Archive for October, 2007

FAB Barista Joe and FAB Coffeehouse…check it out!

THANKS LOGO!

Logo picked Wilde Roast Cafe as a place to eat while in Minneapolis!  FYI: Our menu is changing over again soon!
Owned by a super-friendly—and kind of bearish—gay couple, Dean and Tom, this casual café is one-half coffee-house, and one-half divine gourmet eatery with an impeccable wine selection, and serving brilliantly inspired homey cuisine (lasagna, BBQ chicken, great sandwiches). Their desserts have been featured in Bon Appetit! A gay Minneapolis must.

Did you know May 8th, 2008 is Minnesota’s 150th Birthday (sesquicentennial for you Guffman fans)?  Well. the Minnesota History Center has put together an exhibit with 150 people/places/events that made Minnesota what it is today.

The Wilde Roast Cafe would like to congratulate Allan Spears for being picked for the 150 list.  Allan and his partner are frequently at the cafe in the mornings during the week.  In 1974 Allan became the first openly gay legislature in the nation, and is the chief author of MN 1993 GLBT Bill of Rights.

Tonight the Wilde Roast Cafe received the Trailblazer Business Award from TLC (Tobacco-free Lavender Communities) for being smoke free before it was required. TLC is hosting the National “Queer the Air” conference in Minneapolis this weekend, so people from all over the US were at the dinner. The other businesses that received the award were: Barbette, Jetset Bar, Cafe Brenda and Egg and I.

I talked about how hard it was to open a place designed like a English men’s smoking room and be non smoking. My idea four years ago was VETOED by Dean was to have signs on the door that read “NO FAGS ALLOWED.” FYI a cigarette in England is called a fag. OK…maybe it is only me that thinks that is funny.

I really hope TLC of Minnesota goes the distance. LGBT persons smoke at a higher rate than the national average, and about 80% of my staff smokes.

THANKS TLC!

The cafe held it’s first commitment ceremony today.   The Parlor was used for brunch and to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Kenneth and Dar, along with the the brunch they renewed their vows with a commitment ceremony.  It was powerful to see so many friends show up to support them.

You might remember Bob Mould from the Twin Cities punk band Husker Du (meaning “do you remember” in Danish) that made it big in the 1980’s.  Bob was in the cafe last week when his tour came through for his new CD.  He still has a HUGE following.  Check out his web site.

Amy and Freddy will be coming back to the cities. They will be in town for 2 shows; Friday, November 9 and Saturday, November 10 at 10 p.m. at Camp (490 N Robert St, St Paul, MN 55101.) Tickets are $10 for general admission. They will also have a handful of VIP tables up front at $25 per seat. The shows are limited to 175 people each, so tickets may sell out quickly.

If you would like to reserve seats now before they announce the public sale please send an email (Billcollins@visi.com) with which show you would like to attend, the number of tickets you need and whether you would like VIP seating or general admission.

Dear Friends:

It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the demise of The Salon @ Wilde Roast Café, 10/11was our final show. The Salon has been the one way I could “refill my pitcher” each week, to be able to continue pouring my love and energy into my heroic son as he fights his cancer. These Thursday nights have meant more to me than you can possibly imagine. A million times, thank you.
I have an intense desire continue to serve both artists and audiences by providing this weekly showcase, to broaden our horizons, connect with stimulating people, and strengthen community. Through live music, theatre, poetry, good manners, and intelligent discussion, we can share sincere and passionate ideas and a love of the arts. I am seeking a new venue immediately, so that we may continue this vital dialogue, through music and spoken word. If you have any leads, please contact henry@braincandyproject.org as soon as possible.

I am grateful to Scott Dercks, for sticking by me these last couple of years. You have been such a gift, my friend.

I am grateful to Steve Hegman for jumping into the Piano Bar Night with so much grace and talent, and for believing in me.

I am grateful to my weekly guests who kept coming and coming, week after week, to share your passion, culture and class with our audiences.

I am grateful to Tom DeGree & Dean Schlaak for their support this year, and encourage you all to keep patronizing Wilde Roast Café.

And I am grateful to you, dear Friends, for your constant support, patronage and love over this past year. This has simultaneously been the best and worst year of my life, as most of you know.

I will keep you updated as The Salon searches for its new home.

In Service,

Henry Allen
“aut delectare aut prodesse est”

A new documentary opening at the Lagoon this weekend is a must see movie. It tells of 5 families and their trying to balance what the Bible says and homosexuality. One of the families featured is the Reitan Family. Phil was a lawyer in southern Minnesota when he and his wife, Randi, found out their son Jake was gay. The Reitan’s got an HRC award several years ago from their work in the area of gay rights, and Jake is one of the founders of Soul Force. Soul Force is the group of GLBT youth that boarded a bus and visited college campuses that had anti-GLBT policies.

The movie opened yesterday and is showing only at the Lagoon Theater.

That is me on the cover of the current issue of Lavender.  Pick it up to check out all of the Coming Out Stories.  Here is mine by Todd Parks.

Educator and restaurateur Tom DeGree exudes an air of quiet confidence. For those who know him, it probably wouldn’t come as a surprise that he was his own biggest hurdle in coming out. With a gay brother and cousin, being out in the DeGree family certainly wasn’t a problem. What’s more, the family was of the big-hearted variety that frequently made room at the table for gay men who felt disaffected by their own families.

DeGree had dated women who had the same interests and life goals, yet it was a beautiful, smart, funny lady from the same area where he taught school whose very presence unwittingly nudged him to see himself for who he was. He realized that he had found the perfect woman, and she was flying to meet his family in South Carolina for Christmas, yet something was clearly missing. The chemistry seemed to be right, but nothing was happening.

It was the night before his girlfriend arrived that he came to the realization that, as DeGree puts it, “This is me. I can’t deny it.” After she got off the plane, he told her he was gay. She ran to the bathroom and threw up.

With the closet door now wide open, he began breaking the news to his family. With a family of seven brothers and sisters, the big family dynamic took over. “I told one sister, and she told the rest in about five minutes,” DeGree recounts.

For DeGree, the biggest hurdle was not telling others that he was gay, but rather in admitting it to himself. Once he had cleared that obstacle, he began to understand what he was missing in his previous relationships. He also found he was free of an illness that had plagued him for years for which a number of doctors could find no cause. DeGree would later be told by a physician that he very likely had internalized his turmoil in coming out to himself.

Most importantly, he found the person he was missing. “Dean is the person who was missing,” DeGree says of his life partner, Dean Schlaak. He fondly recalls his wedding to Dean, and that his mother commented that their wedding was her favorite. Barely a month later, she passed away, making her remarks all the more memorable.

DeGree and Schlaak are not only husbands to each other, they’re also business partners. Three years ago, they opened Wilde Roast Café in Northeast Minneapolis with an eye not only to the elegance that would no doubt please the restaurant’s namesake, but more importantly, a place reminiscent of DeGree’s home where everyone was made welcome.

“We come out daily,” DeGree says. For most people born into a minority group, there is family support. “Being gay is different; you don’t have a look or skin color that would identify you with other gays.”

To the person who is considering making the next step in coming out, DeGree suggests quite simply, “Do it in your own time, and be honest to yourself and those around you.” Out to staff and parents at the schools where he teaches, he says self-assuredly, “I would never change that.”