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The Rainbow Report broadcasts live every Thursday 7-8pm AEST in Melbourne Australia on 94.9 FM, streaming via the web at joy.org.au. PODCASTS are available via the Joy website and now also on iTunes.

Back to the Future in country Australia

September 7th 2008 23:35
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Disco Stampede
Disco Stampede

I'm really excited: it's that time of year again and we're starting the runup to the annual ChillOut Festival in March.

Last year was our best ever, with over $8m pumped into the local economy and an estimated 25,000 visitors to our region - and well over 5,000 of those came to our Carnival Day in the park.


Not bad for a little country town in outback Victoria. Here's whats in store for 2009

You won’t need Dr Who and his time machine next March, because ChillOut, Australia’s biggest and best rural gay and lesbian festival, is taking Daylesford, the gay capital of country Australia, back to the 1970’s over Labour Day Long Weekend March 6-9.

It doesn’t matter if you’re too young to remember the disco era, or you’ve spent the intervening years trying to forget, this’ll be a ChillOut you won’t want to miss. Whether you’re coming from overseas, interstate or just across town, we’ll give you a weekend to remember.

Grab you by the glitterballs

Disco Stampede! - our theme for 2009 - rounds up everything shiny, stretchy, clingy, glittery, daggy and fun to grab you by the glitterballs and drag you back to a time when John Travolta was slim and cool and Mamma Mia was number one in the charts.

Hit the op shops now and stock up on hotpants, halter-necks, catsuits, mini-dresses, shiny knee-boots and big, big hair. Raid the family closets for Dad's satin bell-bottoms, platform shoes, gold medallion and chest-wig – or your own!


Delight every Dancing Queen


Tribute group BABBA will delight every Dancing Queen as they summon the authentic sound of the 70s when they take to our Carnival Day main stage. But their perfect recreation of one of the era’s supergroups is only the beginning.

This is no city disco – it’s a Disco Stampede! Blending the best of city and bush, ChillOut 2009 – the 12th annual festival – will mix country and disco like no-one has done since Dolly Parton first thrust her way into the spotlight.

A treat for every taste & budget

Plus there’s a galaxy of treats for all tastes and every budget. Active types will love mountain-biking, bushwalking, horseriding, bocce and golf. Culture vultures will home in on the art and craft exhibitions and cabaret performances. And everyone will come together to have fun at our Dance Party, Bush Dance, Street Parade and Carnival Day.

The most important festival in the region

ChillOut is the biggest gay and lesbian festival in rural Australia and the most important festival in the Grampians region of Victoria, which stretches from Bacchus Marsh to the South Australian border.

ChillOut is based in the historic Victorian spa towns of Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, a centre of well-being and relaxation. We have the oldest bathhouse in the country and the most awarded and respected spa facilities. But when you feel like indulging, we offer great food and restaurants, with some of the best cool-climate wines and organic produce, all locally sourced.

Become a sponsor now!


ChillOut 2008 brought more than 25,000 visitors to the shire last year and is estimated to have generated more than $8m worth of business in Hepburn Shire alone.

Entirely volunteer run, ChillOut relies on support from local businesses to maintain our success. Many visitors who come to the region for the first time at ChillOut return time and time again, so it’s a wonderful opportunity to for them to showcase their wares.

And the power of ChillOut is reflected in the many partners and sponsors who are continuing their support in 2009.

Tourism Victoria, Hepburn Shire, The RJM Trust, and Novotel Forest Resort Creswick, are already on board as we expand the festival with new events in more towns right across Hepburn Shire.

Sign up for updates

Want to be the first to know as new events, performers and activities are announced? Check out the website and register online at www.chilloutfestival.com to receive regular email newsletters detailing every exciting development.

Daylesford ChillOut 2009 – Disco Stampede

Labour Day long weekend - Mar 6-9 2009

The ChillOut Committee

Doug Pollard (President & Communications Director) - Jim Culbertson (Secretary & Festival Director) – Geoffrey True (Treasurer) – Rene Ludekens - Graham Maxwell - Nat Moynihan - Mike Brady

Festival Assistant – Nel Staite

Daylesford ChillOut Festival is a non-profit GLBTIQ community event.

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Journalists prise China open

August 15th 2008 00:47
Free Tibet Protest London
Free Tibet Protest in London


The Chinese government is discovering what it means to be open to press scrutiny, and are not enjoying the process much, it would seem.

Unused to having their decisions publicly questioned, they’re getting quite testy with journalists who expected the same freedom to report that they have in most Western countries (most of the time).

In 2001 Beijing Olympic vice-president Wang Wei said: "We will give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China."

Yesterday his tune was somewhat different.

"We welcome the people and the colleagues of the Olympic Games with us and we welcome suggestions that are constructive advice from these people, all kinds of peoples. But the foreign press, you come here to pick, critically dig into details, but that doesn't mean we don't fulfil on our promises. I did not say China would promise to do whatever; I did say the Games would open up the horizons of China," said Wang.

He then went on to make a number of statements at odds with the facts. For example, he claimed that a British journalist, briefly detained by Chinese police for covering a pro-Tibet protest, had been released as soon as he had shown his credentials.

Footage aired worldwide, however, clearly showed that Chinese police repeatedly ignored his credentials and persisted in asking him why he supported Tibet.

Either Wang doesn’t watch CNN, BBC, etc., or he is so used to controlling the news that he does not understand how the embarrassing footage could possibly have made it into the public arena.

He didn’t know anything about a Guardian cameraman being assaulted by officials, either. Maybe even he is blocked by his own censors from seeing YouTube, where footage of both incidents is posted.

The Olympics is the first major event held in Communist China which is not entirely controlled by the Communist Party. Although the IOC are kowtowing to the regime more than we would like, it isn’t totally under Chinese control.

And the press are doing what a free press does best. Although often trivial, irritating and stupid, with an inflated sense of their own importance (and I speak here as a journalist myself) it’s good to know that some journalists can rise to the occasion.
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Clifton Beach
Clifton Beach


Apologies if posts become slightly erratic over the next couple of weeks, but I'm going to be hard at work lying on the beach, drinking Tequila Sunrises, Long Island Iced Teas and Mai Tais, nibbling on fresh-caught reef fish and tropical fruits, snorkelling the Barrier Reef and other arduous pursuits.

Or I may sit in the shade on my verandah overlooking the ocean and listen to the gentle sussurations of the surf and the desperate whine of the Qantas jets struggling to make it to the runway at Cairns airport.

Culture will have to take a back seat, unfortunately - well, this IS the Deep North.

For the next two weeks it's dial-up or borrow hubby's Telstra mobile thingy and hope his boss doesn't notice the leap in data charges on the company account, so don't expect miracles.

Rest asured I will not be out of touch and will continue to keep a beady eye on Jeff Kennett, Penny Wong and anyone else worth a mention.

The Facebook group Jeff Kennett: Up Yours! We Do Not Need To Protect Anyone From Gay Men! goes from strength to strength and now has more than 750 members, all of whom think it's past time Jeff got Jeffed!

Meanwhile my good mate Tim Newton will be keeping my seat warm on the Rainbow Report, and with any luck the new studios will finally be finished by the time I get back!!

See ya!!
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World Youth Day Train Wreck (LINK)

July 7th 2008 23:03
Train wreck
Image: blackwhitestockphotography

New revelations about a church cover-up of sexual abuse threaten to derail the Catholic church's taxpayer-funded A$86m priest recruitment exercise.

[ Click here to read more ]
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Pope Alice
http://www.popealice.com

Pope Benedict and Pope Alice will go head-to head during the World Youth Day all-night vigil in Sydney.

[ Click here to read more ]
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London Pride - Melbourne Apology

June 27th 2008 05:12
ChillOut Festival at Melbourne Pride
ChillOut Festival joins Melbourne Pride March
On Saturday 5 July there’ll be a Pride March in London. It starts at Baker St., then makes it way down Oxford St., Regent St., skirts Trafalgar Square (which is hosting the Main Stage for the entertainment) and ends up in Whitehall..

Compare that with Melbourne’s apology for a Pride March. A five minute stroll down Fitzroy Street to the beach on a Sunday afternoon. A few stalls and a bit of entertainment in a seaside park


[ Click here to read more ]
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