Sabrina Batshon - Australian Idol 2009

She may be small in stature but she's got a big personality and a bigger voice. Sabrina was plunged onto our TV screens, never scared of holding back from letting Australia know who she was.

For 24-year-old Sabrina, being in Australia’s Idol’s Final 12 for 2009 is confirmation of just how far she’s come. “I’ve gone from a girl who couldn’t do anything on her own to being here,” she grins. “It’s amazing!”

In regards to her future, Sabrina has a lot of big plans. “I want to put together an organisation to help people in need. I want to stop sex trafficking, that’s a very naïve thing to say because it’s a very huge problem but it doesn’t stop me. I want to be a voice in a cartoon. I also want to travel…” Sabrina smiles, “And obviously, sing.”

On Sunday Sabrina ended up in Idol's bottom three and then left the show.

Click here to listen to her chat with the Hump Day Crew.

Here's Sabrina on Idol:


For the latest Idol news, please visit http://www.australianidol.com.au/

HDC Global Community - Germany

Germany has been one of the most progressive European nations on the issue of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) rights. There is legal recognition of same-sex couples. Registered life partnerships (effectively, a form of civil union) have been instituted since 2001, giving same-sex couples rights and obligations in areas such as inheritance, alimony, health insurance, immigration and name change. In 2004, this act was amended to also give registered same-sex couples adoption rights (stepchild adoption only), as well as reform previously cumbersome dissolution procedures with regard to division of property and alimony.

Berlin has been Germany's gay capital since the late 19th Century, when a thriving homosexual subculture included everything from gay bars to a Lesbian bowling club. The Third Reich brought hard times for gays and lesbians, but today die Szene is as lively as it was a hundred years ago, and Berliners have elected Germany's first openly gay mayor.

We took the time to talk with Holger Jakobs and Jeffery Johnson about their experience living as gay men in German. Click here to listen.

HDC Global Community - Michael Luongo talks about homosexuality in the Muslim World

Islam, as one of the Abrahamic religions, rejects homosexuality from the religion's beginning. According to mainstream Islamic beliefs, God sent the prophet Lot to the people of Sodom to preach against their wicked practices and urge them to worship God. Among these practices (as mentioned in the Quran) engaged in by the people of Sodom were homosexual acts performed out in the open. Hence being gay in the Muslim world does not grant the freedom we enjoy elsewhere in the world.

Michael Luongo is a gay travel writer who has always had a fascination with the Middle East especially since his experiences helping dig people out of the Twin Tower ruins after 9/11. He took the time to chat to the Hump Day Crew. Michael discusses how attitudes of the English & French have affected the old laws of Middle Eastern countries, how one of the pilots who flew a plane into the Twin Towers (911) may have been gay and what we can learn from the Middle East.

Click here to listen to the interview.

Here is an interview with Michael Luongo on Pink Planet TV:


For more information on Michael Luongo and his writing, please visit http://www.michaelluongo.com/

Tom Ballard - Several Nights Only!

Ever since he played the role of Blitzen in a local amateur production of Rock'n'Roll Santa back in 1997 in his home town of Warrnambool, Tom Ballard's comedy career has been on a steady decline. Having overcome serious sex and chocolate milk addictions at 14, Ballard managed to become a three-time Class Clowns National Finalist and a RAW National Finalist by 2006.

On the strength of his RAW performance, Tom was offered work with national youth radio network, triple j, where he now presents the Saturday breakfast show with his silly friend, Alex Dyson.

Tom was one quarter of the 2008 Melbourne International Comedy Festival's Comedy Zone, a showcase of the best up and coming talent in the country as selected by the festival. The Melbourne Age described him as "lanky".

Tom's mum thinks he's quite funny, but wishes he wouldn't swear quite as much as he does.

Let's see if he can contain his potty-mouth in his next show. It's Friday September 25th to Saturday October 11th as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival entitled Tom Ballard – Several Nights Only!. It will be on at the North Melbourne Town Hall at 8:00pm every night except Mondays.

Tom has decided that it will be okay and it would be nice if you or others were to come.

Click here to listen to Tom with the Hump Day Crew.

Check out Tom's website too. It's http://www.tomballard.com.au/

Hayley, there's something on your lip! Hayley Warner - Australian Idol

Sunday's show was an awkward one on Australian Idol. Casey Barnes was kicked off the show and didn't get to sing his final song after his Dad had come to see him sing from overseas Nathan Brake's sexuality was skirted around with Dicko's feedback. However the cringe-worthy award goes to Hayley Warner who wore lipstick for the first time and managed to get it all over the microphone and unbeknown to her, smudged it around her mouth.

The Hump Day Crew were the first to speak to her after it happened and it's great to see Hayley take it in her stride and laugh it off. Perhaps a make-up sponsorship contract will be up for grabs after the show for Hayley!

Click here to listen to the interview.

For more information on Australian Idol, check out http://www.australianidol.com.au/

Casy Barnes - Australian Idol 2009

When Casey Barnes was juggling a job, playing gigs and song writing, it was his parents that suggested he give music his full attention. "That’s probably the best advice they’ve ever given me," recalls 30-year-old Casey.

As Casey's Idol journey finished he chats to the Hump Day Crew about the show and his future plans to have an album out by February and supporting Rob Thomas in his upcoming tour.

Click here to listen to the interview.

Here's Casey performing on Idol:


Please visit http://www.caseybarnes.com.au/ to stay up to date with Casey's career.

HDC Global Community - Tobias Holfelt suggests Sweden may not be the best country for a massage

Sweden is considered to be one of the most gay-friendly countries in Europe and possibly the world when it comes to laws surrounding homosexuality. Due to the strong sense of secularism dominating in most of the country and government, Sweden today is seen as a campaigner of gay rights. Swedish parliament voted to make same-sex marriages fully legal from May 1, 2009, with the votes 261 to 22.

We chat with Tobias Holfelt about gay life in Sweden and he explains the bizarre seasons with a summer of 22 hours of daylight and a winter of 22 hours of darkness. Tobias also suggests that Sweden may not be the best place to get a massage.

Click here to listen to the interview.

To check out Scandinavia's only gay marketing company run by Tobias Holfelt, please visit http://www.mbtrading.se/