BY ANA PINES AND KIM RESCATE
It’s that time of year again when women from San Diego and all over the world take over Palm Springs for Club Skirts’ Dinah Shore Weekend. Now in its milestone 23rd year, this 5-day event, happening April 3-7, is already on its way to be the biggest its ever been. It will turn Palm Springs into a hub for international celebrities from the music, film and television industries.
The party begins with a pre-party at the host Hilton Hotel and Spa for those eager to get the activities started. Thursday night’s comedy hour will have the ladies laughing with Fortune Feimster, Suzanne Westenhoefer, Jackie Loeb and Jackie Monahan at the Zozo Grand Ballroom. Then dance the night away at The Dinah opening party which features an exclusive performance by K. Rose.
From Friday to Sunday the ladies will enjoy dancing, hanging out at three pool parties, watching Celebrity Dodge Ball, go-go dancers and concerts with performances by Karmin, Diana King, Uh Huh Her, Anjulie, Havana Brown, Life Down here, Playboy School and Love’s Darling, Katy Tiz, and Vampire Diaries star, Kat Graham.
The Dinah will be introducing three inaugural events, The Dinah Film Festival April 5, in association with actress Jill Bennett along with Director-Producer Page Hurwitz; an exclusive Celebrity Poker Tournament April 6, with all proceeds going to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and a Sunday night concert featuring Uh Huh Her.
Describing the film festival, Mariah Hanson, founder of The Dinah said, “The Dinah Film Festival will be where we debut a new web series or full feature and provide a considerable amount of the proceeds to the filmmaker. We’re thinking of it as a scholarship. Film is critical in chronicling our lives but in the distribution it’s also exposing our lives to hearts and minds that may not understand how very similar we are, our hopes and dreams, loves and heartbreaks. If LGBT film can change one mind about our community for the positive, that’s a great film in my book. I’ve always been on board with the importance of film and am excited I am in a position to help further lesbian-themed projects.”
Bennett will debut the first two episodes of her new comedy April 5 during the film festival. A hilarious, sexy, new LGBT sitcom, it’s about a worldly ex-soccer star who inherits her hometown’s tiny gay bar, forcing her to work with its nutty staff and face her first love – the girl she let get away.
Page Hurwitz will be premiering her highly anticipated Dinah documentary entitled Out In The Desert. The new feature-length documentary offers an exclusive insider’s look into, not only the dreamy lesbians and occasional drama, but also the personal and often poignant stories of the women attending the largest lesbian event in the world. The screenings will be held at The Hilton Hotel Grand Ballroom starting at 6:30 p.m.
Hanson continued, “We’re also introducing a Celebrity Poker Tournament which benefits HRC 100 percent. We have so many celebrities at the event, those we’ve booked and those who are coming because it’s become a celebrity hot spot and they feel comfortable attending, that we found a way to incorporate all that star power in a positive way.”
The tournament will take place during The Dinah Goes to Monte Carlo. The grand prize is a full 2013 Dinah package valued at $5,000 with air transportation, hotel and a meet and greet as well as VIP tickets.
This year, The Dinah will have a Sunday night concert to end the 5-day event on a high note. The event will take place at Zozo Hotel and will feature Uh Huh Her, Katy Tiz and top DJ’s. The Dinah’s official closing party is co-presented by GO! Magazine.
Comedian Fortune Feimster is no stranger to The Dinah as this will be her third year attending and the second year she’ll be performing. Her fondest memory is of a dance competition that she hosted with Bridget McManus where they were both wearing leotards. “We were doing our thing and then all of a sudden this girl climbed up on stage with us. She handed me her purse and out of nowhere she flashed me. My jaw hit the floor! But what I love most is that all of this happened while I was in a black leotard complete with neon green panty hose, a gold belt and an American flag fanny pack!”
Feimster will be headlining the Thursday comedy night, competing in the 4th annual Celebrity Dodge Ball where the Celesbians will face-off with The Dinah Go-Go Dancers and the Celebrity Poker Tournament.
Reggae fusion singer-songwriter Diana King will be performing Sunday at The Wet and Wild Pool Party at the Hilton Hotel co-presented by Shewired.com. King has never been to The Dinah as she recently came out to her fans on Facebook during a moment of reflection and courage. She commented, “I just thought the worst. But I didn’t care. I just wanted to be 100 percent and I felt like I was maybe 95 percent. So when I started to look at the comments I was amazed it was mostly positive. It’s still unbelievable, the response to it.”
The first time she learned about the event was on the hit show, The L Word. Growing up in Jamaica where homophobia is so common,“ [even] gay people are homophobic, it’s so bad”, it made her feel like it was a dream come true to see an event with all lesbian women being themselves, holding hands and just living their lives. “I always thought I would love to go there. I never thought that I would be performing. So it’s like a wow … and another wow,” said King.
The Dinah isn’t just another fun vacation it’s a freeing experience. As Feimster describes it, “I’d say if you want to see what Spring Break is like for lesbians then this is the place for you. It’s definitely the time where you can let your hair down because anything goes.”
“I’ve gotten so many emails from women from the Caribbean and they’re like ‘Oh my God, that’s like a dream’ because you can’t have something like that [in Jamaica]; people would be in an uproar and experiencing something like this, it’s just awesome,” added King.
As thousands of women from all over the world come to Palm Springs with different backgrounds, friends, expectations, there’s one thing that links them all together: fun!
These women are ready to laugh, party all night, show each other support and mix and mingle at the pool. Numerous Palm Springs gay bars as well as gay-popular restaurants, hotels and gay resorts will be making sure the ladies feel welcome throughout the weekend.
We will be joining the crowds of queer women trying to avoid heat stroke while having the time of their lives. See you there!
For a full talent line-up and/or to purchase tickets go to: thedinah.com
