Former Bronski Beat and Communards front man, JIMMY SOMMERVILLE has been 
confirmed for next month's 'Divine' on November 11th. Currently working on material for his new album, he will, no doubt drop some new tunes as well as some old favourites, including his tradmark 'Why', which was recently released with new remixes. 

He's also been working on some TV soundtrack work, including the title track to the well-received BBC drama, 'Glasgow Kiss'. Jimmy Sommerville will be joined by The Copycats, Shirely Temple Bar, Dolly and Vada. Tickets are £14.50 and are on sale now  from the Olympia Box Office. Doors for Divine open at 11pm. 

There is so much choice on this Halloween the hardest part wont be deciding what costume to wear but where to go. Theres just little over a week to go to Halloween - if you don't have a costume yet then you'de better make a dash to your local fancy dress shop before its too late.
Here are details of just some of the activities this year, if you know of any more, get in touch!!

Friday 27th
Lube - Halloween party at Lynch's from 9pm - strict dress code in place check http://gofree.indigo.ie/~lube 
For more info.

Saturday 28th 
The George hold their annual Halloween ball - always packed with surprises - be sure to bring fancy dress.

Libida of Chief O'Neills, Smithfield are having a 'red devil' night - guests are encouraged to wear red. There will be free tequila available throughout the night, which should help to warm up those wearing skimpy fancy dress outfits.

The other place in Cork hold their pre-halloween celebrations at the 'Cabaret Deluxe', There will be Jazz all weekend at the club.

Sunday 29th
"Dundalk Outcomers" host a Halloween disco in the Westcourt Hotel, Drogheda, doors open at 21.30 - admission is £5

"Blackbox" - Galway hold a halloween fancy dress party

"The Playground"  hold a gala Halloween ball at the Ormand Hotel with huge prizes that should encourage a huge turnout. - 1st prize gets £200, 2nd prize - £150, there is a best group entry also of £100.

"Disko" - Official launch in Pegs nightclub

Kon-Tiki Bar in Rooskey Co Roscommon hosts a Halloween Disco for more info click here

Monday 30th
Baby 2k also are offering prizes for those in fancy dress - the party falls on Bank Holiday Monday so should attract quiet a large crowd.

Tuesday 31st
Yum Yums - Limerick - Halloween Party - Scary Disco - with very special guest!!
Disko - fancy dress with theme "Ding-Dong the Witch is dead"
Front Lounge - Screamers followed by Scream in Eamonn Dorans.

This weekend saw the 45^th Cork Film Festival take place which also incorporated a gay and lesbian film festival. Reports from Cork tell us that there was a great turn out at the festival, with even the clubs getting involved. Cork’s lesbian centre held a film reception, The other place held a film festival night which encouraged people to come

For those who need a break from making their Halloween costumes, Atomic Kitten will be making two guest appearances. The Halloween activities get started early in the George on Friday the 27^th when Atomic Kitten appear on stage to perform, the popular girl band then head up north to the Kremlin in Belfast for a show on Saturday night (October 28^th). Atomic Kitten are best known for their hits ‘right now’, ‘see ya’ and ‘I want your love’.

In the lead up to Glória's outing to San Jose - and even while we were there - Joan Murphy, one of the choir members, was diligently working on a radio documentary about our great GALA Choruses Festival 2000 adventure.  The fruits of Joan's labours will be broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1, on Wednesday of next week, 18 October.  The programme is called 'Singing Out, Glória' and it will run for 45 minutes.  It is being specially featured in the next issue of the RTÉ Guide, which, I believe, is the single biggest circulation magazine in Ireland. For those outside Ireland who have access to RealAudio web radio and are free at the time, the programme can be picked up at: http://www.rte.ie/rams/smil/radio1.smi It will broadcast at 7.05pm local time [GMT + 1 hour for summer time] which, I believe, is 2.05pm in New York, 11.05am in San Francisco, but 4.05am on Thursday in Tokyo.  The broadcast will be repeated on Saturday, 21 October at 7.02pm local time and is available again on the web. 

Click here to read our online interview with Gloria

The Playground is proving its back with a bang by offering an exciting line up every Sunday
for the month of October. Last Sunday (the 8th) celebrated the return of 'Margarita Pracatan'
the huge hit from the Clive James show. This Sunday (the 15th) is a must for fans of the rocky horror show
as 'time warped' fly in from London to do a special show. The action stays at a high pace on 22nd of October with a Studio 54 night (get out your flowery shirts and flares) then rounding up the month is a gala fancy dress ball with a £200 cash prize for first place. The Playground runs every Sunday in the Ormand Quay Hotel.

 The Vatican has rehabilitated Oscar Wilde on the eve of the centenary of his death, praising the turn to spiritual values and ``understanding of God's love'' that followed Wilde's imprisonment in Reading gaol, towards the end of his life, for gross indecency, writes Richard Owen.

Homosexuality is condemned in Roman Catholic doctrine. But writing in La Civilta Cattolica, a Vatican-backed Jesuit quarterly, Father Antonio
Spadaro said that Wilde, who made a deathbed conversion to Catholicism, had seen into the depths of his own soul after a lifetime of ``degradation, vanity and frivolity.''

In his last works, such as De Profundis and The Ballad of Reading Gaol, he had made ``an implicit journey of faith,'' said Fr Spadaro.

A FORMER Catholic priest has been arrested by detectives investigating the vicious rape of a 17-year-old girl in the toilets of a gay bar in Dublin. 

The ex-priest was taken to Pearse Street garda station and quizzed for 12 hours about the attack. A garda spokesman said they were sending a file on the case to the DPP who will decide whether rape charges should follow. 

The 36-year-old man, originally from the North but now working in Dublin, was detained after detectives spent hours studying video security footage from the bar. It is understood the suspect left the priesthood a number of years ago. He was arrested by officers led by Det Supt PJ Browne and Supt Tom Conway. The teenage victim was brutally raped in the toilets of the George Bar on South Great Georges Street in the early hours of September 7. 

Detectives have already released a photo from the security footage of a man they want to interview in connection with the attack. They said they believed he held vital information about the assault.  The photograph was taken just minutes after the attack but before the alarm was raised by the traumatised victim. Gardai have also watched footage taken by a Channel 4 TV crew who were filming in the popular pub on the night of the rape. The rape victim spent more than a week in hospital recovering from her ordeal. 

We had a behind the scenes chat with the guys organising Q+A - Queer and Alternative - the
new rock, indie, pop club in Temple Bar. The final touches are currently being added to the club as it
gets ready for its launch next Tuesday (October 17th).

 There has been huge feedback for the club
with over 130 votes for songs on the Q+A website and dozens of e-mails with suggestions for the playlist.
Rentecca - Dublins only 7ft drag queen will be on call for the night - providing light entertainment on stage 
and playing some of her favorite alternative tunes in the DJ box. 

For those who need a rest after dancing there 
are video games in the club - such as who wants to be a millionare aswell as Televisions and complimentary copies of
hotpress magazine for those who'de prefer to catch up on the latest music news. 
The action kicks off downstairs in Eamonn Dorans around 11.00 when the live bands finish up. To vote for your favorite act

Visit the Q+A website here.

A new Disko Diva competition has been launched on Thursdays at disko in Pegs nightclub.
Every Thursday three good lookin or well dressed people will be chosen from the crowd,
people in the club will then vote for their favorite - the winner will receive a CD a polaroid snap will be taken and people will be able to email their vote for the final at Christmas 

We have been sent a copy of the two winners from last Thursday the 5th of October. Click here to view the winners.

A recent article in the Irish examiner examined the issue over sexual identity in colleges. Another article on the same day reported that some students in the past have received death threats because of their sexuality. Neans McSweeney of the paper spoke to Diane Goldthorp, Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Rights Officer with USI.

“Being gay or bisexual need not be an issue at all in college, but this
can depend on circumstances. Either way, it shouldn’t negatively affect a student’s participation in and enjoyment of their time at college. In reality, college is where everyone comes out in one way or another.

“Students discover, develop and express their individuality, and their sexuality is just one of the ways in which they are individuals. In their
time at college, students meet people from a whole range of backgrounds, with many different viewpoints and life experiences. College should be a place to celebrate that diversity, she said. Students have a right to express who and what they are, she added.

“We want all students to know that if they encounter discrimination and harassment, whether overt or subtle, spoken or unspoken, verbal, physical or sexual, from fellow students or staff they do not have to put up with
it and they do not have to endure it alone.

“There are a number of steps they can take,” she said.
The rights officer said some steps could be taken to help all understand one another’s sexuality on campus. They are there to defend the rights of students and to aid in their welfare.

They should: Bring the matter up with the class rep or talk to a sympathetic tutor or lecturer or contact the department head.  Seek advice and support from the students’ union.
Contact the LGBRO of the USI. It will also always be available to help, advise and support at lgb@usi.ie
Get in touch with the college’s LGB Society. Look it up on the LGB section of the USI website: www.usi.ie 

October 6th should be retitled national drag day as it will host two of the biggest drag events of the year.
The 2000 Drag Ball will take place in Belfast's biggest gay nightclub - the Kremlin. Anyone in Drag will gain free entry - the night is sponsored by Boru Vodka.
If thats not enough Dublin will have a whole army of drag queens at its disposal - Divine will be opening in the Olympia for one night only. A caberet and nightclub, which boasts acts such as Shirley Temple Bar, Vada as well as Eurovision star Linda Martin. Doors open at 10pm.

Bi-Ireland will hold its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday (3rd Oct) at 7pm in Outhouse. The main business will be the election of a committee and a Treasurer. The meeting will be followed by the groups regular monthly meeting.

Q+A - Queer and Alternative have launched a new website to keep people up to date with happenings
at the new gay nightclub in Eamonn Dorans - Temple Bar. The club will be the first alternative music night club on the gay scene in Ireland. October 17th is the date for the first event and it will run on the third Tuesday of every month. 
It sounds like a refreshing change - the DJ promises to cater for a huge market Mixing old favorites with more recent indie tunes.
Expect to hear everything from the Smiths to the Cure to Nirvana to Blur to Fatboy Slim to Robbie Williams. The website allows you to vote for your favorite artist online - the most popular act will have four of their tracks played on the night. There are great plans for the Q+A website which will include interviews and inside information. Visit the Q+A website here.

Playground on the move
The Playground will return to its original home tonight (October 1st) The popular Sunday club began in the Ormand hotel on Ormand Quay - it
had a great reputation amongst clubbers as one of the best gay dance clubs in Dublin - The club has continued its success at its 2nd venue - Pegs at the Earl of Kildare hotel but is now moving back across the liffey to the Ormand hotel. Meanwhile Disko are carrying the torch at Pegs on a Sunday's with their 'Prince' club
hosted by Annie Balls. Click here to view Sirens bar at the Ormand Hotel.

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