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High Heel Race (Blade file photo by Henry Linser)
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HOME > OUT IN DC > A&E IN BRIEF
By: Staff & Wire Reports COMMENTS
 
It's time for the 24th annual High Heel Race, being dubbed "Heels for Equality" this year. It's slated for Tuesday night in its usual spot the Tuesday before Halloween. The 17th Street event, organized by the owners of legendary D.C. gay bar JR.'s, attracts thousands of both gay and straight spectators.
"We're calling it 'Heels for Equality' this year because with the amount of people there for a gay event, we just want them to know we don't have the same rights as everyone else," JR.'s manager Dave Perruzza says.
The event starts with a parade at 7 p.m. The race begins promptly at 9 and will run from Cobalt to JR.'s this year, a reversal of tradition. Those hoping to see the drag queen racers are encouraged to get there early. So many attend, it's impossible to get close if you arrive around 9. It's still a fun night, though, as many non-racers also attend in drag and the costumes are entertaining to see.
The event is held rain or shine. Racers need to sign up at Cobalt. Volunteers are still needed. E-mail to heelvolunteer@aol.com if you wish to volunteer.
Streets are closed in the area from 6 p.m. on. Cars left on those streets will be towed.
Lesbian singer-songwriter Mara Levi will debut a video for “Homo Song” at Phase 1, 525 8th St., S.E., on Saturday. Produced by Sarah Anderson, Levi’s first music video is about her experiences on the road and as part of D.C.’s gay community. It was filmed in a one-day shoot and features local drag king Ken Las Vegas and others from the community. The release party is at 7:30 p.m., and there will be prizes and giveaways. There’s a $5 cover.
For Faye Blackwell, a waitress of 40 years, her job at Trio Restaurant introduced her to a second family. Blackwell is one of the subjects of Candacy Taylor’s “Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress,” and in the book she talks about how she’s lost many of her long time customers to AIDS.
“It’s just been heartbreaking,” she says in the book. “I started here in the ’80s when the treatment for AIDS wasn’t very effective and people were dying every month. It was very painful to see them go. I would be there at the hospices to visit them. I lost one customer not too long ago. His name was Cody. I think he’d just turned 40. I was actually holding his hand when he passed away in the hospital. I have a little urn on my mantle at home with his ashes in it.”
Blackwell and Taylor, who wrote and photographed the book, will be appearing at Trio Restaurant, 1537 17th St., N.W. on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. (AC).
The D.C. Jewish Community Center kicked off its literary festival last week, but there still time to catch a talk by an LGBT author. Poet Joy Ladin, who is transgender, has written three books of poems, most recently “Transmigration Poems.” In it, she writes about changing genders and the decline of her marriage. She is the David and Ruth Gottesman Chair in English at Stern College of Yeshiva University in New York City, and she’s the school’s first openly transgender professor.
The event will be presented in partnership with the Kurlander Program for Gay & Lesbian Outreach and Engagement (GLOE) and is co-sponsored by the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Ladin will speak on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. at the Ina and Jack Kay Community Hall, Washington, D.C. JCC, 16th & Q Sts., N.W. Tickets are $10, or $8 for members, seniors and those under 25. Refreshments will be served.
For more information, visit www.washingtondcjcc.org.
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