May 8, 2019 - Pittsburgh City Paper

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MAY 8-15, 2019

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650 Smithfield Street, Suite 2200 Pittsburgh, PA 15222 412.685.9009 E-MAIL info@pghcitypaper.com

The Pittsburgh Marathon moves through the North Side on Sun., May 5.

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MAY 8-15, 2019 VOLUME 28 + ISSUE 19 Editor-In-Chief LISA CUNNINGHAM Associate Publisher JUSTIN MATASE 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 Sales Representatives JILL DOVERSPIKE, KAITLIN OLIVER, NICK PAGANO Office Coordinator MAGGIE WEAVER Advertising Sales Assistant TAYLOR PASQUARELLI Circulation Manager JEFF ENGBARTH Featured Contributors REGE BEHE, GAB BONESSO, LISSA BRENNAN, LYNN CULLEN, TERENEH IDIA, CHARLES ROSENBLUM, JESSIE SAGE, STEVE SUCATO Intern JARED MURPHY Office Administrator RODNEY REGAN National Advertising Representative VMG ADVERTISING 1.888.278.9866 OR 1.212.475.2529 Publisher EAGLE MEDIA CORP.

FIRSTSHOT

BY ABBIE ADAMS

GENERAL POLICIES: Contents copyrighted 2019 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, faxes 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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National Senior Health & Fitness Day May 29, 2019 Together, we can help you live your best life! That’s why UPMC for Life is so excited to be the Pennsylvania state sponsor of National Senior Health & Fitness Day for the 12th year in a row.

We’re holding events all over the state to encourage you to get moving!

Join us at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium on Wednesday, May 29 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Admission is free for all UPMC for Life members and anyone 60 or older.

Event activities are subject to facility and staff availability and may change.

A sales person will be present with information and applications. For accommodation of persons with special needs at sales meetings call 1-877-539-3080. TTY users should call 711.

You can call us Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Get more information online at www.upmchealthplan.com/medicare/members UPMC for Life has a contract with Medicare to provide HMO, HMO SNP, and PPO plans. The HMO SNP plan has a contract with the PA State Medical Assistance program. Enrollment in UPMC for Life depends on contract renewal. UPMC for Life is a product of and operated by UPMC Health Plan Inc., UPMC Health Network Inc., UPMC Health BeneďŹ ts Inc., and UPMC for You Inc. UPMC Health Plan1 complies with applicable federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

1 UPMC Health Plan is the marketing name used to refer to the following companies, which are licensed to issue individual and group health insurance products or which provide third party administration services for group health plans: UPMC Health Network Inc., UPMC Health Options Inc., UPMC Health Coverage Inc., UPMC Health Plan Inc., UPMC Health BeneďŹ ts Inc., UPMC for You Inc., and/or UPMC BeneďŹ t Management Services Inc. ATENCIĂ“N: si habla espaĂąol, tiene a su disposiciĂłn servicios gratuitos de asistencia lingßística. Llame al 1-877-539-3080 (TTY: 711). ͊Nj띭Ƨưǡ̚ů୒ɅĥNJëť&#x;ÇˇÄťĹ˜Ń‹Í˜ČŚÄŤĐ”Ňśŕž˝ŐŽË–ÓŠëşŻÉ?ŮŽÇ– ëť›66;ëť­ ëťœëşŻ Y0069_191771_C PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

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THE BIG STORY

BACK IN THE

NEWMOVES GROOVE

BY AMANDA WALTZ // AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

newMoves dancers (L-R) inside the KST Alloy Theater: Jessica Marino, Trevor C. Miles, Staycee Pearl, Nick Daniels, Anna Thompson, and Taylor Knight CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

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XPECT DARING, cutting-edge performances by

people of color and emerging talent in this year’s newMoves Contemporary Dance Festival. For its 10th anniversary season — running May 9-12 — the festival will feature a variety of live shows, workshops, and other events focused on using dance to foster connectivity and address social issues.

Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s executive producer George Lugg says newMoves, first launched at the theater in 2009, encourages artists to “engage in dialogue about the creative process and for the community to have a conversation about making dance in Pittsburgh.”

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

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BACK IN THE NEWMOVES GROOVE, CONTINUED FROM PG. 7

PHOTO: V. PAUL VIRTUCIO

Ananya Dance Theatre

“The dance community in much of Pittsburgh is going through the excitement of growing pains,” says Lugg. “There’s a lot of energy and people coming to Pittsburgh. I think there are incredible dance programs that have been producing really powerful artists and dancers.”

But the challenge, he says, lies in taking the local dance scene to the next level by advancing artists and expanding their reach beyond the city. One of the ways newMoves does that is by showcasing local acts in the festival.

Previous installments have introduced new works by notable Pittsburgh dance artists like Sidra Bell, Kyle Abraham, Marjani Forté, the STACYEE PEARL dance project, and Bill Shannon.

National and international acts are

also invited to bring their work to Pittsburgh and network with local dancers and choreographers. Featured this year is Ananya Dance Theatre, a Minnesota-based contemporary Indian dance company founded by choreographer Ananya Chatterjea. Consisting of dancers and collaborators representing the many cultural communities in its home state, including South Asian, Chinese, Hmong, African-American, Pacific Islander, and Latinx, the group works to combine art and social justice, particularly women’s issues.

“A lot of the festival examines art as a community builder and connector, and as a site for social change,” says Lugg. “Ananya has deeply done that work in Minneapolis for many years, both as a community organizer and

in her dance making.”

For newMoves, Ananya Dance Theatre will present Shaatranga: Women Weaving Worlds, a 90-minute performance from the company’s fiveyear series based on the theme “Work Women Do.” A press release describes Shaatranga (which means “seven colors” in Bangla and is pronounced SHAtrong-uh) as exploring relationships around the globe linked by Indian Ocean trade routes that pre-date colonization and slavery by using two primary metaphors — indigo, an important resource on these trade routes across Asia and Africa, and blue jeans, a ubiquitous product in global commerce.

The performance is meant to shed light on the multifaceted stories of women around the world whose

NEWMOVES CONTEMPORARY DANCE FESTIVAL Sun., May 9- Wed., May 12. 5941 Penn Ave., East Liberty. Ticket prices vary. kelly-strayhorn.org

economic contributions throughout history remain largely ignored.

Lugg adds that the performance demonstrates Ananya’s innovative approach to dance by integrating classical and Indian styles, as well as martial arts and yoga. He also praises her use of largescale ensemble dynamics, percussive rhythms, and powerful imagery achieved through fabrics and video projections.

Besides the performance, newMoves will present workshops designed to help guests better engage with Ananya’s goals and creative process. In one, the group will present an introduction to Yorcha, its signature yoga-influenced style anchored by social justice and Dakini, a sacred female spirit in Vajrayana Buddhism traditionally defined by destruction, chaos, and, ultimately, transformation.

For the second workshop, Our Indigo Stories, Chatterjea and other members of the group will lead a series of improvisational exercises related to the CONTINUES ON PG. 10

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MAY 9-19

BACK IN THE NEWMOVES GROOVE, CONTINUED FROM PG. 8

Get your taste buds ready for the deliciousness that Pittsburgh’s Northside has to offer during the Eighth Annual Northside Sandwich Week! Presented by Highmark from May 9-19, enjoy signature sandwiches from participating restaurants.

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dance scene here.”

Sari Jeans installation that accompanies The festival will also spotlight the Shaatranga. local dance community through the Lugg also views the festival as a conversation Systems of Solidarity and chance to showcase the diversity of the Communities of Support and the workcurrent Pittsburgh dance scene, with shop, Moving Your Experience of Loss. artists working in hip hop and other The first event invites dance artists and forms of street dance, as well as more community leaders to speak on injecting traditional styles of contemporary dance.

Black aesthetics into dance production On Fri., May 10, local artists Nick M. and presentation in Pittsburgh and Daniels, Mita Ghosal, Trevor C. Miles, and throughout the U.S. Moderated by Kelly Anna Thompson and Taylor Knight of Strayhorn Theater’s executive director, slowdanger will meet in Kelly StrayJanera Solomon, the conversation horn’s Alloy Studios space for a program includes Jawole Willa Jo Zollar of featuring excerpts from in-progthe Urban Bush Women and ress pieces. A second program the UBW Choreographic will take place on May 11 with View a video Center Initiative, Greer A. Kaylin Horgan, Maddison of Ananya Reed, head of the Chicago Manolis and Alison Vitale of Dance Theatre High School for the Arts MVment, Cherish Morgan, at pghcity dance department, and Staycee Pearl, Laura Stokes, paper.com Garfield Lemonius, chair and and Frances Tirado. associate professor of Point Another workshop will Park University’s dance program. feature Pearl, Shannon, and Moving Your Experience of Loss Michelle de la Raza in a panel provides a healing space for particidiscussion about producing new dance pants to address inner turmoil and grief in Pittsburgh, which will be moderated through artistic movement, sound, and

by Kelly Strayhorn senior producer, objects. Led by musician Li Harris, poet Ben Pryor.

S. Brook Corfman, and choreographer A recent transplant to Pittsburgh, Joan Wagman, the event includes Pryor spent much of his career in activities adapted from rituals and New York as a curator and producer, ceremonies found in religious traditions. including for events like the American Regardless of how you approach Realness dance and performance festival. the festival, Lugg believes all the events He sees newMoves as an opportunity for serve to highlight the array of inventive people who, like him, are just becoming ways local artists use movement in familiar with the city’s arts scene. their work.

“I’m really just trying to immerse “If you want to know what’s going myself in the full scope of the artistic on in dance in Pittsburgh right now, landscape here across disciplines,” says this is a great opportunity to dive in,” Pryor. “This is a great crash course for me says Lugg. in terms of starting to understand the

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Follow senior writer Amanda Waltz on Twitter @AWaltzCP

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SHRINK, WRAPPED

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Prostitute: Looking for action tonight?

Gab: I am.

Prostitute: Anyone else?

Gab: I have cash money.

Prostitute: I only accept stamps as currency.

[End scene] I just don’t understand where we went wrong. Was my mania grating on her nerves? Were my rage fantasies becoming boring? Was she annoyed that I was always 15-35 minutes late for every session?

It just doesn’t make sense.

I guess it all comes down to common interests and goals. She only accepts UPMC health insurance and my health plan changed in 2019. It’s like the minute I switched to Gateway, she started treating me differently.

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.GABBY NORMAL.

WAS RECENTLY dumped. I want to go on record to say that it is way worse to be rejected by your therapist than your significant other.

I can understand someone wanting to dump me because I give bad smooches or because I’m a lazy lay. I just can’t wrap my brain around someone rejecting my $30 copay. It’s like being rejected by a prostitute.

and pregnancy prevention.

own kind.” She was treating me like I had the plague.

It all culminated when I asked that we take a little time apart. What? She takes weeks off at a time to travel. I just needed a break from the $30 copays, and, like an idiot, I was honest with her. I know better than to be honest with a therapist.

In order to take time off, I had to lose my standing appointment. Those were her terms, and I was devastated.

Naturally, when I asked for time off due to poverty, I was hoping that she’d say something like, “Just pay $10 a session until you’re back on your feet.”

Yes, I am the passive-aggressive one in our relationship. I’m also the patient with Bipolar, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, and hyper sensitivity. You would think she would take some of that into consideration before dropping me from my standing appointment.

It’s like she doesn’t even know me.

Maybe she never really knew me.

Oh my God, do you think she was just in it for the copay? Was I just $30 a week to her?

I’m over here crying listening to Boyz II Men’s “It’s so Hard to Say Goodbye,” and she’s in her office blasting, “Bitch Better Have My Money.” But I’ll take with me the memories to be my sunshine after the rain. It’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.

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Follow featured contributor Gab Bonesso on Twitter @gabbonesso PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

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.JUST JAGGIN’.

TRICKS OF THE T

BY JOSH OSWALD JOSWALD@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

P

AYING FOR A RIDE on the T is more

confusing than the fact that a lot of people really like Avatar and have seen it more than once. For regular riders — and CP’s Ryan “Busways” Deto, payment changes have come incrementally enough to make them reasonably easy to grasp. But for someone new to riding Pittsburgh’s light rail, imagine trying to explain how the system works. That might actually give you an aneurysm.

So, in your personal interest, I’ve prepared a Tony-worthy monologue to deliver when relatives visit from a town with flat-fare payments and turnstiles.

Cut this article out, laminate it, and keep it in your pocket. If you did high school theater, go ahead and make it your own, ad lib, go completely off-book!

Port Authority “operates on a readyfare system,” which is a fancy way of saying “we don’t make change.” You can take a “one-way ride” (aka single trip)

CP PHOTO: JOSH OSWALD

A ConnectCard machine

CUT THIS ARTICLE OUT, LAMINATE IT, AND KEEP IT IN YOUR POCKET. with a ConnectCard, which will cost $2.50.

A transfer will cost an extra dollar. If you are paying cash, your ride will cost $2.75, and if you want to transfer, well tough luck, that’s going to cost another $2.75.

I do not know why. You can load your ConnectCard with a specific amount of

money or you can buy a pass. Passes can be purchased as daily, weekly, monthly, or annually.

You can also buy something called a ConnecTix, which is missing the “t” the ConnectCard uses. It’s paper instead of the credit card-like plastic but does

Follow digital media manager Josh Oswald on Twitter @gentlemenRich

essentially the same thing as a ConnectCard. It comes in five different permutations: Single Trip, Single Trip with Transfer, Day Pass, Weekly, and 10-Trip Pass. And don’t forget this: ConnecTix transfers expire three hours from the initial trip, so don’t try any funny business.

Also, the entirety of your fare will expire 30 days from the date of purchase. The discounted rates for Medicare recipients and children between the ages of six to 11 do not apply on these. Also, ConnecTix are only available at ConnectCard machines.

“Where are the ConnectCard machines?” you say! Just get one online. But you can’t get the ConnecTix pass through the same system. It’s probably better to just buy the ConnectCard. If you buy it online, I guess you have to wait for them to mail it to you. So, if you would like to ride the light rail today, you will have to go to one of the machines or a store that sells them.

There are more than 100 locations to buy them, so you should be covered.

But they are not at every station, so you might actually have to go farther out of your way to a different station to find one. You should probably just visit portauthority.org/fares-and-passes/ connectcard/connectcard-locations/.

“When do I pay?” You better have a seat.

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JENSORENSEN

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.IMMIGRATION.

SUPPORT ZONES

BY RYAN DETO RYANDETO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

A

CCORDING TO the Pew Research Center, the Pittsburgh region .is home to about 15,000 undocumented immigrants. They make up about 0.7 percent of the area population, which is among the lowest percentages of any large metro area in the country.

But this isn’t stopping U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from detaining proportionally large numbers of immigrants in the region. According to immigrant service group Casa San Jose, the Pittsburgh ICE office is detaining about eight immigrants a day.

Laura Perkins of Casa San Jose says ICE tends to watch and follow immigrants, and usually detains them as they are leaving home. ICE typically targets a single immigrant that it has received a tip on, but Perkins says ICE in Pittsburgh has been known to take other immigrants who are with the target.

“They will just take everyone in that group,” says Laura.

Casa San Jose sees this as a crisis and has responded accordingly. Starting last month, the organization created a “Zona De Respaldo” campaign. It translates to “zone of support” or “backing” and it is meant to teach undocumented immigrants and their allies about the rights that immigrants have when they are confronted with immigration officials.

The campaign includes posters that residents and businesses can put up in their windows, signaling to immigrants that they are allies and will help them if they are being followed or confronted by immigration officials.

“It’s about educating the Latino and Latina community,” says Perkins.

“And it’s about mapping out where our allies are.”

Casa San Jose has already canvassed in Beechview and East Liberty and the neighborhoods’ surrounding areas. So far, more than 200 participants have signed up. Perkins says Beechview and its surroundings have been the main targets for ICE, but with the

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ZONA DE RESPALDO To learn more about participating in the program, visit casasanjose.org or call 412-736-7167

immigrant population of East Liberty growing, Casa wanted to be proactive in educating residents.

The campaign teaches immigrants not to open their doors when confronted

by ICE agents, and to ask to see a signed judicial warrant with a correct address and name with correct spelling.

Perkins reminds immigrants that they have the right to remain silent and suggests not answering questions or signing documents without a lawyer present.

Allies are encouraged to document detainments, police stops, or harassment, and Perkins asks that they note

the location, time, and identity or characteristics of the person involved.

Perkins says sharing that information with Casa San Jose is more prudent than posting on social media, since the information can create hysteria.

Studies show that undocumented immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born populations. Because of that, cities like Pittsburgh have limited communication with ICE, as a way to encourage immigrants to communicate with police when they need to.

However, it is unclear if any other police departments in the region follow this same policy, and some have been known to actively tip-off ICE. Perkins says this is why it’s important to remind immigrants where it is safe for them and where they can find support.

“If you feel unsafe, and you need to know where the allies are, our goal is to help,” says Perkins.

Follow senior writer Ryan Deto on Twitter @RyanDeto

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

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.RESTAURANT REVIEW.

PIZZA, DETROIT STYLE

BY MAGGIE WEAVER MWEAVER@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

T

HERE’S ONE KEY feature that marks a Detroit-style pizza: the greasy, deep, cheesy crust.

It’s the pan — a square, cast iron or steel dish, deep and made for cakes — that gives the pizza its signature thick, slightly caramelized base. There’s no room for the dough to spread, so it rises with the edges and forms a crumb similar to focaccia. The result? A crust that’s light and fluffy, but still dense and chewy.

The first Detroit-style pie was served in 1946 when August “Gus” Guerra added a Sicilian pizza to the menu at his neighborhood bar. He created it to boost business and keep drinkers upright, but it became a local obsession. The dough, a recipe passed down from his motherin-law, was baked in a blue steel pan (which, according to pizza legend, was a leftover tool from Detroit’s auto industry, used to store nuts and bolts), smothered with cheese, given another round of toppings, and finally, streaked with two stripes of red sauce.

In Pittsburgh, two pizzerias boast true Detroit-style pies: Michigan & Trumbull in Federal Galley and Iron Born in Smallman Galley and Millvale.

Michigan & Trumbull is a concept from Detroit natives Kristen Calverley and Nate Peck, who wanted to bring their city’s pizza to a new home. In the fall, they plan to migrate back to Detroit, opening a location in the Corktown neighborhood.

From their stall in Federal Galley, I split one pizza into two flavors: The St. Aubin sausage, a crust smothered in mozzarella then spotted with fennel sausage, broccoli, and red sauce; and the bagley chorizo, with mozzarella and cilantro ranch, then topped with pickled red onions and chorizo. The bagley

CP PHOTOS: JARED MURPHY

Top: Iron Born pizza. Bottom: Michigan & Trumbull pizza.

IRON BORN PIZZA

IRON BORN PIZZA

MICHIGAN & TRUMBULL

413 Grant Ave., Millvale. 412-822-7300 or ironbornpizza.com

Smallman Galley. 2016 Smallman St., Strip District. 412-517-6100 or smallmangalley.org

Federal Galley. 2000 Children’s Way, North Side. 412-517-6400 or federalgalley.org

chorizo balanced smokiness with a creamy sauce. On the sausage slices, the sauce was spread in dollops rather than in stripes, which led to inconsistent bites.

Iron Born, owned by Pennsylvania native Pete Tolman, was conceived after the chef’s first taste of a Detroit slice. He brought his two-day fermented dough and cast-iron pans to Smallman Galley in

2017, opened a Millvale branch in 2018, and recently announced plans for a new, stand-alone Strip District location.

At Iron Born, I chose the spicy pie, fixed with pepperoni, a kick of hot honey, and banana peppers, along with the Cubano pie, crust piled with a mountain of pork, ham, dill pickles, honey mustard, and swiss. House-pickled peppers and

soppressata added an exciting touch to the otherwise traditional spicy pie, drowning in a warm, red sauce. The Cubano took a sweeter route, tasting exactly like its namesake sandwich.

After visits to both pizzerias, it’s easy to understand the Detroit-style craze.

Toppings are flip-flopped — cheese comes first, then toppings and sauce — a brilliant way to keep soggy bottoms at bay. It gives room for innovation, like Iron Born’s choice to sub hot, red sauce for a cold mustard. Cheese rolls down the sides, clinging to the outer crust of each slice, the deep pan taking pies to the next level. Crust, on Detroit-style pizza, is not something to leave behind.

It’s the best part.

FAVORITE FEATURES: Brunch Pies

Mc’Lovin

Game of Thrones

As part of the Galleys, both pizzerias are required to have brunch options.

Pizza and eggs are a perfect pair.

One of Michigan & Trumbull’s most popular pies is the Mc’Lovin, which is, you guessed it, based off of the beloved McDonald’s burger.

Iron Born isn’t named for the cast iron pans, it’s named after the Iron Born from Game of Thrones.

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Follow staff writer Maggie Weaver on Twitter @magweav

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Thai & Burmese Specialties!

DINING OUT

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

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In addition, there’s good food along with amazing views of the Allegheny River and the Fox Chapel Marina.

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4770 LIBERTY AVE, BLOOMFIELD 412-904-1640 PADTHAINOODLEPITTSBURGH.COM This new café in Bloomfield features Thai and Burmese specialties.

Standards like Pad Thai and Coconut Curry Noodle are sure to please. But don’t miss out on the Ono Kyowsway featuring egg noodle sautéed with coconut chicken, cilantro and curry sauce.

BEA’S TACO TOWN 633 SMITHFIELD STREET, DOWNTOWN 412-471-8361, WWW.BEATAQUERIA.COM Authentic Mexican cuisine in the heart of Downtown Pittsburgh! Bea Taco Town offers tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, and much more all with traditional recipes. Slow cooked meats and fresh vegetables prepared daily will have you coming back to try it all.

THE CAFÉ CARNEGIE 4400 FORBES AVE., OAKLAND 412-622-3225 / THECAFECARNEGIE.COM An excellent dining experience from James Beard Semi-Finalist, Sonja Finn featuring a locally-focused menu, full service dining, and espresso and wine bar.

CARMELLA’S PLATES & PINTS 1908 EAST CARSON STREET, SOUTHSIDE 412-918-1215, CARMELLASPLATESANDPINTS.COM Featuring an upscale ambiance, Carmella’s is located in the heart of South Side, serving a variety of refined comfort cuisine for dinner and brunch. The décor features a lodge-like feel with a wood beamed cathedral ceiling, stained glass and open fireplace. A local purveyor delivers fresh ingredients daily, which are crafted into unique and inventive meals, served alongside a curated cocktail list and comprehensive wine selection.

EIGHTY ACRES 1910 NEW TEXAS ROAD, MONROEVILLE/PLUM 724-519-7304 / EIGHTYACRESKITCHEN.COM Eighty Acres Kitchen & Bar offers a refined, modern approach to contemporary American cuisine with a strong emphasis on local, farm-totable products.

ELIZA HOT METAL BISTRO 331 TECHNOLOGY DRIVE, PITTSBURGH 412-621-1551, ELIZAHOTELINDIGO.COM Set on the site of former iconic iron works, Eliza Furnace, Eliza is an American Bistro exploring classic Pittsburgh flavors, beloved by those that worked the furnaces, combined with the fresh perspective and seasonal sourcing that define what we eat in our region today. Relax with great food, cocktails, and enjoy live entertainment on the rooftop bar.

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It’s not your standard pizza shop; in fact, this isn’t a “pizza shop” at all.

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412 Brewery welcomes you to our newest taproom on Pgh’s historic Northside.

Dog-Friendly taproom with outdoor seating, firepits, games and more!

847 WESTERN AVENUE

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ANGELIA’S CRAFT PIZZA & BEER

CP PHOTO: JORDAN SNOWDEN

Grab-and-Go Bottle Section

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SPILL THE WINE

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BY JORDAN SNOWDEN // JSNOWDEN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

S

PILL THE WINE BAR on Liberty

Avenue is easy to miss. New to Bloomfield, the retail wine shop and tasting room sits on the corner next to Lombardozzi’s, marked only by a homemade sandwich board perched outside and the word “wine” illuminated in the front window.

But SPiLL should not be overlooked.

Still in its soft-opening phase, SPiLL gives Pittsburghers a fresh place to buy wine in an intimate, easygoing setting.

Instead of heading to the state store and picking up the usual, guests can sample and purchase wine from Italian and Australian wineries that might not otherwise be available in the area.

Right now, SPiLL offers selections from Collefrisio, Danimi, and Casali Maniago wineries.

Owners Jim and Robin Sattler greet visitors with warm smiles. While the outside is a work-in-progress, the inside radiates coziness. In the front is a graband-go bottle area, the middle section a collection of handmade tables and chairs — thanks to the Sattlers’ friend, Sam Whitney. In the back of the space is the bar built by Jim and Whitney, which is covered in photos from past and present Bloomfield businesses, taken from Janet Cercone Scullion’s Images of America Bloomfield.

The Sattlers opened SPiLL to not only educate visitors about wine but to learn more themselves. The point is to show

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that anyone can be knowledgeable about wine.

“Before we opened this store, I had a lane that I stayed in with whites and I never veered from it,” says Robin while uncorking a bottle of Casali Manigo Pinot Grigio for my friends and me to sample. “This has been fun for me personally because I’m finding so many whites that I love.”

SPILL THE WINE BAR 4800 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield. spillthewinebar.com

I usually stick to reds when drinking wine but decided this would be a good venue to experiment with whites. She catered to my group, and it felt like we had a personal wine tasting at a family member’s house. And being able to try different whites, one after the other, brings out the nuanced flavors. SPiLL helps pinpoint and explore your personal flavor preferences without pretension.

Some wine, like the Collefrisio Chardonnay or Collefisio Bianco, will always be available to enjoy by the glass at SPiLL, but every week or so, Robin plans to rotate in different selections as bottle specials because, as she says, “I haven’t even tried them all.” The Sattlers are growing and learning, right alongside customers. And that’s what makes the experience so inviting and relaxed.

•

.FOR THE WEEK OF MAY 9

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Here’s a message from author Susan J. Elliott: “This is not your week to run the Universe.

Next week is not looking so good either.” Now here’s a message from me: Elliott’s revelation is very good news! Since you won’t have to worry about trying to manage and fine-tune the Universe, you can focus all your efforts on your own self-care. And the coming weeks will be a favorable time to do just that. You’re due to dramatically upgrade your understanding of what you need to feel healthy and happy, and then take the appropriate measures to put your new insights into action.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The next three weeks will be an excellent time to serve as your own visionary prophet and dynamic fortune-teller. The predictions and conjectures you make about your future destiny will have an 85 percent likelihood of being accurate. They will also be relatively free of fear and worries. So I urge you to give your imagination permission to engage in fun fantasies about what’s ahead for you. Be daringly optimistic and exuberantly hopeful and brazenly self-celebratory.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo poet Stanley Kunitz told his students, “You must be very careful not to deprive the poem of its wild origin.” That’s useful advice for anyone who spawns anything, not just poets. There’s something unruly and unpredictable about every creative idea or fresh perspective that rises up in us. Do you remember when you first felt the urge to look for a new job or move to a new city or search for a new kind of relationship? Wildness was there at the inception. And you needed to stay in touch with the wildness so as to follow through with practical action. That’s what I encourage you to do now. Reconnect with the wild origins of the important changes you’re nurturing.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I have no complaints about the measures you’ve taken recently to push past unnecessary limits and to break outworn taboos. In fact, I celebrate them. Keep going! You’ll be better off without those decaying constraints. Soon you’ll begin using all the energy you have liberated and the spaciousness you have made available. But I do

of shiny things: fairy tales, dead languages, weird folk beliefs, and fascinating religions.” She adds, “I have plundered tidbits of history and lore to build something new, using only the parts that light my mind on fire.” I encourage you to adopt her strategies for your own use in the coming weeks. Be alert for gleaming goodies and tricky delicacies and alluring treats. Use them to create new experiences that thrill your imagination.

I believe the coming weeks will be an excellent time to use your magic and wiles to follow your bliss while wrangling with gods and rascals.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): According to science writer Sarah Zielinski in Smithsonian magazine, fireflies produce the most efficient light on planet Earth. Nearly 100 percent of the energy produced by the chemical reaction inside the insect’s body is emitted as a brilliant glow. With that in mind, I propose that you regard the firefly as your spirit creature in the coming weeks.

According to my reading of the astrological omens, you, too, will be a dynamic and proficient generator of luminosity. For best results, don’t tone down your brilliance, even if it illuminates shadows people are trying to hide. have one concern: I wonder if part of you is worried that you have been too bold and have gone too far. To that part of you I say: No! You haven’t been too bold. You haven’t gone too far.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): “Dreamt of a past that frees its prisoners.” So wrote Meena Alexander in her poem “Question Time.” I’d love for you to have that experience in the coming weeks. I’d love for you be released from the karma of your history so that you no longer have to repeat old patterns or feel weighed down by what happened to you once upon a time. I’d love for you to no longer have to answer to decayed traditions and outmoded commitments and lost causes. I’d love for you to escape the pull of memories that tend to drag you back toward things that can’t be changed and don’t matter any more.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “Desire is a profoundly upsetting force,” writes author Elspeth Probyn. “It may totally rearrange what we think we want. Desire skews plans and sets forth unthought-of possibilities.” In my opinion, Probyn’s statements are half-true. The other half of the truth is that desire can also be a profoundly healing and rejuvenating force, and for the same reasons: it rearranges what we think we want, alters plans, and unleashes unthought-of possibilities. How does all this relate to you? From what I can tell, you are now

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):

on the cusp of desire’s two overlapping powers.

What happens next could be upsetting or healing, disorienting or rejuvenating. If you’d like to emphasize the healing and rejuvenating, I suggest you treat desire as a sacred gift and a blessing.

“I was always asking for the specific thing that wasn’t mine,” wrote poet Joanne Kyger. “I wanted a haven that wasn’t my own.” If there is any part of you that resonates with that defeatist perspective, Aquarius, now is an excellent time to begin outgrowing or transforming it. I guarantee that you’ll have the potency you need to retrain yourself: so that you will more and more ask for specific things that can potentially be yours; so that you will more and more want a haven that can be your own.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):

“So much of what we learn about love is taught by people who never really loved us.” My Sagittarian friend Ellen made that sad observation.

Is it true for you? Ellen added the following thoughts: so much of what we learn about love is taught by people who were too narcissistic or wounded to be able to love very well; and by people who didn’t have many listening skills and therefore didn’t know enough about us to love us for who we really are; and by people who love themselves poorly and so of course find it hard to love anyone else. Is any of this applicable to what you have experienced, Sagittarius?

If so, here’s an antidote that I think you’ll find effective during the next seven weeks: identify the people who have loved you well and the people who might love you well in the future — and then vow to learn all you can from them.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn fantasy novelist Laini Taylor creates imaginary worlds where heroines use magic and wiles to follow their bliss while wrangling with gods and rascals. In describing her writing process, she says, “Like a magpie, I am a scavenger

I’m not a fan of nagging. I don’t like to be nagged and I scrupulously avoid nagging others. And yet now I will break my own rules so as to provide you with your most accurate and helpful horoscope. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you aren’t likely to get what you truly need and deserve in the coming days unless you engage in some polite, diplomatic nagging. So see what you can do to employ nagging as a graceful, even charming art. For best results, infuse it with humor and playfulness.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Time to shake things up! In the next three weeks, I invite you to try at least three of the following experiments. 1. See unusual sights in familiar situations. 2. Seek out new music that both calms you and excites you. 3. Get an inspiring statue or image of a favorite deity or hero. 4. Ask for a message from the person you will be three years from now. 5. Use your hands and tongue in ways you don’t usually use them. 6. Go in quest of a cathartic release that purges frustration and rouses holy passion. 7. Locate the sweet spot where deep feeling and deep thinking overlap.

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17

PHOTOS: SARAH HUNY YOUNG

Artist Alexis Peskine poses with his work.

.ART . .

TOUGH AS NAILS

BY SARAH HUNY YOUNG // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

I

F YOUR KNOWLEDGE of Alexis Peskine was based solely on a glance, it would still tell you quite an accurate bit. He’s extremely tall at 6’5” — to assume he’s played competitive basketball would be correct. His eclectic style is laden with clues about his global influences: the patterns on his clothes and his colorful,

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beaded jewelry scream Motherland. His hands are crazy large, but he utilizes them with quiet grace. He’s great to look at. But it’s a missed opportunity to be in Peskine’s presence and not engage him in conversation; that’s where his intellectualism, worldliness, love for the African diaspora, and sincere humility about his talent takes precedence.

Since April 10, Peskine has been in residency at Carnegie Mellon University on invitation from professor and filmmaker Dr. Mame-Fatou Niang, and will be showcasing his newest work at BOOM! Concepts on Wed., May 8.

Born in Paris in 1979 to an AfroBrazilian mother and a Franco-Russian father, Peskine says his artwork is

“about the Black experience on a global level.” His work, which includes photography, film, and mixed media portraiture, has exhibited in 15 countries. His signature and most recognizable pieces are large-scale portraits of people with African lineage. They’re made of earth and coffee-stained wood pierced by hundreds, sometimes thousands, of nails

Work in progress by Alexis Peskine

brushed with moon gold leaf. The works appear as pointillism when photographed straight-on, but when viewed at an angle, they become sculptural and almost interactive. They demand perspective from the viewer as much as they lend perspective from the artist and the diaspora he champions.

“Mame-Fatou and I bond a lot on social issues for Black France and ideas on the world in general,” he says from the Uptown artist studio he’s been using during his stay in Pittsburgh. “CMU is very interdisciplinary. She brought me in for the Department of Modern Languages to conduct a workshop and work with students to create a piece.”

The piece he’s been working on with the students is the newest addition to his wood and nails series.

During our interview, I was quickly roped into handing him nails from colorcoded boxes as he hammered them into the stained wood. It’s a deliberate, guided process that follows template, but I lost my place at least twice because he is fast. As we talk, he oscillates between

AFRODIASPORIC CIRCULATIONS: A NIGHT WITH PARIS ARTIST ALEXIS PESKINE 5 p.m. Wed., May 9. BOOM! Concepts, 5139 Penn Ave., Garfield. Free. boomuniverse.co

brushing off the excess gold leaf that shimmers across each nail head with a brush and blowing glitter fragments away from the black silhouette in which they’re embedded.

There are metaphors for every choice Peskine makes. He credits Professor Sorrels Adewale, his Mixed Media Art professor at Howard University, with encouraging intentionality behind his use of materials. After taking a printmaking class, he began experimenting with alternate ways to use halftones. He chose nails as an homage to the Nkisi N’Kondi power figures of the Congo. For those that own them, these figures serve as protection and a source of power, which Peskine states Black people have been stripped of worldwide.

Driving the nails into the wood is an act that mirrors the perceived aggression of the Black body and further

conjure allusions to bullets puncturing skin. “But,” he adds, “nails are also used to build things. This is the idea of construction and deconstruction. We have built — our ancestors, enslaved Africans — the strongest economies and nations in the world.”

Peskine is the color of cedarwood.

He isn’t ethnically ambiguous at all — he’s a Black man and looks it. But his multiracial ancestry and his skin tone lends a measure of privilege in a world that is still heavily influenced by colorism. Thus, he is intentional about the people he chooses as his subjects.

These mixed media pieces, as well as his photography and films, all feature darker skinned Black people. “The darker you are, the less likely you are to be seen as beautiful,” he says. “There’s not one place in the world where being darker gives you more power.

I personally see extreme beauty in the dark skinned body.”

He considers travel to be the most important hallmark of his practice.

Peskine agrees Pittsburgh’s artist community is underrated in its vibrancy, naming Thaddeus Mosley and Vanessa German as a couple of his favorite local artists. He also had an opportunity to meet activist Leon Ford and finds him inspiring. He loves learning about the history of the Hill District and has become better versed on the rampant gentrification in East Liberty.

And in a perhaps unbeknownst nod to our region’s nickname — “Paris of Appalachia”—he also sees similarities between Pittsburgh and his hometown.

Namely that it’s a big city that “feels like a small town” and, like Paris, Pittsburgh lacks the nurturing necessary to retain the talent that’s born and/or bred here. He says there are many French-born Black artists who had to move to America or elsewhere to find success: “Nul n’est prophète en son pays (No one is a prophet in his own land).”

•

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

19

.STAGE.

BACKSTAGE

BY LISSA BRENNAN CPCONTRIBUTORS@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

NAME: Zach Moore, Mount Washington WORK: Sound engineer for Pittsburgh Public Theater; freelance sound designer WHAT DO YOU DO? The sound designer is responsible for creating the audible experience for the audience, from sound effects to music to highlighting mood. The sound engineer’s job is to implement that design into practical terms — put loudspeakers in place, connect systems together, get microphones ready. Everything for the designer to implement their design into the system they need.

What I used to tell my grandmother is, “Everything you hear in a movie, somebody’s in charge of.” I do that for theater.

WHERE DO YOU BEGIN? Script analysis to figure out what the playwright is trying to convey. To tell the story in a way that makes sense to the audience. Ongoing conversation with the director to figure out what might help convey the emotion of the scene or what might be in the way. The actors still need to be the ones that tell the story. We want to support that rather than take over.

Then look at the music itself. You sit there and listen to hundreds of songs — sometimes not even for use in the show, but to get an idea of what is out there and where you can go with it. If you’re dealing with a specific time frame or genre, you need to investigate more.

HOW DO YOU APPROACH RESEARCH? Start with a keyword about a style or genre or mood. You get down that rabbit hole and see where it steers you.

CAN YOU APPLY RESEARCH FROM ONE SHOW TO ANOTHER SET IN A SIMILAR TIME AND PLACE? You start over every time, give every show its due diligence.

HOW’D YOU GET STARTED? I played music my whole life, mostly metal and punk. I did tech theater and was doing intern work at the Public in high school. The year after I graduated, I started working freelance. Then when the position opened at the Public, I went for it — have now been there 22 years. I

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CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

Zach Moore

always had an interest in sound, experimenting, trying things out, but did the majority of training on the job. I brought what I knew, but learned so much more with how theater works, how systems work, how you can achieve certain results by doing things a certain way or how you can experiment to get new results.

HOW DOES YOUR INTEREST AND PARTICIPATION IN MUSIC OUTSIDE OF WORK INTERSECT WITH WHAT YOU DO ON THE JOB? I like music that feels original. I don’t like music that feels rehashed. I’ve always taken that approach with music

I’ve written or been part of; with shows, I want it to feel different as much as you can, without forcing it.

IS THERE A STYLE OR ERA OF MUSIC YOU PREFER? I think that there’s a nostalgia that comes along with songs from the ’20s or ’30s that always draws you in when you hear it. You’ve got the quality of the recordings, and the scratchy records, the Victrolas, and wax rolls. It has a sound to it that immediately takes you there.

DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE PROJECT? One of the most rewarding was Equus.

Such a good time working on it and such an interesting and weird play. I really had fun writing the music and felt I contributed a lot to the overall product onstage.

YOU’RE ALSO WRITING MUSIC? I did for A Doll’s House Part Two and also wrote the music last season for Hamlet and Equus. I have seven or eight composition credits.

DO YOU HAVE A DREAM SHOW YOU’D LOVE TO DO? I’ve been pushing for Little Shop of Horrors for many years, and we’re finally doing it next season.

•

.STAGE.

INTERCATIVE EXPURRIENCE

BY HANNAH LYNN HLYNN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

T

HE DESCRIPTION for the interac-

tive theater show The Stray is minimal but specific. “Congratulations! You are a cat,” it begins. “Bask in the sun. Fulfill the tenets of your divine covenant with humans. Knock things off shelves.” Technically, this functions as both a description and instructions for the audience. The play, also described as an “intercative expurrience,” is a work by improvisational and experimental theater company Uncumber Theatrics that runs from May 9-26.

Audience members will assume the role of cats in a “cat lady” house.

They can talk only to other cats. They’ll be lured by a piece of string. There will be human-sized cat toys and even cat treats. “No one’s crawling on the floor, unless somebody wants to crawl on the floor. We’re not gonna stop anybody,” says Ayne Terceira, creative director of Uncumber Theatrics.

While the piece relies more on concept and improv than a script, it does follow a specific story of loneliness and the intimacies of human-animal connections. It centers around the aforementioned cat lady, a recluse and a former artist who needs help from her cats.

“Essentially, we’re taking the trope of the cat lady and trying to make the cats of the house a little more responsible for her life,” says Terceira. She conceived the show after going through the process of putting her mother in a home. “The piece touches on things like dementia, and who we are without

IMAGE: JOSIE NORTON

The Stray is an interactive and immersive theater experience about cats and loneliness.

our memories, and how can we go about retaining who we are without essential portions of ourselves.”

THE STRAY Times vary. May 9-26. Lawrenceville. $35. uncumbertheatrics.com

The piece will be staged in a real house in Lawrenceville, though the exact location is hidden until you buy a ticket. There are around three actors

and several audience members for each show. Terceira says Uncumber’s audience usually comes “ready to play,” but for those who are less sure, the first part of the show gives the audience some training on how to interact with the show.

Uncumber has been around since 2013, creating one or two shows a year in specific cycles, or “books.” The Stray falls into the book “The Lamentations,” a series that explores the “small

sufferings of people.”

“This show also kind of deals with a small, invisible sufferer: the cat lady in the house that you’re never gonna visit because they’re too strange and too bizarre to really get involved in,” says Terceira. “I really wanted to get into why a person recedes from society, what’s happening, and why do we create such strong attachments to animals when society has failed us in some way to create those same attachments.”

•

Pittsburgh’s lone liberal talkshow host for 30+ years Listen live every weekday at 10 a.m. at lynncullen.pghcitypaper.com PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

21

.MUSIC.

NEW APP, WHO DIS?

BY JORDAN SNOWDEN // JSNOWDEN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

M

ILLVALE MUSIC FESTIVAL returns

this weekend with another day packed with music, art, and food. Though this year, it’s equipped with a new tool to help the day run more smoothly: the Millvale Music Festival App. “I love the schedule in your back pocket all day, folded up,” says Paul Bossung, one of the festival’s lead coordinators. “You’re pulling it out all day going ‘Where are you going?’ But having an app, you can plan out things in advance and make your own schedule.”

With the addition of the app, Millvale Music Festival (MMF) joins the wave of

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PGHCITYPAPER.COM

festivals — Bonnaroo, Electric Forest, Snaky Beats, Coachella — that create an app solely for use leading up to and during the festival. Schedule changes, emergency information, updates, and more are available in one place.

In addition to the app, Millvale Music Festival will add TV screens in many of the venues.

“There will be live information [on the screens],” says Bossung. “‘Here’s the acts coming up, and did you know you can catch a shuttle at these locations?’ GPS tracking on the schedule, and stuff like, ‘Grab your 50-50 tickets to benefit the Boys and Girls Club.’”

These changes come after surprise storms botched a slew of outdoor festivals in Pittsburgh last year. When thunder, lightning, and torrential downpours rolled through Thrival Festival in Sept. 2018, attendees were left in the rain for hours with no word on when the activities would continue. Millvale had a similar experience when a storm blew through in the middle of the day.

“We learned a lot of lessons about how to communicate,” says Bossung.

“Being able to have the app — all the venues will be synced up with that — we can push the information. And we have these screens out with info. You can

post on Facebook or Twitter as much as you want, but people aren’t all going to latch onto it.”

Both the app and TV screens were created with help from Work Hard Pittsburgh and Academy Pittsburgh.

Communication isn’t the only thing getting revamped. Last year, an entire street of art and live street performances found a home at the festival. This year, on top of those additions, is a comedy stage, a spoken word stage, and an enormous mural that will be debuted at the festival. MMF teamed up with Hemispheric Conversations: Urban Art Project (HCUAP, pronounced, “hiccup”),

PHOTO: MILLVALE MUSIC FESTIVAL

Millvale Music Festival 2019 Map

that brings artists in from different states and countries. Aerosol artists from Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Leon Guanajuato, Mexico are spray-painting a 50-foot-long, 30-foot-tall mural on a local Millvale business that will stay up until the owner decides otherwise.

“We’ve got a lot of traditional murals that tell the story of the town or that business, and this is just art,” says Bossung.

Those who have attended Millvale Music Festival in the past may also have noticed the lineup diverges from previous years. Boasting over 200 acts — last year had 150 — the team chose out of almost 500 submissions.

“We’ve even gotten to the point where we try not to repeat artists two years in a row,” says Bossung. “Some artists are a

little frustrated with that because they play year one, and then we say, ‘Well we’re not going to have you back here because we’re trying to get new and fresh artists the exposure that they deserve.’

It’s a balancing act, honestly.”

MILLVALE MUSIC FESTIVAL Sat., May 11. 10 a.m.

Multiple Locations in Millvale.

Free. millvalemusic.org

Bossung pointed out a few acts he’s going to try and catch during the day: Gene The Werewolf, Chase and The Barons, Nightly Standard, The London, and Fuck Yeah Dinosaurs.

Millvale Music Festival is set to be a

smoothly run but exciting day for both its attendees and those performing and running things behind the scenes.

“We are going to triple our town’s population Saturday,” says Bossung. “[Millvale] is 3,800 people; we expect 6,000–8,000 visiting that day.”

Because of that, MMF is pushing rideshares, biking, and public transportation.

“We’re right on the bike trail from anywhere in town,” says Bossung.

“We’ll have a Lyft code — MMF19 — for 25 percent off up to two rides that day, as long as they’re coming into or out of the Millvale area.”

And if you forget, you can find that information and more on the app and TV screens located throughout the festival.

•

Follow staff writer Jordan Snowden on Twitter @snowden_jordan PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

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FOOD AND DRINK

S Y A D L A FIN !

E T A N I M T O N O ees in each category Top 10 nomin voting round. move on to

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NOMINATE

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25

SEVEN DAYS OF CONCERTS BROOKE ANNIBALE FRIDAY, MAY 10 It’s been four months since Brooke Annibale last performed in her hometown of Pittsburgh. To mark the occasion, Annibale will play a rare full-band show on Friday with Mark Ramsey on keys, Seth Pierson on bass, and Dan Harding on drums. “These guys. They are some of the best guys I know,” Annibale captioned a photo of the four musicians on Facebook. “We play music together, and I can’t wait until May 10 at Club Cafe in Pittsburgh when we get to do that again. Morgan Erina is going to be there too, and she is pure magic.” Erina is an NYC native who has been making music in the ‘Burgh since 2010. This show comes on the heels of Annibale’s March 29 release, Hold to the Light (Remixed EP1), a collection of four remixed tracks from her 2018 album, Hold to the Light. 8 p.m.-1 a.m. 56 S. 12th St., South Side. $12. clubcafelive.com PHOTO: ALYSSE GAFKJEN

Brooke Annibale

FULL LIST ONLINE pghcitypaper.com

JAZZ/FUNK

THURSDAY MAY 9

LEMON BUCKET ORKESTRA. Croatian National Hall. 7 p.m.

North Side.

JAZZ/FUNK

ALEX TALBOT, AL REIBER. Spoonwood Brewing Co. 7 p.m. Bethel Park.

JESSICA LEE, MARK STRICKLAND. Enix Brewing Co. 7 p.m. Homestead.

DAN PUGACH NONET. City of Asylum. 8 p.m. North Side.

THE CLINTONE’S ACOUSTIC. Cioppino Restaurant and Cigar Bar. 7 p.m. Strip District.

LUKE WILLIAMS TRIO. Wolfie’s Pub. 8 p.m. Downtown.

ELECTRONIC

INTERNATIONAL

BRUISER BEEP, 8CYLINDER. Brillobox. 8 p.m. Bloomfield.

STEVE IPPOLITO’S ELECTRIC SAMBA BAND. Wallace’s Whiskey Room. 7 p.m. East Liberty.

THE NEW MASTERSOUNDS. Roxian Theatre.

6 p.m. McKees Rocks.

ROCK/METAL BLOOM. Mr. Roboto Project.

7 p.m. Bloomfield.

RIPARIAN, ETHER COVEN. Preserving Hardcore. 6 p.m.

New Kensington.

ACOUSTIC

GYPSY STRINGZ. Huszar. 7 p.m. North Side.

POP GOLDEN GARDENS. Mr. Smalls Theatre. 8 p.m. Millvale.

SPOOKY COOL. Howlers. 9 p.m.

Bloomfield.

MERSEY BEATLES. The Oaks Theater. 7:30 p.m. Oakmont.

RUBY BOOTS. Club Cafe.

8 p.m. South Side.

EVERETTE. Tequila Cowboy.

7 p.m. North Side.

FALLING IN REVERSE. Stage AE. 6 p.m. North Side.

COUNTRY

ERIN BURKETT, VIRGIL WALTERS. La Casa Narcisi. 6 p.m. Gibsonia.

BRAHCTOPUS. Mr. Smalls Theatre.

7 p.m. Millvale.

FOLK/BLUEGRASS FRANK TURNER & THE SLEEPING SOULS, SHOVELS & ROPE. Stage AE. 6 p.m. North Side.

THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH. Carnegie Library Music Hall.

9 p.m. Munhall.

KING DUDE. Smiling Moose.

10 p.m. South Side.

SWEATY ALREADY STRING BAND. Bier’s Pub. 6:30 p.m.

North Side.

ROCK/METAL

ROCKAPELLA. Jergel’s.

8 p.m. Warrendale.

FRIDAY MAY 10

FOLK/BLUEGRASS

ACOUSTIC

IRON REAGAN, SACRED REICH. Cattivo. 8 p.m. Lawrenceville.

THE STEELDRIVERS. Carnegie Music Hall. 8 p.m. Munhall.

DARYL SHAWN. Backstage Bar. 5 p.m. Downtown.

THE HAPPY FITS. Smiling Moose.

6:30 p.m. South Side.

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ELKHOUND, DAN GETKIN AND THE TWELVE SIX. Moondog’s.

8 p.m. Blawnox.

THE GRANATI BROTHERS. Portogallo Peppers N’AT. 8:30 p.m. Braddock.

SIGNS OF THE SWARM. Smiling Moose.

6 p.m. South Side.

CERTAIN FATE, 13 SAINTS. Excuses Bar and Grill.

9 p.m. South Side.

EDDIE MONEY. Meadows Racetrack and Casino.

8 p.m. Washington.

ELECTRONIC

BLUES

DISTANCE. Brillobox.

10 p.m. Bloomfield.

POP/DANCE ATHENA AND THE NIGHT OWLS. Mr. Roboto Project.

7:30 p.m. Bloomfield.

THE SUITCASE JUNKET. Club Cafe. 7 p.m. South Side.

THE TONY JANFLONE JR. BAND. Baja Bar and Grill. 8 p.m. Fox Chapel.

JAZZ/FUNK TONY CAMPBELL. Wallace’s Whiskey Room and Kitchen.

5 p.m. East Liberty.

LEE ROBINSON TRIO. Wolfie’s Pub. 8 p.m. Downtown.

STONE THROWERS, KIWANO SOUR. Cattivo.

8 p.m. Lawrenceville.

ELECTRONIC

ROB WILLIAMS AND THE BLUES DRIVERS. Village Tavern and Trattoria. 8 p.m. West End.

TERMINAL 11, ACRNYM, NANCY DRONE. 3577 Studios. 9 p.m. Polish Hill.

THE NICOLE BELLI BAND. Moondog’s. 8:30 p.m. Blawnox.

SEAN 2:16.

Ethik. 9 p.m. South Side.

DAVID BROMBERG QUINTET. The Oaks Theater.

8 p.m. Oakmont.

BÉZIER. Hot Mass. 12 a.m.

Downtown.

SATURDAY MAY 11

FOLK JESSICA PRATT. Andy Warhol Museum. 8 p.m. North Side.

ADULT MOM, GOBBINJR. Mr. Roboto Project. 7 p.m.

Bloomfield.

ROCK/METAL

CLASSICAL/CHORUS

KNUCKLE PUCK, CITIZEN. Mr. Smalls Theatre. 7 p.m. Millvale.

ABBARAMA. Jergel’s.

8 p.m. Warrendale.

ARTISTREE. Crafthouse Stage and Grill.

9 p.m. Whitehall.

TAUK. Rex Theater.

8 p.m. South Side.

ELEANOR WALRUS. Dorothy Six Blast Furnace Café.

7:30 p.m. Homestead.

PITTONKATONK MAY DAY CELEBRATION. Schenley Park.

1 p.m. Oakland.

THE HERITAGE GOSPEL CHORALE OF PITTSBURGH. Ebenezer Baptist Church.

4 p.m. Hill District.

ACOUSTIC JACK STANIZZO, PAUL LOWE. Brookline Teen Outreach.

7 p.m. Brookline.

POP

SUNDAY MAY 12 REGGAE IRATION, PEPPER. Roxian Theatre.

6 p.m. McKees Rocks.

PHOTO: SEAN DONNELLY

MC LARS

MC Lars

THURSDAY, MAY 9 MC Lars, creator of post-punk laptop rap and lit-hop, raps about subjects ranging from Edgar Allen Poe to Game of Thrones, to Guitar Hero, to The Simpsons, and cyberbullying. He brings his unconventional flow to The Smiling Moose Thursday, joined by MC Frontalot, a mastermind of nerdcore hip hop, and Mega Run, a former teacher/rapper who writes about gaming and education. Thanks to the milder topics and all-ages event space, this show is an excellent opportunity to see live music as a family. 6:30 p.m.

1306 E. Carson St., South Side. $15. smiling-moose.com

BLUES

FOLK

MIKE ZITO. Moondog’s.

7:30 p.m. Blawnox.

HOLY LOCUST, YES MA’AM. OWL Hollow. 7 p.m. Hazelwood.

ROCK/METAL

ELECTRONIC

EVANESCENCE. UPMC Events Center. 7:30 p.m. Moon.

B|_ANK. Collision East End Warehouse. 8 p.m. East End.

KATIE TOUPIN. Club Cafe.

8 p.m. South Side.

TUESDAY MAY 14

ELECTRONIC MACHINE GIRL, DETERGE. Howlers. 7 p.m. Bloomfield.

MONDAY MAY 13 POP LANY. Stage AE. 7 p.m. North Side.

TACOCAT. Club Cafe.

8 p.m. South Side.

ROCK/METAL BAD COP / BAD COP, WAR ON WOMEN. Mr. Smalls Theatre.

7 p.m. Millvale.

METAL CHURCH. Crafthouse Stage and Grill.

7:30 p.m. Whitehall.

MOVEMENTS. Mr. Smalls Theatre.

7 p.m. Millvale.

CHRONOPHAGE, PEACE TALKS. The Rock Room. 8 p.m. Polish Hill.

ROCK /METAL IN THIS MOMENT. Stage AE. 5:30 p.m. North Side.

EXPERT TIMING, SAME, THE MOON. Mr. Roboto Project.

7 p.m. Bloomfield.

THE PENSKE FILE. Mr. Smalls Theatre. 8 p.m. Millvale.

WHITESNAKE, DAVID COVERDALE. The Palace Theatre.

7:30 p.m. Greensburg.

HAVEN STATE. Smiling Moose.

7 p.m. South Side.

BLUES ELI “PAPERBOY” REED. Thunderbird Café and Music Hall.

8 p.m. Lawrenceville.

COUNTRY/FOLK STEVE EARLE AND THE DUKES. Roxian Theatre.

8 p.m. McKees Rocks.

HONEYSUCKLE. Club Cafe.

7 p.m. South Side.

JAZZ KEN KARSH AND FRIENDS. Backstage Bar. 5 p.m.

Downtown.

POP MARIANAS TRENCH. Mr. Smalls Theatre. 8 p.m. Millvale.

WEDNESDAY MAY 15 DJS DJ RAYJACK. Tom’s Diner.

10 p.m. Dormont.

JAZZ/FUNK SNARKY PUPPY. Roxian Theatre.

7 p.m. McKees Rocks.

JOIN JOHN HALL JR., STEELTOWN HORNS. Wolfie’s Pub. 7 p.m. Downtown.

FOLK JOHN PAUL WHITE. Thunderbird Café and Music Hall.

7 p.m. Lawrenceville.

ROCK/METAL CANNIBAL CORPSE. Rex Theater.

8 p.m. South Side.

BEAR’S DEN. Mr. Smalls Theatre.

8 p.m. Millvale.

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 MAY 8 -15, 2019

27

CP PHOTO: JARED MURPHY

Rehearsals for Cross-Stitch Theater Company’s Pride and Prejudice

.STAGE.

THREADING THE NEEDLE

BY LISA CUNNINGHAM // LCUNNING@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

C

ROSS-STITCH THEATER Company

has been rehearsing Pride and Prejudice for three weeks, and Amy Dick hasn’t yet confided to the cast that this is her directorial debut.

“She has a really strong face,” says Marsha Mayhak, who cofounded the theater company with Dick, and portrays Elizabeth Bennet in their production of the Jane Austen classic. “You’d never tell.”

The two women have a nervous energy and quiet confidence as they dis-

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cuss their inaugural performance. They pause thoughtfully before answering, smile frequently, and one woman nods each time the other speaks. It’s intimidating to be in charge of a talented 10person cast, Dick admits, but says she’s been in so many productions herself, “I’ve established a pretty good idea of what I like and don’t like in directing.”

After immersing themselves in the local theater community for years, the pair said they decided to form Cross-

Stitch after finding a lack of leadership roles for women. Even when companies produce shows written by women, they say women’s voices often get muddied if they’re only directed by men.

It’s encouraging for Dick and Mayhak to see Pittsburgh Public Theater headed by a woman like Marya Sea Kaminski. But there’s still work to be done. “A woman getting a job like that doesn’t mean that everyone is immediately OK with it,” says Dick.

“It’s still kind of a novelty,” adds Mayhak. “It’s still like, ‘Look at us, we’re doing this thing!’ And it should just be the norm.”

But while they say it’s important to have women at the helm, they don’t think the cast itself needs to be all women. Four of the ten actors in Pride and Prejudice are men.

“We wanted to normalize people working underneath women in positions of authority,” says Dick, “[to] break down

CP PHOTO: LISA CUNNINGHAM

Cross-Stitch Theater Company founders Amy Dick and Marsha Mayhak

that typical power dynamic that exists.”

Both women are graduates of Duquesne University — Mayhak with English and theater degrees in 2015 and Dick with a masters in English literature in 2018. They’ll be returning to their alma mater for this production, staging it at the school’s Genesius Theater.

Mayhak says they chose Pride and Prejudice because it was familiar.

“We want to establish ourselves with productions that people will want to see before they know who we are,” says Dick. “Then, once we’ve established our reputation and put on really solid performances, then hopefully people will take a chance on the more obscure works that we think people would love, too.”

Future plans include tackling Restoration comedies, contemporary works, and magical realism.

Coincidentally, The Pittsburgh Public Theater also staged Pride and Prejudice just last fall, directed by a woman, Desdemona Chiang. But Dick says their version, the script adapted for the stage by Mayhak, will be “an entirely different show.”

“The Public’s production was very much a modernized revisiting, whereas this is more focused on the book,” says Dick.

The entire cast is coming together to support the women for their first performance, and it’s become a family affair. The costumes have been sewn

by Dick’s mother. Christopher Collier, who is playing Mr. Darcy, has been helping build the set. Kaitlin Young, an old Duquesne classmate of Mayhak’s,

has been volunteering her time to help with social media and PR. And, the actors don’t even know if they’ll be paid.

“The actors are very kindly accepting that we’re going to wait and see how many tickets we sell,” says Mayhak with a nervous smile.

The pair also faces one more unexpected hiccup. In addition to working around a low budget and juggling their new roles while still working multiple jobs, Mayhak has been accepted to George Mason University for graduate school in the fall. After spending her entire life in Pittsburgh, she will be leaving the city in August. She says she applied on a whim but wants to continue helping to make the company successful.

Vaccine-preventable hepatitis is on the rise.

The Centers for Disease Control reports that new cases have increased by 44% in the U.S., totaling 15,000 new cases since 2016.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 7:30 p.m. May 9-11; 2 p.m. May 12.

Genesius Theater, Duquesne University.

600 Forbes Ave., Uptown. $15. facebook.com/CrossStitchTheater

“The goal is to have other people make this their goal too,” says Dick. She says their company, like its name, is bringing threads together to make one product.

“Women’s needlework is such an overlooked artform that has existed for hundreds of years but basically not paid attention to it because it’s considered domestic,” says Dick. “But it’s actually super intricate and impressive and has subversive messages in it. People don’t really consider it art because it doesn’t seem flashy enough, but it’s been underneath the surfaces for so long and some of it is just astonishing.”

•

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Follow editor-in-chief Lisa Cunningham on Twitter @trashyleesuh PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

29

.ART . .

IN MOTION

BY HANNAH LYNN HLYNN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

T

HE TITLE of the new exhibit at

Wood Street Galleries, Invisible Man, is a bit of a misnomer. It’s full of interactive, moving pieces that don’t exactly make viewers invisible, but visible in different and more dynamic ways.

The first work you see when entering is the exhibit’s key piece, appearing on its pamphlets and posters. “Portrait on the Fly,” by Laurent Mignonneau and Christa Sommerer is a mesmerizing and unsettling work that captures a fleeting portrait of passersby. Viewers can stand in front of a screen that then reflects an outline of their image back at them, only it’s made out of hundreds of swarming flies. The flies come together as one to make a person, disperse, and then come together again.

The flies are tiny, numerous, and feel eerie. But just as quickly as a portrait appears, it disappears.

A similarly ephemeral portrait is made with “Autoportrait” by German collective Robotlab. The piece features a large, whirring, orange robot placed in front of an easel. If someone sits on a stool in front of the robot, it will take their picture, and then slowly and carefully draw a crude portrait on a whiteboard. The piece and the robot are from 2002, practically ancient in AI years, and consequently, the portrait feels like a cave painting. But it also feels like a prediction of the future when mall and street portrait painters will be replaced by robots. After it’s done, the robot erases the portrait, and as the description of the piece states, “callously the machine leaves no remembrance of the person who sat vis-a-vis and who now must attend the erasure of the image.”

Like “Autoportrait,” the automated piece “AL” by UVA (United Visual Artists), is a machine set off by motion.

When someone walks by, a small contraption that looks something like a letterpress prints a simple message on a square piece of paper, to either be picked up or to fall to the floor. The phrases are like uncanny fortune cookies — almost but not quite wisdom. I got one that said, “A woman’s place is in the rain.” Among the pile on the floor were ones that read “All work is next

CP PHOTO: HANNAH LYNN

“Autoportrait” by Robotlab

INVISIBLE MAN Continues through Sun., June 16. Wood Street Galleries, 601 Wood St., Downtown. Free. woodstreetgalleries.org

to godliness”; “A good man is harder to deprive”; “Good things come to the other.” The writing is meticulous enough to look like it’s been typed, but the machine actually writes with a ballpoint pen.

One of the only site-specific pieces in the exhibit, “Invisible Generation”

by Pascal Dombis, is also the largest, featuring a floor-to-ceiling print made up of 30,000 images sourced from Google, found by repeatedly searching a set of keywords. The images, which include memes, magazine covers, politicians, logos, and more, are designed to mimic interlaced video, making it hard to see the images with perfect clarity. There are pieces of plastic viewers can hold up to the work to better see the images,

or further distort them. Staring at it from afar and up close with the plastic, the work is a display of just how vast the internet is, and how much of it we’ve all consumed. There are more images in this piece than any one person can see, but they also represent a tiny fraction of the images floating around on the internet.

Dombis also has another piece in the exhibit, “Post-Digital Mirror,” a mirrorlike series of metal sheets that don’t actually reflect images but instead shift light and shadow around.

The interaction continues throughout the exhibit. Jacob Kirkegaard’s “Eustachia for 18 Ears” is a spooky and immersive sonic piece that captures faint, highpitched sounds made by the cochlea in some peoples’ ears. Kirkegaard recorded

Follow staff writer Hannah Lynn on Twitter @hanfranny

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PGHCITYPAPER.COM

and amplified the sounds inside a maze of curtains and red lights. Wandering through, the noise gets louder, softer, more high-pitched as you walk through the curtains. It feels Lynchian or like you are actually wandering around inside an ear.

The exhibit also features “Disabled Chair,” an in-motion piece that compares the stature between an office chair and a wheelchair, two objects that are technically similar but serve very different functions and are perceived differently.

The office chair moves around the wheelchair, which stays in place (although when I visited, it was under repair and not in motion).

The exhibit continues through June 16.

•

.FASHION.

STRENGTH, VULNERABILITY, AND HIGH HEELS

BY TERENEH IDIA // CPCONTRIBUTORS@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

S

“

TAND UP slowly and be careful.

Take one small step — if your ankles buckle, stop walking.”

My ballet teacher employed the same tone of voice used when instructing me on a new ballet position. Hopeful but cautious. She held my hand as if moving me from the barre to the floor.

I was 13 years old and we were buying my first pair of high heels: a pair of eggplant purple suede pumps that were about two and a half inches high.

As we stood in Kinney’s Shoes in Allegheny Center Mall on the North Side, I was nervous. Just like learning a new ballet move, I wanted to get it right. So I took a deep breath, lifted my right foot to take my first step. Ignoring my ballet teacher’s advice, it was not a small step.

I was thinking of making a grand ballet entrance not just walking. And then it happened.

Somehow I channeled the sashayslay-ability of supermodels Iman and Pat Cleveland. As Beyoncé sings in “Get Me Bodied,” “Walk across the room like Naomi Campbell.”

And I did.

My ballet teacher gasped. The sales clerk gasped. I smiled. Oh, I was built for heels! OK, maybe I didn’t walk like a supermodel, but I felt like I did. And just like I jumped into the deep end of the South Side pool at two years old, I dived into the deep end of grown woman fashion at 13.

High heels are a rite of passage for many girls, women, and femmes. How many girls have tried on their mom’s

heels, looked in the mirror, clip-clopclopping while imagining themselves in a gown at a ball or in a suit being sworn in as president of the United States?

In Europe, high heels were historically worn by nobility and more often than not, by men. The goal was height, an attribute often associated with power and strength. Men wanted to appear as 315656_4.75_x_4.75.indd 1 tall as possible. Louis XIV of France could rock a pair of tights and stacked heels. I bet he could do a Naomi Campbell walk.

My own personal heel journey continued to rise in height. I cannot think of how high I have gone: platform, wedges, stilettos up to five inches tall, yes to all of it and more.

A woman in heels is rarely ignored.

In New York City, it was often, “Oh work it, I love those shoes, you’re killing it.” But in more dressed down places — like Starting the process Do you qualify for Advocating on your Pittsburgh or the Hudson Valley in New is easy and takes GLVDELOLW\ EHQHˉWV" behalf with York — it is very different. only minutes to Call for a FREE applications, appeals In “liberal” New Paltz, New York, I was complete evaluation & hearings told to “stop wearing heels and get a pair of Birkenstocks.” Excuse me, what?

If you are unable to work due to a physical, medical or mental disability In Pittsburgh I often hear, “Oh how & are under the age of 62, can you walk in those?” I answer, “One Helping <RX FRXOG EH HOLJLEOH WR UHFHLYH 1000s Get foot in front of the other.”

1000’s 7KH %HQHˉWV High heels denote both power and • Steady monthly income depending on your paid in amount They vulnerability. For some, they are feminist Deserve ȧ $ OXPS VXP SD\PHQW RI EHQHˉWV RZHG IURP EDFN SD\ icons. To others high heels are a trap, • Annual cost of living increases a symbol of misogyny, controlling :H 6LPSOLI\ WKH 3URFHVV 6WULYH IRU 4XLFN &ODLP $SSURYDO women’s bodies their ability to move.

Decades from those first steps in Call for a Free Consultation Kinney’s shoes, heels remain a symbol of my own growth into womanhood and my ability walk with strength in my own power.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

31

WICKED, EVIL, VILE, ETC.

BY ALEX GORDON ALEXGORDON@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

PHOTO: NETFLIX/BRIAN DOUGLAS

Zac Efron as Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

Based off its trailer and mouthful of a title, Netflix’s Ted Bundy biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile seemed destined to revel in its own wicked, evil, vileness in a misguided attempt at edginess. The teaser made Bundy look cool and sexy, threatening to romanticize the violence under the guise of anti-hero mythology. Thankfully, that’s not exactly what we get.

Evil and Vile is a story about doubt — first and foremost in Lily Collins’ portrayal of Bundy’s wife, Liz Kendall — and eventually, even subtly in the eyes of the audiences. Director Joel Berlinger pointedly keeps the violence off screen, EXTREMELY which allows the certainty of WICKED, Bundy’s guilt SHOCKINGLY to be chipped EVIL AND away at every time he claims VILE is streaming now on Netflix. innocence.

The brutality of Bundy’s murders is not easy to accept in the abstract, but on a personal level, it’s nearly impossible. Once you add in Zac Efron’s easy charm and bone structure to the fact that people would rather be duped than accept this level of evil in a loved one, Kendall’s doubts start to make sense. To be fair, Efron can do little to make himself unattractive on the outside, but he succeeds in letting the ugliness inside seep out with menacing little ticks and unsettling confidence.

While it’s smarter and not nearly as self-indulgent as you might expect, Evil and Vile is not a particularly good film. It’s forgettable, oddly paced, and relies too much on cameos (John Malkovich, Haley Joel Osment, Jim Parsons), especially given the talent of its two leads. But it’s also restrained in a way that serial-killer dramas never are, and that’s at least a good start. •

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PHOTO: GREENWICH ENTERTAINMENT

Emily Dickinson (Molly Shannon) and her longtime partner, Susan (Susan Ziegler)

.FILM.

WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY

BY HANNAH LYNN // HLYNN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

T

HE LABELS assigned to historically

prominent women have often been euphemisms for whatever reality the writers of history wanted to keep hidden. Recluse, hysterical, mad, and other terms served more as vague diagnoses than anything accurate. Such is the case with Emily Dickinson, the poet famously labeled as a spinster recluse, living a sad, isolated life in her parents’ house. This has been refuted many times since Dickinson’s death, but never so prominently as in Wild Nights with Emily, a dramedy directed

by Madeleine Olnek that portrays the poet not as achingly lonely, but as she really was: gay and in love.

In 1992, Dickinson scholar Martha Nell Smith published Rowing in Eden: Rereading Emily Dickinson, a re-examination of the author’s poems and letters, the recipients of which were long thought to be anonymous men, but were actually dedicated to Susan Dickinson, Emily’s childhood friend, sister-in-law, and longtime partner.

Research revealed that Susan’s name was physically erased or removed from Emily’s writings by Mabel Todd, her posthumous editor and mistress of Emily’s brother/Susan’s husband, Austin.

Wild Nights is narrated by Mabel Todd (Amy Seimetz), as she speaks on a book tour promoting the posthumous publication of Emily’s writing. She tells Emily’s life story in broad strokes, but scenes

from Emily’s life fill in the obvious blanks.

As a young girl, Emily began a romantic relationship with her friend Susan, only to be heartbroken when Susan marries Austin. But Susan tells her not to worry, that the plan is to live next door to Emily so they can continue their relationship throughout their adulthood. And they do.

Opens Fri., May 10 at Regent Square Theater.

Directed by Madeleine Olnek.

Starring Molly Shannon.

Emily (Molly Shannon) dedicates most of her time to her poetry, which she desperately wants published despite no one wanting to publish it. Her only reader is Susan (Susan Ziegler), one of the few people she spends any time with. In a way, Emily is a recluse, rarely leaving the house except to see Susan, and Mabel claims she never saw Emily until she looked in the casket at her funeral.

But her reclusivity is not sad or lonely.

She is wholly focused on her poetry, content to only write, bake bread, and see Susan. She tries to publish her poems, soliciting the editor of The Atlantic Monthly, Thomas Higginson (Brett Gelman, an expert asshole as usual), who doesn’t think her poetry is ready, very obviously because she’s a woman.

“Thank you for your surgery,” Emily says stiffly after Higginson makes significant edits to her work.

Emily ultimately had 11 poems published while she was alive, but she wrote over a thousand. The film covers her death too, with an exceedingly intimate scene of Susan washing Emily’s corpse, and Mabel, desperate to have an artistic impact, taking an eraser to Emily’s poems. They’d be more appealing if they were addressed to a man, she suggests.

The film moves between Mabel’s lecture on Emily’s life and Emily’s actual life, both as an adult and a teenager. The tone is more comedic than dramatic, poking fun at the way Mabel (and everyone else) plays ignorant to Emily’s lesbian relationship, as well as the general stupidity of men at the time. When Emily asks her editor if he believes in women’s suffrage, he says, “Yes, of course, but only after politics become less complicated.”

(Dream big, buddy.)

It’s refreshing to see a historical gay romance that isn’t overly tragic or heavy with the weight of the era. Director Olnek cited Drunk History as one of her inspirations for the tone of the film, noting that period films are typically heavy, but the heaviness is based on that of previous period films. People laughed in the 19th century, too.

It’s not a straight comedy—there are poignant, emotional scenes, both about Emily’s writing and her romance. There’s a weight that comes with telling the story of someone whose story has been mistold for so long.

•

.LITERATURE.

DOCUMENTING DECAY

BY ALEX GORDON ALEXGORDON@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

T

HE PHOTOGRAPHS in Cindy Vasko’s

Abandoned Western Pennsylvania: Separation from a Proud Heritage are provocative, but the emotion they provoke depends on the viewer. The images — dilapidated staircases, walls choked by climbing vines, classrooms with writing still visible on the blackboard — tell stories that reflect our relationships to buildings and objects.

Some viewers might see these in terms of history and politics, the effect of industries leaving Southwest Pennsylvania, or the treatment of criminals and the mentally ill. Some might find them depressing, while others might just be in it for the rush of mysterious, eerie imagery. Regardless, Vasko’s photos in Abandoned Western Pennsylvania are undeniably powerful.

Pittsburgh City Paper spoke with Vasko about Abandoned Western Pennsylvania and the rules of shooting in abandoned buildings.

HOW FREQUENTLY DO YOU ENCOUNTER SPACES WHERE IT’S CLEAR SOMEBODY HAS BEEN THERE RECENTLY? You mean squatters?

SURE. OR LIKE, TEENS GETTING STONED. I do my research before I embark on an abandoned journey. We do run across people who have claimed residence in a site. I do run across strange things sometimes. But I always know if it’s abandoned or not.

ABANDONED WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA: SEPARATION FROM A PROUD HERITAGE is available now from America Through Time. through-time.com

DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST ABANDONED STRUCTURE THAT YOU EXPLORED? I was fascinated with an abandoned barn near my home in Allentown. It was a property about four blocks from my home and it was covered in vines, and there was nothing in it, but it was

PHOTO: CINDAY VASKO

“Apartment” (excerpt)

so fascinating. It was a sad feeling, too.

How could something so beautiful — it was a beautiful barn with gables and beautiful tiles — how could it just wither away to nothing?

I actually stumbled upon an abandoned [building] photograph in 2012 and that’s what pulled me into the art form. I used to work for a law firm. I was the publications manager, and an attorney submitted a request to do some research on a casino in Glendale, Ariz. I was at home one night, just researching away on Google for legal information.

I took a break, came back, and instead of googling Glendale, Ariz. casino, I just [typed] Glendale, and all at once, a strip of images popped up, and there was an abandoned site of Glendale Asylum in Maryland. That just pulled me in right away. I clicked on the image and looked at images til four in the morning, all at once, I knew that was my photography niche.

THERE’S A COMMUNITY? Yes, yes, oh yes. You never go alone.

ARE THERE MORE RULES? There’s one big rule: We never take anything. We leave the site as it is. We never destroy anything, break into anything.

We just shoot photographs. We leave the site as it is. I don’t stage anything.

I just go in and shoot. We have a lot of respect for the sites. We don’t want to decimate them. We hope that someday somebody will reclaim it and renovate it, but that’s generally not the case.

Usually, it’s the other way — nature grabs them and takes them.

THERE’S THE HISTORY, THERE’S THE ANTHROPOLOGY, THERE’S SADNESS, BUT I THINK FOR MANY PEOPLE THEIR INTEREST IS FROM A PARANORMAL PERSPECTIVE, IT’S TITILLATING. A lot of places do have a creepy sense

about them, especially hospitals, and asylums and prisons. It’s very unsettling, but I don’t delve into the paranormal.

A lot of people do, but the people in my group don’t think about that. It is a very unsettling feeling at times, coming across graffiti on prison walls or artifacts left behind, wedding albums rotting in a pile of leaves. It’s dismal sometimes.

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE IMAGE OF THE TV AND THE CHAIR, “APARTMENT”?

That was in an abandoned apartment building, originally a hotel. I really don’t know the whole history of the place, but I think it’s been abandoned for 15-20 years. And there’s a lot of vandalism in that site, but apparently somebody had staged that TV and that lounge chair. And the color is fabulous, it’s just a powerful image. It’s one of my favorites.

•

Follow managing editor Alex Gordon on Twitter @shmalexgordon PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

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CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

Bilal Abbey

.MUSIC.

10,000 HOURS

BY JORDAN SNOWDEN // JSNOWDEN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

L

IKE OPRAH WINFREY, hip-hop art-

ist Bilal Abbey is a firm believer in the 10,000 hour theory. Since childhood, music has been an interest of Abbey’s — he started recording himself in ninth grade — yet his most recent release, Gremlins, is the first project he’s taken seriously as a musician.

“I just got to a place where I finally feel good about my mixes and who I am as an artist,” says Abbey. “I took the time to work on my music and my craft. Really just putting in those 10,000 hours.”

The theory, detailed in Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers, says it takes roughly 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to achieve mastery in any field. In Outliers, Gladwell attests that getting 10,000 hours of practice early in The Beatles’ career was the reason for their superstardom. Between August 1960 and December 1962, the rock/pop group played over 250 nights in Hamburg, venues often demanding The Beatles play four or five hours a night. Gladwell also uses Bill Gates as an example,

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citing his teenage computer use as vital to founding Microsoft.

“A lot of people will be like, ‘Yeah, I just bought a camera and I’m doing $25 photo shoots,’” says Abbey. “And it’s like you haven’t even taken 100 pictures on your own that you like yet. It’s the same with everything.”

BILALABBEY.BANDCAMP.COM Abbey truly began developing himself as an artist, putting in his hours, when he went to Clark Atlanta University, an HBCU, for undergrad in 2009.

Outside of classes, Abbey spent the four years in Atlanta focusing on music.

Cut off from his friends in Pittsburgh, he used the alone time to practice in a studio — free to use thanks to a connection back home.

“I had no guidance on how to use the equipment,” says Abbey. “I had no idea what I was doing when I started.

Going from that to being able to master

the process … whatever you’re working on whether it is art, music, etc., being focused on creating for yourself and putting in your 10,000 hours is really important before you try and turn your art into monetization.”

After graduating and returning to Pittsburgh, Abbey began working behind the scenes as a curator and engineer for artists in the local hip-hop community, like Pharaoh Lum, NVSV, and livefromthecity. He mixed Clara Kent’s album Aura and wrote the chorus for “Black Benji.” on Benji.’s album Smile, You’re Alive. This isn’t to say he wasn’t working on his own music. Gremlins is actually Abbey’s fourth project.

“Two are not up for streaming because for me they were kind of experimental,” says Abbey. “And I have a lot of songs that will never make it on [an album].”

Paradise, the only project available for streaming besides Gremlins, dropped in 2016.

But all that work added up, and Abbey put in his 10,000 hours. Now

he’s ready to fully debut himself with Gremlins, created in a fever pitch of only five months.

“Gremlins is kind of a play on my own perspective of life in general,” says Abbey. “Some of the songs are closely related to me, some songs I don’t feel like are a slice of my life but more so a slice of my perspective.”

As a whole, the seven-track album is about fighting inner demons, or gremlins, like lust, guilt, arrogance, and greed.

Gremlins ends with the song, “Cleanse” which is like a mantra to let go of anything that isn’t serving your best interest.

“You have to deal with those things,” says Abbey. “Clean them out. All the things that build up, emotional junk and baggage, getting those things out of your life.”

When this happens, you have the power to change your life and gain control by, ironically, letting go of it. Then you are free to focus on what brings joy, like a craft and working on your 10,000 hours.

•

.LITERATURE.

CELESTE NG

BY REGE BEHE CPCONTRIBUTORS@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

C

ELESTE NG certainly could appear at

larger spaces than the independent bookstores and smallish venues she’s visiting on tour for the paperback release of her bestselling novel, Little Fires Everywhere (Penguin). But Ng has a great affection for all booksellers.

“A bookstore is a more than just a place where you physically get books,” says Ng, who lives within walking distance of three indie bookstores in Cambridge, Mass. “It’s a place where you run into other readers; it’s a place where you know the bookseller and they’ll recommend books to [you]. It’s a community center, and it’s a place where people come to have an interchange of ideas that we don’t get a lot.”

Ng lived in Allegheny County before her family moved to Shaker Heights, Ohio when she was 10. Her fondest memories of the area include going to Century III Mall in West Mifflin and browsing the shelves of B. Dalton and Waldenbooks, the now-defunct chains on opposite ends of the mall.

In 2014, Ng published her first novel, Everything I Never Told You. That book — about a Chinese-American family in Ohio in the mid-1970s — earned Ng a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 2017’s Little Fires Everywhere, Ng’s story alternates between heartwarming and heartbreaking. Mia Warren and her 15-year-old daughter Pearl have been itinerant travelers since Pearl’s birth.

They arrive in the seemingly perfect Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights (founded in 1911 by the Shakers, a Christian sect) and Mia, a photographer who works odd jobs to support her art,

PHOTO: KEVIN DAY

Celeste Ng

CELESTE NG 7 p.m. Fri., May 10. First Unitarian Church, 605 Morewood Ave., Shadyside. $19 admission includes a paperback copy of Little Fires Everywhere. 412-224-2847 or whitewhalebookstore.com

promises Pearl they will finally stop moving from town to town. They rent a duplex from the Richardsons, a family comprised of two successful parents and four children who seem like archetypes of the teenagers from Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink.

Then the lives of both families unravel

as family secrets are uncovered.

For Ng, writing about the mid-1990s was like “unpacking boxes of memories.

I can see us now, and I remember how cool we felt,” she says. “There was a trend where we’d button two buttons on our shirts and leave the rest unbuttoned.

But there were a lot of things I forgotten about, like music and world events. I was sheltered in a lot of ways in high school, and I had to go back and double check what was going in the world, what was going on politically, that I wasn’t aware of as a teenager.”

Ng, who was born Catholic but really didn’t practice the faith, invests the story

Follow featured contributor Rege Behe on Twitter @RegeBehe_exPTR

with a subtle spirituality. The underlying concerns of the novel — the “fundamental moral questions,” Ng says — are about the conflicts at the heart of altruism.

“When you give, why are you giving?” she says. “Are you giving because it’s the right thing to do or are you giving because you want the other person to feel your generosity? There are a few scenes in the novel when [one of the characters] gives something, but she makes it very clear that she would like to be appreciated.

“There is sort of a little bit of a biblical question: If you do good and nobody knows about it, is that different from doing good only because everyone is going to see it? How selfless is that, really?”

•

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

35

.ART . .

FLOWER POWER W

BY AMANDA WALTZ // AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

Cara Livorio

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HEN THINKING about contemporary, boundary-pushing art, still life paintings rarely come to mind. But Artists Image Resource (AIR) will try to change that with B(L)OOM, a pop-up exhibition working to reinvent an all-too-familiar genre.

Set up by local independent art curator and dealer Jeffrey Jarzynka, B(L)OOM includes 47 new paintings by Pittsburgh artist Cara Livorio. The show explores a common theme in still lifes — the flower — with a raw approach less concerned with capturing exact details than with creating an evocative explosion of colors, textures, and styles.

PHOTO: ALEXANDER PATHO PHOTOGRAPHY

Excerpt of oil on canvas painting “Flourish” by Cara Livorio

“[Florals are] a great subject matter,” says Livorio, a career artist who studied in Italy and owns the Fox Chapel gallery/ art school, Artissima Studio. “It’s also challenging because it’s a subject matter that has been done a lot in the form of a still life. What I really wanted to portray in this show is the idea that it’s not a static composition. I wanted to show more of the life and the energy that I see with florals and with organics.”

B(L)OOM RECEPTION 6-9 p.m. Thu., May 9. Continues through Sun., June 2. 518 Foreland St., North Side.

Free. artistsimageresource.org

Jarzynka believes the paintings in the show are “not what you would consider your traditional still lifes.” Livorio goes as far as calling the pieces “un-still lifes.”

For B(L)OOM, Livorio says she took multiple trips to local wholesalers and bought “way too many flowers,” making arrangements and photographing them at different angles. On canvas, she used various styles and techniques, including line work and painting with thick layering or drips. She says she wanted to create a sense of energy through the immediacy of her brush strokes and by not laboring over details, making the work appear less forced and more

“action-oriented.”

“The flowers are more than just dead, beautiful things that have been cut,” says Livorio, describing them as “little perfect pops in our world.”

Livorio also sees B(L)OOM, with its tribute to short-lived beauty, as exploring themes of the ephemeral found in much of her previous work. For example, her Passing by series played on PostImpressionist paintings by catching people in fleeting, unposed moments, from a restaurant server leaning over a customer’s table to two people greeting each other in a doorway.

“They’re all different narratives of people in candid moments in time that I take a snippet of,” says Livorio. “I’ve always been interested in themes of nostalgia, and time passing, and how you can’t necessarily freeze those moments. You kind of have to enjoy them.”

While she understands that still lifes are nothing new, she believes that they continue to have plenty to offer beyond art history books and beginner drawing classes.

“I think still lifes are still very valid,” says Livorio. “It’s just it comes from a really rich tradition. For me, the way that I paint and the way I see these, it’s more than just a still life. It’s something that’s dynamic and moving.”

•

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

37

.MUSIC.

PRESERVING HARDCORE

BY EDWARD BANCHS INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

A

jersey validated A.J. Rassau’s .vision for his recently opened Hardcore Museum.

“Within five minutes of opening, my whole dream came true.” The jersey — donated by Jason Hominsky, vocalist of the now-defunct Pittsburgh hardcore band Built Upon Frustration — was etched with the band’s logo, and worn by him on stage often. This donation is included, among others, in Rassau’s new museum, one of the few of its kind worldwide.

“I like doing the first of anything,” says Rassau.

Located in downtown New Kensington, the museum is housed in the same building as his record store, Preserving Hardcore, and features a collection of some the genre’s iconic records, images, fanzines, and countless documentaries

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IMAGE: AJ RASSAU

BLOODY, sweat-soaked hockey

HARDCORE MUSEUM 1102 Fourth Ave., New Kensington. Free. preservinghardcore.com

(with a surprise or two). A room dedicated exclusively to the Pittsburgh hardcore scene displays the hockey jersey.

Visitors can take a self-guided tour through four rooms that detail the genre’s roots and evolution, from its East Coast origins through its present status as a global, though still primarily underground, mainstay. To assist the tour, large posters explain the various stages of the genre’s evolution — designed and penned by Rassau himself.

At 33, Rassau already has nearly 20 years in Pittsburgh’s hardcore/metal scene as a promoter, musician, and now, as a historian. “I think probably five years ago I had this revelation,” he says, explaining it was his experience of sharing concert videos and memorabilia through mail order and internet chat rooms that led him to gather everything under one roof.

“The hardest part wasn’t telling the story. The hardest part was condensing

it, making it simultaneously interesting to those who don’t know anything about it, and to people who think they know everything about it,” he says.

Television screens play documentaries and concert videos to further guide visitors through hardcore’s history, helpful tools for those who are unfamiliar with the genre.

While still in its early stages, the museum has sparked interest from musicians around the region and beyond, with fans offering to help Rassau by contributing personal memorabilia and even instruments. Pittsburgh’s own Reba Myers and Shade Balderose, of the Grammy-nominated group Code Orange personally donated guitars.

Seminal Pittsburgh label Da’Core Records, which Rassau said helped introduce him “to everything,” also gets recognition. “It was a labor of love of mine for a long time,” says former label owner Eric Corbin. “I’m honored and humbled that he would include it.”

Rassau is open to input on what the museum can showcase, as well as items from the scene’s contributors who are willing to donate. “I’m hoping that once people see that’s it a real and legit thing, they’re going to want to get their stuff in here.”

•

Sponsored by

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

WED., MAY 22 NITA STRAUSS 7 P.M. HARD ROCK CAFE STATION SQUARE. Minors must be accompanied by an adult. $14-16 412-481-ROCK or ticketfly.com.

With special guests Kore Rozzick, Marc Rizzon, and Chip & the Charge Ups

WED., MAY 22 STRYPER 6 P.M. JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE WARRENDALE. Minors must be accompanied by an adult. $28-42 724-799-8333 or ticketfly.com. With special guests First Bourne and Inside Out.

WED., MAY 22 TREE CLIMBING SCHOOL 7:30 A.M. NORTH PARK ALLISON PARK. Free event. 724-935-1971 or alleghenycounty.us/parkprograms.

THU., MAY 23 THE PRINCE PROJECT 6 P.M. JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE WARRENDALE. Minors must be accompanied by an adult. $16-27 724-799-8333 or ticketfly.com.

THU., MAY 23 FRESH DRUNK STONED COMEDY TOUR 8 P.M. PITTSBURGH IMPROV HOMESTEAD. All-ages event. $15 livenation.com.

FRI., MAY 24 THE EMO BAND’S LIVE BAND EMO & POP PUNK KARAOKE PARTY

MON., MAY 27 APOCALYPTICA - PLAYS METALLICA BY FOUR CELLOS TOUR CARNEGIE OF HOMESTEAD MUSIC HALL

SAT., MAY 25 PUPPY YOGA

MON., MAY 27 MUSIC MONDAYS

10:30 A.M. HARTWOOD ACRES PARK DORSEYVILLE. $15-19 412-767-9200

11 A.M. CARNEGIE SCIENCE CENTER NORTH SIDE. Free with admission.

412-237-3400 or carnegiesciencecenter.org.

SAT., MAY 25 HAVEN STATE 8 P.M. MR. SMALLS THEATRE MILLVALE. $10 livenation.com.

With special guests The Fall Down and Venus Monolith

SUN., MAY 26 KIERRA DARSHELL’S SUNDAY DRAG BRUNCH 12:30 P.M. PITTSBURGH IMPROV HOMESTEAD. All-ages event. $10 livenation.com.

SUN., MAY 26 HOZIER: WASTELAND BABY! TOUR 8 P.M. BENEDUM CENTER DOWNTOWN. trustarts.org.

10 P.M. SMILING MOOSE SOUTH SIDE. $10 412-431-4668 or ticketfly.com.

SUN., MAY 26 TALLAH

FRI., MAY 24 WALK OF THE EARTH

6:30 P.M. MR. SMALLS THEATRE MILLVALE. $10 livenation.com.

6:30 P.M. STAGE AE NORTH SIDE.$36-186 412-229-5483 or ticketmaster.com.

FRI., MAY 24 LAVELL CRAWFORD

MON., MAY 27 APOCALYPTICA PLAYS METALLICA BY FOUR CELLOS TOUR

9:45 P.M. PITTSBURGH IMPROV HOMESTEAD. 21 and up. $30 livenation.com.

7:30 P.M. CARNEGIE OF HOMESTEAD MUSIC HALL MUNHALL. All-ages event. $29.50-59.50 412-462-3444 or ticketfly.com.

TUE., MAY 28 ROGER HUMPHRIES + RH FACTOR 5 P.M. BACKSTAGE BAR AT THEATER SQUARE DOWNTOWN. Free event.

412-456-6666 or trustarts.org.

TUE., MAY 28 EDDIE IZZARD WUNDERBAR 8 P.M. BYHAM THEATER DOWNTOWN. 412-456-6666 or trustarts.org.

TUE., MAY 28 THE TENNESSE QUEENS TOUR 2019: LOLO & GARRISON STARR 8 P.M. CLUB CAFÉ SOUTH SIDE. 21 and up. $12 412-431-4950 or ticketweb.com/opusone.

TUE., MAY 28 SUPERMEGA LIVE! 8 P.M. MR. SMALLS THEATRE MILLVALE. livenation.com.

TUE., MAY 28 “STAND U PITTSBURGH” OPEN MIC! 8 P.M. PITTSBURGH IMPROV HOMESTEAD. 18 and up. Free event. livenation.com.

FOR UPCOMING ALLEGHENY COUNTY PARKS EVENTS, LOG ONTO WWW.ALLEGHENYPARKS.COM PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

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SEVEN DAYS OF ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT

IMAGE: “ANDY WARHOL” (DETAIL) BY PETER MAX

^ Sat., May 11: Peter Max: Woodstock 50th Anniversary Celebration

THURSDAY MAY 9 FOOD Forget the Harry and Meghan. This weekend, the North Side is crowning true royalty — sandwich royalty. Northside Sandwich Week is kicking off with Sandwich Sampler: Buns of Steel, in which chefs from the neighborhood compete for the title of sandwich king or queen. Taste to your heart’s content before casting a vote for best sandwich alongside three

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celebrity judges. 6-9 p.m. Priory Grand Hall. 614 Pressley St., North Side. $35. pittsburghnorthside.com

LECTURE All objects are a work of design, no matter how utilitarian or pedestrian their use. A simple lamp or chair might not seem like art, but it was carefully and specifically designed to look and function a certain way. Join the Carnegie Museum of Art for the lecture “Is There Art in a Broomstick?”

by Juliet Kinchin, a curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, to learn more about “the changing relationship

between design and everyday life in 20thcentury America.” The event is sponsored

by Fallingwater and local design company Monmade. 6:30 p.m. 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland, 15213. Free. cmoa.org

POETRY Pittsburgh poet Michael Wurster discusses his distinguished career during another edition of Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures at Carnegie Library Lecture Hall. An award-winning figure in the local literary community, Wurster is a founding member of Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange and has taught at the

Pittsburgh Center for the Arts School.

He also co-edited the anthology Along These Rivers: Poetry & Photography from Pittsburgh and The Brentwood Anthology. His collections include The British Detective, The Cruelty of the Desert, and The Snake Charmer’s Daughter. Hear about his new collection Even Then during this special event.

7 p.m. 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. Free.

Registration required. pittsburghlectures.org

FILM Street photography can get taken for granted, because smart phones allow

Cel

ic!

an American g n Cla ti a r ss eb Save the Date :

BURGER BASH* JUNE 30

Burger Month JULY 2019

PHOTO: BRENT NAKAMOTO

^ Sat., May 11: Associated Artists of Pittsburgh New Member Exhibition

anyone to take high-quality pictures at any time or place. But it was once a new and startling medium that captured the mundane but universal parts of everyday life. Photographer Garry Winogrand made his career encapsulating mid-century New York life. Learn more about his life with a screening of the documentary Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable at the Silver Eye Center for Photography.

The film explores Winogrand’s life, work, and the 10,000 rolls of film he left behind when he died. 7:30 p.m. 4808 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. Free. silvereye.org

FRIDAY MAY 10 ART Any visit to Millvale wouldn’t be complete without seeing the murals of CroatianAmerican artist Maksimilijan “Maxo” Vanka. Located in the St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church, the works have long

captivated viewers with their politically radical imagery protesting against industrial capitalism, World War I, and the rise of fascism. The Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka celebrates his legacy with Cocktails and Conservation: The Art of Social Justice, a night of live entertainment, activities, food, and, of course, tasty beverages. It also includes the premiere of artist Alisha Wormsley’s Act of Sister, a tribute to women inspired by the Vanka murals. 6-9:30 p.m. 24 Maryland Ave., Millvale. $100. vankamurals.org

SATURDAY MAY 11

CONVENTION For the first time in 23 years, The Pittsburgh Record Convention XLVIII is being held at a new location, the Sokol Club in South Side. Thankfully, everything but the location is the same. Music fans and vendors from Pittsburgh and beyond CONTINUES ON PG. 42

SPONSORED BY

A MONTH LONG CELEBRATION OF UNIQUE CUSTOM BURGERS BY PITTSBURGH’S BEST RESTAURANTS * B U R G E R B A S H W I L L B E J U N E 3 0 T H A LO N G S I D E O P E N S T R E E T S I N L AW R E N C E V I L L E . FO R M O R E I N FO V I S I T P G H B U R G E R M O N T H .C O M PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

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CALENDAR, CONTINUED FROM PG. 41

PHOTO: GARRY WINOGRAND/ THE ESTATE OF GARRY WINOGRAND, COURTESY OF FRAENKEL GALLERY, SAN FRANCISCO

^ Thu., May 9: Garry Winogrand: All Things Are Photographable

convene for a day of crate digging for LPs, 45s, CDs, tapes, as well as posters and memorabilia. If you’re hoping to land a rare find, chip in $10 for admission at 8 a.m. and get sleuthing before the noobs arrive at 10 a.m. 8 a.m. The Sokol Club, 2912 E. Carson St., South Side. Free after 10 a.m.

“The Pittsburgh Record & CD Convention” on Facebook

ART Pop artist Peter Max’s psychedelic paintings are a visual acid trip, as if he’s captured the entire summer of ’69 on canvas. Don your bell bottoms and view the artist’s brightly colored portraits of celebrities like Andy Warhol and Muhammad Ali at Peter Max: Woodstock 50th Anniversary Celebration. The exhibit at Christine Frechard Gallery includes over six decades’ worth of Max’s artwork, and if you want a little peace and love above your mantle, recent work will be available for sale. Noon. Continues through Sun., May 19. 5126 Butler St., Lawrenceville. christinefrechardgallery.com

ART Everybody loves Carrie Furnaces. It’s historic, imposing, and creepy, but a little lacking

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when it comes to color, unless you have a thing for rust. Thankfully, the place will be spruced up with Mural Painting Day, a collaboration between Rivers of Steel Arts and Hemispheric Conversations: Urban Art Program, which operates as an international exchange program for graffiti artists.

The featured artists are Kart from Leon, Mexico, bel2 from Chicago, and Shane Pilster from Pittsburgh.

Meet the muralists, watch them create, and if you’re one of the first 20 guests, take home a free graffiti coloring book. 1 p.m. Carrie Furnaces, Rankin. Free. hcuap.weebly.com

ART Join the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh for the opening reception of the New PHOTO: RUTH E. HENDRICKS

^ Thu., May 9: Michael Wurster

Member Exhibition at the Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media. The exhibit celebrates work by the newest crop of artists accepted into the member organization. The 33 artists included in the show were chosen from a pool of applications and chosen by a jury, which included Transmitter Gallery in New York.

The works feature a variety of mediums, including painting, sculpture, collage, wallpaper, and more.

6-9 p.m. 6300 Fifth Ave., Shadyside.

Continues through June 30.

Free. aapgh.org

MUSIC The United States has an impressive musical heritage when it comes to genres like hip hop, jazz, folk, and blues — not so much in the classical realm (though to be fair, we had a late start). But the past century has seen the introduction of great American composers like Leonard

Bernstein and Aaron Copland. Resonance Works closes out its season with a celebration of great American solo works with American Serenade at Rodef Shalom Congregation. Pieces include Bernstein’s Serenade, Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, and the world premiere of a flute solo concerto

by Pittsburgh composer Nancy Galbraith.

8 p.m. 4905 Fifth Ave., Oakland. $12.50-50. resonanceworks.org

SUNDAY MAY 12 EVENT City Theatre presents Supporting Pittsburgh’s Refugee Students, the first of four interactive workshops dedicated to helping educators understand the cultures, needs, and assets of local refugee communities. Hosted by All for All, a group working to make the region more inclusive, the event will feature Dr. Xia Chao, who, over the past several years, has conducted research on refugee communities, including the Nepali/ Bhutanese, Somali Bantu, and Sudanese.

The workshop will use Dr. Chao’s findings

to offer insight into the best approaches to working with students from refugee populations. 5:30-8 p.m. 1300 Bingham St., South Side. Free. RSVP required. citytheatrecompany.org

Are Among Us, staged at City Theatre.

The play follows an ex-military mother of one who’s ready to leave her combat days behind her, but has them trudged up when a reporter comes asking questions about an incident in Afghanistan a decade prior. Official opening night is Fri., May 17, but you can catch the production in previews through Thu., May 16. Adrienne Campbell-Holt directs. 7 p.m. Continues through Sun., June 2. 1300 Bingham St., South Side. Preview tickets start at $5; $29 after opening night. Ages 16 and up. citytheatre.culturaldistrict.org

MONDAY MAY 13 STAGE See one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies when the New Hazlett Theater presents the closing performance of Twelfth Night. When twin siblings Viola and Sebastian are separated in a shipwreck, Viola disguises herself as a page boy and searches for her brother, only to find herself at the center of a love triangle with Duke Orsino and the Countess Olivia.

Presented by Prime Stage Theatre and directed by Andy Kirtland, the production contains all the elements that has made this classic tale stand the test of time. 2:30 p.m. 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. $12-25. newhazletttheater.org

FOOD Taste dishes from around the world at One Big Table, Literacy Pittsburgh’s annual showcase of food and entertainment.

Tickets include tastings from international

WEDNESDAY MAY 15 ART PHOTO: PRIME STAGE THEATER

^ Mon., May 13: Twelfth Night

restaurants, a diverse group of breweries, distilleries, and wineries, along with a front-row seat for globally focused entertainment. Proceeds benefit Literacy Pittsburgh’s students and programs. 6 p.m. Westin Convention Center Hotel, 1000 Penn Ave., Downtown. $60. literacypittsburgh.org

TUESDAY MAY 14 STAGE From Stephen Belber, playwright behind the Tony-nominated Match, comes We

It’s an even more beautiful day than usual in the neighborhood. The Loving Kindness of Fred Rogers: Photos by Jim Judkis is an exhibit of 60 photos of Pittsburgh’s all-time favorite neighbor.

The images, originally taken for Sunday Magazine and Pittsburgh Magazine, include behind-the-scenes images at Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. A 96-page book will also be available for sale. Artist reception 6-8 p.m. Continues through July 30. Fine, Perlow Weis Gallery at JCC of Greater Pittsburgh. 5738 Forbes Ave., Squirrel Hill. Free. jccpgh.org •

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IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-19-6047, In re petition of Evelyn Lucanish parent and legal guardian of Evan James Manes, for change of name to Evan James Vargas Manes. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 24th day of May, 2019, at 9:45 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for

IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-19-4399. In re petition of Tyler Mitchell Beecher for change of name to Tyler Mitchell Gonsar. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 22nd day of May, 2019, at 9:45 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for

IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-19-4514.

In re petition of Timothy Petrakis for change of name to Timothy Yurkovich. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 21st day of May, 2019, at 9:45 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for

IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-19-5327. In re petition of Po-Shu Chen for change of name to Patrick Po-Shu Chen. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 4th day of June, 2019, at 9:45 a.m., as the time and the Motions Room, City-County Building, Pittsburgh, PA, as the place for a hearing, when and where all persons may show cause, if any they have, why said name should not be changed as prayed for

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IT’S A LOT

BY BRENDAN EMMETT QUIGLEY // WWW.BRENDANEMMETTQUIGLEY.COM

ACROSS 1. Battle between filling stations 7. Cuckoo bananas 13. Bind legally 14. Chrome, e.g.

15. Cuckoo bananas 16. Leaves in a cafetière 17. Lawns where animated characters hang out?

19. Common female Russian name 22. The Swamp machinery: Abbr.

23. Lie 24. Read Across America org.

25. Coral ___ 27. Acted as tour guide 28. NBA star Anthony’s a coward?

34. Laundromat array 35. Word said when the lights come on 38. Stuff El Chapo doesn’t want public?

42. Soothing sound 44. Mlle.: French :: ___ : Spanish 45. Wrestler Shamrock 46. First Nation people 48. Weapon in a silo 50. Capital with suburbs Bygdøy and Grünerløkka

51. “I Like It” rapper who also makes barrels?

55. Psychological paradigm of perfection 56. Demands, as respect or payment 60. Shakespearean verses 61. ‘80s throwback jeans 62. Likely guests at golfer Sam’s wedding 63. Heart inserts

DOWN 1. Grp. making the right choices?

2. Crunch target 3. Crafty 4. Samhain religion 5. Turkish officer 6. Co. makeover 7. Decreasing instrument?

8. Getting into others’ business 9. Symbol of hard work 10. Van Morrison album regularly included in all-time best lists 11. Bother 12. Took out of context?

14. Baby’s sock 16. Sweetums 18. Riding

mower brand 19. Like music you might rip 20. Jet name 21. Van Halen singer after Sammy Hagar 26. Leave quickly 29. “___ culpa” 30. Fuck up 31. WWII crafts 32. LA Kings president Robitaille 33. “Catch-22” character that practices crashes 36. Old tape comp company 37. “It should come ___ surprise” 39. Shrubs that share their name

with women 40. Rank above maj.

41. One-named conservative street artist 42. What a skeleton key provides 43. Whence Henry VIII’s first wife Catherine 47. Patsy’s “Ab Fab” pal 49. Some video files 50. Speak on the dais 52. Tagged 53. Vegas actions 54. Way out?

57. Recycling bin item 58. Rock blaster, for short 59. “We’re in trouble, here,” briefly LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER MAY 8 -15, 2019

45

PEEPSHOW A sex and social justice column

BY JESSIE SAGE // PEEPSHOWCAST@GMAIL.COM DEAR JESSIE,

Do you have any advice for a 29-yearold virgin with Asperger’s syndrome and not a lot of money? I have never had a romantic relationship with a woman, and it is a little hard. I have thought about saving up and seeing a sex worker, though I am worried that it might be a little traumatic. I thought that you might know someone who can give advice even if you cannot yourself.

With warm regards, Christopher DEAR CHRISTOPHER,

Thank you for reaching out. In order to better answer your question, I reached out to Secondhand Rose, a retired escort, current phone sex operator, and founder of the Peck and Call Girls, a virtual courtesan collective.

In her work, Rose has provided both services and coaching to folks on the autism spectrum, including those with Asperger’s syndrome, and believes that seeing a sex worker can be really beneficial to you. However, given your limited budget, she has offered the following advice to make the most of your experience.

“When it comes to sex workers, you need to be really clear what kind of experience you want to have,” says Rose.

Are you seeking a pleasurable sexual experience where you don’t have to think about social interactions? Or

are you seeking coaching that will allow you to have more positive romantic and sexual relationships outside of sex work?

The right person may be able to provide both of these services, but not at the same time. “Coaching,” Rose says, “cannot be done in the moment.”

Non-coached sexual experiences offer refuge and acceptance outside of social expectation and pressures (which can often feel overwhelming to folks on the spectrum), and coaching requires corrections that can disrupt

the intimacy you seek.

Rose suggests that while these are entirely different types of services and should be approached as such, they can also work in tandem. “While pure sexual satisfaction itself may not solve the underlying issue of loneliness,” she says, “it can make you less anxious.”

And being less anxious can lead you to be able to be coached through sexual and romantic encounters effectively.

Moreover, knowing what you want out of the experience will give you a better sense of what sort of sex worker

you should seek. Private sessions with phone sex operators or cam models would cost less per hour than sessions with escorts but could provide much of what you are looking for. But again, you have to consider your needs.

For example, if you need practice maintaining eye contact during sexual intimacy, a cam model may be a better fit than a phone sex operator.

It is also important to consider that while many sex workers, like Rose or myself, are very happy to provide coaching or practice with sexual communication — which is often difficult for folks on the spectrum, some do not prefer to do this sort of work.

Being able to clearly articulate what you’re looking for when reaching out to a new sex worker will make it easier to find someone who can meet those needs.

I also think it may be comforting for you to know that within the sex work community, there are a lot of folks who either are neurodivergent themselves or who have extensive experience with clients who are. In the right sex worker, you will be able to find acceptance and understanding that will give you space to express your sexual needs. “The great thing about sex workers is that we are here to help,” says Rose. “Most of us realize that we have gifts and information that we are willing to share.”

•

JESSIE SAGE IS CO-HOST OF THE PEEPSHOW PODCAST AT PEEPSHOWPODCAST.COM. HER COLUMN PEEPSHOW IS EXCLUSIVE TO PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER. FOLLOW HER ON TWITTER @PEEP_CAST. HAVE A SEX QUESTION YOU’RE TOO AFRAID TO ASK? ASK JESSIE! EMAIL INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM. QUESTIONS MAY BE CONSIDERED FOR AN UPCOMING COLUMN.

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