San Diego LGBT Pride festivities mean something to everyone. Members of the community use the time to celebrate civil rights victories, uninhibited sexual freedom, and queer-circuit party culture.

For those celebrating the latter, Pride is in the party – and what a party it is.

From the official San Diego Pride entertainment to the unofficial bar and club events, San Diego Pride weekend has something for everyone.

A full menu of live music, comedy, choruses, dance and more will fill the grounds at this year’s San Diego Pride festival, and a stunning lineup of out-of-town DJs, perhaps most notably DJ Seth Gold from New York City, will set the pace for Pride celebrations.

In our Pride pullout this week, readers and Pride revelers will find a listing of Pride club and bar events citywide, and a lineup of talent at the San Diego Pride Festival. Also included is an insider’s guide to San Diego Pride, with most of the information you need for the weekend’s fun.

Below, we’ve listed a few can’t-miss acts during this year’s official and unofficial festivities (excluding the incomparable Kathy Griffin, whose D-list status made her unavailable for press the past two weeks – “D-List” my ass!). Griffin will headline the festival Sunday at 6:30 p.m. – but for under-the-radar acts of all styles, look no further.

When you’ve been labeled the fastest-rising spinner on the circuit by Instinct Magazine, and labeled the “Hottest DJ of 2008” by Genre Magazine, expectations are undoubtedly high.

But DJ Seth Gold isn’t fazed by his press. He knows how to throw down a memorable set, and that’s that. Thumping beats. Funky rhythms. Vocals that infiltrate your very essence. At the end of the experience, when your ears can’t expunge that hum, he’s sitting satisfied with a job well done.

At 27, the little mix-master who could, does. He’s appeared at some of homo America’s hottest spots, including New York City’s Avalon, Chicago’s Hydrate, DC’s Town, and San Antonio’s Heat. On July 19, Gold makes his San Diego debut at The Flame.

You see, there are DJs galore in the big gay world of ours, but there are few who glitter like Gold.

Gay & Lesbian Times: How did you get started in DJing?

Seth Gold: I started when I was 20. My first gig was spinning at Limelight in NYC. I had dabbled in mobile DJing throughout high school, so I knew it was something I enjoyed back then. But when I started doing clubs in NYC, I became completely hooked.

GLT: How did you get the distinction of the next “It” DJ?

SG: By being myself and being different than the rest of the pack of DJs. I have never tried to emulate anyone or be the next so and so. I may have things that I do that have been inspired by others, but every part of my show is original.

GLT: Do you intentionally cater to the young gay crowd?

SG: I tend to cater to them because at this stage of my life, that’s who I can relate to. I think every DJ has a certain type of crowd they connect with – whether it be muscle, leather, hip-hop. Mine just happens to be under 30.

GLT: How is marketing to the under-30s different from marketing to 30 and older?

SG: Tastes in things such as music and clothes change more frequently with the younger set. I need to stay on top of my game to keep up with the changes. The older crowd enjoys the latest hits too, but they are looking for more classics and standards that they won’t really hear on my dance floor.

GLT: You execute your parties from start to finish. You hire the dancers and talent and promote yourself using local street teams. Why not outsource?

SG: I feel very strongly about doing it this way. Maybe I’m just a control freak but it’s important that I have a hand in every facet of production. I also feel using local people is important because it creates a local enthusiasm for the event.

GLT: Where do you find the time?

I’m not sure, really.

GLT: What’s a typical week like for you?

SG: Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays I’m gathering music for that weekend’s upcoming gigs. Thursdays to Sundays, I’m traveling and DJing. If I happen to have some off time, I really like to hang out with friends because that’s something I don’t get to do too often with my current DJ schedule.

GLT: Do you have time for relationships?

SG: I live a very fast-paced lifestyle and a relationship with me would probably be mentally demanding and pretty hard on someone. They’d only see me late at night or early in the morning and never on weekends. I definitely want to settle down in the future.

GLT: Does working in clubs make it easier to meet people?

SG: Not really. I’m always the first to get to the club and the last to leave!

GLT: Who are your influences?

I have quite a few DJ idols. The ones that stand out are Ed Bailey, Carl Cox and Manny Lehman. Each one stands out for a separate reason. Carl Cox for being one of the most talented DJs I have ever heard. He never disappoints a crowd. And Manny Lehman for being a consummate professional. I strive to have a lot of the same attributes as those guys – in addition to my own qualities and traits.

GLT: What do you have planned for San Diego Pride?

SG: I have a hybrid of things planned. Big vocals in addition to thumping beats and some funky rhythms. I’m prepared to get a little hot and heavy at times. But at the same time, I have the task of making people dance to the sound that defines who I am. So I’m going to infuse the two into something that will be exciting and memorable. Get ready, San Diego!

- Joel Hammer

DJ Seth Gold makes his San Diego debut at The Flame (3780 Park Blvd San Diego, CA) on July 19. For more info, visit djsethgold.com.

If you’re a fan of spandex, hairspray, gender ambiguity and ’80s glam rock – or if you’re just a regular at The Brass Rail’s Manic Mondays – you won’t want to miss Way Cool Jr., San Diego’s premier ’80s glam rock band.

The five-member band is out to prove everything ’80s is cool again – from stuffed leather pants to crowd sing-alongs, there really is no faux pas at a Way Cool Jr. concert.

The band, which has played big venues throughout town including the House of Blues and the Hard Rock Hotel, will perform on the 21+ stage, presented by Rage Magazine. Way Cool Jr. is scheduled to perform a 6:45 set on Saturday, July 19.

Lead guitarist/keyboardist David Nguyen took time to tell us why the ’80s are all the rage again and what festival-goers can expect from the way-cool band.

GLT: Why the choice to do ’80s glam rock? What is it about the ’80s that appeals to the band?

David Nguyen: Music wasn’t so political back then. For Way Cool Jr. it’s about having a good time and reliving those moments – the spandex, the wigs, the makeup. The music I enjoy playing is more Barry Manilow and Erasure, but it’s such a joy to see people get out and relive the ’80s. The music isn’t about beating up on hos and bitches – it’s good, clean fun. Our concerts are about having fun – throwing on the wig, the spandex and stuffing our leather pants.

GLT: Music and fashion from decades seem to revive eventually, and we’re seeing that trend now with the ’80s. The ’80s are making a comeback – why is that?

DN: I think, and it’s just my belief, that in the ’80s it was OK to have long hair and it was OK for men to be more feminine or live a feminine experience by wearing wigs and wearing makeup and spandex. It wasn’t like “I’m a big, bad guy, and you’re just a girl.” Lines were blurred between what men and women were. There was no real definition of masculine and feminine. Men could wear long hair and wear girls’ clothes, and now, today as we move forward, there is no “You have to be a man,” “You have to be a woman.” It’s just OK to be whatever, and in that sense we’re moving back to a time when everything was acceptable before the ’90s when it was more rigid and defined – “You’re a guy and you’re a girl.” That’s my take.

GLT: Is this your first Pride festival performance?

DN: This is our first Pride festival. When we received the call to perform, we had another show booked and I canceled it. We gave up a show that was going to pay us quite a bit, and we would have the Pride festival whether we were going to be paid or not. I live in Hillcrest and it’s such an incredible community. People in the community have the opportunity to be expressive and be who they are. Where else do you find that type of community?

GLT: What can festival-goers expect to see when you take the stage Saturday?

DN: They can expect to see a lot of cheesy ’80s clothes and mismatched colors. That’s what it’s about – it’s extravagant. It’s “Here I am, this is me,” and that’s what ’80s glam rock was – it was “I don’t care if I’m a guy or a girl, this is me and this is what I enjoy and too bad if you don’t like it.” The wonderful thing about the ’80s, though, was that everyone did like it.

You can sing along and get drunk and not worry – not worry about a shoot-out at the show, or being shot or beat up. They can expect to relive good old songs you can sing along to from bands like Journey. Everyone loves to sing in the shower – so get drunk and sing out loud, even if you’re singing off key.

MC Flow, a.k.a. Abby Schwartz, is one of the more diverse acts to rock the mic at the 2008 San Diego Pride Festival. Schwartz, a white, lesbian, Jewish rapper, has made quite a name for herself in San Diego’s hip-hop scene.

Before releasing her first full-length album, Flow received a San Diego Music Award for Best Hip Hop Act. Now, back from a tour of Northern California, Flow and her friends are ready to rock Pride.

With her full posse in tow – hype-girl/producer Taylor-Tay, fly-girl/dancer GG and turntablist DJ Rob Fayder – Flow released Incredible, her debut album, on April 10, and will perform on the San Diego Pride Lavender Stage, Saturday at 2 p.m.

She took some time to talk with us about why this year’s Pride festival has added meaning, and why it’s important women be more visible this year.

GLT: You have a number of songs that touch on GLBT issues. As an out, lesbian hip-hop artist is it empowering to perform at Pride?

Abby Schwartz: Absolutely. We do have a few songs that have LGBT themes and discuss LGBT issues, and, of course, it’s always nice to perform in front of a LGBT audience. But, we enjoy performing at Pride as much as we enjoy performing for a straight crowd or for anybody.

It is empowering to perform at Pride and be at the forefront of our community, to talk about issues that are important to us; especially on the women’s stage to connect with other women and other lesbians and to be a part of the women’s community and outspoken in the women’s community.

I guess we just want to stress that being outspoken and political has always been a part of our mission, being a sort of alternative group of women who put together a hip-hop act. We embraced the form of music we love, even though, historically many people have said, hip-hop is inherently homophobic or inherently misogynistic. But, we’ve always been comfortable being different. We’re starting to see gays and lesbians out in hip-hip and that’s really cool.

GLT: In the spring you released your album Incredible. How have things been since the album’s release?

AS: Since the album released, we have been playing show after show. We just came back from doing a string of shows in Northern California and in San Francisco, which was fantastic. This summer we’re really playing a lot of shows. Almost every weekend we have something booked. We’re playing the big Southern Comfort festival in Downtown and North by North Park in August, so it’s going to be really fantastic. We’ve just been focused on doing shows and working on new material.

GLT: What were the Northern California crowds’ responses to MC Flow?

AS: Really, really positive. We played a house party in Oakland – a huge house party crowd, and they loved us. And we also set up a guerilla stage on the path of the San Francisco Dyke March with another queer rapper, JFP, and Lauren DeRose’s band. We just set up our own stage on the sidewalk at the beginning of the march and when all of the dykes passed by, they stopped to see what we were doing. We figured since we didn’t get booked to play the main stage at the march we’d start our own.

GLT: Do you think people are still shocked when they see a lesbian rapper onstage?

AS: Yeah I have to say I do. I think San Francisco is a bigger city, and I’ve always said I think we’d do well in cities like San Francisco, New York, London – cities that are maybe more progressive than down here. But people are always shocked to see a white, lesbian, Jewish rapper come up and rock the mic. We played a hip-hop show recently, and afterward a girl came up to us and said when we took the stage she thought it would be a good time to go out for a cigarette. She heard us start to play and she ended up loving us. But she was totally ready to write us off based on our exteriors and how we appear.

GLT: With the California Supreme Court’s ruling affirming same-sex marriage rights, does this year’s Pride festival have added meaning for you as an out artist?

AS: Absolutely. This is a huge year for Pride. There’s a lot more local, national and global attention on Pride festivals. This is such a big year for LGBT activism and visibility, and particularly here in California; it’s double-fold because we’ve just entered the beginning stages of having legal marriage. I definitely feel like everything is sort of amped up this year, and that’s another reason it is so important to us to participate in Pride; and why my friends and I have been helping out with the San Diego Dyke March. This is a year of change, it’s an election, and it just feels like everything is more charged and more exciting.

GLT: Will that excitement carry over into your Pride performance.

AS: Absolutely. I think it’s great to perform at Pride and to use it as a way to connect with people, to express political activist views, and that’s one thing that’s so great about Pride; you come as you are, be who you are and say what you want to say. I think this year we’ll definitely be talking up the Dyke March and why it’s important for women to get out, be visible and vote.

Out singer/songwriter Barry Goold, who released his first album, Knockin’ on Another Door, in May is calling the shots.

Goold, who made a name for himself writing songs for films and television shows and other performers, finally put pen to paper last year to craft his debut album, which plays like a throwback to singer/songwriters of decades past.

As Goold explained to the Gay & Lesbian Times, crafting his own songs allowed the musician to explore a number of stories and anecdotes he wanted to share with listeners – from the AIDS-related deaths of three friends, to his juvenile diabetes, and his dog, Goold’s album runs the gamut of sharing life experiences.

Goold, who will perform at 2 p.m. on Sunday on the Pride Green Stage (main stage), talked with the GLT about his new album, the two Pride festivals he’s playing and why life is better in the driver’s seat.

GLT: You’re performing on the main stages at San Diego Pride and Vancouver Pride in August. Is this your first time performing at a Pride festival?

Barry Goold: This is the first year I’ve had a product that I’ve been the artist on in time for a Pride festival. My CD came out in mid-May, so this is the first year I’ve tried to get on to the lineup of any Pride festival, and I submitted to several different places, San Diego being one. And my sister lives in Vancouver – I actually came out to myself in Vancouver, so doing the Pride festival in Vancouver has meaning to me.

GLT: Is it difficult to be an out musician and achieve commercial success?

BG: I like to think that good music is good music regardless of whether it’s out music or not. The songs on the CD are about my dog – and not because I’m gay. Anyone with a dog can appreciate the song. And I’m a juvenile diabetic so one song is about a blackout from low blood sugar. Other people can relate to that or attach meaning to it. I’m not trying to sell millions and millions of CDs. I’m not going to complain if that happens, but at this point the most important thing to me is getting my music out there so people can hear what it is I do and hopefully see some part of themselves in my songs.

GLT: Describe your musical style, and tell us a bit about how your album evolved.

BG: It doesn’t really fit in with anything that is out there right now, and I hate to say that, but I think the best description is that I’m a throwback to singer/songwriters of the ’70s – Elton John, James Taylor, Carol King – all of whom are incredibly important people to me, as a fan and as a writer.

When I made the decision to do a project of my own, I realized I’d written well over a thousand songs in my career – but if I were hit by a bus tomorrow, there would be very few songs that I’d say, “This song was me.” There are many I am proud to have written, but none that have captured who I am. Writing for television and film, I was given scenarios and I was tasked with writing songs that captured elements of who characters were – and I’m good at that, but the songs weren’t reflective of who I am as a person. When I started the project I decided to just sit down and write and not worry about whether a song was commercial or not commercial. The goal was to write and be as honest a possible about whatever part of myself I was writing about. The first song, “Knockin’ on Another Door,” came out very quickly. I sent it to family and friends and my younger sister who lives in Vancouver said, “This is you, this is your life.” And that’s the point. I’m writing about rejection, persevering when I had a dream, coming to California and thinking everything would be wonderful here and realizing it’s not – it absolutely captures who I am, and the others continued from there.

GLT: Is Pride an important venue for your music?

BG: For me, the thing about it is, I’ve been a songwriter for 20 years writing for other people. I am gay and I am open about it in my life, but it has never been a part of my music. On the CD I recorded and released, I am completely open about who I am. There are a few songs on there that I don’t think you can easily mistake the fact that I’m gay. The album is very much a reflection of who I am and what my life is about, and being gay is a big part of that. I celebrate that part of myself, and I like my music to be honest and open.

The festivals booked me before my CD was released and I’m grateful. Even though I am a new artist in terms of the gay world, I am not a new artist in terms of world, and I’m thrilled they’re letting me celebrate who I am with everybody else.