Arts & Entertainment
Calendar through September 26
Events through Sept. 26


Filmmaker and transgender advocate Buck Angel will be at Secret Pleasures on Wednesday for a workshop on gender and sexuality. (Photo courtesy Secret Pleasures)
Friday, Sept. 20
DJ Joe Gauthreaux spins at Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) tonight. Free rail vodka drinks from 11 p.m.-midnight. Cover is $10. Admission is 21 and up. For more information, visit cobaltdc.com.
Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) hosts Bear Happy Hour tonight from 6-11 p.m. There is no cover charge and admission is limited to guests 21 and over. For more information, visit towndc.com.
Gay District meets at The D.C. Center (1318 U St., N.W.) tonight from 8:30-9:30 p.m. The facilitated group discussion covers building understanding of gay culture and personal identity and awareness of community events for LGBT men between the ages of 18 and 35 in the D.C. area. For more details, visit thedccenter.org or gaydistrict.org.
SMYAL hosts “Vogue Night” (410 7th St., S.E.) tonight from 5-7 p.m. Learn the art of voguing and practice your moves at this event designed especially for youth. For more information, visit smyal.org.
Saturday, Sept. 21
Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, volunteers for the Lost Dog and Cat Foundation at PetSmart (6100 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church, Va.,) from 11:45 a.m.-3 p.m. today. For more information visit burgundycrescent.org.
The Library of Congress holds its 2013 National Book Festival on the National Mall (10th St., N.W. and Constitution Ave., N.W.) today from 10 a.m.- 5p.m. and Sunday from noon-5:30 p.m. Have books signed and meet best selling authors including the Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis, co-host of “Today” Hoda Kotb and author of “The Kite Runner” Khaled Hosseini. For details, visit loc.gov/bookfest.
Wolf Trap Ball and the Embassy of France host “Joie de Vivre” on the Filene Center Stage (1645 Trap Road, Vienna, Va.,) tonight at 7 p.m. Honorary hosts include Speaker of the House John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Ambassador of France François Delattre. Proceeds benefit Wolf Trap Foundation’s arts and education programs. RSVP required to [email protected]. For more information, visit wolftrap.org.
Layla Lounge (501 Morse St., N.E.) hosts an “Elite Boyz” dance party tonight from 10 p.m.-3 a.m. Admission is limited to guests 21 and over and is free before midnight and $10 afterward. For more information, visit layladc.com.
Sunday, Sept. 22
Black Fox Lounge (1723 Connecticut Ave. N.W.) hosts “Tula’s Drag Cabaret Show,” a lip-synch performance by local drag performers, tonight from 8-11 p.m. Admission is free. For details, visit blackfoxlounge.com or call 202-482-1723.
Perry’s (1811 Columbia Rd., N.W.) hosts its weekly “Sunday Drag Brunch” today from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The cost is $24.95 for an all-you-can-eat buffet. For more details, visit perrysadamsmorgan.com.
Rainbow Families D.C. hosts a family picnic at Meadowbrook Park (7901 Meadowbrook Lane, Chevy Chase, Md.,) today from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Activities and games for both kids and adults. Bring own picnic lunch and snack or dessert to share. For details, visit thedccenter.org.
Adventuring, an LGBT outdoors group, hosts a Fall Equinox Night Hike through Old Rag today at 1:15 a.m. to watch the sunrise at 7 a.m. Meet at the East Falls Church Kiss and Ride lot at 1:15 a.m. Hike begins at 3:30 a.m. Cost is $25. Bring a head lamp, beverages, bug spray, sturdy boots and gloves. For experienced hikers only. For more information, visit adventuring.org.
Gay author Manil Suri will read selections from his novel “The City of Devi” today at 12:55 p.m. at the National Book Festival on the National Mall. Details at loc.gov/bookfest. Also look for him on Sept. 27 at 4:30 p.m. at George Mason University’s “Fall For the Book Festival” in Fairfax. Details at fallforthebook.org.
Monday, Sept. 23
D.C. celebrates its first “Bi Pride Day” in the first floor conference room at The Residence at Thomas Circle (1330 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.) today from 6:30-8 p.m. The program includes a panel discussion with two elders in the D.C. bisexual community. Refreshments served. Open to the public. For more details, email [email protected].
Dotgay LLC hosts a town hall discussion and reception about using the domain .gay on the fourth floor of the NGLCC Supplier Innovation Center (729 15th St., N.W.) from 6-8:30 p.m. tonight. Topics include new opportunities .gay will create for the community, community funding initiatives and more. Featured speaker is CEO and co-founder of dotgay LLC Scott Seitz. Event is free. Refreshments provided. Dress casual. Please RSVP to [email protected]. For more details, visit facebook.com/dotgaycom.
The Mankind Project has a “Special GBTQ New Warrior Training Adventure” tonight from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at Cedar Lane Unitarian Church (rooms 30-31) at 9601 Cedar Lane in Bethesda. It’s free.
Tuesday, Sept. 24
SMYAL (410 7th St., S.E.) provides free and confidential HIV testing drop-in hours today from 3-5 p.m. For more information, visit smyal.org.
Bachelor’s Mill (1104 8th St., S.E.) offers all drinks half price tonight until 2 a.m. Enjoy pool, video games and cards. Admission is free. Must be 21 and over. For more details, visit bachelorsmill.com.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation hosts free STD testing at the University Medical Building (2141 K St., N.W.) from 5-7:30 p.m. For details visit freestdcheck.org.
Wednesday, Sept. 25
The Lambda Bridge Club meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center (721 8th St., S.E.) for duplicate bridge. No reservations required and new comers welcome. If you need a partner, call 703-407-6540.
Secret Pleasures hosts “Sexing the Transman with Buck Angel” tonight at 7 p.m. Includes interviews with trans men and people who love trans men. Cost is $25. For more information or to buy tickets, visit secretpleasuresboutique.com.
The D.C. Ambassadors of the Trevor Project have a “cocktails and conversation” event this evening from 6-8 p.m. at 9½, the upstairs video bar of Number Nine (1435 P Street, N.W.). Drinks are two-for-one. A $10 donation is suggested. Attendees will discuss the Trevor Project’s “Talk to Me” campaign as it relate to LGBT youth in connection with National Suicide Prevention Month.
Thursday, Sept. 26
Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV) hosts its monthly meeting at the D.C. Center (1318 U St., N.W.) tonight at 7 p.m. The organization works to reduce violence toward LGBT people through community outreach, education and monitoring legal cases to ensure the dignity of LGBT victims. For more information, visit glovdc.org.
The D.C. Center and Pros in the City host speed dating for lesbian and bisexual women at Chi Cha Lounge (1624 U St., N.W.) tonight from 7-9 p.m. Dating is approximately one hour. After enjoy a mixer with fellow speed daters. Cash bar. Check in is at 7 p.m. and dating begins at 7:20 p.m. Complimentary valet parking offered to anyone who purchases two drinks or other items from the bar or restaurant. Cost is $30. For details, visit thedccenter.org.
Whitman-Walker Health provides free HIV testing at Miriam’s Kitchen (2401 Virginia Ave., N.W.) today from 4-6 p.m. For more information, visit whitman-walker.org.
Rude Boi Entertainment hosts “Tempted 2 Touch,” a ladies dance party, tonight at the Fab Lounge (2022 Florida Ave., N.W.). Doors open at 10 p.m. Drink specials $5 and vodka shots $3 all night. No cover charge. Admission limited to guests 21 and over. For more details, visit rudeboientertainment.wordpress.com.
Gay singer/songwriter Tom Goss is performing with full band accompaniment tonight at The Dunes (1402 Meridian Pl., N.W.). Goss will be joined by fellow out performer, Jeremiah Clark. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased at www.tomgossmusic.com.

Xunami Muse of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16 performed at the drag show Shook at Shakers on Saturday, May 10. Other performers included Crystal Edge, Tatianna, Aave Blue, Drew Friday and Jaybella Banks.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)











Theater
A trip ‘through media, memory to examine cultural imperialism’
Ashil Lee on Woolly’s ‘Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt’

‘Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with live & active cultures!)’
Through June 1
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
641 D St., N.W.
Tickets start at $55
Woollymammoth.net
New York City-based artist Ashil Lee, 31, acts and directs. When you enter their name in a search engine, you’re first likely to find “Korean American trans nonbinary child of immigrants.”
Currently they’re playing in Woolly Mammoth Theatre’s world premiere production of Julia Izumi’s “Akira Kurosawa Explains His Movies and Yogurt (with live & active cultures!),” a trip “through media and memory to examine cultural imperialism, ‘healthy’ consumption, and why we make art.”
The play isn’t exactly a biopic of innovative Japanese filmmaker Kurosawa (1910-1998), says Lee.
“It’s more of a jumping off point for our own emotional journeys, which is parallel to how he’s inspired other filmmakers,” they continue. “While you may not have seen his ground-breaking samurai films, you’ve undoubtedly seen lots of movies and TV directly inspired by his work.”
Recently, I called Lee at their temporary Woolly-provided Penn Quarter digs just a block from the theater. Smart and warmly engaging, they were enthusiastic to share what brings them to D.C.
WASHINGTON BLADE: How did you find your way into this interestingly titled play?
ASHIL LEE: My part, Actor Two, was originally written for a female actor. When playwright and cast member Julia [Izumi] asked me if I was open to auditioning for the role, I agreed and subsequently booked the part.
Julia and I know each other from working in New York [“The Nosebleed” at The Lincoln Center Theatre] where she was associate director and an understudy, and I was an actor. She learned the part, but never went on stage, so our experience was limited to the rehearsal room
Now I get to act with Julia with people watching.
BLADE: Actor Two sounds pretty wide open.
LEE: And that’s what so great about it. A name like Actor Two that means you’re going to play a lot of different roles which is true in this case. More specifically, I play Stage Hand, myself, and an older version of Kurosawa.
BLADE: You play the iconic filmmaker’s filmmaker?
LEE: All of the cast play Kurosawa at different stages in his life. Similar to varied cultural strains of yogurt, we call them the different strains of Kurosawa.
The play includes other characters too: Heigo, Kurosawa’s older brother and childhood influence: and a famous fetishizer who proves a problematic guest, someone we love to hate.
BLADE: Are you a Kurosawa fan?
LEE: Actually, I’ve never seen a Kurosawa film. And since one of my characters hasn’t seen any of his work either, I thought I’d hold off seeing any. This is a play that’s equally appealing to both those who know a lot about Kurasawa and those who’ve never heard of him.
BLADE: Changing gears. Were your parents disappointed that you didn’t take a conventional career path?
LEE: I’m fortunate that my mother is an artist. She has seen the value of artistry and has encouraged me to go into the arts. To some extent, I think she lives vicariously through the way I do art as a job. Still, my parents haven’t entirely shaken that immigrant success driven mentality. They believe “you can be an artist but you have to be the best.” Whatever the best means.
BLADE: And how are they with your gender?
LEE: My parents know that I’m nonbinary and they’ve been understanding, however I haven’t talked much about the transmasc part of it; I’m letting them take their time on that.
BLADE: As a kid in Lafayette, Kentucky, you played bugs (Glow-Worm, Cricket, and Charlotte). What do you like playing now?
LEE: I especially like parts where you play yourself and get to put on different characters. If I could only be in that kind of play for the rest of my life, I’d be more than satisfied. That’s my jam.
As a trans performer it’s such a gift. I’m able to show up completely as myself and then step into different characters without quieting myself. It feels like a gift. I think about it in relation to my gender but also my race.
BLADE: You’re current gig in a sentence?
LEE: It’s awonderful mishmash, a theatrical playground that takes you to a lot of different places in a short amount of time and leaves you thinking about your own life.
Music & Concerts
Underdog glorious: a personal remembrance of Jill Sobule
Talented singer, songwriter died in house fire on May 1

I’ve always prided myself on being the kind of music consumer who purchased music on impulse. When I stumbled across “Things Here Are Different,” Jill Sobule’s 1990 MCA Records debut album on vinyl in a favorite Chicago record store, I bought it without knowing anything about her. This was at a time when we didn’t have our phones in our pockets to search for information about the artist on the internet. The LP stayed in my collection until, as vinyl was falling out of fashion, I replaced it with a CD a few years later.
Early in my career as an entertainment journalist, I received a promo copy of Jill’s eponymous 1995 Atlantic Records album. That year, Atlantic Records was one of the labels at the forefront of signing and heavily promoting queer artists, including Melissa Ferrick and Extra Fancy, and its roster included the self-titled album by Jill. It was a smart move, as the single “I Kissed A Girl” became a hit on radio and its accompanying video (featuring Fabio!) was in heavy rotation on MTV (when they still played videos).
Unfortunately for Jill, she was a victim of record label missteps. When 1997’s wonderful “Happy Town” failed to repeat the success, Atlantic dumped her. That was Atlantic’s loss, because her next album, the superb “Pink Pearl” contained “Heroes” and “Mexican Wrestler,” two of her most beloved songs. Sadly, Beyond Music, the label that released that album ceased to exist after just a few years. To her credit, the savvy Jill had also started independently releasing music (2004’s “The Folk Years”). That was a smart move because her next major-label release, the brilliant “Underdog Victorious” on Artemis Records, met a similar fate when that label folded.
With her 2009 album “California Years,” Jill launched her own indie label, Pinko Records, on which she would release two more outstanding full-length discs, 2014’s “Dottie’s Charms” (on which she collaborated with some of her favorite writers, including David Hadju, Rick Moody, Mary Jo Salter, and Jonathan Lethem), and 2018’s stunning “Nostalgia Kills.” Jill’s cover of the late Warren Zevon’s “Don’t Let Us Get Sick” on “Nostalgia Kills” was particularly poignant as she had toured with him as an opening act.
Jill was a road warrior, constantly on tour, and her live shows were something to behold. My first interview with Jill took place at the Double Door in Chicago in early August of 1995, when she was the opening act for legendary punk band X. She had thrown her back out the previous day and was diagnosed with a herniated disc. To be comfortable, she was lying down on a fabulous-‘50s sofa. “I feel like I’m at my shrink’s,” she said to me, “Do you want me to talk about my mother?”
That sense of humor, which permeated and enriched her music, was one of many reasons to love Jill. I was privileged to interview her for seven of her albums. Everything you would want to know about her was right there in her honest lyrics, in which she balanced her distinctive brand of humor with serious subject matter. Drawing on her life experiences in songs such as “Bitter,” “Underachiever,” “One of These Days,” “Freshman,” “Jetpack,” “Nothing To Prove,” “Forbidden Thoughts of Youth,” “Island of Lost Things,” “Where Do I Begin,” “Almost Great,” and “Big Shoes,” made her songs as personal as they were universal, elicited genuine affection and concern from her devoted fans.
While she was a consummate songwriter, Jill also felt equally comfortable covering songs made famous by others, including “Just A Little Lovin’” (on the 2000 Dusty Springfield tribute album “Forever Dusty”) and “Stoned Soul Picnic” (from the 1997 Laura Nyro tribute album “Time and Love”). Jill also didn’t shy away from political subject matter in her music with “Resistance Song,” “Soldiers of Christ,” “Attic,” “Heroes,” “Under the Disco Ball,” and the incredible “America Back” as prime examples.
Here’s something else worth mentioning about Jill. She was known for collaboration skills. As a songwriter, she maintained a multi-year creative partnership with Robin Eaton (“I Kissed A Girl” and many others), as well as Richard Barone, the gay frontman of the renowned band The Bongos. Jill’s history with Barone includes performing together at a queer Octoberfest event in Chicago in 1996. Writer and comedian Julie Sweeney, of “SNL” and “Work in Progress” fame was another Chicago collaborator with Sobule (Sweeney lives in a Chicago suburb), where they frequently performed their delightful “The Jill and Julia Show.” John Doe, of the aforementioned band X, also collaborated with Jill in the studio (“Tomorrow Is Breaking” from “Nostalgia Kills”), as well as in live performances.
On a very personal note, in 2019, when I was in the process of arranging a reading at the fabulous NYC gay bookstore Bureau of General Services – Queer Division, I reached out to Jill and asked her if she would like to be on the bill with me. We alternated performing; I would read a couple of poems, and Jill would sing a couple of songs. She even set one of my poems to music, on the spot.
Jill had an abundance of talent, and when she turned her attention to musical theater, it paid off in a big way. Her stage musical “F*ck 7th Grade,” a theatrical piece that seemed like the next logical step in her career, had its premiere at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre in the fall of 2020, during the height of the pandemic. The unique staging (an outdoor drive-in stage at which audience members watched from their cars) was truly inspired. “F*ck 7th Grade” went on to become a New York Times Critic’s pick, as well as earning a Drama Desk nomination.
In honor of the 30th anniversary of Jill’s eponymous 1995 album, reissue label Rhino Records is re-releasing it on red vinyl. Jill and I had been emailing each other to arrange a time for an interview. We even had a date on the books for the third week of May.
When she died in a house fire in Minnesota on May 1 at age 66, Jill received mentions on network and cable news shows. She was showered with attention from major news outlets, including obits in the New York Times and Rolling Stone (but not Pitchfork, who couldn’t be bothered to review her music when she was alive). Is it wrong to think that if she’d gotten this much attention when she was alive she could have been as big as Taylor Swift? I don’t think so.
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