In a desperate act to promote a flailing career and GaGa onto some gay love, or as local LGBT newspaper the Bay Area Reporter more kindly put it, “a publicity stunt,” one-time teen pop sensation Britney Spears will give a free one-hour concert on San Francisco’s Castro Street on March 27.
Rumors are flying around the old-fashioned way, hearsay on the streets and in local newspapers, as well as via social media regarding the time, the traffic and the reasons why. All signs point to a free show at Castro and 19th at 12 noon on a Sunday – just about the time the first pitchers of bottomless Bloody Marys and Mimosas have been consumed and you are overcome with the urge to dance.
Good Morning America is behind the Britney revival, neatly coinciding with the release of a new album (natch). The GMA crew will be in town shooting footage not only of local San Francisco treats like cable car rides and sourdough chowder bowls at Fisherman’s Wharf, but specifically highlighting the “historic” Castro District – i.e., ground zero for gayness.
The Bay Area Reporter’s coverage copped an interview with GMA producer Mark Robertson, who said, “On our show we know our viewers like to travel but can’t always afford to do so. So we like to bring them places. In our mind, there is no more beautiful city than San Francisco and no more historic neighborhood than the Castro…. Britney said the Castro is a place she loves and she has a huge fan base in the Bay Area.”
Here’s hoping the BritBrit showcase does more than just give the girl’s career a boostback. Let’s hope that when GMA talks “historic” they also mean they’ll give a little air time to the fact that those in the streets are second-class citizens even in the heart of this gay mecca. And, won’t it be a great day when everyone at a Britney Spears concert has their equal rights?
Sources: Bay Area Reporter and FunCheapSF.
Kathy Drasky regularly writes about online culture. Her marketing and communications work with the ANZA Technology Network, Advance Global Australians and with various Australians and Australian enterprises has led to at least a dozen trips Down Under.
An accomplished digital photographer, her photos have appeared in 7×7 Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Google Schmap.
