Arts & Entertainment

Writing and ruminating

Center gives queer authors forum with Outwrite Book Fair

Published

12 years ago

August 2, 2012

Outwrite LGBT Book Fair
Friday and Saturday
Various times
D.C. Center
1318 U St., N.W.
Readings and discussions are scheduled throughout the event
Visit thedccenter.org/outwritedc for times

Lesbian writer and performance artist Kimberly Dark is one of the performers at this weekend’s OutWrite LGBT Book Fair. (Photo by Roni Galgano; courtesy Dark)

Even in a culture-rich town like Washington, there are always a few pockets of time — usually in the dead of winter after the holidays or right about now when the novelty of summer has worn off but nobody’s ready for fall yet either — when there’s almost nothing going on.

Organizers at the D.C. Center think the “dog days” are a perfect time for the OutWrite Book Fair, which is back this weekend for a second installment. Organizers guess between 200-300 attended last year’s maiden event and say it’s important, even with book sales having migrated mostly online, for queer authors and readers to have a place to gather.

“Literature is one of the many ways in which we express ourselves and find echoes of our own lives,” says Lin Wang, a Center intern who helped organize the event. “Hosting an LGBT book fair is one way to affirm queer identities and give them an empowering environment where they can keep creating and celebrating their art.”

Several readings, performances, discussions and spoken word events are planned throughout today and Saturday. Many new and used LGBT-themed books will be available.

Among the highlights:

• Gay author and former stripper Rick McGranahan will read from his memoir “The Ghost of Puppyboy,” which tells of his years in the ‘90s working at the former D.C. gay strip club WET, where he found what he calls “microcelebrity” status, good money but also drugs and alcohol. His reading will be Saturday at 11 a.m.

“I kept journals during all of my dancing years,” he says. “The relationships, people, places and endless nights. I would revisit the journals and read them over and over and end up with insomniac attacks from the memories.”

• Lesbian poet and mother Brittany Fonte of Annapolis, Md., will read from her book “Buddha in My Belly,” a prose poetry collection, Saturday at 5 p.m. She says having two kids, now 2 and 6, made novel writing too time consuming. She found the shorter windows of time she had available more conducive to writing poetry. Her book just came out two weeks ago.

“I think when I was a kid, I didn’t see any gay or lesbian authors,” she says. “We heard about Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes in school but we didn’t know anything about them being gay. … Teens coming out now have so much more experience with being able to find role models and people to talk to … there’s less suppression and bullying.”

• Gay poet and novelist Rashid Darden, a life-long Washingtonian, will be part of a poetry reading with several other poets dubbed “head/heart/soul” Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

He says with Lambda Rising no longer in business in D.C. and precious few mainstream bookstores remaining anywhere, it’s important for writers to have a place to gather.

“There’s a chance to do some of that at Pride events, but that’s not the kind of thing where you can have much of a niche market either,” he says. “I think it’s really important for the Center to provide an alternative to the existing constructs, as a sort of replacement for the bookstores that no longer exist.”

• Saturday night at 8:15, performance artist Kimberly Dark will close the festival. The San Diego-and-Hawaii-based lesbian has been performing for LGBT audiences in arenas of all sorts since the mid-‘90s. She says issues of sexual orientation and gender, which largely inform her work, provide almost endless fodder for observation and discussion.

“Everyone’s lives matter and even today, we still have a really narrow image of who’s who in the world,” she says. “It’s very hard for many people to see their own lives reflected on stage or TV.”

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Lana Del Rey, Katy Perry plan fall releases

A Fleetwood Mac live album, more Joni archives among vintage options

Published

2 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Joey DiGuglielmo

Dolly Parton’s ‘Smoky Mountain DNA’ is slated for a Nov. 15 release. (Image courtesy Owepar Entertainment)

Paris Hilton released her “Infinite Icon” album on Sept. 6. It’s just the second effort following a massive hiatus — her debut album “Paris” was released way back in 2006. Sia produces. This summer’s “I’m Free” was the first single. A tour is planned. Hilton promised a “heavily gay-leaning release.”

Miranda Lambert’s “Postcards from Texas” is slated to drop today. Lambert’s 10th studio album was preceded by the May release of single “Wranglers,” which stalled in the lower 30s on country radio. Lambert calls the album a musical ode to her home state. She co-produces with Jon Randall and either wrote or co-wrote 10 of the project’s 14 cuts.

Katy Perry’s “143” is set for a Sept. 20 release. It will be her seventh studio album. Its title refers to what she says is her symbolic angel number. Perry is aiming for a dance party feel working with producers Max Martin, Dr. Luke, Stargate, Vaughn Oliver and Rocco Did It Again! The proceedings are not off to a strong start. First single “Woman’s World” stalled at No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100. Follow-up “Lifetimes” failed to crack the Hot 100 at all.

Fleetwood Mac releases “Mirage Tour ’82” on Sept. 20. It includes six tracks previously unreleased including “Don’t Stop,” “Dreams,” “Never Going Back Again,” “Sara” and more. Available on double CD, triple vinyl and digitally.

Volume four of Joni Mitchell’s “Archives” series dubbed “The Asylum Years: 1976-1980” releases Oct. 4. It’s being offered in six-CD or four-LP (highlights) configurations. It will feature unreleased studio sessions, alternate versions, live recordings, rarities and a 36-page book with new photos and an extensive conversation between Mitchell and filmmaker/uberfan Cameron Crowe.

Sophie B. Hawkins releases her “Whaler Re-Emerging” album (a re-recording of her landmark 1994 album) on Oct. 15. Order through her site and the first 250 copies will be signed. Hawkins (who identifies as omnisexual) says it surpasses the original.

Joe Jonas’s “Music for People Who Believe in Love” and Shawn Mendes’s “Shawn” are both set for Oct. 18 releases. Jonas’s album (his first solo effort since 2011’s “Fastlife”) will feature songwriting he says is of a more personal nature. Billboard called it “unvarnished” but with a shimmery pop sound aglow with garage rock and alt-pop influences. First single “Work It Out” was released over the summer and failed to chart.

“Shawn” will be Mendes’s first album since 2020’s “Wonder,” the tour of which he cancelled citing mental health. Two singles — “Why Why Why” and “Isn’t That Enough” — have been released. The former stalled at no. 84 on the Hot 100. He has called the album his “most musically intimate and lyrically honest work to date.”

Lana Del Rey’s “Lasso” is expected for a possible fall release, although some sources say it’s been bumped to early 2025. No date had been announced as of yet. She’s apparently going the Beyonce route and releasing a straight-up country album.

Dolly Parton plans a Nov. 15 release for “Smoky Mountain DNA — Family, Faith & Fables.” Parton recruited family to help her on the 37 (!)-track collection, which will also encompass a four-part docuseries tracing Parton’s familial roots. One song (“A Rose Won’t Fix It”) is an outtake from the feverish writing sessions that led to her solid (but underrated) 1998 album “Hungry Again.” An extremely limited-edition triple vinyl release is also planned.

Release dates shift and many more releases will be announced later. Pitchfork keeps a great running tab at pitchfork.com/news/new-album-releases. Also check your local record store for Black Friday special editions available on Friday, Nov. 29. Release info was scant as of this writing.

(Joey DiGuglielmo was variously the Blade’s news and features editor from 2006-2020.)

Out & About

Free house expo set for Oct. 26

Capitol Hill Restoration Society hosts event at Eastern Market

Published

4 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Tinashe Chingarande

The Capitol Hill Restoration Society will host a free House Expo on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 9 a.m. in the North Hall of Eastern Market.

If you have questions about your home, you can get answers at the Expo. There will be more than 30 home contractors, service experts and city agencies with historic house experience. There will also be free guided tours of Eastern Market.

For more information, visit chrs.org.

Out & About

Come see a drag show with a purpose

Charity event to be held at Freddie’s on Sunday

Published

5 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Tinashe Chingarande

An Imperial Court event, 'Ode to the Glitter Ball,' held at Freddie's Beach Bar in 2023. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Go Gay DC will host “Drag Show for Charity” on Sunday, Sept. 15 at 8 p.m. at Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant.

Tips to the drag performers will benefit worthy charities that have been vetted by the Imperial Court of Washington, D.C. The mission of the Imperial Court is to raise funds for organizations, including but not limited to those supporting LGBTQ community, HIV/AIDS services organizations, social service organizations and youth enrichment programs. It seeks to provide a safe, social environment for people with the same interests as those of the membership and to create and promote positive community awareness.

This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.