Pride Festival 2008

In 2008 Tasmania’s annual gay and lesbian festival TasPride has attitude. It has attitude, it has energy, it has colour and if any festival in Tasmania had personality, it’s this one.

The 2008 TasPride festival, presented by the Gay and Lesbian Community Centre Incorporated mirrors the depth and diversity of the wider GLBTI community, its friends and supporters as it hosts a myriad of events, activities, cultural evenings, dinners, walks, rock nights and dance parties across the state.

The local community and interstate visitors alike will be able to celebrate the start of two weeks of festival fabulousness at the party of the year on November 1, the Halloween Party. Dancing, music and Halloween fun on two levels at SOHO. Raise the roof with five of the best DJs – Sydney’s Dan Murphy, DJ Tom, D2M, DJ Kat and MarQ along with a fantastic production shows from Melbourne’s Drags Aloud.

And of course a festival would not be a festival without catering to the couch potato in us all – enter the TasPride Film Festival. Curl up in the newly renovated State Cinema with a beverage of choice as four queer films make their Tasmanian Premiere.

Lalaland, Hobart’s premier nightclub event returns during TasPride featuring Australia’s #1 female DJ as the special guest DJ joSH. DJ joSH is at the top of her game after headlining at the 2008 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras party and will be joined on the decks by DJs MarQ and D2M. As PRIDE is considered the ultimate of all the seven deadly sins this promises to be an awesome experience for anyone who loves to sin!

Taking centre stage at The Brisbane on Friday the 14th November is Tokyo’s punk, rockabilly trio -Ikochi who will have recently flown in from Japan to perform at TasPride and then FEAST in Adelaide. Singer/guitarist Chikako is so defiantly beyond gender as to cause all manner of sexual confusion to members of the audience boring enough to consider themselves anything so simple as merely "straight" or "gay". With rockabilly support acts Jonno Zilbar and the No No’s and DJ Kylie Whylie and Azza Matazz in the front bar the night will rock on.

Along with cultural events Queer Desires in Medieval Music, a walk with PRIDE on Tasmania’s beautiful Mount Wellington, Queer Quiz Night and Drag Bingo visitors will be left with a lingering sense of community and pride as the festival winds up on Sunday 16th November with TasPride Festival Family Picnic Day with a free sausage sizzle.

TasPride Festival will take place from November 1 – 16 2008. For more information and to download the festival program please head to the TasPride website www.taspride.com.