CONTENTS

JULY 26, 2018 Volume 25 Issue 13

12 SONG AND DANCE

As David Byrne’s American Utopia heads to
Merriweather, Annie-B Parson and Chris Giarmo
reflect on the once-in-a-lifetime concert.

By Randy Shulman

TIMELESS TAKEI
George Takei on everything from Star Trek to
Leonard Bernstein to his new cat app that pokes fun
at our “fake president.”

Interview by André Hereford

24
33 DOWNFALL
A Very English Scandal is a phenomenally acted
portrayal of the pressures of trying
to remain closeted.

By Rhuaridh Marr

SPOTLIGHT: NATIONAL DANCE DAY p.7 OUT ON THE TOWN p.11

SONG AND DANCE: DAVID BYRNE’S AMERICAN UTOPIA p.12
ON THE MONEY: KIMBERLY REED p.14 THE FEED p.19 COMMUNITY: HELPFUL NAVIGATORS p.21
COVER STORY: TIMELESS TAKEI p.24 GALLERY: ATOMIC DOG AND CONSEQUENTIAL CAT p.29
FILM: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT p.31 TELEVISION: A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL p.33
NIGHTLIFE p.35 SCENE: DUPLEX DINER’S 20TH ANNIVERSARY p.35 LISTINGS p.36
SCENE: LARRY’S LOUNGE p.42 SCENE: UPROAR p.44 LAST WORD p.46

Real LGBTQ News and Entertainment since 1994

Editorial Editor-in-Chief Randy Shulman Art Director Todd Franson Online Editor at metroweekly.com Rhuaridh Marr Senior Editor John Riley
Contributing Editors André Hereford, Doug Rule Senior Photographers Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim Contributing Illustrator Scott G. Brooks
Contributing Writers Sean Maunier, Troy Petenbrink, Bailey Vogt, Kate Wingfield Webmaster David Uy Production Assistant Julian Vankim
Sales & Marketing Publisher Randy Shulman National Advertising Representative Rivendell Media Co. 212-242-6863 Distribution Manager Dennis Havrilla
Patron Saints Fumiko Emily and Takekuma Norman Takei Cover Photography Courtesy of George Takei

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© 2018 Jansi LLC.

4 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

 Spotlight
JATI LINDSAY
National Dance Day
I
N RECENT MONTHS, A CERTAIN POP DIVA HAS
headlined White Party Palm Springs and New York Pride.
Might she appear at the Kennedy Center’s National Dance
Day be next? “Unfortunately, Kylie Minogue won’t be here,”
the Center’s Jane Rabinovitz says. Nonetheless, Minogue’s
music will ring out from the Center this Saturday, July 28,
when patrons will perform a routine to her latest single,
“Dancing.”
A collaboration with the Dizzy Feet Foundation, each
year the KenCen’s National Dance Day features an offi-
cial routine. Emmy Award-winning choreographer Mandy
Moore (So You Think You Can Dance) created the “Dancing”
routine, which Hayley Erbert of Dancing with the Stars will
lead patrons in performing. “One of my favorite things is to
run around the Kennedy Center and get non-dancers up and
moving,” Rabinovitz says. “I don’t find it embarrassing to
make a fool of myself dancing, so I like to encourage others
to take [that] risk.”
The choreographed routine is the most prominent aspect
National Dance Day is Saturday, July 28, from 2 to 10:30 p.m, on the Kennedy Center’s North Plaza.
Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
of a free, all-day affair designed to showcase dance and move-
ment in all forms from around the world, with an emphasis
on D.C.-based groups. “There is a lot of high-quality dance
happening in D.C.,” says Rabinovitz, the Center’s assistant
manager of dance programming and producer of National
Dance Day. “This year we have a yoga class...and then we’re
doing some dance fitness. We have a traditional Chinese folk
dance group, a salsa company...a hip-hop group, a contempo-
rary dance group, [and] a ballet class.” Michael Mindlin, dance
supervisor for the national tour of Hamilton, will also partici-
pate in the day’s festivities, emceed by New York City Ballet
Principal Ashley Bouder.
“We’ll also have a lot of music [and] there’ll be snacks
throughout the day,” Rabinovitz adds, calling it “the perfect
day to just come and hang out at the Kennedy Center. It’s a
very casual atmosphere — dance if you want to, sit in the shade
and watch other people dance if you’re not feeling up to it.... I
hope that lots of people will come out, bring their friends, bring
their families, and just dance a little bit with us.” —Doug Rule
JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 7
 Spotlight
ALAN CUMMING
The Scottish-born Cumming returns to the Kennedy Center
for another cabaret with support from the Gay Men’s Chorus
of Washington. “Legal Immigrant” features songs and stories
from the award-winning actor focused on his life and loves
in the decade since he became a U.S. citizen. The set list is
as eclectic and idiosyncratic as Cumming himself, running
the gamut from Sondheim to P!nk, Kander & Ebb to Edith
Piaf, not to mention original mashups, such as one combin-
ing Schubert with Peggy Lee. Saturday, July 28, at 8 p.m.
Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $29 to $99. Call
202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
BOUDEWYNS

DAVE
Drew Gehling (Broadway’s Waitress) is a high school
teacher and presidential doppelgänger thrust into the Oval
Office to avoid a national scandal in this musical adap-
tation of the 1993 hit comedy starring Kevin Kline. Tina
Landau directs the world premiere at Arena Stage. Book by

MARGOT SCHULMAN
Thomas Meehan (The Producers) and Nell Benjamin (Mean
Girls), lyrics by Benjamin, and music by Tom Kitt (Next
to Normal). Now to Aug. 19. Kreeger Theater in the Mead
Center for American Theater, 1101 6th St. SW. Call 202-488-
3300 or visit arenastage.org.

BE A GOOD
LITTLE WIDOW
A young woman (Ruthie Rado) struggles
after the death of her husband with a
nagging mother-in-law (Emily Morrison)
who is just trying to help. Be A Good Little
Widow comes from rising dramatist Bekah
Brunstetter, who writes for the NBC
series This is Us. Unexpected’s co-founder
Christopher Goodrich directs. Now to Aug.
5. The Fireside Room in the River Road
Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 6301
River Road in Bethesda. Tickets are $10
to $29.50. Call 301-337-8290 or visit unex-
RACHEL ELLIS

pectedstage.org.

8 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

 Spotlight
COMMISSARY:
#BRUNCHINLOVE W/
BOTTOMLESS BEY & JAY
To honor The Carters’ two concerts at FedEx Field
this weekend, Commissary presents a Bey & Jay-
themed version of its popular Bottomless brunch.
Music videos by Beyonce and Jay-Z will air on
the restaurant’s TVs, and patrons are encouraged
to dress up, with prizes for best lookalikes. A full
brunch menu is available, and bottomless rounds of
Mimosas, Bloody Marys, or Spiked Lemonade are
ROBEL NEGASH

offered for $18 per person. Saturday, July 28, from

8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 1413 P St. NW. Call 202-299-0018
or visit commissarydc.com.

KEY LARGO
John Huston’s 1948 film noir was
nominated for the Top 10 Gangster
Films list a decade ago by the
American Film Institute, and that
organization also nominated Key
Largo’s Johnny Rocco to its “100
Years...100 Heroes & Villains” list
in 2003. Edward G. Robinson plays
Rocco alongside Humphrey Bogart
as war veteran Frank McCloud and
Lauren Bacall as Nora Temple, the
widow of Frank’s friend and fall-
en soldier George. Key Largo plays
as part of Landmark’s West End
Cinema Capital Classics series.
Wednesday, Aug. 1, at 1:30, 4:30, and
7:30 p.m., 2301 M St. NW. Happy
hour from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets are
$10 to $12.50. Call 202-534-1907 or
visit landmarktheatres.com.

LIONIZE
There are few better views of federal
Washington than that from the roof-
top of the W Hotel, and this Saturday,
July 28, you can get the view and hear
a free concert by the Maryland-based
rock band, touring in support of their
latest album Nuclear Soul. POV Live
presents the show, billed as “an exclu-
sive Record Store Crawl performance.”
Saturday, July 28. Doors at 6:30 p.m.
POV Lounge, rooftop of W Washington
DC, 515 15th St. NW. Free, but RSVP
required. Call 202-661-2400 or visit
wwashingtondc.com.

JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 9

 REPUBLIC RESTORATIVES
Out On The Town

ZAYTINYA’S COCKTAIL DINNER

Zaytinya Head Chef Michael Costa is collaborating with Republic Restoratives co-founder Pia Carusone for a spirit-for-
ward, multi-course meal. Dishes from the stylish Eastern Mediterranean restaurant, one of the earliest in José Andrés’s
ThinkFoodGroup collection, will be paired with drinks made with spirits from D.C.’s lesbian- and women-owned dis-
tillery — including Civic Vodka, Borough Bourbon, Chapman’s Apple Brandy, and Rodham Rye, the latter named after
Hillary Rodham Clinton. The five cocktails are: Ivy City Rickey made with Civic, Yellow Chartreuse, Aperol, lime, and
Fever Tree club soda; the Yanni, or Chapman’s mixed with the ginger-flavored liqueur Domaine De Canton, plus honey
and cardamom bitters; the Penn Quarter Rat Race, a Borough drink mixed with grapefruit, lemon, and honey; When
They Go Low, We Go Rye, a blend of Rodham with Amaro Montenegro and the Danish cherry brandy Peter Heering;
and Janissary Corps, or a Civic mixed with Yellow Chartreuse, lemon, honey, the berry-rich French liqueur Creme De
Yvette, lavender, and egg white. Tuesday, July 31, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. 701 9th St. NW. Tickets are $110. Call 202-638-
0800 or visit zaytinya.com.

Compiled by Doug Rule
FILM
DON’T WORRY,
HE WON’T GET FAR ON FOOT
Gus Van Sant has a mixed track
record, but this comedy-drama
based on John Callahan’s mem-
oir is apparently worth watching.
Joaquin Phoenix plays Callahan, a
heavy drinker who became a quad-
riplegic after a night of drinking
led to a devastating car accident.
The film follows his recovery, from
giving up drinking to discovering
his gift for edgy, irreverent edito-
rial cartoons. Now playing. Area
theaters. Visit fandango.com.
(Rhuaridh Marr)
DREAMGIRLS
Next week, Beyonce and Jennifer
Hudson will duke it out on the large
outdoor screen on the banks of the
Potomac River. Bill Condon’s suc-
cessful 2006 adaptation of the 1981
Broadway musical, loosely based on
the story of Motown Records and
the Supremes, is the next in this
year’s Georgetown Sunset Cinema
series focused on “Movies That
Rock.” Vendors on hand include
Muncheez and Stella’s PopKern
and Maracas Ice Pops. Everyone
is encouraged to bring a blanket,
food and water or soft drinks —
just no chairs or alcohol. Tuesday,
July 31, at the intersection of Water
Street and Cecil Place NW. The
area opens at 6:30 p.m., and the
screening starts at sunset, around
8:30 p.m. Call 202-298-9222 or visit
georgetowndc.com/sunset-cinema.
THE POST
HHHHH
The 14th annual Bethesda Outdoor
Movies series concludes with
Steven Spielberg’s recent histori-
cal political drama. Meryl Streep
ekes out a fascinating charac-
ter as Washington Post publisher
Katharine Graham, who flounders
but never fails, standing up to mul-
tiple layers of Establishment scorn
and opposition. Streep, in turn,
reveals a layer of vulnerability, and
steel that feels refreshingly unfamil-
iar — no small feat for a performer
who is utterly familiar to audienc-
es. Her Graham animates the film
with a touching, human story rather
than the painstaking recreation of
important events. Friday, July 27,
at 9 p.m. The corner of Norfolk
and Auburn Avenues in Bethesda’s
Woodmont Triangle. Free. Call
301-215-6660 or visit bethesda.org.
(Andre Hereford)
STAGE
H.M.S. PINAFORE
THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE
The Hypocrites and the House
Theatre of Chicago, two innova-
tive theaters in the Windy City,
have teamed up to stage two of
Gilbert & Sullivan’s best-loved
comic operettas in rotating rep at
Olney Theatre. Celebrated for being
immersive and family friendly, the
productions are presented prome-
nade style, with some seats on stage
with the actors. These silly tales
of scurvy pirates, modern Major-
Generals, and star-crossed lovers
were both directed by Sean Graney,
who co-adapted The Pirates of
Penzance with Kevin O’Donnell,
and H.M.S. Pinafore with Andra
Velis Simon and Matt Kahler. To
Aug. 21. Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre
Lab, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring
Road, Olney, Md. Tickets are $30 to
$64 each. Call 301-924-3400 or visit
olneytheatre.org.
PIPPIN
Fresh off its win as Outstanding
Emerging Theatre Company at the
Helen Hayes Awards, Monumental
Theatre tackles the musical that
Stephen Schwartz created two
decades before Wicked. Rebecca
Wahls directs a Millennial-run pro-
duction based on the 2013 Tony-
winning revival, following the tit-
ular prince on a journey to mag-
ic-making self-discovery. Tiziano
D’Affuso plays Pippin, Solomon
Parker is the narrating Leading
Player, and Chani Wereley is
Catherine. Choreography by Ahmad
Maaty and music led by Leigh
Delano. To July 30. Ainslie Arts
Center in Episcopal High School,
3900 W. Braddock Rd. Tickets are
$30 to $40. Call 703-933-3000 or
visit monumentaltheatre.org.
THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE
(AND OTHER SONGS)
Virginia’s Hub Theatre presents
Marc Acito’s play with songs about
the unlikely yet real-life rela-
tionship between singer Marian

JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 11

 Anderson and Albert Einstein. The
two titanic figures on a quest to
unlock life’s mysteries. To July 29.
The John Swayze Theatre in the
New School of Northern Virginia,
9431 Silver King Court, Fairfax.
Visit thehubtheatre.org.

COMMUNITY
STAGE
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
RANDY SHULMAN

Maryland’s Port Tobacco Players

presents a non-professional pro-
duction of this musical based on
the DreamWorks blockbuster star-
ring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom
Hanks. Terrence McNally teamed
The American Utopia Tour at The Anthem in May. Byrne (left) and Giarmo
up with the musical minds behind

SONG AND DANCE

Hairspray — Marc Shaiman and
Scott Wittman — for a tale, set in
the jazzy, swinging ‘’60s, following
the real-life adventures of charm-
ing con artist Frank Abagnale Jr.
As David Byrne’s American Utopia heads to Merriweather, Annie-B Parson and and the FBI agent, Carl Hanratty,
who pursues him in a cross-coun-
Chris Giarmo reflect on the once-in-a-lifetime concert. try chase. Weekends to Aug. 5. 508

I
Charles St., La Plata, Md. Tickets
T’S NO UNDERSTATEMENT TO CALL DAVID BYRNE’S AMERICAN UTOPIA TOUR are $15 to $18. Call 301-932-6819 or
visit ptplayers.com.
the year’s most thrilling concert-going experience. Aesthetically sparse yet musically and visu-
ally rich, the show is performed by Byrne and a band of eleven, six on percussive instruments JUDY AND THE GENERAL
alone, all in a state of perpetual motion. It’s a mesmerizing two hours that includes a full range of Baltimore’s Spotlighters Theatre
Byrne’s repertoire, including a few notable callouts from his days as the frontman for the Talking presents the world premiere of a
new musical comedy by Rosemary
Heads, including “Once in a Lifetime” and “This Must Be the Place.” Frisino Toohey based on the Book
“David approached me with an idea that the [concert] was going to occur in a box, and this of Judith. One of only a handful
box would be made of chain,” recalls choreographer Annie-B Parson, a longtime collaborator of of strong female characters in the
Bible, Judith is the heroine in a clas-
Byrne’s. “The performers would all be unplugged — wireless. He wanted everyone to be mobile so sic tale of good vs. evil, ingeniously
they could dance and move.” The final grace note: all would be barefoot, sporting grey suits. using her feminine wiles to outwit
Although outfitted with heavy marching band harnesses, the evening only deploys an actual the powerful general Holofernes
marching band motif once, during a stunning rendition of “Burning Down the House.” It’s the one to save her people from destruc-
tion. To July 29. 817 St. Paul St.,
number choreographed by the tour’s dance captain, Chris Giarmo, who was his high school’s Color Baltimore. Tickets are $18 to $22.
Guard Captain. Call 410-752-1225 or visit spotlight-
“To me, the concert really feels like a dance theater piece,” says Giarmo, who has performed in ers.org.
Parson’s troupe Big Dance Theater for years. “A lot of the musicians have never had their bodies
actually be part of the performance.” MUSIC
“The show is very demanding on the musicians,” says Parson. “It’s asking something of them
BEYONCE & JAY-Z
that’s actually the opposite of what they’ve been trained. Which is: when you’re on stage, there’s Four years ago, The Carters went all
certain modes of being as a musician. There’s the classical sense where you’re very still, very in for their first co-headlining tour-
refined. In the rock sense, you’re really cool, and loose, and kind of messy, and schlubby. They feel ing concert. Since then, pop music’s
megastar power couple has exposed
very comfortable being a certain way, and I’m asking them not to do that anymore for two hours. some chinks in their armor via their
It’s asking a lot of them. And they are truly amazing.” stirring solo works, Lemonade from
Giarmo is one of two backup singers, and his appearance on stage — bright orange locks, nail Bey and 4:44 from Jay. Yet the cou-
polish, an abundance of glitter eye makeup — visually sets him apart from the rest of his bandmates. ple remains as united a force as
ever, and that’s the overriding mes-
“I thought it was important to represent my queerness on stage,” says the 35-year-old. “I didn’t sage of the On The Run II Tour,
want to be mistaken for another straight white guy.” The impact of his appearance didn’t hit home which returns them to the world’s
until after a concert in Brazil. stadiums, including FedEx Field.
The concert serves to showcase
“I got an Instagram message from an audience member — young gay guy, twentysomething. He Everything Is Love, the new sludgy,
said, ‘It was so moving to see a queer person on stage with my music idol, and to know there is a sentimental trap/hip-hop set from
place for us in this industry.’ That was so inspiring. For queer people that are constantly seeking The Carters. Of course, many of
representation and trying to find our place in the world, to see someone at this level of perfor- the chart-topping solo hits from
each artist are factored into the mix
mance unabashedly owning their queerness, was inspiring to him. That was it for me — I was like, of this two-and-a-half-hour, elab-
‘Alright, I’m going to go all out. I’m piling on the makeup! I’m getting glitter!” —Randy Shulman orately staged extravaganza that
finds the duo accompanied by a full
band, a handful of backing vocal-
David Byrne’s American Utopia Tour marches into Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, ists, and a 20-plus-member crew
Maryland, on Saturday, July 28. Doors at 6:30 p.m. Show at 8 p.m. Tickets are $60 to $130 and of dancers and choreographers.
worth every penny. Visit merriweathermusic.com. Opening sets by R&B duo Chloe &

12 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

Halle and DJ Khaled. Friday, July
27, and Saturday, July 28, at 7:30
p.m. 1600 Fedex Way, Landover,
Md. Tickets are $49 to $770. Call
301-276-6000 or visit livenation.
com.

CHER
With “Classic Cher” at the Theater
at MGM National Harbor, you’ll
fall under the diva’s spell instantly,
from the moment the purple vel-
vet curtains pull back on a stage
fit for an Arabian fairytale. Soon
enough, the 70-year-old pop icon,
in Queen of Sheba garb, descends
from the heavens on a gold-framed
aerial platform, singing her truth a
la “Woman’s World.” That No. 1 hit
on the Billboard dance chart from
2013 is the newest in an 18-song
setlist spanning an impressive fifty
years. It’s a showcase of awe-inspir-
ing staging and state-of-the-art light
and projection designs in general.
It’s also a showcase of Cher and her
decades-long, multi-genre, multi- GEORGE ROMERO REMEMBERED
award-winning career as one of
the very best and most personable Over the next six weeks, the AFI Silver Theatre toasts the late George Romero. The series
entertainers in the business. The presents screenings of several notable works from the “the Father of the Zombie Film,”
indomitable, forever-goodbying including Day of the Dead (1985) and Land of the Dead (2005). The series includes two
sensation returns for a run billed
screenings of The Crazies, the director’s 1973 horror thriller in which mysterious toxins
as her “Final Shows” in the venue.
Saturday, Aug. 4, Sunday, Aug. 5, in the water turn small-town residents into mass murderers. Next week offers the rare-
Tuesday, Aug. 7, Thursday, Aug. 9, ly-screened Martin (1978), Romero’s unsettling take on the vampire genre that offers a
Saturday, Aug. 11, and Sunday, Aug. nuanced character study of an unbalanced young man. Other films include Knightriders
12, at 8 p.m. 7100 Oxon Hill Rd., Md.
Call 301-971-5000 or visit mgmna- (1981) and Romero’s deliriously entertaining collaboration with Stephen King, Creepshow
tionalharbor.com. (Doug Rule) (1982). The Crazies screens Friday, July 27, at 9:45 p.m., and Saturday, July 28, at 10:30
p.m. Martin is Friday, Aug. 3, at 9:30 p.m. AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver
CHOPTEETH
Spring. Tickets are $13. Call 301-495-6720 or visit afi.com/Silver for the full series.
The Washington Post has referred
to this 12-piece band as “a storm-
ing powerhouse of big-band African
funk...smart, tight and relentless-
ly driving.” Chopteeth has already JAZZ IN THE GARDEN: free. Call 301-581-5100 or visit National Symphony led by Patrick
won a number of Washington Area INCENDIO, SON DEL CARIBE strathmore.org. Summers. Saturday, July 28, at 8:15
Music Association Awards, includ- The National Gallery of Art offers p.m. The Filene Center, 1551 Trap
ing Artist of the Year in 2008. The free outdoor concerts immediately WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL Rd., Vienna. Tickets are $25 to $60.
Afrobeat-driven group performs after work every Friday through PIANO FESTIVAL Call 877-WOLFTRAP or visit wolf-
regularly throughout the region and late August. Bands offering a range Now in its 10th year, this week- trap.org.
returns to a preferred venue The of jazz styles, from swing to Latin to long festival attracts young aspiring

COMEDY
Hamilton next weekend. Saturday, ska, perform amidst the museum’s concert pianists from all over the
July 28. Doors at 7 p.m. 600 14th collection of large-scale sculptur- world for its intensive educational
St. NW. Tickets are $20 to $25. al works while patrons enjoy food programs guided by lead host orga-
and drink, including beer, wine, and nization Catholic University — but ANDY KINDLER
Call 202-787-1000 or visit theham-
sangria, from Pavilion Cafe and out- even more for the lure of significant Kindler is a familiar presence to any
iltondc.com.
door grill. The 2018 series continues public performance opportunities, TV comedy connoisseur — among
including the rare chance to play the other notable gigs, he has hosted
CREATIVE CAULDRON CABARET with instrumental world guitarist
Incendio on July 27, and pan-Ca- Kennedy Center, which presents Hulu’s Coming to the Stage stand-
The 9th annual summer cabaret
ribbean salsa group Son Del Caribe two free Young Pianist Showcase up series, served as a judge on the
series at ArtSpace Falls Church
on Aug. 3, each performing from concerts to kick off the week. seventh season of NBC’s Last Comic
continues with: a performance by
5 to 8:30 p.m. Sculpture Garden, Monday, July 30, and Tuesday, July Standing, has had recurring roles
the folk collective Shenandoah Run
between 7th and 9th Streets NW. 31, at 6 p.m. Millennium Stage. For on Fox’s Bob’s Burgers and Comedy
on Friday, July 27, at 8 p.m., Will
Call 202-289-3360 or visit nga.gov. a detailed schedule and more infor- Central’s Tosh. O, and appeared
Stevenson in “Simply Musical,” on
mation, call 202-290-5267 or visit more than 40 times on The Late
Saturday, July 28, at 8 p.m., and
THE CHUCK BROWN BAND washingtonpianofest.com. Show with David Letterman. The
Sunday, July 29, at 7 p.m., and Kathy
The godfather of go-go may have Kennedy Center brings Kindler to
Halenda in “The Brassy Broads of
died in 2012, but his namesake band WOLF TRAP OPERA, NSO: THE town for a night of stand-up. And
Broadway” — from Mame Dennis
keeps go-going. The jazz festival BEST OF WAGNER’S RING although the show comes as part of
to Mama Rose to Miss Mona, and
staple and powerhouse ensemble A quartet of internationally the free Millennium Stage program-
from Fanny Brice to Dolly Levi to
of danceable funk and soul grooves renowned Wolf Trap Opera alumni ming, it will not be streamed online
Sally Bowles, on Friday, Aug. 3, and
performs a free special outdoor con- offer a special treat to Wagner fans, per custom, and will be presented in
Saturday, Aug. 4, at 8 p.m. ArtSpace
cert as part of the free Live from performing highlights from all four the larger Terrace Theater. Friday,
Falls Church, 410 South Maple Ave.
the Lawn weekly summer series operas of The Ring Cycle on the Filene Aug. 3, at 6 p.m. Free. Call 202-467-
in Falls Church. Tickets are $18 to
outside the Mansion at Strathmore. Center stage. Soprano Christine 4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
$22 per show, or $55 for a table for
two with wine and $110 for four Wednesday, Aug. 1, at 7 p.m. Goerke, tenor Simon O’Neill, and
Gudelsky Gazebo, 10701 Rockville bass-baritones Alan Held and Eric WIT: SUMMER ESCAPE
with wine. Call 703-436-9948 or
Pike, North Bethesda. Tickets are Owens are the Wagnerian spe- The Washington Improv Theater is
visit creativecauldron.org.
cialists on hand, supported by the D.C.’s answer to comedy star-mak-

JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 13

 ing groups such as Chicago’s Second
City and L.A.’s Groundlings. Over
the next month, the troupe offers
a hodgepodge of summer-themed
sketches, with each performance
featuring different WIT ensem-
bles, including three music-driv-
en exercises: iMusical, presenting
audiences with the opportuni-
ty to choose-your-own-disaster,
resulting in the cast improvising
an instant world-ending musi-
cal; Heavy Rotation, featuring a
cast performing a School of Rock-
inspired “improvised rock come-
dy”; and Karaoke Storytellers with
PBS DISTRIBUTION RELEASE

a show that is part-VH1 Storytellers,

part-Saturday Night Live audition,
and part musical, all built around
improvised characters delivering
monologues and interpreting a song
karaoke-style. To Aug. 5. Source,
1835 14th St. NW. Tickets are $15
in advance, or $18 at the door. Call
202-204-7770 or visit witdc.org.

ON THE MONEY
Political finance corruption is inevitable, says filmmaker Kimberly Reed, but
MUSEUMS
& GALLERIES
there is hope for reform. AMERICAN DEMOCRACY: A
GREAT LEAP OF FAITH

I
A display of prominent artifacts
AM INCENSED,” SAYS KIMBERLY REED, “BY THE FACT THAT A SINGLE RICH PER- highlighting the history of citizen
son, working anonymously in an election, can outdo the will of thousands, millions of voters. participation, debate and compro-
I find it thoroughly un-democratic with a small ‘d’.... I can’t think of an issue right now that is mise from the nation’s formation to
today. The American experiment is
more important, regardless of which side of the aisle you sit on politically.” still alive, if not altogether well at the
Reed is the director of Dark Money, a gripping and unsettling new documentary that dives moment, but it has endured rough
into the murky waters of campaign finance following the Supreme Court’s controversial Citizens times before. This exhibition, at the
United decision, which popped the cork on limits for corporate political donations. Smithsonian’s American History
Museum, highlights the various
“There’s always been money in politics,” says Reed, well-known to the LGBTQ community ways in which leading figures have
for her 2008 autobiographical documentary Prodigal Sons, in which Reed, who is transgender, strived to make the country “a more
reunites after a decade with her brother. “There always will be money in politics. There will perfect union.” Objects include
Thomas Jefferson’s portable desk
always be crooked politicians. We’re gonna find corruption in politics until the end of time. What he used to draft the Declaration
I’m concerned with is a system that essentially legalizes that corruption and makes it so that any of Independence, the inkstand
politician can be subject to part of this corrupt campaign finance system. We’ve legalized this Abraham Lincoln used to draft the
bribery in a lot of ways.” Emancipation Proclamation, and
the table on which Elizabeth Cady
The film uses Montana as its proving ground, a state that has tackled campaign finance cor- Stanton wrote the Declaration of
ruption head-on and made a modicum of progress. “You see glimmers of hope in Montana,” says Sentiments. Ongoing. 14th St. and
Reed. “It’s maybe not a state that most people would think is going to be on the leading edge of Constitution Ave. NW. Call 202-
633-1000 or visit americanhistory.
campaign finance reform. But we saw a bipartisan coalition — a group of Republicans working si.edu.
with a Democratic governor — to pass some of the strongest campaign finance laws in the country.
They saw that elections were not being run in a fair manner, and that they needed to repair them. DRAWN TO PURPOSE:
I think that gives the other 49 states a glimmer of hope that campaign finance reform can happen AMERICAN WOMEN
ILLUSTRATORS AND
on the state level.” CARTOONISTS
Still, Reed says troubling times are ahead. She brings up President Trump’s recent “behavior Drawing from its rich collections,
in Helsinki regarding Vladimir Putin,” noting that while the press was diving headfirst into the the Library of Congress exhibition
brings to light remarkable but lit-
President’s questionable support of America’s Russian adversary, something quietly insidious was tle-known contributions made by
happening in another part of the government. North American women to the art
“That was the time chosen for Steve Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, to issue an IRS rule forms of illustration and cartooning.
change that makes it even harder to follow dark money groups. It basically ensures that there Spanning the late-1800s to the pres-
ent, Drawn To Purpose highlights
will be absolutely no paper trail for law enforcement, for the IRS, for anyone, to investigate who’s the gradual broadening in both the
behind some of those contributions. That becomes pretty frightening when you consider that for- private and public spheres of wom-
eign contributions into our elections have already been shown to have had an impact. How much en’s roles and interests, demon-
strating that women, once con-
of an impact? We don’t know yet. But just the fact that we can’t even tell whether the money being strained by social conditions and
spent in our elections is foreign or not, I think, is pretty bracing.” —Randy Shulman convention, have gained immense
new opportunities for self-expres-
Dark Money is playing at Landmark’s West End Cinema, 2301 M St. NW. Call 202-534-1907 or sion and discovery. To Oct. 10. The
Graphic Arts Galleries, Ground
visit LandmarkTheaters.com.

14 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building,
10 First St. SE. Call 202-707-8000
or visit loc.gov/concerts.

NO SPECTATORS:
THE ART OF BURNING MAN
The Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery
has turned over its entire building
to present the first major nation-
al exhibition focused on Burning
Man, in particular the annual
Nevada desert event’s maker cul-
ture and creative spirit. In fact, the
exhibition even extends “Beyond
the Renwick,” with six sculptural
works from Burning Man installed
nearby on Pennsylvania Avenue
west of the White House as well as
on Connecticut Avenue and other
major corridors. The full exhibi-
tion is on view through Sept. 16,
while half of it will remain up until
Jan. 21, 2019. Renwick Gallery,
Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street

BUNNY MAST
NW. Free. Call 202-633-1000 or
visit renwick.americanart.si.edu.

PUBLIC ARTWORKS OF ROCKNE

KREBS AND SAM GILLIAM
Curator Mollie Berger says the
objective of this Washington Studio
School exhibition is “to represent
the planning and design of public
art projects, both built and unbuilt,
by two artists who used vastly dif-
ferent materials but seem to be
concerned with similar elements
of space, color, and presence” —
from “sculpture wunderkind”
Krebs’s penetrating light displays,
which surpass the physical space
and reach for the sun and the stars
that inspired the artist, to Gilliam’s
swooping, brightly colored canvas-
es of interlocking shapes, standing
in counterpoint to the grey steel and
stone surrounding them. Organized
in partnership with community
arts-boosting entity Day Eight, the
exhibit includes proposals never
funded as well as documentation
of works that came to fruition by
these two veteran D.C.-based art-
ists, among them never-before dis-
played items provided by architect
and longtime Gilliam collaborator
Steven Spurlock. A Curator’s Talk
is Friday, Aug. 3, from 6 to 7:30
p.m. On display to Aug. 10 at 2129 S
St. NW. Call 202-234-3030 or visit
washingtonstudioschool.org.
SURREALISM
A juried 40th Anniversary Exhibit
featuring works by members of The
Washington Calligraphers Guild,
an organization devoted to artis-
tic writing and textual design. This
year’s theme takes inspiration from
the famous 20th century movement
known as surrealism, in which
writers, poets, and artists sought to
express themselves free from con-
scious control of reason and con-
vention. Many of the chosen entrees
are for sale through the Strathmore
Mansion Gift Shop. On display to
July 29. 10701 Rockville Pike, North
Bethesda. Call 301-581-5100 or visit
strathmore.org.
THE PANCAKES AND BOOZE ART SHOW
An import from Los Angeles, this unusual “underground art show” features the work
of over 100 emerging artists plus live body painting, live music, and a free pancake bar.
Pancakes and Booze is a traveling, Andy Warhol-styled event that former Hollywood
cameraman Tom Kirlin started in 2009 and has since brought to over 20 cities, including
D.C. twice a year. “When I was in college, the only place that was open after a night of
drinking was IHOP,” Kirlin says. “I always had this silly idea to make a pancake restaurant
with a full bar. So with the art show, I just merged the two ideas together.” Thursday, Aug.
2, from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Penn Social, 801 E St. NW. Cover is $15. Call 202-697-4900 or visit
pancakesandbooze.com.
THE GREAT MYSTERY most of the documents date to the ble. Kaphar sets out to right those
Baltimore’s American Visionary early days of the American republic, slights by recreating well-known
Art Museum is letting its curios- the exhibit, which has been on dis- paintings and including those tradi-
ity run wild in its 21st year-long play since 2015, has recently been tionally left out, through his series
exhibition curated by founder and updated to end with an 11.5-foot-tall of 17 paintings plus one sculpture.
director Rebecca Hoffberger. Partly mile-marker post created by activ- Gonzales-Day, meanwhile, explores
inspired by Albert Einstein, who ists protesting the Dakota Access how ideas of racial difference,
once referred to the concept of life Pipeline in North Dakota — touted otherness, and national identity
as “the Great Mystery,” the show as the largest gathering of Native have taken shape historically and
celebrates mysteries big and small, Americans in protest. In other visually through nearly 40 photo-
the ultimate source of artistic cre- words, the treaties are hardly some- graphs, including works from his
ativity, scientific inquiry and social thing relegated to museums and “Erased Lynchings” series focused
progress. On display are works by history books but in fact very much on the American West as well as
44 visionary artists, research sci- an ongoing, present-day concern. his “Profiled” series. The bilingual
entists, astronauts, mystics and On display through 2021. National English/Spanish exhibition is on
philosophers. On exhibit through Museum of the American Indian, display through Jan. 6. 8th and F
Sept. 2, 2018. American Visionary Independence Avenue at 4th Street Streets. NW. Call 202-633-8300 or
Art Museum, 800 Key Highway. SW. Call 202-633-1000 or visit visit npg.si.edu.
Baltimore. Tickets are $15.95 for nmai.si.edu.
regular daily admission. Call 410-
244-1900 or visit avam.org. UNSEEN: FOOD & DRINK
OUR PAST IN A NEW LIGHT
TREATIES BETWEEN THE U.S. Works by Ken Gonzales-Day and ACADIANA’S JULY SHRIMP FEST
AND AMERICAN INDIAN NATIONS Titus Kaphar are featured in the Spice Boiled Shrimp, Crispy Fried
With the lead title Nation to first contemporary exhibition of Rock Shrimp, and Shrimp Stew are
Nations, this long-term exhibition the National Portrait Gallery’s 50th among the star attractions at this
at the National Museum of the anniversary season — and a provoc- all-you-can-eat Saturday afternoon
American Indian tells the story of ative one at that. Nearly 60 works affair offered outside on the patio of
the treaties signed between U.S. highlight how people of color — Passion Food Group’s New Orleans-
leaders and influential Native dip- from Native Americans to African centric dining destination down-
lomats. Most Americans today live Americans, Asian Americans to town. The jazz group Big Boy Little
on land that was originally prom- Latino Americans — are missing in Band will accompany the feast also
ised to Native Nations via (obvi- historical portraiture. Still worse, including French fries, corn on the
ously broken) treaties. And while their contributions to the nation’s cob, and fruit hand pies. Louisiana
past were rendered equally invisi- favorite Abita Beers & Hurricanes

JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 15

 Rio, Cherie Sweetbottom, and
Andrew Wodzianski. Friday, July
27, and Saturday, July 28, at 8 p.m.
Creative Alliance at the Patterson,
3134 Eastern Ave. Baltimore. Call
410-276-1651 or visit creativealli-
ance.org.

HEY FRASE! PODCAST W/SARAH

FRASER, PAUL WHARTON
Sarah Fraser, the former Hot 99.5
Kane Show co-host and current
Good Day DC contributor, dishes on
politics, pop culture and all things
D.C. in this podcast with The Real
Housewives of DC’s Paul Wharton.
At this special live taping, they wel-
come radio personality Danni Starr
and comedian Rob Maher, who will
guide Fraser and Wharton as they
try their hands at stand-up comedy.
Friday, Aug. 3, at 8 p.m. Amp by
JONATHAN TIMMES

Strathmore, 11810 Grand Park Ave.

North Bethesda. Tickets are $25 to
$30. Call 301-581-5100 or visit amp-
bystrathmore.com.

MARYLAND PARANORMAL
CONFERENCE
SIGNATURE THEATRE’S SIZZLIN’ SUMMER NIGHTS SERIES Speakers, vendors, palm and tarot
card readers, and a host of peo-
Signature’s annual cabaret series features mostly musical actors known from produc- ple whose interests or abilities go
tions at the Shirlington complex. The series continues with a Dance Party with Mark G. beyond explanations of science
Meadows (pictured) and The Movement, Friday, July 27, at 7 and 9 p.m.; Ines Nassara (and reason) will gather in a small,
tucked away town outside of —
& Chris Urquiaga in “Songs in the Key of Stevie,” on Saturday, July 28, at 7 p.m., and where else but — Baltimore. And if
Tuesday, July 31, at 8 p.m.; Christopher Mueller in “Songs I Heard” on Saturday, July 28, most adults can’t even quite under-
at 9 p.m.; Maria Rizzo in “Let Me Entertain You” on Wednesday, Aug. 1, at 8 p.m.; and stand it, certainly no kid can, which
is why organizers have posted the
the popular Sizzlin’ staple “Revenge of the Understudies” starring understudies from sign, “No one under 16 admitted.”
Signature shows over the past season, on Thursday, Aug. 2, at 8 p.m. Series continues to This second annual conference fea-
Aug. 4. The Ark at 4200 Campbell Ave., in Arlington. Tickets are $35 per show, or $175 for tures six speakers, including ghost
an All-Access pass. Call 703-820-9771 or visit sigtheatre.org. photographer Tim Scullion and
“The Ghostographer” presentation,
Sandy and Jim Young with “Beyond
The Veil”, Rob Gutro’s “Ghosts of
England: A Medium’s Vacation
will be available to wash it all down, on brioche, and served with truf- subversive — as well as more pop- Encounters,” Uma Beepat in
and door prizes will be given out all fle fries and bartender’s choice of ular — in its second year, and added “Spirit Communication 101,” David
afternoon as well. Saturday, July 28, a beer and a shot. Adding to the topical games with names including Salisbury with “Don’t Blame The
from 2 to 5 p.m. Acadiana, 901 New fun are patio games including life- “Extreme Vetting” and “Grab. That. Witch,” and Hiram Henderson and
York Ave. NW. Tickets are $75 per sized Connect Four, Jenga, and the P**sy!” This year’s third iteration “Ghosts, Poltergeists & Hauntings.”
person, including one Abita drink. Peruvian coin toss game Sapo. Plus, has been moved to later in July Additionally, the first 40 people
Call 202-408-8848 or visit acadi- a compilation of popular camp mov- when more people have a chance in the door receive a free copy of
anarestaurant.com. ies will be shown on special screens to attend and participate. Billed Richard Salva’s The Yoga of Ghost
outside, as weather permits. Happy as a “no-holds-barred production Hunting. Saturday, Aug. 4, from 10
RADIATOR: CAMP RADIATOR Hour starts at 4 p.m., with Camp that’s too risqué for the boob tube a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Elk’s Lodge, 1506
Every Friday throughout sum- Radiator menu available starting at and real-er than ‘fake news,’” the Defense Highway, Gambrills, Md.
mer, the floor-level restaurant at 5 p.m. Radiator, Mason & Rook, show features Carlos Bustamante Tickets are $39.95. Visit mdpara-
Kimpton’s Logan Circle hotel 1430 Rhode Island Ave. NW. Patio aka Carl Buster as host. He’s accom- conf.eventbrite.com.
Mason & Rook is serving up child- seating is available on a first-come, panied by a bevy of “All-American
hood nostalgia on its outdoor patio. first-served basis. Call 202-742- Girls” for a tongue-in-cheek trip THE ASK RAYCEEN SHOW:
Executive Chef Jonathan Dearden’s 3100 or visit radiatordc.com. across the country filled with triv- POETRY SLAM COMPETITION
throwback or reimagined camp ia, games, satire, and nudity. The Rayceen Pendarvis offers a preview
classics, hearkening back to the latter especially comes into play of the annual OutWrite LGBT Book
days of campfire-cooked meals, ABOVE in a segment called “Naked Drunk Festival through a panel discussion
include Carne Asada Foil Packs History” with the character known with participants at the August edi-
with flank steak, rice, sofrito, and AND BEYOND as “Drunkle Sam,” whose purpose is tion of his monthly show, focused
cilantro, Pastrami Sliders with “to fill in the gaps in America’s pub- on the annual #AskRayceen Poetry
Thousand Island dressing and cole- AMERICA THE GAME SHOW. F*CK lic education.” Aiding in the cause Slam competition. Also on tap is
slaw on a brioche bun, “Beanies and YEAH! are many of the usual suspects in live music by singer and actor Roz
Weenies” with heirloom beans and Two years ago, Kate Taylor Davis the talented, offbeat crew long asso- White, burlesque by Private Tails,
half-smokes served in an aluminum and Jared Davis concocted a variety ciated with Astro Pop Events (the with music by DJ Rosie, free food
mug, and Campfire Nachos made show that made light of American producer of Elvis’ Birthday Fight (while it lasts), and a cash bar.
with corn tortillas, chili, cheese wiz, history in the run-up to July 4th — Club and Countdown to Yuri’s Wednesday, Aug. 1, at 6 p.m. HRC
jalapeños, and sour cream. In addi- in 2016, just before the country took Night). The team includes Chris Equality Center, 1640 Rhode Island
tion, there’s the Burger-Beer-Shot a dark, dark turn. As a result, the Griffin — per his drag alter ego Ave. NW. Free. Call 202-505-4548
combo ($22) featuring Dearden’s hit show became darker and more Lucrezia Blozia — and includes or visit AskRayceen.com.l
signature Rad Burger with red-on- Jim Dandy, Jared Davis, Patrick
ion marmalade, lemon-garlic aioli, M. Doneghy, Kittie Glitter, Eleni
arugula, and Cambozola cheese Grove, Callie Pigeon, Candy Del

16 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

 theFeed
YOU’RE BARRED
National LGBT Bar launches campaign to stop pro bono services
to anti-LGBTQ groups. By John Riley
T
HE NATIONAL LGBT BAR ASSOCIATION HAS
launched a new campaign asking attorneys across the
nation to repudiate anti-LGBTQ legal groups and pledge
not to support them through pro bono services. The Commit to
Inclusion campaign, which runs through Sept. 27, focuses on
combating the efforts of those behind many of the legal efforts to
undermine or repeal advances in LGBTQ equality.
“For more than 25 years, groups like Alliance Defending
Freedom and Liberty Counsel have overseen an army of lit-
igators and waged a systematic, insidious, and well-funded
crusade to strip protections from LGBT people,” D’Arcy
Kemnitz, the executive director of the LGBT Bar Association,
said in a statement.
“With the recent Supreme Court decision in the
Masterpiece Cakeshop case, the announced retirement of
Justice Anthony Kennedy, and more and more court victo-
ries for those seeking a license to discriminate, fair-minded
attorneys committed to diversity must push back. If we don’t
take these threats seriously and act accordingly, we could
face long term legal setbacks for LGBT people.”
The campaign includes a detailed history of the two orga-
nizations, their budgets, and a list of the cases where they’ve
attacked LGBTQ rights. For example, ADF was behind
efforts to ban marriage equality in Obergefell v. Hodges
and to allow small business owners to claim their religious
beliefs exempt them from having to abide by nondiscrimina-
tion laws, as in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case.
Meanwhile, Liberty Counsel has worked to stop school
districts from adopting pro-LGBTQ nondiscrimination pol-
icies, as in the case of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum
v. Montgomery County Public Schools. It has also pushed to
keep in place regulations barring transgender children from
facilities that match their gender identity, as in the case
involving Virginia teenager Gavin Grimm‘s lawsuit against
the Gloucester County School Board.
ACTION, MEET CONSEQUENCE
High school Trump supporter yells “faggot” at Keep Families Together rally,
loses college wrestling scholarship. By Bailey Vogt
A
HIGH SCHOOLER WHO WENT VIRAL AFTER HE
screamed “fuck you faggot” at a political rally has lost
his college wrestling scholarship. Bronson Harmon,
18, was filmed during a counterprotest to a Keep Families
Together rally in Modesto, Calif., last month, which was
The National LGBT Bar Association also released a
one-minute video on Tuesday to educate people about the
Commit to Inclusion campaign, and is asking lawyers or law
firms to sign a pledge that reads: “We commit to inclusion by
ensuring that our personal pro bono and volunteer capacity
and personal financial resources will not be used to support
the work of ADF and Liberty Counsel.”
Kemnitz notes that some of the top global law firms often
provide pro bono services to legal organizations seeing to
undertake major cases. But the LGBT Bar Association is
asking those law firms, and the lawyers who work for them,
to closely examine the records of those organizations before
assisting them.
“We think individual lawyers need to know who AFD,
Liberty Counsel, and groups like them, and the kinds of
cases they have brought,” Kemnitz tells Metro Weekly. “We
want people to know what’s behind the name.”
Some conservative legal organizations may suggest that
the Commit to Inclusion campaign is engaging in bullying
or censorship of some kind. But Kemnitz rejects such char-
acterizations.
“What we’re asking for is for law firms to use their discre-
tion. It’s up to a law firm’s discretion who they’ll give away
their services to,” she says. “And we ask that, should they
get requests from groups like ADF and Liberty Counsel, to
give it a pass.
“With criminal law, you do have a right to an attorney
when charged with a crime. But this is a different type of
situation. We’re talking about big global civil law firms who
have every discretion in deciding where to put their resourc-
es,” Kemnitz adds. “Fingers crossed, we hope we’re going to
get a good response from individuals who went to law school
who are committed to upholding the U.S. Constitution and
everything it stands for. We hope they’ll sign on with our
campaign.” l
calling for an end to Donald Trump’s immigration policies
allowing migrant children to be separated from parents if
they crossed the border illegally.
Abdul Lasaing filmed Bronson Harmon flipping off the
camera and screaming the slur as he and his group carried
JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 19
 theFeed
“Donald Trump 2016” campaign signs and flags. Lasaing
also alleges that Harmon’s group were shouting “send their
asses back” and even yelled the n-word prior to the video.
“I not once said anything to these guys, I was just walk-
ing,” Lasaing told San Luis Obispo’s The Tribune. “I’m not
sure if I was disrespected for my skin color or my ‘World
Peace’ sign. I was shocked.”
Harmon said that he “totally regrets” saying the slur, add-
ing that he “I got caught up in the heat of the moment. I was
there to peacefully protest the things that we believe, and
people were harassing us, spitting on us and calling us Nazis.”
While Todd Harmon, Bronson’s father, opted not to be
interviewed, he told KOVR in Sacramento that his son was
losing his wrestling scholarship to California Polytechnic
State University-San Luis Obispo as a result of the video.
While they couldn’t confirm that his scholarship had been
withdrawn, California Polytechnic said that Harmon would
not be participating in athletics this upcoming school year.
“Bronson Harmon will not be a member of Cal Poly’s
wrestling team but we cannot comment on any details
regarding his status as a student because of federal and state
DREAM BIG
CW’s Supergirl casts Nicole Maines as Dreamer,
TV’s first transgender superhero. By Bailey Vogt
T
HE CW’S SUPERGIRL WILL BE INTRODUC-
ing television’s first transgender superhero in its
upcoming fourth season. Transgender activist Nicole
Maines will be joining the cast as reporter Nia Nal, also
known as Dreamer, who joins Kara Danvers (aka Supergirl)
at CatCo Worldwide
Media.
Maines describes her
character as someone
who “has this ferocious
drive to protect peo-
ple and to fight against
discrimination and
hatred.” Her casting was
announced during a panel
at San Diego Comic-Con
last week.
“I’ve been doing a lot
of auditions lately because
a lot of different shows
have been really eager to
tell the story of transgen-
der people,” Maines said at Comic-Con. “It seems only fitting
that we have a trans superhero for trans kids to look up to. I
wish there was a trans superhero when I was little.”
Maines gained notoriety in 2014 after successfully suing
her Maine school district for not allowing her to use the
women’s restroom. She was subsequently the subject of the
book Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American
Family and later appeared in the HBO documentary The
20 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
privacy laws,” Communications Specialist Cynthia Lambert
said.
Cal Poly Athletic Director Don Oberhelman said that
student-athletes sign their scholarship offer with a caveat
that it can be revoked if they cause embarrassment to the
school. Despite this, Bronson Harmon said he does not think
his words should have impacted his future.
“Saying what I said is definitely not the right thing. I am
supposed to be there to help the community be the best per-
son I can be and represent the college the best way I can,”
Bronson Harmon said. “But I still feel like my freedom of
speech was taken away, and I don’t think my scholarship
should have been revoked over something like that.”
Todd Harmon said that the family is “devastated” and
are considering a First Amendment lawsuit against the
University. Bronson is still planning to attend the school in
the fall.
Lasaing expressed sympathy for Harmon losing his
scholarship, but told the Tribune, “I do believe there is
consequences for your actions. I hope he gets all the help
he needs.” l
Trans List.
The announcement of Maines’ casting comes amid heat-
ed debate about trans actors in Hollywood following Scarlett
Johansson being cast as a transgender man in upcoming film
Rub & Tug. Johansson ultimately left the project after back-
lash to her casting and
initial response, stating
that she understood “why
many feel he should be
portrayed by a transgen-
der person.”
In a Variety interview,
Maines said that while
trans people have had
representation on televi-
sion, “it hasn’t been the
right kind of representa-
tion.”
“When I was first
coming out to my parents,
late ’90s, early 2000s, we
had trans people on tele-
vision portrayed by cis men…contributed to that idea that
we’re just men in dresses,” she said. “Now, it’s very hopeful
and relieving to watch creators and writers and directors
and casting offices stepping up to put trans people in trans
roles, so we can portray ourselves and we can start to dis-
prove some of those stereotypes about us.”
She added: “I’m beyond thrilled to be able to do that in
a supersuit!” l
 Community
THURSDAY, July 26
Center Latinx and the Latino
GLBT History Project hold
a monthly meeting of the
LATINX COALITION focusing
on the Latino GLBT History
Project’s oral histories project.
Learn more, and get ready to be
interviewed to share your own
stories. Snacks provided. 6-8
p.m. The DC Center, 2000 14th
St. NW, Suite 105. For more
information, visit thedccenter.
org.

Join LGBTQ people from

around the D.C. Metro area
for an LGBTQ HAPPY HOUR
SOCIAL at the Embassy Row
Hotel’s Station Kitchen &
TYLER GRIGSBY

Cocktails Lounge. Dupont

Circle Metro is two blocks
away. Free to attend. Everyone
welcome. 6-9 p.m. 2015
Massachusetts Ave. NW. For
TransLAW Steering Committee
more information, visit gogay-

HELPFUL NAVIGATORS
dc.org.

The DC ANTI-VIOLENCE
PROJECT, a group dedicated
to combating anti-LGBT hate
TransLAW helps transgender people through the confusing and crimes, holds its monthly meet-
expensive process to update their personal documents. ing at The DC Center. 7-8:30
p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite

W
105. For more information, visit
HEN SHANNON TURNER FIRST TRIED TO UPDATE HER PERSONAL thedccenter.org.
identification to reflect her correct name and gender identity, the process
WEEKLY EVENTS
seemed overwhelming. Then she found TransLAW’s Name and Gender
Change Clinic, which operates out of Whitman-Walker Health, and got the assistance — ANDROMEDA
and emotional support — she needed. TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH
offers free HIV testing and HIV
“When you’re looking at how to go through the process, it can be really intimidating,” services (by appointment). 9
she says. “Sometimes the clerks at the DMV or MVA can be rude or outright hostile in a.m.-5 p.m. Decatur Center,
my experience. You’re always just wondering, ‘Will they let me do this?’ Knowing that 1400 Decatur St. NW. To
you have people standing behind you was really helpful for me.” arrange an appointment, call
202-291-4707, or visit androm-
Turner, now a member of TransLAW’s steering committee, credits the organization edatransculturalhealth.org.
with helping her — and more than 1,000 other transgender clients — obtain a new driv-
er’s license and passport. “It can be a pretty confusing process,” she says, which is why DC AQUATICS CLUB practice
session at Takoma Aquatic
TransLAW matches clients with trained legal professionals to assist them. “Since they Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 300 Van
know what they’re doing and they’ve outlined the process, it makes it so much easier.” And, because chang- Buren St. NW. For more infor-
ing identity documents can be cost-prohibitive, TransLAW even offers financial assistance mation, visit swimdcac.org.
to help clients cover costs.
DC FRONT RUNNERS run-
To help raise money for the all-volunteer organization, which relies heavily on chari- ning/walking/social club
table giving, TransLAW is hosting its sixth annual “A Toast to TransLAW” fundraiser at welcomes runners of all ability
Trade nightclub on Monday, July 30. The recommended donation is $10 per person, but levels for exercise in a fun and
supportive environment, with
no one will be turned away at the door. socializing afterward. Route
“Having a driver’s license or other records that match your presentation makes a huge distance is 3-6 miles. Meet at
difference,” says Turner. “A lot of people don’t understand that presenting identification 7 p.m. at 23rd & P Streets NW.
that doesn’t match can really open you up to harassment. Having updated documents For more information, visit
dcfrontrunners.org.
just makes normal, everyday situations that you might otherwise take for granted much
easier. DC LAMBDA SQUARES, D.C.’s
“I think that with the trans military ban, for instance, a lot of trans people feel like gay and lesbian square-dancing
group, features mainstream
they have a target on their backs, so supporting organizations like TransLAW and others through advanced square
that do service work is really important right now.” —John Riley dancing at the National City
Christian Church. Please dress
TransLAW’s 6th Annual Fundraiser and Celebration, “A Toast to TransLAW: Fund casually. 7-9:30 p.m. 5 Thomas
Circle NW. 202-930-1058,
Trans Legal Access Now!” is on Monday, July 30, from 6-9 p.m., at Trade Nightclub, 1410 dclambdasquares.org.
14th St. NW. For more information, visit translawdc.org.

JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 21

 DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds prac-
tice. The team is always looking
for new members. All welcome.
7-9 p.m. Harry Thomas Recreation
Center, 1743 Lincoln Rd. NE. For
more information, visit scandalsrfc.
org or dcscandals@gmail.com.
THE DULLES TRIANGLES
Northern Virginia social group
meets for happy hour at Sheraton
in Reston. All welcome. 7-9 p.m.
11810 Sunrise Valley Drive, sec-
ond-floor bar. For more informa-
tion, visit dullestriangles.com.
HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker
Health. 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and from
2-5 p.m. at 1525 14th St. NW, and
9 a.m-12 p.m. and 2-5 p.m. at the
Max Robinson Center, 2301 MLK
Jr. Ave. SE. For an appointment
call 202-745-7000 or visit whit-
man-walker.org.
IDENTITY offers free and confi-
dential HIV testing at two separate
locations. Walk-ins accepted from
2-6 p.m., by appointment for all
other hours. 414 East Diamond Ave.,
Gaithersburg, Md. or 7676 New
Hampshire Ave., Suite 411, Takoma
Park, Md. To set up an appoint-
ment or for more information, call
Gaithersburg, 301-300-9978, or
Takoma Park, 301-422-2398.
METROHEALTH CENTER
offers free, rapid HIV testing.
Appointment needed. 1012 14th
St. NW, Suite 700. To arrange an
appointment, call 202-638-0750.
SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5
p.m., by appointment and walk-in,
for youth 21 and younger. Youth
Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-
3155 or testing@smyal.org.
STI TESTING at Whitman-Walker
Health. 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2-3
p.m. at both 1525 14th St. NW and
the Max Robinson Center, 2301
Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. SE.
Testing is intended for those with-
out symptoms. For an appointment
call 202-745-7000 or visit whit-
man-walker.org.
US HELPING US hosts a Narcotics
Anonymous Meeting. The group is
independent of UHU. 6:30-7:30 p.m.,
3636 Georgia Ave. NW. For more
information, call 202-446-1100.
WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP
INSTITUTE for young LBTQ
women, 13-21, interested in lead-
ership development. 5-6:30 p.m.
SMYAL Youth Center, 410 7th St.
SE. For more information, call 202-
567-3163, or email catherine.chu@
smyal.org.
FRIDAY, July 27
Are you shy? Unassertive? Self-
conscious? Easily embarrassed?
Closeted? Anxious about coming
22 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
out or being out? Socially with-
drawn, avoidant, or isolated?
Fearful of speaking in groups?
Have performance anxiety? Stage
fright? Difficulty meeting people
or forming relationships? Sexual
anxiety? Pee shy? Come to a FREE
SOCIAL ANXIETY EDUCATIONAL
WORKSHOP. Learn what social
anxiety is, what causes and main-
tains it, its special effects on LGBT
people, and the cognitive-behav-
ioral therapy approach to overcom-
ing it. No one will be required to
speak or interact at the workshop.
Pre-registration required; space
is limited. Meet in an office near
Tenleytown Metro in Northwest
D.C. Address provided upon reg-
istration. To register, call Larry
Cohen, LICSW, at 202-244-0903 or
visit socialanxietyhelp.com.
GAMMA is a confidential, volun-
tary, peer-support group for men
who are gay, bisexual, questioning
and who are now or who have been
in a relationship with a woman.
7:30-9:30 p.m. Luther Place
Memorial Church, 1226 Vermont
Ave NW. GAMMA meetings are
also held in Vienna, Va., and in
Frederick, Md. For more informa-
tion, visit gammaindc.org.
The DC Center holds its CENTER
AGING MONTHLY LUNCH social
for members of D.C.’s senior com-
munity. Lunch is potluck — bring
your own dish to share. 12-2 p.m.
2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For
more information, visit thedccen-
ter.org or call 202-682-2245.
WOMEN IN THEIR TWENTIES
(AND THIRTIES), a social discus-
sion and activity group for queer
women, meets at The DC Center
on the second and fourth Friday of
each month. Group social activity to
follow the meeting. 8-9:30 p.m. 2000
14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more
information, visit thedccenter.org.
SATURDAY, July 28
CHRYSALIS arts & culture group
visits Virginia Museum of Fine
Arts in Richmond to see sprawling
exhibition “Napoleon: Power &
Splendor.” Admission is $16 for
adults, and $12 for seniors. Lunch
in Museum cafe. Carpool at 9 a.m.
from King Street Metro Station
in Alexandria. Passengers should
pay their driver about $15. Drivers
needed. For more info, contact
Craig, 202-462-0535 or craighow-
ell1@verizon.net.
Join The DC Center as it vol-
unteers for FOOD & FRIENDS,
packing meals and groceries for
people living with serious ailments.
10 a.m.-noon. 219 Riggs Rd. NE.
Near the Fort Totten Metro. For a
ride from the Metro, call the Food
& Friends shuttle at 202-669-6437.
For more information, visit thedc-
center.org or foodandfriends.org.
SUNDAY, July 29
ADVENTURING outdoors group
hikes 6.7 strenuous miles on the
Appalachian Trail in Maryland,
with 1320 feet of elevation gain,
between scenic Weverton Cliffs
and historic Gathland State Park,
followed by visits to a cidery and
a meadery. Bring plenty of bever-
ages, lunch, bug spray, sunscreen,
sturdy boots, and about $27 for
admission and transportation fees.
Attendance is limited. To RSVP,
contact Jackson, 410-422-9257.
Visit adventuring.org.
MONDAY, July 30
Weekly Events
DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a
practice session at Dunbar Aquatic
Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 101 N St. NW.
For more information, visit swim-
dcac.org.
The DC Center hosts COFFEE
DROP-IN FOR THE SENIOR LGBT
COMMUNITY. 10 a.m.-noon. 2000
14th St. NW. For more information,
call 202-682-2245 or visit thedc-
center.org.
US HELPING US hosts a black gay
men’s evening affinity group for
GBT black men. Light refreshments
provided. 7-9 p.m. 3636 Georgia
Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.
WASHINGTON WETSKINS
WATER POLO TEAM practices 7-9
p.m. Newcomers with at least basic
swimming ability always welcome.
Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van
Buren St. NW. For more informa-
tion, contact Tom, 703-299-0504
or secretary@wetskins.org, or visit
wetskins.org.
WHITMAN-WALKER HEALTH
HIV/AIDS SUPPORT GROUP
for newly diagnosed individuals,
meets 7 p.m. Registration required.
202-939-7671, hivsupport@whit-
man-walker.org.
TUESDAY, July 31
Weekly Events
DC FRONT RUNNERS running/
walking/social club welcomes run-
ners of all ability levels for exercise
in a fun and supportive environment,
with socializing afterward. Route
distance is 3-6 miles. Meet at 7 p.m. at
Union Station. For more information,
visit dcfrontrunners.org.
DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds prac-
tice. The team is always looking
for new members. All welcome.
7-9 p.m. Harry Thomas Recreation
Center, 1743 Lincoln Rd. NE. For
more information, visit scandalsrfc.
org or dcscandals@gmail.com.
THE GAY MEN’S HEALTH
COLLABORATIVE offers free
HIV testing and STI screening
and treatment every Tuesday.
5-6:30 p.m. Rainbow Tuesday
LGBT Clinic, Alexandria Health
Department, 4480 King St. 703-
746-4986 or text 571-214-9617.
james.leslie@inova.org.
OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS
holds an LGBT-focused meet-
ing every Tuesday, 7 p.m. at St.
George’s Episcopal Church, 915
Oakland Ave., Arlington, just steps
from Virginia Square Metro. For
more info. call Dick, 703-521-
1999. Handicapped accessible.
Newcomers welcome. liveandletli-
veoa@gmail.com.
WEDNESDAY, August 1
BOOKMEN DC, an informal men’s
gay literature group, discusses In
Search of Duende, a collection of
works by Federico Garcia Lorca, at
the Tenleytown Library. All wel-
come. 7:30 p.m. 4450 Wisconsin
Ave. NW. For more info, visit book-
mendc.blogspot.com.
The LAMBDA BRIDGE CLUB meets
at the Dignity Center, across from
the Marine Barracks, for Duplicate
Bridge. No reservations needed.
Newcomers welcome. 7:30 p.m. 721
8th St. SE. Call 202-841-0279 if you
need a partner. l
JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 23
Timeless
Takei George Takei on ever y thing from Star Trek to Leonard
Bernstein to his new cat app that pokes fun at our
“fake president.” Inter view by André Hereford
G
EORGE TAKEI SPEAKS HIS TRUTH BOLDLY,
yet with the casual command of one who has lived
and made history. And this actor, activist, and
master of memes is eager to tell the tale.
The stage and screen pioneer, happily married
to husband Brad Altman, and forever beloved as Star Trek’s
stalwart Lieutenant Sulu, holds dear even some of the darker
chapters of his and this nation’s history. He’s a survivor of the
U.S. government’s internment of more than 100,000 Japanese-
Americans during World War II, sent as a child, along with his
parents and siblings, to live in a barbed wire-wrapped concen-
tration camp, incarcerated for the mere fact of their ancestry.
Takei’s made a mission of preserving that past for the benefit
of current and future generations. “Still to this day there are a
great number of Americans who don’t know that story,” he says.
“My mission [is] to prevent that sort of thing from happening
again by keeping people aware of that history.”
He hastens to add that “we’re living through it all over again
with Trump’s Muslim travel ban and the way he’s treating
people seeking asylum and an opportunity to live a decent life,
coming from Latin America.”
Passionate and energetic, the 81-year-old Takei often takes to
social media to advocate for LGBTQ and civil rights, and for the
fair treatment of refugees and immigrants. He’s a co-founder of
the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, and
is a member of the landmark East West Players theater compa-
ny, where he creates opportunities to tell stories that matter to
him. In 2015, that included making his Broadway stage debut in
Allegiance, a musical based on his experiences in internment.
“The reason that we developed Allegiance is not just to have
the story understood academically, but to feel that story as
24 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
human beings, to personalize it,” says Takei. “You don’t have to
be Japanese-American to connect with it. We heard the sobbing
of the audience, people wept at the tragic points in the drama.
That’s what we wanted to do, to personalize and to humanize
that story so that it’s understood in the hearts of the audience.”
In 2018, Takei has found a new and novel way to connect
with his audience, launching an augmented reality app, House
of Cats, featuring characters like Trumpy Cat and Meowlania.
The app pokes fun at the current administration by combining,
according to the House of Cats press release, “what the internet
loves most: cats and politics.”
Takei has been a vocal critic of Trump and his policies,
and should feel welcome in the president’s backyard joining a
star-studded cast at Wolf Trap for the blowout musical event
Bernstein at 100: A Celebration. For the performance, which
also features the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by
Michael Barrett, and Misty Copeland and Tony Yazbeck dancing
the “Dream Ballet” from On the Town, Takei will sing a number
from Bernstein’s operetta Candide.
The song, “Auto-da-fe,” happens to be a humorous ditty
about the Inquisition, with Takei’s character, Pangloss, on trial
for his supposed sins against society. The actor endured his own
very public inquisition following accusations leveled in 2017 by
a former bartender and model that Takei had sexually assaulted
the man after a dinner date in 1981. Takei denied the alleged
COURTESY OF GEORGE TAKEI
misconduct, and the accuser’s account was largely recanted and
discredited.
In true Takei style, the pop culture icon didn’t shy away
from that or any other hot-button topic, as he spoke with Metro
Weekly about living long and prospering, with no plans for slow-
ing down.
METRO WEEKLY: At what point were you aware that Star Trek as possible, is not, I think, the way to really handle the fan and
was so far ahead of its time? Did you know at the time, or was it actor relationship.
much later? MW: While shooting the original series, were you out to any of your
GEORGE TAKEI: Gene Roddenberry was really an unusual pro- castmates?
ducer. Certainly he was unusual in his vision and his strength TAKEI: This is the 1960s and I was closeted and no working
in keeping that vision intact. He was also very down-to-earth, actor at that time was out. If you were out, you couldn’t get
and when you’re being interviewed for a series, there’s usually a cast. My colleagues knew that, but they also were sophisticated
battalion of people that you’re meeting, a whole host of network people. You know, at the end of the week, we have the wrap
people and advertising people and some of the staff writers party, the beer is brought in and the pizzas are delivered and
and so forth. But in the case of Gene Roddenberry, it was just guys have their girlfriends or wives come, and the women have
him behind his desk. He came out and ushered me to a corner their husbands or boyfriends come, and I usually had bud-
sofa area to have a much more dies with me. And so they got
personalized conversation. He it, but they were cool too. They
asked me about current events. knew that if they started talking
Being a political person, we had about my being gay, that means
a nice back and forth on the I would fade away. Sulu would
times. The 1960s was a turbulent have an accident or something
time politically, too. and I’d be out. They knew that,
I asked him about the show so they didn’t talk about it, and
and he said, “Well, I want to I appreciated that, but I knew
comment on the times,” because they knew.
it was so turbulent, the peace MW: Have you watched the new
movement during the Vietnam series, Star Trek: Discovery?
War and all of the turmoil that’s TAKEI: I have, indeed.
going on. But on television, you MW: How do you think they’ve
couldn’t do that. It’s an adver- handled the gay storylines?
tising medium. He said he came TAKEI: You know of the hoo-
up with this idea of placing a ha about Star Trek Beyond, the
story in the future — a science most recent Star Trek movie that
fiction story — and creating a came out? When the script was
somewhat utopian society that being developed, the new Sulu,
reflects some of the issues of the John Cho, called me and he said
time. the writers are planning on pay-
For example, the episode “Let ing tribute to me. By that time I
That Be Your Final Battlefield,” was out, this was 2014, I think.
where one alien group is black And I came out in 2005, but
on the right side and white on John Cho called me and said the
the left side, and another alien writers are thinking of paying
group is black on the left side tribute to you, lucky you, and
and white on the right side, and they’re thinking of making Sulu
they’re not able to get along with gay and what do I think about
each other — that was his way that? I said, “Isn’t this movie
of addressing metaphorically the issues of the time. I was really going to be the 50th anniversary movie? Isn’t it going to be com-
excited about the show, even before I got cast, once he told me ing out in 2016 when Star Trek is going to be celebrating its 50th
what kind of show he was planning. I was absolutely desperately anniversary,” and he says “Yeah, it is.” I said, “Well, don’t you
hoping that I got cast and when I was, just to get that excitement think the person who should be celebrated, who should really be
out of my system, I ran and ran and ran — I was a runner back paid tribute to is Gene Roddenberry,” because it was his vision
then — just to exhaust myself, took a shower and I went to bed. and his creative genius and his hope for the future that Star Trek
MW: A couple of days ago, William Shatner made headlines tweet- became such a big hit and lasted so long to celebrate something
ing about his autograph policy: while he’s off the clock, no auto- that rarely has been celebrated before, a TV series that inspired
graphs. What are your thoughts on that? a 50-year television and feature motion picture success. And so,
TAKEI: You know, it’s the fans that made our careers what it’s why are they paying tribute to me?
become, and I think it’s bad manners, frankly, charging for it. I And the other thought I told John is Sulu was created by
believe that the least we can do is just show courtesy to the fans. Gene Roddenberry as a straight character and that’s the way I
Even when he’s charging for autographs, there’s very little eye played him. He had to be straight because otherwise the series
contact with Bill Shatner. Next, next, next — he goes by volume. would not have been sold back in the mid-60s. So, paying tribute
He wants to move the line as fast as possible. I will look at them to Gene wholly would be to really do what Gene would have
and have a brief chat with them so that my autograph to them done when we had the freedom and the opportunity to have gay
has a little bit more meaning than just standing in line, you characters. Sulu was created by Gene as a straight character. Tell
know? I ask them where they come from or what their day is like the writers to be as creative and as original as Gene Roddenberry
SIMON CORNILS

in Boise, Idaho, you know? There’s a little bit of human contact was and create a new character who is gay and has his own his-
that we make, and to restrict it only to when he’s being paid and tory. Sulu’s history is as a straight guy, heterosexual, and to infer
just speeding them through so he gets as many people past him that he is now coming out in the next movie, would be not really

26 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

paying tribute to Gene Roddenberry. But Gene was always very
supportive of the idea of LGBT equality.
And now that we have Star Trek: Discovery, that is treating
the issue of gay people as normal members of the Starfleet team
and in a leadership role, and [with] two guys living together
as gay guys, just as dedicated to the forward movement, the
advancement of the Starship, as anybody else.
MW: The show-runner, Alex Kurtzman, recently revealed that
Spock will make an appearance in the show’s second season.
TAKEI: Spock is going to make an appearance on Discovery? Oh,
how interesting.
MW: Do you know if they’re casting another Sulu?
TAKEI: I have no idea. I think it would be wonderful, but I have
nothing to do with that.
MW: Speaking of John Cho, who is Korean-American, he stars in
the upcoming thriller Searching, which opens a week after a come-
dy called Crazy Rich Asians. Would you say this is a good moment
for Asian actors in Hollywood, or just signs of a trend?
TAKEI: I think we are making progress. There’s an Asian family in
a TV series now, Fresh Off the Boat, and [there was] Ken Jeong’s
“We were impoverished and the hostility was still intense. Coming
home was the most horrifying place to come back to. FOR US KIDS,
THE REAL TRAUMA OF INTERNMENT WAS BEING RELEASED.”
show, Dr. Ken. Some shows succeed, some don’t, but when you
look at the big picture, we are making forward progress.
MW: There’s a lot of discussion lately about transgender and gen-
der nonconforming roles being played by cisgender actors. Do you
think that LGBTQ roles should only go to actors who identify as
LGBTQ?
TAKEI: Well, you know, we have a history where [Asian actors]
were either overlooked entirely, or when there were interest-
ing roles that were Asian, we had yellowface casting where
Caucasians played them. And then we went through the peri-
od of whitewashing, where characters that were originally
Asian suddenly became Caucasian, and Scarlett Johansson, of
course, recently had that experience [on Ghost in the Shell] and
now, with the gender issue, and sexual orientation issue, that’s
become an issue. But I think as Asian-Americans the struggle
continues. There are instances when there’s whitewashing and
an occasional attempt at yellowface, but the reaction on that now
is so strong, and the investment in the projects has made that
much riskier, so that’s not happening. I think that we will always
have a tough road ahead, but we’re certainly making dramatic
progress from the time that I started my career back in the 1950s.
Ideally, we are actors. We create the illusion of truth. I mean,
if you have a Frenchman’s role, there’s no reason why a talented
Italian, someone of Italian ancestry or Spanish ancestry could
not play a Frenchman or other combinations thereof. You don’t
have to have committed murder to qualify playing a murderer.
You know, it can be reduced to that kind of ridiculousness. I
think, ultimately, when it’s reached some point of equity in
terms of the casting of minorities — if that minority actor has
the talent and creates the theatrical truth, not necessarily the
genetic and ancestral truth, but the ability with his or her talent
to create the truth of that character of whatever ancestry, that’s
what should matter. You’ve got to see it in context, the whole
history, background, what kind of discrimination have certain
groups of people had, when they were not judged on the basis of
the talent to create the truth of that character but the box office
attractiveness or other things. Given I’m talking about the ideal
world, the operative consideration should be the talent and the
ability to create the theatrical truth.
MW: The song you’re performing in Bernstein at 100, “Auto-da-fe,”
is about characters being tried for heresy. Who chose that number?
TAKEI: It was chosen by Michael Barrett, the conductor. But
he selected me for [this performance] because there’s a very
important history to Bernstein’s On the Town. It was first per-
formed in New York on the Broadway stage in 1944. It was in
the middle of World War II, and the leading lady was a Japanese
American. At that time, when she was performing, her parents
were in U.S. internment camps, as was I, with my family. In
1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order
9066, which ordered all Japanese-Americans on the west coast,
approximately 120,000 of us, to be summarily rounded up,
with no charges, with no trial, with no due process, which is
the central pillar of our justice system, to be imprisoned in ten
barbed-wire prison camps in some of the most desolate places in
the United States. My family, we were taken from Los Angeles to
the swamps of southeastern Arkansas. So, for Bernstein, and the
company of On The Town, it was a landmark event that they cast
a Japanese-American, Sono Osato, who was on the east coast, as
the leading lady in this major Broadway production. That’s why
Michael Barrett asked me to be a part of this.
MW: Do you feel a particular message behind performing the song?
TAKEI: Absolutely. “Auto-da-fe,” it has the resonance of the
internment of Japanese-Americans, because our loyalty and
our Americanism, our citizenship here, was challenged, ques-
tioned with no actual proof or evidence of our loyalty. Just
simply because of our ancestry, we were imprisoned, and that
irrationality is reflected in the same kind of thinking behind the
Inquisition.
MW: As somebody who lived through a period of internment in the
’40s, does the current zero tolerance immigration policy feel like a
cycle is repeating itself, or does this seem like some new digression
from the values that we know?
TAKEI: It is a new low. At least in our time, in the ’40s, families
were intact. I was five years old when we were taken away. The
thought of being separated from my parents never occurred. We
were all together as a family. And now, not only is that irrational-
ity and cruelty being repeated, but it’s reaching a new low with
children being torn away from their parents, usually from their
mothers. Not only kept in that area where they were torn away,
the evil in this is scattering them all across the country, and so
incompetently that they can’t find the parents and the children
to match, to bring them back together. This is a new low, a new
depth that we’ve gone to because of this fake president.
And the irrationality of this is during the George W. Bush
administration, we had asylum seekers and immigrants coming
from Latin America at the rate of over 80,000 a month. During
JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 27
the Obama administration, that was cut over half, about 35,000
a month during Obama. And now, it’s something like 25,000
people seeking asylum here every month. This tragedy that’s
going on at the southern border is fabricated by this fake pres-
ident. And his constant repetition of words like drug dealers,
murderers, rapists, is the same broad brush that painted us in
the ’40s as inscrutable and treacherous and untrustworthy. That
was absolutely untrue. There was no case of treachery or spying
or sabotage or suspicious activities by Japanese-Americans, in
retrospect. But that was the broad brush that painted us then
and the same broad brush is being painted by this fake president
characterizing the people coming here as rapists, drug dealers
and murderers.
MW: You just launched a new AR app, House of Cats, featuring
Trumpy Cat. There is a lot of media, created by liberal-minded
people, that pokes fun at Trump, but do you worry that making fun
of him just riles up his supporters?
TAKEI: Well, the thing is, my blood boils every time I listen to
the man. And my husband tells me calm down and step back
and get the big picture. When you do that, when you look at the
larger context of what’s going on, it’s ripe for satire and mockery
and caricature, so that’s what we’re going to do with Trumpy
Cat. We’re cat lovers and I’m a political activist, and so putting
those two together, it’s a perfect vehicle for satirization of this
administration and the — I don’t call it the White House, it’s the
House of Cats.
MW: After you and your family were interned, you had to resume
your lives, which relates to what we see happening now with
migrant children who are released after detention. Psychologically,
how do you go back to normal life after that?
TAKEI: It was not normal. When we were incarcerated, I was five,
my brother was four and my baby sister was less than a year old.
I don’t remembe r how many months — but children are
amazingly adaptable. We had our parents, and this is the import-
ant thing, my parents were with us and they protected us from
what they were experiencing. You know, we lost everything. My
father lost his business, our home, our bank account, everything.
We were impoverished and then imprisoned and for my parents,
it was the most harrowing experience in their lives. But we chil-
dren, because our parents were with us, we were protected from
that. I remember, to be very honest, that I had fun in the Arkansas
camp. I caught butterflies, I caught tadpoles and put them in glass
jars and saw them transform into frogs over the days, sprouting
their legs and losing their tails. And so, it was an adventure for
me, a southern California kid in the swamps of Arkansas. We
adjusted to the routine and the regimentation, lining up three
times a day or taking mass showers, going with my father. And,
starting school in a black tar paper barrack and beginning every
school day with the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.
I could, right outside my school house window, see the
barbed wire fence and the sentry tower with their rifles and
machine guns pointed at us, while I recited the words “With
liberty and justice for all,” but the irony didn’t strike me that’s
what the teacher taught us. So, we adjusted to the regimentation
and we thought that was normal. But the worst part for us kids
was when the war ended and we were released and we were
given a one-way ticket to anywhere in the United States, plus
$25. I mean, we had nothing else. Many people didn’t go back to
the West Coast but my parents decided to go back to Los Angeles
and the horror of that period really struck us. Coming home, we
were impoverished and we didn’t have money, other than that
$25 they gave us, and the hostility was still intense. Getting a job
was enormously difficult. Finding a place to live was impossible,
28 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
our first home was on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles and
that was terrifying to us. You know, the chaos, the yelling and the
screaming. That was the most terrifying part.
I still remember this experience of walking down the side-
walk with my parents and suddenly we stop because there was
this derelict glaring at us, with his head tilted forward, and
staggering towards us. We thought he was going to attack us
and then he collapsed in front of us and barfed and my baby sis-
ter shrieked, “Momma, let’s go back home” — meaning behind
barbed wire fence because, for my baby sister, that’s all she knew
in her life. Coming home was the most horrifying place to come
back to. For us kids, the real trauma of internment was being
released.
Throughout my life, from my late teens, I’ve been on speak-
ing tours. We founded a museum called the Japanese American
National Museum to institutionalize the story of our internment
so that the story won’t fade away with people like me. I’m the
last of the generation that actually experienced the imprison-
ment. So few people still know about it. We didn’t want the
story to fade, so I’m one of the founders of Japanese American
National Museum so that America is reminded of the fragility of
our system in perpetuity.
MW: I want to ask you about another tough subject, especially in
the age of the #MeToo movement, regarding your own headlines
and being accused of sexual assault. Was there any lesson or any-
thing good that came out of being thrust into that situation?
TAKEI: Well, it was disproved. At the time, I said it is untrue but
I will not engage in a he said/he said because of the #MeToo
movement. I respect that. People — women — have been
silenced by social pressures for all this time, and finally now
with this movement they are being given credibility. And so, in
that case I would be challenging an allegation and I didn’t want
to muddy the waters. It’s past, it’s done. He’s retracted, or he’s
been discredited because of the changing story. And so we’re
moving on.
MW: On a positive note, you have contributed significantly in your
career to pop culture and to American culture in general. Did you
have any idea when you started out that you might still be per-
forming at 81?
TAKEI: You know, that’s a blessing to be able to be doing that. I
have enjoyed a long life and I intend to enjoy an even longer life.
I’ve been blessed in having had a grandmother who celebrated
104 birthdays and they tell me that genes skip a generation,
although my mother didn’t do that badly either. She passed just
a month before her 90th birthday. But I am competitive. I intend
to beat my grandmother and I believe in living life.
You know, this thing called retirement where people, they
say they play golf. I don’t play golf. For me, what engages me
is doing what I’m doing. If I were doing something else and I
retired, I would probably be working with East West Players or
some other community theater group and I might be paying so I
have these opportunities. Greatly, I’m being paid to do the things
that I enjoy doing. And so, I intend to live life fully.
I’ve lived most of my life as an activist and trying to contrib-
ute to making this a better America and trying to prevent some
of our past mistakes from recurring. Except it is recurring, so
that galvanizes me that much more. I’m not going to be retiring.
I am going to be living life. As we said on Star Trek, the Vulcan
greeting was “Live long and prosper.” I’m taking that to heart. l
Bernstein at 100: A Celebration is Friday, July 27, at 8:15 p.m., at
Wolf Trap’s Filene Center, 1551 Trap Road, in Vienna, Va. Tickets
are $25 to $60. Call 877-WOLFTRAP, or visit wolftrap.org.
 Gallery
Atomic Dog and Consequential Cat
F
URRY PETS ARE THE FOCUS OF ARTWORK
at the VCA Alexandria Animal Hospital made by
members of the artist collective Del Ray Artisans and
presented through its Gallery Without Walls program. The
exhibit features selections of canine artwork from May’s
Atomic Dog exhibit as well as hand-picked pieces hon-
Nama-stray by Sarah Chittenden
Cuddle by Suzan Ok
oring feline companions. Participating artists will donate
20 percent of the purchase price of sold pieces in an equal
split between the Artisans gallery and Veterans Moving
Forward, which provides trained assistance animals to
veterans. On display through Sept. 30 at 2660 Duke St. in
Alexandria. Call 703-751-2022 or visit DelRayArtisans.org.
JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 29
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Movies

And they don’t know — or aren’t revealing

Action Packed
to one another all they know — about a
plot to kill another Rogue Nation return-
ee, the nefarious ex-agent Solomon Lane
(Sean Harris).
Tom Cruise dangles it all on the line (again) for a high-flying In the earlier film and in this one, Harris
Mission: Impossible - Fallout. By André Hereford adds potent menace. The sheer creepiness

O
of this unrepentant anarchist, fueled by
UTSIDE OF GIFTING THE WORLD ONE ICONIC HEIST SCENE OF TOM random movie-villain rage against the sys-
Cruise, spread-eagle, zipping down from the ceiling, Brian De Palma’s 1996 tem, helps balance cartoonish conceits like
summer hit Mission: Impossible left two lasting impressions: that the plot was the IMF’s signature life-like rubber masks.
infernally circuitous and that Cruise had found his franchise. The high-tech, deadly world Ethan Hunt
Five sequels and four presidents later, Cruise shows in Mission: Impossible - Fallout inhabits wouldn’t be very scary or a lick as
( ) that he still cuts it as Ethan Hunt, lead spy of the super-secret, spectac- credible without a villain who seems like
ularly well-equipped Impossible Mission Force. Hunt’s method of intense planning, they’d actually wipe out a metropolis, and
running, and gritting it out to solve the world’s certain-doom problems suits Cruise’s not just monologue about it.
nimble but no-nonsense approach to the character, to moviemaking, and to everything But the movie has another evil mas-
his audience sees him do in public. termind up its sleeve, known only by the
He’s obviously done a heroic job maintaining a stake in assuring that these pictures secret identity John Lark, who’s in the
are as fast-paced and exciting as their top-dollar budgets will allow. Part of the strategy hunt for a cache of plutonium. Remaining
has been to not try to fix what isn’t broken, like the famous Lalo Schifrin theme music. offscreen, Lark might be any of the film’s
The flip side of that strategy has been the producers’ decision to hand the keys of each cast of heavy hitters, including Simon
new M:I vehicle to a different director. But Cruise and company throw in a curveball Pegg’s returning sidekick, Benji Dunn, or
for this summer’s outing, bringing back the series’ first repeat filmmaker, Christopher spy chiefs played by Angela Bassett and
McQuarrie, who directed predecessor Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. Alec Baldwin.
Accordingly, McQuarrie, an Oscar-winner for writing The Usual Suspects, picks up Hunt’s friendly foil most of the run-
several threads left dangling in Rogue Nation. Providing the most direct story contin- ning time is surly agent August Walker,
uation of any of the sequels, Fallout resumes Hunt’s dalliance with British agent Ilsa portrayed by DC’s current Superman,
Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). Henry Cavill. The style and size differ-
Dalliance, which isn’t that strong a word, might still be too strong a word to describe ence between Hunt and Walker is shot for
the romance between Hunt and Ilsa. That they “care” for each other is explicitly stated, maximum contrast by cinematographer
but only vaguely rendered. We’ll take their words for it, as they rescue each other one Rob Hardy. There’s also lens flare for days,
minute, and attempt to run Bimmers and motorbikes over each other a few scenes later. and a percussive precision to the stunts
The two square-shooting spies can’t define their relationship any more than we can. and action, whether Hunt’s brawling in a

JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 31


PARAMOUNT PICTURES
nightclub men’s room, hanging off the side of a building, or dan-
gling from a speeding helicopter.
Cruise’s inexhaustible appetite for creating wow-worthy
stunts and action-packed set-pieces doesn’t disappoint. Running
with Ethan Hunt straight out of the cargo bay of a soaring C-17
into the night sky delivers breathtaking visual impact.
McQuarrie has prospered in the Tom Cruise business of late,
directing and writing for the actor’s Jack Reacher films, among
other projects. The filmmaking duo concocts an intriguing direc-
tion for Ethan Hunt here, by having the licensed killer attempt
Mission: Impossible - Fallout is rated PG-13, and opens in theaters everywhere July 27. Visit fandango.com.
32 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
to hold himself to a higher standard
when weighing the cost of any life
he might take or sacrifice. That
doesn’t stop the bullets from flying
willy-nilly, but it adds a pound of
meaning.
Supplying gravitas is in the
job description for Ving Rhames,
returning for his sixth appearance
as IMF agent Luther Stickell. It’s
warm comfort to see Rhames back,
but unfortunate that Luther spends
so much screen time just talking
about how capable Ethan is, or tell-
ing people how Ethan’s doing. Half
a dozen movies in, Luther should
have more of his own thing going.
Alas, Fallout and its characters, even
the resolutely independent Ilsa, revolve around Ethan Hunt.
Cruise, no surprise, pulls off Hunt’s derring-do with aplomb,
but, for some viewers, the screen Maverick might be upstaged
by Cavill’s epic pornstache. The whiskers contribute to the char-
acterization, as pummel-first, ask-questions-later Agent Walker
looks and carries himself exactly as he’s described, like the ham-
mer to Hunt’s scalpel.
Written and played as being not terribly swift, Walker’s blunt,
bruising physicality might be his most memorable trait, if it
weren’t for the Magnum ’stache. l
AMAZON PRIME
Television

death of Scott when his secrets threaten to

Downfall
unravel. His Thorpe is as at ease delivering
an impassioned speech on European inte-
gration in Parliament as he is telling friend
and fellow politician Peter Bessell (Alex
A Very English Scandal is a phenomenally acted portrayal of the Jennings) that killing Scott would be “no
pressures of trying to remain closeted. By Rhuaridh Marr worse than shooting a sick dog.”
Ben Whishaw equally commands the

O
screen as Scott, portraying a man driv-
NE OF THE MOST SURPRISING THINGS ABOUT A VERY ENGLISH en to desperation and ruin by Thorpe’s
Scandal is that it’s not a farce. On the face of it, the story of a high-ranking casual disregard of his feelings — Thorpe
British politician in the 1970s tasking a woefully inadequate group of amateurs repeatedly asserts that two men cannot
with killing a former gay lover who threatens his carefully constructed public image love one another, contrary to what he
seems like a quintessentially British comedy. And yet, not only is this a drama — and a obviously feels. Thorpe initially takes care
brilliant one at that — but it’s based on a true story. of Scott, but his busy schedule and Scott’s
A three-part miniseries, A Very English Scandal (HHHHH) tells the tale of Jeremy mental health problems drive them apart
Thorpe, leader of Britain’s Liberal Party in the ’60s and ’70s whose political career was until Thorpe sends him on his way. Scott,
brought to a crashing halt when he was charged with plotting to kill Norman Scott, angry and downtrodden, reports Thorpe
with whom he’d had a tumultuous relationship. The revelation of the affair, Thorpe’s to the police, moves to Ireland to try and
orchestrating of Scott’s assassination, and the subsequent fallout from the trial gener- become a model, and ultimately returns
ated thousands of headlines at the time, but it’s only now, 40 years later, that writer to England. All the while, when rock bot-
Russell T. Davies (Queer as Folk, Doctor Who) and director Stephen Frears (The Queen, tom keeps finding him, he reaches out to
My Beautiful Laundrette) have dramatized the events. Thorpe for the one thing he needs to truly
Stepping into the title role is an almost unrecognizable Hugh Grant — at least from a move on — his National Insurance Card,
character point of view. Long saddled with the reputation of his rom-com past — Four which, like a Social Security number, is
Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary — here Grant takes the essential to finding work and claiming
affable English bachelor that he made his name on and injects flashes of menace, cold state benefits.
calculation, and an ability to both change and mask emotions in an instant. Perfectly This is where A Very English Scandal
capturing Thorpe’s witty and charming public persona, as well as the isolation and would not have worked as fiction. Thorpe
desperation of a closeted man in a time when homosexuality was not only frowned could easily have procured Scott’s
upon but explicitly illegal, Grant is at turns creepy in his pursuit of Scott, dashing in his replacement card and cut all ties. Instead,
hunger for power, tragic in his loneliness, and chilling as he repeatedly demands the Scott’s repeated contact drove Thorpe to

JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 33


AMAZON PRIME
near-madness, culminating in a desire to see him killed — and
despite the ridiculousness of the facts, it’s all convincingly deliv-
ered by a first-rate cast. While Grant is enthralling in capturing
Thorpe’s downfall, Whishaw steals every scene as his Scott
gradually opens up, becoming more confident, more open, and
ultimately less ashamed of his sexuality. Surrounding them is a
cast of surprisingly fleshed out characters, given the relatively
short runtime of the series — just shy of three hours. Jennings is
sublime as Peter Bessell, he and Grant establishing most of the
exposition of the relationship and its fallout over various meals
at various gentlemen’s clubs in London. Adrian Scarborough is
perfectly cast as Thorpe’s charismatic and intensely calculat-
ing attorney George Carman. Blake Harrison delivers a Carry
A Very English Scandal is available to stream now on Amazon Prime Video.
34 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
On-esque performance as the would-be killer Andrew Newton
in the runup to the assassination. Monica Dolan shines as
Thorpe’s second wife, Marion. And the list goes on — while the
focus is almost always on Grant and Whishaw, there’s no fat to
be trimmed in the ensemble here.
Aiding all of this is a script by Davies that is witty, emotional,
and suitably dark where necessary. The comedy is often black
(and very funny) and the shifts in tone can be jarring, but it all
serves a much deeper purpose. Forty years removed, A Very
English Scandal is as much an essay on the criminalization of
homosexuality and the public’s own bigotry as it is a dramati-
zation of Thorpe’s downfall. Whether it’s journalists laughing
as Scott details his and Thorpe’s first encounter — he was told
to “Hop on to all fours, there’s a good chap,” in suitably English
fashion — or hearing Thorpe’s fears of being outed, related to
Peter in one of their chats — “If anything about me ever became
public...I would put a gun to my head and blow my brains out”
— A Very English Scandal never shies from showcasing the pres-
sures and difficulties of being gay at a time when it was either
illegal or immensely shameful.
As the trial draws to a close, Carman asks Thorpe the ulti-
mate question: why Scott? Thorpe details the various one-night
stands he’d had before finding Scott, which often resulted in
violence before, during, or after the act. Grant, speaking in hypo-
theticals, masterfully reflects Thorpe’s struggle to admit that
he loved Scott, instead saying, “Given those men, it may be, one
could imagine, that Norman Scott was the best.” But beneath
that stiff upper lip, the truth is clear. It’s a very English response,
topping off a most intriguing scandal. l
NightLife
Photography by
Ward Morrison

JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 35


DrinksDragDJsEtc...
Thursday,
July 26
9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • Multiple
TVs showing movies,
shows, sports • Expanded
craft beer selection •
Music videos featuring
DJ Wess
BALTIMORE EAGLE
Doors open at 3pm •
Happy Hour, 3-9pm, all
liquors, beers and wines up
to 50% off • $5 Pitchers
of Miller Lite all night long
• $3 Well Drinks in Nest
until 11pm, $3 in Tavern all
day • Thrifty Minett Drag
Show, hosted by Whimsy
Thrift and Anita Minett,
9pm, in the Nest • $5
Cover • Underwear Night
in the Code Bar, 9pm-2am
36 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
Scene
Duplex Diner’s 20th Anniversary - Friday, July 20
Photography by Ward Morrison
See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene
12-12:30am • DJs TRADE BALTIMORE EAGLE NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
BacK2bACk Doors open 5pm • Huge Doors open at 2pm • Open 3pm • Beat the
Happy Hour: Any drink Bears & Bellies Friday Bear Clock Happy Hour — $2
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR normally served in a cock- Night • $10 Cover • Pay (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4
• For men in underwear in
Code Bar, all well drinks
Beat the Clock Happy Hour tail glass served in a huge an extra $5, and get 5 free (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer,
$2, 9pm-12am • Best
— $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
$4 (7-8pm) • $15 Buckets
glass for the same price,
5-10pm • Beer and wine
well drinks • Full Moon
Blackout Party, 9pm-close
$15 • Weekend Kickoff
Dance Party, with Nellie’s
Underwear Contest at
of Beer all night • Sports only $4 • Special surprises and DJs spinning bubbly pop
Midnight • Code enforced
Leagues Night $5 Grateful Dead cocktails music all night
in Code Bar after 9pm •
ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS • Jock Strap Contest and
Release Dance Party in
NUMBER NINE All male, nude dancers • more • Summer Knight’s NUMBER NINE
the Nest, featuring DJs
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any Open Dancers Audition • XXX Cabaret, 10:30pm • Open 5pm • Happy Hour:
Thommy Davis and Jerry
drink, 5-9pm • No Cover Urban House Music by DJ $10 at door • Elyx Vodka 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm
Haley, 10pm-2am • Free
Tim-e • 9pm • Cover 21+ and Any Red Bull Flavor for • No Cover • Friday Night
admission to the Tavern •
PITCHERS $7 all day long • thebalti- Piano with Chris, 7:30pm
Admission to the Nest is
2317 18th St. NW moreeagle.com
free until 10:30pm • After
Doors open, 5pm-2am PITCHERS
10:30pm, $5 Cover for
21 and up, $10 Cover for
• Visit facebook.com/
PitchersDC or pitchers-
Friday, FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm •
2317 18th St. NW
Doors open, 5pm-3am
18-20 • thebaltimoreea-
gle.com
bardc.com July 27 Karaoke, 9pm • Visit facebook.com/
PitchersDC or pitchers-
SHAW’S TAVERN 9 1/2 GREEN LANTERN bardc.com
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Open at 5pm • Happy Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm •
Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, Rail and Domestic • Free SHAW’S TAVERN
Karaoke, 9pm
$5 House Wines, $5 Rail 5-9pm • Friday Night Pizza, 7-9pm • $5 Svedka, Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3
Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas Videos, 9:30pm • Rotating all flavors all night long Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon,
GREEN LANTERN
and Select Appetizers • All DJs • Expanded craft beer • DJ JerrBear presents $5 House Wines, $5 Rail
Happy Hour, 4-9pm
You Can Eat Ribs, 5-10pm, selection • No Cover PigPen, 10pm-close • Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas
• Shirtless Thursday,
$24.95 • $4 Corona and No Cover and Select Appetizers
10-11pm • Men in
Heineken all night
Underwear Drink Free,
TRADE
Doors open 5pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
5-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS
Men of Secrets, 9pm •
Guest dancers • Rotating
DJs • Kristina Kelly’s Diva
Fev-ah Drag Show • Doors
at 9pm, Shows at 11:30pm
and 1:45am • DJ Don T. in
Ziegfeld’s • Cover 21+
Saturday,
July 28
9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut
and $5 Bulleit Bourbon,
9pm-close • Expanded
craft beer selection •
No Cover
BALTIMORE EAGLE
Doors open at noon •
Happy Hour, 3-9pm •
Men’s Pelvic Health Free
Workshop, 3pm • Leather
and Fetish Saturdays, Code
Bar, 8pm-2am • Code
enforced after 9pm in the
Code Bar • The Ramrod of
Fort Lauderdale presents
Pig Dance, the Main Bar
and Code Bar Jock and
Gear Party, 9pm • Nothing
But ’90s Dance Party
in the Nest, 10pm-2am
• Featuring DJ Ryan
Doubleyou • $5 Cover •
Drink Specials in the Nest
• Long Island Leather
Saturdays — $5 Long
Islands all day • thebalti-
moreeagle.com
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Saturday Breakfast Buffet,
10am-3pm • $14.99 with
one glass of champagne
or coffee, soda or juice •
Additional champagne $2
per glass • World Tavern
JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 37
Poker Tournament, 1-3pm
• Crazy Hour, 4-8pm •
Freddie’s Follies Drag
Show, hosted by Miss
Destiny B. Childs, 8-10pm
• Karaoke, 10pm-close
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $5
Bacardi, all flavors, all
night long • JOX: The
GL Underwear Party,
9pm-close • Featuring
DJs C-Dubz and Chaim •
$5 Cover (includes clothes
check)
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Drag Brunch, hosted
by Chanel Devereaux,
10:30am-12:30pm and
1-3pm • Tickets on sale
at nelliessportsbar.com
• House Rail Drinks, Zing
Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie
Beer and Mimosas, $4,
11am-3am • Buckets of
Beer, $15 • Guest DJs
38 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
NUMBER NINE
Doors open 2pm • Happy
Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink,
2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5
Bulleit Bourbon, 9pm-close
• Jawbreaker: Music
of the ’90s and 2000s,
featuring DJs BacK2bACk,
9:30pm
PITCHERS
2317 18th St. NW
Doors open, 12pm-3am
• Visit facebook.com/
PitchersDC or pitchers-
bardc.com
SHAW’S TAVERN
Brunch with $15
Bottomless Mimosas,
10am-3pm • Happy Hour,
5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite,
$4 Blue Moon, $5 House
Wines, $5 Rail Drinks •
Half-Priced Pizzas and
Select Appetizers
TRADE
Doors open 2pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
2-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS
Men of Secrets, 9pm-4am
• Guest dancers • Ladies
of Illusion Drag Show
with host Ella Fitzgerald
• Doors at 9pm, Shows
at 11:30pm and 1:45am
• DJ Don T. in Ziegfeld’s
• DJ Steve Henderson in
Secrets • Cover 21+
Sunday, buy a cup for $5 and fill
it with any Absolut Flavor
• House Rail Drinks, Zing
Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie
July 29 and Mixer for $3 each time Beer and Mimosas, $4,
(excluding energy drink 11am-1am • Buckets of
9 1/2 mixers) • thebaltimoreea- Beer, $15 • Guest DJs
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any gle.com
drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut NUMBER NINE
and $5 Bulleit Bourbon, FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on
9pm-close • Multiple TVs Champagne Brunch Buffet, any drink, 2-9pm • $5
showing movies, shows, 10am-3pm • $24.99 with Absolut and $5 Bulleit
sports • Expanded craft four glasses of champagne Bourbon, 9pm-close • Pop
beer selection • No Cover or mimosas, 1 Bloody Goes the World with Wes
Mary, or coffee, soda or Della Volla at 9:30pm •
BALTIMORE EAGLE juice • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm No Cover
Doors open at noon • • Gayborhood Piano
Lizzie Beaumont and Night, 5-8pm • Karaoke, PITCHERS
Betty Whitecastle present 9pm-close 2317 18th St. NW
Queens Who Brunch, Doors open, Noon-2am
12-2pm • $34 per person GREEN LANTERN • $4 Smirnoff, includes
includes All You Can Happy Hour, 4-9pm • flavored, $4 Coors Light or
Eat • Free pitcher of Karaoke with Kevin down- $4 Miller Lites, 2-9pm
Mimosas per 4 admissions stairs, 9:30pm-close
• Reservations highly SHAW’S TAVERN
suggested and can be NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Brunch with Bottomless
made online beforehand Drag Brunch, hosted Mimosas, 10am-3pm •
• Sunday Fun-Day, 4-9pm by Chanel Devereaux, Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3
• Release Dance Party, 10:30am-12:30pm and Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon,
featuring DJ Jerry Haley, 1-3pm • Tickets on sale $5 House Wines, $5 Rail
5-10pm • From 2-8pm, at nelliessportsbar.com Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas
JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 39
 and Select Appetizers
• Dinner-n-Drag, with
Miss Kristina Kelly, 7pm
• For reservations, email
shawsdinnerdragshow@
gmail.com
TRADE
Doors open 2pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
2-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
Monday,
July 30
9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • Multiple
TVs showing movies,
shows, sports • Expanded
craft beer selection •
No Cover
BALTIMORE EAGLE
Doors open at 3pm •
Happy Hour, 3-9pm, all
liquors, beers and wines up
to 50% off • Micro Brew
Draft/Bottle Mondays —
$4 all day • SIN: Service
Industry Night, 11pm-2am
• First Well Drink or
Domestic Beer Free • 10%
off your Food Order all day
• thebaltimoreeagle.com
40 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm •
Singles Night • Half-Priced
Pasta Dishes • Poker Night
— 7pm and 9pm games •
Karaoke, 9pm
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm •
$3 rail cocktails and
domestic beers all night
long • Singing with the
Sisters: Open Mic Karaoke
Night with the Sisters
of Perpetual Indulgence,
9:30pm-close
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Beat the Clock Happy Hour
— $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
$4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of
Beer, $15 • Half-Priced
Burgers • Paint Nite, 7pm
• PokerFace Poker, 8pm •
Dart Boards • Ping Pong
Madness, featuring 2 Ping-
Pong Tables
NUMBER NINE
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • No Cover
SHAW’S TAVERN
Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3
Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon,
$5 House Wines, $5 Rail
Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas
and Select Appetizers •
Shaw ’Nuff Trivia, with
Jeremy, 7:30pm
TRADE
Doors open 5pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
5-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
Tuesday,
July 31
9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • Multiple
TVs showing movies,
shows, sports • Expanded
craft beer selection •
No Cover
BALTIMORE EAGLE
Doors open at 3pm •
Happy Hour, 3-9pm, all
liquors, beers and wines
up to 50% off • Fibbage
Tuesdays, 8pm • Free to
play on your smartphone
• $6 Any Flavor Martinis
and $7 Manhattans (call
liquors) • thebaltimoreea-
gle.com
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Taco
Tuesday • Poker Night —
7pm and 9pm games •
Karaoke, 9pm
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4pm-9pm
• $3 rail cocktails and
domestic beers all night
long
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Beat the Clock Happy Hour
— $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
$4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of
Beer $15 • Drag Bingo
with Sasha Adams and
Brooklyn Heights, 7-9pm •
Karaoke, 9pm-close
NUMBER NINE
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • No Cover
PITCHERS
2317 18th St. NW
Doors open, 5pm-12am
• Visit facebook.com/
PitchersDC or pitchers-
bardc.com
SHAW’S TAVERN
Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3
Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon,
$5 House Wines, $5 Rail
Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas
and Select Appetizers •
Half-Priced Burgers and
Pizzas all night with $5
House Wines and $5 Sam
Adams
TRADE
Doors open 5pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
5-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
Wednesday, NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
SmartAss Trivia Night,
August 1 8-10pm • Prizes include
bar tabs and tickets to
9 1/2 shows at the 9:30 Club •
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any $15 Buckets of Beer for
drink, 5-9pm • Multiple SmartAss Teams only •
TVs showing movies, Absolutely Snatched Drag
shows, sports • Expanded Show, hosted by Brooklyn
craft beer selection • Heights, 9pm • Tickets
No Cover available at nelliessports-
BALTIMORE EAGLE
bar.com
Doors open at 3pm • NUMBER NINE
Happy Hour, 3-9pm, all Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
liquors, beers and wines drink, 5-9pm • No Cover
up to 50% off • Domestic
Bottles are $3 all day • PITCHERS
Team Trivia, 8-10pm •
thebaltimoreeagle.com
2317 18th St. NW
Doors open, 5pm-12am
• Visit facebook.com/
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR PitchersDC or pitchers-
Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • $6 bardc.com
Burgers • Beach Blanket
Drag Bingo Night, hosted SHAW’S TAVERN
by Ms. Regina Jozet Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3
Adams, 8pm • Bingo prizes Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon,
• Karaoke, 10pm-1am $5 House Wines, $5 Rail
Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas
GREEN LANTERN and Select Appetizers •
Happy Hour, 4pm-9pm • Piano Bar and Karaoke
Bear Yoga with Greg Leo, with Jill, 8pm
6:30-7:30pm • $10 per
class • $3 rail cocktails TRADE
and domestic beers all Doors open 5pm • Huge
night long Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cock-
tail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
5-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4 l
 Scene
Larry’s Lounge - Friday, July 20
Photography by Ward Morrison
See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

42 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 43
 Scene
Uproar - Sunday, July 15
Photography by Ward Morrison
See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

44 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY

JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY 45
 LastWord.
People say the queerest things

“President Trump has the ability to say, ‘I want to keep PEPFAR going and
I want to be the President that ended AIDS.’”
— SIR ELTON JOHN, speaking with Britain’s Channel 4 News about Donald Trump’s actions with regard to HIV/AIDS funding. Trump
closed the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, dismissed the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, and proposed
cuts to international HIV/AIDS programs. John, however, said if Trump kept the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
(PEPFAR), he “would back him up to the hilt.”

“There’s no reason for anything but

Old Glory to be flying
”
over our embassies and posts around the globe.

— Republican Rep. JEFF DUNCAN, speaking with the Washington Examiner about a House bill that would ban U.S. embassies from
flying the rainbow flag during Pride month, as well as any other flag that isn’t the United States flag. The bill currently has 30
co-sponsors, and was drafted after some took issue with embassies flying Pride flags.

“ What’s reprehensible is that it’s 2018, and

in your ignorant mind ‘gay’ is an insult.”
— WWE commentator and former wrestler Corey Graves, on Twitter responding to a troll who repeatedly called him gay,
including saying “Gay Graves is on her period again” and “your gay suits and your bad commentary are reprehensible.”
Graves clapped back, tweeting, “I don’t happen to be gay, but most importantly at least I don’t think like you.
Also, I’m pretty good at commentary.”

“Embarrassed and distressed,

I nearly started crying in the middle of the store.”
— HILDE HALL, a transgender woman in Phoenix Arizona, telling the ACLU of Arizona about an incident at a local CVS where the
pharmacist refused to fill her hormone prescription and tried to out her as trans in front of other customers by asking why she
needed the hormones. “I didn’t want to answer why I had been prescribed this hormone therapy combination by my doctor,”
Hall said. The pharmacist has since been fired by CVS, who apologized to Hall for the incident.

“Then she said, ‘Well, then

I’m going on vacation and I can’t help you.’”
—DAVID ELLIOTT, speaking to ABC affiliate RTV6 about his interaction with the owner of Avon Florist in Avon, Indiana, who alleged-
ly refused to provide flowers for his wedding after finding out he was marrying another man. “She said, ‘What does your bride
need?’ I said, ‘Well, there is no bride.’ Then she said, ‘Well, then I’m going on vacation and I can’t help you.’ I took that to mean
because of my relationship, she couldn’t help me out.”

46 JULY 26, 2018 • METROWEEKLY