Fresh Profile
Iv Fischer Shines Bright
Fitness
Summer Body Starts NOW
Q Music What a Queer Year
Interview
Saoirse Ronan Rules
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JANUARY 02, 2019
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From the Editor Here we are again at the beginning of a fresh, new year! For me, the end of a year always ends up being this weird sprint with a huge workload, more social commitments, more food and alcohol, and less time for working out or even relaxing. Like many others, I start the year with a little bit of a reset in my mind. I’m not thinking about revolutionizing my life and transforming my entire physique, but instead, I want to get back to a less hectic lifestyle with more time for eating better, working out more sensibly, and a regular social calendar. So, join us in making a fresh start in 2019 with this new issue of Peach. We guide you to the best books and highlights in queer music from last year, and if you’re looking to make changes in 2019, read our Q&A with the amazing Iv Fischer, take a peek at our fresh Peach of the Week José for inspiration, and get started on your fitness goals with a new workout routine with Darren Floro-Bryant.
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Shining a Light and Living Unabashedly By Mikkel Hyldebrandt As a writer, videographer, brand ambassador, and socialite, Ivana Lysette Fischer - mostly known as “Iv Fischer”- has made it her call of duty to call for an unwavering increase of representation within the Atlanta queer community. Thanks to her YouTube and Instagram notoriety, Iv showcases the beauty of being a transgender creative in a society that still at times denounces her very existence. Peach Talked to Iv about finding her voice in the Atlanta queer community.
Who is Iv Fischer? I perform and host events, I make art, I show up for those in need, to lend a helping hand or a piece of advice. I have based my platform on the excruciatingly serious need for visibility on Black and Latinx trans lives in the South and around the world. It’s safe to say that Atlanta will see a lot of Iv Fischer in 2019. There’ll be more shows, more appearances, and a lot more knowledge to be shared. I intend to do so with honesty and integrity.
How do you see yourself as a voice for the trans community? As an activist, I use my voice and whatever influence I have to shine a light on my community. Due to the misrepresentation of transgender women in the media, it is my mission to diversify the stereotypical narrative of what it means to be transgender. A lot of people, even those within the LGBT “community” have a misconstrued idea of what trans people are. I am here to set the record straight. We do not have to adhere to the standards of a society that does not cater to us in the first place. We are devoid of concern for the way in which you think the world should be run because it is far too often that we are painted out of the picture. These truths are not up for debate. In the words of our Lord and Savior Ariana Grande: thank u, next.
You currently have a GoFundMe for facial feminization surgery – tell us about that? Facial feminization surgery is one of the many operations a woman can undergo to feel more at peace and at home in her body. It is to help alleviate one’s gender dysphoria, or the feeling of extreme discomfort in one’s own body as a result of the societal pressures of being perceived as the wrong gender. As a gloriously tall, Black trans woman, it has been difficult for me to “pass” in certain social settings. Having my gender and pronouns constantly
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disrespected in the eyes of cisgender, heterosexual people takes an emotional toll on me and has even led to some scary situations in which my safety was compromised. At this point in my transition, these surgeries are not only a want but a desperate need.
We recommend everyone look up your YouTube channel (IV.FISCHER) where you sing, perform, do makeup tutorials and much more – what is your inspiration? Not to sound full of myself, but I inspire me! I’ve spent a majority of my life watering myself down and trying to make myself more palatable for the people around me. I started YouTube to give myself a release and a platform to speak my mind (because nobody’s judging you when you lock yourself in your room and talk to yourself through a camera, y’know?).
Looking at the trans community in Atlanta where do you see progress? And what challenges? It’s quite difficult to make leaps forward in the political climate of today, but it is always a victory every time a trans person gets home safe at night, stays warm and fed, and is given the agency and opportunity to do better for themselves. So many of our families have turned their backs on us, causing us to turn to our chosen families for a helping hand. Any time compassion and understanding is shown, that gives me a leap of hope. Furthermore, there is a steady increase in representation and diversity, but we need more! So much more. More than you could ever dream of! It is time for cis, white men and women to get off their butts, use their societal advantages, and prop up marginalized people for us to shine.
Connect with Iv
Follow Iv Fischer on all social media (in some form of) @iv.fischer, and please consider donating to her GoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/iv-fischer-facial-feminization-surgery.
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Hot Reads For Cool Nights By Gregg Shapiro
Temperatures are falling everywhere and folks are cocooning for the season. One of the best ways to enjoy the increased time indoors is to curl up with a good book.
Musically inclined Sub Pop Records has been an indescribably hip indie label for thirty years and not just because its roster has included queer artists such as Sleater-Kinney, Marika Hackman, THEESatisfaction, Sera Cahoone, Sister Double Happiness and CocoRosie, to mention a few. One of two debut titles from the new RPM Series, World Domination: The Sub Pop Records Story (BMG, 2018) by Gillian G. Gaar is all things Sub Pop, tracing the label’s history, featuring acts such as Father John Misty, Iron & Wine, Death Cab For Cutie and The Postal Service, Fleet Foxes, the Shins and Shabazz Palaces, among others. Be sure to check out the 16 pages of photos. Broadway to Main Street: How Show Tunes Enchanted America (Oxford, 2018) by Laurence Maslon, producer and host of the weekly podcast and radio show of the same name, is a slightly esoteric look at the way that cherished songs of the American Musical Theater leapt from the stage into the “living rooms across the country” in a book filled with the kind of minutiae of details that will surely tickle the fancy of every theater freak. The literary companion to queer musician Myshkin Warbler’s Trust and the High Wire album, Held Together: A true story of love’s victory (myshkinwarbler.com, 2018) by her wife Jenny Q &friends, told through a series of letters, prose and poetry, is the shocking true story of how, after falling seriously ill, herbalist and single mother Jenny Q overcame sepsis, a coma and eventual amputation “for the sake of love”. Continued on pg. 12 >>>> 10 | 01.02.19
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Queerly lit Southernmost (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2018), the fifth novel by gay writer Silas House, begins with a flood and then sweeps the reader along on a flood of emotions. A stunningly rendered story about a Tennessee preacher, the homophobia he sees in his current community and what he recalls from his past, when his mother banished his older gay brother, leading him on a path of regret and redemption, all the way to Key West and back with his young son in tow. An LGBTQ YA fantasy novel suffused “in Old World Italian culture”, Amy Rose Capetta’s The Brilliant Death (Viking) unveils the “mesmerizing romance” of Teodora and Cielo, a pair of genderfluid stregas (aka witches) who team up to save Teodora’s family from the Capo, the ruler of the nation. A writer who explores “the performance of gender, sexuality, and social roles; queerness; the gray space of the ‘other’; passing; and the strange experience of inhabiting a human body, Katrina Carrasco’s debut historical crime novel The Best Bad Things (MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux) takes readers back to the late 19th century where Pinkerton detective and master of disguise Alma Rosales takes on the guise of “scrappy dockworker” Jack Camp in order to track down stolen opium. In her 11th novel The Rain Watcher (St. Martin’s Press, 2018), Tatiana De Rosnay takes readers to Paris where non-stop rain and the rising waters of the Seine are the backdrop for a 70th birthday celebration in which the family Malegarde confront a series of life-changing events, including the patriarch Paul suffering a stroke and the outing of gay son Linden, a famous photographer. A semi-autobiographical work of fiction, Accidental Warlocks (Lethe, 2018) is the debut novel by veteran queer journalist Jeff Leavell, The Discerning Daddy blog and as a contributing writer for Vice. Jeff, a young gay man raised by his free-spirit mother, finds himself unable to resist a variety of temptations, resulting in his finding that he is “poised on the lip of the abyss”, uncertain of what to do next. Originally published in Greenland in 2014, Last Night in Nuuk (Black Cat, 2019), the debut novel by Niviaq Korneliussen, translated in 2018 by Anna Halager, is having its domestic premiere. Depicted via emails, texts, journal passages and stream of consciousness, the book is populated with queer characters, including lesbian Ivik, as well as Fia’s brother Inuk, who is having an affair with a married man. 12 | 01.02.19
Oh, What a (Queer) Year By Gregg Shapiro When it comes to LGBTQ music, the present, as well as the past and future, are female. Since the very early days of popular queer music, the women have been the ones to take the lead. While that definitely holds true for 2018, male artists are definitely making certain that they are being heard. Nostalgia Kills (Pinko), Jill Sobule’s first album in four years is another masterpiece and one that deserves the largest audience possible. Living up to its title, the record is a reminder that the past is always with us and it’s up to us what we do with it, as you can hear on “The Island of Lost Things”, “Forbidden Thoughts of Youth” and “Almost Great”. “I Don’t Want to Wake Up” is both familiar and new, and if you aren’t crying (and dancing with abandon) by the end of “I Put My Headphones On” you might want to check your pulse. Almost everything you need to know about queer singer/songwriter Caroline Rose can be heard on “More of the Same”, the opening track on Loner (New West). There is humor, sensitivity, insight and an Op-1 keyboard; the combo is intoxicating. It’s an honest indication of what follows on songs that incorporate updated retro new wave sensibilities (“Cry!”), outrageous funk (“Jeannie Becomes A Mom”, “Talk”), 21st century sixties revival (“Bikini”, “Money”, “Soul No. 5”, “Animal”) and perfect pop (“Getting To Me”). From the personal lesbian mom tune “The Mother” to the queer empowerment anthem “The Joke”, Brandi Carlile created her most far-reaching set of songs on By the Way, I Forgive You (Low
Country Sound/Elektra) The country-tinged “Every Time I Hear That Song” (from which the album gets its title), the stomp of “Hold Out Your Hand”, the heartbreaking political statement of “Fulton County Jane Doe”, the addiction story-song “Sugartooth”, the back-to-back forgiveness theme of “Most of All” and “Harder To Forgive”, and the astounding album closer “Party of One” all contributed to making this Carlile’s best album to date. You’d never guess from listening to Historian (Matador) by out singer/songwriter Lucy Dacus that it is only her second album. In her early 20s, Dacus is one of those wise beyond her years artists whose songs are sure to strike a chord with listeners from all walks of life. The devastating Rifles & Rosary Beads (In The Black/Thirty Tigers) by lesbian singer/songwriter Mary Gauthier, a product of Gauthier’s association with Darden Smith’s non-profit organization Songwriting With: Soldiers in which soldiers are teamed up with professional songwriters, is unlike anything you’ve heard before. Two of the songs, including the devastating “The War After The War” were written by military wives whose soldier husbands returned from the battlefield wounded. Gauthier, who has a long history of bringing listeners to tears (check out 2010’s The Foundling), takes that ability to a whole new level with Rifles & Rosary Beads. Transangelic Exodus (Bella Union), described by Ezra Furman as “a queer outlaw saga”, is a dizzying, exhilarating and unforgettable experience, that will leave you reeling in the best possible way. Opener “Suck The Blood From My Wound” morphs from pure pop exuberance to static rage in under five minutes. “Driving Down To L.A.” sounds like a lost experimental Rufus Wainwright number and if “No Place” doesn’t make your heart race you should check your pulse.
Continued on pg. 16 >>>> 14 | 01.02.19
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“The Great Unknown” (with what we can only hope is a sampled scream) has anthem written all over it and “Maraschino Red Dress $8.99 at Goodwill” is one of the most remarkable songs you will hear this year. The always brilliant lesbian singer/songwriter and bassist extraordinaire Meshell Ndegeocello put out the cleverly titled Ventriloquism (All Points/ Believe) on which she reimagined 11 songs, originally released between 1982 and 1994, in her own distinctive style, and the results were awe-inspiring. Lush (Matador), the suitably named fulllength debut by Snail Mail (aka teen sensation Lindsey Jordan), plays like a reverent tribute to the `90s, the decade in which the performer was born. That’s the `90s through a queer, 21st century lens. “Pristine” asks the age-old question, “Don’t you like me for me?” and you can dance to it “anyways”. “Heat Wave” is as warm as the summer sun and centerpiece “Stick” reaches a crescendo that stays with you. The dreamy “Golden Dream” will get your kicks moving and “Full Control” is a sorry-not-sorry anthem. Like fellow queer label-mate Perfume Genius (aka Mike Hadreas), Car Seat Headrest (aka Will Toledo) makes some of the most memorable and indispensable music of the 2010s. In one of the most arresting and ambitious musical moves made in 2018, Car Seat Headrest released the double disc set Twin Fantasy (Matador). The first disc, Face to Face, is a 2016 re-recording of Car Seat Headrest’s original 10-song 2011 self-released debut Twin Fantasy and the second disc, Mirror to Mirror, is the original 2011 recording of the album.
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Not Too Far Away (BMG), Joan Armatrading’s first studio album of all original songs in five years is sure to please the ears of all Armatrading fans. Easily her best studio effort since Lovers Speak, Not Too Far Away arrived after Armatrading announced a serious curtailing of her concert tour schedule. Perhaps with more time on her hands, Armatrading was able to better assess what worked and what didn’t and the resulting album, bursting with love and affection, is a marvelous combination of her seventies and eighties songwriting technique. Remember the way that UK bands such as Gang of Four and The Au Pairs found a way to effortlessly mix the politics of dancing, railing against an assortment of societal ills, giving us something to think about while we worked up a sweat on the dance-floor. Produced by the brilliant Edwyn Collins, The Official Body (Fat Cat) by queer band Shopping picks up where the others left off, with tracks such as “Control Yourself”, “The Hype”, “Asking For A Friend”, “Shave Your Head”, “Suddenly Gone”, “My Dad’s A Dancer” and “New Values”. LGBTQ parents in search of family music that can be enjoyed by one and all need look no further than Songs for the Rainbow Family(Leather/Western) by The Diesel Tykes (led by prolific gay musician Scott Free), featuring a marvelous assortment of guest musicians including lesbian family musician Laura Doherty (the vegan tune “Adopt A Cow”), lesbian duo Congress of Starlings (“The Out Song”), trans artist Elias Krell (the powerful “Dress Me in Yellow”) and soulful gay singer JC Brooks (the tropical “Pride and Joy”).
Saoirse Ronan Rules ‘Mary Queen of Scots’ star talks LGBTQ allyship, coming out scenes and naked men in movies
By Chris Azzopardi
Name a 24-year-old Oscar nominee more qualified to take the throne as a crown-donning, queer-friendly queen than Saoirse Ronan. The Mary Queen of Scots star’s own life is rich in queer-adjacent roles and gay besties, and as powerful progressive Mary Stuart, the Irish actress sees her real-life allyship translate to a supreme role based on the Scottish royal who precedes her by, oh, 500 years. Then and now, leave it to rascally men to get in the way of reigning women, as Stuart requests to succeed her cousin Queen Elizabeth 1; egos clash in the name of peace, and the queens wind up in a tempestuous and fatal feud. This was the 16th century, but here we are hundreds of years later: women are asserting their power and uniting to disband centuries of oppression, the kind Elizabeth and Stuart, together, never could. Given her masterful and awards-honored work in other sublime periods dramas like 2015’s Brooklyn and 2008’s Atonement (resulting in her first Oscar nod, at just 13), Ronan’s precocious acting career could very well go down in history too. In Greta Gerwig’s 2017 dramedy Lady Bird, as a true-to-life awkward teen, the actress shared a tender moment with a gay boy she’d fallen for named Danny (Lucas Hedges, Boy Erased) that ranks as one of cinema’s great coming-out scenes. Photos: Focus Features 18 | 01.02.19
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In 2015, when you could vote for the first time in Ireland, you voted in favor of the same-sex marriage referendum. You also spoke at a campaign event in Dublin organized by the Yes Equality group. Why are LGBTQ issues important to you? So many of my friends are gay. And especially in the arts, I’m surrounded by people of all different sexual orientations all the time. The best thing about the experience of being in this world is that everyone just becomes this one thing and, for me anyway, there’s never been any sort of separation at all or segregation. So yeah, that’s why. I also just feel like as much as it’s important to tell any sort of love story if it’s between a man and a woman, it’s equally important to shine a light on gay relationships too.
Which Mary Queen of Scots does. The film’s emotional core is really the result of Mary’s relationship with her private secretary and confidante David Rizzio, who’s portrayed as just one of the girls. Reflecting on the LGBTQ people in your life, how did that scene personally resonate with you? I guess it goes back to just what I was saying: That there’s no difference for me at all, and we’re all together working and being friends and supporting each other. And actually, the thing is, at that time there was a lot of sexual fluidity because it was pre-Victorian era, where everyone got a bit pokerup-their-arse, and so everyone was quite open. I don’t know whether you could say accepting, necessarily, but certainly sort of nonjudgmental. Also, marriage was a separate thing to love and sex back then. So Mary really was that open; she came from France, she came from a very culturally rich Renaissance country and, yeah, I feel like the arts still embody that. You know, I’ve even noticed with one of my best friends, because he’s a little bit younger than me, but all of his friends were coming out from such
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an early age in a way that even mine weren’t, and I’m only a few years older than him. He’s grown up with just being around everything and everyone, and it made him a much happier person.
Without giving too much away, you walk in on two men in bed together. Were you as happy as I was to have a period film acknowledge that men slept with other men during that time? Well, yeah – especially when they’re both so beautiful! You know what? The thing was, for me: I was quite excited that – like, more often than not it’s the women who are naked in the bed, and it’s the woman’s arse that you see. Usually the man is completely covered up. And so, what I loved about it being two men together in bed is that you got to see them in all their glory and beauty. It was two male bodies being exposed in a lovely way, which I really, really liked. There was something about that that as a female actor I found quite exciting.
Piggybacking off a major plot point that I won’t spoil for readers: Have you ever been in love with a gay man? (Laughs) Have I ever been in love with a gay man? I think I’m in love with every gay man I know, probably! I think most women have been in that situation. But yeah, so many of my friends are gay and I love them to death. And what I’ve experienced with, specifically, the gay men that I’m close to is that there’s just a safety as a woman, a real safety that you feel. And a security. It’s a safe space.
And you’re that same place for them? Yeah, I hope so. Luckily, the friends that I have who are gay are very confident anyway and they sort of don’t give a shit, but you want all your friends to feel supported, and I think we all do support each other. I think it’s one of those things: Their sexual orientation or mine doesn’t
really come into it because we’re just people and friends, and so it’s got a real purity to it.
family was amazing and really forward-thinking, so Louisa certainly explores that part of herself.
You’ve said that you don’t take gender into consideration when choosing roles, but yet you’ve not played a man.
In both Lady Bird and Mary Queen of Scots, the approach to the gay reveal has been refreshingly played without blame. Queerness isn’t framed as betrayal. Are these situations handled as delicately as they seem to be?
No, I haven’t. None have been offered to me. But I would! I would, I would. I’ve always liked the idea of playing someone from the opposite sex just because of what you get to do with it. I love the idea of being able to blur lines in such a kind of extreme way, but then also just from a pure actor point of view being able to work out somebody’s physicality and really embodying someone who would just move in a completely different way to you, and their voice register would be different and how they communicate and interact would be different and their gestures would be different. So yeah, I would love to do it. Even just for that alone.
Yeah, I think so. I think in both cases the directors are close to gay men themselves and have been in similar situations with mates of theirs; so they know how delicate a thing that is and how important it is to honor that and be as sensitive with that as possible because it’s such a huge thing for a person. It’s certainly been a lovely thing to be a part of, honoring that and shining a light on that experience for someone.
You’re starring in Greta Gerwig’s upcoming remake of Little Women as Jo March. Jo was a tomboy, and some have speculated that she might be queer. Are you portraying Jo with that in mind? I can’t say much about what we’re doing at the moment because we’re still shooting, but I do know there was a lot of speculation that (Little Women author) Louisa Alcott, who Jo is obviously based on, was probably at least bisexual. Whether you want to put a label on it or not, (she) fell in love with whoever, regardless of their gender. She was very forward-thinking in that way, and she was liberal in that way. And Louisa came from a very Bohemian, pretty radical background – her
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).
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José has been in Atlanta since 2015, where he works at the airport and lives with his husband. He enjoys listening to music, going out with friends on weekends to dinners, movies, going to the park, or dancing! He also loves to travel and getting to know new cultures. As you can tell, José is very committed to his physical condition by eating healthy and exercising 5-6 days a week. He always recognizes the positive side of life, and his philosophy for a happy life is that everything is possible with effort, commitment, and with God as your greatest support.
José Vilchez @jhosep7788
30 | 01.02.19
fitness
The Work Starts NOW By Darren Floro-Bryant New year, new body. We all want to look a certain way for the summer months, whether it be to be thinner, be more fit, more muscular or a total body transformation. No matter what your goal or your motivation, the work starts now! It all begins with commitment and discipline. You’ll need to set a final goal, but also break it down into smaller, more incremental achievements to keep you on track and motivated. Another factor you need to consider and accept is that you are accountable only to yourself. No matter what assistance you choose to acquire to help you achieve your goal, you are responsible for you. One additional aspect you have to accept and understand is that no matter what your goal, it will take hard work to achieve it. You also need to account for hurdles and roadblocks along the way that you can plan for and allow for setbacks. For example, you will need to know how to handle certain celebrations along the way like birthdays, holiday celebrations, business or personal dinners or nights out. This is where forgiveness is a big factor in achieving your goal. If you skip a workout or mess up a meal, own it and get right back on track. No one is going to do it for you. With all of this being said, I will give you a few tips and tools to help you start your journey. Seek the help of a professional or professionals. If your goal is to get fit or lose weight, speak with a registered dietician. In addition to this, you will want to enlist the help of a personal trainer. If you are looking to get more intense and train for a specific sport, you will also want to be more targeted with the professionals you choose to help achieve that goal. Let’s start simple. Simple moves that can challenge anyone at any level!
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Simple but Effective with 100’s Every single exercise will consist of 100 repetitions. These will target the “Mirror Muscle,” the muscles that everyone sees. The great thing is, with the higher repetitions, these exercises will also enlist the help of a lot of the auxiliary or supporting muscles, to complete the sets. Every exercise will have another exercise paired with it (a superset) to allow for active recovery. Choose weights so you know you can complete all the repetitions, but also have some lighter weight ready to go to ensure you complete the set number of reps specified. Set Set Set Set
Wide Grip Cable Lat Pull-Down superset with Alternating Side Squats
1: 30 reps of each 2: 20 reps of each 3: 30 reps of each 4: 20 reps of each
Flat Dumbbell Chest Press superset with Stability ball ab
Twisting Bicep Curls (curl together) superset with Narrow “grip” Push Ups
Seated Cable Row superset with Kettle Bell Goblet Squats
Twisting Dumbbell Skull Crushers (together) superset with Alternating Forward Lunges Incline Dumbbell Chest Press superset with Bench Pikes
34 | 01.02.19
Darren Floro-Bryant has worked as a certified Group Fitness Instructor, Fitness Coach, and Personal Trainer for more than 25 Years. He also owns DFB Fitness and Foundation Fitness, operating out of Gravity Fitness. DFBFitness.com / FoundationFitness.co.
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peachATL.com | 35
Jan 2 – Jan 9
Rock of Ages Musical
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial in Concert
Broadway in Atlanta is turning up the volume to ten as The Rock of Ages tenth anniversary tour is blazing through town with a large-scale production of the award-winning musical. Tickets through foxtheatre.org.
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra takes on one of the most memorable movie scores ever. Watch E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial on the big screen while the orchestra performs the music live – an unworldly way to start the new year! Go to atlantasymphony.org for tickets.
January 3 & 4 The Fox Theatre
January 4 & 5 the Atlanta Symphony
STAFF PICK!
PALS Drag Queen Bingo Leather and Lace Edition This is leaps from the kind of bingo your grandma plays, so expect the queens to whip up some lacey outfits and prepare for a little abuse for a good cause! Tickets via palsatlanta.org.
Tuesday, January 8, 7:30 pm LIPS Atlanta
Heyday ‘80s Dance Party
Be Bad DILF Party
Start the year off in style with a night of 80s music by DILF Black & Blue wants you to be bad, so get ready for Kimber and Saved By The Band. some hot fun in your jock! DJ Jeff Dority of LA’s Pure Noise will spin the beats. Saturday, January 5, 10 pm – 3 am
The Basement
38 | 01.02.19
Saturday, January 5, 10 pm – 3 am The Heretic
SEEN AT ZOCALO PHOTOS: Andrea Dwyer
40 | 01.02.19
MIDTOWN 1
Monroe Dr. NE
14
Amsterdam Ave.
NE ve . tA
Piedmont Park
on
11
dm
6 12th St. NE
18
Pi e
Juniper St. NE
14th St. NE
7
9
2
10th St. NE
10
. NE
19
oe Dr
e. NE Piedmont Av
Juniper St . NE
Peachtree St. NE
3
Monr
Charles Allen Dr. NE
12 W. Peachtree St. NW
15
16
4th St. NE
8
13
BARS Amsterdam Blake's Bulldogs Friends The Model T My Sister’s Room Ten Atlanta
5
Dining 502 Amsterdam Ave NE 227 10th St NE 893 Peachtree St NE 736 Ponce De Leon Ave NE 699 Ponce De Leon Ave NE 66 12th St NE 990 Piedmont Ave NE
9 10 11 12
10 th & Piedmont Campagnolo Einstein's F.R.O.G.S
clubs 13 Atlanta Eagle
306 Ponce De Leon Ave NE
306 Ponce De Leon Ave NE
14 Urban Body Fitness 500 Amsterdam Ave NE
spa/bath 15 Flex Spa
42 | 01.02.19
991 Piedmont Ave NE 980 Piedmont Ave NE 1077 Juniper St NE 931 Monroe Cir NE
fitness
retail 8 Barking Leather
4
Ponce De Leon Ave. NE
Ponce De Leon Ave. NE
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Ponce De Leon Pl. NE
Spring St. NW
17
76 4th St. NW
16 17 18 19
G’s Midtown Henry’s Joe's on Juniper La Hacienda
219 10th St NE 132 10th St NE 1049 Juniper St NE 900 Monroe Dr NE
billards/Darts drag dancers leather non-smoking area Patio
When the world throws you Let be your savedandgay.com
Cheshire 23
ansley 21
37
e
ge
Rd
on tC ir .
Piedmont Park BARS 2043 Cheshire Bridge Rd 1086 Alco St NE 1931 Piedmont Cir NE 2425 Piedmont Rd NE 1842 Cheshire Bridge Rd 1824 Cheshire Bridge Rd
32 33 34 35 36
Midtown Moon Felix's The Hideaway Mixx Oscar's
805 Lambert Dr. NE, Suite A 2205 Cheshire Bridge Rd 2069 Cheshire Bridge Rd 1739 Cheshire Bridge Rd 2201 Faulkner Rd NE
Spa / bath 2103 Faulkner Rd NE 2135 Liddell Drive NE
1492 Piedmont Ave NE 1510 Piedmont Ave NE 1544 Piedmont Ave NE 1492 Piedmont Ave NE 1510 Piedmont Ave NE
Dining 37 Cowtippers 38 Eclectic Bistro
Fitness 30 Gravitee Fitness
NE
.
clubs 28 Heretic 29 Tokyo Valentino
e. nt mo ed
39 38
Retail 26 Barking Leather 27 Southern Nights
41
Pi
28 20
Dining 24 Las Margaritas 25 Roxx
Av
ge Rd Brid hire
r.
E
Ches
.N
.
25
BJ Roosters Opus 1 Tripps Woof's
31 Manifest 4 U 42 The Den
35
24
id Br
Dr
Rd
BARS 20 21 22 23
40
32
oe
hir
36
nr
dm
es
ll D
31 er
Mo
Pi e
29
Ch
idde
kn
27
33
. NE
Manchester St. NE
Piedmont Rd. NE
22
42 L
ul
IX
34
x Rd
Fa
26
BL
Le no
30
Lambert Dr.
PU
St.
.
A l co
1600 Piedmont Ave NE 1425 Piedmont Ave NE
Retail 39 Boy Next Door 1447 Piedmont Ave NE 40 Brushstrokes/Pleasures 1510 Piedmont Ave NE
Fitness 41 Equilibrium Fitness
1529 Piedmont Ave, Suite L
NOT SHOWN
Mary's Sister Louisa’s Church Swinging Richards Lips Atlanta
1287 Glenwood Ave SE 466 Edgewood Ave SE 1400 Northside Dr NW 3011 Buford Hwy NE
peachATL.com | 43
A snapshot of Gay Atlanta’s favorite destinations. View their ads in Peach ATL & visit their websites for weekly event listings.
Bars & Clubs
EAST ATLANTA, GRANT PARK & EDGEWOOD
Retail
MIDTOWN
MARY’S
MIDTOWN
amsterdamatlanta.com
1287 Glenwood Ave SE
AMSTERDAM
502 Amsterdam Ave. NE
ATLANTA EAGLE
marysatlanta.com
SISTER LOUISA’S CHURCH
BARKING LEATHER AFTER DARK barkingleather.com
306 Ponce De Leon Ave NE
sisterlouisaschurch.com
CHESHIRE
SWINGING RICHARDS
BARKING LEATHER
1400 Northside Dr NW
805 Lambert Dr NE
BULLDOGS
Dining
2205 Cheshire Bridge Rd NE
FRIENDS NEIGHBORHOOD BAR
MIDTOWN
736 Ponce De Leon Ave NE
10thandpiedmont.com
atlantaeagle.com
306 Ponce De Leon Ave NE
BLAKE’S ON THE PARK
blakesontheparkatlanta.com 227 10th St NE
893 Peachtree St NE
friendsonponce-atl.com
466 Edgewood Ave SE
swingingrichards.com
10TH & PIEDMONT
MODEL T
991 Piedmont Ave NE
699 Ponce De Leon Ave NE
einsteinsatlanta.com
modeltatlanta.com
EINSTEIN’S
MY SISTER’S ROOM
1077 Juniper St NE
66 12th St NE
frogsmidtown.com
mysistersroom.com
TEN ATLANTA
tenatlanta.com
990 Piedmont Ave NE
CHESHIRE
SOUTHERN NIGHTS VIDEO
ANSLEY BOY NEXT DOOR MENSWEAR boynextdoormenswear.com 1447 Piedmont Ave NE
GCB & PLEASURES
brushstrokesatlanta.com 1510 Piedmont Ave. NE
FROGS CANTINA
Fitness
931 Monroe Dr
MIDTOWN
G’S
gsmidtown.com 219 10th St NE
HERETIC
HENRY’S
2069 Cheshire Bridge Road
132 10th St NE
BJ ROOSTERS
JOE’S ON JUNIPER
hereticatlanta.com
barkingleather.com
henrysatl.com
URBAN BODY FITNESS urbanbodyfitness.com
500 Amsterdam Ave NE
CHESHIRE GRAVITEE FITNESS graviteeatl.com
bjroosters.com
joesonjuniper.com
2043 Cheshire Bridge Road NE
1049 Juniper St NE
OPUS 1
LA HACIENDA
Spas/Baths/Adult
900 Monroe Dr NE
MIDTOWN
1931 Piedmont Circle N
CHESHIRE
FLEX SPA
WOOFS
LAS MARGARITAS
76 4th St NW
2425 Piedmont Road NE
1842 Cheshire Bridge Rd NE
CHESHIRE
ANSLEY
ROXX
MANIFEST 4U
MIDTOWN MOON
1824 Cheshire Bridge Rd NE
1492 Piedmont Ave NE
ANSLEY
FELIX’S
COWTIPPERS
1086 Alco St NE
TRIPPS
woofsatlanta.com
1510 Piedmont Ave NE
lahaciendamidtown.com
lasmargaritasmidtown.com
cowtippersatlanta.com
THE HIDEAWAY
1600 Piedmont Ave NE
1544 Piedmont Ave NE
DEKALB
MIXX
LIPS ATLANTA
1492 Piedmont Ave NE
3011 Buford Hwy NE
mixxatlanta.com
OSCAR’S
oscarsatlanta.com
1510 Piedmont Ave NE
44 | 01.02.19
atldragshow.com
2201 Faulkner Rd NE
flexspas.com
manifest4u.org
2103 Faulkner Rd NE
THE DEN
thedenatlanta.com
2135 Liddell Drive NE
Georgia Body Works.com Mobile Fitness and Massage “I come to you, so let’s get started!”
678-557-1780
Personal Training • Massage • Entertainment georgiabodyworks.com
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10 WAYS TO START THE YEAR OFF RIGHT READY, SET, GO 2019!
Improve communication Learn from the past Try to do something out of your comfort zone Make a budget for the year
Plan a trip
Clean out your car Be alone and reflect
Focus on the future Free up digital space on your phone, etc.
Set goals for the year 46 | 01.02.19
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Text your Peach Pits to 540-30-PEACH, or e-mail mikkel@PeachATL.com
Him: I think we need to take a break…
Me: Honey, your phone is doing that autocorrect thing again
Every friend was once a stranger. And my friends only get stranger!
Him: I think we should see other people
Me: It’s doing it again!
Apparently, it takes a Superbowl to repair many of the potholes in Atlanta!
Him: No, I’m serious, we need to break up!
Me: You need to get a new phone, this is ridiculous!
Him: …
A new you? Yeah, I see just the same old bag of tricks!
Asking for a friend: could a hot shower be a regular shower just with the guy I like?
48 | 01.02.19
Here we are, ready for a whole new year of poor choices – I can’t wait!
When a butch queen gives me side eye at the gym my first thought is “Bitch, I’ve seen you in heels, go home”!
GEMINI (MAY 21 - JUN. 20) Curb your enthusiasm if a friend approaches you with an interesting business proposition today. Look at his plans from all angles, but remember that business can be like dating. You may find someone who looks attractive, but you’ll only wind up getting screwed, and not in a way you’d like.
CANCER (JUN. 21 - JUL. 22) Difficulties will arise at work today, but you’ll handle them with the poise of a miracle worker. It’ll be like you have a magic wand and those problems will instantly disappear. Now where was that wand when you needed it last week?
CAPRICORN (DEC. 22 - JAN. 19)
LEO (JUL. 23 - AUG. 22)
The high energy with which you’ll greet the day will be countered by slow moving coworkers. You won’t have the patience for their sluggishness, and you’ll tell them so. This won’t make them work any faster, and will cast you as the office pariah for the remainder of the day, if not the week.
You’ll try to make a good impression with a new acquaintance today. But your massive ego may have him running in the other direction. Toning it down a bit could have you figuring out how to lure him back, and why it is you have so few friends.
AQUARIUS (JAN. 20 - FEB. 18) Despite your best laid plans, today will be one disaster after another. You won’t be able to figure out why that is, but don’t try to fight it. Go with the flow and you’ll get though this difficult day, but expect frustration and a headache that will feel like your brain is caught in a vice.
PISCES (FEB. 19 - MAR. 20)
VIRGO (AUG. 23 - SEP. 22) The dating game can be played anywhere, even at work. Fix your eyes on coworkers who may be looking at you. Hopefully those colleagues will be guys who play for the same team. Otherwise you may have some ‘splainin’ to do.
LIBRA (SEP. 23 - OCT. 22)
You may have to rely on favors from friends in high places today. Being beholden to others is not a comfortable place for you, because there’s no telling what they’ll expect in return. So keep your integrity intact, and don’t do anything that involves farm animals, a leather thong and a blender.
Repeatedly striking out with men recently may have you feeling depressed. Cheer up mate, because it’s the dawning of a whole new day. If you act like a desperate jerk, you’re only going to attract desperate jerks, so accentuate the positive and see what happens.
ARIES (MAR. 21 - APR. 19)
SCORPIO (OCT. 23 - NOV. 21)
You’ll need to come up with unique ways to approach a hectic workday. Drinking plenty of coffee is one solution, as is exercising before heading to work. But your best tactic could be staying in bed, and leaving the mountain of headaches for your coworkers to deal with.
The boss will be in a good mood today, an opportune time to sell him some of your ideas. You’ll be amazed at how easy that will be, and he’ll give you the green light on all of them. But hopefully it wasn’t the Prozac speaking, and he remembers it tomorrow.
TAURUS (APR. 20 - MAY 20)
SAGITTARIUS (NOV. 22 - DEC. 21)
You will be turtle-like today, slow moving and meticulous. Too bad the day will start in overdrive and only get faster from there. You’ll have to ramp up as quickly as possible. You know what happens when the turtle tries to move into the fast lane.
Recent overspending may have left your finances in a weakened and pitiful state. Tighten that belt strap today, and get frugal. You may have to return some favors if you want people to help you out, and hopefully some of them won’t involve taking off your pants.
50 | 01.02.19
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.
My boyfriend is complaining that apparently I f**k him in my sleep. He says it used to be nice to be ‘taken in the night’, but now it is becoming a nuisance. He says it happens a little too frequently, he is losing sleep, and I am also a little more forceful in the dark of night. The thing is, I don’t even remotely remember having sex during the night, but I do wake up feeling ‘satisfied’ as if I have had sex. Is there such a thing as sleepwalking but for sex? Sleepsex?
Sincerely Sleep-F**ker
So, I am a happy, giving bottom and always have been. I discovered early that I have a natural talent for taking dick long and hard. But lately, I have found that I am no longer that tight ‘back there’, and sometimes I even get little leaks in my underwear, which is really gross, right? I have tried not to have sex to have everything sort of tighten back up, but I am really not good at not having sex for longer periods of time! I told you, I am really good at bottoming! So what can I do since not having sex is obviously not happening?
Sincerely Loose Ends Dear Sleep-F**ker Actually, in sleep research there is such a thing as sleepsex, which is being compared to sleepwalking too. So, it is a non-conscious state where a person can seem to do fully aware and conscious actions – like walking or even having sex – while being fully asleep (and not consciously aware.) The research also points to the fact that most partners of sleepsexers don’t find the episodes all that great, because when you think of it, it lingers right on that border of abuse. One proposed reason for sleepsexing is the old and classic Freudian repression theory where the things you are afraid of doing in real life are done in your dreams or in a non-conscious sleepsexing state! That would also explain why you would be more forceful and sexually different during the sleepsex. So, now that you know what this is all about why don’t you try to incorporate it into your sex life? Are there parts of the sleepsex that your boyfriend likes? Maybe the more dominant and forceful you could be a turn-on in your daytime sex life where you are both awake? Perhaps this can be a way for you to develop your sexual persona, and for your sex life to become even better?
Dear Loose Ends You can compare your sphincter to a rubber band – the more you stretch it, the looser it gets. And if your sphincter loses some of its elasticity, it can be hard for it to serve its primary purpose: to keep your ass shut! You can do something to regain the elasticity with so-called Kegel exercises: tighten your anus like when you are stopping the flow of urine, hold the tension for a few seconds and release. Normally, you only need to do them for a few minutes a day, but in your case, I suggest you start a little exercise program for about 10-15 minutes a day. The good thing about these exercises is that you can do them without anybody else knowing it – just like Samantha in Sex and the City when she goes “I’m doing mine right now” mid-brunch and mid-conversation. All kidding aside, you need to do something to regain some strength back there, because the alternative is that you will have more than just leaks in your underwear, and eventually, you will need to have a more extensive surgery, and no matter how much you like having someone enter you, that is not going to be a pleasant experience. So start clenching right this instant!
NEED ANSWERS? REACH OUT TO US, AND YOU WILL GET THEM! SEND YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS TO OUR EDITOR AT MIKKEL@PEACHATL.COM.
52 | 01.02.19
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