LGBTQ+ News and Independent Music Venues are the Stars of December!

Tonight in our LGBTQ+ update I would like to draw attention to the ever present ageism that seems ever more present in gay society. Oh it’s true that many of us are aware and care and we must applaud those organisations that champion and promote the support of what was once an invisible community. This week, Andrew Kay speaks to Billy Lewis, Co-Manager at The Ledward Centre.

In the second half, Andrew takes us to the independent music venues of Brighton and gives us a run down of some big music events happening in the next few weeks. First up, a gig at Green Door Store, champions of independent bands now for some time and a much loved venue here in Brighton and Hove. On Friday the 16th of this month you can catch The Scratch, started as a fun experiment in the kitchen of a house in Perrystown, The Scratch are a 4-piece acoustic act from Dublin, Ireland.

Over the road at the Prince Albert, yet another of our brilliant independent music venues and earlier in the month you can see and hear John Moods. Jonathan Jarzyna aka John Moods is a German-Polish songwriter from Berlin and co-founder of the experimental band Fenster.

Next, Martin Kemp was of course best known as Spandau Ballet’s bass player and for his acting role in Eastenders, but this time round he is presenting a DJ set of 80s floor fillers. Catch this at Concorde 2 on the 30th of December.

Finally, It would be remiss of me of course not to mention our very own venue Latest Music Bar, an incredible space that over the years has been host to some of the biggest names in music, not least Amy Winehouse and of course a hot spot each year for upcoming acts in the Great Escape festival. And in recent years we have hosted one of the legendary queer bands of the punk era, Siren. Now film maker Deborah Espect has made a documentary about these feminists, lesbians, activists. From Thatcher to the Falklands war and #metoo, the story of four women in Brighton who, through theatre and music, dared to be loud. You can see Bending the Note, The Story of Siren at Latest Music Bar on Sunday the 18th of December at 5pm and enjoy a Q and A with the Director and band after.