Out Africa Magazine issue 24

Issue 24, Spring 2015

AFRICA M A G A Z I N E

HONOURING OUR HEROES

THE FIGHT AGAINST LGBTI INEQUALITY

The Incomparable 9 772304 85900 4

R25.00 incl. VAT

16

CATHY SPECIFIC

Time saved: 5 min 45 sec.

www.bidvestcarrental.co.za reservations@bidvestcarrental.co.za Call 086 101 7722

INSIDE THIS ISSUE FEATURES 1. EDITORS COMMENT: 2. KZN MAN CHOSEN TO GO TO THAILAND 3. PRIDE: Out, Proud & Colour blind 4. PROPERTY INNOVATOR- OUT Magazine meets Riaan Ackermann 6. OUT MAGAZINE REMEMBERS CHARL VAN DEN BERG 8. THE BUZZ: Snippets of news 9. KNOW WHERE YOUR STAND: Getting the low down on life insurance 10: IS THERE A PLACE FOR BLACKS IN DRAG PAGEANTRY: by Liberty Banks 12. TRAVEL: The UK & Ireland 14. ANOVA HEALTH LAUNCHES “WE THE BRAVE” 20. FAGFEST KICKS OFF PRETORIA PRIDE 22. WE NEED TO HONOUR OUR HEROES 24. SOUTH AFRICA’S FAVE TROLLY DOLLY IS FLYING HIGH: Out interviews Cathy Specific

6

10

12 32. FIGHT AGAINST LGBTI INEQUALITY 36. FITNESS - Back to basics 38. RUGBY WORLD CUP HOTTIES 40: MEN’S HEALTH 47: THE WORLD’S BEST PARTIES

FASHION

36

16 - 19 MENSWEAR WEEK - SPRING & SUMMER 2015/16 - A look at what’s trending on the catwalk

SCENE OUT 28 Gay Pride Celebrations - Durban 29 Winter Palace Cape Town 30 Amsterdam Bar 30 DIVAS: One Night Only 31 Limpopo Pride

38

REVIEWS 42 OUT TO LUNCH: So many teas, so little time 43 OUT TO LUNCH: Theatre of Dreams 44 OUT ON FILM: With Daniel Dercksen 45 MUSIC MOVES: A look at Madonna’s latest offering 46 OUT ON DVD: With Daniel Dercksen 48 ON STAGE: With Daniel Dercksen Cover: CATHY SPECIFIC: Courtesy Brendan Van Rhyn

CONTENTS

4

42

Mag 1

FROM THE EDITOR

H

i - As the weather gets warmer each day I know that most of our readers will be getting ready for the summer, and what better way to do it than getting that beach body in shape and ready for days when you’ll be able to lie by the pool or strut along the beach front with confidence ... turn to or fitness page to get a few tips.

The USA supreme court recently ruled that same-sex marriage is now legal throughout the USA. With the fanfare that followed the announcement anyone would have thought that they were the first - they were not. However, it is great news and with luck other countries will follow their example.

Despite the ruling inequality for LGBTI citizens is still prevalent and the fight must continue. See page 32 for our thoughts on the subject.

On our cover we feature the one and only Cathy Specific.

We met with her to find out a bit more about what makes our glamorous trolly dolly tic ... what a wonderful person she is!

Find out all about her on page 24.

Gay Pride in Gauteng looms, and this year the FAGFEST kicks off Pretoria Pride. You can find out more by checking out page 20 and their ads on the scene out pages 29 and 31.

Once again some of Cape Town’s most supportive car dealerships to the gay community are back in this issue.

We urge you to support the companies who support the community - Audi Claremont, Fiat Canal Walk, Spur, Property Avenue, Revite, Bidvest Car Rental and Schmidthauser Electrical are a few of the large companies who DO support the gay community. So when you are in the market to hire a car, buy a property, buy a car remember to give your support to those who support you.

We found a great little tearoom in Heidelberg. Those of you wanting a unique and camp high tea experience this is just for you. Read about it on page 42.

Keep healthy, be safe what ever you get up to. Till next time enjoy the magazine!

Tommy Patterson

MANAGING EDITOR: Tommy Patterson 082 562 3358 ISSN 2304-859X Contributors: Daniel Dercksen, Liberty Banks, Published by: Rob Simpson, Matthew van As Patterson Publications P.O. Box 397, Sea Point 8060 Additional Photography: Tel: 021 555 1279, Fax: 086 535 5063 Simon Diener E-mail: Keith Coventry at outmagafrica@telkomsa.net outmagazine@mweb.co.za Advertising Sales: Robert Simpson 072 266 7051, Matthew Van As 084 761 7942 Printed by ABC Press, Cape Town Tommy Patterson 082 562 3358 Copyright: All articles, stories, interviews and other materials in OUT Africa Magazine are the copyright of the publication or are reproduced with permission from other copyright owners.

All rights are reserved. No materials may be copied, modified, published or otherwise distributed without the prior written permission of OUT Africa Magazine.

The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by those providing comments in this publication are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of OUT Africa Magazine or any employee thereof. OUT Africa Magazine and Patterson Publications cc., will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in any information contained in the publication.

Mag 2

KZN MAN CHOSEN FOR THAILAND

P

ierre Buckley from the Gay and Lesbian Network (GLN) has been selected to go to Bangkok, Thailand, for the One Young World summit in November this year. One Young World (OYW) is a UK-based not-for-profit that gathers together the brightest young people from all around the world and helps them to make lasting connections to create positive change in their communities and throughout the world.

OYW delegates are 18-30 years old and have demonstrated leadership ability and a commitment to effecting positive change. Counsellors from previous summits include Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who was a Counsellor at the OYW Summits in 2010 in London and 2011 in Zurich.

Others include the like of Sir Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Group, Francois Pienaar, former Springbok Captain, Ryk Neethling, an Olympic Gold Medallist in Swimming and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, to name a few.

At the Summit delegates’ debate, formulate and share innovative solutions for the pressing issues that face the world today. Buckley hopes to discuss issues concerning minority groups, such as health issues, education, nutrition, and basic sanitation. Buckley is the programme co-ordinator of the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) programme which is run by GLN After each Summit, the delegates, who are then known as One Young World Ambassadors, work on their own initiatives or lend the power of the One Young World network to those initiatives already in existence. It is a great achievement to be selected for the summit, not only for Buckley or GLN, but for KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa as well.

However, in order for Buckley to attend the summit, he needs to raise £2750.00 which is roughly R50 000.00.

He is hoping to receive sponsorship from corporate philanthropists and companies who are looking to see a positive change in the world. If you are interested in helping Buckley go to Thailand for this once in a lifetime opportunity, please contact him via email at pierrebuckley@ gmail.com.

You may also visit the OYW website at www.oneyoungworld. com for more information.

OUT PROUD & COLOUR BLIND

D

uring 2015 and after months of negotiations and meetings to try and revive and initiate a multi community Cape Town Pride, all hopes were dashed when a group of activists led by Funeka Soldaat of Freegender launched an “alternative” pride, and was purportedly joined by other groups such as Triangle Project. IAM, Inner Circle, New Foundation, Cape town Rollergirls, Mad Black Lesbians, and Gender Dynamix (although it seems that some of these organisations were not aware of their mandate to this alternative programme).

An alternative calendar of events was produced and marketed and every attempt was made to derail a conventional Pride for the Gay community of Cape Town.

When the original Cape Town Pride went bankrupt and ceased to exist a few years ago, a group of individuals made up from the gay business owners and active members of the Gay community got together and rescued the event.

Once again Capetonian Gay people rallied and a traditional Pride week with a complete inclusive programme was still able to go ahead despite all efforts to highjack the event even to the extent of blocking the parade route.

Whilst it was impossible to present a community-led week of events with all the negative press and an alternative calendar to deal with we still managed to put on a good mix of events and still were able to give back to the community The organizers of the real Pride 2015 managed not only to finance the full weeks calendar of events but also to: • Fund Khumbulani Pride (once again the “Alternative Pride” tried to hijack the event and caused great confusion within the community by hosting another event with the same name on the same day) • Assist the Pride Shelter Trust with funding • Assist Outreach Africa with funding • Assist Passop with funding • Paid for transport for disadvantaged gays to get to the

Pride parade and party via BUWA, the Rainbow Or-

ganization and Treatment Action Campaign to name a few

• Distributed more than 1000 complimentary tickets to events to Gay Captonians via the NGO groups who otherwise could not afford to participate.

• Provided employment for Shelter dwellers during the event

Matthew Van As - Festival Director 2015 Pride managed to use Gay owned businesses where possible during all events and will continue to do so in the future, “Alternative Pride” have not presented any feedback or made any contributions to any Gay charities or events to date and have made no attempt to include Gay businesses - They have also actively sought support and donations to get involved in political activism on Rhodes Must Fall rallies etc. whilst no mention at all is made to more pressing Gay issues such as drug abuse, social and cultural acceptance and education, bullying etc.etc.

In short Cape Town Pride 2015 was a great success due to the hard work and dedication of all involved and the continued support of the Gay community of Cape Town.

Cape Town Pride proudly celebrates the freedom and independence of all gay people living in Cape Town – we don’t want special treatment, just equal treatment.

There is no place for discrimination of any kind either gender, age or colour – there is no need for the words to even be used within our community. But we do believe in free speech and expression and if there are people who wish to divide the community by labeling their members as “Black Lesbians” or other such un-inclusive, racial and gender-specific names we wish them all the best.

We will be launching the theme and details of “Cape Town Pride Mardi Gras 2016” in the next few weeks and I am sure it will be the biggest and best ever!

Matthew Van As - Festival Director 2015

Mag 3

A PROPERTY COMPANY THAT’S RIGHT UP YOUR BOULEVARD...

A new concept in real estate has been established in Cape Town, OUT Magazine met with one of the owners to find out a little more ….

P

roperty Avenue is a real estate company located on Cape Town’s Atlantic Seaboard. The brain child of Riaan Ackermann and his business partner Mrs Khapametsi Maleke. Property Avenue is located in the heart of the trendy De Waterkant area of the city.

Riaan who is one of the main share-holders of the business is a young, dynamic person who grew up in Kwa Zulu Natal where he began his adult working life in the hospitality industry and corporate sales industry. After a two year gap period spent travelling and broadening his knowledge in life and the world, Riaan returned to South Africa making Cape Town his home.

It was in Cape Town that he got involved in the business of real estate, a field which he fell in love with and is passionate about. After all for most people buying a home is one of the most important and momentous decisions people make and to be a part of that process is hugely satisfying and rewarding, he said.

Riaan was initially employed

by Property Avenue, a small relatively unknown real estate company whose offices were tucked away in Jarvis Street, De Waterkant. Riaan met Mrs Maleke in 2011 when she was visiting Cape Town and was looking for an investment property, which he found in Bakoven on the Atlantic Seaboard for her. There was an immediate connection and she asked him to manage the property for her as well. An association was born and before long when the initial Property Avenue came on to the market, they decided to join forces and buy the company. They wanted to establish an innovative real estate business with a new look.

Keeping the name, they redesigned the brand, the logo, look and feel of the company into a complete ultra-modern, corporate, New York style real estate brand. He moved their offices in to the recently completed Trendy Media Quarter in De Waterkant.

The offices are tastefully furnished with a strong corporate identity carried throughout from the logos emblazoned on the doors to the sophisticated stark white leather and chrome furnishings.

Away from the madding crowds the offices give prospective buyMag 4

ers the feel that this is a company that is going places.

Riaan feels that he and Khapametsi are serious about their business and want to convey that impression to buyers and sellers alike. After all discretion with high-end clients who are dealing in exclusive, upmarket properties is key. Above all Riaan feels that the offices must reflect their professionalism, client privacy and discretion that every buyer and seller deserves.

The corporate feel further strengthens their commitment to the fact that Property Avenue is serious about property.

The company has two sides to it. The sales and rentals side, dealing in high-end properties, concentrated on the Atlantic Seaboard and a rental side. Many purchasers are from out of Cape Town and require a management company for short term lets.

To satisfy client needs they took the decision to form Holiday Avenue, so that the same team who sold the property deal with the management of it as well. Located in the same office suites Holiday Avenue is growing and Riaan’s background in hospitality is standing him in good stead.

Riaan joked that the new company is a reflection of the country’s transformation, after all he is a openly gay Afrikaans boerseun from KZN who has got in to business with an African lady from Johannesburg and together they are runContinued on page 6

ning a successful business which is growing from strength to strength and is a shining example of how we as South Africans, regardless of colour, sexuality and background can build this country.

Riaan whose enthusiasm and knowledge of the real estate industry is driven to making the business grow and welcomes prospective clients to visit their offices where his team will give you professional advice on buying and selling properties that will suit your individual needs, as it is one of the largest and most rewarding investments you will ever make.

Riaan also invites everybody to come and experience the new division of the group of companies, Avenue CafĂŠ, opening September 1st in the Atrium at the Media Quarter in De Waterkant.

RIP CHARL VAN DEN BERG

I

n 2010, Charl van den Berg made headlines around the world and featured in the 2nd issue of OUT Africa Magazine after he won the Mr Gay World title 2010 in Oslo, Norway.

Much loved by many in South Africa, Charl was a wonderful ambassador for this country, working with a number of charities including Health4Men, the It Gets Better project and the Animal Anti-cruetly league.

He was an official spokesperson on Diversity and Human Rights for minority groups around the world. He has travelled to Vancouver in February 2010 to participate in the closing of the Winter Games and Winter Pride in Canada. His other travels included trips to Namibia, where he attended the launch of their LGBTI Network as part of his initiative to bridge out into African countries where homosexuality is not recognised, becoming one of the network’s official Ambassadors, Berlin where he attended the Christopher Street Parade as well as Gala Evenings where he raised the profile of The Mr Gay World Organisation and the Philippines in December 2010 where he delivered a speech on HIV/Aids and addressed the international media.

Charl sadly passed away after suffering from Lymphoma on 6th August 2015 at the age of 33. He will be missed by many.

Mag 6

THE BUZZ MOCAMBIQUE IS LIBERATED

OUT WELLBEING LAUNCHES FREE CLINIC IN GAUTENG

I

n a groundbreaking move, OUT LGBT Well-being, in partnership with the Gauteng Department of Health, is launching South Africa’s very first HIV and TB health clinic specifically for key population groups.

O

n Monday 29th June, one of our closest neighbouring countries decriminalised homosexuality when the colonial penal code was scrapped.

This is a victory for gay rights campaigners for equality under the law in Africa.

Under the old penal code anyone engaging in homosexual behaviour could be prosecuted with a penalty of up to three years hard labour. However, despite this there have been no prosecutions since independence in 1975.

Whilst there was no public discussion of LGBTI rights, the very fact that the government has taken this step is a welcome move.

As from the 1st of July 2015, the Ten81 Centre in Hatfield, Tshwane will provide free HIV, TB, sexual health and other services uniquely tailored to the needs of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community, MSM (Men who have Sex with Men), sex workers and injecting drug users.

These communities are recognised as being amongst the “most at risk” of infection and living with HIV and TB. According to South Africa’s National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs (2012-2016), “targeting this group is critical to a successful HIV response.”

OUT Director Dawie Nel explains: “Because of social stigma, criminalisation and the very real fear of discrimination, members of these communities are often wary of approaching mainstream health service providers.”

“At the Ten81 Centre they are assured of

SCOUTING BAN LIFTED

O

n the 27th July the Boy Scouts of America finally lifted the ban on openly gay leaders and employees. In the sea change of LGBTI rights in the United States, the move was welcomed by gay rights groups across the country. However, religious groups who sponsor boy scout units are exempt from this ruling and can still exclude gay adults volunteering as den leaders, scoutmasters or camp councillors.

The new ruling overturns a ban which has been in place for 105 years. The ban on gay youth was lifted last year. The boy scouts’ president, former US Secretary of Defence, Robert Gates said that the blanket ban on scout leaders was “unsustainable” and called on those gay adults who left Scouting because of the previous ruling to “rejoin the fold”.

Mag 8

professional health services, confidentially and a warm and understanding welcome.

They won’t be judged and can feel safe being whoever they are.”

He adds: “We applaud the Gauteng Department of Health for its commitment to providing appropriate services to all of the province’s citizens, including its most marginalised.”

The Ten81 Centre, located at OUT’s offices, a short walk from the Hatfield Gautrain Station, will offer two full time nurses and an in-clinic doctor once a week.

All services are free and include: • Provision of ART (Anti-Retroviral Therapy) • Provision of PEP (Post exposure prophylaxis) • Viral load monitoring and general HIV management • STI (Sexually Transmitted Infections) screening and treatment • TB screening and treatment • Clean needles and wound care • Overdose prevention • Psychosocial Counselling and support Office hours are 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday. Appointments can be made by calling 012 430 3272.

KNOW WHERE YOU STAND Everything you want to know about life insurance. If you have any other questions email us at outmagafrica@telkomsa.net with Insurance Questions in the subject line and we will feature them in the next issue Can same-sex couples take out life insurance and name their partner as the beneficiary of the policy?

Yes same sex couples can take out life insurance and name their partner as beneficiary.

When naming a beneficiary, does the insured have to be married to that person?

No the Insured does not have to be married to the person to be named as a beneficiary, you can also name a Juristic person as a beneficiary ie Trust or even the SPCA. Does a life insurance policy have a cut-off date or is it for the whole life of the insured person?

At Triarc you can take a policy for the whole life of the Insured person or term life for example 5, 10, 15 or 20 years Does a life insurance policy include funeral and funeral related expenses?

Yes it does include a funeral benefit. A Triarc Policy pays out within 48 hours of receipt of claim. The amount that is paid is 20 % of the death benefit up to a max of R50 000. There is also no waiting period.

Does a life insurance policy have a provision for any income should the insured person be diagnosed with a terminal illness or is disabled in any way and cannot work?

Yes Triarc offers critical illness cover and disability cover , you can take it as an accelerated policy or as a stand alone policy.

Is there any situation where a life insurance policy will pay out any benefits before the death of the insured person?

Yes a Triarc Life Insurance Policy will pay out 100% of the death benefit if the insured is

diagnosed with a terminal illness that will result in the death of the insured within 12 months Can a life insurance policy be ceded as security for a mortgage or loan?

Yes a Life Insurance policy can be ceded as security for mortgage or a loan Are there any benefits for surviving children in a life Insurance policy?

There are benefits for surviving children in a life policy if they have been nominated as a beneficiary.

Is the surviving partner / beneficiary subject to tax on the amount paid out by a life insurance policy?

No the surviving partner/beneficiary amount paid out by the Life insurance policy is not subject to tax but the estate of the insured will attract executors fees and estate duty tax. Triarc offers a testamentary insurance policy to take care of these fees.

Can one take out a life insurance policy if one has been diagnosed as HIV+?

Triarc has specifically designed an HIV+ product that does all the underwriting loadings upfront so there are no surprises during the final underwriting stage. Your life insurance policy is based on your individual risk so if you manage your health and maintain a good cd4 count you could take out a life Insurance policy with Triarc.

Will my monthly life insurance premium increase annually like a short term insurance policy does?

No it will not increase annually like a short term insurance policy as we offer a 5 year premium guarantee. However if you select an increase in your benefit then your premium will increase proportionally.

Brought to you by

YOUR

LGBTI

INSURANCE PROVIDER Mag 9

IS THERE A PLACE FOR BLACK AFRICAN FEMINITY AND BLACK AFRICAN BEAUTY IN DRAG PAGEANTRY? ‘Or are we reinforcing a white and/or exotic black definition of beauty?’

Mats Romee

In this way, people drag because they seek to challenge public understandings and perceptions that specific bodies must wear particular clothing and behave in particular ways. Others drag for the fun of it and the liberation that accompanies it. For many others it is much more political in which way they claim agency and autonomy over their human existence. And for some it is an expression of art. Central to all of this, the question becomes ‘how is femininity interpreted or reinterpreted in the variety of purposes people drag for?’ Admittedly, there will always be contestation and people will continue to hold different arguments. I am open to engage with these.

I know many gender non-conforming people within my circles in Cape Town and the Western Cape, are not interested in debating

A

s Miss Gay Western Cape, and as a member of the drag community in Cape Town and the Western Cape, I am often accused of impersonating or aspiring to embody a white or exotic, slender, tall and sleek hair standard of beauty. Recently, upon my return from a Symposium on ‘Gender and Performativity’ hosted in London, I found myself in the precarious position of questioning my drag performance. At the Symposium I was challenged by a black feminist from the United Kingdom about my impersonation of (hyper)femininity.

This caused a lot of introspection and discomfort within myself.

She wanted to know how drag-queens contribute to the positive construction of beautiful black African women. This was and is quite a loaded and complex question as the intersections of race, class, gender and national origin remains of utmost importance in South Africa. This question could not be dismissed with lightly.

The complexity of the question cannot be dealt with in a ‘politically correct’ response. Different people drag for different reasons. Yes, it is true that some people drag in such a way that mocks and devalue womanhood. However, I would like to believe that for many it is about self-affirmation and social acceptance.

Mag 10

Emogen Moore

the various social and political implications that form part of the continuum of gender expressions that exists. However, I cannot resist the temptation of knowing more about my own unique performance of gender in relation to the performance of other drag-queens. When I ramp or perform Liberty, it has often been to subdue a yearning for social acceptance. The escape into ‘the fairytale’ creates in itself a space where I could experience a sense of public affirmation. Throughout that performance and performativity and even when the fairytale is over, that feeling still remains. However, there is a pricetag on such social acceptance and affirmation. And that price is the ability to manipulate the audience into upholding the illusion that the drag performer is in actual fact an ideal, (hyper)feminine woman. A standard that many woman-bodied persons do not want to attain.

The fact is that ‘beauty’ pageants often have an implied standard of what beauty is and what the ‘queen’ should embody.

Traditionally, beauty has been constructed, through mainstream beauty pageants such as Miss World and Miss Universe, to mean white (or fare skin), slender, tall, proportional, even-toned skin and a scientifically correct calculated composition of facial features. Now I am not saying that this is our definition of beauty.

What I am saying is that this is the idea that has been constructed for us for centuries and that it does impact our perception of beauty. I am yet to see the day that a fuller bodied woman, sporting an afro and embracing her African roots is crowned and considered beautiful in the eyes of the world. My argument is that drag-pageantry is perhaps more progressive than conventional beauty pageants, in that it at least allow for people with different body types, of all ages, of all races, class backgrounds and geographical locations to enter the space and compete to be a representative of a particular demographic. However, although the space is open to all, it does not necessarily mean that it is without prejudice. Underneath the often subtle politeness lies a hierarchy of identities that link different people (drag queens) with particular stereotypes and identities.

Belinda & Liberty

Just to be clear! No! I am in no way trying to bash drag-pageantry.

Hell, I am Miss Gay Western Cape! All I am saying is that we ought to be careful to not buy into mainstream stereotypes about what beauty is, and excluding those we do not deem beautiful and fit to enter the show. For years drag-pageantry spaces have been spaces that accepted difference within all its glory. Dragpageantry has brought a sense of acceptance, affirmation and humanness to many members within our community who felt they did not matter, who felt they were not beautiful. The show indeed affirmed that they too matter and are beautiful. Perhaps many believe that I am a hypocrite to speak out about the often insidious beauty constructs in drag-pageantry. And perhaps I have just been a mere recipient of a legacy that has made it easier for me to pass the test of ‘realness’. But I refuse to collude with those who construct the confines of beauty. And with this said, I want to urge us all to not impose our own definition of beauty on others with the aim of devaluing and excluding them from our dragshows. Let us continue to make space for various types of beauty to flourish and steer away from the powerful words of the much respected black feminist I made mention of above.

It is for this reason that I would like to pay homage to dragqueens such as Zilin Ayoki Zhang (Miss Gay Western Cape 2012) and Emogen Moore (Miss LGBTI New Woodlands 2014) who flaunt their beautiful fuller-size bodies and curves on stage.

To drag-queens like Belinda Qaqamba-Kafassie (Miss Cape Peninsula 2014) and Mats Romee (Miss Gay Garden Route), you embracing your bold heads every time you enter a drag-pageant, opens up the doors of diversity for us all to embrace black African beauty.

Alutta Continua in Solidarity!!!

Zilin Ayoki Zhang

Liberty Banks (Glenton Matthyse) Mag 11

THE UK & IRELAND ARE OKAY In a recent survey of gay people by the UK LGBT marketing consultant Out Now, 71% said they wanted to visit Britain. Making it one of the world’s most desirable gay destinations. And with Ireland voting to legalise same-sex marriage this part of the globe has become more attractive to gay travellers

B

elieve it or not, sunshine, bronzed bodies, men in speedos, and golden beaches are not the only criteria for having a great gay-friendly holiday. We have all those things here in South Africa. Deemed by some to be the best gay destination in the world, the UK with it’s liberal attitudes and laws, a huge and diverse gay scene and every first world amenity available to man is now considered to be among the best places to visit for gay travellers.

London is without doubt the most cosmopolitan city on the globe and has a rich, and varied gay culture, from bars that have been around since the year dot to trendy drinking holes where the cocktail you are sipping needs you to register a second mortgage on your beachfront South African apartment. And of course everyone’s dream is to revel in the pomp and pageantry that the British love so much and excel in. Shopping in the city is mind-blowing. There is literally nothing that can’t be bought and when it comes to quality, well the Brits have got that taped too. Stroll down Bond Street, visit Fortnums, Harrods and Harvey Nicks and you’ll see what I mean. In the evenings if clubbing and bar hopping are not your scene, then the theatreland of the West End will keep you entertained for weeks. Here you will find the best in musical and straight theatre often with household names treading the boards. For the more refined who want to submerge themselves in some culture before submerging themselves in a bathhouse or leather and fetish bar, the Royal Ballet in Covent Garden is a special treat. London is host to some of the best art galleries and museums in the world. If it’s happening it generally happens in London first. Exhibitions, concerts and sporting events are happening every day. There’s always something to see and do.

Then there are the famous buildings ... Westminster Abby, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, St Paul’s Cathedral and Buckingham Palace to name a few of the historic ones and more recently the Gherkin, the Walkie-Talkie and the Shard are worth taking a look at.

There’s plenty of gay and gay-friendly accommodation to suit all tastes and pockets but beware when you book, a small room is generally the size of a South African wardrobe. I stayed in a gay hotel in Earls Court once which was described as having a “lovely view of a park through a huge Victorian Bay window” ... what I found was the original room had been divided in to two with the new wall blocking off half of the bay window with two single beds end to end and a pay TV - and the park, well it was a patch of lawn that could only accommodate one deck chair - not that the weather was conducive to sunbathing mind you... But just a warning, some adverts can be a little misleading, but usually the price will indicate what level you are staying at.

Mag 12

Blenheim Palace

The West End

But the UK is not all about London. Hire a car, generally quite cheap, (they drive in the same side of the road as us) and drivers I’ve always found are so polite, in fact British people generally are polite, tolerant and helpful. If driving around is not your scene, their public transport is fantastic! In London the Underground can get very overcrowded and stifling hot in summer. Buses are good, on time and one sees a bit of the city, especially on the double deckers. Taxi’s are exorbitant and not a good idea if you’re on a South African budget, but Uber is in London, I haven’t used their service there but if its like ours then its pretty damn good and worth making use of.

Belfast City Hall

is magnificent and we all go a little weak at the knees for a man in a kilt. New Year’s eve is the time to be in Edinburgh where it seems half of the UK descends on the city to ring in the New Year at the city’s famous Hogmanay celebrations.

Off the beaten track are Wales and Northern Ireland. Not really having been to Wales, (I drove through it mostly at night on my was to catch the ferry to Dublin), I don’t have any opinions, but I know Londoners who have purchased country cottages in the Welsh mountains which they swear are get-away-from-it-all secluded spots. I dare say, not for the feint-hearted.

If you travel south and south west of London you’ll get to the channel coastal towns and cities like Brighton with its famous pebble beach and pier, a well-known gay mecca in the summer.

Bournemouth is an attractive town with a growing gay scene and has lovely sandy beaches. Further along you’ll eventually reach Cornwall where the surfers congregate and the pace of life is much slower. Travel in a northerly direction and you’ll get to Bristol and Bath with its perfectly preserved Roman baths - well worth a visit. Continue up the Island and you’ll be in the heart of the Cotswolds. Rural Britain can be breathtakingly beautiful and many Cotswold villages are a clutch of quaint thatched cottages surrounded by rolling green fields.

Northern Ireland which can be reached by air or ferries from places like Liverpool and Scotland is the most conservative part of the country especially as far as gay rights are concerned.

They still haven’t approved same-sex marriage along with the rest of the United Kingdom!!! The capital city, Belfast is most notable to South African travellers for it’s City Hall. Blink and you’ll think for a millisecond that you are in Durban, whose City Hall is a replica of Belfast’s. Northern Ireland boasts one of the World’s natural wonders, the Giants Causeway which if geology is a passion it’s well worth a visit.

Birmingham is just another big city and no great shakes in my book but a visit to Blenheim Palace and Warick Castle as you are trolling round the Midlands are a treat, but beware you can get castled and churched-out in the UK!

Take the train south and within a hour or two you’ll find yourself in Dublin, capital of the Republic of Ireland. Dublin is a real party city well known for its gay area in the Temple Bar, Georges Street and Capel Street area. On my last visit to Ireland I hired a car and drove down to Cork, a pretty city, home to our favourite talk-show host Graham Norton and nearby is Blarney Castle.

Travelling North West you’ll get to Manchester which is another huge city well-known for its gay night life, made famous by the mini series Queer As Folk.

The Lake District is beyond fabulous in the summer months but I dare say can feel a little remote in winter. Heading further north you’ll get to Scotland.

Scotland is listed in a number of web sites as one of the IN destinations for gay travellers for 2015. The Scots legislated gay marriage into their constitution and whilst there aren’t endless bars and clubs the scenery is breathtaking, the city of Edinburgh

All in all the UK and Ireland are highly recommended. Too often we travel to the big cities only and see very little of the countries that we visit. This part of the world lends itself to further exploration because we have a common bond in many ways seeing as the UK did colonise southern Africa. Because of English, getting around and communicating means that making friends is easier and of course driving on the same side of the road makes it a pleasure - do yourself a favour on your next holiday and explore the United Kingdom and Ireland, there’s so much to see and do - and of course I have to say it, - who knows you might meet a real queen!

Mag 13

“WE THE BRAVE” THE ANOVA HEALTH ‘WE THE BRAVE CAMPAIGN’ WAS LAUNCHED IN CAPE TOWN

Are you after a Bear that bares it all in a dark club? A Muscle-Mary with a penis as firm as his pecs? A Twink who takes it from a-top? A Drag Queen who dares to enter a darkroom? An After 9 who likes to give it from behind? A Sugar Daddy seeking out his next candy crush? A Ladyboy with the parts to please? Or just a regular guy who likes guys?

R

egardless of your particular preference, men who have sex with men (MSM) are South Africa’s most at risk population for HIV acquisition and transmission. For this reason ‘WeTheBrave’, a sexual health campaign, is being launched with MSM in mind. This will be the first large scale campaign ever in this country to specifically address gay men and other men who have sex with men.

nises this and shows these men that they can channel that bravery and strength to overcome the challenges of HIV,” says McIntyre.

CEO, Professor James McIntyre

Spearheaded by the Anova Health Institute, and funded by the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the WeTheBrave.co.za campaign will address both prevention and treatment issues in an affirming, nonjudgemental and sex positive way, which will be entertaining and engaging.

According to Anova Health Institute CEO Prof. James McIntyre, “MSM are at higher risk for HIV infection for many reasons, including lack of knowledge about HIV and lack of access to early treatment.

Several South African studies have shown that as many as one in three gay men in some South African settings are already HIV positive. We have to reach out now to this vulnerable community.”

We have three main goals with the campaign: ensuring that MSM have the knowledge and opportunities to prevent new HIV infections, that they understand the benefits of regular HIV testing, to know their status and that they use antiretroviral treatment when and if they need it.

The campaign recognises that MSM face stigma, discrimination and even violence, but that they overcome this in their daily lives. The WeTheBrave campaign recog-

Lola Fine and Matthew van As

Ian McMahon, Odidi Mfenyana and Charl Reineke

Tommy Paterson and Anova Health Institute CEO, Professor James McIntyre

Nina Morris Lee of Anova Health Institute and Kaylin Mendes of FoxP2 Mag 14

The first phase of the campaign will target the Gauteng area, extending later to other centres, but the online and mobile platform will be accessible from the start across the country. ’WeTheBrave’ asks MSM to be brave enough to make healthy sexual choices like wearing a condom, getting tested regularly and knowing their status. The campaign will link to Anova’s Health4Men clinical services in the public sector, in all provinces, and an interactive map will allow men to find the nearest clinic. Alternatively, MSM can find independent clinicians in the private sector through the WeTheBrave website.

In a special message from Sir Elton John for the South African launch, he says “Being a gay man takes courage. You’re brave enough to come out of the closet, defy stigmas, fight stereotypes and face the daily challenges of your sexuality. So I’m challenging all South African MSM to apply this innate bravery to taking care of your sexual health and that of your current and potential partners. There is a window of opportunity before us, a window through which we can very clearly see the end of AIDS within my lifetime.

For South African MSM, that window of opportunity is now.”

Go on, be brave enough to visit www.wethebrave.co.za and use the #WeTheBrave #BraveEnough hashtags to join the conversation on Twitter and Facebook.

OB 08 15532 The Observatory Ad Co

CLUSIVE

BIGGER MORE POWERFUL READY FOR ACTION Fiat 500X Crossover from R344 990.

Contact us now for a test drive.

Sandown Motors Terms and conditions apply. E&OE.

Lindeque: 021 528 0619 / 082 053 2301

fiat.co.za

Fiat Century City 021 528 0600

NO DEPOSIT GUARANTEED BUY-BACK SUB-PRIME INTEREST RATES OB 08 15532 The Observatory Ad Co

Life’s far too short to buy just any car because it fits your budget. Now you can drive a Fiat 500, a car with vibe and style, just like you.

And with a 3-year/100 000km maintenance plan and warranty, there is no better time to get into a Fiat 500. Visit us today to find out more about this great offer.

fiat.co.za Finance subject to approval by WesBank, a division of FirstRand Bank Limited, an authorised financial services and credit provider, NCRCP20 • Interest rate linked to prime lending rate which is currently 9.5% • Offer valid until 31 August 2015 or while stocks last. Terms and conditions apply. Visual for illustration purposes only. E&OE.

Sandown Motors

Lindeque: 021 528 0619 / 082 053 2301 Terms and conditions apply. E&OE.

Fiat Century City 021 528 0600

SOUTH AFRICA WEEK SPRING 2015

The second South African Menswear Week (SAMW Following from the hugely successful inaugural the V&A Waterfront, the second event built on the SAMW is the only men’s focussed fashion platfor on the runway. This second event featured even m leading and most sought after

Here we feature a few of the countr Mag 16

Photographer: Simon

AN MENSWEAR G & SUMMER 5/16

W) took place in Cape Town, over four days in July. event held at the beginning of February 2015 at e foundations of the first highly successful event. rm in Africa, showcasing four days of menswear more collections, showcasing the best of over 25 menswear designers in Africa.

ry’s notable menswear designers ...

n Diener - SDR Photo

From NSRI Fashion to live for Mag 17

From MAGENTS In your face edgy street wear

Mag 18 Mag 18

Photographer: Simon Diener - SDR Photo

Photographer: Simon Diener - SDR Photo

A stunning Collection from TERENCE BRAY

Mag 19

FAGFEST KICKS OFF PRETORIA PRIDE WEEK

K

icking off Pretoria Pride week, the first annual FAGFEST will be happening at Funny Farm Lodge situated between Pretoria and Cullinan, from 25 to 27 September. Literally the sister fest to the highly successful BEARFEST, this promises to be a weekend celebrating all dykes, fags, lezzies, moffies, fairies, pansies, trannies, poofs or whatever you’ve ever been named. Thanks to The Triarc Group, we will be celebrating in style with entertainment and fun competitions to satisfy everyone’s taste.

FAGFEST is a celebration of the LGBTIAQ community, dedicated to taking back our power and reappropriating derogatory words and statements in to uplifting and positive statements. I am a FAG and proud of it! Even more so is the need to get the greater gay community to stand together again as our rights are being threatened as is evident by what is happening in the rest of Africa.

A reclaimed or reappropriated word is a word that was at one time pejorative but has been brought back into acceptable usage—usually starting within the communities that experienced oppression under that word, but sometimes also among the general populace as well.

Reclaiming or reappropriating a word involves re-evaluating a term that in the dominant culture is, or at one time was, used by a majority to oppress various minorities of that same culture.

In some cases, this re-appropriation is so successful as to turn a previously disparaging word into the preferred term: for example, gay, previously an insult, is now strongly preferred to ‘homosexual’, both as an adjective and a noun.

It’s is time to bring back the true meaning of PRIDE and stand together again like we did at Stonewall. As part of a marginalised community we all know that hate and fear is based on not knowing and understanding. This is an opportunity for all of the community to come together and share what they are about and make some new friends along the way.

So put on your leathers or feathers and come celebrate with us our identity, whatever it may be.

For the latest news, bookings and information, visit the website at www.FAGFESTsa.com or contact: Chris Taute 083 282 2246 - email: info@fagfestsa.com

YOUR ONE STOP ADULT SHOP

THE ONE & ONLY. Specialists in a unique range & the largest Selection of Gay DVD’s, Toys, Aphrodisiacs, Stimulants & More...

Half Price on all DVD’s EXCHANGED & NEW STOCK. CHOOSE 4 DVD’s FOR R200

*****UNBEATABLE PRICES*****

TREASURE ISLAND New Stock: 2014 Mag 20

ADDRESS: 38 GRANT AVE, Cnr DOROTHY RD, 205 TARQUIN HOUSE, NORWOOD, JOHANNESBURG

OPEN: 09H30 TILL 22H30 Monday - Saturday

TEL/FAX; 011483 1919 CELL: 076 390 4069

TREASURE ISLAND New Stock: 2014

WE NEED TO HONOUR OUR HEROES I recently watched the documentary film - Vito - on the life of Vito Russo, filmmaker, LGBT activist, author, film historian and a hero - certainly one of my idols and a true inspiration to the gay community!!!!

25 years ago, in November 1990, Vito Russo passed away from AIDS related complications and the LGBTI world lost one of its most outspoken and dedicated activists for gay rights.

“When I got involved in the gay movement, I was fighting for the generations that are gonna come after me so that young gay people who are 14 and 15 won’t have to grow up the way we did.”

- Vito Russo.

I

f Vito were alive today he would most certainly celebrate the enormous strides that liberation activists have made over the last 25 years, but he was a man who wouldn’t have spent much time savouring the changes. Not with all the discrimination and homophobia that remain, because 25 years after his death LGBTI people have just been given the right to marry in all 50 states of the USA, South Africa is the only African country out of 54 which allows equality to their gay citizens, including same-sex marriage, some countries are even reversing gay tolerant legislation. At the beginning of the 21st Century, there are 10 countries where homosexuality may be punished by death.

So the causes that Vito Russo championed all those years ago (from the early 1980’s to his death), are still, in many instances, the same ones LGBTI people, in many parts of the world are fighting for today.

Vito was born and raised in New Jersey, USA but made his way to the bright lights and gay mecca of New York City as a young man in his early 20’s. It was whilst living in Greenwich Village in New York City that on June 28, 1969. Vito witnessed the Stonewall Rebellion, - he wrote, “I sat, that night, in the low branch of an elm tree and watched a riot happen.

Hearing gay people talk back for the first time had startled me. I moved back into Mag 22

the crowd, afraid, and found refuge in a high place from which I could watch the action. It looked like real trouble to me. Gays on the sidewalk were throwing things at the police. They threw nickels and pennies, then rocks and cobblestones from the street. There weren’t enough police to handle what was happening. A raid like this one was routine and had never met open resistance before. Chief Inspector Seymour Pine, who led the raid, was caught in the barrage along with several of his men and Howard Smith, a writer from the Village Voice. The group retreated into The Stonewall, closing the doors against the advancing crowd.

People threw bottles. Someone kicked open the doors and threw a flaming piece of paper inside. It was at this point, said Smith’s later report in the Voice, that the police inside drew their guns and Pine shouted,“I’ll shoot the first motherfucker who comes through that door.” I heard the sirens which held his fire. The reinforcements swept the crowd back into Sheridan Square. I climbed out of the tree and went too.”

But Stonewall as we know was the start of the gay liberation movement in the USA, which spread to Europe and a number of other countries around the world. It is this movement that began gay pride which is celebrated worldwide, freely in some countries and clandestinely in others, whilst in many countries LGBTI people are not permitted to celebrate pride in any form at all. But Stonewall and the AIDS crisis in the 1980’s galvanised Vito Russo in to becoming an out-spoken activist for LGBTI rights.

Fascinated by movies and working in the industry Vito began to notice that gay characters were never positively portrayed and so began a dedicated research in to homosexuality in cinema. His passion for the project left him penniless, working nights to earn a meagre wage whilst he slept in friends’ apartments and scraped by. After years of research The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies was published to critical acclaim. The work became a best seller and established Vito as a serious, reliable, knowledgeable and sought-after out-ofthe-closet gay man. He famously said, “I never once, not for a second, believed that it was wrong to be gay. That it was a sin. That homosexuality was evil. I always knew I was right and there was nothing wrong with this. Cause something natural couldn’t be wrong.”

“When Vito Russo published the first edition of The Celluloid Closet in 1981, there was little question that it was a ground-breaking book. Today it is still one of the most informative and provocative books written about gay people and popular culture. By examining the images of homosexuality and gender variance in

Hollywood films from the 1920s to the present, Russo traced a history not only of how gay men and lesbians had been erased or demonised in movies but in all of American culture as well.

Chronicling the depictions of gay people such as the “sissy” roles of Edward Everett Horton and Franklin Pangborn in 1930s comedies or predatory lesbians in 1950s dramas (see Lauren Bacall in Young Man with a Horn and Barbara Stanwyck in Walk on the Wild Side), Russo details how homophobic stereotypes have both reflected and perpetrated the oppression of gay people.

In the revised edition, published a year before his death in 1990, Russo added information on the new wave of independent and gay-produced films -The Times of Harvey Milk, Desert Hearts, Buddies - that emerged during the 1980s” wrote Michael Bronski of Amazon Books.

Director Jeffrey Schwartz released the documentary on Vito’s life in 2012. When Vito: The life of gay activist Vito Russo aired on HBO, journalist Ken Tucker’s notice in the new Entertainment Weekly summed it up perfectly when he wrote: “This tremendously moving, hard-headed documentary is a biography of author and gay activist Vito Russo (1946 – 1990), but its achievement is to tell much of the story of American gay culture over the course of his lifetime. The author of 1981’s The Celluloid Closet – the pioneering study of gay images in film – as well as a founding member of GLAAD, Russo seems to be everywhere in the 70’s and 80’s. Out spoken, yet charismatic, politically radical yet traditionalist in his love of family, the man is captured in all his complexity.”

The 1980’s also saw the onset of AIDS - The so called “Gay Plague” and New York City was where it started and where it was to devastate the gay male population. The Federal Government’s failure to react, set aside funding for the disease and recalcitrance to any projects or movements galvanised Vito in to forming the action group ACT UP to take the fight for LGBT rights to the state legislature. ACT UP was a diverse, non-partisan group of individuals united in anger and committed to direct action to end the AIDS crisis. Their motto is: We advise and inform. We demonstrate. WE ARE NOT SILENT . Vito’s life of activism had begun. He travelled to San Francisco to promote his book and campaign against the Government’s apathy and it was here that he met the love of his life, a good looking young man who succumbed to AIDS further fuelling his determination to fight for gay rights.

Schwartz has also published two books OUT SPOKEN: A Vito Russo Reader Reel 1 & Reel 2 - two volumes of essays: Reel One: mostly entertainment oriented, including film reviews and Reel Two: political, activist writings, columns, speeches, etc. .

Below is an excerpt:

Vito was a founder member of GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation). Formed in New York City in 1985 to protest against what it saw as the New York Post’s defamatory and sensationalised AIDS coverage, GLAAD put pressure on media organisations to end what it saw as homophobic reporting. Today there is The GLAAD Vito Russo Award which is a special GLAAD Media Award which this year was presented to TV icon George Takei at the 25th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York in May.

“It is so important to do something while you’re here, because this is the only shot you get. If I live another ten minutes or another ten years, that’s the way I’m going to spend my time.

Agitating for change, because change needs to happen. None of this is going to happen in my lifetime. I am fighting for the generations that come after me.”

It is not often that people with such drive and dedication come forward to devote their lives to bettering the lives of others. In South Africa we too have had our LGBTI hero’s, Simon Nkoli immediately comes to mind. We owe the freedoms we enjoy to these dedicated people – it is they who have paved the way, so as Pride celebrations take place around the country, remember that it is these brave people who fought to make PRIDE possible.

In 1985 Vito was diagnosed with HIV and fought against the devasting illness whilst still standing up for the gay and lesbian community until his death in 1990.

Mag 23

SA’s FAVE TROLLY DOLLY IS FLYING HIGH

OUT MAGAZINE MET UP WITH CATHY SPECIFIC TO FIND OUT A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THE MAN BEHIND THE NATION’S BEST KNOW BLONDE BOMBSHELL

To begin with tell our readers a little about your background – where you grew up went to school and so on…

I like to think of myself as a well-raised, Afrikaans boy from Pretoria although these days I spend most of my time travelling between Joburg and Cape Town. In a nutshell, I matriculated at Pretoria Boys High School in 1995 and then went on to spend a year at St. Christopher’s School in Letchworth, England. Who knows why I thought a career in the performing arts was the right thing to do, but it was during this time that I auditioned at the London School of Musical Theatre and was offered a place for 1996. My father always says why wasn’t he born rich instead of beautiful, so I returned to SA to study a 3-year Musical Theatre Diploma at the Tshwane University of Technology, completing my studies in 2000. I then flew for SAA as a cabin crew member for six years before returning to the entertainment business full-time in 2007. Eight years later, here I am, happy as can be!

At what age did you realise you were gay, and was your coming out experience easy or one of those traumatic ones?

Gosh, as early as I can remember! At the age of six I was well aware that I wanted to hold all the boys hands and not the girls, especially all the hunky guys visiting my sister, who was in matric at the time. Please, I was walking around in my mother’s high-heeled shoes daily - not that that makes a person gay – but I most certainly knew I was different. I came out at 22, after my boyfriend’s mother told me, “My seun, ‘n kas is vir klere” – needless to say he’s history but I still have contact with Ma Jacky.

The first person I told was my sister, Cheryl (she is twelve years older than me) who promptly responded, “I know”! She really paved the way and prepared my folks for the inevitable. Would you believe that up until today, I have never had to have ‘the conversation’ with my parents – life just happened and everyone went with it.

Have you always had a calling to be performing on stage?

Not at all…it’s purely by default! Admittedly, I’ve always been artistic, having been a pianist since I was five years old and continuing my love for music as a subject till matric. The annual high school play was also a highlight on my educational calendar but to follow a career in the performing arts was never on the cards and the furthermost thing from my mind. I wanted nothing more than to be a doctor (a paediatrician, in fact) – I thought I had a great bedside manner, all the mothers would bring their kids to me and I’d be a very wealthy man. Talk about a complete change of direction – had I been a doctor, I would’ve been living my dream…now I’m living my truth.

You are best known for your alter ego, Cathy Specific.

Where did she come from?

Mag 24

She was born out of my time at South African Airways. Let’s just say I did six years research before this bitchy, blonde bombshellin-blue appeared. I have two loves in life, my love for flying and my love for performing and I wanted to find a way of combining the two – hence the birth of SA’s favourite Trolley Dolly!

Although I did I fabulous safety demonstration and made a mean cup of tea, I wanted to return to the bright lights of showbiz and the divine Miss Specific was my way of doing just that. She was also admittedly born out of necessity. I am 6ft4, a head taller than most other guys in the business, so putting me in the chorus is NOT an option and having just returned to the industry, getting a leading role would perhaps take some time. My take on it was that I was not going to let a group of people behind a desk decide whether or not I am good enough to be in their show or not. Until the opportunity presented itself where I would bow last, I would do my own thing and become this country’s first Aviation pin-up Princess, the poster-girl for Travel and a force to be reckoned with!

How does your family deal with Cathy and are they supportive of your career?

They LOVE her - Mom and Dad have gained another daughter!

My parents, sister and her husband are so proud of what I have achieved and are always recording TV interviews, listening to me on the radio or cutting out articles in a newspaper or magazine. They truly light up when talking about this ‘other person’ I share my life and headspace with and always want to know what she is up to. At times, I think it becomes a bit too much to digest, even slightly overwhelming and then they all get teary and emotional. We cry a lot in our family, but all good tears.

Cathy is super glamorous, is Brendan’s life lived in a similar fashion?

If only! I think that is what people assume - the general perception - but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Brendan is quite happy to just blend into the crowd (although my friends say this is impossible – not with those cheekbones) and let Cathy do her thing. He is the quiet one, although Cathy can also be reserved when she needs to be. He’s just a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy who spends a lot of time on his own – and quite happy to do so. Besides, his alter-ego exhausts him so there isn’t much energy left to still try and be glamorous as a boy!

Have you had any role models or people that influenced the creation of Cathy Specific?

No other influences but my own. Her creation was partly circumstantial and partly an inextinguishable desire and need, almost a calling. I just had to be this woman and nothing was going to stop me. She really is here for a purpose, whether it be to educate, influence

or affect – not many people leave having been in her company without being touched in some way – either mentally, emotionally, spiritually…or physically! Individuals like Pieter Dirk Uys (Tannie Evita) and Nataniel have most certainly paved the way and hopefully in time to come others will be saying the same about me.

I recently watched a documentary on the life of Danny La Rue, the famous British female impersonator who said he was “a man in a frock” and not a drag queen. When the show was over he was himself. Does Cathy carry over into Brendan’s life or are the two personas completely separate?

Thanks for this question I think it is so relevant. The two personas are COMPLETELY separate and will always be. This, I have no doubt, is one of two main reasons behind the success of what I do. The other one is attention to detail. There is no grey area. When I am Brendan I am Brendan and when I am Cathy I am Cathy. Period. I have no desire to wear make-up or a wig or a stiletto other than when I am transforming into her. She has a purpose, just like Brendan and when she needs to come out to play, Brendan disappears and she reappears – hocus pocus - like magic, really!

Another much loved South African stage personality is Evita Bezuidenhout – have you ever had the opportunity to meet Pieter Dirk Uys and if so did he offer any tips or advice?

I have met the genius before, only as himself and as Bambi Kellerman (another one of his impersonations). During my recent stint in The Rocky Horror Show, he was performing in the smaller venue at The Fugard Theatre and our dressing rooms were on the same level. He also came to my opening night of Mile High – with Cathy Specific in Cape Town a few years back and loved what I did. His only bit of advice, very constructive, was that I have what it takes to fly solo. As much as my two side-kicks in the show were pivotal to the production, Pieter had no doubt that I could hold an audience on my own. Perhaps there’s an opportunity for Evita and Cathy to do something together and make some history …

Often when an alter ego such as Cathy who is quick witted, glamorous, over-the-top and gregarious, the real person, is the opposite. Is this true of you?

Most certainly, the complete opposite! I am the reserved one, the one who is quite happy to stand back and let her shine. I’d like to think that the two of us have a similar sense of humour which we like to share with others…or anyone who will listen! Both of us give as good as we get! I just let her get on with whatever it is she needs to do and will support her in every and any way possible.

You sky-rocketed to fame hosting the Madame Zingara’s dinner theatre shows and you are still with them. However you were brilliant as Frank N Furter in Rocky Horror – do you feel that you were born to that role?

I do! These roles don’t come around very often so when they do, you hold onto them and embrace them with both arms. The character of Frank flows through my blood and also takes up a large part of my head space. This is the second time in my career that I am fortunate enough to have portrayed him and hopefully there will be a third! Having won the 2013 Fleur du Cap Award and the 2014 Naledi Award for the role (Best Male Performance in a Musical) is hopefully testament to the fact that there is a bit of Frank in all of us…there’s just a hell of a lot more in me!

Continued on page 26

Mag 25

What was it like to take on another persona and put Cathy back in the closet?

HAHAHA! She was only too pleased to let Frank have his turn in the spotlight. It’s not the first time she’s had to stand back and watch ‘him’ consume me but, always being the gracious lady she is, she had no problem sharing me with the ‘sweet transvestite’ . After all, she has no need to feel threatened – she knows she’s still my number one! She is well aware that I adore portraying the mad-cap scientist and that when I eventually take her out of the closet again, she feels revitalised and has a new lease on life! There is most certainly a renewed enthusiasm after such a long break and a definite appetite to once again entertain and enthrall. Nothing gives her greater satisfaction than to return and sprinkle her magic like only she can…

Do you miss the opportunity to play mainstream theatre because you do the “camp” roles so adeptly?

Most certainly not. I just find that not only is it clever to stick where one is better acquainted, it is also a lot safer! No one wears a pair of heels quite like this Boerseun – not even the women! I have had great times in mainstream theatre over the years, including a very memorable stint as a soldier in Deon Opperman’s, Tree Aan. There are various reasons one embarks on the process to secure a role (most certainly in my case) be it either because you’ve never worked for that management before, perhaps you’ve never done a role in a foreign language before or perhaps the part just ‘speaks’ to you. I just feel if there is a part that I think I would be suited for I will give it a shot, but I most certainly do not have to prove that I can still pull off the ‘straight’ roles. We all have preferences - mine are boys and stiletto’s! Cathy Specific is also a hot favourite on the corporate circuit, so her work is very varied – never a dull moment where she is concerned!

What other musical roles would you love to play?

Ok, so we have just ascertained that it is definitely NOT the Prince in Cinderella! Boring! Hopefully The Rocky Horror Show has another turn in the not too distant future but until then I won’t say no to the likes of Hedwig and the Angry Inch; Priscilla Queen of the Desert or something from La Cage Aux Folles – after all, it is what it is and I AM WHAT I AM! Cathy is super glamorous – who designs, makes and pays for her glittering wardrobe?

Thank you, I LOVE the compliment! Over the years Cathy has had a lot of people make clothes for her, including wellknown designers – not necessarily ‘designing’ the garments (because that I/she enjoys doing myself/herself) but putting it all together. For Madame Zingara’s new season most of her garments are made by the most wonderful woman, Shamiela Salie. I have searched a long time for the perfect seamstress and I am delighted to announce that together with my ‘Drag Hag’ (Cathy’s lady-in-waiting) I have found her – and I’m not sharing her with anyone! She is a one-woman show who sews every button and hem herself and who is only too willing to take instructions and listen to my ideas. She knows every inch of Cathy’s body and when you see the fit of her dresses you’ll understand what I mean – it’s like slipping into a condom – the perfect fit! Her wardrobe this time around is to-die-for and has been paid for by Madame Zingara.

Obviously elaborate gowns need the perfect accessories and the delightful Joburg-based designer, Amanda Fagri, has made me the most exquisite Swarovski jewelry imaginable. I also have to mention the very talented (and patient) Michael Fryatt, who is the tonsorial artist responsible for Cathy’s immaculate 70’s quaff. It is evident that I have a whole team Mag 26

behind me, ensuring that Cathy always looks and feels her best. What audiences see on stage is only the final product – they have no idea of the rigorous pre-production in order to ensure that SA’s First Lady of Flying once again delivers and doesn’t disappoint!

And her hair seems to be growing with her glamour.

She is more dazzling each time I see her. Is her personality changing as she grows more famous?

She’d like to think she’s ‘upping’ her game – let’s face it, if she wants to remain at the top, she has to! It’s a case of reinventing yourself every so often; to remain current and continue giving people what they want. She is still the same humble lady she was when she first started out eight years ago and will continue to be the darling everyone grew to love – Brendan will make sure of that! Her hairdo has most certainly got bigger this time around due to the larger space she finds herself in at the new Madame Zingara. It’s all bigger and better and Cathy’s not complaining! Like myself, her head is screwed on correctly and she knows that what she has achieved so far has not been fed to her on a silver spoon. It hasn’t always been easy, but the difficult and frustrating times are the reason for her groundedness and humility. Years of hard work have paid off and as she becomes older and wiser, there is a certain confidence that goes hand in hand to ensure she continues to dazzle and that her glamour never fades.

How do you sustain long term friendships and/or relationships with your busy performing schedule?

My friendships all have an excellent foundation; they are built on mutual respect and a whole lotta love! My friends are the fuel that keeps this engine going. They are understanding of what I do and want nothing more than to see me succeed. To sustain a friendship takes work so we try not to neglect each other; just an sms to say that life is hectic but you are in my thoughts goes a long way to cementing the friendship even further. Remember, friends are the ones YOU choose and mine are chosen very well.

Are you in a committed relationship?

No, purely out of choice. I have been single since the age of 23…

that’s quite a few years now! I’m not going to use the clichéd expressions of ‘I haven’t found someone who floats my boat’ or ‘waiting for Mr Right’ – being unattached just works for me.

Nothing more, nothing less.

On the lighter side. How do you relax and unwind?

When I’m not all dressed up and in the public eye, giving of myself and ensuring everyone is having a good time, I just like to spend as much time with ‘Brendan’ as I can. Friends are important to me so I see them as often as my time will allow. My family are still in Pretoria and with all the travelling, I don’t get to see them that often, but when I do, we have the best of times!

I love some TLC so a massage, acupuncture or a facial treatment of some sort is always on the cards. If the truth be told, I LOVE just sitting on the couch channel hopping – me, myself and I!!!

Entrance to “the Playground” - R35

Do you make New Year’s resolutions and have you kept any you made 6 months ago?

Not at all. This is not my favourite time of the year so I try and keep a low profile and look forward to the second week of January when all the hype has gone and people are shocked that it’s already the middle of the month! If I do make any resolutions, they are most certainly not restricted to New Year’s – nothing wrong with a few challenges for yourself during the year – keeps you on your toes…or heels!!!

After the Madame Zingara season ends what’s waiting in the wings?

A holiday!!! I have a few things lined up, many dreams I would still like to fulfill and boxes I would still like to tick – thankfully, these I’m ticking one at a time. It is just so humbling to have opportunities and be in a position to be able to share my craft with others. There is truly no greater gift than to make someone smile…and if I have done this then I have succeeded.

Brendan/Cathy has a gruelling schedule performing nightly at Madame Zingara’s and we appreciate the time she spent going through our interview and we at OUT Magazine wish them both all the best for the future ...

Mag 27

SCENE OUT DURBAN PRIDE

Mag 28 Mag 28

Photos: Francois Raubenheimer

WINTER PALACE CAPE TOWN

Photos: Joffree Hyman Photography

Mag 29

AMSTERDAM BAR

DIVAS: ONE NIGHT ONLY

Mag 30

Mag 30

LIMPOPO PRIDE

Mag 31

O

n 26th June the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that marriage between same sex couples was now legal throughout the 50 states and Puerto Rico. This was a landmark decision and if the reporting was to be believed they (the USA) were making world history – they forget that they are now the 26th country in the world to make marriage between same sex couples legal. But putting that to one side, the decision is momentous for the USA and as world leaders hopefully will encourage other enlightened nations to follow suite – Australia and Germany immediately come to mind.

What was interesting to see were the companies, some of them huge multi-nationals who, as soon as the SCOTUS ruling was announced, came out in support. This was encouraging and heartening but one does wonder why they waited for the decision before letting the world know that they support us. Sort of like fence sitting – going which ever way the wind blows. Of course there have been those, like ABSOLUT Vodka and Virgin Airlines who have openly supported the gay community for years. Lets see how many of these companies now withdraw their interest in countries which have anti-gay legislation in place. It is interesting that whilst SCOTUS was making gay men and woman equal under the law, police in Turkey were breaking up a gay pride march in Istanbul with tear gas and water cannon. Whilst pro-gay companies like Coca Cola sold their products, Visa cards were swiped, American Airlines flights flew in to the country and Uber taxis ferried people around Istanbul.

But never-the-less it is encouraging and welcoming to see these businesses support the gay community – in the USA and Europe the PINK DOLLAR has a huge impact and distancing ones business or one’s self from the LGTB community can have adverse effects as Donna Summer discovered when she was alleged to have made anti-gay statements in the 1980’s. Gays stopped buying her records, clubs refused to play them, radio stations distanced themselves and Ms Summer’s popularity (and income) plunged.

In South Africa, companies are less aware of the pink rand.

The gay community is less cohesive and organised so we don’t have the power of boycott in the way the American’s do. But we should stand up against organisations which discriminate against us. We are the only country on the continent where our rights are entrenched and protected under the constitution.

In fact South Africa, Lesotho, Mocambique and a handful of others are the only countries in Africa where gay people have any rights at all and marriage is allowed only in South Africa. The rest of the dark continent remains exactly that – in the dark where human rights and particularly gay rights are concerned.

Our closest neighbours Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe do not have rights for their gay

FIGHT AGAINST LGBT Mag 32

and lesbian citizens. The Namibian president once stated that there would be purges against gays and lesbians in Namibia, saying “the police must arrest, imprison and deport homosexuals and lesbians found in Namibia.”

The Zimbabwean president is well known for his anti-gay rhetoric likening gay men as worse than dogs. Kenya and Uganda are desperately trying to enact anti-gay legislation that will see gay people subject to the death penalty, a punishment already in effect in some of the Islamic countries in Africa.

So yes, hopefully the SCOTUS ruling will bring gay and lesbian inequality in to the spotlight in some of these places, but it is not likely to have an effect unless the American and European governments apply pressure and the companies that support LGBT equality stand up against these bigots and withdraw from these anti-gay countries. Procter and Gamble who tweeted “We support and respect everyone’s right to be who they are”, when the SCOTUS decision was announced were one of the first high profile companies to disinvested in South Africa as part

of the fight to end apartheid. So it can be done! Perhaps these high profile companies are afraid that if by supporting us in countries where there is anti-gay legislation they will become targets of the same type of discrimination gay people endure in these places all of the time ... one wonders.

The United States of America has finally decided to join enlightened countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, most of Scandinavia and Western Europe, some South American countries and of course South Africa, and we welcome them in to our fold, As the largest single nation and world leaders they must lead the campaign to liberate gay people all over the world and we urge the multinationals who have now shown their cards supporting LGBT causes to apply whatever pressure they can in places where we are second class citizens.

As the SCOTUS made its historic announcement saying: “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, tow people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate… They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right…It is so ordered.”

Huge conglomerates vied with each other to get their tweets out: Absolut Vodka tweeted: “Finally!” Über said: “It is so ordered”

TI INEQUALITY Mag 33

Visa posted a pic with the words “Love accepted everywhere” in line with their by-line “Visa Everywhere you want to be” From American Airlines: We’re on board. Diversity strengthens us all & today we celebrate #MarriageEquality & the landmark #SCOTUS decision.

GAP qualified their tweet: “Equality is always in style. We’ve been proud supporters since #1969. #LoveWins #Pride2015 #LetsDoMore “ Kellogs commented: “Kellogg’s congratulates LGBT Americans on Marriage Equality! #LoveWins “ Levis said: “Today we celebrate the Supreme Court’s historic step forward in the fight for marriage equality. #LoveWins” Mastercard tweeted: “Love matters. Happiness matters. #AcceptanceMatters #Marriage #Equality “

And Coca Cola announced: “It’s now official. Love is love is love. #LoveWins” with six coke bottles in the gay colours.

A simple “Cheers, America! #LoveWins” was Pepsi’s tweet Richard Branson of Virgin America, a company that has long been a friend to the LGBT community said: “It is not for any government (or anyone else) to cast judgement on people’s sexuality.” And followed up with an on-board Pride campaign, to coincide with New York & London Pride the same weekend tweeting …

Of Love has Begun!”

Lady Gaga wrote: “Same-sex marriage is now legal all across the US! Free to love. Free to marry. Free to be equal!”

Hollywood heartthrob Leonardo Dicaprio also commented saying: “They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”

Katy Perry wrote,”Really encouraged to be an American today... Love should live beyond labels & intolerance!”

Out of the closet icons also has their say with Neil Patrick Harris tweeting, “It’s a new day. Thank you Supreme Court.

Thank you Justice Kennedy. Your opinion is profound, in more ways than you may know” And of course everyone’s fave lesbian Ellen Degeneres simply said: “Love won.”

Grammy award winning Sam Smith tweeted: “All 50 STATES!!!! So happy. Times are changing my friends. We have such a long way to go and so much more fighting to do so I hope nobody stops and thinks everything’s ok because it isn’t, BUT it’s days like today, and moments like this that we’ve all gotta have a drink and celebrate how far we have come. I couldn’t be prouder to be gay x love to all x” His sentiments echo mine, so as South African LGBTI’s in Gauteng, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape gather to celebrate pride and the freedoms we enjoy under our constitution, spare a thought for our LGBTI brothers and sisters in the rest of Africa and lets continue the fight for them. We can start pressuring our government to take up issues of inequality on a diplomatic level in the AU, (a vain thought lets face it when our own President called same-sex marriage “a disgrace to the nation and to God”).

President, Zuma also failed to condemn legislation in Uganda that criminalised homosexuality saying South Africa respected Uganda’s sovereign right to adopt that legislation. He also ignores the courts and has little respect for the constitution.

Let’s pressurise those multinationals, local businesses and individuals including the donor nations who do business in these countries into withdrawing their support and get the campaign for gay equality in Africa in the news, in the spotlight and on the negotiating table. Let’s applaud and support those that do!

Sam Smith: “We have such a long way to go and so much more fighting to do”

Getting a slew of humourous replies. Such as “r u masc”, “I did both”, “@VirginAmerica what do you want me to be?, I’m cheating on @JetBlue right now”, “complain if you’re vers”, etc…

Incidently Virgin Airlines is the ONLY company that protested Uganda’s anti-gay laws by stopping flights to that country!

There were a number of notable people, artists and performers who also were quick to tweet their support: “Today is a big step in our march toward equality. Gay and lesbian couples now have the right to marry, just like anyone else. #LoveWins — President Obama (@POTUS) Openly gay CNN Anchor, Don Lemon said” #SameSexMarriage upheld by Supreme Court. It’s the law of the land. Who wants to marry me?”

From Madonna we got: “Finally And at Last! The Revolution Mag 34

SEPTEMBER diary Friday 4th Leather Night Free entrance with leather gear · Friday 11th Long Schlong Night Free entrance for 20cm + · Friday 18th Fetish Night – Indulge your fantasies · Wednesday 23rd Heritage Day Party Tonight we naai; tomorrow we braai · Friday 25th Public Pigz Night Be a pig on the bar counter for an entrance refund · Monday 28th Full Moon – Celebrate hedonism with free libation wine OCTOBER diary Friday 2nd Leather Night Free entrance with leather gear · Friday 9th Long Schlong Night Free entrance for 20cm + · Friday 16th Fetish Night – Indulge your fantasies · Friday 23th Public Pigz Night Be a pig on the bar counter for an entrance refund · Tuesday 27th Full Moon – Celebrate hedonism with free libation wine · Friday 30th Fire Crotch Night – Free Entrance with Red Pubes NOVEMBER diary Friday 6th Leather Night Free entrance with leather gear · Friday 13th Long Schlong Night Free entrance for 20cm + · Friday 20th Fetish Night – Indulge your fantasies · Wednesday 25th Full Moon – Celebrate hedonism with free libation wine · Friday 27th Public Pigz Night Be a pig on the bar counter for an entrance refund Also, Mondays: Daddies & Toy Boys - R30 entrance between 6 & 9 for under 20s and over 50s Thursdays: Student Night. Free entrance 6-9, R30 thereafter with student card.

Mag 35

BACK TO BASICS Most gay men seem to concentrate on the “show muscles� Chest, arms and abs...

A great back speaks for itself - just look at the pic, need we say more

Lower Back (Lower Trapezius) The area just above the buttocks - here recommended exercise is hyper-extensions

Exercise 1 - Ball hyper-extensions (with weights) 1. To begin, lie down on an exercise ball with your torso pressing against the ball and parallel to the floor. The ball of your feet should be pressed against the floor to help keep you balanced. (Place a weight under your chin or behind your neck.) This is the starting position.

2. Slowly raise your torso up by bending at the waist and lower back. Remember to exhale during this movement.

3. Hold the contraction on your lower back for a second and lower your torso back down to the starting position while inhaling.

4. Repeat 8 - 12 reps For beginners try doing the exercise without a weight until you have develop good form.

Middle Back (Rhomboids) Recommended exercises are Bent-Over Barbell Rows and the Seated Cable Row

Exercise 1 - Bent over rows 1. Holding a barbell or weighted bar with a pronated grip (palms facing down), bend your knees slightly and bring your torso forward, by bending at the waist, while keeping the back straight until it is almost parallel to the floor. Tip: Make sure that you keep the head up. The bar / barbell should hang directly in front of you as your arms hang perpendicular to the floor and your torso. This is your starting position.

2. Now, while keeping the torso stationary, breathe out and lift the barbell to you. Keep the elbows close to the body and only use the forearms to hold the weight. At the top contracted position, squeeze the back muscles and hold for a brief pause.

3. Then inhale and slowly lower the bar/barbell back to the starting position.

4. Repeat for 4 sets of 8 - 12 repetitions.

Mag 36

Sourced from Bodybuilding.com

EXERCISE 3 - Seated cable row Normally this exercise starts with a handle that puts your grip in palms facing toward each other. Take hold of the handles, place your feet firmly on the block in front of you, let your arms extend all the way forward feeling a stretch in the lats, then pull the cables straight back as if you were doing dumbbell rows.

Feel your back contract completely, especially the stress on the center of your back. Then let the weight slowly return to the starting position. These are excellent because of the consistent pressure that the cables maintain on your back. Remember to use your arms as just tools in order to work your back, don’t let them do more work than they have to.

Also, to make sure you are doing them correctly have a partner or someone place their knee inbetween your shoulder blades to make sure you do not lean back to excessively like most people do.

LATS (Latissimus Dorsi) - EXERCISE 5 - Pull Ups They work mainly your lats but also the middle back and biceps.

1. Grab the pull-up bar with the palms facing forward - wide (hands wider than shoulders) or medium grip, (hands equal to your shoulder width) 2. Pull your torso up until the bar touches your upper chest. Exhale as you perform this portion of the movement. Concentrate on squeezing the back muscles once you reach the full contracted position. The forearms should do no other work other than hold the bar.

3. After a second on the contracted position, start to inhale and slowly lower your torso back to the starting position when your arms are fully extended and the lats are fully stretched.

4. Repeat this motion for 4 sets of 8 - 10 reps

TRAPS (Trapezius) - EXERCISE 5 - Barbell Shrugs 1. Stand up straight with your feet at shoulder width as you hold a barbell with both hands in front of you using a pronated grip (palms facing the thighs). Your hands should be a little wider than shoulder width apart.

2. Raise your shoulders up as far as you can go as you breathe out and hold the contraction for a second. Tip: Refrain from trying to lift the barbell by using your biceps.

3. Slowly return to the starting position as you breathe in.

4. Repeat for 4 sets of 15 repetitions.

Mag 37

Marcell Coetzee

RUGBY WORLD CUP 2015

Bismark Du Plessis

It’s time again for another world cup tournament. This September teams from rugby playing nations around the world will be converging on the United Kingdom to compete for the Webb Ellis Trophy, the covetted prize in world rugby. The Springboks, South Africa’s beloved national team, internationally accepted as one of the world’s best are certainly in the running to pick up the trophy ... here are some of our hunkiest players for you to root for...

Why We

VICTOR MATFIELD

Rugby

1. The Mauling 2. They’re hot, dirty & sweaty 3. They’re tough 4. They wear tight white shorts 5. They have big, strong legs 6. The rucking 7 They’re ripped 8. They wear tight white shorts 9. They have big, strong arms 10. They wear skin tight tops 11. The trys & conversions 12. They wear tight white shorts 13.They’re rough and ready 14. They have huge muscles 15. The line-outs and lifting 16. They wear tight white shorts 17. Their strong hands 18. Their big shoulders 19. The Springbok Emblem 20. The National Anthem Oh and did I mention their tight white shorts Francois Louw

ELWAZI MVOVO Mag 38

LET’S START RUCKING

Francois Houggard Eben Etzebeth

“We understand the diverse sexual health needs of gay and bisexual men�

Nurse Sibusiso

To find a gay-friendly clinic visit our mobi site

h4m.mobi

WHEN CUM GETS IN YOUR EYE

By Glenn de Swardt

M

any gay guys appreciate a good load of cum. Some of us prefer our partners to ejaculate in our mouth, on our chest or on our face. If you’ve ever had a splash of cum in your eye you’ll know that it burns like hell, akin to getting shampoo in your eye. But is there a risk of getting HIV, or another sexually transmitted infection (STI) through receiving someone else’s cum in your eye? And what are the risks if you get a guy’s urine in your eye, if you’re into water sports?

Information on sexual health, including HIV and other STIs generally focuses on the risks of condomless anal sex.

We all know that bareback action is a high-risk activity for HIV transmission, especially for the bottom, and for the transmission of STIs such as syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia and warts. We very seldom talk about the risks of HIV or STI transmission through our eyes.

It obviously isn’t news to you that your eyes are very sensitive.

What you may not know, however, is that – bluntly speaking – your eyes absorb substances. Take eye drops, for example: they are absorbed both through the inner lining of your eyelid and the surface of your eye itself. Technically speaking, this process occurs through the conjunctiva, a transparent partial covering of your eye and lining of your inner eyelid.

So can a virus or bacteria be absorbed into your body in this way? Most certainly they can. If you’re HIV-negative, an ocular splash of cum from an HIV-positive guy who isn’t on antiretroviral treatment could pose a risk of infection.

Irrespective of your HIV status, you could also be at risk of

Mag 40

contracting an STI if your partner has gonorrhoea or chlamydia.

These STIs would most likely present as conjunctivitis, a localised inflammation of the infected eye.

But wait, there’s more… If you have a penile discharge caused by either gonorrhoea or chlamydia, and rub your eyes after playing with your dick you could re-infect yourself and end up with an ocular STI. Even getting your own cum in your eye could cause problems if you have gonorrhoea or chlamydia in your dick.

As for getting urine in your eyes, if your partner has either genital gonorrhoea or chlamydia, your risk of developing a localised ocular STI is very real. Urine poses no risk of HIV infection.

So what do you do if you get cum in an eye? Remain calm in spite of the extreme burning sensation you’ll experience, which should subside after several minutes. Avoid rubbing your eye and gently wash it repeatedly with clean lukewarm water as soon as possible. Your eye will start producing copious tears, as your body tries to flush the irritant out, and it will most likely be red and uncomfortable for several hours. If the discomfort and redness persist beyond a few days you’ll need to consult your health provider.

Glenn de Swardt is the senior technical advisor to Health4Men Initiative, a project of the Anova Health Institute NPC, that is at the forefront of providing access to competent health services for gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in South Africa. Health4Men is funded by USAID through PEPFAR

OUT TO LUNCH SO MANY TEAS SO LITTLE TIME

By Rob Simpson

HER MAJESTEAS SALON High Tea Parlour 67 H.F. Verwoerd Street, Heidelberg Tel: 016 341 4232

T

he Witwatersrand gold reef was discovered at the end of Suikerbosrand and between 1890 and 1910 in the wake of this, Heidelberg, a typical Victorian town was established and has been preserved. Monuments have been erected commemorating those women and children, both black and white who perished in the concentration camps built by the British during the second Boer war.

Recently one Saturday a friend and I travelled through to explore the many forgotten memories of this historic town.

To my surprise we stumbled across a “High Tea Parlour” – Her Majesteas Salon (HMS). This little gem was inspired

by Her Royal Highness, Empress of India and the grandmother of Europe, Queen Victoria and is a tribute to a the role in a forgotten era when the Victorians perfected the art of “taking tea.”

The breakfast menu looked delicious, with individual towels placed on each plate. The menu divides breakfast in to three sections: Healthy, Toasty and Hearty, there was a selection of egg dishes, a section of scrambled egg dishes and omelettes. The Eggs Benedict (their way) are served on a fresh savoury scone with Hollandaise sauce and fried tomato.

Muffins and scones are what caught my eye, there was a Feta and Pepperdew Muffin with real farm butter, Irish cheddar cheese and biltong powder.

Triple toasted sarmies and salads are also on offer.

Mag 42 Mag 42

I decided on the quiche (bacon, asparagus, peas, pepperdew and feta) which was served with a Victorian side salad. My partner chose the delicious phyllo pastry parcels with sundried tomatoes, caramalised onions and Camembert which he said was stunning.

Red Tea – Rooibos – Eleven O’clock is a local South African variety found in the Cape and is pure loose-leaf tea.

Finally the Artistic Blooming Tea. Watch as a delicate handcrafted flower unfolds inside the clear glass teapot. Very gentle and is more about the visual treat.

The menu also featured a Vegetable Penne, Meat Lovers Rump on a stick and awesome Pot Pies which can also be purchased from the shop on the property to take home – there was a Rainbow Trout Pie, Lamb Pot Pie, Oxtail Pot Pie and a host of others to choose from.

Apart from the various teas they also have a selection of cakes and sweet treats.

I settled for a Rooibos tea and tried the Beetroot, Pear and Pecan Cake while my guest had an Oolong (it’s the perfect afternoon tea with sweets, scones, cakes) with a Nectarine and White Wine Tart Tatin which was served with fresh cream – delectable.

After a hearty meal we decided to take a breather before tucking in to the teas in what can only be described as an overthe-top parlour – so British and with memorabilia at every turn of the head, one can become quite engrossed.

THE PARLOUR The full leafed and loose leaf teas are served in glass tea pots, allowing diners to appreciate the beautiful shades and tones of each tea and you get to sip it from a delicate Maxwell Williams tea cups.

There are a number of different types of teas: Black Tea – Darjeeling – English Breakfast Tea – Here blends include Chinese Keemun black tea, Assama from India and Ceylons from Sri Lanka.

Russian Blend – A full leaf black tea.

Nilgiri Tea -Also a full leaf black tea.

Chai – which simply means tea and more specifically Masala Chai is a spiced black tea.

Oolong – Classic or Peach is from Taiwan.

Green Tea – Apple Lapacho – Nigiri. A South American herbal tea.

High Tea is very popular and the High Tea Platter is a delightfully sophisticated treat and offers excellent value. This delicious and beautiful 3 tier tower of treats includes: Roasted Butternut, Spinach & Feta Mini Quiches Bagels with Salmon, Smooth Cottage Cheese and Chives Egg Mayonnaise Open Star Sandwiches Scones with Fresh Cream and Strawberry Jam Scones with Irish Cheddar Cream Cheese and Biltong Cupcakes Turkish Delight / Earl Grey Apple / Red Velvet Wickedly syrupy koeksisters Cathedral Windows / Buckingham Palace Shortbread / Chocolate Brownie Squares On leaving, we popped in to “Ye Old Shoppe” and bought “Buckingham Palace Shortbread” to take home – it never reached home!!

OUT TO LUNCH THEATRE OF DREAMS MADAME ZINGARA Theatre of Dreams The Grand Parade Cape Town

T

he evening is an early start and we were advised to arrive at the venue by 6:30 where we were greeted with a complimentary cocktail and bit-sized canapes which were delicious and set the tone for the food that was to follow.

Upon being shown to our table our cute waiter (whom we knew from his spell at Beefcakes), took our drinks order and left us to marvel at the size and glittering visual feast that is the circus tent which Madame Zingara’s is so famous for. The big top has new upper level balconies, and the opulent interiors dripping with decadence and pyrotechnic displays blow your mind – this is Madame Zingara like you’ve never seen before.

As the tent filled with diners, performers and waitrons rushing about, the evening’s menu was explained. Of the choice of starters, I chose Pan-fried handmade sweet potato and butternut gnocchi on a butter sage sauce, finished with truffled ricotta, crispy sage and butternut chips and the rest of our table settled for the Red wine poached pear, cashew nut, brie and baby leaf salad, drizzled with a mustard dressing.

The show began with the every lovely Cathy Specific dressed in a shimmering sheath welcoming her guests and an

evening of varied and gasping circus acts and live entertainment followed.

For my main meal I tucked in to a lamb shank served with herb mash potatoes, deep-fried waterblommetjies, roasted garlic aioli and finished with a zesty gremolata which was delicious. Others at the table opted for oven roasted beef fillet with a cranberry port jus, served with roasted bone marrow, onion marmalade, bresola wrapped porcini and exotic mushrooms on creamy mushroom sauce and with a side of roasted root vegetables - the best choice I think and there were lots of bones to take home for the little pet who thought that Christmas had come early. Another at our table chose the grilled chicken breast stuffed with cream cheese, sundried tomatoes and spinach, with balsamic reduction, onion marmalade and served on a bed of root vegetables. For those who have been to Madame Zingara’s before they still serve their signature dish of beef fillet medallions smothered in a Bulgarian dark chocolate and chilli sauce and there is a fish and a vegetarian option.

Desserts were a trio of pure decadence.

We all rated the food as excellent whilst all around us people passed dressed as warriors, lamp-shades, boxers etc whilst at centre stage death-defying circus acts had us applauding in appreciation.

The backing singers, The Specifics, entertained us with a varied repertoire of golden oldies to current hit songs.

The evening is long, ending after 11 but is a unique and very polished experience that you wont forget in a hurry

Mag Mag 41 43

OUT ON FILM LET’S GO TO THE MOVIES WITH DANIEL DERCKSEN Female Power Katherine Heigl plays a woman who has led an openly gay life with everyone except her closely- knit, very conventional, middle-class family, and cause quite a stir when she decides to marry Kitty (Alexis Bledel), a woman they thought was her roommate in Jenny’s Wedding (Aug 28) … Meryl Streep takes on a whole new gig – a hard-rocking singer/guitarist heroine who made a world of mistakes as she followed her dreams of rock-and-roll stardom and when she returns home, gets a shot at redemption and a chance to make things right as she faces the music with her family in Ricki and the Flash (Sept 4) … Charlize Theron plays a woman who thought she had left her childhood nightmare behind in her small, squalid hometown, when forces beyond her have re-opened the one chapter of her life she never wanted to face again, and she finally has to face her fate by exploring her own in Dark Places (Sept 11) … Meryl Streep, Hilary Swank and Miranda star in The Homesman (Oct 2) with Swank as a frontier farm woman who saves the life of a claim-jumper (Tommy Lee Jones) and persuades him to help her escort three insane women to a safe haven in Iowa … Diagnosed with terminal cancer, police officer Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore) fights for pension benefits for her domestic partner (Ellen Page) in Freeheld (Oct 16) … Jessica Chastain plays an aspiring author who is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider in Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak (Oct 30) and trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds and remembers.

Men in Action Sir Ian McKellen is magnificent as the famously rational detective Mr. Holmes (Aug 28) who is old and in failing health, and is forced to engage for the first time with his emotions as his mental powers dwindle … Robert De Niro plays a 70-year-old widower who has discovered that retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site, founded and run by Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway) in The Intern (Sept 24) …Matt Damon plays an astronaut who is presumed dead after a fierce storm and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet and must Mag 44

Visit Let’s Go to the Movies on Facebook or visit www.writingstudio.co.za

mission at the height of the Cold War in Steven Spielberg’s Bridge Of Spies (Nov 6) and Daniel Craig returns as James Bond in Spectre (Nov 27)

Be Afraid

Katherine Heigl - Jenny’s Wedding draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive in The Martian (Oct 2) … Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays French high-wire artist Philippe Petit who attempts to cross the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in 1974 in Robert Zemeckis’ The Walk (Oct 9) … Hugh Jackman takes up the sword as pirate Blackbeard who must prevent Peter Pan from saving Neverland in Pan (Oct 9) …

Tobey Maguire makes the right moves as American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer when he challenges the Soviet Empire in Pawn Sacrifice (Oct 9) … Johnny Depp steps into the shoes of Irish mobster James “Whitey” Bulger who collaborates with the FBI and eliminate a common enemy: the Italian mob in Black Mass (Oct 16) … Vin Diesel transforms into The Last Witch Hunter (Oct 23) who stands between humanity and the combined forces of the most horrifying witches in history … Tom Hardy plays identical twin gangsters Ronald and Reginald Kray terrorize London during the 1950s and 1960s in Legend (Oct 30) … Tom Hanks is an unlikely hero who is thrust into the dangerous world of international espionage when he is tasked with pulling off a near-impossible rescue

M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable) returns to his roots with The Visit (Sept 11), the terrifying story of a brother and sister who are sent to their grandparents’ remote Pennsylvania farm for a weeklong trip where they discover that the elderly couple is involved in something deeply disturbing, and see their chances of getting back home are growing smaller every day …. Inspired by the incredible events surrounding a treacherous attempt to reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain, Everest (Sept 18) documents the awe-inspiring journey of two different expeditions challenged beyond their limits by one of the fiercest snowstorms ever encountered by mankind and are tested by the harshest of elements found on the planet, facing nearly impossible obstacles as a lifelong obsession becomes a breath-taking struggle for survival …

Scary things are happening in someone’s house and they’re capturing it all on video so you can be as freaked out as they are in Paranormal: The Ghost Dimension (Oct 23)… and Rings (Nov 13) is the prequel about the origin of Samara’s reign of terror that takes place before the creation of the unmarked tape which terrorized the characters of The Ring its sequel …

Local releases Die Pro (Sept 18) tells the story of a young surfer who has to come to terms with the accidental death of his best friend just before their last year at school … Marius Weyers stars in Testament Of Youth (Oct 23), a story of young love, the futility of war, and how to make sense of the darkest times during World War I …. Being at the wrong place at the wrong time sends a teenage boy and his parents onto a journey, loaded with crazy people and the worst bad guys ever in the romantic comedy The Jakes Are Missing (Oct 23) … Dis ek, Anna (Oct 30) takes an intimate journey into the sexual abuse of a young girl by her stepfather over a period of eight years … ’n Man Soos My Pa (Nov 20) is a film about the special, but often stormy relationship between a father and son.

MUSIC MOVES

B

y now every Madonna fan and most of those that aren’t will have listened to or at least heard some of the music from Madonna’s thirteenth studio album which was released earlier this year.

The album is a re-affirmation that the queen of pop as in the past is still able to re-invent herself and keep setting standards in the pop industry. The enduring 56 year old gay icon is still showing younger and trendier entertainers what it is to be a consummate performer, singer and recording artist.

For the remainder of the year and right through to March next year this formidable artist is taking on a gruelling world tour which would be a challenge for anyone half her age, The Rebel Hear Tour sadly does not include the southern tip of Africa so fans will have to travel overseas to catch the diva in action.

The album entitled Rebel Heart debuted at number two, becoming Madonna’s first album in close to twenty years not to make it to number one, the last time was in 1998 when Ray Of Light also came in at the number two slot. This has not deterred her die-hard followers from downloading the album but critics believe the absence of a huge hit song has held the album back. The lack of sales is attributed by some to the constant leaks of tracks whilst putting the album together – for instance, on November 28, 2014 a version of the album’s title track surfaced online, followed hours later by a demo of “Wash All Over Me”, then over a dozen Rebel Heart song demos were leaked a month later leading to a rush release through iTunes of 6 more including the single “Living For Love”

Associated Press said, “In perhaps her most complex album, Madonna seems determined to plant a flag for her 30-plus year career, even giving a crash course in Madonna-ology on the self-referential “Veni, Vidi, Vici,” featuring Nas, during which she playfully incorporate phrases and titles from past hits. At its best, “Rebel Heart” pulsates with a vibrancy that reveals both the sour and the sweet in Madonna’s extremely complicated life and leaves no doubt that she still has a lot more to share.”

And in a three out of four star review for The Los Angeles Times, Randall Roberts Despite the negativity surrounding Rebel noted, “The difference between pop agitators like Madonna and her lesser Heat, the album has been favourably offspring is one of determination. “Rebel received by the industries major critics.

Heart,” like its creator, pushes through The iconic Rolling Stone Magazine’s, Caryn Ganz wrote, “Rebel Heart is a long, the pain and, more often than not, lands passionate, self-referential meditation on solidly and with great grace on its feet.” losing love and finding purpose in chilling But it was Elysa Gardner for USA Today who hit the nail on its head when she times. It’s also a chance for the Queen wrote, “When Madonna sings on the title of Pop to floss a bit and reflect on how track of her latest album, Rebel Heart she painstakingly carved a path others (***1/2 out of four; out March 10), that she have happily twerked down in the years since her 1983 debut”, giving the album a has “outgrown my past and I’ve shed my three and a half out of five rating which is skin,” she is both protesting too much and engaging in understatement. Our most pretty good.

durable pop star has indeed reinvented elements of her look and sound repeatedly over the past 30 years, but Madonna has retained the same essence: that of a woman who champions and demands love, in every sense of that loaded word.

No single artist has been more crucial in shaping our modern view of celebrities as people who need people - and attention.”

Rebel Heart is a collaboration of songs with some notables such as Blood Diamonds, Kanye West and AVICCI which are brilliant. Some like cameos from Nas, Chance the Rapper and Mike Tyson don’t hit the mark, but as Rolling Stone magazine noted in their review Nicki Minaj’s verse on “Bitch I’m Madonna” is pure fire. Concluding the review saying “Deep down, Madonna does have a rebel heart —and you can’t fault her for reminding us that pop music is all the better for it.”

Say no more the Queen is still out there setting the bar and challenging anyone to knock her off her pedestal. The album may not has been her biggest but like Madonna its out there and defiant..

To suggest that it’s negative, that being gay is a terrible thing, a perversion or whatever -- I just don’t get it. Don’t you wish we were in a world where we’re not shaming, judging and boxing people in? - Actor, Jeremy Renner Mag 43 45

OUT ON DVD LET’S WATCH DVD’S WITH DANIEL DERCKSEN One of the must-have releases on DVD is most definitely Billy Elliot The Musical Live. The original creative team behind the sensational film, director Stephen Daldry, writer Lee Hall and choreographer Peter Darling, team up with music legend Elton John to bring you a funny, uplifting and spectacular experience. Filmed at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre last year, the musical has won over 80 theatre the last 10 years including 10 Tony Awards and 5 Olivier Awards.

A highlight of the DVD is a unique finale that unites 25 current and former Billy Elliot’s in an awe-inspiring routine.

the surreal dreamscape of the vanishing city of Lost River. It’s a dark fairy tale about love, family and the fight for survival in the face of true danger. In the virtually abandoned city of Lost River, Billy (Christina Hendricks), a single mother of two, is lead into a macabre underworld in her quest to save her childhood home and hold her family together. Her teenage son Bones discovers a mysterious road that leads into a reservoir that triggers Bones’ curiosity and sets into motion an unexpected journey that will test his limits and the limits of those he loves.

Twenty-five-year-old French-Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan’s masterful Mommy takes the art of filmmaking and to an extreme level that will alter your view on films, and gets my vote as one the best and most powerful films of the year, shining a bright light on humanity. It tells the heart-breaking story of a feisty widowed single mum who finds herself burdened with the full-time custody of her rambunctious 15-year-old son who suffers from ADHD. It’s a gut-wrenching journey with tour de force performances by Anne Dorval as a widow who was born a fighter and had to start anew after her son was placed in a correctional facility; and Antoine Olivier Pilon is sensational as a teenager whose charm, above all doubts, can be called unique. If you enjoyed We Need To Talk About Kevin, add Mommy to your collection.

A Royal Night Out will steal your heart and is definitely the greatest love story since Titanic. Rooted in history, this utterly charming fictional fairytale romance is rooted in a pivotal historic event - 8 May 1945, V-E Night when the whole of London was out in town to celebrate the official end of World War II in Europe - challenging the emancipation and sexual awakening of two young royal princesses - Elizabeth and Margaret Windsor, who slipped out of Buckingham Palace to join the communal euphoria and went dancing at the Ritz.

Directed with imaginative flair by acclaimed UK director Julian Jarrold (Brideshead Revisited), the casting is perfect, featuring three extraordinary rising stars delivering memorable performances: Canadian Sarah Gadon, who gracefully steps into the shoes of Elizabeth, Bel Powley as Margaret, and Irish heartthrob Jack Reynor, who was last seen in Transformers: Age Of Extinction and will be seen in Justin Kurzel’s upcoming Macbeth.

Art unites disparate worlds in the splendid Woman In Gold, the remarkable true story of one woman’s journey to reclaim her heritage and seek justice for what happened to her family sixty years after she fled Vienna during World War II. Helen Mirren delivers a dignified and scrupulous performance as Maria Altmann, an elderly Jewish woman who starts her journey to retrieve family possessions seized by the Nazis, among them Klimt’s famous painting Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I. Equally commanding is Ryan Reynolds, an inexperienced but plucky young lawyer who teams up with her upon a major battle. If you are looking for classy and intelligent viewing with excellent performances, this is it.

The power of music heals wounds and broken lives in Rudderless, a splendid journey into William H. Macy’s heartfelt and passionate directorial debut. It’s one of those rare films that poignantly explores the human condition at its most fragile, showing what happens when a man trying to forget his past stumbles across a box of unpublished music from his former life, and forms a small band which experiences local success and ultimately changes his life and the world around him. Prepare to lose your heart to Billy Crudup. His last moment in the film is one of those cinematic gems you wait your whole life for. Billy and Anton Yelchin are so perfect and delightful you’ll want to bottle them.

You will never forget Lost River, a consummate masterwork from Ryan Gosling that weaves elements of fantasy noir and suspense into a haunting, modern fairy tale. Written and directed by Gosling, this dark and brooding drama is set against Mag 46

If there’s one film you simply cannot miss, it’s The Last Five Years, a glorious feelgood romance that celebrates the art of musicals. The Last Five Years is a rare not-to-be-missed film that comes along once in a lifetime, featuring a young couple singing about their failed marriage from two perspectives with super sexy Jeremy Jordan as Jamie Wellerstein, a young, talented upand-coming Jewish novelist who falls in love with Cathy Hiatt (Anna Kendrick), a Shiksa Goddess struggling actress. It›s not a compilation of popular songs, but features an absolutely superb music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, and has been magnificently adapted for the big screen by Richard LaGravenese, best known as the writer of The Fisher King, and who directed memorable films like Behind the Candelabra, Unbroken and The Mirror Has Two Faces.

For Blu-Ray collectors, Into The Woods is an absolute must with some glorious features that includes Meryl Streep singing Sondheim, a journey into the production design and realisation of the set, great interviews with the cast and creative team, intelligent audio commentary by director Rob Marshall, and you can play the film with the lyrics on screen.

Visit Let’s Watch DVDs on Facebook or visit www. writingstudio.co.za

THE BEST PARTIES IN THE WORLD If you have never had the opportunity of attending one of the big gay pride celebrations or one of the famous gay parties and you are planning a trip overseas - check out this list of up-coming events ... not only are they an eye-opener, they’re fun, friendly and packed with hot boys!!!

There are parties to suite all tastes and sub cultures, for example the Folsom Fairs are leather events, Bear parties abound and the pride events are, as always, outrageous!!! - enjoy...

Benindorm, Spain Sep. 11 Benindorm Gay Pride Berlin, Germany Sep. 9 Berlin: Folsom Brisbane, Australia September Brisbane Pride Calgary, Canada Aug. 28-Sep. 7 Calgary Gay Pride Curacao, Caribbean Sep. 30-Oct. 4 Curacao Pride Dallas, Texas, USA Sep. 20 Dallas Pride Gold Coast, Australia Sep. 28-Oct.5 Queensland Glitter Fest Las Vegas, NV, USA Sep. 8-14 Las Vegas: Gay Days Las Vegas, NV, USA Sep. 18-19 Las Vegas Pride Orlando, FL, USA Sep. 22-27 Orlando: Bear Bash Pretoria RSA Sep 25-27 FAGFEST Quebec City, Canada Sep. 3-7 Quebec City Queensland, Australia Sep. 28-Oct.5 Queensland Glitter Fest Reykjavik, Iceland Sep. 3-6 Bears on Ice San Francisco, CA, USA Sep. 26-27 SF: Folsom Street Fair Amsterdam, Netherlands Oct.22-26 Amsterdam: Leather Pride Atlanta, GA, USA Oct. 10-11 Atlanta Pride Berlin, Germany Oct. 16 Berlin Hustlaball Cairns, Australia Oct. 2-11 Cairns Tropical Pride Chicago, IL, USA Oct. 31 Chicago: Halloween Parade Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA Oct. 9-11 Pridefest South Florida Gran Canaria, Spain Oct. 12-18 Gran Canaria: Fetish Week Johannesburg, R.S.A. October Johannesburg Pride Las Vegas, NV, USA Oct. 17 World Interpride 2015 Los Angeles, CA, USA Oct. 31 LA: Halloween Carnival Miami, FL , USA October 3 Hispanic LGBT Pride Orlando, FL , USA Oct. 10 Orlando Pride Paris, France Oct. 18 Disney Paris Magical Pride Pretoria, RSA October 3 Pretoria Pride Taipei, Taiwan Oct. 24 Taiwan LGBT Pride West Hollywood, CA, USA Oct. 31 WeHo: Halloween Carnival Adelaide, Australia November Adelaide Pride March Buenos Aires, Argentina November Buenos Aires Gay Pride Marcha Del Orgullo Canberra, Australia November Canberra Queer Festival Cologne, Germany November Cologne: Bear Pride Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA Nov. 15-Dec. 1 Gay Days Fort Lauderdale Hong Kong, China November Hong Kong Pride Palm Springs, CA, USA Nov. 6-8 Palm Springs Pride Rio de Janeiro, Brazil November Gay Pride Brazil Mag 47

ON STAGE JOHANNESBURG

CAPE TOWN

ake sure not to miss Wessel Pretorius in his sublime creation Undone/ Ont at The Barney Simon at The Market Theatre. It’s the tale of a poet examining how his dysfunctional family helped shaped him into who he is. It’s the story of a man’s journey from cradle to adulthood, told through poetry and prose, vivid imagery and sensual movement, with a smattering of religious and literary references blended in. It is performed in English and Afrikaans on alternative days until Sept 20.

t the Milnerton Playhouse you can see Patrick Barlow’s The 39 Steps from Sept 25 to Oct 10 - this madcap stage adaptation of the famed 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film (and John Buchan novel) of the same title trails unsuspecting Englishman Richard Hannay as he is inadvertently drawn into an elaborate plot by a dark and beautiful female spy – and Michael Frayn’s hilarious Noises Off is on from Nov 27 to Dec 12.

Bookings: bookings@milnertonplayers. com / 0822671061

M

At the Auto & General Theatre on the Square in Sandton Making Mandela is an imaginative journey through the childhood of Nelson Mandela, featuring colourful characters, vividly portrayed in beautiful masks, with physical performances supported by emotive sound design and theatrical styling, and is on from Sept 14 to Oct 3; Matthew Ribnick’s magnificent The Chilli Boy is the hysterical story of an old Indian woman reincarnated as a white gangster from Boksburg and runs from Oct 6 to 24; and gorgeous Cape Town Actress Lynita Crofford can be seen in the deliciously wicked Violet Online from Oct 27 to Nov 7. Visit www.theatreonthesquare.co.za or call 0118838606 Making Mandela

At the Joburg Theatre the true rebels of the ballroom Burn the Floor are back with a stunning new production Fire in the Ballroom from Sept 15 to Oct 4; and Janice Honeyman’s panto Sleeping Beauty is on from Nov 4 to Dec 30 - this enchanting tale combines spectacular scenery, jokes galore, magic and sparkle with Tobie Cronjé as Dame Nora Nursey, the irresistible Christopher Jaftha as Prince Harry Hunkador, Candida Mosoma as the Good Fairy Floradora, Michelle Botha as the Wicked Fairy Khakibos and Timothy Moloi as Sir Poensface Ponce-a-Lot. Visit: www. joburgtheatre.com or call 0861 670 670.

Mag 48

A

At the absolutely fabulous New Kalk Bay Theatre you can delight in Big Boys II, the sequel to their multiple awardwinning show Big Boys Don’t Dance from Sept 2 to 15, featuring the devilish duo Ash & Brad Searle; and from Sept 29 to Oct 10 you can see the hilarious Dragging 30 - With the help of the fabulous Drag Queen Extraordinaire, Cadenza Jones, these two women realise that there is truly nothing more liberating than being yourself, living in the moment and owning your “fierce” at any age! Starring Genna Galloway (Grease, Beauty and the Beast, Cats, Sound of Music), Natasha van der Merwe (Mamma Mia, Sister Act, Spamalot, Peter Pan Pantomime) with special appearance by Alain Fleischmann (Two and Half Queens, A Butt-lure).

You can also catch Tarryn Fox & Pierre van Heerden in Smooth Operetta from Oct 13 to 31, performing all the greatest show-tunes with a comical twist and an engaging context. Visit: www. kalkbaytheatre.co.za or call 021 7887257 between 3 and 8 p.m Tuesday to Saturday.

For more information, visit Let’s go to the Theatre on Facebook or visit www.writingstudio.co.za

WITH DANIEL DERCKSEN Ingrid Jonker, Homage to Silbelius on his 150th anniversary and an all-Brahms gala concert. More information www.cpo.org. za or call Dial-A-Seat 021 421 7695

DANCE

S

ean Bovim’s super sensational Rock-’n-Roll Ballet, Private Presley - A Salute to the King is set to some of his most famous songs using the original recordings, and portrays memorable and key moments from one of Rock ‘n Roll’s greatest legends and follows the gigantic rise of his jam-packed life. It is on at the Joburg Theatre from Oct 9 to 25, and at The Baxter Theatre in Cape Town from Nov 12 – 28. Visit www.joburgtheatre.com or Computicket At the Artscape Opera the Cape Town City Ballet and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra team up for Giselle from Sept 25 to Oct 4 October, and Symphony Of Dance from Oct 7 to 11, featuring Robin van Wyk’s newly-choreographed ballet to Sergei Rachmaninov’s Concerto for Piano & Orchestra No 2 in C minor Op.18, titled A Rachmaninov Romance and a ballet to Johan Strauss Jnr’s Blue Danube. Book at Computicket.

ON TOUR

S

uperstar comedian, actor and author Russell Brand will be in South Africa this October for three shows only as part of his Trew World Order Tour in Johannesburg at the Teatro at Montecasino on Oct 1 and 2, and at the Grand Arena, GrandWest, on Oct 3. Visit www.showtime.co.za or www. russellbrand.com

Symphonic Sounds in Cape Town

T

he Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra spring season takes place from October 22 to November 19 and includes the world premiere of orchestral songs on poems by the revered Afrikaans poet

Engelbert Humperdinck will be singing his ever popular hits such as (Please) Release Me and the unforgettable Quando, Quando, Quando in South Africa at the Grand Arena, Cape Town for one show only on Nov 21, followed by two shows at the Teatro at Montecasino on Nov 24 and 25. Bookings at Computicket.

FOR WHEN YOU NEED TO MOVE FASTER, JUMP HIGHER AND FOCUS SHARPER

ENHANCE YOUR PERFORMANCE FB revitesa | revite.co.za | Tel 011 457 3900 | Available at Pharmacies

Experience customer service excellence Audi Centre Claremont invites you to come and experience true customer service excellence at our state of the art facility located in the Southern Suburbs.

You can expect to be pampered and treated like royalty whether you are in the market for your dream car, browsing our extensive collection of Pre-Owned vehicles, or servicing your Audi to keep you on the road for longer.

Our friendly sta are always happy to help you, so do not hestitate to give us a call on 021 65 77 111 and let us know how we can help make your next trip to Audi Centre Claremont a memorable one.

Centre Claremont 143 Imam Haron Rd. (previously Lansdowne Rd.) Claremont Tel: 021 65 77 111 www.audiclaremont.co.za

Contact Yvette: Tel: (021) 65 77 025 Mobile: 083 406 6354 E-mail: yvette@claremont.co.za