Tim Trainor spends every waking moment finding out what's all the gay rage in Perth right now. Events, culture and random bits and pieces from Perth, Australia.
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August 9
Glass attack at The Court
First, my apologies for sparatic updates (life has been very busy recently), but I’ve been pulled back to the blog to talk about what happened at The Court last night.
The venue hasn’t been receiving any of my money in a while now, so I don’t have a first hand account to go on - if anyone else was there please shoot me an email. Apparently a girl was stabbed with a broken bottle at around midnight, and the scene was serious enough to pull in an army of police officers, firemen and security guards. Subsequently half of the venue was closed down to the public.
(Photos by LM)
An SMS from a friend:
It was as Bree called it; a crime scene. I spoke to her she seemed really worried about the bad publicity and the loss of money!
… yeah who cares if the girl survives anyway. Luckily for Bree though, the attack at The Court has been completely overshadowed in today’s news by a different glass attack just down the road at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow, which happened the night before.
In fact, this other stabbing is getting so much of the attention the State government is considering a glass ban for problem venues. More good luck as The Court gets no mention in the news article. Is Bree’s relationship with the police working to her advantage or has word simply not filtered through to the media yet?
Either way, it’s another reminder that all pub venues experience violence issues and The Court is no exception. Lets end this post with a Facebook status update that appeared on my feed this morning. Stay safe on the weekends everyone.
Stabbingat the Court, venue closed by police at around midnight…now we know why I dont go there, on another note, awesome night at Connies. Yay! Bedtime now
Witness comment via facebook:
some girls were fighting in the female toilets and one got hella bashed up. came staggering out at me bleeding all over the place. poor girl, her head was covered in blood, just dripping everywhere
July 18
Eye on parenting
Same sex parenting is clearly on the rise in WA, and has today made its way into the pages of the West Australian. New parents Leonie and Marnie Woodley and Josh O’Keefe, along with their son Quinn Silas Woodley-O’Keefe are featured on pages 2 and 23. Josh is the biological father of Quinn, who was created with an egg from Marnie and carried by surrogate Leonie. Josh will stay an active donor as Dad and help raise Quinn with his two mothers.
The feature gives great insight into the hardships, difficult decisions and determination involved same sex parenting; issues often overlooked by those who oppose, and indeed the wider general public. While trying not to drag the four of them into becoming a case study for political debate, the sharing of their journey gives ammunition in dispelling the many myths surrounding same sex parenting.
At first glance, this family flies in the face of many who argue that a child born, or adopted, to gay parents is at a disadvantage because of the lack of a male or female role model. … “We’ll raise our child with open-mindedness and we expect others to do the same and treat his family with the same respect that we expect our son to treat other family units” [said Marnie].
“At the end of the day we love Quinn more than anything,” says Josh. “Quinn is the priority and his wellbeing is number one… what form the family takes is irrelevant.”
All fantastic messages to be promoting. A personal annoyance of mine is the gap in justification between drugged up bogans from Rockingham, Gosnells, wherever, who can end up with an unwanted mistake pregnancy and be able to carry the baby, and committed same sex couples who really are dedicated to the raising of a child, but have to jump through many hoops to do so. Both are extreme ends of the spectrum but the point remains. The West Australian’s feature story also makes a few opposing argument grabs, and you know, I may be a seething atheist, but opposition to this topic always comes from religious family groups. (Keep reading after the cut).
June 23
Homecoming: Behind the Scenes
A little over a week ago Pride WA held a pseudo-secret photo shoot for the faces of this year’s festival. To fit in with the Homecoming theme, a troupe of local and recognisable talent was hand picked, dressed up, and shot through a lens. The images from the photo shoot will be used in all festival marketing materials. Here’s a sneak peak (Art direction by Ben Duncalf, photography by Stef King).
Some interesting facts from the photo shoot: 19 ‘characters’ are featured in the campaign. 2 Roast chickens, 12 boiled eggs and 2kgs of sliced meats were used over the course of the day, as well as 5 sets of ‘OTT’ lashes and several packs of hair extensions.
Look out for the Homecoming Festival campaign shots coming soon to a Vogue magazine near you. More images behind the post cut!
May 24
Religion is confusing
Political advertisements in the US are so ridiculous I like to watch them and imagine the type of backlash they’d get if they were played on Australian television. Take for example this pile of garbage from Nation For Marriage:
After watching this video I’m very glad that schools, universities and the internet don’t teach kids new ways of thinking… phft! It only leads to increased confusion when the kids go home and their fundamentalist parents scar them with the death, destruction and incest of The Old Testament. What is more confusing… Two people loving each other and getting married as a symbol of their love, or a virgin giving birth?
These children were only confused after the ranty voiceover started talking, so kids, to clear things up here are the answers you seek:
Boy #1: If grandpa was a girl, he would have gone through a lot of stress following the gender reassignment surgery, please be extra nice to her.
Ranga girl: Hell yes giiiiirrrl! I like your attitude.
Boy #2: What the bible doesn’t say is that Adam actually was ‘Anna’, using a very primitive strap on.
Boy #1 again: If your dad married a man, you wouldn’t exist right now. Try not to think about it too much.
Confused boy: If you feel you are bi-curious, there are many resources available at the Freedom Centre.
May 20
Pride expands festival line up
Today Pride WA announced an exciting new event in their Homecoming Festival line up: the Pride WA Ball. The title is boring, but the event is not. It’s a dinner, dancing and awards night to recognise the contributions individuals and organisations have made to Perth’s GLBTIQ community (I hate that abbreviation so I won’t be using it again from hereon).
The ball will be on Saturday 22 August at the Novotel Langley and will include live entertainment and the crowning of a GLBTblah ‘King and Queen’. I hope they’re not drag related. Nominations for the various awards happen between June and August, so please bombard Pride WA with many, many emails telling them to nominate me for my contribution to Perth’s very small gay media scene, plus for all that humanitarian work I did in Rockingham - handing out food to homeless bogans, that sort of thing.
Pride WA will be releasing more details closer to the event, so look out for them on gayrage. Other important Pride dates for you to enter into your electronic devices:
- Pride launch: Friday 18 September
- Fairday: Sunday 27 September - (event will become a dance party after 6pm)
- Pride Parade and Homecoming Party: Saturday 31 October
May 11
Upcoming events
If you got a kick out of dressing up for the SHAMELESS: Detention party at Connections last weekend make sure you check out the upcoming Spank! ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Fetish & Fantasy Dance Party (web | fb) on 29 May. It’s from the same organisers who put together SHAMELESS.
And on the topic of SHAMELESS I headed along to the opening in my ripped up high school jersey jumper (RSHS class of ‘02.. woo). Great job to all involved in the schoolyard themeing - I had a gay ol’ dance in my very own high school muck up day. Also great to see people who put in the effort to get dressed up. The slutty nerdy outfit seemed to be the go’er.
The next Soho Night is on tonight (Tuesday 12 May). This is a very cool and relaxed queer night at the Ellington Jazz club. Goes great with a glass of wine!
Pride WA wants you to get involved in Faces For Freedom, a photography competition where you can make a statement against homophobic, and for human rights.
This week Pride WA will also be announcing a very exciting new event on their 2009 calendar… stay tuned
Zoo are celebrating their first birthday with a silver party on Sunday 17 May.
Rozalla live at Connections is a Pride WA fundraiser on 31 May - you know that song ‘everybody’s free’, right? You can buy tickets online from Pride WA.
If you’re in the mood for some dark and suspenseful theatre check out The Dark Room, playing at PICA until 17 May. Big recommendation from me.
May 2
tupperware with val
She’s conquered the world of drag performance, the world of proper nourishment, and her alter ego has created a Perth floristry empire. Now Val Nourished is on her way to becoming Australia’s number one Tupperware lady.
If you want to earn a little on the side, get a group of friends together for a Tupperware party with none other than Val Nourished as your sultry storage solution demonstrator! Val tells me the Host rewards for holding your own party are fantastic and well worth your while.
If you think that you’d love a fun and frivolous gathering surrounded by friends, Tupperware and a ‘real’ woman, shoot Val an email with your details. The lady is in high demand, so contact ASAP.
May 2
Soho update
Well I think I’ve done enough posts about venues I’m not happy with - time for some I am happy with (which yeah, is rare). Last Tuesday night I went along to Soho Nights, a queer friendly night at Ellington Jazz club in Northbridge.
Great atmosphere for a weeknight glass of wine, and the music was very cosy. No, there wasn’t any scat jazz (without set beat / melody), so anyone who isn’t a complete jazz-head (me) won’t be alienated by the music. If you are looking for a swarve, sexy and different night out then head along to the next Soho Night on 12 May.
May 1
Why bar owners don’t work in public relations
I don’t actually spend every moment of my life whinging about The Court. I only do it every second day, or when I’m feeling cranky, or feeling bored. Physically it’s a great venue, and yes it has introduced some good new elements to Perth’s gay bar scene (mainly food related). Although I feel it still hasn’t reached full potential yet you could definitely go a lot worse on a Saturday night - Mustang Bar anyone?
What I frequently don’t agree with though is the venue management’s attitude towards its patrons. I’ve discussed this previously, but apparently we’re not even allowed to talk about it anymore: Bree Maddox (owner of The Court) recently went on a censorship spree and threatened the owners of two Court related Facebook groups, pushing the owners to take the groups down.
One of these groups was set up to discuss the security company employed by The Court, and included valid conversation on how patrons had been treated (according to the group a few incidents have occurred recently). When this Facebook group first started Bree Maddox even contributed, stating she would to look into the situation and enact changes as required. A few weeks later though she’s suddenly changed her mind and is demanding the group be deleted otherwise “further action” will be taken… huh?
The group owner told me:
She [Bree Maddox] asked me to take it down or it would be reported and removed anyway. So after a fairly intense discussion with her I swallowed my pride and removed it myself. They weren’t so much legal threats, but it was implied that further action would be taken if the group wasn’t deleted.
It doesn’t take a degree in Public Relations (which I do have, by the way) to know that if your customers are raising legitimate complaints, you don’t try to censor them. If you attempt to silence people they talk anyway. Word spreads and then some loudmouth puts it on his blog and then even more people know. Scaring your customers with implied threats of legal action or a banning from your venue is a big no no. A discussion group sharing complaints about a product or service is not defamation.
So my question to Bree Maddox is; why are we not allowed to talk about ways to improve The Court? Why are you threatening people who point out areas that need attention to make the venue better?
As a side note, can you also explain why you registered the domain name perthmardigras.com? I’m a tad confused… you didn’t want anything to do with the 2008 Pride Parade, but at the same time you registered a website for your own Perth Mardi Gras?… Just sayin!
Obviously this is quite a controversial topic for little ol’ Perth, and I would like to add a disclaimer that this post is by no means an attack on staff who work at The Court (I know you guys are a pretty tight knit bunch), or any specific security guard. Bree if you would like to respond - please do. I will gladly post your reply here.
Currently the Court related Facebook group I started ages ago has not received any requests to close down. Funny that.
April 28
Botox for Pride WA
Pride WA’s website has had an extreme makeover in preparation for the Homoecoming Festival. They are also calling for volunteers to help out with upcoming Pride events and the annual festival. If you’re interested, throw them a line via their website.
April 22
Upcoming events
We are not a one pub one club town. Here are some bits and pieces from the gay street scene:
Soho Nights is a new “intersection of art, music, variations of human experience and love”. It is hosted at the Ellington Jazz Club (Beaufort Street, very close to The Court) and features Jazz, Musical Theatre and Cabaret. It is a queer friendly night held every 2 weeks, with the next Soho Night on Tuesday 28 April. Please check it out - this is the type of event ‘new to the Perth scene’ that we need to support - believe it or not we do actually have culture in our city!
Anzac Weekend events: Women in uniform at Connections (Friday) and Woofclub 4 at Bar Open (Sunday)
From the rumour mill: Trick will be returning soon at a new location. I wish I could reveal where, but my lips are sealed. Think Beaufort Street. Trick will also become a monthly night.
Coming soon in late May / early June, “Voix de la Ville” an alternative performance night. If I have missed your queer friendly event, email me and I will happily plug you.
I leave with you the awesome song ‘Shoes’ from electronic music producer Tiga. It is atrociously addictive and has a fantastically psychedelic video clip. I dedicate this song to all the drag queens in Perth:
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