Days of Summer Calendar

JULY 2: If New York Citys Dixon Place is in fact an artistic laboratory, then the flamboyant performances at HOT!: The NYC Celebration of Queer Culture are its most darling queer creations. This two-month, multifaceted festivalwhich includes musical and theatrical performances, dance, literature, spoken word, burlesque, drag, and circusboasts acts like Daisy Spurs, the Fuckerettes, and Lisa Kron, and includes a special edition Puppet BloK performance (July 12), where artists present experimental puppetry, installation art, and animation. And this aint Disneyland, kidsa recent puppet tale featured a mutant mouse who wakes up to discover he may have a human soul. Get the details at Hot.DixonPlace.org. JULY 3: Expose yourself too much to the sun and your face will end up looking like a tragic Ferragamo knockoff one day. Give your mug a break from those dangerous little UV rays for Stay Out of the Sun Day. We suggest grabbing the latest issue of Out and languishing on a hammock somewhere in the shade. But before you embrace the R&R, head to Holidays At the Limit to order one of these so-bad-its-good Happy Stay Out of the Sun Day classic thongs. JULY 4: The opportunities are endless on July 4, but if you find yourself in Saugatuck, Mich. (or somewhere close), celebrate Independence Day with lesbian DJ Tracy Young as she spins out a feast of heavy-duty beats at Dunes Resort to promote her DanceCulture 2 album. Her recent remix of Stevie Nickss Stand Back is one of our dance floor faves. And if the photo on Youngs Web site is any indication, Paris Hilton has deemed her hot. See DJTracyYoung.com for more info. JULY 5: For a gaymake that very gayole time, hedonists should flee to Provincetown, Mass. (The Capes homo haven is particularly queer the week of July 4.) And culty culture snobs should skedaddle to the villages Albert Merola Gallery: Its the last day of John Waterss exhibition, Eliminate, the first show curated by the beloved filmmaker who floored us with trashtastic classic Pink Flamingos. A collection of diverse pieces from 18 contemporary artists, Eliminate is a perfect demonstration of Waterss broad tastes: everything from a dictionary opened to the page defining anarchy and cut out to contain an actual detonating device (Gregory Greens Book Bomb #8) to Waterss own composition, No Vacation, consisting of 5 x 7 images of P-town from films and newscasts that have been altered and wrecked to fit his vision of a disastrous trip to the vacation spot. AlbertMerolaGallery.com has the scoop. JULY 6: If Eleven chef Vincent Mann doesnt awe you with his hamachi sashimi, then maybe the post-dinner, boy-on-boy gymnastics will. One of Los Angeless hottest new restaurant-nightclubs, Elevenoriginally the First National Bank of Sherman in the 1920ssports a dining area that transforms into a trendy spot for brief bursts of dramatic activity, including Cirque de Soleilstyle acrobatics and shirtless dancing bartenders. Pop-culture tidbit to impress your pals: The hip venue was once the Larabee Sound Studio, where Prince recorded Purple Rain. Hit up Eleven.La for the skinny. JUNE 7: Destinys Child fans whove had it with Beyoncs ubiquity (and those damn Dreamgirls remixes) should pick up Ms. Kelly, the latest album from the trios founding member, Kelly Rowland. The first single, Like This, features sass kitten Eve, and Snoop Dogg makes a cameo on Ghetto, a ditty about good girls who dig bad boys. (We can relate.) Trust us: Rowland brings home the funk enough to make us forget her "acting" in Freddy vs. Jason.JULY 8: Why not spend your Sunday night unwinding with victimized chicks, drug dealers, and hairy monsters? The ferociously kitschy DVD boxed set Cult Camp Classics 2: Women in Peril serves up all that and more. The collection features the film noir prison drama Caged and the schlocky flicks Trog, in which Joan Crawford unleashes a dangerous prehistoric cave dweller, and the acid-trippy psychedelic freakout The Big Cube, with the irresistible Lana Turner. Girl trouble never felt so good. Check out last weeks calendar.