Arts & Entertainment

Rowing into the record book

Strokes return triumphant from Out Games

Published

13 years ago

September 12, 2013

Kevin Majoros

Fall sports: The D.C. Strokes Rowing Club in action. (Photos by Rachel Freedman; used with permission)

With the fall season upon us, all the LGBT sports leagues in Washington are already in action. Several of the local teams have recently wrapped up successful tournament action and several more have tournaments approaching.

The D.C. Strokes Rowing Club (dcstrokes.org) sent 15 rowers to the Out Games in Antwerp, Belgium in August to compete against athletes from all over the world. They returned home with a Gold, four Silver Medals and a Bronze.

The Strokes will pack up their boats for the winter in November and continue their ergometer and cross-training indoors until spring.

The Capital Tennis Association (capital-tennis.org) hosts the Capital Classic XXI this weekend. The event will include matches in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

Open and B draws will be played on clay and A, C and D draws will be played on hard courts (indoor and/or outdoor). The tournament will be contested at the Rock Creek Tennis Center and the East Potomac Tennis Center at Hains Point.

The CCE Sports Network, the nation’s only live web streaming online gay and lesbian sports network, will stream live coverage. It has showcased more than 200 tournaments, matches and games on its site.

The Network recently covered the International Gay and Lesbian Aquatic Championships where the District of Columbia Aquatics Club captured the world title. Check out live tournaments and archived videos at ccesportsnetwork.com.

The District of Columbia Aquatics Club brought home an amazing 384 medals from the IGLA championships in Seattle in August along with setting several IGLA world records on their way to winning the world title. The records, in short course meters, are as follows:

Lindsey Warren- Shriner (25-29): 1500 free — 19:33.06

Lucas Amodio (18-24): 50 back — 27.65; 50 fly — 26.35

Meredith Stakem (30-34): 50 free — 28.31

Neill Williams (45-49): 50 back — 29.32; 50 fly — 26.78

Jose Cunningham (55-59): 100 IM — 1:10.20

Jeff Mead (55-59): 50 back — 34.37

Men’s relays:

72-99: 4 x 200 free relay — Lucas Amodio, Dustin Sigward, Evan Schlank, Joe Labriola — 8:43.82

72-99: 4 x 100 free relay — Lucas Amodio, Joe LaBriola, Peter Volosin, Paul Quincy — 3:40.15

72-99: 4 x 50 free relay — Joe LaBriola, Paul Quincy, Peter Volosin, Dustin Sigward — 1:42.31

200-239: 4 x 50 medley relay — Neill Williams, Jose Cunningham, Geoff Heuchling, Stan Young — 1:58.71

200-239: 4 x 50 free relay — Neill Williams, Jose Cunningham, Geoff Heuchling, Stan Young — 1:45.15

DCAC will host the annual Columbus Day Classic swim competition on Oct. 12 at the Woodrow Wilson Aquatic Center in D.C. Information on the event is at swimdcac.org.

The Columbus Day Classic will also feature a water polo tournament hosted by the Washington Wetskins water polo team. The event will be contested at the Tacoma Aquatics Center on Oct. 12-13. More information is at wetskins.org.

Local bloggers Puck Buddys (puckbuddys.com) are gearing up for the start of the 2013-2014 National Hockey League (NHL) season. This season they will have 15 contributors covering their respective NHL teams and they have begun to zero in on coverage of the Sochi Olympics and the Russian anti-LGBT laws.

They recently posted a Q&A with a Russian hockey journalist about the cultural and historic roots of homophobia in Russia. Coming up for the bloggers is an interview with a gay journalist who is traveling to Sochi to cover the Games in February.

The D.C. Ice Breakers (dcicebreakers.com) will host their next social skate on Wednesday from 8:10-9:20 p.m. at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington. The fee for skating is $8 and skate rental is $3. After the skate, they will host a social hour at Bailey’s Pub.

Ski Bums (ski-bums.org) have posted their 2014 group trips for skiing and snowboarding. The list includes Steamboat, Colo.; Snowshoe, W.Va.; Jay Peak, Utah; Lake Tahoe, Calif.; Chugach Mountain, Alaska; and Granite Peak, Wis.

The D.C. Gay Flag Football League (dcgffl.org) will be sending at least two of its travel teams to Gay Bowl XIII in Phoenix from Oct. 10-14.

The Chesapeake and Potomac Softball League (capssoftball.org) hosted the NAGAAA Gay Softball World Series from Aug. 26-31 at three separate complexes in the area. The tournament, the largest annual LGBT sporting event in the world, welcomed 170-plus teams that participated in more than 600 softball games. Results are at dcseries2013.com.

The D.C. Sentinels basketball team will open registration in October for the winter edition of the Washington D.C. Gay Basketball League (wdcgbl.leagueapps.com). The League will be a 10 week season including playoffs along with team practice days. Registration is on its site.

Team D.C. and the Federal Triangles Soccer Club and D.C. United co-host United Night OUT (unitednightout.com) Sunday at 4 p.m. as D.C. United take on L.A. Galaxy at RFK Stadium.

The event is part of the Team D.C. Night OUT Series and is a great opportunity for the LGBT community to experience a professional soccer match in a safe and welcoming environment. Tickets available at the Night OUT website.

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Photos

PHOTOS: Denali at Pitchers

‘Drag Race’ alum performs at Thirst Trap

Published

9 hours ago

April 14, 2026

Michael Key

Denali performs at the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show at Pitchers DC on April 9. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Denali (@denalifoxx) of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performed at Pitchers DC on April 9 for the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show. Other performers included Cake Pop!, Brooke N Hymen, Stacy Monique-Max and Silver Ware Sidora.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

Arts & Entertainment

In an act of artistic defiance, Baltimore Center Stage stays focused on DEI

‘Maybe it’s a triple-down’

Published

1 day ago

April 13, 2026

Baltimore Banner

Last year, Baltimore Center Stage refused to give up its DEI focus in the face of losing federal funding. They've tripled down. (Photo by Ulysses Muñoz of the Baltimore Banner)

By LESLIE GRAY STREETER | I’m always tickled when people complain about artists “going political.” The inherent nature of art, of creation and free expression, is political. This becomes obvious when entire governments try to threaten it out of existence, like in 2025, when the brand-new presidential administration demanded organizations halt so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming or risk federal funding.

Baltimore Center Stage’s response? A resounding and hearty “Nah.” A year later, they’re still doubling down on diversity.

“Maybe it’s a triple-down,” said Ken-Matt Martin, the theater’s producing director, chuckling.

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

Books

Susan Lucci on love, loss, and ‘All My Children’

New book chronicles life of iconic soap star

Published

2 days ago

April 13, 2026

Terri Schlichenmeyer

(Book cover image courtesy of Blackstone Publishing)

‘La Lucci’
By Susan Lucci with Laura Morton
c.2026, Blackstone Publishing
$29.99/196 pages

They’re among the world’s greatest love stories.

You know them well: Marc Antony and Cleopatra. Abelard and Heloise. Phoebe and Langley. Cliff and Nina. Jesse and Angie, Opal and Palmer, Palmer and Daisy, Tad and Dixie. Now read “La Lucci” by Susan Lucci, with Laura Morton, and you might also think of Susan and Helmut.

When she was a very small girl, Susan Lucci loved to perform. Also when she was young, she learned that words have power. She vowed to use them for good for the rest of her life.

Her parents, she says, were supportive and her family, loving. Because of her Italian heritage, she was “ethnic looking” but Lucci’s mother was careful to point out dark-haired beauties on TV and elsewhere, giving Lucci a foundation of confidence.

That’s just one of the things for which Lucci says she’s grateful. In fact, she says, “Prayers of gratitude are how I begin and end each day.”

She is particularly grateful for becoming a mother to her two adult children, and to the doctors who saved her son’s life when he was a newborn.

Lucci writes about gratitude for her long career. She was a keystone character on TV’s “All My Children,” and she learned a lot from older actors on the show, and from Agnes Nixon, the creator of it. She says she still keeps in touch with many of her former costars.

She is thankful for her mother’s caretakers, who stepped in when dementia struck. Grateful for more doctors, who did heart-saving work when Lucci had a clogged artery. Grateful for friends, opportunities, life, grandchildren, and a career that continues.

And she’s grateful for the love she shared with her husband, Helmut Huber, who died nearly four years ago. Grateful for the chance to grieve, to heal, and to continue.

And yet, she says of her husband: “He was never timid, but I know he was afraid at the end, and that kills me down to my soul.”

“It’s been 15 years since Erica Kane and I parted ways,” says author Susan Lucci (with Laura Morton), and she says that people still approach her to confirm or deny rumors of the show’s resurrection. There’s still no answer to that here (sorry, fans), but what you’ll find inside “La Lucci” is still exceptionally generous.

If this book were just filled with stories, you’d like it just fine. If it was only about Lucci’s faith and her gratitude – words that happen to appear very frequently here – you’d still like reading it. But Lucci tells her stories of family, children and “All My Children,” while also offering help to couples who’ve endured miscarriage, women who’ve had heart problems, and widow(ers) who are spinning and need the kindness of someone who’s lived loss, too.

These are the other things you’ll find in “La Lucci,” in a voice you’ll hear in your head, if you spent your lunch hours glued to the TV back in the day. It’s a comfortable, fun read for fans. It’s a story you’ll love.

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