www.list.co.uk/LGBT Events are listed by date, then city. Submit listings at least 16 days before publication to gay@list.co.uk. Listings are compiled by Laura Ennor. ✽✽ Indicates Hitlist entry
GLASGOW
Activities & Events Women Make History Workshops Launch Event Thu 3 Mar, 6–7.30pm. £3 (free). Glasgow Women’s Library, Mitchell Library, 15 Berkeley Street, 248 9969. Find out about what’s on offer at this series of learner-led workshops focusing on women’s lives, work and experiences in the past. Big Women’s Quiz of the Century Thu 10 Mar, 7–10pm. £6 (£3). CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, 352 4900. Celebrate 100 years of International Women’s Days and many millennia of ladies being awesome. Teams of six welcome. BYOB. Shout Out 2011 Sat 19 Mar, 11am–8pm; Sun 20 Mar, noon–7pm. £15–£25. SECC, Exhibition Way, 0844 395 4000. The first gay lifestyle festival in Scotland, with live music, DJs, casino, shopping and activities. See www.shoutoutproud.co.uk for more info. FREE Have Your Say Sat 19 Mar, noon–4pm. A community consultation event for Glasgow’s LGBT community, with info about local organisations, free coffee, cake and lunch, and a chance to give your views on a new space for the community. See www.woslgbt.org.uk. Arts Staircase Until Sat 5 Mar, 7.45pm. £11 (£7). Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, 552 4267. See review in Theatre. FREE Life Dramas Mon 7 Mar, 12.30–2.30pm. Glasgow Women’s Library, Mitchell Library, 15 Berkeley Street, 248 9969. Theatre workshop for women using the Theatre of the Oppressed methodology. Les Ballets Trockadero De Monte Carlo Tue 8 & Wed 9 Mar, 7.30pm. £16.50–£29.50. King’s Theatre, 297 Bath Street, 529 6000. Witty, yet respectful, homage to some of classical ballet’s finest moments. Zoe Lyons Sat 19 Mar, 8.30pm. £9 (£8). Blackfriars, 36 Bell Street, 0844 395 4005. Smart and funny stand-up as Ms Lyons looks at living life happily in Clownbusting. Part of Magners Glasgow International Comedy Festival. Kylie Minogue Mon 28 Mar–Wed 30 Mar, 8pm. £65–£85. SECC, Finnieston Quay, 0844 395 4000. Another mega- production from pop behemoth Ms Minogue. We predict feathers.
Clubs Lip Service Fridays, 6pm–3am. £tbc. FHQ, 10 John Street, 0845 166 6037. Long-running lesbian club night with a focus on all things sensual. Revolver Bears Fri 4 Mar, 9pm–1am. £tbc. Revolver, 6a John Street, 553 2456. A night for Glasgow gents in search of a little furry company, courtesy of the Bearscots team. Tunes from DJ Corky. Stepping Up a Notch Saturdays, 9pm–3am. Free before 11pm; £5 (£3 students) after. The Polo Lounge, 84 Wilson Street, 0845 659 5905. DJs Suave Gav and Leah give it their all. Weekends With a Bang! Sundays, 9pm–3am. Free before 11pm; £5 (£3 students) after. The Polo Lounge, 84 Wilson Street, 0845 659 5905. An explosive end to the week. FREE Ipop Tuesdays, 5pm–3am. The Polo Lounge, 84 Wilson Street, 0845 659 5905. Start the weekend very early with DJ Devine. FREE Foreplay Wednesdays, 6pm–3am. FHQ, 10 John Street, 0845 166 6037. DJ Shazza presents a party for girls. Menergy Sat 26 Mar, 11pm–4am. £6. The Art School, 168 Renfrew Street, 353 4690. This month Lady Munter hosts a March Manchester Invasion, with
INTERVIEW RON PECK CLUBBED TO DEATH As his 1987 pink pound gangland thriller Empire State is released on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time, filmmaker Ron Peck remembers those cold blooded old times
It’s mad to think that Ron Peck’s Thatcherite era thriller Empire State has lain dormant for so long. Set in and around the gay clubbing scene, which at the time was exploding in vast warehouse clubs in the UK, the film easily still stands next to The Long Good Friday, Angel and Mona Lisa as a largely successful attempt to essay what Thatcher’s free market economy policies did to the dispossessed, the greedy and the terminally psychotic. One of the reasons the film may have slipped through the net is one of perception. Peck had previously made the celebrated queer cinema milestone Nighthawks in 1978, and along with Derek Jarman was viewed as one of the key proponents of this cinematic strata.
‘It’s so strange because I don’t really see myself in those terms,’ Peck
muses down the phone from his London home. ‘My commitment to Nighthawks was total, but after it people started asking me: “Are you a filmmaker or a gay filmmaker?” With Empire State Peck wanted to go another way: ‘I wanted the sexually ambiguous characters to be meshed into the story and not be part of some separate world. That was what was happening in society at the time, these huge mega gay clubs with American names had exploded and totally lost their stigma for straights. There was this recognition everywhere that gays had money.’
On DVD and Blu-ray, Empire State arrives with a ton of extra features,
including one clip of Peck on Right to Reply (the film was released sequentially on the cinema and on Channel 4) defending the violence and language in the film. ‘It was a violent time, by releasing the constraints on money, Thatcher had encouraged everyone to be aggressive,’ Peck explains. With two new features about to be released, Peck wonders how a
younger generation of viewers will take to the resurrection of Empire State. ‘Its lurid melodrama is a little high coloured now,’ he sighs. ‘But the feedback has been very positive so far.’ (Paul Dale) ■ Empire State, out Mon 14 Mar (Network). crosschannelfilm.com
alternative drag queen Zsa Zsa Noir and the Scottish debut from hi-NRG DJs Pumping Iron.
EDINBURGH Activities & Events FREE Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Fri 4 Mar, 2–4.30pm. LGBT Centre for Health & Wellbeing, 9 Howe Street, 523 1100. Workshop exploring how and why the symptoms of PTS disorder manifest themselves, and how they can be managed. FREE Growing Pains: A Young Person’s Guide to Mental Health Sat 5 Mar, 1–4.30pm. LGBT Centre, 9 Howe Street, 523 1100. Informal exploration of mental health issues for young people (under 25), including a myth-busting quiz, creative arts session and discussion. FREE Edinburgh Trans Women Group Meeting Sat 5 Mar, 7.30–9.30pm. LGBT Centre, 9 Howe
Street, 523 1100. A group for MTF transgender people. FREE LGBT Centre Drop-in Mondays, 5.30–8pm. LGBT Centre, 9 Howe Street, 523 1100. Weekly, informal drop-in service. FREE Basketball Drop-in Tue 8, 15 & 22 Mar, 6–7pm. Broughton High School, 29 East Fettes Avenue, 523 1100. A relaxed bounce about for beginner slam dunkers. FREE First Steps Fitness Wednesdays, 6.30–7.45pm. Inverleith Park, Arboretum Place, admin@lgbthealth.org.uk Weekly jogging club, with circuit training for those of a more masochistic bent. FREE Women’s Book Group Wed 9 Mar, 7–9pm. LGBT Centre, 9 Howe Street, 523 1100. Meet members of the LGBT community who share a passion for books. Razzle Dazzle’s Big Camp Quiz Wednesdays, 9pm. £tbc. Cafe Habana, 22 Greenside Place, 558 1270. Join the ‘Queen of the Quiz’ for this weekly
LGBT
showing-off session, with a rollover jackpot if no-one was clever enough to win it last week. New Town Bar Quiz Night Thu 10 & 24 Mar, 9–10.30pm. £tbc. New Town Bar, 26b Dublin Street, 538 7775. Regular quiz night at the New Town Bar. FREE LGBT Age at Gorgie City Farm Fri 11 Mar, 2–4pm. Gorgie City Farm, 51 Gorgie Road, 523 1100. Spring outing for the over-50s. FREE Film Club Fri 11 Mar, 6.30–9.30pm. LGBT Centre, 9 Howe Street, 523 1100. Monthly screenings of film offerings with an LGBT focus. FREE Personal Development Weekend Sat 12 & Sun 13 Mar, 11am–4pm. LGBT Centre, 9 Howe Street, 523 1100. Explore ideas of personality and communication over this two-day course, working towards better relationships and self-knowledge. FREE Edinburgh Trans Men Group Meeting Sat 12 Mar, 7.30–9.30pm. LGBT Centre, 9 Howe Street, 523 1100. A social evening for FTM transgender people. FREE Bi Edinburgh Meeting Wed 16 Mar, 8–9.30pm. LGBT Centre, 9 Howe Street, 523 1100. Monthly meet-up for bisexuals and those with questions about their sexuality. See www.biscotland.org for more information. FREE Art Therapy: Exploring Dimension Fri 18 Mar, 1–4.30pm. LGBT Centre, 9 Howe Street, 523 1100. Sculpture session led by a qualified Art Therapist. FREE Edinburgh Gay Men’s Book Group Wed 23 Mar, 7–9pm. LGBT Centre, 9 Howe Street, 523 1100. A book club for gents with a lust for reading. FREE Icebreakers Wed 23 Mar, 7.30–9.30pm. The Regent Bar, 2 Montrose Terrace, 661 8198. Social group for people who want to make new friends in LGBT company. FREE LGBT Lives Fri 25–Wed 30 Mar (not Sun), 10am–5pm. Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 30–36 Dalmeny Street, Leith, 555 7100. Original artwork focusing on the lives of LGBT people through an exploration of identities and communities. FREE Psychiatry Q&A Tue 29 Mar, 3–5pm. LGBT Centre, 9 Howe Street, 523 1100. Put your questions about mental health diagnoses and treatments to a qualified psychiatrist.
Arts FREE Acting Out with the Luvvies Tue 8, 15 & 22 Mar, 7–9pm. LGBT Centre, 9 Howe Street, 523 1100. Join Edinburgh’s LGBT theatre group, the Luvvies, for three sessions of acting out and acting up, and maybe even think about joining their next production. Clubs Poptastic Fri 4 Mar, 10pm–3am. £4 (£3). GHQ, 4 Picardy Place, 0845 166 6024. Indie/electro and retro pop/trash. Luvely Fri 4 Mar, 10.30pm–3am. £12 (members £10). The Liquid Room, 9c Victoria Street, 225 2564. Saucy soirée of full-on, driving house music returns. FREE Saturday Showdown Saturdays, 11pm–3am. CC Blooms, 23–24 Greenside Place, 556 9331. DJ Shazza and DJ Blondie face off. FREE Gayboi Mansion Thu 10 Mar, 10pm–3am. GHQ, 4 Picardy Place, 0845 166 6024. Monthly men’s night. Furburger Fri 11 Mar, 11pm–3am. £4 (£3). GHQ, 4 Picardy Place, 0845 166 6024. Aural stimulation for gay women and their closest friends. Bears in the Basement Sat 12 Mar, 10pm–2am. £tbc. New Town Bar, 26b Dublin Street, 538 7775. A men-only night for hirsute gentlemen. Velvet Sat 19 Mar, 10.30pm–3am. £3 before 11pm; £5 (£4) after. Cabaret Voltaire, 36–38 Blair Street, 220 6176. International Women’s Day Centenary Party. FREE Booty Sun 27 Mar, 10pm–3am. GHQ, 4 Picardy Place, 0845 166 6024. R&B, hip hop, soul and funk from DJs Dale Lush and Isla Blige.
3–31 March 2011 THE LIST 77