We Are: Proud/Bourne Free/Ready to Party!

College Green is the place where we are: proud

The highpoint of the largest Pride event in the South West of England is the annual parade in College Green, right in the heart of Bristol.

“We Are: Proud”  is  the theme of the day on Saturday, July 14 and at the end of the night Pride will take over the O2 Academy.

Organisers of  the event are once again looking forward to welcoming crowds from all over the UK and beyond who will come from across the world to enjoy Pride.

Daryn Carter, one of the organisers of the festival has  said: “As one of the only free Prides in the UK, We Are: Proud promises to be bigger and better than ever.

it’s raining men…hallelujah!

“We Are: Proud is a chance for people to stand up and declare that they are proud of who they are, for friends and families to show how proud they are of their loved ones and for the city to not just have a gay Pride but to be truly proud of its LGBT community.

“We are unfunded and will be asking for donations which not only help make Pride happen but will also go to support Freedom Youth, Bristol’s dedicated LGBT Youth Service.”

And guess what? The incoming Lord Mayor of Bristol, Councillor Peter Main is the first openly gay Lord Mayor of Bristol. He’ll be at the parade, no doubt.

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Meanwhile in Bournemouth, they will be having a right royal knees-up in honour of the Jubilee. Their parade leaves West Cliff, Monkey Island at noon tomorrow…and finishes  at the Triangle at 1pm.

During the afternoon there will be a great family entertainment in the Lower Gardens, at the Bandstand, with stalls, live music and comedy hosted by Sally Vate and Lucinda Lashes.

From 1pm-6pm artists appearing include: All About GaGa, Lady James, Benjii, Jazz Blaack, Tammy Twinkle, Nicolette Street, Michael Hinch, Wilma Fingadoo, the winner of Bourne Free’s Got Talent, Cindy Hollingsworth and Sheila and the Monster Boys.

that’s wright…jessie wright

From 6pm-11pm artists appearing include: Jessica Wright (The Only Way is Essex), Rogue Minogue, Envy, Miss Jason, Butchesque, James Bedford, Sandra and X Factor finalists, 2 Shoes who will bring the evening to a close.

Then…on Sunday, The Triangle Tour features a Metropolitan Community Church Service in the Triangle Arena at noon. Miss Jason does her Bingo at DMYK at 3pm. There is a cabaret tea party at 2930 at 6pm followed by Wilmas Mad House at The Branksome at 8pm. At 11pm Sheilas cabaret show & stripper is at XChange. The Bakers Arms is open all day for Bourne Free After party drinks.

To be taken with a grain of salt

They say sometimes that youth is wasted on the young.

Well, I’ll tell the tale and you be the judge.

Drugs don’t work. Taking the wrong drugs really doesn’t work.

Matthew Hammond, a 21-year-old Georgia male  from Georgia in Miami was arrested on July 3 after being discovered ‘out of his mind’ on bath salts, and armed with a knife.

Police were called to the scene and Hammond was arrested. But not before a grim discovery was made. To whit: ‘a strong odour of excrement emitting from his breath’ and ‘faeces in his mouth and teeth.’

Sorry you had to see that, folks.

We know what we like on this blog (all together now. coffee cake and kink). But how bizarre is this?

The world is full of people who have convinced themselves they are mature enough to sample the latest drug of choice. You’ve had your fun now. But watch out: the next generation is copying you, and it smells something horrid.

Unhook Yourself with Marc Almond

So. It’s No Bra Day today. It’s up to social enterprises like CCK to rise to the occasion and say something (ahem) uplifting. Fingers at the ready…

chest a song at twiliiiiiiiiight…..

Marc Almond returns to the O2 Shepherds Bush (fnar fnar!) Empire five years after his triumphant gig for his fiftieth birthday. I guess that would make him fifty-five then. Anyway, the show’s at 8pm; doors open at 7: and it should be a good place to unhook your bra whilst nobody is looking. (best to do it in the ladies loos…don’t tell anybody it’s my idea!)

Ticket prices are 19:50/27:50 plus the usuals. You can pay in cash at the door from 4pm. Or online at www.ticketweb.co.uk

MARC ALMOND at the O2 SHEPHERDS BUSH EMPIRE

Shepherds Bush Green, London W12 8TT  tube: Shepherds Bush bus: lots of them

Parking: between 6pm and 12 midnight at Westfield Shopping Centre…just £3 for O2 customers. Check for entry and exit points and read up on the rules..

Drinking: 21 and over. Bring and ID.

surely you can see this is a responsible adult

Younger ones welcome, but bring a responsible adult. Like what you see pictured above. You know it makes sense…don’t you?

11th East End Film Festival: Out and Proud

With the World Pride celebrations being held in London this year, it is no surprise that Tower Hamlets’ EAST END FILM FESTIVAL is showing some of the finest and most moving cinema in LGBT history. Here’s what is on:

STRATFORD PICTUREHOUSE, Salway Road London E15 1BX box office 0871 902 5740 tube stratford

www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Stratford  London/

ANARCHY GIRLS (ANARCHIJA ZIRMUNUOS) Wednesday, 4 July at 20:30: this is the UK premiere of the first Lithuanian film to portray a lesbian relationship. Director Saulius Drunga’s film debut is described in the blurb as ‘being punkish’.

HACKNEY PICTUREHOUSE, 270 Mare Street, London E8 1HE box office 0871 902 5734

www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Hackney  Picturehouse/

CALL ME KUCHU Thursday, 5 July at 21:00: The London premiere of an award-winning film. The subject is David Kato, the first man to be openly gay in Uganda: his struggles for the rights of the LGBT community in that country. The film tracks the last year of Kato’s life…before he was brutally struck down.

MY LAST ROUND (MI ULTIMO ROUND) Sunday, 8 July at 14:00: London premiere of a film from Chile/Argentina which explores ” the perceptions of masculinity and sexuality in competitive sport”. Oooooooh!

HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE Sunday, 8 July at 16:00: in the early 1980s. a bunch of Americans take on the system. And win. The award-winning director and journalist David France visits London to show and tell us more.

 

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL UK: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION CENTRE 17-25, New Inn Yard, Hoxton, London EC2A 3EA

bus 26, 35, 47, 48, 67,149 tube old street

www.wegotttickets.com/eeff

LOOK AT ME AGAIN (OHLE PRA MIM DE NOVO) Wednesday 4 July at 19:00: a film from Brazil. It’s about Silvio, who is trangender but was born as a woman. It’s also about his personal journey in order to reconnect with his estranged daughter.

ORGANISING PRIDES IN A HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT Friday, 6 July at 17:00. Free, but we advise you book your seat.

On the day before the Pride Parade,why don’t you warm up? Amnesty will screen Homo @ LV: a history of how Pride got organised in Riga, Latvia. Followed by a panel discussion with Sam Dick (Head of Policy at Stonewall) among the panelists.

2012 Pride Day Poem by Wills Morgan

ANTHEM

for the children

of our time

HAVE PRIDE IN YOURSELF. This is what I say.

HAVE PRIDE IN YOURSELF each and every day.

HAVE PRIDE IN YOURSELF. Keep your troubles at bay.

Whether straight or bisexual, or if you’re gay

Lesbian or Transgender, this is what I say:

HAVE PRIDE IN YOURSELF each and every day.

At home or your work. When you rest. As you play.

Stay in the right track if you were born that way.

HAVE PRIDE IN YOURSELF.

EACH.

AND.

EVERY.

DAY.

Contributing Artist Wills Morgan is pictured sitting behind the map at the Island bar and restaurant in north west London in 2010. Photo used with kind permission of the photographer, Mr.Tyson Sadlo.

This photograph is one of a series of five portraits entitled A CORNER OF COLLEGE PARK.