Pittsburgh Current Vol. 2, Issue 10 by pittsburghcurrent

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VOL. 2 ISSUE 10

May 14, 2019 - May. 27, 2019 PGHCURRENT

PGHCURRENT

PROFESSIONAL THEATER

FROM AROUND THE WORLD

THIS WEEK!

2 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

JOIN PITTSBURGH CURRENT AND ENIX BREWING TO CELEBRATE FERIA! Come and sip rebujito as you relax in your casitas, nibble tapas in between watching flamenco dancers, and dance to the euphoric sounds of live music as you celebrate Feria, Spainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s famed Spring festival. This colorful event celebrates Spring in authentic Spanish-style, with all of the lights, food, drink, music and dance that you would expect. Don your colorful finest and come celebrate Feria!

ENIX BREWING

REBUJITO BROUGHT TO YOU BY: VINA GALANA

337 E 8TH AVE, HOMESTEAD, PA 15120

TICKETS - $40 PER PERSON. INCLUDES, UNLIMITED SPANISH TAPAS BUFFET AND ALL YOU CAN DRINK SIGNATURE COCKTAILS.

MAY 18, 2019 FROM 2:30 - 5:30

FOR TICKETS, PLEASE VISIT: PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

A PORTION OF THE PROCEEDS FROM THIS EVENT BENEFIT JFCS REFUGEE AND IMMIGRANT SERVICES. PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 3

STAFF Publisher/Editor: Charlie Deitch Charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com Associate Publisher: Bethany Ruhe Bethany@pittsburghcurrent.com

EDITORIAL Managing Editor: Haley Frederick Haley@pittsburghcurrent.com Art Director: Emily McLaughlin Emily@pittsburghcurrent.com Music Editor: Margaret Welsh Margaret@pittsburghcurrent.com Visuals Editor: Jake Mysliwczyk Jake@pittsburghcurrent.com Staff Writer, Arts: Amanda Reed Amanda@pittsburghcurrent.com Columnists: Aryanna Berringer, Sue Kerr, Jessica

Semler, Mike Wysocki info@pittsburghcurrent.com Craft Beer Writer: Day Bracey info@pittsburghcurrent.com Contributing Writers: Jody DiPerna, Nick Eustis, Meg Fair, Ted Hoover, Thomas Leturgey, Matt Petras, Mike Shanley, Steve Sucato, Mike Watt, Justin Vellucci info@pittsburghcurrent.com Logo Design: Mark Adisson

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CONTENTS Vol. II Iss. X May 14, 2019

Royal Treatment Inappropriate Timing Personal Journey Dance Fusion

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Andrea@pittsburghcurrent.com

COVER PHOTO BY JAKE MYSLIWCZYK

Account Executive: Mackenna Donahue

THE FINE PRINT

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The contents of the Pittsburgh Current are © 2019 by Pittsburgh Current, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this publication shall be duplicated or reprinted without the express-written consent of Pittsburgh Current LLC.The Pittsburgh Current is published twice monthly beginning August 2018.

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4 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

NEW CONTENT EVERY DAY

friday, june 21, 2019 6:00-11:00pm

Mattress Factory Contemporary Art Museum Hosted by the Mattress Factory + the Factory Fellows

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Allegheny General Hospital Staff • All in Good Taste Productions • Central Outreach Wellness Center Cozen O’Connor • PJ Dick Trumbull • PNC

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PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 5

OPINION VOTE NOW,

2020 WILL BE THERE WHEN YOU ARE DONE…

BY ARYANNA BERRINGER - PITTSBURGH CURRENT POLITICAL COLUMNIST INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

t’s easy to get sucked into the glitz and glamour of presidential election season. New candidates to fall in love with, old ones that you wish would go away....but can we all just pump the breaks for a minute? We are electing pretty important people now and they need our help and attention. On May 21st the respective parties will be selecting their candidates to face-off in November. That’s right—if you are a registered Democrat or Republican GO VOTE MAY 21st. If you are an Independent, primaries are still closed to you in Pennsylvania (we can talk about that poor system at a later date). But do you know who you are voting for next week? If you are like most, you may just wait until Tuesday and snag that slate card handed to you by your party’s poll worker. If you are slightly more concerned, you may have googled the candidates in the car before you walked in to the voting booth. But you’re smart. You’ve read some of my recent columns about Bethany Hallam running for Allegheny County Council at-large, the qualified women running for Superior Court and you’ve read my editor Charlie Deitch’s articles on Turhan Jenkins running for District Attorney. But these are just a handful of contested races in Pittsburgh. People all over the city have placed their name on the ballot to earn their party’s nomination for everything from The Court of Common Pleas, City and County Council, and the School Board. There are a couple of races that I am paying attention to that I haven’t written about yet. They include the City Council District 7 race between

Deb Gross and Deirdre Kane, as well as the 4th District School Board race of Pam Harbin and Anna Batista. A few weeks ago I surmised on the Pittsburgh Current Podcast that Deb Gross failed to receive the Democratic Party’s endorsement in that race because she was a strong supporter of candidates like now Representative Sara Innamorato in the primary elections last year when they ran against Democratic incumbents. I’ve gotten to know Deb over the years and have found that not only is she pragmatic but she is brave in her approach to council and politics. She’s a true progressive and her record on council and in the community prove that. When I met Pam for the first time, I was blown away by her passion for ensuring that our kids are well represented on school board. That’s right, our kids. She puts them first in her work as the co-founder of the Education Rights Network and has even streamed or attended over 2000 hours of school board meetings in the last 12 years. One of the things I found most compelling about Pam is that she’s been working to find solutions outside of the system for things like the “school to prison pipeline.” I can only imagine what good she will do on the board. Take some time over the next week to familiarize yourself with the candidates running for office in your neck of the woods. My guess is that you will be pleasantly surprised, and if not: consider running yourself next time. We’ve got plenty of time to think about 2020.

6 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

ROB ROGERS

PA MMJ

MYTH VS. FACT

We take some of the TOP Pennsylvania MMJ card RUMORS and find out whether they are...MYTH, TRUTH or...WELL, ITS COMPLICATED

Q. A. MYTH

Only my Primary Care Physician can legally certify me.

While this is a viable route, most PCP’s are not registered to recommend MMJ. There are a number of high quality certification clinics which specialize in certifications only. These physicians do not take over your overall care, but simply help you through the process of becoming a certified patient.

Questions?

Call 888-316-9085 or visit CCCregister.com

MORE HARM THAN GOOD BY JESS SEMLER - PITTSBURGH CURRENT COLUMNIST INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM Abortion and reproductive rights are in the news again this week! But no, I’m not talking about the recently passed Georgia HB 481 which not only makes abortion illegal after 6 weeks, but also subjects women who terminate their pregnancy to life in prison and the death penalty. Oh, I’m also not referring to the newly proposed bill in Alabama that would outlaw nearly all abortions and send doctors to jail. The issue I want to discuss is right here in Pennsylvania. Dammit, no! I’m not talking about PA HB 321, the latest in abortion bans that was just voted out of committee this week. Earlier this week, Philly-area state Rep. Brian Sims recorded himself lecturing, arguably harassing a protester outside of a Planned Parenthood in Philadelphia. This was denounced by Planned Parenthood who’s CEO said of the incident, “While we do not condone Representative Sims’ approach, our patients deserve to have access to health care without shame and stigma,” Dayle Steinberg wrote in an email to Billy Penn, referencing their strict nonengagement policy. I had conflicting feelings watching Rep. Sim’s initial video and his mea culpa. I’ve experienced anti-choice protesters in many contexts. In Erie, PA in 2010, an anti-choice organization was doing a bus tour across the country to thank legislators who voted against Obamacare. With a few others, I stood across the parking lot from Congressman Mike Kelly’s office, and held a pink sign that read “Don’t Take Away My Cancer Screenings.” Despite our distance, many folks from the rally approached us. An older woman pushed me and said “excuse me,” despite going out of her way to come into contact with me. A middle aged man looked into my

eyes and said “you know, you should be really careful driving home today.” I felt my stomach drop. This was a pro-life person, and that was a threat. Just a year before, Dr. George Tiller was murdered in front of his church by another pro-lifer. A couple years later, I was back in Pittsburgh and without insurance. I went to Planned Parenthood for my yearly check up and birth control, and at the time they also offered counseling. I went to therapy weekly, and each time I had to walk past at least a couple protesters. Thankfully by then, the Pennsylvania Women’s Law Project, PWLP, and the City of Pittsburgh had fought to install a 15-foot buffer zone. A yellow line creating a bubble; no one was allowed to linger or hang out inside the zone. This meant significantly less chance for physical bumps with protestors, but still allowed them to communicate and hand out their pamphlets as folks walked by. It was something I had to mentally prepare for each time. “Don’t say anything. Okay maybe tell them that you’re gay. Ask them if they’re protesting you getting treatment for a yeast infection. Do they really think I’m getting an abortion every week?” I was 25 and still felt my heartbeat increase and my face get hot when I walked past these folks each time. It wasn’t lost on me that young women far younger and even less self-assured than me were coming down here for birth control or STD testing from a non-judgmental provider, but had to experience this bout of harassment first. Due to budgeting, after a couple years the clinic limited their counseling to pre- and postabortion services. I missed my rad therapist, but certainly not the older white folks who tried to tell me about myself each time I went inside. In 2015 I got my dream job; working in the Public Affairs

Department at Planned Parenthood of Western PA. This meant a lot of face time with clinic protestors, or as they like to call themselves, “sidewalk counselors.” PP has a very strict non-engagement policy because protesters aren’t looking for a good faith debate, and escalated situations should be avoided at all costs. Over the course of my years there, depending on the folks that were there that day, different things would be said as I walked into the building, and all of my responses remained internal: “Why do you want to kill babies?” “We can get you a better job”? Oh really? “You don’t have to do this! Jesus loves your baby!” Okay, this person must be new. “You know you didn’t grow up dreaming to work in an abortion clinic.” Yes, yes I did! “Jessica, I love the hair change.” Okay, that is creepy as hell. The most memorable of these interactions took place in 2018. I had my car pulled up to the curb, and was carrying in boxes from an event the night before. As I walked in and out I saw a woman and her partner talking to some of the protesters in hushed voices. I was nearly done when I ran into the couple again, this time as they were waiting for the elevator in the lobby. The woman’s entire body was shaking as she cried hysterically. I asked if the folks outside were harassing her and if she wanted me to call someone. She shook her head no. “They made me want to die right there, where I was standing.” She said through tears. In the most gentle voices, they said things to here like “it’s just a shame that you’re sending your baby to hell… Do you really want to be a killer? This is going to haunt you for the rest of your life.” Feigning sweetness and care, these folks were actually shaming her and inflicting their world views on her. She continued “I wanted to walk away but they wouldn’t stop talking. I couldn’t get away.” She told me that she thought they were doing it on purpose so she’d have to miss

her appointment. “Well that is NOT happening,” I said, and went upstairs with them and explained to the clinic staff the situation. When folks say these are peaceful protesters and just want to help women, I think of that incident. Whether they truly believe they’re acting in good faith or not, the presence of folks with signs, fake fetuses, and pamphlets shaming abortion is not helpful. This is why I’m so frustrated with the viral video Rep. Sims posted. I don’t want to be sympathetic to that woman because I’ve seen firsthand what that “counseling” does, but he made it hard not to. I don’t fault Rep. Sims for his frustration, because I know how he feels. Without context for the clinic experience for patience and staff, well meaning people have tried to organize counter-protests in front of clinics, which are also disruptive to patients. I was shocked when Sims said he has been an escort in the past, because that means he should know better. “If someone pulled that when I was at PP, they wouldn’t be allowed to volunteer anymore,” I said to my coworker as we watched the video. Rep. Sims is in a position of power, and has so many tools in his toolbox to effect change. His voting record is stellar and he isn’t afraid to speak out and advocate on issues he cares about. He’s a hell of an advocate for reproductive rights in the PA legislature, but perhaps not a good fit in front of a clinic. There is a place for these debates and confrontations; in front of a clinic where folks are walking in for their pap smears, breast exams, birth control, and yes abortions, ain’t it. Walking into a Planned Parenthood should be boring as hell and forgettable; like walking into the dentist’s or any other doctor’s office. If you walk by an abortion clinic and you feel annoyed by the protesters, resist that urge to yell at them, and throw some dollars at one of the groups below: Women’s Law Project, PPWP Pledge a Picketer, Western PA Fund for Choice. PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 7

WET AND WILD SUMMER GUIDE BY HALEY FREDERICK - PITTSBURGH CURRENT MANAGING EDITOR HALEY@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

We want you to have a wet and wild summer, Pittsburgh. Use this guide to break out of your usual summertime routines and into some new adventures. We want you to get outside on the water or up in a hot air balloon. Check out our wet-o-meter and wild-o-meter ratings for each activity to get an idea of just how wet and wild things can get.

8 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

TEN DAYS OF FREE

ART+MUSIC

60 YEARS

JUNE 7–16

POINT STATE PARK | CULTURAL DISTRICT | GATEWAY CENTER

ART ORIGAMI BY COMPAGNIE FURINKAÏ | LOS TROMPOS BY ESRAWE + CADENA FLIP THE FLOP BY OCEAN SOLE AFRICA | GALLERY EXHIBITIONS IN THE CULTURAL DISTRICT JURIED VISUAL ART EXHIBITION | ARTIST MARKET WITH 350+ ARTISTS | CREATIVE ACTIVITIES FOR ALL AGES MUSIC INDIA.ARIE | LUCIUS | MARTY STUART AND HIS FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES NAHKO AND MEDICINE FOR THE PEOPLE | KARL DENSON’S TINY UNIVERSE | MANDOLIN ORANGE J. RODDY WALSTON & THE BUSINESS | TANK AND THE BANGAS | TOO MANY ZOOZ KAIA KATER | MEMBERS OF THE PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA BRASS

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Try Out Paddle Boarding

WET

SUP 3 Rivers brings urban adventures to Pittsburgh in the form of stand up paddle boarding. Paddle boarding is a level up from kayaking, so you’ll want to start out with an instructor if you’re new to the activity. SUP offers tours for novices and those who are more advanced, as well as a fitness tour designed to burn calories. A one and a half hour rental with an instructor costs $35, second timers pay $20 per hour and $60 full-day rentals are an option for experienced paddlers. Go to sup3rivers.com or call 412-425-7676. Photo by: Jake Mysliwczyk

Go for a Swim at a Citiparks Pool

In most communities around Pittsburgh, you’re never too far away from one of the city’s swimming pools. The outdoor pools open for the season on June 12. You can spend the day lounging poolside and dipping your toes—or you can jump right into the deep end. Day passes are available for $3 for those aged 3-15, or $5 for those 16 and older. Annual pool tags are also available for swimmers who plan to hit the water early and often. Find out more at pittsburghpa.gov/citiparks or call 412-323-7928. 10 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

Cruise Down the River on /5 the Gateway Clipper

If you’re the kind of person who wants to be on the water without actually getting wet, a river cruise is for you. The Gateway Clipper’s Three Rivers Sightseeing Cruise takes passengers from the Monongahela to the Allehgeny and Ohio, all while you learn about the history and lore that surround Pittsburgh’s waterways. Cruises run throughout the day and take an hour. We recommend trying to catch a sunset onboard. Tickets are $22 for adults and $12 for children. Go to gatewayclipper.com or call 412-355-7980. Photo by: Jake Mysliwczyk

Beat the Heat at a Spray Park

The city’s eight spray parks are the perfect water adventure for tiny tots who are too young to swim, people who are differently abled or anyone who’s tired of the pool, but not quite up for a trip to a full-on water park. The spray parks will open up for weekends only starting May 25 before they open up for the whole week on June 12. Visit pittsburghpa.gov/citiparks to find the park nearest to you, or call 412-323-7928.

Volunteer to do a River Cleanup

Help to keep our rivers beautiful by joining an environmental organization like Allegheny Cleanways on one of their riverfront cleanups. You can stay on land or board their boat, the Rachel Carson, to remove the litter that is accumulated around one of Allegheny County’s rivers. To see the schedule of cleanup dates and locations and sign up to volunteer, go to alleghenycleanways.org or call them at 412-381-1301. Photo courtesy of: Hannah Samuels Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator at Allegheny Cleanways

Chase Waterfalls at Ohiopyle

Ohiopyle State Park’s Cucumber Falls is so pretty that you won’t even mind the drive. You may want to wear your hiking shoes, but this natural landmark isn’t too hard to get to. Park your car at Cucumber Falls Trail Head off Chalk Hill Road and follow the walking path to the cascading falls. And, of course, you’ll want to bring your camera. Plan your trip at laurelhighlands.org or call 724238-5661. Photo by: Jake Mysliwczyk

Spend the Day at Sandcastle

Sandcastle is Pittsburgh’s waterfront water park. Opening for the season on May 25, Sandcastle has 15 waterslides, the Mon Tsunami Wave Pool, the scenic Mushroom Pool, a lazy river and two children’s areas. Admission is $32.99 for adults and $22.99 for children under 48 inches. Sandcastle also offers season passes and special discount days. Find them at sandcastlewaterpark.com or call 412-462-6666.

Rent a Kayak

Kayak Pittsburgh offers kayak rentals at three locations: North Park, North Shore and Aspinwall Riverfront Park. Even if you’ve never been in one before, kayaking is an easy activity to master, and a great way to spend time with friends and family on the water. You can rent a solo kayak for $16 on weekdays and $19 on weekends, or a tandem for $23.50 on weekdays and $26.50 on weekends. Ventureoutdoors.org has more information or call 412-255-0564. Photo by: Jake Mysliwczyk

Float Down the River on a Tiki Bar

Cruise down the river on a Hawaiian-style tiki hut while sipping on your favorite drink. Cruisin’ Tikis Pittsburgh provides the tiki boat, the captain and the cooler—you provide the booze. You can book the six-seater boat for a two hour cruise for $400. Whether you’re celebrating a special occasion or just looking for a good time, it’s an experience you’re sure to remember. Book your tiki cruise at cruisintikispittsburgh.com or call 833-744-8454.

Scuba Through Shipwrecks at Lake Erie

Lake Erie has some the fiercest weather of all the Great Lakes, and it has the shipwrecks to prove it. And thanks to Diver’s World, you can scuba dive to explore them. Their are shallower wrecks suitable for new divers and deeper wrecks for those with proper training and experience. To find out more about the scuba adventures available or sign up for a class, visit scubaerie.com or call 814-459-3195. Photo courtesy of: Jeremy Bennister, photographed is diver Randy Knoll inspecting the port rail of the Indiana Wreck in Lake Erie.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 11

Take in the Wildlife at the Zoo and Aquarium

WiLD

If you havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been to the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium before, this is the ultimate summer day plan. If you have been to the zoo, there are still plenty of reasons to go back. Try one of their Wild Encounters this time to get up close to an animal. Or check out one of their special events like World Oceans Day on June 8, or the PPG Festival of Color on June 22. Admission to the zoo is $17.95 for adults and $15.95 for children. Find out about events and discounts at pittsburghzoo.org or call 412-665-3640. Photo by: Jake Mysliwczyk

Throw Some Axes

Everybody wants a chance to feel like some sort of badass outlaw. Axe throwing has to be one of the best ways to get there. Ace Axe Throwing, located in the old bank building in Homestead, reassures their patrons that though it may seem daunting, pretty much everyone can handle throwing an axe at a wooden target. Bring a group and throw axes for an hour for $20 a person, or $30 for two hours. Book your experience at aceaxethrowing.com or call 412368-8579. 12 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

Go Flower Picking

Starting around the beginning of June, you can drive out to Simmons Farm in McMurray and walk through fields of flowers, cutting your own to bring a fresh bouquet home. Strawberry and peach picking are also available during the summertime at Simmons Farm, but not until later in the season. Check simmonsfarm.com or call 724-41-7540 to find out whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ready to pick. Photo by: Jake Mysliwczyk

/5 Take to the Treetops

Opening this year on May 24, Go Ape! In North Park gives you the opportunity to go on an aerial adventure through the trees. The high-ropes course includes suspended obstacles, swings and zip lines. You must be at least 10 years old to participate. Tickets cost $39 for those 15 and younger, and $59 for those 16 and older. Find out more at goape.com or call 1-800-971-8271.

Enjoy the Amusements of Kennywood

Kennywood is a classic. You can go for the Thunderbolt or the Phantom, hop on the water rides or take the kids to Thomas Town. And football fans should flock to the park this summer once the new Steelers Country opens. Featuring a new coaster called the Steel Curtain, this section of the park will have football skills games and tailgate food. Tickets on kennywood.com are $49.99 for adults and $33.99 for kids under 46’’. Call Kennywood at 412-461-0500. Photo by: Jake Mysliwczyk

Explore PA’s Largest Cave

Whether you love to go spelunking or you’ve never heard the word before, Laurel Caverns is worth a visit. It’s home to Pennsylvania’s largest cave with over three miles of passages. Upper caving is accessible for kids 9 and over with their families, while the lower caving trail is more rigorous, taking you 45 stories down in elevation. Lower caving is $25, while upper is $30. Learn about the equipment required at laurelcaverns.com or call 800-515 4150. Photo by: Jake Mysliwczyk

Jump Out of a Plane

Why not knock an item off your bucket list this summer? Go skydiving in Erie or Youngstown with Skydive Pennsylvania. First time jumpers will want to go tandem with a member of their experienced team, which you can do for $239 all-included. Book your jump today at skydivepa.com or call 800-909-JUMP. Photo courtesy of: Instructor John Ellison from Skydive PA

Check Out the National Aviary

Pittsburgh is home to the National Aviary, where their mission is to save birds and protect habitats. The aviary is home to more than 500 birds of more than 150 unique species. On May 25, they introduce a new exhibit called Living Dinosaurs for this summer only. Adults get into the aviary for $17 and children for $16. Find out more at aviary.org or call 412-323-7235.

/5 Balloon Through the Sky

Float through the clouds in a hot air balloon. Meet Tim Meteney by the Beaver County Airport and he’ll take you up into the sky for an awe-inspiring trip. The best times of day for flight weather (and gorgeousness) are dawn and sunset. To find out more about the experience go to balloonpa-ohio.com or call 724-336-2300.

/5 Go Horseback Riding

Rolling Hills Ranch in Bridgeville is a great place to get some animal interaction. You can do trail riding that will make you feel like you’re out in the “old west” for $30, or enjoy a moonlight ride that includes catered BBQ and a campfire for $70. Visit rolling-hills-ranch.com to get all of the details and then call 412-221-9926 to make a reservation.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 13

spoof of the smash-hit Broadway show that shares almost the same name. May 16-Aug. 25. (Greer Cabaret Theater Center)

HELLO DOLLY: BETTY BUCKLEY. PHOTO BY: JULIETA CERVANTES

Bright Star. Inspired by a real event, this 2016 Broadway hit by Steven Martin and Edie Brickell tells a sweeping tale of love, family secrets and redemption set against the rich backdrop of the American South in the 1920s and ’40s. Front Porch Theatricals, May 17-26. (New Hazlett Theater) Dear Evan Hansen. The smash Broadway musical about “living life and the way we live it” is part of the PNC Broadway Series. May 21-26. (Heinz Hall) Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School Spring Performance. More than 200 of PBT’s student dancers will display their talents at the annual show. May 24-25. (Byham Theater)

SUMMER GUIDE: STAGE AND PERFORMANCE ONGOING

Madea’s Farewell Play Tour. Tyler Perry’s character, Madea, has been featured in 10 films and made a ton of money. You can say goodbye to the old girl in person. Through May 15. (Benedum Center)

We Are Among Us. This world premiere from playwright Stephen Belber centers on a military contractor who returns home from Afghanistan to finally be with her young son when a reporter comes asking questions about a decade-old coverup. City Theatre, through June 2.

André. Billed as the first ‘truly American play,” this 1798 drama is based on the life and death of Benedict Arnold conspirator Major John André. Throughline Theater, through May 18. (Aftershock Theatre)

MAY

Indecent. Paula Vogel’s 2017 play that tells the true story of the controversy caused by a 1906 play entitled, God of Vengeance. Pittsburgh Public Theater, through May 19. (O’Reilly Theater) The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. This musical-comedy has catchy tunes, great characters and a little audience participation. Stage 62, through May 19. (Andrew Carnegie Library and Music Hall)

Billy Kidd: Bridging the Gap. This Canadian actress-turned-magician has been wowing audiences since she gave up acting to focus on magic. Whether performing close-up magic or an intricate escape, this enigmatic performer is one to watch. May 15-June 23. (Liberty Magic) Top Girls. Set in the early 1980s, Marlene just got a big promotion at work and celebrates at a luncheon with her family and friends who time warp into famous women figures throughout history to tell a unique story. May 16-June 1. (Little Lake)

14 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

Dreams of Hope Presents Chasing Elevation. It’s 2064 and the earth has succumbed to the inevitable climate apocalypse. The story centers on a queer couple who find themselves facing much more than storms. The work is a creation and performance by theatriQ, Dreams of Hope’s performance ensemble. DOH provides youth in the LGBTQIA community with a welcoming environment to express themselves. May 17-19. (Kelly-Strayhorn) Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School PreProfessional Showcase 2019. PBT’s students spend three days performing works choreographed by the school’s faculty and the company’s dancers. May 17-19 (Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre)

Her Holiness, The Winter Dog. Part of the New Hazlett CSA program, this original opera, commissioned by Kamratron, is set in a not-so-far distant future where animals are extinct and revered as nearly mythological creatures. May 30-31. (New Hazlett) Marjorie Prime. Jordan Harrison’s play about love, loss and the importance of memories, good and bad. May 30-June 30. (O’Reilly Theater) Momentum Festival. New Plays at Different Stages: It’s the season-ending event at the City Theatre. Playwrights come here from around the country for workshops, readings and panels. May 30-June 2 (City Theatre) Tchaikovsky’s Fourth. Tchaikovsky may be the headliner but the opening numbers on this night are equally impressive. Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen leads the first PSO performance of Pohjola’s Daughter. Then Italian piano virtuoso Beatrice Rana joins Inkinen on Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. May 31-June 2. (Heinz Hall)

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. This show is the orchestra’s Lincoln Center sendoff before it heads off to New York to perform Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto. May 17. (Heinz Hall)

Freeda Peoples. Joyce Sylvester’s comedy/drama is set in a church where the pastor, the congregants and everyone else find out they need to worry about their own problems before trying to fix someone else’s. (New Horizon Theater)

Spamilton: An American Parody. A

JUNE

The Sleeping Beauty Suite. See this ballet classic at the Pittsburgh Youth Ballet Spring Performance. June 1. (August WIlson African American Cultural Center) Bodiography Presents The Spring Concert. An evening of dance celebrating the growth of the student body at Bodiography School of Movement with classical and contemporary works. June 1. (Byham Theater) pearlPRESENTS Dance Festival. A lineup of national and Pittsburghbased dancers provide seven days of dance performances and masterclasses. Performers include, Staycee Pearl Dance Project, Sidra Bell Dance New York, slowdanger and Joy-Marie Thompson. June 3-9. (New Hazlett Theater) Beethoven’s Ninth. Ludwig’s epic symphony will be led by PSO conductor Manfred Honeck and the orchestra will be joined by the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh and a “superstar cast of soloists.” The show opens with the world premiere performance of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Double Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon. June 6-9. (Heinz Hall) It Had to Be You. Want to be a success in love and your career? Kidnap someone on Christmas Eve and watch the magic happen. South Park Theatre. June 6-22 The Importance of Being Earnest. Oscar Wilde’s comedic masterpiece about courtships, loves and relationships. June 6-22. (Little Lake) Grease. If you don’t know the plotline to Grease, we are very sorry for your horrible childhood. But you have time to right that wrong when Pittsburgh CLO presents the musical at the Benedum Center. June 7-16 (Benedum Center) A Letter Compiled by All Letters. This innovative show is co-presented by th eNew Hazlett Theater to help artists graduate from emerging artist status to established. This wholly original show features artists from a number of mixed mediums. June 13-15. (New Hazlett Theater) The Speckled Band. This is the only Sherlock Holmes play adapted for the stage by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself. This little-seen play features actor David Whalen as Holmes and feature a top-

notch ensemble around him. Kinetic Theatre, June 13-30 (Charity Randall Theater) Titanic. This musical will be no small undertaking by Split Stage Productions, which prides itself on its complicated productions. June 14-22. (Lamp Theatre) Oklahoma!. Everyone knows this Rodgers and Hammerstein Classic, right? It’s Oklahoma! “Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains.” It runs for a week from the Pittsburgh CLO. June 2130. (Benedum Center) Nat & Natalie. Unforgettable: This PSO tribute to Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole is conducted by Byron Stripling and features vocalists Dee Daniels and Senzal Sinclaire. June 21-23. (Heinz Hall) Mark Toland in Mind Reader. This mentalist out of Chicago has played to rave reviews nearly every place he’s played. It’s so good that Chicago’s WGN has exclaimed, “He must be the devil!” June 26-Aug. 4 (Liberty Magic) Thorgy and the Thorchestra. Thorgy Thor from RuPaul’s Drag Race, the reigning “Queen of Classical Music,” joins the PSO for a night of classical music and comedy. Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser conducts what may be the most adult-themed PSO show ever. June 27. (Heinz Hall) Electra. This Greek drama is a classic tale of vengeance. June 27-July 14. (Little Lake) Kaiju Big Battel. This Boston-based entertainment troupe has been doing these high-concept parodies of Lucha pro wrestling mixed with tokusatsu kaiju, a Japanese film style. Lots of costumes, lots of action, lots of fun. June 29. (Byham Theater)

JULY

The Love of Danae. This is the big season opener for Pittsburgh Festival Opera. Jupiter comes to earth to escape the jealous eyes of Juno so he can pitch woo, as the kids say. July 12. (Pittsburghfestivalopera.org) Heathers. A musical based on the very dark 1980s film Heathers seems a bit strange, which is precisely why we need to check it out. July 12-21 (Theatre Factory)

Mister Rogers’ Opera. Please don’t go expecting to see Lady Elaine Fairchild performing Rigoletto. But rather it’s two one-act operas composed by Fred Rogers, Windstorm in Bubblehead and Spoon Mountain. July 13-14, July 20, July 25. (Pittsburgh Festival Opera)

including works by Kurt Weill, Paul Dessau, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Franz Schreker and others, sung by members of the Young Professional Artists Program. Pittsburgh Festival Opera. July 23. (Pittsburgh Festival Opera)

Mom’s Gift. Kat is forced to visit her dad on his birthday by the leader of her anger management program. She sees the whole family, including mom, who’s been dead for nearly a year. July 18-Aug. 3. (South Park Theatre)

Rock of Ages. Pittsburgh CLO brings this tale of music stardom and the infectiousness of Rock and Roll. July 2328. (Benedum Center)

The Vaudevillians. Another Rupaul’s Drag Race alum, Jinkx Monsoon (Jerick Hoffer) and Major Scales (Richard Andriessen) bring this rowdy, bold musical review to Pittsburgh for the first time. July 11-13. (O’Reilly Theater) Scapino. A comedic twist on your favorite mafia films set in Naples … Florida. Kinetic Theatre, July 11-28. (Henry Heymann Theatre) Peter Pan. “You can fly, you can fly. You can fly, you can fly. You can flyyyyyy!” Pittsburgh CLO, July 12-21. (Benedum Center) Mamma Mia!. Here we go again. It’s a game of Who’s your daddy? set to the music of Abba. Stage 62, July 18-28. ( (Andrew Carnegie Library and Music Hall) The Valkyrie. Wagner’s classic opera that is so famous, it was once parodied in a Bugs Bunny Cartoon! A seriously bad-ass opera perfect for opera-going veterans and newbies alike. July 19, 21, 27. Falk Auditorium Star Wars. The Empire Strikes Back: Songs from the classic sci-fi picture performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony. July 19-21. (Heinz Hall) ‘Night Mother. Throughline Theatre examines the frailty of the human mind and body in the Pulitzer Prize winning drama. July 19-27. (Aftershock Theater) SH!tfaced Shakespeare presents Romeo and Juliet. The Bard’s classic tale is brought to you by a group of highly skilled actors, except one of them gets piss-ass drunk each night of the show. July 20. (Byham Theater) Degenerate Art Contest. A recital of music repressed in World War II-era Germany, both decadent and delicious,

Once. This Tony Award winning musical charts the complicated love story of an Irish Busker, a Czechen woman and their love of music and each other. July 30Aug. 4 (Benedum Center)

AUGUST

Everybody. Every night of this performance will be a different experience. The cast members performing that night is chosen by a lottery. You then follow the path of that group toward life’s greatest mysteries. Aug. 1-18. (12 Peers Theatre) Hello Dolly. Betty Buckley is a Broadway legend and Hello Dolly is a legend of Broadway. It only makes sense that she’s at the helm of the classic revival. Aug. 6-11. (Benedum Center) Eric Jones in Impossible. Magician Eric Jones stunned sold-out crowds with his close-up magic when he was the first magician-in-residence at Liberty Magic earlier this year. Now, he’s back for a second run. Aug. 7-Sept. 8. (Liberty Magic) Cabaret. “Willkommen! Bienvenue! Welcome.” Take a trip back to the Kit Kat Club. Little Lake, Aug. 8-24. Fun Home. This musical tells the story of a woman reconciling her childhood memories of her father with how she viewed him as an adult. Front Porch Theatricals, Aug. 16-25.

SEPTEMBER

Disney’s The Lion King. PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh brings this musical back to Pittsburgh for a live performance that may have become over the years more famous than its animated counterpart. Sept. 4-29. (Heinz Hall)

COMEDY

Arcade Comedy. Weekly performances by Pittsburgh’s best improv actors. Some special events include, ACLU

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 15

of Pennsylvania presents Laughs for Liberty, May 30; After Werk: A Drag Cabaret, June 14.

Camp, June 24.

Byham Theater. Eddie Izzard, Wunderbar, May 28.

The Bridge Series (Ace Hotel). Brittany Hailer, Jill Khoury, Toi Derricotte and Bethlehem Haven, June 26.

Burning Bridges Comedy Club. Thursday Open Mic, ongoing; Collin Chamberlin, May 25-26; The Roast of Jon Snow, June 1-2; Alex Stypula, June 8-9; Derek Sheen, June 15-16; Justin Thompson, May 22-23; Dante Powell, May 29-30; Pittsburgh’s Finest, Jul 26; Shuli Egar, Aug. 10. Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall. DC Young Fly and Friends, June 7; Seth Meyers (two shows), June 14; The Pat McAfee Show Does America, June 21; Patton Oswalt, July 14; Daniel Sloss, July 26. Club Cafe. Opus One Comedy presents: James Phelps with T-RObe, Holl Price, Zachary Cieply, Suzanne Lawrence, Alex Stypula, Alonna Breisch and hosted by Vanessa St. Clair, June 7; Greer Cabaret Theater: Ongoing-Pittsburgh Improv Jam, every Thursday through Aug. 29. Heinz Hall. #IMOMSOHARD--Mom’s Night Out Round 2 The Improv. Vinny Fasline, May 15; Harland Williams, May 16-19; The Hodgetwins, May 22; Fresh Drunk Stoned Comedy Tour, May 23; Lavell Crawford, May 24-26; Kierra Darshell’s Sunday Drag Brunch, May 26, Stone Cold and the Jackal Tour, May 28; Craig Shoemaker, May 30-June 1; Michael Blackson, June 14-15; Jay Mohr, June 21-23; Donnell Rawlings, June 28-30; Sommore, July 12-14; Dusty Slay, July 1821. Paul Virzi, Aug. 15-18.

LIT AND LECTURES

Alphabet City. Free Association Reading Series, May 26; Stewart O’Nan, May 28; Corrine Jasmin, Stories That Heal, May 30; Edward Gauvin, Comics in Translation, June 10; Frances Bartkowski, June 11; Cave Canem Poets, June 13; Padma Venkatraman, YA series, June 15; Lisa Dillaman, Art of Translation series, June 24; Rob Rogers, June 25; Kristie Knights, Stories That Heal, June 27; Debut Novelists, July 15; Mary Norris, July 16. August Wilson African American Cultural Center. Summer Youth Writing

Black Cat Market. Crystal Stone, May 25.

Carnegie Library. Summer Reading Extravaganza Family Festival, June 9. Chatham University. Dreamers Anthology Book Launch, May 23. City Books. Valerie Nieman, June 1; Girls Write -- Writing Action Series, June 30. Congregation Beth Shalom. Jonathan Weisman, (Semitism) Being Jewish in America in the Age of Trump, May 15. Full Pint Wildside Pub. Steel City Slam, May 28, June 11; Hell’s Lid Reading Series, June 2. Gallery on Penn. Black Author’s Expo, May 18. The Glitter Box. Writing Out of Self Harm, May 30.

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT VENUES 12 Peers Theatre. West End, 12peers.org/ Ace Hotel. East Liberty, acehotel.com/pittsburgh/ Aftershock Theater. Lawrenceville, www.aftershocktheatre.com/ Alphabet City. North Side, alphabetcity.org/ Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall. Carnegie, carnegiecarnegie.org/ Apple Hill Playhouse. Delmont, applehillplayhouse.org Arcade comedy theater. Downtown, arcadecomedytheater.com/ August WIlson African American Cultural Center. Downtown, aacc-awc.org/ Backstage Bar. Downtown, trustarts.org/pct_home/visit/facilities/backstage-bar Benedum Center. Downtown, trustarts.org/pct_home/visit/facilities/benedum Black Cat Market. Lawrenceville. blackcatmarketpgh.com/ Burning Bridges Comedy Club. Lawrenceville, burningbridgescomedyclub.com Byham Theater. Downtown, trustarts.org/venues/byham-theater Carnegie Museum of Art. Oakland, cmoa.org/ Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall. Munhall, librarymusichall.com/ Charity Randall Theater. Oakland, play.pitt.edu/ Chatham University. Squirrel Hill, www.chatham.edu/ City Books. North Side, citybookspgh.com/ City Theatre. South Side, citytheatrecompany.org Club Cafe. South Side, clubcafelive.com/index.php

Hemingway’s Cafe. Summer Poetry Series, May 14, May 21, May 28, June 11, June 18, June 25, July 2 and July 9.

Congregation Beth Shalom. Squirrel Hill, bethshalompgh.org/

Heinz History Center. Launched: the Life of Olympian Herb Douglas, May 30; Fredrik Longvall, Vietnam War Speaker Series, June 20.

Heinz Hall. Downtown, pittsburghsymphony.org

Mt. Lebanon Library. Poetry Reading with Joan Rinaferrerelli, Joan Bauer & Joanne Samremy, May 18; Jack Hersch, June 19.

Lamp Theatre. Irwin, lamptheatre.org/

Mystery Lovers Bookshop. Laurel Houck book launch, May 23; Coffee & Crime with R.G. Belsky, June 1.

New Hazlett Theater. North Side, newhazletttheater.org/

Full Pint Wild Side Pub. Lawrenceville, fullpintbrewing.com/ Greer Cabaret Theater. Downtown, trustarts.org/pct_home/visit/facilities/cabaret Hartwood Acres. Hampton, alleghenycounty.us/parks/hartwood/index.aspx Heinz History Center. Downtown, heinzhistorycenter.org/ Hemingway’s Cafe.Oakland, www.hemingwayspgh.com/ Henry Heymann Theatre. Oakland, play.pitt.edu/ Improv. Homestead, improv.com/pittsburgh/ Liberty Magic. Downtown, tinyurl.com/libertymagic Little Lake Theater. Cannonsburg, littlelake.org Mt. Lebanon Library. Mt. Lebanon, www.mtlebanonlibrary.org/ Mystery Lovers Bookshop. Oakmont, www.mysterylovers.com/ New Horizon Theater. East Liberty, newhorizontheater.org O’Reilly Theater. Downtown, https://ppt.org/venues/oreilly-theater Penguin Bookshop. Sewickley, penguinbookshop.com/

Penguin Bookshop. Stephen Markley, June 3; Damon Young, June 8.

Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures. Oakland, pittsburghlectures.org/ Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Downtown, pbt.org Pittsburgh Festival Opera. East Liberty, Pittsburghfestivalopera.org

Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures. Michael Pollan, May 23; Adam Ehrlich Sachs, May 30; Neal Stephenson, June 17; James Patterson, June 27; Sigrid Nunez, September 23.

Pittsburgh Public Theater. Downtown, ppt.org/ PPG Paints Arena. Uptown, www.ppgpaintsarena.com/ Rex Theater, South Side. www.rextheater.net/ South Park. South Park alleghenycounty.us/parks/south-park/index.aspx South Park Theatre, South Park. sites.google.com/a/southparktheatre.com/south-park-theatre/ Theatre Factory. Trafford, thetheatrefactory.org/

White Whale Bookstore. Megan Griswold, The Book of Help, May 17; Brooke Barker, Sad Animal Babies, May 23; Bright Burning Stars book launch, May 24; Anjali Sachdeva, June 21.

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The Glitter Box. Friendship, www.theglitterboxtheater.com/ White Whale Bookstore. Bloomfield, whitewhalebookstore.com/

DA VINCI: THE EXHIBITION. PHOTO BY: JAKE MYSLIWCZYK

MAY

Art. Conversation with artist Mickalene Thomas and chief curator Joe Diaz, May 29; Mingled Visions: The Photogrpahs of Edward Curtis and Will Wilson, March 30-June 30. The Outsider’s Gaze, March 20-June 30.

707 Gallery. Darkest Dark, Charcoal drawings by Oreen Cohen, May 18-July 14 The Andy Warhol Museum. Kim Gordon: Lo-Fi Glamour, May 17-Sept. 1

JUNE

Boxheart Gallery. Daria Sandburg: The Seekers Book of Knowledge, May 28-June 28; Belgian Yucelen: From Ancient to Now, May 28-June 28

The Andy Warhol Museum. Art in Context: Before Stonewall, June 28; Stonewall 50:A Gender Inclusive Celebration for Families, June 29.

Carnegie Museum of Art. Monet and the Modern City, May 25-Sept. 2;

Carnegie Museum of Art. Access and Ability, June 1-Sept. 8; Lecture:The Art of Sight by Dr. Jose-Alain Sahel, June 13; Crossroads: Carnegie Museum of Art’s Collection, 1945-Now, June 22-Nov. 21.

Mattress Factory. Patte Loper: Laboratory for Other Worlds,

SUMMER GUIDE: ARTS & EXHIBITIONS ONGOING

The Andy Warhol Museum. Rotating collection of Warhol’s works, ongoing; The Chelsea Girls Exploded, through Jan. 12, 2020 Artsmiths of Pittsburgh. Pinball Famous, through June 16 August Wilson Afican American Cultural Center. Race and Revolution: Still Separate -- Still Unequal, through July 21; Seats of Power, through July 21 Boxheart Gallery. Andrew Ooi: Genarcha, through May 17; John Belue: Prized Possession, through May 17 Carnegie Museum of Art. The Art Connection Student Exhibition, through May 19; Ruth Root, through Aug. 25; Influencers: The Pritzker Architecture Prize, through Oct. 20 Carnegie Science Center. Da Vinci: The Exhibition, through Sept. 2 Contemporary Craft. Fiberart International 2019, through Aug. 24 Heinz History Center. The Vietnam War, Through Sept. 22. James Galleries. Multiplicity, through June 29

Mattress Factory. A selection from the Greer Lankton Archive, ongoing. Artists in Residence exhibits, through Aug. 4, Dennis Maher: A Second Home, through Aug. 12

SPACE. _ _ _ _ _ _ Curated by Brett Yasko, May 31-Aug. 4 Spinning Plate Gallery. Fifty Years After Stonewall: Celebrating our Vision, May 18-June 18. Unsmoke Systems Artspace. Morphology by Stephanie Martin, May 18, May 25.

Frick Art and Historical Center. A sporting Vision: The Paul Mellon Collection of British Sporting Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, June 15-Sept. 8. Pittsburgh Glass Center. Idea Furnace Retrospective, June 7 through July 29. Silver Eye Center for Photography. Fellowship 19, June 6-Aug. 10

Westmoreland Museum of American

Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery. Teapots! 13, through June 8 Panza Gallery. Waterworks 2019, through June 1. Phipps Conservatory. Van Gogh in Bloom, through September; Butterfly Garden, ongoing; Silver Eye Center for Photography. Ian Kline: Honorably Mentioned, through May 18. Radial Survey, through May 25. Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art-Ligonier Valley. The View from my Easel: Pastel Landscapes of the East Coast, through Aug. 4. Sweetwater Center for the Arts. Statement Pieces, through June 7. Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Tom Persinger: The New American Farmer, through June 9. Wood Street Galleries. Invisible Man, through June 16

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JULY

Artisan Tattoo. Artisan Tattoo Collective Group Show, July 5; Jeff Goldblum Day, July 13 Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Gallery Crawl, July 12. Westmoreland Museum of American Art. The Art of John Van Hamersveld, July 20-Oct. 20.

SEPTEMBER

Silver Eye Center for Photography. Continuum: Aspen Lane + Dione Lee, Sept. 6-Oct. 26

OTHER ACTIVITIES AND EXHIBITS

Yoga Paint Party. YOGAMOTIF will help you stretch and create with this Yoga Paint Party. Ticket gets you an hour of yoga, materials and your original artwork and admission to the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History. June 15. (Carnegie Museum of Art)

18 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

A PHOTO FROM THE REBECCA ARTHUR SERIES, THE HOUSE THAT BUILT ME.

DEUTSCHTOWN MUSIC FESTIVAL. PHOTO BY: JAKE MYSLIWCZYK

of three days dedicated to promote healthy living and get moving. Streets are temporarily closed to allow for free movement and to connect communities. Other dates are June 30 and July 28. openstreetspgh.org May 28 Memorial Day Celebration. Soldiers and Sailors Hall, Oakland. soldiersandsailorshall.org

JUNE

SUMMER GUIDE: FAIRS AND FESTIVALS Summer in Pittsburgh can be a lot of things. Rainy. Hot. Muggy. But boring it is not. Pittsburgh is a city in motion, and there is always something going on. One of the city’s most iconic events, Three Rivers Arts Festival, is a great example. Everyone from weekend warriors to the lunch hour crowd descend upon Point State Park to sample the food vendors, stock up on art, jewelry, and more, and to listen to some amazing live music. From national artist India.Arie to local (soon to be national) artist Brittney Chantele, the various stages at TRAF provide a fantastic soundtrack to summer. Check out our listings below to plan out a summer full of food, music, art, and fun.

ONGOING

Pittsburgh Neighborhood Festivals. More information and schedule, tinyurl. com/pittsfest Summer at the Square. Spend your Summer at the Square. Enjoy fun and free fitness classes, live music, allages entertainment, and much more all summer long at Mellon Square, Downtown. For more information, visit pittsburghparks.org.

MAY

May 18 Feria Festival. The patio at Enix Brewing in Homestead is transformed into the South of Spain for Feria, a celebration of spring. All you can eat spanish tapas, all you can drink signature cocktails, live dancing and music and a salsa lesson all come with your ticket. pittsburghcurrent. com/feria-festival/

May 19 6th Annual North Hills Food Truck Festival. This event at St. Teresa of Avila Parish in the North Hills features food trucks from all over the region, as well as indoor auditorium seating plus beer, wine, delicious homemade baked goods, small games of chance, music. and a whole lot more. For more information, please visit the St. Teresa of Avila Facebook page. May 24-26 Greater Pittsburgh Food Truck Festival. With free admission, you’ll have plenty of money to spend sampling the fares from the more than 50 food trucks at this year’s event at The Meadows Racetrack and Casino. There are also loads of local vendors, so you can do some shopping while you eat. Pghfoodtruckfest.com May 25 Open Streets PGH. This is the first

June 1 Pittsburgh Taco Fest. Attendees at this Highmark Stadium event can enjoy an afternoon of live music and a cultural marketplace while exploring the flavors of tacos from the region’s best food trucks and restaurants.There is also a VIP package that includes upgrades such as a free tequila tasting and t-shirt. highmarkstadium.com June 1-9 Pittsburgh PrideFest and Pride in the Street. Pittsburgh’s mainstream pride event that draws more than 150,000 visitors downtown. This year’s entertainment is headlined by Toni Braxton. Pittsburghpride.org.

wrong. Jam sessions, a beer garden, and a ‘vibe is everything’ culture is sure to delight. pittsburghjazzfest.org June 29 The All-Star Craft Beer, Wine and Cocktail Festival. PNC Park. Guests will be treated to unlimited samples of hundreds of craft beer, wine and cocktail brands from around the world, enjoy multiple live bands & DJs, a keepsake sampling glass, tons of games (giant Jenga, Connect Four, cornhole, and more), 2 tickets to a Pirates future game in 2019*, free admission to the official after party, sampling glasses, giveaways, activities, other all-star product vendors, pierogi races, and the opportunity to hang out with the Pirate’s mascot, Pirate Parrot. ballparkfestival.com/pittsburgh June 28-July 6 The Big Butler Fair. This is the 164th year for The Big Butler Fair at the Butler Fairgrounds, and it’s bringing everything you’ve come to expect; food, music, animals, carnival rides, truck pulls and, of course, a school bus demolition derby. With days of fun and so much to do, check their website to get your schedule mapped out. bigbutlerfair.com

JULY

June 8-9 People’s Pride 2K19: A Pride for the Ages. This intersectional pride event from SisTersPGH is in its third year and has grown substantially as more people come to the event that touts greater inclusivity and is produced without corporate sponsorships. Top local entertainment includes Brittney Chantele, The Bendersand Windafire. Headlining will be the Queen Diva Big Freedia, an innovator of New Orleans Bounce. tinyurl.com/pittpeoplespride

July 7-21 Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. This event is the largest vintage car street race in the country and was a favorite of late-Pittsburgh Mayor Bob O’Connor. The event brings cars you may have never seen i your life to Schenley Park and it also raises funds for various area charities. pvgp.org

June 7-16 Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival. This year marks the 60th anniversary of this iconic arts and music festival based in Point State Park.. Artists and musicians come from all over the world to bring Pittsburgh the absolute best. This free event has been, and will continue to be, a staple of summer in the Burgh. (See Music Listings for entertainment lineup). traf.trustarts.org June 20-23 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival. The August Wilson African American Cultural Center. With a line up featuring Patti Labelle, Tamara Tunie, Nubya Garcia, and more, jazz lovers cannot go

July 12-13 Deutschtown Music Festival. This award-winning, free two-day music festival features outdoor stages, in door venues, a beer garden, familyfriendly programming and hundreds of musicians. There are also shuttles to help festival-goers venue hop. deutschtownmusicfestival.com July 13 Pittsburgh Summer Beerfest. Stage AE. This 21 + beerfest won’t let you go thirsty. Or hungry. Or bored. Loads of food vendors and musical acts will keep you happy as you try local and national beer samples. promowestlive.com July 25 Fayette County Fair. Fayette County Fairgrounds. Food, music, vendors,

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tractor pulls, 4-H, and a whole lotta livestock make this one of the regions most enduring Fairs. fayettefair.com

and protecting the rivers we call home. Check their website as 2019 events are announced. yougottaregatta.org

July 26-28 Picklesburgh. You literally can’t miss it. Let’s be clear, you do not have to like pickles to love Picklesburgh. This is a celebration of Pittsburgh, and has plenty for everyone to enjoy. It’s also the best food festival in the country, according to USA Today’s Ten Best list. picklesburgh. com

Aug. 10 Fresh Fest. The nation’s only Black beer festival, and the second-best beer festival in the country, according to USA Today’s 10 Best, is back for it second year, Fresh Fest returns with another amazing lineup of black-owned breweries as well as breweries collaborating with Black artists and entrepreneurs from Pennsylvania and beyond. Freshfestbeerfest.com

July 25-28 MountainFest Motorcycle Rally. Just a short drive down the highway and you can be at MountainFest Motorcycle Rally. Over 50,000 motorcycle enthusiasts gather at Mylan Park in Morgantown to listen to national music acts, such as Cheap Trick and Jackyl. Based on that sentence alone, this is worth the trip. wvmountainfest.com

AUGUST

Aug. 2-4 EQT Three Rivers Regatta. Point State Park. The EQT Three Rivers Regatta combines music, boating, food, family and fun, all in the name of preserving 20 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

Aug. 10 Vegfest. This annual festival celebrates veganism in Pittsburgh while raising funds for Justice for Animals. pittsburghvegfest.org Aug. 12-18 Pittsburgh Restaurant Week. It’s the summer iteration of this twice yearly event, where you can sample the best cuisine in the city at bargain prices. Pittsburghrestaurantweek.com Aug. 15-18 Little Italy Days. Bloomfield. Little Italy Days kicks off Thursday with Celebrity Bocce and The Italian Granati Brothers.

The fun goes on all weekend with live music, games, art and of course, food. littleitalydays.com Aug. 17-18 Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival. West Newton. Also, Aug. 24-25, 31; Sept. 1-2, 7-8, 14-15, 21-22. Transport yourself back in time to the 16th Century as you wonder down lanes full of artisans, roasted turkey legs, and costumed merrymakers. Music, entertainment and fun take center stage as you channel your inner jouster. pittsburghrenfest.com Aug. 24-25 Shadyside Art Festival. This weekend art show hosts over 140 artists that create original hand-made artwork. We’ll have painters, potters, jewelers, photographers and much more. Here is your chance to speak directly with the artist and understand the inspiration behind each unique piece of art. artfestival.com Aug. 25-26 Corks and Kegs Festival. Meadows Racetrack. This is one of Washington PA’s most popular summer events, and it quickly becoming one of the bigger craft beer events in the region. Entry is free, and attendees can enjoy food vendors, music, a car cruise, and more. corksandkegsfestival.com Aug. 29-Sept. 2 Heinz Field Kickoff and Rib Fest. Visit the Heinz Field ‘midway’, filled with bbq vendors, festival foods, beverages, games, and more. National musical acts also stop in, so make sure to check their events page to see who you can expect. H einzfield.com/ribfest

SEPTEMBER

Sept. 6-8 Pittsburgh Irish Festival. Pittsburgh Irish Festival is celebrating its 29th year, and it’s bringing you all of your favorites. The event is still at Sand Castle, but they’ve moved to higher ground after suffering some flooding issues last year, ensuring that your favorite Irish food, music and beer will be there waiting for you. pghirishfest.org A Fair in the Park. Our festival guide stops here with this fine arts festival in Mellon Park sponsored by the Craftsmen’s Guild of Pittsburgh. afairinthepark.org

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STARLING MARTE. PHOTO BY: JAKE MYSLIWCZYK

SUMMER GUIDE: GO OUTSIDE I

t’s a beautiful city, so go out and enjoy it. Here are some ideas and events to get you out into the sunshine. The Pittsburgh Pirates (pirates. com), are already in full swing at PNC Park and, knocking wood, they’re not as terrible as usual. But, past struggles means you can walk up to the gate on any given night and get a great seat with a great view. And that’s not the only baseball on offer. About 30 minute south in Washington, PA., we have the Washington Wild Things (washingtonwildthings.com), an independent minor league team. As an added bonus, closer Zach Stecker has been growing a beard that makes him look like Kenny Powers from

Eastbound and Down. But baseball isn’t the only pro sport going on this summer. The Pittsburgh Riverhounds, the city’s professional soccer team, has a challenging, robust schedule that goes until October. The team plays at Highmark Stadium, which has some pretty good views in its own right (riverhounds.com). If you like a sport where you’re allowed to use your hands, the Pittsburgh Thunderbirds is the city’s professional Ultimate Frisbee team. Home games are played at J.C. Stone Field in North Park (theaudl.com/ thunderbirds). And although we’re still months away from kickoff, the Pittsburgh Steelers will head to training camp

22 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

at St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe in Late July. Maybe you’re more of a player than a spectator. Regardless of your game, the Pittsburgh Sports League (pittsburghsportsleague.leaguelab. com) has probably got a league for you. The City of Pittsburgh’s Citiparks department also has plenty of outdoor rec sites ready for your game. Additional information can be found at citiparks.net, but most popular are the tennis courts located in Allegheny Commons, Arsenal, Frick, Highland, Moore, Schenley and Washington’s Landing parks. If you’re looking for competition, the city runs three summer tennis tournaments. The Bob O’Connor Summer

Tennis Classic, Paul G. Sullivan Championships and the Frick Park Red Clay Junior Open. Speaking of O’Connor, golfers can always play a round at the only course in city limits, The Bob O’Connor Golf Course at Schenley Park. The 18hole walking course (thebobgc.com), offers nice long fairways and some great views of the city. If you are looking for some alternative recreation, check out Pittsburgh’s City of Play. This organization has been providing alt-rec options for years including dodgeball leagues and a whole host of original activities, including Circle Rules Football (cityofplay.org). Skating enthusiasts can play dek hockey in six local parks-Banksville, Bloomfield, Brookline, Marmaduke Playground, McBride and Ormsby. There are also skate parks in Beltzhoover, Polish Hill and Sheraden. Again, for more information go to citiparks.net. If cycling is more your thing, the folks over at Bikepgh.org, have all the maps, routes and trails info that you’ll need. If water is more your thing, head on over to Venture Outdoors. The local nonprofit exists to get Pittsburghers out and using the city’s natural resources, including kayaking on the three rivers. Runners and walkers love Pittsburgh and summer is full of races and walks for eager feet. Former Steelers and best-bros-forlife Tunch Ilkin and Craig Wolfley sponsor a Walk for the Homeless on May 25 (tinyurl.com/tunchwolf ). If you like to learn while you burn, Pittsburgh Running Tours offers a whole host of runs/sightseeing adventures (pittsburghrunningtours. com). The City of Pittsburgh Footrace Series is pittsburghpa.gov/ events/footraces an annual six-race series that culminates at the end of September with the Richard S. Caliguiri Great Race. But the whole thing gets going June 2 with the awesomely named Greenfield Glide (greenfieldglide.com). The challenging course weaves through the hilly terrain of Schenley Park.

Current Comics

Matt Bors

18 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

ANDREA SHOCKLING

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 19

Best in Show By Phil Juliano

Sucks to Be an Animal

By Sienna Cittadino SYNONYM RAISIN

by Andrew Schubert

CARTOONISTS CARTOONISTS WANTED WANTED pittsburgh current is looking for local artists who would like to have their comics featured on our twice-monthly funny pages.

20 | OCT. 23, 2018 | PITTSBURGH CURRENTemail: charlie@pittsburghcurrent.com

Rob Jones

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | OCT. 23, 2018 | 21

Sweetwater offers more than 400 classes, workshops, and lectures annually in the visual, performing, literary and culinary arts to both adults and children beginning at age 3. sweetwaterartcenter. org

EQT CHILDREN’S THEATER FESTIVAL

Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History. The museums offer dozens of summer camp programs all summer long. There are too many to mention here, but if you’ve got an interest, chances are, they’ve got a camp for it. From arts and history to architecture and outdoors, there’s sure to be something to suit your child. camps. artandnaturalhistory.org

MUSIC

Center for Young Musicians. Campers will explore different instruments, styles of music and methods of learning. Many of the camp options feature a live performance at the end of camp. youngmusicians.org

SUMMER GUIDE: KIDS EVENTS MAY 16-17

EQT Children’s Theater Festival. For three days in May the Cultural District transforms to become an epicenter of art, performance, theater and, well, children. Thursday, May 16 the 33rd annual EQT Children’s Theater Festival kicks off. Sprawling across the downtown’s Cultural District, the two-day festival includes live performances, hands-on activities, gallery installations, public art, pop-ups, and more. There is even a Frog Stop Scavenger Hunt to encourage kids to navigate their way through the entire festival. The festival features performers from all over the world, including Fly from Denmark, Murikamification from Netherlands, and Sky and Stone from Mexico. EQT Children’s Theater Festival does not skimp on programming, and there is something for the smallest, tweest theater-goer, to events that older kids will enjoy. Visit their website and plan your visit. Multiple locations across the Cultural District. pghkids.trustarts. org

ONGOING

Dollar Bank Cinema in the Park. Multiple city parks throughout Pittsburgh. Grab a blanket, pack some snacks, and head to your local park for a movie under the stars. Check the website for locations, and, please make a note

of ratings, as some movies may not be appropriate for all ages. pittsburghpa. gov/events/cinema Roving Art Cart. Quite possibly one of the best city programs Pittsburgh Citiparks offers. Every Thursday-Friday from June 18-Aug. 9, the cart hits a different neighborhood park for a true arts-in-the-park experience for kids ages 5-12. citiparks.net

SUMMER CAMPS GENERAL

Carnegie of Library of Pittsburgh. The Carnegie’s library system offers a host of camps and programs for kids, most, if not all of which are free. For example, kids in grades 6-12 can sign up for Labs Summer Skills Intensives workshops. Some topics include”Digital Design Meets Street Art,” filmmaking, branding and jewelry design. Pittsburgh Zoo Summer Camp. Experience the call of the wild! Pittsburgh Zoo offers a variety of camps for kids of all ages. It’s wild. pittsburghzoo.com Doodle Day Camp. Multiple locations. Doodle Day Camp combines summer fun and learn-through-play so that your child stays active and never stops learning. With exciting themes, special events and field trips, Doodle Day Camp

is the ultimate summer vacation for children ages 3-12. doodlebugs.com

School of Rock. School of Rock South Hills’s music camps offer a wide selection of various music experiences. From beginner music camps to intermediate and advanced sessions, our music camps and workshops near you will further a student’s musical foundation. schoolofrock.com

Shady Side Academy Summer Camp. High-energy programming and a knowledgeable and energetic staff make this a very popular summer camp for kids looking to have a variety of experiences over the summer. Fox Chapel. Shadysideacademy.org

STEM

ART

Art Imagined. Week-long art camps run biweekly from June to August. All materials are provided for class projects; kids just have to bring their imaginations. artimaginedpgh.com

iD Tech. Held at Carnegie Mellon University, iD Tech summer camps have helped thousands of kids discover the joys of coding, AI, machine learning, film, gaming, robotics and more. idtech. com

Cut and Sew Sewing and Design Center. From Intro to Sewing to Make Your Own Clothes, Cut and Sew has a variety of camps to appeal to budding designers of all ages and skill levels. cutandsewstudio.com

Snapology. Offering a wide range of date and time options, all Snapology camps focus on helping kids ages 4-14 discover STEM through programs that utilize Legos, Star Wars, robotics, drones and superheroes. snapology.com

Katie’s Clay Studio. With the happy theme of ‘Get Muddy’, these North Hills camps and workshops explore many artistic mediums and provides lots of take-home projects from happy campers. katiesclaystudio.com

Carnegie Science Center. Campers ages 4–14 can choose from a variety of camps, including video game design, robotics, virtual reality, biology, and more, including a session based on new their new Da Vinci installment. carnegiesciencecenter.org

Point Park University Summer Camps. Featuring Dance, Film, and Journalism camps, Point Park even offers an on campus live-in feature for the 16 and older campers. pointpark.edu Sweetwater Center for the Arts.

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden. Immersing young explorers in the incredible world of Phipps, their summer camps highlight ecology, conservation, healthy living and art concepts through hands-on activities.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 25

Each session includes nutritious snacks and take-home crafts. phipps. conservatory.org

6 SPEC6TSAPCEUCLA TARCUSH LAOR 50+ S FRE EA C

SPORTS

WS HO ITIES! WS TIV

Cool Springs Summer Camp. From a FIFA regulation indoor soccer arena, basketball courts, 2-level driving range, miniature golf course, and an indoor golf simulator, this summer camp will keep your little golfer happy. playcoolsprings. com Gymkhana. Encouraging learning through physical activity, Gymkhana offers classes and camps for children ages three through 16. gymkhanafun. com Pittsburgh Indoor Sports Arena. PISA will keep kids moving with indoor sports and activities, as well as outdoor games and adventures. Each week has its own theme, such as All Sports and Pirates Week. pisausa.com

THEATRE

Saltworks Theater Company. Budding actors of all skill levels are welcome to the variety of classes and camps offered at Saltworks. From exploring children’s literature to writing their own performance pieces, young thespians will enjoy spending their summer honing their craft. saltworks.org Gemini Children’s Theater. Gemini’s day camps provide hands-on experience in a real theater. Under the guidance of theater professionals, each group creates, writes, produces, and performs their show on the last day of camp. geminitheater.org

THIS WEEK!

Pittsburgh Musical Theater. Children ages four - 18 who are interested in singing, acting and dancing will love the opportunity to spend four weeks training and rehearsing. The final show will be a performance at the New Hazlett Theater. Pittsburghmusicals.com

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Baby and Me Movement. How about a little partner yoga, just you and your baby. After, you’ll tour the museum, stroller in tow on a guided tour of the Carnegie Museum of Art. May 29, June 26, July 31, Aug. 28. cmoa.org

MAY 16-19, 2019 CULTURAL DISTRICT TRUS TARTS.ORG /PGHKIDS

26 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

MAY 16-19, 2019 CULTURAL DISTRICT

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD

SUMMER GUIDE: FILM

f you like your summer moviegoing experiences to be a blend of blockbusters and independent films, with a few locally filmed options sprinkled in, then 2019 is going to be a very good summer for you, indeed. First up, let’s think big. Real big. Reel big, even. It doesn’t get much bigger than Godzilla, King of the Monsters (May 31), the latest in the Godzilla franchise. Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown goes up against some literal giants of the screen. If giant CGI monsters battling each other is your thing, this is a very good day for you. Can Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth recreate the chemistry from Thor:Ragnarok? We will find out soon when Men In Black: International (June 14) debuts. Not content to just deal with aliens, this time there is a mole inside the organization. Let’s all hope it’s not Tessa Thompson. Fire up the nostalgia machine for Toy Story 4 (June 21). Featuring a new character, Forky, a road trip, and an unbelievable all-star cast providing the voices, Toy Story 4 is gearing up to be another one of those fun-for-the-whole-family flicks. If you’re suffering from mild anxiety and depression following Avengers:Endgame, you won’t have to wait too long for the next Marvel installment, Spider-Man, Far From Home (July 2). How will the webbed

one do in a world that’s been changed forever? Completing yet another circle of life, the CGI version of Disney classic The Lion King will be upon us (July 19). How will it stand up to the original? If the cast is any indication, this is going to be a powerhouse event. One word: Beyoncé. Iconic filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is bringing some serious heat with his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (July 26). Set in hippy Hollywood 1969, the film brings together Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt as an aging actor and stunt double, trying to navigate a changing industry. Moving away from blockbusters, the dearth of local summer film festivals ensures that no matter what type of film you like, no matter when you’re looking to go, there is something you are going to want to watch. Not only are there entire festivals to enjoy, but screenings of featured films are sprinkled all over this summer. You can kick it off this Sunday with a screening of Standing on My Sister’s Shoulder, presented at Alphabet City by Sembène Film and Art Festival. Also at Alphabet City, A Moment in the the Reeds (May 29) will be presented by ReelQ. ReelQ produces and presents the Pittsburgh LGBTQ Film Festival. Alphabet City will be screening movies from both festivals throughout the summer, so it’s worth

checking back to see what’s coming up next. Row House Cinemas is bringing their Sweded Film Festival back for its 3rd year. This film festival includes an amateur competition, aimed at anyone with a camera. You have until June 3 to register and then June 9 to submit your low cost, low tech, 3-5 minute recreation of a famous movie. The festival itself runs from June 21 -27, with the audience voting on winners. If you ever thought that you should be a filmmaker, here’s your chance to find out. Allegheny Cleanways wants you to know the work they do is for everyone, including the Wild & Scenic Film Festival. The festival takes place Saturday, June 1 at Pittsburgh Playhouse at Point Park University and combines breathtaking films with stories of environmental advocacy. People with little ones or those just young at heart will enjoy the Pittsburgh International

Film Festival. Held at Row House Cinemas July 26 - 1, this festival lineup includes nostalgic classics, award-winning shorts, documentaries, and family-friendly cultural events. Looking to add a little bit of Pittsburgh to your summer movie mix? A good place to start is the Heinz History Center’s celebration of film pioneer, Lois Weber (June 13). The North Side native was one of, if not the, first people to act, write, direct and produce films. Lois Weber: Fim Pioneer will feature lectures by Turner Classic Movie host and actress, Illeana Douglas and Dr. Shelley Stamp, film historian and professor of film and digital media at the University of California, Santa Cruz. From blockbusters, to screenings, to festivals, to locally created and inspired shorts, summer of 2019 is bringing you everything you need to scratch your movie itch but the popcorn.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 27

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HARRY POTTER characters, names and related indicia are © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WB SHIELD: ™ & © WBEI. WIZARDING WORLD trademark and logo © & ™ Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Publishing Rights © JKR. (s19)

* Yes, we know that Beethoven did not wear a wig.

A N D

T H E

T H O R C H E S T R A

THURSDAY, JUNE 27 AT 7:30 P.M. Th ffabulous The b l Th Thorgy Thor, Th ffamed d worldwide ld id from the hit show RuPaul’s Drag Race, joins the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for a thrilling, thoughtful, and hilariously theatrical show! The reigning “Queen of Classical Music” wields her outrageous fashion sense, razor-sharp wit, and virtuoso classical chops to create a thrilling, theatrical, all-new show. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and your heart will throb as Thorgy slays with song, dance and hilarious shenanigans in the U.S. premiere of this can’t-miss symphonic spectacular! This performance will include some mature themes; audience discretion is advised.

VIP AVAITICKETS LABL E

Beethoven* • Bach • Vivaldi • Mozart

THURSDAY, JULY 11 AT 7:00 P.M. Earl Lee, conductor • Rhian Kenny, piccolo Laura Motchalov and Kristina Yoder, violins

MOZART: Overture to Don Giovanni VIVALDI: Piccolo Concerto in C Major BACH: Concerto for Two Violins and String Orchestra BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 2

PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & WINDBORNE PERFORM

THE MUSIC OF THE ROLLING STONES:

MICK JAGGER & KEITH RICHARDS 1969

CELEBRATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF TWO ICONIC ALBUMS BEGGARS BANQUET & LET IT BLEED

SATURDAY, JULY 13 AT 8:00 P.M.

Conductor Brent Havens, vocalist Brody Dolyniuk, a full rock band & the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performing the Rolling Stones classics, a combination of passion and power!

THURSDAY, JULY 25 AT 7:00 P.M. Andrés Franco, conductor Irene Cheng, violin Ellen Chen-Livingston, violin Christopher Wu, violin Susanne Park, violin

ARTURO MÁRQUEZ: Danzón No. 2 PIAZZOLLA: Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons in Buenos Aires) LE PERA & GARDEL (arr. John Williams): Tango, “Por Una Cabeza” from Scent of a Woman PIAZZOLLA: Milonga del Ángel GINASTERA: Four Dances from Estancia PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 29

Jackie Evancho, Byham Theater Combo Chimbita, Club Cafe Facs, Black Forge Coffee House Travis Tritt and Charlie Daniels, Stage AE Crack the Sky, Jergels Hackensaw Boys, Thunderbird Somewhere to Call Home, Mr. Roboto Project

GLADYS KNIGHT, HEINZ HALL, AUG. 23

JUNE 1

60’s Rock ’n Remember Live featuring Jay and the Americans, The Duprees and The Skyliners, Benedum Center Local Natives, Stage AE Xavier Wulf, Rex theCause, Thunderbird

JUNE 2

SUMMER GUIDE: MUSIC MAY 15

Cannibal Corpse, Rex Theater Run River North, Club Cafe Snarky Puppy, Roxian Theatre John Paul White, Spirit

The Outlaws, Jergels Garth Brooks, Heinz Field The Spinners, Meadows Casino Nightfall Records Summer Showcase, Mr. Roboto Project

MAY 16

MAY 19

Driftwood, Club Cafe MammaBear, Funhouse at Mr. Smalls MGMT, Stage AE Josh Ritter, Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall Amigo the Devil, Spirit Zeal and Ardor, Rex Felix Martin, Smiling Moose

MAY 17

Skinny Lister, Club Cafe Jefferson Starship, Jergels Welshly Arms, Club at Stage AE Scott Blasey, Joe Srushecky, Rob James and Clinton Clegg, Rex Theater The Vinegar Creek Constituency, Funhouse at Mr. Smalls Stones for Children’s, Rex Jeffrey Osborne, Rivers Casino 10 years of Animals as Leaders, Roxian Yngwie Malmsteen, Roxian Seckond Chance, CraftHouse

MAY 17-19

Sons of Mystro, August Wilson African American Cultural Center

MAY 18

Demob Happy, Smiling Moose The Vindys, Club Cafe. St. Lucia, Rex Theater

MAY 24

Funky Miracle, Rex Walk off the Earth, Stage AE Racetraitor, Hirs, Mr. Roboto Project

MAY 25

The Lettermen, Palace Theatre Matt Hires, Hard Rock Cafe Nekromantix, CraftHouse

New Stylistics, New Horizon Theater The YJJs, Club Cafe Scare City/Ana Woulfe, Mr. Roboto Project

MAY 20

MAY 26

Damien Jurado, Greer Cabaret Theater J.S. Ondara, Club Cafe Beasto Blanco, Hard Rock Last 10 seconds of Life, Smiling Moose

MAY 21

Staciawa Abbot, Backstage Bar Spirit of the Beehive, Funhouse at Mr. Smalls Dizzy Wright, Club at Stage AE Trapt, Crafthouse Stage and Grill Spanish Love Songs, Mr. Roboto Project

MAY 22

Stryper, Jergels The Blasters, Hard Rock Worriers, Mr. Roboto Project Nashville Pussy, Crafthouse Nita Strauss, Hard Rock

MAY 23

The Second After, Smiling Moose Strange Noize Tour, Rex Homeless Gospel Choir, Mr. Roboto Project

30 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

Pittsburgh Opera, Hartwood Acres Machine Gun Kelly, Stage AE David Crosby Carnegie of Homestead Oceano, Spirit Sick of it All, Cattivo Wilson, Smiling Moose Sick of it All, Cattivo For the Fallen Dreams, Crafthouse

JUNE 3

Erin Costello, Club Cafe Jon Spencer and the HITmakers, Thunderbird

JUNE 4

Hozier: Wasteland, Baby! Tour, Benedum Center Tallah, Funhouse at Mr. Smalls Chasms/Dinosoul, Mr. Roboto Project

An Evening with Kennny Garrett, Greer Cabaret Theater Amanda Anne Platt and the Honeycutters, Club Cafe Toots and the Maytals, Roxian L7, Rex Texas Hippie Coalition, Crafthouse

MAY 27

JUNE 5

Apocalyptia, Carnegie of Homestead Hit Like a GIrl, Mr. Roboto Project

MAY 28

Roger Humphries & RH Factor, Backstage Bar Garrison Starr, Club Cafe Juice Wrld, Stage AE

MAY 29

Thundercat, Roxian

MAY 30

The Who, PPg Paints Punk with a Camera/Happy Happy, Mr. Roboto Project SoDown, Thunderbird

MAY 31

Frankie Iero and the Future Violents, Rex Sammy Hagar and the Circle with Night Ranger, Highmark Stadium Traitors, Smiling Moose Paul GIlbert, Crafthouse

JUNE 6

Roomful of Blues, Club Cafe Anna St. Louis, Mr. Smalls Clay, Funhouse at Mr. Smalls Crumbzilla, Rex Weathers, Smiling Moose

JUNE 7-16

Three Rivers Arts Festival Main Stage, Point State Park: India.Arie (June 7); Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives, Andre Costello and the Cool Minors, Brittney Chantele (June

8); Nahko and Medicine for the People, PM Mirror, Tesky Brothers (June 9); Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Brass, Nate Walker (June 10), Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Nevin James; Kaia Kater; Lucius, (June 13), Too Many Zoos (June 14); Tank and the Bangas; Mandolin Orange, Kelley James, Parsonsfield, Mipso, (June 15), J. Roddy Walston & The Business, Funky Fly Project, Justin Fabus, slowdanger (June 16)

Cold Wrecks, Mr. Roboto Project Struggle Jennings, Foxtail Donna Missal, Rex Lincoln Durham, Smiling Moose

JUNE 8

The Clock Reads, Thunderbird Cafe

JUNE 9

Hawthorne Heights, Rex

JUNE 7-9

JUNE 10

JUNE 8-9

JUNE 11

Pride Rocks Pittsburgh. Walk the Moon (June 7), Toni Braxton (June 8), Stage at 9th and Ft. Duquesne

People’s Pride. Pride of the Ages-- Big Freedia, Brittney Chantele, The Benders, Windafire, West Park

JUNE 7

George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic, Rivers Casino Luke Bryan, KeyBank Pavilion The Babys, Jergels Twenty One Pilots, PPG Paints Death Cab for Cutie, Stage AE Midnight Tyrannosaurus, Rex

Coheed and Cambria, Mastodon, Stage AE The Stolen, Smiling Moose

Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties, Rex Heather Mae, Club Cafe Fog Lake, Mr. Roboto Project The Home Team, Smiling Moose

JUNE 12

The Little Mermen, Rex Ariana Grande, PPG Paints Blackbear, Roxian

JUNE 13

Los Sabrosos Dance Co. is a dance and fitness organization whose mission is to help individuals find freedom, passion, self-expression, and self-confidence through dancing & fitness. LS Dance Co. offers confidence-building group and private dance classes for diverse interests of all ages. From Salsa & Bachata to Ballroom classes, Yoga, Hip-Hop, Bellydance, Zumba & Vixen Fitness classes, and more!

RDGLDGRN, Smiling Moose

CONFIDENCE BUILDING SUMMER CAMPS! LS Dance Co. offers week-long camps for kids ages 2 to 15 yrs. The camps mix multiple dances, coupled with outdoor expeditions, music, skills, and craft workshops.

PGH.LOSSABROSOS.ORG/SUMMERCAMP BURN THE FLOOR EVERY SATURDAY FOR THE BEST NIGHTS OF DANCING IN PITTSBURGH!!! Hot Salsa Nights @ Los Sabrosos on Saturdays! Saturdays: 9:30pm-2:00am $7 cover pgh.lossabrosos.org/nights

(412) 465-0290 4909 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15224

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PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 31

Ozzy Osbourne, KeyBank Pavilion Second to Safety, Mr. Roboto Project The Wailers, Roxian

JUNE 14

Bill Henry Band, August Wilson African American Cultural Center Tony MacAlpine, Club Cafe All that Remains, Foxtail A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Stage AE Pittsburgh Plays McCartney, Jergel’s Standard Broadcast, Funhouse at Mr. Smalls Daughters, Rex Theater Dustbowl Revival, Thunderbird

JUNE 15

Vance Gilbert, Club Cafe Todd Rundgren, Palace Theatre Chase Atlantic, Rex Theater

Norah Jones, Heinz Hall Gorgasm, Funhouse at Mr. Smalls

JUNE 19

Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Rex Scott Mulvahill, Club Cafe Geoff Tate, Jergels Kristian Bush and Rita Wilson, Carnegie of Homestead MC Chris, Smiling Moose

JUNE 20-23

Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, August Wilson African American Cultural Center

JUNE 20

Myatic Braves, Club Cafe Awake at Last, Funhouse at Mr. Smalls Vista, Smiling Moose

Makaya McCraven, August Wilson African American Cultural Center Keb’ Mo’, Palace Theatre Lovelytheband, Stage AE Dylan LeBlanc, Club Cafe The Spill Canvas, Rex Theater Macseal, Mr. Roboto Project Borstal Boys, Thunderbird

JUNE 17

JUNE 21

JUNE 16

Lucy Spraggen, Club Cafe

JUNE 18

Patti Labelle, August Wilson African American Cultural Center The Wild Feathers, Jergels

Earth, Spirit Robyn Hitchcock, Club Cafe Carl Palmer’s ELC Legacy, Stage AE Phosphorescent, Rex Smoking Popes, Smiling Moose

JUNE 22

Tamara Tunie with Paul Jost, August Wilson African American Cultural Center Black Women Rock, August Wilson African American Cultural Center Bad Books, Rex Faye Webster, Club Cafe The Clarks, Stage AE Old Crow Medicine Show, KeyBank Herman’s Hermits, Palace Theatre Donnie Iris and the Cruisers, Carnegie of Homestead

JUNE 23

Will Varley, Club Cafe Saul, Hard Rock New Kids on the Block, Debbie Gibson, Naughty by Nature, Sant-N-Peppa, PPG Paints Arena The Obnoxious Boot, Mr. Roboto Project

JUNE 24

Juliana Hatfield, Club Cafe Steven Page Trio, Jergles

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32 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

JUNE 25

Spencer Krug, Club Cafe Ziggy Alberts, Rex Catfish and the Bottlemen, Stage AE

JUNE 26

The Midnight, Stage AE Nathan Angelo, Club Cafe Cavetown, Rex Smile Empty Soul, Hard Rock Molly Alphabet, Thunderbird

JUNE 27

Ray Volpe and Uber, Thunderbird Fitz and the Tantrums, Stage AE Young the Giant, Stage AE Slightly Stoopid, Highmark Stadium Marbin, Funhouse at Mr. Smalls Pelican, Club Cafe She Wants Revenge, Foxtail

JUNE 28

Dressy Bessy, Funhouse at Mr. Smalls Parachute, Rex Zac Brown, KeyBank Sweet Earth, Thunderbird Kiefer Sutherland, Jergels

JUNE 29 Delta Rae, Rex

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 35

Albert Lee, Club Cafe

JULY 16

JUNE 30

Jelly Roll, Crafthouse

Dave Alvin, Club Cafe Local H, Club at Stage AE Psychedelic Furs, Roxian

JULY 2

JULY 17

Peter Frampton, Benedum Center Reel Big Fish, Roxian

Billy Bob Thorton and the Boxmasters, Jergel’s

Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, Byham Theater Nicole Dollanganger, Funhouse at Mr. Smalls Lula Wiles, Club Cafe The Mekons, The Warhol

JULY 5

JULY 18

JULY 3

Billy Price Band, Thunderbird

JULY 6

Lil Wayne and Blink-182, KeyBank Stacked Like Pancakes, Funhouse at Mr. Smalls

JULY 7

Weird Al Yankovic, Benedum Center Sublime with Rome, Stage AE Gabby’s World, Mr. Roboto Project Sons of Texas, Crafthouse

JULY 9

Shamie Royston Quartet, Greer Cabaret Theater Devildriver, Jergels Patrick Sweany, Club Cafe Hop Along, Rex Theater

JULY 10

Southern Avenue, Club Cafe The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Jergels Deadgrass, Hard Rock Shinedown, KeyBank Magic Beans, THunderbird

JULY 11

We were Promised Jetpacks, Spirit Eilen Jewell, Club Cafe

JULY 12

Thomas Rhett, KeyBank Pavilion Cayucas, Club Cafe

JULY 13

Windborne’s Music of the Rolling Stones, Heinz Hall Dirty Heads/311, KeyBank Pavilion Bruce Hornsby, Roxian

JULY 14

Red Sun Rising, Crafthouse

JULY 15

I Prevail, Stage AE

Belle & Sebastian, Carnegie Music Hall Sanctuary, CraftHouse

JULY 19

John Nemeth and Blue Dreamers The Maine, Stage AE Alice Cooper, KeyBank

JULY 20

Bang Tango/Faster Pussycat, Jergels Jeff Lynne’s ELO, PPG Paints Nick Jordan, Smiling Moose

AUG. 8

AUG. 2

AUG. 9

Kirk Franklin, Byham Theater Florida Georgia Line, KeyBank Happy Together Tour, Palace Theater Andrew Belle, Club Cafe Stick to Your Guns, Rex

AUG. 3

Legendary Shack Shakers, Hard Rock Bill Deasy, Club Cafe

AUG 4.

UB40, Jergels Ben Folds, Stage AE Bad Religion, Roxian Hi-Rez, Smiling Moose

AUG. 6

Third Eye Blind, Stage AE Wiz Khalifa, KeyBank

Ben Folds, Stage AE Shawn Mendes, PPG Paints Arena John Butler Trio, Roxian

JULY 21

AUG. 7

Drugdealer, Club Cafe Hootie and the Blowfish + Barenaked Ladies, KeyBank The Struts, Stage AE Cam’Ron, Jergel’s

JULY 25

Sidney Gish, Mr. Roboto Project

JULY 26

Breaking Benjamin, KeyBank

JULY 27

Roots of Rock & Roll, Heinz Hall Dierks Bentley, KeyBank Summer Salt, Spirit

JULY 28

Snail Mail, Rex John Mayer, PPG Paints

JULY 29

Khalid, PPG Paints Great Grandpa, Mr. Roboto Project

JULY 30

Lake Street Drive, Stage Ae JoJo Siwa, Petersen Events Center

JULY 31

Queen with Adam Lambert, PPG Paints Steve Gunn, Club Cafe

AUG. 1

36 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

Train, KeyBank The Regrettes, Funhouse at Mr. Smalls

Uncle Kracker, Jergels Nelly/TLC/Flo Rida, KeyBank

John Schneider, Jergels

AUG. 10

Interpol, Stage AE Saves the Day, Rex Chris Stapleton, KeyBank August Burns Red, Roxian

AUG. 11

Black Flag, Rex Swingin’ Utters, Mr. Smalls Why Don’t We, UPMC Events Center

AUG. 13

The Raconteurs, Stage AE Andrew Bird, Roxian

AUG. 14

Sir Mix-A-Lot, Jergels Papa Roach, Stage AE Summer Cannibals, Mr. Roboto Project

AUG. 16

Foghat, South Park Amphitheater The Doobie Brothers, UPMC Events

Center

Blues Traveler, Rivers Casino

AUG. 17

AUG. 30

Iron Maiden, PPG Paints Korn, KeyBank

AUG. 20

Flogging Molly, Stage AE

AUG. 22

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Club Cafe

AUG. 23

Gladys Knight, Heinz Hall Slipknot, KeyBank

Justin Furstenfeld, Rex Prince Daddy and the Hyena, Mr. Roboto Project Squeeze, Carnegie of Homestead Justin Furstenfeld, Rex Prince Daddy and the Hyena, Mr. Roboto Project Squeeze, Carnegie of Homestead

AUG. 31

Brantley Gilbert, KeyBank

SEPT. 3

AUG. 24

Jonas Brothers, PPG Paints

AUG. 25

Flying Lotus, Stage AE

Chris Young, KeyBank

Live, Stage AE The Bacon Brothers, Jergels

AUG. 28

SEPT. 2-3 SEPT. 6

Judah & The Lion, Stage AE

MUSIC VENUES Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall. Carnegie, carnegiecarnegie.org/ August Wilson African American Cultural Center. Downtown, aacc-awc.org/ Backstage Bar. Downtown. trustarts.org/pct_home/visit/facilities/backstage-bar Benedum Center. Downtown, trustarts.org/pct_home/visit/facilities/benedum Black Forge Coffeehouse. Multiple locations, blackforgecoffee.com Byham Theater. Downtown, trustarts.org/venues/byham-theater Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall. Munhall, librarymusichall.com/ Cattivo. Lawrenceville. cattivopgh.com Club Cafe. South Side, clubcafelive.com/index.php Crafthouse Stage and Grille. Whitehall, crafthousepgh.com Foxtail. South Side, foxtailpgh.com/

Northlane, Rex Toad the Wet Sprocket, Jergels

Mr. Smalls and Funhouse. Millvale, mrsmals.com

AUG. 29

Hard Rock Cafe. Station Square, Hardrock Cafe/locations/pittburgh

Nightrain, Jergels

Greer Cabaret Theater. Downtown, trustarts.org/pct_home/visit/facilities/cabaret

Hartwood Acres. Hampton, alleghenycounty.us/parks/hartwood/index.aspx Heinz Field. North Shore, steelers.com Heinz Hall. Downtown, pittsburghsymphony.org Highmark Stadium. South Side, highmarkstadium.com Jergelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Rhythm Grille. Warrendale, jergels.com KeyBank Pavilion. livenation.com/venues/14423/keybank-pavilion Mr. Roboto Project. Garfield, therobotoproject.com/ New Hazlett Theater. North Side, newhazletttheater.org/ Palace Theater. Greensburg, palacetheatre.org Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pride 2K19. facebook.com/SisTersPGH Petersen Events Center. Oakland, peterseneventscenter.com PPG Paints Arena.Uptown, ppgpaintsarena.com/ Pride Pittsburgh. pittsburghpride.org Rex Theater. South Side, www.rextheater.net/ Rivers Casino. North Shore, riverscasino.com Roxianroxian. McKees Rocks, roxianlive.com Smiling Moose. South Side, smiling-moose.com South Park. South Park, alleghenycounty.us/parks/south-park/index.aspx Spirit. Lawrenceville, spiritpgh.com Stage AE. North Shore, promowestlive.com/pittsburgh/stage-ae Three Rivers Arts Festival. traf.trustarts.org Thunderbird. Lawenceville, roxianlive.com UPMC Events Center. Moon, upmcevenscenter.com

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 37

ART

Photography: Heather Mull. Design: BOOM Creative

ROYAL TREATMENT

CARRIE BLAST FURNACE COMES ALIVE WITH QUANTUM THEATRE’S “KING LEAR”

BY AMANDA REED - PITTSBURGH CURRENT STAFF WRITER AMANDA@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

n his director’s notes, King Lear director Risher Reddick writes, “If Lear is not a king, who is he? If Pittsburgh is not a steel town, what is it?” Quantum Theatre explores both Pittsburgh’s and Lear’s identity in its latest production, which is staged at the Carrie Blast Furnace in Swissvale. Here, Carrie, as it’s affectionately known, becomes another character in Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy, with sounds of whistles and steam mingling with the Bard’s script. Although the setting is unconventional, the plot remains the same: King Lear (played here by Bricolage Production Company founder and artistic director Jeffrey Carpenter) divides his kingdom between his three daughters: Regan (Dana Hardy), Goneril (Lissa Brennan) and Cordelia (Catherine Gowl), giving the largest plot to the one who loves him the most. After Cordelia is unable to reciprocate Regan and Goneril’s display of love, Lear banishes her in a fit of rage. From there, the story of loss

and “family values gone awry,” as Quantum Theatre’s website says, only gets more tragic and twisted, where it ends unhappily. This version of Lear is adapted by University of Pittsburgh professor James Kincaid and scholar Julian Markels. Quantum Theatre artistic director Karla Boos first encountered this version of the script two years ago at a reading at Bricolage Production Company. Reddick directed the reading, and Carpenter and Tami Dixon, Bricolage Production Company’s principal creative and co-founder, read for some of the characters. After the reading, Boos wanted to put on a full production with Carpenter revising his role as Lear, with a historic interaction leading to the production’s final setting. “I was hanging out with the Battle of Homestead Foundation people and someone said, ‘you should do a show at Carrie Furnace,’ and I had already wanted to make a full production of King Lear so those things came together beautifully,” she says.

38 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

According to Boos, Pittsburgh’s own history parallels Lear’s character arc. “The setting really represents another era of Pittsburgh where we had a lot of the trappings of success and it was stripped away from us, and we had to grapple with what we are on a deeper level. And that’s what King Lear is about,” she says. Act I of Quantum’s King Lear begins underneath the Carrie Deer sculpture, created by the Industrial Arts Co-Op— an arts group who commemorates the industrial steel heritage of Pittsburgh with public sculpture—in the late 1990s. You will not notice the deer looming overhead depending on where you sit during the production. The steel mill itself becomes the focus, with actors weaving in and out of its skeleton and acting on its various levels. The main action takes place on a round, concrete slab that gives Stonehenge vibes. Although Carrie Blast Furnace hasn’t produced steel in years, Steve Shapiro’s sound design seems to never end, constantly pumping out sounds of the industrial industry, like the mill never stopped. The city itself also contributes to the sound design, with the occasional bird chirp and police siren adding to the atmosphere. “[Steve Shapiro’s] job was to find all of the sounds of the furnace that he could find and that would be our main palette for the show,” Reddick says. C. Todd Brown’s lighting design casts a hazy glow on the actors as the sun sets, and it’s fitting that Lear’s descent into madness happens as light shifts to darkness. The storm scene is one of the most impressive moments in Act I, where you can see lightning crashes reflected off of the walls of the furnace. After Act I ends, the audience travels on an illuminated path from the Carrie Deer to the Iron Garden for Act II. Here “native plants and concrete relics evoke ancient Britain,” according to the Quantum site. Walking from the Deer to a

different area of the site reminded me of my Girl Scout days, where we often took night hikes, clutching Coleman flashlights as we walked on dirt trails in Central Pennsylvania. Walking to the Act II site was slightly disorienting, but I’ve never felt more alive hearing the crunch of gravel below my feet while pointing a small flashlight provided by Quantum at large, rusted iron structures and graffiti-covered concrete walls. The Iron Garden is a more intimate space, where you rub shoulders with your neighbor and get a small view of the city through the trees. An up-close experience into tragedy of King Lear, Act II heightens the emotion experience in Act I, with harsher lights and an immersive war scene, where the actors scrape the corrugated sheet metal surrounding the clearing. According to Reddick, the setting again parallels Lear’s experience. “We go from the grandeur of the Carrie Furnace to a much more stripped away version of the production,” he says. For this production, check the weather and dress accordingly, since you’ll be sitting outside for more than two hours. Quantum also has shuttles for those who have trouble walking, and provides assistive listening devices for those who are hard of hearing. For those who aren’t a fan of bugs, bring bug spray for Act II especially. With the grandeur of Carrie Blast Furnace and a wild, adventurous experience, Reddick says this version of King Lear is a “once in a lifetime production.” “Carrie Furnace is a spectacular place and I feel so lucky to get to do this here,” he says. “I never could have imagined it on this scale when we did the reading.”

QUANTUM THEATRE. “KING LEAR” BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. 7:30 p.m.

Now through June 2. $43-$63. Carrie Furnace Blvd, Swissvale. 412-3621713 or www.quantumtheatre.com

INAPPROPRIATE TIMING THROUGHLINE’S ‘ANDRÉ’ IS A GAME TRY AT A PLAY WAY PAST ITS PRIME

BY TED HOOVER - PITTSBURGH CURRENT THEATER CRITIC INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

couple of years ago a local theater impresario asked me to consider directing Our American Cousin as part of an Abraham Lincoln thing. The play, of course, is what the ol’ rail splitter was watching when John Wilkes Booth shot him. The idea was to present the play up until the moment of the assassination. Intrigued, I read my way through the script … and major problems immediately leapt out. Wilkes didn’t pull the trigger until the third act – so the audience would have to sit through a whole lot play before the big moment. And the actual play? Yoiks! Are we totally sure Lincoln didn’t commit suicide? The script is very much of its time; a big, broad farce with references to people, places and things unknown today and a style of theater which would seem dusty and distant to a modern audience. Here, for example, is the line when Booth fired his gun: “Don’t know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal — you sockdologizing old man-trap!” (Yeah, I don’t know what it means either.) I found myself remembering all of that when I was watching Throughline Theatre’s production of André by William Dunlap. This play has the distinction of being considered the first American play written on a genuinely American subject. Dunlap ran two theater companies in New York City following the Revolutionary War and wrote several plays, of which André is considered to be his best. It opened in 1798 and is loosely based on the final days of Major John André who you may or may not know was a British spy in cahoots with Benedict Arnold. André was caught and eventually hung, but displayed such dignity and nobility

during his imprisonment that people actually cried when he was put to death. Today they’d make a podcast about him, but Dunlap uses this historical event as a jumping off point. The problem is that once you’ve said André is the first American play on an American subject you’ve pretty much said all there is to say. The dialogue is from another time, both ornate and proclamatory in a way which renders it mostly unintelligible to a contemporary ear. Although I am excited to say I learned a new word: “Thriven” the past participle of “thrive.” I need to see if I can make that happen. Additionally, André is so specifically about the time in which it was written it feels almost like an exhumation. It wasn’t until I was reading later I found out that the character, “The General”, is actually George Washington. I guess back then everybody knew that automatically – like everyone today knows that “The Excrescence” is actually Stephen Miller. But Throughline has carved a space for itself presenting plays which appeal on an academic/ intellectual and, certainly, the “first American play on an America subject” fits that bill. But heavens, have they set before themselves a difficult task. On the big plus side they’ve cut it down from its original five acts (can you imagine?) to two short ones (the whole thing’s over in under two hours.) And there’s just something so inspiring in watching this young company brimming with young talent fixing on a point and pushing through, no matter the odds. The production is being held at Aftershock Theatre, a former Slovenian social club nestled on a hill in Lawrenceville. This is my first visit and I loved the rawness of the

space and its enormous potential. On the other hand, it’s still very much in process and, acoustically, the unfinished walls, ceiling and floor both smother and echo the actors, not necessarily a good thing when making sense of such antiquated dialogue is already a challenge. I’m not sure how entranced someone who doesn’t care if it’s the first American play on an American subject will be. Director Shannon Knapp keeps a very firm hand on a pace and energy but hasn’t quite decided whether the production should be a period piece or a modern one. There are several

different acting styles happening on stage, each as “right” as the other, but they can’t be in the same play at the same time. It’s a large cast and all of them have worked their fingers to the bone to mount this piece of theatrical history which, to today’s audiences might seem outdated but, in 1798 would probably have thriven.

ANDRÉ

continues through May 18. Aftershock Theatre, 115 57th Street, Lawrenceville. www.throughlinetheatre.

JOIN US AT THE LANDMARKS PRESERVATION RESOURCE CENTER FOR ONGOING PROGRAMMING ON ARCHITECTURE, HISTORY, DESIGN, URBAN PLANNING, AND OTHER TOPICS RELATED TO HOW CITIES FUNCTION AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION AS A TOOL OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT.

THURSDAY, MAY 23

6:00 P.M. TO 8:00 P.M.

FILM SCREENING: DESIGN CANADA Through the lens of graphic design, Design Canada follows the transformation of a nation from a colonial outpost to a vibrant and multicultural society, and asks the question: What defines national identity? Is it an anthem? A flag? A logo or icon? How do these elements shape who we are? In the 1960s and 1970s, these issues were explored by an innovative group of Canadian designers, who used design to unify the nation.

THIS SCREENING IS FREE TO THE PUBLIC. RSVPS ARE APPRECIATED: MARYLU@PHLF.ORG OR 412-471-5808 EXT. 527

744 REBECCA AVENUE - WILKINSBURG, PA 15221 412-471-5808 PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 39

Lowest White Boy by Greg Bottoms

PERSONAL JOURNEY ‘LOWEST WHITE BOY’ OFFERS HONEST, SELFEXAMINATION ABOUT RACE, RACISM BY JODY DIPERNA - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER JODY@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

hat does it mean to be caught up in a history you don’t understand? A history happening in real time all around you which is hidden and withheld? How do you interrogate entrenched political and social and economic forces? How do you confront systemic white supremacy? These are all questions that undergird Greg Bottoms’ book, Lowest White Boy, new this month from West Virginia University Press. The book takes its title from Lyndon Johnson’s quote, “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s

better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket.” The lowest white boy in question is Bottoms himself, now a professor of English at Vermont University, but who grew up in a white workingpoor family in Hampton, Virginia. The book is an innovative collection of short essays drawn from his childhood in the 1970’s. Bottoms’ evocative prose quickly establishes this place and his place in it, as a way of pointing up the racism and white privilege baked into American culture.

40 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

“These are real memories, very powerful memories that have stayed with me,” Bottoms told the Current recently by phone. “I’m imposing my adult mind and adult understandings around race and history and policy and politics. I’m trying to write my honest memories -these charged images and the feelings around them -- and they are haunted constantly by history.” In an essay about the public pool where he swam in as a child, he reckons with the fact that it was all white; black kids who simply stopped to rest in the shade of the woods beyond the pool, beyond the fence, were rebuked and threatened. Bottoms writes, “And I thought the boy on the bike was right, about the shady woods being a free place for anyone, from anywhere, to rest. Months later, though, I began to understand we neighborhood kids were part of something bigger, this unspoken apartheid, a reality so plain and present it took the magic of American myth-making to make its causes vanish each second of every day …” The essays are short and beautifully crafted, landing the reader right alongside Bottoms as he rides shotgun on the school bus full of black students that his mom drove (the only white bus driver who would drive black students.) He recalls being egged on to shout ‘n****r’ at a group of guys playing basketball. He remembers his grandmother telling him stories in which she describes the behavior of black people as hateful. And then those same stories told again,

differently, by his father. Bottoms is writing about big, nation-defining things: Brown v Board of Education, red-lining, segregation. But in these stories he’s trying to capture the drip, drip, drip of racism and how it shapes the lives of all Americans, but specifically white Americans. Interspersed throughout the book are black and white newspaper photographs chronicling the slow, volatile integration of Virginia schools, all of which were found at the Valentine Museum of Virginia History in Richmond. One photo stands out to Bottoms. It shows a very middle class looking woman talking to a man who is wearing a placard that says school busing will lead to either Nazism or Communism. “They’re smiling at each other. It’s just a fun day out. It’s like a bake sale,” Bottoms said. “Except it’s a fun day out and a bake sale that’s trying to keep young people of color from having equal education in America. I feel like we have to look at that. We have to look at that photograph.” In all of these stories, he’s writing from the perspective of a white boy shielded by and from all this ugliness. Underneath that is an adult acknowledgement of the forces which made it possible for his white parents to buy a house in the ‘good’ neighborhood. And how that would not have been possible for a similar working class black family. Lowest White Boy is Bottoms’ effort to face his history, our history, one that shaped his childhood and continues to shape this nation, Trump’s America, in an authentic way. Whatever we do moving forward, he wants to say, it can’t be a lie. “We are shaped by history, whether we know a damned thing about it or not. And those people out in those McMansions -- they’re shaped by history. It’s much easier to not acknowledge that. To not know. Once you get into the sticky spaces I want to take us straight to, it just gets so uncomfortable.”

DANCE FUSION

Arch 8 in Murikamification. Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust

MURIKAMIFICATION MIXES CONTEMPORARY DANCE WITH PARKOUR BY STEVE SUCATO - PITTSBURGH CURRENT DANCE WRITER INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM “Sneaky dance” is what Pamela Komar, Director of Theater, Music, and Youth Programming for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, calls the type of public space works Netherlands-based performance troupe Arch 8 does. A blend of contemporary dance and parkour (also known as freerunning), it’s dance but more. Komar hopes Arch 8’s production of Murikamification (recommended for ages 7+), that closes the 2018-2019 EQT Bridge Theater Series, May 16-19 as part of the 33rd annual EQT Children’s Theater Festival, will have audiences seeing dance differently. Founded by Portland native and award-winning choreographer Erik Kaiel after moving from New York to the Netherlands in 2003, Arch 8 gets its name from the Archaeopteryx, a genus of bird-like dinosaurs. Kaiel compares the once held thinking that dinosaurs were only reptiles to that of people’s conceptions on what

modern dance is or isn’t. The “8” in the name is because only seven fossils of Archaeopteryx were found, “So the idea of being the 8th one is either if you came back to life or if you never landed… I like the poetry of that,” said Kaiel via Skype from Miami, where the company was performing their work Tetris that was shown in Pittsburgh in 2016. The globe-trotting troupe’s latest outdoor public space work, Murikamification takes its inspiration from the fantastical literary works of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. Not a literal interpretation of any of his stories or characters, Kaiel says the 45-minute Murikamification is more “an embracing of the playful surrealism” of his tales. “Our idea of Murikamification is to transform cold, empty and unnoticed public spaces into warm communal spaces,” says Kaiel. “Where the performers

belong to each other and create an environment that when the audience is invited to become a part of that world, they would like to step into it.” A mix of choreographed dance along with structured improvisation, the work is adapted to fit each unique outdoor space it is performed in. “It’s a bit like jazz music,” says Kaiel. “You have your standards and you know the path you are taking, but it can be different each time.” Komar says it is the wandering aspect of the show that really excited her in bringing Arch 8 back to the EQT Bridge Theater Series. “It’s always fun to have someone lead you on an adventure that may have nothing to do with the space or everything to do with the space you are in,” she says. As for the audience experience, expect to do some walking following the performers around the Cultural District. Ushers and festival guides

will be along to help keep audience members together along the route and answer questions. Komar suggests coming early to the start point at the bronze fountain at the Cultural Trust’s Agnes R. Katz Plaza, 655 Penn Ave in Theater Square. Given the outdoor performances are rain or shine, she also suggests audience members be prepared for the elements, have an open mind about the experience. And while all permissions for such a parade-like performance are made ahead of time, “You never know what is going to happen when you take a work out of the studio and into the real world,” says Kaiel. He recalled one outdoor performance in Amsterdam where the performers were climbing on a fence that turned out to be on the property of the local police station and a police helicopter was scrambled to see who was trying to break in. Fortunately, things got straightened out. Five performers including Kaiel will perform Murikamification. “The dancers are doing the sublime and I am the ridiculous portraying a lost tourist character,” says Kaiel. “I like to imagine the bodies of the performers are having a conversation with the architecture and reading the landscape of the buildings, alleys and other public spaces we are in. And if you still need other reasons to attend Murikamification, Kael says “It’s like nothing you have seen before and because live performance still has a capacity to amaze and delight us in a way that screens don’t.”

ARCH 8 PERFORMS MURIKAMIFICATION

in seven showings, Thursday, May 16 – Sunday, May 19.Visit https:// trustarts.org/production/59757/ list_performances or call (412) 456-6666 for performance times and tickets that are $12 per person. Advance ticket holders will be contacted with detailed information prior to their performance time.

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 41

MUSIC

Andy Warhol’s screen test Kiss

KIM AND ANDY

NOISE LEGEND KIM GORDON CELEBRATES THE OPENING OF HER SOLO ART EXHIBIT WITH A BLENDING OF TWO IMPROVISATIONAL DUOS

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

he opening of Kim Gordon’s first North American solo visual art exhibit, Lo-Fi Glamour, has the potential to feel dense with iconography. On Thursday, in the lobby of the Andy Warhol Museum, Gordon – along with guitarists Bill Nace and Steve Gunn, and drummer John Truscinski -- will perform a live improvised score to Andy Warhol’s screen test Kiss.

It’s a convergence of many things: Warhol’s work, of course, looms. But there’s the legacy of the Velvet Underground, a band all four performers revere. There are the long-standing personal relationships between the musicians, and the blending of two separate improvisational duos. There’s the former Sonic Youth bassist’s own status as a cultural icon. And the performance itself is an extension of

42 | MAY 14, 2019 | PITTSBURGH CURRENT

the exhibit, a work of art being made in real time, a live collaborative study in intimate communication. These various elements weren’t lost on the members of the newly formed quartet when they arrived at the Warhol last August to record an initial version of their Kiss soundtrack. “To be in the Warhol museum and to be surrounded by Andy’s work … it was super inspiring,” says Steve Gunn, who

makes ambient roots-based psych with Truscinski in the Gunn-Truscinski Duo, and who just released a new solo record, The Unseen In Between. “I have so much respect for Kim, and I grew up listening to her play,” he says over the phone, from his tour van. “There’s definitely an element of her being an icon that’s kind of exciting, but she’s also a friend.” Truscinski recalls the intensity of the recording process itself: “The first time we ever played as a quartet, it was when we had the film up on the screen and we were in the room recording it,” he says. “There were, like, a million cameras around and it was sort of a big production … so we really had to just go for it.” Though the Kiss score – which was commissioned by the museum and will be available on vinyl as a limited run – was a firsttime collaboration, the four musicians had just finished a series of dates promoting The Switch, a record from Nace and Gordon’s dynamic, mind-bending experimental guitar duo, Body/ Head. Nace, who chatted with me at his South Philadelphia home just before leaving for his own European tour, recalls that Body/Head and Gunn-Truscinski Duo felt like a natural double bill. “They sound very different but I think there is an openness to both [duos] that is similar,” he says. “A similar approach more than an aesthetic.” Truscinski, speaking over the phone from his home in Connecticut agrees. When Gordon suggested playing as a four-piece, he says, “I think [she] was getting at the

similarities between the two bands, in that the music [is] really based around this intense or intimate relationship with one other person. That’s sort of what the foundation and the source of the music is, that interaction between two people.” There are obvious parallels between that and the film, which is an hour of close-up footage of couples kissing. And Nace acknowledges that Kiss can become a fifth component, another thing to interact with. “It’s weird, how the music can make it feel dramatic, and you’re like, ‘Woah, this is kind of heavy watching two people kiss on this giant screen,” he says. “But it can feel mundane, or it can feel like background.” But, he adds, “I try not to think about it too much. I’m just trying to be present to Steve, John and Kim and the film, and whatever it’s eliciting from me. And then trust that out of that there actually will be this connection that happens without just steering it a certain way.” Gunn says, “I think it’s really easy to just go up there and play at the same time and do this jam, but that’s not really what we were trying to do. We were trying to move in and out of the piece … where it starts in a certain tone and then grows, in a way.” And as with any form of communication, listening is key to improvisation. “I want to lend sympathetic aspects to what Kim’s [playing], and to the relationship between Bill and Kim and how they kind of perpetuate music,” Gunn says. “A lot of it is very … reactionary, certainly, from my perspective: listening to Kim and Bill and figuring out where I fit in. It kind of takes on its own form. And John also, he’s such a deep listener. They’re just all very, very acute listeners.” The subtle building process of that close collaborative listening might read as a contrast to some of the starker visual work included in Lo-Fi Glamor, particularly Gordon’s blunt, declarative graffiti-inspired paintings. But of course – as with,

say, Warhol’s simple line drawings vs. his Dollar Signs series -- both serve to present a fuller view of Gordon personal process and endurance as a cultural force. In an interview with the New York Times last year, Gordon described the sense of making up for lost time. “My whole life I wanted to be a visual artist,” she said. “I really got sidetracked into music.” It begs an alternate history thought experiment: Where would Gordon have taken her visual art had she stayed on that track? Would the public have the same taste for the kind of free-form, dissonant, possibly challenging auditory experience of Thursday’s sold-out performance if not for the reach of Sonic Youth? Nace is quick to draw a clear line about what, exactly, this quartet is about. “It doesn’t feel like Body/ Head with Gunn-Truscinski, it feels like Kim’s opening,” he says. “It’s a small difference but in terms of what was going into it, its Kim’s thing, it’s her show, she put the quartet together … we’re kind of supporting her. It’s a big thing for her. She’s got an art show at the fucking Warhol.” Regardless, almost a year after the initial recording, they’re all eager to revisit the quartet. “I’m just excited to do it,” Truscinski says. “And to be a part of Kim’s show, it’s pretty amazing.” “I’m really curious to hear how [the record] contrasts to what we do [at the opening], and if we keep doing it, how it changes.” Nace says. “It would be cool if it morphed into something that, two years down the line, sounds totally different than what we did on the record.”

LO-FI GLAMOUR OPENING/ SOUND FOR ANDY WARHOL’S KISS ALBUM RELEASE. 7 p.m. Thursday. May 16. Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky St., North Side. This event is sold out, but the exhibit runs until Sept. 1. Visit www.warhol.org for more information on exhibit programing. PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 43

keepsake, to be able to remember someone with a song.” In one case, a woman whose daughter passed away, was left to raise her children. She asked for a song, kidmental says, “to help them get over that hump right after their mom passed.” In order to understand the process, kidmental offered to write a theme song for the Pittsburgh Current. He sends you a link to an online form that you fill out, so he can get a feel for who you are or what your business is about. He then starts the process which he describes as “a lot of work.” He not only writes the lyrics, he then composes a tune just for your song that he creates by beatboxing and using a looper. The song the Current received was done on at least three separate tracks. The end result, at least for us, was an impressive, catchy song with lyrics that captured the essence of what we do and a high-level production quality. But that shouldn’t be surprising,

Kidmental (Current Photo by Jake Mysliwczyk)

TITLE TRACK

HIP-HOP ARTIST KIDMENTAL LEAVES HIS MARK BY HELPING OTHERS LEAVE THERE’S

BY CHARLIE DEITCH - PITTSBURGH CURRENT EDITOR CHARLIE@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

e all have those moments when we’re walking down the street, feeling pretty good about ourselves with a little bounce in our step. Maybe you just got a raise or an “A” on your report card, whatever the reason, you’re feeling badass at the time. It’s in those moments when we’ve all thought, “Hey, I need a theme song.” That’s what Jerome A. Jones II, aka, kidmental thought about a year ago when he set out to write a theme song for “everybody.” At least that’s the sentimentality behind the personalized theme songs.

“I didn’t have a band at the time and I wanted to keep making and producing music,” kidmental says, who can be found on instagram, (@kidmental). “I started out with a patreon and gave away a theme song a month. Now, I do one theme song a week and I do it for free. “It’s nice to have one for your business, but whether you’re in big business or a lunch lady at a grade school, I think everyone deserves a song.” Kidmental says he has also done tribute songs about loved ones who have died. “I think it’s a nice

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because at the heart of it, kidmental is a talented musician. Growing up in a strict church, he listened only to gospel music. “They thought rap was horrible,” he says with a laugh. In fact, he was well into his teens before he really heard non-secular music. Once he heard those beats, he began combining them with poetry he had written. “I tend to write the rhymes and then find the beats,” he says. And while he is starting to perform again, kidmental says he doesn’t plan to stop writing theme songs. “I like being able to do something for someone that celebrates their life and their achievements,” kidmental says. “The song is only a minute long but it means a lot to the people who receive them. But not only that, it’s an honor for me to be allowed to create their theme.”

for the past year. The band notes that his addition solidifies the group’s familial quality: He and Keim are cousins and Powers is Berman’s uncle. “It’s a family band now. We’re all on the same page,” Berman says. “I play in [McDermott’s] band called the Summer Camp, so he’s returning the favor.”

Nox Boys. Photo by: Heather Mull

ROCK BLOCK

LOCAL ROCKERS THE NOX BOYS AND THE GOTOBEDS CELEBRATE NEW RECORDS THIS MONTH

BY MIKE SHANLEY - PITTSBURGH CONTRIBUTING WRITER INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

n a way, it doesn’t seem right to hear Zack Keim sing a song called “Fear of Getting Old.” Granted, the Nox Boys have been around for about seven years. But the group formed while the front-man/guitarist and two of his bandmates were still attending high school. At the ready-to-rock age of 22, Keim should be able to shelf that fear and concentrate on the music. When asked about the song, which appears on Out of Touch, the Nox Boys’ sophomore album, Keim answers frankly. “I don’t want to lose my youth,” he says. “I think a lot of people get too serious and they get in this mindset of, like, their life is just a 9-5 daily [grind] and there’s no excitement. Never lose your angst. I think that’s really what I wrote that about. That’s something I hold deeply and true to.” The song is ignited by Sam Berman’s snare drum cracks. Then Bob Powers’ slide guitar yowls over the song’s riff, which fits right in with the garage rock sound on the band’s label, Get Hip. Speaking of which, the band borrowed Cynics guitarist and Get Hip mastermind Gregg Kostelich to play bass for the album. So when Keim belts it out on “Fear of Getting Old,” his voice coming through a wall of classic reverb, it’s

obvious that he and the Nox Boys really have nothing to worry about. Out of Touch comes five years after the band’s self-titled debut. While that album was recorded on their first ever trip to a studio, during three days in Detroit, the new one took a little more time. They stayed relatively closer to home, recording at Ampreon Recorder, located in a former bakery in Youngstown, Ohio. “On the first record it seemed like we were just thrown into the fire,” says Powers. “That’s part of the energy coming out, as it was so spontaneous. This one is a little more refined.” Keim, who released a solo album of acoustic folk in between Nox Boys records, says he drew from a wide array of influences for Out of Touch. “For the first record I was listening to a lot of garage [rock] and Black Flag. But for this record I was listening to the Rain Parade, Dream Syndicate, which are great Paisley Underground bands,” he says. That approach adds some melodic jangle and hint of pop hooks to tracks like “The Word.” Still “Darlene’s Gone” closes the album with a rave up that carries on for nearly eight solid minutes. Though Kostelich played on the album, Mitchell McDermott has occupied the bass chair in the band

THE NOX BOYS CD RELEASE WITH PET CLINIC, JOSH VERBANETS, DJ MAX T. 8 p.m., Friday, May 17. With Pet

Clinic, Josh Verbanets, DJ Max T. Mr. Small’s Theater, 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. $10-$12. www.mrsmalls. Give Eli Kasan a good idea and he’ll run with it. When the Gotobeds were getting ready to record their fourth album, the members figured their friend Joe Casey of Protomartyr would guest on a song like he had on 2016’s Blood // Sugar // Secs // Traffic. So would Kasan’s roommate, keyboardist Evan Richards. Then Gotobeds drummer Cary Belback joked that they should treat it like a rap album, with a feature on every track. “I’m like, ‘Great idea! I’ll set it up,” guitarist/vocalist Kasan says. “I was writing parts for people. When I finally had to ask them for money to record someone’s vocals, [the band said,] ’For what?’ For vocals? Oh are we really getting guests on every track?’ They all seemed very confused.” Guests on Debt Begins at 30 features include Bob Nastanovich (Pavement), Gerard Cosloy (who released the Gotobeds’ debut album on his 12XU label and started Matador Records), Tim Midyett (Silkworm, Bottomless Pit) as well as local friends such as Rob Henry (Kim Phuc) and poet Jason Baldinger. And those are just the quick appearances. The album title is a play on Debt Begins at 20, the 1980 film about the Pittsburgh punk rock scene. In addition to tipping their hat to their predecessors, the title track has deeper inspirations. For one thing, Sub Pop Records, who signed

the band to a two-album contract, optioned Debt as a third release. “We did take [the song] as being indebted to people, to a label, and I don’t mean because of money,” Kasan says. “A lot of people took chances on things, especially our partners. We go on the road and they miss us. And we feel like we’ve had a lot of success. But a lot of people have helped us. I feel real fucking lucky that we get to do it. And do it again. And come home.” “Twin Cities” features Kasan trading lyrics with Tracy Wilson (of Dahlia Seed, Positive NO!). Former Pittsburgh resident Shawn Brackbill filmed a music video where the band plays the song while Wilson sings on a TV screen. The VHSfilmed video also features the band getting sprayed with mace, midperformance, an idea that started as a joke several years ago. “For the first record, Gerard asked for a promo picture,” Kasan says. “And we were pretty green at that time. ‘You want a photo of us not playing music?’ TFP [aka guitarist Tom Payne] said we should just mace each other so we’re all crying. Then he said, ‘Maybe we should do it in a music video.’” Although he laughs about it now, Kasan says it wasn’t the greatest fun they’ve had. “And the funniest part is most people say, ‘Is it real?’ Yeah, it’s real. I respect all the dudes because two of them didn’t really want to do it. And they took it like champs. It was fucking awful.” If anything, it increased the bond between the Gotobeds, who will head to Europe for the first time in November. “Normally at the end of the tour, I don’t want it to be over,” Kasan says, pondering, “‘Should we go to GetGo and drink a beer?’ We don’t want to split up. It becomes like a weird gang mentality.”

THE GOTOBEDS CD RELEASE WITH BAT ZUPPEL, POSITIVE NO.

9 p.m. Saturday, May 25. Babyland, 460 Melwood Ave., Oakland. $8. thegotobeds.bandcamp.com

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 45

FOOD

Tyler Ray Kendrick at Pizza Taglio in East Liberty (Photo by Haley Frederick)

THIS TASTES FUNNY: DINNER WITH TYLER RAY KENDRICK AT PIZZA TAGLIO

BY HALEY FREDERICK - PITTSBURGH CURRENT MANAGING EDITOR HALEY@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

efore I could meet Tyler Ray Kendrick at Pizza Taglio in East Liberty, I had to pick up a bottle of wine to BYOB. In search of something local, I stopped by Pittsburgh Winery. Their usual space at 2815 Penn Ave. is under construction, but the temporary one at 2710 Penn Ave. is more than nice enough for the year they anticipate being there. I tell the woman helping me that I’m looking for something to bring to a pizza restaurant, and she gives me a taste of their Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s their most popular wine, she says. I won’t embarrass myself here by attempting to describe it, but it’s a pretty classic Cab. I grab a bottle and go. It’s a nice day, so the front of Pizza Taglio is opened up onto South Highland Avenue. I join Kendrick at a table and the server comes and uncorks the bottle of wine with the kind of ease that only someone who does it 30 times a day can have. Kendrick moved to Pittsburgh

seven years ago without a big plan. Eventually he started working as a security guard, first at the Carnegie Museum and then at the Warhol. “I feel like I met my people there,” he says. “I knew I wanted to do art somehow, but I really didn’t know what it actually was.” Kendrick says he’s always been a bit of a performer. He used to stand up in front of his elementary school class and perform scenes from black comedies like “Friday”—which none of the kids or the teacher in his all-white class had seen—to try and make them laugh. As an adult, he found his way into performing through Steel City Improv classes. “The first class I took in the eight weeks over there, I was so excited I just ran all the way home,” he says. “It was the first time I ever felt a performance high.” So he kept going. He found his way to stand up and to the stage. He did an immersive theater show called “Dodo” at Bricolage, and then

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another called “Hollow Moon” with Vigilance Theater. It’s time to order and Kendrick chooses one of the “red pies” with a tomato sauce, the Bob Malnati, which comes adorned with smoked mozzarella, sweet sopressata and calabrian chilies. I choose a “white pie” called the Bianca because it lists “lots of garlic” along with fresh basil, mozzarella and cherry tomatoes. It’s delicious. I could handle a bit more garlic, but I also might be a weirdo. Kendrick and I agree that we love the crust. It’s thin with a few tasty charred bits from the hot, hot oven, but it’s also more chewy than crispy, giving it a satisfying bite. We decide to do the old swap-aslice so that we each get to try each other’s pizza’s, too. His Bob Malnati is very different from my Bianca. It brings the meaty flavor and the chili heat—to which Kendrick added some chili flakes on top. It’s good and spicy. Kendrick is an easy talker. The conversation just keeps on rolling, and I’m enjoying hearing the Tyler Ray Kendrick take on things. Take his thoughts on fatherhood, for instance. “Everyone’s like ‘you’d be such a good dad,’ and yeah, but I don’t want to be one...but being a stepdad I can definitely do. “It’s like ‘oh, you have your own father for emotional support and financial support? Cool. I’m here to be your biggest fan, but when it comes to big issues—ask your dad.’” Or what about quitting smoking? “I quit smoking two years ago...A

really easy way to stop smoking: be poor. “Be poor and have to choose between food and cigarettes,” he says. “Also, quit in wintertime.” In every remark he makes or story he tells, he has the timing and inflection of a performer. Kendrick has plans now. He’s currently producing a podcast with the Warhol called “15 Minutes,” about celebrity and fame that will make its way to the museum’s website in the fall. But he’s got even bigger projects in mind. Bigger cities. Big awards. When he talks about the future, he doesn’t say “if I’m a Hollywood actor,” he says “when I’m a Hollywood actor.” “I’ve always been all in on this... kind of like Thanos almost, how he’s like ‘man, it’s inevitable that I’m going to get these stones,’” Kendrick says. “It’s my destiny.” I make him promise me one thing. If he ever makes a stand up special—or should I say when he makes a stand up special—he has to use the title that just flashed across a promotional image of his face in my head. It says “Tyler Ray Kendrick: Inevitable.”

SEE TYLER RAY KENDRICK in The

Vigilance Cabaret, a fundraiser for Vigilance Theater Group, at Arcade Comedy Theater on May 15 at 8 p.m. Tickets $25.

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*WHILE SUPPLIES LAST

DAY DRINKING:

KEEPING UP WITH PITTSBURGH’S CRAFT BEER SCENE BY DAY BRACEY - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CRAFT BEER WRITER INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM May 1, 3 p.m.: Piper’s Pub. Taptender and beer curator extraordinaire Hart Johnson serves me a delicious Godzilla Glue DIPA from Brew Gentlemen, my first sip in a month. What did I learn in that month? Nothing. Maybe something. Mostly nothing. But my kidneys enjoyed the break. I’ve delayed failure by at least 30 days. The beer is phenomenal and indicative of the hard work put in at BG to remain

in the top tier of Pittsburgh breweries. I hear they’re expanding soon in my hometown of Braddock. 15104 for life! Oh, how I’ve missed this ballet of hops and fruit on my tongue. And what is this? Is that inebriation I feel joining the ensemble? Hello, old friend. Let’s go make adulting feel less adultlike! May 2, 7 p.m.: Apis Meadery. The semi-monthly, heckling encouraged, comedy crowd work show – Hurry Up Say Something Funny – where comics abandon their routines to berate audience members for the entertainment of other audience members. Typically, I host this show. Tonight, Ray Zawodni is guest hosting before he relocates to Chicago, and comedian Tim Ross has graciously offered to be designated driver, which leaves me with no reason to remain even relatively sober or coherent for very long. May The Fourth, 12 p.m.: Kerry Diehl, President of Three Rivers Alliance of Serious Homebrewers (TRASH) has invited me to meet with Three Rivers Underground Brewing (TRUB), of which Richard Romanko is President. From my understanding, both clubs share a lot of members with a passion for home brewing. The main difference is TRASH thinks James T. Kirk is the greatest captain of the USS Enterprise, and TRUB is more of a Jean Luc Picard crowd. I lean towards the latter. I pull up

to Morebeer in Ambridge, supplier of all things craft, to find a bunch of white dudes making soup in a repurposed medical tub. First of all, gross. Secondly, yes please. The crew is a lively, kind, and knowledgeable bunch. There are a bevy of home-brewed ales and lagers to be had, some better than others. Everyone’s a critic. If you want to hear the skinny on who’s hot and who’s not in the Pittsburgh brew scene, this is your Mean Girls table. Appropriate, given a fair number of pro brewers have been or are current members of this prestigious club. May The Fourth, 4 p.m.: Soups done. Everyone lines up for a serving, kegs dripping with a foamy substance called Star San. Apparently, it’s an odorless, flavorless sanitizer that doesn’t taint the brew, so no need to rinse it out. Everyone uses it. Every beer you’ve ever drunk has had Star San in it, bro. Wild. Anywho, after they fill up, they take the kegs home and drop yeast into them, turning the soup into beer. I’m told this is a clever loophole in PA liquor laws. Take that, PLCB! May The Fourth, 5 p.m.: ODBQ in Ambridge is killing the game! Seriously. Go eat there right now. Brisket and ribs are on point. Red beans and rice are the best I’ve had in this area. You’re welcome. Cinco De Mayo, 5 p.m.: Work Hard basement for Drinking Partners, with guest host Jared Evans of Radical Trivia and Midknight Rose. Brew Master Nick Rosich of Penn Brew is in the building with some Penn Gold and Refreshin’

session IPA. None of us are wearing sombreros because none of us are Mexicans or assholes. May 8, 7:30 p.m.: Cinderlands, Butler St. I’m supposed to be meeting with Mikey of Hitchhiker to go over proper etiquette when dealing with brewery staff. More on that in my next entry. I run into Zack Ruskin of Morebeer, gifted brewer and one of the more knowledgeable fellows in the industry. Did you know diacetyl is the chemical compound in beer that leaves a butter popcorn aftertaste on the back of your tongue? Now we both do. I order a Plums in Retrograde Tartshake IPA, and it makes a strong argument for the best series running this year. Fun fact, there are two Cinderlands, one in Larryville and one in The Strip. Guess which one Mikey is at? May 8, 8:30 p.m.: I ran into Aadam Soorma of Porter Tours on a Scoobi, before heading into the right Cinderlands. Scoobis like rent-a-scooters. They might be the best thing to happen to Pittsburgh transportation since… Well… Has anything good ever happened to Pittsburgh transportation? I finally meet up with Mikey, and rock star Byron Nash is behind the taps! You may remember his performance and collaboration with Helltown, BLQ Metal, at Fresh Fest last year. He pours me a Pancake Galaxy - Blueberry Tartshake DIPA, 9.5%. What did I learn on my month off? How to appreciate every sip of this blessed nectar. Cheers!

PITTSBURGH CURRENT | MAY 14, 2019 | 47

NEIGHBORHOODS

NEIGHBORHOOD PROFILE:

SQUIRREL HILL

Vehicles traveling in and out of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel along the Parkway East (Current photo by Jake Mysliwczyk)

tretching from its northern border with Shadyside all the way to the banks of the Monongahela, Squirrel Hill is a sprawling neighborhood in Pittsburgh’s southeastern corner. The region is so large that, for municipal purposes, the city has divided it into Squirrel Hill North and Squirrel Hill South. At Squirrel Hill’s core is the business corridor on Forbes and Murray Avenues where most of its popular shops and restaurants are

BY NICK EUSTIS - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM situated. Surrounding this business core is predominantly residential streets and green spaces. “Squirrel Hill started to be settled in the 1760s,” said Helen Wilson, vice president of the Squirrel Hill Historical Society. “People came here to farm, and then some of the wealthy people from downtown wanted to have these vast country estates. So they would come and buy the farms and build their estates.” These farms and estates would be the primary occupants of the land

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through much of the 19th century. It wasn’t until the electric trolley was introduced in Pittsburgh in 1893 that average people were able to travel freely around the city, including to Squirrel Hill. “When the trolleys came, that made transportation around the city much, much easier,” Wilson said. “All that farmland, as soon as there was access to it, started turning into housing, and the housing brought the business district.” The trolleys were also responsible

for bringing some of Squirrel Hill’s first Jewish residents. German Jews who had settled in Homestead and Allegheny City in the 1840s came into the neighborhood for the first time. Many Jewish business owners decided to move to Squirrel Hill for a nicer lifestyle, as well as to escape the pollution from heavy industry. “Instead of living over their stores like they did in the old days, they could have their stores where their clientele lived, and then they could come home to a beautiful new

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The Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill (Current photo by Jake Mysliwczyk)

neighborhood with new housing,” Wilson said. The first Jewish congregations and businesses began appearing in Squirrel Hill in the early 1900s. The prevalence of Jewish culture in the neighborhood, in turn, brought more Jewish residents to the neighborhood, and over time, Squirrel Hill became the center of life for Pittsburgh’s jewish population. The early 20th century saw developers buying large swaths of Squirrel Hill to be turned into residential streets. Most of this early development consisted of single

family homes, as apartments were considered to be reserved for those who could not afford a home. Developer Thomas Watkins challenged this notion when he built and opened the Morrowfield Apartment Hotel in 1924. It was a large scale apartment complex packed with amenities, including shops, restaurants and a drugstore. Particularly innovative was the inclusion of an early parking garage, a sign Watkins was catering to the, at that time, small and wellto-do population of car owners in Pittsburgh. The Morrowfield created a trend

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in development, which in turn influenced the development of Squirrel Hill’s business corridor. “The density of this development was one of the reasons the business district grew the way it did,” Wilson said. “It allowed for much more population density than Squirrel Hill had had.” Today, Squirrel Hill is a portrait reflective of its history. It remains the center of Jewish life in Pittsburgh, with 26 percent of all Pittsburgh Jews living in the neighborhood. The Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh is also based in the neighborhood, and they provide

for the community in a variety of ways, from camps and after-school programs for children, to wellness and senior care programs for adults. The business district also reflects recent changes in Squirrel Hill, particularly an increase in AsianAmerican residents. The past 15 years have seen an influx of new Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Thai restaurants opening on the Forbes/Murray corridor. These new arrivals, among many others, sit alongside neighborhood mainstays like Little’s Shoes, the Manor Theater and Mineo’s Pizza, which have each been open for decades.

right extremist entered the Tree of Life Synagogue in Squirrel Hill during Saturday morning services and opened fire, killing eleven and injuring seven more. It was the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in American history. “It really had very wide ripples all over the neighborhood and all over the city,” said Adam Hertzman, director of marketing for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. One week after the tragedy, Uncover Squirrel Hill hosted a Community Day for the neighborhood. Balloon artists and a variety of entertainers were brought in, hoping to bring the community together in solidarity and support during one of its darkest hours. “The goal that day was really just to put smiles on people’s faces, to give them a sense of happiness and normalcy during a really chaotic time,” Combs said. “During that time, it was just very quiet, so it was good to hear kids playing and laughing,” said Heather

Graham, president of Uncover Squirrel Hill. Even in the most troubling times, the spirit of Squirrel Hill shines through, the sense of community and togetherness that transcends faith, language, and even the most potent hatred. “We really saw a spirit of inclusion, of wanting to open their doors and create safe spaces for friends and neighbors to come,” Combs said. “It was a community that very quickly came together to support and to try and begin to heal from the horror that had happened,” said Marti Isler, a 35 year resident of the neighborhood. “Although I’m sure this was the exact opposite of the shooter’s intent, it brought all of Pittsburgh together,” Hertzman said. “The outpouring of support from all of greater Pittsburgh was really powerful and overwhelming.”

A hand drawn sign reads “One Love” hanging outside the Tree of Life synagogue (Current photo by Jake Mysliwczyk)

Part of the success of the business district is rooted in the cooperation and coordination between businesses. This is achieved through an organization called Uncover Squirrel Hill, a nonprofit which acts as a liaison between Squirrel Hill business owners and the city of Pittsburgh, as well as arranging events throughout the year to bring business to the neighborhood. “The key things we do are promoting the business corridor, and a lot of that comes through different events,” said Jamison Combs, director of marketing and events for Uncover Squirrel Hill. The largest of these events are the annual Squirrel Hill Night Markets. Taking place on the fourth Saturday in June, August, and September every year, the Night Markets are a showcase where local Pittsburgh businesses can display

their products for 10,000 to 12,000 attendees. “It’s a chance for [people] to be introduced to new merchants, new restaurants, and get to know Squirrel Hill better,” Combs said. “This year, we’re excited to have just over 100 different vendors. There will be different artisans and crafters, food, even karate demonstrations.” Now in their fifth year, the Night Markets will showcase not only the Pittsburgh business scene, but the local live music scene as well. “Huntington Bank is sponsoring a stage, so we will have several local bands performing,” Combs said. The strength of Squirrel Hill lies in its diversity. Tragically, last fall, an intolerant man came to the neighborhood when he wanted to act on his hate. On October 27, 2018, a far-

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Why did you decide to buy the restaurant from the original owner? I’ve been in restaurants my entire career, managing multi-units and things like that. I always wanted to have my own,I just waited for the right opportunity, because this is a tough business to be able to sustain. When this came along, after being here for a couple months, seeing how the neighborhood responded to it, seeing what a great product we have here, it was an easy decision when that time came. Tell me a little about your tacos. We serve hand-crafted, streetstyle tacos. Definitely not your Taco Bell taco, it’s a lot heartier. We shop locally, my wife and I actually shop in the Strip District on Saturdays and Sundays. We get all our produce from there. Our meats are done so well by a local barbecue place called Spilly’s. They do our meats, they bring it over fresh every other day. The chicken and pork, it’s just so juicy, the way they do it. From there, we whip them up together here. We make all our salads and sauces in house. I really love what we have here! Matt Hurley of Bull River Taco. Current Photo by: Nick Eustis

NEIGHBORHOOD CONVERSATION: MATT HURLEY OF BULL RIVER TACO

BY NICK EUSTIS - PITTSBURGH CURRENT CONTRIBUTING WRITER INFO@PITTSBURGHCURRENT.COM

orbes and Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill is lined with both decades-old mainstays as well as fresh new faces in the business community. One of these new arrivals is Bull River Taco Company, which, since opening two years ago, has amassed a loyal following in the neighborhood. Described by franchisee owner Matt Hurley as “a taco truck without wheels,” Bull River’s modest exterior hides a high-quality taqueria providing street style tacos for

affordable prices to the Squirrel Hill community. When did Bull River open? We opened up in August of 2017, coming up on two years. I started working here about two or three months after that. The original owner hired me on to start running it and see how it goes. I took over and bought him out about two months after that. So he’s franchising and we hope to have more around the city, I own just this location.

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What influenced the decision to open a taqueria in Squirrel Hill? There’s no other tacos in the neighborhood! That was definitely one of the inspirations for opening here. One of the reasons that I wanted this place was because it’s unique to the neighborhood. There is a lot of variety, but not a lot of Mexican or Tex-Mex. So we feel like we kind of filled a void there, and people have been really receptive. They love it!

What do you like about running business in Squirrel Hill? The sidewalk traffic, how there’s a lot of people walking in the area, using public transportation. It’s very accessible for professionals, for students, for families. Everybody’s in this area. I’ve worked in different neighborhoods, and the community in this neighborhood is a little more close than in others. My first couple weeks here, almost every business owner on this block had come in to say hi. Many community organizations that are run through this neighborhood come through and ask how we’re doing. I think people just look out for each other around here.

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NEWS OF THE BY THE EDITORS AT ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION WEIRDNEWSTIPS@AMUNIVERSAL.COM FLORIDA! Police officers in Indialantic, Florida, responded to at least seven calls about a man disturbing the peace on April 7. Patrons of Starbucks and Sassy Granny’s Smoothies, among others, were startled when 61-year-old Thomas Devaney Lane started yelling, calling himself “the saint” and threatening to unleash his army of turtles on the community. According to WKMG, Lane went along with an officer to the police station, where he screamed at the dispatcher and pounded on the walls, but then left the building. He was located later at a 7-Eleven, verbally assaulting customers. As officers stood by, Lane called 911 and told the dispatcher, “I need to leave now or you will all be sorry you (expletive) with the saint.” Lane was charged with disturbing the peace, resisting arrest without violence and misusing 911. THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS In Nashville, Tennessee, as the NFL Draft was taking over the town, brides and bridesmaids celebrating bachelorette parties were confounded by the crowds. WZTV reported on April 25 that the influx of crazed football fans was cramping the style of several groups: “We come here to listen to country music, not hang out with football boys,” pouted a bride named Cara. “I’ll tell you who’s going to pay for this. My husband. No football next season,” threatened a bridesmaid named Cyndi. But a bride named Savannah was more Zen about the situation: “We’re gonna make the best of it. It is what it is.” RUNNING OUT OF TIME Lukas Bates, 30, of southeastern England, dreamed big while running the London Marathon on April 28, according to Fox News. In addition to finishing, Bates hoped to secure a Guinness world record as the fastest runner dressed as an iconic building. His costume, the tower

known as Big Ben in London, rose several feet above his head -- and that, it turns out, is what tripped him up. As Bates approached the finish line, his costume got caught on the scoreboard structure overhead. Finally a sympathetic race steward helped Bates free himself and make it over the finish line in three hours, 54 minutes and 21 seconds -- missing by only 20 seconds the record held by Richard Mietz, who ran last year’s Berlin Marathon dressed as Germany’s Holstentor gate. LEAST COMPETENT CRIMINAL One way to assure a negative response to a job application is to lift a few items from your prospective employer on the way out. So it went for an unnamed 36-year-old man in Gillette, Wyoming, who visited a Sportsman’s Warehouse on April 24, where he paid for some items with a rewards card but also left the store with some bullets and a pair of sunglasses. Two days later, the Gillette News Record reported, the man returned and asked to fill out a job application, then walked out with two more pairs of sunglasses worth $85. This time, workers called police, who arrested the man and recovered all the stolen items. INEXPLICABLE The Lankenau Medical Center in suburban Philadelphia was the site of a break-in on the morning of April 20, but it was the stolen loot that leaves us scratching our heads. Two men and a woman stuffed several colonoscopes worth $450,000 into three backpacks. The scopes are used to examine colons during colonoscopies. “This is not something that a typical pawn shop might accept,” said Lower Merion Police Det. Sgt. Michael Vice. “My feeling would be that it was some type of black market sales.” He also told WCAU that it’s not yet clear whether it was an inside job.

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Universal Crossword Edited by David Steinberg May 14, 2019

ACROSS 1 Working hard 5 Disapproving audience sound 9 They’re often greased with butter 13 Flat-topped hill 14 Anatomical egg 15 Plenty (of) 16 *British drama with nurses and nuns 19 Chocolate maker’s tree 20 D-backs, on a scoreboard 21 “I ___ you one!” 23 Make illegal 24 *Do a car maintenance task 28 Unusual 29 Non-neutral particle 30 Neighborhood north of Central Park 31 Very capable 33 “I’m not a chicken!” 36 Fashionable Banks 37 Game suggested by the starred answers’ starts 38 Horseshoe, e.g. 42 Guitarist’s pedal 5/14

44 Ringlike island 45 James of “Freaks and Geeks” 48 Ctrl-___-Del 50 Untruth 51 *Increase standards 54 Inc., in London 55 Texts, for short 56 Granola morsel 57 Flora and fauna 59 *Archie Bunker’s sitcom 64 Monopoly holding 65 Bring on 66 “The Sopranos” star Falco 67 Regarding 68 Real estate developer’s unit 69 “Coolio!” DOWN 1 “Breaking Bad” network 2 Chai or chamomile holder 3 Ranger’s crosstown hockey rival 4 Barber’s dust 5 St. Nick’s refrain 6 “___ heard enough!” 7 Poison plant 8 Sneaky grin 9 Print maker? 10 Boxing legend

Wanna Bet?

11 One who’s been around the block a few times 12 “Family Guy” infant 17 Unspoken 18 Be wishy-washy 22 Stately tree 23 Common bath toy 25 Fund, as a college 26 Spiral-sliced meat 27 Build 32 They can never become kings 34 Letters before an alias 35 Detox locale 37 Particle of light 39 Bama fan’s cheer

40 Airline based in Rome 41 Ran in the washer 43 It and a king make 21 44 Open-roofed lobbies 45 TGIF part: Abbr. 46 Days Inn alternative 47 Ushers’ lines of work? 49 Blood test expense 52 Type of yoga 53 Work values 58 Sign from above 60 “___ It Be” (Beatles classic) 61 Bachelorette’s final words 62 Make an oopsie 63 So far

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

5/13

by Evan Kalish

Savage Love BY DAN SAVAGE MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET

Garbage human here. I’ve had herpes for about 15 years. The first five years, I was in a relationship with a guy who also had it. The last 10 years, I haven’t been in a serious relationship. I’ve been a (rare, drunk) one-night-stand type of gal, and I don’t usually tell the guy because, like, everyone has herpes. (I get that one in five isn’t everyone, but if you count HSV-1? I’ve seen numbers as high as 80 percent.) Frankly, it seems about as significant medically as minimally contagious mild acne. (Some risks to pregnancies and immunosuppressed people exist, and I know logically it’s not my call to determine what may be serious for someone else.) I justify nondisclosure to myself these ways, even though I know it’s not ethical. On the occasions where I have disclosed, I’ve been made to feel like a leper by dudes who 10 minutes before were begging me not to have to use a condom. I obviously have a lot of resentment over having this stupid thing and over the guilt I have around nondisclosure, and I suspect my history of casual sex is influenced by not wanting to deal with this conversation. Which brings us to now. What I thought was a one-night stand has turned into a months-long affair, and I’m amazed to report I find myself liking and respecting this guy. (I know, I know: If I really respected him, I’d have told him before I ever knew I respected him). What do I do? I have to tell him. But how? Is there any justification for what I’ve done? Can I just say, “Oh man, I noticed a thing and went and got tested and guess what?” That just adds to the lie. There’s no way I can have a relationship with this guy based on trust going forward, is there? I’ve fucked this up and I have to bail, don’t I? Am I going to be alone for the rest of my life? Deserves To Be Alone You’re not a garbage human,

DTBA. You didn’t share something you should’ve—the fact that you, like upwards of 50 percent of everyone, have herpes—but weren’t obligated to. The problem with not disclosing, as you now know, is that casual sex partners have a way of becoming potential long-term partners. And by the time you recognize someone’s long-term potential, the stakes are so high that bailing looks like an easier option. “We don’t think DTBA needs to bail,” Momo and Felix wrote in a joint e-mail after reading your letter. “And we don’t think she’s destined to be alone for the rest of her life.” Momo and Felix are the cocreators of My Boyfriend Has Herpes (instagram.com/ my_boyfriend_has_herpes), an Instagram account that has amassed more than 15,000 followers in just a few months. Using simple, direct prose and Momo’s charming illustrations, Momo and Felix educate others about herpes while sharing the story of their relationship—from how they met, to Felix’s disclosure, to Momo’s initial hesitation to get involved with someone who has herpes. “Our stance is pro-disclosure, always, but we know this isn’t possible for everyone living with HSV,” said Momo and Felix. “Unfortunately, one of the significant pitfalls of [not disclosing early on] is the difficulty it adds to the potential of a long-term relationship. And while we don’t agree with DTBA’s choice to not disclose to her partners, we understand why she might have made those choices. The stigma against herpes is terrible.” Momo and Felix both feel—and I’m with them—that you need to be completely honest with this guy, even if it means the relationship could end. But it might not end, DTBA. He might have a disclosure

of his own to make—he could have herpes, too—or the relationship could end for other reasons. You’ve been dating this guy for only a few months, and he could decide to end things for reasons that have nothing to do with the disclosure you’re about to make and/or your failure to make it sooner. Or you might learn something about him down the road that’s a deal breaker. (Have you searched his place for MAGA hats?) So how do you broach this topic? “She obviously cares about this person,” wrote Momo and Felix. “She made a mistake and she wants to make it right. DTBA needs to acknowledge her actions (opting for nondisclosure) and their impact (putting her partner at risk without his informed consent). DTBA’s

partner may very likely feel betrayed or deceived. He might want to end the relationship, and his feelings would be valid. Unfortunately, all that DTBA can do is acknowledge her mistake, make herself vulnerable, and accept his reaction.” “But whatever happens, she doesn’t deserve to be alone,” they said. “We all make mistakes, and we all have the opportunity to do better.” On the Lovecast, listen and learn about vasectomies: savagelovecast. com. mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @ fakedansavage

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