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Day: June 12, 2015

LGBT choirs from all over the country gather today in Brighton

Posted on by Graham Robson

Choirs from all over the UK and Ireland have been gathering in Brighton today for the start of the Hand in Hand LGBT Choir Festival.

Hand in Hand

500 delegates from 25 LGBT choirs and ensembles from across the UK and Ireland have registered to attend including the internationally renowned London Gay Men’s Chorus, Actually Gay Men’s Chorus, Deep C Divas, Diversity Choir, Gay Abandon, Manchester Lesbian and Gay Chorus, The Pink Singers, Sing Out Bristol and the Thames Valley Gay Chorus.

Highlight of the weekend will be a Gala Concert at the Brighton Dome on Saturday, June 13 at 7.30pm hosted by Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus and The Rainbow Chorus

For more information about the weekends events, click here:

Hand in Hand

Event: Hand in Hand LGBT Choir Festival Concert

Where: Brighton Dome, Church Street, Brighton

When: Saturday, June 13

Time: 7.30pm

Tickets: £10, £14 and £17

To book tickets online, click here:

For more information about the Hand in Hand Festival, click here:

‘Report It!’ empowers the LGBT community to report to police!

Posted on by Gary Hart

Report It! was set up by the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender) Community Safety Forum in 2014 with supportive funding from the Police & Crime Commissioner’s Safer in Sussex Community Fund (SiSCF).

LGBT Community Safety ForumTHE aim of the project is to make it easier for members of the LGBT community to report a crime and get the help and support they need.

Billie Lewis, Chair of the Forum said: Report It! is not just about hate crime, although that is its primary aim. Members of the community are also encouraged to use it as an anonymous, third-party reporting mechanism for incidents of lower-level harassment or abuse. Many such incidents have until now been shrugged off and not reported because the person being targeted thought nobody else, including the authorities, would be interested or supportive.

 “The LGBT Safety Forum is a non-profit organisation and staffed by volunteers and so we were delighted to receive a grant from the SiSCF to help with the Report It! project. The funding also allowed us to run a personal safety and self-awareness class tailored to the specific needs of the LGBT community.”

Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner, Katy Bourne, said: “We need projects like “Report It” in order to empower those communities who may feel marginalised. I want every Sussex resident to feel confident and safe irrespective of who they are or what their background is.

Katy Bourne
Katy Bourne

“Many minority groups have not always had trust in the police. Recent figures show a 40% rise in the number of hate crimes recorded between 2013 and 2014 in Brighton & Hove. I welcome an increase in reporting as it reflects confidence in police and partners from the more vulnerable in our society. However, for every person that reports a hate crime, I know there are some who do not feel able to. This is why I will continue to support local voluntary and community groups that tackle crime and improve safety.”

More than half a million in funding from the SiSCF has been made available to over 100 community projects to date.

For more information on grant funding from the Police & Crime Commissioner, click here:

For more information about Report It and the LGBT Community Safety Forum, click here:

Or email: info@lgbt-help.com

 

 

12 hours left to vote in the Golden Handbag Awards

Posted on by Gary Hart

Voting in the 2015 Golden Handbag Awards closes tonight, June 12 at midnight.

Golden Handbag Show

 

AS of noon, more than 6,300 people have voted online in what has been the largest online vote in the history of the awards which have run annually since 1995.

This year, 3,000 people voted in the first four days of online voting, smashing all previous records.

The closest categories as of this morning are Favourite Sunday Lunch, Favourite Hotel, Favourite Entertainer (drag) and Favourite Small Bar where there are 5 venues in with a chance of taking the crown.

James LedwardJames Ledward, editor of Gscene Magazine said: “With no voting forms in the printed copy of the magazine this year, we have had the biggest online vote ever. 50% of the categories have just 50 votes between the top two contenders. Good luck to everyone involved and remember winning a Golden Handbags is a privilege not a right!”

Lola Lasagne
Lola Lasagne

If you have not registered your vote yet, click here:

Tickets are on sale for this year’s glittering awards ceremony, hosted by Lola Lasagne and featuring comediennes Zoe Lyons and Myra Dubois, powerhouse singer Jennie Castell and the brilliant Drag With No Name.

Zoe Lyons
Zoe Lyons

The awards will take place on Sunday, June 22 in the Oxford Suite at the Brighton Metropole Hilton Hotel.

All VIP tables have been sold.

If you’re not on a VIP table, unreserved single tickets, costing £20 each can be purchased from Prowler, 112 St James’s Street, Brighton.

Prowler don’t charge a handling fee for this service and all payments must be settled in cash in person at Prowler. These seats are not reserved and are allocated on the public tables on a first come, first served basis on the night.

Online voting this year closes on Friday, June 12 at midnight.

Win a pair of tickets to see Kylie and Grace Jones at Hyde Park

Posted on by Gary Hart

Gscene have 10 pairs of tickets to give away to see pop princess Kylie Minogue and Grace Jones at Barclaycard presents British Summer Time in Hyde Park on Sunday, June 21.

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Prepare for an unforgettable day of floor-filler hits from the universally-adored Kylie Minogue, who is one of the top pop entertainers on the planet, famed for her fabulous and extravagant live shows.

Kylie took her awesome Kiss Me Once tour around Europe last year, featuring renditions of her greatest hits and she is once again causing a stir on her latest collaboration with disco legend Giorgio Moroder, Right Here, Right Now, the first track to be released from his forthcoming album.

Kylie has sold over 70 million records worldwide in a career spanning over 25 years, and has clocked up 33 UK Top 10 singles, including seven No. 1 hits including I Should Be So Lucky, Spinning Around and Can’t Get You Out of My Head.

Grace Jones

POP sensation MIKA will join Kylie, the legendary Chic (featuring Nile Rodgers) and the incomparable Diva, Grace Jones.

Taking place just one week before Pride in London, this pre-party Diva extravaganza will get you in the mood for the capital’s colourful annual LGBT+ celebration on Saturday, June 27.

Pride in London will head up The Carnival Stage with an eye-popping line up that will be unlike anything you’ve ever seen in the history of Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park – including a performance by the winner of Pride’s Got Talent 2015.

Stephen Ward
Stephen Ward

Deputy Chair of Pride in London, Stephen Ward, said: “Pride in London is thrilled to be taking over the Carnival Stage with some of the best and freshest talent from the LGBT+ community, including winners of Pride’s Got Talent 2015. It’s going to be an amazing start to Pride week.” 

New guests added to the line-up include; Years & Years, Foxes, Bright Light Bright Light, and Ekkah.

Headliners already announced for other Barclaycard presents British Summer Time Hyde Park events, include:

♦ The Strokes with Beck on June 18,

♦ Blur on June 20,

♦ The Who, with Paul Weller, Kaiser Chiefs and Johnny Marr on June 26 and

♦ Taylor Swift, joined by Ellie Goulding and John Newman on June 27

To book tickets online, click here:

To win a pair of tickets to see Kylie answer the following question by email to: info@gscene.com no later than Tuesday, June 16 at noon. Please include your full name, address and telephone number for how to contact you.

Question: What character did Kylie play in the Australian soap, Neighbours (Full name).

 

 

 

 

 

 

PREVIEW: Knees up for Nepal – A fundraising benefit

Posted on by Gary Hart

The Brighton based arts and heritage organisation Strike a Light will be hosting a benefit gig to help support Nepal earthquake victims on Friday, June 19 at The Latest Music Bar.

Knees Up For Nepal

BANDS, performers, organisers and venue are volunteering their time to perform at this event, fundraising to support those affected in the recent Nepal earthquake.

Strike a Light will donate all funds from the evening to the Disasters Emergency Committee for their work in the region.

To see their promo film, click here: 

The event will be a jam-packed night of live music, compere, comedy and DJ sets.

Bands appearing will include: 

♦ The Gyratory Allstars, a Soul Funk 8 piece who include ex-members of chart topping soul jazz-meisters Definition Of Sound, Rub Ultra and the Stomp world tour.

♦ Oscillator, Ska-hugging Beat Poetry with Turbo-Dance Grooves. Oscillator fuse a multitude of influences including Ska, Electro-Funk, Psychedelia, Beat Poetry and Jazz, with words that will touch you high and low and follow you all the way home.

Headliners: Fat 45
Headliners: Fat 45

♦ Finally, headliners are Fat 45 – a blistering eleven piece big band bringing back the dance music of the 1940’& 50’s with their slick quiffs, sharp suits, swingin hips & high heels. Crowned by the rich soulful voice of Dale de Ville, the Fat 45 play rock & roll, rhythm & blues and jump jive, setting the dance floors alight wherever they go, guaranteed to make every party shake, rattle & roll.
Representatives from Brighton and Sussex Nepalese Society will speak at the event and Oscillator DJS, and Greekboy will be spinning tunes till 2am to keep you dancing into the night!

Stand-up poet, sit-up storyteller and give up musician Jonny Fluffypunk will be compering the event.

Jonny Fluffypunk has been dragging his art around the circuit for over 12 years. Fusing bittersweet autobiography, political disillusionment and surreal whimsy in an act which has established him as a favourite at gigs, festivals and housing benefit offices across Britain. Jonny is a serial poetry slam champion who remains bitterly opposed to competition in the arts. His Sustainable Nihilists’ Handbook is published by Burning Eye and he is currently touring his no-fi stand-up spoken word show Man Up, Jonny Fluffypunk- One Man’s Struggle with Late-Onset Responsibility to rousing acclaim.

All donations will go to the Disasters Emergency Committee to help provide shelter for the homeless and food water and essential items to those who have lost everything in the Nepal Earthquake.

Event: Knees Up For Nepal

Where: The Latest Music Bar, Manchester Street, Brighton

When: Friday, June 19

Time: 7.30pm – 2am

Tickets: £10 (£8 concessions)

To purchase tickets online, click here:

There will also be tickets available on the door on the night on a first come-first served basis. £10 (£8 conc).

Queer Bloc at London Anti Austerity march

Posted on by Gary Hart

There will be a Queer Bloc on the People’s Assembly Anti-Austerity march on Saturday June 20.

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THE Queer Bloc is being organised by an independent group of LGBT activists who will meet at Whittington Park, Upper Thames Street, London at 11am and leave to join the march outside the Bank of England and march to Parliament Square.

Organisers of the Queer Bloc are asking people to bring relevant banners and invite them to wear some pink or black item.

Hester Shaw, one of the organisers of the Queer Bloc, said: “In a world where there are more banks than trans organisations at pride, where we queers are being spoon fed the dogma of marriage and assimilation while our trans sisters of colour are murdered in the streets, coming together as angry queers and saying ‘here we are, we exist’ is of the highest importance.”

John Hoggett, another organiser, said: “Queer people are disproportionately affected by the cuts. There are higher rates of mental distress and homelessness amongst all the diversity of queer people than the rest of society. Cuts in services and spiralling rents are affecting us. Services that our communities have developed and depend on are facing cuts in funding. Just like benefit claimants, disabled people and people of colour we need to organise against this neo-liberal hell. But we also need to have fun, dress up a bit, wave some banners and support each other. Hopefully we can do that, so come along to the park and wear a bit of pink and black.”

Event: End Austerity Now – National Demonstration

Where: Whittington Gardens, Upper Thames Street, London

When: Saturday, June 20

Time: 11am

For up-to-date information, click here:

For Facebook page, click here:

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