Metro Weekly - 10-10-13 - Cameron Carpenter

2 DATE 0, 2003 METROWEEKLY.
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4 OCTOBER 10, 2013 METROWEEKLY.COM
5 METROWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 10, 2013
HRC Celebrates in D.C.
Thousands, including DOMA and Prop. 8 legal teams, cheer the
accomplishments of the past year at national dinner
AFER Executive Director Adam Umhoefer (left), Paul Katami, Jeff Zarrillo, Sandy Stier, Kris Perry,
Ted Olson, Davis Boies, Robbie Kaplan, Chad Grifn.
by Justin Snow
T
HE NATIONS LARGEST
LGBT-rights organization was
in celebration mode Saturday
night, marking a year of his-
toric victories from the ballot box to the
Supreme Court of the United States.
More than 3,400 attended the Human
Rights Campaigns National Dinner at
D.C.s Walter E. Washington Convention
Center for the organizations 17th annual
black-tie gala, with all that had been
achieved in the past year on full display.
Here at this largest-ever HRC
National Dinner, we have so much to
celebrate, HRC President Chad Grifn
told the Oct. 5 crowd. Just since we
were here last year: Sen. Tammy Bald-
win elected, President Obama re-elected.
More Democrats standing with us, and
more Republicans standing up to join us.
The destruction of DOMA and its two
decades of discrimination and marriage
equality in Maine, Maryland, Washing-
ton, Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota
and, yes, California too.
But while Grifn acknowledged the
many steps forward that had been taken
in such a short period of time, he reiter-
ated that a dark wall of discrimination
has created two Americas and the ght
for equality is not over until every single
American in all 50 of our states can share
in those same victories.
Vice President Joe Biden was sched-
uled to attend the dinner, but canceled
amid the ongoing government shutdown.
In his stead, President Barack Obama
delivered a video address.
As you held this gala last year, the
Defense of Marriage Act was still the
law of the land, Obama said on the
big screens. Loving, committed gay and
lesbian couples were treated differently
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than loving straight couples. You knew it
was wrong, I knew it was wrong, and in
June the Supreme Court nally decided
it was wrong.
Were not there yet, Obama added.
As I said in my inaugural address, our
journey is not complete until our gay
brothers and sisters are treated like any-
one else under the law. For if we are truly
created equal, then surely the love we
commit to one another must be equal as
well. Thats why Ill keep pushing Con-
gress to pass measures like the Employ-
ment Non-Discrimination Act, to give
workers everywhere, including trans-
gender Americans, the protection they
deserve. And thats why Ill keep urging
Republicans in Congress to reopen the
government, restore the services peo-
ple depend on and allow our dedicated
public servants gay and straight to
return to work.
Although strides taken on the mar-
riage-equality front took the forefront
of the evening, HRCs commitment to
transgender equality did not go unac-
knowledged. Griffin reiterated the
organizations commitment to passing
the Employment Non-Discrimination
Act, and Sarah McBride, a transgender
woman who came out in May 2012 dur-
ing her last day as student body president
at American University, spoke about her
coming out experience along with her
brother, who is gay.
While the event had its fair share
of celebrity guests, with Gloria Steinem
in attendance and Jennifer Lopez being
honored with HRCs 2013 Ally for Equal-
ity award, the true stars of the evening
were the plaintiffs and attorneys who
brought about two landmark Supreme
Court cases.
Coming less than four months after
the Supreme Court struck down Section
3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act
and threw out the Proposition 8 case,
thus returning marriage equality to Cali-
fornia, the attorneys spoke to how the
country had arrived to where it is today.
L
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News
Now online at MetroWeekly.com
News: Laramie Project hit by shutdown
Technocrat: Dells new XPS 15 laptop
marketplace
HRC Celebrates in D.C.
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10
the name of Edie Windsor, Kaplan said.
Because of her courage no gay person
will ever have to suffer from the indignity
of DOMA ever again.
Describing the Proposition 8 case as
the greatest privilege of his professional
career, Boies said he and Olson had the
torch passed to them after decades of suf-
fering and sacrice by those who came
before them.
According to Olson, the two attorneys
who faced each other on opposing
Taking the stage to a backdrop of the
Supreme Court building, the attorneys
in the Proposition 8 case, Ted Olson and
David Boies, along with the plaintiffs
Kris Perry and Sandy Stier and Paul
Katami and Jeff Zarrillo along with
Robbie Kaplan, who represented Edie
Windsor in the DOMA case, received a
standing ovation from the audience.
Our victory against DOMA never
wouldve happened without a 5-foot tall,
84-year-old, less than 100-pound lady by
sides in the Bush v. Gore case knew
they would win when the two couples at
the center of the case against Californias
same-sex marriage ban told their person-
al stories as they testied during the trial.
The country is changing because
of all of you. The country is changing
because people of varying sexual orien-
tations over the last few decades have
stood up and said, This is who I am,
Boies said. God bless the America we are
becoming. l
OCTOBER 10, 2013 METROWEEKLY.COM
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Secretary Hagel
Rough Start for Military Benets
Despite Pentagon policy, same-sex military families still facing obstacles
by Justin Snow
T
HE PENTAGONS EXTEN-
sion of benets to same-sex
military families continues to
face setbacks and roadblocks
one month after the updated policy was
implemented, now with lawmakers on
Capitol Hill urging the Obama adminis-
tration to act.
In a Sept. 30 letter to Defense Sec-
retary Chuck Hagel sent by Rep. Adam
Smith (D-Wash.) and Sen. Carl Levin
(D-Mich.), the two most senior Demo-
crats on the House and Senate Armed
Services Committees, urged Hagel to
issue further guidance as at least four
states continue to block the processing of
benets for any member of the National
Guard with a same-sex spouse.
We urge you to issue further guidance
on this matter, reafrming that all married
military couples must be treated equally,
and clarifying that state National Guards,
because they are funded in large part by
federal tax dollars, cannot choose to ignore
this order by denying some lawfully mar-
ried military couples equal access to the
federal benets to white they are entitled,
the two Democrats wrote.
The letter comes as there has been
little federal response to the four states
blocking benets Oklahoma, Missis-
sippi, Louisiana and Texas, where Lamb-
da Legal has intervened signaling the
possibility of a lawsuit. All four states
are run by socially conservative Repub-
lican governors and have determined
same-sex military families must go to a
federal facility to enroll in the Defense
Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System
(DEERS) rather than a state installation
because of their respective bans on same-
sex marriage.
And while they appear to be in de-
ance of an order from the secretary of
defense, the Pentagon and the White
House have been mum on what, if any,
response it will issue.
Defense Department spokesman Lt.
Cmdr. Nate Christensen declined to com-
ment on Hagels correspondence, but has
previously told Metro Weekly that all
Federal Military installations will issue
IDs to all those who provide a valid mar-
riage certicate from a jurisdiction that
recognizes same-sex marriage.
Speaking to reporters in September,
White House press secretary Jay Carney said
he did not know if President Obama was
aware of the situation in those four states.
Meanwhile, the Los Angels Times
reported Oct. 2 that gay members of the
military are running into widespread
obstacles in attempts to take advantage
of a new Obama administration policy
enacted in August that provides gay ser-
vicemembers wishing to marry up to 10
days leave to travel to those jurisdictions
that permit same-sex marriage.
We recognize that same-sex couples
not stationed in a jurisdiction that permits
same-sex marriage would have to travel
to another jurisdiction to marry, Hagel
wrote in an Aug. 13 memo. Accordingly,
the Department will implement policies
to allow military personnel in such a
relationship non-chargeable leave for
the purpose of traveling to a jurisdiction
where such a marriage may occur. This
will provide accelerated access to the full
range of benets offered to married mili-
tary couples throughout the Department
and help level the playing eld between
opposite-sex and same-sex couples seek-
ing to be married.
However, according to the Los Angeles
Times, the Marines are the only branch
of the military to have issued nal guide-
lines on the policy, with Army and Navy
having issued interim directives and the
Air Force having issued no instructions.
The Pentagon is expected to issue further
guidance in the coming weeks.
The departments policy is that, as
marketplace
ing New York, Maryland and Delaware,
have all decided to be on the right side of
history and have granted equal rights to
their LGBT citizens. The time has come
for Pennsylvanias Legislature to stand
up and let our citizens know we see them
as truly equal members of society and
they have the right to choose whom they
marry.
Sims also said the recent U.S. Supreme
Court ruling overturning a section of the
federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
convinced the pair to move forward with
the issue. Sims also argued that Penn-
sylvanias refusal to acknowledge same-
sex relationships is hampering Pennsyl-
vanias economy, as LGBT people and
their allies are choosing to do business in
states that have marriage equality.
This lack of equality is holding us
back, Sims said. Where are we at in
our government where you lose rights by
crossing a border?
Both legislators said they have been
gathering co-sponsors and claim there
is bipartisan support for the measure.
Including Sims and McCarter, 36 House
members, the bulk of whom are from
Philadelphia and its rst-ring suburbs,
have signed on as co-sponsors so far,
including Republican State Rep. Chris
Ross (R-Chester Co.). Pennsylvanias
other out gay House member, Rep.
Mike Fleck (R-Huntingdon, Blair, Mif-
in counties), has not signed on as a
co-sponsor.
Pennsylvania currently has its own
DOMA-type statute banning recognition
of same-sex relationships, although there
is no such ban in the states constitution.
Recent polls have shown majorities of
Pennsylvanians support recognition of
same-sex relationships, with support for
marriage equality registering at 54 per-
cent and support for civil unions at 65
percent in a Franklin and Marshall Col-
lege poll from May. But an August poll
by Franklin and Marshall also showed 76
percent of Pennsylvanians disagree with
a decision by Montgomery County Regis-
was co-introduced by state Rep. Brian
Sims (D-Philadelphia), one of two out gay
legislators in the General Assembly, and
Rep. Steve McCarter (D-Philadelphia,
Montgomery Co.). The two made their
announcement against the backdrop of
Pennsylvanias Love Park, so nicknamed
for iconic pop-artist Robert Indianas
Love sculpture that looms over John F.
Kennedy Plaza in Philadelphias Center
City neighborhood.
The majority of Pennsylvanians
now support marriage equality, and
that support continues to grow, Sims
said, anked by supporters of same-sex
marriage. Neighboring states, includ-
by John Riley
T
WO PENNSYLVANIA STATE
representatives announced at
an Oct. 3 press conference the
introduction of a marriage-
equality bill in the General Assemblys
lower chamber that would give same-sex
couples access to state marriage licenses
and would recognize same-sex marriages
performed in jurisdictions that already
recognize marriage equality.
The measure, H.B. 1686, also known as
the Pennsylvania Marriage Equality Act,
LGBTNews
12
administration after the Supreme Courts
June decision striking down Section 3
of the Defense of Marriage Act dening
marriage as between a man and a woman.
However, advocates say there can be
no delay in resolving these problems.
The resistance on the part of several
state National Guards to the extension of
military benets to the same-sex spouses
of members of the National Guard cannot
go unaddressed, Ian Thompson, legisla-
operational requirements permit, com-
manding ofcers MAY grant an adminis-
trative absence to service members that
are assigned to duty stations located more
than 100 miles from a jurisdiction that
allows the couple to be married, Chris-
tensen said in an email to Metro Weekly.
The various issues facing the Penta-
gon following the extension of benets
signify the widespread policy changes
that have been undertaken by the Obama
tive representative for the American Civil
Liberties Union, said in a statement. The
Department of Defense needs to reaf-
rm that, consistent with the Supreme
Courts ruling in U.S. v. Windsor, all mar-
ried military couples must be treated
equally, and state National Guards can-
not choose to ignore this order by deny-
ing some lawfully married couples equal
access to the federal benets to which
they are entitled. l
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Keystone State Crusade
Sims, McCarter introduce marriage-equality legislation in
Pennsylvania House
McCarter (left) and Sims (right)
LGBTNews
ter of Wills D. Bruce Hanes to issue mar-
riage licenses to same-sex couples in the
county, at least while state law currently
prohibits same-sex marriage.
This goes beyond simply legalizing
gay marriage, McCarter said. This is
about ensuring all Pennsylvanians have
equal benets and protections before the
law. Marriage equality and the benets
associated with it need to be afforded
to all of our citizens, and the people of
Pennsylvania support that idea. The issue
is getting our fellow legislators to listen
to their constituents and the voice of
Pennsylvanians who are calling for this
bill to proceed.
A companion marriage-equality bill
was introduced in the Senate in March
by state Sen. Daylin Leach (D-Montgom-
ery, Delaware counties), and has ve co-
sponsors. That bill, S.B. 719, is awaiting
a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Com-
mittee. But both bills likely face uphill
challenges, as Republicans control the
House of Representatives 111-92 and hold
a 27-23 edge in the Senate.
Appearing alongside Sims and
McCarter at their press conference, Sen.
Leach, a registered ofciant with Univer-
sal Life Church who has presided over
several same-sex marriages, praised the
Philadelphia lawmakers.
For much of my tenure here in the
General Assembly, Ive worked tirelessly
to grant same-sex couples the same rights
and privileges that, currently, only a seg-
ment of the population enjoys, Leach
said in a statement issued by his ofce. I
am thrilled to see the growing support for
this movement, and I am condent that
we will succeed in our mission and we
will end up on the right side of history on
this issue.
Leachs sentiments were echoed by
other supporters.
An ever-growing majority of Penn-
sylvanians now agree that all consent-
ing adults should be able to make life-
long commitments to the ones they
love, Rep. Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny
Co.), co-chairman of the Legislatures
58-member LGBT Equality Caucus, said
in a statement. I believe the institu-
tion is strengthened when families gay
and straight can choose the rights and
responsibilities of civil marriage.
Another member of the LGBT Equal-
ity Caucus, Rep. Mark Cohen (D-Phila-
delphia), introduced a bill in April that
would legalize civil unions in the Key-
stone State, noting at the time that the
passage of a civil-unions bill did not pre-
clude support for a marriage-equality bill
in the future, though such a compro-
mise measure would enjoy more support
among rank-and-le legislators than a
marriage-equality bill would.
Still, McCarter and Sims seemed con-
dent about marriage equalitys chances.
Were in a situation now where were
galvanized, McCarter told attendees
of the press conference. The ruling on
DOMA made it apparent that marriage
equality is the correct direction for Penn-
sylvania to follow. With a companion bill
in the Senate, there is no better time for
Pennsylvanians to contact their legisla-
tors and tell them now is the time to act.
We can no longer afford to sit on the side-
lines and watch as the rest of the country
evolves to accept what should already be
state law. l
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.
DIGNITY WASHINGTON offers Roman Catholic
Mass for the LGBT community. 6 p.m., St.
Margarets Church, 1820 Connecticut Ave. NW. All
welcome. Sign interpreted. dignitynova.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 oor. Special welcome to
lesbians and gays. Handicapped accessible from
Phelps Place gate. Hearing assistance. quakersdc.org.
INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT,
God-centered new age church & learning center.
Sunday Services and Workshops event. 5419 Sherier
Place NW. isd-dc.org.
METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH OF
WASHINGTON, D.C. services at 9 a.m. (ASL
interpreted) and 11 a.m. Childrens Sunday School
at 11 a.m. 474 Ridge St. NW. 202-638-7373, mccdc.
com.
RIVERSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH, a Christ-centered,
interracial, welcoming-and-afrming church, offers
service at 10 a.m. 680 I St. SW. 202-554-4330,
riverside-dc.org.
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF
SILVER SPRING invites LGBTQ families and
individuals of all creeds and cultures to join the
church. Services 9:15 and 11:15 a.m. 10309 New
Hampshire Ave. uucss.org.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 14
ADVENTURING outdoor group hikes 5 easy miles,
Glover Archbold Park. Meet 10 a.m., Tenleytown
Metro, east exit, by Panera. Bring water, snack,
$2 fee, return bus fare. Damon, 202-213-4592. OR
hike a strenuous 8.2 miles 1,200 feet elevation gain,
Catoctin Mountain Park. (Contingent on shutdown
resolution.) Bring beverages, lunch, bug spray,
appropriate footwear, about $12/fees. Carpool 9
a.m., Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro. Jeff, 301-775-
9660. adventuring.org
WEEKLY EVENTS
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.
Whitman-Walker Health HIV/AIDS SUPPORT
GROUP for newly diagnosed individuals, meets
7 p.m. Registration required. 202-939-7671,
hivsupport@whitman-walker.org.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15
Join NEXT GENERATION LEADERSHIP
FOUNDATION for ofcial launch event. 6:30-8:30
p.m. $150. Long View Gallery, 1234 9th St. NW.
nglf.org.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12
QUEER FOR CHRIST hosts free screening of gay
documentary, For the Bible Tells Me So. 11 a.m. Mt.
Pleasant Library, 3160 16th St. NW. facebook.com/
groups/qfcdc.
ADVENTURING outdoors group hikes 12 level miles,
Cedarville State Forest. Carpool 9 a.m., Branch
Avenue Metro. Eric, 240-538-2378. OR hike 11
strenuous miles, Cacapon State Park. Carpool 9 a.m.,
East Falls Church Kiss & Ride lot. Bring beverages,
lunch, bug spray, appropriate footwear, about $20/
fees. Brett, 703-914-1439. adventuring.org.
WEEKLY EVENTS
ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH
offers free HIV testing, 9-5 p.m., and HIV
services (by appointment). 202-291-4707 or
andromedatransculturalhealth.org.
BET MISHPACHAH, founded by members of the
LGBT community, holds Saturday morning Shabbat
services, 10 a.m., followed by kiddush luncheon.
Services in DCJCC Community Room, 1529 16th St.
NW. betmish.org.
DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice session at
Marie Reed Aquatic Center, 2200 Champlain St.
NW. 8-9:30 a.m. swimdcac.org.
DC FRONT RUNNERS running/walking/social
club welcomes all levels for exercise in a fun and
supportive environment, socializing afterward.
Meet 9:30 a.m., 23rd & P Streets NW, for a walk; or
10 a.m. for fun run. dcfrontrunners.org.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13
THE ROCK CREAK SINGERS of the Gay Mens
Chorus of Washington present a concert. $15 per
person, $25 per couple/family by request. 2 p.m.
Sanctuary of the New York Avenue Presbyterian
Church, 1313 New York Ave. $15 per person, $25
per couple/family by request. Rachel, 281-217-4593,
nyapc.org.
ADVENTURING outdoors group hikes 7 easy miles,
Prince William Forest State Park. (Contingent on
shutdown resolution.) Bring beverages, lunch, bug
spray, and about $8 for fees. Carpool 8:30 a.m.,
Huntington Metro, lower level Kiss & Ride lot.
Devon, 202-368-3379. adventuring.org.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10
WEEKLY EVENTS
HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker Health. The
Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, 1701 14th St. NW,
9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max Robinson Center, 2301
MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Call 202-745-
7000. Visit whitman-walker.org.
IDENTITY offers free and condential HIV testing
in Gaithersburg, 414 East Diamond Ave., and in
Takoma Park, 7676 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 411.
Walk-ins 2-6 p.m. For appointments other hours,
call Gaithersburg, 301-300-9978, or Takoma Park,
301-422-2398.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11
NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY
St. Marks Episcopal Church screens LOVE HEALS
HOMOPHOBIA. 7 p.m. 301 A St. SE. 202-543-0053.
Historic Christ Church offers COME OUT TO
CHRIST CHURCH, food and fellowship for National
Coming Out Day. 6-8 p.m. 118 N. Washington St.,
Alexandria. RSVP to 703-349-0979 or dan.plafcan@
gmail.com. historicchristchurch.org.
WEEKLY EVENTS
METROHEALTH CENTER offers free, rapid HIV
testing. Appointment needed. 1012 14th St. NW,
Suite 700. 202-638-0750.
HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker Health,
Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, 1701 14th St. NW,
9 a.m.-5 p.m. 202-745-7000, whitman-walker.org.
PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBT-afrming social
group for ages 11-24. 4-6 p.m. 1419 Columbia Road
NW. Tamara, 202-319-0422, layc-dc.org.
SMYALS REC NIGHT provides a social
atmosphere for GLBT and questioning youth,
featuring dance parties, vogue nights, movies and
games. catherine.chu@smyal.org.
TRANSGENDER HEALTH EMPOWERMENT
Diva Chat support group. 6-8 p.m., 1414 North
Capitol St. NE. Snacks provided. 202-636-1646.
Metro Weeklys Community Calendar highlights important events in
the D.C.-area LGBT community, from alternative social events to
volunteer opportunities. Event information should be sent by email to
calendar@MetroWeekly.com. Deadline for inclusion is noon
of the Friday before Thursdays publication. Questions about
the calendar may be directed to the Metro Weekly ofce at
202-638-6830 or the calendar email address.
LGBTCommunityCalendar
marketplace
marketplace
WEEKLY EVENTS
Whitman-Walker Healths GAY MENS HEALTH
AND WELLNESS/STD CLINIC opens at 6 p.m.,
1701 14th St. NW. Patients are seen on walk-in basis.
No-cost screening for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and
chlamydia. Hepatitis and herpes testing available
for fee. whitman-walker.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.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16
BIG GAY BOOK GROUP discusses The Book of
Matthew by Stephen Jimenez and The Laramie
Project by Moiss Kaufman and Members of the
Tectonic Theatre Project. All welcome.
7 p.m., 1155 F St. NW, suite 200.
biggaybookgroup@hotmail.com.
THE TOM DAVOREN SOCIAL BRIDGE CLUB
meets for Social Bridge. 7:30 p.m. Dignity Center,
721 8th St. SE. No reservations and no partner
needed. 301-345-1571.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 21
RAINBOW HISTORY PROJECT sponsors
panel discussion on discrimination against
African-Americans in the LGBT community
in the 1970s-80s. Free. 6:30 p.m. Thurgood
Marshall Center, 1816 12th St. NW. 202-670-7470,
rainbowhistory.org. l
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LGBTOpinion
IN THE SUMMER
of 1991 I scraped
together some
coins from my
rapidly deplet-
ing change bowl
and hopped on
the 14th Street
bus that took me
through Columbia
Heights denitely not CoHi in those
days and dropped me in front of
a small storefront where the cashiers
worked behind thick, bulletproof Plexi-
glass. Thats where this 22-year-old gay
white boy with a journalism degree
from a prestigious university and the
product of a rural and deeply conserva-
tive Kentucky family went to redeem
my rst voucher for food stamps.
It was not a step Id foreseen on my
career path.
This is no secret story. Ive shared
it from time to time, generally with the
self-deprecating irony I use to deal with
things I cant ignore but am not particu-
larly proud of. Its more difcult to tell
it in a sober, straightforward manner
because it makes the memory of the
internal shame that much sharper.
Im a child of the Reagan 80s, just
another Reaganite in a high-school let-
ter jacket. Domestic politics then (as
today) centered on welfare queens,
shifty layabouts and no-good criminals
(read: black people) who lived off
government checks subsidized by hard-
working, real Americans (read: white
people).
While coming out during col-
lege pushed me to the Democrats
for extremely valid reasons, my con-
servative disdain for government
help, whether by check or by cheese,
remained. So stupid and blind I was
to all things related to the safety net,
I refused to apply for unemployment
benets after I lost my rst job in the
midst of that early 90s recession, spurn-
ing the one program Id already been
paying into through payroll deductions.
That explains how bad things were
that I would go on food stamps, one
of the most reviled programs among
conservative Americans who stead-
fastly believe anyone who needs help
buying food did something to deserve
their fate. These were the days before
EBT cards that allow people to pur-
chase their food with the same swiping
motion as everyone else in the store,
granting a certain level of privacy from
everyone except nosy tea partyers
convinced that any brown person buy-
ing a non-generic, non-gruel product
is taking tax money straight from their
pockets. No, I was using paper food
stamps, which might as well have been
printed in neon with MOOCHER and
LOSER, in front of the queens at 17th
Street Safeway.
Not pleasant.
My story isnt told to prove anything
about the worth of people on govern-
ment assistance. I worked hard and I
got through it, though thats irrelevant.
Not every person who receives welfare
will become self sufcient, the same as
not everyone who consumes a commu-
nion wafer will become a good person,
or that not every banker who receives
preferential government treatment will
refrain from engaging in activities that
cause world nancial disasters.
I tell it because our societal respon-
sibility for our fellow Americans is
under attack from the small group of
Republicans who believe they must
destroy the nation to protect it. Were
being held hostage by Republicans who
will gladly vote billions in subsidies to
employed farmers, yet cut poor fami-
lies from food stamps. They demagogue
about one child denied experimental
cancer treatments because of a govern-
ment shutdown even as they shut down
the government to make sure every sick
child without health insurance stays
that way.
Once I was ashamed of getting
help from the government. Now Im
ashamed of the GOP leaders in the gov-
ernment who would rather hurt us all
than help a few. l
Government, Cheesed
For congressional Republicans, shame isnt enough
they really want to make poor people suffer
by Sean Bugg
23
LGBTOpinion
THE BRINKMAN-
ship in Washington
is getting a little
heady, so lets sum-
marize: The thug
from Texas by way
of Princeton and
Harvard says to The
Worst President
Since George W. Bush, Kill your great-
est domestic achievement or the hostage
gets it! The Worst President Since Edith
Galt Wilson refuses to budge, so the thug
whacks the poor bastard, which is to say
the world economy, and says to The Worst
President in the History of the Alpha
Quadrant, I cant believe you did that!
With luck my musings will be over-
taken by events, and what the main-
stream media calls the budget impasse
will be resolved before you see this. Nah.
Speaking of the media, what an inspira-
tion they are in their studied neutrality,
pretending that we couldnt possibly spot
the arsonists in this situation. As a medi-
eval priest said to the commander of the
papal army as it approached a rebellious
village, Kill them all and let God sort
them out. If that sounds harsh, please
remember that it is not the medias job to
sort fact from fabrication, but only to give
airtime to the most telegenic demagogues
and wait for the fun and gore to ensue.
With news being shaped to t a
desired narrative, why not go whole hog
and let political whimsy repeal the Scien-
tic Revolution? Our science policy could
be guided by amateur scientists like Rep.
Joe Barton (R-Texas), who said in 2009
that harnessing wind power slows the
winds down, which causes the tempera-
ture to go up. This must be music to the
ears of Americas competitors in China,
India and Brazil.
Such ignorance requires concerted
effort. The tea partyers have their
own science, history, constitution and
math. These wizards can change reality
by incantation. Thus an even-tempered
president accused by his own side of
terdmmerung, the Twilight of the Wall
Street Gods. They will be like Kenneth
Lays wife, forced to decide whether to
sell the Renoir or the Monet to fund the
ad campaign calling Barack Obama The
Worst President Since James Buchanan.
(Actually that worst came from John
Bolton, who really knows how to stab a
guy in the heart.)
Speaking of President Buchanan, he
was followed by a man named Lincoln,
who wrote in January 1861, We have just
carried an election on principles fairly
stated to the people. Now we are told in
advance, the government shall be broken
up, unless we surrender to those we have
beaten, before we take the ofces. In this
they are either attempting to play upon
us, or they are in dead earnest. Either
way, if we surrender, it is the end of us,
and of the government. They will repeat
the experiment upon us ad libitum.
Mr. Lincoln, as you may be aware, did
not surrender. Neither must his latest
successor. Godspeed, Mr. President.
Richard J. Rosendall is a writer and
activist. He can be reached at
rrosendall@starpower.net. l
compromising too much becomes, by
repetition, a tyrant who throws a tan-
trum when he doesnt get his way. And
the views of one-tenth of the members
of one-half of one of three branches of
government are entitled to prevail over
everyone else. Pay no attention to the fact
that the resulting minoritarian govern-
ment serves the interests of plutocrats
who, The New York Times reports, bank-
rolled and planned this crisis.
House Speaker Boehner, hemmed in
by members of his own caucus, tries
a diversionary tactic by yelling This
is no damn game! at the Democrats.
Well of course its a game, one with high
stakes. As Tim Phillips of the conserva-
tive Americans for Prosperity says, It is
David versus Goliath. Except David is
David Koch. If this health insurance law
hatched by the Heritage Foundation and
pioneered by Mitt Romney is allowed to
stand, it will, the rightists cry, be Gt-
Buffoonery on the Brink
In this so-called David v. Goliath, Davids last name
is Koch
by Richard J. Rosendall
METROWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 10, 2013
Government, Cheesed
G
O FIGURE. THE YOUNG CELEBRITY MUSI-
cian behind the biggest and loudest musical
instrument is himself relatively brash and auda-
cious. Moreover, Cameron Carpenter, the inter-
national concert organist, is incredibly, incredibly blunt.
His audiences probably were as racially diverse as a loaf
of white bread, Carpenter quips about a famous forebear,
the late organist Virgil Fox. Continuing on that theme, the
32-year-old Carpenter pulls out all the stops as he criticizes
contemporaries for clinging to and commemorating pos-
sibly overhyped organists from the past, as well as outdated
traditions. Theres so much about the organ and the organ
community that really is looking to the past, he says. And,
I nd, a kind of love affair with death.
Carpenter also warns of a rising conservatism in classi-
cal music. The concert hall, increasingly as classical music
has come into question, has become a more conservative, a
more carefully guarded and defended place, he says. And in
those situations, its less and less likely to expect revolution
to occur. Yet, in an interesting twist, its become ever more
likely to nd Carpenter regularly performing in the worlds
leading concert halls. That includes his recent debut at the
Kennedy Center, playing alongside the National Symphony
Orchestra and Yo-Yo Ma.
Fortunately, the desire for revolution is still a driving
force for the provocative and maverick organist. In perfor-
mance, Carpenter continues to experiment and take risks
with music, whether his own compositions, classical stan-
dards, or collaborations with jazz and pop artists. He also
dazzles with both expressive musicality and shiny, quirky
costumes. A Los Angeles Times critic praised Carpenter as
technically the most accomplished organist I have ever
witnessed and the most musical.
To a signicant degree, you would expect as much. After
all, Carpenter is a music prodigy from rural Pennsylvania
who started playing the organ at age 4, and spent his teens
at the prestigious University of North Carolina School of
the Arts. Later, only two years after graduating with degrees
from New Yorks Juilliard School, Carpenter released his
debut album, notably titled Revolutionary, which earned him
a Grammy nomination in 2009.
Now living in Berlin, Carpenters latest revolutionary
idea is the design of a digital touring organ that is intended
to rank as one of the worlds greatest organs. This large
instrument will allow Carpenter to play anywhere in the
world, whether theres a pipe organ there or not. It will
vastly expand not only where I can play, but the music I can
play and the genres I can draw on.
Although this will be his exclusive design, Carpenter sug-
gests the touring organ could serve as impetus for creating a
worldwide standardized organ design, such as that which
exists with the violin and the piano, allowing for better
training, greater adaptability and broader collaboration. One
hopeful result of such standardized design: To help great,
great talent to emerge in the organ [world] in the way it has
ourished in the violin and the piano in the last years.
In the meantime, Carpenter allowed for a short break
from the revolution to speak with Metro Weekly.
FLAMBOYANT INTERNATIONAL ORGANIST
CAMERON CARPENTER HAS GARNERED AS
MUCH ATTENTION FOR HIS SKILLS AS FOR
CHALLENGING TRADITION
PIPE
DREAMS
INTERVIEW BY DOUG RULE // PHOTOGRAPHY BY TODD FRANSON
METRO WEEKLY: I understand you have training as a ballet and tap
dancer. Is that something that you would ever do again?
CAMERON CARPENTER: I would have to say no. I dont really do it
in any signicant way, partly because its so athletic and I have so
little time. But Im still extremely physically active. I train every
other day or so. I would say that it is active and observable in my
playing the way in which I treat the organ, particularly the
playing that I do with my feet.
MW: But before dance, there was music, which you got involved
with at an early age.
CARPENTER: Four one of the earliest ages. [Laughs.] Yeah, music
you know there was never any doubt that that was it for me.
MW: Did you start out singing?
CARPENTER: No. I started with the piano and the organ at the
same time. I didnt become a singer until rather suddenly at the
age of 11. I auditioned for the American Boychoir School I think
because I sensed it was a way out of northwestern Pennsylvania
and got in as a singer, as a boy soprano. Its not like I was a boy
pop singer or something. I was singing Tudor anthems.
MW: Is singing something you do anymore?
CARPENTER: Uh, no. Singing has gone by the wayside. It went the
way of my soprano voice. [Laughs.]
MW: Were you groomed by your parents to be in music?
CARPENTER: No, no. I come from a non-musical family. And in
addition to that, I come from a highly liberal, what I would think
of as almost a post-transcendentalist, New England family
except we lived in northwestern Pennsylvania. My parents gave
me, in hindsight, what I would consider almost an insane amount
of freedom as a child. I was homeschooled before that was a far-
right thing. I mean, it may have been a far-right thing at the time,
but it wasnt for us. It was almost a post-ower-child thing, or
something like that. But it was great. And I had consequently tons
of time to devote to music, and to lots and lots of other things.
But it also gave me this sense of having a right to tamper
with things culturally in whatever way I wanted as long as it
was somehow artistically justiable. Which has lead me exactly
to what Im doing now. To playing, for instance, as a tribute to
Yo-Yo Ma, the prelude from the rst cello suite of Bach as a
pedal etude, and then transliterating it as this etude for organ,
and then the entire thing comes back and both of them are play-
ing at the same time. Not something that probably would be a
comfort zone for somebody who, for instance, came from an
academic tradition. Which I dont.
MW: Or a religious tradition.
CARPENTER: Oh, yeah, certainly not. Certainly not. Having come
from a God-free family did me a great service in the sense that
Im able to regard the organ as a totally secular instrument,
which debatably it is, actually, to the degree that any art is
sacred or secular. So often, by sacred art what we mean is the
art supplied to non-secular propaganda. And thats true in the
visual arts as well as music. And its always that double-edged
sword, since the church for centuries was the sinecure of every
signicant thing in the arts. In fact, it was the only force going for
the arts. So everybody from Michelangelo to Bach was enthrall
to that system, for better or for worse. Generally for better. Any-
ways, we mustnt get into religion because Ill blow up the next
20 minutes on that. [Sighs dramatically.]
MW: So better to just leave it at God-free then? Thats what you
were raised with, and thats what you still are?
CARPENTER: I wouldnt say I was raised with or without it. There
was no atheist agenda, and I wouldnt consider myself an atheist
only because the whole taking of a position at any point is just
distasteful. I mean in terms of those matters. But God-free is
kind of the best description.
MW: In regard to your sexual orientation, how do you identify?
CARPENTER: I guess you would say bisexual. Its the usual
problem of describing human sexuality, which in my case is
highly challenging because I have sex with men, I have sex with
women. I strongly dont relate to one or the other as my primary.
My identity so far has been some kind of fairly fty-fty blend,
which I nd is generally skeptically received. And its skepti-
cally received both by the gay community and to some degree by
women. Both sides are always rather surprised to nd out that,
in fact, I do actually sleep with people of both genders. [Laughs.]
One has to deal with it a little bit delicately. On the other
hand, I dont buy the idea that ones sexuality doesnt matter, and
its not subject for discussion. It does matter. And I think that it
does matter especially in the lives of artists particularly in the
20th century when these things become veriable and discuss-
able socially. And here Im thinking obviously of Leonard Bern-
stein. I happen to have the Leonard Bernstein Award. Im a great
Leonard Bernstein admirer. He was the great dean of American
music in the 20th century in many ways. Particularly in the way
that he crossed over the boundaries between pop music and clas-
sical, insecure as he was about that. Here was a person who was
quite clearly motivated and powered by all kinds of locomotive
forces, some of which were sexual. I mean the man had a giant
spirit, a giant energy, and he had a giant persona, which led him
to be married and have children, and to later in life have a male
lover and to live with him. And to have a well-known series of
affairs with men and women throughout the artistic community
for the better part of 50 years.
Thats just to take one example, of Leonard Bernstein to
say nothing of Vladimir Horowitz, Jean Cocteau, Jean Marais,
Diaghilev, Stravinsky. Obviously Aaron Copland. You would
not have a complete view of those people without taking, to
some degree, their personal lives into account. By which I dont
just mean who they slept with, I mean the fabric of their interior
life. Their friends, their relationships. What situation they were
under when they produced the works which they left us. And to
do that youd have to know who they slept with.
So I always nd myself defending a little bit against the idea
that ones sexuality doesnt actually matter in an evaluation of
those things. I think it does matter. And in my case I think it
matters a lot.
MW: Because you take inuence from all aspects of living?
CARPENTER: I guess. And I think also in my case as a performer,
you are exhibiting yourself. It doesnt de facto mean that youre
an exhibitionist. But it does mean that you have to be comfort-
able being naked in some way in some abstract way. A concept
which would be not at all out of place for a dancer. Or certainly
for an actor. But in classical music we tend not to think about
it in those terms, or talk about it in those terms, even though,
as it turns out, a good performance does demand just as much
demonstration of yourself. And I think if youre out of sync with
your identity, or especially if youre inhibited in any way, it can
interfere with good performance.
MW: So just to press the point a little more, you would say that
youre comfortable with both genders?
CARPENTER: I would say that I need both genders, even more than
being comfortable. Im certainly comfortable with my identity
and my existence as a sexual human being, which is no different
than that of any other sexual human being. But as a person who
is within a eld which is still rather traditionally conservative,
that gets some attention. And maybe it should. You know, weve
spent so many hundreds or maybe thousands of years to some
degree running away from those things. Its not my job to contin-
ue that running, you know. I want to run in a different direction.
MW: Are you in a relationship now?
CARPENTER: Im not. I travel constantly. I cant even have a cat.
[Laughs.]
MW: You mentioned Leonard Bernstein, who was clearly an inu-
ence though he wasnt an organist. How much have famous organ-
ists of the past inuenced you? How much are you trying to carry
on their legacy?
CARPENTER: Im not interested in carrying on any legacy of organ-
ists of the past. It wouldnt be for me to say to what degree Ive
been inuenced. But I consider myself not to have been inu-
enced. And lest that seem an arrogant statement, the reason I
say that is that for my entire life my instinct has been somewhat,
not to isolate myself, but to be apart from the organ community.
Theres often thought to be a certain value to have a certain
degree of removal from the community within which youre
working, so that you are always sure to maintain an artistic inde-
pendence from what others are doing. In the case of the organ,
I think thats incredibly important, partly because so much of
what is regarded as traditional in the organ, just as in classical
music, what we really mean is the 1950s. And it really remains
the 1950s to some degree that other organists seem to idolize.
To me thats a somewhat repellant thing. I really dont need to
hear anything more about Virgil Foxs audiences, when you stop
to remember that most of Virgil Foxs audiences probably were
as racially diverse as a loaf of white bread. Let alone the tales of
the great organists like Edwin Lemare from the 1910s and 20s,
who played for massive audiences at the Worlds Fair and so on.
Massive audiences that again included remarkably few women
women who wouldnt have been able to vote. Gay men who
wouldnt have been able to express themselves in public. And so
on and so on. All the desultory details.
Again, theres so much about the organ and the organ com-
munity that really is looking to the past. I nd that a kind of
love affair with death. The idea of traditions that seem to be
conventionally held quite dear have almost nothing to do with
the factitive of 200 years ago. They have to do with how music
of 200 years ago was interpreted in the 1950s and 60s, and this
is completely uninteresting.
There are lots of other gures that I could point to as inu-
ences, but we would have to go outside the realm of music.
Someone like Susan Sontag has been an enormous, enormous,
incalculably important inuence to me. As has the music of Kate
Bush, Laura Nero, Annie Lennox, but also people like the fashion
illustrator Antonio Lopez. Obviously Jean Cocteau. Many other
gures, people whose work and whose approach to their elds is
something that Ive studied carefully.
MW: That raises a question I have about your future. In a 2009
New York Times prole you said you didnt see yourself becoming
a grand old man of the organ.
CARPENTER: [Laughs.] I still dont. Even though I am getting
older, Im not getting any grander.
MW: But 20 years from now, do you have any sense of what you
might be doing? Or what you would like to be doing?
CARPENTER: No, I dont. I think that part of the phenomenon of
being an artist now is that time moves very much faster. I feel
like one of the strengths of being an artist in the 21st century is
being adaptable.
Itd be really, really great to be able to do something that
would actually have a tangible, emotional impact on people
much, much younger than me. I suppose thats one of the things
that Im most interested in. I view my own history as instruc-
tive there, because I grew up in a situation where it was very
hard for me to get to an organ. I lived in rural Pennsylvania,
and the organists of the local town were a great object lesson
in what awaited with the organ community in general. They
were extremely jealous, extremely protective of the mediocre
instruments that even existed there. And they were generally
not willing to be really helpful to a young talent. That situation
probably still exists in most places. Despite life changes maybe in
the last 15 years, Im sure theres still a lot of work to be done to
help great, great talent to emerge in the organ in the way it has
ourished in the violin and the piano in the last years.
I mean, you look at the violin and the piano, and you immedi-
ately see that these are standardized instruments. An instrument
in Austria is the same as an instrument in Australia, to a great
degree. And it means that theres a standard that can be observed
internationally, the world around. And then theres also sort
of familial or fraternal unity between the people playing those
instruments. That does not exist in the organ, and I think that
it could be built. It depends a lot on the instrument itself. And
thats something Id like to do.
MW: Speaking of, youre trying to do that by engineering a new
international touring organ. Tell me about that.
CARPENTER: The instrument [will be] a technological and an engi-
neering rst in the world. It is a proprietary software-driven digi-
tal organ that I will be able to tour with, but which will also allow
me to play anywhere in the world, whether theres a pipe organ
there or not. Not only is this a digital organ, but unlike many
cases where organists would play a digital organ only when a pipe
organ isnt available, weve built an instrument which is actually
my preferred instrument. I really am so excited about what this
organ will make possible, because it will vastly expand not only
I HAVE SEX WITH MEN, I HAVE SEX WITH
WOMEN. I STRONGLY DONT RELATE TO
ONE OR THE OTHER AS MY PRIMARY. MY
IDENTITY SO FAR HAS BEEN SOME KIND OF
FAIRLY FIFTY-FIFTY BLEND, WHICH I FIND
IS GENERALLY SKEPTICALLY RECEIVED.
where I can play, but the music I can play, and the genres I can
draw on. So you end up with this instrument that is much more
musically diverse than any single pipe organ could be.
MW: So in a few years time when you come to the Kennedy Center,
you might just play this and not the Concert Hall organ?
CARPENTER: This will be my permanent organ, so it is conceiv-
able. The great, sort of elephant under the rug here, of course, is
that the pipe organ in the Concert Hall continues to propagate
the idea that every organ everywhere in the world should be
different. Which of course doesnt address the actual purpose of
the instrument, which is to be an instrument, not to be a political
statement or an expensive backdrop for an orchestra. So I will
still play pipe organs from time to time, but they will never be
my preferred instruments, they will never be the instruments I
record on. And, ultimately, theyll never be the instruments that
really make me feel as though Im giving my artistic best.
MW: Is this something that other organists will be able to use or
purchase?
CARPENTER: No, for the simple fact that Im not an organ com-
pany. I have designed three other organs that are built by the
company building this, a company called Marshall & Ogletree in
Needham [Mass.]. And I certainly will do everything that I can
to propagate the technology.
Because when we talk about the organ, we really need to
be talking about the organists. Every time a large pipe organ is
installed, the last thing you hear talked about is what the impli-
cations are for young organists and musicians, the people who
actually play them. Im obviously enthusiastic at the chance to
play at the Kennedy Center. But on the other hand, it doesnt
change the fact that the path forward, in terms of music and
artistic expression and human freedom, is very seldom served
by the conventions of the concert hall. The concert hall, increas-
ingly as classical music has come into question, has become
a more conservative, a more carefully guarded and defended
place. And in those situations, its less and less likely to expect
revolution to occur.
MW: The organ that youre developing, will it be lightweight?
CARPENTER: I wouldnt describe it as lightweight. Its intended to
be transportable, which is not exactly the same thing as portable.
Its absolutely not interesting, new or unusual or signicant in
any way to contrive an electronic organ that plugs in and has a
little console that you can hook up to some speakers. This has
been possible for 60 years. What has not been possible, and
what has not been achieved and shown, is to make transportable
an instrument of monumentality. This organ will travel in two
20-foot trucks. Its by no means a small instrument. Its in fact
specically and intentionally designed to be an incredibly large
instrument. What my vision was to this is that we need to be
able to take one of the worlds greatest organs everywhere that
I go. And fundamentally that it also be my personal instrument
just as Joshua Bell plays his own personal violin. Its perfectly
ne for me to play the organ at whatever hall, particularly if Im
playing with concertos and orchestras. But if Im playing on my
own, to really get the experience that I can offer, then I need to
be playing my own instrument.
MW: This is really a way for you to champion your music and the
organ, as well as classical music in general?
CARPENTER: It really is. Championing is a good way of putting it.
Again, its not interesting to take around a small organ that was
made on an assembly line. But if you have a unique world rst,
which is one of the most astoundingly engineered things, and
which is one of the most musically rich and diverse resources,
especially in the hands of somebody who is intentionally cross-
ing genre boundaries, then you have something thats really
worth going to see and hear. So, of course it is good for the organ,
and it is good for music in general, not just classical music.
MW: Youve expressed dismay at the repression and homophobia
you see in the organ world, which seems to have an inordinate
amount of gay players. Can you elaborate?
CARPENTER: I havent done any tangible research, but it is an
anecdotally accepted truth in America that generally male
organists are thought to be gay. And there is certainly, undeni-
ably, a large community of gay organists. Its observable at an
organ convention if youre unfortunate enough to have to go
to one. Women, while signicantly present, are by no means as
equally represented as their male counterparts. And amongst the
men of the organist community, one could not help but notice
that the overwhelming predilection does seem to be that most
of them are gay and that a lot of them work in church. This
wouldnt be so signicant to me except that there have been
many well-publicized cases in the last few years of organists los-
ing their [church] jobs because they were gay. Which of course
immediately gets my hackles up on end.
I talk about this a little hesitantly and in these carefully
couched tones not because Im worried that some non-gay male
organist would be offended, but rather that Im actually pain-
fully aware of what other great challenges the gay community
and we all face, in terms of discrimination. And I dont want
anybody to misunderstand that in the age of Syria and Russia
that Im attempting to say that the worlds greatest problem is
the repression of American gay male organists. [Laughs.] But it
is a problem! And it seems to me that as long as were talking
about repression anywhere, we actually have to talk about it
everywhere.
Cameron Carpenter performs an organ recital Wednesday, Oct. 16,
at 8 p.m., at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $15. Call
202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org. l
HAVING COME FROM A GOD-FREE FAMILY DID
ME A GREAT SERVICE IN THAT IM ABLE TO
REGARD THE ORGAN AS A TOTALLY SECULAR
INSTRUMENT, WHICH DEBATABLY IT IS TO THE
DEGREE THAT ANY ART IS SACRED OR SECULAR.
OCTOBER 10 - 17, 2013
Compiled by Doug Rule
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SPOTLIGHT
ANTHONY DORTCH:
THE PRIVILEGED SERIES: PESTS
Touchstone Gallery reprises gay artist Anthony
Dortchs The Privileged Series featuring mixed media
images in which Dortch paints directly on top of
photos to change the skin tones of people portrayed
depending on if theyre upper class (yellow) or lower
(blue). In 2011 he told Metro Weekly the effect
gives this comic book kind of surreal look to it, or
graphic novel feel. Through Oct. 27. Dortch will
offer performance art tied to the exhibit on Saturday,
Oct. 26. Touchstone Gallery, 901 New York Ave. NW.
Call 202-347-2787 or visit touchstonegallery.com.
BATTY PARTY AT PATTY BOOM BOOM
DJs John Jazz and Keenan Orr spin the third edition
of this party meant to celebrate tropical music genres
while also advocating for gay rights in the Caribbean,
particularly the homophobic Jamaica. Expect a night
of reggae, soca, dancehall, rock steady, roots music
as well as fundraising for Center Global, a program of
The DC Center, which helps LGBT activists around
the world who are targets for violence and are
seeking asylum. Sunday, Oct. 13, starting at 8 p.m.
Patty Boom Boom, 1359 U St. NW. Free. Call 202-629-
1712 or visit pattyboomboomdc.com.
BENTZEN BALL COMEDY FESTIVAL
BrightestYoungThings presents this four-day comedy
festival curated by comedian Tig Notaro. Among the
highlights: Opening Night featuring standup acts
including Notaro and The Daily Shows Wyatt Cenac,
Thursday, Oct. 10, after 7 p.m. at the 9:30 Club; a
Music Revue with, among other acts, Nancy & Beth
featuring Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) and The
Lampshades featuring Kate Flannery (The Ofce),
Saturday, Oct. 12, after 9:30 p.m. at the Lincoln
Theatre; Theme Park Improv Show headlined by
Glees Ian Brennan, Saturday Night Lives Rachel
Dratch and Best in Shows Michael Hitchcock,
Saturday, Oct. 12, after 7 p.m. at U Street Music Hall;
the Ofcial Bentzen Ball After Party featuring DJ
sets by They Might Be Giants and Animal Collective,
Saturday, Oct. 12, starting at 11:30 p.m. at the Howard
Theatre; and Closing Night featuring This American
Lifes Ira Glass & Friends, Sunday, Oct. 13, after 7 p.m.
at the Lincoln Theatre. Visit brightestyoungthings.
com/bentzen-ball for more information and tickets.
CAVALIA
An offshoot of Cirque du Soleil, Cavalia is a horse
show meets 21st century circus, a theatrical ode
to horse and man that marries the equestrian arts,
awe-inspiring acrobatics and high-tech theatrical
effects and features a cast of more than 50 horses and
international actors. Now to Oct. 27. White Big Top
at National Harbor, 201 Harborview Ave., National
Harbor, Md. Tickets are $27.25 to $129.75. Call 866-
999-8111 or visit cavalia.net.
DAVID SEDARIS
The hilarious gay author and essayist offers more
jokes on tour, this time with a focus on his new
Figgins (center)
M
Y OLDER SISTER WAS SO CLUMSY, JENELLE FIGGINS SAYS, I GUESS
my mother assumed that shed be able to bypass a few accidents by putting
us in dance.
Ultimately the move inspired three of the four Figgins girls to pursue dance as
a career, including Jenelle, who next weekend returns to her hometown with the
Dance Theatre of Harlem. The professional troupe, founded in 1972, performs two
mixed-repertory programs at Sidney Harman Hall as part of its rst national tour
since returning last year after an eight-year hiatus due to nancial constraints.
I think the time that we were on hiatus, the energy that Dance Theatre of Har-
lem brings was missing. Its really multi-dimensional and just all-encompassing,
says the 24-year-old Figgins, who joined the company last year after college in New
York. Among the pieces the Dance Theatre will perform next week, Figgins high-
lights two, both to be performed in Program A on Thursday, Oct. 17, at 8 p.m., and
Saturday, Oct. 19, at 2 p.m.: Gloria, a new work by the companys resident choreog-
rapher Robert Garland, dedicated to the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem; and
Past-Carry-Forward, a world premiere ballet by husband-and-wife choreographic
duo Tanya Wideman and Thaddeus Davis. The work is basically about the Harlem
Renaissance and creating a new renaissance in a sense, Figgins says of Past-Carry-
Forward.
An alumna of the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet, the Dance Institute of Wash-
ington and the Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts, Figgins is a Washing-
tonian through and through. I like Harlem, she says, but I do miss D.C.!
Naturally, shes looking forward to her homecoming next week. When asked if
her family will be out in force, Figgins laughs: Oh, denitely. They have to come!
Doug Rule
The Dance Theatre of Harlem performs Thursday, Oct. 17, through Saturday, Oct. 19,
at 8 p.m., as well as Saturday, Oct. 19, at 2 p.m. A Dance Party with open bar toast-
ing the companys return is Saturday, Oct. 19, at 10 p.m. Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F
St. NW. Tickets are $40 to $75. Call 202-547-1122 or visit shakespearetheatre.org.
HOMECOMING DANCE
Dance Theatre of Harlem returns to D.C. after a prolonged hiatus
32
they made quilts during the segregation and the Civil
Rights eras as a way to deepen a sense of community
and comfort. The quilts, a labor both of love and
necessity, ended up becoming valuable works of
art. To Nov. 3. MetroStage, 1201 North Royal St.,
Alexandria. Tickets are $50 to $55. Call 800-494-
8497 or visit metrostage.org.
LOVE IN AFGHANISTAN
Arena Stage presents this world premiere drama
from Charles Randolph-Wright about an Afghan
interpreter and a hip-hop artist who nd improbably
nd love amidst war. Lucie Tiberghien directs.
Opens in previews Friday, Oct. 11, at 8 p.m. To Nov.
17. Kogod Cradle at the Mead Center for American
Theater, 1101 6th St. SW. Tickets are $40 to $105.
Call 202-488-3300 or visit arenastage.org.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
The Shakespeare Theatre Company offers a
production of Shakespeares dark comedy that poses
controversial ideas and explores the corrupting
nature of power. Jonathan Munby directs the show
with enough of an edge, theyve added a warning
that its intended for ages 18 and up. Theres also
a 20-minute pre-show cabaret leading into it each
night, getting people in the mood for whats to come.
To Oct. 27. Lansburgh Theatre, 450 7th St. NW. Call
202-547-1122 or visit shakespearetheatre.org.
RANCHO MIRAGE
Olney Theatre is the rst stop on a National New
Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Steven
Dietzs black comedy Rancho Mirage, focused on
three couples who decide to tell the truth at a dinner
party. Jason Loewith directs a cast that includes
Tony Beckman, Paul Morella, Tracy Lynn Olivera
and Michael Russotto. To Oct. 20. Olney Theatre
Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, Md.
Call 301-924-3400 or visit olneytheatre.org.
RED SPEEDO
Studio Theatres Studio Lab, now in its third year
of producing stripped-down productions of world-
premiere experimental plays, offers Lucas Hnaths
Red Speedo, about an Olympic hopeful whose
promising future is threatened when performance-
enhancing drugs are found in the locker-room fridge.
Lila Neugebauer directs. To Oct. 13. Studio Theatre,
1501 14th St. NW. Tickets are $20. Call 202-332-3300
or visit studiotheatre.org.
THE SUNSHINE BOYS
Michael Innocenti directs Keegan Theatres
production of The Sunshine Boys, Neil Simons warm,
funny play about a former vaudevillian comedy team
reunited for a nal show. Veteran Keegan company
members Kevin Adams and Timothy H. Lynch play
Al and Willie aka Lewis and Clark. Now to Oct. 19.
Andrew Keegan Theatre (formerly Church Street
Theater), 1742 Church St. NW. Tickets are $35. Call
703-892-0202 or visit keegantheatre.com.
THE TWO-CHARACTER PLAY
Spooky Action Theater offers a production
of Tennessee Williamss play based on his own
life in the theater and encounters with madness,
focused on siblings performing a play within the
play. Richard Henrich directs actors Lee Mikeska
Gardner and David Bryan Jackson. To Oct. 27.
Universalist National Memorial Church, 1810 16th
St. NW. Tickets are $25 to $35. Call 202-248-0301 or
visit spookyaction.org.
THIS
Round House Theatre presents Obie-winning
playwright Melissa James Gibsons This, an
un-romantic comedy with music offering a portrait
of a group of friends navigating their way through
parenthood, death, adultery and other traps of
middle age. Ryan Rilette directs a cast including
Lise Bruneau, Felicia Curry and Will Gartshore.
FILM
SPOOKY MOVIE: HORROR FILM FESTIVAL
Now in its eighth year, the Spooky Movie International
Horror Film Festival continues to expand, now
offering 10 days of horror and hopefully not horrible
screenings, 22 features and 30 shorts in all. The
festival packs a wallop in just its opening days: from
the Spooky Shorts Showcase that kicks off the
festival Thursday, Oct. 10, at 5 p.m.; to opening feature
Willow Creek, which Variety calls a nerve-wracking
Bigfoot-themed lm written and directed by Bobcat
Goldthwait, on Thursday, Oct. 10, at 7:15 p.m., followed
by a Q&A with Goldthwait; to the Carrie-esque lm
Dark Touch set in a remote Irish town and directed
by French lmmaker Marina de Van (In My Skin), on
Friday, Oct. 11, at 9:30 p.m.; to Pinup Dolls on Ice, Geoff
Klein and Melissa Miras thriller about a homicidal
maniac who hunts down striptease performers, on
Friday, Oct. 11, at midnight. Festival runs to Oct.
19. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver
Spring. Tickets are $12 for regular screenings, or an All
Fest Pass is $125. Call 301-495-6720 or visit a.com/
Silver or spookyfest.com.
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW
This weekend you could take in two offerings of
Richard OBriens camp classic though you cant
really throw things during Studio Theatres live
theatrical production of the original The Rocky
Horror Show. So if thats your bag, better to head to
Landmarks E Street Cinema for its regular midnight
screening of the lm version hence the title, picture
show. Landmarks showing comes with a live cast,
meaning its even more interactive than usual. Friday,
Oct. 11, and Saturday, Oct. 12, at midnight. Landmarks
E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. Call 202-452-7672
or visit landmarktheatres.com.
STAGE
ANIMAL CRACKERS
Baltimores well-regarded Center Stage presents a
production of this golden oldie American musical
comedy that originally starred the Marx Brothers. BJ
Jones directs the revival that stars Bruce Randolph
Nelson as Groucho, Brad Aldous as Harpo, Jonathan
Brody as Chico and Sean Montgomery as Zeppo.
Closes this Sunday, Oct. 13. Center Stage, 700 North
Calvert St., Baltimore. Call 410-986-4000 or visit
centerstage.org.
BEERTOWN
Two years ago the emerging radical theater company
Dog & Pony DC transported audiences to a small
American town on the day of its 20th Quinquennial
Time Capsule Ceremony, as citizens both
audience members and a professional cast review
and add to capsule contents before returning it to the
ground. The company is reprising its rst original
production, this time at Round House Silver Spring in
repertory with A Killing Game. The quirky theatrical
civic ceremony Beertown complete with live music,
dance, group storytelling and map-making kicks off
with a dessert potluck, so theyre asking theatergoers
to bring a dessert to share. To Oct. 19. Round House
Theatre-Silver Spring, 8641 Colesville Road, Silver
Spring. Tickets are $25. Call 240-644-1100 or visit
roundhousetheatre.org or dogandponydc.com.
GEES BEND
To kick off its new season MetroStage taps Thomas
W. Jones II once again to direct and choreograph a
bio-musical rooted in the African-American tradition
and once again William Hubbard and William
Knowles are in charge of the music. This time, the
focus is on the gospel music that the women of the
Pettway family in Gees Bend, Ala., would sing as
book Lets Explore Diabetes with Owls. Friday, Oct. 18,
at 8 p.m. Lisner Auditorium, The George Washington
University, 730 21st St. NW. Tickets are $35 to $45.
Call 202-994-6851 or visit lisner.org.
EMELI SANDE
I.M.P. Productions presents another area show for
Emeli Sand, the incredible Scottish soul singer/
songwriter who dazzled as one of this years Capital
Pride headliners. She continues to tour in support
of Our Version of Events, which won the 2013 Brit
Award as British Album of the Year. At a January
concert at the Howard Theatre, Sand brought down
the house riing through songs from that strong
debut, captivating the crowd with her supple voice,
her stirring tunes and her incredible charm and
charisma not to mention her slightly eccentric
look. Expect her show at the grand Meyerhoff Hall,
home to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, to be
every bit as stunning. Shes also likely to preview
new songs from her in-the-works second album,
tentatively set for release next summer. And you can
bet plenty of gays will be on hand, just as they were
at the Howard Theatre pre-Pride. Its always been
the gay community that really connects rst, Sand
told Metro Weekly before the Howard gig. I have a
big gay fan base, which I think is fantastic. Saturday,
Oct. 19, at 8 p.m. Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall,
1212 Cathedral St., Baltimore. Tickets are $29.60 to
$40. Call 410-783-8000 or visit bsomusic.org.
NIGHT OF 1,000 ANDYS DANCE PARTY
In conjunction with its installation of Andy Warhols
Silver Clouds, Artisphere presents a party that will
culminate in a Warhol look-alike contest, but also
feature performances by genre-busting costumed
musical spectacle March Fourth Marching Band
and electro/disco/funk duo Javelin, plus creative
pop-art play stations. Saturday, Oct. 12, at 8 p.m.
Artisphere, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. Tickets are
$15 in advance, $18 at the door, lounge level; or $25
for the balcony art gallery with private bar. Call 703-
875-1100 or visit artisphere.com.
NINE INCH NAILS
Oscar-winning lm composer Trent Reznor (The
Social Network) has returned to pop music in 2013,
and while the songs from Hesitation Marks, the latest
set from the singer/screamer/songwriters hard
electronica/punk band Nine Inch Nails, might not be
as wild, raw and raucous as those from two decades
ago, it is more tuneful and more in line with those
industrial dance jams that may have rst turned your
ear and dancing feet in the rst place, from Head
Like A Hole to Closer. You just get a feeling that
theyll sound wilder and sharper live, on the Tension
2013 Tour. Friday, Oct. 18, at 8 p.m. Verizon Center,
601 F St. NW. Tickets are $38.50 to $102.50. Call 202-
628-3200 or visit verizoncenter.com.
SUGARLOAF CRAFTS FESTIVAL
Now in its 39th year, the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival
is considered one of the top craft experiences in
the country, attracting about 170,000 visitors to
Marylands Montgomery County Fairgrounds.
Festivalgoers can meet more than 250 jury-selected
artists demonstrating and selling their handcrafted
work in various media, including functional and
decorative pottery, sculpture, glass, jewelry, fashion,
leather, wood, metal, furniture, home accessories and
photography. Gourmet food samples, live music and
interactive childrens entertainment will also be on
tap. Friday, Oct. 11, and Saturday, Oct. 12, from 10 a.m.
to 6 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Montgomery County Fairgrounds, 16 Chestnut St.,
Gaithersburg, Md. Tickets are $8 online or $10 at the
door. Call 800-210-9900 or visit sugarloafcrafts.com.
Now to Nov. 3. Round House Theatre, 4545 East-
West Highway, Bethesda. Call 240-644-1100 or visit
roundhousetheatre.org.
COMMUNITY STAGE
SORDID LIVES
The LGBT-popular community theater company
Dominion Stage offers a production of Del Shoress
campy comedy, dubbed a black comedy about white
trash, about a colorful small-town Texas family who
must deal with the accidental death of a matriarch.
Opens Friday, Oct. 11, at 8 p.m. To Oct. 26. Gunston Arts
Center, 2700 South Lang St., Arlington. Tickets are
$20. Call 571-DS-SHOWS or visit dominionstage.org.
MUSIC
2 CELLOS
Lisner Auditorium presents a classical crossover
concert featuring cellists Luka Sulic and Stjepan
Hauser along with a drummer that has been called
Yo-Yo Ma meets Trans Siberian Orchestra. A Great
Big World opens the show. Saturday, Oct. 19, at 8
p.m. Lisner Auditorium, The George Washington
University, 730 21st St. NW. Tickets are $35 to $55.
Call 202-994-6851 or visit lisner.org.
ATLAS GENIUS
The indie-pop Australian band sets out on a U.S.
headlining tour after two sold-out nights at New
Yorks Bowery Ballroom. The band is touring in
support of the warm, wistful When It Was Now and
the winsome, driving rst single Trojans. Saturday,
Oct. 13, at 8 p.m. Fillmore Silver Spring, 8656
Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $22.50.
Call 301-960-9999 or visit llmoresilverspring.com.
FRANZ FERDINAND
Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action is the
name of the new, fourth studio album from the
Scottish synth-rock band Franz Ferdinand and
to many fans, its true. But the band just hasnt
lived up to the potential of its exuberant 2004
self-titled debut, and that irresistible rst single
Take Me Out. Thursday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. Music
Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North
Bethesda. Tickets are $58.50. Call 301-581-5100 or
visit strathmore.org.
JEREMY DENK
Fresh from winning a MacArthur Genius Award, this
43-year-old superstar pianist plays a recital presented
by the Washington Performing Arts Society as part of
its Piano Masters series. Saturday, Oct. 12, at 2 p.m.
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Tickets are $49.
Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS
They Might Be Giants, the group led by John Linnell
and John Flansburgh, gained popularity in the alt-
rock world of the late 80s and early 90s, but for the
past decade theyve gained new fame as childrens
music stars. Saturday, Oct. 12. Doors at 8 p.m.
Nightclub 9:30, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $32. Call
202-265-0930 or visit 930.com. Also visit 930.com/
friends to sign up for the clubs new Friends With
Benets rewards program offering exclusive deals
and discounts on tickets, drinks and merchandise.
SPECIAL AGENT GALACTICA
In addition to a bi-monthly happy-hour show at
Black Fox Lounge, local drag phenom Special Agent
Galactica, aka The Pink Haired One, now offers an
intimate evening of songs, stories and laughs every
Sunday at LEnfant Caf. Galacatica is accompanied
by jazz guitarist Peter Fields. The focus is on the
Golden Age of Jazz, Hollywood standards and a few
gems from today. Every Sunday night in October at 7
p.m. LEnfant Caf, 2000 18th St. NW. Free. Call 202-
319-1800 or visit lenfantcafe.com.
THE BOBS
Originally from the San Francisco Bay area, this
quartet combines impressive vocal prowess with
silly stage antics and indelible humor chiey
by transforming rock standards into hilarious
synchronized a cappella tunes. Sunday, Oct. 12, at
7:30 p.m. The Barns at Wolf Trap, 1635 Trap Road,
Vienna. Tickets are $22 to $27. Call 877-WOLFTRAP
or visit wolftrap.org.
WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA
The Washington National Operas Francesca
Zambello directs a production of Giuseppe Verdis
notoriously demanding masterpiece The Force of
Destiny featuring international singers and maestro
Xian Zhang. The show focuses on one troubled
family in the midst of an unhinged, lawless society.
Opening Saturday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m. To Oct. 26.
Kennedy Center Opera House. Remaining tickets are
$175 to $250. Call 202-467-4600 or visit
kennedy-center.org.
DANCE
DANCE EXCHANGE
Following in the footsteps of the late, legendary
Merce Cunningham, Dance Exchange will perform
among Artispheres Andy Warhol installation Silver
Clouds, originally installed at New Yorks Leo Castelli
Gallery in 1966, but now on loan from Pittsburghs
Andy Warhol Museum. Three performances Friday,
Oct. 11, at 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Terrace Gallery at
Artisphere, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. Free. Call
703-875-1100 or visit artisphere.com.
GREGORY MAQOMA
Exit/Exist is based on the life of Xhosa chief
Magoma, who played an inuential role in frontier
wars in South Africa during the 19th Century.
Gregory Magoma is an internationally recognized
dancer, choreographer, director and scriptwriter
who studied dance in Belgium. Friday, Aug. 18, and
Saturday, Aug. 19, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 20, at
3 p.m. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE.
Tickets are $33.50 to $38.50. Call 202-399-7993 or
visit atlasarts.org.
VELOCITY DC DANCE FESTIVAL
A special partnership with Dance/MetroDC, the
D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, the
Washington Performing Arts Society and host
organization the Shakespeare Theatre Company,
this festival returns for its fth year of presenting
world-class dance of various styles all of it
stemming from artists in the Washington region. A
RAMP! program precedes each evenings program
and offers a taste of works from dance newcomers,
including students of Asanga Domask, David Yi and
Deviated Theatre. In addition, there are site-specic
pieces in the Harman Center for the Arts by Dance
Performance Group, MOVEIUS Contemporary
Ballet and Next Reex Dance Collective. Main
Stage performances are grouped into two programs.
Program A, including Dissonance Dance Theatre,
RebollarDance, Flamenco Aparicio, VTDance, the
Washington Ballet and CityDance Conservatory,
is Thursday, Oct. 10, and Friday, Oct. 11, at 8 p.m.
Program B, including Lesoles Dance Project,
ClancyWorks Dance Company, the Suzanne Farrell
Ballet, Tehreema Mitha Dance Company and Step
Afrika!, is Saturday, Oct. 12, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sidney Harman Hall, Harman Center for the Arts,
610 F St. NW. Ticket are $18. Call 202-547-1122 or
visit shakespearetheatre.org or dakshina.org.
COMEDY
MIRMANHODGMANSCHAAL SANDWICH
Mirman and Schaal were regulars on the HBO series
Flight of the Conchords and now voice characters on
Foxs Bobs Burgers, and Schaal and John Hodgman
are now regular contributors to Comedy Centrals
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The trio teams up
for a Sandwich-To-Go Tour. Wednesday, Oct. 16, at
8 p.m. Lisner Auditorium, The George Washington
University, 730 21st St. NW. Tickets are $30. Call
202-994-6851 or visit lisner.org.
GALLERIES
DEL-RAY-GEOUS
Del Ray Artisans offers Del-Ray-geous, a member
showcase of artwork focused on the outrageous,
fun and unique parts of Alexandrias Del Ray
neighborhood and community. Through Oct. 27. Del
Ray Artisans in the Nicholas A. Colasanto Center,
2704 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Call 703-731-
8802 or visit thedelrayartisans.org.
DISCONNECT
Disconnect is an all-media, juried exhibition
examining how the development of new technologies
and social media has caused a shift in how people
relate to and interact with one another. Through
Nov. 3. Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 North
Union St., Alexandria. Call 703-838-4565 or visit
torpedofactory.org.
ERIC GOINES: SMUT
The exhibition Smut is the result of a yearlong
project by this local gay African-American artist of
erotic drawings and paintings made during nude-
male sketch nights at this gay-owned gallery. Closes
this Saturday, Oct. 12. Vitruvian Fine Arts Gallery,
734 7th St. SE, 2nd Floor. Suggested donation of $5.
Visit vitruviangallery.com.
LIVING ARTFULLY: AT HOME WITH MARJORIE
MERRIWEATHER POST
Living Artfully transports visitors to Marjorie
Posts grand estates of the 1950s and 1960s through
multimedia presentations, audio tours, jewelry and
apparel displays, and decorative art and furniture
collections. Through Jan. 12. Hillwood Museum,
4155 Linnean Ave. NW. Tickets are $15. Call 202-
686-5807 or visit HillwoodMuseum.org.
REVOLUTIONS: SONGS OF SOCIAL CHANGE
Offering a comparative look at two dramatic periods
of civil strife 1860 through 1865 and 1960 through
1965 and the music they inspired, from The Battle
Hymn of the Republic to Blowing In The Wind.
Through Jan. 5. Virginia Historical Society, 428
North Blvd., Richmond. Call 804-358-4901 or visit
vahistorical.org.
VAN GOGH: REPETITIONS
The rst exhibition of Vincent Van Gogh in
Washington in over 15 years, Repetitions offers a
fresh look at the artistic prowess of Vincent Van
Gogh through an examination of roughly 30
paintings alongside related drawings and technical
photographs. Opens Saturday, Oct. 12. Through
Jan. 26. The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St. NW.
Tickets are $12. Call 202-387-2151, ext. 247, or visit
phillipscollection.org. l
FOR MORE OUT ON THE TOWN LISTINGS
PLEASE VISIT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM
CHRIS GERARD MUSIC
S
ir Elton John has nothing
left to prove. His status in
the top tier of rock-and-
roll royalty is unques-
tioned. His 31st studio album, The
Diving Board, hit stores last week
a full 44 years since his debut,
Empty Sky. During the inter-
vening decades he has released
countless songs, many of them
among the most classic recordings
in rock history. Landmark albums
like Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,
Honky Chateau and even the
more recent Songs from the West
Coast, are essential. That said,
some of his efforts 1979s Victim
of Love and 1986s Leather Jack-
ets, for instance are notorious,
cringe-inducing embarrassments.
Most of Johns albums have fallen
somewhere in between, and hes
usually capable of a great single or
two even if the rest of the album
is mediocre. Alas, his latest effort
ts somewhere among the lower
rungs of his vast discography.
His rst solo album since
2006s highly underrated The
Captain & The Kid, The Diving
Board is largely forgettable. John
collaborates once again with lyri-
cist Bernie Taupin, and the tone
is generally downbeat and reec-
tive. Producer T Bone Burnett
stands back and lets the songs
unfold in very basic fashion. The
arrangements are mostly limited
to Johns vocals over prominent
piano riffs, bass and drums. Bur-
nett allows John to take center
stage and the songs to stand up on
their own without any superu-
ous elements, although there are
occasionally string arrangements
and some background vocals.
This stripped-down approach
may have worked better if the
songs were more interesting, or
if a memorable snatch of melody
was anywhere to be found.
Its a shame, because its a great
setup for John, whose piano play-
ing has always been the central
component of his best work. Its
also undeniable that his voice has
degraded. Hes 66 and his vocals
have a deep, husky quality reec-
tive of decades of use. That in
itself wouldnt be a problem if the
material was more compelling.
Bob Dylans voice is a sandpaper
rasp, but his blood-drenched epic
Tempest album was one of the n-
est releases of 2012. The problem
with The Diving Board isnt Johns
less than agile voice, but the lack
of interesting songwriting.
There are a few tantalizing
moments that hint at what the
album might have been. The rst
single Home Again is poignant
and lovely a high point where
there are few to be found and,
yet when compared to other lead
singles from previous Elton John
albums, Home Again pales in
signicance. Were talking about
an artist who, with his collabora-
tor Bernie Taupin, has written
and recorded the likes of Tiny
Dancer, Your Song, Goodbye
Yellow Brick Road, Candle in
the Wind, and I Guess Thats
Why They Call it the Blues. As
recently as 2001 he delivered an
absolute gem in I Want Love,
which at this rate may go down
in history as the last great Elton
John recording. The closest thing
here may be The New Fever
Waltz, a late surprise that shows
some signs of life, partially thanks
to the lively string arrangement.
The up-tempo Mexican Vaca-
tion has a little bit of spark and a
hint of the old Elton John magic
with the rollicking piano and his
best vocal on the album. Of the
numerous ballads, the haunting
My Quicksand may be the n-
est moment. Its reminiscent of
some of the grandiose material on
Hopefully The Diving Board is not the nal word from Elton John, as its
not a tting swan song for a legend
Falling short: John
ELTON JOHN
The Diving Board
HHHHH
Capitol Records

$11.75
Disappointing Dive
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continues on page 41
I
N RECENT YEARS, MAJOR THEME PARKS HAVE EXTENDED THEIR SEA-
sons beyond Labor Day by tapping into this countrys seemingly insatiable bloodlust
for Halloween. Virtually every amusement park in the nation now remains open on
weekends throughout the month of October, offering an adrenaline-pumping mix of
high-octane rollercoasters during the day, and intense, ghoulish scares at night. And youll
nd an abundance of zombies, chainsaw-wielding madmen, and things that go bump in the
night (quite literally) at Kings Dominion and Six Flags America, two local haunts.
Of the pair, Kings Dominions Halloween Haunt is arguably the grander experience.
Covering a larger area and featuring more rides, the Doswell, Va., park can comfortably
keep you occupied for an entire day. We arrived in the afternoon and rode an incredible
selection of rides, including the 305-foot-high Intimidator and longtime wooden favorite
The Grizzly. A bright, cheery place by day, as dusk falls, the park transforms into something
rather evil. The main street fountains blaze blood red and fog is pumped into every open
area, blanketing the entire park in a thick, disorienting smog. Lights are dimmed, creepy
music plays, and costumed actors roam designated scare zones, seeking unsuspecting in-
dividuals to startle.
With nine haunted houses to explore, Kings Dominion has plenty to terrify you. Not all
are guaranteed to shock No Vacancy and Outbreak the Evolution feel underdeveloped,
for instance but a few are bone-chilling standouts. Cornstalkers is a tight, claustrophobic
maze of maize, with sharp turns and well-concealed actors, hooded in creepy scarecrow
masks, offering consistent scares. Slaughterhouse is dark, grisly and disturbing, with props,
actors and a few well-situated mirrors combining to offer a blend of anxiety and repulsion.
Miners Revenge is particularly notable for its length not to mention some magnicent
performers who creepily stalk you, literally breathing down your neck as you navigate the
darker sections.
Upper Marlboro, Md.s Six Flags America is the smaller of the two parks, and certainly
feels it. We managed to ride every coaster and several rides including the brilliant Super-
man: Ride of Steel and still had an hour or so to kill before Fright Fest began. Once it did,
however, things improved con-
siderably if by improved one
means the setting in of sheer panic
and dread. Six Flags designated
scare zones demonstrate better
attention to detail: Where Kings
Dominion generally relies on rub-
ber masks for its performers, Six
Flags utilizes excellent makeup to
offer similar horror with far great-
er realism. Actors roam the zones,
furiously chasing and screaming
at individuals, keeping adrenaline
high as you navigate the park.
Though it offers nearly half
the houses as Kings Dominion,
Six Flags has quality over quantity
in its favor. Aftermath is the lone
dud here, a lame, haphazard walk-
through that lacks the claustro-
phobic encasement of the other
indoor mazes. Spider Factory is
particularly disturbing for anyone
with even mild arachnophobia,
while Twisted Fairy Tales cleverly
utilizes 3D glasses and black light
paint to disorient your vision and
make props and actors objects ap-
pear to oat improbably in midair.
The crowning glory, however, and
one that is arguably better than
any other house at either park,
is The Haunting of Hall Manor,
which plays off the legend of the
parks alleged ghost, Eleanor.
Open only after darkness ful-
ly descends, Hall Manor forces
those brave enough to enter to
walk through the woods behind
the park, with minimal lighting,
sound effects and actors combin-
ing into an experience that evokes
every primal fear as you stumble
through. When youre standing
in a dark, wooded area and the
ground suddenly starts creeping
toward you, you shriek. You shriek
loudly. Hall Manors length adds
to the fear. By the midway point
we wanted nothing more but to
exit, but were forced to keep navi-
gating into even more disturbing
scenarios. Its magnicent and
magnicently terrifying.
Ultimately, either park is guar-
anteed to provide a heady mix of
thrills and scares. Riding coast-
ers in the dark is an invigorating
experience (Superman and The
Grizzly both descend into pitch
black), and is matched only by
stepping out of one of the haunted
houses relieved that the horror is
over. Or is it? Youll nd you never
quite navigate around corners the
Think the government shutdown is scary? Take on Kings Dominion and
Six Flags, where monsters create weekend mayhem
Somebody get the point: Kings Dominion
39
Frightful
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RHUARIDH MARR AND RANDY SHULMAN ELSEWHERE
40
I
FINALLY GET IT, AMERICA.
For years, as a Brit, I watched from across the Atlantic as you super-sized every-
thing cars, buildings, waistlines and waited as similar trends occurred in Britain.
The buildings and obesity came, but one of that trio did not: the cars. As Detroit
followed a mantra familiar to many of us, that bigger is better, in Europe smaller became
the norm. Superminis, as we call sub-compacts, are a ubiquitous sight on Britains roads,
honed and developed over the past decade to provide a driving style and level of comfort
equal to many bigger vehicles on the road. Take a look at the new Fiesta for an example of
a small car living outside its limitations.
Ford, GM and Chrysler continue to pump steroids into their autos the Ford Expedi-
tion, Lincoln Navigator, the Cadillac Escalade, et al are full-size SUVs with dimensions that
manage to make a Range Rover seem positively dainty. In Europe, the Range Rover is one of
the largest cars available to buy, in a size class with Audis Q7, Land Rovers LR4, Mercedess
GL-Class and others, but even these are dwarfed by some of the vehicles rolling out of fac-
tories in the states. In Britain, I would read about them with morbid curiosity, simultane-
ously dazzled and dumbfounded by these land barges, seemingly created to carry as many
people in as much space while draining as large a quantity of fuel as possible.
As environmental activists scream bloody murder over the proliferation of SUVs and
large gas engines, to see such excessive, overreaching vehicles across the pond was almost
obnoxious. In Britain, diesel engines outsell gas and certain green people damage large
SUVs parked on the streets of London and other cities. I was fortunate enough to review
Mercedess GL450 in Los Angeles, and the thought of such a large car with a gas V8 is bi-
zarre to someone used to high-capacity diesel engines being an accepted norm.
Part of me, however, has always wondered what it would be like to own one of Detroits
largest, with one of their biggest engines. What compels owners to go full-size rather than
opt for something smaller? Why choose a Chevy Suburban when you can have a smaller,
more efcient car that carries the same number of people? Well, on a recent short vaca-
tion to Florida, I accidentally an-
swered my own questions. Visit-
ing ve friends, I decided to rent
a car big enough to take all of
us to the requisite theme parks
we would be visiting. Looking
through the options, I ignored
the minivan that my brain told me
was the sensible option, and opted
for an SUV with seven seats a
Chevrolet Tahoe or similar, which
is hardly a small car. As fate would
have it, though, when I reached
the garage, none were available.
What was? The next class up in
my case, a white, 2013 GMC Yu-
kon XL.
It was, without any doubt, the
largest car I have ever driven. My
brain struggled to take in the mass
of metal in front of me, but, after
walking around its sides several
times which took longer than
youd think I clambered aboard,
adjusted the seat, and started the
5.3-liter V8.
Moving it out of the space, and
through the narrow garage, nerves
kicked in. Its too big. Its too wide.
Its seriously too damn big. But I
continued to the freeway.
As soon as I did, I got it. In-
stantly.
The driving position is impe-
rious. You sit, above most other
trafc, able to see all around and
straight to the horizon. Its a com-
manding, invigorating, powerful
feeling to be able to peer down at
drivers in lesser vehicles, to con-
trol so much space in your given
lane, to know that you can see
accidents, lane changes and any
other trouble up ahead long be-
fore most other drivers. Similarly,
merging and negotiating trafc
becomes a power trip: Youre the
bigger car, all others must yield
to you as you pilot your castle on
wheels into the next lane. The big,
chunky controls, the large green-
house, the vast, spongy seats, the
power of the V8 rumbling under
the hood it cossets you, dis-
connects you from the driving
experience. Switch cruise control
on, turn up the stereo, relax and
cut yourself off from the outside
world as you navigate through the
plebeians in their compacts and
sedans.
With friends aboard, every-
one marveled at the space. Each
had an armchair, with shoulder
room, legroom and headroom all
in abundance. In a car that big,
Owning a car the size of the GMC Yukon XL is like an elixir, one that
isolates you in your own powerful cocoon
Absurdly indulgent: GMC Yukon XL
Big Wheels

G
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RHUARIDH MARR GEARS
MUSIC
continued from page 36 ELSEWHERE
cont. from page 39
Johns eponymous second album.
Unfortunately, to reach those high-
lights one must wade through a lot of
tedium. Its not that The Diving Board
is embarrassing or in any way tarnishes
his legacy; rather, its just that the album
ultimately feels unnecessary. Listening
to The Diving Board simply makes one
yearn to go back and replay one of Elton
Johns truly great albums. The songs have
a numbing sameness to them. Perhaps
the warning signs were there all along
in that the albums release was report-
edly pushed back multiple times so that
John and Taupin could come up with
additional material. Maybe they needed
another six months. And perhaps, more
importantly, its simply unfair to com-
pare Johns current work to his nest
moments. And yet, artists in his same
range, such as David Bowie, Neil Young,
Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and others,
are still delivering the goods. The Diving
Board is a disappointment. Hopefully this
is not the nal word from Elton John,
as The Diving Board is not a tting swan
song for a legend of his magnitude. He
can do better. l
they felt like VIPs, able to enjoy the privi-
lege of such height and space as much as I
did. Arriving at restaurants, theme parks,
even Walmart, lling a parking space and
jumping down from your seat, you feel
like youve made a much grander entrance
than you would in a Dodge Caravan.
Its not a perfect experience show it a
corner and the Yukon will roll like a cruise
ship, as will most in this class of car. The
interior is still miles behind the European
and Japanese marques in quality Cadil-
lac seems to be the only Detroit company
really nailing this. And then, of course,
theres the fuel economy. I have never wit-
nessed such a thirsty vehicle, and the same
is true for all cars this size. Stick a big V8 in
a heavy, AWD car and it will drink fuel. On
the short drive from Orlando Internation-
al to Kissimmee, it drained a gallon of fuel.
In 14 miles. Ouch. Then there are the other
costs those large tires, any repairs, regu-
lar services and other such expenditures
will all be signicant for a vehicle this big.
Heck, even buying car shampoo will cost
as youll need so much more.
Ultimately, though, I was sad to hand
the Yukon XL back and I cant really
explain why. As a purchase, it would make
no nancial, environmental or compara-
tive sense. Land Rovers base LR4 has an
MSRP only a few thousand more than
the Yukon, will go farther off-road, drive
better on it, and has a much nicer inte-
rior. GMCs own Acadia can be had for
the same price in high-spec Denali trim,
and offers lower running costs, a better
drive, and seating for eight, albeit with less
space. I could never justify a purchase to a
city dweller; the Yukon XL and cars like it
are just too big and unwieldy to live solely
in a city. Similarly, I couldnt justify the
purchase to Greenpeace, the World Wild-
life Fund or Al Gore.
That said, there is something intoxicat-
ing about it. Owning a car the size of the
XL is like an elixir, one that isolates you in
your own powerful cocoon, high up from
the road and other drivers, offering a rum-
bling V8 surge with every squirt of the gas
pedal, letting you drive through rain and
snow, and even take you off road should
the mood call for it. Itll take eight people
anywhere in relative comfort, and every-
one will feel like they matter when they
get out of it. Its an obnoxious purchase
a space-hogging, fossil-fuel drinking,
two-nger salute to a world that is down-
sizing and economizing. It gives its own-
ers a place to feel like they matter, to feel
important. It is, as it consumes your entire
driveway, a way to tell people you dont
care what they think, that youre going to
have the most excessive, most improbable
vehicle you can get. And youre going to
love every minute of it, costs and common
sense be damned.
I completely and utterly get it. l
same way again. And thats the beauty of
both parks: They leave you unnerved, un-
settled, unhinged. And ready for one more
scream.
Kings Dominions Halloween Haunt is open
through Oct. 27. Tickets start at $32.99. Vis-
it kingsdominon.com. Six Flags Americas
Fright Fest is open through Oct. 27. Tickets
start at $34.99. Visit sixags.com/America.
Both parks sell front of the line passes, a
worthwhile investment if you ask us. l
NIGHT
LIFE
43 METROWEEKLY.COM
M
THURSDAY, 10.10.13
9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm Multiple
TVs showing movies,
shows, games, football on
Sundays Expanded craft
beer selection No cover
ANNIES/ANNIES
UPSTAIRS
4@4 Happy Hour,
4pm-7pm $4 Small
Plates, $4 Stella Artois,
$4 House Wines, $4
Stolichnaya Cocktails, $4
Manhattans and Vodka
Martinis
DC EAGLE
3-Way Thursdays Bring
Your Buddies when two
friends buy drinks, yours
are free, rail or domestic
Join D.C.s newest Rugby
Team Club Bar: DC
Scandals
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Karaoke, 9pm
GREEN LANTERN
Shirtless Men Drink Free,
10-11pm
JR.S
$3 Rail Vodka Highballs,
$2 JR.s drafts, 8pm to
close Top Pop Night
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Beat The Clock Happy
Hour $2 (5-6pm), $3
(6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Buckets of Beer $15
Drag Bingo
NUMBER NINE
drink, 5-9pm No Cover
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
All male, nude dancers
Shirtless Thursday DJ
Tim E in Secrets 9pm
Cover 21+
LISTINGS
DC EAGLE
New Happy Hour Specials,
$2 off regular prices,
4-9pm Club Bar: Onyx
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Karaoke, 9pm
JR.S
Buy 1, Get 1,
11pm-midnight Happy
Hour: 2-for-1, 4-9pm $5
Coronas, $8 Vodka Red
Bulls, 9pm-close
NELLIES 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
PHASE 1
DJ Styalo Dancing
$5 cover
FRIDAY, 10.11.13
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink,
5-9pm Friday Night
Videos with resident
DJ Shea Van Horn VJ
Expanded craft beer
selection No cover
ANNIES
4@4 Happy Hour, 4-7pm
$4 Small Plates, $4 Stella
Artois, $4 House Wines,
$4 Stolichnaya Cocktails,
$4 Manhattans and Vodka
Martinis Upstairs open
5-11pm
DC BEAR CRUE
@Town Bear Happy
Hour, 6-11pm $3 Rail,
$3 Draft, $3 Bud Bottles
Free Pizza, 7pm Hosted
by Charger Stone No
cover before 9:30pm 21+
PHASE 1 OF DUPONT
1415 22nd St. NW
For the Ladies DJ Rosie
Doors at 9pm 21+
PWS SPORTS BAR
9855 Washington Blvd. N
Laurel, Md.
301-498-4840
Drag Show in lounge
Half-price burgers and
fries
TOWN
Drag Show starts at
10:30pm Hosted by
Lena Lett and featuring
Tatianna, Shi-Queeta-
Lee, Jessica Spaulding
Deverreoux and BaNaka
Doors open at 10pm For
those 21 and over, $5 from
10-11pm and $10 after
11pm For those 18-20,
$10 all night 18+
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Ladies of Illusion with
host Kristina Kelly, 9pm
Cover 21+
SATURDAY, 10.12.13
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
5-9pm VJ Jack Rayburn
Expanded craft beer
selection No cover
DC EAGLE
$2 Off for Men with Club
Mugs, Leather Vests,
Harnesses or Chaps
Leather Sabbat Kick-
Off Paty Hosted by
Highwaymen TNT and
Potomac MC on Club Bar
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Diner Brunch, 10am-3pm
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Karaoke and/or live
entertainment, 9pm
JR.S
$4 Coors, $5 Vodka
highballs, $7 Vodka Red
Bulls
NELLIES
Guest DJs Zing Zang
Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer,
House Rail Drinks and
Mimosas, $4, 11am-5pm
Buckets of Beer, $15
NUMBER NINE
Pop Goes the World,
Global Pop Music Open
5pm Happy Hour: 2 for
1 on any drink, 5-9pm
No Cover
PHASE 1
Dancing, 9pm-close
PHASE 1 OF DUPONT
Doors at 9pm 21+

PWS SPORTS BAR
Laurel, Md.
301-498-4840
Karaoke in the lounge
Charity Bingo with Cash
Prizes 3rd Sat. of Every
Month
TOWN
Cocky Boys Levi Karter,
Jake Bass & Max Ryder
Music by Summer Camp
Doors open 10pm Drag
Show starts at 10:30pm
Hosted by Lena Lett
and featuring Tatianna,
Shi-Queeta-Lee, Jessica
Spaulding Deverreoux and
BaNaka For those 21
and over, $8 from 10-11pm
and $12 after 11pm
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
All nude male dancers,
9pm Ladies of Illusion
with host Ella Fitzgerald,
9pm DJ Steve
Henderson in Secrets
DJ Spyke in Ziegfelds
Cover 21+
45
M
scene
scan this tag
with your
smartphone
for bonus scene
pics online!
PhaseFest 2013
Friday, September 27
Phase 1
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
CHRISTOPHER CUNETTO
SUNDAY, 10.13.13
9 1/2
Open at Noon for NFL
Football Happy Hour: 2
for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm
Multiple TVs showing
movies, shows, games,
football on Sundays
Expanded craft beer
selection No cover
DC EAGLE
New Happy Hours
Specials: $2 off rail and
domestic, 4-9pm DC
Eagle Beer Bust, 1-5pm
$15 for Refllable Cup
of Bud and ShockTop,
second foor DC Eagle
Buffet: Anguss BBQ
Ribs, Rotisserie Chicken,
Spinach Pasta, Potato
Salad, Mixed Veggies &
Dessert
FIREPLACE
Skyy Vodka, $3 $5 cover
with $1 off coupons
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Champagne Brunch
Buffet, 10am-3pm
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Drag Show hosted by
Destiny B. Childs featuring
performances by a rotating
cast, 9pm No cover
Karaoke follows show
JR.S
Sunday Funday Liquid
Brunch Doors open at
1pm $2 Coors Lights &
$3 Skyy (all favors), all
day and night
NELLIES
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
NUMBER NINE
No Cover
TOWN
WTF: Lock Up Music
by Aaron Riggins, Dean
Sullivan & Ed Bailey
Performances by Dirrty
Pony, Stephen Benedicto,
BaNaka Doors 10pm
$5 cover after 11pm 21+
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Decades of Dance DJ
Tim-e in Secrets 9pm
Cover 21+
MONDAY, 10.14.13
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
Hour: 2 for 1 on any
TVs showing movies,
Sundays Gay Spelling
Bee hosted by Brett
Expanded craft beer
selection No cover
ANNIES
Martinis
DC EAGLE
Open 4pm Monday
Night Football $1 Drafts
- Bud and Bud Light
FREDDIES
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Karaoke, 9pm
JR.S
Happy Hour: 2-for-1, 4-9pm
Showtunes Songs &
Singalongs, 9pm-close
DJ Jamez $3 Drafts
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Hour $2 (5-6pm), $3
(6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Buckets of Beer $15
Poker Texas Holdem, 8pm
NUMBER NINE
No Cover
PWS SPORTS BAR
Laurel, Md.
301-498-4840
Buzztime Trivia
competition 75 cents off
bottles and drafts
TUESDAY, 10.15.13
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
TVs showing movies,
ANNIES
Happy Hour, 4-7pm $4
Stella Artois, $4 House
Wines, $4 Stolichnaya
Cocktails, $4 Manhattans
and Vodka Martinis
DC EAGLE
Open 4pm $2 Rail and
Domestic, All Day Free
Pool till 9pm
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Karaoke, 9pm
JR.S
Underground (Indie Pop/
Alt/Brit Rock), 9pm-close
DJ Wes Della Volla
Special Guest DJ Matt
Bailer 2-for-1, all day
and night
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Hour $2 (5-6pm), $3
(6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Buckets of Beer $15
Karaoke
NUMBER NINE
No Cover
PWS SPORTS BAR
Laurel, Md.
301-498-4840
75 cents off bottles and
drafts Movie Night
WED., 10.16.13
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
TVs showing movies,
ANNIES
Happy Hour, 4-7pm $4
Stella Artois, $4 House
Wines, $4 Stolichnaya
Cocktails, $4 Manhattans
and Vodka Martinis
DC EAGLE
Open 4pm Wooden
Nickels Redeemable
2 Nickels get Rail or
Domestic
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm Drag
Bingo, 8pm Karaoke,
10pm
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour Prices,
4pm-Close
JR.S
Trivia with MC Jay
Ray, 8pm The Queen,
10-11pm $2 JRs Drafts
& $4 Vodka ($2 with
College I.D./JRs Team
Shirt)
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Hour $2 (5-6pm), $3
(6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Half-Price Burger Night
Buckets of Beer $15
SmartAss Trivia, 8pm
NUMBER NINE
No Cover
DC BEAR CRUE
@Town Bear Happy
Hour, 6-11pm $3 Rail,
$3 Draft, $3 Bud Bottles
Free Pizza, 7pm Hosted
by Charger Stone No
cover before 9:30pm 21+
DC EAGLE
New Happy Hour Specials,
$2 off regular prices,
4-9pm Club Bar: DC
Boys of Leather
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Karaoke, 9pm
JR.S
Buy 1, Get 1,
11pm-midnight Happy
Hour: 2-for-1, 4-9pm $5
Coronas, $8 Vodka Red
Bulls, 9pm-close
PWS SPORTS BAR
Laurel, Md.
301-498-4840
Free Pool 75 cents off
Bottles and Drafts
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
New Meat Wednesday DJ
Don T 9pm Cover 21+
THURSDAY, 10.17.13
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
ANNIES/ANNIES
UPSTAIRS
4@4 Happy Hour,
4pm-7pm $4 Small
Plates, $4 Stella Artois,
$4 House Wines, $4
Stolichnaya Cocktails, $4
Manhattans and Vodka
Martinis
DC EAGLE
3-Way Thursdays Bring
Your Buddies when two
friends buy drinks, yours
are free, rail or domestic
Club Bar: Metro Leather
Pride
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Karaoke, 9pm
GREEN LANTERN
Shirtless Men Drink Free,
10-11pm
JR.S
$3 Rail Vodka Highballs,
$2 JR.s drafts, 8pm to
close Top Pop Night
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Hour $2 (5-6pm), $3
(6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Buckets of Beer $15
Drag Bingo
NUMBER NINE
drink, 5-9pm No Cover
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Shirtless Thursday DJ
Tim E in Secrets 9pm
Cover 21+
FRIDAY, 10.18.13
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
5-9pm Friday Night
Videos with resident
DJ Shea Van Horn VJ
Expanded craft beer
selection No cover
ANNIES
Martinis Upstairs open
5-11pm
NELLIES 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
No Cover
PHASE 1
DJ Styalo Dancing
$5 cover
PHASE 1 OF DUPONT
1415 22nd St. NW
Doors at 9pm 21+
PWS SPORTS BAR
Laurel, Md.
301-498-4840
Drag Show in lounge
Half-price burgers and
fries
TOWN
Drag Show starts at
10:30pm Hosted by
Lena Lett and featuring
Tatianna, Shi-Queeta-
Lee, Jessica Spaulding
Deverreoux and BaNaka
Doors open at 10pm For
those 21 and over, $5 from
10-11pm and $10 after
11pm For those 18-20,
$10 all night 18+
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Ladies of Illusion with
host Kristina Kelly, 9pm
Cover 21+ l
49 PURCHASE YOUR PHOTO AT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM/SCENE/
The whole thing with
using the term bear is the
notation to things being
alternative, says Sullivan,
who serves as the partys
main DJ. For the debut
event hell share spinning
duties upstairs with DJ
Tommy Cornelis (Velvet
Lounges The NeedlEx-
change), while Cornelis
will also spin downstairs
with DJ Kwasi. The musi-
cal focus isnt alternative in
the manner of Gay/Bash,
the monthly alt/punk-styled,
drag-oriented party that Sul-
livan spins at the Black Cat
with DJ Joshua Vogelsong.
But Bearzerk veers from
a typical gay night out: a lot
of underground house, little
in the way of mainstream
dance or EDM. Were not
going to be playing a lot of
Britney Spears or anything
like that, says Sullivan.
You probably wont even
hear a single pop song the
whole night.
Bearzerk is actually the
second monthly party that
Hodges and Sullivan have
created. It follows DILF
at Number Nine, which
launched, appropriately
enough, on Fathers Day.
It started getting so good,
Hodges says, they took
it off Sundays and put it
on Saturday night. DILF
is now held the second
Saturday of each month.
Hodges and Sullivan also
work together by day at the
Logan 14 Aveda Lifestyle
Salon-Spa, which Hodges
owns. We drive each
other crazy every once in a
while, concedes Sullivan, a
manager at the salon, [but]
weve gotten into a really
good groove.
Chances are it wont be
the last we hear from them,
either. Ive been testing
the waters because Id like
to have a bar someday,
says Hodges, a 26-year resi-
dent of D.C. I think theres
a need for a place where
everyone feels comfortable
without having a niche. I
think there are too many
niches.
Bearzerk is Saturday, Oct.
12, at 10 p.m., at Cobalt,
1639 R St. NW. Cover is $5
before midnight, $7 after.
Call 202-232-4416 or visit
cobaltdc.com and facebook.
com/bearzerk. l
MICHAEL IAN HODGES,
you might say, was going
berserk.
They dont have to
bring in these higher-priced
DJs and party promoters,
Hodges says, referring to
a popular nationally touring
dance part which stopped at
Cobalt a couple times in the
past year. We want some-
thing in our own city, and
we want to build a brand
and have a fun party once a
month for everybody.
So Hodges has taken
matters into his own hands
and has teamed up with
DJ Dean Douglas Sullivan
to give it to us now, in
fact. This Saturday, Oct.
12, Cobalt will christen the
duos new monthly dance
party: Bearzerk.
Its not just a bear
party, though we do hang
out in that group, Hodges
explains. Our tagline is:
Its a party for all party ani-
mals.
C
L
U
B
L
I
F
E
B
Y

D
O
U
G

R
U
L
E

/
/

P
H
O
T
O
G
R
A
P
H
Y

B
Y

J
U
L
I
A
N

V
A
N
K
I
M
Bear Crazed
S
50
Michael Ian Hodges and Dean Douglas Sullivan team up for Bearzerk, Cobalts new
bears-and-more dance party
Hodges (left) and Sullivan
scene
Birdies
Disney Sing-a-long
Tuesday, September 24
JR.s
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
CHRISTOPHER CUNETTO
scan this tag
with your
smartphone
for bonus scene
pics online!
It was an inappropriate analogy, you know. I think

a much better analogy would have been brother and sister,
dont you?
Asked in a live WHP-TV interview about an analogy to child marriage used by state lawyers attempting to prohibit same-sex
marriage, Pennsylvania Gov. TOM CORBETT (R) compares same-sex marriage to incest.
(Metro Weekly)
I nd it sad that a governor - with a team of intelligent, thoughtful staff around him,
some of whom are gay
has such a basic misunderstanding and, more distressing, an overt meanness about any issue,
let alone a human-rights issue.
TERRY MUTCHLER, Pennsylvanias highest-ranking out gay ofcial, on Corbetts comparison of gay marriage to incest.
(Philadelphia Inquirer)
However, we will take stricter measures that will help us detect

gays who will be then barred
from entering Kuwait or any of the GCC member states.
Kuwaits minister of public health, YOUSOUF MINDKAR, on the nations plans to conduct routine medical check[s] to identify
homosexuals and bar them from entering the country. The nature of the medical test was unspecied.
(International Business Times)
There can be no true and meaningful democracy if we continue to systematically

oppress the LGBT sector.
Philippines Congresswoman SOL ARAGONES on her proposed legislation that would require police stations to have desks
devoted to crimes against LGBT people, similar to current desks devoted to women and children.
(Gay Star News)
I was amused how they tried to paint me as a homophobe. They came out with all guns blasting. It was funny,
it had the Chick-l-A effect.
They realized they were actually doing me a favor so they stopped.
Retired neurosurgeon and conservative activist BEN CARSON, who once compared same-sex marriage to pedophilia and
bestiality during a Fox News appearance, speaks to the anti-LGBT Illinois Family Institute.
(Raw Story)

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2 DATE 0, 2003 METROWEEKLY.

It was an inappropriate analogy, you know. I think

However, we will take stricter measures that will help us detect

There can be no true and meaningful democracy if we continue to systematically

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