August 2nd, 2012
Big Gay Weekend: The Phreak N’ Queer Arts & Music Festival Starts Tonight, Then GayFest Kicks Off Tomorrow
When we asked Messapotamia Lefae to tell us about her Grab Bag Phreak show in June, she got us thinking about the early August phreaky phestivities already:
“WOW. As for Phreak n’ Queer, she explained what they are and what they’ll be doing in August:
“Phreak N’ Queer is an art and music festival, featuring local artists. bands, and performers, that caters to the queer counter-culture community. We’re resisting homogeny and mainstreaming by being badass. And we’re taking the party out of the Gayborhood.”
Here’s the big festival breakdown:
“Thursday, August 2nd: “GlitterBomb” Opening Dance Party in West Philly with DJs Evil V, PreColumbian & Andi from 10pm-2am.
Friday, August 3rd: “Hot Rods & Mustange Sally” @ Johnny Brenda’s. This 1950′s themed party will feature period style DJs, burlesque, bands and performance arts.
Saturday, August 4th: Family Day @ Liberty Lands Park from 12-5pm featuring DJs, poets and bands fit for folks of all ages. This event is FREE!
Saturday, August 4th: “Homo Rama” @ MilkBoy from 9pm-2am. Hip hop & punk featuring Nicki Click, Sgt. Sass, The Shondes and so, so much more.
Sunday, August 5th: “Gay Ole Opry” Closing Party from 3-7pm. Country music gets GAY!””
The Phreak N’ Queers have a bumpin’ little wordpress blog, too, full of the press they’ve been getting for this exciting queer weekend. But another cool thing about this fest? They’ve made it a little more family-friendly this time around, their second annual effort to gay up Philly. It starts tonight with an all-ages art show called Super Phreak!
But if you’ve picked up a paper copy and perused Raymond Simon’s story about it, you already knew that. In “On The Gaydar: The Phreak N’ Queer Festival is a Four-Day Celebration of LGBT Culture,” Simon breaks down some of the performances and what you can expect; GAYNESS. Simon seems most excited about Nicky Click:
“Queer electro diva Nicky Click will also bring her eclectic catalog to Homo Rama before embarking on a national tour. Fond of wigs and wedding gowns, Click promises an unforgettable show: “Let me tell you, I am not traveling all day from New Hampshire to not entertain the audience to the maximum. When I hit the stage, I am the No. 1 diva on earth and love myself to the fullest and want to share self-indulgence and command attention and do this in a loving, funny, satirical way.””
BUT THAT’S NOT IT! Not exactly a part of Phreak N’ Queer, but GayFest is a big, beautiful, full lineup of queer-themed theater productions that starts tomorrow and runs all the way through August. Rather than break it down for you here, just listen to J. Cooper Robb and read the whole breakdown online. There’s a pretty comprehensive schedule for the month at the Quince Productions homepage, too.
