Feature Story: When Douglas Carter Beane had the idea to write a play about the struggles of a closeted movie star, he initially dismissed it as old-fashioned and clichéd. Famed San Francisco-based author Armistead Maupin set him straight. ''Are you kidding-'' Beane recalls Maupin saying, even reacting testily to the notion when Beane ran it by him. ''He rattled off like 10 names of closeted gay movie stars that I kind of had known about and just forgotten. It's one of those things where everyone sort of knows it but everyone sort of stores it away like, 'Oh, well, that's not really the case.' But you know it is.''

In the end, Beane's biting satire The Little Dog Laughed is as much about Hollywood agent Diane as it is the character of closeted movie star Mitchell Green. Diane is in control of Green's career -- even his love life. Diane, the Hollywood powerbroker, tells Green he must ''shut up'' about being gay if he wants to advance. It's her job to minimize the gay angle of everything. She introduces the audience to Green as ''a rising young movie star who suffers from a slight...recurring case of homosexuality.''
And that's right before she notes that she herself is a lesbian. ...more

Gauge:
As images of the infamous Dust Bowl of the 1930s served as a backdrop to the Great Depression, D.C.'s GLBT community now has its own dusty icon to mark economic hard times: an empty rodeo ring.
For the first time in 18 years, the Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association (ASGRA) will not be hosting its signature event, the annual Atlantic Stampede. Through the years, the early September weekend, centered at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Gaithersburg, has attracted the cowpoke set and their fans to one of the country's great gay rodeos.
''We've had the rodeo for 17 years in the D.C. area and this is the first time we have been unable to have one,'' says ASGRA President Mike Sanders. ...more

Gauge:
Barbara Chinn
(Photo by Patsy Lynch)
Despite the anticipation of the Jan. 20 change in presidential administrations, generally much welcomed by the GLBT community, there is more than enough grimness to go around. Take the District's ongoing infamy as Ground Zero in the fights against HIV/AIDS, or the bleak fiscal news. Combine the two, and you have a glimpse into the start of Barbara Chinn's year.
For a more complete picture, also picture the 64-year-old lesbian scrambling just two days into the new year, trying to find a plumber to fix her elderly father's water heater. If there's any upside to having been laid off from 21 years of employment with Whitman-Walker Clinic, it could be that she's got the time to help her father.
''The way I see it, it can only get better,'' says Chinn with signature optimism, despite Dec. 31 marking her last day as the director of WWC's Max Robinson Center in Southeast. The recession has taken its toll on the clinic, and Chinn was part of a recent wave of layoffs that did not include severance. ''I've got high hopes and I'm looking forward to a good year.'' ...more

Film: Old men say the darndest things. Though sometimes those things are racial slurs so vulgar that they can't be printed here. In Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a foul-mouthed, grumpy bigot. Walt's an asshole, no other way to put it. He's angry because his wife just died, his family is a bunch of annoying ingrates, and he can't accept that he's one of the few non-minorities living in his neighborhood. The only good thing in his life is an old school Gran Torino, a car that is the envy of all who see it.

Clint Eastwood: Gran Torino
Though it appears that Walt is simply going to shrivel up and die a bitter, lonely death, when push comes to shove he begins to protect the Hmong family next door from a local gang targeting the children, daughter Sue (Ahney Her) and son Thao (Bee Vang). As a Korean War veteran, Walt's racial views spew forth with each breath -- and require a trip to Urban Dictionary to understand -- but perhaps he can find redemption. If it turns out that you can teach an old dog new tricks.
But even as Walt begins to see that race isn't such a divider, the doggedly insistent Father Janovich (Christopher Carley) doesn't seem to have the same luck getting Walt to embrace his religious side. While this storyline ultimately allows for conversations about Walt's beliefs and motivations and a higher power, it feels like a heavy-handed attempt to cram larger concepts into the film, which Eastwood also directed. ...more

Music:
Who you calling a bimbo: Bimbo Jones
Katherine Ellis is a powerhouse vocalist, as self-assured and larger-than-life as if ripped straight out of a gay man's dream. In many ways, she sounds like the British equivalent of Kristine W: Grittier, bawdier, more playful and definitely more of a shouter. But if you've somehow missed her or her work in the British dance trio amusingly named Bimbo Jones, time to catch up. Ellis is the group's lyricist and all-around frontwoman, teamed with British music producers Lee Dagger and Marc Jackson Burrows, or JB for short. The band will finally cross the pond to play a few gigs in the United States in the coming months, to -- finally -- properly promote its debut album, Harlem 1 Stop, released this past October. The album was my pick as the best all-out dance album of 2008. Chances are, you'll still be savoring it come 2010. The songs are mostly all in the four-minute range, gone too soon. It wouldn't take much work to extend them to become full-length club remixes. Already, they're primed and ready to bob heads and shuffle feet.
Prior to this, Ellis co-wrote and sang on various notable dance tracks, including Joey Negro's ''Make A Move on Me,'' Lee Coombs' ''Shiver,'' Tom ''Superchumbo'' Stephan's ''Dog'' and Roger Sanchez's ''Lost.'' Meanwhile, Dagger and JB have churned out mostly just fair to average remixes under the Bimbo Jones moniker for the likes of Janet Jackson, Pink, Ultra Nate and Annie Lennox. But put the three together, and you have some of the most vibrant dance music, alive with rich instrumentation - yes, they play actual instruments on here in addition to electronic knob-twiddling. On Harlem 1 Stop, as the trio hopscotches around dance's various sub-genres, from techno to trance to house to chill-out, with poignant lyrics throughout.
Harlem 1 Stop starts with several seconds of light jazz, and a vintage-style male voiceover. And then Ellis busts in to start the dance proceedings. It never lets up. You can listen to these songs in any order, but the album does put a structure around them. The album tells a story, about losing love, and then smarting from it, yet eventually trying again. And then again. ...more

Soundwaves: GRAMMY GIRLS (AND RUFUS)... Did you hear- Kathy Griffin did, in fact, get her Grammy nomination. You know, the one she was angling for. The one for which she specifically created last year's For Your Consideration. Ain't that cool- She's up against Lewis Black, Flight of the Conchords, Harry Shearer and the late George Carlin for Best Comedy Album.

Robyn
(Photo by Samantha Rapp)
Did you also hear about Rufus Wainwright- His Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall will battle albums by Natalie Cole and Barry Manilow for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. And how about Madonna- Madonna earned a total of three nods -- though Hard Candy didn't get nominated for Best Electronic/Dance Album. I repeat, Hard Candy did not get nominated as Best Dance Album, the category Madge won in 2007 for Confessions on a Dance Floor. So instead, let's all root for the opening act from select European dates of her Sticky and Sweet Tour -- and here's hoping Robyn beats out Cyndi Lauper, Kylie Minogue, Daft Punk, Moby and Brazilian Girls for the Best Dance Album Grammy. Tall order, for sure. But Robyn is ballsy enough to take on all comers, and Robyn is far and away better than all those artists' albums -- it's one of the very best albums released the past couple years, bar none.
The album nod was the only one for Robyn, alas. Madonna got two in the three dance categories, the first courtesy of Junkie XL's remix of ''4 Minutes.'' That will battle for Best Remixed Recording against StoneBridge's ''Closer'' by Ne-Yo, Justice's ''Electric Feel'' by MGMT, Deadmau5's ''The Longest Road'' by Morgan Page feat. Lissie and - are you ready- - Moto Blanco's ''Just Fine'' by Mary J. Blige. Yep, it's a newer crew of remixers this year. Meanwhile, Madonna's ''Give It 2 Me'' will duke it out with Rihanna's ''Disturbia'' for Best Dance Recording. That's a battle right there, but then there are the other contenders: Daft Punk's ''Harder Better Faster Stronger,'' Lady Gaga's ''Just Dance,'' Hot Chip's ''Ready for the Floor'' and Sam Sparro's ''Black & Gold.'' Sparro- Black- I've never heard of that one, either. Oh well.... ...more

Gears:
2008 Mazda CX-7 Grand Touring
Mazda has been all about the ''zoom zoom'' in recent years and, for the most part, has backed it up with some nicely styled - and more importantly, nicely tuned - cars that turn heads as well as corners.
Introduced in 2007, Mazda's CX-7 was one of the more appealing of the still-growing ''crossover'' class: vehicles that aim to combine the best aspects of sedans and SUVs into a more reasonably sized package.
Given the recent turn against SUVs and gas guzzlers in general - though with gas prices falling once again, where the next turn may be is unclear - crossovers gained some additional appeal because they offered many of the interior space benefits of the larger, truck-based SUVs without the insatiable thirst at the pump. ...more

Commentary: For months, Rick Garcia has been dealing with people who portray President-elect Barack Obama as ''at best half-hearted'' on GLBT issues. ''These are generally gay Republicans and bitter Hillary supporters,'' he tells me. ''And none of them know Obama or have worked with him. I've known him for years and have always counted on him as a strong supporter of our issues.''
Garcia, director of public policy for Equality Illinois, does call Obama's invitation to Rev. Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation a ''stupid choice,'' and has publicly criticized Obama's opposition to civil-marriage equality. He nonetheless praises Obama's legislative record in Springfield, Ill.:
''One of the first things Illinois State Senator Obama did was to be a co-sponsor of a bill that amended the Illinois Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. And he worked closely with us to bring votes to the bill, which passed Jan. 12, 2005 - after he was sworn in as a United States senator, so of course he did not personally vote for it, but his replacement did and he spoke with other senators whose votes we needed.''Many times he would stop me at the State House to get an update on where we were and what he could do to help. I always counted on him and he was always available to me and Equality Illinois lobbyists.''Garcia adds that the help did not end after Obama moved to Washington. ''Illinois is poised to pass a civil-union bill. ... We approached Obama for help. (Obama adviser) Valerie Jarrett made calls to key legislators asking for their support of the bill.''In fact, Obama takes office with a stronger pro-gay record than any previous president. As a United States senator, he earned Human Rights Campaign scores of 89 for the 109th Congress (the same as Sen. Hillary Clinton) and 94 for the 110th (to Clinton's 95). On the other hand, Garcia cautions, ''Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod still believe that being pro-gay is politically bad and anti-gay plays to the middle. These boys should give us pause and we have to keep an eye on them.'' Duly noted.Obama's invitation to Warren, however disagreeable, is in keeping with his oft-stated commitment to reach across social and political divides. Garcia says, ''I have personally seen Obama address the issue of gay rights with individuals and groups that are not receptive to us. I've never had to do a 'Gay 101' with him.'' ...more

Horoscope: Heavenly Round-Up: A sense of hope is in the air, funnily enough. Perhaps we've touched bottom. Perhaps the longer days are to blame. Perhaps the human capacity to find the good has overtaken us. But here we are, ready to work through the rough patches and make the most of our lives. Still feeling run down- Rein in the desire for comfort food and old patterns of behavior. Your past doesn't have your present's best interests at heart. Extra vitamin C hits the spot.
Aries: You can see what's going down, but you don't understand how you come to find yourself in the midst of the fracas. You don't have an axe to grind on either side of the equation, but the more you struggle, the tighter the bind. Relax. Give it a shot.
Taurus: You can remember when everything went according to plan. You can remember when you knew what to expect. You can remember when there were no surprises. But you don't long for those good old days. Why is that- Is uncertainty the better part of valor- Fresh and exciting rule. ...more

Spree: The origin of the term ''flea market'' is a bit complicated.
Google it and you'll find that some believe it's meant to describe buyers and sellers interacting with each other and merchandise like fleas. Others roll with the idea of it describing secondhand goods, ones that might be infested with fleas. The latter description doesn't hold up, however, when taking into account the many items that will be on offer at the D.C. Big Flea Market at Chantilly's Dulles Expo and Conference Center on Jan. 10 and 11: art, jewelry, glass decorations, antique furniture, collectibles and, most importantly, bargains.
''A lot of items that are comparable to things that are knock-offs or reproductions can be found for cheaper at the show than what you would buy them for in a store,'' says Ray Felton, of D'Amore Promotions, which runs the market. ...more