Out & About

Queer band Jen Urban and the Box play Phasefest next week. (Photo courtesy of PhaseFest)

Queer music fest kicks off Thursday at the Phase

The fifth annual Phasefest Queer Arts and Music Festival kicks off Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Phase 1 Lounge (525 8th St., S.E.) with performances by the Athens Boys Choir, Jen Urban and the Box, Coolots, Frankie and Betty, Ashley Linder, Nikki Smith and Erin Brown.

It continues Friday night with performances by Men, People at Parties, Tayisha Busay, Rad Pony, Lost Bois, G.U.T.S. and Glitter Lust.

The festival ends Saturday night with a performance by the queer, all-female band Sick of Sarah, as well as Hunter Valentine, Allison Weiss, Mitten, Melissa Li and the Barely Theirs, Clinical Trials and Michelle Raymond.

Admission is $10 on Thursday and $20 each night for Friday and Saturday. A festival pass is also available for $45. All attendees must be 21 or older.

For more information, visit phasefest.com.

Local sports teams continue gay days

The Washington Nationals continue to promote their gay-friendly ways. Sunday is LGBT family day. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

The Washington Nationals are hosting their first LGBT Family Day on Sunday as they take on the Florida Marlins.

Tickets are $16 for Outfield Reserve seat or $25 for an Outfield Reserve seat, a hot dog, soda and a bag of chips and are available online at nationals.com/lgbtfamily.

First pitch is at 1:35 p.m. and kids will be able invited to run the bases after the game.

Also Team D.C. presents the second annual “United Night Out” Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at RFK Stadium as D.C. United takes on Chivas USA.

D.C. Different Drummers will have a pre-game performance and the national anthem will be sung by Peter Fox.

Tickets are $25, a portion of which will benefit Food & Friends.

For more information and to purchase tickets online, visit UnitedNightOut.com.

‘Sugar’ author to present book

Wayne Hoffman, former Washington Blade reporter, will be in the D.C. area doing two events for his new gay-themed novel, “Sweet Like Sugar,” which is set in and around D.C. and follows the friendship between Benji Steiner and Rabbi Jacob Zuckerman

Hoffman will be leading a discussion at Bet Mishpachah at the D.C. Jewish Community Center (1529 16th St., N.W.) starting at 7:30 p.m. with services to follow at 8:30. He will also have a reading at Barnes & Noble (4801 Bethesda Ave.) in Bethesday on Sunday at 2 p.m.

For more information, visit Hoffman’s website, waynehoffmanwriter.com.

Interiors for the new Vida U Street location, formerly Results. (Photo courtesy Vida)

New Vida opens on U Street

Vida Fitness has opened on U Street after a four-month renovation overhaul, unveiling more than 40,000 square feet of fitness space with four levels devoted to cardio, strength, group and personal training making this Urban Adventures Companies fourth location in Washington at 1612 U Street, NW.

This is the largest, most fully equipped location and is the company’s flagship site.

David von Storch is president of Urban Adventures Companies, Inc. His expansion of the U Street complex delivers high-end amenities that are found in Vida’s other three locations at Verizon Center, Logan Circle and the Renaissance Washington Hotel.

For the first time, with Vida Fitness added into the mix, the U Street complex will include all of von Storch’s four Urban Adventures affiliate companies under one roof. Capitol City Brewing Company will build a restaurant space specifically designed for upscale dining. Bang Salon is also located on the first level. The Aura Spa is slated to open on the first floor in late spring 2012.