Metro Weekly - 12-22-16 - Coverboy of The Year

DECEMBER 22/29, 2016
21
CONTENTS
Volume 23 Issue 32
2016: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

From the tragic shooting at Pulse to the tragic election of
President Donald Trump, we take stock of the year just ended
By John Riley
THE 2016 COVERBOY OF

THE YEAR: BRIAN WILCOX
Photographed by Julian Vankim at Town Danceboutique
on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2017
48
Interview by Randy Shulman
32
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2016

The year was marked by impressive debuts, long-awaited
follow-ups, and a parting gift from a musical icon
By Sean Maunier
SPOTLIGHT: WICKEDS WOMAN p.7 OUT ON THE TOWN p.11

NEW YEARS FEASTS p.12 THE FEED: YEAR IN REVIEW p.21 THE YEAR IN COVERS p.24
COMMUNITY: FINDING YOUR RELIGION p.27 COVERBOY OF THE YEAR p.32
GALLERY: BRIAN PETRO p.43 THE BEST FILMS OF 2016 p.46
THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2016 p.48 NIGHTLIFE p.51 SCENE: DUPLEX SWEATER PARTY p.51
CLUBLIFE: NEW YEARS EVE PARTIES p.60 SCENE: NELLIES p.61 LAST WORD p.62
Real LGBT News and Entertainment since 1994
Editorial Editor-in-Chief Randy Shulman Art Director Todd Franson Managing Editor Rhuaridh Marr Senior Editor John Riley Contributing Editor Doug Rule
Senior Photographers Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim Contributing Illustrator Scott G. Brooks Contributing Writers Gordon Ashenhurst,
Sean Bugg, Frank Carber, Fallon Forbush, Sean Maunier, Troy Petenbrink, Kate Wingfield Webmaster David Uy Production Assistant Julian Vankim
Sales & Marketing Publisher Randy Shulman National Advertising Representative Rivendell Media Co. 212-242-6863 Distribution Manager Dennis Havrilla
Patron Saint Zsa Zsa Gabor Cover Photography Julian Vankim
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DECEMBER 22/29, 2016 METROWEEKLY
JOAN MARCUS
Spotlight
Wicked Woman
TS HARD TO BE THE DIFFERENT ONE, SAYS JESSICA

Vosk. Im the only girl on stage whos got this green color all
over me. Im ridiculed on stage from the beginning to the end.
To hear things like freak and get out of here, go crawl inside of
your hole, or We dont want you here, is really hard every night.
Vosk stars as Elphaba better known as the Wicked Witch of
the West in the national touring production of Wicked, which
recently settled in to the Kennedy Center Opera House for a
month-long run. The popular Stephen Schwartz musical, running on Broadway since 2003, upends The Wizard of Oz, telling
the story of the Wicked Witch from a sympathetic point of view.
Its a smart, surprisingly adult musical that touches on themes
of government corruption, activism, discrimination, and media
manipulation in ways that L. Frank Baum could have never
imagined for his denizens of Oz.
You start this journey with this young girl, and she is wideeyed and wants to learn just like everybody else does, says the
33-year-old Vosk. Shes smart and passionate and wants to
learn. Shes dropped into this atmosphere where she doesnt

look like everybody else and is clearly being bullied. She tries to
rise above all of that in act one. And things dont go as expected....
Without being corny, its a story of defying the odds that were
dealt to you that you cant change.
Vosk gives a thrilling, all-encompassing performance of emotional intensity. Her showstopping act one number, Defying
Gravity, brings a rapt audience to its feet, cheering and whooping like few others in Kennedy Center history.
I love singing Defying Gravity, she says. Its such a cathartic song about coming into your power, whatever that power
may be. Thats Elphabas moment of Screw it, I can make a difference, and Im going to use my power to do that. Also, lets be
honest, the fact that I get to fly during that song is extra badass.
Randy Shulman
Wicked runs to Jan. 8 at the Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets
are $99 to $359. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
Spotlight
FENCES
In 2010 Denzel Washington and Viola Davis won

Tony Awards for a revival of August Wilsons
Pulitzer Prize-winning play, focused on the family
of a working-class man who might have been a
Major League star if only he hadnt been a black
baseballer a generation before Jackie Robinson
changed the game. Both actors recently snagged
Golden Globe nominations for reviving their roles
in the movie adaptation, directed by Washington.
The movie of Fences doesnt need Hollywood
bells and whistles, wrote Peter Travers of Rolling
Stone, who put it No. 4 on his year-end best list.
This writer, this director and these actors are all
the magnificence required to grab your attention
and hold it. Opens Sunday, Dec. 25. Area theaters.
Visit fandango.com.
NATIONAL ZOOS
ZOOLIGHTS
Every year the Smithsonians National

Zoo presents ZooLights, in which
more than 500,000 colorful Christmas
lights illuminate life-sized animal silhouettes, dancing trees, buildings, and
walkways, plus a light show set to
music. All that, plus select animal houses will be open and displaying nocturnal creatures, including the Small
Mammal House, the Great Ape House
and Reptile Discovery Center. Every
night except Dec. 24 and 25 until Jan.
1. National Zoo, 3001 Connecticut Ave.
NW. Free, courtesy of Pepco. Call 202633-4800 or visit nationalzoo.si.edu.
BUSH
More than two decades after forming

in London, Nirvana-mimicking grunge band Bush is the rare British act
not only to find mainstream success
in the U.S., but one that actually registered greater success across the pond
for a few years, anyway. Still led by
Gavin Rossdale, Bush tours in support
of its sixth set, Man on the Run, the
2014 album that indirectly referenced
Rossdales relationship troubles with
his now ex-wife Gwen Stefani. Friday,
Dec. 30. Doors at 8 p.m. Fillmore Silver
Spring, 8656 Colesville Road, Silver
Spring. Tickets are $43.50. Call 301-9609999 or visit fillmoresilverspring.com.
8
Spotlight
TITANIC: THE MUSICAL
Eric Schaeffer has opted to make Peter

Stone and Maury Yestons Tony-winning
musical from two decades ago the latest epic
classic to get Signatures signature intimate
spin. The result is a 360-degree, three-story
staging intended to make the audience feel
as if they are aboard the ship of dreams on
its fateful maiden voyage. Schaeffer leads a
cast, crew and orchestra of more than 50
artists. To Jan. 29. The Max Theatre, 4200
Campbell Ave., Arlington. Call 703-8209771 or visit signature-theatre.org.
CAROUSEL
Molly Smith modeled Carousel after her successful revival of Oklahoma almost
a decade ago. In addition to Nicholas Rodriguez as Billy Bigelow, Smith
brings back that shows E. Faye Butler, a scene-stealing presence the owner
of the amusement park in the small coastal Maine town where Billy works.
Though we never actually see the shows namesake ride, it is evoked in Todd
Rosenthals imaginative set, centered in the in-the-round Fichandler Stage,
complete with a rotating platform installed as part of a whitewashed wood
floor. The show features two of the greatest songs in the musical theater canon:
the cleverly seductive If I Loved You, and the heart-swelling Youll Never
Walk Alone. If you give in to its power, the latters uplifting sentiment to
keep pushing ahead even when life deals you a setback might help you persevere through the problems in our present-day political reality. Closes Saturday,
Dec. 24. Arena Stage, 1101 6th St. SW. Tickets are $84 to $99. Call 202-4883300 or visit arenastage.org. (Doug Rule)
JUDY COLLINS
The folk legend who popularized Sondheims Send in the

Clowns will perform that showtune standard and many others
from her Grammy-winning repertoire, including the Joni Mitchellpenned Both Sides, Now and covers of Someday Soon, Chelsea
Morning, Amazing Grace, and
Cook with Honey. Tuesday, Dec.
27, and Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 7:30
p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount
Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets
are $59.50. Call 703-549-7500 or
visit birchmere.com.
Holiday Gift Guide
Visit the Holiday Gift Guide Online at metroweekly.com/giftguide
Out On The Town
WITS SEASONAL DISORDER
Washington Improv Theaters annual holiday extravaganza features shows based on audience suggestions, showing you
the good, the bad and the ugly of the season all laughs to get you through. Each show is different, but all offer a grab
bag of spontaneous comedy and long-form improv. This years show also includes the new Citizens Watch, an original
production based on the TV series Broadchurch and featuring members from various WIT ensembles as well as new faces
to the WIT stage, directed by Mike Hendrix. Weekends to Dec. 30. Source Theater, 1835 14th St. NW. Tickets are $12 in
advance, $15 at the door, or $30 for reserved, front-row seats. Call 202-204-7770 or visit washingtonimprovtheater.com.
Compiled by Doug Rule
FILM
ASSASSINS CREED
Films based on established video

game franchises are never awful.
Well, except for Lara Croft, Mortal
Kombat, Final Fantasy, Resident
Evil, Silent Hill, Hitman, Prince of
Persia, Need for Speed, Ratchet &
Clank, Angry Birds, Warcraft, and
pretty much every game-based film
ever. It doesnt help that Justin
Kurzels action/adventure, about
a man reliving his ancestors past
as a member of an ancient order
of assassins and starring Michael
Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and
Jeremy Irons, looks dreadful. Now
playing. Area theaters. Visit fandango.com. (Rhuaridh Marr)
HIDDEN FIGURES
The late John Glenn lives on in

a feel-good drama by Theodore
Melfi that focuses on the incredible,
untold story about the three female
African-American NASA employees

who helped launch the astronaut
into orbit. Taraji P. Henson, Octavia
Spencer and Janelle Monae face
personal and professional struggles
on the way to winning the Space
Race. Adapted from the book by
Margot Lee Shetterly. Opens
Sunday, Dec. 25. Area theaters. Visit
fandango.com.
LION
Saroo Brierley (Dev Patel) is an

Indian-born Australian businessman who begins to remember flashes of his early life: He got on a
train, was separated from his family, and eventually adopted by his
Australian parents (Nicole Kidman
and David Wenham). Using Google
Earth, he traces his memories of
certain locations in an attempt to
find his birth family. Garth Davis
film is based on a true story, and
seems crafted to deliver the emotional storytelling Academy voters
love. Rooney Mara also stars. Opens
Sunday, Dec. 25. Area theaters. Visit
fandango.com. (RM)
ROGUE ONE:
A STAR WARS STORY
HHHHH
Disney has solemnly sworn to
release a Star Wars film every year
from now to eternity and Rogue
One: A Star Wars Story is good but
not great. Apart from a magnificently orchestrated 30 minute climactic
battle that pulls out all the stops,
its nowhere near as fun or engaging as last years Force Awakens.
Narratively, it fills a few gaps, and
fully and finally explains one key
plot point from A New Hope that
has plagued super-fans for decades.
We now know why, how and who.
Now playing. Area theaters. Visit
fandango.com. (Randy Shulman)
STAGE
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Craig Wallace takes over from

Edward Gero as the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge in Fords
Theatres 35th anniversary production of Dickens Yuletide classic.
The music-infused adaptation was
originally conceived by Michael

Wilson. To Dec. 31. Fords Theatre,
511 10th St. NW. Call 800-982-2787
or visit fordstheatre.org.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL: A GHOST

STORY OF CHRISTMAS
Olney Theatre Center presents

another seasonal run of the oneman portrayal of the Dickens classic by Paul Morella, who bases his
adaptation on Dickens original
novella and reading tour. To Dec.
31. The Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre
Lab, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring
Road, Olney, Md. Call 301-9243400 or visit olneytheatre.org.
AN IRISH CAROL
For the fifth year in a row, Keegan

Theatre offers company member Matthew Keenans homage to
Dickens, albeit with typical, Irish
biting humor and incisive candor.
Mark A. Rhea directs a cast featuring himself plus Kevin Adams,
Josh Adams, Timothy Lynch, Mike
Kozemchak, Matt Hirsh, Caroline
Dubberly and Mick Tinder. To Dec.
11
31. Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church

St. NW. Tickets are $35 to $45.
Call 202-265-3768 or visitkeegantheatre.com.
DOT
SUBBOTINA ANNA
Baltimores Everyman Theatre

presents a new holiday comedy by
Colman Domingo, (Fear the Walking
Dead) which explores the shifting
dynamics in an African-American
family. With everyone home in
West Philly for Christmas, aging
matriarch Dotty (Sharon Hope) is
seen slowly losing her mind amid
her three brawling adult children.
Directed by Vincent M. Lancisi. To
Jan. 8. Everyman Theatre, 315 West
Fayette St. Baltimore. Tickets are
$43 to $49. Call 410-752-22508 or
visit everymantheatre.org.
FULLY COMMITTED
NEW YEARS FEASTS
Wondering where to dine on New Years Eve and Day? We offer

some fantastic suggestions
OST RESTAURANTS WILL BE OPEN NEW YEARS EVE AND NEW YEARS
Day this year, due to the holiday falling over a weekend. Most, but not all.
Alexandrias BASTILLE restaurant will honor the Gallic tradition of offering a feast
on New Years Eve while reserving the following day for private reflection, resolution and
recovery. Christophe and Michelle Poteaux will prepare a four-course, prix-fixe dinner for
$79 per person of hearty French classics from an oyster and caviar appetizer to an entree
of steak au poivre. Desserts include Nutella molten cake with bourbon ice cream and
Grand Marnier panna cotta with blood orange sorbet. Call 703-519-3776 or visit bastillerestaurant.com.
LENFANT CAFE is offering a four-course dinner prepared by Chef Travis Hearne, this one
at $65 per person. The New Years Eve version of the Adams Morgan venues long-running
adults-only La Boum brunch is at CAPITALE on 13th and K Streets NW, with three set for
New Years weekend. Its not for the conservative or the weary. Call 202-792-4334 or visit
lenfantcafe.com.
For BEACON BAR & GRILL, the holiday is a two-day presentation. At $65 per person, the
restaurants four-course Saturday dinner offers unlimited champagne and menu items
ranging from bourbon-flavored Lobster Bisque to a Chefs Surf & Turf Trio of steak,
lobster and pork belly, to Butternut Squash Pappardelle with chanterelle mushrooms
and shaved Brussels sprouts, capped by a Chocolate Mousse Duo or a Trio of Sorbets.
The following day brings a special edition of Beacons Champagne Buffet Brunch with
free-flowing bubbly for $38.95 per person. (Two can enjoy the dinner and a one-night
stay in the hotel with parking for $295.99; the $359.95 package adds brunch for two.) Call
202-872-1126 or visit bbgwdc.com.
For gourmands marking a particularly special occasion, the rustic-chic BLUE DUCK
TAVERN cant be beat. The contemporary American restaurant in the Park Hyatt Washington
recently earned a coveted star in the Michelin Guide Washington DC. Chef Brad Deboy will
create a four-course menu centered around seasonal ingredients sourced from regional
markets, farms and waterways and slow-roasted in the open kitchens wood-burning oven.
The $135 per person price includes a champagne toast. Call 202-419-6755 or visit blueducktavern.com.
Sometimes you want the classics twist-free. And few places offer creature comforts as
reliably as ANNIES. The 17th Street institutions menu features staples such as Steak Frites
and Eggs with home fries, Corned Beef Hash Benedict, and the signature oven-roasted
Athenian Chicken platter. The menu is available around the clock, all weekend long. Because
Annies, now as ever, is a 24-hour diner on weekends. Call 202-232-0395. Doug Rule
12
Becky Modes one-man tour-deforce, directed by Alan Paul and

starring indomitable local actor
Tom Story, is set in the basement
office of a trendy Manhattan restaurant. Story uses multiple phones to
give voice to the storys 32 characters, save Sam, who is always front
and center. To Jan. 8. MetroStage,
1201 North Royal St., Alexandria.
Tickets are $55 to $60. Call 800494-8497 or visit metrostage.org.
INTO THE WOODS

Fiasco Theaters stripped-down
approach to Stephen Sondheims
Into The Woods is missing a fullfledged pit orchestra but you wont
miss them, as the 10-member
ensemble effectively pulls double duty, performing as supporting musicians. Its an audacious
approach, with directors Noah
Brody and Ben Steinfeld rethinking
the musical from top to bottom.
The ensemble is enthusiastic and
dedicated, and ideally poised to
lead the audience on an enlightening and revealing journey, one in
which the lyrics are as front and
center as theyve ever been. To Jan.
8. Kennedy Center Eisenhower
Theater. Tickets are $45 to $175.
Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org. (DR)
KING UBU
Helen Hayes Award-winning costume designer Frank Labovitz

makes his D.C. directorial debut
with a Pointless Theatre Company
adaptation of French pioneer Alfred
Jarrys early avant-garde 1896 work
Ubu Roi. According to Pointless,
King Ubu offers lowbrow humor,
ludicrous language and full-bore
puppet carnage all wrapped up into
a funhouse take on Macbeth and
classical tragedy. Haely Jardas is
Ma Ubu and Colin Connor is Pa
Ubu in an ensemble production
featuring music by Mike Winch.
Costume-making duty falls to
another local veteran, Ivania Stack.
To Jan. 7. Mead Theatre Lab at
Flashpoint, 916 G St. NW. Tickets
are $15 to $30. Call 202-733-6321 or

visit pointlesstheatre.com.
LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES
Two French aristocrats challenge each other to seduce unsuspecting innocents in Christopher
Hamptons bracing drama of control and betrayal drawn from the
novel by Choderlos de Laclos. Hana
S. Sharif directs a production starring Suzzanne Douglas and Brent
Harris that offers a sneak peek into
Center Stages Pearlstone Theatre,
in the final stages of a year-long renovation. Closes Saturday, Dec. 23.
700 North Calvert St., Baltimore.
Tickets are $20 to $64. Call 410332-0033 or visit centerstage.org.
MARY POPPINS
The holidays at Olney Theatre this

year are brought to you by the musical version of the Disney favorite.
Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey)
wrote the book to the adaptation
featuring many of the standards
from the movie by Richard M. and
Robert B. Sherman and incorporating new songs by George Stiles and
Anthony Drewe. Jason King Jones
directs, with choreography by Tara
Jeanne Vallee. Patricia Hurley stars.
To Jan. 1. Olney Theatre Center,
2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road,
Olney, Md. Call 301-924-3400 or
visit olneytheatre.org.
MISS BENNET:
CHRISTMAS AT PEMBERLEY
Lauren Gunderson and Margot

Melcons holiday play is set two
years after Pride and Prejudice, with
the focus (unsurprisingly) on Mary
Bennet. Eleanor Holdridge directs
favorite characters as they gather at Pemberley, the home of Mr.
and Mrs. Darcy, played by Danny
Gavigan and Erin Weaver. Katie
Kleiger is Miss Bennet. Now in
previews. Closes Friday, Dec. 23.
Round House Theatre, 4545 EastWest Highway, Bethesda. Tickets
are $55 to $70. Call 240-644-1100 or
visit roundhousetheatre.org.
MOBY DICK
HHHHH
Visually and aurally enchanting,
and very much a work of physical theater, this is storytelling as
magical dream. Blended with the
extraordinary eye of adapter and
director David Catlin, music, sound,
movement, and an artful quotient
of aerial acrobatics draw us into a
beautifully gloomy world above and
below the sea. The watery depths
are filled with mysterious life
natural, metaphorical, perhaps even
supernatural. To Dec. 24. Kreeger
Theater in the Mead Center for
American Theater, 1101 6th St. SW.
Call 202-488-3300 or visit arenastage.org. (Kate Wingfield)
14
SILVER BELLES
Talk about a starry cast: D.C. leading ladies Donna Migliaccio, Nova
Y. Payton, Ilona Dulaski, Naomi
Jacobson and Sandy Bainum help
ensure this new holiday musical
becomes a must-see affair, particularly for a certain segment of the
theatergoing community. Married
musical writing duo and local stage
actors Matt Conner and Stephen
Gregory Smith developed lyrics
set to Conners score, with a book
by fellow D.C. playwright Allyson
Currin. Billed as Golden Girls
meets Designing Women, Silver
Belles, directed by Signatures Eric
Schaeffer, focuses on a small town
in Tennessee struggling to keep a
beloved holiday pageant alive after
the sudden death of its longtime
director. To Dec. 31. Signature
Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave.,
Arlington. Call 703-820-9771 or visit
signature-theatre.org.
SLEEPING BEAUTY
Closer to Brothers Grimm than

Disney, Synetic Theater presents a
darkly elegant and, as you would
expect from Synetic, wordless
adaptation of the classic tale. To
Jan. 8. Theater at Crystal City, 1800
South Bell St., Arlington. Tickets
are $45 to $55. Call 800-494-8497
or visit synetictheater.org.
STRAIGHT WHITE MEN

Given the current nationwide
white-geist, Studio Theatre should
be applauded for their prescience
in bringing Young Jean Lees ballsy comedy Straight White Men to
the capital. An artist whos fearless in tackling touchy subjects, Lee
delivers in one tight 85-minute play
a surgical dissection of the rites
and rights of the straight white
male. Helmed by director Shana
Cooper, this warmly accessible production doesnt disappoint in eliciting laughs and sparking insight,
with its story of three adult sons
at home for what could be a testy
Christmas with their widower
father. Extended to Dec. 31. Studio
Theatre, 14th & P Streets NW.
Tickets are $20 to $97. Call 202332-3300 or visit studiotheatre.org.
(Andre Hereford)
THE KINSEY SICKS

OY VEY IN A MANGER
Apart from their clever arrangements and vibrant, precise vocals,

the secret to the dragapella group
the Kinsey Sicks popularity lies in
its biting, satiric take on everything
from sex to politics. Their songs are
funny, filthy, and often unexpectedly
poignant. To Dec. 28. The Aaron and
Cecile Goldman Theater, Edlavitch
DCJCC, 1529 16th St. NW. Tickets
are $19.13 to $52.88. Call 202-7773210 or visit theaterj.org.
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE

WARDROBE
Tom Story directs a two-person cast

in the classic tale of three children
who venture into the magical realm
of Narnia. To Dec. 31. Adventure
Theatre MTC, 7300 MacArthur
Blvd., Glen Echo. Tickets are
$19.50. Call 301-634-2270 or visit
adventuretheatre-mtc.org.
THE SECOND CITYS BLACK SIDE

OF THE MOON
An all-African American troupe

of sketch and stand-up artists
satirize what it means to be
black in our soon-to-be postObama era. The shows Second
City ensemble consists of Angela
Alise, Sonia Denis, Dave Helem,
Torian Miller, Felonious Munk
and Dewayne Perkins. To Jan. 1.
At Woolly Mammoth, 641 D St.
NW. Tickets range from $20 to
$59. Call 202-393-3939 or visit
woollymammoth.net.
THE SECRET GARDEN

Twenty-five years after its debut
on Broadway, The Secret Garden
remains Daisy Eagans show. The
youngest-ever female Tony Awardwinner for her work as Mary, Eagan
now assumes the role of chambermaid Martha, a motherly supporting
character and the first to show any
kindness to the quite-contrary Mary
(Anya Rothman), described early on
as the most disagreeable-looking
child ever seen. Marsha Norman
won a Tony Award for a book about
a precocious girl that remarkably
doesnt pander to either children
or adults. And yet, it also doesnt
provoke or veer from predictability
enough to register more than passing interest. Lucy Simons rather
plain, tender, tempered score is also
not particularly noteworthy, save
for some subtle Indian flourishes to
give it a bit of exotic oomph. To Dec.
31. Sidney Harman Hall, Harman
Center for the Arts, 610 F St. NW.
Tickets are $44 to $123. Call 202547-1122 or visit shakespearetheatre.org. (DR)
MUSIC
ALL-STAR CHRISTMAS DAY
JAZZ JAM
Among the many jazzy jingle balls

on offer this season, itd be hard
to beat the Kennedy Centers free
Christmas Day treat, the All-Star
Christmas Day Jazz Jam. The 18th
annual event features host/vibraphonist Chuck Redd, drummer
Lenny Robinson, pianist Robert
Redd, trumpeter Tom Williams,
bassist James King, and vocalist
Delores Williams. Sunday, Dec.
25, at 6 p.m. Kennedy Center
Millennium Stage. Free. Call 202467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
BIZ MARKIE:
FILLMORE FLASHBACK
The Clown Prince of Hip-Hop,

as MTV once called him, will again
relive his glory days hosting and
spinning for another 80s vs 90s
Dance Party. Local cover bands
New Romance (the 80s) and
Heres To The Night (the 90s)
join Markie, a Maryland resident
known for Just A Friend. Friday,
Dec. 23, at 8 p.m. Fillmore Silver
Spring, 8656 Colesville Road,
Silver Spring. Tickets are $15.50.
Call 301-960-9999 or visit fillmoresilverspring.com.
CAROLYN MALACHI
Grammy-nominated D.C. jazzy

soul singer and spoken word poet/
rapper, Carolyn Malachi is a cross
between Jill Scott and Erykah
Badu, though her clear, pretty voice is more akin to Natalie
Coles. Performing a free concert
at the Kennedy Center, Malachi
tours in support of her new album,
Rise [Story 1], the first part in a
planned trilogy, Rise of the Modern
Natural, featuring original jaunty songs with various guest musicians. Friday, Dec. 30, at 6 p.m.
Kennedy Center Millennium Stage.
Free. Call 202-467-4600 or visit
kennedy-center.org.
CYRUS CHESTNUT TRIO
The best jazz pianist of his generation, Time music critic Josh
Tyrangiel wrote earlier this year
about Baltimores versatile virtuoso
Cyrus Chestnut, who 20 years ago
portrayed a Count Basie-inspired
pianist in Robert Altmans film
Kansas City. He returns to D.C.s
leading jazz venue for a weeklong
run of shows with a bassist and
drummer, culminating in New
Years Eve performances, both
offering a three-course meal with
a midnight glass of champagne
at second seating and featuring vocalist-led Integriti Reeves
Band. Monday, Dec. 26, through
Friday, Dec. 30, at 8 and 10 p.m.,
and Saturday, Dec. 31, at 6:30 and
10 p.m. Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin
Ave. NW. Tickets are $35 to $45,
or $110 to $150 for New Years Eve
dinner/show packages, plus $12
minimum purchase. Call 202-3374141 or visit bluesalley.com.
DURAN DURAN
The legendary British pop band,

minted in the 80s MTV era, returns
to the area after its April blowout
at the Verizon Center in support
of new album Paper Gods. Duran
Duran offers two New Year concerts
in the 3,000-seat theater at the new
waterfront resort thats been the
talk of the town over the past few
weeks. Saturday, Dec. 31, at 10:30
p.m., and Sunday, Jan. 1, at 9 p.m.
Theater at MGM National Harbor,
7100 Harborview Ave., Oxon Hill,
Md. Remaining tickets are $150 to
$602. Call 844-346-4664 or visit
mgmnationalharbor.com.
EMILY SKINNER
Last year, Broadways Emily

Skinner (Side Show, Billy Elliot)
took to AMP by Strathmore to perform Broadway Her Way, a cabaret of standards from Rodgers and
Hammerstein, Lerner and Lowe,
and Kander and Ebb as well as
newer musical theater tunes from
her repertoire and beyond. Skinner
will close out 2016 by offering two
performances of her cabaret at one
of the leading theater companies
in her hometown. Saturday, Dec.
31, at 8 and 10:30 p.m. Richmond
Triangle Players, 1300 Altamont
Ave. Richmond. Tickets are $45
to $70. Call 804-346-8113 or visit
rtriangle.org.
HANK WILLIAMS TRIBUTE
Alexandrias premiere music hall

offers the 20th annual tribute to
one of the most heralded and influential country singers of all time,
this year including performances
by Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Bill
Kirchen, Robin & Linda Williams,
Patrick McAvinue, and Mark
Schatz. Thursday, Dec. 29, at 7:30
p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount
Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets
are $29.50. Call 703-549-7500 or
visit birchmere.com.
JANE MONHEIT
One of the most touted female talents in contemporary jazz, Jane

Monheit has a sound that blends
natural elegance with potent yet

impressively controlled presentation, as the All Music Guide
has put it. After a spring run of
shows celebrating The Songbook
Sessions: Ella Fitzgerald, the first
release on her label Emerald City
Records, Monheit returns to Blues
Alley for a special Christmas show.
Thursday, Dec. 22, and Friday, Dec.
23, at 8 and 10 p.m. Blues Alley,
1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Tickets
are $40 to $45, plus $12 minimum
purchase. Call 202-337-4141 or visit
bluesalley.com.
START MAKING SENSE W/HMFO
Two 80s-steeped tribute acts, one

a New York-based eight-piece band
playing songs by David Byrne and
Talking Heads and led by Jon
Braun the other a Pennsylvania
duo portraying the famous R&B/
pop Keystone state hitmakers Hall
& Oates. The venue promises a
dance floor for the event in front
of the stage, in case concertgoers
feel moved to burn down the house.
Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 7:30 p.m.
The Hamilton, 600 14th St. NW.
Tickets are $18 to $25.50. Call 202787-1000 or visit thehamiltondc.
com.
THE 19TH STREET BAND
One of the more popular local

cover bands, the 19th Street Band
rings in 2017 at the Hamilton by
playing all your favorite tunes
in the Americana and folk genres.

Caolaidhe Davis leads the trio also
including his fiddle-playing wife
Meghan Davis and bassist Brian
White. Saturday, Dec. 31. Doors
at 8:30 p.m. In the Loft at the
Hamilton, 600 14th St. NW. Tickets
are $35, including a complimentary
champagne toast at midnight. Call
202-787-1000 or visit thehamiltondc.com.
THE SELDOM SCENE
Formed over 40 years ago in

Bethesda, progressive bluegrass
band Seldom Scene remains especially popular in its hometown
region. They return to Alexandrias
seated show palace after presenting
a Black Friday treat, this time for
a New Years Eve toast with special guests the Locust Honey String
Band and Cabin Creek. Saturday,
Dec. 31, at 8 p.m. The Birchmere,
3701
Mount
Vernon
Ave.,
Alexandria. Tickets are $39.50. Call
703-549-7500 or visit birchmere.
com or seldomscene.com.
THE SPLIT SECONDS
A four piece based in D.C., the Split

Seconds delivers a raw, energetic,
old-school sound inspired by late
70s punk bands the Buzzcocks, the
Clash, and the Heartbreakers. Dot
Dash, Canker Blossom open. Friday,
Jan. 6. Doors at 6 p.m. DC9, 1940
9th St. NW. Tickets are $8. Call
202-483-5000 or dcnine.com.
THE STRAUSS SYMPHONY

OF AMERICAS NEW YEARS
CONCERT
Imre Kollar conducts the Strauss

orchestra and a fellow Hungarian
performer, tenor Zoltan Nyari,
and Berlin-based Polish soprano
Katarzyna Dondalska, plus dancers
from the National Ballet of Hungary
and the International Champion
Ballroom Dancers in Salute to
Vienna, inspired by the Austrian
capitals famed Neujahrskonzert
and offering Strauss waltzes, polkas
and operetta excerpts. Attila Glatz
Concerts presents the 16th annual
concert. Monday, Jan. 2, at 3 p.m.
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301
Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda.
Remaining tickets are $49 to $125.
Call 301-581-5100 or visit strathmore.org.
WHITE FORD BRONCO
D.C.s all 90s party band, cheekily named after O.J. Simpsons
notorious failed getaway car, sings
through that decades songbook
in all styles of popular music, and
will close out 2016 at its next area
concert. The five-member ensemble consists of singer/guitarist
Diego Valencia, singer Gretchen
Gustafson, guitarists Ken Sigmund
and McNasty, and drummer Max
Shapiro. Saturday, Dec. 31. Doors at
9 p.m. Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St.
NW. Tickets are $45. Call 202-3286000 or visit thelincolndc.com.
15
WICKED JEZABEL
Pauline Anson-Dross popular lesbian all-covers party-rock band

Wicked Jezabel has been rocking
as well as raising money for
various good causes all over the
region for a decade now, originally
under the name The Outskirts of
Town. Next up is a concert to ring
in 2017. Saturday, Dec. 31, at 9 p.m.
JVs Restaurant, 6666 Arlington
Blvd. in Falls Church. Tickets are
$50 and include hors doeuvres,
party favors and midnight champagne toast. Call 703-241-9504 or
visit jvsrestaurant.com.
YASIIN BEY AKA MOS DEF WITH

SPECIAL GUESTS
Earlier this year, one of hip-hops

most influential artists as a solo
rapper and member of the group
Black Star announced he would
retire to pursue painting and to
run A Country Called Earth, his
new arts, culture and lifestyle collective in Africa. Also known from
work as as an actor (Spike Lees
Bamboozled, Suzan-Lori Parks
Topdog/Underdog), the artist formerly known as Mos Def and born
Dante Terrell Smith 43 years ago
will retire from the performing arts
only after a blowout run of concerts.
Co-presented by New Yorks Apollo
Theater, the shows feature different
special guests and focus on songs
from a different album each night.
Saturday, Dec. 31, through Monday,
Jan. 2, at 8 p.m. Kennedy Center
Concert Hall. Tickets are $35 to
$159, which includes, on Saturday,
Dec. 31, entrance to the Grand Foyer
Party starting at 10 p.m. with sets by
Shannon Gunn and the Bullettes
and Queen Esther and the Hot Five.
Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
DANCE
FLYING STEPS
The dance-theater piece Red Bull

Flying Bach is set to J.S. Bachs
Well-Tempered Clavier, only
remade using piano, harpsichord
and electronic beats, allowing the
Berlin-based b-boy, or breakdance, crew Flying Steps to show
off its style, merging classical music
and urban culture. Flying Steps
first staged the 70-minute work,
directed by Christoph Hagel, in its
native Germany in 2010, followed
by successful tours throughout
Germany and Europe with a performance at the 2011 Eurovision
Song Contest, no less as well as
other parts of the world. Set within
the world of dance, Red Bull Flying
Bach explores the tensions between
tradition and modernity, teacher
and students and two strangers falling head over heels. Friday,
Jan. 6, at 8 p.m. Warner Theatre,
513 13th St. NW. Tickets are $32
to $77. Call 202-783-4000 or visit
warnertheatredc.com.
16
MARYLAND YOUTH BALLET:

THE NUTCRACKER
Artistic Director Michelle Lees choreographs a family-friendly, fulllength production. Remaining dates
Friday, Dec. 23, at 7 pm., Monday,
Dec. 26, and Tuesday, Dec. 27, at 1
and 5 p.m. Montgomery Colleges
Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts
Center, 51 Mannakee St., Rockville.
Tickets are $26 to $31 in advance,
or $31 to $36 at the door. Call 240567-5301 or visit marylandyouthballet.org.
SAVION GLOVER
The energetic Tony Award-winning

hoofer (Bring in da Noise, Bring in
da Funk) returns to the area to help
2017 get a move on. Savion Glover
will show off his dancing dexterity
in everything from the classic tap
he made his name with as a child to
his more contemporary, improvisational choreography as an adult. In
2016, Glover earned another Tony
nomination as best choreographer
for Shuffle Along, or, the Making of
the Musical Sensation of 1921 and
All That Followed. Wednesday, Jan.
4, at 8 p.m. The Howard Theatre,
620 T St. NW. Tickets are $37.50 to
$77.50. Call 202-588-5595 or visit
thehowardtheatre.com.
STEP AFRIKA!
Local dance company Step Afrika!,

dedicated to the tradition of stepping, presents its fifth annual holiday step show. The focus is on
getting animals associated with the
holidays polar bears, penguins
to step. And all to music by Frosty
the Snowman, putting the needle
on the record as special guest DJ.
Through Dec. 30. Atlas Performing
Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. Tickets
are $18 to $40. Call 202-399-7993 or
visit atlasarts.org.
THE MOSCOW BALLET: GREAT

RUSSIAN NUTCRACKER
figure and King George III as the

Rat King. After two weekends in
the intimate THEARC space in
Southeast D.C. as part of the companys efforts to spread and diversify its audience, the production sets
up shop for nearly all of December
at downtowns Warner Theatre.
Remaining performances Thursday,
Dec. 22, and Friday, Dec. 23, at 2
and 7 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 24,
at 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Warner
Theatre, 513 13th St. NW. Tickets
are $30 to $164. Call 202-889-5901
or visit washingtonballet.org.
COMEDY
IMPRACTICAL JOKERS
Santiago Sent Us features the

Tenderloins, the four-member
troupe behind the Impractical
Jokers brand. Wednesday, Dec. 28,
at 7:30 p.m. The Theater at MGM
National Harbor, 7100 Harborview
Ave., Oxon Hill, Md. Tickets are
$50 to $90.91, or $125 for Official
Platinum Seats. Call 844-646-6847
or visit mgmnationalharbor.com.
MICHAEL KOSTA
The Comment Section on E! deconstructs the daily goings-on of pop

culture via social media, as led by
host Michael Kosta, who is the
shows co-executive producer along
with Joel McHale. In addition to
standup appearances on various late night talk shows, Kosta
is also known from his work with
Regis Philbin leading a panel of
experts on Fox Sports Crowd Goes
Wild. Thursday, Dec. 29, at 7 p.m.,
Friday, Dec. 30, at 8 and 10 p.m.,
and Saturday, Dec. 31, at 7 and 9
p.m. Drafthouse Comedy, 1100 13th
St. NW. Tickets are $20. Call 202750-6411 or visit drafthousecomedy.
com.
NICK GUERRA
Dubbed the Great Russian

Nutcracker, this version of the holiday ballet staple pays tribute to
Marius Petipa, who developed the
Nutcracker choreography and, for
good measure, that of Swan Lake
and is credited as The Father of
Russian Ballet. The Moscow Ballet
has been touring its Nutcracker in
the United States for more than 20
years and returns for another annual run at Strathmore. Thursday, Dec.
22, and Friday, Dec. 23, at 8 p.m.
Music Center at Strathmore, 5301
Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda.
Tickets are $48 to $88. Call 301-5815100 or visit strathmore.org.
From his TV debut on Comedy

Central in Gabriel Iglesias Stand
Up Revolution to NBCs Last Comic
Standing to a recent appearance
on The Tonight Show with Jimmy
Fallon, Nick Guerra is definitely an
up-and-comer. Hell skewer relationships, family and everyday life
in his signature cool and energetic
style as part of the Comedy at the
Kennedy Center series, with opener
Sarah Tiana. Thursday, Dec. 29, at
6 p.m. Millennium Stage. Free. Call
202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
THE WASHINGTON BALLET:

THE NUTCRACKER
Tiny Tim is sickly, Marley is dead,

and other plot points remain the
same, but the Baltimore Improv
Group offers An Improvised
Christmas Carol, with performers
using audience suggestions and
interaction to inspire wild deviations from the standard script.
Thursday, Dec. 22, and Friday, Dec.
23, at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Arlington
Every year for the past 12 years,

Washington Ballets artistic director Septime Webre has offered
his own twist on the family favorite, setting it in D.C.s historic
Georgetown neighborhood with
George Washington as the titular
THE BALTIMORE IMPROV

GROUP: BAH, HUMBUG!
Cinema N Drafthouse, 2903

Columbia Pike, Arlington. Tickets
are $20. Call 703-486-2345 or visit
arlingtondrafthouse.com.
THE SECOND CITYS

TWIST YOUR DICKENS
The Kennedy Center offers the D.C.

premiere of the comedy troupes
twist on A Christmas Carol, an
irreverent and interactive parody
featuring a Second City cast including Frank Caeti, Jamie Moyer,
Aaron Bliden, Anne Bowles, John
Lescault, Tia Shearer and Jamie
Smithson. Marc Warzecha directs a
largely improvised tale with a script
based on Dickens but adapted by
former The Colbert Report writers
Peter Gwinn and Bobby Mort. To
Dec. 31. Kennedy Center Theater
Lab. Tickets are $49 to $79. Call
202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
EXHIBITS
CERAMIC GUILDS
LET THERE BE LIGHT
Alexandrias Torpedo Factory Art

Center presents its annual show featuring holiday-themed handmade
gifts and keepsakes from local clay
artists. Think candleholders, lamps,
ornaments, dishware, sculpture and
more. To Dec. 31. Scope Gallery in
Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105
North Union St. Alexandria. Free.
Call 703-548-6288 or visit scopegallery.org.
DECO JAPAN
Tokyo is probably not the first place

that pops to mind when one thinks
of Art Deco, a style of architecture
and design that flourished in the
Jazz Age, yet this exhibit shines a
rare light on Japanese expressions
of Art Deco style, boasting objects
drawn from the collections of private citizens in Japan. The traveling
exhibit, organized by Art Services
International, also offers a glimpse
at the changing roles for women,
particularly in Hillwood founder
Marjorie Merriweather Posts time.
Through Dec. 31. Hillwood Estate,
4155 Linnean Ave. NW. Suggested
donation is $12. Call 202-686-5807
or visit HillwoodMuseum.org.
EXHIBITION OF
FINE ARTS IN MINIATURE
Strathmore hosts the 83rd annual show featuring more than 700
intricately detailed works of art,
painstakingly produced in miniature. The exhibition, presented by
the Miniature Painters, Sculptors
& Gravers Society of Washington,
D.C., draws viewers into a concentrated universe that traces it roots
to the 7th century. Through Dec. 31.
The Mansion at Strathmore, 10701
Rockville Pike, North Bethesda.
Call 301-581-5100 or visit strathmore.org.
Marylands modern art and architecture-focused Glenstone Museum

offers an exhibition featuring examples of drawing, wooden relief and
wire and yarn sculpture from this
late New York artist. Fred Sandback
was best known for immersive
installations made out of simple,
store-bought yarn, which he used to
outline geometric volumes within
otherwise empty rooms. Glenstone,
set on 200 acres of rolling pasture
and woodland in Montgomery
County, Md., also offers hourly
guided outdoor sculpture tours
of works by Andy Goldsworthy,
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Ellsworth
Kelly, Jeff Koons, Charles Ray,
Julian Schnabel and Richard
Serra. Through Dec. 31. Glenstone
Museum, 12002 Glen Road,
Potomac, Md. Call 301-983-5001 or
visit glenstone.org.
INNER CITY HUES
A vibrant collection of photography and painting by Charlie Gaynor

and Michael Crossett that explores
area neighborhoods through layered compositions of architecture
and design affected by time. The
exhibit celebrates and documents
modern urban culture. Through
Dec. 30. Hill Center Galleries, Old
Navy Hospital, 921 Pennsylvania
Ave. SE. Call 202-549-4172 or visit
HillCenterDC.org.
MAUD TABER-THOMAS:
THINKERS AND DREAMERS
An Exhibition of Portraits Inspired

by Literature is the subtitle for
an exhibit from this Silver Springbased painter, scholar and classical
musician with artworks inspired
by everyone from Shakespeare to
James, Austen to Wilde, with an
emphasis on strong female characters. Many of Maud TaberThomass drawings and paintings
are said to exist within a peaceful
conversation between the many art
forms that she loves. Through Jan.
7. Susan Calloway Fine Arts, 1643
Wisconsin Ave. NW. Call 202-9654601 or visit callowayart.com.
MICHELLE PETERSONALBANDOZ
A popular draw at Long View

Gallery, Chicago-based lesbian
artist creates large, hanging-wood
sculptures made from reclaimed
wood, often found in dumpsters
and back alleys. Many of her latest works on display pay tribute to
the National Museum of African
American History and Culture,
bearing some resemblance to the
museums facade. Through Dec.
31. Long View Gallery, 1234 9th
St. NW. Call 202-232-4788 or visit
longviewgallery.com.
SEASONS GREETINGS:
NATIONAL PARKS AND
HISTORIC PLACES
The centennial of the National Park

Service and 50th anniversary of
the National Historic Preservation
Act is the centerpiece at this years
holiday exhibit at the U.S. Botanic
Garden. Trains in this years model
train show chug around, below,
through and above re-creations of
iconic national parks and sites in
the National Register of Historic
Places everything from the Grand
Canyon to the Gateway Arch to
a 7-foot-tall Statue of Liberty, all
made from plants and other natural
materials. One of the largest indoor
trees in D.C. will be decorated with
ornaments celebrating national
parks, while miniature models of
the nations capital landmarks will
also be on display. Through Jan. 2.
United States Botanic Garden, 100
Maryland Ave. SW. Call 202-2258333 or visit usbg.gov.
ABOVE & BEYOND
PHOTO COURTESY MGM NATIONAL HARBOR
FRED SANDBACK:
LIGHT, SPACE, FACTS
KENNEDY CENTERS HOLIDAY

VAUDEVILLE
Once again, the Kennedy Center

offers two nights of a variety show
of holiday entertainment hosted
by Cajun cellist Sean Grissom and
featuring modern Klezmer quartet
the Alexandria Kleztet performing traditional Eastern European/
Jewish music with modern influences. Also on tap this year is
juggler Cindy Marvell. Monday,
Dec 26, and Tuesday, Dec. 27, at
6 p.m. Millennium Stage. Free.
Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
MEDIEVAL MADNESS
Touted as an out-of-the-ordinary
experience, Alexandrias Medieval
Madness blends art and history
and not simply by way of historical
reenactment. Its an adventure set
in 15th-century England and featuring court jesters, men in tights,
and battling knights trained by the
European Martial Arts Academy.
But above all else, Medieval
Madness is a comedy show. Fourcourse feasts on Fridays and
Saturdays, with an additional feast
Thursday, Dec. 29, at 7 p.m., as
well as a New Years Eve Party,
including a feast, live DJ and dancing and midnight champagne toast,
Saturday, Dec. 31, at 8 p.m. John
Strongbows Tavern, 710 King St.
Alexandria. Tickets are $65, or
$125 for feast with open bar at New
Years Eve party. Call 703-329-3075
or visit medievalmadness.com.
ROERS ZOOFARIS CHINESE

LANTERN FESTIVAL
What was once known as the Reston

Zoo presents a Chinese Lantern
Festival with authentic Chinese
lanterns that are far beyond the
simple, traditional hand-held can-
BRUNO MARS
Next September, Bruno Mars will perform two shows

at his usual spot in the area, the Verizon Center, part
of his 24k Magic World Tour. But next week the
31-year-old offers a more intimate concert at the new
3,000-seat theater at MGM National Harbor. Mars
tours in support of 24K Magic, his third album and
first not produced by the Smeezingtons. The result is
an uninspiring mix of bland synthy R&B jams and syrupy ballads straight out of the cheesy and dated New
Edition/Bell Biv DeVoe playbook. Yet somehow, we
have a feeling the magnetic performer Mars wont have
any trouble selling us on all of the tunes, both new and
all-too-familiar, when he renders them live. Tuesday,
Dec. 27, at 9 p.m. Theater at MGM National Harbor,
7100 Harborview Ave., Oxon Hill, Md. Call 844-3464664 or visit mgmnationalharbor.com.
dle-lit lamps, made out of silk and

paper, that the term might conjure.
There are 40 lantern sets of 800
displays in all, portraying animals
from around the world. Presented
by Hanart Culture, a company
focused on bringing the art and
culture of China to America, the
festival also includes other forms
of Chinese art and entertainment
handicrafts, live kung fu perfor-
mances to create an enchanting,

multicultural experience in the
30-acre park. There are also animatronic dinosaurs for kids to ride.
Daily from 5 to 9 p.m. until Jan.
15. Roers Zoofari, 1228 Hunter
Mill Rd., Vienna, Va. Tickets are
$12.50 for children and $22 for
adults online, or $15 and $25 at
the gate. Call 703-757-6222 or visit
ChineseLanternFestival.com. l
17
theFeed
2016: THE YEAR IN REVIEW
From the tragic shooting at Pulse to the tragic election of President Donald Trump, we take
stock of the year just ended by John Riley
OR THE LGBT COMMUNITY, 2016 MARKS THE end

of a brief honeymoon period in our history, when progress on equality seemed all but inevitable. The past eight
years of the Obama administration have left the LGBT community relatively spoiled, enjoying major victories like the repeal of
Dont Ask, Dont Tell and the legalization of marriage equality.
2016 changed everything. From the enactment of anti-LGBT
legislation to the massacre of 49 people in Orlandos Pulse
nightclub, it has certainly not been a year to remember. And
thats before you consider Brexit, the election of Trump, the
onslaught of ISIS, and the atrocities in Syria.
The sentiment is widespread that this year has been one of
the worst in recent memories. Last Week Tonights John Oliver
told 2016 Fuck You, BuzzFeed called the year shitty, and
Slate magazine even ran a headline asking: Is 2016 the worst
year in history?
Despair and frustration can be powerful forces to overcome.
But 2017 offers the LGBT community a chance to rebound and
refocus our efforts on the things weve neglected. Now, perhaps
more than ever, is the time to fight back against any erosion of
our rights. But first let us remember the horrible year that was
the victories and defeats, the highs and lows, the gains and
losses and resolve to make 2017 that bit less awful.
JANUARY
2016 started as it meant to go on: in abject misery. ISISs rampage in Syria and Iraq continued to claim countless lives, including dozens of LGBT people particularly young men suspected
of being gay. Tried in farcical courts, ISIS victims were thrown
from buildings, stoned to death, shot in the head, or sometimes a
combination of those atrocities. At least two of the victims were
under the age of 18, and ISIS shows no signs of relaxing its barbaric attitudes towards homosexuality any time soon.
Back home, the presidential primary was offering scarce
respite for the LGBT community, as business mogul DONALD
TRUMP emerged from a field of 17 many of whom harbored
anti-LGBT attitudes. At the time, Trump was considered the
least awful GOP candidate for LGBT rights, something that
would later prove wishful thinking.
Alabama Chief Supreme Court Justice ROY MOORE came
crawling back out of the woodwork at the start of the year, with
the notoriously homophobic judge telling probate judges in the
state to ignore the U.S. Supreme Courts June 2015 decision on
marriage equality. Thankfully, it would finally prove a bigoted
step too far, something Moore learned later in 2016.
In more positive news, the FURIES HOUSE the site of a
lesbian collective in Southeast D.C. made history by becoming
the first lesbian-specific D.C. Historic Landmark. It would later
become one of 10 LGBT sites listed on the National Register of
Historic Places.
D.C.s leather enthusiasts rejoiced in January, when
Arlington resident TODD LEAVITT was named Mr. MAL at the
annual MID-ATLANTIC LEATHER WEEKEND. It was a feel-good
story for Leavitt, who won Mr. Detroit Leather in 1991 but was
forced to give it up to become an Army physician at Walter Reed
Army Medical Center at a time when being openly gay was

still grounds for dismissal.
FEBRUARY
The death of anti-LGBT Supreme Court Justice ANTONIN SCALIA
caused one of the years most contentious fights, as Republicans
threatened to block President BARACK OBAMAs attempts to name
a replacement. Scalia opposed marriage equality and considered
gay people as reprehensible as murder, for example, or polygamy, or cruelty to animals. Any Obama-approved replacement
would likely have been more open to LGBT rights.
February also brought a flurry of anti-LGBT legislation in
various states. Some dealt with so-called religious freedom
objections, allowing businesses and individuals to refuse service
to LGBT people. Other legislation attempted to allow government officials to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
And others targeted the transgender community by relegating
trans people to using only those bathroom or locker room facilities of their assigned sex at birth.
Countering the wave of legislative hate, Charlotte, N.C.,
passed an ordinance that protected LGBT people from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations. In
Kentucky, the infamous Rowan County Clerk KIM DAVIS gave
up her fight against same-sex marriage and retreated back into
bigoted obscurity, after Gov. MATT BEVIN changed the law to
remove county clerks names from marriage licenses. In New
York, Gov. ANDREW CUOMO banned insurers from covering
ex-gay conversion therapy, and in D.C the City Council passed
a bill mandating that health care professionals receive cultural
competency training on how to best deal with LGBT patients.
MARCH
The LGBT community received a boost from two unlikely
sources: Gov. DENNIS DAUGAARD of South Dakota, who vetoed
an anti-transgender bathroom bill, and Gov. NATHAN DEAL,
of Georgia, who vetoed a religious freedom bill. In Iowa, the
Democratic-controlled Senate passed a bill to include protections for transgender individuals under the states hate crimes
statute. And in Mississippi, a longtime ban prohibiting same-sex
couples from adopting was ruled unconstitutional.
However, one of the biggest setbacks for the LGBT community this year came from North Carolina. Republicans, furious
that Charlotte City Council had attempted to protect LGBT
people from discrimination, called a special session to jam
through the now infamous HB 2. It overturned pro-LGBT nondiscrimination ordinances and forced transgender people to use
bathrooms based on their assigned sex at birth. The extent and
animosity of the bill led to a backlash from pro-equality municipalities across the country, with many banning state-sponsored
travel to North Carolina.
APRIL
The firestorm surrounding HB 2 continued to rage. The state
21
theFeed
was heavily criticized by the business and entertainment communities, with many choosing to boycott the state PayPal, for
instance, cancelled plans to build a global operations center in
North Carolina. In a desperate attempt to placate businesses,
Gov. PAT MCCRORY signed a nondiscrimination order aimed at
protecting LGBT people. But it contained significant religious
exemptions, meaning in reality it changed absolutely nothing.
There was more negative news, as Tennessee Gov. BILL
HASLAM signed a bill that allows therapists and counselors
to refuse to treat LGBT people and others whose lifestyle
the therapist or counselor finds objectionable a stunningly
ignorant move that could leave vulnerable LGBT people open
to harm. But Haslam wasnt alone in his tone-deaf support of
bigotry. Defying warnings from the business community in his
state, Mississippi Gov. PHIL BRYANT proudly signed yet another
religious freedom bill, legalizing discrimination against the
LGBT community.
Locally, D.C.s transgender community lost one of its own
after KEYONNA BLAKENEY was murdered in a hotel room in
Rockville. Blakeney became the latest name in a worryingly
long list of transgender women of color in the United States
who have been violently killed in recent years.
In response to HB 2, retail giant TARGET reached out to the
transgender community by adopting a policy allowing trans customers to use whichever restroom they feel most comfortable
with a show of support that infuriated anti-LGBT groups.
Perhaps most significantly for the transgender community,
the 4TH U.S. CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS issued a groundbreaking ruling in Virginia. It found that Title IXs protections
against sex discrimination apply to students who are discriminated against on the basis of their gender identity. The decision
handed GAVIN GRIMM a trans Gloucester County, Va., student a victory over his local school board, which has tried for
almost two years to ban him from the boys restroom.
MAY
In May, Congress fought over LGBT rights when Oklahoma U.S.
Rep. STEVE RUSSELL successfully added an amendment to a bill
that invalidated an Obama executive order banning LGBT discrimination by companies that receive government contracts.
LGBT advocates, led by U.S. Rep SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of
New York, attempted to add an amendment to another bill that
would overrule Russell. It got enough Republican votes to pass,
but party leaders later defeated the bill because heaven forbid
the GOP protect LGBT people from discrimination.
The month wasnt a total loss: The U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
EDUCATION and DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE issued revolutionary
guidance to schools asking them to treat transgender students
according to their gender identity, and the state of Vermont took
steps to ban the practice of conversion therapy on minors.
May also offered a history-making moment for the LGBT
community, when ERIC FANNING was confirmed as Secretary of
the Army, becoming the first openly gay person to lead a branch
of the U.S. military.
JUNE
As if legislative assault wasnt enough, 2016 brought a tragedy
that struck at the heart of the American LGBT community.
June, officially Pride month, is supposed to be 30 days of celebration and affirmation of the love and support within the
LGBT community. Instead, it became a test of the strength
of those bonds. In the early hours of June 12, a lone gunman
walked into Pulse an LGBT nightclub in Orlando and
22
opened fire, murdering 49 people and injuring a further 53.

Families were destroyed, relationships shattered, young lives
cut short in a senseless act of hatred.
In the wake of tragedy came an outpouring of love. Across
the country and, eventually, the world LGBT communities
gathered to mourn, to show support, and to commit to fighting
the very anger that had fueled one man to murder dozens of
LGBT people. Activists turned their attention to lax gun laws,
homophobes were temporarily silenced, and for a brief moment
LGBT Americans were reminded of just how far our movement
has come and how far it still has to go. The worst mass shooting in modern American history had deeply wounded the community, but we recovered, we remembered, and we renewed
our commitment to keep fighting for our rights.
Later that month, President Obama made history by designating the historic STONEWALL INN considered by some to
be the birthplace of the modern LGBT rights movement the
first national monument dedicated to LGBT history. It was a
powerful counterpoint to the tragedy that had occurred almost
two weeks earlier.
JULY
July began with a significant announcement from Defense
Secretary ASHTON CARTER: The U.S. military would begin
allowing transgender service members to serve openly.
Unfortunately, that news was countered by DONALD TRUMP
picking notoriously anti-LGBT Indiana Gov. MIKE PENCE to
be his running mate. Any thought that Trump would temper
Republican attitudes towards LGBT rights was further shattered at the Republican National Convention, where attendees
approved the most anti-LGBT platform in the Partys 162-year
history, according to Log Cabin President Gregory T. Angelo.
In contrast, Democrats bent over backwards to appeal to the
LGBT community at their convention, featuring major LGBT
elected officials, the approval of a pro-LGBT platform, and
speakers including JASON COLLINS, CHRISTINE LEINONEN
the mother of Pulse victim Drew Leinonen and HRCs SARAH
MCBRIDE, who became the first openly transgender person to
address a national convention.
AUGUST
The biggest headline grabber in August was the Rio 2016
Olympics, which was constantly mired in controversy. While 43
athletes openly identified as LGBT the largest number of any
Olympics THE DAILY BEAST enraged many when a reporter
wrote about gay athletes on Grindr in the Olympic Village. In
its original edit, it threatened to out athletes by listing their
sport and country of origin easily identifiable information
that placed some at risk in their home nations. Daily Beast
editors tried to fix the story, but the criticism was so great that
they took the unprecedented step of deleting it and posting an
editorial apology.
Donald Trump, smarting from Hillary Clintons commanding lead in the polls, appeared to have a split personality
over LGBT rights. On one hand, he proposed a test for new
immigrants from places with a history of terrorism or Islamic
extremism, including questions about their support for gay
rights. He also blasted Clinton for the Clinton Foundations
decision to accept money from anti-LGBT regimes in the
Middle East. But at the same time, Trump, along with Sen.
Marco Rubio, was accused of hypocrisy after he appeared at a
conference of anti-LGBT activists in Orlando, just a short drive
from the site of the Pulse nightclub massacre.
theFeed
In a blow to the Obama administration, REED OCONNOR, a
federal judge in Texas, blocked their guidance on the treatment
of transgender students, arguing that they did not follow proper
procedures.
SEPTEMBER
The hits just kept coming for North Carolina in the fall, as the
NCAA decided to pull several sports championships from the
state. The fallout was a major blow to Republicans, who campaigned on their support for HB 2.
In another small victory for transgender individuals, Housing
and Urban Development Secretary JULIAN CASTRO approved a
rule that requires homeless shelters accepting federal funds to
house people based on their gender identity.
Former Private CHELSEA MANNING, the transgender woman
behind one of the largest leaks of classified information in military history, went on a hunger strike to protest the Department
of Defenses refusal to treat her according to her gender identity. Manning was later promised gender confirmation surgery.
Eight months after trying to defy the Supreme Court,
Alabama Chief Justice ROY MOORE finally got his comeuppance. The Court of the Judiciary said that Moore had attempted to undermine the U.S. Supreme Courts decision legalizing
marriage equality. Moore was formally suspended without pay
for the remainder of his six-year term (ending in 2019). The
schadenfreude was strong.
In a blow to LGBT media, popular lesbian website
AFTERELLEN.COM shut down. Editor-in-chief TRISH BENDIX
urged readers to find other sites dedicated to queer women and
financially support them, saying: Queer women are worthy.
OCTOBER
California Gov. JERRY BROWN signed a bill for all public accommodations with single-user restrooms to be accessible to all
genders, giving California the most pro-transgender bathroom
laws in the country. In Florida, a judge ruled in favor of a transgender teen whose parents requested that the state change his
birth certificate to correctly reflect his gender identity.
In more good news, the U.S. SUPREME COURT agreed to
take up the case of Gavin Grimm, making a determination next
spring of whether transgender discrimination is, in fact, sex
discrimination.
At the national level, Clinton was en route to a historic win,
riding high in the polls after Trump was heard bragging about
sexually assaulting women in a tape from 2005. The LGBT
community was looking forward to continuing the advancements made under Obama. And the LOG CABIN REPUBLICANS
announced they would not be supporting Trumps bid for president due to the anti-gay records of his senior advisers. It marked
only the second time in the groups 40-year history that it has
not supported the Republican nominee.
It all came crashing down, however, when FBI Director
James Comey sent a vague letter to Congress that the Bureau
had received a new batch of emails possibly linked to the
Clinton email investigation. Voters forgot that Trump was a
bigoted, narcissistic, racist, Russia-supported wannabe demagogue and turned on Clinton once again. It was the beginning
of the end.
NOVEMBER
On November 8, Donald Trump shocked the world when he
was elected president. Hillary Clinton, who ran on the most
pro-LGBT platform in history, had lost. Trump, running on a

platform of hate and division, had won.
If there was any good news from election night, it was that
North Carolinas Pat McCrory lost to Attorney General ROY
COOPER, a Democrat. His support of anti-LGBT HB 2 was
widely attributed to his loss.
In the wake of Trumps election, there was a marked rise
in the number of anti-LGBT aggressions or hate crimes (along
with reports of other hate crimes against Latinos, Asians, Jews,
and Muslims). The President-elects response? Telling the perpetrators to Stop it during a televised interview with LESLEY
STAHL of 60 Minutes.
As he prepared for the presidency (by angrily tweeting at
SNL), Trump began to pick his cabinet members and close
advisers many of whom have a history of anti-LGBT attitudes.
They include: STEPHEN BANNON, the former chairman of
Breitbart beloved by white nationalists, RNC Chairman REINCE
PRIEBUS, Alabama Sen. JEFF SESSIONS, former presidential
candidate BEN CARSON, Texas Gov. RICK PERRY, and BETSY
DEVOS, a billionaire and donor to anti-gay organizations.
DECEMBER
As December came around, even glimmers of good news were
mired with compromises. Republicans dropped their support
for the anti-LGBT Russell Amendment, but only after Russell
said Trump would issue an executive order guaranteeing religious freedom for those who wish to discriminate against
LGBT people. LGBT advocates are now watching Sens. MIKE
LEE and TED CRUZ, who have vowed to reintroduce the FIRST
AMENDMENT DEFENSE ACT. And with Trump surrounded by a
litany of anti-LGBT voices, theres little to suggest hed veto any
anti-LGBT legislation that crosses his desk.
If politicians take 2017 to sharpen attacks on the LGBT community, it could be the courts that continue to offer resistance.
In addition to the Gavin Grimm case, federal courts are beginning to rule on various pieces of anti-LGBT legislation, including a challenge to the ruling that halted Mississippis anti-LGBT
law from going into effect. A number of other cases are expected
to go before the courts, dealing with adoption, parental rights,
birth certificates, transgender rights and more.
In addition to court fights, hundreds of anti-equality bills
are expected to be introduced in various states. But in North
Carolina, lawmakers may have a chance to repeal HB 2 completely as part of a deal that involves the Charlotte City Council
repealing its nondiscrimination ordinance. It remains to be seen
whether legislators will accept the deal they only have until
Dec. 31 to do so.
Lastly, on a positive note, D.C. has submitted a bid to host
the Gay Games in 2022. Attorney General ERIC HOLDER;
sports legend BILLIE JEAN KING; PAUL TAGLIABUE, the former Commissioner of the NFL; MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER; and
CONGRESSWOMAN ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON all supported
the bid. Three finalists will be announced in March, with a final
decision in fall 2017.
As the year drew to a close, December ultimately became a
time to regroup. With Republicans dominating across the country, activists are preparing for future assaults on LGBT rights.
And with a Trump administration thats a whos who of homophobes, theres little to suggest well see the same top-down
leadership on LGBT equality that marked the Obama years.
If theres a glimmer of hope for the LGBT community in all
of this, its that activists are bruised and battered, but also more
fired up than ever to ensure that our rights are protected and
advanced wherever possible. l
23
See
You in
2017
Community
THURSDAY, December 22
The DC ANTI-VIOLENCE
PROJECT (DC AVP), a group
dedicated to combating antiLGBT hate crimes, holds its

monthly meeting at The DC
Center. 7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St.
NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
Weekly Events
ANDROMEDA
TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH
offers free HIV testing, 9-5

p.m., and HIV services (by
appointment). Call 202-2914707, or visit andromedatransculturalhealth.org.
SKYLYNX
DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)

practice session at Takoma
Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St.
NW. 7:30-9 p.m. swimdcac.org.
FINDING YOUR RELIGION
Dignity and Bet Mishpachah offer services for LGBT congregants

during the holidays
HRISTMAS CAN BE LONELY, PARTICULARLY IF PEOPLE ARE UNABLE

to get home to loved ones who live in other areas of the country. Dignity Washington
has a solution specifically for LGBT Catholics wishing celebrate the holiday it
holds a Mass on Christmas Day at St. Margarets Episcopal Church. If the venue seems an
odd one, consider the tradition behind it.
Back in the mid-80s, Cardinal Ratzinger issued a document saying LGBT organizations
have no place in Catholic spaces, says Dignity President Vin Testa. So we made the move
over to St. Margarets, and theyve let us use their space on Sundays ever since.
The Mass concludes with a social. Those who may need a place to go will have an
opportunity to spend time with others who are around for the holiday, says Testa, adding
that sister organization Dignity NOVA will hold a Christmas Eve Mass, followed by a dessert potluck social, at Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill, in Alexandria, Va.
This year, December 24 is also the first night of Chanukah. The LGBT synagogue Bet
Mishpachah already held its annual Chanukah party last Friday, but there will be regular
Shabbat services on Dec. 23 at 8 p.m., Dec. 24 at 10 a.m., and Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. The synagogue,
along with Jewish groups GLOE, Gayyim, Nice Jewish Boys DC and Nice Jewish girls,
is hosting Oh, Gaydel, Gaydel, Gaydel, a Chanukah-themed event at Number Nine on
Thursday, Dec. 22, from 6 to 9 p.m. Says the synagogues Anne Buckwalter, [Its] got more
of a happy hour vibe. John Riley
For more information on Bet Mishpachahs Shabbat services, visit betmish.org.
Dignity NOVAs Christmas Eve Mass is Saturday, Dec. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at Immanuel Churchon-the-Hill, 3606 Seminary Rd., Alexandria, Va. Visit dignitynova.org.
Dignity Washingtons Christmas Day Mass is Sunday, Dec. 25 at 6 p.m. at St. Margarets
Episcopal Church, 1820 Connecticut Ave. NW. A social event follows in the basement of St.
Margarets. Visit dignitywashington.org.
DC LAMBDA SQUARES gay

and lesbian square-dancing
group features mainstream
through advanced square
dancing at the National City
Christian Church, 5 Thomas
Circle NW, 7-9:30 p.m. Casual
dress. 301-257-0517, dclambdasquares.org.
DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds
practice, 7:30-9:30 p.m. King

Greenleaf Recreation Center,
201 N Street SW. All welcome.
For more information, visit
scandalsrfc.org or email dcscandals@gmail.com.
The DULLES TRIANGLES

Northern Virginia social
group meets for happy hour
at Sheraton in Reston, 11810
Sunrise Valley Drive, second-floor bar, 7-9 p.m. All welcome. dullestriangles.com.
HIV TESTING at Whitman-
Walker Health. At the Elizabeth

Taylor Medical Center, 1701
14th St. NW, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. At
the Max Robinson Center, 2301
MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30
p.m. For an appointment call
202-745-7000. Visit whitman-walker.org.
IDENTITY offers free and

confidential HIV testing
in Gaithersburg, 414 East
Diamond Ave., and in Takoma
Park, 7676 New Hampshire
Ave., Suite 411. Walk-ins 2-6
p.m. For appointments other
hours, call Gaithersburg, 301300-9978, or Takoma Park,
301-422-2398.
METROHEALTH CENTER
offers free, rapid HIV testing.

Appointment needed. 1012 14th
St. NW, Suite 700. 202-638-0750.
27
SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5

p.m., by appointment and walk-in,
for youth 21 and younger. 202-5673155 or testing@smyal.org.
US HELPING US hosts a Narcotics
Anonymous Meeting, 6:30-7:30

p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. The
group is independent of UHU. 202446-1100.
WOMENS LEADERSHIP
INSTITUTE for young LBTQ
women, 13-21, interested in leadership development. 5-6:30 p.m.

SMYAL Youth Center, 410 7th St.
SE. 202-567-3163, catherine.chu@
smyal.org.
FRIDAY, December 23
GAMMA, a confidential support
group for men who are gay, bisexual, questioning and who are
married or involved with a woman,
meets in Washington on the second
and fourth Fridays of each month.
GAMMA also also offers additional
meetings in Northern Virginia and
Frederick, Md. 7:30-9:30 p.m. St.
Thomas Episcopal Church, 1772
Church St. NW. For more information, visit GAMMAinDC.org.
The DC Center holds its CENTER

AGING MONTHLY LUNCH social
for members of D.C.s senior community. 12-2 p.m. 2000 14th St.
NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedccenter.org or call
202-682-2245.
WOMEN IN THEIR TWENTIES

(AND THIRTIES), a social discus-
sion and activity group for queer

women, meets at The DC Center
on the second and fourth Fridays of
each month. Group social activity to
follow the meeting. 8-9:30 p.m. 2000
14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more
information, visit thedccenter.org.
Weekly Events
practice session at Hains Point,

927 Ohio Dr. SW. 6:30-8 p.m. Visit
swimdcac.org.
PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBT-
affirming social group for ages

11-24. 4-6 p.m. 1419 Columbia Road
NW. Contact Tamara, 202-3190422, layc-dc.org.
SMYALS REC NIGHT provides a

social atmosphere for GLBT and
questioning youth, featuring dance
parties, vogue nights, movies and
games. More info, catherine.chu@
smyal.org.
SATURDAY, December 24
Join the DC Center and help volunteer for a Christmas Eve community service project at FOOD &
FRIENDS. 10 a.m.-12 p.m. 219 Riggs
Rd. NE. For more information, visit
thedccenter.org.
28
Weekly Events
BET MISHPACHAH, founded by
members of the LGBT community,

holds Saturday morning Shabbat
services, 10 a.m., followed by
Kiddush luncheon. Services in
DCJCC Community Room, 1529
16th St. NW. betmish.org.
DC FRONT RUNNERS running/
walking/social club welcomes all

levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, socializing
afterward. Meet 9:30 a.m., 23rd &
P Streets NW, for a walk; or 10 a.m.
for fun run. dcfrontrunners.org.
DIGNITYUSA sponsors Mass for
LGBT community, family and

friends. 7:30 p.m., Immanuel
Church-on-the-Hill, 3606
Seminary Road, Alexandria. All
welcome. Potluck dessert social to
follow Mass. For more info, visit
dignitynova.org.
SUNDAY, December 25
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Weekly Events
LGBT-inclusive ALL SOULS
MEMORIAL EPISCOPAL CHURCH
celebrates Low Mass at 8:30

a.m., High Mass at 11 a.m. 2300
Cathedral Ave. NW. 202-232-4244,
allsoulsdc.org.
BETHEL CHURCH-DC progressive
and radically inclusive church

holds services at 11:30 a.m. 2217
Minnesota Ave. SE. 202-248-1895,
betheldc.org.
DIGNITYUSA offers Roman
Catholic Mass for the LGBT

community. 6 p.m. St. Margarets
Church, 1820 Connecticut Ave.
NW. All welcome. Sign interpreted.
Social to follow Mass. For more
info, visit dignitynova.org.
FAIRLINGTON UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH is an open,
inclusive church. Member of the
Reconciling Ministries Network.
All welcome. Services at 9:30
and 11:00 a.m. 3900 King Street,
Alexandria. 703-671-8557, fairlingtonumc.org.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL
UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
welcomes all to 10:30 a.m. service,

945 G St. NW. firstuccdc.org or
202-628-4317.
FRIENDS MEETING OF
WASHINGTON meets for worship,
10:30 a.m., 2111 Florida Ave. NW,

Quaker House Living Room (next
to Meeting House on Decatur
Place), 2nd floor. Special welcome
to lesbians and gays. Handicapped
accessible from Phelps Place gate.
Hearing assistance. quakersdc.org.
HOPE UNITED CHURCH OF

CHRIST welcomes GLBT community for worship. 10:30 a.m., 6130
Old Telegraph Road, Alexandria.
hopeucc.org.
INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUAL

DEVELOPMENT, God-centered
11:15 a.m. 10309 New Hampshire

Ave. uucss.org.
UNIVERSALIST NATIONAL
MEMORIAL CHURCH, a welcom-
ing and inclusive church. GLBT

Interweave social/service group
meets monthly. Services at 11 a.m.,
Romanesque sanctuary. 1810 16th St.
NW. 202-387-3411, universalist.org.
new age church & learning center.

Sunday Services and Workshops
event. 5419 Sherier Place NW. isddc.org.
MONDAY, December 26
Join LINCOLN
ADVENTURING outdoors group
CONGREGATIONAL TEMPLE
UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST for
an inclusive, loving and progressive

faith community every Sunday. 11
a.m. 1701 11th Street NW, near R in
Shaw/Logan neighborhood. lincolntemple.org.
LUTHERAN CHURCH OF
REFORMATION invites all to
Sunday worship at 8:30 or 11 a.m.

Childcare is available at both services. Welcoming LGBT people for
25 years. 212 East Capitol St. NE.
reformationdc.org.
METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY
CHURCH OF NORTHERN
VIRGINIA services at 11 a.m., led
by Rev. Emma Chattin. Childrens

Sunday School, 11 a.m. 10383
Democracy Lane, Fairfax. 703-6910930, mccnova.com.
CHURCH OF WASHINGTON, D.C.
celebrates Boxing Day with the

Great Cookie Hike along the
Capital Crescent Trail from
Bethesda to Georgetown. Bring
beverages, lunch and holiday
treats to share and $2 for the trip
fee. Gather at 11 a.m. at the top
of the escalators of the Bethesda
Metro Station, at the intersection
of Wisconsin Avenue and Old
Georgetown Road. Refreshments in
Georgetown follow. For more info,
contact Craig, 202-462-0535 or
craighowell1@verizon.net.
Weekly Events

927 Ohio Dr. SW. 7-8:30 p.m. Visit
swimdcac.org.
GETEQUAL meets 6:30-8 p.m. at

Quaker House, 2111 Florida Ave.
NW. getequal.wdc@gmail.com.
services at 9 a.m. (ASL interpreted) and 11 a.m. Childrens Sunday

School at 11 a.m. 474 Ridge St. NW.
202-638-7373, mccdc.com.
NOVASALUD offers free HIV test-
NATIONAL CITY CHRISTIAN

CHURCH, inclusive church with
SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5
GLBT fellowship, offers gospel worship, 8:30 a.m., and traditional worship, 11 a.m. 5 Thomas Circle NW.
202-232-0323, nationalcitycc.org.
RIVERSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH,
a Christ-centered, interracial,
welcoming-and-affirming church,
offers service at 10 a.m. 680 I St.
SW. 202-554-4330, riversidedc.org.
ST. STEPHEN AND THE

INCARNATION, an interra-
cial, multi-ethnic Christian

Community offers services in
English, 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., and
in Spanish at 5:15 p.m. 1525 Newton
St. NW. 202-232-0900, saintstephensdc.org.
UNITARIAN CHURCH OF
ARLINGTON, an LGBTQ welcom-
ing-and-affirming congregation,
offers services at 10 a.m. Virginia
Rainbow UU Ministry. 4444
Arlington Blvd. uucava.org.
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST
CHURCH OF SILVER SPRING
invites LGBTQ families and individuals of all creeds and cultures to

join the church. Services 9:15 and
ing. 5-7 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite

200, Arlington. Appointments: 703789-4467.
p.m., by appointment and walk-in,

for youth 21 and younger. Youth
Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-5673155 or testing@smyal.org.
The DC Center hosts COFFEE
DROP-IN FOR THE SENIOR LGBT

COMMUNITY. 10 a.m.-noon. 2000
14th St. NW. 202-682-2245, thedccenter.org.
US HELPING US hosts a black gay

mens evening affinity group. 3636
Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.
WASHINGTON WETSKINS
WATER POLO TEAM practices 7-9
p.m. Takoma Aquatic Center, 300

Van Buren St. NW. Newcomers
with at least basic swimming ability
always welcome. Tom, 703-2990504, secretary@wetskins.org,
wetskins.org.
TUESDAY, December 27
The DC Centers GENDERQUEER
DC support and discussion group
for people who identify outside the
gender binary meets on the fourth
Tuesday of every month. 7-8:30
p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.
For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
Weekly Events
ASIANS AND FRIENDS weekly
dinner in Dupont/Logan Circle

area, 6:30 p.m. afwash@aol.com,
afwashington.net.
Street SE (across from Marine

Barracks). Call 202-841-0279 if you
need a partner.
Weekly Events
AD LIB, a group for freestyle con-
practice session at Takoma Aquatic

Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW.
7:30-9 p.m. swimdcac.org.
versation, meets about 6-6:30 p.m.,

Steam, 17th and R NW. All welcome. For more information, call
Fausto Fernandez, 703-732-5174.
walking/social club serving greater D.C.s LGBT community and

allies hosts an evening run/walk.
dcfrontrunners.org.
DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds practice, 7:30-9:30 p.m. King Greenleaf

Recreation Center, 201 N Street
SW. All welcome. For more information, visit scandalsrfc.org or
email dcscandals@gmail.com.
THE GAY MENS HEALTH

COLLABORATIVE offers free
HIV testing and STI screening

and treatment every Tuesday.
5-6:30 p.m. Rainbow Tuesday
LGBT Clinic, Alexandria Health
Department, 4480 King St. 703746-4986 or text 571-214-9617.
james.leslie@inova.org.
OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS
LGBT focused meeting every

Tuesday, 7 p.m. St. Georges
Episcopal Church, 915 Oakland
Ave., Arlington, just steps from
Virginia Square Metro. For
more info. call Dick, 703-5211999. Handicapped accessible.
Newcomers welcome. liveandletliveoa@gmail.com.
SUPPORT GROUP FOR LGBTQ

YOUTH ages 13-21 meets at
SMYAL, 410 7th St. SE, 5-6:30 p.m.

Cathy Chu, 202-567-3163, catherine.chu@smyal.org.
US HELPING US hosts a support
group for black gay men 40 and

older. 7-9 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave.
NW. 202-446-1100.
Whitman-Walker Healths GAY
MENS HEALTH AND WELLNESS/

STD CLINIC opens at 6 p.m., 1701
14th St. NW. Patients are seen on

walk-in basis. No-cost screening
for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and
chlamydia. Hepatitis and herpes
testing available for fee. whitman-walker.org.
WEDNESDAY, December 28
The DC Center hosts a monthly
meeting of its HIV PREVENTION
WORKING GROUP. 6-8 p.m. 2000
14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more
information, visit thedccenter.org.
THE LAMBDA BRIDGE CLUB
meets for Duplicate Bridge. No

reservations needed. All welcome.
7:30 p.m. Dignity Center, 721 8th
30

927 Ohio Dr. SW. 7-8:30 p.m. Visit
swimdcac.org.
FREEDOM FROM SMOKING, a
group for LGBT people looking

to quit cigarettes and tobacco use,
holds a weekly support meeting at
The DC Center. 7-8 p.m. 2000 14th
St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
HISTORIC CHRIST CHURCH
offers Wednesday worship 7:15 a.m.

and 12:05 p.m. All welcome. 118 N.
Washington St., Alexandria. 703549-1450, historicchristchurch.org.
JOB CLUB, a weekly support pro-
gram for job entrants and seekers,

meets at The DC Center. 6-7:30 p.m.
2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For
more info, www.centercareers.org.
NOVASALUD offers free HIV
testing. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. 2049 N.

15th St., Suite 200, Arlington.
Appointments: 703-789-4467.
PRIME TIMERS OF DC, social club

for mature gay men, hosts weekly
happy hour/dinner. 6:30 p.m.,
Windows Bar above Dupont Italian
Kitchen, 1637 17th St. NW. Carl,
703-573-8316.
US HELPING US hosts a Narcotics
Anonymous Meeting, 6:30-7:30

p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. The
group is independent of UHU. 202446-1100.
FRIDAY, December 30
Weekly Events
Weekly Events
LGBT-inclusive ALL SOULS
PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBT-
celebrates Low Mass at 8:30

a.m., High Mass at 11 a.m. 2300
Cathedral Ave. NW. 202-232-4244,
allsoulsdc.org.
WOMENS LEADERSHIP
INSTITUTE for young LBTQ
women, 13-21, interested in leadership development. 5-6:30 p.m.

SMYAL Youth Center, 410 7th St.
SE. 202-567-3163, catherine.chu@
smyal.org.

927 Ohio Dr. SW. 6:30-8 p.m. Visit
swimdcac.org.
affirming social group for ages

11-24. 4-6 p.m. 1419 Columbia Road
NW. Contact Tamara, 202-3190422, layc-dc.org.
SATURDAY, December 31
Weekly Events
BET MISHPACHAH, founded by
members of the LGBT community,

holds Saturday morning Shabbat
services, 10 a.m., followed by
Kiddush luncheon. Services in
DCJCC Community Room, 1529
16th St. NW. betmish.org.
BRAZILIAN GLBT GROUP, including others interested in Brazilian culture, meets. For location/time, email
braziliangaygroup@yahoo.com.
THURSDAY, December 29
Weekly Events
practice session at Takoma Aquatic

Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW.
7:30-9 p.m. swimdcac.org.
DC LAMBDA SQUARES gay and

lesbian square-dancing group
features mainstream through
advanced square dancing at the
National City Christian Church,
5 Thomas Circle NW, 7-9:30
p.m. Casual dress. 301-257-0517,
dclambdasquares.org.
DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds practice, 7:30-9:30 p.m. King Greenleaf
Recreation Center, 201 N Street
SW. All welcome. For more information, visit scandalsrfc.org or
email dcscandals@gmail.com.
The DULLES TRIANGLES

Northern Virginia social group
meets for happy hour at Sheraton
in Reston, 11810 Sunrise Valley
Drive, second-floor bar, 7-9 p.m. All
welcome. dullestriangles.com.
ADVENTURING outdoors group
holds traditional New Years Day

hike at Great Falls, Va. Moderate
hike not exceeding 5 miles over
hilly, rough and rocky terrain.
Bring beverages, lunch, holiday
treats to share, and a few dollars
for fees. Meet at 11 a.m. in front of
the elevator for the Dupont Circle
Metro Station on Connecticut
Avenue NW south of Q Street to
form carpools. Craig, 202-462-0535
or craighowell1@verizon.net.
practice session at Hains Point, 972

Ohio Dr., SW. 8:30-10 a.m. Visit
swimdcac.org.
SUNDAY, January 1
walking/social club welcomes all

levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, socializing
afterward. Meet 9:30 a.m., 23rd &
P Streets NW, for a walk; or 10 a.m.
for fun run. dcfrontrunners.org.
DC SENTINELS basketball
team meets at Turkey Thicket

Recreation Center, 1100 Michigan
Ave. NE, 2-4 p.m. For players of all
levels, gay or straight. teamdcbasketball.org.
DIGNITYUSA sponsors Mass for
LGBT community, family and

friends. 6:30 p.m., Immanuel
Church-on-the-Hill, 3606 Seminary
Road, Alexandria. All welcome. For
more info, visit dignitynova.org.
GAY LANGUAGE CLUB discusses

critical languages and foreign languages. 7 p.m. Nellies, 900 U St.
NW. RSVP preferred. brendandarcy@gmail.com.
MEMORIAL EPISCOPAL CHURCH
FAIRLINGTON UNITED
METHODIST CHURCH is an open,
inclusive church. Member of the
Reconciling Ministries Network.
All welcome. Services at 9:30
and 11:00 a.m. 3900 King Street,
Alexandria. 703-671-8557, fairlingtonumc.org.
FRIENDS MEETING OF
WASHINGTON meets for worship,
10:30 a.m., 2111 Florida Ave. NW,

Quaker House Living Room (next
to Meeting House on Decatur
Place), 2nd floor. Special welcome
to lesbians and gays. Handicapped
accessible from Phelps Place gate.
Hearing assistance. quakersdc.org.
Join LINCOLN
CONGREGATIONAL TEMPLE
UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST for
an inclusive, loving and progressive

faith community every Sunday. 11
a.m. 1701 11th Street NW, near R in
Shaw/Logan neighborhood. lincolntemple.org.
CHURCH OF WASHINGTON, D.C.
services at 9 a.m. (ASL interpreted) and 11 a.m. Childrens Sunday

School at 11 a.m. 474 Ridge St. NW.
202-638-7373, mccdc.com.
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST
CHURCH OF SILVER SPRING
invites LGBTQ families and individuals of all creeds and cultures to

join the church. Services 9:15 and
11:15 a.m. 10309 New Hampshire
Ave. uucss.org.
UNIVERSALIST NATIONAL
MEMORIAL CHURCH, a welcom-
ing and inclusive church. GLBT

Interweave social/service group
meets monthly. Services at 11 a.m.,
Romanesque sanctuary. 1810 16th St.
NW. 202-387-3411, universalist.org. l
Submit your community event for
consideration at least 10 days prior
to the Thursday publication you
would like it to appear. Email to calendar@metroweekly.com.
The 2016 Coverboy of the Year
Brian Wilcox
Photographed by Julian Vankim at Town Danceboutique on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2017

Interview by Randy Shulman
TS BEEN TWO YEARS SINCE METRO WEEKLY

crowned a Coverboy of the Year. After the 2013 Coverboy
of the Year, the popular Nightlife feature was put
on hiatus. It was not slated to
return, but in early 2016, Ed
Bailey, the co-owner of gay
nightlife triumvirate Town,
Trade and Number 9, suggested
over lunch that maybe it was
time to bring Coverboy back.
A few months later, Nightlife
Coverboy reemerged in June,
part of an overall redesign of
the magazine. It was if it had
never left.
The initial twelve handsome
men who made it through the
application process over the
next few months were equally engaging, photogenic, gracious. Each was remarkable in
his own right and each gave an
interview as funny as it was personally revealing. All would be
deserving of this issues cover.
Still, only one can occupy
the spot of Coverboy of the
Year, and after an intense, twoweek online vote, the person
that emerged front and center
was Brian Wilcox, a 24-yearold native of North Carolina
with a penchant for feather and
fur shawls, a Southern drawl
as thick and sweet as molasses,
and a personality as big as the
Blue Ridge Mountains. Brian
won the popular vote no pesky electoral college to contend
with here by more than four hundred.
I was up every day campaigning, Brian said during a recent
phone conversation, still not knowing for sure if hed won the top
spot (hes finding out now, along with the rest of you). When I
found out, I was like, My hard work definitely did pay off.
That hard work entailed asking people to vote for him, daily.
Brian, who is that rare combination of extra-pushy and gently
charming, would urge friends, friends of friends, and friends of
friends of friends to vote for him. I was just getting on Facebook
every day and reminding people, Hey, dont forget to vote. You can
vote once daily. he says. I was on it every minute of every hour.
Brian wins bragging rights, joining the 13 coverboys who
came before him, as well as a prize package boasting everything
from bar tabs and free nightclub admissions to theater and movie
tickets and retail gift certificates. For his photo shoot with Julian
32
Vankim, Brian donned an array of outfits that included an oversized necklace of faux gemstones, fur vests, and a pair of black,
patterned stilettos he strode
around in like an accomplished
red-carpet model.
As for his coif? Neon pink.
Ive had my hair take a trip
down the lane, well just say
that, he laughs. Whenever
Im in the mood, I go to my
little Leprechaun world where
theres this rainbow that leads
to this gay little pond. What
I do is just shove my head in
there. Then whatever color
Im feeling is the color my hair
comes out. Ive had my hair all
the way purple before. Ive had
it midnight blue and teal. Ive
had it red. Ive had it green,
yellow. Its just whatever Im
feeling whenever I go to my
little happy place.
One decidedly unhappy
place for Brian was the result
of the 2016 election. Still, he
takes a pragmatic view of the
incoming President.
The one single message I
would give to Donald Trump if
I could sit down with him, says
Brian, is Dont fuck it up.... Do
it right. You won. Kudos to
you. Am I happy about it? No.
But Ive got to get over it.
Looking ahead to 2017,
Brian says, The thing that I
hope for in the coming year is
that...we dont get stripped of our rights, because it was a long
time coming for getting all fifty states on board for legalizing gay
marriage. Focus on other matters. Were human being, for Gods
sake. We want to love who we want to love whether its the same
sex or not. Leave us alone. We already have to deal with ignorant
people when we walk down the street. The last thing we need is
the government trying to squash us like cockroaches. Leave us
alone. Do your own thing. Focus on other matters that actually
need your attention.
The poverty in this country. Focus on that. l
Read Brians original coverboy interview at metroweekly.com/
coverboy-brian-2016.
Apply to be a Nightlife Coverboy in 2017 at metroweekly.com/
coverboyapp.
33
34
35
First runner up
JR Russ
Photographed by Julian Vankim
at Town Danceboutique
HIS IS THE SECOND TIME JR RUSS HAS

competed in the Coverboy of the Year
competition, having first appeared as a coverboy in December, 2002. He made the top ten, but
didnt place. Second time, it turns out, is a charm.
In the 14 years since, JR has crafted a career
in the arts, developing his skills in both dance and
storytelling, and combining the two into his own
show at last summers annual Fringe festival. Hes
an avid devotee of Star Trek (one of his tattoos has
a direct connection to the film First Contact) and
the desert gathering, Burning Man, an event he
attends with ritualistic fervor.
The 35-year-old has retained the youthfulness
of his first coverboy appearance, when he was photographed by Jeff Code. I try not to stress about
things too much, he says. Stress ages people
more than a lot of things and Ive generally tried
to live a happy life, adding, Working in the arts,
thats not always easy. Randy Shulman
Read JRs original Coverboy interview at
metroweekly.com/coverboy-jr.
36
37
SECOND runner up
Craig Cipollini
Photographed by Julian Vankim
at Town Danceboutique
OMEBODY CALLED ME DADDY OVER

Pride weekend, laughs Craig Cipollini. But
they said Hot Daddy. I was like, as long as
theyre saying hot, Im not going to be offended.
The 49-year-old Baltimore native, who works as
the marketing director for the Gay Mens Chorus
of Washington and is a trained dancer, decided to
apply for Coverboy because there was this part of
me that was like, Hey, I may be a little older, but I
can still compete with the younger guys.
Craig thinks theres been a positive shift in the
gay community with regard to age. When I was in
my twenties, a lot of the younger guys would always
be like, Whos that old thing sitting at the end of the
bar there? The guy [they were talking about] might
have been 42 or something. I dont hear that as
much now. I see a lot of younger men dating older
guys, too. Maybe its still happening and Im just not
aware of it. Randy Shulman
Read Craigs original Coverboy interview at
metroweekly.com/coverboy-craig.
38
39
Coverboy of the Year Prize Package

9:30 Club - 2 tickets to Sampha (Feb. 7)
Angelika Pop-Up at Union Market - 4 passes
Avant Bard - 2 tickets to The Gospel at Colonus (Feb. 23-March 26, Gunston Arts
Center)
Avenue Jack - $50 Gift Certificate
Bastille - Four-course contemporary French meal for two
Bite the Fruit - $75 Play Money
Blues Alley - 4 complimentary passes, good through June 30
Capital Pride Alliance - 2 tickets to the Pride Reveal Party on Feb. 2 at SAX
Congressional Chorus - 4 General Admission tickets to the Spring concert, New
Horizons: Music Without Borders (June 3)
D.C. Travel & Adventure Show - 4 pack of tickets (Jan.14-15, Washington
Convention Center)
Fleishers of Maryland - Two sapphires that can be set in silver in either a tie tack,
studs or pendant
Freddies Beach Bar - Sunday Champagne Brunch for two
Gay Mens Chorus of Washington - 2 tickets to How To Succeed in Business
Without Really Trying (3/10-12, Lincoln Theatre)
Green Lantern - $50 Bar Tab
JR.s - $100 in drink cards
Kennedy Center - 2 tickets to Snarky Puppy with the NSO Pops (Feb. 22) and 2 tickets to Hedwig and the Angry Inch (June 13)
Landmark Theatres - 10 Free VIP Passes to any Washington, D.C. area Landmark
Theatre
Logan Hardware - $50 Gift Card
MetroStage - 2 tickets to a production of either The Gin Game or Master Class
Metro Weekly - Coverboy wraparound mug and a 2016 Special Edition Hillary Tops
Trump T-Shirt from our online Gift Shop
Mid-Atlantic Weekend - Weekend Pass to MAL 2016, including Leather Cocktails
and Mr. MAL Contest at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill and the closing dance Dark
and Twisted, featuring DJ Ultra Nate, at the 9:30 Club
Mosaic Theatre - 2 tickets to Charm (Jan. 5-29, Atlas Lang Theatre)
Nellies Sports Bar - $50 Gift Card and a Nellies Hat of the winners choosing
Rep Stage - 2 tickets for the musical Dorians Closet (April 26-May 14)
Shaws Tavern - $100 Gift Card
Signature Theatre - 2 Tier One Tickets to Titanic the Musical (to Jan. 29)
SKIN Cosmetic Dermatology of Georgetown - $300 of Professional Skin Care
Products
Studio Theatre - 4 tickets to Tom Stoppards The Hard Problem (Jan. 11-Feb. 19)
Synetic Theater - 2 tickets to The Taming of the Shrew (Feb. 15-March 19)
The Choral Arts Society of Washington - 2 Premium Orchestra tickets to the
Mozart Requiem (April 23, Kennedy Center Concert Hall)
The DC Eagle - Guest-listed for all 2017 eXile events including Distrkt C, ManUPP
Events, Drenchd and Rough Trade, DC Eagle T-Shirt, DC Eagle 45th Anniversary Pin,
$50 in drink tickets
Theater J - 2 tickets to Brighton Beach Memoirs (April 5-May 7)
Town Danceboutique - Free Admission (plus 1 guest) for all of 2017 (valid any night
the club is open, except when admission is being donated to charity)
Ziegfelds/Secrets - $50 cash
Approximate Prize Package Value: $6,500
Some restrictions may apply. Prizes are non-transferrable and are not
redeemable for cash. No substitutions.
First Runner Up Prize Package

Center)
Bastille - Three-course brunch for two
Congressional Chorus - 2 General Admission tickets to the Spring concert, New
Horizons: Music Without Borders (June 3)

D.C. Travel & Adventure Show - 4 pack of tickets (Jan.14-15, Washington
Convention Center)
Fleishers of Maryland - $25 gift certificate
Theatre
MetroStage - 2 tickets to a production either The Gin Game or Master Class
Mid-Atlantic Weekend - Weekend pass to MAL 2016, including Leather Cocktails
and Mr. MAL Contest at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, and closing dance Dark and
Twisted, featuring DJ Ultra Nate, at the 9:30 Club
Mosaic Theatre - 2 tickets to Charm (Jan. 5-29, Atlas Lang Theatre)
Rep Stage - 2 tickets for the musical Dorians Closet (April 26-May 14)
Signature Theatre - 2 VIP Tickets to Titanic the Musical (to Jan. 29)
Products
The Choral Arts Society of Washington - 2 Prime Orchestra tickets to the Mozart
Requiem (April 23, Kennedy Center Concert Hall)
Events, Drenchd and Rough Trade, DC Eagle T-Shirt, DC Eagle 45th Anniversary Pin,
$25 in drink tickets
Town Danceboutique - $50 in drink tickets good for Fridays or Saturdays
redeemable for cash. No substitutions.
Second Runner Up Prize Package

Center)
Bastille - Three-course brunch for two
D.C. Travel & Adventure Show - 4 pack of tickets to show, Jan.14-15 at the
Washington Convention Center
Fleishers of Maryland - Jewelry cleaning bundle (silver cleaner, gold cleaner and a
polishing cloth)
Theatre
MetroStage - 2 tickets to a production of either The Gin Game or Master Class
Products
The Choral Arts Society of Washington - 2 Prime Orchestra tickets to the Mozart
Requiem (April 23, Kennedy Center Concert Hall)
Events, Drenchd and Rough Trade, DC Eagle T-Shirt and DC Eagle 45th Anniversary Pin
Town Danceboutique - $50 in drink tickets, good for Fridays or Saturdays
redeemable for cash. No substitutions
Sign up for our email list at metroweekly.com/join or visit metroweekly.com for links
to all our Coverboy of the Year sponsors!
A big, grateful thank you to our sponsors for donating prizes to the
2016 Coverboy of the Year contest!
40
2001 - Andreas
A Visual
History
Of
Metro
Weeklys
Nightlife
Coverboys
Of
The Year
2001
to
2013
2003 - Matt
2004 - Will
2005 - Justin
2006 - Chris
2007 - Adam
2008 - Austin
2009 - Grant
2010 - Franklin
2011 - Tyler
2012 - Aaron
2013 - Christian
2002 - Robb
Photography
by
Michael Wichita,
Jeff Code
and
Julian Vankim
Gallery
In Memoriam
Brian Petro
brianpetro.com
43
44
A memorial service for Brian Petro will be held Saturday, Jan. 7 at 4:30 p.m. at
First Congressional United Church of Christ, 945 G St. NW. The service will be followed by a reception.
Attendees should dress bright and festive as if going to an art opening at a gallery.
45
Movies
The Best Films of 2016

Foul-mouthed superheroes, guilt-riddled men and an
Irish boy with a knack for music make our top ten list
worth crowing about By Rhuaridh Marr and Randy Shulman
T WAS THE WORST OF YEARS IN POLITICS, AT LEAST BUT IN MOVIES,

it was a mediocre year at best. Most of the releases were franchises or sequels and
most of those apart from Civil War, Finding Dory and Rogue One were rubbish
(yes, Batman v Superman and X-Men: Apocalypse, were looking at you). Still, it wasnt
hard for ten films to rise above the muck of the ordinary. And this year, were leaving
off the worst, but if pressed the ultimate honor would go to Roland Emmerich, whose
Independence Day: Resurgence continued to assure his legacy as the worlds worst
director, dead or alive.
10. DEADPOOL
Ryan Reynolds subversive superhero is a breath of sweaty, leathered, flatulent air.

Deadpool was sexual, sadistic, violent, intensely meta, profane and ran totally against
type. Heads literally rolled, bodies exploded in blood, knives ripped through flesh,
bullets left gaping holes. As for the main character, he drinks, dabbles in drugs, masturbates. Hes a three-dimensional being with a sassy mouth, flaws, idiosyncrasies, and a
list of psychoses a mile long. We cant wait for the sequel.
9. THE WITCH
Writer-director Robert Eggers conjures a chilling tale, set in the 17th century, of bleakness and dread, as a family exiled from their Puritan community contends with an evil
force lurking in the woods. The films horror descended gradually, building to a climax
as sudden as it was alarming. Richly atmospheric, The Witch leaves as much as possible
46
to the imagination and then, suddenly,

it doesnt in a revelatory final scene as
creepy and unnerving as ever has been
committed to film.
8. JUNGLE BOOK
When Disney first started to remake its

animated classics as live action films, the
world balked. But Jon Favreau, of all people, gets it right with this largely CGI take
on the 1967 classic about a feral Indian lad
named Mowgli and his animal family. One
of the most technically, visually dazzling
pieces of cinema in recent memory, with
a sturdy voice cast, including Bill Murray,
Idris Elba and Ben Kingsley, The Jungle
Book succeeds because it dares to be more
than a simple remake. Its strives for greatness and gets there within the first five
minutes alone.
7. DONT BREATHE
From the previews, writer-director Fede

Alvarezs thriller seemed like a silly idea:
a trio of young thieves rob a blind hermit.
How scary could that possibly be? Turns
out, incredibly. With a twist you cant
possibly see coming, its Hitchcock on
steroids and meth. This is what terror
should feel like.
6. NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
Pulp collides with realism and surrealism in Tom Fords brutal

tale of revenge. Ford plays with time and space as his narrative lurches between a tangible present and wistful past, while
detouring into a harrowing fiction that feels more real than
anything else on screen. The narrative is masterfully complex
but not impenetrable, and the performances by Amy Adams,
Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon and an unrecognizable Aaron
Taylor-Johnson are utterly, absolutely perfect.
5. SING STREET Picture it: 1980s Dublin. A 15-year-old lad from
a broken home both financially and emotionally sets out

to win the heart of a girl. So he forms a band and starts writing
songs. Turns out, the band is actually good. John Carney (Once)
continues his trend of finding romance and uplift in the most
bleak of settings. Deftly anchored by the apple-cheeked Ferdia
Walsh-Peelo, Sing Street is a joy from start to finish.
4. ARRIVAL
Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Arrival is one of those movies that

appears to be yet another film about first contact with aliens, but
it quickly deepens into something so far more profound, permeating you on almost every conceivable level. A lot of this has to do
with star Amy Adams, who is magnificent as a linguist brought
in to decipher an alien language. She pretty much blows you out
of your seat. Villeneuves next film is the sequel to Blade Runner.
We cant think of a better director to take on what should be the
pinnacle film of 2017.
3. MOONLIGHT
A rare and extraordinarily drama that pulls you deeply into its
narrative. The cinematic triptych tells of the story of a young
boy who evolves from bullied runt to drug dealing thug. Oh, and
he happens to be gay (though in a hugely repressive state). At a
time when most dramas fail to ignite a spark of genuine feeling,
Moonlight exists in a class of its own. Its not epic or big, but it
evokes epic, big emotions.
2. LA LA LAND
The old-fashioned movie musical has been fitfully revived by

Damien Chazelle (Whiplash) and, oh, what an amazing ride it
is. Complete with an infectious score that simply will not leave
your head, and lithe yet deeply felt performances by a luminous
Emma Stone and a shamefully handsome Ryan Gosling, La La
Land wraps itself in a technicolor mystique and lets both the
music and dance flow in a way we havent seen since Herbert
Ross 1981 landmark, Pennies from Heaven. Its the escapism we
need right now. And its perfect.
1. MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Kenneth Lonergans tale of one mans burden of guilt is not

especially uplifting, but, like the writer-directors stunning 2000
debut, You Can Count on Me, it packs so much dramatic punch
that it leaves you on the ropes, gasping for breath. Casey Affleck
gives the performance of his life as a man hollowed out by an
event so painful its virtually unthinkable. Hes matched by Lucas
Hedges as a cocky 15-year-old left in his charge. The centerpiece
of the movie, however, is a scene between Affleck and Michelle
Williams, as his ex-wife, that is so authentic and painful, you feel
you should be looking away. Brutal and yet so, so good. l
Rhuaridh Marr and Randy Shulman review movies for
Metro Weekly.
47
Music
The Best Albums of 2016

The year was marked by impressive debuts, long-awaited follow-ups,
and a parting gift from a musical icon By Sean Maunier
TS HARD TO THINK OF ANOTHER YEAR IN MUSIC THAT HAS FELT SO

much like watching an extended in memoriam reel. The year 2016 itself has
become a kind of shorthand for the deaths of beloved artists, deaths that hardly feel
like surprises anymore. Even so, a year that was marked by the loss of icons like David
Bowie, Prince and Leonard Cohen also a witnessed a remarkable amount of innovation.
From the deeply personal to the stridently political, the best albums of 2016 are a comforting reminder of how much talent continues to shine.
10. TOVE LO LADY WOOD
Grunge-inspired dancepop may sound like an oxymoron, but if there was anyone who
could pull it off it would be Tove Lo. The Swedish artist once again set out to impress
and provoke with Lady Wood, an album in two parts that explores the highs followed
by the lows of an uninhibited approach to life. On the surface it may resemble much
of the rest of the synthpop on the radio, but Los second album brims with a confidence,
artistry and sense of ownership that is uniquely her own.
9. RIHANNA - ANTI
Rihanna could have kept making the same club-ready music weve come to expect.
Instead, she gave us ANTI, turning in a direction more cerebral but no less fierce. Aside
from the single Work, the albums pace was much slower than what we have come to
expect, giving her plenty of room to deliver subtle barbs against those who have hurt
her. Her confidence and swagger are fully present, somehow having become even more
intense for being slowed down.
8. SOLANGE A SEAT AT THE TABLE
7. BRANDY CLARK - BIG DAY IN A SMALL TOWN
Country music is having a girl power

moment. A year that saw releases from
icons like Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn
also saw Clark release an impressive second album, and in doing so bring her craft
to ever greater heights. Big Day in a Small
Town is full of tracks that represent Clark
at her wittiest, rawest and most ambitious
yet, all carried by her strong voice and
the talent for stark, insightful songwriting
that marked her 2013 debut. Along with
Kacey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert,
Clark represents a wave of younger female
artists reinvigorating and redefining the
genre, snubs from the CMAs be damned.
6. BLOOD ORANGE FREETOWN SOUND
If Freetown Sound is any indication, Dev

Hyness leap from indie rock to alt-R&B
has paid off spectacularly. The artist formerly known as Lightspeed Champion
and now as Blood Orange shines on
this intensely autobiographical album.
Freetown Sound spans his fathers birthplace in Sierra Leone to his childhood
in London to his adopted home in New
York City and recounts his experience as
a young, queer black man. Hyness celebration and proud affirmation of his own
identity is at the heart of the album, which
he dedicated in an Instagram post to anyone who was ever told that they were not
black enough, too black, too queer, not
queer the right way.
Solange is totally at home in the neo-psychedelic fog of her latest album. As her voice
rises triumphantly and falls back into a slow burn over heavy synths, she interrogates
her own past as well as that of her country. A Seat at the Table is known to be a meditation on (and celebration of) the experience of black womanhood, but one has to wonder
whether Solange is also seeking a seat at the table her older sister has long sat at the 5. SHURA NOTHINGS REAL
head of. With her best album yet, its safe to say that the younger Knowles sister has While Shura has already proved her talent
for crafting a pop single, her debut LP
made that place for herself.
48
proves she is just as capable of crafting an album that glistens

from beginning to end. Nothings Real is a hazy callback to the
sounds of the eighties, copping influences from glampop and
early Madonna. Still, Shura does more than just riff on nostalgia she makes it her own. Even in its up-tempo moments,
Nothings Real is intimate and melancholy, suffused with a sense
of longing and wonder, and a maturity that marks the album as
one of the most impressive debuts of the year.
4. FRANK OCEAN BLONDE
Beset by delays, Frank Oceans long-awaited follow up to

Channel Orange was beginning to look like it might never arrive.
Once Blonde finally dropped, we finally had some indication
why. The album is meticulously crafted down to its tiniest
details, expertly produced and merits multiple listens. Oceans
lyrics are internally contradictory and his intent is often hard to
pin down, although this is appropriate for a record that above all
else confronts the slipperiness of identity. As Blonde deals with
the uncertainties of the present and the complicated nature of
memory, its tone moves abruptly between manic and subdued,
hopeful and uncertain, embracing the past one moment and
recoiling from it the next. For an album this good, a few delays
can be forgiven.
3. BEYONC LEMONADE
Beyonc was never one to mince words, but the surprise visual
album Lemonade found her at her most defiant and furious yet.
Personal as the subject matter might be at its core, it speaks
to more universal feelings of hurt and scorn, of a vulnerability
betrayed. Along with a raw, cathartic anger, the album also
represents her most polished and ambitious work yet. Hear me
roar, she seemed to say, and then hear me take a baseball bat to
all your expectations.

2. TANYA TAGAQ RETRIBUTION
Comparisons to Bjrk, while inevitable, do no justice to Tanya

Tagaq. The Inuk throat singers fourth studio album Retribution
is at once musically adventurous and starkly political, blending
her throat singing with an eclectic array of instrumentation into
an intense, visceral, and at times disturbing call to arms. It is no
coincidence that this album came out in a year that saw Native
American activists gather en masse in North Dakota in defiance
of an encroaching pipeline, while up north, her home country
grappled with the shameful legacy of its Aboriginal residential
schools. At a time when the world faces profound uncertainty as
political and environmental crises loom on the horizon, Tagaq
taps into currents of anger, frustration and fear, giving them
powerful expression in a way no other artist can.
1. DAVID BOWIE BLACKSTAR
An excellent album on its own merits, Bowies final album is

dark, complex and multilayered, full of meditations on loss and
impermanence, as well as plenty of cryptic references and callbacks to his long career. It is impossible, however, to separate
the albums content from the circumstances of its release, just
two days before Bowies unexpected death at the age of 69. His
passing began a year that would turn out to be punctuated by
the deaths of many celebrated artists, but for his fans, it was a
small comfort to know that he left behind a parting gift that was
every bit as unique and eclectic as he was. Its hard to imagine a
more fitting capstone to the career of a pop icon who sought to
challenge, upend and reinvent until the very end. l
Sean Maunier is Metro Weeklys music critic.
49
NightLife
Photography by
Ward Morrison
51
Scene
DrinksDragDJsEtc...
Thursday
December 22
9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm Multiple
TVs showing movies,
shows, sports Expanded
craft beer selection
Music videos featuring
DJ Wess
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Happy Hour: Tops Down $6
Top Shelf, Bottoms Up $3
Rail, $3 Bud Light, 4-9pm
Locker Room Thursday
Nights $3 Rail Drinks,
10pm-midnight, $5 Red
Bull and Frozen Virgin
Drinks DJs Sean Morris
and MadScience Best
Package Contest at midnight, hosted by BaNaka &
Kristina Kelly $200 Cash
Prize Doors open 10pm,
21+ $5 Cover or free
with college ID
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 8pm Strip
Down Thursdays Holiday
Edition Happy Hour
Wear your holiday-inspired
underwear for $2 off all
drinks, 8pm-2am No
Cover 21+
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm
Karaoke, 8pm
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm
Ladies Drink Free Power
Hour, 4-5pm Shirtless
Thursday, 10-11pm DJs

BacK2bACk
JR.S
All You Can Drink for $15,
5-8pm $3 Rail Vodka
Highballs, $2 JR.s drafts,
8pm-close Flashback:
Music videos from 19752005 with DJ Jason Royce,
8pm-12am
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Open at 5pm Beat the
Clock Happy Hour $2
(5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4
(7-8pm) Buckets of Beer
$15 Drag Bingo
NUMBER NINE
drink, 5-9pm No Cover
SHAWS TAVERN
Happy Hour, 4-7pm $3
Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon,
$5 Rails and House Wines
& Half-Priced Pizzas
Holiday Bingo and Drag
Show with Miss Kristina
Kelly, 8:30pm
TRADE
1410 14th St. NW
Doors open 5pm Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
5-10pm Beer and wine
only $4 My Two Dads
Dance Party with DJs Bill
Todd and Morgan Tepper,
10pm
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
All male, nude dancers
Duplex Diners Janky Sweater Party - Friday, December 16

Photography by Ward Morrison
See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene
Shirtless Thursday DJ
9pm Cover 21+
Friday
December 23
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink,
5-9pm Friday Night
Videos with VJ Sean
McClafferty, 9:30pm
Expanded craft beer selection No Cover
COBALT/30 DEGREES
All You Can Drink Happy
Hour $15 Rail and
Domestic, $21 Call &
Imports, 6-9pm Guys
Night Out $6 Grey Goose
all night Two 30-minute open bars featuring
Grey Goose, 11-11:30pm
and 1-1:30am DJ
MadScience upstairs DJ
Keenan Orr downstairs
$10 cover 10pm-close 21
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 8pm
off everything Imperial
Court of Washington DC
hosts Beer Bar Takeover
$2 Drafts and Jello
Shots, Raffles and more
The DC Eagle/Exile
proudly present Under the
Mistletoe Dance Party
Proceeds benefit SMYAL
$5 Cover 21+
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm
Karaoke, 8pm
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm
$5 Smirnoff, all flavors,

all night long JOX:
The GL Underwear Party,
9pm-3am Featuring DJ
David Merrill $5 cover
(includes clothes check)
JR.S
$2 Skyy Highballs and $2
Drafts, 10pm-midnight
Retro Friday, 10pm
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Christmas Drag Brunch,
10:30am and 1pm shows
DJ Matt Bailer Videos,
Dancing Beat the Clock
Happy Hour $2 (5-6pm),
$3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Buckets of Beer $15
NUMBER NINE
Open 5pm Happy Hour:
2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm
No Cover Friday Night
Piano with Chris, 7:30pm
SHAWS TAVERN
& Half-Priced Pizzas Live
Magic, 8pm
TOWN
Patio open 6pm DC Bear
Crue Happy Hour, 6-11pm
$3 Rail, $3 Draft, $3 Bud
Bottles Free Pizza, 7pm
No cover before 9:30pm
21+ Drag Show starts
at 10:30pm Hosted by
Lena Lett and featuring
Miss Tatianna, ShiQueeta-Lee, Riley Knoxx
and BaNaka DJ Wess
upstairs, DJs BacK2bACk
downstairs following the
show GoGo Boys after
11pm Doors open at
10pm For those 21 and
over, $12 For those

18-20, $15 Club: 18+
Patio: 21+
TRADE
Doors open 5pm Huge
only $4 DJ Kris Sutton,
10pm
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Men of Secrets, 9pm
Guest dancers Ladies
of Illusion Drag Show
with host Ella Fitzgerald
Doors at 9pm, Shows
at 11:30pm and 1:30am
DJ Don T. in Secrets
Cover 21+
Saturday
December 24
9 1/2
Closed all day
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Drag Yourself to Brunch at
Level One, 11am-2pm and
2-4pm Featuring Kristina
Kelly and the Ladies of
Illusion Bottomless
Mimosas and Bloody
Marys Happy Hour:
Tops Down $6 Top Shelf,
Bottoms Up $3 Rail, $3 Bud
Light, 4-9pm Christmas
Eve Dance Party, featuring
DJ Tezrah, 10pm-close
Doors open 10pm $5
Cover 21+
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 8pm
Happy Hour, 8-10pm
$2 off all drinks

Darryl Wilson Promotions
LLC presents Hip-Hop
Christmas Eve $5 cover
before midnight, $10 after
21+
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Christmas Eve Brunch,
10am-3pm Crazy Hour,
4-7pm Freddies Follies
Drag Show, 8-10pm,
hosted by Miss Destiny B.
Childs No Cover
GREEN LANTERN
Bacardi, all flavors, all
night long
JR.S
Open all day, 1pm-close
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
Christmas Eve Celebration,
all day, 11am-close
NUMBER NINE
Closed all day
SHAWS TAVERN
Christmas Eve Brunch
with Bottomless Mimosas,
10am-3pm Closed for
Dinner
TOWN
Closed all day
TRADE
Doors open 5pm Huge
only $4
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Men of Secrets, 9pm-3am
Guest dancers Ella
53
Fitzgeralds Christmas
Show Doors at 9pm,
Shows at 11:30pm and
1:30am DJ Don T. in
Secrets Cover 21+
NELLIES SPORTS BAR

Christmas with your
Nellies Friends, 5pm-close
Sunday
December 25
SHAWS TAVERN
Closed all day
9 1/2
Closed all day
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Closed all day
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 8pm
Merry Christmas from the
DC Eagle Happy Hour
all night No Cover 21+
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Christmas Day Champagne
Brunch Buffet, 10am-3pm
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm
Karaoke, 8pm-1am
GREEN LANTERN
Doors open at 9pm
JR.S
Doors open at 7pm
$3 Coors Light Bottles
and $3 Skyy (all flavors),
1pm-midnight
54
NUMBER NINE
Closed all day
TOWN
Closed all day
TRADE
Doors open 5pm Huge
only $4
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Decades of Dance DJ
Tim-e in Secrets Doors
9pm Cover 21+
Monday
December 26
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
No Cover
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Monday Nights A Drag,
featuring Kristina Kelly
Doors open at 10pm
Showtime at 11:30pm
$3 Skyy Cocktails, $8 Skyy
and Red Bull $8 Long
Islands No Cover, 18+
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 8pm
off everything Endless
Happy Hour prices to anyone in a DC Eagle T-Shirt
Monday Madness: Free
Pool All Night and Day
$1 Bud and Bud Light
Draughts all night No
Cover 21+
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm
Singles Night Karaoke,
8pm
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour all night long
Open Mic Night Karaoke,
9:30pm-close
JR.S
Showtunes Songs &
Singalongs, 9pm-close
DJ James $3 Draft Pints,
8pm-midnight
NELLIES SPORTS BAR

Beat the Clock Happy Hour
$2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
$4 (7-8pm) Buckets of
Beer $15 Texas Holdem
Poker, 8pm Dart Boards
NUMBER NINE
SHAWS TAVERN
and Half-Priced Pizzas
TRADE
Doors open 5pm Huge
only $4
Tuesday
December 27
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
No Cover
COBALT/30 DEGREES
DJ Honey Happy Hour:
Light, 4-9pm SIN Service
Industry Night, 10pm-close
$1 Rail Drinks all night
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm
Karaoke, 8pm
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour all night long,
4pm-close
JR.S
Buy 1 Drink, Get 1 Free,
5pm-midnight Birdie La
Cage Show, 10:30pm
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
$2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
Beer $15 Karaoke and
Drag Bingo
NUMBER NINE
After 9pm, $3 Absolut,
Bulleit & Stella
SHAWS TAVERN
Half Priced Burgers &
Pizzas, 5pm-close $5
House Wines & Sam
Adams Drafts, 5pm-close
TRADE
Doors open 5pm Huge
only $4
Wednesday
December 28
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
No Cover
COBALT/30 DEGREES
$4 Stoli and Stoli Flavors
and Miller Lite all night
Wednesday Night Karaoke,
hosted by India Larelle
Houston, 10pm No Cover
21+
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm $6
Burgers Drag Bingo
Night, hosted by Ms.
Regina Jozet Adams, 8pm
Bingo prizes Karaoke,
10pm-1am
GREEN LANTERN
4pm-close

only $4
JR.S
4-9pm Jay Ray Trivia,
8:30pm The Feud Drag
Trivia Team Competition,
10pm, hosted by BaNaka
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Shirtless Night, 10-11pm,
12-12:30am Military
Night, no cover with
military ID DJ Don
T. in Secrets 9pm
Cover 21+
NELLIES SPORTS BAR

SmartAss Trivia Night, 8pm
and 9pm Prizes include
bar tabs and tickets to
shows at the 9:30 Club
$15 Buckets of Beer for
SmartAss Teams only
Bring a new team member
and each get a free $10
Dinner
NUMBER NINE
SHAWS TAVERN
Piano Bar with Jill, downstairs, 8pm
TRADE
Doors open 5pm Huge
Thursday
December 29
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
DJ Wess
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Locker Room Thursday
Nights $3 Rail Drinks,
10pm-midnight, $5 Red
Bull and Frozen Virgin
Drinks DJs Sean Morris
and MadScience Best
Package Contest at midnight, hosted by BaNaka &
55
Kristina Kelly $200 Cash

Prize Doors open 10pm,
21+ $5 Cover or free
with college ID
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 8pm Strip
Down Thursdays Happy
Hour Shirtless guys
drink $2 off all drinks,
8-10pm Jock or underwear gets $2 off all drinks,
10pm-midnight No Cover
21+
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm
Karaoke, 8pm
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm
Ladies Drink Free Power
Hour, 4-5pm Shirtless
Thursday, 10-11pm DJs
BacK2bACk
Beer $15 Drag Bingo
NUMBER NINE
SHAWS TAVERN
& Half-Priced Pizzas $4
Heineken and Coronas,
5pm-close
TRADE
1410 14th St. NW
Doors open 5pm Huge
only $4
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Shirtless Thursday DJ
9pm Cover 21+
JR.S
All You Can Drink for $15,
5-8pm $3 Rail Vodka
Highballs, $2 JR.s drafts,
8pm-close Flashback:
Music videos from 19752005 with DJ Jason Royce,
8pm-12am
Friday
December 30
NELLIES SPORTS BAR

$2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
9 1/2
Open at 5pm Happy
56
5-9pm Friday Night

Videos with VJ Sean
McClafferty, 9:30pm
Expanded craft beer selection No Cover
COBALT/30 DEGREES
All You Can Drink Happy
Hour $15 Rail and
Domestic, $21 Call &
Imports, 6-9pm Guys
Night Out $6 Grey Goose
all night Two 30-minute open bars featuring
Grey Goose, 11-11:30pm
and 1-1:30am DJ
MadScience upstairs
DJ Keenan Orr downstairs
$10 cover 10pm-close
21+
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 8pm
off everything The DC
Eagle and Exile present
The Wonder Woman Party
tp hits from all your
favorite female artists
Comic-inspired costumes
encouraged everyone in
costume will be entered to
win 2 tickets to the New
Years Eve Distrkt C event
21+
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm
Karaoke, 8pm
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm
$5 Smirnoff, all flavors,
all night long Black
Dionysus Party, 9pm-2am
21+
JR.S
$2 Skyy Highballs and $2
Drafts, 10pm-midnight
Retro Friday, 10pm
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
DJ Matt Bailer Videos,
Dancing Beat the Clock
Happy Hour $2 (5-6pm),
$3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm)
Buckets of Beer $15
NUMBER NINE
Open 5pm Happy Hour:
2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm
No Cover Friday Night
Piano with Chris, 7:30pm
SHAWS TAVERN
& Half-Priced Pizzas Live
Magic, 8pm
TOWN
Patio open 6pm DC Bear
Crue Happy Hour, 6-11pm
$3 Rail, $3 Draft, $3 Bud
Bottles Free Pizza, 7pm
No cover before 9:30pm
21+ Drag Show starts

at 10:30pm Hosted by
Lena Lett and featuring
Miss Tatianna, ShiQueeta-Lee, Riley Knoxx
and BaNaka DJ Wess
upstairs, DJs BacK2bACk
downstairs following the
show GoGo Boys after
11pm Doors open at
10pm For those 21 and
over, $12 For those
18-20, $15 Club: 18+
Patio: 21+
TRADE
Doors open 5pm Huge
normally served in a
cocktail glass served in a
huge glass for the same
price, 5-10pm Beer and
wine only $4 DJs and
Dancing, 10pm
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Men of Secrets, 9pm
Doors at 9pm, Shows
DJ Don T. in Secrets
Cover 21+
Saturday
December 31
9 1/2
drink, 2-9pm $5 Absolut
& Titos, $3 Miller Lite
after 9pm Expanded craft
beer selection No Cover
various DJs
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Drag Yourself to Brunch at
Level One, 11am-2pm and
2-4pm Featuring Kristina
Kelly and the Ladies of
Illusion Bottomless
Mimosas and Bloody
Marys Happy Hour:
Light, 4-9pm New Years
Eve Dance Party, featuring DJ Chi Chi LaRue,
10pm-close Doors open
10pm $5 Cover 21+
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 8pm
Happy Hour, 8-10pm
$2 off everything Mr. DC
Eagle Grey Onyx on Club
Bar $2 Draughts and
Jello Shots, 9pm-2am
Distrkt C New Years Eve
Dance PArty, featuring
DJs Hannah and Josh
Whitaker, 10pm-8am, 3rd

Floor Exile Tickets available online at ticketleap.
com/events and at door
21+
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Drag Queen Broadway
Brunch, 10am-3pm
Starring Freddies
Broadway Babes Crazy
Hour, 4-7pm Seven
Andrade performs as Cher
Champagne Toast and
Party Favors $35 Cover
GREEN LANTERN
Bacardi, all flavors, all
night long 495 Bears
presents New Years Eve
Dance Party Balloon
Drop and Champagne
Toast at midnight
JR.S
New Years Eve Party
$500 Balloon Drop, Free
Champagne Shot at midnight and Party Favors
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
New Years Eve Drag
Brunch, 10:30am and 1pm
shows New Years
Eve Party, 8pm-close
Featuring DJ Lemz and DJ
Vodkatrina Champagne
Toast at midnight No
Cover
NUMBER NINE
Doors open 2pm Happy
2-9pm $5 Absolut and
$5 Bulleit Bourbon DJ
Chords Pop-Off with Video
Countdown for 2016,
9:30pm
SHAWS TAVERN
New Years Eve Brunch
with Bottomless Mimosas,
10am-3pm New Years
Eve Dinner, 5-11pm
with Regular Menu plus
Specials, Champagne
Toast, Tableside Magic,
and DJ Jill from 9:3011:30pm No Cover
TOWN
Doors open 9pm DJs Ed
Bailey and Alyson Calagna
upstairs DJ Wess
spins music and video
downstairs Drag Show
starts at 9:30pm Hosted
by Lena Lett and featuring
the Ladies of Town
Tatianna, Shi-Queeta-Lee,
Riley Knoxx and BaNaka
and The Firm Tickets
$25 Ticket holders skip
the line tickets available online at Flavorus.
57
com, at Number Nine and

at Trade 21+
TRADE
Doors open 2pm Huge
wine only $4 DJs Adam
Koussari-Amin, Jeff Prior
and Devon Trotter present
CTRL Dance Party, 10pm
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Men of Secrets, 9pm-4am
Doors at 9pm, Shows
DJ Don T. in Ziegfelds
DJ Steve Henderson in
Secrets Party Favors and
Split of Champagne for
midnight with door ticker
Cover 21+
Sunday
January 1
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
No Cover
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Homowood Karaoke,
hosted by Robert Bise,
10pm-close 21+
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 8pm
Happy New Years from
the DC Eagle Happy
Hour all night No Cover
21+
58
FREDDIES BEACH BAR

New Years Day Brunch,
10am-3pm $25 Cover
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm
Karaoke, 8pm-1am
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm
Bears Can Party upstairs,
6pm-10pm Featuring
DJ Jeff Eletto Mamas
Trailer Park Karaoke downstairs, 9:30pm-close
JR.S
Sunday Funday Liquid
Brunch Doors open at
1pm $3 Coors Light
Bottles and $3 Skyy (all
flavors), 1pm-midnight
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
A Nellies New Year,
8pm-close
NUMBER NINE
Pop Goes the World with
Wes Della Volla at 9:30pm
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on
any drink, 2-9pm No
Cover
SHAWS TAVERN
New Years Day Brunch
Bottomless Mimosas $14
Monday
January 2
NUMBER NINE
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
No Cover
SHAWS TAVERN
Bottomless Mimosas,
11am-3pm Happy Hour,
4-7pm $3 Miller Lite, $4
Blue Moon, $5 Rails and
House Wines and HalfPriced Pizzas Trivia with
Jeremy, 7:30pm
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Monday Nights A Drag,
featuring Kristina Kelly
Doors open at 10pm
Showtime at 11:30pm
$3 Skyy Cocktails, $8 Skyy
and Red Bull $8 Long
Islands No Cover, 18+
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 8pm
off everything Endless
Happy Hour prices to anyone in a DC Eagle T-Shirt
Monday Madness: Free
Pool All Night and Day
$1 Bud and Bud Light
Draughts all night No
Cover 21+
TRADE
Doors open 2pm Huge
wine only $4 TNX Dance
Party, 10pm
FREDDIES BEACH BAR

Crazy Hour, 4-7pm
Singles Night Karaoke,
8pm
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Decades of Dance DJ
Tim-e in Secrets Doors
9pm Cover 21+
JR.S
Showtunes Songs &
Singalongs, 9pm-close
DJ James $3 Draft Pints,
8pm-midnight
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour all night long
Open Mic Night Karaoke,
9:30pm-close
NELLIES SPORTS BAR

$2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
Beer $15 Texas Holdem
Poker, 8pm Dart Boards
TRADE
Doors open 5pm Huge
only $4
Tuesday
January 3
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
No Cover
COBALT/30 DEGREES
DJ Honey Happy Hour:
Light, 4-9pm SIN Service
Industry Night, 10pm-close
$1 Rail Drinks all night
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm
Karaoke, 8pm
GREEN LANTERN
4pm-close
JR.S
5pm-midnight Birdie La
Cage Show, 10:30pm
NELLIES SPORTS BAR

$2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
Beer $15 Karaoke and
Drag Bingo
NUMBER NINE
After 9pm, $3 Absolut,
Bulleit & Stella
SHAWS TAVERN
Half Priced Burgers &
Pizzas, 5pm-close $5
House Wines & Sam
Adams Drafts, 5pm-close
TRADE
Doors open 5pm Huge
only $4
Wednesday
January 4
9 1/2
TVs showing movies,
No Cover
COBALT/30 DEGREES
$4 Stoli and Stoli Flavors
and Miller Lite all night
Wednesday Night Karaoke,
hosted by India Larelle
Houston, 10pm No Cover
21+
FREDDIES BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm $6
Burgers Drag Bingo
Night, hosted by Ms.
Regina Jozet Adams, 8pm
Bingo prizes Karaoke,
10pm-1am
GREEN LANTERN
4pm-close
JR.S
4-9pm Jay Ray Trivia,
8:30pm The Feud Drag
Trivia Team Competition,
10pm, hosted by BaNaka
NELLIES SPORTS BAR
SmartAss Trivia Night, 8pm
and 9pm Prizes include
bar tabs and tickets to
shows at the 9:30 Club
$15 Buckets of Beer for
SmartAss Teams only
Bring a new team member
and each get a free $10
Dinner
NUMBER NINE
SHAWS TAVERN
Piano Bar with Jill, downstairs, 8pm
TRADE
Doors open 5pm Huge
only $4
ZIEGFELDS/SECRETS
Shirtless Night, 10-11pm,
12-12:30am Military
Night, no cover with
military ID DJ Don T. in
Secrets 9pm Cover
21+ l
59
WARD MORRISON
PARTY POLITICS
A look at some of the most festive
LGBT New Years Eve offerings
by Doug Rule
AYBE YOURE AN INVETERATE PARTY ANIMAL, ONE WHOSE HIGHball glass is always half full and bubbling with enthusiasm. Youve never
met a party, especially a New Years Eve party, you didnt want to go to.
Many others of us are still struggling to comprehend and rebound after a terrible
year. If only we could find a pair of ros-colored glasses as effective as yours! At
least most area gay bars and clubs are offering plenty of other party favors, even
prizes, to entice the dejected gay masses to be festive. So heres to celebrating
New Years Eve 2016 Auld Lang Syne style.
And what could be better than an offer of free cash? As in past years, JR.s
kicks off the new year with a balloon drop offering $500 in cash and drink cards, in
addition to a free champagne shot and party favors. If you want something more
warm or at least fuzzy, 495 Bears hosts a New Years Eve party at the Green
Lantern, where it will rain 100 teddy bears at midnight, with free bubbly and party
favors on the house. Its free if you woof at the doorman before 10 p.m.
The Ladies of Town Danceboutique perform on New Years Eve, along with
dance troupe the Firm. The nightclub will open at 9 p.m. for an extended night of
dancing plus a glittered countdown at midnight with DJ Wess downstairs
and Ed Bailey opening for renowned DJ Alyson Calagna upstairs. Those who purchase tickets in advance can skip the usual line to get in.
Other venues are encouraging patrons to get the night started early and stay
out late. Number Nine serves up its usual 2-for-1 happy hour prices from 5 to 9
p.m. for its Jawbreaker NYE event with DJ Chord, while Trade opens extra-early
at 2 p.m. and will run its everyday XL Happy Hour specials until 10 p.m. and
the start of the CTRL dance party. Nellies launches the biggest party night of
the year at 8 p.m. with DJs Lemz and Vodkatrina tag-teaming the turntables and
a champagne toast at the witching hour.
In addition to serving brunch on both days of the holiday weekend, Freddies
Beach Bar, in Crystal City, welcomes back Cher-impersonator Steven Andrade for
60
a show on New Years Eve that includes

a midnight champagne toast and party
favors for $35. More Ladies of Illusion
will be on stage at Ziegfelds for two
New Years Eve shows (at 10:30 p.m.
and 1:30 a.m.), hosted by Ella Fitzgerald
with DJ Don T spinning. Upstairs youll
find Gentlemen of No Illusion, aka the
Men of Secrets, shaking to the sounds
of DJ Steve Henderson. And patrons on
both floors of the Southeast complex get
a split of champagne and party favors at
midnight.
More dancing is in store at Cobalt with
its Edge of Seventeen Party, featuring
tunes in the lounge by DJ Madscience
and on the upstairs dance floor by special guest DJ, porn diva director Chi Chi
LaRue. Stevie Nicks is the inspiration
for the theme as well as the three-tiered
ticket pricing for the whole shebang:
from a basic Strand in the Wind cover
of $25 including house sparkling wine at
midnight, to $75 for Nightbird Singing
with open bar on call and imported beer
and a midnight toast with Henriot Brut, to
$150 for premium White Winged Dove
package featuring open bar on top shelf
and an Ace of Spades midnight toast.
DistrktC, the popular dance party that
christened the DC Eagles large, third
floor Exile space at the start of the year,
blows it out with a party lasting longer
than any other until 8 a.m. DJs Hanna
from NYC/MIA and Josh Whitaker from
LA/SF will keep the sexy leather/fetish
crowd moving and grooving for a marathon of up to 10 hours.
Farther afield, a ragtag group of promoters, including WhiskHER DC and the
Qrew, presents what is billed as the
citys largest trans-friendly, bi-positive
New Years Eve event at the repurposed
Old Engine 12 Firehouse in Northeasts
Eckington neighborhood. New Queers
Eve: All That Glitters Is Gold takes place
on all three floors of the multi-use venue,
complete with a dance floor, a photo
booth and a heated patio. The all-inclusive, queer women-focused party comes
with party hats, noisemakers and NYE
swag. Haydees restaurant on Georgia
Avenue NW in Brightwood hosts a special New Years Eve edition of Noche
Ardiente, an LGBT Latino dance party.
For some, the bustling New Years Eve
nightlife might be the start of a mindful,
yet playful, new years resolution: Keep
the party going for as long as we can.
Four years isnt that long, right? l
For more info on these and other area gay
bars, visit metroweekly.com/nightlife.
Scene
Nellies Sports Bar - Saturday, December 10

Photography by Ward Morrison
See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene
61
LastWord.
People say the queerest things
It is being driven by a group of U.N. member states that believe it is acceptable to

treat people differently because of who they are
or who they love.
SAMANTHA POWER, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, speaking while voting against a measure that tried to stop the U.N.
from monitoring anti-LGBT discrimination. This amendment is rooted in a real disagreement over whether people of a certain
sexual orientation and gender identity are, in fact, entitled to equal rights, she said.
I feel that the greatest gift that I can give my children is

the freedom to be who they are.
WILL SMITH, speaking with BET about his parenting style. Smith, whose son Jaden has rejected gender norms, added that a lot
of times, when I was growing up, I would see parents force a child to be what you want them to be. As a parent, if its an oak tree,
I want it to grow as an oak tree. Im not gonna try to force it to be an apple tree.
From the beginning of mankind there have been only two sexes: male and female.
No child should be used to push an
unnatural social agenda.
The anti-LGBT AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION, in a call to action sent out to the groups supporters, asking them to harass
National Geographic editor-in-chief Susan Goldberg. The January issue of the magazine features nine-year-old trans activist Avery
Jackson, with the issue itself discussing the Gender Revolution and featuring gender-variant young people.
If we fail to reverse course and restore liberty,

our nation will not long survive!
Evangelical law firm LIBERTY COUNSEL, in an email to supporters begging for money. The firm previously represented Kentucky
clerk Kim Davis and its leader Mat Staver has a history of supporting anti-LGBT causes.
By having a visible LGBTI character in such a popular title, Blizzard is

sending the gaming community a message that its
games are for everyone.
CURTIS FREE, of London Gaymers, speaking with Gay Star News after Blizzards multiplayer title Overwatch was updated to
include Trace, a British character who is openly gay.
62

Metro Weekly - 12-22-16 - Coverboy of The Year

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DECEMBER 22/29, 2016

2016: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

THE 2016 COVERBOY OF

Interview by Randy Shulman

THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2016

SPOTLIGHT: WICKEDS WOMAN p.7 OUT ON THE TOWN p.11

2016 Jansi LLC.

DECEMBER 22/29, 2016 METROWEEKLY

TS HARD TO BE THE DIFFERENT ONE, SAYS JESSICA

learn. Shes dropped into this atmosphere where she doesnt

In 2010 Denzel Washington and Viola Davis won

Every year the Smithsonians National

More than two decades after forming

DECEMBER 22/29, 2016 METROWEEKLY

Eric Schaeffer has opted to make Peter

The folk legend who popularized Sondheims Send in the

DECEMBER 22/29, 2016 METROWEEKLY

Holiday Gift Guide

Visit the Holiday Gift Guide Online at metroweekly.com/giftguide

Out On The Town

WITS SEASONAL DISORDER

Compiled by Doug Rule

Films based on established video

The late John Glenn lives on in

African-American NASA employees

Saroo Brierley (Dev Patel) is an

Craig Wallace takes over from

originally conceived by Michael

A CHRISTMAS CAROL: A GHOST

Olney Theatre Center presents

For the fifth year in a row, Keegan

DECEMBER 22/29, 2016 METROWEEKLY

31. Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church

Baltimores Everyman Theatre

NEW YEARS FEASTS

Wondering where to dine on New Years Eve and Day? We offer

DECEMBER 22/29, 2016 METROWEEKLY

Becky Modes one-man tour-deforce, directed by Alan Paul and

INTO THE WOODS

Helen Hayes Award-winning costume designer Frank Labovitz

are $15 to $30. Call 202-733-6321 or

LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES

The holidays at Olney Theatre this

Lauren Gunderson and Margot

Closer to Brothers Grimm than

STRAIGHT WHITE MEN

THE KINSEY SICKS

Apart from their clever arrangements and vibrant, precise vocals,

DECEMBER 22/29, 2016 METROWEEKLY

THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE

Tom Story directs a two-person cast

THE SECOND CITYS BLACK SIDE

An all-African American troupe

THE SECRET GARDEN

Among the many jazzy jingle balls

The Clown Prince of Hip-Hop,

Grammy-nominated D.C. jazzy

CYRUS CHESTNUT TRIO

The legendary British pop band,

Last year, Broadways Emily

HANK WILLIAMS TRIBUTE

Alexandrias premiere music hall

One of the most touted female talents in contemporary jazz, Jane