Indie artist Michael Blume releases new E.P, featuring RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni Shea Couleé and Peppermint.
QUEER musicianMichael Blume released his latest E.P. cynicism & sincerity, on June 8.
The E.P. features RuPaul’s Drag Race series 9 finalists Shea Couleé and Peppermint, alongside Blume’s recently released tracks, Blunder, Lifting You, and a remix of R U Mad.
About the collaboration, the American musician said: “I have learned so much from these two talented artists and their profound commitment to self-expression, so collaborating with them is a dream.” He continued: “I am slayyyed and honored by the fact that Shea Couleé and Peppermint blessed this track!”
Centred on themes of self-assurance and celebration of LGBT+ rights, the E.P. Weaves together elements of electronica, hip-hop, soul and R&B.
Blume has previously seen great acclaim in the pages of: Rolling Stone magazine, Time magazine, Billboard, GQ, Nylon, Ladygunn, Pigeons & Planes, and Huffington Post, for his 2016 debut album, When i get it right.
The artist will follow up his latest release, with a performance at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, on June 10. Blume is also set to perform at The Peppermint Club, LA on June 26.
Cynicism & sincerity is available to stream via Spotify, Apple music, and Amazon music.
BITTER Sour return again – this time channeling their inner Divas!
Who will reign supreme?
Will it be the power pop ballads of Britney and Christina? – the madness within the minds on the Bush or Bjork? – or the darn right ludicrous behaviour of Havisham or Cruella!
They shall be exploring all aspects of Diva and what it means to their performers…
Cherry Fakewell! The queen diva of Bitter Sour, she’ll do anything for a Twix – one finger not two, Cherry knows a thing or two about being an “it” girl, but where will her Diva inspiration lead her?
Guest co-host for the evening Hans (Head Shoulders Knees and Toes) (Knees and Toes) Euff. Addiction will be busy being a Diva so is handing over for this one to the capable hands of… Hans! but where will his diva side lead him?
Plus special guests…
Daphne the 10-year-old! This Queen is taking Brighton by storm. After winning Lip Sync For your Life and performing alongside such talents as Sasha Valour – she’s picked up a thing or two on how to be a diva.
Dick Day! Dick Day is an energetically eccentric performer who’s quirky, dance-tastic, character busting numbers will leave you chuckling with a thirsty need for more! With this loud mouth: Every day is Dick Day!
And…. Clare Successfully! Clare Successfully is living up to her name, successfully gliding and twirling her way through the Scottish drag scene… and will be making her England debut with Bitter Sour! Go along and catch her putting the D in Diva with us.
100 years on from the first women in the country being granted the right to vote, Brighton Dome has been officially recognised as one of 41 buildings across England that were at the centre of suffragette action.
THE sites, which include Westminster Abbey, Epsom Racecourse, and Manchester’s Free Trade Hall, have been updated on the National Heritage List for England – which previously carried no record of their links to the movement.
Brighton Dome, which was converted into a concert and assembly hall in 1867, was an important centre of activity for Brighton members of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in the early twentieth century, with suffragette leaders Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst, Emmeline Pethick Lawrence and Lady Emily Lutyens all speaking at large public meetings there.
The venue was also the scene of militant activity by suffragettes who interrupted several meetings by Liberal politicians. Around 20 women were violently ejected from the building during protests at a meeting by Education Minister Reginald McKenna MP in November 1907. The Brighton Herald reported unsympathetically on their removal using “gentle ju-jitsu” and mocks each woman in turn. One is described as having “a voice with a shrill squeak as though she were fleeing frightened from a nightmare of mice”, another “must have been crossed in love, or she would never have wasted her charms on the desert air of a Suffragette riot”.
By 1908 the government had resorted to barring women from Ministerial meetings, but this didn’t deter the suffragettes. In January 1910 police extricated two women from inside the organ at Brighton Dome, after they drew attention to their hiding place with a sneeze. The pair – Brighton-local Eva Bourne and high-profile activist Mary Leigh – had planned to leap from the organ during a talk that evening by anti-suffrage Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. The discovered women displayed a sparky sense of humour, with The Argus reporting: “’We are thinking of bringing a counter-charge about the horribly dusty condition of the organ’, remarked one to an Inspector with a twinkle in her eye.”
Votes for Women, the WSPU’s newspaper, printed a picture of one local suffragette, Mrs Newsome, who managed to attend the meeting disguised in her husband’s clothes, though she appears not to have carried out any protest inside the concert hall.
The suffragettes were predominantly members of the radical Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), set up by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903. The suffragettes’ motto was ‘deeds not words’ and to fight for the vote they waged campaigns of sabotage and destruction on public property across the country.
In February 1912 Emmeline Pankhurst declared that “the argument of the broken pane of glass is the most valuable argument in modern politics”. The suffragettes used toffee hammers to smash windows in prominent locations, making a political statement without endangering lives. They also burned post boxes, attacked paintings in galleries and placed homemade bombs in empty buildings in a co-ordinated attack on the public realm.
Among the 41 places relisted by Historic England for the events they witnessed in the suffragettes’ campaign for the vote are Manchester’s Free Trade Hall, where the militant suffrage campaign began and Epsom racecourse, where the renowned suffragette Emily Wilding Davison was trampled by the King’s horse when she ran across the racecourse during the Derby.
Switchboard the national LGBT+ helpline features in the official History of Parliament commemorative album for Vote100 celebrations marking the centenary of women gaining the right to vote in the UK.
THIS year marks 100 years since Parliament passed the Representation of the People Act 1918 which was a package of electoral reforms that extended the vote to women for the first time.
As part of these celebrations, publisher St James’s House has partnered with the History of Parliament Trust to produce their official commemorative album for the Vote100 anniversary.
Launching in June 2018, the book tells the story of the 84-year struggle for women to get the vote, how the vote was won and what that has meant for women since.
In addition to discussing key historical events, this fully illustrated coffee-table book will showcase a selection of organisations drawn from educational, cultural, social, technological and business spheres with relevant stories to tell.
As a representative of the Charity sector, Switchboard has joined the celebrations as an editorial partner and sponsor for the official History of Parliament Trust Vote100 commemorative album.
Switchboard Trustee Natasha Walker says:“Switchboard are delighted to be part of this commemorative album on an important year celebrating the start of equality to vote. Switchboard is passionate about advocating, listening to and informing our callers of their rights – and being part of this book reflects that.”
St James’s House Founder and CEO, Richard Freed, added:“Equality is one of the most important values underpinning our society, and we are extremely excited to be producing this official commemorative album for the Trust. We are also very pleased to be working with Switchboard as one of our profiled organisations.”
This publication will be distributed on a controlled-circulation basis to key figures and organisations around the world including Members of the House of Lords and House of Commons, and will be made available to the general public through leading book retailers including Amazon.
St James’s House has previously produced official commemorative publications for The Queen’s 90th Birthday Celebration at Windsor Castle, the 750th anniversary of Parliament in the UK and the 50th anniversary of the CBI. For 2018 it is also working with the RAF100 Appeal to produce a series of publications associated with the RAF’s centenary.
Fresh from his run of Australian fringe festivals, glamouriffic cabaret performer, Reuben Kaye, steps onto the stage at Soho Theatre in nothing less than an eruption of glitter and false lashes.
AN energetic and striking ex-musical theatre singer from down under, he now produces his own shows with the intention of crafting a new narrative for us queer folk.
Kaye takes the role of story teller. He is dripping (somewhat literally) with charisma, wit and pipes to be reckoned with as he sings about his time growing up a homosexual in a very heterosexual world.
With immense suspense and buildup, the show takes a dark turn, but not without an epic costume change!
There’s power in just how relatable Kaye’s story is and it’s evident that he takes it in his stride. Short, punchy, engaging – certainly a refined craftsman telling a story worth hearing.
Review by Tin Nguyen at Soho Theatre on Wednesday, June 6.
At yesterdays (June 9) Diana, Princess of Wales Lecture on HIV, Sir Elton John called for renewed global action on HIV.
THE landmark lecture, the latest in a series launched by NAT (National AIDS Trust) in memory of their late patron, Princess Diana, was delivered in partnership with the Elton John AIDS Foundation at the Institut Français in London, in front of an audience of politicians, health workers, journalists, civil society leaders, celebrities and people living with HIV.
Sir Elton followed in the footsteps of Kofi Annan and Bill Clinton who delivered previous NAT lectures in Diana’s memory in 1999 and 2001, respectively.
Reflecting on Princess Diana’s ability to form personal connections, “she did not distinguish between ‘us’ and ‘them.’” he recalled the impact of her first handshake with a patient dying of AIDS, and issued a rallying cry for the digital, connected world to fight HIV, saying: “At a stroke we can reach 2 billion people in a single moment on Facebook…imagine all that power to connect turned into billions of handshakes, all over the world.”
He called on social media companies to take action on HIV and AIDS, “I am used to putting pressure on pharmaceutical companies. I am used to putting pressure on governments. We have had some success with both. The pressure now needs to be applied to the tech giants – not because I think they are bad, but because they have the capacity to do so much good.”
Adding late: “The geniuses who created this industry must not hide behind its anonymity. They must use their power to help shape a new digital world…How incredible if they could start with something as pernicious, as lethal, as the stigma of AIDS.”
He also called for the UK to sign up to UNAIDS Fast Track Commitment Aims to eradicate AIDS by 2030 and for a new strategy document.
Speaking of the battle to prevent HIV in England he criticised cuts to sexual health services, saying: “HIV prevention activity has been subject to savage cuts…In the two years between 2015 and 2017 there was a 28 per cent cut – and the reductions were especially sharp in services for black, Asian and ethnic minority groups and drug users.”
He offered a stark reminder of the international impact of AIDS, saying: “AIDS is still the second largest killer of 10-19 year olds on the planet. With a projected youth bulge in Africa over the next 15 years, this is only set to get worse unless something dramatic is done.”
And closed the lecture with a hopeful message about future progress, saying:“For all of us in this room, and for all the people who have been engaged in the fight against AIDS over the past 30 years, thank you for your humanity. For seeing people as people. For fighting for good medicine, support, fair laws, kindness, progress. We have come a long way… and we are close. I am optimistic that we will win.”
David Furnish, Chairman of EJAF (Elton John AIDS Foundation) said:“There is still so much misunderstanding about HIV and AIDS that propels stigma and hatred. Beyond the health community, there’s also still so little understanding of how far we have come and how promising an AIDS free future really is. It was inspiring to hear Elton call for a greater sense of kindness and human connection in the fight against AIDS. I hope his words can help catalyse new initiatives, especially in the digital sphere.”
Prof Jane Anderson
Professor Jane Anderson, Chair of NAT added:“It has been very important for those of us who have been working in the field of HIV for decades to hear Sir Elton’s reflections on the progress that has been made, both in the UK and globally. The National AIDS Trust looks forward to playing a key role in helping to promote Sir Elton’s message of making personal connections, and forging partnerships that allow us to harness new technologies for HIV prevention and treatment. And, crucially, to strengthen the fight against the sigma and the misinformation that is at the heart of almost every obstacle we face.”
The Diana, Princess of Wales Lecture on HIV was launched by NAT in 1999 as a living tribute to Princess Diana (who was a patron of NAT until her tragic death in 1997). Yesterdays lecture was delivered in partnership with EJAF (Elton John AIDS Foundation) supported by Gucci.
THIS year marks 100 years since Parliament passed the Representation of the People Act 1918 which was a package of electoral reforms that extended the vote to women for the first time.
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