Fancy parties need fancy food, booze, centerpieces, ambiance, and glittering attendees. They need performances, which means they need a one-time indoor entertainment permit from the Entertainment Commission. And if anyone at your party wants to dance? That's a whole separate permit. San Francisco had dance-permit laws on the books for decades; it was our own quiet "Footloose" until just last year.
I say this to illustrate the accomplishment of the Community Music Center, which clears all these hurdles and puts on one of the fanciest soirées I see all year. Not long ago they held it in the Garden Court, a room where horse-drawn carriages used to pull up in 1875, and which was rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake into 8,000 square feet of Italian marble columns and 70,000 pieces of hand-cut stained glass overhead.
Now at the Ritz Carlton, the party still intimidated me enough to park my Subaru down the street instead of using the valet. I was fresh off Brides of March that day and in my white couture ballgown; always a fun way to walk past rows of children singing choral tunes.
Gala royalty Sharon Seto was part of CMC's host committee this year, which is why I suspect I saw politicos Scott Wiener and Rafael Mandelman making the rounds. I personally could not get over meeting Katya's mom. When she named-dropped it so nonchalantly, I thought for sure she meant this Katya:
But more appropriately, it was Katya Smirnoff-Skyy, a local drag queen I also know. I gossiped a bit with her mom, Jane, about garment making and the soon-premiering Don Quixote across town. (Which I loved.) And of course I was busily texting everyone in the gayborhood that I had just met Katya's mom. 😂
Sorry — we're here to discuss the gala. The children. Community Music Center is the oldest community arts organization in the Bay Area, founded in 1921 by a woman named Gertrude Field who spun it out of the Dolores Street Girls Club. It's been in the same Victorian at 544 Capp Street in the Mission ever since, alongside the newly-opened 522 Capp location, and a second campus in Richmond District. The mission is straightforward: make music education available to anyone regardless of what they can pay. They serve more than 3,100 students per year and provide tuition assistance to nearly 70 percent of them.
The Bold Italic
Watching these students reminds me of a childhood growing up playing the violin. I lived a privileged life that afforded me any vocational activity I wanted, and then some. For my Bar Mitzvah, my grandfather Carl Sugarman gave me a Storioni violin circa 1733, and my dad later gifted a newer one commissioned for me when he was in Shanghai. I spent years playing in the Sacramento Youth Symphony and as a soloist. And I was not particularly disciplined, but the experience taught me much about socializing. Respect for elders. Appreciation of classical music.
"I learned at the age of 11 that the secret to getting better at something is as simple as practicing" — this small truth said by Angel Rosales, 18, is the same one my grandmother Merriel Taylor, an oil pastel painter, imparted on me during my formative years as an artist. Sure, natural talent exists; I do believe this. But there's also nothing we can't learn ourselves through the simple act of hard work.
Listen I always love this gala but it is in fact a long one. There's cocktails, dinner, speeches, an auction, then recitals, and then dancing. I tapped out this year a bit early to rush off to a friend's birthday party. Also because the spring social season and arts calendar is already wishing me certain death by draining all my energy. I have often heard San Francisco called a small, or chill, or sleepy city. Maybe for some people, but not for this writer.
Party details
The spring gala has been CMC's flagship fundraiser for more than 40 years. Individual tickets run $500; a table of ten is $5,000. This year's party was the its most well-attended ever, with a record-breaking paddle raise led by last-minute auctioneer Jonathan Moscone bringing in over $425,000 for scholarships and tuition-free programs. The evening honored Ronald Gallman, recently retired Director of Education at the San Francisco Symphony and longtime CMC board member, alongside dedicated supporters Sharon L. Litsky and John F. Sampson, all three receiving the Gertrude Field Community Impact Award.
Performers ranged from CMC's Children's Chorus and Mariachi members to pianist Elizabeth Dorman, members of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, and Le Jazz Hot Quartet, which featured CMC alum Cullen Luper.
Saul Sugarman is editor-in-chief and owner of The Bold Italic.
The Bold Italic is a not-for-profit media organization, and we publish first-person perspectives about San Francisco and the Bay Area. We operate under a fiscal sponsorship of a 501(c)(3).
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Most of these photos are taken by the very talented team at Drew Altizer Photography. Pictured attendees include Navid Armstrong, Lauren and Erik Erickson, Julie Rulyak, Kari Lincks Coomans – who is also pictured – emceed the event.
A quick note to the arts organizations who ravenously read my reviews
I recently discussed publicly my ownership of the brand and its need for income. I'm really fucking grateful to the subscribers who donated some $3,000 recently to pay our web hosting and domain registration fees. I realize I dress like the wife of a venture capitalist who is going to keep your lights on. But without more sponsorship deals like this recent one, The Bold Italic will again be in some sort of limbo in the not-too-distant future.
To the arts orgs: If you have a marketing budget, please consider the significant reach we have among a young, motivated audience that's hungry to experience more art. Consider that, when I come to your events, it is sort of as a bearded semi-toned unpaid drag queen in the fanciest dress I have made for your events.
I am not really one to talk about this sort of thing and it's making me very uncomfortable now. But I suspect many of the organizations out there don't really know this story or that of The Bold Italic's. If you're learning it now or deciding you'd like to get involved, I think now is a great time to make it official. Get in touch at saul@thebolditalic.com — or text me if you already have my number!
April is coming
For whatever reason, the folks in SF high society (and the gays) like to punish me with the most ridiculous schedule ever in April. If you're looking for somewhere to wear your fancy prom dress or jumpsuit that's collecting dust next to your Patagonia vests, now is the perfect time to get it ready.
- Hunky Jesus is April 5th and I already wrote a preview.
- On April 9th, Red Curtain Addict is hosting their second annual Bay’s Stage Arts Soirée on Thursday, April 9 (three weeks from today!) at Local Edition.
- SF Ballet has—count them—two premieres. La Sylphide on April 10th and Mere Mortals comes back on April 24th!!! (Read my review.)
- April 16th is the de Young gala late night. (Their expensive AF dinner portion is already sold out.)
- SF Ballet's Young Patron's Circle is hosting their Spring soirée on April 17th at The Academy. (Can't find the ticket page but it's listed here.)
- April 18th is both Dress for Success gala and LGBT Center Soirée. (Of which we are actually a media sponsor, but I will be over at Dress For Success gala.)
- On April 29th is Art Bash at SF MOMA.
