Bay Area Reporter to Celebrate 45th Anniversary with 2016 'Besties Party'

Celebrate the Bay Area Reporter's 45th Anniversary and the 2016 Sixth Annual Besties party at Oasis on Thursday, April 7, 6 to 9 p.m. (398 11th Street at Folsom), with guest-host Shawn Ryan and performances by:

- Connie Champagne - elegant Judy Garland tribute

- Veronica Klaus - the popular local chanteuse

- Jason Brock - the powerhouse vocalist

- Kingdom! ­- the drag king hip hop ensemble

- with Tammy L. Hall piano accompanist

- and DJ Mark O'Brien

Food by La Mediterraneé. Sponsors: Alaska Airlines, Maui Sunseeker, Oasis Stanford Court. Hosted bar drink specials from 6- 7 p.m. - www.ebar.com/besties2016.

More than 3,000 readers of the historic LGBT news weekly selected their favorites in numerous categories, including best restaurants, bars, businesses and personalities.

As in previous years, the Besties are not a sit-down hours-long awards show.

Instead, winners and finalists can read the special Besties edition of the Bay Area Reporter published on April 7 to find out who won, and then enjoy the party and one-hour entertainment show.

Randomly chosen reader-winners of the special prizes will be named, as well as a few door prizes.

About the Performers:

Shawn Ryan - The singer-actor-director stops into town before his Great American Music Hall show with Andrea Marcovicci on April 9.

Whether acting, singing, or charming Regis Philbin on America's Got Talent, Shawn Ryan is one of the most entertaining talents around. Called the love child of Peter Allen and Bette Midler, Shawn's crooning and comedy is an unbeatable pair.

The MAC Award winner and actor continues to ascend in the worlds of TV, film, and cabaret. Having recently played the Cannes Film Festival with his directorial debut Charlie, Shawn is excited to be returning to San Francisco for a special concert with Andrea Marcovicci, at Great American Music Hall, on Saturday April 9. (www.slimspresents.com)

Along with his stellar singing, Ryan has been seen in numerous television shows, including Bones, The Mentalist, Life, One Night Stand Up, and Women's Murder Club where he landed the role of Karen Adams, a transgendered Drag King with narcolepsy, all thanks to Jane Lynch turning down the role. Ryan is also the co-founder of The Young Actors' Theatre Camp along with his partner of 15 years, John Ainsworth. www.shawn-ryan.com

Veronica Klaus - A 2015 Bestie-winning singer, Veronica Klaus has been performing in San Francisco for more than two decades. Her 2014 one-woman show Family Jewels played to sold out audiences at Theater Rhinoceros and she has appeared in several independent films.

Klaus' 1997 debut CD was "mostly more R&B-modeled pop, which I wrote," she said. The CD was nominated for a GLAMA Award for Best Female Artist. 2007's Live at the Lodge was recorded at the Regency Center's third floor lounge. Recorded as a benefit for Rainbow World Fund, Klaus shared the bill with gay folk-rock singer-composer Mark Weigel. Something Cool, recorded in 2012 over three days, also became the source material for Klaus' fourth CD, the latest devoted to the musical tribute to singer-composer Peggy Lee.

Klaus' classy jazz and cabaret act, often with the Tammy L. Hall trio, has been performed at a number of San Francisco's nightspots, including Enrico's, Café Du Nord and Club 181. Her recent album, the Peggy Lee songbook Lee á la V, was also performed live at Feinstein's at the Nikko in 2014. www.facebook.com/veronica.klaus

Connie Champagne began her eclectic career with roles at San Francisco's Magic Theatre and Theatre on the Square, and holds an MFA from the American Conservatory Theatre. She was recruited by Vegas In Space director Phillip R. Ford to portray the cult heroine Neely O'Hara in his long-running stage adaptation of Valley of the Dolls, which inspired her interest in drag as a theatrical form. An "unwitting pioneer of the Cocktail Nation," Champagne was the winner of the SF Weekly Wammie Award for Outstanding Cabaret Performer for her work with Scrumbly Koldewyn in Connie Champagne and her Tiny Bubbles.

Well-known for her roles portraying Judy Garland, Champagne first appeared as the legendary star in the Off-Broadway production of Christmas With The Crawfords. New York Times critic Neil Genzlinger described Champagne's performance as "a subtle masterpiece of parody and homage." Champagne has performed at the Empire Plush Room, at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and many other venues. Her next project is Landmark Musicals' upcoming West Coast debut of The Boy From Oz. www.conniechampagne.com

Jason Brock is a television, film and stage star. He was seen in homes all over the world as a finalist on X-Factor singing songs like Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind." Jason also starred in the film, Love is not Enough, which played at film festivals all over the world, including the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco.

Jason is well-known as a cabaret star and performs original shows regularly in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles. Some of his theatre roles include: Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Boxcar Theatre, a demented flower girl in Taylor Mac's The Lily's Revenge at Magic Theatre, and "Peachy Gale" in Peaches Christ's The Wizard of Odd at the Castro Theatre. www.jasonbrock.info

Kingdom! - The only drag king house in San Francisco, Kingdom will close the Besties show with a rousing number. Together for 12 years, these hot studs, led by founder Alex U. Inn, always deliver an amazing show, with high energy live vocals and mashups of old skool hip hop/R&B classics.

Their Drag King House, Kingdom!, has quickly become a popular ensemble who have performed at successful fundraisers for several community services, raising $8,000 in the past few months. Kingdom! Also creates a safe space for new kings and other performers to hone the art of Kinging. www.facebook.com/groups/725663594231001/

Tammy L. Hall - The accomplished pianist will accompany four of the performers at this year's Besties.

Ever since she started playing the piano at age 4, Tammy L Hall knew she wanted to be a musician all her life- a good, working musician. And she is doing just that. Performances with such luminary and varied vocalists as Etta Jones, Ernestine Anderson, Denise Perrier, Barbara Dane, Linda Tillery, Kim Nalley, Amikaeyla Gaston, Pamela Rose, Rhiannon, Queen Esther Marrow, Holly Near, Kenny Washington and instrumentalists/bands Houston Person, Kristen Strom, Donald Harrison, Allison Miller, Marcus Shelby, Alive! and SambaDa!, make for a rich tapestry of musical experience.

Highlights this year include working with Youth Speaks and Tammy Vaitai for the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration at the Nourse Theater in San Francisco; a conducting debut with the National Symphony of Turkmenistan, working with Paul Emerson's Company E and Broadway Abroad; working with SFJazz's Jazz In The Middle and Jazz In Session programs at Aptos Middle School and Wallenberg Highschool; and working as Musical Director for Landmark Musicals' upcoming West Coast debut of The Boy From Oz.

This year Tammy will release a solo CD entitled Just For You; a collection of listener-requested suggested songs.

Mark O'Brien - You may know him from recent events with BAAAHS (Big-Ass Amazingly Awesome Homosexual Sheep), Polyglamorous at Oasis, or in the middle of a trippy night at Burning Man. DJ Mark O'Brien and his cohorts John Major and Benjamin Bellayuto have a devoted following, having created events in clubs and a few unusual locales, from the heights of Twin Peaks to the Folsom Street Fair and the Burning Man playa. O'Brien will spin grooves before and after the Besties live show. www.facebook.com/pages/Polyglamorous/1376493542650819

Oasis snatched the crown as San Francisco's Bestie-winning favorite new club in 2015. The space's gay history, prime SoMa location, and owners' long-standing commitment to queer nightlife made Oasis a high-heeled shoe-in for the top spot.

Since opening on December 31, 2014, Oasis has quickly become a favorite, whether it's taking in one of co-owner Heklina's outrageous Saturday night dragstravaganzas at Mother, shaking what your mama gave you at Swagger Like Us, or nerding out with the musically-obsessed DJs and costume-themed events. Oasis serves up diverse events with more than a little for everyone. They also get serious bonus points for the well-designed accessible unisex bathroom featuring individual stalls.

The Moroccan-inspired Fez Room is the perfect spot for drinks with friends, and the main room -formerly an outdoor pool in an earlier incarnation of Oasis- hosts dance parties, performances and cabaret events. With great sound and lighting, a large stage, friendly staff and a welcoming "come one, come all" vibe, the appearance of this Oasis is a welcome sight for queers of all stripes thirsty for a good time. Oasis, 298 11th St. at Folsom. 795-3180. www.sfoasis.com

The Bay Area Reporter was founded 45 years ago in April 1971 by Bob Ross and Paul Bentley. It is now the country's oldest continuously published newspaper serving the LGBT community.

Ross was a pioneer in gay journalism, and the newspaper served -and continues to serve- as an important source of information for the community. The newspaper has covered virtually every major LGBT event since its founding, including the assassinations of gay Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone, the advent of the AIDS epidemic, the triumph of gays winning elected office in San Francisco and beyond, the fight to end discrimination against lesbians and gays serving openly in the military, and the fight for marriage equality.

As AIDS ravaged the gay community in the early 1980s, the paper began running obituaries of those lost to the disease. This free community service, which continues today, was pivotal because many of those lost to the disease were often estranged from their families, yet their chosen family and friends in the Bay Area could grieve and honor them with a short bio acknowledging their lives.

The newspaper also helped usher in the LGBT community's political power, concurrently with the birth of the gay Democratic political clubs. Candidates seeking office, particularly in San Francisco, found the paper's editorial offices to be a must-stop on the campaign trail and soon began to actively seek the paper's endorsement. More importantly, they included LGBT-friendly policies to their platforms. Early on, when supporting same-sex marriage was controversial, the paper made sure to get candidates' views on the record so that readers knew where they stood on this major civil rights issue. Ross was intricately involved with the paper's endorsements.

The B.A.R. was initially distributed in the city's gay bars. In the 1970s gay bars were the one place where "everyone could meet and be themselves," Ross said in a 2001 interview. Today, the paper is distributed in bars, local businesses, and in news racks around the city. Its website brings news of the LGBT community to every corner of the world. Ross died in 2003 at the age of 69. After that, Thomas E. Horn, the paper's longtime attorney, became publisher.

In April 2013, the paper announced a restructuring and the company became known as BAR Media Inc. Michael Yamashita, the paper's longtime general manager, was named publisher, and Horn, who continues to serve on the media company's board, became publisher emeritus. The paper continues to be LGBT-majority owned and operated. www.ebar.com

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