Waxahatchee playsIvy Tripp

There’s something vaguely Faulknerian about Katie Crutchfield and Waxahatchee, her solo music project. On the surface level, it’s probably got something to do with the fact that she’s a displaced Southerner, prone to drifting across the country and preoccupied with a past that isn’t fully gone yet. But there’s also a common trait that’s harder to put your finger on—a sense of place that transports one far from, say, Philadelphia, where Crutchfield and the project are based. Crutchfield is a veteran of several bands, including Bad Banana and P.S. Eliot, but she’s best known for her early work as Waxahatchee. American Weekend, the first album she produced for the project, is an ultra-lo-fi masterpiece. Cerulean Salt, its bigger-budget sequel, manages to scale up without shedding the nuance and depth of the original. Third album Ivy Tripp skillfully hovers in place, luxuriating in a feeling of lightheaded aimlessness. Crutchfield has described Ivy Tripp as a sort of vapor (as opposed to its predecessor, which she says is more of a solid), and associated its dazed mood with the existential fugue that settles in during a person’s 20s and 30s. That was 2015, before an existential fugue had settled uniformly across the planet, effectively universalizing the album’s appeal. Since her tour was cancelled because of COVID-19, Crutchfield has been doing livestream shows, brought to us by 9:30 Club, in which she performs Waxahatchee albums in full. Ivy Tripp is next up—you can stream the full performance for $15. The live stream begins June 22 at 9 p.m. at noonchorus.com. $15. —Will Lennon

“Hide/Seek: Portraits for LGBTQ+ Pride Month”

A little under 10 years ago, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery hosted the system’s first major show focusing on gay art, Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture. For all its emphasis on “difference,” Hide/Seek really was a “mainstream” show, as co-curator David C. Ward said. The exhibition was full of major stars like Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, side by side in the exhibition as they were in life, Annie Leibovitz, Keith Haring, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, and, of course, David Wojnarowicz. Wojnarowicz’s video piece “A Fire in my Belly” made Hide/Seek national news after the Catholic League, supported by politicians like John Boehner and Eric Cantor, called for its removal over a scene where a crucifix is covered in ants—and the Smithsonian capitulated. Though objections were cloaked in claims of “anti-Catholic bias,” the removal was rooted in homophobia. “It’s no longer the same game that it was 15, 20 years ago,” co-curator Jonathan D. Katz said to NPR in 2011. “Now you have to clothe your homophobia in something else.” Katz and Ward will be featured in a June 23 Zoom lecture, “Hide/Seek: Portraits for LGBTQ+ Pride Month.” The talk promises to explore the process of putting together the exhibition, the removal, its legacy, and the art featured. Prepare for the lecture by visiting the National Portrait Gallery’s online version and thinking about the differences—and the similarities—of this Pride month and the one 10 years ago. The Zoom lecture will take place at 5 p.m. on June 23 at bit.ly/hideseekNPG. Advance registration is required. Free. —Emma Sarappo