Music & Concerts
Forever Young
Cross-country moves, new projects and a ‘Real Housewives’ romance among DJ’s adventures
Lesbian DJ Tracy Young spins at Cobalt Friday. (Photo courtesy of Grubman PR)
Editor’s note: ‘Tonight’ in this story refers to Friday, Feb. 4, the Blade’s street publication date.
Tracy Young at Cobalt
Tonight (Friday)
10 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Cover: $8
1639 R St., N.W.
The last time we spoke to DJ Tracy Young, she was sitting in a cafe in Miami. Today, she’s in her apartment in Chelsea, N.Y., with a sore throat, dreading the upcoming storm that’s supposed to drop 20 more inches of snow.
Her dog Rocco fights for her attention during a phone interview.
“I want to go back to Miami,” she says, laughing.
She’s not moving to the Sunshine State just yet. Tonight she’s returning to D.C. and will spin at Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.), one of the first places she worked as a DJ.
Young is originally from the D.C. area. She graduated from T.C. Williams High School and then University of Maryland in 1998 with a degree in communications. Her first DJ gig was for a hip-hop radio station in D.C., WPGC.
It’s been at least 15 years since Young last played the club.
“And I cannot wait,” she says, adding that it’s crazy how long it’s been.
“I was visiting Fort Lauderdale along with my boyfriend Stephen and I picked up a gay rag and there was a huge spread on Tracy,” says Mark Rutstein, manager of Cobalt, on how the event came to be. “I somehow forgot about her since she hasn’t performed in D.C. in years.”
The last time Young was in the area was two years ago when she performed at Town, a larger venue than Cobalt. She says you reach a different audience at smaller venues than you do the large ones.
“Young is a legend in the dance community,” Rutstein says. “Cobalt doesn’t get a chance to bring in talent like Tracy very often because of our size restrictions.”
Level One will be open so there will be three floors tonight, all with Young’s music being piped through the speakers. Cobalt will have its usual free vodka drinks from 11 p.m. to midnight and Rutstein suggests people get there before 11 to avoid the line.
It’s been a strange couple of years for Young.
She’s made two cross-country moves.
After living in Miami for a while, she and her then-partner moved to Los Angeles. That relationship ended and Young didn’t want to be there anymore, so she moved to New York. Luckily, Young likes to travel.
“I get tired of it, but I feel like a loser when I don’t,” she says. “It’s nice to go to places I haven’t been before.”
She’s also been the topic of tabloids and celebrity gossip.
“I don’t know why that became such a big deal,” Young says about her relationship with “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star Kim Zolciak.
The pair was rumored to be having a relationship after Young worked with the Housewife on her song, “Tardy for the Party.” Two years ago, Young did not want to talk about the relationship, but now she’s more than willing to talk about most aspects, except how it ended, only saying it didn’t end on a good note.
Young says Zolciak was the one who leaked their relationship to the papers and called her a liar.
“Being gay is hard enough,” she says, adding that Zolciak had the additional pressures of having children and being in the spotlight because of “Real Housewives.”
Young had just broken up with someone whom she had really cared for and, while she says they had something real at the time, she thinks Zolciak was a distraction.
“For lack of a better term, a rebound,” she says. “I don’t regret it. She did put a smile on my face.”
Young has since moved on, saying her life has calmed down quite a bit and she’s just focusing on music right now.
“I do wish her the best,” she says. “I don’t dislike her … I just want different things out of life.”
Young has several projects in the works, including an original album, which she hopes to have for release in the fall.
“When you have an original production, you can be a little more creative,” Young says, since with remixes — from which she gained fame — a lot of things are already set such as the vocals.
There are a lot of people she wants to work with on her album and they span different genres.
“I kind of go all over the board,” she says, after listing Sarah McLachlan, Macy Gray, Nicki Minaj and Eminem as performers she’d like to work with on this project. “Eminem is a genius.”
Young wants to combine dance and hip-hop. She’s still creating remixes, including one she just completed of Britney Spears’ new song, “Hold It Against Me.” One song Young thinks is great and would love to remix is Pink’s newest single, “Fuckin’ Perfect.”
“I love working with female artists,” she says. She gravitates toward them more because of how the vocals sound and work on the dance floor.
How does Young feel about being able to work with such big names like Spears and Madonna?
“It’s such a crazy honor,” she says. “I think I’m very lucky.”
Young won’t come right out and say it’s her talent that has gotten her as far as she has, but a combination of talent, luck, hard work and being in the right place at the right time. Visitors to her website, tracyyoung.com, can listen to weekly podcasts she puts together, which can also be found on iTunes. Fans can also follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/djtracyyoung.
Young has even started a weekly radio show on Thursday on Sirius’s Electric Area. The show airs from midnight to 3 a.m. But that’s still not it for the DJ. She’s also working on a book and is gathering information for it now.
“I love reading autobiographies,” Young says, listing Ozzy Osbourne and Keith Richards as recent reads.
“One thing I regret is not journaling over my career,” she says. “All these things happened and I just didn’t document it.”
Young does have all the press clippings from throughout her career.
“My life has been crazy,” she says. “Nothing is normal in my life.”
When anything exciting happens now, she journals it. She doesn’t know if she’ll release the book or if it’ll be something she does just for herself, but one thing is certain.
“I’ve grown a lot from gathering this information,” she says. “It’s healing.”
Music & Concerts
Musical icons and newer stars to rock D.C. this spring
Brandi Carlile, Bad Bunny, Nicki Minaj, and more headed our way
Bands and solo artists of all different genres are visiting D.C. this spring. Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight will team up to perform at the Wolf Trap in June, and girl in red will play at the Anthem in April. Some artists and bands aren’t paying a visit until the summer, like Janet Jackson and Usher, but there are still plenty of acts to see as the weather warms up.
MARCH
Brandi Carlile plays at the Anthem on March 21; Arlo Parks will perform at 9:30 Club on March 23; Girlschool will take the stage at Blackcat on March 28.
APRIL
Nicki Minaj stops in D.C. at Capital One Arena as part of her North American tour on April 1; Bad Bunny plays at Capital One Arena on April 9 as part of his Most Wanted tour; girl in red performs at the Anthem on April 20 and 21; Brandy Clark plays at the Birchmere on April 25; Laufey comes to town to play at the Anthem on April 25 and 26.
MAY
Belle and Sebastian play at the Anthem on May 2; Chastity Belt performs at Blackcat on May 4; Madeleine Peyroux stops at the Birchmere on May 5; The Decemberists play at the Anthem on May 10; the rock band Mannequin Pussy performs at the Atlantis on May 17 and 18; Hozier plays at Merriweather Post Pavilion on May 17 as part of the Unreal Unearth tour.
JUNE
Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight will sing soulful melodies at Wolf Trap on June 8; Joe Jackson performs at the Lincoln Theatre on June 10; the Pixies and Modest Mouse are teaming up to play at Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 14; Maggie Rogers plays at Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 16 as part of The Don’t Forget Me tour; Brittany Howard headlines the Out & About Festival at Wolf Trap on June 22; Sarah McLachlan plays at Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 27; Alanis Morissette performs at Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 29 and 30
Music & Concerts
Grammys: Queer women and their sisters took down the house
Taylor Swift won Album of the Year
When the late, great Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked when there will be enough women on the Supreme Court, her answer was simple: Nine. She stated: “I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.” RBG did not attend the Grammy’s last night, but her spirit sure did. Women, at long last, dominated, ruled and killed the night.
Cher, in song a decade ago, declared that “this is a woman’s world,” but there was little evidence that was true, Grammy, and entertainment awards, speaking. In 2018, the Grammys were heavily criticized for lack of female representation across all categories and organizers’ response was for women to “step up.”
Be careful what you wish for boys.
The biggest star of the 2024 Grammys was the collective power of women. They made history, they claimed legacy and they danced and lip sang to each other’s work. Standing victorious was Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, SZA (the most nominated person of the year), Lainey Wilson, Karol G, boygenius, Kylie Minogue and Victoria Monét. Oh, yes, and powerhouse Taylor Swift, the superstar from whom Fox News cowers in fear, made history to become the first performer of any gender to win four Best Album of the Year trophies.
In the throng of these powerful women stand a number of both LGBTQ advocates and queer identifying artists. Cyrus has identified as pansexual, SZA has said lesbian rumors “ain’t wrong,” Phoebe Bridgers (winner of four trophies during the night, most of any artist) is lesbian, Monét is bi and Eilish likes women but doesn’t want to talk about it. Plus, ask any queer person about Swift or Minogue and you are likely to get a love-gush.
Women power was not just owned by the lady award winners. There were the ladies and then there were the Legends. The first Legend to appear was a surprise. Country singer Luke Combs has a cross-generational hit this year with a cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” When originally released, the song was embraced as a lesbian anthem. When performing “Fast Car,” surprise, there was Chapman herself, singing the duet with Combs. The rendition was stunning, sentimental and historic.
Chapman, like many of the night’s female dignitaries, has not been public with her sexuality. Author Alice Walker has spoken of the two of them being lovers, however.
The legend among legends of the night, however, was the one and only Joni Mitchell. Not gay herself, she embodies the concept of an LGBTQ icon, and was accompanied by the very out Brandi Carlile on stage. On her website, Mitchell’s statement to the LGBTQ community reads, “The trick is if you listen to that music and you see me, you’re not getting anything out of it. If you listen to that music and you see yourself, it will probably make you cry and you’ll learn something about yourself and now you’re getting something out of it.”
Mitchell performed her longtime classic “Both Sides Now.” The emotion, insight and delivery from the now 80-year old artist, survivor of an aneurism, was nothing short of profound. (To fully appreciate the nuance time can bring, check out the YouTube video of a Swift lookalike Mitchell singing the same song to Mama Cass and Mary Travers in 1969.) In this latest rendition, Mitchell clearly had an impact on Meryl Streep who was sitting in the audience. Talk about the arc of female talent and power.
That arc extended from a today’s lady, Cyrus, to legend Celine Dion as well. Cyrus declared Dion as one of her icons and inspirations early in the evening. Dion appeared, graceful and looking healthy, to present the final, and historic, award of the night at the end of the show.
Legends did not even need to be living to have had an effect on the night. Tributes to Tina Turner and Sinead O’Conner by Oprah, Fantasia Barrino-Taylor and Annie Lennox respectively, proved that not even death could stop these women. As Lennox has musically and famously put it, “Sisters are doing it for themselves.”
Even the content of performances by today’s legends-in-the-making spoke to feminine power. Eilish was honored for, and performed “What Was I Made For?,” a haunting and searching song that speaks to the soul of womanhood and redefinition in today’s fight for gender rights and expression, while Dua Lipa laid down the gauntlet for mind blowing performance with her rendition of “Houdini” at the top of the show, Cyrus asserted the power of her anthem “Flowers” and pretty much stole the show.
Cyrus had not performed the song on television before, and only three times publicly. She declared in her intro that she was thrilled over the business numbers the song garnered, but she refused to let them define her. As she sang the hit, she scolded the audience, “you guys act like you don’t know the words to this song.” Soon the woman power of the room was singing along with her, from Swift to Oprah.
They can buy themselves flowers from now on. They don’t need anyone else. Cyrus made that point with the mic drop to cap all mic drops, “And I just won my first Grammy!” she declared as she danced off stage.
Even the squirmiest moment of the night still did not diminish the light of women power, and in fact, underscored it. During his acceptance of the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, Jay-Z had a bone to pick with the Grammy voters. He called out the irony that his wife Beyoncé had won more Grammys than any other human, but had never won the Best Album of the Year. Yeah, what’s with that?
But then, it brought additional context ultimately to the fact that the winner of the most Grammys individually … is a woman. And to the fact that the winner of the most Best Album of the Year awards … is a woman.
Hopefully this was the night that the Grammys “got it.” Women are the epicenter of The Creative Force.
Will the other entertainment awards get it soon as well? We can hope.
Most importantly, in a political world where women’s healthcare is under siege. Will the American voters get it?
A little known band named Little Mix put it this way in their 2019 song “A Woman’s World.”
“If you can’t see that it’s gotta change
Only want the body but not the brains
If you really think that’s the way it works
You ain’t lived in a woman’s world
Just look at how far that we’ve got
And don’t think that we’ll ever stop…”
From Grammy’s mouth to the world’s ear.
Music & Concerts
Janet Jackson returning to D.C, Baltimore
‘Together Again Tour’ comes to Capital One Arena, CFG Bank Arena
Pop icon Janet Jackson announced this week an extension of her 2023 “Together Again Tour.” A new leg of the tour will bring Jackson back to the area for two shows, one at D.C.’s Capital One Arena on Friday, July 12 and another at Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena on Saturday, July 13.
Tickets are on sale now via TicketMaster. LiveNation announced the 2023 leg of the tour consisted of 36 shows, each of which was sold out. The 2024 leg has 35 stops planned so far; R&B star Nelly will open for Jackson on the new leg.
Jackson made the tour announcement Tuesday on social media: “Hey u guys! By popular demand, we’re bringing the Together Again Tour back to North America this summer with special guest Nelly! It’ll be so much fun!”
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