Arts & Entertainment
Calendar for Aug. 20
Friday, Aug. 20, to Thursday, Aug. 26

Friday, Aug. 20
Team DC presents Hang-time with the Mystics tonight at 7 p.m. at the Verizon Center as the team takes on New York Liberty for their last home game of the season.
HARD Summer Tour featuring Crystal Castles is tonight at 9:30 club, 815 V St., N.W., at 7 p.m. This is a sold-out event.
FROST, a white party, tonight at Cloud 9 in Rehoboth, Del. The club will be turned into a winter oasis and everyone who comes in white will be given ABSOLUT shots.
Rihanna: Last Girl on Earth Tour with special guest Ke$ha tonight at Jiffy Lube Live, 7800 Cellar Door Dr. in Bristow, Va., at 7:30 p.m. To purchase tickets visit livenation.com.
Matt Kazam from Last Comic Standing, will be performing tonight at DC Improv, 1140 Connecticut Ave., N.W., at 8 p.m. and then again at 10:30 p.m. For more information and to purchase tickets visit dcimprov.com
Charlie Mars with Jenny Owen Youngs tonight at Rams Head Tavern, 33 West St., Annapolis, Md., at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $22.50 and can be purchased at tickets.ramsheadonstage.com. Must be 21 or older to enter.
Maison tonight at Donovan House on the Roof Deck, 1155 14 St., N.W., from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. 21 or older to enter. No cover, just say you’re there for Tommy & Shea’s party or Maison.
Saturday, Aug. 21
Tutting and Botting with Joshua Davis at Joy of Motion Dance Center Friendship Heights, 5207 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. This workshop will cover the basics for popping, locking, tutting and finger-tutting with a more up-to-date style and look. $25 advanced registration, $30 on the day of the workshop. For more information visit joyofmotion.org.
Burgundy Crescent Volunteers will be working with the Lost Dog & Cat Foundation at Petsmart, 6100 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church, Va., from 11:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. as dog-handlers for adoption events. All volunteers get paired with a dog to walk around inside and outside the store and be given basic information if someone shows interest in adopting the dog.
DC Punk Rock Yoga at Flow Yoga Center, 1450 P St., N.W. at 4:30 p.m. Taught by Rob Hess, the class will feature a playlist heavy in D.C. punk legends. Class is $17 or if you’re a new guest to Flow, $20 gets you two classes.
Anniething Goes … with the Ladies at Little Miss Whiskey’s Golden Dollar, 1104 H St., N.E. from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. Special guest DJs Natty Boom from Anthology of Booty and Junebellet from She.Rex and First Ladies. Hosted by vAnniety kills. No cover.
Pride in the Sky at The Rooftop, 155 Gibbs St., Rockville, Md., at 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. DJ Ace will be spinning as well as guest DJ Gigi from Apex. There will be drink specials from 8 to 9 p.m. including $3 beers, wines, sangria and rails. 21 and older to enter. $5 cover before 10 p.m., $7 after.
Sunday, Aug. 22
Baby Loves Disco at 9:30 club, 815 V St., N.W., from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is an afternoon dance party featuring DJs blending classic disco tunes from the 70s and 80s guaranteed to get those little booties moving and grooving. The fun spills out from all corners of the club: bubble machines, baskets of scarves and egg-shakers, a chill-out room (with tents, books and puzzles), diaper changing stations, a full spread of healthy snacks and dancing. Tickets range from $20 to $50 and can be purchased at 930.com.
Monday, Aug. 23
SAGE Metro DC Monthly Meeting at the DC Center, 1318 U St., N.W., from 6:30-8 p.m. SAGE Metro DC provides support and advocacy for the aging LGBT population.
Scissor Sisters at D.A.R. Constitution Hall. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased at 930.com.
Tuesday, Aug. 24
DC Gay Professionals networking group happy hour launch party at Black Fox Lounge, 1723 Connecticut Ave., N.W., from 5 to 8 p.m. Learn more about this new networking group and connect with other gay professionals.
Wednesday, Aug. 25
Mautner Project presents its speakers’ series Elder Care: Our Community Growing Older with Leslie Calman and Elizabeth Ide at the Metropolitan Community Church, 474 Ridge St., N.W., at 6:30 p.m.
Hollaback is a social and support group for the transgender community and will be meeting at the DC Center, 1318 U St., N.W., at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 26
PingPong Madness at Nellie’s, 900 U St., N.W., at 7:30 p.m. Free to play. To register, e-mail [email protected]. All equipment is supplied and there will be cash and prizes for participants.
HoMoto Motorcycle Club, the Washington, D.C. area’s only gay, lesbian, and bisexual motorcycle club, will be meeting at Nellie’s Sports Bar, 900 U St., N.W., at 6 p.m. All bike types are welcomed.
The Atlas Performing Arts Center presents Summer Film Series: Gay 101 showing “Mommie Dearest” starring Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford, at the Paul Sprenger Theatre, 1333 H St., N.E., at 8 p.m. Buy tickets at atlasarts.org or at the box office one hour prior to the movie.
Books
A boy-meets-boy, family-mess story with heat
New book offers a stunning, satisfying love story

‘When the Harvest Comes’
By Denne Michele Norris
c.2025, Random House
$28/304 pages
Happy is the bride the sun shines on.
Of all the clichés that exist about weddings, that’s the one that seems to make you smile the most. Just invoking good weather and bright sunshine feels like a cosmic blessing on the newlyweds and their future. It’s a happy omen for bride and groom or, as in the new book “When the Harvest Comes” by Denne Michele Norris, for groom and groom.

Davis Freeman never thought he could love or be loved like this.
He was wildly, wholeheartedly, mind-and-soul smitten with Everett Caldwell, and life was everything that Davis ever wanted. He was a successful symphony musician in New York. They had an apartment they enjoyed and friends they cherished. Now it was their wedding day, a day Davis had planned with the man he adored, the details almost down to the stitches in their attire. He’d even purchased a gorgeous wedding gown that he’d never risk wearing.
He knew that Everett’s family loved him a lot, but Davis didn’t dare tickle the fates with a white dress on their big day. Everett’s dad, just like Davis’s own father, had considerable reservations about his son marrying another man – although Everett’s father seemed to have come to terms with his son’s bisexuality. Davis’s father, whom Davis called the Reverend, never would. Years ago, father and son had a falling-out that destroyed any chance of peace between Davis and his dad; in fact, the door slammed shut to any reconciliation.
But Davis tried not to think about that. Not on his wedding day. Not, unbeknownst to him, as the Reverend was rushing toward the wedding venue, uninvited but not unrepentant. Not when there was an accident and the Reverend was killed, miles away and during the nuptials.
Davis didn’t know that, of course, as he was marrying the love of his life. Neither did Everett, who had familial problems of his own, including homophobic family members who tried (but failed) to pretend otherwise.
Happy is the groom the sun shines on. But when the storm comes, it can be impossible to remain sunny.
What can be said about “When the Harvest Comes?” It’s a romance with a bit of ghost-pepper-like heat that’s not there for the mere sake of titillation. It’s filled with drama, intrigue, hate, characters you want to just slap, and some in bad need of a hug.
In short, this book is quite stunning.
Author Denne Michele Norris offers a love story that’s everything you want in this genre, including partners you genuinely want to get to know, in situations that are real. This is done by putting readers inside the characters’ minds, letting Davis and Everett themselves explain why they acted as they did, mistakes and all. Don’t be surprised if you have to read the last few pages twice to best enjoy how things end. You won’t be sorry.
If you want a complicated, boy-meets-boy, family-mess kind of book with occasional heat, “When the Harvest Comes” is your book. Truly, this novel shines.
The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.

The Victory Fund held its National Champagne Brunch at the Ritz-Carlton on Sunday, April 27. Speakers included Tim Gunn, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Gov. Wes Moore (D-Md.), Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.).
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

















Music & Concerts
Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’
Out singer/songwriter to perform at Red Bear Brewing Co.

Singer Tom Goss will bring his “Bear Friends Furever Tour” to D.C. on Sunday, June 8 at 8 p.m. at Red Bear Brewing Co.
Among the songs he will perform will be “Bear Soup,” the fourth installment in his beloved bear song anthology series. Following fan favorites like “Bears,” “Round in All the Right Places,” and “Nerdy Bear,” this high-energy, bass-thumping banger celebrates body positivity, joyful indulgence, and the vibrant spirit of the bear subculture.
For more details, visit Tom Goss’s website.
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