PREMIERED IN THE SOMA DISTRICT, SAN FRANCISCO, CA (2016)
CONCEPT/DIRECTION:
Amy Lewis
ORIGINAL MOVEMENT/PERFORMANCE:
Joe Landini
PROLOGUE/EPILOGUE:
Researched and written by Amy Lewis, read by Agnes Szelag
MAIN TEXT:
Compiled and edited from a 2015 interview with Joe Landini conducted by Amy lewis
FINAL SOUND EDITING:
Dan Wool
MUSIC:
“I’ll House You” by the Jungle Brothers, “I Can’t Forget” by Mr. Lee, “Like This” by Chip E., “You Use to Hold Me” by Ralphi Rosario, “Let’s Go” by Farley JackMaster Funk, “Respect” by Adeva, “Good Life” by Inner City. Mixed by DJ Chill X
SITES:
Powerhouse, gay bar and sex club; Brush Place and Hallam St., home to many gay men before the fire of 1981; Harriet St., close to 1015 Folsom which was a major bathhouse complex; Morris St., significant for freeway overpass, a landmark of SoMa since 1936; Blow Buddies, sex club
ABOUT
SoMa Now and Then was part of a body of work that explores how our psyche is effected by the rapid change we witness in our city. Throughout her life Lewis intends to explore San Francisco’s multifarious neighborhoods, creating performance pieces (each focused on a different area) that combine a walking tour with a dance piece. Tread the Tendernob (2011), produced in conjunction with Meridian Gallery, was the first project of this kind that was created.
SoMa Now and Then consisted of one man’s journey through South of Market’s back alleys and secret rooms, as the neighborhood’s queer culture shifts from the heyday of leathermen into today’s tech boom. Through choreographed movement and personal anecdote, artist Joe Landini led audiences on a walking tour of the neighborhood, beginning at the SF Eagle at the corner of 12th and Harrison Streets, and finishing at Blow Buddies several blocks away.
REFERENCES
Groth, Paul. Living Downtown: The History of Residential Hotels in the United States. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994.
Hartman, Chester. City for Sale: The Transformation of San Francisco. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
Hittell, John Shertzer. A History of San Francisco and Incidentally of the State of California. San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft & Company, 1878.
Lipsky, William. Gay and Lesbian San Francisco. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2006.
Sides, Josh. Erotic City: Sexual Revolutions and the Making of Modern San Francisco. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Praetzellis, Mary and Adrian Praetzellis, eds. South of Market: Historical Archeology of 3 San Francisco Neighborhoods. California Department of Transportation. Sonoma: Anthropological Studies Center, 2009.
Gayle, Rubin. “Elegy for the Valley of the Kings: AIDS and the Leather Community in San Francisco, 1981-1996.” In Changing Times: Gay Men and Lesbians Encounter HIV/AIDS. Eds. Martin P. Levine, Peter M. Nardi, and John H. Gagnon. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997. 101-143.
—, “Leather’s Proust, in Pictures.” City of Wounded Boys & Sexual Warriors. Ed. Mark I. Chester. San Francisco: Mark I. Chester, 2015. 120-25.
—, “The Miracle Mile: South of Market and Gay Male Leather in San Francisco, 1962–1996.” Reclaiming San Francisco: History, Politics, Culture. Eds. James Brook, Chris Carlsson, and Nancy Peters. San Francisco: City LightsBooks, 1998. 247-72.
—, “Requiem for the Valley of the Kings,” Southern Oracle, Fall 1989.
—. “Sites, Settlements, and Urban Sex: Archaeology and the Study of Gay Leathermen in San Francisco 1955-1995.” Archaeologies of Sexuality. Eds. Robert Schmidt and Barbara Voss. London: Routledge, 2000. 62-88.
—,“The South of Market Leather History: A Short History and Walking Tour Guide.” San Francisco Frontiers, 20 Sept. 2001.
