At about 10:30 this morning, Bret Fetzer, a fixture in the local performance community and former Stranger staffer/contributor, posted the following message to his Facebook page, describing the assault he suffered last night, one block away from Annex Theatre—an organization with which he's had a long association—where he'd just attended a show. (The fact that Fetzer pauses his account of violent nastiness in his own backyard to recommend the play he'd just seen should tell you a lot about the generous nature of his character. Everyone here wishes him a fast recovery.)

So, after seeing Zapoi! at Annex Theatre — which I highly recommend — I was walking down 11th headed to Pine and passed a guy walking the other way, who started saying incoherent but hostile things to me. I said, "I don't understand what you said, sorry. Take care." and kept walking. At Pine, in front of the Rhino Room, I started checking the bus app to see what was coming; then I realized the guy had followed me and was standing to my left, pointing his finger in my face and calling me "faggot" along with more incoherent speech. He seemed to think I had violent or sexual intentions towards him. I faced him and made eye contact — which may have been a mistake, but at this point I seem to be playing a prominent role in his inner life, so I suspect it wouldn't have mattered what I did. When I started to step back and turn away, he smacked me across the left side of my face with a beer bottle. I can't remember if I fell down — I kept my cell phone in my hand the whole time, so I don't think I did, but I really can't remember. There were lots of people around, someone called 911 and the police came, but the guy was gone. My teeth got jolted, there were messy but minor cuts with some dramatic blood spatters, but I'm lucky (well, lucky for a guy who got hit in the face with a beer bottle) there was nothing worse. EMTs determined I didn't need stitches, gave me some wet naps. The cops gave me a ride home.
So. That happened. I'm okay, I just have a big bruise across my left jaw. My teeth all seem to be in the right place.
There are a lot of troubled people out there; be careful.