Arts & Entertainment

Calendar: June 29

Parties, concerts, meetings and more through July 5

Published

14 years ago

June 28, 2012

The Waverly Street Gallery in Bethesda exhibits abstract paintings, including ‘Illumination’ by local artist Audrey Salkind. (Image courtesy Waverly)

Today (Friday)

Town hosts Bear Happy Hour (2009 8th St., N.W.) tonight from 6-11 p.m. Admission is free and limited to guests 21 and over. For details, visit towndc.com.

Jazz and Soul musician Anita King performs tonight at the Black Fox Lounge (1723 Connecticut Ave. N.W.) from 9 p.m.-12 a.m. Tickets are $10. For more information, visit blackfoxlounge.com.

Whitman-Walker Health provides HIV Testing at Walgreens (4225 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) today from 3-7 p.m. for National HIV Testing Day. For more information, visit whitman-walker.org.

Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, helps the NAMES Project Foundation display the AIDS Memorial Quilt at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall. For more information, visit burgundycrescent.org.

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival hosts an evening concert in partnership with the National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Music of Monticello and the Blue Ridge, tonight in the Panorama Room on 12th Street on the National Mall from 6-8 p.m. For details, visit festival.si.edu.

Saturday, June 30

The Black Cat (1811 14th St., N.W.) hosts Hellmouth Happy Hour tonight from 7-8:30 p.m. One episode of the gay cult classic series, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” screens and a drink special is served. Admission is free. Visit blackcatdc.com for details.

DJ Escape spins tonight at Town (2009 8^th St., N.W.). Doors open at 10 p.m. and the drag show starts at 10:30. Tickets are $8 from 10-11 p.m. and $10 after 11, and $3 drinks will be served until 11. For more details, visit towndc.com.

Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) hosts its monthly “Raw” party tonight with DJs Shea Van Horn and Bill Todd. Raw celebrates retro gay bars, bathhouses and discos. Guests are encouraged to sport glam, leather, fetish and retro gay-inspired dress. Free rail vodka drinks are served from 10-11 p.m. For details, visit cobaltdc.com.

Sunday, July 1

Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) hosts Homowood Karaoke with songs from film and show tunes tonight starting at 10 p.m. For more information, visit cobaltdc.com.

Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, written by Anne Washburn and directed by Steven Cosson, has its last shows of the season today at the Woolly Mammoth Theater (641 D St., N.W.) at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. The play is about a group of Armageddon survivors who theatrically recreate their lost digital culture. Ticket prices start at $30. For more details, visit woollymammoth.net.

Strathmore Music Hall (5301 Tuckerman Lane North Bethesda, MD) presents Serenade! Festival Celebration this afternoon at 4 p.m. The performances feature international choir participants who performed in the 2012 Serenade! Washington, DC Choral Festival. Admission is free. Visit strathmore.org for more information.

Adventuring, a gay and lesbian outdoor group, has its Three Forts Ride today from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. The 33.6-mile bike ride begins at Belle Haven Marina’s North Parking area off Mt. Vernon Parkway, and riders will pass by a Civil War fort and 20th century fort. Participants should bring a helmet, water and a $2 donation to Adventuring. To RSVP, contact [email protected] or 571-269-0290. For more information, visit adventuring.org.

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival features Hungarian Roma Music with Kálmán Balogh tonight on the Justin S. Morrill Performing Arts Center stage on the National Mall from 6-7:30 p.m. Admission is free. For details, visit festival.si.edu.

Monday, July 2

La-Ti-Do DC, a weekly cabaret series hosted by spoken word artist Regie Cabico and actor DonMike Mendoza, is at the Black Fox Lounge (1723 Connecticut Ave. N.W.) from 8-10 p.m. tonight. Admission is $10 and includes one house drink. For more information, visit blackfoxlounge.com.

Whitman-Walker Health (1701 14th St., N.W.) hosts an HIV+ Newly Diagnosed Support Group tonight from 7-8:30 p.m. The group is confidential, and open to people of all genders and sexual orientations. Registration is required, so visit whitman-walker.org or contact [email protected] if interested.

The D.C. Center (1318 U St., NW) for the LGBT Community has a volunteer night from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Activities may include sorting through book donations, cleaning up around the center and taking inventory of FUK!T packets. Pizza will be provided. Visit thedccenter.org for more information.

Tuesday, July 3

The Julie Mack Trio, a Jazz group, performs tonight at the Black Fox Lounge (1723 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) from 8-11 p.m. Admission is $10. For more details, visit blackfoxlounge.com.

Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) hosts Flashback, a retro dance party with DJ Jason Royce, this evening for guests 21 and over. Admission is free. For more details, visit cobaltdc.com.

Wednesday, July 4

Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, seeks volunteer “balloon wranglers” for this year’s Independence Day Parade from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. The parade runs from 7^th St. to 17^th St., NW on Constitution Ave., and each Burgundy Crescent volunteer will receive a free parade T-shirt. To volunteer, contact [email protected] and visit burgundycrescent.org for more information.

Adventuring, a gay and lesbian outdoor group, hikes Great Falls, Md. today. Hikers meet at 9 a.m. at the Tenleytown Metro station and then carpool to the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center for a five-mile hike. Bring water, bug spray, sunscreen and $5-7 for transportation fees. For more information, visit adventuring.org.

The Waverly Street Gallery (4600 East-West Hwy, Bethesda, Md.) exhibits abstract paintings in “From My Perspective” by local artist Audrey Salkind from 12-6 p.m. today. For more information, visit waverlystreetgallery.com.

Thursday, July 5

Whitman-Walker Health (1701 14^th St., N.W.) hosts a support group for gay men over 50 tonight from 6:30-8 p.m. Registration is required to attend, so visit whitman-walker.org or contact [email protected] if interested.

Phase 1 (525 8^th St., S.E.) hosts karaoke tonight from 7:30 p.m.-2 a.m. For details, visit phase1dc.com.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (200 N. Boulevard, Richmond, Va.) hosts Visions of France: Three Postwar Photographers, an exhibition that features street photography of Paris, today from 10 a.m.-9 p.m. The exhibit closes after Sunday, July 8. For more information, visit vmfa.museum.

Photos

PHOTOS: Vitamin C at JR.’s

Live drag show follows ‘Drag Race All Stars’ viewing party

Published

11 hours ago

July 19, 2026

Landon Shackelford

Brooke N Hymen performs at JR.'s at the Vitamin C drag show on Friday. (Washington Blade photo by Landon Shackelford)

JR.’s Bar held a “RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars” watch party followed by a live drag show on Friday, July 17. The Vitamin C weekly drag show was hosted by Citrine with performers Brooke N Hyman and Rosie Beret.

(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)

Photos

PHOTOS: Rehoboth Beach Pride Festival

LGBTQ celebration held at convention center

Published

14 hours ago

July 19, 2026

Daniel Truitt

A scene from the 2026 Rehoboth Beach Pride Festival. (Washington Blade photo by Daniel Truitt)

The 2026 Rehoboth Beach Pride Festival was held at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center on Saturday, July 18.

(Washington Blade photos by Daniel Truitt)

Books

Liza’s book a tale that’s better than most celebrity memoirs

‘Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!’ dishes on marriages, heartbreak

Published

14 hours ago

July 19, 2026

Terri Schlichenmeyer

(Book cover image courtesy of Grand Central)

‘Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! My Memoir’
By Liza Minnelli, as told to Michael Feinstein
c.2026, Grand Central
$36/ 421 pages

Twenty feet In front of you, and you can’t see a thing.

Even the closest faces are in shadow – lit, but not quite enough for you to see for sure what the people there are thinking. Still, you can hear them, their gasps, their laughter, and applause. Such is life, on-stage. Now read “Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! My Memoir” by Liza Minnelli, as told to Michael Feinstein, and read about it beyond the spotlight.

Almost from the moment she was born, Liza Minnelli was famous.

It was inevitable: her mother was Judy Garland. Her father was director Vincente Minnelli. Her godparents were Hollywood glitterati, her neighbors were famous, her playmates would be famous someday, too.

But her life wasn’t all starlight and happiness.

She made her stage debut as a toddler. She became her “mother’s caretaker” at age 13.

At 16, she had a growing career of her own – one that her mother tried to stop. But, she says, “In her own way, Mama was wonderful to me. Try understanding – she was my mother, not a movie star…. I knew her as the person who loved me and always would.”

At 19, Minnelli was working, happy, and madly in love with the man who’d become her first husband, and life was wonderful – until she came home one day to find him in their bed with another man. Before they were divorced, she lost her beloved mother, and became “engaged” to two other men simultaneously, neither of which made it to the altar with her.

She married her second husband, the son of one of her mother’s former co-stars, in 1974 but her love affairs and addictions led to a second divorce.

Her third husband was a stage manager.

She doesn’t have much good to say about her fourth, and last, husband.

Overall, she says, “You gotta play the comedy for all it’s worth and leave ‘em laughing. Even when your heart is breaking.”

Are you expecting bluntness, sass, or attitude here? Good, because that’s what you get inside “Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!” It’s strong on honesty and don’t-give-a-flip. It’s wonderfully edited, so it moves fast. It’s eye-opening and funny and a pleasant surprise for a first, and only (so far), memoir.

Even better, author Liza Minnelli (with best friend, Michael Feinstein) is really quite candid and nicely gossipy, starting from the beginning. There are some Hollywood folks, in fact, who are feeling edgy because of what’s inside this book and the secrets spilled. Minnelli and Feinstein seemed to have fun telling her story, and they comfortably lure readers in.

That’s not to say that it’s all a cabaret. Minnelli tells about her addictions and recoveries, her marriages and why she wed two gay men, and the losses she endured, including miscarriages, deaths, and broken relationships. The bad balances well with the good for a tale that’s several notches above most celebrity memoirs. “Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!” is, in fact, a real joy to read, a genuine bright spot.

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