This Week in the Voice

Hurrah, the Queer Issue! So what's the new thing? "The lipstick lesbian has given way to a new butch..." Double hurrah! The "power lesbian" paradigm has apparently shifted toward the model of Rachel Maddow, whose "androgynous sensuality," some guy from a fashion magazine says, "men and women, gay and straight, find very appealing." Winnie McCroy's fresh look at the New Butch is both celebutaining and instructive.

And how about an interview with Maddow? "Do you consider yourself 'mannish'?" "Yes! On purpose!" Num.

If this interests you, you will certainly be interested in the Voice Nightlife Guides for gay men and/or gay women.

Seriously, though: the Voice has been a spectator to gay history, and our seminal reporting on the Stonewall Riot by Howard Smith and Lucian Truscott IV is reproduced in this issue.

What of the new gayborhoods? Would you believe Fort Greene, Sunset Park, and Jackson Heights? How about West Brighton in Staten Island? We didn't either, but Michael Lavers makes a pretty good case.

Are there still rentboys? Well, there's Rentboy.com, and it's expensive, selective, and sort of mainstream: "A lot of couples like to order in and make an evening of it." Steve Weinstein reports.

Gasp! Gay motorcycle clubs? Leather, big engines between your legs -- who knew? Tony Phillips, that's who.

If you remember Blueboy, you might be surprised to learn this is a Golden Age of Beefcake. But "men are getting a taste of what women went through," one manmeat photographer says. Steve Weinstein draws you a picture.

Two plays with gays, one history-haunted, one less so: The Temperamentals, about early members of the Mattachine Society, and Next Fall, set in a later but only slightly less difficult era. Michael Feingold takes the dramatic and historical toll.

In a Spanish Harlem project, Gil Bianchini, aka Gil T, is working on his breakout joint. It features music by soul legend Laura Nyro. Oh, who also happens to be his mother. Ira Kantor chronicles.

If you're interested in a restaurant that "strives to evoke Vietnam's urban vibe, and admirably succeeds," you might overlook the relatively cheap (and still good) Mott Street equivalents for the "baroque and appealing assortment of ingredients" and "perky waitstaff" and secret-weapon banh mi thit heo quay at An Choi on Orchard Street, says Robert Sietsema.

With Albany in chaos, you might wonder, where was Dave? Governor Paterson has been loathe to use his power, and only called a special session very recently. Why the reticence? Tom Robbins explains as best he can, and as he can best.

Ron Currie Jr.'s book God is Dead brought the Almighty to Africa to be eaten by dogs. In his new Everything Matters! the protagonist is told in the womb how long he has to live before a comet destroys the earth. Wow, fun, right? Zach Baron thinks David Foster Wallace would have approved.

Also: Michael Musto, Ask a Mexican, Free Will Astrology, and reviews of Music, Film, Theater, Restaurants, Art, Dance, and much else.