Music & Concerts
Local gay favorite on the brink of stardom?
Peter Fox’s new album shows singer is ready for primetime
“Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum,” croons the fabulous and fantastic Peter Fox.
Fox today stands on the brink of stardom, if there’s any justice in the music industry. Of course justice in the music industry is an oxymoron.
As a singer in the jazz and adult contemporary spotlight now, with the issue of his first and self-titled CD, Fox is certainly ready for prime time. But meanwhile the business model of the once robust recording industry has fractured into splinters of its former self, as CD sales have nosedived.
So how does someone like Fox, having spent nine seasons with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington (GMCW), and who also recently wrapped up a three-year run with the close-harmony pop acapella group Potomac Fever, market himself?
Fox is avoiding record labels and concert promoters to do it himself. “I went the independent route because music is in my soul and the independent route with the available tools and reach of the Internet is now actually a feasible way to reach a fairly major audience, allowing me to do what I’m meant to be doing,” he says.
A longtime GMCW audience favorite, Fox has picked a plum opportunity with the songs on his new album, recently launched at a special concert at the Kennedy Center restaurant veranda. He is as easy to like as he is easy on the eyes — and his charm is rooted in the easy listening of his sound and his lyrical first tenor voice so sweet with feeling as well as perfect pitch and phrasing.
The songs are each special to him, as explained in the album liner notes at his website, PeterFoxMusic.net, including “When You Meet an Angel,” a number first performed with the GMCW at the Lincoln Theatre. The angel theme will be familiar to his fans, who recall vividly his bare-chested starring role recently as heartthrob “Teen Angel” in the Chorus’s production of “Grease.” Speaking of the song, Peter admits that he had just broken up with someone who was sitting in the third row on opening night, but he recalls also that the song “later came to mean more” to him, “as a few dear family members and friends passed on to their next chapter.”
Another song, “Nightfall,” is a deeply layered ode to living a life without a lover but with the “extraordinary love I have shared with friends.” He declares finally in the song, “I am contented to be my own family, a family of one!”
Peter says, “it took me some tome to really grasp the various levels of message in this song, but I now so appreciate and deeply understand that one’s life can be so rich and full without any typical idea of the modern primary relationship.” Indeed, he says, “the song speaks to gratitude, the simple joy of just accepting what is.”
But one song alone stands out for its utter perfection of lyric and melody, “I Can Hold You,” written by David Friedman, the composer, record producer and Hollywood film score composer for Disney animated features like “Aladdin,” “Pocahontas” and “Beauty and the Beast,” for which Friedman was also music supervisor for the Broadway stage version.
Friedman is the author of many astonishing songs of inspiration, hope and love — collected in several CDs such as “Listen To My Heart: The Songs of David Friedman” (2002) and 63 of his best-known songs are also in his “Songbook.” Fox has taken one of them, “I Can Hold You,” he calls it “one of the most tender songs” on the album, a song he first recorded in 2005 but is now completely remixed and remastered — because “the song speaks to hope.”
“I am most struck by the way the singer offering to hold another who has been battered by life may really be wishing to be held in the same way,” he admits.
Fox, who grew up in New Jersey and had a boyfriend “discreetly” in high school, earned his BS in business administration from Penn State University, and came out to his family in his early 20’s. He spent seven years in Pittsburgh as a paramedic and then spent two years on the road as a long-haul trucker saying of that time,”I basically spent two years by myself.” He moved to D.C. in 1997 to work in the health care field and “do music.”
“Music is a conduit to what’s right,” he says. “Let’s get people connected to the joy of their own stories through song.”
His album is available now for $10.99 from PeterfoxMusic.net.
Music & Concerts
Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’
Out singer/songwriter to perform at Red Bear Brewing Co.
Singer Tom Goss will bring his “Bear Friends Furever Tour” to D.C. on Sunday, June 8 at 8 p.m. at Red Bear Brewing Co.
Among the songs he will perform will be “Bear Soup,” the fourth installment in his beloved bear song anthology series. Following fan favorites like “Bears,” “Round in All the Right Places,” and “Nerdy Bear,” this high-energy, bass-thumping banger celebrates body positivity, joyful indulgence, and the vibrant spirit of the bear subculture.
For more details, visit Tom Goss’s website.
Aussie pop icon Kylie Minogue brings her acclaimed “Tension” world tour to D.C. next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Capital One Arena. Tickets are still available at Ticketmaster.
The show features songs spanning her long career, from 1987 debut single, “The Loco-Motion,” to “Padam, Padam” from her album, “Tension.”
Music & Concerts
Busy season for live music in D.C.
Erivo, Kylie, Sivan, and more headed our way this spring
One sure sign of spring’s arrival is the fresh wave of live music coming to Washington. With more than 10 venues and a diverse lineup of artists, the city offers no shortage of live performances for the new season.
In addition to this impressive list, don’t forget the many artists coming to town for WorldPride, May 17-June 8. In addition to headliner Cynthia Erivo performing on Saturday, June 7 at the two-day street festival and concert, many other performers will be in town. Jennifer Lopez, Troye Sivan, and RuPaul are among the featured performers at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds, June 6-7. Visit WorldPrideDC.org for a list of other performers.
MARCH
Grammy and Emmy Award-winning Mary J. Blige will take the stage at Capital One Arena on March 26 for her For My Fans tour. Two days later, on March 28, J Balvin will also perform at Capital One Arena for his Back to the Rayo tour.
The Lincoln Theatre will host the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington for three performances—one on March 15 and two on March 16.
If dance parties are more your vibe, you’re in luck. DC9 is hosting a series of themed dance parties this month, starting with Poker Face: 2000s + Dance Party on March 14, the ever-popular Peach Pit ’90s dance party on March 15, H.O.T.S.: A Sapphic Dance Party on March 22, and RageRiot!—a burlesque and drag revue featuring a lineup of local drag kings, queens, and everything in between on March 29.
APRIL
Australian queen of pop Kylie Minogue will bring her Tension tour to Capital One Arena on April 8, with British dance artist Romy as her special guest.
Indie singer-songwriter mxmtoon will stop in D.C. for their Liminal Space tour on April 4 at the 9:30 club, followed by indie rock band Gossip on April 5. The 9:30 club will also host two dance parties in April: Gimme Gimme Disco – a dance party inspired by ABBA on April 11 and Broadway Rave on April 18.
The Atlantis will feature Brooklyn-based indie rock band Pom Pom Squad on April 2.
Comedy duo Two Dykes and a Mic will bring their Going Hog Wild tour to the Howard Theatre on April 19.
DC9 has two dance parties lined up this month: Bimbo Night on April 4, hosted by Baltimore’s “premier red-tattooed Filipina diva” Beth Amphetamine, and Aqua Girls: A QTBIPOC Dance Party on April 5, celebrating “queer transcendence through music, movement, and community.”
The Anthem will welcome a lineup of big names in April, starting with Alessia Cara on April 8. Lucy Dacus will take the stage on April 18 and 19 for her Forever Is a Feeling tour, while funky pop artist Remi Wolf will headline on April 27, joined by special guests Dana and Alden.
MAY
Indie-pop artist Miya Folick will bring her Erotica Veronica tour to The Atlantis on May 1, followed by multi-genre musician SASAMI on May 2. Pop artist Snow Wife will close out the month at The Atlantis on May 31 as part of an official WorldPride 2025 event.
Queer rock band Lambrini Girls will perform at the Howard Theatre on May 4, while rock trio L.A. Witch will take the stage at DC9 on May 12.
Union Stage will feature Rachel Platten on May 3 for her Set Me Free tour, followed by Femme Fatale: A Queer Dance Party later that night.
The popular DJ festival Project Glow will return to RFK Stadium grounds on May 31 and June 1.
JUNE
Pride month kicks off with “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Trixie Mattel, who will perform at Echostage on June 3 as part of a series of official WorldPride 2025 events.
Queer icons Grace Jones & Janelle Monáe will take over The Anthem on June 5 for a WorldPride 2025 event performance.
Perfume Genius will bring his signature sound to the 9:30 club on June 7 as part of WorldPride 2025 festivities. Later in the month, Blondshell will hit the 9:30 club for her If You Asked for a Tour on June 24.
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