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Homos To Get Dirty in Atlanta

Scheduled on the high heels of the Atlanta Pride Festival, the MondoHomo Dirty South 2007 Festival will bring over 69 (who decided on that number?) indie queer musicians and artists to perform in Atlanta over the next five days. Planned to coincide with the U.S. Social Forum, the Dirty South Festival is billing itself as a revolution you can dance to in a fun Queer-centric party atmosphere for Southern locals, US Social Forum participants, and indie Queers from across the country. Although not officially affiliated with the US Social Forum, the MondoHomo festival intends to complement the event with everything queer, artistic, and progressive.

The U.S. Social Forum is America’s plunge into the global progressive community in hopes of helping to set a world agenda that puts people and social concerns above profit and national borders. It’s the activist’s answer to the World Economic Forum that multinational corporations use to set national and global policies.

MondoHomo Dirty South kicks off tonight with a triple threat in East Atlanta Village. There’s with a free Mondo Art Opening at the new location of lesbian favorite My Sister’s Room at 7 p.m. A couple of doors down at Mary’s, the Log Jam will surely help the guys get Dirty South. Across the street (and down the block) at The Earl, an artist meet-and-greet will get underway at 7:30 p.m. Team Gina, KIN, One Hand Love the Other, Akil and DJ Va Jay Jay are the lineup later. The Mary’s and Earl events require a $5 and $10 cover charge, respectively. Many events are free, but most come with a cover of $5 or $10. Or, you can buy a festival pass for $50. Festival passes will be on sale at The Earl tonight, or at Criminal Records on Moreland Avenue.

More information on the MondoHomo performers is available on their Website, along with a detailed schedule and ticket information. All MondoHomo events will be smoke-free, handicap accessible and gender neutral.

MondoHomo promises to shine with music and art with a progressive message. Stay tuned to Life On Q for updates and interviews from the festival.

Ticketholders Thrown a Curve at Peach Party

Curve Magazine’s Peach Party left Atlanta lesbians stunned.

As the Peach Party crowd grew well into the night Saturday night, hundreds were left on line down West Peachtree Street, curving around the corner on 17th as a thin crew at the door ID’ed, arm-banded and released the lesbians into the Center Stage theatre’s two bars. Having purchased advanced tickets saved five bucks, but bought you no time, as the ticketed and unticketed waited in queue together.

As women waited to reach the door, they passed the time watching new arrivals clutching tickets head for the front of the line, only to reappear on their way around the corner to the end of the line on 17th, each displaying a unique but predictable look of stunned surprise and perplexity as they carried their pre-paid tickets to the back of the queue. Meanwhile, a VIP queue was virtually unused all evening, with fewer than 10 women gracing the VIP velvet ropes during one hour of waiting for the rest of us. “It’ll be last call before we even get in there!,” complained one.

(Here’s another “L Word” for Curve Magazine: Lines! Shouldn’t there be three—one for VIPs, one for ticket holders, and one for the ticket-less? It would seem to be to the Peach Party’s advantage to get women off the streets and spending money inside as quickly as possible.)

Once inside, the impatience quickly dissipated as a different sort of stunned look crossed the faces. Hundreds of women packed two dance floors. Most were dressed to the nine’s. Others chose their best pair of flip-flops or were careful to pick just the right flannel shirt for the big event. The trucker’s hat had to match. All in all, the Peach party proved that L.A. lesbian hipness as portrayed on The L Word has some serious competition in Atlanta’s lesbian population.

DJ Pat Pat from Tampa was back for her second Peach appearance. Spinning an infectious mix of Latin beats and dance favorites, she kept the crowd on their toes….and heels…and their best pair of flip-flops….until well after last call.

Pat Pat threw in quite a few crowd-pleasers, including a danceable remix of Betty’s The L Word theme. The upstairs dance floor was packed and sweaty, but the mood was “party!” and the women friendly and accommodating as they curved through the crowd.

The smaller downstairs dance floor was the Peach Party’s first impression. Unfortunately, the smaller room was interrupted by tables and less encouraging of dancers, but Atlanta’s own DJ Kim Crawford succeeded in setting a festive mood for new arrivals with a pop-ier and rock-ier Top 40s mix. All lesbians love a little Joan Jett now and again. Party planners chose to throw in a couple of live performances, which seemed out of context despite the performers’ best efforts to capture the crowd.

In the end, the Peach Party seemed to be a sweet treat for lesbians attending the Atlanta Pride Festival 2007.

Welcome to Life on Q

Hello, Queer World! We’re back.

Life on Q has been on hiatus for several months while we worked out technical glitches and other gotcha’s. Just in time for Pride 2007, we’re online and ready to blog and podcast your Life….On Q. Our reporters will be at Atlanta Pride 2007, documenting the in’s and out’s of the queerest weekend in the ATL. Will we capture your mug for our photo gallery? Interview you for one of our audio or video podcasts?

Stay tuned and look for your Life on Q, updated often.