VOL. 1 ISSUE 6 â–¶ Oct. 9-22, 2018
The
CARNEGIE
INTERNATIONAL returns INSIDE SPECIAL ARTNOIR GUIDE TO PITTSBURGH FOR INTERNATIONALTHE
2 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
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CONTENTS Vol. I Iss. VI Oct. 8-22, 2018 Publisher/Editor: Charlie Deitch Charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com
NEWS
MUSIC
▶ Sharpsburg flooding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
▶ Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
▶ Carnegie International . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
▶ Mariage Blanc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 ▶ Music Briefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Associate Publisher: Bethany Ruhe Bethany@pittsburghcurrent.com
EDITORIAL Music Editor: Margaret Welsh, Margaret@
OPINION ▶ Commentary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
pittsburghcurrent.com
▶ Rob Rogers’ cartoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Special Projects Editor: Rebecca Addison, Rebecca@
▶ Weed column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
pittsburghcurrent.com Visuals Editor: Jake Mysliwczyk, jake@ pittsburghcurrent.com Staff Writer, Arts: Amanda Reed, Amanda@ pittsburghcurrent.com Staff Writer, News and Food: Haley Frederick, Haley@
FOOD ▶ This Tastes Funny. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 ▶ Coffee Week . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 ▶ Day Drinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
ARTS
NEIGHBORHOODS
▶ Festival of Firsts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
▶ Neighborhoods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
▶ Cry, Baby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
▶ Q & A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
pittsburghcurrent.com
▶ Dance: Sessions Upstairs . . . . . . . . 26
Columnists: Aryanna Berringer, Sue Kerr, Mike
▶ Author Sherrie Flick . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
EXTRA
▶ Tim O’Brien . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
▶ Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Wysocki, opinions@pittsburghcurrent.com Contributing Writers: Jody DiPerna, Mike Shanley,
▶ News of the Weird . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Corey Carrington, Ted Hoover, Mike Watt, Ian Thomas, Matt Petras, Nick Eustis, Melanie Stangl, Matt Maelli info@pittsburghcurrent.com,
SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE :
Listings Clerk: Brooklyn Magill, listings@
ART NOIR GUIDE
pittsburghcurrent.com
▶ Your Guide to Art Noir. . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Lead Designer: Mary Beth Eastman, info@
▶ Savage Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 PHOTO CREDIT: Front Page photo by Jake Msliwczyk.
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 Distribution Manager: Kyle Sims-Ruhe, Kyle@ pittsburghcurrent.com 4 | OCT. 9, 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.
Two great Carnegie International events coming soon!
FEAST
November 10 December 1 January 26 February 23
Four dinners by acclaimed regional chefs. Four films chosen by our curators. Explore inventive dishes inspired by the themes in the International—pull up a chair! FEAST sponsor
Don’t just stand there!
THIRD THURSDAY
October 18 November 15 18+
Slide into the galleries for an after-hours party where we electrify the art on view. Delve into the International with fresh eyes in October as we partner with Busnegie Museum of Art. In November, BOOM Concepts returns with an art performance you won’t want to miss. Third Thursday Sponsors
Details and Tickets at CMOA.ORG
PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 5
NEWS
Sharpsburg is still recovering from dangerous summer floods ‘It’s really a beautiful thing they have here in Sharpsburg.’
power of people coming together and community,” Rudski says.
By Brittany Hailer PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER info@pittsburghcurrent.com On July 2, Nyketta Glover stood on her back porch in Sharpsburg and watched the water rise. In seconds, her basement door cracked off it’s hinges. Brown, murky water rose to the landing of her basement stairs. Feces and sewage floated beside furniture, birth certificates, winter clothes, bicycles and family photos. “The pressure of the water was so hard that it busted all four doors open,” Glover says. She panicked. Glover has two young sons who live with her, Jacob and Jamari, ages 7 and 9, respectively. They ran to the porch. Glover’s husband was walking home. The boys wondered if their dad would be OK? Police officers appeared as the water continued to rise. They shouted at Glover to stay on the porch because the current could sweep her and her sons away. That’s when she watched her car float down the street. “We were trapped in here...I’m on the porch crying and screaming. And then I saw my washer machine floating down the street,” Glover says. When her husband arrived, he was barefoot, trudging his way home to his family. He carried fireworks for the 4th of July. Their sons screamed for their father, terrified the water would take him away with it. The rain began at 6 p.m. and lasted 6 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
Kathleen Lipinksi (Current Photo by Martha Rial)
until 8 p.m. The flood waters finally receded about two hours after the rain stopped. On the 4th of July, Sharpsburg would be hit again, but not as bad. Nyketta lives about a block from 16th and Main Street in Sharpsburg. The water reached four- to five-feet deep, almost flooding the Fire Department down the street. Mayor Matthew Rudzki says it was garbage night in O’Hara township. The debris blocked the grates and drainage in the streets which magnified the effects of the rain. All that water uphill came barreling down to the valley. Sharpsburg was essentially a bathtub. “I’ve never seen it rain that hard in my entire life,” Rudzki says. The morning of July 3rd, at 800 Main Street, Kathleen Lipinksi was looking out the big glass window of Roots of Faith. She is Director of the church and runs the organization’s anti-poverty campaign, community dinners, and other outreach services. She
had started coffee and opened the doors at 6 a.m.. She wondered if anyone would need flood relief. People would need buckets and cleaning supplies. People would have water in their basements. And yet, Roots of Faith remained untouched by the flooding. FEMA denied funding to the entire state of Pennsylvania for the flooding and landslides that occured in June and July of this year. The local and state damages did not meet their threshold. The City of Pittsburgh, PennDOT, Etna, Millvale and Shaler all sent crews to Sharpsburg to help with street cleanup. Rudski said there was about 4- to 5-inches of muck and mud caked on the streets. So, Sharpsburg had a two-pronged approach. The Borough handled street cleanup and Roots of Faith became the rally point for securing cleaning supplies and food. “If you can take a silver lining out of a situation like this, it just shows you the
Fighting the Devastation The Borough of Sharpsburg is just under a square mile. It’s a small community along the Allegheny River with a population of 3,446. 20 percent of Sharpsburg residents are disabled. The poverty rate in Sharpsburg is 22 percent by some estimations and 30 percent by others. Sharpsburg also has a significant senior citizen population. Dozens of homes were flooded. Cars were swept down the street. Houses shifted off of their foundations. Lipinski and her staff started handing out food to residents and emergency workers. “We started writing down everybody’s needs. Literally. Man, we talked to, that first day, 30 homes, easy. That was just in Sharpsburg...By the end of that day I bet we had seen 40, 50 homes and fed those people” Lipinksi says. Lipinksi broadcasted Facebook Live videos from Roots of Faith telling social media audiences what Sharpsburg needed. By the end of the day, her building was a quarter full of buckets, cleaning supplies, bottled water and more. Lipinski also took to social media asking for physical help, anyone willing to lend a hand. By July 5th, they had 50 volunteers on their doorstep. “Most of them walked these streets and found people who were in need...we started putting a spreadsheet together,” Lipinksi continues, “The names that we would collect, we would call them. We just let them know that somebody cares.” Flood victims started to line up at Roots of Faith’s door. Whatever Lipinksi put out a call for, she received. Glover says Roots of Faith saved her family. “The Roots of Faith helped
NEWS
Flood waters in Sharpsburg in July 2018 (Photo: Nanci Goldberg)
me 100 percent. I love those people down there. They were coming every day: dropping off cleaning products, dropping off bleach, having the Pastor come over.” When the scope of the disaster became apparent, Lipinksi reached out to United Methodist Committee on Relief. UMCOR provided 100 flood buckets packed strategically with hygiene kits, bleach, towels, etc. UMCOR also contacted Mayor Rudzki and asked how the borough needed help. They offered to take over the disaster relief
effort and Rudzki said yes. UMCOR provided trainings for anyone who wanted to go out and clean homes. Those trainings took place at Roots of Faith. This was within five days of the flooding. “As fast as those supplies went out, they were refilled,” says Mary Jo, a volunteer at Roots of Faith. Lipinksi also called UPMC to ask what health risks there were for residents. She knew there was sewage in the water. UPMC cautioned against CONTINUED PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 7
NEWS CONTINUED FROM 7 cleaning and removing mud from homes without proper experience or training. They also advised that Sharpsburg residents all get tetanus shots. UPMC provided a free tetanus shot clinic at Roots of Faith for clean up crews and victims. Still Rebuilding The belongings in Glover’s basement weren’t her own. They were her older son’s. She had convinced him to move into the house next door. The flood happened before her son could fully move in. And now, four months later, he’s leaving. Glover and her younger sons are traumatized, too. Jamari is autistic. Every time it rains he has to sleep with his mother. He panics on his way home from school. Glover will rush to the bus stop on rainy days so that her son is assured that she is alive. Sometimes, when it rains, he will call her from school just to hear her voice. “Imagine if the kids were down in the basement playing. They would have drowned,” Glover said. Glover still doesn’t have a furnace; she just got a hot water tank at the end of September. Drowned mice littered her basement. Glover says she’s always done well for herself, always been able to provide for her family. She broke into tears when she said, “As the clean up was happening, I found myself feeding my family off the Salvation Army truck. I never thought in a million years that was something I’d have to do, but we were hungry.” Because of the flood, Glover lost her younger sons’ winter clothes. Their snow boots, hats, sweaters and coats were all lost. Roots of Faith has also helped them find toys and clothes for the coming months. They registered Glover’s family at the Free Store, told her, “take anything you need or want.” “I was just pouring down tears, crying,” said Glover, “If it weren’t for Roots of Faith, I don’t know how we would have made it through this. It’s really a beautiful thing they have here in Sharpsburg.” 8 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
Artists Who Teach through November 28 Highlighting the work of more than 50 contemporary artists who teach at colleges and universities in southwestern Pennsylvania, celebrating the broad range of art making in this region today. image: Clayton Merrell, Trajectories, 2017
Circular Abstractions: Bull’s Eye Quilts opens December 15 This touring exhibition organized by the Muskegon Museum of Art & curated by Nancy Crow showcases some of the best machine-piecing and quilting being done today. The artists were challenged to create work that stretched the possibilities of the machine-pieced quilt and conveyed a sense of energy and excitement. image: Nancy Cordry, Outrageous Cells
221 North Main Street, Greensburg, PA 15601 724.837.1500 | thewestmoreland.org
Generous support of Devan Shimoyama: Cry, Baby is provided by the Quentin and Evelyn T. Cunningham Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Fine Foundation.
October 13, 2018 – March 17, 2019
The Andy Warhol Museum receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency and The Heinz Endowments. Further support is provided by the Allegheny Regional Asset District.
Devan Shimoyama, Daphne’s Prayer (detail), 2016, Courtesy of Lesley Heller Gallery and the artist
PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 9
OPINION
Flattened and run over by a Chick-Fil-A controversy Rob Rogers
By Sue Kerr PITTSBURGH CURRENT COLUMNIST info@pittsburghcurrent.com Last week, I learned that the Pittsburgh Marathon had welcomed a new title sponsor for their youth programming: Chick-fil-A, the purveyor of fried chicken sandwiches and waffle fries that are, I can agree, delicious (note: I last ate at Chick-fil-A more than decade ago so my comments about deliciousness are historically rooted). However, their chicken is also accompanied by a side of anti-LGBTQ discrimination and bias with every sale. Essentially, Chick-fil-A is a string of franchises that, regardless of the individual owner’s personal beliefs, put money in the central corporate coffers. Some of that money goes to the corporation’s foundation. And that foundation invests in notoriously anti-LGBTQ organizations. When this story was circulating about five years ago, Chick-fil-A executives stated that their personal Christian beliefs did not align with the corporation’s business decisions and agreed to stop funding anti-LGBTQ organizations. In June of this year, ThinkProgress examined the most recent tax filings of the corporation, the year 2016, discovering that the foundation had spent $1.8 million in grants to three nonprofits known for anti-LGBTQ discriminatory actions. Moreover, the corporation had not taken any discernible actions to address their corporate culture -- no internal policies addressing discrimination and
an ongoing score of 0 on the Human Rights Campaign corporate equality scorecard. I do not think this company is an appropriate sponsor for youth programming that is supposed to create safe, healthy environments for all young people. I also believe it dampens the participation of LGBTQ adult runners. And it creates a sticky dilemma for longtime marathon part-
10 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
ners such as Pittsburgh Public Schools that have comprehensive inclusion and respect policies for all students, policies that should extend to these sorts of external contracts involving the students. After contact to the Marathon’s nonprofit organizer, P3R, revealed that they had no plans to alter their course of action, one parent launched a petition that has been signed by 800
people as of Sunday morning. I wrote a blog post about the initial situation and followed up with an update. Some folks contacted members of the PPS School Board; others reached out to Marathon board members. I spoke with Mayor Bill Peduto’s Chief of Staff Dan Gilman about what I perceived might be a conflict for the City’s CONTINUED
OPINION internal employee policies with this sponsorship. I wasn’t surprised that P3R defended their sponsorship choice. I anticipated that with enough partners aware of the serious ramifications of the partnership, there would be robust internal conversations focused on finding a solution that would preserve the programming albeit under another sponsor. What did surprise me was to wake up Friday morning and discover that FOX News had posted a big article on their website about the situation and they had centered me as the ringleader of sorts of their outrage. The following 72 hours have been surreal. The article was picked up by a dozen other smaller sites, mostly Christian media. Thousands of people have commented on those articles, via email, on Twitter, on Facebook, on my blog, and elsewhere. Beyond their outrage at my point of view, these folks opted to reinforce my concerns about bullying and safety for youth with a litany of vicious, horrible, and mean-spirited insults targeting me. They mocked my weight and my appearance, disparaged my mental health and motives for taking up this cause. They attacked my sexual orientation and credibility. They posted veiled threats. They dug into my public social media content to find old photos and details about my life just because they could. Insults and bullying aside, they are just factually wrong on many points. They deny that Chick-fil-A discriminates in spite of $1.8 million examples otherwise. They believe that a franchise restaurant has no tie to the corporation. They think the prevalence of sexual violence within Christianity is not that bad or a systemic issue. They mistakenly state that I am calling for a boycott of Chick-fil-A which will hurt the employees’ livelihoods. Then there’s the name calling. I’m a “Nazi, Communist, Fascist, Anti-fascist, Socialist. I’m also a snowflake, a
‘butt hurt snowflake’, a femtard (that’s a new one to me, I must admit), a libtard, disgusting, amoral, subhuman, vile, stupid, weak, a child predator myself, a baby killer, ugly, fat,” and so much more. They really seemed to seize on the fact that I am a fat woman critiquing a marathon. Our nation has been grappling with the fallout and trauma of abusive, toxic behaviors. Silencing women with opinions and survivors willing to speak about their assaults are important tools for propping up rape culture. These tactics are not unfamiliar to me as a blogger. Still, it hasn’t been fun dealing with these comments in such a large quantity. I don’t have the luxury of just ignoring them because I know from personal experience as a survivor that documentation is important if someone decides to escalate. And we all live with the evidence of what happens when we don’t listen to survivors, as well as if survivors don’t keep a trail of actual evidence. I’m disappointed in my friends and acquaintances who have continued to patronize Chick-fil-A over these years despite evidence of their discrimination. They have provided cover of sorts to create this situation by tacitly suggesting that the company is fine. If you still think that, please be sure to follow these links to read the comments and see what you are endorsing. Perhaps most disappointing is the reality that scores of comments have been on Twitter, tagging my account and the @PghMarathon account. They cannot reasonably claim to be ignorant of the hateful response even if they haven’t followed the FOX News story spinning through the Internet. And not just the ugly things said about me, but the general disgust for the LGBTQ community in general and clear statements that reinforce my worst fears about what the relationship with Chick-fil-A will mean for LGBTQ runners, adult and youth. In a twisted way, this awful response has simply proven my original points. Some of my progressive friends
have urged me just to ignore the hateful blather. I don’t think they’ve realized yet that we no longer have that privilege. We should not engage, for sure. But we have to monitor. I’ve coped with two white cis men here in Pittsburgh who have cyberstalked me over the years. I screenshot everything so if it escalates, I have evidence. We need to rethink our casual advice to women like me who are targeted by tell-ing us to just avoid online spaces where this happens. How can I do my job and why should I have to change my behav-iors because other people are abusive? All I did was write two blog posts and share a petition someone else created. I don’t know what the answer is, but I’d like to see the regional media community, including bloggers, engage these questions. We need to convene a conversation around this for women, queer folx, people of color, disabled journalists and the countless others who are treated in this way. C O H E N
&
G R I G S B Y
T R U S T
‘We need to rethink our casual advice to women like me who are targeted by telling us to just avoid online spaces where this happens.’
P R E S E N T S
S E R I E S
ITION D E
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OPINION ‘The only people who can afford to advertise their drug menus are those with nothing to lose.’ HUNTER S. THOMPSON
Different Strokes By Holden Green PITTSBURGH CURRENT CANNABIS CORRESPONDENT info@pittsburghcurrent.com Half the lights are still on. The poker game's final hand remains undisturbed in the center of the kitchen table. Empty cans litter the deck like strewn confetti. Twenty-three men have decamped from their daily lives and crossed state lines to gather at an oversized lakehouse for a weekend of fraternity and celebration: our friend, “the wombat,” is getting married, and as is custom, we must party. Two trucks depart Pittsburgh early Friday, sagging low with the weight of pleasure-seekers and 26 cases of beer. That's 762 cans, 33 per person, for a three-day weekend. Those who drink have work cut out for them. As for me? You know, I'm Holden. Now, it's early Saturday, and those of us not battling hangovers refuel with eggs and bacon on the patio. Bathed in morning light and warmed by a gentle breeze, we debate: is it better to microwave a blunt before smoking? We all went to the same high school. At this point, we've been in weddings together, and served as godfather to each other's children.
14 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
Two-thirds of us will smoke grass over the weekend. For the ones who don't, it's not out of moral objection. “My job's too important,” said one, a father and family breadwinner, echoing the thoughts of many regularly drug tested at work. One is switching jobs soon, and another drives for a living. For them, one toke could cost them everything. Only one of us has never tried grass at all. His grandfather died when he was young, from a heavy cigarette addiction, which turned him off from any type of smoking. Today, he's got a good thing going: wife, kids, healthy lifestyle, and a career where “drug use,” as it were, just isn't tolerated. And at this point, he adds, “it's cool to be able to say I never did it before.” We grew up the DARE generation, taught in class by uniformed policemen that all drugs – crack, weed, paint-huffing – will ruin our lives or make us crazy. Despite this grade school propaganda, all of us agree that grass should be legal. “The only people who can afford to advertise their drug menus are those with nothing to lose,” wrote Hunter S. Thompson. As we spark our freshly-nuked blunt, I realize that for many, this is a rare, forbidden treat. Living CONTINUED
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a Schedule I drug, labeled as unsafe, with a “high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use,” invalidating its potential as a safer, widespread alternative to alcohol in social settings. As the sun continues to rise, we're joined by others outside. The conversation inevitably switches from last night's antics to war stories of yore. There's the public vomit story, the “almost-fought-that-guy” story, the “peed-in-an-elevator” story, and any other number of greatest hits that might sound familiar to so many other men who used alcohol as their drug of choice to party. As we’ve matured, those antics become less and less hilarious. Eventually, we're joined by one of the weekend’s wildcards, a nice guy at heart, but one who hasn't changed much since high school. Last time he was supposed to hang out, I'm told, he was passed out from too much beer
in a prohibition state, open cannabis use is enough to disqualify someone from much of polite and professional society. Only surrounded by friends, at a remote location, can many of these otherwise law-abiding husbands, fathers, teachers, and other respectable members of society indulge in this harmless vice. We first smoked grass yesterday, a joint tucked deftly behind the ear and shared on the water as we assembled our kayaks in a great, conspicuous cluster. Then, we paddled, like kids again, laughing and splashing as we explored inlets, giving them names like Smuggler's Cove, while great big herons soared overhead and cried their raspy, prehistoric calls. There's something disarming about cannabis, the way it promotes a gentleness hard to find in an increasingly virulent society. Federally, it remains
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OPINION and sleep meds, and couldn't be roused to answer the door or his phone. He spent the next half hour with us, sharing fond stories of the bachelor, as we planned and anticipated the rest of our afternoon. “Hey, maybe I should just smoke weed instead,” he said, as an alternative to his current drugs of choice. “Yes,” we replied en masse, “That's the best thing you could do.”
THE INCLINE AND PITTSBURGH CURRENT PRESENT:
ELECTION NIGHT WATCH PARTY
Tuesday November 6th
LOCAL PITTSBURGH Come celebrate Election Night with The Incline and Pittsburgh Current! Be a part of the excitement as they report live from Local, be a part of a live podcast, and watch in real-time as the mid-term elections unfurl. There will be games and food and drink specials for all as we celebrate the most important part of our democracy. MARK YOUR CALENDARS NOW AND LOOK FOR MORE INFORMATION TO BE POSTED SOON. PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 17
NEWS
Carnegie International Returns for 57th Iteration By Amanda Reed PITTSBURGH CURRENT STAFF WRITER amanda@pittsburghcurrent.com When Carnegie International curator Ingrid Schaffner began her research for the 57th iteration of the exhibition, the United Kingdom was still a part of the European Union, the United States Supreme Court affirmed same-sex marriage and 195 countries endorsed the Paris Climate Accord, coming together to combat the effects of climate change. Three years later, all that has changed: the United Kingdom is set to withdraw fully from the Union in 2019; bakers are refusing to bake cakes for same-sex couples, citing protections by the First Amendment; and, in 2017, the United States withdrew INFO: from the Paris Climate Accord, with President Donald Trump stating, “I 2018 Carnegie was elected to represent the citizens of International. Pittsburgh, not Paris.” Through March 25. According to Schaffner, these global $11.95-19.95 (free changes and connections inspire the art featured in the 2018 Carnegie Interfor members). 4400 national, which begins Oct. 13 through Forbes Ave., OakMarch 25. Combining local and interland. 412-622-3131 or national artists with Pittsburgh history, the 57th international asks what it www.cmoa.org means for a local museum to be a part of a global contemporary institution. “We are part of an international” she says. “The International is a very pervasive term in a way that it wasn’t when I began working on the exhibition in 2015.” The Carnegie Museum of Art has presented the International since 1896 — one year before the Venice Biennale — and was the brainchild of museum founder Andrew Carnegie. Occuring every four to five years, the International helps expand the museum’s collection and shows Pittsburgh’s ability to be at the center of both art and industry, according to the International website. Schaffner was invited by former Carnegie Museum of Art museum director Lynn Zelevansky in 2014 to curate the project, and began work on the International in summer 2015. According to the International website, she is approaching the exhibition as “an encompassing research project.” For Schaffner, that means an emphasis on community 18 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
Ingrid Schaffner is the curator of the Carnegie International. Current Photo.
events, like Tam O’Shanter Drawing Sessions — where museum-goers can explore contemporary art by drawing with artists and organizers of the 2018 Carnegie International — teaming up with Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Art for an artist lecture series, a Cinematheque (French for “small film house or a film library”) for children that will be screening films that address a theme in the International and FEAST events connecting art and food. “It’s been happening since I started working on it. The exhibition might be the culmination
of these things, but it’s not ‘the thing,’” Schaffner says. “There’s a kind of phenomena of the contemporary space that is both a space for exhibition but also for conversation and for programs and for readings and for learning.” On top of examining the community aspect of art, Schaffner’s research also included traveling five times, each with a different curator whom Schaffner admired and respected — also known as “companions” — to “pass the buck,” as she says, to help her think about contemporary art on a global context.
NEWS Schaffner’s guidelines were simple: she’ll pay and the companion will decide where to go. However, there was one caveat: the place had to be new to both of them. “The invitation wasn’t, ‘let’s travel and pick art together.’ It was ‘let’s travel and be thinking partners and guard each other’s suitcase,’” Schaffner says. Schaffner and her companions — Magalí Arriola (independent curator, Mexico City), Doryun Chong (Chief Curator, M+, Hong Kong), Ruba Katrib (Curator, MoMA PS1, New York), Carin Kuoni (Director, Vera List Center for Art and Politics, The New School, New York) and Bisi Silva (Founder and Artistic Director, The Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos) — traveled to Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria, Romania, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, India, Trinidad, Barbados, Martinique, Haiti, the Bahamas, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. Those travels culminated in works by 32 artists — 13 individual artists who use the pronoun “he” and 17 individual artists who use the pronoun “she” — from all around the world and the United States, with representation from the Cherokee Nation, Ghana, India, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Navajo Nation, Nigeria, Nonuya Nation, Pakistan, Palestine, Senegal, and Vietnam. “My invitation to artists was, ‘come to Pittsburgh, spend a few days to talk about the International, we’ll explore Pittsburgh a little together, and then you decide if want to be part of making this exhibition together.’” Schaffner says. “So it wasn’t like, ‘I want three red pots and a painting, you know, come to the opening.’ It’s very much wanting to bring artists themselves into a culture of making an exhibition we all want to experience ourselves together.” That includes works from El Anatsui, a Ghanaian artist; Postcommodity, an interdisciplinary, indigenous art collective based in the American Southwest and Jon Rubin and Lenka Clayton, Pittsburgh-based educators and artists, all who used the museum and Pittsburgh’s history as inspiration for their work in the
Combining local and international artists with Pittsburgh history, the 57th international asks what it means for a local museum to be a part of a global contemporary institution. Current Photo.
International after visiting. Anatsui’s piece, titled “Three Angles,” covers the museum’s 30 by 160-foot facade, combining folded printing plates and wired-together liquor bottle tops. Anatsui was inspired by Richard Serra’s “Carnegie,” a geometric sculpture in the museum’s plaza that is made up of welded COR-TEN, an invention of Carnegie’s U.S. Steel Corp. Anatsui’s piece aims to be in conversation with the Serra, according to Schaffner. Postcommodity’s piece, entitled “From Smoke and Tangled Waters We Carried Fire Home,” sits in the Hall of Sculpture and is made of glass, coal, and steel — materials of the city’s industrial past — partnered with performances by local musicians rooted in Pittsburgh’s history of jazz. Jon Rubin and Lenka Clayton’s piece, “Fruit and Other Things,” turns the titles of rejected works submitted to the International between 1896 to 1931 into works of art, creating textbased paintings that museum-goers can take home. CONTINUED PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 19
NEWS CONTINUED FROM 19 Although the works themselves are important when presenting the International, according to Schaffner, the business side and other ancilliary elements are just as important. “For me it’s important to think about the totality of the International. It’s the publications, it’s the public programs, it’s the website, it’s the labels, it’s the signage, it’s the way our artists are hosted when they’re here, there’s a whole culture to about how you invite people,” she says. Schaffner says that she’s proudest of the sheer ambition from everyone involved: both from the artists and from the staff. “Yeah, I’m the curator, but this exhibition is made by the whole museum. It’s all hands-on-deck for this exhibition,” she says. “It’s almost like each artist contribution is an exhibition in itself. And that’s been really exciting to build the structure and now it’s what artists are bringing into it and what colleagues are bringing into it and then it will be what the public brings into it.” When the International ends in March, Schaffner’s time as curator ends, then the museum director invites a new person to shape the future International. According to Schaffner, this helps keep an exhibition dedicated to exploring the what it means for contemporary art to be, well, contemporary. “I built my own team and we have our own way of doing things and when we leave, the next person comes in and shakes things up. It’s disruptive and it’s ventilating too,” she says. Schaffner — a local Pittsburgher — doesn’t think that curating the International means she’s come full circle. Rather, she says it’s more like a spiral or a curlicue, resembling a cycle of influences, places and history — much like what the International is doing itself. “This is my first museum. As a kid I came to this museum,” she says. “So this museum has an important role in making future museum-goers and I want the International to be part of that.” 20 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
Familiar Boundaries. Infinite Possibilities is generously supported by Arts, Equity, & Education Fund, Eden Hall Foundation, and The Fine Foundation.
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HANSEL & GRETEL 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 Photo: David Bachman ©
• • • •
Season Sponsor Tuesday Night Sponsor: Ambridge Regional Distribution & Manufacturing Center
Don’t miss the final 2 performances of MADAMA BUTTERFLY
OCTOBER 12 & 14 • pittsburghopera.org/butterfly 28 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
ARTS
‘Beyond’ is an audio and visual show which has already toured parts of Europe.
Fourth Festival of Firsts is moving ‘Beyond’ the norm By Matt Maelli PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER info@pittsburghcurrent.com (Editor’s note: For more on the Festival of Firsts, follow coverage in print and online at www.pittsburghcurrrent. com through the end of the festival’s run.)
The wind picks up, the air cools, and then the rain starts. Even before it begins to fall, you see people down the street heading for the white tents. It's a lackluster opening for a festival, but eventually the slick streets and old buildings of the Pittsburgh Cultural District will end up looking magical under the lights.
22 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
The Festival of Firsts returns to Pittsburgh bigger and more diverse than any of its previous shows in 2004, 2008, and 2013. You may remember the unofficial mascot of the 2013 festival, the giant inflatable Rubber Duck by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. This year’s Festival covers 8 weeks featuring 30 international artistic
companies from 20 different countries to bring nearly 500 events to the Cultural District. “In previous years when the Festival has only run one weekend, two weekends, or three weekends, we’ve had big, impactful arts experiences, but they were relatively short,” he says. “So, if people are out of town or can’t
ARTS “It felt like, you know when someone whispers behind your back, like right behind you and it makes your back spasm? It felt like a brain massage, like little things are prickling in your brain, going back and forth.” get on a plane to come in, it’s easy to miss it. So our hope is that having new shows every single weekend -- a new piece of theater, a new piece of dance, a new piece of music, and our visual art exhibits running for the whole eight weeks -- more guests throughout the region can take part in the festival.” Luckily there’s enough to see that you can duck into a gallery Downtown to avoid the rain while you wait for the night’s two main attractions: the Beyond installation and the Manifold projection show. Beyond, which is performed Wednesday-Sunday through October 26, looks like a rectangular industrial box sitting in a lot at the corner of 8th Street and Penn Ave. But, if you wait until nightfall, it will look like someone jammed a nightclub laser light show inside a long haul shipping container. “What we’re hearing is people saying that Beyond is the Duck of this year’s Festival,” Shiller said. A 2017 project from Spanish audiovisual research studio Playmodes, Beyond is an audio and visual show that lasts for nearly five minutes. In that time, the audience is encompassed by light and sound that is reminiscent of alien films such as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the atmospheric score of “Blade Runner,” the red radar blips of undersea submarines, and the simple, digital drum BWAAAAAAM made famous by the film “Inception.” Eloi Maduell, the CEO of Playmodes, says he was excited for the USA premiere of Beyond in Pittsburgh, after already touring it through parts of Europe.
“As we work with very elemental and abstract tools, as sound, light and space we think that our pieces are valuable for any kind of audience,” he said. “We base a lot of our work in our own research into visual and sound perception in a very low level, before culture and knowledge, so that is why we think that it's possible that any human being might be able to have a nice experience in our pieces.” ■■■ When you try to put the experience into words, the results are interesting. Rebecca Groves, a student from Carnegie Mellon University, gave it her best try. “It was cool, it kind of made me feel physically uncomfortable in an interesting way,” she says. “It felt like, you know when someone whispers behind your back, like right behind you and it makes your back spasm? It felt like a brain massage, like little things are prickling in your brain, going back and forth.” Shiller had his own own interpretation of Beyond saying that it “honors the past, while looking towards the future.” “The outside of the structure is made out of construction material — it’s scaffold, it’s steel, it’s metal, it’s construction barricade — it very much is reminiscent, for me, what the world thinks about the classic, the traditional, the old-school Pittsburgh,” he says. “And then inside the tunnel is modern Pittsburgh, it’s LED state of the art, it’s creative energy, it’s encompassing music, it’s art, it’s culture, it is using computer science to fool the mind, and CONTINUED
FRIDAY, OCT. 12 AT 8:00 P.M. SATURDAY, OCT. 13 AT 8:00 P.M. SUNDAY, OCT. 14 AT 2:30 P.M.
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HEINZ HALL Sarah Hicks, conductor The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, [Ryan Keeling, Assistant Conductor] Sandy Cameron, violin • William Mueller, boy soprano Danny Elfman’s spine-tingling scores for films of Tim Burton come to Heinz Hall. Performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and just in time for Halloween! Batman, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas and more!
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SATURDAY, OCT. 20 AT 8:00 P.M. HEINZ HALL
Thomas W. Douglas, conductor Tony-winner, Grammy-winner, star of Hamilton and Carnegie Mellon graduate: Leslie Odom, Jr. returns to Pittsburgh! CMU faculty member Thomas W. Douglas, who was Mr. Odom’s voice teacher at CMU, will conduct the performance. Enjoy an evening of story and song, with showstoppers from Broadway, beloved standards, and much more. “Deft, stylish and charismatic,” says The New York Times.
PHOTO CREDIT: NATHAN JOHNSON
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FRIDAY, OCT. 26 AT 8:00 P.M. SUNDAY, OCT. 28 AT 2:30 P.M. HEINZ HALL
Pablo Heras-Casado, conductor Maximilian Hornung, cello
Passion. Depth. Flair. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra dives into the lush melodies of Russia’s most famous composers with RimskyKorsakov’s Capriccio espagnol, Tchaikovsky’s folkloric Symphony No. 1 “Winter Dreams” and Shostakovich’s fiery Cello Concerto No. 1.
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ARTS CONTINUED FROM 23
to take you on a visual journey. And that for me represents what Pittsburgh is trying to become. And so here in a piece of art we have old Pittsburgh reflected and new Pittsburgh reflected and I think that is incredibly uplifting and hopeful.” After the rain gives up for the night, it’s time for the late premiere of the Manifold projection show. Manifold is the latest work from Spanish artist Filip Roca, with an accompanying original score written by Chinese composer Wang Lu and performed by an orchestra made up of musicians from all over Pittsburgh. Besides the announcements over the speaker, the real sign that Manifold is about to start is the dimming of the brilliant Benedum Center
And so here in a piece of art we have old Pittsburgh reflected and new Pittsburgh reflected and I think that is incredibly uplifting and hopeful.”
marquee. What transpires is hard to describe. But,Andrew DeBroeck, a 29-year-old church musician and public librarian from New Stanton, gave it a shot. “The music had a throbbing power to it that went very well with the visuals that kept you engaged in both simultaneously,” he said. “The erratic atonal parts that they were doing also matched this kind of discordant,
24 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
uncomfortable, almost, art that was projected. “There was just constant motion and I would say there was a lot of tension that built which I think is important that there’s tension and it kind of left you wanting more of a resolution. But there’s power in leaving you hanging.” Groves latched onto the building aspect of the projection.
“I felt like there was a lot of building and then falling apart and then rebuilding. ‘Cause it’s on a building so maybe that was a theme was the construction and decay?” She’s not far off, as Shiller explains. “Here you have the iconic Benedum center, formerly The Stanley, an icon of arts and culture in Pittsburgh, but always the performances are inside,” he said. “The idea that the building itself could take on and become part of the performance is really unique. You think about the decades of art that was created inside and throughout the projection the idea that the building actually opened up this portal in space and time and you had all of this creative energy pouring out onto the marquee and onto the facade, was a great idea and collaboration between all of the artists involved.”
ARTS
Warhol Museum Draws Parallels with Devan Shimoyama’s ‘Cry, Baby’ Amanda Reed PITTSBURGH CURRENT STAFF WRITER amanda@pittsburghcurrent.com Jessica Beck, Milton Fine curator of art at the Andy Warhol Museum, has three reasons why she wanted to bring Devan Shimoyama’s work to the Warhol after a studio visit with the artist two years ago. “One, Devan is an extraordinary painter, two, it’s a really unique subject matter and, three, it had a really strong connection to INFO Warhol’s legacy of pop, identity politics and also drag culture, specifically Cry, Baby. Through his 1974 to 1975 series he created March 17. $10-$20 called “Ladies and Gentleman” of (Free for members). drag queens and trans women in New 117 Sandusky St., York,” she says. The Warhol Museum presents ShiNorth Shore. www. moyama’s first solo museum exhibition warhol.org with “Cry, Baby,” which opens Oct. 13 and runs through March 17, 2019. Shimoyama is currently the Cooper-Siegel Assistant Professor of Art in the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University and was named the winner of the PULSE Prize at PULSE Miami Beach in 2016. “Cry, Baby” uses self-portraiture to challenge contemporary views of African American masculinity and boyhood, turning a typically hyper-masculine social space into a queer fantasy with floral capes, glittery hair and skin in shades of green, gold and fiery red. This creates two worlds, according to Beck: a queer reimagining of an African American barbershop and a fantastic utopia. “There’s a lot of challenging going around with what race looks like and can look like and that it doesn’t conform to societal standards of what race should look like,” she says. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog that includes essays by Beck, Alex Fialho, Programs Director at Visual AIDS, and Rickey Laurentiis, poet and resident at the University of Pittsburgh, and an interview with Shimoyama by Emily Colucci, a writer, curator and co-founder of Filthy Dreams, a blog analyzing art and culture through a queer lens. According to Beck, the decision to include younger voices in the catalog was deliberate. “Devan’s work is so reflective of the times we’re living in right now and reflective of the contemporary conversation around identity and youth culture right now and I wanted the writers to reflect that,” she says.
A self--portrait from ‘Cry, Baby,’ an exhibit by Devan Shimoyama.
On top of that, Beck says the exhibition continues Warhol’s legacy of presenting contemporary themes and influencing—and being inspired by— pop and youth culture. “Part of [Warhol’s] legacy is that he was always in touch with his current moment and he was always in touch with younger artists. It would be only fitting that the museum should reflect that,” she says.
According to Beck, she knew instantly that she wanted to present Shimoyama’s work at the Warhol after that casual studio visit two years ago. In this case, the risk was worth taking. “It’s not often that you have a larger institution in a smaller city that wants to take a chance on an emerging artist that isn’t necessarily known by the broader art world, but this I think is a moment where that chance has paid off,” she says. PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 25
ARTS
‘The Sessions Upstairs’ Series Pushes Limits
A powerful and poetic chronicle of injustice that exposes the cracks in our education system.
OCT. 27 – NOV. 18, 2018
Amanda Reed PITTSBURGH CURRENT STAFF WRITER amanda@pittsburghcurrent.com
BY DOMINIQUE MORISSEAU DIRECTED BY
REGINALD L. DOUGLAS
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MAKEITNOW: PUMPKINS
OCT. 26 + NOV. 18 www.pittsburghglasscenter.org 412-365-2145 26 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
Pearlann Porter, co-artistic director of The Space Upstairs, a dance incubator in Point Breeze, asks a lot of questions about what it means to perform. “If you invite people into your house, and you’re creating what you create, and you’re welcoming them and you address them and you talk to them, is that a performance?” she says. With “The Sessions Upstairs,” a monthly event beginning Oct. 13 at 8 p.m., Porter hopes to address these INFO questions through a night of what The Sessions she calls “post-jazz Upstairs. 8 p.m. dance,” which em$12. 214 North phasises improvisation reminiscent of Lexington St., jazz music. Point Breeze. “It really blurs www.thespacethe line of ‘what is upstairs.org a performance,’ and ‘what is performing?’” she says. “Every session has an agenda, and this session’s agenda is just starting the beginnings of experimenting with this idea that John [Lambert, Porter’s partner and co-artistic director of The Space Upstairs] and I have of creating a new American jazz dance and it’s this improvisational post-jazz method that we employ.” According to Porter, this experiment also includes lighting, color, confessional-like spoken word and mu-
sic. All of this, she says, is to explore a new level of vulnerability in The Pillow Project’s—Porter and Lambert’s dance company that calls The Space Upstairs its home—work after organizing a similar event called “Second Saturdays,” which influenced what would become The Sessions Upstairs. “You’d come to like this big living room setting at the Space Upstairs, and these events of live dance and live music would just kind of partner and play with each other and people could come and go as they please,” she says. “It was a way to reveal our process.” Porter says that, eventually, after 10 years of putting on Second Saturdays, it got easy and she and Lambert yearned for more. “I wanted it to be hard again. I wanted it to really challenge us and bring our work into the next place,” she says. So, after retiring Second Saturdays from a monthly event to a “special oneoff happening,” Porter and Lambert created the Sessions Upstairs to show their creative process in a new way. “Me and my partner together, we wanted to push ourselves to a different vulnerability, a different way to create intimacy at our events,” she says. Porter says that the Sessions Upstairs scale down the feeling from Second Saturdays, which people eventually believed were deliberate, choreographed works instead of organic, on-the-spot creations. “It’s not really about being a performance, it’s about being an experience, and you’re getting a chance to see that a little more up close, a little more explic-
ARTS The Space Upstairs, a dance incubator in Point Breeze, will begin a monthly series called ‘The Sessions Upstairs.’
itly and it kind of takes everything into a much smaller moment from Second Saturdays, which became these great big happenings,” she says. The Sessions Upstairs not only helps Porter and her dance company
grow, but also helps its audience see life in a new lens. “It might help them look at things in a different way next time they see something, not even just [something of] ours, thinking the thoughts that
go behind something and the process of creating and organizing something together,” Porter says. Although The Sessions Upstairs doesn’t definitely answer the question of “what is performance,” Porter says
that the event gets at the heart of what The Space Upstairs is about. “The Sessions is going to be a complete representation of where we’re at and what we talk about every day,” she says.
SEP 14 – OCT 27
Gallery Hours: 11:00am–7:00pm, Tuesday-Saturday AAP EXHIBITION SPACE IN THE SOUTHSIDE WORKS
AAPGH.ORG PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 27
LITERARY
Author Sherrie Flick’s short stories are big on reader collaboration By Jody DiPerna PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER jody@pittsburghcurrent.com A naked man walks forlornly through a sleeping town. A young woman mentally toggles between two unsatisfying relationships. A tailor delivers suits, espresso and comfort to beleaguered office workers from the back of a worn van. A manipulative narcissist throws a dinner party. A divorced woman negotiates her new reality with little success. And a man tries to bake his way to healing. These are just a few of the people who populate Thank Your Lucky Stars, the newest collection of short stories by South Sherrie Flick and Side resident Maria Romasco Moore Sherrie Flick, just released by will read at White Autumn House Whale Bookstore, Press. 4754 Liberty Avenue, An early adopter of on October 19th at the form of 7:00 pm. flash-fiction, Flick has mastered it since she first started toying with the genre in the 1980's. The economy it requires interests her, as well as the engagement of the reader. In a short piece, sometimes just a few paragraphs, the writer and reader are doing a dance together which requires the reader to participate. The form uses negative space and can demand that the reader use the time and space
afforded to process the emotions and ideas of a piece. "There is something, I think an inherent agreement in this form, that you have a contract with the reader. So a setting, for instance, is suggested. And the reader is, in a way, filling that in in his or her head to go forward in the story,” Flick says. “Some people who have read the stories and then go back. They forget how short they are. When they remember them, they're much longer, because they've filled it in." For both the writer and the reader, it is a creative challenge. How does the writer create a whole little world in 300 words? Or even 1,200 words? And how does the reader fill in around that? What does the reader bring to the table? It's not just a writing exercise. As always, Flick writes prose with the thrift of a poet, creating a populated world in a sentence or two. From the first story in the collection, How I Left Ned, she demonstrates her keen eye for the magnificence of the quotidian: "I thought about Ned, about his organic lentils and his rice cakes. About his fat content and antioxidant obsession, about his juicer. I thought about Ned spooning exactly one level teaspoon of nonfat sour cream onto his microwaved baked potato every Wednesday night as a special treat." This collection is a mix of both short and longer works. They are bittersweet and disquieting; others turn dark and creepy faster than you can say, 'Flannery O'Connor.' Mostly, they explore the darkest, most alone corners of our souls. In Lenny the Suit Man, a man gives in to the hopelessness and failure he feels after a breakup: "I spent the last two nights listening to old country music. It's what I do under duress. The Patsy Cline cassette tape has started to stretch with all the
28 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
repeated playing and threw a highpitched whine this morning while I was in the shower. After work, I'm buying a new one." In addition to this new collection, Flick is the author of the novel Reconsidering Happiness (2009) and the short story collection, Whiskey, Etc. (2016.) She serves as series editor for The Best Small Fictions 2018. She also teaches at Chatham University, both creative writing and in the Food Studies Department, and working with students who are doing things like starting fermentation clubs provides her with a nice change of pace from writing. But with Flick, her happy place will always come back to those moments
when she can sit in her kitchen and write, explore these weird little worlds, the nooks and crannies which rarely see the light of day. Lonely people, heartbroken people, misguided people, struggling parents, difficult children, difficult adults, gritty people and peripatetic souls come to life under Flick's watchful talents. Some reviews have described this collection as optimistic or hopeful. "I thought they were dark and weird," she said, laughing at the notion. "That's kind of warped. But we live in a warped world right now. So, maybe they are hopeful, in connection with the apocalyptic state we are in. I mean, these people are all trying."
4.625”w x 4.875” QPV Frick Isabelle de Borchgrave The Current Oct 9 2018
OCT. 13, 2018 – JAN. 6, 2019 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
ARTS
ARTNOIR guide to Pittsburgh celebrates the small spaces By Bethany Ruhe PITTSBURGH CURRENT ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER bethany@pittsburghcurrent.com The Carnegie International might be located in Pittsburgh, but it draws people from all over the world. The artists alone hail from Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, the Middle East, and of course, all over the U.S., so it’s not a surprise that during the 5-month run there are going to be a lot of people heading to Pittsburgh, many for the first time. And with 32 artists presenting their art in a variety of mediums and over multiple locations, over the span of months, even a dyedin-the-wool Yinzer could get a little overwhelmed. Kilolo Luckett, acting curator at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, and Jose Diaz, chief curator at The Andy Warhol Museum, knew the Carnegie International presented a unique opportunity to highlight not just the International but the entire city and its bustling creative ecosystem. They established a committee to help advise on the creation of a guide, pulled from all corners of Pittsburgh arts and culture, with representation from Carnegie Museum of Art, Center for African American Poetry, Contemporary Craft, Silver Eye Center for Photography, and City of Asylum. Knowing that they wanted to create a way for visitors to self-curate an amazing Pittsburgh experience, they partnered with ARTNOIR to help make it a reality. ARTNOIR is a global collection of creatives and culturists who help build and design experiences so that people, regardless of where they fall on the art spectrum, can fully experience, enjoy, and engage in all aspects of a city during high-profile, arts-driven events. Pittsburgh Current is the official
media partner of the ARTNOIR guide to Pittsburgh. The 20-page supplement can be found in this issue and in other locations around town. ARTNOIR began as a small group of friends who wanted to make art more accessible and became, over time, a board of seven with a networking group in the thousands. Larry Ossei-Mensah, senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, leads ARTNOIR as they assist events like Art Basel Miami Beach and Carnegie International in maximizing visitor experiences. Events like the International can also act as a ‘Trojan Horse’ of sorts, according to Ossei-Mensah. There is such a high interest in events like these, and the opportunity to expose people to the arts that would otherwise never engage, so “you seduce them in with candy, bring them in with art.” The challenge was creating a piece that appealed to visitors and locals, art-lovers and newbies alike. Working together with Luckett, Diaz, and their team, The Official ARTNOIR Guide To Pittsburgh for 57th Carnegie International (henceforth called The Guide) was forged. The Guide is designed to help visitors whether they are from Bologna or Blawnox. Luckett views it as “the opportunity to discover off-the-beaten path gems and to get to know the heartbeat of Pittsburgh. Whether you're staying in Oakland, East Liberty, or near the Carnegie Museum of Art, you're only a few minutes drive to Garfield to visit Bunker Projects, BOOM Concepts and Silver Eye Center for Photography or enjoy a delicious meal at Soju or Apteka, all of which are independently owned.” Which is exactly the point, says Ossei-Mensah, “It’s good to get people interested, but if they feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, you
SATURDAY OCT. 27
could lose them.” By picking a place on The Guide as a starting place, a visitor can map out an experience that transcends the International and begins to celebrate not only the go-tos of a big city, but also, as Ossei-Mensah puts it, “celebrates the small spaces.” The Guide will also have an online component that will be updated throughout the International and a Google map that will be accessible from your smartphone. The Warhol’s Diaz thinks that that The Guide will also function as a billboard of sorts. “I'm hopeful visitors will find Pittsburgh to be a vibrant city and go home with a positive experience.”
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Gallery Hours: Thursdays 2-7pm, Fridays 11-4pm, Saturdays 11-4pm, and by appointment
PRESENTED BY JEFFREY JARZYNKA www.zynka-arts.com
THE BREWHOUSE GALLERY | 711 S 21ST STREET | PITTSBURGH | 15203 PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 29
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poetic. license.
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If you attend a Quantum Theatre performance of “Chatterton,” you won’t just watch the show. You’ll be immersed in it. You will, literally, have it for dinner.
”
– Kristy Locklin, NEXTpittsburgh
Sept.14 – Oct.28 Staged at Trinity Cathedral, Downtown A World Premiere Theatrical Experience including dinner by the celebrity chef of the week Based on the book by Peter Ackroyd • Directed by Karla Boos
Q theater that moves you.
Quantum Theatre
PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 30
THE OFFICIAL ARTNOIR
FO R CA R N E G I E I N T E R N AT I O N A L . 5 7 T H E D I T I O N .
# G U I D E TO P G H
2018
WELCOME TO PITTSBURGH, Every four or five years, the Carnegie Museum of Art mounts the Carnegie International, the longest-running international sur vey of contemporary art in America. The 57th edition of this recurring exhibition transforms the museum with ambitious works by 32 artists and art collectives. Each International allows us to take stock of the current state of contemporary art in our world. It also shines a spotlight on our rapidly changing cit y where a diverse community of artists, curators, cultural producers, and entrepreneurs thrive. We are thrilled to partner with Pittsburgh’s August Wilson Center and ARTNOIR, a global collective committed to amplif ying the work of diverse creative communities, to help that spotlight shine even brighter. In your hands, you hold The Official ARTNOIR Guide to Pittsburgh for the Carnegie
International, 57th Edition, 2018 , a curated compendium that samples the artistic richness of the Pittsburgh community and our region here and now. We hope you—visitors and residents alike—will browse it, share it, like it, and keep it , but above all we hope you will use it during this International season to rediscover and explore our fair cit y of Pittsburgh!
Sincerely, Kilolo Luckett, African American Cultural Center - August Wilson Center José Diaz, The Andy Warhol Museum with Eric Crosby, Carnegie Museum of Art Rickey Laurentiis, Center for African American Poetry Kate Lydon, Contemporary Craft David Oresick, Silver Eye Center for Photography Diane Samuels, City of Asylum
The latest edition of the Carnegie International has arrived, so ARTNOIR is jetting off to the Steel City for another stop on the biennial tour. A host of exhibitions, performances, lectures and parties are scheduled to shore up a transformative experience filled with debate, discovery, and debauchery. Pittsburgh, home to The International from its start in 1896, serves as the cultural backdrop: industrialist grit against seductive hills surrounded by rivers and a grip of supremely engineered bridges. It’s a town known to reinvent itself— from farming to iron and steel, and now biotech— abetted by the fresh energy of homecoming locals and a growing creative class. Whether you’re a rookie or a vet when it comes to this biennial life, we’ve got the best of what sets Pittsburgh apart . Thank us later!
Sincerely, ARTNOIR
When it comes to art , music, and culture, Pittsburgh is not new to this. The International is one of the oldest recurring exhibitions in the world— second only to the Venice Biennial and only by a few
S
incubators, and artist-run galleries have emerged every dec ade since
& FAIRS
and hold their weight against the major institutions and universities
HIBITIO EX
S N
& FAIRS
HIBITIO N EX
months. That’s a century old receipt . Now, alternative spaces, creative
built by the industrialist magnates of yesteryear (think the Carnegies, Mellons and Fricks). Plus, there’s no shortage of talent born in this town— August Wilson, Andy Warhol, Romare B earden, Wiz Khalifa, and the late Mac Miller to name a few. The City of Champions, indeed. They say you can’t see every thing, so here’s what we recommend.
THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF ART
AUGUST WILSON CENTER
4400 Forbes Ave | Oakland
980 Liberty Ave | Downtown
EXHIBITION: Presenting the Carnegie International. Opens
EXHIBITION: Familiar Boundaries. Infinite Possibilities a group
10/13/18, on view until 3/25/19. The biennial features a
exhibition of regional, national, and international contemporary
plethora of some of the world’s most exciting artists like
artists, draws from themes that question society’s obsession with
El Anatsui, Kerry James Marshall, Huma Bhabha, Lynette
tradition, policing, consumption, and indulgence. October 12, 2018-
Yiadom–B oakye and many more.
March 24, 2019. Private preview reception 10/11/18 from 5:30pm -
PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS: Artists Cristóbal Martínez
10:00pm; Sean Jones: Suite for Flying Girls 12/12/18 @ 8:00pm.
and Kade Twist of Postcommodit y lead the evening with a discussion about the complexities of creating visual language and narrative around issues that challenge us today. Event takes place on 11/1/18 @ 6:30pm – 10 pm.
CONTEMPORARY CRAFT 2100 Smallman St | Strip District
MATTRESS FACTORY
EXHIBITION: Handiwork: Kim Fox, features a selection of quilts that highlights the influence of the patterns and landsc apes of Pittsburgh. Exhibition currently on view until 1/5/19.
500 Sampsonia Way | Northside EXHIBITION: Artists-in-Residence featuring individual installations from William Earl Kofmehl III, Laleh Mehran, OSGEMEOS, Karina Smigla-B obinski, and Christina A . West.
WOOD STREET GALLERIES
Exhibition currently on view until 8/4/19.
601 Wood St | Downtown EXHIBITION: Nonotak Studio, a collaboration bet ween
ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM 117 Sandusky St | North Shore
visual artist Noemi Schipfer and the architect/musician Takami Nakamoto will present a new version of narrow. V3 and US debut of their piece Daydream V.5. Exhibition currently on view until 12/31/18.
EXHIBITION: The Warhol Museum presents the first solo exhibition by visual artist Devan Shimoyama. On view from 10/13/18 to 3/17/19.
CITY OF ASYLUM 40 W North Ave | Northside
THE FRICK PITTSBURGH 7227 Reynolds St | Point Breeze EXHIBITION: Isabelle de Borchgrave: Fashioning Art from Paper. From replicas of Renaissance Italian gowns to recreations of the fantastical modernist costumes
EVENT: Reading and Q&A with Somali writer Nuruddin Farah,
of Les Ballet Russes, Isabelle de B orchgrave’s work is
presented by Paul A. Bové and Boundary 2. The event will be held
meticulously crafted and astonishingly beautiful. The
on 11/1/18 @ 7pm -8:30pm.
exhibition runs from 10/13/18 to 01/06/19.
ASSOCIATED ARTISTS OF PITTSBURGH FrameHouse & Jask Gallery 100 43rd St | Lawrenceville EXHIBITION: The End is a show juried and curated by Fred Blauth and features the work of A AP members John Belue, Zachary Brown, Kathleen Kase Burk, Seth Clark, Tyler Gaston, Gil Gorski, Seth LeDonne, Adam Linn, Tracey Parker, Aaron Regal, David Stanger, Su Su, Zachariah Szabo, William D. Wade Lauren Wilcox. The exhibition runs from 10/4/18 to 10/27/18.
MANCHESTER CRAFTSMEN’S GUILD 1815 Metropolitan St | Northside EXHIBITION: Frank & Bill highlight the relationship of Bill Strickland, founder and Executive Chairman of Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, and Frank Ross, his ceramic teacher and mentor. The exhibition runs from 10/15/18 to 12/31/18. Opening public reception: 10/18/18 @ 6pm-8pm.
WESTMORELAND MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART 221 N Main St | Greensburg, PA EXHIBITION: Artists Who Teach - Southwestern Pennsylvania is home to numerous colleges and universities that offer the study of studio art and it is practicing artists who are hired to teach these classes. This exhibition, inspired by their 2011 exhibition, They Practice What They Teach: Artist Faculty of Carnegie Institute of Technology, 1920-1950, helps to continue the story of past artist teachers who set the stage for this generation’s impact on future students. The exhibition runs from 08/25/18 to 11/28/18.
SILVER EYE CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY 4808 Penn Ave | Bloomfield EXHIBITION: Two photography exhibits with Hannah Price: Semaphore and Andre Bradley: Family System Theory. B oth exhibitions currentily on view until 11/17/18.
THE BLACK ECSTATIC PRESENTED BY CENTER FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN P OETRY & POETICS
Frick Fine Arts Auditorium 650 Schenley Drive | Oakland
PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER 5472 Penn Ave | East Liberty EXHIBITION: A new exhibition by Seattle glass artist Kelly O’Dell is currently on view until 01/22/19.
EVENT: Three contemporary black poets, Airea D. Matthews, Roger Reeves, and Safiya Sinclair, and interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker Jamal T. Lewis will consider how “the ecstatic”
THE CLEMENTE MUSEUM
functions in their artistic work, their language, politics and even their personal lives, followed by a discussion by Rickey Laurentiis. This event is in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Museum and Devan Shimoyama: Cry, Baby exhibition, curated by Jessic a Beck. The event will be held on 10/25/18 @ 7pm.
MILLER - ICA 5000 Forbes Ave | Oakland EXHIBITION: Paradox: The B ody in the Age curated by Elizabeth Chodos. This exhibition explores the primacy of the human body as it’s poised on the precipice of a potential fusion with artificial intelligence. On view until 02/3/19. EVENT: Salon Discussion lead by Dana Bishop-Root who is an artist living and working in Braddock, PA . The event is on 11/8/18 @ 6pm-8pm.
PITTSBURGH CENTER FOR THE ARTS 6300 Fifth Ave | Shadyside EXHIBITIONS: 2018 Artist of the Year: Atticus Adams There’s A Pink Poodle In My Arc adia. 2018 Emerging Artist of the Year: Njaimeh Njie - On the Daily. Both exhibitions currently on view until 11/4/18.
3339 Penn Ave | Strip District TIP: The museum is dedicated to preser ving the legacy of legendary Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Clemente.
FALLINGWATER 1491 Mill Run Rd | Mill Run, PA EXHIBITION: “Act Like It, Waterproof Shelf,” an installation by Jessi Reaves, will be installed at Fallingwater throughout the Carnegie International. This sculptural work was inspired by Reaves’ participation in the artist-in-residency program.
Choosing a spot for a coffee or a cocktail with colleagues or a quick bite while exhibition hopping can be tough with all the options P GH is putting up. Rivaling the infamous sports bars, a gang of innovative restaurants have sprung up throughout the city ’s 90 neighborhoods
DINING UE
next lunch meeting in Lawrenceville or wax poetic over craft beers in East Libert y. On the mornings you need a pick me up from last night’s
QUE DIN NI U
G IN
UNIQU E
G NIN UNIQ I D
in the last decade. Trade in all-you-can-eat buffalo wings during your
part y, throw back a shot of espresso at one of the Italian bakeries in neighboring Bloomfield. Just in search of some comfort food? Don’t trip. Local stalwarts still serve their mouthwatering perogies and cheesesteaks to die-hard fans every day of the week. Trust, you can’t go wrong with these spots and the foodie in you will agree.
BREAKFAST
PIE FOR BREAKFAST
LUNCH
COCA CAFE
PAMELA’S
200 N Craig St | North Oakland
3811 Butler St | Lawrenceville
Multiple Locations
TIP: Easy on the wallet
TIP: Great brunch spot with
TIP: Obama loved the panc akes so much
awesome vegan options
he called on the staff to cook the
PRIMANTI BROS
SMOKE
Multiple Locations
4115 Butler St | Lawrenceville
BITTER ENDS GARDEN LUNCHEONETTE
TIP: Home of Pittsburgh’s Legendary
TIP: So many delicious tacos on the menu
4613 Liberty Ave | Bloomfield
White House Memorial Day breakfast.
Sandwich
TIP: We love the antique mugs and
DINNER
the mash potatoes are thebomb.com
DINETTE
SOJU
OR, THE WHALE
5996 Centre Ave | East Liberty
4923 Penn Ave | Garfield
463 Blvd of the Allies | Downtown
TIP: A special place for all the pizza lovers
TIP: A new culinary hotspot
TIP: Inside Distrikt Hotel Pittsburgh
SUGAR & SMOKE
POINT BRUGGE
4428 Liberty Ave | Bloomfield
401 Hastings St | Point Breeze
TAIWANESE BISTRO CAFE 33
TIP: Did someone say chicken and waffles?
TIP: Get the crab cakes and mussels
1711 Shady Ave | Squirrel Hill
DRINKS
TIP: BYOB
APTEKA
KAYA
4606 Penn Ave | Garfield
2000 Smallman St | Strip District
TIP: Vegan, open late
TIP: Food from The Islands
BUTCHER AND THE RYE
HIDDEN HARBOR
BRILLOBOX
212 Sixth St | Downtown
1708 Shady Ave | Squirrel Hill
4104 Penn Ave | Bloomfield
TIP: Have you ever had Buttermilk Fried
TIP: Ask the bartender for the Tokyo Drift
TIP: Multipurpose space that always has
Rabbit? There is a first time for everything.
UMAMI 202 38th St | Lawrenceville TIP: The Shochu Cocktail is one of our favorites
ROUND CORNER CANTINA
events and parties going on
3720 Butler St | Lawrenceville
5801
TIP: The perfect happy hour spot
5801 Ellsworth Ave | Shadyside
ARSENAL CIDER
TIP: Great happy hour 6-8pm daily. Cheers!
300 39th St | Lawrenceville TIP: One of the best in the city for hand-crafted cider
PERR
It’s time to get to know Pittsburgh, home of The International! As we mark the opening of this year ’s edition, of one of the world’s most prestigious biennials , ARTNOIR is here to help you get oriented with Pittsburgh in order to really experience all the city has to offer during your visit — all the must-see sites, venues, and neighborhoods waiting to be discovered by you. Let us be your one-stop guide as we highlight some of the incredible artistic experiences taking place in the Steel City . We’ve linked our favorite places in a Google Map for you to have at your fingertips. Visit goo.gl/4xF6B2 for access.
UT Y SO
H
What’s a biennial without a few really good parties? Sure, there will be TONS of art to see, but if The International marks your first trip to the Steel City , you’ll want to save energy for the night time fetes—where the real deals go down. You know what they say: all work and no play simply makes you a bore. open late every Thursday for your viewing pleasure and that’s not all the city
ENTS EV
has to offer after sunset. Dance the night away in the Strip District, discover
RTIES & PA
ENTS EV
RTIES & PA
Throughout the duration of The International, the Carnegie Museum of Art is
your new favorite band as the city’s popular night market winds down for the season, and most importantly, make sure you have fun with DJ King Marie. Of course, we can’t all be night owls, so we’ve shared a plethora of bars, restaurants, lectures and performances if you are looking to change up the pace. You won’t be disappointed with our suggestions!
GOLDMINE
HOTMASS
3551 Melwood Ave | Polish Hill
1139 Penn Ave | Strip District
TIP: Art gallery in the front room of David Oresick and Deanna
TIP: Prepare for a 7am turn-up. The best after-hours in P GH.
Mance’s house. Their floor is grouted with golden glitter.
KELLY STRAYHORN THEATER 5941 Penn Ave | East Liberty
WORKSHOP PGH 5135 Penn Ave | Garfield TIP: Great for cool DIY classes
EVENT: International Symposium: Join the conversation as 20 PGH-based research fellows consider the meaning of “international” w/ perspectives from local to global on 10/20/18 @ 8pm.
ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM
PDP NIGHT MARKETS Market Square | Downtown TIP: Cool Like Dat ft. local artists in collaboration with
PRESENTS “SHADE COMP OSITIONS”
BOOM Concepts on 10/13/18 from 5pm - 10pm.
CO-PRESENTED WITH PEARL ARTS STUDIOS
Carnegie Music Hall of Oakland | 4400 Forbes Ave EVENT: Rashaad Newsome will make his Pittsburgh debut of his “Shade Compositions” performance on 12/12/18 @ 8pm. Organized
THE WARHOL THEATER
by Jessica Beck, the Milton Fine Curator of Art at The Andy Warhol
117 Sandusky Street | North Shore
Museum in conjunction with the exhibition Devan Shimoyama: Cry, Baby.
EVENT: Shop Talk: Kleaver Cruz and Devan Shimoyama discuss Black Joy, Masculinity, and Barbershops. Dance party in the
QUANTUM THEATRE
museum to follow with a live performance by Brendon Hawkins. The event takes place on 10/26/18 @ 7PM.
218 N Highland Ave | East Liberty EVENT: “Chatterton” is a world premiere performance based on the
THIRD THURSDAYS
book by Peter Ackroyd that invites mobile audiences into the secret spaces of Trinity Cathedral and features an intermission dinner by a rotating roster of local chefs. Event runs until 10/28/18.
Carnegie Museum of Art | Oakland TIP: The museum is open late on Thursdays for nighttime viewing.
BLUE MOON
On 10/18/18 there will be a special edition celebrating The International from 8pm - 11pm.
5115 Butler St | Lawrenceville TIP: Great daily Happy Hour from 7-9pm
NEW HAZLETT 6 Allegheny Square E | North Side TIP: Check out the CSA performance series
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE FUN Spirit, 242 51st St | Lawrenceville TIP: With DJ King Marie, DJ Bamboo & DJ FEMI. Party takes place 10/13/18 @ 10PM.
It’s always necessary to re-up after the long days and
ERE T WH
O
WIND UN
ERE T WH O
WIND UN
long nights of biennial hopping. In bet ween the spirited conversations and endless champagne, it’s important to stay hydrated and get your energy back. So, whether you’re of the fresh air and mountain bike set or predisposed to facials and foot rubs, here’s how to rest, rejuvenate, repeat in the Steel City .
ACE HOTEL
HOTEL MONACO
120 S Whitfield St | East Liberty
620 William Penn Place | Downtown
TIP: Hip place to hang, have a cocktail and people watch
TIP: Grab a drink at the rooftop bar
THE FAIRMONT
YOGAMOTIF
510 Market St | Downtown
124 S Highland Ave #210 | Shadyside
TIP: B ook a morning Pittsburgh Signature massage at the Spa
TIP: A truly unique wellness experience
URBAN ELEMENTS
DOBRA TEA
208 Federal St | Northside
1937 Murray Ave | Squirrel Hill
TIP: Try the bootc amp classes
TIP: A little hidden gem tea house
PRANTL’S BAKERY
ESPRESSO A MANO
Multiple Locations
3623 Butler Street | Lawrenceville
TIP: Most famous for its Burnt Almond Torte cake
TIP: Independent espresso bar with homemade pastries and sandwiches
LA GOURMANDINE 4605 Butler St | Lawrenceville TIP: Small French bakery selling pastries at a great price
NATURAL CHOICE BARBER SHOP 111 Meyran Ave | Oakland TIP: Nate Mitchell is your guy for fresh hairstyles + clean shape-ups
PITTSBURGH JUICE COMPANY 3418 Penn Ave | Lawrenceville TIP: The cold pressed juices are fantastic!
MILLIE’S HOMEMADE ICE CREAM 232 S Highland Ave | Shadyside TIP: Don’t let the long lines intimidate you. This ice cream is totally worth it!
I OPP NG S H
PI OP NG S H
PI OP NG S H
Looking for the perfect Pittsburgh gift to take home after the International? Don’t worry. We got you covered. If vintage shopping is your thing, you’ll want to visit Shadyside for a few loc al favs while shops in Lawrenceville offer goodies from a variety of artisans and makers. What better way to get to know a new city than by exploring the best of its local vendors and stores. No matter your budget, there’s a place for you. Trust us. Happy Shopping!
PING OP S H
SMALL MALL
SOCIAL STATUS
5300 Butler St | Lawrenceville
5929 Penn Ave | East Liberty
TIP: Concept shop and loc al arts marketplace - find art
TIP: This one is for the sneakerheads
and design objects. Great gift spot!
MAKE + MATTER 3711 Butler St | Lawrenceville
PHOENIX BOUTIQUE 3627 Butler St | Lawrenceville TIP: Great place to find women’s wear and jewelry
TIP: Collaborative studio and store, rotating designers each month
JERRY’S RECORDS CHOICES
2136 Murray Ave | Squirrel Hill
5416 Walnut St | Shadyside
TIP: An oasis for discovering amazing music
TIP: High end women’s wear in a curated gallery space
TRIM EON’S FASHION ANTIQUE 5850 Ellsworth Ave | Shadyside
5968 Baum Blvd | East Liberty TIP: High end men’s underwear, boxers, socks, and swimwear
TIP: Vintage, vintage, and more vintage
CITY OF ASYLUM BOOKSTORE PAVEMENT 3629 Butler St | Lawrenceville
40 W North Ave | North Side TIP: Cool independent bookstore
TIP: Great place to find items by loc al and indie designers
BRAMBLER BOUTIQUE LOVE, PITTSBURGH 3609 Butler St | Lawrenceville 301 Shiloh St
| Mt Washington
TIP: A place to support local artists and makers
TIP: Lifestyle shop for kids, toddlers, and families
If you think you know all there is to Pittsburgh, think again. Even with its share of world renowned cultural institutions, the city is equally as full of small gems and less referenced wonders that are worth your time. Feel like exploring the paths less traveled? Take a break from the big crowds and spend time among the flora and fauna for a
P EN ATH AT
THE B FF E O
the cit y ’s highest peaks and let the views take your breath away. And
F THE B E OF
PATH EN T A
relaxing autumn adventure. Or better yet, grab a friend and climb to even with The International as the main attraction, you’ll still want to find time to visit the smaller art spaces that have become community staples in the cit y—learn how to letterpress a broadside or arrange to privately view the work of Pittsburgh’s most dynamic artists. A little adventure never hurt anyone! Here’s a taste of what we recommend:
BOOM CONCEPTS
SPACES CORNERS
5139 Penn Ave | Garfield
1721 Lowrie St | Troy Hill
TIP: A space for communit y projects, workshops, and exhibitions
TIP: A beautifully curated space to engage the public on art and photography
BUNKER PROJECTS 5106 Penn Ave | Garfield
TROY HILL HOUSES
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE: Shikeith & Brendan Hawkins
Multiple Locations
EXHIBITING ARTIST: Between the Line, a solo exhibition featuring
TIP: La Hütte Royal by Thorsten Brinkmann and Kunzhaus
visual artist Su Su and curated by Founding Director Jessie Rommelt.
by Robert Kusmirowski) are open to the public but by appointment only.
FLOWERHOUSE
ZYNKA ARTS
766 Penn Ave | Wilkinsburg EXHIBITION: “Susu”, is an exhibition from artists of color
PRESENTS BACH AT THE BREWHOUSE - BEYOND THE FARM
leveraging their creative power, adding their work into a cultural
711 S 21st St | Southside
pot of Pittsburgh for community gain. Opening night, 10/11/18 @7pm. Artist Talk: 11/7/18 @ 7pm.
EXHIBITION: Rick Bach returns to Pittsburgh for a solo exhibition of new works - paintings, drawings, and sculptures. This exhibition is on view until 11/2/18.
DUQUESNE INCLINE 1197 W Carson St | South Side TIP: Ride in the original c ars from 187 7 and experience a spectacular panoramic views of Pittsburgh.
G1 | CW 4106 Howley St | Bloomfield EXHIBITION: “Painting”, Curated by Tara Fay Coleman featuring new works by Jamie Earnest, Su Su Kanemoto, Naomi Walker,
RANDYLAND 1501 Arch St | Northside TIP: Say hello to Randy when you get there. He is filled with tons of amazing stories about Pittsburgh.
and Crystal Latimer. Exhibition currently on view until 10/28/18.
KENTUCK KNOB 723 Kentuck Rd | Chalkhill, PA TIP: A trip to see this architectural mar vel outside of Pittsburgh
PHIPPS CONSERVATORY One Schenley Park | Oakland TIP: Be sure to check out the Fall Flower Show: 125 years of wonder
should be at the top of your activity list. Kentuck Knob is one of the last homes designed by the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright.
DESIGNED BY Emily Kapsner
WRITTEN BY Courtney Willis Blair and Jessica Lynne
THANK YOU Special thank you to Kilolo Luckett and Jose Carlos Diaz for leading this effort, and the committee Eric Crosby, Rickey Laurentiis, Kate Lydon, David Oresick, and Diane Samuels for shaping the guide. Many thanks to Media Sponsor Pittsburgh Current The Official ARTNOIR Guide to Pittsburgh for the Carnegie International, 57th Edition, 2018 is generously supported by The Heinz Endowments and The Fine Foundation. ARTNOIR would like to give thanks to Thomas Agnew, Shawn Agyeman, Samuel C. Badger, Sean Beauford, Shikeith Cathy, Carolyn “CC” Concepcion, Carly Heywood, Dianna Loevner, Larry Ossei-Mensah, Chenits R. Pettigrew, and Geneva L. White for additional suggestions to the guide.
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These are the ones you remember forever
NEXT ON STAGE IN THE TUNNEL
WHAT’S THAT?
OCTOBER 11-13 AUGUST WILSON CENTER
OCTOBER 12 & 13 TRUST ARTS EDUCATION CENTER
TAGO:
KAROO MOOSE
DEBORAH COLKER DANCE
OCTOBER 13 BYHAM THEATER MIDNIGHT RADIO PRESENTS
MRS. KRISHNAN’S PARTY
OCTOBER 17-21 TRUST ARTS EDUCATION CENTER AYIKODANS
CRI DES NAGO
NO FATHERS
LARGER THAN LIFE
OCTOBER 18 BYHAM THEATER
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
LIBERATION
NOVEMBER 2-10 TRUST ARTS EDUCATION CENTER
NOVEMBER 3 BYHAM THEATER
NOVEMBER 2 & 3 AUGUST WILSON CENTER
KOREAN DRUM II
FRANKENSTEIN & KARATE MAN KIM
PRESENTED BY
PITTSBURGH JAZZ ORCHESTRA FEATURING SEAN JONES
NOVEMBER 6 GREER CABARET THEATER
412- 456- 6666 • BOX OFFICE AT THEATER SQUARE • GROUPS 10+ TICKETS 412- 471- 6930
TRUSTARTS.ORG/FIRSTS
PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 30
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ONGOING + FREE NONOTAK
MACHINE CULTURE
THROUGH DECEMBER 31 WOOD STREET GALLERIES
THROUGH DECEMBER 31 SPACE GALLERY
50 CITIES 50 TRACES
FLYING GIRLS
THROUGH DECEMBER 9 937 LIBERTY
THROUGH MARCH 24 AUGUST WILSON CENTER
ANTUMBRA
THROUGH DECEMBER 9 707 PENN GALLERY
PRESENTED BY
BEYOND
THROUGH OCTOBER 26 8TH AND PENN
TRUSTARTS.ORG/FIRSTS PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 31
LITERARY
For author Tim O’Brien, war is a setting, not a theme Tim O’Brien will speak at the Peters Township Public Library at 7 p.m. on November 7 By Jody DiPerna PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER jody@pittsburghcurrent.com
OCT 14
Neal Shusterman
OCT 28
Jason Reynolds 2:30pm | Carnegie Lecture Hall Tickets $11 pittsburghlectures.org 52 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
Tim O'Brien is best known for his war writing, specifically the National Book Award winning novel, Going After Cacciato (1978) and The Things They Carried (1990), a collection of connected stories, both set in Vietnam. His writing is fantastical, muddy, resolute and elegiac, sometimes all at once, while getting to truths about the gruesome and workaday realities of war. Presently, he is consulting and writing for the hit TV show, This Is Us, and took time to speak to the Pittsburgh Current from his home in Austin, Texas. (Answers have been edited for length and an expanded version of this interview can be found at www.pittsburghcurrrent.com) Were you emotionally beaten up in mining your wartime experiences to write fiction? No, because so much time had passed between the actual events in Vietnam and when I wrote the books. The hope was that others would feel
stuff I had felt a long time ago. And still carry with me. I still feel the grief and responsibility and people dying all around me, and the fear and all of that. But the object wasn't me. It's trying to tell a story that would give people access to emotional material that has to do, not just with war, but with fear that you might feel in a cancer ward or ordinary civilian life. With a sense of lostness and ambiguity and why do I feel so alone. On the surface it's a book about my own experience in war -- The Things They Carried is the things we all carry. Do you have a system for writing? I trust the story will find a way. The story will start to tell itself. In one way or another, every writer awakes. We're trying to find that magical daydream when things seem to unfold without your having caused them. That's as close as I can get to how I work -- a daydream that is vivid and interests me. One of the chapters in The Things They Carried begins, "I had a buddy in Vietnam. His name was Bob Kiley, but everybody called him Rat." When I wrote those sentences, I had no idea what I was writing about. The actual first line was, it was three words, the actual first line was "This is true." I was intrigued by why the word true would be used and so you pursue that for a while. What is true? How do we know what's true? How does true change over time? Our view of it? And in what ways does it change? Why does it matter if a thing is true or not, in a literal sense?
LITERARY
6300 Fifth Ave, Shadyside 412-361-0873 · pfpca.org
on view
SEPT 28 - NOV 4
Tim O’Brien is the author of ‘The Things They Carried’ and other books.
You've rejected the term war writer. One could argue that those 'war books' are about friendships. They are. They're books about telling stories, too. What do stories do to us? I did it pretty self-consciously. At least half the content of these books are stories about what stories do in our lives. How they console us, how they make us feel a little less alone in the world; how they give us some late night company, when you're lying alone in bed at two in the morning reading a book. Partly, I'm writing about what this process is of storytelling. You often deploy unreliable narrators. All around us, there's unreliability. That's how the world is. I try to be faithful to that. There are shifting perspectives on the exact same event. And don't recognize it until you recognize it. We're unreliable even to ourselves. You look at the same event over and over and it changes time by time by
time because it's being apprehended by different characters at different points. Part of what I try to do as a writer is try to subvert the notion that the world comes at us in a good, reliable kind of way. For me at least, it never has.
artist of the year
ATTICUS ADAMS Large-form multi-media sculptures based on memories of childhood
emerging ing artist of the year
NJAIMEH NJIE
Black Pittsburgh residents navigating life in the city’s current liminal moment
You force the reader to live in this difficult space where events are not known or understood. “Why did I do the things I did?”' John Wade [In the Lake of the Woods (1994)] asks himself. Don't we all, as we lie in bed at night, wishing we hadn't told that little lie at that cocktail party, or exaggerated, or why did we do all kinds of things in our lives, even good things. It's a mystery. And mysteries, by definition are unsolved. We're fascinated by them, including the mysteries of ourselves. Who really are we? What are our motives? We walk around with our self-images and our beliefs in who we are, but many times, you realize you violated your own sense of self. PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 53
ARTS
Associated Artists examine ‘The End’ By Nick Eustis PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER info@pittsburghcurrent.com October 4 marked the beginning of “The End,” a new art exhibit at FrameHouse & Jask Gallery. The show was organized by Associated Artists of Pittsburgh (AAP) and features 15 Pittsburgh-based artists. AAP is the oldest continually exhibiting visual arts organization in the country. Founded in 1910, with the INFO goal of providing “The End” will run a platform for artists to exhibit new until October 27 work, AAP conat FrameHouse & tinues to organize Jask Gallery, 100 art exhibitions 43rd St. The exhib- throughout the greater Pittsburgh it is free and open area, open to to the public. any of AAP’s 550 members. Former members include renowned artists Mary Cassatt and Andy Warhol. Fred Blauth, the curator of “The End,” also created the show’s concept, which he submitted to AAP when they put out a call for proposals in January. “At the time, I was really noticing a lot of things that were ending around me. My grandmother and grandfather died that year,” Blauth says. “But little things too, I was moving, I’m constantly trying to quit smoking, and it all made me think of this show.” The exhibit focuses on the concept of “the end,” and the way the artists featured interpret that concept differently. “It is about the end of the world, the end of a relationship, all the different ways we come to terms with things closing every day,” Blauth says. Blauth had the work of more than 100 artists to select from when curating the exhibit. He wanted to ensure a diversity of viewpoints, since many artists took a darker approach to the exhibit’s theme.
Aaron Regal’s Clearance: Documenting Gentrification in Pittsburgh’s East End is part of Associated Artists’ The End.
“There were a lot of works that were specifically talking about death, or using a very dark color palette,” Blauth says. “I really wanted to show a number of perspectives. It’s not all one color or about one thing.” This isn’t to say death doesn’t have a place in this exhibit. Two featured artists, Tyler Gaston and Zach Brown, both focus on ideas of mortality, but approach it in very different ways. Gaston, a graduate student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, examines death through the medium of woodworking. “I’m doing my thesis research on the idea of mortality, and I’m currently working with logs. I’m exploring that idea through the living material of a
54 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
tree,” Gaston says. For “The End,” Gaston created a wall-mounted sculpture of wood and concrete, featuring a log split in two, but held together by a curved rod of concrete. The sculpture is meant to play with the idea of repairing something broken. “Wood as a material has this living presence, and I’m interested in using that as my main material to examine the idea of mortality,” Gaston says. In contrast, Zach Brown took a more representational approach to the concept. His large diptych, titled “As Above, So Below,” features a stark representation of life and death that plays with the scale of a burial. “There’s a female figure resting
above, then a nice six feet of space, and a skeleton below. Fairly simple, but playing with some more esoteric concepts,” Brown says. Brown took inspiration from Hermeticism, a religious tradition from the Middle Ages. The work’s title, “As Above, So Below,” is borrowed from that tradition, referring to their belief that what happens at one level of existence happens at all other levels. But death does not dominate “The End.” A different interpretation of the concept is offered by Aaron Regal, who focused on the neighborhoods of Pittsburgh’s East End. His photo essay showcases the area’s 200 year history, particularly its history of gentrification and corporate capitalism.
LITERARY
Chris Setlock Kitchen and Bath Design chris.m.setlock@gmail.com 412-368-2270
Book helps parents talk about politics By Charlie Deitch PITTSBURGH CURRENT EDITOR charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com As a political activist, former political candidate, armed forces veteran and political columnist (for the Pittsburgh Current) Aryanna Berringer spends a lot of time studying, following, learning and discussing politics. She’s also a mother of three and some of those political discussions happen with and around her children. That conundrum led Berringer to write a new children’s book, My Place in the World. Illustrated by Liz Beatty, the story follows young Atlee (based on Berringer’s daughter, Atlee) as she explores to find her place in the world. No spoilers, but the journey takes her all over the world and leads to a showdown with the orangest man in America over ownership of a very special house. Berringer talked to the Current about the onus for the book and the need to talk to kids about what’s going on in the world. Where did the story come from? I had just ended my campaign for Lieutenant Governor and for the first time in awhile, I got to put my daughter Atlee to bed and read her a story. When I finished, I turned out the light and she said, “one more.” And I thought, I’m not turning the lights back on so I made up this story and she really liked it. I went downstairs and told my husband about it and he said, “you need to write that down. It’s a book.” I agreed because there aren’t a lot of books out there about how to talk to your kids about politics. Do you think your kids are into politics more than others?
We have political discussions at the dinner table. In 2016, my two oldest had a lot of discussions about Hillary vs. Bernie. Cameron backed Hillary and Donovan was with Bernie. I kept my opinion out of it and I watched them develop their own arguments for their candidates. And then Donovan ran for and won a spot on student council. He actually became the first member of this family to win an election [laughs].
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How was the collaboration with your illustrator, Liz Beatty? I wanted to find an artist from Pittsburgh. In fact, we are even having the book printed here to keep the money in Pittsburgh. I wanted Atlee to be mirrored in the book and I sent Liz a picture and she drew her perfectly, right down to the yellow boots she was wearing in the picture. I gave her creative control on the illustrations because I wanted her to help me through the process. The beautiful images you see are from her mind. Although I did tell her she could make the President a little more orange. Any future plans for an Atlee series? We are going to see how this one goes. A portion of the proceeds are being donated to the Women and Girls Foundation. But it’s not about the money, I want this story to be told. In this political time we live in, it’s relevant. PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 55
ARTS
‘The Way Out West’ is a long way off By Ted Hoover PITTSBURGH CURRENT THEATER CRITIC ted@pittsburghcurrent.com Carnegie Mellon University presents the world premiere of Liza Birkenmeier’s drama The Way Out West directed by Kim Weild. Birkenmeier is a recent graduate of CMU and it’s nice to see her work done as part of the mainstage CMU season. The school doesn’t usually feature its playwrights (current or former) so prominently, but since she graduated in 2012, Birkenmeier has tallied up quite an impressive resume of awards and productions. And Weild makes her debut as a director at CMU where she is also a new hire. She, too, has a long list of distinguished credits; on and off-Broadway, the West Coast and internationally. The Way Out West is about some of the women at Los Alamos in the 40’s … that, of course, means the Manhattan Project and America’s efforts to create an atomic bomb. Most of the women are wives of the scientists working in labs, although one is a scientist herself (much to the continued chagrin of the project manager) and another is a German refugee. As this play tells it, life at Los Alamos – especially if you didn’t have one of the “glamour” jobs – was hard indeed. Inhabitants, because of security concerns, were literally cut off from the rest of the world, stuck in the middle of the desert with limited supplies and, obviously, such a place is going to be a pressure cooker for personal problems. And that’s it from me! Thank you ladies and gentleman and will the last one out turn off the lights? It’s at this point in the review when, normally, I’d talk about the script and provide my opinion on how successful I believe Birkenmeier, and Weild, have
been in meeting their objectives. But I’ve got a problem. Albert Einstein once said there were only seven people in the world who completely understood the theory of relativity. I’d guess that the number of people who understand this play is probably less – and I’m definitely not one of them. I have no idea what I saw or, more importantly, how to describe it. We bounce around from scenes of kitchen sink realism to unexplained flashes of weird theatricality. One moment we’re following the travails of new arrival Leona as she acclimates to the isolation, then we jump to an over-amplified J. Robert “Father of the Atomic Bomb” Oppenheimer, leading the cast through a series of yoga exercises spouting mindfulness platitudes. Sometimes we’re watching a marriage fall apart in soap opera terms, and then, out of nowhere, we zoom into a nightclub in 1999 involving people we’ve never met talking about things we don’t know. Then it’s back to the 1940’s and that scene is never referenced again. Characters are only sketches at this point, much of the “story” is underdeveloped to the point of inscrutability and Birkenmeier’s intent is as unfocussed as her thesis. Is this play about a woman’s journey? Is it a debate concerning American’s imperialism? A meditation on our place in the cosmos? Or, maybe, a statement on the gender gap in STEM sciences. You tell me. This student company seems to be as tentative as the script but in their defense, right now these aren’t so much roles to be played as ideas to be guessed at. I’d say that Birkenmeier has some more work to do. Through October 13. Carnegie Mellon University, Oakland. 412/268-2407.
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HEAVY HOPS
MUSIC
In its third year, Brewtal Beer Fest shows equal love for metal and beer
By Margaret Welsh PITTSBURGH CURRENT MUSIC EDITOR margaret@pittsburghcurrent.com Lots of craft beer festivals feature music and nearly every music festival offers beer. But Brewtal Beer Fest, now in its third year, is unusual in its aim to present both music and beer in equal measure, and with equal consideration. Founded in 2016 by brewers Meg and James Evans – she’s the head brewer at Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery and he works with Spoonwood Brewing Company – this year’s festival includes 11 bands and 38 breweries. The connection between beer and metal may seem obvious (rocking and partying go hand-in-hand, INFO after all) but for BREWTAL BEER FEST Evans, the two worlds have a 3. 3 p.m., Saturday, more subtle kinOct. 20. Mr. Smalls ship. Witnessing Theatre, 400 Lincoln her musician/ metalhead husAve., Millvale. Music band geek out and beer ticket: with other mu$60. Music only: sicians, she says, $35. pghbrewtal“I just saw this passion and this fest.com fire.” It reminded her of the equally enthusiastic conversations between brewers, “taking about whatever topic, whether it’s a technique or a process, or a flavor profile in a beer …I saw an overlap of the same passion.”
Baroness performs at Brewtal Beer Fest 2. (Photo: Buzzy Torek)
At Brewtal Beer Fest, that overlapping of passion is about as literal as it can be, and one of the event’s most compelling offerings is a series of collaborations between bands and breweries. This year’s headliner, Baltimore grindcore trio Dying Fetus, paired with Easton, Pa.’s Weyerbacher Brewing, for example. Pittsburgh-area Rivertowne Brewing teamed up with Johnstown, Pa.-based death metal band Incantation; and Savanah, Ga. Sludgemen Black Tusk worked with Bone Up Brewing from Everett, Mass. Those collaborations can manifest in various ways: sometimes the resulting beer has some connection to a song
or album title, sometimes it’s based around what the band members themselves enjoy. “Honestly,” Evans laughs, “I think most bands who are into beer have thought about, ‘Hey, what if we had a beer for our band?” Aside from providing a point of novelty, the colabs further highlight the creative common ground between musicians and brewers. “We’re both making something out of nothing,” Evans says. “What we’re doing is creating an idea and bringing it to life.” So far the festival (which this year will donate a portion of ticket sales to pit bull rescue, Biggies Bullies) has
mostly drawn metal fans who happen to also like beer, but Evans says she’d like the event to become as much of a draw for craft beer lovers who aren’t necessarily there for the music. “We go to beer festivals all the time and often times it’s the same old process. It’s not something that would bring in a niche audience of any sort,” she says. “We’re appealing to somewhat of a [specialized] audience while still creating more beer drinkers, and also bringing craft beer drinkers into a new environment so they’re not getting the same-old same-old. And that’s something that we’re really offering to our industry right now.”
PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 57
MUSIC
open Bill MacKay. (Photo: Dan Mohr)
GENTLE POWER By Mike Shanley PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER info@pittsburghcurrent.com Bill MacKay grew up in the Pittsburgh area, but he packed up his guitar several years ago and headed to Chicago. Since taking up residence there, he has played in a number of settings, ranging from solo acoustic to a collaboration with fellow guitarist Ryley Walker and his own group, Darts and Arrows. The latter group proved to be a compelling outfit on the 2015 album, Altamira. MacKay’s writing combined the yearning quality of modern folk with improvisation, sort of like what might happen if the Dirty Three added a few more instruments and dabbled in jazz. He and Walker struck up a friendship built on a mutual love of musicians ranging from bluesman Albert King to singer-songwriter Laura Nyro. Through a month-long residency at Chicago’s The Whistler, they came up with the material that wound up on Land of Plenty and last year’s SpiderBeetleBee both on the Drag City label. The music has an arresting quality,
combining picking that feels gentle but never sedate. Both guitars complement each other, giving the music a strong sense of movement. Last year, Drag City released Esker, a solo guitar album that proved MacKay can sound just as captivating on his own as he does within a group or a duo. “Twilight” is marked by the crisp, austere beauty of his guitar, with roots in John Fahey’s approach to the instrument. But within its melody, notes are bent slightly, hinting at MacKay’s knowledge of Delta blues and his skill at incorporating that style into a gentle piece like this. While MacKay’s musical career gathered momentum after he left this area, his time back here still impacts some of his work. “Chatham Park,” a 2014 album, refers to an apartment complex in Scott Township where he once lived. Bill MacKay. 10 p.m. Saturday, October 13 at Club Café, 56 South 12th Street, South Side. 412-431-4950. With Pairdown. $8. 2 p.m. Sunday, October 14 at Carnegie Library, Main Branch, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Oakland. 412-6223114.
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MUSIC
For Pittsburgh’s Mariage Blanc, distance makes the heart grow fonder By Mike Shanley PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER info@pittsburghcurrent.com Pittsburgh bands often follow a similar trajectory. A band forms and generates some buzz at its shows. The members release a recording which creates more interest, proving the project to be, if not the next big thing, something that perhaps deserves wider recognition. Sometimes they repeat the last step one or two more times. Then they drift apart. It usually has nothing to do with cliched musical breakups. More likely outside responsibilities (family, work, relocation) take precedence. Or sometimes, the INFO band feels like Mariage Blanc it’s done all it can and wants to end album release show with Delicious on a high note. Some members Pastries, Andre go on to form Costello & The new bands with people going Cool Minors. 9 p.m. through the Saturday, Oct. 12. same transitions, Brillobox, 4104 Penn and the process begins again. Ave., Bloomfield. $8. Mariage 412-621-4900 Blanc stands as an exception, on a few different levels. Ten years after its first live performances, the band shows no signs of fatigue. If a bandmate moves to West Coast, some might consider either replacing him or calling it a day. But Mariage Blanc did neither when guitarist Josh Kretzmer moved to San Francisco in 2014. The group simply took things at a more casual pace. Through Kretzmer’s regular return visits, the group created its fifth recording at its own studio, sculpting elaborate arrangements for nine lush
“We feel like this is the record we’ve been trying to make for a decade.” pop songs. After mixing it at Tiny Telephone, the reputable San Francisco studio where Kretzmer has worked, Mirror Phrase reveals a band that has only developed over time. “We feel like this is the record we’ve been trying to make for a decade,” says guitarist/vocalist Matt Ceraso. “We finally made it, and every aspect of it just turned out exactly the way we wanted to turn out. So we’re all really excited about this one.” Ceraso and Kretzmer sent song ideas back and forth to one another, fleshing them out in person and developing arrangements with the full band. While previous albums featured more electronic elements, they wanted the new album to balance more organic instruments with distinctive guitar and keyboard effects. Songs like “Ghostwriter” get a boost from 12-string guitar interludes between choruses, adding dramatic impact to Ceraso’s heartfelt vocals and a particularly strong set of harmonies in the bridge. The vintage, faux-strings sound of a mellotron sets up the dreamy quality of “Losing You.” Ceraso says the band was careful not to get carried away with the vintage equipment. “The 12-strings guitars, synthesizers like the Mini Moog and mellotron, they’re all in the same camp,” he says. “They’re wonderful instruments but they’re very specific tools so you don’t want to overuse them. But when they’re in that one spot, it’s magical.” Mirror Phrase’s lyrics might be hard to decipher, but Ceraso prefers to keep things on the ambiguous side. “We used to write in a very linear fashion, like every song had to be about something,” he says. “The older we’ve gotten, the more
we’ve gotten into more impressionistic almost abstract lyrics. I’m more interested in writing something that, when people hear it, is emotionally resonant or evocative.” With all the production work, the band won’t be able to completely reproduce the new album onstage. Kretzmer will use some foot pedals to trigger keyboard parts via a laptop. Nevertheless, the band sees recordings and
performances are separate entities anyway. “There’s never a point when we’re making the record and we say, ‘How are we going to reproduce this?’ That’s the whole point of making a record,” he says. “We think that playing live and what you do on a record are two entirely different forms of art.” The band doesn’t see this as the final chapter in Mariage Blanc’s existence either. Distance has done nothing to slow their enthusiasm. “We feel like we’re making valid art, so we said we don’t have to stop,” Ceraso says. “We just have to commit to doing it. It’s not as hard as people make it seem.”
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MUSIC
MUSIC TRACKS
A SAMPLING OF UPCOMING CONCERTS IN AND AROUND PITTSBURGH By Pittsburgh Current Staff info@pittsburghcurrent.com
FOLK/COUNTRY SWING
PSYCH-POP This summer, the Essex Green released its first record in 12 years, but there’s nothing halting or awkwardly comeback-y about Hardly Electronic. As a periphery member of the Elephant 6 collective –founded in the early 90s by Apples in Stereo frontman Robert Schneider and Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel – the Essex Green had a knack for a particular kind of decade-mashing; like the rest of Elephant 6, the band had its own way of translating its admiration for 1960s pop music into a sound that, for many indie rock fans of a certain age, is synonymous with the late 90s and early 2000s. But where many of the bands of that era and genre leaned too hard on cuteness or preciousness or wimsey, the Essex Green’s solidly executed folky psychedelic jangle has given its records staying power. Experience it for yourself Thursday, Oct. 11, when the band comes to the Warhol. Pittsburgh’s the Garment District will make the evening a family reunion: Jennifer Baron of that band, and the Essex’s Green’s Jeff Baron are siblings. 7:30 p.m. 117 Sandusky St., North Side. $15. www.warhol.org
TUES., OCT 9 Lil Smokies 8 pm, Club Cafe, 56-58 South 12th Street, South Side clubcafelive.com Kate Teague, Julie Odell, Morgan Erina 9 pm, Spirit, 242 51st Street, Lawrenceville spiritpgh.com
WED., OCT 10 Rockstar Karaoke - every week 9:30 pm, Smiling Moose, 1306 East Carson Street,
Last fall when he played the Rex Theater, St. Louis-based singer/songwriter Pokey Lafarge blew the roof of the South Side venue. Not that fans of his music, and especially his live shows, should be surprised by that. But at this show, LaFarge was battling food poisoning that he contracted the night before in Cleveland (fucking Cleveland) and taking breaks in the wings with a garbage can. So why should you check him out this time around? Because last year he killed while simultaneously trying not to puke/crap himself. Imagine the show a healthy Pokey will play. 8 p.m. 1602 E. Carson St., South Side. $20-25. rextheater.net
JAZZ It’s hard to overstate the influence of Stanley Clarke, or his staying power as an artist: as a member of Return to Forever he helped invent jazz fusion and, along with cofounder Chick Corea, introduced -- if not avant jazz itself, than at least a path to it – to a larger audience. Before that, his skills were employed by such musical giants as Pharoah Sanders, Stan Getz, Art Blakey and Horace Silver. Known for his musical inventiveness, Clark brought the bass to the forefront, taking the instrument from the realm of rhythmic skeletal system to formidable lead role. He also boasts a lengthy film resume, having scored Boyz in the Hood,
South Side smiling-moose.com
THUR., OCT 11 Twiztid’s Fright Fest Tour 9 pm, Foxtail, 1601 East Carson Street, South Side foxtailpgh.com
FRI., OCT 12 The Cold Hard Cash Show 6:30 pm, Crafthouse Stage and Grill, 5024 Curry Road, Baldwin crafthousepgh.com
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Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials and Jimmy Thackery and The Drivers 7 pm, Moondogs, 378 Freeport Road, Blawnox moondogs.us
SAT., OCT 13 Maggie’s Farm 5th Anniversary Bash 3 pm, Under the 31st Street Bridge, Strip District maggiesfarmrum.com
SUN., OCT 14
Poetic Justice, Romeo Must Die and more. On October 14, Clarke comes to town for two shows at the Rex Theater, so you have double the chances to catch an evening with a legend. 4 p.m. & 9 p.m. 1602 E. Carson St., South Side. $37-42. www.greyareaprod.com
ROCK One of the most rallying moments on Courtney Barnett’s newest record, Tell Me How You Really Feel, is borrowed (mostly) from Margaret Atwood. “I want to walk through the park in the dark/Men are scared that women will laugh at them/I want to walk through the park in the dark/Women are scared that men will kill them,” she sings in “Nameless, Faceless.” The song itself is pure, delectably danceable indie rock, which makes the exhausted rage of the lyrics jump like a magic eye image. Anger is balder on the grungy “I’m Not Your Mother, I’m Not Your Bitch: “I can only put up with so much shit!” In other words, Australian-born songwriter is singing what we’re all feeling, but with better, catchier, weirder melodies, and clever-er lyrics (Barnett’s knack for smart, understated, rigorously honest lyrics is what made us all fall in love with her in the first place, right?). Rage and dance along with her when she comes to Stage AE Friday, Oct. 19. Waxahachee opens. 7 p.m. 400 North Shore Drive, North Side. $27.50-30. www.stageae.com
Brazilian Day - Our Rhythm 2 pm, Spirit, 242 51st Street, Lawrenceville spiritpgh.com
7 pm, Rex Theater, 1602 East Carson Street, South Side rextheater.net
MON., OCT 15
Kingdom Come, 30 Year Anniversary Tour 6 pm, Jergel’s Rhythm Grille, 103 Slade Lane, Warrendale jergels.com
BORZOI 9 pm, Gooski’s, 3117 Brereton Street, Polish Hill facebook.com/pages/ Gooskis
TUES., OCT 1 The Record Company, Madisen Ward, The Mama Bear
WED., OCT 17
THUR., OCT 18 Lindsey Buckingham 7 pm, Carnegie Musical Hall of Homestead, 510 East 10th Avenue, Munhall carnegieofhomestead.com
FOOD This Tastes Funny
Lunch at The Commoner’s Biergarten with Frankly Scarlett By Haley Frederick PITTSBURGH CURRENT STAFF WRITER haley@pittsburghcurrent.com I meet up with Abby Fudor, Liz Labacz, and Robin Hitchcock—the women who make up the sketch and improv comedy trio Frankly Scarlett—at The Commoner’s Biergarten on the roof of Hotel Monaco. We’re there in the name of Oktoberfest, which if you’re like me, you might be surprised to learn takes place mostly in September. As soon as I step out onto the rooftop bar, the pungent stench of hot vinegar hits me in the face. Biergarten’s aesthetic is modern patio. There’s a wall of faux greenery, bistro lights, and giant Jenga. The open air is nice on a sunny day, but the city views are restricted by the tall apartment and office buildings surrounding the hotel. The menu is a long list of beers, ciders, wines and cocktails, and a short list of German-inspired eats. (Hence, the vinegar.) It’s not a dinner destination, it’s the kind of place you meet up with friends for a few drinks and a bite. And the women of Frankly Scarlett are great friends. They met at the University of Pittsburgh in the early 2000s and bonded over comedy. “The linking thing between all of us was really the Fright Night Improvs, which was the show at Pitt that led to us having comedy in common and liking improv,” Abby says. The beer and cider lists are expansive, offering up selections from several European countries and across the United States. For the first round, Abby orders a Kölsch from Germany, Liz gets a Grapefruit Radler from Austria,
Frankly Scarlett. Photos by Haley Frederick
Robin has a Beglo IPA from Sweden, and I take a Good People Cider from Dallastown, PA. Each of our beers comes out in a differently shaped glass. We debate how much of it is tied to branding versus how much it actually has to do with the way the beer tastes or the level of alcohol or carbonation. We’re definitely not experts. But, Liz does share one horrifying piece of trivia with us: apparently deep fried beer is a thing.
“It’s a carnival staple, I think it’s mostly in the south,” she says. “Basically they take dough and then they fill it with beer and then they deep fry it. It comes out as hot beer. I don’t understand the appeal of it, but it exists.” We all agree that we prefer our beers cold, thank you. And to go with them we order the bavarian pretzel with beer cheese and the pickle and cheese plate. The pretzel is good and big, perfect for sharing. The three cheeses on the cheese and pickle
plate—a smoked cheddar, a blue cheese and a welsh cheddar—are tasty, but the pickles are a little too sour. There are pickled carrots, string beans, and cauliflower that pretty much only taste of vinegar. As we nibble on our snacks, the conversation turns serious. Frankly Scarlett, like so many other women, are finding the state of things in our government hard to ignore. CONTINUED
PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 61
FOOD CONTINUED FROM 61 “Most of my sketches have a social justice tint to them, but the way I’ve always approached it is that the comedy is the peanut butter that you’re putting around the pill,” Liz says. “Lately, it’s been really hard for me to bother with the peanut butter. I just want to write sketches that are like ‘and then we burn it all down!’” We all nod in understanding. Abby then adds that she thinks comedy can also be cathartic. “As somebody that runs a comedy theater, I also sort of have to deeply commit and grasp on to the idea that no matter how angry, sad, frustrating the world or lives get, I truly believe with every fiber of my being that we need release and silliness,” she says. And silliness ensues. We make fart jokes and talk about juggalos (fans of Insane Clown Posse) and bronies (adult, usually male, fans of My Little Pony). Abby notices a “Brosé” wine on the menu and we ask the server to confirm our suspicion Frozen rose, that it is indeed a rosé being selecwith bouquet tively marketed towards men. It is, Photo by Haley and she even brings out the bottle to Frederick show us. When it’s time for a second round of food and drinks, Robin gets another IPA, Liz gets a brown ale, and Abby opts for a frozen rosé that comes beautifully adorned with a mini bouquet. She says it tastes great, too. We order two more plates of food to share. The first is a cod sandwich, and the second is pierogies and kielbasa. Vinegar reappears in the braised red cabbage atop the kielbasa, and it’s much better here than it was in the pickled vegetables. We all agree that the pierogies are the best thing we try at the Biergarten. They’re wonderfully buttery with a crunchy outside and a squishy inside—just the way you want them. After the meal’s done, we play Jenga, and Abby can’t keep it together when Liz knocks over the tower on her first turn. If Frankly Scarlett is this fun at lunch, I can only imagine how fun their improv shows must be. The next one, “Frankly Scarlett: All Made Up,” is on Saturday, October 13 at the Arcade Comedy Theater, where they’ll be joined on stage by a handful of other female improvisers. I ask them if it’s hard collaborating creatively as such close friends. “It probably should be a lot harder than it is,” Robin says. “When we do sketch shows our collaborative process is really frank. We seriously do fight about the tiniest little line edits, but the love is so pure and true.” “We all want to put on the same kind of show.” 62 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
The Community Biergarten is located on the roof of the Hotel Monaco and features German fare for Oktoberfest.Photos by Haley
Frederick
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We have launched a crowdfunded investment campaign with Honeycomb Credit, and we couldn’t be more proud. We heard there were some people concerned that this meant we were low on funds. But nothing could be further from the truth. We’re already bigger and growing faster than we could have imagined at this point. In three months, we’ve released 6 issues. We’re available in print at 225 locations across Pittsburgh, and our website has seen 10,000 unique viewers in the month of September. We are raising money to get our paper into the hands of our growing audience even faster. We started Pittsburgh Current so we wouldn’t be beholden to corporate ownership or outside influence. We are not afraid of angering special interests with our content. We are dedicated to bringing you the best arts and music coverage and unflinchingly honest news and opinion. To make that mission a reality, we have begun working with another small, local company, Honeycomb Credit, as well as our community to raise funds for growth. And we are asking you, our loyal readers, to stand with us as we grow. This is an investment opportunity where we would grow together: the Pittsburgh Current expands its physical distribution network and you have an opportunity to earn a return on the money you lend directly to us. We are asking you to spread the word and invest in the future of influence-free media. Learn about what we are doing at honeycombcredit.com/current.
PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 63
FOOD
Specialty Coffee Week returns, focusing on community this year By Haley Frederick PITTSBURGH CURRENT STAFF WRITER haley@pittsburghcurrent.com Pittsburgh Specialty Coffee Week returns later this month for its fourth year. Local coffeehouses, roasters, shops and other organizations are coming together to put on a week’s worth of special events from October 20-27. This year’s theme is “Coffee Connecting Community.” Commonplace Coffee, a company with six locations in western Pennsylvania, has been behind Specialty Coffee Week since it started back in 2015. Their head roaster Phil Johnson hoped that the recurring event would help bring awareness to the specialty coffee available in Pittsburgh. As the years went on, collaboration between local businesses has played a bigger role.This year’s focus on community is sure to bring that to the forefront. Robert Chaffin, Commonplace’s retail operations manager, is coordinating the events this year. “It’s really about getting everybody excited about working together, while also giving a venue an interesting event for customers to go try a new shop or visit a shop that they’ve never been to before,” says Chaffin. The week kicks off on Saturday, October 20 with Steel City Sip and Sweets, where more than 20 bakeries and coffee shops will be serving up their tastiest treats. The proceeds will go to Lending Hearts, an organization that provides emotional and social support to children and young adults with cancer. Next, Colony Café will host a Coffee and Cats Appreciation Day event
Robert Chaffin, Operations Manager, Commonplace Coffee. Photo by Jake Mysliwczyk
on Sunday, October 21. An origin matching game where guests taste coffees and guess which countries they came from takes place at Commonplace Headquarters on Monday, and Tuesday there will be a tasting and lesson at Tazza D’Oro Millvale. While building a coffee community is a large part of specialty coffee week, Chaffin says there are other aspects of community to consider. That’s why he’s looking forward to the roundtable discussion on Wednesday, October 24 at Everyday Café in Homewood. “The topic of the discussion is what coffee and coffee shops can mean in communities like Homewood, where the surrounding population isn’t the typical demographic of what would usually support a specialty coffee shop,” says Chaffin.
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He knows that coffee shops are, of course, businesses that need to make money to survive. But, Chaffin also believes that shops should consider how they can be a caring part of the community where they’re located. “Ultimately I think the ones who survive and do the best are the ones who really integrate themselves into the community and hold that as just as important as making the money.” De Fer Coffee and Tea in The Strip will be hosting a Coffee and Cocktails event on Wednesday evening. De Fer founder, Matt Marietti, sees a strong connection between coffee and community. One of the main reasons he wanted to open a cafe was to provide a space for community events and gatherings. But, Marietti says, though Specialty Coffee Week is happening here in
Pittsburgh, the impact of specialty coffee is felt in communities around the world where coffee is grown. “I think 90 percent of coffee that is grown and sold today is still commodity coffee, so it trades and sells for around a dollar a pound and that’s not to the farmer—that’s to the people who grow it, the people who pick it, the people who mill it and export it,” Marietti says. “Most farms are still smaller family run operations, so it’s easy to see how it would be really hard to make a living selling commodity coffee.” Specialty coffee is different because the costs are based upon quality. This means that specialty coffee ends up being sold for a price that is more fair to farmers, and explains why it tends to taste better than commodity coffee. “I really think the more people who understand what makes specialty coffee specialty coffee—once people taste it, once people understand a little bit more about the economics behind it—they’re a lot more likely to buy specialty coffee,” Marietti says. The events of Specialty Coffee Week continue with Artisan Café’s Latte Art Throwdown on October 25, Coffee and Cheese Pairing with Chantal’s Cheese Shop at Arriviste Coffee Bar on the 26, and finally a closing party at Commonplace Headquarters on the 27 to round out the week. You may wonder why so many competing coffee shops want to come together for a week of collaborations to celebrate community. But when I asked Chaffin and Marietti about it separately, they both recited the same old adage: a rising tide lifts all ships.
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FOOD Day Drinking
Keeping tabs on the craft beer scene By Day Bracey PITTSBURGH CURRENT CRAFT BEER WRITER info@pittsburghcurrent. 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 craftbeer scene for the Pittsburgh Current. SEPT 21, 8 P.M.: Dave "Brings The Party" Cerminara invited me to Oktoberfest at Penn Brewery. He used to brew here, and this is an annual sloshing for the Apis crew. We’re drinking German ales from Turner’s tea jugs and making new friends while bumping into familiar faces. I was here once before as a teen. My Big Brother brought me here, and I was in awe of the spectacle then. I’m in awe of it now. I’m also in drunk of it. Pretty sure I’m 1/16th German by volume right now. OCT 3, 3:30 P.M.: I’m off to interview Jeff Bloom of Bloom Brew in West Newton, PA, next to the Youghiogheny River Trail. They’re only open Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. I work weekends. Wednesday it is. OCT 3, 4:15 P.M.: Accident on 376. Hella traffic. Also, random construction for construction’s sake. What are they even building here?! Why are you letting everyone in front of you, dude? Just drive! MOTHERF— OCT 3, 5 P.M.: I pull up to the newly graveled parking lot. The Yough flooded a while back, and this should help soak up some of that water next time. I walk into the repurposed fire
hall to see Jeff there with a couple of customers and brewer Danny Diethorn. Danny pours me up a Mango Z Tango barrel-aged Belgian sour. It hits you in all the places sours hit you and has a nice funk to it. That’s what I like most about these sours. That Bootsie Collins in your glass. If you don’t know, Jeff keeps 24 beers on tap, and there’s a lot of weird shit on that board. If you’re into flavor roller coasters, this is your Cedar Point. There’s no food truck today, so I order a pizza from around the corner. I’m going to need safety harnesses for this ride. I hit record. ME: What is it about sours that drew you to the style? JEFF: It’s the creative aspect of it. I’ve always been a fruit beer guy. I like the variety that you find in sours. I’m a big fan of going up to Oregon. ME: Me too. I spent many a day playing Oregon Trail. JEFF: *crickets* ME: *pause* JEFF: Cascade Barrelhouse. The first time I was in Oregon, I visited Cascade. For me, they were the kings of sours. If I can produce something even somewhat close to that, then I think I’m hitting my mark. After I rolled out my barrel-aged program, I was at the Good Wood Fest over at East End and had no less than four people tell me my sours were as good or better than Cascade Brewing. It put a tear in my eye. ME: Tell me about your barrel program.
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JEFF: What we do is take a particular fruit and work through six different yeast strains. Every week that keg kicks, we fill it with another strain, and everybody that walks through that door gives me feedback. We then dial in a particular yeast strain with that fruit, and put it in our fermentation room for four or five months. Then, if it meets our expectations, we put it in our barrels. It’s very time consuming and expensive, and we don’t want to wait a year before knowing if we have an excellent product. ME: Tell me about this For The Cookout beer you did with Cocoapreneur for Fresh Fest. JEFF: When Khamil came down and said she wanted to do a BBQ beer,
I was like, “Game on!” We’re known for doing some crazy stuff. I wasn’t real happy with the first batch and tanked it. We made a second batch of base beer with mesquite wood smoked malt, honey, molasses, and habaneros, with the goal of pairing it with homemade local BBQ sauces. A friend of mine, Casey, lost a father this year unexpectedly. I was holding the last two jars of his father’s famous sauce that he gave me last year and wanted to return them. He thanked me and said he was going to use one to try to replicate his dad’s recipe. The other jar he let me keep For The Cookout. And then a man from PennDOT walked in the room …
XXXX
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NEIGHBORHOODS
From culture to dining to new residences, Downtown has changed By Matt Petras PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER info@pittsburghcurrent.com Since the late 1990s, Leigh White, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, has worked on and off in Downtown Pittsburgh. In that period of time, she’s seen a lot of change, perhaps most notably a big increase in residents, meaning more people are going out for good food, going biking or running and attending events. “All of those things I think really have come together to make Downtown a place that people are interested in spending time in,” White says. At a rapidly increasing rate, more people are living Downtown, a part of the city that has fine art venues, a grassy park, an adult store, a college campus and loads of restaurants all within a half hour stroll. There’s been a big increase in the number of people living Downtown in recent years. The population has more than doubled from 2000 to 2017, from 2,576 to 5,201, according to the PDP, a non-profit group that involves itself in efforts related to economic development, marketing and more for the benefit of Downtown. “Previously, there weren’t apartments here. There were very few,” White says. “And during that ... 17-year time span, an awful lot of conversions of older office spaces have been undertaken to bring residential spaces into downtown.” Curren Katz, 36, lives Downtown at Lando Lofts on Penn Avenue. For her, it’s great. She enjoys a couple-minute walk to work and has rarely even left Downtown for fun in the two years
Anjli Patel, 33, moved to Downtown Pittsburgh from Bloomfield. Photo by Jake Mysliwczyk
she’s lived there. “I’ll go to restaurants, bike around, go out, go to clubs. There’s just a lot of fun things to do, like art exhibits, like cool festivals. I remember the Pickle Festival. That was,” she pauses, “definitely unique.” Anjli Patel, 33, just moved to Bloomfield about a month ago from her apartment Downtown at the Aria Cultural District Lofts, as it offers an easier commute as she pursues her masters at the University of Pittsburgh.
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Before Pittsburgh, she lived in Downtown Chicago. “We moved to Pittsburgh with the intention of wanting a city life ambiance. So something similar to Chicago,” she says. “And obviously, Downtown wasn’t what we thought it was gonna be compared to Chicago.” There were certainly downfalls to Downtown for her. Eating Downtown presented challenges — particularly, eating healthily. One reason getting food was difficult was that stores often
shut down early. Another reason was a lack of accessible grocery stores. “I think we only had a 7/11 that was generally open late [in Downtown], and that was a big change for us,” she says. Market Street Grocery, a small grocery store in Market Square, is essentially the only grocery store Downtown. White did note that technological advances have the potential CONTINUED
NEIGHBORHOODS CONTINUED FROM 68
to fix issues like this Downtown. Giant Eagle now offers groceries for delivery in the neighborhood. And the issues with finding groceries notwithstanding, Patel had fun Downtown, surrounded by local culture. Downtown’s Cultural District contains artful ventures across the board, including African-American art and culture at the August Wilson Center and classical music at Heinz Hall. Pittsburgh Public Theater was originally in the North Side when it opened in 1975 and moved snugly into the Cultural District in 1999. “In the past, I don’t know, five years, with increases in Downtown living and emergence of successful and varied restaurant options and just, I think, a new representation of a wider swath
of Pittsburgh Downtown, I feel like it’s a completely different environment,” says Lou Castelli, Managing Director at PPT. Castelli has worked at PPT for 20 years, mostly in marketing — he only just took up his new role about a month ago. During his time there, the business relationship between the customers and the theater has certainly changed, he said. “People have more choices. People’s lifestyles have changed over the past 20 years,” Castelli said. “You have everything at your fingertips, literally, on your computer, on your telephone, on your whatever. You can stay home if you want. You have to give people a compelling reason to come out.” Business has been much rougher for others. Eric Bachman, owner of Bill and Walt’s Hobby Shop on Smithfield CONTINUED
Eric Bachman, owner of Bill and Walt’s Hobby Shop on Smithfield Street in Downtown Pittsburgh. Photo by Jake Mysliwczyk
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NEIGHBORHOODS CONTINUED FROM 71 Street, says the store is going through tough times. “I’m barely getting by,” he says. “I’m barely able to pay the rent.” The hobby shop has moved around a few times but recently moved from 4th Avenue to a space underneath a law office off Smithfield Street, Bachman says. Before, passersby could see the goods through the window and step in out of curiosity. Now, they have to open a door, step down the stairs and see if the store is to their liking. “There’s definitely a lot less traffic, although most of my regular customers followed me up here. But as far as new customers, yeah, people aren’t finding it like they did before,” he says. “Just because it’s out of the way and off the street. You have to really stumble across it to find it.” White contends, though, that Downtown is a welcoming place for small business owners. “I think that there are a lot of opportunities and amenities and assistance that we’ve certainly tried to provide to small businesses,” she said. One type of assistance is a monthly e-newsletter that informs small business of events, webinars, road closures, incoming conventions and more, according to White. A particular small business Downtown White points to as a success story is Boutique la Passerelle, a women’s clothing store. It’s been around for eight years, and for the last five years, it’s been owned by Adele Morelli. Business has been going well, Morelli says. Last year was the store’s highest sales year and it’s looking like this year will be even better, according to Morelli. “It's an ever-growing market,” she says. “There’s always new people in here every day, especially people who are traveling to Pittsburgh seems to be the fastest growing part of my business.” Customers are more inclined to support local businesses nowadays, according to Morelli.
“It’s been made easier by the closing of all of our Downtown big box stores, which, while very sad historically, has also been lucrative for the small business owners because now people are out looking for the things they found there at the smaller places,” she says. Morelli has also lived Downtown for approximately 20 years and says she’s seen improvement for the area over that time period. “In that time, it has become, finally, a neighborhood, where you know people, you run into people who live down here, you form community friendships, and there’s just so many more activities to do,” Morelli says. While there are varying perspectives on the current state of Downtown, few would dispute it has changed and it has become not just a destination neighborhood but also, for a lot of people, home. “I think it shows that Pittsburgh is really on the right track in terms of amenities and listening to what the needs are,” White said. “And hopefully Downtown will continue to meet the needs and the demands and the requests of the people who are using it most regularly.”
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NEIGHBORHOODS Neighborhood Conversations
Louise Sturgess, Executive Director, Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation By Matt Petras PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER info@pittsburghcurrent.com Louise Sturgess, Executive Director of Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation, talks to Pittsburgh Current about the history of Downtown Pittsburgh, how it’s changed and what makes it unique. Broadly speaking, what’s the history of Downtown Pittsburgh? What stands out over all of these years? Pittsburgh was founded and named by the British in November 1758 on the strategic point of land where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meet to form the Ohio. The town began to grow outside the walls of Fort Pitt, completed in 1761. The streets were laid out in 1784, just after the Revolutionary War. In 1794, Pittsburgh became a borough, and in 1816 Pittsburgh was incorporated as a City. By 1955, it had grown through annexation to encompass 55 square miles and 90 neighborhoods. What’s impressive is that the historic street grid of 1784 still defines much of Downtown, making it walkable, with relatively small blocks and lots of intersections offering choices to pedestrians. The Block House in Point State Park is our most historic building––a survivor from 1764 and saved by women (before they had the right to vote). The Burke’s Building on Fourth Avenue is a three-story Greek-Revival sandstone building from 1836: it survived Pittsburgh’s Great Fire of 1845. Pittsburgh rebuilt impressively after the Great Fire, so
most of the significant buildings in Downtown are from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Allegheny County Courthouse and former Jail are our most significant architectural landmarks, designed in 1884-1888 by Henry Hobson Richardson. How has Downtown Pittsburgh changed over the years? Have the changes been drastic? A city is always changing, but historic preservation can help manage change so the best of the past is adapted for new uses and so significant places remain. Downtown changed drastically after World War II during the Renaissance, when more than 90 buildings were demolished for the creation of Gateway Center and Point State Park; where a block of buildings was demolished for Mellon Square; where the Lower Hill was demolished for the Civic Arena; and where Fort Duquesne Boulevard, Fort Pitt Boulevard, and the parkway were created. When the Boulevard of the Allies was created after World War I, much of Chinatown was demolished. These changes were certainly drastic at the time––and necessary, some would argue. The Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation was founded as a reaction to this top-down method of urban renewal. The mission of our organization was (and is) to show that historic preservation, rather than massive demolition, could (and can) be the underlying basis for renewing communities, building pride among residents, and achieving sustainable economic development. How does Downtown fit into
the larger historical narrative of Pittsburgh as a whole? Downtown is where Pittsburgh began and it has always been the heart of the region. The triangular wedge of land, with its concentration of historic and contemporary buildings and bridges, draws people to the Point and to the three rivers and remains an exciting place to be.
unique about the bridges in Downtown Pittsburgh? We have such a variety of styles. Our trustee, Todd Wilson, and our former architectural historian, Walter Kidney, have written wonderful books about Pittsburgh’s bridges. I believe that the International Media Bridge Conference comes to Pittsburgh almost every year because of the variety of bridges we have: tied-arch, self-anchored suspension; lenticular truss, to name a few.
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EVENTS
THE CAN’T MISS
OCT. 12
Amanda Reed PITTSBURGH CURRENT STAFF WRITER amanda@pittsburghcurrent.com
Join poets Joan E. Bauer, Celeste Gainey and Justin Vicari tonight at the Persad Center for a reading benefitting the organization. Founded in 1972, the Persad Center is the nation’s second oldest licensed counseling center specifically created to serve the LGBTQIA+ and HIV/AIDS communities. Joan E. Bauer is the is the author of “The Almost Sound of Drowning” and is a longtime donor to Persad. She cohosts and curates the Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series with Jimmy Cvetic. Celeste Gainey is the author of the poetry collection, “the GAFFER,” which O, The Oprah Magazine included in its “8 New Books of Poetry to Savor” list in 2015. Justin Vicari’s writing has won awards from Third Coast, New Millennium Writings, and Plan B Press. 7 p.m.- 9 p.m. $5 suggested donation. 5301 Butler Street, Suite 100, Lawrenceville. www.persadcenter.org
OCT. 10
Tonight is your last chance to catch “Grammelot: Complicit Musicals” at the Glitterbox Theater. A one-person show starring Ayne Terceira, “Grammelot: Complicit Musicals” was voted Best of the ‘Burgh performer and “Solo Tour de Force” by Pittsburgh Magazine in 2016. The dark comedy takes audiences on a musical journey inspired by three randomly chosen objects. Audience members aren’t safe either, serving as background singers, bystanders or tertiary characters with daring and playful results. 8 p.m. $10 (suggested donation). 460 Melwood Ave., Oakland. www.uncumbertheatrics.com
OCT 11
“Familiar Boundaries, Infinite Possibilities” opens tonight a the August Wilson Center with a private opening reception. “Familiar Boundaries, Infinite Possibilities” is a group exhibition of regional, national and international contemporary artists concerning tradition, policing, consumption and indulgence, using the gallery as a space for joy, safety and healing. Works in the exhibition include the U.S. premiere Peju Alatise’s “Flying Girls,” a sculptural installation recently presented at the Venice Biennale, Nakeya Brown’s “Self Portrait in Shower Cap: Gestures of My Bio-Myth” and Martha Jackson Jarvis’ “Blue Blood I & II.” 7 p.m. (5:30 for VIP reception). $60 ($150 for VIP). 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. www.aacc-awc.org
From a play-along “The Nightmare Before Christmas” to nightmare-inducing haunts, here are the spooky happenings you can’t miss.
OCT. 18
Get in the spooky, scary Halloween spirit — and the 25th anniversary of Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, who play Danny Elfman’s score as the movie plays. Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon), Halloween Town’s Pumpkin King who stumbles into a portal to Christmas Town and decides to celebrate the holiday, bringing some of his friends with him. 7:30 p.m. $40-$105. 600 Penn Ave., Downtown. www.pittsburghsymphony.org
OCT. 19 Ayne Terceira in ‘Grammelot: Complicit Musicals’
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Morose and Macabre’s House of Oddities celebrates its 10th anniversary this weekend with Atroc-
EVENTS ity Exhibition X, an immersive theater experience with riveting storytelling by recognized sideshow, burlesque, and cabaret entertainers like local contortionist Za Za Moon and glass walker Macabre Noir. Can’t wait until Halloween to wear a costume? Feel free to break it out for this event. However, don’t wait on buying tickets — once they’re gone, they’re gone. 9 p.m. $20. 1602 E Carson St., South Side. www.rextheater.net
OCT. 20
Part beer festival, part metal music festival, the Brewtal Beer Fest returns for its third year today at Mr. Small Theater. Listen to bands like Through the Eyes of the Death, Black Tusk, Gatecreeper and Genocide Pact while drinking beers from Full Pint Brewing Co., Grist House and Penn Brewery. Don’t miss the collaborations section, where a brewing company teams up with a participating band. $60 ($35 for music-only). 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. www. pghbrewtalfest.com
OCT. 23
CEO of the Pittsburgh Foundation and local author Maxwell King reads his newest work, “The Good Neighbor,” the first full-length biography of Pittsburgh legend Fred Rogers, who shaped children’s television forever. King traces Rogers’s personal, professional and artistic life through decades of work, including walking away and coming back to the neighborhood that made him famous. After the reading, King will discuss his book and answer questions from the audience. Copies of “The Good Neighbor” will also be available to purchase. 7 p.m. Mount Lebanon Public Library, 16 Castle Shannon Blvd., Mount Lebanon. www.mtlebanonlibrary.org
Nightmare Before Christmas with the Pittsburgh Symphony
EVENT LISTINGS WED., OCT 10
Biddle’s Escape Spoken Word Open Mic, 7 pm, Biddle’s Escape, 401 Biddle Street, Regent Square biddlesescape.com
THUR., OCT 11
Migration Liberation Movement Suite, presented by New Hazlett Theater as a part of their Community Supported Art Perfor-
mance Series 8 pm, New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square, North Side newhazlett.org
6 pm, Alloy 26, 100 South Commons, North Shore pechakucha.org
Reel Q Film 2018 LGBT Festival Opening Night featuring Ideal Home, 7:30, Harris Theater, 809 Liberty Avenue, Downtown. reelq.org The Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations Fair Housing Community Meeting 5 pm, The Kingsley Association, 6435 Frankstown Road, Larimer pittsburghpa.gov/chr PechaKucha Night: Volume 31
FRI., OCT 12 MadFridays presents a reading with Sarah Williams Devereux, Bernadette Ulsamer and Chloë Mattingly 7 pm, Delanie’s Coffee, 1737 E. Carson Street, South Side delaniescoffee.com Eddie Brill at Arcade Comedy Theater 9 pm, Arcade Comedy Theater, 943 Liberty Avenue, Downtown
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EVENTS arcadecomedytheater.com
SAT., OCT 13 Truly Funny: Writing Your Story Humorously with Shannon Reed 10 am, Creative Nonfiction, 5110 Coral Street, Bloomfield Creativenonfiction.org Journalist for a Day: a Girls Write Pittsburgh Workshop 1 pm, Public Source, 746 E Warrington Avenue, Allentown Girlswritepittsburgh.com Deborah Colker Dance presented by Pittsburgh Dance Council 8 pm, Byham Theater, 101 6th Street, Downtown culturaldistrict.org Maria Bamford 8 pm, Carnegie Library Music Hall of Homestead, 510 East 10th Avenue, Homestead carnegieofhomestead.com
Fling Girls at the August Wilson Center
SUN., OCT 14 Artist Resource Fair presented by Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council 3:00 pm, New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square, North Side. newhazlett.org Beechview Harvest Festival & Old Fashioned Corn Roast 3:00 pm, Beechview Community Garden, 1229 Rockland Avenue, Beechview Prettyupbeechview.wixsite.com Eighth Annual Pittsburgh Zine Fair
2 pm, Union Project, 801 N Negley Avenue, Highland Park unionproject.org
MON., OCT 15 Power Struggle presented by Remembering Hiroshima 7 pm, City of Asylum, 40 West North Avenue, North Side alphabetcity.org
TUES., OCT 16 Stitching History from the
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Holocaust 6:30 pm, Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh, 826 Hazelwood Avenue, Squirrel Hill hcofpgh.org Craft Beer School: Cheers! Prost! Nazdrovia! 6:15 pm, Greer Cabaret Theater, 655 Penn Avenue, Downtown trustarts.org
WED., OCT 17 Mrs. Krishnan’s Party: Indian Ink Theater Company
7:30 pm, Trust Arts Education Center, 805 Liberty Avenue, Downtown trustarts.org
THUR., OCT 18 Two Trains Runnin’ 7:30 pm, The Tull Family Theater, 418 Walnut Street, Sewickley thetullfamilytheater.org Learning Party: Creepy Science 4 pm, Assemble, 4824 Penn Avenue, Garfield assemblepgh.org
EVENTS Wizard Fest - all ages 6 pm, Jergel’s Rhythm Grille, 103 Slade Avenue, Warrendale jergels.com The Stand with Women Art Show 7 pm, Clear Story Studio, 1931 Sidney Street, South Side clearstorycreative.com
CLASSIFIEDS
SAT., OCT 20 Hillman Performing Arts Series presents Artrageous 7:30 pm, Shady Side Academy 423 Fox Chapel Road, Fox Chapel artrageousexperience.com Write or Die Halloween Reading Event 4:30 pm, Rickert and Beagle Books, 3233 West Liberty Avenue, Dormont rickertandbeaglebooks.com Pittsburgh Monster Pumpkin Festivals 10 am, North Shore River Walk, Allegheny Landing, North Shore monsterpumpkin.com
SUN., OCT 21 Devil’s Crawl, a Halloween-themed bar crawl 2 pm, several locations across Pittsburgh’s South Side upcomingevents.com/e/the-devilscrawl-pittsburgh
MON., OCT 22 Sweet Country presented by Sembene - The Film and Art Festival 7 pm, City of Asylum, 40 West North Avenue, North Side alphabetcity.org PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 77
SAVAGE LOVE by Dan Savage mail@savagelove.net
I was involved with a straight man who enjoys cross-dressing and taking explicit photos. The problem is that the props he uses belong to his three children, all under age 12. For example, he dressed up as a slutty schoolgirl and wore his daughter’s backpack. He dressed up as a slutty cowgirl and posed with his son’s stuffed horse. He even had the horse eating his “carrot.” I told him he should not use his children’s things as props. He believes that his children will never see the photos, so no harm will come of it. I’m horrified at the thought of these kids (perhaps as adults) stumbling over these pictures. He posts them on Instagram and Facebook, so they aren’t private. Is there anything I can say to him? Canceled Definitely Promising Relationship Over Photo Sessions You told him what he’s doing is wrong, you explained the enormous risk he’s running, and you dumped him, CDPROPS. You could take one last run at it and try to explain that his children finding these photos isn’t one of those “low-risk, high-consequence events,” i.e., something that’s unlikely to happen but would be utterly disastrous if it did. Nope, if he’s posting these photos online, at least one of his children will stumble over them—or one of their friends will. (“Hey, isn’t this your dad? And your backpack?”) Your ex needs to knock this shit off, and will most likely need the help of a mental-health pro in order to do so. My parents were married for almost 40 years—and on paper, things seemed fine. They rarely fought and were an example of a strong, monogamous marriage until the day my mother died. Recently, I found writings by my dad revealing he had several casual encounters with men over the course of their marriage. Do I tell him I know? We are close, but sex isn’t something we usually discuss. What should I do with this information, if anything? A Deeply Upsetting Lie That Scalds 78 | OCT. 9, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT
When you say their relationship seemed fine “on paper,” ADULTS, what you mean is their relationship was decent and loving. Well, now you know it wasn’t perfect—but no relationship is. Your mother is dead (I’m sorry for your loss), and either she made peace with this fact about her husband long ago or she never knew about it. Either way, no good will come from confronting your father about the handful of dicks he sucked decades ago. I’m a 47-year-old virgin straight man. What advice can you give me on losing my virginity? Wanting And Hoping There are lots of 40-year-old-and-up women out there who are virgins—they write in, too—so putting “middle-aged virgin seeks same” in your personal ad wouldn’t be a bad idea. Find someone in your same situation, WAH, and treat her with kindness, gentleness, and patience— the same as you would like to be treated. I’m married and poly, with one partner in addition to my husband. My partner has a friend-with-benefits arrangement with a woman he’s been with since before we met. The FWB is not poly, but she’s always known my partner is. She has always insisted they’re not a couple, but he knows she would be hurt if she found out he was with someone els? I don’t like being someone’s secret. My husband knows I’m with someone else and is fine with it. If my partner’s FWB felt the same, I wouldn’t see a problem. But this feels oddly like I’m helping my partner cheat on his FWB, even though they’re “not a couple” (her words). So it’s not cheating… is it? Pretty Obviously Lost, Yeah It’s not cheating—it’s plausible deniability. Your partner’s FWB would rather not know he’s seeing anyone else, so she doesn’t ask him about his other partners and he doesn’t tell. Accommodating his FWB’s desire not to know about other partners— doing the DADT open thing—does mean keeping you a secret, POLY, at least from her. If you’re not comfortable with that, you’ll have to end things with your partner.
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by the Editors at Andrews McMeel Syndication A HUSBAND AND WIFE have been exposed as murderers and cannibals in Krasnodar in southern Russia, reported the Express on Sept. 28. Natalia Baksheeva, 43, has confessed to killing and eating dozens of victims with her husband, Dmitry, 35, over 18 years. Investigators were tipped off to the couple's gruesome culinary tastes after a 35-year-old waitress, Elena Vashrusheva, and Natalia fought over accusations that Vashrusheva was flirting with Dmitry. Natalia ordered her husband to kill Vashrusheva: "Following this demand, the man took out the knife that he always kept in his bag and stabbed the woman twice in her chest. The victim died from her injuries on the spot," investigators reported. Police charged Natalia with one count of goading her husband into killing the woman after they found "steamed," pickled and frozen human remains belonging to Vashrusheva in the couple's kitchen. A photo found in their apartment from 1999 showed a human head served as dinner, garnished with mandarin oranges. Dmitry, who has tuberculosis, will be charged at a later date. TU THANH NGUYEN, 32, of Sunnyvale, California, made two crucial mistakes while she was visiting Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan on Sept. 19. First, Nguyen was hiking alone, reported WLUC News. But her fatal error was stopping at a point along the North Country Trail to take selfies, where she slipped and fell 200 feet to her death in Lake Superior. Two kayakers witnessed her fall and retrieved her body, which they moved to Chapel Beach. However, first responders were unable to revive her. GENDER REVEAL EVENTS, in which expectant parents creatively announce the sex of their unborn children, are taking on increasingly more ridiculous and, in some cases, dangerous proportions. To wit: Border Patrol Agent Dennis Dickey, 37, pleaded guilty on Sept. 28 to accidentally starting the April 2017 Sawmill Fire, which burned 47,000 acres in and around Madera Canyon in Arizona, prompting evacuations and closing highways, according to the Ar-
izona Daily Star. It all started when Dickey and his pregnant wife hosted a gender reveal party at which he shot a target containing Tannerite, an explosive substance, and colored powder signifying the child's gender. When the target exploded, it caught nearby brush on fire, and Dickey immediately reported the wildfire and admitted he had started it. Dickey will pay $220,000 in restitution, and he is expected to keep his job. THE WAGNER FUNERAL HOME in Jordan, Minnesota, made news on Sept. 26 when a judge released the details of a ruling against the mortuary for, among other violations, storing jarred applesauce in the same room where embalming takes place. Joseph Wagner, who runs the funeral home, was just helping out his brother, who owns nearby Wagner Bros. Orchard and needed some extra storage space, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. But the Minnesota Department of Health took issue with the jars being stored adjacent to a hazardous waste container, where blood and other waste from the embalming process are disposed of, and under an emergency shower and blocking an emergency eyewash station. Wagner was ordered to correct the violations and pay a $5,000 penalty. IN THE REMOTE TOWN of Yungar, Peru, two candidates for mayor with remarkable names are duking it out: Local politician Hitler Alba Sanchez, who served as mayor from 2011 to 2014, has been challenged by Lennin Vladimir Rodriguez Valverde. Sanchez told The Independent that his parents had been unaware of the Nazi connection to his name when he was born, but even after realizing its origins, his father liked it because it "sounded foreign." Peruvians are known for choosing foreign-sounding first names for their children: Last year, Peru's junior football team featured a player named Osama Vinladen. AT A PORT ORANGE, FLA., Walmart on Sept. 28, Tracy Nigh and her 8-year-old daughter were taking a break on a bench inside the store when 81-year-old Hellmuth Kolb approached them and asked if Nigh was married. "He didn't seem like a threat at first," Nigh told WKMG-TV, but then Kolb started offering to buy the little girl. PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 9, 2018 | 1
Current Comics
Matt Bors
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ANDREA SHOCKLING
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Jim Benton
Yinzer Funny by Joe Wos
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Best in Show
By Phil Juliano
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— September 21–December 9 —
SPACE
Meet the artists Oz Malul, Ujoo + Limheeyoung, Samuel St-Aubin and Zoro Feigl > Saturday September 22, 1:30pm 812 Liberty Avenue, above the “T” / 412 325 7723 gallery hours: Wednesday, Thursday: 11am–6pm; Friday, Saturday: 11am–8pm Sunday: 11am–5pm (free on-street parking) / free and open to the public SpacePittsburgh.org /spacepittsburgh This exhibition is generously supported by the Danish Arts Foundation.
A project of:
TrustArts.org/Firsts
A project of:
TrustArts.org/Firsts
image: Samuel St-Aubin, TableSpoons, 2012
NONOTAK — September 21–December 31 — Wood Street Galleries 601 Wood Street, above the “T” / 412 471 5605 gallery hours: Wednesday, Thursday: 11am–6pm; Friday, Saturday: 11am–8pm Sunday: 11am–5pm (free on-street parking) / free and open to the public WoodStreetGalleries.org /woodstgalleries @woodstreetpgh image: Daydream V.5 Infinite, 2018; courtesy the artists
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/woodstreetgalleries