CONTENTS
FEB 2014 GSCENE magazine
SUBLINE
SUBLINE
www.gscene.org @gscene GScene.Brighton PUBLISHED BY Peter Storrow TEL 01273 722457 EDITORIAL info@gscene.com ADS+ARTWORK design@gscene.com EDITORIAL TEAM James Ledward, Graham Robson, Olivia Hall-Smith, Sarah Green ARTS EDITOR Michael Hootman SUB-EDITOR Graham Robson DESIGN Michèle Allardyce
FRONT COVER MODELS Mindout Marathon Runners PHOTO Top image: Nick Ford Photography www.nickfordphotography.co.uk Bottom image: Richard Lemon
CHARLES’ BIRTHDAY @ DR BRIGHTONS
NEWS
CONTRIBUTORS Jaq Bayles, Jo Bourne, Nick Boston, Suchi Chatterjee, Craig Hanlon Smith, Enzo Marra, Netty, Carl Oprey, Mitchell Orriss, Eric Page, Del Sharp, Keith Sharpe, Gay Socrates, Darren Sole, Brian Stacey, Glen Stevens, Craig Storrie, Duncan Stewart, Roger Wheeler, Mike Wall, Morham White, Kate Wildblood,
PHOTOGRAPHERS Phil Bailey ukmomentcatcher.com, Michael Hootman, James Ledward, Liam Cottam @ Quick Pics Photos www.facebook.com/Quickpicsonline?fr ef=ts & www.quickpicsonline.com, Ian Mager-Playford, Natasha ParkerSmall, Portraits4Fun, Toms Udris, Roy & Jean @ Funky Fish
6 News
SCENE LISTINGS 24 Brighton Listings 36 Solent Listings
ARTS FUNKY FISH CLUB
FEATURES
18 LGBT HISTORY MONTH A guide to what’s on in Sussex for LGBT History Month 19 QUEER IN BRIGHTON Maria Jastrzebska on what’s new at the cultural heritage project 20 OUT & PROUD Olivia Hall-Smith looks at how far we have come since the 20th century 21 QUEER FELLOWS Mark Govier on how the Royal Society is built on gay foundations
SPICE @ POISON IVY
Arts News Art Matters Classical Film Reviews
REGULARS
© GSCENE 2014 All work appearing in Gscene Ltd is copyright. It is to be assumed that the copyright for material rests with the magazine unless otherwise stated on the page concerned. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in an electronic or other retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior knowledge and consent of the publishers. The appearance of any person or any organisation in Gscene is not to be construed as an implication of the sexual orientation or political persuasion of such persons or organisations.
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22 NEW ENGLAND TRAILS Paul Elgood has a gay old time in New England 43 PERFORMING ARTS YORK Mei Wilshire breaks down the barriers of performance art
38 38 39 46 47 48 49 49 50 51 51 52 53 53 54 55 56 57
Dance Music DJ Profile: Dana Come Dine With Morham Geek Scene Shopping Craig’s Thoughts Wall’s Words Gay Socrates Heart & Sole Addicted Mitchell’s Musings Changing Attitude Twisted Guilded Ghetto Choir Boys Charlie Says Sharp Words MindOut Sam The Trans Man
INFORMATION 58 Services Directory 59 Classifieds 62 Advertisers’ Map
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Brighton & Hove Council dropped out of the Stonewall Top 100 Employers 2014 list, published last month, coming in at a disappointing 105. Last year the council appeared at number 15 on the annual list after previously rising to number 3 in 2009.
CLLR JASON KITCAT
COUNCIL ACHIEVEMENTS
) The Top 100 Employers 2014 list is based on the results of Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index 2014, the tenth published by the charity. The Index is based on a range of key indicators which include a confidential questionnaire of lesbian, gay and bisexual staff. The questionnaire consistently reveals that employees from organisations ranked in Stonewall’s Top 100 exhibited higher levels of staff satisfaction and loyalty.
PENNY THOMPSON
City leaders rushed to defend the council and their equalities work especially with the trans* community. Penny Thompson CBE, the Council’s Chief Executive said the Stonewall findings didn’t reflect the recent LGBT staff survey conducted by the council: “I’m incredibly proud of the achievements of Brighton & Hove City Council as an employer which positively impacts all LGBT staff. I’m leading from the top as a gay woman and our equality champion is part of the executive Leadership team. “I’m unapologetic that we take a more inclusive approach to equality to better support all groups and pioneer best practice. For example; our recent staff survey showed that gay and lesbian colleagues thrive here and speak highly of us as an employer. We’re also leading the way and were named second in the country for tackling homophobic bullying in schools.
In a statement defending their record, the council highlighted the following achievements: • A diversity mentoring manager in place since October 2012, a post which they claim has seen positive outcomes and fantastic learning in a relatively short space of time. Their LGBT programme has also been taken up by seven public sector partners; • The council is a leader in taking up the mantle of tackling homophobic bullying in schools working alongside the brilliant Allsorts Youth Project, which runs a drop-in centre for young people; • The council is also working to make things fairer and more equal for the Trans* community through the work of the Trans Scrutiny Panel. For example, this week saw the beginning of a ten-week pilot of trans*-inclusive swimming sessions. Roy Pickard, Chair of the Brighton & Hove City Council LGBT forum, commented: “The LGBT Workers Forum does not feel that the Stonewall index reflects the work of the council. The forum will be working with the council’s executive leadership team over the next year to understand the feedback from Stonewall and to contribute to an action plan to improve its Stonewall rating in the future.”
CLLR WARREN MORGAN
Jason Kitcat, Council leader, said: “The Stonewall Index isn’t reflective of the huge amount of work that goes on in the council and the community. I’m confident we’re supporting all of our equality groups and leading pioneering work in some areas. However, we are not complacent and look forward to receiving feedback which will help strengthen our work.”
“However, it is inevitable that other councils will catch us up in terms of best practice and that can only be a good thing for the national picture. I have spoken to officers as a result of this news and they assure me that they remain as focussed as ever upon addressing all staff equality issues.” Cllr Warren Morgan, Leader of the Labour and Co-operative group, added: “Obviously this is disappointing and worrying given that the city is both home to and employer of many LGBT people. I’ll be asking the Leader of the Council and Chief Executive to explain what steps are being taken to reverse this sharp drop. A Labour council elected next year will work to restore our position and reputation as an LGBT employer from day one.” James Ledward, editor of Gscene Magazine, said: “While there is no doubt that the council's antibullying work in schools delivered in partnership with Allsort Youth Project is brilliant and their Trans* Scrutiny report groundbreaking, aspects of the council's engagement work with LGBT community organisations during the last 12 months has caused concern and unease between some LGBT and HIV organisations.
JAMES LEDWARD
“Over the past year we have also led the way on trans* issues. Our trans* community is one of the most disadvantaged and marginalised groups in Brighton & Hove but through the work of the councilfacilitated Trans* Scrutiny Panel we are working hard to make the city a fairer place for everyone.”
council's £25,000 grant to Pride, said: “This is surprising and disappointing news. Brighton & Hove City Council has led the way for a number of years as an LGBTfriendly workplace and I think it is important that continues.
CLLR GEOFFREY THEOBALD
BRIGHTON COUNCIL CRASH OUT OF STONEWALL TOP 100 GAY-FRIENDLY EMPLOYERS INDEX
“From the lofty highs of being placed third in the index in 2009 and revelling in the accolades that followed, to completely drop out of the published index in 2014 should maybe be viewed more humbly by the Green administration who seem to have lost sight of the fact that the LGBT community is a community with complex needs and not a financial commodity to barter with. “It might also be helpful if future council LGBT staff surveys are conducted anonymously.”
DISAPPOINTED WITH RATING In an email to her staff following the announcement, Ms Thompson said: “You may have seen in today's media that Brighton & Hove City Council is not in Stonewall’s top 100 gay friendly employers list this year and I wanted to let you know my thoughts on this.
The announcement sent shockwaves through the council which has come under considerable criticism in recent months for removing the annual £25,000 grant to Pride, which organisers claim could put the future of the Pride Parade at risk.
“I’m rather perplexed how this can happen and have spoken with the chief executive of Stonewall to try and find out more. To be honest I’m still little clearer now and do question the whole process. It seems that my leading by example rather than taking the label of LGB champion, and us having an ELT equalities champion instead, may have gone against us. It may be that the result reflects this and how well we filled in the form rather than our commitment to LGB.
Cllr Geoffrey Theobald, leader of the Conservative group who supports the reinstatement of the
“Colleagues and partners across the city are all equally perplexed, many of them highlight our great
COUNCIL SHOCKED
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work to make the council a diverse and equal place to work for everyone. And I think this may have gone against us in the Stonewall submission.
) David Hill, Chair of Brighton Pride CIC in 2013, has announced he is stepping down after helping deliver what was universally acknowledged as the best Brighton Pride ever. Brighton Pride 2013 raised a record £43,000 for local LGBT/HIV organisations who provide front-line services to the LGBT communities in Brighton & Hove. The money was distributed through the Rainbow Fund grants programme administered by the Sussex Community Foundation. Pride 2013 was delivered by the three directors of Brighton Pride CIC; Paul Kemp, Dulcie Weaver and David Hill.
“We must not let this news take away from our fantastic work: our diversity mentoring, the work we’ve done with the trans community, how our Respect value is clear in what we expect from everyone, just to name a few. I’m rightly proud of our outstanding work which shouldn’t be devalued by this result; I’m just disappointed on behalf of committed staff who feel that the rating is unfair.”
David Hill's expanding business, The E3 Group, has just been offered two commercial 'pop' festivals to produce in 2014 which means that David won't have the time needed to dedicate to Brighton Pride in 2014 so he is stepping down after a year of chairing the organisation. David told Gscene: “As a passionate member of the LGBT community in Brighton & Hove and someone whose been involved with Pride for over 15 years, I sincerely hope that the event is a great success in 2014 and builds on what we achieved in 2013. Most importantly I hope Pride continues to deliver the much needed funds for our community, charities and organisations.”
COUNCIL’S PREVIOUS RATING Previous positions held by Brighton & Hove Council in the index: • 2005 – 35th • 2006 – 49th • 2007 – 7th • 2008 – 9th • 2009 – 3rd • 2010 – 4th • 2011 – Joint 8th • 2012 – 15th • 2013 – 15th • 2014 – 105th
PAUL KEMP
TOP 100 INDEX RATINGS
Paul Kemp, Pride's Managing Director, added: “Pride thanks David and the E3 team for their massive contribution, not only delivering a hugely successful Pride, but also achieving a record fundraising total for our community groups.” Brighton Pride have announced Freedom To Live as the umbrella theme for Pride 2014, which will take place on the weekend starting Friday, August 1. For more information about Pride 2014, view: http://brighton-pride.org
PAUL ELGOOD
“Despite the rating, I’m incredibly proud of our achievements as an employer; which have had a really positive impact for LGBT staff. And I’m committed to consciously working across all aspects of diversity to make this a fair and respectful organisation.
Stonewall Index first place: Gentoo; second place: Nottingham Healthcare NHS Trust; third place: The Co-operative. Sussex Police improved two places to 91 in the index and American Express came in at number 90. The highest ranking statutory authority is Leicestershire County Council. For full details of the top 100 gay friendly employers, view: www.stonewall.org.uk/at_work/stonewal l_top_100_employers/default.asp
) After three successful years distributing over £100,000 to LGBT and HIV community groups in Brighton & Hove, the Rainbow Fund has reviewed how best it can contribute to a strong, local voluntary sector. As part of this review, the Rainbow Fund will look to develop a new structure to govern and administer the fund, separate from the Sussex Community Foundation, who currently administer it. The Rainbow Fund will transfer from the Foundation and set up open and transparent processes for its future administration.
DAVID HILL
“Perhaps we’ve been marked down because of our lack of a single focus. We have focused our work on tackling inequality for all staff and I can’t apologise for that. If that means we’ve been penalised, it’s regrettable. We’ll find out more information next week when Stonewall goes through the detail with us.
RAINBOW FUND LOOKS TO THE FUTURE
Paul Elgood, Chairman of the Rainbow Fund, said: “It seems the right time in our growth to look at alternative ways to manage the administration and grant giving of the Rainbow Fund. We have had three productive years with the Sussex Community Foundation, which worked well for us as a new organisation. Now that we have an established track record and growing income it’s a good point to look beyond this first phase of our development. I’m grateful to the Sussex Community Foundation for their work in developing the fund with us, and their support in taking this way forward. “The really good news is that the Sussex Community Foundation remains as committed as ever to funding the LGBT/HIV sector and so this move will increase the potential opportunities for the funding of these groups.” Kevin Richmond, Chief Executive of Sussex Community Foundation, said: “Sussex Community Foundation is proud to have been part of the birth of the Rainbow Fund. It has raised a lot of money for the LGBT community and we are pleased that it is now in a position to become an independent organisation in its own right. We are sure that the Rainbow Fund will continue to grow and thrive and we wish it every success. “For our part, Sussex Community Foundation remains committed to the LGBT community and will continue to raise funds for, and give grants to the groups we have supported together. Hopefully the new arrangements should lead to even more money being raised for the community.” Much of last year’s grant giving by the Rainbow Fund came from the £1 a head donated to the fund from every ticket sold for Brighton Pride.
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ROYAL PAVILION MUSIC ROOM
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BRIGHTON’S ROYAL PAVILION TO MAKE WEDDING HISTORY
LUNCH POSITIVE THANKS ITS SUPPORTERS
) The new law to allow same-sex marriage marriages will come into effect on Saturday, March 29, 2014. To celebrate, Brighton & Hove City Council’s Register Office, in partnership with the Royal Pavilion are accepting applications from same-sex couples wishing to be the first couple to be wed in the city. The selected couple will be wed, free of charge, in the magnificent setting of the Royal Pavilion’s Music Room at what will be both Brighton & Hove’s first samesex marriage and first late night wedding.
) Lunch Positive has posted its annual Supporters Thank You list on its website. The HIV charity provides a weekly lunch club for positive people to meet in a supportive social space, share a healthy meal and find peer support. The service is provided entirely by volunteers.
At one minute past midnight on the day same-sex marriage ceremonies become legal, the city’s registrars will conduct the first wedding, which will be the first marriage to take place in the beautiful Music Room which has only recently been licensed for evening weddings. Cllr Leo Littman, lead councillor for City Services, said: “We warmly welcome the change in the law allowing people of the same sex to marry. Brighton & Hove is a very popular place for both weddings and civil partnerships. We are now seeing a high level of interest from same-sex couples wanting to get married here. You can feel the excitement build towards the city’s first same-sex wedding in March. “Holding the first ceremony in our grand, historic Royal Pavilion gives the city the chance to show itself for what it is; egalitarian, forward looking and also with a real respect for our history. It’s a venue close to my heart; I was married at the Royal Pavilion in 2007. We hope and expect that in the years ahead many more happy couples will choose to hold their weddings in our city.” Trevor Love, Senior Ceremonies Registrar, part of the team organising the celebrations for the day, said: “We’ve been taking enquiries for over a year from couples wanting to know when we will be able to offer same-sex weddings. Even before the government announced the official date, we were inundated with people wanting to be married as soon as the law allowed and asking to go on a waiting list. We hope to share this sense of excitement. The ceremony we have planned is going to be a wonderful celebration for the happy couple and the city.” The Register Office is already taking bookings for March 29 as many same-sex couples are wanting to be wed on the very first day the law allows. For information on ceremonies with Brighton & Hove City Council Register Office, including fees for registrars attending external venues, view: www.brightonhove.gov.uk/content/community-and-life-events/births-deaths-andmarriages/ceremonies
BRIGHTON BEAR WEEKENDER 2014 ) Brighton Bear Weekender's fourth annual event will take place over the weekend of June 20-22, 2014. Join the bears for a weekend of fun, sun and fur by the seaside! Events will include a welcome night with cabaret, various club nights, and the legendary picnic in the park. An optional wristband will provide fantastic discounts on drinks and entry fees. All profits from this event go to the Rainbow Fund, a charitable fund for the benefit of the LGBT community in Brighton & Hove, who give grants to LGBT/HIV organisations providing effective front line services to the LGBT community. The Brighton Bear Weekender's has raised more than £3,250 for the Fund since 2012. For more information, view: http://brightonbearweekender.co.uk Or search for Brighton Bear Weekender on Facebook.
GARY PARGETER
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TAGS ANNUAL PARTY IN LITTLEHAMPTON ) The Arun Gay Society (TAGS) are holding their annual party on Saturday, February 22 at the 03 Club, Littlehampton. Door open at 7.30pm and the bar serves drinks till midnight. The party theme is Hats (optional) and there will be a prize for the person wearing the most fabulous hat on the evening. Tickets cost just £5 for members and £8 for guests and include a buffet and disco. There will also be a charity raffle. TAGS Annual Party, Saturday, Feb 22, 7.30pm, at the 03 Club, 90-91 South Terrace, Littlehampton, BN17 5LJ. Tickets are £5 for members, £8 guests, and available from: social@tagsonline.org.uk
Gary Pargeter, volunteer project manager, said: “2013 was our busiest year yet, and we have seen increasing numbers of people for whom living with HIV is a very difficult challenge. We’ve seen more people who are newly diagnosed, those in poorer health, and many who are experiencing severe financial hardship. Our service is all about people being together and 2013 was one during which we have seen a huge increase in public support for what we do. “The support of local individuals, groups, businesses and other organisations has made a huge difference to the work we’ve been able to undertake, and the benefits for people who use the service. “It’s a tough time for charities, especially smaller ones, which are supporting rapidly growing numbers of people. The support we’ve received in many diverse ways really proves what a difference community can make when it pulls together. Thank you to everyone who has helped, and all the best for 2014.”
For more information, view: www.lunchpositive.org/lunchpositive-news/
TAGS, created in 1982 out of the local branch of Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE), operates primarily as a social group for the LGBT community in the southern part of West Sussex, but some members do come from further afield. They welcome men and women of all ages who can subscribe to the group’s aims by paying a modest annual membership fee. The group meets informally, usually twice each month, once in a seafront hotel bar in Worthing and other times at a member’s home for a coffee evening or specially laidon party. In addition, they run excursions to places of interest and organise larger events such as the Annual Party in February. The society’s day-to-day management falls to a committee, which is elected annually at the AGM in October. There is a formal constitution that governs the technicalities of the society, and their newsletter TAGSmag is published regularly for members. Information is available on their regularly updated website: www.tagsonline.org.uk Or call 07539 513 171, where you can leave a message or text asking to be called back.
GSCENE 9
NEW LGBT REPS ELECTED FOR 'COMMUNITY WORKS'
GARY PARGETER & CHRIS COOKE
) Gary Pargeter, volunteer co-ordinator at Lunch Positive, and Chris Cooke from the St James’ Street LAT, have been elected the new LGBT representatives for Community Works. Community Works’ members (formerly the Community & Voluntary Sector Forum) elect representatives from within their membership to represent them around particular themes, such as the environment, communities, children and young people, housing; and also around equalities such as carers, disabilities, black minority and ethnic communities, LGB&T communities, gender, older people, and faith. Both Gary and Chris will represent Community Works members’ views at meetings of the city’s strategic partnerships and boards.
Gary Pargeter said: “I feel extremely privileged to have been elected one of the Community Representatives for our LGBT communities. Brighton & Hove is a very special place and we’re an important part of it. LGBT voluntary and community organisations play an invaluable role in supporting and improving the lives of our members and the city as a whole. Together with our achievements we have specific needs, which require wide support and opportunity to influence decision making. Our LGBT organisations have a proud tradition of effective grassroots action, and this is an increasingly tough time for many of us. It’s essential that we’re listened to, understood, and our contributions are supported and sustained.” Chris Cooke added: “I’m honoured to be elected as one of the LGBT representatives on the newly formed Community Works alongside Gary whom I’ve known for years and greatly admire. Together we’ll make a formidable team. Most importantly for me as an LGBT Champion will be to ensure that our community has a loud voice at the highest levels, where strategic decisions are made affecting our daily lives. I’m also pleased that this year the number of LGBT reps has been increased from one to two, thus reflecting the importance of the LGBT community in the voluntary sector. We've also got rather large shoes to fill as we'll be taking on Jess Wood's mantle (the previous incumbent) ... so lots to live up to but as always, I'm relishing this fresh and exciting challenge.”
We are an independent LGBT Forum working with the Community to address and improve safety issues in Brighton & Hove. Please sign up for our news letter at:
www.lgbt-safety-forum-brighton.com/newsletter For more information about us please visit our website:
lgbt-safety-forum-brighton.com
Meet Gary and Chris at the LGBT Safety Forum Public Meeting at 2pm on Sat March 1 at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church, Dorset Gardens Kemptown. For info on Community Works visit www.cvsectorforum.org.uk/about-cvsf
PUBLIC MEETING
OLDER & OUT - VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL
SAT 1ST MARCH
) Older & Out are holding their third social event at the Somerset Day Centre, 62 St James's Street, Brighton, BN2 1PR from 1–3pm, on Friday, February 14 to celebrate Valentine's Day. If you are over 55, identify as an older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, undecided person, are looking for new friends, and want to meet like minded people in a warm and friendly environment, this event is for you. A light lunch will be provided, and no bookings are necessary, just turn up and enjoy yourself. Somerset Day Centre is situated on the ground floor and is fully wheelchair accessible. Take any bus up St James’ Street, alight at the bus stop opposite St Mary's Church, cross the road and the day centre is on the left past the church. For more information about Older & Out call: 01273 699000, for more information on Somerset Day Centre visit: www.somersetdaycentre.org.uk
Dorset Gardens Methodist Church Dorset Gardens Kemptown BN2 1RL
1pm: Come and see our plans for this years Pride Access tent 2pm: Meet your elected LGBT representatives from the Community Works Forum and learn about their role within our community Refreshments provided
For info on Pride Access Tent: www.lgbt-help.com/pride For info on Community Works: www.cvsectorforum.org.uk/about-cvsf
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KATY BOURNE
DCC GILES YORK
) Sussex Police has been named as one of only three police forces in England and Wales to record an increase in reporting across all five forms of hate crime monitored by police: disability, race, religious belief, sexual orientation and gender. Hate crime can be in the form of verbal abuse, physical assault, domestic abuse, harassment and damage to property. Giles York, Deputy Chief Constable, said: “This is positive news. We’re determined to increase people's confidence in reporting so that victims get the support they need. We’ve made reporting as accessible and straight forward as possible and staff are trained to identify hate crime and incidents at the earliest opportunity. Last year we saw an increase in reporting of 13% (681 in 2011/12 and 786 in 2012/13) and since April 2013 the trend is increasing which is again positive. However, we know that this is an area with significant under reporting and we’re working closely with community groups to increase reporting, widen awareness and build confidence with victims to help bring offenders to justice. Our message to offenders is that it will not be tolerated. Hate crimes are abhorrent and we will target you. Victims, family and friends we urge you not to suffer in silence. Talk to us - we can help.” Katy Bourne, Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner, said: “It’s very encouraging to know that Sussex Police is only one of three police forces who’ve seen an increase in reporting across all five strands of hate crime. Usually this crime is under-reported and that’s why it’s a priority. I’m determined to build public confidence and trust in the police and criminal justice system for everyone. I know many minority groups haven’t always had the same trust in the police. The process of re-building this trust by increasing reporting of hate crime can only be achieved when police and relevant organisations work together.” Reported hate crimes have increased from 2011/12 to 2012/3: race 520 to 564; religion 23 to 35; sexual orientation 111 to 119; disability 23 to 48; and transgender 4 to 20. This report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Home Office and Ministry of Justice details recorded hate crime by force and by the five monitored forms of hate crime classifications used by the criminal justice system. A hate crime is any criminal offence perceived by the victim or any other person as being motivated by prejudice or hate. Billie Lewis, chair of the LGBT Community Safety Forum said: “It’s reassuring to know that hate crime reporting has increased in Sussex. It’s important that we continue to hold both the police and council to account through community forums to make sure the communities of interest continue to feel safe.”
STONEWALL CAMPAIGN TO ERADICATE WORK PLACE HOMOPHOBIA ‘ONCE AND FOR ALL’ ) Stonewall launched a national campaign last month to tackle endemic levels of homophobia in Britain’s workplaces. The campaign, which features two people at work stating One is gay. If that bothers people, our work continues, came in response to YouGov polling which shows that in the last five years 2.4m people of working age have witnessed verbal homophobic bullying at work; a further 800,000 people of working age have witnessed physical homophobic bullying at work; and that over a quarter of LGB people aren’t at all open to colleagues about their sexual orientation. The posters, which appeared on 650 buses in London, Cardiff and Edinburgh as well as on 4,000 adverts on the London Underground, featured construction workers, footballers, priests, police officers and firefighters. Campaign posters were made available to Stonewall Diversity Champion members, who employ more than 6m people in Britain. Laura Doughty, Stonewall Deputy Chief Executive, said: “After securing equal marriage in England and Wales people mustn’t forget the huge amount of work still to be done. In workplaces right across the country, gay people still don’t feel able to be themselves. It’s time to change that once and for all.” For further information: www.stonewall.org.uk/what_we_do/9361.asp
ST JAMES’ COMMUNITY ACTION GROUP EGM ) St James’ Community Action Group (SJCAG), one of the most active and well supported Local Action Teams (LAT) in the city, is holding an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on Wednesday, February 12. The EGM called just weeks before the scheduled annual AGM, will take place at St Mary's Church on the corner of Upper Rock Gardens and starts at 7pm. The meeting has come about as a result of 26 residents calling for the election of new officers to fill vacant posts on the executive committee. Chris Cooke, the current Chair, said: “We’ve responded to the concerns of those organising this petition to elect new officers in a way that ensures issues are discussed as soon as possible although it seems unnecessary to organise a meeting so near to our AGM. We would rather be spending time attempting to get our local councillors to work for improvements to, and investment in, St James’ Street and our local area. We particularly need action to reduce pollution and improve air quality as well as continuing improvements to lighting, cleaning and greening our environment, and working with the police and the licensing authority” CHRIS COOKE
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SJCAG is encouraging as many local residents as possible to attend the meeting which will be facilitated and chaired by Chris Gull. St James' Community Action Group EGM, 7pm, Wednesday, February 12, St Mary's Church, on the corner of Upper Rock Gardens and St James’ Street, Kemptown A Local Action Team (LAT) is a community led group that works with the police to set local neighbourhood priorities. SJCAG is also involved with improving the quality of life for all who work and live in the St James’ Street area.
THE RAINBOW FUND SEEKS INDEPENDENT TREASURER ) The Rainbow Fund has recently reviewed how it is currently administered and is looking to appoint an Independent Treasurer to ensure that all of its practices and procedures are fully open and transparent. The Rainbow Fund provides grant funding to Brighton & Hove-based LGBT and HIV community groups who provide effective front line services to the LGBT community. In the last two years it has worked with Pride to distribute money raised through the sale of entry tickets to the park event. The ideal person will have experience of auditing, accountancy or grant-making and will assist the Fund to move forward in 2014. To ensure full independence they should not be part of any organisation likely to receive funding from the Rainbow Fund.
THE ROLE WILL INCLUDE: • Overseeing all financial business of the Rainbow Fund to give donors confidence in the Rainbow Fund’s practices. • Working with the Chairman to ensure the safe collection, banking and acknowledgement of donated money. • Working with the Grants Panel on the Issuing of grants to successful applicants. As is the case with all roles at the Rainbow Fund, no salary or expenses are payable, however you will be playing a key role in building a strong local LGBT/HIV community sector. The Rainbow Fund benefits from regular fundraising events, and overseeing the safe collection of the money raised is a vital part of this role. This will mean occasional unsociable hours and the need for availability at weekends. This will be an annual appointment. In the first instance, to register for more information email info@rainbowfund.org by February 14. For an informal discussion about the role, contact Paul Elgood, Chairman of the Rainbow Fund at paulelgood@gmail.com For more information about the Rainbow Fund, view: http://rainbow-fund.org
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HELP MINDOUT RAISE £25,000 ) On April 6 a team of 34 runners from MindOut will be running the Brighton Marathon to support the work and services MindOut currently offer to the LGBT community in Brighton & Hove and beyond. The February cover of Gscene features five of the runners from the MindOut team who will be running. Look out for the four cheering stations that MindOut will have around the route on Sunday April 6 easily identified by tall 'tear drop' flags.
SONIA MARMITE
MindOut is a mental health project run by and for LGBT people based in Brighton & Hove who provide local services as well as a number of national initiatives. The services offered by MindOut include: LGBT suicide prevention; Out of the Blue, a support group for LGBT people affected by suicidal distress; mental health wellbeing courses and workshops; mental health advocacy; self-esteem courses; peer mentoring online support; anti-stigma campaigns and events; and mental health group work.
) Drag Queen Sonia Marmite, aka Paul Brown, will be running with the Bear Patrol in the Brighton Half Marathon on Sunday, February 16 to raise money for the Sussex Beacon. If he gets sponsorship for more than £500, he’ll run dressed as 'Sonia the bride' in full make up, wig, veil, white short dress and a flower bouquet. Due to health and safety regulations he’ll have to wear trainers rather than the fabulous pair of Prada booties he’d planned to run in.
To sponsor him text PBSM76 £5 to 70070 or donate at: www.justgiving.com/PaulBrown -SoniaMarmite
If anyone is still interested in joining the MindOut marathon team, email: jason.saw@mindout.org.uk To donate and help MindOut reach their target of £25,000, visit: https://b14.everydayhero.com/uk/mindout
PIANIST RECORDS CD FOR THE SUSSEX BEACON
BRIGHTON HALF MARATHON UNVEILS CHARITY AMBASSADORS FOR 2014
) Pianist Patrick Meehan has recorded a CD of jazz music by composers including Gershwin and Scott Joplin and is donating all proceeds to the Sussex Beacon. Patrick who lives in South London originally studied at the Royal Academy of Music and teaches piano privately. He spends a lot of time in Hove where his partner Martin lives.
Danny runs to keep fit and taking part in the Brighton Half Marathon gives him the motivation to train whilst allowing him to support his local charity and community. He said: “HIV has been part of my life for many years. I often sit back and look over the volunteering work I’ve done and what I'm involved with currently in the community. When I see photos like this it only encourages me to keep motivated. Volunteering with the HIV sector is a wonderful thing yet a rollercoaster of emotions. My support and commitment to the Sussex Beacon couldn't be stronger. I do what I do to help people smile, to keep them motivated and to believe in themselves. I’ve met so many inspirational people through volunteering that have encouraged me to keep smiling myself and I never want this journey to end!” To sponsor Danny, visit: www.justgiving.com/bhm14 Other Charity Ambassadors for the race include: Luisa Gretton from Brighton, who represents RISE; Judy Foote from Bromley, who runs for WaterAid; and Aoife McCauley from Eastbourne, who supports Scope. Public places for the Brighton Half Marathon on Sunday, February 16 are sold out but runners can still sign up to run for one of the race’s official charities, including the Sussex Beacon.
PATRICK MEEHAN
DANNY DWYER
) Danny Dwyer, a 38-year-old legal agent from Brighton, is a Charity Ambassador representing the Sussex Beacon at the Brighton Half Marathon on February 16. Danny is a long standing supporter of the Sussex Beacon and has been a volunteer fundraiser with the charity for three years. He will be running the Brighton Half Marathon for the third time in 2014.
Patrick recorded the CD Over The Rainbow because he wanted to support the work of the Sussex Beacon. Tracks including Over The Rainbow, Georgia On My Mind, Stormy Weather, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and Blue Moon are all beautifully performed by Patrick who also produced the CD. It is available from Sussex Beacon shops in St James' Street and London Road and costs just £5.
THANK YOU CHARLES STREET ) Last month Charles Street donated £750.46 to THT. The money was raised from the weekly roll over jackpot at Sally Vate's Rock and Roll Bingo.
Ross Boseley from THT said: “The money raised will help support local HIV support and prevention projects. Special thanks to Caz from Charles Street who donated her winnings of £52.10. A massive thank you from us all.”
40 YEARS AT LONDON LESBIAN & GAY SWITCHBOARD ) Whilst everyone's coming out story is different, everyone's need for a friendly ear remains the same. London Lesbian & Gay Switchboard (LLGS) has been providing a friendly ear for the past 40 years, listening to peoples coming out stories. From the dark ages of the AIDS crisis in the mid-1980s, to happier times, whenever the phone rings there has been the opportunity to make a difference to LGBT people throughout the country and empower them. LLGS has survived everything thrown at it, because it always dealt with the reality of LGBT lives, enabling those who volunteered to grow as much as those who rang the helpline. Help celebrate 40 years of LLGS and the role it’s played in peoples’ lives! Share their history and look to the future too! What could the next 40 years look like? Switchboard@40 is a panel discussion celebrating 40 years of London Lesbian & Gay Switchboard, 7–10pm, Friday, February 21 at RADA Studios, 16 Chenies Street, London, WC1E 7EX. Tickets: £10/£5 concs. Panelists include Julian Hows, Anne Howard, Lisa Power, Tom Robinson, David Seligman, Rupert Smith, Fiona Harvey and Tina Tav.
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WWW.GSCENE.COM DEPUTY PM CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF THT SEXUAL HEALTH SERVICES WITH RECEPTION AT ADMIRALTY HOUSE ) Last month Nick Clegg MP, the Deputy Prime Minister, hosted a special reception at Admiralty House to mark 30 years of Terrence Higgins Trust (THT). He was joined by staff, volunteers and service users from across the HIV and sexual health charity, along with MPs, local councillors, and public health officials. In his speech, Clegg called for a continued focus on driving down rates of undiagnosed and late-diagnosed HIV in the UK, saying he believed that it should be entirely possible to halve rates within the next five years. He also reminded attendees of the importance of highquality sex and relationship education in schools. TV presenter Dr Christian Jessen spoke about the ongoing discrimination faced by many people living with HIV, and the role THT plays in empowering people with the condition. Paul Ward, Acting Chief Executive at THT, said: “We’re hugely grateful to the Deputy Prime Minister for hosting this reception, and to everyone who came along and made the event such a success. This kind of high-profile support is invaluable in keeping HIV as an issue that is taken up by the highest levels of government.”
NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR PRIDE 2014 AMBASSADORS ) Want to be a Pride Ambassador in 2014 and represent your community at the front of the Pride Parade? Following the outstanding success of the Pride Ambassadors Program in 2013, nominations have now opened for electing Pride Ambassadors for 2014 to help deliver the Pride umbrella theme of Freedom to Live.
2013 PRIDE AMBASSADORS
Last year’s Pride Ambassadors were: • Danny Dwyer, founder of Bear Patrol and fundraiser for the Sussex Beacon; • Helen Marie Carter, outspoken trans* woman, published author and playwright; • Dorrett Agoreyo, a legal assistant and member of the BME community; • George Montague, affectionately known as the 'Oldest Gay in the Village', who represented older people from the LGBT community in Brighton & Hove. If you want to nominate someone who you think goes the extra mile to help LGBT people or is someone you want to see represent the LGBT community at the front of the Pride Parade, send an email with the name of the person and why you’ve nominated them. Whoever receives the highest number of nominations in each of the next four months will be appointed a Pride Ambassador for 2014. The first Pride Ambassador will be announced in April. The Pride Ambassador’s program is sponsored and administered by Gscene Magazine. Email your nominations to: info@gscene.com
TRANS* SWIMMING SESSIONS ) If your gender expression has been keeping you from the swimming pool, there is a 10-week pilot scheme for trans* people at St Luke's swimming pool (near Queens Park), St Luke's Terrace, Brighton on Fridays between 8pm–9.30pm starting February 7 until April 11. Tickets are £2.55 a session. St Luke’s swimming pool has private changing cubicles and all staff have received trans* awareness training. There is no pressure to swim at your first session check out the pool facilities, ask questions and take a dip if you want to. To register for your first session: www.transswimmingbrighton.eventbrite.co.uk
CONSULTATION
) Brighton & Hove City Council is now responsible for ensuring that residents have good access to sexual health services in the city. The current services have been in place for many years and with the move from NHS to local authority responsibility they want to make sure the right services are in the right place to meet the needs of the local population. This consultation is aimed at: • People who use sexual health services in Brighton & Hove; • People who have previously used sexual health services in Brighton & Hove and those who may do so in the future; • Professionals and members of the public with an interest in sexual health services and issues. New contracts should be in place for April 1, 2015 and this consultation will inform these new service contracts. The closing date for responses is Friday, February 7, 2014. Pass on to anyone you feel may be interested. You will not be asked to register or leave any identifiable information. To fill in the survey, view: http://consult.brightonhove.gov.uk/public/nhs/sexual _health/survey If you have any questions regarding this consultation contact Stephen Nicholson, Lead Commissioner for Sexual Health at stephen.nicholson@brightonhove.gov.uk or call: 01273 296554. A limited number of hard copies of the survey are available at the following: Claude Nicol Centre, Morley Street CASH, YAC, Brighton Station Health Centre, Sexual Health LES GPs, Young People’s Centre, THT South, Wistons, First Base, Brighton Women’s Centre, Brighton Oasis and Substance Misuse Service.
NEW CEO FOR THT ) HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) have appointed Dr Rosemary Gillespie their new Chief Executive replacing former Chief Executive Sir Nick Partridge. Dr Gillespie joins the charity from her role as Chief Executive of international HIV awareness charity AVERT. Her previous roles have included Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Policy and Research for Breast Cancer Care, and Chief Executive of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.
DR ROSEMARY GILLESPIE
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Dr Gillespie said: “I am delighted to have been appointed as Chief Executive of this outstanding and iconic charity. I look forward to working with staff and volunteers in the next phase of development, growth and innovation, as we face new challenges in the fields of HIV and sexual health, and continuing attempts to eradicate prejudice and discrimination.” Professor Chris Bones, Chair of Trustees at THT, added: “The trustees are delighted to have secured Dr Gillespie as the new CEO. She brings a remarkable combination of clinical practice, health management and charity leadership at a critical time for our development. No organisation can stay still in the current economic climate and Dr Gillespie's track record of successful change and innovation across a number of sectors will help us meet the challenges ahead in both HIV and the wider area of sexual health.”
PROF CHRIS BONES
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The recruitment process was provided by executive search firm The Talent Business, working on a pro bono basis. Kate Harrison, Partner at The Talent Business, said: “The Talent Business is used to leading ‘C Suite’ talent searches on a daily basis, but it has been a particular pleasure to partner THT in the search for a new CEO. From the outset I believe we had real alignment in what was needed from the future leader of the charity, and both the process and outcome were designed innovatively as a result. I believe the organisation deserves an inspirational leader to help it grow to the next level, and this appointment should help secure a bright future from a bright past.” Dr Gillespie takes up the post from Tuesday, April 1. Paul Ward remains as Acting Chief Executive until March.
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LGBT ‘STUDENT TAKEOVER’ FUN IN ACTION FOR CHILDREN Harrington explains how volunteering to help children is EVENT LAUNCHES IN MARCH Paul the highlight of his week.
Student Takeover has been scheduled to coincide with the weekend that the first same-sex marriages commence in England and Wales, and is intended to unite Brighton's LGBT scene with a series of events which it is hoped will attract students from all over the UK to Brighton and Hove for the weekend. A single wristband for ‘Student Takeover’ Brighton will be the gateway to club nights, activities and discounts. Once purchased the wristband gets you drink and food discounts at ten of Brighton’s finest establishments, as well as free entry to club nights at the scene’s three biggest venues – Revenge, Charles Street and Legends. Highlight of the weekend is the opening launch night with UK superstar and student favourite Ms Dynamite who will perform live at Revenge. A huge scenewide bar crawl across LGBT venues large and small is planned and a ‘Takeover Student Fair’ is also part of a packed weekend of activities.
) So we’re into February already. How are the resolutions panning out for everyone? Didn’t make any? Well perhaps it’s not too late to pretend you did. It was exactly this time last year that I made the decision to fulfil a promise to myself to do a little voluntary work (‘Be the Change You Want to See in the World’ and all that jazz). After trawling through the internet, I stumbled across the charity Fun in Action for Children. As many of you know, far from being leafy, affluent and full of trouble free middle classes, Brighton & Hove is actually a massively polarised city, with some of the worst deprivation in the country. Fun in Action, tries to bridge that gap for hard pressed disadvantaged families, by providing a one-toone volunteer befriending service for children who need extra support and attention from a caring and reliable adult. It requires only a few hours of the befriender’s time every week but makes a huge difference to the life of the befriended child and to family wellbeing. PAUL HARRINGTON & AADIT
) Brighton gay venues are working together to offer a weekend for LGBT students and their friends, locals and visitors alike, starting March 28. Ms Dynamite will headline the weekend-long ‘Student Takeover’, the first of a series of new 'Takeover' events being planned during the year to showcase the best of Brighton's LGBT scene.
MS DYNAMITE
My journey to becoming a befriender was relatively trouble free. After a welcoming initial phone call, followed by a drop-in morning, I was completely hooked. Passion, warmth and commitment embraced me from the moment I walked into the small office just north of Preston Park. Thorough, yet friendly and fun, training sessions provided all the information needed and were a great way to meet other volunteers.
Other Brighton institutions will also be opening their doors to the ‘Takeover’, as the organisers have negotiated exclusive offers on Brighton Pier, at the Sealife Centre, and other local attractions. Restaurants will offer discounted meals over the weekend and cheap hotel and hostel stays are being offered for ticket holders. The event is also supporting local charities with 10% of each ticket going to good causes. This is being split between the Terrence Higgins Trust and the Rainbow Fund, who make grants to LGBT charities in Brighton & Hove who provide frontline services to local LGBT people. Donations will also be made to Brighton and Sussex University’s LGBTQ student societies. Steve Jones, promoter of ‘Takeover’ and Shakedown Festival, said: “I’m delighted to be part of such an exciting event for Brighton. The city has some of the best LGBT venues in the UK, and this is a brilliant opportunity for us all to work together to showcase just how good it can be!” To see the complete programme of events and details of how to purchase a discounted advance wristband for just £6 (normally £8 or £10), view: www.takeoverbrighton.co.uk
Once references and CRB checks were returned, I was matched with a cheeky 5-year-old boy called Aadit, with whom I now spend my Sunday mornings. It didn’t take long for our time together to become a highlight of my week and something I really look forward to. Aadit and I do simple things like hanging out in the park, swimming, exploring rock pools and generally muddling along happily. During these outings I’m completely absorbed. I forget about everything else which is a fantastic stress buster. I experience things I’d long taken for granted through the innocent and frequently hilarious eyes of a small boy. Who knew nasal hair could provide such bewilderment, curiosity and delight? I appreciate this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but nevertheless there is something quite magical and exquisite about spending quality time with a child. It’s a very special relationship of trust and mutual appreciation and I am delighted I picked up the phone a year ago to make that initial enquiry.
FUN IN ACTION FOR CHILDREN VOLUNTEERS Fun in Action for Children are recruiting volunteers and would love to hear from you. You don’t have to commit straight away and can take your time to decide if this is right for you. But if you’re interested in adding a whole new dimension to your life here’s an opportunity that’s too good to miss. Contact Anne, Sam or Ghislaine for more information on 01273 559794 or check out the website www.funinaction.org.uk
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SUE SAUNDERS
ANGELA MORLEY
MUSIC & MUSICIANS The Musicians Union and Schools Out celebrate the lives of four major musical figures during LGBT History Month through performances and educational events in schools, colleges and arts venues across the UK, to highlight the remarkable lives and works of LGBT musicians in challenging prejudice, breaking down stereotypes and producing fabulous music. The quartet of musicians have very interesting stories. ) Benjamin Britten is regarded as one of the central figures of 20th century British classical music. It was the 100th anniversary of his birth in November 2013, but the main reason for the choice was that kids would normally think about him in the context of his music, not his sexual orientation. ) Angela Morley, the Emmy award-winning film and TV composer who wrote the themes to Dallas, Dynasty, Cagney & Lacey and Wonder Woman, had perhaps the most remarkable life of the four. She was born Walter “Wally” Stott in Leeds in 1924 and became a highly rated alto sax player. In 1972 he had a sex change operation in Scandinavia and came back as Angela Morley. ) Bessie Smith is regarded as one of the greatest blues singers in history. As a child she busked in the street to make money for her impoverished family, but the bisexual Smith went on to become the highest paid black entertainer of the day. ) Dame Ethel Smyth (b.1858). Her work The Wreckers is considered one of the most important later English operas. But she is best known for her involvement with the Suffragettes. Sue Sanders, founder of LGBT History Month, said: “The whole point of the month is to make LGBT people visible, because if you don’t say people are LGBT it would be assumed they are straight.”
BRIGHTON EVENTS ) LGBT CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE & FAMILIES DAY: (Tue 4) Young People’s Voice, a campaign action group based at Allsorts youth project in Brighton, hosts the event for the second year running. This year they are holding a conference
in Brighton, Exploring Intersectionality, to educate and celebrate complex and diverse identities and the connections between them. To attend, view: http://cypf.allsortsyouth.org.uk or email info@allsortsyouth.org.uk for details. Jess Wood MBE, co-founder and director of Allsorts, said: “We warmly invite you to share with us in promoting this idea of a dedicated LGBT Children, Young People & Families Day on the first Tuesday of every LGBT History Month in your own context and in your own way! You could show a film about trans* young people in a school; put on an event about diverse families; enable a faith group to hold a Q&A session with LGBT young people; design fun, engaging stickers to distribute; and use social media to generate interest throughout the day!”
FOSTERING & ADOPTION ) Meet the Brighton & Hove Council Fostering & Adoption team for an informal chat (5–7pm, Tue 11) at Jubilee Library. ) LGBT Fostering & Adoption Information Session (9.30am–12.30pm, Fri 14) in Moulsecoomb. Find out about adoption and fostering, speak to members of the adoption team, meet adopters and hear about children needing adoption. To book a place call: 01273 295444, or email: adoption.recruitment@brighton-hove.gov.uk Brighton & Hove City Council are actively recruiting foster carers and adopters from the LGBT communities. You can foster or adopt if you are single or in a relationship; if you own or rent your home. You will need a spare room and childcare experience and be able to give children and young people the care and support they need to be happy and fulfilled. Current LGBT foster carers and adopters have helped to transform many children’s lives and the council's fostering team are keen to build on their success.
JUBILEE LIBRARY Jubilee St, Brighton, BN1 1GE ) BRIGHTON TRANS*FORMED (all month): personal stories from Trans*formed Trans Oral History Project will be played on the CD listening posts on the ground floor of the library. Free. ) TRANS* SYMPOSIUM (all month): watch/listen to James Tuckers documentary Trans Symposium on a continuous loop on the library Wii. Free. ) TRANS* FILMS: (1pm, every Sun): trans*themed screenings. Details from the library. Free. ) TRANS* BANNER (Mon 3–Sun 16): trans* organisations in Brighton & Hove showcase their banners in the library window. ) BEING HUMAN (Tue 4–Sun 16): Trans* formers youth project’s photographic exhibition. ) TRANS* PERFORMERS & POETS (2pm onwards, Sat 15): poetry and personal stories from
CLAIRE PARKER
LGBT History Month promotes tolerance and raises awareness of the prejudices faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The 2014 theme is Music & Musicians.
some of Brighton’s trans* community; Persia West reads from her new book Just Be Kind; and the event is compered by trans* comedienne Claire Parker. Free. ) MINDOUT LIVING LIBRARY (noon–4pm, Wed 26): anti-stigma event where you can talk one-to-one with a human ‘book’ in the Living Library and ask questions about sexual orientation, mental health, ethnicity, gender, disability, age or religion. Free. ) QUEER IN BRIGHTON BOOK LAUNCH (evening event): Brighton’s LGBT Heritage project celebrates real people’s stories and histories. The anthology includes creative writing by established and published authors, through to people who’ve never written before; excerpts from oral histories of people’s experience of Brighton plus photographs and memorabilia. Co-edited by Maria Jastrzebska and Anthony Luvera, published by New Writing South.
EASTBOURNE LIBRARY Grove Road, Eastbourne, BN21 4TL ) JAMES WHARTON OUT IN THE ARMY (7pm, Thurs 20). One of Britain’s first openly gay soldiers reads from his book Out in the Army. James joined the British Army in 2003, entering the ranks of the Household Cavalry as a member of the elite Blues & Royals. He was the first openly gay person to appear on the front cover of Soldier, the British Army's official magazine, and worked with Stonewall for several years as a Diversity Role Model. Tickets £3 inc refreshments. For tickets email: library.eastbourne@eastsussex.gov.uk or call 03456 080 196 and ask for Eastbourne Library.
WORTHING LIBRARY ) RAINBOW CHORUS (noon, Sat 8): the south’s only LGBT-mixed choir give a special concert in the library under the direction of Aneesa Chaudhry to celebrate diversity through music. Tickets £3 from the library or from www.westsussex.gov.uk/libraries ) ROSE COLLIS (7pm, Thurs 13); the alternative historian, author and performer gives an illustrated talk on LGBT History in Worthing and Adur. She has appeared at sell-out events at the Royal National Theatre and Brighton Festival, and presented her acclaimed cabaret, Trouser Wearing Characters, to audiences in Brighton, Shoreham and major arts festivals in New Zealand and Australia. Tickets £3 from the library or www.westsussex.gov.uk/libraries ) LGBT WRITING DISPLAY (all month): look out for a special display of the best of LGBT writing at Worthing Library. Rainbow Reads, the West Sussex County Council (WSCC) list of LGBT books and DVDs, is available in Worthing and other WSCC libraries. ROSE COLLIS
LGBT HISTORY MONTH 2014
COLLABORATIVE PORTRAIT OF SARAH HEBBEN LOVE
COLLABORATIVE PORTRAIT OF RAPHAEL FOX
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QUEER IN BRIGHTON Maria Jastrzębska looks at their three new projects ) This year, LGBT History Month sees three exciting events from the Queer in Brighton cultural heritage project: the launch of a new book Queer in Brighton, an anthology of stories, interview excerpts, essays and photography; a collaborative photography exhibition Not Going Shopping by Anthony Luvera on posters across the city; and a showing of the intergenerational film Are You Happy? Are You Free? made in association with Allsorts LGBT Youth Project. The idea for Queer in Brighton came about as a result of Shaun Levin’s writing workshops at New Writing South and a photography exhibition curated by Martin Parr for Photoworks as part of Brighton Photo Biennial in 2010. The success of these events inspired conversations in cafés, offices and pubs about the place of LGBTQ history in Brighton and how that history contributes to Brighton’s unique place in the queer psyche of the country. Mark Bryant (New Writing South), Juliette Buss (Photoworks), Jamie Wyld (Lighthouse) and David Sheppeard (Pink Fringe) shared a sense that this unique aspect of our city’s history wasn't visible enough and that, without active conservation, stories were simply being lost. Their idea to bring creative writing, oral histories, photography and performance together to tell those stories was the beginning of Queer in Brighton.
New Writing South, Photoworks and Pink Fringe collaborated to raise funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Brighton & Hove City Council. Lesley Wood, who was appointed Project Manager, said: “This project began life as an oral history project and grew into a fantastic journey of discovery for everyone involved. We’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of people who gave their time and their wonderful stories to make Queer In Brighton a success. Volunteers have written, told, recorded and transcribed their stories; they’ve taken or loaned photographs, shared memorabilia and contributed in a dozen other ways to help us capture a kaleidoscope of queer life in this unique city. We’re looking forward to sharing this delirious mix of real life and real love in Brighton when the Queer In Brighton anthology is launched in LGBT History Month.” Through the themes of place, family, politics and language, this inspiring project has explored, uncovered and shared the untold stories and experiences of LGBT people in Brighton & Hove, past and present. Additional funding from Sussex Community Foundation has ensured that the experiences of Brighton’s gay deaf community has also been told, for the first time in participants’ source language. Maria Jastrzębska, local writer and poet who is co-editing the book with artist Anthony Luvera, said: “It's been exciting weaving together the many layers of this book. As editors working on Queer in Brighton we have been spoilt for choice. The stories and images
“I hope this work will inspire other groups of queer people to speak out and be seen” Anthony Luvera sent in to us and those collected by the oral history interviewers are wonderful - ordinary and extraordinary at the same time. I've felt amazed and humbled by peoples' courage and I'm thrilled by the mix of ages – from those still in their teens to those in their eighties. We've encouraged people who have never spoken out about their lives to contribute as well as including experienced speakers or writers. I feel I've got to know about 100 new friends!” A group of 11 people have also collaborated with Luvera to create a body of photographic work that articulates their points of view about being queer in Brighton today. The city-wide Not Going Shopping exhibition in February/March showcases that work and their blog charts the process of their work together: http://notgoingshopping.blogspot.co.uk Luvera said: “While the first same-sex weddings taking place in March 2014 will be a great step forward for the rights of queer people in the UK, bisexual, gay, lesbian and trans* people largely remain invisible or often misrepresented as clichéd caricatures in mainstream entertainment, advertising, newsmedia and other forms of public life. The need for cultural heritage projects such as Queer in Brighton, which celebrate the experiences of real people as told from their points of view, is relevant and needed now more than ever before. “As an artist commissioned to create this collaborative photographic work, and as an editor of the Queer in Brighton anthology, it has been a privilege to be involved in the telling of these stories, and I hope this work will inspire other groups of queer people to speak out and be seen.” David Sheppeard said: “There has been such a groundswell of interest in LGBTQ history since Queer In Brighton started with Brighton Trans*formed and the deposit of the Brighton Ourstory archive at The Keep. We hope it will continue, finding new ways to celebrate this colourful strand in our city's heritage.”
) For more information about how to buy the book and to see the online archive which continues to grow, view: www.queerinbrighton.co.uk ) For more information about the Heritage Lottery Fund: www.hlf.org.uk
FIRST GAY PRIDE MARCH IN LONDON 1972
20 GSCENE inherently sexist and pushed for change through protests and by challenging gender norms. The GLF’s vision was a society free of homophobia, class privilege, racism and misogyny, and it marked the true beginning of the modern movement towards equality. Britain today boasts one of the most multifaceted and vibrant LGBT communities in the world and to a large extent, the efforts of the GLF are responsible for this. Their fervent drive to achieve liberation normalised homosexuality for the rest of the country and although the Thatcherite years did mark a period of setback for LGBT rights, we have a lot to thank the GLF for.
OUT & PROUD LGBT rights have made considerable progress in England since the start of the 20th century and with 2014 under way, a glance back at our story reveals just how much we have to thank and admire our ancestors for. By Olivia Hall-Smith ) Across the nation, there are hundreds of LGBT bars and clubs. Most of us take the prevalence of these venues for granted as the majority of major cities have something to offer LGBT party-seekers. Brighton in particular has become known for its wide selection, with a variety of such nightclubs and bars spread across the city. It is difficult to imagine life without these establishments and yet it wasn’t until 1912 that the first modern-style gay nightclub (The Cave of the Golden Calf) was opened in London. In spite of the homophobic attitudes and the severe punishments for homosexuality, the avantgarde club was the brainchild of Frida Strindberg and she set the precedent for future venues. Strindberg was a brave business owner who catered to a minority community.
She allowed gay customers to enjoy normality during a very dark time for our civil rights. It is her legacy that lives on through the thriving gay scene that we enjoy to this day. The transgender community, those who were brave enough to proceed with a sex change in the early 20th century (in spite of the likely public reaction), must also receive recognition. In 1936, female-born Mark Weston, an Olympic athlete very much in the limelight, transitioned to become male. Weston received much support including that of Dr LR Broster who was prepared to state publicly that the athlete deserved to live as a man. Similarly, an article in Physical Culture magazine from January 1937 also respected Weston and wrote that “no man is 100% male, no woman 100% female.”
FRIDA STRINDBERG
Such early bravery, approval and recognition was vital for the progress of transgender rights. We must remember these people today as they took the first steps on a long journey to equality. Ultimately, it was their determination that paved the way for the development of the medicine we currently have available to assist those in the transgender community who require it. Established in October 1970, and inspired by the black civil rights movement in America, the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was a revolutionary movement that demanded freedom. It saw Britain as oppressive and
In Britain, the LGBT community now have a myriad of rights that were once unthinkable. Without doubt, the progress that has been made is phenomenal. Gay couples are able to adopt and people of all sexualities and genders can join the military. Additionally, partners in same-sex relationships are both considered ‘parents’ on birth certificates and there are various anti-discrimination laws in place for our protection. This year, and not a moment too soon, gay couples will finally be allowed to marry and in light of this, it would appear that equality has been achieved. In reality however, the battle is far from over. A few weeks ago I was stunned into silence by a taxi driver who said that he didn’t mind gays, as long as they conducted their business in private. The man assumed that I was straight and so he added, “Pride events are ridiculous, we don’t have Straight Pride do we?” His total disregard for the struggle that so many went through to get us to where we are today was infuriating. It became clear to me in that instant that it is the hearts and minds that will be the slowest to change. The fact that 175 politicians were not prepared to vote in favour of gay marriage reflects this. It is now more important than ever that we stick together for this final fight. As a community we must continue to be out, loud and proud. The more people we tell and the more who see that we are unashamed and more importantly, that we are the same as anyone else, the greater impact we will have. This year is crucial and together, we will send a message and set an example for the rest of the world to follow. We are not going anywhere. Accept us.
“The GLF’s vision was a society free of homophobia, class privilege, racism and misogyny, and it marked the true beginning of the modern movement towards equality”
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) Almost everyone has heard of the Royal Society, the Fellowship of renowned scientists drawn from all areas of science, engineering and medicine. What most people don’t know, and it’s a well kept secret, is that the Royal Society, founded in 1660, was the creation of some very clever 17th century gay men. Bizarrely, the Royal Society thinks it is ‘inappropriate’ to recognise this, let alone discuss it, but without the input of these gay men it would never have existed. Our story begins early in the 17th century, with that famous gay, Sir Francis Bacon. He rose to the position of Lord Chancellor before falling from grace during the reign of King James I, who, as is well known, was married but treated his favourite boys ‘like ladies’. There were drastic penalties for sodomy at the time, though these were seldom enacted, especially at this level of society. Bacon was a great philosopher of science and attacked its old medieval forms which were taught at English universities, arguing for a system of ‘natural philosophy’, one having direct benefits for people. Before Bacon died in 1626, he wrote A New Atlantis, a utopian novella of an ideal society run by a government-funded academy of science. His writings became the inspiration behind the formation of the Royal Society. Without Francis Bacon there would not have been a Royal Society, something the organisation itself acknowledges.
DR JOHN WILKINS
Moving on to the 1640s, Dr John Wilkins, a gay man, a preacher, and a promoter of science, founded an important scientific club in London. In 1648 he moved to Oxford University to become warden of Wadham College and started a new scientific club, the Philosophical Society of Oxford. This performed an important scientific role until the return of Charles II. Wilkins was a great inspirer of science, continuing the project of Bacon during these difficult times. The Oxford
Society acted as the scientific heart of England and Wilkins introduced and mentored a host of talented young men, some of whom became leading lights of the new experimental science. In 1656, aged 42, he married the 62-year-old sister of Oliver Cromwell, for political reasons. Wilkins was clocked departing immediately after the wedding, to visit some men. He attended the famous meeting at Gresham College in London in November 1660, which saw the start of what became the Royal Society. Before he died in 1672, he played a vital role in the organisation’s formation, sitting on its governing council and raising money. Without John Wilkins, there would have never been an Oxford Philosophical Society, let alone a Royal Society. Sir Robert Moray, a gay Scotsman, is most responsible for creating the Royal Society. Though not strictly a man of science, he knew its value and did what he could to promote it. Moray was born in 1608 and was for many years an unmarried soldier. He may have even attended some of the early scientific meetings in London organised by Wilkins. He tried to convince Charles I to dress in women’s clothes, to assist the King’s escape. This was rejected, and Charles I was eventually beheaded. By 1650, Moray returned to Scotland and was briefly married. His wife died soon after and he did not wed again. Then, as now, some gay men, especially in politics, married to assist their careers. Moray is recorded as being ‘a single man, an abhorrer of women’. After spending time with the exiled Charles II, he returned to London late 1660, and was present at the November 1660 meeting at Gresham College. It was Moray who took the proposal to establish the Royal Society to Charles II. It was Moray who led negotiations that gained the Royal Society its royal patronage. Until his death in 1673, he was heavily involved in the running of the society. He was known as the ‘soul’ of the Royal Society. Next we meet the gay Robert Boyle, the best of the early Royal Society’s scientists. Born into great wealth in Ireland in 1627, he went to Eton aged eight, and later studied and toured the continent. While in Florance, around the age of 14, he was seduced by adult males. This experience drove Boyle into the life of a recluse obsessed with religion, science, and alchemy. He moved to Oxford in
the mid 1650s to join Dr John Wilkins and his Oxford Philosophical Society. Boyle performed a great many experiments, and wrote a number of highly influential books on the results. He lived in Oxford until 1668, then moved to London to live with his sister. He regularly attended society meetings, wrote scientific texts, and performed experiments. In 1680 he was elected Royal Society president, but opted out as he didn’t agree with taking the two Anglican religious oaths for the position. He died a week after his sister in 1691. Gay Sir Isaac Newton was, and arguably is, the Royal Society’s greatest ever member and was its president from 1703–1727. Newton was sent to Cambridge by his mother without money, so had to perform menial services for other students. For over 20 years, he stayed there as an academic, contentedly sharing a room with another man, practicing science, alchemy and religion. Following the success of his master work Principia Mathematica he came to live in London. Here he suffered a period of acute mental illness due to his break up with a young man. Boyle aside, Newton is the only single gay man to have held the position of president of the Royal Society.
SIR ISAAC NEWTON
Following the recent posthumous Royal Pardon of computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing, who became Fellow of the Royal Society in 1951 but was punished with chemical castration in 1952, Mark Govier says it’s time to recognise and celebrate the vast contribution made to science by gay men, and questions why the Royal Society is still reluctant to acknowledge its own gay founders and scientific pioneers.
SIR ROBERT BOYLE
QUEER FELLOWS
The monarchy only resumed its patronage of the organisation after Newton died in 1727, and he was immediately replaced by Sir Hans Sloane, a real married man. This unofficial ‘married only’ status for the top position in British science still persists, despite there being no legal basis for it. The reality is, the most notable scientific organisation in Britain’s history was formed by gay men. Since this time, there have been many gay ‘Fellows’, though of course, unofficially. (Alan Turning is the only exception, thanks to media C4). To continue to argue, as the Royal Society still does, that its own gay roots are not an ‘appropriate subject’ is nonsense. ) SOURCES INCLUDE Archives of the Royal Society; Record of the Royal Society; Dictionary of National Biography; Henry Lyons, History of the Royal Society; Matt Cook (Ed) A Gay History of Britain; and John Gribbin, The Fellowship.
BOSTON STATE HOUSE
22 GSCENE
The New York Times calls Rhode Island the most tolerant state in the US, and recently compared attitudes in Rhode Island to that of what they call the least gay tolerant state in the US, Mississippi, two opposite ends of the gay (and civil) rights spectrum. A couple of statistics from their research perhaps prove the point: • For every openly gay male high school student on Facebook in Mississippi, there are 5.5 in Rhode Island. • In Mississippi there are 50% more Google searches asking 'is my husband gay?' than there are in Rhode Island. Perhaps only Americans would use Google searches as a basis for their academic research, but it confirms a trend of tolerance seen in the New England states since the founding fathers landed there.
Rhode Island is a small state of a million people, situated between New York and Boston. It’s easy to drive straight through it, but you’d be making a mistake not to hang out for a while. Providence offers a cluster of gay bars in its compact Victorian downtown area and is like a mini New York with similar architecture just on a smaller scale. Like much of America, its cultural highlight is a sprawling shopping centre. Just an hour from Boston though, it makes for an interesting stop-off whilst travelling around the region. Summer and autumn sees millions flock to the quintessential New England town of Newport. This spectacularly beautiful resort is everything you want from the New England experience, offers Rhode Island's best eating, drinking and hotel destinations, and rightly lays claim to being one of America's premier resorts.
Island towns follow a similar look and style to historic Newport. These include Bristol, Portsmouth and Warren, and all are worth a few picture postcard photographs. Newport though is the best destination to spend time in, with a vast number of high quality independent eating, drinking, shopping and entertainment venues to keep travellers occupied all times of the year. Boston itself disappoints only in one way its gay bars. The city rivals any in the world in terms of what it otherwise offers, but the better gay bars are outside of the city centre. However, there is much on offer in the city, including shopping in Newbury Street, eating at Quincy Market, historic Beacon Hill or in its role as a regional centre for the arts and
BOSTON QUINCY MARKET
PROVIDENCE
) Arriving in Providence, capital of the New England state of Rhode Island, you cannot help but notice the number of same-sex couples. Some say it is because of the three major academic institutions, including one Ivy League university, in the relatively small city. Others might argue that it is because of the state's liberal views on LGBT rights. Whichever it is, this New England enclave offers gay couples a destination away from the welltrodden path of nearby Provincetown or the big cities of New York and Boston.
BOSTON ELMS MANSION
Paul Elgood has a gay old time in New England
theatre. Boston is the best way to arrive in and depart from New England, as it’s just seven or so hours from London, making the flight an easy hop. What you get for your trouble is some of the best America has to offer.
Christmas sees the town, and its string of historic Gatsby-style mansions, decked out in Christmas decorations, magically adding to the resort's already beautiful historic backdrop. Spring sees the Atlantic Cup, one of America's leading sailing races, with its activities on and off the water, Newport is best known for both offerings. Other Rhode
BOSTON PUBLIC PARK
BOSTON
NEW ENGLAND TRAILS
NEWPORT
PROVIDENCE
more info... ) http://boston.gaycities.com/bars/ ) www.gaytravel.com/gay-guides/boston ) http://providence.gaycities.com/ ) www.visitrhodeisland.com/
24 GSCENE OUT & ABOUT
PICS FROM A BAR, BAR 7, BRIGHTON SAUNA + BULLDOG
FEBRUARY
LISTINGS
A-BAR
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Sat (8) CABARET at 10pm with Trudi Styles & Piano Man. l REGULARS Wed is the OPEN MIC PIANO BAR with Mark Hodge; sing your favourite tune with Mark or just listen at 9pm. l Fri is LIVE MUSIC at 9pm. l Sat is PRE-CLUB with drink promos. l FOOD bar food served Mon–Sat noon–7pm (last orders 6.30pm); Golden Handbag-award winning Sunday roasts served noon–5pm (last orders 4pm), to book call 01273 696691. l DRINK DEALS house wine £12 every day; double-up on spirits for an extra £1.50 on Fri & Sat. Wed & Thur are cocktail nights from 9pm; buy one get the other half price. l OPEN Sun–Thur 11am–midnight; Fri & Sat noon–2am. Unrivalled sea view, large heated smoking terrace and all big sport events. l FUNKYFISH CLUB Old School Sat: DJ Sean Quinn 10pm l LEGENDS BAR Pre-Fusion 7pm; food noon-5pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open noon l A-BAR Pre-club music; food noon-7pm; l PARIS HOUSE live jazz 4pm; TC’s Joyful open noon Noise: DJ Kenny 9pm; open noon l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Sexy Sat: DJ Missy B 6pm l POISON IVY non-stop karaoke; open 11am l BAR REVENGE Sweet Revenge warm-up l QUEEN’S ARMS cabaret: Paul Quinton 9pm; open noon-6am Smith 4.30pm; Betty’s Karaoke 6pm; Ultimate l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Fusion: DJ Party 9pm; open noon Lee Harris 11pm l REGENCY TAVERN food 12-6pm l BEDFORD TAVERN open noon l REVENGE Sweet Revenge: DJs 10.30pm l BULLDOG DJ V John 10pm; DJ Lil Alex l SUBLINE Men’s Room: DJ Screwpulous 9pm 3am; karaoke 10pm; open 11am l ZONE Sally Vate 9.30pm; open 10am l CAMELFORD ARMS food 12-8pm; open 12 l CHARLES ST The Boys In The Bar: all-male DJs Lil Alex, Grant Knowles, Leeroy on rotation l A-BAR Sunday roasts: bookings 01273 9pm; food noon-7.45pm; open noon 696691 noon-5pm; open 11am l DR BRIGHTONS Sexy Sat: DJ Tony B l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Ray & Tyler’s karaoke 9.30pm; open 1pm 6pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l BAR REVENGE Acoustic Sunday: live music Information is correct at the time of going to press. Gscene cannot be held responsible for any changes or alterations to the listings
SATURDAY 1
SUNDAY 2
4pm; Karaoke Queens: LouBag & Smithy 8pm l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Pop!Candy: DJ Claire Fuller 11pm l BEDFORD TAVERN Sunday roasts 12.30pm; Piano Bingo 5pm; open noon l BULLDOG DJ Slip Matt 6pm; DJ Grant 10pm; karaoke 9pm; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS Sunday roasts & selected menu noon-till gone; Bear Bash & Raffle 5pm; open noon l CHARLES ST cabaret: Mrs Moore 7.30pm; Tranny Rock & Roll Bingo: Sally Vate, roll over jackpot 8.30pm; Sun lunch 12-7pm l DR BRIGHTONS Hangover Therapy; open 1pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l LEGENDS BAR Sunday roasts noon-3pm; cabaret: Miss Jason 3.30pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open 1pm l POISON IVY non-stop karaoke; cabaret 5.30pm; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS cabaret: Maisie Trollette 6pm; karaoke 7.30pm; open noon l REGENCY TAVERN Sunday roasts noon5pm; Piano Bar 1.30pm; open noon l SUBLINE Come in Your Pants: DJ N.U.D.E, underwear party 9pm l THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS live jazz: Jazz Roast 3pm; Sunday lunch from 1pm; open 1pm l ZONE live music: Back Beat 5pm; karaoke 7pm; open 10am
MONDAY 3
l A-BAR bar food noon-7pm; open 11am l BAR REVENGE Quiz with Liz: cash prizes 8.30pm; open noon l BEDFORD TAVERN Mon Club; open noon
l BULLDOG DJ Marcia’s Glitter Ball 10pm; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS food noon-3pm & 69pm; open noon l CHARLES ST food noon-8pm; open noon l DR BRIGHTONS open 3pm l ENVY Studio 150: student night 10pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l LEGENDS BAR Dave & Lola Live & Dangerous 9.30pm; food 12-5pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open noon l POISON IVY Mimbo’s karaoke; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS karaoke 8.30pm; open 12 l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & 6-8.30pm; open noon l ZONE open 10am
TUESDAY 4
l A-BAR bar food noon-7pm; open 11am l BAR REVENGE VIP Tue: Harry’s Karaoke, DJ Fifi, 8pm; open noon l BEDFORD TAVERN Theatre Bar; open noon l BULLDOG Poptastic: DJ Lee; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS food noon-3pm & 69pm; open noon l CHARLES ST Dog Tails; food noon-10pm; open noon l DR BRIGHTONS Twisted Tue; open 3pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l LEGENDS BAR food 12-5.30pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN Nat’s Quiz 9pm; open 12 l POISON IVY Bar99: tunes with Gloria Hole + Stephanie Starlett’s amateur strip night with £100 prize; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS Brenda Snap’s Gossip Show: guest Cherry & karaoke 8pm; open noon
BAR 7 CRAWLEY
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Thur (13) is 7TH HEAVEN comedy night and happy hour all night. l REGULARS SEXY SATURDAY drink promos & DJs: Missy B (1), Waynsie rudeboy (8), Cozmo (15) and Rob Davis (22). l Sun is Ray & Tyler’s Karaoke. l Wed drink promos 6–9pm. l DIRTY THURSDAY happy hours all night. l FLOORFILLER FRIDAY drink promos & DJs: Kirsty Anderson (7), a Masquerade Party with & DJ Tragic (14), Waynsie rudeboy (21) and Tragic (28). l OPEN Sun & Wed 6pm–12.30am, Thur–Sat 6pm–2.30am. Closed Mon & Tue. l www.7crawley.co.uk
BRIGHTON SAUNA
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Every Wed is Naked Day all day, no towels! l DRINKS licensed bar 7 days a week; Sun–Thur 11–1am and Fri & Sat 11–2am. l OPEN For future listings visit: www.thebrightonsauna.com
PICS FROM THE BULLDOG + CAMELFORD ARMS
GSCENE OUT & ABOUT 25
FEBRUARY
LISTINGS
BULLDOG
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Fri is Disco Heaven with DJ Marcia playing old
tunes with new groovest 10pm; CABARET in top bar at midnight: Laquisha Jones (7), Lola Lasagne's VALENTINE'S SPECIAL (14), La Voix (21) and Lady Imelda (28). l REGULARS Sat is DJ V John at 10pm, DJ Lil Alex at 3am, KARAOKE upstairs at 10pm. l Sun is DJ Slip Matt at 6pm, DJ Grant Knowles at 10pm, KARAOKE upstairs at 9pm. l Mon is DJ Marcia’s GLITTER BALL 70s/80s tunes at 10pm. l Tue is POPTASTIC with DJ Lee. Tue (25) REGGAE with DJ Micklos at 9pm. l Wed is DIVA RUSH with DJ Marcia, all drinks £1.99 when select artist plays and traffic light turns green, 10pm–2am. l Thur is RELEASE with DJ Grant Knowles at 10pm. l DRINK DEALS Mon, Tue & Thur 3–7pm & 11pm–midnight; Wed 3–7pm; Fri 3–7pm & drinks £1.99 9–11pm; Sat 10pm–midnight; Sun all day–midnight. Drinks include: pints from £1.95, double spirit & mixer from £2.30, bottles from £1.85 (Terms & conditions apply). l OPEN daily from 11am–very late. l www.bulldogbrighton.com l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & 6-8.30pm; open noon l REVENGE Naughty Pop: DJs Trick & Alex Baker 11pm l THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS live music 8pm; open noon l ZONE Misty Lee’s Karaoke; open 10am
WEDNESDAY 5
l A-BAR open mic with Mark Hodge 9pm; food noon-7pm; cocktail night; open 11am
l BAR 7@CRAWLEY open 6pm l BAR REVENGE Spice is Nice: DJ Dana; open noon l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Ice: DJ Claire Fuller 11pm l BEDFORD TAVERN open noon l BRIGHTON SAUNA Naked Day 11am l BULLDOG Diva Rush: DJ Marcia 10pm; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS seniors lunch 23.30pm; reg food 12-3pm & 6-9pm; open 12
CAMELFORD ARMS
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Thur is the £300 BIG CASH QUIZ at 9pm. l REGULARS The FRIDAY CLUB is at 6pm. l Sun (2) & (16) is THE BEAR
BASH at 5pm; the free raffle is every Sun at 5pm.
l FOOD Wed is SENIORS' LUNCH with two courses for £5.50 served
2–3.30PM; home cooked menu & manager's specials served Mon–Fri noon–3pm & 6–9pm; Sat noon–8pm; Sunday roasts & select menu served noon–till gone! l OPEN daily from noon. The Camelford is the most dog-friendly pub in town. l CHARLES ST Quiz With No Name: Drag With No Name cash prizes 9pm; food noon-8pm; open noon l DR BRIGHTONS Cocktail Clinic; open 3pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l LEGENDS BAR food 12-5pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open noon l POISON IVY Lady LaRue’s Search for a Star: Heat 1; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS Betty Swollocks’ Challenge Karaoke 8.30pm; open noon l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & 6-8.30pm; open noon l SUBLINE Backlash: retro night 9pm l ZONE open 10am
l BULLDOG Release: DJ Grant 10pm; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS £300 Big Cash Quiz 9pm; food noon-3pm & 6-9pm; open noon l CHARLES ST Mad Cow’s Tea Party: Joan Bond, tea pot cocktails, ‘drink me’ shots, fab decor, tunes & win bar tabs 8pm; open noon l DR BRIGHTONS Thirsty Thur; open 3pm l ENVY Mad Cow’s Tea Party: with Ms Joan Bond, fab decor, tunes & win bar tabs 8pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l LEGENDS BAR food 12-5pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open noon l POISON IVY non-stop karaoke; cabaret 9.30pm; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS Fag Machine: alt cabaret night 9pm; open noon l A-BAR food 12-7pm; cocktail night; open 11am l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Dirty Thur 6pm 6-8.30pm; open noon l BAR REVENGE Girls On Top warm-up 9pm; l REVENGE Girls On Top: DJs 10.30pm open noon l SUBLINE Leathered 9pm l BEDFORD TAVERN open noon l ZONE open 10am
THURSDAY 6
26 GSCENE OUT & ABOUT
PICS FROM CHARLES STREET + ENVY
FEBRUARY
LISTINGS
COCKTAILS
@ CHARLES ST
l When friends visit town and I ask what they want to do, they often say "let’s go for
cocktails". However, the choices in a gay setting are somewhat limited in Brighton. Charles Street have identified this gap and introduced a new upmarket cocktail menu with very some interesting mixes. Cocktails are just £6.95 and use branded spirits. On Tues & Fri from 9pm you can buy two cocktails for £8. Charles Street's signature cocktail is a Porn Star Martini (Absolut Vanilla, Passoã, and passion fruit puree) served with a shot of prosecco - my favourite by far. The Strawberry & Lime Margarita is lovely (Tequila, Cointreau, strawberry puree, sugar, and lime juice), but make sure you take it with salt on the rim of the glass. Traditional favourites Sex on the Beach, Long Island Iced Tea, Mojito, Pina Colada and Cosmopolitan are available, but if you want a special treat try an Green Apple Mojito (Apple Vodka, mint, lime, sugar, topped with apple juice), it is simply wonderful. If you’re with a group of friends making an evening of it you can now buy a bottle of spirits with six cans of Red Bull or a two pint pitcher of mixer. Smirnoff Vodka, Smirnoff Gold, Bacardi Superior Rum & Jack Daniels are all £60 a bottle. Disaronno and Jägermeister are £70 a bottle. Grey Goose Vodka is £100 a bottle and Patron XO Café is £110 a bottle. For 'Grand Queens' who love a tipple of the sparkly stuff, champagne starts at £25 for Louis Dornier, rising to £70 for a bottle of Bollinger. Bottles of house wine are just £10.95, which during happy hour are half price. The most important ingredient for a good cocktail is the barman who mixes it. The lovely Sam mixed our drinks to perfection and all of Charles Street bar staff have been trained to mix all the cocktails on the new list. The second important ingredient to guarantee you enjoy a cocktail is the level of music. If Charles Street manage to keep music levels at a respectable level they’ll be onto a winner with this new cocktail list, which is clearly aimed at a more discerning, mature clientele.
FRIDAY 7
l A-BAR live music 9pm; pre-club music; food noon-7pm; open noon l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Floorfiller Fri: DJ Kirsty Anderson; open 6pm l BAR REVENGE Shameless warm-up 9pm; open noon-6am l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Friday Night Live with Lady La Rue: 2 floor party, DJ Peter Castle in club 11pm l BEDFORD TAVERN Krazy Kamikaze Karaoke 8.30pm; open noon l BULLDOG Disco Heaven: DJ Marcia 10pm; cabaret: Laquisha Jones midnight; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS food noon-3pm & 69pm; Friday Club 6pm; open noon l CHARLES ST Fruity Fri Fix: DJ Leeroy 9pm; food noon-7.45pm; open noon l DR BRIGHTONS Funky Fri: DJ Nick Hirst 9.30pm; open 1pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l FUNKYFISH CLUB Back to the 80s 10pm l LEGENDS BAR Friday Night Live with Lady La Rue, 2 floor party 9pm; DJ Peter Castle in club 11pm; food noon-5pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open noon l POISON IVY Club Barcode: Spice, karaoke & video bar; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS Camp Attack 8pm; open 12 l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & 6-8.30pm; open 11am l REVENGE Shameless: DJs Trick & Lee Harris 10.30pm
l SUBLINE Steam 9pm l ZONE Stone & Street 9pm; open 10am
SATURDAY 8
l A-BAR cabaret: Trudi Styles & Piano Man 10pm; pre-club music; food 12-7pm; open 12 l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Sexy Sat: DJ Waynsierudeboy; open 6pm l BAR REVENGE Sweet Revenge Warm-Up 9pm; open noon-6am l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Fusion: DJ Peter Castle 11pm l BEDFORD TAVERN open noon l BULLDOG DJ V John 10pm; DJ Lil Alex 3am; karaoke 10pm; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS food 12-8pm; open 12 l CHARLES ST The Boys In The Bar: all-male DJs 9pm; food noon-7.45pm; open noon l DR BRIGHTONS Sexy Sat: DJ Tony B 9.30pm; open 1pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l FUNKYFISH CLUB Old School Sat: DJ Sean Quinn 10pm l LEGENDS BAR Pre-Fusion 7pm; food noon-5pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open noon l MARLBOROUGH Shook Up 9pm; open 12 l PARIS HOUSE live jazz 4pm; TC’s Joyful Noise: DJ Kenny 9pm; open noon l POISON IVY non-stop karaoke; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS cabaret: Richard Carney 4.30pm; Betty’s Karaoke 6pm; Ultimate Party 9pm; open noon l REGENCY TAVERN food 12-6pm
CHARLES STREET BAR
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Fri (14) is the FRUITY FRIDAY FIX VALENTINE'S SPECIAL with DJ Leeroy at 9pm, free entry. l REGULARS Wed is QUIZ WITH NO NAME with Drag With No Name & cash prize at 9pm. l Thur is MAD COW'S TEA PARTY: Alice in Wonderland décor, tea pot cocktails, 'drink me' shots, tunes & Joan Bond at 8pm; drinks from £1, win a bar tab, entry £1. l FRUITY FRIDAY FIX at 9pm with DJ Leeroy dance/funky house, discount cocktails. l Sat is BOYS IN THE BAR all-male DJ line-up Jonesy, Lil Alex, Grant Knowles & Leeroy at 9pm, free entry! l Sun CABARET at 7.30pm: Mrs Moore (2), Davina Sparkle (9), Titti La Camp (16) and Lizzy Drip (23); TRANNY ROCK & ROLL BINGO with Sally Vate and rolling jackpot at 8.30pm. l FOOD noon–8pm and till 10pm on Tue; two for £6.95 on select mains, 2-4-1 gourmet hotdogs at Dog Tails on Tue. Sunday Lunch: home roast beef, chicken or veggie noon–7pm, £6.95, or two for £10. l AFTERWORK HAPPY HOURS all drinks 50% off Mon–Sat 5–9pm & Sun from 8.30pm after the show. All deals excl sparkling wine & cocktails, not in conjunction with other offers. Cocktails: two for £8 Tue 6pm–close & Fri 9pm–close. l OPEN daily from noon. l www.charles-street.com
ENVY
@ CHARLES ST
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Fri (14) is CUPID STUNT VALENTINE'S Special at 10pm with DJs Lady Lola & Lewis, £2 drinks and £3 entry. l REGULARS Mon is STUDIO 150 student night, singles or bottles for £1.50 all night, entry £1.50. l Thur is MAD COW’S TEA PARTY with Alice in Wonderland décor, tea pot cocktails, 'drink me' shots, pumping tunes & Joan Bond at 8pm, drinks from £1, win a bar tab for the night, entry £1. l www.charles-street.com l REVENGE Sweet Revenge: DJs 10.30pm l SUBLINE Men’s Room: DJ Screwpulous 9pm l ZONE Gabriella Parish 9.30pm; open 10am
SUNDAY 9
l A-BAR Sunday roasts: noon-5pm bookings 01273 696691; open 11am l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Ray & Tyler’s karaoke 6pm l BAR REVENGE Acoustic Sunday: live music 4pm; Karaoke Queens: 8pm; open noon l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Pop!Candy: DJ Claire Fuller 11pm l BEDFORD TAVERN Sunday roasts 12.30pm; Piano Bingo 5pm; open noon l BULLDOG DJ Slip Matt 6pm; DJ Grant 10pm; karaoke 9pm; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS Sunday roasts & select menu noon-till gone; Raffle 5pm; open noon l CHARLES ST cabaret: Davina Sprarkle 7.30pm; Tranny Rock & Roll Bingo: Sally Vate, roll over jackpot 8.30pm; Sun lunch noon-7pm l DR BRIGHTONS Hangover Therapy; open 1pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l LEGENDS BAR Sunday roasts noon-3pm; cabaret: Lizzy Drip 3.30pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open 1pm l POISON IVY non-stop karaoke; cabaret 5.30pm; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS cabaret: Lucinda Lashes 6pm; karaoke 7.30pm; open noon l REGENCY TAVERN Sunday roasts noon5pm; Piano Bar 1.30pm; open noon l SUBLINE Come in Your Pants: DJ N.U.D.E, underwear party 9pm
l THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS live jazz: Jazz Roast 3pm; Sunday lunch from 1pm; open 1pm l ZONE live music: JJ & Company 5pm; karaoke 7pm; open 10am
MONDAY 10
l A-BAR bar food noon-7pm; open 11am l BAR REVENGE Quiz with Liz: cash prizes 8.30pm; open noon l BEDFORD TAVERN Mon Club; open noon l BULLDOG DJ Marcia’s Glitter Ball 10pm; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS food 12-3pm & 69pm; open noon l CHARLES ST food noon-8pm; open noon l DR BRIGHTONS open 3pm l ENVY Studio 150: student night 10pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l LEGENDS BAR Dave & Lola Live & Dangerous 9.30pm; food 12-5pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open noon l POISON IVY Mimbo’s karaoke; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS karaoke 9pm; open noon l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & 6-8.30pm; open noon l ZONE open 10am
TUESDAY 11
l A-BAR bar food noon-7pm; open 11am l BAR REVENGE VIP Tue: Harry’s Karaoke, DJ Fifi, 8pm; open noon l BEDFORD TAVERN open noon l BULLDOG Poptastic: DJ Lee; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS food 12-3pm & 6-9pm
28 GSCENE OUT & ABOUT
PICS FROM CHARLES BIRTHDAY @ DR BRIGHTONS + FUNKY FISH
FEBRUARY
LISTINGS
DR BRIGHTONS l l l l
ONE FOR THE DIARY Look out for 5th birthday bash Sat Mar (8). REGULARS FUNKY FRIDAY is with DJ Nick Hirst at 9.30PM, free entry. SEXY SATURDAY with DJ Tony B is at 9.30pm, free entry. DRINK DEALS Sun–Thur all day and Fri & Sat 1–7pm: Fosters & Carling £3.15 a pint, large Smirnoff & mixer £4, large Smirnoff & energy drink £5. 2 cocktails for £11 Sun–Thur. Free pool with round of drinks purchased during happy hour. l OPEN Mon–Thur 3pm–midnight; Fri & Sat 1pm–2am; Sun 1pm–midnight. l www.doctorbrightons.co.uk l CHARLES ST Dog Tails; food noon-10pm; open noon l DR BRIGHTONS Twisted Tue; open 3pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l LEGENDS BAR food 12-5.30pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN Nat’s Quiz 9pm; open 12 l POISON IVY Bar99: tunes with Gloria Hole + Stephanie Starlett’s amateur strip night with £100 prize; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS Brenda Snap’s Gossip Show: guest Cherry & karaoke 8pm; open noon l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & 6-8.30pm; open noon l REVENGE Naughty Pop: DJs Trick & Alex Baker 11pm l THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS live music: The Pickin Circle 8pm; open noon l ZONE Misty Lee’s Karaoke; open 10am
WEDNESDAY 12
l A-BAR open mic with Mark Hodge 9pm; food noon-7pm; cocktail night; open 11am l BAR 7@CRAWLEY open 6pm l BAR REVENGE Spice is Nice: DJ Dana; open noon l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Ice: DJ Claire Fuller 11pm l BRIGHTON SAUNA Naked Day 11am l BULLDOG Diva Rush: DJ Marcia 10pm; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS seniors lunch 23.30pm; reg food 12-3pm & 6-9pm; open 12 l CHARLES ST Quiz With No Name: Drag With No Name, entertainment & cash prizes
FUNKY FISH CLUB & BAR
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Fri (14) is GAY SPEED DATING with Drag Host &
9pm; food noon-8pm; open noon drink specials at 8pm; tickets £10, to register call/text Chris or Tracey on 07927 l DR BRIGHTONS Cocktail Clinic; open 3pm 783180, or visit www.funkyfishclub.co.uk l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l REGULARS Fri is the 70S/80S/90S REVIVAL at 10pm, with DJ Aky playing l LEGENDS BAR food 12-5pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open noon 70s/80s/90s/now hits, drink promos, free entry. Fri (7) is BACK TO THE 80s, with l POISON IVY Lady LaRue’s Search for a Star: drink promos, free entry at 10pm. l OLD SCHOOL SATURDAY with DJ Sean Quinn Heat 2; open 11am playing the hottest hits of 70s/80s & 90s at 10pm, drink promos, entry £5. l QUEEN’S ARMS Betty Swollocks’ Challenge l DRINK DEALS Fri & Sat Karaoke 8.30pm; open noon l OPEN Funky Fish Bar open daily from noon. l www.funkyfishclub.co.uk l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & 6-8.30pm; open noon l SUBLINE Backlash: retro night 9pm l THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS Big Cash Quiz l MARINE TAVERN open noon l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Friday Night 7.30pm; open noon l POISON IVY non-stop karaoke; cabaret Live with Lady La Rue: 2 floor party, DJ Peter l ZONE open 10am 9.30pm; open 11am Castle in club 11pm l QUEEN’S ARMS Fag Machine: alt cabaret l BEDFORD TAVERN open noon night 9pm; open noon l BULLDOG Disco Heaven: DJ Marcia 10pm; l A-BAR bar food noon-7pm; cocktail night; l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & Valentine’s cabaret: Lola Lasagne midnight; open 11am 6-8.30pm; open noon open 11am l BAR 7@CRAWLEY 7th Heaven Comedy l REVENGE Girls On Top Anti-Valentine’s Party l CAMELFORD ARMS food noon-3pm & 6Night 6pm 9pm; Friday Club 6pm; open noon l BAR REVENGE Girls On Top warm-up 9pm; with FUEL Girls 10.30pm l SUBLINE Leathered 9pm l CHARLES ST Fruity Fri Fix Valentine’s open noon Special: DJ Leeroy 9pm; food 12-8pm; open 12 l BULLDOG Release: DJ Grant 10pm; open 11am l THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS comedy 8pm; open noon l DR BRIGHTONS Funky Fri: DJ Nick Hirst l CAMELFORD ARMS £300 Big Cash Quiz l ZONE open 10am 9.30pm; open 1pm 9pm; food noon-3pm & 6-9pm; open noon l ENVY Cupid Stunt Valentine’s Party: DJs l CHARLES ST Mad Cow’s Tea Party: Ms Lady Lola & Lewis 10pm Joan Bond, fab decor, tunes 8pm; open 12 l A-BAR live music 9pm; bar food noon-7pm; l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l DR BRIGHTONS Thirsty Thur; open 3pm l FUNKYFISH CLUB Gay Speed Dating: £10 l ENVY Mad Cow’s Tea Party: Ms Joan Bond, open noon entry 8pm; 70s/80s/90s Revival: DJ Aky 10pm l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Masquerade Party: La tea pot cocktails, ‘drink me’ shots, fab decor, Voix + DJ Tragic; open 6pm l LEGENDS BAR Friday Night Live with Lady tunes & win bar tabs 8pm l BAR REVENGE Lesbian Speed Dating La Rue, 2 floor party 9pm; DJ Peter Castle in l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon club 11pm; food noon-5pm; open 11am l LEGENDS BAR food 12-5pm; open 11am 7.30pm; open noon-6am
THURSDAY 13
FRIDAY 14
30 GSCENE OUT & ABOUT
PICS FROM LEGENDS BAR & BASEMENT CLUB
FEBRUARY
LISTINGS
LEGENDS BAR
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Thur (27) is MISS JASON'S BIRTHDAY BASH
with cabaret from Sandra, Miss Jason, Maisie Trollette & many more at 9pm. l REGULARS Mon is Dave & Lola LIVE & DANGEROUS at 9.30pm. l FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE over 2 floors with Lady La Rue, DJ Peter Castle and drink deals. l Sat is Pre-Fusion with DJs at 7pm. l Sun CABARET at 3.30pm: Miss Jason (2), Lizzy Drip (9), Drag With No Name (16) and La Voix (23). l FOOD includes gourmet burgers, salads, specials and cream teas served Wed–Mon noon–5pm, Tue noon–5.30pm. Lisa's Sunday Roasts served noon–3pm with top quality locally sourced meat, poultry & vegetarian options. l DRINK DEALS Happy 3 Hour Promos: Mon–Fri 6–9pm, select drinks £2.50. l OPEN daily from 11am–5am. Heated smoking area, free entry and all-day terrace. l Legends Bar is getting a facelift in Feb, visit www.legendsbrighton.com, Facebook or Twitter for more info.
LEGENDS
BASEMENT CLUB
l FREE ENTRY to the Basement Club every day. l ONE FOR THE DIARY Thur (27) is MISS JASON'S BIRTHDAY BASH
with a host of friends at 11pm.
l REGULARS Wed is ICE with DJ Claire Fuller chart/house/r&b; FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE over 2 floors with Lady LaRue & DJ Peter Castle. l Sat is FUSION with DJ Peter Castle house/chart sounds. Sat (1) is with DJ Lee Harris. l Sun is
POP!CANDY with DJ CLAIRE FULLER recent/classic pop tracks.
l DRINK DEALS Wed £2 drink deals all night, special shots £1.50; Fri drinks
from £1.50; Sun: drinks from £2 l OPEN Wed & Fri–Sun 11pm. Closed Mon, Tue & Thur (excl 27). Legends will host your party from £150, call 01273 624462. l www.legendsbrighton.com
SUNDAY 16
karaoke 7.30pm; open noon l REGENCY TAVERN Sunday roasts noonl A-BAR Sunday roasts: bookings 01273 5pm; Piano Bar 1.30pm; open noon l MARINE TAVERN open noon l CHARLES ST The Boys In The Bar: all-male 696691 noon-5pm; open 11am l SUBLINE Come in Your Pants: DJ N.U.D.E, l POISON IVY Club Barcode: Spice, karaoke DJs9pm; food noon-7.45pm; open noon l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Ray & Tyler’s karaoke 6pm underwear party 9pm & video bar; open 11am l DR BRIGHTONS Sexy Sat: DJ Tony B l BAR REVENGE Acoustic Sunday 4pm; l THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS live Jazz Roast l QUEEN’S ARMS Camp Attack: tunes & 9.30pm; open 1pm Karaoke Queens: LouBag & Smithy 8pm; open 12 3pm; Sunday lunch from 1pm; open 1pm karaoke 8pm; open noon l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Pop!Candy: l ZONE live music: Back Beat 5pm; karaoke l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & l FUNKYFISH CLUB Old School Sat: DJ Sean DJ Claire Fuller 11pm 7pm; open 10am 6-8.30pm; open 11am Quinn 10pm l BEDFORD TAVERN Sunday roasts l REVENGE Shameless Traffic Light Party: DJs l LEGENDS BAR Pre-Fusion 7pm; food 12.30pm; Piano Bingo 5pm; open noon Trick & Lee Harris 10.30pm noon-5pm; open 11am l BULLDOG DJ Slip Matt 6pm; DJ Grant l A-BAR bar food noon-7pm; open 11am l SUBLINE closed for private event l MARINE TAVERN open noon 10pm; karaoke 9pm; open 11am l BAR REVENGE Quiz with Liz: cash prizes l ZONE Collusion 9pm; open 10am l MARLBOROUGH Shook Up 9pm; open 12 l CAMELFORD ARMS Sunday roasts & 8.30pm; open noon l PARIS HOUSE live jazz 4pm; TC’s Joyful selected menu noon-till gone; Bear Bash & l BEDFORD TAVERN Mon Club; open noon Noise: DJ Kenny 9pm; open noon Raffle 5pm; open noon l BULLDOG DJ Marcia’s Glitter Ball 10pm; l A-BAR Pre-club music; food noon-7pm; l POISON IVY non-stop karaoke; open 11am l CHARLES ST cabaret: Titti La Camp open 11am open noon l QUEEN’S ARMS cabaret: Auntie Robbie 7.30pm; Tranny Rock & Roll Bingo: Sally Vate, l CAMELFORD ARMS food noon-3pm & 6l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Sexy Sat: DJ Cozmo 6pm 4.30pm; Betty’s Karaoke 6pm; cabaret: Tammy roll over jackpot 8.30pm; Sun lunch noon-7pm 9pm; open noon l BAR REVENGE Gay Men’s Speed Dating Twinkle & host Stephanie Vom Clitz celebrate l DR BRIGHTONS Hangover Therapy; open 1pm l CHARLES ST food noon-8pm; open noon 7.30pm; open noon-6am Candi Rell & Chris’s engagement 9pm; open 12 l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l DR BRIGHTONS open 3pm l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Fusion: DJ l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-6pm l LEGENDS BAR Sun roast 12-3pm; cabaret: l ENVY Studio 150: student night 10pm Peter Castle 11pm l REVENGE Sweet Revenge: guest DJ Sam Drag With No Name 3.30pm; open 11am l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l BEDFORD TAVERN open noon DMS & regs 10.30pm l MARINE TAVERN open 1pm l LEGENDS BAR Dave & Lola Live & l BULLDOG DJ V John 10pm; DJ Lil Alex l SUBLINE Men’s Room: DJ Screwpulous 9pm l POISON IVY non-stop karaoke; cabaret Dangerous 9.30pm; food 12-5pm; open 11am 3am; karaoke 10pm; open 11am l ZONE Sally Vate’s Valentine’s Special 5.30pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open noon l CAMELFORD ARMS food 12-8pm; open 12 9.30pm; open 10am l QUEEN’S ARMS cabaret: Dave Lynn 6pm; l POISON IVY Mimbo’s karaoke; open 11am
MONDAY 17
SATURDAY 15
PICS FROM MARINE TAVERN
GSCENE OUT & ABOUT 31
MARINE TAVERN
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Tue is NAT’S QUIZ at 9pm. l DRINK DEALS Wed & Thur 7–11pm: pints of Carlsberg & Stowford Press
£3, plus buy a single spirit and get the mixer free. l OPEN Mon–Sat noon, Sun 1pm. l QUEEN’S ARMS karaoke 8.30pm; open 12 l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & 6-8.30pm; open noon l ZONE open 10am
l BAR 7@CRAWLEY open 6pm l BAR REVENGE Spice is Nice: DJ Dana; open noon l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Ice: DJ Claire Fuller 11pm l BEDFORD TAVERN open noon-3pm l A-BAR bar food noon-7pm; open 11am l BRIGHTON SAUNA Naked Day 11am l BAR REVENGE VIP Tue: Harry’s Karaoke, l BULLDOG Diva Rush: DJ Marcia 10pm; DJ Fifi, 8pm; open 12 open 11am l BEDFORD TAVERN open noon l CAMELFORD ARMS seniors lunch 2l BULLDOG DJ Grant 10pm; Amy’s top bar 3.30pm; reg food 12-3pm & 6-9pm; open 12 karaoke 10pm; open 11am l CHARLES ST Quiz With No Name: Drag l CAMELFORD ARMS food noon-3pm & 6- With No Name hosts varied entertainment with 9pm; open noon cash prizes 9pm; food noon-8pm; open noon l CHARLES ST Dog Tails; food noon-10pm; l DR BRIGHTONS Cocktail Clinic; open 3pm open noon l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l DR BRIGHTONS Twisted Tue; open 3pm l LEGENDS BAR food 12-5pm; open 11am l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l MARINE TAVERN open noon l LEGENDS BAR food 12-5.30pm; open l POISON IVY Lady LaRue’s Search for a 11am Star: Heat 3; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN Nat’s Quiz 9pm; open 12 l QUEEN’S ARMS Betty Swollocks’ l POISON IVY Bar99: tunes with Gloria Hole, Challenge Karaoke 8.30pm; open noon Stephanie Starlett amateur strip night; open 11am l REGENCY TAVERN open noon l QUEEN’S ARMS Brenda Snap’s Gossip l SUBLINE Backlash: retro night 9pm Show: guest Cherry & karaoke 8pm; open noon l ZONE open 10am l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & 6-8.30pm; open noon l REVENGE Naughty Pop 10.30pm l A-BAR bar food noon-7pm; cocktail night; l THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS live music open 11am 8pm; open noon l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Dirty Thur 6pm l ZONE Misty Lee’s Karaoke; open 10am l BAR REVENGE Girls on Top warm-up 9pm; open noon l BEDFORD TAVERN open noon l A-BAR open mic with Mark Hodge 9pm; l BULLDOG Release: DJ Grant 10pm; open food noon-7pm; cocktail night; open 11am 11am
TUESDAY 18
THURSDAY 20
WEDNESDAY 19
PARIS HOUSE
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Sat is free live jazz at 4pm; TC'S JOYFUL NOISE with DJ Kenny at 9pm, free entry. l FOOD platter of French food to share & large carafe of wine £15. l OPEN daily from noon. www.parishousebrighton.com
32 GSCENE OUT & ABOUT
PICS FROM POISON IVY, QUEENS ARMS, BAR REVENGE + GIRLS ON TOP & NYE @ REVENGE
FEBRUARY
LISTINGS
POISON IVY
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Tue is BAR99 with 99p spirit and mixers all night, camp tunes with Gloria Hole, and Stephanie Starlett's amateur strip night TABOO AT THE IVY for those who dare to bare with £100 cash prize. l REGULARS Wed is Lady LaRue's SEARCH FOR A STAR with three heats (5, 12 & 19) and then the Grand Final (26) with a £500 cash prize. l Thur is non-stop KARAOKE, buy one drink and get one free; CABARET is at 9.30pm. l Fri is BARCODE with Spice, karaoke and video bar. l Sat is 12 hour non-stop KARAOKE with commercial pop. l Sun is non-stop 12 hour KARAOKE at noon; CABARET follows at 5.30pm. l Mon is MIMBO'S KARAOKE. l DRINK DEALS non-stop happy hours all month; double up on house spirits for a penny on Fri & Sat; happy hour all day and night on Sun. l OPEN daily from 11am. l CAMELFORD ARMS £300 Big Cash Quiz 9pm; food noon-3pm & 6-9pm; open noon l CHARLES ST Mad Cow’s Tea Party: Joan Bond, tea pot cocktails, ‘drink me’ shots, fab decor, tunes & win bar tabs 8pm; open 5pm l DR BRIGHTONS Thirsty Thur; open 3pm l ENVY Mad Cow’s Tea Party: Ms Joan Bond, tea pot cocktails, ‘drink me’ shots, fab decor, tunes & win bar tabs 8pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l LEGENDS BAR food 12-5pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open noon l POISON IVY non-stop karaoke; cabaret
9.30pm; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS Fag Machine: alt cabaret night 9pm; open noon l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & 6-8.30pm; open noon l REVENGE Girls on Top: DJs 10.30pm l SUBLINE Leathered 9pm l ZONE open 10am
FRIDAY 21
l A-BAR live music 9pm; bar food noon7pm; open noon l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Floorfiller Fri: DJ
QUEENS ARMS
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Sat (15) CABARET with Auntie Robbie 4.30pm; Betty’s Karaoke at 6pm; cabaret special with Tammy Twinkle & host Stephanie Von Clitz celebrating Candi Rell & Chris’s engagement at 9pm. l REGULARS Tue is Brenda Snap’s GOSSIP SHOW at 8pm. l Sat CABARET at 4.30pm: Paul Quinton-Smith (1), Richard Carney (8), Peter Davis (22); Betty’s karaoke 6pm; ULTIMATE PARTY 9pm. l Sun CABARET at 6pm: Maisie Trollette (2), Lucinda Lashes (9), Dave Lynn (16), Lady Imelda (23); karaoke at 7.30pm. See listings for regular events. l OPEN daily from noon.
BAR REVENGE
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Valentine’s Weekend: Fri (14) is LESBIAN SPEED DATING at 7.30pm. l Sat (15) is GAY MEN’S SPEED DATING at 7.30pm. l REGULARS Wed is SPICE IS NICE with DJ Dana pop/punk/ska/indie/alt/ dubstep/chart. l Thur is Girls on Top official warm-up at 9pm. l Fri is Shameless warm-up with DJ Alpha at 9pm. l Sat is Sweet Revenge warm-up at 9pm. l Sun is ACOUSTIC SUNDAy with live music at 4pm; Karaoke Queens with LouBag & Smithy is then at 8pm. l Mon is QUIZ WITH LIZ with cash prizes at 8.30pm. l Tue is VIP KARAOKE with Harry & DJ Fifi at 8pm; win drinks, VIP
cards and bar tabs in the club.
l DRINK DEALS 2-4-1 cocktails Sun–Fri 5–9pm; drinks from £1.99 & get half
price and reduced wines noon till late on Wed; from £1.50 Thur after 7pm; from £2.49 Fri, Sat & Sun; all shots £1.99 Sun–Wed. l OPEN daily from noon–2am & till 6am on Fri & Sat. l Revenge discount passes on Thur; buy a drink and get free entry to club Fri & Sat b4 midnight. l www.revenge.co.uk
Waynsie rudeboy 6pm l BAR REVENGE Shameless warm-up 9pm; open noon-6am l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Friday Night Live with Lady La Rue: 2 floor party, DJ Peter Castle in club 11pm l BEDFORD TAVERN Krazy Kamikaze Karaoke 8.30pm; open noon l BULLDOG Disco Heaven: DJ Marcia 10pm; cabaret: La Voix midnight; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS food noon-3pm & 69pm; Friday Club 6pm; open noon l CHARLES ST Fruity Fri Fix: DJ Leeroy 9pm; food noon-7.45pm; open noon l DR BRIGHTONS Funky Fri: DJ Nick Hirst 9.30pm; open 1pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l FUNKYFISH CLUB 70s/80s/90s Revival: DJ Aky 10pm l LEGENDS BAR Friday Night Live with Lady La Rue, 2 floor party 9pm; DJ Peter Castle in club 11pm; food noon-5pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open noon l POISON IVY Club Barcode: Spice, karaoke & video bar; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS Camp Attack: tunes & karaoke 8pm; open noon l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & 6-8.30pm; open 11am l REVENGE Shameless: DJs Trick & Lee Harris 10.30pm l SUBLINE Steam 9pm l ZONE cabaret: Dave Lynn 9.30pm; open 10am
SATURDAY 22
l A-BAR Pre-club music; food noon-7pm; open noon l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Sexy Sat: DJ Rob Davis; open 6pm l BAR REVENGE Sweet Revenge Warm-Up 9pm; open noon-6am l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Fusion: DJ Peter Castle 11pm l BEDFORD TAVERN open noon l BULLDOG DJ V John 10pm; DJ Lil Alex 3am; karaoke 10pm; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS food 12-8pm; open 12 l CHARLES ST The Boys In The Bar: all-male DJs Jonesy, Lil Alex, Grant Knowles, Leeroy on rotation 9pm; food noon-7.45pm; open noon l DR BRIGHTONS Sexy Sat: DJ Tony B 9.30pm; open 1pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l FUNKYFISH CLUB Old School Sat: DJ Sean Quinn 10pm l LEGENDS BAR Pre-Fusion 7pm; food noon-5pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open noon l PARIS HOUSE live jazz 4pm; TC’s Joyful Noise: DJ Kenny 9pm; open noon l POISON IVY non-stop karaoke; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS cabaret: Peter Davis 4.30pm; Betty’s Karaoke 6pm; Ultimate Party 9pm; open noon l REGENCY TAVERN food 12-6pm l REVENGE Sweet Revenge: DJs 10.30pm l SUBLINE Men’s Room: DJ Screwpulous 9pm
PICS FROM GIRLS ON TOP & NYE @ REVENGE
REVENGE
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Valentine’s: Thur (13) is the GIRLS ON TOP
Anti-Valentine’s Party with FUEL Girls, regular drink deals all night, and entry free/£4. l Fri (14) is the SHAMELESS Traffic Light Party with regular drink deals all night and entry free/£5. l REGULARS Sat is SWEET REVENGE with DJs; all drinks £2.50 before midnight, Jagerbombs £2.50 all night, double up for £1.50 all night, entry free/£5. l Sat (15) features guest DJ Sam DMS alongside regulars. l Tue is NAUGHTY POP with DJs Trick & Alex spinning 90s/00s tunes; £1.50 shots, all other drinks £2, free entry. l Thur is GIRLS ON TOP lesbian night with all-girl DJs, drinks from £1.50, entry free/£4. l Fri is SHAMELESS with DJs Trick and Lee Harris playing fresh pop & guilty pleasures; double up on spirits for £1 all night, Jagerbombs £2.50 all night, entry free/£5. l DRINK DEALS All drink specials exclude champers & doubles (excl doubling up). l OPEN 10.30pm Tue, Thur, Fri & Sat. Free entry passes available all week from Bar Revenge or www.revenge.co.uk
l THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS live music: The Informers 7pm; open noon l ZONE live music: Gabriella Parish 9.30pm; l A-BAR bar food noon-7pm; open 11am l BAR REVENGE Quiz with Liz: cash prizes open 10am 8.30pm; open noon l BEDFORD TAVERN Mon Club; open noon l BULLDOG DJ Marcia’s Glitter Ball 10pm; l A-BAR Sunday roasts: bookings 01273 open 11am 696691 noon-5pm; open 11am l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Ray & Tyler’s karaoke l CAMELFORD ARMS food noon-3pm & 69pm; open noon 6pm l CHARLES ST food noon-8pm; open noon l BAR REVENGE Acoustic Sunday 4pm; Karaoke Queens: LouBag & Smithy 8pm; open l DR BRIGHTONS open 3pm l ENVY Studio 150: student night 10pm noon l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Pop!Candy: l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l LEGENDS BAR Dave & Lola Live & DJ Claire Fuller 11pm Dangerous 9.30pm; food 12-5pm; open 11am l BEDFORD TAVERN Sunday roasts l MARINE TAVERN open noon 12.30pm; Piano Bingo 5pm; open noon l POISON IVY Mimbo’s karaoke; open 11am l BULLDOG DJ Slip Matt 6pm; DJ Grant l QUEEN’S ARMS karaoke 8.30pm; open 12 10pm; karaoke 9pm; open 11am l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & l CAMELFORD ARMS Sunday roasts & 6-8.30pm; open noon selected menu noon-till gone; Raffle 5pm; l ZONE open 10am open noon
MONDAY 24
SUNDAY 23
l CHARLES ST cabaret: Lizzy Drip 7.30pm; Tranny Rock & Roll Bingo: Sally Vate, roll over jackpot 8.30pm; Sun lunch 12-7pm l DR BRIGHTONS Hangover Therapy; open 1pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l LEGENDS BAR Sunday roasts noon-3pm; cabaret: La Voix 3.30pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open 1pm l POISON IVY non-stop karaoke; cabaret 5.30pm; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS cabaret: Lady Imelda 6pm; karaoke 7.30pm; open noon l REGENCY TAVERN Sunday roasts noon5pm; Piano Bar 1.30pm; open noon l SUBLINE Come in Your Pants: DJ N.U.D.E, underwear party 9pm l THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS live jazz: The Jazz Roast 3pm; Sunday lunch from 1pm; open 1pm l ZONE live music: JJ & Juliette 5pm; karaoke 7pm; open 10am
GSCENE OUT & ABOUT 33
34 GSCENE OUT & ABOUT
PICS FROM SUBLINE, 3 JOLLY BUTCHERS + ZONE BAR
FEBRUARY
LISTINGS
SUBLINE
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Fri (28) is DIRTY TACKLE sportskit night; entry £3 in kit, £5 otherwise. l REGULARS Sat is MEN'S ROOM with DJ Screwpulous; members get cheap drinks and free entry till 11pm. l SUN is COME IN YOUR PANTS underwear party with DJ N.U.D.E. l Wed is BACKLASH retro tunes and prices, selected drinks £3 all night for members. l Thur is LEATHERED with free lockers. l DRINK DEALS Sat: members get cheap drinks; Wed: selected drinks £3 all night for members. l OPEN Wed, Thur, Fri & Sat from 9pm, Sun from 8pm. Closed Fri (14) for private event. www.sublinebrighton.com
TUESDAY 25
l A-BAR bar food noon-7pm; open 11am l BAR REVENGE VIP Tue: Harry’s Karaoke, DJ Fifi, 8pm; open 12 l BEDFORD TAVERN open noon l BULLDOG Reggae: DJ Micklos 9pm; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS food noon-3pm & 69pm; open noon l CHARLES ST Dog Tails; food noon-10pm; open noon l DR BRIGHTONS Twisted Tue; open 3pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l LEGENDS BAR food 12-5.30pm; open 11am l MARINE TAVERN open noon l POISON IVY Bar99: tunes with Gloria Hole + Stephanie Starlett’s amateur strip night with £100 prize; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS Brenda Snap’s Gossip Show: guest Cherry & karaoke 8pm; open noon l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & 6-8.30pm; open noon l REVENGE Naughty Pop: DJs Trick & Alex Baker 11pm
l THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS live music: The Pickin Circle 8pm; open noon l ZONE Misty Lee’s Karaoke; open 10am
WEDNESDAY 26
l A-BAR open mic with Mark Hodge 9pm; food noon-7pm; cocktail night; open 11am l BAR 7@CRAWLEY open 6pm l BAR REVENGE Spice is Nice: DJ Dana; open noon l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Ice: DJ Claire Fuller 11pm l BEDFORD TAVERN open noon l BRIGHTON SAUNA Naked Day 11am l BULLDOG Diva Rush: DJ Marcia 10pm; open 11am l CAMELFORD ARMS seniors lunch 23.30pm; reg food 12-3pm & 6-9pm; open 12 l CHARLES ST Quiz With No Name: Drag With No Name hosts entertainment with cash prizes 9pm; food noon-8pm; open noon l DR BRIGHTONS Cocktail Clinic; open 3pm l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l LEGENDS BAR food 12-5pm; open 11am
THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Sat (22) live soul & funk music with The Informers at 7pm, free entry. l REGULARS Tue is LIVE MUSIC at 8pm; (11 & 25) bluegrass/old-time country with The Pickin Circle, free entry. l Wed (12 & 26) the BIG CASH QUIZ at 7.30pm. l Thur (13) is COMEDY at 8pm, free entry. l Sun is The JAZZ ROAST at 3pm, free entry. l FOOD noon–3pm & 6–9pm; two burger meals £15. Sunday lunch from 1pm. l OPEN noon Mon–Sat, 1pm on Sun. l Private function room available for parties, call 01273 608571. l www.3jollybutchers.com
l MARINE TAVERN open noon l POISON IVY Lady LaRue’s Search for a Star Grand Final: £500 prize; open 11am l QUEEN’S ARMS Betty Swollocks’ Challenge Karaoke 8.30pm; open noon l REGENCY TAVERN open noon l SUBLINE Backlash: retro night 9pm l THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS Big Cash Quiz 7.30pm; open noon l ZONE open 10am
6-8.30pm; open noon l REVENGE Girls on Top: DJs 10.30pm l SUBLINE Leathered 9pm l ZONE open 10am
FRIDAY 28
l A-BAR live music 9pm; bar food noon-7pm; open noon l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Floorfiller Fri: DJ Tragic; open 6pm l BAR REVENGE Shameless warm-up 9pm; open noon-6am l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Friday Night l A-BAR bar food noon-7pm; cocktail night; Live with Lady La Rue: 2 floor party, DJ Peter open 11am Castle in club 11pm l BAR 7@CRAWLEY Dirty Thur; open 6pm l BAR REVENGE Girls on Top warm-up 9pm; l BEDFORD TAVERN Krazy Kamikaze Karaoke 8.30pm; open noon open noon l BULLDOG Disco Heaven: DJ Marcia 10pm; l BASEMENT CLUB@LEGENDS Miss cabaret: Lady Imelda midnight; open 11am Jason’s Birthday Bash 11pm l CAMELFORD ARMS food noon-3pm & 6l BEDFORD TAVERN open noon 9pm; Friday Club 6pm; open noon l BULLDOG Release: DJ Grant 10pm; open l CHARLES ST Fruity Fri Fix: DJ Leeroy 9pm; 11am food noon-7.45pm; open noon l CAMELFORD ARMS £300 Big Cash Quiz l DR BRIGHTONS Funky Fri: DJ Nick Hirst 9pm; food noon-3pm & 6-9pm; open noon 9.30pm; open 1pm l CHARLES ST Mad Cow’s Tea Party: Joan l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon Bond, tea pot cocktails, ‘drink me’ shots, fab l FUNKYFISH CLUB 70s/80s/90s Revival: DJ decor, tunes & win bar tabs 8pm; open 5pm Aky 10pm l DR BRIGHTONS Thirsty Thur; open 3pm l LEGENDS BAR Friday Night Live with Lady l ENVY Mad Cow’s Tea Party: Joan Bond, tea pot cocktails, ‘drink me’ shots, fab decor, tunes La Rue, 2 floor party 9pm; DJ Peter Castle in club 11pm; food noon-5pm; open 11am & win bar tabs 8pm l POISON IVY Club Barcode: Spice, karaoke & l FUNKYFISH BAR open noon l LEGENDS BAR Miss Jason’s Birthday Bash: video bar; open 11am cabaret from Sandra, Miss Jason, Maisie Trollette l QUEEN’S ARMS Camp Attack: tunes & karaoke 8pm; open noon & more 9pm; food 12-5pm; open 11am l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm & l MARINE TAVERN open noon 6-8.30pm; open 11am l POISON IVY non-stop karaoke; cabaret l REVENGE Shameless: DJs Trick & Lee Harris 9.30pm; open 11am 10.30pm l QUEEN’S ARMS Fag Machine: alt cabaret l SUBLINE Dirty Tackle sportskit night 9pm night 9pm; open noon l ZONE Back Beat 9pm; open 10am l REGENCY TAVERN food noon-2.30pm &
THURSDAY 27
ZONE BAR
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Sat (15) is Sally Vate’s VALENTINE’S SPECIAL at
9.30pm.
l REGULARS Tue is Misty Lee’s KARAOKE COMPETITION with £100 for the overall winner. l Fri live entertainment at 9pm: Stone & Street (7), Collusion (14), Dave Lynn at 9.30pm (21) and Back Beat (28). l Sat entertainment at 9.30pm: Sally Vate (1) and Gabriella Parish (8 & 22). l Sun is live music at 5pm: Back
Beat (2 & 16), JJ & Company (9), JJ & Juliette (23); KARAOKE follows at 7pm.
l DRINK DEALS promos every Mon, Wed & Thur, day and night. l OPEN daily from 10am.
PICS FROM THE LONDON HOTEL SOUTHAMPTON
36 GSCENE OUT & ABOUT
SOLENT
LISTINGS SOUTHAMPTON
l ISOBAR 100c St Mary’s Street, SO14 1PE Tel: 02380 222028 Open: Mon 5–11pm, Tue 3pm-11pm, Wed-Sat 3pm-midnight, Sun 4pm-midnight. l LONDON HOTEL 2 Terminus Terrace, SO14 3DT Tel: 02380 710652 www.the-london.co.uk Open: Mon-Wed noon-11pm, Thur noon-12.30am, Fri & Sat noon-1.30am, Sun noon-11.30pm. Friendly cabaret venue, serves food. l THE EDGE Compton Walk, SO14 0BH Tel: 02380 366163 www.theedgesouthampton.com Open: Tue, Thur & Sun 11pm-3am; Wed, Fri & Sat 10pm-5am. Club on 2 floors with 3 bars. l PINK BROADWAY SAUNA 797/80 East Street, SO14 3HQ Tel: 02380 238804 www.pink-broadway.com Open: Sun-Thur noon-10pm, Fri & Sat noonmidnight
SATURDAY 1 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD DJ till 3am l OLD VIC food noon-5pm SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE The Big One: DJs 10pm l LONDON HOTEL Guilty Pleasures: DJ Tiny + Sam Solace 10pm
SUNDAY 2 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD karaoke till 2am l OLD VIC Sun lunch 1-5pm; open noon SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Refuel: DJ 11pm l LONDON HOTEL cabaret: Dave Lynn 8pm; Sun lunch noon-3.30pm; open noon
MONDAY 3 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD DJ till 2am l OLD VIC food noon-5pm; open noon SOUTHAMPTON l LONDON HOTEL chillout; food noon3pm
TUESDAY 4 PORTSMOUTH l OLD VIC Quiz 8pm; food noon-5pm SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Mates Rates: video jukebox 11pm l LONDON HOTEL chillout; food noon3pm
WEDNESDAY 5 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD open till 2am l OLD VIC NUS night 7pm; food noon5pm SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Bar 150: DJ Lady Bex, Liam Searle, Cheeky Pete’s karaoke 10pm l LONDON HOTEL chillout; food noon3pm
THURSDAY 6 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD karaoke till 2am l OLD VIC karaoke 8pm; food noon-5pm SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Pop!: DJ Neil Sackley 11pm
l LONDON HOTEL Karaoke Cruising 9pm; food noon-3pm
FRIDAY 7 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD DJ till 3am l OLD VIC food noon-5pm; party till 2am SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Get Some: DJs 10pm l LONDON HOTEL Fairylea: DJ Ruby Roo & cabaret: MMTV Mrs Moore 10pm; food noon-3pm
SATURDAY 8 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD DJ till 3am l OLD VIC food noon-5pm SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE The Big One: DJs 10pm l LONDON HOTEL Guilty Pleasures: DJ Lucinda Lashes 10pm; food noon-3pm
SUNDAY 9 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD karaoke till 2am l OLD VIC Sun lunch 1-5pm; open noon SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Refuel: DJ 11pm l LONDON HOTEL cabaret: Wilma Fingadoo 8pm; Sun lunch noon-3.30pm; open noon
MONDAY 10 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD DJ till 2am l OLD VIC food noon-5pm; open noon SOUTHAMPTON l LONDON HOTEL chillout; food noon3pm
TUESDAY 11 PORTSMOUTH l OLD VIC Quiz 8pm; food noon-5pm SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Mates Rates: video jukebox 11pm l LONDON HOTEL chillout; food noon3pm
WEDNESDAY 12 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD open till 2am l OLD VIC NUS night 7pm; food 12-5pm
KEVIN CRUISE (28)
l HAMPSHIRE BOULEVARD 1 Hampshire Terrace, Southsea Tel: 02392 297509 Open: Sun 9pm-2am, Mon 9pm-2:30am, Tue closed, Wed & Thur 7pm-2am, Fri & Sat 7pm-3am, cabaret bar and club l OLD VIC 104 St Paul’s Road, Southsea Tel: 02392 297013 www.oldvicportsmouth.co.uk Open: Mon-Fri: 11am till late, Sat: 5pm-late, Sun: noon-12,30am. Regular cabaret, food. l TROPICS SAUNA 2 Market Way, Portsmouth, PO1 4BX Tel: 02380 296100 www.tropics-sauna.com Open: 7 days a week, 11am-10pm
MISS JASON (21)
PORTSMOUTH
LONDON HOTEL
SOUTHAMPTON
l ONE FOR THE DIARY Sun is Miss Penny’s SUNDAY SERVICE, then it’s CABARET at 8pm: Dave Lynn (2), Wilma Fingadoo (9), Son of a Tutu (16) and Martha D’Arthur (23). l REGULARS Thur is KARAOKE CRUISING at 9pm. l Fri is FAIRYLEA with DJ Ruby Roo and CABARET at 10pm: MMTV Mrs Moore (7), Mary Mac (14), Miss Jason (21) and Kevin Cruise (28). l Sat is GUILTY PLEASURES with DJs at 8.30pm: Tiny & Sam Solace (1), Lucinda Lashes (8), Tiny & JP Christian (15) and Dazza (22). l DRINK DEALS JANUARY SALE on all drinks Mon–Wed.
l FOOD traditional pub food served Mon–Sat noon–3pm; Sunday lunch served noon–3.30pm. l OPEN daily from noon. l www.the-london.co.uk
SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Bar 150: DJs & karaoke 10pm l LONDON HOTEL chillout; food noon3pm
THURSDAY 13 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD karaoke till 2am l OLD VIC karaoke 8pm; food noon-5pm SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Pop!: DJ 11pm l LONDON HOTEL Karaoke Cruising 9pm; food noon-3pm
FRIDAY 14 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD DJ till 3am l OLD VIC food noon-5pm; party till 2am SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Get Some: DJs 10pm l LONDON HOTEL Fairylea: DJ Ruby Roo & cabaret: Mary Mac 10pm; food noon3pm
SATURDAY 15 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD DJ till 3am l OLD VIC food noon-5pm; DJs all night SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE The Big One: DJs 10pm l LONDON HOTEL Guilty Pleasures: DJ Tiny + JP Christian 8pm; food noon-3pm
SUNDAY 16 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD karaoke till 2am l OLD VIC Sun lunch 1-5pm; open noon SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Refuel: DJ 11pm
l LONDON HOTEL cabaret: Son of a Tutu 8pm; Sun lunch noon-3.30pm; open noon
MONDAY 17 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD DJ till 2am l OLD VIC food noon-5pm; open noon SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Pop!: DJ 11pm l LONDON HOTEL chillout; food noon3pm
TUESDAY 18 PORTSMOUTH l OLD VIC Quiz 8pm; food noon-5pm SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Mates Rates: video jukebox 11pm l LONDON HOTEL chillout; food noon3pm
WEDNESDAY 19 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD open till 2am l OLD VIC NUS night 7pm; food noon5pm SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Bar 150: DJs & karaoke 10pm l LONDON HOTEL chillout; food noon3pm
THURSDAY 20 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD karaoke till 2am l OLD VIC karaoke 8pm; food noon-5pm SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Pop!: DJ 11pm l LONDON HOTEL Karaoke Cruising 9pm; food noon-3pm
GSCENE OUT & ABOUT 37
FRIDAY 21
TUESDAY 25
PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD DJ till 3am l OLD VIC food noon-5pm; party till 2am SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Get Some: DJs 10pm l LONDON HOTEL Fairylea: DJ Ruby Roo & cabaret: Miss Jason 10pm; food noon3pm
PORTSMOUTH l OLD VIC Quiz 8pm; food noon-5pm SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Mates Rates: video jukebox 11pm l LONDON HOTEL chillout; food noon3pm
SATURDAY 22 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD DJ till 3am l OLD VIC food noon-5pm; DJs all night SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE The Big One: DJs 10pm l LONDON HOTEL Guilty Pleasures: DJ Dazza 10pm; food noon-3pm
SUNDAY 23 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD karaoke till 2am l OLD VIC Sun lunch 1-5pm; open noon SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Refuel: DJ 11pm l LONDON HOTEL cabaret: Martha D’Arthur 9pm; Sun lunch noon-3.30pm; open noon
MONDAY 24 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD DJ till 2am l OLD VIC food noon-5pm; open noon SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Pop!: DJ 11pm l LONDON HOTEL chillout; food noon3pm
WEDNESDAY 26 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD open till 2am l OLD VIC NUS night 7pm; food noon5pm SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Bar 150: DJs & karaoke 10pm l LONDON HOTEL chillout; food noon3pm
THURSDAY 27 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD karaoke till 2am l OLD VIC karaoke 8pm; food noon-5pm SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Pop!: DJ 11pm l LONDON HOTEL Karaoke Cruising 9pm; food noon-3pm
FRIDAY 28 PORTSMOUTH l HAMPSHIRE BLVD DJ till 3am l OLD VIC food noon-5pm; party till 2am SOUTHAMPTON l EDGE Get Some: DJs 10pm l LONDON HOTEL Fairylea: DJ Ruby Roo & cabaret: Kevin Cruise 10pm; food noon3pm
38 GSCENE
DANCE
MUSIC
BY QUEEN JOSEPHINE & KATE WILDBLOOD
ALBUMS To say we’ll be glad to see the back of January would be a vast, plaster casted, A&E-ed out, pain killer sponsored understatement. (Queenie would type this column herself but it… may… take… some… time…) So it’s my right hand and Queenie’s working left ear guiding you through this month’s soundtrack. Sometimes being a double act is priceless. It’s proving such a corker of a month for long players we’re hard-pressed to pinpoint a fave. Let’s just say each and every one rocks our Tramadol world right now.
) If you like your house with that intelligent edge look no further than fabric 74: Move D on Fabric Records. It’s a lesson in all things deep yet achingly groovy as Move D aka David Moufang leads us by the hand through a melodic wonderland. ) Future Disco return with their seventh volume of nu-disco and deep house cool this month and it’s as good as you knew it would be with artists including Terrace Parker, Crazy P, Benoit & Sergio and Sonny ‘he’s the one’ Fodera onboard. Goosebumps guaranteed.
) First up is the ) Also with the glorious 10 stunning Eskimo Years of Phonica Recordings on, erm, Phonica presents The Records (see Blue Collection what they did on Eskimo there!). Mighty in its selection this Recordings. If opening track The will impress on you the genius of Monster by Atella doesn’t make the label. A love affair rekindled. your day, Queenie will come round ) As is Kerri personally and make it for you Chandler’s most busted elbow or not. Enjoy. special Catch Queenie and Wildblood Watergate 15 compilation. Yet healing nicely somewhere near you soon. another sound www.perfectdistractions.com reason to book that ticket to Berlin pronto.
DJ PROFILE Gscene’s Kate Wildblood catches up with Revenge’s newest DJ, Dana, to talk all things tuneful, tattooed, Snow White, spice, and nice. Where do you play? You can see me at 'Spice Is Nice' in Bar Revenge from 9pm every Wednesday playing pop/punk/ska/indie/alt/dubstep/ chart, as well as at Girls On Top in Club Revenge from 10.30pm every Thursday at the DJ Battle! DJing style? I'm pretty versatile. When I lived in Cornwall, female DJs were pretty scarce so I got a lot of work doing a wide range of nights, the most popular being alternative and commercial chart. Since moving to Brighton, I've had the opportunity to mix up the two, even playing pop punk versions of current chart songs. Since I started at Girls On Top so many people have approached me saying they love the music I've brought to a Thursday night, which makes it all worthwhile. All time favourite song? I’ve a handful all for different reasons. I've loved Sunburn by Muse since my early teens, Highway To Hell by AC/DC gets me out of bed no matter how hungover or tired, and She Wolf by David Guetta is the one that me and my best friend Shaneypops made up dance moves to and bounce around the dance floor like insane people. Which tune always fills up (or rescues) your dancefloor? Heads Will Roll by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs fills up/rescues the dance floor on both the commercial and alternative nights. Plus Karen O is an absolute babe. Ultimate dream gig? At Disney World and for all my friends to be there. There would also be loads of cats mincing around.
WILDBLOOD & QUEENIE’S FEBRUARY FAVES ) I AM A CAMERA The Legendary Children Tim & Danny Music If you don’t dance to this, best check you have a pulse. Addictive. ) HUXLEY & SAM RUSSO Don't Undastand (Chi Town mix) Leftroom Jack just got serious and we are loving it. ) PHIL WEEKS ft Ladybird Natural High (OG Mix) Robsoul Sexy, sultry summer-must-come-soon vibes from Mr Weeks ) SUBB-AN ft S.Y.F. Say No More Crosstown Rebels The label of 2013 starts off 2014 with a Sub-bang! ) GRACE JONES Pull Up To The Bumper thehouseofdisco.com Can anyone resist a Grace rework? Consider yourself bumped once more. ) H-FOUNDATION ft C1 Kontrol Room Magnetic Recordings A tune to shake your foundations and leave you gagging for more. ) GROOVE CARTELL ft Samantha Mogwe So Far Gone Duffnote Another sexy, deep, and sweet sensation from Duffnote. ) ADRIATIQUE ft Name One Midnight Walking Culprit Just surrender and let Name One charm the pants off you. ) TODD TERRY ft Michael Moog Disco (Tee's Disco 500) Kleenhouse A DSD future classic that insists the summer will begin soon enough. ) DJ RIDER In The Club (original) Love Robot Records If this is our robot future then we comply. Filth of the fine kind.
Tune you wish you’d never played? I used to do a night at a strip club and I accidentally started playing I'm Wishing from Snow White. DISASTROUS... but hilarious. I styled it out. Guilty pleasure? Eminem or Nickelback. Cringe! Your best ever gig? Playing at Girls On Top for the first time. Since I first visited Brighton I dreamed of DJing there and was ecstatic when they gave me the opportunity to play. Tell us a secret! I just got offered an apprenticeship at Death Or Glory tattoo studio in Brighton, which I’m very excited but also very nervous about! My favourite forms of work alongside each other - here's to 2014!
DANAS’ TOP 5 TUNES ) CHASE & STATUS feat Jacob Banks Alive MTA ) PEACHES **** The Pain Away Kitty-Yo/XL ) ZEDD feat Hayley Williams Stay The Night Interscope ) NEON JUNGLE Braveheart RCA ) NO DOUBT Just A Girl Interscope www.facebook.com/spiceisnicerevenge
GSCENE 39
COME DINE
WITH MORHAM BY MORHAM WHITE
THE BREAKFAST CLUB The editorial deadline approaches and to be honest, dinner out has not been high on my list of priorities, what with all the festive activities. I have however managed several trips out to breakfast with the Saturday club. Not without incident, I can report, but more to do with a very flat tyre, a nail, a makeover unreported and a venue unable to cope with the rush. One weekend we set off with only three operational wheels, a nail accounting for the fourth! After a change of vehicle, we arrived to find a bemused friend pounding the pavement. Our chosen venue wasn’t open, a frustrated waitress furiously phoning from outside. Our regular haunt is allegedly under a makeover, but with three storeys of scaffolding, it looks a bit more serious. The odd thing is that management have singularly failed to provide any explanation, such as a note of apology in the window; so one can safely assume that most of their clientele will have disappeared upon reopening. ) Repairing to the Modelo Lounge opposite (143/145 Church Road, Hove, BN3 2AE), the solitary waitress was taking orders and payment, but clearly a major rush had caught them off-guard, as it was a full 40 minutes before any sniff of food, but having paid up-front we were trapped! ) Subsequently the new ‘kid on the block’, Barcode, (128 Church Road, Hove, BN3 2EA), was visited. The Italian New York facsimile is bright and cheery, blessed with a row of side west facing windows, which brighten the venue no end. With lime green upholstery, greys and browns, large TV screens and lights aplenty, it has much to offer as a smart comfortable setting. The regular Barcode breakfast is a good deal (£6.95) with coffee (£2) including free refills. The presentation is a work of art, though dissembling the structure leaves one more often as not with a round of slightly soggy toast, drizzled with baked bean sauce, not an ideal accompaniment for my marmalade which comes at no apparent extra cost. Impressive, to my mind. In addition there are other mainstream dishes, all similarly priced. ) This competes for our attention with another new venue, Fogg’s at the Hotel Ibis, seaward from Brighton station (88-92 Queen’s Road, Brighton BN1 3XE), which features a self-service, where you pay up-front, but with no service there’s no service charge and so at £7.95 all-in, it’s excellent value. Open to non-residents it can be quite busy, such as when a visiting French rugby football team on a tour, graced the space! There’s an impressive choice of cereals, bowls of fruit salad, grapefruit and orange segments, an excellent coffee machine, a full array of cold meats and continental cheeses and a bank of hotplates housing all the regular suspects suitable for a traditional English fry up. With toast, jams, plus endless coffee on tap, it comes commended.
40 GSCENE
Kings Road, Brighton, Box office: 0844 847 1515 www.brightoncentre.co.uk ) ROBIN COUSINS' ICE (until Feb 2). Robin Cousins, brings together world class skating talent and choreography, with iconic set design and a soundtrack of popular music with a unique twist. The show doesn’t carry a narrative and doesn’t pigeon hole the music and songs into a storyline. Instead, it allows the lyrics and melodies to speak for themselves alongside and within the choreography. For the audience to have this style of skating in a proscenium environment allows an intimate connection between them and the skaters, and will give them a view of figure skating that is more akin to modern dance than competitive skating seen in events such as Olympics.
DUKE OF YORK’S CINEMA
of the stage. Contemporary and archive film and an original score frame the choreography and texts. Plus post-show discussion. TAP FACTORY
) TAP FACTORY (Wed 1) Dance spectacular that blends music, percussion, tap, urban dance and aerial acrobatics features an allmale cast who will do as much to set your pulse racing as the jawdropping, percussive footwork. ) STAND TALL GET SNAPPED (Founders Room, Feb 24–Mar 8). Photographer Edo Zollo
STAND TALL GET SNAPPED
LIZ AGGISS
New Road, Brighton Box office: 01273 709709 www.brightondome.org ) COCK ROBIN & HIS VERY MERRY MEN (until Feb 4). Brian Ralfe’s adult alternative pantomime about naughty goings on in Sherwood Forest, where Friar Tuck's name will quite possibly be mispronounced and the cast will be wearing the skimpiest of green tights. ) THE ENGLISH CHANNEL (Sat 8) After 60 years, Liz Aggiss finally gives herself permission to do what she damn well pleases. As the grand dame of anarchic performance resuscitates herself back into the limelight, she becomes a channel for wilful women and hidden histories, a witty commentator on life, death and the pain, pleasure and paradox
KOMEDIA Gardner St, Brighton Box office: 0845 293 8480 www.komedia.co.uk ) BENT DOUBLE (Sun 2), is an irreverent night of fun and frolics hosted by Zoe Lyons (Mock The Week and Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow) with headliner Raymond and Mr Timpkin Revue
RAYMOND & MR TIMPKIN REVUE
DOME
Preston Circus, Brighton Box office: 0871 902 5728 ) EYES WIDE OPEN present SEBASTIANE (Wed 26), Derek Jarman's first feature, which has become a landmark of gay cinema. Stripped of rank and exiled to a remote Sardinian outpost, Roman soldier and suspected Christian, Sebastiane (Leonardo Treviglio), becomes the object of his commanding officer's aggressive desire. As Sebastiane turns his back on his fellow soldiers in favour of his own visionary mystical longings, the sunbleached Mediterranean idyll becomes a psycho-sexual hothouse where predatory desire and religious longing set the stage for a shocking tableau of death and martyrdom. 'A powerful study of sexuality' - The Guardian. Presented by Eyes Wide Open and includes a discussion hosted by One+One Filmmakers Journal.
EMPORIUM 88 London Road, Brighton www.emporiumbrighton.com ) RAGROOF TEA DANCE (2–5pm, Sun 2). Vintage music, glamorous costumes, dance displays, dance lessons and tea and cake! Everyone is welcome and Ragroof encourages everyone to learn steps of both lead and follow so you choose what you want to be, rather than be dictated by gender! Advance booking is essential. ) ASHES TO ASHES/SILENCE (Tue 4–Sat 22). A double bill of Nobelwinning playwright Harold Pinter’s extraordinary ‘memory’ plays. Written over 25 years apart, the plays reflect his continued ASHES TO ASHES/SILENCE
ROBIN COUSINS
BRIGHTON CENTRE
- mayhem and mirth from these wonderfully bonkers boys; plus Joe Wills “A star of the future... some of the most surprising and thoughtprovoking material” The Guardian; and David Morgan “Boundless energy and enthusiasm. Highly entertaining” Gay Times
fascination with themes of time, memory, love and violence. Stars Richard Hahlo (RSC), Karen Ascoe (EastEnders, Footloose), Matt Carrington (Twelfth Night Festival Shakespeare Co, Guys & Dolls), and Tegan Hitchens (New World Order). ) THE SPACE PRESENTS… (8pm, Thurs 20) In conversation with host Lisa Holloway broadcaster and journalist Samira Ahmed, winner of 2009 Stonewall Awards Broadcast of the Year for her special report on 'corrective' rape of lesbian women in South Africa; and Oscar nominated film producer Alison Owen (Shaun Of The Dead, Saving Mr Banks).
LATEST MUSIC BAR Manchester St, Brighton www.thelatest.co.uk/musicbar www.wegottickets.com ) HAVE A WORD (Tue 11). The LGBT literary spoken-word and music event features writer/ comedian VG Lee (Diary Of A
VG LEE
BY MICHAEL HOOTMAN
SEBASTIANE
ARTS
exposes the still widely held misconception that HIV mostly affects gay men and people of black African origin at this free event in aid of the Sussex Beacon. He travelled for a year, photographing people of all ages living with HIV. The exhibition has attracted support from passionate HIV activist Stephen Fry.
ROSIE WILLBY
THE TAMMY SHOW
GSCENE 41 their lives on the edge of annihilation, collide with the every day anxieties of adulthood in this new play about the lengths we go to forget our own fragility. Written and performed by David Sheppeard.
DIABLO Bee’s Mouth, 10 Western Rd, Hove Provincial Lesbian, Bah Humbuggers www.facebook.com/FrockabillyPr Or Dyke The Halls); author Colin omotions Bell (Stephen Dearsley's Summer Of includes fact finding reports, ) Frockabilly presents DIABLO personal testimony, trailer trash Love); writer/musician/comedian (Sat 1), a new monthly night of poetry, on the spot interviews, and Rosie Wilby; novelist Lesley devilishly good rockabilly with DJ songs. Tammy will be naughty Thompson (The Detective’s Lonesome M (Frockabilly/Honey Daughter, A Kind of Vanishing); and launching her new CD which Hush/Dixie Fried) and producer/ includes the song She Puts the music from Della Lupa and Josh presenter of Radio Reverb's weekly C*nt Back in Country. the Barber. Supporting the Sussex Beacon.
THE OLD MARKET
MARLBOROUGH THEATRE
CONFESSIONS OF A RABBI’S DAUGHTER
4 Princes St, Brighton www.brownpapertickets.com ) CONFESSIONS OF A RABBI’S DAUGHTER (Sat 8). The daughter of a rabbi falls in love with her best friend, Sarah, whilst being engaged to the perfect match. The central character is then torn between the demands of her Orthodox Jewish upbringing and her heart, in this fictionalised onewoman musical written and performed by singer-songwriter, comedienne and musical-theatre writer Emily Rose. The show has
Upper Market Street, Hove Box office: 01273 201800 www.theoldmarket.com ) AVENUE Q (Tue 11–Sat 15). Dubbed 'the Musical of The Decade' by the Sunday Times,
Avenue Q is a hybrid of South Park and the Muppet Show in an all singing, all dancing musical ‘furfest’. An amateur production by the Brighton Theatre Group with songs including If You Were Gay, Everyone's A Little Bit Racist and The Internet is for Porn. Warning: contains puppet nudity.
Frockabilly Radio Show. Expect to hear throat-tearin', foot-stompin', wangy-twangy rockabilly & rockin' blues boppers played at a pleasantly loud volume. Wear what you like; dance how you like; kiss who you like! Free event, 9pm2am. Future dates: Sat March 1 & Sat April 5.
TRAUMFRAU The Bermuda Triangle, 193 King's Road Arches, Brighton www.traumfrau.co.uk ) TRAUMFRAU A NIGHT OF FAIRYTALES (Fri 7). Enter a world of enchanted tunes, dark and magical stories, symbolism and metamorphosis. Bring your fantasies to life; come as the imagined creature that lives within you, the beast that scared you in your childhood tales, or the heroine you wanted to grow into. Fairies, ogres, goblins, gnomes and all folkloric characters welcome. Live: Olivia Louvel, French-born, British composer, producer and performer, crafting electronic songs from laptop and voice www.olivialouvel.com. Fairytales Workshop and the usual unusual dancefloor for your dancing needs. Entry: £6 advance/£7 on door.
NIGHTINGALE THEATRE
HOLOCENE
been seen at the York New Musical Festival, had a successful run in the Edinburgh Fringe and will go onto New York, Chicago and LA. ‘The audience was captivated and so was I’ - Scotsgay; ‘Hilarious’ Jewish Chronicle. ) THE TAMMY SHOW (Thur 20). Tammy WhyNot is Lois Weaver’s performance persona, a trailer park survivor who gave up a career in country music to become a lesbian performance artist and applies her fearless curiosity to a project called What Tammy Needs to Know about education, class, art, popular culture, feminism, femininity, ageing and sex. The Tammy Show is high camp and real talk in a talk show format that
Grand Central Bar, Surrey St, Brighton Box office: 0800 4118881 www.nightingaletheatre.co.uk ) HOLOCENE (Wed 5–Thu 6). Reflections on eruptions, both geological and emotional, in a world intent on destruction. The true story of French volcanologists Maurice & Katia Krafft, who spent
NEW WAYS OF LIVING Pink Fringe, at a secret location, www.pinkfringe.org.uk ) NEW WAYS OF LIVING (Feb 27–Mar 1). Pink Fringe are working with nationally acclaimed dance artist & choreographer Gary Clarke, commissioning a new dance installation inspired by communal living experiments of the 1970s, drag communes such as the Bloolips and The Cockettes, and their vivid style and collaborative ethos. This installation will occupy an empty shop unit, an evolving window display of transformed found objects and donations. Built by designer/maker Ryan Dawson-Laight the space will create a spectacle, inviting you into a strange new world. The work will investigate social space and gay ghettos and how this influences ideas around assimilation and psycho-geography. For announcement of location, visit: www.pinkfringe.org.uk.
42 GSCENE
ART
M AT T E R S BY ENZO MARRA
PALLANT HOUSE
DENNIS CREFFIELD
STANLEY SPENCER
NIGEL KINGSBURY
9 North Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TJ http://pallant.org.uk This February at the Pallant House Gallery there are a number of new exhibitions, both free and paid-entry. ) NIGEL KINGSBURY: LOVES NIGEL, (until Sun 2) is in the free entry studio. The third exhibition in a series celebrating the six award winners of Outside In: National 2012, a triennial competition for artists from the margins. Nigel Kingsbury was presented with an award for his piece Woman, which is an example of his fascination with the female figure and form. The piece has since been purchased by Pallant House Gallery for inclusion in their permanent collection. For almost 10 years, Kingsbury has been a key member of South London-based Action Space, a visual arts organisation supporting the creative and professional development of artists with learning disabilities in a professional studio environment. ) In the main galleries, STANLEY SPENCER: HEAVEN IN A HELL OF WAR is on show (Feb 15–June 15). Best known for his paintings which elevate ordinary village life to epic, sometimes Biblical grandeur, his most famous large scale work is the cycle of murals at Sandham Memorial Chapel in the village of Burghclere, Hampshire, which is based on his experiences during WW1. The temporary relocation of the paintings to Pallant House, while the chapel undergoes major conservation work, offers a unique opportunity to see the murals at eye level in a gallery setting for the first time. Co-curated by Amanda Bradley and David Taylor from the National Trust, the exhibition will also include preparatory sketches by Spencer, paintings by Spencer's friend and contemporary, Henry Lamb, along with material on the patrons of the chapel, John Louis and Mary Behrend. It will also include key loans from the National Trust, National Portrait Gallery and Tate. ) In room 17 works by DENNIS CREFFIELD are on show (Feb 15–June 15). Admired by artists but less well-known to the wider public, Brighton-based Dennis Creffield (b.1931) was once described by the American artist RB Kitaj as “one of England's most closely guarded secrets”. Born in London, Creffield studied under David Bomberg at the Borough Polytechnic alongside Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff, where he established his Expressionist style. This exhibition brings together Creffield's charcoal drawings of English medieval cathedrals, that were commissioned in 1987 by the Arts Council, together with their French counterparts, works from the Gallery's collection donated by the architect Colin St John Wilson, and loans from the artist himself. ) In main galleries 15 and 16 the ARTISTS’ STUDIES: FROM PENCIL TO PAINT (Feb 15–June 15) exhibition examines the role of drawing and studies in the working methods of artists in the gallery's collection of modern British art including Sickert, Bomberg, Caulfield, Hillier, Minton, Coldstream, and Sutherland. Presenting finished compositions alongside preparatory drawings and sketches, it will shed new light on some of the gallery's best known and most celebrated paintings.
HUMAN BEING: BEING HUMAN Jubilee Library Foyer Gallery, Jubilee Street, Brighton, BN1 1GE ) HUMAN BEING: BEING HUMAN (Tues 4–Sun 16) is a photographic exhibition of work made by young people from Transformers, a support group run by Allsorts for trans* young people, through cmap, an international arts charity. The Human Being: Being Human project has involved the young people developing their own, and employing, digital photography skills to explore their worlds from personal perspectives, to challenges faced, and celebrations to be shared. The project aims to exist as an educational and awareness-building tool for others to learn about the trans* experience through the eyes of the young people themselves. The book being produced includes tools and activities for other groups to explore their thinking around issues of identity and discrimination, to perceptions of others and self-image. Photographic work will be displayed in the Jubilee library Foyer Gallery, Jubilee Street, during library opening hours. For further information contact Lynn Weddle (Project Coach) via email: lynn@cmap.org.uk Allsorts Youth Project supports young people under 26 who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or unsure (LGBTU) of their sexuality and/or gender. www.allsortsyouth.org.uk
COMPETITION ) 100 REASONS TO LOVE RYAN GOSLING There's only one Ryan Gosling: actor, musician, heartthrob, and feminist icon (sort of). Women want him. Men want to be him. Most Tumblr blogs are about him. No mere Hollywood pretty boy, he's symbolic of everything modern manhood should aspire to. Written by Joanna Benecke, Diva's Films Editor, 100 Reasons to Love Ryan Gosling provides scientifically irrefutable evidence of exactly why Ryan is so damn loveable. Is it because he takes his mum to film premieres? Plays in a hip indie band? Carries his dog through airports? Breaks up street fights? Furthered the feminist cause without even trying? Has no problem with nudity even when the script doesn't strictly require it? It's all these things and more. The book is packed with trivia, jokes, and over 100 full-colour photos that graphically illustrate Mr Gosling's physical perfection. To win a copy of 100 Reasons To Love Ryan Gosling answer the following question on a postcard along with your name and contact details and send to: Ryan Gosling Competition, Gscene, 111 Western Rd, Hove, BN3 1DD. WHO, OF THE FOLLOWING, HAS RYAN LIVED WITH? a) Justin Beiber b) Justin Timberlake c) Zack Efron
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BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS OF PERFORMANCE ART Mei Wilshire describes the production process of the HLGBT Performing Arts York with a particular focus on the LGBT community.
“You are not a bad person because you are gay. You are you because you are you and you were meant to be you so be you proudly” Tegan Quin, musician ) Performance art for us as is about the engagement of all people, i.e. the disabled community, race, gender and many more minority groups. Whilst working on this project we were able to break down these economic barriers making performance art more inclusive for all. Heterosexual, lesbian, gay, transsexual (HLGBT) creates participation of LGBT performance art in York where this particular minority group haven’t had the necessary opportunities to do so. We’ve achieved this objective by initially working with artists from Yorkshire and then building on to a national context to produce LGBT performance art. Our ethos is making performing art accessible to the previously unexplored LGBT community in York. The productions include theatre, dance, music, art display, and poetry and book readings. By working with this minority group we’ve achieved a wider acceptance of diversity in a city that’s very much at the beginning of its ‘open to all culture’. We also worked with a religious-based building that allowed for avant-garde performances to take place and the involvement of all people regardless of preconceived social norms. With the viewing of LGBT arts on a continuous basis this will achieve sensitisation with the effects of lessening hostility towards the LGBT community by creating a deeper understanding of each other’s lives. We produce performance art which reflects a
common-ground that we are linked and face similar afflictions. The reflection of these productions will ultimately lead York in a forward direction of creating equality and growth for all to flourish. In order for people to express their art and perform they need to feel that their safety is not jeopardised. Discrimination is one of the core elements of unequal access to freedom of expression in the LGBT performing arts. Access to expression is vital both to support the development process and as a development goal in its own right. The barriers to expression discussed here reflect why exercising our right to expression is not as simple as living in a democratic society that broadly respects rights. Barriers that block or inhibit access to freedom of expression exist all over the world, in various forms and to varying degrees. Through being denied a voice, artists are being denied a fundamental right, are facing greater barriers to their active participation in society, and, in many cases, are facing additional limits on their ability and opportunity to play a part in improving their own lives. Tackling these issues is vital. Our legacy will be built on challenging barriers and breaking them down. The LGB&T community is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and LGBT-supportive people, organisations, and communities, united by a common culture and civil rights movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality. LGBT activists and sociologists see LGBT community-building as an antidote to heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexualism, and conformist pressures thought to exist in the larger society. The term ‘gay pride’ is used to express the LGBT community's identity and collective strength; gay pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBT community is diverse in its political affiliation. As senior producer, I organised stand-alone events in and around the York area as part of a community-wide engagement programme in conjunction with City of York Council art
department to promote LGBT performing arts in York under the name YLAF 2013 (York Lesbian Arts Festival). This festival generated a UK interest. This was a one-off event that exhibited lesbian performing arts, however to promote equality I included all sexes, genders and orientations. I had the financial backing from the City of York Council’s cultural and art department, whereby they contributed toward the marketing; this enabled me to have a wider audience. The artists and companies were paid based on the ticket generated revenue. “The object of all work in production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration”. Thomas Edison, American inventor.
) ABOUT MEI WILSHIRE Mei Wilshire is a senior performing arts producer at HLGBT Performing Arts York. She was born in the northern islands of Scotland. She moved to York, England to study Art & Performance, and has worked collaboratively and individually on a variety of performance projects for over a decade. She trained as a choreographic practitioner at York St John University with a BA Honors in Performance; Mei has a PGC in Art History Renaissance to Contemporary Art and BMIC in Business Management. She founded Performance & Development Company York with the vision of the mind and physiology’s influence on the performer. She has gained Creativity, Community & I.C/Technology certifications. Mei produced the York Lesbian Arts Festival 2013. ) REFERENCES Living It Out, Canterbury Press Norwich 2009, by Rachel Holt. Education Equality & Human Rights, Rutledge 3rd Edition 2011, by Mike Cole. The Declining Significance of Homophobia, OUP USA 2013, by Mark McCormack Homophobia an Overview, Howarth Press Inc 1985, by John P.De.Cecco PhD. Process in the Arts Therapies, Jessica Kingsley 1999, by Anna Cattanach. Art As A Thinking Process, Sternberg Press 2013, by Mara Ambrozac & Angela Vattese. www.stonewall.org.uk/documents/sexual_orien tation_hate_crimes_paper.pdf www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files /humanrights/hrr_article_8.pdf www.shu.ac.uk/_assets/pdf/ceir-homophobiafull-report-Formby2011.pdf
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NOTES BY NICK BOSTON
REVIEWS
Velatus Facie Fuisti) are familiar to me, and they receive assured and beautifully sustained performances ) The Italian, all male here. Compère’s equally substantial Renaissance polyphony group, In Nomine Iesu was new to me, Odhecaton were new to me, but they have been around since 1998 however, and is beautifully rich in texture, with Odhecaton exploiting and have a the composer’s use of the lower number of discs behind them, as registers of all the voice parts. I really enjoyed the sound world of well as several all male voices, and the awards. Their latest recording, countertenors consistently avoided the common tendency for a slightly entitled De Passione, consists of music by Franco-Flemish composers hooty sound on top, blending perfectly with the lower voices. JOSQUIN DES PREZ (c.1450/55– Obrecht’s subtle Parce Domine 1521), JACOB OBRECHT (1457/8opens the disc, and van 1505), LOYSET COMPÈRE (c.1440Weerbecke’s dark, sonorous 1518) and GASPAR VAN Tenebrae Factae Sunt is an added WEERBECKE (c.1445-after 1516), treat. This is followed on the disc all published by Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice in 1503. The 11 by a startling contrast – which certainly surprised me on first singers are directed by Paolo Da listening, as I hadn’t read the Col, and the motets they have chosen for this collection all focus notes beforehand. Sardinian singer Clara Murtas sings a solo on texts relating to the passion traditional lament, O Tristu Fatale and Holy Week. The substantial Die. The style is a sudden change, works by Josquin (O Domine Iesu Christe, Miserere Mei Deus, and Qui but somehow finds a fitting place
CONCERTS BRIGHTON DOME Church Street, BN1 1UE; 01273 709709; www.brightondome.org ) The Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Barry Wordsworth, performs Prokofiev and Haydn (2.45pm, Sun 9), with William Dutton playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. ) Trio Isimsiz perform Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert (11am, Sun 23, Brighton Corn Exchange) in the Strings Attached Coffee Concert series. ) The London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vasily Petrenkom, play Berlioz and Brahms (7.30pm, Sat 22), with pianist Kiril Gerstein in Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
CONGRESS THEATRE Eastbourne, 01323 412000; www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk ) The London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vasily Petrenkom, play Berlioz and Brahms (3pm, Sun 23), with pianist Kiril Gerstein in Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
SARAH-JANE BRADLEY
SUSSEX DOWNS COLLEGE Mountfield Road, Lewes; www.nyslewes.org.uk ) The Nicholas Yonge Society welcomes Sarah-Jane Bradley (viola), accompanied by Martin Roscoe (piano), playing J S Bach, Rebecca Clarke, Vaughan Williams and Brahms (7.45pm, Fri 28).
ST LUKE'S CHURCH Queens Park Road, Brighton; www.stlukesconcerts.webeden.co.uk ) Miriam Davis (violin) and Ellena Hale (piano) play Beethoven, Lutoslawski, Szymanowski, and Ravel (7.30pm, Fri 7); and tenor Ben Thapa sings Strauss, Frank Bridge, Britten and a new work by Simon Lindley, with Jo Ramadan (piano) (7.30pm, Fri 21).
here, the mother of Jesus’ lament almost providing a release after the contained and controlled polyphony. To follow this and close the disc, Odhecaton return with Josquin’s Miserere Mei Deus. Highly recommended. Cantus C9637 ) Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra continue the series of Orchestral Works by GUSTAV HOLST (1874-1934) they took over following the sad death of Richard Hickox. The latest volume contains two works, The Mystic Trumpeter, and his First Choral Symphony. Both works employ a soprano soloist, here the great Susan Gritton, and they are joined in the Choral Symphony by the BBC Symphony Chorus. The Mystic Trumpeter is the shorter work here, and perhaps because of this, is the more successful in my mind. The text is by Walt Whitman, and Holst achieves a real sense of structure, guided by the poem, building to suitable peaks, before subsiding into peace and tranquility at its close. The First Choral Symphony, at over 50 minutes long, however, struggles to maintain coherency for me. There is great music here, and the first three movements succeed to a great extent in creating a variety of textures and moods from the diverse texts by Keats – the seven beats to a bar Baccahanal, the relaxed calm of the second movement’s Ode, and the delicate orchestral textures at the close of the third movement. But having explored this variety, one gets the sense that Holst didn’t quite know how to conclude this mammoth work, and the finale disappoints. However, the performance here cannot be faulted and Gritton in particular is in fine form. Credit also to the BBC Symphony Chorus, who produce a well-disciplined and rich sound throughout. Chandos CHSA5127 ) Another continuing Chandos series with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, this time with Edward Gardner conducting two works by KAROL SZYMANOWSKI (1882-1937). His Stabat Mater from 1925/6, with solo voices in addition to the chorus and orchestra, is a striking
and affecting work, with a stunningly beautiful lament from the solo soprano (here impressively sung by Lucy Crowe), and a fiendish fourth movement for just female choral voices, later joined by the female soloists. Szymanowksi makes great use of these different forces, using choral chanting, a duet between solo alto (Pamela Helen Stephen) and clarinet, and melody in the final sixth movement for the solo soprano that is to die for. The other piece here is the Choral Ballet, Harnasie, which is rooted in the culture of the Podhale region in the Tatra mountains in Poland. Whilst there are moments reminiscent of Stravinsky and Janáček here, the overall effect is of a totally individual sound, and without even looking at the texts, images of folk dancing, revelry and wedding scenes are immediately conjured up. In fact the story is of a bride who is abducted by a robber (Harnás). I can’t profess to understanding Polish, but the BBC Symphony Chorus sound totally convincing and authentically in unison in their diction, which must have been a considerable challenge. There is real excitement and life in this music, which is fully expressed in this commanding performance from all concerned. Chandos CHSA5123
CINEMA ) A live screening from the Royal Opera House (Wed 12) of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, directed by Kasper Holton, starring Mariusz Kwiecien and Véronique Gens. Antonio, and conducted by Pappano. In local cinemas including: Duke’s at the Komedia, Brighton; the Odeon Cinema, Brighton; Cineworld, Eastbourne; and the Connaught Cinema, Worthing. Check for times.
RENÉE FLEMMING
CLASSICAL
You can also see Renée Fleming in Dvořák’s Rusalka from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, conducted by Yannick NézetSéguin (Mon 10), at Duke’s at the Komedia (check other cinemas for dates and times). Reviews, comments and events: nicks-classical-notes.blogspot.co.uk Email: nbclassical@hotmail.co.uk
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FILM
suffering meant to bludgeon civilians into a guilt trip.”
BY MICHAEL HOOTMAN
BASTARDS THE INVISIBLE WOMAN
Dir: Ralph Fiennes Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott Thomas Plot: At the height of his career, Charles Dickens meets a younger woman who becomes his secret lover until his death. Word on net: ”Has some of the strongest acting of any contemporary film.” ) “A meticulously rendered, tasteful and moving period drama.” ) “Period detail is exquisite, down to the last antimacassar, but the storytelling is so inert that the furnishings steal the focus.”
LIFT TO THE SCAFFOLD Dir: Louis Malle Stars: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Georges Poujouly Plot: A self-assured business man murders his employer, the husband of the woman he's having an affair with, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events. Re-release for Malle's 1958 classic. Word on net: “What turns it fabulous, indeed mythical, is the presence of another entity: Paris at night in the 1950s.” ) “A consummate entertainment rich with the romantic atmosphere of Paris in the 1950s.” ) “It's devilishly clever, bleakly hilarious, and fatalistically romantic throughout.'
Word on net: “What saves the film and grandly is Nance's wildly ambitious visual imagination.” ) “An emotionally exhausting but ultimately rewarding kaleidoscope of video, animation, words and music.” ) “Artistic but unpretentious examination of young love, with all its uncertainties and mini tragedies.”
Dir: Claire Denis Stars: Vincent Lindon, Chiara Mastroianni, Julie Bataille Plot: Jagged, fragmented film is a
ALSO OUT
contemporary film noir inspired by recent French sex ring scandals involving men of wealth and power Word on net: “A film so anxious to be taken seriously that it has evaded seriousness itself.” ) “Thriller truly etched in darkness.” ) “There's nothing wrong with dealing out a dense, noir like plot in tiny scraps - unless, like Bastards, the film remains flaccid and tensionless.”
OUT OF THE FURNACE Dir: Scott Cooper Stars: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Zoe Saldana Plot: When Rodney Baze mysteriously disappears and law enforcement doesn't seem to be helping, his older brother takes matters into his own hands to find justice.
intricate story to excessive simplicity.” ) “Mostly a moving and effective presentation of life under Nazism.” ) “Plush, mawkish period drama might be useful as a means of introducing the Holocaust to small children, but indefensible on almost any other terms.”
THE BOOK THIEF
Dir: Brian Percival Stars: Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson Plot: While subjected to the horrors of WW2 Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Under the stairs in her home, a Jewish refugee is being sheltered by her adoptive parents. Word on net: “Basic conventional Word on net: “Enormously AN OVERSIMPLIFICATION macho filmmaking, and extremely successful young-adult novel seems OF HER BEAUTY violent.” ) “Long, grim exercise in to have been adapted as a movie for middle-aged children.” ) Dir: Terence Nance garden variety pointlessness, “Superficial sleekness flattens the Stars: Alisa Becher, JC Cain, Dexter disguised as nihilism.” ) “More Jones Jean-Claude Van Damme than John Steinbeck. And not even very good Van Damme at that.”
) Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams and Scarlett Johansson star in Spike Jonze's HER. A lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with his newly purchased operating system that's designed to meet his every need. ) THE MONUMENTS MEN stars George Clooney, Cate
Blanchett and Matt Damon in the true story of a WW2 platoon which rescues art masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returns them to their owners. ) CHARLIE COUNTRYMAN stars Shia LaBeouf as a man who falls for a Romanian beauty whose unreachable heart has its origins in her violent, charismatic ex. Also stars Evan Rachel Wood, Mads Mikkelsen and Rupert Grint. ) WINTER'S TALE stars Colin Farrell as a burglar who falls for an heiress
as she dies in his arms. When he learns that he has the gift of reincarnation, he sets out to save her. Also stars Jennifer Connelly, Will Smith and Russell Crowe.
FILM C O M P E T I T I O N
LONE SURVIVOR Dir: Peter Berg Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch Plot: Four members of SEAL Team Plot: An artist hypothesizes about 10 go on a mission to capture or why he feels bad when a mystery kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad girl stands him up. The event Shahd. Based on a true story. prompts him to ask: what's the Word on net: “A jingoistic snuff content of a momentary feeling? Is film.” ) “Offers glorification with it the sum of your experiences? little characterisation.” ) “The And, perhaps more importantly, are Passion of the Christ for military your experiences the sum of you? enthusiasts - an epic of pain and
) Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton and Abbie Cornish star in a remake of ROBOCOP. As long as it has the classic scene where a company executive is accidentally shot to ribbons most viewers will be happy. ) To win two tickets to the Odeon Brighton send the answer to the following question on a postcard along with your address to: Gscene Film Competition, 111 Western Rd, Hove, BN3 1DD: Who directed the original version of the movie? ) JANUARY COMPETITION: Michael Douglas
46 GSCENE
GEEK
COMICS
BY CRAIG STORRIE
) When people ask me who my favourite comic book character is I immediately answer Jean Grey, without a shadow of a doubt, but if I am given time to think about it the answer is always a draw. Alongside the power house that is Jean Grey, my other favourite character couldn’t be more of the opposite if I tried! Whilst Jean uses her mutant abilities to defeat super-villains this character instead relies on years of training and his natural ability as an acrobat to fight crime. I am of course talking about Nightwing or Dick Grayson/Robin as he is more famously known. The first Robin is friendly and jovial, as well as being liked and respected by everyone he knows or comes into contact with. It’s most probably his habit of wearing his heart on his sleeve that draws me and many a fan to him like a moth to a flame. After deciding to leave Batman’s side as Robin due to him feeling he has outlived and outgrown his role as the caped crusader’s sidekick, Dick joins up with his Teen Titan team mates full time and shows off his new costume and identity for the entire world to see. I wanted to highlight a few stories which I feel show Dick at his best and most heroic, so let’s start with the previously mentioned story that started it all!
SCENE GAYMING
) Whilst there have been a slew of good and bad Lego video games over the years, it’s the licensed properties such as Star Wars and Harry Potter that have become the definitive Lego games in the years since the first one was released back in 2005. Beginning with the adaption of the Star Wars prequel, trilogy gamers took control of a number of varied characters with which to play through many different platform and vehicle levels.
Created by the always amazing Travellers’ Tales (TT), gameplay in Lego video games is mostly geared towards family play, and as such does not feature a ‘game over’ scenario. Spreading out from a in-game hub, players are given a specific set of characters in each level, based on a scene from each of the movies. Up to two players can control them, using their different abilities to conquer puzzles, find hidden items and collect Lego studs. For instance C3P0 can open doors locked by a droid interface, whilst Padme can use a grappling hook to ascend to otherwise inaccessible surfaces. It is this variation in abilities that helps prolong the games lifespan long after completion and replaying levels can help you gather more studs with which to buy new characters and vehicles; something that admittedly becomes extremely addictive! The feeling of joy you get when you have collected enough studs to unlock an expensive character is hard to beat and well worth the sometimes frustrating levels. Lego Star Wars was also the first product to reveal the much anticipated ending of Revenge Of The Sith a good few weeks before the feature film was actually released; something that helped hype up the video games even more! After the huge success of Lego Star Wars there was no stopping TT, who upped the ante and have released at least one Lego game a year ever since. After rounding out the entire Star Wars saga, TT then moved on to other hot properties such as Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Harry Potter and even Lego Batman. Each game since has been bigger and deeper with both Lego Batman 2’s Gotham City and Lego Marvel Superheroes New York showing just how far the hubs within the games have grown as they are now themselves mini worlds of their own. Even though the gameplay in every game can be addictive, fun and family friendly it’s the humour that brings the games and stories to life. It’s truly amazing at just how funny it is watching Lego figures acting out a well-known scene from a film entirely without dialogue. Whilst the latest games feature voices for the characters either ripped from a film a la Lord of the Rings or an entirely original script like Lego Batman, it is the earlier games that still make me laugh out loud with only their grunts and chuckles instilling each character with a distinct personality, something that whole lines of script can fail to do in recent films and games.
Possibly one of the most respected and notable stories of the 1980s comic book era, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract is a masterpiece of storytelling. The Titans’ arch enemy Deathstroke takes on a contract to destroy the Titans after his son Ravager dies whilst attempting to complete the assassination. This leads to Deathstroke using his 15 year-old lover to join the Titans and betray the team all the while spying on and passing on secret information to Deathstroke. The story features many firsts for the team as not only did Dick make his first appearance as Nightwing but it also saw Wally West give up his Kid Flash identity and quit the Titans as well as serving as an introduction of new member Jericho, the other son of Deathstroke. The team of writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez proved to be a winner and imbues The Judas Contract with many twists and turns as well as featuring some truly stunning art from Perez. Written by Jeph Loeb with art by Tim Sale, Batman; Dark Victory is a fantastic 14 part story which is the sequel to the brilliant The Long Halloween. It also features a modern re-telling of the origins of Dick Grayson/Robin and showing his first proper night out on the job. It’s fast paced, punchy and helps to bring the story from the 1940s right up to date, Sale’s striking art, whilst being stunning, also cleverly shows the height and weight difference between Batman and the Boy Wonder. Notable Mentions: A Lonely Place Of Dying, The New 52, Batman And Robin (2009).
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SHOPPING WITH MICHAEL HOOTMAN
) Excitable Biscuit Barrel, £14.95 (Edited, 3 Gardner Street, Brighton, 01273 604006, editedbrighton.com)
) Designer Fire Extinguisher, £99, powder-filled and comes with a 10 year warranty (Inhouse Space, 28 Gloucester Road, Brighton, 01273 682845) ) Simon Carter Cufflinks – mother of pearl and onyx, £75 (Badger, 26 Bond Street, Brighton, 01273 722245) ) Mr & Mrs Muse Cruet Set, £39 (Abode, 32 Kensington Gardens, Brighton, 01273 621116)
) Barcode Jocks from £24, Shorts from £39.95 (Prowler, 112-113 St James's Street, Brighton, 01273 683680) ) Suppoon, £5.95, scientifically engineered to scrape the last bit of Nutella from the jar (Pussy, 3a Kensington Gardens, Brighton, 01273 604861)
) Tattoo Plate made from Chinese porcelain, £22.50 (Utility, 28a North Road, Brighton, 01273 626222)
48 GSCENE
A GAY SALUTE YOU’RE GONNA MAKE ME ROAR. FRIES WITH THAT DIVA? ASKS CRAIG HANLON-SMITH During an interview as part of a recent Channel 4 documentary: Queer As Pop, writer Mark Simpson stated that: “Gay divas should be created and not delivered”. This criticism levelled specifically, although not exclusively, at Lady GaGa and her Born This Way call to equality arms, suggests that our next generation of icons are much less an organic development over an extended period of time, and then gay anointed by consensual gay decree by the hordes, but rather a self-selected Icon or deliberately packaged as such. Whilst the over 35s may groan at the shameless presentation of a pop starlet in gay-festive wrapping, firmly rooted in our 21st century age of targeted television packages, internet advertising and an ever growing demand for super-sized fast processed foods, it is not surprising that our new brand of gay divas and icons come shrink wrapped in neon 'me' polythene and waving a '50% off' tag. Not surprising, but a little disappointing all the same.
MADONNA
Cast your mind back 25 years, assuming you had developed from a microscopic invertebrate by then, to Madonna’s Express Yourself, (yes kittens, that’s a silver anniversary this year – feeling crumbly yet?). This song was written as an I Will Survive for the late 1980s. A brass section decorated floor filler dedicated to matters of the heart. Seized upon by drag queens and post-Pride after parties and helped by the stripped to the waste homoeroticism of the Metropolisinspired video, it became an adopted anthem for female empowerment and then an HIV/AIDS oppressed gay community across the western world. Or something. Whilst lyrically no more challenging than the phrase “Express Yourself, so you can Respect Yourself!”, Madonna described the theme of the song and accompanying video in 1990 as “pussy rules the world”. Not a gay boy or drag queen in sight, but the lesbians were like pigs in muck. Fast forward two decades and GaGa’s career defining companion piece, Born This Way is a cock fight between a clench fisted black power salute and a roller blading transsexual lesbian across the Midwest. Possibly the only song forever to top the charts across the word containing the phrase “Lesbian transgender life”. ‘Subtlety’ and ‘open to interpretation’ were on holiday in the Haus of GaGa that week. With coquettishly coy discretion resting upon the back-burner, such plastic force-feeding could also be cause for celebration. The gay audience is now a confident, understood, noticeably monied and therefore lucrative sector within any retail market. As we, the gay community, have found the time and strength to not only open up our closets but to set fire to them and wear them as a wedding train in town halls across the kingdom, so too our record company executives and television marketing teams have bought into the idea of specifically nurturing our gay custom. As (some) international law not only decriminalises homosexuality but supports same-sex marriage or civil unions, the gay audience (as beige as you may find this Mr Simpson) has become a respectable equal part of a market-driven economy and therefore an accessible target. We can therefore expect much more in the way of pop princesses performing at
Pride events and gay clubs over the next few years in a desperate bid to be noticed and sell their own dreams, if not ours. Why else are the X Factor finalists contracted to the country’s top gay clubs for personal appearances the moment they are about to be launched onto or disappear from the entertainment world? This should be a relatively inoffensive process provided that we the gay audience are savvy enough to separate the wheat from the chaff and not just accept any old nonsense into our bosom just because it's waving an inflatable penis or wearing rainbow knickers once a year. I did have the misfortune to be at GAY the night Sam Callahan took to the stage; his vocal and guitar playing talents completed inside of two minutes as the crowd inevitably resorted to shouts of “OFF! OFF! OFF!”. I had naively thought that this may encourage the young man to leave the building but of course, encouraged by 2,000 gay boys and their clingons, he removed his clothes. As we type, Mr Callahan has managed to worm his way onto the front cover of Gay Times, and whilst I mean young Sam no ill and wish him well in his chosen career, I wonder if pert buns and a waxed oily chest is all it takes to become a Gay Icon. Whatever happened to “don’t go for second best baby”? Appearing on television a handful of times and then stripping for cash in a gay club makes you a stripper. Not an Icon.
“Appearing on television a handful of times and then stripping for cash in a gay club makes you a stripper. Not an Icon” And so we (apologies) turn to Dappy and his desperate stint on Celebrity Big Brother. I understand that the boy is proud of his penis, but the adulation he has earned at the hands of the gays on social media for having a big cock is embarrassing. Boys: one - his name is Dappy; two - one suspects that he selected that for himself; three “what you need is a big strong HAND to lift you to your higher ground”. Getting your tackle out on the small screen to deafening screams from the gay multitudes makes you a stripper. Possibly a low-key porn star. I agree that Icons should earn their stripes. Alan Turing, the WW2 code breaker was recently pardoned by the Queen some 50 years after his conviction for homosexuality. There’s a man who shortened the war by two years and just happened to be gay and for his trouble was sentenced to chemical castration. The circumstances of his death are disputed but he died lonely, humiliated, broken – having practically saved the world; not exaggerating. I’m sure that had he seen Dappy naked he could have been spared the chemical castration, but as it is we have elected to give the tattooed Versace-wearing ‘Croydon market trader got lucky’ the adoration we should reserve for those of merit and worth. The man who saved the world or a prize tool? Whilst Alan Turing may never have wanted to become a gay icon in his life time, we possibly owe him and thousands like him an honorary gay salute. ALAN TURING
CRAIG’S THOUGHTS
And so Mark Simpson, whilst our Gay Divas should be created and not delivered, the problem is not so much that of GaGa’s creating than that of the gays who appear to have gone Ga Ga. At least GaGa wrapped herself up like a Christmas chipolata and handed her meat purse to Cher – herself a Gay Icon and mother to a transsexual. How did we contain ourselves? Fries with that patty?
GSCENE 49
WALL’S
WORDS
GAY
WISDOM
BY MIKE WALL
BY GAY SOCRATES
WHAT IS A GAY ICON?
FAERIE ICONS WHO DARED TO RE-IMAGINE QUEER
I am a little confused. Yes not for the first time, but I really feel a bit perplexed. The phrase ‘Gay Icon’ has been around for decades and when you talk to people or search online, you will generally find mention of people such as Madonna, Judy Garland, Cher, Janet Jackson, Kylie etc etc. Now this is where I get a bit bewildered. Have you noticed anything about the list above? Yes, you got it, they are all straight women. Hence my confusion.
So what’s an Icon? In a literal sense it is a painted image intended to induce a sense of the divine. Over the centuries queer folk have suffered at the hands of the great organised religions' image-makers. Metaphorically, nothing divine has ever been invoked in the painting of our image. In fact quite the reverse!
A few years ago I wrote a piece about Senator David Norris, who ran for President of Ireland. Unfortunately due to negative media coverage, the Senator, who was tipped to win the election, did not. I was saddened because when I wrote my piece I had stated that he was in fact my gay icon. He was always openly gay and fought for the legalisation of homosexuality in Ireland. It is men and women like Senator Norris that I feel are true gay icons. They have put their own private lives in the public eye in order to create a world where bring gay is accepted as a norm. We have a lot to thank these men and women for.
“It is men and women like Senator Norris that are true gay icons. They put their private lives in the public eye in order to create a world where bring gay is accepted as a norm” I have no recollection of straight white singers such as Madonna fighting for or even mentioning gay issues. These individuals have made a lot of money via the pink pound. They have become very wealthy and popular people but I don’t think they have actually done anything for LGBT people. They are in fact just pop culture idols, not icons. In fact over the last 20 years or so, boy bands have been created and designed so that the singers’ sexuality remains completely ambiguous. The reason of course is to appeal to the widest possible audience: on the one hand for teenage girls and on the other hand for the young gay scene. How many of you have heard of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir - the first open lesbian head of state? She was elected as Prime Minister of Iceland in 2009. Or San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay man to be elected to office in the US. He led the defeat of the state-wide anti-gay Proposition 6 in California in 1978. We have many people to choose from in the UK too. Gareth Thomas, rugby player; Sir Ian McKellen, actor and gay rights activist; Sarah Waters, author; Waheed Alli, gay rights activist and member of the House of Lords; Alan Bennett, writer. These are just a few of the gay and lesbian men and women from this country that I would consider to be gay icons. They have been so courageous in what they have done for future generations of gay people. I hope that young people take encouragement from these individuals when they are considering coming out, and that their paths have been made a little easier. The above list does not confuse me - exactly the opposite, it inspires me.
However, I have a personal gratitude to three great secular saints of The Church of Queer who each, in their own ways, have managed to repaint our tarnished image. They have helped us to dare to be our divine selves against all odds. The great American writer, Walt Whitman (1819- 1892), in the Calamus cycle of poems from his magnum opus Leaves of Grass reimagined the then unspeakable love of men-loving-men as the Love of Comrades; a love so powerful it would transform a warring world into a calm and peaceful global village. These poems were largely considered to be obscene by Walt’s compatriots. Internationally, however, they excited a new generation of morally oppressed yet nascently radical queer folk. Among them was the Hove-born Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) who was dramatically transformed after reading them. So much so that he sailed to the US to meet, and then make love with, his heroic iconoclast. He was encouraged in his own writing to re-paint the way in which queerness had been smeared. In his book The Intermediate Sex he articulated, to a hostile and highly sexually oppressive Victorian society, the argument for a biological determinant for nonheterosexual sexuality. This was a society that criminalised as morally defective any physical expression of same-sex love. In 1895 Oscar Wilde was sentenced by our great British society to two years of hard labour in prison for daring to be himself! When he was just a child the Worthing-born Harry Hay (19122002) migrated with his parents to America. In the local library he managed to break his way into a locked cabinet containing a copy of The Intermediate Sex. Encouraged by the fact that there were at least some highly respected European writers who took a non-moralistic view of the expression of same-sex love, he developed his own ideas (via his involvement with the American communist party and a love affair with the actor who famously came to play the part of Grandpa Walton). In a post Stonewall era when queers were increasingly clamouring for ‘we’re just the same as you are - but different’ social and legal acceptance, Harry was busy wondering what the purpose of queers was. Do we not have a unique window of perspective for the wider society and a special subject-subject love devoid of the materialistic and social status considerations implicit in most marriage contracts? Was our purpose not to be visionaries, healers and teachers? Did we not need spiritual sanctuary where our unarticulated sense of purpose and our innate sense of awe at the fabulousness of the natural world could be allowed to flourish unencumbered? As Faeries we dare to be ourselves and we model the audacity of this radically spiritual act for our non-queer brethren. Let us then give thanks to Saint Walt, Saint Edward and Saint Harry, the Great Faerie Iconoclastic Icons!
50 GSCENE
HEART & SOLE OH L’AMOUR WHO NEEDS LOVE LIKE THAT? BY DARREN SOLE It was on a Thursday night in 1986 when I first clapped eyes on him. There had of course been other exotic creatures that’d preceded him by stepping onto the hallowed ground of the Top of the Pops studio, but Misters Almond, Somerville and Johnson, never managed to tune into my particular wavelength. This time though, it was different. Clad in blue jeans, white T-shirt, and black bomber jacket (unbeknownst to me at the time, official 1980s gay uniform) he sang sweetly, sort of danced, but most importantly, spoke to me. His lyrics were suspiciously non-gendered - less definitely meant more – but sometimes, there are no need for words, because at the fragrant age of 13, my circuit boards sparked into life, new connections were forged and, in my mind, a deal was cemented for life. Naturally of course, it was all kept a secret and no one was to find out, but in that magical moment it didn’t matter, because an unspoken union had been made; I’d found my gay big brother; one part choirboy, one part bricklayer, all topped off with a dollop of sexual mischievousness. Yes, my first and everlasting Gay Icon is Andy Bell. It was never a sexual thing, but he offered me an unquestionable mix of qualities I couldn’t resist; he was attractive but approachable, artistic but working class, flamboyant but broad shouldered, and as a stumbling teen, he could show me a way out. But it wasn’t all plain sailing; Andy and Erasure were schoolboys’ shorthand for horribly queer. No one in the playground could mention Andy and Vince’s schizophrenic look, their ‘relationship’, or addictive synthwork without the suffix ‘but they’re pouffes’. The twosomes’ ‘good’ parts may have well been clear, but they were always overshadowed by the dogged fascination with Andy’s sexuality. For many, it simply dominated everything else that they offered. Which, in my mind as an 80s sapling, is just how I felt. My emerging sexuality was only one part of my forming whole, yet in my head, it always came first; the one thing that wouldn’t make way for others.
And whenever my hormone-racked peers shrilled to denounce my Samaritan, I took the hit too, because I knew that Andy and I were made of the same stuff, but I saw what the detractors wouldn’t: here was a very particular kind of winner, one that I would try to become too. So as the years went on, I hoovered up the records and remixes, tapes and T-shirts, and my allegiance with Mr Bell grew. His voice became my friend, whether in his soulful pop or in interviews, where he always spoke honestly and unapologetically. He was my perfect stranger; someone in which I could rely. And so it’s been for nearly 30 years. Yes, to some, all this bark and bluster may sound dramatic and daft, and I wonder, looking back as a 40 year-old, is it even possible to have as much blind faith in someone now as I did back then, but Andy undeniably helped to guide the terrified gay child I was, the teenager I became, and the man that I am. He may be 'only' a pop singer, but in the days when I struggled with knowing who I was, and fearing who I was to become, a successful, confident gay man who people listened to, loved and admired was priceless. Some people are respected for living their lives through the messages of men and deities ‘who lived’ eons ago, so tell me, is yielding to the melody of You Surround Me, worth any less than someone who surrenders to the chorus of All Things Bright And Beautiful?
“Yes, it’s fantastic to have influential ‘allies’ on our side, who spread the good word and ‘understand’ us, but do suicide attempts, hot pants and samesex flirting, really a hero make?” Andy Bell though has never bagged a reservation at the establishments’ Gay Icons’ top table, as those seats are reserved for a very different bunch of individuals. The average gay icon (and there are quite a few average ones) are often appreciated by ‘us’ for their hairy muscles, divasized gobs and tragic natures, who all draw favourable reactions from our put-upon minority group. Because if fingering through polls are to be believed, then your icon might well be Judy, Kylie, Gaga or Beckham. I wouldn't for one minute dismiss any comfort, inspiration or wankfantasy that these individuals may bring, but, to me, ‘Gay Icon’ means more than just big lungs, hair or penises. Yes, it’s fantastic to have influential ‘allies’ on our side, who spread the good word and ‘understand’ us, but do suicide attempts, hot pants and same-sex flirting, really a hero make? I don’t own the right to judge whom you think Iconic, but today the title seems to be force fed like a prepackaged product-shifting badge of honour. Yes I've had affairs with the usual bleached-haired roster of well meaning (or canny) mascots who drape themselves in hunks and lycra, and who link arms with us against the spectre of the straight man, but I find it a stretch to cosy up with (mostly) sainted middle-aged women who simply haven’t (and can’t be expected to) experience the same personal challenges that I have. So, my Icons may not have performed a three-song PA at GAY, but step forward just some of my heroes that have lived, spoken out, or just simply been, with pride or without apology: Alan Turing, Quentin Crisp, Harvey Milk, John Waters and Ellen Degeneres, just to mention a few. Because, as Andy Bell might say; you all deserve A Little Respect. Darren Sole is a freelance TV Producer @darrensole
GSCENE 51
ADDICTED BY GRAHAM HAMILTON
BY MITCHELL ORRISS
REAL GAY ICONS
I am inspired by people who have achieved artistic success in spite of themselves and their addictive natures.
An icon is an object or being who inspires adoration or worship. Something put on a pedestal as being superior. In terms of Gay Icons, most figures of idolisation are in the celebrity circuit and commonly female. Successful women such as: Cher, Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, and most recently Lady GaGa or Beyonce.
His most famous play was Loot. Here he attacks the attitudes of the police and religion, by parodying the classic detective novel. During a short spell in prison, for defacing the covers and jackets of over 70 library books, he developed a unique voice for subverting the forces which tried to control him. This helped to empower people who felt different. Despite the material success of Loot and The Good And Faithful Servant, he remained unchanged; continued to live in a squalid flat in Islington and to feed his addiction for sex in public toilets. He was successful, because he lived his life, albeit a short one, on his terms, without conforming. Apparently, he never expected to live into old age. He was bludgeoned to death by his jealous boyfriend, Kenneth Halliwell, with nine hammer blows to the head. He was just 34-yearsold, but his works live on. I would heartily recommend reading or watching Entertaining Mr Sloane.
“It’s great to have people in life to look up to, who act as an inspiration” My other nomination for an icon is Anthony Hopkins. This famous Welsh-born actor has graced our screens for many years. Again, despite his own addiction, this time to alcohol, he won the British Television Academy Award for Best Actor in War & Peace, in 1972. By his own admission, he was completely drunk during the filming of all 20 episodes. I am writing this on December 29 which is poignant, since he quit drinking on this same day in 1975. He says he had a religious experience where a loud voice told him, ‘no more of this, you’re killing yourself.’ He has never drunk alcohol again since that day and attributes his success and happiness in film-acting to his sobriety. Despite saying, in role, ‘I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti,’ in real life he has been saving his own liver by adhering to the 12 steps and taking the message of sobriety to others. Way to go. At the age of 45, I have outlived Joe Orton, am still indulging my own addictions, but have not achieved literary success. Unlike Anthony Hopkins I have not had a calling to stop drinking, but maybe I can achieve some success like he did whilst still under the influence. Hopefully my book, No Place Like Home, will finally be finished this year. This will be easier if I am not permanently hungover. It’s great to have people in life to look up to, who act as an inspiration for continuing your life, as is, or trying to make some radical change. I suspect, in the end though, we all have to find our own way.
I am not against the above artists themselves, or the status they hold within our community. I very much enjoy Cher's Dark Lady, which takes up space on my iPod, and is perfect for belting out when doing the dishes, or folding clothes for the wardrobe. What all these women have in common is their success, and their standout personas. They do not follow the crowd, and not one of them gives a care what anyone has to say about that. Perhaps it is this fearless attitude to be who you are which is why our community relates to them so strongly. What I ask however is whether we should be celebrating these people as our icons. Recently, the media has focused upon the pardon granted to Alan Turing who was criminalised under abhorrent Gross Indecency laws. The treatment he and many others endured for something which never should have been considered a crime shows how far we have come. However, if it was not for the recent coverage, it is possible that people like Turing would not be as well known in our community. While we herald the ‘icons’ mentioned in the opening paragraph and place them in high regard, do we acknowledge the figures who have made it possible to enjoy the freedom and equality that we hold in the UK today?
ALAN TURING
JOE ORTON
MUSINGS
FINDING MY OWN WAY
Joe Orton is a great example. During his short life (January 1, 1933– August 9, 1967) he captured the voices of the working classes in several plays which rebelled against the social conventions of the time and prejudices towards sexuality.
ANTHONY HOPKINS
MITCHELL’S
Further example, for all they did in creating Pride and laying the foundations of one of the city’s most celebrated calender events, how many young people in our community today, would know or celebrate the achievements of the Sussex Gay Liberation Front? Has the event itself overshadowed those who started the cause, and their initial intentions behind the event? We seem to celebrate and worship a sect of people who for all their outlandish performance acts are very much outside of the immediate community, although an ally to our cause. Should we extend the term of iconic onto people who have had no direct involvement in changing the landscape of LGBT life? In short, I would say no. I believe we need to start celebrating ourselves, our own community progression, and those still championing for change. Many people will be aware of the reprehensible ways LGBT people are currently being treated in Russia. Last May, despite facing serious criminal punishment, Russian LGBTs and their allies came together in protest despite arrest at their annual Moscow Pride parade. In light of the recent legislation, this year could be seen as one of the most important for the event. These people aren't afraid to be themselves when the majority and legal system are against them; these are the people we should be looking to admire, and these are the people the term Icon should be attached to. If not for people like them, or those who have shifted the laws in our own country's history, the landscape we live in would be very different.
52 GSCENE
KEITH SHARPE ACID TONGUE THE REAL AIM OF SUSSEX-BASED GROUP CHRISTIAN CONCERN IS THE IMPRISONMENT OF HOMOSEXUALS SAYS DR KEITH SHARPE, CHANGING ATTITUDE SUSSEX Andrea Minichiello Williams, one of the eight Sussex Diocese of Chichester representatives on the Church of England General Synod, recently attended a conference in Jamaica to urge the Government to keep the law which criminalises homosexuality. She spoke in derogatory terms about gay people, and peddled the old vicious lie that homosexuals are paedophiles.
ANDREA MINICHIELLO WILLIAMS
She said Jamaica had the opportunity to become a world leader by fending off foreign pressure to drop its harsh laws which prescribe 10 years with hard labour for gay sex. “Might it be that Jamaica says to the United States of America, says to Europe, ‘Enough! You cannot come in and attack our families. We will not accept aid or promotion tied to an agenda that is against God and destroys our families,’” she said, adding to applause, “If you win here, you will have an impact in the Caribbean and an impact across the globe.” She made the case that it is a “big lie” that homosexuality is inborn, arguing instead it is caused by environmental factors like “the lack of the father” and “sometimes a level of abuse.” She illustrated her point with the case of 19-year-old British diver Tom Daley and his reported relationship with American screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. Daley, she said, who is “loved by all the girls and had girlfriends,” had “lost his father to cancer just a few years ago and he’s just come out on YouTube that he’s in a relationship with a man, that man is 39, a leading gay activist in the States.” Williams warned that removal of Britain’s sodomy law was the start of a process that has led to more and more permissive laws, including equalising the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual intercourse. “Once you strip away all this stuff, what you get is no age consent … nobody ever enforces that law anymore,” she said. “We already have a strong man-boy movement that’s moving in Europe.” She also described several cases in which she said people had been fired from their jobs for their opposition to LGBT rights and said people with views like hers are being silenced in the media and intimidated with the threats of hate-speech lawsuits. This was especially true, she suggested, when organisations like hers try to claim a connection between homosexuality and paedophilia. “They hate the line of homosexuality being linked to paedophilia. They try to cut that off, so you can’t speak about it,” she said. “So I say to you in Jamaica: Speak about it. Speak about it.” She took issue with the notion that advancing such arguments in opposition to expanding legal rights for LGBT people was hate speech. On the contrary, she said, “We say these things because we’re loving, we’re compassionate, we’re kind, because we care for our children... It is not compassion and kind to have laws that lead people [to engage] in their sins [that] lead to the obliteration of life, the obliteration of culture, and the obliteration of family.” As Chair of Changing Attitude Sussex I commented in a press release: Williams' bigoted outburst amounts to dangerous hatemongering. It is reprehensible and highly irresponsible. Jamaica is one of the most
dangerous places in the world for LGB&T people who suffer homophobic intimidation and violence on a daily basis, including from the police. The brutal murder of gay men is commonplace. The community lives in constant fear and is unable to access the legal and justice systems. Either Minichiello Williams did not know this, which is culpable ignorance, or she did know it and endorses it, which is sheer wickedness. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the House of Bishops report on Human Sexuality recently called on the Church to repent of its homophobia. And yet here is a Sussex member of the General Synod advocating the vilest form of homophobia in a most terrible cultural situation. What she has said and done is contrary both to the Church's Christian teaching and to common human decency. She has brought disgrace upon the Church of England and its General Synod as well as the Diocese of Chichester. And later the Bishop of Chichester, Martin Warner, sought to distance himself from her remarks: “The comments by Andrea Minichiello Williams about the decriminalisation of same-sex intercourse in Jamaica have no sanction in the Church of England or the diocese of Chichester. Insofar as such comments incite homophobia, they should be rejected as offensive and unacceptable. “The Christian Church is widely perceived as homophobic and intolerant of those for whom same-sex attraction is the foundation of their emotional lives. It is urgent, therefore, that Christians find legitimate ways to affirm and demonstrate the conviction that the glory of God is innate in every human being, and the mercy of God embraces each of us indiscriminately.” Hurrah for our bishop! It is extremely rare, maybe unprecedented, I'm not sure, for a diocesan bishop to publicly reprimand one of the General Synod representatives in his diocese. This completes a year in which Bishop Martin has been very supportive to the LGB&T community for whom he is the anglican pastor, including speaking at the annual Lesbian & Gay Christian Movement conference in Brighton and preaching at the Welcome to Pride service in Preston Park. If you know anybody who is a member of a deanery synod in the Diocese of Chichester, i.e. East and West Sussex, make sure they know about Andrea Minichiello Williams won't you. Elections to General Synod are due in 2015 and we must stop this most unpleasant and dangerous woman being re-elected.
“It is not compassion and kind to have laws that lead people [to engage] in their sins [that] lead to the obliteration of life, the obliteration of culture, and the obliteration of family.” Andrea Minichiello Williams
OPEN AND WELCOMING CHURCHES Changing Attitude Sussex is committed to telling the truth about Christian teaching on homosexuality, and works for the full inclusion of LGBT people in every province of the Anglican Communion and more widely in all Christian Churches. For more information, view: www.changingattitudesussex.com and www.thegaygospels.com
GSCENE 53
TWISTED
GILDED GHETTO BY ERIC PAGE
CHOIR
BOYS
BY RALPH CORKE
MY ICON
I AM ICON
I have no hero, no shining city on a hill to pull my heart yearning onwards, no mythological Mr Men whose deeds inspire and humble me. No pop star or fighter or revolutionary takes pride of place in my muse, no, all these manufactured and hand-crafted pseudo icons wallow in bogs of twisted historical lore, layer upon layer obscuring the truth, and Dear Reader, what point an Icon if not to keep the path to the Truth bare of weeds and brier?
That’s it, I’ve decided I want to be an Icon! It sounds like fun and I’ve got some spare time.
My Icon breaths fire and life itself leaps from their form, they Just Are, always there, a moment of endlessness in a world of transient things. My Icon has always been; I have not known a moment without their honest benevolence watching my every move. My Icon knows all, each and every motivation and methodology of my magnificent, manic mind is bared before it. My Icon smiles at my deceit, having seen it all before, laughs at my jokes having heard them all before, weeps for my pain, having seen it all coming, but never tells me ‘I told you so’. My Icon, in all its mystery and humility shows me that at the end of my patience is where patience really begins. My Icon teaches me new things about old ways and old things about the new. My Icon shows me that only though experience can I know the truth of love; although not eternal, can be made to stay a while and unrequited love will hang around forever. My Icon shows me that puppies grow up into unconditionally loved dogs that you bury and then forget and never fails to find delight in the same old same old that distracts me from the pain. My Icon lifts me out of the cold muddy waters of self doubt onto a cliff top of polished belief and shows me my glory reflected full 40 stories high in its burnished surfaces, made gleaming by the roughness of silver tongue. Then as I persist in gazing at my own adored reflection, my Icon pushes me from that high ledge telling me to build my wings on the way down. There is no doubt I can sour, my Icon has seen to that already.
“My Icon, in all its mystery and humility shows me that at the end of my patience is where patience really begins” My Icon has shown me that the way of the true warrior is not one of fight but of surrender, has let me discover the truth of love, and been there when the pain of separation has proved too much. On each and every step I have taken my Icon has been filled with pride, even when I have doubted my own step, path or reason. I am the very creation of my Icon, I am the beginning, the word made Flesh. My Icon is not some painted board, or sculpted stone, No, my Icon is the very definition of beauty; My Icon is a woman (of course), my Icon is my Mum. While we may look around for heroes and Icons to bend our knees and philosophies too, My Icon, My Mother has shown me that all I need is to be exquisite and never explain.
So firstly what makes an Icon? Is it a pioneer in a new genre of music? Someone with a cult following? Or a moment of standing over a fan in a white floaty dress? All of which I have done, if you consider my mum a cult, my erotic rewrites of musicals (or eroticals as I like to call them), a music genre, and the time I went as Marilyn Monroe to a fancy dress party on a very hot summer day, then surely I’m a fully fledged Icon! Alas I am still just a regular Joe.
“One of my favourite icons, Oscar Wilde, once said ‘Be yourself, everyone else is already taken’” There must be an easy way to become an Icon; I’m pretty sure Grumpy Cat who has appeared on the cover of the Wall Street Journal found her iconic status through looking constantly miserable - I had that look in the bag before any feline. So maybe I could become an internet meme? Although the thought of me captioned to ‘I WANTZ BURGERZ’ is not flattering, as true as that statement is. Well firstly I have to decide what kind of Icon I want to be; a Religious Icon? Pop Icon? Gay Icon? Cultural Icon? Can’t I be all four? I’m pretty sure HM the Queen is, and I love corgis. Maybe I should start with gay - the following is loyal and fierce. I would need to represent the cultural values of those who consider me an Icon (not a small task) and I have to consider the great achievements of other gay icons such as Harvey Milk, Oprah and Coretta Scott King who have opened doors for the rights of LGBT people. I’m not sure that I’m a voice that can be heard next to these, as much as I will always continue to shout for equal rights for all. So what approach should I have to this? Do I need to change myself to become an Icon? After all one of my favourite icons, Oscar Wilde, once said “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken”. Then again so much of being an icon is having resonance in what you say. Although as you may know from reading this I may have fallen below that mark. But here goes readers, this following sentence will either set me up as an Icon or prove to myself that I’ll leave being an Icon to the pros. “I WANTZ CHEESE BURGERZ” – Ralph Corke 2014 Damn it.
If you'd like more information about the Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus, visit: www.brightongmc.org
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CHARLIE SAYS DEAD SERIOUS WHY I MADE NO PLANS FOR A PENSION BY CHARLIE BAUER PhD “With my tears go into your loneliness, my brother. I love him who wants to create over and beyond himself, and thus perishes.” Thus spoke Zarathustra. I’ve observed lots of queer happenings from various parts of the planet over the last two years. After I was drugged and shipped to New Zealand by my academic peers, I worked my way steadily towards the West Coast of North Americashire with the wildly changing queer landscape trailblazing behind me. I crossed oceans of rednecks and mountains of sliding prejudice and tried to document what I saw along the way. Even when I was in physical danger I never stopped once to think about the miracle that is supposedly my ‘life’. I can see the middle-age mountain ahead. The one that queers of my age were not really supposed to - we weren’t actually supposed to survive. And it wasn’t just the AIDS crisis that flawed our confidence, it happened way before that. We never partied like it was never gonna end, we knew more than anyone that it was. In return it gave us a feeling of invincibility – at nineteen, with a head full of drugs, I danced on the slutbox at Heaven because I knew that I was going to die. I never wanted a career and a pension back then and still don’t now. And I’ve no issues about my big exit because I’m a God-hater. However, I do think it’s sensible to make living wills and arrangements for our own deaths and here is why. I, we, have managed to push though so much crap and get to the point we are now by stealth, and we have remained in control of our own keeling boats for so long against the unnecessary tsunamis of heteroland that, if I snuff it tomorrow, I still need to have some element of control at the back-end.
than a perceived identity or history. This would be the first time those angry, now bereft, brothers would be shamed into crying. Later, as a result of their uncontrollable emotion they’d waltz in and take the houses, let the dogs free in a local park, sell the collateral and demonise the living partner for passing on such a heinous disease to their dear brother. All permissible by law. There are still no words for the expressions on those families’ faces when in excess of a thousand mourning queers turned up and spilled out into the streets. There’s nothing as powerful as the emotional corrective of an extended family of queers to bring the matter home. “Who knew he was so… popular…” There’s nothing quite like a full on Catholic burial, replete with liturgies about what ‘clean decent people’ the deceased were when the audience is comprised mainly of leather and piss club collectives and circuit party-ers. I’d want my own liturgy to mention those 15 gorgeous men I spent one single night with in a sauna, who meant more to me and my memory than every school friend I ever had. I want the parts of my life and the stuff I felt as ‘normal’ to be valued. And if you don’t want to hear it, then don’t bother going… As a queer, I’ve been a coffin dodger since the age of seventeen, so death holds no power for me. There have been no days in my adult life when I have not been confronted with death, even if I haven’t recognised it. And for the people out there who may patronise us about how wonderful life is and how we must cherish all of it at all times, that if we don’t we must be somehow ‘depressed’ - here, take this pill… I’m not depressed. I’m a realist and I’ve lived long enough to see both sides of the dying crap and it has zilch power. God forbid in a Christian way, our death is hijacked by the very people who caused it. But that doesn’t really matter - because we’ll be dead. However, and this isn’t narcissism, I don’t want that last image of myself to be one surrounded by sacred hearts and flowers or Virgin Marys in a chapel of rust. Throw me at the side of the road, chuck me in the Manchester ship canal. This isn’t me being disrespectful to my loved ones, it’s just me not sanctioning some weird process designed for the arrogance of the living. And I will not be packaged up in normativity when I am too incapacitated (okay - dead) to do anything about it. Find Charlie at: charliebauerphd.blogspot.com soundcloud.com/thewholeworld/do-i-look-gay-audio-essay
“As a queer, I’ve been a coffin dodger since the age of seventeen, so death holds no power for me” The other day, I thought back to when AIDS funerals where as popular as cable re-runs of Strictly. I remembered those final send offs hijacked by christian families reclaiming, so they thought, the darkened soul of the one lead astray by evil forces of homosexuality. That was, just before God absolved them of the sins we always called ‘virtues’. Those families who could never grasp why we saddos preferred to live in dumps like Hackney, Streatham, The Castro or Silver Lake rather than on the industrial outskirts of the towns where we were born and took it daily on the chin. Maybe, we were too busy running for the Nietzschen edge of the abyss quoted above, by creating ‘above ourselves’ and perishing, joyously, as a result. At the AIDS funerals, I remember all those mohawks flattened by discreet hats, pierce holes freshly visible in noses, ears and cheeks - so as not to offend the family who took up the first two rows. The people who had little interest in the body before them but now, in a collective grief, could claim him as their own and sanitise away anything other
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SHARP WORDS CAFÉ CULTURE DEL SHARP CHEWS THE FAT OVER CAFÉ CLEANLINESS Sharp Words loves nothing more than to go for breakfast in a café with friends. It certainly beats being taken out to lavish dinners in wonderful restaurants with gorgeous women, which is a good job as that doesn’t happen nearly as often. Well never actually unless I’m dreaming. Or lying. But hey who cares when I can have egg and chips of a morning and feel able to justify the huge pile of food on the plate because I won’t eat lunch and have the whole day to burn it off with power walking and a visit to the gym... Well, perhaps meandering around charity shops and stopping off somewhere for cake isn’t the best way to get rid of my deep fried banquet, but I like to think I’m helping the local economy as the only places that seem to be opening constantly are coffee shops and cafés. You would think only the better ones stand the test of time, but having visited many (no of course I don’t have a job, I’m far too busy waddling around town) I’ve found several key points that need addressing.
extremely hungry companion to perhaps pay a visit elsewhere after her feat of determination and internal ingenuity. As for clean tables, I really don’t think I’m being fussy when I expect the table that I sit at to be clean enough to eat off. I try not to look underneath, but I know there’ll be something that looks like it is possibly from the day before, and I do get irritated when the server wipes the debris onto the surrounding floor with their hand. It is of course better when they use a cloth to scoop it away, (hopefully into the cloth not into my lap which I’ve had before and I’m always suspicious it’s being done on purpose). In the rather sedate café of a genteel fabric and haberdashery department store, which I frequent when in need of a calm oasis, I experience the distinct novelty of a thorough yet slightly sinister service. I have observed with fascination the methodical wiping and drying of surfaces by the staff of a certain age with steely unsmiling eyes and matronly tight-lipped precision. I feel a bit sorry for the uncomfortable looking teenage boy behind the counter wearing a massive badge disparagingly marked ‘Trainee’. I just hope he doesn’t end up in some giant, burning wicker teapot one of these days.
“Marion is welcoming to all probably because she can’t see who anyone is anymore”
Plates with chips on them are very, very bad. Well we all know that of course, but I’m talking about chips on the edges of the plates – often connected to long cracks and likely to be found under a fried egg. It’s a fact that bacteria can take root within the very dish itself and be impervious to washing up liquids. In the dramatic warning words of a New York Times food hygiene report of 1908 “Whenever a restaurateur offers you a chipped mug and a cracked seamy plate on which food is served, flee it as you would the pestilence”. I know this was being reported a hundred years ago, but it’s still relevant today. Just recently I was with a hot chick for breakfast (honestly she was real) and our plates were only being held together by the germs. Of course we didn’t notice that until we had gobbled a litre of re-used cooking oil with a sprinkling of breakfast items. By then it was rather too late to flee anywhere.
“Perhaps meandering around charity shops and stopping off somewhere for cake isn’t the best way to burn off my deep fried banquet but I like to think I’m helping the local economy” Toilets – now I’ve found that a toilet that doubles as a storage cupboard, staff cloakroom and stockroom is often inevitable, almost always unacceptable, but hopefully vaguely useable. However the lack of toilet roll, soap or hand towels, or indeed lack of having been cleaned within the last month, seems to be the norm. Not somewhere to visit after a ‘Gutbuster’ breakfast (which I have watched being consumed with some astonishment). Lots of long black hairs stuck to walls and floor is a no-go situation too, which is why I encouraged my
My softest spot is for Marion (in her late 70s) and the café which she presides over. Marion is welcoming to all - probably because she can’t see who anyone is anymore. But once you are in her line of sight there is delight in her recognition and always high praises and affection for we ‘the girls’ and the ‘gay people’ in general. The coffee is out of a jar and the tea from a pot on top of the urn. I’m always touched to bend down and receive a firm hug from such a tiny frame and a big, soft, wet kiss from her coral pink lips, often embellished with a speck of sausage or bacon, which I inevitably end up wearing on mine - not hugely welcome, as I’m a vegetarian. But I wear it as a badge of honour – just for a moment. So for all the cafés that are open, closed down, or about to start up, I hope my tireless research has been of use. Remember don't go calling grilled tomatoes ‘sunblush’; hand soap is only great if there's a working tap; recycle the oil in a bus not for the next day; and please don’t worry - I don’t kiss everyone.
56 GSCENE has said: “Stephen’s story is identical to thousands of others who have suffered similarly or are currently suffering. Stephen’s story goes a long way to normalise being gay, suffering from mental illness or both! As someone who is gay and suffers mental health issues I am incredibly impressed with the way Stephen has used his story to show others that things can and do get better and there is a life beyond depression and other mental health issues.
MENTAL HEALTH ICONS If it’s a LGBT Mental Health Icon for our age it’s got to be Stephen... Stephen Fry deserves our admiration, respect and absolute hero worship for his work for mental health. He has talked very openly about his own experience of mental health on many occasions and very publicly. His honesty is unusual in a celebrity, mostly they seem to need to perpetuate an image of some sort, whereas Stephen really does keep it real. Talking for real about what you are going through is not easy; it’s not always easy to articulate, to speak up. I can only imagine how much harder that is with a camera pointed at you. And yet that’s exactly what Stephen managed to do in his 2006 documentaries The Secret Life Of The Manic Depressive. He detailed his own experience of bipolar disorder as well as speaking to many others who shared his diagnosis. He didn’t only talk theoretically or about his past experiences, he was clearly very depressed in at least one episode. "I want to speak out, to fight the public stigma and to give a clearer picture of a mental illness most people know little about."
This year he broadcast his excellent documentaries about worldwide homophobia, the experience of which had a detrimental effect on his own mental health. In an interview to the Press Association, he talked about the impact this had on him personally and how it all became too much as he encountered such entrenched, devastating homophobia. “And I asked myself if there was a connection between the despair that swept over me, whether it was triggered by or at least reinforced by the despair that swept over me at the sheer weight of official homophobia that I was experiencing at that particular point of filming.” The despair he experienced led to him making a suicide attempt, which again he has been very public about. More evidence, should we need it, of the effects that prejudice, discrimination and stigma have on our mental health. Stephen’s work against mental health stigma means a lot. As one of MindOut’s service users
TIME TO TALK Can Stephen’s courage and openness inspire us to talk more about mental health? MindOut is working with Time To Change, the national anti-stigma initiative run in partnership with Mind. Our aim is to give opportunities to talk to people who have experience of mental health issues, to learn about life behind the stereotypes, to question ideas about what mental health really is, to find out first-hand the courage, survival, resilience, ordinariness, extraordinariness and more that people who experience mental health issues combine. The next opportunity to find out more is the Time To Talk Day on Thursday, February 6 when MindOut are hosting a free tea and talking (with free cake if you get there quick!) session at the LoveFit Café on Queen’s Road from 2-6pm. Come and have tea and cake with us and chat to one of our volunteers with lived experience of mental health issues. There will also be an opportunity to try out our online support service. It’s first come, first served until the tea runs out, and the first few people get a free tea bag to take home and have a tea and talk with friends or family.
“Show business is a fickle industry. Being LGBT and/or suffering from mental illness still has terrible negative stigmas. Stephen had a lot to lose by promoting our cause and yet he saw the importance of this as his priority and as a result he won a BAFTA for The Secret Life Of A Manic Depressive, was voted the most intelligent man on television by Radio Times readers, won the BT Mind Champion Of The Year award in 2007 for his selfless promotion of bipolar disorder, and has in excess of one million followers on Twitter. “Not bad for a man that was labelled a ‘gay madman’ by many in 1995 and was laughed at by people who simply wrote him off without having the sense to listen to his story.”
Lest we forget, another of my mental health icons is the brilliant lesbian playwright, Sarah Kane. She died in February 1999, leaving a body of work of five plays and one short film. Her play 4.48 Psychosis is the most explicitly based on her experience of mental health issues. Tragically she committed suicide.
MINDOUT RUNNERS If you would like to support MindOut’s ongoing work to support LGBT clients and tackle mental health stigma, please consider sponsoring our team of 33 who are running the Brighton Marathon on Sunday, April 6. You can donate online here: www.b14.everydayhero.com/uk/mindout
MINDOUT SERVICES If you would like to talk to an out LGBT mental health worker about any mental health issues please do contact MindOut by phone: 01273 234839, or email info@mindout.org.uk See our website www.mindout.org.uk for our out of hours online support service. MindOut’s services are free, independent, nonjudgemental and confidential.
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SAM THE TRANS MAN I’M NOT MAD!
LAURENCE MICHAEL DILLON
THE HEART OF THE MATTER BY DR SAMUEL JAMES HALL February is LGBT History Month, which is fitting considering the theme for this month’s Gscene is Icons. I have chosen Laurence Michael Dillon (born Laura Maud Dillon), a man after my own heart, who was a British physician and the first transman to undergo phalloplasty. A doctor and a transman, like me, he spent much of his life fighting to be recognised for the man he was. Increasingly we are paying attention to the need to record our histories for posterity’s sake, and because the lives, loves, pain, and emancipation of the LGBT community is an ongoing story that will be lost if we don’t. Thankfully we have considerable resources here in Brighton & Hove, with the imminent publication of the Queer in Brighton anthology, and the Heritage Lottery-funded Brighton Trans*formed project. Both are recording the personal stories of LGBT folk, which will be archived in written and audio form. The latter project hopes to spawn a website, to continue to collect data as well as providing an archived resource for researchers.
“Most people have only to listen to our stories to hear that underneath we’re just ordinary human beings who love, live, laugh and cry just like they do” We need to do this work because the world is changing so fast. This has always been true, but somehow the pace seems to have increased in the last quarter century - perhaps with the increase in communication technology and the easier access to information via the internet, as well as connectivity. We are constantly in touch with humanity at the touch of a button. Things that might have taken months or years to permeate society and effect change in the past, might now take just days or weeks. In the blink of an eye a practice can change and everyone knows about it and follows suit. Only yesterday we were all signing up for Facebook, but now it seems passé. Twitter is the thing - take note! Advances in medicine are a great example. When I trained in the 1980s, the only way to learn about new advances was to read the monthly journals, and after some years (maybe 10 or 15) new methodology or practice would make its way into the textbooks. Then it was considered standard and accepted practice. Now the driving force is evidence-based medicine, with large scale clinical trials being the gold standard for change. Market forces are mainly pharmaceutical and financial, and change can happen very quickly with the right backing, publicity, marketing strategy, and demand. Patients know what’s available to them and are often well-informed, thanks to wikipedia and his friends. It’s common to encounter people who know exactly what they want or need from their healthcare provider, and to expect to get it. I’m all for empowered patients. For the last two years I’ve been more of a patient than a doctor and I think it’s absolutely right that we should take responsibility for our own health and healthcare. I’m not at all sure that the NHS has done our populace any good at all. When we’re
diseased and it becomes someone elses problem or duty to cure us, we’re disempowered, and put our doctors on pedestals they don’t belong on, then get cross and blame them when they mess up and fall off. Not fair. As a transgender person negotiating the complex pathway for treatment of my gender dysphoria via the NHS (I could have done it privately but that felt wrong), I’ve experienced the highs and lows of primary, secondary and tertiary care. As a doctor I’m concerned about the level of ignorance and misunderstanding amongst my medical colleagues about trans* people and their needs, and, like my chosen icon, find myself in the unenviable position of having a foot in both camps. Over the past couple of years I’ve suffered at the hands of the medical fraternity, both as a patient and as a colleague. Sadly, most doctors in this country today come from a fairly narrow tranche of society, although this is changing. We’re largely drawn from white, middle-class, privileged families, often privately educated. The world-view of many of my colleagues is narrow by default and not design. It’s a heteronormative one, which increasing numbers are breaking out from, but which is a step or two behind society at large. Homophobia is rife in medicine and in the NHS, and transphobia is on another plane altogether. My GP was less than kind to me when I first ‘came out’, and some of my colleagues in the hospital where I work have been downright cruel. Most is unintentional however and it’s my mission to win hearts and minds through education rather than aggressive counteraction. Most people have only to really listen to our stories to hear that underneath it all we’re just ordinary human beings who love, live, laugh, and cry just like they do. There is something notably different about a trans* person, and often we look different, challenging norms with our size/clothes/ presentation, but we’re not as mad as the medical model would have you believe (gender dysphoria is still regarded as a psychiatric disorder). The more we tell our stories, the more the world will understand that this is just another variant of ‘normal’ - whatever that is! Find out more about Laurence Michael Dillon here: http://library.transgenderzone.com/?page_id=635
Based in central Brighton, the Clare Project weekly drop-in is a safe and confidential space to explore issues around gender identity. Facilitated peer support is an important element, as well as providing access to low-cost psychotherapy and speech therapy. CLARE PROJECT meets every
TUES from 2.30–5.30pm at DORSET GARDENS METHODIST CHURCH Dorset Gardens (off St James St) Brighton BN2 1RL Except 1st Tues when there’s an optional meal out preceded by the drop-in from 5–7.30pm
COFFEE MORNING SAT 22 FEB from 11am–1pm Welcoming all trans & questioning people to this event which will run every 4th Saturday of each month
More details: www.clareproject.org.uk or find on us facebook under Clare Project. Email clareprojectinfo@gmail.com
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SERVICES
Report all homophobic and transphobic incidents to: • The Sussex Police 101 (for emergencies 999) email: LGBT@sussex.pnn.police.uk tweet: @policeLGBT • LGBT Officer PC Rich Bridger on 101 ext 550727 • LGBT caseworker Rory Smith on 101 ext 550727 or 07775 546548 • Facebook Brighton LGBT Police
) VICTIM SUPPORT
) BRIGHTON & HOVE LGBT SAFETY FORUM
Sussex HIV & AIDS info service, available by phone Tel: 01403 210202 or email confidential@avert.org
• Fastest (HIV Testing): walk-in, (no appointment) rapid HIV testing service for men who have sex with men. Pre & post test discussion with clinical staff. Results in an hour. 10 men max tested per session. Mon: 6–8pm. (Full sexual health screen available) • Sauna Fastest at The Brighton Sauna (HIV Testing): walk-in, (no appointment) rapid HIV testing service for men who have sex with men. Pre & post test discussion with clinical staff. Results in 30 minutes. Wed: 6–8pm. (STI Testing available) • Face2Face: confidential info & advice on sexual health & HIV for men who have sex with men. Face-2-face or phone. Up to 3 one hour appointments. • Specialist Training: wide range of courses for groups/ individuals. Specific courses to suit needs. • Counselling: from qualified counsellors for up to 12 sessions for people living with/affected by HIV • Informed Passions: Expert Volunteers project to identify & support sexual health needs of local men who have sex with men and carry out field research in B&H on issues affecting men’s sexual health. Extensive training provided. • Lounge (Group for Gay Men Living with HIV): fortnightly peer support group for gay men. • What Next? Thurs eve, 6 week peer support group work programme for newly diagnosed HIV+ gay men. • HIV Support Services: info, support & practical advice for people living with/affected by HIV. • Volunteer Support Services: 1-2-1 community support for people living with or affected by HIV. • HIV Welfare Rights Advice: Find out about benefits or benefit changes. Advice line: Mon–Thur 1:30-2:30pm. 1-2-1 appts for advice & workshops on key benefits.
) BRIGHTON & HOVE CAB HIV PROJECT
) TERRENCE HIGGINS EASTBOURNE
DIRECTORY LGBT SERVICES
) LUNCH POSITIVE Lunch club for people with HIV to meet, make friends, find peer support in safe environment. Every Fri, noon–2.30pm, Community Room, Dorset Gdns Methodist Church, Dorset Gardens, Brighton. Lunch £1.50. Tel: 07846 464384 or www.lunchpositive.org
) MINDOUT
LGBT disabled people’s forum. Safe, welcoming, support, activities, awareness. Tel: 07981 170071 or access4all@fsmail.net
Independent, impartial info, guidance for LGBT people with mental health problems. 24 hr confidential answerphone: Tel: o1273 234839 or info@mindout.org.uk www.mindout.org.uk
) ANYTHING BUT…
) PEER ACTION
Youth social support group for LGB or unsure under 26, every other Wed. Tel: 01424 724150 or 01424 447033
Regular low cost yoga, therapies, swimming, meditation & social groups for people with HIV. peeractionemail@gmail.com or www.peeraction.co.uk
) ACCESS 4 ALL
) ALLSORTS YOUTH PROJECT Drop in for LGBT or unsure young people under 26, Tues 5.30-8.30pm. Tel: 01273 721211 or info@allsortsyouth.org.uk, www.allsortsyouth.org.uk
) BRIGHTON & HOVE POLICE
Independent LGBT forum working with the Community to address and improve safety issues throughout Brighton & Hove. info@lgbt-safety-forum-brighton.com www.lgbt-safety-forum-brighton.com
) BRIGHTON & HOVE LGBT SWITCHBOARD Phone Helpline, Hate Crime reporting, Counselling service, Proud2connect (relationship counselling in partnership with Brighton Relate). www.switchboard.org.uk/brighton • Helpline from 5pm daily: Tel: 01273 204050 • Services info 01273 234009 • email brighton.manager@switchboard.org.uk • or brighton.admin@switchboard.org.uk
) BRIGHTON WOMEN’S CENTRE Info, counselling, drop-in space, support groups. Tel: 01273 698036 or www.womenscentre.org.uk
) FTM BRIGHTON Social/support group for all female-to-male trans people. Every 3rd Sat of the month, 6-8pm, THT Office, 61 Ship St, Brighton, BN1 1AE. For info visit: www.ftmbrighton.org.uk or contact info@ftmbrighton.org.uk
) GEMS (GAY ELDERLY MEN’S SOCIETY) Social group for mature gay men, meet 7–9pm every last Fri of month at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church Hall Tel: 01273 385000 or info@gems-bh.org.uk www.gems-bh.org.uk
) LESBIAN LINK BRIGHTON Local social group offers friendship, social events, meets 1st Thurs at The Regency Tavern 7.30pm Tel: 07594 578035 (eve) www.lesbianlinkbrighton.co.uk
) LESBIAN & GAY AA 12 step self-help programme for alcohol addictions. Sun 7.30pm, Chapel Royal, North St, Btn (side entrance). Tel: 01273 203343 (general AA line)
) LGBT NA GROUP Brighton based LGBT (welcomes others) Narcotics Anonymous group every Tue 6.30–8pm, Millwood Centre, Nelson Row, Kingswood St. Tel: NA Helpline 604604
) LGBT MEDITATION GROUP Meditation & discussion, every 2nd & 4th Thur, 5.30–7pm, Anahata Clinic, 119 Edward St, Brighton. Tel: 07789 861367 or www.bodhitreebrighton.org.uk
) RAINBOW FAMILIES Support group for lesbian and/or gay parents Tel: 07951 082013 or info@rainbowfamilies.org.uk www.rainbowfamilies.org.uk Practical, emotional support for victims of crime. Tel: Brighton 01273 234009 or Hove 01273 439942
HIV PREVENTION TREATMENT & CARE SERVICES ) AVERT
Money, benefits, employment, housing, info, advocacy. Appointments: Tue-Thur 9am-4pm, Wed 9am-12.30pm Brighton & Hove Citizens Advice Bureau, 1 Tisbury Rd, Hove, Tel: 0845 1203710 or www.brightonhovecab.org.uk
) CLINIC M Free confidential testing & treatment for STIs including HIV. Hep A & B vaccinations. Out Patients Dept of Royal Sussex County Hospital, Eastern Rd, from 6-8m. Tel: 01273 664721 or www.brightonsexualhealth.com
) LAWSON UNIT Medical advice, treatment for HIV+, specialist clinics, diet & welfare advice, drug trials. Tel: 01273 664722
) SUBSTANCE MISUSE SERVICE CRI / Sussex Partnership Foundation Trust. Open access drop in, assessment, support, advice, info on drug & alcohol issues Tel 01273 607575. LGB&T worker provides confidential, non judgemental outreach service. Support for people over 18 wishing to address substance misuse Tel 07717 774 658
t SUSSEX BEACON
24 hour nursing & medical care, day care. Tel: 01273 694222 or www.sussexbeacon.org.uk
) TERRENCE HIGGINS TRUST SERVICES For more info about these FREE services go to the THT office, 61 Ship St, Btn, Mon–Fri, 9.30am–5.30pm Tel: 01273 764200 or info.brighton@tht.org.uk • Venue Outreach: info on HIV, sexual health, personal safety, safer drug/alcohol use, free condoms/lubricant for men who have sex with men. • The Bushes Outreach Service @ Dukes Mound: advice, support, info on HIV, sexual health, personal safety. Free condoms, lube, tea/coffee from Outreach van parked next to ‘The Patio’ at the Bushes. • Netreach (online Outreach in Brighton & Hove): info/advice on HIV/sexual health/local services. THT Brighton Outreach workers online @ Gaydar: Thur 7–10pm, Sat 6pm-12am, chatroom HEALTH INFO THT • Condom Male: discreet, confidential service posts free condoms/lube/sexual health info to men who have sex with men without access to commercial gay scene in East Sussex. • Positive Voices: volunteers who go to organisations to talk about personal experiences of living with HIV.
Dyke House, 110 South St, Eastbourne, BN21 4LZ, Tel: 01323 649927 or info.eastbourne@tht.org.uk • HIV Services support for HIV diagnosis, managing side effects, sex and relationships, understanding medication, talking to your doctor, finding healthier lifestyle. Assessment of support needs and signposting on to relevant services. Support in person, by phone or email. • Support for people at risk of HIV confidential info and advice on sexual health and HIV for men who have sex with men. Up to 3 one hour appointments depending on need. Sessions in person or on phone. • Web support & info on HIV, sexual health & local services via netreach and myhiv.org.uk • Positive Voices: volunteers who go to organisations to talk about personal experiences of living with HIV. • Positively Social Informal peer support groups for people living with HIV, monthly meets in Eastbourne & Hastings.
) WARREN BROWNE UNIT Free confidential tests & treatment for STIs inc HIV. Hep A & B vaccinations. Shoreham based. Tel: 01273 461453
NATIONAL HELPLINES ) BROKEN RAINBOW LGBT Domestic Violence Helpline, Mon 2-8pm, Wed 10-1pm, Thur 2-8pm Tel: 08452 604460
) LONDON LESBIAN & GAY SWITCHBOARD Tel: 02078 377324
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GSCENE 59
FEB 2014
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£15
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ADVERTISERS MAP OLD SHOR E
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40 JUSTIN LLOYD (Hove) 176 Church Rd, Hove, 315614
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) SHOPS 35 PROWLER 112 St James’ St, 683680 36 SUSSEX BEACON Charity Shop 130 St James’ St, 682992 37 SUSSEX BEACON Home Store 72-73 London Rd, 680264
1 A-BAR 11–12 Marine Parade, 688825 2 BAR REVENGE 7 Marine Parade, 606064 6 CAMELFORD ARMS 30-31Camelford St, 622386 7 CHARLES ST BAR 8-9 Marine Parade, 624091 11 LEGENDS BAR 31-34 Marine Parade, 624462 33 NEW STEINE BISTRO 12a New Steine, 681546 14 PARIS HOUSE 21 Western Rod, 724195
30 SMOKEYS 123-125 Kings Rd, 323888 19 THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS 59 North Rd, 608571
) COMMUNITY
44 BRIGHTON WOMEN’S CENTRE 72 High St, 698036 www.womenscentre.org.uk 45 LUNCH POSITIVE ) SAUNAS Dorset Gardens Methodist Church, 41 BRIGHTON SAUNA 07846 464384 75 Grand Parade, 689966 www.lunchpositive.org 42 TBS2 SAUNA 46 MINDOUT 84-86 Denmark Villas, Hove, 723733 Community Base, 113 Queens Rd 234839 www.mindout.org.uk ) LEGAL & FINANCE 46 SWITCHBOARD 43 ENGLEHARTS Community Base, 113 Queens Rd 49 Vallance Hall, Hove St, Hove, 204411 204050 (5–11pm)
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38 JUSTIN LLOYD (Kemptown) 118 St James’ St, 315612 39 JUSTIN LLOYD (City) 111 Western Rd, Hove, 315613
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) PUBS & BARS
1 AMSTERDAM 11–12 Marine Parade, 688825 25 AMBASSADOR HOTEL 22-23 New Steine, 676869 26 AVALON HOTEL 7 Upper Rock Gardens, 692344 27 CAVALAIRE HOTEL 34 Upper Rock Gardens, 696899 28 COURTLANDS HOTEL 19-27 The Drive, Hove, 731055 29 COWARDS HOTEL 12 Upper Rock Gardens, 692677
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) ESTATE AGENTS
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30 GRANVILLE HOTEL 124 Kings Rd, 326302 31 GULLIVERS HOTEL 12a New Steine, 695415 32 HUDSONS 22 Devonshire Place, 683642 11 LEGENDS HOTEL 31-34 Marine Parade, 624462 33 NEW STEINE HOTEL 10/11 New Steine, 681546 34 QUEENS HOTEL 1/3 Kings Rd, 321222
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11 BASEMENT CLUB (below Legends) 31-34 Marine Parade, 624462 8 ENVY (above Charles St Bar) 8-9 Marine Parade, 624091 21 FUNKY FISH @ New Madeira Hotel 19-23 Marine Parade, 01273 698331 22 DIGITAL 187-193 Kings Road Arches www.aeonevents.co.uk 23 REVENGE 32-34 Old Steine, 606064 24 WILD FRUIT @ SHOOSHH 214 Kings Road Arches www.aeonevents.co.uk
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1 A-BAR 11–12 Marine Parade, 688825 2 BAR REVENGE 7 Marine Parade, 606064 3 BEDFORD TAVERN 30 Western St, 739495 4 BULLDOG TAVERN 31 St James’ St, 696996 5 BRIGHTON TAVERN 99-100 Gloucester Rd, 680365 6 CAMELFORD ARMS 30-31Camelford St, 622386 7 CHARLES STREET BAR 8-9 Marine Parade, 624091 8 CHURCH STREET 112 Church St, 606864 9 DR BRIGHTON’S 16 Kings Rd, 208113 10 GROSVENOR 16 Western St, 770712 11 LEGENDS BAR 31-34 Marine Parade, 624462 12 MARINE TAVERN 13 Broad St, 681284 13 MARLBOROUGH 4 Princes St, 570028 14 PARIS HOUSE 21 Western Rod, 724195 15 POISON IVY 129 St James St 16 QUEENS ARMS 7 George St, 696873 17 REGENCY TAVERN 32-34 Russell Sq, 325652 18 SUBLINE 129 St James St, 624100 19 THREE JOLLY BUTCHERS 59 North Rd, 608571 20 ZONE 33 St James’ St, 682249
BRIGHTON STATION
SEVEN S EN N DIA ALS S
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Immaculate flat offering a contemporary living space with modern kitchen, spacious living room, two double bedrooms and separate shower room. Beautifully presented throughout, this property would make an ideal home for a professional couple or sharers looking for a picturesque seafront location. Available now. Furnished. 1
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Unrivalled service with the lettings experts.
£ 1,595 pcm
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Four of our favourite properties this week. Visit our website at justinlloyd.co.uk to view all our properties.
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Van Alen Mews, Brighton
Paston Place, Brighton
£ 925 pcm
Immaculate three bedroom mews house. Comprising: living/dining room leading to the west facing garden, as well as a separate kitchen, two bedrooms and a family bathroom, a private master suite with bedroom, dressing area and en-suite shower room. Driveway, as well as visitors' parking. Available now. Unfurnished.
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“Always professional and helpful and always dressed extremely smartly.”
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One bedroom flat set on the raised ground floor of a converted Victorian house in Kemp Town village. The living room features an original fireplace and cornicing. The bedroom is also a good size, with plenty of storage. The separate kitchen has plenty of light, and there is also a shower room. Available now. Unfurnished.
Landlord comment, December 2013.
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Grand Parade, Brighton
£ 1,350 pcm This fourth floor apartment is a perfect city centre pad for someone seeking a modern and comfortable home. Comprising: entrance hallway, living room/kitchen leading onto a curved balcony with views of The Royal Pavilion, two double bedrooms, one with en-suite bathroom, and a main bathroom. Available now. Unfurnished. 2
Highly Commended Real Estate Agency East Sussex
Call us now 01273 692424
Kemp Town 118 St James’s Street, Brighton BN2 1TH
The International Property Awards 2013-2013
Email info@justinlloyd.co.uk
City 111 Western Road, Hove BN3 1DD
Visit justinlloyd.co.uk
Hove 176 Church Road, Hove BN3 2DJ
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