Pittsburgh Current. Volume 3, Issue 20. June 30, 2020

INSIDE:

MUSEUMS AND MOVIE HOUSES PREPARE TO REOPEN BUT WILL COVID-19 COOPERATE? VOL. 3 ISSUE 20

June 30, 2020 - July 6, 2020

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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.

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

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contents

Vol. III Iss. XX June 30, 2020

NEWS 6 | Masks and Much More 9 | COVID Surge 10 | Clean Slate Act 11 | Museum Openings 12 | Movie Theaters Prepare 14 | Protest lawsuit OPINION 16 | Larry Schweiger 18 | Brewed on Grant ARTs & ENTERTAINMENT 19 | Record Reviews 20 | Remembering Boosie EXTRA 22 | Savage Love 23 | Ghosts in Ohio 234 | Parting Shot

Contributing Writers: Jody DiPerna, Justin Vellucci, Atiya Irvin Mitchell, Dan Savage, Larry Schweiger, Brittany Hailer, Brian Conway, Matt Wallenstein, Emerson Andrews, Eric Boyd info@pittsburghcurrent.com

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NEWS

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NEWS MASKS AND MUCH MORE PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE TIME OF COVID-19

BY CHANTELE E. MITCHELL-MILAND & DARA D. MENDEZ - SPECIAL TO THE PITTSBURGH CURRENT INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

Green is associated with "go," "all clear," "nothing to worry about" – but during this pandemic, green could not be further from the truth, especially as businesses and other places reopen. Caution is needed now given the increase in COVID-19 cases across the United State and in Allegheny County. In Allegheny County alone, there was an increase of 521 diagnosed cases over the past week (from June 24 to June 30).

Let's be honest. We are tired.

The first case of COVID-19 (caused by infection with the virus SARS-CoV-2) in the United States was reportedly detected on January 19, 2020 in Snohomish County, Washington, however, reports indicate there were probably undetected cases and COVID-19-related deaths prior.

By March 19, 2020, Pennsylvanian Governor Tom Wolf initiated stay-at-home orders for many counties, including Allegheny County, where most businesses were closed along with additional restrictions. The purpose of these changes were to protect health and “flatten the curve,” meaning reduce the increase in cases over time. This has been a difficult time – even for us Epidemiologists and Public Health workers – who are dealing with the changes as well. Some Public Health workers have even been admonished and fired for showing the true effects of this pandemic on the health and well-being of Americans,

CHANT ELE E .

MI TCHELL-MIL AND

DARA D. MENDEZ

particularly for Black and Brown communities that are disproportionately affected. As many are facing challenges with maintaining employment and adjusting, it can be difficult to know what to do at this time with changing information and guidance.

First, it is important to know how COVID-19 spreads. It primarily spreads through the air meaning that you can contract COVID-19 simply by breathing it in, something more likely to occur in enclosed spaces. The stay-athome orders were put in place to limit contact between people and reduce exposure and opportunities to contract COVID-19.

Now that they have been lifted, there are other things you can do to reduce exposure. One way is to limit physical contact (“social distancing”) with people who do not

live in your household (staying at least 6 feet apart). One may not be able or have the choice to physically distance given familial and community circumstances, but it is important to be judicious about how often you go out to reduce contact. Wearing a face mask or face covering is also critical. Not only does wearing the mask over your nose and mouth reduce the potential spread of virus from you to others; those wearing one will reduce the spread to you.

Yes, masks can be uncomfortable and can feel restrictive, but they can also save the lives of you and others. Because cases are continuing to rise, additional measures have been put in place by the county health department, and additional measures may be needed if cases continue to rise.

The Poor People’s Campaign lays out how states’ decisions to ease social distancing measures have put more people at risk.

Testing and contact tracing are also critical. These methods allow us to know when and where people have been infected. Mass testing gives us the ability to know who is infected early and to isolate infected individuals to prevent continued spread. We know from prior work that early on, Black and Brown communities were less likely to receive testing and plans were put in place led by Black leaders, activists and researchers to increase testing in these areas. Work is ongoing, including plans for expansion of contact tracing that is equitable and community centered. We call for community-centered efforts as a means to track and trace cases of infection while also providing the necessary support and resources where needed. This involves inclusion of community-based organizations and Federally Qualified Health Centers that have expanded testing and have long-standing relationships in local communities.

Data for Allegheny County indicates differences by race where white individuals have a higher number of total infections, but people of color are disproportionately affected. For example, Black populations in Allegheny County are 2.5 times as likely to be infected with COVID compared to

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 30, 2020 | 7

NEWS

C O N T I N U E D F R O M PA G E 7

and people of Pwhite A G populations, E 7 Asian descent are 1.9 times more likely than white populations. Racial differences in infection rates have exposed systemic racism.

Systemic racism plays a role in factors that predispose populations to have less opportunity and access to housing, health care, employment, healthy food options and other needed resources that influence health. Systematic racism also plays a role in the kind of the healthcare that people of color receive once they are sick with COVID-19. There are multiple reports that indicate that people of color are less likely to receive a COVID test when they seek medical care and, once identified as being infected, are less likely to receive adequate treatment. In Allegheny County for example, although 13% of the population is Black, they make up more than 30% of all hospitalizations and admittance to the ICU and approximately 19% of deaths. These are serious equity issues that must be addressed.

The toll COVID-19 has taken on the mental and physical health of the community cannot be understated. Mental health care is critical, including expansion of services and supports in multiple forms, such as telehealth and community-based approaches.

Resolve Crisis Services is a local resource available to all, but expansion of mental health care in the continuum of care is needed.

Physical activity and movement is important too and is linked to mental health. Whether being physically active in one’s home, community or outside elsewhere, physical distancing and wearing a mask within six feet of someone

who doesn’t live with you or in any enclosed space is still critical.

Finally, policy and action that is equitable, based in science and focused on ensuring the full protection and health of populations is important in the immediate and long-term. A worker’s ability to reduce becoming infected, for example, is influenced by state and workplace policies, including requirements for store patrons to wear masks when entering businesses. Policies are also needed to protect Black and Brown individuals from harm while wearing a mask and that allow workers

8 | JUNE 30, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

to still receive pay and have job security if they stay home when they are sick. These are critically important to stopping the spread of respiratory illnesses. So instead of “green” - “yellow” and possibly “red” should be the color of the times.

About the authors: Chantele E. Mitchell-Miland, PhDc, MPH, is a Doctoral Candidate in Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and a Research Health Scientist at the

VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System (VAPHS) in the departments of the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP) and Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC).

Dara D. Mendez, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and Health Equity Editor for Block Chronicles. Twitter handle: @DrDaraDMendez

NEWS ALLEGHENY COUNTY SEES RECORD NUMBER OF NEW DAILY CASES OF COVID-19

A

fter weeks of watching the number of COVID-19 cases decrease across Allegheny County, the county saw a huge increase in cases last week that has continued as the July 4 holiday looms.

Last week, the number of cases reached 393. On Monday and Tuesday alone this week (June 29-30), the number of new cases reached 192, including 109 on Tuesday, a record number of new cases.

According to a release last week from the Allegheny COunty Health Department: New cases ranged in age from 4 months to 97 years old with a median age of 31 years old.

Two-thirds of the new cases were among those aged 19 to 49 years old.

People contacted by the Allegheny County Health Department’s case investigation staff reported traveling all over the country. Myrtle Beach, Houston, Nashville, and places in Florida such as Miami, Tampa and Naples came up multiple times during case investigations.

New cases also told the Health Department they had recently been to bars and restaurants all around the county. Some of the new cases include staff at local bars and restaurants.

Of the 15 different bars and restaurants new cases reported recently visiting or working at, five facilities were reported multiple times.

Following the surge in cases, Allegheny County Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald ordered a ban on all alcohol sales at bars and restaurants. Additionally, anyone dining

BY CHARLIE DEITCH - PITTSBURGH CURRENT EDITOR

CHARLIE@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

in an establishment must wear a mask at all times unless eating or drinking. Enforcement of the order began Tuesday.

“For the first time since COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the state, Allegheny County led the state in the number of new COVID-19 cases,” said Fitzgerald.

“We’re going the wrong direction.

While most resident and businesses have been following the rules, these requirements and mitigation measures address the hot spots that have been identified during case investigations. These are severe steps, but we have to take steps now to limit the community spread that endangers those who are older, high-risk or otherwise immunocompromised.”

Allegheny County’s top health official, Dr. Debra Bogen, said that many of the new cases stemmed

from travel, particularly those who participated in nightlife during travel and visiting local bars.

Bogen recommended that anyone who has traveled out of the state self-quarantine for 14 days or have two negative COVID-19 tests 48 hours apart.

“Recommending quarantine and testing after travel will help reduce spread from those individuals and I am confident our county has the testing capacity to handle it,” Bogen said.

In a statement June 28, Gov. Tom Wolf said he supported the efforts

by Allegheny County officials to contain the virus’ spread: “I commend Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Health Department Director Dr. Debra Bogen for the decision to shut down bars and restaurants for on-premises alcohol sales in Al-

legheny County effective June 30.

This was the right move to work to stop the recent spike of COVID-19 cases in its tracks and to remind all residents and businesses that the best defense we have in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and keeping Pennsylvanians safe is to continue to follow the mask-wearing requirement, practice social distancing, and follow safety guidelines even and especially during the green phase of reopening. We cannot become complacent in practicing the measures we know can protect everyone from the spread of this very contagious virus.

“It is my hope that swift action on the part of the county results in swift containment and the return to an increased commitment to protect all residents, especially those most vulnerable to COVID-19, and that this action sets an example for the rest of the state to continue to follow mitigation efforts put in place to protect lives and livelihoods.

“Mitigation efforts statewide include the requirement to wear a mask when in businesses, following occupancy limits in all businesses and gatherings, practicing social distancing, hand washing and sanitizing surfaces – these simple practices can make a huge difference in protecting ourselves, our seniors, our neighbors and our communities. Even if you believe you will not get sick, you can, and you can spread the virus to someone who may not be able to recover as easily.”

Cassie Miller of the Pennsylvania Capital-Star contributed to this report.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 30, 2020 | 9

NEWS LANDMARK CRIMINAL JUSTICE BILL HELPED 1 MILLION PEOPLE GET JOBS AND HOUSING LAST YEAR BUT ADVOCATES SAY THERE'S MORE TO BE DONE

A

ll it took was a chaotic run-in with a bootleg CD vendor for police to arrest K. Robinson in a Philadelphia grocery store years ago. The incident didn’t result in a criminal conviction, but it still dogged the young entrepreneur and deterred her from seeking business loans and partnerships with community organizations.

That changed this year, when Robinson became one of the 1 million Pennsylvanians whose arrest and criminal records were automatically sealed under Pennsylvania’s Clean Slate Act – the first-in-thenation measure that wipes arrest records after charges are dropped, and seals certain low-level misdemeanors and summary convictions after 10 years.

“Having my record cleared really gives me a lot more confidence,” Robinson said Tuesday, when advocates and criminal justice policy makers celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Clean Slate Act. Along with other people who had their records wiped, Robinson did not share her full name.

Clean Slate took effect last June, one year after it passed with broad bipartisan support in Pennsylvania’s General Assembly.

Since then, an automated computer program has sealed more than 35 million criminal cases in Pennsylvania’s online court system, hiding them from view of landlords, employers and members of the public. The cases have affected the criminal records of more than 1.1 million Pennsylvanians.

Proponents framed it as a way to boost employment and prevent recidivism among the three million

BY ELIZABETH HARDISON - FOR THE PITTSBURGH CURRENT

INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

Pennsylvanians who have criminal records.

“Without Clean Slate, a minor offense or just an arrest, a brush with the law, turns into a life sentence,” Gov. Tom Wolf said Tuesday. “And that’s a life sentence where we are going without the contributions that that person might have made to our economy, our society, or our families.”

Advocates hailed Clean Slate on Tuesday as a marvel of technical achievement, made possible by the statewide judicial record-keeping system that Pennsylvania has maintained since the 1980s.

Before Clean Slate took effect, anyone looking to have a criminal charge sealed had to hire a lawyer, apply for a pardon, and petition a judge to wipe it from public view.

Automating the process has saved Pennsylvania court staffers more than 35,000 work hours in Pennsylvania’s courts, Greg Moull, director of the advocacy group Justice Action Network, said.

It’s also saved the 1.1 million

10 | JUNE 30, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

people whose criminal records have changed the hassle and expense of hiring lawyers to guide them through the expungement process, and allowed criminal records to be sealed at a rate that would be impossible without technology. Since 2016, only 1,492 criminal records in Pennsylvania have been cleared by petitions, according to Vallas.

Pennsylvania’s program has spurred copycat bills across the country, including in North Carolina and Georgia, where legislators passed record sealing bills last week, according to Rebecca Vallas, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

Other measures have advanced in Michigan and been signed into law in Utah.

But advocates and lawmakers have still found shortcomings in Pennsylvania’s current law.

For starters, the state’s record sealing software doesn’t notify people when the courts make changes to their public criminal

records.

Community Legal Services, a Philadelphia-based legal aid firm, created an online tool to help people search their criminal records.

But “with 35 million cases, it would just be too expensive” to create automatic notifications, employment attorney Sharon Dietrich said.

The legislation also makes anyone with outstanding court fines or fees ineligible for expungement.

That means that half of the misdemeanor charges that qualify for Clean Slate in Pennsylvania are unable to be sealed, including 75 percent of eligible misdemeanors in Philadelphia, District Attorney Larry Krasner’s office found.

A bill sponsored by Rep. Sheryl Delozier, R-Cumberland, would amend the Clean Slate Act to make people with court debt eligible for sealing unless they owe restitution to a victim. Advocates say it’s a crucial change for thousands of Pennsylvanians whose old criminal records and arrests may pose an obstacle to employment.

But Rep. Jordan Harris, D-Philadelphia, Delozier’s co-sponsor on the original Clean Slate bill, wants to take the tweaks even further. He supports automatic expungement for felony records – specifically felony drug charges, which he called one of the “biggest impediments to folks getting employed.” “[Clean Slate] is a great first step,” Harris said. “It moves us in the right direction … but we have a lot more work to do.”

Elizabeth Hardison is a reporter for the the Pennsylvania Capital-Star where this story first appeared

NEWS PITTSBURGH MUSEUMS BEGIN REOPENING, BUT WILL RISE IN COVID-19 CASES SLOW THE PROCESS?

BY NICK EUSTIS - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A

fter closing over three months ago in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Carnegie Science Center reopened its doors to members on June 26. When the Current spoke that day to Jason Brown, the Science Center’s Henry Buhl Jr. director, he said guests have been overjoyed to be able to visit again.

“Our customers seem really, really happy to be here and our staff seems really, really happy to have them here,” said Brown “It’s like a big love fest.”

But a cloud of uncertainty has since rolled in overhead, as Allegheny County reported 96 positive cases of COVID-19 on June 28, the highest one day spike since the county’s first confirmed cases on March 14. That same day, Allegheny County Health Department Director Dr. Debra Bogen announced an order to halt on-premises consumption of alcohol in bars and restaurants in an afternoon press conference. On June 29, there were 85 new cases.

At that conference, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald acknowledged that more closures may occur if the rise in cases is not brought under control.

“When Dr. Bogen and her team make these recommendations, they certainly know

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the impact that it’s going to have on the business community,” Fitzgerald said. “However, if we don’t get ahead of it now, we will have to shut down many more businesses and hurt our economy and put more people out of work going forward.”

This news comes right as several Pittsburgh museums and cultural institutions plan to reopen to the public. The Carnegie Science Center reopened to members on June 26, and to the public June 29, as did its sister museums, the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History and the Andy Warhol Museum.

All museums in the Carnegie Museum System are enacting several restrictions to improve public safety. Museum capacity has been limited to 25 percent, and guests have to purchase timed tickets online and provide their contact information prior to their visit. Face masks and social distancing are also required for visitors and are enforced by staff and security personnel. Museum employees must wear masks and have their body temperatures checked.

Increased sanitizing of shared surfaces is also a key point in their safety plan, particularly for the Science Center.

“We have additional facility staff and custodians, addi-

The Miniature Railroad at the Carnegie Science Center. (Current Photo by Jake Mysliwczyk)

tional exhibit staff, and then we have other staff across the organization constantly cleaning, constantly sanitizing,” said Brown.

The Heinz History Center is implementing lighter restrictions for their scheduled July 1 reopening. Capacity is limited to 50 percent, with an analogous online timed ticketing system. Hand sanitizer stations are placed throughout the museum, and staff are implementing new cleaning procedures. Signage will be posted around the museum reminding guests to wear masks and keep distance.

“Visitors and staff will be required to wear masks and practice social distancing while inside the museum,” said Kim Roberts, communications manager for the Heinz History Center. “Our 375,000-square-foot museum allows plenty of space for

visitors to social distance and safely enjoy our six floors of exhibits.”

Also reopening July 1 is the National Aviary, with similar restrictions to the Heinz History Center. In addition to requiring timed tickets, masks and social distancing, the Aviary has taken the additional step of temperature testing all staff members, as well as any guest who cannot wear a mask for medical reasons.

Certainly, these restrictions will decrease the chance of spreading COVID-19 in these institutions. But despite these reopenings, the fact remains that positive test results for the virus are, as of writing this, trending upward. Until we can fully curb the spread of this disease, visiting our favorite museum will remain a calculated risk for the foreseeable future.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 30, 2020 | 11

NEWS AS MOVIE THEATERS LARGE AND SMALL PLAN TO REOPEN, SURGE IN COVID-19 CASES COULD DELAY THE PREMIERE

T

he weekend before it closed down for months, Pittsburgh’s The Manor Theater seemed slightly off. While the regular patrons came out to see the newest version of Jane Austin’s Emma and the controversial thriller, The Hunt, the theater saw a meager turnout on Friday and Saturday. With anxiety about COVID-19 quickly spreading around the country, the 98-year old venue stayed open until Sunday, and closed the next day.

Months later, the Squirrel Hill landmark is cautiously moving towards reopening. In its first Facebook post in months, the theater said, “We’ve missed you and look forward to welcoming you back to The Manor Theatre in July,” before explaining recent renovations that it has taken to protect against the spread of Coronavirus. The Manor’s changes show that the theater is willing to put customers’ safety ahead of profits, and luckily, it appears other small theaters in the area are following suit.

“We obviously take the health and safety of our employees and patrons seriously. Squirrel Hill tends to have a bit of an older clientele, especially when colleges and universities aren’t in session, so we took the time during the shutdown to do some improvements to the theater and to make sure everyone is comfortable,” said The Manor’s owner, Rick Stern.

In addition to new hand-sanitizing stations, touchless faucets, and other upgrades, the theater has revamped its ticketing system. “You’ll now see an illustration of the auditorium and

BY ETHAN GORDON - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER

INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

The Manor Theater. Pittsburgh Current Photo by Ethan Gordon)

then you’ll be able to buy a ticket for a particular seat. It’ll hopefully give people a bit more comfort that they can select their seat, see how many people are sitting around them, and give everyone a bit more control over the [theater’s] environment,” said Stern.

After months of listening to government officials on the matter,

12 | JUNE 30, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

Stern raised a note of caution about reopening in July. Some Pittsburgh area cinemas are going to be open within the next two weeks, but The Manor is going to wait it out even further.

“With the recent push back of big movies like Tenet and Mulan, and with watching the cases increase in Allegheny County, we’ll probably

push [the opening] back to the end of July,” said Stern. “When people come back, we want it to be fun, and we want people to not have to worry about it too much, so I think being cautious is prudent.”

After a global closure, any movie-related industry is flailing. In the United States, everything fell apart in early March when the new James

NEWS Bond film, No Time to Die, moved its release date from April to November. From that point onward, films dropped off the release schedule like flies. From March 1st to March 12th, Forbes Magazine reported that the stocks of national chains Cinemark and AMC fell by over 35%. Articles from The Guardian and other publications in early March noted a possible $5 billion loss globally for the movie industry. Now that parts of the United States are reopening, movie chains are scrambling to follow suit.

For a month or so, it appeared that the nation’s major cineplexes were charging into an early July opening.

It now seems that the news of rising cases in 36 states has scared them off. AMC has switched the opening of its theaters from July 15th to July 30th, while also implementing a set of “Safe and Clean” policies to protect customers. The chain’s locations in the Waterfront, South Hills, and Mt. Lebanon seemingly will start business on that new date.

Following AMC’s lead, Cinemark announced that they will be pushing back openings to July 24th. As of now, there’s no news about which of the North Hills, Robinson, Monroeville or Center Township locations will be starting up first, even though the North Hills and Robinson venues were supposed to be open on July 3rd. Despite the changing dates, the biggest change with Cinemark is the closure of the Pittsburgh Mills Mall multiplex, which announced in May that its COVID shutdown would be a permanent shutdown.

While it appears that coronavirus was the final nail in the coffin for the Mills Mall cineplex, another well-known theater in the region announced its closure just days before lockdown. The SouthSide Works

Theater struck a middle ground between the area's giant chain theaters and The Manor’s comfortable size, but the cinema seemingly got caught in no man’s land. On March 9th, the SouthSide Works Theater’s new owners announced that it would close, partially due to slipping attendance.

With a three month lockdown almost permanently killing AMC, the nation’s largest theater chain, it’s clear there’s an inherent frailty in the industry in 2020. This weakness has led some film fans to discuss a larger role for video-on-demand in the future of moviegoing, which many in the movie industry have pushed against by emphasizing the importance of the in-person experience.

While most people involved with theaters agree with the latter sentiment, some small cinemas in the area have opened up their own video on demand streaming service to stay relevant during the shutdown.

Downtown’s historic Harris Theater is one of a handful Pittsburgh cinemas that has added a VOD platform. The art-house cinema has been keeping up with independent films and documentaries with its virtual theater, but it hasn't yet announced anything about reopening.

That silence could be worrying, considering the Harris’ tumultuous 2019, where the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust took over from the Harris’ previous management, Pittsburgh Filmmakers.

Lawrenceville’s Row House Cinema is in a unique spot, as it’s a theater that focuses on repertory screenings of older films to provide an exciting night out. For a theater that is focused on people who love movies and love seeing them, the pandemic was difficult. While it doesn’t compare to the real thing,

owner Brian Mendelssohn launched Row House Online, a virtual cinema carrying all types of indie films.

“We’ve always been an alternative to the movie home experience, so it’s sad losing that. Still, we’re doing our best to adapt and evolve in this time.

We’ve jumped into virtual cinema distribution, but that isn’t really our mission as a movie theater... even if it’s the best we can do for now,” said Mendelssohn.

Due to the Row House’s emphasis on creating a great night out and building a connection with Pittsburgh’s film-lovers, reopening isn’t on the table just yet.

“We don’t want to do it in a way where we play one movie per day and with ten people at a time, and wipe down the seats each time, and we’re going to have to wear a mask the entire time. It seems counterproductive and not close to the filmgoing experience people love. We don’t want to do the ‘social-distancing cinema’ that is emerging as the new normal. We totally understand the importance of our responsibility to our staff and to the people, so we’re just not going to open until we feel that we can open in a way where we’re able to create that community, and until we’re able to make it feel like Row House again,” said Mendelssohn.

Like Mendelssohn said, the VOD theater is a neat idea in theory, but it didn’t always work in practice. Take The Parkway Theater in McKees Rocks, an unorthodox space that has a spot for live music, a tap room, and a 45-seat screen for indie flicks.

To help maintain a connection with its patrons, the Parkway tried out the virtual cinema, but it didn’t take off. “[The virtual cinema] was a cool concept for different distributors to

help us out, to split [the profits] 50/50 with us, but you’re also competing with other on-demand movies.

While we had some really cool films online, I'll be glad to get people back in the building,” said co-owner Aaron Stubna.

The Parkway’s bar has been open since Allegheny County moved into the Green phase, but the opening of the screening room is to follow in mid-July. With the theater’s opening comes an additional set of precautions: “As far as the theater goes, we’re putting caution tape where you can’t sit; we have 15 of our 45 seats there open for seating. After, you got your proper fabric disinfectants to clean up when people leave, and we go in and wipe everything down. We’re just following what we’re supposed to be doing. It’s not always convenient, but hey, we just try to enforce those rules,” said Stubna.

When later asked about the increasing COVID cases in Allegheny County, Stubna told us that they are closing the bar portion of the Parkway in accordance with new Allegheny County rules, adding that it’s frustrating the county is “shutting [it] down across the board with alcohol.”

The Parkway still plans to reopen their theater on July 10th with the new documentary, Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things.

With the recent increases in Allegheny County’s daily cases of COVID-19, the possibility of another closure looms on many theater owner’s minds. A lot of the opening dates shared in this article had already changed, and many cinema managers are prepared for them to change again. Like everything else in the time of coronavirus, the only things theaters can do is try and adapt or wait it out.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 30, 2020 | 13

NEWS MAYOR BILL PEDUTO, CITY OF PITTSBURGH SUED FOR VIOLATING PROTESTERS' FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS

BY CHARLIE DEITCH - PITTSBURGH CURRENT EDITOR

CHARLIE@pittsburghcurrent.com

M

ayor Bill Peduto and the city of Pittsburgh escalated “a peaceful protest into a scene of pandemonium, panic, violence and bloodshed” and then “disseminated flagrant lies to conceal and/or justify the PBP’s shameless use of force against peaceful protesters” during a June 1 protest in East Liberty against police brutality, according to a class-action lawsuit filed this morning.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. DIstrict Court for the Western DIstrict of Pennsylvania on behalf of five named plaintiffs who say the city’s actions violated their First Amendment rights

by Pittsburgh civil rights attorney Timothy O’Brien the lawyers from the Abolitionist Law Center. The lawsuit’s class includes other protesters there that day also affected by the city’s actions.

It officially names Peduto, Pittsburgh Police Chief Scott Schubert, public Safety director Wendell Hissrich and police commanders Stephen Vinansky and Jason Lando.

According to the lawsuit, hundreds of police officers were dispatched to deal with protesters. The attendees were protesting violence by police against people of color in the wake of the recent deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police.

“As the assembled protesters held their hands in the air and chanted, ‘This is not a riot,’ and ‘Hands up – Don’t shoot,’ PBP ordered its officers to attack them with explosives, chemical agents and ammunition which is known to seriously wound and sometimes kill its targets,” the lawsuit alleges. “PBP officers drove ambulances past injured protesters without stopping. After ordering peaceful protesters to leave the area, PBP officers blocked their escape with chemical gas, riot police

Wounds on the legs of Christopher Wilson Juring caused by being shot by police with "non-lethal projectiles" as he was fleeing a June 1 protest in East Liberty.

and mounted patrols. PBP then arrested several protestors for failing to disperse, subjecting them to confinement in the midst of a global COVID-19 pandemic. The PBP ordered tactical officers dressed in paramilitary garb to patrol a residential neighborhood in armored vehicles and arbitrarily throw canisters of chemical gas at and/or arrest anyone they encountered. “ In response, City of Pittsburgh

14 | JUNE 30, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

officials, including the Mayor, Public Safety Director and Chief of Police, disseminated flagrant lies to conceal and/or justify the PBP’s shameless use of force against peaceful protesters. These officials accused protesters of hurling rocks and “volleys of bricks” at PBP officers, and vehemently denied using chemical agents. Numerous videos demonstrate that these statements were patently false.

“Plaintiffs allege that the Defendants’

conduct violated their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly, their Fourth Amendment rights to be free from excessive force and false arrest and their Fourteenth Amendment right not to be subject to official governmental policies which violate their constitutional rights.”

The lawsuit names five plaintiffs and their allegations: Nicole Rulli and Charles Bryant brought Ms. Rulli’s thirteen-year-old son, named only as A.F. “to the protest to teach him about his First Amendment rights. The police gassed his family and taught him to fear political protests.”

The family fled the protest once tear gas was fired. The family was eventually able to get onto Centre Avenue to return to their vehicle. As they did, they were fired upon with tear gas. As Nicole and Charles were incapacitated by the gas, Nicole told her son to run, causing them to be separated for some time. When Bryant asked an officer if he had seen a 13-year-old boy, he was allegedly told, “that’s on you.”

Simon Phillips, a dance instructor who was arrested near his East Liberty apartment after he complied with the PBP’s order to leave. He was left cuffed in zip ties on the street for 90 minutes.

The ties caused lacerations on the wrist that had to be closed with stitches.

Donovan Hayden, who works for a local nonprofit, was “gassed” and chased by police at gunpoint as he left the protest.

Jennifer “Jay” Yoder. “Police gassed and pushed Yoder and arrested them as they attempted to return to their car after the protest. Yoder was there as an observer and to “assist protesters.” Yoder tried to disperse and told officers that she was trying to go to her car when she was taken to the ground and arrested.

NEWS Christopher Wilson Juring was “shot in the back as he fled a cloud of tear gas and smoke.” He was hit four times in the back and legs.

According to the lawsuit, following a May 30 protest in Downtown Pittsburgh, city officials were “put on notice” that police officers would use force against protesters because of the tactics used in the downtown protest. “The vast majority of the attendees did not engage in any property damage or violence.

However, following some reports of property damage, PBP officers used chemical gas, rubber bullets and other projectiles, pepper spray, flashbang grenades and other riot control agents indiscriminately against everyone present, including peaceful protesters and nonviolent bystanders. Numerous protesters were seriously injured. The PBP arrested 46 people at the protests for “failure to disperse.” The Allegheny County District Attorney refused to pursue charges against at least 39 of these arrestees because the PBP’s evidence was insufficient to support the charges,” according to the lawsuit.

Those actions, the lawsuit says, made it clear to the city that equal or greater force would be used during future protests. Thousands gathered in East Liberty on June 1 at about 3:30 p.m. and demonstrated uninterrupted by police.

At about 6:30 p.m., a group of about 150 protesters marched down Centre Avenue for about a half mile when they were met by a line of about 150 police officers dressed in riot gear and/or camouflage outfits, gas masks and had weapons including batons and firearms as well as several police dogs. According to the lawsuit, the later march consisted of the same “behavior of the larger group of protesters earlier in the day, which the PBP openly approved and supported.”

At 7:17 p.m., demonstrators were given an order by police to disperse and that the protest has been labeled an “unlawful assembly.” Centre Avenue was then blocked by police officers and vehicles. “Police warned the Protesters

not to “advance” on their line. However, nearly all of the Protesters were at least 30 feet away from the officers. At no time did any Protester “advance” on the officers,” according to the lawsuit. “ The lawsuit says the protesters did not pose “an imminent threat to public safety, peace and order,” yet the gathering was deemed an “unlawful assembly” without explanation.” Over the next several minutes, officers allegedly “discharged a firearm into the crowd,” and used a crowd dispersal tool known as an LRAD, which emits loud noises that can cause loss of hearing. Tear gas and “flashbang” grenades were also used on the crowd as well as rubber bullets, beanbag rounds and “sponge grenades.”

According to the filing: “Rubber bullets” are large rubber coated metal cylinders which can be fired from standard firearms or dedicated “riot guns.”

“Beanbag rounds” are cloth bags filled with lead shot which are fired from a 12-gauge shotgun. “Sponge grenades” are large plastic or metal bullets with dense foam rubber tips. They are typically fired from a 40mm grenade launcher.

“Although these items are often referred to as “less lethal” munitions, they are fired with the force of a gun or grenade launcher and have the capability to cause serious injury and/or death, particularly when fired at close range or when fired at vulnerable areas of the body,” according to the lawsuit.

The myriad explosions, tear gas and projectiles caused some protesters to flee down side streets only to be shot by projectiles fired “indiscriminately” at protesters by police.

In one instance, a protester was shot in the face with an “unknown munition” and knocked unconscious. According to the lawsuit: “Other Protesters dragged him out of the street and attempted to render medical aid. As they did so a SWAT officer threw a chemical grenade at them.”

In another incident, two protesters on their knees with their hands in the air were sprayed in the face with OC

spray. The two got up and ran only to have a tear gas canister thrown at them by another officer. In another, a group of four protesters with hands raised are backed up by lines of officers and a female protester was shot in the chest with a tear gas canister from 10 feet away.

Also, according to the filing, as police officers were telling protesters disperse, they also cut off routes for them to do so. The lawsuit also claims that injured protesters were prevented from seeking medical care.

In all 22 people were arrested and charged. On June 18, Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala dismissed all charges due to lack of evidence.

In the aftermath of the protest, Peduto, Hissrich and Schubert “praised the actions of PBP toward the protesters that evening. “. . . it was then that the officers escalated to the point of being able to break the crowd up, and that finally succeeded. What we did not see is East Liberty is not on fire tonight. People from East Liberty are not harmed. Two protestors were taken for evaluation, and they should be absolutely fine. Nine officers were hurt by protestors,” Peduto said.

Hissrich said: “And I just want to mention that the work that was done by the officers . . . tonight should be commended . . . I think we prevented businesses from being looted and possibly set afire. So I just want to commend all the public safety, the different law enforcement agencies that were out there tonight, and I think the public, they should be thanking the police officers for the work that they have done.”

The lawsuit claims that false accusations were made by officials to justify the actions of police. Among them: • That Protesters vandalized buildings and broke glass windows; • That Protesters engaged in acts of violence and destruction; • That Protesters attacked a KDKA television news crew; • That Protesters attacked Defendant Vinansky in his police vehicle.

• That Protesters were trying to or

• •

•

•

intended to “burn East Liberty down;” That Protesters were “only there to cause damage and to try to hurt police officers.”

That the PBP’s use of force was precipitated by Protesters throwing rocks, bricks and water bottles at police officers; That that Protesters injured nine PBP officers by throwing rocks and bricks at their heads, chests, pelvis areas, knees and shoulders; That PBP used force against the Protesters only after the Protesters threw multiple “volleys of bricks” at officers.

In addition, officials also made several claims about officers use of force that evening: • The only force PBP used against the Protesters was “smoke;” • PBP did not use chemical gas against Protesters; • PBP did not use, “crowd munitions” against Protesters • PBP did not use “rubber bullets” against Protesters; • Only two protesters were injured

by PBP use of force; • No Protesters were seriously injured by PBP use of force; • City of Pittsburgh personnel treated all injured Protesters at the scene and transported them to hospitals.

In contrast, the lawsuit also points out the uneven handling of a protest on April 20 in which protesters, mostly white, protested against Gov. Tom Wolf’s order to close down businesses to stop the spread of COVID-19. At that protest, a number of protesters showed up armed with assault rifles and other firearms. However no SWAT units or armored vehicles were dispatched, nor was there ever an order to disperse.

“The unarmed and peaceful June 1, 2020 protesters posed less of a threat of “substantial harm or serious inconvenience, annoyance or alarm” to the residents of the City of Pittsburgh than the heavily armed April 20 protesters,” the lawsuit says.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 30, 2020 | 15

OPINION

STATEWIDE INVESTIGATING GRAND JURY FINDS CORRUPTION

BY LARRY J. SCHWEIGER - PITTSBURGH CURRENT COLUMNIST

INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

Powerful fracking interests have been holding all the cards in Harrisburg for a long time. The Pennsylvania legislature, long notorious for falling under the overpowering control of moneyed fossil fuel lobbyists, passed a seriously flawed Oil and Gas law Act 13 of 2012. Signed

by Governor Corbett, Republican lawmakers ignored the health and safety of the people of Pennsylvania by allowing drilling rigs within 500 feet homes and other occupied buildings. The General Assembly also usurped local authority by overriding zoning responsibilities declaring that Act 13 “preempts and supersedes the local regulation of oil and gas operations.”

They responded to the industry’s request to bulldoze over local governments by allowing the industry to develop natural gas from Marcellus and Utica shales virtually wherever they want. The legislature restricted “all local ordinances regulating oil and gas operations” by requiring them to “allow for the reasonable development of oil and gas resources.” The state-imposed uniform rules prohibited local governments from imposing more stringent standards. The state also limited the time for local review of proposed drilling permits.

The legislature also tried to gag doctors to prevent them from sharing vital information with their patients. The government hides the identity of chemicals injected into drilling operations, all done in the name of intellectual property rights.

What could possibly go wrong with that?

Attorney General Josh Shapiro is giving us the answer as he announced the 235-page findings and

recommendations of Pennsylvania’s 43rd Statewide Investigating Grand Jury’s 1st report on the unconventional oil and gas industry. The findings are compelling, profoundly troubling, and align with what has been going on. Environmentalists have known about the enforcement shenanigans all along. We have known that polluters were rarely held accountable by DEP or by the state legislature.

“The Grand Jury began this investigation based on evidence that private companies engaged in unconventional oil and gas activities have committed criminal violations of Pennsylvania’s environmental laws. We found such violations, and we are issuing several presentments recommending the filing of criminal charges. And we believe the investigation of additional crimes should, and will, continue beyond the term of this Grand Jury. In the course of our work, we found something else as well. We saw evidence that government institutions often failed in their constitutional duty to act as trustee and guardian “of all the people,” as Article 1 Section 27 provides.”

The Jury summarized things this way, “Pennsylvania has experienced an extraordinary oil and gas boom since the first unconventional well was drilled in Washington County in 2004. Today, approximately 12,500 unconventional oil and gas wells have been drilled in Pennsylvania, and around 10,500 are actively producing natural gas. Hydraulically fracturing a well is a heavy industrial operation. Even under ideal conditions, these operations significantly affect the environment and communities where they occur.”

16 | JUNE 30, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

Pa. Attorney General Josh Shapiro

The Jury reported, “(I)t took the agency years to promulgate regulations specifically targeting this industry, and some crucial areas still haven’t been covered…The Department says formal regs are subject by law to an inherently slow review process beyond DEP’s control.”

This failure should be laid at the feet of the legislature, blocking DEP from developing responsible regulations. The legislature has enacted the most convoluted process to stymie rule-making to serve special interests while minimizing public input. The burdensome rule-making process includes “stakeholder” committees, the Environmental Quality Board, the House, and Senate standing committees, Independent Regulatory Review Commission, and the Attorney General for further approval. Each stop can be fatal to a proposed rule. Frackers are lawmaker’s favorite political contributors

rewarded by failures to regulate.

The Jury observed, “But we’ve seen the agency issue and enforce informal rules when it elected to do so, and on many occasions, it hasn’t availed itself of that option either.

As a consequence, companies were free to continue environmentally hazardous activities that DEP had the power to stop.”

The Grand Jury was troubled by other practices. “We learned, for example, that DEP employees often elected not to inspect reported violations; some employees would just call the well’s operator, and rely on his version of events. And even in cases where investigation did show that a violation had occurred and that groundwater had been tainted, DEP employees typically chose not to notify neighboring landowners, who would have had no way to know there was a problem. Even

OPINION today, there is apparently no policy that requires DEP to notify unsuspecting neighbors that a nearby resident’s water was found to be contaminated, and therefore that their water could be contaminated as well.” “(I)n the early years, there just weren’t very many Notice of Violation NOVs issued for fracking violations. In fact, in 2011, the Department issued a directive prohibiting oil and gas NOVs unless they were personally reviewed and approved by the Secretary himself, the top official in the Department.

The message to employees, intended or otherwise, was to leave fracking alone. That message was reinforced by the Department’s failure to use another powerful tool at its disposal: referral of cases for possible criminal prosecution. Even in recent years, when things have gotten better in some other respects, the number of criminal referrals for fracking infractions has been close to zero.”

The Grand Jury recognized the severe budget challenges that limited state enforcement and the absence of federal oversight. “This is made all the more challenging by the absence of any meaningful federal action, funding, studies, or response to the many environmental and health questions raised by fracking.”

Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware), the minority chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, warned that DEP has been “decimated” by targeted budget cuts since the mid-1990s. The fiscal year 2016-17 state budget negotiations were a gift from Speaker Turzai to the fracking industry. They will go down as one of the most contentious and environmentally damaging in over a decade. Budget cuts caused DEP to lose 25 percent of its staff between 2003-2018 when fracking exploded, demanding more not less staff.

The Federal government took a hands-off policy on fracking. In 2005, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney set the stage for the fracking disaster when Bush signed into law a sweeping deregulation bill crafted

by Cheney. Instead of tightening environmental controls to prevent future tragedies, the bill allowed corporations to duck responsibility for fracking activities, bypassing all Federal environmental laws. It was particularly convenient for Cheney, who held between $35 and $44 million in Halliburton stock, and substantial stock options.

The Jury learned, “DEP employees often elected not to inspect reported violations; some employees would just call the well’s operator, and rely on his version of events.

And even in cases where investigation did show that a violation had occurred and that groundwater had been tainted, DEP employees typically chose not to notify neighboring landowners, who would have had no way to know there was a problem. Even today, there is apparently no policy that requires DEP to notify unsuspecting neighbors that a nearby resident’s water was found to be contaminated, and therefore that their water could be contaminated as well.”

The Jury asked DOH to share its opinion on whether fracking posed a risk to public health. The DOH responded, “[T]he science in this area is developing, and it is fair to say that it has not been proven that fracking harms public health.”

“Well, yes, you can’t prove what you don’t examine, and DOH has gone out of its way in the past not to look at connections between fracking and health effects. The circumstantial evidence is compelling, and we think it was the Department’s job to look at it. The new study is a start, but is still far from the proper response of a public health agency.”

The Grand Jury made several

“practical and available responses:” 1. Expand the no-drill zones “Everything we’ve seen confirms that all the impacts of fracking activity are magnified by proximity.

The closer you live to a gas well, compressor station, or pipeline, the more likely you are to suffer ill effects. Yet the state law minimum ‘setback’ for well construction is only 500 feet. That is dangerously close. An increase in the setback, to 2500 feet, is far from extreme, but would do a lot to protect residents from risk.”

2. Stop the chemical cover-up “Let’s end this camouflage, provide transparency to the public, and mandate disclosure of all chemicals used in any aspect of unconventional drilling, so their possible hazards can be properly considered.”

3. Regulate all pipelines The Jury recommends that all “gathering lines” be properly regulated.

4. Add up the air pollution sources DEP generally considers individual pigging stations as too small to require attention. But these stations are often located near each other. So they have a cumulative effect that is significant and needs to be treated as one pollution source so that the actual impact on residents can be properly addressed.

5. Transport the toxic waste more safely Pennsylvania should require trucks carrying waste containing chemicals used in the drilling and fracturing process display signage, specifically identifying the source of the waste they carry.

6. Deliver a real public health response “Let’s release DOH from its self-imposed constraints and require it to treat fracking like any other public health crisis.

Send out the nurses and doctors to interview healthcare professionals.

Advertise in affected areas. Collect

sophisticated data and conduct sophisticated analysis.”

7. End the revolving door DEP employees, once trained about fracking at government expense, are often poached away to much higher-paying jobs in the oil and gas industry. That creates a potential conflict of interest for government workers whose duty is to regulate the people who may well be their future employers. A revolving door rule would reduce that potential conflict by requiring a period of delay before taking a new job in the regulated industry.

8. Use criminal laws “DEP won’t use its most powerful weapon against frackers who break the rules: criminal prosecution. But there’s no reason it should only be DEP’s call to make. Extend jurisdiction to the Office of Attorney General, so that its environmental crimes section can follow the evidence and make appropriate decisions about criminal charges, without leaving it all up to DEP.” Can we learn from past mistakes?

Lobbyists have long corrupted the Pennsylvania legislature. As early as 1899, Henry Lloyd Demarest observed John D. Rockefeller’s cash-heavy influence: “The Standard Oil has done everything with the Pennsylvania legislature except to refine it.” Under the influence of big oil, the legislature ignored calls to regulate the oil and gas industry for decades and saddled this generation with over $7 billion in liabilities to address well over 300,000 orphan and abandoned oil and gas wells.

Groundwater contamination and methane emissions from unsealed wells are painful reminders of the corruption.

It’s time for an oil change in Harrisburg and Attorney General Josh Shapiro deserves our full support for courageously driving it.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 30, 2020 | 17

OPINION

ADVERTISE WITH US TODAY! WWW.PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM 18 | JUNE 30, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

A&E RECORD REVIEWS

BY MARGARET WELSH - PITTSBURGH CURRENT MUSIC EDITOR MARGARET@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

Vincristine Honor [Heavy Head] vincristine.bandcamp.com Nicholas Alexander Ranayhossaini describes his project Vincristine as a “Trent Reznor situation,” which is to say that -- like Nine Inch Nails -- it’s essentially a one-man show. Everything you hear on Honor is Ranayhossaini: the guitars, the drums, the bass, the vocals. He recorded and produced the record. He made the cover art.

It’s an ambitious effort indeed, packing in elements of doom metal, stoner, desert and alt rock, psychedelia, prog, and nearly every other heavy genre you can think of. Ranayhossaini throws in a wide range of vocal influences as well, giving the impression that Vincristine has about five different singers, at least. In the space of the two first tracks I heard shades of Wino, early Ozzy, Chris Cornell, Johan Langqvist and Matt Pike. And Ranayhossaini pushes the limits of his range, striving for some low-lows, and some soaring high notes, even hitting a tortured Robert Plant style buildup and howl on opening track “Stag:” “I’m so fucking ….. looooooooonly!”

Honor follows 2016’s The Machine, a record that doesn’t try to do quite as much, and is ultimately a little more successful as a cohesive work. Honor has lots of interesting stuff going on, and some great moments which showcase Ranayhossaini’s skill as a musician and a songwriter, not to mention his imagination and knowledge of heavy music. Every track has some piece to recommend: a catchy, sludgy riff, an interesting vocal flourish, a particularly vulnerable lyric. But the record often becomes unwieldy under the sheer weight of ideas.

It’s intriguing to witness Ranayhossaini as he truly just goes for it, no matter what, and sometimes it works: the classic doom of “Warrior” hits a nice balance, and I’d love to hear the restraint of the Zeppelin-esque instrumental “Cornellian Ether” carried out elsewhere. Other times Ranayhossaini falls short of his ambitious reach, leaving the listener with a half-built castle when a cottage would have done just fine.

The question is, I guess, who is this for? Aging NOFX fans, looking to branch out? People with a passion for ’90s nostalgia? Budding paleontologist skateboarders? Honestly I have no idea, but I bet it's best heard live in a basement crowded with people, after you’ve had several of those 65 million beers. Hopefully that world isn’t completely extinct.

Fuck Yeah Dinosaurs 65 Million Beers Ago fuckyeahdinosaurs.bandcamp.com You gotta hand it to Fuck Yeah Dinosaurs, they’re committed to the bit.

65 Million Beers Ago is the follow up to 2018’s Jurrassic Drunks, the band’s party-saurus-themed debut. Does the world really need more skatepunk songs about drinking and Dinosaurs? Arguably, no. But on the other hand, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes released eight (!) full albums so perhaps excess should be considered a hallmark of the novelty pop-punk genre.

Opening “Earl Sinclair (What a Guy)” with some advice (“The more you drink, the less you think” might as well be the tagline for life in quarantine), the band then imagines Sinclair, the patriarch from the short-lived sitcom Dinosaurs, lamenting his daily grind: “Five o’clock I’ll get away/I’ve been fighting trees all damn day/Quitting time, I’m chuggin’ beers with Roy/ Cracking open cold ones with the boys.” It’s an ultra high-energy track, and undeniably catchy. But its hard to imagine anyone who isn’t a dinosaur themselves (myself included) would know enough about Dinosaurs to even get the joke (and not even I remember who Roy is).

On the sinister, heavy-ish “Life, Uh, Finds a Way” (one of two songs titled after famous Jurassic Park lines) “dino-kind” promises that they will “reclaim their place at the top when man becomes extinct.” In “A Critique of the Human Condition,” we hear more speculation on the thoughts of prehistoric minds, which, of course, end up reflecting very human concerns: I want you to know that we’re still alive somewhere in the south pacific Hiding behind rocks in caves, wasting away our retirement days I don’t want to run into your human debris, the state of your race is Embarrassing me You took all that was left of our great planet, you fucked it all up And i don’t understand it We just want a place to rest our bones These imaginative moments can be genuinely charming. And there is much to like in this well-produced collection of joke-y, hook-filled party music. But other times the record is burdened by its own relentless schtick.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 30, 2020 | 19

A&E REMEMBERING BOOSIE

BRILLIANT WRITER, ‘WAS UNAPOLOGETICALLY DOPE AND BLACK AND THAT’S WHAT MADE HIM BEAUTIFUL.’

O

ne time, Jeffrey Bolden, more familiarly known to everyone as Boosie, showed up at a Halloween party covered head to toe in purple glitter.

That costume may have grabbed the room’s attention, but then he held it by performing a lyrical essay -part poem, part memoir. It was what he called a “song-story.” The party of more than 30 people stopped; they were spellbound by his literary rap.

Then, there was the time he gave a presentation to the Dean and his mentor at Chatham's MFA program about lack of representation, how important it was for there to be better conversations, and how it was necessary to decolonize the syllabi. He did so knowing that whatever changes might happen wouldn't affect him, but his advocacy would make the program better overall. He wanted to make it a better place for Black writers and other writers of color in the future.

There was that other time, when he was supposed to give a reading at a gallery crawl on Penn Avenue and he took the stage and just stood there. Then, he pulled out his phone and started laughing. He kept laughing until the entire audience was laughing with him.

That was Boosie.

And there was the time when he wrote about his suicide plan; the siren song of it, how he didn't know how to sing or write his way out of the abyss. That dragon was always hiding somewhere. It was a cagey demon he had to battle often in his life.

That was Boosie, too.

Jeffrey Bolden was known to everybody who loved him and knew him as Boosie. He died on Tuesday,

BY JODY DIPERNA - PITTSBURGH CURRENT LIT WRITER JODY@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

A memorial service for Bossie, aka, Jeffrey Bolden June 26. (Pittsburgh Current Photo by Jake Mysliwczyk)

June 23rd, after being hit by a car while out walking on a back road near his mother's home in Mississippi. He was just 32-years-old.

Boosie came to Pittsburgh to attend Chatham's MFA program in creative writing. While here, he struggled to get his work out into the hands of readers. He struggled with the insecurities and doubts and pains that all writers do; he battled the hurdles and challenges facing

20 | JUNE 30, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

Black writers, specifically. He also produced a tremendous amount of work and changed Pittsburgh's literary community forever.

"I write because it's all I have.

Writing is all I've ever had," he wrote once. Maybe it felt that way when he wrote it, but he did have more than writing. He had more than the composition notebook that kept him company: he had a community of fellow writers and

friends. He built his community of creators -- lovers of the spoken word and lovers of the written word -- all of whom are rocked by his passing.

"Can you imagine what 40 year old Boosie was going to write? Can you think about what 50-year-old Boosie was going to do?" said Brittany Hailer said. Hailer, a contributing writer to the Current and was the first friend Boosie made in Pittsburgh. "I

A&E think he was going to disrupt all of this, and now it's gone."

"We actually made plans to collaborate. We never ironed out how it was going to look, we just knew that we wanted to work together," Brittney Chantele told me. She and Boosie first met at a reading.

A hip-hop artist and poet, Chantele was blown away by his work and they became easy friends. “We didn't know if it was going to be like he spits poetry on top of something that I'm singing or we both do poetry.

But I regret not fast-forwarding that and getting that going sooner," she said.

The other thing Bolden found while living in Pittsburgh was a publisher for his book. Wolves will be released in November by Tolsun Press. Part memoir, part fiction, it is both prosaic and lyrical (more Nipsey Hustle than Longfellow). As often happened with his work, music is both text and subtext, explicit and thematic.

"But soon lyrics were floating through my mind, melody was forming in the malaise, and gave my daydreams color and rhyme," he writes in the first track of Wolves.

"When I read it, I thought it just had such an interesting, cool voice and perspective. I wanted to snatch it up right away," recalled Brandi Pischke, Boosie's editor at Tolsun.

"He told me he listened to a lot of different kinds of music when writing. It inspires him and inspired him to write the pieces that he wrote for the book. The way we worked was to get it to flow like an album. Some of the tracks were hard and in your face. Some of them would bring you back down to earth a little bit.”

Fully bathed in the tradition of hip hop, Boosie knew every phrase and ellipse, every tone and undertone. He brought it all together to create his written voice and his performance style, layering and signaling and mixing in a wholly original way.

One of Boosie's friends, a writer who overlapped with him at Chatham and who is now pursuing her PhD at Pitt, Caitlyn Hunter spoke about his genius for performance: "Oh yeah, that man could command a stage. He was like Malcolm X meets Assata Shakur meets Tu Pac." Said Chantele: "And he just had the illest bars."

"The way that he would perform and read … he has a writing style that, obviously, is heavily influenced by hip hop. It really does make you feel like you get lost in the song.

The way he writes, you get into it and it's like putting on an album or playlist and doing something around the house, but being locked into that playlist the entire time," explained Cameron Barnett. Barnett is a poet and educator, and author of the brilliant collection, The Drowning Boy's Guide to Water.

"You may not have understood all the references, but even if you didn't understand the references, you still got the message. That, for me, is the most successful thing an author can ever do: bring you into their world and so you're like, Okay, I'm into it.

I'm buying whatever you're selling, dude," said Hunter.

E

ven with his prodigious gift for poetry and performance, Boosie bridled at being boxed in by other people's assumptions and expectations. He loved fantasy and sci-fi and anime, too. He published a mythical fantasy story called, A Blues for Niah in the Signal Mountain Review.

"I think he felt like he was getting a message from various corners that he shouldn't be writing in these fantastical spaces. That he should be sticking with what he knows, and writing his own life," Sheila Squillante told me. Squillante is a poet and essayist who taught and mentored Boosie when he was getting

that MFA at Chatham.

During his time in the MFA program, he was one of very few Black students (there were no Black professors.) Being a Black writer was important to him. But he wasn't the Black writer that somebody else wanted him to be: that was equally important to him.

"It was never lost on me that many of his audiences—many of these rooms—were predominantly white. We talked about his frustrations—the failings of this city, his disappointments. But it was always part of his project, his energy, and his generosity to invite people into his worlds," poet and friend Shannon Sankey told me via email.

He demanded much of himself and his art. He was always working on something, always thinking about ways to be better and write something that felt right to him. Squillante observed, "He was somebody who insisted -- he insisted on himself, if that makes sense."

"I remember having a conversation with him where he said, I want to write about Black joy, I want to write about Black imagination," she added.

But it was hard to hang on to that joy in these times. The pandemic was pressing down on him hard.

He had to take two busses to get to work. His mom and sister were both nurses. He was flat out scared by coronavirus.

He radiated at readings, filling the room with his presence. And so the adversity and limitations of the pandemic rode heavy on his spirit.

Even with the excitement about his book, the idea of virtual readings and a virtual book tour took some of the joy out of his book launch.

E

verybody tells stories about his generosity of spirit.

Boosie would gift people small things. These were not grandiose gestures, but small gestures that lived in compassion and attention:

a delivery of fried fish from Hook's Fish & Chicken; prose poems he wrote for people he loved and then put on his Instagram feed that he called Love Letters; artwork that he made for his friend -- a picture of a Black woman with the text, 'Black Woman Is God.' That generosity expanded in bigger, more significant ways as an artist who never felt threatened by the success or platform of others.

Hunter said Boosie was an unashamed fanboy when somebody's work moved him.

"His song stories -- he was even playing with genre in the hip hop world. He integrated lyrics from Jay Z or Nipsey Hustle. Here's the thing -- if you're white and you're listening to Boosie, he's a genius. If you're Black and you're listening to Boosie and you know all the references he's making, he's astronomical,” said Hailer. “He's weaving all this music into his own poetry and that itself was genre-defying. Is he a rapper? Is he a poet? Is he an essayist? He just fucked with genre and did whatever he wanted. It was amazing.”

The literary community is greatly diminished by the loss of Boosie's unique talents, his electric performances and his ability to bridge and connect genres (and people.) Lovers of art are deprived of what might have come next from him. The city of Pittsburgh is a less vibrant and welcoming place without his necessary and distinctly Black voice.

One of the best descriptions of Boosie is what his friend Hunter told me about her friend: "The one thing I will say about Boosie is that he and his work are living proof that Blackness doesn't live within a box. He is showing the multiplicity and variety of what Blackness can be that so often gets overlooked or questioned or challenged. It's unapologetic. He was unapologetically dope and Black and that's what made him beautiful."

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 30, 2020 | 21

EXTRA

Savage Love Love | sex | relationships

BY DAN SAVAGE MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET

I have a question. I’m a gay man in a relationship and we’re both really happy since we met a year ago. We’re “open” in the sense that he wants the option to be intimate with someone else if a connection happens and in turn he said he would be supportive of me being involved in my kinks.

But I haven’t done anything yet out of fear.

I’m not afraid of my kinks.

I’m worried that if I ask to go do something kinky it will ruin our relationship. I don’t think he was bluffing when he said it was okay for me to explore my kinks with other guys but it worries me. I tend to repress the kink part of my sexuality and I’m worried that him knowing I want to act on it will cause issues. My boyfriend and I are so balanced but in the kink aspects of my life I’m a submissive and need to engage in power exchange with someone. I miss being able to express these things and it feels like there’s a void in my life. That might sound silly, but it’s true. I think repressing them is actually taking a toll on my mental health. Any advice?

Guy’s Abandoned Yearnings Subtly Undermining Bond If your boyfriend is bluffing, GAYSUB, you wanna know that sooner rather than later.

Your still-relatively-new-ish boyfriend gave you permission to act on your kinks at the same time he asked your permission to fuck someone else. You gave him your okay and I assume you meant it, GAYSUB; you meant it when you told him he could, if and when “a connection happens,” go ahead and fuck the dude. Seeing as he took your “yes” for an answer where

his “connections” are concerned, GAYSUB, I think you should take his “yes” for an answer where your kinks are concerned. So go find some hot Dom you wanna submit to and let your boyfriend know you’re gonna get your kink on. If it turns out your boyfriend was lying to you—if he’s one of those people who wants to be free to play with others (which is why he got your okay) but doesn’t want his partner playing with others (and the okay he gave you was insincere)—it’s better to find that out twelve short months into this relationship than to find it out ten years, a mortgage, one kid, and two dogs into this relationship.

And what you describe about the void you feel is understandable to anyone with kinks, GAYSUB, and even vanilla people can understand if they think about it for even a moment. (That vanilla stuff you enjoy, vanilla people? Imagine never being able to any of it. See?) Your kinks are an intrinsic aspect of your sexuality and repressing them— not having any way to explore or express them—does take an emotional toll. It can also breed resentment if your partner is the reason you can’t explore or express them.

Which means if your boyfriend wants you to be happy and wants you to be a good boyfriend to him, then you need to have the freedom to be who you are. For some kinky people porn is enough of an outlet, GAYSUB, but most kinky people want actual experiences.

Often a vanilla partner is willing and able to meet a kinky partner’s needs and that’s great. But sometimes a vanilla partner can’t do it or is incapable of faking it or does it poorly on purpose so they won’t be asked to do it again. And for some kinksters the awareness you’re being indulged makes it impossible for to get into the right subby headspace. If either is the case, you’ll

22 | JUNE 30, 2020 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

have to outsource these desires to fill that void.

If your boyfriend gives you the okay and has a little breakdown after you get home—if it dredges up some unexpected feelings (and you should expect that it will dredge up some unexpected feelings (so expect those unexpected feelings)))— and needs some reassurance, that’s fine. Answer any questions he has and let him know you’re not going anywhere; indeed, the fact that you don’t have to choose between him and your kinks makes you far less likely to end this relationship.

(Sometimes people who weren’t even in the dungeon during the scene need a little aftercare too.)

But if you're careful not to neglect your boyfriend sexually or emotionally and your kinky dates are just an occasional thing and your boyfriend keeps having great, big, dramatic meltdowns, GAYSUB, then that’s a bad sign. If he punishes you with drama every time he gives you his okay to play with someone else then he’s hoping you’ll decide to stop seeking these experiences out because the emotional price is too great. You won’t be able to remain in this relationship if that’s what winds up happening, GAYSUB, so you’re going to wanna act on your kinks at least a half a dozen times before you get a dog or a mortgage.

My new boyfriend just opened up to me about his kinks. Nothing crazy: just bondage and humiliation. While he usually meets and dates guys off kinky dating sites we met “the old fashioned way” a few months before COVID-19 slammed us here in Chicago: at a potluck dinner party thrown by a mutual straight lady friend. Your name came up during the conversation about his interests: he told me he was taking your advice and “laying his kink cards on the table” before I had made too much of an emotional commitment. What’s interesting to me, Dan, is how often this happens.

My boyfriend is easily the fourth guy I’ve dated in the last few years who laid down the exact same kink cards: wants to be tied up, wants to be called names, wants to be hurt.

I’m learning to tie knots and getting better at calling him names when we have sex and I actually really

enjoying spanking him. But I was talking with a friend—our straight lady mutual (with the boyfriend’s okay!)—and she told me she’s never had a straight guy open up to her about wanting to be tied up abused.

Are gay guys just kinkier?

Talking Over Perversions

I have a theory…

When we’re boys… before we’re ready to come out… we’re suddenly attracted to other boy.

And that’s something we usually feel pretty panicked about. It would be nice that first same-sex crush was something a boy could experience without feelings of dread or terror, TOP, but that’s not how it works for most of us. We’re keenly aware that should the object of our desire realize it—if the boy we’re attracted realizes what we’re feeling, if we give ourselves away with a stray look—the odds of that boy reacting badly or even violently are high.

Even if you think the boy might not react violently, even if you suspect the boy you’re crushing on might be gay himself, the stakes are too high to risk making any sort of move.

So we stew with feelings of lust and fear.

Sexual desire can make anyone feel fearful and powerless—we’re literally powerless to control these feelings (while we can and must control how we act on these feelings)—but desire and fear are stirred together for us gay boys to much greater degree than they are for straight boys. We fear being found out, we fear being called names, we fear being outed, we fear being physically hurt.

And the person we fear most is the person we have a crush on.

A significant number of gay guys wind up imprinting on that heady and very confusing mix of desire and fear. The erotic imaginations of guys like your boyfriend seize on those fears and eroticize them. And then, in adulthood, your boyfriend want to re-experience those feelings, that heady mix of desire and fear, with a loving partner he trusts. The gay boy who feared being hurt by the person he was attracted to becomes the gay man who wants to be hurt—in a limited, controlled, consensual and safe way—by the man he’s with.

ESSAY GHOSTS IN OHIO

BY MATTHEW WALLENSTEIN - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

Katie is photographer. She also owns a business processing people's film. It is primarily just her but on occasion she hires friends to help. She made a social media post saying that she would process any film people had of the recent Black Lives Matter protests and blur out the faces of protestors free of charge. It was reposted over 4,000 times. She was a bit overwhelmed to say the least. But as orders came in she was able to illicit help and seemed to be handling it well.

A couple weeks ago she invited me over for lunch. She was worried she burnt the rice but I thought it tasted good. I asked her to tell me a story of hers she had told me a couple of years back. It was the one about the graveyards.

She was a teenager, 16 or 17.

The night of a meteor shower she snuck out to meet up with some friends. She climbed out of her brother’s window headed towards Egypt Valley, a wildlife preserve. The first two cemeteries in her county were out that way. Circle Cemetery was the older and the smaller of the two.

It had a large tree in it. The side of the tree facing the graveyard was knotted and rotten, infested with bees, the side facing the outside was thriving. Local lore had that it was cursed.

Salem Cemetery sat across from it. It was larger and newer. The body of a 13 year old girl was buried there, she was reported to be the first murder victim in the county. An older man had followed her into the woods and killed her. There were always trinkets and candles left on her stone.

The plan was Katie would

meet some friends in Circle Cemetery to watch the meteors.

She made her way through two miles of woods and came out on a back road. She didn’t think to bring a flashlight and her phone was dead. She had heard an animal growl in the woods and ran the last stretch so she was out of breath. It was a small dirt road and there was no reason for anyone to be on it so when she saw headlights approaching she assumed it was her friend James driving his jeep up to meet her.

She stood in the road waving her arms trying to flag him down. As it got closer and she could hear it more clearly she realized it was much too loud to be a jeep.

The lights were too high up.

It was a semi. Why the fuck is there a semi here, are they even allowed to be on this road, she thought. It was pulling up, she felt terrified. She jumped into a ditch on the side of the road and hid herself. She just lay there breathing, scared, confused, still tired from running through the woods. The truck came to a stop.

She heard the driver’s feet hit the ground and shuffle through the gravel towards her. He stopped very close to where she was hiding. She did her best not to breathe, not to make a sound.

After a little while he went back to the truck and drove away.

She tried to think of it from his perspective. He probably just saw someone looking lost and wanted to help them, maybe give them a ride. But she saw him turn up towards the cemeteries which didn’t make sense.

He should have been driving back to the highway. There was nothing up there.

A little while later James finally pulled up in his jeep.

It was packed full of people, eight or so. She climbed in and sandwiched herself between two of them. They got a little lost and all argued about which way to go and got more lost. Finally though, they made it to Salem Cemetery.

They all piled out. It was dark. There was loud laughter echoing through the graveyard.

It wasn’t coming from any of them. James shrieked, loud and high pitched. He began to cry.

He was shaking. They were right next to the grave of the murdered little girl. He sobbed saying that he saw it move. The rest of them dismissed it, poked fun at him, started getting back into the jeep. Then they drove over to Circle Cemetery to meet up with a few others and watch the meteor shower. The laughter continued to echo off the trees and they assumed it was the rest of the people they were meeting but there was no one there. It would be another 20 minutes before they showed up.

One of the late arrivals was a kid Katie dated back in eighth grade. He had a girl with him none of them knew. Without warning he and the girl started having sex on a grave right there in front of everyone. They finished up and acted like nothing

had happened, like they weren’t just doing what they were doing.

Some of the kids started setting off bottle rockets, running around, yelling. Someone was kicking over a tombstone. Katie wasn’t really interested in any of that, she just wanted to be up there in the middle of nowhere watching the meteors. She moved away from the group, past the cursed tree and towards the woods. She wanted to just sit on a log alone and watch the sky.

She walked a little ways into the woods, the sounds of the teenagers died out behind her.

She kept going. In the distance, through the trees, she could see some lights. She thought it was strange but also thought it was possible they were coming from a far off road. As she got closer she saw more lights. Finally she was close enough to see that they were fires. There was one huge fire in the middle of all the smaller ones. The semi truck, the same one she had seen on the dirt road earlier, was parked there. The light from the fires reflected off of it. It was the only vehicle in sight. As she stood there and her eyes adjusted she realized what she was looking at. Many figures were standing, draped in white like so many ghosts among the flames. It was the Ku Klux Klan. She had walked right up to a rally. She hoped there were enough trees in front of her to keep her from being seen.

She turned and ran back in the direction of the graveyard.

One of her friends drove her home. She climbed back into her brother's window. Spent the night thinking about that truck.

The way she figured it the Klan must have met up somewhere and loaded into the back of it to drive out to Egypt Valley. That’s when she saw it on the road and hid. She didn’t remember seeing any meteors.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 30, 2020 | 23

PA R T I N G S H OT

PITTSBURGH CURRENT PHOTO BY JAKE MYSLIWCZYK PITTSBURGH CURRENT | JUNE 30, 2020 | 24