contact with Facebook friends in Melbourne, and we've been able to talk with him and see him via Skype. I thought you might like to know what's resulted from your interview."
One of Jansen's fondest memories is interviewing Phyllis Lyon and the late Del Martin, the first same-sex couple to marry in SF City Hall in 2004 and again in 2008 after the California Supreme Court finally ruled such weddings legal. "Two years after their first wedding, when then-Mayor Gavin Newsom challenged California's ban on same-sex marriage, they invited me into their home, where we talked for two hours," said Jansen. "They shared their love story - how they met, how long they were 'just friends,' who made the first pass, and about their pub crawl on Castro Street in 1953 that ended with them being kicked out of what's now the Twin Peaks Tavern." They also told Jansen about the true roots of their activism: "They co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis not because they planned to start our country's first national lesbian political organization - they just wanted a place where women could dance together without being arrested!"
Pittman has fond memories too: "When I showed up at Cybil Shepherd's hotel suite, she took her time answering the door, as it was her birthday the night before and she was still not quite herself after midnight," Pittman recalled. "She was wearing a long white bathrobe. We sat on the couch side by side so I could get the mic close. ..."
Pittman said it was especially challenging to interview '60s pop icon Lesley Gore in 2007 after her show at the Napa Valley Opera House. "She got prickly when I introduced myself as being from a gay radio show. 'You got 10 minutes,' she said testily after selling CD's over glasses of white wine. We needed the 20 her publicist had promised," said Pittman. "I panicked inside and knew not to bring up the G word again. So we started with the past, with Quincy Jones and NYC in the '60s, and eventually she warmed up and told us which famous Congresswoman had helped her come out."
"I got to interview John Waters because I struck up a conversation with the stranger next to me at a bar in SF. He was the son of Rena Bransten, whose gallery was showing John's art that week," said Pittman. "Eric and I went to the gallery and did a sort of 'audio verite' tour of John showing us and talking about his art. Then we sat down and got deeper and he gave us hilarious sound bites that inspire me to this day." (Per his tradition, Waters autographed Jansen's underwear and so did Bransten.)
Those who attend Out in the Bay's 10th Anniversary celebration April 29 will be treated to live entertainment - including San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus ensemble The Lollipop Guild and other performers to be announced - and the taping of a retrospective show co-hosted by Pittman and Jansen featuring highlights from past interviews and back-stories that didn't make it onto the public radio airwaves.
Updated event information and a link to tickets are available at www.OutintheBay.org, along with podcasts, more than a year's-worth of the most recent shows and a dozen of Pittman's and Jansen's favorites, all available for free. Donations are gratefully accepted there.
Eric Jansen (Out in the Bay managing co-producer and host) is an on-call announcer and studio operator at KALW and KQED-FM and a communications consultant. He has reported and produced for KQED and Minnesota Public Radio, and his reports have aired on NPR, SiriusXM and other national outlets. He co-produced the 2007 PBS TV documentary Why We Sing!, about LGBT choruses' role in civil rights and narrated the film festival version, has written for numerous publications, and has received awards from the Public Radio News Directors Association, the Northwest Broadcast News Association and the Nat'l. Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association.
Marilyn Pittman (Out in the Bay co-producer and host) is the leading talent coach for NPR stations across the country and a guest lecturer at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. She narrated "Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Waste, and Our Environment," which won the 1991 Oscar for best documentary. She is a 1991 G.L.A.A.D. award-winner for her courage as an 'out' comic during the AIDS crisis in San Francisco.
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