Out There :: Purple is the New Blue

Blue might have been the warmest color of 2013, but in 2014 it's all about "The Color Purple," at least for Valentine's Day. Out There is pleased to announce that our own little sweetheart Marc Huestis is mounting a stellar Castro Theatre celebration of director Steven Spielberg's beloved classic 1985 movie.

"The Color Purple," based on the Alice Walker novel, first brought to the screen the spectacular talents of Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. And this VD Day, Huestis is bringing the film's most endearing character, Shug Avery, aka Academy Award nominee Margaret Avery, to town for a loving in-person tribute.

The love between the two women - Goldberg's sweet, sensitive Celie , and sultry, sexual Shug Avery - is at the heart of the picture, which makes it picture-perfect for a Castro Valentine's Day, as well as to honor Black History Month. The event will be also be a homecoming for Ms. Avery, who is a proud alum of San Francisco State University. Also on the bill: Bebe Sweetbriar doing a stirring rendition of "Miss Celie's Blues"; an excerpt from the new award-winning documentary "Alice Walker - Beauty in Truth," introduced by director Pratibha Parmar, past recipient of Frameline's Lifetime Achievement Award; and a rare screening of "The Color Purple," heralded by Roger Ebert as "a warm, hard, triumphant movie." This gala springs into action on Friday, February 14, at 7:30 p.m. Call 863-0611, ask for Harpo, and get a sweet discount!

Comic Triumph

Comedian Marga Gomez was Queen of the Night on New Year's Eve, and she was proudly in her element at the Brava Theater Center for their second annual NYE Comedy Fiesta. Not only did she bring the laughs - as did emcee Mario Montes and fellow comics Micia Mosely and Dhaya Lakshminarayanan - but Marga made sure Out There, Pepi, and fellow audience members stayed put in the Brava's spacious lobby for the after-show dance party helmed by DJ Mark Mark - "Where are you going, a circuit party?" So she was headliner, publicist, party hostess and countdown queen, all in one festive night! That's what we call multitasking.

"If I may leave you with just one take-away from tonight's performance," Gomez told the full-house audience, "it's this: Always smile when you masturbate!" She then treated us to her usual expression during orgasm - her so-called "O-face" - and yes, agreed, smiling is better.

She also regaled us with the hilarious story of purchasing and partaking of some medical marijuana at a "clinic," then experiencing a wave of paranoia walking home. Sure that someone was following her, she looked behind her warily only to discover that the stalker was "my own hoodie!" Can we just go ahead and appoint Marga Gomez Mayor-for-Life of Coolsville? Done.

Organ Master

SFJAZZ will be presenting the organist Cameron Carpenter at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco on Friday, January 24. Carpenter's program, never announced in advance, will likely include some Bach, original compositions, and clever takes on today's popular music. At Grace Cathedral, Carpenter will take on the Alexander Memorial Organ, which houses 125 ranks and nearly 7,466 pipes. In his hands, this impressive organ is sure to captivate San Francisco audiences.

As in most of his performances, there's no telling where Carpenter's boundless creativity will lead. He recently signed a long-term multi-album recording contract with Sony Classical. His first album, scheduled to release this year, will combine a variety of his famous transcriptions and settings of classical and modern music, including a cycle of "song treatments" ranging from the American Songbook to the present day, with a world-premiere recording of his new work for organ, Music for an Imaginary Film (2013). Tickets and further info are at sfjazz.org.

Monster Mash-up

The website The Collinsport Historical Society is dedicated to the cult TV-drama "Dark Shadows." But Collinsport bloggers recently stepped up their game and published a book dedicated to their favorite horror movies, and the result is "Monster Serial: Morbid Love Letters to Horror Cinema," a new paperback from CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, available at Amazon. Essays consider the classic Bela Lugosi Dracula, Vincent Price's works with William Castle and Roger Corman, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the movies of Val Lewton, Stephen King and others. B.A.R. contributing writer David-Elijah Nahmod is among the writers.

"I contributed essays on the classic chillers 'City of the Dead,' aka 'Horror Hotel' (1960), and 'The Deadly Bees' (1966)," Nahmod told OT in an e-mail. "The Deadly Bees was the first horror movie I ever saw in a cinema. I was 11 years old, and it scared the shit out of me! I'm still 'bee-phobic' because of it!" That's buzz-worthy.

Correx Box

Most befuddling correction of the year, from The New York Times: "An art review on Friday about Jewels by JAR, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, misstated the name of a type of brooch in the show. It is a fibula brooch, not a fistula brooch." Fibula: an ancient brooch. Fistula: an abnormal connection between two epithelium-lined organs. Oops.

And on our own watch, the exhibition dates for the Asian Art Museum's upcoming "Yoga: The Art of Transformation" show in last week's issue were incorrect. The exhibit will run Feb. 21 through May 25. We regret the error. To err is human; to forgive divine.