Metro Weekly - 01-23-14 - Heather Mizeur

2 JANUARY 23, 2014 METROWEEKLY.
COM
3 METROWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 23, 2014
4 JANUARY 23, 2014 METROWEEKLY.COM
Clinton Presidential Campaign
Foregoes Candidacy
LGBT supporters out in force, though former secretary of state
undeclared as yet
Clinton
By Justin Snow
T
HE IOWA CAUCUSES,
which have long been the
start of the presidential-nom-
ination process, are more than
700 days away, but it felt like the height
of the 2016 campaign at a gay dance club
in D.C. Wednesday night, Jan. 15.
More than 300 people, paying $20.16
a ticket, crammed into Town Dancebou-
tique to rally for a candidate who hasnt
even declared her candidacy yet.
Out & Ready for Hillary marked
the rst LGBT-specic fundraiser orga-
nized by the Ready for Hillary super
PAC, which was formed in January 2013
with the express purpose of urging Hill-
ary Clinton to run for president in 2016.
And while Clinton has demurred on her
plans for 2016 since leaving her post as
secretary of state a year ago, that hasnt
stopped the super PAC from garnering
more than 1.6 million Facebook likes and
35,000 individual donors. The average
donation stands at $82, with maximum
contributions capped at $25,000.
The enthusiasm for just the possibil-
ity that Clinton could make another run
for the White House has been the subject
of numerous polls and endless specu-
lation about which Republican, if any,
could defeat the former rst lady and
New York senator. But with the potential
for a crowded Democratic eld in 2016,
Wednesdays event appeared to be a con-
rmation that the LGBT community still
has Hillary Clintons back.
Right now in this room were expe-
riencing democracy, Michelle Clunie,
a star of the early 2000s Showtime
series Queer as Folk, told the predomi-
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nately male audience Wednesday night.
Change happens from the ground up.
This is a long ght. We have a long way
to go until 2016. Hillary hasnt thrown
her hat in the ring, but we have to show
up for her.
Among those in attendance last night
were Proposition 8 plaintiffs Kris Perry
and Sandy Stier, who relocated this week
from California to D.C. Noting their
experience in taking Californias 2008
same-sex marriage ban all the way to the
Supreme Court last year, Perry said its
never too early to organize.
One of the things thats been so inspi-
rational to us in the Prop. 8 ght is
how unied the community is around
high-priority issues, and the presidency
is a very high-priority issue, Perry told
Metro Weekly. It takes a long time to
win and I think its important for the
community to stick together and keep
speaking in a unied voice around its pri-
orities. Were a force to be reckoned with
as a community. Even though she hasnt
declared, theres no downside to being
organized and clear about what you want
a candidate to be.
Equipped with a photo booth that
included a cardboard cutout of Clinton,
the Jan. 15 LGBT fundraiser, proposed
by D.C. activist Lane Hudson, marked the
rst of many. Ready for Hillary staffers
say 2014 will see an increase in grassroots
organizing by the super PAC. According
to Lisa Changadveja, who was named
Ready for Hillarys LGBT Americans
director in September, the group will be
at more than 30 Pride festivals during the
next year.
Were going to be where the LGBT
community is. Our organization knows
the LGBT community is a very important
community to organize, Changadveja
told Metro Weekly, noting Ready for Hill-
arys rst ve hires are focused on black,
young, Latino, LGBT and women vot-
ers. We know its important to organize
these constituents early because thats
how Obama did it in 2008 and 2012 he
organized from the ground up.
Ready for Hillary hauled in more than
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News
Now online at MetroWeekly.com
NEWS: Virginia kills LGBT bills
POLIGLOT: New marriage suit against Utah
Clinton Presidential Campaign
Foregoes Candidacy
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LGBTNews
6
de Blasio for his bid for mayor of New
York City. Both men were backed by Bill
and Hillary Clinton and both won their
respective elections.
Clinton has long faced speculation
over a run for the White House in 2016,
as have Vice President Joe Biden, who
many believe pushed President Obamas
hand on marriage equality after declar-
ing his support for same-sex marriage
on national television, and Govs. Mar-
tin OMalley (Md.) and Andrew Cuomo
(N.Y.), who both signed same-sex mar-
riage legislation. Despite the likelihood
that every Democratic candidate for
president in 2016 will be a friend of the
LGBT community, Clinton supporters
say her record as the rst rst lady to
march in a Pride parade and as the sec-
retary of state who made LGBT equality
$4 million in its rst year alone in an
attempt to build a grassroots army that
can be activated the moment Hillary
makes a decision, according to Ready for
Hillary Executive Director Adam Park-
homenko.
While supporters wait with bated
breath for Clinton to make a decision
about her candidacy, Ready for Hillary
has focused its efforts on the races before
Nov. 8, 2016.
2016 seems far away to a lot of peo-
ple, Changadveja said. Over this next
year we know the 2014 elections are
going to be very important for setting the
stage for 2016. So any candidate Hillary
has endorsed, trying to help them out
as much as possible. Ready for Hill-
ary campaigned for Terry McAuliffe in
his bid for governor of Virginia and Bill
a priority of U.S. diplomacy will make
her the communitys favorite.
Look around, Hudson said simply,
motioning toward the packed dance club,
when asked if other Democratic candi-
dates might cause LGBT support to frac-
ture during the primary process.
Clinton has maintained the close ties
she has forged over the decades, choos-
ing to announce her support for marriage
equality in a 5-minute video released by
the Human Rights Campaign after she
left the Obama administration. For Clin-
ton supporters, those ties wont soon be
forgotten.
She has a long history with the LGBT
community, said Changadveja. When
and if she decides to run, shes going to
know the LGBT community and leaders
are right there behind her. l
JANUARY 23, 2014 METROWEEKLY.COM
Obamas Executive
Order Problem
As the president touts his executive authority, he reminds some of his
unfullled nondiscrimination promise
by Justin Snow
P
RIOR TO A MEETING WITH
his cabinet early last week, Pres-
ident Obama made a threat.
With a portrait of George
Washington looking down at him, Obama
told reporters gathered in the Cabinet
Room of the White House Jan. 14 that
while Congress is busy with a number of
bills at the start of 2014, We are not just
going to be waiting for a legislation in order
to make sure that were providing Ameri-
cans the kind of help that they need.
Ive got a pen and Ive got a phone,
Obama said, and I can use that pen to
sign executive orders and take executive
actions and administrative actions that
move the ball forward in helping to make
sure our kids are getting the best educa-
tion possible and making sure that our
businesses are getting the kind of support
and help they need to grow and advance
to make sure that people are getting the
skills that they need to get those jobs that
our businesses are creating.
Obama is not the rst American presi-
dent to nd himself frustrated with
Congress, nor is he the rst to threaten
executive action as his legislative pri-
orities remain blocked by the party of
the opposition. Beginning with Washing-
ton himself, nearly every president has
issued at least one executive order, with
some going upwards of 1,000. (Franklin
Roosevelt signed a whopping 3,728 dur-
ing his 12 years in ofce.)
Obama, however, nds himself in a
precarious situation. Having been elected
twice by an organized but wildly diverse
base, Obama has been besieged by those
who voted for him in 2008 and 2012, but
who havent seen him deliver on all of his
promises.
For nearly two years Obamas White
House has been forced to defend a bro-
ken promise to the LGBT community.
It was in April 2012 that White House
senior adviser Valerie Jarrett told leaders
from some of the nations largest LGBT-
rights organizations that Obama would
not sign an executive order prohibit-
ing federal contractors from discrimina-
tion on the basis of sexual orientation
or gender identity. The revelation was a
major and unexpected blow to advocates,
who had long sought the order and who
thought Obama, having promised to sign
such an executive order as a candidate for
president in 2008, would deliver.
Since that meeting, the White House
has sought to defend its decision by tell-
ing supporters and the press that Obama
supports passage of comprehensive
federal legislation the Employment
Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that
will protect all workers, rather than just
employees of federal contractors. That
argument hasnt sat well with LGBT
activists, who have been some of the
presidents most passionate defenders.
They too support ENDA, but argue sign-
ing an executive order is a tangible step
forward the president could take now.
It seemed the White House, as well
as press secretary Jay Carney, who fre-
quently elds questions on the execu-
tive order from mainstream and LGBT
media outlets, might nally catch a break
last November when ENDA cleared the
Senate with a bipartisan 64-32 vote. But
nearly as soon as the vote had been tal-
lied in the Senate, House Speaker John
LGBTNews
8
basically nullify Congress, Obama told
the crowd. And unfortunately thats not
how it works. We got this Constitution.
We got this whole thing about separa-
tion of powers and branches. There is
no shortcut to politics. And theres no
shortcut to democracy. And we have to
win on the merits of the argument with
the American people. As laborious as it
seems sometimes, as much misinforma-
tion as there is out there sometimes, as
frustrating as it may be sometimes, what
we have to do is just keep on going, keep
on pushing. And eventually, we move in a
better direction.
Thats been true for the rst ve
years of my administration, Obama con-
tinued. When folks said we couldnt
end Dont Ask, Dont Tell in fact,
somebody a bunch of people yelled,
Executive order. I decided, well, lets try
to actually pass a law. And we did.
While Obamas remarks at the start
of his rst cabinet meeting of the new
year may have signaled a greater will-
ingness to take executive action when
Congress wont act, it appears the ratio-
nale for such action still will not apply
to matters such as anti-LGBT work-
place discrimination.
Speaking to reporters last week,
Boehner announced his opposition to the
bill, nearly guaranteeing it wont even be
brought up for a vote in the Republican-
controlled House of Representatives.
While lobbying in the House, virtually
all of the bills supporters inside and out-
side of Congress insist Obama could take
immediate action to protect 20 percent
of the workforce with just the ick of his
pen. Indeed, since April 2012, when Jar-
rett announced there would be no execu-
tive order from the president, Obama has
signed about 50 other executive orders
on a range of issues.
With each order he signs, Obama runs
the risk of alienating one group or anoth-
er for acting on a particular issue over
another whether it be on such high-
prole issues as immigration reform, gun
control or LGBT workplace discrimina-
tion. During a speech at a Democratic
National Committee event in California
this past November, Obama was inter-
rupted by a heckler calling on him to take
executive action on what appeared to be
immigration reform.
Im going to actually pause on this
issue because a lot of people have been
saying this lately on every problem,
which is just sign an executive order,
and we can pretty much do anything and
White House press secretary Jay Carney
said the presidents remarks indicated a
renewed focus on using all of the tools
available to the president, acknowledging
that were not likely to get everything we
would want legislatively done through
Congress, but not acknowledging that
there arent signicant things that we can
do legislatively through a Congress.
Were not putting all our eggs in any
single basket when it comes to advancing
an agenda that grows the economy, cre-
ates more security for the middle class,
opens up opportunity for all Americans,
improving economic mobility, Carney
continued. Were going to do everything
we can across the board.
But when asked specically about
the executive order for federal contrac-
tors LGBT employees, Carney reiterated
what the White House has been saying
for years: It is our belief that the best
way to deal with employment discrimi-
nation practices is to pass the Employ-
ment Non-Discrimination Act, which is
a broad piece of legislation that would
apply broadly. And that is where we have
put our energy. And I just dont have any
new information to convey with regards
to questions about executive orders on
this matter. l
IHOP Shooter Sentenced
Carson gets six years for 2012 non-fatal shooting of gay man in
Columbia Heights
by John Riley
L
ASHAWN CARSON, A 29-year-
old mother of two young chil-
dren, was sentenced Jan. 16 to
a total of six-and-a-half years in
prison on a charge of aggravated assault
while armed and related rearms offens-
es for the 2012 shooting of a gay man at
an IHOP restaurant in D.C.s Columbia
Heights neighborhood.
Carson was found guilty at an October
2013 jury trial. Under the terms of her
sentence, once she nishes serving her
prison term, she will be placed on three
years of supervised release.
Under the D.C. Code, the penalty for
aggravated assault while armed is up to
15 years in prison.
According to evidence presented at
trial, Carson and two of her friends were
eating at the IHOP restaurant in the 3100
block of 14th Street NW in the early
morning hours of March 11, 2012. Another
table of three, including the eventual vic-
tim, was seated at another table.
As the gay male victim was attempt-
ing to walk to the cash register to pay
his bill, Carson and a male friend stood
in his way. The victim attempted to
squeeze by and bumped into Carson.
The two groups became engaged in a
verbal altercation, with the male friend
uttering homophobic slurs at the victim,
at which point, the two men started
ghting. An off-duty police detective
attempted to break up the ght. Carson
then walked over, adjusted her hair,
pulled out a gun and shot the victim
once. She later claimed that she was
under the inuence of alcohol when
she was at the restaurant, and that she
had been carrying the rearm to protect
herself, having been raped after a club
outing several years earlier.
After the victim was shot, Carson
and her friends ed the scene, prompt-
ing a nearly two-week investigation by
the Metropolitan Police Department.
As police searched for Carson, activ-
ists staged several protests and demon-
strations, including a several-hundred-
person march through the Columbia
Heights, Park View, U Street and Dupont
Circle neighborhoods, aimed at calling
attention to the shooting and other anti-
LGBT attacks around the city. Carson
was arrested on March 26, 2012.
The victim, who survived the shoot-
ing, was transported to Washington Med-
Star Hospital, treated for injuries to his
abdomen, and eventually released. l
LGBTNews
10
I
WAS ALWAYS THE ONE IN THE BACK OF THE
bar, Joe Birdwell says. Up until fairly recently the
37-year-old lived a kind of shadowy existence, too inex-
perienced and too unsupported to engage beyond the
margins of the leather and fetish communities.
But what you might call Birdwells leather-lurking days are
gone long gone. Especially so now that he will spend the
next year traveling and representing the countrys second-
largest leather event, the Centaur Motorcycle Clubs Mid-
Atlantic Leather, which last weekend packed leather and
fetish lovers in by the thousands for its 30th edition. Last
Sunday in a ballroom at the host hotel, the Hyatt Regency
Washington on Capitol Hill, Birdwell became the fourth
consecutive Mr. Pittsburgh Leather Fetish to win Mr. MAL.
He bested three other candidates in the Sunday, Jan. 19, Mr.
MAL 2014 contest: Jeffrey Williams of the Knight Hawks of
Virginia; Omar L. Boots, Mr. Connecticut Leather 2014; and
Thomas Ideux, the 1st Runner-Up to Mr. Maryland Leather
2014. Ideux was also selected as 1st Runner-Up to Mr. MAL
2014 by the contests judges panel, which this year included
Andy Cross, International Mr. Leather 2013; Joan Norry,
American Leatherwoman 2008; and two Mr. DC Eagles
2009s John Harris and 2013s Nigel Williams.
Once again everything went well. There were no major
issues at all, Patrick Grady, the longtime chair for the event,
said Monday. It was hugely successful, he added, noting
the many positive comments posted to various social media
accounts and also a seeming increase in attendance from a
lot of younger people to rst-time, middle-aged MAL attend-
ees to new leather/fetish clubs represented at Saturday nights
formal Leather Cocktails.
And then theres the always-busy nature to the Hyatts com-
mon areas, particularly the lobby. While all that hustle and
bustle might have overwhelmed some, Grady found it stimulat-
ing: All those people in the lobby, theres just a vibe of energy.
Goodness gracious! The lobby was just packed all the time.
Mr. MAL 2013 Bryce Caine who also served as a judge this
year gave a moving step-down speech, ending with a call for
greater respect in all forms. In an interview immediately after
the contest, Birdwell echoed Caines plea for more respect, and
proceeded to give specic credit to Caine and his other Steel
City title-holding predecessors from Pittsburgh. The Tennes-
see-raised Birdwell, an architect now based in Tampa, Fla., says
he became active in the leather community precisely because of
the encouragement of the many mentors he found while living
in Pittsburghs supportive community.
He hopes to do the same for other leather newcomers:
Helping people is a big thing for me. l
Steel City Streak
Mr. MAL 2014 Joe Birdwell makes it 4 in a row for Pittsburgh
by Doug Rule
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Caine (L to R), Mr. MAL 2009 Kip Hollar and Birdwell
marketplace
SATURDAY, JANUARY 25
BROTHER HELP THYSELF holds annual
grant reception. Doors at 1 p.m., 2 p.m.
reception. Ziegfelds/Secrets, 1824 Half St. NW.
brotherhelpthyself.net.
BURGUNDY CRESCENT, a gay volunteer
organization, volunteers with Food & Friends. To
participate, visit burgundycrescent.org.
CHRYSALIS arts & culture group holds bimonthly
dinner at Metro-accessible restaurant in Northern
Virginia. 7 p.m. All welcome. Kevin, 703-464-9040
ext. 1, kgiles27@gmail.com.
WEEKLY EVENTS
ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH
offers free HIV testing, 9-5 p.m., and HIV
services (by appointment). 202-291-4707 or
andromedatransculturalhealth.org.
BET MISHPACHAH, founded by members of the
LGBT community, holds Saturday morning Shabbat
services, 10 a.m., followed by kiddush luncheon.
Services in DCJCC Community Room, 1529 16th St.
NW. betmish.org.
BRAZILIAN GLBT GROUP, including others
interested in Brazilian culture, meets. For location/
time, email braziliangaygroup@yahoo.com.
DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice session at
Marie Reed Aquatic Center, 2200 Champlain St.
NW. 8-9:30 a.m. swimdcac.org.
DC FRONT RUNNERS running/walking/social
club welcomes all levels for exercise in a fun and
supportive environment, socializing afterward.
Meet 9:30 a.m., 23rd & P Streets NW, for a walk; or
10 a.m. for fun run. dcfrontrunners.org.
DIGNITY NORTHERN VIRGINIA sponsors Mass
for LGBT community, family and friends. 6:30 p.m.,
Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill, 3606 Seminary
Road, Alexandria. All welcome. dignitynova.org.
DC SENTINELS basketball team meets at Turkey
Thicket Recreation Center, 1100 Michigan Ave. NE,
2-4 p.m. For players of all levels, gay or straight.
teamdcbasketball.org.
GAY LANGUAGE CLUB discusses critical
languages and foreign languages. 7 p.m. Nellies,
900 U St. NW. RVSP preferred. brendandarcy@
gmail.com.
IDENTITY offers free and condential HIV testing
in Takoma Park, 7676 New Hampshire Ave., Suite
411. Walk-ins 12-3 p.m. For appointments other
hours, call 301-422-2398.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 26
ADVENTURING outdoors group hikes 11 strenuous
miles, 2,500 feet elevation gain, in Shenandoah
National Park. Bring beverages, lunch, sturdy boots,
about $13. Dinner follows. Carpool 8:15 a.m., East
Falls Church Metro Kiss & Ride lot. David, 240-
938-0375. adventuring.org.
US HELPING US hosts a Narcotics Anonymous
Meeting, 6:30-7:30 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW.
The group is independent of UHU. 202-446-1100.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 24
WEEKLY EVENTS
METROHEALTH CENTER offers free, rapid HIV
testing. Appointment needed. 1012 14th St. NW,
Suite 700. 202-638-0750.
services (by appointment). 202-291-4707,
BET MISHPACHAH, founded by members of the
GLBT community, holds Friday night Shabbat
services followed by oneg social hour. 8-9:30 p.m.
Services in DCJCC Community Room, 1529 16th St.
NW. betmish.org.
GAY DISTRICT holds facilitated discussion for
GBTQ men, 18-35, rst and third Fridays. 8:30 p.m.
The DC Center, 1318 U St. NW. 202-682-2245,
gaydistrict.org.
GAY MARRIED MENS ASSOCIATION (GAMMA)
is a peer-support group that meets in Dupont Circle
every second and fourth Friday at 7:30 p.m. gay-
married.com or GAMMAinDC1@yahoo.com.
HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker Health,
Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, 1701 14th St. NW,
9 a.m.-5 p.m. 202-745-7000, whitman-walker.org.
PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBT-afrming social
group for ages 11-24. 4-6 p.m. 1419 Columbia Road
NW. Tamara, 202-319-0422, layc-dc.org.
SMYALS REC NIGHT provides a social
atmosphere for GLBT and questioning youth,
featuring dance parties, vogue nights, movies and
games. catherine.chu@smyal.org.
SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-6 p.m., by
appointment and walk-in, for youth 21 and younger.
Youth Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155,
testing@smyal.org.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 23
CAPITAL PRIDE offers annual Pride Reveal. $40
at the door. 7 p.m. to midnight. W Washington D.C.,
515 15th St. NW. 202-719-5304, capitalpride.org.
WEEKLY EVENTS
Suite 700. 202-638-0750.
offers free HIV testing, 9-5 p.m., and HIV services
(by appointment). Call 202-291-4707, or visit
DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice session
at the Takoma Aquatic Center, 7:30-9 p.m. Visit
swimdcac.org.
DC LAMBDA SQUARES gay and lesbian square-
dancing group features mainstream through
advanced square dancing at the National City
Christian Church, 5 Thomas Circle NW, 7-9:30 p.m.
Casual dress. 301-257-0517, dclambdasquares.org.
The DULLES TRIANGLES Northern Virginia social
group meets for happy hour at Sheraton in Reston,
11810 Sunrise Valley Drive, second-oor bar, 7-9
p.m. All welcome. dullestriangles.com.
HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker Health. The
9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max Robinson Center, 2301
MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Call 202-745-
7000. Visit whitman-walker.org.
in Gaithersburg, 414 East Diamond Ave., and in
Takoma Park, 7676 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 411.
Walk-ins 2-6 p.m. For appointments other hours,
call Gaithersburg, 301-300-9978, or Takoma Park,
301-422-2398.
202-567-3155 or testing@smyal.org.
WOMENS LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE for young
LBTQ women, 13-21, interested in leadership
development. 5-6:30 p.m. SMYAL Youth Center,
410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3163,
catherine.chu@smyal.org.
Metro Weeklys Community Calendar highlights important events in
the D.C.-area LGBT community, from alternative social events to
volunteer opportunities. Event information should be sent by email to
calendar@MetroWeekly.com. Deadline for inclusion is noon
of the Friday before Thursdays publication. Questions about
the calendar may be directed to the Metro Weekly ofce at
202-638-6830 or the calendar email address.
LGBTCommunityCalendar
marketplace
FRIENDS MEETING OF WASHINGTON meets for
worship, 10:30 a.m., 2111 Florida Ave. NW, Quaker
House Living Room (next to Meeting House on
Decatur Place), 2nd oor. Special welcome to
lesbians and gays. Handicapped accessible from
Phelps Place gate. Hearing assistance.
quakersdc.org.
HOPE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST welcomes
GLBT community for worship. 10:30 a.m., 6130 Old
Telegraph Road, Alexandria. hopeucc.org.
INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT,
God-centered new age church & learning center.
Sunday Services and Workshops event. 5419 Sherier
Place NW. 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.
reformationdc.org
METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH OF
NORTHERN VIRGINIA services at 11 a.m., led by
Rev. Onetta Brooks. Childrens Sunday School, 11
a.m. 10383 Democracy Lane, Fairfax. 703-691-0930,
mccnova.com.
METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH OF
WASHINGTON, D.C. services at 9 a.m. (ASL
interpreted) and 11 a.m. Childrens Sunday School at
11 a.m. 474 Ridge St. NW. 202-638-7373,
mccdc.com.
NATIONAL CITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH, inclusive
church with GLBT fellowship, offers gospel
worship, 8:30 a.m., and traditional worship, 11 a.m. 5
Thomas Circle NW. 202-232-0323,
nationalcitycc.org.
RIVERSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH, a Christ-centered,
interracial, welcoming-and-afrming church, offers
service at 10 a.m. 680 I St. SW. 202-554-4330,
riverside-dc.org.
ST. STEPHEN AND THE INCARNATION, an
interracial, multi-ethnic Christian Community
offers services in English, 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., and
in Spanish at 5:15 p.m. 1525 Newton St. NW. 202-
232-0900, saintstephensdc.org.
UNITARIAN CHURCH OF ARLINGTON, an
LGBTQ welcoming-and-afrming congregation,
offers services at 10 a.m. Virginia Rainbow UU
Ministry. 4444 Arlington Blvd. uucava.org.
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF
SILVER SPRING invites LGBTQ families and
individuals of all creeds and cultures to join the
church. Services 9:15 and 11:15 a.m. 10309 New
Hampshire Ave. uucss.org.
UNIVERSALIST NATIONAL MEMORIAL
CHURCH, a welcoming and inclusive church. GLBT
Interweave social/service group meets monthly.
Services at 11 a.m., Romanesque sanctuary. 1810 16th
St. NW. 202-387-3411, universalist.org.
MONDAY, JANUARY 27
WEEKLY EVENTS
BETHEL CHURCH-DC progressive and radically
inclusive church holds services at 11:30 a.m. 2217
Minnesota Ave. SE. 202-248-1895, betheldc.org.
DIGNITY WASHINGTON offers Roman Catholic
Mass for the LGBT community. 6 p.m., St.
Margarets Church, 1820 Connecticut Ave. NW. All
welcome. Sign interpreted. dignitynova.org.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OF
CHRIST welcomes all to 10:30 a.m. service, 945 G
St. NW. rstuccdc.org or 202-628-4317.
Foundry United Methodist Church presents
SERVICE OF HOPE AND JUSTICE WITH FRANK
SCHAEFER. With Jimmy Creech and Beth Stroud.
9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m., panel discussion 12:30 p.m.
1500 16th St. NW. 202-332-4010, foundryumc.org.
WEEKLY EVENTS
Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW.
9-10:30 a.m. swimdcac.org.
LGBT-inclusive ALL SOULS MEMORIAL
EPISCOPAL CHURCH celebrates Low Mass at 8:30
a.m., High Mass at 11 a.m. 2300 Cathedral Ave. NW.
202-232-4244, allsoulsdc.org.
18
testing. No appointment needed. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012
14th St. NW, Suite 700. 202-638-0750.
The DC Center hosts COFFEE DROP-IN FOR THE
SENIOR LGBT COMMUNITY. 10 a.m.-noon. 2000
14th St. NW. 202-682-2245, thedccenter.org.
Michael Brazell teaches BEARS DO YOGA, a
program of The DC Center. 6:30 p.m., Green
Lantern, 1335 Green Court NW. No cost,
newcomers welcome. 202-682-2245,
thedccenter.org.
GETEQUAL meets 6:30-8 p.m. at Quaker House,
2111 Florida Ave. NW. getequal.wdc@gmail.com.
KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY (K.I.) SERVICES,
3333 Duke St., Alexandria, offers free rapid HIV
testing and counseling, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 703-823-4401.
Youth Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155 or
testing@smyal.org.
US HELPING US hosts a black gay mens evening
afnity group. 3636 Georgia Ave. NW.
202-446-1100.
WASHINGTON WETSKINS Water Polo Team
practices 7-9 p.m. Takoma Aquatic Center, 300
Van Buren St. NW. Newcomers with at least basic
swimming ability always welcome. Tom, 703-299-
0504, secretary@wetskins.org, wetskins.org.
Whitman-Walker Health HIV/AIDS SUPPORT
GROUP for newly diagnosed individuals, meets
7 p.m. Registration required. 202-939-7671,
hivsupport@whitman-walker.org.
HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker Health. D.C.:
Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, 1701 14th St.
NW, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. At the Max Robinson Center,
2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an
appointment call 202-745-7000. Visit
whitman-walker.org.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 28
GENDERQUEER DC holds monthly support group.
7 p.m. The DC Center, 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.
202-682-2245, thedccenter.org.
WEEKLY EVENTS
A COMPANY OF STRANGERS, a theater chorus,
meets 7:30-9:30 p.m. A GLBTA and SATB looking
for actors, singers, crew. Open Hearth Foundation,
1502 Massachusetts Ave. SE. Charles,
240-764-5748. ecumenicon.org.
ASIANS AND FRIENDS weekly dinner in Dupont/
Logan Circle area, 6:30 p.m. afwash@aol.com,
afwashington.net.
Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW.
7:30-9 p.m. swimdcac.org.
DC FRONT RUNNERS running/walking/social
club serving greater D.C.s LGBT community and
allies hosts an evening run/walk.
dcfrontrunners.org.
THE GAY MENS HEALTH COLLABORATIVE
offers free HIV/STI screening every 2nd and 4th
Tuesday. 5-6:30 p.m. Rainbow Tuesday LGBT
Clinic, Alexandria Health Department, 4480 King
St. 703-321-2511, james.leslie@inova.org.
19
METROWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 23, 2014
Youth Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155,
testing@smyal.org.
SUPPORT GROUP FOR LGBTQ YOUTH ages 13-21
meets at SMYAL, 410 7th St. SE, 5-6:30 p.m. Cathy
Chu, 202-567-3163, catherine.chu@smyal.org.
Suite 700. 202-638-0750.
US HELPING US hosts a support group for black
gay men 40 and older. 7-9 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave.
NW. 202-446-1100.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29
THE LAMBDA BRIDGE CLUB meets for Duplicate
Bridge. No reservations needed, newcomers
welcome. 7:30 pm, Dignity Center, 721 8th St. SE.
Call 703-407-6540 for a partner.
WEEKLY EVENTS
testing. No appointment needed. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012
14th St. NW, Suite 700. 202-638-0750.
AD LIB, a group for freestyle conversation, meets
about 7:45 p.m., covered-patio area of Cosi, 1647
20th St. NW. All welcome. Jamie, 703-892-8567.
Marie Reed Aquatic Center, 2200 Champlain St.
NW. 8-9:30 p.m. swimdcac.org.
HISTORIC CHRIST CHURCH offers Wednesday
worship 7:15 a.m. and 12:05 p.m. All welcome.
118 N. Washington St., Alexandria. 703-549-1450,
historicchristchurch.org.
in Gaithersburg, 414 East Diamond Ave. Walk-
ins 2-7 p.m. For appointments other hours, call
Gaithersburg at 301-300-9978.
9 a.m.-6 p.m. At the Max Robinson Center, 2301
MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. 202-745-7000,
whitman-walker.org.
PRIME TIMERS OF DC, social club for mature gay
men, hosts weekly happy hour/dinner. 6:30 p.m.,
Windows Bar above Dupont Italian Kitchen, 1637
17th St. NW. Carl, 703-573-8316; or Bill,
703-671-2454. l
THE HIV WORKING GROUP of THE DC CENTER
hosts Packing Party, where volunteers assemble
safe-sex kits of condoms and lube. 7 p.m., Green
Lantern, 1335 Green Court NW. thedccenter.org.
in Gaithersburg, 414 East Diamond Ave., and in
Takoma Park, 7676 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 411.
Walk-ins 2-6 p.m. For appointments other hours,
call Gaithersburg at 301-300-9978 or Takoma Park
at 301-422-2398.
KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY (K.I.) SERVICES,
at 3333 Duke St., Alexandria, offers free rapid HIV
testing and counseling, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 703-823-4401.
Whitman-Walker Healths GAY MENS HEALTH
AND WELLNESS/STD CLINIC opens at 6 p.m.,
1701 14th St. NW. Patients are seen on walk-in basis.
No-cost screening for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and
chlamydia. Hepatitis and herpes testing available
for fee. whitman-walker.org.
Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, 1701 14th St.
NW, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max Robinson Center,
2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an
appointment call 202-745-7000. Visit
whitman-walker.org.
20
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WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM
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JANUARY 23, 2014
VOLUME 20 / ISSUE 39
PUBLISHER
Randy Shulman
EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Todd Franson
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Will OBryan
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23
A
NOTHER JANUARY
weekend ends, and with it
so does the Centaur MCs
annual Mid-Atlantic Leather
Weekend. Congratulations to Joe Bird-
well, Mr. MAL 2014. While everything
seemed to go by the numbers, meeting
if not exceeding expectations, I did
see one sour note. A fellow on Facebook
posted a message on Metro Weeklys
MAL-related prole of the Highway-
men TNT leather club.
Why do gay people have to be so
weird? Making your sexual proclivities a
lifestyle is just odd. Cant they do all that
fundraising without us imagining them
naked wearing chaps and a harness?
What seemed lost on the guy was
that while he was insulting gay people
for apparent weirdness, his prole pic
featured him wearing a multi-colored,
feather headdress. Of course, I couldnt
help but point that out.
Its called mardi gras fucktard!!
And I didnt ask for your reply. So fuck,
kiss my ass, and die.
Obviously, my new Facebook pal
doesnt nd any similarity between MAL
and letting the good times roll. That he
labeled himself as gay on Facebook, Im
not surprised. After all, the LGBT com-
munity is often held to a different stan-
dard, by insiders and outsiders alike. My
fucktard friends perspective is hardly
different than the one I, thankfully, hear
less and less at LGBT Pride festivals.
You know, the one about, How can that
guy think its okay to wear a thong? Or,
Why would those motorcycle lesbians
dare to parade around with duct-tape
pasties?
This guys gay claim is suspect, as he
also claimed to be a therapist working
with children. If thats true, I do hope
hes not calling them fucktards and
suggesting suicide.
When it comes to members of the
tribe, I say show some respect. Its the
fringe that pushed us forward. Even if
Frank Kameny always chose to don a tie
for his public demos, he had no trouble
shaking things up.
For those on the outside, if you nd
gay people weird, what on earth do you
think of your own hetero avor?
Take gay cruises, for example.
Sodom on the sea is the reputation.
My only experience is one each, RSVP
and Atlantis. One featured a dick deck,
meaning at night the deck lights were
left off in one far-removed outdoor area
and there was some activity going on
among the stacked chaise-lounge. On
the other, there was no quasi-public
sex space. Still, I gured that what hap-
pened on the gay charter cruises was
more salacious than any straight char-
ter. Oh, how wrong I was.
While, in my experience, the boats
of gay boys get a little welcome lecture
along the lines of, We dont let Uncle
Fred and Aunt Ethel get frisky outside
their cabins, I doubt the pre-departure
lecture is quite the same on the swing-
ers cruises. I only learned of these
charters when planning a quick cruise
for my moms 82nd birthday. While we
pull back into Tampa on Monday, our
ship will depart that same evening on
a chartered voyage offering the same
great play rooms, improved Dungeon
facilities, our signature clothing-option-
al pool and the erotic, party atmosphere
you will only nd on a Couples Cruise.
Leave it to the straight folks to up
the stakes. And good for them. Im not
knocking Sam and Sally Straight for
booking a sex cruise. Id certainly be a
pompous dick to label them weird.
Sex is great and people should be free
to explore their own sexuality as they
see t, whether in a dungeon, shipboard
playspace, not at all or anywhere in
between, as long as its sane and con-
sensual. The only thing weird is that
anyone would think this is still up for
debate.
Will OBryan is Metro Weeklys
managing editor. Email him at
wobryan@MetroWeekly.com. Follow
him on Twitter @wobryan. l
LGBTOpinion
by Will OBryan
Outdated Offense
MAL offers an obnoxious reminder that some still think
it okay to police others play and appearance
MIZEURMatters
A
CCORDING TO MOST PUNDITS,
Heather Mizeur is the clear underdog in
her bid to win the Maryland Democratic
Partys nomination for governor in the
June 24 primary. The lesbian delegate
from Montgomery County doesnt have
the millions raised by Attorney General
Doug Gansler, whos had his eye on the
states top ofce for quite a few years. Nor does she have the
blessing of partys political establishment, like Lt. Gov. Anthony
Brown, whose chief backers include Gov. Martin OMalley, both
of the states U.S. senators, four U.S. House members, the Mary-
land Senate president, the Speaker of the House of Delegates,
and dozens of General Assembly members.
Yet despite her status as the potential dark horse who will
need to come from behind, Mizeur seems to take it all in stride.
Relaxed, always smiling, and highly optimistic, Mizeur main-
tains her focus, staying on message and enunciating her policy
proposals and vision for the state. Its a tall agenda, and an un-
abashedly liberal one at that. Mizeur has proposed a million-
aires tax, a living wage, earned sick leave for workers, the legal-
ization and taxation of marijuana to pay for universal preschool,
a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing aka fracking for
natural gas until a full environmental-impact study is complete,
and campaign-nance reform.
Flagged as a rising political star since her election to the
House of Delegates in 2006, she has served as a campaign surro-
gate for major causes, from the ght to legalize marriage equal-
ity in Maryland to passage of the states DREAM Act granting
in-state tuition to undocumented students. As a campaign sur-
rogate for President Obama and Democrats, Mizeur found her-
self debating former Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) and outperforming
him by many accounts, she adds on WJLAs NewsTalk with
Bruce DePuyt. DePuyt even joked after the debate that his show
had featured a showdown between the former governor and
the future governor.
This is where I think being an openly gay person has im-
pact on your world outlook and how you present in the world,
Mizeur says of her fearlessness. When you have to learn at a
young age to tackle your biggest fears and walk from a place of
truth, when you learn how to reconcile those religious questions
about external opinions versus your own, using your own hearts
North Star, when you get to a place of being out of the closet and
stepping forward we have a skill set that we can apply towards
all kinds of situations that are similar.
The external forces that have been telling me for months
that there was no way I could be a viable candidate for gover-
nor because it wasnt my turn, she continues, and because I
wasnt next in line, and I wouldnt be able to raise the money,
and I wouldnt be able to convince people that I was a candidate
that could go all the way nobodys saying that anymore. You
just learn to close down fear, and naysayers and your own doubt,
to go in and have condence in what speaks through you and
yourself.
Mizeurs life experiences have prepared her for her political
career. Growing up in the 1,100-person village of Blue Mound,
Ill., Mizeur was the eldest daughter of a United Auto Worker
and welder at the local Caterpillar plant and a member of a fth-
generation farming family growing corn, soybeans and wheat.
She vividly remembers being 9 years old and accompanying her
father to the picket line when workers at the Caterpillar plant
went on strike, forcing her family to eke out a living on $45 a
week in strike pay.
It was an early exposure for me to the political process, to
Democratic values of sticking together to ght for fairness for all
our families, to have the courage of our convictions, to work to-
gether to ensure that everyones struggles became a united com-
mon purpose, and I carried those lessons with me for a lifetime
in the General Assembly in my work, she says.
It was during the strike that Mizeur remembers meeting one
of her political idols, Penny Severns, an unsuccessful congres-
sional candidate who went on to be elected to the Decatur City
Council and the Illinois State Senate. Watching Severns talking
to the workers on the picket line made her aware that politics
could be a way to improve peoples lives.
But the dawn of Mizeurs political awareness predates the
picket line.
I was always the weird kid that liked to watch the presiden-
tial debates, she says. When I was 8 years old, I was taking
notes on the 1980 presidential debates, and Id always make up
my own palm cards for my family. My dad has 11 siblings, and I
would put together Heathers Recommendations for who you
should vote for at every level for the family on recipe cards, and
would give them to each of my aunts and uncles. Id individually
MIZEURMatters
NOT CONTENT TO WAIT HER TURN, THE LESBIAN
SEEKING MARYLANDS TOP SPOT HOPES PEOPLE
POWER TRUMPS POLITICAL ESTABLISHMENT
INTERVIEW BY JOHN RILEY
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TODD FRANSON
write them out, and give those to my family, encouraging them
to see how to vote.
And how was such advice received?
I dont come from a political family, and I had a lot of con-
viction about why I was supporting people, and could explain
it, she says. I was into trying to understand policy issues from
a young age, so I would defend and talk about why I thought
somebody was the best candidate, and, fortunately, my relatives
would treat me with the kind of respect that you would normally
afford an adult for that kind of conversation. And they would
take the cards with them, so I joke that Ive been voting since I
was around 8 years old.
Mizeur adds that she even got special permission from her
high school principal to take off a half day of school on her 18th
birthday in order to be able to drive to the county courthouse
and register to vote. On most days though not on the day of her
interview, per the request of Metro Weekly photographers she
even wears a necklace with a gold medallion that reads VOTE.
I was more excited about my 18th birthday than a lot of
kids, who couldnt wait to be 16 to drive, or 21 to drink alcohol,
Mizeur says. For me, it was all about turning 18 and being able
to vote, because I had started to volunteer on Penny Severnss
campaign, and other races in my area, and was never able to ac-
tually exercise the right to vote.
It was also an age when sexual orientation more routinely
enters the conversation, ready or not. Mizeur knew she was at-
tracted to women since elementary school, but says it was clear
that most people disapproved because of the way her classmates
would talk about being gay. Or course, she did come out, when
she was a sophomore in college. Although her parents did not
take the news well at rst, they eventually decided that they did
not want Mizeurs news to destroy their relationship with her.
If you think about the time period, it was the early 90s, she
explains. There was no Ellen Degeneres on TV, Melissa Ether-
idge hadnt come out. It was still something that people were
scared about. And parents were scared about what it meant for
your childs future when you found this out. It was still discussed
as something that would ruin your kids life, and take away their
happiness, and I was standing rm to show them that what was
going to make me happy was living my truth.
Even after coming out, however, Mizeur struggled to rec-
oncile her sexual orientation with her Catholic faith, which re-
mains to this day an essential part of her identity.
My Catholicism for me was a connection to my social-jus-
tice values, of caring for the sick, housing the homeless, feeding
the hungry, and volunteerism, Mizeur says. The epistle from
James that says, Faith without works is dead we have to put
our faith into action. Thats what my Catholicism meant to me.
And when I would try to reconcile the teachings of the
church, she continues, I would come to a place where I real-
ized that every time I would discern being gay, the only time that
I was receiving messages that it was wrong was coming from ex-
ternal places. Inside of myself, and in my own deep relationship
with God, I always knew it was okay. The church itself teaches
the primacy of your own conscience. While there are teach-
ings from the church to guide, and I certainly disagree with the
church on other teachings as well Im pro-choice that, at the
end of the day, what mattered was my own conscience and my
own discernment with Christ. That was very liberating, when I
got to the place of realizing that I was torturing myself, and living
in fear and having to struggle, only because I was listening to ex-
ternal forces trying to dictate to me what was right. And that was
at odds with what I knew in my own heart to be the right thing.
Mizeur went on to work in politics for three different mem-
bers of Congress, focusing on domestic issues, particularly
health care, before going to work at the National Association of
Community Health Centers, a nonprot organization that advo-
cates for improved access to health care for the uninsured. She
later returned to Capitol Hill to work for four years as John Ker-
rys director of domestic policy when he was a senator from
Massachusetts before, during and after his 2004 presidential
run. During her time working for now-Secretary of State Kerry,
Mizeur ran for public ofce, winning a seat on the Takoma Park
City Council in 2003.
Working on the Hill, she also met the woman she would mar-
ry, Deborah, with whom shes so far spent a decade. Initially, the
two only knew each other as fellow health care policy analysts,
and the relationship was purely professional.
There came a period where we were each single, but I never
knew that she was gay, Mizeur recalls, smiling from ear to ear.
I had a lot of respect for her professionally, but I thought she
was a straight woman, and the thought had never really crossed
my mind. Meanwhile, she had harbored a three-year crush on
me and never bothered to tell me. Finally, when she did tell me
that not only was she gay, but that she had this massive crush on
me, it was like the sun and the moon and the stars all aligned.
After a year, they were engaged. After another year, in 2005,
the couple married in a small ceremony on Marylands Eastern
Shore, where the two make a second home on an organic herb
farm in Chestertown.
While we knew we werent going to have the law recognize
our marriage in Maryland at that time, we wanted to make a
statement that we were going to get married in our state, that we
were going to work really hard for the rest of our lives if neces-
sary to make sure that the state not only protected our mar-
riage, but the marriage of every other family like ours, Mizeur
says of marrying in Maryland prior to marriage equality becom-
ing state law.
She and Deborah legally wed in California in 2008 prior to the
passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in the
I was always THE WEIRD KID THAT LIKED
TO WATCH THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES.
When I was 8 years old, I was taking notes on the
1980 presidential debates.
state. Because their California marriage was legal at the time, a
2010 opinion by Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler rec-
ognized their marriage as legal in Maryland, even though Mary-
land had not yet passed its own marriage-equality law.
Deborah and I had a conversation early on, after I was elect-
ed, Mizeur says. We felt together that we could make a differ-
ence in moving the needle on marriage equality in Annapolis af-
ter we got here, that it would be a lot harder for my colleagues to
have a negative view of marriage equality once they got to meet
a lesbian couple with such a strong marriage.
Deb came with me to a lot of social functions to get to know
my colleagues. People always invited us with them, to go out to
dinner and to engage in social activities, because they liked us as
a couple. And we could just see the shift, that we werent just the
token lesbian couple that they were inviting to come around,
but that they honored and respected our marriage. And then
it became important for us to slowly and respectfully educate
those colleagues about how differently we were treated under
the law, and how protections that anyone else might take for
granted in their marriage wouldnt apply to us.
Throughout the long-term battle to have same-sex mar-
riages treated as equal to opposite-sex marriages under the law,
Mizeur says she and Deborah never took personally some of
her colleagues reticence or refusal to support marriage equal-
ity. In fact, the couple offered some of Mizeurs fellow legisla-
tors a safe space and the opportunity off-the-record and be-
hind closed doors to ask any questions about homosexuality
or same-sex marriage that they might have had. She adds that
there were some smaller victories that she and her fellow leg-
islators in the legislative LGBT Caucus won in the run-up to the
passage of marriage equality in the state.
Legislators spouses all get badges, and they get access to
the garage for parking the cars. They get to come in the side
door, and not have to go through one door of security. We
really pushed the envelope early on, saying, This is my wife
and she deserves a spouse badge, Mizeur says, recounting
the conversations she had. Well, but the state doesnt rec-
ognize her as a spouse. Well, we need to figure out a work-
around on this, because youre treating me differently than
all of my other colleagues.
She continues: There were consistent things that we would
need to point out and try to change, but I think those little things
build on each other. First, its the recognition from the gallery.
Next, its the badge that gives you access. Then youre trying to
make sure that the state employee health plan covers our spous-
es the same way as every other legislators. For every new break-
through, as tiny as it might be, they were all building blocks that
helped lay another brick in the pathway towards full equality.
Despite the progress that Maryland has made in legalizing
marriage equality, Mizeur says there is still work to be done on
LGBT issues. Specically, that means a law to prohibit discrimi-
nation in employment, housing, credit and public accommoda-
tions for people based on their gender identity. Mizeur notes
that while the state has dragged its feet on the issue, a handful
of counties including the very socially conservative Baltimore
County have made their own inroads by passing nondiscrimi-
nation legislation that protects transgender residents.
It was ironic that in the same year, in 2011, where the Senate
passed marriage equality and the House failed to pull the votes
together, the House passed gender-identity protections and
the Senate failed to pull those together, so nothing got done,
Mizeur recounts. Then in 2012, we came together and we were
able to win on marriage equality, but, unfortunately, what then
happened politically was this sense that We did a gay bill al-
ready. And thats frustrating, because at a policy level, marriage
equality and gender-identity protections are two totally separate
issues. Theyre championed within one LGBT community, and
they both deal with protecting people, but for us to wait one
more day, one more week, to protect people who are losing their
jobs, losing their homes, or being harmed in public accommo-
dations because of their gender identity or expression is some-
thing really wrong that we need to step up to correct.
Mizeur is hopeful a gender-identity protection bill will pass
the General Assembly in the current session, but says if poli-
tics prevents the bill from passing, she will dedicate time and
resources to ensuring a bill passes once she becomes governor.
To that end, having served as a longtime proponent of LGBT
rights, Mizeur remains puzzled that ofcial LGBT groups are
not rallying behind her candidacy. Though Mizeur has racked
up support from several womens rights and pro-choice groups,
the states primary LGBT civil rights organization, Equality
Maryland, recently announced it was backing her opponent, Lt.
Gov. Anthony Brown, and his running mate, Howard County Ex-
ecutive Ken Ulman, in the Democratic primary.
I saw it as a puzzling choice, based on our records, Mizeur
says of that endorsement. There is no ticket in this race that has
done more for the LGBT community than the Mizeur-Coates
team. On top of the work that Deborah and I did during our
years in the General Assembly, not just on marriage equality, but
on health insurance protections, gender identity, a whole range
of issues important to our community, we were always there,
doing everything we possibly could to make it happen. And on
marriage equality, we didnt just have to win in the General As-
sembly we had to win at the ballot box.
And I will also say that at key moments during the marriage-
equality debate, some of these organizations and members were
pushing to be okay with civil unions as a backup strategy. And
I never wavered from my advocacy and my voice that we had
I was torturing myself, and living in fear
and having to struggle, only because
I WAS LISTENING TO EXTERNAL
FORCES TRYING TO DICTATE TO ME
what was right.
to stay strong on marriage equality and hold our colleagues ac-
countable to being on the right side of history on this, and that if
we pushed it, and made clear that we were going to settle for no
less than full equality, we could get there.
Mizeur also points out that her running mate, the Rev. Del-
man Coates, pastor of the 8,000-member Mt. Ennon Baptist
Church in Prince Georges County, was a leading pastoral voice
in favor of marriage equality, even serving as the face of the
religious argument in favor of the Question 6 ballot initiative,
which allowed Marylands same-sex marriage law to take effect,
by appearing in television commercials and persuading other
pastors to support the measure.
Im condent that if the selection were based on which team
has done the most for the LGBT community, and which team
has the best vision for the future of our state, that we would have
been selected, Mizeur says. But I think, clearly, that the selec-
tion process was dictated by other considerations.
Similarly, the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund is a national or-
ganization with a mission to get qualied LGBT people elected
and appointed to political ofce, but has not endorsed Mizeurs
gubernatorial campaign, though neither has she made such a
request.
Im not sure yet that we come at this process from the same
place, she says. I think we might have a difference of opinion
on how to calculate viability in a race. As we saw with Chris
Quinns race in New York, the candidate with the most money
and the most endorsements isnt always the one who wins. But I
think thats still the key strategy thats used by that organization
to determine who theyre going to back.
Pressed further, Mizeur points to Victory Funds recent en-
dorsement of U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine) in the Maine
gubernatorial race. Though Mizeur has tweeted well wishes to
Michaud in his campaign, she also points out that he is only re-
cently out of the closet and came out in the middle of a cam-
paign as he was about to be outed by political foes.
Mizeur is more comfortable when she is talking in-depth
about policy matters. Whether its health care, education or
drug policy, her eyes light up as she dives into the nuts and bolts
of what makes good legislation. She says her background in
health care policy, as a Hill staffer, as an analyst and from her
work in the General Assembly expanding insurance to children
has prepared her for the current ght over the Affordable Care
Act (ACA), particularly the rocky rollout of Marylands insur-
ance exchange, which was overseen by her top political rival,
Brown, in his capacity as lieutenant governor, and the expansion
of Medicaid.
I share Marylanders frustrations, Mizeur says of the roll-
out of the ACA. This has been a colossal failure. And its hurting
families. The Washington Post has called the OMalley-Brown
administrations handling of this issue a scandal of incompe-
tence. My concern is the solutions we put on the table to x this
should be about covering the uninsured, and not covering up
our mistakes. If I had been in charge, this never would have
happened, and when Im governor, it will never happen again.
When asked if she can appeal to people outside of the popu-
lous Baltimore-Washington corridor that serves as the backbone
of the state, Mizeur says her campaign message is universal.
My message doesnt change. Im not someone that promises
one set of things to the Baltimore-Washington corridor and talks
a different game in the rural parts of the state, she says. Im
being very clear in what my priorities are for the state, and the
vision Im articulating that I hope people will get excited about.
And they are, from every region of the state, because theyre
excited about candidates who are running with an honest ap-
proach toward solving our problems.
On a personal level, being someone whos as comfortable
talking agricultural policy like the price of soybeans and be-
ing on my tractor on the Eastern Shore as I am going into some
nuanced health care policy issue in Montgomery County has
its advantages. I think people are excited about someone whos
real and not afraid to be open about what I think and believe.
Were running a true grassroots campaign. You dont have to
give money to our campaign to have ve seconds with us at a big
fundraiser.
The past weekend, Mizeur and Coates held a weekend of
action where they held 18 events in eight different counties
across the state in a span of 32 hours. As part of her campaign,
Mizeur has also led teams of volunteers in various service proj-
ects, xing up old playgrounds, picking up trash, and holding
food drives, which have helped her gain positive press. Through
it all, Mizeur wants to ensure shes running a true grassroots
campaign.
I have been moved beyond measure by the number of peo-
ple who have been points of light in this campaign, who know
in their hearts, that this message, that these ideas, that this
movement that we are building has an opportunity to transform
our communities, the way we interact with each other, and to let
Maryland live up to her full potential, says Mizeur. We dont
have to accept that status quo, establishment approach to dictat-
ing that the guy who is next in line is always the one that has to
win; that the one with the most money is the one who has to win;
that the one with the most political-insider endorsements is the
one who has to win. No, the one who gets to win is the one that
has the support of the people. This is an option for something
different. This campaign is going all the way and is going to
win because of that initial army of believers, all across the state,
that planted the ag to say, Enough is enough. We can do this
differently, and were going to make this happen. l
We could just see the shift, that
WE WERENT JUST THE
TOKEN LESBIAN COUPLE
that they were inviting to come around, but that
they honored and respected our marriage.
JANUARY 23 - 30, 2014
SPOTLIGHT
2014 PRIDE REVEAL
Capital Pride throws a party at the W Hotel to give a
sneak peek into the main events as well as the 2014
theme for the weeklong event the rst week of June.
2014 Pride Reveal features live performances from
members of the local arts community, interactive
stations about each major event and displays about
Prides partners and sponsors. Thursday, Jan. 23, at
7 p.m. The W Hotel, 515 15th St. NW. Tickets are $40
at the door and include three free drink tickets and
entry into prizes. Visit capitalpride.org.
GAY/BASH!
Local drag acts Heidi Glm and Rumor Millz are
the resident dreamghouls at this monthly perfor-
mance-focused queer punk/electro-inspired party.
Each dreamghoul performs twice during the party
this Saturday, Jan. 25, when Brooklyns Severely
Mame, as featured in Sharon Needless video Call
Me On The Ouija Board makes a guest perfor-
mance. DJs Joshua Vogelsong and Dean Sullivan
spin tunes throughout. Saturday, Jan. 25, starting at
10 p.m. Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. Tickets are $5.
Call 202-667-4490 or visit blackcatdc.com.
GYPSY
HHHHH
The quintessential American musical, Arthur Lau-
rents-Jule Stynes Gypsy was inspired by the life of
striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, but the focus is on
her overbearing mother, Mama Rose, who pushed
her two daughters June and Louise aka Gypsy Rose
to be the stars she never was. For the role of domi-
neering Rose in Signature Theatres production of
the classic, director Joe Calarco tapped Sherri L.
Edelen, who remains the companys greatest per-
forming arsenal. Edelen, really and truly, puts her
own stamp on the role. Its hard to nd aws in this
musical, which offers something for everyone
from silly and sexy entertainment to a touching fam-
ily drama. Certainly Signature has done everything
right here, from James Kronzers adaptable stage
to Frank Labovitzs all-over-the-map costumes to
Karma Camps showy choreography. And through it
all Jon Kalbeisch leads a 10-piece Signature orches-
tra, which at times sounds twice its size swinging
through Stynes sharp, brassy score. Closes this Sun-
day, Jan. 26. Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave.,
Arlington. Tickets are $47 to $80. Call 703-820-9771
or visit signature-theatre.org. (Doug Rule)
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO
D.C.-raised iconoclastic musician Meshell Ndegeo-
cello continues her tour in tribute to fellow icono-
clast Nina Simone. The concert, presented by the
Howard Theatre in fall of 2012, features selection
of songs Simone either wrote or performed, includ-
ing Feeling Good and Dont Let Me Be Misun-
derstood, but revamped in Ndegeocellos gener-
ally brooding, lower-register contemplative style. I
wanted to carry on her [legacy], the bisexual Nde-
geocello told Metro Weekly in 2012. What she did
so well was take standards or songs from writers and
make them her own [so they] become the denitive
Compiled by Doug Rule
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S A CHILD GROWING UP IN HOUSTON, DAVID ROUSSVE HAD
dreams of being a Broadway triple-threat performer singer, dancer
and actor. Surprisingly, that was his principal motivation when choos-
ing college too.
Honestly, Id never heard of Princeton when I got in, Roussve says,
laughing at the memory. But I looked at a map and saw, well, New Jersey is
next to New York. I can commute to New York and become a Broadway diva.
That was my goal in life.
Broadway quickly lost its luster for Roussve, who gravitated to studying
modern dance at Princeton along with political science and African studies
all while further engaging in the experimental theater and dance communi-
ties in New York.
These days Roussve lives in Los Angeles and teaches at the University
of California, Los Angeles, when not creating dance theater pieces with his
10-member company Reality. Next weekend the Clarice Smith Center at the
University of Maryland presents the world premiere of Stardust. He choreo-
graphed, wrote and directed this piece exploring the broad concept of the
evolving nature of intimacy and technology. What it means to have relation-
ships without a whole lot of human contact.
Roussves multimedia piece incorporates dance, screen designs, music
from classic jazz to original contemporary hip-hop, and projected video and
images specically, tweets and texts that come from a poor, African-Amer-
ican gay adolescent, partly modeled on himself. Its a projection to my own
adolescence. Doug Rule
David Roussve/Reality perform Stardust Friday, Jan. 31, and Saturday, Feb.
1, at 8 p.m. Clarice Smith Performing Arts Centers Ina and Jack Kay Theatre,
University of Maryland, University Boulevard and Stadium Drive, College Park.
Tickets are $35. Call 301-405-ARTS or visit claricesmithcenter.umd.edu.
ROUSSVES REALITY
UCLAs dance diva brings his own brand of
Stardust to College Park
version. You have to put something of yourself into
it. Thursday, Jan. 30. Doors at 7 p.m. Rams Head
On Stage, 33 West St., Annapolis. Tickets are $49.50.
Call 410-268-4545 or visit ramsheadonstage.com.
ROPE
Capitol Hills The Hill Center offers a month-long
series screening lms from the master of suspense
Alfred Hitchcock with post-show discussion from
Hitchcock expert Tom Zaniello. The focus is on his
pre-Psycho dark side repertoire, including Shadow
of a Doubt and Strangers on a Train. But rst up is
1948s Rope, Hitchcocks rst lm in color, rst to
star James Stewart and featuring a screenplay co-
written by Arthur Laurents (Gypsy, West Side Story).
But Rope is most notable for Hitchcocks lming
technique: He shot it as if it were one continuous,
unbroken shot, cleverly joining hidden edits to re-
create the sustained tension of the original stage
version. Friday, Jan. 24, at 7 p.m. Hill Center, Old
Navy Hospital, 921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. Free. Call
202-549-4172 or visit HillCenterDC.org.

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READING
SEAN STRUB
Founder of Poz magazine brings his
important new memoir to Washington
T
WENTY YEARS AGO, WHEN A YOUNG GAY MAN
was diagnosed, says longtime AIDS activist and writer
Sean Strub, there was this loving, supportive AIDS
and gay community that would wrap their arms around him,
and accept that the epidemic was a collective responsibility.
Today? Thats gone, Strub says. The gay community has
largely abandoned the epidemic in favor of other priorities.
In a new book, Strub highlights the real progress that has
been made in the 20 years since he founded POZ, the
glossy HIV/AIDS-focused magazine. Most signicant-
ly is the fact that, as he puts it, with access to treatment
an important caveat somebody diagnosed today
has every reason to expect to be able to live a normal
lifespan. In addition, other biomedical advances are
showing promising signs of dramatically reducing risk of
infection in the rst place.
On Tuesday, Jan. 28, Strub will appear at Politics and
Prose Bookstore, one stop on an extensive tour to read
from and discuss his just-published historical memoir,
titled Body Counts: A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS and Sur-
vival. Among other things, Strub shares in the book his fas-
cinating memories of being an idealistic, openly gay young
man, fresh from his native Iowa, in Jimmy Carters largely
closeted Washington. Later, he documents his 1990 run for a
House seat from New York, becoming the rst openly HIV-
positive person to run for federal ofce an unsuccessful but impressive effort.
Strub, who has been on the front lines of LGBT and AIDS activism since the late 70s, sees Body Count as something of a
stylistic cross between the two best-known books about the epidemic: Randy Shilts journalistic And The Band Played On and
Paul Monettes memoir Borrowed Time. Of course, those books were written more than 25 years ago. By contrast, Strub is able
to devote some time to the epidemic and larger culture today. Included in his timely memoir, for example, Strub sounds the
alarm on some troubling patterns that seem to be getting worse, such as a rise in efforts to criminalize HIV-positive people
surrounding disclosure to negative sexual partners. Doug Rule
Sean Strub appears Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 7 p.m., at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW.
Call 202-364-1919 or visit politics-prose.com.
SAVOY
Remember A-ha, the Norwegian pop group respon-
sible for 80s hits like Take On Me and The Sun
Always Shines on T.V? Well, the bands main song-
writer and guitarist, Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, has been
making more stripped-down, indie rock-style music
with the Norwegian/American rock trio Savoy for
20 years now. Waaktaar-Savoy sings, plays guitars
and keyboards while his wife Lauren Savoy sings
and also plays guitars and Frode Unneland serves as
drummer/percussionist. Saturday, Jan. 25, at 9 p.m.
Fillmore Silver Spring, 8656 Colesville Road, Silver
Spring. Tickets are $20. Call 301.960.9999 or visit
llmoresilverspring.com.
SCAPIN
Constellation Theatre Company presents a fashion-
able, colorful production of Scapin, a modern adapta-
tion by Bill Irwin and Mark ODonnell of the classic
farce Scapins Deceit by Molire, known in the 17th
century known as The King of Laughter. A physical
comedy sending up young love and featuring clowns,
Kathryn Chase Bryer directs an ensemble cast led
by company favorite Michael Glenn and Matthew
McGee, who won the Helen Hayes Award for best
actor for his hilarious work in Constellations physi-
cal comedy from last season Taking Steps. In addi-
tion, the show at Source features music composed
and performed live each night on a baby grand by
Travis Ploeger, known for his work with Washington
Improv Theaters iMusical. Now to Feb. 16. Source,
1835 14th St. NW. Tickets are $15 to $45. Call 202-
204-7760 or visit constellationtheatre.org.
FILM
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
HHHHH
I didnt see Tracy Lettss August: Osage County on the
stage, but from what Ive heard, it was an amazing
play. But no, I saw it in a movie theater. What a mis-
take. The playwrights own two-hour screen adapta-
tion never quite bores, but as well-acted as it may be
from a cast that includes Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts,
Ewan McGregor and (ever so briey) Sam Shepard,
it fails to register much more than a shrug and a
meh. Its the kind of movie where you encounter
a big revelation and, instead of gasping, think That
probably should have made me feel something. Its
all Oklahoma Gothic, as family members gathered to
bury a family patriarch viciously shred each other to
veritable ribbons, wreaking emotional havoc of the
garden variety. Directed by John Wells (The West
Wing), everything is kept at an arms distance. We
are never drawn into the action, but remain aloof to
it. The narrative contains two huge revelations, and
both play out with a whisper. August owes a massive
debt to Lillian Hellmans scathing and magnicent
The Little Foxes, but it never quite raises itself to
that level of utter, inescapable horror. Doped-up
matriarch Violet is brittle and caustic seemingly for
no other reason than to be hateful to her daughters,
but Streep plays her awlessly, as to be expected.
Roberts makes a strong foil as eldest daughter Bar-
bara, and Julianne Nicholson is wonderful as the
sister whod rather bury her head in the sand than
confront realities of life. McGregor, meanwhile,
might as well be in another galaxy far, far away. The
lm has one electrifying scene, in which a husband
(Chris Cooper) takes his brassy, critical wife (Margo
Martindale) to task. Had the entire lm been on this
level of engagement, August: Osage County might
have been one of the years best lms. Sadly, how-
ever, its not even close. Rated R. Area theaters. Visit
fandango.com. (Randy Shulman)
PHILOMENA
HHHHH
Philomena deserves all kinds of applause for its mes-
sages about faith, resilience and forgiveness. The
subtext of this movie concerns itself with a simple,
difcult question: How, if at all, does religious con-
viction help the people wronged by a religious insti-
tution? The answer, of course, is better seen than
explained. Judi Dench stars in the title role, once
again turning in a splendid performance at the twi-
light of a career thats been full of them. Across from
Dench is comic actor Steve Coogan, who co-wrote
and produced Philomena. This is Coogans most
understated performance to date, and to his credit
he slips into the modest role with few noticeable
difculties. What sours Philomena, regrettably, is its
unsure direction by Stephen Frears. Philomena leans
into the maudlin as it concludes, undermining what
had been, up to a point, a lovingly executed, unpre-
tentious drama. Its not enough to spoil the movie,
thankfully, but just enough to make you wonder if
Frears lost his nerve. Now playing. Area theaters.
Visit fandango.com. (Chris Heller)
SAVING MR. BANKS
HHHHH
This is the tale of how the great Walt Disney (a
warm, buoyant Tom Hanks), after an arduous
20-year wooing process, nally wrested the rights
to Mary Poppins from the overprotective clutches
of its author, P.L. Travers. If that doesnt sound
utterly fascinating to you, you might want to give
Saving Mr. Banks a pass and instead revisit the 1964
classic, now out in a 50th Anniversary edition on
Blu-ray. The movie is an occasionally illuminating
microcosm of the struggle that went into overcoming
the protestations of the extremely inexible Travers.
Its a good thing Disney quietly disregarded much of
the authors wishes, or the resulting product might
have been a rather glum affair indeed. There are
some lovely performances throughout, but the lm
belongs to the wondrous Emma Thompson as Trav-
ers, allowing the authors brittle exterior to eventu-
ally crack, revealing deep sorrow and vulnerability.
Much like Travers dominated Walt Disney and his
GLASSHEART
Rorschach Theatre presents Reina Hardys play, a fairy tale that sounds like a
warped, common-folk Beauty and the Beast and said to confront the universal
uncertainties of love, fate and free will. Lee Liebeskind directs a cast that includes
Andrew Keller as the Beast, plus Natalie Cutcher as Aoife, Lynette Rathnam as
the Witch and Megan Reichelt as Only. Aaron Bliden and Mark Halpern have
composed original music. Now to Feb. 17. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H
St. NE. Tickets are $20 to $30. Call 202-399-7993 or visit rorschachtheatre.com
or atlasarts.org.
MISS NELSON IS MISSING
Jennifer Nelson directs an Adventure Theatre MTC production of a musical
based on the popular childrens books by Harry Allard, with book, music and
lyrics by Joan Cushing. To March 9. Adventure Theatre MTC, 7300 MacArthur
Blvd., Glen Echo. Tickets are $19. Call 301-634-2270 or visit adventuretheatre-
mtc.org.
MORMON BOY TRILOGY
The LGBT-focused theater company Richmond Triangle Players presents a pre-
New York run of plays in repertory written and performed by Mormon-reared
gay playwright Steven Fales. The three plays Confessions of a Mormon Boy,
Missionary Position and Prodigal Dad are presented as part of the Richmond-
wide The Acts of Faith Festival, putting spirituality onstage. Fales also performs
Mormon American Princess: A Cabaret on Monday, Jan. 27, at 7:30 p.m., for $20.
To Feb. 9. Richmond Triangle Players, 1300 Altamont Ave., Richmond. Tickets
are $30 each, or $60 for all three plays performed in a marathon every Saturday.
Call 804-346-8113 or visit rtriangle.org.
ONE MAN LORD OF THE RINGS
Yes, for this one-man show, which played for a run four years ago at Woolly Mam-
moth, Charles Ross spends just more than an hour playing every character and
teasing a surprising amount of the music from the Peter Jackson lm trilogy. He
only stops periodically to grab a drink of water and joke about the fact that doing
the show might kill him. Ross sprinkles his show with enough pop culture refer-
ences and side-jokes to keep the non-comic-con crowd entertained, but this ones
really for the Rings fanatic. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.
Tickets are $35. Call 703-549-7500 or visit birchmere.com.
STONES IN HIS POCKETS
Baltimores Center Stage presents Irish-born playwright/performer Marie
Joness Stones In His Pockets, focused on locals in a small Irish town who line up
to be extras in a big Hollywood lm, all part of their unrealistic high Hollywood
hopes. Goldman of Georgetown University directs the tragicomedy, rst staged
in Dublin in 1996, that a New York Daily News critic called an uproarious, joyful
evening. Now through Feb. 23. Center Stage, 700 North Calvert St., Baltimore.
Tickets are $10 to $64. Call 410-986-4000 or visit centerstage.org.
THE BEST MAN
Keegan Theatre kicks off its new season with a production of Gore Vidals popular
political satire The Best Man. A play about power, ambition, secrets and ruthless-
ness in the race for the presidency, Keegan taps Christina A. Coakley and Timothy
Lynch to direct a cast including artistic director Mark A. Rhea and his wife Susan
Marie Rhea, Kevin Adams, Sheri Herren and Michael Innocenti. Opens in pre-
views Saturday, Jan. 25, at 8 p.m. To Feb. 22. Andrew Keegan Theatre (formerly
Church Street Theater), 1742 Church St. NW. Tickets are $35. Call 703-892-0202
or visit keegantheatre.com.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST
After directing Oscar Wildes An Ideal Husband at the Shakespeare Theatre
Company a few seasons ago, actor/director Keith Baxter returns to helm Wildes
extraordinarily witty satire, dubbed trivial comedy for serious people. Patricia
Conolly, Sian Phillips, Anthony Roach and Gregory Wooddell lead the cast. To
March 2. Lansburgh Theatre, 450 7th St. NW. Tickets are $18 to $106. Call 202-
547-1122 or visit shakespearetheatre.org.
TWELFTH NIGHT
Movement-oriented Synetic Theater presents the 10th installment in its silent
Shakespeare series yes, the company has the chutzpah to strip Shakespeare of
his storied dialogue. And the company has also set Twelfth Night in the roaring
20s, offering a tale twins, Viola and Sebastian, separated in a strange new land.
Synetic co-founders Paata and Irina Tsikurishvili co-direct and star in the pro-
duction. To Feb. 16. Theater at Crystal City, 1800 South Bell St., Arlington. Tickets
are $35 to $55. Call 800-494-8497 or visit synetictheater.org.
VIOLET
Fords Theatre offers Jeanine Tesori/Brian Crawleys musical, based on the
short story The Ugliest Pilgrim by Doris Betts, touching on televangelists and the
military, plus quick, supercial cosmetic correctives and the deeper and more
lasting power of inner strength. First staged off-Broadway in 1997, Violet features
an American roots score that veers from bluegrass to gospel to rock by Tesori
writers, Thompson dominates every moment shes on screen. Shes the reason to
see it. Stay through the end credits for a glimpse of the real Travers. Rated PG-13.
Area theaters. (Randy Shulman)
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG
HHHHH
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is about an egomaniacal monster, hell-bent
on hoarding his treasures above all else. He surrounds himself with a mountain of
riches, all the more to remind the world of his irrefutable supremacy. He boasts
at length about his own greatness. Hes smitten by his own triumphs. This mon-
ster is Peter Jackson, and he is worse than any dragon that ever roamed Middle
Earth. The Desolation of Smaug is an oppressive, never-ending sort of punishment
for anybody bold enough to believe J.R.R. Tolkiens The Hobbit could be split
into three movies. (I should know. I once believed it, too.) How can the director
who made The Lord of the Rings series be responsible for such a terrible movie? It
bafes the mind. Now playing. Area theaters. Visit fandango.com. (Chris Heller)
STAGE
BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY
The American Century Theater offers a stage version, dating to 1992, of a baseball
tale best known from the screen either through the live TV version starring a
young Paul Newman in 1956 or the 1973 lm version that was Robert De Niros
rst major movie role. The story is about the terminal illness of a star player and
a strong bond that forms between teammates. Ellen Dempsey directs the show
starring TACT regulars Evan Crump and Richie Montgomery as part of a large
ensemble cast. To Feb. 1. Gunston Theater Two, 2700 South Lang St., Arlington.
Tickets are $32 to $40. Call 703-998-4555 or visit americancentury.org.
ELLA FITZGERALD: FIRST LADY OF SONG
A couple years after the stirring Josephine Tonight, Alexandrias MetroStage
offers another musical conceived, directed and choreographed by Maurice Hines
telling the tale of a music legend. With a book by Lee Summers, this go-round
the focus is on probably the biggest, best and most popular jazz singer of all time.
Freda Payne takes on the role of Ella Fitzgerald. Opens Thursday, Jan. 23, at 8
p.m. To March 16. MetroStage, 1201 North Royal St., Alexandria. Tickets are $55
to $60. Call 800-494-8497 or visit metrostage.org.
(Thoroughly Modern Millie) and lyrics and book by Brian Crawley (The Little
Princess). Jeff Calhoun, best known for writing the music for the Broadway hit
Newsies, returns to Fords to direct the production after his previous hits, 2005s
Big River and 2006s Shenandoah. Casting for this production is dominated by
staple performers at Signature Theatre: Erin Driscoll as the title character, plus
Nova Y. Peyton, James Gardiner, Bobby Smith, Chris Sizemore and Stephen
Gregory Smith. Opens in previews Friday, Jan. 24. To Feb. 23. Fords Theatre, 511
10th St. NW. Tickets are $20 to $52. Call 800-982-2787 or visit fordstheatre.org.
COMMUNITY THEATER
45 SECONDS FROM BROADWAY
Mark T. Allen directs a Laurel Mill Playhouse production of Neil Simons comedy,
set at the Polish Tea Room in New Yorks theater district, that serves as his val-
entine to New York theater. The plays venue offers an even playing eld, staging
performances by washed-up and on-the-rise Broadway personalities alike. You
can sense where the comedy lies. Now to Feb. 8. Laurel Mill Playhouse, 508 Main
St., Laurel, Md. Tickets are $15. Call 301-617-9906 or visit laurelmillplayhouse.org.
THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES
Marylands Rude Mechanicals, whose name derives from the beloved Shakespeare
comedy A Midsummer Nights Dream, stages a production of Eve Enslers Obie
Award-winning, culturally resonant play, directed by Lauren Breward and the
Rude Mechanicalss artistic director Jaki Demarest. Opens Thursday, Jan. 23, at 8
p.m. To Feb. 8. Greenbelt Arts Center, 123 Centerway, Greenbelt, Md. Tickets are
$17. Call 301-441-8770 or visit greenbeltartscenter.org or rudemechanicals.com.
URINETOWN: THE MUSICAL
Patrick M. Doneghy directs the Dominion Stage production of Mark Hollman and
Greg Kotiss Urinetown: The Musical, featuring choreography by Richelle Howle.
Urinetown satirizes American institutions, everything from the legal system to
corporations to municipal politics, and parodies Broadway, particularly hits like Les
Misrables. Closes this Saturday, Jan. 25. Gunston Arts Center, 2700 South Lang St.,
Arlington. Tickets are $20. Call 571-DS-SHOWS or visit dominionstage.org.
MUSIC
BOHEMIAN CAVERNS JAZZ ORCHESTRA
Every Monday night the 17-piece jazz orchestra performs a variety of music
from the big band repertoire including pieces by Duke Ellington, Count Basie,
Billy Strayhorn and Maria Schneider, plus originals from band members at its
namesake venue. Founded by baritone saxophonist Brad Linde and club owner
Omrao Brown, features some of D.C.s best jazz musicians, including Linde and
trumpeter Joe Herrera, who co-direct. Performances at 8 and 10 p.m. every Mon-
day. Bohemian Caverns, 2001 11th St. NW. Tickets are $10. Call 202-299-0800 or
visit bohemiancaverns.com.
BRAZILIAN GIRLS
No one in the New York-based band Brazilian Girls is actually from Brazil, and
theres only one girl among the quartet, vocalist Sabina Sciubba. Those are only
the most obvious mysteries about the internationally minded band and its music,
a chill-out blend of reggae, electronica and jazz. Whats not a mystery is the bands
popularity around these parts: Brazilian Girls returns to D.C. only seven months
after its last show. Thursday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m. The Howard Theatre, 620 T St.
NW. Tickets are $25 in advance or $30 day of show. Call 202-588-5595 or visit
thehowardtheatre.com.
CHRISTIE DASHIELL
As seen on TV! This local jazz vocalist was a nalist on NBCs The Sing-Off as a
member of the a cappella ensemble group Afro Blue Vocal Band. Now Christie
Dashiell kicks off a new season of artist-in-residence concerts at Strathmore
singing jazz favorites old and new as well as a Strathmore-commissioned work.
Wednesday, Jan. 29, at 7:30 p.m. Mansion at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane,
North Bethesda. Tickets are $17. Call 301-581-5100 or visit strathmore.org.
DROP ELECTRIC HEADLINES
DC MUSIC DOWNLOAD SHOW
Celebrating locally grown music: The music website DC Music Download offers
a two-year anniversary show at the 9:30 Club toasting some of D.C.s best bands.
The headliner is PhaseFest regulars Drop Electric, a multi-culti, Radiohead-
inspired eccentric electronic band comprised of children of immigrants and
featuring vocalist Kristina Reznikov. A concert presented in partnership with the
social change nonprot Raise Your City, and with $1 from every ticket purchase
beneting Girls Rock! DC, the bill also includes indie-rockers Young Rapids,
The Sea Life and The Raised by Wolves, plus tunes spun by DJ Ryan Ulbrich.
Saturday, Jan. 25. Doors at 10 p.m. Nightclub 9:30, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $16.
38
NEW POLITICS
The New York-based Danish trio New Politics tours
in support of its second album, A Bad Girl in Harlem,
which is night-and-day stronger than its punky 2010
self-titled debut. The new set is a sweeter, more
boisterous merger of punk and pop that sometimes
recalls Sugar Ray. Sunday, Jan. 26. Doors at 7 p.m.
Rock and Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE. Tickets are
$15.50. Call 202-388-ROCK or visit rockandrollho-
teldc.com.
SYLVAN ESSO
A collaboration between folk vocalist Amelia Meath
a member of the band Mountain Man and
electronic musician Nick Sanborn, of Megafaun. Its
a quirky mix of plaintive vocals over intricate elec-
tronic grooves. Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 8 p.m. DC9, 1940
9th St. NW. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the
door. Call 202-483-5000 or dcnine.com.
THE ALEXANDRIA KLEZTET
For more than a decade Seth Kibels the Alexandria
Kleztet have been combining traditional Eastern
European/Jewish music with diverse inuences,
including jazz, classical and rock. The band offers
both new arrangements of traditional melodies and
original songs written by members of the band.
Saturday, Jan. 25, at 8 p.m. Corner Store Arts, 900
South Carolina Ave. SE. Tickets are $20 in advance
or $25 walk-in. Call 202-544-5807 or visit corner-
storearts.org.
DANCE
31ST ANNUAL CHOREOGRAPHERS SHOWCASE
The University of Marylands Clarice Smith Center
offers this annual showcase that The Washington
Post has called a rite of passage in the D.C. area
Call 202-265-0930 or visit 930.com. Also visit 930.
com/friends to sign up for the clubs Friends With
Benets rewards program offering exclusive deals
and discounts on tickets, drinks and merchandise.
IBIS CHAMBER SOCIETY
Joseph Scheer of the Boston POPS Esplanade
Orchestra and Susan Robinson of the Kennedy Cen-
ter Opera House Orchestra founded the IBIS Cham-
ber Society with the intent of making chamber
music more accessible and exciting or to use their
words, informal, informative and fun. The lat-
est concert presented for free, though goodwill
donations happily accepted focuses on music
from the Americas, including works by Canadians
Ben Steinberg and Milton Barnes, U.S. composers
Robert Beaser and Katherine Hoover and Argen-
tinian Astor Piazzolla. Sunday, Jan. 26, at 4 p.m.
Clarendon United Methodist Church, 606 North
Irving St., Arlington. Call 703-755-0960 or visit ibis-
chambermusic.org.
JOSHUA BELL WITH
THE NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Considered one of the greatest living American
violinists and to a Boston Herald critic, the great-
est Joshua Bell comes back to town to perform
Mendelssohns Violin Concerto with the National
Symphony Orchestra as conducted by Christoph
Eschenbach. The program also includes Hindemiths
When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloomd featuring
the Choral Arts Society and soloists Matthias Goerne
and Michelle DeYoung. Thursday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m.,
and Friday, Jan. 31, and Saturday, Feb. 1, at 8 p.m.
Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $10 to
$85. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
dance community since the dance program at
UMD is rst-rate and has churned out many of the
leaders in the regions dance community. Presented
in collaboration with the Maryland-National Capital
Park and Planning Commission, the showcase fea-
tures about a half dozen choreographic works in a
range of dance styles. Saturday, Jan. 25, at 3 and 8
p.m. Clarice Smith Performing Arts Centers Dance
Theatre, University of Maryland, University Boule-
vard and Stadium Drive. College Park. Tickets are
$30. Call 301-405-ARTS or visit claricesmithcenter.
umd.edu.
JANE FRANKLIN DANCE
The Trickster is a multidisciplinary work from the
Jane Franklin Dance company in collaboration with
Helen Hayes Award-winning theatrical percussion-
ist Tom Teasley. Saturday, Jan. 25, at 7 p.m. The-
atre on the Run, 3700 South Four Mile Run Drive,
Arlington. Tickets are $30. Call 703-933-1111 or visit
janefranklin.com.
PEARSONWIDRIG DANCETHEATER
As part of the nightly Millennium Stage program-
ming series, the Kennedy Center presents the con-
temporary dance of local company PearsonWid-
rig DanceTheater, led by Sara Pearson and Patrik
Widrig. Friday, Jan. 24, at 6 p.m. Kennedy Center
Millennium Stage. Free. Call 202-467-4600 or visit
kennedy-center.org.
SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS
Based in New York, this group seeks to breathe
new life into traditional Chinese culture, blending
beauty, energy and grace. Dancers dressed in daz-
zling costumes move in seamless, owing patterns
while a live orchestra and thunderous drums shake
the stage, against stunning, otherworldly backdrops.
Shen Yun Performing Arts returns to the Kennedy
Center for a run of performances presented by Falun
Dafa Association of Washington, D.C. Remaining
shows are Thursday, Jan. 23, through Saturday, Jan.
25, at 7:30 p.m. Also Saturday, Jan. 25, and Sunday,
Jan. 26, at 1:30 p.m. Kennedy Center Opera House.
Tickets are $50 to $250. Call 202-467-4600 or visit
kennedy-center.org.
COMEDY
FORTUNE FEIMSTER
Feimster returns to Arlington Cinema N Drafthouse
only six months after making her D.C.-area debut at
the venue last summer. One of the funniest members
of the Chelsea Lately comedy family, Feimster is a
fulltime writer, regular roundtable panelist and per-
former in short show sketches. The North Carolina
native has been out as a lesbian from her very rst
TV appearance as a contestant on NBCs Last Comic
Standing. They keep me pretty busy, putting me
in little tiny outts, Feimster said last year in an
interview with Metro Weekly, adding that she has
no qualms about regular ribbing on the show for
her laidback physical appearance. Ive always had a
good sense of humor, and Ive never taken myself too
seriously, so I dont mind acting or looking ridicu-
lous. Friday, Jan. 31, at 10 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 1,
at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Arlington Cinema N Drafthouse,
2903 Columbia Pike, Arlington. Tickets are $22. Call
703-486-2345 or visit arlingtondrafthouse.com. l
FOR MORE OUT ON THE TOWN LISTINGS
PLEASE VISIT
WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM
40
L
ET ME MAKE THIS
plain right away in case
it matters to you, and in
case you also neglected
to read between Arena Stages
promotional lines: The Tallest
Tree in The Forest is a one-man
show. Or, if youd prefer, another
solo play from Daniel Beaty, as
Arena referred to his last show
Emergency. Beaty wrote and stars
in this bio-play about the contro-
versial African-American actor/
activist/academic Paul Robeson,
who rst came to attention with
the Harlem Renaissance and
eventually fell from public grace
with pushes from Sen. Joseph
McCarthy and FBI Director J.
Edgar Hoover. Beaty portrays
Robeson and all of the nearly
40 others besides including
McCarthy and Hoover.
All thats to say, if you are like
some theater acionados I know,
the type who categorically reject
seeing one-person shows, such
a blanket ban is ill-advised. It
means every now and then youll
miss those well-crafted shows
that are well-suited even only
suited to the form. Alas, The
Tallest Tree in The Forest is not
one of those one-man shows.
You cant help but wonder if
Moises Kaufman was tapped to
direct Beaty here because of his
success with a similar one-man
show, I Am My Own Wife, hoping
he might be able to liven things
up. To be fair, Beaty deserves
props on several accounts here
for following through on a per-
sonal vow to give Robeson more
of his due, in response to Beatys
initial outrage about rst discov-
ering Robeson while as a vocal
student at Yale University; for
having the chutzpah to present
Robeson as the complicated man
its pretty obvious he was one
minute a gung-ho American, the
next a Russian sympathizer and
the reason youre not sure you
like him, though you do certainly
admire his talent and audacity;
and for giving a suitably tour-de-
force performance, constantly
shifting between so many charac-
ters, and hardly missing a beat in a
script that is fairly dense and eru-
dite, as well as quick-changing.
But the show really needs more
energy and punch. If nothing else,
you hope and expect the music to
be a saving grace. After all, Arena
is billing this as an almost-musi-
cal: New music-infused play
incorporates 14 songs and a live
band Maybe Im wrong, but it
seems a stretch to boast of hav-
ing a live band when all youve
got is three instrumentalists, who
dont even play all that often in
unison and are a bit scattered in
the back of Derek McLanes deep,
industrial stage.
But hey, maybe if the trio had
some livelier, more interesting
arrangements, I might have been
singing their praises instead. But
Kenny J. Seymours arrangements
are often as bland and colorless as
Beatys shout-singing voice. Ive
never heard a more languid The
Joint is Jumpin. Even worse is
the desultory Happy Days Are
Here Again. And those were the
two I was counting on for some
good-time release. Better to just
count down the remaining songs
until the end.
Of course, nothing adds dyna-
mism better than an additional
actor or two feeding off the lead.
As amusing as Beatys portrayal
of Robesons wife Essie is, I cant
help but think hiring another
actor to play the part would add
some useful depth to their rela-
tionship, making us equally sym-
pathetic to both at some turns
and equally perturbed at oth-
ers. And considering how much
of the script centers on exchang-
es between the couple, a second
actor would double the pleasure.
Instead, we only get a double
dose of the classic song Ol Man
River from Show Boat, which
made Robeson famous. Beaty
sings it not once, but twice. And
once is enough. l
Daniel Beatys almost-musical about the life and trials of legendary
singer Paul Robeson lacks energy and punch
Beaty
THE TALLEST
TREE IN THE
FOREST
HHHHH
To Feb. 16
Arena Stage
$40 to $90
202-488-3300
arenastage.org
One-Man Showboat
DOUG RULE STAGE
D
O
N

I
P
O
C
K
W
HILE THERES NO SHORTAGE OF PRODUC-
tion metal at an auto show, the real draw for
the journalists and members of the public who
crowd the many halls and stands arent the cars
they can buy today or several months from now, but the one-off
concepts that shine a light into the distant future of motoring.
These outlandish, exquisite, over-the-top models showcase
every piece of a manufacturers technological and engineer-
ing marvel in one four-wheeled design, as well as helping give
subtle or overt clues as to the future of either the marque as a
whole, or just one specic model.
Take Toyotas FT-1 concept, for instance. Lets start by
agreeing: Its an absolute beast a mass of low-slung, sculpted,
bulging metal, with sports-car signatures of a long hood, over-
sized wheels and gaping exhausts. It screams power, speed and
dynamics and is everything you want in a concept car a cloy-
ing tease that begs to be driven, but will never actually wel-
come an average Joe into its nely honed cockpit.
From the huge, Formula 1-style nose, with its LED lights
and gaping air-intakes, to the at, creased, wing-dominated
rear, the FT-1 is a textbook example of borrowing ideas and
massaging them into one excellent whole. Theres Bugatti
Veyron in the headlights, TVR Sagaris and Lexus IFA in the
rear, and a sloping prole that could have been lifted from any
number of great sports cars, but Toyota has blended it all into
something that manages to retain a unique identity. Step in-
side and its brushed metal, a race-inspired steering wheel, a
projection-display in place of dials or an LCD and a bespoke,
chiseled dash. If it werent for the familiar Toyota badge, this
could be from any number of established luxury marques.
Indeed, the whole thing feels like a fantasy study in car de-
sign, which is because thats exactly what it is. The FT-1 will
apparently never see day as a production model, being crafted
much like Mercedess Vision GT Concept and Citrons GT
by Citron specically for use in a racing game. As such, if
you want to get your (virtual) hands on it, the FT-1 is now avail-
able as a download in Sonys PlayStation game Gran Turismo 6.
If you want one in the real world, it might be time to start plan-
ning that bank robbery before you cut Toyota a check.
If you want a concept that more directly translates to a
production model, try Volvos Concept XC Coupe. I know, I
know. Volvo. Memories of safe, sedate wagons and sedans
abound, but the Swedish manufacturer has been venturing
through something of a design revolution in recent years. That
all culminates in its XC Coupe, which offers the biggest hint
yet as to the next generation of Volvos XC90 SUV. After prov-
Toyota presents a concept car that relishes in fantasy, while Volvo debuts a design vision
that will soon become reality
Toyotas in-your-dreams machine
41
Whimsy and Reality
RHUARIDH MARR GEARS
ing immensely popular with moms everywhere for its safety and
practicality, that decade-old car is looking immensely long-in-
the-tooth.
Enter, then, this ice-white whippersnapper, which seeks to
put a fresh face on Volvos largest car. That bold grille, the styl-
ized LED lighting, the long hood theyll all be making an ap-
pearance on the XC90 before trickling down in some form to the
other models in Volvos range. The shoulder-padded taillights
will also be on the new SUV, inspired by similar lamps on the
C30 coupe. Of course, the racy concept here is much lower and
sportier than will be nal design which debuts in gay Paris in
the fall with the nished car featuring ve doors and a nished
interior, unlike the rather barren XC Coupe on display in Detroit.
If the XC90 that makes it to showrooms draws more than a
light inspiration from the sleek, purposeful Concept XC Coupe,
Volvo could very easily nd its rather middle-aged past to be,
well, a thing of the past. l
Volvo safe gets sexy
A
NOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER INTENSE CON-
sumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The annual
pilgrimage by the worlds technology companies to
Sin City is every kind of geeky wet-dream to those
who eat, breathe and dream all things gadgetry. From pomp-
ous chest-beating as large conglomerates proclaim numerous
world rsts, to small start-ups hoping theyve crafted the next
big hit, its a fascinating look into the year ahead for technolo-
gy and what we can expect to see cropping up on retail shelves
over the coming months.
CES was lled with important announcements and launch-
es, but weve managed to condense a weeks worth of news
into one easily digestible article. What can you expect to learn
from this years event? Bigger is still very much better, gam-
ing has nally returned, were all desperate to track our every
movement and Michael Bay proved hes as awed as his lms.
Lets jump in.
COMPUTERS
PCS AT CES TOOK A VERY UNUSUAL TURN. YES, THERE
were the usual product updates and minor hardware revisions:
Lenovo made mild tweaks to its Y and Z laptop lines, with the
former gaining a 3,840 x 2,160 screen, and refreshed its beautiful
Thinkpad Carbon Ultrabook with the latest processors and high-
er-res display; Samsung jacked up the sound on its ATIV Book
9 with lossless audio and studio-like sound quality; and Toshiba
RHUARIDH MARR
matched Lenovos dense screen on its Satellite P50T notebook.
All well and good, but hardly edge-of-your-seat announce-
ments. Where CES really set itself apart this year was in the
convertible space, like laptops that become tablets that be-
come desktops that become Skynet. (Wait, ignore that last
one.) ASUS debuted its Duet laptop, a 13-inch tablet hybrid
that runs both Windows and Android to satisfy every possible
work and play requirement. With a screen that detaches
from its keyboard dock and storage up to 1TB, it could be the
best of both worlds for many people.
When not gently massaging fresh innards into current
products, Lenovo was also launching the Miix 2. Available in
10- or 11-inch screen sizes, its a laptop/tablet hybrid that of-
fers one unique feature: The screen can be docked to face away
from the keyboard, which turns it into a great stand for watch-
ing lms or for using in tablet mode. Lenovo also updated the
Yoga laptop. Its selling point is a unique hinge that allows for
ve different positions: laptop mode, ip the screen all the way
over for tablet mode, lie the screen and keyboard at mode,
ip the screen upside down mode, or prop the screen and key-
board up in tent mode. Its an intriguing concept that just
became more desirable thanks to 11- and 13-inch screens, high-
er-res displays and backlit keyboards.
Sony was also pretty enamored with the Yoga laptop family
so much so that they launched the Flip last year, an almost
exact copy of the Yogas trick-hinge convertible set-up. Enter
the new Flip 11A which offers Sonys take on Lenovos idea
TECHNOCRAT
This months CES in Las Vegas proved, bigger is better, gaming has returned, and were all desperate to
track our every movement
LG 105-inch curved Ultra HD TV
43
CES Wrap-Up
with an 11-inch screen, digitizer-pen input and rather palatable
$800 price point.
Toshiba brought two interesting products to CES. The rst is
a 5-in-1 laptop concept that, you guessed it, takes after Lenovos
Yoga laptop. This time around, though, the keyboard is actually
detachable, leaving just a slim metal piece around the hinge that
can be used as a kickstand for the display, allowing you to use the
keyboard from further away, or interact with the touchscreen
in a variety of orientations including tent and canvas. Its a
pretty nifty concept, one that essentially turns the laptop into an
all-in-one with separate keyboard when desired. Toshibas other
product is a Chromebook. I didnt love HPs 11-inch Chromebook
11 when I reviewed it, but its $279 price point made it hard to
fault. Toshiba seems to have rectied its shortcomings with a 13-
inch screen, more power from an Intel CPU and kept the same
$279 price. For a Chromebook, its something of a steal.
Ultimately, however, it was Razer who stole the computing
show with its Project Christine modular gaming PC concept.
It is essentially a desktop, but unlike any youve seen before. It
features a slim central tower, with several modules protrud-
ing from it. These modules house the core features of the com-
puter. CPU, GPU, RAM, memory, optical drive, connectivity, in-
puts, etc. Upgrading your PC is as simple as plug and play. Turn
it off, detach a module, plug a new module in with, say, a faster
CPU, and youre good to go. Razer says it would like to introduce
a subscription model, so users can easily upgrade to the latest
components when they are released, rather than sourcing a new
computer or swapping various parts for their full price. It is, of
course, all a concept at this stage, but Razer is keen to bring it to
reality. Razer envisages a desktop future where theres less waste.
Users no longer throw an old PC out, instead simply swapping
the components out that are no longer up-to-date. Kudos, Razer.
GAMING
BACK IN THE EARLY 90S, GAMING WAS A BIG PART OF
CES. But in the middle of the decade, the various hardware and
software companies that represented video games broke off and
started the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, which is now
the largest gaming expo in the world. This year, though, saw the
return of some old favorites and some fresh blood to CES. Gam-
ing, it would seem, is somewhat back in Vegas.
The big news came from Sony, which, in no uncertain terms,
kind of aced its presentation. Sony chief Kaz Hirai stepped on-
stage to announce Playstation Now, a subscription-based service
that will stream games to PS4, PS Vita, PS3, tablets, smartphones
and Sonys Bravia TVs. Gamers can rent an individual title or
subscribe to stream games as they choose. Initial catalog offer-
ings will be entirely PS3-based for now, but Sony aims to expand
the service to eventually include PS4 games. Features such as
multiplayer, trophies and messaging will work from every de-
vice. Games will stream at 720p and Sony has conrmed that it
requires at least a 5Mbps Internet connection for a good expe-
rience, while users on TVs and tablets will need a DualShock 3
handy to connect and game with though that should hardly
come as a surprise. Whats more, based on demos at CES, it all
seems to work surprisingly well with minimal lag between de-
vices. Further, PlayStation Now solves two problems: the lack of
backward compatibility between PS4 and PS3, and the lack of
games for PS4 and PS Vita. There are 800 games available for
PS3. Even if Sony only puts a fraction of those onto its stream-
ing service, thats a lot of content for Sonys next-gen console and
powerful handheld device.
Oculus VR is known primarily for one device, the Rift virtual
reality headset, which allows players to see into their gaming
worlds via two small screens embedded into the headset and
motion-tracking look around in-game. Enter the Crystal Cove,
a prototype headset that throws depth-tracking and reduced mo-
tion blur into the mix, as well as new OLED screens for improved
image reproduction. Utilizing a camera that tracks the headset as
the user wears it, the new prototype allows for 1:1 head tracking
in-game, which should lead to even greater immersion. Paired
with the right game, the new headset could prove an intoxicat-
ingly absorbing way of jumping into a digital world.
TELEVISIONS
PREPARE FOR THE TWO BUZZWORDS OF CES 2014: ULTRA
HD (also known as 4K) and OLED, both heralded as the next
great technology to enter our humble screens. Anyone else re-
member when 3D was similarly lauded by manufacturers? Just
me? Okay.
CES 2014 was very much like last years, in the sense that it
was all about Samsung and LG trotting out their homegrown
rivalry for the world to see. Samsung announced one product,
LG countered with something similar. LG claimed a world-rst,
Samsung claimed another. LG whipped it out and measured it,
Samsung dutifully grabbed a ruler and followed suit.
Samsung jumped onstage at CES and ushered in a 105-inch,
curved Ultra HD TV. Yes, 105-inches. The diagonal length of this
TV is almost the same as the length of a Smart car. With a reso-
lution of 5,120 x 2,160 and a 21:9 aspect ratio, its gargantuan in
every aspect and makes my 42-inch set feel more than a little
inadequate. Of course, by the time Samsung announced it, the
large set wasnt news as LG debuted an identical TV earlier that
night. Samsung apparently claims a bigger curve in their model,
so really its down to personal preference here.
Where both companies differed was in concept screens. LG
displayed a 77-inch OLED Ultra HD TV that bends at the touch of
a button, transitioning from at to a curve that leaves it just over
3-inches narrower. The appeal of curved TVs is the improved,
IMAX-style viewing experience, but at-panel screens offer
greater storage and mounting options. A mix of the two, then, is
the reason for this concept. Of course, LGs announcement was
old hat by the time they shouted to the world. Samsung had al-
ready put its 85-inch Ultra HD screen. Its not an OLED display,
but it is bigger. Again, its size vs. quality for your choice, folks.
While the rivals were busy beating their chests, others were
announcing their own innovations. Panasonic introduced its
VIERA Life+ Screen, featuring facial- and voice recognition to
personalize each users experience. Toshiba attempted to one-up
both Samsung and LG by debuting a 5K TV but in reality it was
the same resolution as the 105-inch displays from both Korean
Razers Project Christine
companies thats actually 4K resolution with an extra thou-
sand pixels to stretch it to a 21:9 ratio. Still, kudos to Toshiba for
entering the corporate one-upmanship contest.
Vizio deserves a plaudit for announcing plans to sell a 50-
inch, 4K TV for $999, a staggering reduction from the $5000-plus
prices on other sets. Given its Vizio, it should be decent quality
as well. If Ultra HD is going to catch on, it needs lower prices to
entice average Joe consumers. Vizio could well nd itself at the
front of the 4K consumer push.
WEARABLES
WHEN DID WEARING TECHNOLOGY BECOME SO DU JOUR?
This years CES was dominated by smart watches, activity track-
ers and even thanks to Intel a baby onesie that can track your
bundle of joy as it sleeps. Lovely.
Pebble, proud owners of the most successful Kickstarter
campaign in history, introduced a new version of its e-ink smart-
watch, dubbed the Steel. Its actually a very nice piece of hard-
ware, available with either a metal or leather wrist strap, that
takes the innards of the current Pebble watch and encases it in
stainless, CNC-machined steel. Its waterproof, has anti-nger-
print coating, a tough Gorilla Glass screen and an LED notica-
tion light all improvements over the original and should help
its wearer blend more easily into a formal environment than the
charming, brightly colored, plastic original. On sale Jan. 28 for
$250, its an intriguing and enticing smartwatch.
But, oh, how Ive come to loathe the term smartwatch. Ev-
eryone was offering their own interpretation at CES. ZTE of-
fered the BlueWatch, which essentially copies the Pebble for the
Chinese market. Archos brought three offerings, seemingly un-
able to settle on one coherent design, with retail prices at $50,
$100 and $130. Those prices bring you a black-and-white display,
a color display and a color display with aluminum casing, respec-
tively, and a host of Pebble-like smart features and phone pair-
ing functions. Start-up company Martin introduced an analogue
watch with a small OLED screen to display notications. Nep-
tune brought its Pine smartwatch to CES, but rather than make a
watch smart, theyve simply shrunk a phone down and strapped
it to your wrist. Genius. Can we move on now?
Fitness trackers are also seeing increased movement in tech
companies, with a multitude of devices on show. Scoshe had
the Rhythm Smart+ armband, which monitors blood ow and
heart rate. Garmin demoed the Vivot, which has an always-on
display, tells you when youve been lazy and presumably doesnt
cry when you angrily respond. Epson had the Pulsense, which,
naturally, measures your pulse as you work out, sleep, move and
eat, as well as tracking all of the usual metrics such as sleep and
calories. LG had the Lifeband, which features a touchable OLED
screen that displays notications from your phone as it tracks
your vitals. Finally, Jaybird announced the Reign, a wristband
that tracks everything every other band does, but features one
unique addition: It tells you when you want to work out. Given
never isnt an option, Im not sure how accurate it will be.
MICHAEL BAY
THE DIRECTOR OF SUCH FILMS AS TRANSFORMERS,
Pearl Harbor and The Island, Michael Bay let the vastness of CES
get the better of him. The man famous for proving that cinema-
goers will watch anything with more explosions than tangible
plot details stepped onstage at Samsungs presentation to en-
dorse one of its curved screens, only to step right back off a few
moments later. Awkwardly, at a technology conference, there
was a fault with Michaels autocue, with the director losing his
place in his speech. The type is all off. Sorry, but Ill just wing
this, he said as it became clear something was wrong. This was
further compounded when, following some awkward pauses,
he uttered Excuse me, Im sorry, Im sorry, and proceeded to
walk off the stage. Public speaking is nerve-wracking at the best
of times, never mind in front of an audience of global journalists,
so my sympathies to Mr. Bay for his reaction. Still, one cant help
but wonder how often someone has asked, Whats the plan for
this lm, Mr. Bay? for Michael to respond, Ill just wing it. l
Pebble Steel
NIGHT
LIFE
47 METROWEEKLY.COM
M
THURSDAY, 01.23.14
9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm Multiple
TVs showing movies,
shows, games, football on
Sundays Expanded craft
beer selection No cover
ANNIES/ANNIES
UPSTAIRS
4@4 Happy Hour,
4pm-7pm $4 Small
Plates, $4 Stella Artois,
$4 House Wines, $4
Stolichnaya Cocktails, $4
Manhattans and Vodka
Martinis
DC EAGLE
Black Out Night
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Karaoke, 9pm
GREEN LANTERN
Shirtless Men Drink Free,
10-11pm
JR.S
$3 Rail Vodka Highballs,
$2 JR.s drafts, 8pm to
close Top Pop Night
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Beat The Clock Happy
Hour $2 (5-6pm), $3
(6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Buckets of Beer $15
Drag Bingo
NUMBER NINE
drink, 5-9pm No Cover
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
All male, nude dancers
Shirtless Thursday DJ
Tim E in Secrets 9pm
Cover 21+
LISTINGS
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Karaoke, 9pm
JR.S
Buy 1, Get 1,
11pm-midnight Happy
Hour: 2-for-1, 4-9pm $5
Coronas, $8 Vodka Red
Bulls, 9pm-close
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
DJ Matt Bailer Videos,
Dancing Beat The Clock
Happy Hour $2 (5-6pm),
$3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Buckets of Beer $15
NUMBER NINE
Open 5pm Happy Hour:
2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm
No Cover
PHASE 1
DJ Styalo Dancing
$5 cover
PHASE 1 OF DUPONT
1415 22nd St. NW
For the Ladies DJ Rosie
Doors at 9pm 21+
FRIDAY, 01.24.14
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink,
5-9pm Friday Night
Videos with resident
DJ Shea Van Horn VJ
Expanded craft beer
selection No cover
ANNIES
4@4 Happy Hour, 4-7pm
$4 Small Plates, $4 Stella
Artois, $4 House Wines,
$4 Stolichnaya Cocktails,
$4 Manhattans and Vodka
Martinis Upstairs open
5-11pm
DC BEAR CRUE
@Town Bear Happy
Hour, 6-11pm $3 Rail,
$3 Draft, $3 Bud Bottles
Free Pizza, 7pm Hosted
by Charger Stone No
cover before 9:30pm 21+
DC EAGLE
Final Friday!
PWS SPORTS BAR
9855 Washington Blvd. N
Laurel, Md.
301-498-4840
Drag Show in lounge
Half-price burgers and
fries
TOWN
Drag Show starts at
10:30pm Hosted by
Lena Lett and featuring
Tatianna, Shi-Queeta-
Lee, Jessica Spaulding
Deverreoux and BaNaka
Doors open at 10pm For
those 21 and over, $5 from
10-11pm and $10 after
11pm For those 18-20,
$10 all night 18+
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Ladies of Illusion with
host Kristina Kelly, 9pm
Cover 21+
SATURDAY, 01.25.14
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
5-9pm $5 Absolut &
Titos, $3 Miller Lite after
9pm Expanded craft
DC EAGLE
Eagle Last Stand - Come
have your fnal drink at 639
Club Bar: Mr. DC Eagle
2014, Ramien
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Diner Brunch, 10am-3pm
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Karaoke and/or live
entertainment, 9pm
JR.S
$4 Coors, $5 Vodka
highballs, $7 Vodka Red
Bulls
NELLIES
Guest DJs Zing Zang
Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer,
House Rail Drinks and
Mimosas, $4, 11am-5pm
Buckets of Beer, $15
NUMBER NINE
No Cover
PHASE 1
Dancing, 9pm-close
PHASE 1 OF DUPONT
Doors at 9pm 21+

PWS SPORTS BAR
Laurel, Md.
301-498-4840
Karaoke in the lounge
Charity Bingo with Cash
Prizes 3rd Sat. of Every
Month
TOWN
Ryan Rose, Falcon Studios
2013 Man of the Year
DJ Wess Drag
Show starts at 10:30pm
Hosted by Lena Lett
and featuring Tatianna,
Shi-Queeta-Lee, Jessica
Spaulding Deverreoux and
BaNaka For those 21
and over, $8 from 10-11pm
and $12 after 11pm 21+
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
All nude male dancers,
9pm Ladies of Illusion
with host Ella Fitzgerald,
9pm DJ Steve
Henderson in Secrets DJ
Spyke in Ziegfelds Doors
8pm Cover 21+
SUNDAY, 01.26.14
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
49
M
scene
scan this tag
with your
smartphone
for bonus scene
pics online!
Reaction: Mid-Atlantic
Leather Weekend
Closing Party
Sunday, January 19
9:30 Club
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
WARD MORRISON
AND TODD FRANSON
DC EAGLE
Moving Party Thanks for
28 great years and see you
all in late Summer 2014
FIREPLACE
Skyy Vodka, $3 $5 cover
with $1 off coupons
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Champagne Brunch
Buffet, 10am-3pm
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Drag Show hosted by
Destiny B. Childs featuring
performances by a rotating
cast, 9pm No cover
Karaoke follows show
JR.S
Sunday Funday Liquid
Brunch Doors open at
1pm $2 Coors Lights &
$3 Skyy (all favors), all
day and night
NELLIES
Drag Brunch, hosted by
Shi-Queeta-Lee, 11am-3pm
$20 Brunch Buffet
House Rail Drinks, Zing
Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie
Beer and Mimosas, $4,
11am-close Buckets of
Beer, $15
NUMBER NINE
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Decades of Dance DJ
Tim-e in Secrets Doors
8pm Cover 21+
MONDAY, 01.27.14
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
Hour: 2 for 1 on any
TVs showing movies,
ANNIES
Martinis
FREDDIES
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Karaoke, 9pm
JR.S
Happy Hour: 2-for-1, 4-9pm
Showtunes Songs &
Singalongs, 9pm-close
DJ Jamez $3 Drafts
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Hour $2 (5-6pm), $3
(6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Buckets of Beer $15
Poker Texas Holdem, 8pm
NUMBER NINE
No Cover
51 PURCHASE YOUR PHOTO AT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM/SCENE/
PWS SPORTS BAR
Laurel, Md.
301-498-4840
Buzztime Trivia
competition 75 cents off
bottles and drafts
TUESDAY, 01.28.14
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
TVs showing movies,
ANNIES
Happy Hour, 4-7pm $4
Stella Artois, $4 House
Wines, $4 Stolichnaya
Cocktails, $4 Manhattans
and Vodka Martinis
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Karaoke, 9pm
JR.S
Underground (Indie Pop/
Alt/Brit Rock), 9pm-close
DJ Wes Della Volla
2-for-1, all day and night
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Hour $2 (5-6pm), $3
(6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Buckets of Beer $15
Karaoke
NUMBER NINE
No Cover
PWS SPORTS BAR
Laurel, Md.
301-498-4840
75 cents off bottles and
drafts Movie Night
WED., 01.29.14
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
TVs showing movies,
ANNIES
Happy Hour, 4-7pm $4
Stella Artois, $4 House
Wines, $4 Stolichnaya
Cocktails, $4 Manhattans
and Vodka Martinis
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm Drag
Bingo, 8pm Karaoke,
10pm
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour Prices,
4pm-Close
JR.S
Trivia with MC Jay
Ray, 8pm The Queen,
10-11pm $2 JRs Drafts
& $4 Vodka ($2 with
College I.D./JRs Team
Shirt)
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Hour $2 (5-6pm), $3
(6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Half-Price Burger Night
Buckets of Beer $15
SmartAss Trivia, 8pm
NUMBER NINE
No Cover
PWS SPORTS BAR
Laurel, Md.
301-498-4840
Free Pool 75 cents off
Bottles and Drafts
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
New Meat Wednesday DJ
Don T 9pm Cover 21+
THURSDAY, 01.30.14
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
ANNIES/ANNIES
UPSTAIRS
4@4 Happy Hour,
4pm-7pm $4 Small
Plates, $4 Stella Artois,
$4 House Wines, $4
Stolichnaya Cocktails, $4
Manhattans and Vodka
Martinis
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Karaoke, 9pm
GREEN LANTERN
Shirtless Men Drink Free,
10-11pm
JR.S
$3 Rail Vodka Highballs,
$2 JR.s drafts, 8pm to
close Top Pop Night
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Hour $2 (5-6pm), $3
(6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Buckets of Beer $15
Drag Bingo
NUMBER NINE
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Shirtless Thursday DJ
Tim E in Secrets 9pm
Cover 21+
FRIDAY, 01.31.14
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
5-9pm Friday Night
Videos with resident
DJ Shea Van Horn VJ
Expanded craft beer
selection No cover
ANNIES
Martinis Upstairs open
5-11pm
DC BEAR CRUE
@Town Bear Happy
Hour, 6-11pm $3 Rail,
$3 Draft, $3 Bud Bottles
Free Pizza, 7pm Hosted
by Charger Stone No
cover before 9:30pm 21+
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm
Karaoke, 9pm
JR.S
Buy 1, Get 1,
11pm-midnight Happy
Hour: 2-for-1, 4-9pm $5
Coronas, $8 Vodka Red
Bulls, 9pm-close
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
DJ Matt Bailer Videos,
Dancing Beat The Clock
Happy Hour $2 (5-6pm),
$3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Buckets of Beer $15
NUMBER NINE
No Cover
PHASE 1
DJ Styalo Dancing
$5 cover
PHASE 1 OF DUPONT
1415 22nd St. NW
Doors at 9pm 21+
PWS SPORTS BAR
Laurel, Md.
301-498-4840
Drag Show in lounge
Half-price burgers and
fries
TOWN
Ariana & The Rose Drag
Show starts at 10:30pm
Hosted by Lena Lett
and featuring Tatianna,
Shi-Queeta-Lee, Jessica
Spaulding Deverreoux and
BaNaka Doors open at
10pm For those 21 and
over, $5 from 10-11pm
and $10 after 11pm For
those 18-20, $10 all night
18+
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Ladies of Illusion with
host Kristina Kelly, 9pm
Cover 21+ l
scene
scan this tag
with your
smartphone
for bonus scene
pics online!
Mid-Atlantic
Leather Weekend
January 17-19
Hyatt Regency
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
WARD MORRISON
AND TODD FRANSON
56 SEE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT AT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM/SCENE
R
YAN ROSE STARTED
his career as a porn
actor a bit over two
years ago, when faced with
unexpected unemployment.
When the company
I was working for closed
their doors suddenly,
overnight, I didnt have
very many other options,
especially in this struggling
economy, he says.
Would you believe that
bankrupt company was in
the residential construction
business and that Rose
was a real-life construction
worker? Chicago-reared
Rose had moved to South-
west Florida for the job, an
on-site supervisor in resi-
dential construction. Rose
has not yet appeared in a
porn with a construction
theme, but I wouldnt be
opposed to that.
Certainly, thats not
the only hot scenario from
Roses rsum ripe for
shooting.
Im a former Marine and
I wouldnt mind having sex
in that uniform, he laughs.
While enlisted, Rose was
even stationed for a couple
years at Washingtons
Marine Barracks. Most of
his friends from those days
no longer live in the area,
and of course any that still
do wont know him as Ryan
Rose, the porn pseudonym
he chose in part as a trib-
ute to Derek Rose of the
Chicago Bulls. Rose played
football during the brief time
he attended college. It
really just wasnt for me,
he says, so I left college
and joined the Marines to try
and get some discipline and
structure in my life.
This Saturday, Jan. 25,
Rose returns to Wash-
ington, this time as an in-
demand porn star making
his Town Danceboutique
debut. At Town, Rose
expects to be dancing a
couple sets, signing auto-
graphs, taking pictures, min-
gling with the crowd. Just
having a good time.
Rose got his start with
the Sean Cody brand, but
now is an exclusive with Fal-
con Studios, which celebrat-
ed Rose as its 2013 Man of
the Year. The 28-year-old,
who lms a couple scenes
a month on average, is tall,
smooth, hung, sexually ver-
satile and yes, gay. Ive
been out for a while now,
since I was like 19.
His parents have even
mustered some tepid sup-
port for his porn career. At
rst it was kind of rough
they thought I was in the
hotel, sucking off camera
guys and stuff, he says.
But once they realized its
not like that, and Im safe,
they kind of eased into it
a little bit more. When
asked if he has similar sup-
port from a boyfriend, Rose
declines: I dont have any
comment on that one.
Ryan Rose performs Satur-
day, Jan. 25, after 10 p.m.,
at Town Danceboutique,
2009 8th NW. Cover is
$8 before 11 p.m., or $12
after. Call 202-234-TOWN
or visit towndc.com. l
B
Y

D
O
U
G

R
U
L
E
C
L
U
B
L
I
F
E
S
59
Once stationed Barracks Row, Ryan Rose returns to D.C. as an in-demand porn star and
an appearance at Town
C
O
U
R
T
E
S
Y

F
A
L
C
O
N
S
T
U
D
I
O
S
.
C
O
M
Everythings Coming Up Rose
60 SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT AT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM/SCENE
scene
DC Eagle
Friday, January 17
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
WARD MORRISON
scan this tag
with your
smartphone
for bonus scene
pics online!
With all due respect, I say that

homosexuality is a decient way to manifest
ones sexuality,
because the latter has a structure and a goal, which is procreation.
FERNANDO AGUILAR, a newly appointed Spanish cardinal, speaking with Malaga newspaper Sur. Aguilar compared
homosexuality to his high blood pressure, stating that he would seek to correct it any way he could, implying that decient
homosexuals should do the same with their sexuality.
(Diario Sur)
Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life,

pro-assault-weapon, anti-gay? If thats who they are and theyre the extreme conservatives,
they have no place in the state of New York
New York Gov. ANDREW CUOMO (D) commenting on the schism forming in the Republican Party between moderate and extreme
Republicans in both New York state and around the country.
(WCNY)
One can feel calm and at ease.

Just leave kids alone, please.
Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN, in a Q&A with Olympic volunteers in Sochi, responding to a question regarding Russias
attitude towards LGBT people who may be visiting or competing in the games.
(The Washington Post)
I myself know some people who are gay; were on friendly terms.
Im not prejudiced in any way.
Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN, in an interview with the BBCs Andrew Marr, responding to the international criticism of
a law passed last year banning the promotion of non-traditional relationships. Putin defended the law by claiming that many
countries that had embraced gay rights were debating to legalize pedophilia.
(BBC News)
Homosexuality is not a civil right,

its a human wrong.
Oklahoma State Rep. SALLY KERN in response to the ruling by U.S. District Judge Terrence Kern that
Oklahomas same-sex marriage ban violates the U.S. Constitution.
(News on 6)

Metro Weekly - 01-23-14 - Heather Mizeur

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Metro Weekly - 01-23-14 - Heather Mizeur

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2 JANUARY 23, 2014 METROWEEKLY.

With all due respect, I say that

Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life,

One can feel calm and at ease.

Homosexuality is not a civil right,

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