Arts & Entertainment
Back for round seven
Kaki King, the Shondes headline at this weekend’s PhaseFest
The Shondes are, from left, Allison Miller, Elijah Oberman, Louisa Rachel Solomon and Fureigh. (Photo by Frank Stefanko; courtesy the band).
PhaseFest Queer Music Festival
Phase 1 Lounge
525 8th Street, S.E.
Friday at 7 p.m.
$15 at the door
Saturday at 7 p.m.
$25 at the door
No presale
21 and up
Phase 1 manager Angela Lombardi is her usual self-deprecating self when it comes to the bar she runs.
Despite its historic significance, the original Phase 1 — the oldest continually operating lesbian bar in the country — inspires Lombardi to call it “our little lesbian dive bar.” At the helm for nearly a decade now, she’s gearing up for this weekend’s seventh annual PhaseFest Queer Music Festival, which she says — despite the hard work — is “my favorite time of year.”
Friday night, starting at 7, The Shondes, Glitter Lust, The Coolots, D.C. Kings, Freeform Radio, Company Calls and Tiik W/ Guts will perform. On Saturday, Belladonna, Pushovers, Sexual Side Effects, Jette Kelly, Frankie & Betty, Michelle Raymond Band and Lacy Liszt will play. Guitar legend Kaki King, whom the Blade interviewed in April when she was here for a Howard show, headlines.
PhaseFest — mostly through Lombardi’s persistence — has made a name for itself among queer musicians despite its humble origins.
“We’re pretty fortunate,” Lombardi says. “We’ve worked with so many headliners over the years. Sometimes they come with these insane managers or insane contracts and riders that call for this and that, dressing rooms for everybody. I’m like, ‘Uhhh, yeah. We have a basement.’ But we’ve worked with some really cool artists and some of them have made some real sacrifices from what they’re used to come play for us. Hopefully what we lack in amenities, we make up for in experience. It shows in how many of them come back year after year. It’s really a great thing to be a part of, from the musicians’ standpoint as well.”
Lombardi says this year’s lineup is about half D.C.-based bands versus half from other places. She says “pretty much” every act has performed either at PhaseFest previously or at the Phase some other time. Most years, about 800 attendees see the shows over the course of the weekend. All the bands are either partially or totally LGBT.
Louisa Rachel Solomon, lead singer and bassist for the New York-based Shondes, can’t remember if they’ve played Phase twice or three times previously. The band just put out its new album “The Garden” last week and their set tonight will be their first since the album dropped. It will be for sale in CD, vinyl and digital format at the show. Solomon calls it a “mix of almost an ‘80s-type rock vibe combined with punkier energy.”
“It’s such a cool place for us,” Solomon says during a phone chat this week. “It’s small, homey and the crew is amazing and lovable. They’re some of my favorite bartenders in the country. We’ll keep coming back as long as they let us.”
Solomon says her band “is comprised of people of various genders and sexual orientations” and that queer sensibility is one of the band’s hallmarks.
“We’re heavily rooted in the queer community,” she says.
Nathalie Vega is the lead singer of D.C.-based band Company Calls and she also plays bass. Company Calls is an all-lesbian band that started playing last September. They made their live debut at last year’s PhaseFest.
“We had such a great experience there last year,” she says. “A lot of doors opened for us just from playing at PhaseFest.”
Vega calls Company Calls’ music a “mix of influences from pop to punk to folk to indie-alternative.”
She says PhaseFest is important because it “gives us a musical community.”
“There are lots of place you can go have a drink, but this gives us both a lesbian and musical community as well,” she says.
Lombardi agrees.
“We’re like lesbian ‘Cheers,’” she says.
History
Julius’ Bar ‘sip-in’ laid groundwork for Stonewall
Tuesday marked 60 years since four gay activists held protest
While Stonewall is widely considered the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement in the U.S., a lesser-known protest inside a Greenwich Village bar three years earlier helped lay critical groundwork for what would follow.
Tuesday marked 60 years since the Julius’ Bar “sip in.”
On April 21, 1966, four gay rights activists — Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell, John Timmons, and later Randy Wicker — walked into Julius’ Bar and staged what would become known as a “sip-in” to challenge state liquor regulations on serving alcoholic beverages to gay men — with a drink.
Modeled after the sit-ins that challenged racial segregation across the American South, the protest was designed to confront discriminatory practices targeting LGBTQ patrons in public spaces.
At the time, the Mattachine Society — one of the country’s earliest gay rights groups — was actively pushing back against policies enforced by the New York State Liquor Authority. One of those policies could have resulted in the loss of liquor licenses for serving known or suspected gay men and lesbians. The participants had visited multiple establishments, openly identified themselves as homosexual, and requested a drink — with the anticipation of being denied.
Their final stop was Julius’, where reporters and a photographer had gathered to document the moment. When Leitsch declared their identity, the bartender covered their glasses and refused service, reportedly saying, “I think it’s against the law.” The next day, the New York Times ran a story with the headline, “3 Deviates Invite Exclusion by Bars,” cementing the moment in the public record.
Though initially framed with disrespect — the term “sip-in” itself was coined as a play on civil rights protests — the action marked a turning point. It brought national attention to the systemic discrimination LGBTQ people faced and helped catalyze changes in how liquor laws were enforced. In the years that followed, the protest contributed to the emergence of licensed, more openly gay-friendly bars, which became central social and organizing spaces for LGBTQ communities.
The Washington Blade originally covered when the bar was officially added to the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
Today, historians and advocates increasingly recognize the “sip-in” as a key pre-Stonewall milestone. According to the New York City LGBTQ Historic Sites Project, the protest not only increased visibility of the early LGBTQ rights movement but also exposed widespread surveillance and entrapment tactics used against the community.
Marking the 60th anniversary of the event, commemorations have taken place in New York and across the country. Reflecting on its enduring legacy, Amanda Davis, executive director of the NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project, spoke about the event.
“Julius’ Bar is a place you can visit and viscerally connect with history,” said Davis. “We’re thrilled to have solidarity locations across the country join us in commemorating the ‘sip-in’’s 60th anniversary and the queer community’s First Amendment right to peaceably assemble.”
For current stewards of the historic bar, the responsibility of preserving that legacy remains front of mind.
“It’s a privilege and a responsibility to be the steward of a place so important to American and LGBTQ history,” said current owner of Julius’ Bar, Helen Buford. “The events of the 1966 Sip-In here at Julius’ resonated across the country and inspired countless others to stand proud for their rights.”
The timing couldn’t have come at a more important moment, Kymn Goldstein, executive director of the June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives, explained.
“At a time when our community faces renewed challenges, coming together in resilience and solidarity reminds us of the power in our collective resistance,” Goldstein said.
The American Civil Liberties Union, an organization dedicated to defending rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution, is currently tracking 519 anti-LGBTQ bills across the U.S. The majority are targeted at restricting transgender rights — particularly related to gender-affirming care, sports participation, and the use of public bathrooms.
Some additional groups and bars that held their own “sip-in” as solidarity events to uplift this historic milestone are from across the country include:
Alice Austen House at Steiny’s Pub, Staten Island, N.Y.
Bellows Falls Pride Committee at PK’s Irish Pub, Bellows Falls, Vt.
Brick Road Coffee, Mesa, Ariz.
Brick Road Coffee, Tempe, Ariz.
Dick Leitsch’s Family at Old Louisville Brewery, Louisville, Ky.
The Faerie Playhouse & LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana at Le Cabaret, New Orleans
Harlem Pride & John Reddick at L’Artista Italian Kitchen & Bar, New York
JOYR!DE KiKi at Loafers Cocktail Bar, New York
Matthew Lawrence & Jason Tranchida / Headmaster at Deadbeats Bar, Providence, R.I.
Mazer Lesbian Archives at Alana’s Coffee, Los Angeles
New Hope Celebrates at The Club Room, New Hope, Pa.
Queer Memory Project at the University of Evansville Multicultural Student Commons / Ridgway University Center, Evansville, Ind.
Sandy Jack’s Bar, Brooklyn, N.Y.
St. Louis LGBT History Project at Just John Club, St. Louis
The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund National Champagne Brunch was held at Salamander Washington DC on Sunday, April 19. Gov. Andy Beshear (D-Ky.) was presented with the Allyship Award.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The umbrella LGBTQ sports organization Team D.C. held its annual Night of Champions Gala at the Georgetown Marriott on Saturday, April 18. Team D.C. presented scholarships to local student athletes and presented awards to Adam Peck, Manuel Montelongo (a.k.a. Mari Con Carne), Dr. Sara Varghai, Dan Martin and the Centaur Motorcycle Club. Sean Bartel was posthumously honored with the Most Valuable Person Award.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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