November 23, 2016 - Pittsburgh City Paper

WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM | 11.23/11.30.2016

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

EVENTS 12.2 – 6pm MY PERFECT BODY: TEEN SKETCH PARTY Registration is required by contacting Christen DiLeanardo at DiLeonardoC@Warhol.org or 412.237.8356.

FREE

12.8 – 7pm MY PERFECT BODY: DOUGLAS CRIMP AND BEFORE PICTURES READING The Warhol theater FREE parking in The Warhol lot FREE

12.16 – 10pm MY PERFECT BODY: BODY BEATS DANCE PARTY FEATURING PRINCE RAMA Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Andy Warhol: My Perfect Body, The Warhol and VIA present Body Beats, an after-hours dance party featuring Prince Rama.

Tickets $15/$12 Members

12.26 – 10am—5pm SPECIAL HOLIDAY HOURS The Warhol will be open on Monday, December 26, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

1.10 – 8pm FORCED ENTERTAINMENT: TOMORROW’S PARTIES New Hazlett Theater Co-presented with Carnegie Nexus, as part of the Strange Times series and The New Hazlett Theater Tickets $15/$12 students & members or two shows (Forced Entertainment: Real Magic on January 11) for $20/$15 students & members

Visit us without paying museum admission.

Open during museum hours. Call 412.237.8303.

The Andy Warhol Museum receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency and The Heinz Endowments. Further support is provided by the Allegheny Regional Asset District.

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11.23/11.30.2016 VOLUME 26 + ISSUE 47

[EDITORIAL] Editor CHARLIE DEITCH News Editor REBECCA ADDISON Arts & Entertainment Editor BILL O’DRISCOLL Music Editor MARGARET WELSH Associate Editor AL HOFF Web Producer ALEX GORDON Staff Writers RYAN DETO, CELINE ROBERTS Interns STEPHEN CARUSO, MEGAN FAIR, IAN FLANAGAN, LUKE THOR TRAVIS

[ART] Director of Operations KEVIN SHEPHERD Production Director JULIE SKIDMORE Art Director LISA CUNNINGHAM Graphic Designers JEFF SCHRECKENGOST, JENNIFER TRIVELLI

[NEWS]

“It’s frustrating for those of us serving in local government when we are preempted by state government or the federal government.”

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rtrait, 1963, Andy Warhol, Self-Po ndation ©The Andy Warhol Fou for the Visual Arts, Inc.

Director of Advertising JESSIE AUMAN-BROCK Senior Account Executives PAUL KLATZKIN, JEREMY WITHERELL Advertising Representative BLAKE LEWIS Classified Manager ANDREA JAMES National Advertising Representative VMG ADVERTISING 1.888.278.9866 OR 1.212.475.2529

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The Andy Warhol rhol Museum receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state ate agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency and The Heinz Endowments. Further support is provided by the Allegheny Regional Asset District.

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THIS WEEK

“IS HE GOING TO STEP UP?”

ONLINE

www.pghcitypaper.com

City Paper has been celebrating our 25th Anniversary this year. Check out this week’s podcast, where CP staff share their memories of the paper, online at www.pghcitypaper.com.

This week CP goes deep with Nashville Pussy.

Read our story on page 18 and check out the longer version online at www.pghcitypaper.com.

Last week. hundreds marched from Oakland to the Birmingham Bridge in a peaceful protest for equality.

{CP PHOTO BY RYAN DETO}

Roberto Clemente Jr. (center) speaks about Pittsburgh’s working-class roots and history of inclusivity with Bill Peduto.

Check out our slideshow at www.pghcitypaper.com.

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Our featured #CPReaderArt photo from last week is a cool shot of morning fog in Monroeville by instagrammer @kolfan1. Use #CPReaderArt to share your Pittsburgh photos with us for your chance to be featured next!

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HE DAY AFTER the election that swept Republican Donald Trump into the White House, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto threw his speech into the trash. Peduto was set to address more than 3,000 city-government workers and elected officials during the National League of Cities conference taking place in Downtown Pittsburgh. With the surprising election result, he knew he needed a whole new angle.

So, on Nov. 17, at the NLC conference, Peduto spoke about transition. “Pittsburgh has gone through a major transition, just like most cities are going through transitions,” said Peduto, referencing the nearly 20 percent unemployment rate that plagued the city after the steel industry collapsed in the 1980s. “We

lost more people than were displaced by Hurricane Katrina and they never came back, but people started planting seeds.

Thirty years later, we are back.”

Can cities like Pittsburgh continue their progressive ways in Republicancontrolled waters? {BY RYAN DETO} Since the collapse, Pittsburgh’s economy has diversified, and the city has become a national leader in innovative fields like health care and robotics. Pittsburgh has started championing new-wave

progressive ideas like protected bike lanes, welcoming programs for immigrants and green-infrastructure projects.

And Pittsburgh is not alone. Many cities across the country have done what Pittsburgh is doing and more. Some have raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour; others have turned parking spots into micro public parks. And it seems the bigger the city, the more progressive it is. Of the nation’s 75 largest cities, about 80 percent of them have Democratic mayors, many of whom are promoting these ideas.

But in two months, the White House will be held by a man who won the presidency thanks to a surge of Republican rural and suburban voters, many of whom argued their rights have been imposed on by the progressive ideals now flourishing CONTINUES ON PG. 08

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

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ISLAND CITIES, CONTINUED FROM PG. 06

{CP PHOTO BY RYAN DETO}

Cleveland City Councilor and NLC president Matt Zone

in cities. The GOP will control the White House, the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. Additionally, Republicans control two-thirds of the country’s state legislatures, and many have approved legislation attacking cities that pass progressive legislation.

Can cities survive the potential new Republican agenda?

Some municipal leaders believe they can. Pittsburgh City Paper spoke with a handful of mayors and city councilors from across the country at the NLC conference in Pittsburgh last week to assess their feelings about the incoming GOP-dominated government. Municipal leaders think cities should unite with each other and focus on working for their residents. Meanwhile, experts believe that cities, suburban and rural areas can find common ground. But each of these strategies is contingent on the whims of the federal and state governments, which can be slow to act.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

THE NATIONAL LEAGUE of Cities is a consortium of 19,000 cities, towns and villages across the U.S. that lobbies the federal government on their behalf. While the group represents many big cities, incoming NLC President Matt Zone, who spoke to CP at the NLC conference, said the majority of its organization’s members hail from smaller towns.

Some of these members expressed concern about the incoming Trump administration in interviews with CP, including Kathy Ehley, mayor of Wauwatosa, Wis. (a Milwaukee suburb). “We are wondering [about the future],” she said.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen.

It’s unsettling.”

Chris Roberts, mayor of Shoreline, Wash. (a suburb north of Seattle), believes the federal government could cut off funding for a light-rail extension to his town. “I’m worried, worried that the administration will not invest in public transit,” said Roberts.

Trump spoke during the campaign about supporting public transportation, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has said infrastructure spending is low on the list of Senate priorities.

Zack Reed, a city councilor from Cleveland, is also anxious that his large city district will not see the help it needs. (Reed’s district, which CP visited during the RNC, is filled with blight and is one of the poorer districts in Cleveland). “Trump said he would go into the inner city and give us change,” said Reed. “Is he going to step up?”

But of all the city leaders CP spoke with, none were as worried about Presidentelect Trump as they were about a GOPcontrolled Congress. And some cities are even more worried about attacks from their own state legislatures.

Over the last several years, for instance, the GOP-controlled Pennsylvania assembly has sponsored bills to limit governing in cities and towns. In 2014, a law allowing the National Rifle Association to sue local municipalities over guncontrol efforts passed. It was struck down in court, but thanks to a technicality, the law is now back in the assembly. For several years, state Republican legislators have worked to prevent cities from passing legislation aimed at helping undocumented CONTINUES ON PG. 10

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LANDMARKS PRESERVATION RESOURCE CENTER - A program of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Foundation

MATTHEW CHRISTOPHER Writer & Photographer

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29 6:00 — 7:30 p.m.

If the creation of a structure represents the values and ideals of a time, so too does its subsequent abandonment and eventual destruction. In Abandoned America: Dismantling the Dream, acclaimed photographer Matthew Christopher continues his tour of the quiet catastrophes dotting American cities, examining the losses and failures that led these ruins to become forsaken by communities that once embraced them.

From the heartbreaking story of a state school that would become home to one of the country’s worst cases of fatal neglect and abuse to the shattered remains of what was once the largest mall in the United States, Abandoned America: Dismantling the Dream asks what leads us to leave places behind and what the consequences are of doing so.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER: Matthew Christopher has had an interest in abandoned sites since he was a child, but started documenting them a decade ago while researching the decline of the Pennsylvania state hospital system. Both of his books Abandoned America: The Age of Consequences and Abandoned America: Dismantling the American Dream are available here and through major booksellers.

ALL PROGRAMMING IS FREE TO PHLF MEMBERS. NON-MEMBERS: $5.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

412-471-5808

immigrants. And state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Cranberry) once said tax dollars shouldn’t go to cities that “promote immoral behaviors” in response to a Philadelphia marketing appeal to gay tourists.

All this worries Peduto. He spoke to CP on Nov. 9, and said it’s going to be harder for cities to pass progressively minded laws for the next two years. “It’s going to be much more difficult, just to be blunt about it,” he said. “There have been a lot of bills in the state trying to limit the role of municipalities, but Gov. Wolf has been protective.

Now with a veto-proof [state] senate, that is also under question.”

And Pennsylvania is not alone in this situation. North Carolina famously passed a law this year prohibiting local municipalities from expanding protections to the LGBT community. Zone, of the NLC, said it’s discouraging when state governments overrule cities when local governments are merely trying to accommodate their residents.

“It’s frustrating for those of us serving in local government when we are pre-empted by state government or the federal government,” said Zone, who is also a Cleveland city councilor. “If a local government enacts a law that doesn’t conflict with state or federal law, they should be allowed and empowered to do that.”

And so to counterbalance these restrictive actions from states and the U.S. Congress, Peduto suggests that cities join forces.

“You can look at the map of Election Day now, and you see, in the sea of red, blue dots,” said Peduto. “And that is the political landscape, not just in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania, but all of America. … It will be a call to action to cities throughout this county to begin to put together a common agenda.

Our problems are all the same, our solutions are common-sense.”

At the NLC conference, Peduto urged the municipal leaders to join in the 100 Days of US campaign, where Pittsburgh’s Garfieldbased nonprofit the Sprout Fund is providing $100,000 to fund selected ideas that improve civic life. Peduto also says mayors need to meet with other mayors to create a domestic-policy agenda to present to President-elect Trump the day after he’s inaugurated on Jan. 19, to ensure cities are an integral part of the federal government’s plans.

Zone agrees. He said the NLC has already reached out to Trump’s administration and will meet with it once Trump assumes power. And Zone thinks cities are ready to lead.

“Cities have been leading this country since its inception. Cities are where all the innovation is happening,” said Zone. “We always build consensus on issues that we have been advocating for. I would hope that Congress could act a little bit more like our organization.”

Zone said the NLC will continue to focus on public safety, infrastructure and the economy. And he added that no matter who is in charge of the White House, he will focus on creating policies that promote the growth of cities.

“Cities are evolving and changing.

Young millennials are calling for creative communities that they can live in. They want to live in neighborhoods that they can live, work and play in,” Zone said. “Coming up with strategies to put that type of infrastructure in place is critical for the future success of cities. … I am not going to sit around and wait for the federal government to show me how [to plan for cities].”

“YOUNG MILLENNIALS ARE CALLING FOR CREATIVE COMMUNITIES THAT THEY CAN LIVE IN.”

THE RURAL/URBAN divide

is deeply entrenched in the U.S. But the fates of cities, suburbs and rural area are inextricably linked, and repairing the divide between them is integral to the future success of the country.

Chris Sandvig, of the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group, who helps to create solutions for city problems, thinks fixing the relationship between cities and their suburbs is a good place to start minimizing the divide. He says suburbs were originally created because of the growth of cities; thus they are invested in the success of cities, too.

But Sandvig says political leanings between cities and their suburbs differ greatly. Surrounding suburbs tend to be more conservative than their core cities.

But there are still issues where the two can find common ground.

“The challenge of a city is how we become a region of inclusion, not just a city of inclusion,” says Sandvig. “We still have a strong city that populations migrate to for work. You can’t take the city of Pittsburgh out of the region, so we have to figure what that common ground is.”

Kelly Conklin, a member of smallbusiness advocacy group Main Street Alliance and a New Jersey small-business owner, says common ground already exists between cities, suburbs and rural areas. One example, he points out, is that big cities, like Newark, N.J., and rural towns, like Johnstown, Pa., both have declining business districts.

Economic opportunity is something President-elect Trump talked about often during his campaign. He pledged to create jobs by bringing back steel to Western Pennsylvania. Trump also promised to bring coal jobs back to West Virginia and manufacturing back to Michigan.

“I think Trump’s promise to bring back millions of high-paying jobs in an incredibly scary time was the straw that some people were willing to grasp,” says Conklin.

But despite the possibility that small towns and big cities could unite under a common cause of job growth, Conklin believes Trump was giving people false promises. And, he worries, the president-elect doesn’t have the plans to back them up.

“Donald Trump spent this whole election looking backward, at another time and another place that we cannot retrieve,” says Conklin. “We have to create this bridge between the cities and rural areas … it requires leaders with vision that are looking forward, not backward.”

But ultimately, the impact Trump’s administration has on cities — even if they can’t unify with surrounding suburbs and rural areas — might be negligible, economically speaking.

Gabe Klein, former head of Chicago’s transportation department and author of urban-planning book Start-Up City, says cities have mostly had to fend for themselves for the past eight years, due to gridlock in Congress.

“The blessing and the curse of the last eight years is that mayors and their teams have had to learn to do for themselves, often with little help at the federal and state levels,” wrote Klein in an email to CP. “They justify action because citizens and business are demanding action. … They can’t wait for the glacial pace at the federal level.”

Klein hopes Republicans in state and federal government let cities continue to progress, considering they generate most of the country’s revenue, which helps to subsidize rural and suburban areas. (According to the McKinsey Global Institute, the U.S.’s 40 largest cities generate half of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.)

“My hope, in this new world we are moving towards, is that conservatives hold to their values and allow more local control of policy, budgets and so forth,” wrote Klein.

“The cities in red and blue states are the economic drivers of our states and our country. … Cities are the new power base.”

RYAN DETO @PGH C IT YPAPE R . C O M

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[PITTSBURGH LEFT]

TWEETING TRUMP {BY CHARLIE DEITCH} DURING HIS presidency, Thomas Jeffer-

son was known, for obvious reasons, as “The Apostle of Democracy,” and Andrew Jackson was nicknamed “Old Hickory” because his former troops thought he was as tough as wood. We all know Abraham Lincoln was “Honest” Abe, Harry Truman was “Give ’Em Hell” Harry and Richard Nixon was “Tricky Dick.” In fact, sometimes nicknames become synonymous with the president. “JFK” comes immediately to mind.

So while history will dictate what that nickname will be for President Donald Trump, I think I have the perfect alias: TWOTUS, or Tweeter of the United States. While President Obama certainly used social media to get his message out, Trump looks like he is on his way to be the first president ever to run the country using Twitter. For the record, that is not a compliment.

Trump used social media during his campaign, and even before, to take potshots, call names and basically whine about all the unfairness that he’s experienced. It makes sense that he would use Twitter in this way because he’s the best in the world at it. How do we know? Because he’s told us in a tweet: “Many are saying I’m the best 140 character writer in the 1 11/17/16 10:27 world.

AM It’s easy when it’s fun.”

While I haven’t given Trump a break on anything in the past year, I will say that I did assume/believe that once he became the president-elect, it would at least keep him from getting into Twitter wars with, well, pretty much everyone on the planet.

I mean, it’s not very presidential to act petty on social media, but apparently Trump doesn’t feel that way. In the past week, he’s taken to social media to trash both Saturday Night Live and a member of the cast of Quality Eyewear since 1984 Hamilton, who made an impassioned plea to audience member Mike Pence, the vice president-elect, to “work on behalf of all of us, all of us.” .

DETAILS. OFFER ENDS 12/31/16 RESTRICTIONS APPLY. ASK FOR Trump sent several tweets over the weekend: “The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior,” and “Very rude and insulting of Hamilton cast member to treat our great future V.P. Mike Pence to a theater lecture. Couldn’t even memorize lines!”

Several things have me worried about this. First, Trump is showing that he still can’t hold himself together in the face of any criticism. Secondly, he still doesn’t understand the concept of free speech. And SOUTH CRAIG STREET • PITTSBURGH, PA finally: Why can’t Trump just stay off the

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goddamned Twitter! It’s a sickness.

These things together concern me because I imagine a Trump presidency where he tweets us into a nuclear war, or, probably more realistically, sets us up as the target for even more terror attacks. These are the type of Tweets I imagine: Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Chinese losers think we can’t live without their money and products. They started trade war when they overreacted to very fair 45% tariff.

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Took out Isis No. 32 guy and entire village he was hiding in.

Way more huge than when Obama took out Bin Laden.

Drones, bombs, very big.

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Mexican haters refusing to pay for border wall. U.S. can’t do this alone. Neighbors should work together. Very poor attitude

by Mexico.

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Spent Christmas with Vladamir Putin at Mar-a-Lago.

Best Xmas since the original.

Wore footie pajamas with eagles. Vlad’s had bears.

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Senate Republicans better wise up. Ivanka will be best Supreme Court Justice since Scalia. Bigly qualified.

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Alec Baldwin arrested for treason for SNL sketch criticizing immigration policies. Show not funny since Charles Rocket left in 1981.

On the bright side, the tweets above are just a joke; unfortunately, I think the ones TWOTUS will actually send in the future will be much, much worse.

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Police agencies are often left with weapons confiscated during investigations or when executing protection-fromabuse orders. If the owner doesn’t claim the item or is legally prohibited from getting it back after court proceedings, most departments destroy the weapons, which keeps them off the streets. Westmoreland County Sheriff Jonathan Held thinks he has a better idea. Held is seeking a judge’s approval to auction about 130 weapons in his office’s possession. “I thought we could raise money for the county and save the taxpayers some money,” Held told TribLive.com. “I know there are a lot of unique weapons in the evidence room that people would be interested in buying.” Most of the inventory consists of garden-variety shotguns, rifles, and pocket and hunting knives. There are also a few oddities: some old-timey muzzleloading rifles, a 12-inch dagger with a handle decorated “with sun-devil eyes in blue,” an axe etched with “dragon decorations,” a few “ninja swords” and a Japanese-style throwing star called a shuriken. Some of the items, such as the star, are illegal to carry in public, but Held said buyers could use a weapon like that as a “decorative piece.”

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Washington County saw a sharp increase in the number of write-in votes in the 2016 presidential election, canvassing board officials told the ObserverReporter newspaper. In 2012, 228 of about 95,000 county voters wrote in a name not on the ballot. On Nov. 8, when both major-party candidates had high unfavorability ratings, the number shot up to 760. Most of these votes went to either independent candidate Evan McMullin (who got 162) or primaryelection contenders, such as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (134) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (114). Beyond that, residents wrote in Pope Francis, Deadpool, Myron Cope, Keith Richards, Pittsburgh Dad, God, Jesus Christ, Willie Nelson, Johnny Depp, the late gorilla Harambe (of course), Boaty McBoatface, “my dog,” deceased 1968 Democratic nominee Hubert Humphrey, a “sweet meteor of death,” and “none of them” followed by 14 exclamation points.

+

One of many unprecedented aspects of the 2016 election was the shoestring budget of the successful candidate.

Always behind Hillary Clinton in donations and depending on his own money and preexisting Republican Party operations, the campaign of Donald Trump often did not have enough yard signs for supporters, even in swing districts. Perhaps expecting a similar situation in four years, Trump campaign workers in Erie County have asked supporters to save their oversized, wooden beam-supported signs (which cost about $300 each) for 2020, at which point we will still apparently need to “Make America Great Again.” The newscast of WFXP reports the local GOP is

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

even offering to take and store the signs. This might prevent them from being burned for warmth in the upcoming collapse of society.

+

A Dollar Bank customer took out a large sum of cash from a Butler County branch and then forgot the open envelope of money was on top of her car as she drove off. Soon the bills were blowing down the road like leaves. “This was thousands of dollars up in the air,” Butler Township Police Lt. Matt Pearson told WPXI. “Several cars drove over it, and the envelope just exploded money everywhere.” Drivers stopped and helped the woman gather up the cash, and she regained 95 percent of her withdrawal.

One guy, however, took a handful and drove away.

+

Weapons of choice: 24-year-old Jordan Clark, of Pittsburgh, reportedly had been drinking with a friend all day when

the two got into an argument, leading her to allegedly attack the other woman with a porcelain elephant, reports WTAE. Meanwhile, according to a report released by police in Steelton, Dauphin County, Ashley Courts, 30, allegedly whacked a man in the head with a claw hammer.

+

There’s a criminal in Susquehanna Township with a lot of dirty laundry — literally. Police in the Dauphin County town have posted photos and a description of a man who entered a Weis Market, filled a cart with nothing but 15 bottles of Tide liquid detergent and left without paying.

+

A hunter roaming the grounds of Dick’s Hill Hunting Club in Perry County came across an unpermitted paintball gun battle in progress, reports PennLive.com. Pennsylvania State Police dispersed the group of 15 paintsplattered commandos with a warning.

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LOCAL

“HONESTLY, I’D TOUR HELL WITH THE REV IF HE ASKED ME.”

BEAT

{BY ALEX GORDON}

ALEXGORDON@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

Editor’s Note: For full disclosure, Rosenstraus is in a relationship with CP music editor Margaret Welsh. She was not involved in the assigning, writing or editing of this story.

16

Getting Slippy {CP PHOTO BY EM DEMARCO}

S.L.I.P. OUT Slippy When Wet, the new album from S.L.I.P., sounds like a dark, depressing good time. The songs are high-energy, but the subjects are gloomy: hopelessness and insomnia, opioid addiction and pollution, vapid music scenes, armchair liberals and gentrification. There are only five songs out of 12 available now, but they cover a lot of ground and serve as a good intro to S.L.I.P.’s personal, relentless, powerful work.

“Boys in Blue” and “There’s No Hope for The U.S.A.” deliver concise, bald-faced political criticism, but they’re balanced by a track like “Fast Living,” about street racing in the South Hills (if the album title didn’t tip you off, Pittsburgh references figure heavily in S.L.I.P.). If you squint your ears, you’d think the whole album was about lighthearted stuff like souped-up cars and street racing.

“It’s a fun record, musically,” says vocalist Dave Rosenstraus. “But the topics are kind of dark.”

S.L.I.P. started in 2014 as a solo project of Rosenstraus, who previously played in bands like Pissed Jeans and Hounds of Hate (among many, many others). In addition to his work in S.L.I.P., Rosenstraus records bands at his home (the Braddock Hit Factory), serves as the treasurer for the Braddock Economic Development Corporation, and operates Fossil Free Fuel, which reclaims used vegetable oil for fuel.

His first effort as S.L.I.P., 2014’s Songs of Love Ideals and Peace, plays like an exercise in economic songwriting (most tap out at around 90 seconds), and while it’s not a far jump from Slippy, there’s a noticeable fullness to the new songs. You can probably chalk that up to filling out the lineup (now a five-piece with two guitars, drums and bass) and some changes in how the drums were recorded, but the songs just feel more complete in general.

Black Flag is a good starting reference point for S.L.I.P.’s sound, but there are some strains of Minor Threat and Bad Brains in there, too. It’s fast, pissed off and unpolished, with a deeply cynical outlook — and way more fun than it should be.

S.L.I.P.’s record-release show for Slippy When Wet is at Gooski’s, on Sunday, with Bulsch and the Roobydocks, presented by Cruel Noise Records. 9 p.m., Sun., Nov. 27.

3117 Brereton St., Polish Hill. $6

Holy roller: The Reverend Horton Heat

TOUR STORIES {BY CHARLIE DEITCH}

AS AN ARTIST who has spent nearly his

entire 31-year career touring and playing hundreds of shows annually, it stands to reason that Jim Heath — more widely known by his stage name, The Rev. Horton Heat — loves a life on the road.

“Well,” the 57-year-old rockabilly icon says after a long pause on the other end of the phone. “No, I really don’t. On the positive side of it, I actually enjoy playing music more now than I did when I was younger. But I don’t enjoy the travel as much. When I was young it was so cool to pull up and see the New York skyline and be like, ‘Oh, cool! We’re in New York City!’ But I’m over that now.

“Playing now is so much better because I’m just focused on the music.

When you’re younger it’s like, ‘We better play well so we can keep this gig at

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

Froggy Bottoms next week,’ or ‘Wow, Tony Ferguson from Interscope is here tonight, maybe we’ll get a record deal,’ but that was all BS. Now I just get up there and let it fly.”

REVEREND HORTON HEAT

WITH NASHVILLE PUSSY, UNKNOWN HINSON, LUCKY TUBB 8 p.m. Sun., Nov. 27. $25. Rex Theater.

1602 E. Carson St., South Side.

412-381-6811 or www.rextheater.com

Since the early days, when Rev. Horton Heat was just Heath’s stage name (given to him at his first solo gig without permission by club owner who’d already printed it on the flyers), the name

has come to signify the Texas-based trio comprised of drummer Scott Churilla and, almost since the beginning, bassist Jimbo Wallace.

The band’s specialty is psychobilly, old-fashioned rockabilly hopped up on acid, steroids and a shot of Wild Turkey.

Heath has long been regarded as one of the country’s great guitar players, and his shows still amaze and entertain packed houses nightly. And while the travel might not be in his blood anymore, he has no intention to stop touring.

“My art form is playing music,” Heath says. “That means getting out and playing music. Being in the studio almost isn’t an art form; it’s more like a commercial for your band.

“Although I have changed a little on that over the years; I now quite enjoy CONTINUES ON PG. 18

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TOUR STORIES, CONTINUED FROM PG. 16

This direct-to-web series spotlights our region’s talented, innovative and diverse artists.

ED! RECE NTLY POST

spending time in my own little studio.”

But the excitement still comes from touring, and six or seven years ago he started to change the focus of those shows. The band now works frequently with other artists, bringing them on tour and having them perform “five or six songs” with Heath’s band. While he still concentrates on his own music, there is more prep involved in playing another artist’s songs. Those artists have included a wide range of talents: Big Sandy, Dale Watson, El Vez, Lee Rocker, Jello Biafra and Lemmy Kilmister, to name a few.

“That’s a lot of work man,” Heath says.

“Learning songs off of another artist’s record note for note takes time. I mean, if we’re going to back up Lemmy, we want it to be good.”

When The Rev. Horton Heat’s tour hits town Nov. 27 at the Rex Theater, he’ll bring Southern rockers Nashville Pussy to open, along with Unknown Hinson and Lucky Tubb, who will play with Heath’s band. Tubb is a skilled songwriter with a honky-tonk sound that drips whiskey and heartache at just the right time. As for Hinson, well, he’s what Heath describes

CAROL BLAZE Go to wqed.org/sessions THANKS to Live Nation and Pittsburgh City Paper for their underwriting support.

Nashville Pussy (Blaine Cartwright, left)

NAMING NAMES Jim Heath, a.k.a. The Reverend Horton Heat, loves touring with Atlanta-based Southern rockers Nashville Pussy. While the band is wildly popular among its fans, he says it’s never gained the level of success that it deserves, probably because of its memorable, but controversial, name.

“I actually think their name hurt them; it’s a fun name, a little shocking,” Heath says. “But they are a great rock band, and while I think it’s a ridiculous reason to do so, a lot of radio stations won’t play their stuff because they don’t want to say the word ‘pussy.’ It’s ridiculous because they are so good … Blaine Cartwright has one of the best screams in rock ’n’ roll.”

Cartwright is the lead singer of the band, which includes his wife and lead guitarist Ruyter Suys, bassist Bonnie Buitrago and drummer Jeremy Thompson. In a phone interview last week (more of which can be found online at www.pghcitypaper.com), Cartwright admits that this subject has been on his mind a long time.

“I think about that a lot, but we already chose and became known as Nashville Pussy,” Cartwright says. “Definitely touring with the Rev carries us into certain venues that wouldn’t otherwise have us.

“But even if you get past the name, there’s still the lyrical content of the songs. Even if we called ourselves something wholesome like ‘Aunt Bea’s Quartet,’ once we got to the show, we’d still sing ‘Go Motherfucker, Go.’” Cartwright says the name was “brilliant for the first little bit,” and he has long hoped that the word “pussy” wouldn’t be “talked about as such an evil thing.”

Plus, he adds, the band is “kind of oblivious to what the norm is for people’s speech. We tend to cuss a lot.” Cartwright says he distinctly remembers the moment he realized that not everyone is as comfortable with the type of language he and the band are used to.

“I remember this one time early on, we were on tour in Virginia. We just started doing good, so we went for a Sunday dinner at Red Lobster to celebrate,” he says, laughing. “And the two female members of the band started arguing over this guy’s dick size. They were yelling ‘motherfucker’ at each other, and we just got these looks of horror from everyone around us.

We’re pretty oblivious to the way square people talk, so eliminating the word ‘pussy’ from our name would only be scratching the surface.

“Once you actually delve into what we’re really all about, you’ll probably find something even more offensive.”

BY CHARLIE DEITCH

18

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

as a “very interesting man to be around.

I like him a lot.” In addition to being a skilled guitarist, Hinson’s gimmick is that of a rockabilly vampire.

“Lucky is really doing some greatsounding stuff, and Unknown is so good at that Nashville Telecaster twang, and he is quite a character. He’s also got all of these crazy little side gigs. Like one thing he does, that I just learned about, is he carves ventriloquist dummies. He’s got one he calls ‘Itty Bitty Hinson.’ He’s made 10 or 20 of those things. I gotta get one of those.”

But Heath isn’t one to call out an artist for a gimmick. Although, while that can help launch a career, he adds that sometimes an artist “can become a prisoner of their own gimmick. But listen, even if you’re a guy who swears you don’t have a gimmick and [you] go out in Converse tennis shoes and a T-shirt that reads, ‘Fuck you,’ you know you did that because you know it’s show business.”

Heath acknowledges that even Rev. Horton Heat has had its share of what he calls his “stage shtick.”

“I went through a phase where I would do a faux sermon in the middle of my show,” Heath recalls with a laugh.

“I also had this thing where I would go over and stand on the upright bass. I did that for 20 years and someone said to me, ‘Don’t you think it’s time to come up with something new?’ So I stopped, and shortly after that there were five bands standing on the upright bass. But hey, we have to be entertaining so we can keep on doing it.”

One guy who wants to keep touring with Heath is Blaine Cartwright, lead singer of Nashville Pussy. He says his band has “toured with the Rev” many times and will pretty much drop anything to join the show. He says Heath’s audience is quite a change from the punk shows his band usually plays.

“Man, it’s a nice crowd,” Cartwright says. “Back in 2000 we passed up a Motorhead tour to play six months with The Rev. I’ll never burn my bridge with him. It’s a cakewalk; the crowd is great, they have money and buy merch and nobody’s throwing shit at my head like they do at a punk show when you take a little time and try to talk in between songs. Our job’s over by 9:30, the dressing rooms are much nicer. It’s just us and Jack Daniels relaxing for the rest of the night listening to The Rev. “Honestly, I’d tour hell with The Rev if he asked me, as long as it was only for a couple weeks and the drive wasn’t too bad. But fuck yeah, tour hell with The Rev? I’m in every time.” +

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On this record, the prolific guitarist/ songwriter continues his career-long project of using music to drive social change. He got his start playing protest music in New York City in the 1960s.

In the ’70s, he began working in a Pittsburgh steel mill and used his songs to help rally workers at union meetings.

On Blue and Green, Stout — along with a large band of local music veterans — delves into some of our most pressing social and environmental crises. “Stand Up — The Water’s Running Out,” for one, presents a sobering picture of the water crisis in Flint and beyond. But between Springsteen-esque rockers, Celtic stompers and folky jams, this record won’t leave you feeling hopeless. As Stout puts it, “You’re never gonna fall as long as there’s solidarity.”

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The Brooklyn noise weirdos of Xaddax are set Ain’t no party like a metal party at Gooski’s, to take the stage at Brillobox. It’s a spastic and am I right? Indulge yourself in difficult-tounpredictable blend of punk, synth and harsher read fonts and neck-breaking headbanging noise: With their joint efforts, Chrissy Rossettie to visiting metal acts. Crypt Rot, from and Nick Sakes jerk listeners around while Ashtabula, Ohio, rips a gnarly combination blowing out the sound system. This show is for of black and grind metal. Hear music from its fans of Palberta, Giant Claw and proto-punk. forthcoming album, Embryonic Devils, which Opening the show are some of Pittsburgh’s finest promises to exhibit brutal tempo changes and (and wackiest) sound creators. Microwaves unholy riffage. Brooklyn’s Anicon will satisfy mixes industrial-sounding guitar work with your desire for blast beats while catering to driving math-punk your love of melodic rhythms, and the riffs, all while schizoid noise-rockers touting a carefully of Choir and atmospheric Tanning Machine undertone to its offer grandiose, black-metal roots. blistering synthpunk, Pittsburgh’s Taphos perfect for flailing Nomos opens. MF Cris around if you’ve just 10 p.m. 3117 Brereton Jacobs had a rough time St., Polish Hill. $10. talking about politics 412-681-1658 with your family over a roasted bird.

[AMERICANA] + Meg Fair 9 p.m.

WED., NOV. 30 4104 Penn Ave., Cris Jacobs’ sound Bloomfield. $8. doesn’t fit nicely 412-621-4900 or in one genre box. www.brillobox.net Country at its core, Jacobs’ music relies upon R&B [DANCE PARTY] + FRI., NOV. 25 grooves and rock sensibilities to give Tonight at Spirit, the Americana sound well-loved DJ night modern life. The Title Town Soul & Baltimore-based Funk Party hosts its artist croons over clever guitar licks, and his final event of the year, which just happens to ear for hooks keeps it captivating. His ability also be its seventh-anniversary celebration. to shape-shift and genre-bend is a major To mark the occasion, Title Town welcomes strength, and his latest effort, Gold to Dust, formerly Pittsburgh-based hip-hop producer showcases classic Americana while utilizing Buscrates (a.k.a. Orlando Marshall, now of gospel-esque organ and harmonies to lean Atlanta), who will be spinning an all-45 set into the soul side of things. Joining Jacobs of soul, funk, disco and boogie — stuff you tonight at Club Café is James Wylie. This might not have ever heard, but won’t have is the type of music best enjoyed in a any trouble gettin’ down to. Get yourself to crowded room of warm bodies. Get ready the dance floor and burn off all that pumpkin to drink some whiskey, folks. MF 7 p.m. pie. Margaret Welsh 9 p.m. 242 51st St., Lawrenceville. $5 before 10 p.m., $7 after.

56 S. 12th St., South Side. $10. 412-431-4950 412-586-4441 or www.spiritpgh.com or www.clubcafelive.com OF {PHOTO COURTESY

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TO SUBMIT A LISTING: HTTP://PGHCITYPAPER.COM/HAPPENINGS 412.316.3388 (FAX) + 412.316.3342 X165 (PHONE) {ALL LISTINGS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY 9 A.M. FRIDAY PRIOR TO PUBLICATION}

ROCK/POP FRI 25 ALBERT’S LOUNGE. Volcano Dogs w/ Bottle Rat. Dormont. 412-531-8774.

CLUB CAFE. Ricky Mortis & the Stiffs w/ Bogz. South Side.

412-431-4950.

MOONDOG’S. Norman Nardini.

Blawnox. 412-828-2040.

MR. SMALLS THEATER. Blackout Friday ft. Brachtopus, Absolution Key, Red Room Effect, The YJJ’s, Dominick Antonelli.

Millvale. 412-821-4447.

OAKS THEATER. The Nieds Hotel Band w/ The Shiners.

Oakmont. 412.828.6322.

SAT 26 BALTIMORE HOUSE. Souly Noted. Pleasant Hills.

412-653-3800.

CLUB CAFE. Jacob Klein Band w/ Morgan Erina, Evan Isaac. late. South Side. 412-431-4950.

DOWNEY’S HOUSE. Verdict.

Robinson. 412-489-5631.

GOOSKI’S. Anicon, Crypt Rot & Taphos Nomos. Polish Hill.

412-681-1658.

KNUCKLEHEAD’S BAR. In Solidarity Benefit Concert.

South Side. 412-431-4950.

Tobacco Road. Ross. 412-366-7468.

HOWLERS. Barb Wire Dolls, MARKET SQUARE. Torn Apart Hearts, False Flag King’s Ransom. Downtown.

Campaign. Bloomfield.

412-471-1511.

412-682-0320.

MOONDOG’S. TheCAUSE. THE R BAR. Billy The Kid and Blawnox. 412-828-2040. the Regulators. Dormont.

MR. SMALLS THEATER. 412-942-0882.

Start Making Sense: Talking Heads Tribute w/ Insidious Rays. Millvale.

SMILING MOOSE. 412-821-4447.

Ulcerate, Zhrine & RIVERTOWNE Phobocosm. South BREWING COMPANY. Side. 412-431-4668.

Lenny Smith & . w w w The Instant Gators. aper p ty ci h g p Northside. .com CLUB CAFE. Cris 724-519-2145.

Jacobs w/ James Wylie.

ROCHESTER INN South Side. 412-431-4950.

HARDWOOD GRILLE. Eagles Tribute. Ross. 412-364-8166.

SMILING MOOSE. Pop Punk Night. South Side. 412-439-5706.

THE FUNHOUSE @ MR. SMALLS. BELVEDERE’S. DJ hates you 2.0 Pretenders, Cars, Killing Joke, & DJ killjoy. NeoN 80s Night.

Botch, Johnny Cash. Millvale.

Lawrenceville. 412-687-2555.

412-821-4447.

MR. SMALLS THEATER. Centrifuge Thursdays.

At the Funhouse. Millvale.

CLUB CAFE. Under The Covers, 603-321-0277.

Northern Gold, Jackson River, PERLE CHAMPAGNE BAR. Derek Abdelhak, Molly Jade Bobby D Bachata. Downtown. from Perry’s Union. Survivors 412-471-2058.

MON 28

FULL LIST ONLINE

WED 30

DJS

THU 24

SUN 27

FRI 25

MP 3 MONDAY {PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRISTOPHER TRITSCHLER}

BROWN ANGEL

ANDYS WINE BAR. DJ Malls Spins Vinyl. Downtown.

412-773-8884.

BELVEDERE’S. DJ Zombo & Killjoy. Lawrenceville.

412-687-2555.

THE FLATS ON CARSON. Pete Butta. South Side. 412-586-7644.

ONE 10 LOUNGE. DJ Goodnight, DJ Rojo. Downtown. 412-874-4582.

THE R BAR. KAR-E-O-KEE. Dormont. 412-942-0882.

ROWDY BUCK. Top 40 Dance.

South Side. 412-431-2825.

RUGGER’S PUB. 80s Night w/ DJ Connor. South Side.

412-381-1330.

SPIRIT HALL & LODGE. TITLE TOWN Soul & Funk Party 7 year Anniversary Party. Rare Soul, Funk & wild R&B 45s feat. DJ Gordy G. & J.Malls w/ special guest DJ BUSCRATES. Lawrenceville.

412-621-4900.

SAT 26 BELVEDERE’S. Down & Derby Sk8 Night Down N Derby.

Lawrenceville. 412-687-2555.

DIESEL. DJ CK. South Side.

412-431-8800.

MIXTAPE. DJ Antithesis. ‘The 1990s (& a bag of chips)’ dance party. Garfield. 412-661-1727.

REMEDY. Dance Crush.

Lawrenceville. 412-781-6771.

Each week we bring you a new song from a local artist. This week’s track comes from doom/ experimental metal trio Brown Angel. Stream or download “Fair and Lovely” from the band’s latest release, Shutout, for free at FFW>>, the music blog at www.pghcitypaper.com.

CONTINUES ON PG. 22

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CONCERTS, CONTINUED FROM PG. 21

SUN 27 THE FLATS ON CARSON. Pete Butta. South Side. 412-586-7644.

10PM-2AM With DJ T$

THE GOLDMARK. Pete Butta.

Reggae & dancehall. Lawrenceville.

412-688-8820.

WED 30

JAZZ

BELVEDERE’S. DJ Skanky Unicorn. pop punk night. Lawrenceville.

412-687-2555.

SMILING MOOSE. Rock Star Karaoke w/ T-MONEY. South Side.

412-431-4668.

SPOON. Spoon Fed. East Liberty.

412-362-6001.

HIP HOP/R&B FRI 25

THU 24

FRI 25

FULL LIST ONLINE

{TUE., MARCH 07}

Juicy J Stage AE, 400 North Shore Drive, North Side

SAT 26

$ . 50

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140 S. 18TH STREET | 412-488-0777 WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/JEKYLHYDESOUTHSIDE

BLUES

SAT 26

PRESIDENT’S PUB. Washington Jazz Society Jazz Brunch.

Washington. 724-747-5139.

ROCKS LANDING BAR & GRILLE. Tony Campbell & the Jazz Surgery. McKees Rocks.

412 - 857- 5809.

TUE 29

Ty Segall Mr. Smalls Theatre, 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale {SAT., JULY 01}

New Kids on the Block

PPG Paints Arena, 1001 Fifth Ave., Uptown

Rising Regina, Chet Vincent.

South Side. 412-431-4950.

DOUBLE WIDE GRILL. Jay Wiley.

Mars. 724-553-5212.

DOUBLE WIDE GRILL. West Holliday Trip. North Huntingdon.

724-863-8181.

Dances from the 17th Century, Steve Reich: Clapping Music, Franz Danzi: Wind Quintet in g minor, Op. 56 No. 2, Andrejs Jansons: Lettish Dances & traditional holiday selections. Holmes Hall, North Side.

412-681-7111.

WED 30

OTHER MUSIC

ALLEGHENY ELKS LODGE #339. Pittsburgh Banjo Club.

Wednesdays. North Side.

412-321-1834.

MARKET SQUARE. Right TurnClyde. Downtown.

412-471-1511.

PARK HOUSE. Shelf Life String Band. North Side. 412-224-2273.

BACKSTAGE BAR AT THEATRE SQUARE. Thomas Wendt.

Downtown. 412-456-6666.

REGGAE

WED 30

PIRATA. The Flow Band.

Downtown. 412-323-3000.

RIVERS CASINO. Jessica Lee & Friends. North Side. 412-231-7777.

ACOUSTIC FRI 25 THE SOUTH SIDE BBQ RESTAURANT. Tony Germaine, singer/guitarist. South Side.

412-381-4566.

WALNUT GRILL, BRIDGEVILLE. Eclectic Acoustics. Bridgeville.

412-564-5746.

SAT 26 CLUB CAFE. John Vento w/

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

{SUN., MAY 21}

FRI 25

SUN 27

22

Ty Segall

JAMES STREET GASTROPUB & SPEAKEASY. Roger Humphries Jam Session. Ballroom. North Side.

412-904-3335.

VALLOZZI’S PITTSBURGH. Eric Johnson. Downtown.

412-394-3400.

ANDORA RESTAURANT - FOX CHAPEL. Pianist Harry Cardillo & vocalist Charlie Sanders. Fox Chapel. www. per 412-967-1900. pa pghcitym BACKSTAGE BAR .co AT THEATRE SQUARE. 1LIVE STUDIO. DJ Ron Wilson meets Bassist Goodnight: Open Elements.

Sam Harris. Downtown.

Avalon. 412-424-9254.

412-325-6769.

GRILLE ON SEVENTH. Tony Campbell & Howie Alexander.

Downtown. 412-391-1004.

HARD ROCK CAFE. Live At The Fillmore. A live performance of JAMES STREET GASTROPUB the Allman Brothers classic album & SPEAKEASY. Tony Campbell Saturday Afternoon Jazz Session.

North Side. 412-904-3335.

KELLY-STRAYHORN THEATER. 9th Annual Suite Life: Celebration of Billy Strayhorn. East Liberty.

412-363-3000.

THE MONROEVILLE RACQUET CLUB. Jazz Bean Live. Every Saturday, a different band.

Monroeville. 412-728-4155.

1LIVE STUDIO. DJ Goodnight: Open Elements.

Avalon. 412-424-9254.

2 Coors Light $ .00 3 . 00 Fireball

SAT 26 THE HOP HOUSE. Jill West.

Green Tree. 412-922-9560.

NIED’S HOTEL. Shot O’ Soul.

Lawrenceville. 412-781-9853.

THE R BAR. Jimmy Adler.

Dormont. 412-942-0882.

TUE 29

EARLY WARNINGS

“At Fillmore East” performed in it’s entirety. Station Square.

412-481-7625. {PHOTO COURTESY OF KYLE THOMAS}

ROWDY BUCK. Top 40 Dance.

South Side. 412-431-2825.

THU 24 FRI 25 565 LIVE. The Flow Band.

Bellevue. 412-422-7556.

CAPRI PIZZA AND BAR. Bombo Claat w/ VYBZ Machine Intl Sound System. East Liberty.

412-362-1250.

THU 24 RIVERS CASINO. Mark Ferrari.

North Side. 1-877-558-0777.

FRI 25 LINDEN GROVE. Dancing Queen.

Castle Shannon. 412-882-8687.

SAT 26 OAKS THEATER. Shriners Stage Band. Oakmont. 412-828-6322.

PITTSBURGH WINERY. Omniverse w/ Spencer Allan Patrick & Cody Nicholas.

Strip District. 412-566-1000.

MON 28 HAMBONE’S. Ian Kane. Jazz Standards, showtunes & blues.

Lawrenceville. 412-681-4318.

CLASSICAL

HOLIDAY MUSIC

SAT 26

SUN 27

HOLIDAY EXPRESS. Ft. W.A. Mozart: Viennese Sonatina No. 1, Ferenc Farkas: Five Hungarian

BYHAM THEATER. Mark Milovats “Christmas in America”.

Downtown. 412-456-6666.

What to do IN PITTSBURGH

Nov 23 - 29 WEDNESDAY 23 A Christmas Story, The Musical

Peoples Gas Holiday Market MARKET SQUARE Downtown.

For more info visit downtownpittsburgh.com/ holidays. Through Dec. 23.

Allman Brothers Band HARD ROCK CAFE Station Square. 412-481-ROCK. Over 21 show.

Tickets: ticketfly.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 10p.m.

FRIDAY 25 255

THE PALACE THEATRE Greensburg. 724-836-8000.

Tickets: thepalacetheatre.org.

11a.m.

QUANTUM THEATRE East Liberty.

Tickets: quantumtheatre.org or 412-362-1713.

Through Dec. 11.

Live At The Fillmore: A Tribute to the

NEWS

SUNDAY 27

BYHAM THEATER Downtown.

412-456-6666.

Tickets: trustarts.org.

Through Nov. 26.

THURSDAY 24

The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat

1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 10p.m.

A Very Electric Christmas

Fancy Nancy Splendiferous Christmas

THANKSGIVING

THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT QUANTUM THEATRE THROUGH DEC 11

PHOTO COURTESY OF HEATHER MULL

BENEDUM CENTER Downtown. 412-456-6666.

Tickets: trustarts.org.

Through Nov. 27.

PAID ADVERTORIAL SPONSORED BY

SATURDAY 26

Nick’s Fat City Charity Jam feat. The Clarks, Brownie Mary & more.

STAGE AE North Side.

Tickets: ticketmaster.com or 1-800-745-3000.

Doors open at 6p.m.

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MUSIC

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Scott Stapp: The Voice of Creed JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE Warrendale. 724-799-8333.

Over 21 show.

Tickets: ticketfly.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 7p.m.

Reverend Horton Heat REX THEATER South Side.

412-381-6811. All ages show.

Tickets: ticketfly.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 8p.m.

MONDAY 28

Front Porch Cabaret Greensburg. 724-836-8000.

Tickets: thepalacetheatre.org.

7:30p.m.

Start Making Sense a Tribute to Talking Heads MR. SMALLS THEATRE Millville. 412-821-4447.

Tickets: ticketweb.com/ opusone. 8p.m.

A Night with St. Nick TRAX FARMS South Hills.

412-835-3246. Free event.

4:30p.m.

Wayne Newton Up Close and Personal

Jacob Klein Band

THE PALACE THEATRE

CLUB CAFE South Side.

ARTS

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EVENTS

CLUB CAFE South Side.

412-431-4950. Over 21 event.

Tickets: ticketweb.com/ opusone. 8p.m.

412-431-4950.

Over 21 event.

Tickets: ticketweb.com/ opusone. 10:15p.m.

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TASTE

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Jim Donovan and the Sun King Warriors HARD ROCK CAFE Station Square. 412-481-ROCK. Over 21 show.

Tickets: ticketfly.com or

SCREEN

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SPORTS

TUESDAY 29 The PPG Place Wintergarden

PPG PLACE Downtown.

Free holiday exhibits.

Through Jan. 7.

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CLASSIFIEDS

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[ART REVIEW]

“THESE CHANGES ARE NOT UNAMBIGUOUSLY GOOD.”

LIT UP {BY VERONICA G. CORPUZ}

INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

ILLUMINATIONS continues through Dec. 9. Carlow University Art Gallery, University Commons, 3333 Fifth Ave., Oakland. 800-333-2275 or www.carlow.edu

24

[BOOKS]

WHAT REMAINS {BY NICK KEPPLER}

A

FTER SEPT. 11, 2001, New York City

The late Peter Oresick’s painting of Emily Dickinson

After the deadly 2015 shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Suzanne K. Mellon, president of Carlow University, said: “It is not enough for us to talk about a just and merciful world, but rather it is time to ask ourselves what we are doing to make that world a reality.” Answering this call is Sylvia Rhor, Carlow University Art Gallery director and professor of art history, who has curated Illuminations: Works by Vanessa German, Peter Oresick and Christopher Ruane.

Reading the works clockwise, one first encounters three photographic prints

by Pittsburgh-based composite artist and photographer Christopher Ruane.

Painstakingly created over a period of one to two years each, Ruane’s massive digital photomontages comprise thousands of individual layers drawing from Biblical stories and figures. The results are dreamlike compositions set within the modern world of various Southwestern Pennsylvania locales.

Facing the gallery entrance stands a doublesided altar created by the visual, performance and citizen artist Vanessa German. The assemblage of vintage baby shoes, bottles, spoons and keys is sorrow made manifest. Centered within each altar is a tar-covered santo niño embodying the artist’s grief for victims of gun violence.

“Marcus” is named after a baby whose life was cut short at 18 months; “Robert” is in memory of the young father German witnessed die across the street from her home.

The show culminates with work by the late poet, English professor and painter Peter Oresick, who died in September.

Stemming from a childhood in the Ukranian Catholic Church, Oresick’s enchantment with icons was first stoked by faith, then cultivated in a workshop with icon painter Peter Pearson. This decades-long passion for Byzantine iconography is evident in the three works on display that merge both the sacred and secular. Mill workers of Oresick’s youth flank a faceless “Madonna of the Steel Valley.” “Messiah over Pittsburgh” shows a crucified Christ floating above the city’s skyline and three rivers. Imbued with the artist’s greatest passions, however, are the four “Icons of American Literature,” where Oresick honors his literary saints: Poe, Whitman, Melville and Dickinson.

For individuals seeking a moment of quiet reflection post-election, this intimate space and moving exhibition provide an opportunity to contemplate faith, grief and hope, and perhaps one might also ask and answer: What can I do to help illuminate the world?

had to process the largest crime scene in American history. The medical examiner’s office used new DNA science to identify bodily remains amidst the rubble. In his new book, Who Owns the Dead?: The Science and Politics of Death at Ground Zero (Harvard University Press), Carnegie Mellon University associate professor of science, technology and society Jay D. Aronson chronicled the effort, its complex symbolic significance and the burdensome promises around it.

“The recovery, identification and memorialization of the victims of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks brought science to bear on questions of identity, politics and memory,” wrote Aronson, director of CMU’s Center for Human Rights Science.

“The promise of identifying human remains through genetic technologies has fundamentally altered the way we will memorialize the dead in the future. These changes are not unambiguously good.”

Aronson spoke recently with City Paper.

WHAT ADVANCES IN DNA SCIENCE WERE USED TO IDENTIFY THE REMAINS? There were advances in DNA science, but the real advances were in the extraction of DNA from damaged bones and the statistical techniques you need to use to match partial DNA sequences to familial sam-

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

Author and Carnegie Mellon professor Jay D. Aronson

ples. For many victims, there was not a direct sample. There wasn’t a complete DNA profile.

Sometimes, they were able to get it from toothbrushes or blood samples that maybe a doctor had. They were often taking samples from family members who were not complete matches. Half of the parent’s DNA would match their DNA. You might have brothers and cousins and distant relatives. … Many of the DNA-identification techniques had been developed in the

context of the criminal-justice system and other humanitarian efforts.

YOU WROTE THAT THE DNA IDENTIFICATION PROCESS WAS A “DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD” THAT ALLOWED SOME FAMILIES TO RECEIVE THE REMAINS OF THEIR LOVED ONE BUT LEFT THE CITY WITH PROMISES IT COULDN’T FULFILL AND A NEVERENDING RESPONSIBILITY. I think the real danger comes when we don’t set any limits on the identification

effort. When you look at something like a plane crash or other types of accidents, there is a sense that you want to do your best with the resources that you have and the time that you have to identify as many of the remains as possible, of course. The primary goal is to find that everyone who was on that manifest or list of potential people in the accident, to find an actual part of them to confirm that they were in that plane or on that vehicle. … A major issue with the World Trade Center recovery effort is that the medical examiner promised to continue with this effort in perpetuity, that there would be no end point, and I think that creates a lot of problems for the people involved because that means that those remains can’t be put to rest, they have to be contained under scientifically accessible conditions, in a repository for re-testing as technology improves.

[BOOKS]

CLOCKING IN {BY IAN FLANAGAN}

INFO@ PGHC ITY PAP ER.CO M

INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

“I TEND TO SIDE WITH SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT OVERLY INTERESTED IN RECOVERING REMAINS.” HAVING WRITTEN THIS BOOK, WHAT WOULD YOU WANT IF YOU LOST SOMEONE IN AN ATTACK LIKE THIS? I tend to side with some of the people who are not overly interested in recovering remains. If I knew my loved one was in the attack, was in the building for sure, I don’t think I would need the physical proof. … One thing I realized when I did this research is that there was no “normal” response. There’s no right or wrong answer to the question of “What should you want?”

NEWS

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Author Shana Keller

LET’S SAY, TRAGICALLY, THERE WAS AN ATTACK LIKE 9/11 AND OFFICIALS WHERE IT HAPPENED CALLED AND ASKED, “WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM WHAT NEW YORK DID?” WHAT WOULD YOU SAY? Think a little bit more on the impact the decisions you make have on families. Think a little bit less of the short-term political impact of the decision. … I would say it’s important to think carefully about the kinds of promises that you make and I would say, “Don’t promise to continue the effort indefinitely.”

The other thing I would say is, “Hold off on memorialization for a number of years.” Make sure you create temporary memorials that are heartfelt, that are not tacky or kitschy, that give people the space to mourn, but hold off on the permanent memorial until you know what the situation means historically.

The inspiration for Tick Tock Banneker’s Clock, Fox Chapel resident Shana Keller’s first published children’s book, came from her daughter.

Four years ago, Keller’s daughter came home from first grade during Black History Month with an article on the mostly self-taught astronomer, scientist and mathematician Benjamin Banneker, a free African American born in Baltimore County, Md., in 1731.

“I actually majored in African-American history in college and really thought I knew all the key people throughout American history of African descent, and I’d never come across his name before,” Keller said.

Growing up in Texas, the only figures mentioned in her history classes were Nat Turner, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. Keller pursued her interests at the University of Miami. Later, as a stay-at-home mom, she focused on writing whenever possible, even taking a screenwriting class from UCLA a few years ago.

Intrigued by the life and achievements of Banneker (who even wrote his own almanac), she spent eight months researching him. Her book covers his successful attempt to construct a striking clock from the template of the gears inside a pocket watch, which he completed at age 22.

Though he was never enslaved, Banneker attended school only briefly. He was later an abolitionist and corresponded with Thomas Jefferson about civil rights.

In his later years, Banneker helped survey the terrain where the nation’s capital would be erected.

Keller chose the children’s-book format — the book features illustrations

by David C. Gardner — because she feels that kids need constructive role models.

“He still managed to educate himself — he still managed to succeed,” Keller said.

Keller has alerted all elementary schools using Banneker’s name about her book, and has sent free copies to some underfunded schools. “Those are the kids that need that positive image the most,” she said.

Keller has another children’s book under consideration with Tick Tock’s publisher, Sleeping Bear Press. She also has two more works she hopes to publish: another picture book for young ones and a middle-grade book.

On Dec. 10, Keller will be part of the Colfax Elementary School fundraiser and book-signing at the Homestead Barnes & Noble. On Jan. 14 and 15, Keller will participate in Story Time: Makeshop at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.

MUSIC

+

ARTS

+

EVENTS

"NEEDS TO BE SEEN."

Through December

LOS ANGELES TIMES

11

When one sense fails us, another takes over—and lets us live with newfound joy.

MICHAEL NYMAN

BY

LIBRETTO BY

CHRISTOPHER RAWLENCE, MICHAEL MORRIS, AND OLIVER SACKS,

quantumtheatre.com 412.362.1713

BASED ON HIS BOOK MUSIC DIRECTION

BY ANDRES

CLADERA

STAGE DIRECTION

BY KARLA BOOS

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TASTE

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SCREEN

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SPORTS

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CLASSIFIEDS

25

[PLAY REVIEWS]

CRAZY GOOD {BY TED HOOVER} WHILE IT WASN’T as exciting as the Hamilton audience booing Mike Pence, there was a moment of political frisson at Pittsburgh Public Theater’s Between Riverside and Crazy. A character launched into an extended vitriolic attack on Rudolph Giuliani … and the audience applauded. ¡Vive la revolución!

Playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis burst onto the scene in 2000, with Jesus Hopped the “A” Train. He tackled Broadway in 2011 with The Motherfucker With the Hat, and last year won the Pulitzer for Riverside.

The play concerns retired police officer Walter Washington, who possesses the New Yorker’s ultimate dream — a rent-controlled apartment on Riverside Drive. He also has an ongoing lawsuit with the NYPD because he was shot by a racist rookie cop and wants compensation.

The landlord is trying to evict Washington (so he can charge 10 times the current rent), and somehow the lease gets caught up in the lawsuit … which gets entangled with Washington’s son, Junior, who’s running a stolen-goods operation out of the apartment, and two fellow apartmentcrashers, Junior’s girlfriend and a friend in recovery.

Guirgis has written some terrific scenes of first-class drama studded throughout, with great flashes of comedy.

This is a fiercely entertaining script with only a few caveats: Guirgis stumbles in the second act, and plausibility takes a hit. The other warning is language and actions. It’s nothing you don’t see on TV, but apparently the Public audience

{PHOTO COURTESY OF PITTSBURGH PUBLIC THEATER}

Eugene Lee (left) and Alejandro Hernandez in Between Riverside and Crazy, at the Public

doesn’t have cable. Or rather, some of them don’t, because there were walkouts … right in the middle of a scene.

Which just makes it more fun, right? Pamela Berlin directs a hugely talented cast featuring rocksolid work by, among others, Bryant Bentley as the son, Christina Nieves as his squeeze, and Alejandro Hernandez as the friend.

Dawn McGee and Drew Stone are fellow police officers working hidden agendas; McGee, especially, is deeply compelling.

THIS IS A FIERCELY ENTERTAINING SCRIPT.

BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY continues through Dec. 11. Pittsburgh Public Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Downtown. $15.75-56. 412-316-1600 or www.ppt.org

This production, however, belongs to Eugene Lee as Washington, in a textbook example of how to command a stage with almost no visible effort. Crafted seem-

ingly from throwaway looks and tossed-off emotional beats, Lee’s performance grows throughout the evening and, by the end, has bloomed into a monumental achievement. He is not to be missed.

INF O @PGH C IT YPAPE R . C O M

ENSEMBLE ROMP {BY MICHELLE PILECKI} KINETIC THEATRE CO. debuts an ambitious Classics: Re-Mastered series with the U.S. premiere of last year’s London hit, Three Days in the Country, a tragical romp with romance, intrigue, comedy and a dozen-plus meaty roles for its mostly Equity ensemble.

The “classic” in question, Ivan Turgenev’s rather turgid A Month in the Country, improves with condensation — not to mention the insight and humor of playwright Patrick Marber. Director Andrew S. Paul, Kinetic’s producing artistic director, has opted to go “in-the-round,” hemming in the characters and thus em-

phasizing their entrapment. The staging also pushes the audience into an intimacy that can be uncomfortable as well as discomfiting as the characters’ lives are transformed, sometimes ripped apart.

There are no minor roles. Everybody gets a chance to sparkle, none more so than Leo Marks as an old family friend, unrequited lover and urbane dandy with devastating wit. Nike Doukas enlivens the largely unlikable leading lady, a beautiful but un-self-aware siren. David Whalen credibly portrays the cluelessness and pain of her husband. The energetic Adam Haas Hunter acts well as the catalyst for much of Country’s joy and despair.

Helena Ruoti and Sam Tsoutsouvas, so memorable as passionate couples in other plays, here take a more measured, drily humorous approach to marital bliss.

Ingenue Katie Wieland portrays both innocence and ferocity. Larry John Meyers gives depth and grace to an unlikely suitor. David Crawford reveals a tutor neither as timid nor as stupid as he appears. The matriarch of Pittsburgh theater, Susie McGregor-Laine, likewise commands this aristocratic if dysfunctional family. Erika Strasburg and Andrew William Miller embody the (respectively) seductive and despondent servants. CAPA seventhgrader Will Sendera capably tackles the dramatic role of neglected son.

THREE DAYS IN THE COUNTRY continues through Dec. 4. Kinetic Theatre Co. at the New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. $20-36.

888-718-4253 or www.kinetictheatre.org

Credit a gifted design team for the suggestively spare set (Narelle Sissons), moody lighting (Cindy Limauro) and subtle sound (Angela Baughman).

Classics: Re-Mastered isn’t really a new concept for Kinetic, given the success of last year’s searing Dance of Death

TOUR CLAYTON

NEW HOLIDAY INSTALLATION AND TOUR

DINE AND SHOP NEW EXHIBITION: THE FRICK COLLECTS HOLIDAY CAROLERS EVERY FRIDAY EVENING STARTING NOV. 25TH

AT THE FRICK

OPEN UNTIL 9 P.M. ON FRIDAYS

A Family Christmas THEFRICKPITTSBURGH.ORG

26

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

|

412-371-0600

|

7227 REYNOLDS STREET

|

PITTSBURGH, PA 15208

Soulful Sounds of Christmas FEATURING WILL DOWNING + NAJEE

{PHOTO COURTESY OF LOUIS STEIN}

Hanna Berggren, Arica Jackson and Victoria Pedretti in CMU Drama’s The Rover

(Conor McPherson’s revision of August Strindberg), but Three Days in the Country promises more riches to come.

INFO@ PGHC ITY PAP ER.CO M

MAKEOVER {BY STUART SHEPPARD} OH, HOW Carnege Mellon University’s

School of Drama loves to tease, showing us an austere wooden set — that Samuel Beckett would appreciate — at the opening of its production of The Rover.

(If this company ever put on Waiting for Godot, you know the bare tree would blossom neon leaves, and the two vagabonds would be dressed in florescent sharkskin suits).

Alas, the naked stage didn’t last long, as we were soon engulfed in CMU’s de rigueur phantasmagoria of sets, costumes and lights.

Presented by Hill House Association

his visionary production fight for prominence: the sumptuous costumes by Nina Bova, the monumental scenic design by Caitlin Ayer, and the rich lighting by Olivia LoVerde. But the first two of these evolve out of their respective period modes to the point of ostentation, with the clothing verging on ridiculous. For example, one character goes from wearing 17th-century garb to sporting futuristic gold tennis shoes that would have made L.C. Greenwood jealous.

Andrew Richardson, as Willmore, the sailor, has a wry waggishness that could make him Captain Jack Sparrow’s ancestor, and keeps the audience engaged over the course of a demanding, three-hour show. Victoria Pedretti is dynamic as Hellena, his love interest, who disguises herself as a man, which was contemporaneously referred to as a “breeches role” and considered risqué at the time.

Lea DiMarchi plays the sultry bombshell Angellica Bianca with brio. Hanna Berggren, as Florinda, and Spenser Pollard, as Blunt, also stand out in a strong cast of 16.

Dramaturg Kate Burgess provides an insightful program essay on Aphra Behn, analyzing her proto-feminist role in the Restoration theater, and her impact since.

Perhaps the ethos of the drama is best summarized by Willmore: “There’s no sinner like a young saint.” Behn, also a harbinger, and iconoclast, would certainly appreciate this very modern evocation of her work.

BYHAM THEATER | NOVEMBER 30th | 8 PM TICKETS: TRUSTARTS.ORG OR 412.456.6666

THE NAKED STAGE DIDN’T LAST LONG.

THE ROVER continues through Dec. 3. Philip Chosky Theatre, CMU campus, 5000 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $10-33. 412-268-2407 or www.drama.cmu.edu

This 1677 play by Aphra Behn, the first professional female British playwright, is a rollicking Restoration comedy. There really isn’t much of a plot to summarize, other than a bunch of people running around in masks and crossgender outfits, trying to get laid.

Director David Bond lets each part of

I N F O @PGH C IT YPAPE R . C O M

NEWS

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MUSIC

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ARTS

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EVENTS

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TASTE

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SCREEN

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SPORTS

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CLASSIFIEDS

27

FOR THE WEEK OF

11.24-12.01.16 Full events listed online at www.pghcitypaper.com

{PHOTO COURTESY OF HEATHER MULL}

Typically, Quantum Theatre artistic director Karla Boos selects works to stage based on the playwright’s words.

But when frequent collaborator Andres Cladera introduced her to Michael Nyman’s 1986 chamber opera The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat, what enraptured her was the sound. Of the work’s deeply moving minimalist score, she says, “It has all the emotion in it,” even apart from the Christopher Rawlence

libretto. That music serves as language for the listener fittingly mirrors the work’s own narrative: Based on a portion of the late neurologist and author Oliver Sacks’ eponymous 1985 nonfiction bestseller, Nyman’s opera tells the story of world-famous concert singer Dr. P, who develops visual agnosia, a condition in which his mind makes no sense of what his eyes take in. The critically acclaimed, hour-long opera has a prologue, an epilogue and just two scenes: Dr. P’s visit with his wife to see the neurologist Dr. S., and a house call by Dr. S. Quantum’s Pittsburgh-premiere production features bass Kevin Glavin, a Pittsburgh Opera favorite, as Dr. P. Soprano Katy Williams sings Mrs. P and tenor Ian McEuen is Dr. S. (Glavin, left, and McEuen are pictured.) Boos directs, with musical director Cladera leading a seven-piece chamber orchestra including piano, harp, two cellos, two violins and viola. The show’s staged in a vacant first-floor former office space in East Liberty, augmented by Joe Seamans’ wall projections.

Nyman, a composer perhaps best known for scoring such Peter Greenaway films as The Piano, works in a minimlist style that’s been compared to that of Philip Glass. Both sophisticated and accessible, his own music is augmented here by interpolations of compositions

by Schumann, a particular favorite of the real-life Dr. P. It’s a singularly poignant approach to depict the life of a man who can perceive abstractions like music, but not reality.

{PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIAN COHEN}

^ Fri., Nov. 25: Winter Flower Show and Light Garden

thursday 11.24 SPORT Nothing doing Thanksgiving night? How about some table tennis? The South Park Table Tennis Club, as usual on Thursdays, offers open play or practice. (Competitive play is saved for Tuesdays.) Post-feast, haul yourself to the South Park Home Economics Building and give it a try. All are welcome, regardless of skill level.

Memberships are just $40 a year, and new members can visit three times for free.

Bill O’Driscoll 7:30-9:30 p.m. 3735 Buffalo Drive, South Park Township. www.pittsburghtabletennis.com

friday 11.25

BY BILL O’DRISCOLL

Fri., Nov. 25-Dec. 11. 200 N. Highland Ave., East Liberty. $18-51. 412-362-1713 or www.quantumtheatre.com

28

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

EXHIBIT The Winter Flower Show and Light Garden begins today at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens with a Snow Day at Phipps theme. Intended to evoke nostalgia for childhood, the display rooms depict penguins caught in a snowball fight and ice-skating reindeer, in addition to the beds of foliage, plus the sea of luminous colors in the Outdoor Garden. Visits from musical acts and Santa are planned for closer to the holidays. The show runs daily, with special extended hours, into the New Year, and the Light

Garden will be open daily from 5-11 p.m. Ian Flanagan 9:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Exhibit continues through Jan. 8.

1 Schenley Drive, Oakland. $11.95-17.95. 412-622-6914 or phipps.conservatory.org

FESTIVAL Kids and their adults can take a fresh tack on the Mattress Factory art museum at Family Day. Today’s day-long festival includes activities inspired by artists with works now in the museum. So, for instance, build a glow-stick skyline inspired by Hans Peter Kuhn’s Acupuncture, which now tops the building, or construct a miniature world as suggested by Dennis Maher’s house-filling A Second Home. After that, enjoy facepainting, a hot-chocolate bar, music by DJ Dave Zak — and the galleries, which are also open. BO 11 a.m.-4 p.m. 500 Sampsonia Way, North Side. Free with museum admission ($15-20; free for kids 6 and under). www.mattress.org

SHOPPING Each year, local crafters and other vendors provide opportunities for both an alternate Black Friday and a jump ^ Wed., Nov. 30: Mitch McEwen

900 Saw Mill Run Blvd., Pgh., PA

Thanksgiving Day Sale 11-22-16 to 11-24-16

$19.99

Straub Lager Case

$9.49

Straub Lager, Light, Amber 12 Pack Cans

{PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MATTRESS FACTORY}

^ Fri., Nov 25: Family Day at the Mattress Factory

$15.99

on Small Business Saturday. Itinerant indie-craft marketplace I Made It! Market’s 10th annual I Made It! for the Holidays kicks off today — and continues tomorrow — at Downtown’s Heinz 57 Center. The pop-up, shop-local marketplace features 100 artists from the region offering everything from origami to jewelry, artwork to edibles, and arty T-shirts and other clothing to housewares, wooden toys and natural body-care products. There are also kids’ activities courtesy of Pittsburgh Center for the Arts; demos from TechShop; food trucks; and more. Also tonight, right next door, locally based vintage and retro clothing brand Steel City opens its own pop-up shop; this one is open daily through Dec. 24. Holiday special: Parking in Parking Authority lots and on Downtown streets is free. BO I Made It: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; also 11 a.m.6 p.m. Sat., Nov. 26 (623 Smithfield St.).

Steel City: 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

(625 Smithfield St.). Downtown. www.imadeitmarket.com

Legacy Sampler 12 Pack FREE Sampling 6XUSULVH 5DIÁH 1 11-23-16 5 to 7 pm

DEC. 1-4

saturday 11.26 STAGE With battery-powered electroluminescent wire lining its costumes and props, New Orleansbased Lightwire Theater’s performances suggest living animation done in colorful black lights. The ^ Fri., Nov. 25: I Made It! Market company’s show A Very Electric Christmas follows a young bird who gets separated from his family during migration over the holidays. With Christmas music ranging from Tchaikovsky to Nat King Cole and Mariah Carey, the electroluminescent production “brings technology, theater and dance together.” The Cohen & Grigsby Trust Presents Series hosts two performances at the Byham Theater, tonight and tomorrow. IF 7 p.m. Also 2 p.m. Sat., Nov. 26. 101 Sixth St., Downtown. $20-30. 412-456-6666 or www.trustarts.org

This is a free and family-friendly event! Celebrate the season with cookies and pick up unique holiday gifts along the way. Hours for Cookie Stops vary by location. Get all the info about this year’s tour including the map at lvpgh.com/cookietour or call 412.621.1616, ext. 102.

LAWRENCEVILLE

CORPORATION

MUSIC Billy Strayhorn would have turned 101 this month. The acclaimed pianist, composer and key Duke Ellington collaborator, who grew up largely in Pittsburgh, is a co-namesake of the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, and each year the organization CONTINUES ON PG. 30

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SHORT LIST, CONTINUED FROM PG. 29

.

IST. INC

BEER D

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honors him with its Suite Life Tribute Concert. Tonight’s ninth annual concert fetes the composer of “Take the A Train” and “Lush Life” with performances by local jazz legends Roger Humphries and RH Factor, joined by two top Pittsburghbased vocalists, Anqwenique Wingfield and Tania Grubbs. Admission is paywhat-makes-you-happy; a Suite Life Social + Benefit, supporting KST Family programming, precedes the concert. BO Benefit: 6-7:30 p.m. ($80; $130 for couples). Concert: 8 p.m. (pay what makes you happy).

5941 Penn Ave., East Liberty. 412-363-3000 or www.kelly-strayhorn.org

monday 11.28 TOYS Tyler Severance, a world and national yo-yo champion from Delaware, is coming to Pittsburgh for a week of performances at Downtown’s S.W. Randall Toyes and Giftes. Today through Fri., Dec. 2, Severance will display his skills with various yo-yo demonstrations for elementary- and middleschool kids throughout the city, followed by daily ^ Sat., Nov. 26: A Very Electric Christmas public performances from 3-5 p.m. at the store. On Sat., Dec. 3, Severance will be part of a bigger event at S.W. Randall from noon to 3 p.m. with North American YoYo Champion Ky Zizan and National YoYo Champion John Wolfe. IF 3 p.m. Events continue through Sat., Dec. 3.

630 Smithfield St., Downtown. Free. 412-562-9252

wednesday 11.30 DESIGN The reparations owed to the descendants of enslaved African Americans would be enormous — but how could those resources be used to reshape a place like Pittsburgh? Architect and artist Mitch McEwen wants your input. Tonight, at

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EVERYONE IS A CRITIC EVENT: PittStop Lindy Hop 2016, Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall, Oakland CRITIC: Billie Bell, 19, a student from Akron, Ohio WHEN: Sun.,

Nov. 20

There are basically seven almost-consecutive dances in the span of three days. It’s just a really good way to de-stress. This one specifically is livelier; it’s a little fast-paced but almost no blues, just Lindy hop and basic swing. I started swing-dancing last year, and then I started going to Swing City in Pittsburgh and I definitely learned a lot there. I came [to the Lindy Hop] here last year, fell in love and decided to come again. I really like this one in particular because it’s in a big ballroom. It’s really nice to have a lot of space, because when you do swing-outs you go a full arm’s-length out with somebody else, and it’s just nice to have that extra space so you’re not constantly worrying about whether you’re going to run into somebody. It’s an easy way to make new friends that are interested in the same things you are — it’s a nice time to talk, too, when you’re dancing.

B Y IAN F L ANAGAN

Alphabet City, McEwen will lead This Is What We Will Build When We Get Our Reparations, a fast-paced, culturally conscious interactive design session that equips participants with foam, magazines, scissors, glue and more to imagine rebuilding the city to benefit communities. McEwen, who teaches at Taubman College (University of Michigan), has worked as an urban designer, and her A(n) Office was exhibited at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale. The event is hosted

by City of Asylum. BO 6:30 p.m. 40 W. North Ave., North Side. Free, but tickets required at www.cityofasylum.org.

thursday 12.01 TALK If you’d like someone to talk art with, Contemporary Craft has a new program for you. The Space Between is a salon-style speakers’ series in which pairs of local thinkers and doers discuss creativity in their respective fields. The theme for the first of three scheduled events is language, and the guests are art critic Alexandra Oliver and vocalist and educator Anqwenique Wingfield (pictured).

An informal discussion follows, inspired by both the talks and the gallery’s current Edward Eberle Retrospective, featuring work by the famed ceramicist. Future dates, with new speakers, include Feb. 9 (“The Body”) and March 9 (“Food”).

BO 6 p.m. 2100 Smallman St., Strip District. Free. 412-261-7003 or www.contemporarycraft.org

MUSIC While a handful of Pittsburghers have journeyed west to physically join with the Native Americans opposing the Dakota ^ Thu., Dec. 1: The Space Between Access Pipeline, there are other ways to support those fighting to protect the environment from this oil-industry project. Tonight’s Standing With Standing Rock — A Benefit Show for Solidarity at Howlers features sets by local rock acts including The Filthy Lowdown, Old Dream, The Bloody Seamen, Photo Joe and the Negatives, and Blue Clutch. Local art and more will be for sale at discount donation pricing; all proceeds will benefit the Standing Rock cause.

BO 8 p.m.-midnight. 4509 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield. Suggested donation: $5-10. www.howlerspittsburgh.com

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IF EVER A GRILLED CHEESE COULD QUALIFY AS FINE DINING, THIS IS IT

NEIGHBORHOOD BAKERY {BY MARGARET WELSH} When Annette and Dan Babilon decided to open DeLuca’s Bakery, they chose a storefront in Upper Lawrenceville which for decades housed Frank’s Bakery and later Artisan Harvest. And when they launched the shop in early February of this year, the community welcomed them with open arms. “Everyone in the neighborhood is excited that [this space] reopened as a bakery,” says Dan Babilon.

Not that they’re new to the baking biz.

Annette’s parents own the long-standing DeLuca’s Bakery in Brookline (no relation to the famous Strip District restaurant).

She herself has been baking professionally for 20 years, and thanks to her experience as a wholesaler, the Lawrenceville location has hit the ground running.

It’s a charming spot, with dark wood and a cozy display area from which you can glimpse the spacious kitchen. Almost everything is made in-house; anything that isn’t is brought daily from the Brookline location. In a neighborhood teeming with niche-y, boutique-style businesses, DeLuca’s is refreshingly no-nonsense, specializing in traditional Italian breads, pastries and cookies (the sort you’d be likely to find at a Pittsburgh wedding), as well as sandwiches made with Boar’s Head meats and cheeses.

Those sandwiches are a draw: “We have a good lunch following,” says Babilon, adding that, sweets-wise, ladylocks and apple handpies are big sellers. “I’ve always been partial to the tiramisu,” Babilon admits, “but my wife’s cheesecakes are probably my favorite.”

He may be biased, but this reporter can confirm that the mini-cheesecakes are not to be missed.

MWELSH@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

5227 Butler St., Lawrenceville.

412-252-2581 or www.delucasbakery.com

the

FEED

Turn Thanksgiving leftovers into an easy, one-pot shepherd’s pie. In an oven-safe bowl or deep casserole dish, layer gravy, vegetables, stuffing and meat. Top with mashed potatoes. Heat up in a 350-degree oven, about 30 minutes until hot.

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{CP PHOTO BY VANESSA SONG}

Roasted bone marrow, with fine herbs, shallots and sourdough bread

BETTER PUB GRUB {BY ANGELIQUE BAMBERG + JASON ROTH}

W

E MISREAD the cues. Not all of

them, but when we read about The Foundry, offering “fresh takes on pub favorites” (as per its website) in a spot between the stadiums on the North Side, we assumed it was another upscale sports bar, albeit one with barnwood, perhaps, in place of black-and-gold paint.

We were right about the barnwood, at least. With a name like The Foundry, industrial chic fixtures were inevitable. So were flat-screen TVs, but the walls were not completely paved with them, and one large dining room had none at all. We found our escape from TV dining on the outdoor patio, which opens directly onto the North Shore trail and the Allegheny riverfront beyond.

It was The Foundry’s menu, not its decor, that far surpassed the usual clichés of the modern upscale bar. This made sense

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

once we learned that the executive chef is Mike Godlewski, who wrested the kitchen of the upper-crust Duquesne Club from the sleepy standards of yesteryear into the 21st century.

THE FOUNDRY 381 North Shore Drive, North Side.

412-930-0744 HOURS: Sun.-Thu. 11 a.m.-midnight; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-2 a.m.

PRICES: Starters, sandwiches, salads and sides $5-15; entrees $18-26 LIQUOR: Full bar

CP APPROVED Now it’s time for the rest of us to sample his handiwork. While including such current gastropub standards as pork belly and mac-and-cheese, The Foundry’s palette of flavors was far broader than

most. Godlewski lavished attention on each dish without pointless elaboration or tiresome overkill.

Take the roasted-pumpkin pierogi, simply sautéed in butter, sprinkled with toasted pepitas, and garnished with two distinctive elements: a smear of lavenderhued fig yogurt and a sprinkling of onions, caramelized with vadouvan, a French-influenced curry powder. Each component played a clear role, contributing to a tasty, well-rounded dish. The only shortcoming was in the pierogi themselves. The wrappers were thin yet suitably chewy, not to be confused with ravioli, but the filling was scant, sufficient to bring a hint of squash flavor, but only just. With other, bolder flavors abounding, the dish could have handled a more robust dose of pumpkin.

Pork-belly bites were tender-chewy

morsels, lightly sweetened by a bourbon glaze, and tossed in a bowl with tiny, panseared cherries. Hardly larger than peas, these offered pleasing pops of juicy sweetness. Thin slices of jalapeño, seemingly intended to counter both the richness of the meat and the sweetness of the bourbon and fruit, were extraordinarily spicy, setting off a hunt for more water.

Some of the best items didn’t rely on fancy flourishes, but were solid combinations in judicious proportion, executed perfectly. Such was our extraordinary grilledcheese sandwich. The unique combination of cheddar and boursin between thick slabs of farmhouse bread, griddled to a golden crisp, resulted in a delectable melding of tastes and textures that was simple, yet sophisticated. If ever a grilled cheese could qualify as fine dining, this is it.

An a la carte side dish of deep-fried cauliflower with chorizo aioli was perplexingly similar to the “caramelized cauliflower” served with an entrée of roasted chicken breast, with no aioli in evidence.

But we were too busy demolishing all the cauliflower to complain. The florets were softened by the heat, retaining faint suggestions of crispiness at their edges, and coated in a savory sauce that lent them an almost meaty flavor. On the chicken plate, they were mixed with tiny, aptly named “marble potatoes.” The chicken itself was perfectly cooked, tender and moist, and a pesto-like salsa verde deliciously combined both herbal and tangy notes.

Chicken sandwiches are frequently given short shrift as “light” alternatives to burgers, but The Foundry’s pickle-brined fried-chicken sandwich deserves top billing.

A juicy slice of white meat in a craggy, crunchy crust — more substantial than tempura, but with a reminiscent airiness — was beautifully complemented by vinegary dill-pickle slices and creamy, herbal green-goddess dressing. A soft, buttery brioche bun provided the final touch to this most glorious of chicken sandwiches.

In the midst of all this goodness, grassfed flatiron steak took a major misstep. It appeared perfect, crusted on the outside and ruby-red within. But char utterly dominated the flavor of the beef and even of the black-garlic hollandaise that coated it.

Beneath the meat, a bed of lightly roasted Brussels sprouts and deeply roasted potatoes created a pleasing interplay of bright green and dark brown, sharp and nearly sweet, but it was hard to get past the powerful bitterness of the char.

Amid all the stadium-area sports bars appealing to the game and concert crowds, The Foundry’s higher ambitions transcend a gastropub scene that has largely fallen into a rut.

INFO@ PGHC ITY PAP ER.CO M

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[PERSONAL CHEF]

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP {BY EMILY MARKO, SCOTT TOWNSHIP} Cooler temperatures here in Pittsburgh make us crave warm, comforting foods.

Many of my family’s traditions and gatherings are centered on food. This soup recipe came into my family several years ago when my parents and sister traveled to Austria to visit extended family. There they shared wonderful moments and stories that connected home cooking with family. When they returned, they hosted an Austrian night, making delicious dishes, including this soup, for those of us who couldn’t make the trip. Now, making this recipe every fall connects me with our family traditions and heritage. I love how food and stories connect us so much that I’ve built my career around sharing them.

I hope this recipe can connect you to my family story, while keeping you warm on the chilly fall evenings for years to come.

Emily Marko is a visual problem solver.

Learn more at www.relaunchyouryear.com.

WE WANT YOUR PERSONAL RECIPES AND THE STORIES BEHIND THEM. EMAIL THEM TO CELINE@PGHCITYPAPER.COM.

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BENJAMIN’S WESTERN AVENUE BURGER BAR

bar • billiards • burgers

NEW MENU! WE CATER! BOOK YOUR HOLIDAY PARTY TODAY!

MONDAY & THURSDAY $2 Yuengling 16oz Draft ____________________ TUESDAY Burger, Beer, & Bourbon $11.95 ____________________ WEDNESDAY Pork & Pounder $10 ____________________ FRIDAY Sangria $3 ____________________ SATURDAY & SUNDAY 10:30am-3pm Brunch Specials & Bloody Mary Bar

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Mon- Fri 4:30 – 6:30pm

OPEN DAILY • 9AM - 1:30AM

900 Western Ave. North side 412-224-2163

862 WESTERN AVE. 412-321-4550

BenjaminsPgh.com

themoderncafe.com

{CP PHOTO BY JOHN COLOMBO}

DiAnoia’s Aperol Spritz

[ON THE ROCKS]

COCKTAIL CAFÉ DiAnoia’s opens in the Strip District {BY CELINE ROBERTS} THE NEWLY opened DiAnoia’s, in the Strip District, already feels like an established neighborhood spot. Settle onto a barstool and be greeted by the sight of a tidy backbar, gold barware gleaming warmly and arranged just so. A lot of love went into building this place, starting with the owners, married couple Dave Anoia and Aimee DiAndrea, and involving many of their friends and family. The woodwork was done by a friend, Christopher Bandy, and the light-blue quartz bar top was a wish granted to Heather Perkins, the bar/restaurant manager, who got to pick it out.

Many of the staff including Anoia worked together previously at Spoon, where he served as the former chef de cuisine.

DiAndrea clearly has an eye for beautiful glassware. She has a bead on finds vintage and thrift, and handpicked it all.

Perkins runs a tightly curated bar. “I had some hard decisions to make,” she says. She wanted to emphasize approachability and start conversations about what was being poured. “I envision it being a café. I’d love to see happy hour be a big thing,” she says. She keeps simple syrup on the back bar just in case a customer requests it, but prefers to use mildly bitter Italian sodas to provide a touch of sweetness. “We want to be your most glorified home bar. Everything matters but it’s super simple,” says Perkins of the general food and beverage concept.

The cocktail menu is split into three sections — morning, noon and night — and provides an impressive collection of amari and wine. Morning begins with cof-

fee. “Coffee cocktails were something Dave had to have,” says Perkins, “Everywhere in Italian cafés you have to have a Shakerato.” Shakeratos are espresso and a liqueur shaken over ice. DiAnoia’s offers a choice between house-made limoncello, sambuca and amaretto. The combination of the creamy espresso and anise flavors served in delicate glass was a delight from the first sip. The coffee program, both with booze and without, is an adventure in flavor of its own. “Coffee is its own primadonna,” says Cameron Kasraie, the café manager.

He created the Merda (yes, that’s Italian for shit, ask for the story — it’s worth hearing), a cocktail that’s a lovely combination of Cedrata, a cedar soda, espresso and limoncello. It’s woody, nutty and with light citrus notes, and could easily park someone at the bar for leisurely Saturday morning.

DIANOIA’S 2549 Penn Ave., Strip District.

412-918-1875 or www.dianoiaseatery.com

Noon cocktails pack more punch, like the Martini Perfecto, topped with golden olive oil that somehow is the ingredient every martini I’ve ever had has been missing. Night features the more indulgent of the menu’s two negronis, a drink Perkins is passionate about. The other is priced at an affordable $7. Montenegro, a mellow amaro, is permanently on tap for those who might want just a little nip, or to get ambitious and order a smoky glass of rhubarbheavy Sfumato.

C E L I N E @ P G HC I T Y PA P E R. C OM

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

BOOZE BATTLES {BY CELINE ROBERTS}

Each week, we order the same cocktail at two different bars for a friendly head-to-head battle.

Go to the bars, taste them both and tell us what you like about each by tagging @pghcitypaper on Twitter or Instagram and use #CPBoozeBattles. If you want to be a part of Booze Battles, send an email to food-and-beverage writer Celine Roberts, at celine@pghcitypaper.com.

THE DRINK: PISCO SOUR

VS.

Roasted Barrelhouse & Eatery

Seviche 930 Penn Ave., Downtown INGREDIENTS: Capel Pisco, raw sugar, lime, lemon, egg white, cinnamon, Angostura bitters OUR TAKE: The Angostura bitters and cinnamon add warmth to an otherwise brisk, tart cocktail. The lemon and lime juice provide the main flavor notes, while the astringency of the pisco is mellowed by frothy egg white. The addition of sugar makes the whole experience like a dessert in a glass.

3705 Butler St., Lawrenceville INGREDIENTS: BarSol Pisco, lemon, egg white, Angostura bitters OUR TAKE: This simplified version of the classic plays up the medicinal quality of the Angostura bitters and the astringent qualities of the pisco. The combination of the lemon and egg white mellows the acidity of the citrus and creates a decadent foam atop the cocktail.

This week on Sound Bite: This Thanksgiving, we’re talkin’ turkey with Greg Boulos, of Blackberry Meadows Farm. www.pghcitypaper.com

One Bordeaux, One Scotch, One Beer Elephant by Carlsberg Price $13.20/10 oz. bottle; $45.95/case It’s called Elephant because, at 7.2 percent ABV, it’s strong like one. Yes, that’s the company line, but it holds true. This is a malty, rich amber pilsner with a nice bitter kick at the end, but not so bitter that you can’t drink several on poker night at home.

— RECOMMENDED BY CHARLIE DEITCH, CITY PAPER EDITOR

Elephant by Carlsberg can be found at bottle shops and beer distributors across the region.

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THE FILM’S WINNING PLAYER IS THE SWEETLY SHY AISHOLPAN

A SPY IN THE HOUSE OF LOVE {BY AL HOFF} In 1942 Morocco, Max Vatan (Brad Pitt), a Canadian operative working for the British Army, is assigned to play husband to Marianne Beausejour (Marion Cotillard), a member of the French resistance infiltrating Nazi society in Casablanca. Naturally, the two fall in love, and eventually move to Britain, where they marry and continue to fight the Axis powers.

A GOOD FLIGHT

Spy with me: Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard

Though updated with a few curse words and a bare backside, Robert Zemeckis’ drama Allied is a very oldfashioned feature. Man and woman meet during war time, but the very thing that drew them together — fighting for the same side — threatens to tear them apart. Along the way, it’s classic melodrama: sweet nothings whispered at sunrise, a daring mission or two, a pretty baby, the unforeseen costs of war.

(Says a wiser fellow: “Marriages made in the field never work.”)

It’s the sort of movie where a sandstorm is a lifestyle feature, the perfect dramatic backdrop for a romantic moment. And truly, the clothes in this film are gorgeous — somehow these two elude the wartime restrictions that kept everybody else in shabby tweeds. The satiny lingerie looks fresh out of the box, and their spy budget includes a lot of perfectly tailored formalwear.

The middle part of this film is the best, when Vatan is told that Beausejour might be a Nazi collaborator, and he is forced to weigh this possibility against his emotional and professional lives. He so admired Beausejour’s facility with subterfuge in Casablanca, where she had explained her skill: “I keep the emotions real — that’s why it works.”

Is he dangling from the same rope?

But the film resolves in a clunky and highly melodramatic fashion that robs the work of its more intriguing shadowy side. In English, and some French, with subtitles

{BY AL HOFF}

T

HESE ARE fraught times, and we could use some reassurance that there is still much to celebrate in the human condition — that positive change comes slowly and in odd ways, but come it does.

So let Otto Bell’s new documentary, The Eagle Huntress, take you away for 90 minutes. It’s an uplifting tale of family, female empowerment and one very large bird.

Aisholpan Nurgaiv is a 13-year-old girl who lives with her nomadic family in the mountainous Altai region of western Mongolia. On weekdays, she boards at a school in a nearby town, but weekends are spent in a yurt plopped down in the steppes. She is a bright girl and keenly interested in a regional tradition practiced by her father and grandfather — hunting with golden eagles.

Eagle hunting is for men. An older hunter explains: “Women are weak and more fragile.” But Aisholpan’s father respects his daughter’s desire and recognizes that she has gift for it. As we’ll learn, eagle hunting requires physical strength, perseverance and an unteachable affinity

AHOFF@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

A bird in hand: Aisholpan, with her eagle

between human and bird.

The practice begins with the hunter acquiring a bird. A nest must be found, breached and an eaglet taken. (Female birds are preferred.) Then follow months of training, as the bird is taught to accompany the hunter (usually on horseback) and to respond to commands. Every year, there

THE EAGLE HUNTRESS DIRECTED BY: Otto Bell Starts Fri., Nov. 25. Harris In Kazakh, with subtitles.

CP APPROVED is a competition for eagle hunters where various skills are tested and scored; there is also a de facto understanding that come winter, the man and bird will take to the frigid mountains to hunt fox together.

Beyond this basic narrative — we follow along as Aisholpan finds and trains a bird, and participates in the competition — Bell’s film is an ethnography depicting a group of people who, despite some contemporary

trappings, still live by the old ways. It also provides a window into the fascinating tradition of eagle hunting, which comes with colorful costumes and various protocols (after seven years of service, eagles are released back into the wild).

Even if nothing happened in this film, the gorgeous scenery and cinematography would make for a relaxing and aweinspiring hour or so. This part of the world is unimaginably vast, with endlessly sweeping plains surrounded by high mountains — depending on the season, it’s verdant, bare or snow-covered. Bell used drones to shoot from high above, capturing the sense of endless space; at other times, he rigged a GoPro for remarkable closeness, such as when we climb with Aisholpan into an eagles’ nest on the side of a cliff.

But spectacular scenery aside, the film’s winning player is the sweetly shy Aisholpan; her determination, pluck and good humor make her a compelling protagonist, and her warm relationship with her dad is a welcome update to the usual father-trains-son profiles.

A H OF F @ P G HC I T Y PA P E R. C OM

FILM CAPSULES CP

= CITY PAPER APPROVED

NEW BAD SANTA 2. Nasty Santa (Billy Bob Thornton) and his helper Marcus (Tony Cox) are back and looking to rob a charity on Christmas Eve. Mark Waters directs this comedy.

BLEED FOR THIS. Something this holiday the whole family can agree on — if everybody is into by-the-book inspirational boxing films.

In Ben Younger’s bio-pic, Miles Teller portrays boxer Vinny Pazienza during his fateful years of the late 1980s and early ’90s. After winning a couple of key bouts, the junior-middleweight world-title holder from Providence, R.I., suffers a broken neck in a car crash. Doctors install a halostyle neck brace, and tell The Paz he’ll be lucky to walk again. So naturally, the boxer starts training in secret to get back in the ring. He’s aided by his alcoholic, also-needs-a-comeback trainer (Aaron Eckhart), and generally supported by his working-class family, headed by Ciaran Hinds and Katy Sagal. Even if you’ve never heard of Pazienza, you’ll know exactly how this tale unfolds. (Fans should prepare for some fudging of the timeline.) The performances aren’t bad, but everybody is penned in by hokey dialogue and clichéd set-ups. (Al Hoff)

Bleed For This is quiet, slice-of-life material. As in real life, we see the small moments that can be momentous in their own unremarked way, such as minor disappointments that form a larger pattern capable of significant impact. Starts Fri., Nov. 25. Regent Square (AH)

Certain Women

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM. In 1926, an English researcher of magical creatures, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), travels to New York City with a suitcase full of totally weird animals.

David Yates’ fantasy tale was penned by J.K. Rowling, and is based on an ancillary “textbook” she wrote after the conclusion of her Harry Potter saga.

Once in NYC, Scamander attracts the attention of Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), who works at the Magical Congress of the United States of America (MAGUSA). He also mixes up his suitcase with that of Jacob Kowalski (Dan Folger), a “nomaj” (non-magical person) who just wants to open a bakery. The creatures get loose; Scamander gets a helping of paczki; and everything has to be sorted out. (Plus, some other entity is magically destroying parts of the city.) Kowalski joins forces with Scamander, and he acts as our proxy as we learn more about this other hidden magical world (the MAGUSA HQ is accessed through the Woolworth Building).

The film has moments of great charm, but it does get bogged down chasing several tales: a NatGeo-type special exploring such weird creatures as the nifler and the encrumpet; the world-building of the American wizarding world; an assortment of ill-defined outside forces, such as an anti-wizard group and a newspaper/politician set-up; a couple of nascent love stories; various CGI-intensive chase scenes because 3-D; and some treacherous, traitorous goings-on with a top wizard (Colin Farrell).

Needless to say, there are future chapters to come, but it shouldn’t feel this bumpy flying back into such a familiar alternate universe. In 3-D, in select theaters (AH)

CERTAIN WOMEN. The lives of four women in and around the Montana town of Livingston are the focus of Kelly Reichardt’s latest drama.

The work, which unfolds slowly and with limited action and dialogue, has been adapted from Maile Meloy’s short stories. The film is divided into three parts. In the first, a lawyer (Laura Dern) patiently works with a frustrating client (Jared Harris). Later, we see a woman (Michelle Williams), irked by her feckless husband and grumpy teenage daughter, take on the task of negotiating a deal for some building materials. In the final and best act, a young woman (Lily Gladstone) who works alone on an isolated ranch develops a crush on a lawyer (Kristen Stewart) who is teaching a night class at a local school.

As in Reichardt’s earlier films like Wendy and Lucy and Meek’s Cutoff, Certain Women highlights women toughing it out, largely alone and in Western locales. Here, the protagonists slog through the day-to-day keeping-on that women face, particularly when enacting roles which are typically considered male, such as setting up a deal. It’s not for all viewers: This

ICE GUARDIANS. This new documentary from Brett Harvey delves deep into the history and role of ice hockey’s sometimes-beloved, sometimes-criticized enforcers. These are the big men better known for starting on-ice fights than for scoring goals. Harvey interviews more than a dozen former and current enforcers who, as a self-selected group, mount a strong defense for the poorly understood utility of the role. Arguments range from the self-serving (it’s a way for less skilled athletes to play professional hockey) to altruistic (enforcers protect star players by selflessly taking on the inevitable violence of the match).

This isn’t a sensational clip reel of hockey’s best fights; there’s more talking than brawling. Harvey also talks to some sports historians and a couple academics, who weigh in with big-picture theories about the human need for violent spectacle and the outlet it finds in modern tribal groups, such as sports rivalries. Negative aspects of being an enforcer are addressed — chiefly the physical and emotional toll the players endure, though this group clearly accept the trade-off for a job they love. More interesting is discussion of whether the game is safer with or without enforcers. With a crackdown on fights,

SPRING INTERNS WANTED City Paper’s editorial team is seeking several interns for the spring. Please send résumé, cover letter and samples to the appropriate editor listed below by Dec. 5, 2016.

Each internship includes a small stipend. No calls, please.

MULTIMEDIA INTERN The multimedia intern will produce content for our digital platform at pghcitypaper.com. The right candidate must be capable of working in the field as well as in the office. Necessary skills include: recording and editing audio and video, writing and copy-editing, as well as a working knowledge of social media. Apply to editor Charlie Deitch, cdeitch@pghcitypaper.com.

MUSIC INTERN The music intern will have a working knowledge of the local music scene and assist the music editor by writing new-release reviews and previews of upcoming shows, as well as artist features. Apply to music editor Margaret Welsh, mwelsh@pghcitypaper.com.

NEWS INTERN The news intern will pitch and write stories for both the print and online editions, as well as assist news reporters with research and fact-checking. Basic writing and reporting experience required.

Please send résumé, cover letter and samples to news editor Rebecca Addison, rnuttall@pghcitypaper.com.

PHOTO INTERN We are looking for a photography intern with an artistic eye who can tell a story through images. Editorial work will include shooting assignments to supplement the paper’s news and arts coverage, both in print and online. Weekend availability is required.

Send a résumé and a link to an online portfolio to art director Lisa Cunningham, lcunning@pghcitypaper.com.

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FILM CAPSULES, CONTINUED FROM PG. 37

[DAILY RUNDOWN] Moana does more abuse land on stars? Where are the lines between player safety and satisfying the fans who want to see rough play? There are some answers here, though Harvey’s film would be stronger with the inclusion of some oppositional voices. Starts Fri., Nov. 25. AMC Loews (AH) THE JAZZ LOFT ACCORDING TO W. EUGENE SMITH. Sara Fishko’s new documentary recounts some of the crazy and fertile days of the New York City jazz scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The film incorporates audio and photographs taken by a renowned photographer, the increasingly paranoid W. Eugene Smith, who lived next door to the dilapidated Sixth Avenue loft where musicians, including Thelonious Monk, Ronnie Free and Hall Overton, jammed regularly. Fri., Nov. 25, through Sun., Nov. 27, and Tue., Nov. 29. Parkway, McKees Rocks

spite company orders forbidding it. Lily Collins and Alden Ehrenreich star.

REPERTORY IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. In Frank Capra’s beloved 1946 holiday classic, a harried man (Jimmy Stewart) rediscovers the simple joys of life. 7 p.m. Wed., Nov. 23. Hollywood REPO MAN. Alex Cox’s 1984 sci-fi, punk-rock, protoslacker deadpan comedy about Los Angeles riffs on everything from Scientology and public transportation to hippie parents and crimes-for-sushi. Nov. 25-27 and Nov. 29-Dec. 1. Row House Cinema

LOVING. Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga star as Richard and Mildred Loving, the interracial Virginia couple whose then-illegal 1958 marriage landed them in jail, before fueling a court case that changed the law; Jeff Nichols directs this docudrama.

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MOANA. The latest animated feature from Disney begins with a brief backstory about the mythical creation of the South Pacific Islands. Then we move to a lush island where happy people fish, farm and get tattoos. One resident, tweener Moana (voice of Auli’i Cravalho), is a bit gloomy; she longs to be a sailor, but her people are landlubbers. But the sea chooses her for a quest (these things happen), and soon she’s sailing with her sidekick chicken hoping to: (1) find the demi-god Maui (Dwayne Johnson); (2) sail across the sea with him; and (3) restore a sacred stone stolen from a god, thereby righting disorder in the world.

Moana, co-directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, is a standard Disney film, albeit with some selfaware trappings — meta-jokes about “princess movies”; a you-can’t-miss-it female-empowerment angle; and Johnson’s slightly snarky delivery. Moana is given plucky (traditionally male) things to do, and there is thankfully no love interest. But she is still a princess of sorts, and there are songs. If you like these Broadwaystyle inspirational belters, you got ’em here, including some worked on by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The film is digitally animated (except for Maui’s animated tattoos, which are hand-drawn), and much of it is spectacular: The tropical water and the light are especially well rendered and gorgeous.

Very young kids might find some aspects of the film alarming — there are some realistic scenes of ocean peril, and a fearsome-looking adversary. On a lighter note, the voice of Flight of the Conchords star Jemaine Clement makes a welcome appearance in one scene as a blinged-out crab, and it’s the film’s kookiest and most surreal set-piece. In 3-D, in select theaters (AH) RULES DON’T APPLY. Warren Beatty writes and directs this period romance in which two employees of the reclusive Howard Hughes essay a romance de-

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

Ice Guardians THE WARRIORS. Walter Hill’s 1979 gangsploitation flick was set in the urban cesspool that was New York City, a dark Gotham ruled by take-no-prisoners youth gangs. When a summit of gangs goes bad, one group, The Warriors, must fight its way from the Bronx to a final showdown at Coney Island. Come out and play.

Nov. 25-29 and Dec. 1. Row House Cinema SIX STRING SAMURAI. In Lance Mungia’s oddball 1998 sci-fi comedy, a boy comes under the protection of a man who is equally proficient with a guitar and a sword. Nov. 25-28 and Nov. 30-Dec. 1. Row House Cinema DEATH RACE 2000. In Paul Bartel’s 1975 black comedy, teams of drivers compete in a cross-country race where extra points are earned by running down pedestrians. Nov. 25-30. Row House Cinema FARGO. In the Coen brothers’ Oscar-winning 1996 dark comedy (and affectionate send-up of the upper Midwest), a pregnant, down-to-earth cop (Frances McDormand) calmly sorts out a kidnap-murder case, you betcha. 7:30 p.m. Wed., Nov. 30. AMC Loews Waterfront. $5

LINEUP CARD

THE PERFORMANCE EMBODIED THE SPIRIT OF TEAMMATE DIMANTAE BRONAUGH AS HE FIGHTS LEUKEMIA

{BY CHARLIE DEITCH}

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After several seasons clinging tightly to the bottom rung of mediocrity, the Pitt Panthers football team made big strides when it hit eight regular-season wins in 2015.

And now, as the 2016 regular season prepares to end Saturday, consider the corner turned.

Yes, the Panthers have four losses going into the finale, but only one of those was a blowout; the others were by a combined 11 points.

Pitt beat three teams that either were or are now ranked in the NCAA’s top 10, including second-ranked Clemson. And if that’s not enough, rival Penn State would likely be in consideration to play for the national championship if Pitt hadn’t taken care of the Nittany Lions at Heinz Field on Sept. 10.

{CP PHOTO BY LUKE THOR TRAVIS}

Aliquippa coaches and players wore the number of senior Dimantae Bronaugh who is fighting cancer

PLAYING HARD

{CP PHOTO BY LUKE THOR TRAVIS}

Pitt Panthers

After years of head coaches bouncing in and out of the program, the past two seasons under Pat Narduzzi have shown what this program could become. The team is positioning itself for future runs at the ACC Conference championship and the kinds of bowl games that make more top recruits take notice.

Pitt hosts Syracuse at Heinz Field at 12:30 p.m. Sat., Nov. 26.

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There’s also more high school football playoff action this week. The final two WPIAL champions will be crowned this week when the Steel Valley Ironmen take on the Neshanook Lancers in the Class 2A championship at 6 p.m. Sat., Nov. 26, at Robert Morris University. Before that, though, the 1A championship game features the undefeated juggernaut Clairton Bears taking on the Jeannette Jayhawks at noon, at RMU.

{BY STACY KAUFFMAN}

O

N NOV. 18, Aliquippa battled Beaver

Falls for the Division 3A WPIAL football championship. There would be four games that day, but this one wasn’t just about football.

Aliquippa was hunting its second consecutive title and 17th overall, with Beaver Falls standing in its way. Only 13 miles separate these two Beaver County schools with a rivalry that had been one-sided as of late, with Aliquippa winning the previous eight games leading up to the Class 3A championship bout, including a 44-13 victory earlier in the season, the Tigers’ only loss.

But the star of this game never played a down. Returning to the Aliquippa sidelines for the championship was DiMantae Bronaugh, a senior who two seasons ago rushed for more than 1,200 yards to help lead the Quips to the WPIAL Class 2A title.

In remission from acute lymphoblastic

leukemia, Bronaugh was preparing to do the same this year when he received news back in August that the cancer had returned. He was fighting through treatment and was in need of a bone-marrow transplant; his teammates had no idea that he would make an appearance, but when he was wheeled onto the field, they all smiled, ready to play for their comrade.

With unwavering belief, passionate fans cheered on their Quips, even as the team dug itself into a two-touchdown hole to end the first half. One of those fans, Vincent Montini, has lived in Aliquippa for years and was adamant that a bounce-back was brewing: “I think they’ll come back and win in the second half.”

Aliquippa made it a one-possession game before falling behind again, 28-6.

But the team never folded, scoring 16 unanswered points and battling to the very

end. Beaver Falls exorcised its demons, winning 35-22.

Despite the loss, Aliquippa showed its toughness and its love for a sick teammate.

At halftime, Bronaugh addressed his teammates, yelling at some, urging guys to go harder. To not give up. And they didn’t.

The team’s performance embodied the spirit of Bronaugh as he fights leukemia.

Many of the coaches wore his number 24 in solidarity with the talented running back and in support of his battle; players had his number on their helmets. Fans in the stands could be seen in “#24 Strong” shirts, spreading awareness of the need to find a bone-marrow match to help stop cancer a second time. That’s a win that is far more important than a football championship.

For more information on where you can donate bone marrow, visit www.DKMS.org or call the Central Blood Bank at 412-209-7000.

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[THE CHEAP SEATS]

A GOAT FOR TURKEY DAY {BY MIKE WYSOCKI} A HOLIDAY that celebrates gluttony, sloth and football is a holiday that’s all right by me. There’s no pressure to buy anything, no costumes to put on, and nobody gets any fingers blown off in a homemade-fireworks display. Thanksgiving hasn’t had a war declared on it, and yes, you are allowed to say “Happy Thanksgiving.” A day to eat and sit on the couch is a normal day for me. But for everyone else, they’re guaranteed a huge meal, football games and someone to tell them: “I heard there is something in turkey that makes you tired,” like it’s breaking news every year.

The bonus this Thanksgiving, however, is that the Steelers are playing.

Unfortunately, the most exciting aspect of this game looks to be the Steelers’ uniforms. Say goodbye to the beleaguered “bumblebee” uniforms and say hello to the “color rush.” Yes, the NFL needs more money from merchandise, but these uniforms do look pretty cool.

As far as the game goes, the Steelers and the Indianapolis Colts are both enduring disappointing seasons. For

{CP PHOTO BY LUKE THOR TRAVIS}

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin

the Steelers, Thanksgiving games have not been kind. If you remember the last time the Steelers won on Turkey Day, you are in the minority, because it was in 1950. Pittsburgh defeated the Chicago Cardinals 28-17 and that remains the sole highlight in the club’s

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

Thanksgiving history.

It would be 33 years until the Steelers received an invitation to again play on this holiday. In 1983, they took on the Detroit Lions. The Lions play every single Thanksgiving because of a silly tradition. Everyone in the country is forced to watch a famously inept team play just because they played in the first Turkey Bowl.

Detroit has won one playoff game since 1991, but still the Browns of the NFC get the national spotlight every single year.

In 1983, Steelers Cliff Stoudt and Mark Malone combined to complete 11 passes for 99 yards, five interceptions and zero touchdowns. The only celebration was a Gary Anderson field goal that prevented a shutout in a 45-3 drubbing.

Eight years later, the Steelers lost again, this time to the hated Dallas Cowboys. Anderson continued his Thanksgiving excellence with another field goal. Then the unforgettable Warren Williams scampered three yards for the first Steelers Thanksgiving touchdown in 41 years. It wasn’t enough, as Emmitt Smith ran one in and Michael Irvin hauled in a 66-yard touchdown from Steve Beuerlein. The Cowboys emerged victorious, 20-10. Yes, the Cowboys have to play every year on Thanksgiving, too. But I never understood why the NFL doesn’t just make the Lions and

Cowboys play each other once in awhile, so other teams get a chance.

Then, in 1998, came a game that would live in infamy. Going into the game, the Steelers had a Thanksgiving record of 1-4: the 1950 win, plus the aforementioned losses combined with two losses to Philadelphia, in 1939 and 1940. In 1998, Kordell Stewart’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Will Blackwell opened up a 13-3 Steelers lead over Detroit. In the fourth quarter, Homestead’s own Charlie Batch, then a Lion, hit Herman Moore on a 21-yard strike to tie it.

Kicker Jason Hanson put Detroit up 16-13.

Then Steelers kicker Norm Johnson sent it into overtime with a game-tying field goal with just four seconds left. Then one of the most famous events in Steelers history occurred — the coin flip. Jerome Bettis called “tails” as the coin was fluttering through the stale dome air. Referee Phil Luckett interpreted that call as “heads-tails” and gave the ball to Detroit. The Lions took the ball, kicked a field goal and started a controversy that lives to this day. Back in those days, there was no instant replay — just Luckett’s word versus Bettis’. It did, however, revolutionize the exciting cointoss. Now, players call it before it’s flipped and not while it’s in the air.

Finally, in 2013, the Steelers got another shot in the Thanksgiving spotlight, this time against the Baltimore Ravens. It would be another controversial one for the Black and Gold. Rookie LeVeon Bell’s 43-yard romp cut the Ravens’ lead to 13-7. Then came a huge defensive play for the Steelers, except it was executed by Coach Mike Tomlin. Tomlin stepped onto the field as the Ravens’ Jacoby Jones appeared to be running back a kick for a touchdown.

Tomlin slowed Jones up just enough to allow Cortez Allen to catch him. Tomlin’s defense held the Ravens to a field goal and 16-7 advantage. It wasn’t enough, as the Steelers went on to lose again 22-20 in yet another close game between the rivals.

The Steelers look to exorcise the ghosts of Thanksgivings Past as they tangle with the equally underachieving Colts. Everyone will hold their stomachs and proclaim, “I can’t believe how much I ate.” Some of us will leave our families to go wait in line for six hours, so we can buy a giant television for 15 bucks, and the rest of us will eat and watch football for 11 or 12 hours, which is nice. Take that, every other holiday.

CLIFF STOUDT AND MARK MALONE COMBINED TO COMPLETE 11 PASSES FOR 99 YARDS, FIVE INTERCEPTIONS AND ZERO TOUCHDOWNS.

MIK E WYSO C K I IS A STANDU P C O ME DIAN. F O L L OW HI M ON T W I T T E R: @ I T S M I K E W YS OC K I

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER

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DRIVERS

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NOTICES

NOTICE OF PRE-HEARING CONFERENCE

CPRB Case #70-15 Tuesday 12/06/16 @5:30 PM City Council Chambers City-County Building, 5th FL 414 Grant Street Pittsburgh, PA 15219

CPRB PITTSBURGH

OFFICIAL ADVERTISEMENT

Sealed proposals shall be deposited at the Administration Building, Room 251, 341 South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15213 on December 6, 2016 until 2:00 p.m., local prevailing time for:

Sealed proposals shall be deposited at the Administration Building, Room 251, 341 South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15213 on December 6, 2016 until 2:00 p.m., local prevailing time for:

• Are 18 years of age or older • Diagnosed with Type II diabetes for at least 90 days • HbA1c is 7.5-9.5% • Stable daily dose of ONE or TWO of the following diabetes medications (Metformin, sulphonylureas, SGLT-2 inhibitors or thiazolidinediones), 90 days prior to your first visit.

If you are interested, please call Preferred Primary Care Physicians for more information at 412-650-6155.

PPS – Central Operations 8 S. 13th Street, Pgh., PA Replacement of Steam Kettles General, Mechanical and Electrical Primes

Project Manual and Drawings will be available for purchase on November 7, 2016 at Modern Reproductions (412-488-7700) 127 McKean Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15219 between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. The cost of the Project Manual Documents is nonrefundable. Project details and dates are described in each project manual.

We are an equal rights and opportunity school district.

Parent Hotline: 412-622-7920 www.pps.k12.pa.us

We are an equal rights and opportunity school district.

Parent Hotline: 412-622-7920 www.pps.k12.pa.us

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YOU MAY QUALIFY IF YOU:

THE BOARD OF PUBLIC EDUCATION OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PITTSBURGH

Project Manual and Drawings will be available for purchase on November 8, 2016 at Modern Reproductions (412-488-7700) 127 McKean Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15219 between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. The cost of the Project Manual Documents is nonrefundable. Project details and dates are described in each project manual.

NEWS

We are conducting a clinical research study that is comparing the safety and efficacy of a new investigational medication for the treatment of Type II Diabetes. The study is approximately 59-weeks (10 clinic visits and 1 phone contact). Qualified participants will receive all study-related care and study medication at no cost and may be compensated for his/her time and travel.

For more information visit lily.com/careers

OFFICIAL ADVERTISEMENT

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Clinical Research Study for TYPE II DIABETES

Drivers make up to $68 thousand a year!!

Questions may be directed to 412-765-8023

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BLACK FRIDAY

{BY BRENDAN EMMETT QUIGLEY / WWW.BRENDANEMMETTQUIGLEY.COM}

ACROSS 1. “The Mind of a Chef” network 4. Small shot 7. Some Christmas trees 14. Accelerando’s opp.

15. Brewpub quaff 16. Cube maker 17. “The Mindy Project” actor Barinholtz 18. Holier-than-thou 19. Rock climbing move 22. Heavy lifting sound 23. Web browser named after a musical genre 24. Grain elevator 26. Campus activists’ org. with a raised fist in their logo 27. Put on the cloud 28. Easy existence 31. Stat said with baggage carousel number announcements: Abbr.

32. Burmese cry 33. Yank’s land 35. Southern delicacy 41. Orchestra sect.

42. Know-it-___ (smug types) 43. FedEx Cup org.

44. Green

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

47. Soil 48. “Yeah, that’s gonna be ___ from me, dawg” 49. De La Soul, e.g.

50. Far from certain 51. Acting legend Henry 53. Looked out for yourself, say 56. People on the edge?

58. “___ was saying...”

59. Stir up 60. Parliament block?: Abbr.

61. “___ be a shame if...”

62. Juilliard’s focus 63. That: Sp. 64. UCLA part

DOWN 1. Big name in heartburn relief 2. Place for someone to shift gears 3. Guitar virtuoso discovered by Frank Zappa 4. City in Southern Iraq 5. “Dees-gusting!”

6. Emmy-winner Ward 7. “Hypnotize” rapper, for short 8. German outburst 9. “Get offa me!”

10. Hip attachment?

11. Stir up 12. ___ Thursday 13. IT dept. concerns 20. Poet’s preposition 21. Sensitive email letters 25. In full voice 28. Staring figure 29. Charged item 30. Pull-down target 32. NYSE, e.g.: Abbr.

34. Leaking noise 36. Its conductor is Riccardo Muti: Abbr.

37. Building wing 38. Big bomb

39. Goes along with 40. Cricket relatives 42. Work like ___ (toil) 44. “That’ll do” 45. Actress Britton of “Nashville” 46. Family tree entries 47. Compass rose point: Abbr.

48. G# 49. Volga native 50. Madrid mistress 52. Numbercruncher’s stuff 54. Way back when 55. Mil. men 57. “Engineered for life” comp. {LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS}

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FOR THE WEEK OF

Free Will Astrology

11.23-11.30

{BY ROB BREZSNY}

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Despite your sign’s reputation, you Sagittarians don’t always require vast expanses to roam in. You aren’t ceaselessly restless, on an inexhaustible quest for unexpected experiences and fresh teachings. And no, you are not forever consumed with the primal roar of raw life, obsessed with the naked truth and fiercely devoted to exploration for its own sake. But having said that, I suspect that you may at least be flirting with these extreme states in the coming weeks. Your keynote, lifted from Virginia Woolf’s diary: “I need space. I need air. I need the empty fields round me; and my legs pounding along roads; and sleep; and animal existence.”

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “If you can’t get rid of the skeleton in your closet,” said George Bernard Shaw, “you had best teach it to dance.” This advice is worthy of your consideration, Capricorn. You might still be unable to expunge a certain karmic debt, and it may be harder than ever to hide, so I suggest you dream up a way to play with it — maybe even have some dark fun with it. And who knows?

Your willingness to loosen up might at least alleviate the angst your skeleton causes you — and might ultimately transform it in some unpredictably helpful way.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “No pain, no gain” is a modern expression of an old idea. In a second-century Jewish book of ethics, Rabbi Ben Hei Hei wrote, “According to the pain is the gain.” Eighteenth-century English poet Robert Herrick said, “If little labor, little are our gains: Man’s fate is according to his pains.”

But I’m here to tell you, Aquarius, that I don’t think this prescription will apply to you in the coming weeks. From what I can surmise, your

greatest gains will emerge from the absence of pain. You will learn and improve through release, relaxation, generosity, expansiveness and pleasure.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): The less egotistical you are, the more likely it is that you will attract what you really need. If you do nice things for people without expecting favors in return, your mental and physical health will improve. As you increase your mastery of the art of empathy, your creativity will also thrive.

Everything I just said is always true, of course, but it will be intensely, emphatically true for you during the next four weeks. So I suggest you make it a top priority to explore the following cosmic riddle: Practicing unselfishness will serve your selfish goals.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Creative people are at greater risk,” said psychiatrist R.D. Laing, “just as one who climbs a mountain is more at risk than one who walks along a village lane.” I bring this to your attention,

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Aries, because in the coming weeks you will have the potential to be abundantly creative, as well as extra imaginative, ingenious and innovative.

But I should also let you know that if you want to fulfill this potential, you must be willing to work with the extra tests and challenges that life throws your way. For example, you could be asked to drop a pose, renounce lame excuses or reclaim powers that you gave away once upon a time.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus musician Brian Eno has been successful as a composer, producer, singer and visual artist. Among his many collaborators have been David Byrne, David Bowie, U2, Coldplay, Laurie Anderson, Grace Jones and James Blake. Eno’s biographer David Sheppard testified that capturing his essence in a book was “like packing a skyscraper into a suitcase.” I suspect that description might fit you during the next four weeks, Taurus. You’re gearing up for some highintensity living. But please don’t be nervous about it. Although you may be led into intimate contact with unfamiliar themes and mysterious passions, the story you actualize should feel quite natural.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): You are free! Or almost free! Or let me put it this way: You could become significantly freer if you choose to be — if you exert your willpower to snatch the liberating experiences that are available. For example, you could be free from a slippery obligation that has driven you to say things you don’t mean. You could be free from the temptation to distort your soul in service to your ego. You might even be free to go after what you really want rather than indulging in lazy lust for a gaggle of mediocre thrills. Be brave, Gemini. Define your top three emancipating possibilities, and pursue them with vigor and rigor.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Have you been feeling twinges of perplexity?

Do you find yourself immersed in meandering meditations that make you doubt your commitments? Are you entertaining weird fantasies that give you odd little shivers and quivers? I hope so! As an analyzer of cycles, I suspect that now is an excellent time to question everything.

You could have a lot of fun playing with riddles and wrestling with enigmas. Please note, however, that I’m not advising you to abandon what you’ve been working on and run away. Now is a time for fertile inquiry, not for rash actions. It’s healthy to contemplate adjustments, but not to initiate massive overhauls.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Everybody is dealing with how much of their own aliveness they can bear and how much they need to anesthetize themselves,” writes psycho-

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.23/11.30.2016

analytic writer Adam Phillips. Where do you fit on this scale, Leo? Whatever your usual place might be, I’m guessing that in the coming weeks you will approach record-breaking levels in your ability to handle your own aliveness. You may even summon and celebrate massive amounts of aliveness that you had previously suppressed.

In fact, I’ll recklessly speculate that your need to numb yourself will be closer to zero than it has been since you were 5 years old. (I could be exaggerating a bit; but maybe not!)

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Do you periodically turn the volume down on your mind’s endless chatter and tune into the still, small voice within you? Have you developed reliable techniques for escaping the daily frenzy so as to make yourself available for the Wild Silence that restores and revitalizes? If so, now would be a good time to make aggressive use of those capacities. And if you haven’t attended well to these rituals of self-care, please remedy the situation. Claim more power to commune with your depths. In the coming weeks, most of your best information will flow from the sweet darkness.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): One of your vices could at least temporarily act as a virtue. In an odd twist, one of your virtues might also briefly function like a vice. And there’s more to this mysterious turn of events.

A so-called liability could be useful in your efforts to solve a dilemma, while a reliable asset might cloud your discernment or cause a miscalculation. I’m riffing here, Libra, in the hopes of stimulating your imagination as you work your way through the paradoxical days ahead. Consider this intriguing possibility: An influence that you like and value may hold you back, even as something or someone you’ve previously been almost allergic to could be quite helpful.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Between now and the solstice on Dec. 21, you will have extraordinary power to transform into a more practical, well-grounded version of yourself. You may surprise yourself with how naturally you can shed beliefs and habits that no longer serve you. Now try saying the following affirmations and see how they feel coming out of your mouth: “I am an earthy realist.

I am a fact-lover and an illusion-buster. I love actions that actually work more than I like theories that I wish would work. I’d rather create constructive change than be renowned for my clever dreams.”

What famous historical personage were you in your past life? If you don’t know or weren’t really, make something up. Testify at Freewill astrology.com.

GO TO REALASTROLOGY.COM TO CHECK OUT ROB BREZSNY’S EXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO HOROSCOPES AND DAILY TEXT-MESSAGE HOROSCOPES. THE AUDIO HOROSCOPES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE BY PHONE AT 1-877-873-4888 OR 1-900-950-7700

Savage Love {BY DAN SAVAGE}

I’m a very sex-positive girl and I finally convinced my boyfriend to open up about his fetishes. I could tell he was ashamed and torn about sharing them with me, but I’ve been with my fair share of guys and surfed the net for years, and I was convinced nothing would shock me.

Well, it turns out he’s into soft vore. I’m not gonna lie, I was a bit put off, but of course I didn’t tell him. I started looking for information about his fetish, and it’s not as uncommon as I thought. I stumbled upon many websites for like-minded people, and my understanding of it is that vores really long for intimacy and protection. Is my interpretation correct? Also, after learning about it, I realized it’s less extreme than some of the stuff we usually engage in, like heavy BDSM, so I want him to feel fulfilled. Is there any way I can help him “act out” his fetish? He would like to be the eatee.

FULLY UNDERSTANDING LOVER’S LONGINGS

Vore, for readers who aren’t familiar with the term, refers to a spectrum of kinks that involve being eaten alive or eating another creature alive. Vore is divided between “soft” and “hard,” kind of like BDSM. Soft vore doesn’t require simulated bloodshed (it mostly involves fantasies of being swallowed whole), whereas hard vore involves the (imaginary!) ripping of flesh and the (simulated!) shedding of blood.

Large creatures capable of swallowing and/or devouring humans are important to this kink, as you’ll discover if you do an image search for “vore” on Google. Since most vore fantasies involve creatures that qualify as fantastical beasts, i.e., large and nonexistent beasts (megakinkfauna?), vore fetishists are forced to construct elaborate fantasy narratives, build their own creatures, or seek employment at the Jim Henson Company (where they can sneak in after hours and repurpose vore-scale Muppets) in order to get off.

Before you can determine which way to go — assuming your boyfriend wants to “act out” his fantasies in the first place — you’ll have to get more details. Is he into the intimacy and protection aspects of vore? Is it an extension of a mouth and/or pregnancy fetish?

Does an interest in bondage factor in?

Learning more about what gets him going — besides the whole being-eaten-alive thing — is the first step.

Once you know exactly what it is about vore that turns him on, FULL, begin your explorations with role-play and dirty talk. Ramping things up slowly is always a good idea with varsity-level kinks, so try sexting each other and/or creating dirty vore stories together over email. If your boyfriend wants to get physical, start with mouthy things like biting, licking, sucking, etc., combined with dirty talk about digesty things like chewing, swallowing, gastric juices, etc. If everything goes well, you try to bring his fantasies to life using props, costumes and stage blood. Try zipping him up in a sleeping bag to simulate being in a stomach — filling it with a gooey liquid will make it feel more like the inside of some fantastical beast’s

stomach — but be careful not to smother him if you do “full enclosure.” (Smothering someone to death, intentionally or unintentionally, is bad. #TheMoreYouKnow) Finally, FULL, I want to commend you for not freaking out when your boyfriend shared his kink. You listened calmly, you did a little research, and you gave it some thought. For that, I’m upgrading your GGG card to platinum.

[DAILY RUNDOWN]

Any advice for a first-time sex-toy buyer?

I’m looking into vibrators, but I don’t want to spend a bunch of money on something that doesn’t do it for me.

VERY INTO BUYING ELECTRONICS

“VIBE should go to a sex shop in person so she can physically pick up and turn on the models she’s considering buying,” said Erika Moen. “If possible, go to a shop that advertises itself with any of the following words: feminist, queer, LGBTQ+, sex-positive, woman-friendly, transfriendly or inclusive, as these places tend to be staffed by people who are passionate and genuinely invested in helping folks of all walks of life.”

Moen and her partner, Matthew Nolan, have been making the Oh Joy Sex Toy comic for three years, which combines reviews of sex toys with really awesome/hilarious/radicallyinclusive sex ed. And Moen, who has personally tested hundreds of sex toys, wants you to rub one or two out before you go shopping.

“VIBE should pay attention to the kind of action that feels good or gets her off,” said Moen. “Does your clit like super-direct focus?

The smaller the head of the vibrator, the more laser-like the precision. Do you like lots of overall, engulfing stimulation that covers a lot of ground? The larger the head, the more surface area it’ll cover and the vibrations will be more generally distributed across the entire vulva, from outer labia to clit.”

For best results, Moen recommends buying two toys, VIBE, if you can swing the expense.

“Get a generic bullet vibe first,” said Moen. “They’re about $15 to $20 — it’s a model that has a control box you hold in one hand and a cord that connects to a simple vibrating egg shape that you hold in your masturbating hand. Try it out at home, and then based on how you did or did not enjoy it, purchase a more expensive, high-quality model ($60 to $120) based on the kind of vibrational stimulation you learned you want (or don’t want) from that first cheaply made model. Personally, I recommend the Minna Limon and Vibratex’s Mystic Wand for smaller-sized, decently powered vibrators. And then the big guns that’ll blast you to the moon and back are the Doxy and Vibratex’s Magic Wand (formerly known as the Hitachi Magic Wand). Best of luck to you!”

Oh Joy Sex Toy: Volume Three, a new collection of Moen and Nolan’s terrific column/ comic, was recently released by Limerence Press. Follow Moen on Twitter @ErikaMoen.

“FOR THAT, I’M UPGRADING YOUR GGG CARD TO PLATINUM.”

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On the Lovecast, Dan chats with Google’s machine-intelligence lead about sex with robots: savagelovecast.com.

SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET AND FIND THE SAVAGE LOVECAST (DAN’S WEEKLY PODCAST) AT SAVAGELOVECAST.COM

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FULL SUPPORT {BY KIM LYONS}

SOPHIA BERMAN can tell you what it’s like to pitch a bra that

better supports large breasts to a roomful of male investors.

“I definitely think we had a different experience than if we’d been pitching a male-designed product for men,” Berman says with a chuckle. “Some [investors] invited their wives to the meetings, so they would know what we were talking about.”

After a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign last year that raised $78,000 (more than triple its goal), Trusst Lingerie is now selling its bras both online and at its newly opened storefront in Garfield. The woman-owned company set out to solve a female-specific problem and has been successful so far, despite the overwhelmingly male investment environment it dealt with.

Trusst was founded in 2014 as an AlphaLab Gear incubator company by Berman and Laura West, two industrial-design graduates of Carnegie Mellon University.

They were frustrated by the lack of good, supportive offerings for larger-chested women; most brassieres are based on a torturous design from the 1900s (which was itself an improvement on the even more torturous corset).

Over-the-shoulder straps and a fastener in the back don’t provide enough support for larger breasts, so Berman and West set out to build a better bra.

{CP PHOTO BY SARAH WILSON}

Laura West (left) and Sophia Berman, the co-founders of Trusst

breasts by supporting most of it from below. A truss is a triangle-shaped structure that sits under the bridge span and supports the vertical beams.

It allows the weight to be distributed across a large area rather than at a single point.

The design also eliminates the need for underwire, because the support is embedded in the cups. (No more underwire poking your flesh, can I get an amen?) And not only does it give better support, the Trusst design reduces strain on the neck, shoulders and back.

It took the team two years to fully refine its bras — which the founders named after their moms — using 3-D printing, and eventually bringing on a designer.

They continue to refine and refine, adding small touches here and there, and making sure they are using the best possible materials for the sake of comfort and durability. “We definitely wanted to make sure they were

“WE BELIEVE IN WOMEN SUPPORTING OTHER WOMEN.” “After speaking with hundreds of women, and experiencing many of their concerns ourselves, we realized that underwires simply aren’t up to the task of supporting women with fuller busts,” Berman says. They wanted women to feel empowered and to give them better options when bra shopping.

“For too long, women with fuller busts have been left with options that fall short. As a company, we believe in women supporting other women,” she says.

All three styles of Trusst bras are now available, in sizes from 32F to 42G. They retail for between $82 and $98.

It’s completely appropriate that the design for the Trusst bras, conceived in Pittsburgh, is based on the concept of a bridge truss. Rather than hoisting the girls up from above, Trusst’s patented design redistributes the weight of the

machine-washable,” Berman says.

They also wanted to avoid the bras looking dowdy, like seemingly every other variety available to larger-busted women, she adds.

Most women (and anyone who wears a bra on a regular basis) completely understand the need for better bra design. But the Trusst team realized early on that part of the problem of selling the bras was to convince the rest of the population that the design solves a genuine problem. That’s how you get investors on board, after all. So they created videos of men wearing bras containing actual melons (ha), to give an idea of what it feels like to carry around that weight all day.

Berman says Trusst benefited not only from Pittsburgh’s bridge technology, but from the region’s generous entrepreneurial community as well. “Everyone helped with connections, with helping us shoot videos, when we needed to do live events,” she says. “It’s been really wonderful to have so much support.”

IN F O@ P G HC I T Y PA P E R. C OM

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