While Manchester is The Smiths and Morrissey’s boyhood stomping grounds, the city’s queer vibe was always lyrically represented as a miserable place — especially for queers.

Not anymore.

Completed in 1887, Manchester Town Hall, above, is an impressive neo-Gothic building in Albert Sqaure. It houses the city and government function.s  And during the Pride festival, the flag proudly flaps in the wind. (more…)

The same week when the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Dallas Morning News and WFAA-TV announce buyouts and cutbacks comes this rather salacious teaser on the blogosphere: “‘Harry’ strips for magazine.” The full story? Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe appears semi-nude in a photo layout in Vogue.

Scandalous, right? Hardly. 

Despite what the Internet naboobs would have you believe, Radcliffe is hardly bouncing his teen junk around for the creepy porn lovers. Indeed, the picture is quite tasteful, as you can see below. But completely missing from the headline — and the subhead, which offers an equally puritanical sniff: “At least Leibovitz picked someone older,” a reference to the fact queer lenser Annie also shot Miley Cyrus sans vetements recently — is the context. See, Radcliffe will be on Broadway in a few weeks opening the revival of the play “Equus,” which features nudity onstage by the 19-year-old actor.

This is old hat for anyone who saw these pictures last year, when the show opened in London’s West End. But that hasn’t stopped many posts I’ve read of uninformed hens who cluck away that it’s disgusting for a “child star” (who is, we should mention, not only “legal” but also not the character he plays) to appear in “obscene” pictures — although the definition of obscenity presumes no artistic merit.

So what are we to make of this? I guess that it’s typical of “new media” that slanting stories for the most hits is perfectly justified — something I would like to think responsible journalists wouldn’t do. I haven’t done that, have I? I mean, I’m just using these pictures to make a point. Right? … RIGHT?

AOL.com, which has increasingly relied on photo slide shows to present its soft-news, recently listed dozens of “happy couples” in Hollywood. (Note: The criteria seemed pretty lax — the list included Chris Kattan, who broke with his wife of eight weeks days later.) Showing the increasing acceptance of same-sex marriage (at least from the liberal mainstream media), included on the list were several high-profile gay couples, including George Takei and Brad Altman, Cynthia Nixon and her lumberjack girlfriend and of course newlyweds Ellen and Portia.

Well, add comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer to the list. One of the first openly gay comics to attract national attention, Westenhoefer and her longtime partner, Jennifer Houston, will wed legally in California  on Sept. 6. It will be the second ceremony for the couple, who had a commitment ceremony in November 2006.

In lieu of a gift, Westenhoefer requests you attend her comedy show, “A Bottom on Top,” which she brings to the Lakewood Theater on Saturday. You can pass along your wishes … and expect her to talk about marriage a lot. 

All season long, Denton’s Daniel Lewis has been the most consistently entertaining and likeable contestant on Bravo’s reality series “Shear Genius.” We were all set to enjoy seeing him represent the Metroplex in the finale. Then tonight, in an “avant garde” competition, he finally hit the wall, getting booted before the big showdown (and let’s just say the decision was not a popular one — or deemed a correct one — here at the manse).

Still, with Daniel’s unlikeable doppelganger Charlie and butch Dee still in the thick, there’s a 2 out of 3 chance a queer cutter will win.

During his introductions last night at the Addison Improv, they never mentioned Hal Sparks‘ “Queer As Folk” acting credits. And he didn’t make a single gay reference all night. But Sparks, pictured, was on fire.

His routine was fast and furious: He hates terms and phrases like “unsweetened tea” (Are they saying they somehow pulled the sugar out of it?), “non-smoker” (No, you’re just a non-breather), “that’s the last thing I need,” (No, the last thing you need is a diffribulator”) and “never say never” (Okay, how about “I’ll never fuck your mom?”).

He was just as funny as his “I Love The …” commentaries. If I wasn’t laughing so much, I would have said the long hair was just a desperate attempt for a 39-year-old who’s trying not to get pigenholed for playing gay dudes.

Photos by Bryan Amann.

My head was on a swivel Saturday afternoon at the 15th annual  Europa IFBB & NPC Super Show. The Dallas Convention Center was overflowing with muscle — and steroid users.

Powerlifters, arm wrestlers, mat wrestlers, bodybuilders and even sledgehammer competitors. The whole scene was incredibly sexy, a total freak show and so worth the $20 admission charge. (more…)

I gave up on Michael Stipe so many albums ago, but if there was ever a reason to give R.E.M. another chance, it’s now. The band’s 2008 loud-fast-rock album, “Accelerate,” makes up for boring, introspective and ambient disc they’ve made since “Green.”

The band just added an Oct. 24 gig at Nokia in Grand Prairie you can buy tickets on Tuesday. General public ticket sales begin Aug. 22.

Todd  Camp, the founder of Fort Worth’s Q Cinema film festival, has been MIA for a few weeks, ever since he was unceremoniously let go from his job writing for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram last month. He had been there for 18 years, so hardly a last in-first out situation. Damn mainstream media!

Anyway, word comes from Camp that he and his partner just returned from a vacation to the Great Northwest — just in time for him to undertake a very different occupation: Acting. Camp has been cast as one of the leads in Neil Simon’s play “God’s Favorite,” a modern adaptation of the Book of Job, at Onstage in Bedford. As he notes: “My character was originally played by Charles Nelson Reilly on Broadway, so that should give you an idea of what to expect.”

At least he hasn’t lost his sense of humor. 

The Texas Ballet Theater has been touting its upcoming tour to China to perform “Cleopatra” in the fall for months. Recently came word that costs the troupe expected to be covered would not be — necessitating a last-ditch effort to raise the funds.

Alas, it didn’t work. The TBT just announced it will be canceling its China trip and will not be seen by half a billion TV watchers.  

For some reason YouTube doesn’t ask you to confirm your birth date to watch this vid. But it’s SO NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

Y’all, meet Buffed Dude — a musclequeen who practically barebacks the camera with Missy Elliot as his soundtrack.