Feb. 7, 2018 - Pittsburgh City Paper

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.07/02.14.2018

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.07/02.14.2018

02.07/02.14.2018 VOLUME 28 + ISSUE 06

[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 EMILY BENNETT, SABRINA BODON, JAKE MYSLIWCZYK, LAUREN ORTEGO

[ART] Director of Operations KEVIN SHEPHERD Production Director JULIE SKIDMORE Art Director LISA CUNNINGHAM Graphic Designer JEFF SCHRECKENGOST

DIERKS BENTLEY

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“The charm of the Pittsburghs and the Phillys is their lower-density row-house neighborhoods.”

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News 06 Weird 12 Music 13 Arts 20 Events 24 Taste 27

Screen 30 Sports 32 Classifieds 35 Crossword 36 Astrology 37 Savage Love 38 NEWS

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THIS WEEK

“PITTSBURGH IS LIKELY IN THE RUNNING BECAUSE OF THE LOW PRICING.”

ONLINE

www.pghcitypaper.com

On City Paper’s Politicrap blog, we examine how Donald Trump’s actions in Washington, D.C., impact people here in Pittsburgh. Check it out at www.pghcitypaper.com.

Introducing #PGH360, photo intern Jake Mysliwczyk’s new weekly Instagram feature where he’ll be taking a 360-degree tour of the city skyline.

Look for a new photo every Tuesday at Instagram.com/pghcitypaper.

{CP PHOTO BY JAKE MYSLIWCZYK}

The Arsenal 201 apartment complex in Lawrenceville is set to open soon, even as demand for high-end rentals is dipping.

CP is part of ProPublica’s Documenting Hate project aimed at collecting reports of hate crimes and bias incidents. If you’ve been a victim or a witness, tell us your story at www.pghcitypaper.com.

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Our featured photo from last week is by @barkandshutter. Use #CPReaderArt to share your local photos with us for your chance to be featured next!

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RECENT report by Washington,

D.C.-based real-estate research firm CoStar confirmed what many have been saying about Pittsburgh’s recent apartment boom: There are too many new, high-end apartments in the city.

CoStar found that the vacancy rate at the apartment buildings that opened in Pittsburgh 2017 was close to 40 percent. CoStar analyst Ben Atwood says there is low demand to fill newer apartment units, which tend to cater to highincome clientele.

“It is a softening across the metro,” says Atwood of the new, luxury-style units. “There are some that are doing well, but as a group, they are struggling to reach occupancy.”

Currently, Pittsburgh officials are busy courting tech-giant Amazon, which could

bring 50,000 well-paying jobs to the region if Amazon chooses Pittsburgh for its proposed second headquarters. Economicpolicy experts say that potential Amazon employees will be looking for more highend units in Pittsburgh, and rents will rise across the region.

Is Pittsburgh’s rental market a good fit for Amazon? {BY RYAN DETO} At the same time, Pittsburgh’s current rental market is showing a need for more moderately priced units, meaning those who already live here are driving demand in a different direction.

This begs some questions. Is the city’s

housing market actually a good fit for Amazon? If Pittsburgh were to land Amazon, would that benefit current Pittsburgh residents? City officials believe Pittsburgh is a great fit.

But policy experts see the housing market as a major obstacle for Pittsburgh in landing Amazon, and believe that if Amazon were to pick Pittsburgh, it would likely add intense pressure to rental markets and drive up prices. And everyone seems to agree, Pittsburgh’s rental and housing markets are in for some changes, especially if Amazon comes to town.

CoStar analyst Atwood says, “I have written the equivalent to a Game of Thrones-length book about [housing markets] in cities like Pittsburgh. And if Amazon comes, I throw all of that out the window.”

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.07/02.14.2018

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ATWOOD SAYS that Pittsburgh’s low rents relative to other cities is a factor in its chances for landing Amazon. According to apartment-aggregating website Apartment List, the January 2018 median price for a two-bedroom unit in Pittsburgh is $910. That’s more than $200 cheaper than Atlanta and $600 less than Washington, D.C. (All three cities are finalists for Amazon’s proposed second headquarters).

“I think it would be an advantage,” says Atwood. “Pittsburgh is likely in the running because of the low pricing.”

But he says the high vacancy rates at new apartment buildings indicate that the city isn’t seeing the type of growth that Amazon might be looking for.

He says Columbus, Ohio, has excelled recently in growing the type of educated, young workforce that fills new apartment complexes — the same kind of workforce Amazon is trying to recruit.

“Columbus is doing really well filling those types of units,” says Atwood. “They have a real solid economic base, and the

through a correction after a boom of new high-end units. “It could just be adjustment,” says Cummings. “I don’t think it is necessarily a bad thing. And it could help to moderate rent increases throughout the city.”

Cummings wouldn’t comment on how the vacancies could affect Pittsburgh’s chances of landing Amazon, but he did say that other outside investors “have already seen the values of the Pittsburgh real-estate market,” and he expects more to follow.

Rick Swartz, of the Bloomfield-Garfield Association, a community-development group, believes high-vacancy rates at the new developments could encourage more developers to build more affordable housing. But he says the city would still need many more moderately priced units, especially in Pittsburgh’s East End, to take pressure off the older-unit housing market, which is currently experiencing a very low vacancy rate.

“What I think will continue to happen is more upward pressure on rental rates for apartments in older buildings in the East End, because there is such a wide separation that remains between the rates on older apartments and what the developers of these newer projects are charging for their units,” wrote Swartz in an email to City Paper.

kids graduating at Ohio State University are staying and finding work. A positive-feedback loop is forming. They are filling up their inventory really quickly and nicely.”

Atwood says Pittsburgh’s failure to fill its newer apartment units could be an indication that the city’s economy has not taken off as much as investors, like apartment developers, have assumed it might. Atwood says it looks a bit alarming that there are still more high-end housing projects coming online in 2018, such as in Lawrenceville and Oakland.

But he says potential growth of tech could boost Pittsburgh’s economy, and have a positive effect on the overall housing market.

“There are reasons to be optimistic,” says Atwood. “I wouldn’t say Pittsburgh housing is in a doom-and-gloom phase.”

large amount of new, high-end units to compete for Amazon.

The Brookings Institute wrote a January report analyzing the housing markets of the 20 cities selected as finalists for Amazon’s second headquarters, also called Amazon HQ2. Brookings’ Jenny Schuetz authored that report and says in an interview with CP that Pittsburgh’s housing market benefits from being cheaper than other cities and having more supply. However, overall, older Rust Belt cities like Pittsburgh have a disadvantage since the majority of their housing stock is filled with older buildings, many of which have not been renovated.

Schuetz says that Amazon employees will likely be looking for newer and “shinier” units.

“The charm of the Pittsburghs and the Phillys is their lower-density row house neighborhoods,” says Schuetz. “If that is not a selling point for the workers, then that is a mismatch.”

Schuetz acknowledges that Pittsburgh’s vacancy rates at high-end apartment complexes could make Pittsburgh slightly more attractive to Amazon, but says those vacancies dwarf the amount of new units that would still be needed to accommodate up to 50,000 Amazon employees.

And if Pittsburgh did happen to land Amazon, Schuetz says the employees would flock to the trendy neighborhoods, and housing prices there would rise. “It’s hard to imagine a scenario without upward pressure on pricing,” says Schuetz.

“They are going to view even the richest

“AND IF AMAZON COMES, I THROW ALL OF THAT OUT THE WINDOW.”

TOM CUMMINGS, of Pittsburgh’s Urban Redevelopment Authority, says the vacancies at new apartment buildings could mean the housing market is going

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BUT THE BROOKINGS Institute, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C., says Pittsburgh will need a

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.07/02.14.2018

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Pittsburgh neighborhoods as a bargain.

The Amazon workers would take over the nicer neighborhoods.”

But part of the reason Pittsburgh officials want Amazon is so the company can help improve the entire region, not just the trendy neighborhoods. “We want to address affordable housing before it becomes a crisis,” said Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto in a January interview with the tech news site GeekWire. “We want to be able to address accessibility and mobility before the development occurs, and we want to be able to show Amazon that, by coming into a region, they can benefit the entire community and not just a single bottom line.”

Peduto also told GeekWire that he is looking to partner with Amazon and that he feels Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos would value the “community” if he chooses Pittsburgh.

But Schuetz says Amazon management is unlikely to encourage their workers to move to neighborhoods that could use investment. “The company is not going to take responsibility about how to house its workers,” says Schuetz. “The market is going to have to sort itself out.

It’s unlikely that they are going to go into neighborhoods that need investment.”

Representatives from the city did not respond to questions about how the state of Pittsburgh’s housing market affects the city’s chances at getting Amazon to set up here.

Chris Briem, an economist at University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Social and Urban Research, says Amazon could have wide-ranging effects on Pittsburgh. In an email to CP, he writes that if Amazon moves in, the city could finally see significant population and job growth. Briem writes that despite all the talk about an economy on the rebound and “all the changes people are talking about, the [total] population and job count within the city proper is pretty flat.”

Overall, Briem sees the pros and cons of Amazon’s potential effects on the housing market. “Amazon may clearly see local housing prices as a plus, but if they really look into it, they would have to conclude they would spur a fair bit of housing-cost inflation,” writes Briem.

“That being said, we have so far to go before we reach average prices in a lot of other regions, [so] it still works out.”

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.07/02.14.2018

PYRAMID

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Pittsburgh prepares for possible teacher strike

& Body Piercing

{BY REBECCA ADDISON} RIGHT NOW, Pittsburgh teachers are deciding whether or not to go on strike. The Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers sent out ballots for a strike-authorization vote to its members last week, and the ballots are expected to be counted on Feb. 12.

The potential strike comes after nearly a year of negotiations between the teachers’ union and the Pittsburgh Public School District. The district’s contract with the union expired on June 30, 2017. PFT is negotiating on behalf of teachers, paraprofessionals and technical/clerical employees. Negotiations have stalled as the district and PFT have failed to reach agreements on issues like salaries, contract lengths, healthcare benefits and teacher scheduling.

But while the district and the union try to settle things, local education watchdog A+ Schools is working to make sure students aren’t left out in the cold. It’s calling on administrators to come up with a plan to provide care to district students if teachers are absent.

Sixty-five percent of district families are economically disadvantaged, which means the cost of child care during the strike could be untenable for many. A+ is hoping local nonprofits will step up to fill the gap.

“We know families rely on school as a place to go that is safe, that provides an education, that allows parents to work,” says James Fogarty, A+ Schools executive director. “Many of those families are doing hourly work, where taking time off means the family doesn’t get paid.

You’re exacerbating the problems of poverty if you don’t have a place for children to go.”

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News of the Weird {COMPILED BY ANDREWS MCMEEL PUBLISHING}

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SATURDAY, MARCH 3 8PM

JASON MORAN AND THE BANDWAGON KELLY-STRAYHORN THEATER 5941 Penn Avenue-East Liberty

TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE ON-LINE AT: SHOWCLIX.COM OR CALL 888.718.4253 OTHER OUTLETS: DORSEY’S RECORD SHOP – DAVE’S MUSIC MINE FOR MORE INFORMATION: KENTEARTS.ORG OR CALL 412.322.0292 Funding for this project is provided by: The Heinz Endowments, Advancing the Black Arts in Pittsburgh Fund.

In Turkmenistan’s capital, Ashgabat, drivers of black cars are facing high costs to repaint their cars white or silver after President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov banned black vehicles because he thinks the color white brings good luck. Police began seizing dark-colored vehicles in late December, and owners have to apply for permission to repaint and re-register them. The average wage in Ashgabat is about $300 a month (or 1,200 manats); one Turkman told Radio Free Europe that he was quoted 7,000 manats for a paint job, but was told that the price would rise within a week to 11,000 manats. “Even if I don’t spend any money anywhere, I will be forced to hand over pretty much my entire annual salary just to repaint,” the unnamed man said, adding that his black car had already been impounded.

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Noting that “nobody else has done it,” on Jan. 4 Nebraska state Sen. Paul Schumacher, of Columbus, proposed a novel constitutional amendment with the goal of stimulating growth in western Nebraska: Delegate complete or partial sovereignty over a designated, limited and sparsely populated area. “If I were a major business, I would not want Omaha or Lincoln ... telling me what to do,” Schumacher said. The Lincoln Journal Star reported that the senator believes his concept would attract businesses looking for no state or local taxes and no state or local regulations. It presents the opportunity to “have your own state,” he explained.

The Nebraska legislature must approve the resolution before citizens get a chance to vote.

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Love is in the Air

Tennessee’s legislature has a newly renovated home in the Cordell Hull building in Nashville, so Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and House Speaker Beth Harwell have been busy outlining some new rules. “Hand-carried signs and signs on hand sticks” will be strictly prohibited because they pose a “serious safety hazard.”

Animals, too, will be turned away at the door, reported The Tennessean on Dec. 21. But in a dizzying twist of irony, McNally and Harwell will continue a policy they enacted last year, which allows holders of valid gun permits to bring their weapons into the building.

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Tampa, Fla., resident Douglas Jon Francisco, 28, was arrested for DUI after he mistook a Spring Hill bank drive-thru lane for a Taco Bell. On Jan. 17, around 5 p.m., the bank branch manager noticed a driver passed out in a blue Hyundai sedan in the drive-thru lane.

When the manager went out to the car and banged on the window, Francisco woke up and tried to order a burrito, according to the Tampa Bay Times. After being set straight about the bank not serving Mexican fast food, Francisco drove around to the front of the building and parked, where deputies found him and administered a field sobriety test, which he failed. “He made several statements that were differing from reality,” a Hernando County Sheriff’s deputy reported.

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In Dresden, Germany, police reported that two men were injured on Jan. 15 after hitting each other with their cars in consecutive accidents. The first man, 49, pulled into a handicapped parking spot, then saw his mistake and backed out, accidentally hitting a 72-yearold man walking behind the car. The two men exchanged information for a report, then the older man got into his car and reversed out of his parking spot, hitting the younger man. Both men suffered only slight injuries, according to the Associated Press.

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Outdoorsman Sergey Terekhov, 64, had just let his dogs out to run before a January hunting outing in Russia’s remote Saratov region when one of the dogs bounded back to him and clawed the trigger of Terekhov’s double-barreled shotgun, shooting the man in the abdomen. The Telegraph reported that his brother rushed Terekhov to the hospital, but he died less than an hour after the shooting.

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Distracted driving caused long backups and at least one minor traffic accident on Jan. 20 as a man wandered along I-95 in Philadelphia — in the buff. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the stripped-down man walked along the shoulder and in and out of the right lane around noon, throwing items at cars before being taken into custody by police.

His name was not released.

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Bradley Hardison, 27, of Elizabeth City, N.C., achieved minor celebrity status in 2014 when he won a doughnut-eating contest sponsored by the Elizabeth City Police Department. (He ate eight glazed doughnuts in two minutes.) At the time, police had been looking for Hardison as a suspect in breakins going back to 2013, so they arrested him, and he received a suspended sentence that ended in October 2017. But a doughnut habit is hard to break: The VirginianPilot reported that Hardison was charged on Jan. 18 with robbing a Dunkin’ Donuts store on Nov. 21.

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Montreal, Canada, machinist and cabinetmaker Simon Laprise, 33, took advantage of a recent snowfall to carve a DeLorean DMC-12 (the Back to the Future car) in the snowbank in the street in front of his home on Jan. 16.

“I decided to do something out of the mountain of snow, to do a little joke to the snow guys,” Laprise told Vice. In a “stroke of luck,” Laprise found a windshield wiper across the street, which he placed on the snow-car’s windshield. He missed a visit from the Montreal police, but other passersby, who snapped photos, caught police looking perplexed at the “car” parked in a no-parking zone. In the end, they left Laprise a “ticket” that read, “You made our night.” Sadly, the snowplow drivers weren’t as generous, and Laprise’s snow-car was reduced to the junkyard of history.

S E N D YO U R W E IRD N E W S ITE M S TO WE I RD N E W S T I P S@ AM UNI V E R S AL . C O M .

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NEW LOCAL RELEASES {BY MEG FAIR}

Steel City Ruins ONE STEELCITYRUINS.BANDCAMP.COM

Steel City Ruins’ latest album, One, is approximately 45 minutes of spacious, ambient instrumental music with gentle nods to progressive rock. One way in which instrumental acts keep their music interesting without the presence of vocals is by playing with dynamics. This is something that Steel City Ruins does artfully, slowly building up and tearing down musical movements that evoke feelings of contemplation, yearning or blissed-out joy. The way the instrumentals will impact the listener are apt to play out depending on what the listener is going through at the time; the work is essentially a musical Rorschach test.

At just over 11 minutes, “1876” is the album’s longest track. Without lyrics, it’s not apparent what exactly about 1876 the band is arranging its music around, but using the tonal directions, some guesses can be made. Perhaps the hopeful feeling of the introduction reflects the promise of possibility: 1876 is the year patents were issued for the telephone and mimeograph, and Johannes Brahms’ long-awaited First Symphony debuted. That hopeful sound gives way to uneasiness, with movements full of anxious riffs. These are sounds perhaps relevant for a year that also held the tragedies of the Battle of Little Bighorn, industrial accidents, and disasters like the Brooklyn Theatre fire that killed almost 300.

Situated in the middle of the record is “Center Earth,” a track with a loving and longing tone that brings the mood up after “1876.” The guitar melody is simple yet memorable, delicately riffed out over steady percussion and a supportive rhythm section. In the final minute, there’s a complete dropping out of all music, before bursting into a bright, fortissimo final stand. It sounds like the soundtrack to the scene in an indie film where the protagonist decides to go for it: the journey, the lover, the job, the school of their dreams.

“Finite” is a moodier number with more of a heavy bent driven by an eerie bass line. “One” condenses the signature dynamic journey from quiet build to big finale into a digestible voyage less than six minutes in length. Although briefer than the epic “1876,” it manages to pack the same emotional punch.

FOR FANS OF: EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY, MEDITATING, WATCHING THE SNOW FALL OUTSIDE YOUR WINDOW

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MOON BARBARA {CP PHOTO BY JOHN COLOMBO}

{BY MEG FAIR}

moon baby (in red) poses with drag queens at Blue Moon, where they regularly perform

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ITTSBURGH’S moon baby is a drag queen, and a pop star with mythology and attitude. Everything she does is thought out and intentional, but delivered with cool-girl ease. Barbara, moon baby’s latest musical effort, is six songs of dirty, genre-bending pop produced with longtime collaborator Wise Blood. At times, Barbara makes you want to dance, and at other times, it makes listeners want to toss a Molotov cocktail at Trump Tower. It’s sometimes silly, but in other moments, it is filled with personal and political darkness.

“I like to have playfulness with dark themes, because I think as queer people, we have to laugh and be able to see beauty.

I love drag-queen music that’s about getting ready and talking shit and all that, but there’s a space for that, and I don’t find myself to be that comedic character anymore,” explains Sam Perry, the brain and body of moon baby.

The release packaging is incredibly intimate: a cassette delivered in a hand-painted box and tied with a pink bow, filled with six chocolate truffles themed for each track, a

zine and tons of adorable beads and flair.

“The A-side [of the cassette] is the release, and the B-side is a 24-minute-long ASMR recording of essays I wrote. I won that Up and Comin’ Grant through Martin Guitars, so I chose to do this with it,” says Perry.

The packaging suits moon baby’s savvy — she is an entrepreneur, after all. She sells her very own “cereal” called Maralago, essentially a cereal-shaped box that comes filled with sand and golf balls.

MOON BABY

9:30 p.m. Fri., Feb. 16. Cattivo, 146 44th St., Lawrenceville. $8-10. 412-687-2157 or www.cattivopgh.com

“Maralago” is also the name of the album’s first single. “I needed a single cover for ‘Maralago,’ and I love the idea of moon baby as this semi-failed pop star now as a semifailed fragrance maker. Like Mariah Carey coming out with a fragrance — nobody has any business doing that, but they do it because they need the money or whatever. The

idea of moon baby coming out with a cereal is hilarious.”

But for Perry, moon baby is more than just an art project or a drag persona. She’s an entity that can be used to explore Perry’s own gender fluidity and queerness.

“I recently realized that I started out trying to do monster-weird drag, and then I moved into hyper-feminine drag. Now, the way more freeing space for me to be in, which is more challenging to me, is to be more masculine characters, maybe to be a drag king,” Perry says.

He talks about the time he joined the band slowdanger, during a performance at the Carnegie Museum of Art. “I got really upset because I didn’t feel pretty. So, then I turned myself into this monster. And at that moment I was able to understand that my drag reflects a little too much how I want to feel. So in the moments I don’t feel perfect in drag, it’s almost dysphoric,” says Perry.

“But turning myself into this weird geometric monster, I felt like I gave the best performance I could, because I was amped up on that energy. Because I feel like playing CONTINUES ON PG. 14

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MOON BARBARA, CONTINUED FROM PG. 13

with gender or fucking with gender is a really important part of drag.”

The name of moon baby’s latest EP is rooted in Perry’s early days of drag, a nickname drag sister bestowed upon them.

“Drag queens give each other nicknames, which is funny because your drag name is a nickname. When I started doing drag, my drag sister Cherry Bomb used to call me Moon Barbara,” explains Perry.

“I’m always working on creating these mythologies to moon baby, and I had this idea that maybe she isn’t an alien, but a nerdy girl who falls in love with Neil Armstrong and went to the moon, so he found her there, and when she came back to Earth, [she] started calling herself Moon Barbara.”

Here on Earth, moon baby’s socialmedia posts aren’t stiff and formal like most official band PR. Instead, it feels like she’s addressing her dearest friends.

“I do feel like this is how it is, and I want it to feel like [moon baby] is just somebody’s friend. Even at the [release] party, I was going up to everyone and thanking them all for coming. I want moon to be that lowkey party chick that happens to make music. And I think that’s what I want her to come across as, and I think that’s what I need her to be for me personally.”

Now that Barbara has been released into the world, Perry plans to try out some new skills. “I really enjoy working with Wise Blood, and [production] is very much my language now. But he came to the release party where I played with some live musicians, and he was very invigorated by that. I love the improvisational style of performing with musicians, so I think I want to learn to work with live things,” says Perry.

Perry’s vision for moon baby is not one of fame, but Perry is still ambitious. As Ms. Club Pittsburgh, moon baby co-hosts a monthly party under the project Hated Inc., with her best friend, Josh Bondi, and Perry would like to curate more events featuring queer talent from Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Pittsburgh.

“It’s pretty obvious that the performers who live [in Pittsburgh], if we lived anywhere else, we would be more successful, and that’s hard. But it’s nice to have free reign and do whatever you want.”

“And the rent’s low,” Perry adds with a laugh.

Ultimately, the entire project is about having fun with drag and pushing personal creative boundaries.

“There’s this certain kind of drag culture centered around Instagram fame and all these things, and I don’t need to be a Myspace star — I never was a Myspace star.

I’m not going to audition for [RuPaul’s] Drag Race. I do drag just because I love to, and it’s cool that my friends love it.”

M E G FA I R@ P G H C I T Y PA P E R. C OM

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.07/02.14.2018

WE BUY RECORDS & CDS

THE HERD {BY IAN THOMAS}

TOP PRICES PAID FOR QUALITY COLLECTIONS TI

{PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRIS MORTENSON WITH JAM IN THE VAN}

Donna the Buffalo

While it’s true that any band successfully touring since 1989 would be thankful for a passionate fanbase, Donna the Buffalo vocalist Tara Nevins is especially gracious.

As with many bands making their bones on the road while flying under the mainstream radar, fans are literally the key to touring bands’ livelihood, and Donna the Buffalo’s fanbase is especially passionate.

“It’s been a long time, and it happened gradually,” says Nevins by phone with City Paper. Along with co-founder Jeb Puryear, Nevins has shepherded the band through various iterations and line-ups, watching the band’s audience grow and change over time.

“It’s always felt great,” she says. “I remember when they first started gathering and they named themselves the Herd.”

The sense of togetherness that the band and the audience share is critical to the Donna the Buffalo experience. The band takes its inspiration from the oldtime-music festivals of the South, which drew whole towns and counties together.

In this way, community supersedes typically divisive factors, such as notions of politics and class, and allows the audience to play an equal role in making the live experience an authentic happening, instead of a mere concert.

Donna the Buffalo’s sound is rooted in a bygone era, drawing on Cajun and zydeco music. Above all, Donna the Buffalo’s songs are brimming with optimism. “I guess we’re a rock band, but we’re more like a pretty cool folk-rock band,” Nevins says. “I play the one-row accordion and play the fiddle and play the scrub board. So we have all these traditional elements in our music.”

Donna the Buffalo has carved out a niche; it has weathered trends, and even made some of its own by being unapologetically itself.

“We were Americana before Americana was Americana. Jeb and I are the two original members of the band, and we met playing old-time fiddle, old-time Appalachian music. Sure, we grew up listening to some mainstream music and all that,” Nevins says. “But, really, [the] kind of music that sent this whole thing off in the direction that defines us the most is … old-time fiddle music.”

{CP PHOTO BY JAKE MYSLIWCZYK}

Chet Vincent

SPARE TIME {BY MIKE SHANLEY} LAST WINTER, Chet Vincent’s job required

a commute from his home in Lawrenceville to Gibsonia. The landscape that he saw each morning on Route 8 started him thinking about a batch of songs he was writing.

“It’s like a very bleak Pittsburgh drive,” he says. “That landscape — thinking of what Pittsburgh is like in the winter — was kind of what I was trying to get in the sound. I wanted to keep it spare, and representative of what it’s like to be in this region, in my mind, during this time of year.”

Known around the city as the frontman of the hard-driving Chet Vincent and the Big Bend, the songwriter is equally at home playing solo at open stages. So when he ventured into the studio in early 2017 to record the songs, Vincent enlisted friends from other bands that could play up his singer-songwriter side. Credited as Biirdwatcher, the backing band includes Josh Carter (drums), Jesse Prentiss (bass) and Trish Imbrogno (bass), Read Connolly (pedal steel), Guy Russo (piano) and Nathan Zoob (guitars).

The nine songs on Where the Earth Opens Wide (Misra), which Vincent releases this week, feature both stripped-down acoustic folk and some more electric moments. However, the emphasis is always directed toward Vincent’s vocals and lyrics. In doing so, Vincent creates ideas and characters that bring humanity to that landscape he remembered from his morning drives.

The slow tempo of “Indigo,” complete with a droning organ from James Hart, recalls Pink Floyd. Vincent’s delivery and Zoob’s solo (played on an electric sitar) help the song avoid Floyd’s ponderous approach, even though it began life as a poem loaded

with reflection. “The idea behind it was that indigo is a deeper kind of blue,” Vincent explains. “I thought, you can have the blues about everyday things, and then there’s kind of like an existential sadness: How do you express to other people how you see the world, or just [talk about] the impermanence of everything?”

“The Forest Needs the Fire” reflects metaphorically on musical heroes who have died over the past two years. “You have to make space for other people to get their voices out,” Vincent says, referring to the song’s theme. “The big trees die, and then the new trees get to do their thing. That’s what I wrote about: This is sad, but it’s also necessary. That’s how life is. It does it in this really raw way — it cuts people down.”

CHET VINCENT ALBUM RELEASE WITH ZACK KEIM, KAYLA SCHUREMAN 7 p.m. Sat., Feb. 10. Get Hip Records, 1800 Columbus Ave., Manchester. $7.

All ages. 412-231-4766

In addition to the more pensive moments, Vincent offers brighter contrast with the country shuffle of “Boxcar Blues” and “King of America.” The latter was inspired by the country’s leadership, but Vincent weighs in on the topic without getting heavy-handed.

As a fan of album art, and the production process, Vincent created a website, wheretheearthopenswide.com, to provide extra content for the new album. In addition to all the tracks, the site includes demos, live videos and studio ephemera, like chord charts. “It’s kind of a cool way to use all this material that has accumulated in the process and turn it into something,” he says.

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MON-FRI 9AM-6PM SAT 10AM-5PM 513 GRANT AVENUE • MILLVALE Questions? Call Us 412-821-8484

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ULTRA-DIVE THX FOR VOTING US BEST PLACE TO DANCE

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POP ROCKS - Y2K DANCE PARTY

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DONNA THE BUFFALO 8 p.m. Sat., Feb. 10.

Rex Theater, 1602 E. Carson St., South Side. $20-25. 412-381-6811 or www.rextheater.net

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CRITICS’ PICKS {PHOTO COURTESY OF KIRSTEN COHEN}

The Lil’ Smokies

PGH’S OLDEST & ONLY COCKTAIL LOUNGE 412-683-0912 731 Copeland St. Shadyside, dyside, 15232 “EVERYONE OUT OF THE POOL” as Poppa Joe says!

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For those who drink to forget, please pay in advance!!!

FAT TUESDAY FEBRUARY 13, 2018

THE ONLY PLACE TO BE FOR

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.07/02.14.2018

[FOLK] + TUE., FEB. 13

You’ll find yourself toe-tapping along to swinging songs about trains and heartbreak when you don your ornately flowered Western shirt and make your way to Nied’s Hotel, in Lawrenceville, to catch local country stalwart Slim Forsythe. Born in 1956, and raised in Pittsburgh, Slim considers himself a “goodwill ambassador” for the Keystone State. I’m banking on hearing the punchy new single, “The Ballad of Punxsutawney Phil.”

Or perhaps “Down on My Knees at Nied’s Hotel,” Edhochuli a duet Slim recorded on 7-inch vinyl with Molly Alphabet, and a tune that’s equal parts soaring fiddle and heartwrenching lyrics.

Emily Bennett 7 p.m. 5438 Butler St., Lawrenceville. Free. All ages. www.niedshotel.myfastsite.com

If there’s ever a right time to judge a band by its name, it’s now. The Lil’ Smokies are set to bless the stage at Club Café the night before Valentine’s Day, and these seasoned folk-song vets are guaranteed to be as equally tasty and adorable as their snack namesake suggests. The truest of newgrass collectives, don’t dismiss this band as one torn from an off-brand Mumford & Sons feature — The Lil’ Smokies are the realest of all the deals, and will have you sighing, grinning and longing for home, all in one sweep.

EB 8 p.m.

56 S. 12th St., South Side. $12.

412-431-4950 or www. clubcafelive. com

OTO {PH ESY RT } COU YOSH OF

“After one of, our drinks ur you’ll kiss-lyo ” mother-in aw!”

[COUNTRY] + FRI., FEB. 9

[PUNK] + SUN., FEB. 11 Despite being a melting pot of styles — a little math rocky, a little punk, a little progressive — Pittsburgh’s Edhochuli is a tight and focused band, and it’s delivering its sounds to your ears again very soon. The group is playing the Rock Room, alongside some equally compelling acts like Argentinian post-punk band Amor Fizz and Venezuelan punk-prog outfit ZETA. Local folks from Plastic Idea, a band that features a bunch of really cool people from other really good bands like Soothsayer and Vostok, are showing up too.

Honestly, I can feel the riffs already. EB 8 p.m.

1054 Herron Ave., Polish Hill. $6. 412-683-4418

[SOUL] + WED., FEB. 14 Looking for something to do on Valentine’s Day? Toss out the boring dinner plans (or eat-Ben & Jerry’s under-the-covers plans) and trade them in for something a little more retro. This year, instead of your own tears, take a swim in the rich, seductive sound of 1970s Detroit soul that The Spinners helped create. Still touring on the music that made them famous, the group has a pretty big draw on the oldiesconcert circuit. The smooth-soul group has never (literally never) stopped touring, long after the conclusion of its chart career.

Spend the extra money and make it a night to remember at the Palace Theatre.

EB 8 p.m. 21 W. Otterman St., Greensburg. $48-78. All ages. 724-836-8000 or www.thepalacetheatre.org

TO SUBMIT A LISTING: WWW.PGHCITYPAPER.COM/HAPPENINGS {ALL LISTINGS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY 9 A.M. FRIDAY PRIOR TO PUBLICATION}

ROCK/POP THU 08 DIESEL. Badfish - A Tribute to Sublime. 8 p.m. South Side.

412-431-8800.

FRI 09 ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM. Thurston Moore: Music + Radio Radieux. 8 p.m. North Side.

412-237-8300.

CATTIVO. Mal Blum, Mary Lambert. 6 p.m. Paddy the Wanderer, Sierra Sellers, BBGuns & Rainbow Machine. 8 p.m.

Lawrenceville. 412-687-2157.

HOWLERS. King Fez w/ Paul Miller.

9 p.m. Bloomfield. 412-682-0320.

ROCHESTER INN HARDWOOD GRILLE. The Eagles Tribute. 9 p.m.

Ross. 412-364-8166.

SAT 10 BAJA BAR AND GRILL. Ferris Bueller’s Revenge Band. 9 p.m.

Fox Chapel. 412-963-0640.

BALTIMORE HOUSE. The Rockers.

9 p.m. Pleasant Hills. 412-653-3800.

CLUB 206. E Z Action. 9 p.m.

Braddock. 412-646-1203.

DOWNEY’S HOUSE. Shady Mugs.

9:30 p.m. Robinson. 412-489-5631.

THE HOB NOB LOUNGE. Neostem & Red Confessional. 8:30 p.m.

West Mifflin. 412-461-8541.

JUGO SLAV CLUB. Jumpin Jack Flash w/ Southside Jerry. 8 p.m.

Bethel Park. 412-835-9928.

REX THEATER. Donna the Buffalo w/ Tiger Maple String Band. 8 p.m.

South Side. 412-381-6811.

SPEAL’S TAVERN. King’s Ransom.

8 p.m. New Alexandria. 724-433-1322.

THE PALACE THEATRE. Donnie Iris & The Cruisers. 8 p.m. Greensburg.

724-836-8000.

SUN 11 CLUB CAFE. Jason Kendall. Cd Launch Party. 7 p.m. South Side.

412-515-5082.

PALACE THEATRE. G3 w/ Joe Satriani, John Petrucci & Phil Collen.

7 p.m. Greensburg. 724-836-8000.

THE R BAR. Billy the Kid’s Steel Town All-Stars. 7 p.m. Dormont.

412-942-0882.

TUE 13 PALACE THEATRE. Marillion.

7:30 p.m. Greensburg. 724-836-8000.

WED 14 HARD ROCK CAFE. Get Cheeky: Valentines Day Party w/ Pittsburgh City Paper & PPWP. Join Pittsburgh

MP 3 MONDAY {PHOTO COURTESY OF NICK SEYLER}

SHAY PARK

Each week we post a song from a local artist online for free. This week, it’s Shay Park’s “To Love Me.” It’s a pop ditty, full of longing, with a melody you’ll find yourself humming for weeks. Let it soundtrack the bus ride to your first date with a new crush. Stream or download “To Love Me” for free on FFW>>>, the music blog at pghcitypaper.com.

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City Paper and the Hard Rock Cafe as we benefit Planned Parenthood on Valentine’s Day, featuring host Lola LeCroix and musical guest Chase and the Barons, for a night of games and drinking in the name of love. This event is 21+. Proceeds benefit Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania. 8 p.m.

Station Square. 412-481-7625.

PALACE THEATRE. The Spinners w/ The Marcels. 8 p.m.

Greensburg. 724-836-8000.

DJS THU 08

BLUES THU 08 MOONDOG’S. Samantha Fish.

7:30 p.m. Blawnox. 412-828-2040.

O’DONNA’S. The Bo’Hog Brothers.8 p.m. Beaver.

878-313-3418.

FRI 09 CIOPPINO RESTAURANT & CIGAR BAR. The Midnight Express Band. 7 p.m.

Strip District.

412-281-6593.

FULL LIST E ONwLwIN w.

THE FUNHOUSE paper pghcitym @ MR. SMALLS. .co KOLLAR CLUB. Centrifuge. Non-genre Bill Toms and the specific electronic music Hard Rain feat. The Soulville night showcasing aspiring fresh talent to veterans alike.

Horns w/ Aris Paul. Slovak heritage 9 p.m. Millvale. 412-821-4447. concert w/ ethnic food buffet.

PERLE CHAMPAGNE BAR. Bobby 8 p.m. South Side. 412-431-2002.

D Bachata. 10 p.m. Downtown.

412-471-2058.

RIVERS CASINO. DJ NIN. Levels.

6 p.m. North Side. 412-231-7777.

SAT 10

JAZZ

THU 08

SAVOY RESTAURANT. Roger Humphries & RH Factor. 8 p.m.

Strip District. 412-281-0660.

FRI 09 ANDYS WINE BAR. DJ Malls Spins Vinyl. 5 p.m. Downtown.

412-773-8884.

BELVEDERE’S. DJs nice rec and killjoy. Pop rocks y2k dance party. 10 p.m. Lawrenceville.

412-687-2555.

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.

RIVERS CASINO. VDJ Rambo.

Levels. 8 p.m. North Side.

412-231-7777.

RUGGER’S PUB. 80s Night w/ DJ Connor. 9 p.m. South Side.

412-381-1330.

FRI 09

TUE 13

SWEETWATER CENTER FOR THE ARTS. RML Jazz. 7 p.m.

Sewickley. 412-370-9621.

RILEY’S POUR HOUSE. Martin Rosenberg. 7 p.m. Carnegie.

412-279-0770.

SAT 10

WED 14

1810 TAVERN. Lee Robinson Trio. 7 p.m. Beaver. 724-728-5282.

JOHNNY’S RESTAURANT & LOUNGE. Etta Cox Band.

7:30 p.m. Wilmerding.

412-824-6642.

THE MONROEVILLE RACQUET CLUB. Jazz Bean Live. 7 p.m. Monroeville.

412-728-4155.

THE SPACE UPSTAIRS. Second Saturdays. Jazzhappening series feat. live music, multimedia experimentations, more. Hosted

by The Pillow Project. 8 p.m.

Point Breeze. 412-225-9269.

WALLACE’S TAP ROOM. Tony Campbell Jazzsurgery. 5 p.m.

East Liberty. 412-665- 0555.

RIVERS CLUB. Jessica Lee & Friends. 5:30 p.m. Downtown.

412-391-5227.

MON 12 HAMBONE’S. Ian Kane, Ronnie Weiss & Tom Boyce. Jazz Standards, showtunes & blues. 6:30 p.m.

Lawrenceville. 412-681-4318.

ACOUSTIC FRI 09 BAR 3 MILLVALE. Todd and Dale.

8:30 p.m. Millvale. 412-408-3870.

DOUBLETREE BY HILTON HOTEL PITTSBURGH - CRANBERRY. The Eclectic Acoustics. 6 p.m.

Cranberry. 724-766-6900.

OAKMONT TAVERN. Right TurnClyde. 10 p.m. Oakmont.

412-828-4155.

SAT 10 CARNEGIE MUSIC HALL. Harpeth Rising w/ Ryanhood. 7:30 p.m.

Oakland. 412-361-1915.

SUN 11 RED FOX WINERY. The Eclectic Acoustics. 1 p.m. Hickory.

724-809-1743.

CONTINUES ON PG. 18

SAT 10 BELVEDERE’S. DJ admc.

Sadderday emo night. 10 p.m.

Lawrenceville. 412-687-2555.

BRILLOBOX. Beleza: Sounds of Brazil w/ DJ SMI. 10 p.m.

Bloomfield. 412-621-4900.

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.

REMEDY. 2 Hype! Dance Party. 10 p.m. Lawrenceville.

412-475-8409.

RIVERS CASINO. DJ Cake. Levels.

8 p.m. North Side. 412-231-7777.

TUE 13 THE GOLDMARK. Pete Butta.

Reggae & dancehall. 10 p.m.

Lawrenceville. 412-688-8820.

THE SUMMIT. Dig Now Sounds w/ Hot Honey. 9 p.m.

Mt. Washington. 412-918-1647.

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COUNTRY

AND THE TRIO SONATA. Chatham Baroque unveils their own inventive arrangements of J. S. Bach’s famous Organ Trios, orchestrating them for violin, recorder, viola da gamba, theorbo & keyboard. Guests Anne Timberlake (recorder) & Justin Wallace (historical keyboards).

7:30 p.m. Westminster Presbyterian Church, Upper St. Clair. 412-687-1788.

PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. Beethoven’s Fifth!

8 p.m. Heinz Hall, Downtown.

412-392-4900.

FRI 09

SAT 10

WED 14 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.

REGGAE THU 08 PIRATA. The Flow Band. 9 p.m.

Downtown. 412-323-3000.

NIED’S HOTEL. Slim Forsythe w/ Jane West. 7 p.m. Lawrenceville.

412-781-9853.

CLASSICAL FRI 09 CHATHAM BAROQUE: BACH

ASHES & SNOW. 11:30 a.m.

WQED, Oakland. 412-622-1300.

CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY WIND ENSEMBLE. The Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble utilizes a flexible instrumentation of winds, brass, and percussion to perform

repertoire from standard concert band works to contemporary compositions of various instrumental combinations.

REPERTOIRE: Walter Piston: Turnbridge Fair Charles Ives/ Schuman: Variations on “America” John Mackey: The Frozen Cathedral Hector Berlioz: Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale, Op. 15. 4:30 p.m.

Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall, Oakland. 412-268-4921.

CHATHAM BAROQUE: BACH AND THE TRIO SONATA. Chatham Baroque unveils their own inventive arrangements of J. S. Bach’s famous Organ Trios, orchestrating them for violin, recorder, viola da gamba, theorbo & keyboard. Guests Anne Timberlake (recorder) & Justin Wallace (historical keyboards). 8 p.m.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Highland Park. 412-687-1788.

THE PITTSBURGH CAMERATA.

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

JOIN US AT THE LANDMARKS PRESERVATION RESOURCE CENTER FOR ONGOING WORKSHOPS AS WE CONTINUE PROGRAMMING ON ARCHITECTURE, HISTORY, DESIGN, URBAN PLANNING, AND OTHER TOPICS RELATED TO HOW CITIES FUNCTION AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION AS A TOOL OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15 • 6 PM – 8 PM

FILM SCREENING: CITIZEN JANE: BATTLE FOR THE CITY In 1960 Jane Jacobs’s book The Death and Life of Great American Cities sent shockwaves through the architecture and planning worlds, with its exploration of the consequences of modern planners’ and architects’ reconfiguration of cities. Jacobs was also an activist, who was involved in many fights in mid-century New York, to stop “master builder” Robert Moses from running roughshod over the city. This film retraces the battles for the city as personified

by Jacobs and Moses, as urbanization moves to the very front of the global agenda. Many of the clues for formulating solutions to the dizzying array of urban issues can be found in Jacobs’s prescient text, and a close second look at her thinking and writing about cities is very much in order. This film sets out to examine the city of today through the lens of one of its greatest champions.

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WILKINSBURG, PA 15221

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.07/02.14.2018

Here are the songs CP music writer Meg Fair can’t stop listening to: Sleigh Bells

“Demons”

Rush

“The Spirit of Radio”

SOPHIE

“Ponyboy”

SUN 11 “SOUNDS OF THE SOUL” WITH THE CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF PITTSBURGH. Feat. Sospiri by Edward Elgar, Suite for Strings by Leoš Janácek, Funebre by Pittsburgh-based Iranian-born composer Reza Vali with Anne Moskal as soloist, Adagietto from Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, and the Ancient Airs and Dances Suite 3 by Respighi.

4 p.m. First Unitarian Church, Shadyside. 412-477-9842.

PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY CHATHAM BAROQUE: BACH ORCHESTRA. Beethoven’s Fifth!

AND THE TRIO SONATA. 2:30 p.m. Heinz Hall, Downtown.

Chatham Baroque unveils their 412-392-4900. own inventive arrangements of J. S. Bach’s famous Organ Trios, orchestrating them for violin, CARNEGIE MELLON recorder, viola da gamba, CHAMBER SERIES: RUSSIAN theorbo & keyboard. Guests DUOS. Program: Prokofiev: Anne Timberlake (recorder) Sonata for Violin and Piano & Justin Wallace (historical No.1 in F Minor, op.80 Cyrus keyboards). 2:30 p.m.

Forough, violin Rodrigo Ojeda, Campbell Memorial piano Rachmaninov: Vocalise Chapel, Squirrel Hill.

Jennifer Aylmer, soprano 412-687-1788.

Djordje Nesic, piano THE PITTSBURGH Prokofiev: Sonata for CAMERATA. “Heaven Flute and Piano in to Earth: Earth to D Major, op.94 Heaven” feat. The Alberto Almarza, www. per a p Pittsburgh Girls Choir. flute Vahan Sargsyan, pghcitym o .c Artistic Director piano. 7:30 p.m.

Mark Anderson has Kresge Theater, CMU, programmed a concert that Oakland. 412-268-4921. begins on earth and then looks upward towards heaven, transporting us through choral music that is both accompanied and a cappella. The program ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM. includes: Sanctus (and Rostam w/ Joy Again. 7 p.m.

Benedictus) from “Missa Aeterna North Side. 412-237-8300.

Christi Munera” by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Thou Visiteth the Earth by Maurice CENTRAL CATHOLIC HIGH Greene, Vast Ocean of Light by SCHOOL. Irish Night: Row Jonathan Dove, Earth Song by on for Brendan. A tribute to Frank Tichelli, I Go Among Trees by Brendan Foley, who brightened the halls of Central Catholic Giselle Wyers, Sanctus from “Missa High School, rowed for the Pequeña” by Francisco Nuñez, Sing school, and left the world a Me to Heaven by Daniel Gawthrop better place for his 15-and-a& Sanctus by Josef Rheinberger. half years of life. Irish Night is 3 p.m. Shadyside Presbyterian also the principal fundraiser for Church, Shadyside. 412-421-5884.

fluung

“How Is It Out There?”

MON 12

FULL LIST ONLINE

OTHER MUSIC THU 08

SAT 10

THIS SCREENING IS FREE TO THE PUBLIC. RSVPS ARE APPRECIATED: MARYLU@PHLF.ORG OR 412-471-5808 EXT. 527 FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.PHLF.ORG 744 REBECCA AVENUE

HEAVY ROTATION

“Heaven to Earth: Earth to Heaven” feat. The Pittsburgh Girls Choir. Artistic Director Mark Anderson has programmed a concert that begins on earth and then looks upward towards heaven, transporting us through choral music that is both accompanied and a cappella. The program includes: Sanctus (and Benedictus) from “Missa Aeterna Christi Munera” by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Thou Visiteth the Earth by Maurice Greene, Vast Ocean of Light by Jonathan Dove, Earth Song by Frank Tichelli, I Go Among Trees

by Giselle Wyers, Sanctus from “Missa Pequeña” by Francisco Nuñez, Sing Me to Heaven by Daniel Gawthrop & Sanctus by Josef Rheinberger. 7:30 p.m.

Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church, Fox Chapel. 412-421-5884.

PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. Beethoven’s Fifth!

8 p.m. Heinz Hall, Downtown.

412-392-4900.

412-471-5808

both Brendan’s own Central Catholic Crew and for Oakland Catholic Rowing. 7 p.m.

Oakland. 412-436-9155.

THE FUNHOUSE @ MR. SMALLS. Anand Mahalingam. 7 p.m.

Millvale. 412-821-4447.

SPIRIT HALL & LODGE. Yung Lean & Sad Boys.

7 p.m. Lawrenceville.

412-821-4447.

SUN 11 CITY OF ASYLUM @ ALPHABET CITY. Sasha Boldachev, harpist. RussianSwiss harpist Sasha Boldachev concert will cover a diverse range of repertoire across classical, pop, rock, and game music genres. Playing his own arrangements and original compositions, he will present his vision of the future for pedal harp and showcase his new Delta electro-acoustic harp, an instrument that offers a new sound and unique a esthetic. 2:30 p.m. North Side.

412-720-3158.

WED 14 ALLEGHENY ELKS LODGE #339.

Pittsburgh Banjo Club. 8 p.m.

North Side. 412-321-1834.

AUGUST WILSON CENTER FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER. Eric Roberson. 8 p.m. Downtown.

412-471-6070.

Sponsored by:

What to do IN PITTSBURGH

FEBRUARY 7-13 WEDNESDAY 7 Black Label Society

STAGE AE North Side.

With special guests Corrosion of Conformity & Red Fang.

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

Doors open at 6:30p.m.

George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE Warrendale. 724-799-8333.

With special guests Miss Velvet & The Blue Wolf.

724-799-8333. Tickets: ticket fly.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 8p.m.

Rockin West End Series PITTSBURGH MUSICAL THEATER West End. 412-539-0900. Tickets: pittsburghmusicals.com/tix.

Through May 13.

THURSDAY 8 Elliott Brood

CLUB CAFÉ South Side.

412-431-4950. With special guest Southside American.

Over 21 event. Tickets: ticket web.com/clubcafe. 8p.m.

Dwayne Gretzky

1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 6p.m.

GEORGE CLINTON & PARLIMENT FUNKADELIC JERGEL'S RHYTHM GRILLE JANUARY 7

SMILING MOOSE South Side.

412-431-4668. With special guests Bananafish & The Goodfoots. Over 21 event.

Tickets: ticketfly.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 8:30p.m.

The Orphan, The Poet w/ I The Victor SMILING MOOSE South Side.

412-431-4668. With special guests Snowdonia & The Bleepy Things. All ages event.

Tickets: ticketfly.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 6:30p.m.

FRIDAY 9

Vagina Monologues ACE HOTEL East Liberty.

Tickets available at door. 7p.m.

MONDAY 12 Marin Mazzie & Jason Danieley

Anti-Flag & Stray From The Path MR. SMALLS THEATRE Millvale. 412-421-4447.

With special guests The White Noise & Sharptooth. All ages event. Tickets: ticketweb.com/ mrsmalls. 7p.m.

guest Tiger Maple String Band. Over 21 event. Tickets: greyareaprod.com. 8p.m.

Tickets: trustarts.org.

Through Feb. 10.

SATURDAY 10

Sound Series: Robert Black & Andrea Parkins

Datsik

Comedy Roulette: Shannon Norman CLUB CAFÉ South Side.

412-431-4950. Over 21 event.

Tickets: ticketweb.com/club cafe. 10:30p.m.

STAGE AE North Side.

With special guests Space Jesus, Riot Ten & Wooli.

Tickets: ticketmaster.com or 1-800-745-3000. Doors open at 7p.m.

Bodiography Presents Doors & Windows

Donna the Buffalo

BYHAM THEATER Downtown.

412-456-6666.

REX THEATER South Side.

412-381-1681. With special

THE WARHOL THEATER North Side. For tickets & more info visit warhol.org.

8p.m.

Yung Lean SPIRIT Lawrenceville.

412-586-4441. All ages event.

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

CABARET AT THEATER SQUARE Downtown.

412-456-6666.

Tickets: trustarts.org. 7p.m.

Tropical Forest Cuba Festival PHIPPS CONSERVATORY Oakland. For more info visit phipps.conservatory.org.

11a.m.

SUNDAY 11 War of Ages

CATTIVO Lawrenceville.

412-687-2157. With special guests Convictions, Earth Groans, Feast on the Fallen & A Moment in Pompeii. All ages event.Tickets: ticketfly.com or

TUESDAY 13 Oshun

SPIRIT Lawrenceville.

412-586-4441. Over 21 event.

Tickets: ticketfly.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 10:30p.m.

Marillion THE PALACE THEATRE Greensburg. 724-836-8000.

All ages event. Tickets: thepalacetheatre.org. 7:30p.m.

Half-Price Lift Tickets

Every Wednesday from 3:30-9:30 pm

Wednesday, February 14

alleghenycounty.us/winterfun

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Couples of all ages are invited to our Valentine’s skate! Buy one ice rink admission and get a second ice rink admission of equal or lesser value for free.

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THEY DANCE ACROSS THE WALL, ALIVE EVEN IN DEATH

[PLAY REVIEW]

SLOWLY THEY TURNED {BY HARRY KLOMAN}

INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

A DEVIL INSIDE continues through Feb. 18.

The REP at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, 222 Craft Ave., Oakland. $10-24. 412-392-8000 or pittsburghplayhouse.com

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[ART REVIEW]

INTO THE

Cav O’Leary (left) and Terry Wickline in A Devil Inside, at The REP {PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN ALTDORFER}

If Dostoyevsky and Durang had a child — not that Fyodor swung that way — it might look something like A Devil Inside, David Lindsay-Abaire’s first play, written a decade before he won a Pulitzer for Rabbit Hole. A dark farce about (I’m guessing here) the corrosive nature of human existence, it counts on cacophonous performances to succeed, and the intrepid cast of the Rep at the Pittsburgh Playhouse doesn’t disappoint.

It’s a good thing, because there’s not much meat on the bones of this frantic farce, which thoroughly demonstrates Tolstoy’s observation that every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Turns out the six characters have myriad entanglements, and as Lindsay-Abaire unfolds his convolutions — and as the Poconos become the new Niagara Falls — director Kim Martin keeps her actors flailing enjoyably about the stage.

The neon-tinged single set, filled with detritus that often comes in handy (and footy), serves as a repair shop, a classroom, a subway, and an in-home laundromat run by a dotty woman (Terry Wickline) who wants her exasperated college-boy son (Cav O’Leary) to avenge the murder and bizarre mutilation of his father (long story, won’t bore you with it). He’s crushing on a classmate (Hayley Nielsen, whose outfits range from faux mink to faux pink), who’s swooning over her Russian lit professor (the redoubtable Philip Winters), who’s hunting for a woman (Daina Michelle Griffith) who’s hiding out in the shop of a repair man (Michael Fuller) who — oh, that’s enough.

The title refers to the assorted demons within each character — some metaphorical, one hiding behind the repair man’s right eye — and what those demons compel us to do (as if, in our banality and pathos, we need their help).

The first act begins slowly, but once Lindsay-Abaire establishes his premise and cranks up the crazy (he studied with Durang, the modern master of this sort of thing), so do the actors. It’s just hard to see what goes on here as having much to say, so you’ll have to appreciate it as an actor’s delight if you want to appreciate it at all.

WILDING {BY BILL O’DRISCOLL}

I

F YOU’VE HEARD of Faith Wilding, it’s

likely because of her iconic 1972 performance piece “Waiting,” in which she knelt and slowly rocked back and forth as if in prayer while reciting, in four minutes, the first-person story of a woman’s life endlessly held in suspension: “Waiting for my wedding … Waiting for him to give me an orgasm. Waiting for him to come home.” The devastatingly simple work lived on as a widely published text, and was widely performed by others.

Or you might have seen Wilding’s more recent work with subRosa, the internationally known cyberfeminist art collective that explores how women are affected by rapidly changing biological and communications technologies. {PHOTO COURTESY OF EK WALLER} “Eurynome,” by Faith Wilding, 1978-79. Colored pencil, graphite, watercolor, gold leaf, mounted on canvas.

(Wilding, who lives in Rhode Island and formerly taught at Carnegie Mellon University, co-founded subRosa with focuses on Wilding’s paintings and draw- Wilding, born in 1943, grew up in a BruPittsburgh-based artist and educator ings dating back some 45 years. derhof settlement in the jungles of ParaHyla Willis.)

The work is, in a word, visionary. guay. Her formative years in that comBut Wilding’s art practice defies easy munal Christian community, and the categorization, so you’ll probably still be close proximity to wild nature, affected FAITH WILDING: surprised by Faith Wilding: Fearful Symher deeply, in many ways. metries, a career-spanning retrospective Over two floors of the gallery, WildFEARFUL SYMMETRIES continues through Feb. 25. Artist talk at CMU’s Miller Gallery. This is the fifth ing’s 2-D works consistently hark to naand reception with Wilding: 5 p.m. version of this nationally touring show ture, especially to transformation, or Fri., Feb. 16 (free). Miller Gallery, curated by Shannon R. Stratton, of New what exhibit materials call “becoming”: Carnegie Mellon campus, Oakland.

York’s The Museum of Arts and Design. It the struggling free of a chrysalis, the 412-268-3618 or www.cmu.edu/millergallery

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.07/02.14.2018

shedding of flesh, the withering and fall from a high branch.

In two gorgeous, large-scale pages from her “Scriptorium” (1983), Wilding employs gouache and watercolor to depict human figures in rapture, peril or transformation, with a repeated shape that might be a chrysalis, maggot, root or mummified person. In the twinned paintings “Ophion” and “Eurynome” (both 1977-78), seed pods rising from a dark hollow split open and twine. Leaves are among Wilding’s most cherished symbols: This big exhibit’s centerpiece might well be the series of six largerthan-life shaped-canvas oil paintings of leaves, hung in the high-ceilinged third-floor gallery. The leaves, more brown than green, are detached from any tree, and dance across the wall, their crisped edges sinuous, alive even in death.

Many of Wilding’s works evoke illuminated manuscripts, blending text with such imagery. Some words are her own lyrical, stream-of-consciousness musings, but Wilding, a prodigious reader, often quotes literary figures. “Tears,” her 2010 series of small watercolors, includes tear-shaped repositories of protean watercolor, tear-shaped hearts, and tearshaped buds. Quotes are drawn from favorites including Virginia Woolf (“Every time the door opens, I cry ‘More’!”) and Emma Goldman, though William Blake (who of course supplied the exhibit’s title phrase) turns up, too. So much of Fearful Symmetries, like Wilding’s 1976 “Venus leaves” series, seems simply about the effulgence of nature as rendered by her brushes and pen.

Wilding is a noted activist, and those expecting more explicit politics will find it in “The War Room,” a small gallery featuring early-1990s works — including three of her resin-and-vellum

“biodresses” — incorporating images of medieval armor to explore how the body is “weaponized by technology, culture and politics.” And indeed, in Fearful Symmetries, Wilding’s politics are typically expressed (as with subRosa) through an engagement with human bodies.

Like “Waiting” (a video of which is included in this exhibit), some statements here are outspokenly feminist. A drawing of a mermaid holding a disembodied uterus and ovaries quotes novelist Angela Carter: “To deny the bankrupt enchantment of the womb is to pare a good deal of the fraudulent magic from the idea of women …”

But most of Wilding’s politics in Fearful Symmetries are existential. “How can the bound body be free?” she asks on a 1976 pencil sketch of leaves twining around themselves.

Wilding’s plants often represent people; what binds, often, is convention. “When thinking of breasts, sex no longer worries her, but all femininity concentrated in women, and all masculinity concentrated in men worries her. And how can she live mythless,” reads one “Daily Text” piece from 1988. Wilding remedies the issue herself in the accompanying image of a figure with breasts and male genitalia.

Wilding grounds such discussions in her own experience in 1990’s “untitled (the parents),” which references her Bruderhof upbringing, with its rigid gender roles. In the life-sized watercolor, a “male” undershirt and trousers and a woman’s dress, both empty of bodies, stand flanking the nude (and faceless) figure of a young woman, as if she’s been given only two options. If Wilding faced such a conundrum, she carved her own way out with passionate, sensual art that speaks to the truth of life beyond human society.

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DRI SCO L L @PGH C IT YPAPE R . C O M

DAILY $1 FOOD SPECIALS N-THURS ATT TTHE HE BAR SUN-THURS

Ronald AllAn-Lindblom • Artistic Director Kim Martin • Producing Director

By David Lindsay-Abaire Directed by kim martin

february 2-18, 2018 OPEN FOR LUNCH!

box office 412.392.8000 or pittsburghplayhouse.com

1025 Broad St, North Versailles, PA 15137 BroadStBistro.com 412-829-2911 NEWS

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{PHOTO COURTESY OF LIONESS PHOTOGRAPHY}

Leslie “Ezra” Smith and Alexandria Danielle King in Detroit ’67 at New Horizon Theater

[PLAY REVIEWS]

THAT CERTAIN SUMMER {BY MICHELLE PILECKI} TO PEOPLE of a certain age, “long hot sum-

34_4.75_x_4.75.indd 1

1/31/18 1:23 PM mer”

conjures not images of lazing by the beach, but fear (and indeed, loathing) in seething urban areas across the U.S. in 1967 and beyond. That tumultuous period provides the backdrop for Detroit ’67, a neat family drama now gracing the stage of New Horizon Theater.

DETROIT ’67 continues through Feb. 11. New Horizon Theater at the Falk School, upper campus of the University of Pittsburgh, Oakland. www.newhorizontheater.org

Award-winning playwright Dominique Morisseau deftly uses period music to amplify and underline the action in her 2013 play, which is still a bit rough around the edges. The music, of course, is Motown classics that in their heyday routinely topped the pop chart. There was no “genre” (charts weren’t all sliced and diced as they are today), and the Supremes and Temptations were up there with The Beatles. The idea that a black guy would be surprised by a white girl who likes “Negro music” (a ’50s concept) … well, as I said, rough spots.

Detroit ’67 centers on an adult sister and brother disagreeing about their inheritance (thank you, Raisin in the Sun and Piano Lesson). Ages? Michelle/Chelle, a widow,

22

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.07/02.14.2018

is old enough to have a son in college. Her somewhat younger brother, an Army veteran, is, of course, the one who wants more out of life. He’s even named Lank, short for Langston (as in Hughes, whose poem “Montage of a Dream Deferred” provided the “raisin” for Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun).

Directed by Herb Newsome, the tight ensemble moves well together. Particularly notable is Leslie “Ezra” Smith as Lank’s quirky buddy who grows into so much more. Alexandria Danielle King and LaMar Darnell Fields, the quibbling siblings, strive mightily with occasionally overwrought dialogue and clichés. Tajionna Anderson and Alexandria Glotfelty do as well as they can, respectively, as the comic-relief family friend and the mysterious white woman whose rescue stirs the plot’s pot.

The stunningly gorgeous show reaps the talents of costume designer June Seale, set designer Newsome and sound designer Wayne Gaines.

The devastation and horrors of that July in 1967 affect, if not motivate, the core of the play, but the charming characters of Detroit ’67 come alive in a feast for the ears and eyes.

I N F O@ P G H C I T Y PA P E R. C OM

ROMAN HIJINKS {BY BILL O’DRISCOLL} FEW OPENING songs advertise their

show more truly than “Comedy Tonight.”

“Nothing with kings … nothing with fate,”

indeed: The lead number of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum promises “something for everyone,” as long as it gets a laugh. And if you’re craving a classic old-school farce with great songs

by Stephen Sondheim, that’s what Pittsburgh Public Theater’s new production will do.

Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart’s 1962 show was inspired by the comedies of ancient Roman playwright Plautus: It’s 200 BC as a vaudevillian burlesque. Houseslave-on-the-make Pseudolus proposes to win his freedom by securing the courtesannext-door, Philia, for his naive master, Hero.

Pseudolus’ scheme, naturally, ensnares the courtesan’s owner; Hero’s bickering parents; panicky slave Hysterium; a dotty old man named Erronius; and narcissistic warrior Miles Gloriosus.

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM continues through Feb. 25. Pittsburgh Public Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Downtown. $15.75-80. 412-316-1600 or www.ppt.org

As directed and choreographed by the Public’s Ted Pappas, Forum delivers antic wordplay, accomplished singing, energetic dancing, ludicrous disguises and crazy wigs for days. It’s got a live pit orchestra, a henpecked husband, and spoofs of female vanity and male pomposity. Also, a love potion. And rubber chickens.

What puts it over the top, though, are Sondheim’s sparkling melodies and sublime lyrics, in songs like “That’ll Show Him,” in which Philia tells Hero that she’ll get revenge on Miles (who’s bought her) by canoodling with him, because she’ll really be thinking of Hero: “I’ll kiss him morning and night — / That’ll show him!” The pleasures range from Pseudolus’ sardonic ode to liberation, “Free,” to the cheerful lechery of “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid.”

The cast of 18 features Jimmy Kieffer, splendidly conniving as Pseudolus. Other standouts include Gavan Pamer as the fretful Hysterium, and Stephen DeRosa as “That Dirty Old Man,” Senex.

Admittedly, a musical farce set in ancient Rome, and written by mid-20th-century guys (even if one them’s Sondheim) isn’t your stop for roles for empowered women: Most of Forum’s female roles are courtesans, who are appropriately stunning but haven’t a line of dialogue between them.

Ruth Gottschall’s delightful Carol Burnettish turn as Domina partly redeems that deficit as someone who ensures that the men in this man’s world get the ribbing they deserve.

THERE WILL BE BLOOD {BY ALEX GORDON}

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SATURDAY, FEB. 17 7:30 PM

IF BLACKFISH turned you off from Sea-

World for good, and you never had the opportunity to check out Gallagher and his watermelons, I’d recommend sitting in the splash-zone of Evil Dead: The Musical, staged by Pittsburgh Musical Theater.

As in the Evil Dead film franchise, this production is generous with fake blood, and attendees in the designated first few rows get a particularly immersive experience. It’s not for the squeamish, but it’s all so campy, fun and absurd that it’s pretty easy to stomach. (Sitting in the splash-zone is voluntary.)

The first iteration of Evil Dead: The Musical premiered in Toronto in 2003, with book and lyrics by George Reinblatt, and co-composing credits for Christopher Bond, Frank Cipolla and Melissa Morris.

The title pretty much says it all: The plot is assembled from storylines from the Evil Dead film series (The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness) and accompanied with exaggerated Broadway-style numbers to narrate.

This award-winning vocal band takes you on a journey that spans decades of music, from classic oldies to current chart-toppers, all sung a cappella.

Featuring vocal dexterity, comedic timing and adventurous song selections, this remarkably talented sextet navigates multiple genres of music with a wonderfully eclectic repertoire that's guaranteed to captivate and entertain.

Tickets $16-$30 at

www.TheHillman.org or 412-968-3040

THE HILLMAN CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS | RICHARD E. RAUH THEATER Shady Side Academy | 423 Fox Chapel Road | Pittsburgh, PA 15238

EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL continues through Sat., Feb. 10.

Gargaro Theater, 327 S. Main St., West End. $40. 412-539-0900 or www.pittsburghmusicals.com

The basic bones of the thing: Five twentysomethings go to a cabin in the woods for a weekend of drinking and sex, but end up releasing some kind of evil spirit which goes to on to wreak havoc and possess the party-goers. In the lead is Ash (B.A. Goodnack), a cartoonish protagonist armed with one-line quips and a chainsaw. Adam Fladd and Mandie Russak steal most of the early scenes as the dim horny couple, Scott and Shelly, but everybody on stage is game and entertaining throughout.

Musically, the production is a little forgettable. The tropes of outsized Broadway musicals are imitated so well that they kind of stoop to their level. And while the humor and shock value of combining sugary melodies to deliver vulgar lyrics might have felt revelatory when the show debuted, it feels a little stale these days. It doesn’t end up mattering much, though.

The cast sells the play’s strengths and overcomes its weaknesses simply by having as much fun on stage as a story this ridiculous deserves. Try the splash-zone: Ponchos are available on site.

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FOR THE WEEK OF

02.08-02.14.18 Full events listed online at www.pghcitypaper.com

{PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HEINZ HISTORY CENTER}

The National Constitution Center’s American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition comes to town Feb. 10.

The Heinz History Center is the final stop on the national tour for this traveling exhibition, whose artifacts include a hatchet belonging to famed prohibitionist Carrie Nation.

“Prohibition is such an important story,” says Leslie Przybylek, History Center senior curator. “It’s these big issues about private life versus government control and regulation, that plays out not just in that 14-year period, but has lasting impact.”

The touring display includes interactive elements, ranging from learning how to do the Charleston to discovering which side of the Prohibition battle you might have been on, “Wet” or “Dry,” based on your gender, age, religion and ethnicity. The History Center adds local content including labels from bottles used in saloons and distributed right here in Pittsburgh.

The exhibit seeks to answer the questions: “How did we end up with Prohibition?” and “What happened to it?”

“We think of [Prohibition] now as either you’re for drinking or against it, but it wasn’t that simple,” Przybylek says.

“These interactives really encourage you to think about it a second time.”

{PHOTO COURTESY OF JUSTICE REDDIX AND TREVOR MILES}

^ Fri., Feb. 9: XYLO

thursday 02.08

BY LAUREN ORTEGO

Feb. 10-June 10. Heinz History Center, 1212 Smallman St., Strip District. $6.50-16.

412-454-6000 or www.heinzhistorycenter.org

ART The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh rgh — Homewood hosts a traveling exhibition about ourr most recent former lle Obama Through First Lady. Chasing Light: Michelle tographerr opens the Lens of a White House Photographer ucidon, who from today with a talk by Amanda Lucidon, w female White 2013-17 served as one of the few House photographers ever. The show includes hington, D.C.10 of her color photos. The Washington, a University based Lucidon studied at Indiana of Pennsylvania. Bill O’Driscoll 6:30 p.m. h March 4. (free). Exhibit continues through d. 412-731-3080 7101 Hamilton Ave., Homewood. or www.carnegielibrary.org

[STAGE]

Little Shop of Horrors, the Alan Menken/Howard Ashman musical comedy about a floralshop worker and his man-eating plant. Reginald L. Douglas directs.

Feb. 8-18. Charity Randall Theatre, 4301 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $12-25.

412-624-7529 or www.play.pitt.edu.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.07/02.14.2018

One of our most celebrat celebrated younger writers visits Alphabet City. Last year, D Daniel Alarcón’s story collection The King Is Always A Above the People was longlisted for a National Boo Book Award; The New Yorker recently named th the author and journalist one of the 20 best write writers under 40. Stories in The King explore migratio migration, betrayal, family secrets and doomed love. Ala Alarcón, born in Peru and based in New York, rea reads from the book tonight.

BO O 8 p.m. 40 W. North Ave., North Side. Free.

RSVP at www.alp www.alphabetcity.org.

friday 02.09 ART

ART The University of Pittsburgh stages

WORDS

Artist Hannah Altman weaves together ogether textiles and photography — think images es imaginatively transferred to fabric — to explore re “female identity and artist presence” in a new show ow at Union Hall.

The blending of contemporary photographic self-portraiture and the female-centric centric textile tradition, titled Construct of Viewpoint, ewpoint, t opens with a reception tonight. BO Reception: eception: 7-10 p.m. (free). Exhibit continues through h April 1.

2216 Penn Ave. (above Bar Marco), co), Strip District. www.facebook.com (“constructt of viewpoint”)

Tonight, SPACE hold holds the opening reception for Event Horizon, a an exhibit featuring artists world, including a homegrown from around the wo Beeferman, Jess Langley, Elizabeth artist. Leah Beeferm Crosby and Pittsburgh’s Steve McTernan, Jerstin Cr the concept of “landscape” to Gurysh addressed th ccreate cre ate a reality that plays with the literal and the theoretical. Though working in different media, all of the artists addres address the concept of our perceived ^ Fri., Feb. 9: Joe Joel McHale {PHOTO COURTESY O OF FRANK OCKENFELS}

{ART BY ELIZABETH MCTERNAN}

^ Fri., Feb. 9: Event Horizon

reality. Lauren Ortego 5:30 p.m. (free). Exhibit continues through March 25. 812 Liberty Ave., Downtown. Free. 412-325-7723 or www.spacepittsburgh.org

PARTY Come see the side of science you didn’t learn in eighth-grade biology as the Carnegie Science Center presents Sex, Love, and Science. Included in this 21+ Science After Dark program — and yes, you will need your ID — are speeddating; a large-scale simulation involving the “swapping of fluids”; karaoke; and a performance by the Bill Henry Band. You can also participate in the Traffic Light Party, by wearing a color to signify your relationship status. Just a hint, green means “go.” LO 6 p.m. 1 Allegheny Ave., North Side. $12. 412-237-3400 or www. carnegiesciencecenter.org

ART Every day in January, Fun A Day Pittsburgh participants sloughed off the winter blues by doing something: a single small art project, or a small part of a bigger project. Tonight, come see what a few dozen participants accomplished {ART BY SONDRA HART} at this annual initiative’s ^ Fri., Feb. 9: Fun A Day Pittsburgh Fun A Day ’18 Art Show opening reception. Visit Artists Image Resource for refreshments, a casual potluck, and Open Studio hours (try screenprinting). The exhibit is open only through Saturday. BO Reception: 7-9 p.m. (free). Also 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat., Feb. 10. 518 Foreland St., North Side. www.facebook.com (“fun a day ’18”)

COMEDY A star of NBC’s Community and former host of E!’s The Soup, Joel McHale brings his national tour Stand Up 2017 to the Pittsburgh Improv tonight and tomorrow.

McHale has guested on shows from The Ellen Degeneres Show to Late Night With Seth Meyers. McHale, whom The New York Times called “a snarkier-thanthou cable television host,” plays the first two of his four shows here tonight.

LO 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Also 7 and 9:30 p.m. Sat., Feb. 10. 166 E. Bridge St., West Homestead. $30. 412-462-5233 or www.pittsburgh.improv.com CONTINUES ON PG. 26

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EVERYONE IS A CRITIC

{PHOTO COURTESY OF LAURA EVANS}

^ Sat., Feb. 10: Smokin’ Betties Burlesque

Modern-dance pioneer Martha Graham was a native of Allegheny City, and her signature works include a fourminute solo entitled “Lamentation.” But best as Maria Caruso can tell, no Pittsburgh-based artist has previously been licensed to perform that 1930 work in Graham’s hometown. That changes this weekend as Caruso herself dances “Lamentation” as part of her troupe Bodiography Contemporary Ballet’s program Doors and Windows.

“Lamentation,” with its unique costuming (a long, loose cylindrical garment of elastic fabric) joins Caruso’s own newest group work; selections from Kaleidoscope, her 2007 ballet set to music by Dave Matthews Band; and more, tonight and tomorrow at the Byham Theater. BO 8 p.m. Feb. 9.

Also 8 p.m. Sat., Feb. 10. 101 Sixth St., Downtown. $34-100.

412-456-6666 or www.trustarts.org

CRITIC: Nicole Navolio, 29, a user-experience designer from Wilkinsburg WHEN: Fri.,

Feb. 2

First Friday is a fun outing, where you get to see culture, art and up-and-coming artists who aren’t necessarily professionals, but they get to display their creations for everyone to see.

We’ve been coming to First [Friday] every month for five years. This particular night, I love the artwork at [Artisan]: The way this artist here uses holographic paper I find very interesting.

But it always changes. A lot of the galleries have closed down since we started coming, which is sad to see. But a few new ones have opened up, so that’s nice.

Despite those changes, it has the same feeling it’s always had.

Events like this are absolutely important for our community.

I think the main goal with Unblurred is to bring different people together to enjoy various cultures. [My boyfriend] first invited me here, and I was blown away. I haven’t stopped coming since.

saturday 02.10

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DANCE The opioid epidemic hits home in XYLO, a brand-new work by the Trevor C. Dance Collective. Choreographer and teaching artist Trevor Miles’ full-length performance tells the story of a teenage girl experiencing a heroin overdose.

Proceeds from this afternoon’s premiere performance, part of the Ryan Arts Center’s African American Celebration of the Arts, benefits the Sto-Rox Community Resource Center. XYLO, part of an afternoon-long program including a film screening, is recommended for ages 16 and older.

BO Noon-4 p.m. (performance at 2 p.m.). 420 Chartiers Ave., McKees Rocks. $25. www.trevorcdance.com

ART Hazelwood native Robert Wright was a self-taught artist and prolific painter whose works were exhibited widely in the region. Wright died in 2006, at age 63, but his colorful renderings of cityscapes, levitating cars, beatific angels and much more lives on. Absolute Faith, an exhibit including more

< Sun., Feb. 11: Chutz-Pow! The Art of Resistance

DANCE

EVENT: Unblurred: First Friday on Penn Avenue

than 100 of his works, has been organized by collector Pat McArdle and curator Brittany Reilly. It opens tonight with a reception at Jesse Best Gallery, in Homestead. BO 5-7 p.m. (free). Exhibit continues through May 5. 216 E. Seventh Ave., Homestead. 412-613-0993 or brittany@design-nation.org

MUSIC Two adventuresome, internationally touring musicians visit The Andy Warhol Museum tonight for Pitt’s Music on the Edge series. Double-bassist Robert Black (of Bang on a Can All Stars) performs three works written for him, including “The Not Doings of an Insomniac,” composed by Philip Glass and featuring poetry by Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Yoko Ono, David Byrne, Leonard Cohen and Patti Smith. And musician and composer Andrea Parkins offers her electroacoustic solo project on electronically processed accordion, objects, and live electronic processing.

BO 8 p.m. 117 Sandusky St., North Side. $15-20.

412-624-7549 or www.music.pitt.edu

BURLESQUE There’s a little heat for most every taste at Smokin’ Betties Burlesque’s winter show.

Joining regulars like DemDare Eyes and Gigi Coudray at Club Café are special guests including award-winning drag king Ace Phoenix; boylesque performer Amoxie Villain; and Costa Lottabuckz, a drag queen and reigning Miss P-Town.

BO 10:30 p.m. 56 S. 12th St., South Side. $10. www.smokinbetties.com

sunday 02.11 ART At The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, it’s not just about remembering the Holocaust. Telling the stories of those who fought back is equally important. Today, the Center opens Chutz-Pow! The Art of Resistance, an exhibit further exploring the stories that inspired its comic-book series of the same name. The event also serves as the unveiling of the latest comic, “Chutz-Pow! Volume III: The Young Survivors,” featuring work by local artist Marcel Walker. BO 3 p.m. ($5; free for students and Holocaust survivors). Exhibit continues through May. 826 Hazelwood Ave., Greenfield. www.hcofpgh.org

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“WE’RE WORKING ON NEW BREAKFASTSAUSAGE RECIPES AND COTTAGE BACON.”

FRESH PIE {BY BILL O’DRISCOLL} East End resident Anthony Badamo wanted to start his first pizzeria in Pittsburgh proper. But he couldn’t find the right building, so back in 2010 he tried Mount Lebanon. A’Pizza Badamo has been wildly successful there, and regularly makes lists of best local pies.

So when Badamo finally located a good spot in town — a storefront on the North Side’s Federal Street — his reputation preceded him.

On Dec. 28, Badamo’s Pizza announced on Instagram it would start cooking at 5 p.m.; its first minutes of business, Badamo says, were greeted with “a line out the door.”

On a recent Sunday afternoon, the small pizzeria was still bustling, a dozen customers crowding the service counter.

The gray-haired fellow back by the ovens was Badamo’s grandfather, a Fineview resident who sometimes hangs out and “put his two cents in,” says Badamo.

Unlike the Mount Lebo spot, Badamo’s is basically pick-up only, and the menu is scaled back slightly. But apparently homemade Italian fare with fresh ingredients — red, white, margherita and Sicilian pies, plus calzones, hoagies and salads — aren’t popular just in the South Hills. Badamo, a 35-year-old former wireless salesman and touring rock musician, says that business is “booming,” and that he’s hiring.

Badamo’s opens at 11 a.m. daily, and serves until 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday (later on weekends), with Sunday hours of noon-8 p.m.

BADAMO’S REPUTATION PRECEDED HIM.

{CP PHOTO BY VANESSA SONG}

Jason Wilcox, the new in-house butcher at the Good Faith Restaurant Group

PIE FOR BREAKFAST {BY CELINE ROBERTS}

DRISCOLL@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

1106 Federal St., North Side. 412-231-1001

the

FEED

Love may last forever, on Valentine’s Day, space at nice restaurants doesn’t. Book soon, or plan for extra flowers to make that pizza delivery extra special.

I

T WON’T BE long now before Pittsburgh can enjoy a slice of comfort from the much-anticipated Pie for Breakfast, the most recent project from the Good Faith Restaurant Group. Trevett and Sarah Hooper, of Legume and Butterjoint, have been patiently and mostly quietly working away at the new venue for a couple of years, and the space has the drywall to prove it.

“The food is ultra American, but the style of service might be more ‘European coffee shop,’” says Trevett Hooper, gesturing to the bones of the bar. The space is beginning to take shape; there are booths, a couple of window tables and a small kitchen with an open pass that will keep the restaurant cozy, yet lively. “Our first location was really small

and cozy, too. It’s a feel that I really like,” says Hooper.

That vibrant, welcoming atmosphere is something Hooper and his team are working to cultivate in both the space and the food. Of all Hooper’s years in the industry, his favorite job as a cook

PIE FOR BREAKFAST 200 N. Craig St., Oakland www.pieforbreakfastpittsburgh.com

was working breakfast. “I remember there was one guy who came in [while I was working breakfast] who was really far along in his cancer treatment, and he used to come in every day with his

Périgord truffles. I would shave a whole truffle into his scrambled eggs. That was a really cool thing,” says Hooper.

“There’s something cool about breakfast.

You don’t get that in a fine-dining situation; there’s a distance. The more I do food, the more I cook, I kind of realize that that’s what I care about the most — connecting, nourishing people.”

The menu for Pie isn’t just breakfast: It will encompass traditional American home cooking, with service all day. “I think the name ‘Pie for Breakfast’ is a little misleading. I think a lot of people are thinking just breakfast joint. But really, it’s full service,” says Hooper.

In order to handle the demands of menu development and production, while also honoring the ethos of wholeCONTINUES ON PG. 28

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MEXICAN RESTAURANT

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PIE FOR BREAKFAST, CONTINUED FROM PG. 27

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{CP PHOTO BY VANESSA SONG}

TORTILLAS MADE FRESH DAILY!

Executive chef/co-owner Trevett Hooper watches as sous chef Mary Weber works her magic in the kitchen.

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animal butchery, Hooper recently hired a new in-house butcher, Jason Wilcox, to work with long-time sous chef and inhouse butcher Mary Weber.

“Opening Pie for Breakfast gives us an opportunity to use more of our farmers’ products — things we didn’t really have use for in the past,” says Weber. “Like pig’s legs — we can use for ham. It frees us up to help them out, and [it] also lowers our costs, so we can offer something that’s more affordable for the neighborhood folks.”

Having Wilcox butchering for Legume, Butterjoint and Pie for Breakfast will also allow Weber more time for other culinary projects that diners can expect to try, like tempeh. “I never thought I’d be developing recipes with mold,” she says. “Having Jason is awesome. It frees me up to let me resume my sous chef role. He brings a lot to the table.”

Wilcox, formerly of Avedano’s Meats in San Francisco, trained in Western Massachusetts and has spent six years as a butcher, moving up the ranks from production to head butcher. He met Hooper through a former employee who was training at Avedano’s, and when Hooper and his wife moved to Pittsburgh, he decided to join the team. “Coming from a whole-butchery background, it was important to me to continue whole-animal usage,” says Wilcox.

He and Weber will be sitting down weekly to discuss Pie’s menu and are

already testing recipes for scrapple, ham loaf and chipped ham. “It’s going to be interesting for me personally doing the product development, because [the Pittsburgh area] is a region I’m not familiar with. I’d never heard of chipped ham before,” Wilcox says. “We’re working on new breakfast-sausage recipes and cottage bacon, which is something that’s sort of fallen by the wayside in the U.S.” He is interested in “recipes and flavors that have been forgotten in the industrialization of food.” Cottage bacon, for instance, comes from the shoulder instead of the belly of the pig, and scrapple, a loaf-like sausage, uses pork scraps and trimmings.

In-house butchering means Pie can make more from their meats, while also providing traditional Pennsylvania foods.

In keeping with the cozy American feeling, Pie’s beverage menu will be focused on craft beer and coffee and espresso. Hooper is excited to let Butterjoint bar manager Amanda Schaffner and soon-to-be Pie bar manager Ben Blackmore, whom he calls “total beer nerds,” run a fun beer program that will include six packs.

With an enthusiastic staff, recipes in development and Legume and Butterjoint regulars anxious with anticipation, the question of an opening date is pressing. When asked, Hooper playfully yells to his contractor, “Dan, when are we opening?” Both seemed confident for the end of March.

“WE CAN OFFER SOMETHING THAT’S MORE AFFORDABLE FOR THE NEIGHBORHOOD FOLKS.”

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

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BOOZE BATTLES

self-respect, but I was just so excited that I had all this cash and still had time to be in school full time and go on auditions and rehearse. Growing up training my whole life to be a professional dancer and actress, I’d come from a super competitive environment, and that was my first workplace experience where it felt like family.

{BY CELINE ROBERTS}

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

THE DRINK:

GRASSHOPPER

[ON THE ROCKS]

DROPPIN’ KNOWLEDGE {BY CELINE ROBERTS}

Kelly’s Bar & Lounge 6012 Centre Ave., East Liberty DRINK: Grasshopper INGREDIENTS: White crème de cacao, green crème de menthe, heavy cream OUR TAKE: This classic tastes like an Andes mint right out of the wrapper. Perfect for those who might want something a little sweet after dinner; it has notes of chocolate and a creamy texture.

VS.

ON JAN. 29, some of Pittsburgh’s most successful women in the restaurant industry gathered at Merchant Oyster Co., in Lawrenceville, to share their experiences and advice with an invited audience. Jessica Lewis of or, The Whale/Merchant Oyster Co., Cat Cannon of Federal Galley, Sarah Shaffer of Tina’s, and LG Swanson of Spirit sat down for a panel discussion about running a restaurant; working in a maledominated kitchen or behind the bar; the meaning of mentorship; and more.

Answers edited for length/clarity.

WHERE WAS THE FIRST PLACE YOU WORKED IN THE SERVICE INDUSTRY, AND WHAT WAS ONE TAKE-AWAY? Lewis: The first place I worked was

in New York [City] after culinary school.

I was a line cook. I only had male chefs at that time. I worked for Vanguard in Philadelphia for about two years before that, so everything was very corporate and diversified and politically correct. That was my first thrust into a not very politically correct environment. You learn to fend for yourself.

Swanson: After freshman year [of college], I applied as a hostess and got quickly promoted to cocktail server at Carson City Saloon on South Side. I made a lot of money. Did not wear a lot of clothes.

Did not, in retrospective, have the most

WHAT’S ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE TO YOUNG WOMEN STARTING IN THIS INDUSTRY? Shaffer: Perfect your handshake. It’s something my father taught me at a very young age. ... Men have been doing this for a long time, to not assert dominance but to say, ‘Hey, I respect you as an individual but I also demand that respect from you.’... That’s your first chance to make a sign of respect and encourage respect on your behalf.

Cannon: Know what’s going on around you. See what’s happening. If you don’t agree with it, say something.

Speak up for yourself. Be your own PR person. Use your voice. No one else is going to do that for you.

Swanson: I have been trying to remind myself and encourage everyone around me to check in with yourself regularly. Be really honest about what is making you happy and what isn’t. Don’t overwork yourself. Try to be kinder to yourself.

Lewis: Be OK with failure. I was never OK with failure, and I’ve read a lot of books and I’ve learned a lot from experiences. Failure, at the end of the day, means you’ve remembered something, and you know you won’t do it in the future and you’ve learned from an experience.

“PERFECT YOUR HANDSHAKE.”

CELINE@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

Check out City Paper ’s Blogh for local food news and assorted tidbits. www.pghcitypaper.com Spork

One Bordeaux, One Scotch, One Beer

5430 Penn Ave., Bloomfield DRINK: Praying Mantis INGREDIENTS: Branca menta, crème de menthe, rumchata, crème de cacao OUR TAKE: This is a more alcoholic version of the classic Grasshopper recipe. The bitterness of the branca menta elevates this cocktail to something beyond an afterdinner drink. Rumchata adds warmth, while the crème de cacao provides the creaminess this drink is known for.

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Domaine Dumontru Muscadet de Sevre et Maine 2015 $9.99/750 ml “I’ve been venturing into the salty white varietals lately, like muscadet and albariño. This muscadet has been helping me forget about how ugly this winter is by reminding me of the summer. It’s dry, acidic and salty, yet such a value (10 buckaroos) and it pairs so nicely with seafood or winter blues.”

RECOMMENDED BY JUSTIN MATASE, CP ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Domaine Dumontru Muscadet de Sevre et Maine 2015 is available at Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores.

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MIRREN DELIVERS ALL THE EXISTENTIAL MUMBOJUMBO WITH PLENTY OF ARCH AUTHORITY

{BY AL HOFF} Sean Baker’s film The Florida Project made a lot of critics’ year-end lists for 2017. Now, in celebration of Black History Month, Pittsburgh Filmmakers is bringing back Baker’s 2015 film, Tangerine, for one week. If you missed it then, or have recently discovered Baker via The Florida Project, don’t miss this chance to see this fierce and funny indie film. Below is a condensed version of City Paper’s review that ran previously.

CP APPROVED

Alexandra (Mya Taylor) and Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez)

Tangerine kicks off its raucous, sweet-and-sour story with two transgender sex workers sitting in a donut shop, catching up: Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) is just back from a stint in the can, and her best friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor) is eager to fill her in on how Sin-Dee’s pimp Chester has been seeing another woman.

That sets Sin-Dee off on a furious day-long search through the community — taco stand, motel, food line, nightclub — interacting with pimps, prostitutes and johns. Nominally, Tangerine is a shaggydog comedy, and the film is funny as hell, as Alexandra and Sin-Dee squabble, gossip and throw shade (and punches). But neither actress (both non-professionals) lets you forget that that fierceness and bravado covers up a lot of hurt and powerlessness. It’s a tough life in a brutal milieu, and prepare to be a bit heartbroken, too.

Director Sean Baker shot Tangerine on location in Los Angeles’ rundown Santa Monica and Highland area, using just three iPhones. He collaborated with residents of the trangender and street communities depicted (some of whom play roles). As a result, the film is remarkably nonjudgmental toward its cast of typically marginalized characters (sex workers, petty criminals, street denizens), granting them the dignity of their experience. It’s an indie film in technique, spirit and subject that thrums with that authenticity.

At its heart — and Tangerine has plenty of heart — it’s about how the friendship of two women endures through a lot of bullshit money and man trouble.

Sin-Dee and Alexandra finish out the day as they started — under another fluorescent light, holding hands, and facing the holiday with their rough-andtumble sisterhood. Starts Feb. 9. Harris

{BY AL HOFF}

A

S A KID, I toured the Winchester

Mystery House, in San Jose, Calif., and was instantly entranced with its legend. The 100-plus-room Victorian had been the home of Sarah Winchester, the wealthy widow of the man who invented the Winchester Repeating Rifle. Reputedly obsessed with the deaths of those killed

by Winchester rifles, Mrs. Winchester adopted a novel solution: She could keep these tormented souls at bay through the nonstop construction of her home.

And it hardly mattered what — rooms were built, taken apart and rebuilt; stairways led to ceilings; a room was built without nails; and a séance room, in which Winchester received building instructions from the beyond, had one entrance and three exits. It wasn’t just the fanciful nature of the structure that was captivating; for an avid reader of dark fairy tales like Winchester, the belief that she could cleanse her blood guilt by building a mazelike castle made complete sense.

And now there is Winchester: The House

A HOFF@ PGHC ITY PA PE R.CO M

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If you build it … they will leave: Helen Mirren portrays Sarah Winchester

That Ghosts Built, an “inspired by actual events” spooker, directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig. The film, set in 1906, establishes a classic night-in-a-hauntedhouse plot, in which a doctor (Jason Clarke) is sent to assess the mental stability of the widow Winchester (Helen Mirren).

Naturally, the doctor is unconvinced, until a bunch of specters disturb his sleep.

WINCHESTER: THE HOUSE THAT GHOSTS BUILT DIRECTED BY: Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig STARRING: Helen Mirren, Jason Clarke, assorted ghosts

But mostly the doctor is persuaded

by Winchester’s arguments, in which her guilt informs a certain logic. Of course, people who were killed with the namesake gun are angry, and doubly so that she lives in finery on its blood-soaked profits.

Mirren, who seems to be having fun doing

a campy widow’s-weeds thing, delivers all the existential mumbo-jumbo with plenty of arch authority. What man wouldn’t be cowed?

And these philosophical explorations are the best part of the movie. (Sadly, as a ghost thriller, Winchester is quite boring.) As ludicrous as the story is, the issues raised about profiting on the miseries of others and, more specifically, about how accountable a gun manufacturer is for the deaths its products cause, are lively contemporary debates. Another modern thread running through the film was another cost of violence: the unresolved PTSD suffered by Mrs. Winchester, the doctor and the ghosts. If only the Spierig brothers had made a thoughtful drama, inspired by a real-life eccentric, rather than a dull thriller, barely propelled by jump-out scares and creaky hallways.

And if you’re ever in the San Jose area, and not afraid of ghosts, take a tour of the actual house, now up to 160 rooms. It’s infinitely more memorable than this film.

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

we’re told by corporate entities. 7 p.m. Sat., Feb. 10.

Hollywood (AH)

FILM CAPSULES CP

PRINCE OF DARKNESS. In this 1987 horror thriller, a discovery in a church basement — a mysterious green ooze — sets into motion a demonic force. Oops. John Carpenter directs. 9 p.m. Sat., Feb. 10. Hollywood

= CITY PAPER APPROVED

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BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S. Blake Edwards’ 1961 film is, at its heart, still Truman Capote’s simple tale of the rootless nature of America’s then-impending future. Audrey Hepburn stars. 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Sun., Feb. 11. Hollywood

THE 15:17 TO PARIS. Clint Eastwood directs this docudrama, which recounts the event of Aug. 12, 2015, in which three young American men traveling by train to Paris thwart a potential terrorist attack on board. The men — Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and Anthony Sadler — play themselves. Starts Fri., Feb. 9

CLOSE-UP. An Iranian man is mistaken for a wellknown filmmaker and exploits this handy confusion, convincing a wealthy Tehran family that they are the subject of his next film. Then his ruse is discovered and he is sued by the family. In 1990, filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami recreated the story, using the actual participants, who play themselves. In Persian, with subtitles. 6 p.m. Sun., Feb. 11.

Regent Square

FIFTY SHADES FREED. After a lot of flirting, light spanking and a sexual-contract crisis or two, Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) and Christian (Jamie Dornan) get married. Narrator voice: “But a dark force from the past is determined to tear them part …” James Foley directs the conclusion to this soapy saga. Starts Fri., Feb. 9 OSCAR SHORT FILMS. They may be “short” films, but you’ll still need to book some time to catch the more than dozen which are nominated this year for an Academy Award.

Fortunately, they are broken up into four separate programs — Live Action, Animated and two sets of Documentary — and most are booked through March 1.

The Live Action group offers films from the U.K., Germany, Australia and two from the U.S., including “DeKalb Elementary,” about a school shooting. Among the Animated nominees is “Dear Basketball,” which features some musings and highlights from basketball great Kobe Bryant. The Documentary shorts include: “Edith + Eddy,” about an elderly bi-racial couple; “Heroine(e),” about the opioid epidemic, and set in Huntingdon, W.Va.; and “Traffic Stop,” about the traffic stop of an African-American teacher that escalated.

The Live Action and Animated programs begin Fri., Feb. 9, and run through March 1. The Documentary programs begin Sat., Feb. 10, and run through Feb. 25. Check www. cinema.pfpca. org for complete schedule and times. (Al Hoff) PETER RABBIT. Will Gluck directs this digitally animated version of Beatrix Potter’s much-loved tale about a charmingly clad rabbit and a very attractive (if fenced off) vegetable garden. James Corden supplies the voice of the mischievous bunny. Starts Fri., Feb. 9

REPERTORY HUMAN FLOW. This recent ecent documentary ell-known Chinese essay, directed by well-known ei, seeks to put a artist and dissident Ai Weiwei, cope of refugee face to the unimaginable scope populations worldwide. In English, and varies. 7 p.m. Wed., ous languages, with subtitles.

Feb. 7. Room 105, College Hall, Duquesne 415. Free (AH) campus, Uptown. 412-396-6415.

CP

Close-Up IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT. In this 1934 romantic comedy from Frank Capra, a news reporter (Clark Gable) pursues a runaway rich girl (Claudette Colbert) through Depression-era America. Times grow so lean that the mismatched pair are forced to chastely share a motel room (separated by a hanging blanket, or “the Wall of Jericho”), but you won’t be surprised to learn the pair transcend their differences. Feb. 9-14. Row House Cinema OBVIOUS CHILD. In Gillian Robespierre’s sweet, offbeat 2014 rom-com, an aspiring standup comedian Donna (Jenny Slate) finds a drunken hook-up with the not-her-type Max (Jake Lacy) leading to something more, including an unexpected pregnancy. But this hot-button issue is the catalyst for the film’s larger narrative, a sometimes raunchy, rough-edged but heartwarming coming-of-age story about a bright but unfocused twentysomething. It’s a journey that involves parents, friends, work, romantic relationships and, yes, Planned Parenthood. Feb. 9-15. Row House Cinema (AH)

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THEY LIVE. A working-class dude named Nada (Roddy Piper) discovers the truth behind people’s infuriating complacency: They’re being continually brainwashed into submission to serve the needs of an elite class of aliens. John Carpenter’s campy 1988 sci-fi thriller (with fisticuffs!) has since gained status as a trenchant observation on class, consumerism and why we so eagerly do as

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DARK STAR. Th This low-budget space flick from 1974 pai paired director John Carpenter and writer Dan O’Bannon, who would go on to m much better films, such as Halloween and Alien, respectively.

But fans can chec check out the rumblings of greatness in th this tale of four dudes (five, if you cou count the dead guy), on a very long space mission. 2 p.m.

Sat., Feb. 1 10. Hollywood

Peter Rabbit

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THE THI THING. A bunch of feckless potpot-smokers holed up in some An Antarctic “research” facility are vvisited by a bad alien.

John Carpent Carpenter’s 1982 remake of the 1951 scisci-fi classic lacks much of the earlier film’s subtlety; here,

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LOVE STORY. In Arthur Hiller’s 1970 weepie, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” But this tale of Harvard students and lovebirds Ryan O’Neal and Ali McGraw — one of whom is dying — will bring plenty of sniffles. 7:30 p.m. Tue., Feb. 13, and noon, Wed., Feb. 14. Tull Family Theater, Sewickley

PROUDLY TATTOOING PITTSBURGH SINCE ‘94!

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD. This 2010 film follows twentysomething Pilgrim (Michael Cera) as he tries to balance playing in a band, dating a 17-yearold schoolgirl, and pursuit of new-girl-in-town Ramona Flowers. To date Flowers, Pilgrim must battle her baggage — and some of his own — against an earnest backdrop of Toronto video arcades, clubs, record stores and thrift sshops. Director Edgar Wright has created an a alterna-rom-com for a frenzied, inte intertextual, pop-culture world: a pasti pastiche of graphic-novel panels brough brought to life, video-game fight sequenc sequences, action-film sendups and Seinfel Seinfeld homage. Feb. 9-15.

Row House Cine Cinema (Aaron Jentzen)

ob Reiner’s THE PRINCESS BRIDE. Rob 1987 film is that rare bird — a film to delight children and adultss alike, an ance, comupbeat fairy tale with romance, ously quotedy, swordplay and deliciously able lines. Multiple daily showings, Feb. 9-11 (Rangos Giant Theater, Carnegie Science Center),, and MC 7:30 p.m. Wed., Feb. 14 (AMC Loews Waterfront) GHOST. Her true love dies, but eelhe returns as a pottery-wheelfriendly ghost. Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze star in Jerryy Zuck15. Row er’s 1990 romance. Feb. 9-15.

House Cinema

gross-out effects mute any horror. This Thing is like a multi-headed demented slug. The scenes where the men — unsure which of them has morphed into the Thing — freak out on each other are better. 4 p.m.

Sat., Feb. 10. Hollywood (AH)

CORRIDOR FOUR. On Sept. 11, 2001, K9 Unit Officer Isaac Ho’opi’i helped rescue numerous people from the Pentagon after terrorists flew a plane into the building. He was rightly called a hero, profiled in the media, and even carried the Olympic torch on its way to the 2002 Winter Olympics. But after the attention faded, Ho’opi’i struggled with guilt and regret.

Stephen Tringali’s new documentary profiles how Ho’opi’i managed to re-orient his life, with the help of his family and his love of Hawaiian music. 7 p.m.

Tue., Feb. 13. SouthSide Works

(412) 683-4320 5240 Butler St. Pgh, PA • 15201

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“THE HARDEST PART IS KEEPING YOUR BALANCE.”

HISTORY LESSONS This week in Pittsburgh Sports History {BY ALEX GORDON}

FEB. 9, 2002 A proud day for Pittsburgh football coaches winning meaningless games: Steelers head coach Bill Cowher wins his third Pro Bowl for the AFC, tying his predecessor Chuck Noll. (At the latest Pro Bowl, on Jan. 28, current Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin took home another win for the AFC, 24-23.)

Civic Arena in 2010 {CP PHOTO BY ALEX GORDON}

FEB. 8, 1953 Mayor David L. Lawrence announces plans to build a “civic theater” Downtown to provide a permanent venue for the Pittsburgh Civic Light Orchestra. Eight years later, the Civic Auditorium was completed, boasting the first retractable-roof on a sports venue in the world.

Over its 49 years in existence, the arena hosted The Beatles and Elvis; monster-truck derbies; boxing and wrestling matches; the filming of the Jean Claude Van Damme movie Sudden Death; and, of course, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ home ice. The Civic Arena was demolished in 2011.

FEB. 11, 2011 A grand total of 65 penalties and more than 300 penalty minutes are handed out at a rambunctious match-up between the Penguins and the New York Islanders. The bad blood traces to another rowdy contest between the two teams earlier that month, which included the ever-elusive goalie fight, between Brent Johnson and Rick DiPietro. Johnson had knocked out DiPietro with a single brutal punch, benching DiPietro for six weeks. Ahead of the rematch, Islanders players intimate to the press that payback for DiPietro is likely, but no one predicts the bedlam that ensues. The Islanders take a 6-0 lead in the second period, and the rest is pretty much just brawling. There are sucker punches, benches cleared, and plenty of ejections, leaving a total of nine eligible players for both teams by the end of the game. In the aftermath, three players face suspensions, and the Islanders are fined $100,000 for “failure to control their players.”

FEB. 12, 2014 Despite making earlier statements to the press that he would retire, or return to the Pirates for the 2014 season, starting pitcher A.J. Burnett signs with cross-state “rivals” the Philadelphia Phillies for one year. It’s a bummer, but a shortlived one: In 2015, he would return to the Bucs and retire a Pirate.

{CP PHOTO BY JARED WICKERHAM}

Player preparing to slide stone down curling rink

ROCK SLIDE I

N THE NEXT couple of weeks, odds

are many Pittsburghers are going to be obsessed with curling. The winter sport, which is basically shuffleboard on ice, was a U.S. ratings bonanza during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and there are dozens of opportunities to cheer on the Stars and Stripes in the quest for curling gold this year. In the ongoing 2018 Winter Olympic Games, held in PyeongChang, South Korea, American curling is represented by a men’s team, a women’s team, and a mixed-doubles team. Curling matches are televised multiple times a day, and competition lasts the entire two weeks of the games.

And if locals do fall in love with curling during the Olympics, the Pittsburgh Curling Club wants to remind people they don’t have to wait another four years to experience the game.

ALEXGORDON@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.07/02.14.2018

The Pittsburgh Curling Club meets every Saturday night from fall through spring at the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center, on Neville Island.

The club started in 2003 and utilizes covered outdoor ice rinks. There are more

Pittsburgh Curling Club is looking to attract more attention as the Winter Olympics kick off {BY RYAN DETO} than 90 current members of the club, and club president Steve Buffington is hoping this year’s Olympic Games will generate more interest.

Buffington says curling with the club isn’t just for die-hards; it’s open to anyone

who wants to try. “Our members can play as serious or as recreational as they want,” says Buffington. “We have pickup games late on Saturday nights, and some members participate in tournaments across the region.”

The rules of curling are relatively simple.

Players take turns sliding granite stones on the ice toward a series of drawn rings called “the house.” Each team has eight stones, and the rink is 138 feet long. The goal is to get as many stones as close to the center of the house as possible, like shuffleboard or bocce. For each throw, two teammates can also move in front of the thrown stone and sweep the ice with brushes, which changes the trajectory and speed of the stone.

“Brushing delays when the stone slows down,” says Buffington, describing how the sweeping warms up the ice’s surface and allows the stone to slide farther.

“Sweeping can also keep the stone on a straighter trajectory.”

Throws can be used for defense, called a guard, or for offense, a softer throw aimed right at the center. And there is plenty of action in terms of stones colliding to push other stones out of scoring positions. When City Paper visited, the ice rink at the RMU sports complex was filled with the satisfying sounds of sliding stones, followed by loud cracks as the stones collided. Buffington says that curling is equal parts skill and strategy, and the best teams excel at both.

Craig Micklethwaite, an engineer from Moon Township, has been playing with the Pittsburgh Curling Club for two years.

He told CP that he was intrigued by curling after watching it on TV and was excited to try it because it was “something unique and different.” He said he has enjoyed playing, and is still learning the complexities of curling.

“The hardest part is keeping your balance,” says Micklethwaite, referring to the sliding that comes when players throw the stone down the ice. “There are a lot of things to think about.”

And Buffington wants to calm any anxieties potential curlers might have about trying a sport played on ice. He says curling ice is covered in water droplets before play.

These drops freeze and give the ice texture,

which makes it easy to walk on, in addition to making the stone slide better. (Players actually wear a plastic slider on one shoe, so they can slide on the ice before releasing their throw.) Buffington also says players who are unable or uncomfortable performing a slide throw can use a throwing stick, like in shuffleboard.

Buffington also wants to ease concerns people may have about frigid playing conditions. The rink at the RMU facility can get cold in the winter months, but the club is close to securing financing for a new, indoor curling facility in nearby Stowe Township.

Buffington says the new facility will be open all week, and will be kept at comfortable temperatures, on and off the ice. He says construction for the new facility could start in the spring, with an anticipated opening in the fall.

Buffington is also excited about the improved ice conditions of the new facility.

Currently, the RMU curling rink is shared with recreational ice hockey, so the ice can be slanted in some spots. “Sometimes, the ice here can be extra curly,” says Buffington.

“Curling should be like playing pool — you want it to be dead flat.”

G et C h ee ky H City Paper A Night Witneh d PGParenthood and Plan tern pa oof wes

Last Call to #GetCheeky!

Pittsburgh City Paper’s Get Cheeky event is almost here! Don’t miss out on on a night of fun, games, and prizes.

RYAND ETO @PGH C IT YPAPE R . C O M

For more information, contact info@pittsburghcurlingclub.com.

ic from live mus g in r u t Fea HE AND T E S A H C S. BARON

Hosted by

Lola LeCroix

Wednesday, February 14 Hard Rock Cafe, Station Square 8-11 pm, 21+ event $5 online / $10 at the door

Tickets available at cooltix.com

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[THE CHEAP SEATS]

MAKING IT BIG {BY MIKE WYSOCKI} THE GRAND pageantry and splendor of

the Winter Olympics is upon us. From the revered Miracle on Ice and the “Cool Runnings” of the Jamaican bobsled team to the ice-skating death-match between Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, the games of the winter Olympiad are entrenched in American sports and cultural history.

South Korea hosts the world’s best this time and, of course, there is at least one Pittsburgh connection, speed skater John-Henry Krueger. If we can wave towels at a televised dance competition like we did for Hines Ward and Antonio Brown when they appeared on Dancing With the Stars, then we can certainly get behind a 22-year-old kid from Peters Township going for gold in speed skating. Pittsburgh hockey fans will wonder aloud, “What if we give those speed skaters a hockey stick and see what they can do?” If sprinters can convert to football, then maybe it could happen.

Until then, we have to appreciate it for what it is. Krueger, however, is not the first athlete to make it to the big time from Peters Township.

Krueger grew up skating at the Mount Lebanon Ice Center. From there, he has competed in World Cups and has won medals in competitions in Seoul, Shanghai, Budapest, Montreal and Moscow.

He dominated in the Olympic trials this year, winning the 500-meter, 1,000-meter and 1,500-meter races, as well as the

overall competition. Crazy metric system. In this country, we only use it for bottles of watered-down high-fructose corn syrup, pills and cocaine. But it’s the standard unit of measure everywhere else in the world. We just don’t want to learn it. Anyway, Krueger is headed to the South Korea (the best of the Koreas) and hopes to bring back some Olympic hardware in short-track speed skating.

Peters Township High School is not very big. Only about 1,400 students go there, but they are known for producing some pretty good athletes.

Like Steve Bell. He is the voice of the Fox Soccer Channel and leads its fair-and-balanced coverage of the world’s favorite sport. Before that, though, Bell had a pretty respectable career as a player.

He led the Robert Morris Colonials to a perfect 8-0 conference record in 1995 and went on to play professionally including a stint with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. He also donned the uniform of the Tampa Bay Mutiny (great name) and the Washington WartHogs (a not-so-great-name). All the names of every team that plays in Washington are stupid — Capitals, Nationals, Wizards and the racist football one.

Alison Riske has won over $2.6 million in prize money as a pro tennis player. Riske led the Peters Township girls

team to the state finals in 2006 and won the singles title while she was there.

She’s been good enough to compete at the U.S. Open, Australian Open, French Open, and has even advanced to the third round in Wimbledon. She’s accrued a WTA title, and six singles and a doubles title in the ITF. Matt Clackson was good enough to be drafted by the hated Philadelphia Flyers in 2005. Maybe it’s just the Flyers system, but Clackson racked up over 800 penalty minutes and 24 points in his career in the minor-league American Hockey League. Apparently, Philly emphasizes goonery over scoring in its farm system.

He never made it to the big time, but got paid to play hockey for the AHL’s Philadelphia Phantoms, Chicago Wolves and Hershey Bears.

Brian Simmons made it to the show.

He played for the Chicago White Sox in 1999, hitting four homers, stealing four bases and knocking in 17 runs.

The year before, he hit a home run from both sides of the plate faster than any player in baseball history. Take that, Mickey Mantle, Pete Rose and Chipper Jones. If you’re going to make a brief splash, make it count. Unfortunately, Simmons was injured and missed the entire 2000 season; he wound up in Toronto in 2001, and that was the end of his brief career.

Chris Peters made it to the show, as well as landing with the Pittsburgh Pirates after playing college ball as an Indiana Hoosier. Peters became a Pirate when they weren’t very good. I realize I should be more specific than that. When they were late-’90s bad. He was a bright spot in 1998, when he went 8-10 with a 3.47 ERA. He even went 5-4 in 1999, but with an ERA north of 6.00. Like his fellow Peters Township brother, Simmons, Peters played one year for a Canadian team before bowing out of the bigs. Peters finished his career as a Montreal Expo.

Peters Township isn’t exactly an Aliquippa, Upper St. Clair or Woodland Hills when it comes to producing superstars, but it’s not bad for little McMurray, Pa. We all wish John-Henry Krueger the best in his speed-skating quest. We hope he brings back a medal, so we have something to hold over Philadelphia Eagles fans and their Super Bowl.

BRING BACK A MEDAL SO WE HAVE SOMETHING TO HOLD OVER PHILADELPHIA EAGLES FANS AND THEIR SUPER BOWL.

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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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.07/02.14.2018

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THE BOARD OF PUBLIC EDUCATION OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PITTSBURGH Sealed bids will be received in the Office Of The Chief Operations Officer, Room 251, Administration Building, 341 South Bellefield Avenue until 11:00 A.M. prevailing time February 13, 2018 and will be opened at the same hour for the purchase of the following equipment and supplies:

Custodial Small Equipment Custodial Paper Products Custodial Chemicals/Soaps Packaging Materials Printed Forms General Information regarding bids may be obtained at the Office of the Purchasing Agent, Service Center, 1305 Muriel Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203. The bid documents are available on the School District’s Purchasing web site at: http://www.pghboe.net/pps/site/default.asp Click on Bid Opportunities under Quick Links.

The Board of Public Education reserves the right to reject any and all bids, or select a single item from any bid.

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LAUGH IT UP

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

ACROSS

1. Like mortal enemies 6. Big to-do 11. “Like, yesterday,” initially 14. More grounded in reality 15. “Previously on ...” montage 16. No longer working: Abbr.

17. Openers covered with bone material?

19. Test in a tube 20. Legal deg.

21. “You game?”

22. Vehicle rental on the beach 23. Where Maria Sharapova was born 25. “The Newlywed Game” host Bob 27. Place whose residents drink a lot of beer?

31. Ready for business 32. Singer who doesn’t want to be discovered?

33. Conductor Seiji 37. Room with a La-Z-Boy, likely 38. “That’s hysterical” on the internet, and a hint to this puzzle’s theme 41. Socialite 42. Bonus feature 44. Alamo offering 45. Starbuck’s hirer 46. Knowledge of all things relating

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.07/02.14.2018

to fancy plates?

50. “I love you,” to Macron 53. Future visionary 54. Holiday periods 55. Egg season 58. “You get the picture”: Abbr.

61. Cancel out 62. Totally into capitalism?

64. Tommygun, e.g.

65. Bring into the family 66. Underwater killers 67. Interview seg.

68. “Storage Wars” channel 69. Modern treaty violation

DOWN

1. Page layout code 2. Nearlydisappeared sea 3. Choppy 4. Poetic adjective 5. In need of some coffee 6. ___ Mawr 7. Defeated in a humiliating way on the web 8. Blackjack holding 9. Egress 10. Record Store Day purchases 11. Image shapers 12. QB Carr 13. Wax collectors 18. “Geronimo,” for one

22. “4:44” rapper 24. Rm. with a ticket counter 26. Good buds 27. Method 28. Height 29. Western alliance initials 30. New York city with the supposed nickname “the city that God forgot” 34. Zealot’s belief 35. Sign of use 36. Soccer legend Wambach 38. Hawaiian fish, on menus 39. Bank support?

40. Story changer?

43. Some LCDs

45. Put away the groceries 47. Marcos of the Philippines 48. “Man With a Plan” star 49. Soulsearching talk?

50. Stacked game 51. Aquafina rival 52. FBI probe missives 56. Bay Area force 57. Telethon gift bag 59. Genteel drinks 60. Dermatologist’s removal 62. Org. with a Driving School section on their website 63. Boxer’s bit {LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS}

FOR THE WEEK OF

Free Will Astrology

02.07-02.14

{BY ROB BREZSNY}

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): When I was in my early twenties, I smoked marijuana now and then. I liked it. It made me feel good and inspired my creativity and roused spiritual visions.

But I reconsidered my use after encountering pagan magician Isaac Bonewits. He didn’t have a moral objection to cannabis use, but believed it withered one’s willpower and diminished one’s determination to transform one’s life for the better. For a year, I meditated on and experimented with his hypothesis. I found it to be true, at least for me. I haven’t smoked since. My purpose in bringing this up is not to advise you about your relationship to drugs, but rather to urge you to question whether there are influences in your life that wither your willpower and diminish your determination to transform your life for the better.

Now is an excellent time to examine this issue.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Would you like to shed unwieldy baggage before moving on to your next big challenge? I hope so. It will purge your soul of karmic sludge.

It will prime you for a fresh start. One way to accomplish this bravery is to confess your sins and ask for forgiveness in front of a mirror. Here are data to consider. Is there anyone you know who would not give you a good character reference? Have you ever committed a seriously unethical act? Have you revealed information that was told to you in confidence? While under the influence of intoxicants or bad ideas, have you done things you’re ashamed of? I’m not saying you’re more guilty of these things than the rest of us; it’s just that now is your special time to seek redemption.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): In all of history, humans have mined about 182,000 tons of gold. Best estimates suggest there are still 35 billion tons of gold buried in the earth, but the remaining riches will be more difficult to find and collect than what we’ve already gotten. We need better technology. If I had to say who would be the entrepreneurs and inventors best qualified to lead the quest, my choice would be members of the Aries tribe.

For the foreseeable future, you people will have extra skill at excavating hidden treasure and gathering resources that are hard to access.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):

Are you more inclined right now to favor temporary involvements and short-term promises? Or would you consider making brave commitments that lead you deeper into the Great Mystery?

Given the upcoming astrological omens, I vote for the latter. Here’s another pair of questions for you, Cancerian. Are you inclined to meander from commotion to commotion without any game plan? Or might you invoke the magic necessary to get involved with high-quality collaborations? I’m hoping you’ll opt for the latter. (P.S. The near future will be prime time for you to swear a sacred oath or two.)

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In March 1996, a man burst into the studio of radio station Star FM in Wanganui, New Zealand. He took the manager hostage and issued a single demand: that the DJ play a recording of the Muppet song “The Rainbow Connection,” as sung by the puppet Kermit the Frog. Fortunately, police intervened quickly, no one was hurt, and the assailant was jailed. In bringing this to your attention, Leo, I am certainly not suggesting that you imitate the kidnapper. Please don’t break the law or threaten anyone with harm. On the other hand, I do urge you to take dramatic, innovative action to fulfill one of your very specific desires.

Many varieties of the nettle plant will sting you if you touch the leaves and stems. Their hairs are like hypodermic needles that inject your skin with a blend of irritant chemicals. And yet nettle is also an herb with numerous medicinal properties. It can provide relief for allergies, arthritis, joint pain and urinary problems. That’s why Shakespeare invoked the nettle as a metaphor in his play Henry IV, Part 1: “Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety,” says the character named Hotspur. In accordance with the astrological omens, Virgo, I choose the nettle as your power metaphor for the first three weeks of February.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Knullrufs is a Swedish word that refers to what your hair looks like after sex: tousled, rumpled, disordered. If I’m reading the astrological omens correctly, you should experience more knullrufs than usual in the coming weeks. You’re in a phase when you need and deserve extra pleasure and delight, especially the kind that rearranges your attitudes as well as your coiffure. You have license to exceed your normal quotas of ravenousness and rowdiness.

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In 1989, a man spent four dollars on a painting at a flea market in Adamstown, Pa. He didn’t care much for the actual image, which was a boring country scene, but he thought he could use the frame. Upon returning home, he found a document concealed behind the painting. It turned out to be a rare old copy of America’s Declaration of Independence, originally created in 1776. He eventually sold it for $2.42 million.

I doubt that you will experience anything quite

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In the 1740s, a teenage Capricorn girl named Eliza Lucas almost single-handedly introduced a new crop into American agriculture: indigo, a plant used as a dye for textiles. In South Carolina, where she managed her father’s farm, indigo ultimately became the second-mostimportant cash crop over the next 30 years. I have astrological reasons to believe that you are now in a phase when you could likewise make innovations that will have long-range economic repercussions. Be alert for good intuitions and promising opportunities to increase your wealth.

Homework: What’s the best, most healing trouble you could whip up right now? Testify at Freewillastrology.com.

get your yoga on!

schoolhouseyoga.com gentle yoga yin yoga ÁRZ \RJD meditation

teacher training ashtanga yoga prenatal yoga family yoga

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In his “Crazy Lake Experiment” documented on YouTube, Harvard physicist Greg Kestin takes a

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

NEWS

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

as spectacular in the coming weeks, Sagittarius.

But I do suspect you will find something valuable where you don’t expect it, or develop a connection with something that’s better than you imagined it would be.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):

Stories have the power to either dampen or mobilize your life energy. I hope that in the coming weeks, you will make heroic efforts to seek out the latter and avoid the former. Now is a crucial time to treat yourself to stories that will jolt you out of your habitual responses and inspire you to take long-postponed actions and awaken the sleeping parts of your soul. And that’s just half of your assignment, dear Taurus.

Here’s the rest: Tell stories that help you remember the totality of who you are, and that inspire your listeners to remember the totality of who they are.

Author Anaïs Nin said, “There are two ways to reach me: by way of kisses or by way of the imagination. But there is a hierarchy: the kisses alone don’t work.” For two reasons, Anaïs’s formulation is especially apropos for you right now. First, you should not allow yourself to be seduced, tempted or won over by sweet gestures alone. You must insist on sweet gestures that are synergized by a sense of wonder and an appreciation of your unique beauty. Second, you should adopt the same approach for those you want to seduce, tempt or win over: sweet gestures seasoned with wonder and an appreciation of their unique beauty.

raft out on a lake. He drops a tablespoon of olive oil into the water, and a few minutes later, the half-acre around his boat is still and smooth.

All the small waves have disappeared. He proceeds to explain the science behind the calming effect produced by a tiny amount of oil. I suspect that you will have a metaphorically comparable power in the next two weeks, Scorpio. What’s your version of the olive oil? Your poise? Your graciousness? Your tolerance? Your insight into human nature?

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Savage Love {BY DAN SAVAGE}

How does one get into the gay BDSM bottoming and leather scene?

SEEKING ANSWERS CONCERNING KINK

One shows up, SACK. “Eighty percent of success is just showing up,” someone or other once said. The adage applies to romantic/sexual success as well as professional success, but showing up easily accounts for 90 percent of success in the BDSM/leather/ fetish scene. Because if you aren’t showing up in kink spaces — online or IRL — your fellow kinksters won’t be able to find or bind you. But you don’t have to take my word for it …

“The leather scene is a diverse place with tons of outlets and avenues, depending on how you navigate your life and learn,” said Amp, from Watts the Safeword (wattsthesafeword.com), a kink and sex-ed website and YouTube channel.

“When I was first getting started, I found a local leather contingent that held monthly bar nights and discussion groups that taught classes for kinksters at any level. It provided an easy way into the community, and it helped me meet new people, make new friends and find trustworthy play partners.”

“Recon.com is a great option for gay men,” said Metal from the gay male bondage website MetalbondNYC.com.

“It’s a site where you can create a profile, window-shop for a play buddy and ‘check his references.’ Even better, if you can, go to a public event like IML, MAL or CLAW, or to a play party like the New York Bondage Club, where you can participate in a monitored space with other people around, or just watch the action. Don’t forget the motto ‘safe, sane and consensual,’ and be sure to have a safe word! And if you do want to explore bondage, take precautions. Never get tied up in your own home by someone you don’t know. If you go to his or her place, always tell a trusted friend where you are going. And when hooking up online, never use Craigslist.”

If “someone might get hurt” is the standard you’re going to apply to all future relationships — if it’s a deal breaker — then you shouldn’t date anyone else ever again, because there’s always a chance someone is going to get hurt. There’s no intimate human connection, sexual or otherwise, that doesn’t leave us open to hurting or being hurt.

Great sex and a good friendship make up a solid foundation. You’re aware that nonmonogamous relationships are an option — and couples can explore nonmonogamy together.

If you can have this guy and have your sexual adventures, too — this could be the start of something big.

I’m a mid-20s, above-average-looking gay dude into spanking guys. The weird thing is, the only guys I can find to spank are straight. It’s not that they’re closeted — most of them go on to have girlfriends, and that’s when we stop — and they make it clear they don’t want anything sexual to happen. No complaints on my end! But why don’t they want a woman spanking them?

GREAT SEX AND A GOOD FRIENDSHIP MAKE UP A SOLID FOUNDATION.

I’m a 28-year-old bi-curious female, and I ended a three-year straight LTR a month ago. It’s been tough — my ex is a great guy, and causing him pain has been a loss on top of my own loss, but I know I did the right thing. Among other things, our sex life was bland, and we had infrequent sex at best.

Now I want to experiment, explore nonmonogamy, and have crazy and fulfilling sex with whoever tickles my fancy. I met a new guy two weeks ago, and the sex is incredible. We also immediately clicked and became friends. The problem? I suspect he wants a romantic relationship. He says he’s open to my terms, but things have quickly become relationship-ish. I like him, but I can’t realistically picture us being a good LTR match. I’m hoping we can figure out something in between — something like a sexual friendship where we enjoy and support each other and experiment together without tying ourselves down — but I have found very little evidence of such undefined relationships working without someone getting hurt. I am sick of hurting people! Any advice?

HOPING OPEN PEACEFUL EXPERIENCES FEEL UNLIKE LOSS

SERIOUSLY PERPLEXED AND NEEDING KNOWLEDGE

How do you know their new girlfriends don’t start spanking them when you stop? And how do you know they aren’t closing their eyes and imaging that you’re a woman when you’re spanking them?

And how do you know they’re not bi — at least where spankings are concerned? There are tons of gay guys out there into spanking.

So, if you aren’t finding any, I can only conclude that you aren’t looking.

I’m wondering about the application of the term “bear” to a straight man, such as myself. I’m a bigger guy with a lot of body hair and a beard. I love that in the gay community there is a cute term for guys like me reflecting body positivity. For us straight dudes, however, being big and hairy means getting thought of as an ape — big, dumb, smelly oafs. While I can be dumb, smelly and oafish at times (like anyone), I’d also like to have a way to describe myself that is masculine yet attractive. Would it be OK for me to refer to myself as a bear or, as a highly privileged straight cis male, do I need to accept the fact that I can’t have everything and maybe leave something alone for once?

HETERO APE INQUIRING RESPECTFULLY, YUP

“If you want to be a bear, BE A BEAR!” said Brendan Mack, an organizing member of XL Bears (xlbears.org), a social group for bears and their admirers. “DO YOU! There isn’t anything appropriative about a straight guy using the term ‘bear’ to describe himself — it’s a body type, it’s a lifestyle, and it’s celebrating yourself.

Gay, straight, hairy, smooth, fat, muscled — bear is a state of mind. It’s body acceptance. It’s acceptance of who you are. So if you want to be a bear, WELCOME TO THE WOODS!” On the Lovecast, the robots are making your porn!: savagelovecast.com.

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

38

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