Thursday, March 12, 2020

Coronavirus Update

COVID-19 / Coronavirus: we are taking concerns for COVID-19 & the impact of Coronavirus on our local region very seriously. We ask that everyone take dedicated precautions in the wake of our current situation. First & foremost, wash your hands regularly & keep active awareness of when you touch other surfaces or others, & above all avoid arbitrarily touching your face. This is the best way to reduce risk of contagion.

With regard to Metro Calendars: cancellations are becoming a common occurrence, so please check w/ the host entity to confirm attendance before heading out. 

We are currently tracking regional numbers as circumstances unfold & have decided to move ahead w/ The Celtic Social at O'Connell's (Fri March 13th). We feel it is a happy hour format & offers minimal risk at this time. However, as an added precaution we do ask that any individuals who have had recent travel please sit this one out. In addition, we will be cancelling our Underground Party scheduled for April. We'll assess circumstances in July for our scheduled pool party when the time comes. Until then, we wish everyone the best of health as things move forward. 

Thank you, 
Richard A.D.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Archive: Spring 2020

Closing out the winter months, the spring party season is now upon us! Just in time, our annual build-out for The Metro Underground is now complete. The main site has been fully revised with a complete rebuild. All calendars, as well as listings for clubs, groups, & various resources have all been updated. Initial efforts for Metro Events, Underground Parties, & Scene Socials have also been established (but may evolve as the weeks progress).

Scene Socials - Our central focus has always been to bring people of a like mind together & create a forum for people to connect. Our Scene Socials offer a type of late evening happy hour fromat to do just that. All too often we converse at affairs with not much more than a sound-bite, so by design our casual socials are NOT a scene-based event. They're offered purely as a chance for people to gather & connect on a deeper level over drinks, good food, & honest conversation. So in addition to our events & parties, we now host about 6-8 such gatherings per year. Please keep an eye on our Events Page for future gatherings.

The Spring Fantasy Expose - Metro Events have always been known for bringing a strong edge w/ active play to the public forum. Indeed, The DC Fetish Ball will continue to do just that! But in 2020 we hope to bring something new to the stage. Focused more on music, entertainment, & fashion we'll offer something a bit more mainstream while keeping 'just' enough of an edge to keep it interesting. Details are coming soon, so please keep an eye out.

Road Trip!  Coming Memorial Day Weekend (2020): The Metro Underground takes to the road for an event of epic proportion. We're planning a trip to Ft. Lauderdale for the Fetish Factory 25th Anniversary Weekend. Possibly the biggest, baddest, & most amazing fetish event in North America - The Metro & Friends will be there in force as DC travels to Florida for an unbelievable time not to be missed! Offering 5 days, 9 parties, for an epic all fetish hotel takeover! Tickets are already going fast, so we hope you'll join us for an incredible trip w/ memories to last a lifetime.

News from Around the Scene: 

Rock & Roll Hotel Closes (see article from City Paper): In a continuing trend for the city, yet another DC venue for live music & events has closed. Due to the rising cost of rent, increased competition, & lower revenues, management at the Rock & Roll Hotel abruptly closed its doors as of March 2nd. They have no plans to reopen.

A Heartfelt Farewell to Frazier of The Crucible: as previously noted, back in November our community lost an icon. Frazier Botsford was the driving force & founder of The Crucible, Camp Crucible, LF&P, & a long-standing leader for the DC Scene. No doubt, his legacy carries far & his tireless efforts have touched the lives of many. Speaking personally (as Richard A.D), he & I actually go back well before the days of The Crucible, a lifetime ago when our younger selves were managing restaurants & pubs. I've always considered him a long standing friend well outside our efforts w/in the scene; efforts to which we always stood in deep support of each other. It was a fond memory to host him for Xmas during the hiatus when the Crucible stood between locations. But once up & running, he was back at it, giving all of us orphans a home. Indeed, that's what he's always done, working tirelessly to give us a place where people of a like mind could gather & explore that side of us which stood true to our inner selves. I had donated my family's pool table to The Crucible because I wanted to find it just such a home. After the opening, we shot a round but something came up & we never finished the game. Perhaps in the next life, but I feel there's a lesson here. for so much of our lives are often left unfinished, so always show you care & always carry forth a message of love to those who matter most. His legacy shall carry on, but he shall be missed. Rest well old friend. Soon enough, we shall all meet again upon the seas of time.

The Crew Club Closes in DC (See Blade Article): After decades as DC's premier gay bathhouse, & currently the only business in the city to maintain such a license, the owners have decided to cash out & retire. This brings the end of an era to the DC gay scene & carries a void that shall not be replaced.

Town 2.0 is currently in the works:  The former owners of Town are working on a new club off North Capitol Street in DC. It's always been a fantasy to convert a church to a club, so it's incredibly cool that the new place is a former Baptist Church. If photos look familiar, it's because the new location is right down from the former location for The Crucible. See Washington Post for full artilce.

Distrikt C Goes Dark? - previously the largest fetish dance night for DC's gay scene, they severed relations with the DC Eagle & moved to Karma on Adams Place NE. A new direction also saw Distrikt expanding beyond DC to include nights in Philadelphia & New York. But recently they seem to have gone inactive. We're checking their current status & will be providing updates shortly.