Arts & Entertainment
D.C. arts briefs: through Nov. 1
Kate Clinton at the Birchmere, Different Drummers hold drag event and more
Clinton returns to the Birchmere
Lesbian comedian Kate Clinton brings her tour “2012 All Fracked Up Tour” to Birchmere Music Hall (3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria) tonight (Friday) at 7:30.
Kate’s hyperbolic style touches on politicians, LGBT themes and the Occupy movement.
Tickets are around $48 including fees. For more information, visit kateclinton.com.
Different Drummers hold drag benefit
D.C.’s Different Drummers presents “Drag Me Over!,” their third annual drag show, at Omega (2122 P St. NW) Saturday night at 7:30.
The group promises the show will be fabulous with “star-studded” classic and new drag performances. Their Go-Go boys and girls will be mingling with the crowd. The show is in benefit for the group.
A $7 donation is requested at the door. Raffle tickets and Jell-o shots will also be available. For more information, visit omegadc.com.
‘Gay Issues’ panel at the Newseum
The New York Times hosts “Gay Issues & the Election” as part of its TimesTalks series on Tuesday night at 7. It will be in the Annenberg Theater of the Newseum (555 Pennsylvania Ave., NW).
Members of the Times’ staff will discuss the many same-sex marriage initiatives on the ballot in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington and the federal challenges to California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act.
Tickets are $25. For more information, visit timestalks.com.
Celebrity News
More than 1 million people attend Madonna concert in Rio
Free event took place on Copacabana Beach on Saturday
An estimated 1.6 million people on Saturday attended Madonna’s free concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.
The concert, which was the last one as part of Madonna’s Celebration Tour, included a tribute to people lost to AIDS.
Bob the Drag Queen introduced Madonna before the concert began. Pabllo Vittar, a Brazilian drag queen and singer, and Anitta, a bisexual pop star who was born in Rio’s Honório Gurgel neighborhood, also joined Madonna on stage.
Congresswoman Erika Hilton, a Black travesti and former sex worker, and Rio Municipal Councilwoman Mônica Benício, the widow of Marielle Franco, a bisexual Rio Municipal Councilwoman who was assassinated in 2018, are among those who attended the concert.
“Madonna showed that we fight important fights for the human rights of Black (people), young (people), women and LGBTQIA+ people, and against all injustice, discrimination, and violence,” said Associaçao Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais (National Association of Travestis and Transsexuals), a Brazilian trans rights group known by the acronym ANTRA, on its X account. “What they call identitarianism’ is our subversion to the retrograde and conservative tackiness that plagues the country.”
The Associated Press reported the concert was Madonna’s biggest ever.
The DC Center for the LGBTQ Community, SMYAL and Rainbow Families sponsored Gay Day at the Zoo on Sunday at the Smithsonian National Zoo. The Smithsonian observed International Family Equality Day with special exhibits and an event space.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering Gay Day at the Zoo for @WashBlade . Here at @NationalZooDC pic.twitter.com/LqgGNOOAiM
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) May 5, 2024
Photos
PHOTOS: Taste of Point
Annual fundraiser held for LGBTQ youth scholarship, mentorship organization
The Point Foundation held its annual Taste of Point fundraiser at Room & Board on May 2.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)