Q-NOTES
September 1990
PRIDE IN PRINT
Switchboard, Charlotte (704) 525-6128
AIDS Hotline, Charlotte (704) 333-AIDS
PFLAG Hotline, Charlotte (704) 364-1474
AIDS Hotline, Columbia (803) 779-PALS
Call Line, Wilmington (919) 675-9222
TO ADVERTISE: 3641467
Ai^. 30-Sept 2 The Quilt
Sept 2 New Life MCC Potluck
after Service
Sept 5-6-7 ClamivalofHope
(MAP fundraiser) at
Oleens
Sept 6 Elgin Kenna as Cher
at Manfi*ed's
ONE VOICE resumes
rehearsals
Sept 10 Queen City Rollers
(Bowling League)
organizational meet
ing at (Coliseum Lanes
Sept 17 Queen City Rollers
Bovd!
Sept 20 Watch Lauren Ctolby
on Sally Jesse
Raphael Show
Sept 22 MCC Charlotte
Potluck Supper
Business Cards
Page 18
Calendar
Page 2
It's My Opinion
Page 2
Letters
Page 14
News In Brief
Page 12
Organizations
Page 18
Reflections
Page 9
Social Highlights
Page 16
Soft Spot
Page 8
The Quilt Covers Metrolina With Compassion
By Richard Epson-Nelms
Q-Notes Staff
The NAMES Project's International AIDS
Memorial Quilt blanketed the Charlotte/
Metrolina area with its silent message of
remembrance and compassion for those who
have died from AIDS. The opening for dis
play was held at the Charlotte Convention
Center on August 30th. The display is open
to the public through Sunday, September 2nd
(See inset Iot schedule).
The opening was a dream come hue for a
large number of volunteers in the Charlotte/
Metrolina area, especially Sheila Lockhart,
NAMES Project Chapter Chair.
Over 800 panels of the Quilt were flown
to Charlotte courtesy of USAIR and Flying
Tigers transport airlines. A local truck driver
volunteered to transport the Quilt from the
airport to the convention center. Printed
materials were donated by local people, in
cluding a graphic designer, Jenny Lawing,
who designed the poster.
Many individuals and comjKUiies gave of
their time, money and efforts, inclu^g the
Tower Club which donated food for the
volimteers on Saturday. Several other res
taurants are providing food and refreshments
during the several days of the display.
On Monday, the day after the closing, a
volunteer appreciation party at the Van-
I jindingham Estate was donated and liaison's
Restaurant is providing the food.
All the media efforts for the diowing were
donated, including a public service an
nouncement done by Whoopi Goldberg,
which was aired on local television stations.
Marion Megiimis, local TV executive and
past president of the board of Metrolina AIDS
Project, took time not only to set up the media
coverage and the Whoopi Goldberg an-
noimcement, but also to ensure that posters
and flyers were provided to all the schools
and libraries.
The American Red Cross, Greater Char
lotte Chapter, donated first aid services for
the four-day display.
Quantum He^th Resources, a home health
care agency, provided business cards for all
of the Charlotte/Metrolina chapter steering
committee.
One individual donated the two banners
that read "NAMES Project, Charlotte/
Metrolina." The same individual provided
the embossed certificates for volunteers as
well as the programs for the display. This
individual says that he is donating his efforts
in memory of a friend who died a year ago.
Other Chapters of the NAMES Project are
providing assistance in the display, includ
ing the Raleigh Chapter, the Washington,
One Voice Starts
Concert
Rehearsals Sept. 6
Fifteen potential new chorus members
joined 33 regulars at the ONE VOICE
SummerSing on Thursday, August 16. The
evening was an informal way for new people
to meet the chorus before the second season
rehearsals start September 6.
The chorus will rehearse from Septem-
ber-December at the PC Land Building, 4037
E. Independence, Suite 726, on Thursday
evenings from 7:00-9:30 pm. Rehearsals will
be geared toward a December 15 Christmas
Concert. New singing members are welcome
to join anytime during the month of Septem
ber — just show up at any rehearsal. Non
singing support members are welcome
throughout the season. Support members
will help with publicity, ticket sales, re
freshments, the music libi^ and much more.
Auditions are not required for ONE
VOICE, Charlotte's gay and lesbian chorus
^ndlich began in January. Just be able to carry
a tune and have fun! For further information,
call Dan Kirsch, President, at 704/536-1372.
The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial quilt is seen in its entirety -
panels — on the Ellipse in Washington, DC, in Octolier 1989.
10,848 individual 3' x 6'
DC, Chapter and the Boston Chapter, all of
whom are sending representatives.
In 1987 a small group of volunteers in a
San Francisco storefront workshop revived
the old-fashioned notions of the qudt and the
quilting-bee as a personal response to the
seemingly endless tragedy of the AIDS epi
demic.
Their creation — the NAMES Project
AIDS Memorial Quilt — has become a
powerful international symbol of those who .
have died of AIDS.
Today, over 12,000 three-by-six-foot in
dividual panels have been designed and sewn
into the Quilt, each one celebrating the Ufe of
someone who has died of AIDS. The NAMES
Project continues to arrange Quilt displays
across America, and overseas, encouraging
visitors to better imderstand and respond to
the AIDS epidemic.
In November 1985, while participating in
San Francisco's Harvey Milk/George
Moscone candlelight march and vi^l, Cleve
Jones thought of a way to memorialize his
friends and neighbors who had died of AIDS.
Before the march, organizers asked each
participant to write down the names of their
friends and loved ones who had died of
AIDS.
At the end of the march, shrouded in a sea
of candlelight, Jones and others stood on
ladders to tape these names to the walls of the
city's Federal Building. In the midst of the
process, Jones stepped down from his ladder
to view the growing tribute. It was at this
moment that Jones noticed the design and
resemblance of the names to a large quilt.
Inspired by this image, Jones started to
formulate plans for a larger memorial. A year
later, Jones created the first panel for the
AIDS Memorial Quilt, to remember his friend
Marvin Feldman. In June 1987, Jones teamed
up widi sevaal others to organize the NAMES
ftoject Foimdation.
The goals of the organization were set
then, and remain the same today:
Continued on page 4
Lauren Colby To Appear On
Sally Jesse Raphael Show
By David Stout
Q-Notes Staff
On Thursday, September 20, the Sally
Jesse Raphael Show ^1 present to the entire
nation one of the finest female impersonators
to ever take the stage: North Carolina's own
Lauren Colby.
Lauren's road to this national spotlight
has been a journey encompassing eight years
of hard work, immovable determination, and
an imflinching belief that she could do any
thing she set her mind to do.
Lauren said that the first time she ever saw
a female impersonator was in Jacksonville,
NC, and the performer was Brandy
Alexander. "That really made an impression
on me and I said to myself, 'I could do that.'"
So Lauren assembled some friends to help
her apply her make-up (this is called paint
ing) and to make her padding to give her a
feminine figure and Lauren Colby was bom.
Now there was only one problem: she was
too young to get into most bars because she
was under drrnking age.
"As soon as I turned eighteen, they raised
the legal drinking age on me so I couldn't get
into the clubs. I had to make arrangements
with the bar owners and managers ahead of
time to let me come in and perform."
Two years passed while Lauren honed her
skills and crafted the persona of her charac
ter, then she decided to enter her first pag
eant.
Liuren Colby
Most people thought the young enter
tainer was getting in way over her head when
she aimounced that she was going to be a
contestant in the Miss North Carolina Pag
eant.
After all, there would be performers with
years of experience there making a third or
even fourth attempt at winning the crown,
what chance would a novice (with absolutely
no competition experience) have in even
making a respectable showing?
Continued on page 7