a&e features
A milestone for 9:30 Club
Famed venue has welcomed gay acts throughout 35-year history
The 9:30 Club, celebrating its 35th anniversary this month, has been a gay-friendly spot since day one. Adam Lambert is among the out acts who have performed there. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The 9:30 Club is one of the nation’s most iconic venues and has hosted an enormous variety of artists since its founding in 1980. The club is currently celebrating its 35th anniversary with a new deluxe hardcover, “9:30 The Book,” which details the history of the hallowed venue and includes reflections from many of the countless artists who have performed there over the last three-and-a-half decades.
There has been no shortage of LGBT artists to play both at its original F Street location and its current location at 815 V St., N.W. The club was known for the roster of punk and hardcore heavyweights that regularly blew the doors off the place (Circle Jerks, Mission of Burma, Agent Orange, Minor Threat, Government Issue, Misfits, Black Flag, Killing Joke, Dead Kennedys and others). Seminal post-punk/goth pioneers Bauhaus played a show in early 1981, only a few months after the release of their debut album “In the Flat Field.” It wasn’t long, though, until a wider variety of artists made the 9:30 Club their tour stop in D.C., including LGBT artists of all genres.
Self-described queer artist Michael Stipe performed with R.E.M. at the venue multiple times, including in November 1982 in support of their “Chronic Town” EP, and a show on March 12, 1983, precisely one month before the band released its classic full-length debut “Murmur.” The main set opened with “Gardening at Night” and closed with “Radio Free Europe,” the two early songs that cracked open the door for their wider success. Minnesota-based Hüsker Dü, who would become one of the ‘80s most important alternative rock titans, played their first gig at the 9:30 Club on April 24, 1983. It was the start of a long and fruitful relationship between the club and Bob Mould, who’s gay, which continues to this day.
The first of multiple appearances by pop duo Erasure was on May 14, 1987 in support of their second album, “The Circus.” Gay singer Andy Bell shared his fond memories of that first 9:30 Club appearance: “The stage was so teeny and it was so crowded that I felt like Alice in Wonderland after she ate the cookie that turned her into a giant. It was an amazing gig, your head touched the ceiling and the audience would grab you by the ankles. Also it was very, very hot.”
Andy Bell, left, and Vince Clarke of Erasure. (Photo by Phil Sharpe; courtesy Mitch Schneider Organization)
The duo’s most recent stop was for two electrifying performances in September 2014 in support of their album “The Violet Flame.”
Rufus Wainwright, the acclaimed Canadian singer/songwriter who is gay, has played at the 9:30 Club numerous times, with the crowd growing with his popularity.
“The 9:30 Club has a stage that moves back depending on how many spectators are at the show, always making the room look well attended,” he says. “I cherish the experience of starting out there with a sliver to work with, then a rectangle, and finally a big fat square full of punters thanks to the backwards moving stage. Hope that stage don’t start moving forward.”
Rufus Wainwright (Photo by Sean James; courtesy Slate PR)
Melissa Etheridge, a rock legend who has been churning out great albums since her 1988 self-titled debut, played a highly publicized string of dates at the 9:30 Club in November 2014 in support of her album “This is M.E.”
Boy George, one of the all-time great pop figures of the last 30 years, appeared at the 9:30 Club on April 21, 2014 to support his excellent solo album, “This is What I Do.”
Gay icons The B-52’s have performed at the 9:30 Club in 2008 in support of their comeback album, “Funplex.”
Passion Pit, whose lead singer Michael Angelakos is gay, performed on June 3, 2010. Not long after, gay pop sensation Adam Lambert played on June 28, 2010, in support of his debut album “For Your Entertainment.”
Electric pop/rockers Neon Trees, whose lead singer Tyler Glenn is gay, performed at the club in July 2010, just as their single “Animals” was becoming a major hit.
In November 2012, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis performed their massive hit “Same Love” in support of same-sex marriage.
Visionary hip-hop artist Frank Ocean, who had recently revealed same-sex attraction and wrote about unrequited love for a man in the stunning track “Bad Religion,” performed at a show surrounded by buzz on July 23, 2012.
Critically acclaimed singer/songwriter John Grant, whose lyrics are sometimes startlingly confessional and self-deprecating, graced the 9:30 Club stage on May 11, 2014.
Atlas Sound, led by openly gay Bradford Cox, has appeared multiple times. Local D.C.-area genre-bending powerhouse Meshell Ndegeocello has also graced the 9:30 Club stage.
The flamboyant and always entertaining Scissor Sisters, featuring three gay members (Jake Shears, Babydaddy and Del Marquis) became a fixture at the club as they performed eight times between May 2004 and July 2012.
Kele Okereke, the talented frontman for Bloc Party, has appeared both with his band and as a solo artist.
Widely renowned lesbian duo Indigo Girls played at the club in March 2005.
The wonderfully outlandish and always memorable Canadian artist Peaches first appeared at the club in November 2006.
Against Me! first performanced at the 9:30 Club on Nov. 12, 2007. This was, of course, before Laura Jane Grace came out as a trans woman in 2012, as detailed in the band’s stunning 2012 album “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” (they’d play two dates in September 2014 after Grace’s transition).
Mika, the uber-creative openly gay British pop experimentalist, played on June 12, 2007.
Mika (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Hercules and Love Affair, whose breakthrough hit “Blind” is about coming out as gay and then losing yourself in a world of endless hedonism, performed in November, 2008.
The lesbian country/folk/rock singer/songwriter Brandi Carlile, who released the stunning album “The Firewatcher’s Daughter” last year, played the club in October 2009, the same night at the electrifying new wave revivalists Gossip, led by the amazing Beth Ditto who has referred to herself as a “fat, feminist lesbian from Arkansas.”
Other notable appearances by LGBT artists include Ani DiFranco (who’s identifies as bisexual), who first performed at the club in 1990 and has made many stops since, the most recent being in November 2013 and with another show coming up on Jan. 26.
A month and a half after the release of their breakthrough album “Dookie,” Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees Green Day (led by openly bisexual frontman Billie Joe Armstrong), played their first 9:30 Club gig on March 15, 1994.
British alt-rockers Placebo (vocalist Brian Molko is bisexual, guitarist/bassist Steven Olsdal is openly gay) performed at the club in December 1998 in support of their classic album “Without You I’m Nothing.” Skunk Anansie, led by the dynamic bisexual vocalist Skin, played in September 1999.
Indie darlings Sleater-Kinney, featuring bisexual vocalists Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein (who once dated), played the 9:30 Club in May 2000 and then again in September. A month later, openly gay leather-clad metal icon Rob Halford of Judas Priest fame rocked the club with his band Halford.
Critically lauded Icelandic band Sigur Rós, whose amazing lead singer Jónsi is openly gay, first performed at the club in September 2001. Jónsi would play a couple solo dates in 2010. The 9:30 Club hosted synthpop legends Soft Cell, featuring pioneering gay artist Marc Almond, in 2002 when they toured in support of their final album “Cruelty Without Beauty.”
Tegan and Sara, the openly gay duo of Canadian twin sisters, first appeared at the club in October 2002.
The 9:30 Club has also hosted other events, including “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Battles of the Seasons” in March 2015. The club frequently has gay-themed dance parties in conjunction with Capital Pride every year.
And of course, getting back to Bob Mould, the alternative rock titan teamed up with DJ/producer/musician extraordinaire Rich Morel — who at last count has an astonishing 25 No. 1 singles on the Billboard Dance Chart to his credit — for the Blowoff dance party, which started small in the club’s back bar and turned into a mega event that eventually traveled to other cities. Morel cites the 9:30 Club as essential to Blowoff’s success.
Blowoff (Washington Blade file photo by Pete Exis)
“The 930 club was Blowoff’s home base,” he says. “When Blowoff expanded and started doing shows around the country the vibe and mood we had built at the 930 was what we brought with us. The staff was so great and the space made for many memorable nights.”
He also fondly recounted for us the time a certain Lady Gaga came to see Blowoff in all its glory.
“I had first met Lady Gaga when I was touring with Cyndi Lauper,” Morel says. “Gaga opened a show we were playing in San Francisco. Gaga was just starting out and we chatted a bit and exchanged info. Fast forward a couple years and she’s the biggest thing on the planet. I got a text message from her PR guy that she was in D.C. and wanted to come down to Blowoff. It was a crazy night. She arrived with a security crew all dressed in Armani. We were hanging backstage and she burned a CDR of her new song, which was not released yet. She said the song was delicious and asked if I would debut it. It was “Bad Romance.” I played it during my set while she stood and waved at the crowd from the balcony. It was a surreal pop moment that I was delighted to be a part of.”
There is no question that if the 9:30 Club walls could talk, the stories they could tell would fill volumes. So many of the biggest artists in rock history have performed at the club that it’s hard to keep track, and that includes many LGBT artists as well. It’s been an impressive 35-year run for the club, with lots of rock ‘n’ roll memories made along the way.
Blade, 9:30 neighbors at former location
For a few years in the 1980s, the Washington Blade was a neighbor to the 9:30 Club at its original F Street location.
Although the Blade staff — especially on production night deadlines — sometimes worked late, long-time employees say the two entities had no major issues.
“We would of course work later hours back then,” says Phil Rockstroh, a long-time Blade staffer. “Everything was typeset and done by hand without computers and fax machines so getting through deadlines was much more time consuming.”
He says the noise wasn’t a problem.
“It wasn’t too bad as older buildings were constructed more solidly,” Rockstroh says. “There was only one entrance to the building and you entered so far to the elevator that went up to the other floors and then continued down the hall to the entrance to the 9:30 Club. Frequently at night if I was coming or going, there were people spilling out the doors.”
Despite the proximity, Rockstroh says he only remembers going to a concert there once to see a punk showcase with a former co-worker, the late Lyn Frizzell.
“The Blade has always had a friendly relationship with the 9:30 Club,” he says.
a&e features
Memorial for groundbreaking bisexual activist set for May 2
Loraine Hutchins remembered as a ‘force of nature’
The Montgomery County Pride Center will host a celebration honoring the life and legacy of Loraine Hutchins, Ph.D., on May 2. People are invited to attend the onsite memorial or a livestream event. The on-site event will begin at 10 a.m. with a meet-and-greet mixer before moving into a memorial service around the theme “Loraine a Force of Nature!” at 11 a.m., a panel talk at 12 p.m., break out sessions for artists, academics, and activists to build on her legacy at 1 p.m. and a closing reception at 2 p.m.
Attendees are encouraged to register for the on-site memorial gathering or the livestreamed memorial. The goal of this event is also to collect stories and memories of Loraine. Attendees and others can share their stories at padlet.com.
An obituary for Hutchins was published in the Bladelast Nov. 24, where people can learn more about her activism in the bisexual community. A private service for friends and family was held in December but this memorial service is open to all.
Alongside her groundbreaking work organizing for U.S. bisexual rights and liberation including co-editing “Bi Any Other Name: BIsexual People Speak Out” (1991), she also integrated faith into her sexual education and advocacy work. Her 2001 doctoral dissertation, “Erotic Rites: A Cultural Analysis of Contemporary U.S. Sacred Sexuality Traditions and Trends,” offered a pointed queer and feminist analysis to sex-neutral and sex-positive spiritual traditions in the United States. Her thesis was also groundbreaking in exploring the intersections between sex workers and those in caregiving professionals, including spiritual ones.
In an oral history interview conducted by Michelle Mueller back in August 2023, Hutchins described herself as a “priestess without a congregation.” While she has occasionally had a sense of community and feels part of a group of loving people, she admitted that “I don’t feel like we have the shape or the purpose that we need.”
“I’ve often experienced being the Cassandra in the room, the Cassandra in the community. Somebody who’s kind of way out there ahead, thinking through the strategic action points that my community hasn’t gotten to yet, and getting a lot of resistance and hostile responses from people who are frightened by dissent and conflict and not ready for the changes we have to make to survive,” she said.
“For somebody who’s bisexual in an out political way and who’s been a spokesperson for the polyamory movement in an out political way, it’s very exposing. And it’s very important to me to be able to try to explain and help other people understand the connection between spirituality and sexuality,” she explained citing how even as a graduate student she was “exploring how to feel erotic and spiritual, and not feel them in conflict with each other in my own spiritual contemplative life and my own sensual body awareness of being alive in the world.”
“Every religion has a sense of sacred sexuality. It’s just they put a lot of boundaries and regulations on it, and if we have a spiritual practice that is totally affirming of women’s priesthood and of gay people, queer people’s ability to minister to everyone and to be ministered to be everyone, what does that do to the gender of God, or our understanding of how we practice our spirituality and our sexuality in community and privately?”
“There’s no easy answer,” she concludes, and she continued to grapple with these questions throughout her life, co-editing another seminal text, “Sexuality, Religion and the Sacred: Bisexual, Pansexual, and Polysexual Perspectives,” published in 2012. Her work blending spiritual and queer liberation remains groundbreaking to this day.
Rev. Eric Eldritch, a local community organizer and ordained Pagan minister with Circle Sanctuary who has worked for decades with the DC Center’s Center Faith to organize the Pride Interfaith Service, is eager to highlight this element of her legacy at the memorial service next month.
a&e features
Queery: Meet artist, performer John Levengood
Modern creative talks nightlife, coming out, and his personal queer heroes
John Levengood (he/him) describes himself as a modern creative with a wide‑ranging toolkit. He blends music, technology, civic duty, and a sharp sense of wit into a cohesive artistic identity. Known primarily as a recording artist and performer, he’s also a self‑taught music producer and software engineer who embodies a generation of creators who build their own lanes rather than wait for one to appear.
Levengood, 32, who is single and identifies as gay and queer, is best known as a recording artist who has performed at Pride festivals across the country, including the main stages of World Pride DC, Central Arkansas Pride, and Charlotte Pride.
“Locally in the DMV, I’m known for turning heads at nightlife venues with my eye-catching sense of style. When I go out, I don’t try to blend in. I hope I inspire people to be themselves and have the courage to stand out,” he says.
He’s also known for hosting karaoke at Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington, Va., on Thursday nights. “I like to create a space where people feel comfortable expressing themselves, building community, and showcasing their talents.”
He also creates social media content from my performances and do interviews at LGBTQ+ bars and theatres in the DMV. Follow the Arlington resident @johnlevengood.
How long have you been out and who was the hardest person to tell?
I have been fully out of the closet since 2019. My parents were the hardest people to tell because my family has always been my rock and at the time I couldn’t imagine a world without them. Their reactions were extremely positive and supportive so I had nothing to fear all along.
I remember sitting on the couch with my mom, dad, and sister in our hotel room in New Orleans during our winter vacation and being so nervous to tell them. After I finally mustered up the nerve and made the proclamation, I realized my dad had already fallen asleep on the couch. My mom promised to tell him when he woke up.
Who’s your LGBTQ hero?
My LGBTQ heroes are Harvey Milk for paving the way for gays in politics and Elton John for being a pioneer for the fabulous and authentic. My local heroes in the DMV are Howard Hicks, manager of Green Lantern, and Tony Rivenbark, manager of Freddie’s Beach Bar. Both of them are essential to creating spaces where I’ve felt welcome and safe since moving to the DMV.
What’s Washington’s best nightspot, past or present?
Trade tops the list for me because of the dance floor and outdoor space. It’s so nice to get a break from the music every once and a while to be able to have a conversation.
We live in challenging times. How do you cope?
I’m still figuring this out. What is working right now is writing music and spending time with family and friends. I’ve also been spending less time on social media going to the gym at least three times a week.
What streaming show are you binging?
After “Traitors” Season 4 ended, I was in a bit of a show hole, but “Stumble” has me in a laughing loop right now. The writing is so witty.
What do you wish you’d known at 18?
At 18, I wish I would have known how liberating it is to come out of the closet. It would have been nice to know some winning lottery numbers as well.
What are your friends messaging about in your most recent group chat?
We are planning our next trip to New York City. If you can believe it, I visited NYC for the first time in 2025 for Pride and I’ve been back every quarter since. Growing up in the country, I was subconsciously primed to be scared of the city. But my mind has been blown. I can’t wait to go back.
Why Washington?
It’s the closest metropolitan area to my family, but not too close. I love the museums, the diversity, the history, and the proximity to the beach and mountains. It’s also nice to live in a city with public transportation.
Aging RFK Stadium has come down, but the RFK grounds are still getting lit up. Welcome back to the stage Project GLOW, D.C.’s homegrown electronic festival, on May 30-31. Back for its fifth year on these musically inclined acres, Project GLOW returns with an even more diverse lineup, and one that continues to celebrate LGBTQ antecedents, attendees, and acts.
Project GLOW 2026 headliners include house and techno star Mau P, progressive house legend Eric Prydz, hard-techno favorite Sara Landry, and bass acts Excision b2b Sullivan King, among the lineup of trance, bass, house, techno, dubstep, and others for the fifth anniversary year.
President & CEO Pete Kalamoutsos — born and raised in D.C. — founded Club GLOW in 1999. In 2020, GLOW entered into a partnership with global entertainment company Insomniac Events to produce live events like Project GLOW, which kicked off in 2022.
As in past years, Project GLOW not only makes space, but is intentionally inclusive of the LGBTQ community, one of its most dedicated fan bases. The festival’s LGBTQ-focused Secret Garden stage blooms again — a more intimate dance area that stands on the strength of DJs and musicians who draw from the LGBTQ community. D.C.’s LGBTQ nightlife mastermind Ed Bailey is the creative mind behind Secret Garden again. He joined Project GLOW in 2023.
“Kalamoustos says that “he’s proud of his partnership with Ed Bailey, along with Capital Pride and [nightlife producer] Jake Resnikow. It’s amazing to collaborate with Bailey at the Secret Garden stage, especially after the curated lineup we worked on at Pride last year.”
The Secret Garden will be a bit different from other stages: Eternal (“At the Eternal stage, time stands still. Lose yourself in the dance of past, present, and future, surrendering to the eternal rhythm of the universe”) and Pulse (“Feel the rhythm of the beat pulse through your veins as the heartbeat of the crowd synchronizes into one. Here, every moment vibrates with life as it guides you through a new dimension of euphoria”). The Secret Garden stage is in the round, surrounded by 16 shipping containers. The containers play canvas to muralists from around the world, who are coming in to paint them in a vibrant garden-style vibe. “We gave this stage some extra love with this layout,” K says, “ we finally cracked the code.”
K says that this will be the biggest lineup yet for the Secret Garden, featuring Nicole Moudaber b2b Chasewest, Riordan b2b Bullet Tooth, Ranger Trucco, Cassian, Eli & Fur, Cosmic Gate and Hayla. The stage is also the largest yet, featuring an expanded dance floor and 360-degree viewing.
Across all stages, K says that his goal for the fifth anniversary is “More art and fan interactive experience, more like a festival, strive to be like a Tomorrowland, as budget grows to add more experience.” Last year’s Project GLOW alone drew 40,000 attendees over two days.
K, however, was not satisfied with one festival this spring. GLOW recently announced a “pop-up” one-day event. Teaming up with Black Book Records, GLOW is set to throw a first-of-its-kind dance-music takeover of Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., headlined by electronic music star Chris Lake. Set for April 18, this euphoric block party will feature bass and vibes blocks from the White House. Organizers expect as many as 10,000 fans to attend. Beyond music, there will be food, activations, and plenty of other activities taking place around 6th St and Pennsylvania Ave NW – a location familiar to many in the LGBTQ community, as this sits squarely inside the blocks of the Capital Pride party that takes place in DC every June.
Over the past two decades, Club GLOW has produced thousands of events, from club nights to large-scale festivals including Project GLOW, Moonrise Festival, and more. Club GLOW also operates Echostage.
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