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Baltimore arts briefs: Events through Dec. 6

UMD hosts AIDS events, New Wave Singers give Moveable Feast benefit

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Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Adam Cooley, Creative Alliance, gay news, Washington Blade
Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Adam Cooley, Creative Alliance, gay news, Washington Blade

Adam Cooley in Creative Alliance’s production of ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch.’ Cooley returns for the Alliance’s cabaret night on Friday. (Photo courtesy of Creative Alliance)

Cabaret night is AIDS Action benefit

The Creative Alliance hosts a cabaret to benefit AIDS Action Baltimore and to honor World AIDS Day tonight at 8 at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson (3134 Eastern Ave.).

The music includes Broadway, pop, rock and original songs sung by talented local vocalists. The show also includes readings from the pandemic. AIDS Action Baltimore founder Lynda Dee speaks with Johns Hopkins Hospital’s AIDS researchers about options moving forward with AIDS treatment.

Tickets are $20. For more information, visit creativealliance.org.

UMD plans AIDS Day events

The University of Maryland School of Medicine, School of Pharmacy, School of Social Work and the Office of Interprofessional Student Learning and Service Initiatives (ISLSI) host a full day of activities to honor World AIDS day today starting at 11 a.m.

Activities include confidential HIV testing and services, the Facing AIDS photo campaign and Living Ribbon.

All activities are free. For times and more information, visit umaryland.edu/worldAIDSday.

New Wave Singers give Feast benefit show

New Wave Singers of Baltimore perform Saturday night at 8 in honor of World Aids Day and to benefit Moveable Feast at the First Unitarian Church (1 W. Hamilton Street).

Moveable Feast is an organization that provides food to people who are suffering from AIDS and are not mobile. Half of the proceeds from the concert will go to the organization.

Tickets are $20 for adults and for kids 17 and under, admission is free. For more information, visit newwavesingers.org.

Poetry reading slated for Sunday afternoon

The annual Cave Canem poetry reading at Enoch Pratt Central Library (400 Cathedral St.) hosts writer Kwame Dawes and several other local poets on Sunday from 2-4 p.m.

Dawes writes poetry, fiction, non-fiction and plays and was a winner of the Pushcart Prize in 2001 for his poem “Inheritance.” He was born in Ghana but spent most of childhood in Jamaica.

This event is free. For more information, visit prattlibrary.org.

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Books

A boy-meets-boy, family-mess story with heat

New book offers a stunning, satisfying love story

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(Book cover image courtesy of Random House)

‘When the Harvest Comes’
By Denne Michele Norris
c.2025, Random House
$28/304 pages

Happy is the bride the sun shines on.

Of all the clichés that exist about weddings, that’s the one that seems to make you smile the most. Just invoking good weather and bright sunshine feels like a cosmic blessing on the newlyweds and their future. It’s a happy omen for bride and groom or, as in the new book “When the Harvest Comes” by Denne Michele Norris, for groom and groom.

Davis Freeman never thought he could love or be loved like this.

He was wildly, wholeheartedly, mind-and-soul smitten with Everett Caldwell, and life was everything that Davis ever wanted. He was a successful symphony musician in New York. They had an apartment they enjoyed and friends they cherished. Now it was their wedding day, a day Davis had planned with the man he adored, the details almost down to the stitches in their attire. He’d even purchased a gorgeous wedding gown that he’d never risk wearing.

He knew that Everett’s family loved him a lot, but Davis didn’t dare tickle the fates with a white dress on their big day. Everett’s dad, just like Davis’s own father, had considerable reservations about his son marrying another man – although Everett’s father seemed to have come to terms with his son’s bisexuality. Davis’s father, whom Davis called the Reverend, never would. Years ago, father and son had a falling-out that destroyed any chance of peace between Davis and his dad; in fact, the door slammed shut to any reconciliation.

But Davis tried not to think about that. Not on his wedding day. Not, unbeknownst to him, as the Reverend was rushing toward the wedding venue, uninvited but not unrepentant. Not when there was an accident and the Reverend was killed, miles away and during the nuptials.

Davis didn’t know that, of course, as he was marrying the love of his life. Neither did Everett, who had familial problems of his own, including homophobic family members who tried (but failed) to pretend otherwise.

Happy is the groom the sun shines on. But when the storm comes, it can be impossible to remain sunny.

What can be said about “When the Harvest Comes?” It’s a romance with a bit of ghost-pepper-like heat that’s not there for the mere sake of titillation. It’s filled with drama, intrigue, hate, characters you want to just slap, and some in bad need of a hug.

In short, this book is quite stunning.

Author Denne Michele Norris offers a love story that’s everything you want in this genre, including partners you genuinely want to get to know, in situations that are real. This is done by putting readers inside the characters’ minds, letting Davis and Everett themselves explain why they acted as they did, mistakes and all. Don’t be surprised if you have to read the last few pages twice to best enjoy how things end. You won’t be sorry.

If you want a complicated, boy-meets-boy, family-mess kind of book with occasional heat, “When the Harvest Comes” is your book. Truly, this novel shines.

The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.

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Photos

PHOTOS: Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch

LGBTQ politicians gather for annual event

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Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) speaks at the 2025 Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Victory Fund held its National Champagne Brunch at the Ritz-Carlton on Sunday, April 27. Speakers included Tim Gunn, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Gov. Wes Moore (D-Md.), Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.).

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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Music & Concerts

Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’

Out singer/songwriter to perform at Red Bear Brewing Co.

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Singer Tom Goss is back. (Photo by Dusti Cunningham)

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.

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