Singing Praises of the Gay Choral Movement

The Scene: Saturday night at the Bel Age Hotel, where the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA) handed out its first Muse awards, honoring people who have advanced the gay and lesbian choral movement in the United States. (The chorus’s artistic director, John Bailey, explained the reason for the name of the award: “We share this city with an industry that eats muses for breakfast.”)

The Honorees: Actress Bea Arthur; Roger Bourland and John Hall, composer and librettist, respectively, of “Hidden Legacies,” the chorus’s commissioned work about AIDS; Bonnie Grice, host of KUSC-FM’s “Morning Program,” and Helen Speegle, Denver-based president of the nationwide group the Gay and Lesbian Assn. of Choruses (GALA).

Who Was There: Female illusionist Charles Pierce, singer Marilynn Lovell Matz, and the choral group Company L.A, all of whom performed; composer David Conte; GMCLA president John Knoebel; Advocate magazine publisher Niles Merton, and Rep. Howard Berman and his wife, Janis.

Dress Code: Black-tie optional. Most of the guests wore the increasingly ubiquitous red lapel ribbon signifying AIDS awareness. (More than 70 members of the L.A. chorus have died from AIDS-related illnesses.)

Fashion Statement: Mr. Blackwell, the czar of the worst-dressed lists, wore a white suit, lemon-yellow shirt and red tie. It made him, well, hard to miss.

Triumphs: KCBS-TV entertainment reporter Steve Kmetko brought down the house with his line, “Due to offspring beyond her control, Phyllis Schlafly could not be here tonight.” He was referring to an interview last week in which Schlafly’s son acknowledged that he is gay.

Glitches: Such “first annual” dinners tend to run long, and this was no exception. More heinous, though, was the fact that Blackwell and Arthur (a fixture on his annual worst-dressed list) ate dinner at tables within arm’s reach of each other. As seating plans go, it was the equivalent of asking Tom Bradley and Daryl Gates to share a love seat.