Arts & Entertainment

A winning combination

Classical vet Alber joins D.C.-based Goss for Sunday performance

Published

14 years ago

August 16, 2012

Erin Durkin

Matt Alber and Tom Goss
Sunday at 8 p.m.
Atlas (1333 H St., N.E.)
General Admission is $20; VIP $50

Matt Alber, who won fame for his barber shop-set video ‘End of the World,’ won two Grammys for his work in the classical ensemble Chanticleer. (Photo courtesy Alber)

When singer/songwriters Matt Alber and Tom Goss last performed together in Washington, the city was buried under 20-35 inches of snow. Despite the abnormally awful weather, people came out to hear their acoustic love songs.

Now the two are reuniting at Atlas (1333 H St., N.E.) on Sunday evening. Coming from opposite ends of the country, Alber brings his guitar from San Francisco to join the D.C.-based Goss to sing about finding love, losing love and starting anew.

Though the pair may sing about similar things, both say that their styles are very different.

“Matt has a flawless voice, his arrangements are beautiful,” Goss says. “Mine are a little more aggressive than his. People typically say that mine are working class love songs, a little grittier. It is not perfect.”

Alber, a two-time Grammy winner, began his musical career when he joined the group Chanticleer, a classical vocal group that performs baroque and renaissance music. When he first entered pop music, Alber and Goss admired each other’s music from afar.

“We met in San Francisco in 2009 and Tom showed me the ropes,” Alber says. “He encouraged me to take my guitar around as he does.”

Tom Goss (Photo by Michael Key)

Goss, a former Catholic seminarian-turned guitarist, began performing in D.C. coffeehouses in 2006 and has since released two albums and performed in about 100 cities nationwide. In 2011, Blade readers named him best musician. A shameless romantic, many of his songs are inspired by his husband.

“I think we write about what we know,” Goss says. “You have the ability to dream of the world as you would want it.”

Alber uses his music to express his wants and some problems he has faced.

“I use my guitar and my piano as my therapist,” he says. “I sing about things like looking for Mr. Right or working out personal demons.”

He says being gay definitely influences what he writes about and how he sings about love. His songs aren’t just for LGBT listeners, but being out gives them a level of unwritten honesty he says gay listeners appreciate.

“Most of our audience members are super cute gay couples, but straight couples can have just as good of a time. What I write about love can apply to all couples,” he says.

Mixed with his original songs, Alber also does what he describes as “unexpected covers” by artists such as Whitney Houston and Madonna.

While love is a major subject in their music, the artists often touch on challenges that face the LGBT community. Goss, especially, has sung about subjects such as the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law.

“In some of my songs I explored the lives of men in the military who have been affected by DADT,” he says. “Soldiers who had to hide their identities and who they loved.”

Goss says he and Alber work well together, yet only get to see each other a few days a year. This weekend’s performance will be the fourth they’ve done in the past two years.

“I just really admire his music,” Goss says. “I always learn a lot when I play.”

Alber is also looking forward to reuniting with Goss and is especially excited by the slim chance of extreme weather.

“There is absolutely no chance of snow and the Atlas is air conditioned,” he says.

At the end of the night, Alber and Goss will be sitting in the lobby to speak with audience members. They will also be offering a VIP private performance an hour before the doors open to the public.

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Iran, Egypt play in World Cup ‘Pride Match’

FIFA allowed Pride flags inside Seattle stadium

Published

10 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Michael K. Lavers

(Screen capture via KOMO News/YouTube)

Iran and Egypt on Friday faced off during the World Cup’s “Pride Match” in Seattle.

Iran is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death. Discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity is commonplace in Egypt.

Friday’s match coincided with Pride weekend in Seattle. The Egyptian Football Association and the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran both objected to playing in the “Pride Match.”

Egypt and Iran tied 1-1.

FIFA, for its part, allowed Pride flags inside the stadium during the match.

“The FIFA World Cup 2026 is an inclusive event that welcomes people from all backgrounds,” a FIFA spokesperson told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Fans of all sexual orientations and gender identities are welcome at matches and events. General statements of human rights, including rainbow flags and other flags representing sexual orientation and gender identity, are permitted under the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Stadium Code of Conduct and may be displayed inside stadiums provided they are used in a manner consistent with the code.”

Human Rights Watch welcomed FIFA’s decision to allow Pride flags inside the stadium. Outright International, a global LGBTQ and intersex rights group, distributed Pride flags in Seattle on Friday, which was Pride Match Day.

“Visibility matters,” said Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjödin. “Pride is now being celebrated in more than 100 countries, including this weekend in Seattle. For many LGBTIQ people, seeing a Pride flag in public is a reminder that they are not alone, and that their rights and dignity are recognized.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino earlier this year told Die Weltwoche, a Swiss magazine, that “there will be no ‘Pride Match’ at the (FIFA) World Cup.”

“There will be a FIFA World Cup match in Seattle, and on the same day, events organized by external organizations will be taking place in the city,” said Infantino. “But that has nothing to do with the match itself.”

Peter Tatchell, a long-time LGBTQ activist from the U.K. who is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, was among those who traveled to Seattle for Friday’s match. Tatchell accused FIFA of not vetting World Cup teams — specifically Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Senegal, Qatar, Tunisia, Morocco, Iraq, Uzbekistan, and Algeria — over whether they would allow gay players.

“FIFA is protecting LGBT+ visibility in the stands while failing to protect LGBT+ players on the pitch,” said Tatchell.

Photos

PHOTOS: Frederick Pride Parade

Published

13 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Michael Key

A scene from the 2026 Frederick Pride Parade. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The second annual Frederick Pride Parade was held in the streets of downtown Frederick, Md. on Friday, June 26.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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Theater

Carla Hall goes from ‘Top Chef’ to the stage

Solo show ‘Please Underestimate Me’ premieres at Olney

Published

15 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Patrick Folliard

Carla Hall stars in ‘Please Underestimate Me.’ (Photo by Marvin Joseph)

‘Please Underestimate Me’
Through July 12
Olney Theatre Center
at Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab
2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd.
Olney, Md.
$47-$101
Olneytheatre.org

Carla Hall gained celebrity status from Bravo TV’s “Top Chef.” She was funny and fun, and with her kooky signature catch phrase “Hooty hoo” and the southern-inspired recipes she lovingly cooked, Hall stood out in a kitchen crammed with contestants.

Now the D.C.-based Hall is taking revisiting her earliest love with the world premiere of her solo show “Please Underestimate Me,” currently running at Olney Theatre Center’s intimate and revamped Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab.

In the 90-minute piece (written by Hall, Lori Kaye, and Kaye’s partner Leslie Thomas; and directed by Lili-Anne Brown), Hall leads with food but quickly swerves into her personal and other aspects of her professional life. Built around an immersive fictional TV cooking show, her new play draws on experiences from her seven seasons (2011-2019) co-hosting cooking/chat show “The Chew”an ABC daytime proving ground, and her heady years on “Top Chef.” (2008, 2010).

Born and raised in Nashville, Hall wanted to attend Boston University to major in theater, but was rejected. Instead, she went to Howard University at her mother’s urging, where she ultimately majored in accounting. After graduating in 1986, she donned a bespoke business suit and briefly worked as a CPA for Price Waterhouse.

Business wasn’t for Hall. Tall and slender, she walked the runways in Paris for a while before ultimately finding her niche as a chef. Cooking seemed to come from her heart, something she learned from her grandmother who not incidentally bankrolled Hall’s way through culinary school.

Now she’s bringing the vibrancy and good humor that made her a “Top Chef” fan favorite and a popular TV host to the stage with “Please Underestimate Me.”

WASHINGTON BLADE: You seem a natural live performer. Were at all you nervous about doing this?

CARLA HALL: Anytime you step outside of what you’re known for you have to take a risk and make it happen. I’d been working on this the idea for seven years. I decided that I really wanted to do a variety show and really wanted to step back into my original love of theater.

I didn’t know what that looked like so I was asking a lot of people, actors and friends, about how to break into it. Can they see me as more than a chef? So, I told my agency to book me for voice overs, cameo roles. I got an acting coach and I was seeing a lot of single person shows. I literally embodied the thing that I wanted.

BLADE: Have you always been a vocal and public ally of the queer community?

HALL: For me, it’s natural. I came from the theater and dance world. I have a lot of gay and queer friends.

There’s something about people being gay and queer that goes with a need to be authentic to yourself. I think that’s why you find a lot of queer people in the arts. Dare to be you. Dare to be different, right? I like that.

BLADE: Long ago, I remember stopping by a Safeway in Wheaton to grab a sheet cake for a party. Your second or first episode of “Top Chef” had just aired. I wanted to yell “Hooty hoo” across the aisles, but was too shy.

CARLA HALL: My catering kitchen was near that Safeway.You should have yelled. I’d have given you a hug. I’ll hug almost anyone.

BLADE: Thanks. I think. You hear actors saying there’s nothing quite like TV fame because you’re invited into people’s living rooms. What were those days like when you started being recognized?

HALL: I like people. I tell Matthew [Matthew Lyons, Hall’s husband of 20 years], when fans say hello it’s my chance to get to learn about them. I owe them a lot; without them I wouldn’t be working.

BLADE: At Olney, Lauren M. Nichols’ surprise-filled set and Kelly Colburn’s projections of your personal snapshots from over the years are really wonderful.

HALL: It becomes really emotional. At the end of the show, I see 12-year-old me. I’m looking at that girl, and they did a put a little crown on my head, and I’m living her dream 50 years later.

BLADE: Is the pace hard?

HALL: Seven shows a week isn’t easy. I used to say “Top Chef” was my most grueling experience…well, that was before I did this.

BLADE: And is it gratifying?

HALL: At the end of the day, yes. Look, this play is filled with personal highs and lows and emotionally it’s exhausting. It’s also rewarding. Two weeks before the show started, I wasn’t sure I could do this.

BLADE: But of course, you are doing it. And you’re doing it so well.

HALL: A while back, I reached out to the executive producer of “The Chew” and thanked him for being the messenger of my lessons. Without those experiences I wouldn’t be here now doing “Please Underestimate Me.” My confidence has definitely grown. I’m a firm believer that everything that happens to you is for you.