THEGAYUK

Author: Aunty

  • INTERVIEW | Scottee

    With a new show coming to the Roundhouse, we natter with a very open and honest Scottee who, despite a troubled past, has no problems airing his dirty laundry in public.

    G’day Scottee I believe you’re currently in Australia. I hope it’s providing much inspiration?
    Yes, but not in a Priscilla Queen of the Desert kind of way, more in the fact that actually there’s a queer community here, I think in the uk we have queer people. Ive been invited into people’s houses who don’t even know me, who’ve thrown dinner parties. People have been driving me around everywhere. In short queer australians seem to be very open and generous.

    Now the first question I have to ask, ok so it’s actually the second, who cleans your shirts?
    I have a stage manager called James in Australia and in the uk I have my wonderful producer Rachel, so yes she gets to have the glamourous jobs. We have to keep on using them otherwise it’d be too expensive.

    Would you describe yourself as a messy performer?
    No I wouldn’t. I would just describe myself an honest one. I think life is full of mess. Life is blood, sh**, p*** and everything in between. I don’t use those fluids but I guess I’m definitely renowned for throwing sh** over myself. I think I do that because it’s about my difficult relationship with food, so I use food a lot in my work.

    Your new show at the Roundhouse is called The Worst Of Scottee. What can an audience expect?
    I guess brutal honesty! I got a psychotherapist to get in contact with 10 people, who no longer talk to me, to find out what they thought of me and why they don’t talk to me. I think an audience are going to change their minds on me or their opinion of me in more ways than one. ooooh cryptic.

    Would you describe it as a very public form of therapy?
    Yes I would, (laughs), and I think in some circles, mainly The Rooms, I think this is called step 4.

    Whilst making the show, was there a particular person from your past that you really didn’t want to meet again?
    Yes. Out of the ten that we got in contact with only four came forward, and two of those people were quite adamant they wanted nothing to do with the project so we have to bleep their names out during the show. So this is still very live for a lot of people. I bumped into one of these people outside of Pret A Manger and we didn’t really know what to do so we just stared at each other and walked past.

    Stealing at aged 10, arrested at aged 14, are there any parts of your life you don’t lay bare to the audiences?
    No I don’t think so. Im brutally honest and I think that’s why people come to my shows or I think that’s why this is a strong piece, if I can be bold to say, because I think when you’re an artist you’re supposed to go to those places, I guess to educate and inform to help an audience get to that place themselves. I’m only being honest and I don’t think that’s a difficult thing.

    Have you now made friends with your past because of this performance?
    No. I wasn’t allowed to have contact with these people. We were really cautious about how we went around this and so the psychotherapist and my producer got in touch with these people. I wasn’t there at the filming and I wasn’t allowed to have their contact details and stuff, which is fine because a lot of these people don’t want to be contacted by me. They’ve made the decision not to be a part of my life or for me to be a part of theirs.

    What would be the Best of Scottee?
    I think this is the best of me. The best of me is to be honest, to be open, to be upfront and to rid myself of shame. There’s a particular story in the show which I carried around a lot of shame for years and now I don’t, so maybe the irony is that this has actually become the best of me.

    Performer, director, artist, writer and broadcaster. What’s been a personal career highlight so far?
    I really love doing the radio. I love being on Radio 4 because I think it’s just bizarre. I think it’s weird that I pop up on Radio 4, ‘And today I’m going to be interviewing Lisa Stasfield.’ Which I love. (We have also had a chin wag with Lisa and you can read her interview in the Feb issue!) The reason why I’m a performer, director, artist, writer and broadcaster is because I just like working and making art, performance, entertaining all of it. Although a personal highlight would be throwing cake at Rihanna on the X-Factor.

    Looking through your website gallery I’m reminded of Leigh Bowery. Do you have a life inspiration?
    I guess I get compared to Leigh quite a lot. Mainly because we’re both performance artists, although I don’t call myself that, and we’re fat and we wear funny clothes. A lot of his friends are very good close friends to mine and they kinda don’t think that I’m like him, which is good. I’ve got nothing against it. I guess growing up more of my icons were people like, Dawn French, Les Dawson and Hattie Jacques. So I guess those would be more of my inspiration, light entertainers who were on the telly when I was a kid.

    Where can folk learn more about the great Scottee?
    Well on my website, I’m all over social media because I love it. The internet is the best invention in the world.

    The Worst Of Scottee is at the Roundhouse from the 4th – 15th February 2014. for tickets visit here.

    Do check Scottee out what at www.Scottee.co.uk
    or for the latest ramblings follow him on Twitter @ScotteeScottee

  • TRAVEL: British Pullman Winter Day Trips

    TRAVEL: British Pullman Winter Day Trips

    If you’re looking for a special treat this Christmas then why not take a loved one or a special friend on one of the UK’s most opulent days out aboard the British Pullman, sister train to the Venice Simplon- Orient Express.

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  • INTERVIEW | Dr Daneshmand

    There’s more to Vegas than large hotels, bright lights and 24hr gambling as Dr Daneshmand from The Fertility Center of Las Vegas tells us when we spoke with him this week. Thousands of us are looking to fertility centres to start our own families and if we can fit in a bit of Liza at the LVH (Las Vegas Hotel) in the same day, then why not?

    Having been with my partner now for over nine years the inevitable questions have popped up. Should we get married? If Niall Horan asked me out would I dump you? Do we want kids?

    The latter question got me thinking the most. I like the idea of having children at some point in my life, and it seems I am not the only one. ‘I was one of the key note speakers in a New York city conference called ‘Men Having Babies’, two hundred and fifty male couples were there intending to learn more about surrogacy and parenting’, said Dr Daneshmand.

    ‘In the UK, France and nine states in America where gay marriage is legal, desire for gay couples to come forward has increased. Right now a significant portion of my practice is helping gay couples to become parents. At UCL (University of Central London) where I studied, even 20 years ago, I felt society had to catch up with their views and the stigma they attached. I was a big advocate that a child needs love and it doesn’t matter if you have two dads, two mums, a single mum or a single dad as long as you can provide love to the child.’

    So how does it all work? How do gay men go about having babies? The first step is communication and understanding and Dr Daneshmand seems ready to talk anytime of the day or week. ‘Being thousands of miles away has made no difference for our patients as we’re always there for them. I Skype at weekends, midnight and I’m always available on email. We go over the medical and legal parts of surrogacy and I get an understanding of who they are.’ I asked if he ever took holidays or switched off from his work for a few days. ‘I’d like to be the kind of doctor that I’d like to go to, so no.’ Wouldn’t we all like a doctor like that!

    After learning more about the prospective parents and telling them all about the processes of having a child, it’s then time to find the right egg donor and surrogate mother. ‘All surrogates come from across the US from states which are open to surrogacy like, Nevada, California, Illinois and Oregon’.

    I wondered how a surrogate mother may feel about having a child to hand over to two gay men and if there was ever any refusals. ‘Absolutely there are, but we don’t work with those surrogates. We have a questionnaire which asks “are you willing to work with all couples” if their answer is no, we don’t work with them. It’s something we don’t tolerate in our practice.’

    Once you have your surrogate mother it is then time to sort the legalities of it all. Again Dr Daneshmand is there to help work with the UK and American attorneys to sign all the documents, making it a painless process for the parents to be. Interestingly, ‘It doesn’t require adoption papers as a Pre-Birth Order in states of open surrogacy means the intended parents names are on the birth certificate.’

    We then went into the process of how the child is created. This involves lots of graphic words which I’m sure the doctor will be happy to tell you all about over a cuppa, like he did with me. Lets just say you’ll want to book your flight out there for 7-8 months time. ‘The intended parents usually like to be there for the birth of the child. With in as little as one week you can then travel back to the UK with your new son or daughter.’

    In total, the whole process can take up to a year and a half from first discussions about having a kid to introducing your new child to friends and family. This isn’t the end though. Help and support is always on hand from the “doctor who never sleeps” and once a year a large party is thrown to celebrate the growing numbers of families. ‘Last year we had 1,500 people there and I step back and see all these kids running around and that’s the greatest joy of our profession.’

    Having joined The Fertility Center of Las Vegas 16 years ago, 10 years after the doors first opened by Dr Shapiro, Dr Daneshmand has helped grow its success opening up a second centre in Las Vegas with expansions into LA and Utah coming soon. Invited all over the world to give presentations on IVF treatments and talk about the research both doctors are carrying out, it was a pleasure to chat with a man so genuinely excited to give straight, gay and celebrity, no names were mentioned, the opportunity to have children.

    If you’re thinking about starting your own family or would like to learn more about the process of surrogacy then do visit: fertilitycenterlv.com

    Dr Daneshmand will also be in London on the 3rd November at the Langham Hotel giving free private consultations on egg donation and surrogacy alternatives in the US. If you would like to book a free place then do click here for more details. Langham Hotel Consultations

  • Top 5 Things You Need To Buy Your Pa For Father’s Day

    Top 5 Things You Need To Buy Your Pa For Father’s Day

    It’s on its way… Father’s day. Here’s five things your dad probably needs in his life!

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  • NEWS: Naked Rowers Show Cheek For Charity Calendar Against Homophobia

    Well it’s Thursday afternoon and a press release about NAKED rowers from Warwick University hits the newsdesk; of course, we’re going to share them with you.

    Gok’s tweeted about it, Boy George is on the team so to speak and Stephen Fry is a fan. This fearless rowing team from Warwick University have launched a crowdfunding campaign to produce a naked calendar to raise funds for their outreach program to tackle prejudice, bullying and homophobia throughout schools.

    Bravo boys!

    They are looking to raise £5000, it’s all for a good cause… dig deep readers

  • Kris Searle Launches New Single At Viper Room

    Five times LA Music Award winner Kris Searle is gearing up for the launch of his new single Veins this weekend with its debut outing being performed live at the iconic Viper Room on Sunset Boulevard.

    Originally from Herne Bay in Kent, Kris has taken his electropop music and continued to excite both here in the UK and across the waves in the USA.

    Kris is currently featured Grammy Member of the month, who state ‘his modern synthpop sound along with a Glam rock feel combines for an alluring and electrifying sound,’ comparing him to David Grey, Jewel and Depeche Mode. You can read the full Grammy Feature here:www.grammymuseum.org

    Having twice been Grammy considered for Best Vocal Pop Collaboration and Best Short Form Video, which featured Darnell from Big Brother and that gay kiss scene from Warning Signs, Kris is hoping that Veins will be the single to scoop up this year.

    If Sunset Boulevard is a bit out of reach this weekend, then fear not for you’ll be able to get your hands on a copy of Veins here in the UK. Just visit www.krissearle.com for download details.

  • What’s In Your Boyfriend’s Bed?

    When I decided to come out, aged 18, I was quite often to be found clubbing away at the weekends and getting the morning bus home from a conquest the night before. Being young, drunk and horny was great fun, though looking back now I do shudder a little at the thought of the random beds I have had the pleasure of sharing, and not just with humans.

    Sharing a bed with someone you’ve just met can be incredibly horny as you explore what’s on offer. How often though do you check under their bed or ask when the sheets were last changed? I try to change my bedding every week mainly because I like the smell of fresh linen. However as a student without a washing machine the bedding could be left for weeks if not months. Now don’t judge me, I’m sure there are thousands of other students, and I bet a few older guys too, who still don’t change the sheets once a week? Month?

    So what’s the worse you could find in an unchanged bed? Well I had a little chat with the Dyson microbiology team who inform me that although you may not be able to see some horrors, it doesn’t mean they aren’t there. The most common bedroom pest is the dust mite.

    These little mites can live for up to 4 months and produce approximately 2000 droppings. With an average of 10,000 mites living in any bed at one time, that’s around 20 million droppings every 4 months. Yum yum. If a bed isn’t changed or hoovered every now and then, the numbers could be a lot higher. Sometimes the morning after when you’ve sobered up and the sun sheds some light into the room, it usually bring a reality check on your choice of mate the night before. However more worryingly is it can also give you an indication as to how many mites you slept with the night before!

    Other bed horrors to be found are the larger bed bugs. Whereas the mites may give you itchy watery eyes or a stuffy nose, the bed bugs really like to get involved in the action. Biting into the skin whenever possible to feed on your blood. This blood feeding makes them prone to sharing infections from one partner to another as you sleep. Unlike the mite, which are very hard to spot with the naked eye, the bed bug is quite visible and also leaves visible red itchy bite marks on your body. If he’s bugs about the bed you’ll certainly know about them.

    It’s not only the bedroom critters though you have to think about. The average person can perspire up to a litre per night (I’m guessing a little more if enjoying an active night). The bed can also hide many other human fluids including saliva, blood, urine, faecal matter and semen. Then there’s the tea, coffee, beer, vodka, squirty cream to think about. Ah the memories and smell of poppers, lavender oils and squirty cream. The only excitement I see in bed nowadays is the occasional cuppa in the morning.

    Now please don’t let any of this put you off your evening plans or make you resort to sleeping in a sterile oxygen tent the rest of your life. Living with mites and microbes are a part of life and generally cause no problems whatsoever. They should only become a concern if left to breed to infestations then you should take action.

    The Dyson microbiology team offer this little tip on getting your bedroom clean:

    ‘Homes are full of irritants that can trigger allergic responses. Dust mites are the main culprits in hot spot areas where you spend the most time: The living room and the bedroom. Vacuum intensively around beds and under beds if possible, as dust mites can be disturbed and fall to the floor as covers are thrown back.  And don’t forget to vacuum under the sofa; the perfect hiding place for dust mites.’

    So next time you dive into the boyfriend’s bed just check all looks and smells clean, at least at the start of the night!

    Happy Sleeping.

  • RECIPE | Easter Simnel Cake

    RECIPE | Easter Simnel Cake

    This traditional Easter fruit cake is a personal favourite mainly because it’s topped with toasted marzipan and also cooked with a layer of marzipan inside. The top is traditionally decorated with 11 marzipan balls to represent the 12 apostles (minus Judas), however I personally prefer to make a marzipan plait but you can decorate with chocolate eggs if you like. Either way it’s a great almond cake that gives you a chance to use up the marzipan and bags of fruit left over from the Christmas cake…

    Easter Simnel Cake
    CREDIT: TheGayUK

    Cooking Time: 1hr 45mins (Pre heat the oven to 150c)

    You Will Need: A 20cm or 8’ cake tin lined with greaseproof paper.
    Ingredients:

    250g Butter

    250g Dark Soft Brown Sugar

    250g Plain Flour

    4 Eggs

    Pinch Salt

    1.5 tsp Mixed Spice

    450g Raisins & Sultanas

    70g Mixed Peel

    1 Lemon Zest

    Apricot Jam

    450g Marzipan
    Method:

    1) Cream the butter and the sugar together in a bowl.

    2) Mix in the eggs one at a time

    3) Add the flour, salt and mixed spice and mix in

    4) Finally add the raisins, sultanas, mixed peel and zest of a lemon mixing for a final time

    5) Place half the mixture into your prepared tin and spread out flat

    6) Next add a layer of marzipan to the uncooked mix leaving a 1cm space around the edge.

    7) Next add the remaining mixture on top of the marzipan and level off the top. Place into the pre-heated oven and cook for 1hr and 45mins.

    8) Once cooked leave out to cool before pasting the top of the cake with a hot apricot jam (40 seconds in a microwave should be enough). Whilst the apricot is sticky add a layer of marzipan and any marzipan decorations you wish to add to the top. Place the cake under a hot grill until the marzipan starts to turn a golden brown.

    9) Again leave to cool before adding any chocolate eggs or serving with a cup of tea.

  • TOP 5: Quirky iPhone Cases

    TOP 5: Quirky iPhone Cases

    We take a look at some of the strange and wonderful designs of iphone cases out there, from the practical to the more amusing.

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  • FEATURE: The Facial Spring Clean – Part 1: Scrubs and Washes

    FEATURE: The Facial Spring Clean – Part 1: Scrubs and Washes

    With the bulbs rising and the days getting longer you know that Winter is leaving us and making way for a fresher looking Spring. Well, as you all rush out to buy your yellow dusters to give the house a good clean, you may wish to give thought to treating yourself to a facial Spring clean as well. We’ve been looking into the hot products this Spring to help scrub, wash and moisturise those Winter faces away.

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  • NEWS: Are We Getting Close To Eradicating HIV?

    With new HIV cases on the rise in young gay men it’s great to hear some encouraging news coming from researchers about new drugs which have been helping to part cure HIV infections amongst early detection cases.

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