Gay Serbia - "in our city infidels and Satanists will not pass"

Fine words from a country and the city of Belgrade which should feel shame rather than triumph. Today organisers of a Gay Pride in Serbia agreed to call off the demonstration after renewed threats of violence. Great news form a country which one wold have deemed  "democratic"? This all seems par for the course when one recalls even the first gay pride march in 2001 which ended in violence.
The organisers were asked to move the march from the center of Belgrade to a "field" outside the city and faced with the choice of this humiliation or calling off the march they made the wisest choice under the circumstances and called off the demonstration.
Is seems somewhat overambitious that Serbia a country where both nationalists and religious leaders are for sexual discrimation, that they should have ambitions to become a member of the European Union. Equally the case for a country where many applauded freed war crimes perpetators at The Hague. I think that Serbia has a little further to go in human rights issues before even thinking about joining a European Union where at least the fundamental rights of citizens are secured by law.
The choice to call off the march has propeled the country again to world headlines and not for any reasons to be proud of. Courage to the gay acivists!  As they said The Republic of Serbia has capitulated. We have not.

Crippled Black Phoenix in Thessaloniki in September

This is how the Boston Phoenix (newspaper) describes the group: Ostensibly centering on former Electric Wizard drummer Justin Greaves, CBP are a loose congregation of various musicians who can shade the often lengthy compositions with waltzy Tom Waitsy sea shanties one minute and delve into "One of These Days"-y Pink Floydian bass throb the next, with occasional tracks into Alan Parsons–esque retro-synth fugues of inspired madness.
They will be appearing at the Principle Club which is about 20 minutes form Thessaloniki on the main motorway to Nea Moudania and Halkidiki. As I am unsure about how to book tickets all I can offer is the telephone number of the Principle Club ( 2310)  428 088.

Julia Migenes in Thessaloniki 20 September

One of the world’s leading opera singers, who has also had a successful career in musicals, Julia Migenes, will introduce her audience to the world of one of the greatest classical composers, Franz Schubert. Grammy-winning Migenes gave a historic performance in Francesco Rossi’s Carmen, has performed with Placido Domingo and Ruggero Raimondi and was an inspiration to Leonard Bernstein.
The concert is one night only at the Royal (Vassiliki) Theater.

She has recorded more than 20 albums and won a Grammy AwardCarmen. She was also nominated for the César Awards as best actress. Her one woman show, Diva on the Verge (2000), is available on DVD from Kultur Video. Her fame has spread worldwide and in other performance media and genres. She appeared in an episode of the Emmanuel Lewis vehicle, Webster. She guest starred in the TV series The New Twilight Zone episode "Grace Note". Director Peter Medak asked her to appear in his opera film La voix humaine
for the soundtrack to (1990). 

In 2004, she was in the opera version of Angels in America which premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet: a TV broadcast version is expected to be released on DVD.^{[citation needed]}

^{She is no stranger to Greece and, in fact, is of Greek origin as her father was a US immigrant from the Greek island of Chios.}

gay clubs and bars in Thessaloniki, gkei clubs and bars in θεσσαλονικη,

There is a strange phenomenon in Greece which applies to both straight and gay clubs and bars - they tend to change names remarkably quickly. I am not sure what the reason for this is - I think it is for tax or other commercial reasons - but very often in Thessaloniki you will see a gay bar closing and opening the next week under a new name. This does not mean new management and I have never really understood what the reason for this is.
This, of course, being Greece does not apply to all bars and clubs and cafes like "Don't tell Mama", "Stretto", "de Facto" have been around for a very long time. On the other hand clubs like "Weger" or "Sodad"  in the city centre have changed names several times - in fact so often I cannot really remember. Perhaps it has just something to do with the fact that people are constantly looking for somewhere to go that is new and when it loses its flair the crowd moves on to somewhere else. So that is why it is a good idea to keep updated on the current scene  - (and another reason for visiting my blog).
All in all there is a fast turn around in many gay bars and clubs in the city. Very often they are one and the same - just under a different name.