“PRIDE IN PERSEPTION? – REGULARITY IN REALITY?”
SOHO PINK WEEKEND – SUNDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER
WEEKEND EXTRA BITES
Now, everyone that was around in the capital this time last year, will remember Soho Live, the replacement for Soho Pride which fell by the wayside for a number of reasons, some “official”, others revealing the actual position with regards to lack of funding and the reticence for many of the businesses that benefit from such an event, not being prepared to put their hands in their pockets & cough up the necessary pink pounds to ensure this most popular pride event would go ahead for the seventh year. However, with former success put to sleep, in stepped massive multifaceted & multinational company, Gaydar, who did what others were not prepared to do and put their money where their mouth was, the fanfare which followed being Soho Live, a concept that was intended to deliver exactly what Soho Pride had done so successfully, but with one subtle difference, the event would be in September rather than August. And in reality, that was set to be its misfortune, as the a-typical British weather failed to deliver, a cloudy & cold day seeing little or no activity until 5 or 6 p.m., there also being claims that lack of advertising & awareness was its downfall, but whatever the excuses, Soho Live failed to deliver, leaving many disappointed & disenfranchised.
So, a year on and where are we? Well, despite continued pushes & enquiries from the late spring, all our efforts to see if a new Soho Live would emerge or indeed whether the full-on Pride would return, fell on deaf ears and so we, like many, threw our energies into the more traditional yearly events like London, Brighton, Madrid & Cologne and averted our minds away from what had always been our most favourite event, Soho Pride. So why was Soho pride so good? Well, it was the combination of all business coming together for one day, the streets being converted into one huge party piece, with stalls, shows & spectacles a plenty, but especially, it was the music from the various stages on Rupert St, Soho Square & Frith Street that really hit the mark & made the day, a Sunday event, very special indeed. So, given all of this and, in the knowledge of what the winning formula is, what will Soho Pink Sunday be delivering, as our title suggest, is it “Pride in perception?” or is it in fact “regularity in reality?” and have some of the lessons from Soho Live been learnt?
Well, the first thing we have to make clear is that, there are NO plans for any sort of outdoor stalls or stages as, we understand, the necessary approval and licences have not been sought or granted. Instead, what Soho Pink Sunday is delivering is some extra pomp & circumstance (quite apt given the last night of the proms!) within the confines of your favourite bar hangouts across the gay village & slightly beyond.
The second is that the advertising has been somewhat muted, or at least lost in translation, meaning many may be unaware of the event of what it stands for. The perception by many, some D.J.’s included, is that they will be involved in a similar festival to Soho pride, but not at all, as the entertainment will be confined to the indoors, the bars & the clubs and NOT on the streets.
Yes, Soho is definitely going to be looking pink, as all the bars will be making extra effort & splash with decor & production to tempt you into their doors. In addition and what comes naturally with such a special event, is that all the businesses involved will be raising money for worthy & related causes, The Albert Kennedy trust being the main benefactor, but others include The Elton John AIDS Foundation & THT, so there is an underlying opinion that there is value & meaning in what Soho Pink Weekend sets out to do, apart from the scores of claims that it will, like events of the past, bring the Soho community together, as a well known gay weekly put it in their own perception, “...the community spirit of Soho well & truly comes alive with a celebration of all thinks pink, gay & Central London...” it further claiming that “...Soho Pink Weekend involves various bars, clubs, restaurants & shops, pulling together to create one memorable day...”.
However, reading between the lines, what will actually be happening is that bars & clubs will be making the most of the day to boost money in the till, although we really do hope some of that extra cash will go to the charity(s) that are supposedly benefitting from the Soho wide event. Yes, there will be music entertainment & a bit more, but nowhere near on the scale of Soho pride and, in our view, not really standing for the “community spirit” which some care to paint it.
So what is this memorable day going to deliver? Well, looking through the various offerings, it seems pretty clear that the emphasis is on entertainment within the bars & clubs of Soho & slightly further a-field, those that stand out in the list of 18 involved venues being Barcode, Profile/Lo-Profile, Rupert Street & Shadow Lounge, although efforts are being made by others, such as CXR79 & Comptons, to offer something a little more to the regularity of a spot of Sunday socialising. Therefore, given this and in typical style, we pick out our best bits across Soho Pink Sunday, first taking a look at Barcode, with three D.J.’s mixing up the magical music, the pop/electro-tastic Tasty Tim headlining the offer up on the ground floor, who will be joined by Jo Publik, while Barcode favourite & cheeky monkey Steven Artis spins the sounds down in the basement. In addition, the team will serve up drinks offers at £2.50 for anyone wearing pink and in addition, should they be brave enough to be photographed, names will go into a draw to win the new i-pod touch, wow! Over on Wardour Street, Profile will be transformed from yellow to pink for the day, resident D.J.’s Rob Sykes & Jamie Head ensuring you keep entertained, while downstairs in Lo-Profile, the doors are opened at the usual time of 10 p.m. for this special day, Rob Sykes & Alessandro delving into their D.J. bags for the dance hits. Having the inside track on Rupert Street as we do, we know the team have something very spectacular to dazzle you, both the specially commissioned pink decoration and the music hitting the high notes just as much as the “Hot Pink” theme of the day, with resident Alessandro Londra being joined by a team of jocks that includes scene favourite Brent Nicholls, while Shadow Lounge also have their say, with Tuesday night “OMFG” taking over proceedings, Kris Di Angelis & Munroe Bergdof heading up an cast including Lady Lloyd & Mikey Kardashian.
Other highlights of the day can be found at Village with the pink-tastic Heidi Liscious & her gorgeous go-go boys entertaining, Comptons, who have D.J.’s Littlejohn, Grant Wilkins, Zach Hadley & Paul Short making sure the music is top draw & on-stop all day, Ku Bar on Frith Street throwing on a special “Pink Priscilla Day” which includes a spectacular performance from some of the cast of the West End stage adaptation of the film, between 5 & 7 p.m., while CXR79 have a camp comedy & drag cabaret from 3 p.m., including Mandy Gap, Rose Garden & Bette Rinse. Slightly further a-field & The Box in Covent Garden have the hunky & gorge D.J. Dimitry K on the decks and having caught up with him last night, he tells us that he has some exciting new sounds in his bag, so should be a set not to miss, while Kudos have a pink filled day with their team of go-go’s spinning around the dance poles in tiny pink shorts showing off their assets, while free pink shots & all that eye candy should get things pretty red hot down on Adelaide St.
Further details of these & other offerings across Soho Pink Sunday can be found in the popular press & in the events pages of social networking site, Facebook, but suffice to say there will be plenty of action inside your favourite hangouts to keep you satisfied. However, undeniably, people will be spilling out onto the streets and looking at the forecast, the sun will be shining, so people will naturally gravitate outdoors, although, like London Pride, do not expect any form of alfresco entertainment, well apart from loads of people in pink having a superb social schmoose and with no plans to close off any of the streets, restrictions will be in force in exactly where you can booze & schmoose. As for us, well, our diary is pretty much full with other things, although we may be able to squeeze in a quick early visit to Rupert St, but take the opportunity to wish everyone involved, especially those raising money for good causes, a hugely successful Soho Pink Sunday, which many bars & clubs will hope is the business success they want it to be. (DISCO MATT)
SOHO PINK WEEKEND – SUNDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER
WEEKEND EXTRA BITES
Now, everyone that was around in the capital this time last year, will remember Soho Live, the replacement for Soho Pride which fell by the wayside for a number of reasons, some “official”, others revealing the actual position with regards to lack of funding and the reticence for many of the businesses that benefit from such an event, not being prepared to put their hands in their pockets & cough up the necessary pink pounds to ensure this most popular pride event would go ahead for the seventh year. However, with former success put to sleep, in stepped massive multifaceted & multinational company, Gaydar, who did what others were not prepared to do and put their money where their mouth was, the fanfare which followed being Soho Live, a concept that was intended to deliver exactly what Soho Pride had done so successfully, but with one subtle difference, the event would be in September rather than August. And in reality, that was set to be its misfortune, as the a-typical British weather failed to deliver, a cloudy & cold day seeing little or no activity until 5 or 6 p.m., there also being claims that lack of advertising & awareness was its downfall, but whatever the excuses, Soho Live failed to deliver, leaving many disappointed & disenfranchised.
So, a year on and where are we? Well, despite continued pushes & enquiries from the late spring, all our efforts to see if a new Soho Live would emerge or indeed whether the full-on Pride would return, fell on deaf ears and so we, like many, threw our energies into the more traditional yearly events like London, Brighton, Madrid & Cologne and averted our minds away from what had always been our most favourite event, Soho Pride. So why was Soho pride so good? Well, it was the combination of all business coming together for one day, the streets being converted into one huge party piece, with stalls, shows & spectacles a plenty, but especially, it was the music from the various stages on Rupert St, Soho Square & Frith Street that really hit the mark & made the day, a Sunday event, very special indeed. So, given all of this and, in the knowledge of what the winning formula is, what will Soho Pink Sunday be delivering, as our title suggest, is it “Pride in perception?” or is it in fact “regularity in reality?” and have some of the lessons from Soho Live been learnt?
Well, the first thing we have to make clear is that, there are NO plans for any sort of outdoor stalls or stages as, we understand, the necessary approval and licences have not been sought or granted. Instead, what Soho Pink Sunday is delivering is some extra pomp & circumstance (quite apt given the last night of the proms!) within the confines of your favourite bar hangouts across the gay village & slightly beyond.
The second is that the advertising has been somewhat muted, or at least lost in translation, meaning many may be unaware of the event of what it stands for. The perception by many, some D.J.’s included, is that they will be involved in a similar festival to Soho pride, but not at all, as the entertainment will be confined to the indoors, the bars & the clubs and NOT on the streets.
Yes, Soho is definitely going to be looking pink, as all the bars will be making extra effort & splash with decor & production to tempt you into their doors. In addition and what comes naturally with such a special event, is that all the businesses involved will be raising money for worthy & related causes, The Albert Kennedy trust being the main benefactor, but others include The Elton John AIDS Foundation & THT, so there is an underlying opinion that there is value & meaning in what Soho Pink Weekend sets out to do, apart from the scores of claims that it will, like events of the past, bring the Soho community together, as a well known gay weekly put it in their own perception, “...the community spirit of Soho well & truly comes alive with a celebration of all thinks pink, gay & Central London...” it further claiming that “...Soho Pink Weekend involves various bars, clubs, restaurants & shops, pulling together to create one memorable day...”.
However, reading between the lines, what will actually be happening is that bars & clubs will be making the most of the day to boost money in the till, although we really do hope some of that extra cash will go to the charity(s) that are supposedly benefitting from the Soho wide event. Yes, there will be music entertainment & a bit more, but nowhere near on the scale of Soho pride and, in our view, not really standing for the “community spirit” which some care to paint it.
So what is this memorable day going to deliver? Well, looking through the various offerings, it seems pretty clear that the emphasis is on entertainment within the bars & clubs of Soho & slightly further a-field, those that stand out in the list of 18 involved venues being Barcode, Profile/Lo-Profile, Rupert Street & Shadow Lounge, although efforts are being made by others, such as CXR79 & Comptons, to offer something a little more to the regularity of a spot of Sunday socialising. Therefore, given this and in typical style, we pick out our best bits across Soho Pink Sunday, first taking a look at Barcode, with three D.J.’s mixing up the magical music, the pop/electro-tastic Tasty Tim headlining the offer up on the ground floor, who will be joined by Jo Publik, while Barcode favourite & cheeky monkey Steven Artis spins the sounds down in the basement. In addition, the team will serve up drinks offers at £2.50 for anyone wearing pink and in addition, should they be brave enough to be photographed, names will go into a draw to win the new i-pod touch, wow! Over on Wardour Street, Profile will be transformed from yellow to pink for the day, resident D.J.’s Rob Sykes & Jamie Head ensuring you keep entertained, while downstairs in Lo-Profile, the doors are opened at the usual time of 10 p.m. for this special day, Rob Sykes & Alessandro delving into their D.J. bags for the dance hits. Having the inside track on Rupert Street as we do, we know the team have something very spectacular to dazzle you, both the specially commissioned pink decoration and the music hitting the high notes just as much as the “Hot Pink” theme of the day, with resident Alessandro Londra being joined by a team of jocks that includes scene favourite Brent Nicholls, while Shadow Lounge also have their say, with Tuesday night “OMFG” taking over proceedings, Kris Di Angelis & Munroe Bergdof heading up an cast including Lady Lloyd & Mikey Kardashian.
Other highlights of the day can be found at Village with the pink-tastic Heidi Liscious & her gorgeous go-go boys entertaining, Comptons, who have D.J.’s Littlejohn, Grant Wilkins, Zach Hadley & Paul Short making sure the music is top draw & on-stop all day, Ku Bar on Frith Street throwing on a special “Pink Priscilla Day” which includes a spectacular performance from some of the cast of the West End stage adaptation of the film, between 5 & 7 p.m., while CXR79 have a camp comedy & drag cabaret from 3 p.m., including Mandy Gap, Rose Garden & Bette Rinse. Slightly further a-field & The Box in Covent Garden have the hunky & gorge D.J. Dimitry K on the decks and having caught up with him last night, he tells us that he has some exciting new sounds in his bag, so should be a set not to miss, while Kudos have a pink filled day with their team of go-go’s spinning around the dance poles in tiny pink shorts showing off their assets, while free pink shots & all that eye candy should get things pretty red hot down on Adelaide St.
Further details of these & other offerings across Soho Pink Sunday can be found in the popular press & in the events pages of social networking site, Facebook, but suffice to say there will be plenty of action inside your favourite hangouts to keep you satisfied. However, undeniably, people will be spilling out onto the streets and looking at the forecast, the sun will be shining, so people will naturally gravitate outdoors, although, like London Pride, do not expect any form of alfresco entertainment, well apart from loads of people in pink having a superb social schmoose and with no plans to close off any of the streets, restrictions will be in force in exactly where you can booze & schmoose. As for us, well, our diary is pretty much full with other things, although we may be able to squeeze in a quick early visit to Rupert St, but take the opportunity to wish everyone involved, especially those raising money for good causes, a hugely successful Soho Pink Sunday, which many bars & clubs will hope is the business success they want it to be. (DISCO MATT)
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