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  • GARDEN| Bring In The Spring

    This is one of our favourite times of year in the garden – although also the most unpredictable.

    Bright clear days can seduce you into feeling like it’s springtime and then a sleety snow shower takes you right back into the murky depths of winter. The weather is a cruel mistress indeed! This year we’re all about the flowers in our garden so keeping one step ahead of the changeable weather is going to be key.

    Last year we started out planting a few alpines on a rock that sits at the back of our garden. This year we’re going to keep adding to this to create a backdrop that has colour and interest all year round.  Since we started we’ve really enjoyed watching how the alpines from last season have found their home on the seemingly implantable rock.

    February can bring strong winds and unforgiving cold – we’ve watched the little plants bend and dance in the wind – but they’re clearly at home. Standing their ground and biding their time for the calmer and warmer times ahead.

    To do our bit for these growing plants we’ve been keenly deadheading them and keeping an eye to make sure their not sitting in any pools of water that may collect – they do like good drainage. So far. So good.

    What is an Alpine?

    The name Alpine, conjures up images of high altitude, rocky slopes and harsh conditions. Quite appropriate really, sat here in Mid Wales. The Alpines we grow in our gardens are usually hardy plants that require really good drainage. Their ability to grow on sheer rock faces is difficult to imagine until you’ve seen them in action! Provided you get them in the right place (some like full sun, others prefer some shade) these plants will flourish and spread across their position creating the most natural looking plants in the most unnatural locations. They make a suitable starter if you’re a beginner and are a great way to make the most hostile of surfaces into a beautifully flowering garden.

    Getting organised.

    For us it’s still all about clearing up the garden, keeping on top of leaves and other debris that flies into our garden.

    We’re also using this time to sort out last year’s seed packets. The great thing about seeds is everything you need to know is written on the back! Who’d have thought! Most of the seed packets we’ve got at the moment have come as freebies on gardening magazines so we’re brushing up on where they like to be planted and at what time of the year. Any that we don’t think will like our conditions are going on a ‘swap’ pile that we’ll take round to our friends in the village over the next few weeks.

    Now is also the time to check your soil. You can pick up PH testing kits cheaply and check your own soil. Once you know what you’ve got, you can add different composts and mixes to change the composition. If your soil is dense and holds a lot of water – mixing grit into the soil can improve drainage massively. As always think ahead – work out what sort of plants you’re preparing to plant and prepare the soil accordingly.

    Look at what’s working now – and what isn’t!

    This is a brilliant time to have a look at what is going to happen in your garden throughout the spring and summer. Plants have had a winter of weather and you can really see which of last year’s new plants are happy in their current location.

    So now’s the time to identify gaps in your flowerbeds and planting areas and work out what to put in them. If you know what you’ve got already and what flowers when, you can plan to put in plants that flower at other times to keep your garden looking vibrant all year round. Planting like this is a real skill and it can take a lifetime to master. You can play with flower colours, leaf shapes, plant heights – the only limit is your imagination.

    If you’re looking for inspiration visit local show gardens and National Trust gardens to ask the experts what they do. Planting beautiful flower beds full of interest and imagination all year round is one of the most rewarding parts of gardening, and the results can be truly spectacular –  so get cracking!

     

    We’d love to see pics of how your gardens are coming along this year! Get in touch by searching ‘Andy and Adam’s’ on Facebook or follow @andyandadams on Twitter.

  • INTERVIEW | Gareth Thomas; Kicking Theatre Into Touch

    Gareth Thomas. One of the most capped Welsh rugby players ever to take to the field for his country. The second highest try scorer in Welsh rugby history. Patriot for his beloved Wales. Lynchpin to his team. And gay.

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  • FILM REVIEW | Out In The Dark

    ★★★★★ |  Out In The Dark

    Nimr is in Tel Aviv to visit his old friend Mustafa in a gay bar where he works since moving from Ramallah. Once there he meets Roy a very flirtatious your lawyer who gently puts the moves on equally handsome Nimr who is quickly smitten and is soon ready to make a night of it. However, he is offered a ride for the daunting journey home so they reluctantly say their goodnights. Nimr promises to call, but the chances of that are slim, as he is a Palestinian and is there illegally, and Roy is an Israeli Jew.

    However back home psychology student Nimr is offered a place on a special course in Tel Aviv and along with that comes a permit to enter Israel at any time he wants. It’s something that his militant older brother hates, but on the other hand, something that a very surprised and delighted Roy loves. As the young couple gets to spend time together, within a short time it is clearly not the only thing Roy loves, and the feeling is obviously mutual.

    Whilst Nimr must remain totally closeted to all his family back home in Ramallah for fear of his own life, in Tel Aviv, Roy takes him to formally meet his liberal parents who don’t actually welcome their son’s Arab boyfriend with open arms as he expected them too.

    And then suddenly the two men’s somewhat precarious lives together now becomes outright dangerous especially after the Israeli authorities deport the very flamboyant Mustafa. Once home he is beaten to death for the dishonour his (very open) homosexuality has brought on his family. Soon after the Israeli Authorities suspect Nimr’s brother of terrorist activities and having his own arsenal of weapons, they then take Nimr’s travel permit away unless he will agree to spy for them.

    He refuses and so they ensure that the elder brother knows of his gayness which is, just cause, for the family to at once disown him and beat him to death. In the only act of compassion, we see towards any gay person in this film, the brother allows him to escape back to Israel where it looks like the Authorities may even finish the job for him.

    This heart string tugging story of forbidden love from LA based Israeli newbie director/writer Michael Mayer follows in the well-trodden footsteps of filmmaker Eyton Fox (Yossi & Jaeger, The Bubble) with this story of how being gay just adds yet one more obstacle to living in this troubled region. Mayer’s convincingly real love story between these educated young men works really well because of the chemistry between his two talented lead actors Nicholas Jacob & Michael Aloni.

    What makes it even more interesting is the fact that whilst its the deeply entrenched extreme politics that are the main cause of the couple’s problems, the story never focuses on their own beliefs but purely on the disastrous effects it has on them. And to my knowledge, it’s also one of the very few gay films that have ever dealt with barbarous ‘honour’ killings.

    It is nigh on impossible to find an Israeli or Arab movie with a gay romance that doesn’t involve a great deal of danger and death (Fox’s recent sequel ‘Yossi ‘was a rare exception). It’s all the remarkable then after the horrors that Nimir and Roy went through that the overwhelming feeling that one came away with from this movie is the fact there is hope. It’s probably one of the reasons why it’s picked up almost a dozen Awards in Festivals worldwide already. Many of them as Audience Favourite.

    Be warned, as well as having you reach for the Kleenex, this movie will in parts, make you very angry/horrified too. It is, however, a definite ‘must see’.

     

  • Gloucestershire Loses Its Only Gay Bar

    The Westgate in Gloucestershire has served its last pint as the number of LGBT venues across the country gradually gets smaller and smaller.

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  • Do I Sound Gay?

    Of course you do, and so do we, Thank God!

    When forty-something-year-old American journalist DAVID THORPE suddenly found himself single again he started to question what was wrong with him.  He thought it could be the fact that he sounded gay, so he set about delving into the whole issue of how he spoke to see if he could resolve it.

    He documented his ‘journey’ of discovery which with the help of his friends, therapists and some very witty gay celebrities turned into an hilarious and touching movie that every single gay man (and woman) will so relate too.

    We sat down and talked with David (in our regular gay voice) who has articulated on something that all of us have questioned at some time.  He shared more of what he had learned from the likes of David Sedaris, Margaret Cho and Dan Savage to come to where his now totally comfortable in his own skin.  His interview with The Gay UK will be in out next issue, but meanwhile you can still catch him and his funny and enchanting movie playing at the BFI Flare Festival on 25/27th  March 2015

    www.bfi.org.uk/flare

  • REVIEW: eDermastamp – Our Lunchtime Facelift

    It is with some hesitation that I do anything to interfere with my face. Creams yes, pills yes, needles in the face in the name of a more youthful complexion? I wasn’t so sure.

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  • Goodbye Downton… Dame Maggie Is 110

    The rumour about the demise of Downton that has been the source of much speculation recently was finally confirmed as true this afternoon.

    Gareth Neame the programme’s executive producer said in a statement, “Millions of people around the world have followed the journey of the Crawley family and those who serve them for the last five years. Inevitably, there comes a time when all shows should end, and ‘Downton’ is no exception. We wanted to close the doors of ‘Downton Abbey’ when it felt right and natural for the storylines to come together and when the show was still being enjoyed so much by its fans. We can promise a final season full of all the usual drama and intrigue, but with the added excitement of discovering how and where they all end up.”

    The programme has not just been a mega hit with UK audiences as in the US it has proved to be the most successful series in PBS’s 44 year history and has won 11 Emmys, 3 Golden Globes, 3 SAG Awards and a Producers Guild Award. Back home it also picked up 3 BAFTAS too.

    Dame Maggie Smith who plays the sharp-tongues Dowager Countess of Grantham had already said prior to the announcement that this would be her last series regardless. She added ‘ I mean, I certainly cannot keep going. To my knowledge as we’re into the late 1920s, I must be 110 by now!’

  • Bianca Del Rio: “I Can Put My Dogs Through College”

    Bianca Del Rio is a big time winner. Back in her hometown of New Orleans she won Big Easy Entertainment Awards for Costume Design six times, and then went on to win Gay Entertainer of the year for 3 consecutive years before she left for the bright heady lights of New York where she delighted viewers and judges alike whilst winning the 6th Season of RuPaul’s Drag Race on Logo TV.

    The multi-faceted Bianca (aka Roy Haylock) is fabulously funny and totally fierce with her unfettered and ferocious humour that she fires rapidly without ever seeming to stop to take a breath, or let her latest victim recover. Always kitted out in some stunning creation she has designed, and immaculately coiffured, with her big eyes exaggerated by her make-up, Bianca describes herself simply as a ‘clown in a dress’ but she is in fact so much more than that.

    Over a cocktail or two Roger Walker-Dack catches up with Bianca Del Rio.

    TGUK: How and why did you first make the transition from costume designing to performing?

    BDR: It was a gradual evolution and it just kind of happened. I had been doing costume design for a very long time in New Orleans, my hometown, and I was actually doing the costumes and make up for a new play. It had six guys in drag, and they wanted someone else to play a small role that they hadn’t cast yet, and so I agreed to do it. I had always been an extrovert so the move into the spotlight just kind of worked out, and I very quickly discovered that I really loved it.

    Then up until I did ‘Drag Race’ I continued to combine both, doing costumes by day and drag by night, which became my life for almost twenty years. It worked out well because both careers balanced each other out, as you never know if the Broadway Show who have been designing for will finish, or if the bar in which you’ve been performing will close. It was a very nice fusion for a very long time, however since I won the competition I have been so busy performing that the design part has had to go.

    TGUK: Was it a deliberate choice not to lip sync, or sing or dance as Drag performers are expected to do?

    BDR: At the beginning I did do all that but then over the years I just became the one who would ‘Host’ everything. I was the talking one. It wasn’t until I moved to NY (post Hurricane Katrina) and someone said ‘Oh you’re a comedian’ that I had even thought of it in those terms. I simply didn’t crave to dance or lip sync and even though I could put over a ballad, it’s just not my favourite thing to do. My performance became all about audience participation and talking to people and that worked out well as they always needed a host, and I just got the job by default.

    TGUK: You were already an established performer with a big following in NY when you auditioned for RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6.  What motivated you to try out for this?

    BDR: Originally I had wanted to quit drag by the time I was 40, which is this year. By then I would have been performing for 20 years, which I thought was long enough. However Drag Race is HUGE, and I knew quite a few people who had been in the business for some years who had already appeared on it. Even though they did not win, just the exposure on the show alone opened doors for them to get their music produced and their own shows mounted, and they all got a real boost to their careers with bigger and better bookings. And so I thought if this is the result, what would I have to lose, so why not try it?

    It was my very first audition and I didn’t tell a soul I was going to do it, but something clicked and I was picked. It all happened very fast. It’s a rigorous process getting on to the show and then after that there is all the filming and all the things we were expected to do in between takes, and then even more time just having to wait for it to ‘air.’  It’s one big roller-coaster, but I kept thinking, even if I do not win I would gain a golden ticket that could lead on to other things, and who knew what else could come out of it?

    TGUK: Asides from winning, is there one particular highlight that remains with you from the programme?

    BDR: We filmed it a while ago and it happened so quickly. I was unaware of what I did and what I said, and what I didn’t do and what I didn’t say. None of it came to me until I actually watched the programme much later on. What you end up watching is a 14-hour-day of filming cut down to just 45 minutes of screen time. So it was interesting to re-watch it, as up until then it had just been this blur. A good one not a like a drunken blur (laughs). I didn’t realise though at all how impactful it would this be on me until after the fact.

    TGUK: The NY Times called you the ‘Joan Rivers in drag’ and in my book, compliments don’t come much higher than that. When you appeared on her TV Show In Her Bed with Joan you were fearless and so funny and it looked like Joan had met her match. Tell us about that experience.

    BDR: I had never heard about the show prior to being invited to go on it. I got a call from my manager who said do you want to do this? And I went “YES! I don’t know what it is, but YES!” I flew to LA as the show is shot in her daughter Melissa’s home, and the day we were filming Joan was doing three other episodes back to back. I love Joan immensely but I was very concerned as I didn’t want to seem to be just like a big clingy fan or at the other extreme, appear too disinterested or aloof. So before I went on I was debating with myself about how to act, what to say or should I bitch or not? However the moment I stepped into the room with her she was so welcoming, so gracious and immediately it just seemed like I was talking to an old friend of mine.

    There are very few things that I get that excited about or even anxious, but I ADORED this woman. We were scheduled to shoot just 20 minutes, but we ended up with a glorious hour of us just cackling and laughing together. In my head I’m thinking this is unbelievable, as this is THE Joan Rivers and she is laughing at something I have said. It was just truly one of the biggest highlights of my life. It’s so sad that she is not here with us still.

    TGUK: It strikes us watching that you were totally fearless appearing with this demi-god of comedy, were you?

    BDR: For me it was just going ‘into the zone.’ There is nothing better than going to lunch with a bunch of friends and talking my head off, and so what I was saying to Joan was exactly what I would say to my friends. That’s how my brain works and that’s essentially how I approach doing my act too. Very few things scare me and in regards to what I do, it is a fearless thing. You take risks and sometimes it works well, and sometimes it doesn’t! (laughs)

    TGUK: Do you ever self-censor or think you have ever gone to far when you are on stage and being ferocious? Are there any topics off-limits to you?

    BDR: There is NOTHING off-limits to me; I just go for whatever I want. I mean, just consider the source. Here I am, a man in a wig in a bar at 1 am, so what the f**k can I say that can be so f**king offensive? Also everybody has something to say about everything. It’s not that people have more of an opinion nowadays, it’s just that now we hear more of it because of social media. Thank God I am at the age that I am where it doesn’t bother me at all. Friends call me and say “do you see what they wrote online about what you said”, and I reply “frankly I don’t give a s**t.” I simply cannot care what some faceless person who has never met me has to type about me.

    TGUK: Despite being fierce on stage, you have a reputation for your loyalty, support and genuine admiration for other performers.

    BDR: I think it is really very important. There have been some pretty amazing people who gave me advice and talked to me and helped me out. Now I want to be able to give back to others. You simply do not need to do any of this alone.

    TGUK: You are known too as someone who has the same persona on and off the stage.

    BDR: That is partly true. However when you put the wig on you can get away with murder. When I wear the wig they call me funny, but if I don’t wear the wig I’m just called a hateful fag!

    TGUK: Are there other doors besides Joan River’s that have opened up for you since your win?

    BDR: I’m now doing my own show The Roladex Of Hate that I am getting to travel the world with now. There is talk of me writing a book, which I am excited about. All of these doors have been there because this one TV show has opened them and it has changed my life. As I’m now 39 I’m able to sit back and really appreciate it a lot more than I would have before. I mean people don’t come to discover you in a bar, and now that I am out there being treated respectfully by so many people that are rooting for me, feels almost insane. The support I get from people, it’s quite nothing less than dazzling.

    TGUK: How was your first experience of London when you performed there last year?

    BDR: It was great. It was raining naturally. London is a lot like New York… so is San Francisco, but that is like New York on weed! (laughs). I loved London as it was beautiful and I was so very happy there. English people really appreciated me because they love dark humour. What I didn’t get though was the fact they do not like ice! They don’t put ice in any drink and that’s crazy. In a London bar I get this drink and there is no f**king ice, and I’m screaming “what am I going to do with that?” I need ice.

    TGUK: And the men?

    BDR: I LOVE that English accent.

    TGUK: No more details?  No stories of any romance?

    BDR: Oh God no! I don’t get that close. I keep it simple! (Laughs)

    TGUK: What are you looking forward too when you’re back here touring again this year?

    BDR: I’ve been travelling since February of last year, and it’s been intense. At the beginning I didn’t have any chance to do much beyond work because of my manic schedule. Now that it will be my second and third time around I will be getting an extra day here and there in some of the cities which is really going to be nice. I want to see it ALL as I haven’t seen anything yet. I went to Buckingham Palace last time for one hot minute but she didn’t answer obviously, but at least I got to visit.

    TGUK: Tell me about your upcoming movie.

    BDR: We are planning to shoot HURRICANE BIANCA in July, which I am very excited about. In parts of the US you can still be legally fired from your job just for being gay. I play a schoolteacher from New York who loses his job in a small redneck town in Texas after he has been outed. In order to get revenge on the people who did him wrong, I return as Bianca Del Rio a new teacher at school to wreak havoc. It’s one person’s journey to find himself while pretending to be someone else. It’s a very serious subject, but it’s all done in a very funny and touching way.

    It’s being made by my dear friend MATT KUGELMAN who wrote this for me and we have been wanting to do it for some time, but the really great thing is after Drag Race we were able to get funding for the movie to finally start. The only bad thing is that I’ll be wearing full drag when we are shooting in the fiercest of summer, but it will be great fun nevertheless.

    TGUK: And what about THIS IS DRAG documentary that you made for OUT TV in Canada?

    BDR: It’s so funny. I was in Toronto for World Pride with Adore Delano for a week packed full of performances and things that we had to do, and this crew asked if they could tag along and film us. We said “sure” thinking we would just be a part of a programme, but then when the ‘trailer’ was released we discovered that it was just about us. So I have no idea what this documentary is going to be about (roaring with laughter) because it was all a blur when we were there as we were working so much. When I texted Adore and asked her “do you remember doing this?” she replied “not at all”. So I said “good, I’m not the only one”! It was a relief. It had been one really long hectic week so I’m interested in seeing this myself. Actually Toronto is also where Adore and I filmed the advert for Starbucks.

    TGUK: We told THEGAYUK readers that we were going to meet with you and asked them if there was anything they would like us to ask you, and we chose just two from the pile that was submitted. The first one is, who would play you in a movie?

    BDR: Can’t I do it? Really? (laughs) I guess then we would have to go with Meryl Streep because she is in everything anyway. She would be the most convincing Bianca, and she is good in wigs!

    TGUK: The second question was, do you have enough money to put your dogs through college?

    BDR: (roaring with laughter) On Drag Race I used to say that I had only entered the competition to raise enough money to put my dogs through college because they are my children. So yes, the world had been very good to me, so I think they can even go to Harvard now.

    TGUK: You have a ‘milestone’ birthday this June when you become 40, how do you plan to celebrate?

    BDR: I am taking a whole week off for a vacation, and I’m going to Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. I have travelled all around the world now but I have never ever had a real vacation. I’m going to pack one tiny little piece of carry-on luggage with not a single wig in sight. You cannot believe how much s**t I usually have to travel with, so I cannot wait.

    TGUK: And what’s the future for Bianca after this?

    BDR: I can’t quit now, so world domination continue as I’m enjoying it more now than ever.

    TGUK: One of the things that radiates from you both on and off the stage is how very happy you really are.

    BDR: I’m not curing cancer, it’s just drag and it’s really not that serious. You’ve got to appreciate life and you’ve got to keep moving, and I love it all. When anyone doesn’t get that and tells me on any given day that I don’t look happy I just tell them. ‘You’d be as bitter as I am if you had your d*** in pantyhose too’.

  • FILM REVIEW | Silent Youth

    Marlo a young engineering student is taking a break from school and is visiting a girlfriend in Berlin.

    When she goes off to work, he takes off to explore the city. Crossing the street he momentarily links eyes with another man, and after the pass, they take furtive looks back at each other. Moments later as he crosses a bridge, Marlo espies the same young man, and starts to follow him. When he catches up he with him he hangs back for a few minutes before sidling up and tries awkwardly to start a conversation.  Both of them are unsure of themselves, let alone of each other, and even after they eventually decide to walk on together, very few words are exchanged.

    Kirill is Russian and has just returned to Germany after visiting his Grandmother and beyond saying that, he reveals very little about himself.  It’s a surprise then that after this he agrees to meet up with Marlo again and accepts his phone number.

    For their second outing Kirill’s father without uttering a word gives the two boys a lift to the Templehoff, Berlin’s old abandoned airport.  They wander aimlessly around the empty runways communicating intermittingly with brief snatches of conversation. Kirill, the more extrovert of the two, admits to having ‘tried it with a man’ then surprisingly fesses up to be the father of a baby girl who he is no longer allowed to see.  Poor reserved virginal Marlo who keeps stressing that his ‘girlfriend’ is just a friend has nothing to counter this new revelation with.

    Back at Kirill’s tower block apartment, the boys feast on bread and Nutella, before Kirill suddenly announces he wants to take a shower. Naked together the boys finally get physical but instead of this bringing them closer, once the lovemaking is over, Kirill seems more distant and odder than ever.

    There is a lot going on unspoken on in this movie as these two men deal with discovering their sexuality and sometimes it really is not clear what it is.  After watching these gentle souls very slowly interact with each and try to come to terms to discover what if anything is beyond all these awkward silences, you cannot avoid feeling a little numb even though it did almost redeem itself with its very sweet ending. All, however, a tad too slow for my liking, which is a pity as the two boy’s characters had great possibilities.

     

  • Can Still Strike A Pose 25 Years On From Iconic Vogue

    To mark the 25th Anniversary of Madonna’s iconic music video for ‘Vogue’ dancer/choreographers Jose Xtravaganza and Salim “Slam” Gauwloos have performed a short stunning tribute.

    Jose along with Luis Xtravaganza, introduced Madonna to the Harlem House Ball community, inspiring her to write the iconic song and incorporate the then underground dance style into the music video for the song.

    The song became a massive hit world-wide for Madonna in 1990. It reached the number 1 slot in numerous countries including the UK and USA selling over 3 million copies world-wide. The video for Vogue was ranked #2 on MTV’s greatest videos ever made.

     

  • Did Downton Dan “Beat Off” Other Men For The Part?

    Did Downton’s Dan Stevens provide ‘personal services?

    Dan Stevens (aka Matthew Crawley on Downton Abbey) was on Breakfast TV recently to promote his new movie The Guest in which he plays an American soldier.

    Host Susanna Reid sent Stevens into a fit of giggles when she asked a question that suggested it took more than a simple audition to get the role. She asked the star if he had to “beat off a lot of American men to get this part?”

    To make matters funnier the hapless interviewer still didn’t get her faux pas … and incidentally the very good-looking Stevens didn’t actually give a direct answer!

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