Metro Weekly - June 15, 2017 by RP MEDIA ARCHIVE

CONTENTS

JUNE 15, 2017

Volume 24 Issue 7

REPRESENTED

Rising star Lizzo is gaining notice for her affirming music By Doug Rule

PRIDE IN NUMBERS

Thanks to the Equality March, record numbers of LGBTQ people celebrated Capital Pride, which encountered a few bumps in its parade road By John Riley

STATE SECRETS

Perfect Arrangement returns to the Source Festival in a colorful, well-realized new production. By André Hereford

SPOTLIGHT: RISING CREME p.9 OUT ON THE TOWN p.15 REPRESENTED: LIZZO p.16 STRICTLY BALLROOM: KIKI p.20 FORUM: PULSE p.27 COMMUNITY: FUNDRAISING FEAST p.31 COMMUNITY: PETWORTH SHOWS ITS PRIDE p.32 COVER STORY: A CAPITAL WEEKEND p.36 CAPITAL PRIDE PARADE PHOTOS p.42 EQUALITY MARCH PHOTOS p.48 CAPITAL PRIDE FESTIVAL PHOTOS p.53 STAGE: PERFECT ARRANGEMENT p.59 STAGE: THE SCHOOL FOR LIES p.61 MUSIC: SUFJAN STEVENS’ PLANETARIUM p.63 NIGHTLIFE p.65 SCENE: DISTRKTC AT DC EAGLE p.65 SCENE: TOWN p.75 LAST WORD p.78 Real LGBTQ News and Entertainment since 1994

Editorial Editor-in-Chief Randy Shulman Art Director Todd Franson Managing Editor Rhuaridh Marr Senior Editor John Riley Contributing Editor Doug Rule Senior Photographers Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim Contributing Illustrator Scott G. Brooks Contributing Writers André Hereford, Sean Maunier, Troy Petenbrink, Kate Wingfield Webmaster David Uy Production Assistant Julian Vankim Sales & Marketing Publisher Randy Shulman National Advertising Representative Rivendell Media Co. 212-242-6863 Distribution Manager Dennis Havrilla Patron Saint Craig Rodwell Cover Photography Randy Shulman Metro Weekly 1775 I St. NW, Suite 1150 Washington, DC 20006 202-638-6830 All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publishers. Metro Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials submitted for publication. All such submissions are subject to editing and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Metro Weekly is supported by many fine advertisers, but we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers, nor can we accept responsibility for materials provided by advertisers or their agents. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles or advertising in Metro Weekly is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such person or organization.

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

JASON RUSSO

Spotlight

Rising Creme

BenDeLaCreme is not your typical drag queen. And his act is not your typical drag act.

USE A LOT OF PUPPETS AND INTERACTIVE VIDEO,” says drag artist BenDeLaCreme. “I use cabaret to put together narrative theater. This particular show is based on Dante’s Inferno — it’s about going through hell, and that’s very related to our current political climate — which I know is an odd subject for a drag cabaret. But you get people laughing, you get them looking at something sparkly, and then you can suddenly have a deeper conversation with them. It’s a really campy, comedic, but actually weirdly accurate version of Dante’s poem.” The 35-year old, who finds inspiration in legendary drag performers like Coco Peru and Varla Jean Merman, had been doing his act in Chicago when the opportunity arose to appear on season six of RuPaul’s Drag Race. “It was an incredible experience,” he recalls. “Any queen you talk to that’s been on that show will say that if it looks hard to the TV audience, it’s a thousand times harder. But it’s also an honor to be there, competing with the very best of the best.”

As we talk, it’s Monday, June 12, and he’s in Orlando for a Pulse benefit that night. His afternoon, however, was going to be spent, in drag, at the Orlando Public Library, to hold “a story hour for kids.” Talking about the Pulse massacre from a year ago still audibly shatters him. “I remember the day we woke up and found out this had happened,” he says. “It was time to get on the tour bus and move to the next city where we were performing that night. Everyone came out of the hotel just pouring tears.... I think it lit a fire under a lot of us. It made us see that even though we’ve come a really long way — and those strides are very real, and we, as a community, have so much reason to be proud about that — there is a lot of work still to do.” As for our current president, he doesn’t “have a message for him, because I don’t think there’s any getting through to him. I don’t think he’s a person who’s listening. My message is for everyone else about not losing faith in what we can do as a collective people. Stay strong, and keep doing what you need to do to move history in a better direction.” —Randy Shulman

BenDeLaCreme’s Inferno A-Go-Go! is Thursday, June 22, at 7:30 p.m. at The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave. in Alexandria. Tickets are $29.50. Call 703-549-7500 or visit birchmere.com. JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

Spotlight

ROUGH NIGHT

Described as The Hangover meets Weekend at Bernie’s, writer/director Lucia Aniello’s comedy stars Scarlett Johansson, Zoë Kravitz, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer and Kate McKinnon as members of a bachelorette party that takes a dramatic turn for the worst (i.e., killing a male stripper). Aniello’s script was considered one of the top unproduced scripts in Hollywood in 2015. Open Friday, June 16. Area theaters. Visit fandango. com. (RM)

TWO-FISTED PATTY LUPONE

Just in time for Baltimore Pride — in fact, as an early kickoff to the weekend — the city’s swanky leather/fetish complex opens its next exhibition of erotic imagery in the mezzanine of its second-floor Eagle Leathers shop, subtitled Immortalizing the Male Figure in Art. Included in the show is regular Metro Weekly contributor Scott G. Brooks (pictured), as well as works by Nathanael Absher, Dale Alward, Grant Arnold Anderson, Russ Bloomquist, Scott Chapman, Damien Cheeks, Eric D’Alessandro, Tim Goeke, Jasjyot Singh Hans, Dorian Holliday, Doug Johnson, Jimmy Malone, Dave Marquardt and Ryan Thibeault. Opening reception is Thursday, June 15, from 7 to 9 p.m. Runs to July 23. The Gallery at Baltimore Eagle, 2022 N. Charles St. Call 410-200-9858 or visit thebaltimoreeagle.com.

BRIGHT LIGHT BRIGHT LIGHT

Unlike his trip to D.C. last week, when he returned to DJ the Otter Crossing party, Rod Thomas will play from his own repertoire when he headlines an intimate show at Songbyrd under his Gremlins-inspired moniker. A young LGBTQ indie artist deserving of far more attention than he’s gotten so far, this New York-based Welsh synth-popper performs songs from Choreography, an impressive set that features three ’80s-channeling pop/rock duets with his childhood idol Elton John, as well songs featuring Jake Shears and Ana Matronic, and Alan Cumming. Thomas will also preview a few new tracks, including the powerfully affirming, anthemic first single “New York Pretty,” from his EP Tales of the City, inspired by Armistead Maupin’s hit book and TV series, and due for release July 7. Thursday, June 22. Doors at 7 p.m. Songbyrd Music House, 2477 18th St. NW. Tickets are $13 to $15. Call 202-450-2917 or visit songbyrddc.com. 10

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Spotlight THAO NGUYEN

Liberal causes and protest politics regularly fire up the quirky-to-the-point-of-weird altpop act Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. It started out a decade ago in Virginia, where its frontwoman grew up. Thao returns home for a solo show presented on UN World Refugee Day and in support of the band’s latest album A Man Alive. The dark-themed set is focused on Thao’s runaway father, yet it’s naturally lightened by her voice and music that is driven by beats and bass, rather than guitar. Tuesday, June 20, at 6 p.m. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. Free. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORERS FESTIVAL

Stars from all different genres, far beyond science to include the performing and culinary arts, are part of the lineup at this weekend-long festival, which launches Thursday, June 15. The opening public event, “Nat Geo Nights: Into the Okavango,” is sold out, but tickets remain for BYT’s “Excellent Adventure” after-hours party on Friday, June 16, at 8 p.m., as well as “Red Planet vs. Blue Planet: Where Do We Explore Next?” on Saturday, June 17, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Hosted by 2011 Explorer of the Year Kenny Broad, the series includes discussions with oceanographers Sylvia Earle and Bob Ballard, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and Science Friday host Ira Flatow. Tickets also remain for that evening’s “Celebration of Exploration” starting at 5:30 p.m. at the George Washington University Courtyard and Lisner Auditorium. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Brian Skerry and clean-energy visionaries Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg will be honored at the event, hosted by comedian Mo Rocca. A pre-event reception features food from top D.C. chefs Mike Isabella (Graffiato), Victor Albisu (Del Campo), Amy Brandwein (Centrolina) and Todd Gray (Equinox). National Geographic Society, 1145 17th St. NW. Tickets are $35 for the after-hours party, $100 for Saturday’s discussion and $250 for the Saturday celebration, or $325 for both Saturday events. Call 202-857-7588 or visit natgeo.org/explorersfestival.

JAZZ

A world premiere stage adaptation of Tony Morrison’s exhilarating novel following a couple who moves from the Virginia countryside to Harlem at the turn of the 20th century — just as the genre of jazz was beginning to flourish. Shanesia Davis is Violet and Leon Addison Brown is Joe, whose later interactions with another woman sets off a series of violent, unforgivable acts. Adapted by Nambi E. Kelley and featuring a cast of 10, including an on-stage Trombonist. To June 25. Baltimore Center Stage, 700 North Calvert St., Baltimore. Tickets are $20 to $69. Call 410-332-0033 or visit centerstage.org.

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

Out On The Town

BLUE VELVET

This neo-noir mystery is regarded as one of David Lynch’s finest films, as well as one of the best from the 1980s. It’s credited with re-launching the career of Dennis Hopper and proving the acting bona fides of Isabella Rossellini. Hopper plays the sadistic tormentor of Rossellini, a nightclub singer. Kyle MacLachlan stars as an amateur investigator examining a mystery behind a severed ear. Upcoming screenings, as part of a Lynch retrospective at the AFI, are Friday, June 23, at 9:15 p.m., Saturday, June 24, at 10:15 p.m. and Sunday, June 25, at 9:15 p.m. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $13. Call 301-495-6720 or visit afi.com/Silver. Compiled by Doug Rule

FILM CARS 3

Pixar’s least critically successful franchise offers its third outing, after the previous two films racked up almost a billion dollars at the box office. This time, Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) struggles to overcome the dreadful reviews and nonsensical storyline of the second film. Brian Fee directs. Open Friday, June 16. Area theaters. Visit fandango.com. (Rhuaridh Marr)

LGBTQ FILMS AT AFI DOCS FILM FESTIVAL

This year’s documentary film festival hosted by the American Film Institute includes four LGBTQthemed films: Anatomy of a Dancer, David Barba and James Pellerito’s intimate portrait of American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Marcelo Gomes; Chavela, Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi’s portrait of Mexico’s renowned, uncompromising lesbian folk singer Chavela Vargas; Dries, Reiner Holzemer’s visually sumptuous introduction to

influential Belgian fashion designer Dries Van Noten; and Strong Island, Yance Ford’s searing, deeply moving and personal examination about his brother’s death, his acquitted white murderers, and the familial repercussions. The festival runs from June 14 to 18, with screenings at AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, and Landmark E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. Tickets are $13 each screening. Call 301-495-6720 or visit afi. com/afidocs.

health and a lifetime of regrets in Brett Haley’s drama. Critics have been mixed, but Elliott seemingly gives a strong performance — aided by his “smoky, whiskey-soaked baritone,” as The Hollywood Reporter put it. Open Friday, June 16. Area theaters. Visit fandango.com. (RM)

STAGE CRAZY MARY LINCOLN: A NEW MUSICAL

Naomi Watts leads this drama about a single mother raising two sons, one of whom is a precocious genius — Henry (Jaeden Lieberher). After developing a crush on Christina, his neighbor, he devises a plan to save her from her overbearing father. His mother uncovers his plan and, because this is film, helps him put it into action, rather than just alerting social services. Open Friday, June 16. Area theaters. Visit fandango. com. (RM)

In the lead-up to its annual festival, Capital Fringe hosts a production of Pallas Theatre’s new musical by Jan Levy Tranen and Jay Schwandt and directed by the company’s Tracey Elaine Chessum. Crazy Mary Lincoln explores the life of First Lady Mary Todd and First Son Robert Todd, following the assassination of the 16th President. Closes Sunday, June 18. Trinidad Theatre at Capital Fringe, 1358 Florida Ave. NE. Tickets are $25, or $20 for Fringe Button Holders. Call 202737-7230 or visit capitalfringe.org.

THE HERO

HIR

THE BOOK OF HENRY

Sam Elliott stars as an aging movie star trying to overcome failing

Shana Cooper directs Taylor Mac’s audacious, uproarious black come-

dy billed as “a kitchen-sink drama covered in glitter.” The story focuses on an Iraqi war veteran who returns to his childhood home and discovers that his family has transformed, from a formerly timid mother out to subvert the patriarchy, to a sister who is now a genderqueer anarchist, to a father who now wears clown makeup. Emily Townley and Mitch Hebert are part of the cast. Closes Sunday, June 18. Woolly Mammoth, 641 D St. NW. Call 202-393-3939 or visit woollymammoth.net.

HOW I LEARNED WHAT I LEARNED

Round House concludes a season that began with Tony Kushner’s magnum opus Angels in America with an autobiographical tour-deforce from another of America’s greatest, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights, the late August Wilson (Fences). Co-conceived and directed by Todd Kreidler, How I Learned What I Learned explores Wilson’s days as a struggling young writer in Pittsburgh. Eugene Lee stars in this one-person show. To July 2. Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda. Tickets are $50

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

to $60. Call 240-644-1100 or visit roundhousetheatre.org.

IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU

A Jewish bride, a Catholic groom, two clashing mothers, and a jilted ex-lover are the combustible ingredients ensuring that anything that can go wrong will in this musical comedy by writer Brian Hargrove and composer Barbara Anselmi. Jon Kretzu directs “the wackiest wedding you will ever attend.” To July 1. Richmond Triangle Players, 1300 Altamont Ave. Richmond. Tickets are $10 to $35. Call 804-346-8113 or visit rtriangle.org.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR

REPRESENTED

Rising singer/rapper Lizzo is gaining notice for her affirming music

OMETIMES YOU SEE HOW THE INDUSTRY...WILL TRY TO COMMERCIALIZE feminism, or they try to commercialize LGBTQ and black girl magic,” says Lizzo. Yet don’t confuse the body-positive, 29-year-old feminist rapper as being on the side of anti-corporate groups such as No Justice No Pride. The corporate branding of minority concerns, she argues, “is one of the symptoms of what we’re doing. You gotta look on the bright side: That we’re out there. And we are seen. We are beautiful. We are important. “[Many] people who are creating music now were so determined to break the mold and re-define the standards of what beauty is and what normal is and what deserves to be seen,” she says. “All of us — the brown girls, big people, LGBTQ+. Anyone who has felt like their voice has been marginalized and underrepresented, we fought to be in the position that we’re in now. And the industry is starting to catch up.” Born Melissa Jefferson in Detroit and raised in Houston, Lizzo is quickly gaining notice for her rousing uptempo music. As heard on 2016 EP Coconut Oil, the songwriter blends pop, R&B, house, rock and Missy Elliott-style hip-hop, even throwing in a few comedic antics for extra umph. Lizzo, who appears Friday, June 16, at the 9:30 Club, also generally writes lyrics with affirming, empowering and celebratory messages, perfectly captured on the set’s first single “Good as Hell.” “People think, when they listen to my music, that I’m this self-loving person just writing these songs to show how self-confident I am. But really, these songs came from a ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ mentality.” She adds, “We’re born into a world that isn’t really built for loving yourself. Growing up in my friend group, I was the fat one. I was the funny one. The one who wasn’t as cute as my other friends. So growing up like that and also getting all of these signals from television that told you fat isn’t cute and you aren’t cute because you don’t look like this — I didn’t get any encouragement at all. All encouragement came from within because I was sick of wanting to be somebody else. “I’m not saying that my friends and my family didn’t love me,” she continues, “but there’s a difference between loving someone and showing someone that you love them for who they are despite everything around you, despite the environment. I know there are a lot of people who don’t get that, because I didn’t. So I just make this music for them.” —Doug Rule Lizzo performs Friday, June 16 at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. Doors at 8 p.m. While now officially sold out, the site does have a Ticket X-change section for face-value ($20) ticket resale. Call 202-265-0930 or visit 930.com.

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Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s rock opera about Jesus gets a “sleek, modern” makeover in a Signature Theatre production helmed by Joe Calarco and starring Nicholas Edwards. The cast includes Signature standouts Natascia Diaz as Mary, Sherri L. Edelen as King Herod, and Bobby Smith as Pontius Pilate. Extended to July 9. Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Call 703820-9771 or visit sigtheatre.org.

KING LEAR

Lauded local actor Rick Foucheux will retire after a starring turn as Shakespeare’s most troubled patriarch in his greatest tragedy. Avant Bard makes some characteristic tweaks to the classic with this production helmed by Tom Prewitt, including making the Earl of Gloucester a female character, played by Cam Magee. Meanwhile, Christopher Henley, the company’s Artistic Director Emeritus, will play the Fool. To June 25. Gunston Arts Center, 2700 South Lang St. Arlington. Tickets are $30 to $35. Call 703-418-4808 or visit avantbard.org.

MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM

The legendary late playwright August Wilson was inspired by queer blues belter Ma Rainey in the first of his award-winning Century Cycle of plays, each capturing a different decade of the 20th century. Directed by Deidra LaWan Starnes and starring Thomascena Nelson. To June 25. 1st Stage, 1524 Spring Hill Rd., in Tysons Corner. Tickets are $30. Call 703-854-1856 or visit 1ststagetysons.org.

NOISES OFF

A love letter to the thrilling unpredictability of the stage, this famed farce by Tony-winning British playwright Michael Frayn is revived in an Everyman Theatre production directed by Vincent M. Lancisi. Deborah Hazlett and Danny Gavigan lead a cast of eight resident company members portraying a cast of bumbling British thespians, whose backstage buffoonery during a run of the play-within-a-play Nothing On steals the show. You

college-bound daughter and Jenna Berk a runaway Mary Anne. In previews beginning Friday, June 16. To July 8. Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St. NW. Tickets are $35 to $45. Call 202-265-3768 or visit keegantheatre.com.

MUSIC BALTIMORE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

FYVE: FATHER’S DAY “GONE FISHING” BRUNCH

Chef Alexander Gut from the main restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton in Pentagon City offers a festive brunch with dad in mind. The focus is on local seafood, from snow crab claws to oysters to a selection of sushi rolls and sashimi, and fresh barbeque. The menu includes cheese and charcuterie carving, an omelette station, sliders and desserts. Sunday, June 18. Fyve in the Ritz-Carlton, 1250 S. Hayes St., Arlington. Tickets are $59, or $39 for those 12 and under. Call 703-412-2762 or visit ritzcarlton.com.

can expect wall-to-wall wackiness, carefully choreographed hijinks and sight gags — including flying sardines — from a comedy that the famed former New York Times theater critic Frank Rich once called “the funniest play written in my lifetime.” Closes Sunday, June 18. Everyman Theatre, 315 West Fayette St. Baltimore. Tickets are $43 to $64. Call 410-752-2208 or visit everymantheatre.org.

PROOF

With echoes of the recent Oscarnominated film Hidden Figures, Proof explores the uphill climb a woman faces in gaining recognition in the male-dominated field of mathematics, even when she has genetics on her side. Dawn Ursula and Craig Wallace star in David Auburn’s 2001 Tony-winning play by David Auburn. Closes Sunday June 18. Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, Md. Call 301-924-3400 or visit olneytheatre.org.

SHE SPEAKS!

Suburban Maryland community theater troupe the Rude Mechanicals presents an ambitious production subtitled “Shakespeare’s Women in Their Own Words.” Leanne Stump helms a new work that laces together the voices of the most memorable women written by the Bard, from Beatrice’s sharp wit

to Juliet’s broken heart. “Though the men take the title, the women oft steal the show,” goes a tagline for the production, which goes even further by letting the “fairer sex” run away with it. Closes Saturday, June 17. Greenbelt Arts Center, 123 Centerway. Greenbelt, Md. Tickets are $22. Call 301-441-8770 or visit rudemechanicals.com.

THE FATHER

The Return with Edward Mast. John Vreeke directs a U.S. premiere starring Ahmad Kamal and Alyssa Wilmoth Keegan as two mysterious former lovers who reunite to untangle the trauma and thwarted intimacy of their interconnected history. To July 2. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are $20 to $60. Call 202-399-7993 or visit mosaictheater.org.

Ted Van Griethuysen stars as an 80-year-old man whose world starts unraveling in an original and moving play from Florian Zeller, one of France’s most prolific contemporary playwrights, translated by two-time Tony Award winner Christopher Hampton. The Father won a Moliere Award, the French equivalent of the Tony, in 2014. Kate Eastwood Norris, Caroline Dubberly, Erika Rose, Manny Buckley, and Daniel Harray also star. David Muse directs. Closes Sunday, June 18. Studio Theatre, 14th & P Streets NW. Call 202-3323300 or visit studiotheatre.org.

THE WIZARD OF OZ

THE RETURN

WHEN WE WERE YOUNG AND UNAFRAID

Mosaic presents the second play in its 2017 Voices From a Changing Middle East Festival, marking the 50th year since the Six Day War and the start of the Occupation. Palestinian-American playwright and performer Hanna Eady co-wrote the unsettling mystery

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Fresh off the premiere of Kaleidoscope, his latest musical creation with husband Stephen Gregory Smith, Matt Conner’s next project for Creative Cauldron is directing a Young Performers adaptation of the classic movie starring Judy Garland. Tiara Whaley stars as Dorothy, singing “Over The Rainbow” and the other standards by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg everyone knows and loves. To June 25. ArtSpace Falls Church, 410 South Maple Ave. in Falls Church. Tickets are $30. Call 703-436-9948 or visit creativecauldron.org.

In the early 1970s, a quiet bed and breakfast becomes one of the few spots where victims of domestic violence can seek refuge in Sarah Treem’s play. Marie Sproul directs Sheri S. Herren as BNB owner Agnes, with Kaylynn Creighton her

Marin Alsop pulls out all the stops for a closing concert that is grand in every way, including audience favorite Gil Shaham performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Also on tap is The GAME, a world premiere from Christopher Theofanidis. But the centerpiece is one of Alsop’s signature works, the Symphony No. 3 by Saint-Saens, otherwise known as the “Organ Symphony.” Thursday, June 15, and Friday, June 16, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, June 18, at 3 p.m. Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St., Baltimore. Also Saturday, June 17, at 8 p.m. Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Tickets are $33 to $99. Call 410-7838000 or visit bsomusic.org.

BUDDY MILLER, JIM LAUDERDALE WITH PATTY GRIFFIN

In recognition of UN World Refugee Day — Tuesday, June 20 — Miller and Lauderdale offer a live taping of their show Buddy and Jim Show on SiriusXM. Griffin performs as special guest for the evening, a benefit for Jesuit Refugee Service’s Global Education Initiative. Monday, June 19. Doors at 6:30 p.m. The Hamilton, 600 14th St. NW. Tickets are $29.50 to $100. Call 202-7871000 or visit thehamiltondc.com.

COUP SAUVAGE & THE SNIPS

In the past year, this local band has opened for Escort and one of D.C.’s most famous bands of the moment, Priests. It’s been a good run, but the band will call it quits after this weekend — but not before a farewell concert. Friday, June 16. Doors at 9 p.m. Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. Tickets are $10 to $12. Call 202-6674490 or visit blackcatdc.com.

DC JAZZ FESTIVAL

Billed as the fastest-growing jazz festival in the U.S., as well as the largest and most diverse music festival in D.C., the DC Jazz Festival presents over 125 performances at venues around town, from Sixth and I Historic Synagogue to the Kennedy Center. Once again, the most impressive lineup in its 13th year is the slate of outdoor concerts at the Yards this weekend, including the Robert Glasper Experiment, Kenny Garrett Quintet, Gregory Porter, and Black Violin. Yet DC Jazz Fest also features other jazz notables, from Pat Metheny to Tommy Cecil, Amy Shook to Lena Seikaly, Sun Ra Arkestra to Hiromi

& Edmar Castaneda. The festival runs to June 18. Call 855-332-7767 or visit dcjazzfest.org.

NSO: ESCHENBACH’S FINAL CONCERT

Christoph Eschenbach concludes his nine-year tenure as National Symphony Orchestra’s sixth music director the same way he started it, with Beethoven’s masterwork the Ninth Symphony, featuring mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, tenor Joseph Kaiser, bass Soloman Howard, Leah Crocetto, and the Choral Arts Society. Also on the program is Bright Sheng’s Zodiac Tales. Thursday, June 15, at 7 p.m., Friday, June 16, and Saturday, June 17, at 8 p.m. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $15 to $89. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

ROSANNE CASH

STRICTLY BALLROOM

Sara Jordenö’s Kiki offers a beautiful, frank look into the lives of LGBTQ people of color in Harlem’s ballroom scene

N MANY WAYS, KIKI (HHHHH) IS A DIRECT SEQUEL TO PARIS IS BURNING, JENNIE Livingston’s landmark film about New York City ballroom culture. Transported from Reagan-era politics and the HIV/AIDS crisis, here we instead land in the second term of President Obama, where transgender rights, youth homelessness, and the increasing gulf between middle class, white, gay men and the realities of life for many LGBTQ people of color are all on display. Swedish filmmaker Sara Jordenö’s 2016 documentary focuses on a specific subset of ballroom culture, “kiki,” which is predominantly operated and participated in by LGBTQ people of color. Jordenö filmed her documentary between 2012 and 2015, with the help of one of the kiki scene’s leaders, Twiggy Pucci Garcon, who shares a writing credit. Kiki captures, in detail and style, the frenetic, beautiful, high-energy nature of ballroom culture, with its voguing and pageantry. But it also captures the spaces in between, the moments in the real world where the film’s participants deal with life in a society that is only just waking up to their daily struggles. There’s Divo Pink Lady, whose dancing is powerful and expressive, his voguing free-moving and feisty. But outside of the ballroom, he was forced out of the house as a teenager by his mother, after being raised in a part of the city that shuns anyone and anything gay. There’s Gia Marie Love, arguably the film’s breakout star, who came to terms with her gender identity and managed to escape the path of sex work and struggle that so many of her trans peers have been forced to endure, helped in part by a supportive mother and an unwillingness to suffer fools. And there’s Chi Chi Mizrahi, Mother of the House of Unbothered-Cartier. (House mothers take LGBTQ youth under their wings, train them and represent them at ballroom events.) He overcame drug addiction to become one of the kiki scene’s biggest names. Kiki introduces an almost overwhelming number of names and faces, but their stories are teased out over its 94-minute runtime. The film’s timeline is often unclear — it’s more of a snapshot than a strict narrative, all set to the thumping music of Qween Beat. But those issues pale in significance to the impact of the film itself. This is a glimpse into a world too often neglected in wider LGBTQ culture. As Gia remarks, marriage equality wouldn’t have happened had it not been for white gay men demanding it. LGBTQ youth are sleeping rough on the city’s streets, “while the upper middle class white, gay men are in Chelsea, loving it up.” Kiki is their escape. For many, it’s life or death, and they’re literally living for the ballroom scene, the house mothers, the friends they’ve made, and the voguing that allows them to so freely express themselves. An inspiring, heartfelt, emotional, and beautiful documentary, Kiki should be required viewing for every gay man who thinks the fight for equality ended with marriage. Actually, it should be required viewing for everyone. —Rhuaridh Marr Kiki screens as part of the Reel Affirmations Xtra series, on Friday, June 16, at 7 p.m. at Studio Theatre, 14th & P Streets NW. Tickets are $12, or $25 for VIP seating as well as one complimentary drink and a snack. Call 202-682-2245 or visit thedccenter.org.

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The eldest daughter of country music legend Johnny Cash, the singer with the deep, velvet-lined voice has carved her own path to fame. Her most recent album, the thrice-Grammy-winning The River and the Thread, combines roots-oriented music with her trademarked lushness. Soon after its release in 2014, Cash told Metro Weekly that the album’s songs are meant to convey “the theme of Southern place and time.” She returns to the area with her band on Monday, June 26, at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets are $69.50. Call 703-5497500 or visit birchmere.com.

SAVOIR ADORE

Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Paul Hammer is the principal behind this Brooklyn-based act. Last year’s The Love That Remains is a romantic, melodic and imaginative affair, featuring additional guest vocals from Leah Hayes, Lauren Zettler and Winslow Bright. Savoir Adore pops down to D.C. on the eve of a performance at Firefly Music Festival. Friday, June 16, at 7 p.m. DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. Tickets are $13 in advance or $15 day of show. Call 202-483-5000 or dcnine.com.

SLAVIC SOUL PARTY

A performance part of this year’s DC Jazz Fest (see separate entry), the New York Balkan/Gypsy brass band re-imagines Duke Ellington’s brassy Far East Suite in its style, a mashup also incorporating influences from gospel, techno, funk, dub, jazz, and Latin. Friday, June 16, at 8 p.m. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are $28 to $32. Call 202-399-7993 or visit atlasarts.org.

SPECIAL AGENT GALACTICA

Jeffrey Johnson’s spacey and pinkhaired singing drag act returns for a cabaret supported by a guitarist named Captain Satellite. The show features new material as well as a

PHOTO COURTESY OF AWESOME CON

BLOODLINES: CURATED BY MARTINA DODD

AWESOME CON

A celebration of geek-dom, from comic books to movies to video games, and its influence on today’s pop culture, D.C.’s annual comic-con offers three days of discussion panels, costume contests, gaming tournaments and trivia. The event, which draws over 60,000 participants, adds two new programming elements this year. There’s Pride Alley, co-presented by Geeks Out, curators of New York’s LGBTQ-themed convention Flame Con, with special programming throughout the event, including “Making LGBT+ Matter in Fiction,” on Friday, June 16, at 5 p.m., “A History of LGBTQ+ Representation in Comic Books & Television,” Saturday, June 17, at 12:30 p.m., and “Pokemon, Musicals & Gay Representation with Voice Actor Jamie McGonnigal,” Saturday, June 17, at 4:30 p.m. The other new component is Future Con, a partnership with Smithsonian magazine featuring discussions and events at the intersection of science, technology and science fiction — including a StarTalk Live! taping hosted by astronaut Chris Hadfield. Other celebrities expected this weekend are Spider-Man/X-Men creator Stan Lee, David Tennant (Doctor Who), John Barrowman (Arrow), The Guild creator Felicia Day, and Star Trek’s Wil Wheaton. Friday, June 16, from 12 to 8 p.m., Saturday, June 17, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, June 18, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place NW. Tickets are $35 to $45 for a single-day entry or $75 for a threeday pass; VIP passes ranging from $150 to $350 are also available. Call 202-249-3000 or visit awesome-con.com. smattering of signature covers and originals. Sunday, June 25, at 5 p.m. Freddie’s Beach Bar, 555 South 23rd St., Arlington. Free, “just tip well.” Call 703-685-0555 or visit freddiesbeachbar.com.

8 p.m. Nightclub 9:30, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $20. Call 202-265-0930 or visit 930.com.

WHO’S BAD: THE ULTIMATE MICHAEL JACKSON TRIBUTE BAND

MEGHAN ABADOO

Founded over a decade ago in North Carolina, Vamsi Tadepalli’s band didn’t explode in popularity until after the King of Pop’s death in 2009. Ever since, this infectious tribute production has regularly offered fans a treat, putting on a show recreating Jackson’s precise synchronized dance routines, in full regalia, from glitzy jackets to glittery gloves. And every year, the show returns to the 9:30 Club in June in honor of Jackson’s death on June 25. Saturday, June 17. Doors at

DANCE Octavia’s Brood: Riding the Ox Home is an immersive, site-based work inspired by the prophetic envisioning of racial justice by Octavia Butler of “visionary fiction” fame and the Underground Railroad’s Harriet Tubman. A contemporary adaptation of Spike Lee’s 1988 film School Daze by a graduate teaching fellow at the University of Maryland, the dance leaps back and forth through time, landing between antebellum Maryland of the mid-1800s and an unknown place and date in the future. Friday, June 16, and Saturday, June 17, at 8

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

p.m. Dance Place, 3225 8th St. NE. Tickets are $30, or $25 one week in advance. Call 202-269-1600 or visit danceplace.org.

EXHIBITS AND YOU WERE THERE: IMAGES OF JAZZ IN D.C.

Works by local photographer Michael Wilderman and painter Bill Warrell, who was inspired by Wilderman’s photography, are on display in an exhibition that also celebrates D.C.’s jazz scene and venues, where most of the images derive. Presented in conjunction with the DC Jazz Festival (see separate entry). Closes Sunday, June 18. Fringe Arts Bar, 1358 Florida Ave. NE. Free. Call 202-737-7230 or visit capitalfringe.org.

Transformer offers a group exhibition of works on paper, sculpture and performance that seek to challenge the societal norms and restraints imposed on the female form. Works in Bloodlines tow the line between fascination and repulsion in directly addressing the stigmas associated with a woman’s menstrual cycle. That includes works by Samera Paz and Iman Person who use their own menstrual blood as a medium. Meanwhile, Lisa Hill’s installation references the invisible inheritance passed down from mother to offspring by reproducing the shedding, scarring and regeneration of skin on handmade paper. For the performance portion of the exhibit, Tsedaye Makonnen focuses on the intense physicality of birth with The Crowning on Thursday, May 25, at 6:30 p.m., while the queer, black and trans-media àjé collective explores the erotic complexities of menstrual blood with Cosmic Meditation on Saturday, June 3, at 8 p.m. The non-performative works are on display through June 24. Transformer, 1404 P St. NW. Call 202-483-1102 or visit transformerdc.org.

BOEING MILESTONES OF FLIGHT HALL

The National Air and Space Museum’s central exhibition space reopened nearly a year ago after a major two-year renovation sponsored by Boeing in honor of the museum’s 40th anniversary. John Glenn’s Mercury “Friendship 7,” Charles Lindbergh’s “Spirit of St. Louis,” the Gemini IV capsule, and SpaceShipOne are among the museum’s most iconic artifacts on view in a new, streamlined way along with digital enhancements meant to give a deeper understanding of how spaceflight and aviation have affected all Americans’ lives. The hall also features the Apollo Lunar Module and the studio model of the Starship Enterprise from the original Star Trek series, among other additions. National Air and Space Museum, Independence Ave at 6th St. SW. Call 202-633-2214 or visit airandspace.si.edu.

THE HUMAN COST OF THE SYRIAN WAR IN PHOTOGRAPHS

For the project Forty out of One Million, Berlin-based photographer Kai Wiedenhöfer took portraits of 40 war-wounded Syrians in towns, villages and refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon between spring 2014 and 2015. The GoetheInstitut displays Wiedenhöfer’s work along with two pieces from fellow German photographer Daniel Sonnentag’s series They Have Names. With a mission to portray the current, ongoing human impact of the Syrian conflict, both artists depart from the typical focus on the body count of casualties to

stops by the Birchmere for Inferno A-Go-Go! A wacky twist on Dante’s Inferno, the show is a romp through the ultimate after-party mixing song, puppetry and high-camp hijinks Thursday, June 22, at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets are $29.50. Call 703-549-7500 or visit birchmere.com.

CAPITAL FRINGE FESTIVAL PREVIEW

ALIVE COVERAGE

More than 20 shows from this year’s festival, which opens July 7, will be previewed in short, rapid-fire excerpts at this free, buzz-generating event. Thursday, June 22, at 7:30 p.m. Trinidad Theatre in Logan Fringe Arts Space, 1358 Florida Ave. NE. Free. Call 202-733-7230 or visit capitalfringe.org.

HARIKARAOKE BAND PRIDE SHOW

FIREFLY MUSIC FESTIVAL

Billed as “the East Coast’s Premier Music Experience,” Delaware’s Firefly becomes more of a draw with each passing year. Spread out over a scenic, woodsy 100 acres at Dover Downs, Firefly offers non-musical diversions, including camping spaces, a pathway with nighttime video and light displays, food trucks and bars, and even a pop-up local brewery. But the chief focus is on catching many of pop music’s latest and greatest. The Weeknd, Muse, TwentyOnePilots, and Chance The Rapper are headliners this year, along with the ultimate festival legacy act, Bob Dylan. Other acts include Weezer, Busta Rhymes, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Kesha, and Scottish synth-rockers Franz Ferdinand. Under new and contemporary, you’ll find gems like Miike Snow, Galantis, and Bleachers. For a deep dance dive, there’s a trio of cutting-edge international producers: the Gryffin, Flume and Sam Feldt — as well as house veteran Benny Benassi. Those seeking new discoveries have dozens of other as-yet-unknown Firefly acts to mine, from Sofi Tukker to Jacob Banks to Frances & The Lights. The festival runs through Sunday, June 18 at The Woodlands of Dover International Speedway, 1131 N. Dupont Highway, Dover, Del. Passes start at $89 for a single day or $309 for a four-day pass. Call 855-281-4898 or visit fireflyfestival.com.

instead show people still very much alive and in need. Closes Friday, June 16. Geothe-Institut/German Cultural Center, 1990 K St. NW. Ste. 03. Call 202-289-1200 or visit goethe.de/washington.

FOOD AND DRINK ACADIANA: GRILLING CLASS, 3-COURSE FEAST PROMOTION

Executive Chef Brant Tesky demonstrates and serves his favorite BBQ dishes at an annual event touted as a good gift for Father’s Day or for anyone who wants to improve their grilling game. The class, a kickoff to Summer BBQ & Grilling Week, costs $85 and is offered Saturday, June 17, from 1 to 3 p.m. From Monday, June 19 to Sunday, June 25, the restaurant offers a $33 three-course feast of Bourbon Bacon Sliders with Caramelized Onions, Brisket and Ribs with Acadiana BBQ Sauce accompanied by Collard Greens with Benton’s Bacon Red Beans &

Rice Cornbread, and Banana Cream Pie — “served Southern-style on one plate.” Acadiana, 901 New York Ave. NW. Call 202-408-8848 or visit acadianarestaurant.com.

NOPA KITCHEN+BAR: $70 WEEKEND DINNER FOR TWO MENU

Across from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Penn Quarter, this 160-seat American brasserie, part of the same family as Rasika, Bibiana and the Oval Room, should already be on your shortlist for brunch. On Sundays between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., each diner can choose between an appetizer and entree or sandwich, as well as a special mimosa or bloody Mary, for $28 to $30 each (or $38 with bottomless classic mimosas). Now Executive Chef Matt Kuhn is working to get Nopa on your radar earlier in the weekend as well, with a new dinner menu focused on composed dishes designed for couples, whether lovers or close friends, reasonably

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

priced at $70 for two, before tax and tip. The menu changes weekly, and is available exclusively on Fridays and Saturdays during dinner service, 5 to 11 p.m., subject to availability. Nopa Kitchen+Bar, 800 F St. NW. Call 202-347-4667 or visit nopadc.com.

ROOFERS UNION: ROSÉ ON THE ROOF

Spain and Italy will duke it out in a tasting of rose wines along with rose-inspired specials and half-price bottles on the rooftop at this bustling Adams Morgan spot. Wednesday, June 21, starting at 5 p.m. Roofers Union, 2446 18th St. NW. Call 202-232-7663 or visit roofersuniondc.com.

ABOVE & BEYOND BEN DE LA CREME

One of “15 fan favorite queens of all time” from RuPaul’s Drag Race, Miss Congeniality from season six

It’s not everyday you can sing karaoke supported by a live band, although in recent years it has become more popular. Silly props and extra surprises, plus a “Gong Show Karaoke Contest” add to the dynamic experience of a HariKaraoke Band show, co-hosted by drag queen Shaunda Leer. The next show is LGBTQ-themed and includes drink specials and prizes including a bar tab at host venue the DC Eagle. Sunday, June 25, from 4 to 8 p.m. 3701 Benning Rd. NE. Call 202-347-6025 or visit dceagle.com.

QUEERING SOUND

Founder JS Adams has described the annual experimental music event as “an exploration of expression through audio, the digital arts, performance art and spoken word [with] a non-exclusive curatorial focus towards gay, lesbian, and post gender-identified participants.” This year, Ruth Trevarrow has curated a queer visual art exhibit that runs all month long and features two concerts, the second of which, Saturday, June 17, at 8 p.m., focuses on spoken word and digital media, featuring Dan Vera, Joe Belknap Wall, H. Paul Moon, Danielle Evennou, Mark Beazley, Johnny Brown and Inga Yellere. Rhizome DC, 6950 Maple St. NW. Tickets are $10 for the concert. Visit dc-soniccircuits.org.

WOLF TRAP OPERA, CITYDANCE: FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER

Through his Halcyon Stage series, Septime Webre directs a onenight-only production featuring vocal and dance soloists conjuring Philip Glass’s composition based on the gothic classic by Edgar Allan Poe. Suggested attire “Poe/Punk.” Saturday, June 17, at 8:30 p.m., with a Meet-the-Artist Reception at 10 p.m. Dock 5 at Union Market, 1309 5th St. NE. Tickets are $40. Call 800-680-9095 or visit halcyonstage.org. l

Forum

PULSE: ONE YEAR LATER

NE YEAR AGO, AMERICA WOKE TO A HORRIFic tragedy. Armed with a gun and filled with hate, one man walked into Pulse nightclub in Orlando and gunned down 49 people. It was the country’s worst mass shooting in modern history. But more than that, it was a direct attack on the LGBTQ community, a knife plunged into the heart of the ideal of “safe spaces.” It was also an assault on the Latinx community, with the majority of victims of Latino descent. LGBTQ people reeled. America reeled. The world stopped for a day, consumed with the grief and pain of that moment. In the 12 months that followed, we’ve witnessed incredible highs, from the outpouring of support in the wake of the attacks to the ever-increasing visibility of LGBTQ people in all aspects of society. But we’ve also had dramatic lows, from the advancement of anti-transgender “bathroom bills” to the apparent attempts to erase recognition of LGBTQ people under the Trump administration. In the year since Pulse, what exactly has happened for LGBTQ people? And will safe spaces ever truly be safe again? We reached out to the local LGBTQ community to find out.

HOW HAS LIFE CHANGED FOR THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY SINCE THE PULSE SHOOTINGS? DAVID M. PÉREZ, Director of Development, LULAC: Since

the tragedy in Orlando, there have been more openings for conversations about the intersectionality of oppression and identities, such as LGBTQ, Latino, and people of color. The frustration of the LGBTQ movement’s refusal to invest significant resources in the fledgling infrastructures of LGBTQ Latino groups has grown.

I have seen LGBTQ Latino advocates who left Orlando return home to their state of Florida. Without a job or resources, they rededicated their lives to healing their home communities, building up non-profit, government, and philanthropic infrastructures in Orlando to rebuild and invest in their gente (people). NICHOLAS BENTON, Publisher, Falls Church News-Press: It has been mixed. On the one hand, the outpouring of public support for LGBTQ issues has grown. On the other hand, so has the hate and bigotry, due in no small part to the impact of the Trump campaign/presidency. DOUGLAS YEUELL, Executive Director, Atlas Performing Arts

Center: Acts of terrorism are exercises in horrific futility. We survive in spite of it all. Sad that a common enemy is what brings our humanity together and puts the fight and plight of the LGBTQ community on the world stage.

CHARLES KING, General Manager, The Baltimore Eagle: LGBTQ Culture seems to be more aware of their surroundings, and more aware of the hate and ignorance across our country since the Pulse Shootings. As a community we have become stronger and less tolerant of those seeking to hurt us as a whole. I also believe that the Pulse Shootings have allowed for more compassion towards our community with regard to the general population. People realize that love is never the enemy, and hate is what we need to extinguish. CHRIS ALLEN, President, Log Cabin Republicans of D.C.: The LGBTQ community is a force to be reckoned with. After the tragic attack at Pulse, our community united in solidarity,

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

Forum we held vigils, we raised funds for the victims’ families, and we comforted each other during a time of grieving. Moving forward, we are more aware of the threats against our community not just at home, but around the world. This renewed awareness is uniting us across borders, political aisles, communities and is sending a message around the world that LGBTQ rights will not be attacked or diminished without a fight. CHARGER STONE, Owner of DC Bear Crue: As a promoter at one of the largest gay clubs in the city it really hits home that “this could have been us!” I think the community has seen its share of tragedies, and Pulse was a reminder that we won’t ever be 100% safe until we have the full support of the rest of the country. We have a long way to go.

HOW ARE YOU FEELING ONE YEAR LATER? PÉREZ: I’m mad. I’m angry. On Monday, June 12, a group

of LGBTQ Latino writers, poets and artists from the group Dicción Queer organized a memorial at Trade in D.C. honoring the victims lost at Pulse. During the open mike portion of the program, a man in the crowd stood up and complained that Pulse was a gay tragedy and not a Latino tragedy. He complained that no one addressed that the massacre was the result of religious hatred. I stood in shock, my blood boiling, because of the hateful anti-immigrant, anti-Latino, anti-”other,” anti-Muslim comments that interrupted a gathering of unity and pride where we mourned lives lost and recommitted to organizing for justice. The sad truth was that last year at Pulse 49 people were killed. Nearly half of the victims were Puerto Rican, while the other half were Cuban, Dominican, Ecuadorian, Mexican, Salvadoran, Venezuelan, Afro Latinx, and from other Latinx communities. Almost all were members of the LGBTQ community. Some were undocumented. Over half were under 30, with the youngest victim being just 18 years old. The words spoken were so far from the truth. However, the comments that followed at the open mike gave me hope. Person after person reiterated that what happened at pulse was a Latino tragedy; an LGBTQ tragedy; an American tragedy. We must face the hard work ahead on many fronts to challenge institutional racism, homophobia, to embrace immigrants and our Muslim sisters and brothers to continue on the long arc ahead that bends towards justice. I am hopeful.

KING: The shootings made us take a serious look at our

own personal security as an individual and as a company. Some people don’t like to see a security guard at our front door, carding and sometimes wanding individuals, but people quickly forget that we do this for the safety and security of our establishment, our guests, the LGBTQ community and our own employees. I feel that in this day and age, we cannot be too careful. We must be vigilant and responsive when it comes to...fighting the hate that can easily infiltrate our own establishments. Safety must remain our number one goal.

BENTON: I am in a fighting mood. There is nothing that is not

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

irreversible in life, and the events of the election and current presidency should make that clear to everyone. STONE: I’m sad. I’m angry. I feel more personally responsible to make a positive difference in the people around me. There were steps that led to this terrible tragedy. If someone could have stepped in anywhere along the way and made a small impact on this person than maybe this would have never happened. Mental illness, combined with self-hatred and bullying, and easy access to weapons with high capacity magazines, are a perfect storm. We are all to blame, because of the way we treat people, for not paying attention to those people around us who may be hurting, for caring about the bottom dollar instead of about people. I may not be able to affect everyone, but I can do my part and encourage people to do theirs. Little by little, we make a difference. ZAR, Production Director, The Ask Rayceen Show: I’m overall

more pessimistic, but that’s due more to the political climate and all the deplorable people who are now in positions of power and otherwise demonstrating their rancor and vitriol unabashedly in public forums.

RAYCEEN PENDARVIS, Host, The Ask Rayceen Show: I still

feel somewhat numb. At times, I still feel uncomfortable in large crowds. I’m always on guard and more aware of my surroundings than ever. But I refuse to live in fear.

ARE LGBTQ SPACES STILL SAFE? STONE: What is a safe space? I mean seriously, where are we really safe? In a community center, in a gay bar? Safe from what? Safe from anti-gay heterosexuals, safe from bullets flying through the air, safe from each other? Half of the time I want to shut down Facebook and go hide out in the woods. Honestly, we are horrible to each other. For myself, I’m trying to make it so my events are safe spaces, a true place where people can be themselves. And I’m trying to remember to treat people better and remember that we don’t know what other people are going through, so be kind. Until this I never really stopped to think about how I felt because of Pulse. I was honored to read the story of an Army Captain who was killed at Pulse during our LGBT Fallen Heroes Memorial Service. As a former Marine, I hear so many stories of people making changes or joining the military after 9/11. I believe Pulse is our gay-9/11. It shattered our illusion of safety and “safe spaces.” But for some of us, it encouraged us to be better, to make a difference. JON PARKS, General Manager, Ziegfeld’s and Secrets: I do believe our LGBTQ spaces are as safe as any other business. No one, no matter how much security you provide, can stop someone who’s willing to die for their personal hate. ALLEN: The intentions of LGBTQ safe spaces are well founded, but as a growing community we need to make sure that safe spaces don’t insulate our community and prevent the very progress we are striving toward. As a community that seeks acceptance and understanding, we need to lead by example and recognize that allies come in many different forms and from backgrounds as diverse as our own commu-

Forum nity. LGBTQ establishments will continue to provide spaces and venues where our community is welcome and celebrated, but it is up to us to get along, unite behind our common goals, and continue to influence the world for the better. BENTON: Nothing is safe in life. But I think there are many

more people willing to fight for our safety than before.

ZAR: Were they ever safe? And safe for whom? First, one

would have to be allowed into such spaces, and plenty of people of color are not on a regular basis. I think many transgender and gender-nonconforming people regularly feel unsafe in “LGBTQ” spaces, or at least unwelcome. Clubs for queer people of color have often been in “unsafe” areas, so the fear of violence has been and continues to be very real for many people. Safety is an illusion. Even without gun violence, all it takes is one mentally unstable person with a knife, a brick, or a vehicle to maim or kill people. We have far too many people all around us who are angry, enraged, and paranoid, who have no support systems and nothing to lose. My experiences in D.C. go way back, and I know that you always need to be ready for the unexpected. Observe your surroundings. Take note of the exits. And if you can’t have something on your person for self defense, know that anything that you can lift up can be used as a weapon. Never rely on someone else for your own personal safety.

PENDARVIS: In my heart, I’d like to think so, but in my mind,

I know that no place is safe as long as there’s ignorance, fear, and hate in this world. PÉREZ: This trauma has made a deep and lasting impact in

LGBTQ and Latino/x communities, and it will take much time to mourn and heal. To do so, we must invest in those most directly affected by this tragedy. Latino-led, culturally competent efforts, based in Orlando, such as QLatinx, Somos Orlando, and the Contigo Fund are critical initiatives dedicated to the well-being and healing of survivors of the Pulse massacre, to honoring the many LGBTQ Latino lives taken last year, and to supporting a healing process. We must continue to lift up such initiatives and work with those who strive for equality for the LGBTQ and Latino/x communities. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people are resilient. Latinos are resilient. Immigrants are resilient. Americans are resilient. We have experienced many hardships and will overcome. We will not let one act of hatred dismantle the community, liberation and pride we have built on our dance floors. We will overcome. We will celebrate. We will organize. We will love and welcome the stranger. We will embrace one another. l

The opinions expressed in Forum are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect those of Metro Weekly magazine, its staff and contributors. We welcome all voices and opinions to Forum. Learn how to be part of Forum at metroweekly.com/forum.

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

Community

THURSDAY, June 15 The DC Center holds a meeting of its POLY DISCUSSION GROUP, for people interested in polyamory, non-monogamy or other non-traditional relationships. 7-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. Visit thedccenter.org.

Weekly Events

IDENTITY offers free and confidential HIV testing at two separate locations. Walkins accepted from 2-6 p.m., by appointment for all other hours. 414 East Diamond Ave., Gaithersburg, Md. or 7676 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 411, Takoma Park, Md. To set up an appointment or for more information, call Gaithersburg, 301-300-9978, or Takoma Park, 301-422-2398.

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH

METROHEALTH CENTER

DC AQUATICS CLUB practice

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5 p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for youth 21 and younger. Youth Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155 or testing@smyal.org.

offers free, rapid HIV testing. Appointment needed. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700. To arrange an appointment, call 202-6380750.

offers free HIV testing and HIV services (by appointment). 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Decatur Center, 1400 Decatur St. NW. To arrange an appointment, call 202-291-4707, or visit andromedatransculturalhealth.org. session at Takoma Aquatic Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 300 Van Buren St. NW. For more information, visit swimdcac.org.

Us Helping Us hosts a

NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS MEETING. The group is inde-

DC FRONT RUNNERS run-

DC LAMBDA SQUARES gay and lesbian square-dancing group features mainstream through advanced square dancing at the National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Circle NW, 7-9:30 p.m. Casual dress. 301-257-0517, dclambdasquares.org. DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds

practice. The team is always looking for new members. All welcome. 7:30-9:30 p.m. King Greenleaf Recreation Center, 201 N St. SW. For more information, visit scandalsrfc.org or dcscandals@gmail.com.

The DULLES TRIANGLES Northern Virginia social group meets for happy hour at Sheraton in Reston. All welcome. 7-9 p.m. 11810 Sunrise Valley Drive, second-floor bar. For more information, visit dullestriangles.com.

HIV TESTING at WhitmanWalker Health. 8 a.m.-8 p.m. at 1525 14th St. NW, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. at the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, 1701 14th St. NW, and 8 a.m-5 p.m. at the Max Robinson Center, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE. For an appointment call 202-745-7000 or visit whitman-walker.org.

pendent of UHU. 6:30-7:30 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. For more information, call 202446-1100.

WARD MORRISON

ning/walking/social club welcomes runners of all ability levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, with socializing afterward. Route distance is 3-6 miles. Meet at 7 p.m. at 23rd & P Streets NW. For more information, visit dcfrontrunners.org.

WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE for young LBTQ

FUNDRAISING FEAST Food & Friends’ Chef’s Best is one of the city’s most lavish, appetizing benefits

HEF’S BEST HAS EVOLVED OVER DECADES,” SAYS CRAIG Shniderman, executive director of Food & Friends, which organizes the annual fundraising dinner and auction. “The first one was down at the waterfront.... We had between 175 and 200 people. Now, we have dependably more than 1,000 each year.” Serving as a keystone event for the organization, the event brings together more than 40 chefs and mixologists from restaurants in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia to prepare dishes and cocktails for attendees. Among those contributing are Marjorie Meek-Bradley of Smoked and Stacked, who is chef chair this year, as well as Erik Bruner-Yang of Maketto & Paper Horse, Tony Chittum of Iron Gate, Amy Brandwein of Centrolina, Victor Garcia of Commissary, and Thomas Palmer of Hank’s Pasta Bar. “We think we have a particularly good group of chefs this year,” says Shniderman, who hopes to raise about $900,000 this year for Food & Friends. The event will also honor Fleur Bresler and the Bresler family, of Bresler & Reiner commercial real estate firm, for their support over the years. “Our family knows firsthand of the impact of Food & Friends. My son Bill was both a volunteer and client,” Fleur Bresler said in a statement. “My children, grandchildren, and I are proud to volunteer and support the work that has been so important to us. There are and will continue to be very sick people in our community. There is always more work to do.” —John Riley The 28th Annual Chef’s Best Dinner and Auction is Monday, June 19, at 6:30 p.m. at the Marriott Marquis, 901 Massachusetts Ave. NW. For tickets or more information, visit foodandfriends.org/ChefsBest.

women, 13-21, interested in leadership development. 5-6:30 p.m. SMYAL Youth Center, 410 7th St. SE. For more information, call 202-567-3163, or email catherine.chu@smyal.org.

FRIDAY, June 16 GAY DISTRICT, a group for

GBTQQI men between the ages of 18-35, meets on the first and third Fridays of each month. Dinner or social outing to follow the meeting. 8:30-9:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit gaydistrict.org. Volunteers are needed to help with CASA RUBY’S MONTHLY DINNER. Held on the third Friday of each month, in conjunction with The DC Center, the event provides a hot meal to those being housed at Casa Ruby. Homemade or store bought meals welcome. 6:307:30 p.m. Casa Ruby, 3530 Georgia Ave. NW. For more information, contact lamar@ thedccenter.org.

Weekly Events BET MISHPACHAH, founded

by members of the LGBT community, holds Friday evening Shabbat services in the DC Jewish Community Center’s

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

PETWORTH SHOWS ITS PRIDE

The Petworth Pride block party spotlights three hip restaurants and a lot of local gays

HEN WE WERE OPENING THE RESTAUrant,” says Mikey Torres, the general manager of Taqueria del Barrio, “we realized we had five employees who are gay. Also, our block is very gay-friendly as well.” Next door is Hank’s Cocktail Bar, owned by star D.C. chef Jamie Leeds. Across the street, new critical darling Himitsu, co-owned by Carlie Steiner. Increasingly, restaurants are stepping up to serve Petworth’s significantly gay population. Hank’s Cocktail Bar recently launched a monthly Ladies Tea — the next one is this Saturday, June 17, from 3 to 5 p.m. And Taqueria, the latest Mexican eatery from the DC Empanadas crew, is planning to launch a monthly Saturday drag brunch, as well as a bi-weekly gay-themed party. This Sunday, June 18, Taqueria kicks off the first annual Petworth Pride Celebration. Intended as a family-friendly block party, Taqueria and two other restaurants in the 800 block of Upshur, Hank’s and Petworth Citizen, will serve specially priced special cocktails and small bites for the day. Each restaurant will donate proceeds from the day’s sales to LGBTQ-focused charities: The Point Foundation (Taqueria), Casa Ruby (Hank’s) and SMYAL (Petworth). “We wanted to do something that reflected and honored Petworth, but was still in celebration of pride month,” says Torres. “It’s a great little community. I love coming to work here every day and being a part of it.” The resident of Oxon Hill, Md., then adds, “Having grown up in the area, and worked in a lot of different D.C. neighborhoods, this is the first one that feels, to me, like a family neighborhood, where everybody knows each other.” —Doug Rule Petworth Pride Celebration runs from 3 to 7 p.m. and includes Taqueria del Barrio (821 Upshur St. NW, 202-723-0200, taqueriadelbarrio.com), Hank’s Cocktail Bar (819 Upshur St. NW, 202-290-1808, hankscocktailbar.com), and Petworth Citizen (829 Upshur St. NW, 202-722-2939, petworthcitizen.com).

Community Room. 8 p.m. 1529 16th St. NW. For more information, visit betmish.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a prac-

tice session at Howard University. 6:30-8 p.m. Burr Gymnasium, 2400 6th St. NW. For more information, visit swimdcac.org.

PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBT-

affirming social group for ages 11-24. 4-6 p.m. 1419 Columbia Road NW. Contact Tamara, 202-3190422, layc-dc.org.

SMYAL’S REC NIGHT provides a

social atmosphere for LGBT and

questioning youth, featuring dance parties, vogue nights, movies and games. For more info, email catherine.chu@smyal.org.

SATURDAY, June 17 ADVENTURING outdoors group

hikes a strenuous 8-mile loop with 1800 feet of elevation gain in a scenic canyon in Shenandoah National Park. Bring beverages, lunch, bug spray, sunscreen, about $20 for fees, and money for dinner on the way home. Carpool at 8:30 a.m. from East Falls Church Metro Kiss & Ride lot. For more info, call Peter, 202-302-9606. adventuring.org.

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

CHRYSALIS arts and culture group visits historic sites and gardens in Richmond, Va. Carpool at 9 a.m. from King Street Metro Station in Alexandria. For more info, Craig, 202-462-0535 craighowell1@verizon.net.

KHUSH DC, the group for LGBTQ

South Asians, hosts a monthly meeting at The DC Center. 1:30-3 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit facebook.com/khushdc. The DC Center’s Center Global Group hosts a monthly LGBT

ASYLEES SUPPORT MEETING AND DINNER for LGBT refugees

and asylum seekers. 5-7 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedccenter.org. The DC Center hosts its monthly LGBTQ HARM REDUCTION

SUPPORT GROUP FOR SUBSTANCE USE on the third

Saturday of each month. 3-4:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Weekly Events BRAZILIAN GLBT GROUP, including others interested in Brazilian culture, meets. For location/time, email braziliangaygroup@yahoo. com.

DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a prac-

tice session at Montgomery College Aquatics Club. 8:30-10 a.m. 7600 Takoma Ave., Takoma, Md. For more information, visit swimdcac. org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/

walking/social club welcomes runners of all ability levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, with socializing afterward. Route distance will be 3-6 miles. Walker meet at 9:30 a.m. and runners at 10 a.m. at 23rd & P Streets NW. For more information, visit dcfrontrunners.org.

DIGNITYUSA sponsors Mass for

LGBT community, family and friends. 6:30 p.m., Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill, 3606 Seminary Road, Alexandria. All welcome. For more info, visit dignitynova.org.

GAY LANGUAGE CLUB discusses critical languages and foreign languages. 7 p.m. Nellie’s, 900 U St. NW. RSVP preferred. Email brendandarcy@gmail.com.

SUNDAY, June 18 ADVENTURING outdoors group

hikes 11 strenuous miles with 2100 feet of elevation gain in Shenandoah National Park. Experienced hikers only. Bring plenty of beverages, lunch, water-

proof shoes, bug spray, about $20 for fees, and money for dinner on the way home. Carpool at 8:30 a.m. from East Falls Church Metro Kiss & Ride lot. Jeff, 301-775-9660, adventuring.org.

Weekly Events LGBT-inclusive ALL SOULS

MEMORIAL EPISCOPAL CHURCH

celebrates Low Mass at 8:30 a.m., High Mass at 11 a.m. 2300 Cathedral Ave. NW. 202-232-4244, allsoulsdc.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a

practice session at Wilson Aquatic Center. 9:30-11 a.m. 4551 Fort Dr. NW. For more information, visit swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/

walking/social club welcomes runners of all ability levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, with socializing afterward. Route will be a distance run of 8, 10 or 12 miles. Meet at 9 a.m. at 23rd & P Streets NW. For more information, visit dcfrontrunners.org.

FAIRLINGTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH is an open, inclusive church. All welcome, including the LGBTQ community. Member of the Reconciling Ministries Network. Services at 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. 3900 King Street, Alexandria, Va. 703-6718557. For more info, visit fairlingtonumc.org.

FRIENDS MEETING OF WASHINGTON meets for worship,

10:30 a.m., 2111 Florida Ave. NW, Quaker House Living Room (next to Meeting House on Decatur Place), 2nd floor. Special welcome to lesbians and gays. Handicapped accessible from Phelps Place gate. Hearing assistance. quakersdc.org.

HSV-2 SOCIAL AND SUPPORT GROUP for gay men living in the

DC metro area. This group will be meeting once a month. For information on location and time, visit H2gether.com.

INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT, God-centered

new age church & learning center. Sunday Services and Workshops event. 5419 Sherier Place NW. isddc.org.

LUTHERAN CHURCH OF REFORMATION invites all to

Sunday worship at 8:30 or 11 a.m. Childcare is available at both services. Welcoming LGBT people for 25 years. 212 East Capitol St. NE. reformationdc.org.

METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH OF WASHINGTON, D.C. services at 9 a.m. (ASL interpreted) and 11 a.m. Children’s Sunday

School at 11 a.m. 474 Ridge St. NW. 202-638-7373, mccdc.com.

RIVERSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH,

a Christ-centered, interracial, welcoming-and-affirming church, offers service at 10 a.m. 680 I St. SW. 202-554-4330, riversidedc.org.

UNITARIAN CHURCH OF ARLINGTON, an LGBTQ welcom-

ing-and-affirming congregation, offers services at 10 a.m. Virginia Rainbow UU Ministry. 4444 Arlington Blvd. uucava.org.

UNIVERSALIST NATIONAL MEMORIAL CHURCH, a welcom-

ing and inclusive church. GLBT Interweave social/service group meets monthly. Services at 11 a.m., Romanesque sanctuary. 1810 16th St. NW. 202-387-3411, universalist.org.

MONDAY, June 19 The Metro D.C. chapter of PFLAG, a support group for parents, family members and allies of the LGBTQ community, holds its monthly meeting at The DC Center. 7-9 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Weekly Events DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a

practice session at Dunbar Aquatic Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 101 N St. NW. For more information, visit swimdcac.org.

GETEQUAL meets 6:30-8 p.m. at Quaker House, 2111 Florida Ave. NW. For more information, email getequal.wdc@gmail.com. KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY (K.I.) SERVICES, 3333 Duke St.,

Alexandria, offers free “rapid” HIV testing and counseling, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 703-823-4401.

NOVASALUD offers free HIV test-

HIV/AIDS Support Group for newly diagnosed individuals, meets 7 p.m. Registration required. 202-939-7671, hivsupport@whitman-walker.org.

TUESDAY, June 20 The DC Center hosts a BI

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION to discuss issues of sexuality and identity. 7-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedccenter.org. The DC Center hosts a meeting of HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS

GROUP FOR GAY AND BI MEN.

6-7 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

THE HIV WORKING GROUP of THE DC CENTER hosts a “Packing

Party,” where volunteers assemble safe-sex kits of condoms and lube. 7-9 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. Visit thedccenter.org.

The Watha T. Daniel Shaw Library hosts RAINBOW FAMILY STORY TIME. The event, held weekly during the month of June, will explore stories about same-sex parents, adopted children, and other nontraditional families, as well as “gender-bending” books showing that it’s okay not to conform to stereotypical ideas of how boys and girls behave. For all ages. 7-8 p.m. 1630 7th St. NW. For more information, email wathashawlibrary@ dc.gov or call Gayle Wagner, 202727-1288.

Weekly Events ASIANS AND FRIENDS weekly

dinner in Dupont/Logan Circle area, 6:30 p.m. For more information, email afwash@aol.com, or visit afwashington.net.

The DC Center hosts COFFEE

DC AQUATICS CLUB practice

14th St. NW. For more information, call 202-682-2245 or visit thedccenter.org.

US HELPING US hosts a black gay

men’s evening affinity group for GBT black men. Light refreshments provided. 7-9 p.m. 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.

WASHINGTON WETSKINS WATER POLO TEAM practices 7-9

p.m. Newcomers with at least basic swimming ability always welcome. Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

WHITMAN-WALKER HEALTH

ing. 5-7 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite 200, Arlington. Appointments: 703789-4467.

DROP-IN FOR THE SENIOR LGBT COMMUNITY. 10 a.m.-noon. 2000

Buren St. NW. For more information, contact Tom, 703-299-0504 or secretary@wetskins.org, or visit wetskins.org.

session at Takoma Aquatic Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 300 Van Buren St. NW. For more information, visit swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/ walking/social club welcomes runners of all ability levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, with socializing afterward. Route distance is 3-6 miles. Meet at 7 p.m. at Union Station. For more information, visit dcfrontrunners.org.

DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds practice. The team is always looking for new members. All welcome. 7:30-9:30 p.m. King Greenleaf

Recreation Center, 201 N St. SW. For more information, visit scandalsrfc.org or dcscandals@gmail. com.

THE GAY MEN’S HEALTH COLLABORATIVE offers free

HIV testing and STI screening and treatment every Tuesday. 5-6:30 p.m. Rainbow Tuesday LGBT Clinic, Alexandria Health Department, 4480 King St. 703746-4986 or text 571-214-9617. james.leslie@inova.org.

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS

— LGBT focused meeting every Tuesday, 7 p.m. St. George’s Episcopal Church, 915 Oakland Ave., Arlington, just steps from Virginia Square Metro. For more info. call Dick, 703-5211999. Handicapped accessible. Newcomers welcome. liveandletliveoa@gmail.com.

SUPPORT GROUP FOR LGBTQ YOUTH ages 13-21 meets at

SMYAL. 5-6:30 p.m. 410 7th St. SE. For more information, contact Cathy Chu, 202-567-3163, or catherine.chu@smyal.org.

US HELPING US hosts a support

group for black gay men 40 and older. 7-9 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.

Whitman-Walker Health holds its weekly GAY MEN’S HEALTH AND WELLNESS/STD CLINIC. Patients are seen on walk-in basis. No-cost screening for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. Hepatitis and herpes testing available for fee. Testing starts at 6 p.m, but should arrive early to ensure a spot. 1701 14th St. NW. For more information, visit whitman-walker.org.

WEDNESDAY, June 21 BOOKMEN DC, an informal men’s gay-literature group, discusses “Gay Travels in the Muslim World,” edited by Michael Luongo. All welcome. 7:30 p.m. DC Center, 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more info, visit bookmendc.blogspot.com. THE TOM DAVOREN SOCIAL BRIDGE CLUB will be meeting for

Social Bridge. No partner needed. 7:30 p.m. Dignity Center, 721 8th St. SE (across from Marine Barracks). Call 301-345-1571 for more information.

Weekly Events AD LIB, a group for freestyle con-

versation, meets about 6-6:30 p.m., Steam, 17th and R NW. All welcome. For more information, call Fausto Fernandez, 703-732-5174.

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH offers free HIV testing

and HIV services (by appointment). 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Decatur Center, 1400 Decatur St. NW. To arrange an appointment, call 202-291-4707, or visit andromedatransculturalhealth.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)

holds a practice session at Dunbar Aquatic Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 101 N St. NW. For more information, visit swimdcac.org.

FREEDOM FROM SMOKING, a group for LGBT people looking to quit cigarettes and tobacco use, holds a weekly support meeting at The DC Center. 7-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedccenter.org. HISTORIC CHRIST CHURCH

offers Wednesday worship 7:15 a.m. and 12:05 p.m. All welcome. 118 N. Washington St., Alexandria. 703549-1450, historicchristchurch.org.

HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker Health. 8 a.m.-8 p.m. at 1525 14th St. NW, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. at the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, 1701 14th St. NW, and 8 a.m-5 p.m. at the Max Robinson Center, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE. For an appointment call 202-745-7000 or visit whitman-walker.org. IDENTITY offers free and confidential HIV testing at its Gaithersburg location. Walk-ins accepted from 2-7 p.m., by appointment for all other hours. 414 East Diamond Ave., Gaithersburg, Md. To set up an appointment or for more information, call 301-300-9978. JOB CLUB, a weekly support pro-

gram for job entrants and seekers, meets at The DC Center. 6-7:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more info, www.centercareers. org.

METROHEALTH CENTER offers free, rapid HIV testing. No appointment needed. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700. For more information, call 202-638-0750. NOVASALUD offers free HIV testing. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite 200, Arlington. Appointments: 703-789-4467. WASHINGTON WETSKINS WATER POLO TEAM practices 7-9

p.m. Newcomers with at least basic swimming ability always welcome. Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW. For more information, contact Tom, 703-299-0504 or secretary@wetskins.org, or visit wetskins.org. l Submit your community event for consideration at least 10 days prior to the Thursday publication in which you would like it to appear. Email to calendar@metroweekly.com.

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

PRIDE IN NUMBERS

Thanks to the Equality March, record numbers of LGBTQ people celebrated Capital Pride, which encountered a few bumps in its parade road By John Riley

“MILEY! MILEY! MILEY!”

The chants were deafening, as the crowd anticipated the arrival of headliner Miley Cyrus for the Capital Pride Concert last Sunday evening. When the superstar emerged, wearing a pair of jeans bedazzled with “I ♥︎ Washington DC” and clutching a heart-shaped American flag purse, the roars became ear-shattering. It was a pinnacle moment in the ongoing history of the Capital Pride Festival, and one that capped a weekend that, while not without challenging moments, was the biggest and best celebration in the event’s 42-year history. Debuting her newest single, “Inspired,” Cyrus said, “I’d like to dedicate [it] to everyone here today, and everyone around the world that’s ever felt like they weren’t treated fairly because of their gender, or their sexual orientation or how they identify, or maybe ’cause they felt different or looked different. “I’d like to dedicate it to all those people, because I’ve been there, and I know how it feels. And to have all of y’all here right now, supporting me — I hope you know I support you with everything inside of my little bedazzled heart.” Cyrus, founder of the Happy Hippie Foundation, which encourages “young people to fight injustice facing homeless youth, LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable populations,” next blazed through several of her biggest hits, including a heartfelt rendition of the Dolly Parton classic, “Jolene” and the thundering “Party in the U.S.A.” “This song is perfect for today,” said Cyrus, who identifies as pansexual, introducing the hit “We Can’t Stop,” “because it’s all about we can’t stop and we won’t stop fighting for our rights, loving each other, fighting [against] injustices everywhere. I’m so happy to be part of this amazing family.” It was a sentiment echoed by other Capital Pride attendees throughout the weekend, whether at Saturday’s parade, Sunday’s festival, or the Equality March for Unity and Pride held earlier that morning. “I work in an organization that is pretty conservative,” said 27-year-old Annie Truslow, of Waynesboro, Va., who attended the festival with her girlfriend, Tali Ramo. “I often go through this experience of packing pieces and parts of myself away that I actually love and want to celebrate, for the sake of showing up to work and being professional and getting my job done. “I live in this space in pride events, or anytime I’m not at work, where I’m very intentional about living in my authenticity, whether that means I’m talking about my queer identity, or my relationship, just really embracing the experience of being queer in Trump’s America.” For Ramo, 25, who only recently came out as bisexual, the weekend offered a new perspective on Pride. “I’ve attended many festivals and pride parades before as an ally,” she said. “It feels entirely different to be here as someone who’s finally identifying and being at peace with who I am. It feels more emotional. There’s a sense of belonging. I think it’s really powerful to be here among a group of people who see you for who you are.” 36

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

PARADE, HALT AS WITH ANY FAMILY, spats occur over any number of issues. So it came as no surprise when a discordant note struck on Saturday, as the Capital Pride Parade was interrupted by the recently formed group, No Justice No Pride. Over the past few months, No Justice No Pride has taken issue with Capital Pride’s lack of board diversity, its reliance on corporate sponsorships — in particular, its association with defense contractors, and banks that invest in private prisons, immigration detention centers, and fund construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The group also objects to the presence of the Metropolitan Police Department’s LGBT Liaison Unit, due to allegations of police brutality toward communities of color, particularly transgender women of color. The parade, which drew an estimated 150,000 spectators, started its usual route through the Dupont, but as it moved closer to the reviewing stand near the intersection of 15th and P Streets, three different No Justice No Pride gatherings targeted specific contingents within the parade. One group, focused on police brutality and profiling, blocked MPD’s LGBT Liaison Unit on P Street NW. Another, comprised of anti-war activists, targeted Lockheed Martin at the intersection of 17th and P Streets NW. Finally, a third, led by indigenous, two-spirit individuals, targeted Wells Fargo at R Street and New Hampshire Avenue NW. The activists stood their ground until the parade was diverted. No arrests were made. Reaction to the protest was mixed. Some agreed with NJNP’s goals, but a substantial number of people objected to stopping the Parade. At 17th and P, several onlookers hurled empty water bottles and catcalled protesters from nearby balconies. Many of those in attendance, however, were simply confused by the stop-start flow of the parade, unaware of NJNP’s actions. A trio of Atlantans near the 17th and P blockade offered a perfect range of reactions to the demonstration. Jeff Raider, 44, was trying to read a double-sided, neon pink flier that NJNP had distributed, in order to explain the group’s mission. “I’m trying to read about it and process it,” he said. “I think they need to be heard.” Billy Heaton, 51, lamented the division that the protest sparked among members of the LGBTQ community, adding that it was unfair that NJNP was allowed to interrupt a peaceful Pride parade. “I’m a little bit frustrated, because hopefully, tomorrow, we would all be able to come as one,” he said in reference to the Equality March. “I don’t know why they necessarily have to ruin the parade.” But Scott Golden, who was initially upset at the parade being disrupted, had changed his mind after finding out about NJNP’s requests of Capital Pride. “Had I known about this in advance, I would probably be there protesting with them,” said the 37-yearold. Drew Ambrogi, one of the central organizers of No Justice No Pride, declared the group’s actions, which included several rallies and marches, triumphant. “We demonstrated that there is more broad community support for an alternate vision of Pride than Capital Pride would have folks believe,” he told Metro Weekly. “And that people enjoyed themselves celebrating the true legacy of Pride, and having an outlet to do that without feeling they were at a corporate festival.” Despite the alarming hostility of some passersby — several people reportedly spit on protestors and used the “n-word,”

while others chanted “Go to jail!” — Ambrogi felt that people were overall receptive to the group’s message and tactics. “We accomplished a variety of things. We continued to get our message out there in a way that was impossible for people to ignore and our blockades did get the attention of Capital Pride.” Ryan Bos, executive director of Capital Pride, expressed frustration at being unable to successfully convince No Justice No Pride to call off its actions. Yet, he remains hopeful at the prospect of future discussions with “I hear the demands that they are placing on us as Capital Pride, but these are things that impact our entire LGBTQ-plus community,” said Bos. “It’s being talked about in a way that we don’t understand or respect them — and we do. Confronting us [using] this tactic is not a way to bridge divides and to get to solutions. There are real issues in this conversation, and that’s what unfortunately getting missed, because I think people who need to hear it are turned off by this tactic.”

THE NEXT MORNING brought a united front as people took to the streets, marching through downtown D.C., past the White House and onto the National Mall. While opposition to the Trump administration ruled the day, the overall tone of the Equality March was lighthearted, with marchers donning rainbow flags, often pointed placards, even costumes. Laura Lewis, a 38-year old ally from Charlottesville, came dressed as “Wonder Woolen,” a crocheted Wonder Woman costume with a rainbow cape. “I started crocheting the costume shortly after the election, because I realized I wanted to go to a lot of marches, and be present, and make my voice heard,” she said. “So I created this character of ‘Wonder Woolen’ that I wear to different protests, to draw attention to the fact that justice and heroines go hand-in-hand with sticking up for the rights of people who are being oppressed by our society.” Wearing a rainbow zebra costume, Joshua Baumgardner, 31, of Fairfax, and his partner, David Craig, stood on the National Mall holding signs reading “Love will Prevail” and “Make America Fabulous,” the latter with a picture of Donald Trump dolled up in drag. They marched because of a general sense that LGBTQ rights are slowly being eroded under the Trump administration. “I think of this administration almost like a pebble,” said Baumgardner. “If you throw one pebble at someone, it might hurt a little bit. But a few months in, you’re loaded with thousands and thousands of pebbles, and you’ve killed people. That’s what I think with this administration: It’s one thing after another after another after another.” Kevin Morris, of Springfield, Va., participated in the 2009 Marriage Equality March and the 2000 Millennium March on Washington, but the 41-year-old says there’s a more immediate urgency now, because many fear Republicans will undo progress made on LGBTQ rights. “There’s just this sense of non-acceptance,” he said. “There’s this sense of threatening legislation from local governments, state governments. There’s a sense of empowerment for those political views. And four years of that could be dangerous for the LGBT community.” It was Scottie Craver’s grandchildren who provided the motivation for the 51-year-old and his partner to travel from Richardson, Texas. “You get to an age where it’s like, ‘I’m done with all the crap.’ I want this stuff to be equal for everyone,” says Craver. “I want to

JULIAN VANKIM

MARCHING OUT

make sure my grandchildren live in a world where they are paid and treated equally just like everyone else.” Craver scoffs at accusations from conservatives that the march is just the political left refighting the last election. “This is a march for our rights,” he said. “Where I go to work, I used to be in the closet, and not be able to talk about my partner. I go to work now, and they ask me, ‘Are you married?’ And I say, ‘I have a partner.’ I don’t have to worry about some bigot boss man at work who’s going to fire me because of who I am, not based on what I do.” Lena Hernandez, 34, of Clinton, Md., attended the march with her wife and her 22-month old daughter, who was twirling a giant rainbow flag. Hernandez teared up as she spoke of her hopes for her daughter. “I should have worn waterproof mascara,” she said, wiping her eyes. “I want my daughter to grow up and be happy. I want her to have a good education. I want her to fall in love. I want her to be proud of us. I don’t want her to be ashamed of having two moms because society tells her that it’s not okay.”

FESTIVE CELEBRATION STEPS AWAYS FROM the Equality March’s end point, an estimated 400,000 people gathered throughout the day on Pennsylvania Avenue for the Capital Pride Festival and Concert. Bernie Delia, president of the Capital Pride Board, says the crowd was larger than he had ever seen. “When Miley performed, there was a crowd stretching in each direction as far as you could see,” Delia says. “And they stayed.” A sense of protest from the morning’s march lingered JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

“We can’t stop and we won’t stop fighting for our rights, loving each other, fighting [against] injustices everywhere. I’M SO HAPPY TO BE PART OF THIS AMAZING FAMILY.” —Miley Cyrus throughout the day. “We saw a lot of cattiness and bitchiness about the protesters interrupting Pride yesterday,” said Seth Gaye, of Washington. He carried a rainbow sign emblazoned with some choice words for the current president. “Their demands were a little bit unorganized, some of them spot-on, some of them a little bit outrageous, but I wish they had more effectively gotten their message out. That’s why I kept my message simple: ‘Fuck Trump.’ There’s literally not a goddamn thing he has done that is in the right direction. It’s all backwards. And it’s just not the direction we should go.” Arissa Brown, a 25-year-old from Harrisburg, Pa., who marched with Planned Parenthood in Saturday’s Parade, admits that Pride takes on a new meaning under the Trump administration. “We’re going to be here,” she said. “We’re going to be loud. We’re going to be gay. We’re going to be proud. And you can’t put us back in the closet.” To other attendees, being visible was the most important aspect of the Capital Pride Festival. “Pride means to me living without fear, living genuinely, living your best life,” said 28-year-old Eric Morgan of Dupont,

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

sporting a rainbow tutu. “I’m unapologetically proud of my femme nature, and my tutu-wearing, makeup-swirling, high heel-strutting self.” V. Miller, 29, of Southeast D.C., took the opportunity to celebrate her identity and cultural heritage, sporting a Bahaman headdress with rainbow colored feathers and a rainbow flag draped around her shoulders. “I’m from the Bahamas,” she said. “So this is what we do: we have festivals in the street. I’m very proud, and with the change in administration, I’m very afraid as well. So I wanted to come out and be bold, and just express myself the best way I know how.” Andy Hackbarth was celebrating his first official Capital Pride since coming out to his friends last year. “It’s pretty incredible, actually,” said the 26-year-old from Arlington. “I did not expect it to be this wild. It’s amazing. It’s what I want it to be.” Reflecting on the past year, Hackbarth, who joined the D.C. Gay Flag Football League to meet new people, has been able to make friends and gradually get more comfortable with being “out.” “Being part of the community this year is the happiest I’ve ever been,” he says. “I’m really proud to be part of everything that’s going on here.” Jessica Crouse came dressed as Xena, the warrior princess. “I’m a lesbian, so I’m always at Pride,” said the 31-year-old as she strolled the festival grounds. “And I always wear my Xena costume to Pride, because Xena belongs here too.” Asked what makes her ‘unapologetically proud,’ Pride’s theme for 2017, Crouse smiled. “I just am who I am. I’m not ashamed of it. And I’m not going to hide it.” l

Capital Pride Parade • Saturday, June 10 Photography by Todd Franson, Ward Morrison, Randy Shulman and Julian Vankim

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Equality March • Sunday, June 11 Photography by Ward Morrison, Aerial photo by Tom Donohue / TMD Enterprises

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EqualityMarch

JUNE 15, 2017 â&#x20AC;¢ METROWEEKLY

Capital Pride Festival • Sunday, June 11 Photography by Todd Franson, Ward Morrison and Randy Shulman

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

JUNE 15, 2017 â&#x20AC;¢ METROWEEKLY

TOM DONOHUE / TMD ENTERPRISES

JUNE 15, 2017 â&#x20AC;¢ METROWEEKLY

TERESA WOOD

Stage

State Secrets

Perfect Arrangement returns to the Source Festival in a colorful, wellrealized new production. By André Hereford

OT EVERYTHING’S PERFECT FOR THE TWO SEEMINGLY HAPPILY married couples at the center of Topher Payne’s 1950s-set drama Perfect Arrangement (HHHHH). Occupying neighboring apartments in a Georgetown duplex, Bob and Millie Martindale and Jim and Norma Baxter lead overlapping lives that disguise a delicate cover for their real arrangement. In fact, Millie and Norma are a lesbian couple, Bob and Jim are a gay couple, and the foursome have worked out a mutually beneficial ruse that can’t last. Revived by the Source Festival as part of its 10th anniversary season, this knotty crowd-pleaser about the Lavender Scare returns, driven by a new production team, fresh design, and an additional scene inserted since its debut in 2013. As retrograde as the couples’ closeted camouflage might appear, Payne’s play remains a timely examination of the schism between public faces and private lives, especially for government employees. More than mere friends and neighbors, Bob (Jon Reynolds) and Norma (Mary Meyers) work together in the State Department, rooting out Communists from the agency’s rank and file. Norma might be a dutiful implementer of State’s internal blacklist, but Bob actually devised the system of surveillance and questioning. Now, his and Norma’s rigid boss, Ted (Kevin McGuinness), has tasked the pair with turning their inquisitional tactics towards exposing absolutely anyone at the agency who might be susceptible to blackmail. The most susceptible are any so-called deviants, drunkards, and individuals of loose moral character, which, according to Ted, includes gays and lesbians. This sudden turn of suspicion leaves Bob and Norma orchestrating a witch hunt that could lead directly to their duplex.

Payne has concocted a drum-tight premise, and director Nick Martin and the Source team have built a smart, sturdy production of a period story that, save for the same-sex angle, easily might be played out in a live televised courtroom in 2017. The politics of blacklisting and the policymaking of flagrant hypocrites are subjects that can’t be relegated to any one decade. The look and feel of the show, however, is squarely and surely 1950. Designer Jessica Cancino’s set reads as a bit boxy, but what it lacks in inviting warmth and dimension, it makes up for in eye-pleasing technicolor detail, echoed through Frank Labovitz’s uncommonly sumptuous costumes. In particular, the society finery of Ted’s affable — though not significantly less conservative — wife Kitty adds to the vividness of a character played to perfection by Jennifer Pagnard. Perhaps lonely, definitely in need of friendship, and abundantly nosy, Kitty aggressively pursues Bob’s wife, Millie (Danielle Scott) to be bosom buddies, with Norma as a sort of third wheel. Pagnard supplies Kitty with a delightfully daffy affect and warble of a voice that serves as the woman’s public face in the world, despite her own private struggles. Kitty might or might not understand more than

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

TERESA WOOD

she lets on, but her increasingly intrusive presence in the couples’ lives is just another factor throwing off the balance of their cover act. As tension mounts, and the characters’ frayed edges become ever more exposed, Meyers and Scott convincingly draw out the frustrations of two women in love whose conduct and career options have been so severely circumscribed by expectations of their gender. Meyers, as the heavily conflicted Norma, projects

her character’s emotions mighty forcefully, but she and Scott complement one another well as a romantic pairing. Novak brings sharp wit and timing to Jim, a high school teacher who, as much as any government employee, might be considered (then and always, really) susceptible to concerns about individual morality. He acts as sparkling complement to every other performer onstage, although Jim and Bob aren’t the most credible lovebirds. The real wildcard, both in the plot and the production, is the character of Barbara Grant, played with gusto by Toni Rae Salmi. Salmi isn’t subtle, but she’s highly entertaining as a State employee whose checkered past lands her at the top of Bob and Norma’s naughty list. Pitched slightly broader, the innuendoes and intrigues could play as screwball comedy, but that sort of effervescence is only lightly sampled on the menu. Instead, plot entanglements, some involving Barbara, pile up in the final act, with Bob, Millie, Jim and Norma crafting various schemes and counter-schemes to maintain their secret lives. But it’s Payne’s lever-pulling that feels exposed by the hasty wrap-up of some messy developments. Thankfully, he has populated the play with compelling, strongly delineated characters, enacting the perpetual truth that living a falsehood can be exhausting. l

Perfect Arrangement runs through July 2 at The Source Theatre, 1835 14th St. NW. Tickets are $20 to $32. Call 202-204-7760, or visit sourcefestival.org.

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

SCOTT SUCHMAN

Stage

The Lying Game The School For Lies is a rom-com for wordsmiths and wig lovers By Kate Wingfield

FUN, FRILLY AND DECIDEDLY CHEEKY ADAPTATION OF MOLIERE’S The Misanthrope, David Ives’ The School for Lies (HHHHH) is a rom-com for wordsmiths and wig-lovers. If the original is a gorgeous antique — and no doubt drew its share of titters back in the ancient day — Ives’ streamlined, 90-minute plot, unstoppable couplets, and the infusion of mega-topical references blows it wide open for today’s audience. Just do remember there was an original — and maybe even read it! In this satirical twist on 17th century Parisian high society, lawsuits are social sport, with all and sundry suing for slander and then using their influence on authority (judicial or royal) to sway the cases. Into this melee barrels the contemptuous Frank, a grumpy young man missing a few circuit-breakers, who within minutes has sent the foppish aristo Oronte into a litigious rage. Oblivious to the dangers of bankrupting lawsuits, Frank carries on dissing everyone in sight, including Celimene, a sharp-witted society gal with a string of suitors and her own worrying lawsuit. But when she gives as good as she gets, Frank is smitten, and so begins a romance beset by misunderstandings, mistaken identities, and powerful passions. Fast-paced wit are the order of the day and director Michael Kahn spins this production like a top. But if he keeps the repartee ripping, he also knows when to savor a moment. Just as vitally, he applies a blissfully light touch to the physical antics, pitching it perfectly between the subtle and the ridiculous. Completely in tune with Ives’

light-hearted irreverence and Kahn’s simpatico vision is Alexander Dodge’s playfully clever set. It’s all a charmingly clever poke: at past, present, people, and politics. Of course, much of the joy is in the array of comical characters paying court to Celimene, but there’s no doubt that the couple at the center needs to start a fire and keep it going. As the intolerant Fraank, the appealing, dashing Gregory Wooddell is delightfully frenetic, delivering Ives’ lingual barrages like he was born to it. It’s a tad more complicated with Victoria Frings. She gets the boldness and intelligence of Celimene right, but not quite the humor in her snark. She also needs to suggest (as Wooddell so successfully does), that there is a warmth and sensuality waiting under the games. These may be subtle points, but they put Celimene a smidgen out of sync with the charismatic Frank and the chemistry isn’t quite there. That said, does it disrupt the joyful shenanigans overall? Not a bit. As for comic color, the trio of Celimene’s suitors largely bring the goods. As Oronte, Tom Story delivers enjoyable apoplexy and Cameron Folmar is nicely smarmy, both helped by Murell Horton’s

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SCOTT SUCHMAN

Suess-esque costuming. They could play things a bit faster, looser, and more outrageous, as both are capable, but they are without doubt crowd-pleasers. As wealthy dimwit Acaste, Liam Craig offers some comically subtle faces; his skillful restraint

works well. And as the nearly unrequited Philinte, Cody Nickell does a solid deadpan, even if he is not quite button-down enough to make his transformation as funny as it might be. In the dual roles of servants Dubois and Basque, Michael Glenn captures the kind of good-natured recklessness that makes the production sing. But the true comic standouts are the virginal Eliante and the spinsterly Arsinoe, looking for love in all the wrong places. As the hilariously ardent Eliante, Dorea Schmidt nails it with comic abandon (and looks, at times, like she’d be quite a bit more fun than Celimene). As the pious snake Arsinoe, Veanne Cox pretty much steals the show with her feigned outrages and affectations. The School for Lies is high entertainment for our own colorful times — even if its lies are tame by comparison. l

The School For Lies runs to July 9 at Lansburgh Theatre, 450 7th St. NW. Tickets are $44 to $128. Call 202-547-1122 or visit shakespearetheatre.org.

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Music

Cosmic Harmony A live show about the cosmos is brought to glorious new form By Sean Maunier

N MANY WAYS, THE OLYMPIAN GODS WERE TO THEIR DEVOTEES WHAT the solar system is to us — distant, eternal, and inscrutable on the one hand, yet familiar enough to be addressed by name, and silent enough to allow us to project on them what we will. That the Romans named the planets after their deities was no accident. Since outer space and classical mythology both represent otherwise vast and inscrutable fields that can only be made comprehensible through inquiry and imagination, any project set in either field can be a project about anything, or indeed everything. Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner of The National, and composer Nico Muhly have opted for the latter in their sprawling collaboration Planetarium (HHHHH), an album that has been a long time coming. Originally commissioned as a live show and performed in the UK and the Netherlands in 2012, a side-by-side comparison makes clear that the album is an entirely different experience from the far more orchestral live show. Presenting the songs as an album allows Stevens, Dessner and Muhly to scale both up and down, building intense, room-filling electronica into some tracks and bringing others down to a drawn-out, autotuned whisper. The four do impressive justice to their subject matter, taking us on a tour of all eight planets plus the sun, the moon, and Pluto. It’s never entirely clear whether they are exploring outer space through the lens of classical myth, or the other way around — and in a way, this ambiguity is the point. On Planetarium, mythological truths

are layered upon scientific ones, and the distinction between deity and planet is frequently blurred. Songs ostensibly about the planets are bound up with the stories and personalities of their Greco-Roman namesakes. In bringing the mythological together with the astronomical, Planetarium explores the tension between personal and universal. “Saturn,” one of two singles released in advance of the album, furtively explores the madness that led the paranoid titan to consume his children, while “Mars” takes on the capacity for destruction and aggression that, like the god of war himself, “reside in every creature.” “Venus,” with its stately, imposing, and almost dreamlike beauty, plays with a lighter variation on the theme. The goddess of love and desire is invoked on a personal level, as Stevens quietly recalls a sexual awakening — “Methodist summer camp/You show me yours, show you mine.” It’s hard to get more straightforward than that, particularly in a song that rhymes the word “callipygian” — which, according to Stevens, means “nice buttocks.” If “Venus” seems a little on the nose,

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the album brings a more abstract approach elsewhere, as on “Pluto.” A planet for less than a century, before being reclassified as a dwarf planet, Planetarium takes pity on the distant, icy world, giving Pluto its own song. It happens to be one of the album’s most majestic and haunting, preserving some of the orchestral bombast of the live version. Though thought of as a lonely and remote place, Pluto and its moon Charon are tidally locked with each other and orbit a point between them. The romance is not lost on Stevens, and in his hands Pluto’s differences, the reasons for both its astronomical demotion and self-imposed exile to the underworld become a thing to be celebrated. “Let’s leave evidence to rest,” Stevens sings, as if to dismiss any hand-wringing over whether it should be included among the “proper” planets. Planetarium reaches outside the Greek mythos as well, with several electro-ambient interludes named for miscellaneous cosmic phenomena, as if to make the point that for all our exploration, the Kuiper Belt, dark energy and black holes in many ways remain as mysterious to us as the planets themselves were to the classical world. We are also brought into familiar territory with songs about the sun and moon. The album truly comes to a head

on “Earth,” a fifteen minute epic in five movements that recalls The Age of Adz, Stevens’s previous foray into off-kilter electronic soundscapes. It is a loving tribute that touches on our home planet’s vastness to us, smallness in the wider universe, and everything in between. After a stunning tour of our solar system, closing track “Mercury” almost surprises. Although both the planet and the messenger god are almost afterthoughts in their respective pantheons, they are stable, familiar and ever-present figures. Over a gentle piano, Stevens uses the often-forgotten god of tricksters and crossroads as a vehicle for exploring jilted love. Despite his apparent abandonment, he does not sing with the voice of someone scorned, but someone in awe, mourning their relationship but also marvelling at the strangeness of it all. After all, as any mortal from a Greek myth would tell you, loving and being loved by a god is no easy thing. Stevens’s gently sung meditations on the eight Olympians touch on love and desire, awe and intimacy, and ultimately the narrowness and briefness of human experience. While the smallness of humanity in the wider universe is a well-worn trope, in an age of looming planetary catastrophe it never hurts to be humbled before the wonder and terror of the cosmos. l

Planetarium is available now from Amazon.com and iTunes, as well as on streaming services.

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NightLife

JUNE 15, 2017 â&#x20AC;¢ METROWEEKLY

Scene

DrinksDragDJsEtc... Thursday, June 15 9 1/2 Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • Multiple TVs showing movies, shows, sports • Expanded craft beer selection • Music videos featuring DJ Wess BALTIMORE EAGLE Happy Hour, 5-9pm — all liquors, beers and wines up to 50% off • $3 Well Drinks All Night • Eagle Leathers presents Pride Art Show: “Two-Fisted Patti Lupone” Opening Party, 7pm • Underwear Night, 9pm-2am — For men in underwear, all well drinks $2 from 9pm-12am ONLY • Best Underwear Contest at 11pm • Beige Hip-Hop

Dance Party, featuring DJ Waterzz, 9pm-close • Complimentary Entry before 11pm • thebaltimoreeagle.com COBALT/30 DEGREES Happy Hour: $6 Top Shelf, $3 Rail, $3 Bud Light, 4-9pm • Locker Room Thursday Nights, 10pm-close • $3 Rail Drinks, 10pm-midnight, $5 Red Bull and Frozen Virgin Drinks • DJs Sean Morris and MadScience • Best Package Contest at midnight, hosted by Ba’Naka & Kristina Kelly • $200 Cash Prize • Doors open 10pm, 21+ • $5 Cover or free with college ID FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-7pm • Karaoke, 8pm

DC Eagle & DistrktC’s Pride Dance & Music Festival Sunday, June 11 • Photography by Ward Morrison

See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Ladies Drink Free Power Hour, 4-5pm • Shirtless Thursday, 10-11pm • Men in Underwear Drink Free, 12-12:30am • DJs BacK2bACk NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15 • Drag Bingo

TRADE 1410 14th St. NW Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS All male, nude dancers • DJ • 9pm • Cover 21+

NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover

Friday, June 16

SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 Rails and House Wines & Half-Priced Pizzas • $4 Heineken and Coronas, 5pm-close

9 1/2 Open at 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • Friday Night Videos, 9:30pm • Rotating DJs • Expanded craft beer selection • No Cover BALTIMORE EAGLE Happy Hour, 5-9pm — all liquors, beers and wines

up to 50% off • RuPaul Drag Race viewing party in The Nest, 7:30-9:30pm • Command MC presents LUST: The Official Leather/ Bear/Fetish Party of Pride, 9pm-2am • Elyx Vodka and Any Red Bull Flavor for $7 all day long • thebaltimoreeagle.com COBALT/30 DEGREES All You Can Drink Happy Hour • $15 Rail and Domestic, $21 Call & Imports, 6-9pm • Fancy Ass Fridays, 10pm • $6 Grey Goose all night • Two 30-minute open bars featuring Grey Goose, 11-11:30pm and 1-1:30am • DJ MadScience upstairs • DJ Keenan Orr downstairs • $10 cover 10pm-close • 21+ FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-7pm • Karaoke, 8pm

GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $5 Smirnoff, all flavors, all night long • HUSTLE Disco Dance Party, 9pm-close NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR DJ Matt Bailer • Videos, Dancing • Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15 NUMBER NINE Open 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • Friday Night Piano with Chris, 7:30pm SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 Rails and House Wines & Half-Priced Pizzas TOWN Patio open 6pm • DC Bear Crue Happy Hour, 6-11pm • $3 Rail, $3 Draft, $3 Bud Bottles • Free Pizza, 7pm

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• No cover before 9:30pm • 21+ • Drag Show starts at 10:30pm • Hosted by Lena Lett and featuring Miss Tatianna, ShiQueeta-Lee, Riley Knoxx and Ba’Naka • DJ Wess upstairs, DJs BacK2bACk downstairs following the show • GoGo Boys after 11pm • Doors open at 10pm • For those 21 and over, $12 • For those 18-20, $15 • Club: 18+ • Patio: 21+ TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets, 9pm • Guest dancers • Ladies of Illusion Drag Show • Doors at 9pm, Shows at 11:30pm and 1:30am • DJ Don T. in Secrets • Cover 21+

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Saturday, June 17 9 1/2 Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut & Tito’s, $3 Miller Lite after 9pm • Expanded craft beer selection • No Cover BALTIMORE EAGLE $5 Drinks all day • Leather and Fetish Saturdays, Code Bar, 8pm-2am • Code enforced after 9pm in the Code Bar • Pride Festival and Block Party, 11am-2am • No Cover charge 11am-2pm, $5 2-7pm, $15 after 7pm • 5 DJs, Patio Bar, and Special Pride Menu • thebaltimoreeagle.com COBALT/30 DEGREES Drag Yourself to Brunch at Level One, 11am-2pm and 2-4pm • Featuring Kristina Kelly and the Ladies of Illusion • Bottomless Mimosas and Bloody Marys • Happy Hour: Tops Down $6 Top Shelf, Bottoms Up $3 Rail, $3 Bud Light, 4-9pm • LURe: Ladies Night, 10pm-close • Doors open 10pm • $5 Cover • 21+

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Drag Queen Broadway Brunch, 10am-3pm • Starring Freddie’s Broadway Babes • Crazy Hour, 4-7pm • Freddie’s Follies Drag Show, hosted by Miss Destiny B. Childs, 8-10pm • Karaoke, 10pm-close GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 1-9pm • $5 Bacardi, all flavors, all night long • Awesomecon Unofficial After Party, 10pm-close • Mega Cosplay Contest • Over $1,000 in Prizes, Costume Rentals, and Raffles • Featuring Danny Lantern and Aaron Paul • $5 Cover NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Guest DJs • Zing Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer, House Rail Drinks and Mimosas, $4, 11am-5pm • Buckets of Beer, $15 NUMBER NINE Doors open 2pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5 Bulleit Bourbon • THIRSTY, featuring DJs Chord Bezerra, 9:30pm

SHAW’S TAVERN Brunch with Bottomless Mimosas, 10am-3pm • Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 Rails and House Wines & Half-Priced Pizzas TOWN DC Rawhides host Town & Country: Two-Step, Line Dancing, Waltz and West Coast Swing, $5 Cover to stay all night • Doors open 6:30pm, Lessons 7-8pm, Open dance 8-10:30pm • Guest DJs upstairs • DJ Wess downstairs • Drag Show starts at 10:30pm • Hosted by Lena Lett and featuring Tatianna, ShiQueeta-Lee, Riley Knoxx and Ba’Naka • Cover $15 from 10pm-midnight and $12 after midnight • 21+ TRADE Doors open 12pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 12-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets, 9pm-4am • Guest dancers • Ladies of Illusion Drag Show with host Ella Fitzgerald • Doors at 9pm, Shows at 11:30pm and 1:30am • DJ Don T. in Ziegfeld’s • DJ Steve Henderson in Secrets • Cover 21+

Official Pride Closing Party, 10pm-close • DJ Power Infiniti on the Main Dance Floor • Special performance by Miss Kitty Meow • DJ MadScience with your favorite music videos in the lounge • $5 Cover all night, benefitting Capital Pride

ROCK HARD SUNDAYS @The House Nightclub 3530 Georgia Ave. NW Diverse group of all male, all nude dancers • Nonstop on three stages, 9:30pm-close • Intimate setting • $12 Cover • For reservations, call 202-4876646 • rockharddc.com

Sunday, June 18

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Champagne Brunch Buffet, 10am-3pm • Crazy Hour, 4-7pm • Karaoke, 8pm-1am

9 1/2 Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • Multiple TVs showing movies, shows, sports • Expanded craft beer selection • No Cover

GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 1-9pm • Mama’s Trailer Park Karaoke, downstairs, 9:30pm-close

SHAW’S TAVERN Brunch with Bottomless Mimosas, 10am-3pm • Stoli Sundays: $5 Stoli Specials with DJ, 3:30pm • Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 Rails and House Wines & Half-Priced Pizzas

BALTIMORE EAGLE T-Dance Sundays, 4-9pm • Buy a cup for $5 and fill it with any Absolut Flavor and Mixer for $3 each time (excluding energy drink mixers) • thebaltimoreeagle.com

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Drag Brunch, hosted by Shi-Queeta-Lee, 11am-3pm • $20 Brunch Buffet • House Rail Drinks, Zing Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer and Mimosas, $4, 11am-close • Buckets of Beer, $15

COBALT/30 DEGREES Happy Hour: $6 Top Shelf, $3 Rail, $3 Bud Light, 4-9pm • $4 Stoli, Stoli Flavors and Bud Light all night • We Ain’t Sorry

NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • Pop Goes the World with Wes Della Volla at 9:30pm • No Cover

TRADE Doors open 12pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 12-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS All male, nude dancers • Decades of Dance • DJ Tim-e in Secrets • Doors 9pm • Cover 21+

Monday, June 19 9 1/2 Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • Multiple TVs showing movies, shows, sports • Expanded craft beer selection • No Cover BALTIMORE EAGLE Happy Hour, 5-9pm, all liquors, beers and wines up to 50% off • Micro Brew Draft/Bottle Mondays — $4 all day • SIN: Service Industry Night, 11pm-2am • First Well Drink or Domestic Beer Free • 10% off your Food Order all day • thebaltimoreeagle.com COBALT/30 DEGREES Happy Hour: $6 Top Shelf, $3 Rail, $3 Bud Light, 4-9pm • Monday Night’s A Drag, featuring Miss Kristina Kelly • Doors open at 10pm • Showtime at 11:30pm • Doors open at 10pm • No Cover • 21+ FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-7pm • Singles Night • Karaoke, 8pm

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GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour all night long • Open Mic Night Karaoke with Kevin, 9:30pm-close JR.’S Showtunes Songs & Singalongs, 9pm-close • DJ James • $3 Draft Pints, 8pm-midnight NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15 • Texas Hold’em Poker, 8pm • Dart Boards NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 Rails and House Wines and Half-Priced Pizzas • Trivia with Jeremy, 7:30pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 • Love DC/Amor DC: A dramatic, healing reading and performances commemorating the Club Pulse victims, presented by DiCción Queer, 5:306:30pm

Tuesday, June 20 9 1/2 Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • Multiple TVs showing movies, shows, sports • Expanded craft beer selection • No Cover BALTIMORE EAGLE Happy Hour, 5-9pm, all liquors, beers and wines up to 50% off • Well Bomb Shots $4 all Day • thebaltimoreeagle.com COBALT/30 DEGREES Happy Hour all night: $6 Top Shelf, $3 Rail, $3 Bud Light • SIN Service Industry Night, 10pm-close FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-7pm • Karaoke, 8pm

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GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour all night long, 4pm-close NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15 • Karaoke and Drag Bingo NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • After 9pm, $3 Absolut, Bulleit & Stella SHAW’S TAVERN Half-Priced Burgers and Pizzas, 5-10pm • $5 House Wines and $5 Sam Adams TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

Wednesday, June 21 9 1/2 Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • Multiple TVs showing movies, shows, sports • Expanded craft beer selection • No Cover BALTIMORE EAGLE Happy Hour, 5-9pm, all liquors, beers and wines up to 50% off • Domestic Bottles are $3 all day • thebaltimoreeagle.com COBALT/30 DEGREES Happy Hour: $6 Top Shelf, $3 Rail, $3 Bud Light, 4-9pm • $4 Stoli and Stoli Flavors and Miller Lite all night • Wednesday Night Karaoke, hosted by India Larelle Houston, 10pm-close • No Cover • 21+ FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-7pm • $6 Burgers • Drag Bingo Night, hosted by Ms. Regina Jozet Adams, 8pm • Bingo prizes • Karaoke, 10pm-1am GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour all night long, 4pm-close • Bear Yoga with Greg Leo, 6-7pm • $10 per class

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NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR SmartAss Trivia Night, 8pm and 9pm • Prizes include bar tabs and tickets to shows at the 9:30 Club • $15 Buckets of Beer for SmartAss Teams only • Bring a new team member and each get a free $10 Dinner NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 Rails and House Wines and Half-Priced Pizzas • Piano Bar with Jill, downstairs, 8pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

Thursday, June 22 9 1/2 Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • Multiple TVs showing movies, shows, sports • Expanded craft beer selection • Music videos featuring DJ Wess BALTIMORE EAGLE Happy Hour, 5-9pm, all liquors, beers and wines up to 50% off • $3 Well Drinks All Night • Underwear Night, 9pm-2am — For men in underwear, all well drinks $2 from 9pm-12am ONLY • Best Underwear Contest at Midnight • Code enforced in Code Bar after 9pm • Beige Hip-Hop Dance Party, featuring DJ Waterzz, 9pm-close • Complimentary Entry before 11pm • thebaltimoreeagle.com

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

COBALT/30 DEGREES Happy Hour: $6 Top Shelf, $3 Rail, $3 Bud Light, 4-9pm • Locker Room Thursday Nights, 10pm-close • $3 Rail Drinks, 10pm-midnight, $5 Red Bull and Frozen Virgin Drinks • DJs Sean Morris and MadScience • Best Package Contest at midnight, hosted by Ba’Naka & Kristina Kelly • $200 Cash Prize • Doors open 10pm, 21+ • $5 Cover or free with college ID FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-7pm • Karaoke, 8pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Ladies Drink Free Power Hour, 4-5pm • Shirtless Thursday, 10-11pm • Men in Underwear Drink Free, 12-12:30am • DJs BacK2bACk NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15 • Drag Bingo NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • Time Machine, featuring DJ Jack Rayburn, 8pm SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 Rails and House Wines & Half-Priced Pizzas • $4 Heineken and Coronas, 5pm-close • Paint Nite, Second Floor, 7pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS All male, nude dancers • DJ • 9pm • Cover 21+ l

Scene

Town’s Pride Kickoff Night with Boomer Banks & Tatianna Friday, June 9 • Photography by Ward Morrison

See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY

JUNE 15, 2017 â&#x20AC;¢ METROWEEKLY

LastWord. People say the queerest things

“I hope and pray the mindset held by a lot of middle American white men is abolished, and I hope to be part of the solution.” — TODRICK HALL, speaking to Australia’s Star Observer about his desire to make life easier for young, gay black men in the future. “I want to be the first gay black man to do things so that gay black men 15 years down the road won’t even have to think about them and can just be themselves,” he said.

“To all young people watching at home, don’t waste any time trying to be like anybody but yourself.” — Actor BEN PLATT, accepting the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for Dear Evan Hansen. “The things that make you strange are the things that make you powerful,” he added.

“White people do not know what racism looks like, because that’s the definition of racism.” — AMBER HIKES, executive director of Philadelphia-based ad agency Tierney, to CNN. Hikes helped the city’s Office of LGBT Affairs develop its More Color More Pride campaign, which features a revised Pride flag with black and brown added to better represent LGBTQ individuals of color. “To see this at City Hall is such a profound statement,” Hikes said.

“We want people to feel like we have endless options to really reflect who they are.” — Xbox Designer KATHRYN STORM, speaking to Xbox Daily about an update to Microsoft’s Xbox Avatars — personalized digital recreations of the user — that makes all clothing gender-neutral. “If you can see it in the store, you can wear it. We’re not holding you to any sort of check-boxes,” she added.

“Most gay people aren’t political...they care about pop music and going to the beach. They probably don’t know what the Second Amendment is.” — Former Advocate editor CHADWICK MOORE, speaking to Tucker Carlson on Fox News about a vigil held outside the Stonewall Inn to remember the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shooting. Moore contended that attendees had came to the vigil “to be together, to celebrate the community, to mourn together and instead they are fed this anti-gun nonsense.” However, the vigil was organized by the group Gays Against Guns.

JUNE 15, 2017 • METROWEEKLY