Total Re-Fest Live!

This year's PrideFest is chock full of goodies, from the Tseng Kwong Chi retrospective at Art Alliance (through May 5) to a panel at the Prince Music Theater featuring four South African gay-rights activists (Thu., May 2), not to mention all the parties at places like Shampoo, Sisters, Woody's and Transit. Don't miss the annual block party on Sun., May 5, in the Gayborhood (12th and Locust area). There will be celeb sightings, like next Saturday's free barbecue at Kahn Park (11th and Pine), where the special guest will be none other than Danny Pintauro (frickin' Jonathan from Who's the Boss, people), as well as Latina cabaret-comedian chick Marga Gomez' show on Friday. (May 4, 7:30 p.m., pictured.) Some of PrideFest's activities verge on the bizarre, like the National Bodybuilding Championship taking place in the Kimmel Center. Yes, that's right, the Kimmel Center, our new home to all things classy and cultural (Sat., May 4, 7:30 p.m.). Perhaps even more strange is PrideFest awarding MTV with the National Role Model Award, the first time a corporation has received the honor. Yes, MTV made an effort in the wake of Matthew Shepard's murder to educate its teenybopper fan base, and yes, Real World has almost consistently chosen at least one gay person in recent seasons. But these steps sometimes pale in comparison to the pimply guys begging their two prospective female dates to make out on DisMissed (heh, two girls kissing, heh), or the way those same Real World cast members are consistently defined (presumably through the editing process) solely by their sexuality. Hopefully this award will inspire the network to move even further away from homophobia and tokenism. But of course, my level of knowledge of MTV's programming reveals just how much I watch the network, so I must admit it's somewhat exciting to think of MTV news correspondent John Norris and Aneesa and Chris from Real World: Chicago gracing the stage of the Kimmel Center (Fri., May 3, 9 p.m.).

PrideFest America, April 29-May 5. For complete schedule of events and ticket information, see www.pridefestamerica.com or call 215-732-FEST.

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