Long Beach Pride Festival...red carpet treatment from the Daily Breeze!

That was quite a spread in the Daily Breeze on Thursday, announcing the annual Gay Pride Celebration in Long Beach.

Generally, the mainstream press tends to mention "gay pride" festivities around the country, after the event. And, when a report is lodged, it's usually tucked away inside on page 18 or 19 of the dailies...with a big focus on campy photos of the "Drag Queens" or titillating, exploitative negative imagery of "Daddy's" and half-naked Leather men strutting down the main streets.

In contrast, the Daily Breeze ran a tasteful report on the front page of a main section of their paper, with a caption in rainbow colors which read,

"ANNUAL LONG BEACH FESTIVAL SHOWS ITS PRIDE"

Along one side, the editors included a run-down of the weekend events scheduled throughout the weekend (May 17th - May 18th) in the thriving downtown core of the ever-growing Southern California City.



For example, there was mention of a handful of the known performers slated to appear on the Main stage - Deborah Cox, the Bangles, Sheena Easton, and KC and the Sunshine Band - to name a few.


In addition, the editors wrote up an insightful piece on Hip-hop Artist - Melange Lavonne - and her cry to gays to "listen up".

The Lesbian hip-hop performer has seen her pop hit - "Gay Bash" (about a gay teen killed because of his sexual orientation) - ride to considerable success in recent days on the gay television network LOGO. But, she noted for the record that it is still a struggle to get the tune and her new CD - "The Movement" - play on gay radio stations.

The reason?

She wistfully alleged that, "people automatically attach a negative ideology of what hip-hop is, and they haven't even listened to it."

"Don't put me in a box. Give me a chance," she pled.

For those with a mind to, catch her performance on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on the Main Stage.

By the way, the 25th Annual Long Beach festival is celebrating its Silver Anniversary. Like me, it's a Silver Fox, gettin' better with age!

The - in-your-face out-in-the-streets party of the year - is sure to be the biggest bash yet, guaranteeing 2 days of fabulous entertainment; including special performances sure to please the gargantuan crowds expected to attend en masse.

The event is always rich in culture and brimming-full with colorful human diversity!

In addition to the world-class LIVE entertainment on seven different stages (mentioned above) there will also be dance areas and venues alongside the picturesque ocean views.

Of course, the ringside festive event is the actual GAY PARADE which will kick off tomorrow (May 18th). The rainbow-hued jaunt will feature a variety of participants - representatives from various local and National organizations, for instance - as well as dignitaries from all over the globe screaming their support.

The wildly exuberant - over-the-festive-top celebration - begins downtown at Ocean and Temple at 10:30 a.m.

Meanwhile, hats off to the Daily Breeze for "leading the way" in their coverage on this major gay event.


Let's see how the rest of the media in Los Angeles fairs with their coverage when the parade in West Hollywood shouts out its PRIDE early next month on Santa Monica Blvd.

Barack Obama...quote of day!

In response to the clatter over Obama's recent comments about an alleged bitterness sweeping through middle America, Richard Cohen - a journalist with the Daily Breeze - quipped in his morning column today,

"At times Barack has the air of a Maitre 'd who shows you to a bad table."

Ouch!






A fiver for a table near the window, please!

Female bloggers...one rants about white male blogs!

Is the Internet becoming the new "old boys' network"?

If you're to believe the rantings of a female blogger who writes for the Insight section of the Daily Breeze, yes.

In an article titled, "A Woman's place on the blogs?", a female blogger alleges that a typical blog reader is actually a 43-year-old white man with an annual family income of $80,000.00.

Based on this statement (without any back-up with hard, cold facts), she argues:

"No wonder Hillary Clinton only got 9% backing in online activist polls while garnering more than 40% in traditional ones."

Her article was supposed to focus on "A Woman's place on the blogs".

But, you don't even have to read between the lines to get the impression that her commentary is a Manifesto against men on net.

She's based part of her argument on a graduate student's spreadsheet that alleges that of 90 top political web blogs, 40% are edited and written by men only, only 7% by the female gender.

Is her source material that credible or worthy of note?

She says that the Internet trend may have something to do with the fact boys raised their hands first in class.

They did? (who says...)

Then, the pundit (?) wildly theorizes that educated, economically comfortable men were early adopters of the technology - so, therefore took the lead on the World-Wide-Web.

She fumes, "...but it's not about counting, not just about diversity-in-numbers. It's about political dialogue - who gets heard and who sets the agenda."

At this point, she's just about foaming at the mouth.

After the "tracking of maleness in the media" (her words, not mine), she concludes, "The chief messengers are overwhelmingly men - white men, even angry white men."

What a sweeping generalization. Based on what facts?

Her opening remarks say it all:

"It boggles my mind to realize how quickly a piece of Internet terrain has gained power in politics. By now, the political blogosphere is to the left of what talk radio is to the right. It is a forceful, sometimes demagogic, message-monger organizing tool for the progressive end of the Democratic party."

In the final analysis, this woman slings mud (and propaganda) just as well as the rest of 'em.

Miss, you can lead a horse to water...but you can't make him drink.

This article should have been captioned, "Envious Blogger rants"...