Metro Weekly - 10-13-11 - Reel Affirmation

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Frank Kameny Dies at 86 For more than 50 years, the District legend fought for equality

by Chris Geidner

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rank Kameny, 86, a pioneer of the modern gay rights movement, was found dead on Tuesday evening, Oct. 11, National Coming Out Day. “It is with great sadness that I must report the death of Dr. Franklin Kameny, an activist and friend of the LGBT community,” Metropolitan Police Department Capt. Edward Delgado wrote in an email to media outlets.

Speaking about 8 p.m., Oct. 11, from Kameny’s home, a designated historic landmark, Charles Francis confirmed that Kameny died in his bed and that his body was being removed. Others on the scene included Bob Witeck. Both Francis and Witeck were part of the effort to have Kameny’s personal papers housed in the Library of Congress.

Marvin Carter, board member of the organization Helping Our Brothers and Sisters, which aided Kameny, says he was contacted by Kameny’s housemate about 5:30 p.m., Oct. 11, and given the news that he had discovered Kameny’s body.

“It appears to have been of natural causes,” says Carter.

Kameny’s beginnings in advocacy work came after he was fired in 1957 from his job as an astronomer for the Army Map Service because he was gay.

He challenged the firing, though, and took the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Although the court declined to hear the case, an activist was born.

Kameny went on to become one of the leading advocates for lesbian and gay equality in the years before — and since — Stonewall. In 1961, he co-founded the Mattachine Society of Washington. In 1965, he and others with the group famously picketed the

Kameny

White House in shirts and ties, sending a letter to the White House explaining their presence.

Along with Barbara Gittings, Kameny successfully worked with experts in the field and others to convince the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its list of disorders in 1973. The next year, he and Gittings served as counsel to Otis Fancis Tabler Jr., successfully keeping the Defense Department employee from having his security clearance revoked due to being gay.

Witeck talked with Metro Weekly on

Oct. 11 after returning from Kameny’s house, saying, “When I was in high school 43 years ago – there’s nothing, nothing. No Internet. Library books were atrocious. The only thing I knew was Frank Kameny’s name, from the newspapers, and the Mattachine Society. And I called the Mattachine Society, and I didn’t know it at the time – but that was Frank.

“Frank was the first gay person I spoke to in all of my life,” he says. “And I wasn’t the only one with the story.”

Despite the many victories for equality since, of which Kameny was a part,

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LGBTNews it wasn’t until June 24, 2009, that he received a formal apology from the government for his firing. In a letter that called the firing “a shameful action,” the director of the Office of Personnel Management wrote to him, “Please accept our apology for the consequences of the previous policy of the United States government, and please accept the gratitude and appreciation of the United States Office of Personnel Management for the work you have done to fight discrimination and protect the merit-based civil service system.”

The director, John Berry, is an out gay man and the highest ranking out LGBT official in the Obama administration.

Kameny’s death was noted quickly and felt widely across the LGBT community.

Rick Rosendall, who knew Kameny for the past 33 years through their work with the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, told Metro Weekly, “Frank was a force of nature. His level of courage and ferocity in standing up for his principles was amazing at a time when he had no backups.”

In his email, Delgado noted, “Dr. Kameny is a friend of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit; which he advised during its infancy stage. My condolences go out to the Kameny family and the entire LGBT community.”

Richard Socarides, who served as the lesbian and gay liaison to President Clinton, told Metro Weekly, “Frank was such a brave person to do what he did when he did it – a shinning example for us all. An amazing, inspirational figure who stands out among the giants of our movement.”

On June 10, 2010, a crowd gathered on 17th Street NW for the unveiling of the street sign naming the stretch of the street between R and Q Streets “Frank Kameny Way NW.” A little more than six months later, Kameny was present for another landmark moment – the signing of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act. The World War II veteran told Metro Weekly he was overjoyed to be attending because, as he said, “I didn’t think I’d live to see it.”

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese noted in a statement, “From his early days fighting institutionalized discrimination in the federal workforce, Dr. Kameny taught us all that ‘Gay is Good.’ As we say goodbye to this trailblazer on National Coming Out Day, 6

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we remember the remarkable power we all have to change the world by living our lives like Frank – openly, honestly and authentically.”

Witeck echoed that, saying, “Frank also, truly, truly, was a lifelong lesson in being principled. It’s just an amazing gift – and an annoying gift. All of us have doubts; Frank didn’t have a one. If he did, he didn’t tell anyone.”

Talking about Berry’s role at OPM, the repeal of DADT and other successes of recent years, Witeck says, “Every single thing that we have touched, Frank had been there before.”

A public memorial will be held, Witeck told Metro Weekly, noting that Nov. 15 is the 50th anniversary of the Mattachine Society of Washington and that, accordingly, plans are being considered to hold the memorial that day. He noted, though, that Kameny often said that he did not want a religious ceremony and that, as such, it would not be religious and would be held in a public place.

Will O’Bryan contributed to this report. l

Share Our Values News Analysis: As voters look for candidates who share their moral sense, some new possibilities emerge for the way LGBT issues play in politics

by Chris Geidner The voters were focused intently on the message sent by the speaker, seeking affirmation that their candidate would pursue a moral path if successful in winning the presidential election in 2012.

Servicemembers in attendance were praised by politicians onstage for their service, more than one person raised the specter of the Supreme Court to the crowd, and family values were a constant source of discussion.

But when President Barack Obama finished speaking to the Human Rights Campaign audience at the Washington Convention Center Oct. 1, he hadn’t gone all the way. There was, in fact, no discussion of marriage equality. He left that to HRC President Joe Solmonese and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

He did, however, talk about the Defense of Marriage Act, telling the crowd, “My administration is no longer defending DOMA in the courts. I believe the law runs counter to the Constitution, and it’s time for it to end once and for all.

It should join ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in the history books.”

Less than a week later, a similar – if cynically inverted – scene played out at D.C.’s Omni Shoreham Hotel when Obama’s would-be Republican challengers – from Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Herman Cain to Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) and Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) to former House Speaker Newt Gingrinch (Ga.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.) – addressed the Family Research Council’s Values Voter Summit.

As with Obama (in reverse), none of the main challengers went “all the way” on the anti-LGBT agenda. They left that to folks such as Robert Jeffress, the First Baptist Church of Dallas pastor; the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer; and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa).

They did, however, talk about DOMA. Saying, “It’s so important to preserve traditional marriage,” Romney told the crowd, “I will appoint an attorney general who will defend the bipartisan law passed by Congress and signed by Bill Clinton, the Defense of Marriage Act.” When discussing the military, though, the leading Republican presidential candidate made no mention of the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” that took place weeks earlier.

Cain, like Romney, poked at Obama’s decision to stop defending DOMA, saying, “I believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. And I would not have asked the Department of Justice to not enforce it. I would have asked the Department of Justice to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act.” Cain didn’t mention DADT. Perry, for all his red meat thrown out to the crowd about tax cuts and pro-life beliefs, didn’t mention DADT, either. Nor, though, did he even mention DOMA – or his established position that only marriages between one man and one woman ought to be recognized.

Yes, there are significant differences between the type of discussions going on in each room – and with the fact that Obama was avoiding an unpopular position with the crowd in the room, whereas the GOP candidates were avoiding letting

LGBTNews word about a popular position within the room become news outside the room.

But, this remains: Among the three candidates leading in the most recent national polling, none of them mentioned reinstating DADT and none mentioned a federal constitutional amendment – or the state constitutional amendments pending in North Carolina and Minnesota – to prohibit same-sex marriages.

Why? At its simplest: The technology of the time – specifically, the “caught on videotape” reality that pushes such conferences outside their walls – prevents the blunt assessments candidates used to be willing to give to “friendly” crowds.

Unpacking that presents a more hopeful possibility. Even though strongly antiLGBT positions might help candidates win at least some Republican primaries, candidates are starting to learn – from the reaction to the (real or exaggeratedby-the-acoustics) “boos” at a gay servicemember, to the changing poll numbers on marriage equality – that there’s no longterm strategy for winning that includes extremist anti-LGBT stands.

As Perry told the audience, “There is no voter in America who is not a value voter. It’s just a question of whose values that they share.” l

Cowboys Calling It Quits

The Washington-area dance troupe announces farewell tour for their 18th season

by John Riley They started as a small group of dancers at the area’s Atlantic Stampede LGBT rodeo 17 years ago and have since gained national and international recognition for their act, but the DC Cowboys Dance Company is “going out on top” by announcing a farewell tour for their 18th and final season in 2012.

“The farewell tour really gives us an opportunity to show our appreciation to all of our fans who’ve been watching us, and cheering for us, and supporting us all these years,” says Kevin Platte, the amateur dance troupe’s executive and artistic director. “We want to give them a chance to see us one more time so we can both 8

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

say ‘goodbye.’”

Platte is still in the process of organizing the tour, but expects to travel to different cities all over the world in early 2012, ending with a final performance at D.C.’s Capital Pride Festival in June. He says the tour will include a mix of current and veteran dancers, as well as new dancers, who will be able to begin auditioning Nov. 1 for the group’s final tour.

“It’s time,” Platte says of the decision to disband. “We’ve had a great run, we’ve achieved and exceeded all of our goals that I set for the organization, which was to have fun; to provide a healthy performance outlet for gay men; strive to develop excellence in the performing arts; to develop a worldwide fan base; to perform on national TV; [and] to perform at so many prestigious venues like the Kennedy Center.”

Platte’s also proud of the group’s community service, providing entertainment free-of-charge to service organizations working in HIV/AIDS, which remains the primary health concern for gay men 17 years after the Cowboys’ inception.

Others might’ve chosen to hold on a little longer.

Chad Townsend, a 10-year veteran of the DC Cowboys who serves as the group’s communications director, has fond memories. His most memorable experiences include performing live on the NBC TV show America’s Got Talent and touring various European cities.

“Part of me is pretty sad,” he says. “I was hoping we would get to 20 years.”

Townsend says the most difficult part of serving as communications director was trying to sell a group of gay male dancers to more mainstream outlets.

Some parts of the group’s act were “toned down” at the request of audiences that were considered “family-friendly,” but the group was never denied a chance to perform.

Keith Hixson, an 11-year DC Cowboys veteran, also remembers downplaying the group’s gay identity – even going as far as editing their website and removing pictures from a 2008 calendar shoot - and toning down parts of the act that were considered “too risqué” for certain audiences, such as when they performed on America’s Got Talent and competed for the votes of young girls and their parents.

He says the experience still ranks among the best of his dancing career.

Hixson adds that even though he grew up in rural Tennessee, it wasn’t until he was an adult that he developed

an appreciation for his country roots.

Dancing at Remington’s, a local country bar, someone recommended he try out for the DC Cowboys.

“I was in the club dancing to the disco songs,” Hixson remembers. “But country was always in my soul. Once I started with the Cowboys, I was done with disco.”

The biggest challenge, he says, has been the level of commitment required of Cowboys, missing a few shows and tours because of his job working for Hermès.

“It does seem like a full-time job sometimes, because it does require a lot of practice,” says Hixson.

Barbara Kurzeja, the Cowboys’ stage manager, first saw the DC Cowboys perform in 2005. The minute she saw them, she wanted to get involved. In 2006, she found an opening, taking advantage of a decision by the DC Cowboy’s then-stage manager to take a break from touring.

“I volunteered to fill in, not realizing that it would become a full-time gig,” she says. “But I’ve loved every minute of it. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Because she has bonded with the dancers, whom she considers a family of brothers, Kurzeja has mixed emotions about the end of the troupe, but remains hopeful that many of the men will continue performing.

“I firmly believe there will be some kind of spin-off,” she says.

Platte, too, says he’s confident he and the other dancers will remain part of Washington’s arts community even after the troupe disbands – though what shape those plans will take is anybody’s guess.

“It’s not goodbye. It’s see you around – and in different locations,” Platte says.

“You never know where these boys are going to pop up.” l

Adoption Setback Supreme Court declines to hear gay couple’s case

by Chris Geidner On Tuesday, Oct. 11, without comment, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging Louisiana’s policy that prevents unmarried adoptive parents from both being listed on a child’s birth certificate. In this case, Adar v. Smith, a gay couple, Oren

LGBTNews Adar and Mickey Smith, had adopted a child and were told by the registrar ­– Darlene Smith – that both men could not be listed on the birth certificate.

Although they had won at the trial court and on their initial appeal, a rehearing of the appeal by the full panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had reversed the decision. The couple was represented by Lambda Legal, which had sought review of the case by the Supreme Court earlier this year.

Kenneth D. Upton, the supervising senior staff attorney in Lambda Legal’s South Central Regional Office in Dallas, said in a statement, “By denying this writ, the Supreme Court is leaving untouched a dangerous Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that carves out an exception to the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution and to the uniformly recognized respect for judgments that states have come to rely upon.

“This decision leaves adopted children and their parents vulnerable in their interactions with officials from other states. More particularly, this decision leaves a child without an accurate birth certificate listing both his parents,” Upton said. “This issue now moves into the legislative arena. We need to push for a change in Louisiana state policy in order to stabilize and standardize respect for parent-child relationships for all adoptive children.” l

Coming Out Gray Mayor uses National Coming Out Day to address LGBT concerns

by John Riley Mayor Vincent Gray’s Office of GLBT Affairs held a small, primarily governmental event Oct. 11 as part of National Coming Out Day in order to pledge to the LGBT community that his administration is prioritizing the community’s concerns and creating a welcoming atmosphere for LGBT government employees and consumers of District services within various agencies.

Speaking inside the Old Council Chamber at One Judiciary Square, Gray hailed the District’s history of being progressive when it comes to adopting policy for the betterment of LGBT citizens, including being among the first to suc10

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

cessfully pass domestic partnerships in 1992 and marriage equality in 2009.

“I want to thank you all for not only what you’ve done, but what you’re going to do to improve outcomes for people whose sexual orientation, certainly in some parts of this country, is not only questioned but ridiculed,” Gray said.

“This is not a city that will tolerate it and we’re going to be a leader on this front.”

Gray’s outreach to the community comes a year after a tough mayoral primary against former Mayor Adrian Fenty that saw Gray lose historically gay precincts in the city, even though he had been supportive of LGBT issues during his tenure as chair of the City Council.

In his speech, Gray also highlighted a number of LGBT-favorable initiatives either launched or endorsed by his office, including the enrollment of an all-transgender class of individuals in the Department of Employment Services’ (DOES) subsidized employment program, known as Project Empowerment; a strategic plan to create an LGBT-inclusive atmosphere in D.C.’s public schools (DCPS); and initiatives by the District’s Child & Family Services Agency (CFSA) encouraging gay couples to become foster parents and providing support for straight couples who are raising and mentoring LGBT foster children.

Representatives from DOES, DCPS and CFSA attended the event and spoke specifically about those initiatives and their efforts to be more inclusive of LGBT individuals. Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) also spoke to the assembled audience of about 30 community members and District government employees of the importance implementing and carrying out legislation and executive orders that protect LGBT people from discrimination.

Gray also acknowledged criticisms by members of the LGBT community over a number of issues, including high unemployment among and hiring discrimination against transgender residents, the nature and frequency of sensitivity training for various departments, violence against LGBT youths inside the juvenile justice system, suicides of LGBT teens, and the past summer’s string of violent crimes against members of the LGBT community.

Gray later told Metro Weekly that his commitment to finding solutions to these problems was strong.

“Whether a person is gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender, or questioning

who they are, they will find acceptance in this city and this government, without reservation,” he said. l

Whitman-Walker Welcome

Health provider opens its doors for review of renovations and services

by Will O’Bryan Inviting the community to drop in for an open-house event may have been a fairly regular offering at Whitman-Walker Clinic. In its new incarnation as Whitman-Walker Health, following a springtime name change to better reflect the health provider’s mission, it’s a first.

“Back in January, we started the renovation of the patient-waiting area,” says Chip Lewis, deputy director of communications at WWH. “This is a chance to come in and see the new lobby. It’s more open, more welcoming. The lobby itself has been greatly expanded. A lot of offices have been taken out. There’s some natural light. It’s lighter and brighter.”

The Oct. 21 open house will also offer tours of the facility, along with refreshments donated by Whole Foods Market.

Lewis says much of the emphasis in opening the 14th Street facility in such a way is to showcase the myriad services on offer.

Most people are aware of the HIV/AIDS and STD services available, which is no surprise considering its start in the 1970s as the Gay Men’s VD Clinic.

“There’s a lot more that we do here,” says Lewis, ticking through the mental health services, legal services and dentistry, for starters.

There will also be a tie-in to the Oct. 29 25th AIDS Walk Washington, a fundraiser for WWH. Those interested in participating will be able to register at the open house. Those who have already registered for the fundraiser will be able to pick up their AIDS Walk T-shirts at the open house. And, says Wells, it’s an opportunity for them to see some of the fruits of their labors: “They can see what their support does in a concrete way.”

The Whitman-Walker Health open house is Friday, Oct. 21, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., at 1701 14th St. NW. For more information, call 202-745-7000, or visit whitman-walker.org. l

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scene Reel Affirmations Kick-Off Party Thursday, Sept. 15 Hosted by Ed Carp and Tim Dowdy Photography by Ward Morrison

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LGBTCommunityCalendar Metro Weekly’s Community Calendar highlights important events in the gay community, from alternative social events to volunteer opportunities.

Event information should be sent by e-mail to calendar@metroweekly.com; by fax to 202-638-6831; or by mail to Metro Weekly, Attn: Community Calendar, 1012 14th Street NW, Suite 209, Washington, D.C. 20005. Deadline for inclusion is noon on the Friday before publication.

“Announcement” submissions that are not date-specific may run for two weeks, with the option for listing organizations to resubmit if appropriate.

Questions about the calendar can be directed to the Metro Weekly office at 202-638-6830.

Thursday, October 13

Us Helping Us hosts a Narcotics Anonymous

Meeting, 6:30-7:30 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. The group is independent of UHU. 202-446-1100.

Rainbow History Project offers a panel

discussion honoring Frank Kameny’s life and legacy with a panel discussion celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Mattachine Society of Washington. National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1785 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Doors 6:30 p.m., discussion at 7 p.m. RSVP at mswrainbowhistory.eventbrite.com, or call 202-670-7470.

Burgundy Crescent Volunteers help at

Friday, October 14 Latino GLBT History Project hosts the

6th Annual LGBTQ Heritage Reception. 6-8 p.m. HRC Equality Forum, 1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Suggested donation $5. latinoglbthistory.org.

Food & Friends. burgundycrescent.org.

Weekly Events

Weekly Events

offers free HIV testing, 9-5 p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). Call 202-291-4707, or visit andromedahealthcenter.org.

Bet Mishpachah, founded by members of the GLBT community, holds Friday night Shabbat services followed by “oneg” social hour. 8:30 p.m.

Services in DCJCC Community Room, 1529 16th St. NW. betmish.org.

Caregivers Connect is a support group for

Gay District, a non-church-affiliated discus-

Andromeda Transcultural Health

those caring for loved ones living with HIV/AIDS or a recent cancer diagnosis. Co-sponsored by Whitman-Walker Health and Mautner Project.

Registration required. Contact peersupport@ wwc.org.

sion and social group for GBTQ men, 18 to 35, meets 8:30 p.m., St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, 1820 Connecticut Ave. NW. gd@gaydistrict.org or gaydistrict.org.

DC Aquatics Club (DCAC) practice session

(GAMMA) is a peer-support group that meets in Dupont Circle every second and fourth Friday at 7:30 p.m. gay-married.com or GAMMAinDC1@ yahoo.com.

at the Takoma Aquatic Center, 7:30-9 p.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

Gay Married Men’s Association

DC Lambda Squares gay and lesbian square-

dancing group features mainstream through advanced square dancing at the National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Circle NW, 7-9:30 p.m. Casual dress. Email info@dclambdasquares. org, call 301-257-0517 or visit dclambdasquares.org.

The Dulles Triangles Northern Virginia social group meets for happy hour at Sheraton in Reston, 11810 Sunrise Valley Drive, second-floor bar, 7-9 p.m. All welcome. Email info@dullestriangles.com or visit dullestriangles.com.

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 202483-TEST. Visit whitman-walker.org.

HIV Testing at Whitman-Walker Health,

Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, 1701 14th St. NW, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. For an appointment call 202483-TEST. whitman-walker.org.

National City Christian Church, an

inclusive congregation, hosts Noontime Pipe Organ Recital, 12:15-1 p.m., 5 Thomas Circle NW. 202-797-0103 or nationalcity.org.

SMYAL’s Rec Night provides a social atmosphere for GLBT and questioning youth, featuring dance parties, movie nights and game nights.

Leandrea.Gilliam@smyal.org.

Transgender Health Empowerment

“Diva Chat” support group. 6-8 p.m., 1414 North Capitol St. NE. Snacks provided. 202-636-1646.

Identity offers free and confidential HIV test-

ing 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 at 301-300-9978 or Takoma Park at 301-422-2398.

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Saturday, October 15 Adventuring outdoors group hikes 8 easy

miles on C&O Canal near Sharpsburg, Md. Bring

beverages, lunch, bug spray, about $10. No dogs.

Meet 9 a.m., Crystal City Metro, street-level escalator. Don, 703-683-3724. adventuring.org.

Join Burgundy Crescent Volunteers with the Neighborhood Farm Initiative, or at the Falls Church PetSmart for the Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation. burgundycrescent.org.

Weekly Events Andromeda Transcultural Health

offers free HIV testing, 9-5 p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). 202-291-4707 or andromedahealthcenter.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.

Brazilian GLBT Group, including others interested in Brazilian culture, meets. For location/time, email braziliangaygroup@yahoo.com.

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. info@dcfrontrunners.org or dcfrontrunners.org.

DC Thirty Something social group (dinners, concerts, etc.) for gay guys in their 30s meets.

To join/more information, send name and email address to dcthirtysomething@yahoo.com.

Dignity Northern Virginia sponsors Mass for LGBT community, family and friends.

6:30 p.m., Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill, 3606 Seminary Road, Alexandria. All welcome.

703-912-1662, dignitynova@gmail.com.

DC Sentinels basketball team meets at Turkey Thicket Recreation Center, 1100 Michigan Ave. NE, 2-4 p.m. For players of all levels, gay or straight. teamdcbasketball.org.

Identity offers free and confidential HIV testing in Takoma Park, 7676 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 411. Walk-ins 12-3 p.m. For appointments other hours, call 301-422-2398.

Us Helping Us hosts Exercise Group: Stretching and Low Impact Aerobics, 10-11 a.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. $15. 202-446-1100.

Sunday, October 16 Adventuring outdoors group hikes 4 moderate miles off GW Parkway at Turkey Run. Bring beverages, bug spray, “a few dollars” for fees.

Carpools form 9 a.m., Rosslyn Metro. Mike, 330-687-3513. adventuring.org.

Weekly Events DC Aquatics Club (DCAC) practice session at Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW. 9-10:30 a.m. swimdcac.org.

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Believers Covenant Fellowship Sunday

worship, meets 10:45 a.m., Worship and Ministry Center, 8201 Greensboro Drive, Suite 300, McLean. bcfchurch.us.

Bethel Church-DC progressive and radically inclusive church holds services at 11:30 a.m. 2217 Minnesota Ave. SE. 240-582-7092, betheldc.org.

First Congregational United Church of Christ welcomes all to 1 p.m. service, First Trinity

Lutheran Church, 501 4th St. NW. fccuccdc.org or 202-628-4317.

Freedom Fellowship Christian Church,

Christ-centered, affirming church, offers worship service, 10 a.m., 4649 Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave. NE. Visit ffccdc.org.

Metropolitan Community Church of Northern Virginia services at 11 a.m., led by

Rev. Kharma Amos. Children’s Sunday School, 11 a.m. 10383 Democracy Lane, Fairfax. 703-691-0930, mccnova.com.

National City Christian Church, inclusive church with GLBT fellowship, offers gospel worship, 8:30 a.m., and traditional worship, 11 a.m. 5 Thomas Circle NW. 202-232-0323, nationalcitycc.org.

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

Unitarian Church of Arlington, an LGBTQ welcoming-and-affirming congregation, offers services at 10 a.m. Virginia Rainbow UU Ministry. 4444 Arlington Blvd. contactvaruum@ yahoo.com.

Universalist National Memorial Church, is a welcoming and inclusive church of

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

Monday, October 17 Human Rights Campaign invites Marylanders to lobby for marriage equality in Annapolis. 10 a.m., Lawyers Mall, 100 State Circle. RSVP required. hrc.org/events.

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Gayyim social group for Jewish GBT men attends Reel Affirmations screening of Mary Lou at the Israeli Embassy, 3514 International Dr. NW. 7:30 p.m. $25, includes reception. RSVP required, no tickets at the door. Security information required.

For information/RSVP: gayyimdc@gmail.com.

Weekly Events The DC Different Drummers Capitol

Pride Symphonic Band rehearses 7-9:30 p.m., Reformation Lutheran Church, on Capitol Hill.

Contact membership@dcdd.org.

GetEqual meets 6:30-8 p.m. at Quaker House, 2111 Florida Ave. NW. getequal.wdc@gmail.com.

Karing with Individuality (K.I.) Services,

3333 Duke St., Alexandria, offers free “rapid” HIV testing and counseling, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 703-823-4401.

Metropolitan Community Church of Washington, D.C., sponsors an HIV-positive

support group. 7 p.m., 474 Ridge St. NW. Open to all. Matt, ndc20003@yahoo.com.

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 5-7 p.m., by appointment, for youth 21 and younger.

Youth Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155 or HIVprevention@smyal.org.

Us Helping Us hosts a black gay men’s evening affinity group. 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.

Washington Wetskins Water Polo Team practices 7-9 p.m. Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW. Newcomers with at least basic swimming ability always welcome. Tom, 703-299-0504; secretary@wetskins.org; or wetskins.org.

Whitman-Walker Health HIV/AIDS Support Group for newly diagnosed individuals, meets 7 p.m. 202-939-7671, hivsupport@wwc.org.

Tuesday, October 18 Weekly Events Andromeda Transcultural Health offers free HIV testing, 9-5 p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). 202-291-4707, andromedahealthcenter.org.

Asians and Friends weekly happy hour, with dinner afterward, 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Cobalt/30 Degrees Lounge, 1639 R St. NW. afwashington.net.

DC Aquatics Club (DCAC) practice session at Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW. 7:30-9 p.m. swimdcac.org.

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LGBTCommunityCalendar DC Frontrunners running/walking/social club serving greater D.C.’s LGBT community and allies hosts an evening run/walk. dcfrontrunners.org.

Whitman-Walker Health’s Gay Men’s 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.

HIV Testing at Whitman-Walker Health. D.C.:

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. For an appointment call 202-483-TEST. Visit whitman-walker.org.

Support group for LGBTQ youth ages 13-21 meets at SMYAL, 410 7th St. SE, 5-7 p.m. Leandrea Gilliam, 202-546-5940, ext. 116, or leandrea.gilliam@smyal.org.

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

Wednesday, October 19 DC Log Cabin Republicans hold gen-

eral monthly meeting, featuring Don Blanchon of Whitman-Walker Health. 6:30-8 p.m., Camden Roosevelt, 2101 16th St. NW. dclogcabin.org.

Prime Timers of DC, social club for mature gay men, hosts weekly happy hour/dinner. 6:30 p.m., Windows Bar above Dupont Italian Kitchen, 1637 17th St. NW. Carl, 703-573-8316; or Bill, 703-671-2454.

SMYAL’s LGBTQ Youth Arts Program, for youth 13-21, meets 5-7 p.m., Youth Center, 410 7th St. SE. Stephanie Remick at 202-567-3163 or stephanie.remick@smyal.org.

UltimateOut, LGBT ultimate Frisbee, practices 6:30-8 p.m., National Mall in front of Air & Space Museum. All welcome. Ben, schockb@gmail.com. http://on.fb.me/lqcEof.

hosts “Packing Party,” where volunteers assemble safe-sex kits of condoms and lube. 7 p.m., Green Lantern, 1335 Green Court NW. thedccenter.org.

Tom Davoren Social Bridge Club meets for

social bridge. No partner needed. 7:30 p.m., Dignity Center, 721 8th St. SE. lamdabridge.com.

Us Helping Us hosts “A Positive U” support group for black gay men living with HIV/AIDS, 7-9 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.

Identity offers free and confidential HIV testing

The HIV Working Group of The Center

Weekly Events

Friday, October 21

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 at 301-300-9978 or Takoma Park at 301-422-2398.

Ad Lib, a group for freestyle conversation, meets about 7:45 p.m., covered-patio area of Cosi, 1647 20th St. NW. All welcome. Jamie, 703-892-8567.

Whitman-Walker Health invites the community to an open house event. 6-8:30 p.m., 1701 14th St. NW. whitman-walker.org. l

Karing with Individuality (K.I.) Services,

Lutheran Church on Capitol Hill. Contact membership@dcdd.org.

at 3333 Duke St., Alexandria, offers free “rapid” HIV testing and counseling, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 703-823-4401.

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 5-7 p.m., by

appointment for youth 21 and younger. Youth Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155 or hivprevention@smyal.org.

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METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

DC Swing! rehearses 7-9:30 p.m., at Reformation

HIV Testing at Whitman-Walker Health. D.C.:

Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, 1701 14th St. NW, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. At the Max Robinson Center, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appointment call 202-483-TEST. whitman-walker.org.

For more calendar listings please visit www.metroweekly.com

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scene HRC National Dinner Saturday, October 1 Walter E. Washington Convention Center Photography by Ward Morrison

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METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

LGBTOpinion

Frank Kameny Wins Legendary activist leaves behind a world that’s not perfect, but better for us all because of his accomplishments

by Sean Bugg In the sad hours that followed the Tuesday evening news that the legendary and indomitable Frank Kameny had died in his home at the age of 86, the immediate outpouring on Facebook, Twitter and other sites showed that every LGBT activist in Washington has a Frank story to share.

I have more than one, because I’m fortunate enough to have had a job that allows me to meet and befriend many of the people whose work actually made my own life as an openly gay man possible. But it’s my first memory of Frank that I keep coming back to.

In early 1993, the D.C. gay and lesbian community was focused on the effort to repeal the city’s sodomy law — an effort that may seem quaint nearly 20 years later as we bask in the city’s marriage-equality law, but which was one of the most important cornerstones of LGBT movement. Naturally, Frank Kameny was one of the spearheads of the effort along with his compatriots at the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA).

Still new to activism at the time, I was nervous to be among the hundreds who showed up early on a January morning to testify on the repeal legislation before the D.C. Council’s Judiciary Committee. But there was Frank, raring to go. He was the first public witness of the day, but he was already warmed up and ready to deliver his forceful and stirring testimony that set the tone for a day filled with both “gay is good” hope

and some truly odd homophobia.

It was inspiring and helped give me the courage I needed to give force to my own testimony — much later in the day, as I was around the 190th or so person to testify. It was a battle our community went on to win, advancing the groundwork for LGBT equality that we continue to build today.

And that’s the point that sticks with me: Frank Kameny won. He saw sodomy laws repealed in D.C. and overturned nationwide. He helped destigmatize gay identity by fighting to end the classification of homosexuality as a disorder. He received an apology from the federal government that fired him, signed and delivered by the openly gay director of the Office of Personnel and Management, John Berry. He was a thorn in the side of the powerful and the homophobic.

Not long after the news of Frank’s death broke, Robin McGehee of Get Equal tweeted, “Sickening that Dr. Frank Kameny, #LGBT hero died less than [equal]. How many will we lose w/o their dignity & equality.” While I understand the sentiment, it misses the point. Kameny came out in an era of enforced and official discrimination that’s, frankly, inconceivable to many of us today. Looking at the arc of his life and the change he had a hand in creating should be a cause for celebration, even as we mourn his passing.

No victory is complete, nor is any life. Should I die next week, next year or next decade, there will still be wrongs in the world that would anger me, that I would consider unfinished business.

That’s just the nature of an imperfect world. The question is not whether we leave behind a perfect world, but whether we leave behind a better one.

We live in a better world because of Frank Kameny. That’s the best Frank story of them all. l

OCTOBER 13, 2011 Volume 18 / Issue 24 Publishers Sean Bugg, Randy Shulman Editorial Editor-in-Chief Randy Shulman Art Director Todd Franson Managing Editor Will O’Bryan senior political writer Chris Geidner Staff Writer John Riley Senior Photographer Ward Morrison Contributing PhotographerS Dylan Comstock, Brian Walker Contributing Writers Chris Heller, Carrie Megginson, Jonathan Padget, Richard Rosendall, Doug Rule, Kate Wingfield Webmaster David Uy multimedia Aram Vartian Administrative / Production Assistant Julian Vankim Advertising & Sales Director of Sales Randy Shulman National Advertising Representative Rivendell Media Co. 212-242-6863 Distribution Manager Dennis Havrilla Patron Saint Vito Russo base cover image iStockphoto / Viktor Georgiev

Metro Weekly 1012 14th Street NW, Suite 209 Washington, DC 20005 202.638.6830 fax: 202.638.6831 www.metroweekly.com All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publishers. Metro Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials submitted for publication. All such submissions are subject to editing and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

Metro Weekly is supported by many fine advertisers, but we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers, nor can we accept responsibility for materials provided by advertisers or their agents. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles or advertising in Metro Weekly is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such person or organization.

© 2011 Jansi LLC.

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LGBTOpinion

The Right’s Food Fight Values Voter Summit illustrates bloc’s rifts

by Richard J. Rosendall Last weekend’s Values Voter Summit was welcomed to D.C. by the Southern Poverty Law Center with a full-page ad in The Washington Post titled, “Just whose values are represented at the Values Voter Summit?” and featuring a catalog of anti-gay slanders from the Family Research Council, the summit’s host, and the American Family Association, a co-sponsor.

Even more illuminating was the summit’s spectacle of religious fanaticism turned in upon itself, a long-simmering problem in the GOP that boiled over when Pastor Robert Jeffress of Dallas, after introducing Rick Perry as “a genuine follower of Jesus Christ,” told reporters that the Mormon Church is a cult.

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METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

The Republican presidential frontrunner, who just happens to be Mormon, took the high ground: “We should remember that decency and civility are values too. One of the speakers who will follow me today has crossed that line, I think.

Poisonous language doesn’t advance our cause. It’s never softened a single heart nor changed a single mind.”

Mitt Romney was referring not to Jeffress but to AFA’s Bryan Fischer, who was to follow Romney at the podium and who recently said, “The purpose of the First Amendment is to protect the free exercise of the Christian religion.” Fischer stated that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints “is not an orthodox Christian faith.” Of course, the religious right considers most professed Christians insufficiently orthodox.

Romney had little to lose by rebuking Fischer, as demonstrated by his dismalas-expected 4 percent showing in the summit’s straw poll.

The other candidates were so

eager to evade questions on Romney’s Christianity that you would think his father was from Kenya. It fell to former Education Secretary William Bennett to scold Jeffress: “You did Rick Perry no good, sir, in what you had to say.”

The endlessly inventive Fischer also claimed that Major League Baseball helped prevent another 9/11 by changing the sing-along in the seventh inning stretch from “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” to “God Bless America,” thus unleashing the power of Christian prayer. Really? Not only have I attended several baseball games at Nationals Park in which we still sang “Take Me Out” (if you’ll pardon the expression), but even Fischer might concede that the efficacy of “God Bless America” is offset by the ubiquitous playing of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” And I hate to mention it, but Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on the island of Zanzibar.

In other summit news, Rick Santorum lied that President Obama has instructed military chaplains to perform samesex weddings. I credit Santorum for his Orwellian logic by which granting permission constitutes a command.

Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel called the LGBT movement “a zero-sum game … a direct assault on our religious freedom and freedom of speech,” which suggests that straight people cannot marry, pray, or even speak if gay people are allowed those things.

A man at the PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays) booth talked as if the anti-bullying movement is itself a form of bullying: “What we are doing to kids, pressuring them sexually, this sexual anarchy, homofascism, it’s gotta stop.” In other words, it’s okay for PFOX to distribute “ex-gay” propaganda in public schools, but trying to protect kids from anti-gay bullying is pushing sex on them.

Party discipline may eventually prevail over sectarian squabbling, allowing the GOP to present a unified front against Barack Obama and the Democrats. But last weekend’s ugly display of right-wing values, and the parade of Republican politicians pandering to them, gives Democrats an opportunity to promote contrasting values like understanding and respect instead of fear and hatred.

And if the GOP’s voter-suppression efforts are complemented by evangelical Christians refusing to vote for Romney out of religious bigotry, it couldn’t happen to a nicer party.

Richard J. Rosendall can be reached at rrosendall@starpower.net. l

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Reviews by Tom Avila, Sean Bugg, Kerry Eleveld, Chris Geidner, Chris Heller, Will O’Bryan, Jonathan Padget, Tim Plant, Doug Rule, Randy Shulman and Kate Wingfield

J CriTiC’S piCk diRty ty GiRl

Thursday, oct. 13, 7 p.m.

Lisner Film only: $20 Film and opening night party: $40

tttt SUmmer may Be over, and so is 1987. With Dirty Girl you can revisit both. it’s hot, dismal and dusty. it’s the end of the ’80s in norman, okla. it’s also dirty, as in Danielle, the “dirty girl” of the movie’s title. Hardly an argument for sex-positive values, Danielle (Juno Temple) is a teenager with some abandonment issues she’s trying to alleviate with her high school’s male student body. in making herself so readily available, however, her stock begins to drop. That’s when she meets Clarke (Jeremy Dozier), the overweight gay boy who hides behind his enveloping hoodie and torch-song fantasies.

The relationship begins in the sort of “special needs” class to which the irrepressible Danielle has been assigned, and where she is partnered with Clarke to act as parents of a flour-bag baby. They find early agreement in the flour-baby’s name: Joan.

For Danielle, an homage to ms. Jett; for Clarke, ms. Crawford.

That’s not to mean they begin on friendly footing, as Danielle introduces herself with, “you’re that fag, right?”

From there, we have Danielle coercing Clarke into a trek to find her long-lost father, and Clarke is simply motivated to escape his homophobic dad (Dwight yoakam). The other parents in this coming-of-age road trip also earn their keep. milla Jovovich comes off as genuine okie as Danielle’s mom. William H. macy also delivers as Danielle’s soon-to-be stepdad. and mary Steenburgen as Clarke’s wound-tighter-than-a-tumbleweed, put-upon mother is a scene-stealer. Jovovich may move you with her tears, but Steenburgen’s pensive stares pull the emergency brakes on a scene and remind audiences that there is depth to contemplate in this scenario.

The filmmakers themselves contemplated plenty, from the music, to the requisite reagan print in the principal’s office, to the posters on Clarke’s walls. There is need, however, to grant a bit of leeway. First, how does the lower-middle-class, doublewide-trailer demographic square with the mint condition vintage mustang convertible at Danielle’s disposal? Second, how can a movie set in the late 1980s with a central gay character not mention Hiv iv or aiDS? of course, there’s also no reason METROWEEKLY.cOM

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Reel Affirmations 20

a lovable charm. He’s always naively smiling, winning over suspicious midwestern folk with his sincerity and cultural misunderstandings. and, like any middle-of-nowhere town in these kinds of movies, there are plenty of other quirky figures hanging around: an art teacher who wears drag (oscar Quintero), a flirtatious gym teacher (peter murnik), and a lesbian cop (Cher Ferreyra). Sure, o’neal plumbs character tropes more often than not, but the move works. and that’s ultimately, what makes Au Pair Kansas a fun movie to watch. it knows what it is — an airy look at a troubled family — and rightfully avoids anything with too much emotional heft. its sugary resolution may not be to everyone’s taste, but as a family comedy, it goes down smooth. —Chris Heller

conservative who appears on his way to becoming the next prime minister of Sweden. martin (eric ericson) is recently, seemingly quite frequently, single, (his latest boyfriend having taken offense at martin’s decision to answer a work-related phone call during oral sex) and is considered by David’s staffers to be, quite simply, the devil.

How could they not fall in love?

The movie’s basic concept could quite easily spiral out of control and dive into the deep pool of melodrama that is often the refuge of films where married men fall in love with other men. instead, director Tova magnusson-norling has brought together a cast with a brilliant sense of timing to deliver a story that keeps the pacing brisk and the mood, while not always sunny, suitably bright. of particular note is the chemistry between k kjellman and ericson who manage to create characters that convey a genuine fondness for one another.

They make more complex decisions, trading the flat out frenzy of love and lust, and allow the audience to see something softer and more emotionally mature. We actually see that first itch of attraction, played out with nothing more than a kind of shy nervousness that makes both men utterly irresistible. it’s hard to imagine, in our current climate, that a love story set in the midst of a rancorous political campaign could bring a smile to one’s face. in doing so, Four More Years distinguishes itself as a real frontrunner. —Tom Avila

FOUR MORe yeARS

tHe NiGHt WAtCH

Au Pair, Kansas

for flour-baby Joan’s drawn-on face to change expression. But it does, and it’s wonderful. Some of the meat is in the magic, and that means allowing the leeway – not because the filmmakers goofed, but because there is a particular focus on taking audiences to some meaningful destinations. Trust writerdirector abe Sylvia’s navigation and you’ll find getting there is half the fun, and then some. —Will O’Bryan

Friday, Oct. 14 J CriTiC’S piCk AU PAiR, KANSAS

Friday, oct. 14, 5 p.m.

Globe Theatre, $12

tttt WHaT Do yoU call a movie with a former porno girl, a norwegian television star, and the cold, rolling plains of kansas? pretty decent, if you’re into light family dramas.

Au Pair Kansas, written and directed

by J.T. o’neal, totters on an odd premise from time to time, but steadies itself with a warm heart and stellar cinematography from marco Fargnoli. after her husband (Stephen o’mahoney) dies of melanoma, Helen (Traci Lords) is left to manage both her two sons and the family’s buffalo ranch on her own. But she’s got some unresolved marital issues: Her gay hubby, whose ghost now talks to her, only settled down with her to have children, and the kids know. Cue oddmund, (Håvard Lilleheie), a soccer-loving, male au pair from Sweden who Helen hires to help take the load off.

Lilleheie, who o’neal plucked from norwegian small-screen stardom for Au Pair Kansas, plays the foreign oaf with 34

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

Friday, oct. 14, 7 p.m. atlas, $12

Friday, oct. 14, 7:15 p.m.

Globe Theatre, $12

tttt

tttt

FoUr more yearS is a quirky Swedish film that could only be improved if all showings were accompanied by a brief outline of the nordic country’s political system. Fortunately for audiences in D.C., the embassy staffer sitting three seats over from you in the theater can likely provide such background information.

Funny and incredibly charming, Four More Years is the rare modern love story that might actually deserve to be compared to Romeo and Juliet. no, no one dies. But while David and martin are not separated by feuding families, they are each rising stars in Sweden’s opposing political parties, a wall that seems far more impenetrable.

David (Björn k kjellman) is a married

iF yoU’re FamiLiar with reel affirmations, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with the excellent British novelist Sarah Waters. She is a factory for employing BBC staff in screen adaptations of her period pieces. in 2008, the festival got her Affinity. For 2011, it’s The Night Watch, based on her 2006 novel of the same name. although Waters seems most at home writing of victorian-era lesbians, she left that comfort zone for war – World War ii, specifically (though we still get the lesbians, of course). and director richard Laxton is respectful of Waters’s wartime London, even in a zippy 90 minutes, rather than the possibly more appropriate miniseries, à la Tipping the

T

Movie Magic

One In Ten commits to saving Reel Affirmations for its 20th anniversary and beyond

by Will O’Bryan Photography by Todd Franson

He 2011 inSTaLLmenT of reel affirmations, the 20th anniversary of the international LGBT film festival, is many things. it’s a showcase of LGBT culture. it’s an opportunity to revel in D.C.’s community and dynamism. and it’s a labor of love – one that might have just as easily disappeared were it not for those who harbor that love.

“Larry and i, last year, we were at a point where we could’ve thrown our hands up,” Lisa king says, referring to Larry Guillemette, the festival chair and past president of one in Ten, the organization responsible for the film festival that skipped its 2010 installment. king is the current president.

Serious issues of community interest, finance and logistics threatened the festival’s future. a decision had to made.

“We came to the conclusion that this is bigger than us,” says king. “We can’t let one of the top-five LGBT film festivals in the country go away. We had to figure out how to make it work.”

That means doing without a paid executive director, searching the city for new theaters, engaging the city’s LGBT nightlife venues, finding films that festivalgoers will not likely find elsewhere – including online – anytime soon, and a countless number of other tweaks and additions.

“We’re thrilled to death that we’re back. it was a struggle, but we’re back,” says Guillemette, sharing his excitement about the new “international embassy Screening Series” that this year will partner with the embassies of France and israel, as well as the Goetheinstitut German cultural center. in that the festival is back as a living, breathing entity, it’s also prone to growing pains. Thankfully, this year they’re minor: Die Standing Up had to be pulled from the festival so that it could enter a competition elsewhere; Gigola, originally an oct. 22 show at Lisner auditorium is now an oct. 15 show at the atlas performing arts Center; and the much-anticipated Pariah has moved from oct. 15 at atlas to oct. 22 at Lisner. it’s nothing the volunteers behind reel affirmations can’t handle. “i like that i’m part of a group that is keeping this institution in D.C. alive,” says king, adding thanks for all the volunteers, community members and sponsors who feel similarly, such as Guillemette.

“We could not have come back without the support of many, many people in the community who have reached out to us,” he says. “We could not do this without the volunteers, the community we are a part of. on oct. 22, i can go to sleep knowing we got to reach the 20th anniversary milestone, and that we’ll move forward to the 21st and beyond.” l METROWEEKLY.cOM

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Reel Affirmations 20 business does not appeal to [him] at all.” andreas fits plenty of laughs into the comedy, but with a catch – he ditches it all with an atonal, sentimental finish that’s more Hollywood than the world he’s spent the last hour-and-ahalf butchering. and that, ultimately, is a stretch too far. La La Land holds a mirror up to Hollywood, but can’t spot its own blemishes in the reflection. —CH jAMie ANd jeSSie ARe NOt tOGetHeR jamie and jessie are not together

Velvet. all the good bits remain.

Those good bits take us to prison, to an illicit straight affair, to tangled lesbian webs, and to three different years. This is where it gets a bit tricky, opening in 1947. The war has been won, but that “anything goes” wartime value has been lost. propriety is resurgent.

The butch kay ay ((anna maxwell martin) wanders London in a fog and men’s trousers. Straight viv (Jodie Whittaker) has some connection to her, but we don’t know what. viv’s brother Duncan (Harry Treadaway) seems to harbor some shady secret that screams, “Gay!” We wonder what’s up. Then, like a contracting rubber band, we’re pulled back to 1943. a few questions are answered, then another yank back to 1941, before a final return to 1947.

For such a beautifully filmed movie, with an equally beautiful cast (particularly Whittaker), the time shifts are painfully abrupt. equally painful and nearly comical are viv’s attempts to end her pregnancy. knowing that she throws herself down the stairs is tragic. Showing us these multiple attempts in slow motion borders on the darkly slapstick.

Still, where The Night Watch should really deliver, it does. it’s about mood and richness. This is a fine five-course meal. With nothing more vibrant in the whole of the movie than an incendiary bomb or kay’s lover in a red pajama top, The Night Watch presents this visually lush bleakness. Three buildings, different shades of gray, may be layered in an english drizzle as backdrop for kay slicing through the city in her monotone overcoat, and it’s beautiful. it’s the visually perfect complement for the story itself, also gray. But it’s a gray you want to wrap yourself in. you quite likely 36

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

won’t be able to make it easily from a to B through the fog of war, time traveling, and an arguably nihilistic narrative, but you will be traveling in style. —WOB GOiNG dOWN iN lA lA lANd

Friday, oct. 14, 9 p.m. atlas, $12

tt THiS iS a CLaSSiC “Boy moves to Los angeles, boy gets mixed up in gay porn, boy falls in love while escorting” tale. you know, just that normal, ordinary kind of stuff.

Based on a novel of the same name by gay actor andy Zeffer, La La Land follows adam (matthew Ludwinski) after he treks out West to launch what he hopes will be a gargantuan acting career on film and television, only to end up crawling through rotten jobs, with little money and zero casting callbacks. along the way, he’s matched with a cast of characters straight out of the Sex and the City reject bin: a D-movie actress named Candy ((allison Lane) who eschews the job hunt to shop, gossip and land a sugar daddy; a meth-head photographer (writer-director Caspar andreas) who lures adam into the gay porn business; and a closeted sitcom star (michael medico) who really, truly, honestly cares about him.

To be fair, there’s a lot to compliment in La La Land. it’s shot with a slick, sterile look that seems to, at different times, idolize and satirize the Hollywood life.

The caricatures are absurd to the point of ridicule. Candy tries to sell her used panties online, then hires a “slave” with a kink for being dominated to do housework, while the head of a porn company adam works for refuses to stay on set during filming since, “This side of the

Friday, oct. 14, 9:15 p.m.

Globe Theatre, $12

ttt Jamie anD JeSSie are twenty-something besties who share the intimacy of lovers but not the bed. But as Jamie prepares to flee Chicago for the bright lights of Broadway, the two are forced to grapple with a relationship that neither friends nor family seem to believe is strictly platonic.

Unfortunately, their disbelief isn’t exactly believable either. The two exude a sexual tension that they’re mutually complicit in avoiding, yet their innercircle seems truly baffled by this rather commonplace scenario. Haven’t we all witnessed this vexing brand of connection at one time or another? Jamie’s sister, for instance, wonders why Jessie has already started dating other people before Jamie’s departure and finally concludes with a sense of exasperation, “i don’t get it.” and therein lies the fundamental problem with this otherwise harmless film — it’s consistently just short of convincing, tripped up by sophomoric writing and conversations that never quite delve deeply enough or reach a satisfying conclusion. yes, this is a story of two people who aren’t entirely capable of owning their feelings — that’s the point — but their inability to address the palpable tension feels both overly contrived and under developed.

The film includes some awkward dates, none of which quite succeed at being funny, just unimaginably icky; the inevitable cheesy bar excursion with requisite come-on lines bordering on the absurd; and a handful of forced scenes, like when Jessie knocks on the door of Jamie’s F-buddy in search of her missing hoody and the two strangers end up having whiskey-induced sex. Hmmm. oh, and did i mention that this is a musical? Well, sort of. only in the sense that a

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Reel Affirmations 20 tHe SleePiNG BeAUty ty OF eASt FiNCHley

Saturday, oct. 15, 1 p.m.

Globe Theatre, $12

ttt

We Were Here

random singing scene pops up out of the blue every once in a while, but it can’t quite seem to commit. Go figure.

Fortunately, the writer and director, Wendy Jo Carlton, has chosen a dynamic most people can relate to without much coaching. She uses the backdrop of Chicago to her advantage. The cinematography is aesthetically pleasing — often beautifully framed and lit. and the sex scenes are generally well executed, titillating but not gratuitously so. So if you’re in search of angst-ridden drama and simply crave seeing some cute dykes dominate the big screen, this movie should do the trick. But don’t expect to be swept off your feet. it is what it is. —Kerry Eleveld

Saturday, Oct. 15 J CriTiC’S piCk We WeRe HeRe

Saturday, oct. 15, 11 a.m.

Globe Theatre, $12

ttttt DaviD WeiSSman anD Bill Weber’s We Were Here is billed as the first documentary to reflect on the arrival and impact of aiDS in San Francisco. in truth, this powerful, captivating and carefully crafted film is so much more than that. after all, the fight against aiDS itself, as the documentary notes, actually helped propel the national gay rights movement into the significant, influential force it is today in american politics. The film further distinguishes itself from most documentary films about aiDS to date — and even many feature films. Generally, these films present a top-down focus, quoting experts or celebrities exploring broad 38

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

themes about the epidemic’s medical, health, political or social ramifications on society at large. By contrast, We Were Here focuses more narrowly on the community itself, at ground level. it offers personal accounts of how the disease dramatically changed the lives of regular citizens. The end result is that We Were Here helps widen our understanding of the epidemic’s full impact.

Daniel Goldstein, an artist, is the de-facto heart and soul of the film. of all the people featured, he’s still the most rattled by the epidemic’s impact on both his life and the city’s gay community. in fact, Goldstein says that he only decided to share his painful history and memories as a way to pay tribute to all of his friends who died from the disease. Like many people in the ‘80s, Goldstein lost a couple partners and many close friends. They often died at roughly the same time, as if on the front lines in a war zone.

We Were Here features four other fascinating San Franciscans discussing how aiDS affected their life and work. among them is the straight eileen Glutzer, a one-time club kid who eventually lost all her gay club friends to the disease. Glutzer went on to become a nurse, with a focus solely on assisting aiDS patients. often, her work was little more than helping them prepare to die, a task not for the faint of heart. it’s also not a task, or really a devotion, that generally garners the attention it deserves. Weissman and Weber right that oversight and many others in We Were Here, and the story of the fight against aiDS is more complete because of it. —Doug Rule

iT’S Like GLee, see, only the setting is a London suburb, and the choir is a lesbian group called the Friends of Dusty, and instead of a big competition, the gals have their hearts set on a big festival for european LGBT choruses. okay, so maybe The Sleeping Beauty of East Finchley isn’t much like Glee at all, especially not in the earnest, heavy-handed style that British writerdirector Seamus ray has employed for this cinematic trifle. The whole thing is sweet enough, with its tale of Joan (Josie Walker), a repressed, unfulfilled middle-aged woman who’s stuck with a sick mother and blessed with a phenomenal singing voice that has no outlet until visiting nurse pat (ruth James) talks her into joining the choir without ever managing to mention that it’s a lesbian affair.

But holy heck, this is simple stuff.

Dusty Springfield packed more lesbian emotional complexity into a three-minute B-side than ray and company can muster in nearly an hour. Joan’s vocal prowess earns her a big solo (the musical numbers are quite lovely), but she can’t handle the attention of the festival or of pat, who has to take Joan’s place onstage, only she can’t go on because she’s so heartbroken. Gee, do you think Joan will show up at the last minute and earn a roaring ovation from the crowd?

The nagging thing about The Sleeping Beauty of East Finchley isn’t that it wouldn’t have it any other way, it’s that at such a shallow depth, it couldn’t have it any other way. also on tap with Finchley is the documentary t’AiN’t NOBOdy’S BizNeSS: qUeeR BlUeS diVAS OF tHe 1920S (tt), which begs for a sub-subtitle, Just Like one of Those Tiresome Queer Documentaries of the 1990s. Filmmaker robert philipson allots just a half-hour to what should be an engrossing subject: gay and bisexual black women — alberta Hunter, ma rainey, ethel Waters and others — who used the permissiveness of the blues to forge a path for queer identity. The subjects get barely more than passing mentions, though. much screen time is wasted on dull talking heads with few insights, and gay viewers are told in no uncertain terms that they must revere these

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39

Reel Affirmations 20 J CriTiC’S piCk AN ORdiNARy y FAMily

Saturday, oct. 15, 2 p.m. atlas, $12

ttttt

An Ordinary Family

women, without telling them enough about why. —Jonathan Padget GONe

Saturday, oct. 15, 1 p.m.

GWU DoC B-7, $12

tt Gone: THe DiSappearanCe of Aeryn Gilleran is the tragic real-life story of a 34-year-old gay man gone missing in vienna, austria, that leaves viewers swimming in a sea of unanswered questions to no good end. aeryn Gilleran, an american who worked for an agency within the United nations and a former mr. Gay austria, was last seen at a posh vienna sauna on october 29, 2007, but what happened there and how that relates to his disappearance we may never know. aeryn, who hailed from a town in central new york, was reportedly seen running from the sauna that night in nothing but a towel and allegedly spotted floating down the Danube by a fisherman later that evening. But vienna police officials casually dismiss aeryn’s case as “spontaneous suicide,” seemingly refuse to launch a proper investigation, and present false facts to his mother, kathy Gilleran — a retired ithaca, ny, police officer. Bottom line, they approach aeryn’s case with what appears to be total disdain and disregard all while treating his grief-stricken mother deplorably.

The suspicious chain of events that unfolded that late october evening are relayed solely through the eyes of kathy Gilleran, and the film is as much about her attempt to cope with the crushing loss of her son and her search for justice as it is about aeryn’s vanishing. While ms. Gilleran leads viewers through a 40

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

series of revelations that credibly documents what is either a horribly botched investigation at best or serious wrongdoing and a potential cover up at worst, it’s too much to ask of any single subject to carry an entire feature-length documentary.

The film drives home certain points relentlessly, such as ms. Gilleran’s understandably palpable anguish, but fails to satisfy some of this mystery’s most basic quandaries, like what aeryn’s friends knew about his acquaintances and perhaps theorized about his disappearance, what the police could possibly be hiding, and why U.S. diplomats appear to have done little-to-nothing to find the truth. it ultimately leaves viewers wishing the filmmakers had interviewed a wider range of people, made more inquiries of both U.S. and austrian officials and, quite simply, probed the subject matter with the tenacity of a hungry investigative reporter. aeryn Gilleran’s story is both compelling and worthy of scrutiny and his mother’s quest for the truth is equally as courageous and heart-wrenching. But the film itself lacks structure and takes on an unfortunate one-dimensional feel due to its dearth of varied voices and sourcing.

Gone attempts to shine a light on the dark corners of a tale riddled with inconsistencies but it fails to illuminate much more than a mother’s despair and a gut-level sense that something went horribly awry, which might have translated into gripping cinema if the fundamentals of the film had been stronger. —KE

in THe moST lovely of fashions, An Ordinary Family brings to the screen exactly what it promises: an ordinary family. The Biedermans are funny without seeming scripted, warm without becoming tepid and are absolutely unafraid to admit the thing that most fictional families avoid like the plague: There are things they don’t know.

There are answers they don’t have.

There are choices they make that will not be agreed upon and there are, and this is what gives the film such joy and texture and charm, secrets that will always be kept. Some are big, some are small, but they needn’t all be drug out into the middle of the living room to be solved in some large, cathartic group screaming fest. They are, in other words, like the families a lot of us either live in or recognize.

Seth (Greg Wise) and his boyfriend William (Chad anthony miller) arrive for the Biederman family vacation week at the lake. it’s an awkward situation to begin with as Seth has had little contact with his brother Thomas (Troy Schremmer), a popular and conservative local pastor, since Seth came out to him.

But things are further complicated by the fact that only Seth’s sister-in-law mattie (Janelle Schremmer) knew that William even existed.

Chris (Steven Schaefer), Seth’s brother-in-law, doesn’t even know that Seth’s gay, insisting at the end of the family’s first difficult dinner together, “no way. Seth’s straight as shit.” an indication of his failure to fully grasp William’s explanation that he and Seth met online and it was “like love from the waist down.”

Which is part of what makes An Ordinary Family so wonderful as a film.

There is a robust and entirely organic feel to the movie, made real in small moments like when mattie bickers with her husband Thomas about his working in bed. it doesn’t blow into an overly articulate diatribe, but instead fades into something familiar and entirely everyday.

The film delivers no big answers. no shocking revelations that will leave you gape-mouthed in disbelief. This is that very difficult filmmaking that attempts

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Reel Affirmations 20 J CriTiC’S piCk i AM

Saturday, oct. 15, 3 p.m.

GWU DoC B-7, $12

tttt

i Am

to craft great fiction out of the commonday, and succeeds because writers mike akel (who also earns the director credit) and matt patterson have started out with the often ignored fundamental element of films. With An Ordinary Family, they have chosen to tell a great story. and they have done so in a fashion that is entirely extraordinary. —TA tHRee VeilS

Saturday, oct. 15, 2:30 p.m.

Globe Theatre, $12

tt a perFeCTLy FiTTinG summary statement of Three Veils might be, “oh, God.” after all, the movie gets pretty religious. Qurans will be kissed. prayer mats will be placed. it’s also fitting, however, in that some moments might make you uncomfortable enough that the utterance is simply reflexive.

Writer-director rolla Selbak opens her Los angeles story with one of her three veils, Leila, played by the modelgorgeous mercedes masöhn. She is the pretty, good girl, soon to be wed in an arranged marriage. and she remains the good girl, even if she quizzically forgoes a surprise bachelorette party while finding time to run over to the home of the cute boy she barely knows for some sympathetic and tearful spooning. as dull Leila’s story nearly comes to an end, we realize the gimmick: three veils, three women, and Leila’s co-characters, nikki the wounded bad girl, and amira the pious lesbian, are going to get just as much real estate. We get the backstories, the current dilemmas, the middle eastern culture. We get it all. and it’s an awfully big falafel to swallow.

Looking just at the story, we’re left wondering why a mother would entrust 42

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

the uncle that molested her to care for her daughter for a summer, then be surprised when exactly what she expects will happen does. or why the painfully closeted girl doesn’t get herself to the L.a. Gay & Lesbian Center. it’s huge! iff these are simply cultural dif differences, then this is not a film for nonmiddle eastern audiences. if there was an intention of explaining these characters’ motivations to “Westerners,” Three Veils falls short. it’s hard to care much for the twodimensional pretty girl. The lesbian’s resolution seems simply sad. and bad girl nikki really just needed some readily available family counseling.

Sheetal Sheth, as nikki, also could’ve used a bit more inspiration. it’s hard not to laugh after she warns, “you can’t mess up your life for a fuck-up like me.” it’s an old episode of Hotel and morgan Fairchild is the prostitute screaming, “i’m a trash can!”

When lesbian amira mira ((angela Zahra) takes over, you can hear the direction in your head: “Be blander! angela, we need more bland.” it’s either that or, “Cry! Big, heaping sobs.” all in all, Three Veils comes across as al Jazeera english meets Lifetime Television meets a Salvation army pamphlet on the evils of demon liquor. if ever it’s retooled, following one character alone – not Leila – might help this ship float. —WOB

SUnaLi GULaTi SeTS out to answer a question so many of us have grappled with: how does one make peace with a conversation that never happened and a mother who was never given the opportunity to fully embrace her daughter’s humanity? or, put more universally, how do we lay to rest the ghost of the unknowable and unanswerable in a heart that longs for closure?

“The fact is, i’ll never now for sure how you would have reacted or how things would have unfolded if you had lived,” says Gulati. “The fact is, we all live our lives like we have plenty of time.”

Gulati starts her exploration by returning to Delhi, india, where she grew up, to unpack the house that had laid dormant since her mother passed away nearly a decade earlier. Where her search will take viewers is not immediately obvious and it originally seems as if it might lead us through a series of tender yet banal revelations about sexuality and gender identity that just happens to be set in a foreign land.

But Gulati escapes the triteness trap by finding a series of engaging characters with some unanticipated stories, each one providing another piece of the puzzle she is trying to solve.

The flow of characters is steady and doesn’t linger on any one person for too long, which is part of what keeps us engrossed as the film seamlessly moves from the vantage point of gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals to that of the mothers and fathers who raised them. Some of the interviews are in Hindi with subtitles but many of them also include native-born indians speaking english. The interviews conducted in english are sometimes refreshingly candid because the subjects thoughts and emotions are offered in language that is uncorrupted by the pC police that so often manage to suppress some of our truest reflections here in the U.S. The film is a heartwarming journey toward acceptance that gets all of the technical aspects of documentary filmmaking right. The videography is beautiful, set off by the backdrop of the rich colors and cultural traditions of india. Gulati and her editor, anupama

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43

Reel Affirmations 20

Kink Crusaders

Chandra, let the precious moments breathe, and often absorb us in the thoughts of its participants by setting their interviews to slow-motion video that strokes our visual senses without demanding any critical thinking. I Am is a film that offers every LGBT person a vehicle for self-reflection and universal discoveries while being especially pleasing to anyone who has a particular interest in or affinity for indian culture. —KE J CriTiC’S piCk ROMeOS

Saturday, oct. 15, 4 p.m. atlas, $12

ttttt move over GayS and lesbians.

When it comes to telling the really gripping stories of the 21st century, good luck trying to top the transgender tales.

Being gay and closeted can be compelling — especially in 1990. Being trans and closeted can be dizzying in its multiple layers of discrimination, emotion and medicine. Case in point: Romeos.

Lukas has arrived in the dorms to complete his year of “civilian service” in Cologne. The bureaucratic error credited with his misplacement in women’s housing, however, is actually bureaucratic bigotry. and it’s just one of the hoops through which the college-age transman must jump. all of this on top of managing his own personal journey of transition.

Director Sabine Bernardi uses a technique for short Lukas monologues that have him recording internet videos of himself for his online transman community. These help us stay in his corner as his anger – newly testosterone-fueled – tears apart a room, or his 44

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

new male vanity leads him to ignore his closest ally, ine. She is the next layer of Barnardi’s presentation of Lukas. rick okon as Lukas and Liv Lisa Fries as ine are as tight as twins in their interplay, with ine having dated Lukas’s former lesbian identity, miri. as we get beyond the video testimonials and ine, we fear for Lukas as he enters so many scenes that leave us thinking, “This will end badly.” There is a tension that grips us. it might not be Boys Don’t Cry, but there is still some dread. it’s intensified as Lukas gets too close to heartbreaking badboy Fabio (maximilian Befort). But why are we so worried? Why should everything end badly? masterfully written and directed, Romeos offers an exploration of one fictional transman’s day-to-day that is beyond what most might imagine. and as we put ourselves in Lukas’s shoes, director Bernardi finds ways to also move a non-trans person to more deeply question his or her own understanding of gender identity. and sexuality. and humanity. —WOB COdePeNdeNt leSBiAN SPACe AlieN SeeK SAMe

Saturday, oct. 15, 5 p.m.

GLoBe THeaTre, $12

ttt SomeWHere near SaTU a rn’S furthest rings orbits Zots, a planet of bald-headed female denizens are encountering a profound eco-crisis: their huge feelings of love are destroying the ozone layer. Three of their citizens — Zoinx, Zylar and Barr — are dispatched to earth to court and fall in love with earthling females, so that they might experience the crushing blow of an

inevitable breakup. only this will make the Zots safe again. a absurd? absolutely. But that’s the a point behind what’s surely one of the most bizarre, offbeat features in this year’s festival. a parody of ‘50s Z-grade sci-fi movies, madeleine olnek’s comedy is spry, original and oddly compelling.

Filmed in shimmering black and white, the movie is reminiscent of kevin Smith’s Clerks and Woody allen’s Manhattan, but also fits the ed Wood framework perfectly.

The film is too long by a half an hour — a lame, uninvolving subplot involving two government agents could be excised entirely — and its “deliberately cheesy” tone may exasperate those looking for something a little more polished. But the film casts its own nutty spell, and the performances of Cythia kaplan as Barr, Jackie monhan as Zylar and Susan Ziegler as Zonix are spun from comedic gold. y yeah, they’re shamelessly copping from the Coneheads, but Ziegler, in particular, has infallible comic timing.

The woman knows how to get a laugh — even by simply laughing herself.

Codependent Space Aliens is propelled by a lesbian relationship embarked upon by Zoinx and Jane (Lisa Haas), a frumpy greeting-card shop clerk. The relationship eventually overshadows the movie, driving it to a logical (and colorful) conclusion. (“i should have known you were from outer space,” Jane ultimately confesses. “i did wonder about the gills.”)

The funniest moments come out of nowhere — the aliens watch a revolving dessert display in a diner as though gazing upon a national monument.

The saucer-eyed Zylar, in an attempt to seduce a potential flame, drily notes, “i have no hair on my head, but the pavement matches the concrete.”

Codependent Space Alien may not be perfect, but it’s good for a relaxing, thought-free laugh. and it would take a real grouch not to find delight in Ziegler’s masterful — and possibly star-making — performance. —Randy Shulman J CriTiC’S piCk KiNK CRUSAdeRS

Saturday, oct. 15, 5 p.m.

GWU DoC B-7, $12

tttt aS Home To the Centaur motorcycle Club’s annual mid-atlantic Leather Weekend featuring the mr. maL

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Reel Affirmations 20

Bashment

Contest, we in Washington can be forgiven if we sometimes seem a bit disdainful of Chicago’s international mr.

Leather (imL) Contest. rightfully, we take much pride in our hometown affair. in the case of Kink Crusaders, get over it. Director michael Skiff’s documentary take on imL is a love letter to all of us. as imL founder Chuck renslow declares at the film’s start, “no matter what you are, what your fetish is, what your kink is, we want you.”

From there, Skiff takes audiences into this world of BDSm, of leather, of fetish. and his examination is exhaustive. There is the overview of the community, is divisions and strengths. We visit the long history of the contest. even the political and spiritual are part of this trip. For the uninitiated, this is an immersion program more educational than you can imagine. veteran leatherfolk won’t be at all bored, though.

They should thoroughly appreciate the behind-the-scenes visits with the contestants as they’re put through their paces during imL 2008 – as well as the brief appearance of our own Franck nowicki, mr. maL 1993. obviously a trusted member of the community, Skiff is allowed where many are not. But if you’re hoping for him to pull the curtain back on some tawdry back room, keep looking. What Skiff shows us instead is the sense of community, of brotherhood, of fellowship. The trust is well placed in that Skiff doesn’t stop there, but put equal effort into researching the history of imL for Kink Crusaders. if there is a shortcoming, it may be some of the background music. it shouldn’t be an issue, but at times it 46

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

seems inappropriate and distracting.

Unlike the highly appropriate snip of Soft Cell’s “Sex Dwarf” accompanying his cuts of “puppy play,” in a couple instances the generic background music obscures the film’s sentiment. as shortcomings go, it’s easily forgivable.

The overall product — for those deep in the lifestyle or for those who are merely curious – is of both entertainment and educational value. and at a speedy 74 minutes, you’ll leave wanting more. —WOB J CriTiC’S piCk BASHMeNt

Saturday, oct. 15, 6 p.m. atlas, $12

ttttt a DeCaDe aFTer er his tour-de-force Metrosexuality, rikki Beadle Blair once again graces reel affirmations with another singular film. Bashment provokes as much as it appeals in its timely red-blooded examination of some hotbutton concerns — as well as commonalities — in our modern world.

Blair, who handles all the principal roles in production, adapted Bashment from his stage play, dressing it up in his signature flair of dazzling cinematic editing tricks. The action is set in London’s multi-ethnic hip hop scene, where the Jamaican-flavored dancehall music style predominates. Dancehall’s ragga rappers are antigay by default, and many — too many — fans turn a blind eye to their violent lyrics.

Drawn from a dancehall term for a good party, Bashment focuses on a disrespectful, bullying crew of black rappers, who steal the stage at a local ragga competition from an aspiring white rapper. JJ, played with intermit-

tent conviction by Joel Dommett, is thoroughly immersed in black British culture, right up to his dreadlocks. But not only is JJ gay, he takes the crew to task over its anti-gay rhymes, winning the ragga battle in the process. The crew finds an easy target for revenge in JJ’s slightly effeminate white boyfriend orlando (marcus kai), and sadly puts the “bash” in bashment — over and over and over again.

Somehow, orlando survives the bloody, brutal bashing, but only as a brain-damaged, childlike man, all sunny disposition and little control over bodily functions. His saga, plus his attackers’ initial utter lack of remorse, fuels the film’s second half and ultimately its key message about the power of music and lyrics to hurt, but especially to heal. amidst all its violence and hostility, Bashment is full of hope and heart — everyone heals to some degree by film’s end. perhaps it’s a shade too naïve in its post-prison portrayal of the bashing rappers as fully reformed. most notable is the transformation of the man known as krazy kop killa (played with pizzazz by nathan Clough), who becomes a drag queen named Dionne. The rappers also redeem themselves by helping JJ and his gay crew care for orlando. if dreams occasionally really can and do become reality, well, Bashment is certainly a dream worth pursuing.

—DR tHe GReeN

Saturday, oct. 15, 6:45 p.m.

Globe Theatre, $12

tt iF THe Green were actually the Lifetime movie it strives to be, the title would be The Green: When Bad Things Happen to Gay People. michael (Jason Butler Harner) and Daniel (Cheyenne Jackson) have left the big city to settle in picturesque Connecticut so that michael can work on a novel while Daniel runs a café. michael also teaches at a private school, where the attention paid to a troubled teen doesn’t go unnoticed. But is the scuttlebutt true or are bored Connecticut housewives just talking? it doesn’t really matter because when rumors become accusations, everyone, even his partner of 15 years, starts to question michael.

Director Steven Williford and writer paul marcarelli co-created the story,

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47

Reel Affirmations 20 families, politics and favorite Dolly songs — the same tipsy conversations you have with your friends after a late evening of drinks, and just as lackluster. But don’t feel bad for these guys. They’re not down-on-their-luck country boys seeking out a dream — they’re fairly wellconnected Los angeles residents (from north Carolina) who have the onscreen backing of Dustin Lance Black, Chad allen, Leslie Jordan and others.

With no participation from their family and no response from Dolly on the script, there’s just no resolution.

But there’s Dolly at the end, lighting up the screen in a film that isn’t even hers.

That’s star power. —Sean Bugg J CriTiC’S piCk

Gigola

which is fraught with melodrama and laced with rudimentary metaphors. For example, the couple’s house is plagued by structural damage and threatened by a storm that’s forecast to hit Connecticut. it sounds like a device one of michael’s high school students would use in a creative writing homework assignment.

Harner’s performance is adequate, though most of the time he’s required to do little more than mope. His one soul-baring monologue is so awkwardly written that it would be overly wrought even without the background thunder and lightening. Jackson, recently seen on Glee, uses many of the same sneers and lip curls in The Green, but this one note cracks here. as their lesbian lawyer, Julia ormond ensures her character is the most likable, and illeana Douglas adds her typical flair. midway through the film a minor character, who promptly disappears, actually gives away the already apparent ending. perhaps that’s why the filmmakers feel the need to take an already strained story one step further, past the point of any level of believability.

Williford and marcarelli could have told a stronger story if they had examined more deeply the toll the accusation takes on the couple, but they don’t get off the soapbox long enough to do so. instead they dilute the film’s possible impact as a character and relationship study by focusing on how judgmental a small town can be toward people who are different. Which, while Connecticut is the perfect setting for this purpose, 48

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GiGOlA

turns the film into something that’s been done – better – many times before.

—Tim Plant HOllyWOO lly llyWOO d tO dOllyWOO lly llyWOO d

Saturday, oct. 15, 7 p.m.

GWU DoC B-7, $12

ttt iT’S a GooD thing everyone loves Dolly parton, including me, because that simple fact earns this documentary a bonus star From Hollywood to Dollywood is the story of gay twins Gary and Larry Lane attempting to deliver their screenplay to Dolly parton and — through some metaphysical process — earn the acceptance of their family. The film wants to be other things, as well: a gay road movie through the american heartland; a chronicle of gay lives in the modern (and not-so-modern) south; and a tribute to the inspiration Dolly brings to straight and gay alike.

But the sum is less than the parts. it feels like the Lanes hit the interstate with a road map but no real idea of how they would have an experience worth filming. They end up singing karaoke in an arkansas gay bar that is well nigh empty other than a handful of people who look less than enthused at the intrusion. Far too many scenes involve Gary and/or Larry explaining their voyage to the locals for the umpteenth time.

Because nothing actually happens on this trip, it basically turns into the twins and one of their boyfriends sitting around shooting the shit about their

Saturday, oct. 15, 8 p.m. atlas, $12

tttt GiGoLa iS THe rare film that dresses its stage with such pitch-perfect accuracy, you are slowly convinced that you must be watching a film not simply set in the 1960s, but surely filmed in the 1960s. more than that, it may well be the greatest example of a largely overlooked cinematic subgenre: the dyxploitation film. not in the easy way, not in the fashion that is intended to make teenage boys (and their fathers) eagerly search the internet for clips of polished Hollywood starlets making all their lipstick fantasies come true. instead, Gigola instantly, and not insubstantially, calls to mind films like Cleopatra Jones, Coffy and, yes, Shaft.

Gigola (Lou Doillon) is a kind of gorgeous “leading man” in the stylishly presented underground world of paris in the 1960s. She swaggers her way through nightclubs and cafés in impeccably tailored suits, a walking stick topped with a silver cobra in her hand. Her rent is paid thanks to the gratitude of the older women she picks up in the lesbian cabaret at which she is a regular, and her fame has been built by standing up to the male pimps and gangsters whose girls she regularly takes under her wing.

Which is not to paint Gigola, in any way, as a kind of pimp with a heart of gold. There is a ruthlessness to her, a fury fueled by the events that landed her in her current position, that informs her actions and directs her decisions.

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Reel Affirmations 20 QUICK GUIDE

thur

Venues

A = Atlas Center for the Arts / 1333 H Street NE 202-399-7993

I = Embassy of Israel / 3514 International Drive NW

F = Embassy of France / 4101 Reservoir Road NW

G = Globe Theatre / 1927 Florida Avenue NW (at 20th Street NW)

D = Documentary Center – Room B7 / 21st and H Streets NW

C = Goethe-Institut German Cultural Center / 814 7th Street NW

Program

Date

time

Venue

Price

rating

ty GiRl J diRty

10/13

7 p.m.

L

$20

tttt

33

J AU PAiR, KANSAS

10/14 10/14 10/14 10/14 10/14

5 p.m.

7 p.m.

7:15 p.m.

9 p.m.

9:15 p.m.

G a G a G

$12 $12 $12 $12 $12

tttt tttt tttt tt ttt

34 34 34 36 36

10/15 10/15 10/15 10/15 10/15 10/15 10/15 10/15 10/15 10/15 10/15 10/15 10/15 10/15 10/15

11 a.m.

1 p.m.

1 p.m.

2 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

3 p.m.

4 p.m.

5 p.m.

5 p.m.

6 p.m.

6:45 p.m.

7 p.m.

8 p.m.

8:45 p.m.

9 p.m.

G G GW a G GW a G GW a G GW a G GW

$12 $12 $12 $12 $12 $12 $12 $12 $12 $12 $12 $12 $12 $12 $12

ttttt ttt tt ttttt tt tttt ttttt ttt tttt ttttt tt ttt tttt tt ttt

38 38 40 40 42 42 44 44 44 46 46 48 48 52 53

10/16 10/16 10/16 10/16 10/16 10/16 10/16

11 a.m.

1 p.m.

2:45 p.m.

5:30 p.m.

7:15 p.m.

7 p.m.

9 p.m.

n n n n n L L

$12 $20 $12 $12 $12 $12 $12

ttt ttt tt tttt ttttt ttttt

54 54 54 56 56 58 58

J CritiC’s PiCk

fri

FOUR MORe yeARS tHe NiGHt WAtCH GOiNG dOWN iN lA lA lANd jAMie ANd jeSSie ARe NOt tOGetHeR

J We WeRe HeRe tHe SleePiNG BeAUty ty OF eASt FiNCHley GONe

J AN ORdiNARy y FAMily

sat

tHRee VeilS

J i AM J ROMeOS COdePeNdeNt leSBiAN SPACe AlieN SeeKS SAMe

J KiNK CRUSAdeRS J BASHMeNt tHe GReeN HOllyWOOd tO dOllyWOOd GiGOlA AUGUSt ONe NiGHt StANd

My lASt ROUNd

sun

HANNAH ANd tHe HASBiAN OUt lOUd

J tOMBOy J VitO J BeSt OF tHe FeSt: SHORtS iNtO tHe liON’S deN 50

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

n/a n / /a

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GW = GWU Amphitheatre – Third Floor / 800 21st Street NW L = Lisner Auditorium / 730 21st Street NW 202-994-6800

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W = West End Cinema / 23rd Street NW 202-419-3456

N = U.S. Navy Memorial Heritage Center Theater / 701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Program

J CritiC’s PiCk

OUR liPS ARe SeAled A FeW dAyS OF ReSPite MARy lOU

PHOtOS OF ANGie let’S HeAR it FOR tHe BOyS!: MeN’S SHORtS

ANytHiNG yOU WANt ROSA MOReNA

SWeet ReVeNGe Bite MARKS tHRee

MORGAN HARVeSt PUlUPOt

eAtiNG OUt 5: tHe OPeN WeeKeNd MAdAMe X

J SUiCide ROOM

WiSH Me AWAy

J tHe WiSe KidS J PARiAH J lOOSe CANNONS

10/17 10/17 10/17 10/17

5 p.m.

7 p.m.

9 p.m.

7:30 p.m.

W W W i

$5 $12 $12 $25

ttt tt tt ttttt

58 60 60 60

10/18 10/18 10/18

5 p.m.

7 p.m.

9 p.m.

W W W

$5 $12 $12

tttt ttttt tttt

62 62 64

10/19 10/19 10/19

5 p.m.

7 p.m.

9 p.m.

W W W

$5 $12 $12

tttt tttt ttt

64 64 66

10/20 10/20 10/20 10/20

5 p.m.

7:30 p.m.

9:30 p.m.

7 p.m.

W W W C

$12 $12 $12 $25

tttt ttt t tttt

66 66 68 68

10/21 10/21 10/21 10/21 10/21 10/21 10/21 10/21

5 p.m.

6 p.m.

8 p.m.

7:15 p.m.

7:30 p.m.

9:30 p.m.

9:45 p.m.

10:30 p.m.

L GW GW L F L GW L

$12 $12 $12 $12 $25 $12 $12 $12

tttt tttt tttt ttt ttttt t ttt ttttt

– – – – – – – –

10/22 10/22 10/22 10/22 10/22

11 a.m.

1 p.m.

3 p.m.

5 p.m.

7:15 p.m.

L L L L L

$12 $12 $12 $12 $20

tttt ttttt ttt ttttt ttttt

– – – – –

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sat

jitteRS

Pg#

fri

lONGHORNS

J SiSteR SMile

rating

thur

We ARe tHe NiGHt

Price

weD

tHiS iS WHAt lOVe iN ACtiON lOOKS liKe

Venue

tue

J OH yeS it’S… lAdieS Nite: WOMeN’S SHORtS

time

mon

SO HARd tO FORGet

Date

Stunning Very Good Good So-So Ugh

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Reel Affirmations 20

August

The tough talk is not a facade; it’s what she knows will protect her, and it’s that honesty that makes the movie so incredibly entertaining.

Doillon is absolutely breathtaking in her bold commitment to the role. She is unafraid to be unlikable and seemingly unconvinced that she is anything but. She’s a heroic anti-hero, which gives her the permission to commit the unspeakable with the same polish and grace as the notable, though not frequent, opportunities she is given to show tenderness. attention must also be paid to the astonishing look of the film. From Giorgos arvanitis’s cinematography to Joana George-rossi’s costuming to the work of director Laure Charpentier, Gigola is decked out like a treasure only just discovered in some eccentric’s film vault. it’s a gorgeous piece of filmmaking that will rightly earn applause. and if it happens that you manage to not like Gigola? you might want to keep it to yourself because, well, “She’s a bad mutha.” Shut your mouth. —TA AUGUSt

Saturday, oct. 15, 8:45 p.m.

Globe Theatre, $12

tt aUGUST iS a gorgeous film filled with gorgeous people lit gorgeously and styled perfectly in front of the gorgeous background that is Los angeles.

Unfortunately, all that beauty is skin deep. What wants very badly to be a complex and sophisticated examination of love, lust and jealousy ends up amounting to little more than a glossy magazine pictorial for a product we never see.

Troy (murray Bartlett), back from 52

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

Spain and looking to re-establish his life in Los angeles, gets in touch with his ex-boyfriend Jonathan (Daniel Dugan).

While Troy has been away, Jonathan has started a new relationship with raul aul ((adrian Gonzalez), an argentinean immigrant who is trying desperately to achieve legal status to stay in the United States and remain with Jonathan.

But what starts as an innocent cup of coffee quickly transforms into something that no one saw coming. or, more accurately, transforms into something that we all saw coming from a mile away. The only real surprises offered by director eldar rapaport and Brian Sloan, with whom rapaport shares the dubious story credit with, is just how far they are willing to press things and how much disbelief they are willing to ask the audience to suspend.

The choices made by the characters wobble between the ill advised and the outright ridiculous, with a kind of mopey, handsome stoicism doing much of the emotional heavy lifting.

There is, apparently, no problem you can’t solve by staring off into the middle distance with a blank, albeit smoldering, expression on your face.

The most frustrating performance comes from Dugan, who either intends Jonathan to be completely divorced from reality and the ability to take some level of personal responsibility or, as it often appears onscreen, altogether dim. it would be one thing if we are to believe that the character of Jonathan has absolutely no sense of self, but it is another if audience members believe Dugan simply elected instead not to give him one.

Undeniably, in his role as director, rapaport can take credit for crafting a

visually rich collection of often-arresting images. August is gorgeous. But, as many an out- of-work actor in Los angeles can attest, good looks will only get you so far. —TA ONe NiGHt StANd

Saturday, oct. 15, 9 p.m.

GWU DoC B-7, $12

ttt oH, THe THinGS we’ll do to have a few laughs and raise a few bucks for charity. it’s no longer enough to have some cocktails, hear some jokes, enjoy a few songs. no, as chronicled in the documentary One Night Stand, we must exhaust as many creative types as possible in order to have a few fleeting moments of whimsy. i mean, really. a 24-hour musical? it can be done, sure. But a lot of people are going to get really Stressed out along the way. Filmmakers elisabeth Sperling and Trish Dalton followed a 2009 project in new york that gathered Broadway and Hollywood talent — actors such as rachel Dratch, Cheyenne Jackson and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and countless writers, composers, directors, choreographers, musicians and others — and subjected them to a grueling task: Get together at 8 p.m. monday; meet, greet and group; knock out scripts and scores for four 15-minute musicals by 6 a.m.; and be ready for an adoring public by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

What the audience sees by that time is moderately entertaining. Writers have come up with some nice zingers, and composers and lyricists have managed some engaging tunes, and gosh, isn’t it just hysterical how that adorable redhead from Modern Family forgot his lines and made hunky Cheyenne

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Reel Affirmations 20

Hannah and the Hasbian

Jackson improvise for a moment?

Less entertaining is what goes on behind the scenes. Funny lady (but rudimentary singer) rachel Dratch feels self-conscious around big-voiced Broadway divas. Got it. Writers get anxious on tight deadlines. Got it. only the filmmakers are going to keep giving it to you, ‘cause that’s all they got.

The 80 minutes of One Night Stand, like the 24-hour musicals themselves, isn’t a waste, but with all the talent reflected in the lens and on the stage, it would be nice to have a result that makes a better lasting impression. —JP

Sunday, Oct. 16 My lASt ROUNd

Sunday, oct. 16, 11 a.m. navy memorial Theater, $12

ttt WHen yoU’re noT rooting for either side, it’s tough to care who wins, which is the central problem with My Last Round. in a small town in Chile, the quiet Hugo (Héctor morales) and boxer octavio (roberto Farías) fall in love, but when their lives start to crumble – for Hugo it’s the loss of his job, for octavio it’s the ability to box – they leave for Santiago in the hopes of starting anew. once there, many undercurrents tug the two apart, from Hugo’s flirtatious co-worker to octavio’s longing to climb back into the ring despite doctor’s orders.

Unfortunately, because the foundation of their relationship is never cemented on screen, it’s tough to really pull for the pair. in fact, it’s more touching to see the relationship build between Hugo and the boss’s daugh54

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ter than it is to see Hugo and octavio struggle to survive.

This lack of investment is not the fault of the actors, who are both terrific. in fact, it’s their stirring performances that will stick with you. morales is sweet and vulnerable, coming across as emotionally lost yet completely earnest. opposite him as the imposing former boxer, Farías ensures there is enough nuance in his performance that it’s evident octavio’s possessive nature is partly fueled by the loss of a career that defined him for so long. instead, much of the film’s shortcoming rests on a decision made by writer and director Julio Jorquera to hold a key scene until the end of the movie. rather than show it during the couple’s courtship, it’s revealed as a flashback.

This brief scene is the foundation so desperately needed at the beginning of the story. in an attempt to make it a tugat-the-heartstrings moment, Jorquera undercuts the entire film’s emotional arc. By the time it’s finally shared, it’s too late. The film’s outcome is readily apparent and unavoidable, so there’s nothing left to do but endure the knocks and punches that land, even if they carry only a fraction of their potential. —TP HANNAH ANd tHe HASBiAN

Sunday, oct. 16, 1 p.m. navy memorial Theater, $20

ttt iT miGHT make a nice one-act play. a cinematic short could be even better.

But as a feature film, even at only 72 minutes, Hannah and the Hasbian is a bit of a stretch.

The premise is simple: Three women live together. one is a roommate, two are “soul mates.” That is, until one soul

mate decides in switch-like fashion that she’s done with women and moving to men. now we have three roommates.

Granted, the notion of women falling off the lesbian wagon is believable. ellen DeGeneres will back you up on that. But at least anne Heche had to good form to throw a dash of nuttiness in there to give the whole transition some depth. in Hannah we’ll have none of that.

Breigh, played with spunk by matylda Buczko, dumps the formerly straight Hannah (emily o’BrienBrown) she seduced long ago, over breakfast, with plans to go man-hunting later that evening. The character who remains a roommate and straight throughout, Dinka (mahalia Brown), is there to ensure that the film remains a comedy. it’s a premise that would go down a lot easier if writer-director Gordon napier had set it among college-age women. and Brown’s comic relief could be toned down a notch. When she’s deadpan, her delivery is biting and you want her to get her own spotlight. But when she engages, in what plays as aggressive “spontaneous comic freak out,” laughter can easily switch to discomfort. Buczko and o’Brien-Brown bring what’s called for, particularly o’Brien-Brown and her expressive eyes.

When all is said and done, it will likely be hard for you to discern any point. Will Breigh remain a hasbian?

Will Hannah be able to win her back?

Will Dinka eventually need that fourth abortion? Who can say? Still, you will get at least a couple chuckles, and some of the soundtrack music is really quite good. —WOB OUt lOUd

Sunday, oct. 16, 2:45 p.m. navy memorial Theater, $12

tt oUT LoUD HaS the feel, script and performances of a run-of-the-mill “gay film” from the 1990s. Generally, that would be a very bad thing in 2011. The saving grace of Out Loud is that it is an important film that shows by its presentation alone that the world continues to move toward inclusion of LGBT lives and, however slowly, understanding of LGBT issues.

Samer Daboul’s film – set and filmed in Lebanon – is tough to get through at parts. many of the characters seem,

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Reel Affirmations 20

Vito

at times, to be playing simplistic parts that push over into caricature. Some scenes present unclear motives or objectives for those characters, or present questions that are never resolved. and, sometimes, the acting is downright bad.

But the overarching theme – that loyalty born of familial love, whether by blood or by choice, is stronger than hate and intolerance – comes through loud and clear.

The first commercial Lebanese feature-length film to explore homosexuality openly, the relationship between rami ami ((ali rhayem) and Ziad (Jean kobrously) is as touching as any of the delightful gay relationships present in those ’90s gay films. But, the everpresent danger that they face because of their relationship’s still-taboo nature in Lebanon somehow makes the few tender moments that the viewer sees between them all the more intimate – and moving.

Ziad, who was in the military, first appears in the movie after his relationship with rami already has been the topic of much discussion among the other characters – several of rami’s straight friends (who each has his own unique character attribute) and nathalie, a woman who one of the straight men meets online and invites to join them. in addition to being the love interest for all three straight men, she also provides an outlet for rami to discuss his relationship with someone other than his straight male friends. as the six celebrate a birthday, there is a moment when, beneath the table, Ziad and rami hold hands in a private moment. it is a simple moment, easily taken for granted in most 2011 movies.

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But, here, that moment is a real spark of change in the world that minimizes the importance of the filmmaking flaws present in the movie. —Chris Geidner

michael; her performance is subtle, studied, letter-perfect. She’s matched by malonn Levana as Jeanne, Laure’s 5-year-old sister. a natural beauty, Levana is a joyous burst of radiance, lighting up the screen like a supernova. it’s like watching a French model in an embryonic stage.

Tomboy traverses that complicated, awkward terrain of gender identity with a quiet, determined resolve. There are no sledgehammers here, no artifice. it’s all organic, and Sciamma’s only mission is to tell a story that is, in many respects, universal to all those who feel as though their being, their soul has been placed into the wrong receptacle. —RS J CriTiC’S piCk VitO

Sunday, oct. 16, 7:15 p.m. navy memorial Theater, $12

J CriTiC’S piCk

ttttt

tOMBOy

Some peopLe are lucky enough to make a small difference in the world they live in. and some people are stubborn, angry and committed enough to make a huge difference in the world we all live in. vito r russo was the second type, a dynamo of gay activism who cut his teeth in the political world of post-Stonewall new york and went on to write the groundbreaking study of gays and lesbians in film, The Celluloid Closet. That book was already translated into a stellar documentary that helped a new generation of LGBT people understand their own history in our nation’s most popular form of entertainment. now, with Vito, we have a companion documentary that tells the story of r russo himself.

Vito soars in large part because russo left behind so much footage of himself, not only from his first-of-itskind gay Tv v show, but from numerous interviews and public actions. in one amazing archival sequence from the 1973 new york pride celebration, you see russo working the stage before a hostile crowd — the fractured nature of the movement had begun pitting drag queens against assimilationists against queers against ad infinitum. russo puts all his emotions into trying to keep his community together (ultimately, they were placated by a surprise visit from Bette midler). it contrasts beautifully with footage of his later aiDS activism with Larry kramer and aCT Up, taking part in the storming of the FDa, using

Sunday, oct. 16, 5:30 p.m. navy memorial Theater, $12

tttt CÉLine SCiamma’S iamma’S UnaSSUminG, iamma tender drama revolves around Laure (Zoé Héran), a pre-teen girl who refuses to shed her tomboyish ways. With her short hair, steel-eyed gaze, and slight swagger, it’s no surprise that when her family moves to a new apartment complex, Laure is instantly mistaken by the neighborhood kids as “the new boy.” She does nothing to dissuade her playmates, passing herself off as michael. Since she’s not yet developed breasts, going shirtless isn’t really an issue in a game of “shirts vs. skins,” but swimming — ah, well that presents an altogether different situation. nothing a carefully positioned lump of play-Doh can’t solve. michael draws the attention (and ultimately the affections) of Lisa (Jeanne Disson). it’s all very innocent, yet the implications are enormous — and the consequences, potentially traumatizing.

Despite its gentle rhythm, Tomboy edges deliberately toward a climax that you know will be painful for all involved. it’s not a question of whether Laure’s gender will be revealed, it’s a question of when and how. Credit goes to Sciamma for finding a way to create a denouement that is honest and intense, fully uncontrived, one that leaves us stunned and slack-jawed.

Héran is astonishing as Laure/

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Reel Affirmations 20 wild guess that things get pretty ugly for our trio. This one’s a gamble — but based on the first few minutes, it’s a gamble we’d gladly take. an aside: The rough cut we watched included a pretty intense public bathroom sex scene, featuring a full-on erection. and you get to see kroell fullfrontal in a brief shower scene. We can’t guarantee that it’s in the final product, but you never know. So, guys, feel free to pack the house.

Monday, Oct. 17 Gayby

the platform he’d earned through years of work and dedication to angrily and eloquently fight to save the community that was dying around him.

Like its subject, Vito is vibrant, argumentative, embracing and engaging. a stirring reminder of one the founders of the LGBT movement, it’s also one of this year’s films that should not be missed. —SB J CriTiC’S piCk BeSt OF tHe FeSt: SHORtS

Sunday, oct. 16, 7 p.m.

Lisner, $12

ttttt year in, year out, this series of shorts has been a reel affirmations highlight. and this year is no exception — though we were unable to get our mitts on Public Relations, Franswa Sharl and No Direction, so you’re on your own with those. in The Queen (tttt), a shy, withdrawn korean-american teen toils at his mother’s dry cleaning outlet where, late one night, he gets caught up in a prom night fantasy. Christina Choe’s 8-minute film is the perfect blend of funny, sweet and sorrowful and Sean Tariyoto is delightful as the protagonist.

The brisk comedy 52 (tt) is the kind of weird sketch you might find The Kids in the Hall doing. appropriate, since it was conceived and written by the troupe’s Scott Thompson. Fortunately it’s over in a flash.

The Maiden and the Princess (tttt) is a sumptuously crafted comedy about how fairy tales are spun — and how they can be altered to celebrate the individualities of all children. Director ali Scher takes a whimsical yet smart approach, utilizing a variety of fanciful styles — including 58

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musical theater — to create a work of surprising substance. it stars David anders nders ((Alias Alias)) and Julian Sands in roles Alias that just might surprise you. a flat-out riot, the premise behind Gayby (ttttt) is simple: a woman asks her best gay friend to father her child. The banter between the friends is infused with snap, crackle, pop, and their awkward attempt to conceive “the old fashioned way” is one of the funniest damn things you’ll ever see on screen.

When the woman asks if she should remove her bra, her friend exclaims, “God no! i don’t have to do anything with them, do i?” Director Jonathan Lisecki is working on a feature version of the short, and as far as i’m concerned, it can’t hit theaters fast enough. and that brings us to the Hope Diamond of this year’s collection — I Don’t Want to Go Back Alone (ttttt), a Brazilian coming-of-age drama that is positively remarkable. it’s simple, sweet, elegantly told and features an inspired plot twist involving a blind boy and his two best friends. Directed by Danile ribeiro, the film’s beauty and simplicity is underscored by a sense of discovery and magic. it’s a 17-minute masterpiece that should not be missed. —RS iNtO tHe liON’S deN

Sunday, oct. 16, 9 p.m.

Lisner, $12 We Were proviDeD with only the first 17 minutes of Dan Lantz’s thriller, which stars ronnie kroell and is getting its World premiere at this year’s festival.

But that 17 minutes made us want to see the rest. There’s no telling where the story — about three gay friends who encounter trouble in a redneck bar — was headed. But we’re going to take a

OUR liPS ARe SeAled

monday, oct. 17, 5 p.m.

West end, $5

ttt aS DireCTor or JoHn Gallino follows matty Daley and Bobby Canciello, two gay students at the College of new Jersey who want to break the world record for longest continuous kiss, the camera flits and flutters around, peppering with questions before the two friends lock lips.

How long is the record? ((a a shade longer than 33 hours.) are there any rules? (more than you would ever imagine.) Why are you doing this? (The record’s only been held by “heterosexual pairings.”)

So when they finally start doing the deed — one that involves a lot of standing, eating through a straw and pantomiming to communicate — it feels massive and important and, well, spectacular. Which is to say, Our Lips Are Sealed is a hell of a lot more dramatic than a documentary about college guys kissing ought to be.

Gallino deserves a lot of credit for that deft effect; outside of a handheld camera and footage that streamed on the internet, he doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room for production. instead, he gets nitty-gritty at the scene of the record attempt, an on-campus quad. He interviews supporters and passersby, while capturing the subtle intricacies that go with kissing somebody for more than a day. (or, more troublingly, the ill-conceived harassment they face from a few bone-headed goons.)

Our Lips Are Sealed starts to crumble as it ends, though. Without giving away too much, Gallino saves a vital bit of post-snogging news for the absolute end, presumably in an attempt to gutpunch the audience. it doesn’t hit like

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Reel Affirmations 20 a shocking development, but rather a bewildering oversight that undercuts the message of the movie. as Bobby explains before the record attempt, “it shouldn’t matter that it’s two guys. it’s just the longest continuous kiss.” playing with Lips is melissa osbourne and Jeff mcCutcheon’s short film, CHANGe (ttttt), targeting a festering bit of america: bigotry. Set on the eve of the 2008 presidential election, Change follows Jamie (Sean mcClam), a black high-school student who juggles his hidden sexual identity with a black culture that vilifies homosexuality. everyone he knows supports Barack obama — and takes every opportunity to laud what he means for civil rights — but few seem to extend those feelings to fight proposition 8, which passed on the same day as obama’s victory. When his friends decide to vandalize a gay, white classmate’s house — the same classmate whom Jamie is secretly involved with — he’s forced to choose a side. mcClam’s well suited for the lead role, with a face that blends from celebratory to worried to, ultimately, determined and courageous. He’s given the difficult job of shifting gears again and again with limited assistance from narrative momentum, yet pulls it off believably and appropriately. His Jamie is an empathetic character, limited only so far as his cultural barriers, but aware of the ironies of his life. ((amazingly, mcClam does all of this in less than half an hour.) although Change’s camerawork apes television’s Friday Night Lights, osbourne and mcCutcheon occasionally toe the line between homage and mimicry, but settle comfortably into a documentary-inspired style that adds heft to the short while softening any razor-sharp attacks; it’s meant to inform and comment, not slash and burn. nonetheless, Change finds its purpose through thoughtful critique.

Cultural bigotry, it argues, isn’t solved with sound bites or at the ballot box. even when we celebrate, there’s still work to be done. —CH SO HARd tO FORGet

monday, oct. 17, 7 p.m.

West end, $12

tt maLU De marTino’S So Hard to Forget may need a warning label since anyone recently freed from the exqui60

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site torture of nursing a dumped roommate will unlikely be able to stomach the contents. admittedly a nicely shot, well-paced, “small” Brazilian film, So Hard certainly tries hard but unless you can relate to its beautiful but extraordinarily dour, endlessly self-centered and unenlightened dumpee, Julianna, you’ll be wondering how hard it would be to crawl on yours knees to the exit.

Based on the novel of myriam Campello, the film glues itself to Julianna, a professor of literature (we know this because she mentions names like virginia Woolf and emily Bronte amid intellectual gobbledy-gook) in the immediate aftermath of a ten-year relationship with a woman called antonia, whom we never meet. interspersed with a lugubriously-delivered voice-over, Julianna grimaces her way though the initial shock and awe to reluctant recovery by way of a long intervening phase – really the entire length of the film – in which she is exceedingly irritable and morose to everyone around her. in fact, minus a reflective scene or two – in particular Julianna’s realization of physical loss while in the shower – the film is really little more than a series of vignettes in which the grumpy professor entices people into noticing that she is depressed and then nails them for caring. although she invests herself in the character, ana paula arosio can bring nothing to this one-dimensional woman other than her mesmerizingly beautiful cat’s eyes.

Top of the masochist list is Julianna’s gay friend Hugo who persuades her early-on into joining him in a houseshare by the coast. an impossibly cheerful character, played with puppy-like goodwill by murilo rosa, Hugo is barely allowed to mourn his own profound losses before Julianna is dragging it all back to her interminable suffering which, for some inexplicable reason, they have tacitly agreed trumps all. even Helena (a cool as a cucumber arieta Correia), Julianna’s eventual new love interest, along with being beautiful and emotionally-available, also happens to be the type who can’t get enough of prickly, emotionally distant non-givers.

Had enough yet?

Bottom line: take away the Brazilian flavor, intellectual pretentions and pretty women and this is nothing more than a shallow portrait of common garden variety obnoxiousness — Kate Wingfield

A FeW dAy A S OF ReSPite Ay

monday, oct. 17, 9 p.m.

West end, $12

tt a FeW DayS of Respite asks a lot from its audience. The bones-bare script strains to fill silence with emotional impact. The plot shrugs along, secondby-second, with just enough narrative momentum to keep going. Director amor Hakkar’s camera does nothing but linger. and all the while, characters keep staring at each other, nondescript and silent. it shoots for grandeur, but lands in pretension.

Set in europe, this French-language drama follows mohsen (Hakkar) and Hassan (Samir Guesmi), a gay iranian couple who flee to paris in order to live away from the threat of death sentences. after making their way into France, mohsen finds work as a handyman in a small town, but his employer, an older woman named yolande (marina vlady), tries to seduce him. Her blatant scheming, largely unbeknownst to either man, leads to an inevitable conflict — will mohsen choose a stable job and companion, or run away to paris with Hassan?

While the premise is catching enough, Hakkar just doesn’t do anything to further A Few Days of Respite past that initial interest. He deploys minimalism to a fault, not explaining the depth of mohsen and Hassan’s relationship, or, more frustratingly, how it all figures in the end. Sure, there are a few bright spots buried underneath — Hakkar presents worthy questions about love, happiness and sacrifice — but Respite settles as dour and melodramatic when it could have been unyielding and sentimental. a story like this one deserves more than a feather’s touch; it should be adamant and honest and troubling. But it’s not — the fault lies in what was left out, untold. —CH MARy lOU

monday, oct. 17, 7:30 p.m. embassy of israel, $25

ttttt Time FLieS – through the years and in the theater – when famed israeli director eytan Fox sets his sights on the coming-of-age story of a young, flamboyant gay boy who falls hopelessly in love with the military-bound – and muscle-bound – high-school sweet-

Reel Affirmations 20 although the show then takes off on meir’s search for his mother, that almost becomes the backdrop for his entrée into the world of drag after he meets ori ri ((yedidya vital) when he goes to see pick. ori – drag name: miss Sunshine – performs with The Holy Wigs, which meir ends up joining. after reconnecting with Shuli – and connecting with Gabi – it is only through his performance that meir finally finds acceptance and gains the inner strength to confront his relationships – and to find, at last, his mother. —CG AWOl

Tuesday, Oct. 18 PHOtOS OF ANGie

heart of his best girl friend.

The four-part, subtitled israeli miniseries starring ido rosenberg as meir lasts a brief two-and-a-half hours – an irresistible treat that has been compared to Glee but more closely resembles The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. While featuring the songs of israeli pop star Svika pick and including high-school drama, the story of meir’s life as he grows from student to adulthood is more Felicia than kurt.

The show opens with a young meir ( mit moris) cleaning with his mother (a (maya Dagan), who might not exactly whistle while she works but does listen and sing to pick’s music as she does so.

When she leaves the house in the midst of a party – never to return, seemingly without reason – the story is set. after meir gets lost in pick’s music with his best friend, a young Shuli (noy karako), the story fast-forwards to their last year of high school, with an out meir and grown-up Shuli (Dana Frider) planning their graduation-night song – one of pick’s, of course. enter nter Gavriel ((alon Levi), the hot jock who catches their eyes and steals their hearts. although he starts dating Shuli almost immediately upon his entrance to the school and though he treats meir horribly at that graduation-night party (think Carrie without the blood), meir remains caught up in his affections for Gavriel – whom he calls Gabi.

Following the graduation-night blowup and with no real knowledge of what happened to his mother, meir decides to head to Tel a aviv and seek her out by way of pick, for whom he has convinced himself she must have sung as a back-up singer.

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Tuesday, oct. 18, 5 p.m.

West end, $5

tttt JUSTiCe Wa W S ServeD in the 2008 murder of angie Zapata, even though the decks were stacked against her. a transgender living in conservative, rural Colorado, her alleged murderer was tried before a primarily older, white, male jury, and her lawyers went with the “panic defense” — that is, angie was only beaten to death after her murderer discovered she was biologically still a he. alan Dominguez’s incredibly touching film relates the joyous outcome of the first court case to successfully apply Colorado’s hate crime law to a transgender issue: angie’s killer was found guilty on all counts and put behind bars for life. it’s since become a landmark case, a model for others to follow.

The film, with a tender classical score by mackenzie Gault of the Flobots and additional pop music by ozomatli, is a remarkable tribute to angie, killed when she was still just a teen. Born as Justin, angie was vivacious, confident and beautiful. Her devastated mother, sisters and brother all describe her as the life of the family. and the fact that she had a family as sweet and supportive as they come only adds to the pain.

The mexican-american Zapata family has now become something of activists for transgender rights, in part adhering to an aztec proverb that one never truly dies if they’re remembered by the living.

Screening with Photos of Angie is BUllied (ttt), another film documenting a landmark court case that offers hope for justice on queer issues. The film highlights an even higher-profile

case, that of Jamie nabozny successfully suing his Wisconsin public high school for not protecting him from rampant anti-gay abuse. according to the film, the case has already helped push other school districts around the country to take bullying more seriously.

The pain nabozny and his family suffered is relayed and reenacted in Bullied. Unfortunately, the high-budget film, produced by the Southern poverty Law Center, gets carried away with Hollywood-style dramatics, with a timpani trilling to signal pivotal moments, and dramatic strings to signal the end.

Glee’s Jane Lynch narrates the story, told in a rather preachy way as if it were an after-school special, with a sheen that makes the tale less personal and certainly less powerful than Photos of Angie. all the same, you’ll be touched by nabozny’s resolve to right an enormous wrong, and especially his mother’s pride in her son. — Doug Rule J CriTiC’S piCk WOMeN’S SHORtS

Tuesday, oct. 18, 7 p.m.

West end, $12

ttttt THe FoLkS BeHinD reel affirmations could have subtitled this potent collection of shorts, “i am Lesbian, hear me roar!”

(But it’s probably a good thing they didn’t.) Things open with Deb Shoval’s AWOL (ttttt), which tells a basic story in a captivating way, as a young soldier, about to be deployed to afghanistan, arrives home to rural pennsylvania for one last fling with the woman she adores only to make a life-changing decision.

The movie is gorgeously filmed and the barren snowscapes highlight an emotional drift toward heartbreak and regret. it’s followed by Lynda Tarryk’s Lust Life (ttttt), in which a parisian woman, whose ex left her years ago, finds renewal. it’s a lovely, lovingly crafted film Cried Suicide (ttttt) pulls out all the comedic stops with the kind of sophistication you’d expect from the people who produce content for the website “Funny or Die.” a woman fakes suicide to get the attention of her ex.

“What a ballsy move!” says the friend who claims her from the hospital. “it’s not ballsy, it’s stupid,” she replies. “i just had my empty stomach pumped.” What ensues next is a frenzied parade of wellmeaning friends bearing macrobiotic

Reel Affirmations 20 remedies (“it tastes a little bit like blood”), lesbian porn (“unshaven, natural breasted, slightly overweight”), and bitchy commentary (“This place is a mess! Did your maid try to kill herself, too?”). Funny stuff.

Cyclicity (ttttt) is an intelligent, engaging look at the beginning — and the end — of a relationship, using a Ferris wheel as a metaphor. Director Jason knade shows off a terrific sense of pacing and visual style. Slow Burn (t) is the program’s only weak link, combining an old West motif with a modern-day tattoo parlor sensibility. it’s overindulgent, clunky and a bore.

Flyers (ttt) is a swift one-note treat with a cute, affirming punchline, and Tech Support (ttttt) is an uproarious, if unpolished, comedy about a woman who gets more than she bargains for when calling a computer help line.

(The use of split screen is especially noteworthy.) Finally, a few four-minute episodes of the web series The Slope (ttttt) are interspersed throughout the program. The banter between the two leads is rapturously inappropriate.

Sure you could always watch it on the web, but it’ll be better served with an audience. also showing but unavailable for review: The Birthday. —RS MeN’S SHORtS

Tuesday, oct. 18, 9 p.m.

West end, $12

tttt one oF THe wonderful things about the return of reel affirmations is the return of the men’s Shorts program, where you can catch some of the most creative and entertaining moments in gay film. Unlike some past festivals, this 20th edition is of consistent quality, although it seems to suffer a bit from bipolar disorder. on the happy side is Couples Therapy (ttttt), where a not-particularlybubbly man is increasingly perturbed with his boyfriend’s incessant retelling of the same joke about Twitter, and takes the issue to their counselor: “you’re always on, and it’s never off.” “i’m effervescent! i’ve been told.” it’s a quick, tight, and laugh-out-loud story that will feel familiar to anyone who’s been in a mixed introvert/extrovert relationship. on the morose side is A Day in the Country (tttt), which opens with a Scandinavian man filming his lover being topped by a man role-playing a 64

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doctor (complete with external cum shot, for those keeping track). The amateur filmmaker doesn’t want to pay a cab for their guest to return to the city, so it looks to be a three-way kind of evening. But see-sawing jealousy ultimately means different. also opening with anal sex is Regrets (ttt), the title of which is a hint. also a hint: a trick that looks like a creepier version of Dexter with 15 dead cell phones in his bedroom dresser. Like the opening sex, not subtle.

The Sergeant (tttt) in question is a Serbian military veteran having an internet hook-up with a nervous 20 year old. you know that awkward hookup you had once where the guy obviously had some issues you couldn’t quite figure out but that set all your alarms screaming? yeah, that’s this one.

Squared. Requited (ttt) is a reasonably interesting story of a gay man torn between settling the issues of his unrequited high school love and the current love staring him in the face. of course, if he’d stop talking for a minute he might figure out the right course of action. But he can’t shut up. overall, it’s kind of like listening to morrissey.

Finally, if the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer makes you squeal, then you’ll be singing a Swedish chorus for Baldguy (ttt). if a punchline elaborately constructed around a frankly looks-ist denouement makes you fume, you’ll sing once the credits roll. also playing, but unavailable for review: Curious Thing and Gently. —SB

Wednesday, Oct. 19 tHiS iS WHAt lOVe iN ACtiON lOOKS liKe

Wednesday, oct. 19, 5 p.m.

West end, $5

tttt For or THoSe WHo have been out and online for a while now, This Is What Love In Action Looks Like is a trip down recent-memory lane. For everyone else, however, it is a powerful if limitedin-scope documentary about how one group of activists dealt with the news that a residential, ex-gay “therapy” house was located in their hometown. in the summer of 2005, “Zach” became a name known to everyone as bloggers and others found and began to write about the Tennessee teenager’s mySpace blog posts detailing his parents’ decision to enroll him in Love

in action – the residential “ex-gay” program. as local LGBT activists began to protest at the site of Love in action – and as the news of the program began to be picked up by mainstream media – one of the protesters, morgan Fox, was there with his own camera. now, with This Is What Love In Action Looks Like, filmgoers will have the rare opportunity to see the way the crisis of a teenager inspired a community of LGBT activists – and, eventually, led to the end of Love in action’s inpatient program.

Fox talks with Zach Stark, other former enrollees in Love in action’s program, the activists who protested at the site in 2005 and John Smid – the man who ran the Love in action program through 2008 – in the film, painting a picture of the program likely to shock those unfamiliar with such programs’ methods. in one striking – yet not unusual – moment, Lance Carroll, a former enrollee of the program, talks about how, when a session leader decided that Carroll was wearing “inappropriate” clothing, the leader encouraged him to change by telling the entire group, “all of the men need to do a femininity check.” although the movie focuses only on the success of the protest of the Tennessee program and thus misses the context that could be provided by further examination of ongoing efforts in the “ex-gay” movement, Fox succeeds at his more modest task. He presents a poignant picture of the love in a community and the action that activists took to support a teenager who they saw was in need. —CG ANytHiNG yOU WANt

Wednesday, oct. 19, 7 p.m.

West end, $12

tttt in THe reaLm of single-parent films, which range from wacky comedies to tear-jerking dramas, Anything You Want deserves special recognition not just for its quality but for its unique approach to the subject.

When Leo (Juan Diego Botto) loses his wife and becomes the primary caregiver for his 4-year-old daughter, he’s overwhelmed on every level. yet Dafne (Lucía Fernández) is never anything less than the sole focus of her father’s new, shattered life. and while those surrounding Leo tell him that he can’t raise Dafne and continue his growing law practice at the same time, he never

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Reel Affirmations 20 backs down.

What makes Anything You Want stand out is the extreme to which writer and director achero mañas has Leo go. When Dafne asks for a “fake mom” to help her sleep, Leo quickly steps into his dead wife’s shoes. For him, it’s not a question of his sexuality, it’s a question of meeting the needs of his daughter. For the rest of the world, it’s about his stability.

Botto tackles his role with gusto, creating a flawed father figure who is so earnest in his desire to do right by his daughter that he will alienate all those close to him. Botto’s performances as Leo and alicia are equally strong, though it’s clear that Leo is acutely aware that his time as alicia is for Dafne’s sake. opposite him, Fernández’s performance is far beyond her few years, making it more than just a cute kid reciting lines.

When most of Leo’s friends desert him, he builds a relationship with a cabaret performer (José Luis Gómez), who helps him with his transition (and homophobia). This relationship is an important part of Leo’s journey, but also slightly under-developed. However, since mañas sacrifices this budding friendship to focus on Leo and Dafne, it’s excusable.

Anything You Want is about what it takes to be a father, which can be very different than what it takes to be a man.

—TP ROSA MOReNA

Wednesday, oct. 19, 9 p.m.

West end, $12

ttt WaTCH Wa aTCHinG roSa morena is a bit like watching a low-budget teen slasher flick. With alarming frequency you will find yourself staring at the screen, shouting in disbelief, “What are you doing? Don’t do that! are you kidding me? Stop!” no, it’s not that the film’s lead character Thomas ((anders W. Berthelsen) keeps wandering off to investigate strange sounds in the basement while dressed only in a bra and panties. instead, the single gay man has traveled from his native country of Denmark to visit his friend Jakob in Sao paulo. it’s a visit – we learn after some poorly paced plotting and completely extraneous nightclub scenes – that involves some delicate business. Thomas has come to Brazil in order to adopt a child, something he is legally prohibited 66

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from doing in Denmark.

The opportunities presented to him in Brazil are not all that much better. yes, the chances of Thomas being able y to adopt a child are improved, but that is largely due to the fact that the staggering poverty and desperate situations of some young mothers has given rise to a market where babies are sold for the sake of survival. Which is how Thomas meets maria (Bárbara Garcia) and finds himself struggling to understand a world in which he has no business being involved.

Both Berthelsen and Garcia deliver fantastic performances in Rosa Morena, playing off one another with a quick and practiced sense of give and take.

Director Carlos a augusto de oliveira makes some choices that will irritate, if not outright infuriate, audiences, but takes the care to give his more boldfaced maneuvers some sensible grounding. it doesn’t always work as cleanly as it should, and those choices do leave the movie feeling overly long and stretched thin at points, but it shows a degree of respect for Rosa Morena’s viewers that is easy to appreciate.

So, while Rosa Morena falls short of its grander goals and vision, it earns suitable regard for doing very well with the small and personal. —TA

Thursday, Oct. 20 SWeet ReVeNGe FROM lA SUite NOiRe

Thursday, oct. 20, 5 p.m.

West end, $12

tttt THe SHorT FiLm ReCiPe FOR A KilliNG (ttt) opens with a man shooting his wife point blank for cooking him one too many bad meals. murdering your spouse because her skills in the kitchen are subpar? Mais oui: Leave it to the French to cook up such a delicious, devious dish concept. and of course, that’s only the film’s amuse-bouche. The multi-course dinner centers on the relationship between the murdering man, Gérard, played by noted French actor niels arestrup, and the lesbian vagabond aline (Juliemarie parmentier). Gérard hires aline right off the street to replace his murdered wife as his personal chef. Gérard is a hot-tempered asshole, plain and simple, and abuses aline, whom he calls “the kid,” whenever her dishes aren’t absolutely perfect.

But just when you start to feel sorry for the kid, director emmanuelle Bercot,

working from Chantal pelletier’s crime novel, switches to tell aline’s story.

Turns out, she’s even more of a monster, having killed several people and having gone on several heists with her lesbian lover. Recipe for a Killing grows a bit too gung-ho about the crime and the killings, and its cast of characters become less savory as it goes. By the dessert course, which naturally includes one more murder, you may have had your fill. But you’ll still leave feeling satisfied. and that’s especially true because Recipe for a Killing screens with qUeeN BitCH (tttt). Both short films originally aired as part of a French television series offering adaptations of macabre, quirky crime novels.

Director Guillaume nicloux adapted Queen Bitch from Laurent martin’s novel. emmanuelle is a transgendered woman dogged by bad luck from the start, when she was unjustly born into a boy’s body.

Clément Hervieu-Léger is a real charmer as the sweet, sad emmanuelle. every time it looks like emmanuelle might finally be closer to raising enough money for a sex-change operation in Bangkok, she hits another spot of bad luck. She’s far from above the law, of course — stealing from her wealthy parents, joining a counterfeit money scheme — but deep down, emmanuelle seems like a good girl, and you never stop rooting for her to succeed. nicloux creates extra intrigue — and confusion — by building the story in a jagged, non-linear fashion, with many scenes introduced as having happened a day or more before. Why are the cops after her? How much money did she borrow from pierre exactly? it helps to pay close attention, but then the answers are revealed in the end.

Well, all except for one final mystery. a real cliffhanger that you have to see for yourself. —DR We ARe tHe NiGHt

Thursday, oct. 20, 7:30 p.m.

West end, $12

ttt WHen iT ComeS to vampire angst, all discussions begin and end with Tony Scott’s The Hunger. Though hardly a perfect film, it’s still the gold standard for vampire melancholy (and couture). and in his big-budget We Are the Night, Dennis Gansel pays homage with his German-chic vampires and an eye for atmospherics.

But even as his vampire Queen

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Reel Affirmations 20 Louise, like Catherine Deneuve’s miriam, finds but cannot keep her next lady-love, Gansel captures none of the subtlety of miriam’s wooing of Susan Sarandon’s Sarah. and despite Louise’s penchant for creating female vampires, neither does the film explore her sexuality. Thus, anyone hoping for a new take on the concept of the lesbian vampire — or for that matter, the romantic vampire — will be disappointed. indeed, the most affecting and ably-handled relationship here is the thoroughly human one between Lena, the urban-urchin Louisa wants, and the young policeman, Tom, who discovers Lena pick-pocketing and later connects her to a trail of vampiric homicides.

Still, taken as entertainment versus innovation, We Are the Night is a well-paced mini-thriller with a reasonably dark euro-grit sensibility. Holding her own despite the more predictable moments, karoline Herfurth’s Lena is a refreshing tomboy, as gorgeously compelling as any starlet despite Gansels’ admirable choice to avoid the usual soft-core depiction of such a heroine (indeed all the women here must be commended for keeping their own lips, if not their own teeth). She is never afraid to give us the face of human suf suffering. its “ugliness” offers an authenticity that puts Hollywood to shame. exuding retired super-model splendor, nina Hoss’ Louise channels more warm-hearted dominatrix than centuries-old vampire and there are but a few glimmers of pathos as she realizes that she cannot make Lena love her. as ebullient sidekick vampire nora, anna Fischer offers the film’s best darklycomic moments while Jennifer Ulrich’s nicely inscrutable vampire Charlotte grows in dimension with the plot. max riemelt gives his Tom a distinctly human warmth and plenty of reason for Lena’s ambivalence towards what she has become.

This is no The Hunger, but for those in need, night offers a fun, if slightly anemic, fix. —KW

overt sexual undertones and superbuff werewolves. (Well, maybe not super-buff werewolves.) That said, the vampiriffic craze has officially hit an all-time low with Bite Marks, a bloodsoaked dud produced by Dennis ashe.

What’s that? never heard of ashe?

Gee, maybe you’ll recognize him by this name: Dink Flamingo. yes, the producer of such adult y hits as Bareback Recruits, Battle of the Bottoms, and Rear Formation 2: Anal Retreat is seeking legitimacy in the film world with a limp stab at horrorcomedy. y yet all he and writer-director mark Bessenger succeed at is creating an exercise in cinematic futility that is far too gory, not in the least bit funny, and frightening only to certain exotic breeds of dogs. you might recognize the film’s y button-cute twink David alanson. His nom de porn is David Townsend, and he can still be seen in various states of carnal bliss if one knows how to Google.

Look, it’s not that adult film actors shouldn’t strive for a legit career. it’s just that some got it and some don’t. and for all his valiant effort, alanson simply lacks the skills a thespian needs to succeed in the world of real cinema.

Here’s the truly sad part: alanson gives the best, most engaging performance in Bite Marks. i’m not sure what the rest of the cast is doing, but it would be inappropriate to call it acting.

The plot goes something like this: a gay couple is hitchhiking. They get picked up by a brick-stupid, latently gay trucker who’s hauling a coffin. in said coffin lies a vampire. Truck breaks. vampire thirsty. Sucking commences. v Suck, suck, suck! Die, die, die! after 90 minutes, we head home wondering if our $12 wouldn’t have been better spent on nakedSword.com. a footnote: Bite Marks must be the first film in history to carry the following end-credits acknowledgement: “[Thanks to] the undercover cop who let two of my cast and crew walk instead of busting them for possession.” Good lord. —RS

Bite MARKS

Thursday, oct. 20, 9:30 p.m.

West end, $12

t enoUGH WiTH THe vampire craze already! i mean, haven’t we had enough of the draining of arteries and

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tHRee

Thursday, oct. 20, 7 p.m.

Goethe institut, $25

tttt Hanna iS a chain-smoking television host who feels somewhat adrift in

her long-term relationship with Simon.

Simon is dealing with his mother’s sudden succumbing to pancreatic cancer, not to mention losing a testicle to his own cancer scare. adam is the genetic researcher, choral singer, sailor, swimmer and all-around renaissance man who inadvertently captures the hearts of them both, although Hanna and Simon don’t know they’re each having an affair with the same man.

Three is the complicated story of that uncertain and ambiguous love triangle. it’s also one of the few truly bisexual festival films i’ve seen over the years — at least, truly male bisexual, since Hanna’s focus is on the two men.

But the German film, from Run, Lola, Run director Tom Twyker, is an interesting take on modern sexuality and love, as well as a demonstration of the old Schoolhouse rock tune, “Three is a magic number.”

While the story begins like a Germanic version of Terms of Endearment, after a while it settles into triple plotlines, watching each character move closer to the emotional mexican stand-off that’s inevitable once they discover the truth.

For the most part, the journey to that point is engaging, although at times it threatens to become another movie entirely: 300 Ways to Look Pensive.

Thirty minutes too long, Three still stands out as a compelling story that ultimately ends on a note of grace, with plenty of stops for sly humor and wry commentary along the way. Be sure to catch it with your two closest friends. —SB Reviews of the films running Friday, Oct. 21, and Saturday, Oct. 22, will appear in the Oct. 20 issue of metro Weekly.

All festival reviews are available online at MetroWeekly.com. Reel Affirmations 20 runs from Thursday, Oct. 13, through Saturday, Oct. 22. See our quick reference guide on page 50 for a list of venues, pick up a copy of the Official Reel Affirmations 20 Program Guide or visit reelaffirmations.org. For tickets and festival passes, stop by Universal Gear at 1529 14th St. NW or visit reelaffirmations.org. l

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Compiled by Doug Rule

OCTOBER 13 - 20, 2011 SPOTLIGHT

Lesbian Central

CYNDI LAUPER & DR. JOHN

The True Colors LGBT champion returns to the 9:30 Club for another roots-oriented concert after last year’s blues fest. This time, the focus is on New Orleans-style jazz with Dr. John. Tuesday, Oct. 18.

Doors at 7 p.m. Nightclub 9:30, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $45. Call 202-265-0930 or visit 930.com.

LOVE POTION #1

todd franson

Alexandria’s Birchmere becomes a lesbian hideaway for a weekend

Wright at the 2010 Capital Pride Festival

W

hy have all the lesbians gone to Alexandria?

That may be the question on many minds next weekend, when the Birchmere hosts a couple shows with great variety and wide appeal, but featuring a definite lesbian bent.

The weekend starts early, in fact, with a show next Thursday, Oct. 20, featuring Chely Wright, country’s first major artist to come out as gay. The charming, beautiful, Kansas-born Wright must be falling in love with our area, since this is her third area stop since headlining 2010’s Capital Pride.

It’s already her second stop at the Birchmere this year. Opening for Wright is Lucy Wainwright Roche, also making her second stop at the Birchmere this year. Talk about lesbian appeal: Her mother is in the folk trio the Roches, her father is folk legend Loudon Wainwright III, her half-siblings are Rufus and Martha, and she’s toured with the Indigo Girls. Who cares if the sweet-voiced folk singer is straight?

And then Saturday, Oct. 22, the Birchmere switches it up, offering a night of cabaret and comedy with the stunning lesbian performer Suede and lesbian standup comedian Vickie Shaw. Suede got her start in D.C. and Baltimore, so the Cape Codder is no stranger to these parts, and Shaw is a Texas-raised spitfire who you’ve no doubt seen on Comedy Central, if not an Olivia Cruise. Put them together on one bill, and you’ve got a knock-out of a night.

Actually, if you see more lesbians in Alexandria this Saturday, Oct. 15, you can blame the Birchmere too. Comedian Paula Poundstone will be yukking it up. While the longtime standup describes herself as “asexual,” there’s no doubt her appeal is quite queer.

As is the Birchmere’s. We could certainly get used to it. — Doug Rule All shows at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.

Call 703-549-7500 or visit birchmere.com. l

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Director Nick Olcott offers an English adaptation of Donizetti’s comic opera L’Elisir d’Amore for an InSeries’ mini-opera production. Olcott sets his version in a D.C. high school in the 1950s, with a math nerd trying to win the affections of a girl over a ‘bad boy. Frank Conlon conducts and accompanies on piano a chamber ensemble and cast of singers including Pablo Henrich Lobo, Laura Wehrmeyer, Fabiola Echazabal, Jase Parker and Jarrod Lee. Opens Saturday, Oct. 15, at 8 p.m. OUT at In Series performance is Friday, Oct. 28, at 8 p.m. To Oct. 29.

GALA Theatre at Tivoli Square, 3333 14th St. NW. Tickets are $40. Call 202-204-7763 or visit inseries.org.

KENNEDY CENTER’S COSTUMES OF SUZANNE FARRELL BALLET

“Ballet Costumes Exhibition” offers a Kennedy Center salute to the 10th anniversary of its resident company the Suzanne Farrell Ballet. The exhibit offers a glimpse of some of the ballet costuming during the company’s first decade. To Oct. 30. Kennedy Center Hall of States. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

NSO POPS WITH REBECCA LUKER, AARON LAZAR, ROD GILFRY

Steven Reineke conducts the NSO Pops in the program “Some Enchanted Evening: The Music of Rodgers & Hammerstein,” featuring soprano Rebecca Luker, of Broadway’s Mary Poppins, tenor Aaron Lazar (Broadway’s A Little Night Music, Oklahoma) and baritone Rod Gilfry (South Pacific National Tour). Tunes include “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and “Shall We Dance?”

Thursday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m., and Friday, Oct. 14, and Saturday, Oct. 15, at 8 p.m. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $20 to $85. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

SIGNATURE THEATRE’S MUSIC IN THE MOVIES

Natascia Diaz, Eleasha Gamble and Bobby Smith, three of Signature Theatre’s favorite performers — and among the very best in town — salute movie melodies, from Breakfast at Tiffany’s to the Sondheimcomposed Dick Tracy to The Wizard of Oz to even Nine to Five. Tuesday, Oct. 18, through Saturday, Oct. 22, at 8:30 p.m. Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Tickets are $35. Call 703-820-9771 or visit signature-theatre.org.

THE AHN TRIO

A classic chamber group, the Ahn Trio isn’t afraid to have fun or be funny. It’s most recent album was

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amusingly title Lullaby for My Favorite Insomniac, and it kicks off Wolf Trap’s annual Discovery Series in a celebration of Founder’s Day with a new Wolf Trap co-commission, BraziliAHN and Other Landscapes. Friday, Oct. 14, at 8 p.m. The Barns at Wolf Trap, 1645 Trap Road, Vienna. Tickets are $40.

Call 703-255-1900 or visit wolftrap.org.

TOM GOSS AND JEFFREY JOHNSON

The popular local folk troubadour Tom Goss performs with Jeffrey Johnson, also known as drag queen Super Agent Galactica. The duo’s show is billed as “Under the Covers with Tom Goss and Jeffrey Johnson.” The question is, will they perform under the wigs too, as in donning drag? Friday, Oct. 21, and Saturday, Oct. 22, at 8 p.m. Black Fox Lounge, 1723 Connecticut Ave. NW. Tickets are $15.

ROB VANDER ZEE

The gay-owned Vitruvian Gallery, located near Eastern Market and focused on male figurative art, officially opens this weekend with an exhibit of over 20 male figurative paintings by local artist Rob Vander Zee. Opening reception is Saturday, Oct. 15, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. On exhibit through Nov. 19.

Vitruvian Gallery, 734 7th St. SE. Call 202-241-2563 or visit vitruviangallery.com.

FILM DC LABOR FILMFEST 2011

The AFL-CIO’s Metropolitan Washington Council, the Debs-Jones-Douglass Institute and the American Film Institute present an array of new films and beloved classics about work and workers. This year’s festival includes screenings of: All The President’s Men on its 35th anniversary Friday, Oct. 14, at 7:30 p.m.; 2009’s Up In The Air starring George Clooney Friday, Oct. 14, at 5:15 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 16, at 7:25 p.m.; 2010’s The Company of Men starring Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones Saturday, Oct. 15, at 5 p.m., and Tuesday, Oct. 18, at 9:20 p.m.; and The Whistleblower starring Rachel Weisz as a woman who finds peacekeepers in postwar Bosnia caught up in the country’s sordid sex trafficking trade on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 7:30 p.m. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. Tickets are $11 general admission. Call 301-495-6720 or visit www.afi.com/Silver and dclaborfilmfest.org.

GAINSBOURG: A HEROIC LIFE

Serge Gainsbourg was a French actor and singer, but he’s most famous as a lover to stars including Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin, and as an influential, multi-genre French pop star. Joann Sfar’s biopic offers a portrait of his life featuring a narrative propelled chiefly by his music and lyrics, including references to his childhood as a Jew growing up in Nazi-occupied France as well as a shortlived stint as a starving painter. Opens Friday, Oct. 14. West End Cinema, 2301 M St. NW. Call 202-419-FILM or visit westendcinema.com.

HALLOWEEN ON SCREEN

This year’s annual scary cinema series at the American Film Institute’s Silver Theatre focuses on the centennial of horror icon Vincent Price with screenings of movies he starred in including Roger Corman’s The Raven and an “interactive” screening of The Tingler from 1959. Also on tap are screenings of two silent films from the 1920s with live accompaniment by the three-man Alloy Orchestra: Rupert Julian’s The Phantom of the Opera and the German classic Nosferatu. And what Halloween-themed series would be complete without screenings of Shaun of the Dead? Series opens with Vincent Price in Witchfinder General aka The Conqueror Worm on Friday, Oct. 14, at 10:45 p.m. To Oct. 31. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. Call 30172

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

495-6720 or visit afi.com/Silver to see full schedule and times.

SPOOKY MOVIE INTERNATIONAL HORROR FILM FESTIVAL

Now in its sixth year, the Spooky Movie film festival kicks off Thursday, Oct. 13, when the great Mink Stole, best known from John Waters’s films — she of the “cocksucker residence” in Serial Mom, for one — appears as a special guest and the Japanese apocalyptic road movie Helldriver is screened. Other films on tap this weekend include the locally produced The Watermen, about deep sea fishmermen lost at sea; The Millennium Bug, a mixture of Godzilla, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Jurassic Park; Mr. Bricks: A Heavy Metal Murder Musical, a Rocky Horror Picture Show-like rampage of music and mayhem; the zombie thriller The Dead; and Little Deaths, a trilogy about three couples immersed in twisted games of psycho-sexual obsession and revenge. To Oct. 16.

Artisphere, 1101 Wilson Blvd. Arlington. Tickets are $8 for regular screenings, $20 opening night, or a VIP pass is $80. Call 703-875-1100 or visit artisphere. com and spookyfests.com.

WEEKEND

HHHHH Set in Nottingham, England, Andrew Haigh’s Weekend follows two men across an autumn weekend as they feel out a new and intimate relationship.

It’s a fling that reaches for more, jettisoning a hookup mentality for that beautiful place of mind where you can’t decide if you want to jump into bed with someone or hold them and kiss them and ignore everything else in the world. It’s the story of how a lot of us — gay or straight — meet our matches. Make no mistake: This is not a “gay film.” It’s a great love story that deserves better than a niche label and a correspondingly niche audience. It’s bittersweet and authentic in a way that aches in its frankness. Just call it: a great film about gay men. Now playing. Area theaters. Visit fandango.com. (Chris Heller)

STAGE A BRIGHT NEW BOISE

In the parking lot of a mega craft store in Idaho, someone is summoning the Rapture. John Vreeke directs this comedy by Samuel D. Hunter, a heartbreakingly funny reckoning between a father and a son that will shatter your preconceptions about the sacred, the profane and the secret lives of big-box retailers. Kimberly Gilbert, Michael Willis, Michael Russotto and Joshua Morgan are among the cast. To Nov. 6. Woolly Mammoth, 641 D St. NW. Tickets range from $35 to $67.50. Call 202-393-3939 or visit woollymammoth.net.

AFTER THE QUAKE

Adapted from the short stories of Haruki Murakami, Frank Galati’s play brings to life Murakami’s “hallucinatory world where the real and surreal merge and overlap, where dreams and real-life nightmares are impossible to tell apart,” according to the New York Times. Randy Baker directs this Rorschach Theatre production. To Oct. 30. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets are $25. Call 202399-7993 or visit atlasarts.org.

LES MISÉRABLES

HHHHH

What’s been done to the 25th-anniversary touring production of Les Misérables is simply too much, for no compelling reason. The show has been stripped of signature elements — the turntable; the relatively simple, broad canvas on which indelible characters took shape and from which indelible melodies soared — in favor of something cinematically clut-

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Junk No More

tered: a stage filled with buildings that are meant to evoke Paris but don’t really, and without even the bold projections that announce dates and locales in a manner that was both practical and dramatic.

In other words, it’s change for change’s sake, not because it serves the overall theatrical experience.

Gratefully, the performers recruited for this questionable exercise are top-notch. In particular, as Jean Valjean, J. Mark McVey is a vocal marvel, offering a characterization of Valjean as more superheroic than any I’ve ever seen. To Oct. 30. Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets are $39 to $155. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

lilly’S PURPle PlAStiC PURSe

Even Lilly has some bad days, but when you have movie-star sunglasses and a purple plastic purse, how bad can it be? From the book by Kevin Henkes and adapted for the Adventure Theater stage by Kevin Kling. Directed by Nick Olcott. To Oct. 31.

Adventure Theater, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Tickets are $17. Call 301-634-2261 or visit adventuretheatre.org.

lUNGS

ToDD FranSon

HHHHH

Mark Morgan finds art after addiction

m

ark mor orG Gan HaD a roUGH roUGH Tran ranS SiTion in 2001. FirST FirST,, He UnDer er-went major surgery in may that could have left him with a colostomy bag or some similar health burden. Dodging that bullet, however, he felt he had “a new lease on life.” That included meeting a new guy.

“The week before 9/11, i moved to San Francisco for somebody,” he remembers. “i wasn’t picked up at the airport – or met anytime after that. i knew the relationship was doomed. i was stranded in San Francisco without any friends, anyone i knew.

Then 9/11 happened. Feeling completely and totally isolated, i started to get online. i met someone who asked if i liked to ‘party and play.’” at the time, morgan didn’t know that was code for methamphetamine-fueled sex.

“Three days later, after sampling most of the party cocktail of drugs, i knew exactly what was meant and the beast was born.”

The rough transition became a rough decade of morgan dealing with addiction.

Today, however, the beast has been slain. morgan is in recovery, back in Washington, and turning from destructive to productive. it’s a turn that’s been aided by the Luther place memorial Church on Thomas Circle. “i went to a new member orientation and the two pastors were excited because there was a gay couple there who were adopting a child,” says morgan, who was raised Southern Baptist. “That embodied what i was looking for in a church.”

His timing was perfect as the church was about to launch its Junk art Garden. The notion of taking what was once deemed disposable and reclaiming it as a personal expression had obvious appeal for morgan. Last month, he erected his own display, “recovered recycled,” of tennis-ball bumblebees, cat-food can “cat “caterpillars” erpillars” and other whimsical creatures that he saw in the discarded bits around him.

“The fact that i actually completed something makes me want to do more,” he says. “now i’m able to express my fears or whatever emotions i’m feeling. i can harness a creative outlet. i’m very eager to see what’s next.”

— Will O’Bryan “Recovered Recycled” is on display through 2011 at the Junk Art Garden on 14th Street between N Street NW and Thomas Circle. l 74

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It’s fitting that Duncan Macmillan’s Lungs is about childbirth: As the inaugural production of the Studio Lab series, the newborn is a promising start for Studio Theatre’s aim to develop original work within the company. Lungs tackles much more than babies, though. In 90 minutes, Macmillan packs in questions about the environment, civil unrest, population growth, infidelity and the roles men and women must address for themselves in an ambivalent society. Director Aaron Posner capably guides the London-based writer’s whip-crack script from page to stage, building a comedy that flies back and forth across anger, depression, absurdity and — from time to time — tender affection. Closes this Sunday, Oct. 16. Studio Theatre, 14th & P Streets NW. Tickets are $20. Call 202-332-3300 or visit studiotheatre.org.

(Chris Heller)

MAd FOReSt

Michael Dove directs a Forum Theatre production of Carol Churchill’s Mad Forest, about two families (one poor, the other wealthy) who struggle to retain their friendship during the Romanian Revolution and under the eternal watch of the secret police.

Rose McConnell, Alexander Srain, Ashley Ivey, Charlotte Akin and Mark Halpern are among the cast. Closes this Saturday, Oct. 15. Round House Theatre-Silver Spring, 8641 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $25. Call 240-644-1100 or visit forumtheatredc.org.

PARAde Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown’s Tonywinning musical Parade unfolds like a high-minded sermon about a decent Jewish man caught in the wrong place — the South — at the wrong time: when a prejudicial swirl of racism and anti-Semitism poisoned a populace still nursing the wounds of the Civil War. The final moments of Parade are surely some of the most troubling and pulse-quickening you’ll encounter in musical theater, and there are languid stretches of the show that could certainly use such uncompromising theatricality. At other times, director Stephen Rayne simply, and rightly, relies on heavenly voices that befit the show’s sermonic tone: Euan Morton in the lead role of Leo and Jenny Fellner as his wife; Kevin McAllister in roles including Jim Conley, a black factory worker used as a pawn against Leo; and Matthew John Kacergis, who opens the show in a Civil War flashback as a young soldier singing a gorgeous tune, “The Old Red Hills of Home.” To Oct. 30. Ford’s Theatre, 511 10th St. NW. Tickets are $15 to $75. Call 800-982-2787 or visit fordstheatre.org. (Jonathan Padget)

SAVAGE IN LIMBO

Alexandria’s scrappy MetroStage opens its season with a decades-old play from John Patrick Shanley, the Oscar-winning writer of Moonstruck and the Pulitzer and Tony winner for Doubt. The Helen Hayes award-winning actress — and MetroStage regular — Natascia Diaz stars as one of several bar regulars dreaming of a bigger life. Lise Bruneau, a Helen Hayes-nominated actress, directs. Closes this Sunday, Oct. 16. MetroStage, 1201 North Royal St., Alexandria. Tickets are $45 to $50. Call 800-4948497 or visit metrostage.org.

THE BOOK CLUB PLAY

A new work by Arena Stage’s resident playwright Karen Zacarias, the comedy The Book Club Play focuses on a woman who seems to have it all — an adoring husband, a perfect job and a great book club.

But bizarre circumstances put her life under a magnifying glass and force her friends to read between the lines. Life, love and literature may never be the same. To Nov. 6. Arena Stage — Mead Center for American Theater, 1101 6th St. SW. Tickets are $40 to $70. Call 202-488-3300 or visit arenastage.org.

THE BOY DETECTIVE FAILS

HHHHH

One of two new works in Signature Theatre’s American Musical Voices Project now running in repertory — and both darkly delightful — The Boy Detective Fails is a mystery-laden musical adaptation of Joe Meno’s 2006 novel, written with composerlyricist Adam Gwon. Director Joe Calarco keeps the action brisk and the melancholy-macabre tone consistent, providing a compelling foundation for an array of skillful performances. Gwon’s perky score feels brighter in places than Meno’s plot suggests, but it always sounds great, supported by Andy Einhorn’s lovely orchestrations. Closes this Sunday, Oct. 16. Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Tickets are $29 to $86. Call 703-820-9771 or visit signature-theatre.org. (Jonathan Padget)

THE HABIT OF ART

Alan Bennett’s play-within-a-play follows an imagined meeting between openly gay poet W. H. Auden and closeted composer Benjamin Britten a year before Auden’s death. The two wrestle with their desires, their jealousies, the ephemeral connection between creativity and inspiration, and the many reasons their friendship fell apart in this wistful and filthily funny play by the writer of The History Boys.

David Muse directs a cast that includes Ted van Griethuysen, Margaret Daly Kay, Randy Harrison, Matt Dewberry and Will Cooke. Closes this Sunday, Oct. 16. Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. Call 202332-3300 or visit studiotheatre.org.

THE HEIR APPARENT

HHHHH

Adaptation is a funny thing. What worked so shamelessly and wonderfully for adaptor David Ives in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of The Liar two seasons ago feels like way too much of a good thing in his latest re-invention, Jean-François Regnard’s The Heir Apparent. A barely faithful take on this 18th-century comedy of a young and impecunious nephew trying to wheedle a fortune out of a thoroughly crotchety old uncle, there is far more here to make the wit-challenged guffaw on their gum than there is for those in need of the wry and dry. It’s Ives’s frantic dependence on SNL-style modern reference as well as his hideous nods to vaudeville that grate most. To Oct. 23. Lansburgh Theatre, 450 7th St. NW. Tickets are $35 to $95. Call 202-547-1122 or visit shakespearetheatre.org. (Kate Wingfield)

THE HOLLOW

HHHHH

The Hollow starts on well-traveled ground,

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Washington Irving’s classic short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, from which book writer Hunter Foster and composer-lyricist Matt Conner have extracted bold, broad dramatic and musical gestures.

The slightly better of two new works in Signature Theatre’s American Musical Voices Project now running in repertory, The Hollow offers melodies,

by Conner, in lush orchestrations by Michael Morris that resonate with a gut-level impact that musical theater fans of the Les Miz variety will salivate over. The score has weaker moments when it strays too close to familiar hooks – a little too much Cat Stevens here, a little too much Sondheim “Sunday” there – but it stays mostly on solid original ground.

Closes this Sunday, Oct. 16. Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Tickets are $29 to $86.

Call 703-820-9771 or visit signature-theatre.org.

(Jonathan Padget)

COMMUNITY AND COLLEGE THEATER RENT

The University of Maryland offers a production of the late Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, loosely based on Puccini’s La Bohème, directed by Alan Mingo, Jr., a Maryland alumnus who played Tom Collins in the Broadway production. Maryland student actors will draw on their own hopes, dreams and creative energies to bring the show to life. Opens Friday, Oct. 21, at 8 p.m.

To Oct. 28. Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s Ina and Jack Kay Theatre, University of Maryland, University Boulevard and Stadium Drive. College Park. Tickets are $30. Call 301-405-ARTS or visit claricesmithcenter.umd.edu.

TAKE ME OUT

In Richard Greenberg’s play, Darren Lemming, the star center fielder of the world champion New York Empires, comes out as gay and trouble ensues.

Matthew Randall directs this production from Dominion Stage, everyone’s favorite gay-friendly community theater in Virginia. Jivon Lee Jackson as Lemming in the show, which includes strong language, full-frontal male nudity and sexual situations.

To Oct. 23. Dominion Stage — Gunston Arts Center, 2700 South Lang St. Arlington. Tickets are $20 at the door. Call 571-DS-SHOWS or visit dominionstage.org.

THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW

Did you know the cult classic film The Rocky Horror Picture Show was based on a stage play? Well, it was, and Southern Maryland’s Hard Bargain Players presents a production with an all-volunteer cast directed

by Michael Margelos. The show, written by Richard O’Brien in 1973, campily sends up science-fiction movies and popular comic books — but you knew all that. It all goes down in the open air. How spooky!

How fun! To Oct. 22. The Outdoor Amphitheater at Hard Bargain Farm, 2001 Bryan Point Rd. Accokeek, Md. Tickets are $10. Call 301-292-5727 or visit hbplayers.org.

who. An Horse opens for Kevin Devine, who has previously opened for — no, not Tegan & Sara, Bob Mould. Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 8 p.m. Red Palace, 1212 H Street NE. Tickets are $14 day of show. Call 202-399-3201 or visit redpalacedc.com.

ANI DIFRANCO W/ANAIS MITCHELL

A must-see concert with the famous punk goddess Ani DiFranco and Anais Mitchell, one of the most ambitious indie upstarts around. And given that both Sixth & I concerts sold out long ago, better hurry before the same happens for this Baltimore show.

Saturday, Oct. 22, at 8 p.m. Rams Head Live!, 20 Market Place, Baltimore. Tickets are $40. Call 410244-1131 or visit ramsheadlive.com.

BACH SINFONIA

The symphony offers rarely heard selections from Italian composers Albinoni, Dall’Abaco and Scarlatti among others, in the program “Suoni Belli: Instrumental Wonders of the Italian Baroque.”

Saturday, Oct. 15, at 8 p.m. Montgomery College’s Cultural Arts Center, 7995 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. Tickets are $28. Call 301-362-6525 or visit bacsinfonia.org.

CHAISE LOUNGE

A collective of some of D.C.’s best jazz musicians, including vocalist Marilyn Older, Chaise Lounge has been a staple at hip martini bars around the area, along with more storied venues such as the Kennedy Center and Blues Alley. They’ve also performed with the likes of Natalie Cole and Dizzy Gillespie and at the Lilith Fair. They perform original tunes as well as swing standards. Saturday, Oct. 15, at 7:30 p.m. The Barns at Wolf Trap, 1645 Trap Road, Vienna. Tickets are $20. Call 703-255-1900 or visit wolftrap.org.

DEER TICK

This Rhode Island quintet blends folk, blues and country — you know, all styles of music you’d hear outdoors, where the deer and the antelope roam and get bitten by a certain arachnid. Sunday, Oct. 16.

Doors at 7 p.m. Nightclub 9:30, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $45. Call 202-265-0930 or visit 930.com.

DURAN DURAN

The Brit-pop Fashionable Fab Four (lead guitarist Andy Taylor left the original Fab Five once and for all a few years ago) have come up short in valiant efforts to recreate ‘80s success in the U.S. Not even working with one mega-producer (Timbaland, on 2007’s Red Carpet Massacre) after another (Mark Ronson, on last year’s All You Need Is Now) has done the trick. But they’ve still got a devoted fan base, and really, isn’t that all they need? It’s enough to fill Constitution Hall. Sunday, Oct. 16, at 7:30 p.m.

D.A.R. Constitution Hall, 1776 D St. NW. Tickets are $68 to $148. Call 202-628-1776 or visit dar.org/conthall.

ESPERANZA SPALDING

MUSIC

The woman who mercifully kept Justin Bieber from winning the Best New Artist at this year’s Grammys, the bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding returns to D.C. with her effervescent blend of jazz fusion, Brazilian samba and a touch of hip-hop. Sunday, Oct. 16, at 8 p.m. Warner Theatre, 513 13th St. NW. Tickets are $69.50 to $125. Call 202-783-4000 or visit warnertheatre.com.

AN HORSE

FAIRFAX SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Not only does this Australian duo sound like a punkier version of Tegan & Sara. Lesbian singer and guitarist Kate Cooper and drummer Damon Cox are shadowing the Canadian town lesbian duo. An Horse first gained attention as Tegan & Sara’s opening act three years ago, and now the duo is touring in support of album Walls, produced by Howard Redekopp, long associated with, well, you-know76

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

Christopher Zimmerman conducts the symphony and the Alturas Duo, which specializes in the indigenous music of South America. The program includes the world premiere of Concierto de los Andes by Chilean classical guitar composer Javier Farías, plus selections from Sibelius and Beethoven. Saturday, Oct. 22, at 8 p.m. George Mason University Center for the Arts, 4373 Mason Pond Drive, Fairfax. Tickets

are $25 to $55. Call 888-945-2468 or visit fairfaxsymphony.org.

HANSON

Olkahoma’s Hanson brothers are still around, 14 years after their one and only true pop hit. Chances are, it’s a little ditty you still hear in your head sometimes: “MMMBop,” wo-ew, wo-ew. Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 8 p.m. The State Theatre, 220 North Washington St., Falls Church. Tickets are $35 at the door. Call 703-237-0300 or visit thestatetheatre.com.

INDIA.ARIE AND IDAN RAICHEL

The charming contemporary soul singer India.Arie joins forces with Israeli world-music artist Idan Raichel for Open Door, a cross-genre collection of songs in English and Hebrew. The project focuses on feel-good themes of acceptance and unity. Saturday, Oct. 22, at 8 p.m. Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Remaining tickets are $35 to $55. Call 301-581-5100 or visit strathmore.org.

J.COLE

Jermaine Lamarr Cole is a newcomer in Jay-Z’s posse, the first signed to Jay’s Roc Nation label.

Known as just J.Cole, the cute 26-year-old rapper tours in support of his debut set Cole World: The Sideline Story. Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. Fillmore Silver Spring, 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring.

Tickets are $27.50. Call 301.960.9999 or visit fillmoresilverspring.com.

JACQUI NAYLOR

Jacqui Naylor’s hometown newspaper the San Francisco Examiner has described her as featuring “Billie Holiday’s inflections and a touch of June Christy,” though she also offers tunes inspired by gospel and folk. Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Tickets are $22, plus $10 minimum purchase. Call 202-3374141 or visit bluesalley.com.

LISA HANNIGAN

Irish singer/songwriter Lisa Hannigan first made a name for herself as the sultry vocal partner of fellow countryman Damien Rice — until he ditched her in 2007, saying their musical partnership had “run its creative course.” Ouch. Now, she’s deservedly earning her own acclaim, including a Mercury Prize nomination. Her newest solo set Passenger finds her dueting with Ray LaMontagne and churning out tunes that straddle the divide between Sarah McLachlan and Tori Amos. Oh yeah, the music’s that good. Thursday, Oct. 13. Doors at 7 p.m. Nightclub 9:30, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $25. Call 202-2650930 or visit 930.com.

LORETTA LYNN

Tickets are still available to see the pioneering Coal Miner’s Daughter — and more recently the ravishing Van Lear Rose — at the 9:30 Club, for a concert rescheduled from March. Do you really need to know more? Saturday, Oct. 15. Doors at 7 p.m.

Nightclub 9:30, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $55. Call 202-265-0930 or visit 930.com.

MICHELLE WEBB’S KING KONG

Webb is a D.C.-based guitarist/mandolinist and oud player who, with her quintet, fuses traditional African and Arabic music with modern jazz harmonies to create a unique, contemporary sound.

Thursday, Oct. 20, at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Twins Jazz, 1344 U St. NW. Tickets are $10, plus a minimum purchase of $10 per person per table. Call 202-234-0072 or visit twinsjazz.com.

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dining

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I

n the ‘80s, I was a synthpop boy,” says Richard Chartier. “I was very into that.”

But unlike many or even most synth-pop fans, the 40-yearold avant-garde sound artist was more interested in the “synth” (short for synthesizers) than the “pop,” the technology over the music.

“A lot of synth-pop bands were not musically trained,” Chartier explains. “[Synth-pop] was all about this new technology and seeing what you could do with it, and pushing it.”

The D.C.-based Chartier also has no formal music training. His work in sound art over the past two decades has been essentially self-taught, honed in no small part through advances in technology.

Naturally, Chartier started experimenting with creating sound using synthesizers, egged on by his love of synthpop. “The more I got into experimental music, I became compelled to create my own work,” he says. Chartier’s work is characterized by quiet, subtly shifting sounds, in a minimalist strain of sound art known either as “microsound” or Neo-Modernist.

Over the past decade, the Hirshhorn Museum and the Corcoran Gallery of Art are just two among many leading museums to have featured Chartier’s sound art. New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art is another, selecting Chartier to be part of its prestigious Whitney Biennial in 2002.

At the moment, Arlington’s Artisphere presents a sound and video new media show curated by Chartier and featuring five international artists all making their D.C. debut with the show. Chartier says the focus of “Data/Fields” is on “our perception of data, which is how we experience the world.”

That may make it sound a cluttered, cacophonous mess, much like our drowning-in-data modern world.

“Oftentimes, you go to shows and there’s just too much, especially when it’s new media,” Chartier concedes.

“If you have too many things going that make sound, it just becomes a big ruckus.”

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But Chartier took great care to make sure that didn’t happen with “Data/ Fields,” giving it a story-like structure and focus. “I wanted something that was very clean [and] refined to the point where visitors couldn’t actually experience each work individually without seeing the other works,” he says. “It has a very defined flow.”

“All of the works are experiential or participatory in some way, and it’s all time based,” he continues. France Jobin’s sound piece Entre-Deux, for example, cycles for 144 minutes. So what you hear at any given moment is different than what someone else hears 20 minutes, or even five minutes, later.

Another piece, Mark Fell’s Tone Pattern Transactuality, features shifting patterns in both sight and sound, which you appreciate through projected video and headphones. It’s a generative work, so it’s constantly changing itself based on mathematics.”

Chartier grew up in Springfield, Va., and studied graphic design and painting at Virginia’s James Madison University. He initially worked as a freelancer in both areas after graduating and moving back to the D.C. area in the 1990s. But his days as a visual artist were limited. “I felt like sound was a much better way to communicate the spatial, experiential qualities of what I was looking for.”

Some people in D.C. may remember Chartier from his days as a DJ a decade ago. He was something of a regular at hip lounge-style events, including what the gay man calls a “pansexual” party at Adams Morgan’s former Blue Room.

The focus was on alternative, experimental electronic music, or even just “wacky” synth-pop. Chartier has mostly given up DJ’ing in recent years, though.

“It’s just kind of tiring,” he says.

The whole field of sound art is a relatively new area, aided by the spread of affordable, portable technology. Technology has certainly enhanced Chartier’s efforts in the field. After he first dabbled with synthesizers 20 years ago, focused on creating “droning loopwork,” Chartier says he didn’t really return to sound work until he got an iMac in the late ‘90s. Soon after, he started his own record label LINE. But Chartier adds that technology only goes so far. “I love limitations on things,” he says. “I could have all of this software, and all this crazy this and that, and pay thousands and thousands of dollars for the latest whatever. ... But you have to make those things have your voice.”

Richard Chartier performs with Mark Fell on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 8 p.m., and the exhibit Data/Fields runs through Nov. 27, both at Artisphere, 1101 Wilson Blvd. Arlington. Call 703-875-1100 or visit artisphere.com. l

Surround Sounds An early love of synth-pop helped Richard Chartier find his passion in the field of sound art

by Doug Rule Richard Chartier photographed by Todd Franson at Artisphere on Oct. 7, 2011

Universal Pictures

Chris Heller film

Some-Thing boring this way comes

Rip-Off Artist The Thing is a plodding mess, adding nothing of consequence to its predecessor and taking away anything meaningful

S

ay, do you like John Carpenter’s The Thing? Or maybe its ‘50s predecessor, The Thing From Another World? I bet you’d be thrilled to hear that Hollywood’s dusting off that trapped-in-Antarctica-with-an-otherworldly-beast concept for another round, right? Well, this is not The Thing you’re looking for.

Ostensibly a prequel to the 1982 cult classic, director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.’s take on sci-fi’s favorite shape-shifting, scientist-terrorizing extraterrestrial somehow rips off its source material while forgetting all of the elements that made it memorable. Sure, its hackneyed narrative avoids any oh-so-important continuity lapses — screenwriter Eric Heisserer even bragged in an interview about recreating the smallest of set details to have it all “make sense” — but it seems to forget that success is more than a nerdy attention to detail.

For the uninitiated, The Thing picks up at a Norwegian camp in the South Pole days before Carpenter’s story began. A handful of oft-bearded Scandinavians discover a spaceship buried underneath the ice, so they hire a helicopter pilot (Joel Edgerton) to fly in an American paleontologist (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), as well as a scientist (Ulrich Thomsen) and his dopey assistant (Eric Christian Olsen). The gang hauls a frozen block of alien out of the ground, lug it back to base, and everybody pats themselves on the back — until the invading meanie breaks loose, then starts killing and imitating the crew. Cue 90 minutes of tense paranoia, throw in a few gratuitous shots of flamethrowers, and this could be a serviceable companion to an already great collection of movies.

Instead, The Thing plays out like a game of scriptwriting roulette: 80

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

THE THING HHHHH Starring Joel Edgerton, Mary Elizabeth Winstead Rated R 102 Minutes Opens Oct. 14 Area Theaters

The alien can’t mimic metal! Some ominous Norwegian guy just introduced a box of Chekhov’s grenades! A 100,000-year-old spaceship is completely functional!

There’s not much to do but squirm while Heijningen and Heisserer burn through these ideas — they try on the slow-burning, psychological look at first, decide they’d rather wear a monster-movie costume, and then, desperately ditch it all in the 11th hour for a pair of generic sci-fi Zubaz.

What happened to Carpenter’s blueprint? He practically laid out the right method three decades ago — use tight camerawork and cramped sets to build an anxious strain, then blow it all up in the third act with a blood, guts and a killer nihilistic ending. When the eponym changes faces this time around, the effects appear digitally and unbelievably sterile. As characters get dispatched, there’s rarely a sense of serious loss.

Even Winstead, who’s a perfectly believable lead, feels expendable.

For a movie set in a whiteout storm in Antarctica, The Thing was the wrong kind of cold.

Without the former’s vital elements — namely, a creeping paranoia that erupts into full-blown terror — The Thing is a remake

without a purpose, a scattershot moneygrabber that adds neither message nor image that hasn’t been seen before. Its only strength — and really, it’s as minor as it gets in horror — is a flair for comedy that crops up during lulls. When the movie finally ends with a tidy credit sequence that explains how stuff gets to where it got, there’s no satisfaction or driving anticipation to see what’s next.

This is the real scary stuff; it’s what horror looks like defanged.

Luckily, there’s plenty to be done to fix this problem. The Thing — you know, the one worth watching — is readily available on DVD and Internet streaming services. It’s campy and violent and brilliant in all the ways horror needs to be, without time for pretty young faces and shoehorned crowd pleasers. Save yourself a few dollars and stick with what’s proven itself over time.

All other advice aside, this is a movie to be avoided. It plods and panders to those who know the story and those who don’t, adding nothing of consequence and taking away anything meaningful.

Only one word wholly captures the gross failure of this Thing — thunk. l Out on the Town continued from page 76

DANCE DANA TAI SOON BURGESS & CO.

In Becoming American, Burgess and his dancers tackle the specific experience of a Korean child adopted by white Americans and the broader issue of Asian adoption plus themes of identity, immigration, belonging and cultural acceptance. The story was inspired by company member Katia Chupashko, born in South Korea but raised in New Jersey. Kelly Southall has designed a set in the style of a traditional Japanese Kabuki play or Bugaku dance. Friday, Oct. 14, and Saturday, Oct. 15, at 8 p.m. Also Sunday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m. Dance Place, 3225 8th St. NE. Tickets are $22. Call 202-269-1600 or visit danceplace.org.

THE SUZANNE FARRELL BALLET

The Kennedy Center’s own The Suzanne Farrell Ballet celebrates its 10th anniversary with two allBalanchine programs, each featuring Balanchine’s “Diamonds” — taken from his full-length Jewels and featuring music by Tchaikovsky — in an artistic partnership with the Sarasota Ballet. The Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra performs with the company, conducted by Emil de Cou. Thursday, Oct. 13, through Sunday, Oct. 16, at 7:30 p.m. Also Saturday, Oct. 15, and Sunday, Oct. 16, at 1:30 p.m.

Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Tickets are $29 to $84. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org. l

For more OUT ON THE TOWN listings please visit www.metroweekly.com

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night

life listings Destinations on page 90 Thursday, 10.13.11

Annie’s 4@4 Happy Hour, 4pm7pm • $4 Small Plates, $4 Stella Artois, $4 House Wines, $4 Stolichnaya Cocktails, $4 Manhattans and Vodka Martinis • Upstairs open 5-10pm Banana Café Piano Bar Happy Hour, 4-7:30pm • $3 rail margaritas, rail drinks and domestic beers • $3.95 Cuervo margaritas • Chuck Smith on piano, 7:30pm-close • $3 off Mojitos after 7:30pm Cobalt/30 Degrees 2-4-1 Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $1 Vodka Drinks, 9-11pm • Underwear Contest w/Lena Lett, midnight • DJ Chord Bezerra • DJ MadScience • No Cover • 21+ DC Eagle Open 4pm • Power Hour: $1 off Rail and Domestic, 4-6pm • Gear Night: Men in full gear get extra specials, 2nd floor • Leather, Shirtless, Uniform, Hanky Code Specials • Beer Bar: DC Eagle Poster Project DIK Bar Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Rail Drinks and Select Beers, $3 • Absolut and Premium Beers, $4 Fireplace Any Absolut or Bacardi $4 from 10pm-Midnight • VJ Dina

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Freddie’s Beach Bar Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm

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Coverboy

Photography by

Julian Vankim

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He may be only 18, but Moises has hit the ground running. Not many openly gay teens can boast the title of prom king. “I came out my sophomore year,” says the Alexandria native who attended Edison High School. “No one ever treated me any differently.” Making the transition out of high school, Moises is still living at home and going to community college, but hopes to soon study photography at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Meanwhile, he’s also tearing it up with swimming, lacrosse and teaching dance. If you want to hit him up for some moves, look for Moises at Town Danceboutique or Fur Nightclub.

Green Lantern Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Shirtless Men Drink Free, 10-11pm • “Best Of” Contest, 11:30pm • DJ Back2bACk Hippo 1 W. Eager St. Baltimore, Md. Hip Hop in dance bar, 10pm • DJ Rosie JR.’s Happy Hour, 5-8pm • $15 All You Can Drink Rail Highballs and Domestic Drafts ($22 upgrade for a step-up from rail) • $3 Rail Vodka Highballs, $2 JR.’s drafts, 8pm to close • Rockin’ Retro Night Nellie’s Sports Bar Active Duty Military Night • Beat The Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15

Number Nine 1435 P St. NW Happy Hour: 2 for 1 Drinks, 5-9pm • No Cover Phase 1 Karaoke starting at 7pm • DJ LS or Drag King hosted • 21+ • No cover PW’s Sports Bar 9855 Washington Blvd. N Laurel, Md. 301-498-4840 Karaoke in the Lounge Ziegfeld’s/Secrets Shirtless men drink free (rail & domestic), 10-11pm and Midnight to 12:30am • All nude male dancers • Dancing w/ DJ tim-e, 9pmclose • Cover

Friday, 10.14.11

Annie’s 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 Banana Café Piano Bar Happy Hour, 4-7:30pm • $3 rail margaritas, rail drinks and domestic beers • $3.95 Cuervo margaritas • Gordon Kent on the Piano, 8:30pm-12:30am Cobalt/30 Degrees 2-4-1 Happy Hour, 4-7pm • DJ JoeyO • DJ Keenan • Free vodka drinks, 11pm-midnight • $8 • 21+

DC Bear Crue @Town Bear Happy Hour, 6-11pm • $3 Rail, $3 Draft, $3 Bud Light, $7 Pitchers • Free Pizza, 7pm • DJ Christian Gerard • Hosted by Charger Stone • No cover before 9:30pm • 21+ DC Eagle Power Hour, $1 Off Rail and Domestic, 4-6pm • People in Leather, Uniform or Rubber get free Kamikazes, 9pm-midnight • Beer Bar: Eagle Wings DIK Bar Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Rail Drinks and Select Beers, $3 • Absolut and Premium Beers, $4 Freddie’s Beach Bar Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm

Green Lantern Happy Hour, 4-9pm • All-U-Can-Drink Smirnoff Buffet, $16, 10-11:30pm • Fahrenheit with DJ Brian Norwood, 9pm Hippo Baltimore, Md. Josie and the Pussy Cats Show • DJ Brian Mongeon • Doors open 10pm, Pageant At 10:30pm • Karaoke, 9pm-1am in Karaoke Bar JR.’s $6 Cornita Buckets and $4 Skyy Highballs, 9pm-close • $6 Red Bull and Vodka, $4 Corona all night Nellie’s Sports Bar DJ Della Volta • Videos, Dancing • Beat The Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15

Phase 1 DJ Luz • Dancing, 9pmclose • $5 cover • 21+ PW’s Sports Bar 9855 Washington Blvd. N Laurel, Md. 301-498-4840 Drag Show in lounge • Half price burgers and fries Town Downstairs: DJ BacK2bACk • Upstairs: DJ Wess • Doors open 10pm • Drag Show starts at 10:30pm • Hosted by Lena Lett and featuring Tatianna, Shi-QueetaLee, Jessica Spaulding Deverreoux and Ba’Naka • $3 rail drinks from 10-11pm • For 21+, $5 from 10-11pm and $10 after 11pm • For 18-20, $10 all night

Number Nine 1435 P St. NW Happy Hour: 2 for 1 Drinks, 5-9pm • No Cover

For addresses, phone numbers and locations of individual clubs, bars, parties, and special events, please refer to our Destinations on page 90.

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What’s on your nightstand?

I don’t have one.

What are your television favorites?

Glee, So You Think You Can Dance and South Park.

Then where do you keep condoms and lube?

In my underwear drawer. It’s not like they’re going anywhere. They give them to you when you go out and I throw them in there.

What was your favorite cartoon when you were a kid?

Rugrats and Rocket Power.

Ziegfeld’s/Secrets All male, nude dancers in Secrets • DJ Don T in Ziegfeld’s • Ladies of Illusion with host Kristina Kelly, 11pm • Cover Saturday, 10.15.11

Banana Café Piano Bar Happy Hour, 4-7:30pm • $3 rail margaritas, rail drinks and domestic beers • $3.95 Cuervo margaritas • Gordon Kent on the Piano, 8:30pm-12:30am Cobalt/30 Degrees BARE: Breast Cancer Awareness Month • Benefiting the Mautner Project • DJ Rosie • DJ Keenan • Doors at 10pm • $7 before midnight, $10 after midnight • 21+

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What superhero would you be?

Mystique. She can turn into anyone.

Who’s your greatest influence?

All my friends. They made me comfortable with myself.

DC Eagle Happy Hour Leather Specials • Power Hour $1 off Rail and Domestic, 4-6pm • Club Night: SigMa DIK Bar Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Rail Drinks and Select Beers, $3 • Absolut and Premium Beers, $4 Freddie’s Beach Bar Diner Brunch, 10am-3pm • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke and/or live entertainment, 9pm Fuego @Aqua 1818 New York Ave. NE Live performances by Gigi Paris Couture • $3 Vodka & Miller Lite until 11:30pm • Male Dancers • Shooter Boys • Free private parking • Cover

Green Lantern Happy Hour, 4-9pm with Beat the Clock Specials on Rolling Rock and Rail Vodka starting at 50 cents • All-U-Can-Drink Bacardi Buffet, $18, 10pm-2am • Mr. DC Leather Fundraiser and Stoplight Dating, 9pm Hippo Baltimore, Md. DJ Kuhmeleon • Male Dancers • Dance bar open, 10pm • Karaoke, 10pm-2am JR.’s $3 Coors Light, $4 vodka highballs, $6 Red Bull and Vodka, all day and night • Showtunes from 4-9pm Nellie’s Zing Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer, House Rail Drinks and Mimosas, $4, 11am-5pm • Buckets of Beer, $15

What’s your greatest fear?

Drowning.

Pick three people, living or dead, who you think would make the most fascinating dinner guests imaginable.

Adele, Anderson Cooper and my “besty with testes,” Thomas.

What would you serve?

Lunchables. It has meat, cheese and dessert.

Number Nine 1435 P St. NW Happy Hour: 2 for 1 Drinks, 5-9pm • No Cover Phase 1 DJ LS • Dancing, 9pmclose PW’s Sports Bar 9855 Washington Blvd. N Laurel, Md. 301-498-4840 Karaoke in the lounge • Charity Bingo with Cash Prizes 3rd Sat. of Every Month Town DJ Tracy Young • Downstairs: DJ Wess • The Ladies of Town at 10:30pm • Hosted by Lena Lett and featuring Tatianna, Shi-QueetaLee, Jessica Spaulding Deverreoux and Ba’Naka • Live Performances by The Dance Camp • $3 rail drinks, 10-11pm • $8 from 10-11pm and $12 after 11pm • 21+ • Saturday, 10/22: Brent Corrigan’s Birthday Party

Ziegfeld’s/Secrets All nude male dancers • The Ladies of Illusion hosted by Ella Fitzgerald, first show at 11pm • DJ Spyke in Ziegfelds • Cover Sunday, 10.16.11

Banana Café Piano Bar Happy Hour, 4-7:30pm • $3 rail margaritas, rail drinks and domestic beers • $3.95 Cuervo margaritas • Karaoke, 6:30pm-close • Emceed by Zoe Cobalt/30 Degrees Martini Madness • $5 martinis all day and night, 4pm • Homowood Karaoke • $4 rail drinks & domestic beers, 10pm • No cover • 21+ DC Eagle Open 2pm • Tailgate Party • Cookout, 5pm

How would you describe your dream guy?

Taller than me, well put together, really nice teeth.

Define good in bed.

If I’m not bored.

Who should star in a movie about your life?

Taylor Lautner.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

I had a big crush on Aladdin.

DIK Bar Happy Hour, all night • Rail Drinks and Select Beers, $3 • Absolut and Premium Beers, $4 Freddie’s 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 • Karaoke follows show • No cover Green Lantern Happy Hour, 4-9pm with $3 Smirnoff (all flavors) • Trailer Park Karaoke with Mama, 9:30pm Hippo Baltimore, Md. Eager Street Saloon, open 4pm-2am

JR.’s $2 SKYY Highballs and $2 Coors Light, all day and night Nellie’s Drag Brunch, hosted by Shi-Queeta-Lee, 11am3pm • $20 Brunch Buffet • House Rail Drinks, Zing Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer and Mimosas, $4, 11am-close • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Guil-Tea dance by DJ Shea Van Horn Number Nine 1435 P St. NW Happy Hour: 2 for 1 Drinks, 5-9pm • No Cover • numberninedc.com Omega Church Lady Bingo with Chanel Devereux • Doors at 7pm • $3

Who gets on your nerves?

A guy back in school I called Raptor.

He would go out of his way to put me down, and he had this screeching voice.

If your home was burning, what’s the first thing you’d grab while leaving?

My family. That’s it.

What’s your biggest turn-on?

A good kisser.

Phase 1 Live Music all night • $3.50 Coronas and Bud Lights • Drag King show every second Sunday, 9pm PW’s Sports Bar 9855 Washington Blvd. N Laurel, Md. 301-498-4840 Happy Hour all night Ziegfeld’s/Secrets Retro Night • Retro videos • Complimentary drinks with trivia quiz • All nude male dancers upstairs in Secrets • Drink and Beer specials • Cover Monday, 10.17.11

Annie’s 4@4 Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $4 Small Plates, $4 Stella Artois, $4 House Wines, $4 Stolichnaya Cocktails, $4 Manhattans and Vodka Martinis

Banana Café Open Mike, 7pm-close • Emceed by Zoe • $3 off all Mojitos after 7:30pm Cobalt/30 Degrees 2-4-1 Happy Hour, 4-9pm • 21+ • No cover DC Eagle Open 4pm • New Specials • Monday Night Football • $1 Drafts (Bud and Bud Light) DIK Bar Happy Hour, all night • Rail Drinks and Select Beers, $3 • Absolut and Premium Beers, $4 Freddie’s Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karoke, 9pm Green Lantern Happy Hour, 4pm-close • Karaoke, 9:30pm • Queer Pong, 8pm-Midnight • $8 Pitchers and $2 Drafts (Upstairs)

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What’s your biggest turn-off?

Horrible teeth.

What’s something you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t yet tried?

Skydiving. I’d love to try that.

What’s something you’ve tried that you never want to do again?

I haven’t really tried anything yet that I really wouldn’t want to do again.

Boxers, briefs or other?

Briefs.

Hippo Hippo Saloon, 4pm-2am JR.’s Happy Hour 4 to 9pm • Buy 1 get 1 free on rail, Skyy highballs, domestic bottles and draft beer • Showtunes Songs & Singalongs, 9pm-close • DJ Jamez • $3 Pints and $6 Absolut Highballs Nellie’s Sports Bar Beat The Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15 • Poker Texas Hold’em, 8pm Number Nine 1435 P St. NW Happy Hour: 2 for 1 Drinks, 5-9pm • No Cover • numberninedc.com

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PW’s Sports Bar 9855 Washington Blvd. N Laurel, Md. 301-498-4840 Buzztime Trivia competition • 75 cents off bottles and drafts Tuesday, 10.18.11

Annie’s Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $4 Stella Artois, $4 House Wines, $4 Stolichnaya Cocktails, $4 Manhattans and Vodka Martinis Banana Café Piano Bar Happy Hour, all night • $3 rail margaritas, rail drinks and domestic beers • $3.95 Cuervo margaritas • Gordon Kent on the Piano, 7:30pm-close

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011

Who’s your favorite musical artist?

Adele. If I was straight, I’d marry her and let her sing me to sleep.

What’s your favorite website?

Tumblr.

What’s the most unusual place you’ve had sex?

A bed. Everybody else has had sex everywhere else.

What position do you play in the big baseball game of life?

Catcher.

Cobalt/30 Degrees 2-4-1 Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Treatment (newest pop) in 30 Degrees, 10pm • DJ Kuhmeleon • DJ Erik Lars Evans • 2-4-1 rail drinks • 21+ • No cover

Hippo Baltimore, Md. Showtune Video Madness, 7:45pm-12:30am • VJ Brian Mongeon • Best of Hollywood and Broadway Showtunes

DC Eagle Open 4pm • $2 Rail and Domestic, 4pm-midnight • APA Pool League, 7:30pm

JR.’s Happy Hour, 4pm-midnight • Buy 1, Get 1 Free on rail, SKYY highballs, domestic bottles and draft beer • Glee Night • Retro Music

DIK Bar Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Rail Drinks and Select Beers, $3 • Absolut and Premium Beers, $4 Freddie’s Beach Bar Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm Green Lantern Happy Hour Prices, 4pmclose • FUK!T Packing Party, 7-9pm

Nellie’s Sports Bar Beat The Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15 • Drag BINGO hosted by ShiQueeta Lee, 8pm Omega Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Bear Encounters • $2 Drafts and $5 Cosmos • Real Men of Omega, 9:30pm

What’s your favorite retail store?

H&M. What’s your favorite food to splurge with?

Chicken McNuggets. Love ’em.

With which condiment?

Barbeque.

What’s your favorite season?

Fall and winter. You have more variety in what you get to wear.

PW’s Sports Bar 9855 Washington Blvd. N Laurel, Md. 301-498-4840 75 cents off bottles and drafts • Movie Night Wed., 10.19.11

Annie’s Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $4 Stella Artois, $4 House Wines, $4 Stolichnaya Cocktails, $4 Manhattans and Vodka Martinis Banana Café Happy Hour, all night • Gordon Kent on the Piano, 7:30pm-close Cobalt/30 Degrees 2-4-1 Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Wednesday Night Karaoke at Cobalt, 10pm • $5 Absolut & Smirnoff flavors • No cover • 21+

DC Eagle Open 4pm • Power Hour $1 off Rail and Domestic, 4-6pm • 2-4-1 Rail and Domestic Specials, 9pm-midnight • Wooden Nickel Night DIK Bar Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Rail Drinks and Select Beers, $3 • Absolut and Premium Beers, $4 Fireplace Hump Day • $3 Domestic beer, all night Freddie’s Beach Bar Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Drag Bingo, 8pm • Karaoke, 10pm

What kind of plant would you be?

A sunflower. I see myself as bright and fun.

What kind of car would you be?

The crappy little car you rely on.

Are you reliable?

Yep.

Green Lantern Happy Hour Prices, 4pmClose • POZ DC Happy Hour, 9pm-Midnight (Upstairs)

Number Nine 1435 P St. NW Happy Hour: 2 for 1 Drinks, 5-9pm • No Cover • numberninedc.com

Hippo Baltimore, Md. Gay Bingo, 8:30pm

PW’s Sports Bar 9855 Washington Blvd. N Laurel, Md. 301-498-4840 Free Pool • 75 cents off Bottles and Drafts

JR.’s Happy Hour 4 to 9pm • Buy 1 get 1 free on rail, Skyy highballs, domestic bottles and draft beer • 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month is Trivia Night Nellie’s Sports Bar Beat The Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15 • SmartAss Trivia, 8pm

Ziegfeld’s/Secrets New Meat Night • Dancer auditions • Happy Hour Prices, all night • All nude male dancers • DJ tim-e, 9pm-close • Drink and Beer Specials • Cover

What are you most grateful for?

Having my sister and my aunt’s support. And my friends.

What’s something you want more of?

Money. That’s always good to have around.

State your life philosophy in 10 words or less.

Remember that you’re special, just like everyone else. l

Thursday, 10.20.11

Annie’s/Annie’s Upstairs 4@4 Happy Hour, 4pm7pm • $4 Small Plates, $4 Stella Artois, $4 House Wines, $4 Stolichnaya Cocktails, $4 Manhattans and Vodka Martinis • Upstairs open 5-10pm Banana Café Piano Bar Happy Hour, 4-7:30pm • $3 rail margaritas, rail drinks and domestic beers • $3.95 Cuervo margaritas • Chuck Smith on piano, 7:30pm-close • $3 off Mojitos after 7:30pm Cobalt/30 Degrees 2-4-1 Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $1 Vodka Drinks, 9-11pm • Underwear Contest w/Lena Lett, midnight • DJ Chord Bezerra • DJ MadScience • No Cover • 21+

DC Eagle Open 4pm • Power Hour: $1 off Rail and Domestic, 4-6pm • Gear Night: Men in full gear get extra specials, 2nd floor • Leather, Shirtless, Uniform, Hanky Code Specials DIK Bar Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Rail Drinks and Select Beers, $3 • Absolut and Premium Beers, $4 Freddie’s Beach Bar Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm Green Lantern Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Shirtless Men Drink Free, 10-11pm • “Best Of” Contest, 11:30pm • DJ Back2bACk

Hippo 1 W. Eager St. Baltimore, Md. Hip Hop • DJ Kuhmeleon JR.’s Happy Hour, 5-8pm • $15 All You Can Drink Rail Highballs and Domestic Drafts ($22 upgrade for a step-up from rail) • $3 Rail Vodka Highballs, $2 JR.’s drafts, 8pm to close • Rockin’ Retro Night Nellie’s Sports Bar Beat The Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15 • Active Duty Military Night

Number Nine 1435 P St. NW Happy Hour: 2 for 1 Drinks, 5-9pm • No Cover • www.numberninedc.com Phase 1 Karaoke starting at 7pm • DJ LS or Drag King hosted • 21+ • No cover PW’s Sports Bar 9855 Washington Blvd. N Laurel, Md. 301-498-4840 Karaoke in the Lounge Ziegfeld’s/Secrets Shirtless men drink free (rail & domestic), 10-11pm • All nude male dancers • Dancing w/ DJ tim-e, 9pmclose • Cover l

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For more nightlife listings go to www.metroweekly.com.

What kind of animal would you be?

Dolphin.

Destinations BARS & CLUBS D.C.

18th & U DUPLEX DINER 2004 18th Street NW (202) 265-7828 Dupont Circle Metro r

9:30 CLUB 815 V Street NW (202) 265-0930 U Street / Cardozo Metro

BACHELOR’S MILL 1104 8th Street SE (202) 546-5979 Eastern Market / Navy Yard Metro md COBALT/30 DEGREES 17th & R Street NW (202) 462-6569 Dupont Circle Metro mdt

CREW CLUB 1321 14th Street NW (202) 319-1333 McPherson Square Metro mos DC EAGLE 639 New York Ave. NW (202) 347-6025 Convention Center / Gallery Place / Chinatown Metro ml

THE FIREPLACE 22nd & P Streets NW (202) 293-1293 Dupont Circle Metro mv

OMEGA 2122 P Street NW (rear) (202) 223-4917 Dupont Circle Metro m v

FUEGO 1818 New York Ave. NE www.clubfuegodc.com mdt

PHASE ONE 525 8th Street SE (202) 544-6831 Eastern Market Metro wd

GLORIOUS HEALTH CLUB 2120 W. VA Ave. NE 20002 (202) 269-0226 mos

REMINGTON’S 639 Pennsylvania Ave. SE (202) 543-3113 Eastern Market Metro m cw d v

GREEN LANTERN 1335 Green Court NW (behind 1335 L St.) (202) 347-4534 McPherson Square Metro ml

JR.’S 1519 17th Street NW (202) 328-0090 Dupont Circle Metro mv

DELTA ELITE 3734 10th Street NE (202) 529-0626 Brookland Metro md

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR 555 South 23rd Street Crystal City, VA (703) 685-0555 Crystal City Metro m&w r

Majestic V3 6763 Wilson Blvd.

Falls Church, Va. 301-802-8878

So Addictive Lounge 733 Elden Street Herndon, VA (703) 481-0010

TOWN 2009 8th Street NW (202) 234-TOWN U Street / Cardozo Metro mdvt

LACE 2214 Rhode Island Ave. NE (202) 832-3888 wrd NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR 900 U Street NW (202) 332-6355 U Street / Cardozo Metro m&w r

VIRGINIA

ZIEGFELD’S / SECRETS 1824 Half Street SW (202) 863-0670 Navy Yard Metro m d v t gg

MARYLAND

CLUB HIPPO 1 West Eager Street Baltimore, MD (410) 547-0069

THE LODGE 21614 National Pike Boonsboro, MD (301) 591-4434

PW’S SPORTS BAR 9855-N Washington, Blvd.

Laurel, MD (301) 498-4840

NUMBER NINE 1435 P Street NW Dupont Circle Metro

RETAIL

CAPITOL VIDEO SALES 1729 Connecticut Ave. NW (202) 265-9226 Dupont Circle Metro

HRC ACTION CENTER & STORE 1633 Connecticut Ave. NW (202) 232-8621 Dupont Circle Metro

m mostly men w mostly women m&w men and women r restaurant l leather/levi d dancing v video t drag cw country western gg go-go dancers o open 24 hours s sauna

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scene Universal Gear Underwear Fashion Show Friday, October 7 Photography by Dylan Comstock

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

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scene Miss Ziegfeld’s 2012 Pageant Sunday, Sept. 25 Photography by Ward Morrison

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

PURCHASE YOUR Photo AT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM/SCENE/

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“ This wasn’t about him being gay....

This was about bullying.

There was a ton of evidence that Larry was acting inappropriately with other kids at school, and they didn’t do anything to stop him.

”

— A juror, identified as Lisa S., on the murder trial of Brandon McInerney for the murder of Larry King. McInerney, then 14, shot King twice in the back of the head in their classroom. The trial ended in a mistrial; prosecutors plan to re-try McInerney, again as an adult, but without a hate crime charge.

(Los Angeles Times)

“ There’s a constant erosion of traditional principles and values by education and the media....

Kids are being indoctrinated in schools and bullied into accepting homosexuality.”

— Gary Randall, president of the Washington state anti-gay group Faith and Freedom, which is preparing to fight efforts to bring marriage equality to the state in light of polls showing growing support for same-sex couples.

(Seattle Times)

“ It’s very difficult without paid signature gatherers, but the groundswell is so great, that it is actually possible that we just might make it. ” — Brad Dacus of the anti-gay Pacific Justice Institute on the group’s hopes to repeal the California state law mandating the inclusion of LGBT people in school history courses.

An email to the group’s supporters said it would take a “miracle” to get on the ballot.

(KABC Sacramento)

“ It’s necessary because there’s a whole community that has been censored out of our education system.”

— Mario Guerrero of Equality California on the state’s law requiring schools to teach about the contributions of LGBT people.

(KABC Sacramento)

“ I’ve invested my entire life in this. … I guess if you are going to do something well in life, you have to focus on it.

It just happens that my life path put me into this issue. ” — Canadian William Whatcott, an anti-gay activist who is challenging the nation’s strict hate laws.

A 2002 prosecution shut down the activities of Whatcott, who says he once worked as a “gay prostitute.”

(Globe and Mail) 98

METROWEEKLY OCTOBER 13, 2011