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Phasefest gives queer bands platform in D.C. this weekend

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Vero Sanchez, Kiyomi McCloskey and Laura Petracca of the band Hunter Valentine

Phasefest
Continues through Saturday
Phase 1
525 8th Street, S.E.
$20 for tonight; $25 for Saturday
Weekend passes available for $55
Tickets available at the door

Vero Sanchez, Kiyomi McCloskey and Laura Petracca of the band Hunter Valentine

Hunter Valentine is, from left, Vero Sanchez (bass), Kiyomi McCloskey (vocals/guitar) and Laura Petracca (drums). (Photo by Leslie Van Stelten)

Ordinarily Somer Bingham likes to hang out at Phasefest whether sheā€™s playing that night or not.

The musician behind Clinical Trials has played Phasefest the past four years and is up again for a mini-set tonight. During a phone chat this week from West Hollywood where sheā€™s getting ready for a solo show, she says itā€™s probably best sheā€™s not planning to be at Phasefest on Saturday night. Thereā€™s a little drama thatā€™s gone down with her old group, Hunter Valentine, the headline band for Saturday.

ā€œItā€™s probably best I wonā€™t see them since I just got kicked out of the band,ā€ Bingham says. ā€œI was never technically a full member, but we played together almost six months. They kind of decided I just wasnā€™t the right fit. Kiyomi (McCloskey, lead singer of Hunter Valentine) and I just werenā€™t getting along as band mates and it kind of just exploded.ā€

Fans of the Showtime reality show ā€œThe Real L Wordā€ know the story ā€” the drama played out in July and August during the seriesā€™ tense third season, a segment of which was filmed at Phase 1 in March.

But the drama should be avoided at Phasefest where the focus will be on the music. For the record, though, Bingham is pragmatic about the way things went down.

ā€œWe definitely wrote some cool songs together and played some great shows,ā€ she says. ā€œI thought we had good chemistry, but itā€™s such a bummer because we were great friends before.ā€

McCloskey says they ā€œparted ways amicably.ā€

ā€œPlaying with Somer was always meant to be a trial run,ā€ she says. ā€œShe didnā€™t know whether she wanted to be in the band permanently and we didnā€™t know whether she was the right fourth member. She is an amazing musician but it turned out not the right fit for Hunter Valentine. We wish her the best.ā€

Bingham says she played on about half of the cuts on the new Hunter Valentine album, ā€œCollide and Conquer,ā€ slated to drop Oct. 23 on Megaforce Records.

McCloskey says her band will definitely include songs from that project in their hour-long set Saturday night.

ā€œThe albumā€™s been streaming on our site for a couple weeks, we actually just took it down,ā€ she says. ā€œBut the fans have gotten a chance to hear it and people are really pumped. It has a great range of everything from guitar rock to ballads to mid-tempo pop songs. Weā€™re really proud of the wide range there and we think it shows the most growth weā€™ve had in the band so far.ā€

Phasefest 2011

Last year’s Phasefest. (Blade file photo by Nicole Reinterson)

For Bingham, Hunter Valentine was never her only musical outlet. Sheā€™s been doing Clinical Trials for about eight years in between her time working as a sound engineer in New York, where she lives. She calls Trials a ā€œPJ Harvey-meets-Nirvana-meets a little more production-with some MIA and weird samples thrown in.ā€

She says the high quality of Phasefest, now in its sixth year and one of the few queer-specific music festivals in the country, keeps her coming back.

ā€œThese bands donā€™t just happen to be queer,ā€ she says. ā€œItā€™s all really great music. ā€¦ All genres are represented. Youā€™ll find something there you like musically and it will also be really high caliber.ā€

Phase 1 manager Angela Lombardi, who launched the festival, expects about 700 people to visit the bar this weekend, a number theyā€™ve roughly been holding steady at for the past few years. She says about 75 percent of the bands slated for this year are returning acts.

ā€œI do get some shit about it. People sometimes say, ā€˜Why not try to create an entirely new festival every year?ā€™ Lombardi says. ā€œBut these are all bands I really love and people I really care about. Iā€™ve become friends with many of them and so for me, itā€™s really about supporting great queer artists.ā€

Itā€™s not a hard-and-fast rule that all the bands have LGBT members, but Lombardi can only think of one band that played there once that didnā€™t have at least one queer member.

And she says as time has gone on, the original Phase 1 ā€” widely thought to be the oldest continually operating lesbian bar in the U.S. ā€” has retained its own identity from its sister location in Dupont Circle which opened in February at the old Apex/Badlands location on 22nd Street. They were never meant to be the same experience and though Lombardi helped open that location, the two Phase spots operate largely independently of each other. All the Phasefest events will continue to be at the original Phase in Eastern Market.

ā€œWe did talk about the possibility of having one night (of Phasefest) there, but at the end of the day, we felt like offering the same festival experience people have come to expect from us was the best way to go,ā€ she says. ā€œWe kind of thought if we go bigger, it will change to the point that itā€™s not this thing we love and think is great. We love this space and the feeling here and so after all the discussion, we just decided to keep it real and kept it at the original Phase.ā€

But did the new Phase cut into the original Phaseā€™s customer base?

ā€œWeā€™re making it happen,ā€ Lombardi says. ā€œSome people go back and forth, but weā€™re always doing crazy shit at the original Phase. As of right now, weā€™re making it work.ā€

Alongside bands with national exposure and following like Hunter Valentine are indie local bands like Glitterlust, which played only its fourth date at last yearā€™s Phasefest. Lead singer Mikey Torres ā€” Glitterlust is the only male-fronted band on the roster this year ā€” says Phasefest was ā€œour first real show.ā€

Mikey Torres of Glitterlust. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

ā€œI was actually just watching the YouTube video of our set from last year and itā€™s really amazing how much weā€™ve evolved in that time,ā€ Torres says. ā€œWeā€™ve played a lot more shows since then and added a lot more interactive elements. Everythingā€™s just a lot bigger and amped up. Our focus now is making everything larger than life.ā€

So why is it important for queer bands to have outlets such as Phasefest at which to play? Isnā€™t it best to infiltrate the mainstream as much as possible for queer visilibity?

ā€œI live for music so being able to support music that I know has endured some sort of hardship just be existing and giving them a safe space to perform in a totally queer rock and roll environment, itā€™s really a great thing,ā€ Lombardi says. ā€œItā€™s also just totally rad to have one space where you can go and hear a lot of bands. Yeah, itā€™s fun to go hear the Scissor Sisters and these great shows, but more often than not, youā€™re just hearing one band. This also gives some of our local bands some chances to perform alongside the bigger bands who have more national followings.ā€

Torres agrees.

ā€œEven if we were fully accepted in mainstream society, weā€™ll always need our own spaces,ā€ he says. ā€œItā€™s great to have acceptance, but sometimes I just need to be with my gay friends. Thereā€™s a dialogue that can happen there that doesnā€™t happen with straight people. You can unwind most around the people youā€™re totally comfortable with.ā€

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Books

From genteel British wealth to trans biker

Memoir ā€˜Frighten the Horsesā€™ a long but essential read

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(Book cover image courtesy of Roxane Books/Grove Atlantic)

ā€˜Frighten the Horses: A Memoirā€™
By Oliver Radclyffe
c.2024, Roxane Books/Grove Atlantic
$28/352 pages

Finding your own way.

It’s a rite of passage for every young person, a necessity on the path toĀ adulthood. You might have had help with it. You might have listened to your heart alone on the quest to find your own way. And sometimes, as in the new memoir,Ā “Frighten the Horses” by Oliver Radclyffe,Ā you may have to findĀ yourselfĀ first.

If you had observed Oliver Radclyffe in a random diner a few years ago, you’d have seen a blonde, bubbly, but harried mother with four active children under age seven and a distracted husband. You probably wouldn’t have seen trouble, but it was there.

“Nicky,” as Radclyffe was known then, was simmering with something that was just coming to the forefront.

As a young child, Nicky’d been raised in comfort in a family steeped in genteel British wealth, attended a private all-girl’s school, and never wanted for anything. She left all that behind as a young adult, and embraced the biker lifestyle and everything it entailed. The problem now wasn’t that she missed her old ways; it was that she hated life as a wife and mother. Her dreams were filled with fantasies of “exactly who I was: a man on a motorbike, in love with a woman.”

But being a man? No, that wasn’t quite right.

It took every bit of courage she had to say she was gay, that she thought constantly about women, that she hated sex with men. When she told her husband, he was hurt but mostly unbothered, insisting that she tell absolutely no one. They could remain married and just go forward. Nothing had to change.

But everything had already changed for Nicky.

Once she decided finally to come out, she learned that friends had already suspected. Family was supportive. It would be OK. But as Nicky began to experiment with a newfound freedom to be with women, one thing became clear: having sex with a woman was better when she imagined doing it as a man.

In his opening chapter, author Oliver Radclyffe shares an anecdote about the confusion the father of Radclyffe’s son’s friend had when picking up the friend. Readers may feel the same sentiment.

Fortunately, “Frighten the Horses” gets better ā€” and it gets worse. Radclyffe’s story is riveting, told with a voice that’s distinct, sometimes poker-faced, but compelling; you’ll find yourself agreeing with every bit of his outrage and befuddlement with coming out in a way that feels right. When everything falls into place, it’s a relief for both author and reader.

And yet, it’s hard to get to this point because this memoir is just too long. It lags where you’ll wish it didnā€™t. It feels like being burrito-wrapped in a heavy-weighted blanket: You don’t necessarily want out, but you might get tired of being in it.

Still, it remains that this peek at transitioning, however painful, is essential reading for anyone who needs to understand how someone figures things out. If that’s you, then consider “Frighten the Horses” and find it.

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Celebrity News

Is Karla SofĆ­a GascĆ³n’s apology too little, too late?

Netflix has removed transgender actress from Oscars campaign

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Karla SofĆ­a GascĆ³n speaks to Juan Carlos Arciniegas on CNN en EspaƱol. (Screengrab of CNN en EspaƱol/Youtube)

The latest in the scandal involving “Emilia PerĆ©z”ā€™s trans star and Best Actress nominee Karla SofĆ­a GascĆ³n is Netflix deciding to part ways with her even after her public apology and statement regarding not withdrawing from the nomination. 

ā€œI have been labeled a racist and I need to be clear that I am not. I feel like Iā€™ve been judged, sentenced, crucified, and stoned without a fair trial and without an option to defend myself,ā€ said GascĆ³n in an interview with CNN en EspaƱol.Ā 

According to Variety and the Hollywood Reporter, Netflix has cut GascĆ³n out of the campaign for the Oscars. This move comes even after GascĆ³n issued an apology through a statement on her social media and in an interview with CNN en EspaƱol. On Thursday she was set to be seated with co-star Selena Gomez, Zoe SaldaƱa and the filmā€™s writer-director, Jacques Audiard for the AFI Awards luncheon ā€” a gathering at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. On Friday, she was set to attend the Critics Choice Awards. On Saturday, she was set to serve as presenter at the Producers Guild Awards, which happen to be going on at the same time as the Directors Guild Awards. According to THR, she will not be attending the events. 

The Spaniard actress found herself at the center of controversy surrounding the Netflix original being nominated for 13 Oscars after freelance culture writer Sarah Hagi uncovered the actress’s stream of consciousness on display on X, formerly Twitter. Hagi found tweets from as far back as 2020, revealing GascĆ³n’s views on Muslims, George Floyd, China, and vaccines.

In her hour-long interview with CNN en EspaƱol, she defended her position on the issue stating that she feels that she was unfairly targeted, while not being given the opportunity to defend the position she stood behind while writing those tweets. 

She goes on to say that she ā€œsupports the Black Lives Matter movement obviouslyā€ and that the tweets about George Floyd ā€œwere taken out of context.ā€ In the interview, she goes on to say she was highlighting the hypocrisy of humanity in that moment in history. According to GascĆ³n, what she noticed during that time was that only after Floydā€™s death did people care about him, but prior to his death, they did not help him or care about his struggles. 

ā€œI do not identify with any political party and I have my own opinions about issues that might have been one thing in the past, but have now shifted because I have learned many things about respect, love and with the spiritual practice of Buddhism,ā€ said GascĆ³n. 

In the interview, she also pulls the I have a friend whoā€™s Black, so Iā€™m not racist,ā€ card by saying she has a very close family friend who is Muslim, in response to the line of questioning about her being Islamophobic and only through very heavy discussions with her, has GascĆ³n truly come to understand the implications of her words against the culture and religion, as well as theĀ differences between the cultures.Ā 

“Emilia PerĆ©z” was already facing an upward battle to gain popularity, as it was a French production about MĆ©xico. Audiences criticized the film for various reasons and yet, it was still nominated for Best Picture, Critics Choice Award for Best Picture, Academy Award for Best Directing, and many others. 

GascĆ³n deleted her X account shortly after the tweets were discovered and is now facing the cold shoulder from Netflix. Variety and THR, reported that the streaming giant is no longer directly communicating with GascĆ³n ā€“ only through representatives. 

Whether or not this is a witch hunt for a trans actress at the height of her career, GascĆ³n now has first-hand experience in dealing with what it means to misuse a platform by sharing her views on issues she said herself, she did not understand. 

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Out & About

Camp Rehoboth Theatre Company kicks off new season

Poetry jam to be followed by ‘5 Lesbians Eating a Quiche’

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(Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

CAMP Rehoboth Theatre Company will kick off its 2025 season with its first-ever poetry jam followed by a full-stage production of ā€œ5 Lesbians Eating a Quicheā€ on Friday, Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. at CAMP Rehoboth’s Elkins-Archibald Atrium.

CAMP Rehoboth Poetry Jam Poets / Performers include: Debbie Bricker, Kari Ebert, Shelley Blue Grabel, Lavance John, Vanita Leatherwood, Syd Linders, Ellie Maher, Jane Miller, Gwen Osborne, Coco Silveira, Guillermo Silverira, Laura Unruh, Paul Unruh, and Sherri Wright.

ā€œ5 Lesbians Eating A Quiche,ā€ which will run from March 7-9 debuted at CAMP Rehoboth in fall of 2022, and features returning cast members Karen Laitman, Kelly Sheridan, Gwen Osborne, Darcy Vollero, and Shelley Kingsbury, and is directed by Teri Seaton. The absurdist comedy follows the Susan B. Anthony Society for the Sisters of Gertrude Stein having their annual quiche breakfast in 1956. Winner of the 2012 NYC International Fringe Festival as Best Overall Production, ā€œ5 Lesbians Eating A Quicheā€ is a tasty recipe of hysterical laughs, sexual innuendos, unsuccessful repressions, and delicious discoveries. For more information, visit CAMP Rehobothā€™s website

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