For five years, LGBTQ-friendly dance party She Rex has transformed the second floor of Chief Ike's into a popular gathering place/watering hole for the area's young lesbian community. The beers are cheap (PBRs for a mere $2) and the music (everything from Crystal Waters to Katy Perry to Nirvana) is always cranked to get the crowd moving. While other similar parties began and swiftly ended, it's also been a remarkably consistent presence, taking place the second Friday of each month at the Adams Morgan dive bar.
But Friday's bash will bring She Rex to a close, says Maegan Wood, who, as DJ Junebullet, has been carefully crafting the woman-friendly environment for years with fellow DJs Coach, C.rush, and Alex DB.
“It’s been a great five years – but it’s also been five years," Wood wrote. "And that’s a long time for a dance night."
"I will miss feeling as connected to the broader queer community, and the creative outlet of putting together a setlist, every month," Laura Varlas, one of the other She Rex DJs, said in an e-mail.
The DJs will disperse for a few months, Wood says, in hopes of creating a smaller event, more focused musically and more "intentional," she says, but still committed to fostering the city's LGBTQ community.
The last hurrah will take over both floors at Chief Ike's with nine DJs spinning, and $2 Natty Bohs and PBRs all night.
Friday from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Chief Ike's Mambo Room, 1725 Columbia Rd. NW. No cover.