Peach Pride Issue 2018

The Age of AQUARIA This is MY PRIDE Where’s the Party?

CONTENTS

OCTOBER 10, 2018

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EDITORIAL

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SALES

62 From the Editor Pride is here! It’s time to celebrate who we are and show our pride to the world. For me, I’ll be filling up on my sense of pride, solidarity, and inclusivity, which I feel I need now more than ever. In fact, I hope that the fuel this pride gives me will last well beyond all the parties and activities that Atlanta Pride has lined up for us this year – but I will indeed partake in the festivities.

Check out the extensive pride lineup on page 72-73.

Something that will most definitely stay with me way past Pride is our feature interview with the one and only, our gay ally unicorn and activist, Cher! The icon talks to Chris Azzopardi about Abba, emojis, human rights, love, and understanding. Read for yourself on page 22.

We also have an exclusive interview with RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10 winner Aquaria (p. 34), we talked to Tony Moran who spins at Heretic Friday night (p. 90), and we asked some Atlanta influencers about their pride plans and must-attend events (p.62).

And, of course, that’s not all, so feast your senses on this extended pride edition of Peach!

Chris Azzopardi Mike Bahr Caelan Conrad Scott King Jamie Kirk Branden Lee Mirza Muftic Andy Reynolds Gregg Shapiro

DISTRIBUTION Brian Harmon

NATIONAL AD REP Rivendell Media 908.232.202

Rikke Falck-Larsen Mikkel Hyldebrandt Editorial Director

peachatl.com

CONTRIBUTORS

EDITOR PHOTO

Happy Pride, peaches!

ONLINE

Andrea Dwyer andrea@peachatl.com

PRINT

At Distribution Points Across the City

COVER PHOTO Machado Cicala

SOCIAL

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The content of Peach ATL Media is for your general information and use only. It is subject to change without notice. The opinions expressed by any writer, advertiser, or other person appearing in the Peach ATL Media are not necessarily those of this publication, its management or staff. The information and materials appearing in the magazine are not guaranteed or warranted as to accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness, or suitability of the information and materials found or offered for a particular purpose. It shall be your responsibility to ensure that any products, services, or information available through Peach ATL Media meets your specific requirements. Peach ATL Media is not responsible for claims made by advertisers, content of information, changes, events, and schedules. The magazine contains information and material which is owned by or licensed to Peach ATL Media, including but not limited to articles, advertisements, design, layout, graphics, and logos. No part or portion of Peach ATL Media may be reproduced in any way without the prior written consent of the publisher.

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12 | 10.10.18

Official Atlanta Pride Kickoff at Georgia Aquarium As a long-standing tradition, the Georgia Aquarium opens its doors to officially kick off the Atlanta Pride weekend with an incredible party on more levels in the Aquarium Atrium and Oceans Ballroom. Tickets ($30) include beats by DJs Kevin Durard and Mark Gordon and access to the AT&T Dolphin Celebration show. A cash bar is available, and the Café Aquaria will be open – unless you have one of the coveted (and sold out) Lounge Admission tickets where you get light bites and premium open bar.

The What, When, and Where What: Official Atlanta Pride Kickoff When: Friday, October 12, 7-11:30 pm Where: Georgia Aquarium Tickets ($30 general admission only) at tickets.georgiaaquarium.org.

PAPA Heroes Pride Weekend Atlanta The world-famous PAPA PARTY comes to Atlanta for the first time ever.

Although not the official afterparty, the Papa Heroes Pride party is quickly shaping up to be the main event after the Aquarium party on Friday night. Incredible light and laser shows, special performances, sexy go-go boys, and non-stop, uplifting circuit house by international star DJ Oscar Velazquez all presented with a good dose of that famous PAPA energy.

A portion of the proceeds from the party benefits the LGBTQ Institute.

The What, When, and Where What: PAPA Heroes Party When: Friday, October 12, 10 pm – 4 am Where: White Hall at the Southern Exchange 200 Peachtree Street Northwest Atlanta, GA 30303

Tickets ($49 general admission) at papapartyatlanta.com 14 | 10.10.18

HAPPY ATLANTA \ For 48 years, Atlanta Pride has been the largest pride festival in the Southeast.

As the 60th Mayor of Atlanta it is my pleasure to wish our residents and visitors a happy Atlanta Pride!

MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS

Deep South PRIDE with OCTO OCTA The queer DJ collective invites you to a special Pride edition of their monthly dance party.

Five DJs on two levels will make this party a highlight of the year. Vicki Powell and JSport will do opening sets before headliner Octo Octa (100% Silk) will take the dancefloor on a new journey.

The upstairs Speakeasy will also be open and feature Scooter McCreight from Toronto and Atlanta’s own DJ NSA.

The What, When, and Where What: Deep South PRIDE with OCTO OCTA When: Saturday, October 13, 10 pm – 3 am Where: The Music Room, 327 Edgewood Ave, Atlanta, GA 30312 Presale tickets via universe.com

SUGAR: Pride Edition To make the Atlanta Pride weekend even sweeter, Beyond Productions is back with a special Pride edition of the sweet SUGAR Sunday tea dance.

As a SUGAR first, the party is bringing International DJ Jesus Paleyo to Atlanta all the way from Madrid, Spain. Expect incredible house and circuit beats along with an amazing sound system, and an incredible light and laser show.

Portions of all proceeds will be going directly to Jerusalem House, Inc., an organization that provides a continuum of housing and supportive services for homeless and low-income individuals, families, and children affected by HIV/AIDS

The What, When, and Where What: SUGAR: Pride Edition with DJ Jesus Pelayo When: Sunday, October 14, 3-8 pm (after the parade) Where: Loca Luna, 550 Amsterdam Avenue NE, Atlanta, GA 30306 Advance tickets (from $10) through Eventbrite.com.

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smokefreeatl.org • @smokefree_ATL peachATL.com | 19

NEW GAY IN TOWN: PrEParing for My Future

By Branden Lee Branden Lee is a writer and actor living in Atlanta. Follow Branden on Instagram and Twitter @Brandensss. Watch Branden on his YouTube channel SexxxPerTease.

I feel like I fell into a sexual depression once Slutty Summer ended. Black Gay Pride/Labor Day weekend was the big finale of Slutty Summer, and I definitely went out with a bang. I partook in an orgy, hooked up in a public place, then had my first date in months and hooked up with him too.

Then nothing. I didn’t hook up for three weeks following those encounters. Even though I did see my date again, we didn’t hook up on our 2nd date.

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It’s so unlike me to go so long without any sexual encounters. Three weeks feels like an eternity. Granted during those three weeks I was super busy working, making money, worrying about bills and finances, and I was exhausted. I usually don’t believe in being too exhausted to lose my sex drive, but I learned it’s possible.

Plus, after all my wild and crazy antics during pride, I knew I could no longer go without PrEP. I always freak out and feel paranoid about HIV/STIs after every sexual encounter. Sex gives me anxiety, which is why I never want to do anal.

I finally got on PrEP, so thankfully some of my anxiety can be relieved, though it doesn’t feel like it yet.

PrEP is supposed to be like 99% effective in preventing HIV, but that doesn’t suddenly change who I am as a person. A daily pill doesn’t suddenly end decades of stigma and fear. PrEP is supposed to make everyone suddenly free. We no longer have to worry about HIV. We can be poz-friendly. We can have

raw sex without worrying about the deadliest and worst of all the STIs. Obviously, PrEP doesn’t prevent any other STI, and you still have to worry about gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia, all the Hepatitises and what not.

But let’s be real: HIV is really the one people fear the most. Drug-resistant gonorrhea is out there wreaking havoc too. So, there’s always need to be cautious when having sex and think about the repercussions of unsafe sex.

him a lot. We went to dinner and a concert, and back to my place afterward. I’m more attracted to him each time I see him. Which is not usually how things go. Usually, I know instantly if I want a guy to be my future boyfriend or not, but this guy is different.

I’ve been on PrEP for two weeks now, but I’ve still not had anal. My friend did encourage me to return to the bathhouse, which I hadn’t been to since Pride. It was fun, and I hooked up with a few guys. I still don’t feel like my sex drive is fully back.

Plus all of the awkwardness I felt on our 2nd date about being an interracial couple wasn’t a factor on our most recent date.

Even online I feel so disinterested in most guys. Perhaps it’s just the natural boredom of living in the same place and seeing the same guys online daily. Perhaps I desperately want more than just hookups and meaningless sex.

I did see my date again. I do like

I found a guy I really like, whose company I enjoy, and we actually have things in common which is a rarity in Atlanta.

I originally thought PrEP would make me want to run wild and have a Slutty Fall. I got that out of my system so now I can be ready to embrace monogamy once more.

Possibly. It feels a bit of a waste to get on PrEP then get into a monogamous relationship, but then again, the rate that people are cheating and STIs are running rampant, best to be protected. Can’t trust anyone except yourself.

HAPPY PRIDE 2018 Tuesday-Thursday 5:30pm til 10:00pm Friday & Saturday 5:00pm til 10:30pm Sunday Brunch 11:00am til 4:00pm

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An Inspiring Conversation About PRIDE

By Mikkel Hyldebrandt Pride is not all parties and parades but also a time get together and discuss important issues in the LGBTQ community. On Sunday the Spectra Pride Panel & Celebration will take place, and Peach spoke to creator and moderator Rigel Cable about the panel which is about the future of the LGBTQ community.

Tell us about the Spectra Pride Panel & Celebration SPECTRA Pride Panel & Celebration is an exciting free and public event I’m putting on with Lexus at The Deep End on Sunday, October 14th. The event is also benefitting one of my favorite local nonprofits, Lost-N-Found Youth – their programs help Atlanta queer and trans homeless youth.

Pride represents inclusivity, community, and celebration, and this event will be an uplifting and inspiring conversation with local influencers that helps to bring deeper meaning to Pride.

What do you hope to achieve with the Spectra pride panel discussion?

To me, Pride is about so much more than the parties (which are also beyond fun!). Pride is a time to come together as a community. Pride is one of my favorite times of the year (right up there with Christmas!), and I wanted to find ways to make Pride even more meaningful and memorable. So, I reached out to Lexus, with whom I created an Atlanta Queer Art Showcase back in March, and they were totally on board to create a Pride activation.

Why did you choose to have the panel during Pride when so much else is going on?

I chose to have this panel during Pride because I am hoping that we can create dialogue and solidarity within our communities. With a fun atmosphere,

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some free drinks, and the slaying DJ JSPORT, I aim to combine the spirit of Pride with an evening of inspiration. Our topic will be “What’s next for the LGBTQ community?”, and we will talk about things that resonate with a lot of LGBTQ people.

Tell us about some of the panelists and why you chose them for the event?

We have the most amazing panelists! Lisa Cunningham, a TV producer, public speaker, and member of Mayor Keisha Bottoms’ LGBTQ Advisory Board will share her story. Peach‘s own Mikkel Hyldebrandt, Director of Editorial, will provide a perspective from Media. We are also fortunate to have music artist Victor Jackson, trans YouTuber Ivana Fischer, and Lost-N-Found Youth interim executive director Audrey Krumbach.

How do you participate in the event?

Get your free tickets from Eventbrite (search word Spectra). It’s my pleasure to host and moderate this event. I’ll be guiding the panelist conversation and kicking off the night. I can’t wait to see everyone there! Courtesy of Lexus, there will also be free drinks for people who interact with the photobooth. So don’t miss out!

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HENRY'S PHOTOS: Sher Pruitt

24 | 10.10.18

Love and Understanding A Conversation with Cher

By Chris Azzopardi

Cher is so low-key about being Cher that calling her is like calling your mom. “Hi,” she purrs with signature simplicity when I phone her presidential suite in late August. We are speaking matter-of-factly about gay things, political things, Twitter things (“I’m finished with the emojis that we have”). About going to Walgreens and trying to remember why she went to Walgreens. This seems so very … normal?

Certainly, Cher is the most multi of multi-hyphenates – fiery human rights activist, Auto-Tune pioneer, a unicorn, the Phoenix – but no, not at all normal.

Not from down here, where we’ve basked in the long-reigning diva’s treasure trove of film and music and bedazzled Bob Mackie costumes, and admired her ability to get down, do a five-minute plank (seriously), and somehow get back up again. That motion is the time-tested motion of Cher’s enduring six-decade career. It’s where grit meets guts meets glitter.

Our Oz, our Wonderland; a safe, shimmering space providing escapist refuge since the 1960s, a span which has seen Sonny (Bono, her late ex-husband) and Cher, anthemic rock and gay dance, inventions and reinventions – Cher’s mere existence brought us closer to those within our own community, and closer to ourselves.

She has three Golden Globes, a Best Actress Oscar (for Moonstruck), a Grammy (for “Believe”) and an Emmy (for Cher: The Farewell Tour), and in December, she’ll be the recipient of the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor for her indelible contributions to culture. But Cher’s superheroine, Hollywood-royalty sheen isn’t without genuine normal-person realness. Unlike “Believe,” there is nothing artificially manufactured about Cher’s no-nonsense, everywoman, Walgreens-shopper persona. Because even when her sequins glisten like a galaxy of stars on a lit Vegas stage, when she’s floating high above you in majestic-goddess fashion, and when she’s still wearing a variation of her “If I Could Turn Back Time” music video one-piece at her current age of 72, Cher does the least pop icon thing a pop icon can do: remind you she’s still living in your world.

Photo: Machado Cicala 26 | 10.10.18

In July, she did her gay-icon due diligence by helicoptering onto the set of Mamma Mia 2! Here We Go Again to play the role she’d been playing in front of the world, most discernibly to generations of baby-gays and grown-up gays: maternal pillar. When I met Cher in 2016 on Halloween at a fundraiser stop for Hillary Clinton in the suburbs of Michigan, I was struck by her Cher-ness, the glitzy legend momentarily eclipsed by her warm, inviting humanness.

Armed with a cannon of glittery ABBA bops, Cher has come to our rescue once again with an ode to the Swedish disco-pop supergroup titled – what else? – Dancing Queen, her 26th album and first since 2013’s Closer to the Truth. In December, The Cher Show, the musical about her life, which she is co-producing, officially opens on Broadway. And next year, because she just can’t help herself, she will embark on a tour appropriately titled Here We Go Again.

You’re hard on yourself when it comes to your music. Are you happy with Dancing Queen?

I think I did a good job. Now whether people are gonna like it…

Less studio drama than that time you stormed out on producer Mark Taylor after recording “Believe”?

Well... yes. Haha! But I have to tell you something: These songs are not easy. You’d think, “Oh, they’re pop-y and Björn (Ulvaeus) and Benny (Andersson) and the girls start to get into them,” and they’re not. No more Mr. Nice Guy! They’re rough songs. And they’re much more intricate than I thought, but I had a great time.

Some of them are easier, and some of them have some rough spots.

You could’ve easily found enough inspiration in the world’s current plight for another album like your 2000 indie album Not Commercial, which was dark.

The night we spoke, Cher was laid-back, reflective and full of hearty chuckles as she talked about that Walgreens detour, kissing Silkwood costar Meryl Streep, the wedding dress she’d wear to Trump’s impeachment party, the “breadcrumbs” of her legacy, Twitter, the devil, jumping out of a window – and not only her long-standing influence on the LGBTQ community, but our influence on her.

Cher, I have a story you probably haven’t thought about in some time: It’s 2016, you’re at a Walgreens in Flint, Michigan, on Halloween. You were there campaigning for Hillary and some Walgreens shopper told you they loved your Cher costume.

Yes! Oh my god! Wasn’t that, like, the weirdest experience at the Walgreens?!

You tell me. I wasn’t there!

Haha! I needed to go into the Walgreens for something.

Or: I had a moment to breathe ... I don’t know. I went into Walgreens and I was looking for something, and then the girls who were helping me realized it was me, and then there was a whole kind of hubbub thing and all these little trick-or-treaters came in as I was leaving.

So they were all outside and I piled them into the limousine and we were hanging out in there. I mean, I was supposed to be going to a whole bunch of fundraisers – I ended up making them, of course – and I was busy playing with the kids.

Are you frequently mistaken for a Cher impersonator Because, I mean, how often would the real Cher be at a Walgreens?

Right? And in Flint! Well, probably not often. Ha! But you know, the minute I start talking, they pretty much know it’s me.

But we don’t need that right now! We need ABBA right now! If anything, we need to not be brought down because everything is so terrible.

I was just talking to this one boy who came in and he was asking me what did I really think and I said, “Babe, I think the picture’s bleak. I think everyone’s gotta vote.”

Thankfully, Dancing Queen is a slice of gay heaven in hell.

Well, look, I wasn’t doing it for that, but I’m happy if it can make people happier than they were before they heard it.

When were you first aware that the LGBTQ community identified you as a gay icon?

I don’t think I was when I was with Sonny. I think it happened on The Sonny and Cher Show (which ran from 1976-1977), somehow. I don’t know – I don’t know how that happens. I mean, how does it happen? I have no idea! It’s just like, we made a pact and we’re a group and that’s it.

But you were seeing more of the LGBTQ community come out at some point? There was a switch?

Yeah, there was a change, there was definitely a change.

And I think it was when I was not with Sonny anymore, and then somehow it all started to click. But I always had gay friends. I actually almost got arrested at a party with my best friend at school. He was gay but he couldn’t let anybody know, and he wanted me to go with him to a party and the party got raided. And we jumped out the bathroom window! It was high. We had to go over the bathtub into the window and jump out.

And you got away?

Yep.

peachATL.com | 27

Photo: Machado Cicala Do you recall the moment that galvanized you to stand up as an ally for the LGBTQ community?

I really don’t know if there was a moment. I’m not sure there was a moment; I’m not sure what it was. I just feel that, probably, there was a moment where guys thought I was just one of you. It’s like, there’s a moment where you’re either part of the group and you’re absorbed into the group and people love you as part of the group, or they don’t even know you’re alive, you know? Gay men are very loyal.

Look, I have a friend (makeup artist) Kevyn Aucoin – he’s dead now – but he told me when he was young, he was growing up in some place in Louisiana and said how horrible it was to have to hide and be frightened, and he said he loved listening to Cher records. I think that’s a dead giveaway! Haha! If you want to hide being gay, do not buy Cher records!

And I had another friend who had a Cher poster on his wall. I don’t remember where he came from – some small town too – and his dad ripped it off the wall and he bought another one, put it inside his closet and said it was a way to really be who he was in spite of who his dad wanted him to be.

When in your life have you felt like the LGBTQ community was on your side when the rest of the world maybe was not?

Always. I remember when I was doing (the play) Come Back to the Five and Dime (in 1976) and we had standing room only before we got reviewed, and after we got reviewed nobody came except the community – the community, and little grey-haired old women who came to matinees. We managed to stay open until we could build back up the following. Also, the gay community, they just don’t leave you, they stay with you; that’s one thing that always keeps you going.

What does that loyalty mean to you?

There’s been sometimes where I was just, you know, heartbroken about things, but it always gives you hope

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when there are people who think that you’re cute and worthwhile and an artist. It’s a great thing to have in your back pocket.

Your mother once told you when you were a child: “You won’t be the prettiest, you won’t be the most talented, you won’t be the smartest, but you are special.” What kind of mark did that leave on you?

It just left some sort of indelible, interior tattoo. Because I have gone through so much shit in my life. I can’t tell you how many times people have written, “She’ll be gone by next year.” I remember I got really pissed off at somebody and I went, “I’ll be here and you’ll be gone.” I don’t think I believed it at the time, but I was just angry.

So what you’re saying is what I’ve longed to hear: You’re immortal.

Well, no, I’m not saying that. Ha! I’m just saying I can be really pissy.

At the Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again premiere in July, you and Meryl Streep kissed on the lips. Was that meant to be the Silkwood reunion the internet wanted it to be?

Haha! No! We were just thinking it was stupid! It was so dumb! Meryl came behind me and I didn’t know it, and then we turned to each other, she looked up at me and she said, “You weren’t this tall yesterday!” And we laughed. And we just kissed! I had on my 10-inch heels, and you can see how tall I am next to her and we just thought it was funny. I said, “Kiss me!” And we just kissed!

I have to tell you something: She is funny. She is wicked funny! And I don’t know that she gets to show that side all that often, but she’s wicked funny and she just will do anything for a lark. She’s got a really great serious side, but she’s got this really hysterical side too.

How do you hope your role as the mother of a trans son, Chaz Bono, has influenced other parents of LGBTQ kids?

This is what I think, and this is what I would hope:

I would hope that, look, I didn’t go through it that easily.

Both times.

When I found out Chaz was gay, I didn’t go through it that easily; when I found out Chaz was (transitioning) ... except we talked about it a lot, actually. But then Chaz didn’t mention it anymore, so I kind of forgot. And what I think is, there’s such a fear of losing the child you love, and what will replace that child.

across his mouth because I can’t say that. I have little fans, so I have to stop using that.

I think it’s about the fear, mostly. I felt, who will this new person be? Because I know who the person is now, but who will the new person be and how will it work and will I have lost somebody? And then I thought of something else: I thought, my god, if I woke up tomorrow and I was a man, I would be gouging my eyes out. And so I know that if that’s what you feel then that must be so painful that it doesn’t make any difference what anyone else feels or what anyone else thinks. Chaz is so happy now and we get along better than ever.

To symbolize?

You’re known to speak your mind. When’s the last time your mouth got you into trouble?

I think it was my fingers that got me into trouble last time. I had to delete a couple of things that I tweeted, which now what I do is: If I’m gonna just go off on a rant, I do it first, I look at it, I delete it, but I take a picture of it first and then I have it. Then I decide if I really wanna put it on my Twitter or if I really wanna tweet it – or if I got it out of my system. I said something that I thought was really funny but obviously the people on Trump’s side didn’t feel it was funny and I got so much shit that I didn’t expect.

There seems to be a fair amount of homophobes who you end up calling out.

Yeah. I mean, I don’t know what they are. There’s just so much phobia of everybody. You’ve gotta be the same color, you’ve gotta like the same things, you’ve gotta be the same religion. It’s like if you’re not one of them, you’re an enemy.

You’re known for your emojis – do you have a go-to?

Well, I have a few of them. I have cake when I’m really happy, I have a ghost when I’m really happy, and when I’m really, really happy I put them together. I wish I had something that was more than the guy who’s got the blue head that is screaming. I wish I had somebody with a scream and his head was coming off the top of his body.

I really wish there were better emojis. I’m finished with the emojis that we have.

You could send out the shit emoji and you know what, Cher, the gays would go wild.

Oh, I’ve done that before! I put a bull and that together for when I think, “Oh, this is such bullshit.”

What will you be wearing to Trump’s impeachment party?

Well, I think that we’re all a little bit too premature for that, because I don’t think that’s gonna happen. But in my dreams I will be wearing something – oh, I think I’ll wear a wedding dress! Haha! I think I’ll just wear a white wedding dress. And a veil.

Just purity and excitement and something new. A new phase!

And we’ll all go on a honeymoon after.

Yes, we’ll go on one big honeymoon forever afterwards. I don’t see that happening because I think that there too many really smart people, in the devilish kind of way. All those people who are advising him, they’re really smart.

But they’re really from the dark side. I don’t mean the actual devil in reality – not that I think that there is a devil in reality – but just a real dark side of gutting the entire government and gutting everything that was meant to preserve our safety and the water and the air and the land and schools and healthcare and all of it.

When it comes to our current pop landscape – Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, et cetera – who do you think does or doesn’t have the staying power that you’ve demonstrated throughout your entire career?

Gosh, I don’t know. It’s really hard to know until there’s more time under their belts, do you know what I mean?

There’s got to be a little bit more time under their belts to know that. I think they’ve all done a pretty good job so far, but I think you’ve gotta have ... like, I’m 54 years into this business, so I think we have to wait a minute.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how we interpret an artist’s legacy after Aretha passed, and every time an icon passes on. Do you think about yours and what you hope that will be?

You know, I don’t really think about it. The only provision I’ve made is: I want all my friends and family to go to Paris and have a big party. I’m gonna fly everybody to Paris and have a big party. But no, I don’t think about it too much because it’s like, thinking about it can’t do me any good. It is what it is, and to think about it, what will that get me? Kind of nothing. Also, what’s really great is there’s music left behind and there’s film left behind, you know? I’m gonna leave a trail. I’ll leave breadcrumbs.

Am I hearing right: You’re done with emojis?

Yeah, stick a fork in ’em! I just want there to be more. I like the emoji that’s the red-faced one with all the little signs over his mouth, which I always imagine is “fuck.”

That’s what I put instead of the letters because they just get so angry. But also, I use the guy with the zipper

As editor of Q Syndicate, the international LGBTQ wire service, Chris Azzopardi has interviewed a multitude of superstars, including Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé. Reach him via his website at www.chris-azzopardi.com and on Twitter (@chrisazzopardi).

peachATL.com | 29

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Standing together with the LGBTQ community. It’s a commitment we made 30 years ago.

Since then, we’ve contributed over $50 million and countless team member volunteer hours to organizations that are making a difference. We’re proud to stand together with the LGBTQ community now, and we promise to be there always.

Visit wellsfargo.com/standingtogether to watch our video series about inspiring organizations that are having a positive impact in the LGBTQ community, and learn how you can help.

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Sunday, October 14 | 10:30 A.M. - 2:00 P.M. Empire State South | 999 Peachtree St., N.W., Atlanta, GA Celebrate Atlanta Pride at the 17th Annual HRC Atlanta Pride Brunch, the official brunch of Atlanta Pride! Guests will be treated to two hours of complimentary cocktails and a delicious Southern brunch catered by Empire State South - while watching the Atlanta Pride Parade from the best location on the parade route!

Join us for fun, music, brunch, cocktails and more - as we celebrate our PRIDE! 100% of the proceeds benefit the Human Rights Campaign’s essential 2018 election work in Georgia and around the country.

10:30AM: Doors Open | Cash Bar Available 11:30AM - 1:30PM: Brunch Service

11:30AM - 1:30PM: Open Bar 2:00PM: Event Ends

Tickets: Each ticket includes brunch catered by Empire State South, bottomless cocktails and annual HRC membership or renewal.

General Admission: $100 - Includes brunch & bottomless brunch cocktails.

VIP Admission: $150 - Includes reserved seating, designated VIP servers and VIP gift bag.

Host Committee: $400 – Includes 2 VIP tickets, print, digital & social media recognition.

Tickets are transferable, but non-refundable. Please contact hrcprideatlanta@gmail.com with any questions. *The Atlanta Pride Parade will pass by the event beginning at approximately 12:30 p.m.

For sponsorship inquiries or other questions, please email hrcprideatlanta@gmail.com

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Thank you to the Atlanta Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce for the “2018 Corporate Ally of the Year Award.” At Georgia Power, we understand the importance of a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve—communities that are unique across not only race, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation, but also creativity, experience, upbringing and educational backgrounds.

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The Dawning of the Age of

AQUARIA

By Gregg Shapiro

Spunky and sassy and bursting with talent, Aquaria (born Giovanni Palandrani, based in Brooklyn), snatched the crown from the other queens to be named Season 10 winner on RuPaul’s Drag Race. The Emmy Award-winning competition grows in popularity with each season and that’s a good thing for young champ Aquaria as that means more people (approximately more than half a million) have gotten to see what she is capable of doing. Currently on the road with fellow Drag Racers for the ongoing Werq the World Tour, Aquaria was kind enough to answer a few questions.

38 | 10.10.18

Aquaria, I’d like to begin by asking you what are your preferred pronouns?

She, her, I guess.

How did you come up with Aquaria as your stage name?

I emerged from out of the sea [laughs]. Kidding. From my zodiac sign, Aquarius.

What was involved in arriving at your look as Aquaria?

I’m often seen as somewhere between Madonna and Lady Gaga, and maybe I am. When I think on it, I’ve loved fashion for as long as I can remember. I would probably count Thierry Mugler, Michele Lamy and, of course, Madonna, among my top influencers. You know who else I would count? Raja. Watching Raja on season three was really cool for me. I really loved the way she stomped down the runway in her own unique, high-fashion way.

One of your most distinctive traits is your sense of humor. Were you always funny or was this something that developed over time?

Thank you for saying that! I feel like everyone thinks I’m a real bitch, but I do think I’m funny. I said it on the show, and it’s very true that my humor comes from a very confused place in my brain.

How important do you think humor is in your work?

Isn’t humor a big part of everyone’s work? I mean, you gotta laugh when you think of all the shit going down in Washington and the rotten, clown-ass pig sitting in the oval office [laughs].

Agreed! Perhaps the best example of your sense of humor was your portrayal of Melania Trump on the Snatch Game competition on RuPaul’s Drag Race.

The truth is I’ve been doing Melania in my act even before she was first lady, and it was way better to laugh at her back when she was just a gold-digging bitch living in her tower. Shit’s gotten real these days, and I don’t see as much humor in having a complacent person standing beside a crazy man. People of the world are crying out for help and we have these two awful dirtbags heading the government. But my job is to put a happy spin on reality, so I guess I’ll be doing Melania for a while more.

In what ways would you say your background and training in dance and fashion worked in your favor on RuPaul’s Drag Race?

A large part of drag is about doing research, honoring fashion icons throughout history, and carrying on their legacy. I think what helped me to win was knowing

what’s come before me, whether that’s drag, fashion, politics – and just really reinterpreting it all. I may be 22, but I know things. People love to underestimate me, and I love to prove what I can do. My favorite challenge on the show was the Last Ball on Earth challenge because it was fun to surprise people with my full-on runway looks.

What did it mean to you to be crowned the champion of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10?

I still haven’t had a chance to soak in the fact that I won. I mean I know I did, but I have been booked with shows all over the world since the win, which is amazing and wonderful, but I haven’t had more than five minutes to myself yet.

You received early support in your drag career from Susanne Bartsch – have you seen the documentarySusanne Bartsch: On Top and, if so, what did you think of it?

I haven’t seen it yet, but I can’t wait.

Susanne Bartsch is a living breathing work of art. She is brilliant, a legend, and an inspiration.

Do you feel like your differences with Bebe Rexha and Travis Scott have been reconciled?

Please don’t get me started! I’m trying to focus on the positive these days. One thing I learned from what went down is the need for our LGBFAGT community to support queer artists. There are so many talented people who don’t have large budgets or lots of connections to make their visions happen. Even gay media is guilty of spotlighting mainstream artists when our focus should really be on raising up queer artists and giving them a platform for their voices to be heard.

Well said! What can you tell the readers about what you will be doing on the Werq the World tour?

I’m excited to spend time with Asia, Kameron, Eureka and the rest of the cast. They really are the most talented group of queens I’ve ever seen, and the show is sick, sick, sick.

What advice would you give to queens who are thinking about auditioning for upcoming seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race?

Don’t follow anyone’s footsteps. Make your own. Everyone knows how tight Sharon Needles and I are, and I’ll tell you, even though she’s been along with me for most of the ride, she has never told me how I should look or act. She’s shared suggestions on things, but more about life rather than how to put on an eyelash.

The point is, no two queens are alike, and what works for one will not necessarily work for another. Do your thing the best way you know how. peachATL.com | 39

Micah was born in Atlanta and raised in New York. He came back to Atlanta to study and now has a bachelors in Sociology from Georgia State University with concentrations on gender and sexuality studies. His day job is flight attendant for American Airlines, but he is also an activist and writer for human rights and equity for women, queer people, and racial minorities – his creative writing is published on Medium.com. He was previously a signed model at Click Models and has recently launched the “Allure Models� app which streamlines model management and castings. Follow his incredible Instagram @micah_marquez.

42 | 10.10.18

THE WORLD BELIEVES, NOW MORE THAN EVER, THAT EQUALITY ISN’T AN OPTION, IT’S A RIGHT. TANNER, MACY’S EMPLOYEE

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Gay in T-Land

By Andy Reynolds

All Images © Ron Amato 2018

Trump’s election not only spurred political action in the form of editorials, protests, and marches but also as an explosion of Resistance Art. One artist who expressed his dismay and frustration with the current administration, is New York City photographer and Fashion Institute of Technology professor of photography, Ron Amato.

His stunning 40 photographs “Gay In Trumpland” series depicts nude men enshrouded, separated and obscured—and in several images, hooded and noosed—by fabric. He describes the photo series as “a visual expression of our community getting pushed back, denied basic protections under the law and being expected to forego the basic human rights of loving and community building.”

46 | 10.10.18

Spurred by the election of President Trump, Amato recalls, “As a gay man, I became frightened that the civil rights gains the LGBTQ community had fought so hard for, might be in danger of being reversed. I felt helpless. I am first and foremost an artist. I took to the studio to express myself.”

“Using Mike Pence’s history of anti-LGBTQ actions as an indication,” he adds, “I came to the conclusion that Pence and his ilk didn’t just want to send us back into the closet, they wanted to eradicate homosexuality. I then set out to visually communicate this by not allowing the men in the photographs to connect. To thwart the fulfillment of their sexuality, if you will.”

“Gay In Trumpland,” certainly some of the most beautiful Resistant Art created, is at home spiritually amongst myriad works by a diverse group of artists, which includes painters Kenny Scharf, Judith Bernstein, and Danielle Siegelbaum, street artist Hanksy, graphic designer Matt Bonner (those Trump matryoshka doll balloons), and even actor Jim Carey.

View and purchase Gay In Trumpland photographs, read Ron Amato’s statement and interview about the series, as well as a list of actions taken by the administration which have negatively affected the LGBTQ community at www.ronamato.com.

All Images © Ron Amato 2018

peachATL.com | 47

All Images © Ron Amato 2018

48 | 10.10.18

All Images © Ron Amato 2018

peachATL.com | 49

All Images © Ron Amato 2018

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Stop It with the Jokes!

Really? No Way!

By Jamie Kirk

Sometimes we hear things or experience things, and literally, in the back of our minds we think “you’re kidding me right,” or “stop it with the jokes,” or even “are there cameras in here?”. But just looking at some of the life buckets below, I could not help but think, I was dreaming this when I wrote it.

Same-Sex Marriage Not so long ago two members of the same sex could not get legally married in Georgia. The same-sex couple could be partnered, dating, etc. forever, but did not have legal rights to get hitched. However, in 2015, because of Obergefell v. Hodges, all counties in Georgia began immediately (or were willing to) issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Crazy, right?

Same-Sex Home Ownership Maybe not in Georgia, but the story I am gonna share is from a buddy in Virginia. He and his then bf of like two whole months wanted to rent an apartment. Well, the Leasing Agent was not “authorized” to approve an application for two “mens” that were applying for only a ONE bedroom. No reason given, no explanation granted, kinda just a no. They were only trying to rent a dingy apartment. Insane, right?

Medicine and HIV Prevention Like a thousand years ago it seems, if you are over the age of 40, about 20 years ago, when your pager went off, or your landline rang, at an odd time of night; you could rest assured, someone you loved was in the ER with pneumonia. Funny enough, it was often the dead of summer, and you think “how did so and so get a cold - soooo random.” But then you quickly realized the person had contracted THE HIV. Obviously, the person was being careless, reckless, not a Christian, and certainly deserved some form of punishment for all their sins. Access to medicine was based on who you knew, who you were, where you worked or the type of insurance you had. The ability to get well was dismal and unexpected. Fast forward to 2018; there is something called PrEP (Truvada) that helps prevent getting the infection by taking a daily pill. A pill to help stop the spread of this deadly disease. A pill! No Way!

Culture/Day to Day Stuff RuPaul, who (in my best southern drawl) is a man in a

56 | 10.10.18

Jamie Kirk works for a software company and is a certified spinning instructor. He also enjoys yoga, swimming, bicycling and running. He aspires to start a blog about what we put in our bodies not only fuels our body but our mind and spirit as well. Follow Jamie on IG @tysonsdad

dress, just won an Emmy. There are shows on network tv that doesn’t cut to camera when two ladies kiss.

When the tv comedy SOAP had an alternative lifestyle character named Jodie Dallas in 1977, some brands refused to buy commercial time. To turn on the TV and see a commercial with an interracial same-sex couple with a kid, probably makes the average household in Edge Hill, Georgia, want to throw up. This is just TV. However, there is cool stuff happening all around us too. Look at that rainbow thingy square at 10th and Piedmont or the fact that Woofs is a gay sports bar or get this; Atlanta has a Supper Club with Female Impersonators. Groundbreaking, right?

The Coming Out Party Oh wait, there is no party. A few years ago, you had to schedule a press release, hire an agent, make sure your granny had already died, so the news wouldn’t kill her, let the office gossip know, get the sticker that said “I’m here, I’m queer - get used to it”, placed on your Volkswagen Jetta, and then you could officially be the gay you were born to be. There were many, many steps.

All because you wanted to avoid what people were already saying behind your back. Now, you can carry a purse to class at Morehouse (I’m told ), and when you’re on a date, you can both sit on the same side of the table and, it’s ok to say “my partner and I” instead of “me and my homeboy.” The ability to live freely and express your sexuality is something folks take more or less for granted now. Incredible, right?

There are so many more examples of how younger people can’t even comprehend or imagine being treated unfairly because of who they love. The cases are shocking to those who didn’t endure any of the scenarios above. But for those that did, while reading this you might have had a bit of resentment, a hint of anger, a small amount of rage, but overall, you likely gave a sigh of relief and smiled, if only for a minute.

Happy Pride!

ENTERTAINMENT COCA-COLA STAGE NISSAN PARTNERS OF PROGRESS STAGE HEINEKEN STAGE BEBE REXHA, MIKE POSNER, CECE PENISTON, MADISON BEER ADA VOX, DJ JOHN MICHAEL, LOGAN HENDERSON MICHEL JONS BAND, STARLIGHT CABARET, DJ TRACY YOUNG BRYCE VINE, SOCIAL HOUSE, AJ MITCHELL, RAHBI AFRICAN SPACE PROGRAM, BRODY RAY, HEATHER MAE LILY ROSE, CHELSEA SHAG, MICHELE MALONE SHOOTING STARS CABARET, QUEER YOUR GENDER DANCE PARTY SWEET TEA, OUT FRONT THEATRE, EXQUISITE GENDER ALISSAH BROOKS, J. TAYLOR, DANII ROUNDTREE, J LINE

FOR THE FULL TALENT LINEUP AND SCHEDULE, PLEASE VISIT ATLANTAPRIDE.ORG/ENTERTAINMENT

OCTOBER12-14,2018 atlantapride.org

THE RAINBOW TROUT BEER BUST AT JOE'S Photos: Sher Pruitt

60 | 10.10.18

Rise and Revel -

A Response to The Pulse Massacre

By Caelan Conrad/Intro by Mikkel Hyldebrandt

This piece first aired on the popular podcast, Yesterqueer, on the second anniversary of the Pulse massacre. Caelan Conrad, one of the two creators of the podcast, expressed their emotions about the tragedy while also explaining why and how the Yesterqueer podcast was born. In turn, it also explains why we celebrate Pride, and why our defiant display of love and pride is still a powerful statement.

Here is the unabridged text that was read in an emotional account by Caelan Conrad on June 12, 2017 during a ‘minisode’ podcast of Yesterqueer.

Yesterqueer is a podcast by Anthony and Caelan that picks subjects about gays and days gone by. It’s basically LGBTQ history but delivered with comedic and informative aspects – even if you’re not gay! Please subscribe to the Yesterqueer podcast that you will find in Apple Podcasts or Google Play.

Continued on pg.60 >>> 62 | 10.10.18

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Rise and Revel - A Response to The Pulse Massacre From the age I was able to understand the world around me, I’ve been afraid. I understood that because of who I was, there was always the potential for the violence in others to erupt, and to consume everything I am. Year by year I’ve had constant reminders that at any moment, someone could decide to erase me from the world, from my family, from my friends. From the men that I’ve been so terribly in love with that it feels like my heart is beating by their grace alone. But terrified and wary is no way to live minute by minute, hour by hour. So I push the fear back, push it down. “It’s 2016,” I tell myself, as if the year is meaningful, as if it’s a mantra I can recite to shield myself from the hate, from harm. I tell myself that people are different now, I convince myself that none of them would want to hurt or kill us anymore; Until they do.

When I heard what happened in Orlando, I was half-asleep, dazed and completely unprepared. I thought for a second that it was a lie. Or a mistake maybe, or a nightmare I hadn’t fully woken up from. But then my head caught up to my heart, and I knew it was true. I could feel the familiar words inside me, working through my veins, towards my heart, hollowing me out along the way. The words I think every time; It’s happened again.

We’ve been attacked. We’ve been targeted. We’ve been killed. We’ve been erased. I could feel the pain, the loss, the degradation coming in crippling waves for the dead, from the mourning. And it rippled, building as it spread. It cascaded across cities, states, countries. One thousand, two hundred and eighty one miles away, my heart skipped and sunk like a stone, and then it broke.

It’s happened again.

And memories hitch a ride with the pain as it bubbles up to the surface.

My head slammed into walls, windows, doors, or concrete. My body broken and used to channel another’s hate. My mind plagued by the constant and unrelenting fear for my life. My heart shamed and shattered for the love it felt. My voice silenced for the sake of keeping the comforts 64 | 10.10.18

of ignorance intact. My aspirations for my future never forming because I never really expected that I’d live past eighteen. I am heavy and hollow, helpless and hopeless. I crumble under the weight of this, feel the full force of the gravity of it. But through the memories of the pain, like a blade, cuts the one truth I’ve always known to be self-evident. That this feeling, the way I rise and revel in elation when my lips touch his, this is the most powerful thing in the world.

But I’ve betrayed that truth, betrayed myself and you. I grew complacent, got tired of fighting for us. I thought I’d done my work, done my part. I thought that someone else would pick up the torch, carry it farther than I could. I thought that a person couldn’t carry this forever without breaking until they were wholly broken. And now I stand here, one thousand, two hundred and eighty one miles away, in the wake of so many of us dead or injured, and I know I was wrong. I’ve become exactly what I was trying not to be. I am broken.

And I’m angry. And I’m ashamed.

And I am sorry. I am so sorry.

I’m sorry for how I failed us all, but especially how I let this new generation down. That I thought it was progress that when they hear the name Matthew Shepard, their faces don’t fall, that they don’t see in their mind what some of us can never unsee. A young gay man, beaten within in an inch of his life, left broken and bloody, tied to a fence to die alone and afraid. And his killers did this to torture him, but also to send a message to the rest of us. This is what happens when you’re a queer. When your love is so strong that you refuse to hide it, even if it might cost you your life.

I’ve tried to see his name fading from our minds as a good thing, as proof of progress. That you might not remember it, or that you might not ever have known his name; that was the tangible evidence that change was happening. You don’t need to know his name, because things like The Night of the Long Knives, like Stonewall, like The Bathhouse Raids, like Laramie or Little Pond, Blah Bar or West Greenwich, like Pulse; that they just don’t happen here anymore. And they don’t.

Until they do.

I’m sorry. Sorry for repressing the ache of desolation I felt for all of us that were killed for our love leading up to this. For forgetting David Kato, Michael Boothe, Alexandre Peixe dos Santos, Harvey Milk, Michael Doran, January Marie Lapuz, Charlie Self, Brian Williamson, Gisberta Salce Júnior, Tyler Clementi, Rebecca Wight and Claudia Brenner, Brandon Teena, Sakia Gunn. For not bringing attention to so many more that didn’t reach the media, whose murders went without outrage, without notice.

I’m sorry that as I watched the It Gets Better campaign as an adult with tears in my eyes, I pushed that ache back down, and walked away without contributing. I’m sorry for thinking that one more voice wouldn’t or couldn’t make a difference.

And I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I waited this long, that it took this much loss for me to realize we’ve been losing all along. But please, I don’t want your forgiveness. There is no absolution from a sin as deadly as complacency.

All I want is to do better, to do more, to do right. And in the wildest of my dreams, if any of this echoes something that’s stirring inside you, you’ll do the same.

We’re not done yet. We’re still so sorely needed. Every day more of us are born, born into a world that every day more of us are taken from. To move forward, to make this right, we need to see, without bias or colouring, what’s happening around us right now. But we also need to remember those that came before us, that were killed for being like us. Our history, the record of our subjugation does not define us, but it leads us, directs us to where we are needed. Yes, history repeats, it skips; advancing without warning and regressing in kind.

But after every terrible thing we’ve faced, we’ve always moved forward with purpose and grace. And it’s because we’ve always known we’d win.

Always known that love truly can negate hate, that an army of lovers cannot lose. Always known one thing to be self-evident.

That this feeling, the way I rise and revel in pride when my lips touch his, this is the most powerful thing in the world.

This is MY PRIDE

By Mikkel Hyldebrandt The Atlanta Pride lineup of parties and events is quite impressive this year. Peach asked some of our community pioneers and influencers about their pride picks, plans, and parties.

How will you celebrate PRIDE? Naturally, I will start the weekend at the Official Atlanta Pride Kickoff. I plan this event from beginning to end, and it brings me such joy bringing all of the LGBTQ community together. I usually have a full house of visitors for the weekend, so once I am finished with the Kickoff, we will be out and about to support all the official Atlanta Pride fundraising events at Heretic, Tabernacle and Opera.

I will close out the weekend walking in Parade to showcase the Georgia Aquarium who is a huge supporter of the LGBTQ community.

What is your advice for the best possible PRIDE?

John Walker – creator of the Official Atlanta Pride Kickoff at the Georgia Aquarium With 25 years as an event planner for hotels and event venues, John has only made the Aquarium party bigger, bolder, and better since he created it in 2009.

What does PRIDE mean to you?

Pride is very important to me. Once you come to terms to accept and celebrate yourself is the true meaning of Pride. Hold your head up high and be comfortable with who you are. Come out of the shadows and support others that might need a little guidance.

Get out and support the Official Atlanta Pride Events. Pride is an important and costly event, and the official events help support the festival financially. Pace yourself; you can’t do and be everywhere, look at the schedule and offerings and plan out the weekend. This is PRIDE so be PROUD of yourself and let your freak flag fly high.

Alfons Dovana – Creator of Queen Butch Garden of Eden Alfons is currently in his senior year at KSU for Apparel and Textile, and for pride, he is throwing a new daytime party.

What does PRIDE mean to you?

Pride to me is about celebrating your individuality in a world that forces us to be the same and conforming to its norms.

Getting to this stage in life isn’t always easy, so it’s our responsibility as a community to guide those who struggle with accepting themselves.

How will you celebrate PRIDE? This year I’m throwing a daytime event Pride Saturday called Queen Butch Garden of Eden, which is an outdoor

queer tea dance on the patio of Midtown Tavern. This party promotes diversity and individuality. DJ Cuntrera (Co-Producer) and William Francis from NYC will be spinning house and disco music alongside with two legendary NYC club kids, CT Hedden, and Early Ross Aviance, who will be setting the mood for Atlanta Pride.

What is your advice for the best possible PRIDE? Surround yourself with the right people, pace yourself and look out for one another. Let your hair all the way down, and remember you only have one life, so come live it at Queen Butch Pride Saturday! You can purchase tickets for Queen Butch at www.QueenButchEvents.com

Continued on pg.64 >>> 66 | 10.10.18

How will you celebrate PRIDE?

Deep South has an exciting queer lineup for Atlanta Pride (plus a few must-attends): October 12: Official Atlanta Pride Kick Off party at The Georgia Aquarium Mariconera @ Mary’s (EAV) with Brian Rojas and ESMÉ October 13: Queen Butch @ Midtown Tavern w/ William Francis & Cuntrera Deep South PRIDE with Octo Octa, Vicki Powell, JSPORT, Scooter McCreight, NSA October 14: Pride patio party @ Henry’s (midtown) Sunday Service w/ Chaka Khan Hacienda at Sister Louisa’s Church

Vicki Powell and Brian Rojas - Deep South

What is your advice for the best possible PRIDE?

The two resident DJs of the queer DJ collective host a plethora of events throughout pride weekend, and they have a new monthly residency at MidCity Café.

Brian: Be yourself, be kind, be generous, be a friend.

What does PRIDE mean to you?

Brian: Accepting your identity and allowing yourself to express it fully. Live proudly every day.

Vicki: I’d say, try and step out of your comfort zone. Listen to a new style of music, wear something you might not normally wear, chat with people, explore without judgment.

Pride is a wonderful time to see the wildly diverse rainbow of community we are a part of. Fly your freak flag and dance!

Vicki: For me, Pride is about remembering those who fought for my rights to live as freely as I do today.

It’s about remembering those that have gone before me. Those we have lost. The work that still needs to be done.

Rick Westbrook – founder of the Rainbow House Coalition After quite a while in the non-profit sector in Atlanta, Rick has founded a new initiative, Rainbow House Coalition, that supports homeless LGBTQ youth in Atlanta.

What does mean to you?

What does PRIDE mean to you?

Pride gives us the opportunity to show our city that we are strong, active, youthful and all in - but we are diverse as the colors of the rainbow.

PRIDE is the coming together of the community, ALL OF US! A chance to support one another. See old friends and Family as well as make new friends.

How will you celebrate PRIDE? This will be the first year that John Jeffrey, (My Husband), finally after 24 years will get a chance to sit back and enjoy. We have always had shifts to cover or floats to build.

Rob Jameson – partner in Midnight Train Productions ATL

What is your advice for the best possible PRIDE?

Rob is a native Atlantan, who works with video production and real estate.

He just started the events company partnership that brings the internationally known Papa party to Atlanta.

Pace yourself! Enjoy yourself responsibly, watch out for your friends and make sure they have your back.

Continued on pg.66 >>> 68 | 10.10.18

PRIDE

How will you celebrate PRIDE? I will celebrate pride by hosting the PAPA Party with my two business partners while raising money for the LGBTQ `institute.

What is your advice for the best possible PRIDE?

I see ATLANTA pride as an opportunity to welcome all to our city and introduce them to our wonderful Continued on pg.64 >>> community.

Jami Maguire – Owner of My Sister’s Room For the past eight years, Jami has owned My Sister’s Room along with her partner, Jen-Chase Daniels.

What does PRIDE mean to you?

The definition of the word “Pride” means “a feeling of being good and worthy.” Which is the perfect example of what I feel during Pride. It is such a strong sense of acceptance and family. My chosen family. To feel a sense of acceptance and understanding with so many - it’s a beautiful thing.

How will you celebrate PRIDE? In addition to a killer party at MSR, we secured two beautiful locations a few blocks from MSR. On Friday night of Pride, we hold our “BLITZ,” on Saturday of Pride we have the Crush Party at MSR then a few blocks away we have our “Official Women’s Event of Atlanta Pride Electric Circus” at Opera Nightclub. It is the largest event of the weekend outside of the Park. And it is only a few blocks from MSR!

What is your advice for the best possible PRIDE? During the day at the park is a must! But don’t overdo the drinking and miss out on the nightly events!

I promise you will regret it. Meet people! Don’t just hang with your tight group. Hydrate and eat. Take time to go back to get dressed up cute for the night parties - you never know who you might meet!

Jamie Williams – Producer and promoter of the Sugar Sunday Tea Dance Jamie works as a nurse practitioner in cardiac surgery at Grady Hospital and has recently begun promoting and producing parties in the city.

What does PRIDE mean to you?

Pride is liberation and freedom to be who you are without guilt or shame or fear of what others think of you.

Pride weekend is a celebration of that liberation and all those that came before us and fought to help us get to where we are now.

How will you celebrate PRIDE? All of the parties are incredible, but I love the events where you get to spend quality time catching up with friends, such as the Aquarium party on Friday and Kween on the Green on Saturday. I’ll also be attending Papa Party, Peach Fuzz, the Eagle on Saturday night to hear my INCREDIBLY talented partner, Neon, and the closing party at Opera. I’m also throwing a new Pride Sunday Tea Dance called SUGAR from 3-8pm at Loca Luna that you won’t want to miss!

70 | 10.10.18

What is your advice for the best possible PRIDE? I would say live in the moment. Put your phone away and enjoy the people surrounding you. Dance with your friends and tell them you love them. Meet new people.

Let go of everything in your life holding you back from being yourself and be 100% proud of you for just one weekend.

Oh, and come to SUGAR!

I really do mean this when I say this - I love all of the events that ATL Pride offers. BUT I have an especially sentimental spot in my heart for our parades and marches. I participated in my first Dyke March 15 years ago, and I felt like such a badass, in a group of badass women. Also, our Trans March has grown from 50 to over 700 strong.

Jamie Ferguson – Executive Director of Atlanta Pride After attending her first pride parade in Atlanta in 2001, Jamie started volunteering already in 2002 and never left. She became Executive Director of the Atlanta Pride Committee in 2015.

What does PRIDE mean to you?

I think that Pride at its best is a time when our diverse community can come together, celebrate our rich history, and recharge for all the hard work left to do.

How will you celebrate PRIDE? I’ll be having a little picnic in the park with 300,000 of my closest friends! In all seriousness, I’ll be working all weekend.

And of course, there is the parade. The Atlanta Pride Parade is now the largest parade in the city. It is empowering to see our community taking to the streets and being visible in such a huge way. Taking up that space and unapologetically being who we are is life-affirming.

For the past six years, I have walked the parade with my child. Last year my parents joined me, so there were three generations of my family leading a Pride parade.

As a child growing up in rural Georgia that was beyond imagination.

What is your advice for the best possible PRIDE? I think the key to having the best experience at ATL Pride is to find the balance between having fun and staying safe. Many years ago, our team at the Coca-Cola stage came up with a fun phrase that we now repeat from that stage throughout the weekend every year and it sums it up nicely: Hydrate. Lubricate. Donate. Which means drink your water, wear sunscreen, and support this great event so that we can continue to keep it free for many years to come!

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72 | 10.10.18

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A Pair of Peachy Picks from Out On Film 2018

By Gregg Shapiro

Photos courtesy of Wolfe

If you’re one of those people who is confused by the concept of a gay sports bar, then Mario (Wolfe) might not be the movie for you. However, if you’re an athletic supporter, a gay jock, and your life revolves around keeping score and cheering for various teams, then Mario will be your cup of Gatorade.

Gay soccer players are nothing new, with Robbie Rogers being among the most famous. But in Mario, a romantic relationship between teammates creates friction among the other players. Co-writer/director Marcel Gisler scores a goal with the balance he strikes between focusing on soccer as sport and money-making profession and the budding romance between players Mario (Max Hubacher) and Leon (Aaron Altaras).

Mario is already something of a star on the Swiss soccer team he plays for. He’s so good that he has an agent, the promise of sponsorship and the potential to be recruited by a major league team. German player Leon, who is brought in from Hanover, is hot in more ways than one. On the field, Mario and Leon are so in sync that they soon become a dynamic duo.

Things escalate when they begin sharing an apartment. Being as careful as they can be, Mario and Leon begin a relationship. But 74 | 10.10.18

*The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Peach.

jocks will be jocks, and soon there are rumors, and everything the pair has worked so hard to achieve, professionally and personally is threatened. The movie belongs to lead actors Hubacher and Altaras who are as convincing on the soccer field as they are in bed. Jessy Moravec, who plays Mario’s best friend Jenny also deserves a mention for her multi-faceted performance.

Once in a while you see a movie at an LGBTQ film festival and you know that it is destined for greatness. Such is the case with Yen Tan’s 1985 (Wolfe). Like critically acclaimed projects such as the FX series Pose and Rebecca Makkai’s novel The Great Believers, the mid-1980s are the focus in 1985.

Young gay man Adrian (queer actor Cory Michael Smith), living and working in Manhattan, returns to his family home in Fort Worth for Christmas. It’s first time home for the holidays since 1982, a point that his macho laborer father Dale (Michael Chiklis) makes a point of mentioning on the drive home from the airport.

At home he is welcomed with loving arms by his mother Eileen (Virginia Madsen), although kid brother Andrew (Aiden Langford) is reserved, still upset over a canceled trip to New York to visit Adrian. This is the kind

of family that prays before dinner and listens to Christian radio and worship music.

If Adrian didn’t fit in, at least he was of age and could leave. Poor Andrew, who has gone from playing sports to being the vice president of his school’s drama club, is a puzzle to their father, but the light of his mother’s life.

Like a lot of young gay men in the mid-1980s, Adrian is an expert about dancing around the kinds of questions that parents like to ask about girlfriends, their male roommates, employment and finances, health, and the like. To please their parents, they even meet up with hometown ex-girlfriends, as Adrian does with Carly (Jamie Chung). As it turns out, this leads to one of the most emotionally devastating scenes in the movie.

feeling, 1985 is a first-rate tearjerker, so be sure to have tissues handy, especially for the airport goodbye scene with Adrian and Eileen. The supporting cast, including Chung and Chiklis, also delivers.

Both films were featured during the Out On Film festival which ran between September 27 – October 7. Peach hosted a night at the movies where Mario was the feature presentation on October 2.

Adrian does as much as he can to provide Andrew with support and guidance as he sees something of himself in him. He also tries to throw his parents off track, because Adrian thinks his parents are clueless; but they are far savvier that he suspects. A backyard conversation with his father and the heart-wrenching tear-jerking moment in the car with his mother prove the opposite.

Shot in black and white, which somehow gives the movie even more of a period piece peachATL.com | 75

An incomparable party lineup is shaping this year’s Pride up to be one of the most memorable ever!

Here’s where you need to be, so you can party with Pride all day and all night long.

Thursday, October 11 Sound Off™ x Atlanta Pride present: Silent Disco @ Establishment When: 8-12 pm Where: Establishment at Colony Square How: $10 advance/general admission tickets via Eventbrite

Lyft presents RIDE with Big Freedia!

When: 7-11 pm Where: La Maison Rouge/Paris on Ponce How: Free event with RSVP through Eventbrite

Country Pride When: 8 pm – 12 am Where: The Heretic How: No cover

Friday, October 12 Official Atlanta Pride Kickoff When: 7-11:30 pm Where: Georgia Aquarium How: $30 advance/general admission tickets via ickets.georgiaaquarium,org

Papa Heroes Party When: 10pm – 4am Where: Southern Exchange Ballrooms How: $49 Tier 2 tickets at PAPAPARTYATLANTA.com

Mariconera Pride Kickoff at Mary’s When: 10 pm – 3 am Where: Mary’s How: No cover

Femme! Dance, Music & Performance Art When: 10 pm – 3 am Where: The Deep End How: No cover

Sugar Shack: A Queer Pride Dance Party!

When: 10 pm – 2 am Where: 529 Flat Shoals Ave SE How: $7 cover via Eventbrite

Atlanta Eagle Pride Kickoff: House of Aloha with DJ Pat Scott When: 10 pm – 3 am Where: Atlanta Eagle How: No Cover 76 | 10.10.18

Blitz Official Atlanta Friday Pride Party When: 9 pm – 2:45 am Where: Publico Atlanta How: 15$ cover via Paypal

Atlanta QueerGirl Pride Party When: 10 pm – 3 am Where: Zocalo Atlanta How: $15 cover via Eventbrite

Official After Aquarium Party with Tony Moran When: 9 pm – 3 am Where: The Heretic How: $20 cover via universe.com

Saturday, October 13 Atlanta Pride 2018 Trans March When: 1:15-4:30 pm Where: Piedmont Park How: Free event

QUEEN BUTCH with DJ Cuntrera & William Francis When: 2-9 pm Where: Midtown Tavern How: $10 cover via Eventbrite

Peach Fuzz T-Dance When: 1-5 pm Where: Opera Nightclub How: Advance tickets from $10 via peachfuzz.eventbrite.com

Atlanta Pride 2018 Queer Your Gender Dance Party!

When: 7-9 pm Where: Piedmont Park Nissan Stage How: Free event

Power 96.1’s ATL Pride Concert: Mike Posner, Bebe Rexha & More!

When: 2-10 pm Where: Piedmont Park How: Free Public Event

Peep Show with Alaska Thunderfvck When: 9 pm – 3 am Where: The Deep End How: $20 cover via Eventbrite

Monsters of Pride

Spectra: Pride Panel & Celebration

When: 10 pm – 12 am Where: Midtown Tavern How: No Cover

When: 4-8 pm Where: The Deep End How: Free RSVP tickets through Eventbrite

Deep South with OCTO OCTA When: 10 pm – 3 am Where: The Music Room How: $20 advance tickets through universe.com

Atlanta Pride Main Event When: 10 pm – 2:30 am Where: Tabernacle Atlanta How: $40 advance tickets via universe.com

Geared with DJ Neon the Glowgobear When: 10 pm – 3 am Where: Atlanta Eagle How: No Cover

RISE Pride Saturday DJ Phil B When: 9 pm – 3 am Where: The Heretic How: Tickets via hereticatlanta.com

Sunday, October 14 Henry’s Pride Parade Patio Party Hosted by Deep South When: 12-4 pm Where: Henry’s Patio How: No cover, table reservation

17th Annual HRC Atlanta Pride Brunch When: 10:30 am – 2 pm Where: Empire State South How: $100 general admission vis act.hrc.org

The Spectrum Tea Dance Party When: 2-5 pm Where: Spectrum on Spring How: No cover

Sunday Service Pride with Chaka Khan Hacienda When: 7-11:45 pm Where: Sister Louisa’s Church of the Living

DILF Atlanta Out & Proud Pride Party by Joe Whitaker When: 9 pm – 3 am Where: The Heretic How: $15 advance tickets through Eventbrite

Atlanta Pride Closing Party When: 9 pm – 3 am Where: Opera Nightclub How: $40 advance tickets via universe. com

Afters VIVID at Odyssey After 10/13 | 3-6 am | Odyssey Atlanta Deep South Octo Octa Afterhours 10/13 | 3-? am | Location TBA XION with Martin Fry 10/13 | 3-7 am | XION at BJ Roosters XION with Paulo 10/14 | 3-7 am | XION at BJ Roosters XION with Isaac Escalanta 10/14 | 3-7 am | XION at BJ Roosters Sunday Service Afterhours 10/14 | 3am-? | TBA

Sugar: PRIDE Edition When: 3-8 pm Where: Loca Luna How: Advance tickets starting at $10 via Eventbrite

Sweet Tea: A Queer Variety Show When: 3:30 pm- 5 pm Where: Piedmont Park How: Free admission

48th Annual Atlanta Pride Parade When: 9 am - 3 pm Where: Starts at Civic Center, ends at Piedmont Park How: Free public event

peachATL.com | 77

Oct 10 – Oct 17

Carrie at the Plaza Theatre

Oktoberfest Atlanta

Just in time for the Halloween season, WUSSY returns with their monthly campy feature, which this time is the season-appropriate horror cult classic Carrie from 1976.

Get your pre-sale tickets through Eventbrite.

Put on your lederhosen for a weekend of German-themed fun. Enjoy a variety of deliciously cold German beer and food, live music, and an abundance of Oktoberfest-themed games and activities. Tickets via livingsocial.com.

Wednesday, October 10, 7-10 pm Plaza Theatre STAFF PICK!

Saturday, October 12-14 Historic Fourth Ward Park Conservancy

Pride Yoga Join 2015 Atlanta Pride Grand Marshal Swami Jaya Devi for an all-levels and free yoga class on the lawn with live music from the Kashi Atlanta Kirtan Wallahs.

Saturday, October 13, 10-11:30 am Piedmont Park

Stranger Things Tours +Nighttime Corn Maze Come out to Sleepy Hollow Farm and take a partially-guided tour of some of the filming locations from the hit show Stranger Things. As an added bonus your ticket will give you access to the nighttime corn maze at Sleepy Hollow Farm. Book online at Eventbrite.

Saturday, October 13, 7 pm (+additional dates) The Sleepy Hollow Christmas Tree Farm 78 | 10.10.18

Maxwell: 50 Intimate Nights Live Tour Maxwell is making a stop in Atlanta on his tour for a night of music from his recent albums, and new material from his forthcoming album BlackSummer’sNIGHT.

Friday, October 12, 8 pm State Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park

“Proud-ish” “Living in a country where no matter who you are or where you come from, you can grow up and become what you’ve always dreamed of, makes me, Amber Atkins, proud to be an American!”

–Amber Atkins, A Proud American What’s so inspiring about Amber’s run-on sentence is how she truly believed in country pride when she competed in the 1999 Sarah Rose Cosmetics American Teen Princess Pageant. I find people are far less proud nineteen years later. Much has happened since that pageant took place. Saturday morning cartoons went off the air, a shocking amount of people went ‘gluten-free,’ and the documentary that chronicled Amber Atkins in her pageant, _Drop Dead Gorgeous, never got the digital release it deserved. It didn’t even get a Blu-ray release for cry-eye! People find it harder to have pride these days, but I say it is in these trying times we must look at unconventional things to be proud of, or even proud-ish of. I use proud-ish for moments when certain people are allowed to know I pride myself in something, but I wouldn’t scream it off the mountain tops. For example, I’m proud-ish of my tacky taste for almost everything! I await every Fall with glee as I tent outside of the Starbucks on Ponce for days to get my first P.S.L. of the season. The thought of that sweet artificial nectar caressing my lips and gently lubricating the crevices where my tonsils used to be, gets me through some of the toughest days. In fact, I’m drinking one right now!

For this year’s Pride celebration, I decided to share a story from my past of a friend who had a hard time choosing between what she was proud of and what she was proud-ish of. Her name was Rhetorica, and back in 2008, she opened up to me about her pride dilemma. More correctly the Pride dilemma, as it was about the Gay Pride celebration. I love Pride! I love seeing people run around drunk, collecting rainbow-colored everything under the Sun. Rhetorica, however, was torn between her two prides that year. She couldn’t decide between staying in Atlanta for Pride or going to the lavish Fire Island orgy that one muscle daddy, doctor throws every year. Her spirit was set on celebrating love and liberation in the city she called home, but her heart was set on getting ‘Lazy-Susan’d’ by seemingly endless lines of New York locals. She was a proud Atlantan, but also a proud-ish Spread-Eagle enthusiast. To help her out, I asked Rhetorica a question.

What if you could do both? The thought seemed impossible, so I showed her how to achieve both her wishes easily. We went downtown to speak with the Pride committee (and please don’t fact-check me on this). I marched into their headquarters and asked that we move the Atlanta Pride celebration to a later month. Almost unanimously, everyone agreed.

See, in the South, the month of June (universal Pride month) is essentially as hot as the surface of Mercury, and the month of October (Atlanta Gay Pride month) would give people a fun pre-game weekend to Halloween. Rhetorica called me from Fire Island squealing in joy of what I could only imagine was due to her getting to celebrate Pride twice that year. She didn’t have to settle between what she was proud of and what she was proud-ish of.

This year, as we continue to brave the unpredictable nature of the world, let us not lose our pride at the small hands of orange-tanned and Toad-shaped obstacles. Let us focus on the random, unconventional joys we are proud of, and those we are proud-ish of.

Yours in friendship, Mitzi Pennington is the self-proclaimed sex symbol and advice-giving-guru alter ego of Mirza Muftic. She came from humble roots of middle America and married into money shortly after dropping out of college. Her late husband’s fortune allows her to travel the world and have a sense of enlightenment one normally gets from actually working for their money. Mirza has had none of those experiences in his life. On occasion, Mirza will perform as Mitzi around Atlanta. His other interests/day job include film editing, retouching, and stop-motion animation.

80 | 10.10.18

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peachATL.com | 83

Thirty Years A Queer

By Scott King

What a long, strange trip it’s been For three decades now, I have known that I am queer. It hasn’t always been easy, but I have always known that there is nothing wrong with me.

I’m queer, I’m here, and I’m used to it.

Last year, while dragging my hungover ass to a Pride brunch in midtown, something many of us take for granted, I crossed the parade lines a good two hours before the parade was to begin. There were a couple of young teenagers already on the line, waiting, nervous. That’s when I remembered how much it sucks (and rules) to be a teenager in love.

The story below is for them ...

I knew I was gay when I was 7 years old. I had a crush on my best friend. Let’s call him David Letterman. Dave had a crush on this gurl, let’s call her Drew Barrymore. Classic love triangle. To add insult to injury, Drew was a fellow ginger. I pretended to have a crush on her too, both to blend in and to bring us all closer. Such a sneaky little tyke.

But nevermind the drama. I understood what I was facing. I knew that what I was feeling for Dave was no different than what he was feeling for Drew. I mean, come on, that’s some pretty stiff competition.

84 | 10.10.18

Scott King’s milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. He could teach you, but he’d have to repeal and replace. Scott King is, like, a really smart person.

I knew that what I was feeling was queer, and out of place, but I also knew that there was nothing wrong with me. I knew that burning up for his love was the greatest feeling a person could ever feel. I was not naive, however, and I knew that this electrifying feeling, although exciting, was going to be, for a very long time, a dark cloud over my young life.

Puberty was harsh - a challenge, if you will - but exciting. I was an early bloomer, a foot taller than most of the kids in my class. I tried my best to be a good kid, to blend in, lie low, and bide my time.

My genius plan to blend in was to play basketball, mostly because I was hot for teacher. To protect the innocent, let’s call him David Letterman as well. Coach Letterman was an honorable man, a Gulf War veteran, a Democrat, and a total stud with a disarmingly sardonic sense of humor.

He liked me, and he asked me if I “played ball.”

How could I resist? He liked me for me, and when we interacted I could tell he wanted me to be the funny weird tall guy that I was, but I was so self-conscious of my crush and my burning queerness, I could barely make eye contact.

So I sat on the bench all season long, dreaming of a life that didn’t so closely resemble hell.

In 8th grade, I focused on my guitar playing instead of sports, and I started hanging out with

the slackers. It was the 90s. It’s a long story.

I felt better.

Freshman year of high school, I found my tribe.

Band geeks and theater freaks. I came out to all of them. But we were neither freaks nor geeks. It was the 90’s, and being alternative, and wearing weird makeup and clothing was relatively cool.

My initial coming out story wasn’t dramatic at all. It just felt natural. Most of us were queer or something close, and we could not stop talking about it for months. Apres moi coming out, le deluge.

And speaking of natural disasters, there was coming out to my parents. Involuntarily. While I was away at something called the Tennessee Christian Teen Convention (yes, that’s a real thing) my mom had found my poetry journal. If you’ve read this column before, you know I don’t hold anything back. Imagine my poetry journal and diary at age 16.

My poor mother. Having a gay son was probably not in her vision for her life as a single parent, especially one who was as free-spirited and prosaic as I was. She was not one of those moms who was like Oh yay my son is gay let’s go shopping. I was also not that type of gay. I was dark and rebellious and antisocial and misanthropic.

The next couple years were difficult. The hardest thing for me was having to pretend to explain my life to someone who didn’t understand it. I never intended to be accepted by mainstream society or by people who were conservative and normal.

I just wanted to do my thing and be left alone. I knew that my path was different.

So I went off to college, rebel heart burning bright. I voted for Ralph Nader. I did lots of theater despite a deficit of acting talent. I made lots of good friends, who smiled at my quirks and only laughed AT me when they saw me trying to be someone other than myself. I became more me. I became an adult.

I saw other people in the crowd with tears streaming down their faces. Tears of joy, tears of poignant remembrance, and tears of hope. Everyone wants to live in that world. And if you celebrate pride, and if you live it every day, you can.

Ever since that hot summer day in Atlanta, I have been one cocky homosexual. I have lived with that kind of love and pride inside of me. Sometimes it burns bright. Sometimes it seduces with its coolness. But it always originates from the deepest, most authentic part of me.

To honor that energy, I do not hide. I do not equivocate. I carry my queerness with me everywhere I go. Whether it be grad school, a deep south road trip, or the county fair, it is always with me.

It is in my sense of humor. It is in my sense of style. It is in my sense of justice. It is in my skinny jeans and my form-fitting t-shirts. It is in my sneakers that I wear down to the soles walking around this beautiful world and this beautiful city, wondering what magical adventures await me.

As the years have rolled on, it has become just one small but fabulous part of me. My parents have come to love having a gay son. We even go shopping sometimes.

So ...

Love your community, even when you don’t get laid. Love your friends, even when they get distracted by a hot piece of ass. Love the people who are different from you, even if they don’t vote the way you want them to (or vote at all).

Love the queens who are loud and transparent in their need for love and attention.

Love your life. Love your queerness. Love your body. Love your soul. Love will save the day.

Happy pride.

After graduating, I went to my first pride parade in Atlanta in 2004. It was an election year. There was that hot guy running for city council who stripped his shirt off after some queen threw a purple drink at him. That was the highlight of the day, until I saw the PFFLAG float.

I was still young, but seeing young teenagers and their parents with signs like, “I am proud of my gay son,” melted me from the inside.

I saw that it all will find its way in time, that love flows only in all directions.

Photo: Scott King peachATL.com | 85

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10 THINGS TO BRING TO PRIDE

IT’S A CELEBRATION OF LOVE AND PRIDE! Photo: Swish Embassy, Shutterstock

Comfortable footwear

Lots of water!

An open mind!

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Colorful AF outfit

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Positivity and Pride Cash!

Sunscreen 90 | 10.10.18

happy Playmates and soul mates...

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peachATL.com | 91

Text your Peach Pits to 256-60-PEACH, or e-mail mikkel@PeachATL.com Illustrations by: Jerel Ely

I’m a Froot Loop in a world full of Cheerios!

Asking for a friend: Is it ok to make out with just about every guy you meet during Pride?

Me: How was your night?

Him: My what?

Me: Night Him: Oh ok, good night then

Being gay isn’t a phase for me. Being straight, on the other hand, was!

Me: We need to work on our communication, don’t we?

Every time I see a large person jogging, I think “See. Exercise doesn’t work!” Every time I see a thin person jogging, I think “They just have a great metabolism.”I can justify my bad behavior.

One day I’ll do amazing things. Today, I’ll be satisfied if I manage not to spill food on my new shirt!

Straight girls love to flirt with lesbians – but you will wake up next to me. This is not a game!

I think some (straight) men are homophobic because they are afraid that gay men will treat them the way they treat women.

It’s Pride in Atlanta, and yes, I was born this gay!

92 | 10.10.18

thursday october 11 dj eric blackout night 10pm friday october 12 dj pat scott house of aloha 10pm saturday october 13 dj neon the glowgobear geared 10pm sunday october 14 dj mister richard super collider 9pm 306 ponce de leon ave, ne atlanta, ga 30308

94 | 10.10.18

Together Again

The Dynamic Duo of the Dancefloor Prove Third Time Is the Charm

By Mike Bahr Two-time Grammy-nominated dance producer Tony Moran and Out Music Award winner Jason Walker are together again in another euphoric dance anthem, “I’m in Love with You.” “There’s so much turmoil in the world right now, the dance floor needs a song like ‘I’m in Love with You,’” says Jason Walker of his latest single with Tony Moran. It is Walker’s third song with the two-time Grammy nominated producer. The powerhouse duo’s previous tracks, “So Happy” and “Say Yes,” both reached the #1 spot on the Billboard club charts. “It’s a positive number with a great beat to lift spirits up.” “‘I’m in Love with You’ is meant to be a bold declaration of the love we hold in our hearts for those who matter most to us,” says Moran. “It’s also a reminder that — yes, people! —message counts. It’s important to tell those closest to us how much they mean.”

Tony Moran wrote the song with Ryan Shaw and Mike Greenly and is releasing it through his label, Mr. Tanman Music. To support the release, he has commissioned remixes from some of the top names in dance music, including Rosabel, Moto Blanco, Sted E, and Hybrid Heights, Mike Cruz, Tony Smith (“Tony’s Soulbeats”), Tommer Mizrahi, Strobe, Dinaire and Bissen, and Boris.

Moran and Walker also re-enlisted videographer, Karl Giant, the director of the “So Happy” and “Say Yes” music videos. Giant, in turn, brought in artist, Randy Polumbo, whose work has been exhibited at Art Basel Miami Beach, Burning Man and Coachella.

The video was shot in Polumbo’s 4,000-square-foot warehouse studio and at an ice skating rink with figure skater Jeremy Abbott, a four-time US national champion and Olympic bronze medalist.

“The set was like a playground with art everywhere, an elevated RV, blow torches, an ice rink… It was simply magical,” recalls Walker. He says he is thrilled with the end result, calling it a masterpiece of motion and color.

Moran says the true masterpiece is Jason’s voice. “The song starts with a steady continuum that reflects a steadfast love. It then breaks out into a joyous enthusiasm that embraces today’s electronic music and provides a platform for Jason to really let loose.”

Jason Walker grew up in Pittsburgh, singing in church choirs. He first shined on the national spotlight with a winning performance on TV’s It’s Showtime at the Apollo.

He has had four Billboard #1s: “Foolish Mind Games,” “Set It Free,” and the Tony Moran-produced singles, “So Happy” and “Say Yes.” Jason Walker and Tony Moran first met through DJ Junior Vasquez when Vasquez commissioned Moran to remix “Set It Free.”

Visit jasonwalkermusic.com.

DJ Tony Moran will headline the Pride Weekend Warm Up Party at the Heretic on Friday, October 12, featuring a special performance of “I’m in Love with You” by #1 Billboard vocalist, Jason Walker.

peachATL.com | 95

Ray of Light

An interview with Amy Ray of Indigo Girls

By Gregg Shapiro

Years in the making, Indigo Girls Live with the University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra (Rounder) is a breathtaking experience. Even if you don’t like live albums, this one is an exception. Comprised of 22 songs, representing nine of the Indigo Girls’ (Amy Ray and Emily Saliers) baker’s dozen studio albums, Indigo Girls do an excellent job of representing the. As familiar as your oldest friends, you’ll never hear these songs the same way again.

Never one to sit idle, Ray is also releasing a new solo record in September 2018, her sixth. Holler (Compass/ Daemon) continues in a similar countrified vain as 2014’s Goodnight Tender.

Featuring guest musicians including Brandi Carlile, Vince Gill, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) and Rutha Mae

96 | 10.10.18

Harris (of The Freedom Singers), Holler is another powerful musical statement from Ray. Indigo Girls are no strangers to live albums, with at least two such previous releases – 1995’s 1200 Curfews and 2010’s Staring Down the Brilliant Dream. Why was now the right time for a new live album such as Live with the University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra?

Mostly because we’ve been touring with symphonies for about four or five years now. We felt like we’d gotten to a place where we knew the material well enough and wanted to document it. When we came upon a symphony that fit all the parameters that we needed to make a live record with a symphony; that was the University of Colorado Symphony. So, it worked out. It was kind of a long process. We had been hoping to get it done for a couple of years.

What were the parameters that the University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra met?

Number one, they’re just really good. The conductor was someone we felt like we could work with on a project like this. Where we could say: “We’re going to need to come in and have an extra-long rehearsal, record rehearsal and then record the show, and may have to do a song over.” They’re grad students and community members.

They’re at a university, so it’s not under the guidance of a union, which gives us a lot more leeway on how many times we can do a song and how long it takes. With a union symphony, they kind of changed the rules around.

It used to be where you paid one set cost to record with the whole symphony. Now you pay each member individually. For us, we wouldn’t sell enough records to cover that. We had to find a way to record it where we could pay the symphony what they deserve, but it would be a smaller symphony and more student-oriented. In the end, it was probably a better move. They symphony was made up of grad students, community members and professional players, running the gamut of different styles and approaches. The dynamics end up being a little more engaged in a way. The players are fresher to what we’re doing. Some of them are younger. Every orchestra we played with was amazing! It was already on another echelon from what we were doing. But the thing that makes it special with this particular symphony, and we had played with them before…as soon as we played with them, to Emily I was like, “This is the one!”

Of the 22 songs chosen for the album, were there any for which the transition to an orchestral setting or arrangement proved to be more challenging than expected?

Yes. I would say that it depended on the symphony, too. There are songs where some symphonies would nail a song and some symphonies wouldn’t. It’s all about people’s preferences and the way they play and the way we’re playing that day. There are certain ones that are inherently more difficult, like “Happy in the Sorrow Key”. “Come On Home” is a pretty hard song. One of the measures of who we wanted to record with was a symphony that landed the difficult songs, too. It’s not a judgment on who’s better, symphony-wise. Some symphonies get some songs, and others don’t.

Your new solo album Holler continues the country-oriented style of your 2014 solo album Goodnight Tender. Is this a direction you see yourself going in for the near future?

I don’t know. This was just what I was writing. I have a band that I’ve been touring with for four or five years.

This is really a strong suit for them and for us together.

As we tour, and get more and more in the groove with them, we’ve been working in old songs from the rock and punkier stuff. It’s adaptable to that. When I was writing Stag and Prom, I was playing a lot with the Butchies and I was writing to their style. My collaborators typically have a lot of influence over what I’m writing. They’re who I’m creating with, touring with, playing with from day to day. I like a lot of different kinds of music. I don’t prefer this to that, it’s where I’m at. This record has a

little more of the earlier, punky, eclectic style mixed in with traditional country. I think I was crossing over into that line in my writing a little bit.

In the four years between the release of Holler and Goodnight Tender, we have had to endure the election of Donald Trump and all that came with it. Am I on the right track when I say it sounds to me like you address that somewhat in the songs “Sure Feels Good” and “Didn’t Know A Damn Thing”?

Yes, for sure! I don’t know if it was so much effected specifically by the presidential election as more of the whole vibe of the country and my own community. The polarization and thinking about issues around being a Southerner. Trying to take on some accountability myself, and to try to understand where people are coming from, as well. “Sure Feels Good” is my song of where I live and the dynamics of people like me that are coming from a different place than other folks. How do we rectify that? How do we understand each other? It’s easy to dismiss people because they don’t agree with you about things because you dogmatically think they’re going to feel a certain way about things. Or it’s not possible for them to come around to a place of tolerance or understanding. That’s not where I exist. I exist in a place where you get to know your neighbors and you help each other out, regardless of where you come from.

Eventually those barriers start to fall away and you begin to understand each other. Hopefully, things change.

Racism is the hardest thing to change in the South. But I’ve found that there are still people who do change. I’ve also found that there are people who have a knee-jerk reaction because of the way we’re put into niches and demographics who aren’t being their best selves all the time, and I say, “I know you’re a better person than this.

I’ve seen you in my community. I’ve seen the things you do to help other people. And I’ve seen you at church. I know you have it in you to be better than this.” We all can be better than this.

Every year there seems to be more and more queer female country artists releasing albums, including performers such as H.C. McEntire and Sarah Shook in 2018. Because Holler is so steeped in that tradition, what do you think that says about country music and its listeners?

I think country music is opening up. Sarah Shook and Heather (H.C. McEntire), I’m a big fan of both of them. Both of those artists have found that they have a place in Americana, which is the progressive side of “country”. It’s the place where people who play country, but don’t fit into a more conservative demographic feel comfortable. Pop country musicians like Sugarland and Dixie Chicks and others probably also feel like they don’t want to be restricted by being expected to have a certain political perspective. I don’t think music categories need to be restricted by political perspectives in any way on any side. It’s great to me that all these artists are getting some play and that they have some place where they can sit comfortably and be honored in a way that makes sense to everybody.

peachATL.com | 97

WHAT happened was . . .

By Mikkel Hyldebrandt

Trouble in the love department? With sex? Or just people in general? Send us your queries, questions, and problems, and you’ll get answers served straight up and with a little ice.

I’m in a relationship, and overall, I’m happy, but I’m starting to see a few issues. The biggest one is that my opinion doesn’t seem to matter. Whenever we argue, I’m simply overruled, and my arguments are dismissed as petty or stupid – and he will continue to argue as to why he is right and not I. This is really starting to get to me, but I can’t seem to get through to him. What can I do to break this cycle?

Sincerely Talking to a Wall Dear Talking to a Wall One-sided communication is actually not communication at all! This is indeed a vicious cycle that will eventually break you down because you and your opinion are completely disregarded – and no one can live with that long-term! You need to let him know about the gravity of this issue, and that you need to be respected and have the room and opportunity to voice your opinion as well, without any counter-arguments sometimes. If he really thinks that his point of view is the only one that matters, he has an even bigger problem than you – and maybe, you should take some time apart so that you can have some space, and he can realize that you mean business. Hopefully, that will change his mind.

Dear From Not to Hot Congratulations on finding more confidence and developing your personality. And sorry that your friends are finding it hard to keep up with your progress. As with any changes in our personalities, it can leave our surroundings feeling a little left behind and confused as to what and how things have changed. I think that’s the place where your friends are now. Give them time and try to explain what you feel has changed within you – I’m sure that the profound change you feel within yourself seems ten times more substantial to them.

With a little communication and open-mindedness, you can likely find back to that core of friendship that held you together in the first place. Quantum leaps are difficult, and your friends probably just need to catch up to you again. Lastly, have fun and be safe at your Pride parties – and revel a little in the fact that you have done this change for yourself!

Me and a friend have flirted for a long time now. Now it’s Pride, and we have planned a bunch of stuff together, and I want to try to take it to the next level. Is that a bad idea with all the other men out there for Pride? Should we wait?

Sincerely Level Up This Pride is looking very different for me compared to last year. Last year, I felt awkward and uncomfortable in my own body, but I have really made an effort to work on myself this year; going to the gym, eating right, and working on my style game – and it has really paid off!

Because for this year’s pride, I have been asked to be a go-go boy at a few parties, and some really hot guys are pursuing me. I feel very confident and feel so good about myself – but my friends are just not there with me. In fact, they seem to resent the fact that I am no longer the ugly duckling, and they have made it clear that they disapprove of the ‘circles’ that I supposedly move in now. And that makes me feel terrible – but I don’t want to let go of this great feeling either. What can I do to bring the worlds together?

Sincerely From Not to Hot 98 | 10.10.18

Dear Level Up If the signs are there – go for it! But you also need to tread carefully. You need to make sure that your feelings are reciprocated, so you’re not setting yourself up for the worst Pride ever. You know, the one where your hopes of true love where smashed to pieces?

If anything, it seems that you have had a pretty good progression with your flirting, so my best advice is for you to simply follow your gut feeling, and go with the flow of celebrating Pride in the city!

NEED ANSWERS? REACH OUT TO US, AND YOU WILL GET THEM! SEND YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS TO OUR EDITOR AT MIKKEL@PEACHATL.COM.

ARIES (MAR. 21 - APR. 19)

LIBRA (SEP. 23 - OCT. 22)

You may be smitten with a new guy you met recently, and he’ll be all you think about today. You’re so love-struck you may find yourself making plans for your future together. You’d go as far as filling out a bridal registry at Crate and Barrel if only you could remember his name.

You’ll hope today that an intellectual connection leads to a physical one. But don’t get your hopes up, as this is an easy mistake to make. Creative collaborating can be stimulating, but just because someone shares their brain with you doesn’t mean they’re also willing to share their body.

TAURUS (APR. 20 - MAY 20)

SCORPIO (OCT. 23 - NOV. 21)

Too much flamboyancy often keeps you from enjoying the gay social scene. Which is a pity since there are so many eligible guys out there who fill your stringent requirements. Just because they’re wearing a dress and make-up doesn’t make them any less manly. Then again, maybe it does.

Your peaceful home life may be shattered by an unsettling revelation today. This could lead to tantrums and outbursts that would embarrass Elton John himself. But you may have to live with the fact that your partner sold your Lady Gaga concert tickets on eBay, and is keeping the money for himself.

GEMINI (MAY 21 - JUN. 20)

SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 - DEC. 21)

You may meet someone today who forces you to reexamine some of your tightly held beliefs. It’s okay to entertain different viewpoints, but don’t lose all perspective. You’ll know you’ve gone too far when you find yourself at a Jonas Brothers concert, and you’re actually enjoying it.

A creative give-and-take at home can be enhanced if you keep yourself open to new ideas today. Staying close-minded will hinder progress and keep that redecorating project from being completed. Sometimes you like stirring the pot just for the dramatic effect, but today it won’t be either endearing or cute.

CANCER (JUN. 21 - JUL. 22)

CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 - JAN. 19)

Relating intellectually to friends today will be like trying to explain Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ to a roomful of monkeys. Your efforts will result in glazed stares and dumbfounded looks. But, ever the trooper, you’ll push on -- even after they start throwing bananas at you.

You may be thinking of changing aspects of yourself in an effort to be more attractive to guys. But avoid a total reinvention. Make it a gradual process, and it’ll seem believable. Suddenly bounding into work with the look and personality of Perez Hilton will only make you look like an idiot.

LEO (JUL. 23 - AUG. 22)

AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 - FEB. 18)

You may meet someone today whose ego is bigger than yours, if that’s even possible. The resulting clash of the titans will be epic in proportion. There’s no telling who will win this battle, but you’re willing to concede defeat if he’s cute and makes more money than you.

Today you’ll shine with a brilliance that can only mean one thing: You’re in love! That’s all you’ll talk about and it won’t take long for people to get sick of hearing about it. Keep in mind today that your new love is only important to you, and others really couldn’t care less.

VIRGO (AUG. 23 - SEP. 22)

PISCES (FEB. 19 - MAR. 20)

Changes at home may disrupt your delicate balance.

This will leave you disoriented and confused, but snap out of it! Life is change, baby, and you’ll feel better about it if you just roll with it.

Be open to change and today could be fun and productive. But fall back on well-trodden ways and the day will be predictable and dull. Bring this mindset to romance today, and you could meet someone different who will be anything but predictable and dull.

100 | 10.10.18

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102 | 10.10.18

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