Podcast Corner: Here are two shows to check out during Pride Month
Damian Kerlin, a Derry-born journalist and publicist, goes to Wales in season two of his Memories from the Dance Floor podcast
Season one of Irish journalist Damian Kerlin’s series celebrated LGBTQ+ venues in the UK and for season two it’s heading to Wales. “There are communities out there thriving, and dare I say it, having even more fun” than London, Kerlin says in his intro. Wales, or Cymru, made sense for him to examine next as he lived there as a student, getting to explore some of the venues mentioned across the four new episodes, out every Wednesday in June for Pride Month.
The first contributor paints a vivid picture of the scene in the early 1970s. “The gay bar was called the Northwestern Hotel… it used to belong to the railway at one time… I remember walking in there, you could hardly see from one end to the other because of the smoke. It seemed that everyone smoked then. And the record that was playing on the jukebox was ‘The Wonder of You’ - Elvis Presley.” He says he was educated during his first term of college by one of the people he met there.
“I was having a lot of fun going to the bar. I was only 18, of course I was illegal. The word ‘jailbait’ came in the whole time but I never compromised anybody… I realised the consequences of things like that.” Kerlin explains that in 1967 the passing of the Sexual Offences Act allowed for a partial thaw in the legal protection of homosexuality (it permitted homosexual acts between two consenting adults over the age of 21), so not much help for our then teenage contributor, who was two and a bit years below the age of consent in 1970.
There follows a determination to do something about the lack of equality. This series being set in Wales, there are miner strikes and Thatcher speeches. Kerlin says he’s taking us back to see the community who were ready to take centre stage in their fight for equality.
Since season one of the show, it has been announced that Kerlin is writing an oral history of of Britain’s queer club scene, also titled . “It is a glittering celebration of the gay bar, with a cast of characters ranging from Boy George to Reverend Richard Coles, Paul Oakenfold to Peter Tatchell,” says publisher Dialogue Books.
Northern Irish DJ and producer Cormac invites fellow DJs and musicians, friends and allies from the LGBTQ+ community to talk about music, queerness and anything else that shaped their unique story. Season one has already wrapped with nine compelling shows for you to listen to, featuring the xx singer Romy, Peaches, and the brilliant Planningtorock.
