DC Nightlife Highlights: Leather Sabbat, Daryl Wilson’s Fright Night, HalloQWEEN
Our picks of the best LGBTQ nightlife in the D.C. area this week!
LEATHER SABBAT: DAY OF THE DEAD EDITION
Still itching for more holiday tricks and treats? Pining for a second Halloweekend? If so, you’re in luck. The DC Eagle is one of several venues keeping the spooky holiday spirit alive (and the spirits flowing) this weekend. On Friday, Nov. 1, the spacious leather and fetish complex in Northeast D.C. hosts a party in honor of Dia De Los Muertos. DJ Popperz kicks off the festivities at 8 p.m. on the main level, with the party ramping up as celebrants flock upstairs by 10:30 p.m. to catch the weekly Birds of Prey Drag Show hosted by Brooklyn Heights. That will be followed by a contest at midnight offering $100 cash for best Day of the Dead costume, plus an amateur drag contest drawing $50 cash. The party will then carry on well into the dead of night with one of D.C.’s most prolific house DJs, Sean Morris. The Eagle is at 3701 Benning Rd. NE. Cover is $10 at the door, or $5 in advance. Call 202-347-6025 or visit www.dceagle.com.
DARYL WILSON PROMOTIONS: FRIGHT NIGHT
The day after Halloween also conjures up another edition of the first Fridays mega-party at the LGBTQ mega-plex in Southwest organized by the veteran Black Pride promoter. All those who haven’t tired of playing dress-up are in luck, with yet another opportunity to make some coins for their habit, as the party Friday, Nov. 1, features a costume contest at midnight offering prizes of $500 for first place, $250 for second, and $100 for third. Those who prefer to leave the dressing up to professionals will enjoy the usual drag show on the Ziegfeld’s level, while those who prefer a good male dressing down — all the way down — can peep all they want at the troupe of all-nude male dancers that Secrets is famous for, and then some, with the promise of a super-sized show featuring additional guests courtesy of Wilson. DJs Sedrick and UNKNYC spin hip-house and house starting at 10 p.m. Ziegfeld’s/Secrets is at 1024 Half St. SW. Call 202-863-0607 or visit www.secretsdc.com.
QREW: HALLOQWEEN
Another option for a belated Halloween party on Friday, Nov. 1, comes courtesy of QREW, the roving queer womyn-centered “safe and inclusive” shebang co-founded by Kristen Voorhees and Danylle Kightlinger. HalloQWEEN is a special intimate affair at Songbyrd in Adams Morgan geared to provide “all the thrills, chills, trills, and (dancing) skills your queer lil hearts can bear.” This 21+ party starts at 10 p.m. with a “hang sesh” upstairs for an hour before all the queer queens move to groove downstairs to tunes pumped out by “LL Cool” DJ Tezrah. San Francisco’s polyamorous sex educator Andre Shakti and D.C.’s black burlesquer GiGi Holliday will also be on hand. Songbyrd Music House is at 2477 18th St. NW. Cover is free before 11 p.m., $10 after. Call 202-450-2917 or visit www.songbyrddc.com.
FRIGHT NIGHT: A QUEER PAN-AFRICAN HALLOWEEN PARTY
The Black Cat plays host to a day-after Halloween party promising some “Black queer magic” and presented by Negritude DC, which is “dedicated to carving out and curating a space for queer black and brown people to celebrate our identity.” Dressing up is encouraged at the party, which starts at 10 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1, and features DJs Kryptk, Muse(o)fire, and NAÍOME. Black Cat is at 1811 14th St. NW. Tickets are $10. Call 202-667-4490 or visit www.blackcatdc.com.
FREDDIE’S: NIGHTMARE ON TWENTY-THIRD STREET COSTUME CONTEST
The peak of the year’s second Halloweekend arrives on Saturday, Nov. 2, at Virginia’s colorful Freddie’s Beach Bar, which will host a costume contest. Naturally, you could make a day of the festivities, enjoying the Saturday Breakfast Buffet starting at 10 a.m., followed by cheap drinks during the “Crazy Hour” promotion starting at 4 p.m. and not ending until the queens, led by Miss Destiny B. Childs, come out at 8 p.m. for the famous Freddie’s Follies Drag Show. The contest itself starts at 10 p.m. and earns prizes of gift cards for the top three entrees. Patrons, ages 21 and up, are encouraged to dress in their “most clever, scary, silly, or sexy Halloween” best. If you aren’t all spooked out after that, Scareoke starts at 10:30 p.m. Freddie’s Beach Bar is at 555 South 23rd St., Arlington. Cover is $5 for the contest. Call 703-685-0555 or visit www.freddiesbeachbar.com.
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