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Calendar: Feb. 4

Events, concerts, parties and more through Feb. 10

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‘The Promise of Love Broken in Timeless Waiting’ by Newton More is one of the art works on display as part of Touchstone Gallery’s “Color of Love” exhibit. (Image courtesy of Touchstone)

Friday, Feb. 4

RAW, hosted by DJs Bil Todd and Shea Van Horn with special guest DJ Cale of Brightest Young Things, will be at Green Lantern (1335 Green Court, N.W.) tonight from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Free entry before 11 p.m. with a $3 cover after. There will be an open bar from 10 to 11 p.m. Attendees must be 21 or older.

Touchstone Gallery (901 New York Ave., N.W.) is hosting an opening reception tonight from 6 to 8:30 p.m. for its newest exhibit, “Color of Love” featuring 50 artists. The exhibit will be on display through Feb. 27.

There’s a new group for D.C. area gay professional women, “First Friday of the Month.” Its mission is to connect with other like-minded women for fun, friendship and more. The first meeting is tonight at 7 p.m. at Beacon Bar and Grill (1615 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.)

Justin Crockett Elzie, the first U.S. Marine kicked out under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” will have the only D.C. signing of his book, “Playing By the Rules” today from 6 to 10 p.m. at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.). A limited number of books will be available for purchase at the event.

Metropolitan Community Church (474 Ridge St., N.W.) hosts neighborhood bingo tonight at 7 p.m. The doors open at 6:10 p.m. Free parking is available. Bring this announcement and play the early bird games for free. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or call 202-297-6884.

The Lodge (21614 National Pike)in Boonsboro, Md., presents “So You Think You Can Sing” with DJ Christy from Brown Entertainment Group tonight from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. There will be karaoke and dancing all night. No cover before 9 p.m. and $5 cover after. For more information, visit thelodgemd.com.

The D.C. Center (1318 U St., N.W.) is hosting its open mic night tonight from 8 to 10 p.m. featuring Chris August from Baltimore. For more information, visit thedccenter.com.

National City Christian Church (5 Thomas Circle, N.W.) has its first “Magical, Mystical, Musical Machine” Friday organ recital of the month today at 12:15 p.m. featuring Charles Miller and Jacqueline Pollauf. This is a free event.

Saturday, Feb. 5

Zoom Urban Lesbian Excursions presents “Hookah Love” tonight at 6 p.m. at Soussi Restaurant (2228 18th St., N.W.) The event is free, but attendees with have to purchase their own hookah pipes and shisha. For more information, visit zoomexcursions.com.

The organizers of the Capital Queer Prom present Wizards Night Out. Watch the Washington Wizards take on the Atlanta Hawks tonight at 7 p.m. at the Verizon Center. Nellie’s (900 U St., N.W.) will be hosting an after party following the game. Tickets are $32 and $10 of each ticket will go to Capital Queer Prom. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit verizoncenter.com/wiz/2011wiznightout.

Team D.C. is holding its annual meeting today at 10 a.m. at the Washington Hilton (1919 Connecticut Ave., N.W.). This meeting will also include the first meeting of the new Sports Council which will vote for the board of the newly organized Team D.C. Executive Committee.

The D.C. Center (1318 U St., N.W.) hosts a Brother Tongue poetry workshop today from 1 to 4 p.m. Brother Tongue is a spoken word and poetry group for gay, bi, trans and queer men. For more information, visit thedccenter.com.

Whitman-Walker Clinic will join other local health organizations today to present a National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day community event at the Metropolitan Community Church (474 Ridge Rd., N.W.) from noon to 6 p.m. The event will include free HIV testing and counseling, educational workshops, food and entertainment.

DJ Phil Romano, resident DJ for Push Club and Circuit Festival will be at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) tonight.  Doors open at 10 p.m. with music and video downstairs by Wess. Drag show starts at 10:30. There is an $8 cover before 11 p.m. and a $12 afterward. Attendees must be 21 or older.

Sunday, Feb. 6

Buddha-Bar D.C. (455 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.) begins its weekly “Somewhere Over the Rainbow Sundays” tonight from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m Drink specials will include $6 signature cocktails and $5 mixed drinks.

David A. Richardson presents “Fire and Desire: A Cocktail of Song and Poetry” at Busboys & Poets (2021 14th St., N.W.) tonight from 7 to 9 p.m. In recognition of National Black AIDS Awareness Day, proceeds from the show will be donated to Us Helping Us.

Watch the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Packers battle each in Super Bowl XLV today at 6:30 p.m. at Nellie’s (900 U St., N.W.).

Monday, Feb. 7

D.C. Gay Flag Football League presents “Speed Dating at Nellie’s” (900 U St., N.W.) tonight from 7 to 10 p.m.  There is a $15 cover and will be $3 drinks. Check in begins at 6 p.m.

The D.C. Center presents “Double Rainbow: Jessica Halem and Ben Lerman” from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at Source Theater (1835 14th St., N.W.). For more information, visit thedccenter.com.

Tuesday, Feb. 8

Cowboy Mouth, a New Orleans rock band, will be performing at 9:30 Club tonight. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at 930.com. The club is at 815 V Street, N.W.

The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance is holding a membership meeting tonight from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Charles Sumner School Museum and Archive (1201 17th St., N.W.).

Wednesday, Feb. 9

Mautner Project is holding an open house tonight from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at its offices (1875 Connecticut Ave., Suite 710). For more information and to RSVP, visit mautnerproject.org.

The Big Gay Book Group will meet tonight at 7 p.m. at 1155 F St., N.W., Suite 200. The book up for discussion today is “Faggots” by Larry Kramer. For more information, visit biggaybookgroup.com.

Rainbow Response is holding its monthly meeting tonight from 7 to 8 p.m. at the D.C. Center (1318 U St., N.W.)

Thursday, Feb. 10

DCBiWomen will be having its monthly dinner at Café Luna (1633 P St., N.W.) tonight from 7 to 8 p.m. For more information, visit dcbiwomen.org.

GLOV will be holding its elections tonight from 7 to 8 p.m. at the D.C. Center (1318 U St., N.W.).

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Nightlife

D.C.’s gay DJ collective CTRL returns

Electropop group resurfaces at Trade on March 30

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CTRL is back after a six-year absence.

Finger lasers, confetti cannons, drag shows, photo booths, throwback tunes, and a touch nerdy: after a long break, D.C.’s gay DJ collective CTRL is throwing its first party in six years.

Born in an Eritrean restaurant more than a decade ago, this longstanding gay nightlife electropop group is resurfacing with a comeback event at Trade on March 30.

Gay DJs Adam Koussari-Amin, Jeff Prior, Devon Trotter, and Brett Andreisen hosted the first CTRL party at now-closed restaurant Dahlak, on the corner of 18th and U Streets. After a year of hosting pop-ups in that restaurant’s dining room, they upgraded down 18th Street to now-closed gay club Cobalt. There, the parties grew: drag shows, a pop-up photo booth from David Claypool, and quirky activations like throwing hot dogs into print-outs of Putin’s mouth. Their productions grew as well, like producing the now-defunct Brightest Young Gays (BYG) Pride events at Wonderbread Factory and Union Market and the ‘Get Wet’ pool party with David Brown’s Otter Crossing at the Capitol Skyline Hotel.

CTRL wasn’t done. The group received its biggest stage yet after a call from Ed Bailey, the owner of now-closed gay club Town, as well as current gay bars Number 9 and Trade. At Town, the opportunity “allowed our creativity to flourish with even bigger performances, bigger photo experiences, crazier hand-outs, and the same electropop dance vibes our fans had come to know us for,” says Koussari-Amin.

CTRL pressed pause when Town shut down, which “was a huge loss to the LGBTQIA+ community and D.C. nightlife in general,” says Koussari-Amin. After that, it hosted an occasional spinoff called QWERTY. Post-pandemic, Koussari-Amin has spent a few nights solo as DJ at Trade and other venues.

After connecting with Jesse Jackson, the Trade general manager, as well as with Bailey, who agreed to host the inaugural event, Koussari-Amin was determined to shift CTRL back to life.

However, getting the old band back together proved to be a challenge. While the rest of the group have either left Washington, D.C., or are pursuing other projects, Koussari-Amin received their blessing to stay on and find new members. 

“When it came to finding new partners, both DJ Dez [Desmond Jordan] and DJ Lemz [Steve Lemmerman] were obvious choices,” he says, noting that “they also have distinct styles and interests.” Dez has a residency at Pitchers and Kiki as well as pop-ups, and Lemz throws events like Sleaze and BENT.

 “It seemed important to come back to the nightlife table with an experience that could complement all the amazing experiences that have even built up since CTRL threw its last event at Town. Bringing back both the DJ collective and the CTRL event with Dez and Lemz means new voices, perspectives, sounds, and excitement.”

“CTRL is an opportunity for the community to come together, enjoy music, drinks, and good vibes,” adds Jordan, noting that for him, it’s an event that celebrates queer identity.

And after months of planning, CTRL will kick off its monthly party series at Trade on March 30 for the first gig after its glow-up.

The trio says that its core inspiration “is driven by the indie and electropop favorites of new and old, like Goldfrapp, Ava Max, Charli XCX, … We’re also all huge fans of slut and trash pop music like Kim Petras, Slayyyter, Cupcakke,” as well as pop diva remixes, new bops, and songs that reside inside and far beyond the expanse of Top 40.

CTRL is also bringing back its activations that complement the tunes. Summer Camp is set for drag performances, David Claypool is back with his photo booth, and Koussari-Amin promises “to have all sorts of weird and wacky handouts like we used to.”

After the March premiere, April’s party is “CTRLella”, a Coachella send-up. Future events will feature various different themes, and they plan to throw a party during Capital Pride; they’re also looking to be a central part of Trade’s expansion into the adjacent space.

 Koussari-Amin says that “the event’s signature experience [is] a lynchpin in connecting D.C.’s expanding generations of queer folks, giving everyone a safe space to let loose and feel a rush no matter who they are.” 

For his part, Bailey continues to support CTRL and its collective intention, expressing its essential nature as a party for partiers by partiers. “CTRL is the kind of party that represents what people want. It’s just a real party by real people that just want to hear good music and dance with their friends.”

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Celebrity News

HRC releases ‘Queer Renaissance Syllabus’

Beyoncé’s hit album inspired curriculum

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Beyoncé performs at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., on Aug. 6, 2023. The Human Rights Campaign has released a curriculum that her "Renaissance" album inspired. (Washington Blade photo by Isabelle Kravis)

In a move aimed at celebrating the beauty, brilliance and resilience of the LGBTQ community, the Human Rights Campaign unveiled the “Queer Renaissance Syllabus” that Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” album inspired. 

Curated by Justin Calhoun, Leslie Hall and Chauna Lawson of the HRC’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program, the syllabus includes a variety of academic articles, essays, films and other media rooted in Black queer and feminist studies. Each piece is directly inspired by the tracks on Beyoncé’s Billboard 200-topping dance album, “Renaissance.”

Beyoncé’s album “Renaissance” stands as a cultural milestone, celebrating the Black queer roots of dance music while shedding light on overlooked Black queer artists. Inspired by her late-Uncle Johnny, the album not only garnered critical acclaim but also shed light on the often marginalized contributions of Black queer artists. Winning four Grammys and yielding chart-topping hits like “Break My Soul” and “Cuff It,” the album sparked discussions about economic impact and cultural representation.

Amid its success, legislative challenges arose, with Florida and Texas enacting bans on DEI initiatives in public colleges. Recognizing the album’s transformative potential, HRC developed the “Queer Renaissance Syllabus” to leverage its impact for education and activism.

Tailored for educators, youth-serving professionals, DEI practitioners, higher education leaders and admirers of Beyoncé’s artistry, the syllabus aims to encourage meaningful discussions, enrich lesson plans, and explore innovative ways to honor the vibrancy and significance of LGBTQ individuals and their culture.

With six themes anchoring the syllabus, ranging from “intersectionality and inclusivity” to “social justice and activism,” it provides a comprehensive exploration of various facets of LGBTQ experiences and expressions. Fan-favorite tracks from the album are paired with scholarly readings, offering insights into empowerment, self-acceptance and the transformative power of artistic expression. The syllabus also reinforces HRC’s efforts to highlight, amplify and re-center Black and queer voices.

By providing links to articles, books, podcasts and interviews, each associated with a song from the album, it celebrates the rich cultural heritage and contributions of the Black queer community.

The concluding section of the syllabus includes Beyoncé’s tribute to O’Shea Sibley, a young Black queer person who was murdered in Brooklyn, N.Y., last July while voguing to “Renaissance” songs at a gas station. HRC also includes a statement that condemns hate crimes.

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Movies

Neo-noir ‘Femme’ offers sexy, intense revenge fantasy

A work of real and thrilling cinematic vision

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George MacKay and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett star in ‘Femme.’ (Photo courtesy of Utopia)

They say “revenge is sweet,” and it must be true. Why else would so many of our popular stories, dating all the way back to “Medea” and beyond, be focused on the idea of getting “even” with the people who have done us wrong?

It’s a concept with obvious appeal for anyone who has felt unjustly used by the world – or, more accurately, by the people in it – but that has particular resonance, perhaps, for modern queer audiences, long used to being relegated to the status of “victim” in the narratives we see on our screens. In “Femme” — the new UK indie thriller helmed by first-time feature directors Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping, now in limited theatrical release and expanding wider over the next two weeks — it provides the irresistible hook for a gripping tale of calculated vengeance in the face of anti-queer violence. Like the best of such stories, however, it’s as much a cautionary tale as it is a wish-fulfillment fantasy.

Set in London, it centers on Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), aka Aphrodite Banks, a popular drag performer in the city’s queer club scene who, after a performance one night, steps out in full costume to buy a pack of cigarettes and becomes the victim of a traumatic “gay bashing” incident at the hands of a young man goaded to violence by a thuggish gang of friends. Months later, though he’s recovered from his physical injuries, he is still deeply affected by the inner scars that linger. Robbed of the confidence that allowed him to perform, he’s withdrawn into a reclusive life, until concern from his friends and housemates prompts him to finally venture out into the world for a night of cruising at a gay sauna – where he encounters his bully doing the same thing. 

Unrecognizable and anonymously masculine out of his drag persona, Jules finds himself beginning a dangerous and duplicitous game in which he plans to “out” his former attacker – whose name, as he learns, is Preston (George MacKay) – in the most humiliating way possible. As his scheme begins to play out, however, he encounters an obstacle: in getting to know the closeted Preston, he is surprised to discover not only empathy for someone living their life in terrified camouflage, but a mutual attraction that develops despite the horrific history between them.

Framed as a self-described “neo-noir” story, a designation that implies a certain flavor of moral ambiguity as much as it does a tense and shadowy tale of intrigue or a psychologically complex tone, it’s a movie that relies heavily on style in order to sell its conceptual premise. Realistically, we might question the boldness that permits our protagonist to enact such a potentially hazardous scheme, but in the context of its genre trappings we are lulled into accepting it. And while most of us are likely “jaded” enough to question the possibility of tenderness between its two leading characters, the accepted conceits of the film noir form are enough to sell it to us – or at least allow us to grapple with it alongside Jules, whose righteously Machiavellian master plan is threatened by the feelings he “catches” in spite of himself.

That, of course, is part of the whole point. “Femme,” though it establishes itself by virtue of its very title as a testament to the struggle to “pass” for straight in a world that places a value judgment on perceived adherence to a strict norm for gender and sexuality, hinges on the idea that such things aren’t quite as clear-cut as we want to make them. Despite the black-and-white certainty we cling to when it comes to the subject of abusive or toxic relationships, there’s an emotional component that can only be ignored or dismissed at our peril, and even our most resolute intentions can be undermined by the shades of gray we discover in our hearts. 

Freeman and Ng – who also wrote the screenplay, adapting their own BAFTA-nominated short film from 2021 (starring Harris Dickinson and Paapa Essiedu) into a feature-length expansion – seem bent on challenging our snap judgments, on forcing us to sympathize with our oppressors by showing us the ways in which they, too, are prevented from living a fully authentic life by the expectations of their cultural environment. Even more challenging for many modern audiences, perhaps, may be the unavoidable observation that, in enacting his plan of revenge, Jules crosses the line between being a victim and being a victimizer – a fine point that may trigger uncomfortable implications in a social environment that has become marked by divisive moral constructs and hardline ethical posturing.

Before we scare you off with discussion of high-concept themes and “culture war” rhetoric, however, it’s crucial to bring up the elements that lift “Femme” above and beyond the level of so many such narrative films and makes it a somewhat unexpectedly potent piece of cinematic storytelling – and all of them have to do with the skill and intention behind it.

As to the former, the movie’s first-time directors manage a remarkable debut, steeping their film in moody, genre-appropriate visuals and murky morality. They pave a path beyond the easy assessments proscribed for us by conventional thinking, and force us to follow our sympathies into a disquieting confrontation between what we “know” as right and what we feel as true; at the same time, they push back against any natural sentimentality we might have about the situation, stressing the toxicity of the relationship in the middle of their film, the ironically-reversed insincerity of its dynamic – and, perhaps most importantly, the reality of the defining circumstances around it. While we might find ourselves longing for a happier resolution than the one we expect, the film makes no pretense that these two men might overcome the deep denial and traumatic associations – not to mention the calculated lack of honesty on the side of its de facto protagonist, to achieve some kind of “happy ending” between themselves. Nevertheless, we hope for it, in spite of ourselves.

That delicate dynamic works largely because of the movie’s lead actors. Both Stewart-Jarrett (“Candyman”) and MacKay (“Pride”, “1917”) deliver fully invested, utterly relatable performances, finding the emotional truth behind their interactions with as much palpable authenticity as they bring to the chemistry between them. They force us to abandon our preconceived ideas about each character by finding the human presence behind them, and it makes the story’s final outcome feel as heartbreaking as it does inevitable.

As for intention, “Femme” – which premiered at last year’s Berlin International Film Festival and went on to gather acclaim across the international film fest circuit – might be a little hard to take for the easily triggered, we won’t deny it. Still, it’s a work of real and thrilling cinematic vision that goes beyond easy morality to highlight the tragedy that comes from being forced to live behind a mask for the sake of societal acceptance. It’s also exciting, smart, and unexpectedly sexy – all of which make it a highly- recommended addition to your watchlist.

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