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JUNE 14-21, 2023
For celebrity photographer GEORGE LANGE, joy is the focus
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BY AMANDA WALTZ19
AMANDA WALTZ20
BY HANNAH KINNEY-KOBRESeven
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COVER PHOTO: COURTESY OF GEORGE LANGE STUDIO
GEORGE LANGE is something of a Forrest Gump when it comes to how many big names and signifi cant moments he's been close to. He’s photographed so many icons, and viewing the photographs framed in his Garfield studio feels like a crash-course on the half century of pop culture. There’s Kate Spade doing her nails, Warhol at the Factory, Kobe Bryant at a writing desk, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs before they were old, and the cast of some show called Friends
But when we sit down, Lange gestures dismissively towards the prints.
“What I’m most excited about is the next photo I am going to take,” says Lange.
Lange is affable, quick-witted and ambitious. He carries himself with an enthusiasm that betrays his 67 years, wearing a Golf Wang ball cap backwards as he leapfrogs from one anecdote to another.
The Squirrel Hill native is glad to call Pittsburgh home again. When he left to attend art school in the 1970s he never thought he’d return, but Pittsburgh has a way of pulling its people back into its orbit, and so it is with Lange.
Upon returning in 2019, Lange gained some perspective on what’s driven him as a photographer all these years. These insights inspired Lange to put together a book of his photographs. He’s titled it Picturing Joy, and it’ll be out in the fall.
Lange might be looking back at his career, but he’s not resting on his laurels. In fact, he has been working with a fervor. And right now Lange feels he’s making the best work of his life.
In the past year he’s worked on campaigns with the Mellon Foundation and with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The photos from that campaign are currently featured on the Symphony’s posters outside of Heinz Hall and all over town.
Lange grew up in a tight knit community on Inverness Avenue in Squirrel Hill. His family, like everyone they knew, had Eastern European roots, and Lange rarely strayed further than the Irma Kaufman Center. “Pittsburgh was all I knew, particularly Squirrel Hill, and especially that street,” said Lange.
When Lange was 7, his father gifted him a box camera and helped him set up a darkroom in the basement. He took to photography with glee. He started taking pictures of everything around him — family, friends, trees, snowmen — and his passion for photography only grew from there.
In high school, Lange shot photos for the Taylor Allderdice High School newspaper and yearbook, which, he fondly recalls, gave him an excuse to photograph people he would have been too afraid to ask otherwise.
In the 1970s Lange ventured out of Pittsburgh for the Rhode Island School of Design with big ambitions. After graduating, he went to New York, determined to make it in the booming magazine world.
He’d ride the elevator up to the top floor of Conde Nast, and go desk to desk, down each floor from Vogue to GQ to Self to Glamour , and he wouldn’t leave until he had an assignment. He worked hard, apprenticed with Annie Leibovitz, and with each shoot, Lange worked to develop a distinct voice as an artist.
A George Lange photo is a vibrant testimony to individuality, to joy, and to life. In his magazine portraits, Lange envisioned larger than life moments that live up to the fictions we believe about celebrity. The photos are campy, hilarious, and distinctly joyous. Despite the often contrived nature of magazine shoots, the joy in Lange’s photos feels true.
When Lange did a shoot with Japanese chef Nobu Matsuhisa, Lange covered a tablecloth with rice and asked Nobu to lay there and look like he was asleep. In the photo, the famed restaurateur is wearing a slight grin. He’s surrounded by elegant plates of food and a gorgeous fish, two giant crabs resting on his chest.
Lange has always admired the work of Duane Michals, the great McKeesport born artist. When Pittsburgh City Paper spoke to Michals over the phone, he made it clear that the admiration is mutual. “He has energy, and imagination, and he has the ability to make things happen,” said Michals. “He’s not a bullshitter.”
Lange’s photography comes from a place of love, and so it comes as no surprise that, since becoming a father, he’s incessantly photographed his family. His family photos feel more tender than his commercial work, but all his photos are connected in the way they make joy a central part of the process.
He makes friends feel like celebrities, and celebrities feel like friends.
Lange says no matter who he’s shooting, “It’s all about the experience we share.”
After focusing for years on editorial work, Lange shifted gears and worked in branding for a number of big companies, among them TLC. In 2014, he became an artist-in-residence for Instagram and Facebook’s in-house creative agency.
Family is really important for Lange. He says that his two sons, Asher and Jackson, and his wife, Stephanie, allow him to feel the most human. “My creative work is an expression of the life that I get to live with my family and my community,” says Lange.
It was ultimately family that brought Lange back to Pittsburgh. Lange’s mother, Aline, never left the house on Inverness Avenue, and as her health began to decline in 2018, Lange began visiting Pittsburgh to be with her. Lange feels fortunate that he got to share those last months with her.
“My mother lived a wonderful life,” says Lange. “She got great joy from everything Pittsburgh had to offer right up until the very end.”
After she passed away, Lange and Stephanie put the house on the market, but it didn’t seem to be selling. And eventually, they decided to move back from Boulder, Colo.
Lange says that it was a leap of faith. “I had never planned to move back but, when we got here, I was so happy we did.” says Lange. “Pittsburgh has been generous and supportive and the perfect place to raise my kids.”
After boomeranging back to Pittsburgh, Lange reconnected to a very specific feeling of joy that he’d felt throughout his childhood. This insight shifted his understanding of his photography.
“When I began to look back at what I do, I realized that I’ve been trying to recreate that feeling of joy every day and in everything that I do, including taking photographs,” says Lange.
His book Picturing Joy was born out of this new perspective. Lange and his team gathered photos he’d shot throughout his life, mixing joyous family snapshots with spectacular works he did for editorials and branding departments.
The book he’s made feels like a celebration. Picturing Joy is smaller and more approachable than a coffee table book. It spans Lange’s entire career, from RISD until now, but he insists that the book isn’t about him and it isn’t even about his subjects. “It’s a book about joy,” he repeats.
Picturing Joy will be published in October this year. Lange hopes that readers will say, “Oh, I know that feeling.” His goal is for the book to help people discover and embrace the joy in their lives.
The photos that Lange made with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra are exemplary of his style — dynamic, playful, and engaging.
When Lange got the opportunity to work with the Symphony, he knew it would be a challenge to make out-ofthe-box, George Lange pictures with the musicians. But that’s exactly the type of riddle for which he lives.
“George blew us away!” said Julie Goetz, director of communications for the Symphony. It’s not easy to convey the intimacy and passion of the Symphony’s musicians and conductors in a photograph. But, Goetz says, “George understood this immediately.”
For Lange, the photos he made with the symphony carry some extra weight. “My mom loved the symphony,” he says. “When I go to the symphony I think of my mom.”
Lange says that when he saw his pictures outside of Heinz Hall and on the banners, “I thought, ‘Oh my God, my mom would love this.” •
BY AMANDA WALTZ // AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
(Penguin Random House)
Head to the Old West in this novel about an orphaned teen girl who, in 1877, turns to sex work in a Dodge City brothel, where her peace and stability are threatened by new arrivals to the town.
(Simon & Schuster)
This collection from Argentine author Agustina Bazterrica contains what Simon & Schuster describes as 19 “brutal, darkly funny short stories” that are “often unsettling, sometimes thrilling, and always profound.”
& Schuster)
A security specialist becomes a prime suspect after her husband is found murdered. Try on this new thriller from author Ruth Ware, who has been compared favorably to Agatha Christie by various publications.
Two women are drawn into an intense affair against the backdrop of an elite boarding school for girls in this debut novel from an emerging, Glasgow-based author.
(Penguin Random House)
A Mexican-American translator and immigrant justice activist penned this all-too timely memoir about her experience at the U.S.-Mexico border, where she has worked with asylum seekers since 2016. •
From the Tony Award-winning songwriting team of Ahrens and Flaherty (Seussical, Ragtime) comes this lively and colorful story of a young peasant girl who is destined for something greater. Told with Caribbean rhythms and instruments, this Tony Award winner is a testament that a beautiful story simply told has the power to inspire all.
25 - 30
"AND TO THE MUSIC OF THE GODS, WE DANCE!"
OUTSIDE, THE 820 GALLERY looks like any Downtown art space, its exterior currently festooned in bright, eye-catching yellows and reds that call attention to a new exhibition. Inside, however, visitors won’t find perfectly placed paintings or sculptures, but a diner setting complete with booths. Oculus GO virtual reality headsets sit waiting to, as the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust website puts it, immerse visitors in the “long history of restriction of movement” for Black Americans, and their efforts to create safe spaces.
Continues through Sept. 24. 820 Gallery. 820 Liberty Ave., Downtown. Free. trustarts.org
Continues through Aug. 13. Heinz History Center. 1212 Smallman St., Strip District. Included with regular admission. heinzhistorycenter.org
Continues through Feb. 4, 2024. The Frick Pittsburgh Car and Carriage Museum. 7227 Reynolds St., Point Breeze. $1-18, free for members and youth 17 and under. thefrickpittsburgh.org
Called Traveling While Black , the exhibit, produced by Academy Awardwinning documentary filmmaker Roger Ross Williams and Felix & Paul Studios, transports guests to Ben’s Chili Bowl, a historic, Black-owned restaurant that has operated in Washington, D.C. for over 65 years. It has long served as a haven for Black Americans in times when they were prohibited from entering many businesses, and when traversing the country presented many challenges.
Traveling While Black , on view through Sept. 24, is one of three total local exhibitions depicting the Black experience in regards to travel, all in an effort to demonstrate how access to car ownership and the ability to move freely
opened up more opportunities for Black communities, as well as made them more vulnerable to racist hostility. The other two, Pittsburgh and the Great Migration: Black Mobility and the Automobile at The Frick Pittsburgh Car and Carriage Museum and The Negro Motorist Green Book at Heinz History Center, complete a comprehensive trifecta that puts the history of Black travel in both a local and national perspective.
Dawn Brean, The Frick Pittsburgh’s chief curator and director of collections, tells Pittsburgh City Paper that her organization and Heinz History Center planned for their respective shows to coincide with each other. Pittsburgh and the Great Migration opened on May 6, followed by
The Negro Motorist Green Book on May 13.
Traveling While Black was produced independently.
Brean says Pittsburgh and the Great Migration, on view through Feb. 4, 2024, examines the role of the automobile during the Great Migration, wherein, between 1910 and 1970, approximately six million Black people left the American South for cities in other regions of the country.
“There’s a great history with the Great Migration and Black Southerners moving into Pittsburgh in pursuit of new economic opportunities,” says Brean.
Besides better financial prospects, the exodus was motivated by the need to escape racial violence and oppressive Jim
Crow laws, which legalized segregation and denied jobs, education, and voting rights to Black Southerners.
Brean adds that the show covers how the Great Migration shaped the city, specifically the Hill District, a “vibrant, community and neighborhood” where, unfortunately, many of the cultural landmarks from the time period “don’t exist anymore.”
Included in the show are 10 vehicles, two from the Frick Pittsburgh’s permanent collection, and eight on loan. Visitors can see an original 1914 Ford Model T and a 1939 Buick Model 61 Century Touring Sedan, as well as vehicles related to Pittsburgh. A 1941 Pontiac Super Streamliner Torpedo Six
en. Here in Pennsylvania, there are more than 280,000 people living with the disease.
As the size of the U.S. population age 65 and older continues to grow, so too will the number and proportion of Americans with Alzheimer’s or another dementia. Older Black Americans are twice as likely as older Whites to have Alzheimer’s or another dementia, while Hispanic Americans are 1.5 times more likely than Whites to have dementia and more research is needed to understand why. It is vital that we continue to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and engage more community members to consider volunteering for the Alzheimer’s Association.
Sophia Duck, of Pittsburgh, became involved with the Alzheimer’s Association Greater Pennsylvania Chapter to honor her grandmother who passed away in 2019 due to Alzheimer’s disease.
“Volunteering for the Alzheimer’s Association has been important to me because this disease affects women of color more than any other demographic,” said Sophia Duck, volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Association Greater Pennsylvania Chapter. “We all know that when our grandmothers, mothers, sisters and friends are facing this horrible disease it impacts not just the entire family, but the whole community. My goal is to be part of finding a cure and allowing families to keep making memories together.”
Duck serves as a community educator through the Alzheimer’s Association and also participates in its events, the Pittsburgh Walk to End Alzheimer’s and Pittsburgh RivALZ to End ALZ.
RivALZ began in the fall of 2005 as Blondes vs. Brunettes®, a flag football event organized by a group of young professional women, in Washington, D.C. Since the inaugural game, the event has expanded throughout the country raising more than $18 million and bringing thousands of new supporters to the cause.
To accommodate nationwide growth, “Blondes vs. Brunettes” grew into “RivALZ to End ALZ,” empowering participants to choose the rivalry around which to organize their teams. Today, local events are still organized around two opposing teams in the spirit of the event.
RivALZ to End ALZ Pittsburgh started in 2016 leaning into the city’s love of sports with Team Black and Team Gold. Since its inception, the Pittsburgh event has raised over $60,000 in the fight against Alzheimer’s and all other dementia. Although Team Black faces Team Gold, the ultimate opponent is Alzheimer’s. The goal is to raise $25,000 at this year’s game on June 9, 2023 at Highmark Stadium with kickoff set for 7 p.m.
We invite Pittsburgh residents and businesses to get involved in the fight for a cure by supporting the event through a donation or by attending. We are also looking for players for 2024. Visit act.alz.org/pittsburghrivalz to learn more.
RivALZ to End ALZ is just one event that coincides with Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month in June. The Alzheimer’s Association also hosts The Longest Day®, a fundraiser that culminates on the summer solstice - June 21, 2023.
“On or around that day, thousands of participants across Pennsylvania and beyond come together to fight the darkness of Alzheimer’s through an activity of their choice,” said Nathaniel Sofranko, development manager of the Alzheimer’s Association Greater Pennsylvania Chapter. “Together, they use their creativity and passion to raise funds and awareness for the care, support and research efforts of the Alzheimer’s Association. Through activities that include golfing, biking, and baking, participants make a difference in the fight for a cure and we are so thankful for their efforts.”
With a multitude of events taking place during Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month, there is truly an opportunity for everyone to engage in our mission. By participating in The Longest Day® or attending the RivALZ to End ALZ game, you can be a part of the fight to end Alzheimer’s and all other dementia.
The Alzheimer’s Association is always here to help. If you or a loved one needs support, visit alz.org/pa or call our 24/7 Helpline at 1.800.272.3900.
Sedan represents the type of car used by the Black-owned Owl Cab Company, a jitney service that operated in the Hill District. One car, a bright-red 1938 Packard Twelve convertible, is similar to one owned by Gus Greenlee, a major force in professional Black baseball at the time.
The show also includes period clothing, archival images, and other assets “evoking the drivers and passengers that were in these cars every day.”
“The invention of the automobile makes that freedom of movement accessible to more and more people,” Brean explains. “For those who could afford it, it made the journey that much easier, if you could escape the indignities of public transportation by rail or bus or what have you. You want to own your own vehicle and control your own travel. But there were also new dangers.”
Samuel W. Black, director of the African American Program at the Heinz History Center, speaks to some of the risks Black Americans faced when traveling across the U.S. throughout the 20th century. He adds that while automobiles were viewed as a “symbol of freedom,” Black travelers still had to “drive in hostile territory, which could be anywhere.”
The Center illustrates this with The Negro Motorist Green Book, which focuses on a national travel directory published
between 1936 and 1966 by Victor Hugo Green. The publication listed hotels, restaurants, gas stations, and other businesses deemed safe for Black patrons, including in Pittsburgh.
“It was published at a time when, sadly, it was needed because of the discrimination and oppression, and African Americans were facing the difficulty in their mobility across the country,” Black says. “The reliance on public transportation like the rail lines, buses, and so forth really exposed them to segregation and discrimination in the country.”
Beyond travel, Black says the guide also became “a tremendous resource for African Americans” because it “taught them about Black life in other parts of the country.”
Black says that while the touring exhibition comes courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution — of which Heinz History Center is an affiliate — local content was added to “bring the story home to Pittsburgh.” That “local content” includes artifacts from former Hill District locations listed in the Green Book, including the Terrace Hall Hotel and Harlem Casino Dance Hall, as well as a 1960s-era sign from the Centre Avenue YMCA.
Black says that, in the over five decades since the Green Book stopped publishing, it has become a source of nostalgia for many, with some surviving
copies being auctioned off as collector’s items (a 1958 edition was sold for $27,500 in 2019). Even so, visitors to the exhibition have memories of the book and the circumstances surrounding it. Black recalls one woman who told him how, as a young girl, her family would “always stop at the same gas station that had a restaurant” during trips.
“And they would fill up on gas, and they would eat, and they would use the bathroom,” he continues. “And whether you had to use it or not, you had to go to the bathroom.”
The woman said her brother once skipped this scheduled bathroom break. When nature called later on, her father refused to stop and, instead, handed the boy a bottle in which to relieve himself.
“The father was really angry,” Black says. “And the [woman] who’s telling me the story, she never understood why the dad was so mad. … And I said, your father wasn’t angry that the boy had to use the bathroom — he was angry because it’s a dangerous proposition now. It was probably a good 100 miles before you all could stop again, safely. You can’t pull over on the side of the road. So now, the little boy having to use the bathroom is exposing the family to the horrors of America. That’s what the father was angry about. She said, ‘I never understood that till I walked into this exhibit.’”
While Black Americans traveled to and lived in Pittsburgh, the city was, as Brean points out, not exactly ideal. Great Migration settlers would go on to work in steel mills, railroads, and other industries built by powerful tycoons like Frick Pittsburgh’s namesake, Henry Clay Frick, and his family, who profited off the labor of exploited workers. Often, Black workers were relegated to the most dangerous, lowest paying jobs.
“What most Americans experience is extremely different than the Frick family’s lived experience through the late19th and early-20th centuries,” she says.
“So we want to acknowledge the stories of other Americans, people that are more accessible to us, that are a more recognizable part of American history than this extremely wealthy white family. We talk about the workers that are making their wealth possible.”
As a result, Pittsburgh and the Great Migration serves as a reminder of how Black Americans had to make the best of the few options afforded to them, and grapples with the city’s own history.
“I feel like it’s a must-see new show for anyone who is really interested in Pittsburgh history,” says Brean. “While there’s a lot of pride in this period, I think we can also examine ways in which we might have failed these communities after the migration.” •
The Juneteenth Homecoming Celebration offers lectures, fireworks, vendors, and live music performances over the course of four days at two Downtown locations, Point State Park and Market Square. Expect speakers educating the public on African-American culture, and performances by musical artists including Arrested Development, KRS-One, KeKe Wyatt, Soul 4 Real, The Ohio Players, and more. On Sat., June 17, join in the Grand Jubilee-Juneteenth Parade running from Freedom Corner on Centre Avenue in the Hill District to Point State Park. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily. Multiple locations. Downtown and the Hill District. Free. stoptheviolencepgh.com/ wpa-juneteenth
Center of Life presents the Black History: Closer Than You Think Juneteenth Celebration, a day-long picnic and outdoor concert at Hazelwood Green. Hear live jazz, soul, funk, and hip-hop by students from the Center’s COL Jazz and The KRUNK Movement music programs. Enjoy Jamaican food, kidfriendly activities and games, and more. Blankets and lawn chairs are encouraged. 5-8 p.m. 4501 Lytle St., Hazelwood. Free. eventbrite.com
The August Wilson Cultural Center will present a multimedia event aimed at fostering “critical conversations about systemic racism’s impact on the health and well-being of the Black community.” Central to the event is a screening of From Colored to Black, a work produced in collaboration with The DEMASKUS Theatre Collective. Cultural story circles and a BBQ buffet will also take place. 1 p.m. August Wilson African American Cultural Center, 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. Free. Registration required. trustarts.org
Find music, food trucks, games, and more at the Juneteenth Block Party hosted by the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Medicine Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Under the theme “Celebrate Freedom, Lift Every Voice,” the event promises an inclusive day of fun at the Fineview Park Shelter 2-6 p.m. 430 Fineview Ave., Fineview. diversity.com. pitt.edu/event/juneteenth-block-party
Dance during what’s described as a “a pre-Juneteenth day party celebrating the origins of techno.” Black Techno Matters presents Liber8 at Cobra, a showcase of Black EDM and techno artists and DJs including Clark Price, |DOM|, HUNY XO, Maya Universe, and yadirtydaughter. 1-7 p.m. 4305 Main St., Bloomfield. $10-50. sevenrooms.com/events/cobra
IN TODAY'S WORLD, v iewers can now access free programming on a variety of apps, from the traditional television-like streaming of Pluto to the endless array of content available to watch anytime on Tubi. On a local level, Channel Pittsburgh offers a similar service, airing classic films and television shows available in the public domain, as well as original content.
All of it — the colorized versions of black-and-white movies and TV episodes, the music videos by area bands, the classic game shows, et cetera — comes courtesy of James A. Richards, who created and runs Channel Pittsburgh out of his South Side apartment.
Richards, who studied communications at the University of Wisconsin, has done a variety of arts and entertainment coverage, and has worked with
organizations like the LGBTQ film nonprofit ReelQ, started Channel Pittsburgh about three years ago in the thick of COVID quarantine.
“It was in the middle of the pandemic,” he tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “You know, we were all locked down. And I decided, you know, we’re home 24/7 now, I may as well go ahead and launch this thing. I’ve got lots of programming prepped. I’ve had some equipment donated. So I went ahead and did that.”
Those unfamiliar with Channel Pittsburgh — now available online and on Roku-enabled devices — should begin with the entity’s Pride Night programming. Taking place on Tue., June 20, the evening begins at 8 p.m. with the cheekily titled Dudes, described by Richards as a “collection of vintage short films about being a young man.” It includes
an obscure film about two high school students discussing rumors of a friend’s sexuality, and features a young Don Stark, known to sitcom fans as the obnoxious, but well-meaning neighbor on That ‘70s Show.
CHANNEL PITTSBURGH
channelpittsburgh.org
Much of the Channel Pittsburgh programming seeks to preserve and introduce to new audiences what has otherwise become largely lost to time, and Pride Night is no exception.
Richards made a point to depict the LGBTQ experience through various eras of media, dating back to the silent era with Different from the Others, a 1919 film made in Weimar Republic Germany. The queer melodrama follows what Richards calls
a “tragic love affair between a concert violinist and his protégé.” To enhance the film, Richards digitally colorized it, and added title cards and other missing elements, as well as new music and sound effects.
At the time of its release, same-sex relations in Germany were a criminal offense but, until the Nazis took over, any enforcement of the rule remained “largely unenforced.” Though the film was banned and prints of it were later destroyed, it managed to survive.
Richards says that he added information explaining the historical context behind Different from the Others , considered by many experts as one of the first sympathetic portrayals of queer individuals.
“It’s one of the first gay movies,” says Richards.
Also included in Pride Night is World of Light , a rarely-seen documentary short about lesbian writer May Sarton, and General Audiences, a Channel Pittsburgh-exclusive series “highlighting cinema history through movie trailers.” Though General Audiences normally airs on weekday afternoons, the special Pride Night installment showcases examples of the New Queer Cinema, what Richards calls a “groundbreaking era in filmmaking” that took place in the late-1980s and early-1990s.
As with Different from the Others , Richards went the extra mile with World of Light, which he says captures Sarton, in her own words, during a shoot at her New Hampshire home.
“I was able to get additional information about her life and add it as sort-of subtitles that appear periodically throughout the documentary to get more context to what she’s talking about,” says Richards.
Richards agrees that younger generations may assume that LGBTQ representation in media has only happened in more recent decades. He points to the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever as a counterexample, citing how its two hit men characters, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, are actually a gay couple.
“They don’t use the actual word, but
it’s very clear from the beginning,” says Richards. “They’re a little stereotypical, but also amusing and accessible. So yeah, I mean, LGBTQ — however you want to phrase it — people have always been there. They just haven’t always been upfront.”
Beyond Pride Night, Richards says Channel Pittsburgh boasts a massive array of programming slots featuring everything from Atomic Age sci-fi films to old radio plays. As time goes on, he plans on expanding the concept into a place where media artists and students work in a “semi-professional environment.” That would require some help and additional resources, however.
“I do need some volunteers who work with me, people who will have a lot of fun creating things, especially if they have the skills to do it,” he says. “I have been gathering donated equipment, so I have nearly enough for a production studio.”
For now, during Pride Month, he hopes Channel Pittsburgh can at least shed light on little-known queer texts from throughout the 20th century.
“I think it’s just very enlightening, very interesting,” he says. “Our community’s always been there. We’ve always played a role. And that’s something to actually feel good about. We are contributors.” •
Assomeone who grew up with a parent who attempted suicide, the topic always felt intimately familiar to me. Just like having a loved one with cancer or heart disease, I visited the hospital after school with hand-drawn cards and my favorite stuffed animals, sat in doctors’ waiting rooms on countless evenings and weekends while they received outpatient care, and rode the waves of their mood swings and fatigue while they fought their illness.
But unlike cancer and heart disease, people didn’t talk about suicide. This was the early 2000s; Thirteen Reasons Why wouldn’t be on bookshelves for another few years. Mental health was still incredibly taboo, and suicide was often discussed as being a selfish act that people capriciously pursued. I learned very quickly that while suicide and mental health challenges were commonplace in my family, they weren’t something that I should share with others—unless, of course, I wanted to defend my parent as an adequate caregiver or have my teachers treat me as some kind of charity case.
Over time, mental health conversations became more prevalent in popular media. I went to school for psychology, where I took tests on mental illness and suicidality, and I’ve had “mental health days” in my PTO package at multiple jobs. Nevertheless, I’ve still avoided the subject as part of my own story. Even though I know how critical it is to end the stigma around suicide and can comfortably discuss it on a clinical level, a part of me is still afraid that if I share my own background, the people I’m talking to might not get it.
Becoming involved with AFSP has been the first time that I’ve found a community where I feel understood. At first, when other volunteers would ask me what brought me to the organization, I’d stumble over my story. Despite being someone who frequently speaks on panels for work, I found myself feeling jittery when conversations turned personal and struggled to get coherent sentences out. And yet, the more I discussed my background with the folks at AFSP, the more comfortable I became with not only sharing it but internalizing having lived it.
The AFSP Out of Darkness Walk isn’t just an event or a fundraiser but rather an opportunity to find community. Suicide is the twelfth leading cause of death nationally, and research indicates that 85 percent of people in the United States will know someone personally who has died by suicide. Even so, it can be extremely isolating. If you want to be around people who understand, who have had similar lived experiences, who will be glad to talk with you about your loved ones as much or as little as you want, then I hope you join us at Highmark Stadium on Saturday, September 9, for the Out of Darkness Walk. The walk is free for participants and has community resources, music, onsite activities, and even dogs—but most importantly, it is a space where you can fully embody yourself surrounded by people who get it.
"... LGBTQ — however you want to phrase it — people have always been there. They just haven’t always been upfront.”
Originally an aborted TV pilot, David Lynch’s Mullholland Drive is ... well, Lynchian. The film ostensibly is about Naomi Watts’s Hollywood hopeful Betty Elms and her subsequent descent into a kind of surreal madness spurred by her obsessive love for Laura Harring’s femme fatale-ish amnesiac Rita. Their relationship is doubled, redoubled, and ultimately deranged by the funhouse mirror the film becomes. As Lynch himself has said about the film: “I think people know what Mulholland Drive is to them, but they don’t trust it.”
June 14 + 15, 2023. Showtimes vary. Harris Theater, 809 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $9-15. trustarts.org
Pittsburgh Leather Grrrls are reuniting for one-night only with a screening of MS PGH Leather 1997, hosted by the 1997 winner of the pageant herself: Tammy Resnick. The program is part of the ongoing MS 89 series programmed by Pittsburgh Queer History Project where community members like Resnick are paid to show and discuss the work they had a hand in originally creating with an aim of creating a collective life through our “shared desire for a shared past.”
June 29, 2023., 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. The Warhol Museum. 117 Sandusky St., North Side. Sold out, but standing room available day of. warhol.org/events
When Edward Owens died at age 60 in 2010, he hadn’t made a film in 40 years. Owens was a rarity: a brilliant gay and Black filmmaker who made all his films by age 20 in New York’s majority white avant-garde scene. Pittsburgh Sound + Image has put together a program of his rarely seen films for a one-of-a-kind 16mm screening. As a 1970 Film-Makers Coop catalog tells us: “there will be no limit to the amount of beauty and excoriation he may choose to show us.” •
July 21, 2023. 8-10 p.m. Eberle Studios. 229 East Ninth Ave., Homestead. $10. pghsoundandimage.com
ALLEGHENY COUNTY employees may be on course to earn a minimum of $20 per hour by 2026, following the passage of a bill last week that drew criticism from County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and a minority of council members.
The bill — passed by a 10-4 margin — sets out incremental raises starting with an $18 minimum in January 2024 and rising by a dollar over each of the following two years. The same rate will apply to salaried workers, who will by 2026 earn
THE PUBLIC BREAKING INTO SONG
mid-meeting proved too much for several members of the Jail Oversight Board, who left the June 8 session early along with a handful of jail administrators.
The monthly meeting was already 90-minutes in when four protesters began singing “Mama, Mama, Can’t You See?” a popular protest song. But that time was taken up with public comments, and
BOUT 50 CITIZENS and advocates held a rally in a downtown Beaver park last week before crossing the road into the courthouse to demand their county rep resentatives take a firmer line against the massive Shell cracker plant.
The protestors called on the Beaver County commissioners to devise an alert system for notifying residents of pollu tion events, devise emergency evacuation plans, and put more pressure on state regulators charged with overseeing the chemical plant.
Commissioners expressed sympathy for their demands but insisted they have no jurisdiction over environmental and zoning regulations that could be brought to bear on the facility.
Since launching last fall, the Shell plant, which produces millions of tons of plastic each year, has been charged with multiple emissions violations, and was last month slapped with $10 million in fines.
a minimum of $41,600 per year based on a 40-hour work week.
Supporters of the bill touted it as a major victory for workers struggling against rampant inflation. Detractors, including Fitzgerald, Republican councilmember Sam DeMarco, and three Democratic members, pointed to the strain the raises would place on the county’s coffers.
Fitzgerald indicated Tuesday afternoon that he will veto the bill. Council may override with a two-thirds majority.
the board had not set about its regular scheduled business.
Instead of proceeding, though, board member Elliot Howsie, a common pleas judge who serves as the de facto president, unsuccessfully called for an adjournment, then walked out anyway.
A handful of other members, along with Warden Orlando Harper followed behind, and the meeting was forced to end. •
FILM • SEWICKLEY
Science on Screen: After Yang with Dr. Amanda Holland-Minkley. 7 p.m. The Lindsay Theater. 418 Walnut St., Sewickley. $8.75-36. thelindsaytheater.org
MUSIC • NORTH SIDE
Queens Of The Stone Age In Times New Roman Album Release Party 10:30 p.m. The Government Center. 715 East St., North Side. Free. thegovernmentcenter.com
DANCE • DOWNTOWN
An Evening of Dance. 4:30 p.m. Pittsburgh Playhouse. 350 Forbes Ave., Downtown. $25. playhouse.pointpark.edu
MUSIC • MOON TOWNSHIP
Pierce The Veil & The Used: Creative Control Tour with guests Don Broco and Girlfriends 6:30 p.m. UPMC Events Center. 6001 University Blvd., Moon Township. $40.50-70.50. upmceventscenter.com
THEATER • NORTH SIDE
Prime Stage Sprouts presents The Boxcar Children 7 p.m. Continues through Sun., June 25. New Hazlett Theater. Six Allegheny Square East, North Side. $8-50. primestage.com
ART • DOWNTOWN
A married couple spent 35 years acquiring artwork depicting the Black experience. Their collection now tours museums across the country as Memories & Inspiration: The Kerry and C. Betty Davis Collection of African American Art. Opening at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, the show — organized by International Arts & Artists in Washington, D.C. — boasts 67 pieces from Romare Bearden, Beverly Buchanan, Gordon Parks, Elizabeth Catlett, and many others. The Center promises an “awe-inspiring selection of works” that also provides insight to the lives of two ordinary people with a deep, shared love of art. 7 p.m. Continues through Aug. 25. 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. Free. Registration required for opening reception. trustarts.org
MAGIC • OAKMONT
Michael Griffin: World’s Greatest Living Escape Artist 7:30 p.m. The Oaks Theater. 310 Allegheny River Blvd., Oakmont. $15-70. theoakstheater.com
YARD SALE • MORNINGSIDE/ STANTON HEIGHTS
Morningside & Stanton Heights Community Yard Sale 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Multiple locations. Morningside and Stanton Heights. Free. morningsidepgh.org
DOORS OPEN Pittsburgh encourages people to #BeNebby in Millvale during a selfguided tour that promises to “immerse visitors in the cultural highlights of what is arguably one of Pittsburgh’s most up-andcoming urban communities.” Explore community gardens, go behind the scenes at Mr. Smalls Theatre, marvel at the Maxo Vanka murals in St. Nicholas Church, and so much more. Along the way, kids can participate in a Photo Safari by marking select art and
buildings off on a special BINGO Card. A guide can be downloaded ahead of time or picked up on event day at any of the tour locations. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Multiple locations. Millvale. $5-20, free for kids 5 and under. doorsopenpgh.org
MUSIC • CHESWICK
91.3 WYEP presents The Wood Brothers with Shovels & Rope. 7:30 p.m. Doors at 6 p.m. Mountain View Amphitheater 10 Rich Hill Road, Cheswick. $37-40. mntviewamp.com
COMEDY • ALLENTOWN
Jake Cornell 8 p.m. Bottlerocket Social Hall. 1226 Arlington Ave., Allentown. $20. bottlerocketpgh.com
OUTDOORS • SHADYSIDE
Walk With A Naturalist: Tree ID Hike. 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Frick Park Lawn Bowling Greens. 7300 Reynolds St., Shadyside. $15. ventureoutdoors.org
MUSIC • MCKEES ROCKS
Descendents and Circle Jerks. 6:30p.m. Roxian Theatre. 425 Chartiers Ave., McKees Rocks. Tickets start at $37. roxianlive.com
MUSIC • LAWRENCEVILLE
Deer Tick with Country Westerns. 8 pm. Doors at 7 p.m. 4053 Butler St., Lawrenceville. $25. thunderbirdmusichall.com
FESTIVAL • OAKLAND
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy will host World Refugee Day, described as a “a symbol for welcoming and inclusivity in our region and all over the world.” Taking place at Schenley Plaza, the event promises
live dance and music, public speakers, and other performances for crowds to enjoy. There is no registration or fee required in order to attend this event.
4-8p.m. 4100 Forbes Ave., Oakland. Free. pittsburghparks.org
PRIDE • NORTH HILLS
Necromancer Pride. 7-9 p.m. Continues through Sat., June 24. Necromance Brewing. 2257 Babcock Blvd., North Hills. Free. necromancer.beer
LIT • BLOOMFIELD
Heal your inner teenager with From the Longing Orchard, described as a “rich, lyrical coming-of-age novel” by awardwinning author Jessica Jopp. White Whale welcomes Jopp, who will read an excerpt from her sophomore novel, followed by conversation with poet Celeste Gainey. Participants are able to attend in person or online through Zoom live stream. Masks are required to be worn inside the bookstore. 7-8 p.m. 4754 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield. Free. Registration required. whitewhalebookstore.com
MUSIC • NORTH SIDE
Fleet Foxes with Uwade. 7p.m. Stage AE. 400 North Shore Drive, North Side. $45-85. promowestlive.com
MUSIC • LAWRENCEVILLE
Death Valley Girls with Abraxas and Flower Crown 8 p.m. Spirit. 242 51st St., Lawrenceville. $12 in advance, $15 at the door. spiritpgh.com
Need Help with Family Law?
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TTG Imaging, Pittsburgh, PA: CIS Field Support Engineer. Req. BS in electronics, biomed. eng., or info. security. Maintain, (de)install and repair medical/ nuclear img. devices and systems. Valid DL req’d. Position requires travel within all 50 states. Multiple positions available. To apply please email resumes to: HR@TTGImaging Solutions.com
HELP
Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. seeks
Senior Lead Software Engineer for Pittsburgh, PA to design, develop, maintain and support various data warehouse systems. Position is based in our Pittsburgh, PA office but is a fully remote position. Role Holder will be required to travel to the work site for periodic meetings at his/her expense.
RQRD: Bach in Comp Sci, Comp Engnrng or rel field+5 yrs of exp. Send resume+cvr ltr to: TARecruitment@ Broadridge.com.
Ref. code required: Senior Lead Software Engineer. 6813389
NAME CHANGE IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-23-005864
In re petition of Christan Abraham Mathews for change of name to Chrisjan Abraham Vecchio Mathews.
To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 29th day of June, 2023, at 9:30 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for.
NAME CHANGE
IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-23-6121
In re petition of Deanne Lynn Spicer for change name to Deanne Lynn Taylor. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 5th day of July, 2023, at 9:30 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for.
NAME CHANGE
IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-23-005680
In re petition of Boris Georgiev Georgiev for change of name to Boris Georgiev. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 29th day of June, 2023, at 9:30 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for.
NAME CHANGE
IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-23-005460, In re petition of Christopher W Scalise, parent and legal guardian of Anna Leigh Scalise, for change of name to Asher Lee Scalise. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 29th day of June 2023, at 9:30 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for.
NAME CHANGE
IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-23-005518, In re petition of Prasanth Kumar Mannaplavu, parent and legal guardian of Gourisree Prasanth Reeja, for change of name to Gourisree Prasanth.
To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 6th day of July 2023, at 9:30 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for.
NAME CHANGE
IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-22-002716
In re petition of T’ru Si Al Ma Chu Nqua Bey for change of name to Johnson Marc Anthony.
To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 30th day of June, 2023, at 9:30 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for.
1. Sellout sign?
6. Food 10. Be mad as hell 14. Jockey rival 15. Tropical lifestyle clothing brand 16. Aviator Lindbergh
17. As thin as ___ 18. Word in proofs 19. Sour note from a horn 20. Launches, as an app 21. Hilton hotel chain
22. Restaurant kitchen entrance, often
23. Apple sales woman?
24. They’re just for fun
25. For crying out loud!
26. Antiquated ways to go surfing
28. “Yo, dog”
29. High season in Riviera
30. Slovenly one
31. Nasty funk
33. Boston skyscraper, with “The”
34. Have trouble focusing, and what you will do literally in two rows in this puzzle
37. WWII vessel
39. Some rideshare rides
40. Time to give up
43. Puddlejumper’s flight
44. Curling muscles
45. Mortgage accounts
48. Yachtsman’s rope
50. Beats it, like a crook
51. Actress Vardalos
52. Mole
53. Messy classic kids game show
54. They sleep couples
55. Haines of The View
56. Plot of land
57. Stew server
58. Finnish tennis player Ruusuvuori
59. Costs of membership
60. Make a few changes
61. Scottish Loch
62. Lover’s fight
63. Walks with heavy feet
1. Engaged in discussion
2. One in a million
3. How some court cases are won
4. Journalist Bari
5. Antiquated way to go surfing
6. Soft drinks with a fruity flavor
7. New additions to the payroll
8. “Well how about that!”
9. Extraordinary At-
torney (Netflix K-Drama)
10. Primate with a long muzzle
11. Passive spectator
12. Back-to-back
Best Director winner Alejandro González ___
13. “Hmmm....”
21. Sporty car roof
22. June 6, 1944
24. Tire part
25. Tarragon or turmeric
27. Out of sight?
28. Incarceration with an ankle monitor, maybe
32. Put on
33. Member of a jury
35. Cruel beyond words
36. Alternatives to S-Corps
37. Phase of golf that involves driving
38. Wayne’s World director Penelope
41. “Don’t even bother”
42. Spun idly, as thumbs
43. Tourist Season author Carl
44. Can
46. Peter Pan pirate
47. Those showing attitude
49. Historical records
50. Orange is a part of it
53. Rather sizable brassiere measurement
54. Nugs play it
56. They come with buy lines
57. Once around the circuit
LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS
M2M Massage by Lee Lean athletic shape. 24/7 • 412-628-1269
Man Massage by Damon 412-961-1971
Advertise in City Paper. Call 412.685.9009
The University of Pittsburgh’s Alcohol & Smoking Research Lab is looking for people to participate in a research project. You must:
• Currently smoke cigarettes
• Be 18-49 years old, in good health, and speak fluent English
• Be right handed, willing to not smoke before two sessions, and to fill out questionnaires
Earn up to $260 for participating in this study.
For more information, call (412) 407-5029
Lillian H. Rausch, a/k/a Lillian Hilda Rausch, deceased of Pittsburgh, PA No. 03262 of 2023.
Joan R. Tomlinson, Ext. 2802 Houston Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.
ESTATE OF ABRASHEFF, BORIS, DECEASED OF CLAIRTON, PA
Boris Abrasheff, deceased of Clairton, PA No. 022303962 of 2023. Nanette Shafron, Ext. 129 Gillcrest Drive, Jefferson Hills, PA 15025. Or to D. Scott Lautner, Attorney. 68 Old Clairton Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15236.
NOTICE OF PROPOSED SETTLEMENT AND RIGHT TO OPT-OUT
A Court authorized this Notice. This is not a solicitation from a lawyer.
The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in an action titled Baris Arin, Skylar Lesko, and Kim Long, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated v. Riverset Credit Union; and Brian Haenze d/b/a Auto Gallery & Accessories and as Tag Towing and Collision, GD-18-12065, has preliminarily approved a class action settlement. Class Members are: all owners or operators whose passenger cars, light trucks, or motorcycles, and scooters were non-consensually towed from the parking lot located at 53 South 10th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203 by Brian Haenze d/b/a Auto Gallery & Accessories and as Tag Towing and Collision between June 1, 2017 and November 5, 2018, and who, as a result were charged and paid a fee in excess of the limits then set by 5 Pittsburgh Code §§ 525.05.
This notice is a summary of your legal rights. You should visit www.RiversetTAGTowingSettlement.com for full details. If you qualify as a Class Member you have the following choices which you must select by the deadlines below:
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
To be eligible to receive a pro rata cash payment of the Settlement benefits. See www.RiversetTAGTowingSettlement.com for details and claim form.
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
You will remain in the class and be bound by the Court’s orders, but will not receive a cash payment.
You may exclude yourself from the Class. You will not receive a cash payment. You will not be bound by any Court orders. You will retain any claims you may have. You must deliver timely notice to exclude yourself as described at www.RiversetTAGTowingSettlement.com.
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
You may object and explain to the Court why you think the class action settlement should not be approved. You must file and serve objections to the Settlement as described at www.RiversetTAGTowingSettlement.com.
