Metro Weekly - 03-17-16 - Duran Duran

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MARCH 17, 2016

METROWEEKLY.COM

METROWEEKLY.COM

MARCH 17, 2016

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EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Randy Shulman

MARCH 17, 2016
Volume 22 / Issue 45

ART DIRECTOR
Todd Franson
MANAGING EDITOR
Rhuaridh Marr
SENIOR EDITOR
John Riley
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Doug Rule
SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS
Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim








NEWS


6


Lessons from South Dakota
by John Riley


COMMENTARY
9
Into the Funhouse
by Sean Bugg
10

Community Calendar



Top of the Pops

CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS
Scott G. Brooks, Christopher Cunetto
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Gordon Ashenhurst, Sean Bugg, Connor J. Hogan,
Troy Petenbrink, Kate Wingfield
WEBMASTER
David Uy
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Julian Vankim

SALES & MARKETING
PUBLISHER
Randy Shulman

FEATURES

16



18
Duran Duran’s
Simon Le Bon


Interview by Todd Franson

Duran Duran’s
Nick Rhodes
19

Interview by Randy Shulman

NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE
Rivendell Media Co.
212-242-6863
DISTRIBUTION MANAGER
Dennis Havrilla

PATRON SAINT
Bernard Edwards

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY
Stephanie Pistel

METRO WEEKLY
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MARCH 17, 2016

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by Randy Shulman

OUT ON THE TOWN





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Instrument Free




GAMES




30


Far Cry Primal




GAMES




32


Hitman







TECH



34


Expensive Reality

NIGHTLIFE

37



Freddie’s Beach Bar’s
16th Anniversary Purple Party







photography by Ward Morrison




SCENE




44


Number Nine





46

Last Word









by Doug Rule

by Rhuaridh Marr

by Rhuaridh Marr

by Rhuaridh Marr

photography by Ward Morrison

METROWEEKLY.COM

MARCH 17, 2016

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Gay PAC endorses Clinton for president
Obama nominates Merrick Garland for Supreme Court

CRISTINA MURACA

LGBT

News

Now online at MetroWeekly.com

Lessons from South Dakota
The transgender community’s successful stop of a bill offers lessons for
states facing anti-trans initiatives
by John Riley

T

ERRI BRUCE KNOWS FIRSTHAND HOW ENGAGing in face-to-face conversations can change people’s
minds. The fifth-generation resident of Rapid City, S.D.,
says personal interactions — along with a good deal of
patience and restraint — were essential to delivering a victory for
the transgender community in the Mount Rushmore State.
“What I found is that, to most people, transgender is a concept and not something real,” Bruce says. “So my goal was to put
a human face to something maybe they didn’t understand or see
as a human issue, something that was abstract to them. I had
contact with people who honestly changed their minds once
they had a good grasp of some of these things. Just interacting
with people, not even talking about the issue at hand, but talking
about dogs, or fishing, or the weather, you become a real person
and people can understand that you’re just like everybody else.”
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MARCH 17, 2016

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The action by Bruce and others led to Gov. Dennis Daugaard
vetoing an anti-trans “bathroom bill,” which targeted transgender schoolchildren. What made Daugaard’s veto so remarkable
was that the odds were stacked so heavily against transgender
people. Prior to his decision, Daugaard freely admitted that he
had never met a transgender person. The bill was sent to his
desk because South Dakota’s legislature is overwhelmingly
dominated by Republicans, particularly those of the socially
conservative stripe. And the nature of the bill — fear-mongering
over “privacy concerns” for cisgender people who might be
uncomfortable sharing facilities with transgender peers — had
doomed pro-LGBT nondiscrimination ordinances in some other
cities in recent years, including Pocatello, Idaho; Chattanooga,
Tenn; Springfield, Mo.; and Houston, Texas.
South Dakota’s success in stopping the bathroom bill can pro-

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MARCH 17, 2016

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LGBTNews
vide a model for other states to follow when dealing with similar
measures. According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least
44 anti-transgender bills were filed in 16 different states in 2016,
more than twice the number that were introduced the prior year.
Twenty-three of the bills specifically target transgender youth in
bathrooms, changing facilities and school sports teams.
One of those states pushing such legislation is Tennessee,
where — among other anti-LGBT bills — lawmakers will debate
a bill forcing students to use only those restrooms and locker
rooms that match the sex on their birth certificate. That provision is significant, because Tennessee is the only state that
prevents people from ever changing the gender listed on their
birth certificate.
Chris Sanders, director of the Tennessee Equality Project,
says his organization has not only been preparing for hearings
on the bill, but has been trying to put in place a media strategy
to educate people about the importance of defeating it — and
combating misinformation about the transgender community.
Already, Tennessee Equality Project has been organizing clergy
members to oppose the bill and has been placing favorable opeds in papers around the state to try and convince residents that
it is unnecessary and harmful to the state.
“This is purely driven by organizations like Alliance
Defending Freedom, and you’ll recall that the RNC recently
urged states to pass these,” Sanders says of the proposed antitrans initiatives. “These are coming from the top. They’re not
coming from Tennessee.”
There are many other parallels between the situation in
Tennessee and the one that LGBT activists faced in South Dakota.
Much like his fellow Republican Daugaard, Tennessee Gov. Bill
Haslam is reticent to sign such a restrictive law into place. A
spokeswoman for the governor told BuzzFeed News that Haslam
is particularly worried about potential retaliatory action that could
be taken against Tennessee, such as the loss of federal funding
under Title IX’s prohibitions on sex discrimination.
“Currently in Tennessee, this issue is being handled on a
local basis, situation by situation,” Jennifer Donnals, Haslam’s
press secretary, said in a statement. “The governor trusts our
teachers and local school boards to make necessary accommodations in those situations.”
The language mirrors that of Daugaard’s, used in his veto of
South Dakota’s anti-trans bill. However, because gubernatorial
vetoes in Tennessee can be overrode by a simple majority vote,
Tennessee Equality Project is hoping to convince legislators
that risking the loss of Title IX money is fiscally imprudent.
“If you look at Vanderbilt and Middle Tennessee State
University state polls, the governor polls extremely well in
Tennessee,” Sanders says, adding that Haslam’s popularity may
give Republicans in the legislature pause about overriding the
veto of a governor of their own party.
Chase Strangio, a staff attorney with the American Civil
Liberties Union’s LGBT & HIV Project, calls the Tennessee bill
the anti-transgender measure that poses the largest threat to the
community at present. But he also warns that the ACLU is closely monitoring North Carolina, where Gov. Pat McCrory (R) — in
the middle of a re-election campaign — may call a special session
to propose anti-transgender legislation. It would either directly
repeal or ask for voter approval on any local trans-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances, like one that was recently approved
by the Charlotte City Council.
Continuing with the political Right’s obsession with bathrooms, the conservative Family Policy Institute of Washington
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MARCH 17, 2016

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has filed a ballot initiative aimed at overturning a Washington
State Human Rights Commission rule allowing transgender
people to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their
gender identity. The initiative was filed after Democrats and
three Republican senators helped defeat a proposed bill that
would have done the same thing.
“The reality is that the strategy nationally will be, and has
been, for the last several months, elevating the voices and experiences of the trans community,” Strangio says of the messaging
he expects LGBT organizations and their allies to use in future
battles. “The key is highlighting the voices of trans people and
explaining how these measures are harmful to the trans community.”
On the messaging front, it would behoove other states or
national-level LGBT organizations to follow the example of
South Dakota, adds Ashley Joubert-Gaddis, director of operations at The Center for Equality, an LGBT community center in
Sioux Falls, S.D. The Center successfully arranged for Daugaard
to meet with a transgender adult, two transgender youth and a
parent of a transgender child during the five-day period when
he was weighing whether to veto South Dakota’s bathroom bill
or sign it into law.
“I think it’s a matter of fighting with grace and class,”
says Joubert-Gaddis. “At no point did we become derogatory
[towards LGBT opponents] or make demands. We made this
about a personal issue.... As much as we were angry during this
process, we made sure never to come across with the media or
press to come off as angry. It was more of, ‘We’re pleading with
you. These [anti-trans bills] are about children.’”
But Joubert-Gaddis also says that LGBT groups and allies
need to push back aggressively and quickly — albeit politely —
against misinformation or branding adopted by right-wing special interest groups, such as calling a measure like the bathroom
bill a “privacy bill,” instead of an anti-transgender bill.
Terri Bruce adds that LGBT organizations can’t be afraid to
address the issue of bathroom use themselves, and develop messaging that counteracts unfair assumptions or stereotypes about
the transgender community.
“The bathroom is the hot-button topic right now. And until
people really understand what the issue is, it’s going to continue
to be the hot-button issue,” Bruce explains. “The picture that
some people get in their minds is a man in a woman’s dress,
going inside to use the women’s bathroom. And that’s not what
transgender people do.
“I go to the bathroom because I have to go to the bathroom,”
Bruce says. “All human beings have biological functions that we
can’t ignore. And I believe we can really work through this by
creating a level of understanding where the lightbulb turns on
and people say, ‘Oh, okay, I get it now. It’s not that big of a deal.’
Bathrooms have stalls. They have doors. You go in and you close
the door.”
While treating people, even the fiercest of LGBT rights
opponents, with kindness and respect is important, so is perseverance. Bruce hopes that activists use the momentum from
South Dakota to help shine a spotlight on other states pushing
similar measures, and won’t be deterred from engaging their
lawmakers just because they may face tough odds.
“We changed people’s hearts and minds. And we did it by
treating people the way we want to be treated,” Bruce says. “I
know it can be done elsewhere. Just come together, work as a
unit, work towards one goal, not at cross-purposes with each
other. If we did it in South Dakota, we can do it anywhere.” l

COMMENTARY

Into the Funhouse

Television characters Donald Trump and Frank Underwood are
flip-sides to hatred
by Sean Bugg

I

T JUST SO HAPPENED I FINISHED UP THIS SEASON
of House of Cards — D.C.’s not-even-guilty binging pleasure of choice — at the same time results came in for the
Super Tuesday primaries. Watching two funhouse mirror
versions of American democracy unfold simultaneously — television character Frank Underwood and television character
Donald Trump — just reinforced my distaste for both.
To start with the fictional, I realize I’m supposed to hate
the Underwoods, while also
thrilling to their villainy. And
that was a lot of fun for a
while. Then the show rushed
Frank Underwood into the
Oval Office, leaving behind
the batshit byzantine plots
of the Washington elite for
dealings with a second-rate
Putin and something involving China that even the shows
writers can’t explain.
So when this season kicked
off with a fallen reporter providing narration for his cell
mate’s jackoff session, I was
already halfway to the door.
I would have made it out had
it not been for friends telling
me, Oh, just wait, it gets so
much better! No, actually, it
doesn’t. Somewhere around
the time the show began telegraphing an assassination attempt and minor character death
with a lack of subtlety surprising even for House of Cards, I
moved directly into the hate-watch camp.
It’s not the show’s lack of connection to reality that bothers me, although “ludicrous” doesn’t even begin to describe its
depiction of the American political system, the writers’ understanding of which seems to have come from skimming a few
months worth of Politico articles. It’s not even watching the
cringe-inducing cameos by prominent journalists, although it
does reinforce why cable news should be about the last place one
would go to be a well-informed citizen these days. (Why, Gwen
Ifill, why? You’re supposed to be the best of us!)
What it comes down to is a show that is fundamentally stupid — filled with fabulous actors and wicked one liners, but still
stupid — working so hard to appear smart. This pretentious
nonsense is why you end up with the two evil geniuses putting
together a complicated plot that involves allowing an Iraqi ter-

ror leader to speak with potentially murderous kidnappers yet
neglect to have even one Arabic speaker in the room. Or the
baldly nihilistic ending that exploits American victims of terror
as nakedly as 24 ever did but with even less nuance.
Which brings us to Trump: a campaign that is fundamentally stupid — filled with compelling characters and wicked
one liners, but still stupid — working so hard to appear smart.
Part of the fascination of watching the Trump roadshow is
how closely it tracks with
what we would traditionally
consider political satire: dismissing the egghead elites
and proposing ludicrously
simplistic solutions to every
problems (building a wall,
registering all Muslims, solving every international problem by making deals faster
than Monty Hall). Trump
gives his audience scapegoats — blacks, Mexicans,
Muslims — because Trump
is about looking outward for
excuses, never inward for
understanding.
But what Trump and
House of Cards really have
in common is hate and anger
about our political system.
For Trump voters, that anger
is directed toward anyone
but themselves: at the politicians who’ve abandoned them, the
minorities who’ve taken their jobs, the gays who’ve stripped
away their values. It’s a hate directed at others, constantly
looking to blame.
For House of Cards fans, particularly the feverish ones
populating Washington, it’s simply self hatred — thrilling to a
show that treats its audience as complicit in a failed, corrupt
system. It’s why journalists clamor for cameos on a show that
presents journalists as corrupt or inept or captives of the system. It’s why politicians and staffers live for a show that claims
there are no principles, only power. It’s a collective probing
of an open wound. Yes, you can read too much into a simple
show about political corruption, but given the self-seriousness
of both the narrative and its creators, I’m inclined to take the
show at its word.
Trump or Underwood, fantasy or fiction, right or left — it’s
hard to see how any of this ends other than badly. l

"Trump gives
his audience
scapegoats —
blacks, Mexicans,
Muslims

— because Trump is about
looking outward for excuses,
never inward for
understanding."

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LGBTCommunityCalendar
Metro Weekly’s Community Calendar highlights important events in the D.C.-area
LGBT community, from alternative social events to volunteer opportunities.
Event information should be sent by email to [email protected].
Deadline for inclusion is noon of the Friday before Thursday’s publication.
Questions about the calendar may be directed to the
Metro Weekly office at 202-638-6830 or
the calendar email address.

THURSDAY, MARCH 17
LGBTQ SOCIAL GROUP meet for St.

Patrick’s Dinner at Freddie’s Beach
Bar & Restaurant. 7 p.m. 555 23rd St.
South, Arlington. No RSVP necessary.
All welcome. For more information,
agla.org.
Rabbi Laurie Green hosts the final
class in her weekly spring seminar,
“THE BOOK OF ESTHER FOR
ADULTS: How to Survive as a
Minority in a Topsy-Turvy, Scary,
Gentile, Sexist, Homophobic and
Sometimes Very Funny Diaspora
World.” Classes are free for members
of Bet Mishpachah. Suggested donation of $10 per class for non-members.
7-8:45 p.m. DC Jewish Community
Center, 1529 16th St. NW. For more
information, visit betmish.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS
ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL
HEALTH offers free HIV testing, 9-5

p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). Call 202-291-4707, or visit
andromedatransculturalhealth.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)

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.
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.

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MARCH 17, 2016

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 whitmanwalker.org.
IDENTITY offers free and confiden-

LGBTQ COMMUNITY SOCIAL
GROUP meet at Aura Lounge. 7-10

p.m. 2147 P Street NW, 2nd floor. No
cover, 21+ and cash bar. gogaydc.com.

WEEKLY EVENTS
ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL
HEALTH offers free HIV testing, 9-5

tial 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, 301-300-9978, or
Takoma Park, 301-422-2398.

p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). 202-291-4707, andromedatransculturalhealth.org.

METROHEALTH CENTER offers
free, rapid HIV testing. Appointment
needed. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700.
202-638-0750.

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 whitmanwalker.org.

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5
p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for
youth 21 and younger. 202-567-3155
or [email protected].
US HELPING US hosts a Narcotics

Anonymous Meeting, 6:30-7:30 p.m.,
3636 Georgia Ave. NW. The group is
independent of UHU. 202-446-1100.

WOMEN’S 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,
[email protected].

FRIDAY, MARCH 18
GAY DISTRICT, a group for GBTQQI
men between the ages of 18-35, meets
on the first and third Fridays of each
month. 8:30-9:30 p.m. 2000 14th St.
NW, Suite 105. For more information,
visit gaydistrict.org.
LGB PSYCHOTHERAPY GROUP for
adults in Montgomery County offers
a safe space to explore coming out
and issues of identity. 10-11:30 a.m.
16220 S. Frederick Rd., Suite 512,
Gaithersburg, Md. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

METROWEEKLY.COM

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice
session at Hains Point, 927 Ohio Dr.
SW. 6:30-8 p.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

METROHEALTH CENTER offers

SATURDAY, MARCH 19
ADVENTURING outdoors group
hikes 10.2 strenuous miles with 2400
feet of elevation gain to Signal Knob
on Massanutten Mountain overlooking Strasburg, Va. Bring beverages,
lunch, sturdy boots, and about $15 for
fees. Carpool at 9 a.m. from East Falls
Church Metro Kiss & Ride lot. Jerry,
703-920-6871. adventuring.org.
BURGUNDY CRESCENT, a gay volunteer organization, volunteers today
for Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation
at Falls Church PetSmart. To participate, visit burgundycrescent.org.
CHRYSALIS arts & culture group

holds bi-monthly Social and annual
meeting over dinner in restaurant
near Dupont Circle. 7 p.m. All welcome. RSVP by Friday evening, Mar.
18. Kevin, 571-338-1433. kgiles27@
gmail.com.

Join CENTER BI, The DC Center’s
bisexual support group, for a dinner social and outing. 6-8 p.m. 915 E
St. NW. For more information, visit
thedccenter.org or call 202-682-2245.
The DC Center hosts a meeting of
KHUSH DC, a support group for
LGBTQ South Asians. 1-3 p.m. 2000
14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more
information, visit thedccenter.org.
The DC Center hosts a monthly LGBT
ASYLEES SUPPORT MEETING
AND DINNER for LGBT refugees and
asylum seekers. 5-7 p.m. 2000 14th St.
NW, Suite 105. For more information,
visit thedccenter.org.

free, rapid HIV testing. Appointment
needed. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700.
202-638-0750.

WEEKLY EVENTS

PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBT-

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL
HEALTH offers free HIV testing, 9-5

affirming social group for ages 11-24.
4-6 p.m. 1419 Columbia Road NW.
Contact Tamara, 202-319-0422, laycdc.org.

p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). 202-291-4707 or andromedatransculturalhealth.org.

SMYAL’S 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.

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.

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-6
p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for
youth 21 and younger. Youth Center,
410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155, [email protected].

BRAZILIAN GLBT GROUP, including
others interested in Brazilian culture,
meets. For location/time, email [email protected].
DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice
session at Hains Point, 972 Ohio Dr.,
SW. 8:30-10 a.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

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MARCH 17, 2016

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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.

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.

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.

DIGNITYUSA sponsors Mass for

LGBT community, family and
friends. 6:30 p.m., Immanuel Churchon-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. Nellie’s, 900 U St. NW.
RVSP preferred. brendandarcy@
gmail.com.

IDENTITY offers free and confiden-

tial HIV testing in Takoma Park,
7676 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 411.
Walk-ins 12-3 p.m. For appointments
other hours, call 301-422-2398.

HOPE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
welcomes GLBT community for worship. 10:30 a.m., 6130 Old Telegraph
Road, Alexandria. hopeucc.org.

HSV-2 SOCIAL AND SUPPORT
GROUP for gay men living in the DC

metro area. This group will be meeting once a month. For information on
location and time, visit H2gether.com.

INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUAL
DEVELOPMENT, God-centered new

age church & learning center. Sunday
Services and Workshops event. 5419
Sherier Place NW. isd-dc.org.
Join LINCOLN CONGREGATIONAL

SUNDAY, MARCH 20
Inner Light Ministries hosts a

64TH BIRTHDAY BRUNCH
CELEBRATION for Bishop Rainey

Cheeks. 1:30-2:30 p.m. following
Palm Sunday service. Adrenaline
Cafe at the Anacostia Arts Center,
1231 Good Hope Rd. SE. For more
information and to RSVP, contact
Rev. Darryl LC Moch, [email protected]. Birthday wellwishes or cards may be sent to 1254
Pleasant St. SE.

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.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice

session at Hains Point, 972 Ohio Dr.,
SW. 9:30-11 a.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

DIGNITYUSA offers Roman Catholic
Mass for the LGBT community. 6
p.m., St. Margaret’s Church, 1820
Connecticut Ave. NW. All welcome.
Sign interpreted. For more info, visit
dignitynova.org.

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MARCH 17, 2016

METROWEEKLY.COM

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. Onetta
Brooks. Children’s Sunday School, 11
a.m. 10383 Democracy Lane, Fairfax.
703-691-0930, mccnova.com.

METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY
CHURCH OF WASHINGTON, D.C.

services at 9 a.m. (ASL interpreted)
and 11 a.m. Children’s Sunday School
at 11 a.m. 474 Ridge St. NW. 202-6387373, mccdc.com.

NATIONAL CITY CHRISTIAN
CHURCH, inclusive church with

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. 202554-4330, riversidedc.org.

ST. STEPHEN AND THE
INCARNATION, an “interracial,

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 welcoming-

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 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.

MONDAY, MARCH 21
CENTER FAITH, a program of The

DC Center, hosts a meeting for the
LGBT community and their religious
allies. 7:30-9 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW,
Suite 105. For more information, visit
thedccenter.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS
DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) prac-

tice session at Hains Point, 927 Ohio
Dr. SW. 7-8:30 p.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds

practice, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Garrison
Elementary, 1200 S St. NW. dcscandals.wordpress.com.

GETEQUAL meets 6:30-8 p.m. at
Quaker House, 2111 Florida Ave. NW.
[email protected].
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 whitmanwalker.org.

KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY
(K.I.) SERVICES, 3333 Duke St.,

Alexandria, offers free “rapid” HIV
testing and counseling, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
703-823-4401.

METROHEALTH CENTER offers

free, rapid HIV testing. No appointment needed. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012 14th
St. NW, Suite 700. 202-638-0750.

NOVASALUD offers free HIV testing.
5-7 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite 200,
Arlington. Appointments: 703-7894467.

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5

p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for
youth 21 and younger. Youth Center,
410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155 or [email protected].

THE DC CENTER hosts Coffee DropIn for the Senior LGBT Community.
10 a.m.-noon. 2000 14th St. NW. 202682-2245, thedccenter.org.

Oral
Fixation
you can listen
to any story at

MetroWeekly.com
just look for the
“speak” button

US HELPING US hosts a black gay
men’s 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, 703-299-0504, [email protected], wetskins.org.

WHITMAN-WALKER HEALTH

HIV/AIDS Support Group for newly
diagnosed individuals, meets 7 p.m.
Registration required. 202-939-7671,
[email protected].

TUESDAY, MARCH 22
The DC Center and the Mayor’s
Office of LGBTQ Affairs host a

TASK FORCE MEETING ON
TRANSGENDER EMPLOYMENT
ISSUES to discuss the needs and con-

cerns, as well as job opportunities, for
members of the District’s transgender
community. 6:30-7:30 p.m. 2000 14th
St. NW, Suite 105. RSVP to terrance.
[email protected]. For more information,
visit thedccenter.org.

The DC Center’s 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
ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL
HEALTH offers free HIV testing, 9-5

p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). 202-291-4707, andromedatransculturalhealth.org.

ASIANS AND FRIENDS weekly dinner
in Dupont/Logan Circle area, 6:30 p.m.
[email protected], afwashington.net.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)

practice session at Takoma Aquatic
Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW. 7:30-9
p.m. swimdcac.org.

METROWEEKLY.COM

MARCH 17, 2016

13

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/
walking/social club serving greater
D.C.’s LGBT community and allies
hosts an evening run/walk. dcfrontrunners.org.

US HELPING US hosts a support
group for black gay men 40 and older.
7-9 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. 202446-1100.

THE GAY MEN’S HEALTH
COLLABORATIVE offers free HIV

MEN’S HEALTH AND WELLNESS/
STD CLINIC opens at 6 p.m., 1701 14th

testing and STI screening and treatment every Tuesday. 5-6:30 p.m.
Rainbow Tuesday LGBT Clinic,
Alexandria Health Department, 4480
King St. 703-746-4986 or text 571214-9617. [email protected].

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 whitmanwalker.org.
THE HIV WORKING GROUP of THE
DC CENTER hosts “Packing Party,”
where volunteers assemble safe-sex
kits of condoms and lube. 7 p.m.,
Green Lantern, 1335 Green Court
NW. thedccenter.org.

IDENTITY offers free and confiden-

tial 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 at 301-300-9978 or
Takoma Park at 301-422-2398.

ADVENTURING outdoors group hikes
4 miles around Tidal Basin at twilight
to see the cherry blossoms during
peak bloom. Bring beverages, snacks,
$2 trip fee. Optional dinner follows.
Craig, 202-462-0535. adventuring.org.
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. 7:30 p.m. Dignity
Center, 721 8th St SE (across from
Marine Barracks). No reservations
needed. All welcome. 202-841-0279 if
you need a partner.

WEEKLY EVENTS

METROHEALTH CENTER offers

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL
HEALTH offers free HIV testing, 9-5

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS—
LGBT focused meeting every
Tuesday, 7 p.m. St. George’s
Episcopal Church, 915 Oakland Ave.,
Arlington, just steps from Virginia
Square Metro. For more info. call
Dick, 703-521-1999. Handicapped
accessible. Newcomers welcome.
[email protected].
SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5
p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for
youth 21 and younger. Youth Center,
410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155, [email protected].
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.

METROWEEKLY.COM

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23

AD LIB, a group for freestyle conversation, meets about 6:30-6 p.m.,
Steam, 17th and R NW. All welcome.
For more information, call Fausto
Fernandez, 703-732-5174.

free, rapid HIV testing. Appointment
needed. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700.
202-638-0750.

MARCH 17, 2016

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.

KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY
(K.I.) SERVICES, at 3333 Duke St.,

Alexandria, offers free “rapid” HIV
testing and counseling, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
703-823-4401.

14

Whitman-Walker Health’s GAY

p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). 202-291-4707, andromedatransculturalhealth.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice session at Hains Point, 927 Ohio
Dr. SW. 7-8:30 p.m. Visit swimdcac.org.
DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds

practice, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Garrison
Elementary, 1200 S St. NW. dcscandals.wordpress.com.

HISTORIC CHRIST CHURCH

offers Wednesday worship 7:15 a.m.
and 12:05 p.m. All welcome. 118 N.
Washington St., Alexandria. 703-5491450, historicchristchurch.org.

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 202745-7000. Visit whitman-walker.org.

IDENTITY offers free and confiden-

METROHEALTH CENTER offers

JOB CLUB, a weekly support pro-

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5
p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for
youth 21 and younger. 202-567-3155 or
[email protected].

tial HIV testing in Gaithersburg, 414
East Diamond Ave. Walk-ins 2-7 p.m.
For appointments other hours, call
Gaithersburg at 301-300-9978.

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.

METROHEALTH CENTER offers
free, rapid HIV testing. No appointment needed. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012 14th
St. NW, Suite 700. 202-638-0750.

free, rapid HIV testing. Appointment
needed. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700.
202-638-0750.

US HELPING US hosts a Narcotics
Anonymous Meeting, 6:30-7:30 p.m.,
3636 Georgia Ave. NW. The group is
independent of UHU. 202-446-1100.
WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP
INSTITUTE for young LBTQ women,

NOVASALUD offers free HIV testing.

13-21, interested in leadership development. 5-6:30 p.m. SMYAL Youth
Center, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3163,
[email protected].

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, 703573-8316.

FRIDAY, MARCH 25

11 a.m.-2 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite
200, Arlington. Appointments: 703789-4467.

THURSDAY, MARCH 24
WEEKLY EVENTS
ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL
HEALTH offers free HIV testing, 9-5

p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). Call 202-291-4707, or visit
andromedatransculturalhealth.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)

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.
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 whitmanwalker.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS
ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL
HEALTH offers free HIV testing, 9-5

p.m., and HIV services (by appointment). 202-291-4707, andromedatransculturalhealth.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice
session at Hains Point, 927 Ohio Dr. SW.
6:30-8 p.m. Visit swimdcac.org.
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.
METROHEALTH CENTER offers

free, rapid HIV testing. Appointment
needed. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700.
202-638-0750.

PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBT-

affirming social group for ages 11-24.
4-6 p.m. 1419 Columbia Road NW.
Contact Tamara, 202-319-0422, laycdc.org.

SMYAL’S REC NIGHT provides a
social atmosphere for GLBT and questioning youth, featuring dance parties,
vogue nights, movies and games. More
info, [email protected].
SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-6
p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for
youth 21 and younger. Youth Center,
410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155, testing@
smyal.org. l

IDENTITY offers free and confiden-

tial 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, 301-300-9978, or
Takoma Park, 301-422-2398.

METROWEEKLY.COM

MARCH 17, 2016

15

Top of th

Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes
reflect on 40 years of making music, pioneering videos, and staying
one step ahead of the game while remaining true to their roots.
16

MARCH 17, 2016

METROWEEKLY.COM

A

T METRO WEEKLY, WE’VE BEEN LIVING
with Duran Duran for most of our 22 years.
I’ll explain.
Anyone who knows Todd Franson — and so many
of you know this artist, who has been an integral part
of Metro Weekly for 21 years, first as photographer,
then as art director — is well-aware of his (wild, not
mild) obsession with these legends of pop. It’s a good
obsession, the kind that comes with an extreme love
of a band, an artist, a filmmaker, one that allows their
works to enter your life on a deeper, more significant
plane. It’s the kind of obsession that bores deeply into
one’s soul, into one’s heart, into the fabric of one’s life.
It becomes part of your being, inseparable from who
you are.
Sure, it’s fun to watch to Todd connect virtually
anything you mention — Mick Jagger, the kitchen sink,
a puppy — to Duran Duran, usually in 6 steps or less.
And sure, it’s a little jaw-dropping to see Todd’s vast,
impressive collection of the band’s vinyl and various
accoutrements. (There’s likely a Duran Duran lunchbox lurking in there somewhere.) But it’s impossible
not to admire — and be a bit envious, actually — of the
deep connection he has forged with this band.
And it’s not just Todd Franson.
As the band’s 57-year-old singer, Simon Le Bon,
told Todd during their interview, “We’ve been the
kind of band who has always divided opinion, and it’s
always been an extreme kind of reaction. We’re not a
band that people say, ‘Oh, I like them.’ They say, ‘I love
them’ or ‘I hate them.’” We all know where Todd falls.
For years, I would joke to Todd that “One day you’ll
get to interview Simon Le Bon,” to which he would
merely roll his eyes and lob back a snarky remark.
And yet, when we heard the band was coming to
Washington in April, a window opened — not only to
Le Bon, whose soaring, electrifying vocals on their new
album, Paper Gods, proves that there are some elder
statesmen of pop who never lose what’s magical about
their pipes (yes, we’re looking at you, Elton), but to
keyboardist Nick Rhodes as well.
Taken together, we offer
two distinct conversations with two of the
greatest figures in
modern pop music,
discussing everything
from the state of modern music to what has
kept the band together — and relevant — for
nearly four decades.
We start with Le Bon, who, Rhodes calls “an amazing human being.”
“I think he’s entirely different than a lot of the public perceive him to be,” says the handsome 53-year-old,
who still has a flair for eyeliner. “There’s something
about working with Simon that I’ve always loved. I
know what chords and musical movements will excite
him, and he knows that I won’t be happy until we find

he Pops
Interviews by Todd Franson and Randy Shulman
Photography by Stephanie Pistel
(L-R) Roger Taylor, John Taylor, Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes

METROWEEKLY.COM

MARCH 17, 2016

17

something very special to go with. We just push each other
until we get there. The same thing with lyrics. We have the
most diabolical arguments over lyrics. But even when we
fight, we have enough respect for each other about our opinions and musical views. We trust each other’s taste.
“It’s hard for people to understand our characters when
all they see is us playing in videos and in a live show,” he
continues. “Working together, we’ve laughed a lot, we’ve
learned a lot from each other, we respect each other, which
is I think one of the important things if you are gonna stick
together. We actually inspire each other.”
These interviews aren’t just for Todd, they’re also for
all of you Duran Duran fans out there. Even the passing
fans. Because, let’s be honest, what’s not to love about
Duran Duran? From “Girls On Film” to “Ordinary World”
to “Pressure Off” to what is quite possibly the greatest
Bond theme song ever — “A View to a Kill” — Duran Duran,
named for a character in the trippy 1967 Jane Fonda sci-fi
film Barbarella, remains one of those fundamental groups
whose greatness, whose innovation, whose defiance of convention yet keen understanding of what makes a song a hit,
puts them smack at the top of the pops. — Randy Shulman

Simon Le Bon
Interview by Todd Franson

METRO WEEKLY: How’s the break been since the first leg of the tour?
SIMON LE BON: It’s been a lot of fun. I got pretty sick with a nasty

head cold, though. I’ve been eating lots of pickled onions. It’s
very good for the voice. Pickled onions and Tabasco.
MW: You’re about to embark on the second leg of the tour. Are you
excited for it?
LE BON: We’ve actually got a third leg, and I believe a fourth leg.
Well, I don’t know about a fourth leg — definitely got a third
leg coming up. This is a really exciting bit now, because we’ve
developed the show significantly. We’ve got a much more comprehensive production. More songs, longer show.
MW: Your new album, Paper Gods, has a lot of guest vocalists on it.
How do you handle that when you’re playing it live? Do you choose
songs that don’t have the additional vocals?
LE BON: You can’t replace Janelle Monáe or Kiesza. You’ve just
got to do your best, so the girls that sing those parts do them
in their own way. On occasion we have thought about filming
people, but it makes it less live, of course. I’d love to get the
Lindsey Lohan bit. That would be quite cool if that was coming
over in a film.
MW: If you projected that in the background...
LE BON: Maybe we will. Maybe we’ll do that when we get to New
York. The thing about shows is that you’re always updating and
developing them. They never stop. When they stop developing,
you look at the tour and think to yourself, “Do I really want to
carry on doing this?”
MW: Can we expect a different set list from the last leg?
LE BON: We were building the skeleton of it when we came out the
last time. So we’ll be putting some new songs in, some different
ones, obviously. People are more used to the new album, so we’re
able to put more material from the new album into the show.
We’ve got this kind of electro-ending now, which is quite tasty.
MW: From the pictures I’ve seen of the production, it looks pretty
intense with the video screen backdrops.
LE BON: Yes, the videos are not just behind us — they kind of wrap
around us as well. So it’s almost like at times we’re in the video.
18

MARCH 17, 2016

METROWEEKLY.COM

MW: Speaking of videos, you made one for “Pressure Off.” Are you
making ones for other songs? Are there going to be more singles
from the album coming this year?
LE BON: That is the plan.
MW: Any remixes?
LE BON: Definitely.
MW: Everybody would love a Nile Rodgers remix of “Pressure Off,”
you know.
LE BON: Oh, is that what they’d like? Oh, really? [Laughs.]
MW: What would you like?
LE BON: Me? I’d really like to get “Light Night in the City” away
as a single. I think that’s a really good one. And possibly “Paper
Gods.” There’s a lot of feeling in that song. But, obviously, in its
current state it’s not particularly radio friendly, just in terms
of its length. And although I’d love to hear it on the radio, and
would love to hear as a single, I’m loathe — we all are a bit loathe
— to cut it up and mutilate it. We’re trying to figure out another
way of doing it.
MW: Are you guys doing extra rehearsals?
LE BON: There comes a point where you’ve got to expect yourself
to be able to do it, to remember your parts and everything. If
the show hasn’t changed significantly in terms of material, you
don’t want to have to spend a couple of months rehearsing it.
You want to be able to just kind of do three or four days warming up, get your energy levels back up and get it out there. It’s a
repertoire kind of thing.
MW: You had a tremendous response from the first leg of the tour
and got some of the best reviews you guys have ever had as far as
concerts. Is it nice to get those kinds of accolades?
LE BON: We’ve been the kind of band who has always divided
opinion, and it’s always been an extreme kind of reaction. We’re
not a band that people say, “Oh, I like them.” They say, “I love
them” or “I hate them.” And so we’ve grown up with quite a lot
of criticism, some of it constructive, some of it not. And one of
the things you do is you start to not take any notice of it. So I
would say “Yes, it’s nice that we got nice reviews,” but I don’t
really read reviews. It’s no huge deal to me because what I feel
when I walk out on stage, what we feel from the audience, means
so much more than what people write about us. We can tell
whether we’re playing a good show or not because the crowd
tells us right there and then. Sometimes you just have to not give
a fuck about what people think about you. You just get on with it.
MW: One thing I’ve always loved about Duran Duran is that every
album is like a new art project, a new adventure for you guys. You
go in with nothing and just bang out something amazing.
LE BON: That’s what makes it fun for us. That’s the best way to
do it. We don’t have a template. We don’t have any formula to
adhere to. We want to make music that’s exciting.
MW: I’ve noticed with Paper Gods that there are a lot of songs
on that album that reference previous albums. “Butterfly Girl”
sounded like it could be on Notorious. “Only in Dreams” could be
on Liberty.
LE BON: Oh, really. Now that surprises me, that does.
MW: “What Are the Chances” and “You Kill Me With Silence”
could have been on Medazzaland, with those guitar parts and that
mood. This album seems like you are subconsciously paying homage to all the previous albums you’ve done and making them new.
LE BON: There are two ways of looking at that. One is that we look
back and do that. The other way of looking at it is that that stuff is
just inside us and that is the kind of music that we like and will continue to reference. Go back to things that inspired those songs, the
songs that were on Liberty, the songs that were on Medazzaland.
Those inspire us to do the things the way we do them.

MW: The Duran Duran DNA coming out.
LE BON: Yes, I think so. I think much more so than particular ref-

erences. We know there are in-jokes and things, none of which
I can remember right now. You know, in “You Kill Me With
Silence, there’s the line “drive another lad insane.”
MW: That was reference to David Bowie, right?
LE BON: What do you think, come on. Oh, no, never thought of
that. [Laughs.]
MW: The music industry has changed over the years, what with
new ways of listening to music, like streaming. There’s no physical
product anymore. How do you feel about that?
LE BON: I’m not a nostalgist, but I like physical product. I like
going to a record shop and to be out in public and rub shoulders
with people who are perhaps interested in the same music as
you are, because you’re on the same kind of rack looking at the
albums and things. It’s a great place to spot girls who you can
follow home. [Laughs.] And that’s all gone. The whole process
of listening to music has become so much more internalized and
personalized. I think it started with the Sony Walkman. That
was the real watershed.
I grew up listening to music — I put The Rolling Stones Let
It Bleed on the hi-fi — on the “steeereo,” as my mother used to
call it — and open the windows so that the whole fucking street
could hear what I was playing. And then it suddenly became only
you. Like a lot of things, people are becoming compartmental-

“The whole process of listening to music
has become so much more internalized and
personalized. I think it started with the Sony
Walkman. That was the real watershed.”
ized. People are becoming slightly alienated from each other. So
I spend as much time as I can walking around and actually living
a real life in a real world, not in a digital world.
There are great things about the Internet. You can access
anything you want like that. You don’t have to jump through
the hoops that you used to have to do to find the thing that you
heard on the radio. It’s much easier. You’ve got bloody Shazam,
for God’s sake. It’s made it easier — and the music is still good. I
just know people don’t appreciate music in the same way if they
didn’t have to walk three miles to get it.
MW: True. Everything’s at your fingertips.
LE BON: And if you don’t have to pay for it — if you don’t have to
pay for recordings — it’s devalued. It’s extraordinary that people
won’t spend the price of a packet of cigarettes on an album. They
do anything they can to get it for nothing. Then they’ll spend
hundreds and hundreds of dollars on tickets for a live show
because they value the event — the ephemeral moment, that
thing that cannot be recorded — so much more.
MW: Final question. After nearly 40 years, what is it that keeps you
and Duran Duran going?
LE BON: Oh, there’s been all sorts of things. Music is the first. We
make great music together. Friendship. We love to go around
with each other. Ego. We’re proud of the band. We want it to
continue. We like earning money as well. It’s good fun. And I
like the fact that we contribute something. You know, you go
around the world, but you’re not going as a tourist. You’re going
and you’re working and I’m proud of that. When people ask me
“What are you dong here? Are you on vacation?” I go, “No, I’m
working.” I’m proud of that.” It’s a nice thing to be able to say,
“I’m contributing.” l

Nick Rhodes

Interview by Randy Shulman
METRO WEEKLY: Let’s talk a little bit about the tour. It’s resuming

in America at the end of March.
NICK RHODES: We’d done a few dates previously in America, but

they’d been a slightly smaller production. We actually did an
arena tour in the U.K. in December last year, which we used our
full production on. So we thought, “We really ought to come
back to America with this.” We’re coming at the end of March
to play shows through April and then we come back to Europe
again for May-June and return to America in July to play even
more shows.
MW: The constant travelling must be a grind.
RHODES: Well, I have to confess: I love being in the studio. And
I’ve always enjoyed the shows themselves. I don’t think any
musician particularly enjoys all of the travel and the tiredness, but when you’re over that bit and you’re just playing the
shows, it’s very uplifting. And, since we’ve been playing now for
more than three decades, you learn what works and how to put
together a real experience for people, because what we do is try
to create a show that we’d like to see from somebody else.
You’ve got to take people on a journey, and we’ve got a lot of
music now to choose from, so balancing the set between things
we wouldn’t get out of the building if we didn’t play to interesting new songs and a few surprises, that in itself is quite an art.
MW: What songs can you not get out of the building if you didn’t
play?
RHODES: Things like “Rio” or “Hungry Like the Wolf” or “Girls
on Film.” “Wild Boys.” We can sort of miss a few out at this point
because there are quite a lot of singles.
MW: As long as you play The Reflex. That was always one of my
favorites.
RHODES: Ah, you see? There you go. That one sometimes is in and
sometimes is out. Which show are we talking about? The DC
show. I’ll try and make a mental note about that.
MW: I bring up “The Reflex” because my first exposure to the song
was through MTV, back in the days it was a music channel. I’ve never
forgotten the image of the wave washing over the audience. It makes
me wonder: how did video change the way we perceive music?
RHODES: It obviously brought another dimension to music, and
there were artists of our generation who embraced it because it
was exciting and new. It was state-of-the art at that time. There
were older artists who were a little more hesitant, really, to get
involved. I think they felt it had perhaps turned the seriousness
of some of their songwriting and musicianship into showbiz,
which wasn’t as appealing to them. But eventually you’ve got
a lot of those artists making videos — and some of them made
some really good videos, too.
We were part of that wave with a lot of other British artists,
particularly, who made interesting videos at that time, like The
Cure and Billy Idol. And obviously in America, you had megaartists like Michael Jackson and Madonna and Prince, who
also moved into that medium. I’m not sure how much it really
changed things. But it was exciting for a time. When somebody
told me the first time about MTV and said, “It’s a 24-hour music
channel, and they just play music non-stop,” that was unbelievable. Wow! How has this not happened before and how great
that we’ve got a channel that we can turn on any time to see
music. It was a revelation.
Then, as MTV turned into more of a game show channel
many years later, you started to realize that that was a short
moment. It burned bright and fast and then it disappeared.
Now we all watch videos on YouTube or Vevo. It’s on demand.
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You just type it in and there it is. If you have a great video, it’s We’ve enabled ourselves to stretch wherever we liked and
fun to watch, but how many times do you want to watch it? people would accept it as Duran Duran. I think if we hadn’t done
Whereas with a song, you can still listen for many, many, many that early on, it would be much harder to move with the times.
MW: How important is it for a band to have its own unique, specific
years later, if it’s a great song.
MW: Duran Duran’s videos are so visually striking, however. They sound?
are the kind of videos you want to watch repeatedly.
RHODES: Personally, I think it’s critical. One of the most imporRHODES: There are plenty of videos — those amazing Peter Gabriel
“We relate to all people, whatever preferences they have, but I feel
videos always stuck with me. When
we have connected quite well with the gay audience because
people create that kind of visual
language and marry it with a great
we’re so open to things.”
song, then you do have something
special. Don’t get me wrong — I’m
not suggesting that video didn’t matter that much, not at all. tant things about being a band is that you’ve got your own
What I’m saying is that I think video was the enhancer. If you identify, that you know who you are and that you’ve got a voice
had a great song, it really helped it.
— a unique voice. Because if you can’t carve out that space for
MW: For a period of time, I felt music videos damaged cinema,
yourself, then you’re in this vast ocean with all the other people
almost irreparably, but we seem to have recovered from it. There swimming for survival and trying to get their head above water
was a period of time when the fast, incoherent editing of music and get noticed. A lot of it gets drowned.
video bled over into cinema and actually the movies of that time MW: Has your vision for the band itself changed over time?
were very, very...
RHODES: I don’t think it has changed fundamentally. The vision
RHODES: Bad. [Laughs.] But again, it depends. There’s some amazfor the band was always to be something that went against the
ing movies around that time, too. If you look up Bladerunner or grain of what was going on but always kept our sound, indiTerry Gilliam’s Brazil, who used elements of modern techniques vidually, meaning that certain things that each of us like. Strong
for editing and stuff. I think what you got was a lot of that melody has always been incredibly important, and Simon’s voice
Hollywood junk that was churned out in the style of music vid- is naturally very melodic. He’s got a big range, so we have that
eos, which was just being sort of stamped out weekly. So yeah, flexibility. I like electronic pulses and synthesizers, I like soundI agree with you entirely. It was just pointless junk — but I still scapes, so that was a big part of what I bring to it. And John and
think that Hollywood pumps out a lot of pointless junk.
Roger are able to play many different styles — funk, disco, rock,
MW: You’re an artist, you’re a visualist, you’re a photographer —
punk — whatever it is we require, but they’re a very, very tight
you were friends with Andy Warhol and Keith Haring — so video polished rhythm section. And rock guitar and funk guitar gave
seems seems to suit your personality.
us so many colors in the palate. We can paint a different picture
RHODES: Yeah. When we were first told, “Hey, we’re gonna make
every time with them.
a film clip that goes with your song,” we couldn’t believe our MW: There’s a keyboard part on “Change the Skyline” that’s very
luck. We thought immediately, “Great. So what can we do with unusual. Where do you get inspiration for things like that?
it? Let’s do something really special. Let’s not just stand there RHODES: We listen to a lot of modern music. There are certain
performing.”
things that sink in and you add them to your lexicon of sound
And that led to the “Girls on Film” video, it led to all the and melodic ideas. We listen to a lot of electronic dance music.
videos on locations — Sri Lanka, Antigua — because it was an Some hip hop, some indie music, any new bands that sound
open book then. Nobody had done anything and you really just interesting. And we listen to a vast catalogue of the old music.
needed a good idea. There were, as I said, lots of other people out Between the four of us, we’ve got pretty enormous musical
there that had amazing ideas, too. I think the videos that worked knowledge at this point, because we’re all big fans. A day doesn’t
best were those that didn’t translate the songs’ lyrics literally. go by when we don’t play music. So I suppose with the sounds
There was a lot of that in the ’80s, and some of them were pretty on “Change the Skyline,” they’re not typical. Some of them are
disastrous. But with ours, we looked at them individually, as the kind of thing we would always do, but that piece of music
in, “What can we do with this?” in the same way that when we and the way that it worked needed a sharpness and a mood that
wrote a song we’d say, “Where are we going to take it?” We’d somehow took you into this cityscape, and that’s what those
apply those rules to video.
sounds really represented to me.
MW: Duran Duran is nearly four decades old, which is remarkable MW: Sometimes I’ll listen to a song and think “It could have gone in
for any band. What’s the secret to your longevity?
so many other directions.” Arriving at the arrangement, arriving
at the particular moment of “It’s finished, this is what we’re going
RHODES: I think songwriting is the simple answer. Because if
you have a chemistry together that works well for songwriting, to release,” it must be both gratifying and frustrating, I suspect.
then you always get something very different as a band than RHODES: There’s one song in the album called “Danceophobia”
you would get writing as a solo artist. There’s a different kind of which had more iterations than any other song we’ve done as a
tension in music that’s pulling in different directions written by band in our career. Literally, there must be 6 or 7 different verseveral people. And so we did realize quite early on that we had sions and then, there’s loads and loads and loads of variations
this unique combination of energy, and what each person brings with every one of those. There’s tempo changes, there’s about
to the sound. There isn’t somebody else where that I think “Oh, ten different verses, there’s all these things. The only reason it
I wish that was our drummer” or “I wish that was our singer.” survived — because normally things, after about half a dozen to
We’re very, very flexible and we set our boundaries incredibly a dozen changes, are left in a pile on the floor in a scrap heap — is
that we felt the chorus was so strong for what it was, and nobody
wide early, early on.
You look at an R&B band who just writes in that style, and was prepared to let go of it. And we worked and worked and
there’s a lot of limitations. For us, we’ve looked at everything. worked. One day, John and I cracked it. We completely changed
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METROWEEKLY.COM

some kind of fair payment system for that. So from that point of
view, it needs a lot of fixing.
From the point of view of the availability and the convenience
for every consumer worldwide, I couldn’t possibly be more pro.
I think it’s amazing that we’ve all got music at our fingertips 24
hours a day worldwide and we can find almost anything we want.
MW: Do you miss the tangibility of albums?
RHODES: When we get the vinyl copy printed and I can look at
the album cover and can take the vinyl out and drop the needle
onto it and play it — it’s still my favorite thing. There’s a fetish
about it that is so great, and that is never going to go away from
me. I love the convenience, like we all do, of just pressing a button and there it is on my computer. But vinyl still sounds better
than anything else. It still looks better than anything else. And
there is a resurgence because there’s people out there who have
realized that “Wow! This is a different world,” particularly with
young kids who have never experienced it at the time. So yeah, I
do miss it, but I’m always happy to go with progress. As long as
those who want to can get back into that other world.
MW: As you know, we’re an LGBT magazine. Can you talk a bit
about your gay fans and what they’ve meant to you?
RHODES: We’ve always had a pretty substantial gay and lesbian
following. We played a lot of gay clubs early on. I remember one
in San Francisco particularly on our very first U.S. tour called
the I-Beam. I’ve never ever been in a room that was so hot in my
life. It was absolutely jammed with mostly guys, and we had the
best show. They were just so energetic, the audience, really just
wanting to have the best time.
But we relate to all people, what“MTV was a revelation. Then, as it turned into more of a game
ever preferences they have, but I
show channel, you started to realize that that was a short
feel we have connected quite well
with the gay audience because
moment. It burned bright and fast and then it disappeared.”
we’re so open to things. We had
gay designers working with us right
They wasted about eight to ten years and all of the major labels, at the very beginning when we were teenagers, so a lot of the
some of them lost their companies. And the ones that survived people we’ve employed over the years have been gay or lesbian.
lost their opportunity to be a part of the modern music world, It’s very sort of normal for us.
because Apple stole all the thunder. We’re down to, what, three MW: Thirty years, the world was not as open-minded towards gay
real major record labels at this point? There were hundreds of and lesbians.
them when we started out.
RHODES: I agree with you, and I’m as thrilled as anyone to see
In that way I’m a bit saddened because I think there should we’ve certainly made some very, very big steps in the right
be more choice for artists to go to labels. We’ve lost a lot of artist direction on that. There are still places where there’s prejudice,
development and that’s a very crucial part for younger artists. but it is funny how the world’s changed generally. I used to get
Now labels throw their money at something and if it’s not a hit, on a night bus with John Taylor and we’d be dressed in New
they trash it and move on to the next one — it’s all over. Think Romantic clothes, which were pretty colorful and quite unusual.
if people hadn’t spent money on development of artists like Pink I had a shock of dyed blond hair and I wore a lot more makeup
Floyd, for example, who really didn’t have any big hit and then then than I do now. And it was always a tricky experience getwrote “Dark Side of the Moon.” You’ve got to stick with artists ting on the night bus to come home because inevitably someone
sometimes and you’ve got to see that talent and nurture it. And would be aggressive to us. And we weren’t fighters — we were
that’s what worries me — everything’s like fast food.
peaceful people. And so it always alarmed us from that point that
The other thing is that the economic model is broken and just because you looked a bit different and thought a little differwhilst none of us like to think about music just as a business ent from someone else that somebody thought it was okay to be
and we all like to think of it as an art form, you’ve still got to be mean and aggressive. I still to this day don’t really understand
able to sell something to make the piece of art in the first place. why that awful trait exists in human nature, but I think we’ve all
And I think it’s very, very hard for young artists to get past that experienced enough to know how real it is.
first album and keep going to make things when they’re just not
at that point yet where they get enough royalties from iTunes “Duran Duran: The Paper Gods Tour with Chic featuring Nile
or whether they’re getting enough streams on Spotify, because Rodgers” will hit Washington, D.C.’s Verizon Center on Friday,
actually the payment is pretty miserable for artists. I think it April 8. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com. For full tour
will eventually get fixed. The YouTube issue needs to be fixed. information, visit duranduranmusic.com.
If someone in the Midwest has made their own video to go with
your song, I don’t mind that at all. But if that song is being broad- Paper Gods is available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon.com
cast and people are going there to listen to it, there needs to be as well as most streaming music services. l
the verse again, pulled apart the rhythm, we did some of the
guitars that were on there and it just fell into place. Now, it’s
not necessarily my favorite track on the album, but it was such
a challenge to actually get it right. And sometimes that happens.
With other songs, they’re written and recorded pretty much in a
day and probably another day or two just changing some melodies or some sounds. You just never know where it’s gonna go,
where it’s gonna take you, especially when there’s a group of you
and someone will really love it and then someone won’t like it. So
then it gets pulled into a different shape.
MW: Where do you fall on the topic of streaming?
RHODES: Well, I actually pushed the button [to upload] on the
world’s first song that was sold over the Internet. It was a for
“Electric Barbarella,” in 1997. When I did this, the record label
didn’t want to do it. I had to fight to have the opportunity, but I
was so convinced that this was the future of music, that people
would consume things online. This is about six years before
iTunes launched. I’d sensed that Napster was such an amazing
technology and what they discovered was really the beginning
of the future. That’s why I was keen to use that technology to
sell music, so that all musicians could at least get paid for what
they do. I think that’s particularly important for younger artists
— otherwise they don’t get to keep making music.
After that, the record labels, instead of doing what I’d personally hoped would happen and actually befriending Napster
and figuring how they get their own systems up and running
to sell music, tried to smash the machine and stop progress.

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MARCH 17 - 24, 2016

TENA BRANSTETTER

Compiled by Doug Rule

Alexandria Harmonizers perform Thriller in 2015

Instrument
Free
Aca-Challenge offers a rare, prominent showcase for a cappella groups
I

T’S A FOOLISH ALL-MEN’S CHORUS THAT DOESN’T THINK IT HAS AT LEAST
some appeal to the gay audience,” Scipio Garling says.
Garling’s group the Alexandria Harmonizers may have more gay appeal than
most — beyond simply having its fair share of gay or bisexual members, including Garling,
among a 100-plus roster. Founded in 1948 as a traditional, four-part a cappella chorus,
the Harmonizers have led the barbershop harmony movement in outreach on gay issues,
according to Garling. The group has also performed at gay and gay-themed events, including last year’s wedding ceremony presented by Marriott International during the Capital
Pride Parade. In April, it will perform as part of Strathmore’s production of I Am Harvey
Milk, a new oratorio by Andrew Lippa about the gay rights pioneer also featuring Kristin
Chenoweth and the National Philharmonic.
Next week, the Harmonizers will perform at another event with inherent, if not

explicit, gay appeal — the third
annual Aca-Challenge at the Lincoln
Theatre. The Harmonizers and
TBD, its 14-member contemporary a
cappella group, started this event as
a way to support the a cappella community and provide a rare showcase
at a large, prestigious venue for a
cappella groups more accustomed
to coffeehouses and private events.
“No one will be lowering Fat
Amy from the ceiling,” laughs
Garling, who serves as the event’s
talent scout. Nonetheless, fans of Fat
Amy from the Pitch Perfect movie
franchise — as well as NBC’s The
Sing-Off, even Fox’s Glee — are sure
to be entertained.
Aca-Challenge stands out from
other similar national competitions
due to its mix of both collegiate and
adult professional groups competing
for a $1,000 grand prize, with second place garnering $500 and third,
$250. (All groups walk away with at
least $100 and a professional photo
shoot just for participating.) A panel
of judges helps select the top three
“most entertaining” acts along with
the audience, which will vote via
text. Along with The Harmonizers
and TBD, this year’s contestants
include D.C.’s all-female adult vocal
band The District, All Natural, composed of male and female alumni
of the University of Maryland, and
the all-female Sharp Attitude from
the University of Massachusetts at
Amherst.
While light staging and choreography is not required, Aca-Challenge
does encourage contestants to go
beyond stellar singing and vocal
stunts. “It is not a pure singing contest,” Garling says. “Entertaining
people is what these groups do.
They are not stand-and-sing choral
groups with their folders open.”


—Doug Rule

The 2016 Aca-Challenge is Saturday, March 26, at 8 p.m., at the Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW.
Tickets are $25 to $50. Call 202-328-6000 or visit thelincolndc.com.
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SPOTLIGHT
AN EVENING OF
HUMOROUS READINGS

Brian Agler of McSweeney’s and Funny
or Die hosts an event at DC9 that
offers some of D.C.’s funniest literary
humorists reading from their work.
Participants include: Megan Downey
of the Washington Post, Graham Starr
of The Atlantic, Audrey Mattaino of
Dojo Comedy and Jon Wolper of
McSweeney’s and GQ. Friday, March
18, at 7 p.m. DC9, 1940 9th St. NW.
Tickets are $10. Call 202-483-5000 or
dcnine.com.

AMERICAN IDIOT

Keegan Theatre has reunited the creative team behind its 2014 production
of Hair for a more contemporary rock
musical. American Idiot focuses on
three lifelong friends on a quest for
true meaning in a post-9/11 world,
as told through the sharp-edged and
exhilarating songs of Green Day.
Now to April 9. Keegan Theatre, 1742
Church St. NW. Tickets are $35 to $45.
Call 703-892-0202 or visit keegantheatre.com.

CHRISTOPHER K. MORGAN
& ARTISTS

The company presents Pohaku, the
Hawaiian word for stone. “Pohaku is
the first work that I’ve made that’s
really kind of integrating those different sides of my identity,” Morgan tells
Metro Weekly. Morgan is half-Hawai-

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MARCH 17, 2016

ian and first learned to dance the hula,
but was born and raised in California,
where as a teenager he first tried ballet
and modern dance. “It uses traditional
hula and chanting, some storytelling
and modern dance to reflect on my
mixed identity and also tell a little
bit about the history of the Hawaiian
people.” Saturday, March 19, at 8 p.m.,
and Sunday, March 20, at 7 p.m. Dance
Place, 3225 8th St. NE. Tickets are $25
in advance, or $30 at the door. Call
202-269-1600 or visit danceplace.org.

JUKEBOX THE GHOST

Ben Thornewill, Tommy Siegel and
Jesse Kristin met while attending
George Washington University and
quickly started making music together. A decade later, the clever, pure-pop
trio returns to the region for a show in
support of its charming, just-released
acoustic EP Thump Sessions, featuring
songs drawn from last year’s catchy,
uplifting self-titled full-length. Friday,
March 25, at 8 p.m. Ram’s Head Live,
20 Market Place, Baltimore. Tickets
are $19 in advance, or $21 at the door.
Call 410-244-1131 or visit ramsheadlive.com.

MISS PIXIE’S 12X12 ART SHOW

Pixie Windsor has curated a show
in the Capital Fringe building featuring local artists who created mixedmedia, music-inspired works on canvases the size of a record album. Glynn
Romero, Lisa Marie Thalhammer,
Ellagwynn Niles, David Amoroso,
Maryanne Pollock, Willie Doyle and

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Matt Herring are among the 17 artists
represented. Capital Fringe will get
20 percent of all art sales. Through
April 10. Logan Fringe Arts Space, 1358
Florida Ave. NE. Call 202-733-6321 or
visit capitalfringe.org.

NO SHARPS, NO FLATS

Alex Braden curated this group sound
art show at the Transformer Gallery in
Logan Circle, featuring over 30 original compositions by D.C.-based musicians. It’s housed within a sculptural
installation, constructed from the fragments of cassette-player boom boxes,
created by Braden, Emily Francisco
and Adam Richard Nelson Hughes.
Opening reception is Thursday, March
17, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. On exhibit
through April 30. Transformer, 1404
P St. NW. Call 202-483-1102 or visit
transformerdc.org.

FILM

THE DIVERGENT SERIES:
ALLEGIANT

Third film in a moderately successful but critically panned series about
young adults doing things they
shouldn’t have to in order to overcome
oppression. Opens Friday, March 18.
Area theaters. Visit fandango.com.
(RM)

THE LITTLE PRINCE

The world’s fourth most translated book once again receives a film
treatment, this time combining stopmotion and computer animation. In
the original tale, a pilot stranded in
the desert meets a young prince who
fell to Earth on an asteroid. Mark
Osborne’s film adapts that tale into an
original narrative, with the now elderly pilot befriending a young girl who is
struggling with an overbearing mother. Rachel McAdams, Jeff Bridges and
Paul Rudd lead an all-star cast. Opens
Friday, March 18. Area theaters. Visit
fandango.com. (RM)

THE BRONZE

Critically panned after its debut at
Sundance, Bryan Buckley’s film was
apparently retooled for its theatrical
release. Melissa Rauch stars as gymnastics bronze medalist Hope Ann
Greggory, who loses her local celebrity status to a rising star in her town.
Medals can be polished, but what
about turds? Opens Friday, March 18.
Area theaters. Visit fandango.com.
(Rhuaridh Marr)

STAGE
CONSTELLATIONS

David Muse directs a distinctly intimate staging of Nick Payne’s play
that charts the infinite possibilities of
one relationship. Written by one of
Britain’s most innovative playwrights,
Constellations plays with choice and
chance, and charts the limitless possibilities of one relationship. Tom

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25

Patterson and Lily Balatincz star.
Extended to March 27. Stage 4 at
Studio Theatre, 14th & P Streets NW.
Call 202-332-3300 or visit studiotheatre.org.

FALLING OUT OF TIME

Theater J presents an adaptation
of acclaimed Israeli author David
Grossman’s 10-year-old novel about
enduring loss and accepting death.
Derek Goldman adapted and directs
the work, featuring Nora Achrati,
Edward Christian, Leo Erickson,
Nanna Ingvarsson, John Lescault,
Erika Rose, Michael Russotto, Rafael
Untalan and Joseph Wycoff. Opens
in a pay-what-you-can preview
Thursday, March 17. Runs to April
17. The Aaron and Cecile Goldman
Theater, Washington, D.C.’s Jewish
Community Center, 1529 16th St. NW.
Call 202-777-3210 or visit theaterj.org.

FOR COLORED GIRLS…

Deidra Starnes, who starred in the original Off Broadway production, directs
Ntozake Shange’s landmark for colored
girls who have considered suicide/when
the rainbow is enuf at Theater Alliance.
Sharisse Taylor, Christa Bennett, Lolita
Clayton, Kashayna Johnson, Naomi
LaVette, Alina Collins Maldonado
and Natalie Graves Tucker star. To
March 26. Anacostia Playhouse, 2020
Shannon Place SE. Tickets are $35 to
$50. Call 202-241-2539 or visit theateralliance.com.

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MARCH 17, 2016

JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH

Another musical by Benj Pasek and
Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen,
Dogfight), based on Roald Dahl’s
disproportionately peachy tale and
featuring a book by Timothy Allen
McDonald, gets the theater for young
audiences treatment at Adventure
Theatre MTC. Michael Baron directs
the show, a co-production with
Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma. To April
4. Adventure Theatre MTC, 7300
MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Tickets
are $19.50. Call 301-634-2270 or visit
adventuretheatre-mtc.org.

MARJORIE PRIME

Jason Loewith directs the regional
premiere of this Pulitzer Prizenominated play, a tender and provocative story of an elderly woman
who’s using technology to reinvent
her memories. Written by Jordan
Harrison, the sci-fi-lite tale stars
Kathleen Butler, Michael Glenn,
Michael WIllis and Julie-Ann Elliott.
To April 10. The Theatre Lab at Olney
Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy
Spring Road, Olney, Md. Call 301-9243400 or visit olneytheatre.org.

ROMEO AND JULIET

One of its earliest attempts at “wordless Shakespeare,” Synetic Theater
revives the 2008 production, which
snagged six Helen Hayes Award nominations and two wins, for direction and
ensemble. Synetic’s founding artistic
director Paata Tsikurishvili returns to

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direct the show, set among the gears
of a giant clock, such that the greatest of Shakespearean lovers — here
portrayed by Synetic veterans Zana
Gankhuyag and Irina Kavsadze — race
against time itself to try to outrun their
fate. To March 27. Theater at Crystal
City, 1800 South Bell St., Arlington.
Tickets are $15 to $60. Call 800-4948497 or visit synetictheater.org.

THE FLICK

Annie Baker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning
comedy focuses on employees at an
increasingly out-of-date movie theater struggling to find their place
in the world. Starring Evan Casey,
Lara C. Harris, Thaddeus McCants
and William Vaughan. Directed by
Joe Calarco. Now to April 17, with
Pride Night set for Friday, April 8.
Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell
Ave., Arlington. Call 703-820-9771 or
visit signature-theatre.org.

THE LION

As a stop on a multi-city tour, Arena
Stage welcomes rock musician
Benjamin Scheuer, who will sing and
play guitar as he performs his solo
musical, relating his journey from boyhood to manhood that garnered him
a Drama Desk Award. Sean Daniels
directs. To April 10. Kogod Cradle
in the Mead Center for American
Theater, 1101 6th St. SW. Tickets are
$40 to $70. Call 202-488-3300 or visit
arenastage.org.

THE WORLD IS A HANDKERCHIEF

Hugo Medrano directs GALA’s
bilingual production of Jorge Diaz’s
play with catchy music by VIttorio
Cintolesi and perfect for children of
all ages. The World Is A Handkerchief
focuses on a bored clown, Titiloco,
who takes a magic handkerchief ride
and learns that the world would be a
better place if only people cared more
for the environment, diversity, even
life itself. Closes this Saturday, March
19. GALA Theatre at Tivoli Square,
3333 14th St. NW. Tickets are $12. Call
202-234-7174 or visit galatheatre.org.

WORD BECOMES FLESH

Two pioneers of what has been called hiphop theater are behind Word Becomes
Flesh: playwright Marc Bamuthi Joseph
and director Psalmayene 24. Louis
E. Davis, Justin Weaks, Chris Lane,
Clayton Pelham Jr., and Gary L. Perkins
III star in a show featuring choreography by Tony Thomas and original music
by Nick the 1da. At Theater Alliance. To
March 26. Anacostia Playhouse, 2020
Shannon Place SE. Tickets are $35 to
$50. Call 202-241-2539 or visit theateralliance.com.

COMMUNITY STAGE
THE NORMAL HEART

Baltimore’s Vagabond Theatre, which
bills itself “America’s oldest continuously operating little theatre,” reprises
its 25-year-old production of Larry

Kramer’s explosive Tony Award winner about the early years of the AIDS
crisis, an electrifying indictment of
the government, media and the public
for silence and refusal to deal with the
epidemic. Howard Berkowitz directs.
Closes Sunday, March 20. Vagabond
Theatre, 806 S. Broadway, Baltimore.
Tickets are $17 to $20. Call 410-5639135 or visit vagabondplayers.org.

MUSIC
CARLY RAE JEPSEN

The Gimme Love Tour features a
return to the area by last year’s Capital
Pride headliner, touring in support of
E-mo-tion. Cardiknox and Fairground
Saints are support acts. Sunday, March
20, at 7:40 p.m. Baltimore Soundstage,
124 Market Place. Tickets are $25 in
advance or $28 day-of show. Call 410244-0057 or visit baltimoresoundstage.com.

EMILY WEST

Thanks to exposure on America’s Got
Talent in 2014, when she snagged the
competition’s runner-up berth, Iowanative Emily West has managed to
find an audience for her showy, belting variant of country-pop. Last summer she released the album All For
You — which Rolling Stone summed
up in a review, “heartbreak has never
sounded quite this uplifting” — featuring original tunes plus versions of
some of the well-known tunes she

covered on TV. The latter includes a
duet on “True Colors” with the song’s
originator, Cyndi Lauper, whom
West calls “her fairy godmother.”
Saturday, March. 24, at 7:30 p.m. The
Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave.,
Alexandria. Tickets are $25. Call 703549-7500 or visit birchmere.com.

FOLGER CONSORT

To commemorate the 400th year since
Shakespeare’s death, the Consort
offers a concert featuring instrumental improvisations of songs from, and
inspired by, his era. “Playing with
Fire: Virtuoso Instrumental Music
of the Renaissance” includes lively
“groundling” music, or country dances and tunes mentioned in the Bard’s
plays and featuring viola, violin, wind
instruments, lute and percussion.
Friday, March 18, at 8 p.m., Saturday,
March 19, at 5 and 8 p.m., and Sunday,
March 20, at 2 p.m. Folger Theatre,
201 East Capitol St. SE. Tickets are
$25 to $40. Call 202-544-7077 or visit
folger.edu.

INDIGO GIRLS, TOSHI REAGON

A return area engagement with everybody’s favorite lesbian folk-rock duo,
rescheduled after snowzilla forced
the cancellation of its January date.
Amy Ray and Emily Saliers will sing
through hits from its nearly 30-year
repertoire with a special focus on Amy
and Emily’s latest set together, One
Lost Day, a return to form released
last year built on personal themes of
loss, change and parenthood. Another

veteran lesbian folk act, Toshi Reagon,
opens. Friday, March 18, at 8 p.m.
Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW.
Tickets are $55. Call 202-328-6000 or
visit thelincolndc.com.

FRANCES RUFFELLE

The original, Tony- and Helen Hayeswinning Eponine in Les Miserables
returns to the Kennedy Center, this
time for a performance of her retrospective cabaret “I Say Yeh Yeh,” part
of Barbara Cook’s Spotlight series.
Friday, March 25, at 7 p.m. Kennedy
Center Terrace Theater. Tickets are
$50. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

GALACTIC

The New Orleans-based jazz and funk
jam band tours in support of last year’s
Into The Deep, which includes instrumental tracks plus songs featuring
Macy Gray and Mavis Staples, among
others. Friday, March 18, and Saturday,
March 19. Doors at 8 p.m. 9:30 Club,
815 V St. NW. Tickets are $30. Call
202-265-0930 or visit 930.com.

JOSE GONZALEZ WITH YMUSIC

The charismatic classical-informed
rock songwriter and guitarist teams
up with an ensemble redefining contemporary classical music to perform
new arrangements of Gonzalez’s
music from Vestiges & Claws, with
the promise of other surprises for
this special show. Saturday, March
26, at 8 p.m. GW Lisner, The George

Washington University, 730 21st St.
NW. Tickets are $35 to $45. Call 202994-6851 or visit lisner.org.

KEVIN EUBANKS

A longtime leader of the band on NBC’s
former Tonight Show with Jay Leno,
the American jazz guitarist and composer returns for an annual weekend
run of shows at Blues Alley. Thursday,
March 24, through Sunday, March 27,
at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Blues Alley, 1073
Wisconsin Ave. NW. Tickets are $30 to
$35, plus $10 minimum purchase. Call
202-337-4141 or visit bluesalley.com.

MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND

Shara Worden leads a multifaceted
career in the performing arts, including dabbling as a classical and opera
singer. And that experience informs
the music she makes for and performs in her dramatic indie-pop act
My Brightest Diamond. She tours in
support of last year’s eccentric and
captivating EP I Had Grown Wild.
Saturday, March 19, at 8 p.m. Amp
by Strathmore, 11810 Grand Park Ave.
North Bethesda. Tickets are $25 to $35.
Call 301-581-5100 or visit ampbystrathmore.com.

NATIONAL SYMPHONY
ORCHESTRA

Osmo Vanska will work to whip the
orchestra into states of exuberance
in Brahms’ mighty Piano Concerto
No. 1, featuring Nikolai Lugansky.
The program also includes the storm

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MARCH 17, 2016

27

of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6.
Thursday, March 17, at 7 p.m., Friday,
March 18, and Saturday, March 19, at
8 p.m. Kennedy Center Concert Hall.
Tickets are $15 to $89. Call 202-4674600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

RIHANNA

A world tour in support of new album
Anti-, different than anything else the
pop princess has ever done, and one
that definitely grows on you with each
listen. Travis Scott opens. Tuesday,
March 22, at 7:30 p.m. Verizon Center,
601 F St. NW. Call 202-628-3200 or
visit verizoncenter.com.

WASHINGTON WOMEN IN
JAZZ FESTIVAL

MARCH 17, 2016

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. This weekend the This weekend the women return to perform at the
weekly “Ladies Night in the Loft” event
at Baltimore’s gay club Grand Central.
Saturday, March 19, at 9 p.m. The Loft
at Grand Central, 1001 N. Charles St.
Baltimore. Cover is $10. Call 410-7527133 or visit wickedjezabel.com.

DANCE

Local jazz pianist Amy K. Bomet put
together this annual festival in 2011
as a way to help foster more collaboration, performance and support
among the many female professionals
in D.C.’s male-dominated jazz scene.
Two shows remain of this year’s festival: the all-female big band Shannon
Gunn and the Bullettes on Friday,
March 18, at 6 p.m., at Westminster
Church, 400 I St. NW; and a free festival finale concert featuring Jessica
Boykin-Settles, with a tribute to
Sarah Vaughan, plus the Washington
Women in Jazz Trio, on Saturday,
March 19, at 2 p.m., at Anacostia
Community Museum, 1901 Fort Place
SE. Visit washingtonwomeninjazz.
com for full details.

28

WICKED JEZABEL

BOWEN MCCAULEY DANCE

Lucy Bowen McCauley’s celebrated
local contemporary dance company
celebrates its 20th anniversary with
a mixed-repertoire program that
includes the world premiere of Ars
Amatoria, a playful interpretation of
ancient Roman poet Ovid’s writings
about the arts of seduction and love.
Friday, March 18, and Saturday, March
19, Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.
Tickets are $40 to $45. Call 202-4674600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

THE PEKING ACROBATS

A 30th Anniversary North American
Tour of gravity-defying artists from
China and performing to ancient
Chinese music, enhanced by stateof-the-art special effects. Thursday,
March 24, at 7:30 p.m. The Music

METROWEEKLY.COM

Center at Strathmore, 10701 Rockville
Pike, North Bethesda. Tickets are
$25 to $45. Call 301-581-5100 or visit
strathmore.org.

file pictures on dating sites. Through
March 19. Flashpoint Gallery, 916 G St.
NW. Call 202-315-1310 or visit flashpointdc.org.

THE WASHINGTON BALLET

EYE POP: THE CELEBRITY GAZE

GALLERIES

Many never publicly displayed portraits of 53 luminaries at the top in
their fields is the focus of this exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.
Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt, Katy Perry,
Sonia Sotomayor, Michelle Obama,
Serena Williams and Kobe Bryant are
among the works, ranging from drawings to sculpture, paintings to video
portraits, and all recent additions to
the museum’s collection. Through July
10. National Portrait Gallery, 8th and F
Streets. NW. Call 202-633-8300 or visit
npg.si.edu.

#THISISWHYIMSINGLE

FEATHERED

Set to Philip Glass, Stephen Mills’
landmark dance reinvention of
Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Hamlet
offers a contemporary staging that
redefines the limits of dance. Opens in
a preview performance on Wednesday,
March 23, at 7:30 p.m. Runs to April 3.
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater.
Tickets are $32.25 to $130. Call 202467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

Flashpoint Gallery presents a postValentine’s Day-themed show featuring artists using as source material their own experiences with social
media, dating apps and the quest
for an emotional connection in the
digital age. The show features Dafna
Steinberg’s I’m Willing to Lie about
How We Met, exploring idealized
desires of romance versus the reality
of personal communications on social
media; Jennifer Towner’s Failed
T-Shirt Designs for Today’s Modern
Woman, playing with the idea of fitting in with the standards of socially accepted femininity; and Jenny
Walton’s Match/Enemy, examining
presentations of male persona in pro-

A showcase of three 20th century
print artists — Frank W. Benson, H.
Emerson Tuttle and Stow Wengenroth
— inspired by the beauty, power and
reverence of winged animals. Through
April 9. The Old Print Gallery, 1220
31st St. NW. Call 202-965-1818 or oldprintgallery.com.

OUT OF THE ASHES

Subtitled New Library for Congress
and the Nation, this exhibition marks
the 200th anniversary of the acquisition of Jefferson’s library of books, the
foundation of the modern Library of
Congress. The Jeffersonian concept of
a universal library covering all subjects
is the basis of the library’s compre-

hensive collecting policies. Through
May. Second Floor of the Library
of Congress’s Thomas Jefferson
Building, 10 First St. SE. Call 202-7078000 or visit loc.gov.

THE GREAT INKA ROAD:
ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE

One of the monumental engineering
achievements in history, the Great
Inka Road is a network of more than
20,000 miles, crossing mountains and
tropical lowlands, rivers and deserts,
linking the Inca capital Cusco with the
farthest reaches of its empire — and it
still serves Andean communities today
in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia,
Argentina and Chile. This exhibition
explores the legacy of the Inka Empire
and technological feat of the road,
recognized by the United Nations as a
World Heritage site in 2014. Through
April 2018. National Museum of the
American Indian, Independence
Avenue at 4th Street SW. Call 202633-1000 or visit nmai.si.edu.

TIMELESS TRANSFORMATION:
KIMONOS, PRINTS AND TEXTILES

Kimonos and the artwork they inspire
is the focus of Strathmore’s spring
exhibition, part of the 2016 National
Cherry Blossom Festival. Traditional
garments and modern interpretations
will be on display along with details
about how artists adapt and assemble
familiar motifs. Through April 17.
The Mansion at Strathmore, 10701
Rockville Pike, North Bethesda. Call
301-581-5100 or visit strathmore.org.

ABOVE AND BEYOND
A PEOPLE’S CHOIR DC

Started in D.C. two years ago, this
free monthly event at DC9 is all about
communal singing — but it’s more
than simply group karaoke. Here, a
(hopefully) enthusiastic crowd sings
along to the actual recordings of
popular songs, with song lyrics provided in paper and electronic form.
This month’s theme is “Dangerous
Situations,” featuring pop songs with
titles that evoke danger, threats, risks
and trouble. Tuesday, March 22, at 8
p.m. DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. Free. Call
202-483-5000 or dcnine.com.

LA-TI-DO

Regie Cabico and Don Mike
Mendoza’s La-Ti-Do variety show
is neither karaoke nor cabaret. The
show features higher-quality singing than most karaoke, often from
local musical theater actors performing on their night off. Cabico and
co-host Mendoza also select storytellers who offer spoken-word poetry
and comedy. Held at Bistro Bistro in
Dupont Circle, La-Ti-Do welcomes
Mackenzie Newbury and Marni
Whelan as performers on Monday,
March 21, at 8 p.m. Bistro Bistro, 1727
Connecticut Ave. NW. Tickets are $15,
or $10 if you eat dinner at the restaurant beforehand. Call 202-328-1640 or
visit latidodc.wix.com. l

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MARCH 17, 2016

29

games

Far Cry Primal can’t shake the feeling that
we’ve seen it all before — with guns
by RHUARIDH MARR

INT. UBISOFT MONTREAL OFFICES
PRODUCER: We have a problem. We need something to keep
players interested in the Far Cry series. Something bold, something different. Something we can easily add on to Far Cry 4 and
that won’t require much work.
DEVELOPER: Like Blood Dragon for Far Cry 3?
PRODUCER: Precisely. What have you got?
DEVELOPER: Ummm...
PRODUCER: Literally anything. The bosses need some good
publicity after the mess of Assassin’s Creed Unity.
DEVELOPER: Well, people really liked that bit in 4 where they
entered Shangri-La and got to battle alongside a tiger. What if
we made downloadable content that let them play more of that?
PRODUCER: Not bad. But it needs something extra.
DEVELOPER: Uhhh... Well, they also liked the hunting and
crafting, so what if we let them use the tiger for that, and make it
an essential part of the gameplay, getting food and stuff?
PRODUCER: Do you mean like a survival game? Those are hot
right now.
DEVELOPER: Yeah! And what if there were no guns? They had
to rely on basic tools. Just bows, arrows, spears, clubs? We could
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MARCH 17, 2016

METROWEEKLY.COM

set it in prehistoric times, thousands of years before the main
story!
PRODUCER: Oh, I like that. But it sounds like a lot of work.
DEVELOPER: No, it’s pretty simple, we just re-skin the Far Cry
4 map, removing any modern buildings and roads, and add some
new people and textures and a bunch of animals.
PRODUCER: What about dialogue and characters? We’d still
have to script all that out.
DEVELOPER: We could create our own language and then just
tell the story through subtitles?
PRODUCER: Oh, okay, I love it! This is great. We can announce
it at — Wait!
DEVELOPER: What?
PRODUCER: I’m thinking.... What if, instead of making it DLC,
we just turn it into the next game in the franchise? Far Cry
Prehistoric. No. Far Cry Hunter. No, that’s not it. But you get
where I’m going with this.
DEVELOPER: Far Cry Primal?
PRODUCER: Yes! And we can charge full price for it! We’ll rake
in millions more than we would as DLC. How long would you
need to make it a full release?
DEVELOPER: Uhhh… I guess maybe a year or so? We’d need to
concept it out andPRODUCER: Perfect! I’ll tell the bosses what we’ve come up
with.
DEVELOPER: But wait, won’t people be pissed that we’ve made
such a dramatic change?
PRODUCER: What do you mean?
DEVELOPER: Well, I mean, is it even Far Cry if there’s no guns?

UBISOFT

Cry Foul

Or strong characters? Or modern infrastructure?
PRODUCER: Who cares? Gamers are idiots. They’ll buy it for
the title alone.
END SCENE
It’s a little reductive to brush Far Cry Primal off as merely
DLC expanded into a full game, or a reskinned version of Far
Cry 4, but unfortunately that’s exactly what you’ll be thinking
while playing it. Coming just over a year after that fourth game,
Primal drops players into 10,000 B.C., and in doing so diverges
drastically from the previous two games’ tested formula. But the
problem is that it’s also restrained by being a part of that same
franchise: The Far Cry hallmarks of a strong antagonist, compelling narrative and bombastic gameplay are gone. In their place
is a game that focuses on a more intimate, quieter, atmospheric
experience. Far Cry Primal (HHHHH) is undoubtedly a good
game — it’s just a pity that it’s a terrible Far Cry game.
Let’s start with its setting: the land of Oros, a, beautiful,
fertile, mountainous region in Northern Europe. It’s undoubtedly Primal’s greatest strength. If it is indeed just a reskinning of
Kyrat from Far Cry 4 (and similar waterways and roads would
suggest that it is), it’s one hell of a redesign. Untouched by centuries — millennia, even — of human progress, Oros is raw, savage, unforgiving, but also gorgeous, bountiful and bursting with
every facet of nature’s beauty. Giant trees, plant-rich grasslands,
coursing rivers, giant mountains, rolling hills, natural bridges
and snow-capped peaks dot its landscape. It’s teeming with
wildlife, from deer to goats to wolves to saber-toothed tigers,
this is a land where animals are king. Here, man is still stuck
firmly in the Stone Age, making tools, establishing villages and
mastering fire, but always at the mercy of whatever nature has
to throw at him.
As Takkar, a hunter from the Wenja tribe, the player will
navigate this world in a near-constant state of apprehension.
What could be hiding behind that tall grass? What’s waiting for
me in that tree? What was that sound? Where did those wolves
run off to? Oros is a place just waiting to kill you, whether at the
tooth or claw of an animal, the steep drop of a cliff, the icy water
of a lake, or the spear of a member of an opposing tribe. The texture work, lighting and sound design combine to make Far Cry
Primal a game where your heart rate rarely has time to sink to
more placid levels — especially when night falls, and everything
becomes ever more dangerous in the moonlight.
Gameplay, too, has its strengths. While it can be jarring at
first going from assault rifles and grenades to a bow and arrow or
stone club, the adjustment is relatively painless. If you’re willing
to roleplay and accept that killing something was a lot harder in
10,000 B.C. than it is today, it’s much easier to make the transition. If you’ve only recently finished playing Far Cry 4, well, it’s
going to be a bitch for the first couple of hours.
Both helping and hindering here is the level of similarity
between the games. Hunting and crafting is more essential here
than ever, with wood, rock, dust, plants, animal fats and skins
and other collectibles being used to craft tools, weapons, ammo,
heal your character and upgrade your tribe’s village. The crafting system is dragged straight over from past games, as is tool
selection, but it brings some annoying quirks — you don’t craft
arrows for your bow in the crafting menu, for instance, instead
you make them in the weapon selection screen. This is a UI
designed for guns and ammunition that’s been forced back into
this setting — and it shows.
And that carries over to too many aspects of Primal. Instead

of radio towers, which will unlock parts of the map, you’ll be
taking over bonfires. Instead of going on drug-fuelled rampages,
you’ll go on annoyingly long vision quests. Instead of a cleaner
aesthetic to suit the simpler times, you’ll be constantly inundated
with UI elements as you navigate through the world — something essential in a more modern setting, but completely out of
place in Primal. Perhaps most egregious is Hunter Vision, which
lets Takkar see enemies, animals and collectibles in the environment. It feels so out of place here that it’s almost laughable upon
first use (in Far Cry 4, it’s a smart pair of binoculars that picks
out targets). It makes much more sense once Takkar gains control of an owl, which can scout ahead for him and identify potential threats — an owl has heightened senses, a human does not.
Here, however, Primal claws back some points. Mastering
the world’s various beasts is a delight. Players will be given an
owl and a white wolf to start with, but they can add bears, lions,
tigers, and even honey badgers to their repertoire. In battle — or
while hunting — these animals can be called upon to attack and
take down targets, a handy way of surprising a group of enemies.
Sit back and snipe with the bow and arrow while a bear rampages in to tear them to shreds. It’s one of Primal’s highlights.
What definitely isn’t is the thin, uninteresting story. Whereas
prior games could hardly be passed off as Pulitzer-worthy dramas, 3 and 4 both contained enigmatic, engrossing antagonists,
who chided and goaded the player into caring about their quest
to take them down. Pagan Min, for example, with his constant
chattering over the radio as players progressed through the
story, was invaluable in making Far Cry 4 such a fun game to
play. Here, there isn’t that same sense of attachment. Sure,
there’s a dedication to setting that’s impressive — Ubisoft
drafted in linguists to create three distinct languages for the
three tribes that would have been appropriate for the time
— but Primal’s story is pretty boring. Takkar must take down
the tribes that have been murdering the Wenja, in an effort to
ensure his tribe is the dominant one in the region. Sure, there’s
some morality at play here — if everyone is fighting to survive,
who’s good and who’s evil? — but I cared little for the events I
was playing through.
It also doesn’t help that content outside of the main story is
paper thin. You’ll recognize a lot of the side quests from Far Cry
4, just reskinned for this ancient world. You’ll rescue kidnapped
Wenja, interrupt supply routes for other tribes, take over areas
and claim outposts. Hunting and crafting occupy significantly
more time in this game, but outside of that it’s business as usual
for the series.
And that’s really the core of Primal’s problem. It’s a Far Cry
game, so it has to adhere to the precedent established by the
successful third and fourth entries. The issue here is that, in this
Stone Age land, those same gameplay archetypes just don’t work.
What Ubisoft should have done is release Primal as just that:
Primal. No Far Cry prefix. Without the heavy UI elements and
me-too mission structures, Primal could have focused on its core
strengths: hunting, gathering, surviving in the land of Oros. It’s
there that players will find the most enjoyment in Primal, while
quietly stalking their prey, or attempting to tame a beast, or planning an attack on a group of rival tribesmen.
Whatever Ubisoft’s motives with Far Cry Primal, it just
doesn’t work. It’s far from a bad game — indeed, it has moments
that approach sublime — but by burdening it with the expectations of the Far Cry franchise, it’s destroyed what could have
been a fun experience. l
Far Cry Primal is available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
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MARCH 17, 2016

31

games

Hitman brings the deadly franchise
back to relevance by breaking it up
into bite-size chunks
by RHUARIDH MARR

R

EJOICE, STEALTH FANS, AS EVERYONE’S
favorite follicly-challenged, contract killer is back!
Yes, Agent 47 has dusted off his bald head and
returned once more in this latest outing of the
popular murder-em-up.
For anyone turned off by 2012’s Hitman Absolution, which
sought to make the franchise more accessible for new players,
fret not. Gone is that entry’s linear, simplified gameplay and
in its place is the grand, freeform, sandbox gameplay of old.
Yes, Hitman (HHHHH) takes the franchise back to big, dense
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worlds, letting players find their own ways of killing the various
targets they’re given.
Some things have changed this time around, however. For
the first time, Hitman won’t have all of its content available
from the outset. Instead, it will be released episodically over
the course of 2016, with new cities, contracts and targets being
added with each update (these will be free if you shell out for
Hitman’s equivalent of a season pass). That’s a bold move from
Square Enix and developer IO Interactive — and one I’m not
sure entirely pays off. That said, what’s here so far is more than
enough to engage both seasoned killers and newbies to the art of
contract killing.
Players will have access to two training levels, plus the Paris
location. If the first two are impressive, it’s the Parisian fashion
show that truly stuns with its scale. A huge, sprawling building,
on my first few passthroughs I found myself easily getting lost in
its maze of doorways and corridors and cordoned off sections.
And that’s the beauty of the Hitman series, it compels you to
return, over and over, learning its maps and trying new ways to
take out your target.

SQUARE ENIX

Big Hit

It’s entirely possible to move through a location at your
own pace, sneaking past security guards, blending in with
smaller crowds, subduing a waiter and stealing their uniform,
until you take out the predetermined target (or targets). But
there are dozens of ways to accomplish your task: Do you
drop a chandelier as they stand on the runway? Perhaps
poison a glass of champagne and pose as a bartender? Maybe
eavesdrop on a conversation, learn that you look like a
famous model, subdue said model and then pose as them to
access the target? Hitman revels in offering players every
possible route to success, then stepping back and allowing
them to make their own way.
It helps that, at least technically, this new Hitman is an
impressive beast. As well as the locations being much larger
— they’re around 6 or 7 times bigger than Absolution’s —
they’re also dense with bodies. Levels apparently accommodate around 300 characters, but as you move through them
it’ll feel like a lot more. The danger of being spotted at any
moment is heightened when there’s crowds round every corner, adding a delicious twist to the game, a greater focus on
remaining hidden in plain sight than ever before. The crowds
will also chatter incessantly. Partygoers will speculate on
your target’s whereabouts, security guards will absentmindedly discuss important security details, the target themselves
will often move through rooms, offering further information
on ways to end their life. Oh, you like to drink? Let me slip
some rat poison in your wine glass, if you don’t mind.
To boost replayability — this is, after all, only three levels
— Hitman support Contracts, player-created missions that
can be shared online for others to try. Choose a target (any of
the 300 characters), set the parameters (perhaps players can

only take out the target with a specific weapon, or wearing
a specific disguise) and then let the community have at it.
In addition, Hitman will be updated with developer-added
contracts: Escalation Contracts increase in difficulty each
time you play them, and Elusive Targets appear in-game for
just 48 hours — with only one chance to take them out. They
add even greater challenge and variety to the gameplay, but
only to a point. Once you’ve learned every passageway and
method of attacking the yacht, air force base and Parisian
fashion show, and murdered your targets in as many ways as
possible, it’s going to become pretty apparent that episodic
maybe wasn’t the right way to go.
One big irk, though, is that all this extra, internet-dependant content demands a rather annoying caveat: you must
have an internet connection to play Hitman. Not to access
the contracts, but to play it at all. Your achievements, your
unlocked items, even your saves, all demand an internet connection. For some, that could be reason enough to walk away.
However, niggles aside, Hitman is a game I can easily see
myself dropping into every month or so when new content is
added. There’ll be a new location, new targets, more snippets
of the game’s throwaway story (honestly, don’t even bother),
and another week or so of enjoyment. Maybe spreading out
my planning, my executions, my pathfinding and chandelierdropping over an entire year is better than condensing it into
a few short weeks and moving onto the next game. Maybe
Hitman is just the right amount of game, at just the right
time. Whatever it is, though, it’s a thoroughly polished, thoroughly enjoyable return for Agent 47. l
Hitman is available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

METROWEEKLY.COM

MARCH 17, 2016

33

tech

PlayStation VR is an impressive —
albeit pricey — way to bring virtual
reality gaming to the masses
by RHUARIDH MARR

I

F 2016 TELLS US ANYTHING, IT’S THAT VIRTUAL
reality is gaming’s next big craze. But, while Oculus and
HTC are battling for the high end of the market, Samsung
is tackling the smartphone crowd, and Google is gunning
for bargain consumers, the industry has patiently waited for one
big player to make its move: Sony.
First teased as Project Morpheus a few years ago, Sony has
been quietly working on its virtual reality project, with only
occasional demonstrations of its potential. Intended to give
PlayStation owners a compelling reason to dive into VR gaming
— something reserved for PC gamers until now — Sony’s entry
34

MARCH 17, 2016

METROWEEKLY.COM

to the market is big for several reasons, and not just because they
have a potential consumer base of 36 million console owners.
The PlayStation VR, as Sony’s headset will be known, is
exclusive to PlayStation 4, whose owners will finally get their
hands on it this fall. Courtesy of a reveal at San Francisco’s
Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, we know that
PlayStation VR will launch in October for the not insignificant
sum of $400.
Yes, that’s more than the PS4 currently retails for.
Virtual reality was never going to be cheap — the headset
must be comfortable for a wide range of ages and head shapes,
as well as contain a variety of sensors, plus screens and connection options — but $400 is a lot of money. And that’s not even
taking into account what the PlayStation VR requires in order
to work. Your $400 investment will buy you a cool, hip headset,
but if you actually want to use it with your PS4, you’ll need to
spend even more. The headset requires the PlayStation Camera
(RRP $60, currently on Amazon for $44) and works best with the
PlayStation Move controllers — the failed peripherals from the
PS3 era (RRP $50 each, but available on Amazon for $29 apiece)

SONY

Expensive Reality

— which will make gaming more immersive. So, a headset, a camera and two controllers will set you back at least $520. A Sony rep
told Tech Insider that there will be a bundle with a camera and
a move controller, but how much it will retail for remains to be
seen, just don’t expect it to be close to $400. Oh, and if you don’t
already have a PS4 console, add another $349 to that total. All of
a sudden, virtual reality isn’t looking quite so attractive.
Still, if you’re happy to spend the money, there’s a lot to like
about PS VR. The final version will feature a 5.7-inch OLED
display (the same technology used by LG for their flagship TVs),
with Full HD resolution (1920 x 1080), as well as 360-degree
tracking and a low latency of under 18ms. Oh, and for audio
buffs, it supports 3D audio.
On the gaming side, there’s also a sign that PS VR won’t
be another flash in the pan like other peripherals (Kinect,
PlayStation Camera, PlayStation Move, PlayStation Eye,
EyeToy). Sony has managed to get over 230 developers on
board with creating content for the device, with 50 games that
support the system launching between October and December.
The Playroom VR is Sony’s showcase app, offering six games
for players to show off their headset to friends and family (who
will all look suitably shocked when you tell them how much you
spent on it). Of bigger interest to gamers, among other releases
for the system, should be Star Wars: Battlefront VR. Little is
known about the project, but it’s being spearheaded by the original game’s developer DICE. Anyone else hoping for an in-depth,
first-person X-Wing section?
Sony is betting heavily on virtual reality as the future of gaming — or, at least, a substantial part of the PS4’s appeal going
forward. (Microsoft is focusing on its HoloLens mixed reality
headset, with gaming only one of many applications.) With that

in mind, they should be commended for committing so heavily
to PlayStation VR, even if precedent would suggest that, should
it fail to ignite voter interest, it will be quietly dropped within a
couple of years. That said, even at $400 the headset is something
of a bargain. Oculus, the current torchbearer for the medium,
retails its Rift headset for $600. HTC’s Vive headset is even
more, costing $800.
Sure, it’s more expensive than the console it attaches to, but
Sony is cramming a lot into its headset and undercutting its
major gaming competition in the process. That’s an impressive
feat whichever way you look at it — even if consumers will be
hard pressed to stump up the cash unless Sony can prove virtual
reality is both worth it and definitively here to stay. l
PlayStation VR will be available for preorder soon.

METROWEEKLY.COM

MARCH 17, 2016

35

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MARCH 17, 2016

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NIGHT

LIFE
LISTINGS
THURS., 03.17.16

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: $6 Call
Martini, $3 Miller Lite,
$4 Rail, $5 Call, 4-9pm
• $3 Rail Drinks, 10pmmidnight, $5 Red Bull,
Gatorade and Frozen
Virgin Drinks • Locker
Room Thursday Nights
• DJs Sean Morris and
MadScience • Best
Package Contest at midnight, hosted by Ba’Naka
• $200 Cash Prize • Doors
open 10pm, 18+ • $5
Cover under 21 and free
with college ID
DC9
1940 9th St. NW
Happy Hour, 5-8pm •
dcnine.com
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 5pm •
Happy Hour, 5-8pm •
$2 Bud and Bud Light
Draughts, $3 Domestic
Bottles, $4 Rail and Import
Bottle Beer, $6 Call • Men
in jocks and underwear
drink free, 8-10pm • Halfprice Jameson all night
— Erin Go Bragh!• No
Cover • 21+

GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm •
Ladies Drink Free Power
Hour, 4-5pm • Shirtless

t

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm •
Karaoke, 8pm • St.
Patrick’s Day Celebration
• Food and Drink specials
all night

METROWEEKLY.COM

37

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METROWEEKLY.COM

scene
Freddie’s Beach Bar’s
16th Anniversary Purple Party
Saturday, March 12
scan this tag
with your
smartphone
for bonus scene
pics online!

t

Photography by
Ward Morrison

Thursday, 10-11pm • DJs
BacK2bACk

FRI., 03.18.16

JR.’S
All You Can Drink for $15,
5-8pm • $3 Rail Vodka
Highballs, $2 JR.’s drafts,
8pm-close • Throwback
Thursday featuring rock/
pop retro hits

9 1/2
Open at 5pm • Happy
Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink,
5-9pm • Friday Night
Videos with resident DJ
Shea Van Horn • VJ •
Expanded craft beer selection • No Cover

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Beat the Clock Happy Hour
— $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
$4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of
Beer $15 • Drag Bingo
NUMBER NINE
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • No Cover
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
ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS
All male, nude dancers •
Shirtless Thursday • DJ •
9pm • Cover 21+

COBALT/30 DEGREES
All You Can Drink Happy
Hour • $15 Rail and
Domestic, $21 Call &
Imports, 6-9pm • Guys
Night Out • Free Rail
Vodka, 11pm-Midnight, $6
Belvedere Vodka Drinks all
night • DJ MadScience
upstairs • DJ Keenan Orr
downstairs • $10 cover
10pm-1am, $5 after 1am
• 21+
DC9
1940 9th St. NW
Happy Hour, 5-8pm •
dcnine.com
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 5pm •
Happy Hour, 5-8pm •
$2 Bud and Bud Light
Draughts, $3 Domestic

Bottles, $4 Rail and Import
Bottle Beer, $6 Call •
Fetish Friday — men in
chest harnesses drink free,
8-10pm • No Cover • 21+
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm •
Karaoke, 8pm
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $5
Smirnoff, all flavors, all
night long • Friday Night
Videos and the Go-go Boys
of HUMP • Featuring VJ
Tre • $5 Cover • 21+
JR.’S
Happy Hour: 2-for-1,
4-9pm • $2 Skyy Highballs
and $2 Drafts, 10pmmidnight • Retro Friday •
$5 Coronas, $8 Vodka Red
Bulls, 9pm-close
NELLIE’S 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
TOWN
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, Shi-Queeta-Lee,
Riley Knoxx and Ba’Naka
• DJ Wess upstairs, DJs
BacK2bACk downstairs •
GoGo Boys after 11pm •
Doors open at 10pm • For
those 21 and over, $10 •
For those 18-20, $15 • 18+
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

ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS
All male, nude dancers,
hosted by LaTroya Nicole
• Ladies of Ziegfeld’s,
9pm • Rotating Hosts •
DJ in Secrets • VJ Tre in
Ziegfeld’s • Cover 21+
SAT., 03.19.16

9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 3-9pm • $5 Absolut
& Tito’s, $3 Miller Lite
after 9pm • Expanded
craft beer selection • No
Cover • Music videos
featuring 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: $3 Miller Lite, $4
Rail, $5 Call, 4-9pm •
Ladies of LURe DC present
BARE: A Military Style
Dance Party, 10pm-close
• Featuring DJs Rosie and
Jacq Jill and the lovely

METROWEEKLY.COM

DystRucXion Dancers •
Doors open 10pm • $7
cover before midnight, $10
cover after • 21+
DC9
1940 9th St. NW
Happy Hour, 4-6pm •
dcnine.com
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 8pm •
Happy Hour, 8-10pm •
$2 Bud and Bud Light
Draughts, $3 Domestic
Bottles, $4 Rail and Import
Bottle Beer, $6 Call •
Atlantic States Gay Rodeo
Association on Club Bar
— $2 Draughts and Jello
Shots — come out and
support the cowboys • No
Cover • 21+
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Drag Queen Broadway
Brunch, 10am-3pm
• Starring Freddie’s
Broadway Babes • Crazy
Hour, 4-7pm • Freddie’s
Follies Drag Show,
8-10pm, hosted by Miss
Destiny B. Childs • No
Cover

MARCH 17, 2016

39

GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $5
Bacardi, all flavors, all
night long • 495 Bears
presents Bears Can Dance,
9pm-close • No Cover
JR.’S
$4 Coors, $5 Vodka
Highballs, $7 Vodka Red
Bulls
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Guest DJs • Zing Zang
Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer,
House Rail Drinks and
Mimosas, $4, 11am-5pm •
Buckets of Beer, $15
NUMBER NINE
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 3-9pm • No Cover
TOWN
DC Rawhides host Town
& Country: Two-Step,
Line Dancing, Waltz and
West Coast Swing, $5
Cover to stay all night
• Doors open 6:45pm,
Lessons 7-8pm, Open
dance 8-10:30pm • Laila
McQueen from RuPaul’s
Drag Race visits Town •
Meet and Greet, 9pm •

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MARCH 17, 2016

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$20 Cover for Meet and
Greet • Tickets available
online at Flavorus.com •
Music and video downstairs by DJ Wess • Drag
Show starts at 10:30pm •
Hosted by Lena Lett and
featuring Miss Tatianna,
Shi-Queeta-Lee, Riley
Knoxx and Ba’Naka • For
general admission, doors
open 10pm • $12 Cover
• 21+
TRADE
1410 14th St. NW
Doors open 2pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
2-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS
Men of Secrets, 9pm •
Guest dancers • Ladies
of Illusion with host Ella
Fitzgerald • Doors at 9
p.m., first show at 11:30
p.m. % DJs • Doors open
8pm • Cover 21+

SUN., 03.20.16

9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 3-9pm • Multiple
TVs showing movies,
shows, sports • Expanded
craft beer selection • No
Cover
COBALT/30 DEGREES
$4 Stoli, Stoli flavors
and Miller Lite all day
• Homowood Karaoke,
hosted by Robert Bise,
10pm-close • 21+
DC9
1940 9th St. NW
Happy Hour, 2-6pm •
dcnine.com
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 12pm •
$2 Bud and Bud Light
Draughts, $3 Domestic
Bottles, $4 Rail and Import
Bottle Beer, $6 Call •
Buffet, 2-7pm — “Like”
on Facebook for menu
options • $2 Bud and Bud
Light Draughts all day and
night • Onyx Cigar Social,
4-8pm with a Whiskey and

Bourbon Tasting — $2 a
Quarter Shot for tasting •
No Cover • 21+
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Champagne Brunch Buffet,
10am-3pm • Crazy Hour,
4-7pm • Karaoke, 8pm1am
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour, 4-9pm •
Mama’s Trailer Park
Karaoke downstairs,
9:30pm-close
JR.’S
Sunday Funday • Liquid
Brunch • Doors open at
1pm • $2 Coors Lights and
$3 Skyy (all flavors), all
day and night
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Drag Brunch, hosted by
Shi-Queeta-Lee, 11am3pm • $20 Brunch Buffet
• House Rail Drinks, Zing
Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie
Beer and Mimosas, $4,
11am-close • Buckets of
Beer, $15
NUMBER NINE
Pop Goes the World with

Wes Della Volla at 9:30pm
• Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on
any drink, 3-9pm • No
Cover
ROCK HARD SUNDAYS
@THE HOUSE
NIGHTCLUB
3530 Georgia Ave. NW
Diverse group of all male,
all nude dancers • Doors
open 8pm • Shows all
night until close, starting
at 8:30pm • $5 Domestic
Beer, $6 Imports •
$10 cover • For Table
Reservations, 202-4876646 • rockharddc.com
TRADE
1410 14th St. NW
Doors open 2pm • Huge
Happy Hour: Any drink
normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge
glass for the same price,
2-10pm • Beer and wine
only $4
ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS
All male, nude dancers •
Decades of Dance • DJ
Tim-e in Secrets • Doors
9pm • Cover 21+

MON., 03.21.16

9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • Multiple
TVs showing movies,
shows, sports • Expanded
craft beer selection • No
Cover
ANNIE’S
4@4 Happy Hour, 4-7pm •
$4 Small Plates, $4 Stella
Artois, $4 House Wines,
$4 Stolichnaya Cocktails,
$4 Manhattans and Vodka
Martinis
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Happy Hour: $2 Rail, $3
Miller Lite, $5 Call, 4-9pm
• Monday Night’s A Drag,
hosted by Kristina Kelly
• Doors open at 10pm •
$3 Skyy Cocktails, $8 Skyy
and Red Bull • $8 Long
Islands • No Cover, 18+
DC9
1940 9th St. NW
Happy Hour, 5-8pm •
dcnine.com
DC EAGLE
Doors open at 5pm •

Happy Hour, 5-8pm •
$1 Bud and Bud Light
Draughts • Free Pool all
day and night • Men in DC
Eagle T-Shirts get Happy
Hour, 8pm-close • $2 Bud
and Bud Light Draughts, $3
Domestic Bottles, $4 Rail
and Import Bottle Beer, $6
Call • Vernal Equinox —
show us your full moon for
a free shot of Schnapps •
No Cover • 21+
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm •
Karaoke, 8pm
GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour all night long
• Michael’s Open Mic
Night Karaoke, 9:30pmclose
JR.’S
Happy Hour: 2-for-1,
4-9pm • Showtunes Songs
& Singalongs, 9pm-close
• DJ James • $3 Draft
Pints, 8pm-midnight
NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Beat the Clock Happy Hour
— $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
$4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of

Beer $15 • Texas Hold’em
Poker, 8pm • Dart Boards
NUMBER NINE
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • No Cover
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

COBALT/30 DEGREES
DJ Honey Happy Hour:
$2 Rail, $3 Miller Lite, $5
Call, 4-9pm • SIN Service
Industry Night, 10pm-close
• $1 Rail Drinks all night
DC9
1940 9th St. NW
Happy Hour, 5-8pm •
dcnine.com
FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
Crazy Hour, 4-7pm •
Karaoke, 8pm

TUES., 03.22.16

GREEN LANTERN
Happy Hour all night long,
4pm-close

9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • Multiple
TVs showing movies,
shows, sports • Expanded
craft beer selection • No
Cover

JR.’S
Birdie La Cage Show,
10:30pm • Underground
(Indie Pop/Alt/Brit Rock),
9pm-close • DJ Wes
Della Volla • 2-for-1, 5pmmidnight

ANNIE’S
4@4 Happy Hour, 4-7pm •
$4 Stella Artois, $4 House
Wines, $4 Stolichnaya
Cocktails, $4 Manhattans
and Vodka Martinis

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
Beat the Clock Happy Hour
— $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm),
$4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of
Beer $15 • Karaoke and
Drag Bingo

METROWEEKLY.COM

MARCH 17, 2016

41

NUMBER NINE
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • No Cover •
Safe Word: A Gay Spelling
Bee, 8-11pm • Prizes to
the top three spellers •
After 9pm, $3 Absolut,
Bulleit & Stella
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
WED., 03.23.16

9 1/2
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • Multiple
TVs showing movies,
shows, sports • Expanded
craft beer selection • No
Cover
COBALT/30 DEGREES
Happy Hour: $2 Rail, $3
Miller Lite, $5 Call, 4-9pm
• Wednesday Night
Karaoke, hosted by Miss

42

MARCH 17, 2016

METROWEEKLY.COM

India Larelle Houston,
10pm-2am • $4 Stoli and
Stoli Flavors and Miller
Lite all night • No Cover
• 21+
DC9
1940 9th St. NW
Happy Hour, 5-8pm •
dcnine.com
FREDDIE’S 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
Happy Hour all night long,
4pm-close
JR.’S
Buy 1, Get 1 Free, 4-9pm
• Trivia with MC Jay Ray,
8pm • The Feud: Drag
Trivia, hosted by Ba’Naka,
10-11pm, with a $200
prize • $2 JR.’s Drafts and
$4 Vodka ($2 with College
ID or JR.’s Team Shirt)

NELLIE’S 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
members and each get a
free $10 Dinner
NUMBER NINE
Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any
drink, 5-9pm • No Cover
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
ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS
All male, nude dancers •
Shirtless Night, 10-11pm,
12-12:30am • Military
Night, no cover with
military ID • DJ Don T. in
Secrets • 9pm • Cover
21+ l

SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT AT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM/SCENE

43

scene
Number Nine
Saturday, March 12
scan this tag
with your
smartphone
for bonus scene
pics online!

Photography by
Ward Morrison

44

SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT AT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM/SCENE

SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT AT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM/SCENE

45

“Don’t put your own prejudices or fears about sexuality —
your own fears about sexuality
— on your children.
”
—SALLY FIELD, speaking on SiriusXM, appealing to parents to support and accept their LGBT children. “What horrifies me
is that there are parents who so disapprove, who are so brainwashed to think that this is something
out of the Bible or ungodly or against nature,” she added.

“I also don’t think I’m particularly brave to be the way I am. Because
I stand on the shoulders of those who came before me
and paved this way.
”
—JIM PARSONS, speaking with Migros Magazin. Parsons said that being open about his sexuality was the “only logical” option,
and said that growing up in Houston he “never had the feeling not to have the right to my life.”

“Today if you go to any gay bar or club,
you’ll see many people are using Grindr.”
—JOEL SIMKHAI, speaking to Time Out Hong Kong about the impact the hook-up app has had on the gay club scene.

“You want a person that’s going to lie to you?…
She’s a political hack. That’s all she is.
She’s done nothing!
”
—CAITLYN JENNER, during a segment on her reality show, I Am Cait, berating Hillary Clinton after Candis Cayne described
the former Secretary of State as “an amazing woman.” Jenner previously told The Advocate that she wants to be a “trans
ambassador” for Ted Cruz if he is president.

“Transgenders for Cruz is like Jews for Hitler.”
—JOY BEHAR, speaking on The View, during a segment on Caitlyn Jenner’s comments about Hillary Clinton.

46

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