Last week, I ran a story about up-and-coming R&B artist Nehemiah Akbar, who did two sets this weekend at Dallas Southern Pride, performing two songs Friday and Saturday at the Brick. Here’s a video of his performance of the single “Make My Move.” Too bad the sound isn’t better.
WATCH: Nehemiah Akbar at The Brick
Fahari Arts kicks off 4th season during Pride
Harold Steward
Fahari Arts Institute Artistic Director Harold Steward announced the 2012-13 season that begins on Sept. 15 with Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales, written and performed by E. Patrick Johnson.
The dramatic reading is based on oral histories collected in Johnson’s book, Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South — An Oral History. The histories are from black gay men who were born, raised and continue to live in the South and range in age from 19 to 93. The stories range from religion and sex to transgenderism, love and coming out.
The show takes place at the South Dallas Cultural Center, 3400 Fitzhugh Ave. on Sept. 15 at 7:30 p.m. The program is free.
That will be followed on Oct. 5 with Queerly Speaking PRIDE Edition in conjunction with Dallas Southern Pride. Poets Ronamber “Flo” Deloney and Marvin K. White are scheduled to appear. That takes place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Dallas Downtown, 1015 Elm St.
DFW Pride Movement includes premiere of the new urban LGBT network GLO TV
Let’s just say GLO TV looks like they know how to make an entrance. As part of Black Pride Weekend, the new network is bringing out some big guns for its Dallas premiere party this Saturday. And according to the press release, it’s also a gesture of solidarity with DFW Pride Movement “to support the community activism and social action of ‘The Movement.’”
We can dig that, but we can especially get behind the star power they are bringing to town. The cocktail reception will include appearances by Maurice Jamal (“Dirty Laundry,” “The Ski Trip” and network president), DeMarco Majors (“Shirts and Skins”), Rodney Chester (“Noah’s Arc”) and J.R. Rolley (“Slutty Summer,” “Four Letter Word”). They will also give a peek at the upcoming season with new shows “Friends and Lovers,” “Dating Dwight,” “The Gayest Sh%t Ever” and “Beyond the Heels,” which the network deems as “a ground-breaking shows about the transgender community.”
The best part — it’s open to the public.They reception will be at The Westin City Center, 650 N. Pearl St. on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Dallas Southern Pride organizers predict crowd of 10,000-plus
‘Drag Race’ star JuJu Bee, dance parties, pool parties to highlight city’s annual black Pride weekend
DAVID TAFFET | Staff Writer taffet@dallasvoice.com
- Angela Amos
More than 10,000 people are expected to attend Dallas Southern Pride, the premier annual black Pride event in North Texas, on Sept. 23-26.
Promoter Kirk Myers said that the event is moving from a regional event to a nationally recognized circuit party.
JuJu Bee from “Ru Paul’s Drag Race” will be one of the performers featured over the weekend. She will be at the Brick on Friday night, Sept. 24.
Myers traveled to Cleveland to see JuJu Bee perform.
“She’s very personable,” he said. “She gets out and meets everyone and is overwhelmed by the response.”
He said she didn’t realize she had such a large African-American fan base.
“A lot of people thought she should have won,” he said.
Myers said GloTV will be in town filming the Masquerade Ball on Saturday, Sept. 25, as part of a new reality series about the emerging ballroom scene in the black LGBT community.
Dallas Southern Pride has always been scheduled to coincide with the Grambling/Prairie View Classic football game generally held the first weekend in October at the Cotton Bowl in Fair Park. This year, the game was moved back a week, so Pride moved, too.
Myers said he hopes the move encourages more people of all backgrounds from Dallas to participate in some of the events. With Dallas Southern Pride coming the week after the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade, Myers said he believes people will still be in the mood for more Pride celebrations.
“That party is really an opportunity for the mainstream LGBT community to party with us,” he said.
Myers said several things indicate this year’s event will be larger than ever. He said the Convention and Visitors Bureau has been very supportive. More sponsors have signed on this year as well.
To close the weekend, the Signature Black Party will be held at the host hotel on Sunday night. SizzleMiami, the largest black circuit party that attracts more than 100,000 each Memorial Day, is sponsoring the event.
Myers said that the various promoters represent the diversity of the community. To attract women, they added Her 4 Her last year.
T.D. Davis, a Her 4 Her organizer, said that the theme for Dallas Southern Pride is “Taste of Dallas — Best of Both Worlds.” She said the women’s events “bring different flavors to Dallas.”
The women’s parties begin with Bourbon Street at Victory Tavern near the American Airlines Center on Thursday, Sept. 23, presented by Sophisticated Fridays.
DeMarco Major from Logo’s “Shirts & Skins” will host “New York — A Taste of the Big Apple” at the Radisson Love Field, the host hotel, on Friday evening.
The Saturday afternoon pool party has a South Beach theme and “A Night in Paris,” the Saturday night party at Wendy Krispin’s in the Design District, has a French flair.
Sunday’s brunch with Church of the Solid Rock features New Orleans soul food.
“We’re continuing to build the Her 4 Her brand,” said organizer Angela Amos.
Amos said all of the most recognized women’s organizations in the Metroplex participated in organizing the weekend’s events.
“I’d like to keep building the alliances and reaching out on an individual level,” she said.
On Saturday, several workshops presented by Glamour Girls and Alpha Lambda Zeta, a nationally recognized gay fraternity, will be held at the hotel.
“Then Sunday is a concoction of everyone,” Davis said.
After Sunday brunch and worship, both the men and the women head to Bachman Lake Park for a picnic. Myers said the food is being provided by Buffalo Wild Wings.
That event is free.
The organizers all said additional highlights and entertainment are still being booked for next week’s events.
A full schedule of events is available at DallasSouthernPride.com and Her4Her.org.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition September 17, 2010.
Starting this Thursday, The Mining Company fills in the hip-hop void left by the Brick
With the Brick closing, it looked like there were zero options for hip-hop in the local gay scene, but Kirk Myers, business advisor for Dallas Southern Pride, called to tell me that The Mining Company will pick up the slack and partner with DSP to host Magnum Thursdays starting this week. TMC is already posting it on their Web site.
“We see this as a new time in Dallas where all races can have events on the strip and that Caven took the lead on providing a place to have a hip-hop night,” he said. Myers also mentioned that Caven might be a part in this year’s Dallas Southern Pride event with current event promoters, Magnum Encounters and After Dark Entertainment in October. “Cavern has expressed a desire to support this year’s Dallas Southern Pride as they see it as vital part of the overall gay scene in Dallas. We hope this partnership leads to more exciting ventures and we see this as a great opportunity to make the strip the go-to destination for all in the GLBT community,” he said.
DSP chair, Val Coleman chimed in as well. “Although there are several African-American social and civic organizations in Dallas, we are ecstatic that Caven has chosen to partner with the only official African-American Pride in Dallas and as a result we look forward to this leading to an ongoing effort to make the strip the go to GLBT all inclusive destination,” he said.
