Pittsburgh Current Vol. 1, Issue 7

PITTSBURGH CURRENT

VOL. 1 ISSUE 7 â–¶ Oct. 23-Nov. 5, 2018

2 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

Tuesday, November 6, 2018 / 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM

AT LOCAL BAR + KITCHEN

1515 E CARSON ST, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA 15203 This event is for you if you love (or hate) politics, want to celebrate (or commiserate) with other Pittsburghers, or if you just don’t want to drink alone on election night.

Voting closes at 8 p.m., so be sure to do that before you join us for food and drinks, games, and door prizes.

Check out our mobile newsrooms as we report on results as they come in, be part of a live podcast taping, and watch in real-time as your new elected officials are announced.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 3

CONTENTS Vol. I Iss. VII Oct. 2018 Publisher/Editor: Charlie Deitch Charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com Associate Publisher: Bethany Ruhe Bethany@pittsburghcurrent.com

NEWS THE ELECTION ISSUE

▶ This Tastes Funny. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

▶ Lindsey Williams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

▶ Tastebuds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

▶ Scott Wagner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

▶ Day Drinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

EDITORIAL Music Editor: Margaret Welsh, Margaret@

▶ Darryl Metcalfe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

pittsburghcurrent.com

▶ Lamb/Rothfus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

pittsburghcurrent.com Visuals Editor: Jake Mysliwczyk Staff Writer, Arts: Amanda Reed, Amanda@ pittsburghcurrent.com

FOOD

▶ Emily Skopov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

▶ Biberio Boerio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Special Projects Editor: Rebecca Addison, Rebecca@

▶ Richie Col e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

NEIGHBORHOODS ▶ Homewood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

OPINION

▶ Neighborhood Q & A. . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

▶ Sue Kerr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

SPORTS

▶ Rob Rogers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 ▶ Aryanna Berringer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

▶ Steve Novak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

ARTS

EXTRA

▶ Jim Rugg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

▶ Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

▶ Masha Gessen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

▶ News of the Weird . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

com

▶ City Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

▶ Savage Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Contributing Writers: Kim Lyons, Jody DiPerna, Mike Shanley, Corey Carrington, Ted Hoover, Mike Watt, Ian

MUSIC

Thomas, Matt Petras, info@pittsburghcurrent.com

▶ Terry and the Cops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Lead Designer: Mary Beth Eastman, info@

▶ Baylor Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Staff Writer, News and Food: Haley Frederick, Haley@ pittsburghcurrent.com Columnists: Aryanna Berringer, Sue Kerr, Mike Wysocki, opinions@pittsburghcurrent.com Craft Beer Writer: Day Bracey, info@pittsburghcurrent.

CREDIT: Front Page illustration

by D.J. Coffman

pittsburghcurrent.com Cover & Logo Design: Mark Adisson

ADVERTISING Vice President of Sales: Paul Klatzkin, Paul@ pittsburghcurrent.com Senior Account Executives: Andrea James, Andrea@pittsburghcurrent.com Jeremy Witherell, Jeremy@pittsburghcurrent.com Account Executive: Mackenna Donahue, Mackenna@pittsburghcurrent.com

ADMINISTRATION Operations Director: Thria Devlin, thria@ pittsburghcurrent.com Office Manager: Bonnie McConnell, Bonnie@ pittsburghcurrent.com 4 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

THE FINE PRINT The contents of the Pittsburgh Current are © 2018 by Pittsburgh Current, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

No portion of this publication shall be duplicated or reprinted without the express-written consent of Pittsburgh Current LLC. The Pittsburgh Current is published twice monthly beginning August 2018.

The opinions contained in columns and letters to the editors represent the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Pittsburgh Current ownership, management and staff.

The Pittsburgh Current is an independently owned and operated print and online media company produced in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood, 1665 Broadway Ave., Pittsburgh, PA., 15216. 412-204-7248.

Email us or don’t: info@pittsburghcurrent.com.

4.625”w x 4.875” QPV Frick Isabelle de Borchgrave The Current Oct 9 2018

LAUGH EVERY WEEKEND

OCT. 13, 2018 – JAN. 6, 2019

at Pittsburgh’s laid-back, award-winning, so-many-different-types-of-comedy-you-won’tbe-able-to-pick-just-one-but-we’re-affordableenough-you-won’t-have-to theater!

TheFrickPittsburgh.org

The exhibition has been organized by The Frick Pittsburgh, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Society of the Four Arts, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, and Artis—Naples, The Baker Museum.

The Pittsburgh presentation of this exhibition is supported by EQT Foundation and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. National exhibition tour support is provided by FedEx. Major exhibition program support is provided by the Richard King Mellon Foundation.

THEFRICKPITTSBURGH.ORG 412-371-0600 7227 REYNOLDS STREET PITTSBURGH, PA 15208

IMPROV • SKETCH • STAND-UP Most tickets $12 & $7 for college students All shows affordably BYOB Shows every Thursday – Sunday Kid-friendly matinees twice a month Plus comedy classes and workshops

ARCADECOMEDYTHEATER.COM

943 Liberty Avenue in the Cultural District

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 5

T H E

E L E C T I O N

I S S U E

Emily Skopov, Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania State House in District 28, as she listens to her staff.

FIRST RUN Democrat Emily Skopov’s inaugural campaign has her targeting Mike Turzai

By Kim Lyons PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER kim@pittsburghcurrent.com Photos by Martha Rial

S

tanding on a stepstool in the kitchen of a Wexford home, Emily Skopov greeted the all-female gathering

by positing that the lack of women in Pennsylvania’s Legislature is part of the reason for its dysfunction.

“I’m not going to man-slam, but I am thrilled to be in a house without men right now,” Skopov joked. “It’s a nice break.”

The Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania’s 28th legislative district, Skopov lives in Marshall with her husband and two teenage children.

The former screenwriter and director founded the nonprofit No Crayon Left

6 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

Behind, which collects used crayons from kids’ menus at restaurants and recycles them. She does not have political experience, like many candidates in the midterm elections, but is running because she believes she can affect needed change in the heavily red 28th which includes Bradford Woods, Franklin Park, Marshall, McCandless and Pine.

If elected, Skopov would be joining

one of the most gender-unbalanced legislatures in the country; Pennsylvania’s lawmaking body ranks 49th for gender parity. At the Wexford house party, where she appeared with fellow first-time candidate Lindsey Williams, Skopov said it was ridiculous for the focus to be on “women running as women. We just happen to be women.

Do men walk around and say ‘hey I’m a man running for office’?”

Skopov says she got into the race because she was noticing a cynicism and apathy toward politics and politicians from her kids and others their age.

“I’m tired of my kids knowing what their friends’ parents are registered as,”

T H E she told the gathering, and the political parties’ inability to cooperate is fueling the discontent, she adds. “When you go into the private sector, you don’t say ‘I don’t think I can work with my coworkers,’ because you’d get fired.”

She says one of her goals is to spark conversations and cooperation among like-minded people regardless of party affiliation. “I would like to show people that I’m willing to work with anybody,” Skopov said. “I will work with anyone who wants to work with me for the good of all Pennsylvanians, to make sure the state our kids inherit is better than the one we have today.”

Skopov is a political newcomer in a year when newcomers are grabbing headlines. Since the 2016 presidential election, more than a few female candidates have won upsets against incumbents who seemed unbeatable.

In September, Ayanna Pressley beat 10-term incumbent Joe Capuano in Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional district primary. In June, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat the incumbent, career politician Joe Crowley, in the Democratic primary for New York’s 14th Congressional District.

Locally, Sara Innamorato pulled off an upset in May, beating Dom Costa in the May Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s 21st House district; in the same primary election Summer Lee beat Paul Costa in the Democratic race for the 34th district.

Much of the media coverage for these candidates was a slew of afterthe-fact “how did she do it” pieces, retroactively examining a candidate’s ground game, or the level of discontent among voters toward the incumbent.

For Skopov, an early article about her campaign had an unfortunate headline referring to her as a “tattooed mother of two.” The reporter on the story apologized, said campaign manager Nichole Remmert, and got the wording changed, but the headline didn’t really help with image-building.

Indeed, at the Wexford house party, the first question from the audience for Skopov was “what’s your favorite tattoo CONTINUED

E L E C T I O N

I S S U E

Skopov canvassing in Pine Township.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 7

T H E

E L E C T I O N

I S S U E CONTINUED FROM 7

Skopov discusses to Taylor Fallon (left), Strategy and Communications coordinator, and Matt Rosenberg , advisor to the campaign (right), at her campaign headquarters in Wexford.

Skopov introduces her daughter Austen, age 17, (left) to Lt Governor candidate John Fetterman at the Tom Wolf for Women canvassing event in Ross Township.

8 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

and why did you get it?” (answer: a double-sun, on her ankle that she got to match her daughter’s first tattoo).

To be sure, Skopov is facing a formidable opponent in eight-term incumbent and Speaker of the House Mike Turzai. And although a recent poll showed her closing the gap, it found she’s still trailing Turzai by at least five percentage points. But she appears confident that her strategy of connecting with voters in person is effective.

“Having not done this before, I didn’t know what to expect,” she said.

We finally connected one-on-one in a spare office of Lindsey Williams’ campaign office, where Gov. Tom Wolf and lieutenant governor candidate John Fetterman held a rally with the candidates ahead of some Saturday afternoon door-knocking.

“For all the high tech stuff out there, targeting people, I still think human contact wins the day if you can make enough of it. The fact that I’ve gotten this far in a race no one thought was worth running tells me that I was right: People did want something different.

Citizens feeling so cynical about their politicians is not a partisan thing. I don’t believe people truly want division.”

Skopov also prides herself on being genuine, which has meant not including her son, high school freshman Wyatt, and daughter, high school senior Austen, in much of her campaign.

“I’m not a politician, I don’t do things in a sales-pitch way,” Skopov said. “I don’t want to trot my family out in a disingenuous way for photo ops. I made the decision to run, and we did discuss it and they were supportive, but I didn’t expect them to give up their lives.” They’ve sacrificed enough with her not being around that much during the campaign, she adds.

Skopov has appeared at numerous campaign events with Williams mainly for practical purposes, since the 38th district where Williams is running against Republican Jeremy Shaffer geographically surrounds the 28th district.

T H E

E L E C T I O N

I S S U E

Chris Setlock Kitchen and Bath Design chris.m.setlock@gmail.com 412-368-2270

•

Fine Cabinetry

•

Beautiful Design

•

Reliable Service

•

Local & Independent

Skopov shares her education priorities with Ryan Wojes and his son Joey, age 2, while canvassing in Pine Township.

www.CSKandB.com www.houzz.com/pro/chris-m-setlock

Skopov at her Marshall Township home with her husband Todd (left) and daughter Austen, age 17, and four of their pets Bradley, Basil, Bentley and Bruce the cat. Missing is their son, Wyatt, and other cat Belle.

“I do think women tend to collaborate well, but it’s a way to share resources, and to maximize our impact,” Skopov said. “There’s only so many events people can go to.”

At the rally with Gov. Wolf, Skopov reinforced the importance of reaching

every possible voter up through Election Day. “We can win this district, just hit those doors. It’s grassroots, it’s old-fashioned but it’s the person-to-person contact that will mean the difference between victory and defeat on November 6.”

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 9

T H E

E L E C T I O N

I S S U E

Lindsey Williams looks to end GOP hold on 38th District seat

By Kim Lyons PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER kim@pittsburghcurrent.com

I

t seemed like her opponents saved their most pointed attacks on Lindsey Williams until after her endorsement by Barack Obama.

Since the start of October, the Democratic candidate for the 38th state Senate District has been the target of negative mailers, television ads, confusing robocalls, a challenge to her residency status and even negative yard signs.

The attention on Williams is likely more about the importance of the 38th district, which covers northern and eastern neighborhoods in the city of Pittsburgh and several North Hills suburbs, and less about the former president, however. Until it was redrawn in 2011, the 38th district was a Democratic stronghold. Republican Randy Vulakovich was elected in a special election in 2015, but lost in the May primary to Ross Township Commissioner Jeremy Shaffer.

“This seat is so important,” Williams told an all-female audience at a recent gathering in a North Hills home.

She was campaigning with fellow candidate Emily Skopov, who is running for House District 28 against Speaker Mike Turzai. “We can flip it and break a veto-proof majority in the Senate, so that when things come down from the Supreme Court on any issue we care about, whether it’s a woman’s right to choose, whether it’s environmental issues, or right to work legislation that destroys our unions. That’s why there’s a laser focus on this district and why there’s so much outside money.”

Williams, a first-time candidate,

State senate candidate Lindsey Williams at a campaign event with state house candidate Emily Skopov and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf. (Current photo by Martha Rial)

sought the endorsement of the Pittsburgh branch of the Democratic Socialists last year, but did not receive it.

But yard signs and television commercials by a North Hills Republican group label Williams as a socialist.

“They can call me all the names they want; I am a workers’ rights advocate, I always have been and I always will be,” Williams told the gathering.

She says she did seek the DSA endorsement prior to the May primary but did not receive it. “The Democratic party is a big tent party, and when you’re in a primary you talk to all Democrats.”

Williams, who is the communications director for the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, grew up in a union household, and gained national attention a few years ago when she tried to

10 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

organize a union at her workplace, the National Whistleblowers’ Center. She refused to take a settlement that would have included a gag order.

And even though she doesn’t have the DSA endorsement, she’s one of the two dozen Pennsylvania midterm election candidates to receive an endorsement from Obama. “Today, I’m proud to endorse even more Democratic candidates who aren’t just running against something, but for something—to expand opportunity for all of us and to restore dignity, honor, and compassion to public service,” Obama tweeted on Oct. 1 “They deserve your vote.”

Williams says her campaigning has included trying to reach so-called “persuadable” independent voters as well as Republicans, and has heard health care

and education as the top concerns. She says she’s fielded many questions about the fight between UPMC and Highmark, rising prescription costs, and coverage for pre-existing conditions as she’s knocked on doors.

That includes conversations she’s had when knocking on doors of Republican households. “People are angry, frustrated, want to see a change, and they are willing to have a conversa-tion,” Williams said. “They may not be gung-ho Lindsey the first time you talk to them, but they’re willing to listen. That energy is there and it’s important that we don’t forget to talk to anybody.”

She told the Pittsburgh Current voters are sick of name calling and dirty politics. “I as a voter want to hear about the issues,” she said. “So I decided that’s how I was going to run this race.”

She added that the negative campaigning on the other side has helped with her fundraising efforts. As her campaign pushes ahead in the final weeks before the midterms, Williams’ candidacy is being chal-lenged by two residents of the 38th district on the grounds that she doesn’t meet the four-year residency require-ment for office-seekers. Her attorney filed a motion in Commonwealth Court on Oct. 18, asking the challenge be dismissed, arguing that the deadline for challenging Williams’ residency had passed. If Williams were to be removed from the ballot with just weeks until the election, it could “promote uncer-tainty and instability in the election process.”

Williams and Shaffer are scheduled to debate to debate Nov. 1 at CCAC’s North Campus, 8701 Perry Highway, McCandless.

T H E

E L E C T I O N

I S S U E

ON THE RECORD

A

lready trailing incumbent Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in the polls, Republican Scott Wagner, a former state senator from York, didn’t do himself any favors recently when he released a bizarre video directed at Wolf. But it’s not the first time he’s made odd comments while trying to get his point across in his political career. So, The Current wanted to point out a few of the more, let’s say, unique quotes Wagner has made over the years. — ­ Compiled by Charlie Deitch “Unions are about power and control ...

There was a gentleman by the name of Hitler, and a gentleman by the name of Putin, who is across the ocean, about power and control [sic].” (reported by Pennlive. com, June 4, 2014)

“I’m gonna be sitting in the back room with a baseball bat. And leadership’s gonna start doing things for Pennsylvania [that] needs done.”

(Philadelphia’s WPHTAM, Nov. 7, 2014)

“I’ll take the camera.”

(Video of Wagner forcefully taking a camera off of a political tracker at a 2017 speech.)

“Governor Wolf, let me tell you, between now and November 6th, you better put a catcher’s mask on your face, because I’m gonna stomp all over your face with golf spikes — because I’m gonna win this.”

(Video released by Wagner on Oct. 12, 2018)

These are the ones you remember forever

ONGOING + FREE

NEXT ON STAGE KAROO MOOSE

MIDNIGHT RADIO PRESENTS

NONOTAK

AYIKODANS

CRI DES NAGO

NO FATHERS

LARGER THAN LIFE

OCTOBER 25-28 TRUST ARTS EDUCATION CENTER

OCTOBER 25-27 BRICOLAGE

OCTOBER 26-28 AUGUST WILSON CENTER

ANDROCLES AND THE LION

THE MOON OPERA

ESPÆCE

NOVEMBER 2-10 TRUST ARTS EDUCATION CENTER

NOVEMBER 3 BYHAM THEATER

NOVEMBER 2 & 3 AUGUST WILSON CENTER

MACHINE CULTURE

ANTUMBRA

FRANKENSTEIN & KARATE MAN KIM

PRESENTED BY

LIBERATION PITTSBURGH JAZZ ORCHESTRA FEATURING SEAN JONES

NOVEMBER 6 GREER CABARET THEATER

THROUGH DECEMBER 31 WOOD STREET GALLERIES

THROUGH DECEMBER 31 SPACE GALLERY

THROUGH DECEMBER 9 707 PENN GALLERY

50 CITIES 50 TRACES

FLYING GIRLS

BEYOND FLYING GIRLS

THROUGH MARCH 24 AUGUST WILSON CENTER

EXTENDED THROUGH NOVEMBER 11 8TH AND PENN

THROUGH DECEMBER 9 937 LIBERTY

PRESENTED BY

412- 456- 6666 • BOX OFFICE AT THEATER SQUARE • GROUPS 10+ TICKETS 412- 471- 6930

TRUSTARTS.ORG/FIRSTS PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 11

T H E

E L E C T I O N

I S S U E

Democrat, business exec Bibiana Boerio is looking for a win in Trump country

By Kim Lyons PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER kim@pittsburghcurrent.com Since she launched her campaign for the state House, Bibiana Boerio (“call me Bibie”) says she has taken only one day off: a Sunday afternoon to watch the Mr. Rogers’ documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor. She’s from Latrobe, Mr. Rogers’ hometown, and the Democratic nominee for the 14th Congressional district said she identifies with his famous “look for the helpers” advice.

“He would say, ‘when times are scary look for the helpers.’ I think times are scary, but I think I have the experience to help,” Boerio says. “In my family and when I was at Ford, when there was a problem you didn’t sit on Bibiana the sidelines, you Boerio at a jumped in to try mid-October to help.” campaign event Boerio comes (Current Photo by from a blue-colJake Mysliwczyk) lar family, and after receiving an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh in 1976, she held various executive positions at Ford Motor Co. and Jaguar Ltd. She was chief of staff to Congressman Joe Sestak, and is a former interim president of Seton Hill University.

President Obama nominated her to be director of the U.S. Mint in 2012, but Congress never acted on her nomination.

She said she decided to run for the 14th district seat because she felt the

timing was right. “I had a sense that we needed people with experience to step up to try to work together to get things done,” Boerio said.

The district where Boerio is running is the new version of the 14th district, and includes Fayette, Washington and Greene counties and a large chunk of Westmoreland County. Although the district didn’t exist in the 2016 presidential election, the area voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump.

And Boerio is facing a well-heeled Republican opponent in state Sen. Guy Reschenthaler. The most recent campaign finance reports show Reschenthaler’s campaign had raised more than $825,000 as of Sept. 30, compared to the $488,000 raised by Boerio’s campaign. But she beat three other candidates to win the Democratic nomination, and it wasn’t even close: she won 43 percent of the vote, with her nearest rival receiving only 24 percent.

And despite the district’s distinctly red identity she says she’s connecting with voters who feel neglected by both parties. “No one’s been out to talk to them, they haven’t had people come out to meet with them certainly not from the Democratic party for years and years,” she said. “I’ve had innumerable people say that to me. Some larger communities in Washington and Westmoreland counties have had reasonable attention but the further out you get into the southwest corners of the district, it’s much more apparent.”

Many of those rural voters chose Trump in 2016, but are now unhappy with the way things are going, Boerio adds. “There are some people that are angry but I would say more people are concerned,” she said. “They’re concerned for themselves and for the country. They say to me, ‘I hear all this talk about the stock market and I’m happy it’s high but frankly, it hasn’t

12 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

trickled its way down to me.’”

Most of the voters she talks to cite economic worries, followed by concern over healthcare and healthcare costs, including the opioid epidemic and the cost of treatment for addiction.

She notes that the unemployment rate has stayed slightly higher and wages slightly lower in these communities.

“Against that background is the whole question of rising healthcare costs, and the administration has been playing a game of reverse jenga: instead of seeing how long they can keep things up, they’re trying to bring them down.”

As much as these voters may have wanted change, Boerio says, they didn’t bargain on the chaos of the current administration. She says even some

Republican businessmen she’s spoken to are uneasy.

“When I ask them the question: Have you ever been in a big organization or little organization and seen chaos be a successful avenue for success? I haven’t had one of them say ‘oh yeah, I was part of this organization and it was chaotic and man, our stock price went up.’ Because the energy of the organization closes down into self-preservation mode, and that’s not the best environment for creative thinking and not the best for working together,” she said. “I don’t want to blame it all on the administration, but every day there’s some new headline, and it’s like ‘I’d really rather talk about infrastructure.

I’d like to talk about healthcare.’”

Tory Burch, Fendi, Theory, Prada, vintage & more!

Shop gently-worn designer clothing & accessories at up to 80% off original retail prices! All proceeds benefit NCJW's programs for women, children & families.

DESIGNER DAYS NOVEMBER 8 - 11 | 125 51st Street | Learn more at DesignerDaysPGH.com

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 13

T H E

E L E C T I O N

I S S U E

IMPEDING TRAFFIC State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe’s obstructionist ways are causing gridlock at home and in Harrisburg

By Charlie Deitch PITTSBURGH CURRENT EDITOR charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com “Have you ever tried to drive on Freedom Road during rush hour?”

Daniel Smith asked me when we first met earlier this summer. “The traffic is ridiculous; it has been for years. That’s why I’m running for this seat. Daryl Metcalfe doesn’t work for the constituents of this district.”

You don’t have to live in his Butler County district to know who state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe is. In fact, if you live outside the district you know him as an extreme right-wing homophobic, xenophobic obstructionist who uses his religious beliefs and narrow worldview as a cudgel to beat down anyone he disagrees with.

He has spent his career blocking all legislation brought forward by Democrats and has single-handedly kept important quality of life legislation from ever reaching the house floor. He blocked medical marijuana for years, he has long blocked civil rights protections for the LGBTQ community and he has held countless public hearings over his career to denigrate and otherwise shit on undocumented immigrants. He has kept important legislation tied up in gridlock.

Just like the traffic on Freedom Road.

If you live inside Metcalfe’s district you see the same things as the rest of the state, but you also see a state legislator who doesn’t fight for your needs. In Cranberry Township, for example, that’s a two-lane stretch of road where at least

Democrat Daniel Smith, pictured on Freedom Road in Cranberry Township, says he’s running against Daryl Metcalfe because the Republican has turned his back on the district he serves. (Current Photo by Jake Mysliwczyk)

four lanes are needed to handle the daily flow of traffic of this township that has grown rapidly in the past 20 years.

Smith and others in the district say Metcalfe’s refusal to help get district projects like this funded at the state level is the main reason he needs to go.

“The fact is Daryl has done nothing to bring money back to this district for important projects. But we’re not asking for a government handout. We pay taxes and we watch our tax dollars go to fund products all over the state,” says Smith, an openly gay Democrat who says he can beat Metcalfe because he’s focusing on the needs of the district. “The money is not brought back here and we need a representative who prioritizes this district.

“In this district we care about

14 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

our roads and that proper funding is brought back to our schools and our emergency service agencies. When they call the roll at school or when the EMT comes to help you, they don’t ask you if you’re a Democrat or a Republican.

Local issues are nonpartisan.”

A lot has been made about whether Smith’s sexuality would hinder his chances of winning in such a conservative district. But, he says, he has made it a point to knock on the doors of Republicans to talk to them about his campaign and they have been receptive.

Metcalfe, meanwhile, has tried to make Smith being gay an issue, but Smith says it hasn’t gotten a lot of traction. But the ploy should come as no surprise since the man has repeatedly spewed hate at the LGBTQ community, including

calling openly gay state Rep. Brian Sims a “lying homosexual” and went batshit crazy when a Democratic colleague innocently touched Metcalfe’s arm during a committee meeting. He has also refused to shake Smith’s hand.

Smith’s assessment has been bolstered by many local officials including Republican Cranberry Township Supervisor John Skorupan. Skorupan told Philly Magazine this past summer, “We’ve never had Mr. Metcalfe’s support for any of the initiatives that we’ve put forth to try to get some of our taxes back from Harrisburg for this road construction … so we don’t even go to him anymore. I don’t think there are many people who want to work with him. He’s not working to get money back to his district, that’s for sure.”

T H E

E L E C T I O N

I S S U E

TALE OF THE TAPE

By Charlie Deitch PITTSBURGH CURRENT EDITOR charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com

was still a close fight against incumbent Democrat Mark Critz. Since then, the tables have remained tilted until the district was redrawn earlier this year.

W

hile Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Keith Rothfus are pretty far apart ideologically, there is one big similarity between the two candidates in this fight to represent the 17th Congressional District. Both were elected to Congress, at least partially, because of opposition to the sitting President.

Rothus was first elected during the Tea Party infestation of Congress in 2012, running as a “political outsider” vowing to repeal Obamacare. Lamb was elected to the U.S. House in a special election earlier this year following the resignation of longtime incumbent Tim Murphy whose rhetoric on the importance of family and a pro-life stance collided with the mistress and the abortion he asked her to have in his personal life. It’s the only election in the nation featuring two incumbents after the Pa. Supreme Court tossed out the state’s gerrymandered congressional map. It put the two on a collision course to meet for all the marbles on Nov. 6. Like any great prize fight, the hype leading up to the contest is often more exciting than the actual bout.

But in this case, polls say Lamb has a double-digit lead and the National GOP has pulled funding from Rothfus’ campaigns. But like in boxing, anything can happen in politics. But while this could be a Mike Tyson vs. Buster Douglas situation, it’s shaping up to be more like Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks. Here’s a look at how the two match up:

PEDIGREE Lamb: An attorney and former U.S. Marine, Lamb worked as a military prosecutor and an Assistant U.S. Attorney before his election early this year.

FIGHT STRATEGIES Lamb: He’s a bit more centric than progressives might like, especially on issues like guns (doesn’t support stricter laws but does support expanded background checks) and choice (personally opposed but will support the law) and earlier this year, although he is strongly against the Trump tax-cut bill, he was one of just three Democrats to support a tax-cut bill that gives further cuts to the wealthy but does focus on individual taxpayers. But he’s squarely on the right page when it comes to issues like healthcare, LGBTQ protections, student-loan system reform, climate change, Immigration and other issues.

Rothfus: Is squarely on the wrong page of everything, including LGBTQ issues, women’s health issues, the environment, tax cuts, healthcare, guns and immigration. Has based his entire congressional career since 2012 on repealing Obamacare, a task he has failed at miserably despite having a GOP majority in both houses, yet still says repeal is necessary.

INTANGIBLES

Rothfus: A former corporate attorney, Rothfus is in his third-term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

PREVIOUS FIGHTS Lamb: Defeated Republican Rick Saccone in a special election earlier this year to fill Tim Murphy’s vacated congressional seat. It was a split decision

Lamb: Has shown that he is a political outsider who is sincere about finding non-partisan solutions to the nation’s problems. While not as far left as some would like, at the core he’s a solid left-leaning candidate. Has found his stride by prioritizing issues that directly affect his district: Job creation, health care and Social Security/Medicare.

and Lamb won by just a few hundred votes. But he pulled out a victory in a Republican stronghold despite being outspent by Saccone, who had President Trump’s entire family supporting him.

Rothfus: In 2012 he won a fight where the fix was in. The giant Frankendistrict he was elected to was created to shrink Democratic numbers in the House. It

Rothfus: Despite winning three terms in the House, he still fancies himself a political outsider despite voting with the President 90 percent of the time. His reliance on “repeal Obamacare” rhetoric makes him look like a fighter who talks about the importance of a great left hook, but never delivers it with any effectiveness.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 15

OPINION

Freedom Denied

By Aryanna Berringer PITTSBURGH CURRENT POLITICAL COLUMNIST aryanna@pittsburghcurrent.com The art of the denial.

It has become pervasive with the birth of the Trump candidacy and presidential administration. Deny global warming. Deny sexual assault, even with recorded audio contradicting it. Label it fake news.

Deny collusion.

Deny saying you’d donate a million dollars to charity if Sen. Elizabeth Warren ever took a genealogy test and it turned out she had any trace of native American ancestry.

Deny.

Deny it.

Deny it all!

Here now enters the problem as this president navigates diplomacy abroad. Our adversaries are using this same tactic against us. And they are doing it straight to Trump’s face.

Vladimir Putin denied Russian ever engaged in cyber influencing our elections while our own FBI reports they did.

And now we come to find that the Saudi Arabia’s King Salman denied to Trump that his government had any-

“I guess foreign leaders never received President Trump’s memo entitled, ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’”

thing to do with the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but then hours later had to admit they did.

I guess foreign leaders never received President Trump’s memo entitled, “Do as I say, not as I do” and it’s a treacherous position to be in with our national security.

But this is the world we are now living in and it could have an impact for generations to come.

It’s easy to pretend it’s all a lie when it’s someone else on TV accusing a soon-to-be Justice of the United States Supreme Court of sexual assault. Or, it’s someone else who’s murdered by a foreign government. But what if it’s

16 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

you?

What if you’re the one who has been wronged? What if despite all the facts you may have to back up your claim, they simply hit the “Deny” button. They shout you down like you don’t matter with rants of, “Fake, fake, fake!”

We’ve grown so accustomed to this default course of action from this president and his associates, that my fears from almost two years ago may becoming true. I was worried then that with all the outrage following the 2016 election results, that at some point, the power of the White House would slowly wear it all down. Just

keep denying it all and, eventually, the revolutionaries will get tired and go home.

In a roundabout way, some political prognosticators are marking the Justice Kavanaugh hearings as that moment. To the Trump administration, it was more about winning and less about believing in its citizenry.

Simply put, deny her story and get the win.

With two weeks until the midterm elections, the only question now will be whether or not enough voters employ a variation of the Trump tactic and deny him the power to deny us any further.

Courage of Convictions Jeremy Shaffer wants to be the next Republican to represent the 38th State Senate District. He defeated incumbent Randy Vulakovich in an ugly primary, but faces a very significant challenge from Democratic nominee, Lindsey Williams. A recent internal poll showed Williams with a 9 point lead over Shaffer.

Of late, Shaffer’s campaign has been busy defending shady tactics like posting campaign signs labeling Williams as a “Socialist” with a matching set of scary commercials tying socialism to higher taxes.

His supporters are also trying a tractionless challenge to Williams’ residency and more. Shaffer’s belief is that voters in the 38th district do not understand the nuances between ‘socialism’ and the Democratic Socialist Party of America whose endorsement Williams sought and did not secure.

The DSA shares Williams commitment to centering working people.

Perhaps this grueling schedule of smearing his opponent’s credibility explains why he missed a key vote on LGBTQ issues in his current elected role as a Ross Township Commissioner.

In mid-September, the fifth largest township in Allegheny County voted to establish an Equal Opportunity Board and extend nondiscrimination protections in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity as well as protected classes covered by state law. The State General Assembly has been unable to muster a committee hearing much less a floor vote on the issue, thanks in large part to obstruction tactics by Republicans like Daryl Metcalfe.

The ordinance in Ross Township passed 5-2 with one no-show, all along

party lines. The no-show was Jeremy Shaffer who can now technically say the he has not voted for or against LGBTQ rights.

Shaffer is running an intriguing campaign where he is both a staunch Christian family man, but one who does not mention his actual church affiliation on his campaign website.

He’s a member of Three Rivers Grace Church which does not believe women can have authority over men, but opposes slavery. What an interesting thing for women and people of color living in the 38th district to consider: Slavery is not rooted in creation.

One-man/one-woman marriage, gender roles in marriage and the church, and the prohibition against homosexual activity are all rooted in God’s good created order.

Shaffer’s leadership role in this church strongly suggests he might in fact be socially conservative on LGBTQ matters. And casting a vote against the local ordinance would have been consistent with those values.

But that same vote could hurt him in his state-level campaign. Republicans have been contorting themselves in every direction to support protections in employment and housing (not so much public accommodation because of those pesky bakeries and bathrooms.) Pennsylvania is the only northeastern state lacking these statewide protections. We stand out like a backwards sore thumb and this hurts economic development. Large companies do not want to establish a presence in communities where their employees might experience discrimination. It hurts their ability to recruit and maintain a workforce as well as their reputation in the consumer marketplace that is light years ahead on LGBTQ rights.

Jeremy Shaffer does not benefit from being lumped in with Daryl Metcalfe on this issue. Metcalfe will continue to block the state legislation until Republicans are fed up enough to

actually challenge him. Thus, Shaffer can see a path to victory that does not hold him accountable for a vote on LGBTQ issues.

Voting no on the ordinance could have fed the rumors of his extreme conservative viewpoints. Voting yes would have bucked the party base he needs. He didn’t need to vote because Democrats had the votes to win so his opposition would not have changed the outcome. It was a lose/lose situation for Ross Township voters who deserved to have their elected officials on the record on all matters.

So he just didn’t show up for the vote. Is that what residents of the 38th district really want - someone who doesn’t show up on difficult votes to protect his campaign viability? SomeC O H E N

&

G R I G S B Y

one who lacks the moral conviction to simply state his church affiliation in order to protect his campaign viability? Someone who didn’t do his job by participating in a regularly scheduled commission meeting?

So, Ross Township residents now can file discrimination complaints directly with their municipal government and have an appointed board that is accountable to their local officials.

On Election Day they and the rest of the 38th district can also benefit from electing a State Senator who has the courage of her convictions and does not shy away from her affiliations.

That’s the leadership Pennsylvanians need to finally secure statewide nondiscrimination protections for the LGBTQ community.

T R U S T

P R E S E N T S

S E R I E S

ITION ED

201 8

By Sue Kerr PITTSBURGH CURRENT COLUMNIST info@pittsburghcurrent.com

OPINION

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2018

7:30PM • BYHAM THEATER

BOX OFFICE AT THEATER SQUARE 412-456-6666 GROUPS 10+ TICKETS 412-471-6930

TRUS TARTS. ORG PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 17

ARTS

DRAWING ON

For more than a decade, comics artist Jim Rugg has been making his art his way

By Matt Petras PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER info@pittsburghcurrent.com

Toward the end of his college years, Jasen Lex heard rumblings of a dude who adored comics as much as he did.

Later, Lex met the guy: Jim Rugg.

The two were hell-bent on making comics, though they were often told the comics medium was a juvenile, lesser form of art. Still, the two kept reading, chatting about and working on comics. Lex viewed his buddy as deeply serious and strategic in his attempts to make creating comics his career.

“There were a lot of people I knew who were trying to make comics, because we’d meet them at shows and things like that, but his work ethic was just way more thorough,” Lex says. “He never took shortcuts with anything.”

Today, Rugg works full-time as a nationally-acclaimed, Pittsburgh-based comics artist. He boasts a portfolio that includes the blacksploitation-inspired Afrodisiac” and “Street Angel,” a graphic novel series following the kick-ass exploits of a homeless skateboarder girl.

Throughout his career, Rugg has also worked with a number of high-profile comic book publishers, including the big two — DC Comics and Marvel Comics. He has also worked with Image Comics, one of largest independent publishers and home for creator-owned works. In 2015, he won

Jim Rugg (Current Photo by Jake Mysliwczyk)

an Eisner award (the top prize in the field) for best publication design with “Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream.”

Rugg’s a part of a tight-knit group of nationally-visible comic creators in Pittsburgh, including Ed Piskor, currently working on “X-Men Grand Design,” and Tom Scioli, who is currently revamping “Go-Bots” for a new comic series.

Rugg has been working on the latest “Street Angel” book, called “Street Angel vs. Ninjatech,” out Nov. 7 and published by Image. He does the art for the “Street Angel” books and co-writes alongside Brian Maruca, with whom he frequently collaborates. The two use

18 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

a shared Google Doc when they share writing duties, with Rugg handling the art himself. His work regularly astounds Maruca.

“He’s a student of comic art and it shows, both in substance and style,” Maruca says. “It’s fascinating to me. I’m an art dummy, and it just doesn’t make any sense how he does it.”

The book features a war between Street Angel and Ninjatech, a group that produces weapons for ninjas, that actually features material inspired some by Rugg’s old days working in a cubicle.

“This is probably one of the more personal works,” Rugg says laughing.

“Not because they made weapons, but the cubes, the environment. I’m definitely referencing what I’ve seen.”

Those days are long behind him now, having gone full-time into comics in 2007 — right before the 2008 financial crisis, which added to the initial pressure. Working independently in comics was an adjustment.

“I worked with 300 people in the company who I essentially saw every day for 45 hours a week. Whenever I quit my day job, my wife’s at work, I’m on a quiet street, and it’s like I’m the last human being on earth,” Rugg says.

The crisis affected work opportunities and he found himself socially

HANSEL & GRETEL

isolated. He fixed that, partly by getting more involved in the local art scene.

When he was young, he felt comics artists were ostracized from that scene because comics weren’t viewed as artful, but he was happy to find things were changing.

“The perception of comics changed a lot from the early 2000s to now,” Rugg says.

Things are more stable and comfortable for him these days. He doesn’t have much of a schedule, though he prefers being up in the morning. When he wakes up, he often checks in with his students. Rugg has been teaching at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, New York for five years now, teaching virtually.

“As a self-taught cartoonist, these are the conversations I would have through the years with people I’d meet at comic book shows, and I’d given talks at schools, so it kind of organically developed through those contacts,” Rugg says.

Over the years, Rugg has developed some strong beliefs. “Street Angel” was born out of a desire back in the early 2000s to see more diversity in comics.

“Bad girl books were popular at the time, so it was a lot of scantily-clad

The ed beloivry fa e tal

Photo: David Bachman ©

Cover art for “Street Angel vs.

Ninjatech”

NOVEMBER 3, 6, 9, 11

• • • •

Benedum Center Tickets start at $14; Half-price tickets for kids 6-18 Sung in English with texts projected above the stage 412-456-6666 • pittsburghopera.org/hansel

Tuesday Night Sponsor: Ambridge Regional Distribution & Manufacturing Center & Manufacturing Center Tuesday Night Sponsor: Ambridge Regional Distribution

Season Sponsor Season Sponsor

CONTINUED PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 19

ARTS

RED HISTORY

CONTINUED FROM 19 women contorted on the covers, and it’s like, what is this? Who is this for?”

Rugg says.

Of course, more diverse characters and storylines is just part of the journey toward a more inclusive industry.

As empowering as works like “Street Angel” are, Rugg’s status as a white male means his place in the industry doesn’t add more women or people of color making comics. And naturally, there’s the possibility of some level of dissonance when a grown man writes a young girl, for example.

“We don’t write first-person narration, so in a way, I feel like there’s still a distance between me and the character. I don’t know what she’s thinking.

Sometimes it’s obvious, everybody can tell what she’s thinking, or what anyone would think in that situation or based on her actions, but I do try to keep that distance,” Rugg says. “Almost out of respect for that idea of who am I to say what a 13-year-old girl thinks?”

Rugg and Maruca’s “Afrodisiac” works as a sort-of homage to blacksploitation. It’s an over-the-top, silly read that’s received critical acclaim. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone arguing its racial aspects as tone-deaf. What Rugg’s doing looks to be successful, though he acknowledges he, like every artist, can be flawed.

“I’ve been obsessively trying to write these comics now for awhile,” Rugg says.

“I’m sure we’ve had missteps. I’m sure we continue to have missteps.”

“Afrodisiac” also shows off the rich level of variety in Rugg’s art style. One of the chapters bathes in yellow, offering a striking, simple color palette. This portion of the comic has a slower, more concentrated pace. Other parts bring in more color, more exaggerated expression and more action.

The art in “Street Angel” oozes bombast. It’s common for the pages to build up to an exciting, zoomed-in two-page splash that amps up the work’s energy to an 11.

A larger group of people than ever before was exposed to “Street Angel” last May during the 2018 Free Comic

By Jody DiPerna PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER jody@pghcitypaper.com

Jim Rugg will sign copies of “Street Angel vs. Ninjatech” from 7-9 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 3 at Copacetic Comics, 3138 Dobson St., Polish Hill.

Book Day, an annual event for which comic book publishers distribute free issues to comic shops around North America. It’s largely intended to increase traffic for comic stores, but comes with the added benefit of heightened exposure for creators.

“That was one of those dreams,” Rugg said. “That’s been a goal.”

Rugg lives and breathes comics.

When I asked him about his life outside of comics, the conversation didn’t take a drastic turn. Sipping on coffee at Kaibur Coffee, a coffee shop below Copacetic Comics Company, a comic store in Polish Hills, Rugg told me about his trip to Japan with his wife, which included lots of comics shopping. He told me about how he follows women’s skateboarding, though he admitted it’s partially research for “Street Angel.”

Lex remembers that even when Rugg worked full-time outside of comics, he’d sometimes work on his art before work and then ink on his lunch break. This energy was something else, according to Lex. “It’s like he had this plan for that as well,” he says, “getting out of a full-time job to do comics and illustration fulltime.”

20 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

Russian-American journalist Masha Gessen’s most recent book spans the lifetime of an entire generation, drawing a narrative line from the Soviet Union through modern day Russia.

It is ambitious in scope, with shifting stories weaving together to make a whole picture. Told from a bird’s eye view, it feels like one of Tolstoy’s grand novels, appropriately enough. Only Gessen hasn’t written a novel. Instead, The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia (Riverhead Books)—the winner of the 2017 National Book Award for Nonfiction—is a detailed, meticulously-researched piece of journalism. It guides the reader through the social, economic, historical and psychological forces of totalitarianism in Russia and shows how INFO: we got from Joseph Stalin to Vladimir Putin.

Masha Gessen A frequent contributor to the New Yorker, Gessen will speak at the has written numerous books, including The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin (RiverCarnegie Music head Books, 2012) and Words Will Break Cement: The Hall in Oakland on Passion of Pussy Riot (Riverhead Books, 2014).

November 5th at Her depth of knowledge of 20th- and 21st-century Russia is unmistakable. In this latest effort, she intro7:30 pm, for the duces us to seven people who were young at the time Pittsburgh Arts & of perestroika and builds this account on their personal Lectures series. and professional journeys from the time of Gorbachev to the present day. In doing so, Gessen pulls at all the threads that lead to Putin’s Russia.

When she spoke with the Current recently, she described the conditions that undergird a totalitarian state. “The mechanisms of control in a totalitarian society: isolation, the credible threat of violence that’s omnipresent, but not necessarily applied evenly at different times, unpredictable reward and punishment,” Gessen said. “And having your ability to plan for the future taken away. That was the key concept.”

Totalitarian regimes promise that most of the people will be safe most of the time. Assuming, of course, that those people abide by certain rules and boundaries set up by the regime. But those boundaries and rules shift. There is a constant adjusting and re-adjusting and reading of the tea leaves. Simply put, living under terror and caprice changes people. It fragments them. The learned survival mechanisms do not just simply fade away over time. In this way, totalitarianism changes not just individuals, but entire societies and what the reader starts to understand is the effect of intergenerational trauma.

With unflinching and clear prose, Gessen illuminates some of the quantifiable effects of this particular Soviet/Russian despair when she writes about

ARTS the detrimental effects on the health of the nation: “What Russians were calling a ‘demographic crisis’ had in fact been going on for decades—birthrates and life expectancy had been falling for most of the second half of the twentieth century. Only two periods stood out as exceptions to this trend: Khrushchev’s Thaw and Gorbachev’s perestroika, the brief spells when Russians anticipated a better future. The rest of the time, it seemed, Russians had been dying for lack of hope.”

It is important to note how both the USSR and modern Russia position themselves in the world, or, as Gessen said, “How Putin personally sees himself in opposition to western values and what he thinks of as western values.”

Putin portrays himself as strong, while he characterizes the west as weak.

Putin asserts that he will provide stability to the nation, but he has more than once crashed the markets by saying or doing something reckless or ill-advised.

The Russian President’s image is a literal pose; one doesn’t have to do a deep dive into Google to find an overabundance of macho shirtless photos of Putin.

“Putin didn’t set out to build a totalitarian society or to resurrect a totalitarian society,” Gessen explained.

“Putin basically wanted to build a mafia state. He would never put it that way. He just wants to hold onto power and be rich. In order for him to hold onto power and, especially after he started cracking down in 2012, all those old adaptation strategies from the Soviet period really kicked in. Basically, the totalitarian society kind of reconstituted itself. Even though Russia doesn’t have a ‘totalitarian’ regime, the lived experience of being there is the lived experience of living in a totalitarian society. So it’s a mafia state presiding over a totalitarian society.”

The book takes its title from the understanding that totalitarian regimes don’t rest on the promise of a glorious future, but rather on the promise of a return to a mythical but glorious past. It is all posture with no political philosophy underneath. Make Russia great again.

NOVEMBER 8, 2018

7PM

DECEMBER 10, 2018

7PM

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 21

ARTS

City Theatre Brings Grittiness and Joy with Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline Amanda Reed PITTSBURGH CURRENT STAFF WRITER amanda@pittsburghcurrent.com Khalil Kain, who makes his City Theatre debut in Dominique Morisseau’s Pipeline as Xavier, says he didn’t need much convincing from director and City Theatre artistic producer Reginald L. Douglas to take the part.

“As an artist and as an actor, I feel like I should have this [play] in my body,” says the longtime stage, screen and TV actor.

Pipeline is a 2017 play that tells the story of Omari (Carter Redwood), who is suspended from his prestigious — and mostly white — private school due to an encounter with his teacher.

From there, his mother Nya (Nambi E. Kelley) watches her son’s future disappear before her eyes. Nya must fight for her son’s future without turning her back on the community that made him. City Theatre last performed a Morisseau work in 2015 with Sunset Baby.

According to Douglas, the play explores the harsh realities of the school-to-prison pipeline. That is accomplished onstage through projections designed by Adam J. Thompson, a third-year MFA student at Carnegie Mellon University, through music composed by 1Hood Media Academy, through lighting designed by Andrew David Osrowski and a set that puts the audience close to the action.

“The hope is that the audience feels connected to this world,” Douglas says.

To make connections within the community, City Theatre partnered with 1Hood Media Academy, a local

Khalil Kain

artist and activist collective, Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama

22 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

and Point Park University Conservatory of Performing Arts.

Along with that, multiple events in coordination with the show explore its themes: a 10-minute long conversation with African-American female arts leaders follows every performance of Pipeline and, on Oct. 30, Douglas, Kain and Emmai Alaquiva, an Emmy Award winning Pittsburgh-based filmmaker, will have a conversation with other African-American men.

Douglas says that these community aspects embody the theater’s mantra of “your world, our stage.”

“This is a story that’s about the world we’re living in ... the realities of race in our country, the realities of history in our country, but also the extreme hope and love that grounds the African-American experience,” he says. “Our job is to use theater to share that story in a way that hopefully deepens understanding and connects people of different races and ages and neighborhoods together.”

Although the play has a heavy subject matter, Douglas says he’s impressed by the actors’ ability to bring out the hope Morisseau — who recently was awarded a MacArthur “Genius” grant — incorporates.

“I sit in rehearsal just smiling and laughing going 'mmm' all the time because the specificity and nuance and joy that these actors are bringing out in these characters is unbelievable,” Douglas says.

Kain says that, for him, finding that joy and playing this role is a form of self-care.

“This is a way for me to feel better about walking in the world as a black man, as a black artist.” he says. “The voice that she’s [Dominique Morisseau] giving to these characters is just so clear and distinct.”

Current Comics

Matt Bors

23 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

ANDREA SHOCKLING

XXXX

E D N T A W S T S N I O CART

atured have their comics fe to e lik uld wo o wh t.com g for local artists @pittsburghcurren lie ar ch l: ai Em The Current is lookin s. ge ly funny pa on our twice-month PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 24

XXXX

Jim Benton

Yinzer Funny by Joe Wos

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 25

XXXX

ROB JONES

CART

D T E A N W S T I S ON

featured to have their comics ists who would like art rent.com al cur loc rgh for g sbu kin itt loo @p The Current is pages. Email: charlie ny fun hly ont -m ice on our tw PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 |

26

MUSIC

ARRESTING TALENT ‘Terry and the Cops deals in a uniquely American kind of darkness.”

By Margaret Welsh PITTSBURGH CURRENT MUSIC EDITOR Margaret@pittsburghcurrent.com Ok, first things first: Terry and the Cops are not cops.

That’s a point, explains frontman Terry Carroll, that the rest of the band wants him to stress. “The idea (from their perspective) is that the name is a reference to my long and storied relationship with authority,” he writes in a post-interview text message. The name was a last minute decision: a couple years back, the still-new band booked a show that they INFO: thought would be a one-off.

TERRY AND THE Carroll’s sugCOPS, UPPER WILDS, gestion of “Kid CHAOS GUIDES, Eternity & the ROCI-NANTE. 9 Iron City Lads,” was quickly rep.m. Friday, Oct. jected, “which,” 26. Gooski’s 3117 he says, “I am Brereton St., Polish now grateful for.” Terry and Hill. 412-681-1658 the Cops – the name, and the band – ended up sticking.

In a sense, that name is a nod toward the past: to wilder, substance-fueled nights of pessimistic, feverish, engrossing rock ‘n’ roll played in dark, smoky bars. Long-time Pittsburgh music fans will remember Carroll as the frontman of the long-running Dirty Faces, and later of the shamelessly sample-stealing, and extremely enjoyable hip-hop project Raw Blow.

Terry and the Cops (Current Photo by Jake Mysliwczyk)

In those days Carroll -– then better known by the alias T-Glitter – threw himself into a memorable (to audiences, if not to him) stage persona, which was all effortless howl and sneer and serpentine movement. And that sort of wildin’ out was reflected in the rest of his life, which is, presumably, where those storied encounters with authority figures come in.

The Dirty Faces roster shifted over the years, but toward the end included bassist Mike Bonello and guitarist

Eric Yeschke who – now, along with drummer Chris Coleman – make up the rest of Terry and the Cops. (Here, Yeschke also handles loops, engineering and production). With such a similar lineup it’s easy to think of the band as Dirty Faces 2.0.

“Mike was like, ‘Why aren’t we still calling this Dirty Faces? It’s the same people playing with a different drummer!’” Carroll says over the phone.

“But I wanted this band to have a different energy.” And, of course, there’s

something to be said for embracing new beginnings. “I was kind of having a fresh start in a number of respects,” he explains, “and that was kind of the whole thing. Out with the old, in with the new, even if the new is still three-quarters of the old.”

These days, Carroll’s life is more This Old House than Behind the Music: he currently works on a construction crew as a plumber, helping CONTINUED

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 27

MUSIC CONTINUED FROM 27 to remodel Pittsburgh mansions.

And, while Terry and the Cops shares plenty of musical DNA with Dirty Faces, this newer project feels both weirder, looser and more lucid. “I think, [this band] is more experimental,” Carroll says. “It’s still songs with verses and choruses but how we get there stylistically, there’s a lot more trying different things.”

While he’s always had a certain level of comfort with the weirder side of things, being in Raw Blow with Yeschke “definitely opened me up to, like, doing stuff that’s fun,” he says. “I don’t want to say pop, but the fun of early rock ‘n’ roll as opposed to the darkness of ’70s punk or post punk.”

In summer of 2017, Terry and the Cops released a tape called Some Like It Hot, and the year before that, a CDR called Mixtape 1. Most of the recordings are from practices, but while both – the CDR, in particular – have a sprawling free-form feel, they don’t necessarily feel like works-in-progress. Partially influenced by the structure of hip-hop mixtapes (hip hop is always a major influence in any T-Glitter project), and partly by the collage-like assembly of early Guided by Voices records, Mixtape 1 is loaded with tracks, ranging from a few seconds in runtime to several minutes.

It should, in theory, be a jarring and potentially thin listening experience, but in fact it vibrates effortlessly through the skull, planting surprise hooks and odd bits of apocalyptic poetry in the deepest parts of the brain.

Like the Dirty Faces, Terry and the Cops deals in a uniquely American kind of darkness. Here, though, the view is a little different.

“I think my attitude before was, ‘Everything’s going to hell so we might as well have fun and party

and go down with it, because fuck it,” Carroll recalls. It’s a viscerally relatable sentiment, though not exactly a sustainable one. “I can still write a song from the perspective of a person who’s going through hell. But I’m personally not there anymore.”

Among the very few downsides of sobriety: facing minor stagefright unaided. “I feel a lot more self-conscious about [performing] now, though I think I always did, which is why when I started playing music, that always went hand-inhand with alcohol,” Carroll says, noting how central self-destructive behavior is to the rock ‘n’ roll mythos, and how fully he bought into that as a young adult. But even that freedom from insecurity becomes a disadvantage. “I might have had more fun then, but I wasn’t appreciating it. I was just burning through everything,” he says. “I can’t change any of that, but I definitely appreciate things more now.

And friends and seeing people.”

On Friday, Oct. 26, Terry and the Cops plays Gooski’s with some old friends. Brooklyn-based band Upper Wilds includes Dan Friel, who used to play in Parts & Labor, the Dirty Faces’ former Brah Records label mates.

And, Carroll says, the local openers feature three of his favorite people to play with – “some of the most creative and unique musical minds in Pittsburgh” — Sam Pace, Sandy Patton and Keith DeVries.

These are the details that he stresses the hardest. Band origin stories, and the details of who may or may not be a “cop” ultimately aren’t particularly important, he writes later, via text.

“I think the fact that I love and am inspired by these people, and the fact that this show is like a weird accidental/unofficial reunion of sorts of a crew of people not connected by anything but odd music, is.”

28 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

Marcus and Jean Baylor (Photo: Deneka Peniston)

Journeying Forward For the Baylor Project, musical crossover comes naturally

By Mike Shanley PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER info@pittsburghcurrent.com During a performance by the Baylor Project, an audience is likely

to hear a jazz standard, a drum solo that sounds more graceful than flashy, an original piece based on a hymn and a bit of fire that evokes the John Coltrane Quartet. This farflung mix of styles often describes a band that tries to appeal to listeners of different styles. But the Baylor Project isn’t simply trying to cross over. This cross-section of music defines who they are.

“When you think about the music — jazz, gospel, R&B, blues —it all

comes from the same place, which is the church, the African American community,” says drummer Marcus Baylor, who leads the group with vocalist/wife Jean. “With that being said, it’s like all those elements are a part of us. Jean and I grew up in church but at the same time, we love Aretha Franklin. We love ’90s hip hop, we love ’90s R&B, we love straight-ahead jazz and gospel.” In addition to their admiration for the music, both Baylors have extensive experience playing the music as well.

Before Marcus Baylor graduated from the New School in New York, he had already toured with jazz vocalist Cassandra Wilson.

Upon completing school, where fellow students included pianist Robert Glasper and saxophonist Marcus Strickland, he went on to play with saxophonist Kenny Garrett, followed by ten years with the Yellowjackets. Jean Baylor discovered jazz as a vocal performance major at Temple University, but began her musical career in the R&B duo Zhané, which had a ’90s hit with “Hey Mr. DJ.” After jazz bassist Buster Williams — who instructed Marcus’ at the New School — heard Jean sing at a jazz camp, he encouraged her to move in that direction.

Through an extended engagement at Smoke INFO: THE BAYLOR PROJECT. Jazz Club in New York, the Baylor Project solidified their wide-ranging approach.

8 p.m., Saturday, The group, which now includes pianist Terry Brewer, saxophonist Keith Loftis and bassist Oct. 27. Manchester Yasushi Nakamura, released their debut album Craftman’s Guild, The Journey in 2017. The title came once 1815 Metropolitan the recording was completed, with multiple Street, Manchester. meanings. “We wanted to call it The Journey because this is our first project as the Baylor $35. 412-322-0292 Project and it’s a collaboration of our individuor www.mcgjazz. al and collective influences,” says Jean, adding org “It’s like the journey to the present, how I became where I am now. How he became where he is now.”

The Journey was released in 2017 on the couple’s own Be A Light imprint. At a time when independent labels often struggle for recognition, the album not only generated buzz, it received two Grammy nominations. If that wasn’t impressive enough, the nominations came in two different genres, Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Traditional R&B Performance. “Man, we feel really blessed by that,” Marcus says. “To be up against Childish Gambino [in R&B] and Cécile [McLorin Salvant, in Jazz]. They’re really great artists. I feel like music is heading in a good direction and I hope our story continues to inspire others.”

The drummer adds that their blend of various styles comes naturally to the group. ”More so than anything, when we create, we have to mentally take down the boundaries and just say, ‘what music do we like and what music do we love?’ And I think with that, everything else just follows through,” he says.

Along with their Saturday night performance, Marcus and Jean Baylor will host a free Jazz Youth Workshop and Seminar at the African American Music Institute in Homewood at 11 a.m. More info on this event can be obtained at 202-841-5753 or Suzanne@ KenteArts.org.

STRONG SALUTE

MUSIC

With a new record, Richie Cole pays tribute to Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley

By Mike Shanley PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER info@pittsburghcurrent.com Jazz tribute albums can be a slippery slope. The main tenet of jazz music demands that the performer express their personal voice, not replicate someone else’s ideas. Some tributes get lost in their reverence, not taking the music to another level. Conversely, some others might take it somewhere completely removed from the source material, which also misses the point.

Richie Cole, the nomadic alto saxophonist who settled in Pittsburgh five years ago, is not the type of player to pay polite homage to his heroes. Which explains why his salute to Julian “Cannonball” Adderley works so well.

Cole, who turned 70 this year, has played a variety of settings from small group to big band, but he always maintains the straightforward bop style that players like Adderley crafted in the 1950s and ’60s. Cannonball features him predominantly in a quintet, with trombonist Reggie Watkins adding some new color to the frontline spot once filled by Adderley’s cornet-playing brother Nat. Extra horns drop in on a few songs, including fellow Pittsburgh alto players Tony Camp-

bell and Kenny Blake, who add spark to the tunes. Rather than turning this into a jam session, though, the band plays brief, concise solos, sometimes only on a bridge of one chorus. The brevity allowed Cole to cram 14 tracks onto the disc and ensured that, as he puts it, all the soloists tell concise stories within their time. A crafty arranger, the saxophonist adds new twists to some classics. Most boldly, the famous souljazz hit “Mercy Mercy Mercy” becomes a fast swinger. “Matchmaker Matchmaker,” from Fiddler on the Roof (which Adderley also interpreted) combines a larger ensemble with alternating time signatures and a tip of the horn to John Coltrane.

Along with a solid rhythm section and two vocals by Kenia, Cannonball swings hard and makes sure that everyone has a good time in the process, much like its honoree did.

Richie Cole celebrates the release of Cannonball on Friday, Oct. 26 at Wallace’s Whiskey Room, Room, 123 N Highland Avenue, Highland Park. 412-665-0555.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 29

FOOD This Tastes Funny

Derek Minto goes to Everyday Noodles in Squirrel Hill

By Haley Frederick PITTSBURGH CURRENT STAFF WRITER haley@pittsburghcurrent.com The temperatures outside are falling down fast, and that means it’s finally soup season. And why eat soup from a boring old bowl when you can get it inside of a dumpling? That’s why I meet Derek Minto at Everyday Noodles in Squirrel Hill.

It’s the day before Minto’s 34th birthday. Apparently, he’s kind of surprised to be here. He says that for some reason growing up, anything past the age of 30 sounded impossible.

Instead he’d shine bright and burn out early, like the members of the so-called “27 club.”

“Neither of which happened,” Minto says. “Now, I’ve gotta have prospects.”

Minto’s prospects look good. He recently co-founded the new Burning Bridges Comedy Club along with his friend and fellow stand up comedian, John Dick Winters (another TTF alum). Together, they bring comedians to the stage at Hambone’s in Lawrenceville four nights a week.

We look over the menu and decide that the best approach is to share an order of pork soup dumplings and some pickled cucumber. Minto orders hot spicy wonton noodles, and I double down on the dumplings and go for an order of pork and vegetable potstickers, though we both try some of the other’s dish.

I ask Minto how he ended up at Hambone’s and he starts the story eight years ago at Papa J’s Centro downtown.

TJ Amick was running the open mic

Derek Minto. (Current photo by Haley Frederick)

there, and he needed someone to cover for him while he went away.

“TJ says to me ‘hey, I’m going out of town for a few weeks to work on a marijuana farm, do you want to run this open mic for me?”

Minto was still pretty new to stand up at the time and very happily accepted.

30 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

“A week passes, another week passes, a month passes, two months pass,” Minto says. “Three months later, I’m like ‘I don’t think TJ is coming back.’”

TJ did not come back. And a year later when Minto was still running the open mic, the bar owner Jeff Holt told Minto he was moving to Hambone’s, and he wanted Minto and the open mic

to come.

“Jeff Holt is one of the biggest supporters of Pittsburgh comedy. It’s very rare to have a bar owner that actually cares about entertainment at all—let alone stand up.” Minto says.

Now, after seven years of comedy at Hambone’s, Minto and Winters are making it official with Burning Bridges.

REOPENING THIS MONTH EXPANDED THEATER

OUTDOOR PATIO & BAR

INCREASED SEATING

FOR TICKETS VISIT PITTSBURGH.IMPROV.COM

Dumplings, left, and dessert, right. (Current photos by Haley Frederick)

They’re having open mics, hosting shows, and every month they’ll have a “comic-in-residence” who is given time on the stage each week to work on their craft.

“We just want to build a good environment for comics and a good place for people in the city who are interested in finding out about comedy to either do it or see it.”

One dumpling sits left in the steamer basket. We realize we’ve made a blunder, the classic food-sharing fauxpas of forgetting to count how many soup dumplings each of us has eaten.

I offer up the last one to Minto, provided he walks me through his method of attack.

If you don’t know before you try them, you learn very quickly with soup dumplings that you can’t just shove a whole one in your mouth. Sure, you’ll get it in there fine—but you’re forgetting about the soup. Once you break the seal, the broth flows freely.

“What I like to do is take one, put it in the little dishy guy, get my little edges in with a little tuck-a-roo, then I just break a little hole, and what I’ll do is get all the soup out and drink it, and then I’ll eat the dumpling,” Minto explains.

The “dishy guy” is the special spoon that catches all of the soup. Minto and I have similar methods, though I bite

a hole in the dumpling while he pokes a hole with a chopstick. Both work, but I admit his seems easier. I’ll try the Minto method next time.

However you get the soup dumplings at Everyday Noodles into your mouth, you definitely should get them in there. They’re delicious little noodle packages of soupy, meaty love. The rest of our meal is great, too. I like the potstickers, but I’d pick the soup dumplings over them every day of the week. Minto’s spicy wonton noodles have just the right amount of heat, and the pickled cucumber is the perfect acidic bite to break through all the other savory flavors.

We’re pretty stuffed, but next to us we see a couple eating a jiggly dessert covered in coconut and we’re intrigued.

When the server brings us our own, Minto laughs and shakes the plate so that the wiggly cakes dance. It’s a jello-ish textured “cake” with red beans on the inside and shaved coconut on the outside.

We’re glad we tried it, but we don’t love it enough to fight over who gets the third cake. So Minto, who is enthusiastically kind to every person he interacts with at the restaurant, turns to the table next to us and asks them if they want it.

They happily accept, but we leave before we see if they actually eat the cake gifted to them by a kind stranger.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 31

FOOD

Tastebuds cooks up friendships

By Haley Frederick PITTSBURGH CURRENT STAFF WRITER haley@pittsburghcurrent.com In the past several years, Pittsburgh has seen more than its fair share of food-centric events . But the annual “Tastebuds” event presented by Best Buddies Pittsburgh is in a class by itself and not just because of food that will be served but because of the relationships it fosters.

“I really love the Tastebuds event because it’s our mission in action,” says Samantha Civitate, area director of Best Buddies Pittsburgh. That mission is to to end the social, physical and economic isolation of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

At Tastebuds, chefs are paired INFO: up with a “budTastebuds. 6 p.m. dy” who becomes their sous chef Monday, Nov. 5. for the evening David L. Lawrence and, more imporConvention Center, tantly, a new, true 1000 Fort Duquesne friend. This year’s event takes place Blvd., Downtown. on November 5th $100. www. at the David L. bestbuddies.org/ Lawrence Convention Center. tastebudspgh Best Buddies is an international nonprofit organization with programs in 54 countries and all 50 U.S. states. There are a few events similar to Tastebuds in other places, but as far as Civitate knows, nothing matches it in scale.

Tastebuds has grown each year since it began in 2016. This year 24 restaurants are participating, including Superior Motors, Millie’s Homemade Ice Cream, and current Smallman Galley residents Joey’s Snack Bar, Iron Born and Home.

A majority of the pairs have been together for all three years of the program and are excited to come back for each

Helenka Foley and Chef Kate Lasky

one. Helenka Foley and Chef Kate Lasky are one of those pairs. Lasky is co-owner and chef at Apteka, a vegan restaurant serving Eastern European cuisine in the East End. “I think we got paired up together because we both have Polish roots,” Lasky says. “[Helenka was] born in Poland and I have a Polish restaurant, so they were like ‘you guys will get along.’”

Foley and Lasky first got to meet at the annual luncheon that Best Buddies holds each year for chef-buddy pairs who will be participating in Tastebuds.

Then, they go into the kitchen to prepare.

“It’s so much fun cooking with Kate, and she teaches me all about it,” Foley says.

According to Civitate, Tastebuds is a great opportunity for the participants to get hands-on experience learning a new skill and maybe even finding a new hobby.

“One of our buddies asked for a knife set for Christmas so that she could cook, and we hear that a lot that their

32 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

culinary interest is piqued through this event and then they continue to cook at home.”

Another buddy named Juliet had such a good experience at Tastebuds with Chef Adam Kucenic at Muddy Waters Oyster Bar that she was hired at the restaurant.

“Not only are we displaying the friendships between the buddies and the chefs, we’re also displaying the abilities of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities—showing that they can cook and they can hold jobs and they can really do anything that somebody without a disability can do,“ Civitate says.

From a chef ’s perspective, Lasky says that participating in Tastebuds and spending time with Foley provides her with a rare opportunity to step away from her busy day-to-day routine at Apteka and do something fun.

“When we get to see each other we’re just like old friends at this point and it’s so nice to get to hang out and just focus on something that’s a really awesome

cause and do it in the context of just [being] two friends hanging out, having fun together,” says Lasky.

The Tastebuds event, while providing a unique opportunity for meaningful friendships to form between local chefs and people with intellectual disabilities, is itself a fundraiser for Best Buddies Pittsburgh to be able to expand their programming throughout Western Pennsylvania. They’re working towards doubling their one-to-one Friendship program at the elementary, middle school, high school and college levels, as well as their Citizens program, which is an adult program that mimics the Friendship program for individuals who are over 18 and aren’t registered in school.

“My favorite [part of Tastebuds] is the inclusion of everyone, and people supporting everybody and what they made. It’s a great thing for the community to come out and support us and learn about what Best Buddies is,” Foley says.

“I’m glad I’m a part of it,” Foley continues. “And I’m glad I’m a part of Tastebuds because I got Kate, who is like a sister to me.”

Tastebuds brings people together to eat food and celebrate friendship. Those who attend the event will get to walk around and see a room full of friendships like Lasky and Foley’s. It’s an event that will leave people with full bellies, and fuller hearts.

“Helenka and I just connected so well imme-diately, and every time we’re together we find out how similar we are and how much we have in common, and we have the same way of looking at the world,” Lasky says. “We like the same things, we have the same values, and I think this is a really big one for both of us—we like to show up and support this community, we like to have a voice to say that this is something that’s really important, and then also just to benefit from it ourselves with this friendship. What a cool thing.”

FOOD Day Drinking

Keeping tabs: Follow These Rivers Festival

By Day Bracey PITTSBURGH CURRENT CRAFT BEER WRITER info@pghcitypaper. com Editor’s Note: Day Bracey is a stand-up comedian and host of the Drinking Partners Podcast on the Epicast Network. He chronicles Pittsburgh’s craft-beer scene for the Pittsburgh Current.

OCT. 13, 10 A.M.: I’m cleaning up trash at the Millvale Riverfront Park with Allegheny CleanWays as part of the Follow These Rivers Festival. Its aim is to save the ocean from humans and their plastic addiction. I come across a whole hubcap and at first I’m confounded as to how it got there.

Then it turns into dread as I imagine the rest of the car is somewhere near, and possibly a body or two with it.

I’ve seen this “Volunteer Finds Corpse Along Riverbank” story on the news before and I’m not emotionally stable enough for it. Maybe I should find another patch of trail to clean up.

OCT. 13, 12 P.M.: Did I mention I was also hosting this festival? It’s being held at a place on the North Side that makes expensive, mediocre alcohol. After paying $10 for a cocktail that barely raises my inebriation, I decide this isn’t a viable choice for all day festival drinking. I grab a flask of whiskey and the cashier wants $24. Guess I’ll have to make a trip to the state store for some pocket liquor. But before I do, let me have one of those Shubrew Jungle Boot IPA pounders.

OCT. 13, 9 P.M.: What a festival! Four stages, 20 artists. A few standout performances included Pierce Dipner and The Shades of Blue, BBGuns, James

Drakes and CT3, The Whiskey Hollow and the cashier at the liquor store on East Ohio who told me about the whiskey sale they had going. I saved about $3.

I hope someone gives her a raise.

OCT. 18, 7 P.M.: I’m hosting Hurry Up and Say Something Funny. It’s a monthly comedy show at Apis Mead where comedians do crowd work and heckling is strongly encouraged. It’s my favorite show to host because the people are always awesome, the comics are spontaneous, and the mead makes for a debaucherous and raunchy evening. For those who don’t know, mead is a honey wine. For those that do know, Dave makes his taste more like juice than dessert wine, and that can be dangerous when a glass ranges from 8%-14%. It’s like a Capri Sun for adults who feel memory is more of an option than a necessity. Dave Cerminara recently moved locations and built the new place with comedy in mind. It’s the most beautiful stage you’ll see in a brewery, and he just added pinball machines in the back. I start my night with a blackberry-raspberry mead clocking in at 8.5%. It warms the soul on a chilly autumn eve.

sports on the TV, we have video games, board games, and we encourage people to converse. We’re offering something a little different here.

Sara: I knew Dave since he worked at

Penn Brewery. He called me about six months after he opened and asked if I could help. It’s very family-like here.

We do fun shit like field trips and Christmas parties. I also love the product. It’s something you can stand behind.

Me: Who was your favorite comic

tonight?

My Inner Voice: Of course you were, Day Bracey. The way you get up there and mumble drunken slurs into a

microphone is pure genius. Can you sign this picture of you for my grandmother?

You’re on her bucket list.

Nathan: I thought Helen Wildy held her own. She kept coming at people.

She wasn’t afraid of the blank stares.

She did a good job of powering through it and getting some good ribs in. You’ve got to respect perseverance when you’re doing this kind of a show.

Sara: I like Alex Homyak. He was just

so funny and went in on everybody immediately.

Cat Bruno (My permanent designated driver): I’m not answering that. Are

you ready to go?

CHINA PALACE PROUDLY SERVING AUTHENTIC CHINESE CUISINE FOR 25 YEARS

OCT. 18, 11 P.M.: I’m with Nathan, a tap tender at Apis, and Sara, a newly promoted manager. Enough people interview Dave. I want to know what the people working there think of the joint.

Me: Why do you work here?

Nathan: There’s this craft beer boom

in Pittsburgh, and mead is on the edge of that. Eventually, some breweries will thrive and some will fall off. But I feel like we’ll do well in the long term with the way we’re set up. We don’t have

(412) 687-7423 5440 WALNUT ST., PITTSBURGH, PA 15232 CHINAPALACE-SHADYSIDE.COM

WE DELIVER!

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 33

NEIGHBORHOODS

Homewood continues to support its own as new development approaches ‘There’s a lot going on in Homewood right now.’

By Rebecca Addison PITTSBURGH CURRENT SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR rebecca@pittsburghcurrent.com In October, entrepreneur Vernard Alexander, opened a new coworking, pop-up retail and event space in Homewood. At the grand opening event to mark the milestone on Oct. 13, the community had a chance to get a first look at the space and engage with a dozen local vendors, ranging in age from children to adult. With an estimated 300 people in attendance, the turnout far exceeded Alexander’s expectations.

“It was magical. It was way more than I ever anticipated, but I would’ve been happy if only five people showed up,” Alexander says. “I wanted to showcase the space, but I also wanted to show how the space could be used and promote other businesses.”

While Alexander’s new space, CKV Suites, is the first black-owned coworking space in Homewood, it’s not the first space of it’s kind in the neighborhood. Homewood is also home to The Shop, a shared workspace, run by nonprofit group, Homewood Children’s Village, which requires members to volunteer with community organizations in lieu of payment for using the space. And financial institution, Bridgeway Capital, runs a business incubator in the neighborhood.

“There’s a lot going on in Homewood right now,” says Rashaa Brown, The Shop’s volunteer and community coordinator. “There’s a level of excite-

Vernard Alexander and his CKV Suites coworking space in Homewood.

ment that I’ve seen from individuals coming into the space.”

These spaces are just a few of the new developments Homewood has seen in recent years. Together, they represent positive growth for a predominantly African-American neighborhood so often maligned due to high crime rates.

After years of struggle, Homewood is seeing a ripple effect from developments in nearby neighborhoods like East Liberty. But community stakeholders hope their neighborhood won’t chart the same path. They’re working

34 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

to avoid the gentrification that so often comes when impoverished neighborhoods are redeveloped, by prioritizing the black business owners that have always held their community together.

“There’s definitely a lot of development coming and I understand the fears of residents who worry they’re being forced out,” says Alexander.

“That’s why I think people are excited to support their own. I think people are looking for reasons to buy local, to support businesses within Homewood and to buy black.”

Derrick Hemby has been a Home-

wood business owner since 1979 and the offerings he’s brought to the neighborhood are varied. Over the years, he’s run a bar that has since been converted into rental properties; an internet jukebox, pool table and arcade game servicing company called Big D Vending; a sandwich shop offering fresh local ingredients called DNC Sandwich Express; and the Galaxy Lounge, a bar and entertainment center that has been a go-to venue for Homewood residents and outsiders for nearly a decade.

“We’ve been really successful over the years and I owe that to the people

NEIGHBORHOODS of Homewood,” says Hemby. “I’ve watched so many people grow up here.

I’ve built a bond with so many different groups of people. There’s a lot of negativity about Homewood in the media, but it’s really a great community.”

Hemby hopes the neighborhood’s strong sense of community won’t be damaged by the new developments coming to the neighborhood, but he’s excited for the positive impact he predicts they’ll have on local businesses like his. Last year the city announced a $21.8 million development that would bring 58 new market-rate homes to Homewood. In September, developers completed 36 new affordable homes on Susquehanna Street. And for the business owners in Homewood, more residents equals more customers.

“A lot of big businesses are coming into the neighborhood. A lot of new construction. There’s a lot of buildings

Everyday Cafe in Homewood.

CONTINUED

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 35

NEIGHBORHOODS CONTINUED FROM 35

E GL IAN TR

GO LD EN

being bought and rehabbed,” Hemby says. “The community is becoming more multicultural. I see a lot of people moving into the community as well as new businesses, so as Homewood is starting to repopulate it’s going to help businesses.”

DISTRIBUTORS

The key to ensuring this influx of new construction doesn’t lead to gentrification, Homewood stakeholders say, is giving current business owners and residents the tools and opportunities to succeed so they can take advantage of the redevelopment when it comes.

It’s an effort that has been going on in the neighborhood for several years.

FOR ALL YOUR BEVERAGE NEEDS. Beer Pop - Ice Snacks - Taps Coolers & More!

And this month the effort got a boost with the opening of the new Homewood Community Empowerment Center. Spearheaded by the University of Pittsburgh, the CEC which opened on Oct. 18, offers workforce development, legal consultation, health and wellness events and services, and more.

“Pitt has had a history of long term

Shuman's Homewood

412.242.7100 | 7901 BENNETT STREET, 15221 MON-SAT 8:30AM-11PM | SUNDAY 9AM-9PM

THE NEW GALAXY ENTERTAINMENT CENTER 36 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

collaborations and involvement with the Homewood community,” Cassandra Hayt, communication and advocacy manager for Pitt’s department of community and government relations, said via email. “Additionally, community-based organizations have invited additional collaborators, including Pitt, to be part of their development.

This was an important factor in the

&

NEIGHBORHOODS selection of Homewood because community leaders and organizations helped guide the way that the CEC was developed, ensuring a more intentional connection with the agenda and needs of the community.”

Hayt said the CEC is designed not to duplicate programs and services already found in the community, but to complement and enhance what is currently available. And if the CEC does not offer a specific service a resident is looking for, staff there can connect them with an organization that does.

“We hope the CEC will provide a space to connect residents and other community members to opportunities and provide deeper relationships and greater access to Pitt’s expertise, resources, and connections,” Hayt said.

“With a long-term commitment of at least 15 years, the CEC’s hope is to support overall growth and development of the community for a longtime to come.”

ting NOW Connec d

Homewoo

3

New Stations

HealthyRidePGH.com PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 37

NEIGHBORHOOD Q & A

Walter Lewis, Children’s Village CEO

By Rebecca Addison PITTSBURGH CURRENT SPECIAL PROJECTS EDITOR rebecca@pittsburghcurrent.com In 2010, Walter Lewis started volunteering in Homewood. The following year he moved to the neighborhood.

And the year after that, he joined the staff of Homewood Children’s Village, a nonprofit organization working in the community. Today, he serves as its president and CEO. Lewis has had a firsthand look at the changes the neighborhood has undergone over the past decade and he has his finger on the pulse of what it will take to help Homewood prosper.

Pittsburgh Current talked with the nonprofit leader about the work his organization is doing in the community and what developments he’s most excited about.

We’re working in Westinghouse, Faison and Lincoln schools to ensure the students who most need services are receiving them. Our partnership with the school district is creating opportunities for real change. We help provide nutritious food for families dealing with food insecurity.

We have programs that can help get people connected to social services.

Kids don’t exist in isolation, and often times the challenges they’re facing are family challenges and the path to solving them comes through the adults in their lives. A lot of folks have hit hard times for various reasons and it becomes challenging to be able to provide for your family in those circumstances.

From day one the idea was always

How have you seen the neighborhood change?

I think we’ve seen a lot of positive changes, but we’ve also seen a lot of things stay the same. It’s been an interesting dynamic. There’s a lot of positives in terms of some of the new stores we have and the new senior highrise. There’s a lot to be excited about.

But at the same time, when you look at the population level, we have problems with transiency, we have a lot of people leaving and other people coming in. Some of the other neighborhood issues--housing, food insecurity, poverty--it impacts folk’s ability to find success. In terms of those things it hasn’t felt like there’s been a significant change. And when you look at the performance at our schools, we haven’t seen year over year positive trends. So there’s excitement but there’s still a lot of challenges that we’re faced with.

What kind of work are you doing in the community?

38 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

that we would partner with other agencies to accomplish our goals. When you look at the challenges the community is facing, these are not things that can easily be resolved by one organization because they’re multi-faceted. So it really takes collaboration to move the needle.

What hopes do you have for the future?

There’s a comprehensive community planning process underway and we’ve been involved in that. There’s a lot of potential, if that plan is able to really be something that represents the interests of the community, it can really make a difference in the development that comes to Homewood in the future.

How do we ensure the community

Afro-American Music Institute ENROLL NOW!

ALL ARE WELCOME!

CALL: 412-241-6775

is able to benefit from these different projects? There’s been a lot of concern about the pending development, so this plan could help.

A lot of the development has not focused on the development of people at the same time, and you can’t separate them. If that goes by the wayside, a lot of the families won’t be able to afford to live here.

The development of people is so critical. Most people are afraid of development because the fear is that they’re not going to be able to afford to stay.

I’d like the neighborhood to have nicer things and fewer abandoned properties, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of people that live here. There needs to be a balance.

SPORTS

Lawrenceville man is one of the country’s oldest living pro wrestlers The Battling Bohemian: “I was always a good guy.”

By Thomas Leturgey PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER info@pittsburghcurrent.com Rudy Shemuga walked into the Lawrenceville tavern with only the slight use of a cane.

That’s remarkable, actually, considering the almost 87-year-old recently spent time in the hospital from a fall.

He’s accompanied by a friend, Dan Zigowski, who is carrying an envelope stuffed with programs, photos and newspaper clippings.

There are very few living professional wrestlers who can say they actually competed in the early 1950’s; Pittsburgh’s own Rudolph M. Shemuga is one of them. As “Steve Novak,” Shemuga is also one of the few living pros who can say he went toe-to-toe with the likes of The Swedish Angel, Angelo Cistoldi and “Gorgeous George,” among others. But despite that resume, chances are you’ve never heard of the grappler from Lawrenceville.

Born to Croatia’s Joseph and Fredericktown’s Susan Ulicne Shemuga, Rudy grew up in his family’s Cabinet Way home. He didn’t play football like a lot of aspiring athletes of the day.

“I was needed at the house,” Shemuga says. Rudy caught the wrestling bug in the 1940s as he and his friends routinely jumped the fence at Millvale’s Zivic Arena to watch wrestling cards.

After graduating from Schenley High School, Shemuga traveled west to California and its “original” Muscle Beach in Santa Monica. Rudy worked

Dan Zigowski, left, and Rudy Shemuga

the second shift at Douglas Aircraft, which freed his mornings and afternoons for workouts. It was there that a wrestling promoter told him about training schools in Seattle.

In Portland, a promoter of a show at the Labor Temple asked him what his ring name was going to be, and “out of the blue,” he selected “Steve Novak.”

The all-American name stayed with him for the rest of his career.

According to wrestlingdata.com, on December 15, 1952, Novak began his career when he defeated Paul DeGallas.

On December 19, Novak fell to Bronko Lubich. In the December 22, 1952 issue of the Oregon Guard newspaper in Eugene, it was reported that Luigi Macera defeated Novak in one fall. A week later, Dale Kiser bested Steve. By the time 1953 rolled around, Novak was wrestling regularly throughout Oregon.

In July 1953 Novak wrestled Ben and Mike Sharpe (the father of famed

WWF journeyman “Iron” Mike Sharpe) in tag team competition. He called them the hardest-hitting guys he faced. “They could beat the crap out of you,” he said with a laugh. In September of that year, Novak would take on Mike Dibiase, the adoptive father of WWF Hall of Famer “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase.

Even as he traveled throughout Oregon, Montana, California, Texas and other destinations, Novak was always billed from Pittsburgh. Some newspaper reports opined that his 6’3,” 235-pound stature was “too tall” for wrestling, but maybe better for basketball. He was called “the Battling Bohemian.” Novak shudders at those nicknames.

“I was always a good guy,” he says.

There was never a swerve to turn Steve Novak against the fans. Novak says he wrestled on television in Chicago many times later in his career; one newspaper article referred to him as a “TV Star.”

In a related brush with celebrity, Novak tells a story of how North East promoter Toots Mondt took him aside in the late 1950s and said they were interested in Steve for a huge Hollywood film.

But, in the end, he wasn’t cast in the Oscar-winning Ben Hur. “Charlton Heston beat me by a smidge,” Novak continues with a huge roar of laughter.

“We focused on wrestling,” he says.

Novak traveled a lot by car, and even train, but rarely by plane. “I loved it when the money was good.”

Novak traveled everywhere, including the southern states where he competed for a version of the NWA tag team championship. A perpetual mid-card guy, Novak did participate in a Main Event six-man tag team match in August, 1953 with Roy Cooper and Sonny Kurgis versus Angelo Cistoldi, Lou Heiz and Pete Manus in Santa

Cruz, California.

Novak battled the 6’6” Swedish Angel at least four times. “Once on an Indian Reservation in Great Falls, Montana,” he says.

On March 23, 1962, Novak wrestled “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

According to Wrestlingdata.com, the match ended without a winner and Rogers kept the strap. Within the next year, Rogers would lose the NWA belt, recognized as the first WWWF champion, and lose it to Novak’s fellow Pittsburgh grappler, Bruno Sammartino.

By the early 1960’s, Novak wrestled primarily in the northeast. And while he wasn’t one of the first to appear on WIIC-TV’s “Studio Wrestling,” he did appear in the early 1960’s, even before the likes of other local legends like Joe Abby, Frank Durso and “The Battman.”

Reaching his mid-30’s, Novak realized that he needed to think about his future. He retired from wrestling in 1965 and took a job with Equitable Gas. Although the records may not be complete, Carlos Rocha, 91, and Samson Burke, 89, are the only living professional wrestlers who were in matches before Novak’s 1952 debut.

Both Rocha and Burke wrestled as early as January 1950.

Today, Rudy still works out with light weights three times a week. He meets with a small group of friends for dinner, drinks and conversation every other week. Still a sharp conversationalist, Shemuga recently wolfed down a dinner, a beer and three coffees at 9 p.m. in that Lawrenceville tavern. Not six months ago, Zigowski noted, someone approached Rudy with a, “You’re Steve Novak.” Of course, they talked Studio Wrestling.

Says Shemuga: “It still amazes me.”

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 39

EVENTS

THE CAN’T MISS

Oct. 29: Billy Hart at the Pitt Jazz Seminar

Amanda Reed PITTSBURGH CURRENT STAFF WRITER amanda@pittsburghcurrent.com

OCT. 24

Don’t miss “On & Around: Jennifer’s Body tonight at the Bunker Projects.” The event features a screening of Karyn Kusama’s 2009 film, “Jennifer’s Body.” Megan Fox stars as the title character, a demon-possessed cheerleader who is bloodthirsty for flesh — specifically, the flesh of losers who never stood a chance with her. After the screening, a performance by Celeste Neuhaus, an interdisciplinary artist and adjunct professor at the Carnegie Mellon University School of Art. 6 p.m. $5 suggested donation. 5106 Penn Ave., Garfield. www.bunkerprojects.org 40 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

OCT. 26

Live out your “Pitch Perfect” dreams in your favorite Halloween costume with Pitches & Tones Presents: Potions & Bones at Scaife Hall at the University of Pittsburgh. Hosted by Pitches & Tones, an award-winning a cappella group at the University of Pittsburgh, the event features seven of Pitt’s a cappella groups. The concerts benefits Pittsburgh Public School music and arts programs.

You can donate at the event, or via the GoFundMe page set up for the event. (www.gofundme.com/ support-pps-arts-amp-music-programs). 8 p.m.

Free (donations accepted at the event). 3550 Terrace St., Oakland. www.facebook.com (“Potions and Bones”).

OCT. 28

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre season opener, “Mozart in Motion,” performs its last show today at the Benedum. The event combines dance with the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a classical composer. The company performs three dance works by famous choreographers George Balanchine and Jiří Kylián with the PBT Orchestra, set to four Mozart works: “Divertimento No. 15,” “Six German Dances,” and piano concertos in A Major KV 488 (Adagio) and C Major KV 467 (Andante). 2 p.m. $28.00-$117.00. 237 Seventh St., Downtown. www.pbt.org or 412-281-0360

OCT. 29

The 48th annual University of Pittsburgh

EVENTS Jazz Seminar returns at the end of the month for a weeks-long celebration of music, history and learning.The seminar begins Oct. 29 at noon with a free performance by the Pitt Jazz Ensemble in the William Pitt Union lower lounge and ends Nov. 3 with the 48th Annual Pitt Jazz Concert at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland. This year’s guests artists include saxophonist J.D. Allen, organist Joey DeFrancesco and pianist Orrin Evans.

Day and evening seminars by the visiting guest artists will take place throughout the week at the Frick Fine Arts Building. There will also be a talk and performance at the Hill House Association’s Senior Center in the Hill District on Nov. 3. Terri Lyne Carrington, an award-winning drummer, composer and producer, offers musical direction for the seminar, and also speaks at the Frick Fine Arts auditorium on Nov. 1 for a seminar titled, “The Modern Jazz Musician: Being successful in today’s jazz climate.” 48th Annual University of Pittsburgh Jazz Seminar. In advance: orchestra/ floor $30. At the door: $35 ($10 for students). Various Locations. 412-624-7529 or music.pitt.edu/ tickets.

NOV. 2

Keep the Halloween celebrations going with “Faces of Romero: Good Manners”at McConomy Auditorium, presented by the CMU International Film Festival as part of “Romero Lives,” a series of programming held by a coalition of 30-plus Pittsburgh organizations in honor of the famous horror movie maker George A. Romero.

“Good Manners” is a Brazilian musical-fantasy-horror film directed by Juliana Rojas & Marco Dutra. It centers around, Clara, a lonely nurse from the outskirts of São Paulo, who is hired by the mysterious and wealthy Ana to be the nanny of her soon-to-be born child. The two women develop a strong bond, but a fateful night marked by a full moon changes their plans.

There will be free food catered by Fogo de Chão before the screening and online Skype Q&A session with director Juliana Rojas after the movie.

6:30 p.m. $10 ($5 students and seniors). 5032 Forbes Ave., Squirrel Hill. www.cmu.edu/faces

NOV. 3

Listen to Beethoven’s music on instruments from

Little Steven (Photo: Jo Lopez)

his time with Beethoven: The Music for Piano & Cello, presented by Chatham Baroque, tonight at Synod Hall. Jaap ter Linden, a Baroque cellist, joins David Breitman on fortepiano, the

predecessor to the pianos of today. The concert will include two contrasting cello sonatas, a set of variations, and the late Bagatelles op. 126 for CONTINUED PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 41

EVENTS solo fortepiano. 8 p.m. $30 ($20 for senior, 30 and under; $10 for student and active military). 125 N Craig St., Oakland. www.chathambaroque.org

NOV. 4

As we slower descend into winter, enjoy the end of the fall foliage with the last day of the Fall Flower Show: 125 Years of Wonder at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. By this time, the chrysanthemums at Phipps will be in full bloom, allowing visitors to take in all their colorful glory bespoking nostalgic displays inspired by different periods of Phipps history. Don’t miss the Sunken Garden, featuring gem-toned blooms in homage to Pittsburgh's glasshouse history, and a tribute to filmmaker George A. Romero. 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. $17.95 ($16.95 for seniors and students; $11.95 for children 2-18). One Schenley Park, Oakland. www.phippsconservatory.org or 412-622-6914.

The Black Elastic, presented by Center for African American Poetry and Poetics

University of Pittsburgh Frick Fine Arts Auditorium 650 Schenley Avenue, Oakland

THUR., OCT 25 Fair Housing Community Meetings

6 pm, Greenway PD Center, 1400 Crucible Street, Crafton Heights pittsburghpa.gov/chr/affh Midnight Radio Presents Larger Than Life: Frankenstein and Karate Man Patrick Kim

8 pm, Bricolage, 937 Liberty Avenue, Downtown culturaldistrict.org 5th Annual Blackjack Spectacular

Hell on Hills, The World’s Steepest (and funnest) 5K

8:00 am, Canton Avenue, Beechview hellonhills.com Glam Rock Drag Brunch, Halloween Edition

Danse Macabre 3, an Industrial Gothic Halloween Party

THUR., NOV 1

8 pm, Cattivo 146 44th Street, Pittsburgh nightskyprod.com

Fair Housing Community Meeting

Jim Messina, presented by Calliope House

7:30 pm, Carnegie Lecture Hall, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Oakland calliopehouse.org Fort Night: 18th Century Libations

FRI., OCT 26

Sober Halloween Bash hosted by Empath

6 pm, Fort Pitt Museum, 601 Commonwealth Place, Downtown heinzhistorycenter.org

7 pm, The Shop in Homewood, 621 North Dallas Avenue, Homewood empathpittsburgh.com

EVENT LISTINGS

Mozart in Motion

An evening with Magda Brown

WED., OCT 24

8 pm, Benedum Center for the Performing Arts, 237 7th Street, Downtown culturaldistrict.org

7 pm, Eddy Theater, Chatham University chatham.edu

10 am, The Fountain at the Point, Downtown actionnetwork.org/events/defend-our-water Nathan Englander, a reading

7 pm, City of Asylum, 40 W. North Avenue, North SIde alphabetcity.org

Shop Talk: Kleaver Cruz and Devan Shimoyama Discuss Black Joy, Masculinity, and Barber Shops

7 pm, The Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky Street, North Side warhol.org

SAT., OCT 27

42 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

TolinFX Halloween Bash

5:30 pm, TolinFX, 1701 Coast Avenue, Beechview tolinfx.com/romero-lives

10 pm, Arcade Comedy Theater: Upstairs, 943 Liberty Avenue, Downtown arcadecomedytheater.com

Defend Our Water Day! A Day of Action In Pittsburgh

WED., OCT 31

10:30 am, Hard Rock Cafe, 230 West Station Square Drive, Station Square hardrock.com/cafes/pittsburgh/

6:30 pm, Priory Hotel, 614 Pressley Street, North Side dowork.org/annual-blackjack-spectacular

That Time of the Month

6:30 pm, Spring Hill Brewing, 1958 Varley Street, Spring Hill springhillbrewing.com

SUN., OCT 28

Craftical: Tactical Crafting, benefitting the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse

6 pm, CCAC Allegheny Campus, 808 Ridge Avenue, North Side pittsburghpa.gov/chr/affh Yoga at CMOA

8 pm, Carnegie Museum of Art, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Oakland cmoa.org/event/thursday-yo-

Salon Ivy

CONTINUED FROM 41

7 pm, The Ace Hotel, 120 South Whitfield Street, East Liberty pccr.org

816 E. Warrington Ave, Pgh 15210

Downward-Facing Yoga +Brew, benefitting the Women’s Center and Shelter of Pittsburgh

@SalonIvy

412.488.4488

EVENTS ga-cmoa

FRI., NOV 2 Down and Dirty Dance Party

8 pm, Spirit, 242 51st Street, Lawrenceville attacktheatre.com

SAT., NOV 3 Currently@NewGalaxyLounge, a Homewood Block Party

3 pm, Galaxy Lounge, 7426 Kelly Street, Homewood pittsburghcurrent.com

MUSIC LISTINGS TUES., OCT 23 Yamantaka // Sonic Titan

9 pm, Spirit, 242 51st Street, Lawrenceville spiritpgh.com Matthew Perryman Jones with Molly Parden

7 pm, Club Cafe, 56-58 South 12th Street, South Side clubcafelive.com

WED., OCT 24 Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul

7 pm, Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall, 510 East 10th Avenue, Munhall carnegieofhomestead.com An Evening with Jill Sobule

7 pm, Club Cafe, 56-58 South 12th Street, South Side clubcafelive.com

THUR., OCT 25

Pre-show Jam Featuring Members of Alice Cooper - Tommy Henriksen, Chuck Garric, Ryan Roxie, and Glen Sobel

10 pm, The Smiling Moose, 1306 East Carson Street, South Side smiling-moose.com

FRI., OCT 26 Open Mic at the Coffeehouse at the Abbey on Butler, featuring Corrine Jasmin

Black Cat Moan

Dylan Schneider, Andy Davis Band

7 pm, Moondog’s, 378 Freeport Road, Blawnox moondogs.us

6 pm, Jergel’s Rhythm House, 103 Slade Avenue, Warrendale jergels.com

Fright Night at the Rex

Modern Lady Fitness, Decaff Grapefruit, Maplewaves, Fuzznaut

5 pm, Rex Theater, 1602 East Carson Street, South Side

Cattivo, 166 44th Street, Lawrenceville cattivopgh.com

7 Pm, Stage Ae, 400 North Shore Drive, North Shore. Promowestlive. com

WDVE Halloween Party featuring A Paranormal Evening With Alice Cooper

Miles Of Aisles: A 75Th Birthday Tribute To Joni Mitchell, Featuring Heather Krompf, Brad Yoder, Mark Dignam, Ben Shannon

7 pm, Stage AE, 400 North Shore Drive, North Shore promowestlive.com

9 pm, Salem Event Center, 2911 Penn Avenue, Polish Hill eventbrite.com

SAT., OCT 27 Icarus Witch Album Release Party

7 pm, Get Hip Records, 1800 Columbus Avenue, Chateau gethip.com

FRI., NOV 2 Eden And Sasha Sloan

9 pm, Abbey on Butler, 4635 Butler Street, Lawernceville theabbeyonbutler.com

Candy From Strangers, featuring The Clock Reads and Strange Machines

THUR., NOV 1

SUN., OCT 28

7 Pm, The Hard Rock Cafe, 230 West Station Square, Station Square. rextheater.net

TUES., OCT 30 The Byrds Co-Founders Roger McGunn and Chris Hillman with Marty Stuart: 50th Anniversary of Sweetheart of the Rodeo

7 pm, Carnegie Of Homestead Music Hall, 510 East 10th Avenue, Munhall. Librarymusichall.com

WED., OCT 31

SATURDAY OCT. 27

SCREAM QUEENS #2 WITH CINDY CROTCHFORD, DIXIE SUREWOOD, ALORA CHATEAUX, TOOTSIE SNYDER & AMNEEJA SCHNACKENMUFF!

+ HALLOWEEN COSTUME PARTY! Winners take home cash

1st $150 | 2nd $75 | 3rd $50 CONTEST AT 11PM - SHOWTIME IS MIDNIGHT - NEVER A COVER!

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 43

PITTSBURGH CURRENT

CLASSIFIEDS

For more information on how to place your classified ad, please call 412-945-0817.

INSURANCE

44 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

NEWS OF THE WEIRD by the Editors at Andrews McMeel Syndication SOME PEOPLE CAN GET pretty territorial about their food. So it appeared in Colleton County, South Carolina, on Sept. 29, when Ryan Dean Langdale, 19, warned his 17-year-old cousin not to eat his salt and vinegar potato chips. “Do not touch my chips, or I’ll shoot you,” Langdale told his cousin, according to a sheriff ’s incident report. The Charleston Post and Courier reported Langdale then went into another room, retrieved a rifle and “the rifle went off,” according to the sheriff ’s document. Langdale summoned help but told police his cousin had accidentally shot himself while cleaning the rifle. Officers didn’t think the story held up: The pathway of the bullet through the victim’s chest was “impossible” if he had mistakenly shot himself, said sheriff ’s Maj. J.W. Chapman. Sure enough, when the victim was questioned after undergoing surgery, he told officers the savory snacks were at the center of the dispute. Langdale surrendered on Oct. 10 and was charged with, among other crimes, attempted murder.

AN ALERT (OR NOSY) passerby called police on Oct. 10 after seeing staff through the window of a Natwest bank in Birmingham, England, hiding and cowering under their desks.

Officers arrived at the bank in hopes of catching a robber red-handed, but instead were told the workers were participating in a team-building game of hide-and-seek. West Midlands Police Chief Inspector Dave Keen tweeted that, although the incident was a misunderstanding, the citizen made “the right call,” reported Metro News.

IN OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK in Washington, the mountain goat population has baaa-llooned to an unnatural 700 or more animals. The park is also becoming more popular with humans, which has led to an unsavory consequence: In their constant quest for salt and other minerals, the

goats have developed a strong taste for human urine and sweat left behind by hikers and campers. Goats will lick clothing and paw at the ground where people have urinated or disposed of cooking water, making them a nuisance, according to the National Park Service.

IN AN APPARENT ATTEMPT to destroy what little brainpower he had left, 26-year-old Brandon McVay of Council Bluffs, Iowa, ate a Tide Pod, prompting a trip to the hospital. But while he was being treated in the critical care unit, McVay went on a rampage early on Oct. 4, causing thousands of dollars of damage to medical equipment, according to the Omaha World-Herald. A nurse told the responding police officer that McVay “was yelling loudly” as he broke objects in his room before proceeding to the hallway. Keyboards, computer monitors and glass valued at more than $7,500 were found littering the hallway, where McVay was subdued by security before police arrived. McVay was arrested and held at the hospital on charges of second-degree criminal mischief and disorderly conduct in a place of business.

WEST VIRGINIA METRONEWS reported that, for Jackie Fullmer, 37, of Fairmont, West Virginia, Oct. 9 started with trying to steal car keys from a woman at knife point. When police caught up to her, she ran toward their car with a hatchet and knife, prompting a deputy to shoot her with a stun gun. Fullmer turned to verbal attacks while being transported to the Fairmont Police Department, warning officers she was going to stab them in the neck -- which, as it turns out, she could have done, because she had a knife hidden in her buttocks. That weapon was found during booking, and Fullmer admitted she had slashed the seat belt in the police cruiser with it before threatening to slit the officers’ throats. She was charged with threats of terrorist acts and attempted robbery.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 45

SAVAGE LOVE

by Dan Savage mail@savagelove.net Hi, Dan: I am a homosexual young adult seeking advice about kitten play. I find it very intriguing, and I’m wondering where to start.

It’s a turn-on when someone calls me kitten, but I’m not sure how to express my kink or desire for kink play to the person or persons I am into. Any advice would be appreciated.

Constructive Advice Thoughtfully Sought Hi, CATS: I am a homosexual notso-young adult without much advice to offer where kitten play is concerned.

I’ve encountered plenty of gay puppies in the wild—at various leather/fetish events—but I’ve seen only one fetish kitty in my lifetime, and she was a queen.

(A female cat is called a queen, a male cat is called a tom, and a group of cats is called a glare. #TheMoreYouKnow!)

But Amp Somers, who hosts the kink-friendly sex-ed show Watts the Safeword, assures me that gay kitties are definitely a thing.

“Kitten play is a subcategory of the ‘animal role-play’ or ‘pet play’ kink,” said Somers. “It is a form of domination and submission in which someone gets into the headspace of an animal they are role-playing and takes on its characteristics—be it with gear (masks, tails, collars) or by acting out the mannerisms of their animal. Most importantly, and this goes for all proper pet players, there are no actual animals involved in this play.”

Puppy play is the most common form of pet play—by far—and it’s very popular among younger gay kinksters. (Please don’t confuse gay pups or kitties with gay bears or otters. The former is about role-play and fetish; the latter is about body type, affirmation, and community.) But what accounts for the popularity of pet play among younger kinksters?

“This sort of play allows someone to get into kink easily with or without a partner and in a playful manner,” said 46 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

Somers. “Pet play allows players to get their feet wet in the BDSM world without having to visit a dark dungeon, get tied up, or engage in anything a newer kinkster might find intimidating. It’s a great entry-level kink.”

As for expressing your kink, CATS, that’s something you’re going to have to work out on your own.

“I imagine CATS already has an image of what kitten play looks like to them, and I bet it differs from what I might imagine my own pet play would look like or even from what readers imagine a kitten player to look like,” said Somers. “Is CATS a domesticated lazy kitten who lies in the sun? A curious, well-trained, docile cat responsive to cuddles and treats? Or are they a rambunctious, bratty, independent stray?”

To find your way into the kink scene, Somers recommends getting online.

“That’s how I first found pet play,” he said. “Sites like kitten-play.com offer indepth written pieces by players, links to resources, and forums where people like CATS can educate themselves. Other sites like FetLife or Facebook provide more private groups to ‘meet’ others, ask more in depth questions, find local get-togethers, and make friends to socialize with. Or if they prefer video content, YouTube has a number of creators (like ‘Scream Kiwi’) who talk about their kinks in a fun, educational, and personal way. And once CATS feels comfortable in their own identity and has defined what they want out of this play, they will be able to really communicate to their partner(s) what they’re into and what they want out of kitten play.”

Check out Amp Somers’s show— Watts the Safeword—at youtube.com/ WattsTheSafeword, and follow him on Twitter @Pup_Amp. I’m a gay male, and one of my good friends has put me in a strange position. The friend has been married to his husband for 15 years, and they are allowed to “play.” I have no desire to be in

an open relationship, and I don’t think my boyfriend does either.

I occasionally go over to this friend’s house right after work to buy weed, and he’s always alone when I come by. He joked about answering the door naked and then did it. (He told me he was going to, but I honestly didn’t think he would do it.) I was extremely uncomfortable, and he knew it. The last time I went over, he was naked again—and this time, he jerked off to completion in front of me. He asked me to join in, and I told him I couldn’t because I hadn’t discussed anything like this with my boyfriend.

I’m supposed to go over again tomorrow, and he asked me to come by early because his husband would be getting home from work early that day. This leads me to believe that the husband would not be okay with this. I haven’t said anything to his husband or my boyfriend because I don’t want this to become a huge mess and I hoped my palpable discomfort would put an end to it. Any thoughts on how I should handle this nicely to make it stop without hurting his feelings?

Undressed Naked Friend Really Is Engineering Needless Drama Your “good friend” is an asshole, UNFRIEND. He’s violating a whole bunch of social norms—chiefly the don’t-jerk-off-to-completion-in-frontof-other-people-without-their-enthusiastic-consent norm (aka the Louis C.K. Career in Comedy Memorial Norm)— and relying on your adherence to other social norms (avoid being rude, defuse don’t confront, spare others’ feelings) to get away with violating you as well.

This asshole is sexually harassing you, and you haven’t told him to stop in unambiguous language.

The only reason you’ve given him for not whipping it out yourself is that you haven’t “discussed anything like this with [your] boyfriend.” He has self-servingly interpreted your reason for not joining in like this: “He wants to, and maybe he will after he has a ‘discussion’ with his boyfriend.” I’m

sorry, UNFRIEND, but you’re going to have to be blunt: “You have to knock this shit off. It’s disrespectful, it’s nonconsensual, and it’s pissing me off.”

Don’t worry about hurting his feelings—he obviously doesn’t care about your feelings—and find a new weed dealer.

I have a follow-up question on your advice for JACKS, the gay manager who ran into an employee at a JO party. Alison “Ask a Manager” Green told him he couldn’t go to these parties anymore. A distinction was made between sexual situation encounters between bosses and those they manage in “private clubs” (the JO club) or at “public events” (Folsom Street Fair). My question is about Grindr/Scruff/Growlr/ etc. Are these more like “private clubs” or “public events”? In part, my question stems from being a professor and having seen students and colleagues on these apps. I feel like I should not be reading the profiles of students in my department (who are mostly graduate students). I am also troubled by my colleagues appearing on these apps—from the perspective that this seems to be a sexually oriented space and there is the power differential between faculty and students.

Basics Of Sexual Spaces Dating apps are the new gay bars— more than 75 percent of same-sex couples met online—so telling gay bosses or college profs they can’t go on dating apps because their gay male students or underlings might be on them means condemning gay bosses and profs to celibacy. Bosses and profs shouldn’t flirt with their students and underlings, of course, and it might be a good idea to block ’em when you spot ’em—so you won’t be tempted by their profiles/ torsos and they won’t be tempted by yours—but gay bosses and profs are free to look for dick on dating apps.

On the Lovecast, where do kinks come from? Dr. Justin Lehmiller on the science of desire: savagelovecast.com.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 47

48 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT