Arts & Entertainment

Calendar: Feb. 8-14

Shows, meetings and events in the week to come

Published

7 years ago

February 8, 2019

Mariah Cooper

Friday, Feb. 8

gay events D.C., gay news, Washington Blade — **John Cameron Mitchell** (Photo by Matthew Placek)

Tony-Award winner John Cameron Mitchell, co-creator of the hit musical “Hedwig & the Angry Inch,” presents “The Origin of Love: The Songs and Stories of Hedwig” at the National Theatre (1321 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.) tonight at 8 p.m. Mitchell will perform songs from the musical and preview songs from his new musical “Anthem.” Tickets range from $54-79. For more details, visit thenationaldc.org.

Gamma D.C., a support group for men in mixed-orientation relationships, meets at Luther Place Memorial Church (1226 Vermont Ave., N.W.) tonight from 7:30-9:30 p.m. The group is for men who are attracted to men but are currently, or were at one point, in relationships with women. For more information about the group, visit gammaindc.org.

Qrew: Werq, a queer women’s dance party, is at Union Stage (740 Water St., S.W.) tonight from 9 p.m.-2 a.m. Late night happy hour is from 9-10:30 p.m. The first 65 21-and-over guests will receive a free drink ticket. DJ Tezrah will play music and Pretty Boi Drag will perform. There will also be giveaways. Tickets are $10. Attendees must be 18 or over. For more information, visit facebook.com/qrewdc.

The D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) presents Birds of Prey Drag Show, an 18-and-over event, tonight from 10 p.m.-3 a.m. Ba’Naka hosts the show. Brooklyn Heights, Iyana Deschanel, Sasha Adams Sanchez, Crystal Edge, Alicia Love and Bambi Nicole Ferrah will perform. Doors open at 10 p.m. and the show starts at 10:30 p.m. Tickets are $10. For more details, visit dceagle.com.

The D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) hosts Sashay, a weekly college dance party, tonight from midnight-3 a.m. DJ C Dubz will spin tracks. Sir and gay porn star Adam Ramzi will go-go dance all night. Attendees must be 18 to enter. Cover is $5 after the drag show. For more details, visit dceagle.com.

Saturday, Feb. 9

Scarlet’s Bake Sale is at the D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) today from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. The bake sale will benefit Brother Help Thyself. Cocktails start at 3 p.m. and the live auction is at 4 p.m. Cake drop-off is from 1:30-3 p.m. For more details, visit facebook.com/scarlets.foundation.

D.C. Rawhides takes over Ziegfelds/Secrets (1824 Half St., S.W.) tonight at 7 p.m. There will be a beginner two-step lesson on one floor and line dancing on another floor. Deejay Mein will play music. The lesson is from 7-8 p.m. and open dancing is from 8-10:50 p.m. Cover is $5 until 9 p.m. and then $10 after 9 p.m. For more information, visit facebook.com/dcrawhides.

Freddie’s Beach Bar (555 23rd St., S Arlington, Va.) hosts Freddie’s Follies Drag Show tonight at 8 p.m. A rotating cast of queens will perform. Showtime is 8 p.m. Karaoke starts at 10 p.m. Cover is $5. Reservations are highly recommended. For more details, visit freddiesbeachbar.com.

Mim Entertainment and Jaywalking Productions hosts Vamp, a ladies dance party, at XX+ (1926 9th St., N.W.) tonight from 10 p.m.-2:30 a.m. DJ Mim and special guest DJs will spin tracks. Craft cocktails and small bites will be served. Tickets are $10. Reserved tables are $50. For more information, visit facebook.com/mimentdc.

The D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) hosts SirCuit: Vanity tonight from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. DJ Ryan DoubleYou will spin tracks all night. Gay porn star Adam Ramzi will dance all night. Online tickets are $10. Tickets at the door are $20. For more information, visit dceagle.com.

Distrkt C celebrates its third anniversary at Karma D.C. (2221 Adams Pl., N.E.) tonight from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. DJ X Gonzalez and DJ Nacho Chapado will spin tracks. Tickets are $30. For more details, visit distrktc.com.

Sunday, Feb. 10

SMYAL for the New Year is at Franklin Hall (1348 Florida Ave., N.W.) today from 3-5 p.m. Ring in the new year with SMYAL’s Young Donors Committee, the SMYAL allies and members of the board and staff. The event will celebrate SMYAL’s successes of the past year and look forward at upcoming plans for 2019. Light hors d’oeuvres will be served. There is a suggested donation starting at $10. For more details, visit smyal.org.

Nacho Mama’s (2 West Pennsylvania Ave., Towson, Md.) presents a new drag brunch today from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sabrina Sommers, Nubia Love-Jackson, Venus Starlight and KC Florence will perform. Tickets are $34 and include an all-you-cat-eat buffet. For more information, visit facebook.com/nachomamastowson.

Hotel Indigo (24 West Franklin St., Baltimore) hosts a Sunday Drag Brunch today from 12:30-3:30 p.m. Sue Nami and other drag performers will appear. Tickets are $35 and include a buffet, entertainment and bottomless Bloody Marys or mimosas. For more details, visit baltimoreindigohotel.com/sunday-drag-brunch.

Monday, Feb. 11

Brother Help Thyself will screen “Tongues Untied,” in celebration of the film’s 30th anniversary at the Shaw Library (1630 7th St., N.W.) at 6 p.m. “Tongues Untied” was created by filmmaker Marlon Riggs and celebrates black men loving black men. Essex Hemphill, Wayson Jones, Ron Simmons and Christopher Prince are all featured in the film. For more details, visit brotherhelpthyself.net.

Tuesday, Feb. 12

Logan’s Hardware (1723 14th St., N.W.) hosts Ladies’ Night tonight from 6-9 p.m. There will be hands-on-tool demonstrations, DIY activities, free food, beverages and giveaways. The first 50 people will receive gift bags and other prizes and gift bags will be given away throughout the night. There will be DIY demos on basic caulking, best painting practices, best toilet repair, how to patch drywall and more. Guests can also shop 20 percent off the entire store. Admission is free. For more information, visit facebook.com/loganhardware.

Wednesday, Feb. 13

Big Gay Book Group meets at 1155 F St., N.W. tonight at 7 p.m. to discuss “No One Can Pronounce My Name” by Rakesh Satyal. Newcomers welcome. For more details, visit biggaybookgroup.com or email [email protected].

The Lambda Bridge Club meets at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center (721 8th St., S.E.) for duplicate bridge. No reservations required and new comers welcome. If you need a partner, call 703-407-6540.

Thursday, Feb. 14

Pretty Boi Drag hosts Open King Night at the Bier Baron Tavern and Comedy Loft (1523 22nd St., N.W.) tonight at 8 p.m. Both amateur and seasoned kings are invited to perform. Admission is $10 in advance and $15 at the door. For more details, visit facebook.com/prettyboidrag.

Photos

PHOTOS: Vitamin C at JR.’s

Live drag show follows ‘Drag Race All Stars’ viewing party

Published

1 minute ago

July 19, 2026

Landon Shackelford

Brooke N Hymen performs at JR.'s at the Vitamin C drag show on Friday. (Washington Blade photo by Landon Shackelford)

JR.’s Bar held a “RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars” watch party followed by a live drag show on Friday, July 17. The Vitamin C weekly drag show was hosted by Citrine with performers Brooke N Hyman and Rosie Beret.

(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)

Photos

PHOTOS: Rehoboth Beach Pride Festival

LGBTQ celebration held at convention center

Published

3 hours ago

July 19, 2026

Daniel Truitt

A scene from the 2026 Rehoboth Beach Pride Festival. (Washington Blade photo by Daniel Truitt)

The 2026 Rehoboth Beach Pride Festival was held at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center on Saturday, July 18.

(Washington Blade photos by Daniel Truitt)

Books

Liza’s book a tale that’s better than most celebrity memoirs

‘Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!’ dishes on marriages, heartbreak

Published

4 hours ago

July 19, 2026

Terri Schlichenmeyer

(Book cover image courtesy of Grand Central)

‘Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! My Memoir’
By Liza Minnelli, as told to Michael Feinstein
c.2026, Grand Central
$36/ 421 pages

Twenty feet In front of you, and you can’t see a thing.

Even the closest faces are in shadow – lit, but not quite enough for you to see for sure what the people there are thinking. Still, you can hear them, their gasps, their laughter, and applause. Such is life, on-stage. Now read “Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! My Memoir” by Liza Minnelli, as told to Michael Feinstein, and read about it beyond the spotlight.

Almost from the moment she was born, Liza Minnelli was famous.

It was inevitable: her mother was Judy Garland. Her father was director Vincente Minnelli. Her godparents were Hollywood glitterati, her neighbors were famous, her playmates would be famous someday, too.

But her life wasn’t all starlight and happiness.

She made her stage debut as a toddler. She became her “mother’s caretaker” at age 13.

At 16, she had a growing career of her own – one that her mother tried to stop. But, she says, “In her own way, Mama was wonderful to me. Try understanding – she was my mother, not a movie star…. I knew her as the person who loved me and always would.”

At 19, Minnelli was working, happy, and madly in love with the man who’d become her first husband, and life was wonderful – until she came home one day to find him in their bed with another man. Before they were divorced, she lost her beloved mother, and became “engaged” to two other men simultaneously, neither of which made it to the altar with her.

She married her second husband, the son of one of her mother’s former co-stars, in 1974 but her love affairs and addictions led to a second divorce.

Her third husband was a stage manager.

She doesn’t have much good to say about her fourth, and last, husband.

Overall, she says, “You gotta play the comedy for all it’s worth and leave ‘em laughing. Even when your heart is breaking.”

Are you expecting bluntness, sass, or attitude here? Good, because that’s what you get inside “Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!” It’s strong on honesty and don’t-give-a-flip. It’s wonderfully edited, so it moves fast. It’s eye-opening and funny and a pleasant surprise for a first, and only (so far), memoir.

Even better, author Liza Minnelli (with best friend, Michael Feinstein) is really quite candid and nicely gossipy, starting from the beginning. There are some Hollywood folks, in fact, who are feeling edgy because of what’s inside this book and the secrets spilled. Minnelli and Feinstein seemed to have fun telling her story, and they comfortably lure readers in.

That’s not to say that it’s all a cabaret. Minnelli tells about her addictions and recoveries, her marriages and why she wed two gay men, and the losses she endured, including miscarriages, deaths, and broken relationships. The bad balances well with the good for a tale that’s several notches above most celebrity memoirs. “Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!” is, in fact, a real joy to read, a genuine bright spot.

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