February 18, 2015

CLEANED OUT: HOSPITAL WORKERS SAY NEW DISINFECTANT ISN’T WORTH THE RISK TO THEIR HEALTH 06

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

EVENTS 3.1 – 6pm SOUND SERIES: BEYOND: MICROTONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL: FEATURING RAY-KALLAY DUO, FLUX QUARTET AND ALIA MUSICA Warhol theater and entrance space Co-presented with the Music on the Edge series of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Music 6pm – Symposium Session; 8pm – Ray-Kallay Duo FREE parking in The Warhol lot Advance Tickets $15/$10 students; Door Tickets $20/15 students

3.7 – 10am HALF-PINT PRINTS EDUCATION STUDIO Free with museum admission

3.14 – 8pm SOUND SERIES: JACE CLAYTON – THE JULIUS EASTMAN MEMORIAL DINNER Co-presented with the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Music on the Edge series of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Music Tickets $20/$15 Members & students

Cynthia Hopkins: A Living Documentary 3.28 – 8pm Warhol theater | Tickets $15 / $12 Members & students | visit www.warhol.org or call 412.237.8300

SOMEDAY IS NOW:

The Warhol welcomes back performance artist Cynthia Hopkins, who returns with a stripped-down, one-woman-show, A Living Documentary, in which Hopkins plays bothTHE herself ART and an eclectic cast of characters, driven by a song cycle of original OF CORITA KENT compositions. This event is co-presented The Pittsburgh Humanities Festival, a THROUGH APR 19with • 2015 project of the Humanities Center of Carnegie Mellon University and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. A Living Documentary was commissioned by New York Live Arts and made possible, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts. A Living Documentary was developed, in part, through residencies at The Watermill Center (in partnership with New York Arts); Bunker in Slovenia (through the Suitcase Fund); and Mount Tremper Arts. This performance contains nudity and strong language.

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3.21 – 2pm IN DISCUSSION: ART & SOCIAL CHANGE: MOVEMENT-MAKERS IN THE ARTS WITH DEANNA CUMMINGS, JASIRI X AND DR. JOYCE BELL Warhol theater Free with museum admission

The Andy Warhol Museum receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency and The Heinz Endowments. Further support is provided by the Allegheny Regional Asset District.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

02.18/02.25.2015 VOLUME 25 + ISSUE 07

{EDITORIAL} Editor CHARLIE DEITCH Arts & Entertainment Editor BILL O’DRISCOLL Music Editor MARGARET WELSH Associate Editor AL HOFF Multimedia Editor ASHLEY MURRAY Listings Editor CELINE ROBERTS Staff Writers REBECCA NUTTALL, ALEX ZIMMERMAN Staff Photographer HEATHER MULL Interns SHAWN COOKE, ZACCHIAUS MCKEE

{ART} Director of Operations KEVIN SHEPHERD Production Director JULIE SKIDMORE Art Director LISA CUNNINGHAM Graphic Designers SHEILA LETSON, JEFF SCHRECKENGOST, JENNIFER TRIVELLI {COVER PHOTO BY HEATHER MULL}

[NEWS]

06

“It’s causing so many problems that, quite frankly, it needs to be removed.”

— UPMC employee Justin Sheldon on the hospital’s use of the disinfectant OxyCide

[VIEWS] we can adequately reduce 14 “Whether carbon emissions without going allrenewable might be as big a question as whether we can go all-renewable.”

— Bill O’Driscoll on a possible switch to all-renewable energy

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[MUSIC]

modern pop-country music, 22 “New that’s the one I’d throw under the bus.”

— Chrome Sparks’ Jeremy Malvin on a genre of music he can do without

want to see something kinky 33 “Ifvia you a respectable medium, save your

The beauty of the tropics will flourish in Pittsburgh this winter as Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens unveils Tropical Forest Congo, a brand-new exhibit highlighting some of Africa’s most majestic landscapes. See varieties of plants never before showcased at Phipps, including the stunning blood lily and the African tulip tree, and discover how the region’s indigenous people use nature to sustain and enrich their lives. Join the adventure by planning your expedition today at phipps.conservatory.org.

Marketing Director DEANNA KRYMOWSKI Marketing Design Coordinator LINDSEY THOMPSON Advertising and Promotions Coordinator ASHLEY WALTER Radio Promotions Director VICKI CAPOCCIONI-WOLFE Radio Promotions Assistants ANDREW BILINSKY, NOAH FLEMING

{ADMINISTRATION}

STEEL CITY MEDIA

[ARTS] “All of my work is about trying to take disparate things and make them a unified personal voice that makes sense.”

— Composer, musician and filmmaker Alexis Gideon

[LAST PAGE]

and shorter than Close 55 “Funnier Encounters of the Third Kind, Invasion is a home run for the wacky.” — Mike Watt in an excerpt from Movie Outlaw, his book on “unseen cinema”

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IT’S A JUNGLE IN HERE.

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GENERAL POLICIES: Contents copyrighted 2015

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Resident artist Alexis Gideon talks about the world-premiere of his stop-motion-animated opera at the New Hazlett Theater. www.pghcitypaper.com

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

use the cleaning solution OxyCide as part of his job as a housekeeping employee at UPMC Magee-Women’s Hospital, it’s not a pleasant experience.

“It burns my eyes, it makes them water. It burns my throat,” says Ross.

“The best way to describe it is it’s like working with onions. You have no relief, unless you take a break and go some place that’s well ventilated so you can get some air.”

OxyCide, a relatively new hospital-cleaning product, was selected as the primary cleaning solution in nearly 20 UPMC facilities last spring.

Since that time, some employees say they and their co-workers have experienced a number of adverse side effects when using the product.

“A lot of my co-workers have complained about respiratory issues, like they were having trouble breathing.

A lot of them would complain about their eyes being irritated,” says Justin Sheldon, a housekeeper at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital. “I’m concerned about the health effects that this product poses to not only my coworkers, but to the patients.”

Last month, Sheldon filed a complaint about the hospital’s use of OxyCide with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a federal agency that regulates workplace safety. Officials at OSHA’s Pittsburgh Area Office tell City Paper that it “opened an inspection” of UPMC on Jan. 22.

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The complaint raises questions about the use of toxic chemicals used to clean health-care facilities, where powerful products are necessary to kill the germs and bacteria that can cause infection. According to Ecolab, the makers of OxyCide, the product has proven effective at killing infectioncausing “clostridium difficle spores.” According to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, treating C. difficile infections cost the health-care industry $1.5 billion each year.

And UPMC isn’t alone in its use of OxyCide. The chemical is also used at facilities that are part of the Allegheny Health Network (which includes Allegheny General and West Penn hospitals). After confirming that OxyCide is used in Allegheny Health Network hospitals, a spokesperson did not respond to additional questions about the product’s use in these facilities.

So how do hospitals weigh the costs and benefits of cleaning solutions in an effort to ensure both patients and employees are protected? In the case of OxyCide, employees say a product that is supposed to keep patients from getting sick, is making them sick.

Cide, represents that OxyCide is an EPAapproved cleaner that is safe when used correctly and reduces patient exposure to dozens of dangerous organisms. We have no reason to doubt them.”

In response to the OSHA complaint filed

by UPMC employees, Kreps says, “Though it is true that the product has a vinegar-like scent, we believe it is the right thing to do for our patients.”

And added, “As with any product, its safe use by our employees is of utmost importance and any issues regarding its safe use are investigated immediately.”

OxyCide is advertised as a safer alternative to other products because it is dispersed from a container that eliminates the need for manual pouring and mixing. The product gets dispensed via a container that dilutes the chemical solution with water. But even diluted, employees say, the disinfectant is powerful.

In an employee-conducted survey of 244 UPMC workers, 81 percent of respondents indicated they had suffered negative effects from OxyCide. The most common effects were a runny or burning nose, which was experienced by 56 percent of respondents; and headaches, which were experienced by 50 percent. In addition, 6 percent reported other effects, including nose bleeds and vomiting. “[OxyCide is] so dangerous. It’s putting a lot of us at risk, and not just the healthcare workers, but doctors and patients as well. It’s about everyone in the hospital,” says Ross. “Everywhere this product is being used it should be gotten rid of.”

“WE BELIEVE IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO FOR OUR PATIENTS.”

WHEN OXYCIDE hit the market in 2013, it was advertised as a non-bleach alternative cleaner for daily use in health-care settings.

According to a 2012 study, the use of OxyCide resulted in a 36.5 percent reduction of bacteria on hospital surfaces when compared to other disinfectants.

In a statement from Ecolab in response to an email from City Paper regarding the OSHA complaint, spokesperson Roman Blahoski said OxyCide “is an EPA-registered product that has undergone rigorous testing for use in health-care environments.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 1.7 million people acquire health-careassociated infections annually, resulting in 150,000 deaths. Infections caused by C. difficile are linked to 14,000 deaths each year.

“OxyCide is proven effective against several harmful bacteria and viruses that are known to cause health-care-associated infections,” says Blahoski. “Hospitals across the country are finding that OxyCide is a key component of their programs to battle health-care-acquired infections.”

This criteria factored into UPMC’s decision to use the product locally.

“We are committed to maintaining safe, sanitary facilities for our patients and employees,” says UPMC spokesperson Gloria Kreps. “Ecolab, the manufacturer of Oxy-

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

dled by hospital workers. While the data sheet does not recommend protective gear when using OxyCide in its diluted form, it does recommend using it only with “adequate ventilation.”

These recommendations don’t jibe with what nurses at the Vermont Medical Center were experiencing.

“Even though the product has been tested, when people start having negative reactions, you have to look at whether this is safe. I don’t care what the literature says that the company is giving you,” Aunchman says. “I’ve seen rashes. One housekeeper in the area I work in, she was wearing gloves, but it was above the glove line.”

For these reasons, last month VMC stopped using OxyCide.

“We did our own thorough review and pilot program with this product prior to starting to use it throughout the facilities at the end of September,” says Mike Noble, spokesperson for VCM. “A number of our staff began to report they experienced skin and/or respiratory irritation associated with this product.”

While staff at VMC filed an OSHA complaint, the decision by administrators to stop using OxyCide came before OSHA’s ruling, which has yet to be released and is expected later this month.

“In response, we tried to address these concerns by adjusting our application methods. Even after these adjustments, we continued to receive reports of staff being negatively affected, therefore we made the decision to discontinue use of the product in January,” says Noble. “We felt that the expected benefits realized by the use of OxyCide simply do not outweigh the impact on our team or the potential impact on patients.”

LAST YEAR, employees at the University

of Vermont Medical Center had the same thought after OxyCide was introduced to their facilities.

“Some of our members started complaining of fairly severe symptoms,” says Laurie Aunchman, president of AFT-Vermont, a union that represents nurses.

According to Ecolab, the product’s active ingredients are hydrogen peroxide and peracetic/peroxyacetic acid. The product’s safety-data sheet lists a number of precautionary measures for using the product if it is handled in its non-diluted form.

If handled “as sold,” the sheet says users should wear protective clothing like goggles, gloves and an apron. Users should also wear a respirator “when ventilation is inadequate and occupational exposure limits are exceeded.”

But these recommendations are not the same for use of the chemical in its diluted form, which is what is typically han-

SOME SAY all chemicals should undergo

more research before being made available for use. According to Health Care Without Harm, an organization focused on improving sustainability and environmental justice in the health sector, the laws governing industrial chemicals do not require adequate testing of new and existing toxic chemicals and materials.

“The amount of scientific research on chemicals varies greatly, depending on the specific chemical in question,” says Rachel Gibson, director of the Safer Chemicals Program of Health Care Without Harm. “This is because of our broken federal regulatory system that allows chemicals on the market without requiring manufacturers to demonstrate that they are safe.”

The Safer Chemicals Program helps hospitals find sustainable alternatives to cleaning products, but they do not focus on disinfectants like OxyCide because of CONTINUES ON PG. 10

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OXYCIDE, CONTINUED FROM PG. 08

the important role disinfectants play in infection control.

“Disinfection can be a more sensitive area for hospitals to address and more difficult to navigate the tradeoffs between infection-control and potential toxic-chemical exposures, especially for those hospitals newly working on the issue of toxic chemicals,” says Gibson.

While Gibson said she wasn’t familiar with research on peracetic acid, one of the active ingredients in OxyCide, she did point to an April 2014 report by the San Francisco Department of the Environment that says there is a link between the ingredient and asthma.

William Griffin, president of Cleaning Consultants Inc., a Seattle-based company that provides companies with information on the cleaning industry, frequently works with health-care facilities. He says more hospitals are moving toward using sustainable products with fewer toxic chemicals.

“The trend is definitely toward less hazardous, less toxic products,” says Griffin, who has more than 30 years of experience in the cleaning industry. “Health care is a very good leader in that area of transitioning away from the more hazardous product

to the safer products.”

While he’s a proponent of “green” and “sustainable” cleaning products that have lower environmental impacts, he says more-toxic products are necessary in the health-care industry. He also says any product can be hazardous if the correct precautions aren’t taken.

“That’s why they have goggles and that’s why they have protective equipment,” says Griffin. “In health care, we have viruses and bacteria that will kill people, and the cleaner’s job is to remove those. So the product has to be stronger than the virus. That’s why they’re disinfectants, because they kill things. So if you expose yourself to it, you’re going to get a reaction. That’s why you wear the gloves and the goggles.”

But at the local UPMC hospitals, some employees say the precautions they were trained to use when handling OxyCide are not preventing the negative side effects they’ve experienced.

“I don’t think it’s a safe product for us to use despite that people say it’s within standards,” says Sheldon, the UPMC employee who filed the OSHA complaint. “It’s causing so many problems that, quite frankly, it needs to be removed.”

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FINAL ISSUES

Equal magazine ceases publication but questions linger {BY ALEX ZIMMERMAN} WHEN THE STAFF of Equal magazine put the final touches on its November issue, only one person expected it to be their last.

The publication’s editor, Joe King, had announced he’d be leaving the magazine, the city’s only LGBT-oriented publication, and wrote a resignation letter slated to appear in that issue.

“I just assumed they were moving forward without me,” he says. When he started hearing that businesses were not receiving their usual stacks of the magazine, that was the first hint King got that the publication was ending its monthly print distribution. “I’m sort of surprised I wasn’t given that information.”

But King wasn’t the only one left in the dark. Several contributors contacted for this story, said they have yet to be informed of the publication’s fate. There were no press releases or fanfare. And now, for the first time in decades, Pittsburgh is without a regularly released publication specifically geared toward an LGBT audience.

Gary Van Horn, president of the board of the Delta Foundation, Equal’s publisher, says the publication wasn’t financially viable — and that the board is considering ways of “reformulating” it, perhaps launching a digital version. (The publication never had a dedicated website.)

“The amount of revenue coming in versus expenses just isn’t there,” Van Horn says. “Print media is a tough thing to pay for, and we were mailing out a large number of magazines each month.”

But those directly involved with the magazine say the problems were much larger than a difficult print-oriented business model. Several writers said there were serious issues with management and that

they were regularly not paid for their work; one writer threatened legal action over late payments. And concerns about the magazine’s financials reached certain members of Delta Foundation’s board, some of whom have since resigned.

EQUAL STARTED in its monthly format in

November 2012, just as two other LGBT publications — Pittsburgh’s Out and Cue magazines — were going out of business.

“With Pittsburgh’s gay newspaper no longer in publication, there was a need,” says Jonathan Fobear, Equal’s art director. “When Gary approached me that he wanted to start Equal, he told me that he wanted a monthly magazine to tout all the things Delta Foundation was doing and be a Pittsburgh gay-community guide.”

The magazine, which started several years ago as a publication that came out during Delta’s pride festivities, covered everything from sex to politics — and often included glossy multi-page photo features of gay events around town. (The magazine is still scheduled to publish for this year’s pride festival.)

“The Equal team was amazing to work with,” Fobear adds. “If we could touch a nerve and spark some discussion in the community, those were my favorite pieces.

… I wish that had happened ... more often.”

Equal circulated about 10,000 issues each month, says Van Horn, and ran several thousand more to mail directly to its members. During pride week, it published closer to 50,000.

And while all of the writers interviewed for this story say they enjoyed writing for the publication, there were consistent payment problems.

“The printer was paid late, the staff was paid late — even the graphic designer,” says King, the former editor. “I actually lost two other writers last spring and summer when they had not been paid and they threatened to go to the labor-relations board — and checks were sent out again miraculously.”

Karla Doolittle, one of the more vocal writers, says, “I did have to threaten [Van Horn] several times on behalf of the staff with court action” before she could get paid.

“It was just all these little tricks and games,” noting she received paychecks that had already expired. She resigned in 2013.

Another writer, John Britt, says the magazine stopped using him as a freelancer after he complained about late payments.

“You expect to be compensated even if it’s a small amount — it respects the integrity of what you’re doing; we weren’t paid much to begin with.” He says he doesn’t harbor ill

will and was eventually paid.

For his part, Van Horn says, “Mr. King was responsible for providing payment information … I’ve asked it from him a number of times. When we got the information, we paid the writers. The foundation pays the bills that we have.”

But news of payment issues began reaching Delta Foundation’s board members, which concerned some about the organization’s finances.

“I was told the printer was never paid,” says Samuel Badger, a board member who resigned last February. “They never really wanted to talk about what’s happening with the magazine.”

Michael Bartley, a Delta board member who resigned the same month Equal stopped publishing, says the timing is just coincidence: “I never serve more than five years on a board and my five years were up.

As far as I’m concerned, Pride is one of the best events the city has, and I hope [it] is there for years to come.”

Thomas Waters, a former board member, says losing the magazine doesn’t suggest the Delta Foundation is in any great financial trouble: “It’s just [that] this hasn’t panned out as an income source.”

But a board member, who asked not to be identified, says, “There’s no question about it — the fact that people weren’t getting paid was alarming and unusual. Board members have been concerned about the organization paying its bills.”

“That’s news to me,” counters Van Horn, who says board reorganizations happen every few years. He says Delta is “in the process of construction” to renovate a roughly $500,000 property it purchased on the North Side — a sign of financial health.

And with respect to the magazine, he says, the board is in the process of figuring out what form it might take in the future.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations about the magazine and what the future will hold. We’re going to reformulate.”

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

{BY BILL O’DRISCOLL} HOW FAST can we transition to renewable energy? The question seems a crucial one if we’re to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions rapidly enough to prevent the worst effects of climate change. Yet there’s little agreement over how soon, and even whether, a switch to all renewables is feasible.

At one pole are people like Stanford University engineering professor Mark Z. Jacobson. In 2009, in Scientific American, Jacobson co-wrote an article inspired by Al Gore’s challenge to repower the U.S. with 100 percent carbon-free energy within a decade. One-upping Gore, Jacobson argued that by 2030, we could power the entire world solely with wind, solar, geothermal, tidal and hydroelectric power — collectively, WWS (wind, water, solar).

Sounds crazy, especially given how demand for energy is expected to grow in the developing world. But Jacobson showed that there’s enough wind blowing and sun shining to do it. He contended that with a World War II-scale industrial push, civilization could craft the required 3.8 million large wind turbines, 90,000 solar plants and more, while beating internal-combustion engines into electric motors. The price of kicking fossil fuels looks steep — an estimated $100 trillion globally over 20 years. But Jacobson considers it an investment (repayable via sales of energy) that would leave us with cleaner air, less disastrous climate change, and fuel sources that were basically free.

Solar and wind now supply only 4.5 percent of U.S. electricity. More recently, Jacobson and colleagues published individual plans for 139 countries and all 50 U.S. states to reach 80 percent WWS by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050. (The timetable is somewhat more modest.) Political will for such plans might be scarcer than technical expertise, but the plans are getting some play. In 2013, Jacobson touted the U.S. plan on The Late Show With David Letterman.

Better still, he says, his research influenced Gov. Jerry Brown to recently propose that California aim to generate 50 percent of its energy from WWS by 2030. “He actually proposed 50 percent of our plan,” says Jacobson in a phone interview. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also embraced parts of Jacobson’s scheme for New York.

But critics doubt that such dramatic goals are viable. Typical are Nathaniel

Gilbraith and three other Carnegie Mellon engineering professors who responded to Jacobson’s WWS plan for New York, published in Energy Policy in 2013, with a scathing commentary. They wrote that Jacobson and his co-authors risked creating a system that made electricity unreliable and unaffordable, largely because wind and solar power are intermittent energy sources. They added that he had ignored the benefits of such “lower-carbon” energy sources as nuclear power in providing a base load for the electricity grid.

Jacobson responded that studies in both California and the northeastern U.S. show that solar and wind combined, supplemented by non-carbon sources like geothermal, can consistently meet demand. And he argues that nuclear is not low-carbon, due to emissions from the mining and refining of uranium, and to the “opportunity cost” of continuing to burn fossil fuels during the decade or more it takes to build a nuclear reactor.

What about energy conservation? Jacobson contends that simply switching to electric motors — much more efficient than internal combustion — would reduce energy demand by one-third. But the U.S. currently burns twice as much energy per capita as do many European countries, and even some critics of high renewableenergy targets like California’s, let alone Jacobson’s, agree that using less energy is the fastest, cheapest way to cut carbon emissions. Such critics include Jay Apt and two other CMU professors who wrote a 2013 article in Issues in Science and Technology arguing against renewables standards, saying that governments should set carbon-emissions limits, not choose the technologies to achieve them. Apt has estimated that wind and solar will peak at 30 percent of America’s electricity. The authors supported conservation strategies like real-time pricing of energy and even a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions.

Whether we can adequately reduce carbon emissions without going allrenewable might be as big a question as whether we can go all-renewable. But perhaps conservation is a way forward that anyone not a fossil-fuel company can agree on — cheap itself, and with the ability to make any transition to renewables cheaper, too.

100 PERCENT RENEWABLE ENERGY BY 2030?

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D RI S C OL L @ P G HC I T Y PA P E R. C OM

WELCOMING NEW PATIENTS The physicians and staff at Shadyside Medical Associates–UPMC are now accepting new patients at our internal medicine practice in Shadyside.

Nadezhda V. Horchner, MD Internal Medicine Dr. Horchner received her medical degree from the University of Vermont School of Medicine in Burlington, Vt. She completed her residency in internal medicine at UPMC and is board-certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Horchner is fluent in Russian and she has a special interest in women’s health.

Richard B. Johnson, MD Internal Medicine Dr. Johnson received his medical degree from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey, Pa. He completed his residency at UPMC Mercy and a fellowship at UPMC Montefiore. Dr. Johnson is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

Looking for a job in the media world

To better serve our patients, we now offer extended hours. Our office is open on Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

of digital, print and radio?

To schedule an appointment at Shadyside Medical Associates–UPMC, or for more information, call 412-687-5040.

We are looking for an Account Executive who wants to advance their career with Steel City Media/Pittsburgh City Paper.

Shadyside Place, Suite 300 580 S. Aiken Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15232

Must have 2 years media experience to qualify.

Position to be filled immediately. Send resume and cover letter to jbrock@steelcitymedia.com No phone calls please.

Steel City Media is an EOE.

Affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC is ranked among the nation’s best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report.

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Pittsburgh’s Indie Video Game Store

Gamers Wanted!

Sega, Nintendo, Xbox, Playstation & more!

We specialize in Japanese imports and hard-to-find titles for new and old systems!

We replace batteries in carts and repair your retro consoles too! facebook.com/pennhillsgames 431 RODI ROAD

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PENN HILLS

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412.371.0386

LANDMARKS PRESERVATION RESOURCE CENTER — A program of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation

WORKSHOP:

REIMAGINING KITCHENS IN OLD AND HISTORIC HOUSES

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Police looking for a bank robber in New Kensington, Pa., found suspect Shane Lindsey, 32, two blocks away at a restaurant where he stopped for chicken and biscuits.

Officers entered the restaurant hoping its surveillance video might show the suspect passing by, only to spot Lindsey eating at a booth.

(Tarentum’s Valley News Dispatch)

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Sheriff’s deputies suspected drugs when they stopped a car outside Daytona Beach, Fla., but found none. Passenger Candyce Harden was getting back in the car to leave when an 11-month-old boy with her reached into her blouse and pulled out a bag of cocaine. She was arrested. (The Daytona Beach News-Journal)

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The National Institutes of Health gave Daniel Resnic $2.4 million to develop an “origami condom,” described as a non-rolled, silicone-based condom designed to “increase pleasure.” But the project was canceled after a former employee accused Resnic of spending the funding on trips to Costa Rica, lavish parties at the Playboy mansion, full-body plastic surgery, a condo in Provincetown, Mass., and patents for numerous “get-rich-quick” schemes.

(Washington Free Beacon)

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Julie Graf, One of a Kind Design

Remodeling a kitchen can be a challenging and costly endeavor. Renovating a kitchen in an older house can come with even more obstacles and uncertainty. Making sure the design plans are right is critical. This workshop will touch on a variety of kitchen design topics including, assessing needs and function in a modern-era kitchen, tips for embracing troublesome openings and obstacles, and choosing a style that is timeless for older- and newer-houses. We will also discuss planning for adequate lighting, differences in cabinet styles and finishes, typical space allowances, making the space adaptable for multiple users and abilities, budgeting, and more.

About the presenter: Julie Graf has 15 years experience as a Certified Kitchen Designer and is the owner of One of a Kind Design. She is a member of the National Kitchen and Bath Association, an Allied member of the American Society of Interior Designers, and an adjunct Interior Design faculty member at Chatham University.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21 • 10AM - 11:30AM This workshop is free to PHLF Members. Non-members: $5 RSVPs are appreciated. Contact Mary Lu Denny at 412-471-5808 ext. 527 744 REBECCA AVENUE WILKINSBURG, PA 15221

NEWS QUIRKS {BY ROLAND SWEET}

412-471-5808

Alaska taxpayers are funding a twoyear, $400,000 University of Alaska study aimed at combating fetal alcohol syndrome that involves making free pregnancy tests available in bar bathrooms. (Alaska Dispatch News)

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Kentucky spends $2 million a year to pay 41 elected county jailers who have no jails to run. According to the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, the figure includes nearly 100 full- and part-time deputies the jailers employ, many of whom are family members.

Several jailers also work other jobs, a few of which are full time. (Lexington Herald-Leader)

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The U.S. government spent $500,000 to build a police-training facility in Afghanistan that disintegrated within four months of completion, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Its report said the contractor used substandard materials, including bricks made only from sand that caused water to become trapped between the walls, making the building look like it was “melting.” Inspector General John Sopko called the project “an utter failure and embarrassment.” (Fox News)

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Some 500 German right-wing protesters arriving for an anti-immigration rally in Schwerin were handed banners and stickers reading “mvgida.de,” which they assumed was the website for Mvgida, their xenophobic, antiIslam organization. The site actually opposes right-wing extremism and urges tolerance. The duped protesters, many of them professed neoNazis, learned hours later that they had been demonstrating on behalf of immigrants instead of against them. (The Washington Post)

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When Washington, D.C., officials announced an unanticipated $38 million shortfall in projected revenue from traffic

cameras, they called the drop evidence that motorists were obeying the law. A probe, however, found that many of the 338 speed and red-light cameras were broken. Police Assistant Chief Lamar Greene said last winter’s extreme cold kept workers from changing burned-out batteries, but since then police “have taken additional steps to enhance internal temperature controls.” Indeed, automated trafficenforcement revenues for the first quarter of the new fiscal year jumped $13.1 million. (The Washington Times)

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Joe Morrissey, 57, is a Virginia legislator who’s also serving a jail sentence after being accused of having sex with a 17-year-old girl he hired as a receptionist at his law office in Henrico County. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and now is on a work-release program that lets him spend days at the General Assembly while spending nights in jail. When a bill to prohibit pornography in jail came up for a vote, Morrissey voted against the measure. It passed anyway. (Associated Press)

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A Korean restaurant in central China began offering free meals to the 50 bestlooking customers each day. The Jeju Island restaurant in Zhengzhou escorts arrivals to a “beauty identification area,” where a panel of local plastic surgeons evaluates their faces, eyes, noses and mouth. Protruding foreheads are a particular advantage. City authorities accused the restaurant of damaging the city’s image, but manager Xue Hexin vowed the promotion would continue. (Britain’s The Telegraph)

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After Facebook and Instagram service went down in San Francisco’s East Bay area, five people called 911 to ask when the sites would be back online. “Even though Facebook is important to a lot of people, it’s not a matter of life and death when it stops working,” the dispatcher said after asking residents to stop calling to complain. “One caller even called back to tell me I was being rude because I told her it wasn’t a life-threatening emergency.” (San Francisco’s KCBS-TV)

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Authorities reassigned a 911 operator in Anne Arundel County, Md., after he told a woman who called to report her father had been hit by a car to “stop whining.” After repeating his response to the caller’s emotional pleas for help, the dispatcher asked if there were anyone else at the scene he could talk to and later told her to “stop yelling.” The victim died.

Fire department Capt. Russ Davies acknowledged that the dispatcher might have handled the call differently but insisted dispatch time wasn’t affected. (The Baltimore Sun)

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The Oneida Indian Nation announced plans to open a $20 million casino in Chittenango, N.Y., honoring author L. Frank Baum, who was born in the village and wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Baum also called for the “total annihilation” of Native Americans.

Ernestine Chasing Hawk, a descendent of the 300 Sioux slaughtered at Wounded Knee, called the project a betrayal, asking in the Native American Times, “Would the Jews build a casino to honor Hitler?” (The Washington Post)

CO M P IL E D FRO M M A IN S TRE A M N E W S S O U RCE S BY R OL AN D S WE E T. AUT HE N T I C AT I ON O N D E M AND.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

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DISH OFFERS EXCELLENT, AUTHENTIC, REGIONAL ITALIAN FARE IN AN ALLURING, INTIMATE SETTING

DONUT “FARM” {BY REBECCA NUTTALL} With Pittsburgh’s ever-increasing community-supported agriculture programs, locals can get everything from vegetables and cheese to flowers.

And now, thanks to Freedom Farms, they can also get donuts. This year, the family-owned business near Butler will offer the 26-week Daily Dozen Share, beginning in May, for $260.

“It’s not totally traditional,” says Freedom Farm spokesperson Kate Stapleton. “But their donuts are awesome. They’re super fresh. Freedom Farms really believes in quality and freshness, so they’re a great treat.”

The share will include not just donuts, but a variety of baked goods including scones, cookies, danishes and more from the Freedom Farms Donut Shop.

CSA members should expect to receive between 12 and 14 items each week.

Programs like the Freedom Farms CSA give customers an opportunity to receive a weekly package of fresh produce, dairy and meat by purchasing a share of the farm’s growing season.

“We already offer a full shopping experience with our CSAs. And now a special helping of donuts sweetens the deal,” says Stapleton. “It’s a great way for people to invest in a local farm by committing upfront for the season.”

(If only there were such a miracle as a “donut farm” …)

Current pickup locations include North Side, Aspinwall and Peter’s Township. But Freedom Farms is looking to expand its drop points. Businesses looking to serve as a drop point should email contact@freedomfarmspa.com.

RNUTTALL@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

795 Pittsburgh Road, Butler. 724-586-5551 or www.freedomfarmspa.com

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FEED

Hey, it’s Lent!!

And for a guide e to all the fish, and otherr seasonal festivities es and tidbits, you can’t ’t beat this resource, e, www.facebook.com/ m/ PittsburghLentenFishFryMap. The updated map is your guide to dozens of local fish-fry meals for the next few weeks.

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WELL PLATED {BY ANGELIQUE BAMBERG + JASON ROTH}

I

N RESTAURANT years, 15 is a ripe old

age. That’s how long ago Dish opened on a back street on the South Side, tucked quietly away from East Carson Street’s ever-more-raucous college-town vibe. At a time when the concept of fine dining in Pittsburgh still seemed stuck in the Nixon administration, Dish’s owners, Michele and Cindy Savoia, transformed a former corner saloon into a restaurant whose sophistication, combined with a winning, welcoming lack of pretense, was unequaled by anyplace else in the city. Going to Dish was like entering a magical portal to somewhere distant, cosmopolitan and delicious.

These days, Dish’s combination of exquisite food and serious cocktails is no longer unique, yet its star shines no less brightly. Not only is Dish still going strong, it has managed an extraordinary trick: It’s remained successful by staying the same.

While the Pittsburgh dining scene around it has completely transformed, Dish has remained a special place, true to its original vision, and almost outside of time.

Most of the credit goes to chef/owner

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

{PHOTO BY HEATHER MULL}

Capesante al polline di finocchio: pan-seared sea scallops, with oven-roasted beets, sea beans and nebrodini bianco mushrooms

Michele Savoia, whose simple Sicilian menu makes no compromises with American expectations. But we must reserve some props for the historic building, whose intimate, candlelit bar and dining room are perfectly proportioned for romantic dinners or rendezvous among friends, the music gradually shifting from jazz to electronica as the hour grows late.

DISH OSTERIA

128 S. 17th St., South Side. 412-390-2012 HOURS: Mon.-Sat. 5 p.m.-2 a.m. (kitchen closes at midnight) PRICES: Appetizers $5-10, entrees $15-27 LIQUOR: Full bar

CP APPROVED Not that Dish is untouched by current trends. On our most recent visit, seafood sources were identified on the menu, and au courant menu darlings, like oven-roasted beets and julienned Brussels sprouts, were represented. But, integrated into traditional ensembles, they felt comfortable, not plugged into some trend formula.

So also with maccu, a hearty Sicilian soup made of dried fava beans, onions and fennel. Partial pureeing yielded a rustic texture; unlike brothy or creamy soups that slip down your throat, this one demanded a little actual chewing, which allowed its flavors to linger and bloom in the mouth.

Salty shavings of ricotta salata and a drizzle of fruity, almost juicy olio verde enlivened the nuttiness of the beans.

The menu included antipasti both di terra and di mare, and the seafood options were extraordinary, including scallops dusted with wild Tuscan fennel pollen and crostini with sea-urchin roe. We chose grilled octopus. Three fat arms were curled around a pile of lightly dressed potato salad over greens. The octopus was perfectly cooked, smoky, tenderly meaty and faintly charred at the suckers for textural contrast.

If the salad’s fat capers and halved olives were perhaps too assertive for the balance of otherwise gentle flavors, their piquancy was on point.

The house salad was close to a perfect specimen, combining lettuces (crisp romaine,

juicy arugula, faintly bitter radicchio and fully bitter frisée), crunchy (and pretty) watermelon radishes and sweet tomatoes.

This was all dressed in a bright, white balsamic vinaigrette, while freshly cracked pepper played boldly among the other components. On paper, it seemed a salad like many others; on the plate — and the palate — it was exceptional.

A half-dozen pastas, a couple of meat dishes and a couple of seafood items comprised the entrees. Jason tried the veal rolled with smoked mozzarella, prosciutto and sage. The prosciutto crisped up like a paper-thin layer of bacon on a meatloaf, adding a distinctive texture, and the mildly smoky cheese complemented the meat flavors without hiding the autumnal, herbal notes of plentiful sage. Jason thought the veal, mild and tender yet not bland like chicken, was uniquely suited to the preparation, but we noted that it was replaced by pork loin in the following week’s menu.

On the RoCKs

{BY DREW CRANISKY}

MINDFUL TIPPING

At Butterjoint, charity pairs well with beer Tax season is upon us, meaning it’s again time to assess our charitable contributions. There are plenty of ways to donate, whether in cash, with time or just through raising awareness. But at Butterjoint’s new Donations and Libations nights, doing good comes with a side of loaded fries.

The premise is simple: On the second Tuesday of each month, the staff of Butterjoint — the Oakland bar attached to Legume — will donate all cash tips to a local nonprofit.

Inspiration for the events struck, as it often does, over drinks. “We came up with the idea one night while sitting at Kelly’s after a long shift,” says Chelsea Boyd, one of the creators of the series. “We all mostly agreed that we have an obligation to — on a regular basis, not just whimsically — give money to others who might be able to use it differently and more thoughtfully than we would.”

With the enthusiastic support of management, an entire year’s worth of Donations and Libations nights were mapped out. The first, benefiting the Animal Rescue League, was a rousing success, raising $900 for the organization. “We were packed that night,” says Boyd, “and were able to meet and interact with people who haven’t been to Butterjoint before, which was a nice bonus.”

The nights are a unique way to give. They don’t pressure the customer, though if you wanted to tip even more generously it would surely be welcomed. Plus, the staff gets to shine a spotlight on their favorite charities while bringing new customers to their bar. A win all around.

Even if you don’t give a darn about puppies and kittens (or Amizade or Literacy Unlocked, the next two in the lineup, March 10 and April 14), go for the deals. For 18 bucks, you’ll get a pitcher of craft beer and a mess of fries heaped with bacon, sour cream and house-made pimiento cheese. Charity never tasted so good.

DOING GOOD COMES WITH A SIDE OF LOADED FRIES. Dish Osteria owner Michele Savoia

A side of potato-and-butternut-squash gnocchi were wonderfully light without being fluffy, chewy without being tough, and flavored with butter, more sage and Reggiano. The aforementioned julienned Brussels sprouts were sautéed for flavor, but would have benefitted from a bit more char.

Unable to resist the allure of housemade saffron semolina cavatelli, Angelique ordered it despite the sauce’s containing mushrooms (not her favorite). Chopped fine, they contributed more woodsy flavor than texture to the dish, which predominantly featured savory chunks of sweet Italian sausage in their traditional medium, tomatoes. The flavors were well balanced and the sauce clung to the hearty pasta instead of drowning it.

Without pulling any stunts, Dish has remained relevant in our city’s new, fastpaced dining scene by continuing to do what it has always done best: offering excellent, authentic, regional Italian fare in an alluring, intimate setting.

INFO@ PGHC ITY PAP ER.CO M

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THE FOLLOWING DINING LISTINGS ARE RESTAURANTS RECOMMENDED BY CITY PAPER FOOD CRITICS

Thank you City Paper readers for voting us one of the Best Chinese Restaurants in Pittsburgh

DINING LISTINGS KEY

J = Cheap K = Night Out L = Splurge E = Alcohol Served F = BYOB

China Palace Shadyside Featuring cuisine in the style of

Peking, Hunan, Szechuan and Mandarin

100 VEGETARIAN DISHES!

Delivery Hours

11:30 - 2 pm and 5-10pm

5440 Walnut Street, Shadyside 412-687-RICE chinapalace-shadyside.com

Monday & Thursday $2 Yuengling 16oz Draft ____________________

Tuesday

1/2 Price Wine by the Bottle ____________________

Wednesday

Pork & Pounder $10 ____________________

Friday

Sangria $2.95 ____________________

Saturday & Sunday 10:30am-3pm

Brunch Specials & Bloody Mary Bar

----- HAPPY HOUR ----1/2 OFF SNACKS $2 OFF DRAFTS $5 WINE FEATURE

Mon- Fri 4:30 – 6:30pm ____________________ 900 Western Ave. I NORTH SIDE

412-224-2163

BenjaminsPgh.com

ATRIA’S. Multiple locations. www.atrias.com. A local chain, Atria’s locations offer distinctly different atmospheres but the same quality steaks, chops and pasta menu. Suburban spots are for quiet casual dining while the North Side location is pure sports pub. Regardless of the ambience, the sherry crab bisque and the pasta fra diablo are superb. kE CAFÉ DU JOUR. 1107 E. Carson St., South Side. 412-488-9695.

This Euro-style bistro is “openkitchen cozy” with a quaint courtyard for intimate outdoor dining. A modestly sized yet thoughtful menu offers smallto-large plates, highlighting Mediterranean- and Europeaninfluenced California cooking with an emphasis on fresh, seasonal produce and excellently prepared meats. KF CURRY ON MURRAY. 2121 Murray Ave., Squirrel Hill.

412-422-3120. The menu here is fairly standard Thai, featuring your favorites but also offering few surprises. So alongside satay, larb salad, pad Thai and the popular street-food noodle dish, pad see ew, look for moo dad deaw, a fried pork appetizer or a pumpkin-tofu curry. KF

Gia Visto {PHOTO BY HEATHER MULL} fries) and hand-crafted cocktails.

The focus is on local and sustainable, with meats, veg and grains from nearby sources. JE GIA VISTO. 4366 Old William Penn Highway, Monroeville.

412-374-1800. The menu at this welcoming Italian restaurant ranges from simple classics to elegant inventions. Whether it’s a fried risotto appetizer enlivened with a elemental but sublime red sauce, or a perfectly cooked salmon on a Mediterraneaninspired bed of beans and vegetables, the fare exhibits the kitchen’s attention to detail. KF

DINETTE. 5996 Centre Ave., East Liberty. 412-362-0202.

This refined California-inspired pizzeria and wine bar offers a small menu mostly featuring gourmet thin-crust pizzas. The focus here is on fresh, local and sustainable. Inventive pizzas include toppings such as wilted greens, littleneck clams, goat cheese and Brussels sprouts.

Guests at the wine-bar counter get a front-row seat for the pizza-making. KE EGGS N’AT. 8556 University Blvd., Moon Township. 412262-2920. This stylish and cheery diner offers a variety of pancakes, as well as sandwiches and combo platters of breakfast foods. The “Mama Evans” pancakes are filled with blueberries and bacon, a combination that is smoky, sweet and savory all at once.

Also on offer: muffuleta, a New Orleans-style multi-layered and pressed sandwich. J FRANKTUARY. 3810 Butler St., Lawrenceville. 412-586-7224. The longtime Downtown hot-doggery expands its menu here in an attractive sit-down space, with creatively dressed hot dogs, a variety of poutines (loaded French

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

Wai Wai {PHOTO BY HEATHER MULL} HOT METAL DINER. 1025 Lebanon Road, West Mifflin.

412-462-4900. This new-oldfashioned diner with a Harley theme offers a traditional menu with super-size portions. The thick, fluffy “mancakes” hang off the platter, and the huge breakfast burrito is like a Spanish omelet wrapped in a tortilla. For lunch, there are burgers, sandwiches and fresh pie. J IBIZA. 2224 E. Carson St., South Side. 412-325-2227. An urbane

wine bar and tapas restaurant, Ibiza is the sister restaurant to its next-door favorite, Mallorca.

Ibiza’s menu starts in Spain but includes delicacies from Portugal, Argentina and other countries.

Accompanied by a wide international selection of wines, Ibiza offers a transportive dining experience. KE ISABELA ON GRANDVIEW. 1318 Grandview Ave., Mount Washington. 412-431-5882.

This fine-dining restaurant atop Mount Washington places as much focus on the food as on the skyline. There are a la carte dishes, but the selections are all from the seven-course, prix fixe dinner that is the heart of the Isabela experience. The cuisine is contemporary and varies widely among European, American and Asian influences. LE JAMES STREET GASTROPUB & SPEAKEASY. 422 Foreland St., North Side. 412-904-3335. This venue offers a nicely up-to-date selection of refined pub grub, including inventively dressed burgers (corn chips, salsa and ranch dressing), meatloaf and fried chicken. A relaxed gastropub, with fun appetizers, such as steak “pipe bombs,” live music on one floor and menus housed in old LP covers. KE LAS VELAS. 21 Market Square, 2nd floor, Downtown. 412-2510031. Authentic “family favorite” dishes are the standout at this Mexican restaurant, offering a vibrant antidote to Mexican “cuisine” mired in tired clichés.

Trade a taco for cochinita pibil (vinegar-marinated pork), chilaquiles (tortilla casserole) or alambres (meat smothered with peppers, onions and cheese).

Also notable: above-average sides, including rice, beans and potatoes. KE

$ 2 DRINKS MEDITERRANO. 2193 Babcock Blvd., North Hills. 412-822-8888.

This Greek estiatorio offers hearty, homestyle fresh fare in a casual, yet refined, setting.

Salads, appetizers (many of them less-familiar) and casseroles are on offer as well as heartier fare like kalamarakia (octopus), roasted leg of lamb and stuffed tomatoes. LF

some topped with a fried egg; there is also a jellyfish salad with pickled carrot and daikon.

Another worthy entrée was banh xeo, savory crepes filled with shrimp, sautéed pork and vegetables, or try the make-yourown summer roll option. FK THAI CUISINE. 4625 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield. 412-688-9661.

This Thai restaurant in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Little Italy serves up authentic dishes with warm, friendly service. The restaurant also offers an updated vegetarian menu that features mock duck, vegetarian pork and other meat substitutes, as well as the more familiar non-meat offerings of tofu and vegetables. KF

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NOODLEHEAD. 242 S. Highland Ave., Shadyside. www.noodleheadpgh.com. In a funky atmosphere, Noodlehead offers an elemental approach to the delightful street food of Thailand in which nothing is over $9. A small menu offers soups, noodle dishes and a few “snacks,” among them fried chicken and steamed buns with VALLOZZI’S pork belly. The freshly PITTSBURGH. 220 prepared dishes Fifth Ave., Downtown. are garnished with 412-394-3400. The fresh herbs, pork venerable Italian www. per pa cracklings and pickled restaurant from pghcitym o .c mustard greens. JF Greensburg now has a Downtown outpost.

PARIS 66 BISTRO. 6018 Centre In this elegant space, some Ave., East Liberty. 412-404-8166. classic dishes are updated; a few A charming venue brings Parisianfavorites, like turtle soup are style café culture to Pittsburgh, retained; and the fresh mozzarella offering less fussy, less expensive bar deserves to become a classic. everyday fare such as crepes, Try the distinctive pizza, with a salads and croques, those layered, cracker-like crust. LE delectable French grilled sandwiches. With fresh flowers on WAI WAI. 4717 Liberty Ave., every table, specials chalked on Bloomfield. 412-621-0133. boards and French conversation Eschewing the epic list of bouncing off the open kitchen dishes most Chinese-American walls, Paris 66 epitomizes the restaurants proffer, this everyday glamour of the French attractively decorated storeneighborhood bistro. KF front venue sticks to a modest number of basics with a few SEWICKLEY HOTEL. 509 Beaver less-typical dishes, such as St., Sewickley. 412-741-9457. At Singapore mai fun (a dish of this revamped hotel, the offerings stir-fried rice noodles) or sha cha reflect a balance between time(a meat-and-vegetable dish honored dishes such as turtle from China’s Gansu province) JF soup and more modern fare, like a crabmeat-stuffed quesadilla.

WILD ROSEMARY. 1469 Steak-lovers will be pleased, but Bower Hill Road, Upper St. adventurous burger fans should Clair. 412-221-1232. At this cozy, check out the Light Up Night contemporary, candle-lit cottage, burger, topped with blue the Italian- and Mediterraneancrabmeat, bacon, avocado and inspired menu changes every pepper-jack cheese. LE two weeks to showcase the freshest in-season ingredients.

TAN LAC VIEN. 2114 Murray The menu offers fewer than 10 Ave., Squirrel Hill. 412-521-8888. entrées, each matched with a This Vietnamese restaurant offers small suite of carefully selected the popular pho and bun entrees, sides. Expect quality ingredients — but also less-common dishes. The dayboat scallops, Maytag cheese, menu has a section of com tam lamb, steak — and exquisitely (“broken rice”) dishes, including prepared meals. LF

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LOCAL

“OVER THE COURSE OF THOSE LUNCHES, I’VE PICKED UP LITTLE THINGS FROM PEOPLE.”

BEAT

{BY ANDY MULKERIN}

Troxum — the nom de musique of Jan-Tosh Gerling — has had some success in the realm of electronic music locally, most notably when he played the VIA Festival main stage last year, at the Union Trust building. But he wasn’t quite prepared for the breakout success of his recent video, “Lucky Sun.” It premiered Jan. 9 on the U.K.-based Clash magazine website (“I feel like Europeans get me,” Gerling notes), and a month later it had over 30,000 views on YouTube. “I always say the best compliment you can receive is someone making an animated GIF of you,” Gerling says impishly. “Going on Tumblr, seeing people make animated GIFS [from the video] was cool, and seeing hundreds of people sharing these.”

British site Dazed Music then chose the video as a top pick for January, alongside artists like FKA Twigs and Sia. “I feel like I’m on the right track,” Gerling says.

Of course, once that exposure happens, there’s pressure to produce more. “I know the next video is going to look 10 times better,” says Gerling, noting that the “Lucky Sun” visual was made on a shoestring budget. It was made from footage shot around Western Pennsylvania (Spring Hill, Presque Isle, the power plants at Shippingport), and constructed painstakingly through a digital process called “pixel sorting.”

Gerling, who moved to Pittsburgh from Lubbock, Texas, and started playing music in earnest about three years ago, has always been one to mix music and digital art; his earliest musical experiences were with video-game music, and he likes to perform live with projections supplementing the live show.

“Lucky Sun” was the first track released from Troxum’s upcoming album, Gaia Lesson, a follow-up to last year’s EP Gaia Omen. But — while taking advantage of the momentum from the video is important — Gerling isn’t setting a release date for the full-length yet.

“It’s about 90 percent done; it’s going to come out sometime this year, hopefully summer,” he says. “I just want it to be perfect.

“I want it to be this fully realized thought, before I tell people to download it. Because once you put something on the Internet, it’s there forever.”

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TROXUM with MAN’DANCE, PETITE TORO. 9 p.m. Sat., Feb. 21. Thunderbird Café, 4023 Butler St., Lawrenceville. $5.

412-682-0177 or www.thunderbirdcafe.net

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Troxum’s Jan-Tosh Gerling {PHOTO COURTESY OF GREGORY NEISER}

LUCKY DAY

MEAL PLAN {BY ALEX GORDON}

J

EREMY MALVIN had a big year in 2014, lunch-wise: The Squirrel Hill-born electronic musician known as Chrome Sparks ate lunch with a different person every day of the year, and chronicled the project on his blog, Lunch With Jeremy. It was an attempt to branch out, and to break out of the solitary, graveyard-shift songwriting that electronic musicians tend to rely on. It seems to have worked.

Beyond the lunches, 2014 was a highlight year for the now-Brooklyn-based Chrome Sparks, including a tour with The Glitch Mob, a flurry of remixes and singles, and the release of his third EP, Goddess, a pristine six-song showcase of his disorienting, percussion-driven songwriting.

With a full-length in the works and a DJ set opening for RJD2 coming up at Mr. Small’s, CP spoke with Malvin by phone to talk sampling, bad music and lunch.

On the beat: Chrome Sparks’ Jeremy Malvin

of those lunches, I’ve picked up little things from people. Like little tidbits of information that have informed what I’m after in music, in general, as far as what purpose I want my music to have and who should be listening to it, why I’m making it, what I feel about it, if I should care whether

CHROME SPARKS DJ SET OPENING FOR RJD2 WITH MR. OWL, JAMES GYRE, HEADPHONE ACTIVIST

8 p.m. Fri., Feb. 20. Mr. Small’s Theatre, 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. $20-22. All ages.

412-821-4447 or www.mrsmalls.com

anybody else likes it. There have been very philosophical discussions during some of the lunches. … I can’t specifically pinpoint how it’s affected the way I work, but I’m sure it has.

YOU ATE LUNCH WITH A DIFFERENT And then there have been more specific PERSON EVERY DAY OF 2014. HOW HAVE things, like learning about different new THOSE LUNCHES AFFECTED YOUR MUSIC? plug-ins or equipment or instruments or Well, in an abstract way, over the course artists. For example, I went to one lunch

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

with a drummer and studio engineer and was mentioning that my tape inside my space echo [a sound-effect device] was busted. And he pulled out a tape loop from his backpack, and that day I went back to the studio, put it in, and recorded stuff through the space echo that was broken. So it’s affected my music in a lot of different ways, both big-picture and small-picture.

WOULD YOU SAY YOUR FORTHCOMING FULL-LENGTH HAS A DIRECT RELATIONSHIP TO THE LUNCHES? I’d say that the lunches and the album I’m working on lived together and were formed together and grew up together, stayed good friends and now they’re both far apart from each other, because I’m not doing the lunches anymore and I’m still working on the album. But, they still keep in touch, the lunches and the albums.

YOU’RE WORKING ON A LOT OF NEW MUSIC THIS MONTH. IS THIS MUSIC FOR THE FULL-LENGTH? I have absolutely nothing figured out. I’m

LIVE MUSIC

just putting together a lot of tracks and seeing how they can be ... I’m trying to figure out the best way to organize them, whether it’s an album and an EP, or two EPs or just a whole bunch of singles. So I’m not necessarily tied to it being an album, but we’ll see how well the tracks I’m working on pan out. And then, I’ll figure out what’s best for them.

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 18 TR3 featuring TIM REYNOLDS with special guests

8:00PM • $15 • AGES 21+ WHEN YOU’RE LISTENING TO A RECORD, WHAT DO YOU HEAR THAT MAKES YOU WANT TO SAMPLE IT? If there’s an isolated moment in a track, when I’m listening to a record or a track online, in which there’s only a small amount of things going on, I think about how malleable it is and what kind of purpose it could take on if I were to record it and screw around with it on my computer.

Or run it through different effects, or put it into something I’m working on. So I guess just a moment in a track at which something is clear and special and isolated is what I would listen for.

AS AN ARTIST WHO SAMPLES FROM A WIDE VARIETY OF SOURCES, IS THERE ANY GENRE OF MUSIC THAT YOU COMPLETELY DISLIKE? I think the one kind of music that I find no personal redeeming qualities in would be modern country-pop. That’s the one thing that I can’t find anything I can connect to or that I like in. Older, more folky country, that’s great, that’s awesome, that has its time and its place for me. But new modern pop-country music, that’s the one I’d throw under the bus.

EVERY FRIDAY IN FEBRUARY 5 BANDS EACH WEEK COME VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE 9:00PM • $5 • AGES 21+

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 21 RUSH TRIBUTE

DISTANT SIGNALS

10:00PM • $10 / $12 Dos • AGES 21+

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 25 THE FOUNDRY w/ HOMICIDE BLACK NEVERWAKE and more

7:00PM • $10 / $14 Dos • AGES 21+

ALSO COMING 2/ 24 OPEN MIC NIGHT NICKY MO & 2/ 28 THE MAMALUKES 3/ 7 IGOR & RED ELVISES

YOU’RE OPENING FOR RJD2 AND HAVE CALLED HIM A BIG INFLUENCE. WHAT DID YOU TAKE AWAY FROM HIS MUSIC GROWING UP? I think he was one of the first samplebased artists that I got into, and [at the time] I didn’t really understand that that was possible. Since then, I’ve learned a lot more about that whole world and how you can take samples from individual parts of songs and find the drum break [or] the section where it’s just horns, and turn it into your own thing. For me, that was really exemplified early on by what RJD2 was doing and that was hugely inspirational.

ARTISTS, SHOWTIMES, PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE. VALID ID REQUIRED FOR ENTRY.

HOW DID THIS SHOW COME TOGETHER? I was asked by James Gyre. He’s an awesome Pittsburgh artist and DJ and community organizer. He reached out to me and asked me to head back for that, which is a total dream because I would go to Mr. Small’s all the time growing up in Pittsburgh. Always wished that I could eventually be on stage.

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NEW RELEASES {BY ANDY MULKERIN}

BILLY PILGRIM BIG EMPTY THINGS (SELF-RELEASED) WWW.RASHADJAMAALISBILLYPILGRIM.COM

Billy Pilgrim — longtime local artist of many names, and former vocalist for MegaDef — brings an unconventional sound on this eight-track hip-hop release, with often-minimal backing tracks and naturalistic instrumentation.

What might be most striking on Big Empty Things is the acousticpercussion sounds that underlie many of the tracks; in a world currently dominated by big, synthesized drum beats, Pilgrim goes small on several tracks, with bongos and gamelansounding percussion. The effect is to shift focus to his flow, often resting right between rap and slam poetry.

That’s not to say the whole album skews intellectual at the expense of fun or swagger, though: Pilgrim splits time between introspective and brash (as on “So It Goes,” which literally switches modes back and forth throughout).

High points include the De La-sounding “The Hoek,” with its rapidfire rhymes and allusions (all over the place, from Craig Mack to Pete Sampras), over a bassy track and record-scratching effects.

At times, it’s the very cohesiveness of most of the tracks that makes others feel a bit out of place. “Melancholy Molly” is a great, understated R&B song, with its acoustic drums and organ; it just feels smoother than anything else on the album.

Ultimately, though, Pilgrim brings a set of tracks that showcase his diverse talents and clever lyricism, and mostly gel as a concept. Nicely done.

INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

BILLY PILGRIM EP RELEASE with SHAD ALI, UNSUNG. 9 p.m. Thu., Feb. 19. Howlers Coyote Cafe.

4509 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield. $10 (includes EP). 412-682-0320 or www.howlerscoyotecafe.com N E W S

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DIVING IN {BY IAN THOMAS} “I DON’T LIKE you, you’re a fool / Let me hip

you to something,” Juan Wauters sings on “Let Me Hip You to Something,” the opening track of his 2013 album N.A.P. North American Poetry. It’s a telling lyric that nicely sums up the inherent contradictions of Water’s music: fiercely individualistic, but largely reliant on the willingness of the audience to receive, warts and all, his message of self-assessment and self-acceptance. That said, Wauters writes on instinct and rarely with an audience in mind. “Everything came kind of natural,” he says. “I played music for a long time without an audience, so it’s [been] a very personal process.”

At one time, Wauters, along with Jose Garcia, served as the driving force of the prolific Queens-based garage outfit The Beets. As a solo act, Wauters is decidedly less beholden to the pop structure that defined The Beets — though he doesn’t rule it out entirely, employing it as needed, another tool rattling around in the toolbox.

“With The Beets, I was cutting off my ideas because I was really happy with the way The Beets sounded as a band,” Wauters says. “That was the style we knew. … If we were going to go somewhere else, it wasn’t going to be as good, because it would [have been] just me directing other people.”

As a transplant from Uruguay, Wauters is as likely to sing in Spanish as in English. Wauters’ approach to songwriting yields results that are both vital and strange, asking listeners to spot him a few blemishes and quirks in service to his big ideas. For example, though Wauters builds upon a bedrock of acoustic guitar, the overall sound is percussive, not melodic.

{PHOTO COURTESY OF CARMELLE SAFDIE}

Branching out: Juan Wauters

ness unique to every person’s experience should be embraced without cynicism or irony. “Let Me Hip You to Something” culminates with Wauters’ mandate to “Get cool to who’s you, yeah / get a headache, yeah / take medicine, yeah / get better, yeah” before devolving into a refrain of a cartoonish jowl-flapping.

It is moments like these, expressions of utter silliness, that reveal the depths of Wauters’ confidence. Though he cites The Beatles and Brazilian songwriter Jorge Ben Jor as influences, Wauters’ music is actually closer to that of Daniel Johnston or Jad Fair of Half-Japanese. Like Johnston and Fair, Wauters is an earnest outsider who succeeds more on the strength of his conviction than on his musicianship.

Wauters seems to have found a kindred collaborator in singer-songwriter Carmelle Safdie. After playing a featured role on two tracks on N.A.P., Safdie partnered with Wauters on an EP, Wearing Leather, Wearing Fur, a collection of songs woven together to form a meandering 13-minute track that touches upon everything from aging out of recreational drug use to the early life of James Brown. Safdie’s confrontational warble is well suited to Wauters’ probing, deliberate guitar work. It might sound strange, but strange is what Wauters does best.

WAUTERS’ BRAND OF OFF-KILTER FOLK ESPOUSES THE WORLDVIEW

BY WHICH HE LIVES.

JUAN WAUTERS WITH AM FACES, WILL SIMMONS & THE UPHOLSTERERS

9 p.m. Thu., Feb. 26. Brillobox, 4104 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. $8-10.

412-621-4900 or www.brillobox.net

Though challenging, Wauters’ brand of off-kilter, out-of-sync folk does not project vitriol or judgment; it merely espouses the worldview by which Wauters lives, demanding that the inherent weird-

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{PHOTO COURTESY OF PAUL MOORE}

CRITICS’ PICKS

New Madrid [BLUES] + THU., FEB. 19

[PSYCH ROCK] + TUE., FEB. 24

One of the most prominent artists in blues brings her booming voice to an intimate setting tonight. Shemekia Copeland, who was declared the “Queen of Blues” by Chicago and the state of Illinois, recently returned to Alligator Records, where she made her most successful string of albums. After earning as high-profile a gig as you can score (performing for the president and first Shemekia lady in the White Copeland House), Copeland plans to explore new territory on a fall 2015 release. She performs at Club Café tonight with The Blues Devils.

Shawn Cooke 8 p.m. 56 S. 12th St., South Side. $23. 412431-4950 or www. clubcafelive.com

The Athens rockers of New Madrid seamlessly blended psych rock, post-punk and good ole- fashioned “indie” on last year’s Sunswimmer. Since the band is an amalgam of so many different styles of guitar rock, fans of any subgenre would be hard pressed to not find something worth latching onto here.

The band toured extensively in 2014, netting more than 175 dates, and it plans to keep up the torrid pace as it stops

by Club Café tonight with The Heirs and Cape Cod opening.

SC 8 p.m. 56 S. 12th St., South Side. $810. 412-431-4950 or www.clubcafelive.com

[LOCAL] + SAT., FEB. 21 Just as RANT has become a staple of the Lawrenceville summer, the annual Snow Ball show at Cattivo has become a hallmark of winter. Locals comprise the allnight bill at the two-tiered bar venue, where both levels will be in use. Acts include (but are by no means limited to) Morgan Erina, Roulette Waves, Them Labs, The Lopez and Chrome Moses; buzzworthy rock outfit Misaligned Mind closes the night out. Andy Mulkerin 6 p.m. 146 44th St., Lawrenceville. $10. www.facebook.com/snowballpgh

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[INDIE ROCK] + TUE., FEB. 24 Murder by Death is about as misleading a band name as My Bloody Valentine — the group doesn’t play anything close to resembling doom metal. The gothic indie rockers have been at it for 15 years now, and their latest album, Big Dark Love, continues to refine the band’s dark, country-infused brand of rock. The outfit has added even more band members and instruments for this album cycle, so the Mr. Small’s stage could be pretty crowded.

Similarly fatal folkies O’Death will open. SC 8:30 p.m. 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. $15.

412-821-4447 or www.mrsmalls.com

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FEBRUARY 20 - 21

AT THE DAVID L. LAWRENCE CONVENTION CENTER

LOCAL MUSIC & LOCAL FOOD TICKETS STARTING AT $40 IN ADVANCE | $50 AT THE DOOR

ORDER ONLINE PITTSBURGHBEERFEST.COM 6:30PM EARLY ADMISSION/CONNOISSEUR 7:30PM REGULAR ADMISSION PITTSBURGH WINTER BEERFEST ENDS AT 11:00PM SAVE THE DATE:

SUMMER BEERFEST

JULY 17 & 18 N E W S

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TO SUBMIT A LISTING: HTTP://PGHCITYPAPER.COM/HAPPENINGS

412.316.3388 (FAX) + 412.316.3342 X194 (PHONE)

{ALL LISTINGS MUST BE SUBMITTED BY 9 A.M. FRIDAY PRIOR TO PUBLICATION}

THU 19 ALTAR BAR. Red 3, Years Hollow.

Strip District. 412-263-2877.

BRILLOBOX. The Van Allen Belt, Butterbirds, Nick D & The Believers, Ghost Guts.

Bloomfield. 412-621-4900.

CLUB CAFE. Shemekia Copeland, The Blues Devils. South Side.

412-431-4950.

DOWNEY’S HOUSE. Montford.

Robinson. 412-489-5631.

REX THEATER. Set it Off, Against The Current As It Is, Roam The Nth Power, After Funk. South Side.

412-381-6811.

RIVERS CASINO. Tony Janflone Jr. North Side. 412-231-7777.

SMILING MOOSE. Obliterations, Sick Feeling. South Side.

412-431-4668.

FRI 20 31ST STREET PUB. Greg Hoy & the Enablers, A.T.S., Will Simmons & The Upholsterers. Strip District.

412-391-8334.

ALTAR BAR. Bruce In the USA (Bruce Springsteen Tribute).

Strip District. 412-263-2877.

BIDDLE’S ESCAPE. Heather Kropf & Daryl Shawn. Regent Square.

412-999-9009.

CLUB CAFE. Brownie Mary.

South Side. 412-431-4950.

HOWLERS COYOTE CAFE. Bill Jasper Acoustics, Aurora, Crooked Cobras, Johnny & The Razorblades. Bloomfield.

412-518-0329.

MR. SMALLS THEATER. RJD2, Chrome Sparks, Mr. Owl b2b James Gyre, Headphone Activist.

Millvale. 866-468-3401.

NIKO’S COFFEE HOUSE. Chattel Tail, No Stranger, Brian Dickens, SunnyShading, Spooky Mulder.

Robinson. 412-251-0124.

THE R BAR. Dr. J’s Mojo Hand.

Dormont. 412-942-0882.

REX THEATER. David Bromberg Quintet. South Side.

412-381-6811.

RIVERS CASINO. Pete Hewlett & Scott Anderson. North Side.

412-231-7777.

SMILING MOOSE. Handicap Parking Lot, 5 Corners, Young Lungs, Embracer (Early). Record release. Witch Rider, Harbours, Onyx Eye, The Spectral Type, Let The River Swell (Late). South Side.

412-431-4668.

STAGE AE. Above & Beyond.

North Side. 412-229-5483.

THUNDERBIRD CAFE. New York Funk Exchange, Michael Canton.

Lawrenceville. 412-682-0177.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

SAT 21 ALTAR BAR. Brett Scallions.

Strip District. 412-263-2877.

CATTIVO. Snowball. Misaligned Minds, Chrome Moses, Jeremy Caywood & The Way of Life, Proper People, Molly Alphabet , Don Strange & The Doosh Bears, Morgan Erina, The Graveyard Orchestra, Lo Fi Delphi, Devin Moses & The Saved, Bill Jasper, The Neffs, Roulette Waves, Crystal Lee Morgan, Vertigo Go, more.

Events also happening at Arsenal Lanes & Hambones. Lawrenceville.

412-687-2157.

CLUB CAFE. Honeyriders w/ Ricky Manning (Early). Stationary Pebbles, Wanyama (Late).

South Side. 412-431-4950.

DOWNEY’S HOUSE. Wine & Spirits. Robinson. 412-489-5631.

JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE. Totally 80s. Warrendale.

724-799-8333.

KNUCKLEHEAD’S BAR. The Dave Iglar Band. Ross. 412-366-7468.

MOONDOG’S. Thundervest, Playoff Beard, Danger Signs & Shapes of Things. Blawnox.

412-828-2040.

MR. SMALLS THEATER. Motionless In White, For Today,

Ice Nine Kills. Millvale.

866-468-3401.

RIVERS CASINO. The Hobbs Sisters. North Side. 412-231-7777.

SMILING MOOSE. Milly, Nightbeast, Paper States (Early). Curseborn, Black Souled Pope, The Filthy Lowdown, The Botched (Late). South Side.

412-431-4668.

SUN 22 ALTAR BAR. Ed Kowalczyk.

Strip District. 412-263-2877.

CLUB CAFE. Kat Edmonson w/ Robert Ellis. South Side.

866-468-3401.

PALACE THEATRE. The Pink Floyd Experience. Greensburg.

724-836-8000.

MON 23 THE BALLROOM. Heavenly Beat.

Lawrenceville. 723-598-4430.

TUE 24 CLUB CAFE. New Madrid w/ The Heirs, Cape Cod. South Side.

866-468-3401.

JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE. Skinny Tie Club. Warrendale.

724-799-8333.

MR. SMALLS THEATER. Murder

MP 3 MONDAY HABATAT

{PHOTO COURTESY OF NICK JAMES}

ROCK/POP

Each week, we bring you a new track from a local band. This week’s offering comes from Habatat, whose new self-titled album came out Feb. 18. Stream or download “Gold” on our music blog, FFW>>, at pghcitypaper.com.

EARLY WARNINGS

By Death, O’Death. Millvale.

412-821-4447.

TJ’S HIDEAWAY. Rockbot. Evans City. 724-789-7858.

Marina and the Diamonds

WED 25 31ST STREET PUB. Felix Martin, Barishi, Broughton’s Rules, Save Us From The Archon. Strip District.

412-391-8334.

ALTAR BAR. Jackyl. Strip District.

412-263-2877.

CLUB CAFE. Ewert & the Two Dragons w/ Man & the Arena, Rubeo & Granata. South Side.

866-468-3401.

MR. SMALLS THEATER. JJ Grey & Mofro, The London Souls.

Millvale. 866-468-3401.

OMNI WILLIAM PENN. Frank Cunimondo. Downtown.

412-553-5235.

WED 25 NOLA ON THE SQUARE. Roger Barbour Jazz Quartet. Downtown.

412-471-9100.

RIVERS CLUB. Jessica Lee & Friends. Downtown.

412-391-5227.

CABARET AT THEATER SQUARE. DJ Juan Diego, DJ Carla.

Downtown. 412-325-6769.

SPOON. Spoon Fed. East Liberty.

412-362-6001.

HIP HOP/R&B THU 19 HOWLERS COYOTE CAFE. Billy Pilgrim, Shad Ali, Unsung.

Bloomfield. 412-682-0320.

Carnegie Lecture Hall, Oakland

SAT 21

{WED., APRIL 22}

OLIVE OR TWIST. The Vagrants.

Downtown. 412-255-0525.

The Waterboys

WED 25

FRI 20

ALLEGHENY ELKS LODGE #339. Pittsburgh Banjo Club.

Wednesdays. North Side.

412-321-1834.

Mr. Small’s Theatre, 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale {TUE., MAY 26}

BLUES THU 19 CLUB CAFE. Shemekia Copeland w/ The Blues Devils. South Side.

866-468-3401.

SLOPPY JOE’S. Wil E. Tri & the Bluescasters. Mt. Washington.

412-381-4300.

FRI 20 MOONDOG’S. John Nemeth.

Blawnox.

412-828-2040.

JAZZ ANDYS. Dane Vannatter.

Downtown. 412-773-8884.

BACKSTAGE BAR AT THEATRE SQUARE. Boilermaker Jazz Band. Downtown.

412-456-6666.

GIANNA VIA’S RESTAURANT & BAR. RML Jazz. Overbrook.

412-370-9621.

MANCHESTER CRAFTSMEN’S GUILD. Irvin Mayfield & The New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. North Side.

412-322-1773.

w paper pghcitym .co

FRI 20

NIED’S HOTEL. Shot O’ Soul. Lawrenceville.

412 781-9853.

THE R BAR. The Sweaty Betty Blues Band. Dormont.

412-942-0882.

SNPJ LODGE. Bobby Hawkins Back Alley Blues. 724-695-1411.

SPEAL’S TAVERN. The Eldorado Kings. 724-433-1322.

ST. SIMON NIGHTCLUB. Testify-A Tribute To Stevie Ray Vaughan. Rochester.

234-806-4972.

ANDYS. Tania Grubbs. Downtown. 412773-8884.

JAMES STREET GASTROPUB & SPEAKEASY. Boilermaker Jazz Band.

Lindy hop lessons & dance.

North Side. 412-904-3335.

LINDEN GROVE. Dr. Zoot.

Castle Shannon. 412-882-8687.

NOLA ON THE SQUARE. Neon Swing X-perience. Downtown.

412-471-9100.

SWEETWATER CENTER FOR THE ARTS. New View Trio, George C. Jones. Sewickley.

412-741-4405.

SUN 22

SAT 21

THE R BAR. The Midnite Horns.

Dormont. 412-942-0882.

ANDYS. Lisa Bleil. Downtown.

412-773-8884.

SAT 21

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M U S I C

ALL DAY, EVERY DAY 2204 E. CARSON ST. (412) 431-5282 lavaloungepgh.com

CAPRI PIZZA AND BAR. Bombo Claat Friday Reggae w/ VYBZ Machine Intl Sound System. East Liberty.

412-362-1250.

CLASSICAL FRI 20 BEETHOVENFEST: THE HERO. Feat. pieces that showcase Beethoven’s transition from Mozart acolyte to a composer in his own right. Heinz Hall, Downtown. 412-392-4900.

NANETTE KAPLAN SOLOMON, PIANO. Around the World on 88 Keys.

Chatham University, Shadyside.

412-365-1100.

SAT 21 AMERICAN MASTERS W/ GENE A. SARACENI & WESTMORELAND SYMPHONY CHAMBER SINGERS. Palace Theatre, Greensburg.

724-837-1850.

GABRIEL’S VOICE. Kris Kwapis & Mahan Esfahani, on trumpet & harpsichord, presented by Renaissance & Baroque. Synod Hall, Oakland. 412-361-2048.

SUN 22

422 FORELAND STREET, NORTH SIDE

BEETHOVENFEST: THE HERO. Feat. pieces that showcase Beethoven’s transition from Mozart acolyte to a composer in

FOLLOW US ON

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$2.75 PBR POUNDERS OR PBR DRAFTS

FRI 20

THU 19

FULL LIST E ONLwIN w.

THE BESSEMERS

THURSDAY MAR 5/10PM

CABARET AT THEATER SQUARE. Hello Donny. A showtunes sing-along. Downtown.

412-325-6769.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH. The Flow Band Reggae Rockers.

Oakland. 412-225-6381.

THURSDAY FEB 26/10PM

COMFORT TECH

WED 25

THU 19

EPIPHANY CATHOLIC CHURCH. Nostalgia Band & Show Dinner Dance. Uptown. 412-906-3098.

THE NEXT MONTH

REX THEATER. David Bromberg Quintet. South Side.

412-381-6811.

Marina and the Diamonds REGGAE Stage AE, 400 North Shore Drive, North Side SAT 21

THURSDAY FEB 19/10PM

THU 19

ACOUSTIC

Art Garfunkel

LIVE MUSIC THURSDAYS

OTHER MUSIC PALACE THEATRE. Tedeschi Trucks Band. Greensburg.

724-836-8000.

THUNDERBIRD CAFE. Lonesome, Lost & Foggy, Shelf Life String Band. Lawrenceville.

412-682-0177.

{FRI., APRIL 17}

FRI 20

WED 25

SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE W/ YO-YO MA. Performers & composers from more than 20 countries, blending instrumental & vocal virtuosity w/ Eastern & Western musical traditions. Heinz Hall, Downtown.

412-392-4900.

ECLIPSE LOUNGE. Open Jazz Night w/ the Howie Alexander Trio.

Lawrenceville. 412-251-0097.

BELVEDERE’S. Neon w/ DJ hatesyou. 80s Night. Lawrenceville.

412-687-2555.

CLUB TABOO. DJ Matt & Gangsta Shak. Homewood.

412-969-0260.

ECLIPSE LOUNGE. Wise Blood.

Lawrenceville. 412-251-0097.

BRILLOBOX. Pandemic Presents: Brasstacular w/ The Pressure, May Day Marching band & Beauty Slap.

Bloomfield. 412-621-4900.

DIESEL. DJ CK. South Side.

412-431-8800.

ECLIPSE LOUNGE. FAZE! feat. the 412DNB Crew. Lawrenceville.

412-251-0097.

REMEDY. Push It!. DJ Huck Finn, DJ Kelly Fasterchild. Lawrenceville.

412-781-6771.

RIVERS CASINO. DJ Kingfish.

North Side. 412-231-7777.

ROWDY BUCK. Top 40 Dance.

South Side. 412-431-2825.

S BAR. Pete Butta. South Side.

412-481-7227.

SMILING MOOSE. 80’s Night w/ Dj Adam. South Side. 412-431-4668.

WED 25

MON 23

THU 19

SAT 21

his own right. Heinz Hall, Downtown. 412-392-4900.

CHORAL EVENSONG. Shadyside Presbyterian Church, Shadyside.

412-682-4300, ext. 116.

THE PITTSBURGH CAMERATA. Romancing the Baroque.

Sixth Presbyterian Church, Squirrel Hill. 412-417-3707.

SUN 22

DJS

THE CLOAKROOM. DJ SMI. East Liberty. 412-779-2624.

DRUM BAR. DJ Nugget.

North Side. 412-231-7777.

THE NEW AMSTERDAM. Desus.

Lawrenceville. 412-682-6414.

ONE 10 LOUNGE. DJ Goodnight, DJ Rojo. Downtown.

412-874-4582.

ROWDY BUCK. Top 40 Dance.

South Side. 412-431-2825.

RUGGER’S PUB. 80s Night w/ DJ Connor. South Side.

412-381-1330.

GROWN & SEXY II. Kevin Howard Band. Strip District.

412-728-4155.

RIVERS CASINO. Frank Cunimondo. North Side.

412-231-7777.

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412-904-3335 www.jamesstreetgastropub.com C L A S S I F I E D S

31

What to do February 18 - 24

PAID ADVERTORIAL SPONSORED BY

IN PITTSBURGH PITTSBURGH WINERY Strip District. 412-566-1000. Over 21 show. Tickets: showclix. com. 9p.m.

WEDNESDAY 18

4

You Blew It!

SMILING MOOSE South Side. 412-431-4668. All ages show. Tickets: ticketfly.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 6:30p.m.

Winter Wine Festival TRAX FARMS South Hills.

412-835-3246. Over 21 event.

Tickets: traxfarms.com. Noon.

THURSDAY 19 195

For the Tree to Drop PIERCE STUDIO, TRUST ARTS EDUCATION CENTER Downtown. Tickets: picttheatre.org/tree. Through Feb. 28.

Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra MANCHESTER CRAFTSMEN’S GUILD North Side. Tickets: mcgjazz.org. 9:30p.m.

Gaelic Storm STAGE AE North Side. All ages show. Tickets: ticketmaster. com or 800-745-3000. Doors open at 7:30p.m.

Brett Scallions Unplugged ALTAR BAR Strip District.

412-263-2877. All ages show. Tickets: ticketfly.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 8p.m.

Pittsburgh Winter Beerfest FEBRUARY 20-21 DAVID L. LAWRENCE CONVENTION CENTER

FRIDAY 20 206

BeethovenFest: The Hero HEINZ HALL Downtown.

412-392-4900. Tickets: pittsburghsymphony.org.

Through Feb. 22.

Comedian Gerry “The Human Jukebox” Grossman (As Seen on HBO) LATITUDE 360 Robinson

Twp. 412-693-5555. Tickets: latitude360.com/pittsburghpa. Through Feb. 21.

Bodiography Presents: My Journey

Midland. Tickets: lppacenter. org. Through March 1.

Pittsburgh Winter Beerfest

BYHAM THEATER Downtown.

412-456-6666. Tickets: bodiography.org. 8p.m.

Through Feb. 21.

DAVID L. LAWRENCE CONVENTION CENTER Downtown. Over 21 event.

Tickets: pittsburghbeerfest. com. Through Feb. 21.

The Who’s Tommy, In Concert

SATURDAY 21 217

MAIN STAGE THEATER

Dharma Sons

SUNDAY 22 228

PFX - The Pink Floyd Experience THE PALACE THEATRE Greensburg. 724-836-8000.

All ages show. Tickets: thepalacetheatre.org. 7p.m.

www.Q929FM.com

show. Tickets: ticketfly.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 8p.m.

MONDAY23

Cory Henry & the Funk Apostles THUNDERBIRD CAFE Lawrenceville. 412-682-0177.

Over 21 show. Tickets: greyareaprod.com. 8p.m.

TUESDAY 24 249

RuPaul’s Drag Race: Battle of the Seasons BYHAM THEATER Downtown.

412-456-6666. Tickets: trustarts.org. 8p.m.

KONGOS STAGE AE North Side. All ages show. Tickets: ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000. Doors open at 7p.m.

Murder by Death Ed Kowalczyk (of MR. SMALLS THEATRE Millvale.

Live) Throwing Copper Underground 412-821-4447. Tickets: ALTAR BAR Strip District.

412-263-2877. All ages

ticketweb.com/opusone or 866-468-3401. 8:30p.m.

YOU CAN

Now on

TAKEOVER

((( VOTE FOR SONGS )))

— GET TEXT ALERTS WHEN YOUR SONG IS COMING UP —

IT’S LIKE YOU WORK HERE AT Q92-9!

((( TELL US WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR )))

32

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

IF YOU WANT TO SEE SOMETHING KINKY, SAVE YOUR MONEY FOR HBO

LAW AND DISORDER {BY AL HOFF} From director Abderrahmane Sissako comes Timbuktu, a pointed but lyrical film depicting the frightening effects that follow the imposition of strict Islamic law in the titular North African city. Sissako presents the arrival of self-proclaimed jihadists from Libya with little sympathy, showing them chasing a gazelle across the sand with their truck (“don’t kill it; tire it”), and using folk-art sculptures for target practice.

WRITE THE WRONG

Children of the desert, in Timbuktu

CP APPROVED

The lightly plotted film unfolds in a series of vignettes, showing the men imposing harsh new laws, usually at gunpoint: demanding that women wear gloves, arresting musicians and confiscating soccer balls.

Timbuktu also shows resistance both futile and wry (a soccer game continues without the ball). And it casts light on the jihadists’ own hypocrisy (conveniently dismissed with handy “religious” explanation) and indisputable weaknesses.

Sissako’s film is beautifully shot (in nearby Mauritania), and is among this year’s nominations for Best Foreign Language picture. With similar, real-life groups such as ISIS and Boko Haram in the news, Timbuktu should resonate deeply with viewers.

The film ends as it began, with a beautiful creature — this time, a child — running in fear across the dunes. It is not necessary to kill, but simply to tire one’s prey, and in Timbuktu, these powerful, intractable newcomers will likely grind out beauty, joy and self-expression. In various languages, with subtitles. Starts Fri., Feb. 20. Harris

{BY AL HOFF}

T

AHOFF@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORTS Still time to catch up on the short films nominated for Academy Awards.

Docs: 7:30 Fri., Feb. 20, and 2 p.m. Sat., Feb. 21. Live action: 5:30 p.m. Sat., Feb. 21, and 4 p.m. Sun., Feb. 22. Animated: 8 p.m.

Sat.,, Feb. 21,, and 2 p.m.

Sun., Feb. 22.

Melwood M SScreening Room, Oakland

Me d Myon an oult M

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Sometimes a pencil is just a pencil: Dakota Johnson

HEY LAUGHED. The audience

laughed at much of the “serious” dialogue in 50 Shades of Grey. They sat patiently through pretty tame sex acts — that ice-cube thing is sooo 1980s — then laughed some more. And when the film ended, they howled, because — and you should know this upfront — the film simply stops, its meager plot unresolved.

Call it cinema interruptus, and know that further commitment (reputedly, two more films) is required.

One commitment I never made was reading E.L. James’ wildly popular eponymous book, though I’d heard plenty about this “mommy porn,” in which a virginal college student with the hilariously bad name of Anastasia Steele enters into an S&M relationship with a super-rich dominant dude named Christian Grey.

So like everybody else, I was wondering just how director Sam Taylor-Johnson (Nowhere Boy) would tackle the “edgy” material for a mainstream R-rated release.

If you want to see something kinky via a respectable medium, save your money

for HBO; there is nothing here viewers haven’t seen in a 1980s sexy thriller (butts, boobs and back-arching), except for that Apple laptop (sadly, not used in bondage play).

50 SHADES OF GREY DIRECTED BY: Sam Taylor-Johnson STARRING: Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan

And without the titillating aspect — maybe it’s an unmentioned fetish, but during the sexy scenes, Mr. Grey kept his pants on a lot — the lean and ludicrous plot is thrown into sharp relief. Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) and Grey (Jamie Dornan, from The Fall) meet cute a couple of times, including a cringey scene in the hardware store where Ana works; the dapper zillionaire orders cable ties, masking tape and rope. As you do. Then begins an increasingly tedious courtship, in which tepid sex scenes break up the somewhat more interesting bondage-contract negotiations.

I can dig Taylor-Johnson’s impulse to rescue the skeeviness of the set-up — wealthy guy emotionally and financially manipulates naïve woman into a submissive and potentially violent sexual relationship — by giving Ana some agency, and Johnson brings a welcome feistiness to the role. But the tactic misguidedly underscores the “serious” romance aspect of 50 Shades, when a more satisfying take on the material would have loaded up the camp.

How can I take seriously a wounded hero — “I’m 50 shades of fucked up!” Grey cried in anguish, and we all laughed — when he lives in what looks like a hotel lobby and can’t stop flying planes and helicopters? (His occupation seems to be simply: having a huge office.) Or dear Ana, who can’t stop putting Mr. Grey’s pencil in her mouth? Or a bondage room that looks like a fancy cigar bar, all rich wood and red drapes? Or a film that mistakes ridiculous for romantic? Look, we all know 50 Shades is a zeitgeisty piece of trash, and we’re OK wallowing in that. Set us free!

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CTRS IS CONDUCTING CLINICAL TRIALS FOR:

FILM CAPSULES CP

= CITY PAPER APPROVED

CONSTIPATION ALZHEIMER DISEASE Mild to Moderate

BIRTH CONTROL PATCH POST-MENOPAUSAL HOT FLASHES VAGINAL DRYNESS GOUT WOMEN WITH LOW SEX DESIRE HIGH CHOLESTEROL With Heart Attack or Stroke

HEAVY MENSTRUAL BLEEDING/ UTERINE FIBROIDS

CLINICAL TRIALS RESEARCH SERVICES, LLC 412-363-1900 WWW.CTRSLLC.COM - INVESTIGATORS DR. S. BERG, DR. KATZ, DR. L. DOBKIN, DR. G. WALKER, DR. KASDAN, DR. SOFFRONOFF OUR STUDIES CHANGE REGULARLY. CALL US TO SEE IF WE HAVE A STUDY THAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU.

For the Tree to Drop

By Lissa Brennan Directed by Alan Stanford

February 19-28 Downtown Series Peirce Studio Trust Arts Education Center 805 Liberty Avenue

A World Premiere, Pertinent to Black History Month This piece is a vivid and shocking reminder of the injustices of slavery. In a world where ownership of the body does not include ownership of the soul, Estella exercises one of her “little freedoms” and holds a vigil for the sake of her brother’s dignity. Set in the antebellum Old South, this compact piece tells the story of a young African-American woman who is both slave and sister.

Limited run. Limited seating.

PICTTheatre.org/Tree | 412.561.6000 | Discount CP5OFF* *Some restrictions apply

34

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

NEW THIS WEEK THE DUFF. Ari Sandel directs this comedy about a high school girl who fights back after being labeled a “DUFF,” or “Designated Ugly Fat Friend.” Starts Fri., Feb. 20.

HOT TUB TIME MACHINE 2. After their buddy is assassinated, most of the gang from Hot Tub Time Machine fire up the tub to go back in time and prevent the crime. Adam Scott, Craig Robinson and Rob Coddry star in this comedy sequel; Steve Pink directs. Starts Fri., Feb. 20.

KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE. Matthew Vaughan’s spy caper, adapted from the popular comic book, is a rather delirious send-up of oh-so-classy spies such as James Bond and those who trailed in his bespoke wake. Turns out there is a super-secret spy service hidden within a Saville Row tailor shop, and there’s a fresh wave of recruiting. So we get the Hogwartslike elimination of candidates through various tasks, though it’s clear our working-class hero, Eggsy (Taron Egerton), is the next man for the pinstripe. Counseling him is the ever-dapper, ever-droll Galahad (Colin Firth), and bedeviling them both is a naturally ridiculous super-villain (Samuel L. Jackson). It’s mostly good fun, if too long and choppy. Vaughan gave us the 2010’s super-hero re-do Kick-Ass, and once again delivers that same over-the-top, cartoonish ultraviolence. But there’s also a puppy! (Aww…) That has to be assassinated. (What?!) Kingsman would be a better film if it took the time to sort out its issues — geopolitics, class, the “gentlemanly” art of violence — in a more coherent manner. But for a bit of candy-colored “edgy” humor in the gloom of mid-winter, it does provide some mindless respite. (Al Hoff) MCFARLAND, USA. Disney + real-life story + sports + underprivileged and underestimated kids + gruff, dedicated coach = that movie you probably already saw. This latest, directed by Niki Caro, has some new paint: It’s set in the chiefly Hispanic, central California agricultural town of McFarland, and the competition is cross-country running in the 1980s. Kevin Costner plays the new coach, and a handful of unknowns play the high schoolers, who mostly escape definition.

What unique thing we learn about the teens is presented in a rather sunny manner — they spend half their day picking fruits and vegetables to support their families. This hardship gives them “bigger heart” than competitors from wealthier schools, but the film fails to ever raise the obvious, and more troubling, question amid all the flag-waving: What kind of country is OK with children picking our cheap produce? A kid that goes to school, runs competitive crosscountry and works picking cabbages shouldn’t be glossed over without comment. We can cheer for this group who literally run out of the fields, but what of those who don’t? Starts Fri., Feb. 20 (AH) TURNER. British filmmaker Mike Leigh CP MR. is perhaps best known for his ensemble domestic dramedies that double as explorations of contemporary social and political issues. So devoting nearly three hours to recounting the days of one man in 19th-century England is something of a shift. But Leigh’s profile of painter J.M.W. Turner, depicted here in his later years, finds room for some cultural critique amid the biographical.

Turner (Timothy Spall) is not wholly sympathetic — he can be prickly, cowardly,

Kingsman: The Secret Service obtuse, even exploitive — but he is often droll in his grunting, dyspeptic way, and his ill manners can be a welcome counter to the stuffy manners found within his circle of country manors and London art societies.

But Turner also finds respite living semi-incognito in the modest home of a welcoming widow in Margate.

What viewers won’t find is much plot, nor is this a bio-pic; when we meet Turner, he is an established artist, already plying his distinctive “modern” style. The tensions here are between art and commerce, beauty and ugliness, tradition and newness. The more one knows about British art history and Victorian mores, the more delight will be found in the work’s jabs, roundabout conversations and secondary characters (including other painters and Queen Victoria).

Mr. Turner What viewers will find is an immersive performance by Leigh regular Spall, and a beautiful production that is, as befits its subject, acutely aware of space and light. The attention to period detail seems quite extravagant, perfectly balancing, say, the richness of a garment with the inevitable grime it surely acquired. Starts Fri., Feb. 20. Regent Square (AH)

REPERTORY ROW HOUSE CINEMA. Romantic Classics: Breakfast at Tiffany’s (the 1961 Audrey Hepburn classic), Feb. 18-19. Harold and Maude (off-beat 1971 comedy about the romance between a teen and a senior), Feb. 18-19. Steven Spielberg Films: Jaws (the 1975 classic about a man-eating shark terrorizing a tourist beach), Feb. 20-25. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Indiana Jones chases adventure and a lost ark, in this 1981 favorite), Feb. 20-22 and Feb. 24-26. Saving Private Ryan (1998 drama set on the battlefield in World War II), Feb. 20-24 and Feb. 26. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (aliens visit Earth and send out weird

Girlhood

(2014) - 2/18 @ 7:30pm - Powerfully acted and smartly scripted, Girlhood offers a fresh perspective on the power of friendship. Directed by Céline Sciamma.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------Razor Days - - - - - -Party - - - - -Massacre --------------------------Slumber - - - -A- Space - - - - - Odyssey ---------------------------2001: - - -Last: - - - -Naruto - - - - - The- - - -Movie ---------------------The -------------------------------------Rocky Horror Picture Show - - - - - - - -Awards - - - - - -Party -----------------------Hollywood

blogh.pghcitypaper.com

Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - 2/19 @ 7:30pm Wes Anderson directs a star studded cast in a film that has received multiple Oscar nominations.

- 2/20 @ 7:00pm - Pittsburgh-filmed thriller about three women facing the violence of their past.

Work yourself into a lather.

Rinse. Repeat.

(1982) - 2/20 @ 10:00pm, 2/24 @ 7:30pm - An underrated slasher gem, written by feminist activist Rita Mae Brown and directed by Amy Holden Jones.

(1968) - 2/21 @ 3pm, 2/23 @ 7:30pm, 2/25 @ 7:30pm - One of the most influential sci-fi films of all time. Directed by Stanley Kubrick.

(2014) - 2/21 @ 7:00pm, 2/22 @ 2:00pm - The final chapter of Naruto’s story unfolds in this film. $15 admission.

- 2/21 @ Midnight Live shadowcast, music, mayhem, and fun!

- 2/22 @ 7:00pm Join us for the Academy Awards on the big screen!

Macfarland, USA musical signals in this 1977 film), Feb. 20-23 and Feb. 25. Call or see website for times and complete listings. 4115 Butler St., Lawrenceville. $5-9.

412-904-3225 or www.rowhousecinema.com NOIRE DE … LA (BLACK GIRL). Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene’s debut 1966 feature — the first feature film produced in sub-Saharan Africa — is a drama rooted in the myth of decolonization.

A young Senegalese maid travels to France with her employers, but finds her status there reduced to simply “the black girl.” In French, with subtitles.

6 p.m. Fri., Feb. 20. Carnegie Library, 7101 Hamilton Ave., Homewood. Suggested donation: $2. www. sembenefilmfestival.org RAZOR DAYS. This locally produced 2012 thriller from Mike Watt features three women (Amy Lynn Best, Bette Cassatt, Debbie Rochon) facing the violence of their past. 7 p.m. Fri., Feb. 20. Hollywood SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE. From the classic period of slasher films comes this 1982 entry about — well, a house full of scantily clad women and a homicidal maniac toting a power drill on the loose.

Amy Holden Jones directs a script by feminist author Rita Mae Brown. 10 p.m. Fri., Feb. 20, and 7:30 p.m.

Tue., Feb. 24. Hollywood A SPACE ODYSSEY. This beautifully CP 2001: filmed, philosophical space drama dramatically altered the genre of science fiction, inspired plenty of post-screening discussions about its cryptic sequences and made a “star” out of a red-eyed computer named HAL. The 1968 film continues a yearlong celebration of Stanley Kubrick films. 3 p.m.

Sat., Feb. 21; 7:30 p.m. Mon. Feb. 23; and 7:30 p.m.

Wed., Feb. 25. Hollywood FREEDOM SUMMER. Stanley Nelson’s recent documentary looks at the few weeks during 1964 during which activists and student volunteers joined African Americans in Mississippi in an effort to end segregation. 6 p.m. Sat., Feb. 21. Carnegie Library, 7101 Hamilton Ave., Homewood. Suggested donation: $2. www.sembenefilmfestival.org THE POWER OF ONE VOICE. Rachel Carson is probably the 20th century’s most well-known environmentalist. But as this new, 51-minute documentary exploring her legacy argues, the radicalism of her insight in books like Silent Spring remains widely unappreciated. In interviews with everyone from Roger Christie, Carson’s adopted son, to her biographer, Linda Lear, locally based filmmaker Mark Dixon portrays a biologist determined to make a case for nature to a post-war society convinced of better living through chemistry, even when that chemistry gave us DDT. 7 p.m. Sat., Feb. 21.

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Eddy Theater, Chatham University, Shadyside. $15 (free with student ID). www.powerofonevoicefilm. com (Bill O’Driscoll)

Now – February 22 Thursday - Saturday 7:30PM Saturday & Sunday Matinees at 3PM

THE LAST: NARUTO THE MOVIE. In this final chapter of Naruto’s story, Earth is facing danger from a too-close moon, and there is a kidnapping.

Tsuneo Kobayashi directs this new anime adapted from Masashi Kishimoto’s manga. In Japanese, with subtitles. 7 p.m. Sat., Feb. 21, and 2 p.m. Sun., Feb. 22.

Hollywood. $15 REGENERATION. Phillip Montgomery’s 2010 documentary looks at the pervasive cynicism and disconnect within the millennial generation. He offers both an analysis of how larger societal forces help foster apathy, and what positive change can come from increased involvement. Screens as part of Duquesne University’s Human Rights Film Festival, and to be followed by a panel discussion.

7 p.m. Mon.., Feb. 23. College Hall (Room 105), 600 Forbes Ave., Uptown. 412-396-6415 or www. duq.edu. Free TO CATCH A THIEF. Alfred Hitchcock’s lush 1955 Technicolor film is the sort of dreamily romantic caper that makes crime look like an amusing sideline of the rich and good-looking.

Cary Grant stars as the presumably retired cat burglar who steps in to help solve a series of jewel heists among the elite of Monte Carlo. An American socialite (Grace Kelly) is the beneficiary of his detecting — and romancing — skills. 7:30 p.m.

Wed., Feb. 25. AMC Loews. $5 (AH)

CP

(No Matinee on February 22)

Falk School Auditorium University of Pittsburgh 4060 Allequippa Street (Oakland) Pittsburgh, Pa 15261 PARKING AT VA GARAGE.

Tickets: $15, $20 For tickets call (412) 431-0773, visit Dorsey’s Records or Stedeford’s or newhorizontheater@yahoo.com For more information visit newhorizontheater.org

Fascinating and dramatically compelling, this eloquent play depicts the supposed meeting of two of the most important men of modern times: Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Differing in their philosophies, but alike in their mutual respect, the two men debate their varying approaches to the same grave social problems, both prepared to die for their beliefs.

This production is funded in part by grants from Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh Program, a partnership of The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments, Allegheny Regional Asset District, Chris Moore Communications, Inc., The Heinz Endowments, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts/Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council.

SANDY WILSON’S

ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL. Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1974 drama depicts tensions that arise because of an unlikely romance between a German woman in her 60s and a much younger immigrant worker from Morocco. 8 p.m. Wed., Feb. 25. Melwood. $2

THE BOY FRIEND

AUGUST WILSON: THE GROUND ON WHICH I STAND. This new documentary profile of the Pittsburgh playwright (Fences, The Piano Lesson) is a co-production of PBS American Masters series and WQED. Tonight’s preview will be followed by a discussion. 6:15 p.m. (doors at 5:30). Thu., Feb. 26.

Hollywood. Free

DIRECTED BY JACK ALLISON

FEBRUARY 27- MARCH 1 AND MARCH 12-15

THE INVISIBLE PHOTOGRAPHY, PART V: SUBATOMIC. As part of the Carnegie’s Hillman Photography Initiative, part five of The Invisible Photography documentary screens. This segment looks at how photographic techniques can help visualize the findings of advanced particle physics.

6:30 p.m. Thu., Feb. 26. Carnegie Museum of Art, Oakland. $10 in advance; $15 at door (includes drink). www. cmoa.org

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TICKETS: PITTSBURGHPLAYHOUSE.COM OR 412.392.8000 +

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[DANCE]

“EVERYTHING THE ALL / THE ALL IS EVERYTHING”

LAST DANCE {BY STEVE SUCATO}

INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

BODIOGRAPHY performs MY JOURNEY 8 p.m. Fri., Feb. 20, and 8 p.m. Sat., Feb. 21. Byham Theater, 101 Sixth St., Downtown. $20.75-55.75. 412-456-6666 or www.trustarts.org

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[STAGE]

LOST WORLDS Maria Caruso {PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIC ROSÉ}

After 14 years as Bodiography Contemporary Ballet’s most prominent and compelling dancer, Mario Caruso is retiring as a performer with her company. She will take her final bows in the Bodiography program My Journey, Feb. 20 and 21, at the Byham Theater.

A fixture on the Pittsburgh dance scene, Caruso will carry on as director/ choreographer of the company and school she founded in 2000, which celebrates dancers with non-stereotypical ballet bodies.

“My passion for dancing is different now,” says Caruso, 34. “Dance is at the core of who I am. I am just focusing that in other areas outside of me performing.”

Her decision to stop performing with Bodiography came after an artistic sabbatical in which, she says, she reassessed her career goals and goals for Bodiography.

Always one to have her hand in a number of projects, Caruso — who recently married — says she will devote her attentions to higher education as chair of the Performing Arts Department at La Roche College, and to the movement-therapy system she developed.

She’ll still work to advance Bodiography’s role in serving the Pittsburgh community through dance. And she plans to start a new area arts magazine.

My Journey represents not just a farewell, but also a return to Caruso and company’s roots in rock ballet. She says that’s part of Bodiography’s new programming balance that will include follow-ups to her signature “medical” ballets — like 2011’s Heart (Function vs Emotion) and last year’s Left Leg, Right Brain — and works by other choreographers.

My Journey includes three new works.

It opens with Caruso’s eight-minute contemporary ballet pas de deux “Light

by Love,” set to music by Philip Glass, performed live by pianist/composer Theo Teris. Then an all-female cast on pointe takes the stage for Caruso’s latest rock ballet, Follow the Light. The 50-minute classically based ballet is a non-narrative movement tapestry reacting to Coldplay’s music. It is set to songs including hits “Yellow,” “Clocks” and “Viva la Vida.”

Caruso’s 35-minute solo “My Journey (Reflections, Perceptions, and Misconceptions)” rounds out the program.

Danced to music from British trio London Grammar’s 2013 debut album, If You Wait, the solo looks at Caruso’s life and career through monologue and dance, as she revisits past works and career milestones.

“I’m dancing and verbalizing my memoirs,” says Caruso.

REGAINED {BY BILL O’DRISCOLL}

A

{PHOTO BY HEATHER MULL}

Alexis Gideon and his puppet of 12th-century mystic Hildegard von Bingen, a character in his video opera “The Crumbling”

LEXIS GIDEON grew up in Manhat-

tan, playing guitar in the All City Jazz band and laying the groundwork for his career as a composer and musician. But Gideon traces his interest in visual art to childhood visits to the Whitney Museum of American Art. The museum housed “Calder’s Circus,” Alexander Calder’s toy theater peopled with a ringmaster, trapeze artist, lion, lion-tamer and more, all made of wire, wood and metal — a dozen tiny mechanical puppets.

The tabletop world of bent-wire beings moved young Gideon. “It was like looking at a memory I didn’t have,” he says. “A lost world.”

Now Gideon creates lost worlds himself. The internationally known, Pittsburgh-based artist’s fourth video opera, “The Crumbling,” gets its world premiere this week at the New Hazlett Theater.

The 21-minute show features handmade, stop-action-animated figures enacting a darkly surreal story projected onscreen while Gideon provides most of the eclectic soundtrack live. “It’s unlike anything I’ve

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

seen,” says Rene Conrad, executive director of the New Hazlett.

Gideon, 34, attended Wesleyan University, studying under famed avant-garde musician Anthony Braxton. He later spent several years as a touring musician. In 2008, Gideon made the first of his “Video Musics” series of short animated films based on literary or folk sources. “Video Musics II: Sun Wu-Kong” (2010), for instance, was based

THE CRUMBLING 8 p.m. Fri., Feb. 20, and 8 p.m. Sat., Feb. 21.

New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. $12-15. 412-320-4610 or www.newhazletttheater.org

on an epic 16th-century Chinese novel.

“Floating Oceans” (2012) was inspired by the works of Irish writer Lord Dunsany and “the time and dream experiments of the Irish physicist John William Dunne.”

Gideon, a cinephile, had long wanted to combine visuals and narrative with his music. Plus, adding disciplines gave him more

material to work with — more opportunities to blend genre. “All of my work was about trying to take disparate things and make them a unified personal voice that makes sense,” Gideon says.

On “Floating Oceans,” his collaborators included writer Jacob Rubin and Cynthia Star, an artist whose credits include bigbudget animated features Coraline and Paranorman. (Both also contributed to “The Crumbling.”) Gideon got bookings to perform “Floating Oceans” around the country and overseas, from the New Museum of Contemporary Art, in Manhattan — where his work was paired with that of famed South African artist and animator William Kentridge — to Berlin’s HBC Gallery. And last year, “Floating Oceans” was featured on Vdrome, a prestigious online showcase for art videos based in Milan, Italy. In an email, Vdrome’s Andrea Lissoni said she and her colleagues “all agreed about [the video’s] intensity, complexity and, in the end, authenticity.”

In 2013, Gideon moved from Portland to Pittsburgh. He had performed all three

Video Musics here, at venues ranging from Lili Coffee Shop to the Carnegie Museum of Art’s International Apartment Space. Like many newcomers, he was drawn by Pittsburgh’s cost of living and arts community.

“He’s really becoming a force in the contemporary art world. It’s pretty incredible that he decided to live here,” says Casey Droege, an Art Institute of Pittsburgh professor who’s known Gideon since his Chicago days and who worked on costume fabrication for “The Crumbling.”

Another draw, Gideon says, was the funding available here for artists. Indeed, after he moved here, he and the New Hazlett successfully applied for a $35,000 Investing in Professional Artists grant, awarded jointly by the Heinz Endowment and the Pittsburgh Foundation. The funds covered the year-long production of “The Crumbling” (stop-action being a painstaking trade). His workspace, in the theater’s basement, was a short walk from his North Side home.

“The Crumbling” is set in a city whose buildings are mysteriously disintegrating.

Its protagonist is an unassuming apprentice librarian who, seeking to save her n Watch a ith town, has a series of surw terview in real encounters with ideon Alexis Gww. w historical figures who at paper pghcity explicate cabalism, al.com chemy and other arcane philosophies. Gideon says a key theme is the loss of the mystical power of language in our culture.

The characters are all 11-inch-tall polymer clay figurines molded on armature wire. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, the visuals — a desert castle, a lion eating the sun — are often stunning.

Accompanying the film, Gideon plays electric guitar and keyboards, activating electronic beats and singing or rapping all the characters’ voices in his surprisingly deep, gravelly voice. The lyrics are dense with cryptic information. As the hermetic philosopher Hermes Trismegistus informs the librarian: “Everything the All / The All is Everything / Truth like metals malleable / Pendulum’s infallible / Rhythmic shifts lift vibrations to higher elevations.”

The performance’s 21-minute running time will be augmented with a post-show Q&A with Gideon and a lobby exhibition incorporating figurines from the film and related photos. “The Crumbling” is already booked at museums in Cleveland, Boston, San Francisco and Chicago.

Despite its brevity, Gideon acknowledges that “The Crumbling” is a lot to absorb.

But he enjoys challenging audiences: “I want it to kind of wash over the viewers in a way that feels like a dream.”

DR IS C OLL@ PGHC ITY PAP ER.CO M

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[ART]

RETROSPECTION

YOU’LL HAVE THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE LIFE.

{BY JAMES LANIGAN}

Revival, a new show by Matt Hunter at 3G Gallery, showcases 34 new works by the painter, who lives in the West End and regularly has shows throughout Pittsburgh’s East End. Hunter, a native Pittsburgher, studied at the Pratt Institute in New York before returning here 10 years ago.

For much of that decade, Hunter has worked as an artist, and the inspiration for Revival was his own comparing-andcontrasting with his work from the start of that time period. The forms and themes he explores here are ones he last explored when he was in New York. The older work isn’t part of the show, although it would’ve been interesting to see both side by side.

Art by Matt Hunter

Hunter had an early interest in comic books, and that stylistic influence is visible in his sketches and paintings. You can imagine it’s where he gets his knack for detail. Still, many of the paintings in Revival come together through a combination of that precision of imagery and a more abstract use of color and brushwork.

For instance, part of the retrospective that inspired the show involves Hunter’s fondness and appreciation for Pittsburgh, and many of these pieces employ as their foundation a recognizable part of the city: Step back and a swarm of sharply angled strokes becomes the city skyline, or a fountain you might recall from Baum Boulevard. But the images are surrounded by, and completed with, billowy, half-cloudhalf-wave shapes in blue, black, white and yellow. They’re fluffy and pleasant, but not without a sense of turbulence.

Hunter says the strokes and colors in the series were meditative for him.

Chronicling the passage of time was an important part of what he set out to do, and many paintings contain a solitary number, as if to suggest the idea of a ticking clock. He says the work came to feel like a form of journaling for him.

3G Gallery is a small space on the ground floor of the Westin Convention Center hotel. You can see more of Hunter’s work by following him on Instagram @jackingyourkicks

APRIL 7-12 • BENEDUM CENTER TRUSTARTS.ORG • BOX OFFICE AT THEATER SQUARE 412-456-4800 • GROUPS 10+ TICKETS 412-471-6930

INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

REVIVAL continues through Feb. 28.

3G Gallery, 1001 Liberty Ave. (Westin Convention Center), Downtown.

412-288-4320 +

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US.DirtyDancingOnTour.com PNC Broadway Across America-Pittsburgh is a presentation of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Symphony and Broadway Across America.

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[PLAY REVIEWS]

A BIT SKETCHY {BY TED HOOVER}

HAS IT REALLY been 11 years since Pitts-

burgh’s theatrical madman (and Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Co.’s founder and artistic director) Mark Clayton Southers launched the Theater Festival in Black and White?

The goal was/is to break down the pervasive racial lines in Pittsburgh theater. The vehicle is a festival of one-act plays, half written by local white playwrights and directed by black directors, and the other half vice versa.

Over the years, the event has expanded and contracted in size and sometimes soared and sometimes sank in regards to artistic achievement. But every year, it has remained vital Pittsburgh-theater viewing.

This year, there’s a total of eight plays presented in two separate evening-length programs, running in repertory. You’ll ďŹ nd a report on Program B below, but ďŹ rst consider Program A. The plays include The Code, written by Alexis Page and directed by John Gresh; Sublet: A Futuristic Real-Estate Comedy, by John Reoli, directed by Eric A. Smith; Family Counts, by Michael A. Moats, directed by Joseph Martinez; and Roar of

{PHOTO COURTESY OF TENE CROOM}

From left to right: Renee Ruzzi-Kern and Cherish Morgan in “A Journey to Love,� part of Pittsburgh Playwrights’ Theater Festival in Black and White

the Crowd, by Matt Henderson, directed by Vanessa German.

Given the reasoning behind the festival, you’d expect a focus on plays examining racial issues, and that’s something I’ve

March 2015 Events 2:00PM /Sunday /February 22 - The Red Pencil with Young Reader Author Andrea Pinkney $10 for adults, $5 for kids, free for children 3 and under.

For tickets call 412.622.8866.

7:00PM/ Friday / February 27 - Freedom House Ambulance Service Documentary Doors open at 6:30 Film starts at 7:00PM - Tickets: Pay What You Can 9:30AM/ Saturday / February 28- Celebrating the Tuskegee Airmen A day-long event including: Workshop aT !- s 0rogram at 11:30 AM followed by a Social Hour and Exhibit Tickets: Pay What You Can For Info on events at the Kaufmann Center go to:

www.kaufmanncenter.org or hillhouse.org *UST BLOCKS FROM #ONSOL #ENTER s #ENTRE !VE 0ITTSBURGH 0!

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

particularly enjoyed about the festival in the past. But this year there’s little such examination. A notable exception is The Code, which ings itself headlong into Michael Brown/Eric Garner territory when a goodol’-boy police ofďŹ cer (Paul Stockhausen, in a chilling performance) shoots and kills a young African-American man. His white rookie partner, married to a black woman, is now forced to make a life-altering decision. It’s a bit formulaic, but compelling — with strong performances by Dylan Baughman and Shenita Williams, as the married couple, and Brenda Marks and Stern Herd.

Sublet’s a cute sketch about Manhattan’s insane real-estate market, though I’m not sure how well it plays outside of New York. The remaining two skits are done in by some odd artistic choices: Family Counts is really an extended PSA about prostate examinations, but presented with an illogical framing device that stops it from going anywhere. Roar chugs along nicely, with ďŹ ne work by Patricia Cena Fuchel and Harrison Stengle, and then in the ďŹ nal two minutes something very bizarre happens; I can’t give it away, but it completely demolishes the play. Don’t know who thought it up, but they need to unthink it.

Joanna Lowe; Emma Wagner’s No Late Seating, directed by Sharnese Thomas; and Brian Pope’s Paper Trail, directed by Abby Kim. If I have a caveat about the festival, it’s that the programs are really more a collection of skits and sketches than plays. That’s not speciďŹ c to the Black and White Festival, by the way; most outings of this nature typically offer similar fare. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you (or maybe just me) are left wishing for something with a bit more chew.

Of the eight pieces on view this year, six are skits: the aforementioned three in Program A, and B’s opener, Terms. It’s a very short sketch in a futuristic colony where the required and regulated mating duties gets ummoxed when the man turns out to be the husband of the brother of the lesbian he’s supposed to, um, fertilize. Beth Glick and Dave Bishaha are fun, and if you blink you’ll miss it.

No Late Seating is a brief bit of wackiness about ushers in a music hall which is so unfettered by reality that the play’s incredulity works against the humor. Journey to Love is a spoken-word piece for four women railing against a man they’ve all loved. Dominique Briggs, Christine Marie, Renee Kern and Cherish Morgan work hard to animate this wordy (by design) piece.

THEATER FESTIVAL IN BLACK AND WHITE continues through Feb. 28. 937 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $15-20. 412-687-4686 or www.pghplaywrights.com

Only Paper Trail stands out as an actual play, although one in miniature. (A’s The Code is ďŹ rst runner-up.) Here a young man, movingly played by Kevin H. Moore, remembers his friendship with a young woman (in a complex portrayal by Bri Feingold) who ultimately dies of cancer. It’s a deeply felt work; the poetry of the language is a continuing surprise; and playwright Pope consistently subverts clichĂŠ and feel-good melodrama. Without question it’s my favorite piece this year of this important Pittsburgh theatrical tradition.

MOST OF THE ENTRIES ARE REALLY MORE SKETCHES THAN PLAYS.

But wait, there’s more! The festival’s Program B comprises Terms of Contract, written by Paul Kruse, directed by Adil Mansoor; Marla Carter’s A Journey to Love, directed by

I N F O@ P G H C I T Y PA P E R. C OM

WELL MET {BY COLETTE NEWBY}

YOU SHOULD GO see New Horizon Theater’s production of Jeff Stetson’s The Meeting. The show, directed by Eileen J.

Morris, depicts an imagined encounter between Martin Luther King Jr. (played

by Michael Green) and Malcolm X (Art Terry). It is a good script, realized by good actors, bearing more relevance today than ever. You’ll forgive the simplicity of my review — the show is staged at an elementary school, and I’m ashing back to my second-grade days.

{BY MICHELLE PILECKI}

IT IS A GOOD SCRIPT, REALIZED

BY GOOD ACTORS, AND MORE RELEVANT THAN EVER.

Jose Perez IV and Alexa Moore in The Dog in the Manger, at Pitt Stages {PHOTO COURTESY OF VINCENT NOE}

continues through Sun., Feb. 22.

New Horizon Theater at Falk School, 4060 Allequippa St., Oakland. $15-20.

412-431-0773 or newhorizontheater.org

INFO@ PGHC ITY PAP ER.CO M

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University of Pittsburgh Stages’ production of the Elizabethan-era The Dog in the Manger ably draws on its resources and minimizes the shortcomings inherent in undergraduate theater. The 1618 comedy by FĂŠlix Lope de Vega (a.k.a. “Spain’s Shakespeare,â€? though much more prolific) requires a large cast, multiple scenes and lots of energy.

Translated and adapted (probably very freely) from de Vega’s El perro del Hortelano by David Johnston for London’s Shakespeare Theatre Co.’s 2009 season, Dog in the Manger overflows with delicious puns and spot-on hilarity. Director Dennis Schebetta takes this serio-comic look at the restrictions of class structure and plays it for pure farce — with plenty of physical humor. Let’s give a hand to voice and movement coach Kimberly Griffin, choreographer Cassidy Davis and fight choreographer Diego Vilada.

The Brits underwrite high-quality professional companies to mount these huge productions. On these shores, university theater departments are more able than Equity houses to provide a large cast. Alas, most roles of 17th-century plays are for men. Historically, Pitt has jumped that hurdle by dressing female students in drag for various minor male characters. Schebetta goes further, casting the talented Daria Sullivan as the key rapscallion and audacious dude servant to Manger’s hero. I envied as well as enjoyed her romp as Tristan.

This is not to knock the leading lady, Alexa Moore, as the strong-willed and utterly gorgeous Diana, an aristocrat struggling with honor and her disreputable attraction for (gasp!) a mere commoner (shock!). And he’s her servant (scandal!).

As the target/victim of the countess’ “affections,â€? JosĂŠ PĂŠrez IV blends near-acrobatic physicality with a realistic and affecting portrayal of Theodoro’s confusion and succumber.

Visually, think frothy eye-pleasure, not a rigid period look. Cully Long’s set design is like a watercolor that suggests the grandeur of palaces or the serenity of a church.

Karen Gilmer’s sumptuous costumes go beyond the spectrum with day-glo colors.

I loved how the visual clash of the pastel ensemble of unsuitable suitor Ricardo (Ben McClymont) with the vibrant colors of Diana’s gown underlined her rejection.

I N F O @PGH C IT YPAPE R . C O M

THE DOG IN THE MANGER continues through Sun., Feb. 22. Charity Randall Theatre, Stephen Foster Memorial, 4301 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $12-25 (free for high school students). 412-624-7529 or www.play.pitt.edu +

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TIEMPO

PRIZE DOG

THE MEETING

I say this not to compare the show to a school production — actually, it’s pretty neat to see the lights go up in a school auditorium and watch television-caliber actors step forward. No, I simply want to remind you that Kuntu Repertory closed; last year the August Wilson Center nearly followed suit; and New Horizons recently had to stage a musical with MIDI instrumentation, of all the humiliations. Black-owned art in this city is struggling, and in a city with an important history of black writers and artists, that’s a travesty. Even if this show sucked, I’d be yelling at you to go to it, because we have fallen shamefully far from the heyday of the Pittsburgh Courier.

Fortunately, the show doesn’t suck — and you should see it because you’ll enjoy it.

If watching Selma in theaters lit a ďŹ re in you to learn more about King, The Meeting (ďŹ rst staged in 1987) is a superlative next step, expanding on King’s perspective and contrasting him with his contemporary, Malcolm X, whose life and work tend to be glossed over in the schools. Perhaps because of this, the show centers on Malcolm — providing him with a bodyguard character (Jonathan Berry) to help esh out his less-told story. Even the lighting follow his movements, rather than King’s.

I appreciated that the production took both Malcolm’s and King’s philosophies seriously. Praising the script as fair and not preachy sounds milquetoasty, but at a time when everybody wants to misappropriate King’s ideals, it was extremely heartening.

The Meeting has the good sense not to drown in gravitas — there is laughter and tension in equal turn — and it raises many questions worth thinking about, especially today. I give it my strongest recommendation.

C O H E N

[PLAY REVIEW]

LIBRE

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Between February 26, 28, March 1 George R. White Studio, Pittsburgh Opera | 2425 Liberty Avenue Tickets attacktheatre.showclix.com

For more information www.attacktheatre.com or 412.281.3305

Attack Theatre’s Season 20 is made possible in part by: The McKinney Charitable Foundation of the PNC Charitable Trusts

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FOR THE WEEK OF

02.1902.26.15

FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO SUBMIT LISTINGS AND PRESS RELEASES, CALL 412.316.3342 X161.

SPOTLIGHT of the WEEK

{ART}

{PHOTO COURTESY OF JENNIFER TAYLOR}

We will keep you warm!

+ SAT., FEB. 21

+ THU., FEB. 19 {ART}

NEW Winter Hours: THURSDAY 5PM-2AM Bachata Night with DJ Bobby D

FRIDAY 4PM-2AM

Happy Hour 4-6PM DJ starts at 9:30PM 9:30PM

SATURDAY 5PM-2AM DJ starts at 9:30PM

*Email info@perlepgh for all bottle service and private party inquiries

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“Our forest is in progress, getting painted with Chinese ink,” Jennifer Wen Ma wrote last week, on her Facebook page, about her new public artwork in Market Square.

The Chinese-born, U.S.based artist’s work has been exhibited from Taipei to the Guggenheim, and she was chief designer of the visual and special effects at the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The new work, a commission, is the second art installation in the Market Square Public Art Program, a project of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership and the city’s Public Art Division. (The first was last year’s interactive sound-and-projected light installation Congregation.)

Wen Ma’s “forest,” an installation, formally opens today. Bill O’Driscoll Downtown. Free. www. downtownpittsburgh.com

{ART} There’s a new gallery in Shadyside, but better come quick: This pop-up venture showcasing work by Carnegie Mellon University masters-offine-art students is opening new shows weekly only for another month. Tonight, Gallery 808 features sculpture and installation by Moses Williams; cross-disciplinary

FEB. 25 Silk Road Ensemble

work by Ada Scarlett-Hopper; and Tucker Marder’s “panoply of fragile global-warming jokes on ice.” Each week, a reception is followed by a Q&A led by a guest critic; this week, that’s New York City-based artist Tyler McPhee.

The next new show at Gallery 808 opens Feb. 26. BO Reception: 5 p.m. Q&A: 6:30-9:30 p.m. 808 Ivy St., Shadyside. Free. RSVP at www.facebook.com/ CMUSchoolofARt.

In its exhibition opening today, Impressionist to Modernist: Masterworks of Early Photography, the Frick Art & Historical Center displays more than 70 works from an international group of artists.

Ranging from the 1880s through the 1930s, the show captures the progression from painterly, impressionist work to Modernist photography. The touring show, organized by art2art Circulating Exhibition, features artwork from Gertrude Käsebier, Clarence White, Edward Steichen, Paul Strand and, most prominently, Alfred Stieglitz, husband of Georgia O’Keefe. Zacchiaus McKee 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Exhibit continues through April 19.

7227 Reynolds St., Point Breeze. Free. 412-371-0600 or www.thefrickpittsburgh.org

{MUSIC} In 1634, Rome’s Villa Borghese played host to a now-legendary recital by trumpeter

FEB. 19 Jennifer Wen Ma

{PHOTO COURTESY OF SUELLEN FITZSIMMONS}

sp otlight

{OPERA} Traditional and modern values collide in Sumeida’s Song, a Pittsburgh-premiere production

by Pittsburgh Opera. The 2013 work by Arab-American composer Mohammed Fairouz (based on Tawfiq al-Hakim’s play Song of Death) is set in a peasant village in Upper Egypt.

The cast of Pittsburgh Opera resident artists includes Laurel Semerdjian as Asakir, the matriarch desperate for her educated son to avenge his father’s long-ago murder. The four performances at Opera headquarters, in the Strip District, are sung in English.

The first show is tonight. BO 8 p.m. Show continues through March 1. 2425 Liberty Ave., Strip District. $40. 412-281-0912 or www.pittsburghopera.org

panel discussion with top local musicians Roger Humphries, Dwayne Dolphin, Tony Campbell and more, led by jazz DJ Bob Studebaker.

Then comes two hours of live music, plus food and drinks available for purchase.

BO 8 p.m. 422 Foreland St., North Side. $35-60. info@steeltownjazz.com

+ SUN., FEB. 22 {WORDS} “As I watched the struggles in Darfur and Sudan unfold, I felt compelled to present the horrific side of war to young readers in a way that they could understand,” New York Times bestselling author Andrea Davis Pinkney says about her children’s book The Red Pencil.

The book follows a refugee girl who is given a red pencil, which allows her to express her grief. In a Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures Kids and Teens event, Pinkney visits the Hill House Kaufmann Center to read from and sign copies of her book today. ZM 2:30 p.m.

1835 Centre Ave., Hill District. $5-10; free for children under 3. 412-622-8866 or www.pittsburghlectures.org {PHOTO COURTESY OF CHRISTINE SIMMONS}

Girolamo Fantini and organist every month through June Girolamo Frescobaldi, two of at James Street Gastropub the first great virtuosi. Tonight, & Speakeasy’s second-floor Pittsburgh hosts trumpet and ballroom. Tonight’s program harpsichord duo Gabriel’s includes a screening of the Voice, paying homage to video “Billy Strayhorn — Steel Fantini and Frescobaldi City Grooves,” followed by a through a selection of works by the Italian instrumentalists.

The Renaissance & Baroque Society of Pittsburgh presents the program Dawn of Virtuosity, with trumpeter Kris Kwapis, and harpsichordist Mahan FEB. 22 Esfahani. The duo, Andrea which formed in Davis 2013, plays tonight in Oakland. ZM Pinkney 8 p.m. Synod Hall, 125 N. Craig St., Oakland. $10-35. 412-361-2048 or www.rbsp.org

+ MON., FEB. 23 {TALK} With her 1994 book Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary

FEB. 21 Impressionist to Modernist

Steeltown Jazz Storytellers is a new series celebrating Pittsburgh’s rich jazz heritage with music, discussion, films and socializing. The series runs on the third Saturday of

Art by Gertrude Käsebier +

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+ TUE., FEB. 24 {TALK} Since the third century BCE, handscrolls have been a way of writing text and mounting artwork in China. New Yorkbased, Chinese-born artist Yun-Fei Ji uses the scroll to address social change. As part of Carnegie Mellon School of Art’s lecture series, Ji visits this evening to speak about his practice and the state of art today. Famously incorporating themes of mass displacement and environmental cataclysm, his works have been exhibited across the U.S. and Europe. ZM 5 p.m. Kresge Theater, CMU campus, Oakland. Free. 412268-2409 or www.cmu.edu/art

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America, Tricia Rose pioneered the study of hip hop as a cultural phenomenon. In her 2008 book The Hip Hop Wars, she argued that hip hop’s influence on society was bigger than ever.

Rose, a professor of Africana studies at Brown University, speaks today as part of the University of Pittsburgh’s Black History Month programming.

Her free lecture is slyly titled “Fighting Racism in a ColorBlind Era.” BO 5:30 p.m.

Alumni Hall (seventh floor), 4227 Fifth Ave., Oakland. Free. www.news.pitt.edu

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{PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID BACHMAN}

In the antebellum South, a slave keeps running away. His owner has him hanged, and leaves the body displayed. The slave’s sister, Estella, wants to bury her brother. For the Tree to Drop began as local playwright Lissa Brennan adapting Antigone, then became its own work. The debut production is PICT Classic’s season-opener, and also the premiere of the troupe’s Downtown Series. The play has 11 performances starting Feb. 19 at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Trust Arts Education Center. PICT artistic director Alan Stanford directs a skilled cast that includes Siovhan Christensen, as Estella, alongside David Whalen, Karen Baum, Linda Haston and Justin Lonesome. Brennan herself is familiar as an actor on local stages, including PICT’s, and founded Dog & Pony Show Theatricals.

While she’s also an experienced playwright, Tree (its title drawn from the song “Strange Fruit”) marks the first time a full-length play of hers has been produced by a company not her own. The play was developed through a 2013 staged reading at Bricolage Productions. Brennan (also a frequent contributor to CP’s visual-art coverage) says that to her, Tree is a play about status and power — specifically, “resistance in the face of power, the powerless refusing to be controlled by the powerful.” Bill O’Driscoll Thu., Feb. 19-28. Trust Arts Education Center, 805 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $40-48. 412-561-6000 or www.picttheatre.org

TV’s long-running RuPaul’s Drag Race brings its live show, Battle of the Seasons, to the Byham Theater. The stars from the small screen bring local flavor, with Pittsburgh-based Sharon Needles and formerly Pittsburgh-based Alaska 5000 joining a line-up including BenDeLaCreme, Courtney Act and Ivy Winters, plus special guest Cary NoKey. Tickets went fast for this evening of circus

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tricks, lip-syncs, musical numbers and more. But at press time, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust web site said that limited-view seats remain, and that more tickets might become available. BO 8 p.m.

101 Sixth St., Downtown. $30-75. 412-456-6666 or www.trustarts.org

+ WED., FEB. 25 {MUSIC} Yo-Yo Ma’s 75 albums have garnered him 15 Grammys and world acclaim as one of the best cellists of all time. Tonight, the Silk Road Ensemble, a music collective Ma founded, makes its Heinz Hall

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debut. The group blends instrumentation and vocal styles from Eastern and Western traditions. Over the years, it has performed pieces ranging from traditional Chinese music to popular large-orchestra compositions

by Strauss. With performers and composers from more than 20 countries, the ensemble uses instruments including a Chinese shortneck lute and a Japanese bamboo flute. The show is presented by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, which is not part of this performance.

ZM 7:30 p.m. 600 Penn Ave., Downtown. $55150. 412-392-4900 or www. pittsburghsymphony.org

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TO SUBMIT A LISTING: HTTP://PGHCITYPAPER.COM/HAPPENINGS 412.316.3388 (FAX) + 412.316.3342 X161 (PHONE)

The first hit is free.

Actually, so are all the others.

THEATER ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Following Alice’s adventures through Wonderland. Evening performances led by child cast & matinees led by adult cast.

Matinees included an additional tea party. Fri, Sat, 7:30 p.m. and Sun, 2 p.m. Thru March 1.

Comtra Theatre, Cranberry.

724-773-9896.

DOG IN THE MANGER. A new translation of Lope de Vega’s romantic comedy of class & desire. Tue-Sat, 8 p.m. & Sun, 2 p.m. Stephen Foster Memorial, Oakland.

412-624-7529.

EXISTENCE & THE SINGLE GIRL. A play about a young girl & her search for the meaning of life. By Matt Henderson & presented by 12 Peers Theater.

Thu-Sat, 8 p.m. Thru Feb. 21.

The Maker Theater, Shadyside.

412-404-2695.

FESTIVAL IN BLACK & WHITE: MULTICULTURAL EDITION. Pittsburgh

Laugh at our leaders in Arcade Comedy’s presidential roast or chill at Snowball 2015 in Lawrenceville.

Podcast goes live every Thursday at www.pghcitypaper.com

Gordy’s journey from featherPlaywrights Theatre Co’s annual weight boxer to the heavyweight pairing of white playwrights w/ music mogul who launched the black directors & vice versa, careers of Diana Ross, Michael for an evening of new 1-act plays.

Jackson, Smokey Robinson & more.

Thu, Fri, 8 p.m., Sat, 3 & 8 p.m.

Thru Dec. 3, 8 p.m. Heinz Hall, & Sun, 3 & 7 p.m. Pittsburgh Downtown. 412-392-4900.

Playwrights Theatre, Downtown.

MY FAIR LADY. A musical LEND ME A TENOR. about Eliza Doolittle & her Ken Ludwig’s popular teacher Henry Higgins, as comedy. Presented by the she transforms from a Valley Players. Fri, Sat, Cockney flower girl to 7:30 p.m. & Sun, the fairest lady of them 2:30 p.m. Ligonier all. Performed w/ a live Theater. 724-532-1240. w. w w orchestra. Wed, Sat, LEND ME A TENOR. per ghcitypa p 8 p.m., Sun, 2 & 7 p.m., A madcap screwball .com Sat, 2 p.m. and Thu., comedy by Ken Ludwig.

Feb. 19, 2 p.m. Thru Sun, 2 p.m. and Thu-Sat, Feb. 21. O’Reilly Theater, 8 p.m. Thru March 1. The Downtown. 412-316-1600.

Theatre Factory. 412-374-9200.

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. THE MEETING. Eileen J. Morris’ A musical by Andrew Lloyd play about the supposed meeting Webber. Tue, Wed, 7:30 p.m., Thu., of Malcolm X & Martin Luther Feb. 19, 1 & 7:30 p.m., Fri, 8 p.m., King, Jr. Presented by New Horizon Sat, 2 & 8 p.m., Sun, 1 & 6:30 p.m.

Theater, Inc. Thu, Fri and Sat, and Thu., Feb. 26, 7:30 p.m.

Sun. Thru Feb. 22. Falk School, Thru March 1. Benedum Center, University of Pittsburgh, Oakland.

Downtown. 412-456-6666.

412-431-0773.

PRUSSIA 1866. A farcical MOTOWN THE MUSICAL. The examination of Nietzsche & story of Motown founder Berry

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his proto-feminist friends, written by Pittsburgh playwright Gab Cody. Thu-Sat, 8 p.m. and Sat, Sun, 2 p.m. Thru Feb. 22.

Pittsburgh Playhouse, Oakland.

412-392-8000.

SHAKESPEARE’S SERVANTS BYOB. Storyteller Alan Irvine will emcee & PSIP Artistic Director Jennifer Tober will read several humble characters.

Extra readings will be on hand.

Kids welcome. Mon., Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m. Te Cafe, Squirrel Hill.

412-521-6406.

SUMEIDA’S SONG. Mohammed Fairouz’s opera Sumeida’s Song, based on Tawfiq al-Hakim’s play, Song of Death. Sat., Feb. 21, 8 p.m., Tue., Feb. 24, 7 p.m., Fri., Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m. and Sun., March 1, 2 p.m.

Pittsburgh Opera, Strip District.

412-456-6666.

SWEENEY TODD. The story of an unjustly exiled barber who returns to 19th century London seeking revenge. Presented by Stage Right Theater Company.

Fri, Sat, 8 p.m. and Sun., Feb. 22, 2 p.m. Thru Feb. 21. Greensburg Garden and Civic Center, Greensburg. 724-832-7464.

COMEDY THU 19 OPEN STAGE COMEDY NIGHT. Eclipse Lounge, Lawrenceville.

412-251-0097.

PITTSBURGH IMPROV JAM. 10 p.m. Cabaret at Theater Square, Downtown.

412-325-6769.

THU 19 - SUN 22 BRAHMAN/I. A one hijra comedy show. In this play set as a stand-up comedy routine, the title character explores history, mythology, gender... & high school. 8 p.m. Thru Feb. 22. Temple of Comedy, Garfield. 412-362-1713.

FRI 20

{PHOTO BY CARLO LEO}

Fifteen Pittsburgh restaurants, 100 breweries and more than 300 beers come to the

Pittsburgh Beerfest this Friday and Saturday (though Saturday is already sold out!). Sample brews from Pittsburgh and around the country with the knowledge that you’re imbibing for a good cause: Proceeds from the festival (which is co-sponsored

by City Paper) benefit Animal Rescue Partners and Biggies Bullies. 7:30-11 p.m.

Fri., Feb. 20, and 7:30-11 p.m. Sat., Feb. 21. David L. Lawrence Convention Center, 1000 Fort Duquesne Blvd., Downtown. www.beerfesttickets.com

JESSE IRVIN, SHANNON NORMAN, MOLLY SHARROW, HOLLY PRICE, ED BAILEY. Hosted by John Dick Winters 10:30 p.m. Club Cafe, South Side.

412-431-4950.

MAGICIAN-COMEDIAN EXTREME MICHAEL GIGLIOTTI. Amazing strolling magic & comedy. Fun for the whole family feat. Caesars Palace award winning Master Magician MICHAELANGELO. Fri, 5-7 p.m.

Mullen’s Bar & Grill, North Side.

412-231-1112.

ROAST OF THE PRESIDENTS. 10 p.m. Arcade Comedy Theater, Downtown. 412-339-0608.

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“Bed Board,” an etching by Susan Winicour, at Christine Frechard Art Gallery in Squirrel Hill

NEW THIS WEEK ARTISTS IMAGE RESOURCE. OF. The homecoming exhibition of Pittsburgh born artist, Cory Elder. Opening reception w/ artist talk on Feb. 21, 6pm.

North Side. 412-321-8664.

BOOM CONCEPTS. Comics + Cocktails. Live drawings, comics, dj & zines. Feb 20, 7-10pm.

Garfield. 412-256-8661.

FRICK ART & HISTORICAL CENTER. Impressionist to Modernist: Masterworks in Early Photography. Feat. photographs by major artists working in the circle of Alfred Stieglitz. Captures the international development of photography around turn of the 20th century. Opening reception Feb. 20, 6-8pm.

Point Breeze. 412-371-0600.

MARKET SQUARE. Jennifer Wen Ma: Installation.

Opening Feb. 19. Downtown.

412-471-1511.

TIP TYPE. Jason David LaCroix.

Drawings, prints & paintings of landscapes & domestic scenes. Opening reception Feb. 27, 6- 9pm. Wilkinsburg.

412-501-3807.

ONGOING 707 PENN GALLERY. HERE. Work by Danny Bracken that explores the ways in which technology has shifted concepts of place. Downtown.

412-456-6666.

ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM. Someday is Now: The Art of Corita Kent. A full-scale survey covering more than 30 years of work by American artist Corita Kent; a designer, teacher, feminist, activist for civil rights & anti-war causes. Permanent collection. Artwork and artifacts by the famed Pop Artist.

North Side. 412-237-8300.

ARTDFACT. Artdfact Gallery.

The works of Timothy Kelley &

other regional & US artists on display. Sculpture, oil & acrylic paintings, mixed media, found objects, more. North Side.

724-797-3302.

BE GALLERIES. untitled iii.

Work by Jeremy Boyle & Mark Franchino. Lawrenceville.

412-687-2606.

BOOM CONCEPTS. APOCRYPHA. A Black History art show w/ work by DeWayne Kendrick. Garfield.

478-342-1289.

BOULEVARD GALLERY. Kim Freithaler & Pat Whitaker.

Oils & watercolors. Verona.

412-828-1031.

CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF ART. Antoine Catala: Feel Images. A new body of work by Antonia Catala in sculpture, photography & video that addresses the way that images provoke emotion, especially as they travel virtual & physical distances via the internet. Sketch to Structure.

Unfolding the architectural design process to show how buildings take shape. Will close temporarily on May 25 & reopen on June 6. Oakland.

412-622-3131.

CHATHAM UNIVERSITY. Culture in Context. African Art from the Olkes Collection.

Shadyside. 412-365-1232.

CHRISTINE FRECHARD GALLERY. Susan Winicour.

An expressionist whose art expresses meaning or emotional experience rather than physical reality. A love themed show.

Squirrel Hill. 412- 421- 8888.

CONCEPT ART GALLERY. Vanessa German: The Ordinary Sacred. Exhibit dealing w/ African-American history, racism, the impact of violence & more.

Regent Square. 412-242-9200.

ECLECTIC ART & OBJECTS GALLERY. 19th century American & European paintings combined with some

of the world’s most talented contemporary artists & their artwork. The Hidden Collection.

Watercolors by Robert N. Blair (1912- 2003). Hiromi Traditional Japanese Oil Paintings The Lost Artists of the 1893 Chicago Exhibition.. Collectors Showcase.

Emsworth. 412-734-2099.

FILMMAKERS GALLERIES. Pittsburgh Photo Section.

Exhibit celebrating the 130th Anniversary of the Pittsburgh Photo Section. Oakland.

412-681-5449.

FRICK ART & HISTORICAL CENTER. Permanent collection of European Art. Point Breeze.

412-371-0600.

GALLERIE CHIZ. Attention..

Rising Star!. Works on paper by Charity Baker & Dorthy Forman.

Jewerly by Masha Archer.

Shadyside. 412-441-6005.

THE GALLERY 4. Quintessence.

5th anniversary show feat.

Mark Ryden, Scott Hove, Joe Sorren, Jeremy Fish, Glenn Barr, Audrey Kawasaki, Camille Rose Garcia, James Jean, Sam Flores, John Puglisi, more. Shadyside.

412-363-5050.

GALLERY 808. New work by 1st/2nd year MFA students at CMU in a month-long pop-up gallery “Gallery 808”. Artists: Daniel Allende, Kevin Brophy, Zhiwan Cheung, Brittany DeNigris, Jamie Dickerson, Nima Dehghani, Hannah Epstein, Ada-Scarlett Hopper, Jesse Kauppila, Tucker Marder, Adam Milner, Daniel Pillis & Moses Williams. Receptions every Thursday at 5pm. Shadyside.

412-268-2409.

GALLERY-VERY FINE ART. Group Show. Work by Linda Price-Sneddon, Peggy Habets, James E. Trusko & others.

South Side. 412-901-8805.

GLENN GREENE STAINED GLASS STUDIO INC. Original Glass Art by Glenn Greene.

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FRI 20 - SAT 21 GERRY “THE HUMAN JUKEBOX” GROSSMAN. 8 p.m. Latitude 360, North Fayette.

412-693-5555.

FRI 20 - SUN 22 BILL BELLAMY. 8 & 10:30 p.m., Sat., Feb. 21, 7 & 9:30 p.m. and Sun., Feb. 22, 7 p.m. The Improv, Waterfront. 412-462-5233.

JOKING OFF. Presented by Race to the Coffin Comedy. Hosted by John Dick Winters. Wed, 9 p.m.

Thru April 29 Caliente Pizza & Bar, Bloomfield. 412-904-1744.

STAND-UP COMEDY OPEN MIC. Wed, 8 p.m.

The BeerHive, Strip District.

412-904-4502.

EXHIBITS ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM.

SAT 21

Exposures. A window display & artist product series feat.

COMEDY ROYALE. Four Daniel Pillis. North Side. improvisers as they battle 412-237-8300. against each other in a series AUGUST WILSON CENTER of short-form games. BYOB. FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN 8 p.m. Arcade Comedy Theater, CULTURE. Pittsburgh: Reclaim, Downtown. 412-339-0608.

Renew, Remix. Feat. imagery, DAVID KAYE, QUINN film & oral history narratives to PATTERSON & LISA DAPPRICH. explore communities, cultures, A fundraiser for Pittsburgh & innovations. Downtown.

Passion 12U Girls Fastpitch.

412-258-2700.

6:30 p.m. Mars VFW, Mars.

BAYERNHOF MUSEUM. Large 412-920-5653. collection of automatic rollEPIC D&D COMEDY. played musical instruments and Comics & improvisers play music boxes in a mansion setting. the classic role playing game Call for appointment. O’Hara. live on stage. BYOB. 10 p.m.

412-782-4231.

Arcade Comedy Theater, CARNEGIE SCIENCE CENTER. Downtown. 412-339-0608.

Ongoing: Buhl Digital Dome JOHN KNIGHT, MATT (planetarium), Miniature STANTON & DAN BROWN. Railroad and Village, USS Requin Benefits the Canonsburg submarine, and more. North Side.

Lady Knights. 6 p.m. Rostraver 412-237-3400.

Ice Garden. 724-379-7100.

CONNEY M. KIMBO GALLERY. MIKE JONES, MIKE University of Pittsburgh Jazz STANKIEWICZ & RAY ZAWODNI. Exhibit: Memorabilia & Awards Dinner & a comedy show to from the International Hall of benefit the Whitehall Borough Fame. Oakland. 412-648-7446.

Recreation Board. 6 p.m.

DEPRECIATION LANDS Salvatore’s Banquet Hall.

MUSEUM. Small living history 412-334-5646. museum celebrating the SCHITZ & GIGGLZ. Benefits settlement & history of the Pittsburgh Football the Depreciation Club. 8 p.m. Castle Lands. Allison Park.

Shannon Volunteer 412-486-0563.

Fire Dept., Castle . w ww per FALLINGWATER. Shannon. 412-295-6839. a p ty ci h pg Tour the famed UNSCRIPTED .com Frank Lloyd Wright MUSICAL COMEDY. A house.724-329-8501. two-act musical, created FORT PITT MUSEUM. on the spot, based on input Reconstructed fort houses from you in the audience. museum of Pittsburgh history 8 p.m. Oaks Theater, Oakmont. circa French & Indian War 412-828-6322. and American Revolution.

Downtown. 412-281-9285.

FRICK ART & HISTORICAL COMEDY SAUCE. Hosted by CENTER. Ongoing: tours Aaron Kleiber. Mon, 9:30 p.m. of Clayton, the Frick estate, Pleasure Bar, Bloomfield. with classes & programs 412-682-9603. for all ages. Point Breeze.

TFM IMPROV COMEDY. Full 412-371-0600. throttle improv every Monday HARTWOOD ACRES. Tour night starring our resident house this Tudor mansion & stable teams. Mon, 8 p.m. Thru Feb. 23 complex. Enjoy hikes & The Maker Theater, Shadyside. outdoor activities in the 412-404-2695. surrounding park. Allison Park. 412-767-9200.

KENTUCK KNOB. Tour the TUESDAY NIGHT STAND-UP. other Frank Lloyd Wright Tue, 9 p.m. Hot Rod Cafe, house.724-329-8501.

Mt. Washington. 412-592-7869.

KERR MEMORIAL MUSEUM. Tours of a restored 19th-century, middle-class home. Oakmont.

BEERHIVE COMEDY. Open Mic. 412-826-9295.

Hosted by Aaron Kleiber. Wed, MARIDON MUSEUM. 8 p.m. Thru March 25 The Collection includes jade & BeerHive, Strip District. ivory statues from China and 412-904-4502.

Japan, as well as Meissen COMEDY OPEN MIC. Hosted by porcelain. Butler. 724-282-0123.

Ronald Renwick. Wed, 9:30 p.m.

NATIONAL AVIARY. Home to Scarpaci’s Place, Mt. Washington. more than 600 birds from over 412-431-9908.

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Exhibition of new work, recent work & older work. Regent Square. 412-243-2772.

HILLMAN LIBRARY. Get to The Point!. An exhibition of early drawings, paintings, postcards, engravings, maps, & photographs from the University of Pittsburgh Library System Archives Service Center that document the history of the Point & Point State Park.

Ground Floor. Oakland.

412-648-3330.

JAMES GALLERY. Headliners.

New paintings, mixed media works, glass & ceramics. Feat.

Christine Aaron, Eileen Braun, Claire Cotts, Jamie Harris, Ben Johnson, Micheal Madigan, Susan Morosky & Scott Turri.

West End. 412-922-9800.

LA PRIMA ESPRESSO. Paintings/Prints of Italy.

Prints of Vince Ornato’s oil paintings of Italy. Strip District.

412-281-1922.

LAKEVUE ATHLETIC CLUB. Pop-Up Gallery. Work by a variety of artists.724-316-9326.

MATTRESS FACTORY. Artists in Residence. Installations created in-residence by Danny Bracken, John Peña, Ryder Henry, Kathleen Montgomery, & Benjamin Sota.

Part of the 2014 Pittsburgh Biennial. Ongoing Installations.

Works by Turrell, Lutz, Kusama, Anastasi, Highstein, Wexler & Woodrow. North Side.

412-231-3169.

MILLER GALLERY AT CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY. Armin Hoffman: Farbe/Color. Celebrating our Armin Hofmann exhibition of silkscreens & emerging talent from CMU School of Design 2014 Seniors. Oakland.

412-268-3618.

MODERNFORMATIONS GALLERY. 12x12 Rewind. An introduction to a new group of artists living & working in Pittsburgh. Curated by Craig Freeman & Ron Copeland.

200 species. With classes, lectures, demos and more. North Side.

412-323-7235.

NATIONALITY ROOMS. 26 rooms helping to tell the story of Pittsburgh’s immigrant past.

University of Pittsburgh. Oakland.

412-624-6000.

PHIPPS CONSERVATORY & BOTANICAL GARDEN. Orchid & Tropical Bonsai Show.

Colorful orchids curated in collaboration w/ the Orchid Society of Western Pennsylvania & displayed throughout our glasshouse. Skillfully trained tropical bonsai in the permanent collection. Feat. silk artist, Jamie Kirkell. 14 indoor rooms & 3 outdoor gardens feature exotic plants and floral displays from around the world. Tropical Forest

Garfield. 412-362-0274.

MORGAN CONTEMPORARY GLASS GALLERY. 3d@mgg.

A exhibition of artists working in three dimensional media.

Shadyside. 412-441-7258.

NORTH HILLS ART CENTER. Winter Blues. A multi-media juried art exhibit, feat. regional artists. Ross. 412-364-3622.

PANZA GALLERY. Behind The Murals: Histories & Other Stories. Exploring the historic, social & artistic influences impacting each stage of the creation of Maxo Vanka’s murals in St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church.

Presented by The Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of MaxoVanka. Millvale.

412-821-0959.

PENN STATE NEW KENSINGTON. Photo Jazz.

Photo exhibit by Ronald Jones, Kenan Foley & Nelson Harrison. New Kensington.

724-334-6056.

PHOTO ANTIQUITIES. Photos on Glass. Lantern slides: 1880 to 1920, hand-painted, sometimes with a single hair to color a small line. North Side.

412-231-7881.

REVISION SPACE. Nice But Mean. Paintings & woodblocks

by Miss Dingo. Lawrenceville.

412-735-3201.

SILVER EYE CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY. Fellowship 15. Feat. work by Christopher Meerdo showcasing work from his projects Iceland & Cataphote & Matthew Conboy, presenting work from his project “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.”

South Side. 412-431-1810.

THE SOCIETY FOR CONTEMPORARY CRAFT. Bridge 13. Work by Elisabeth Higgins, Keith Lo Bue, & Jason Walker. Strip District.

412-261-7003.

SPACE. UNLOADED. A multimedia group show that explores historical & social issues

Congo. An exhibit highlighting some of Africa’s lushest landscapes.

Oakland. 412-622-6914.

PITTSBURGH CENTER FOR THE ARTS. Nine Solo Exhibits.

Featuring the work of Scott Andrew, Vlad Basarub, Terry Boyd, Oreen Cohen, Joy Christiansen Erb, Katie Ford, Joseph Lupo, Katie Murken & Hisham Youssef.

Curated by Adam Welch.

Shadyside. 412-361-0873.

PITTSBURGH ZOO & PPG AQUARIUM. Home to 4,000 animals, including many endangered species. Highland Park. 412-665-3639.

RIVERS OF STEEL NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA. Exhibits on the Homestead Mill. Steel industry and community artifacts from 1881-1986. Homestead.

surrounding the availability, use & impact of guns in our culture.

Closing reception April 24. The Sideways Museum. A collection of works by Pittsburgh-based artists exploring folk & visionary art traditions. Viewable 24 hrs. a day w/ periodic alterations. Interior open for special occasions. Downtown.

412-325-7723.

SPINNING PLATE GALLERY. UNJURIED. Pittsburgh Societyof Artists 50th Anniversary show.

Closing reception/ People’s Choice Awards Feb. 27, 6-7:30 p.m. Uninjured.

Exhibition of PSA members’ work. Laurie Arnold McMillan will be conducting The Eckphrastic Tradition: Writing to Art – A Workshop of Creative Encounter on Feb. 21.

Friendship. 412-441-0194.

SWEETWATER CENTER FOR THE ARTS. West Hills Art League Exhibition. A sampling of the wide array of West Hills Art League members’ artistic styles ranging from traditional watercolors & oil paintings to acrylics, pastels, clay, paper, & more. Sewickley.

412-741-4405.

TUGBOAT PRINT SHOP. Tugboat Printshop.

Open studio. Lawrenceville.

412-621-0663.

WAYNESBURG UNIVERSITY. Arts Faculty Exhibit. Selected sculptures, jewelry, drawings & paintings by Professors Andrew Heisey, Kathleen Rearick, Dr. Don Simson & Ron Jesiolowski.

Waynesburg. 724-852-3274.

WOOD STREET GALLERIES. In the Absense of Self.

Installations, video projections & ‘flicker’ objects ft. Ivana Franke, Lauri Astala, Bryndis Hronn Ragnarsdottir & Mirjana Vodopija. Downtown.

412-456-6666.

412-464-4020.

SENATOR JOHN HEINZ HISTORY CENTER. From Slavery to Freedom. Highlight’s Pittsburgh’s role in the antislavery movement. Ongoing: Western PA Sports Museum, Clash of Empires, and exhibits on local history, more. Strip District.

412-454-6000.

ST. NICHOLAS CROATIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. Maxo Vanka Murals. Mid-20th century murals depicting war, social justice and the immigrant experience in America. Millvale.

412-407-2570.

WEST OVERTON MUSEUMS. Learn about distilling & cokemaking in this pre-Civil War industrial village.724-887-7910.

DANCE SAT 21 - SUN 22 THE CHOREOGRAPHY PROJECT 2015. Presented by Exhalations Dance Theatre Company, this production is composed of dancers who are working/studying outside the field of dance. 8 p.m. and Sun., Feb. 22, 3 p.m. KellyStrayhorn Theater, East Liberty.

610-368-4866.

FUNDRAISERS THU 19 TAKE-OUT SPAGHETTI SUPPER. By donation. Benefits Calvary United Church of Christ. 4-6:30 p.m.

Calvary United Church of Christ.

412-823-4347.

SAT 21 - SUN 22 CADDY STACKS: MINI GOLF. Food, raffles & mini golf. 10 a.m.5 p.m. Shaler North Hills Library, Glenshaw. 412-486-0211.

SUN 22 BOOK ‘EM BOOKS TO PRISONERS WORK PARTY. Read & code letters, pick books, pack ‘em or database ‘em! Sundays 4-7 p.m. or by appt. Thomas Merton Center, Garfield. 412-361-3022.

LITERARY THU 19 THE HOUR AFTER HAPPY HOUR WRITER’S WORKSHOP. Young writers & recent graduates looking for additional feedback on their work. thehourafterhappyhour.wordpress. com Thu, 7-9 p.m. Lot 17, Bloomfield. 412-687-8117.

JENNIFER CLEMENT. Talk by the author of the memoir Widow Basquiat, three novels: Prayers for the Stolen, A True Story Based on Lies & The Poison That Fascinates, as well as several books of poetry, including Newton’s Sailor & Lady of the Broom. 8:30 p.m.

Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, Oakland. 412-624-6508.

NEW YINZER PRESENTS: GEGICK, LILLIS, OH, VACHON, & HOFFMAN. Readings by local authors: Rich Gegick, Karen Lillis, Erin Oh, Jude Vachon, and special guest Andy Hoffman. BYOB & potluck encouraged. Pre-show drinks at Lou’s Little Corner Bar, 6:30pm.

8 p.m. ModernFormations Gallery, Garfield. 412-362-0274.

FRI 20 AUTHOR MARY FRAILEY CALLAND. Her novel, “Consecrated Dust,” the fictionalized story of a terrible day in Pittsburgh history. 7 p.m.

LaRoche College, Wexford.

800-838-4572.

PAT DICESARE. Concert promoter & author of “Hard Days Hard Nights” will give a talk about his

*Stuff We Like {PHOTO BY BILL O’DRISCOLL}

book & his life. 7 p.m. Shaler North Hills Library, Glenshaw.

412-486-0211.

SAT 21 PENNWRITERS SPRINGDALE WRITERS GROUP. Third Sat of every month Springdale Free Public Library, Springdale.

724-274-9729.

POETS-IN-PERSON. Readings feat. Jim Daniels & Heather McNaugher. 3 p.m. Carnegie Library, Oakland. 412-622-3175.

SUN 22 ANDREA PINKNEY. Reading & talk from the New York Times bestselling author’s latest release, The Red Pencil.

2:30 p.m. Hill House Kaufmann Center, Hill District.

412-392-4400.

Sphinx-like Snow Dog He guarded, if somewhat cryptically, the dog run in West Park. Then he melted.

“50 Shades of Late Capitalism”

TUE 24

This whip-smart (sorry) 2013 piece,

by Heather Havrilesky in The Baffler, makes the case that what really turns readers on is the 1-percenter lifestyle. www.thebaffler.com/salvos/ fifty-shades-of-late-capitalism {PHOTO COURTESY OF HARISH SALUJA}

PITTSBURGH CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY READING GROUP. Tue, 6 p.m. East End Book Exchange, Bloomfield.

412-224-2847.

STORY NIGHT. Live, open mic storytelling w/ a different theme every month. Last Tue of every month, 8 p.m.

Riley’s Pour House, Carnegie.

412-279-0770.

WED 25 POETRY BOOK DISCUSSION. Book discussion hosted by the Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange. This month’s meeting is about Robert Gray’s Daylight Savings. Fourth Wed of every month, 7:30 p.m.

Coffee Tree Roasters, Shadyside.

412-481-7636.

Music From India Radio Show

KIDSTUFF

Airing from 8-10 p.m. Sundays on WESA 90.5 FM. Hosted by Harish Saluja (left), a local filmmaker and artist, and Vijay Bahl, a medical doctor, who both tap their personal music collections.

THU 19 - WED 25 BACKYARD EXHIBIT. Musical swing set, sandbox, solar-powered instruments, more. Ongoing Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, North Side. 412-322-5058.

BOUNCE. Interactive exhibit celebrating the world’s most amazing ball. Experience how it moves, how it looks & the story of how it came to be.

Thru March 8, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, North Side. 412-322-5058.

ONE LIGHT, MANY VIEWS. Experience the simple interplay between light and darkness in the camera obscura that creates the visual image.

FINE Artist in Residence, Brandt Wild, explores concepts of light & darkness; literal & figurative points of view & collaborative relationships. Thru Feb. 28, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, North Side. 412-322-5058.

@YinzCantPark

{PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH}

A Twitter account featuring evidence that some Pittsburghers clearly don’t know how to park a car.

Pitt Women’s Basketball The squad is having a pretty good year under second-year coach Suzie McConnell-Serio. The Panthers are 16-8 heading into their last five games (including two at home on Feb. 19 and March 1), and likely headed to postseason tournament play.

SAT 21 ANNUAL CHILDREN’S CHESS TOURNAMENT. For children in grades K - 8. Sign up in the Children’s Library. 1 p.m.

CONTINUES ON PG. 46

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BIG LIST, CONTINUED FROM PG. 45

Mount Lebanon Public Library, Mt. Lebanon. 412-531-1912.

CREATUREFEST. Discover some rare prehistoric & contemporary creatures.

Meet Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s scientific illustrator Mark Klingler & learn how he brings fossils to life through pictures. Make your own creature. 12-4 p.m. Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Oakland. 412-622-3131.

FAMILY FRIENDLY KIDS OPEN MIC. Sat, 6 p.m.

Hambone’s, Lawrenceville.

412-681-4318.

LEARN TO ICE SKATE. Teaching basic skating fundamentals of balance, edge control & stopping.

Classes for all ranges of expertise. All ages. Schenley Park Ice Rink. Sat, 10 a.m.

Thru Feb. 28 Schenley Park, Oakland. 703-597-6905.

MARTY’S MARKET KIDS’ CORNER. Ages 5-11. Sat, 3-5 p.m. Marty’s Market, Strip District. 412-586-7177.

MON 23 FAMILY GAME NIGHT. Last Mon of every month, 5-8 p.m. Dobra Tea, Squirrel Hill.

412-449-9833.

MAKER STORY TIME. Explore tools, materials and processes inspired by books.

Listen to stories read by librarian-turned-Teaching

music by King Friday. Third Thu of every month, 8 p.m.

The Space Upstairs, Point Breeze.

412-225-9269.

ARTIST LECTURE W/ JENNIFER WEN MA. Ma is HOMEWORK HELP. For the 2015 Market Square Public grades 1-8. Tue, 3:30-5:30 p.m.

Art Program artist. Known Assemble, Garfield. 412-436-9127. for her projects in Beijing, New York, & Vancouver, this will be the first installation by the artist in Pittsburgh.

Ma will talk about her ALLEGHENY SPORT, TRAVEL previous work. 6:30-8 p.m.

AND OUTDOOR SHOW. 11 Stanwix Street, Downtown.

Expo of hunting, fishing, 412-391-2060. camping, boating & RENAISSANCE off-roading. Thru DANCE GUILD. Feb. 19, 3-9 p.m., Fri., Learn a variety Feb. 20, 12-9 p.m., of dances from the www. per Sat., Feb. 21, 10 a.m.a p 15-17th centuries. pghcitym 9 p.m. and Sun., .co Porter Hall, Feb. 22, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Room A18A. Thu, Monroeville Convention 8 p.m. Carnegie Mellon Center, Monroeville.

University, Oakland.

412-373-7300.

412-567-7512.

A STAFF CONDUCTOR’S PATH TO THE PODIUM. WEDNESDAY Lecture by Fawzi Haimor.

MORNING WALK. Naturalist-led, 12:30 p.m. Heinz Hall, rain or shine. Wed Beechwood Downtown. 412-361-3346.

Farms, Fox Chapel.

THE TOKYO-BERLIN AXIS, 412-963-6100.

70 YEARS LATER. Dr. Ricky Law will provide an overview of the origins, formation, development & fall of the Axis alliance between Japan & Germany & and during ART NIGHTS AT THE World War II. 6-8 p.m. Pittsburgh SPACE UPSTAIRS. Bring Athletic Association, Oakland. your own medium for a 412-433-5021. communal creation night w/ Artist Molly. Mon, 11 a.m.12 p.m. Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, North Side.

412-322-5058.

TUE 24

OUTSIDE

THU 19 - SUN 22

FULL LIST ONLINE

WED 25

OTHER STUFF THU 19

FRI 20 AFRICAN DANCE CLASS. Second and Third Fri of every month and Fourth and Last Fri of every month Irma Freeman Center for Imagination, Garfield.

412-924-0634.

FRIDAY NIGHT CONTRA DANCE. A social, traditional American dance. No partner needed, beginners welcome, lesson at 7:30. Fri, 8 p.m.

Swisshelm Park Community Center, Swissvale. 412-945-0554.

LAW NIGHT. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra presents a networking event for lawyers, feat. socializing, drinks, dinner & BeethovenFest: The Hero. 6 p.m. Heinz Hall, Downtown. 412-392-3324.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, PITTSBURGH! THE OFFICIAL PITTSBURGH FILM OFFICE TOUR. Interactive tour through city backdrops of movies such as The Dark Knight Rises, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Flashdance, more.

Meet at Duquesne Incline.

10 a.m. 412-323-4709.

FRI 20 - SAT 21 PITTSBURGH WINTER BEERFEST. Over 300 craft beers from Pittsburgh and beyond Local Music and Local Food. Profits will be spent in the Western Pennsylvania region either by Animal Rescue Partners or through direct grants made to other non-profit animal welfare groups. Feb. 20-21, 7:30-10:30 p.m. David Lawrence Convention Center, Downtown.

412-565-6000.

SAT 21 ARM KNITTING. Make a colorful cowl, using only one or two balls of yarn & your own two hands. Please register early. Supplies to bring: Lacy cowl - one ball Red Heart Boutique Sashay Yarn or Winter cowl, one ball Lion Brand Quickie or Bernat Mega Bulky. 10:30 p.m.

Baldwin Borough Public Library.

412-885-2255.

BEGINNER TAI CHI CLASSES. www.pittsburghtaichi.com Sat, 9 a.m. Friends Meeting House, Oakland. 412-683-2669.

CAPT. THOMAS ESPY ROOM TOUR. The Capt. Thomas Espy Post 153 of the Grand Army of the Republic served local Civil War veterans for over 54 years & is the best preserved and most intact GAR post in the United States. Sat, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Andrew Carnegie Free Library Music Hall, Carnegie.

412-276-3456.

HEALTHY HEART FITNESS, FOOD & WELLNESS. Learn about the risk factors for heart disease & get tips on food & itness to improve your overall health. 2:30 p.m.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

EVERYONE IS A CRITIC EVENT: Campus Women’s Organization stages The Vagina Monologues, William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Oakland CRITIC: Alysia Tucker, 26, a student from Forest Hills WHEN: Fri.,

Feb. 13

The Vagina Monologues was a way to show women coming together and not being afraid to talk about their vaginas. It was amazing, it was liberating, it was empowering. I think a lot of times this is a taboo conversation, and so to see a group of women that are so diverse talk about something that we all share was just really amazing. This is the first time I’ve seen the show. I’ve always wanted to go but I kept missing it, so I was really excited to come today. I would say [the monologue] “My Angry Vagina” was my favorite. I liked how they talked about how impersonal it can be when you go to the doctor and the imagery they used to describe that experience. The acting was phenomenal; the women seemed really committed to the message they were portraying. Plus, all the proceeds go toward PAAR [Pittsburgh Action Against Rape], which is just an amazing organization.

B Y Z AC C H I AU S M C K E E

Carnegie Library, Downtown.

412-281-7141.

SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING. Lessons 7-8 p.m., social dancing follows. No partner needed. Mon, 7 p.m. and Sat, 7 p.m. Grace Episcopal Church, Mt. Washington.

412-683-5670.

SEWNR RELEASE PARTY. Release of new social event app. Feat. music by DJ Nugget.

7-10 p.m. The Flats on Carson, South Side.

SWING CITY. Learn & practice swing dancing skills. Sat, 8 p.m.

Wightman School, Squirrel Hill.

412-759-1569.

WIGLE WHISKEY BARRELHOUSE TOURS. Sat, 12:30 & 2 p.m. Wigle Whiskey Barrel House, North Side. 412-224-2827.

SAT 21 - SUN 22 40TH PITTSBURGH ANTIQUES SHOW & SALE. Artwork, furniture, lamps, ephemera, Early American Pattern Glass, Art Glass, Depression Glass, pottery, primitives, toys, books, vintage clothing, silver, linens & jewelry. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sun., Feb. 22, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Crowne Plaza Hotel, Bethel Park.

412-734-5279.

SUN 22 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CAFE. Weekly letter writing event. Sun, 4-6 p.m. Panera Bread, Oakland.

412-683-3727.

CHILI COOK-OFF. Chili cook-off contest & tasting.

12:30-3:30 p.m. Christ Lutheran Church, Forest Hills.

412-271-7173.

PITTSBURGH REPTILE SHOW & SALE. Buy, sell, trade, & learn about reptiles.

9 a.m.-3 p.m. Harmar House.

724-516-0441.

THE POLISH IN IRELAND. Lecture by Lawrence Kozlowski about the immigration of 200,000 from Poland to the Republic of Ireland & Northern Ireland in search of jobs. Irish & Polish refreshments. 2 p.m.

Epiphany Catholic Church, Uptown. 412-758-5446.

PRIDE BOWLING LEAGUE. Seeking bowlers of all levels.

Every other Sunday. Every other Sun, 6:30 p.m. Forward Lanes, Squirrel Hill. 412-337-0701.

RADICAL TRIVIA. Trivia game hosted by DJ Jared Evans. Come alone or bring a team. Sun, 7 p.m. Oaks Theater, Oakmont. 412-828-6322.

SUNDAY MARKET. A gathering of local crafters

& dealers selling unique items, from home made foodstuffs to art. Sun, 6-10 p.m. The Night Gallery, Lawrenceville.

724-417-0223.

MON 23 BOUNDARIES & SELF CARE. A support group for women 30+. Second and Fourth Mon of every month Anchorpoint Counseling Ministry.

MAPPING YOUR ANCESTORS: UNDERSTANDING GEOGRAPHY IN GENEALOGY RESEARCH. Knowing when counties & townships were formed between 1769 & 1879 helps researchers find lost ancestors. 1-3 p.m.

Westmoreland County Historical Society, Greensburg.

724-532-1935.

MORNING SPANISH LITERATURE & CONVERSATION. Mon, 10 a.m. Mount Lebanon Public Library, Mt. Lebanon.

412-531-1912.

SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING. Lessons 7-8 p.m., social dancing follows. No partner needed. Mon, 7 p.m. and Sat, 7 p.m. Grace Episcopal Church, Mt. Washington.

412-683-5670.

THE SECRET SIDE OF FOOD :HOW TO HEAL YOURSELF IN THE KITCHEN. Explore different dietary theories & identify which fits for you.

Resources, tools & support to implement a healthy lifestyle.

Every other Mon, 7-9 p.m.

Thru Feb. 23 AVANI Institute, McMurray. 724-941-7400.

SPELLING BEE WITH DAVE AND KUMAR. Mon Lava Lounge, South Side.

412-431-5282.

TUE 24 BUTLER COUNTY JOB FAIR. Open to businesses & educational centers of all sizes, as well as individuals.

Registration deadline Feb. 20.

12-5 p.m. General Butler Vagabonds Center, Butler.

724-283-1500.

LECTURE W/ YUN-FEI JE. Yun-Fei Je addresses social change & geological climates using the political forum of the scroll, an ancient art form of ink and mineral pigment on silk & paper.

5 p.m. Kresge Theater, CMU, Oakland. 412-268-2409.

OHIO RIVER GREENWAY MEETING. Bikeway/Greenway project study kick-off meeting.

5 p.m. Old Economy Village, Ambridge. 724-266-4500.

PITTSBURGH MOOD PROUD. Pittsburgh Mood Disorder Support Group is a peer sponsored group and is LGBTQIA friendly. Get focused about mental health topics & make new friends. Tue, 7 p.m.

Thru Feb. 24 Crazy Mocha Baum, Friendship. 412-465-0381.

STEEL CITY SLAM. Open mic

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poets & slam poets. 3 rounds of 3 minute poems. Tue, 7:45 p.m.

Capri Pizza and Bar, East Liberty.

412-362-1250.

WED 25 AFTERNOON TEA DANCE. Lessons offered to beginners.

Wed, 12-2:30 p.m. Thru Feb. 25 Pittsburgh Dance Center, Bloomfield.

BEREAVEMENT SUPPORT GROUP. For Widows/Widowers over 50. Second and Fourth Wed of every month, 1-2:30 p.m.

St. Sebastian Church, Ross.

412-366-1300.

DETROIT STYLE URBAN BALLROOM DANCE. 3rd floor.

Wed, 6:30-8 p.m. Hosanna House, Wilkinsburg. 412-242-4345.

ENGLISH CONVERSATION (ESL). Wed, 10 a.m. Mount Lebanon Public Library, Mt. Lebanon. 412-531-1912.

LET’S SPEAK ENGLISH! Practice conversational English.

Wed, 5-6 p.m. Carnegie Library, Oakland. 412-622-3151.

PFLAG WASHINGTON. Support, education & advocacy for the LGBTQ community, family & friends. Fourth Wed of every month First Presbyterian Church, Downtown.

412-471-3436.

or other Operetta experience preferred. Send letters of interest, resumes (MS-WORD; PDF; or Text) to: directorsearch@ pittsburghsavoyards.org.

Deadline March 4.

412-734-8476.

R-ACT THEATRE PRODUCTIONS. Auditions for an original murder mystery Moonshine & Murder, Feb. 20-21. Seeking 4 women & 4 men. Cold readings from the script, no preparation needed. Email ractproductions@ gmail.com or call for information. The Avenue Theater. 724-775-6844.

PITTSBURGH’S PREMIER GENTLEMEN’S CLUB

ABSOLUTELY THE BEST PARTY PRICES DRAFTT BEERS $1 $1.50 50 & $2 $2.25 25 BUD LIGHT BOTTLES  ALL NIGHT EVERY NIGHT

WEDNESDAYS & THURSDAYS $2 WELL DRINKS + COORS LIGHT BOTTLES 2 FOR 1 LAP DANCES • 2 FOR 1 DRAFT BEERS

SUBMISSIONS THE AUGUST WILSON

ALL NIGHT LONG

EDUCATION PROJECT 11TH PLAY COMPETITION. Inviting high school students to write plays & monologues about their communities & submit them for competition.

Deadline Feb. 23. http://wqed.org/ augustwilson/11thplay.

BOULEVARD GALLERY & DIFFERENT STROKES GALLERY. Searching for glass artists, fiber artists, potters, etc. to compliment the exhibits for 2015 & 2016. Booking

FRIDAYS $4 VODKA MARTINIS ALL NIGHT LONG

OPEN LATE Wednesday & Thursday 7pm-2am Friday-Saturday 7pm-4am

clubcontroversy.com cl c u 1635 16 63 3 We 35 Westt C Carson r n St.ree St.reet | 412 412-471-5764 471 5764

BY POPULAR DEMAND, NOW OPEN ON WEDNESDAYS!

[VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY]

OAKLAND FOOD PANTRY

The Oakland Food Pantry, part of Community Human Services, provides food for struggling individuals and families, while helping them connect to the resources it has to offer, as well as to the community. Volunteers, age 18 and older, are needed every Wednesday.

Call 412-246-1615 or email tsmith@chscorp.org for more information.

THE PITTSBURGH SHOW OFFS. A meeting of jugglers & spinners. All levels welcome. Wed, 7:30 p.m.

Union Project, Highland Park.

412-363-4550.

TAROT CARD LESSONS. Wed, 7 p.m. Dobra Tea, Squirrel Hill. 412-449-9833.

WEST COAST SWING WEDNESDAYS. Swing dance lessons. Wed, 9 p.m. The Library, South Side. 916-287-1373.

AUDITIONS MON RIVER ARTS. Auditions for Hello Dolly! Feb. 23.

Prepare 32 bars of a Broadway song. Cold reading. Roles available for adult men & women. Email or call for an appt. monriverarts@gmail.com.

Mon River Arts Studio.

412-405-8425.

THE PITTSBURGH SAVOYARDS. Seeking a Stage Director for our fall 2015 production, “Iolanthe” by Gilbert & Sullivan. Gilbert & Sullivan

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Exhibits run from 1 to 2 months.

412-721-0943.

THE HOUR AFTER HAPPY HOUR REVIEW. Seeking submissions in all genres for fledgling literary magazine curated by members of the Hour After Happy Hour Writing Workshop. afterhappyhourreview.com PITTSBURGH KNIT & CROCHET FESTIVAL DESIGN CONTEST. Calling all fiber designers to submit their creative original designs.

Due by Feb. 28. For guidelines see the website.

THE WRITERS’ PRESS POETRY CHAPBOOK COMPETITION. Open to new & emerging writers. No theme restrictions. Prizes include publication w/ Createspace & online distribution w/ Amazon & Barnes & Noble.

Thru May 30.

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Savage Love {BY DAN SAVAGE}

My father is 65 years old and has been a devoted husband to my mother who has been battling a medical condition for the past 30 years — a condition that prevents her from engaging in sexual activity of any kind. He has not had sex in all this time and is desperately frustrated. He’s not Internet savvy — quite the opposite — and has taken to calling me across the continent from Michigan to ask for my help in getting him laid. At first, I just thought it was gross. But now, a couple of years and awkward conversations later, I wish I had some good advice for him — if only so that we never have to speak of this again.

Is there a way that a man (once again, not Internet savvy — it’s impossible to emphasize that point too much) can legally find someone to have sex with in Michigan? I will read your answer to him over the phone.

THE GOOD SON

I’m a heterosexual, cisgender male in college. I’ve been in a monogamous relationship with a girl (18, cisgender, bisexual, also in college) for a little more than two months, and the sex is not frequent enough for me — we’ve had sex three times total. The core of the issue is that I’m a 20-year-old guy with a typically high libido, and her libido is low to nonexistent.

When she’s drunk, she suddenly gets very horny and craves my dick. When she’s sober, she is very mellow. I suspect that she has some barriers up and alcohol disinhibits her. She has body issues, a history with a rapist, an emotionally abusive exboyfriend and depression.

With the barriers down, I suspect she has a high sex drive. The alcohol, however, is obviously not a longterm solution, especially because if it doesn’t make her horny, it can make her have a depressive episode.

Do you think there is anything I can do to coax the barriers down while she’s sober? I like her a lot, so I’m not willing to dump her over this.

“IF ALL SHE WANTS FROM YOU IS YOUR TIME, YOUR ATTENTION AND YOUR EMOTIONAL SUPPORT, TELL HER SHE CAN HAVE ALL OF THAT WITHOUT THE PRESSURE OF BEING YOUR GIRLFRIEND.”

“It’s awesome that TGS has gotten over his initial squick and is stepping up to help his dad,” said Savannah Sly, a “professional fantasy fulfiller” and a sex-workers’ rights activist with the Sex Workers Outreach Project (swopusa. org). “His dad will have the best success by hooking up with an escort. Escorting is not technically illegal, as the money paid is for time and companionship only — and anything that happens sexually is a decision made by two consenting adults.”

Sly recommends finding an independent provider whose website doesn’t use sexually explicit language and specifically states that payment is for companionship only. But Dad can’t look at websites — or Dad can’t be trusted to look at websites — so Sly suggests that you do the looking for Dad. “TGS could visit these sites and print out the advertisements of escorts in his dad’s area who have phone numbers: eros.com/us/michigan/eros. htm and michigan.date-check.com/escorts.asp,” said Sly. “Dad can look at the ads and then call a provider himself to arrange an appointment. TGS should let his dad know that some escorts will not see gentlemen who are new to the hobby.

Everyone has their own methods of screening clients, and TGS’s dad should comply with the safety-screening standards of whomever he chooses to call. This is for the safety of the provider and her clients.”

Is there a way for your dad — or for you — to do a safety screening of your own? “Some escorts have reviews online,” said Sly, “and reviews are a good way to verify that someone is a provider with a history of being professional and reliable.”

A final thought from Sly: “There is nothing inherently wrong or violent about escorting. If TGS or his dad has cold feet about this, I suggest Googling the phrase ‘sex worker.’ Read materials written by people who actually work in the adult industry — they’ll find there are many experiences and perspectives they probably did not know about.” Follow Savannah Sly on Twitter at @SavannahSly.

LIBIDO AND ALCOHOL PROBLEMS

Is your girlfriend seeing a therapist? Because if she isn’t, LAAP, she should be — and I suspect she isn’t, because you probably would’ve mentioned it.

Horny, 20-year-old boyfriends are wonderful things — I remember what those were like — but a horny, 20-year-old boyfriend (and the sexual hopes, expectations and pressures that come bundled with one) may not be the best thing for a young woman struggling with body issues and the double head-zap of having been both raped and in an emotionally abusive relationship.

I don’t think you should dump her because she’s not putting out at the clip you’d like — don’t present it that way, LAAP, because you don’t want her fucking you under duress — but you should have a conversation about what she really wants from you. If she wants a fully intimate relationship, i.e., a romantic connection that’s both emotional and sexual, her inhibitions (her traumas) are preventing her from having that, and you’re right that booze isn’t a realistic long-term fix. And as boozing is as likely to lead to a depressive episode as it is to waken her libido, it’s not a great short-term fix either. But working with a therapist is a realistic fix — a good therapist can help her find the strength inside herself that she’s currently finding in a pitcher of margaritas.

But if all she wants from you is your time, your attention and your emotional support, LAAP, tell her she can have all of that without the pressure of being your “girlfriend.” The last thing you should want — and the last thing she needs — is for her to be getting strategically drunk so that she can fuck you just enough to keep you by her side. Reassure her that you’ll be at her side whether you’re her boyfriend or not — but say that only if you mean it — and encourage her to get the professional help that she needs.

On the Lovecast, Dan and author Johann Hari discuss our silly little drug war: savagelovecast.com.

SEND YOUR QUESTIONS TO MAIL@SAVAGELOVE.NET AND FIND THE SAVAGE LOVECAST (DAN’S WEEKLY PODCAST) AT SAVAGELOVECAST.COM

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

FOR THE WEEK OF

Free Will Astrology

02.18-02.25

{BY ROB BREZSNY}

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The art of the French Aquarian painter Armand Guillaumin (1841-1927) appears in prestigious museums. He isn’t as famous as his fellow Impressionists Paul Cézanne and Camille Pissarro, but he wielded a big influence on them both. His career developed slowly because he had to work a day job to earn a living. When he was 50 years old, he won a wad of free money in the national lottery, and thereafter devoted himself full time to painting. I’m not saying you will enjoy a windfall like that anytime soon, Aquarius, but such an event is possible. At the very least, your income could rise. Your odds of experiencing financial luck will increase to the degree that you work to improve the best gifts you have to offer your fellow humans.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “It isn’t normal to know what we want,” said pioneering psychologist Abraham Maslow. “It is a rare and difficult psychological achievement.”

That’s the bad news, Pisces. The good news is that you may be on the verge of rendering that theory irrelevant. In the coming weeks, you will be better primed to discover what you really want than you have been in a long time. I suggest you do a ritual in which you vow to unmask this treasured secret. Write a formal statement in which you declare your intention to achieve full understanding of the reasons you are alive on this planet.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): There are many different facets to your intelligence, and each matures at a different rate. So, for example, your ability to think symbolically may evolve more slowly than your ability to think abstractly. Your wisdom about why humans act the way they do may ripen more rapidly than your insight into your own emotions. In the coming weeks, I expect one particular aspect of your intelligence to be undergoing a growth spurt: your knowledge of what your body needs and how to give it what it needs.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): What is the proper blend for you these days? Is it something like 51 percent pleasure and 49 percent business? Or would you be wiser to shoot for 49 percent pleasure and 51 percent business? I will leave that decision up to you, Taurus. Whichever way you go, I suggest that you try to interweave business and pleasure as often as possible.

You are in one of those action-packed phases when fun dovetails really well with ambition. I’m guessing that you can make productive connections at parties. I’m betting that you can spice up your social life by taking advantage of what comes to you through your work.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In 1900, the world’s most renowned mathematicians met at a conference in Paris. There the German whiz David Hilbert introduced his master list of 23 unsolved mathematical problems. At the time, no one had done such an exhaustive inventory. His well-defined challenge set the agenda for math research throughout the 20th century.

Today he’s regarded as an influential visionary. I’d love to see you come up with a list of your own top unsolved problems, Gemini. You now have extra insight about the catalytic projects you will be smart to work on and play with during the coming years.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Spanipelagic” is an adjective scientists use to describe creatures that typically hang out in deep water but float up to the surface on rare occasions. The term is not a perfect metaphorical fit

for you, since you come up for air more often than that. But you do go through phases when you’re inclined to linger for a long time in the abyss, enjoying the dark mysteries and fathomless emotions. According to my reading of the astrological omens, that’s what you’ve been doing lately. Any day now, however, I expect you’ll be rising up from the Great Down Below and headed topside for an extended stay.

es, but no alcohol. Given the likelihood that your inner teenager will be playing an important role in your upcoming adventures, Scorpio, I recommend that you favor the Safe-Sex-on-the-Beach metaphor rather than the Sex-on-the-Beach approach. At least temporarily, it’s best to show a bit of protective restraint toward the wild and sometimes erratic juvenile energy that’s pushing to be expressed.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

When faced with a big decision, you might say you want to “sleep on it.” In other words, you postpone your final determination until you gather more information and ripen your understanding of the pressing issues. And that could indeed involve getting a good night’s sleep. What happens in your dreams may reveal nuances you can’t pry loose with your waking consciousness alone. And even if you don’t recall your dreams, your sleeping mind is busy processing and reworking the possibilities. I recommend that you make liberal use of the “sleep on it” approach in the coming weeks, Leo. Revel in the wisdom that wells up in you as you’re lying down in the dark.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In 1962, Edward Albee published his play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? It won numerous awards and is still performed by modern theater groups. Albee says the title came to him as he was having a beer at a bar in New York City. When he went to the restroom, he spied the words “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” scrawled in soap on the mirror. I urge you to be alert for that kind of inspiration in the coming days, Virgo: unexpected, provocative and out of context. You never know when and where you may be furnished with clues about the next plot twist of your life story.

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CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” That’s what American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson advised. Even if you’re not naturally inclined to see the potential wisdom of that approach, I invite you to play around with it for the next three weeks. You don’t need to do it forever. It doesn’t have to become a permanent fixture in your philosophy.

Just for now, experiment with the possibility that trying lots of experiments will lead you not just to new truths, but to new truths that are fun, interesting and useful.

Homework: Where in your life do you push harder than is healthy? Where do you not push hard enough? Testify at FreeWillAstrology.com.

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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Edward III, a medieval English king, had a favorite poet: Geoffrey Chaucer. In 1374, the king promised Chaucer a big gift in appreciation for his talents: a gallon of wine every day for the rest of his life. That’s not the endowment I would have wanted if I had been Chaucer. I’d never get any work done if I were quaffing 16 glasses of wine every 24 hours. Couldn’t I instead be provided with a regular stipend? Keep this story in mind, Libra, as you contemplate the benefits or rewards that might become available to you. Ask for what you really need, not necessarily what the giver initially offers.

now accepting applications for our teacher training program!

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): To make the cocktail known as Sex on the Beach, you mix together cranberry juice, orange juice, pineapple juice, peach schnapps and vodka.

There is also an alternative “mocktail” called Safe Sex on the Beach. It has the same fruit juic-

GO TO REALASTROLOGY.COM TO CHECK OUT ROB BREZSNY’S EXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO HOROSCOPES AND DAILY TEXT-MESSAGE HOROSCOPES. THE AUDIO HOROSCOPES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE BY PHONE AT 1-877-873-4888 OR 1-900-950-7700

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In Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” a lawyer hires a man named Bartleby to work in his office. At first Bartleby is a model employee, carrying out his assignments with dogged skill. But one day everything begins to change. Whenever his boss instructs him to do a specific task, Bartleby says, “I would prefer not to.” As the days go by, he does less and less, until finally he stops altogether. I’d like to propose, Sagittarius, that you take inspiration from his slowdown. Haven’t you done enough for now?

Haven’t you been exemplary in your commit-

ment to the daily struggle? Don’t you deserve a break in the action so you can recharge your psychospiritual batteries? I say yes. Maybe you will consider making this your battle cry: “I would prefer not to.”

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER

CLASSIFIEDS FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO PLACE A CLASSIFIEDS ADVERTISEMENT, CALL 412-316-3342 EXT. 189

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PUBLIC HEARING The Citizen Police Review Board invites you to share your perspective and opinion related to police conduct in the City of Pittsburgh

Wednesday, 3/4/15 @ 6:00 PM City Council Chambers 510 City County Building 414 Grant Street Pittsburgh, PA 15219 You may pre-register (NOT required) Direct Questions to 412-765-8023

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CLINICAL STUDIES

FEMALES W/ LOW SEX DESIRE

Smokers Wanted!

CALL TODAY!

Call Preferred Primary Care Physicians at

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The University of Pittsburgh’s Alcohol and Smoking Research Laboratory is looking for people to participate in a three-part research project.

To participate, you must: • Currently smoke cigarettes • Be 18-55 years old, in good health • Be willing to fill out a questionnaire’s • not smoke before two sessions.

Earn $150 for completing study.

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For more information call

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Smokers who want to try new cigarettes that may or may not lead to reduced smoking are wanted for a research study. This is NOT a treatment or smoking cessation study.

Compensation will be provided.

Evening Appointments Available For more information please call The Nicotine & Tobacco Research Lab at

412-624-9999

SMOKERS WANTED for Paid Psychology Research

to participate in a research project at Carnegie Mellon University!

To be eligible for this study, you must be: • 18-50 yrs. old • In good health • Willing to not smoke or use nicotine products before one session You may earn up to $50 for your participation in a 3 hour study.

For more information, call: The Behavioral Health Research Lab (412-268-3029) NOTE: Unfortunately, our lab is not wheelchair accessible.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

412-650-6155

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ACROSS 1. Plays with the band 5. Mortgage adjustment, for short 9. Poet ___ Scott Heron 12. “Later, hombre” 14. Justice whose thesis was “To the Final Conflict: Socialism in New York City, 1900-1933” 15. Miner’s matter 16. Happiness from a warm gun?

18. Enemy 19. Hare ___ 20. Looking up and down 22. Billboard’s apex 23. German pistol good for shooting birds?

27. “Warp speed, Mr. ___” 29. Cut after expenses 30. “Rollout (My Business)” rapper, for short 31. Royal flush card 33. “Trigger Warning” author Gaiman 35. Harry’s pal Weasley 36. Skill in handling an Austrian pistol?

41. “Changed my mind” 42. Broccoli or cauliflower, e.g.

43. Humana offering 44. Samoa’s capital 46. Rocky high points

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48. Literary masterstroke 51. Observe the power of a British machine gun?

54. Common Core org.

56. Car make that lost Ford $2.8 trillion (in 2015 dollars) 57. Sticking to the point 59. It breaks at sunrise 60. Pacifist’s decision to throw breakfast food instead of using a submachine gun?

64. ___ y plata 65. Porridge 66. Hung (out) on the clothesline 67. Bill de Blasio’s alma mater 68. Nincompoop 69. Night class papers?

10. Attached, as a patch 11. Oscar-winning actress for “Shampoo” 13. Nincompoops 14. “Shop Your Way” store 17. “Sit ___ potato pan, Otis!”

21. Montreal’s airport code, or that actor Brynner 24. Leatherworkers 25. Maker of the GROGGY wine opener 26. Arab’s cry 28. Sealing wax resin 32. Gives off 34. Herbal brew 36. Nibbled, as a dog’s bone

37. Gemstone cutter 38. Unmasking comment 39. Flurries 40. Maid’s tool 45. “I’d like to buy ___” (“Wheel” request) 47. Seat at the bar 49. Diluted 50. Captured 52. Sorrowful reading 53. Thing that comes with a utility bill: Abbr.

55. Base counterparts 58. Something copied: Abbr.

61. Carell’s “Despicable Me” role 62. Breadbasket’s locale 63. “___ me!” (“That’s who!”) {LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS}

DOWN 1. Bill Simmons’s lawyer friend on his “B.S. Report” podcasts, for short 2. Decorates 3. Social surroundings 4. Drunkards 5. British flying squad: Abbr.

6. Word with maniac and surfer 7. A ways away 8. Celeron manufacturer 9. “Who knew?”

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OFFICIAL ADVERTISEMENT THE BOARD OF PUBLIC EDUCATION OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PITTSBURGH Sealed proposals shall be deposited at the Administration Building, Room 251, 341 South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15213, on March 3, 2015, until 2:00 p.m., local prevailing time for: • Pgh. Obama 6-12 Restroom Renovations, Asbestos, General, Plumbing, Mechanical and Elec. Primes • Pgh. Fulton Pre K-5 New Elevator, General, Plumbing, HVAC and Elec. Primes • Various Pgh. School Locations Paving Projects, General Prime • Pgh. Online Academy ADA Restroom, General, Plumbing and Elec.

Primes • Pgh. Allegheny K-5 Coal Hole Repair and Boiler Room Modifications, General Prime • Pgh. Allderdice H. S. Stairwell Renovations, Asbestos and General Primes • Pgh. Lincoln K-5 and Spring Hill K-5 Flooring Replacement, Asbestos and General Primes • Pgh. Banksville Pre K-5 and Minadeo Pre K-5 Flooring Replacement, Asbestos, General and Plumbing Primes • Pgh. Dilworth Pre K-5 Fire Alarm and PA Sound Systems, Elec. Prime • Pgh. Perry H. S. Pool and Auditorium Lighting, Elec. Prime • Pgh. Schiller 6-8 Elec. Distribution and PA Sound System, Elec.

Prime • Pgh. Schiller 6-8 Classroom Ceiling Fans, Elec. Prime

• Clayton Academy PA Sound System, Elec. Prime • Pgh. Phillips K-5 Classroom Ceiling Fans, Elec. Prime • Pgh. Weil Pre K-5 Classroom Ceiling Fans, Elec. Prime • Pgh. Banksville K-5 Replace Walk-In Cooler, HVAC and Elec. Primes • Pgh. Greenfield K-8 HVAC for Computer Classroom, HVAC and General Primes • Pgh. Linden K-5 HVAC for Main Office, HVAC Prime • Pgh. Brashear H. S. Exterior Canopy, General Prime • Pgh. Brashear H. S. Toilet Room Renovations, General and Plumbing Primes • Pgh. Brashear H. S. / South Hills 6-8 HVAC System Upgrades, HVAC Prime • Pgh. Grandview K-5 Classroom Ventilation, HVAC Prime • Greenway Phase 3 Concrete and Asphalt Paving Work, General Prime • Various Pgh. School Locations Cycle Painting, Multiple Bid Packages, General Primes • Pgh. Online Academy Computer Rooms AC, HVAC and Elec. Primes • Pgh. Carmalt Pre K-8 Replace Unit Ventilator, General, HVAC and Elec. Primes

Project Manual and Drawings will be available for purchase on January 26 and February 2, 2015 at Modern Reproductions (412-488-7700) 127 McKean Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15219 between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. The cost of the Project Manual Documents is nonrefundable. Project details and dates are described in each project manual.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.18/02.25.2015

Outpatient Program Most Insurances and Medical Assistance Accepted

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‘UNDERSEEN CINEMA’

An excerpt from Movie Outlaw, Vol. 1: Cinematic Oddities, Rarities and Grotesqueries That May Have Escaped Your Attention {BY MIKE WATT}

Atomic Academy?”

“Uh, I, uh …”

“I’m Sandy Fawkes, I run the Fawkes Den Inn. Where you’re staying. But of course, you know that. Perhaps we could head back there now together?”

“Fine, I’ll follow you in my car.”

“I’m on foot.”

“I’ll drive slow.”

There are few movie genres as ripe for parody as the ’50s alien-invasion film. Extremely serious and pompous scientist, disbelieving townies, shoot-first authorities, mysterious outsiders Lori Ayers who could be aliens in disguise, odd goings-on as Pat and gruesome off-screen deaths. All enduring parts of our collective unconsciousness to this day. One or more of these elements pop up on every other episode of The Simpsons, so what more evidence do you need that even the tiniest tot recognizes these chestnuts upon sight? When played straight in parody, you get comedy gold (The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra). When you wink at the camera and point at your gags, you get the opposite of gold (Scary Movie). When you play your cards extremely close to the vest, you get the magic of Invasion! — or, as it’s better-known in the Great White North, Top of the Food Chain.

Aliens have come to the sleepy fishing village of Exceptional Vista, its down but still-plucky citizens still plugging along ever since the Nut Factory closed down. The first indication of the extraterrestrials among them: All the TVs are out. The second hint: People are being eaten. But Dr. Karel Lamont (Campbell Scott) from the Atomic Academy has arrived to save the day. Aided by Sandy Fawkes (Fiona Loewi), her inappropriately close brother, Guy (Tom Everett Scott), Deputy Dana (James Allodi), Officer Gale (Hardee T. Lineham) and a whole host of folks with sexually ambiguous names. Possible oppo-

} OF JOHN PAIZS

“YOU’RE DR. KAREL LAMONT, the Atomic Scientist from the

sition: Lilith Sternin-lookalike Chris Marlowe (“I sell ban-jos”) and the sinister Michel O’Shea: “[M]y territory includes Bladdertown, Left Hemisphere, Dunk, Right Hemisphere, Walkadogathon, New Imbroglio and Fetus. I specialize in vacuums.”

The script was written by two TV writers and producers, Phil Bedard and Larry Lalonde. “When they asked me what I thought of it on first reading, I said it was like Twin Peaks meets Petticoat Junction meets The Naked Gun,” said director John Paizs. “Later, I took to describing it as a platypus, which they thought was also pretty accurate.”

Paizs unleashes the driest of humor, and Invasion keeps the gags and jokes flowing from start to finish, but delivered completely straight. These characters completely inhabit this bizarre world without a hint of selfawareness, which is what makes the humor work. When Dr. Karel Lamont announces that a body was found in the “lumpy, bumpy part of town outside of town” or that a man is suffering from a “post cranial bang syndrome,” it sounds exactly like the dry diagnosis it’s supposed to be. “[Campbell Scott] just got what we were trying to do. His performance was pitch-perfect and he served as a ‘how to’ to some of the other actors, whose first instinct was to overplay it, to go big for the laugh, which of course went against the whole idea. Having said that, some of the overplaying still managed to slip through and stayed there at the distributor’s behest,” Paizs told Notcoming. com in 2010. “He [Scott] also contributed some of the dialogue. There’s a whole routine around having found a body in ‘the lumpy, bumpy part of town,’ for example. That came about from an improvisation of Campbell’s, which the other actors picked up on, adding to it until it became this long, ridiculous spiel, which was hilarious.”

Shot in a easygoing and lowish-budgeted manner, Invasion is substance over style, so the special effects are less than dazzling (though the mountain scenery is nice) and the kills not-so gory. But with lines like, “I am the alpha and the omega, and I also play the trumpet,” who needs ’em? Funnier and shorter than Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Invasion is a home run for the wacky. The truth may or may not be out there, but the DVD definitely is.

TESY {PHOTO COUR

EDITOR’S NOTE: With Oscar season upon us, there are plenty of writers pontificating on “great films” and their importance. Thankfully, local author and filmmaker Mike Watt is not one of those writers. He concentrates on what he calls “underseen cinema.” He’s been chronicling such films for years on his blog, Movie Outlaw, and last year he self-published a book of the same name: Movie Outlaw. Below is an essay from the book on the 1999 sci-fi film Invasion.

Watt plans to publish a second volume of the book this spring.

I N F O@ P G H C I T Y PA P E R. C OM

Movie Outlaw Vol. 1, is now available through Amazon and at www.mikewatt.me.

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