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Calendar through March 21

Local D.C. events, parties, concerts, mixers and more through mid-March

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Icaruc . . . Flight Cancelled, Timothy Johnson, gay news, Washington Blade
Icaruc . . . Flight Cancelled, Timothy Johnson, gay news, Washington Blade

ā€˜Icaruc … Flight Cancelled’ is one of the paintings featured in ā€˜It’s Greek to Me’ by Timothy Johnson at Touchstone Gallery. (Image courtesy Touchstone)

Friday, March 15

Touchstone Gallery (901 New York Ave., NW) hosts the exhibitions ā€œIconsā€ by Steve Alderton and ā€œIt’s Greek to Meā€ by Timothy Johnson through the month of March. Alderton distills his subjects down to the basics in his expressionistic paintings, while Johnson reinterprets Greek myths. For more information, visit touchstonegallery.com.

Whitman Walker provides free HIV testing at the Anacostia Metro Station from noon to 3:30 pm. For more information, visit whitman-walker.org.

Special Agent Galactica celebrates the weekend with her show at Nellie’s Sports Bar (900 U St., NW) tonight at 6 p.m. Her show brings a variety of music genres and comedy in two different sets. The first is the critically acclaimed Theatrical LipSync Show. The second set is the live sung acoustic set with Jeremy Kin on guitar. There is no cover for this event. For more information, visit pinkharedone.com.

FUK!T HIV prevention working group does outreach at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) tonight at 6:30 p.m. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) hosts Bear Happy Hour tonight from 6-11 p.m. This event is for people 21 and older. There is no cover charge. Later the drag show will start at 10:30 p.m. and the gay Washington DC GoGo boys come out at 11. Cover is $5 before 11 and $10 after. There are $3 drinks until 11. For details, visit towndc.com.

The Black Cat (1811 14th St., NW) holds its ā€œDr. Who Happy Hourā€ tonight at 7 p.m. on its backstage. There will be one episode of ā€œDr. Whoā€ along with drink specials. For more information, visit blackcatdc.com.

Saturday, March 16

Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, volunteers today for the Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation at Falls Church PetSmart (6100 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church, Va.) starting at 11:45 a.m. For more information, visit burgundycrescent.org.

Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) hosts the party ā€œFunky Townā€ tonight at 10 p.m. DJ Ed Bailey is taking the party back with ā€˜70s, ā€˜80s and ā€˜90s classics all night. Cover is $8 before 11 p.m. and $12 after. For more information, visit towndc.com.

Sunday, March 17

Metropolitan Community Church (474 Ridge St., NW) holds its weekly 9 and 11 a.m. worship services today. The church has one of the most diverse communities and communion is open to everyone. For more information, visit mccdc.com.

Monday, March 18

The D.C. Center (1318 U St., NW) holds coffee drop-in for the senior LGBT community today at 10 a.m.-noon. The center will provide complimentary coffee and a community to chat with. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Bears do Yoga takes place this evening 6:30 p.m. as part of a series at the Green Lantern (1335 Green Court, NW). This is part of a basic yoga series that takes place every Monday and is open to people of varying body types and experience. There is no charge. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

The D.C. Lambda Squares holds its dance series tonight at 7:30 p.m. at National City Christian Church (5 Thomas Circle, NW). The only square dance club located in Washington, the group invites everybody to learn square dancing in just 16 Mondays. No special outfits, partner or prior dance experience is needed. The cost is $100. For more information or to register, visit dclambdasquares.org.

Whitman-Walker Health (1701 14th St., NW) holds its HIV+ Newly Diagnosed Support Group tonight at 7. It is a confidential support group for anyone recently diagnosed with HIV and the group welcomes all genders and sexual orientations. Registration is required and attendees must call 202-797-3580 or email [email protected]. For details, visit whitman-walker.org.

Tuesday, March 19

The D.C. Center (1318 U St., NW) holds its ā€œFreedom from Smoking Classā€ for members of the community who are trying to quit smoking this evening starting 6:30. The class is an adaptation of the American Lung Association’s group clinic that has helped thousands of smokers, however it has been modified to be more relevant to the LGBT community and people living with HIV/AIDS. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Whitman-Walker (1701 14th St., NW) holds its group Starting Over for Women tonight at 7. The group is for women whose long-term relationship with another woman. Registration is required and attendees must call 202-797-3580 or email [email protected]. For more information, visit whitman-walker.org.

Green Lantern (1335 Green Court, N.W.) hosts its Safer Sex Kit-packing program tonight from 7-10:30. The packing program is looking for more volunteers to help produce the kits because they say they are barely keeping up with demand. Admission is free and volunteers can just show up. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Wednesday, March 20

Whitman-Walker Health (1701 14th St., NW) holds its HIV+ Newly Diagnosed Support Group tonight at 7. It is a confidential support group for anyone recently diagnosed with HIV and the group welcomes all genders and sexual orientations. Registration is required and attendees must call 202-797-3580 or email [email protected]. For details, visit whitman-walker.org.

The Tom Davoren Social Bridge Club meets tonight at the Dignity Center (721 8th St., SE) at 7:30 p.m. for social bridge. Newcomers are welcome and no reservations are needed. For more information or if you need a partner, visit lambdabridge.com.

Thursday, March 21

International speaker and teacher of Christian Science healing Fujiko Signs gives a talk about how prayer can have a tangible impact on the world tonight at Busboys and Poets (14th and V St., NW) at 7:30 p.m. Signs has met with Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and exchanged with her ideas about how spirituality lead to freedom. Signs was also a survivor of the 2011 Japanese tsunami. In her talk she will share how she used spirituality to overcome these challenges. For more information, visit busboysandpoets.com.

Whitman-Walker Health (1701 14th St., NW) holds its gay men over 50 support group this evening at 6:30 p.m. The group is for gay men entering a new phase of life. Registration is required to attend. Registration is required and attendees must call 202-797-3580 or email [email protected]. For more information, visit whitman-walker.org.

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Arts & Entertainment

How queer Baltimore artists are building strong community spaces

Fruit Camp is home to tattoo artists, musicians, herbalist, and more

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A tattoo artist prepares to work at Fruit Camp. (Photo by Emi Lynn Holler/courtesy Fruit Camp Studio)

Fruit Camp, a tattoo and art studio in the Remington neighborhood of Baltimore, opened with a bang in February of 2020. ā€œWe had a big opening party. It was really fun. Everybody came,ā€ says Geo Mccandlish, one of the co-founders. ā€œIt was the last rager I went to,ā€ they said. 

The pandemic shut down their shop—alongside the world—for months, but the shop survived. ā€œWe just put our stimulus checks into keeping the rent paid,ā€ says Emi Lynn Holler, the other co-founder. 

They had built the space without loans, on a low-budget, do-it-yourself ethos with hands-on help from their community. ā€œThe deeply punk shoestring budget background worked really to our advantage,ā€ says Mccandlish.

While it wasn’t ideal, it was fitting. Mccandlish and Holler’s artistic partnership has almost always lived at the crossroads of community, DIY, and extraordinary circumstances. A decade ago they met as residents of the Bell Foundry, an arts co-op and co-living space, where sharing knowledge, making community, and living cheaply were key to getting by.

It was there that Holler gifted Mccandlish their first tattooing machine and taught them how to use it. And it was where the two of them—who also do printmaking, fiber arts, and other creative activities—started imagining co-founding a space of their own. That dream felt more urgent in 2016 when Baltimore condemned the Bell Foundry and evicted the residents, including Mccandlish, during a nationwide crackdown on artist co-ops after the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland.

Holler had by then moved to Massachusetts to pursue formal tattoo education and certifications. 

ā€œLiving inside that level of precarity,ā€ Mccandlish explains, ā€œmade us want to figure out a hybrid,ā€ between the unique, collaborative Bell Foundry and a licensed, commercial space. ā€œWe wanted to find a way to create more safety,ā€ says Holler.

But they didn’t just want to create safety for the two of them. When looking at spaces, they opted to lease a bigger studio—a two-story, double-row house with room for tattooing on the first floor and small studios on the second. Mccandlish said the prospect of a larger project felt ā€œtantalizing and preciousā€ because they felt ā€œif you have access to something, you try to make sure that every resource that is a part of it is also shared.ā€

Today, in addition to tattoos, Fruit Camp holds studios for musicians, fiber artists, an herbalist, a massage therapist, and a doula. ā€œWe’re able to incubate and hold nontraditional pathways to different kinds of creative practices,ā€ says Mccandlish.

You can consider Fruit Camp a queer business by several definitions. For one, every member of the studio identifies as queer, in some way. It also looks queer. ā€œIt’s campy and it’s pink, and we have a lot of gay art hanging around,ā€ explains Mccandlish. 

Holler says sometimes they get asked about losing potential patrons by being openly queer, but that isn’t a worry. ā€œI think it only strengthens us,ā€ they say. ā€œIt brings people to us who also want to find each other in that world.ā€ They pause, ā€œI feel like it boils down to we keep us safe and we take care of ourselves.ā€

Mccandlish emphasizes that ā€œqueer is the political meaningā€ and the ā€œorientation toā€ which they do their work as a community space and business. Their shop practices are explicitly queer and trans-friendly—in addition to being ā€œanti-racist, anti-sexist, liberation-oriented, and accessible.ā€ For example, the shop requires masking and has consent-forward and trauma-informed practices in place. They also use cost-sharing instead of a traditional profit model with those who work in their space. ā€œThe point is not to make as much money as everybody can, the point is to work enough with a low enough cost overhead that everyone can survive without overworking.ā€

That is a continued goal, not a static place, they explain. ā€œSome of our goals, we haven’t reached yet, like turning into a true worker co-op.ā€

But they are already making big strides in the community. For example, some patrons tell them that they are the only tattoo studio they feel safe using, due to the universal masking policies. To their knowledge, they are the only shop in Baltimore that has the policy.

Fruit Camp also has a big community name. One day Mccandlish logged onto a community Facebook group and saw an anonymous post asking about queer-friendly tattooers or tattooers who would tattoo someone who has HIV. The post said, ā€œI’ve been turned away from five different shops.ā€

Immediately Mccandlish went to the comments to write that Fruit Camp would be happy to tattoo them, but instead, they found the comment section full of that recommendation already. It warmed their heart. ā€œThat feels like a very minor way that [our work] is so important.ā€

(This story is part of the Digital Equity Local Voices Fellowship lab through News is Out. The lab initiative is made possible with support from Comcast NBCUniversal.)

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Theater

Timely comedy ā€˜Fake It’ focuses on Native American themes

Arena Stage production features two out actors

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Eric Stanton Betts (standing) and Brandon Delsid in ā€˜Fake It Until You Make It.’ (Photo by Daniel Rader)

ā€˜Fake It Until You Make It’
Through May 4
Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St., S.W.
Tickets start at $59
Arenastage.org

A farce requires teamwork. And Larissa FastHorse’s ā€œFake It Until You Make Itā€ now at Arena Stage is no exception.Ā 

The timely comedy focuses on Native American nonprofits fractiously housed in a shared space. Friction rises when rivals River (Amy Brenneman), a white woman operating in the Indigenous world, goes up against the more authentic Wynona (Shyla Lefner) to win a lucrative Native-funded grant.   

While Brenneman (best known for TV’s Judging Amy) is undeniably a big draw, it takes a group collaboration to hit marks, land jokes, and pull off the well-executed physical comedy including all those carefully timed door slams.

As members of the six-person ā€œFake Itā€ cast, Brandon Delsid and Eric Stanton Betts, both out actors of partly indigenous ancestry, contribute to the mayhem. Respectively, Delsid and Betts play Krys and Mark, a pair of two-spirited Native Americans who meet farcically cute and enjoy one of the play’s more satisfying arcs. 

For Krys, every attractive man is a potential next fling, but when Mark, handsome and relatively reserved, arrives on the scene, it’s something entirely different. 

Both onstage and sometimes off, Betts plays the straight man to Delsid’s waggishness. But when it comes down to real life business, the friends are on the same page: not only are the L.A.-based, up-and-coming actors intensely serious about their film and stage careers, but they’re also particularly engaged in the themes of Indigenous People found in ā€œFake It.ā€ 

On a recent Wednesday following a matinee and an audience talkback, they were ready for a phone interview. 

In establishing whose voice was whose, Delsid clarified with ā€œI’m the one who sounds a little like a Valley girl.ā€ 

WASHINGTON BLADE: Brandon, you’ve been with the show since its early work-shopping days in 2022 and through its debut in Los Angeles and now Washington. Have things evolved? 

BRANDON DELSID: Definitely. I’ve grown up in the last couple of years and so has my character; it’s hard to know where I end and Kry begins. There’s been a real melding.

Eric and I are both queer, and to get to play these roles that are so human, imperfect, sexy, and interesting is really joyful.

As queer artists you don’t always get the chance to do work like this. So many stories are queer trauma, which is incredibly important, but it’s liberating to feel joy and ride it off into the sunset, which, without revealing too much, is kind of what we get to do.

BLADE: There’s some race shifting in ā€œFake Itā€ particularly with regard to ā€œpretendianā€ (a pejorative term describing a person who has falsely claimed Indigenous status). 

ERIC STANTON BETTS:  The last few years I’ve been on a journey with my cultural identity and place in the world. I’m a mixed BIPOC artist, my dad is Black and Native American by way of the Cherokee tribe and my mom is white. 

Since 2020, I’ve tried to figure out where I belong in this cultural history that I haven’t had a tie to throughout my life; it’s gratifying to find my way back to my indigeneity and be welcomed. 

In the play, race shifting is introduced through farce. But it’s never in a disrespectful way; it’s never mocked or done in a way to take away from others. The playwright parallels race shifting with gender fluidity. 

DELSID: But in life, there are people posing as Indigenous, actively taking grants, and the play goes there, we don’t hold back. Larissa, our playwright, has made it clear that she’s not trying to figure it out for us. With that in mind, we hope people leave the theater interested and curious to learn more. 

BLADE: Mark arrives kind of the middle of some crazy drama, bringing along a jolt of romance. 

BETTS:  Yeah, when I show up, we’re all sort of shot out of a cannon, struggling to keep up with the initial lie. 

DESLID: A very gay cannon. 

BLADE: What’s up next for you two?

BETTS: Both Brandon and I are up for the same part in a TV pilot, so one of us may be getting some very good news. I also have a Tyler Perry film coming out soon [he plays a model, not an unfamiliar gig for Betts]. 

DELSID: Coming up, I have a recurring part on HBO’s ā€œThe Rehearsal,ā€ and a supporting part in ā€œJune and John,ā€ a John Besson film. But doing ā€œFake It Until You Make Itā€ in L.A. and now D.C. has been a special time in our lives. It’s 23/7 togetherness. There’s that hour for sleep. 

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Out & About

Taste of Point returns May 7

Annual reception honors LGBTQ student scholars

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A scene from last year’s Taste of Point reception. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Point Foundation will host its annual ā€œTaste of Point Receptionā€ on Wednesday, May 7 at 6:30 p.m. at Room & Board.Ā 

The popular event will take place on the top floor and outdoor terrace at Room & Board, featuring small plates from area restaurants, hand-crafted cocktails from local mixologists, and a speaking portion where guests will hear directly from Point Foundation scholars. This year, Point is supporting a record-breaking class of 755 scholars and guests’ support will allow Point to continue its mission. Point Foundation is the nation’s largest scholarship-granting organization for LGBTQ students of merit. 

Tickets are tax deductible and can be purchased at Point’s website.Ā 

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