FAST LAUGH
Jimmy Carr, Ross Noble, Ardal O’Hanlon, Jo Brand, Robert Newman, Jason
Byrne, Lucy Porter, Tim Vine, Mark Steel and Pam Ann will be among
the top comedians performing at October’s PARAMOUNT BRIGHTON COMEDY
FESTIVAL. The stars are raising much needed cash for HIV care centre THE SUSSEX
BEACON, with a glittering
Gala Night fundraiser on 7 October. Join them and prove that laughter really
is the best therapy.
Gala Night of Paramount Brighton Comedy Festival takes place on 7 October,
tickets £20. The festival runs until 22 October. Check out www.brighton-dome.org.uk
or call 01273 709 709 for details and full ticket prices. The Dome, 29 New
Road, Brighton.
PLAYING TAG WITH CHRISTINA AGUILERA
These
days, no celeb worth their salt is seen without an ‘awareness wristband’.
But those ubiquitous rubber bangles are on the way out: it’s all about
metal tags now. Christina Aguilera is one such celeb leading
the new trend, and for good reason. The pop diva is getting galvanized for
the ‘Hear No Evil?, See No Evil?, Speak No Evil?’ prevention campaign
by YOUTHAIDS.ORG and shoemakers ALDO. Hollywood’s
elite, including Salma Hayek, Ashley Judd, Cindy Crawford, Penélope
Cruz, LL Cool J, Elijah Wood and Josh Lucas, are among those promoting
HIV awareness with posters and tags in an attempt to help protect the world’s
youth from HIV and Aids through education.“It’s important to get
the word out about the Aids epidemic,” says Aguilera. “There is
no cure, but it can be prevented. Everyone, especially young people, need
to know that. It’s so easy to protect yourself and be safe. I try to
encourage and motivate young people to respect themselves. If you care enough,
you’ll take the right steps to protect yourself and prevent Aids from
spreading.”
You can support the campaign by buying tags from any Aldo shop. Find your
nearest store at www.youthaids-aldo.org
PINK PAGES
THE
BIG GAY READ is your chance to vote for your favourite queer novel.
Hundreds of groundbreaking books capturing lesbian and gay life have been
published over the years. Many have entertained, educated and sometimes even
saved lives. Now it’s time to find out which queer novel the British
public cherishes above all others. Nominations can be for any work of fiction
with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender themes or any fiction written
by an LGBT author. Old, new, recently published or even out-of-print, it doesn’t
matter; if you loved it, get voting. The Big Gay Read is organised by BRIGHTON
& HOVE CITY LIBRARY SERVICE. They’re inviting everyone
down to browse the LGBT sections at Brighton’s Jubilee Library or Hove
Library. Once all votes are in and counted, the UK’s most popular Big
Gay Read title will be announced in May 2006.
For full details and to cast your vote, check out www.biggayread.com
BOLLOCKS TO POVERTY
Mercury nominated hip-hop star Roots Manuva (aka Rodney Smith)
brought ACTIONAID UK’s new ‘Bollocks to Poverty’
campaign to the main stage of the READING FESTIVAL this summer.
The Londoner joined thousands of revellers in voting for trade justice. Unassuming
Roots has often been called the ‘saviour of UK hip-hop’, an accolade
which annoys him almost as much as unfair trade. Pausing during his set, Roots
called for an end to unfair trade once and for all. “Bollocks to poverty,”
he said, “make trade fair.” ActionAid had quite a presence at
Reading festival, including a tent where they collected votes for trade justice
in the form of photo messages which will then be presented as a giant banner
to Tony Blair ahead of crucial World Trade Organisation talks in December.
For full details and pictures visit www.actionaid.org.uk
BLACKLIST
October
is BLACK HISTORY MONTH involving a major celebration of black
culture nationwide. Highlights include BLACK VICTORIANS at
Manchester Art Gallery (1 October – 8 January), a free
exhibition of paintings, potraits, sculpture and more exploring the presence
of people of African decent in 19th-century British art. Admission is free.
Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester. Call 0161 23 8888, or see
www.manchestergalleries.org
for full details. For those who want to know more, in London on 5
October there’s AN EVENING ON MARY SEACOLE;
a talk about the extraordinary woman who helped so many British soldiers during
the Crimean War. Led by Professor Elizabeth 
Anionwu
(Head of the Mary Seacole Centre for Nursing Practice) the lecture is held
at Harriet Tubman House, 136a-142a Lower Clapton Road, Hackney, London E5.
Doors open at 7pm. Ring 020 8985 6449 or visit www.maryseacole.com for further
details. There’s also a last chance to see free London exhibition THE
KLIPTOWN SNAPPERS which closes 31 October. The Snappers’
photography affords a sometimes poignant, often humorous window on the ever-changing
multi-cultural township of Kliptown in Soweto, as witnessed through the eyes
of David Blom, Thomas Chauke, Makgotso Gulube and Thobile Mvobo.
All mentored by internationally renowned photographer Jurgen Schadeberg.
Admission is free. Horniman Museum, 100 London Road, Forest Hill, south London.
See www.horniman.ac.uk.
www.black-history-month.co.uk
FREE YOUR MIND
Want a gentle way to de-stress, clear your mind and improve fitness? Why not
try out a new THAI CLASS every Monday at UKC? The class is
informal, free and open to all, regardless of ability or sexuality. Instructor
Marco Orciani has combined elements of traditional Tai
Chi with gentle exercises from Qi Gong, which can
be of special benefit to people living with HIV.
Tai Chi drop-in every Monday, 6pm, at UKC, 250 Kennington Lane, London
SE11. Call 020 7564 2180 for more information
JORDON AND GREY GET ENTERPRISING
This year’s BLACK ENTERPRISE AWARDS on 7 October will
raise awareness for the UK-based Aids charity CHILDREN WITH AIDS
(CWAC). Now in its fourth year, the awards celebrate African Caribbean entrepreneurial
spirit and business success. This year’s award at London’s Guildhall
will be hosted by BBC presenter Darren Jordon (left) and
former ITN news anchor Sharon Grey. Categories include Rising
Star, Emerging Company and Entrepreneur of the Year.
• www.blackenterprise.co.uk
• www.cwac.org
CHARITY BEGINS ONLINE
At
last! Shopaholics can now raise funds for their favourite HIV charity or other
good cause by simply doing what they do best. Register with online shopping
site IB-LONG to access 400 of the very best online retailers
and suppliers including household names like CURRYS, M&S, eBAY,
HARRODS, B&Q, DEBENHAMS, LASTMINUTE.COM, THOMAS COOK and TESCO.
Each time an iB-Long member makes a purchase, the retailer donates to their
nominated cause. Additionally, each iB-Long member collects points that can
be exchanged for cash, goods and services or even donated to their favourite
cause. Membership is free and the site is a doddle to use. What are you waiting
for?
www.ib-long.com
LAST CHANCE TO SEE...
Five
sculptures by the late gay graffiti artist KEITH HARING feature
in a free exhibition at London’s SOMERSET HOUSE. Transcending
race, class and gender, these monumental metal sculptures are some of Haring’s
most awe-inspiring 3-D art, embodying the immediacy that made all his work
so powerful. Haring was diagnosed with Aids in 1988 and died tragically at
the height of his career in 1990. In his short life he collaborated with the
likes of Madonna, Grace Jones, Bill T William Burroughs, Timothy Leary
and Andy Warhol. Haring’s art featured prominently in HIV awareness
campaigns during the pre-HAART 80s and 90s, while the Keith Haring Foundation
continues to support Aids-related and children’s charities. www.haring.com
The Keith Haring exhibition runs until 28 October at Somerset House, The Strand,
London WC2. Call 020 7845 4600 or see www.somerset-house.org.uk
FOREIGN COLOUR
Chroma is 48 pages of cutting-edge lesbian and gay fiction, poetry
and art work to surprise, delight and challenge your point of view. Issue
three’s theme is foreigners, and is full of voices from as far flung
places as Syria, Hungary and, er, Manchester, with stories about lovers on
the Nile, and churros and chocolate in Madrid.
To order, visit www.chromajournal.co.uk
or send a cheque for £4.95 to Chroma, PO Box 44655, London N16 0DA
GO AHEAD .....JUMP
CRUSAID wants fearless folk to take a leap of faith parachuting or
skydiving to raise cash for people with HIV/Aids. Sponsored jumps run on 29/30
October and 5/6 and 12/13 November. To register, see www.crusaid.org.uk
or call Crusaid’s JUMP FOR LIFE team on 020 7539 3884.
FOR YOUR HEAD
Physical and mental health are symbiotically linked so it stands to reason
many of us living with HIV experience some form of mental illness. UKC’s
latest booklet in its ‘Our lives’ series dispels myths around
ill mental health and gives practical advice on recognising problems and finding
help. Staying Happy: mental health and HIV is written and
produced by and or people living with HIV. That means this booklet is light
on jargon and has a real understanding of life with the condition.
Staying happy: mental health and HIV is available free through clinics, so
if yours doesn’t stock it yet, ask them to get some in
Botox
without tears
Fancy the effects of Botox, but want to avoid putting even more chemicals
in your body? A new skin lotion from Australia, NATRALOX,
is being touted as a healthier alternative for smoothing out those wrinkles.
It contains over 20 natural ingredients including a special patented formula
of amino acids, vitamin C, clove oil and ylang ylang oil. Used twice daily
and gradually over a few weeks, Natralox relaxes your expression lines. Bags,
fine lines and wrinkles are reduced without looking ‘frozen’.
If it all sound too good to be true, try it for yourself.
We’ve got five bottles of Natralox to GIVE AWAY. For a chance of winning,
send your name, address and telephone number on a postcard to: Natralox Competition,
Positive Nation, 250 Kennington Lane, London SE11 5RD. Winners will be drawn
at random. Natralox are also offering PN readers a 15 per cent discount on
online sales. Visit www.planetblueshop.com
and enter code PN005 in the ‘Promotional Code’ section of the
shopping basket.
DIARY
Fancy bidding for a signed Elton John CD, Beyond The Sea
film poster signed by Kevin Spacey and Kate Bosworth
or a Platinum GameCube donated by Orlando Bloom? Check out
THAMES VALLEY POSITIVE SUPPORT’S ONLINE CELEBRITY AUCTION
at www.tvps.org.uk. Raise
funds for HIV and bag yourself some goodies at the same time
• Oxford’s INTERNATIONAL BLACK MEDIA festival
kicks off with HOT SHOTS, a free screening of shorts and
documentaries on 3 Oct. The programme includes Atif
Lanier’s The Negro Zone, a hilarious short flick about black
stereotypes, and Kevin Brazant’s documentary Unheard
Voices, in which teenage fathers give their frank views on sex and relationships.
Screenings are followed by a Q&A session with the directors. To book a
free place, email your name and contact details to: info@ibmf.net with ‘Best
of Fest Screenings’ in the subject field. It all takes place at 7.30pm
at the Holiday Inn Hotel, Peartree Roundabout, Woodstock Road, Oxford. www.ibmf.net.
•
5 October (6pm-9pm) sees the launch of GUYS,
a new weekly sexual health service for younger gay men offering one-hour HIV
testing, STI screenings, hep A and B vaccinations and specialist advice. You
need an appointment, so call ahead on 020 7886 6790. Head for Clinical trials
centre, Winston Churchill Wing, (adjacent to the Jefferiss Wing), St Mary’s
Hospital, Paddington, London • Ready for A KICK UP THE 80s?
Try
the
latest fundraiser for DERBYSHIRE POSITIVE SUPPORT on 8
Oct, which is open to all. Expect a disco
spinning cheesy 80s hits, karaoke and raffle. Tickets £5, £3 NUS
& unwaged. Runs 8pm-2am at University of Derby Student’s Union,
Kedleston Road, Derby. Contact Derbyshire Positive Support on 01332 204020
or see www.derbyshirepositivesupport.co.uk.
• On 15 Oct popular composer BOB CHILCOTT
will conduct the world premiere of a choral anthem he has written especially
for Scotland’s leading HIV charity, Waverley Care. Join him at a ‘come
and sing’ concert at St George's West Church, Shandwick Place, Edinburgh
at 7.30 pm. For further info, contact Karen Docwra on 0131 226 2206.
• If you’re in a gay or lesbian relationship and thinking of getting
serious, consider the RELATE LIFE SKILLS COURSE. Find out
how to develop skills like constructive arguing and building stronger relationships
in a one-day course taking place both in London and Sheffield. It costs £99pp,
with lunch included. Runs 10am-4pm at Flemings Hotel in London, W1 on 15
Oct, and at the Hotel Bristol in Sheffield on 29 Oct.
Details and booking on 0800 093 5711.
• AGE CONCERN CAMDEN has launched a monthly group for
OLDER GAY MEN. It’s a chance for mature guys in the borough to socialize
with food and drink provided. Contact Fraser on 020 779 4707. www.ageconcerncamden.org.uk
• South Yorkshire HIV Support Group SHIELD are running
a competition for schools to design a poster for South Yorkshire’s World
Aids Day campaign. Up for grabs is a first prize of £500, a second prize
of £250 and a third prize of £100 (in school vouchers). Open to
all students. Closing date
17 Oct. Full details at www.shield.org.uk.
• Birmingham’s BRO-SIS is offering a confidential
SUBSTANCE MISUSE SERVICE to the Afro-Caribbean community
within the West Midlands. The service includes advice on how to reduce the
harm associated with using drugs, relapse prevention, detox advice, access
to other agencies, and advice about blood borne viruses and vaccinations.
To make an appointment, contact Bro-Sis on 0121 456 8100. See www.freshwinds.org.uk.
