February 26, 2020 - Pittsburgh City Paper

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2020

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FIRSTSHOT

BY JARED WICKERHAM

4 Smithfield Street, Suite 1210 Pittsburgh, PA 15222 412.685.9009 E-MAIL info@pghcitypaper.com

pghcitypaper.com PGHCITYPAPER PITTSBURGHCITYPAPER

FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2020 VOLUME 29 + ISSUE 9

Kids ice skate on a special surface for Etna Street Skate on Butler Street in Etna on Sun., Feb. 23.

Editor-In-Chief LISA CUNNINGHAM Director of Advertising JASMINE HUGHES Director of Operations KEVIN SHEPHERD Managing Editor ALEX GORDON Senior Writers RYAN DETO, AMANDA WALTZ Staff Writers HANNAH LYNN, JORDAN SNOWDEN Photographer/Videographer JARED WICKERHAM Digital Media Manager JOSH OSWALD Editorial Designer ABBIE ADAMS Graphic Designers JOSIE NORTON, JEFF SCHRECKENGOST Events and Sponsorship Manager BLAKE LEWIS Senior Account Executive JOHN CLIFFORD Sales Representatives ZACK DURKIN, KAITLIN OLIVER Operations Coordinator MAGGIE WEAVER Events and Marketing Coordinator BRYER BLUMENSCHEIN Business Manager JUSTIN MATASE Circulation Manager JEFF ENGBARTH Featured Contributors REGE BEHE, LYNN CULLEN, TERENEH IDIA, CHARLES ROSENBLUM, JESSIE SAGE Interns MEGAN GLOECKLER, OLLIE GRATZINGER National Advertising Representative VMG ADVERTISING 1.888.278.9866 OR 1.212.475.2529 Publisher EAGLE MEDIA CORP.

GENERAL POLICIES: Contents copyrighted 2020

by Eagle Media Corp. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in Pittsburgh City Paper are those of the author and not necessarily of Eagle Media Corp. LETTER POLICY: Letters, or e-mails must be signed and include town and daytime phone number for confirmation. We may edit for length and clarity. DISTRIBUTION: Pittsburgh City Paper is published weekly by Eagle Media Corp. and is available free of charge at select distribution locations. One copy per reader; copies of past issues may be purchased for $3.00 each, payable in advance to Pittsburgh City Paper.

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COVER PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: LISA CUNNINGHAM ORIGINAL HEADSHOT: JARED WICKERHAM SEE THE STORY ON PAGE 6

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CP PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: LISA CUNNINGHAM ORIGINAL HEADSHOT: JARED WICKERHAM

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THE BIG STORY

MAYOR IN THE MIDDLE Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto explains why he supports the efforts of the Green New Deal, but not the plan itself.

BY RYAN DETO // RYANDETO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

L

AST WEEK, Pittsburgh-area Democrats were

sent into a state of disarray. On Sunday, the Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorsed candidate Heather Kass, who had past social media posts praising Donald Trump, and also endorsed challenger Chris Roland, a white man, over state Rep. Summer Lee (D-Swissvale), western Pennsylvania’s first Black woman state legislature and the incumbent.

Local Democrats voiced their displeasure and several elected officials called for the elimination of the endorsement process altogether. Allegheny County Democratic Committee chair Eileen Kelly held a press conference on Feb. 19 where she defended the endorsement process, downplayed the Trump support within the committee, and criticized Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, who supports Roland, for creating division within the party.

The week was chaotic, but the episode was just another example of a widening rift in Allegheny County Democratic politics. The endorsements of Kass and Roland showed support for more conservative members in the party, in lieu of more progressive members like Lee. These two factions highlight slight differences over policing and abortion access, but the most noticeable divergence is over natural-gas drilling, aka fracking.

Fitzgerald is a proponent of fracking, and has a coalition of like-minded Democrats who support the industry, as well as some stricter regulations to ensure environmental protection. But others, like Lee, believe fracking needs to come to an end, as the industry

has created a myriad of health problems for residents and wells have leaked copious amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.

Somewhere in the middle of all this is Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto.

I

N OCTOBER, Peduto came out against the potential build-out of cracker plants and advocated for the region to wind down fracking. Natural-gas fracked from wells in southwestern Pennsylvania is then sent to cracker plants, where it’s processed into plastic pellets. A cracker plant is currently under construction in Beaver County and is permitted to emit 2.2 million tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of adding more than 480,000 cars to the region.

Despite his opposition to future cracker plants, Peduto hasn’t joined the movement advocated by Lee and other politicians like U.S. Sens. and presidential candidates Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) That wing of the Democratic Party is proposing the Green New Deal (GND), a plan that would provide large-scale federal investments to build renewable energy plants and upgrades to the nation’s electricity grid as a way to move the U.S. off of dependency on fossil-fuels, like natural gas, by 2030.

Peduto’s rejection of the GND has perplexed some in Pittsburgh, and led to uncomfortable arguments on Twitter. Recently, Pittsburgh City Paper sat down with Peduto for an extended interview where he elaborates on why he isn’t backing the GND, and why he isn’t defending the fracking industry either.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2020

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MAJOR IN THE MIDDLE, CONTINUED FROM PG. 7

ALLEGHENY COUNTY DEMOCRATS CALL FOR RESIGNATION OF LOCAL PARTY CHAIR

BY RYAN DETO

Last week, several leaders aligned with the Democratic Party called for Allegheny County Democratic Chair Eileen Kelly to step down. At a Feb. 19 press conference, Kelly defended the recent committee endorsement of local candidate Heather Kass, who has past social media posts praising Donald Trump. Kelly also downplayed other committee members that were pro-Trump and instead accused Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald of trying to “rip up the party.”

After the press conference, calls increased to see changes at the ACDC, including altering the committee endorsement process and deciding on new bylaws. On Feb. 24, Kelly agreed to schedule a bylaws convention in the near future, but didn’t give any more details. Even so, state Rep. Austin Davis (D-McKeesport) resigned in protest as ACDC vice chair and Allegheny County Councilor Bethany Hallam (D-Ross) is calling for a committee wide meeting to suss out issues and make broader changes. Kelly has not indicated support for Hallam’s request.

Here’s a list of the elected officials and leaders that have called for Kelly to resign as ACDC chair: • State Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Forest Hills) • State Rep. Austin Davis (D-McKeesport) • U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Forest Hills) • State Rep. Ed Gainey (D-East Liberty) • Allegheny Fayette Labor Council president Darrin Kelly • U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Mt. Lebanon) • Pittsburgh City Councilor Corey O’Connor (D-Squirrel Hill) • Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto (D-Point Breeze) • State Sen. Lindsey Williams (D-West View)

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

Mayor Bill Peduto discusses the Green New Deal in his office on Wed., Feb. 12.

O

NE OF PEDUTO’S central criticisms

of the Green New Deal is the fracking ban, specifically the timeline associated with it. (A fracking ban was not originally included in the GND, but was later added.) Initially, presidential candidates like Sanders and Warren were calling for a fracking ban on day one of their administrations.

Sanders has since proposed a bill in the Senate that would institute a ban on fracking within five years.

Peduto says he supports the goals of the GND, but doesn’t agree with how it is proposed to be implemented by its biggest champions.

“It is hard for me to describe my position with the Green New Deal. It is in many ways a manifesto,” says Peduto. “It doesn’t call for any changes in laws or any new budgetary items. It spells out a plan of where we need to get to, and it does so in a way that I am supportive of what its goals are.”

In terms of a ban on fracking, Peduto says, “What I believe needs to happen is it can’t be an arbitrary number. It can’t be one day or five years, it needs to be based on the transition of jobs first, and then people transitioning into those jobs.”

The GND calls for a just transition for

all workers and communities, and proponents like Sanders have emphasized a transition for workers currently in the fossil fuel industry.

But Peduto says those details about transitioning workers aren’t specific enough and is concerned that some labor leaders have not been part of the process.

Without union members who currently work in the fossil-fuel industries at the table to draft the GND, Peduto is skeptical about the plan’s ability to provide its proposed “just transition” for workers.

Labor leaders have also expressed skepticism of the transition for its workers.

Pittsburgh never got a bailout or federal help when the steel industry collapsed in the 1980s. There was no “just transition” then and both the Carter and Reagan administrations refused to provide federal assistance for the steel industry. Steel corporations consolidated, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs in the region, and when President Ronald Reagan came to Pittsburgh in 1983 to talk about retraining for laid off workers, he read a want-ad for a system program job and was derided.

However, some union leaders have endorsed the GND, like Association of Flight Attendants president Sarah Nelson,

the Service Employees International Union, and the United Electrical Workers.

But unions representing fossil-fuel workers have been less receptive.

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said in April that his labor coalition wasn’t really part of the process, and said the AFL-CIO would want changes to the GND before supporting it.

Peduto says conversations around the GND need to address how to bring organized labor, especially fossil-fuel workers, and environmentalists together.

“How do we bring the Sierra Club and the Steelworkers together?” asks Peduto.

“And how do we sit down and actually make that happen?”

Peduto has been part of efforts to do that in the past, like with the BlueGreen Alliance, which met in Pittsburgh last year in June. It’s also possible that specifics about how workers would transition away from certain fossil-fuel industries could materialize if/when the GND moves past being a resolution, and is instead proposed as a binding piece of legislation.

Another struggle to bring labor and environmentalists together is actually getting those fossil-fuel union members onto the Democratic side to begin CONTINUES ON PG. 10

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2020

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MAYOR IN THE MIDDLE, CONTINUED FROM PG. 8

Pennsylvania Net Electricity Generation by Source November 2019

Petroleum-Fired Natural Gas-Fired Coal-Fired Nuclear Hydroelectric Nonhydroelectric Renewables 0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000 thousand MWh

SOURCE: ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION, ELECTRIC POWER MONTHLY CP INFOGRAPHIC: JOSIE NORTON

with. While AFL-CIO and Steelworkers leadership has been adamantly antiTrump, it’s been reported that Trump attracted many Steelworkers and trades union members in the Pittsburgh area to vote for him in 2016, even though Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was pro-fracking.

But Peduto says there is an opportunity, and it centers around making those just transition proposals more concrete.

“Going back to [2016], we offered those workers nothing, we were going to teach them how to code,” says Peduto.

“These are people who build America. We didn’t have to lose them.”

S

O FAR, PEDUTO has been reluctant to

support any Democratic presidential candidate. He says he is leaning toward offering his endorsement to former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg or former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, but he has conditions. He has sent letters to them both, asking them if they support a moratorium on

new cracker plant development until their economic, environmental, and health-related impacts are fully studied, and if they pledge to invest first in communities that will see negative economic impacts with the withdrawal of fossil-fuel companies.

This is part of his proposal of what he calls the U.S. Marshall Plan, which is similar to the GND in that it provides jobs in renewable energy and clean manufacturing as a way to replace jobs in the fossil-fuel industry. Peduto says the U.S. Marshall Plan, which he first explained to Huffington Post in 2017, differs from the GND in that it puts more of an emphasis on providing incentives to private companies.

Peduto admits the GND also has proposals to incentivize private renewable enterprises, but says he disagrees with its embrace of public investment and public ownership to create and sustain jobs.

He doesn’t think the government should take over ownership of renewable energy structures, like when the New

Deal and the Tennessee Valley Authority were created in the 1930s. He says this rhetoric and push for public-ownership takes away from the things he likes about the GND. Peduto would rather see a program focused on renewable energy and clean infrastructure jobs using a model similar to how municipalities receive Community Development Block Grants, which provide federal housing and development grants to communities that meet a certain percentage of low-income residents.

“There are some programs at the federal level, but there will probably be the need to create some new ones that are geographically based on the areas that have been dependent on fossil fuels,” says Peduto.

Peduto reiterates that he does support the goals of the GND and that its focus on environmental justice, workforce development, and human rights “enhances our target” of combating climate change and considering the human toll fossilfuel industries have created.

Follow senior writer Ryan Deto on Twitter @RyanDeto

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But he disagrees with the way the GND is being interpreted. Peduto believes Buttigieg and Bloomberg may be open to his U.S. Marshall Plan proposal, and says that is why they are the only candidates he is considering for an endorsement.

He says he hasn’t reached out to other presidential candidates, like Sanders, Warren or former Vice President Joe Biden, because he believes their stances concerning western Pennsylvania’s fracking industry are already well-established.

(Biden has come out enthusiastically pro-fracking and doesn’t support a ban.)

“For the most part, the positions of Sanders, Warren, and Biden are already known,” he says. “And I don’t know if they would be willing to change their positions to get a mayor of [300,000] people to endorse them.”

But with Sanders emerging as the likely front-runner in the Democratic Primary Election, and Warren and Biden still in good position in national polls, Peduto might want to get used to being stuck in the middle.

•

.GUEST OPINION.

WHAT FEAR CAN DO

BY JESSICA WILLIAMS INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

E

VERY MORNING, I walk to my son’s daycare to drop him off. He’s a little guy right now, just a few months old, and I feel both protective and adventurous when we’re out in the world together. I want him to see it all, to smell it, to hear it. And at the same time, I want him to be safe. His bald little head seems so delicate.

On a recent morning, we passed a woman injecting drugs in the daycare parking lot. She was crouched behind a minivan. She looked startled when we walked by, and I, too, felt startled.

“What kind of daycare is that?” you may be wondering. Well, a normal one.

Over four million Americans inject drugs and not one of them has a legal space to do it in. That means people inject in public restrooms, under awnings, in cars ... you name it. People frequently inject in public libraries, which are (hopefully!) full of children.

And that brings me to the issue of “the children.” As a new parent, I have never before been so compelled by arguments about “the children.” They really are so vulnerable; their eyes are so bright. I want my own child to be safe, and more than ever, I want other children to be safe as well.

So I had to check myself when I saw someone injecting drugs in the parking lot of a childcare center at 8 a.m. on a weekday. Honestly, she felt threatening.

My hand instinctively cradled my son’s

SOMEONE WHO USES DRUGS HAS MUCH MORE TO FEAR FROM THE AVERAGE PASSERBY, THE AVERAGE DOCTOR, THE AVERAGE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER, THAN THE OTHER WAY AROUND. head. But was she a threat?

The truth is that I was much more threatening to her than she was to me or my baby. I could have called the police on the spot and she might have been arrested. And she might be a mom, just like I am. Being apprehended for drug use could cause her to lose her kids. When our eyes met, she and I were both startled, but that could have had much more

serious consequences for her than for me: with the jump I gave her, she could have missed a vein, causing infection or injury. And if she needed healthcare, as someone who injects drugs, she might have trouble finding a doctor who would listen to her or treat her with basic respect. A truly vulnerable situation she was in. I was indeed a threat.

Why is it that I felt afraid, then? It

was more emotional than logical. When I search myself, I find that my reaction was partly based on the way she was using drugs. Although people sipping beer or wine typically feel safe and “normal,” her use of a hypodermic needle felt different, almost like a weapon. But the reality is, her syringe was 20 yards away from my body and that of my son’s. And she was using it as a tool, more or less like the glass a beer is served in. Someone could throw a pint glass at me and cause me harm, but I’m not afraid every time I walk past a bar.

When I feel afraid, I want the thing that’s scaring me to go away. I don’t care how or where, just away. That’s more or less what our country has done with drug users for the last fifty years. Incarceration.

Overdose deaths that we don’t even try to prevent. Profound social stigma. We’ve created a punishing world for people who use drugs, justified by our collective agreement that they are threats to us. I think we should consider that the opposite is true.

This is not to say that people who use drugs don’t ever cause harm: of course they do. But overall, someone who uses drugs has much more to fear from the average passerby, the average doctor, the average law enforcement officer, than the other way around.

I share my city with drug users, with domestic abusers, with libertarians, with corporate executives. Every human being on the street with me represents a potential threat — we are never completely secure. I know that I’m happier moving through the world with a sense of basic faith in others. I also recognize that my fear can cause harm, so I have to keep an eye on it. When I get that feeling, I have to ask myself, what is the basis of my fear, and what are the implications of it?

•

Jessica Williams is the director of communication and health promotion at the Institute for Research, Education and Training in Addicitons // ireta.org

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Photo description: Stock photo of laughing woman wearing headphones and standing in front of two popular online memes

.NEWS.

MEME EQUALITY

BY HANNAH LYNN // HLYNN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

E

ACH DAY, THE chaos of the internet

is filled with wretched news stories and terrible opinions. It would be an unrewarding slog if it weren’t for the beacon of hope that brings us all together: memes. There is no political event or pop culture moment that can’t be turned into a meme, and no meme that can’t be remixed into oblivion. But for some, accessing these memes is no easy task. Around 8 million Americans have some type of visual impairment, according to 2012 data from the Census Bureau. While much of the internet is accessible to people with visual impairments through screen readers,

which transfer text into audio or Braille, translating images, including memes, for the visually impaired is more difficult.

A group of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have been working to make memes more accessible, combining audio text and music cues to mirror the effect of a visual meme.

Twitter, for example, was founded as a text-based social media platform, at first making it easily accessible through screen readers. But now, millions of images and gifs are uploaded every day, and only 11% of them are paired with a caption that describes the image.

“The real question was, can you really just write out what’s in the meme, or will that kill the joke?” says Cole Gleason, a Ph.D. student at CMU and one of the authors of the paper “Making Memes Accessible.”

Memes, like any good joke, can lose some of their spark when trying to translate, as any young person who’s ever tried to explain a meme to an old person would know.

“We recognize that, for all images on the internet, this is a very hard problem, but focusing in on some of these subsets like memes isn’t actually as difficult because they had certain constraints,” he says.

Memes are hard to define, and best identified with a “you know it when you see it” mentality, but most often feature a viral image or gif accompanied by a joke format. The memes Gleason and his colleagues have worked with are what you might call “vintage memes” from an earlier era of the internet, back when people weren’t even sure how to pronounce “meme.”

(It’s ‘meem,’ like dream.) The memes feature common images overlaid with a repeated joke format. Think of old friends like Success Kid or Philosoraptor or the Socially Awkward Penguin.

Gleason says the benefit of working with this type of meme is its simplicity.

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E E K W END! S I H T

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MEME EQUALITY, CONTINUED FROM PG. 12

“If we know that the format of the joke is this and we can extract the text, we can probably figure out a way to put those together,” he says.

Instead of having an audio description that describes “toddler clenching his fist” followed by the joke, the researchers’ accessible memes create an audio version of the joke text, set to moodappropriate background music. The idea is to create a sound that mimics the feeling. Think of a victorious sound for Success Kid bragging “Put candy bar in the shopping cart … without mom noticing,” or a pensive, dream-like tune for Philosophizing Raptor asking, “Do vegetarians … eat animal crackers?”

As part of the research, Gleason and his colleagues talked to blind Twitter users about their experiences on the platform, and whether or not they had a desire to better understand memes.

Some said yes, some didn’t care, and some were already well-versed in them. Many of the users they spoke to didn’t necessarily like the soundtracked version of the memes because they were used to alt-text that worked with

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screen readers.

But Gleason still thinks there’s hope for making it work. His goal is to set up a crowd-sourcing site where people could submit memes and other people could create sounds for them.

Audio versions of the meme are available on pghcitypaper.com To some, making memes better accessible to people with visual impairments or other disabilities might not seem like groundbreaking, or even necessary work. But memes are an essential part of the internet. At their best, they bring people together to laugh at and riff off a joke (at worst, it’s a medium for alt-right trolls to express their demonic tendencies).

“You see this in accessibility where people are like, ‘Why are you working on memes when you could be helping blind people get to work or do their jobs?’” says Gleason. “People forget to prioritize recreation or fun.”

Follow staff writer Hannah Lynn on Twitter @hanfranny

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.FOR THE WEEK OF FEB. 27

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): If you’re like most of us, you harbor desires for experiences that might be gratifying in some ways but draining in others.

If you’re like most of us, you may on occasion get attached to situations that are mildly interesting, but divert you from situations that could be amazingly interesting and enriching.

The good news, Pisces, is that you are now in a phase when you have maximum power to wean yourself from these wasteful tendencies. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to identify your two or three most important and exciting longings — and take a sacred oath to devote yourself to them above all other wishes and hopes.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): You may sometimes reach a point where you worry that conditions are not exactly right to pursue your dreams or fulfill your holy quest. Does that describe your current situation? If so, I invite you to draw inspiration from Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616), who’s regarded as one of history’s foremost novelists. Here’s how one observer described Cervantes during the time he was working on his masterpiece, the novel titled Don Quixote: “shabby, obscure, disreputable, pursued by debts, with only a noisy tenement room to work in.”

Cervantes dealt with imperfect conditions just fine.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “True success is figuring out your life and career so you never have to be around jerks,” says Taurus filmmaker, actor, and author John Waters. I trust that you have been intensely cultivating that kind of success in the last few weeks, Taurus — and that you will climax this wondrous accomplishment with a flourish during the next few weeks. You’re on the verge of achieving a new level of mastery in the art of immersing yourself in environments that bring out the best in you.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I would love for you to become more powerful, Gemini — not necessarily in the sense of influencing the lives of others, but rather in the sense of managing your own affairs with relaxed confidence and crisp competence. What comes to mind when I urge you to expand your self-command and embolden your ambition? Is there an adventure you could initiate that would bring out more of the swashbuckler in you?

CANCER (June 21-July 22): For my Cancerian readers in the Southern Hemisphere, this oracle will be in righteous alignment with the natural flow of the seasons. That’s because February is the hottest, laziest, most spacious time of year in that part of the world — a logical moment to take a lavish break from the daily rhythm and escape on a vacation or pilgrimage designed to provide relaxation and renewal. Which is exactly what I’m advising for all of the earth’s Cancerians, including those in the Northern Hemisphere. So for those of you above the equator, I urge you to consider thinking like those below the equator. If you can’t get away, make a blanket fort in your home and pretend. Or read a book that takes you on an imaginary journey. Or hang out at an exotic sanctuary in your hometown.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo author Walter Scott (1771–1832) was a pioneer in the genre of the historical novel. His stories were set in various eras of the Scottish past. In those pre-telephone and pre-Internet days, research was a demanding task. Scott traveled widely to gather tales from keepers of the oral tradition. In accordance with current astrological omens, Leo, I recommend that you draw inspiration from Scott’s old-fashioned approach. Seek out direct contact with the past. Put yourself in the physical presence of storytellers and elders. Get first-hand knowledge about historical events that will inspire your thoughts about the future of your life story.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Over a period of 40 years, the artist Rembrandt (1606–1663)

gazed into a mirror as he created more than 90 self-portraits — about 10% of his total work. Why? Art scholars don’t have a definitive answer. Some think he did self-portraits because they sold well. Others say that because he worked so slowly, he himself was the only person he could get to model for long periods. Still others believe this was his way of cultivating selfknowledge, equivalent to an author writing an autobiography. In the coming weeks, I highly recommend that you engage in your personal equivalent of extended mirror-gazing. It’s a favorable time to understand yourself better.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): From author Don DeLillo’s many literary works, I’ve gathered five quotes to serve as your guideposts in the coming weeks.

These observations are all in synchronistic alignment with your current needs. 1. Sometimes a thing that’s hard is hard because you’re doing it wrong. 2. You have to break through the structure of your own stonework habit just to make yourself listen. 3. Something is always happening, even on the quietest days and deep into the night, if you stand a while and look. 4.

The world is full of abandoned meanings. In the commonplace, I find unexpected themes and intensities. 5. What we are reluctant to touch often seems the very fabric of our salvation.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I remember a time when a cabbage could sell itself just by being a cabbage,” wrote Scorpio author Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944). “Nowadays it’s no good being a cabbage — unless you have an agent and pay him a commission.” He was making the point that for us humans, it’s not enough to simply become good at a skill and express that skill; we need to hire a publicist or marketing wizard or distributor to make sure the world knows about our offerings. Generally, I agree with Giradoux’s assessment. But I think that right now it applies to you only minimally. The coming weeks will be one of those rare times when your interestingness will shine so brightly, it will naturally attract its deserved attention. Your motto, from industrialist Henry J. Kaiser: “When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.”

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): When he was 29 years old, Sagittarian composer Ludwig Beethoven published his String Quartet, Op. 18, No. 4. Most scholars believe that the piece was an assemblage of older material he had created as a young man. A similar approach might work well for you in the coming weeks, Sagittarius.

I invite you to consider the possibility of repurposing tricks and ideas that weren’t quite ripe when you first used them.

Recycling yourself makes good sense.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Are there parts of your life that seem to undermine other parts of your life? Do you wish there was greater harmony between your heart and your head, between your giving and your taking, between your past and your future? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could infuse your cautiousness with the wildness of your secret self? I bring these questions to your attention, Capricorn, because I suspect you’re primed to address them with a surge of innovative energy. Here’s my prediction: Healing will come as you juxtapose apparent opposites and unite elements that have previously been unconnected.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): When he was 19, the young poet Robert Graves joined the British army to fight in World War I. Two years later, the Times of London newspaper reported that he had been killed at the Battle of the Somme in France. But it wasn’t true. Graves was very much alive, and continued to be for another 69 years.

During that time, he wrote 55 books of poetry, 18 novels, and 55 other books. I’m going to be bold and predict that this story can serve as an apt metaphor for your destiny in the coming weeks and months. Some dream or situation or influence that you believed to be gone will in fact have a very long second life filled with interesting developments.

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

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2020

15

.RESTAURANT REVIEW.

KIIN LAO & THAI EATERY

BY MAGGIE WEAVER MWEAVER@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

I

N EARLY September, Norraset (Nor)

and Rujira Nareedokmai closed their beloved Thai restaurant, Bangkok Balcony, after a 15-year run. But fans of the Squirrel Hill restaurant can rest easy: The Nareedokmais aren’t going anywhere, just shifting their focus a little to the northeast. KIIN Lao & Thai Eatery is now open in Bangcok Balcony’s former spot with a mix of Thao and Laotian cuisines.

Because the more than thousandmile border shared between Laos and Thailand is so blurred — the regions have passed flavors for centuries — I expected the menu to be a jumble of dishes from both countries. But instead, it’s divided neatly in half, the Lao side full of noodle soups and sticky rice; Thai delivering curries and stir-fry noodles. The separation allows diners to see where the two cuisines diverge as well as where they connect.

And for the devoted fans of Bangkok Balcony, the split makes it easy to find favorites that were carried over to KIIN. Plates — all from the Lao side of the menu — came in a flood to the table.

(This was one of KIIN’s points of service, to serve everything family style and deliver it whenever it is ready.)

The pun mieng rice noodle wraps were an unexpected favorite. I am not always a fan of the build-it-yourself, “deconstructed” approach, but KIIN’s traditional, Lao iteration wasn’t anything like receiving a jar of coffee ice cubes, milk, and “making my own latte.” With so many elements to wrap into a fresh

CP PHOTO: MEGAN GLOECKLER

Pun mieng at Kiin Lao & Thai Eatery

KIIN LAO & THAI EATERY 5846 Forbes Ave., Squirrel Hill. facebook.com/kiineaterypittsburgh

collard green leaf — eggplant, ginger, tomatoes, peanuts, rice noodles, lemongrass, dill, cabbage, fried tofu, and a delicious fermented soybean and pineapple sauce — I relished the ability to control to compose my dish as I wanted.

Siin lod — a dish of sun-dried beef in ginger and black pepper — featured

thinly sliced, extraordinarily tender beef matched with a spicy, vinegar sauce and sticky rice (upon request). Unlike a Thai curry’s coconut milk-forward taste, the Lao mee kathi felt lighter and more like a broth, similar to a Thai coconut soup.

It was heavy with substance — noodles, vegetables, and meat — and not so reliant on the curry to carry the dish.

Lao-style curry puffs were somewhat of a cross between an empanada — with the ribboning to prove it — and a samosa.

They had the crunchy crust and fillings of

Follow staff writer Maggie Weaver on Twitter @magweav

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the latter, but were less dense. Instead of the typical chunks of potato and vegetable, the stuffing was rich and smooth.

The white tablecloths at Bangkok Balcony have disappeared, the owners working with Lao-American graffiti artist Henley Bounkhong to give their eatery new energy. Every inch — save for the ceiling — is covered in loud murals and patterns inspired by the celebration of the two cuisines. The Nareedokmais’ space is as vibrant as their flavors. I can’t wait to go back for more.

•

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2020

17

TEEN SHOPPING STUDY The RAND Corporation, in Pittsburgh, is conducting a research study to learn about what teens, ages 11-17, buy at convenience stores.

Participation requires completion of a 30 minute web survey and one 90 minute visit to the RAND study center. Teens who complete the study will be compensated for their time and effort with $40 in gift cards. Parking or bus passes will be provided. To see if your teen qualifies, please call 412-204-7353 or e-mail c-storestudy@ rand.org. Visit us at www.rand.org/storestudy to learn more!

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis.

EVER FEEL SAD, DOWN, OR MOODY? Project Teen Life is recruiting teen girls for a research study about stress, mood, and social relationships.

If you're interested in participating, contact our team!

Compensation will be provided.

Call 412-383-8030 • or text "project tl" to 412-999-2758 • or email PTL@pitt.edu 18

PGHCITYPAPER.COM

CP PHOTO: MAGGIE WEAVER

Dirty Laundry at The Summit

.ON THE ROCKS.

CAFÉ AU YAY

BY MAGGIE WEAVER // MWEAVER@PGHCITYPAPER.COM HE FIRST TIME I drank a coffee cocktail, it was made from instant coffee and whipped cream vodka.

It was also the worst cocktail I had ever had.

Since then, I have been introduced to the better side of coffee cocktails, a side that includes drinks like the classic Irish coffee, espresso martinis, “cold” fashioneds (made with cold brew), and, thankfully, none of them contain whipped cream vodka.

In Pittsburgh, bartenders are no stranger to this “good side” of coffee cocktails. Espresso machines have become a permanent fixture in many city bars, and coffee drinks are now regulars on many cocktail lists.

If you’re looking to combine your caffeine with booze, here are three local spots offering top-notch coffee cocktails.

T

■ The Summit

■ The Abbey on Butler Street

■ Mixtape

theabbeyonbutlerstreet.com

Mixtape’s signature coffee cocktail, “Pumkin” vs. “New York” (named for the Flavor of Love contestant), lists so many ingredients it’s hard to know what the drink will actually taste like. They claim it’s “better than your pumpkin spice latte,” and they’re right.

Unlike the popular latte, Mixtape’s cocktail isn’t heavy or super-sweet.

The only pumpkin-y spirit is Maggie’s Farm pumpkin coffee liqueur. Its other elements — falernum, cold brew vodka, super punch, actual cold brew, soy cream, orange blossom — bring out the warm spices of pumpkin pie, not the nauseating sweetness of artificial flavors.

This funeral home-turned bar/coffeehouse/restaurant has a full menu of coffee cocktails (and for those who aren’t fans of coffee, a long list of boozy teas).

The shakerato — a double shot of espresso, shaken with Kahlúa, Baileys, and Jameson — may be small (about the size of a cortado), but it packs a punch. Any bigger and the drink would have put me on the floor. And though modest in size, it’s perfectly balanced, the sweet spirits mellowing with the bitterness of coffee and burn of whiskey.

thesummitpgh.com The beloved Mt. Washington cocktail bar and restaurant features two caffeinated cocktails on its drink list: Italian coffee and Dirty Laundry.

The Italian coffee is a fairly standard blend of whiskey and hot coffee finished with touches of lemon cream and amaretto. The Dirty Laundry, on the other hand, is more complex.

Because there’s no heaviness from hot coffee, the dirty laundry is a surprisingly refreshing drink. It’s composed of rye, pineapple, gingerbread syrup, and espresso Campari, but the taste of espresso is almost nonexistent.

The elements complement each other so well, they’re indistinguishable; flavors fit together like a puzzle.

mixtapepgh.com

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2020

23

.ART.

SET IN GLASS

BY AMANDA WALTZ AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

V

PHOTOS: HEINZ MEMORIAL CHAPEL

Heinz Memorial Chapel window depicting Clara Barton

24

PGHCITYPAPER.COM

ISITORS AND students might not

know that the Heinz Memorial Chapel at the University of Pittsburgh is non-denominational. The chapel’s associate director, Wendy Lau, says that the Heinz family “never thought that you should hold one religion over another.

“They wanted everyone to feel welcome and inspired,” she says.

If visitors take a moment to inspect the 23 stained glass windows in the chapel, they may see another notable, yet obscure aspect: the many women pictured in the glass, all of whom represent not only religion, but science, literature, activism, and other fields.

The chapel spotlights this in March with Women in the Windows, a guided tour that celebrates Women’s History Month.

The chapel is expanding the event after presenting a limited, experimental version of it over the past two years.

In that time, Lau saw the potential of the tour when she noticed how people reacted to learning that an equal number of men and women are featured in the 73-foot-tall transept windows above the altar.

“Their mouths drop,” says Lau, adding that it’s especially surprising given that the chapel was built 81 years ago.

Lau believes the female-focused tour also makes sense given how the chapel came to be. Dedicated in 1938, the building memorializes Anna Margaretha Heinz, the mother of the man who founded his now-global food manufacturing company in Pittsburgh.

The chapel windows were designed by Charles Connick, who, as Lau points out, has works in 47 states throughout the country, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, as well as abroad. The windows were made in the medieval style, resulting in what Lau calls a “riot of color,” particularly blues.

Leading the tour is chapel docent and events coordinator, Karen Sebolt. As a Girl Scout leader, Sebolt originally organized Women in the Windows when she struggled to find Women’s History Month events for her troop to participate in. (The tour is now featured on the Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania website as part of its patch program.)

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Glass ID (2 Items) TheFree National Duncan Glass Society While many of the women among the windows’ 391 identifiable figures are well-known, including poet Emily Dickinson and Joan of Arc, Sebolt uses the tour as an opportunity to spotlight some of the more obscure figures. For example, she says one subject, Elizabeth Fry, became an early advocate for prison reform in the 1800s after witnessing how badly prisoners, especially incarcerated women and children, were treated at facilities like England’s Newgate Prison.

WOMEN IN THE WINDOWS Continues through May 31, 2020.

Heinz Memorial Chapel. Fifth and Bellefield avenues, Oakland. Free.

Donations welcome. heinzchapel.pitt.edu

Sebolt says that doing research encouraged her to “dig a little deeper” and find “little fun things” about each woman. When looking into Hannah More, a playwright who also taught children in England’s poor mining communities, she found out they were mining limestone, one of the materials used in building the chapel.

In getting to know Ruth, one of two women with Biblical texts bearing their name, Sebolt decided to calculate how many miles Ruth and her mother-in-law,

Naomi, walked during her epic journey from Moab to Bethlehem. (It’s about 1,800 miles, or approximately the distance from New York City to Denver, Colo.)

Sebolt says she also adds in history about women at Pitt and about the chapel itself during the tour.

Music will also play a major role as both a part of and in conjunction with Women in the Windows. Sebolt says she plans to end tours by playing prerecorded music by female composers on the chapel organ. The chapel, which traditionally hosts a number of concerts throughout the year, will spotlight primarily women artists throughout March, all of whom plan on playing music written by women.

Sebolt and Lau hope the tour both introduces visitors to notable women throughout history and boosts public appreciation for the chapel, which lives in the shadow of the nearby Cathedral of Learning.

“People know about the Cathedral and head over there and then they kind of look across and say, ‘What’s that chapel?’” says Lau. But, with the tour, she wants people to view the chapel as more than a place to worship or get married.

“Stained glass is art,” says Lau, “and I really think of the chapel as a work of art.”

•

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25

THE LOCAL 913: INEZ

BY LIZ FELIX // LIZ@WYEP.ORG

“I’m not a perfectionist,” Danielle Walker clarifies. “I’m particular.”

Walker is the producer, singer, songwriter, and beatmaker behind INEZ and that attention to detail has paid off.

INEZ released her debut album Voicemails & Conversations late last year, using her Berklee College of Music-honed skills as a producer to mix years of saved voicemail recordings into her soulful songs.

While those recordings feature friends, family, and ex-boyfriends, women’s voices were particularly STAY UP-TOimportant in the creation of the DATE WITH THIS album. “They WEEK’S LOCAL are my greatest MUSIC NEWS inspiration, my WITH CP MUSIC biggest muse,” WRITER JORDAN INEZ says of the SNOWDEN women in her life. AND WYEP One of those EVENING MIX women is fellow HOST LIZ FELIX Pittsburgh singer Listen every Clara Kent. She Wednesday joins INEZ for two at 7 p.m. on songs on the new 91.3FM WYEP album, including the ear-catching, chilled-out love song “Clouds.”

INEZ says she wasn’t initially crazy about “Clouds,” but she shared it with Kent, nervously awaiting some feedback. Three days later, Kent replied — they tried working on it together and everything changed.

“It was just like magic,” says INEZ. There are a lot of those kinds of moments on the new record.

“I want people to walk away from anything that I sing or I do with a little bit more hope than they walked in the room with,” INEZ says about her work. “Because I think that’s what we need more than anything right now. And music is that thing that I know helps me get there.” •

26

PGHCITYPAPER.COM

CP PHOTO: MEGAN GLOECKLER

Action Camp’s Maura Jacob

.MUSIC.

DAY CAMP

BY JORDAN SNOWDEN // JSNOWDEN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

I

N COLLEGE, Maura Jacob and her friends would hold what she called “action camp skill shares.” Students would get together and talk about topics ranging from protests to how to be safe on campus, or how to fix a bike. Jacob, who is now in Pittsburgh doom-pop band, Action Camp, which she co-founded with Bengt Alexsander 14 years ago, is returning to that idea on Sat., Feb. 29 when Action Camp holds a

joint skill-share/single release show at The Smiling Moose.

“We’ve been talking about the best way to put new music out into the world,” says Jacob. “And we thought a lot about how we learned a lot over the years as a band, and how we’re constantly learning new things — that’s part of what makes being in the band interesting. And we like being a part of a community, so we thought

ACTION CAMP SINGLE RELEASE AND SKILL-SHARE 1 p.m. Sat., Feb. 29. The Smiling Moose, 1306 E. Carson St., South Side. Free. facebook.com/actioncamppgh

it would be cool to do something that is a little bit more inclusive and interactive than a regular release show.

[And] wouldn’t it be fun to do something tied to our name as well, but have it be music-oriented?”

The event takes place during the afternoon to cater to the nightlife schedule of bands and musicians.

Everything kicks off with a one-hour “mix and mingle” networking session, followed by the skill-share portion, and ending with a listening party from Action Camp featuring its latest single “Dissonance,” and a few other neverCONTINUES ON PG. 28

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2020

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DAY CAMP, CONTINUED FROM PG. 26

before-heard tracks from the band’s upcoming album, set to drop this spring.

“We know that there are so many more people doing cool things, and we hope we can do another one of these in the future,” says Jacob. “But some of the goal this first time around was just trying to get an array of folks in the room, and make it a little more business-oriented.”

Topics for the skill-share include being ready for media coverage with Allison Kacmar Richards and Trevor Richards of music blog ofmusicandmind. com, post-rock band The Long Hunt, and Trevor Richards Photography; lighting and tech with Jamie Fadden of the open mic storytelling series, We Are The Weirdos; MIDI and electronic instrumentation with producer and composer Ky Vöss; podcasting and promotion with SIKES, aka Brian Howe, host of the podcast Start The Beat w/ SIKES; and social media with YouTuber Weird Paul Petroskey.

“Some of the ideas behind open mics is that you can share notes about writing and about the creative side of being a musician,” explained Jacob, “but there aren’t as many opportunities to talk about the nitty-gritty side of promotion, just generally being ready

28

PGHCITYPAPER.COM

for the press and those kinds of things.

And it can be hard to know who to talk to. Everyone’s operating in different music circles and sometimes there’s

a little competition — do you share your tips and tricks? So we thought it would be nice to make it into a friendly and welcoming place to ask those kinds

Follow staff writer Jordan Snowden on Twitter @snowden_jordan

of questions and to compare those experiences with each other.”

Personally, Jacob is most excited about the portion with Fadden. Along with discussing lighting and such, Jacob says Fadden is going to talk about her experience as a woman in tech.

“When we’re playing a show, in a sense, we’re all on the same team, we’re all working together,” says Jacob. “So, by learning a little bit more about her experiences, maybe there’s something I can also take away in terms of, ‘What can I do when I play in a venue to be a better coworker?’”

At Jacob’s past skill-share events, the general ethic has always been that no one person is more of an expert than someone else. The gatherings are a time for those with similar interests to come together and share their knowledge.

But since the event on Saturday is the first Jacob has organized since college, she thought it would be a good idea to have a few leading facilitators to help open the dialogue.

“The main thing is that everyone is welcome, all experience levels, [from] novice to veteran,” says Jacob. “We can all learn something from each other and benefit from having like minds in the room.”

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Agent Dee Dee Reyes (Antonia Botti-Lodovico) listens to Milcom Negley’s (Timothy Mix) conspiracy theory and grievances in The Last American Hammer.

.STAGE.

HAMMER TIME

BY ALEX GORDON // ALEXGORDON@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

T

O A HAMMER, everything looks like a nail. To a guy who used to build hammers, everything looks like a government conspiracy to exploit, dominate, and subjugate American workers. And if that hammersmith is Milcom Negley, there’s only one thing to do when the paranoia gets to be too much: hunker down at The National Toby Jug Museum, call the authorities, and wait for the FBI to make their move.

That’s the mouthful of a premise for the 2018 opera The Last American Hammer — a “heartfelt contemporary satire” composed by Peter Hilliard with a libretto by Matt Boresi — running through Sun., March 1 at the Pittsburgh Opera.

THE LAST AMERICAN HAMMER Continues through Sun., March 1. Pittsburgh Opera, 2425 Liberty Ave., Strip District. Tickets start at $22.50. opera.culturaldistrict.org

Negley (Timothy Mix) fills his nowopen schedule peddling conspiracies about the U.S. government, Rust Belt manufacturing, and the National Endowment for the Arts. About the latter, it’s an outrage to Negley that the government would sign checks for a quaint museum that celebrates novelty mugs but do nothing to keep his beloved hammer factory afloat. The museum’s curator, Tink Enraught (Caitlin Gotimer), is patient with her agitated “captor,” serving him tea and cookies while politely reminding him the value of art, of imagination, of “delicate things.” The cast is rounded

out by FBI rookie Dee Dee Reyes (Antonia Botti-Lodovico), who comes into the situation expecting a high-octane hostage conflict but soon discovers she’s here to babysit a kook.

The disparate components of the plot and format — hammers, Toby jugs, conspiracy theories, opera — may rub some as excessively quirky for quirky’s sake, but that’s not quite how it plays out. It may be heavy-handed in its central conflict between art and industry, not to mention the bull-in-a-china-shop imagery of Negley wielding a hammer surrounded by tenuously perched antiques. But opera is not a forum for subtlety; the trio’s performances are intense, poignant, and gradually get sadder and bleaker as the show goes on. The story is ludicrous, but there’s a whole lot of political salience in each of the characters’ motives, particularly the disenfranchised white factory worker from Ohio justifying his unemployment with right-wing conspiracies.

The librettos, sung in English, sadly don’t deliver. The melodies are dissonant and angular, which might fit the story but doesn’t give your ears a whole lot to engage with. Of course, this is a satire, and it’s possible that as an opera philistine, I may have missed certain tropes that were being riffed on.

The Last Hammer may be deliberately unconventional — including in its uncommonly svelte 90-minute runtime — and it may not always land its punches, but it is never boring. If you’re reluctant about opera in general, this conspiracy theory-filled, hammer factory vs. mug museum story might get you on board.

Custom-made in PittsburGH, PA!

VISIT US ONLINE AT LOUSONDRUMS LOUSONDRUMS.COM COM OR IN SHADYSIDE

5413A WALNUT STREET | PGH PA | 15232

•

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2020

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PHOTO: COURTESY OF DEESHA PHILYAW

.LITERATURE.

The contributers of TENDER

A WOMAN’S TOUCH

BY JORDAN SNOWDEN // JSNOWDEN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

A

S VANESSA GERMAN and Deesha Philyaw were sending TENDER a literary anthology & book of spells: evidence to the press last year, a Gender Equity Commission report cited Pittsburgh as more difficult to live in for Black women.

This was something german and Philyaw, as well as the 17 other writers and visual artists in TENDER— and other Black women living in Pittsburgh — already knew. In fact, the idea for the anthology came to german in the wake of the 2016 election, a time that left many “feeling very tender and vulnerable,” says Philyaw. “[We thought], we could use some tenderness right now, but we don’t always get it, and we don’t always give it to each other or to ourselves, so what if we did a book where Black women in Pittsburgh write about tenderness?” Philyaw adds.

So in 2017, german and Philyaw formed a collective, These Black Midwives – the name stemming from the urge to create something living and breathing – and asked local Black women for writing and visual art on the subject of tenderness.

“We thought we may get, like, 10 people,” says Philyaw, “but we got dozens.”

They narrowed down the submissions to Mequitta Ahuja, Melanie Dione, Ada Griffin, Cheryl Hall-Russell, I Medina, Tereneh Idia (Pittsburgh City Paper contributing writer), Tyra Jamison, a.k. payne, Shanikqua Peterson, Lisa Pickett, Almah LaVon Rice, TeOnna Ross, Jennifer N. Shannon, Celeste C. Smith, Christina Springer, Aaliyah Thomas, and Alona Williams. These contributors represented a mix of genres, prose, ages, experiences, and ways of identifying in the world.

Some had been published before, while for others, this was their first time.

But unlike the traditional publishing industry, of which Philyaw says “there’s so much gatekeeping, and not enough gateways,” she and german did as much as they could to retain each writer’s voice and intentions, as well as layout and formatting.

“We wanted to take what was shared with us and touch it as lightly as we could,” says Philyaw. “For me as an editor, it was maintaining a voice, making sure whatever I did was maybe to amplify or clarify something … respect the individuality of each of the writers.”

The goal was to celebrate Black women generally, but also the specific women

in the collection, and to make the whole thing a work of art. Every detail, from the editing to the stitching, was thought out and carefully considered. All of Aaliyah Thomas’ edits for “A Daughter Like Me,” for example, were done in person.

“To feel my work being held and cared for by women I consider mentors was the perfect initiation to the writing world as a young adult,” says Tyra Jamison (“At Odds”). “It’s also generative, to be a part of this network allowed me

TENDER: A CELEBRATION OF BLACK WOMXN & FEMMES IN PITTSBURGH 7-8:30 p.m. Thu., Feb. 27. City of Asylum, 40 W. North Ave., North Side. Free with RSVP. alphabetcity.org

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PGHCITYPAPER.COM

to see all possibilities for Black womyn and femmes in writing.”

And by making the entire process so intimate, TENDER unintentionally became a community. The women would meet up to during the creation to mix and mingle, and when TENDER came back from the printing press, the women opened the box together and signed each other’s copies.

“Contributing to TENDER granted me access to a part of myself that people rarely associate with Black womanhood unless she is falling apart,” says Melanie Dione (“Mama, Warrior”). “I say ‘granted access’ because I’m not certain this piece would have been written without the project giving me permission, in a sense.

There’s a restorative intensity when you’re in a room with over a dozen other women who have decided, ‘We can be soft here.’ It’s an honor to have my work among theirs.”

Almost all of the women will come together on Thu., Feb. 27, for a book launch at City of Asylum.

“This book is a balm, an antidote to what we know is an experience for Black women in the city that’s the opposite of tender,” says Philyaw.

•

TENDER can be purchased online, at City Books, Caliban Book, City of Asylum, and East End Food Co-op.

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2020

31

SEVEN DAYS OF CONCERTS LEAP FEST SAT., FEB. 29 We get an extra day this year, so why not spend it jamming out to alternative/indie tunes at The Glitter Box Theater for Leap Fest? Heading a lineup of 11 local and out-of-town bands are Shannon Keating and Chloe Hodgkins, the married duo who make up Scratchy Blanket. The indie emo-pop group is celebrating the release of their debut album Something For Everyone, which will be available to purchase on tape at the event thanks to Acrobat Unstable Records. Get a preview of the forthcoming LP with “It’s Tough,” the second track on Something For Everyone. Other performers include String Machine, The Petals, and Jorts Season. 4-11 p.m. 460 Melwood Ave., Oakland. $10. facebook.com/scratchyblanket CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

Scratchy Blanket

THURSDAY FEB. 27 JAZZ TONY CAMPBELL AND THE JAZZ SURGERY. Dorothy Six Blast Furnace Cafe.

8 p.m. Homestead.

THROCKMORTON PLOT. Kingfly Spirits.

7 p.m. Strip District.

ROGER HUMPHRIES. Con Alma. 8 p.m. Shadyside.

RYAN SALISBURY. Mansions on Fifth.

5:30 p.m. Shadyside.

ROCK LESPECIAL, FLETCHER’S GROVE. Thunderbird Café & Music Hall.

8 p.m. Lawrenceville.

ELECTRONIC NANOWIRES, RSK. CAKE. 9 p.m. Strip District.

CANADIAN ELECTRONIC ENSEMBLE. Kresge Theatre. 7 p.m. Shadyside.

COUNTRY KINGSLAND HOLLEr. Scratch Food & Beverage.

8 p.m. Troy Hill.

BILLY GILMAN. Crafthouse Stage & Grill.

7:30 p.m. Whitehall.

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ERIC PASLAY. Jergel’s Rhythm Grille.

8 p.m. Warrendale.

JULIA NEVILLE. Tequila Cowboy.

7 p.m. North Side.

FOLK CRAIG CARDIFF. Club Cafe.

6:30 p.m. South Side.

ACOUSTIC CHRIS HANNIGAN. Cioppino. p.m. Strip District.

FRIDAY FEB. 28 FOLK JULIANNE WRIGHT. Mr. Smalls Theatre.

7 p.m. Millvale.

EMILY SCOTT ROBINSON. Club Cafe.

6:30 p.m. South Side.

INTERNATIONAL

ROCK MUDMEN. Oaks Theater.

7:30 p.m. Oakmont.

DAVID AND PAPPY. Moondog’s. 8 p.m. Blawnox.

DAMAGED PIES. Riley’s Pour House.

8 p.m. Carnegie.

REGGAE THE SOUL REBELS. Thunderbird Café & Music Hall.

8 p.m. Lawrenceville.

ELECTRONIC VYBEKINGS, CHRIS MAZE. Scenario. 10 p.m. South Side.

COUNTRY HONKY-TONK JUKEBOX #13.

Bloomfield Liedertafel Singing Society. 7:30 p.m. Bloomfield.

DJS JUBILEE, NASTY NIGEL. COBRA Lounge.

10 p.m. Bloomfield.

METAL

GYPSY STRINGZ. Dorothy Six Blast Furnace Cafe.

6 p.m. Homestead.

GUTRENCH, IN COLD BLOOD. Preserving Underground.

4 p.m. New Kensington.

CLASSICAL

JAZZ

CARMINA BURANA. Ingomar United Methodist Church.

7:30 p.m. Wexford.

SOCIAL JUSTICE DISCO. Mr. Smalls Theatre.

7 p.m. Millvale.

SATURDAY FEB. 29 FOLK BROOKE ANNIBALE. Thunderbird Café & Music Hall.

8 p.m. Lawrenceville.

BRAIN JUNKER. Friendship Perk & Brew.

6:30 p.m. Bloomfield.

CLASSICAL VENICE BAROQUE ORCHESTRA. Synod Hall.

8 p.m. Oakland.

LIFT EVERY VOICE. Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

8 p.m. Downtown.

BEYOND 2020: MICROTONAL PITTSBURGH. Frick Fine Arts Auditorium.

2 p.m. Oakland.

ELECTRONIC

THE PUMP FAKES. Kollar Club.

7 p.m. South Side.

FORSAKEN BY SOCIETY. Main Street Tavern.

9 p.m. Monongahela.

JAZZ RML JAZZ. NOLA On the Square.

8 p.m. Downtown.

DJS JONATHAN TOUBIN. Spirit.

9 p.m. Lawrenceville.

DJ NUGGET. The Goldmark.

10 p.m. Lawrenceville.

HIP HOP RJD2.

Mr. Smalls Theatre.

8 p.m. Millvale.

FUNK

MULTI-GENRE MIX-TAPE MADNESS. The Mr. Roboto Project.

5 p.m. Bloomfield.

SUNDAY MARCH 1 METAL VALE OF PNATH. The Smiling Moose.

6 p.m. South Side.

CLASSICAL DEL SOL, FRETX GUITAR DUO. Andy Warhol Museum.

8 p.m. North Side.

BECAUSE SHE SAID SO. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

2 p.m. Oakland.

ALTERNATIVE/INDIE

SPACE JESUS. Roxian Theatre.

8 p.m. McKees Rocks.

TRAILHEADS. Bar None.

8 p.m. Uniontown.

ACE OF WANDS. Spirit.

9 p.m. Lawrenceville.

DARWIN, BOO LEAN. Hot Mass. 12 a.m. Downtown.

METAL

POP

ROCK JIMMY AND THE FROGMEN. Moondog’s.

8:30 p.m. Blawnox.

STATIONARY PEBBLES. Club Cafe. 9 p.m. South Side.

GATOR SHAKES. Mr. Smalls Theatre.

8 p.m. Millvale.

CLARK BECKHAM. Club Cafe.

6:30 p.m. South Side.

PUNK

REGGAE

PLASMID. Howlers.

7:30 p.m. Bloomfield.

THE FLOW BAND. Wilson’s Nite Out. 5 p.m. Swissvale.

SUNDAY MARCH 1 3 P.M.

PRESENTS

Let sonic beasts crawl, climb and soar through your imagination as the WSO plays music from Jurassic Park, Fantastic Beasts and How to Train Your Dragon.

Tickets start at just $17! Purchase at washsym.org, 1-888-71-TICKETS, or at the door • Free parking Trinity High School 231 Park Ave, Washington PA • For more info, visit washsym.org or call 724-223-9796 CP PHOTO: JARED MURPHY

Buscrates

DELICATE CASHMERE LABEL KICKOFF & RECORD SALE

The WSO has received funding for its 2019-2020 season marketing project from the Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency, Inc.

MONROEVILLE • BROOKLINE • CRANBERRY • SOUTH SIDE • UNIONTOWN

THU., FEB. 27 Meet Pittsburgh’s newest record label when Delicate Cashmere, founded by DJ/producer Good Dude Lojack, hosts a multifaceted launch party. The evening starts at Row House Cinema with a screening of All Ears, a documentary from Gus Sutherland centered around L.A.’s experimental and instrumental beat scene. This aligns with Delicate Cashmere, as the label won’t be genre-specific, but will have a heavy emphasis on electronic music, and more specifically beat music, instrumental hip hop, house, and ambient. (Though live projects that range from funk to jazz will also be included.) The party then moves down the street to The Goldmark, where in addition to a record sale, beat-focused musicians Buscrates, C. Scott, Connor Hill, Good Dude Lojack, JGGZ, and Yorel Tifsim are set to perform. 8 p.m.

Row House Cinema, 4115 Butler St., and The Goldmark, 4517 Butler St., Lawrenceville. $10 for screening; no cover for show. Search “Delicate Cashmere” on Facebook.

FULL LIST ONLINE pghcitypaper.com ACOUSTIC JOEL LINDSEY. Kingfly Spirits. 2 p.m. Strip District.

MONDAY MARCH 2 COUNTRY HAYES CARLL. Club Cafe. 5:30 p.m. South Side.

PUNK WILMETTE. The Smiling Moose.

7 p.m. South Side.

WEDNESDAY MARCH 4

TUESDAY MARCH 3

JAZZ

POP

FUNK BEAUTY SLAP. Club Cafe.

6:30 p.m. South Side.

PHANGS. The Smiling Moose.

6:30 p.m. South Side.

STURGILL SIMPSON. Petersen Events Center. 7:30 p.m. Oakland.

BAY FACTION. Mr. Smalls Theatre. 7 p.m. Millvale.

833-667-4665

www.GetYourIDcard.com

COUNTRY ROCK SECKOND CHAYNCE. Crafthouse Stage & Grill. 7:30 p.m. Whitehall.

WAR STREET. Arsenal Bowl. 9 p.m.

Lawrenceville.

BLUES

FOLK

SHOSHANA BEAN. Greer Cabaret Theater.

7 p.m. Downtown.

RADICAL FACE. Rex Theater. 7 p.m. South Side.

THREE LEGGED DOG. Jergel’s Rhythm Grille. 4 p.m. Warrendale.

JAZZ

METAL

METAL

TRIUMVIR FOUL. Pyre Press.

7 p.m. Lawrenceville.

KAONASHI, DOWNSWING. Preserving Underground. 7 p.m.

New Kensington.

HOWIE ALEXANDER TRIO. Con Alma. 5 p.m. Shadyside.

100

$

CASEY ABRAMS. Hard Rock Cafe.

8 p.m. South Side.

SLEEP ON IT. Thunderbird Café & Music Hall.

6 p.m. Lawrenceville.

ROCK

RENEWALS

These listings are curated by Pittsburgh City Paper’s music writer Jordan Snowden and include events from our free online listings. Submit yours today at www.pghcitypaper.com/submitevent PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2020

33

.MUSIC.

GAME OF TONES

BY ALEX GORDON ALEXGORDON@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

D

ESPITE ITS modernist ring, microtonal music is not a recent phenomenon. The term was first coined over a century ago, and the concept — music using altered pitches and tuning systems to play notes not found in the standard Western twelve-tone system — has been utilized as far back as history books go. But thanks to the internet, the ease of selfeducation through YouTube tutorials, and the advancement of musical technology, microtonal music has evolved into an (almost) mainstream field of study and expression.

Leading the charge in Pittsburgh is the concert series Music on the Edge, celebrating its 30th anniversary with the Beyond 2020 Microtonal Music Festival, the third iteration of the festival since debuting in 2015. From Fri., Feb. 28 to Sun., March 1, a slate of local and international groups will explore microtonality

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PGHCITYPAPER.COM

Brightwork Ensemble

BEYOND 2020 MICROTONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL Fri., Feb. 28-Sun., March 1. Multiple locations. Festival pass $30; tickets for individual shows $15 in advance/ $20 at door. music.pitt.edu/beyond

from a variety of approaches through a mix of electronic and acoustic instruments, light shows, video projections, and dance, as well as lectures from experts in the field. Performers include Del Sol String Quartet (San Francisco), MikroEnsemble (Finland), Brightwork Ensemble (Los

Angeles), and Pittsburgh musicians Aaron Myers-Brooks, Nuiko Wadden, and Lindsey Goodman, and many more.

Matthew Rosenblum, co-director of Music on the Edge, says that microtonal music may seem like an esoteric, mostly academic pursuit, but it’s actually pretty common and familiar even to folks without music degrees.

“You find [microtonal music] in different places, in Indian music, Ravi Shankar, things that people are more familiar with, but they don’t have a name for it,” says Rosenblum. “It affects them in

a different way, and they can tell that it’s something different.”

The genre’s more dissonant qualities lend themselves to music that is deliberately unsettling (at least to Western ears not used to notes outside the keys on a piano), but Rosenblum says that’s a false generalization and that there are as many approaches to microtonality as there are artists working in the medium. It’s not so much about dissonance, but about expanding the perception of consonance.

On opening night, Rosenblum’s composition “Falling” will be performed by Brightwork at the New Hazlett Theater, alongside works from Music on the Edge co-director Eric Moe, Amy Williams, and Federico Garcia; there will also be video projections “reacting to the music” by Barbara Weissberger, Aaron Henderson, and Jeremy Boyle. The performances underline the breadth of approaches in microtonal music, with some pieces utilizing synthetically altered tones via an electronic piano, and others relying solely on specially designed acoustic instruments to reach those notes-betweenthe-notes. There’s no wrong way to do it.

For a full schedule of Beyond 2020 Microtonal Music Festival — including symposia and a free concert on Saturday — visit music.pitt.edu/beyond.

•

Sponsored by

EARLY WARNINGS SPONSORED UPCOMING EVENTS FROM CITY PAPER’S FINE ADVERTISERS

WED., MAR. 11 BAD OMENS 4:30 P.M. CRAFTHOUSE STAGE & GRILL, SOUTH HILLS. All Ages. $15-$27.

WED., MAR. 11 GLASS MANSIONS 6 P.M. SMILING MOOSE, SOUTH SIDE. All Ages. $10-$12.

WED., MAR. 11 MELVIN SEALS & JGB 6 P.M. JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE, WEXFORD. Under 21 w/ Guardian. $28-$42.

BOB MINKIN PHOTOGRAPHY

WED., MAR. 11 A BAND’S VISIT

WED., MAR. 11 MELVIN SEALS & JGB

7:30 P.M. BENEDUM CENTER, DOWNTOWN. All Ages. $95-$250.

WED., MAR. 11 CAROLINE ROSE 8 P.M. CLUB CAFÉ, SOUTH SIDE. 21+ Event. $16. 412-653-2695 or ticketfly.com.

THU., MAR. 12 TERROR 5:30 P.M. CRAFTHOUSE STAGE & GRILL, SOUTH HILLS. All Ages. $18-$30.50.

412-431-4668 or ticketfly.com.

THU., MAR. 12 HOWARD JONES ACOUSTIC TRIO 6 P.M. JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE, WEXFORD. Under 21 w/ Guardian. $27-$42. 724-799-8333 or ticketfly.com.

THU., MAR. 12 CRY IT OUT 8 P.M. CITY THEATER, SOUTH SIDE. All Ages. $29. 412-456-6666 or trustarts.org.

THU., MAR. 12 TWIN PEAKS W/ ROOKIE 8 P.M. MR. SMALLS THEATRE, MILLVALE. All Ages. $20. 412-431-4950 or ticketweb. com/opusone.

THU., MAR. 12 JAUZ WORLD TOUR 7 P.M. ROXIAN THEATRE, MCKEES ROCKS. All Ages. $26-$31.

412-653-2695 or ticketfly.com.

JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE, WEXFORD.

FRI., MAR. 13 CBDB / KENDALL STREET COMPANY 6 P.M. SMILING MOOSE, SOUTH SIDE. All Ages. $12. 724-799-8333 or ticketfly.com.

FRI., MAR. 13 ROBERT CRAY 6:30 P.M. THE PALACE THEATRE, GREENSBURG. All Ages. $35-$59.

412-431-CITY or citytheatrecompany.org.

FRI., MAR. 13 CELINE DION 7:30 P.M. PPG PAINTS ARENA, UPTOWN. All Ages. $155-$262.

412-421-4447 or mrsmalls.com.

FRI., MAR. 13 50 TIMES AROUND THE SUN: A CELEBRATION OF LOCAL MUSIC

WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW 7:30 P.M. PPG PAINTS ARENA, UPTOWN. All Ages. $20-$120. 724-836-8000 or thepalacetheatre.org

MON., MAR. 16 NATHANIEL RATELIFF 8 P.M. BYHAM THEATER, DOWNTOWN. All Ages. $54-$95.

412-642-1800 or ticketmaster.com.

TUE., MAR. 17 BEASTO BLANCO 5:30 P.M. CRAFTHOUSE STAGE & GRILL, SOUTH HILLS. Under 21 w/ Guardian. $15-$27.50.

412-421-4447 or mrsmalls.com.

TUE., MAR. 17 ZZ-KC - A TRIBUTE TO ZZ TOP 6 P.M. JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE, WEXFORD. Under 21 w/ Guardian. $13-$24. 724-799-8333 or ticketfly.com.

7:30 P.M. MR. SMALLS THEATRE, MILLVALE. All Ages. $10 412-331-1050 or roxianlive.com

TUE., MAR. 17 OSO OSO

SAT., MAR. 14 THE SILENCERS

7 P.M. SPIRIT HALL, LAWRENCEVILLE. All Ages. $18.50. 412-642-1800 or ticketmaster.com.

6 P.M. JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE, WEXFORD. Under 21 w/ Guardian. $25-$39. 412-431-4668 or ticketfly.com.

TUE., MAR. 17 TUESDAY NIGHT TRAIL RUNS

MON., MAR. 16

6 P.M. FRICK PARK, OAKLAND. All Ages. Free. 412-456-6666 or trustarts.org.

FOR UPCOMING ALLEGHENY COUNTY PARKS EVENTS, LOG ONTO WWW.ALLEGHENYPARKS.COM PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2020

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CP PHOTO: LISA CUNNINGHAM

Skippy watches CatVideoFest 2020

A PURR-FECT VIEW

BY SKIPPY CUNNINGHAM // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

I should have known something was up when she placed her laptop on the couch and patted the cushion. That’s a move normally indicating a surprise grooming session or a desperate plea for company while she watches yet another Law & Order: SVU marathon. Then I heard it. “Mew! Mew! Mew!” Hi, I’m Skippy. A cat. And my human subjected me to 80 minutes of CatVideoFest 2020.

Me-wow, people record a lot of cat videos. I thought I had it bad being recorded CATVIDEOFEST whenever I fetch a toy 2020 Fri., Feb. 28-Sun., like a dog.

But come on, March 8. The Rangos that’s talent! Giant Cinema at Meanwhile, Carnegie Science Center. 1 Allegheny these folks Ave., North Side. are recording carnegiesciencecenter.org cats simply kicking their and Fri., Feb. 28-Thu., March 5. Row House hind legs, Cinema. 4115 Butler St., jumping on Lawrenceville. top of people rowhousecinema.com doing yoga, wait, standing on someone’s crotch?!

Cat, get ahold of yourself! Have some self-respect!

(Wait, why is my human laughing?)

Some of these cats clearly have issues. A cat who enjoys taking a bath?

Don’t even get me started on the long clip of that weird cat with its tongue hanging out. And lolz, there’s a cat walking on a leash. Did no one tell that thing if it drops to the ground and plays dead, their human will just give up?

Do people really gather around a big room and watch this stuff? It’s just clip after clip of cats doing dumb stuff. I gave up and left the room before it ended, but as I turned the corner, I could hear the muffled laughs and whimpers of my owner still watching.

Humans are weird. I’m going back to bed. •

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PGHCITYPAPER.COM

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

The classical style of The Mellon Institute on Fifth Avenue in Oakland

.ARCHITECTURE.

CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE IN CONTENTION

BY CHARLES ROSENBLUM // CPCONTRIBUTORS@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

I

HAVE NO single favorite architectural style. Mid-century modern?

Queen Anne? Prairie? Parametric?

I love nearly all, except the crappy and thoughtless. But I have done academic research in classical architecture — the many revivals of Greece and Rome. So when the style elicited national debate earlier this month, I hoped for a happier discussion than the one we have gotten.

Alas, the stimulus was a proposed presidential executive order, entitled “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again,” which stipulates all future federal architecture over $50 million must be classical.

Not surprisingly, organizations related to both current and historic architecture rushed to call the proposal a bad idea. The American Institute of Architects (AIA), the

Society of Architectural Historians, the National Trust for Historic preservation and many more weighed in to reiterate the still-applicable “Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture” by Daniel Patrick Moynihan in 1962 that states, “An official style must be avoided.”

On one hand, this is just another presidential distraction. Get the pointyheaded architecture specialists (here!) to debate the niceties of style while serious horrors gallop onward unchecked — environmental degradation, children in border camps, the collapsing social safety net, rampant corruption.

Aren’t the best classical buildings — from the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol to the Carnegie Museums and the Mellon Institute — embodiments of our highest aspirations for political freedom and cultural expression, anyway?

Yet these monuments’ status as admired relics rather than current players necessitates a debate that ardent traditionalists are loath to engage. The classical-only proposal relies instead on pernicious falsehoods that only seem truthy without real examination.

Traditional architecture is not necessarily better than modernism. I.M. Pei’s East Wing of the National Gallery of Art is a cherished modernist masterpiece, though Pei’s worst buildings are indeed dismal. Adjacent to Pei in D.C., John Russell Pope’s stridently classical National Gallery of Art (West Wing), is pompous, diffident, and inaccessible — a failure on many levels, though I still love it.

No, the “classical: good; modern: bad” correlation is an old fascist canard that would seem simply dumb and outdated

TASTE30PGH.COM

#TASTE30PGH

EXPERIENCE PITTSBURGH’S FOOD EVOLUTION today were it not still chillingly evil. Sorry, but the guy who rounded up modern art to be stigmatized as “degenerate” was indeed Hitler. The reductive voices calling modern architecture an insidious plot today may not be genocidal, but they are at best blindly nostalgic with little sense of the technological and economic forces driving architecture.

Also, insisting that classical/traditional architecture as the will of the people is logically fallacious and also documentedly untrue. In the AIA’s recent public survey of 150 favorite buildings, a strong contingent of modern works appears among the old-timers. Fallingwater, anyone?

It’s true, sadly, that many architects (and critics?) sometimes impose their elite tastes rather than cultivating grassroots enthusiasm in their processes. But at least as often, developers, engineers, clients, or planners impose horrible conditions over the protests of architects and critics.

The fascists have seized upon these vulnerabilities, and architects need to battle back with shrewd political maneuvering rather than just cerebral explanations.

The presidential order doesn’t really enfranchise the broader populace, it simply purges and vilifies genuine experts while imposing authoritarianism under false claims of the people more broadly. David Insinga, the chief architect of the General Services Administration and director of its much-lauded Design Excellence Program, resigned his position in protest, while the White House plans a President’s Committee for the Re-Beautification of Federal Architecture that specifically excludes professional architects or critics.

Classical architecture is, not incidentally, the whitest architecture, so it can only persist when it is critiqued or adapted, embraced, or contrasted by people of color.

David Adjaye’s recent National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall (paralleled nearby the earlier National Museum of the American Indian) is a splendid assertion that monuments of African diaspora can (must?) thrive as American icons in dialogue with our starchy white Roman temples. It is, by the way, the most popular building on the National Mall this century, according to critic Michael Kimmelman.

AREN’T THE BEST CLASSICAL BUILDINGS EMBODIMENTS OF OUR HIGHEST ASPIRATIONS FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM AND CULTURAL EXPRESSION, ANYWAY? Surprisingly, the Smithsonian would have continued architectural leeway under the new edict, but no other large federal building would.

The government should mandate all kinds of things in federal architecture, and it does: safety, environmental performance, suitability to location, responsiveness to community.

But it must not silence expertise or wield any kind of architecture with authoritarian tactics.

It’s not the style. It’s the fascism.

Follow contributing writer Charles Rosenblum on Twitter @CharlzR

•

MARCH 1-30, 2020

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37

FILM STILL FROM WOOGIE BY LORENZO BOONE

.FILM.

BLACK SHORTS

BY AMANDA WALTZ // AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

J

AY “RUFF BONE” WHITE has been making films in Pittsburgh for years.

Now the Beltzhoover native and self-taught filmmaker is showcasing the work of his peers with Pittsburgh Black Film Network: A Day Dedicated to Black Short Films.

The event on Thu., Feb. 27 at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA will include a screening as well as networking component and Q&A session. It’s presented

by Jay White Digital Media, a company White founded a few months ago and has since used to host networking events at places like Arnold’s Tea in the North Side.

The selected films — each of which run 10 to 20 minutes long — include All for Nothing by Dorin STARRNamed Marr, Hit & Run by Michael Redd, The Nexus by Corey Langford, and Woogie

by Lorenzo Boone, as well as an unannounced fifth film.

White sees the short film program

as giving a platform to “outcasts” in the local independent film community, which he views as being overshadowed by the large-scale film and TV productions attracted by the state’s film tax credit and Pittsburgh’s versatile landscape.

He adds that while incoming projects — which include everything from Hollywood films to Netflix series — provide jobs to film professionals and others in the city, not enough Black people are hired to work on sets.

As a result, he and others started making and distributing their own films.

“We just create our own stuff and do our own thing,” says White. “Whoever wants to be part of it and help, that’s fine.”

Over the years, White has gone from making documentaries to dabbling in narrative features. His 2015 documentary Pittsburgh State of Mind looked at the music subcultures in the city, specifically those related to various styles of hip hop.

PITTSBURGH BLACK FILM NETWORK: A DAY DEDICATED TO BLACK SHORT FILMS 5-8 p.m. Thu., Feb. 27. Homewood-Brushton YMCA, 7140 Bennett St., Homewood. Free. jaydigitalmedia.com

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In a Pittsburgh City Paper story about the film’s Southside Works Cinema premiere, White described the film as an effort “to bridge the gap between black, white, hip-hop rappers, backpack rappers, whoever the case may be.”

His other films also tackle issues related to historical and current Black experiences. His 2018 feature Everyday Hustle, which premiered in 2018 at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, depicted the struggles of a single father after he loses his career.

“I shot a movie with no script or budget,” says White. “I just used my friends and creativity, and made a whole feature film.”

He also worked with executive producer Sarah Martin on Pittsburgh’s Underground Railroad, a documentary short covering how the U.S. enslaved African people and the role Pittsburgh played in helping to free them.

While local leaders, institutions, and organizations have made some strides in supporting local Black filmmakers, including the creation of grant programs like Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh and the Black Bottom Film Festival, White

still sees few opportunities to make a career here.

“The Hollywood movies are the only things people care about here instead of uplifting the local filmmakers, and putting them on a platform and displaying their work to the world,” he says.

Part of it, he says, is also due to how fractured the local film community is, something he hopes to remedy with the Pittsburgh Black Film Network.

“There is a lot of independent filmmakers here, but everybody is so segregated,” says White. “It’s not even Black and white people, it’s just segregated [in that] only small circles of people know about it, and then the films just fizzle out.”

He believes if local independent film was nurtured as much as the music and art scenes, which have seen people gain name recognition beyond Pittsburgh, filmmakers would have more of a chance to succeed.

“There’s a list of talented people here already in the city that are into films,” he says. “You never know [what a filmmaker here could do] if they get the right budget, some of the backing, and people to support [their film].”

•

.LITERATURE.

TAKING FLIGHT

BY REGE BEHE CPCONTRIBUTORS@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

A

S A PLUS-SIZE woman, Julie Murphy has often been called fat. But in recent interviews and conversations, as well as in her books, the Texas-based young adult writer uses the word as a common adjective.

According to Murphy, who appears Feb. 27 as a guest of the Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series, using “fat” takes away its negative connotations.

“Sometime in my 20s, I just hit a point where I tried changing my body, tried changing my entire life, but it was not happening, and this is who I am,” Murphy says. “I want to call my body what it is. I’m tired of all the negative connotations associated with it. For me, it’s really important to use the word ‘fat’ in a positive way and a neutral way because it’s just a word.”

Murphy’s books celebrate characters who look and sound like her.

Dumplin’, made into a Netflix film starring Jennifer Aniston and featuring songs by Dolly Parton, is about a plus-size teenager who enters a beauty pageant. Dear Sweet Pea tracks the life of a young girl whose divorced parents live in identical houses on the same street. And Murphy’s forthcoming Faith: Take Flight (HarperCollins) is about a plus-size high school senior who becomes a superhero.

The stories have a universal appeal that transcends age groups.

At her young adult events, 60% of Murphy’s audience is adult. “As a writer who is now making a career of this and is constantly moving on to the next book, it’s hard not to have your audience in mind,” she says, “and kind of remember my books are young adult books and I write for teenagers, but I also have a really wide adult readership.”

Murphy does enjoy the give-andtake of talking to children, comparing question-and-answer sessions with kids to “mini-firing squads.”

PHOTO: CHRISTY ARCHIBALD

Julie Murphy

Unlike most writers, Murphy didn’t grow up an avid reader. In her working-class family, there simply wasn’t a lot of time for books.

Storytelling, however, was part of the fabric of everyday life, and after taking up theater in high s c h o o l , M u r p hy became a librarian, a job she held fulltime until recently.

PITTSBURGH CONTEMPORARY WRITERS SERIES: JULIE MURPHY AND ALESSANDRA BALZER 7:30 p.m. Thu., Feb. 27. Frick Fine Arts Center, 650 Schenley Drive, Oakland. Free. pghwriterseries.pitt.edu

Now, she’s focused on creating characters who not only resemble her physically, but think and act like Murphy does.

“We still have a very long way to go,” Murphy says. “Even now we’re seeing more but it’s not nearly enough. Our books still don’t represent the world around us in a very fair or realistic way. I think we’re definitely seeing a huge surge, but real change is going to come when the publishing industry also diversifies. That’s going to take time.”

•

Follow featured contributor Rege Behe on Twitter @RegeBehe_exPTR PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2020

39

SEVEN DAYS OF ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT

PHOTO: KAREN LUE

^ Thu., Feb. 27: Tiny Talk with Karen Lue

THURSDAY FEB. 27

ART Photographer, illustrator, and curator Karen Lue creates work that explores her Chinese-American identity, including a photo series documenting the cleaning of her grandfather’s apartment after his death.

Join Small Mall for a Tiny Talk with Lue to hear more about her work, and check out a “micro exhibit” of her pieces.

6 p.m. 5300 Butler St., Lawrenceville. smallmallpgh.com

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PGHCITYPAPER.COM

FILM You can hear the theme song the moment anyone says, “Indiana Jones.”

John Williams is responsible for countless epic scores, but Raiders of the Lost Ark is on the short list to be one of his best.

Join the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and The New Yorker’s latest musical darling Manfred Honeck as they perform the score live to the feature at Heinz Hall. 7 p.m. 600 Penn Ave., Downtown. $25-105. pittsburghsymphony.org

STAGE *To the tune of “Memory”* It’s Cats, and it’s playing in Pittsburgh. It has won Tonys.

It’s by Andrew Lloyd Webber. At Benedum Center, you will see it on stage. It’s based on poems. It’s super weird. *music swells* It’s Cats. It has people in cat suits. And they are dancing and moving like cats.

Do you remember when you saw it on Broadway back when? Go buy a ticket and see it again. 7:30 p.m. Continues through Sun., March 1. Seventh St. and Penn Ave., Downtown. $33-145. trustarts.org

SPORTS Do you like sweaty dudes and ladies facing off in the heart of the South Side?

Of course you do. Then you won’t want to miss WrestleRex, an edgy Pittsburgh Pro Wrestling Company housed in Rex Theater.

Expect over-the-top costumes, props, and (fingers crossed) beat downs as a wide cast of competitors, including Lucha Libre wrestlers and Pittsburgh’s own Sam Adonis returning to the ring. 8 p.m. 1602 E. Carson St., South Side. $20-50. rextheater.net

FRIDAY FEB. 28

ART Join the Pittsburgh Emerging Arts Leaders Network for a panel moderated by City of Asylum disability coordinator Rebecca Martin

THIS THURSDAY FEBRUARY 27TH presents

PHOTO: MATTHEW MURPHY

^ Thu., Feb. 27: Cats

about accessibility in the art world. The panel is in conjunction with Mastermind, an exhibit at Pittsburgh Center for Arts & Media with a theme of accessibility.

6 p.m. 1047 Shady Ave., Shadyside. pghartsandmedia.org

EVENT Local divas Liz Berlin and Phat Man Dee host Social Justice Disco 2020, a night of music speaking out against bigotry, hatred, and violence. Designed around the theme “Envision A Brighter Future,” the event brings together a huge cast of Pittsburgh musicians to perform both old and original songs. Sing along to Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” and “All You Fascists Are Bound To Lose” by Woody Guthrie and Billy Bragg, as well as a “Black Lives Matter/ Stayin’ Alive,” an anti-police brutality parody of the Bee Gees song. See it all at Mr. Smalls Theatre. 7-11 p.m. Doors at 6 p.m. 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. $10-12. mrsmalls.com

COMEDY In the Trevor Noah-era of The Daily Show, no member of the “Best F*cking News Team on TV” has broken out quite as notably as Roy Wood Jr. (For a recent highlight, check out his “State of Black Shit 2020,” a rebuttal to President Trump’s State of the Union.) The comedian has been working in comedy for the past two decades with sets on all the major late

night shows, a half-hour special, and two seasons co-starring on the Pittsburghbased Steve Byrne project Sullivan & Son. But during his five-year stint on TDS (and thanks to a killer Twitter presence @roywoodjr), Wood has proven himself a vital voice in covering politics in 2020. Don’t miss his weekend of shows at Pittsburgh Improv. 7:30 p.m.

Continues through Sat., Feb. 29.

166 E. Bridge St., Homestead. Tickets start at $22. roywoodjr.com

SATURDAY FEB. 29 FEST Kelly Strayhorn Theater and Alloy Studios will rethink what it means to celebrate Black History Month when it presents Black to the Future: A Festival of Art, Social Justice, and Dreaming. Presented by the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for African American Poetry & Poetics, the event will look at the past and examine how the critical impact of art, poetry, and music could help build a better future.

Enjoy a live performance and workshop by the KanKouran West African Dance Company and a “poetry party” hosted by poet Simone White. Times vary. 5941 Penn Ave. and 5530 Penn Ave., East Liberty.

Pay what you can. kelly-strayhorn.org CONTINUES ON PG. 42

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41

CALENDAR, CONTINUED FROM PG. 41

PHOTO: YANLAI DANCE ACADEMY

^ Sat., Feb. 29: Wings of the Soul

EVENT Exercise your storytelling muscles with How Stories Birth Our Language, a writing workshop hosted by Prototype PGH. The workshop, run by Hill District native Tyra Jamison, who writes under the pen name Mant¿s, will focus on “how marginalized people develop language through storytelling,” beginning with stories, parables, and mythology. 10 a.m. 460 Melwood Ave., Oakland. $10. prototypepgh.com

STAGE Try to laugh at the pressures of parenthood at Cry It Out, the latest production from the City Theatre Company. Written by Molly Smith Metzler, and directed by Kim Weild, the show follows the struggles of a new mother as she begins to realize that having it all is more difficult than it looks. Metzler says the play came

42

PGHCITYPAPER.COM

from her experience of having her first child and wrote it because she felt that there should be a “true portrayal of maternity leave on stage, written by a woman.” 5:30 p.m. Continues through Sun., March 22. 1300 Bingham St., South Side. Tickets start at $29. citytheatrecompany.org

ART After completing daily art projects throughout January for Fun A Day, it’s time to sit back and appreciate our work. CDCP Project Space hosts Fun A Day Pittsburgh Art Show 2020, featuring works from more than 120 creatives in town who participated.

(CP staffers spent the month repurposing old issues into paper airplanes, hats, and more.) If you’re bummed you didn’t participate this year, don’t worry: You can challenge yourself to make art every day without an official prompt. There are

no rules around here. 6 p.m. Continues through Sun., March 8. 317 S. Trenton Ave., Wilkinsburg. “Fun A Day PGH 2020 Art Show” on Facebook

DANCE Enjoy a wide range of traditional dance styles when Yanlai Dance Academy presents Wings of the Soul at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. The show covers 23 dances that range from the ancient style of the Hang Dynasty to Xin Jiang, Mongolian, Tibetan, Yi, and Dai dance.

Enjoy a night of beautiful movement, music, and costumes as the dancers use their art to explore the many facets of Chinese identity. 6-8 p.m. 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $18-50. aacc-awc.org

CIRCUS Come one, come all: The circus is coming to town and this time, it doesn’t involve

any PETA protests. Instead of elephants and tigers crammed into a tiny tent, watch the beautiful movements of aerialists and acrobats from the Pittsburgh Circus Center as they perform Love is in the Air, Circus Date Night. Feel like a total clown when you try to dance? Come early to the VIP reception and partake in food and a ballroom dance lesson before the show.

“Dressy clothing” is recommended, and if you really want to impress your date with the best show on earth, BYOB a bottle of bubbly. 7:30 p.m. (VIP reception, 6 p.m.)

6800 Brighton Road, Ben Avon. $8-16. pittsborghaerialsilks.com

DANCE Bodiography will give contemporary ballet fans an evening-length performance of artistic director Maria Caruso’s Metamorphosis. First presented at Israel’s Karmiel Dance Festival in 2018, Caruso’s solo takes audiences on an emotional journey of

PHOTO: JOHN ROGERS

^ Tue., March 3: Rez Abbasi

personal transformation as communicated through movement and a series of costumes changes throughout the show. See it at The Factory. 8-11:30 p.m.

1501 Preble Ave., North Side. $75-200. company.bodiography.com

SUNDAY MARCH 1 LIT For the past 20 years, author Linda Sue Park has been writing books for children and young adults that cover Asian and Asian-American history. Her latest, Prairie Lotus, set in the 1880s, follows a young half-Chinese girl living in the Dakota territory with her white father. See Park speak at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall as part of the Words & Pictures series.

2:30 p.m. 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $10; free with CLP card. pittsburghlectures.org

MONDAY MARCH 2 STAGE The Pittsburgh New Works Festival once again showcases emerging voices in the theater scene with its annual New Play Reading Series at Higher Voice Studio. A cast of actors will read a few of this year’s chosen works — After Good Times Say Goodbye by Carl Williams, Aim by Judy Meiksin, and Glitter Stellar Cluster by Lauren Fulton. The event includes refreshments and snacks. 7-10 p.m. 144 E. Main St., Carnegie. Pay what you can. pittsburghnewworks.org

TUESDAY MARCH 3

FILM World renowned jazz guitarist/composer Rez Abbasi comes to the University of Pittsburgh for a live performance of his 2019 album A Throw of Dice. Along with his band, the Silent Ensemble, the album features Abbasi’s interpretation of the 1929 score to the silent film of the same name. It’s an Indian film made by German filmmakers, and the score mixes elements of jazz, classical, and traditional Indian instruments.

Though Abbasi is not the first to attempt to rethink the score — other versions were released in 2006 and 2013 — he’s uniquely well suited to handle its balance of melodrama and tipsy-turvy dissonance. Watch Abbasi and his band play the score live, as the original film plays in the background. 6:30 p.m. Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Ave., Oakland.

Reservations recommended. reztone.com

WEDNESDAY MARCH 4 DRINKS You ever feel out of place? You ever feel drunk? Then Wednesday Wine Flights: Strictly Oddball at Greer Cabaret Theater will be perfect for you, where the pros will explore some of the less ubiquitous, “odd ball” grapes that do not always show up on wine lists, featuring Deb Mortillaro of Dreadnought Wines. 6:15 p.m. 655 Penn Ave., Downtown. $41.25. trustarts.org • PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER FEB. 26-MARCH 4, 2020

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45

PEEPSHOW A sex and social justice column

BY JESSIE SAGE // PEEPSHOWCAST@GMAIL.COM

L

AST WEEK I found myself combing through an entire year’s worth of bank and credit card statements in order to make a list of business expenses. It’s that time of year again: tax time.

Perhaps others are more organized than I am and keep spreadsheets throughout the year to save themselves from doing this mind-numbingly tedious task all at once. I haven’t managed to do this yet though, and I’ve been working for myself for at least 15 years.

So there I sat, going line by line.

I use my phone for my business, so that should definitely be written off.

Internet, most certainly. Plane tickets and hotel tabs for work-related conventions. I have a studio inside of my house that I use exclusively for work. The studio, therefore, and all of the furniture and supplies that are in it count.

These are all of the standard workrelated deductions, regardless of what kind of business you run: office supplies, meals with potential customers or collaborators, equipment necessary to run the business, etc.

But what if you are in the business of sex?

Despite popular misconceptions – think back to the #thotaudit – many sex workers pay taxes. This raises interesting questions in regard to business

expenses. What sort of supplies do sex workers need? What can sex workers reasonably write off?

Obviously, the answer to this question varies depending on the type of sex work we are talking about. An independent porn performer, for example, will need more sophisticated technology than someone who strictly does phone sex (like, say, a good camera, microphones, and editing software). A dominatrix may bring more gear (whips, masks, restraints, etc.) to a booking than would an escort.

That being said, sex workers of all types advertise and sell an image, and that isn’t cheap. Promotional photos and advertisements can cost hundreds

or even thousands of dollars. And primping for these photos can be just as expensive. These are all things we as sex workers need to track to have an accurate count of our business expenses.

Sultry Miss Em says that in addition to some of the tech/communications expenses related to the job (phone, website, computers, etc.), she also writes off “makeup, skincare, hair products, lingerie, and sex toys.”

Goddess Sly has a similar approach, saying she writes off her “internet service, sex toys/paraphernalia, lingerie/underwear purchases.”

Ivy Quill writes off many of the same things, saying, “I write off my work phone; rent for my work space

… furniture and décor; subscriptions, apps, software for work (EX: photo editing, accounting, social media planning); and Amazon orders for supplies.”

However, she is hesitant to include things like makeup. “I avoid writing off meals, makeup and beauty treatments, and clothes/lingerie because it feels like just asking to be audited, but perhaps I’m just paranoid,” she says.

Victoria Veritas shares Quill’s concern. She warns, “Be careful with writing off makeup and lingerie as these could easily be argued expenses for regular life and not just job-related. … Cosplay wigs and costumes are much easier to defend than lingerie and makeup.”

Both Quill and Veritas point to the subjective nature of tax writeoffs. What expenses are necessary for work, and which aren’t? When it comes to sex work, this complication is amplified. Care and maintenance of the body is something that is essential for sex work, but it is also essential for life. In what ways is self-maintenance more expensive for sex workers?

Ramona Flour offers this insight: “An accountant told me in an audit an expense for the profession of choice would need to be both ‘ordinary and necessary.’ Wardrobe, hygiene/cosmetics, and plastic surgery feel ordinary for sure, some would argue necessary no, but this industry is superficial.”

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