Connect with us

Music & Concerts

Married with children

Gay singing duo returns after major life changes

Published

on

Jason and DeMarco, music, gay news, Washington Blade
Jason and DeMarco, music, gay news, Washington Blade

Jason & deMarco (left) with their sons. (Photo by Donat Barbe)

Jason and deMarco
‘Celebrating Diversity Tour’
Metropolitan Community Church of Washington
474 Ridge Street, N.W.
Oct. 4, 7 p.m.
$20 donation suggested; portion of the proceeds go to S.A.F.E.
(LGBT foster children charity)
mccdc.com
jasonanddemarco.com

A lot has happened for Jason and deMarco since we last heard from them. Now based just outside of Nashville in Franklin, Tenn., the singing duo — partners on stage and off — have gotten married, moved, started a family and are figuring out how to have a good work-life balance while maintaining a music career.

The fall leg of their “Celebrating Diversity Tour” kicks off in their new hometown on Sept. 27. They’ll be in Washington on Oct. 4 for a show at Metropolitan Community Church and also have stops planned for Hagerstown, Md. (Oct. 5) and Frederick and Bethesda, Md. (Oct. 6). We caught up with them last week by phone. Their comments have been slightly edited for length.

 

WASHINGTON BLADE: Why the Nashville area after five years living in Houston? Were you hoping to get closer to the music biz?

JASON WARNER: Ironically it wasn’t so much the city although obviously that’s a great thing but it’s just a sense that everything we were involved in there had some closure to it. We had the babies, we’d been working on staff at a church there and there was just a sense that we’d done everything we’d been able to do there. We’d actually been looking at Austin … but we’d always loved Tennessee in general and just decided on here even though we hadn’t really thought of it initially.

 

BLADE: So many singers live in Franklin. Do you see them around?

JASON: Yeah, we’ve run into a few … but there’s so many here, I think for most people there’s kind of a respect and a sense of keeping your distance when you see them out, you don’t really make a big deal of it. We were in L.A. for eight years so we were used to it there, but then being in Houston for the last five years, we’d been away from it.

BLADE: So much of the contemporary Christian music business is based out of Nashville. You guys have spiritual overtones to your work but aren’t really gospel singers. I know you’ve worked with some producers who’ve worked with some of those artists but is there any sense now that maybe that world is ready for some openly gay artists, especially since so many of those religious labels are now owned by secular parent companies?

JASON: There are a lot of angles to that question but the short answer is that we were pretty much made aware that there was no room for any openly gay artists in the CCM world. People just didn’t really know what to do with us. … I think that industry is changing though. You hear supposedly Christian songs now and you can hardly tell they’re Christian. It kind of used to always be about 10 years behind whatever was going on in mainstream pop but it’s changing and it’s not so much now like “Jesus”-in-your-face kind-of thing, which is kind of what we’ve been doing. Our stuff has always been more open to interpretation. We had some people who told us if they worked with us, they’d lose everything and I know there are people in the CCM world that are gay and just can’t be open about it. For us, we just didn’t have a choice, there was no hiding who we were. If we’d been solo artists maybe we wouldn’t have been so out, but there was such a story around us being a pop duo and a couple that we just said early on, “Look, we are who we are.”

 

BLADE: Why do you think so much of what we think of as the CCM industry comes out of evangelical circles? I’m sure there are mainline Protestant and Catholic musicians writing contemporary music, but there’s never been any real cottage industry around it like there is with the Michael W. Smith- and Steven Curtis Chapman-type artists. Why is that?

DeMARCO DeCICCIO: It’s an interesting question. I’ve never really thought about it. Being raised Catholic, music wasn’t really such a big part of the culture of that faith. In Jason’s (Pentecostal) background, there was more joy in the music whereas in my church growing up, if you sang too loud, people would shhh you. With some, it’s like there’s something wrong if you’re not dancing in the aisles. I think it’s a cultural thing. We were always very private and everyone is secretive. You never heard the fire-and-brimstone-type preaching. … Also I think it’s just always been a more plain-and-simple and traditional type of music in some churches.

 

BLADE: Tell us about your tour. Why are you touring now without a new album out?

JASON: We’d been off the road for a while after having traveled pretty much constantly for about eight years. We were trying to create the space for us to start a family and not be touring full time. Once the boys were born, we’d go out for a weekend here or there. People would ask us to come do this or that and when they were infants it wasn’t a big deal because they were pretty oblivious, but now that they’re a little older, we didn’t want to be gone for long periods so we figured out a way to take them with us. My parents go with us and help out and it’s just one big family adventure. So we might keep doing this — four or five weeks a couple times a year, we’ll see. The West Coast with all the back-to-back shows kind of kicked our butts, but it was still a really great experience.

 

BLADE: What was the reaction like to the West Coast shows?

DeMARCO: People were excited to see how our life was growing and to see us create that family that a lot of gay couples dream about having. Jason’s mom also sings with us on “The Prayer.” We bring the kids out and it’s a very powerful part of the concert. We also do a few new songs. It’s been fun to get back out there.

 

BLADE: It sounds like you’ve scaled back to a point. Being away from L.A. for several years, not doing as much touring and recording. You had some decent chart action and got a lot of buzz in the gay music world. Are you content with what you were able to accomplish or would you have liked to have done it on a super-big Lady Gaga-type scale?

JASON: We always want to be upping our music. Every CD you release, you want it to be better than the last and you are always in a state of evolution. And I always do feel that if you’re putting great stuff out there, somebody will find you. … But L.A. really is a rat race and you’re just always focusing on what’s next so much so that you don’t get to really stop and enjoy what’s happening at the moment. … You can get caught up in what really is success and what is big. We had a documentary about us that was on Showtime. That’s pretty freakin’ huge. … You can fall into the trap of whatever happens, it never being enough. You could be on the stage with Justin Timberlake thinking, “OK, but where’s Barbra Streisand?”

DeMARCO: We had been to all these fundraisers and non-profit events for so many years in L.A. where all the relationships are built on “OK, who’s going to help me get ahead.” We just got to a point where our values changed. …. I think the biggest frustration for me — and we were successful working-class artists — was that we realized to really get to the next level, we needed either some label backing or some talk show host or really big producer like David Foster or somebody, to get on board. Our ability to take it up to the proverbial next level was all in someone else’s hands for me that really was like playing the lottery with our future. We built a certain level of momentum really working at it with lots of indie momentum, but now we’re ready to use this time to raise our boys with love because before you know it, they’ll be 16.

 

BLADE: How long are the shows?

JASON: About an hour and a half.

 

BLADE: Band? Tracks?

JASON: Mostly tracks. We’ve done a few shows with a band and we try to have a live guitar player with us whenever we can.

 

BLADE: You sort of presented yourselves early on as this kind of Abercrombie-esque vision, sort of a gay pretty boy ideal. You might never have used those words, but it was obvious in the album covers and the photo shoots. Are people going to accept you now as a sort of gay version of the older married couple raising kids?

JASON: I think we’ve kept some of our youthfulness. People are always shocked when they hear our ages (both mid-30s). But that’s part of why we are calling this tour “Celebrating Diversity.” There’s so much diversity in the gay world, we want our tours to be a place where that is celebrated.

DeMARCO: I think our audience is growing up with us. Of course we love attracting new people to our music, but … we’re just being ourselves where we are now in our lives. Yeah, there may not be as many new songs out as there were five years ago, but for the people who really care about us, it doesn’t really matter. They’re happy we’ve made it 10 years and counting after following a dream.

 

BLADE: Do you still do other things on the side?

JASON: Yeah, we’ve always got a lot going on.

DeMARCO: I’m still a lifestyle trainer and Jason is always dabbling in something.

JASON: I’ve done some work with real estate but am also working with S.A.F.E., a non-profit drop-in center and foster care for LGBT kids. That’s a passion and I want to do more with that. We did some of that in Houston and we’d like to launch something here too.

Jason and DeMarco, music, gay news, Washington Blade

Jason & deMarco perform at Capital Pride in June, 2008. (Washington Blade file photo by Henry Linser)

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

Music & Concerts

Musical icons and newer stars to rock D.C. this spring

Brandi Carlile, Bad Bunny, Nicki Minaj, and more headed our way

Published

on

Brandi Carlile plays the Anthem this month.

Bands and solo artists of all different genres are visiting D.C. this spring. Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight will team up to perform at the Wolf Trap in June, and girl in red will play at the Anthem in April. Some artists and bands aren’t paying a visit until the summer, like Janet Jackson and Usher, but there are still plenty of acts to see as the weather warms up. 

MARCH 

Brandi Carlile plays at the Anthem on March 21; Arlo Parks will perform at 9:30 Club on March 23; Girlschool will take the stage at Blackcat on March 28.

APRIL 

Nicki Minaj stops in D.C. at Capital One Arena as part of her North American tour on April 1; Bad Bunny plays at Capital One Arena on April 9 as part of his Most Wanted tour; girl in red performs at the Anthem on April 20 and 21; Brandy Clark plays at the Birchmere on April 25; Laufey comes to town to play at the Anthem on April 25 and 26. 

MAY 

Belle and Sebastian play at the Anthem on May 2; Chastity Belt performs at Blackcat on May 4; Madeleine Peyroux stops at the Birchmere on May 5; The Decemberists play at the Anthem on May 10; the rock band Mannequin Pussy performs at the Atlantis on May 17 and 18; Hozier plays at Merriweather Post Pavilion on May 17 as part of the Unreal Unearth tour. 

JUNE 

Patti LaBelle and Gladys Knight will sing soulful melodies at Wolf Trap on June 8; Joe Jackson performs at the Lincoln Theatre on June 10; the Pixies and Modest Mouse are teaming up to play at Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 14; Maggie Rogers plays at Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 16 as part of The Don’t Forget Me tour; Brittany Howard headlines the Out & About Festival at Wolf Trap on June 22; Sarah McLachlan plays at Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 27; Alanis Morissette performs at Merriweather Post Pavilion on June 29 and 30

Continue Reading

Music & Concerts

Grammys: Queer women and their sisters took down the house

Taylor Swift won Album of the Year

Published

on

When the late, great Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked when there will be enough women on the Supreme Court, her answer was simple: Nine. She stated: “I say when there are nine, people are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’s ever raised a question about that.” RBG did not attend the Grammy’s last night, but her spirit sure did. Women, at long last, dominated, ruled and killed the night.

Cher, in song a decade ago, declared that “this is a woman’s world,” but there was little evidence that was true, Grammy, and entertainment awards, speaking. In 2018, the Grammys were heavily criticized for lack of female representation across all categories and organizers’ response was for women to “step up.”

Be careful what you wish for boys.

The biggest star of the 2024 Grammys was the collective power of women. They made history, they claimed legacy and they danced and lip sang to each other’s work. Standing victorious was Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, SZA (the most nominated person of the year), Lainey Wilson, Karol G, boygenius, Kylie Minogue and Victoria Monét. Oh, yes, and powerhouse Taylor Swift, the superstar from whom Fox News cowers in fear, made history to become the first performer of any gender to win four Best Album of the Year trophies.

In the throng of these powerful women stand a number of both LGBTQ advocates and queer identifying artists. Cyrus has identified as pansexual, SZA has said lesbian rumors “ain’t wrong,” Phoebe Bridgers (winner of four trophies during the night, most of any artist) is lesbian, Monét is bi and Eilish likes women but doesn’t want to talk about it. Plus, ask any queer person about Swift or Minogue and you are likely to get a love-gush.

Women power was not just owned by the lady award winners. There were the ladies and then there were the Legends. The first Legend to appear was a surprise. Country singer Luke Combs has a cross-generational hit this year with a cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.” When originally released, the song was embraced as a lesbian anthem. When performing “Fast Car,” surprise, there was Chapman herself, singing the duet with Combs. The rendition was stunning, sentimental and historic.

Chapman, like many of the night’s female dignitaries, has not been public with her sexuality. Author Alice Walker has spoken of the two of them being lovers, however.

The legend among legends of the night, however, was the one and only Joni Mitchell. Not gay herself, she embodies the concept of an LGBTQ icon, and was accompanied by the very out Brandi Carlile on stage. On her website, Mitchell’s statement to the LGBTQ community reads, “The trick is if you listen to that music and you see me, you’re not getting anything out of it. If you listen to that music and you see yourself, it will probably make you cry and you’ll learn something about yourself and now you’re getting something out of it.”

Mitchell performed her longtime classic “Both Sides Now.” The emotion, insight and delivery from the now 80-year old artist, survivor of an aneurism, was nothing short of profound. (To fully appreciate the nuance time can bring, check out the YouTube video of a Swift lookalike Mitchell singing the same song to Mama Cass and Mary Travers in 1969.) In this latest rendition, Mitchell clearly had an impact on Meryl Streep who was sitting in the audience. Talk about the arc of female talent and power.

That arc extended from a today’s lady, Cyrus, to legend Celine Dion as well. Cyrus declared Dion as one of her icons and inspirations early in the evening. Dion appeared, graceful and looking healthy, to present the final, and historic, award of the night at the end of the show.

Legends did not even need to be living to have had an effect on the night. Tributes to Tina Turner and Sinead O’Conner by Oprah, Fantasia Barrino-Taylor and Annie Lennox respectively, proved that not even death could stop these women. As Lennox has musically and famously put it, “Sisters are doing it for themselves.”

Even the content of performances by today’s legends-in-the-making spoke to feminine power. Eilish was honored for, and performed “What Was I Made For?,” a haunting and searching song that speaks to the soul of womanhood and redefinition in today’s fight for gender rights and expression, while Dua Lipa laid down the gauntlet for mind blowing performance with her rendition of “Houdini” at the top of the show, Cyrus asserted the power of her anthem “Flowers” and pretty much stole the show.

Cyrus had not performed the song on television before, and only three times publicly. She declared in her intro that she was thrilled over the business numbers the song garnered, but she refused to let them define her. As she sang the hit, she scolded the audience, “you guys act like you don’t know the words to this song.” Soon the woman power of the room was singing along with her, from Swift to Oprah.

They can buy themselves flowers from now on. They don’t need anyone else. Cyrus made that point with the mic drop to cap all mic drops, “And I just won my first Grammy!” she declared as she danced off stage.

Even the squirmiest moment of the night still did not diminish the light of women power, and in fact, underscored it. During his acceptance of the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, Jay-Z had a bone to pick with the Grammy voters. He called out the irony that his wife Beyoncé had won more Grammys than any other human, but had never won the Best Album of the Year. Yeah, what’s with that?

But then, it brought additional context ultimately to the fact that the winner of the most Grammys individually … is a woman. And to the fact that the winner of the most Best Album of the Year awards … is a woman.

Hopefully this was the night that the Grammys “got it.” Women are the epicenter of The Creative Force.

Will the other entertainment awards get it soon as well? We can hope.

Most importantly, in a political world where women’s healthcare is under siege. Will the American voters get it?

A little known band named Little Mix put it this way in their 2019 song “A Woman’s World.”

“If you can’t see that it’s gotta change
Only want the body but not the brains
If you really think that’s the way it works
You ain’t lived in a woman’s world

Just look at how far that we’ve got
And don’t think that we’ll ever stop…”

From Grammy’s mouth to the world’s ear.

Continue Reading

Music & Concerts

Janet Jackson returning to D.C, Baltimore

‘Together Again Tour’ comes to Capital One Arena, CFG Bank Arena

Published

on

Janet Jackson is coming back to D.C. this summer.

Pop icon Janet Jackson announced this week an extension of her 2023 “Together Again Tour.” A new leg of the tour will bring Jackson back to the area for two shows, one at D.C.’s Capital One Arena on Friday, July 12 and another at Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena on Saturday, July 13.  

Tickets are on sale now via TicketMaster. LiveNation announced the 2023 leg of the tour consisted of 36 shows, each of which was sold out. The 2024 leg has 35 stops planned so far; R&B star Nelly will open for Jackson on the new leg. 

Jackson made the tour announcement Tuesday on social media: “Hey u guys! By popular demand, we’re bringing the Together Again Tour back to North America this summer with special guest Nelly! It’ll be so much fun!”

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement

Sign Up for Weekly E-Blast

Follow Us @washblade

Advertisement

Popular