Pittsburgh Current. Volume 4, Issue 2. Jan. 20, 2021

INSIDE:

AN INTERVIEW WITH ACTOR/MUSICIAN JEFF DANIELS VOL. 4 ISSUE 2

Jan. 20, 2021 - Jan. 26, 2021

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GREAT EXPECTATIONS The Biden/Harris Inauguration signals a fresh start for America. But simply getting elected won't be enough.

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Climate Crisis and Corrupt Politics By: Larry J. Schweiger Free Shipping Paperback $29.95 or purchase an eBook for $19.00 (Read the first 25 pages for free)

There is only one earth and our world is undergoing dramatic changes brought on by the climate crisis and other human-induced ecological disruptions. The world's top scientists studying these threats and the forces behind them have been warning us for decades to end the use of fossil fuels or face catastrophic consequences. Their long-ignored warnings have become more dire.

Larry Schweiger has long been on the front line of efforts to enact rational clean energy and climate policies and has witnessed efforts to undermine our democratic system that has been rigged leaving America hoodwinked and held hostage to dirty fuels.

Climate Crisis and Corrupt Politics pulls back the curtain on the central role of big oil, coal, and gas interests in American politics through the flow of money to fabricated entities for independent SuperPAC expenditures for mass deception through distorted advertising. Larry wrote this urgent message aimed at parents, grandparents and young adults who care about their children forced to live on the ragged edge of an unprecedented climate crisis. This book is especially for leaders who understand that we must act now with a "Green New Deal" scale response. Together, we must confront and overcome the many toxic money influences, reverse a failing democracy and retake the reins of government to enact policies that secure our shared future and the future of life on earth.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 20, 2020 | 3

STAFF Publisher/Editor: Charlie Deitch Charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com Advisory Board Chairman: Robert Malkin Robert@pittsburghcurrent.com EDITORIAL

Managing Editor At Large: Brittany Hailer Brittany@pittsburghcurrent.com Music Editor: Margaret Welsh Margaret@pittsburghcurrent.com Visuals Editor: Jake Mysliwczyk Jake@pittsburghcurrent.com Sr. Contributing Writer: Jody DiPerna Jody@pittsburghcurrent.com Education Writer: Mary Niederberger Mary@pittsburghcurrent.com Social Justice Columnist: Jessica Semler jessica@pittsburghcurrent.com

contents

Vol. IV Iss. 2 Jan. 20, 2020

From the Editor 6 | Accountability NEWS 9 | PPS faces futher delays in getting students back to class OPINION 10 | Larry Schweiger Music 11 | Jeff Daniels EXTRA 14 | Matthew Walllenstein 16 | Parting Shot

Environmental Columnist: Larry Schweiger info@pittsburghcurrent.com Contributing Writers: Jody DiPerna, Atiya Irvin Mitchell, Dan Savage, Larry Schweiger, Brittany Hailer, Matthew Wallenstein, Caitlyn Junter, Aryanna Hunter, Nick Eustis, Jessie Sage, Mary Niederberger info@pittsburghcurrent.com

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Senior Account Executive: Andrea James andrea@pittsburghcurrent.com Charlie Deitch charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com

The contents of the Pittsburgh Current are © 2021 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. One copy per person. 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.

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4 | JANUARY 20, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

CORO N AV I R U S C ASES A R E AT AN ALL-TIM E H I G H S O R EMEM BE R . . . . .

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 20, 2020 | 5

FROM THE EDITOR

NOW THAT BIDEN IS PRESIDENT, IT'S OUR JOB TO H

T

his year was obviously not the first time in my life that I voted nor was it the first time that I’ve had a strong emotional reaction to an election.

At the age of six, my dad came in to wake me up for school and he told me that Jimmy Carter lost in a landslide. I began wailing. I loved Jimmy Carter, although I’m not sure how that happened in 1976 growing up in a Republican household. I must’ve had a feeling that Regan wasn’t going to be good for Americans. In 1988, as a senior in High School, I was all in for Jesse Jackson, but he didn’t get the nomination with Democrats selecting sacrificial lamb, Mike Dukakis.

Dukakis’ 8-point loss to the first George Bush to unnecessarily wage war against Iraq. I was pissed off again in 2000 when Al Gore lost to the second George Bush to unnecessarily wage war against Iraq and then again when Bush beat John Kerry to secure a second term (the

BY CHARLIE DEITCH - PITTSBURGH CURRENT EDITOR

CHARLIE@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

only time, by the way, that Democrats have lost the popular vote in the past 20 years (which includes two Dem losses.

Then after eight blissful years of Barack Obama, I, and most of you, were kicked in the political nuts when Donald Trump would win the White House and spend the next four years cementing his legacy as the worst President in U.S. history. He was impeached twice, used his office in an attempt to further his own political and financial future, and launched an unsuccessful attempt to take down the republic. Joe Biden solidly beat Trump but we had to spend three months listening to nonsense about a stolen election.

I have been eagerly waiting for Jan. 20, 2021 since Jan. 20, 2017. I’ve almost felt like I’ve been living in an enemy-occupied territory for four years. And when the moment came that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were finally sworn in, I knew I’d be re-

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lieved, but I actually had a physical reaction. I could feel the stress and tension leave my body, the panic in my chest magically disappeared. As I watched Joe Biden and, especially, Kamala Harris being sworn in, I was proud to be an American for the

first time in1,460 days.

I wasn’t alone.

I talked to a lot of people yesterday who felt the same thing. And yes, it was because Trump was gone, but it was also because of the history that took place with Harris taking the oath and because

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HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE of the 17 executive orders he signed, the first steps in undoing some of Trump’s dangerous and divisive policies.

This election has been the centerpoint of everyone’s life for the past 18 months. It didn’t even matter if you were of voting age. It seems like there are few Americans over the age of five that don’t have an opinion on Trump, one way or another. In fact, a friend sent me a picture yesterday of her daughters proudly watching Harris being sworn in (photo at left).

But while yesterday was a good day for many of us, it’s important that we don’t let our relief lead us to complacency. For many progressives, Biden was far from their first choice for the job and we have to remember that. I think there’s no question that Biden will be good for this country. Maybe what we need is a centrist right now, as long as that centrist doesn’t forget about the progressives that helped get him elected.

Case in point. Earlier this week I wrote about state Rep. Jessica Benham taking issue with an inauguration event held by the Democratic Parties of the President’s home states of Pennsylvania and Delaware. The only named sponsor of the event was infamous union-busting law firm Ballard Spahr, who have financially donated to Biden’s campaign.

It was a good reminder that while a lot of good will come from Biden’s presidency. It’s our responsibility to make sure that he advances the country and American politics in a new direction. While we’re glad to be rid of Trump, we also need a leader who is willing to make this country livable for everyone; that everyone has a chance to make a decent living, have affordable housing, personal freedoms and live their lives without fear of being killed by police.

Joe Biden could be that leader, but only if we hold him accountable.

OF THE

SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PITTSBURGH Sealed proposals shall be deposited at the Administration Building, Bellefield Entrance Lobby, 341 South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15213, on February 2, 2021, until 2:00 P.M., local prevailing time for: Service & Maintenance Contracts at Various Schools, Facilities, & Properties: Vertical Transportation Systems Preventative Maintainence and Service (REBID) Pgh. Colfax K-8 Flooring Replacement (Old Building) General Prime Various Schools: Pgh. Morrow PreK-4 and Pgh. King PreK-8 Replace PA Sound Systems Electrical Prime Pgh. Oliver Citywide Academy Oliver Bleacher Repair Project General Prime Project Manual and Drawings will be available for purchase on Monday, January 11, 2021 at Modern Reproductions (412-488-7700), 127 McKean Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15219 between 9:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. The cost of the Project Manual Documents is non-refundable. Project details and dates are described in each project manual.

We are an equal rights and opportunity school district

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SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PITTSBURGH Sealed proposals shall be deposited at the Administration Building, Bellefield Entrance Lobby, 341 South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15213, on January 25, 2021, until 2:00 P.M., local prevailing time for: Various Schools Wireless and Switching Equipment / Related Services Low Voltage / Network Primes and Vendors All proposers must email David Moore at dmoore1@pghschools. org in advance of downloading the documentation in order to be added to mailing list for communication regarding this RFP. This will ensure that each proposer is notified of any changes or clarifications made with regards to the documentation.

The documentation for the Request for Proposal (RFP) will be available for download at: www.pghschools.org/Page/50 Filename: “Network Switch and Wireless Equipment RFP” Details for the proposal and submission requirements are described in the RFP. We are an equal rights and opportunity school district

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 20, 2020 | 7

8 | JANUARY 20, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

NEWS PITTSBURGH SCHOOL BOARD APPEARS POISED TO VOTE TO DELAY THE START OF IN-PERSON CLASSES UNTIL APRIL 6

BY MARY NIEDERBERGER - PITTSBURGH CURRENT EDITOR

MARY@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

I

t seems likely the board of the Pittsburgh Public Schools will approve a resolution on Jan. 27 that will keep students out of the classroom until at least April 6.

The board discussed the resolution during its virtual agenda review meeting this afternoon, although the resolution never appeared on the public agenda. Instead, it was read to the board by president Sylvia Wilson.

There was no explanation given at the meeting for why it did not appear on the public agenda or what prompted the change of plans in the district.

Pittsburgh Current received a copy of the resolution before the meeting.

But a press release issued at the conclusion of the meeting said COVID numbers released for Allegheny County “this past Friday” prompted the board to consider halting students’ return to school to give after staff the chance to be vaccinated.

In the release, Hamlet said he agreed with the board and that he also took into consideration “the genuine concerns raised by our teachers and staff of returning to school before

the vaccine is available to them.”

School director Veronica Edwards was the lone opponent to the resolution.

“I believe the school district of Pittsburgh is not doing our part and we need to pick it up. Our kids have been out of school since March 13, 2020. On April 6, 2021, they will be out of school for one year and that is unacceptable,” Edwards said.

Edwards said she was particularly concerned about African American students whose academic achievement was far behind their white counterparts before the pandemic.

The change of direction follows several about faces in the district’s plans this year.

Two weeks ago, Superintendent Anthony Hamlet held a press conference announcing he planned to start to phase students into an in-person hybrid model on Jan. 27. On Jan. 11, he backed that date up to Feb. 8.

At that time, Hamlet said he expected by Feb. 8 that COVID counts and positivity rates would be declining from any holiday surge.

During today’s board

discussion, it didn’t appear that recent reductions in COVID cases or test positivity rates factor into the board’s decision on whether to return students to school.

There was no discussion of what would be considered a safe level of transmission in the county that would prompt some board members to approve a plan to bring students back to school.

During the board discussion, some board members suggested it was wise to wait until enough individuals receive vaccinations and the county reaches a herd immunity status.

The district has plans to partner with UPMC to distribute vaccines to teachers.

But board member Cynthia Falls said she has received information that as many as 600 staff members do not want to get the vaccine.

The discussion revolved around logistical issues such as whether there would be enough teachers to staff buildings and adequate transportation for students to get to school.

There were also repeated concerns about the health and safety of staff and students if they are returned to classrooms in the district’s

50-plus buildings.

Board member Pam Harbin said keeping the students learning remotely would provide consistency and that switching to hybrid could cause disruptions. She said 55 percent of schools nationally are currently online.

Harbin complained that neither the state or county provides virus transmission rates in schools. She said 29 other states provide such information.

“I feel like we are trying really hard to make good decisions to keep students and staff safe,” Harbin said.

Edwards suggested Pittsburgh officials meet with leaders from nearby school districts, many of whom have returned students to the classroom in hybrid models.

“Maybe we should just reach out to people who are already effective,” Edwards said.

The board will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m.

Monday. Individuals who want to provide written testimony must register by calling 412-529-3868 by noon on Monday.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 20, 2020 | 9

OPINION

THE BIG LIE: 'ST

HOW DID WE GET HERE, AN

BY LARRY J. SCHWEIGER - PITTS

INFO@PITTSBURG

A

s the reality show host on the “Apprentice” and lifelong, self-promoting media hound, Trump created and curated a JimJones-style personality cult.

Despite over twenty thousand lies, Trump accurately predicted, "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?" It's, like, incredible."

In a debate with President-elect Biden, Trump urged the Proud Boys to stand down and stand by. They did until the 6th. Extremist groups, many looking like they had just stepped off a Duck Dynasty set, were intent on inflicting violence. They raided the Capitol seeking to hang Pence and capturing Pelosi. Urged to come to DC on the 6th by Trump's many tweets, the violent maelstrom caused five deaths and scores of injuries and Pence barely escaped their grasp.

Plans were hatched among online extremist communities using Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks and on the dark web. The ridiculous-looking but virulent insurrectionist are Trump's base, and he made it clear after the coup failed that he still loves them.

The FBI is currently reconstructing the many menacing and delusional connections, videos, and tips. Hopefully it

will be possible to understand who planned the coup, who participated and who paid for it with foreign bitcoins and other sources.

In an opinion piece in Politico, Fiona Hill, the former deputy assistant to the President for European and Russian Affairs on the National Security Council, called the Capitol attack, "Trump’s slow motion, in-plain-sight attempt at a self-coup.” Hill had earlier testified about Trump’s “drug deal” before a Congressional committee during the Russian investigation. She knows a coup when she sees it.

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Trump called for a different kind of coup to take down Congress and overthrow American democracy when current and former respected military leaders resisted his perverse agenda to topple democracy.

At his command, his absurd collection of rabble-rousers executed the attempted coup on the Congress. The perpetrators were the dregs of society including the Proud Boys, QAnon, Boogaloo, KKK, neo-Nazis, and other conspiracy theorists, extreme anti-government militia members, and white supremacists bent on

promoting the violent uprisings we have witnessed in DC, Michigan, and elsewhere.

In a May 13th article published in The Atlantic, Adrienne LaFrance studying QAnon points to the “apocalypticism” as the movement's basis. She reports, “We’re observing the birth of a new religion. Its clear-cut dualism between the forces of good and evil; the study and analysis of “Qdrops” as sacred texts, and the divine mystery of Q.” More disturbingly, far too many Evangelical Christians, Catholics, and mainline and

OPINION

TOP THE STEAL'

ND HOW DO WE GET OUT?

SBURGH CURRENT COLUMNIST

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traditional Republicans have overlooked Trump’s problematic anti-democracy behavior.

They joined forces with the QAnon and other revolutionaries at his many rallies. Far too many Evangelical Christians and Catholics ignored his many flaws and voted for Trump. Even before the elections, many were led to believe the elections would be stolen.

Trump, Faux News, and other extreme echo chamber outlets amplified Trump’s lies about the security of mail-in ballots.

Seventy-three percent of rightwing Republicans who watch Fox News outlets believed voting by mail would not be as secure as in-person voting.

Nearly three in four Republicans who trust Fox News (73%), compared to only 44% of Republicans who trust other news sources, said before the election that they are not confident that voting by mail will be as secure as in-person voting.

In the days leading up to the election, an October 19th Public Religion Research Institute poll found fifty-nine percent of white evangelical Protestants thought the country was moving in the right direction under Trump. Evangelical church leaders, pastors, and Catholic Priests have been issuing "Get Out of Jail Free Cards" even to corrupt and self-serving politicians like Trump, who

claims to be "pro-life.” During the 2016 campaign, Trump even claimed he supported prosecuting women and the doctors who performed their abortions, saying, "there has to be some form of punishment." He later quietly walked it back. Ironically while claiming pro-life, Republican lawmakers in Washington have avoided sweeping legislative changes knowing how unpopular it is with a majority of their voters. (They have also failed to support pollution control efforts that would be pro-life and pro-health.)

Instead, Mitch McConnell and Republicans packed the courts with unelected judges and justices screened by the corporate-funded Federalist Society.

With lifetime appointments, the courts will render unpopular decisions in critical cases.

The Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich reported an important story about a Catholic priest who dared to speak the truth. The Reverend Bill Corcoran at St. Elizabeth Seton Church in Orland Hills suburb of Chicago did some finger-pointing in the aftermath of the January 6th attempted coup.

Father Bill shared, “Such an action has left many of us angry, and hurt. Since then, we have entered a typical moment of finger pointing, blame, and

holding people responsible for what happened. Such finger pointing is not new. In the very story of creation Adam points his finger at Eve for tempting him with the apple, and Eve points to the snake as the cause for all the trouble.

Finger pointing often leads to avoidance of responsibility. I too want to engage in finger pointing, and point to myself, and accept personal responsibility in part for what happened in the Capitol this past Wednesday."

Father Bill confessed his silence after witnessing Trump’s many fits of abuse and constant lies. Remembering how German Catholic churches fell silent during Hitler’s rise to power and how the American Catholic Church created a cone of silence during the sex abuse scandals, Rev. Corcoran was convicted and confessed his failure to speak out. While he spoke, he watched angered Trump-supporting parishioners walk out of the church.

Father Bill was not alone in his silence. Thousands of conservative pastors and priests across America have failed to speak out against Trump’s ugly lies and dangerous and often illegal behavior. They ignored his cruel child separation policy that has left 628 migrant children without families. As a political statement,

many pastors failed to wear masks or take other measures to protect their congregation when Trump’s COVID lies and policy failures contributed to the deaths of nearly 400,000 Americans and left millions hungry without adequate relief.

Early on, pastors and priests said nothing when Trump bragged about grabbing women on the Access Hollywood tape and illegally paid off two hookers to buy their silence.

They looked the other way when Trump mocked a disabled reporter, urged violence on an event protester and targeted the media covering his 2016 campaign. They ignored Trump’s attacks on a Muslim Gold-Star family, and they did nothing when Trump dissed Senator John McCain-an American hero. They also said nothing when Trump encouraged police to abuse suspects as they place handcuffed arrestees in police cars.

The flame of faith goes out when pastors have eyes but cannot see corrupt politicians as the anthesis of Christ, ears that cannot hear the corrupt voices of violence and anarchy. Pastors and priests have a duty to carry Christ’s message of love, acceptance of others and forgiveness. Church leaders must not be silent. It’s time to confront the lies and corruption that have found a home with so many of their attendees.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 20, 2020 | 11

MUSIC A CONVERSATION WITH ACTOR/MUSICIAN JEFF DANIELS; PERFORMS VIRTUALLY JAN. 22 AS PART OF CALLIOPE'S ROOTS CELLAR @HOME SERIES

BY MARGARET WELSH - PITTSBURGH CURRENT MUSIC WRITER

B

ack in the 1970s, when Jeff Daniels moved from Michigan to New York City to pursue acting, he brought along an acoustic guitar to keep himself busy between jobs. As Daniels gained notoriety — appearing in films like Terms of Endearment, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Dumb and Dumber, The Squid and the Whale and, most recently, HBO’s The Newsroom and Showtime’s The Comey Rule — he kept playing and writing songs.

On Friday, January 22, Daniels will perform a live-stream concert as part of Calliope’s Roots Cellar @ Home series. He’ll be performing songs from his new record, Alive and Well Enough, and sharing stories from his long and varied career.

Daniels met up with the Current via zoom the day after the Capitol riots and discussed politics, protest music, George Harrison, and why he’s not worried about staying in his artistic lane. Also, watch and read the entire interview on www. pittsburghcurrent.com.

Interesting week. How are you feeling?

How am I feeling? Hmmm….

Unsurprised. Unprecedented, historic. And dangerous. That’s how I feel.

I was listening to your new record … and I was thinking of your song, “Everybody’s Brave on the Internet,” and how it feels like that online aggression has leaped into the real world.

You know, I didn’t even cover that in the song, that kind of disinformation and manipulation of people through social media with conspiracy theories. I kept it more [about] the personal attacks in the

MARGARET@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

song. Already the song’s outdated.

It’s tough to keep anything upto-date in this era.

I was looking at that with “Trumpty Dumpty Blues,” too, which was written in the first month of the pandemic, right after he invited us to attend easter services with him. And I just lost it. So I poured it into the song. So that was kind of frozen in that moment. Certainly isn’t nearly what’s going on now.

But then the song that I co-wrote with Thornetta [Davis], “I Am America,” I was just today working up a quieter solo version, cause I can’t get Thornetta [for shows].

That’ll hold up. That one’s the future, that one’s tomorrow.

Speaking of “Trumpty Dumpty Blues”: I’ve always been sort of interested in old folk songs, union songs, songs about specific moments. And, you know, there are so many punk songs about Regan and Thatcher. On the one hand, maybe this song is now a relic of a time that’s already past, but what do you feel is the value to writing songs that get specific about a time, or a moment?

Art can be a great weapon. What did Phil Ochs say … a good topical, political song with a message, it can beat a thousand rallies. Phil Ochs, Tom Paxon, Dylan. Springsteen has certainly stepped up and out like that. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, you know, “Ohio.”

I know the reason not to. The reason not to is, you want to hang on to that audience that you may be offending. Or you’re branding yourself as someone either far right or far left. And suddenly you’ve lost all those people in the middle and those

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people on the right, you can’t make any money, so don’t say anything.

Just stay quiet. Don’t lose half your audience in a politically divided country. But it’s too important.

Frank Rich, a producer who used to be — still is — a really good writer: After 9/11 … I remember him writing an article saying ‘Where are the artists? Illuminate this for us, explain this to us, you’re the ones that are supposed to present a larger version of ourselves, and what’s going on.’ Art can do that.

You know, Springsteen was driving around Jersey and a guy pulled up, after 9/11, and just rolled down his window and just said “we need you now,” and drove away. And he wrote The Rising.

And that is a big part of folk music’s lore, that kind of brutal honesty that goes back to Woody Guthrie.

You gotta push back. And particularly those people in the middle that, you know, voted for him anyway.

And we all lived through yesterday and today, and who knows tomorrow.

If a song makes them rethink something, I’m all for it. I’ve written my share of them.

I’m sure that writing a song about Trump, there’s probably some catharsis for you, and for your audience. Which is, I think, part of the value of something like that.

Yeah, and you gotta write what you believe in. Not just the political stuff. Like there’s a song, “Real People Not Actors” [about] that Chevrolet commercial. I just got tired of looking at it. And I just wrote a song … And now they’ve moved on to Real Chevrolet Families. So they don’t even say the Not Actors things.

I saw on the internet that there was a

lot of push back on that from people for various reasons. Mine was personal and professional.

Has music been a big part of your personal political development? I know Arlo Guthrie was an early influence.

Yeah, Arlo was stepping out when I came in, Alices Restaurant got me into him, and that led to Woody, and also led to Stevie Goodman, and then to John Prine.

I was aware of people like Pete Seeger, and I got into the blues, and all acoustic blues guys, Sun House, Robert Johnson, and Skip James.

It was a chase on the music more than any political bent, but as you go through those artists that influenced…and then I’m coming from off-broadway too, all the playwrights, Greenwich Village, New York City in the ’70s, not a place for a straight white Republican. And you learn a lot, you’re exposed to a lot.

It’s an artist’s life that I’ve lived.

And the music is a part of that. And the music is a place that I get to be honest. You’re honest in the acting roles, but someone else wrote it.

And that was one of the first things I found when I went out and played clubs was that there is no character, this is no script by someone else.

It’s you, an acoustic guitar, and here’s what you think. You’re trying to connect. But you can’t leave yourself. But you gotta relate to the person listening to you, who by the way is a stranger.

And the way into that is to reveal some common thing that might be funny or moving to you, in hopes that it will be to someone else. It’s the same theory of a play, trying to connect with an audience. If there’s no connection you’ve got nothing.

Jeff Daniels

So by controlling all ends of the creativity, when I’m sitting there with an acoustic guitar, and I wrote it, that’s a little more naked. I tried to stay honest with the music side of my life.

There are some obvious parallels between, say, performing in a play and performing onstage as a musician in terms of, say, being in front of people. But are there ways that being an actor interacts with the way you write, or does writing songs interact with the way you approach a role?

The performing of them is the same. It’s that connection. The writing songs, it’s not really a comparison. I’ve written plays. Eighteen plays for Purple Rose Theater Company. And the songwriting is that same guy, he’s just writing to rhyme.

But writing of any kind has made me understand the script I’m doing as an actor. Because you know what

the writer’s doing, you know how the engine works. It’s not just a pretty car that goes fast. You can see the setups and the call-backs, you can see the use of words, wordsmithing.

I learned that back in the 70s from Lanford Wilson. You know that song “Roadsigns” is on there, he wrote the poem, and he was a god off-broadway. It was just, every year he’d write a great Lanford Wilson play. Lanford wrote that way, and that’s been a big lore for me.

I listened to an interview with you where you were talking about how, for you, the guitar was there when you moved to New York, and it was a way to always have a creative outlet even when you were waiting for a role. And I thought that was so interesting, because there are a lot of actors who are musicians, and there’s an attitude of “stay in your lane, you’re already a successful actor,” which kind of misunderstands what it means to be a creative per-

son. And I’m wondering if you’ve come up against that at all.

Oh yeah, I had that from the getgo. The first song I ever performed live was “If William Shatner Can, I Can To.” As a way just to kind of take the knees out of that judgment.

But I also get it, you know, that’s why I kind of just did it for myself. I didn’t play out until 2002, 3.

Landford kind of pushed me out there. And I kind of finally played “Roadsigns” at a bar, nine years after my theater company had started.

Nobody knew I played. I played on my back porch. I was supposed to be an actor, so I get it, stay in your lane. So that was fine.

But it also allowed me to just do it. I got to write more honestly and not worry about it, it was just kind of for me. And then “Roadsigns,” and we could raise money on it for the theater, so I went out with a chair and an acoustic guitar. And I sweated, I flop-sweated, because there was no character. And the filter was gone. It was just my stuff.

As an actor, you’re told to go out and pull it out and let’em see it. And that was kind of what happened. So I had to figure out how to do that.

But I’m always, when I get with people, like a Keb Mo, or a Stefan Grossman, I instantly become their student. I just try to go, look, I’m only going to get as good as I can get. And I’m going to push that, and please help me get to the next level, whatever that is.

Well to go a little deeper in your acting career I just watched Checking Out. It’s kind of a rock ‘n’ roll movie, you have George Harrison involved, and David Byrne is in it. Plus it’s about mortality, which of course is the vibe right now, everyone is thinking about mortality a little more. So I was wondering about your experience as a musician, and if that was kind of an exciting thing to do from a music perspective. And if it impacted your own attitudes about life and death. As an actor, I don’t know how much taking on a role impacts your own life philosophy …

MUSIC

To be honest, no. I was 35 at the time, and it was a great script AFTER David Leland got done rewriting it. David Leland was the director, and he basically just took it and redid it. And David had worked with Monty Python. British. So he had this, it was a weird kind of Monty Python thing. I loved making that movie. It was just so out there, and I loved working with David.

The great story about that movie, we were six weeks into shooting and word came that George Harrison was going to come to the set.

We were shooting in Union Station, the train station in LA. And George is one of the producers on this movie. … And here he comes. And now he’s on the set, and I’m the star of this little independent film and obligated to go over and say hello. I could barely speak. And he couldn’t have been nicer, he couldn’t have been more relaxed. Genuinely interested in how I was doing.

There’s a picture of me on my wall of me just staring at him, and him talking to me. And I remember him saying to me “Have you been to Disneyland?” … I had a Gibson J45 in my trailer. The guitar I’d take to the set. And I asked him if he’d sign it. And “I’d be happy to.” So … we broke for lunch, I went and got it and came to him, and we had about 100 extras and stuff, and I said “why don’t we go into this backroom …”

And we went into this backroom: me and Ben Myron the producer, and Allan Havey, actor. The three of us and George.

And I handed him the Gibson, and there was a buzz on the A string, he fixed that with a little piece of paper, and then restrung the string.

And then he signed it, “George Harrison,” and he put a little mystic symbol on it … I was too blown away to ask him what it meant, but you know, there it is. And then he sat down and he played for half an hour. He played “Here Comes the Sun,” “All Along the Watchtower,” a Hoagy Carmichael blues tune, “Rocking Chair,” something like that. Just … played. For the three of us. What a gift. Still have the guitar, obviously.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JANUARY 20, 2020 | 13

ESSAY

TRUNK

BY MATTHEW WALLENSTEIN - PITTSBURGH CURRENT COLUMNIST

M

aybe ten years ago I published a fictionalized version of something real.

I often vacillate when it comes to storytelling, deciding if it should be done through fiction, nonfiction, poetry. With this story I originally settled on fiction. I would like to tell it here as it happened.

It was the beginning of summer in the city. I lived with a bunch of people.

Most of us played in a band together. In two days we were going to leave for a tour around the US that would last most of the summer.

I was in a relationship I should not have been in.

It wasn’t the sort of heaven to hell to heaven climb and plummet relationship that warrants telling about.

It was just a case of neither of us getting or doing or being what we wanted.

In some ways it was comfortable, so neither of us had put the thing out of its misery. It dragged. We argued. We wasted each other’s time. She had a decent heart and was very attractive, that made the ending seem less urgent somehow.

We had stayed up most of the night squabbling. I managed a very poor and interrupted 2 hours of sleep before the door to the apartment opened. C from down the hall started calling to me.

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“Heyyyyyy. Your van is destroyed. Wake up,” He was saying this in a loud but very calm voice.

I was tired and not very eager to deal with yet another thing. I got out of bed, put my pants on, walked out of my room.

C saw me and started talking, started telling me what had happened as we walked down the hall towards the stairs.

He had been asleep.

There was a sound like a bomb going off and he jumped out of bed and

14 | JANUARY 20, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

grabbed his gun. He was half asleep and confused.

When he got ahold of himself he realized the sound had come from outside the building. He thought it had most likely been a car accident. His apartment was on the opposite side of the building from mine and faced the street. He went outside to look into what had happened.

We had parked our tour van in front of our building. When C came down he saw that the bumper was hanging off, the back

window was smashed out.

The rear of the vehicle had been hit hard. It was a mess of metal cavedin forming sharp peaks around the dents. We had parked it with all four tires on the street but it had been hit so hard that the whole thing had moved, it sat with three of its tires up on the sidewalk.

Directly across the street there was a car. It was bent all into itself. It was on the sidewalk against a brick building. The driver-side door was open.

ESSAY Its trunk popped up like a mouth about to bite. The trunk was filled to capacity with boxes of Nike shoes. No one was in the car, no one was near the car, no one was around.

C looked up and down the street. Way off, way down at the end of the street near the Chinese lumber place, there was someone stumbling. C started to run and caught up to him. The man was zig-zagging down the sidewalk leaving a trail of blood behind him. It was coming from a nasty cut on his face.

Not even looking up at C he said, “Hey, you hit me man.”

“What?”

“You hit me man, I was just driving man.”

“You mean my friend’s van? The one that was parked while everyone was asleep? You didn’t hit it? It hit you?”

“Yeah, man. You hit me, man. Hey, you hit me, man.”

Blood kept rolling out of him. C told me he wasn’t sure what he should do.

He wanted to beat the guy up but didn’t want that to complicate things if we were going to deal with his insurance. He didn’t want to call the cops, he hated the cops. There was a moment where he stood there thinking of what to do watching the man teeter. It was as if the world was paused. Then the bleeder collapsed. Great, thought C, what do I do with this, I guess at least he can’t run away now.

Then he heard sirens.

He looked back over his shoulder towards the wreck. An ambulance was pulling up to it. He turned and ran in its direction.

The two paramedics were out of the ambulance and had the back of it open.

“Hey, the guy is down there. I don’t know if you want to go get him or whatever,” C said.

It was then that he noticed they were loading all those boxes of Nike shoes into the back of the ambulance.

“What are you doing?” asked C. One of them turned to him and said, “Welcome to Bushwick.”

The other tossed the last box in, shut the back, and the two of them got back in. It started and they drove off.

C was left standing in the middle of the street, a ruined van on one side of him, a ruined car on the other. The only other person in sight was in an unconscious pile a few blocks away. That’s when he came upstairs and got me.

By the time he finished telling me his story we had made it out to the street and I saw it for myself.

The police were already there. I talked to one of the cops. He told me they were taking care of it. I was a little concerned, as the van was in my name and was not insured or inspected, facts I did not mention to him.

After an hour or so the same cop came back and filled me in. The driver of

the car had gotten out of prison the day before. He immediately went to it.

He filled his system with as much meth and booze as he could, robbed a shoe store, continued his spree into the early morning until he hit our van. The cop said he would take care of the paperwork and make sure we got paid out by the guy's insurance. It felt very strange to have a cop talking to me without being in trouble. Maybe the most surprising thing in the whole story was that this guy had insurance.

Meanwhile, the van was wrecked to all hell. It was undrivable. We were supposed to leave for tour at the end of the week. The drummer of my band was

a mechanic though, and managed to jerry-rig the thing into reasonable functionality. It lasted us until Fargo before it stopped working again.

At the end of the tour when we got back to Brooklyn, nearly 3 months after we had left, we contacted the insurance people. They came and deemed it totaled and we collected enough to pay for our next run of shirts and enough pizza to share with everyone in our apartment, C’s apartment, and another apartment we were friends with in the building, which added up to well over 30 people.

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