Photos:
It’s A Whole New World
By Jameer Baptiste
They say you learn something new every day. And boy, do I have a fun and exciting lesson for you today. Caribbean Carnival is a world you probably never imagined made up of bright colors, shimmering gems and stones, and sex appeal galore.
It all starts with a band. But not the band that you're use to. Remember, this is a whole new world we're talking about here. So, we're going to let BFE Miami be our guide. BFE Miami is one of the premier Caribbean Carnival Bands here
in Florida leading the charge in Caribbean Carnival costumes and fanfare. But we're still at the beginning, what is a band as it relates to Caribbean Carnival?
Unlike traditional bands as we know them to be in America, a Caribbean Carnival Band is a group formed of people that create and provide costumes for the purpose of wearing while dancing in a Caribbean Carnival Parade. The term Band is short for Mas Band which is also an abbreviated term that is the original phrase of a Band, Masquerade Band. And there
we have it, yet other new word to add to the lesson.
Masquerader is a term used in the Caribbean to describe an individual that dresses in the over-the-top bright feathered and gemmed costume, who join a carnival group (a band) so they can participate with others in a Caribbean Carnival Parade. Bands could be a group of friends or a family that started the carnival group like that of BFE Miami. The premier carnival group is a family band kin to our very own cover model for this year's HOTspots Magazine PrideFête issue.
Our PrideFête Barbadian Cover Model Rashad Barrow's family created the Band BFE Miami, and their costumes are hot, hot, hot! From the perfectly placed gems throughout the costumes to the elaborate backpacks. Word Check! As we already know by now, words have different meanings from what were used to when it comes to Caribbean Carnival. And backpack is one of those words.
For Caribbean Carnival, a backpack is the name of the feather
arrangement that adorns the back of the costume. It's not directly attached to the costume itself but rather a separate piece that is secured over the shoulders with lightweight metal rods as the base of the backpack and string to help it stay tight on the back. A secure backpack is essential with all the gyrating and wining going on while wearing the elaborate bright-colored feather arrangement.
No, not “whining.” But “wining,” a sensual dance move rotating your hips from side to side in a circular motion while crouched down slightly at the knees. The enticing dance move is a staple in Caribbean culture, and no Caribbean Carnival is complete without a constant wine throughout the affair. But of course, that's the case because with continuous music blaring while herds of people are dressed seductively, you can't help but wine your waist to the captivating rhythm while dancing with someone that caught your eye, which brings us to PrideFête.
The PrideFête Festival taking place on Saturday, August 10, 2024, from 6pm to 11pm at Richardson Historical Park and Nature Preserve (1937 Wilton Dr, Wilton Manors, FL 33305) is an opportunity for the LGBTQ+ Caribbean community and their allies to come together and wine on each other with full freedom of selfexpression, love for one another, and love for the Caribbean culture. It's the only Caribbean festival in Florida where the LGBTQ+ community is totally safe to partake in the Caribbean culture without fear of intolerance or violence.
The safe-space festival will include Caribbean music, food, and culture with a group of masqueraders of our own, drummers, performers, and a fire dancer at nightfall!
Get your $7 presale ticket or $55 presale VIP ticket that includes indoor a/c, lite bites, and 5 comped drinks at www.PrideFete.lgbt.
Prices go up on the day of the event to $10 General Admission and $75 for VIP. The event is completely cashless so purchase in advance or make sure to bring your card at the door.
Learn more about BFE Miami and how you can be part of their Miami Carnival Band by visiting their website at www.bfemas.com.
PrideFête Festival • Saturday, August 10th, 6-11pm Richardson Park • 1937 Wilton Drive Wilton Manors, FL 33305
Tickets at www.PrideFete.lgbt
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By Chris Azzopardi
At 70, Cyndi Lauper's special place in pop music history can be seen everywhere you look. Look around at abortion rights rallies and you'll see “Girls Just Want to Have Fun(damental) Rights” signs held high. Look up at a gay Pride float and there she'll be with her lesbian sister, Ellen. And look at a recent NPR Tiny Desk concert featuring 26year-old rising pop artist Chappell Roan, with cigarettes tucked into her towering red wig and lipstick smeared all over her teeth, and tell me you don't see the “she's so
unusual” vibes that made Lauper famous, theatrical mannerisms and all.
Of course, her timeless songs, which she'll bring on her upcoming Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour, made her a household name too. It says a lot about an artist who recorded songs decades ago that have either taken on new life or speak to our lives currently, which Lauper's do. Co-written by Lauper, “Sally's Pigeons,” from her 1993 album “Hat Full of Stars,” didn't shy away from putting a
face on the issue of abortion rights, as it tells the story of two childhood friends — “little girls in ponytails,” Lauper sings, wistfully — and one who dies from a back-alley abortion. That song resurfaced in 2022 after the Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, prompting Lauper to record an updated version.
These days, I can't help but think of today's LGBTQ+ youth who, facing the hostility of queerphobic rhetoric and harmful legislation, need what is perhaps Lauper's most heartening and universally loved anthem, “True Colors,” as much as I did
when I came out 25 years ago. When Lauper whispers, “If this world makes you crazy and you've taken all you can bear, you call me up because you know I'll be there,” her voice sounds like a warm hug from a dear friend who hurts for a whole community of people who are still disenfranchised.
It sounds that way because Lauper has been one of the dearest friends anyone could ask for — a true LGBTQ+ community ally. “Let the Canary Sing,” a new documentary that goes behind the scenes of Lauper's enduring career, looks at her
by Ruven
photo
Afanador
rising stardom in the '80s and reflects on some of her most seminal songs, including how “True Colors” was inspired by her close friend Gregory, who died of AIDS-related illness. About that whispered message: “I wanted to speak to a human being in the most tender spot,” she says in the film. “Let the Canary Sing,” which fittingly premiered during Pride Month on June 4 on Paramount+, illustrates Lauper's close bond with the LGBTQ+ community — just look at that footage of her testifying on Capitol Hill before a Senate subcommittee about youth homelessness in 2015. “I want to implore you not to pray to God to change your kid. I'm a mom. Pray to God to change your heart so you can love and help your kid,” she said at the time. In 2008, she co-founded True Colors United, a nonprofit addressing that very problem in the United States. As an artist and through her advocacy, Lauper has always been passionate about helping young queer people. Just by extending her allyship into songs, she made me feel affirmed for being gay and helped the closeted, quietly suffering teenager I was grow into the very openly queer journalist
adult I became — the adult who could now tell her the part she played in helping me get here. So it's true: Cyndi Lauper's place in pop music history, off the charts, where she has perhaps made her most profound impact, can be seen everywhere you look.
I'm laughing because at the beginning of the documentary you say that you're late for everything, and you're a few minutes late.
[Laughs.] No, we're very late. This guy that I just did this interview with, the poor bastard, took him for a walk in Central Park, and then he was like, Cyn, we've been sitting here talking for a long time, but we didn't even get up to 1983 yet. I talked him into the ground. Poor thing.
I watched the documentary. I cried like a baby. Your musical history is so embedded in my identity as a queer person, and so I just really felt that come through in the film.
Well, [director Alison Ellwood] has a lot of heart, and when I was first approached I felt like, ah, why do I need a documentary? But we were all sitting there watching documentaries. It was like, it was ridiculous. It was the pandemic, right? You remember.
And I kept saying, look, I'm not dead. There's no reason.
And then they said, "Yeah, but you're alive, so you can make sure it's true."
And so then I saw this docuseries called “Laurel Canyon.” It was so beautifully done, and also a wonderful story. And it was obvious that this person that did that documentary was a filmmaker. And I looked her up and I said, “Well, if I'm going to do a documentary, I'd like to do it with this filmmaker because she's a wonderful filmmaker.” I thought, she really knows how to tell a story. I was excited to work with her. It's great to have it on the record, in your own words. It's also very special to have your sister Ellen be a part of this. After seeing the film, I feel like she's a big part of your story.
“I was taught blood's thicker than water. You stand together. You can wear down hate. Hate is not a good thing.”
When I went to Washington to sing “True Colors” for President Biden [in 2022] — and actually, I sat next to Senator Tammy Baldwin, who wrote the Respect for Marriage Act — the first thing I started to see was everything we all worked so hard for rolled back to prehist oric times. Some people were very happy, not most. When I went, I met this Republican senator that voted for the bill, Senator Portman (R-Ohio), who has an LGBTQ+ kid. I looked at him and I said, "It's different when it's in your family, isn't it?" And he said, "Yes." I said, "You're doing right because you really see the truth of it, not the crazy people who are fear-mongers, hatemongers, God is a white man who hates everyone-mongers."
It's a scary thing when you think about it. For me, as a little kid, it was a scary thing, but that's why I guess I was asked to leave two Catholic grade schools, because when they told me my mother was going to hell, I said, "She's not going to hell. You don't even know
her. She's not going to hell. She works hard, loves her kids, and really tries hard to take care of them. She's not going to hell."
How big of a role did the LGBTQ+ people in your life — Ellen, but also your gay friends Carl and Gregory — play in shaping you as an LGBTQ+ activist?
Oh no, it wasn't that. Are you kidding? What really made me say, “OK, that's it, we got to do something,” is when I was pregnant with my son, and the shape of a beached whale, so you can't do much.
And it was the beginning of the internet, which I thought was very “Star Trek,” like Captain Kirk, because now, you could type something and somewhere far away, someone else would read what you typed instantaneously. This was “Star Trek” to me because it was so new.
And I just kept reading these letters for the first time about people, because I
never had time to read anything. I was always working, working, working, working. And when I read the letters, people were talking about feeling horrible and wanting to commit suicide because they were disenfranchised from everything — from their family, their friends, their school, their job, whatever. And then they heard “True Colors.” And I called Ellen and I read them to her and I said, "Ellen, we've got to do something. When the time is right, you and me have got to do something." And then we started. Started with PFLAG. Poor Ellen, because I styled her, to o. She don't like being styled. What did she hate most about how you styled her?
The mousse that gave her a pointy head. I thought it was good. She kind of liked it, but I pinned the shirt in the back a little bit. I thought it was too big, and she wasn't keen on that.
But she's great. Always an inspiration. She is 18 months older than me, and my mother used to dress us alike and people would go, "Are they twins?" And my mother would say, "Almost." And I used to go to my mother, "Ma, it's not almost, what do you mean almost? You either are or you're not. We're not.” But oh, I was up Ellen's butt, no matter what. Whatever she did, I did. Whatever she wore, I wanted to wear. Whatever she did, I wanted to do. She still talks to me, though, so that's good. Despite the mousse! So, you're somebody who has lived and fought through Stonewall, the AIDS epidemic and the fight for marriage equality, and you've been on the front lines during all of this as an ally. And we are obviously going through a very hostile period currently for queer people in this country. You know what I got to say to that? Vote. Research your voting. Don't just vote. Don't just think, "Oh, they don't have anything on the ballot." Bullshit. There's always shit on the ballot. There's laws, there's a little this, little amendment, little that, little this, and [it's] hidden. Vote411.com — that's what you got to print. Find out who's running in your district, who's voting in favor of you, who's voting against you, and vote for the person that's your advocate, not somebody trying to squash you.
The one thing I learned about the “True Colors” thing was that if you want
photo by Ruven Afanador
to have somebody listen to you, you got to listen to them, too. And if you share your personal stories, you might find that you have more in common than you think. You were involved in the 2008 election, encouraging people to vote for President Obama. Do you plan on getting involved with this year's election campaigning?
Yeah, I have to. Because what are we supposed to do? I am supporting Tammy Baldwin because I think she's brilliant. She always champions families. What do you think was going to happen with all the families that there are now? And there's all different kinds of families, and you know what? Family is family. And when it's in your family, right in your face every day, what do I always say? Button up your shirt, your heart's falling out of your chest. If these people got no heart, they got cold. Cold as can be. But when it's your kid, are you going to vote against your kid, or are you going to help your kid? You're going to vote against your sister, your brother, your cousin? No. I'm not. I'm not going to do that. Guess why? Because I was taught blood's thicker than water. You stand together. You can wear down hate. Hate is
not a good thing.
There's an old clip in the film of you talking about how you didn't want to be an icon; you just always wanted to be an artist. It's undeniable that you have become an icon in the eyes of many, though. In fact, I can't recall a time when you haven't been referred to as an icon of some sort — a style icon, a gay icon, and now you've been named a Lifetime Ally Icon by
WeHo Pride. What are your feelings on being an “icon” now, at this point in your career? I don't know, sweetie. I don't know what that is. All I know is I've always strived to contribute to the world to make it better. Make it better for the kids, make it better for the Earth if we can. Although we're so stuck in plastic, I don't know what's going to happen. But you want to stand together. The one thing I learned about the “True Colors” thing was that if you want to have somebody listen to you, you got to listen to them, too. And if you share your personal stories, you might find that you have more in common than you think. Sometimes there's people that go, "Oh, you are a liberal." "Oh, you are a Republican." But the truth is, we are Americans. That's what we are. And these party things, I don't know. I just know I'm an American, and I believe deep in my heart that Americans, deep in their heart, are fairminded people. And I think that what the Republican Party used to be was Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. I don't know what's happened to the party. I'm telling you that even though you may be dismayed, don't be hijacked. Don't let zealous religious people force their religion down your throat. Throughout your career, you have really cultivated this sense of individuality as an artist despite some industry folks trying to hold you back, and then I think of artists like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift… Hey, Taylor Swift. That girl, she's pretty cool. So is Beyoncé. She's doing all this different stuff. What's wrong with that?
In the documentary, you talk about how it was so segregated for an artist in the '80s, and that you felt you could only stay in one lane musically. And look at what has happened: Beyoncé just released a country album — to some controversy, but she still did it.
There's always controversy, and maybe it will help people like The War and Treaty. What has led to your upcoming tour being your last?
Well, hon', you know, right now I'm strong, and I can do an arena tour. And I haven't done it in years, like a real bonafide arena — “go see Cyndi, it's not 50 minutes, it's a fucking hour and a half,” and you actually can hear a lot of music. Right now, I'm strong and I can do it. But in five years, I don't know what the heck. Sure, I'll
by
probably sing. I'll probably do something because I love singing, but I don't know that I would have the physical strength to do an arena tour. The people that can, God bless them. I certainly am not a piano player. I couldn't sit and play piano. I'm still playing my vocal lessons on it.
How about a new album of all original music?
Here's the thing: “Working Girl: The Musical” and “Kinky Boots” took a long time, and I didn't want to bastardize what I was doing to take my hat off and become Cyndi, when my hat has to be on for “Working Girl.” I'm trying to get the “Working Girl” thing out — go out of town in '25 and on Broadway in '26. That would be a dream come true. And then a new studio album? Well, yeah. Then I could relax for a second and write for me. Figure out how I feel. I haven't for a long time. And I realized that when I was a kid, I used to write poems all the time. I just wrote poems and drew pictures. And now, I don't do that, so I feel like maybe I got to just draw pictures and write poems again, just for me. If anything, I would want to do a back porch
record. Kind of simple. Go somewhere, maybe not Tennessee, because that's getting a little too hard-headed for me. Some place where you could sit on a porch and just everybody sit around like I used to when I lived in Vermont. After school, at night, I'd run across the cow patches, try and avoid the mud pies, with my guitar. And sometimes somebody else would play your guitar, and you play glasses. You just bang on the glasses and sing harmony, and sing old songs that sound like Grandma sang them on the porch. I've always wanted to do that, with a fiddle. I don't know if that's what I'm going to do. Maybe I do dance music. I loved doing “Bring Ya to The Brink.”
Chris Azzopardi is the Editorial Director of Pride Source Media Group and Q Syndicate, the national LGBTQ+ wire service. He has interviewed a multitude of superstars, including Cher, Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, GQ and Billboard. Reach him via Twitter @chrisazzopardi.
photo
Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
Monster Jam Returns to Amerant Arena, August 10-11
Monster Jam is the most unexpected, unscripted and unforgettable motorsports experience for fans returns to Sunrise for an adrenaline-charged weekend at Amerant Bank Arena on August 10-11. At Monster Jam, world champion athletes and their 12,000-pound monster trucks tear up the dirt in wide-open competitions of speed and skill.
The fun begins at the Monster Jam Pit Party held in Sunrise on Saturday and Sunday. Fans can see the massive trucks up close, meet their favorite drivers and crews, get autographs, and take pictures. This funfilled experience is the only place that allows people to get up close access to the Monster Jam teams and get an insider's look at how these trucks are built to stand up to the competition.
Sunrise fans will be on the edge of their seats as the world's best drivers show off massive stunts, big air, backflips, crazy skills and all-out racing in fierce head-to-head battles for the Event Championship. Engineered to perfection, the 12,000-
pound Monster Jam trucks push all limits in Freestyle, Skills and Racing competitions.
Fans are encouraged to get to their seats early to experience Monster Jam Trackside approximately one hour before the event start time. Featured festivities include competition previews, driver interviews, giveaways, opening ceremonies and power rush truck introductions.
Monster Jam drivers are trained, worldclass male and female athletes who have mastered not only the physical strength and mental stamina needed to compete, but the vital dexterity to control 12,000-pound machines capable of doing backflips, vertical two-wheel skills and racing at speeds up to 70 miles-per-hour to produce jaw-dropping, live motorspor ts action seen around the world. Monster Jam. As Big As It Gets. Saturday, August 10 – 1pm and 7 pm (Pit
By Family Features
Party open from 10:30am -12pm for 1pm event ticket & Pit Pass required for entry) Sunday, August 11 - 1pm – (Pit Party open from 10:30am -12pm for 1pm event ticket & Pit Pass required for entry) Tickets are affordably priced for the whole family! Tickets and Pit Passes will be available for purchase online at SeatGeek.com or in-person at the venue box office. For specific Sunrise local event info, please visit monsterjam.com/enus/events/sunrise-fl/aug-10-2024-aug-11-2024
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
By Romeo San Vicente
MICHELLE YEOH AND HUNTER SCHAFER
JOIN 'BLADE RUNNER 2099'
You knew it wasn't going to end with “Blade Runner 2049” and your gut instinct was correct. Ridley Scott has more to say and in “Blade Runner 2099,” a new limited series for Prime created by Silka Luisa (“Shining Girls”), the stories of replicants and their souls will move forward into the future. It's a sequel,
of course, to “2049,” but no significant plot details are public, yet the cast roster already has a legend in Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh and a rising star in trans actress Hunter Schafer (“Kinds of Kindness,” “Euphoria”). One detail we know: Yeoh
will play a replicant near the end of her life. And that's it. Intrigued as to whether the series will answer the question of androids dreaming of electric sheep (bookish types: IYKYK)? Tune in… well, sometime before 2099 when it finally comes together and streams itself into your life.
“Oh. What. Fun.” With Devery Jacobs. For the Holidays. Since her breakout appearances in “Reservation Dogs” and “Rutherford Falls,” queer Mohawk actress Devery Jacobs has been popping up everywhere, from the LGBTQ+ cheerleading drama “Backspot” to Disney+'s Marvel show “Echo.” Now she's part of “Oh. What. Fun.,” an ensemble Christmas comedy from director Michael Showalter (“The Idea of You”). Michelle
Pfeiffer stars as a woman who gets, essentially, Home Alone–d by her adult children when she's left behind from a holiday excursion she organized. They then scramble to find her since she's the person who makes everyone's holidays magical. Jacobs costars in the film alongside a bevy of faves, including Chloë Grace Moretz, Eva Longoria, Felicity Jones, Jason Schwartzman, Havana Rose Liu (“Bottoms”), Denis Leary, Joan Chen, Danielle Brooks and Dominic Sessa (who you know from his debut in “The Holdovers”). It drops later this year on Prime Video, so you've got time to plan an LED-lightcovered sweater viewing ensemble.
Jonathan Bennett and Luke MacFarlane keep on Hallmarking
In these trying times, it's always nice to have a source of 24/7 coziness, and Hallmark Channel is stepping in to fill that void with Hallmark+, a new streaming service launching in September. This new
platform will feature not just your favorite fakesnow Christmas movies but also original content, including two new reality shows featuring the network's most popular gay leading men.
Jonathan Bennett hosts “Finding Mr. Christmas,” a competition show in which ten hunky actors compete to become the next Hallmark Christmas leading man; he'll be aided by the very funny Melissa Peterman as they put these would-be Hallstars through their paces. Meanwhile, “Bros” star Luke Macfarlane — an accomplished woodworker in his off hours — will help people renovate their homes on “Home Is Where the Heart Is,” and in each episode, he'll handcraft a signature piece for the family he's helping. Comfort viewing ahead; boozy hot cocoa sold separately.
Was Abraham Lincoln a “Lover of Men”?
The Abraham Lincoln documentary “Lover of
Men” is coming soon to ask the question, “Was Abraham Lincoln queer?” Now, some historians are sure he wasn't, in spite of the historical closet keeping queer public figures under deep cover until the latter part of the 20th century. In fact, until not very long ago, it was considered bad taste to even ask the question. But in the past few decades a new wave of historical thought has prompted everyone to look a little more deeply at the private life of one of America's most historically significant presidents. Based on a wide variety of source material, including never before seen photos and letters, and including experts like historian Hugh Ryan (“When Brooklyn Was Queer”), this film from Shaun Peterson will delve into the details as they're known today, and why Lincoln's sexuality might be relevant to history. It hits theaters in September, so take yourself back to school.
Romeo San Vicente recommends “A People's History of The United States”
Ad deadline is Monday, September 25
The Miss Florida F.I.at Large, Mr. Florida M.E. and Miss Florida F.I. Supreme will take place on Sunday, October 6 and the Miss Florida F.I. Pageant will take place on Monday, October 7. Both pageants will take place at the Venue Fort Lauderdale. All Attendees, contestants, and helpers on both days will get a complimentary copy of the guide.
Aruba Beach Café
Neverland Coffee Bar
17830 W. Dixie Hwy. • N. Miami Beach, FL 33160
786.916.3560 • neverlandcoffeebar.com
Mon – Fri 8am – 9pm • Sat – Sun 8am – 10pm
This is a lovely place I recently found. Whether you want a peaceful place to work, a friendly spot to connect, or a place to enjoy fantastic food, Neverland is a World of Fantasy that offers an experience that will make you feel like you are in a dream. It is the perfect place to let your imagination run wild and enjoy an unforgettable time. Neverland is a cozy hideaway, with a menu that offers a delicious variety from breakfast to dinner. Choose from tacos, pizzas, breakfast, salads, poke bowls and more.
Sun, Surf and Sand Restaurant
505 N Ft. Lauderdale Beach Blvd. • Ft. Lauderdale 954-523-7873 • s3restaurant.com Sun 10am - 10pm • Mon – Tues 11:30am-10pm • Wed - Thurs 11:30am-11pm • Fri 11:30am-12 • Sat 10am-12am
With an upscale, casual-chic vibe in a trendy, laid-back atmosphere, you'll be hard pressed to not enjoy a relaxing meal while sitting at their indoor and outdoor dining sections. Featuring a menu focused on coastal cuisine and a unique shareable concept, diners have a scenic view of the water from practically every seat in the restaurant. They also have a one-of-a-kind sushi bar.
1 Commercial Blvd. • Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, FL 33308
954.776.0001 • arubabeachcafe.com • Mon – Tue 11am – 1am Wed – Sat 11am – 2am • Sun 10am – 1am
I go to Aruba on a regular basis, I love the food, friendly staff and a great location. Oceanfront next to a pier in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Aruba offers inside and outdoor seating, live entertainment and a great happy hour Mon-Fri 4-7pm. My favorite dishes: coconut shrimp, sea scallops wrapped in bacon, calamary, lobster tail and their Aruba teriyaki burger. There is plenty of parking around or you can choose to valet at a convenient rate.
Renato's
87 Via Mizner • Palm Beach, FL 33480 • 561.655.9752 renatospalmbeach.com • Lunch: Mon - Sat 11:30am – 3pm
Dinner: Nightly 6 – 10pm
Something I love as much as great food, is great decoration and atmosphere to dine at. With more than three decades serving Palm Beach, Renato's is a great location for great high-end dining accented by soft lighting and elegant décor. Their menu, as you may expect, is fantastic. They do have a room to host special events. Visit them online to see menu and prices. Enjoy it!
Dine Out Lauderdale Returns
Aug. 1st to Sept. 30th
Prepare to indulge your tastebuds with the return of Visit Lauderdale's “Dine Out Lauderdale” restaurant months. This gastronomic extravaganza invites food enthusiasts to savor the best of Greater Fort Lauderdale's vibrant dining scene with specially crafted menus at unbeatable prices. From August 1 to September 30, over 140 restaurants throughout the destination will feature menus at $35, $45, $55 or a luxe option for $75 to please every palate.
Visitors and tourists alike can explore trendy rooftop bars, hidden gems, and international delicacies from Greek and Italian to Lebanese and Mexican dishes. Whether you're craving fresh seafood, indulgent steaks, or innovative plant-based cuisines, Dine Out Lauderdale offers something to tantalize every taste bud.
With more participating restaurants than ever before, foodies can choose
from old favorites such as Louie Bossi's Ristorante, Jaxson's Ice Cream and Parlor Restaurant, and Aruba Beach Cafe or explore some new options such as MAASS, Even Keel Fish & Oyster and Rock & Brews. Also new this year are creative classes and experiences, like the Fort Lauderdale Craft Food Tours, the “food as medicine” dinner at Evelyn's Restaurant inside the Four Seasons, and a hands-on dumpling-making class at Temple Street Eatery.
And don't forget about Greater Fort Lauderdale's participating bustling food halls – Sistrunk Marketplace, Block40, and Baoshi – allowing attendees to savor many flavors under one roof.
“Dine Out Lauderdale is a fantastic opportunity to explore and enjoy the rich flavors that make our destination a food lover's paradise,” said Stacy Ritter, president
and CEO of Visit Lauderdale. “There's a thriving culinary community in Greater Fort Lauderdale and we're looking forward to welcoming food enthusiasts from across the world this summer.”
Dine Out Lauderdale also offers an opportunity to explore Greater Fort Lauderdale's charming neighborhoods. This year's restaurant partners are creating unique dishes in vibrant communities like Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Dania Beach, Lighthouse Point, Coconut Creek, Wilton Manors, Plantation, Weston, Oakland Park, Coral Springs, Davie and beyond.
Use the hashtag #DineOutLauderdale to share your culinary adventures. For Dine Out Lauderdale details or to see a complete list of participating restaurants, go to: visitlauderdale.com/dineout
Mind Over Matter
By Leo Harley
The idea of exercising and living a healthy lifestyle is wonderful but with our busy lives and schedules, it might seem unattainable to some. So, before we can commit to any goal and get into the nitty gritty, we need to set our minds to believe that it can be done.
Everything starts with belief, anything you accept as a possibility, it is so! However, anything that you perceive as impossible limits your infinite potential. Each cell in our bodies has memories that
are programmed to respond to anything our minds tell them to. Even if it isn't part of our actual reality, our cells don't know the difference, but will vibrate in the same frequency as if it was, until it eventually manifests in our lives. We have that power inside, it all starts within, but just like the body, if we don't use it, we lose it.
You have got to take one step at the time, and deciding that YOU CAN, is the very first step towards success. So, before you lift a dumbbell you must believe, you are smarter
than that dumbbell. Don't let it intimidate you, it is nothing but a tool made to help you achieve your goals - Before you buy a gym membership, you got to see it as a playground instead of a chore. Don't let it scare you, it is there to serve you. Go, exercise, have fun, and in time you will learn to enjoy being there. But if you don't, that's ok, no excuses, there are so many alternatives for fitness that can suit you and your lifestyle.
You can start with something you enjoy doing, such as hiking, swimming, dancing, yoga, martial arts, pickle ball… basically anything that gets you moving, will activate your energy and increase your fitness levels. The important thing is
to breakthrough the adaptation process and turn it into habit. Get to a point where your body craves exercise, no more daily reminders, just an internal alarm that screams “I NEED TO MOVE.” When the rest day becomes the hardest day… you've made it
It's not always going to be easy though, every day we are presented with options that will either lead us to our goals or distract us from it, but when we are committed to ourselves, we become more inclined to make empowering decisions that align with our highest good, so even in the face of adversity nothing can take our focus away.
It's got to be tough so we can toughen up, moving past the comfort zone is always an uncomfortable process but it's the only way to upgrade, get hardcore and become a BAD ASS. By allowing these challenges to motivate you, instead of intimidating you it will help you embrace the experience and love every minute of it, that's what makes all the difference. Do it for YOU, do it with love and it will love u back. The energy you invest in time returns back to you 10 fold.
So, what are you waiting for, start today! Today is your opportunity to make the choice, to create the change you envision. Your body is the canvas, but your mind is the artist and through each choice, each stroke of your brush you will paint who you want to become and the life you choose to live. You are the masterpiece.
Hotties HOTSPOTS
R a s h a d
B a r r o w
What city you live in? I live in Lauderhill Are you Single or married? Single
What is the perfect guy for you? I like a guy that has a great personality, is driven, and has goals for themselves. I am not shallow about physical appearance. What's your perfect date? I am a minimalist so I would be happy with a picnic with a charcuterboard, music and the beach.
Photos by Dennis Dean Interview by Scott Holland
How Hello Mr. Revolutionized Queer Storytelling
With his new anthology, 'A Great Gay Book,’ Ryan Fitzgibbon reflects on LGBTQ+ writers who shaped our world — and his own
By Chris Azzopardi
By Melissa Lukenbaugh
Before the current media landscape offered more explicit depictions of queer life outside of physical spaces like LGBTQ+ bars, you had Borders and you had zines, DIY publications offering non-conventional formats and more indie spirit than traditional magazines. Inside, pages of people like you were interspersed among artfully designed spreads, sometimes on luxurious-feeling stock. Zines often provided a unique sense of community and belonging not easily found in everyday life, especially to marginalized communities. Through words, photos and illustrations, zines shared counter-cultural ideas and
Photos
thoughts, while also centering stories that affirmed our existence. Published from 1988 to 1991, Homocore was geared toward the punk youth of the gay underground in America. Later in the '90s, Gutterfag reached a similar queer audience.
Many years later, the part of me that was still coming to terms with my sexuality couldn't believe I was seeing Hello Mr. just below copies of GQ and Men's Health on the magazine racks at Barnes & Noble in the Michigan suburbs, especially with this descriptor right on the cover: “about men who date men.” It was my first copy, but, after 10 issues published between 2013 and 2018 and nearly 65,000 Hello Mr. magazines that traveled around the world, it was almost founder and editor-in-chief Ryan Fitzgibbon's last. At the time, I didn't know then that Fitzgibbon was also connected to Michigan — and in ways that, it turns out, were very specific to his role at the magazine and also, now, his new book, “A Great Gay Book: Stories of Growth, Belonging & Other Queer Possibilities.”
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock
Seeing this gorgeous anthology now, which Fitzgibbon describes in his “Hello Again” prologue as a “mirror to conceive new possibilities,” holds an added layer of significance when considering Fitzgibbon grew up in the desert of queer life in
“Censorship and legislation are threatening our livelihood and the livelihood of the most vulnerable Black, Brown and trans folks in our community...”
Midland. His first job was as a paperboy for the Midland Daily News. While attending H.H. Dow High School, his art teacher nurtured his interests in communication and graphic design and encouraged him to join the school newspaper. “I entered in that way — as a page designer — for the Dow High Update and that opened my eyes to the world of journalism and visual storytelling.”
Hooked on graphic design, Fitzgibbon enrolled at Grand Valley State University, earning his degree in fine arts. During his senior year, while coming out to a few select close people in his life in 2008, he also dedicated himself to a project that was personal to him: designing a book on the state of marriage equality. He says it was his “very dramatic coming out to my class and peers: 'Look what I can do, but also here's who I am.'”
It was a brave step for someone who remembers the feeling of browsing the magazine rack's LGBTQ+ section, shelved underneath the “Men's Interest” section, at the Barnes & Noble in the Midland Mall. "[The magazines] were censored and shielded from visibility, and I just remember being so terrified of that section, and obviously there were warning labels all over it,” he recalls
Years later, when Fitzgibbon published his first issue of Hello Mr. in 2013, the evolution of queer visibility was apparent right there on those shelves. And now, through his own publication, Fitzgibbon was able to experience the shift firsthand. “Flash forward to Hello Mr. being distributed and available in Barnes & Nobles, a full-circle moment to have that on shelves, and 'LGBT Interests' had moved up the ranks and we were sitting very proudly next to the magazines that I mentioned.”
Emails and DMs poured in from queer readers like me excited to grab a copy of Hello Mr., none of which he took for granted. But a particularly special moment arrived when Fitzgibbon's parents walked into that Barnes & Noble in Midland and sent a photo to him of them at the store grabbing their very own issue. For Fitzgibbon, it was all “pretty surreal.”
beautiful publications coming out every year, but [I was at the] beginning of that wave of change of guards in the big publishing media companies and realizing, 'Oh, we need to change how we're doing things and maybe stop putting straight people on our covers promoting abdominals and expensive resort vacations.' I intentionally tried to subvert that with just matte paper, for example. A tactile, more journal aesthetic that sits on a coffee table but that isn't disposable and doesn't only have this kind of glossy, glitzy West Coast and East Coast focus.”
You might say his subversion of queer norms feels rooted in something a little more Midwestern — after all, Michigan is
When Hello Mr. launched, many of the authors featured in the book hadn't even been published yet. Poet Ocean Voung, for instance, was still years away from releasing his 2022 book “On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.” “It was really a place for a lot of queer creatives to kind of sharpen their teeth and get some of their early work published,” Fitzgibbon says. “Yes, print was dying, but there was still this resurgence of indie magazines happening in 2012 to 2015 and beyond. I think there's still niche
definitely less glossy, more matte.
Perhaps H. H. Dow and Grand Valley had more to do with Hello Mr. than anyone ever thought, though Fitzgibbon himself has considered how “living in different places, but also knowing what it feels like to not have community growing up nearby” shaped the stories that ended up shaping our community. In 2020, he returned to the one that he was initially a part of, that couldn't give him quite what he needed as a queer person. During the
beginning of the pandemic, when he moved back to Michigan to live with his parents, who are now just outside of Midland, he had already began moving on from Hello Mr. to, as he writes in the book, “focus on my own growth,”
“I was proud of the role Hello Mr. played, and trusted that the impact of the 10 issues published would continue to be felt,” he adds, estimating that he had published about 600 pieces of content. (During our conversation, I tell him that I've held onto my one issue of Hello Mr., proudly among some of my favorite works in my office, whereas I've long retired all of my past issues of GQ.)
After living in places like San Francisco (his first place in South of Market was near where Up Your Alley, a leather and kink fest, is held), Chicago (his first Pride), Singapore (a “real accelerator” for him in witnessing a global community of queerness) and New York (where he struggled to keep Hello Mr. going), being back in Michigan for a little over a year, far from any leather or kink, felt “more disconnected and rural.” It hit him how away from home in many ways he truly felt. “Having that physical community in spaces,” he says, “was lacking.”
“There are a lot of reasons why Hello Mr. was made the way that it was and was in print, so it could be tangible, so it could be visible so that we could have intimate reading experiences,” he says.
“A Great Gay Book” represents a lot of change and growth beyond Fitzgibbon's own. When it comes to the artists who initially contributed to Hello Mr. years ago, “there were people who had gotten divorced and we'd published them as a married couple. Unfortunately, a couple of people are now deceased. Personal growth. Career changes. [I was] honoring and trying to be really respectful of where people are at now and wanting to celebrate the legacy and move it into a conversation that can still inspire in the future.”
These aren't the only changes that Fitzgibbon, who has spent the last four years living in Tulsa, faced — there is, of course, our often-frightening dilemma of being LGBTQ+ in 2024. “Censorship and
legislation are threatening our livelihood and the livelihood of the most vulnerable Black, Brown and trans folks in our community,” he says. “Things that have this much volume and presence and have the distribution power of a publisher — it really was truly such a gift to be able to take a lot of a decade of my life and these stories that are all part of that journey of creating a queer magazine and packaging it in such a way that's kind of hard to deny. I mean, it has such a weight to it that it really leaves no questions.”
Chris Azzopardi is the Editorial Director of Pride Source Media Group and Q Syndicate, the national LGBTQ+ wire service. He has interviewed a multitude of superstars, including Cher, Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, GQ and Billboard. Reach him via Twitter @chrisazzopardi.
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HOT PUZZLE
Joel Kim Booster
1 Collette of “The Hours” 5 Coin for Kahlo 9 The way we word
"___ no idea!"
15 Where a trolley goes "Clang, clang, clang"
Frasier's brother 17 Actress Foch 18 Lesbos, for one 19 Western director Sergio 20 Start of a necessity of beginning standup comedy, per Joel Kim Booster
23 Exams on sexual technique? 24 Blow away 25 Singer Cole
28 St. Helens and others 29 "What's the ___?" 30 Dickinson's howe'er 33 Ancient Greek seer 35 More of the necessity
37 Novelist Proust
38 Phallic monuments
39 More of the necessity
41 Andrew of “Melrose Place”
42 P-town summer hrs.
43 Eurasian range
46 Six in., e.g.
47 One-armed bandit's opening
50 Clean air gov't grp.
52 End of the necessity
58 Madonna has high ones
59 The Oscars, e.g.
61 Catch in a trap
62 Without a date
63 Cole Porter's "Well, Did You ___"
64 Civil wrongs
65 Tina Turner's "What's Love Got ___ with It"
66 Musical Horne
Like Elton John's dancer of song
2 John Goodman's “Normal, ___” 3 Half of Mork's good-bye 4 “My Own Private ___”
5 How enlisted personnel tryst? 6 Stands next to O'Keeffe 7 River deposits
8 It slicks Feniger's pan
9 Like gay marriage, in some countries
10 One with a holey bottom 11 Personal lubricant ingredient
12 Hollywood's Rowlands
13 Suffix for Siam, if you please
21 Band on a limb
22 Ethiopia's Selassie
25 One with wanderlust
26 Gaza Strippers, e.g.
27 Card of the future
29 Messing around the “Will & Grace” set 30 Campbell of “Martin” 31 Out-and-out nonsense 32 Day one 34 Hosp. area
35 Ill-humored
Liza, to Lorna 40 Message to an openly gay newsgroup? 44 "Get your rear in gear!" 45 Sweaty place 47 Hagar's dog
48 These are a few of my favorite things 49 Fed. book balancers 51 Melissa Ethridge's "Talking to My ___"
52 Cry after getting the shaft
53 Become frayed
Atop
55 Enjoy E. Lynn Harris
56 Big hole
57 Flamboyant style
58 St. Louis clock setting
60 You might say it when you get it
