a&e features
Asia O’Hara interview: the Queen has arrived
‘Drag Race’ season 10 favorite readies Capital Pride headlining appearance
Asia O’Hara says experience helped her go far on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 10. (Photo courtesy Project Publicity)
Asia O’Hara
Capital Pride Concert
Sunday, June 10
7 p.m.
Capitol Concert Stage
3rd and Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Free admission
Asia O’Hara took home the titles for Miss Gay USofA in 2007, All American Goddess 2012 and Miss Gay America 2016 but still had to audition three times to compete for the crown on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
Hailing from Dallas, the 35-year-old veteran drag queen has now fought her way to the final five on season 10 of the drag competition show and secured her spot as a headliner of the Capital Pride Concert.
O’Hara will perform at the Capital Pride Festival/concert at 7 p.m. on the CAPITOL Concert Stage (3rd & Pennsylvania) as part of the HOT 99.5 event. It’s free. Details here.
Speaking with the Washington Blade, O’Hara dished on who she thought went home too soon, the truth behind reality show editing and what it was like getting slapped by RuPaul.
WASHINGTON BLADE: In the beginning of the season you went out of your way to help the other queens during one of the challenges and didn’t leave time for yourself. Do you regret doing that now?
O’HARA: Not at all. My viewpoint in competition is a little different than others. I feel like as long as you make it to the next week, it’s a win. Although it was scary to be that close to the bottom, once I realized that I was not lip-syncing or possibly going home, then I was fine. It’s like an investment. Sometimes it’s risky and it’s scary at the moment but once you realize that you’re going to be fine and it paid off, then there’s no sense in regretting the risk that you took.
BLADE: Why do you think the judges didn’t connect with your Beyoncé impression in Snatch Game?
O’HARA: The entire goal of the Snatch Game is to make Ru and the judges laugh. Beyoncé is not somebody that is known for being comedic. On top of that, she no longer does interviews, so it’s hard for people to connect with her personality because people don’t really know her personally. I thought that since her personality is ambiguous it gave me a lot of room to play and do whatever I wanted. Some people that are celebrities just have infectious personalities and they’re successful primarily because people just love them and their personalities. She, unfortunately, is probably not one of them. She’s a celebrity because of her talent. I think that’s why the judges had trouble connecting with her.
BLADE: You were one of the only people that broke down the Vixen’s wall and said you understood where both she and the others were coming from. Did you feel like she heard you?
O’HARA: Absolutely. I know for a fact that she did. It’s one of those things where approach is everything. I know that she heard me and understood where I’m coming from. I think that I just acknowledged that I understood what she was saying and didn’t think she was just bat crazy is what gave her the ability to be openminded with what I was saying.
BLADE: What’s your relationship like with her now?
O’HARA: It’s great. We don’t talk all the time but we text back and forth about funny stuff and talk about our goals in the future. Every time we see one another we hang out. I was recently in Chicago, which is where she lives, and she came out to the show and we hung out in the dressing room. Honestly, it’s no different than how it always was. Other than that brief moment where she was obviously upset that I said her name for who I thought should go home. But we’ve always had a great relationship.
BLADE: Where do you get your life wisdom from?
O’HARA: I don’t think that I’m wise. I was older than everybody. I think that’s just how that works. Mayhem (Miller) and I were the two oldest contestants. “Drag Race” was a new avenue for me but I’ve done drag in multiple facets of the community. Pageants, being a showgirl, being a backup dancer, being a show director, doing charity drag and now a reality show. So I’ve seen drag from multiple points of view. I think it’s sometimes easier for me to understand and communicate in the world of drag because I don’t have just a one-sided perspective of what drag is or should or should not be.
BLADE: Another memorable moment in the season was when you got accidentally slapped by RuPaul. What was that like?
O’HARA: To be honest, it was quite fun because it was so great to see her so concerned. She legitimately for a split second was concerned that I was hurt. She didn’t know what direction that was about to go in. That to me was the funnest part just to see how nervous she was. She was like, “Oh my god is she about to act a fool? Are we going to have to go stop the cameras so she can see the medic?” That was the funnest part for me because she’s completely in control of every aspect of the competition. So to see her in that brief moment not know what was about to happen was quite refreshing.
BLADE: How do you feel about the way the show has been edited versus how it felt in the moment? Do you think you were fairly represented?
O’HARA: I think everybody is always fairly represented. People love to say that editing changes things. They basically take two or three days worth of filming and condense them into 78 minutes of footage. I feel like everything has been completely accurate for me and everyone. There were times I was terrible in the competition and it accurately showed that. There were times I was great in the competition and it was accurate as well. The editing has been exactly how I remember things happened.
BLADE: Was there anyone that you felt went home too early?
O’HARA: Absolutely. Now, when I say someone went home too early I’m saying they had more to offer the competition. I’m not saying I don’t feel like they deserved to go home based on what they presented that week. But two people I saw going further in the competition were Blair St. Clair and Monét X Change. Blair was one of the only people that on day one I thought to myself, “Clearly, she’s top four material.” I was really shocked when she went home close to halfway through. Monét X Change also had some great moments. I was surprised that she didn’t make it. Not initially, but as I got to know her and see her talent level, she was another person I could see making it to the end.
BLADE: Speaking of Blair St. Clair, how did you feel when she opened up about her sexual assault? Did it just come out of nowhere?
O’HARA: It didn’t come out of nowhere. The lead question that prompted that may have gotten missed I don’t recall how that happened in person. As we got to know Blair personally, we knew that there was something there. Unfortunately, what you don’t get to see on television, in any reality competition, is sometimes just being in the same room with someone and having a conversation with them you feel like you need to ask them, “Something else on your mind?”
BLADE: Aquaria is one of the younger queens. What was it like watching her approach the competition as a more seasoned queen?
O’HARA: It was great. The thing about Aquaria is that although she’s young, she’s more mature than most 21-year-olds and more mature than I was at that age. She’s very talented. It’s refreshing to see someone so young, so talented and so self-aware about their art. Of course when I found out how old she was I didn’t know what to expect. But as the competition progressed and I got to know her I was thrilled to know she was only 21.
BLADE: Was there any moment that didn’t make the cut featuring you that you wish viewers had seen?
O’HARA: Not really. There are more moments that I forgot happened that I was pleasantly surprised with. One logistic thing that probably just wouldn’t have made sense on television is that during the “Breastworld” challenge when I was playing the Para Salin character, the first half of that challenge they went through multiple times. I was sitting on the sidelines for probably 45 minutes before it got to my part because I was the last character to enter the scene. When I entered the scene the judges just erupted into laugher because I think they forgot I was even there because I was off to the side while they were working with the other girls. I thought that might make the cut but it probably was something production wise than it was an actual piece of the story. I think Michelle (Visage) even said “Oh my god, I completely forgot you were sitting over there.”
BLADE: What can people expect from your Capital Pride performance?
O’HARA: I call myself a chameleon queen. I don’t travel around the world presenting the same creative ideas that I presented in the competition because I feel like people like to be surprised and like something fresh and new. People can expect to be pleasantly surprised and see something that is authentically Asia but not something they’ve seen already on television.
Asia O’Hara says Capital Pride audiences will see another side of her this weekend. (Photo courtesy Project Publicity)
a&e features
New book celebrates 1970s dance music icons
‘A Night at the Disco’ features interviews with Donna Summer, Debbie Harry, more
If you’re a fan of 1970s-era dance music, don’t miss the irresistible new book by Christian John Wikane and Alice Harris, “A Night at the Disco,” which revisits more than 90 interviews conducted with some of the biggest names in pop culture.
“A Night at the Disco” (ACC Art Books) was published on March 24, and distributed by Simon & Schuster. It celebrates more than 100 artists who sparked a phenomenon in dance music from 1970-1979 and features excerpts from interviews with everyone from Donna Summer to Debbie Harry.
Lost City Books (2467 18th St., N.W.) will welcome author Christian John Wikane for a book signing and conversation about “A Night at the Disco” on Thursday, April 16 at 6 p.m. Details at lostcitybookstore.com. Bird in Hand Coffee & Books in Baltimore (11 E. 33rd St.) )will also host a Q&A with the author on Wednesday, April 15 at 6 p.m. Details at theivybookshop.com.
Below is an excerpt from “A Night at the Disco.”
“I’ll let in anyone who looks like they’ll make things fun.” Steve Rubell is guiding a New York Times reporter through Studio 54 as resident DJ Richie Kaczor dazzles the crowd with records by CHIC, Odyssey, and T-Connection. “Disco, that’s where the happy people go,” The Trammps sing as dancers spin and twirl underneath tubes of flashing lights. Seven months since Rubell and co-owner Ian Schrager opened Studio 54 in April 1977, it’s welcomed untold numbers of “happy people” … at least those lucky enough to pass through the doors.
“We were part of the chosen few,” says André De Shields, who immortalized the title role in The Wiz on Broadway at the time. “We could show up at Studio 54 and the doorman at the velvet stanchion would look over everyone and point to us from The Wiz to come in, that kind of thing.” As the lead vocalist in the GRAMMY-nominated Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, whose debut modernized big band sophistication for the discothèques, Cory Daye had carte blanche in the club. “The energy was like a New Year’s Eve party every night,” she says. “I would go up to the mezzanine and watch the mechanical light pillars go up and down, metallic confetti falling from the ceiling, the spoon and the moon. I was so fascinated and enamored by it.
“When a certain song came on, the people would just rush to the dance floor. There was no contact dancing — the hustle was pretty much on its way out — but it was just an amazing experience to see all the cultures together. It was a fusion of cultures, which described my life and my band, so I was right at home there.”
“Studio 54 was the place,” adds Linda Clifford. “Crazy parties. If you could think it, you would see it. It was like a circus. Just an amazing place to be. I worked 54 so many times. It was like a second home to me. The people there treated me so well. The crowd always seemed to enjoy my show. I always had a good time with them. That was the most important thing: making sure that they had fun.”
Well before Studio 54 opened, disco had become a business juggernaut. “A four billion dollar market and still growing,” Billboard announced in February 1977, with dance music offering more variety than ever. “There is no longer a single, readily identifiable disco beat, but a kaleidoscope of sounds that are melodic and danceable,” Tom Moulton told the magazine. In the clubs, records by veteran artists like Stevie Wonder and the Bee Gees were mixed in with a range of new acts like Grace Jones, Boney M., and The Ritchie Family, while everyone from ABBA to Marvin Gaye scored number one pop hits with songs that had club-centric storylines.
Beyond the charts, disco itself remained as idiosyncratic as ever, especially on several productions by Laurin Rinder and W. Michael Lewis, whose studio creations, El Coco (“Let’s Get It Together,” “Cocomotion”) and Le Pamplemousse (“Le Spank”), joined their own “Lust” from Seven Deadly Sins (1977) among the most tantalizing releases on AVI Records. Rinder & Lewis also produced acts for the newly hatched Butterfly Records in Los Angeles, where Saint Tropez (“On a Rien à Perdre”) and Tuxedo Junction (“Moonlight Serenade”) reflected the duo’s high gloss sound, spanning everything from European sophistication to a more literal translation of the ’40s sensibilities popularized by Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band.
12-inch singles had also grown as the preferred format to approximate the club music experience at home. Nearly a year after Atlantic Records introduced its series of promotional 12-inch singles for DJs, New York-based Salsoul Records released the industry’s first commercially available 12-inch single, “Ten Percent” by Double Exposure, in May 1976. A year later, T.K. Records was the first label to certify a gold record for a 12-inch single when Peter Brown’s “Do You Wanna Get Funky With Me” tallied one million sales.— Christian John Wikane
(From “A Night at the Disco” by Alice Harris & Christian John Wikane. Published by ACC Art Books.)
The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.
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Award-winning D.C. chef reaching new culinary heights
Anthony Jones of Marcus DC competing on ‘Top Chef’
In Anthony Jones’s kitchen, all sorts of flags fly, including his own. Executive chef at award-winning restaurant Marcus DC, Jones has reached culinary heights (James Beard Award semifinalist for Emerging Chef, anyone?), yet he’s just getting started.
Briefly stepping away from his award-winning station, Jones took a moment under a different set of lights. Recently, he temporarily gave up his post at the restaurant for a starring small-screen slot on the latest season of “Top Chef,” which debuted in March. (The show airs weekly on Bravo and Peacock).
Before his strategic slice-and-dice competition, however, Jones, who identifies as gay, draws from his deep DMV roots. In the years before “Top Chef” and the top chef spot at Marcus, he was born and raised in Sunderland, Md., in southern Maryland, near the Chesapeake.
Early memories were steeped in afternoons on boats with his dad bonding over fishing, and wandering the garden of his great-grandparents spread with fresh vegetables and a few hogs. “It was Southern, old-school ethics and upbringing,” he said. “Family and food went hand in hand.” Weekends meant grabbing bushels of crabs, dad and grandma would cook and crack them. Family members would host fish fries for extra cash. In this seafood-heavy youth, Jones managed time to sneak in episodes of the “OG” Japanese “Iron Chef” show, which helped inspire him to pursue a career in the kitchen.
Jones moved to D.C. after graduating from college, ending up at lauded Restaurant Eve, and met famed chef Marcus Samuelson, who brought him to Miami to be part of the opening team for Red Rooster Overtown. After three years, Jones moved back to D.C., where he ran Dirty Habit, reinventing and reimagining the menu, integrating West African flavors and ingredients.
Samuelson, however, wouldn’t let a talent like Jones stay away for too long. Pulling Jones back into his orbit, Samuelson elevated Jones to help him open his namesake restaurant Marcus DC, which has been named a top-five restaurant by the Washington Post. Since then, Jones has been nominated as a semifinalist for the RAMMYs Rising Culinary Star in 2026 and won the Eater DC’s Rising Chef award in 2025.
Samuelson’s Marcus is a tour de force interpreting the Black Diaspora on the plate, from the American South to West Africa, along with his signature “Swedopian” touches. Yet it’s Jones who has deeply informed the plate, elevating his own story to date. Marcus DC is primarily a seafood restaurant, which serves Jones well.
“Where I’m from is seafood heavy, and as I’ve progressed in my career, I’ve moved away from meat.” Veggies and fish are hero dishes. His own dish, Mel’s Crab Rice, was not only lauded by the Washington Post, but is framed by his youth carrying home the crustaceans from Mel’s crab truck. It’s a bowl of Carolina rice, layered with pickled okra, uni béarnaise, and crab. Jones also points to a dish on the opening menu, rockfish and brassica, paying respect to a landmark D.C. institution, Ben’s Chili Bowl. Jones reverse engineered a favorite bowl of chili that’s seafood instead of meat forward, leveraging octopus and rockfish along with different riffs of cauliflower: showing his intellectual, creative, and cultural sides.
While “Top Chef” is showing Jones’s spotlight side, he also lets his identity show at work. “In the kitchen, I make sure we’re inclusive. We don’t tolerate discrimination. Everyone that’s here should feel confident to express themselves. There are so many different flags in the kitchen.”
Jones says that he didn’t fully express his gay identity until fairly recently. He felt reluctant coming out to certain family members, “you’re scared to tell them about being different,” he says, and while that anxiety ate at him, “I’m lucky and fortunate to have unconditional love and that weight off my shoulders.”
Today, “I’m me all the time, Monday to Sunday. I’m honest with people, and my staff is honest with me.”
“Being a chef is hard,” he says, “and being a chef of color is even more difficult.”
Yet his LGBTQ identity is a juggling act, he says. “I need to keep that balance, because once someone finds out something about you, their opinion can change, whether you want it or not.”
Being on a whole season of TV cooking competition, however, might mean millions more might have an opinion of him (Jones has appeared on TV already, on an episode of “Chopped”). To prepare, he says, “I’ve just kept a level head. It’s just an honor to be on top chef with amazing people happy to be there.”
Plus, this season is set in the Carolinas, and Jones attended Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, N.C. “It’s a full story of my life, now a monumental moment for me.”
Jones also recently was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award. “JBF has been a north star, a dream for so long. I always had this goal on my wall.”
Being at the top spot at Marcus DC, making waves through his accolades, and cooking on Bravo means that Jones is highly visible. “I think that if someone has a similar background to me, and can see our story, trajectory, and success, they can have more ability to be themselves. This is my goal.”
Back at Marcus, Jones has plenty up his chef’s white’s sleeves. A new spring menu is in the works. He’ll be launching a new tasting menu “dining experience,” he says, and has plans to work on more events and collaborations with chefs and friends to bring in new talent and share the culinary wealth.
a&e features
Introducing the Torchbearers Awards honoring queer, trans women and nonbinary people
Meet the Legends and Illuminators lighting new paths
The Torchbearers Awards are more than recognition—they are a continuation of legacy. They honor the quiet architects of progress in our community: those who organize, advocate, build, and protect, often without fanfare but always with purpose. Rooted in a belief in intentional recognition, this honor names those who carry our movements forward—those who make room for others, who remind us that change is both generational and generative. In a time marked by uncertainty and challenge, these leaders push forward with courage, clarity, and an unwavering commitment to expanding opportunity and equity.
This year’s honorees reflect the full breadth of our community, spanning generations, backgrounds, identities, and industries. From Legends, with decades of leadership and having created pathways for others, to Illuminators, who are lighting new paths with creativity and innovation, each Torchbearer represents the power of intergenerational leadership and the strength found in our diversity. They are organizers, advocates, artists, policy leaders, healers, and changemakers whose lived experiences shape a shared vision for equity and liberation.
This award is our love letter to queer and trans women and nonbinary people who carry the flame when it would be easier to let it dim. To those who consistently show up, who use their voice and visibility and stand firm, often without recognition, so that others may live more freely and fully. The Torchbearers Awards celebrates not just what has been done, but the enduring spirit, responsibility, and collective care that ensure the work continues, and that the flame is always passed forward.
Co-Creators of the Torchbearers Awards: Shannon Alston, June Crenshaw, Heidi Ellis
Torchbearers Awards Advisory Board: Aditi Hardikar, Lesley Bryant, Jasmine Wilson-Bryant, Stephen Rutgers
ILLUMINATOR AWARDEES
- Representative Sharice Davids (she/her), (D, KS-03)
— U.S. House of Representatives - Greisa Martinez Rosas (she/her/ella)
— Executive Director, United We Dream - Paola Ramos (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Meagan A. Fitzgerald (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Jessica L. Lewis (she/her)
— Founder / Producer, Play Play DC - Savannah Wade (she/her)
— Founder, OAR Agency - Suhad Babaa (she/her)
— Filmmaker/ Former Executive Director of Just Vision - Ashlee Davis (she/her)
— Global Head of Inclusive Outcomes, Ancestry - Jazmine Hughes (she/her)
— Journalist and Former Editor at New York Times Magazine - Queen Adesuyi (they/she)
— Policy Advisor & Organizer, ReFrame Health & Justice - Michele Rayner, Esq. (she/her)
— Civil Rights Attorney, State Representative (Florida House of Representatives) - Gaby Vincent (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Jenny Nguyen (she/her)
— Founder & Owner, The Sports Bra - Denice Frohman (she/her)
— Independent Artist, Poet / Performer - Vida Rangel (she/her)
— Founder, Our Trans Capital - Roxanne Anderson (they/them)
— Executive Director, Our Space - Ann Marie Gothard (she/her)
— Co-Founder & President, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Diana Rodriquez (she/her)
— Co-Founder & CEO, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Wendi Cooper (she/her)
— Founder / Executive Director, Transcending Women - Toya Matthews (she/her)
— City of San Antonio, Texas - Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Charity Blackwell (she/her)
— Poet, LGBTQ Advocate & Community Leader - Wilhelmina Indermaur (she/her)
— Director of Communications, Tyler Clementi Foundation - Em Chadwick (she/her)
— CMO, For Them & Autostraddle - Kylo Freeman (they/he)
— CEO, For Them & Autostraddle
LEGEND AWARDEES
- Sheila Alexander-Reid (she/her)
— Executive Director, PHL Diversity, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau - Cassandra Cantave Burton (she/her)
— Interim Director of Thought Leadership & Senior Research Advisor, AARP - leigh h. mosley (she/her)
— Photographer / Educator, PhotoFlo Photography - Jenn M. Jackson, PhD (they/them)
— Assistant Professor of Political Science; Author & Columnist, Syracuse University - Jordyn White (she/her)
— COO, Washington Prodigy / VP of Leadership Development & Research, HRC Foundation - AJ Hikes (they/them)
— Deputy Executive Director, ACLU - RaeShanda Lias (she/her)
— Digital Creator, RL Lockhart - Donna Payne-Hardy (she/her)
— Educator, EEO Specialist, Founder of NBJC, Former Leader at the Human Rights Campaign - Courtney R. Snowden (she/her)
— Principal, Blueprint Strategy Group - Gaye Adegbalola (she/her)
— Musician & Activist, Musician / Inductee of the Blues Hall of Fame - Cheryl A. Head (she/her)
— Independent Author, Novelist (Crime Fiction) - Letitia Gomez (she/her)
— The American LGBTQ+ Museum, Board Chair - Lynne Brown (she/her)
— Publisher, Washington Blade - Shay Franco-Clausen (She/Her/Ella/Queen)
— Political Strategist and Organizer - Melissa L. Bradley (she/her)
— Founder & Managing Partner, New Majority Ventures - Meghann Burke (she/her)
— Executive Director, NWSL Players Association - Victoria Kirby York, MPA (she/they)
— Director of Public Policy & Programs, National Black Justice Collective - Joli Angel Robinson (she/her)
— CEO, Center on Halsted - Jeannine Frisby LaRue (she/her)
— CEO, Moxie Strategies - Alice Wu (she/her)
— Film Director (Saving Face, The Half of It) / Screenwriter - Storme Webber (she/her)
— Interdisciplinary Artist / Educator, University of Washington - Kim Stone
— CEO of the Washington Spirit, Washington Spirit - Mickalene Thomas
— American Visual Artist, Mickalene Thomas Studio - Erika Lorshbough (any/they/she)
— Executive Director, interACT - J. Gia Loving (she/ella)
— Co-Executive Director, GSA Network
A Sondheim masterpiece ‘Merrily’ rolls onto Netflix
ROSENSTEIN: Vote McDuffie for mayor of D.C.
New book celebrates 1970s dance music icons
Report: Grenell wants Russian ambassadorship
