Music & Concerts
GMCW gets hitched with wedding-themed show
Broadway tunes, party favors, cake and a real on-stage wedding in store Saturday


(Image courtesy of GMCW)
Gay Menβs Chorus holds its concert βMy Big Fat Gay Weddingβ at Lisner Auditorium (730 21st St., NW) Saturday night at 8 p.m.
The show invites the audience to celebrate love while witnessing a real on-stage wedding with the Chorus and 1,300 of their closes friends. There will be several love songs from Broadway. Party favors and cake will be provided in the lobby.
Tickets are $25 to $50. For more information, visit gmcw.org.
Music & Concerts
Washington Arts Ensemble to host immersive concert
Creating a dialogue with D.C.βs history and culture

The Washington Arts Ensemble will host an immersive concert experience on Saturday, June 18 at 7 p.m. at Dupont Underground.
This concert will show how distinct genres influence pop culture and articulate the commonality between classical, jazz, and electronic music while creating a dialogue with D.C.βs history and culture.
Some of the works that will be performed include βSwitched-On Bach selectionsβ by Wendy Carlos, βThe Swanβ from The Carnival of the Animals by Camile Saint-Saens, among other works.
Tickets cost $25 and can be purchased on the Washington Arts Ensembleβs website.Β

Music & Concerts
John Levengood releases anthem βSay Gay!β to protest discrimination
Slated to perform new song at 2022 Capital Pride Festival in June

βSay gay! Say gay! Say gay!
βSay what? Say what?
βOne little law wonβt shut us up!β
Slated for digital release this Friday, recording artist John Levengoodβs latest song βSay Gay!β confronts anti-LGBTQ legislation such as the βDonβt Say Gayβ law by encouraging others to βprofess their queerness loudly, proudly, and never in the shadows,β Levengood said in a press release shared with the Blade on Tuesday.
On June 12, Levengood is set to perform the songβs live debut at the 2022 Capital Pride Festival in Washington, D.C., to streets teeming with community members, food trucks, and local vendors, according to the press release.
βThe rise in oppressive legislation and proposals have many in the LGBTQ+ community alarmed,β the press release says. Levengood βhopes this song can be used as a metaphorical weapon to blast holes in the argument that teaching children about acceptance and diversity is more appropriate at home than school.β
The bill, enacted by the Florida Legislature earlier this year but not yet in force, would limit teachersβ ability to teach LGBTQ topics in some school settings and obligate school officials to disclose studentsβ sexual orientation and gender identity to their parents upon request.
A D.C. resident himself, Levengood currently works over the weekends as resident host and karaoke emcee at Freddieβs Beach Bar in Arlington, Va., an LGBTQ bar and restaurant.
Levengood is no stranger to the music scene, in 2013 moving through multiple rounds of auditions for the third season of βThe X Factorβ before coming up short of formally appearing on the show, according to the release.
Growing up in the Shenandoah Valley of rural Virginia, the press release added that music has been an outlet for Levengood to express himself from an early age. The new song marks his seventh musical release.
Music & Concerts
Tori Amos spins magic at Sunday night D.C.-area concert
First show in the area since β17 finds Gen X icon vocally subdued but musically energized

As with many veteran rock stars, itβs sometimes hard to get a handle on how hot or cold Tori Amosβs 30-year-old solo career is at the moment. It sometimes seems like sheβs moving past the take-her-for-granted-because-sheβs-never-away-for-long phase, and there certainly was that sense in the air Sunday night for her D.C.-area stop of her current βOcean to Ocean Tour,β her first show here since 2017, which, with COVID, feels like a lifetime ago.
But there are also signs that itβs never been chillier for Amos in the overall pop culture landscape. Itβs been a decade since she charted a single on any chart and there were no videos or singles from her βOcean to Oceanβ album last fall. It landed just outside the top 100 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album sales chart altogether, a new low that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago when her βregularβ (i.e. non-specialty/concept) albums were almost guaranteed a top 10 debut.
The slide has been swift, too: 2014βs βUnrepentant Geraldinesβ hit No. 7, the next album (2017βs polarizing βNative Invaderβ) only made it to 39, then came βOceanβsβ thud at no. 104. Thereβs a lot you could point to to explain it β streaming, her aging Gen X fan base, the endless undulations of the music industry itself β but in some ways it has started to feel like sheβs getting less and less return on her artistic dollar than one would expect.
Yeah, that always happens with veteran female pop stars once they hit their 50s and beyond, but Amos and her small but mighty fan base, who for decades exhibited a devotion of Grateful Dead-like proportions, outran the trend for so long, to see it finally catching up is a bit bewildering.
But then you go hear her live at a decent-size venue like The Theater at MGM National Harbor (which seats 3,000 and was about 97 percent full), and it feels nearly like old times. Sure, some of the excitement was just that weβre all gagging at being at concerts at all and having mask restrictions and vaccine requirements paused, but there was an electricity that, while mellower than it was at Amos concerts in the β90s, still felt magical. Iβve never in my life seen so long a line for the merch table.
The concert itself was, for the most part, sublime. It was the first time since 2009 sheβs toured with a band and while her solo shows are great too, there was pent-up yearning to hear her unleash full-on with a solid rhythm section (Jon Evans on bass, Ash Soan on drums) again. Beat-heavy songs like βRaspberry Swirlβ and βCornflake Girlβ sounded tepid with canned beats the last few times out, so to hear everything truly live (save a few BGVs and effects) last night was heavenly.

The show had special poignancy too, as Amos grew up in the region. She has written and commented heavily on the immense toll her motherβs 2019 death took on her personally and artistically, so that the date happened to be Motherβs Day gave the proceedings added gravitas. βMother Revolutionβ and βJackieβs Strengthβ spoke, of course, to the holiday, though (and this is quibbling) I would have vastly preferred βMotherβ from βLittle Earthquakes,β a deep cut we havenβt heard live in eons.

Highlights included the slinky, rhythm-loopy opener βJuarezβ; βOcean to Ocean,β one of three cuts performed from the new record, which shimmered with Philip Glass-like piano arpeggios; the vampy, slinky interplay between the three musicians on βMother Revolutionβ; and unexpected fan favorite βSpring Haze.β Amos, overall, is varying up the set list quite a bit less than is her norm, so it was one of the few surprises of the evening.Β
The lengths of several of the songs were drawn out considerably. At times β βA Sorta Fairytale,β the aforementioned βRevolutionβ β that worked well and gave the band time to languidly jam. At other points, it felt a bit self-indulgent and even slightly boring β as on βSweet Sangriaβ and βLiquid Diamonds.β
βRussia,β a bonus cut from the last album, sounded just how it did when Amos performed it here in 2017, but took on added resonance because of current events. Closing line βIs Stalin on your shoulderβ was chilling.
Overall, the show β lighting, pacing, everything β largely worked. The sound mix, which fans have said has been muddy at some venues recently on the tour, was pristine. Pacing only lagged a few times in some of the mid-tempo cuts from later albums, but just when you felt some were zoning β the flow of those entering and exiting is a good barometer β Amos whipped things back together with a fan favorite like βPast the Missionβ or βSpring Haze.β
It all came to a satisfying, audience-friendly climax with βCornflake Girl,β then the two encore cuts, βPrecious Thingsβ and βTear in Your Hand,β both from the first album.
Vocally, the range was there and sounded lovely, but the oomph was considerably held back. Vocal preservation for the many dates ahead? Probably. Itβs understandable. Amos, at 58, may lack the stamina she had 20 years ago, but it did feel underwhelming in passages that in years past would have been full on, balls out like the βBlissβ bridge or the βnine-inch nailsβ passage from βPrecious Things.β
Not one acknowledgment or mention by Amos of the female folk duo openers Companion. Iβd have invited them out for a few numbers to sing BGVs. I mean, heck, theyβre in the house, why not? And other than the welcome, a brief soliloquy on Motherβs Day was the only Amos comment of the entire night.
Still Amos never came off as aloof. She seemed genuinely excited to be playing live again and the queer-heavy crowd responded in kind.

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