Melanie sings at the Guesthouse

What a fabulous weekend we had at the Guesthouse. Idols famous Melanie Lowe (top, 3rd and 6th photo) had her official coming out show called "Living the Truth" which kicked off with 2 shows at the Guesthouse. From Durban she tours the country taking with her her message of hope to all gay people of South Africa.. as she chronicals her journey and decision to come out.

Melanie became engaged earlier this year to Angela and they will be married in Elgin (Cape) on the 21st March next year.

In the top photo are Melanie and her multi-talented musician Ilse, the third photo Guesthouse co-owner Llewellyn with Melanie and partner Dave, 4th photo guests at the Show, 5th photo our new Barman Jarrod (centre) with Llewellyn and Dave, and in the bottom photo Melanie, Ilse and on keyboard Mark.

Look out for more of Melanie's performances around South Africa.

Shannon Hope opens Show

Shannon Hope opened the Show at the Guesthouse this Friday. It was part of Melanie Lowe's "Living the Truth" Coming out Tour which kicked off in Durban this weekend.

In the photos at the Friday performance are: (top) Shannon Hope, (second photo) Bernie and Armand, (3rd photo) Ek and Greg, and bottom photo Guesthouse co-owners Dave (left) and Llewellyn (right) with Anthony (centre).

Mr Gay South Africa @ Durban View Guesthouse

THE SEARCH FOR THE ULTIMATE GAY MALE

The newly registered and trade-marked pageant has been launched – the richest male pageant in the country. The search is on for a gay man of impeccable character, taste and style – and of course – a temple of a body to house these admirable qualities. A candidate of whom the LGBTI community – in all it’s diversity – can be proud of.

Durban View Guesthouse has scooped the KwaZulu-Natal Regionals of the Mr Gay South Africa Pageant and Sat 12th September will be the date to book your seat now.

Please click on this booking link and make sure you will be in the ringseats for the action.

In the photo (below right) are some of the contestants in the Eastern Cape who have already qualified for the competition from the regionals held at the Knysna festival earlier this year.

There are still opportunities to enter this prestigious competition and to do so you need to follow the links to the Mr Gay South Africa website here.

Melanie Lowe to sing at Guesthouse

Living the Truth Shows - Fri 31st July and Sat 1 Aug 7pm

Excitment is building for Idol's fame Melanie Lowe's official coming out party and Shows next week at the Guesthouse.

Fresh on the heels of the revelation of her engagement to the gorgeous woman in her life, singer Melanie Lowe is climbing out of the closet and taking to the highways and byways of South Africa to bring her Living the Truth tour to our city.

Taking its name from her new song, Living the Truth - inspired by her relationship with her fiancée, Angela - her new tour promises to showcase the songstress as never before.

Featuring her much-loved hit songs and a few surprises, each show will strip back the mask and offer an intimate portrait into Melanie’s life, as she shares honestly and openly her own experiences and the stories behind her songs. Sultry and sexy as ever, but 100% Melanie, loyal fans won’t be disappointed and new fans will be captivated. Join Melanie and share in her journey of self-discovery on the road to finding true love.

The tour kicks off in Durban with two shows at Durbanview Guesthouse on 31 July and 1 August. Bookings online at BookNow.biz and pay at the door. Tickets are R60 per person.

July and August events

July and August are hot months at the Guesthouse.

Melanie Lowe

Friday 31st July and Sat 1st August are Melanie Lowe's coming out Shows - "Living the Truth".

The Shows will be very exclusive and intimate and will provide a very indepth look into Melanie's life, in light of her recent coming out and engagement. It's an exclusive for Durban View Guesthouse and we are very proud to be able to host Melanie at this important moment in her life and to share her music.

Bookings

Bookings are open for both shows by emailing us at durbanview@gmail.com or by clicking on this booking link and choosing the Show date you wish to attend. Tickets are R60 each and are payable at the door.

Barmen

Our hot barmen Jaco (top) will be serving guests at the Friday Show and Jarrod (bottom) will be serving on Saturday and again on bar duties for guests in the guesthouse on Fri 28 August. You can book your room accommodation for any future date at the Guesthouse now through our online booking link here.

Jaco and Jarrod will alternate as our new barmen once a month just to spice things up a little for our Guests.

Musical guests

Well we never got to hear Carlos play our piano, but then perhaps an accomplished musician needs a break when going on holiday.

The guesthouse recently welcomed Carlos (left) and Andre for a well-deserved break.

You can find out more about our musical maestro by clicking on this link to his website.

Visit to Grahamstown

We love visiting different parts of our own country and this weekend past we travelled to the Eastern Cape Province to the beautiful little town of Grahamstown for their annual Arts Festival.

In the pics are my kids Mark (left) and Kate-Lynn with myself (Dave, right in photos) and partner Llewellyn (blonde). The Festival was a blast and we had an awesome time seeing some of the best talent South Africa has to offer, combined with the largest craft market I have ever seen and fab restaurants and evening entertainment.. particularly Pirates!!

Bar fun

Having fun at the Guesthouse Pub are Wessel (left) our new part-time barman Jaco (centre) and Dave (guesthouse co-owner). Jaco will be looking after guests once a month.

Riaan and Michael from Johannesburg joined us for their second July Handicap Race day at Greyville just down the road from the Guesthouse. This was a Facebook event.

I took a short video clip at the races of the naked "13th Race" after the running of the last horse race. Unfortunately I was a bit far from the runners this time, but here's a snapshot from my video.

After a few drinks at the Guesthouse, it's time to get to The Lounge.. here's Dan, our guest from Canberra with guesthouse co-owner Dave and local boy Sandhip Singh at The Lounge. Dan said there are such yummy boys in Durban, he will have to come back soon.

July Races

Africa's greatest horseracing event, the Vodacom Durban July Handicap was an awesome day.. and just down the road from the Guesthouse.

The house was packed for the event and in the photos are from top, Dave and Llewellyn, Guesthouse co-owners in their waistcoats in the theme of the day "The Games People Play". In the second photo is the start of the event, third photo is Llew, guest Dan from Canberra and Dave, forth photo are more guests from OZ, Les and Nelson who also joined us for the day at the races and lastly a guy on stilts showing some of the bright colours that abounded the race course.

Melanie Lowe Coming out Show for Guesthouse

We are set for an awesome July and August with Melanie Lowe's coming out party at the Guesthouse - 2 Shows "Living the Truth" on Friday 31st July at 7pm and a second show on Sat 1st August.

Melanie recently became engaged to Angela and both of the fab girls have stayed with us at the Guesthouse so it will really be a priviledge to host Melanie's official coming out party and Show right here amongst her friends and fans at the Guesthouse.

Accommodation bookings can be made here and if you wish to attend Melanie's Show the cover charge is R60 per person per show and an indication of your attendance can be made on FaceBook and a formal booking made here.

Angela, Melanie and Llewellyn at the Guesthouse recently.

It's the Durban July

The Games People Play is the official theme of this year's Durban July Handicap - South Africa's Premiere Horse Racing event of the year.. and it's all happening just down the road from the guesthouse.

We'll be in the VDP Marquee with guests enjoying the beautiful sunshine of Durban, the fashion extravaganza and the steeds...

Here's the booking link and info for the Marquee:

The VDP GROUP consisting of Clapham Grand, Manhattan, Tiger Tiger, Joe Cools and Clapham Grand-London have secured what they believe to be the Biggest and Best Marquee for the Durban July. The site will have 4 large bars with gorgeous bar ladies, a VIP section, a massive dance floor, an outside deck, 2 big screens, 6 plasma screens, a top of the line sound and lighting rig and in house betting facilities.

Of course the best of the July races is the 13th race.. the unofficial naked guys race which takes place under the full floodlights of the evening as the last horse race finishes. Check out the YouTube video clips of previous races and be sure to take your place in the naked dash or on the sidelines watching the fun, the spills and the hot bodz!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB8VLc1WqU4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKXxjhylkUc

Meeting the world

We love meeting the world and the world comes to us. In the photos are guests from Singapore, Johannesburg and Atlanta region... we heard tales of Aligators, St.Helena Island and Singapore... always interesting and varied personal accounts from differing parts of the globe.

In the photos are (top) Andries, Llewellyn and Johnathan, and (bottom) David, Peter and Llewellyn (guesthouse co-owner).

Durban mid-winter

Can you believe it is mid-winter in Durban and this is still the weather we enjoy?.. it's an all-year city which is why we love it. Our temperature ranges between 18c in winter to 35c in summer. And today is another glorious day.

SunCaost Casino takes my credits

As former Deputy Mayor of Durban and member of the Durban Publicity Association and Durban for the Olympics Committee, I am usually one to publicise the good about our city.

However the local SunCoast Casino and Entertainment Complex comes in for stern criticism for deleting the credit balance on my casino card and then after a protest offering to re-instate half of the balance.

This is unacceptable.

I am not a gambler at heart but as a member of Gold Circle Racing I like to entertain clients and guests in their private suites at the Horse Racing complex just down the road from our Guesthouse.

In turn the Horse Racing club and the Casino have a joint agreement to promote their respective facilities which grants free betting vouchers to their members each alternate month.

I usually enjoy the facilities at the Casino complex which includes restaurants, beach access, movies and entertainment, and I took up their betting offer prior to the expiry of the voucher period. I traded the voucher in and the credits due were loaded on to my Club Festival Card. Similarly you can load cash on to your card as well as winnings and then carry this card around or even leave the casino and return when you wish to resume your gambling.

WIPED OUT!

Imagine my surprise when I returned this week and found that my credit balance had been wiped out by the casino!! R0; zero on the card. I see credits on my card as my cash and taking them away in my view amounts to theft of this money by the casino.

The casino's response is absolute nonsense - the printed terms and conditions on the voucher indicated that the voucher was valid for the limited period only, and I maintain that I surrendered my voucher within the validity period and that once the credits were loaded on my card, ownership of those credits and the funds they represent passed to me and may not be unilaterally cancelled by them.

I challenged the casino on this and their view is that because I didn’t spend the credits by the date that the voucher expired, they were entitled to zero the remaining credits on my card.

PUBLIC BEWARE!

I don’t believe members of the public are aware that the casino has control over the money loaded on to their Club Festival cards and that the casino can tamper with their balances and by the click of a button alter those balances and I feel a public awareness campaign needs to bring this to the public’s attention. I am dissatisfied with the way in which my challenge was brushed off by them and I was offered 50% of the credit value.

* SunCoast Casino have since apologised and are re-crediting my account with the exact amount of their debit. *

View from Durban View roof-deck

Llewellyn captured the moment from our rooftop sundeck as the moon rises in it's full glory over the city of Durban.

Trying out the various settings on his new camera from our Durban View Guesthouse rooftop has produced a stunning glimpse of the view we enjoy each day.

Dave and Llew back from Sydney

After a whirlwind trip to Sydney and Auckland, we arrived back home in Durban yesterday. In the photos are the Sydney Opera House, the city centre and the Sydney Harbour Bridge seen from the Milson's Point side of the bridge. We climbed the bridge, walked across it, went on the Ferry underneath it and crossed it by bus and by train.

Sydney harbour by night on the Ferry back from Manly village.


Llewellyn with the city, bridge and opera house in the background.

Durban harbour seen from our window seat in the SA Airways plane.

The best way to enjoy a long flight is to have a drink or several on the plane. Dave and Llewellyn say cheers, and it's good to be back.