by RAF KATIGBAK

From a distance, with her cap pulled down, it's easy to mistake Alabama-born DJ Lydia Prim for a good ol' boy instead of a Southern belle - a fact that suits her just fine. For the last 15 years, Prim has been repping the hot and sticky Southern club circuit in a major way. As one of the 150 DJs around the country who "report" a weekly chart to Billboard for the Hot 100 Dance chart, her mix of tribal beats, anthemic vocals and progressive trance have resulted in residencies in NYC's Twilo, Miami's Salvation and Cincinnati club the Dock, and bookings in every major circuit party in North America - including, of course, the Black & Blue Recovery party this coming Monday. The Mirror quizzed Prim about the Southern gay scene and what she would look like in a skirt.

Mirror: Aside from New Orleans, I never really hear much about the gay South. How would you characterize the scene in places like Alabama?

Lydia Prim: I am always amazed at what seems to be a somewhat dated and moronic view of us Southerners. People seem to think all of Alabama is hayseed-chewing rednecks and dirt roads. I think the gay community in the South experienced, in the '90s, a bit of their own civil-rights movement. That decade was to us what the '60s were to people of colour. We have an annual dance event, Rights of Spring, which raises thousands for the local AIDS organizations, and we have a big Pride celebration in June. If you're looking for a scene outta Deliverance, then you're gonna be disappointed.

M: When I asked DJ Manny Lehman if he could Queer Eye any DJ in the world, he jokingly said he would choose you. That is, put you in a skirt, put some highlights in your hair and get you to stop smoking - all from love, of course. Would you ever be up for that?

LP: Manny also said I was the only DJ he'd bottom for, so I think I'll pass on the skirt-makeover deal. Really, I should never be caught in a skirt. It's like watching a hockey player try to pull off a sundress or something.

Prim and Lehman join Radical 5's Aurora Borealis show and the BBCM Dancers at the Black & Blue Recovery party at Club Soda on Monday, Oct. 11, 10 p.m., $75

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