Julio Torres of Los Espookys - August 8, 2019

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CONTENTS

August 8, 2019

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Volume 26 Issue 14

TAKE ME TO CHURCH

Town’s owners may have found their dream LGBTQ dance club — a former Baptist church.

By John Riley

THE (NEW) SHAPE OF COMEDY Julio Torres tickles his fancy in his first HBO comedy special My Favorite Shapes while serving up haunts in Los Espookys.

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Interview by André Hereford

KITCHEN STINK

McCarthy, Haddish, and Moss can’t save The Kitchen from descending into ridiculous, dreadful self-parody.

By Randy Shulman

SPOTLIGHT: RESTAURANT WEEK p.7 OUT ON THE TOWN p.10 MOCK DEBATE: THE CONSTITUENTS p.12 COMMUNITY: SEXUAL INTERCOURSE p.19 COMMUNITY CALENDAR p.19 FORUM: STOP THE VIOLENCE p.23 STAGE: LEGALLY BLONDE p.31 NIGHTLIFE: FLASHBACK p.33 NIGHTLIFE LISTINGS p.34 NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS p.35 LAST WORD p.38 Washington, D.C.’s Best LGBTQ Magazine for 25 Years Editorial Editor-in-Chief Randy Shulman Art Director Todd Franson Online Editor at metroweekly.com Rhuaridh Marr Senior Editor John Riley Contributing Editors André Hereford, Doug Rule Senior Photographers Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim Contributing Illustrator Scott G. Brooks Contributing Writers Sean Maunier, Troy Petenbrink, Bailey Vogt, Kate Wingfield Webmaster David Uy Production Assistant Julian Vankim Sales & Marketing Publisher Randy Shulman National Advertising Representative Rivendell Media Co. 212-242-6863 Distribution Manager Dennis Havrilla Patron Saint Philip Doyle Cover Photography Sandy Honig Metro Weekly 1775 I St. NW, Suite 1150 Washington, DC 20006 202-638-6830 All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publishers. Metro Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials submitted for publication. All such submissions are subject to editing and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Metro Weekly is supported by many fine advertisers, but we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers, nor can we accept responsibility for materials provided by advertisers or their agents. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles or advertising in Metro Weekly is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such person or organization.

© 2019 Jansi LLC.

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Spotlight

City Winery

Logan Tavern

E ALWAYS USED TO SAY THAT AUGUST IS A slower time of year for restaurants,” says Kathy Hollinger, president of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW). “[But] as Washington has become such a strong dining destination, it’s not so much the case.”

Area restaurants will be buzzing over the next week as part of this year’s Summer Restaurant Week, RAMW’s biannual promotion that has expanded significantly since it was launched nearly two decades ago. Over 250 restaurants will participate, offering multi-course meals at dinner for $35 — with many also adding fixed-price options at lunch or brunch for $22.

Restaurants are increasingly throwing in additional specials to stand out in this increasingly active and competitive era.

Roofer’s Union in Adams Morgan, Ris in the West End, and BRABO Brasserie in Alexandria, for instance, are among a handful featuring cuts of world-renowned Argentine beef during the promotion, the result of a collaboration between RAMW and the Embassy of Argentina.

Another 25 establishments will go beyond standard wine pairings to complement their entrees with specially crafted cocktails featuring Woodford Reserve Bourbon, including The Pig in Logan Circle, City Winery in Ivy City, Karma Modern Indian in Penn Quarter, and the French brasserie Bastille in Alexandria.

RAMW is highlighting establishments recognized at its 2019 RAMMY Awards, including several notable chef-driven, fast-casual spots — from Casual Restaurant of the Year finalist Bindaas Cleveland Park, the trendy modern Indian eatery from famed Rasika chef Vikram Sunderam, to Favorite Fast Bites of the Year finalist CHIKO, the acclaimed Chinese/Korean gourmet mashup with locations in Dupont Circle and Capitol Hill.

“Looking at the range of restaurants participating, you have this nice, inclusive grouping,” she says. “[It’s an] intersection of diners’ favorites from over the years [with] brand-new restaurants. It gives a diner an opportunity to look across the region at all of these developing and emerging neighborhoods and to pick from a variety of restaurants.” —Doug Rule

Summer Restaurant Week W

Summer Restaurant Week runs Monday, Aug. 12, through Sunday, Aug. 18. For more information, including exclusive deals on meals as well as prizes through RAMW’s Diner Rewards Program, or to make reservations, visit www.rwdmv.com.

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Spotlight LA-TI-DO: POP NIGHT

Regie Cabico and Don Mike Mendoza’s La-Ti-Do variety show features higher-quality singing than most karaoke, often from local musical theater actors performing on their night off, and also includes spoken-word poetry and comedy. The next offering in the monthly series features Mendoza and Anya Randall Nebel as hosts for an evening of pop songs — plus spoken word — that features Chani Wereley (pictured) and also features guest performers Hannah Gilberstadt, Josh Ferno, Christina McCann, Neema Meena, Allison Saba, and Dan Westbrook.

Paige Rammelkamp is music director. Monday, Aug. 12, at 8 p.m. Penn Social, 801 E St. NW. Tickets are $20. Visit www.latidoproductions.com/dc.

VINCE EBERT: SEXY SCIENCE

Nearly two decades after launching an improbable career as a comedian with a satirical science bent, this German star, who has a degree in physics, brings the English-language show he debuted at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe festival to the Kennedy Center.

The show riffs on everything from skeptical thinking to fake news to “the secret of German cars,” while also posing the question: “Do strippers in the southern hemisphere turn around the pole in the opposite direction?” Saturday, Aug. 10, at 6 p.m. Terrace Theater. Tickets are free, distributed two per person in line in the States Gallery at approximately 5 p.m. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

TREASURE ISLAND

BRITTANY DILIBERTO

Virginia’s Synetic closes out its season with a high seas adventure full of pirates.

The original adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novel of the same name is the latest caper from a physical theater-focused company that’s made its name producing wordless variations on classics, particularly those by Shakespeare. Synetic’s impressive crew of athletic actors will bring to life the coming-of-age tale focused on the orphan Jane Hawkins and a ruthless band of buccaneers on a wild hunt for buried treasure. To Aug. 18. 1800 South Bell St., Arlington. Tickets are $35 to $60. Call 800811-4111 or visit www.synetictheater.org.

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Spotlight THE CAT IN THE HAT

MICHAEL HORAN.

A rainy day is turned into a miraculous, mayhem-filled adventure in an adaptation of the Dr. Seuss classic imported from across the pond, via the National Theatre of Great Britain. The theater for young audiences production out at Adventure Theatre-MTC in Glen Echo Park is directed by Adam Immerwahr, who has become known for works that are far more serious and adult in his day job as the artistic director of Theater J. Surely The Cat in the Hat is a nice change of pace, maybe even allowing him, to paraphrase from the late Mr. Geisel’s book, “good fun that is funny.” To Aug. 18. 7300 MacArthur Blvd. Call 301-634-2270 or visit www.adventuretheatre-mtc.org.

SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK

An adaptation of Alvin Schwartz’s iconic series of scary children’s books. Not that the trailers suggest the final film will be even remotely appropriate for children (though, given the books’ perennial status on many “most banned” lists, perhaps even they weren’t entirely suitable).

Still, if you read them as a child, this should be a suitably chilling trip down memory lane. Produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by André Øvredal.

Opens Friday, Aug. 9. Area theaters. Visit www.fandango.com.

AMANDA SHIRES

After mastering her craft playing fiddle with the Texas Playboys, this singer-songwriter has gone on to tour and record with artists including John Prine, Justin Townes Earle, Ryan Adams, Lee Ann Womack, and her husband Jason Isbell.

In 2017, Shires was honored with the Emerging Artist Award by the Americana Association. Part of the new country supergroup The Highwomen along with Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, and Natalie Hernby, Shires is currently touring in support of her most recent solo set, 2018’s To The Sunset. Saturday, Aug. 17. Doors at 6:30 p.m. The Hamilton, 600 14th St. NW. Tickets are $30 to $60. Call 202-787-1000 or visit www.thehamiltondc.com.

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Out On The Town

QUEENS OF EGYPT

A new exhibition at the National Geographic Museum puts a rare spotlight on the queens of ancient Egypt, including Hatshepsut, Nefertari, Nefertiti, and Cleopatra VII. The life and leadership of these legendary figures, whose rule ranged from the New Kingdom (1539-1514 B.C.) to the Ptolemaic dynasty (51-30 B.C.), is told with the help of more than 300 ancient Egyptian artifacts, including monumental statues, sparkling jewelry, and impressive sarcophagi — plus the use of advanced virtual reality technology providing a 3D flythrough tour of one of the most well-preserved tombs in the Valley of the Queens, that of Queen Nefertari. Many of the objects on display come courtesy of the Museo Egizio of Turin, Italy, one of the international cultural partners in the exhibition. And much of the research is based on the work of renowned Egyptologist and National Geographic Explorer Kara Cooney, author of the companion book When Women Ruled The World: Six Queens of Egypt, published by National Geographic Books last fall. To Sept. 2. The museum is located at 1145 17th St. NW. Tickets are $10 to $15. Call 202-857-7588 or visit www.ngmuseum.org.

Compiled by Doug Rule

FILM DISNEY’S THE LITTLE MERMAID

The AFI Silver Theatre co-presents a free summer outdoor film series at nearby Sonny’s Green, where patrons can bring blankets and low-rise chairs as well as their own food and beverages. The series continues on Friday, Aug. 16, with the animated classic that ushered in the Disney Renaissance of the 1990s. Based on the short story by Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements and features an Oscar-winning score from Howard Ashman. The screening begins at sundown, around 8 p.m.

Off the parking lot of the Blairs Shopping Center, 1290 East-West Highway. Call 301-495-6720 or visit www.afi.com/Silver.

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LOONEY TUNES

Every Saturday and Sunday morning over the next six weeks the AFI Silver Theatre screens a different 45-minute program featuring selections of Warner Bros.’ classic cartoons starring the Looney Tunes gang — Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Sylvester, Tweety, and more. The series continues with Program 3 this Saturday, Aug. 10, and Sunday, Aug. 11, at 11 a.m. 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Tickets are $5.

Call 301-495-6720 or visit www.afi. com/Silver.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

Landmark's E Street Cinema presents its monthly run of Richard O’Brien’s camp classic, billed as the longest-running midnight movie in history. Landmark's showings come with a live shadow cast from the Sonic Transducers, meaning it's even more interactive than usual.

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Friday, Aug. 9, and Saturday, Aug. 10, at midnight. 555 11th St. NW. Call 202-452-7672 or visit www. landmarktheatres.com.

WATER LILIES

A provocative and perceptive portrait of teen angst and budding sexuality, focused on a love triangle that develops between three Parisian girls. French filmmaker Céline Sciamma’s debut drama from 2007 screens as part of the Screen Queen series, curated by Josh Vogelsong and presented at the cozy Suns Cinema. Monday, Aug. 12, at 8 p.m. 3107 Mount Pleasant St. NW. Tickets are $11.49 including service fee. Visit www. sunscinema.com.

STAGE DEAR EVAN HANSEN

If you missed it when it started its life at Arena Stage four years ago, the Tony Award-winning master-

piece from the hit stage and screen songwriting team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul returns to the area as part of its first national tour.

Michael Greif directs the deeply personal and profoundly contemporary tale, featuring a book by Steven Levenson, about the power and overpowering effects of social media and social standing. To Sept.

8. Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Tickets are $79 to $175.

Call 202-467-4600 or visit www. kennedy-center.org.

TIGER STYLE!

Described as an outrageous and cutting satire of Asian-American identity, Mike Lew’s latest work closes out the current season at Olney Theatre Center in a production helmed by Helen Hayes Award-winning director Natsu Onoda Power. Regina Aquino and Sean Sekino will star as third-generation Chinese-Americans, affluent Millennial siblings who face something of a late-adolescent identity

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crisis that leads them to try their hand at living in the motherland.

Eileen Rivera as their mother and Michael Glenn as the show’s sole non-Asian actor playing a host of characters complete the cast. To Aug. 18. Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road, Olney, Md. Call 301-924-3400 or visit www.olneytheatre.org.

MUSIC PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CONSTITUENTS

CHOPTEETH AFROFUNK BIG BAND

MOCK DEBATE

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The Constituents poke fun at the 2020 nominees with a satirical Democratic debate at Union Stage.

N APRIL, WE DID A SHOW CALLED ‘THE UNOFFICIAL CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER,” says Tim Kardashian, the “Founding Father” of the political comedy troupe The Constituents.

“It was essentially a comedy roast, with local D.C. comedians taking on the character of D.C. politicians.” The Constituents then held a second show on July 3 called “The Fireworks Before the Fireworks,” lampooning national political figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Ann Coulter. Each comedian writes their own jokes, and brings their unique interpretation to the character they’re portraying.

“I market the show as political uncensored comedy, which I would describe as Saturday Night Live on steroids,” says Kardashian. “It’s part-comedy, part-theater, part-improv. You don’t have to be a political guru to understand the humor in it and appreciate the show for what it is.”

On Thursday, Aug. 15, The Constituents will present “A Democratic Debate: An Uncensored Political Comedy Show” at Union Stage. During the show, various Democratic presidential contenders will duke it out in a debate moderated by Hillary Clinton.

“It’s a hilarious premise, right?” says Kardashian, who will portray Joe Biden. “The idea of Hillary Clinton, who is such a household name, moderating a debate of people trying to be the next Democratic nominee. I think the jokes almost write themselves about her almost whipping the candidates into shape because she is such an icon in the political world for the work that she’s done.... You almost can’t watch the Democratic debates that were on CNN and not think this thing is primed for parody.”

Kardashian promises that the night will be one of “bipartisan bashing.... There’s going to be plenty of Democratic jokes. There’s going to be plenty of Republican jokes. We don’t hold any punches for either side of the aisle.”

“It’s some of the best comics from the DMV just making fun of each other in ways that are so clever and so good that I’m sure even the people we're portraying would probably laugh,” says Rose Vineshank, who is playing Clinton. “This show is good for anyone who appreciates anything from a good joke to a good impression to just some unabashed shade. We have all the palm trees and we’ll be supplying all the shade.” —John Riley “A Democratic Debate: An Uncensored Political Comedy Show” is Thursday, Aug. 15 at Union Stage, 740 Water St. SW. Doors open at 7 p.m. The show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 per person and available online at www.unionstage.com. Proceeds from the event are being donated to “Hilarity for Charity,” an organization founded by Seth Rogen and his wife that’s dedicated to supporting people suffering from Alzheimer’s and funding research for a potential cure.

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The Washington Post called this 13-piece band "a storming powerhouse of big-band African funk... smart, tight and relentlessly driving." The Afrobeat-driven group has won 13 Washington Area Music Association Awards, including Artist of the Year in 2008 and as best World Music Group the last nine years in a row. Chopteeth performs regularly throughout the region.

Friday, Aug. 9. Doors at 6:30 p.m.

Amp by Strathmore, 11810 Grand Park Ave. North Bethesda. Tickets are $22 to $29. Call 301-581-5100 or visit www.ampbystrathmore.com.

CREATIVE CAULDRON’S SUMMER CABARET SERIES

The 10th annual summer cabaret series at ArtSpace Falls Church continues with Erin Granfield in “If The Dress Fits,” an evening of song addressing sartorial and other quintessential questions, on Friday, Aug. 9, and performer/lyricist Stephen Gregory Smith, leading “Game On: A Game Night Cabaret,” on Saturday, Aug. 10. All shows at 8 p.m. Series runs to Sept. 14. 410 South Maple Ave. in Falls Church.

Tickets are $18 to $22 per show, or $60 for a table for two with wine and $120 for four with wine.

Call 703-436-9948 or visit www. creativecauldron.org.

DC MUSIC ROCKS FESTIVAL

Some of the city’s best and bestknown music acts from various genres take the stage at the 9:30 Club next weekend as part of this third annual event, presented by the syndicated FM radio show, podcast, and website DC Music Rocks in collaboration with Girls Rock! DC. The lineup includes Los Empresarios, the all-girl groups More AM Than FM and Iza Flo, the Eli Lev Collective with special guest Jarreau Williams, and Sub-Radio, plus singer-songwriters Daniel Warren-Hill, Jahnel Daliya, Jasmine Gillison, Gabrielle Ziwi, Lauren Calve, and Karen Jones. A portion of the concert’s proceeds benefits The Musicianship, recognized by DC Public Schools as an official After-School provider, one offering music lessons and opportunities particularly for at-risk and underprivileged populations.

And The Musicianship’s drumline program is also set to perform.

Saturday, Aug. 17. Doors at 7 p.m.

9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $15. Call 202-265-0930 or visit www.930.com.

HOT AUGUST MUSIC FESTIVAL

Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Turkuaz, Billy Strings, and Melvin Seals & JGB are the headliners across the three stages at this folk and bluegrass festival, now in its 27th year.

Other acts set to perform include Samantha Fish, Cedric Burnside, the Lil Smokies, the Dirty Grass Players, Larry McCray, Travers Brothership, Vanessa Collier, and the Old Part of Town. Saturday, Aug. 17. Gates at 11 a.m. Tickets are $68 in advance, $87 the day of, or $199 for VIP including parking, alcohol, two meal tickets, special viewing area, and special restrooms.

Oregon Ridge Park, 13401 Beaver Dam Rd. in Cockeysville, Md. Call 877-321-FEST or visit www.hotaugustmusicfestival.com.

INTEGRITI REEVES

Celebrated local jazz vocalist, composer, and educator leads her ensemble in a mix of jazz standards, Brazilian music, and original compositions, and all as part of the Kennedy Center’s free nightly programming.

Friday, Aug. 16, at 6 p.m. Millennium Stage. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS

The nine-time Grammy-winning jazz icon Marsalis will be joined by 15 soloists, ensemble players, and arrangers for a swinging evening under the stars. Friday, Aug. 16, at 8 p.m. The Filene Center at Wolf Trap, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. Tickets are $30 to $125.

Call 877-WOLFTRAP or visit www. wolftrap.org.

BRYAN FERRY

In March, the stylish British pop/rock artist was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for his work in co-founding Roxy Music. Although never chart-topping hitmakers in the U.S., the pioneering glam-rock/ synth-pop act was heralded by the rock critic for The Guardian in 2005 as second only to the Beatles as the most influential British band — and one whose influence extends from the Sex Pistols to Duran Duran to the Killers. In recent years, Ferry has generated buzz through his namesake jazz orchestra and its rearrangements of Roxy hits as well as those from Ferry’s solo career, including “Don’t Stop The Dance” and “Slave To Love.” Ferry is currently on a world tour on which he continues to revisit songs from his rich repertoire, including “More Than This” from Avalon, the 1982 studio album that stands as the best-selling work from Roxy Music. Opening for Ferry is the young German jazzy “pop noir” singer-songwriter who goes by the name Femme Schmidt. Tuesday, Aug. 13. Doors at 6:30 p.m. The Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. Tickets are $75 to $250. Call 202-888-0020 or visit www.theanthemdc.com.

LILA DOWNS

Known for her smoky voice and magnetic performances, the Grammy-winning Mexican singer-songwriter Lila Downs offers a pan-Latin brand of folk-inspired pop music that seems to channel her late compatriot Chavela Vargas one minute, Celia Cruz the next, even Shakira every now and then — occasionally all within the same song. Downs tours in support of Al Chile, her new album paying homage to the chile and the complicated relationship Mexicans have with the fiery fruit, touted as “a smorgasbord of high-energy, soulful, spirited, and dance-inducing new tracks.”

Tuesday, Aug. 13, at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets are $69.50. Call 703-549-7500 or visit www.birchmere.com.

LUTHER RE-LIVES

It takes some smooth crooning to come close to the vocal greatness that was Grammy-winning

R&B legend Luther Vandross. But William “Smooth” Wardlaw comes close enough to live up to his billing as the featured voice of the concert experience he’s fronted for nearly a decade. “We try not to say tribute or impersonation,” Wardlaw told Metro Weekly. “That's why we're called ‘Luther Re-Lives,’ because we want people to relive those moments when Luther was onstage.” The Alexandria native relives his own love for Luther’s music and vocal prowess by performing the artist’s songs, accompanied by two backup singers and a five-piece band. The show is a full, Vegas-style performance that Wardlaw says aims to recapture not just the sublime musical effect of Luther live, but also “the flamboyance, the lighting, the wardrobe.”

Friday, Aug. 16. Doors at 6:30 p.m.

City Winery DC, 1350 Okie St. NE. Tickets are $35 to $45. Call 202250-2531 or visit www.citywinery. com. (Andre Hereford)

MOONRISE FESTIVAL

Steez Promo and Glow DC team up for this annual two-day EDM festival on the grounds of the former Virgin Mobile Festival and the Infield Fest. Alan Walker, Illenium (DJ set), KSHMR, R3hab, Tiesto, 21 Savage, Big Gigantic, Gryffin, 12th Planet, Infected Mushroom, AC Slater, and Nora en Pure are among the headliners across the festival’s four main stages and dance areas. Saturday, Aug. 10, and Sunday, Aug. 11, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day. Pimlico Race Course, 5201 Park Heights Ave, Baltimore.

Tickets range from $169 to $182.30 for single-day passes, including tax and fees, or $224.29 for a two-day pass, more for VIP options. Call 202-397-SEAT or visit www.moonrisefestival.com.

NATALIA KAZARYAN

A graduate of Julliard and an adjunct piano faculty member at Howard University, Kazaryan has garnered top prizes at several piano com-

petitions, including the Eastman Young Artists International Competition. This weekend, she will perform pieces by female composers for the latest installment of the Steinway Series, the free summer piano series presented by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Sunday, Aug. 11, at 3 p.m.

McEvoy Auditorium, Lower Level, 8th and F Streets NW. Free. Call 202-633-1000 or visit www.americanart.si.edu.

STRATHMORE’S LIVE FROM THE LAWN: RARE ESSENCE

One of the leading and legendary purveyors of go-go, D.C.’s homegrown energetic style of funky dance music, next performs in Maryland on the lawn outside of the Strathmore mansion as part of the venue’s free weekly summer series. Wednesday, Aug. 14, starting at 7 p.m. Gudelsky Gazebo, 10701 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda.

Tickets are free. Call 301-581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.

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this raunchy storytelling event, which returns to D.C. at the Black Cat. Gay comedian and Towleroad columnist Bobby Hankinson will add his awkward tales in an otherwise all-female show featuring Anita Flores, Karolena Theresa, and Natalie Wall. Saturday, Aug. 10. Doors at 8 p.m. 1811 14th St. NW. Tickets are $15. Call 202-667-4490 or visit www.blackcatdc.com.

STORY DISTRICT: MAN VS NATURE

NINA GALICHIVA

A preselected mix of everyday storytellers perform personal tales all centered around a natural theme as part of the popular monthly series from D.C.’s preeminent storytelling organization. Tuesday, Aug. 13.

Doors at 6:30 p.m. Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. Tickets are $20. Call 202-667-4490 or visit www.blackcatdc.com.

ART & EXHIBITS JAZZ IN THE GARDEN: THE BAILSMEN & THE DIXIE POWER TRIO

A summertime staple, the National Gallery of Art offers free outdoor concerts immediately after work every Friday through late August. Bands offering a range of jazz styles, from swing to Latin to ska, perform amidst the museum’s collection of large-scale sculptural works while patrons enjoy food and drinks, including beer, wine, and sangria, as sold by the Pavilion Café. New menu items for 2019 include the popular vegetarian Teriyaki Impossible Burger, a Bahn Mi Turkey Burger with ginger soy aioli, and more traditional sandwiches of pulled pork and beef brisket, all available at grill stations throughout the Sculpture Garden. The series continues with New York’s Django Reinhardt-inspired gypsy jazz band The Bailsmen on Aug. 9, and the Dixie Power Trio, a New Orleans-centric jazz ensemble sometimes referred to as the “East Coast’s premier Louisiana variety band,” on Aug. 16. Evenings from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Sculpture Garden, between 7th and 9th Streets NW. Call 202-289-3360 or visit www.nga.gov.

THE 9 SONGWRITER SERIES

Folk-rock musician Justin Trawick formed this collaborative a decade ago to help increase performance and collaborative opportunities for fellow local musicians as well as to give audiences an easier way to discover songwriters and bands to love. Next up in the series is a 10th Anniversary show offering performances by Trawick, Louisa Hall, the Sweater Set, Tiffany Thompson, Jenn Bostic, Brian Dunne, Jasmine Gillison, Eric Brace, and Jason Ager. Chris Timbers Band, Laura Love, Justin Shapiro Music, Jeff Madonna, CaSh & Earle, Christian Douglas Music, and the Tula Duo with Gena Photiadis. Friday, Aug. 9, at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.

Tickets are $20. Call 703-549-7500 or visit www.birchmere.com.

UKEFEST

Grammy Award-winning folk musicians Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, partners in music and life, present the 11th edition of a popular festival at Strathmore devoted to the signature Hawaiian stringed

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instrument the ukulele. This year’s lineup includes two weekend concerts in the Education Center, each featuring a Student Showcase of 2019 UkeFest participants followed by performances from UkeFest instructors, with Maureen Andary, Diane Nalini, and Daniel Ho on tap Saturday, Aug. 10, at 6:30 p.m., and Fink & Marxer, Frank Youngman, and Devin Walker featured in the show Sunday, Aug. 11, at 6:30 p.m.

Then on Wednesday, Aug. 21, at 7 p.m., everyone will hit the Gudelsky Gazebo for a free UkeFest Finale including a mass strum-along as part of Strathmore’s Live From The Lawn series. 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. The evening concerts are $18 apiece. Call 301-5815100 or visit www.strathmore.org.

COMEDY JOKES THAT GIVE BACK

Once a month at the comedy club a few blocks from Logan Circle comes a stand-up show featuring comics mostly drawn from around the region and all geared as a fundraiser for a

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different charity, and presented and hosted by comics Gigi Modrich and Andie Basto. Thursday, Aug. 15, at 7 p.m. Drafthouse Comedy, 1100 13th St. NW. Tickets are $5. Call 202-750-6411 or visit www.drafthousecomedy.com.

THE SECOND CITY: AMERICA; IT’S COMPLICATED

The legendary comedic troupe from Chicago returns to the Kennedy Center for another allnew, made-for-Washington politically minded show mixing sketch comedy, improv, satire, and original music. Mary Catherine Curran, Cody Dove, Jillian Ebanks, Jordan Savusa, Adam Schreck, and Holly Walker are the featured players for America; It’s Complicated. To Aug. 11. Theater Lab. Tickets are $49 to $59. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

READINGS AWKWARD SEX...AND THE CITY

Comedians from New York relive their most awkward sex/dating/ relationship moments on stage at

AMERICA IS...

Touchstone Gallery presents its third national juried exhibition — after 2016’s Art as Politics and 2017’s Art of Engagement — exploring national identity and values during a time of divisive politics and great social change. Four jurors from across the nation — Rachel Adams of Omaha’s Bernis Center for Contemporary Arts, Taylor Bythewood-Porter of the California African American Museum, Jen Mergel of the Association of Art Museum Curators, and Jennifer M. Williams of New Orleans Museum of Art — helped select the works on display from nearly 50 artists, ranging from paintings and photographs to multimedia pieces to life-sized scale sculpture installations. LGBTQ discrimination is among the themes represented in the exhibition alongside political corruption, racism and xenophobia, police violence, climate change, women’s rights, drug addiction, and digital distractions, among others.

On display to Aug. 29. 901 New York Ave. NW Call 202-347-2787 or visit www.touchstonegallery.com.

CONTRAST

Maryland’s visual arts gallery Pyramid Atlantic presents an inky and dark-hued show featuring the diverse artworks of three contemporary printmakers working in the intaglio style, which is the opposite of a relief print and most commonly seen today via paper or plastic currency, passports, and postage stamps. To develop his intaglio prints, New York’s Curt Belshe starts by taking photographs of figures that he then digitally sculpts in 3D software before exposing the images to light-sensitive plates and creating etchings. Meanwhile, Jake Muirhead prints from hand-drawn etching into copper plates and his fellow Maryland-based artist Jenny

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Community have teamed up for a joint, two-part exploratory exhibition featuring a hands-on deconstructed archive that visitors can browse at their own pace and according to their own interests.

The archive includes materials drawn from the Schwules Museum Berlin as well as D.C.-based archives and partner resources such as the Rainbow History Project, WhitmanWalker Health, local photographer Elvert Barnes, and the DC Public Library. The similarities and differences in the push for LGBTQ equality in both capitals will be highlighted. To Aug. 23. Goethe-Institut/ German Cultural Center, 1990 K St. NW. Ste. 03. Also The DC Center, 2000 14th St. NW. Ste. 105. Free.

Visit www.goethe.de/washington and www.thedccenter.org.

REVOLUTIONARY REFLECTIONS: FRENCH MEMORIES OF THE WAR OF AMERICA

THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS

The second work from legendary filmmaker Orson Welles (after his breakthrough with Citizen Kane) was infamously edited and altered by the studio RKO without Welles’ consent. Even so, The Magnificent Ambersons, nominated for four Academy Awards in 1943, is often regarded as among the best U.S. films ever made, and was added to the National Film Registry almost 30 years ago. Based on Booth Tarkington’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the film tells the story of a socially prominent Midwestern family, whose fortunes are undone by industrialization and pride. The Magnificent Ambersons returns to the big screen as part of the Capital Classics series at Landmark’s West End Cinema. Wednesday, Aug. 14, at 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30 p.m. 2301 M St. NW. Happy hour from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.50. Call 202-534-1907 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com.

Freestone works in a mix of styles including drypoint, etching, and gravure. When considered collectively, the prints on display from the three artists have “a velvety and mysterious quality.” To Aug. 18.

4318 Gallatin St., Hyattsville, Md. Call 301-608-9101 or visit www. pyramidatlanticartcenter.org.

E16: THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED

The culminating exhibition of the nonprofit gallery Transformer’s 16th Annual Exercises for Emerging Artists Program debuts new and experimental video-based works

by E16 artists Maps Glover, Alexis Gomez, Paula Martinez, and Tamanh Nguyen, set within a black-boxdesigned installation created by E16 lead mentors Rachel Debuque and Justin Plakas. Now to Aug. 24. 1404 P St. NW. Call 202-483-1102 or visit www.transformerdc.org.

EYE TO I: SELF-PORTRAITS FROM 1900 TO TODAY

Despite its title, this is not an exhibition celebrating the everyday selfie but rather notable, high-quality self-portraits from American artists drawn primarily from the National

16

Portrait Gallery’s vast collection — and the concluding exhibition in the Smithsonian museum’s series celebrating its 50th anniversary. Elaine de Kooning, Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence, Diego Rivera, Roger Shimomura, and Martin Wong are among the artists represented in this display of more than 75 works examining the range of ways artists have chosen to portray themselves.

Through Aug. 18. 8th and F Streets.

NW. Call 202-633-8300 or visit www.npg.si.edu.

INSPIRED BODIES

Brookland’s community-based Bluebird Sky Yoga Studio is currently celebrating all bodies and resilience with a show featuring works by local artists who self-identify with a disability, including curators Alice Gardner-Bates and Metro Weekly contributor Hannah Chertock. The artworks in the multimedia exhibit were either inspired or influenced by physical or mental disability, chronic illness, or pain.

Now to Oct. 31. Opening Night reception with selected artists is Saturday, Sept. 21. Bluebird Sky Yoga, 3101 12th St. NE. Call 202-

AUGUST 8, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

248-2218 or visit www.inspiredbodies.wordpress.com.

ONE VOICE

The Kimpton Carlyle Hotel Dupont Circle is celebrating Capital Pride with a summer-long art exhibition in its lobby featuring local LGBTQ artists and allies. Curated by Julie Ratner and Golie Miamee of Artworx Consultants, One Voice includes works by Tom Hill, Maggie O’Neill, Wayson Jones, and Rose Jaffe, in addition to several permanent works by world-renowned mixed-media artist Michele Oka Doner and Michael Crossett’s piece “Community,” which was commissioned for Kimpton in partnership with Shop Made in DC. Through Sept. 2. 1731 New Hampshire Ave. NW. Suggested donation of $5 per person that will benefit Kimpton brand partner the Trevor Project. Call 202-234-3200 or visit www.carlylehoteldc.com.

QUEER AS GERMAN FOLK: CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF TRANSATLANTIC RAINBOW FRIENDSHIP

The Goethe-Institut Washington and the DC Center for the LGBT

The American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati presents a free exhibition featuring the journals, memoirs, and portraits of French officers who served in the American War of Independence, either idealistic volunteers or resolute soldiers of the French king.

Largely drawn from the institute’s collections, the memorabilia offers French impressions of early America and the cause of American independence, which helped spark other democratic revolutions of the same era — perhaps none more so than the one in France. Now to Oct. 27. Anderson House, 2118 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Call 202785-2040 or visit www.americanrevolutioninstitute.org.

FOOD & DRINK PEPINO POP-UP AT COTTON & REED

Cotton & Reed, the rum distillery and tasting room in the Union Market District, plays host to a special culinary pop-up over the next month from Christian Irabién, the Mexican-born, D.C.-based chef who spent years working with José Andres and his Mexican outpost Oyamel. Pepino is designed as a preview of Amparo (www.amparofondita.com), Irabién’s forthcoming contemporary Mexican restaurant that is set to open this fall as part of the new Latin marketplace La Cosecha. The pop-up features six special ceviches (priced at $7 to $16 each). Meanwhile, Cotton & Reed complements Irabién’s menu with “Prickled Pink,” a specially concocted slushie consisting of white rum, mezcal, prickly pear, and lime ($12). To Aug. 18.

Pepino is open from noon to 8 p.m. on weekends and 4 to 10 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays. 1330 5th St. NE. Call 202-544-2805 or visit www.facebook.com/cotton.and. reed. l

CAROL M. HIGHSMITH

theFeed

TAKE ME TO CHURCH

W

Town’s owners may have found their dream LGBTQ dance club — a former Baptist church. By John Riley

HEN TOWN DANCEBOUTIQUE CLOSED LAST summer, the beloved nightclub left a noticeable void in D.C.’s LGBTQ nightlife. But even before Town was forced to close its doors, its owners — Ed Bailey, John Guggenmos, and Jim “Chachi” Boyle — have been hard at work trying to find the perfect spot for their next nightlife venue.

“We knew Town was going to close about a year before it did,” says Bailey. “So for two years, we looked and looked and looked, and just hadn’t found the right space. We’ve now found a place that we think is a possible new location. We’ve taken the important step of applying for a license, just to see if we can move forward and make this a reality.”

That new location is perhaps not what you might think: a former Baptist Church, situated at 1001 North Capitol Street

NE, in D.C.’s Swampoodle neighborhood.

“It’s a spectacular space,” says Bailey. “It’s got a remarkable interior and exterior, which we intend to restore completely. First of all, it’s a church. That’s just an ‘ah’ moment from the get-go — the fact that it is an architectural gem of a church with these buttresses, these ceiling tresses, that are incredible. It’s got 50-foot ceilings in the main room that are awe-inspiring. It’s got a gigantic pipe organ. It’s got incredible original stained glass windows. The bell tower is overwhelmingly gigantic.

“It’s probably the first time that we have had the opportunity to work with a space like that,” he continues. “We’ve certainly created nightclub spaces that have been great, but I don’t know that there have been any that you just walked into and you just were stunned at the way it looked. This is

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theFeed a space like that. It’s an exciting proposition, and new territory for us, frankly.”

Using the company name Town 2.0 LLC, the former owners of Town are applying for a nightclub license that would allow the venue to hold dancing, live entertainment, a DJ booth, and snacks for sale, as well as a sidewalk café area.

The food and dining site Eat DC reported on Tuesday that the license requests a total occupancy of 524, with 125 seats outside.

“There is a space directly next to the building, which will allow for us to create a patio space outside,” says Bailey. “In a day and age when you have a nightclub that might have a very large crowd, you’re going to have a number of people that are going to smoke. You can have a place for smokers to be, where you can keep that noise in a controlled environment. I think it would be hard to imagine spaces in D.C. that are truly substantial that don’t have some sort of outdoor elements to them.”

Town 2.0 LLC has already negotiated a lease with the landlord, who Bailey says is supportive of the partners’ vision for the space. But before anything can be finalized on paper, they’ll have to wait and see if their application for a license is approved.

If Town 2.0 LLC is able to obtain the license and successfully navigate the various regulatory obstacles to opening a nightclub, the new venue — which has yet to be named — would be the largest LGBTQ nightlife option in Washington, D.C. Bailey foresees it filling a similar role within the nightlife scene, even though the character will be different.

“Every space is its own thing,” he says. “We have certainly had a lot of ventures in the past and have learned very valuable things from operating each one of them. We then take all that information and we try to use it to create a new, different, and interesting space.”

Bailey says club-goers shouldn’t expect the new club to open anytime this year, due to the length of time the licensing and refitting process can take. But he’s optimistic that he and his partners will be able to make significant progress in turning around the space — which will require a substantial amount of work, given that the structure dates back to the 1800s.

“We’ve already started to take some steps with engineers to try to figure out what we need to know about this building,” Bailey says. “We’ve already walked through with architects. We’ve already had some basic ideas about the structure of the building and how we’re going to have to work with that. We’ve worked with sound engineers already.”

Still, there are more steps to go before the space can be opened up to the public.

“There will be a posting period,” he says. “Those placards will be up on the building to inform the general public that this is happening. That’s a couple months of paperwork and review. Then there’s a substantial period of time in which we submit plans and the city approves them or sends them back to be reworked. All of that is certainly fine when it leads to something spectacular, which is what I’m expecting.”

Bailey also promises to establish positive working relationships with the club’s neighbors — including some condos next door — and the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6C, which oversees regulatory and development-related decisions that affect the neighborhood, as well as any other nearby ANCs who might be affected by the new venue.

“I believe we’ve always been seen as a valuable part of every community that we have operated a business in, and we look forward to doing that again,” he says. “We’ve been very proactive about making sure we know everybody, we hear everybody’s concerns. It’s going to be no different here.”

At this point, Bailey and his partners are “cautiously optimistic” that they will be able to move forward with their plans.

“We’ve been parts of plenty of deals and opportunities that for one reason or another just haven’t been able to come to fruition,” he says.

“We’ve landed at this point and this building because we feel very positive about what it could be and we feel very confident in our ability to work through whatever hurdles there might be.”

Bailey acknowledges there will be challenges with the space, not the least of which is dealing with issues related to historical preservation and the ability to renovate the space inside the structure. “We recognize that you can’t predict every twist and turn, but we certainly are looking at this as a very substantial opportunity,” he says. “In fact, I would say this: We look at this as a potential legacy moment for us. We look at this as a crowning achievement-type moment to a very long career.

“We look at this as an opportunity to do something really spectacular. That means we’re not going to skimp on anything.... We’re going to build it the right way and we’re going to create the foundation and we’re doing all of that right now to make sure it’s set up to have the best opportunity to succeed for a long time.” l

“We look at this as an opportunity to do something really spectacular.

That means we’re not going to skimp on anything.”

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AUGUST 8, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

Community THURSDAY, August 8

SEXUAL INTERCOURSE

Center Faith, a group of The DC Center, holds an INTERFAITH

INTERSECTIONAL FORUM

with local LGBTQ clergy and lay leaders discussing what different faith traditions can teach each other from an LGBTQ persepctive. 6:30-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, email Eric Eldritch at e.eldritch@thedccenter.org.

The DC Center’s LGBTQ FIRST

RESPONDERS AND MILITARY SERVICE MEMBERS SUPPORT GROUP seeks to help active duty military members, Reservists, and present or former firefighters, EMTs, and law enforcement officers. Due to the sensitive nature of this group, discussions, names, and attendance will be kept confidential. 7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

Weekly Events ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH

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

DC AQUATICS CLUB practice

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

DC FRONT RUNNERS run-

ning/walking/social club welcomes runners of all ability levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, with socializing afterwards. Route distances vary. For meeting places and more information, visit www.dcfrontrunners.org.

DC LAMBDA SQUARES, D.C.’s

LGBTQ square-dancing group, features an opportunity to learn about and practice various forms of modern square dancing. No partner required. Please dress casually. 7:30-9:30 p.m.

National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Circle NW. For more info, call 202-930-1058 or visit www.dclambdasquares.org.

DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds

practice. The team is always looking for new members. All welcome. 7-9 p.m. Harry Thomas Recreation Center, 1743 Lincoln Rd. NE. For more information, visit www.scandalsrfc.org.

The “Sexual Freedom Summit” teaches attendees how to fight for reproductive freedom, LGBTQ equality, and sex worker advocacy.

N

EXT YEAR WILL ABSOLUTELY BE THE MOST important election in any of our lives,” says Ricci Levy, president and CEO of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation. “This administration has systematically populated our courts with people who do not believe that a woman has the right to choose, do not believe that LGBTQ people have the same human rights that any other person has, think it’s okay to discriminate.

“Look at the decisions around discrimination, the rollbacks on right to choose. Look at North Carolina, and whether a trans person can use a bathroom that matches how they identify,” Levy adds. “And the courts have not been sympathetic to our issues.”

Given the threat that a conservative judiciary can pose to LGBTQ people’s sexual freedom — encompassing everything from reproductive decisions to whether or not to engage in sex work — Woodhull created its annual “Sexual Freedom Summit” to provide a forum to discuss these issues.

Now in its 10th year, the summit runs Aug. 15-18 at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center and will involve a series of workshops about the various aspects of sexual freedom.

Among the topics being discussed this year: transformative justice; how sexual liberation and privilege intersect with race, class and gender; transgender-inclsuive sexual education classes; the adult entertainment industry; and a whole track dedicated to the various facets of sex work.

“Our mission is to affirm sexual freedom as a fundamental human right,” says Levy. “And so all of our work is cast in the framework of human rights.”

The summit will feature 80 different speakers and is expected to attract about 500 attendees from various walks of life and professional backgrounds.

“Particularly at a time when our country is so divided and siloed around various issues, this summit is an opportunity to come together to hear what matters to other people, and share what matters to you, on almost any of the issues in the realm of sexual freedom,” says Levy. “The goal of the summit is to send attendees back to their daily lives with the tools and inspiration to create the change they want to see in the world.” —John Riley Woodhull Freedom Foundation’s 10th Annual Sexual Freedom Summit is Thursday, Aug. 15 to Sunday, Aug. 18 at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, 5000 Seminary Rd., Alexandria, Va. Registration for the full summit is $230, and single-day registration is $125. For financial assistance, and for more information about the summit, visit www.woodhullfoundation.org/sexual-freedom-summit.

THE DULLES TRIANGLES

Northern Virginia social group meets for happy hour at Sheraton in Reston. All welcome. 7-9 p.m. 11810 Sunrise Valley Drive, second-floor bar.

For more information, visit www.dullestriangles.com.

HIV TESTING at Whitman-

Walker Health. 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2:30-5 p.m. at 1525 14th St. NW, and 9 a.m-12 p.m. and 2-5 p.m. at the Max Robinson Center, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE. For an appointment, call 202-745-7000 or visit www.whitman-walker.org.

KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY (K.I.) SERVICES, 20 S. Quaker Lane,

Suite 210, Alexandria, Va., offers $30 “rapid” HIV testing and counseling by appointment only. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Must schedule special appointment if seeking testing after 2 p.m.

Call 703-823-4401. www.kiservices.org

METROHEALTH CENTER

offers free, rapid HIV testing.

Appointment needed. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700. To arrange an appointment, call 202-8498029. www.metrohealthdc.org

STI TESTING at Whitman-

Walker Health. 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2-3 p.m. at both 1525 14th St. NW and the Max Robinson Center, 2301 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. SE. Testing is intended for those without symptoms. For an appointment call 202-745-7000 or visit www.whitman-walker.org.

US HELPING US hosts a

Narcotics Anonymous Meeting.

The group is independent of UHU. 6:30-7:30 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. For more information, call 202-446-1100. www.ushelpingus.com.

FRIDAY, August 9 GAMMA is a confidential, vol-

untary, peer-support group for men who are gay, bisexual, questioning and who are now or who have been in a relationship with a woman. 7:30-9:30 p.m. Luther Place Memorial Church, 1226 Vermont Ave NW. GAMMA meetings are also held in Vienna, Va., and in Frederick, Md. For more information, visit www.gammaindc.org.

WOMEN IN THEIR TWENTIES (AND THIRTIES), a social discussion and activity group for queer women, meets at The DC Center on the second

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and fourth Friday of each month.

Group social activity to follow the meeting. 8-9:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

Weekly Events BET MISHPACHAH, founded by

members of the LGBT community, holds Friday evening Shabbat services in the DC Jewish Community Center’s Community Room. 8 p.m.

1529 16th St. NW. For more information, visit www.betmish.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a prac-

tice session at Howard University.

6:30-8 p.m. Burr Gymnasium, 2400 6th St. NW. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBT-

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

SATURDAY, August 10 ADVENTURING outdoors group

hikes 12 strenuous miles in the heart of Shenandoah National Park to scenic Bear Church Rock overlook. Experienced hikers only, please. Bring plenty of beverages, lunch, bug spray, sunscreen, sturdy boots, and about $20 for fees, plus money for possible dinner on the way home. Meet at 8:30 a.m. in the East Falls Church Metro Kiss & Ride lot to form carpools. Return after dark. For more information, contact David, 240-938-0375, or visit www.adventuring.org.

The DC Center hosts ARTY QUEERS, a monthly indoor LGBTQ+ art market featuring original artwork, textiles, pottery, photography, jewelry, glasswork, textiles, and clothing created by queer artists. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, email Kimberley@ thedccenter.org.

The DC Center hosts a monthly meeting of UNIVERSAL PRIDE, a group to support and empower LGBTQIA people with disabilities, offer perspectives on dating and relationships, and create greater access in public spaces for LGBTQIA PWDs. 1-2:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, contact Andy Arias, andyarias09@gmail.com.

Weekly Events DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a

practice session at Montgomery College Aquatics Club. 8:30-10 a.m.

7600 Takoma Ave., Takoma, Md. For more information, visit www. swimdcac.org.

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AUGUST 8, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/

walking/social club welcomes runners of all ability levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, with socializing afterwards.

Route distance will be 3-6 miles.

Walkers meet at 9:30 a.m. and runners at 10 a.m. at 23rd & P Streets NW. For more information, visit www.dcfrontrunners.org.

SUNDAY, August 11 CHRYSALIS arts & culture group

visits the former Corcoran Gallery of Art to see an exhibition sponsored by its School of Arts & Design analyzing the Corcoran’s disastrous decision to cancel the Robert Mapplethorpe photography show in June 1989 because of congressional and conservative pressure.

Free admission. Refreshments in the neighborhood follow. Meet at noon inside the traditional main entrance on 17th Street NW, between New York Avenue and E Street. For more information, contact Craig, 202-462-0535 or craighowell1@verizon.net.

Weekly Events BETHEL CHURCH-DC progressive and radically inclusive church holds services at 11:30 a.m. 2217 Minnesota Ave. SE. 202-248-1895, www.betheldc.org.

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

FRIENDS MEETING OF WASHINGTON meets for worship, 10:30 a.m., 2111 Florida Ave. NW, Quaker House Living Room (next to Meeting House on Decatur Place), 2nd floor. Special welcome to lesbians and gays. Handicapped accessible from Phelps Place gate.

Hearing assistance. Visit www. quakersdc.org.

INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT, God-centered

new age church & learning center.

Sunday Services and Workshops event. 5419 Sherier Place NW. Visit www.isd-dc.org.

LUTHERAN CHURCH OF REFORMATION invites all to

Sunday worship at 8:30 or 11 a.m.

Childcare is available at both services. Welcoming LGBT people for 25 years. 212 East Capitol St. NE. Visit www.reformationdc.org.

METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH OF WASHINGTON, D.C.

services at 9 a.m. (ASL interpreted) and 11 a.m. Children's Sunday School at 11 a.m. 474 Ridge St. NW. For more info, call 202-638-7373 or visit www.mccdc.com.

RIVERSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH,

a Christ-centered, interracial, welcoming-and-affirming church, offers service at 10 a.m. 680 I St. SW. For more info, call 202-5544330 or visit www.riversidedc.org.

UNITARIAN CHURCH OF ARLINGTON, an LGBTQ welcom-

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

UNIVERSALIST NATIONAL MEMORIAL CHURCH, a welcom-

ing and inclusive church. GLBT Interweave social/service group meets monthly. Services at 11 a.m., Romanesque sanctuary. 1810 16th St. NW. For more info, call 202-3873411 or visit www.universalist.org.

MONDAY, August 12 The YOUTH WORKING GROUP of The DC Center holds a monthly meeting focusing on upcoming projects and initiatives aimed at positively impacting the lives of D.C. area LGBTQ youth. 6-7:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.

For more information, visit www. thedccenter.org/youth.

WEEKLY EVENTS DC’S DIFFERENT DRUMMERS

welcomes musicians of all abilities to join its Monday night rehearsals.

The group hosts marching/color guard, concert, and jazz ensembles, with performances year round.

Please contact Membership@ DCDD.org to inquire about joining one of the ensembles or visit www.DCDD.org.

The DC Center hosts COFFEE

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

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

US HELPING US hosts a black

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

Visit www.ushelpingus.org.

WASHINGTON WETSKINS WATER POLO TEAM practices 7-9

p.m. Newcomers with at least basic swimming ability always welcome.

Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW. For more informa-

tion, contact Tom, 703-299-0504 or secretary@wetskins.org, or visit www.wetskins.org.

TUESDAY, August 13 The DC Center holds a roundtable discussion as part of its COMING OUT DISCUSSION GROUP on the second Tuesday and fourth Thursday of each month. This group is for those navigating issues associated with coming out and personal identity. 7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

The DC Center is seeking volunteers to cook and serve a monthly meal for LGBTQ homeless youth at the WANDA ALSTON HOUSE on the second Tuesday of each month.

7-8 p.m. For address and more information, contact the support desk at The DC Center at supportdesk@thedccenter.org.

The DC Center’s TRANS SUPPORT GROUP provides a space to talk for transgender people and those who identify outside of the gender binary. 7-9 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

Weekly Events DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds prac-

tice. The team is always looking for new members. All welcome. 7-9 p.m.

Harry Thomas Recreation Center, 1743 Lincoln Rd. NE. For more information, visit www.scandalsrfc.org.

THE GAY MEN'S HEALTH COLLABORATIVE offers free

HIV testing and STI screening and treatment every Tuesday.

5-6:30 p.m. Rainbow Tuesday LGBT Clinic, Alexandria Health Department, 4480 King St. 703746-4986 or text 571-214-9617. www.inova.org/gmhc Support group for LGBTQ youth ages 13-21 meets at SMYAL. 5-6:30 p.m. 410 7th St. SE. For more information, contact Rebecca York, 202567-3165, or visit www.smyal.org.

US HELPING US hosts a support

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

WEDNESDAY, August 14 LAMBDA BRIDGE CLUB meets at

the Dignity Center for Duplicate Bridge. No reservations needed.

Newcomers welcome. 7:30 p.m. 721 8th St. SE (across from the Marine Barracks. Call 202-841-0279 if you need a partner. l

AUGUST 8, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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Forum

STOP THE VIOLENCE

Decriminalizing and destigmatizing sex work will make the District safer for transgender women.

By the Gender Affirming Care team at Whitman-Walker Health

A

T WHITMAN-WALKER HEALTH, AND IN THE Gender Affirming Care team in particular, we know that shame and stigma steal the quality of our health and wellbeing. We choose to not stigmatize our patients who work in the sex trade. Recent reports of the murders of transgender women of color, individuals our staff knew in community, remind us that silence in the face of violence is complicity.

The following is an anonymized account from a patient of Whitman-Walker Health: “When I told my family that I was a woman, they kicked me out. I was abandoned and told to survive any way that I could. I had nowhere else to go so I turned to sex work. I survived for a year this way. Eventually I was able to immigrate to the United States and, while I was here, I turned to sex work again, trying to survive while getting on my feet.

Getting my name changed and my gender marker changed while working on my immigration paperwork put me in danger until all my documents could match. Even now I am uncomfortable doing things like grocery shopping or riding the metro. Even now, with a 9-5 job, I have a hard time making ends meet. Even now, sex work is my choice, so why not let me do it?”

Our clients have many jobs, sometimes several at the same time, and sex work is one. It is not our job to judge them, but to see them exactly as they are and to provide the care and assistance that they need. Due to widespread discrimination in education and employment, a disproportionate number of sex workers are transgender women of color.

We can reduce the harm that sex workers, especially transgender women of color, face through the decriminalization of commercial, consensual sexual exchange between adults.

We also have to reduce the stigma around the sex trade.

Stigma is harmful because it breeds shame. Stigma around HIV is harmful because it causes people to avoid knowing their status and avoid getting treatment. Stigma against LGBT people produces violence against our community.

Stigma is particularly harmful to transgender people because of the discrimination transgender people often experience. Stigma can block someone from receiving or seeking gender affirming healthcare. Gender affirming care opens doors to opportunities for a healthier quality of life, employment, and self-expression that may feel otherwise unattainable.

Stigma against sex workers is pervasive and dangerous.

Stigmatized sex workers do not get the services they deserve or the healthcare they need. In our own healthcare center we have experienced that stigma can prevent patients from

disclosing their participation in sex work to us, restricting us from giving our patients the tools they need to keep themselves safe and healthy. The criminalization of sex work, expressed through laws prohibiting solicitation and prostitution, is a systematic expression of the District of Columbia’s judgment about the value and worth of sex workers.

Systemic problems demand systemic solutions. That is why Whitman-Walker Health supports the Community Safety and Health Amendment Act of 2019. This bill decriminalizes commercial, consensual sexual exchange between adults, and sets up a task force to study the effects on the health and wellbeing of our community.

We arrived at this position by listening to our patients and clients. Whitman-Walker Health is a community-based health center, and we are proud to support the community of advocates leading the way to a less exploitative world.

In addition to creating an environment of stigma and shame, sex work criminalization leaves sex workers vulnerable to attackers, abusers, and exploiters because of fear of the arrest, incarceration or deportation from law enforcement. Criminalization obstructs paths to stability, housing, education, and employment other than sex work through arrest records, incarceration, and convictions.

In contrast, decriminalization of consensual, commercial sexual exchange between adults recognizes that sex workers are a part of our community, that sex work is about survival, and that criminalization punishes vulnerable members of our community for surviving.

Decriminalization of sex work destigmatizes sex workers and people stereotyped as sex workers. Destigmatizing sex work is part of the destigmatizing of sex, destigmatizing of sexually transmitted infections, and destigmatizing of LGB and especially transgender identities and experiences.

We look forward to continuing to fight with our community for resources for affordable housing, job training, and educational opportunities to address the root causes of vulnerability to exploitation. l The Gender Affirming Care team at Whitman-Walker works to support transgender, gender expansive and non-binary individuals in navigating the health care system and overcoming barriers to access culturally competent, dignifying care for hormone replacement therapy, gender affirming surgeries, sexual health and more.

The opinions expressed in Forum do not necessarily reflect those of Metro Weekly or its employees. Add your voice to Forum. Learn how at www.metroweekly.com/forum.

AUGUST 8, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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The (New) Shape of Comedy Julio Torres tickles his fancy in his first HBO comedy special My Favorite Shapes while serving up haunts in Los Espookys.

Interview by André Hereford

OMEWHERE BEYOND IRONY AND THE absurd, lies the fertile, fantastical comic terrain of Julio Torres. We’ve seen delectable glimpses in the Saturday Night Live writer’s stylish “Melania Moments,” and pre-taped sketches like the Emma Stone-starring viral hit “The Actress,” about a thespian extremely committed to nailing her first leading role as a woman who gets cheated on in a gay porn. His offbeat wit rings out like a bell in “Wells for Boys,” an ad for a Fisher-Price wishing well for sensitive little boys “to wish upon, confide in, and reflect by.”

Wed to stylish direction and production, and A-list talent, Torres’ work as a writer on the past four seasons of Saturday Night Live has earned him a special place in the heart of comedy fans, along with a share of the late-night TV perennial’s four straight Emmy nominations for writing.

Skits bearing the droll touch of Space Prince — both a nickname and a production banner for gay, El Salvador-born Torres — are unmistakable, although he doesn’t appear as a performer on SNL. “I feel like my presence is very tangible even though my physical presence isn't there,” he says. “And I feel like all my physical vessel would do is limit the scope of the things that I want to say sometimes. I don't know that a ‘Wells For Boys’ or a ‘Melania Moment’ would have benefited from me being in them.”

But lest anyone mistake Space Prince for bashful, he does put his feet to the fire performing his work onstage. During last summer’s SNL hiatus, he taped his first HBO standup comedy special — or, sit-down, in the case of Torres’ delightfully original 24

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show My Favorite Shapes. Executive produced by SNL impresario Lorne Michaels, Shapes finds Torres seated at a working conveyor belt he uses to display, you guessed it, his favorite shapes.

From a cactus who keeps a diary, to a despondent, oversized, high-heeled shoe, with a tiny staircase running up its inside arch, the litany is an often hilarious exploration of the comedian’s unpredictable whims.

The special’s premiere on Saturday, August 10 caps a summer of Torres bringing his brand of funny to HBO’s lineup. Season one of Los Espookys — the six-episode, Spanish-language HBO comedy series Torres co-created with SNL and Portlandia vet Fred Armisen and fellow writer-comedian Ana Fabrega — just wrapped, with the cable network already announcing plans for a season two. Like a Mel Brooks comedy directed by David Lynch, Los Espookys — about a team of friends in a mysterious Latin American country, who “make real horror for those who need it” — strikes a macabre balance of bizarre and smart and spooky.

Led by horror buff and makeup artist Renaldo (Bernardo Velasco), allied with the group’s no-nonsense engineer of haunts Úrsula (Cassandra Ciangherotti), her daffy sister Tati (Fabrega), and Torres as Andrés, the darkly imaginative scion of a chocolate empire, the troupe takes on parasitic demons and cursed mirrors, corrupt government officials and the manipulative plotting of Andrés’ parents and his handsome boyfriend Juan Carlos (José Pablo Minor). Armisen co-stars as Renaldo’s uncle Tico, with Carol Kane adding to her brilliant career of comic kooks playing fictional iconic horror film director Bianca Nova.

Silly yet topical, outlandish yet heartfelt, and nonchalantly queer-friendly, Los Espookys reflects the shared and comple-

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mentary sensibilities of the show’s creators. “There’s nothing calculated about this show or the way that I operate, or the way Fred and Ana operate,” says the 32-year old. “We just do things the way that we know how and like to do them. And in my case, I feel like I don't know how to do it any other way.”

METRO WEEKLY: Let's start with Los Espookys, which I didn't

know anything about before watching it. I was searching for something on HBO, saw the title, saw Fred Armisen, and thought, "Okay, I think I might like it." And I did.

JULIO TORRES: I'm so glad, I’m so glad. Yeah, I feel like it's a show where the audience likes discovering it. Which is how people watch TV these days, I guess, they just stumble into it.

MW: How do you describe the show to people?

TORRES: I think it's a very optimistic show. There's a playfulness to it.

It’s a comedy that is maybe unpreoccupied with expectations, which is something that I feel that Ana [Fabrega], Fred, and I share. I hope it's stimulating and imaginative. I mean, if I have to boil it down to one sentence, maybe it's a show about a group of friends in an odd place trying to find their path, making horror experiences for people.

MW: Now, clearly, Andrés on the show is gay...

TORRES: Yes. MW: But I'm curious about Renaldo, because there's a line that he says to his mom, where she's trying to hook him up with a girl and he says, en español, "I'm not interested in girls.” But the English subtitle says, "I'm not interested in sex," which is a different meaning.

TORRES: It is. Ana and I went back and forth on that — Ana and I wrote the show. The reason I keep bringing Ana up is because it was a close collaboration between the two of us, and we've been friends for a while. And the subtitles were such an ordeal, a fun one, but definitely one that Ana and I went back and forth on a lot. I think with that scene, it felt to us like reading, "I'm not interested in girls," was a lot more direct and tangible than just a throwaway, casual Spanish ‘chicas,’ which he's rebutting from what his mom said. So, as for his sexuality, I think that Ana and I are as interested as you are in him. I think that for now, he is just not interested in it. He's just not interested in that part of himself, and that is something that really excites Bernardo, who's the actor who plays him, because I don't think he's ever played someone like that. So yeah, we'll see where he goes. We'll see if he opens that door in himself, or if he just continues living life without it. Will he become an asexual symbol?

MW: That would fit your show, as it seems Los Espookys could fit just about anything. But Renaldo says that what he is passionate about is horror, so his passion is not about the conventional things, but stranger things. Is that part of what you relate to about the show?

TORRES: Him being interested in the odd, as opposed to his personal life? Yeah, definitely. I do. I think that there have definitely been moments in my life where I just gave myself completely to something that wasn't like interpersonal relationships and

only pursuing that, [instead] getting a satisfaction and joy from somewhere else. So yeah, I do think that there's some correlation between me and him in that way. Also I think that there is a moment in — and this is not me foreshadowing anything about Renaldo, because we truly don't know where he'll go — but I think that there is a moment in the lives of many, many queer people where we are asexual for a little bit, where we're figuring things out, lock that part away. So perhaps that's what he's going through. Or maybe he's not.

MW: As for the translation and the language in general, you're producing a mostly Spanish-language show for a primarily U.S.-based audience. And it's HBO. Has there been any pushback at all from producers on shooting entirely in Spanish? Or is there any question of, "Can we have a little more English here, or one more scene?" Is language an issue at all?

TORRES: No, HBO eagerly jumped on the project knowing fully well that the vast majority of it was going to be in Spanish, and at no point have they asked for more English. I think that the show embraces a bilingual life. In Latin America, you are exposed to English every single day of your life, and that is reflected in the show. In Latin America, everyone knows someone who lives in the States. I mean, I don't want to say all Latin America, but at least in my experience. And English is just such a part of your life, be it in television, the products that you buy, movies that you see, it's just around you and the presence of America is inescapable. And so I think the show reflects that a little bit. But no, HBO never said, "Could there be less Spanish?" HBO was eager and ready to celebrate

“[Los Espookys] embraces a bilingual life.

In Latin America, you are exposed to English every single day of your life, be it in television, the products that you buy, movies that you see.

le. presence of b e Am pa Th a c eri w h a t ca is ines the show was meant to be from the beginning.

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MW: Does it feel especially subversive at this current moment to be

producing a Latinx show, in Spanish, with queer themes?

TORRES: Well, if it is, again, it's not intentional. It's not like we wanted to check boxes. I feel like it was not until we were editing that Ana and I sort of looked at each other and were like, "Oh, ha ha. That was made by two queer people." We just realized that. We just realized that that was another sort of unique thing about the show.

MW: But it's also a gift that it wasn't a matter of anyone's concern.

TORRES: No, it's not the show. It doesn't claim to be the definitive representation of these people or those people. It's just a show that does what it wants to do. It doesn't have any agenda in that way. Fred and Ana and I all agree that we're pretty happy about it, because I think that it's in its honesty that it can be important for certain people.

MW: Do you guys have plans for where you'll take it in season two?

TORRES: Ana, Fred and I met up a couple of days ago, and were just scribbling ideas. So after season one, what we have is a collection of concepts and thoughts and people, and by people I mean characters not actors, that make us giggle. We'll see where that takes us.

MW: You also have lots of horror sub-genres left that you guys didn't really touch.

TORRES: Oh, so many. So many, yeah.

MW: Speaking of concepts, and moving on to My Favorite Shapes, conceptually that feels like it could be either the product of an acid

”

”

trip or just a lifelong fascination with inanimate objects.

TORRES: It is the latter. It is an earnest joy from inanimate objects. I have a few of them in front of me as I speak to you.

MW: Are you a really tactile person?

TORRES: Oh, I think I'm more a visual person. I actually don't know about tactile.... You know what? In fact, I don't think I'm a very tactile person, because I'll put on the itchiest fabric and it just really won't matter to me. I'm a very visually driven person, which is why I put on an itchy fabric: If it looks good, it looks good. No, I've always been very drawn to objects and have always been very visual. My mom is an architect, and she used to design clothes. She had a boutique. And so, I was always around a certain air of importance to the way that things look. She and my sister designed the set for My Favorite Shapes.

MW: And who engineered the conveyor belt?

TORRES: My mom, my sister and I came up with the idea of a conveyor belt that was U-shaped, but Michael Krantz, the artistic director, is the brilliant man who made it happen. He just found a place that made conveyor belts, and it was a big trial and error experiment. So much of it, I think, Los Espookys and My Favorite Shapes, have been experiments for the people involved, which is, I think, a lot of fun.

The HBO executives behind Los Espookys had never done a show in a language that they didn't speak. The logistics of that were an interesting challenge for them, and one that they were very eager to accomplish. And then similarly here, A24 and HBO hadn't done a stand-up special that required a conveyor belt, but everyone was game to figure things out.

So, I've been lucky.

MW: Obviously your mother and sister get you, but have you ever felt you were surrounded by folks who didn't understand where you’re coming from?

TORRES: Maybe very, very, very early on. I mean, I'm talking like I've been doing this for decades, which I haven't, but earlier on, when I just first started doing comedy, I may have walked into a meeting or two, just like general meetings with networks or whatever, where maybe I felt like I checked certain boxes for them, and the expectation was that I would fulfill the expectations from those boxes. By those boxes, I mean Latino, queer, etc. But then very quickly, I think I made it clear through my work that I am very much those things, but approached from this angle over here as opposed to this angle over there, which is where you expect this to be approached.

MW: Dealing with the executives, did they have to go and get an intern who reads Spanish to be able to write notes on your script?

You said that, logistically, it was challenging. How challenging is it to maintain the shape of your ideas with producers who might not understand the shape of the language?

TORRES: So the first drafts of those Los Espookys scripts were in English. HBO read them in English sort of in the way that you read the subtitles, or pretty much in the way that you read the subtitles. And then during table reads, Bernardo, Cassandra

and José Pablo and all of our Spanish-speaking actors read in Spanish, [while] HBO read along in English. So, figuring out that that was a solution to, "How are we going to do a table read?", was, I think, really fun. Because I can't think of any other moment where actors are performing in one language and the people making the decisions are reading along in another. And yet it worked very well, because I think the spirit of the show is what's important of it. And their notes were always on point and always helpful.

MW: That seems rare.

TORRES: It sounds like it is rare, yeah. This being my first TV show, I can't attest to how rare or not it is, but I think that we've been lucky that way.

MW: My Favorite Shapes is your first TV comedy special and we're now days away from its premiere on HBO. Was it more nerve-racking putting together the live show, or anticipating this debut on television?

TORRES: Oh, the live show for sure. My work is over. I don't have to do anything now. I have to talk to you and a few other people, but that's it. No, putting on the live show was really fun, but definitely a lot of work because I was so highly involved in every

Torres with Bernardo Velasco in Los Espookys / Courtesy HBO

aspect of it. Just thinking about the material and the delivery and the jokes in the show, but also being like, "Well how high are the stairs going to be? Because the giant shoe has to go under the stairs, but if the stairs are too high then I'll feel weird walking up them without a handrail, and I don't want a handrail because that thing will look gross. So how do we do that?" So, stuff like that. But it was so fun, because I like being involved in every aspect of what I do.

The same is true of Los Espookys. I didn't just show up and act, and write it — Ana and I were highly involved in the way things looked and the way things were framed, and we were lucky that Fernando Frías, our director, was very collaborative in that way. Every step of the way I think I have been grateful, including in my work at Saturday Night Live, to be trusted with the outcome of a project.

MW: By the way, I love those little stairs. Was that shoe custom built for the show, or did you see a shoe with stairs on it and think, “Oh my God, here's a moment!”?

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TORRES: No, someone on Instagram

sent a picture of the shoe to me, “I because this person knows don’t think that I have a fascination with shapes. And so this I’m a very tactile person who, I guess, is person, because I’ll familiar with my work, sent me a picture of put on the itchiest the shoe and just said fabric and it just really something like, "I feel like you should see won’t matter to me. this." And then I was like, "Oh. My. God." And

mean sketches. And we have a relationship where not a lot has to be said for us to understand each other, and he fills in my blanks really well, which is something that is impossible to manufacture, I think. But there's a chemistry and there's trust between the two of us that I felt like the special necessitated, especially of being my first thing of that scale.

MW: Are you returning to SNL this season?

TORRES: Well, I am going to do season two of Los Espookys.

So I think we're figuring things out. But I am very excited to do season two of Los Espookys, and [the producers of SNL] are very excited for Los Espookys as well. They've been nothing but incredibly encouraging and championing of the show, in the same way that they've been encouraging and championing of my work within their show. So, I just feel happy and grateful.

MW: One really exciting thing about SNL, you are — for the fourth year in a row — nominated for an Emmy along with the entire writing team, so congratulations.

TORRES: Thank you.

MW: Have you ever been to the Emmys, and do you have any intention of going this year?

TORRES: Yeah, I’ve gone every year just because

tracked it down v e r y v i s u then Iand we got it on a a m l ’ I i c h i s w h y I l y d Ebay. n , c: o h p r s w k s g o o ut o iven per abr i o o l d, n an chy f it f i it MW: It’s funny I that you mention the handrail tl o oks good.” on it, because I had actually made a note about Los Espookys, the line about the “Ferracuti handrail fortune.” That’s just a great joke to me, and brings me to another question. A lot of your comedy is conceptual, but there are also really good jokes. Do you consider yourself a good joke writer?

TORRES: I think I might be, but by accident. I don't even have the language to articulate what makes a good joke. Does that make sense? I never studied it. I've always gone by instinct. So I think I'm interested in these sort of abstract concepts, and the way that I articulate those opinions sometimes comes out in a form that is recognizable to the ear as a joke.

MW: When you talk about putting the live show together, how does that compare to your work on SNL and being in the writers room? That seems like a really high pressure environment.

TORRES: I feel like a lot of the skills are transferable in that, by the time I was doing the special or Los Espookys, I was already very confident in my instincts as a writer but also as a producer in communicating with different departments about what the vision is, and then getting those people to trust me in what the vision is. And I think that one is the consequence of the other. And also another giant similarity between doing the special and working on SNL is the director Dave McCary, who directed, I don't know, like ninety-nine percent of the work that I did on SNL, and who also directed the special. So by the time we got to working on the special, it just truly felt like another one of the many projects we have together. By projects I 28

AUGUST 8, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

it's a silly, fun thing to do. You get to dress up, go to a fun night.

Why not?

MW: As for your personal journey, how long did you grow up in San Salvador before you came to the States?

TORRES: I moved to the States ten years ago.

MW: On your own?

TORRES: I moved here on my own to go to a school, or at least that was the reason I found to come to New York. I came here with a student visa, and then I transitioned into a work visa for day jobs and then an artist visa and now a Green Card. Yeah. And I came here wanting to be a writer.

MW: A comedy writer or were you thinking of writing something else?

TORRES: No, a writer of humorous things, is how I saw it then. I didn't know what that was going to be. I didn't know if that was going to be movies, or television, or plays, but I really had it in my head that I wanted to work with actors and I wanted to work with really good actors and have them interested in being in my work. And I graduated school, and I didn't really know how to accomplish that, while at the same time juggling the stresses of getting a work visa which were very time consuming. So then I just felt like I needed something immediate, something that didn't take a lot of time or didn't necessitate me knowing people

“I don't have the language to articulate what makes a good joke. I never studied it. I've always gone by instinct. I'm interested in abstract concepts, and

the way I articulate those opinions comes out in a form that is recognizable to the ear as a joke.”

or having any sort of connections, so I just Googled 'New York Open Mic,’ and I started doing open mics, as a way of beating that problem.

MW: Do you have film scripts that you're working on?

TORRES: They are forthcoming, none completed.

MW: I feel like you'd write a good horror movie.

TORRES: A horror movie? Someone, a producer I didn't know, mentioned that before, and I don't love horror. [Laughs.] I like things that are eerie, things that are strange and mysterious, which is why Los Espookys feels that way a lot of the time. But maybe I can write something like that, or probably what I write will inevitably be like that. But I don't think it will be scary.

MW: What are you most excited about these days?

TORRES: I am excited to start writing season two. I miss being in a room with Ana, laughing and writing, even though I see her so often because she's a close friend.

MW: There's a different feeling when you're in a room writing together?

TORRES: Yeah, I like being productive. So if friendship can be productive, great. And I am excited to start writing longer things, to write a movie.

MW: You talked about how you and Ana are really involved in getting your vision across for what the show is, and obviously there's a very specific vision behind My Favorite Shapes. What advice do you have for people trying to sell challenging ideas?

TORRES: I recall a friend at SNL who used to be head writer there just saying to me one time, "Oh, just do you. Do what you want to do and people are going to be like 'Oh, I guess he just does that.’" Which I really like as advice. So, just do what you want to do, and people are going to be like, “Oh, okay, I guess that's how that works."

MW: Final question. Who is Space Prince?

TORRES: That's an Instagram handle, and now is a fun little nickname, and I like that the two words encapsulated how I feel a lot of the time — like, not from here but in control about it. l

My Favorite Shapes / Courtesy HBO

My Favorite Shapes premieres on HBO, this Saturday, August 10, at 10:30 p.m. Los Espookys: Season One is available on HBO’s streaming and on demand platforms.

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Movies

Kitchen Stink

McCarthy, Haddish, and Moss can’t save The Kitchen from descending into ridiculous, dreadful self-parody. By Randy Shulman

T

HE KITCHEN IS WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IF SIDNEY LUMET AND Martin Scorsese had a secret love child who decided to follow in their famous filmmaking fathers’ footsteps and opted to direct a gritty, New York-based mobster movie. Except this secret love child would have inherited none of the inherent skills, dramatic intuition, or innate talent of said parents.

This secret love child would not grasp the concept of pacing and build, not fully grasp the difference between blanket, potentially offensive stereotyping and genuine character depth, not grasp how to evoke masterful performances from a cast of undisputed masters. This secret love child would be a profound disappointment to all.

Perhaps, the parents might gently suggest, the secret love child’s next directorial outing be something less challenging. A remake of The Red Balloon? With just a balloon?

This is not to imply that Andrea Berloff, the director of The Kitchen, is completely without talent or skills. But it is meant to imply that they’re nowhere on display in her debut directorial outing. Maybe Berloff, acclaimed for her powerful screenplay for Straight Outta Compton, should steer clear of gritty, New York-based mobster movies in the near future. Or, perhaps, ever.

Based on a popular DC Comics graphic novel, The Kitchen (HHHHH) is set in the late ‘70s, and follows three women who, after their mobster hubbies are scuttled off to the slammer for three years, are forced to support themselves. Rather than get normal, mundane jobs, they decide a life of robbery, extortion, and ruthless murder seems appealing and fun. So they go to war with the Irish mobsters who promised to take care of them while their spouses were in Riker’s, and miraculously succeed (with a little help from a ginger deus ex machina) in upending the current psychotic leader, Little Jackie (Myk Watford, an expert at playing one note), and making Hell’s Kitchen 30

AUGUST 8, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

their own felonious playground. It’s not the kind of playground where you might want to raise your kids, but hey, nothing’s perfect.

The movie’s first — and probably biggest — problem is its rapid-fire clip. Rarely is the narrative given time to breathe, evolve, develop. Everything sprints forward in a mad dash to the 1 hour, 40-minute finish line. Rarely do scenes exceed a minute or two, and when they occasionally do, you wish they’d be put out of their misery.

Watching the film is both infuriating and exhausting, made worse by the fact that it attempts to trumpet itself as a rallying cry for female empowerment. Not that I don’t enjoy a brutally satisfying “women take the upper hand and show men how it’s done” story — I point to 2018’s gripping, gorgeously acted Widows as a master class in the genre — but The Kitchen tramples the ground Widows so artfully, expertly trod.

We don’t care a good gosh darn about the three leads, and stars Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elisabeth Moss, do their best to ensure we never do. Haddish gives a performance of more profundity in the glorious Netflix cartoon Tuca & Bertie. McCarthy deploys continues on page 32

CAMERON WHITMAN

Stage

Give ’em Elle

Legally Blonde is a musical more concerned than most with what might be judged by appearances. By André Hereford

E

LLE WOODS IS A STRANGE CASE. A REAL GO-GETTER WHO HAS TO GET over a tendency for hitching herself to the wrong man and his rigid dreams, the Legally Blonde ( ) heroine seems at first easy to dismiss as an airhead.

In fact, the script, both for the original Reese Witherspoon romantic comedy and Heather Hach’s book for the musical adaptation, make it too easy to side with Elle’s well-heeled beau Warner Huntington, who declares her a Marilyn, when he needs a Jackie on his arm.

Yes, Warner is crude and cruel in the way he focuses on Elle’s packaging, but he’s not wrong that she has a lot to learn about the world outside her pink, puffy cloud of sorority glee. Sending a perfume-scented headshot instead of a personal essay seems not only the wrong play for applying to Harvard Law, but a dumb move for gaining entry into any academic program.

Elle (Gabriella DeLuca), who chases ex Warner (Kaylen Morgan) from L.A. all the way to Cambridge, makes a lot of dumb moves before she starts making moves that might persuade Warner or anyone outside Delta Nu to take her seriously. In the annals of the stage’s all-time “dumb” blondes, from Billie Rose to Lorelei Lee, future attorney Elle Woods might have the steepest road to climb to prove herself the admirable, capable woman her show cracks her up to be. The role calls for a rare moxie and shrewdness and sweetness that Gabriella DeLuca delivers in Ricky Drummond’s engaging production at Keegan Theatre.

Turning Elle’s contradictions into endearing texture, DeLuca boldly leads an energetic production that, alas, has trouble finding her a winning match. Kaylen Morgan’s Warner doesn’t register the privileged arrogance he seems to be singing about, and the matter is further confused by costume designer Alison Samantha Johnson introducing the character in a suit that reads more doorman at the Mondrian than stuck-up money.

Warner’s wardrobe at Harvard does sell his preppie image, and Morgan does show a deft hand with the comic timing of Warner’s many asides throughout the nearly

all-singing, all-dancing romp.

Legally Blonde is a musical more concerned than most with what might be judged by appearances. Characters talk and sing about not judging a book by its cover, or a pool boy by his fashions. So costume designer Johnson, also responsible for designing the production’s hair and makeup, plays an especially pivotal part in carrying off Drummond’s staging. Not many shows make such a production of makeovers for both the male and female leads, and Johnson’s hair and wardrobe for scruffy law teaching assistant — and Elle’s prospective Mr. Right — Emmett Forrest (Noah Israel), proves to be generally persuasive. In the case of Israel, the costuming does some of the heavy lifting for a performance that gets further along on chemistry with DeLuca than on any romantic quality in his singing.

Music director Walter “Bobby” McCoy and his pit orchestra lean into the disco-R&B vibes of the Tonynominated score by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, a mode that keeps the mood lifted. Unfortunately, the band sounds muffled behind Matthew J. Keenan’s sets, which otherwise are great for getting characters where they need to go, and facilitating quick, humorous pop-ins through doors and windows. And Drummond and choreographer Ashleigh King keep the welloiled ensemble on the go. Still, the danc-

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CAMERON WHITMAN

ing lacks for excitement.

Comedy rules the stage here, along with the cuteness of the two well-trained pups appearing, respectively, as Elle’s beloved pooch Bruiser, and Rufus, the adorably bug-eyed French bulldog belonging to Elle’s townie pal Paulette (Janine Sunday). Those two could easily upstage just about anybody, and yet they kindly leave room for Greg Watkins’ impressive turn as Elle’s exacting criminal law professor, Callahan; Rachel Barlaam’s consistently funny rival, Vivienne; and MK Sagastume, playing a menagerie

of roles, and creating richer characters in seconds of dialogue than some do with bars and bars of choruses.

Watkins hits a highlight with Callahan’s ode to legal amorality, “Blood in the Water,” and the entire ensemble hits a homerun with “Gay or European?” But ultimately, O’Keefe and Benjamin’s score coasts its way home on a bed of reprises, leaving the impression they might have run out of steam tugging Elle Woods’ glory up the tall mountain she has to climb towards liberation. l

Legally Blonde runs through September 8 at The Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St. NW. Tickets are $48 to $58.

Call 202-265-3767, or visit www.KeeganTheatre.com. continued from page 30

two expressions — quiveringly vulnerable and super-extra tough — swapping between them as though she were product-testing hot and cold faucets. Moss simply plays a version of her Handmaid’s Tale character, except with no glowering, soul-stinging extreme closeups, and with the ability to vindicate her perpetually abused self with a loaded firearm.

Frankly, the talented trio must have realized at some point that Berloff had no clue what she was doing behind the camera, so they just gave up trying. They gamely played along because, you know, contracts, paychecks, those kinds of things. And so, The Kitchen evolves right before our very eyes into absurdist camp. Should we really be laughing hysterically when their henchman Gabriel (Domhnall Gleeson, in the movie’s only enjoyable performance), casually instructs the gals in the art of carving

up a body like it were a filet of beef? (“You have to puncture the lungs, so it doesn’t float when you take it to the river” he says, wielding a knife the size of a forearm.)

Maybe The Kitchen was meant to be a parody all along — of mobster films, as well as those stupefying police procedurals that once dominated the 1970s airwaves before TV actually got watchable.

You keep hoping The Kitchen will suddenly change midstream and lift itself out of the mire, like Trump’s presidency. But it only gets worse. And by the time an aggressive twist of such idiotically epic proportions is revealed, all hope is lost.

The hapless tardigrades now littering the moon have more intelligence than this film.

The Kitchen won’t harm the careers of its stars — including the normally (but not here) fantastic Margo Martindale. They’re shielded by the fact that we know they can (and will) do better. But it should stop the directing career of Berloff in its tracks. Unless, that is, the movie makes a tidy profit this weekend. In which case, it’s on you for paying hard-earned money to see it. l

The Kitchen is rated R for profanity and violence and opens Friday, August 8, at theaters nationwide. Visit www.fandango.com.

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AUGUST 8, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

NightLife

k c a B h s Fla e Photos 26 Years of Scen Metro Weekly’s m l Witchita fro ae n ch io Mi ct le by A Se Photography 9) 99 (1 n Weekly tio tro Cherry 4 at Na agram at @Me llow us on Inst fo s, ot sh e or m For

AUGUST 8, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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Scene

Ward Morrison is on vacation. Fresh Scene will return next week.

DrinksDragDJsEtc...

Thursday, August 8 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Shirtless Thursday, 10-11pm • Men in Underwear Drink Free, 12-12:30am • DJs BacK2bACk NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • $15 Buckets of Bud Products all night • Sports Leagues Night NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm • Thirst Trap Thursdays, hosted by Venus Valhalla, 11pm-12:30am • Featuring a Rotating Cast of Drag Performers • Dancing until 1:30am SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail

Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Half-Priced Bottles of Wine, 5pm-close • Paint Nite, Second Floor, 7pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS All male, nude dancers, 9pm-close • “New Meat” Open Dancers Audition • Music by DJ Don T. • Cover 21+

Friday, August 9 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-3am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 Rail and Domestic • $5 Svedka, all flavors all night long • Alpha and Omega Productions and Matt Black Productions presents GLO: Underwear Dance Party, 10pm-close • Featuring DJs Ultra Pup, Club Melk, and PhoenixPup • $5 Cover (includes clothes check) • $5 Fireball

Destinations A LEAGUE OF HER OWN 2317 18th St. NW 202-733-2568 www.facebook.com/alohodc

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Open 3pm • Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Weekend Kickoff Dance Party, with Nellie’s DJs spinning bubbly pop music all night NUMBER NINE Open 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • Friday Night Piano with Chris, 7:30pm • Rotating DJs, 9:30pm PITCHERS Open 5pm-3am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 2am SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Live Music during Happy Hour with BanjerDan TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5 • Otter Happy Hour with guest DJs, 5-11pm ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets, 9pm • Guest dancers • Rotating DJs • Kristina Kelly’s Diva Fev-ah Drag Show • Doors at 9pm, Shows at 11:45pm • Music by DJ Jeff Eletto • Cover 21+

A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-3am • Video Games • Live televised sports AVALON SATURDAYS @Soundcheck 1420 K St. NW LGBTQ Dance Party, 10pm-4am • $15 Cover, $20 Cover for VIP • Drink specials • Drag Show, 10:30-11:30pm, hosted by Ba’Naka and a rotating cast of drag queens • Open Bar on Tito’s and Jameson, 11pm-midnight FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Saturday Breakfast Buffet, 10am-3pm • $14.99 with one glass of champagne or coffee, soda or juice • Additional champagne $2 per glass • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Freddie’s Follies Drag Show, hosted by Miss Destiny B. Childs, 8-10pm • Karaoke, 10pm-close GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $5 Bacardi, all flavors, all night long • Freeballers Party, 10pm-close • No Cover • Music by DJs BacK2bACk • $5 Fireball, $5 Margaritas, $8 Long Islands NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Drag Brunch, hosted

by Chanel Devereaux, 10:30am-12:30pm and 1-3pm • Tickets on sale at nelliessportsbar.com • House Rail Drinks, Zing Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer and Mimosas, $4, 11am-3am • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Guest DJs playing pop music all night

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR 555 23rd St. S. Arlington, Va. 703-685-0555 www.freddiesbeachbar.com

AVALON SATURDAYS Soundcheck 1420 K St. NW 202-789-5429 www.facebook.com/ AvalonSaturdaysDC 34

Saturday, August 10

AUGUST 8, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

GREEN LANTERN 1335 Green Ct. NW 202-347-4533 www.greenlanterndc.com

NUMBER NINE Doors open 2pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5 Bulleit Bourbon, 9pm-close • Pop Tarts, featuring DJs BacK2bACk, 9:30pm PITCHERS Open Noon-3am • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 2am SHAW’S TAVERN Brunch with $15 Bottomless Mimosas, 10am-3pm • Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Luke James Shaffer, Live Music, 9pm TRADE Doors open 2pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $5 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets upstairs, 9pm-close • Guest dancers • Ladies of Illusion Drag Show with host Ella Fitzgerald in Ziegfeld’s • Doors open at 9pm, Show at 11:45pm • Music by DJs Keith Hoffman and Don T. • Cover 21+

Sunday, August 11 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-12am • $4 Smirnoff and Domestic

Cans • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Ella’s Sunday Drag Brunch, 10am-3pm • $24.99 with four glasses of champagne or mimosas, 1 Bloody Mary, or coffee, soda or juice • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Piano Bar with John Flynn, 6-9:30pm • Karaoke, 9:30pm-close • No Cover GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Karaoke with Kevin downstairs, 9:30pm-close NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Drag Brunch, hosted

by Chanel Devereaux, 10:30am-12:30pm and 1-3pm • Tickets on sale at nelliessportsbar.com • House Rail Drinks, Zing Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer and Mimosas, $4, 11am-1am • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Guest DJs NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5 Bulleit Bourbon, 9pm-close • Multiple TVs showing movies, shows, sports • Expanded craft beer selection • Pop Goes the World with Wes Della Volla at 9:30pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open Noon-2am • $4 Smirnoff, includes flavored, $4 Coors Light or $4 Miller Lites, 2-9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR 900 U St. NW 202-332-6355 www.nelliessportsbar.com NUMBER NINE 1435 P St. NW 202-986-0999 www.numberninedc.com PITCHERS 2317 18th St. NW 202-733-2568 www.pitchersbardc.com

NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Dinner and Drag with Miss Kristina Kelly, 8pm • No Cover • For reservations, email shawsdinnerdragshow@gmail.com TRADE Doors open 2pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $5

Monday, August 12 FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Singles Night • Half-Priced Pasta Dishes • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long • Singing with the Sisters: Open Mic Karaoke Night with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, 9:30pm-close NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Half-Priced Burgers • Paint Nite, 7pm • PokerFace Poker, 8pm • Dart Boards • Ping Pong Madness, featuring 2 PingPong Tables NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail

Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Shaw ’Nuff Trivia, with Jeremy, 7:30pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5

Tuesday, August 13 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Taco Tuesday • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15 • Drag Bingo with Sasha Adams and Brooklyn Heights, 7-9pm • Karaoke, 9pm-close NUMBER NINE Open at 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm

SHAW’S TAVERN 520 Florida Ave. NW 202-518-4092 www.shawstavern.com TRADE 1410 14th St. NW 202-986-1094 www.tradebardc.com ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS 1824 Half St. SW 202-863-0670 www.ziegfelds.com

Compiled by Doug Rule

DC BËAR CRÜE: BEAR HAPPY HOUR: ADULT TOY PARTY

It’s been a year now since Uproar became the cozily intimate home for Charger Stone’s long-running, hirsute happy hour event. And this Friday, Aug. 9, those in the Crüe can opt to get even more intimate if they’d like. Two hours after doors open at 5 p.m., Stone has invited “Adonis” Ryan Lahr, a representative with Athena’s Home Novelties, to present, discuss, and sell the company’s wares. Taking a page from Tupperware, Athena’s enlists and instructs salespeople such as Lahr to host gatherings in a somewhat private, sex-positive “safe environment,” one where attendees can “view, sample, and purchase sensuous products.” At Uproar, interested bears will have to make their way to the relatively secluded second floor to see and buy the sex enhancers and insertables on offer until 9:30 p.m. Everybody else can drink, converse, and cruise as usual, missing out on newfound pleasures, perhaps, but not on the standard special of $5 per rail cocktail or 32 ounce draft pitcher of Bud Light or Shock Top. Free appetizers will also be offered, with additional food available for purchase off the restaurant’s food menu. Uproar is at 639 Florida Ave NW. Call 202-462-4464 or visit www.facebook.com/uproarloungedc.

AVALON SATURDAYS: MADSCIENCE VS. WESS

On Saturday, Aug. 10, Dougie Meyer offers a roundabout but novel way of toasting the legacies of two of D.C.’s best-known and longest-standing LGBTQ dance clubs — Cobalt and Town — both of which closed over the past year. At the popular weekly LGBTQ party he throws at downtown’s trendy Soundcheck, Meyer welcomes two veteran local DJs for what is playfully billed as a “Battle of the DJs.” On one side, you have Jesse “Madscience” Jackson, who, an omnipresent resident at Cobalt, spinning through hip-hop and rock or techno and EDM as much as dance-pop and for both weeknight and weekend parties. On the other side, there’s DJ Wess, who essentially lived at Town every weekend, setting the pace for alt-night events and Friday nights in particular, throughout the Shaw danceboutique’s decade-long run. The party kicks off at 10:30 p.m. with a drag show hosted by Ba’naka and with additional performances from Brooklyn Heights, Bambi Necole Farrah, and Kristina Kelly, as well as the birthday queen du nuit Iyana Deschanel. Doors are at 10 p.m., and the bar offers $4 Absolut cocktails until midnight. Soundcheck is at 1420 K St. NW. Tickets are $14.99 to $19.99, or $24.99 for VIP with express entry and access to a private lounge with a dedicated bartender. Ages 18 and up. Call 202-7895429 or visit www.dougiemeyerpresents.com.

NIGHT OF 1000 MAY QUEENS

Meanwhile, Trade is offering a delayed toast to the summer solstice this Saturday, Aug. 10, with a party that’s ultimately inspired by this summer’s hit scary Swedish-set movie Midsommar. Starting at 10 p.m., the party will offer a series of special ceremonies, capped off by a May Pole Dance competition in which the winner takes the title of May Queen. The prize is a flower crown and a gift card to IKEA. (Mid)Summer Camp is mistress of ceremonies, and DJ Ed Bailey is the musical guide. Maja will offer a cocktail with “special properties” for all those in attendance at this seasonal affair, which is Rated 21+. Trade is at 1410 14th St. NW. Call 202-986-1094 or visit www.tradebardc.com.

TART: QUEER DANCE PARTY

Next Friday, Aug. 16, U Street Music Hall presents the debut of a new quarterly series geared to the LGBTQ crowd, with each edition programmed around what could be called poptarts, or select contemporary pop music artists. The first harvest is a puckering blend of divas, pretty girls, and rude boys — as featured in the the music of Britney, Beyoncé, and Rihanna, played by DJs Matt Bailer and Honey. And then there’s the sweettart performances at midnight from some of the tartiest drag queens in town: Riley Knoxx, BABY, Desiree Dik, Brooklyn Heights, Iyana Deschanel, and Sasha Adams Sanchez. Washington Heights hosts. Party starts at 10 p.m., with dancing until 3 a.m. U Street Music Hall is at 1115A U St. NW. Tickets are $10 to $15. Call 202-588-1880 or visit www.ustreetmusichall.com. l AUGUST 8, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Half-Priced Burgers and Pizzas, 5-10pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5

Wednesday, August 14 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • $6 Burgers • Beach Blanket Drag Bingo Night, hosted

by Ms. Regina Jozet Adams, 8pm • Bingo prizes • Karaoke, 10pm-1am GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4pm-9pm • Bear Yoga with Greg Leo, 6:30-7:30pm • $10 per class • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR SmartAss Trivia Night, 8-10pm • Prizes include bar tabs and tickets to shows at the 9:30 Club • $15 Buckets of Beer for SmartAss Teams only • Absolutely Snatched Drag Show, hosted by Brooklyn Heights, 9pm • Tickets available at www.nelliessportsbar.com

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

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

PITCHERS Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm

PITCHERS Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm • Thirst Trap Thursdays, hosted by Venus Valhalla, 11pm-12:30am • Featuring a Rotating Cast of Drag Performers • Dancing until 1:30am

SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Piano Bar and Karaoke with Jill, 8pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5

Thursday, August 15 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Shirtless Thursday, 10-11pm • Men in Underwear Drink Free, 12-12:30am • DJs BacK2bACk NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • $15 Buckets of Bud Products all night • Sports Leagues Night

SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Half-Priced Bottles of Wine, 5pm-close TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS All male, nude dancers, 9pm-close • “New Meat” Open Dancers Audition • Music by DJ Don T. • Cover 21+

Friday, August 16 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-3am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm

AUGUST 8, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 Rail and Domestic • $5 Svedka, all flavors all night long • Rough House: Hands On, Lights Off, 10pm-close • Featuring DJ Lemz • $5 Cover (includes clothes check)

at 9pm, Shows at 11:45pm • Music by DJ Jeff Eletto • Cover 21+

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Open 3pm • Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Weekend Kickoff Dance Party, with Nellie’s DJs spinning bubbly pop music all night

A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-3am • Video Games • Live televised sports

NUMBER NINE Open 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • Friday Night Piano with Chris, 7:30pm • Rotating DJs, 9:30pm PITCHERS Open 5pm-3am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 2am SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Comedy Show, Second Floor, 7:30pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $5 • Otter Happy Hour with guest DJs, 5-11pm ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets, 9pm • Guest dancers • Rotating DJs • Kristina Kelly’s Diva Fev-ah Drag Show • Doors

Saturday, August 17

AVALON SATURDAYS @Soundcheck 1420 K St. NW LGBTQ Dance Party, 10pm-4am • $15 Cover, $20 Cover for VIP • Drink specials • Drag Show, 10:30-11:30pm, hosted by Ba’Naka and a rotating cast of drag queens • Open Bar on Tito’s and Jameson, 11pm-midnight FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Saturday Breakfast Buffet, 10am-3pm • $14.99 with one glass of champagne or coffee, soda or juice • Additional champagne $2 per glass • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Freddie’s Follies Drag Show, hosted by Miss Destiny B. Childs, 8-10pm • Karaoke, 10pm-close GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $5 Bacardi, all flavors, all night long • The Bear Cave: From Retro to Electro, 9pm-close • Featuring DJ Popperz • No Cover NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Drag Brunch, hosted

by Chanel Devereaux, 10:30am-12:30pm and 1-3pm • Tickets on sale at nelliessportsbar.com • House Rail Drinks, Zing Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer and Mimosas, $4, 11am-3am • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Guest DJs playing pop music all night

NUMBER NINE Doors open 2pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5 Bulleit Bourbon, 9pm-close • Time Machine and Power, featuring DJ Jack Rayburn, 9:30pm PITCHERS Open Noon-3am • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 2am SHAW’S TAVERN Brunch with $15 Bottomless Mimosas, 10am-3pm • Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Shaw’s Summer Fundraiser for Casa Ruby, with Nellie’s, The Dirty Goose, and Uproar, 2-8pm TRADE Doors open 2pm • XL Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass is served in an XL glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $5 • Gay Bash: The Alt Dance Party and Home for Unconventional Drag in the Nation’s Capital, 10pm • Hosted by Donna Slash • Featuring JaxKnife Complex, Salvadora Dali, Jane Saw, and special guests • Music by The Barber Streisand ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets upstairs, 9pm-close • Guest dancers • Ladies of Illusion Drag Show with host Ella Fitzgerald in Ziegfeld’s • Doors open at 9pm, Show at 11:45pm • Music by DJs Keith Hoffman and Don T. • Cover 21+ l

AUGUST 8, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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LastWord.

People say the queerest things

“I suffered with some level of my own internalized homophobia even while playing the first openly gay character on Disney Channel.”

— JOSHUA RUSH, who portrayed Cyrus Goodman on Disney Channel’s Andi Mack, coming out as bisexual in a series of tweets.

Cyrus was Disney Channel’s first gay leading character and was part of the network’s first same-sex couple, but Rush said he struggled with accepting his own sexuality behind the scenes. “I saw so many of you watch Cyrus come out and said ‘Hey! I can be me!’” he tweeted. “How ironic, isn’t it, that me, playing that character, never had mustered up that courage?”

“Why am I smiling? I’ve got beautiful teeth and I have no reason not to smile.

Why in the world are you going to take a picture and not smile?”

— CHRISTOPHER BARNETT, a gay Republican candidate for Senate in Oklahoma, speaking to a local reporter about why he is grinning in a recent mugshot. Barnett was arrested after non-fatally shooting a process server trying to serve him an eviction notice, and then — after being released on bail — was arrested again after threatening a mass shooting at a college football game.

“My jet window just cracked open and the pilots are wearing masks so not sure I’ll make my shows tonight....

Also I never told you this but I might be gay.”

— Grammy-winning music producer DIPLO, in an Instagram post showing a private jet he was flying on with a heavily cracked windscreen. In an update posted after the plane had landed, he said “We landed and no one died I still might be gay but I’m definitely not going to tye die [sic] anymore jets.” Rather than him coming out, some have speculated that his comments were a reference to Cameron Crowe’s 2000 film Almost Famous, where members of a band share secrets during a plane emergency and one says “I’m gay!”

“Mike Pence continues his anti-LGBTQ crusade

with an appearance at an event organized by the anti-LGBTQ hate group the Alliance Defending Freedom.

”

— The HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN, in a statement to NCRM after Vice President Mike Pence made three visits in five days with antiLGBTQ individuals and extremists, including an evangelical blogger, former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, and an event ran by anti-LGBTQ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom.

“Pride is about all of us, and the awesome, heartbreaking and heroic story surrounding the LGBTQ fight for freedom over the last 60 years in America. ” — FX, announcing that the cable network is producing Pride, a new six-part series charting the progress of LGBTQ rights over the past six decades. Each episode will be directed by “a different renowned LGBTQ helmer” and will chronicle “the fight for LGBTQ civil rights in America as seen through the lens of our national history and the biggest pop culture and political events.”

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AUGUST 8, 2019 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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