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GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEA
525-^^
Pace 8 ^
NOVEMBER 1986 □ Voi. 1, No. 6
TO ADVERTISE, CALL 704/332-3834
Doug Neems: Dean Oi Deejays
Scorpio DeeJay Doug Neems
When Doug Neems stepped into a disco booth
for the first time at Durham's Blueberry Hill in the
fall of 1975, he was petrified. He had never before
performed as a deejay in a dance club. He had no
two-turntable equipment at home for practice.
"It was intimidating seeing those people hinging
on what would be played next," he said. "I had no
plan. I just tried to go for a lot of new stuff.
"It was very important to me that I sound
different and try to distinguish myself. Back then, it
was so much easier to be an individualist in
selecting music.
"There were no 12-inch discs. You'd play ob
scure 45s that you had sought out in New York
record places. I had been to New York and D.C.,
and was very impressed with what they did. I felt I
could do it."
Doug did indeed impress a lot of people. He
went from Durham to Raleigh's Mousetrap, then to
the Scorpio in 1978. He's been there since except
for a two-year stint at the Stone Castle in Green
ville, S.C., and he is the dean of Charlotte's gay-
club deejays. Matter of fact, only Ronnie Matthews
at Panamas has played as long at any dance club
in Charlotte.
Doug grew up in Chapel Hill and attended the
University of North Carolina, earning a journalism
degree. During college, he started bartending at
the Chapel Hill's famed Electric Company, one of
the nation's first monster bar outside of major cities.
"I had been into music since I was a little kid,"
he said. '"The Electric Company would hold 2,000
people. People came from all over the East Coast.
Continued On Page 2 ■
Strong Vote Can Swing
Senate, House Elections
See list oi recommended candidates
on Page 2.
By DON KING
Editoi
This year's major political races will
be so close that gay and lesbian votes
could determine who will represent us
in Washington and Raleigh.
Terry Sanford and D.G. Martin are
running neck and neck with their oppo
nents. Sanford, if elected, will counter
some of Jesse Helms's right-wing fanati
cism in the Senate; Martin could help
turn the North Carolina delegation in the
House of Representatives into a more
progressive group.
■I
Tina Terrell celebrated her 12th anniversary as a female imperson
ator with an all-star performance at Oleen's in late September. The
boisterous show brought 'em out lor a grand time at the bar where
so many female impersonators made their debut
Fall Time Clock Hits Bars
North Carolina's see-saw alcohol
sales hours sawed back to 1 a.m. on
Monday, Oct. 27 ... er, Sunday, Oct. 26.
Well, see, here's how it was:
Saturday night, Oct. 25, you could
buy right up to 2 a.m. Sunday morning.
But Sunday night, you could buy only
until 1 a.m. Monday morning.
And that's the way it'll stay until next
spring when it's back to 2 a.m. again.
Confused? Wondering why?
Well, when North Carolina's alcoholic
beverage control people wrote the cur
rent rules, they established 1 a.m. East
ern Standard Time as the cutoff for sales.
So during Daylight Savings Time from
spring to fall, 2 a.m. under DST equals 1
a.m. under EST, so we get that "extra"
hour.
Now the bars will be closing earlier,
so we can all get more sleep. Good
night, folks.
In 1984, Martin lost by only a few'
hundred votes to his conservative Re-
• publican opponent, and polls showed
them only a percentage point apart two
weeks before the Nov. 4 election.
In other races that will be on Mecklen
burg County ballots, the gay/lesbian
vote could have strong bearings be
cause of the small voter turnout expec
ted during this nonpresidential year.
Traditionally, elections draw more vot
ers when the U.S. presidency is at stake.
Concerned individuals in Charlotte's
gay community announced their elec
tion choices in a flyer printed Oct. 21.
The flyer is essentially reproduced on
Page 2.
In making the recommendations, they
considered past statements and activi
ties of candidates, the questionnaires
sent to candidates by One Nation Indi
visible and the Charlotte chapter of the
National Organization of Women
(N.O.W.), and information printed or
broadcast in news reports.
They also recommended that gay
men, lesbians, and nongay persons who
support gay/lesbian civil rights show
that Charlotte's gay community is gain
ing political knowledge and power by
writing "gay vote" in one of the write-in
slots. (See the information at the bottom
of the recommendations list.)
They pointed out that electing Ruth
Easterling in District 58 to the N.C. House
of Representatives was paramount be
cause her opponent is so stridently anti
gay. In his reply to the ONI question
naire, her opponent said he would do
anything he could to oppose extending
civil rights to gay and lesbians persons.
He said: "The fact that such deviance
is tolerated at all only shows to what
extent our society has become domi
nated by a sick liberalism and deca
dent spirit."
In most cases, the recommendations
are a choice of the lesser of two evils.
None of the candidates replying to
questionnaires came out squarely in
support of gay/lesbian civil rights. One,
Martin's opponent, is so ignorant on the
issue that he feels the 1964 Civil Rights
Act covers gay men and lesbians.
When To Vote
Tuesday, Nov. 4
6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Where To Vote
At the polling place for your precinct. If
you don't know where your polling
place is, call the Elections Board at
336-2133. To avoid busy signals, call
BEFORE Nov. 4.
How To Vote
Coiry three things with you; 1) a pen
or pencil, 2) the Q-Notes list of recom
mendations, and 3) any form of identifi
cation. Go to your polling place as
early as possible during the day to
avoid waiting in line. Look lor signs
pointing to the room where voting ma
chines are located. In the room, you'll
be asked to show identification so your
name can be found in the registration
books to assure that you are a regis
tered voter. Then you'll go into a voting
booth, which has a curtains to guaran
tee that your vote is in secret. Registrars
are very helpful and will assist if you
ask. Once in the booth, take the list of
recommendations from your pocket.
Pull the levers indicated. Follow in
structions at the bottom oi the recom
mendations list to write in GAY VOTE,
using the pen or pencil you brought
with you. (If you forget, just stick your
head out the curtain and tell the regis
trar you need a pencil to write in a
candidate. You need say no more.) Fi
nally, vote your conscience in elections
for which the list has no recommenda
tions. Or, you may choose not to vote in
those elections — it's your choice.
'Then, after pulling the levers you want
to pull, activate the large handle to
record your vote. The curtains open
automatically and you're finished!
It's one of the most important assets
for Charlotte's gay/lesbian
community as well as for travelers
and visitors. It's the Gay/Lesbian
Switchboard. See Page 4.