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THROUGH JANUARY 14, 2018 ONLY AT THE WARHOL TW TWO T W CU CULTU LTU L TURES TURES ES.. ONE ARTIST ST.. HOW ST W WILL WIL LL YOU O INT N ERP RPRET ET T IT T? TWO W CU WO CULTU LTU TU URES R . ON RE NE E ART ART TIST ST. HOW W WIL WI L YOU O INT N ERP E RET ER R T IT? IT T? Farhad Moshiri, Yipeeee, 2009, Private Collection, London, photo by Guillaume Ziccarelli
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EVENTS 12.1 – 7pm DAY WITH (OUT) ART: ALTERNATE ENDINGS, RADICAL BEGINNINGS The Warhol theater Co-presented with Visual AIDS Curated by Erin Christovale and Vivian Crockett for Visual AIDS, the video program prioritizes Black narratives within the ongoing AIDS epidemic. Free; Registration suggested
TWO CULTURES. ONE ARTIST. HOW WILL YOU INTERPRET IT? TWO CULTURES. ONE ARTIST. HOW WILL YOU INTERPRET IT?
12.2 – 10am-12pm HALF-PINT PRINTS The Factory Families work with The Warhol’s artist educators to create silkscreen prints during this drop-in silkscreen printing activity for children ages 1 to 4 years old. Free with museum admission
12.30 – 3pm DANDY ANDY: WARHOL’S QUEER HISTORY Join artist educators for Dandy Andy, a monthly tour that focuses on Warhol’s queer history. Free with museum admission
1.5 – 7pm ART IN CONTEXT: BORDER CROSSINGS The Warhol theater Artists, scholars, and community members come together to consider creative expression in relation to timely political and social concerns. Free; Registration suggested
Farhad Moshiri, Yipeeee, 2009, Private Collection, London, photo by Guillaume Ziccarelli
THROUGH JANUARY 14, 2018 ONLY AT THE WARHOL Farhad Moshiri: Go West is generously supported by The Fine Foundation, Piaget, Galerie Perrotin, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, The Third Line, Dubai, The Soudavar Memorial Foundation, The Farjam Foundation, The Khazaei Foundation, Maryam and Edward Eisler, Navid Mirtorabi, Ziba Franks, Elie Khouri, Fatima and Essi Maleki, Nazee Moinian, Mahshid and Jamshid Ehsani, and Narmina and Javad Marandi.
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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11.29/12.06.2017 VOLUME 27 + ISSUE 48
[EDITORIAL] Editor CHARLIE DEITCH News Editor REBECCA ADDISON Arts & Entertainment Editor BILL O’DRISCOLL Associate Editor AL HOFF Digital Editor ALEX GORDON Staff Writers RYAN DETO, CELINE ROBERTS Music Writer MEG FAIR Interns HALEY FREDERICK, HANNAH LYNN, JAKE MYSLIWCZYK, AMANDA REED
[ART] Director of Operations KEVIN SHEPHERD Production Director JULIE SKIDMORE Art Director LISA CUNNINGHAM Graphic Designers JEFF SCHRECKENGOST, JENNIFER TRIVELLI {COVER PHOTO BY JAKE MYSLIWCZYK}
[MUSIC]
“It’s actually ridiculous how well the five of us get along. The worst thing anyone ever does is being almost late for rehearsal.” PAGE 16
[ADVERTISING] Associate Publisher JUSTIN MATASE Senior Account Executives PAUL KLATZKIN, JEREMY WITHERELL Advertising Representatives MACKENNA DONAHUE, BLAKE LEWIS, JENNIFER MAZZA Classified Manager ANDREA JAMES National Advertising Representative VMG ADVERTISING 1.888.278.9866 OR 1.212.475.2529
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Marketing Director LINDSEY THOMPSON Office Coordinator THRIA DEVLIN
“I think we’re seeing a resurgence in anti-abortion sentiment.”
[ADMINISTRATION]
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Pittsburgh AIDS Center for Treatment
Circulation Director JIM LAVRINC Office Administrator RODNEY REGAN Interactive Media Manager CARLO LEO
[PUBLISHER] EAGLE MEDIA CORP.
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Columnists Mike Wysocki and Josh King give differing views on what the Pirates should do this offseason. PAGE 38
News 06 News of the Weird 14 Music 16 Arts 24 Events 28 Taste 32
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The Pittsburgh AIDS Center for Treatment (PACT) provides continuous primary medical care and education for those who are infected with HIV or have AIDS. PACT also offers specialty services including women’s health care, Hepatitis-C care, and mental health care.
GENERAL POLICIES: Contents copyrighted 2017 by Eagle Media Corp. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in Pittsburgh City Paper are those of the author and not necessarily of Eagle Media Corp. LETTER POLICY: Letters, faxes or e-mails must be signed and include town and daytime phone number for confirmation. We may edit for length and clarity. DISTRIBUTION: Pittsburgh City Paper is published weekly by Eagle Media Corp. and is available free of charge at select distribution locations. One copy per reader; copies of past issues may be purchased for $3.00 each, payable in advance to Pittsburgh City Paper. FIRST CLASS MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS: Available for $175 per year, $95 per half year. No refunds.
To make an appointment at the PACT clinic, or for information about HIV/AIDS, call 412-647-PACT (7228) or visit UPMC.com/PACT.
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It’s a bird; it’s a plane. No, it’s a drone. Check out our Instagram account for #AbovePittsburgh, intern Jake Mysliwczyk’s weekly drone photography feature.
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{CP PHOTO BY JAKE MYSLIWCZYK}
One of the billboards paid for by Reproaction
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I
N EARLY OCTOBER, then-U.S. Rep. Tim
Murphy (R-Upper St. Clair) made national news when it was revealed he had pressured his mistress to have an abortion (it turned out she wasn’t pregnant). The very day the story broke, Murphy voted in favor a national ban on abortions after 20 weeks. Widespread outrage against the purportedly pro-life Republican was swift, and later that month, he resigned from office. But national reproductive-rights organization Reproaction didn’t want outrage around the scandal to dissipate. That’s why during the month of November it has paid for advertising on three digital billboards near Murphy’s former Allegheny County office, his home and his church. “ABORTION: Not just for your mistress!” the billboards read.
“We felt this was an important opportunity not just to highlight the hypocrisy, but the moral bankruptcy of a pro-life movement that claims to care about women and
While Pittsburgh has seen recent victories on abortion access, activists say a persistent piece of legislation could roll back a woman’s right to choose {BY REBECCA ADDISON} babies, and yet has a totally separate agenda,” says Erin Matson, co-founder and co-director of Reproaction. “They want abortion access for themselves, particularly when it helps cover up things in their political
career, but they are working to block access to health care and prenatal care that would help pregnant women and infants.” Reproaction’s statement is bold, but the reality is that every year, thousands of women are prevented from accessing abortion services for a variety of reasons, including government-imposed restrictions and limited resources. Eleven states restrict coverage of abortion in private insurance plans, and 27 states require women to wait a specified period of time before the procedure is performed. “At Reproaction, we celebrate abortion access as a positive thing. When someone needs an abortion, and they’re able to quickly and easily access that, that’s something we should be proud of as a nation,” says Matson. “Abortion access is critical to equality and justice for all people and CONTINUES ON PG. 08
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OPEN ACCESS, CONTINUED FROM PG. 06
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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.29/12.06.2017
window, Williams was under pressure to make a decision. “I received absolutely the best care and very objective and straightforward options,” Williams says. “I could choose right there to schedule a termination. I could continue the pregnancy, and they would support me the best they could, but they were very clear there were no cures for what they were seeing. Or I could have testing, wait for the results of the testing, and make my decision after that.” Ultimately, Williams decided to have the genetic testing done, but to move forward with terminating the pregnancy. “They told us in our case, while we might find an underlying cause for what we were seeing, there was nothing that could be discovered through the genetic testing that could change the prognosis,” Williams says. “For us, even though it was an incredibly difficult decision to make, that felt more clear-cut. I didn’t want to bring a baby into this world to know only pain and suffering, when I had the choice to end the pregnancy in what felt like the most humane way.” Williams had to wait one week for the procedure. She says it was the hardest week of her life. The procedure was done over two days on Feb. 24 and 25. Afterward, she took a few weeks off work to recover. “I was very lucky,” Williams says. “Everyone was incredibly supportive and gave me space and support. Not a single person I talked to questioned my decision. Amazing. It pulled me through.” But then in the first week of April, Williams was made aware that a ban on abortions after 20 weeks had been proposed in the Pennsylvania state legislature. “It hit me like a ton of bricks,” Williams says. “My decision was being publicly debated about by people with no medical background and who have never personally experienced this, for what seemed like political gain.” Since then, Williams has been sharing her experience to help educate people. She says abortions after 20 weeks are rare, and the vast majority of those cases are due to fetal anomalies. Medical professionals say 20 weeks is the earliest time many fetal abnormalities can be detected. And according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, in 2015 in Pennsylvania, there were 320 abortions after the 20week window. “This is less than 1 percent of abortions, and these are wanted pregnancies,” says Semler of Planned Parenthood. “It’s
“IT HIT ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS.”
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especially women. There is simply no such thing as equality and justice, if people can’t control whether and when and how they can become pregnant.” Pittsburgh has seen some positive movement on the issue. Earlier this month, a federal judge upheld a city ordinance establishing a 15-foot buffer zone around abortion clinics to keep protesters at bay, and just last week, Pittsburgh City Council passed a resolution in support of state and federal funding for abortion access. But there are still many hurdles. In December, activists believe, Pennsylvania legislators are poised to revisit a piece of legislation that would ban abortions after 20 weeks, a bill similar to the one Murphy voted for at the federal level. “I think we’re seeing a resurgence in anti-abortion sentiment, in part because we have a federal administration that doesn’t have regard for a women’s right to choose, let alone women’s access to birth control,” says Jessica Semler, publicaffairs director of Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania. “We have a president who said during his campaign that there has to be some type of punishment for women who have abortions. In Pennsylvania, we have a 20-week abortion-ban bill that keeps coming back even though the public doesn’t want it. “It really feels like opponents [of] women’s rights and access are feeling galvanized right now. It’s a scary time.”
IN FEBRUARY 2016, Pittsburgh resident Kelsey Williams visited her doctor’s office for a standard 20-week ultrasound. She was pregnant with her second child and up until then had been having a healthy pregnancy. “I’d already had one pregnancy, so I sort of knew what to expect,” says Williams. “But it was taking a while, and at the end, the ultrasound technician told us the baby had clubbed feet. “It turned out that not only did the baby have clubbed feet and legs, but clubbed hands, wrists and arms, which was indicative of the fact that the baby wasn’t moving at all. Seeing those deformities was an indicator that there was a systemic neurological or muscular issue going on.” Williams was 20 weeks and five days pregnant. Pennsylvania’s current law allows for abortions up to 23 weeks and six days. The full genetic testing for fetal abnormalities takes two weeks. And Pennsylvania has a mandatory 24-hour waiting period between consenting and the procedure. So even with the 24-week
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Congratulations to the winning teams of the 2017 Fine Awards
AHN CENTER FOR INCLUSION HEALTH
AHN FORBES HOSPITAL
Project Team: Medical Respite - Innovative care to vulnerable populations
Project Team: Failure to Rescue - Improving healthcare provider recognition of human trafficking
Judy Adams Katherine Conroy Elizabeth Cuevas Katherine Deutsch Danielle Dipre Maggie Feinstein Annette Fetchko Stuart Fisk Keebee Oladipo Patrick Perri Patricia Park Heather Richards Courtney Watson
The Fine Awards recognize Western Pennsylvania healthcare professionals on the front lines working together as a team to improve patient care, safety, and efficiency.
JEWISH FAMILY & CHILDREN’S SERVICE
Misty Baer Melissa Barr Thomas Campbell Amber Egyud Dan Ford Donna Meininger Janie Miller Val Wilson Paulisick Stephanie Petitta Marcee Radakovich Linda Ricci Mike Taramelli
PREVENTION POINT PITTSBURGH Project Team: Overdose prevention project
Project Team: Refugee & immigrant support groups
WESTERN PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE AND CLINIC OF UPMC
Aaron Arnold Alice Bell Sarah Danforth Katherine Houston Ron Johnson Kathryn Muzzio Jessica Williams
Leslie Aizenman Wafaa Alobaidi Faiz Al-salihi Azadeh Block Dawn Brubaker Til Gurung Mark Lepore Rup Pokharel Alla Puchinsky Simone Vecchio Gila Wasserman-Lux
UPMC CENTER FOR HIGH-VALUE HEALTH CARE Project Team: Optimal Health - Optimizing behavioral health homes for adults with serious mental illness Tracy Carney Chae Ryon Kang Justin Kanter Jane Kogan Michele Mesiano Cara Nikolajski
SPONSORS:
Meghna Parthasarathy Charles Reynolds Patty Schake James Schuster
Project Team: Peer Navigator Project - Embedding peer recovery support in acute care settings Curt Bell Jennifer Dee David Gardner Camellia Herisko Abhishek Jain Kathleen Jasek Kenneth Nash Patricia Neumeyer Keirston Parham Gina Perez Gina Russo-Sonafelt Manish Sapra Amy Shanahan
For more information about the Fine Awards visit: jhf.org/fine-awards
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Take any Downtown bus route or take Light Rail to the Wood Street Station. NEWS
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HARD TO SWALLOW These Pennsylvania politicians have received the most money from pharmaceutical companies accused of exacerbating the opioid crisis {BY RYAN DETO} IN OCTOBER, Beaver County officials filed a lawsuit against a dozen pharmaceutical companies, alleging that they blatantly overprescribed painkillers and worsened the region’s opioid crisis. According to the complaint, opioid prescriptions quadrupled, starting in the early 2000s, and as a result, pharmaceutical companies made billions in profits. Beaver County officials say the opioid epidemic is costing them millions in emergency services, while also taking hundreds of lives. In 2016, Beaver County lost 102 people to overdoses and Allegheny County had a record 650 overdose deaths. The lawsuit came on the heels of an investigation from The Washington Post and 60 Minutes outlining the influence “Big Pharma” has had on the federal government. Robert Peirce, the attorney representing Beaver County, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in October, “They can buy the feds, maybe, but they can’t buy the local communities.” City Paper sought to determine just how much in campaign contributions these pharmaceutical companies have donated to area politicians. It turns out that Western Pennsylvania politicians have received hundreds of thousands in campaign donations from pharmaceutical companies. Using the National Institute on Money in State Politics campaign-finance-tracking website, followthemoney.org, CP counted all post-2000 donations from the following companies named in the Beaver County lawsuit: Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Endo Health Solutions, Allergan, Actavis, Watson Pharmaceuticals, McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen. It should also be noted that former U.S. representatives Jason Altmire (D-McCandless) and Tim Murphy (R-Upper St. Clair) received tens of thousands of dollars in donations, but weren’t included since they no longer hold elected office. RYAN DETO@PG HCITY PAPER.COM
Toomey received the most campaign donations from the companies of any politician representing Western Pennsylvania. Toomey’s commitment to tackling the opioid crisis was called into question in June, when he worked on the Senate Republicans’ attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Toomey’s proposal only allocated $2 billion a year to combat the opioid epidemic, even as experts said the crisis would likely cost $19 billion a year.
Casey came in second on the list, but it should be noted that he has served four years longer than Toomey. And, he has authored several bills to increase funding and provide additional structures to combat the opioid epidemic. But Casey doesn’t support a single-payer health-care system, which would likely give the government more control of health care and could disrupt the influence pharmaceutical companies have on the industry.
The 3rd District congressman has been a staunch opponent of the ACA since he came into office in 2011. Kelly voted for the U.S. House ACA repeal in May, which proposed kicking 14 million people off Medicaid. Harvard University health-care policy experts say 1.84 million people currently receive substance-abuse treatment through Medicaid or the ACA marketplace.
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Pittsburgh’s U.S. rep received less than other Western Pennsylvania reps like Murphy and Kelly, but more than others in the state. Doyle has been an outspoken critic of Republicans’ attempts to repeal the ACA, and has supported a single-payer health-care bill since 2005.
Scarnati may reside on the edges of Western Pennsylvania in Jefferson County, but the large donations made to him were notable. Scarnati received the most cash of any Pennsylvania state representative, and he is the state senate’s highest ranking Republican member.
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Baker’s district is outside of Western Pennsylvania, but his role in the state house warranted an inclusion. Baker chairs the house’s health committee, which is often where opioid-related bills are first introduced and discussed. He also received the most individual donations (12) of any politician on the list.
The most powerful Republican in state government has been building a campaign war chest for years, while taking significant cash from companies accused of worsening the state’s opioid epidemic. This month, Turzai announced he is running for governor. He has repeatedly said that the opioid crisis is a priority, but has indicated that solutions should not include an increase in state spending.
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Know someone who dedicates their life to making Pittsburgh a better place?
If so, nominate them to be named
Pittsburgh City Paper’s
Pittsburgher of the Year
News of the Weird
Nominations will be taken until 5 p.m. Wed., Dec. 6, online at www.pghcitypaper.com. The winner will be selected by CP’s editorial staff.
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W E I RD N E W S T I P S@ AM UNI V E R S AL . C O M .
{COMPILED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL PUBLISHING}
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Members of the Spann family of Comanche County, Okla., keep running afoul of that state’s incest law, with the latest dust-up over the marriage of 26-year-old Misty Spann and her 43-year-old mother, Patricia, in March 2016. The two had been separated after Patricia lost custody of her young kids, but when they resumed contact a few years ago, Patricia told investigators, “they hit it off.” KFOR reported that Patricia also married one of her sons in 2008, but two years later that marriage was annulled. Another son reported to KSWO-TV that Patricia tried to start an inappropriate relationship with him, but he shut her down. In early November, Misty received a 10-year deferred sentence and will serve two years’ probation. Her mother/ex-wife (their union was annulled in October) will be sentenced in January.
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Since Twitter announced that it would allow 280-character messages rather than its original 140, a whole new world has opened up for the game-addicted among us. Gizmodo reports that tweeters are using the expanded tweetspace to play board games such as chess, Connect Four, Shogi and Go. Games are even being customized; one tweet enthuses about “Marine biology twitter-chess. With a new marine biology fact every time a piece is moved, and a scientifically accurate death scene when a piece is taken.” Uh, OK.
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A sharp-eyed Google Earth user from Leeds, England, searching for Longcross Studios in Surrey, came across a Star Wars fan’s dream: the Millennium Falcon, nestled inside a ring of stacked shipping containers and covered with a tarp. Andi Durrant tweeted about his find Nov. 8. The spaceship was used in filming Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi at Longcross; that movie is set for release Dec. 15.
+ Nominees must be from or work primarily in Allegheny County.
S E N D YO UR WE I R D N E WS I T E M S TO
Becky Reilly of Omaha, Neb., was forced to call in a roofing company after discovering thousands of honeybees had invaded her home’s attic, producing so much honey that it was dripping down the side of the house. “We heard a loud and rhythmic buzzing, and it was somewhat terrifying because we knew what it meant,” Reilly told KETV. Jason Starkey of Takoda Green Roofing said he removed about 40 pounds of honey on Oct. 26 before moving the bees and tackling the damage, which he called “horrible.” Local beekeeper John Gebuhr moved the bees to his garage, but he is pessimistic about their survival through the winter. But Reilly’s friends and neighbors are thrilled: They’re getting honey for Christmas!
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An Indonesian museum, De Mata Trick Eye Museum in Yogyakarta, has been forced to remove an exhibit that encouraged visitors to take a selfie with a waxwork of Adolf Hitler. The figure, which stood in front of a giant image of the entrance to Auschwitz concentration camp, had been on display
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since 2014, and the museum said it was one of the most popular displays. Metro News reported that the museum originally defended the exhibit as “fun,” but when the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles demanded its removal, the museum complied, taking it down on Nov. 10.
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Sean A. Sykes Jr., 24, of Kansas City, Mo., has discovered one way to avoid the justice system. Sykes was detained in a Sept. 1 traffic stop, but he denied any knowledge of the drugs and handguns found in the car, The Kansas City Star reported. As he was being questioned at the police station, the detective wrote in his report, Sykes was asked his address. In response, he “leaned to one side of his chair and released a loud fart before answering with the address. Mr. Sykes continued to be flatulent and I ended the interview,” the detective wrote. Charges were not filed at that time, but Sykes was pulled over again on Nov. 5 and was in possession of marijuana, crack cocaine and a
stolen pistol. He was in custody awaiting a bond hearing.
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Council officers for the village of Blubberhouses, in North Yorkshire, England, stumbled upon seven trash bags full of cannabis plants at the side of a road on Nov. 12, according to the BBC. They contacted the North Yorkshire Police, whereupon Constable Amanda Hanusch-Moore tweeted a photo of the bags and invited the owners to “come and speak to us at Harrogate Police Station, we’re more than happy to discuss!”
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Rondell Tony Chinuhuk, 32, of Anchorage, Alaska, had the pedal to the metal on Nov. 7 when he nicked a motorized shopping cart from a Safeway store in Fairbanks. But the battery-operated Mart Cart tops out at 1.9 miles per hour, so even after a 10-minute joyride, he had barely left the parking lot. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported that Chinuhuk was charged with felony second-degree theft.
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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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NEW LOCAL RELEASES Radon Chong I KEEP ON TALKING TO YOU SINGLE GIRL MARRIED GIRL RADONCHONG.BANDCAMP.COM
Radon Chong — a Pittsburgh act that crafts musical nooses out of knotted guitars — sets its sights high on I Keep on Talking to You, a debut cassette sitting at the intersection of post-rock’s interwoven trajectories and Captain Beefheart’s atonal laments. And, man oh man, does this band bloody and utterly batter those sights. In nine too-short songs, these guys leave just about everyone else writing guitardriven rock in Southwestern Pennsylvania looking misinformed or, worse yet, absolutely clueless. Songs like “Farm Pays For Me,” with arrhythmic bursts of guitar-sound from Brian Hecht and Jim Price, are angular and cutting-edge stuff. The song’s bizarre presentation made all the more delicious by front man Sasha Weisfeld, who not only manages to stay in tune (no small feat) but amplifies a kind of demented joy at the madness going on around him. Elsewhere, as on “Second to One,” the band tips its hat to Chicago post-rock legends Cheer-Accident by winding a guitar-string rope around your throat or, on the closing half of “Cold Hands,” reduces blues rock to just dissonant strumming and throaty moaning. Enticing, indeed. One of the best tracks on the cassette, available on Bandcamp and through Philadelphiabased indie Single 9 p.m. Thu., Girl Married Girl, is its Nov. 30. Brillobox, 4104 Penn Ave., opener, “Faith-Based Bloomfield. $7. Charles,” which, despite 412-621-4900 a lulling close, is 90 seconds of wonderful, in-your-face dissonance. It’s followed by “Grandma Anthropology,” which features sweeping, melancholy passages of guitar, bass and voice, as well as its fair share of disorienting harmonics and hand-muted guitar chops. The band does not hesitate to explore every crooked idiom it can find. The fact that there’s not a dud on the offering is completely overshadowed by Radon Chong’s unique mode of presentation, which isn’t as concerned with verse/chorus/ verse molds or clean lines as it is sonic dissonance. That word — “dissonance,” and all its variations — will come to mind plenty when listening to Radon Chong, and for good reason. These guys aren’t just in a different tuning than most Pittsburgh bands — they’re operating on another plane. It’s a good thing for us plebeians they’re dictating the experience.
{CP PHOTOS BY JAKE MYSLIWCZYK}
Chase and the Barons, from left, Michael Saunders, Jake Stretch, Chase Barron, Tyler Handyside, Jacob Rieger
THE CHASE IS ON {BY CHARLIE DEITCH}
W
HILE EVERY young person knows that you’re supposed to listen to your mother, very few often do. Fortunately for drummer Jake Stretch, he took his mother’s advice roughly four years ago at an open house for accepted students at Point Park University. “My mom’s with me, and she says, ‘That guy’s wearing a Bob Marley hoodie. You love Bob Marley, you wear his shirts all the time. You’re going to love him.’” Stretch says. “So, I was like, ‘OK, Mom, I’ll make a friend because of you.’ But, I guess it really worked out well.” The other student in the Bob Marley hoodie was Chase Barron. The two became friends and that union led to the formation of Chase and the Barons, a hard-rock dance band that has been playing since 2016. On Nov. 2, the band won Pittsburgh City Paper’s Face the
BY JUSTIN VELLUCCI
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Music Battle of the Bands at Jergel’s Rhythm Grille, in Warrendale. The group opened the six-band show and its 15minute set of original music was good enough to hold off the competition.
CHASE AND THE BARONS 9 p.m. Fri., Dec. 1. Wooley Bullys, 1317 Allegheny St., New Brighton. Free. 724-843-4702 or www.wooleybullys.com
Not bad for a group that’s been together less than two years. But the closeness of these five guys — Barron, Stretch, guitarist Mike Saunders, bassist Jacob Rieger and saxophonist (yes, saxophonist) Tyler Handyside — is indicative of the amount of time they spend together, not just working on music, but also living their lives.
The band grew organically out of necessity and friendships. Stretch was helping Barron record a solo record, when Rieger, who knew Stretch from when he answered Stretch’s Craigslist ad looking for a bassist on an earlier project, was brought in to play bass. Rieger and Stretch knew Saunders from playing in another band together, and when the decision was made to add a saxophonist, Rieger knew Handyside from high school. In fact, on the day CP sat down with the band at Rum Runners in Ross Township, the quintet walked to the bar together from a nearby house where Rieger and Saunders live with Stretch and his fiancée. The band members share a closeness and a love of music that has helped them greatly as they embark on what they hope will soon be a full-time musical career. “It’s actually ridiculous how well the
five of us get along,” says Handyside, a guy that his bandmates say can play the sax “like a lead guitar.” “The worst thing anyone ever does,” he continues, “is being almost late for rehearsal.” The guys played their first gig together on New Year’s Eve 2015 at a house party in a friend’s basement. “In order to play, we had to renovate the basement of this house in Oakland,” Barron says. “To the point of ripping cobwebs off the walls for an hour and then pouring cement to fix the floor.” “But when you’re starting out at our age, the only way to get your name out there and grow a fan base is to play in people’s basements,” he adds. These days, however, the band is working more than ever. In 2016, Chase and the Barons played 25 shows. This year, the group will play its 100th show on New Year’s Eve. The members are currently working on a full-length release that is due out April 20; they are also planning a tour around that record to move beyond the friendly confines of the Three Rivers area. Currently, all five have day jobs, and Barron and Handyside are finishing up college. But the band just started making enough money in the past month to begin paying its members and they are hoping to
Chase and the Barons on stage at City Paper’s Face the Music Battle of the Bands
continue that momentum. “I think it’s the goal of everyone here to make this our living,” Rieger says. Adds Stretch: “I think we’re all now on the same page about where we want this band to go. To make our living doing this, we need to make $130,000 a year as a band, and right now, we’re taking it a year a time. The current goal is to finish the new record, promote it, get some hype around it, and then tour behind it.” After seeing Chase and the Barons play live, and learning about the work they’ve put in as musicians to get good, it’s hard
to imagine them not being able to make it happen. Barron, for example, began playing piano at an early age, and at 8, “got my first serious instrument, Guitar Hero II.” He practiced incessantly and became so good that he says he won thousands of dollars in gaming contests before the age of 12. He gave up the game and began working more as a songwriter. Stretch got a drum set, and by age 10, he was playing Led Zeppelin at a school talent show. Saunders, the band’s lead guitarist, was heavy into martial arts as a youngster, but when his teacher moved back to Korea, he began to focus on guitar
and on the music of “nu metal” bands like Disturbed (“once I started playing guitar, that was the end of my good grades in school,” he says). Rieger grew up in a musical family and started off playing his dad’s drums. When his dad got rid of the drums, he picked up an old bass guitar thinking, “it was better than nothing, but that’s when I really started expressing myself.” And Handyside started playing saxophone in grade school, but thought of it as little more than a hobby until he started playing in a jazz band. Now he teaches music and is working on a master’s degree in musical performance at Duquesne University. “The dream is to be that awesome band that can make a difference, and be big and sell a bunch of records and make money to support yourselves off original music,” Barron says. Adds Saunders: “But most importantly, the way that this could turn out doesn’t affect how hard we’re working now. We’re putting everything we have into this band, because the one thing we don’t want to do, is look back and think, ‘Oh, we should have worked harder.’ This is the best time in our lives to make a run at something like this. We’re putting everything we have into it now, because there’s no going backward for us.” C D E I T C H @ P G H C I T Y PA P E R. C OM
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IDEALIZED BODY {BY ELI ENIS} SELF-DEPRECATION has essentially become
a survival mechanism for millennials, a comforting comedic form to ease the dread of impending joblessness, governmental collapse and climatic apocalypse within our lifetimes. Throughout much of the broader internet culture (particularly on Twitter), it’s sort of become cool to be “uncool” — to emphasize, rather than shelter, our flaws in the hopes that others will affirm them, fostering some semblance of camaraderie amongst our collective hopelessness. Lately, the music scene has begun to echo those sentiments. Punk stalwart Jeff Rosenstock ruminated on perpetual uncertainty with his 2016 opus Worry., and Rozwell Kid has been transforming shameful eating choices and chronic awkwardness into extravagant grunge-pop songs for the past half-decade. Drug Church, however, is a five-piece punk band from the Albany, N.Y., region that completely skirts self-deprecation to bathe in utter pathos. To wit: describing its 2013 debut as “the perfect record to listen to as you skate home from your night shift cleaning up puke in the bathroom of a Steak & Shake”; assigning names like “Drunk
Drug Church
Tank,” “Reading YouTube Comments” and “Selling Drugs From Your Mom’s Condo” to its sonically dingy songs; and exploring such topics as picking through your neighbor’s garbage, piss-smelling subway stations, and observing a father sneak out back during his 12-year-old’s birthday party to smoke a joint. Drug Church exists on a plane of blithe shamelessness that’s rivaled only by the pure loserdom of the Trailer Park Boys characters. “I’m, like, really not a very efficient or capable adult,” frontman Patrick Kindlon tells City Paper, his radio-ready speaking voice and remarkably sharp wit offering a
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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.29/12.06.2017
striking contrast to the boisterous croak he employs in his shithead anthems. “Maybe in talking to me and listening to me, you’re like, ‘This guy is kinda smart.’ That’s just a clever ruse.” “I’ve talked my way into positions that I don’t deserve, and then I inevitably fuck it up, ’cause (a) I’m not good at it, and (b) not capable enough to do it. I’ve definitely cost my employers thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars on occasion,” he says, referring to the narrative on the band’s new single “Weed Pin,” a song about getting fired for ruining scientific samples at a new lab job. Kindlon wryly clarifies that the song isn’t entirely autobiographical, but that it’s “what the Trump administration calls an emotional fact, if not a fact in truth.” Despite his professional inabilities — a theme that pops up frequently throughout the band’s two full-lengths and handful of EPs — and aggressively below-average anecdotes, Kindlon is an unconventionally gifted musician, and Drug Church is a uniquely brilliant band. His vocals waver between a throaty yelp and a relatively monotone speak-sing. This adds emphasis to the straightforwardness of lines like, “A brief lesson in cool, start lifting weights in your yard / keep the goal line in view, find a stripper, fall in love,” and makes listeners question where Kindlon’s dark, dry characterizations end, and the depressing personal accounts begin. Musically, the band finds its sound offering big, ugly, meaty riffs that fall somewhere between Pixies and Nothing, but with the hardcore sneer of Quicksand and Seaweed. “Think Jesus and Mary Chain playing Goo Goo Dolls songs,” Kindlon says, of the upcoming record, which is still in the demo stage. “Basically, just pick any alt-rock staple and then mix it with something more obnoxious.” The band really does sound like an unexpected success of a theoretically ill-fitting combination, which has, for better or worse,
hindered its ability to join any particular scene. Its current tour slot opening for poppunk posse The Story So Far and hardcore creatives Turnstile is a great example of the band’s misplacement — something Kindlon appreciates. “What I dislike about it is the same thing I like about it. I like the fact that it’s a varied audience, different types of people. That’s all cool, because playing in front of the same people can become dull as hell,” he says. Kindlon says that Drug Church’s audience is an even split between those two crowds, which landed the band a deal with Pure Noise Records for its next album. Appropriately, Drug Church doesn’t sound like anyone else on that label, but he assures fans that the new songs are “as close as I get to tight.”
THE STORY SO FAR WITH DRUG CHURCH AND TURNSTILE
8 p.m. Wed., Nov. 29. Rex Theater. 1602 E. Carson St., South Side. $22-25 (sold out). 412-381-6811 or www.rextheater.net
“If you were like, ‘Wow, Drug Church is really cool,’ and then you had a dream about a perfect ideal of Drug Church and woke up, then that would be this record.” He begins telling a story about a kid from high school who fell off the map. When he reappeared, he had become a painter, and he invited Kindlon over to view his artwork. “All of his paintings were of himself with a super-idealized body,” Kindlon says, describing the house as the type of place where “you expect someone to hit you over the head with a mallet and tie you down.” Eventually, he brings the reference back to his band. “This Drug Church is the idealized-body painting version of Drug Church.” Lyrically, though, nothing has changed. “Straight loser,” he says. “It may veer slightly from loser into just frustrated incompetence.” I N F O@ P G HC I T Y PA P E R. C OM
FRESH POP {BY MIKE SHANLEY}
LoFi Delphi
On its third release, LoFi Delphi worked closely with J Vega, who runs Wilderness Studios, where the band recorded its new EP, TILT. Vega became something of a George Martin figure to the band, encouraging ideas and tweaking others. At one point during the sessions, he made an astute observation to bassist Andrew Belsick: “I think you’re going to have to change your band name, because this is the most hi-fi record I’ve ever made,” Vega said. He was right. Belsick and keyboardist/vocalist Becki Gallagher both say that LoFi Delphi plays pop music. Onstage, the hooks are immediately obvious, though they’re delivered with the power of a rock band. Gallagher’s keyboards add a bright sheen that complements the crunch of Andrew MacDonald’s guitar and the rhythm section of Belsick and drummer Tyler Jessup. MacDonald regularly sings harmonies behind Gallagher’s strong voice. The band’s second CD, All the Quiet Ones, went heavy on moody atmosphere, so this time the members wanted to push the hooks to the forefront. “We wanted something really poppy, really bright, really melodic. And we wanted to be able to layer all the harmonies that we could come up with,” Gallagher says. The band prepared for the sessions by playing demos for Vega, who knew immediately what approach to take. “Very early in the process, [Vega] said, ‘I want to try to do [what] The Cars [did], where you have a lead melody and just stack behind it, with three people singing the same harmony against that vocal melody,’” Belsick recalls. Along with Gallagher and MacDonald, the group brought in Maura Jacob (of Action Camp and Garter Shakes, which includes Gallagher) and singer-songwriter Jess Klein to contribute harmonies. “I had such a blast, because I felt like I was able to come out of my shell as a vocalist,” Gallagher says. It shows in the songs, which range from anthemic (“Buck”) to pure pop (“Phone”), climaxing with the six-minute title track that expands the template of a typical pop song. Besides performances, the upcoming CD-release show features a play-for-charity pinball game courtesy of Starport Arcade. INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
LOFI DELPHI CD RELEASE with Wreck Loose, Essential Machine, The Telephone Line 8:30 p.m. Fri., Dec. 1. The Funhouse at Mr. Smalls, 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. $7. 412-821-4447 or www.mrsmalls.com NEWS
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SATURDAY
CRITICS’ PICKS
December 9th 4PM FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF PITTSBURGH
The Mountain Goats
[INDIE POP] + FRI., DEC. 01
WWW.MUSIC.PITT.EDU/TICKETS
[FOLK ROCK] + SAT., DEC. 02
{PHOTO COURTESY OF HAYDEN SITOMER}
Featuring works by Biebl, Handl and Rachmaninoff
It’s been three years since we last heard from Donora, and the band’s return couldn’t have come at a better time. Bright but not overproduced, upbeat but not lacking for edge, Donora’s music has an unmatched ability to bring gloomy folks out of their funks — and there’s no shortage of folks in funks these days. Tonight at Spirit, celebrate the release of the new album Sun to Me, alongside the pristine soul/funk of The Buckle Downs and Glo Phase’s crisp moody chillwave, plus the surreal artwork of Aimee Peaer Manion. Alex Gordon 9 p.m. 242 51st St., Lawrenceville. Free. 21 and over. 412-586-4441 or www.spiritpgh.com
Indie folk-rock band The Mountain Goats are probably best known for the popular track “This Year,” which asserts “I am going to make it through this year / If it kills me.” As we near the end of 2017 (unofficially the longest year of all time), this song and the Goats’ brand of dark-hearted optimism are especially resonant. The band’s latest, Goths, is a percussion-driven record which features Lou Reed-like crooning and lush horn sections. Catch the Goats at Mr. Smalls tonight, along with North Carolina post-punk group Jenny Besetzt. Hannah Lynn 8 p.m. 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. $26. All ages. 412-821-4447 or www.mrsmalls.com
[MOODY] + SUN., DEC. 03 There’s something for everyone tonight at Mr. Roboto Project (as long as everyone has a lot of feelings). Brooklyn-based Peaer makes low and
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slow punk with a rotating lineup of musicians. Its latest self-titled album ranges from dark and philosophical to slightly less dark and hopeful. The band will be joined by Pinstripe Sunny, which makes jazzy dream-pop with on-hold music as an inspiration. Poet and musician Brittney Chantele makes honest art about race, religion and sexual identity. Rounding out the show are some goth tunes from duo Sleeping Witch & Saturn. HL 7 p.m. 5106 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. $7. All ages. wwwthe robotoproject.com
[DANCE+ FUNK] + SAT., DEC. 02 Writings on the Wall has managed to create a space and community that grows and fosters collaboration and connection. Its sixth iteration at Flow Lounge features musical performers Starship Mantis, a groovy-ass band that makes funky dance tunes and radiates positive energy. There will also be an open jam session beginning at midnight and, as per usual, a big canvas sheet on the wall to leave your mark, if (when) you’re feeling inspired by the artists around you. Meg Fair 9 p.m. 282 Morewood Ave., Bloomfield. $10-12. www.WOTW6.eventbrite.com
[INDIE ROCK] + TUE., DEC. 05 Okey Dokey is a good name for Okey Dokey. Johny Fisher (The Weeks) and Aaron Martin’s music is affable, slightly retro and easy on the ears (think: Dr. Dog, Foxygen, that kind of stuff). Catch them playing tunes from their debut, Love You, Mean It, tonight at Spirit. AG 9 p.m. 242 51st St., Lawrenceville. $8-10. 21 and over. 412-586-4441 or www.spiritpgh.com
BELVEDERES TO SUBMIT A LISTING: WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM/HAPPENINGS {ALL LISTINGS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY 9 A.M. FRIDAY PRIOR TO PUBLICATION}
ROCK/POP THU 30 REX THEATER. Lespecial & Backup Planet. 7 p.m. South Side. 612-381-6811.
FRI 01 HAMBONE’S. The Girlie Show: Female Artist Showcase. 9 p.m. Lawrenceville. 814-403-2989. MOONDOG’S. Kosher Delhi, Dave Tauberg & Eric Weingard of theCAUSE w/ Bob Banerjee. 9 p.m. Blawnox. 412-828-2040. SNPJ LODGE. The GRID. 7:30 p.m. Imperial. 724-695-1800. SPIRIT HALL & LODGE. Donora, Buckle Downs, Glo Phase. 9 p.m. Lawrenceville. 412-586-4441. STAGE AE. Nevada Color. 7 p.m. North Side. 412-229-5483.
SAT 02 BAJA BAR AND GRILL. Mercedez. 9 p.m. Fox Chapel. 412-963-0640. CRUZE BAR. little good bad, VaVaVegas Burlesque & Alicia Romano. 7 p.m. Strip District. 412-471-1400. DORMONT VFW HALL. The
Rockers. 7 p.m. Dormont. 412-344-4667. DOWNEY’S HOUSE. The Blue Bombers. 9:30 p.m. Robinson. 412-489-5631. HAMBONE’S. King Fez. 10 p.m. Lawrenceville. 412-681-4318. MR. SMALLS THEATER. The Mountain Goats. 8 p.m. Millvale. 412-821-4447. ZANDERS SPORTS BAR & NIGHT CLUB. Sawyer Rush Tribute. 9 p.m. Monroeville. 724-387-2444.
Town All-Stars. 7 p.m. Dormont. 412-942-0882. SPIRIT HALL & LODGE. Victory At The Crossroads, Blue Clutch & Kleptosonic. 9 p.m. Lawrenceville. 814-403-2989.
ULTRA-DIVE THURS NOV 30
NEON 80S NIGHT $
TUE 05
1 PBR TILL 12
CLUB CAFE. Chad VanGaalen w/ Un Blonde. 7 p.m. South Side. 412-431-4950. PALACE THEATRE. Michael Bolton. 7:30 p.m. Greensburg. 724-836-8000. REX THEATER. The Barr Brothers. www. per pa 8 p.m. South Side. pghcitym .co 412-381-6811.
FRI DEC 1
CONCRETE JUNGLE NY HIP HOP W DJ ADMC
FULL LIST ONLINE
SUN 03
CLUB CAFE. Anjroy, Leaders of the Shift & Glo Phase. The release of Anjroy debut album, “Sonic Sea”. 7:30 p.m. South Side. 412-431-4950. DIESEL. Drake Bell. 8 p.m. South Side. 412-431-8800. MOONDOG’S. Spectrum, Miss Freddye’s Blues Band & John Vento. 2 p.m. Blawnox. 412-828-2040. THE MR. ROBOTO PROJECT. Peaer, Pinstripe Sunny, Brittney Chantele, Sleeping Witch & Saturn. 7 p.m. Bloomfield. THE R BAR. Billy the Kid’s Steel
MP 3 MONDAY SOFT GONDOLA
SAT DEC 2
$ .50
2
90S NITE
YUENGLING TILL 11ISH
MON YOGA @ 8PM
WED 06
TUES KARAOKE @ 10PM
KEYSTONE BAR. The Bo’Hog Brothers. 7 p.m. Sewickley. 724-758-4217. REX THEATER. Busty and the Bass. 8 p.m. South Side. 412-381-6811.
4016 BUTLER STREET PITTSBURGH, PA 15201 412-687-2555
DJS
WWW.BELVEDERESULTRADIVE.COM
THU 30 BELVEDERE’S. dj hates you 2.0 & dj killjoy. Neon 80s night. 10 p.m. Lawrenceville. 412-687-2555. MR. SMALLS THEATER. Centrifuge Thursdays. At the Funhouse. 9 p.m. Millvale. 412-821-4447. PERLE CHAMPAGNE BAR. Bobby D Bachata. 10 p.m. Downtown. 412-471-2058.
FRI 01 ANDYS WINE BAR. DJ Malls Spins Vinyl. 5 p.m. Downtown. 412-773-8884. BRILLOBOX. Pandemic : Global Dancehall, Cumbia, Bhangra, Balkan Bass. 9:30 p.m. Bloomfield. 412-621-4900. CATTIVO. Gabba-Ghoulies! with Teknoist, Skull Vomit, BitMummy, BlackDaddy. 9 p.m. Lawrenceville. 412-320-1476. DEE’S CAFE. Soul & Rock-n-Roll w/ DJ Ian. 10 p.m. South Side. 412-431-1314. THE FLATS ON CARSON. Pete Butta. 10 p.m. South Side. 412-586-7644. ONE 10 LOUNGE. DJ Goodnight, DJ Rojo. 9 p.m. Downtown. 412-874-4582. RUGGER’S PUB. 80s Night w/ DJ Connor. 9 p.m. South Side. 412-381-1330.
Each week we post a song from a local artist online for free. This week, it’s “Six Eyes,” by Soft Gondola. It’s a dreamy, soft voyage, doused in reverb, and full of surreal, colorful lyrical imagery. Stream or download “Six Eyes” for free on FFW>>>, the music blog at pghcitypaper.com.
SAT 02 BELVEDERE’S. Sean MC & Thermos. 90s night. 10 p.m. Lawrenceville. 412-687-2555. CATTIVO. Illusions. w/ Funerals & Arvin Clay. 9 p.m. Lawrenceville. 412-687-2157. CONTINUES ON PG. 22
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CONCERTS, CONTINUED FROM PG. 21
DIESEL. DJ CK. 10 p.m. South Side. 412-431-8800. PERLE CHAMPAGNE BAR. DJ Tenova. ladies night. 9 p.m. Downtown. 412-471-2058. SPIRIT HALL & LODGE. TITLE TOWN Soul & Funk Party. Rare Soul, Funk & wild R&B 45s feat. DJ Gordy G. & J.Malls. 9 p.m. Lawrenceville. 412-586-4441.
FRI 01
TUE 05
MIKE’S NEW MOON SALOON. Jack of Diamonds w/ Angry Johnny & Sean McGuire. 9 p.m. Gibsonia. 724-265-8188. MOONDOG’S. Tas Cru & the Tortured Souls w/ Soulful Femme. 8 p.m. Blawnox. 412-828-2040.
THE GOLDMARK. Pete Butta. Reggae & dancehall. 10 p.m. Lawrenceville. 412-688-8820. SEVICHE. Hot Salsa & Bachata Nights. 10 p.m. Downtown. 843-670-8465.
WED 06 SMILING MOOSE. Rock Star Karaoke w/ T-MONEY. 9:30 p.m. South Side. 412-431-4668.
HIP HOP/R&B MON 04 STAGE AE. Lecrae. 6 p.m. North Side. 412-229-5483.
WED 06 ROCKS LANDING BAR & GRILLE. Tony Campbell feat. Teresa Hawthorne. 7:30 p.m. McKees Rocks. 412. 875.5809.
BLUES THU 30 O’DONNA’S. The Bo’Hog Brothers. 8 p.m. Beaver. 878-313-3418.
blogh.pghcitypaper.com
Clicking “reload” makes the workday go faster
BAJA BAR AND GRILL. The Tony Janflone Jr. Band. 8 p.m. Fox Chapel. 412-963-0640. CIOPPINO RESTAURANT & CIGAR BAR. The Midnight Express Band. 7 p.m. Strip District. 412-281-6593.
and actor, Michael Marra performs The Grinch Medley with the orchestra and choir. Marra lived in New York City for 18 years and has performed both on and off Broadway. Marra can be seen and heard in a variety of commercials and voiceovers for companies and industries in the Pittsburgh and Cleveland areas. 7:30 p.m. Butler Intermediate High School, Butler. 724-283-1402. RALEIGH RINGERS HANDBELL ENSEMBLE HOLIDAY CONCERT. 7:30 p.m. Carnegie Music Hall, Oakland. 412-622-3131.
Here are four songs that CP’s art director Lisa Cunningham can’t stop listening to:
SAT 02
Juliana Hatfield
“I Got No Idols”
MON 04
PJ Harvey
JAZZ
FACULTY RECITAL: THE COMPLETE BEETHOVEN PIANO/ VIOLIN SONATAS. Cyrus Forough, violin Sergey Schepkin, piano In this fourth and final recital featuring the complete Beethoven Piano/Violin Sonatas, faculty members Cyrus Forough and Sergey Schepkin come together to perform: -Romance in G -Sonata #3 in E-flat major -Sonata #9 in A major “Kreutzer Sonata” 7:30 p.m. Kresge Theater, CMU, Oakland. 412-268-4921.
“Rid of Me”
THU 30 RILEY’S POUR HOUSE. Jazz Happy Hour w/ Martin Rosenberg. 5:30 p.m. Carnegie. 412-279-0770.
FRI 01
Rickie Lee Jones
ANDORA RESTAURANT - FOX CHAPEL. Pianist Harry Cardillo & vocalist Charlie Sanders. 6:30 p.m. Fox Chapel. 412-967-1900. VINOSKI WINERY. David Gurwin. 5 p.m. Greensburg. 724-872-3333.
“Tried to Be a Man”
CIOPPINO SEAFOOD CHOPHOUSE BAR. Lucarelli Jazz w/ Peg Wilson. 7 p.m. Strip District. 412-281-6593. THE MONROEVILLE RACQUET CLUB. Jazz Bean Live. 7 p.m. Monroeville. 412-728-4155. SATALIO’S. Quantum Truth. 9 p.m. Mt. Washington. 412-431-9855. TABLE 86 BY HINES WARD. RML Jazz. 7:30 p.m. Mars. 412-370-9621. WALLACE’S TAP ROOM. Tony Campbell Jazzsurgery. 5 p.m. East Liberty. 412 -665 - 0555.
SUN 03 ROCKS LANDING BAR & GRILLE. Tony Campbell, John Hall, Howie Alexander & Dennis Garner. 7 p.m. McKees Rocks. 412- 875- 5809.
MON 04 HAMBONE’S. Ian Kane, Ronnie Weiss & Tom Boyce. Jazz Standards, showtunes & blues. 6:30 p.m. Lawrenceville. 412-681-4318.
TUE 05 RILEY’S POUR HOUSE. Martin Rosenberg. Tue. Jazz Happy Hour w/ Martin Rosenberg. 5:30 p.m. Carnegie. 412-279-0770.
WED 06 RIVERS CLUB. Lucarelli Jazz w/ Johnny Van. 5:30 p.m. Downtown. 412-391-5227.
ACOUSTIC FRI 01
SAT 02 MIKE’S WIFE’S BAR AND GRILL. Union Jack. 9 p.m.
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.29/12.06.2017
WED 06
Delta Rae
SAT 02
BAR 3 MILLVALE. Todd and Dale. 8:30 p.m. Millvale. 412-408-3870. MARKET SQUARE. Right TurnClyde. 6 p.m. Downtown. 412-471-1511.
22
HEAVY ROTATION
“Bottom of the River”
Oakmont. 412.828.2070. SUNNY JIM’S TAVERN. Right TurnClyde. 9 p.m. Emsworth. 412-761-6700.
SUN 03 HAMBONE’S. Calliope Old Time Appalachian Jam. 5 p.m. Lawrenceville. 412-681-4318.
WED 06 ALLEGHENY ELKS LODGE #339. Pittsburgh Banjo Club. 8 p.m. North Side. 412-321-1834. GRIFFS GROUNDS COFFEE CAFE. Union Jack. 5 p.m. Penn Hills. 412-704-5235. PARK HOUSE. Shelf Life String Band. 9 p.m. North Side. 412-224-2273. WHEELFISH. Jason Born. 7 p.m. Ross. 412-487-8909.
Boys Christmas Show. The Oak Ridge Boys produce one of the most distinctive and recognizable sounds in the music industry. Their four-part harmonies and upbeat songs have spawned dozens of country hits, such as Elvira, Dream On, Bobby Sue, Fancy Free, American Made, and Thank God for Kids. Throughout their four-decade career, The Oak Ridge Boys have received numerous gold and platinum records and continue to thrill audiences with their unique blend of country and gospel music. 7:30 p.m. Greensburg. 724-836-8000.
SUN 03
PIRATA. The Flow Band. 9 p.m. Downtown. 412-323-3000.
CLASSICAL
SAT 02
THU 30
MITCHELL’S. The Flow Band feat. Finneydredlox, Joe Spliff, Deb Star, Sam Fingers, D. Lane. 9 p.m. Oakland. 412-682-9530.
WINTER IS COMING FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. 7 p.m. Hotel Indigo, East Liberty. 412-665-0555.
THU 30 THE LAMP THEATRE. Country Christmas w/ Two Broke Girls. 7 p.m. irwin. 724-367-4000. PALACE THEATRE. The Oak Ridge
THU 30 LINDEN GROVE. Karaoke. 8 p.m. Castle Shannon. 412-882-8687. RIVERS CASINO. DJ Digital Dave. Levels. 6 p.m. North Side. 412-231-7777.
FRI 01
THE FUNHOUSE @ MR. SMALLS. Lofi Delphi, Wreck Loose, Essential Machine, The Telephone Line. release w r e p a p party. 7:30 p.m. Millvale. pghcitym .co 412-821-4447. LINDEN GROVE. Elmoz Fire. 9 p.m. Castle Shannon. 412-882-8687. SPIRIT HALL & LODGE. Scarface, Gorgeous George, HollyHood, John Basement, Selecta. 8 p.m. Lawrenceville. 412-821-4447.
THU 30
COUNTRY
OTHER MUSIC
FULL LIST E N O LwIN w.
THE LAMP THEATRE. The Marshall Tucker Band. 7 p.m. Irwin. 724-367-4000. VINOSKI WINERY. Willow Hill. 1 p.m. Greensburg. 724-872-3333.
REGGAE
CARNEGIE MELLON GUITAR ENSEMBLE. James Ferla, Director The Carnegie Mellon University Guitar Ensemble presents creatively expressive performances of duos, trios, quartets, and larger ensemble music from every major Western music style period. The concert will feature arrangements of guitar concertos by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Mauro Giuliani, and Antonio Vivaldi. 7:30 p.m. Mellon Institute, Oakland. 412-268-4921.
SAT 02 BUTLER SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. The Butler Symphony Orchestra performs classic and contemporary holiday music with a combined choir comprised of Butler and Seneca Valley High School students. Singer
SAT 02 FLOW LOUNGE. Starship Mantis. Writings on the Wall. 9 p.m. Shadyside. 412-853-1637. FRICK FINE ARTS AUDITORIUM. Nidra. Nidra, a 60-minute performance for electric guitar and video, is a multi-sensory meditation on the dichotomies of the internal and external, the subconscious and the conscious, dreams and reality.
Presented by Alia Musica. 8 p.m. Oakland. 412-624-4125. THE FUNHOUSE @ MR. SMALLS. Rob Mcilroy & Friends, Anthony Rankin, Kelsey Friday, Rick Witkowski, Sean McDonald. 8 p.m. Millvale. 412-821-4447.
SUN 03 CABARET AT THEATER SQUARE. Jason Kendall Productions presents : ‘Tis the Season for Red, Green, and Blues. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Featuring Special Guests : Artistree, Joel Lindsey, Amanda 7 p.m. Downtown. 412-515-5082. REX THEATER. Montana of 300. 7 p.m. South Side. 412-821-4447. SPIRIT HALL & LODGE. Wage War, Oceans Ate Alaska, Gideon, Loathe, Varials. 6 p.m. Lawrenceville. 412-821-4447.
TUE 05 THE FUNHOUSE @ MR. SMALLS. Hundredth, Spotlights, Tennis System, Gleemer. 6 p.m. Millvale. 412-821-4447. SPIRIT HALL & LODGE. Okey Dokey. 8 p.m. Lawrenceville. 412-821-4447.
WED 06 SMILING MOOSE. Makeout, World War Me, Locals Only. 5 p.m. South Side. 412-821-4447.
HOLIDAY MUSIC THU 30 LINTON MIDDLE SCHOOL. Christmas Brasstacular by River City Brass. 7:30 p.m. Penn Hills. 800-292-7222.
SAT 02 CALVARY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH. Handel’s MESSIAH Sing-Along Concert. Bask in George Frideric Handel’s inspiring MESSIAH, surrounded by candlelight and Calvary magnificent Tiffany stained-glass masterpieces in this 7th year in historic Allegheny West. “Christmas portion” sung by a choir of 75 and soloists Anna Singer, Kara Cornell, George Milosh, and Matthew Hunt. Audience members may sing along on seven choruses. Cookie reception follows. 4 p.m. North Side. 412-231-2007. THE PALACE THEATRE. Christmas Brasstacular by River City Brass. 7:30 p.m. Greensburg. 800-292-7222.
SUN 03 SOLDIERS & SAILORS MEMORIAL HALL. Brass Roots & Pine Creek Community Band. 2 p.m. Oakland. 412-621-4253.
TUE 05 JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE. Reverend Horton Heat & Junior Brown w/ the Blasters & Big Sandy. 8 p.m. Warrendale. 724-799-8333. UPPER ST. CLAIR THEATER. Christmas Brasstacular by River City Brass. 7:30 p.m. Upper St. Clair. 412-833-1600.
What to do IN PITTSBURGH
Nov 29 - Dec 5 WEDNESDAY 29
Tickets: pbt.org. Through Dec. 27.
REX THEATER South Side. 412-381-1681. With special guests Turnstile & Drug Church. All ages event. Tickets: ticketfly.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 8p.m.
Nevada Color
THURSDAY 30
Mike Birbiglia: The New One
CLUB CAFE South Side. 412-431-4950. With special guests Habatat and Charm & Chain. Over 21 event. Tickets: ticketweb.com/opusone. 8p.m.
Migos
The Story So Far
SQUARE Downtown. 412-456-6666. Over 21 event. Tickets: trustarts.org. 7p.m.
STAGE AE North Side. Tickets: ticketmaster.com or 1-800-745-3000. Doors open at 7p.m.
MONDAY 4 Lecrae
STAGE AE North Side. With special guests Aha Gazelle & 1K Phew. Tickets: ticketmaster.com or 1-800-745-3000. Doors open at 6p.m.
BYHAM THEATER Downtown. 412-456-6666. Tickets: trustarts.org. 7p.m.
Joe Hertler & The Rainbow Seekers
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY COLISEUM. Tickets: ticketmaster.com or 1-800-745-3000. 8:30p.m.
Canaan Smith JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE Warrendale. 724-799-8333. With special guests Jackie Lee & Eric Van Houten. Tickets: ticketfly.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 8p.m.
In Defense of Gravity GEORGE R. WHITE STUDIO Strip District. 412-281-3305. Tickets: attacktheatre.com. Through Dec. 3.
FRIDAY 15
SATURDAY 2
BENEDUM CENTER Downtown. 412-456-6666.
MR. SMALLS THEATRE illvale. 412-421-4447. 412 421 4447. Millvale.
The Nutcracker
TUESDAY 5
THE STORY SO FAR REX THEATER NOVEMBER 29
Reverend Horton Heat
With special guest Jenny Besetzt. All ages event. Tickets: ticketweb.com/opus one. 8p.m.
Anjroy
Washington. Tickets: washsym.org. Through Dec. 3.
Vietnamese Coffee Session w/ Art Labor
Adam Trent
CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF ART Oakland. Free event. For more info visit cmoa.org. 2p.m.
BYHAM THEATER Downtown. 412-456-6666. Tickets: trustarts.org. 7:30p.m.
The Mountain Goats Ho, Ho, Ho w/ the WSO!
SUNDAY 3
TRINITY H HIGH IGH IG H SC SSCHOOL HOOL
CLUB CAFE South Side. 412-431-4950. With special guest Leaders of the Shift & Glo Phase. Over 21 event. Tickets: ticketweb.com/opus one. 7:30p.m.
Jason Kendall: Tis the Season CABARET AT THEATER
JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE Warrendale. 724-799-8333. With special guests Junior Brown, The Blasters & Big Sandy. Tickets: ticketfly.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 7p.m.
The Barr Brothers REX THEATER South Side. 412-381-1681. With special guest Nathan Moore. Over 21 event. Tickets: greyareaprod.com. 8p.m.
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“I WANT PEOPLE TO THINK ABOUT HISTORY AND TIME.”
[DANCE]
GRAVITY A stated goal of Attack Theatre is to create passionate portrayals of everyday life. So when the dance company’s co-artistic director and co-founder Peter Kope was introduced to the poetry of former Allegheny County police detective and boxing coach Jimmy Cvetic, he was inspired to create a work infused with the passionate portrayals of everyday life contained within Cvetic’s poems. Attack Theatre performs the world premiere of In Defense of Gravity Dec. 1-3, at Pittsburgh Opera’s George R. White Studio, in the Strip District. With more than 3,000 of Cvetic’s poems spread over several books, the next task was to focus on some central themes, says Attack’s other co-artistic director and co-founder, Michele de la Reza. “We are not theatricalizing any one poem,” says de la Reza. Neither is the work a biography of Cvetic; instead it reflects the situations, emotions and feelings contained in his very humanistic, often salty poetry. However, the poem “Little Feet,” about the effects of a death, is a jumping-off point for the 90-minute “image-narrative” (as de la Reza describes it), which follows a central character (portrayed by Kope) who at first is in the depths of despair. From there, the protagonist gets caught up in a surreal situation where supernatural, perhaps angelic beings guide him toward some level of salvation. Lightening the mood will be aphorisms and Yogi Berra-like quips from Cvetic’s poems, some delivered in recorded voiceovers by Cvetic and actor Patrick Jordan. The work’s title, which creates an acronym for Cvetic’s nickname, “Dog,” also refers to how “gravity” can suggest weightiness, gravitas or a physicalized struggle, says de la Reza. Joining Kope onstage will be de la Reza; Attack’s five company dancers, including Simon Phillips, an Atlanta transplant who recently replaced Anthony Williams (now with Chicago’s Deeply Rooted Dance Theater); vocalist Anqwenique Wingfield; and a live music ensemble performing a multi-styled soundtrack consisting of new arrangements of existing compositions and original material. Of having his poetry turned into a dance work, Cvetic (an occasional CP contributor) says: “In one word, it’s wonderful. ... The energy of the dance and the energy of my poems working together really sends a message of hope out into the world.” INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
ATTACK THEATRE performs IN DEFENSE OF GRAVITY 8 p.m. Fri., Dec. 1; 2 and 8 p.m. Sat., Dec. 2; and 6 p.m. Sun. Dec. 3. Pittsburgh Opera, 2425 Liberty Ave., Strip District. $15-40. www.attacktheatre.com
24
Attack Theatre in In Defense of Gravity {PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBERT KORMOS}
{BY STEVE SUCATO}
{IMAGE COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND GAVIN BROWN’S ENTERPRISE, NEW YORK/ROME}
LaToya Ruby Frazier’s “Sandra Gould Ford looking back at the view from her former Talbot Towers Apartment in Braddock, PA”
[ART]
DOUBLE EXPOSURE {BY BILL O’DRISCOLL}
I
N 1977, while studying at the Uni-
versity of Pittsburgh, Sandra Gould Ford took the first of a series of clerical jobs at J&L Steel. That was five years before LaToya Ruby Frazier was born. But upon meeting, in 2015, the two women connected immediately: They were both African-American artists from Pittsburgh committed to honoring the often-forgotten experience of the working class. The exhibit On the Making of Steel Genesis: Sandra Gould Ford, a collaboration on display at the August Wilson Center, offers a strikingly layered narrative: Acclaimed photographer Frazier tells the story of
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.29/12.06.2017
Gould, and how she told the story of Big Steel and its demise here. Frazier is a Braddock native and MacArthur “genius-grant” winner who now
ON THE MAKING OF STEEL GENESIS continues through Dec. 31. August Wilson Center, 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. 412-471-6070 or www.trustarts.org
splits time between Pittsburgh, New York and Chicago. Working with the Silver Eye Center for Photography (and a grant from
the Pittsburgh Foundation), she spent this past August in Ford’s Homewood home and studio, poring over Ford’s remarkable (and previously unexhibited) archive of photographs she took and documents she saved at J&L’s South Side and Hazelwood plants. Ford worked for J&L until the plants were shuttered, in 1985. “They were throwing these documents away,” says Frazier. “She understood the cultural significance of it.” Together with Frazier’s own photographs of Ford, and of the former mill sites as they are today, the materials comprise Steel Genesis. “I want people to think about history
and time,” said Frazier during an October walk-through of the exhibit with City Paper. The roughly 100 wall-mounted prints and photographs span a century, some emphasizing just how dangerous mill work historically was. Three 8½-by-11inch sheets are labeled “Fatal Accidents for South Side Works”; in 1912 there were nine, including “Joe Ozaklitch, head and right shoulder crushed.” Frazier pointedly arrays these documents beneath the covers of three 1945 issues of J&L’s in-house glossy Of Men and Steel, each with a portrait of a worker calmly performing his task. What’s displayed aren’t the actual documents. Rather, Frazier scanned them only to reproduce them as prints on a manual plate-maker at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. She mixed the chemicals herself, often working through the night to consciously echo shift-work laborers. Many of the prints are cyanotypes, an antique photographic process that reproduces images in blue, symbolically summoning both architects’ blueprints and blue-collar work. Historically, steel mills and mill workers were documented either matter-of-factly or in iconic images by the likes of W. Eugene Smith. Ford, by contrast, “had a very compassionate insider look at what life was like,” says Frazier. With photography forbidden on site, Gould made most of her images surreptitiously. Her photos, typically black-and-white, capture nearabstract industrial landscapes as well as intimate details like graffiti in shuttered buildings (“Goodby Mice + Rats”; a barbed “Pension Please”); a peach tree that improbably grew on one site; and the light bulb electrical-taped to the top of the engineering department’s Christmas tree. Ford’s own wall-text provides context; in
{IMAGE COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND GAVIN BROWN’S ENTERPRISE, NEW YORK/ROME}
LaToya Ruby Frazier’s “Sandra Gould Ford in Her Office in Homewood, PA”
one note, she writes that she photographed one particular room without entering so as not to desecrate the dust with her foot-
prints. Frazier offers historical vantage with aerial photos of the mill sites as they are today: shopping centers, football fields,
brownfields awaiting redevelopment. Workers’ struggles are memorialized in documents including two typed 1980 letters from employees about the lack of African Americans at J&L. Gould even saved copies of corporate publication Countdown to Excellence, with the grinning executives on the cover rudely (if amusingly) defaced, presumably by workers. Frazier’s contemporary portraits of Ford herself are part of her project to honor women in industry and the arts — with some long-overdue props for Ford in particular. Several portraits depict the writer, artist and educator in Braddock, for instance contemplating the reindustrialized former site of a residential high-rise where she and Frazier each once lived. A series of large-format cyanotypes capture Ford in her home studio, at the keyboard or quilting; a standout portrait finds her reading in a shaft of sunlight in Homewood’s Carnegie Library. Frazier emphasizes that though Ford is no longer involved in making steel, she continues to create. Interviewed in September, Ford herself told CP that this show’s title casts steelmaking as a metaphor for people fabricating the lives they choose out of the raw material they’re given. Frazier’s signature portrait of Ford in the exhibit finds her in her home studio, proudly wearing her J&L jacket and holding her hard hat in front of a poster of the solar system. Says Frazier of Ford, “I am her. We are just another version of each other. ... I see myself in her.” From 6-9 p.m. Mon., Dec. 4, Ford, Frazier and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage participate in a panel discussion on labor, creativity and equity at the August Wilson Center. Free; registration required at www.silvereye.org. D RI S C OL L @ P G HC I T Y PA P E R. C OM
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{PHOTO COURTESY OF PIETER M. VAN HATTEM}
Jennifer Egan
[BOOKS]
DIVING DEEP {BY JODY DIPERNA} JENNIFER EGAN won the Pulitzer Prize for
11_4.75_x_4.75.indd 1
WINTER DANCE CONCERT DECEMBER 1 – 10
R O C K W E L L T H E AT R E P I T T S B U RG H P L AY H O U S E
Ronald Allan-Lindblom ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Kim Martin PRODUCING DIRECTOR
pittsburghplayhouse.com 412.392.8000
11/20/17
fiction for her 2011 book Welcome to the Goon Squad, set inside the record industry. Her new best-seller, Manhattan Beach, tells the story of deep-sea divers at the Brooklyn Naval Yard during World War II. Egan, 3:01 PM who visits Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures’ Ten Evenings series on Dec. 4, spoke with City Paper by phone from her home in New York. WHY DIVERS? I was really interested in New York during World War II. That’s where I started. I think it’s probably to do with 9/11 and the fact that New York became a war zone overnight. Also, in a broader way, it led me and many others to think about American global power, how it had functioned ... I wondered what would happen next. I think we’re all still wondering that. But I also wondered what the beginning of that power felt like, what that time felt like here. … I looked at images of New York in the ’40s and I recognized the obvious fact that New York is a harbor. In a way, I just followed the water. WAS THE AMOUNT OF RESEARCH DAUNTING? Unbelievably. It wasn’t daunting for the seven years when I was doing it for fun, while I was writing other books, from about 2005 to 2012. … I had the experience of being dressed in the diving suit; I interviewed a lot of divers and women who worked in the Navy Yard and some men. I traipsed around the Navy Yard here and there. But I
didn’t know what my story was or who was in it yet. … [W]hen I sat down and started writing and an actual story began to unfold, there was a crushing recognition that, in a certain sense, I really hadn’t even begun my research. … [A]nd I knew that even in a crude way, I still did not know enough to even bluff my way through it. Especially describing people at work.
JENNIFER EGAN 7:30 p.m. Mon., Dec. 4. Carnegie Music Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $15-35. 412-622-8866 or www.pittsburghlectures.org
THERE IS SO MUCH WORK IN THIS BOOK — THE DOCKS, THE NIGHTCLUB, THE DIVING, EVEN BANKING AND MERCHANT-MARINE SHIPS. I began to get incredibly discouraged. … [W]hat really sustained me and got me through that dark period was the sheer joy of the research itself. … It didn’t matter how arcane or how miniscule the details. I drank them down like they were a milkshake. I was on the elliptical machine at the gym reading the Merchant Marine Officer’s Handbook from 1943 with delight. YOU ONCE SAID, “IF YOU MAKE A RULE, YOU SHOULD BREAK IT.” WHAT RULE DID YOU BREAK WRITING THIS BOOK? I really thought I was going to play with time in all kinds of tricky ways. I had been given all kinds of gold stars for doing that in Goon Squad. I thought, “This is just what I do — I’m a time-bender!” Then I then wrote something much more straightforward. It was the only thing that worked. It was the way the story wanted to be told. I N F O@ P G HC I T Y PA P E R. C OM
26
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.29/12.06.2017
THE SKIVVIES
Broadway’s LAUREN MOLINA and NICK CEARLEY return to Pittsburgh with a daring holiday treat!
“IRRESISTIBLE!”
Featuring
– The New York Times
SLEIGH MY NAME
Paige Davis Daina Michelle Griffith Michael McGurk Stephen Santa musical improv by
babyGRAND and more stars of Pittsburgh’s stages!
{PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL HENNINGER}
The cast of The Humans, at Pittsburgh Public Theater
[PLAY REVIEW]
FAMILY AFFAIR {BY TED HOOVER} WHEN STEPHEN KARAM’S The Humans
opened off-Broadway in 2015, the praise was strong enough to occasion a Broadway transfer, and garner both a Pulitzer-finalist nod and a Tony for Best Play. The local premiere, at Pittsburgh Public Theater, gives us an opportunity to enjoy this comedy/drama’s lots o’ yuks, personal turmoil, family secrets and finale, which … well, we’ll get to that.
THE HUMANS continues through Dec. 10. Pittsburgh Public Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Downtown. $15.75-65. 412-316-1600 or www.ppt.org
SPO NSO RS
Brigid Blake and her boyfriend, Richard, have just moved from Queens to a (in New York terms) spacious apartment in Chinatown and are hosting their first Thanksgiving. Her family — Mom and Dad, a grandmother in the advanced stages of dementia, and a sister — drive in from Scranton, Pa., for the feast. The Blakes, it should be said, may hail from Scranton, but these oldschool, working-class Irish Catholics will be immediately familiar to anyone who has, let’s say, spent any time in Pittsburgh. To that end, the whole enterprise plays out like any family dinner probably most anyone reading this has attended. Karam (who did actually grow up in Scranton) deftly captures these characters and their troubles with the lightest touch: the bickering sort of love shared by the mother and father, the daughters struggling to hold onto their own identities against the onslaught
of heavy emotional traditions, and the curious way people who care so deeply for each other often know exactly where to throw the darts. All in all, The Humans is a rock-solid “dysfunctional family” script — a sort of contemporary-theater staple — and Karam can be proud of what he’s crafted. True, all the buzz seems a little overblown: We’ve seen a number of variations on this theme. But heaven knows there are considerably less skillfully wrought plays to have won a Tony or a Pulitzer. Director Pamela Berlin and her cast do remarkable work playing Karam’s naturistic style — at times you feel as though you’re eavesdropping on someone’s family meal. Courtney Balan, Charlotte Booker, Arash Mokhtar, Valeri Mudek, Cecelia Riddett and J. Tucker Smith create an ensemble with an impeccably clean style. There’s love, intelligence and hurt skillfully layered throughout their performances, and the evening is tight and expressive. But then, just as you’re gathering your wrap and feeling for your car keys, it all goes kaflooey, with Karam thuddingly exploding the final three minutes of his play with an ending that’s insane. I won’t bother with a spoiler alert because I had no idea what the hell happened and, consequently, couldn’t explain it on a bet. All I can say is that it has nothing to do, in terms of style or plot, with anything that’s come before it. It’s like Nora opening the door at the end of A Doll’s House only to have Curley from Oklahoma! stroll in singing “Oh What a Beautiful Mornin’.” The stunning naturalism which has been Karam’s strongest point vanishes and is replaced with … what? Symbol? Metaphor? Allegory? You tell me. On second thought, don’t bother.
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FOR THE WEEK OF
11.30-12.07.17 Millennials and their boomer parents’ generation are often portrayed as at odds, and you’ll get no argument from acclaimed British playwright Mike Bartlett. His 2010 comedy Love, Love, Love concerns a boomer couple and their two children. With acts set in 1967, 1990 and the present, it tracks Kenneth and Sandra, whose youthful idealism (stop me if you’ve heard this one) gives way to bourgeouis convention. ee distinctive sets, On three in characters the main m 19 to 63 age from icts with as conflicts on and their son er mount. daughter drew Andrew Paul’s Kinetic e Theatre ny Company stages y’s regional the play’s re in a premiere tion largely production anted from transplanted ach Theatre, Cockroach in Las Vegas, the former Pittsburgher’s hometown. (The work also had a 2016 Off-Broadway run.) The production features Las Vegas-based actors Mindy Woodhead and Darrell Weller (pictured), the former of whom starred earlier this year as the preacher’s wife in Kinetic’s The Christians. “By and large, the play is a love story about this central couple,” says Paul, who directs. But he adds that Bartlett — a hot playwright (King Charles III) whose Cock was a 2016 hit here for Kinetic — prompts audiences to decide: selfish parents or gutless kids? “It does create a great opportunity for audiences to have a debate in the theater,” says Paul.
{PHOTO COURTESY OF RYAN REASON}
Full events listed online at www.pghcitypaper.com
{ART BY CAITLIN ROSE BOYLE}
^ Fri., Dec. 1: Wonder Woman: Visions
friday 12.01
BY BILL O’DRISCOLL
Thu., Nov. 30-Dec. 17. Kinetic Theatre at Pittsburgh Playwrights, 937 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $20-40. www.kinetictheatre.org
Winter Is Coming From Russia With Love is the puckish title of an evening of arias, folk songs and ensemble tunes by Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and more, plus Christmas favorites, sung by local talents including Andrey Nemzer, Robert Frankenberry, Desirée Soteres and Uliana Kozhevnikova. The Opera at Wallace’s event, at Hotel Indigo, is free. 7-9 p.m. Tue., Dec. 5. 123 N. Highland Ave., East Liberty. www.facebook.com (“coming from russia”)
ART Join Silver Eye Center for Photography tonight for the opening reception for not one, but two solo exhibitions. Tarrah Krajnak’s SISMOS reclaims a psychic history, with Krajnak piecing together her pre-adoption life in Brazil through found photographs and archival materials. Tabitha Soren’s Fantasy Life follows young baseball players from the Oakland A’s farm system in 2002, evoking the American dream of making it to the major leagues. Amanda Reed 6-9 p.m. (free). Exhibit continues through Feb. 17. 4808 Penn Ave., Blomfield. 412-431-1810 or www.silvereye.org
ART Nat Finkelstein was a revered photojournalist whose work was exhibited worldwide. In some circles, he remains best known for documenting Andy Warhol’s Factory in the mid-1960s. Finkelstein died in 2009, but his life-partner, Elizabeth Murray Finkelstein, lives in Pittsburgh. Up All Night, her selection of his photos documenting subjects including Warhol and the early days of the Velvet Underground (plus notable cameos), and photos and video of the emergent ’90s club scene, is now on exhibit at the Irma Freeman Center for Imagination. Tonight’s closing reception
is part of Penn Avenue’s gallery crawl, Unblurred. Bill O’Driscoll 7-10 p.m. (free). Exhibit continues through Dec. 17. 5006 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. www.irmafreemancenter.org
ART For comic-book superheroes, longevity requires constant reinvention. Wonder Woman turns 75 this year, and her many incarnations are the subject of Wonder Woman: Visions, an exhibit at the ToonSeum. The homage, curated by museum president Anthony Letizia and artist Jessica Heberle, includes original art from such DC Comics masters as Cliff Chiang, Ramona Fradon, Trina Robbins and H.G. Peters — the first person to ever draw the Amazonian warrior princess — plus new interpretations by local talents including Asia Bey, Caitlin Rose Boyle, Ilene Winn Lederer, Maggie Negrete, Jayla Patton and Lizzie Solomon. Visitors can add their own words and images to a community-sourced collage. The opening party is tonight. BO 7-10 p.m. (free). Exhibit continues through Feb. 25. 945 Liberty Ave., Downtown. www.toonseum.org ^ Fri., Dec. 1: Fantasy Life {ART BY TABITHA SOREN}
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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.29/12.06.2017
LAWRENCEVILLE DEC. 1, 2, & 3 1
Nine Stories 5400 Butler St.
2
City Grows 5208 Butler St.
3
Isle of You Hair Color Studio 5154 Butler St.
4
The Iron Horse Atelier 5144 Butler St.,
5
Thriftique 125 51st St.
6
Cavacini Landscaping & Garden Center
This is a free and family-friendly event!
SAMPLE SHOPKEEPERS’ FAVORITE COOKIES AT 40 STOPS
24 Love Bikes 4102 Butler St. 25 Paint Monkey 4020 Butler St.
100 51st St.
26 Arsenal 201 3922 Foster St.
7
Beer on Butler 4811 Butler St.
27 Ineffable Ca Phe 3920 Penn Ave.
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Cutitta Chiropractic 4733 Butler St.
28 Arsenal Cider 300 39th St.
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Leslie Park Floral 4607 Butler St.
29 Pastitsio 3716 Butler St.
Nied’s Hotel 5438 Butler St. Caffe d’Amore 5400 Butler St.
TAKE A BREAK
COOKIE ST PS
Tear and take this map with you and celebrate the season with cookies. Pick up unique holiday gifts along the way! Hours for Cookie Stops vary by location. Find all the details at www.lvpgh.com/cookietour or call 412.621.1616, ext.102.
30 Cinderlands Beer Co. 3705 Butler St.
10 Banh Mi & Ti 4502 Butler St.
31 T’s Upholstery Studio 3611 Butler St.
11 Arsenal Bowling Lanes 212 44th St.
32 Brambler Boutique 3609 Butler St.
12 Songbird Artistry 4316 Penn Ave.
33 Waxing the City 3605 Butler St.
13 The Candle Lab 4409 Butler St.,
34 Disappearing Ink 3603 Butler St.
14 Kickback Pinball Café 4326 Butler St.
35 Asian Influences 3513 Butler St.
15 Una Biologicals 4322 Butler St.
36 Bella Christie & Lil’ Z’s Sweet Boutique
16 Gallery on 43rd Street 187 43rd St.
3511 Butler St.
17 Wildcard 4209 Butler St.,
37 One80 Real Estate Services 3508 Butler St.
18 Gryphon’s Tea 4127 Butler St.
38 Riverside Design Group 3485 Butler St.
19 Gerbe Glass 4119 Butler St.
39 Senti 3473 Butler St.
20 Bierport 4115 Butler St.
40 Paul Michael Design 3453 Butler St.
Butterwood Bake Consortium 5222 Butler St. Dive Bar & Grille 5147 Butler St. Roundabout Brewery 4901 Butler St. The Abbey on Butler 4635 Butler St. La Gourmandine 4605 Butler St. Industry Public House 4305 Butler St. Dijlah Restaurant and Café 4130 Butler St. Round Corner Cantina 3720 Butler St. Eleventh Hour Brewing 3711 Charlotte St. Espresso a Mano 3623 Butler St. Engine House 25 Wines and Wheel & Wedge Cheese Shop
21 Bay 41 4107 Willow St.
3339 Penn Ave.
22 Ultra Matcha
(Popping up at Ineffable + Bay 41)
Penn Ave.
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BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB Sat. only 3–7pm (Santa 4–6pm)
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23 The Foundry at 41st 4107 Willow St.
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The Smart Home Builders
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SHORT LIST, CONTINUED FROM PG. 28
EVERYONE IS A CRITIC
{PHOTO COURTESY OF RENEE RABENOLD PHOTOGRAPHY}
^ Fri., Dec. 1: Feelings: A Magical Time-Traveling Love Story
EVENT: 2017
PittStop
Lindy Hop at Soldiers and Sailors, Oakland
CRITIC: Anne Devine, 20, a caretaker from Homestead WHEN: Sat.,
Nov. 18
It’s hours and hours of dancing, specifically swing dancing. If you know the basics of swing dance, this is the place to go. People come here from all over the country, and you get to expand your dance experience and meet tons of new people. I’ve been dancing for about four or five years, and I came out last year. My friends had come the year before and told me about it, so I took their advice and came out. I like meeting a lot of new people, and listening to great music. I’ve seen a lot of enthusiasm for the late-night dances compared to other events like this one. Because these events go so late, a lot of people get really tired and leave and they come back the next day, but everyone here stays the entire time and tries to go even further. It’s really amazing. B Y AMANDA REED
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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.29/12.06.2017
MUSIC
STAGE
The University of Pittsburgh’s African Music and Dance Ensemble brings energetic drumming and dancing to Bellefield Hall Auditorium tonight for its fall concert. The group will perform traditional and contemporary African music, joined by local music and dance groups Timbeleza, Kuumba, Camara Drum and Dance, and Mouminatou Camara. The ensemble is lead by Yamoussa Camara and directed by Gavin Steingo. AR 8 p.m. 315 South Bellefield Ave., Oakland. $5-12 (free for Pitt students). 412-624-7529 or www.music.pitt.edu
Holiday-season counterprogramming? Glad you asked! The Midnight Death Parlor: Tales of Tragedy and Murder is a new monthly series at The Weeping Glass, a new Allentown art gallery focusing on the macabre (and co-run by the Atrocity Exhibition’s Macabre Noir). Tonight, The Mad Muse performs “Stella,” her chilling monologue based on the true story of a deathbed confession that rattled a small Western Pennsylvania town. This late show includes themed cocktails, refreshments and more — and “funeral attire is always welcome.” BO 11 p.m. 817 E. Warrington Ave., Allentown. $30. www.facebook.com (“midnight death parlor”)
DANCE
Join Point Park University Conservatory Dance Company for its Winter Dance Concert, beginning tonight at the SHOPPING Rockwell Theatre. Featuring If crafty handmade gifts seem right styles from contemporary for the holidays, you can’t get much to ballet, the concert offers more efficient than visiting Handmade works by nationally known Arcade. The nationally known craft choreographers John fair that annually takes over the David Heginbotham, Adam Hougland, L. Lawrence Convention Center offers Lucinda Childs and Point everything from wallets made from Park University associate reclaimed baseball mitts and fine-art professor Garfield Lemonius. jewelry to organic skin-care products The program, with eight and toy robots made from repurposed performances through next wood, at a wide range of prices. And {PHOTO COURTESY OF JOEY KENNEDY} weekend, is staged by Jorge this will be the largest HA to date, ^ Sat. Dec. 2: Handmade Arcade Perez Martinez and Matt Pardo. with 170-plus vendors from around AR 8 p.m. Continues through the country, 66 of them new to the Dec. 10. 222 Craft Ave., Oakland. $10-24. 412-392-8000 or fair. There are also hands-on activities for all ages, including www.pittsburghplayhouse.com T-shirt screenprinting and block-printing holiday cards. BO 11 a.m-7 p.m. 1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd., Downtown. Free. STAGE www.handmadearcade.com Feelings: A Magical Time-Traveling Love Story premieres tonight at City Theatre. This one-night-only show is a live MUSIC comedic memoir in three acts about real-life couple Nicole Alia Musica returns tonight with Nidra at Frick Fine Arts Havranek and Brian Gray, two local improv veterans. It details Auditorium. Written by Giacomo Baldelli, a New York-based their journey from childhood on with sketches, improv and guitarist, Nidra combines sight and sound, featuring guitar audience games, along with narration by their Fairy Drag pieces played alongside short movies inspired by the music. Mother, Qarma Kazee, a Pittsburgh-based bearded drag Nidra won the 2015 Queens New Music Festival Call for performer. An after-party features adult beverages and New Proposals, and has been performed throughout New standup from local comics Cumi Ikeda and Ossia Dwyer. AR York City and in Modena, Italy. AR 8 p.m. 650 Schenley Drive, 9 p.m. 1300 Bingham St., South Side. $15-19.50. 412-431-2489 Oakland. $12 ($10 for students/seniors). 412-427 6717 or or www.citytheatre.culturaldistrict.org www.aliamusicapittsburgh.org
saturday 12.02
{PHOTO COURTESY OF THOMAS ALTANY}
^Fri., Dec. 1: African Music and Dance Ensemble
COMEDY Norlex Belma is a native of Brooklyn who went to Carnegie Mellon, then moved back to NYC. But he still loves Pittsburgh, the town that launched his standup career. He returns quarterly to produce a comedy showcase at Club Café, and the late-fall edition, Lexfest III, is tonight. Belma hosts New York comics Bob Kitson, Rashad Bashir and Wanjiko, and local talents Felicia Gillespie and Terry Jones. BO 10 p.m. 56 S. 12th St., South Side. $10. 412-431-4950 or www.clubcafelive.com
sunday 12.03 WORDS Bridge to Terabithia author Katherine Paterson speaks today at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall as part of Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures’ Word and Pictures series. Paterson, a two-time Newbery Medal and National Book Award winner, has written 16 novels for children. Her latest children’s book, My Brigadista Year, which is inspired by true accounts, centers on Nora, a Cuban teenager who volunteers for Fidel Castro’s national-literacy campaign and travels to the countryside to teach others to read. A book-signing follows. AR 2:30 p.m. 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $11. 412-622-8866 or www.pittsburghlectures.org
wednesday 12.06 STAGE PICT Classic Theatre artistic director Alan Stanford offers the U.S. premiere of In the Company of Oscar Wilde, ^ Wed., Dec. 6: In the Company of Oscar Wilde his portrait of the great Irish wit and playwright assembled from Wilde’s own writings. Stanford (pictured) narrates as Wilde and his characters are evoked by actors Karen Baum, Martin Giles, Ingrid Sonnichsen and James FitzGerald. The Frick Museum hosts five performances; this weekend’s Wilde at the Frick program also includes a family-friendly Dec. 9 reading of two of Wilde’s fairy tales ($10), and a Dec. 10 staging of The Trial of Oscar Wilde, recreating that infamous court case ($50). BO 7:30 p.m. Continues through Sun., Dec. 10. 7227 Reynolds St., Point Breeze. $13-39. www.picttheatre.org
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DENSE CHUNKS OF TENTACLE WERE COOKED TO A FIRM TEXTURE WITH A BOLD CHAR
THE GIFT OF HOLIDAY DRINKS Happy holidays, Downtowners! The Harris Grill, on Fourth Avenue Downtown, is putting some extra sparkle in Sparkle Season with its holiday pop-up bar, Tinseltown. After taking over the former Tavern 245 space in June, and opening the second and third floors, the owners weren’t sure what to do with the small first-floor space. That is, until the weather started cooling off. “The timing just seemed right. When we started to not have as much patio weather, we thought it would be great if we kicked off on Light Up Night,” with a holiday-themed spot, says general manager Amy Kluczkowski. “This seemed like a fun, perfect way to show everyone the space for the first time.” The bar is cheerfully cozy and decorated for the season with plenty of red and green. When City Paper visited last week, the bartender was sporting a so-uglyit’s-cute Christmas sweater, and patrons filled the bar seats. Booths line one wall, and there are a few high-top tables, but much of the space is standing-only. On offer is a selection of both hot and chilled cocktails, plus an early-in-theseason cure for your eggnog craving. All of the cocktails are crafted by Harris Grill bartenders, and Tinseltown partnered with Diageo, a producer and distributor of multi-national brands like Smirnoff, Guinness, Tanqueray and others. Kluczkowski says that the menu isn’t static and will rotate new drinks on and off while keeping a few beloved classics. If you’re driving or prefer to do your holiday shopping sober, nonalcoholic versions of hot cocoa and cider are available. (This is also a great option for kids heading to the nearby ice skating rink.) And grab a bite to eat from Harris’ menu, the entirety of which is available at Tinseltown. Throughout the season, there will be Secret Santa guest bartenders from other Harris locations and bars across the city, as well as movie nights featuring holiday classics and cartoons for the kids. Tinseltown is open 4-11 p.m. every night through New Year’s Eve. CELINE@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
Behind the bar at Tinseltown {CP PHOTO BY JAKE MYSLIWCZYK}
{BY CELINE ROBERTS}
{CP PHOTO BY VANESSA SONG}
Red-spotted snapper with crab mac-and-cheese and creamed-spinach gratin
SMOOTH SAILING {BY ANGELIQUE BAMBERG + JASON ROTH}
T
a long way from the Westernstyled steakhouses and crustaceanencrusted seafood shacks of our youth, places where cultural fantasy came suspiciously close to substitution for quality. Then, as now, finer dining rarely indulged in themes more elaborate than “luxury,” perhaps with enough specific decor to evoke the national origin of said luxury. Or, The Whale, the improbably named restaurant of the equally eye-roll-inducing Distrikt Hotel (why, the “k”?) in the former Salvation Army gymnasium Downtown, is a decidedly literate take on the theme concept. From the subtitle of Moby Dick, the name is calculated to evoke the sea, of course, but also the colossal ambition of one of the main contenders for Great American Novel. Accordingly, a two-story
245 Fourth Ave., Downtown. 412-288-5273
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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.29/12.06.2017
whaling mural dominates the decor, along with striking swags of heavy ropes hanging from the ceiling; the rest of the interior, wisely, adopts the reticence of a Nantucket fisherman. Sections of the (leather-bound,
OR, THE WHALE 463 Boulevard of the Allies, Downtown. 412-632-0002 HOURS: Daily 8 a.m.-11 p.m. PRICES: Appetizers, soups, and salads $11-18; entrees $25-180 LIQUOR: Full bar
CP APPROVED antiqued) menu are taken from the book’s chapter headings. Alas, neither “Squid” nor “Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish” made the cut. Those that did ranged from disconcerting (“Chapter 1: Loomings”) to prosaic
(“Chapter 2: Chowder”). Chef-owner Dennis Marron came to Pittsburgh to open The Commoner, but fairly quickly moved on to this next venture. His approach is in line with that of his contemporaries: selectively curated ingredients (the menu includes an extensive section crediting local purveyors) prepared using a lot of heat and fire, augmented with carefully crafted garnishes and sauces. It’s a far cry from a 19th-century shipboard supper, and you’d better not have a deck hand’s budget. Or, The Whale’s prices are extraordinary, setting up an expectation that ingredients, recipe and execution must all be flawless. Wood-fired octopus was a promising start. Dense chunks of tentacle were cooked to a firm texture with a bold char and surrounded by equally strong components:
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HOMEMADE SCALLION PANCAKES
On Ca WING
{BY ALEX GORDON}
INFO@ PGHC ITY PAP ER.CO M
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[PERSONAL CHEF]
Homemade scallion pancakes with General Tso’s chicken and white rice {PHOTO COURTESY OF JES BOGDAN}
arugula, tiny roasted potatoes, Niçoise olives and grilled-scallion chimichurri. Smoky and substantial, earthy and briny, this was no delicate salad, but a substantial small meal in itself. Angelique returned to the wood fire for her entrée, an exquisite filet of monkfish with roasted parsnips, Narragansett brown butter and preserved lemon. Honestly, it was the last ingredient that sold her on this dish, but its flavor was lost in all the savoriness of the succulent fish, the slightly bitter, autumnal tang of the parsnips, and their rich, almost gravy-like sauce. Nonetheless, it was delicious. Seafood is offered in a range of preparations, but an entire chapter (4: “The Ship”) of the menu was dedicated to towers — decadent plates of raw, poached and smoked items served in vertical stacks. A minnow-sized version can be had in the shrimp and crab cocktail. A half-dozen plump prawns reposed in a bowl of shaved ice with king crab and a dish of charredtomato cocktail sauce. The prawns, perfect of texture, seemed to have been poached in a court bouillon, but a bit more salt could have brought out more flavor in them and the crab, as well. Charring highlighted the sweetness of the tomatoes, playing against the heat of the horseradish in an excellent sauce. Cod chowder consisted of a small portion of broiled filet in a creamy, but not at all heavy, broth studded with crunchy sunchoke root, tender potato and delightfully chewy bacon. Classic New England-style chowders are sublime, but here Marron successfully upgraded every component while maintaining all the qualities that make a chowder a chowder. Or, The Whale bills itself as “Farm and Fisher to Table,” so Jason decided to look to the land for his entrée: short rib with red-wine glaze. Impressively presented with the deboned meat crossed over the bare bone, the rib was supple and rich with melted fat, but somewhat marred by the remnant of silver skin running down the back. But then, perfectly charred edges complemented the more tender center, almost like the burnt ends of great barbecue. A gremolata “crumble” was curiously nutty, and pickled husk cherry — like the preserved lemon in the monkfish — didn’t offer quite the sweet-tart notes we’d hoped for. Or, The Whale’s service and presentation were top caliber, and despite the inherent pretentiousness (it must be said) of the concept, we found the experience more charming than cloying. The best bites, especially from the wood-fired oven, were transportive, but it’s hard to accept anything less than perfection at these prices.
MUSIC
NIGHT! 50 ¢ wings Mon-Th urs
A couple of my colleagues here at City Paper laughed when I said I was attempting a homemade meal of Chinese food for an upcoming staycation. They warned me that it could turn out OK, even good-ish, but that it would never match the quality of the real thing. On one hand, I agreed; on the other, I flipped them off and decided I wouldn’t let the hating get me down. The plan: General Tso’s chicken, white rice and, most importantly, scallion pancakes. Also called greenonion pancakes or cong you bing in Mandarin, this was my favorite dish growing up as a picky eater in a family of Chinese-food lovers. It’s a delicious appetizer that’s not ubiquitous on menus, but not all that hard to find either. (Everyday Noodles, in Squirrel Hill, cooks a mean batch.) The consistency ranges from flaky to doughy, but I prefer them crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. The risk factor for producing overly greasy onion-y blankets is relatively high, but I knew the odds going in. And despite my coworkers’ naysaying, the whole thing turned out fantastic.
23 flavors!
2328 32 28 EAST 28 E EA Carson C STREET 412.481.0852 • archiesoncarson.com
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Fresh, Seasonal, Local 1910 New Texas Road 724.519.7304 eightyacreskitchen.com
The Downtown lunch café you’ve been waiting for…
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INGREDIENTS • 2 cups all-purpose flour • 1 tbsp. sesame oil • 2 cups of finely diced scallions • 8-9 tbsp. vegetable oil • salt • 1 cup boiled water
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INSTRUCTIONS Mix flour, salt, boiled water and sesame oil in a bowl. Knead into dough on lightly floured surface. Cover with plastic wrap and let it hang for a bit. Heat six tablespoons of vegetable oil in a small pot, add scallions once hot and return to medium-low heat. Divide dough into two equal parts. Roll out into a thin pancake. Spoon out scallions and oil onto it so that all of the dough is lightly greased. Coil the dough like a cinnamon roll, flatten to incorporate scallions, roll back into a pancake, and then add more oil and scallions. Repeat with second dough (all scallions in oil should be used, but not all the oil). Coax each piece of dough into a circle. Heat remaining vegetable oil in skillet, then reduce to medium-low heat. Fry the pancakes, turning frequently.
SANDWICHES WRAPS SALADS SOUPS CATERING COFFEE 808 Penn P Avenue A - IIn Th The C Cultural lt l Di District ti t HOURS: HOURS 412-745-2233 WWW.CAFE808PGH.COM 7 AM to 2 PM Mon. - Fri.
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MEXICAN RESTAURANT & BAR STRIP DISTRICT
FRIDAY, DEC. 1 LIVE MUSIC LATIN GUITAR
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Tortillas Made Fresh Daily!
{CP PHOTO BY JOHN COLOMBO}
Carrie Clayton and Spencer Warren, of Subversive Cocktails
[ON THE ROCKS]
NEW TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD {BY CELINE ROBERTS} THANKS TO Carrie Clayton and Spencer
WE CATER!
Warren, of Subversive Cocktails and Penn Avenue Fish Company, Downtown will welcome a new neighbor, Mr. Rogers, A Neighborhood Bar, in January. Even unfinished, the spot at 245 Seventh St. already gives off a sense of modern meets old-school, with booths and barware picked up from local Goodwills. The bar top has been salvaged from a wooden lane at Dormont Lanes bowling alley, and in the basement, slabs of marble, hewn to look like dominos, stand ready to line the counter’s façade. At the door, an illuminated street lantern greets patrons. Clayton and Warren are intent on creating a friendly hangout. “The people who make Pittsburgh Pittsburgh can’t afford to hang out Downtown anymore. That’s the point of Mr. Rogers — to have cheap beer, cheap cocktails and cheap wine, but also really good stuff at the same time,” says Clayton. The menu will feature 10 cocktails, eight drafts, around 40 cans and bottles of beer, and nearly a dozen wines by the glass. Cocktail prices will range from $8 to $10, and for the cocktail-curious, there will be an expanded binder menu behind the bar. Food will be bar-forward (burgers, sushi, salads, fish and chips). As longtime bartenders themselves, Warren and Clayton prioritized hiring staff who can shine behind the bar or on the floor. Both Warren and Clayton will be taking bar shifts and will be offering an opportunity for staff to work toward owning a stake in the venture. While you wait for the bar to open,
Mr. Rogers is available for private parties; cardigan and comfy sneakers optional. Additionally, the concept for the space is three-fold; besides the bar, there will be the Penn Cove Eatery lunch counter and a retail wine shop, both of which hope to open soon. The bottle shop, which will offer mostly special-order wines unavailable in the state stores, will feature more than 200 wines curated by Clayton; local wineindustry folks will also have a monthly curated section. “We’re working on having an all-female curated wine list,” says Warren. The pair plans to emphasize tastings and on-the-floor customer service. The wine shop plans to be open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., so you can grab that after-dinner bottle you forgot, or even bring it over to Mr. Rogers for a corkage fee. In the meantime, there’s plenty for Subversive Cocktails to do. The pair is bringing back its iteration of the Miracle holiday pop-up bar from Cocktail Kingdom. Miracle on Market, inside the Original Oyster House in Market Square, opened the day after Thanksgiving and will be serving up holiday cheer nightly until New Year’s Eve. A portion of the proceeds will go to 412 Food Rescue. Last year, the bar donated around $5,000. So, run, run, Rudolph, to soak up the over-the-top decorations; drink a festive beverage; and snack on food from the Original Oyster House. If you’re lucky, you can snag a hot chocolate from Clayton’s daughter, Adeline Whitlock, who’ll be running The Mini Marshmallow Miracle, 4-6 p.m. every Sunday in December. 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 11.29/12.06.2017
BOOZE BATTLES
Cavacini
{BY CELINE ROBERTS}
Garden Center
Each week, we order the same cocktail at two different bars for a friendly head-to-head battle. Go to the bars, taste both drinks 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.
Christmas Trees Wreaths Poinsettias Christmas Cactus Garlands ... and much more!
THE DRINK: APRICOTS AND SHERRY
100 51st St / Lawrenceville
412-687-2010 Off Butler Street /Across from Goodwill
Open 7 days a week, 10am-8:30pm
VS.
Keep your car. Trade in your loan. Caselulla @ Alphabet City
Or, The Whale
40 W. North Ave., North Side
463 Boulevard of the Allies, Downtown
DRINK: Apricot and Sherry INGREDIENTS: Apricot liqueur, Finca Hispana sherry, whole egg, Angostura bitters, snapdragon garnish OUR TAKE: Delicate, warm apricot notes remind you of what it was like when the sun still came out most days, while the sherry adds depth to the flavor profile. The egg is frothy and creamy, warmed by the spices in the Angostura bitters. A perfect winter cocktail.
DRINK: Tall Spar Mimosa INGREDIENTS: Apricot liqueur, Amontillado sherry, orange juice, Stanford brut sparkling wine OUR TAKE: This cocktail takes apricot liqueur and sherry in a totally different direction, using the orange juice to up the acid and brighten the fruitiness of the apricot. Sparkling wine brings effervescence, and sherry contributes warm vanilla notes.
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Learn more about Pittsburgh’s food scene on our podcasts Sound Bite and Five Minutes in Food History online at www.pghcitypaper.com.
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LEAVE ’EM LAUGHING
DAHMER WANDERS THROUGH HIS LIFE AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF NORMAL ADOLESCENCE
{BY AL HOFF} Stories of women struggling to find equal footing in the entertainment world are currently blowing up newsfeeds, and some of them have zeroed in on the extra difficulties of being a funny female performer. It’s tough now, but ladies, it has never been easy. Let Rose Marie tell you. The 94-yearold performer helps narrate Wait for Your Laugh, Jason Wise’s documentary about her nine decades in show biz. She’s still sharp and feisty, and after all these years, ready to spill a little tea about certain so-and-so’s.
Rose Marie, during her Hollywood Squares days
CP APPROVED
She started performing at age 4, as Baby Rose Marie, an adorable little girl with a big adult voice. She was signed to an NBC radio contract at age 5, and never stopped working professionally. She nimbly moved through the rapidly changing entertainment world of the 20th century, mastering vaudeville, cabaret, USO shows, a movie or two, television, throwback tours and voice work for animation. She literally opened “Vegas,” performing at the grand opening of Bugsy Siegel’s glamorous Flamingo, the progenitor to the gambling-andentertainment industry we now associate with that city. Considerable time is devoted to her work on the influential 1960s sit-com The Dick Van Dyke Show, on which she played a woman who wrote for a comedy show. It was a great role, but alas, Rose Marie recounts that being “one of the boys” in the series’ workplace scenes could never generate the attention earned by the glamorous Mary Tyler Moore, who portrayed the wife. But series creator Carl Reiner and star Van Dyke speak warmly of Rose Marie’s comedic gifts and of her many contributions to the show, both on and off camera. To younger folks, Rose Marie may seem old-fashioned, and indeed her signature genre of comedic cabaret doesn’t dominate the airwaves and stages like it used to. But her fight to control her own career and image, and to strive for success beyond “typical” female roles remains a contemporary struggle. AHOFF@ PGHC ITY PA PE R.CO M
UPDATE: As this paper was going to press, it was learned that the opening date had been pushed back until later in December at the Hollywood Theater.
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Young Jeff Dahmer (Ross Lynch)
THE ROAD TAKEN {BY AL HOFF}
W
HEN apprehended in 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer — killer of 17 men, cannibal and body-part hoarder — quickly entered the pantheon of singlename-famous serial killers. Much has been written about Dahmer’s gruesome crimes, but perhaps more fascinating was the 2012 graphic novel My Friend Dahmer. In it, syndicated cartoonist John “Derf” Backderf — whose weekly feature “The City” ran in this paper for years — recounted being friends with a teenage Jeff Dahmer during their senior year in a northern Ohio town. And yes, young Dahmer was an odd guy — but who could have guessed how horribly wrong things would go after graduation? Now, that reflective work has been adapted into an eponymous film, directed by Marc Meyers, who co-wrote the script with Backderf. Set in 1978, it is a quietly unnerving coming-of-age story about a troubled young man. He is seemingly transitioning from a shy boy beset with confusing thoughts — “I like to pick up road kill, but I’m trying to quit” — to an adult willing to follow through on disturbing impulses. The affectless and slump-shouldered Dahmer (Ross Lynch) wanders through his life against the backdrop of normal ado-
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.29/12.06.2017
lescence as practiced by Middle American boys: band practice, goofing off in basements and parking lots, enduring boring classes, talking about girls and making plans for life. He is there, and not there.
MY FRIEND DAHMER DIRECTED BY: Marc Meyers STARRING: Ross Lynch, Alex Wolff, Dallas Roberts, Anne Heche Starts Fri., Dec. 1. SouthSide Works
CP APPROVED At home, Dahmer’s parents fight, and bitterly divorce. Dad (Dallas Roberts) knows things aren’t right with his son, but his corrective measures are clumsy. (He tears down the backyard hut in which Dahmer indulges in his preferred hobby — performing various disintegration processes on road kill.) Dahmer’s mom (Anne Heche) is mentally ill, and too caught up in her own self-serving mania to see how lost her son is becoming. In school, Dahmer is teased or ignored. Then one day he stages a fake seizure in the hallway, grunting and writhing on the floor. The stunt earns him the admiration
of a small band of nerdy dudes, helmed by prolific doodler “Derf” Backderf (Alex Wolff). Dahmer joins in the group, but due to his social awkwardness and oddness, he never quite integrates. The guys do appreciate his “spazzes” — the nickname for his fake fits, which they also call “Dahmers” — and deploy him in other pranks. He is in, but not in. The film is studiously low-key; those who revel in the sensational aspects of serial-killer stories might be bored, but I found the slow-motion unraveling and re-building of Dahmer to be fascinating. For us, every action Dahmer takes, however small, is charged with what we know happens later. It’s all speculative, but when we see Dahmer fondling bones, spying on a handsome male jogger, or drifting away from his few acquaintances, it feels portentous and even explanatory. Perhaps nothing would have prevented Dahmer from the horrific path he eventually chose, but the film suggests that there was little in his troubled adolescent life to throw up any roadblocks. It’s a haunting story. John Backderf will attend the 7:30 p.m. Fri., Dec. 1, and 2:20 p.m. Sat., Dec. 2, screenings and do a Q&A. A H OF F @ P G HC I T Y PA P E R. C OM
Miyazaki’s 1992 anime. Subtitled and dubbed; check at www.rowhousecinema.com. Dec. 1-2, Dec. 5-10, Dec. 12 and Dec. 14. Row House Cinema
FILM CAPSULES CP
= CITY PAPER APPROVED
PRINCESS MONONOKE. In Hayao Miyazaki’s 1997 animated tale, a cursed warrior journeys into the forest, where he gets caught up in a battle involving humans and gods. Dec. 2-5, Dec. 8, Dec. 10 and Dec. 12-14. Row House Cinema
NEW LUCKY. John Carroll Lynch’s new drama follows the spiritual journey of a 90-year-old atheist who has outlived his contemporaries. The film stars Harry Dean Stanton, who earlier this year died at 91, so let it serve as a memorial. Starts Fri., Dec. 1. Parkway
REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA. A 2008 rock opera about the dystopic future of health care. In the year 2056, most of us are living with transplanted organs … or at least until we miss a couple payments and get our innards repossessed the hard way. Darren Lynn Bousman’s musical horror-spoof features Paul Sorvino, Sarah Brightman, Joan Jett and Paris Hilton, among others. Midnight, Sat., Dec. 2. Row House Cinema
PORTO. Gabe Klinger’s drama follows a man and a woman who share a brief connection in the Portuguese city of Porto, and later, through memories, examine the encounter for more meaning. Anton Yelchin and Lucie Lucas star. Starts Thu., Nov. 30. Melwood THELMA. Joachim Trier’s semi-supernatural psycho-sexual slow-burn thriller is the second European film I’ve seen in a year about sensitive young women who show up at college and have rather bizarre meltdowns. The other was Raw, from Belgium, and this Norwegian entry is decidedly more Nordic — austere, beautifully shot and notably less bloody. But both films have at their cores protagonists struggling to wholly embrace the discovery of self, with all one’s messy desires and inconsistencies. Here — after a startling prologue — we meet Thelma (Eili Harboe), who is starting university. She is an only child, with overprotective conservatively religious parents. Thelma is immediately out of her element in the flirty, partying student scene, where relinquishing control and arguing about atheism is half the fun. But she is befriended by the lively Anja (Kaya Wilkins) and begins to open up to new experiences and feelings. While she’s thrilled, these mild transgressions also cause considerable anxiety, as well as stir up repressed guilt and anger, particularly toward her parents. These emotional crises make her physically ill, prone to seizures and other bizarre manifestations. Like other contemporary psychological horror films, Thelma finds elements of this drama rooted in the body and in its relationship to the natural world. (Cue the unsettling trees, birds and snakes.) Ultimately, aspects of the story — Thelma, her relationship with her father, her illness — will likely confound your expectations. Thelma takes its time, and I found my sympathies and insights shifting throughout. Coming-of-age stories, even off-kilter ones, often have a familiar groove, and I enjoyed this work’s ability to surprise. In Norwegian, with subtitles. Starts Fri., Dec. 1. Harris (Al Hoff)
CP
Thelma THE DIVINE ORDER. Petra Volpe’s new film is set in Switzerland in 1971, where women still did not have the right to vote. That is, until a housewife at loose ends organizes a suffrage movement in her town. This film is a preview for spring’s upcoming international film festival, Faces of (In)Equality. There will be a reception with Swiss-inspired food and a Skype Q&A with Volpe. 7 p.m. Thu., Nov. 30. McConomy Auditorium, Carnegie Mellon campus, Oakland. $5-10. www.cmu.edu/faces/ SPIRITED AWAY. In this 2001 animation film from Hayao Miyazaki, a 10-year-old girl and her family accidentally wander into the spirit world, where the parents are turned into pigs and their daughter must figure out how to save the day. Subtitled and dubbed; check at www.rowhousecinema.com. Dec. 1-5, Dec. 8-9 and Dec. 12-13. Row House Cinema
THE WIND RISES. Hayao Miyazaki’s 2013 anime, a loose biography of Japanese airplane-designer Jiro Horikoshi, is a paean to aeronautics, as well as an exploration of transforming the artistic into the practical. Subtitled and dubbed; check at www. rowhousecinema.com. Dec. 1-4, Dec. 6-9, Dec. 1112 and Dec. 14. Row House Cinema ONLY YESTERDAY. In Isao Takahata’s 1991 animated work, a young woman, during a visit to the country, recalls her Tokyo childhood. Subtitled and dubbed; check at www.rowhousecinema.com. Dec. 1, Dec. 3, Dec. 5-8, Dec. 10-11 and Dec. 13. Row House Cinema PORCO ROSSO. In the 1930s, a former Italian fighter pilot is transformed into a pig, in Hayao
A CHRISTMAS STORY. Guess what Ralphie wants for Christmas? An official Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot range model air rifle. Will he get it? Discover this and other small wonders of holidays past in Bob Clark’s 1983 holiday film, presented on the big screen. 7:30 p.m. Tue., Dec. 5. AMC Loews Waterfront. $5 THE PEACE AGENCY. Sue Useem’s 2016 documentary profiles Lian Gogali, an Indonesian woman who heads an all-female movement seeking to bring non-violent grassroots activism to their conflict-torn region of Poso. In Indonesian, with subtitles. 6:30 p.m. Wed., Dec. 6. Eddy Theater, Chatham University campus, Shadyside. Free. www.justfilmspgh.org GREMLINS. The little furry guys sure are cute, but when the rules get broken, hordes of misbehaving gremlins get loose, unleashing comic mayhem on a small town. Joe Dante directs this 1984 comedy. 7:30 p.m. Thu., Dec. 7. AMC Loews Waterfront. $5
THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA. In Isao Takahata’s 2013 hand-drawn animated film, an elderly bamboo-cutter finds a mysterious tiny child in the stalk of a tree, and raises her to be a princess. Subtitled and dubbed; check at www.rowhousecinema.com. Dec. 1-2, Dec. 4, Dec. 6-7, Dec. 9-11 and Dec. 13-14. Row House Cinema
REPERTORY STRANGE BREW. Inasmuch as there is a sporadically funny movie about beer based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, t this 1983 comedy from Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas would be it. The slacker brothers of SCTV’s V “The Great White North” discover nefarious activities at the Elsinore Brewery, where the evil Max von Sydow is chewing scenery, mind-controlling hockey players and plotting to take over the world. It all mostly works because the film never takes itself too seriously: A prologue and epilogue both warn the viewer that the film isn’t worth the price of admission. 7:30 p.m. Wed., Nov. 29. AMC Loews Waterfront. $5 (AH)
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LET’S NOT BE TOO QUICK TO BE SO HARD ON THE BUCCOS
HISTORY LESSONS This week in Pittsburgh Sports History {BY CHARLIE DEITCH} NOV. 30, 1952 While we all know the Pittsburgh Steelers as a six-ring powerhouse, times weren’t always so golden. Quite frankly, before the Chuck Noll era, the team sucked. So when the Steelers scored nine touchdowns, forced nine turnovers and held the New York Giants to 15 rushing yards en route to a 63-7 victory at Forbes Field, fans were so excited that they stormed the field and ripped down a goal post.
NOV. 30, 1976 Pitt’s Tony Dorsett is awarded the Heisman Trophy after rushing for more than 6,000 career yards.
DEC. 2, 1976 Just two months after retiring, former Pittsburgh Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh dies following a stroke. He was 59. Murtaugh compiled a managerial record of 1,115-950 over four separate stints with the Pirates from 1957-1976. He won two World Series.
DEC. 2, 1997 Former Steelers quarterback Bubby Brister tells reporters that it’s tough to play in Three Rivers Stadium because the wind “blows off the lake.”
DEC. 3, 1973 Pittsburgh Steeler Joe Gilliam becomes the first African American to start an NFL game as a QB. Miami beat the Steelers on Monday Night Football.
DEC. 3, 1987 The uneven play of Steelers quarterback Mark Malone could drive a lot of fans crazy. Fan Tony Morelli, of Wintersville, Ohio, really took his anger with the mustachioed signal-caller to the next level. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at the time, Morelli plowed his Plymouth through the gates of Three Rivers Stadium and ran over eight, 10-gallon vats of nacho-cheese sauce before driving to the third level via interior ramps. According to the P-G, Morelli “attributed his frustration [to] the performance of Mark Malone, the Steeler quarterback.” Stadium officials found Morelli on the field “kicking field goals without a football.” The charges against Morelli were dropped the following April when he made restitution of $1,345 — of which $685 was the cost of the nacho cheese.
Pittsburgh’s Joe Gilliam made news when he became the first black QB to start an NFL game {PHOTO COURTESY OF SI.COM}
DEC. 1, 1999 After its 75th season hosting college football, work crews begin demolishing Pitt Stadium.
{CP PHOTOS BY LUKE THOR TRAVIS}
Andrew McCutchen
NO NEED TO PANIC The Pittsburgh Pirates will be just fine in 2018 {BY JOSH KING}
T
O CALL THE Pittsburgh Pirates’ 2017
season a disappointment would be a gross understatement. It was the team’s second straight losing season after having turned things around in 2013, and fans wanted no part of it. The masses want big changes now because they think two losing seasons can turn into 20 and, granted, there’s historical data to prove that’s possible. But let’s not be too quick to be so hard on the Buccos. The 2017 season was doomed before it ever really got started. On Dec. 1, 2016, for example, Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang wrecked his car while driving under the influence. Had Kang simply waited for the police to show up, perhaps the South Korean courts would have taken it easier on him. Instead, Kang fled the scene on foot, and that decision alone resulted in a conviction, a suspended
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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 11.29/12.06.2017
sentence and an inability to get a work visa from the U.S. government. Then there was Starling Marte. Poised to replace Andrew McCutchen in centerfield, Marte was hit with an 80-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs. The mainstream Pittsburgh media has been ruthless with the club, even though that meant they were all writing the same narrative. Sports-talk hosts, especially WXDX’s Mark Madden, were extremely critical of the ball club, and others quickly followed suit. I do find it especially funny, though, that Madden — who’s usually busy talking hockey all summer — is quick to tell us what’s wrong with the Pirates when I don’t recall ever seeing him in the team’s clubhouse, going to the source to fairly assess what was going on. In short, it seemed like the cool thing to do was bash the Pirates, especially if you
wrote for a blog or had 30 seconds of airtime on the FM dial. Make no mistake, last season was one of the roughest in Pirates history, despite a not-so-awful record of 75-87. It was tough because many expected that the Pirates would challenge the Cubs for the division title. And, for a while, they did. But ultimately, the roster just wasn’t good enough. While there will continue to be plenty of opportunities to dissect what exactly went wrong with the 2017 ball club, the problems of 2017 are likely an anomaly, not a backslide. In fact, 2018 could be the year they finally win the division. Think about this: Oct. 1, 2013, wasn’t that long ago. On a warm October night, Pirates fans showed their greatness. No one will ever forget the atmosphere at the ballpark that night for the National League wild-card game. Thinking about
Starling Marte
the “Cueeeetooooo, Cueeetooooo” chants still give me chills. The Pirates front office that season showed its ability to acquire talent when it really mattered. Marlon Byrd was a key ingredient for that victory. The team was one game shy of the NLCS. It could have won the World Series that year. Nobody should forget that. However, after years of losing, this might also be the team’s final chance to strike gold in the Andrew McCutchen era. He’s a free agent after next season although, so far, the Pirates seem committed to keeping him around for at least one more year after threatening to trade him every 20 minutes during 2016’s offseason. The Pirates have a lot to be excited about in 2018. McCutchen returns, Starling Marte
should get an entire season under his belt, and a healthy Jameson Taillon should be a monster on the mound. Also, fans need to watch out for infielder Max Moroff. There is something special about that kid. He won’t be confused for Jose Altuve in 2018, but he has a demeanor and ability that screams future star. He has the power and level head to be in the running for Rookie of the Year next season. The bottom line: The Pirates are fine. Last season was a minor detour on the long journey back to the World Series for the first time since 1979. I N F O @PGH C IT YPAPE R . C O M
Josh King is the station manager for TribLIVE Radio.
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[THE CHEAP SEATS]
BARGAIN BASEMENT {BY MIKE WYSOCKI} CHRISTMAS IS still three weeks away, but
the Christmas songs are entering their fourth week of ubiquity. As Americans lavishly spend money they may or may not have on friends, family and co-workers they don’t like, Major League Baseball teams start shopping sprees of their own. The wealthy teams in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago peruse top names like Yu Darvish, Jake Arrieta and J.D. Martinez. These teams add to their roster by purchasing players like it’s a Sotheby’s auction. Meanwhile, the Pirates do all of their shopping at thrift-store prices. The Bucs rifle through merchandise that’s either damaged or unwanted. Every once in a while, they stumble on a good bargain. Entering 2018, the Pirates really have only one position locked up. That ever-elusive first baseman has been found. After more than 55 men applied for the job over the past 14 seasons, Josh Bell finally fills that void. Additionally, Josh Harrison will likely return, and Jameson Taillon isn’t going anywhere just yet. But everybody else faces the prospect of the Pirates just blowing this whole thing up and starting over.
{CP FILE PHOTO}
Starling Marte and Jung Ho Kang
In 2015, the Pirates won 98 games as they battled the Cardinals and the Cubs for the division title. Three seasons later, the Cubs are way better than the Pirates at almost every position. The Cardinals are still competitive, and even the Brewers were better than the Bucs last year. If the only consolation is being better than the Cincinnati Reds, that certainly is not good enough. The farm system isn’t as fertile as in years past, and the team’s rebuilding is not coming through free agency. Most likely, the Pirates will sign a player who had an outstanding 2013 before multiple Tommy John surgeries sidetracked his career. But in any case, he’ll be cheap. Starling Marte and Jung Ho Kang were supposed to be permanent pieces in the Pirates lineup for the next couple of years. But last year, a combination of drinking, performanceenhancing drugs and bad driving reduced Marte’s role to a half season; Kang, meanwhile, missed the entire year because his conviction prevented him from getting a visa. Even if the Pirates wanted to trade those two, they couldn’t. Kang is still living south of the DMZ awaiting his fate, while Marte’s stock is dropping like Xbox prices on Cyber Monday. Catcher Francisco Cervelli has been as fragile as an uncooked lasagna noodle, so long-time prospect Elias Diaz may finally get a shot as the backstop. Jordy Mercer and Gregory Polanco have had a few good moments, but neither player would start for any team that made
the playoffs last year. Who does that leave to trade? There are only three players on the roster who could get a return of more than one other player: Andrew McCutchen, Gerrit Cole and Felipe Rivero. (Ivan Nova could be traded, but there likely wouldn’t be much of a return.) The loss of McCutchen would hurt the city more than the loss of Marc-Andre Fleury, and probably just as much as the departure of former Pitt hoops coach Jamie Dixon. That same love and affection isn’t extended to Cole or Rivero. We like Cole, but we don’t love him — even though he’s the first legitimate ace the Pirates have had since PNC Park opened. We like our athletes to be gregarious like Jerome Bettis and Hines Ward; or exceedingly humble, like Sid Crosby or Cutch; or quirky like Fleury or Antonio Brown. We also like Regular Joes like Phil Kessel and Brett Keisel. But Cole doesn’t fit into any of those categories, and he can’t beat the stupid Cincinnati Reds. Felipe Rivero had one of the best seasons a Pirates closer has ever had. His value will likely never be higher. His stuff might be put to a better use on a team that’s broken .500 in the past two years. The only way for the Pirates to move up in the division is to trade their ace and star closer. If a fair trade for McCutchen is offered, they would have to take that too; just close their eyes and pull the trigger. Either that, or hope that the 57th and 83rd best available free agents are able to turn it around.
THE PIRATES DO ALL OF THEIR FREE-AGENT SHOPPING AT THRIFT-STORE PRICES
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
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THE BOARD OF PUBLIC EDUCATION OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PITTSBURGH Sealed proposals shall be deposited at the Administration Building, Room 251, 341 South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15213, on December 19, 2017, until 2:00 P.M., local prevailing time for a Service Contract for the following:
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We are an equal rights and opportunity school district. Parent Hotline: 412-622-7920 www.pps.k12.pa.us
PICK SIX
{BY BRENDAN EMMETT QUIGLEY / WWW.BRENDANEMMETTQUIGLEY.COM}
Does addiction have its hands on you? Let us help. SUBOXONE . VIVITROL SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT CLOSE TO S. HILLS, WASHINGTON, CANONSBURG, CARNEGIE
412-221-1091 SUBOXONE NO COST TREATMENT TO MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PATIENTS Bridgeville & Ellwood City freedomtreatment.com ACROSS 1. They’ve got all the answers 5. Catching a bit more Z’s 9. Spot for a lavalier mic 14. Little character on TV 15. Host before and after O’Brien 16. French 101 school 17. Have-___ (those in need) 18. Impartiality from your pops? 20. Bioinformatics strand 21. is.gd thing 22. Learning method 23. Pest near the Taj Mahal? 26. Broadcasted 27. Aconcagua, e.g.: Abbr. 28. Shock jock in a cowboy hat 30. Mouselike animal 33. Puts another candle on the cake 34. Money put on the table 38. Two things that you do at an Oasis concert? 41. Big Apple cops 42. Mangy dog 43. D&D brutes 44. Magazine with a red border on its cover 45. “We’re drowning here”
46. Outboard motor locale 49. Crime novel? 54. High spirits 56. One’s better half’s title: Abbr. 57. Popped thing 58. Kudos for some BDSM activity? 60. Pained expression 61. Spook’s work 62. Northern duck 63. Con ___ (with vigor) 64. Vogue topic 65. Red-___ (cinnamon candies) 66. Butt Fumble team
DOWN
13. Wine leftovers 19. National cheer, for God’s sake, we’d better hear at 3-Down 21. Ahead by a pair 24. Make changes 25. Green-___ (okayed) 29. Reach, as a goal 30. W-9 ID 31. “Yo, bro!” 32. Agent, briefly 33. Homecoming visitor 34. Emo motif 35. Neither partner 36. 5K souvenir 37. Overhead rollers 39. Key with one sharp 40. Knights’ neighbors
1. “The Ox-Bow Incident” star 2. In the thick of 3. 2022 World Cup host 4. Cap and gown renters: Abbr. 5. Astronaut Buzz 6. Start of an old army slogan 7. Wrap things up 8. Place to get your kicks? 9. “I Dreamed a Dream” musical, for short 10. John Wilkes Booth was one 11. Presence of mind 12. Spanish national hero
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FOR THE WEEK OF
Free Will Astrology
11.29-12.06
{BY ROB BREZSNY}
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “What is love?” asks philosopher Richard Smoley. “It’s come to have a greeting-card quality,” he mourns. “Half the time ‘loving’ someone is taken to mean nurturing a warmish feeling in the heart for them, which mysteriously evaporates the moment the person has some concrete need or irritates us.” One of your key assignments in the next 10 months will be to purge any aspects of this shrunken and shriveled kind of love that may still be lurking in your beautiful soul. You are primed to cultivate an unprecedented new embodiment of mature, robust love.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You know that unfinished task you have halfavoided, allowing it to stagnate? Soon you’ll be able to summon the gritty determination required to complete it. I suspect you’ll also be able to carry out the glorious rebirth you’ve been shy about climaxing. To gather the energy you need, reframe your perspective so that you can feel gratitude for the failure or demise that has made your glorious rebirth necessary and inevitable.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): In an ideal world, your work and your character would speak for themselves. You’d receive exactly the amount of recognition and appreciation you deserve. You wouldn’t have to devote as much intelligence to selling yourself as you did to developing your skills in the first place. But now forget everything I just said. During the next 10 months, I predict that packaging and promoting yourself won’t be so #$@&%*! important. Your work and character WILL speak for themselves with more vigor and clarity than they have before.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): There used to be a booth at a Santa Cruz flea market called “Joseph Campbell’s Love Child.” It was named after the mythology scholar who wrote the book The Hero With a Thousand Faces. The booth’s proprietor sold items that spurred one’s “heroic journey,” like talismans made to order and herbs that stimulated courage and mini-books with personalized advice based on one’s horoscope. “Chaos-Tamers” were also for sale. They were magic spells designed to help people manage the messes that crop up in one’s everyday routine while pursuing an heroic quest. Given the current astrological omens, Pisces, you would benefit from a place that sold items like these. Since none exists, do the next best thing: Aggressively drum up all the help and inspiration you need. You can and should be well-supported as you follow your dreams on your hero’s journey.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I hope that everything doesn’t come too easily for you in the coming weeks. I’m worried you
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will meet with no obstructions and face no challenges. And that wouldn’t be good. It might weaken your willpower and cause your puzzlesolving skills to atrophy. Let me add a small caveat, however. It’s also true that right about now you deserve a whoosh of slack. I’d love for you to be able to relax and enjoy your well-deserved rewards. But on the other hand, I know you will soon receive an opportunity to boost yourself up to an even higher level of excellence and accomplishment. I want to be sure that when it comes, you are at peak strength and alertness.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): You were born with the potential to give the world specific gifts — benefits and blessings that are unique to you. One of those gifts has been slow in developing. You’ve never been ready to confidently offer it in its fullness. In fact, if you have tried to bestow it in the past, it may have caused problems. But the good news is that in the coming months, this gift will finally be ripe. You’ll know how to deal crisply with the interesting responsibilities it asks you to take on. Here’s your homework: Get clear about what this gift is and what you will have to do to offer it in its fullness.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Happy Unbirthday, Gemini! You’re halfway between your last birthday and your next. That means you’re free to experiment with being different from who you have imagined yourself to be and who other people expect you to be. Here are inspirational quotes to help you celebrate. 1. “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” — George Bernard Shaw. 2. “Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one’s mind.” — W. Somerset Maugham. 3. “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson. 4. “The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die. As well the minds which are prevented from changing their opinions; they cease to be mind.” — Friedrich Nietzsche.
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I suggest that you take a piece of paper and write down a list of your biggest fears. Then call on the magical force within you that is bigger and smarter than your fears. Ask your deep sources of wisdom for the poised courage you need to keep those scary fantasies in their proper place. And what is their proper place? Not as the masters of your destiny, not as controlling agents that prevent you from living lustily, but rather as helpful guides that keep you from taking foolish risks.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In his book Life: The Odds, Gregory Baer says that the odds you will marry a millionaire are not good:
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215-to-1. They’re 60,000-to-1 that you’ll wed royalty and 88,000-to-1 that you’ll date a model. After analyzing your astrological omens for the coming months, I suspect your chances of achieving these feats will be even lower than usual. That’s because you’re far more likely to cultivate synergetic and symbiotic relationships with people who enrich your soul and stimulate your imagination, but don’t necessarily pump up your ego. Instead of models and millionaires, you’re likely to connect with practical idealists, energetic creators, and emotionally intelligent people who’ve done work to transmute their own darkness.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): What might you do to take better care of yourself in 2018, Virgo? According to my reading of the astrological omens, this will be a fertile meditation for you to keep revisiting. Here’s a good place to start: Consider the possibility that you have a lot to learn about what makes your body operate at peak efficiency and what keeps your soul humming along with the sense that your life is interesting. Here’s another crucial task: Intensify your love for yourself. With that as a driving force, you’ll be led to discover the actions necessary to supercharge your health. P.S. Now is an ideal time to get this project underway.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Here are themes I suggest you specialize in during the coming weeks. 1. How to gossip in ways that don’t diminish and damage your social network, but rather foster and enhance it. 2. How to be in three places at once without committing the mistake of being nowhere at all. 3. How to express precisely what you mean without losing your attractive mysteriousness. 4. How to be nosy and brash for fun and profit. 5. How to unite and harmonize the parts of yourself and your life that have been at odds with each other.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): I predict that in the coming months you won’t feel compulsions to set your adversaries’ hair on fire. You won’t fantasize about robbing banks to raise the funds you need, nor will you be tempted to worship the devil. And the news just gets better. I expect that the amount of self-sabotage you commit will be close to zero. The monsters under your bed will go on a long sabbatical. Any lame excuses you have used in the past to justify bad behavior will melt away. And you’ll mostly avoid indulging in bouts of irrational and unwarranted anger. In conclusion, Scorpio, your life should be pretty evil-free for quite some time. What will you do with this prolonged outburst of grace? Use it wisely! What change have you prepared yourself to embrace? What lesson are you ripe to master? Write: FreeWillAstrology.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
’ LET S
Savage Love {BY DAN SAVAGE}
I’m a straight man in a live-in relationship with a beautiful woman. There are no sparks in bed, and it’s been more than a year since we’ve had sex. She says, “I’m sorry, but I’m just not interested.” Sometimes she asks me if I’m disappointed, and I say something like, “I miss sex.” And she says: “Maybe someday. But the important thing is we love each other, right?” Before my last birthday, she asked me what I wanted as a gift. I replied, “A soapy handjob.” That would’ve been the most action I’d had all year. But when my birthday rolled around, all I got was a speech about how she loved me but was not in love with me. My question: In the year 2017, how does a straight man make it clear to the woman he’s with that sex is important to him without coming across as threatening? If I told her I’d leave her unless our sex life improved — and I have certainly thought about this — she’d probably “put out” to save our relationship. She has abandonment issues, and I fear she would be devastated if I left her. I only want to have sex with someone who wants to have sex with me, not someone I’ve coerced. What do I do? I love her, but a sexless relationship isn’t what I want or signed up for.
I am a straight woman who just started fucking a hot, younger male coworker. The sexual tension between us was out of control until we stayed late one night and screwed on my desk. Since that night, we’ve hooked up a few more times. We grope each other in the office daily, as the “fear” of getting caught is a real turn-on for me. The problem — there always is one — is that he has a live-in girlfriend. He told me they are in an open relationship, so being with me isn’t cheating. As per their arrangement, he won’t tell her about me, but if she finds out, he won’t lie. How do I know if he’s telling me the truth or if he’s saying these things so I’ll keep sleeping with him? She comes to work events with him, and I feel guilty because she is sweet and obviously adores him. Also, being coworkers adds another layer of issues. I am a well-liked employee who people consider very professional. He is new to the company and is a bit of a scatterbrain. The sex is amazing in part because he’s too immature for me to consider romantically. I’d love to keep seeing him for sex, but I don’t want to help him hurt someone else. Can I fuck him guilt-free?
SEXLESS OVER A PERPLEXING YEAR
P.S. I’ve already caught him in some minor lies. For instance, he said one of the rules of the open relationship is no sex in their apartment. Guess where we last fucked?
There’s being sensitive to coming across as threatening and wanting to avoid even unintentional coercion and being cognizant of the ways women are socialized to defer to men and the ways men are socialized to feel entitled to women’s bodies, SOAPY, and then there’s being a fucking doormat. She isn’t in love with you — she told you so herself — and she’s never gonna fuck you or soap you up to get you off. If you don’t want her putting out to keep you — if you don’t want her to fuck you under duress — then don’t give her the option. That means ending the relationship, SOAPY, not entering into negotiations about the terms for remaining in the relationship. There’s nothing unreasonable about wanting a romantic relationship that’s both loving and fully sexual, SOAPY, and a man can put his wants on the table without pounding said table with his dick. Your girlfriend’s issue may be a mystery — maybe it’s her, maybe it’s you— but you’re not obligated to stay in an unsatisfactory relationship indefinitely because your girlfriend will be devastated if you leave. Also, devastation is a two-way street. If you dump her, SOAPY, her devastation will be immediate, like the impact of an earthquake or a hurricane. But if you stay, you’ll be the one devastated — but your devastation will be gradual, taking years, like the erosion of coastline or the destruction of our democracy. The destruction of your self-esteem and sense of sexual self-worth could take a decade or more, SOAPY, but it is already under way. She’s a lot likelier to get over the devastation she’ll feel if you leave — being dumped is a common experience that most people bounce back from — than you are to get over the devastation you’ll experience if you stay. Your gonads/self-respect/preservation instinct are in that apartment somewhere. Get ’em and go.
GET S CIAL
NOT A HEARTBREAK HELPER
If the genders were reversed here — if you were an older, more powerful man fucking a “hot, younger” female coworker — I’d have to find you and set you on fire or something. Because even before we get to the is-he-or-isn’t-he (in an open relationship) issue, the power imbalance makes this not OK. Or it does to some/ many/most. But I’m going to let those who object to coworkers fucking — unless both are partners in the firm with equal tenure, power and salaries — debate that issue in the comments thread while I address the issue you asked me to address: Can you know for sure whether he’s practicing ENM, a.k.a. “ethical non-monogamy”? Short answer: No, nope, you can’t — and the signs don’t look good. I was making notes as I read your letter, NAHH, and wrote, “Has he lied to you about anything?” before I got to your postscript. While some couples have DADT agreements — outside sex is allowed, but they “don’t ask, don’t tell” — the DADT thing makes it hard for their thirds (or fourths or fifths) to verify that the relationship is actually open and they aren’t a party to cheating. So you have to trust the person you’re fucking — and if they’ve given you reason not to trust them (like lying about other stuff) and/or demonstrated that they aren’t honoring the other rules of their supposedly open relationship (like fucking in the apartment they share), well, then they’ve demonstrated their fundamental untrustworthiness. Basically, NAHH, if he’s lying to her, he’s probably lying to you, too. So you can fuck him — but not without guilt.
SO YOU CAN FUCK HIM — BUT NOT WITHOUT GUILT.
)ROORZ XV WR ƓQG RXW ZKDWōV KDSSHQLQJ @PGHCITYPAPER FACEBOOK.COM/ PITTSBURGHCITYPAPER
On the Lovecast, Dan chats with Google powerhouse Blaise Agüera y Arcas: 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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Screencaps from VintageToiletPittsburgh’s YouTube post from the Carnegie Science Center SportsWorks restroom
SUPER BOWL WATCH PARTY {BY HANNAH LYNN}
LIKE MANY OF YOU, I’ve journeyed down many bizarre YouTube rabbit-holes in my day. Knife-making competitions. Blue Apronsponsored ASMR. Sandra Lee compilations. Raw vegan cooking shows. Hip-hop dressage. A python eating a whole alligator. I mean it when I say I’ve seen some weird shit, but even I was truly confused when I learned about the Toilet Filming community. There is a small but passionate community of YouTube users who post dozens, hundreds or maybe even thousands of videos of toilets flushing. It varies slightly depending on the channel, but the characteristics of the pieces are mostly the same. The videos are less than a minute long; have a low number of views; identify the make and year of the toilet; and very importantly, feature toilets that are always clean when flushed. (I watched one video in which the user announced the toilet was brown from rust, and that any commenter claiming otherwise would be blocked.)
I’ve never been a reddit user, but it’s a good place to go when looking for answers on an obscure topic. This led me to a subreddit called DeepIntoYouTube, the rules of which include “no videos uploaded as recently as five months shall be posted” and “No viral videos or videos with more than 100,000 views at the time the link is submitted.” Even this dark forum, which has discussions on such videos as “The Big Bang Theory Laugh Track Replaced With Shitting Sounds” and “The HIGHEST heel click in the world” doesn’t fully understand toilet filming. Comments range from “The internet actually does have everything” to “[That] guy will get ebola and die the way he flushes those toilets.” (Indeed, almost every video features the director reaching in to flush the toilets with their bare hands. I can’t remember the last time I flushed a public toilet using my hands — foot all the way, baby). There is something almost calming about the way the water
IT’S DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND WHY THESE VIDEOS EXIST, WHAT MAKES UP A GOOD OR BAD TOILET, OR WHERE THE USERS GET THEIR STRONG OPINIONS. Two of these users, VintageToiletsPittsburgh and PottiesInPittsburgh, are based locally. There might be some familiar toilets, like those in The Andy Warhol Museum, or Primanti Bros., or the JC Penney’s at Robinson Mall. To untrained eyes, these are just regular toilets. But to these users, they matter. While the videos rarely feature verbal narration, there are hand gestures — a thumbs up, thumbs down, or aggressive waving of the middle finger — to indicate the videographers’ feelings about a piece of plumbing. To be clear, these are toilets that happen to be in Pittsburgh, but the focus is not on the “Pittsburgh Toilet,” a common fixture in older homes, which usually consists of a wall-less, standalone toilet in the basement of a house. It’s difficult to understand why these videos exist, what makes a good or bad toilet, or where the users get their strong opinions. For example, one of the most common — and most hated — brands is American Standard, specifically the Madera model. To me, it looks like every other toilet on earth. But to the Toilet Filming community, it’s known as a “crapdera,” as in a toilet that is a piece of crap (and is bad at flushing it). I had no idea that anyone, other than plumbers and Home Depot employees, knew the difference between toilets, let alone the specific make and year. Is there a handbook, like Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide, but for toilets?
swirls. The most popular video on the PottiesInPittsburgh channel is a 41-second clip of a porta potty, repeatedly spitting out blue fluid into the bowl like small waves lapping against the shore. Toilets have an objectively disgusting job, but apparently they can be mesmerizing. There is also something creepy and unsettling about the videos. Taking a camera into the bathroom feels sinister, no matter how innocent the intentions (or how clean the bowl). Another friend I sent the videos to said the toilets “felt militant.” In college, I read a paper describing a mass hysteria that ensued among women working in a Malay factory because they were not used to using Western-style toilets, and believed bodies of water held evil spirits. If you’re the kind of person who gets anxious at the thought of not recycling paper, then toilet-filming videos might create a similar knot in your stomach, seeing the hundreds of gallons of water used because someone wanted to flush every toilet in McDonald’s. I prefer my toilets to remain anonymous. I never want to find myself at a rest stop in Ohio thinking, “Thank God, there’s an Eljer Sanus toilet!” But the best part about the internet’s wide cast is that literally everyone can find a niche. There is no hobby or interest on Earth for which there is not also a community of like-minded people, there to share joy or anger at your toilet. INF O@ P G HC I T Y PA P E R. C OM
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