Author: Alfredo Casuso

Today on the anniversary of his birth, we celebrate the life and legacy of Rainbow Honor Walk honoree Freddie Mercury (September 5, 1946 – November 24, 1991).

Born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar, Freddie Mercury became one of the most iconic and electrifying performers in rock history as the lead vocalist and principal songwriter of Queen. Renowned for his extraordinary four-octave vocal range, flamboyant stage presence and unforgettable compositions including “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Somebody to Love” and “We Are the Champions,” Mercury helped redefine popular music and live performance. His openness about his sexuality and his death from AIDS-related complications in 1991 made him an enduring symbol of LGBTQ+ visibility, artistic freedom and the devastating impact of the AIDS epidemic.

www.RainbowHonorWalk.org

#FreddieMercury #RainbowHonorWalk #LGBTQHistory #Queen #LGBTQHeroes

David Perry & Associates, Inc.
David Perry / (415) 676-7007 / news@davidperry.com

Boo2Bullying Brings Fourth Annual “Kick Bullying to the Curb”
Wellness Festival to Palm Springs October 10

Free family event combines youth wellness resources, live entertainment and a celebrity kickball game at Palm Springs Power Stadium

Festival: 4–8 p.m.  |  Celebrity Kickball Game: 6 p.m.  |  Admission: Free

4 September 2026 — Palm Springs, CA: On October 10, a baseball stadium will become a field of kindness as Boo2Bullying brings its fourth annual “Kick Bullying to the Curb” Wellness Festival and Celebrity Kickball Game to Palm Springs Power Stadium. The free, family-friendly gathering will connect young people and their families with practical wellness resources while celebrating teamwork, inclusion and the simple but powerful truth that every child deserves to feel safe, valued and heard.

The festival takes place Saturday, October 10 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Palm Springs Power Stadium, 1901 E. Baristo Road. The celebrity kickball game begins at 6 p.m. and will feature celebrity guests, community leaders, first responders, businesses and local youth organizations in a spirited, family-friendly competition designed to promote kindness, teamwork and community connection.

“A young person who knows they matter is better equipped to speak up, ask for help and stand up for someone else,” said Dimitri Halkidis, founder of Boo2Bullying. “This festival takes that message beyond the classroom and puts it into action across the entire community. We want every child who walks through the gates to leave feeling stronger, more connected and absolutely certain that they are not alone.”

Throughout the afternoon, the festival’s Wellness Village will bring together organizations serving youth and families in mental health, education, healthcare, nutrition, fitness, youth development, digital wellness and community services. The program will also include live entertainment and music, interactive youth activities, vendors and opportunities to meet local schools, nonprofits, healthcare organizations, government agencies and community leaders.

The day’s scheduled highlights include the festival opening at 4 p.m.; the Wellness Village beginning at 4:15 p.m.; live entertainment at 4:45 p.m.; interactive youth activities at 5:15 p.m.; the celebrity kickball game at 6 p.m.; and a community celebration at 7 p.m.

Since the festival began in 2022, Boo2Bullying reports more than 10,000 attendees, 300 volunteers, 150 community partners and representation from more than 50 schools, along with over $250,000 in in-kind support and resources. The organization has empowered more than 25,000 young people through school assemblies, youth leadership programs, educator and parent workshops, community events and family outreach.

Voices from the Community

“This festival is amazing! So many resources for our family and so much fun for the kids!” — Parent

“I love the energy, the people, and the message. Can’t wait for next year!” — Student

“Our organization connects with so many families. It’s the highlight of our outreach year.” — Community Partner

Boo2Bullying’s current community champions and event partners include the City of Palm Springs, the Irene W. & Guy L. Anderson Children’s Foundation, Bighorn Cares, Palm Springs Unified School District, Desert Care Network and News Channel 3 KESQ. Sponsorship, exhibitor and volunteer opportunities remain available. Admission is free. For event details and free registration, visit boo2bullying.org/kick-bullying-to-the-curb.

Presenting Sponsors, City of Palm Springs and Bighorn Cares, Community Partners, Walter Clark Legal Group, Contour Dermatology & Cosmetic Surgery Center, The Bianco Group, Kimpton The Rowan Palm Springs, Youth & Community OrganizationsBoys & Girls Club Palm Springs, First tee Coachella Valley, Palm Springs High School Cheer Squad,  The LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert, Transgender Health & Wellness Center, Media Partners El InformadorDel Valle, Coachella Valley Independent, David Perry & Associates, Valley Voice Media.

About Boo2Bullying

Boo2Bullying is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering youth, building kindness and creating safer schools. Founded in 2011, the organization provides evidence-informed school assemblies, social-emotional learning workshops, youth leadership programs, educator training, parent workshops, community events and family outreach. Boo2Bullying helps young people choose kindness, strengthen emotional resilience, build healthy relationships and become leaders who positively impact their schools and communities. For information about scheduling a program, contact Dimitri Halkidis at (310) 435-8528 or dimitrihalkidis@boo2bullying.org. For more information, visit www.boo2bullying.org.

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Boo2Bullying — Kick Bullying to the Curb — October 10, 2026

Today on the anniversary of his birth, we celebrate the life and legacy of Rainbow Honor Walk honoree Roger Casement (September 1, 1864 – August 3, 1916). An Irish diplomat, humanitarian, and nationalist, Casement became internationally renowned for exposing brutal abuses of Indigenous peoples in the Congo Free State and the Amazon’s Putumayo region. Later a passionate advocate for Irish independence, he was convicted of treason and executed by the British government in 1916. A gay man whose sexuality was used against him during his trial and appeals for clemency, Casement remains an enduring figure in the histories of human rights, Irish independence, and LGBTQ+ identity.

www.RainbowHonorWalk.org

#RainbowHonorWalk #RogerCasement #LGBTQHistory #IrishHistory #HumanRights #Pride

media contact:
David Perry & Associates, Inc. /  (415) 676-7007 /  news@davidperry.com

“But there’s something about longevity. Time can build a dialogue around your work.”
— Oakland artist Stephanie Syjuco

“Never Say Die” at 80: Bay Area creative Tom Donald
proves the ultimate second act may be the best one

Award-Winning Filmmaker, Musician, Producer and Advertising Creative Marks 80th Birthday September 6 as Never Say DieHeads to Oakland International Film Festival

Recent Telly Award Caps a Multi-Decade Creative Journey Through Music, Madison Avenue, Filmmaking and hiTrecords

1 September 2026 SAN FRANCISCO, CA: At an age when conventional wisdom suggests slowing down, Tom Donald is speeding up.  The award-winning Bay Area filmmaker, musician, producer and advertising creative turns 80 on September 6 with a new Telly Award, an upcoming screening of his film and music project Never Say Die at the Oakland International Film Festival and a creative life that continues to move in unexpected directions.

For Donald, whose career has taken him from working musician and songwriter to advertising writer and creative director, commercial filmmaker and founder of hiTrecords, the milestone is less about looking back than asking a simple question: what’s next?

“Turning 80 doesn’t make me want to stop creating—it makes me more aware that there are still things I want to say, music I want to make and stories I want to tell,” said Tom Donald. “Never Say Die is very personal for me because it’s about exactly that: recognizing that time passes, but refusing to let curiosity, ambition or creativity pass with it. I’ve been fortunate enough to reinvent myself more than once, and I’m not convinced I’m finished yet.”

That philosophy is at the heart of Never Say Die, Donald’s deeply personal film and music project exploring aging, mortality and the refusal to quietly fade away. Its appearance at the Oakland International Film Festival follows recent festival recognition and a Telly Award—an honor with particular resonance for someone who spent decades directing commercial work and seeing Telly statues in the recording studios and editing suites where he worked.

Now, Donald has one of his own.

The recognition is only the latest turn in a career that has repeatedly crossed creative boundaries.  Raised by a father who worked in New York’s legendary advertising world, Donald began professionally as a musician before moving into advertising, where his career included work with agencies such as Foote Cone & Belding and Saatchi & Saatchi. As a writer, creative director and filmmaker, he worked on projects for major American companies and institutions while continuing the relationship with music that had first defined him.

Eventually, music called him back.  Through hiTrecords, Donald returned to recording and producing, bringing together decades of experience in sound, storytelling, advertising and moving images. Never Say Die represents something of a culmination of those strands—but Donald resists the idea that culmination means conclusion. 

His story also arrives at a moment when assumptions about age and creative relevance are increasingly being challenged. Oakland-based artist Stephanie Syjuco captured that idea while discussing her own evolving career: “But there’s something about longevity. Time can build a dialogue around your work.”

For Donald, eight decades have provided plenty of time for that dialogue—and plenty of material.  There is the young musician who discovered the power of making music. The advertising creative who watched an industry transform around him. The director who spent years turning ideas into images. The producer and entrepreneur who created hiTrecords. And now there is the 80-year-old independent filmmaker earning festival recognition for a work that confronts the very subject of growing older.

What connects them all, Donald says, is the need to keep making something new.

“Creativity has never felt like a profession that I could simply retire from,” said Donald. “It’s how I engage with the world. The tools change, industries change, audiences change—and certainly we change—but that’s what keeps the process interesting. Reinvention isn’t abandoning what came before. It’s taking everything you’ve learned and finding out where it can take you next.”

Over the coming months, Donald’s story offers several windows into a singular American creative career: the evolution of advertising from the agency culture he first knew to today’s fragmented media landscape; the relationship between commercial and personal filmmaking; the dramatic changes in recording and music production; entrepreneurship later in life; and the question increasingly confronting an aging generation of creative professionals—what constitutes a second act when you never really left the stage?

For Tom Donald, the answer is contained in the title of his latest project. Never Say Die.

About Tom Donald:
Tom Donald is an award-winning filmmaker, musician, producer, advertising creative and founder of hiTrecords whose multi-decade career has moved between music, advertising, commercial filmmaking and independent creative production. His advertising career included work with agencies including Foote Cone & Belding and Saatchi & Saatchi, followed by extensive work directing commercial projects. Returning to his musical roots through hiTrecords, Donald has continued to record, produce and develop film and music projects, including the Telly Award-winning Never Say Die. Donald turns 80 on September 6, 2026.

About Never Say Die:
Never Say Die is Tom Donald’s award-winning film and music project exploring creativity, aging, mortality and the determination to remain fully engaged in life. The project has received a Telly Award and additional festival recognition and will screen at the Oakland International Film Festival.

Dolly: We Will Always Love You

— David Eugene Perry

Oh my: this is heartbreaking. I wish Dolly Parton could have lived forever. 

Every now and then, someone passes and everyone grieves. JFK was such a moment. Martin Luther King, Jr, Bobby, Princess Diana, Jimmy Carter. That’s the case today for Dolly Parton. I’m sure there are many people today playing her music in comfort and solidarity.

Dolly Parton was the voice of my Southern childhood, a Tennessee girl from the mountains whose talent, voice and consistent compassion and kindness were unequalled. Ditto for her embrace of her gay fans and the LGBT community. Just today before I heard the news, I had put on “Jolene” and “Nine to Five” (par for my musical course). 

When I was young, I played the album “Trio” (with Dolly, Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt) so much I wore it out and had to re-buy it. Those three ladies, plus The Carpenters, were the soundtrack of my formative years. Patsy & Loretta, too. San Francisco’s Castro Theatre has done a tribute to her on their marquee.

Another reason to love Dolly: Travelin’ Thru” is an original song written and performed by country music icon Dolly Parton for the end credits of the 2005 comedy-drama film Transamerica.

Director Duncan Tucker personally approached Parton to pen the theme, aiming for an anthem that captured the emotional core of the movie’s protagonist, Bree, a trans woman navigating family, identity, and a cross-country road trip.

Below, some of favorite articles about Dolly and, perhaps, her most iconic song out of many iconic ones. 

Dolly, as you wrote and sang, so I feel right now: We will always love you.

https://www.thepinknews.com/2026/01/19/dolly-parton-birthday-lgbt-ally-dollywood-marriage-equality-trans/#page/