Dinah Shore Week, which is the largest annual lesbian event, is in full swing beginning April 2-6, and the sleepy desert town of Palm Springs is about to get a whole lot hotter!

With a variety of events at many venues hosted by Girl Bar and Club Skirts there is enough entertainment to fill two weeks of fun!

There is something for everyone at this year’s extravaganza, which began in 1974 as a golf tournament that drew a lesbian following, and morphed into what is now a spring break for the ladies.

The Doral Resort will be ground zero for a cavalcade of she-nanigans for Club Skirts, while several different locales (including The Hotel Zoso for the VIP set, and The Wyndham Hotel & Resort) will play hostess to many a Girl Bar event.

There are a plethora of happenings, including a variety of pool parties, notably Girl Bar’s Saturday Wet And Wild Pool Party and Club Skirts’ “The L Word” Pool Party on Sunday.

If you are in the mood to get your groove on, there are a lineup of bands and musicians who are sure to get your rump shaking.

For starters, Belinda Carlisle is performing solo at Girl Bar’s PURE White party at the Hotel Zoso on Friday night, and then reuniting with her bandmates, The Go-Go’s, on Saturday night at The Convention Center for the Mardi Gras Masquerade. Also that night, Club Skirts will present rocker Pat Benatar and her guitarist hubby Neil Giraldo at The Doral Resort Ballroom. After, Colbie Caillat, who scored as a number one unsigned musician on MySpace.com for a number of months with her song, “Bubbly,” will be entertaining the masses.

“The L Word’s” Leisha Hailey and her band Uh-Huh-Her, are going to get things pumping on Friday night. A number of Hailey’s co-stars, as well as cast members from “Dante’s Cove” and “Exes and Oh’s” will be on hand for the five-day fiesta.

Also performing for the Skirt circuit is another ’80s favorite, Lisa Lisa, at The Cabana Girl Pool Party on Saturday.

Getting back to the groove factor, there’s a variety of dance parties a go-go with the aforementioned Girl Bar PURE White party and Club Skirts’ Paris ’08, a dance party that also features a star-studded haute couture runway show on Saturday, including a reunion of Tila Tequila and Dani Campbell, among an assortment of other celebrities.

If you’re looking to tickle your funny bone, check out Suzanne Westenhoeffer’s Comedy Night put on by Club Skirts at The Doral Resort on Thursday. Girl Bar goes for laughs with its Funny Girlz 3 at The Hotel Zoso ballroom, also on Thursday.

Sandy Sachs recently chatted with the Gay and Lesbian Times. Sachs, along with partner Robin Gans, has produced the Girl Bar parties for 18 years.

We also talked with a few of the musical acts set to rock the house (Pat Benatar, and Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go’s), and some of the celebrities (Dani Campbell of “A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila” and fabulous “L Word” actress Jane Lynch) who will hit the runway in the celeb-centric fashion show.

Each year, throngs of women flock to Dinah Shore. So, how much preparation goes into entertaining the ladies?

“Literally, we start working on this event now for next year,” said Sachs, whose Girl Bar events begin with the Cocktail Meet & Greet on Wednesday and wrap up with The Closing Party on Sunday. “I’m already talking 2009. I haven’t even finished 2008, and I feel like I’m behind the eight ball – that’s how much there is to do. It’s like they overlap.

“To me, there’s never a day in my life that goes by where I don’t mention Dinah Shore’s name. One day,” she said with a laugh, “I’m going to forbid myself – can’t say it.”

That day won’t be anytime soon. Sachs has already started advertising in foreign market magazines for the 2009 event.

Taking a break from the 2009 talk, Sachs said of this year’s lineup, “We were really fortunate with The Go-Go’s this year.”

The ladies of Girl Bar are hands on in their approach to finding entertainment, even hosting focus groups to gauge who attendees would like to see.

“We talk to some of the women about people they’d want to see, what kind of talent’s out there, who’s hot, what’s happening,” Sachs said. “And then we start to put the asks in.” Sachs and Gans, who own the popular L.A. lesbian hotspot, Girl Bar, say women will come away from attending Dinah Shore Week with a positive experience.

“Our ultimate goal for our attendees is to create an experience they will remember for the rest of their lives,” she said. “We go to that kind of length and that kind of detail, just wanting them to say, ‘Oh my God! This is the best thing I’ve ever gone to.’ We want them to leave with a feeling of pride, being proud of who they are.

“A lot of these people that come from small towns from all over the country that don’t even have a gay bar where they live, they don’t get a sense of that kind of camaraderie, and that, ‘Wow! Look how many people are like me.’ It feels great to create something where lesbians from all over the world can come be themselves, and feel good about themselves.”

Dinah Shore Week is full steam ahead this year and both straight and lesbian entertainers are on board to give the audiences what they want – a healthy dose of female empowerment.

When Pat Benatar first emerged on the music scene circa 1979, she was a far cry from the days when women crooned about pining for a man who had done them wrong. She changed how women in rock were perceived. She was a real tough cookie and her music had a message.

“It wasn’t solely me,” she said. “I was part of a huge movement at that time and I am grateful and happy to have been a part of that.”

Her roster of hits includes “Heartbreaker,” “Fire and Ice,” “Promises in the Dark,” “We Belong,” “Invincible” and “Love is a Battlefield.” According to Billboard Magazine, the four-time Grammy winner is the most successful female rock vocalist of all time.

“It’s pretty great. I didn’t start out with big aspirations, and [I] dreamt small,” she said. “I didn’t think I would still be here 30 years later, and that astounds me.”

Benatar and her guitar wielding husband, who have been married since 1982, have always been allies to the GLBT community. Along with her husband (who she calls “very kind and brilliant”), Benatar has rocked Long Beach Pride, and loved it. Benatar has also supported GLBT charities, including AIDS Walk New York. For the rocker, charity is a way to use her celebrity for good.

“It’s really personal, and I pick the ones that mean something to me,” Benatar said. “And I’m particularly grateful to have the opportunity to do so – it makes your life so much better to be able to give back, to share with all.”

Now, Benatar is looking forward to Dinah Shore. She says she believes her music can resonate with a gay and lesbian audience.

“I think for people who have been persecuted and given a hard time, songs can transcend all genders, or whatever people are being discriminated against,” Benatar said. “My songs have always been about standing up for yourself and not taking shit from anyone, and that applies to all people.”

Outside her performance schedule, Benatar is hard at work on her autobiography, which she hopes to release by Christmas. She is also retooling her signature tunes for a new acoustic album, which will allow her lyrical body of work to resonate on a more raw and emotional level.

It may surprise some that Benatar, who made a reputation with lyrics like “put up your dukes, let’s get down to it,” on “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” is a mellow, down-to-earth woman.

Benatar says she always wore the “tough rocker chick” persona on her sleeve, but her motivation has always been about “being good to each other” as a human race – a message in tune with Dinah Shore.

If not for a woman such as Pat Benatar in rock, the door may not have been open for a group like The Go-Go’s, who emerged triumphant on the music charts in the ’80s. The band is as well known for its catalog of hits, “Our Lips Are Sealed,” “We Got The Beat,” “Vacation” and “Head Over Heels,” as it is for being a pioneering female group.

The GLT talked with The Go-Go’s Jane Wiedlin about how the band set the stage for other women to challenge the male-dominated musical group world, and how it is ready to storm the stage at Dinah Shore.

“The early days of the band were, in my mind, the best times,” Wiedlin said. “It was great because people were so supportive and enthusiastic. I don’t think that The Go-Go’s could have made it in any other musical climate than that one.”

Unfortunately, the band did hit a rough patch with personality clashes and creative differences in 1985. By the ’90s, The Go-Go’s were ready to put differences aside, pick up the creative pieces and release a retrospective 1994 CD album, Return to the Valley of The Go-Go’s (which had three new songs). Then, in 2001 came God Bless The Go-Go’s, featuring all new material.

Wiedlin shared her take on how the band has recovered from tough times.

“Well, in some ways we’re more volatile than ever, because we’re five totally different people,” she said. “And, we still have our issues, and in the past we would always brush things under the carpet,and then resentments would build. It wasn’t a healthy way to be.

“These days, when someone has a gripe about someone else, it kind of comes up right away with some yelling and it usually ends in tears, and then hugs and then it’s over with. It’s probably not very pleasant to be around, if you’re not in the band – but for the band, I feel like it’s a step forward, as far as our relationships with each other.”

Each member of The Go-Go’s stayed the musical course after the initial breakup and subsequent reunion. During that time, Wiedlin released four solo projects. Most notably her song “Rush Hour” enjoyed top-10 chart success.

Wiedlin also delved into the acting arena in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and was featured on the reality television show, “The Surreal Life.” During that season, it was revealed that she had a “dirty little secret” – she’s a lover of BDSM.

“I knew it would shock people, because I seemed like the girl-next-door type, all sweet and innocent,” she said. “It was very scary for me to come out of the closet with that – it’s sort of like the last frontier. Coming out of the closet as a gay or lesbian now, of course it’s still hard, but it’s not like the ’50s anymore, it’s gotten a lot better. But as far as being considered a ‘perv,’ forget it – it’s still considered really weird.”

“Finally I thought, ‘I’m not ashamed of anything about me, I really am not. There’s nothing wrong about the way I think or live.’ So I decided to do it. I’ve always stated that I’m bisexual for the very same reason, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s a modern day, man, get over it.”

Being in an all-woman band does lend itself to The Go-Go’s having its fair share of lesbian groupies.

“Honestly, no matter what you’ve heard, we have not made a practice of having sex with our groupies, male or female, because we were almost always in relationships,” Wiedlin said. “For the most part, in the old days, was that boys liked us, but were too intimidated by us as five girls in a gang; the energy was just so crazy, and try to chat us up – whereas girls wouldn’t have a problem with that. I think that’s why there were so many more girls trying to get backstage and meet us than boys.

“And nowadays, pretty much no one tries to get backstage and meet us, unless they’re bringing their kids to get an autograph,” she quipped.

Wiedlin is no first-timer at the lesbian Mecca, Dinah Shore. She’s looking forward to a weekend of fun.

“I’m looking forward to being in a town that’s full of people that are there to have the best weekend of their lives,” Wiedlin said. “And part of that is going to be The Go-Go’s show, and I know that everyone who comes will have a fantastic night.”

From one Jane to another, the GLT also caught up with actress Jane Lynch, who has amassed a diverse resume, and fought the misconception that being an out actor equals stereotyping.

“I very rarely view myself as an out actor, as I view myself as an actor,” Lynch said. “I just eliminate the word ‘lesbian’ or ‘out,’ and I just become an actor. I’m not so concerned with what other people think – it’s me practicing my craft.”

Apparently, practice makes perfect. Lynch has played a variety of characters.

From her noteworthy comedic turns in Christopher Guest’s films (Best in Show, and more recently For Your Consideration), and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, to kid-friendly fare such as Alvin and the Chipmunks, you name it, and Lynch has done it; or, if she hasn’t, with six movies in the can this year alone, she will soon.

In the upcoming Parker Posey vehicle Spring Breakdown, Lynch plays a senator, alongside “Saturday Night Live” alums Amy Poehler and Rachel Dratch.

On the tube, you can catch Lynch on “Two and a Half Men,” and if you listen closely enough, you hear her lending her pipes to the animated Fox show, “American Dad.”

And, of course, there is her recurring role as Joyce Wischnia on “The L Word.”

Her character Joyce is an unctuous attorney-at-law, which was at odds with Lynch’s sweet nature during her conversation with the GLT. So just how like Joyce is Lynch?

“In order for me to have to do any character, it has to live in me somewhere,” she said. “And there is an aspect of me that likes to take care, and likes to look like the boss. But I don’t have anywhere near the sexual confidence or entitlement to happiness that Joyce has. And I learn a lot doing her, I love putting that suit on and being in that space while I’m acting, like the world is my oyster and nothing can stop me.”

“Everytime I get a role, I go, ‘Oh my God! This is fantastic!’” Lynch said. “But I don’t have any agenda. I’ve done much better just walking the path, and I’m not a ‘goals person’ – that doesn’t come to me very naturally. I feel like my dreams come true every time I get a job.”

As for Dinah Shore, Lynch is no stranger to the festival, having been a star guest in the past, and she is enthusiastic about her gig this year. Like Sachs and Wiedlin, it is the bonding of women from many walks of life that makes the event most appealing to Lynch.

“For a lot of women who come out, it’s nice for them to feel they’re not alone in the world,” Lynch said. “For those who live in parts of the country that don’t have as active a community, there’s not as much access to each other. And, a lot of people travel to Palm Springs every year from all points of the globe, to be apart of this great, little environment.”

One woman making a trip is Florida firefighter Dani Campbell, who had “A Shot At Love with Tila Tequila,” competing with both male and female suitors on the MTV dating show.

For Campbell, being on a groundbreaking courtship show didn’t sink in until after she appeared on television.

“It was a lot of fun,” Campbell said of her time on the show. “But I guess I didn’t realize how groundbreaking it was until after I actually watched it. The concept of the show changed once I got there.”

Campbell and fellow “love” seeker, Bobby Banhart, were in the final two fighting for Tequila’s affections, and, alas, Campbell came in second.

“It was shock, because I really felt like I had it in the bag,” she said of being the runner-up. “I felt like that was it, and then when she didn’t pick me, it was like, ‘Holy smokes!’ It totally blew everyone off their feet.”

Still, Campbell said she would not have done anything different and has “no regrets about anything.”

Campbell’s personal life after having spent time in the public eye has been very interesting.

“You can pretty much say goodbye to your personal life once something like this happens to you,” she said. “I definitely can‘t go to the places I used to hang out at anymore, and just relax. It’s just a different lifestyle, and I never expected it, that’s for sure.”

With her newfound lesbian celebrity, Campbell was a natural to be asked to be a part of the Dinah Shore experience.

“I’m looking forward to going back and having the fun I did last year,” she said. “But, at the same time, it’s not going to be the same, because I’m not going to have that personal freedom just to wander around and lay out by the pool.”

And what about her runway reunion with Tequila?

“I don’t care if I see Tila or not again,” Campbell answered with a laugh. “It’s not a big deal to me at all. It’s not like I’m excited or not excited, it’s very apathetic – I have no feelings towards it.”

But she is looking forward to going and summed up what the experience means for many who assemble for the annual pilgrimage.

“There’s going to be a lot of girls there, every event I seem to go to is a crazy fest,” she said. “And I think it will be fun to see what will happen at Dinah Shore.”

For full details on Girl Bar Dinah Shore Week 2008, check out www.dinahshoreweekend.com and for info on all of Club Skirts’ Dinah Shore doings, log onto www.thedinah.com