Down with the Homophobes

This title should actually read: RIP Heath, but as it now stands, the so-called Christian biggots are taking the limelight from this talented actor who sadly and tragically, died too soon. I was shocked and literally knocked off my socks when I got to work on Wednesday morning and was told by my colleague that Heath, one of my all-time favourite actors, was dead. I thought she was joking, so I had to confirm my fears with news24. And there it was, my hero died of an overdose of sleeping pills.

Forget how he died. Forget about the possibility that this was suicide or just a tragic accident. Forget, even, that he was such a diverse and talented actor that tackled each role with precision and passion. DONT forget that he played a gay man in Brokeman Mountain (for which he was nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor), because that is what the US Evangelical Church is doing. They plan to picket any memorial that this man deserves, purely on the account that he once played a pansy.

Big whoopeee. Get off your high horse you damn bunch of biggots. I reckon you are all closet gays yourself who are too afraid to come out. Dont get me wrong. I am a Christian too, but I am not a homophobe. Gay people have rights too, and for these idiots to be trashing a dead man's memory is disgusting and so un-christian like (for the lack of a better word). You people make me sick. And please, dont come quoting your Bible verses at me, it will fall on deaf ears because you interpret the Bible the way you want to, just to discriminate when it suits you.

So, a legend is dead. Yes, a legend. He didnt make as many memorable movies like the likes of Mel Gibson, Robert Redford, Al Pacino and co, but he could definitely have been up there with this elite team of actors, had he not been taken from this world before his time. He will be sorely missed. I cant believe how much this has affected me, I really enjoyed his films and I look forward now with even more anticipation to his portrayal of the Joker in the next Batman movie, The Dark Night, which is due later this year.

So long Heath. May you rest in peace.

Cazzfest 2008 - The Review

I havent completely recovered from the party, which explains why I havent written about it as yet, but I thought, since I feel like Im dying, I better write this blog so I can finally die peacefully.

Even though I started to organise this event about 2 months ago, preparations went on full force last week, especially Friday when I took the day off to finalise the minor details. After a long, rainy shopping frenzy (which was depressing me to the extreme, this weather just wasnt getting any better) with Ingrid, we rushed to pick up Tink at the airport. Poor thing had to wait as Ferdi had to attend to some work at the last minute and then came head-to-head with the crazy Friday afternoon traffic. Tink didnt seem to mind as she settled in the Ocean Basket smoking room at the airport and waited for us.

I had a good giggle when we finally arrived and walked out the parking lot. Two well built, generally good-looking, super-tanned (too tanned actually) guys came out pushing their trolleys when one turned to the other and said, "You are such a SLUT!" and even did that naf hand movement. I burst out laughing and put my hand over my mouth before they could notice that I was laughing at them. Thats when I noticed just how gay they were as I watched them walk past us, hips in motion. My giggles turned to hysterical laughter when Ferdi said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the plane from Cape Town has landed". I was finished.

Once we finally got home with our new arrival from Cape Town, we had some of mommy's pizza then met Shadley, Mich, Shawn and Nick at Primi Junxion across the road from my house. Honestly I didnt want to do anything hectic that night as I wanted to be fresh as a daisy for Cazzfest. But since Nick was relinquishing his MC duties at Cazzfest and ditching me for the Queen of England (he had VIP tickets to see Elton John - pu-leeaaase! He could have sold them on eBay and bought me tons of drinks instead!) he wanted to make it up to me by celebrating that evening. I swore I was only going to drink one Jam Jar but that turned into 2 plus a tequila. I was quite giddy after that and all the crazy talk and almost gave in when Nick invited me to go to Manhattans. But I just couldnt. I had to say no. Yay for Cazz!

Next morning we dragged ourselves out of bed, went to Marks Park to decorate the hall and get out of there as soon as possible. Only it took longer than anticipated. Still, the hall looked fabulous - half heaven, half hell and I take my hats off to Ingrid and Tink who got the hall looking superb after all my ordering around, heheh. Owe you girls a lot. In the meantime, the heavyweights, Ferdi and Basti, did all the heavy lifting and setting up of the Hi-Fi. Weasel conveniently arrived late, just as we were finishing up.

Back home we ate and degreased in a hurry. Martin, Berny and Cailin arrived early to help with whatever still needed to be done. While I spent 3 hours at the hairdresser getting the do from hell, Cailin waited for me at home and the rest went to Marks Park to get the party started and help the sound guys set up.

Finally at 5 I was all done, gathered all my stuff and dashed with Cailin to the party. Everything was ready, the girls had put up all the movie posters that Shad got from work and the sound was kicking ass! (very impressive). I loved what the girls did with the boys' loo - they put up a "Back to Gaya" movie poster on the door, but removed the "A" at the end, heeehheee. I added my touch to it but putting a MEN sign right under the "Gay" Part. So "Back to Gay Men". How appropriate. No wonder the girls' toilet got the most action that night, most boys were afraid to enter the boys' loo.

I started to worry as 18h00 arrived and not many people were arriving. The stress was killing me. Perennial Darkness was the first band to arrive and I was so impressed with their outfits! They looked devilish. The rest of the bands arrived soon after, dressed for the occassion. My stress levels were peaking but after a few drinks and re-assuring words from Adam and Shadley, I was able to relax and have fun with the people that had actually bothered to pitch. And what a BASH IT WAS!!!!

It started and ended on a good note as Michelle introduced the first band, Acoustic Liquid, who kicked off with Berny's and my favourite song, The Pixies' "Where is my mind?". Immediately I was moving to the music and having a ball. After four great covers, Perennial Darkness came on (after being called on stage by Ferdi and Mich to down a Jagerbomb and SoCo - I SAID NO DOWN-DOWNS! I made my speech, no slurring this time) and blew my socks off. I was so impressed that I bought the lead singer a drink afterwards. Great band to watch! Thanks to Judd, their drummer, for organising!

Next came Torment, but not before we hogged the "stage" again and had another down-down and handed best dressed awards to Sonja and Bernd - y0u guys looked awesome. By then I was completely motherless, but I managed to still let my hair down and enjoy Torment's performance from beginning to end - and remember it! You guys were FANTASTIC! And the mosh pit was in full force, I even dared to enter it.

The rest is a bit of a blur as I engaged in several conversations with my guests, most of whom I met for the first time. To this day I still dont know why I had to get up on a chair and talk to the people. I saw the photos, nothing rings a bell - if anyone can shed some light on this, please give me a call. In the meantime, Fragmented Children was setting up. Unfortunately I missed some of their performance due to an "incident" in the parking lot but I was soon summoned and enjoyed their last few songs. You guys kick ass, cant wait to see you again!

When all that was done, we cleaned up and kicked everyone out before the clock struck 12 and Ferdi turned into a pumpkin again. I dont remember doing much cleaning, just showing my bloody knee and bandaged fingers to anyone that would pretend to care.

I was in bed, without getting sick (very weird) by 1h30 and instead of waking up with a hangover from hell (very weird indeed, considering all the down-downs, no hangover at all!), I had a stinging, burning pain in my knee that allowed little movement. With great difficulty I got dressed, limped carefully downstairs and had breakfast with everyone at McDs. We then went back to Marks Park to finish cleaning up. It was only 4 of us, Mich, Shad, Ferdi and me (Tink had been dropped off at a friend's house before she returned to Cape Town, sniff sniff), but luckily we managed to clear up in no time.

So, despite all the injuries and several no-shows, Cazzfest 2008 was a huge improvement from last year, and this only gives me hope for the next years to come! Bring on Cazzfest 2009!

Two more sleeps till the heavens collide!

I cant believe what a great response I have received about Cazzfest, taking place this Saturday. It looks like it's going to be bigger and better than last year, which means that this can definitely be something I can now do on a regular basis, as stressful as the planning can be!

It started with Torment agreeing to play at my bash and I now have 3 more bands to add to the line-up. An extra band approached me as well, but I could not fit them in due to time constraints. The disadvantage of having at Marks Park is that I have to make sure we are done by midnight (before I turn into Cinderella again, and Ferdi into a pumpkin hahahahaha!). But do it anywhere else, and the costs will be astronomical for me once more. As always, Cazzfest puts a huge dent in my pockets, but its all worth it. The band line-up is as follows:

19h00 Acoustic Liquid (Charles and Wez from Torment's side project)
20h00 Perennial Darkness
21h00 Torment
22h00 Fragmented Children

I'm really excited about this line-up, there is something in there for everybody!

More exciting news was that I managed to convince (well, not too much convincing, they are such cool people) DJ Michelle and DJ Nick from UJfm to be my MCs for the evening! How cool is that? Im looking forward to see what they have in store for us!

What is really making me nervous is the ever-growing guestlist! I want as many people as possible to attend, to give the bands exposure, so the response is awesome. I just hope it all goes smoothly. I dont know a lot of the people that have RSVPd but I look forward to meeting and getting to know them all.

Preparations are almost complete thanks to my efficient task team, and we are set to go and dress up as our inner demons / angels. Im off from work tomorrow to finalise everything and meet my sidekick from Cape Town, Tink - I cant wait to see you again, babe!

So hold thumbs everything goes well and we rock our socks off! This year I'm warning you all - I WILL NOT DO ANY DOWN-DOWNS! I WANT TO REMEMBER THE WHOLE OF CAZZFEST 2008!!!!

Watch this space for the review on Monday (or a week later, depending on how long I will need to recover!). See you all on Saturday!

The Dawn of a New Era

Ok, it just seems like dawn to me right now, hence the title. I woke up at the crack of dawn on my first day back at work for 2008, just so Weasel could be at work before 7, meaning I was probably one of the first people in the office buildings when I arrived here at 6:30 p.m. I feel like I have been hit by a freight train, and no, no alcohol was involved, just lack of sleep thanks to the damn mosquitoes that keep me awake at night.

The festive season came at went. Lots of merry making and cheering went on. We drank, we partied, we sang our hearts out. I am not going to go into detail, but it was one hell of a busy two weeks, that almost went by in a blur. I welcomed 2008 with a bang, just as I intended, armed with a 1.5 litre of water to avoid any hangovers (after the many I suffered the previous 10 000 parties). I endured a lot of teasing, but guess what? In the end I was one of the few that felt fresh and alive yesterday morning as I watched everyone else groan and moan in pain. Hahaha, touche!

As usual, I havent made any New Year's resolutions. Screw that. What's the point? I just want this year to be better than last year. I sure had my ups and downs, more downs than up that's for sure, so I intend to improve on a lot of things this year, but taking baby steps of course. No pressure. Just take it as it comes and hope for the best.

So here is to you all. Hope you have an awesome 2008! Bottoms up!

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