INSIDE: WERE REPORTS OF THIS SUMMER’S DOWNTOWN “CRIME WAVE” OVERBLOWN? PITTSBURGH’S ALTERNATIVE FOR NEWS, ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT SINCE 1991
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THE BIG STORY
CRUEL SUMMER Reports suggested that Downtown Pittsburgh had a crime wave this summer. But it didn’t. What actually happened? BY RYAN DETO // RYANDETO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
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A scene from Market Square on Sat., Sept. 14
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F LOCAL TV was your only news
source, you might be under the impression that Downtown Pittsburgh suffered an unprecedented crime wave this summer. Since mid-July, local television stations KDKA, WPXI, and WTAE produced more than 18 stories combined on criminal activity in Downtown and the ensuing drama that played out between Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and groups like the Cultural Trust over how to address crime in the Central Business District. KDKA led the field with more than 10 stories, including multiple implying an alleged rise in crime would threaten future development and scare away Downtown restaurant customers, while documenting the horrors of panhandling, and detailing crime statistics. According to the Pittsburgh Depart-
“YOU CAN WALK OVER TO THE BENEDUM AFTER EATING AT A RESTAURANT — THOSE THINGS AREN’T POSSIBLE IN A CRIME WAVE.” ment of Public Safety, there were four aggravated assaults Downtown in August, including a fatal stabbing. From January through August 2019, Downtown experienced statistically significant increases in rapes and assaults, with nine rapes and 33 assaults. This might seem like a cause for alarm, but Part I crimes — murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, theft, vehicle theft and arson — were actually lower Downtown than they have been
in past years. The four August assaults mark a 7 percent increase compared to the previous five Augusts. The three August robberies marked a 67 percent decrease compared to last five years, and the two burglaries represent a 58 percent decrease. August 2019 thefts are virtually at the same levels as they’ve ever been. Statistically speaking, there was no increased crime problem in Downtown Pittsburgh this summer. CONTINUES ON PG. 10
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DISTRIBUTION OF PART 1 CRIMES IN DOWNTOWN PITTSBURGH’S CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT FROM JANUARY-AUGUST IN 2015 AND 2019 SOURCE: PITTSBURGH BUREAU OF POLICE CRIME ANALYSIS UNIT
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But those comprehensive statistics were released on Sept. 12, long after the narrative about a supposed “crime wave” was already established by local media. Dozens of stories about Downtown crime had already been published in July and August, following a letter the Cultural Trust wrote to Peduto requesting a greater police presence Downtown. Kevin McMahon, Cultural Trust CEO, cited a high-profile Fourth of July shooting that occurred Downtown, and issues like panhandling and drug overdoses, as to why he felt the need to request more police. This letter came weeks before the four stabbings Downtown and each of those assaults garnered high-profile stories, many of which referenced the letter. Initially, Peduto was critical of such calls to add police, telling the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he wasn’t interested in using Pittsburgh police to round up the homeless, people with substance abuse disorder, and those with mental health issues. But with each assault came more coverage asking what Peduto should do about crime. By the end of August, the mayor announced he would add patrol officers Downtown. Peduto previously said in July that Pittsburgh employs the most police officers it has in 15 years. This narrative points to several problems in crime reporting that lead to perceptions outweighing facts. David Harris is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh and a nationally renowned expert on policing. He followed the crime reporting closely over the last couple months and wishes more context about Pittsburgh’s crime would have been provided. According to the FBI statistics from 2017, Pittsburgh — then the 65th largest city in the U.S — had the 47th highest violent crime rate and the 62nd highest property crime rate of the nation’s 100 biggest cities. Pittsburgh had about 656 violent crimes and 3,114 property crimes per 100,000 people. For context, Buffalo had significantly higher violent and property crime rates than Pittsburgh. Even Fremont, Calif., a large, but sleepy suburb which was once ranked as one of the safest U.S. cities, had 182 violent crimes per 100,000 people. Des Moines, Iowa had a slightly higher violent crime rate than Pittsburgh. St. Louis had more than triple Pittsburgh’s violent crime rate, and Albuquerque, the city with the highest rate of property crimes, had more than double the property crime rate of Pittsburgh.
STORIES NUMBER OF CRIMES IN DOWNTOWN PITTSBURGH’S CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT FROM JANUARY-AUGUST IN 2014-2019
THAT AREN’T FROM YOUR RACIST UNCLE facebook.com/ PittsburghCityPaper
SOURCE: PITTSBURGH BUREAU OF POLICE CRIME ANALYSIS UNIT. AUGUST 2019 DATA SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
“We may be a little over the average for a city our size, but you have to put it into context. We are at especially low rates of crime, especially violent crimes,” says Harris. “You look at the ‘90s and late ‘80s, it was a different world — there wouldn’t be anybody moving around in Downtown back then.” Pittsburgh, like most big American cities, saw its biggest violent crime rates in the early 1990s. In 1990, Pittsburgh experienced 1,356 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Violent crime rates fell from there before rising again in the early 2000s and reaching another peak in 2004 with 1,119 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Since then, violent crime rates in Pittsburgh have dropped significantly to half of their peak in 1990. Harris says this drop in crime likely opened up many opportunities to revitalize Downtown into the neighborhood it is today. According to the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership (PDP), 2018 attendance at Greater Downtown concerts, art galleries, sporting events, shows, and museums totaled more than 8.8 million people. This was a 2.5 percent increase compared to 2016,
PRIORITY OF ADULT NEWS CONSUMERS IN PITTSBURGH
WEATHER
80% SPORTS
60% TRAFFIC AND TRANSIT
44% GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
CRIME
36%
24%
SOURCE: PEW RESEARCH STUDY ON NEWS MEDIA CONSUMPTION
CONTINUES ON PG. 12
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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CRUEL SUMMER, CONTINUED FROM PG. 11
not to mention the 720,000 people that attended Downtown festivals in 2018. PDP has also documented 118 new businesses that have opened Downtown since 2016. “Because crime is at such historically low levels, you can do different things in Downtown,” says Harris. “You can walk over to the Benedum after eating at a restaurant — those things aren’t possible in a crime wave. The very existence of this situation Downtown shows that things have changed a lot.” Harris says this doesn’t mean that Downtown Pittsburgh isn’t without problems, noting increases in homelessness or people with substance use disorder, but says this is not unique to Pittsburgh. To address these issues, Harris thinks the answer can’t simply be increasing police presence. He says we need a nuanced approach to help those living with mental health issues, addiction, and homelessness, like providing more services or a campaign to connect people to services that already exist. “In general we ask our police to do too much,” says Harris. “Police are asked to respond to mental health issues and to panhandling. Those are not the issues they are trained to be focused on.” Harris also questions the strategy of
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VIOLENT CRIME RATES IN PITTSBURGH AND SIMILAR SIZED CITIES FROM 2000-2015
SOURCE: FBI UNIFORM CRIME REPORT; ACCESSED THROUGH THE UCR DATA TOOL AND THE FBI’S ANNUAL “CRIME IN THE UNITED STATES” PUBLICATIONS
adding police officers to lower violent crimes. Peduto has defended how many police officers were Downtown before he added more, saying that officers were in close proximity and sometimes directly on the scene when assaults occurred.
“One of the stabbings occurred when a police officer was standing right there,” says Harris in reference to the fatal stabbing that occurred on Sixth Street. “This is the best example that this is not chiefly a policing issue.” Harris says there should have been
more thorough reporting on Pittsburgh crime from local media outlets. Instead, he says the narrative that emerged was simple: more crime necessitates more police. “The media in general gravitates towards simple and easy to understand opposites,” says Harris. Duke University professor Sara Sun Beale wrote a paper in 2006 called “The News Media’s Influence on Criminal Justice Policy: How Market-Driven News Promotes Punitiveness.” In it, she wrote that local TV stations manipulate crime and violence coverage as a marketing strategy and cites a study of more than 16,000 local news stories from 57 local stations showing that crime reporting wasn’t driven by actual crime rates in the area, but more by establishing a brand identity to local advertisers. Beale concluded in her paper that high-crime coverage on local TV didn’t actually reflect high crime rates in a given area. “For that reason, the incidence of crime stories in the local news bears no relation to crime in that area,” Beale wrote. “Given its feature focus, highcrime stations not surprisingly trained their stories more on the crime commission and the alleged perpetrator than the
workings of the criminal justice system.” In fact, in August 2016, there were eight assaults and 20 robberies Downtown, twice as many assaults and about seven times as many robberies compared to August of this year. But the media coverage didn’t react then as it did this summer.
PERCENTAGE CHANGE IN PART 1 CRIMES IN DOWNTOWN PITTSBURGH FROM JANUARY-AUGUST 2014 THROUGH JANUARY-AUGUST 2019
A
GOOGLE NEWS search of “Pittsburgh Downtown crime,” looking .at articles from July 17 (the day the Cultural Trust letter was published in the P-G) to September 7, shows dozens of reported stories, letters to the editor, and editorials about crime in Downtown. The same Google News search for the same time period in 2016 resulted in no crime-related stories. Even when conducting searches for “Pittsburgh Downtown assault” and “Pittsburgh Downtown robbery” for the same time period in 2016, just two crime-related stories emerged: an alleged assault near the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and a robbery at a bank on Smithfield Street, both in August 2016. When Pittsburgh Police released its summer crime stats this month, TV news and local publications wrote stories about the statistical decrease. But the damage was already done. Peduto
PART 1 CRIMES INCLUDE: MURDER, RAPE, ROBBERY, ASSAULT, BURGLARY, THEFT, VEHICLE THEFT, AND ARSON SOURCE: SOURCE: PITTSBURGH BUREAU OF POLICE CRIME ANALYSIS UNIT. AUGUST 2019 DATA SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
added extra police Downtown in late August. Police horses have been increasingly utilized Downtown in the time since. It’s not uncommon for local TV news and newspapers to spend time and effort covering crime stories. Beale noted this in her 2006 paper, writing that the “emphasis on crime in the local news depends not on actual crime in the area, but on viewer interest in violent programming.” However, Pittsburgh media consumers don’t particularly believe crime
coverage is of the utmost importance. According to a Pew Research report published in March, 36 percent of adult media consumers in the Pittsburgh region think crime coverage is very important. This is close to average compared to other large U.S. metro areas, with 51 percent of Memphis-area residents thinking crime coverage is important on one end and with 26 percent of Los Angeles residents on the other end. Regardless, those coverage preferences might not be having much effect on how
local media covers crime. Beale says up-to-date data used in her 2006 study isn’t available, but notes that media dynamics haven’t changed much since 2006, including financial pressures and what producers think the public wants. It could actually get worse. “If anything, the pressure on local news outlets has increased very significantly, as they face competition from online sources as well as the tremendous number of channels to which most TV viewers have access,” says Beale.
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.FOR THE WEEK OF SEPT. 19
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZSNY // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): In 1959, scandal erupted among Americans who loved to eat peanut butter. Studies revealed that manufacturers had added so much hydrogenated vegetable oil and glycerin to their product that only 75 percent of it could truly be called peanut butter. So began a long legal process to restore high standards. Finally there was a new law specifying that no company could sell a product called “peanut butter” unless it contained at least 90 percent peanuts. I hope this fight for purity inspires you to conduct a metaphorically comparable campaign. It’s time to ensure that all the important resources and influences in your life are at peak intensity and efficiency. Say NO to dilution and adulteration.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): In 1936, the city of Cleveland, Ohio, staged the Great Lakes Exposition, a 135-acre fair with thrill rides, art galleries, gardens, and sideshows. One of its fun features was The Golden Book of Cleveland, a 2.5-ton, 6,000-page text the size of a mattress. After the expo closed, the “biggest book in the world” went missing. If it still exists today, no one knows where it is. I’m going to speculate that there’s a metaphorical version of The Golden Book of Cleveland in your life. You, too, have lost track of a major Something that would seem hard to misplace. Here’s the good news: If you intensify your search now, I bet you’ll find it before the end of 2019.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In 1990, the New Zealand government appointed educator, magician, and comedian Ian Brackenbury Channell to be the official Wizard of New Zealand. His jobs include protecting the government, blessing new enterprises, casting out evil spirits, upsetting fanatics, and cheering people up. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to find your personal equivalents of an inspirational force like that. There’s really no need to scrimp. According to my reading of the cosmic energies, you have license to be extravagant in getting what you need to thrive.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Do silly things,” advised playwright Anton Chekhov. “Foolishness is a great deal more vital and healthy than our straining and striving after a meaningful life.” I think that’s a perspective worth adopting now and then. Most of us go through phases when we take things too seriously and too personally and too literally. Bouts of fun absurdity can be healing agents for that affliction. But now is NOT one of those times for you, in my opinion. Just the reverse is true, in fact. I encourage you to cultivate majestic moods and seek out awe-inspiring experiences and induce sublime perspectives. Your serious and noble quest for a meaningful life can be especially rewarding in the coming weeks.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Before comedian Jack Benny died in 1974, he arranged to have a florist deliver a single red rose to his wife every day for the rest of her life. She lived another nine years and received more than 3,000 of these gifts. Even though you’ll be around on this earth for a long time, I think the coming weeks would be an excellent time to establish a comparable custom: a commitment to providing regular blessings to a person or persons for whom you care deeply. This bold decision would be in alignment with astrological omens, which suggest that you can generate substantial benefits for yourself by being creative with your generosity.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Actress and author Ruby Dee formulated an unusual prayer. “God,” she wrote, “make me so uncomfortable that I will do the very thing I fear.” As you might imagine, she was a brave activist who risked her reputation and career working for the Civil Rights Movement and other idealistic causes. I think her exceptional request to a Higher Power makes good sense for you right now. You’re in a phase when you can generate practical blessings by doing the very things that intimidate you or make you nervous. And maybe the
best way to motivate and mobilize yourself is by getting at least a bit flustered or unsettled.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Syndicated cartoon strip Calvin and Hobbes appeared for ten years in 2,400 newspapers in fifty countries. It wielded a sizable cultural influence. For example, in 1992, six-yearold Calvin decided “The Big Bang” was a boring term for how the universe began, and instead proposed we call it the “Horrendous Space Kablooie.” A number of real scientists subsequently adopted Calvin’s innovation, and it has been invoked playfully but seriously in university courses and textbooks. In that spirit, I encourage you to give fun new names to anything and everything you feel like spicing up. You now have substantial power to reshape and revamp the components of your world. It’s Identify-Shifting Time.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): We’re in the equinoctial season. During this pregnant pause, the sun seems to hover directly over the equator; the lengths of night and day are equal. For all of us, but especially for you, it’s a favorable phase to conjure and cultivate more sweet symmetry, calming balance, and healing harmony. In that spirit, I encourage you to temporarily suspend any rough, tough approaches you might have in regard to those themes. Resist the temptation to slam two opposites together simply to see what happens. Avoid engaging in the pseudo-fun of purging by day and bingeing by night. And don’t you dare get swept up in hating what you love or loving what you hate.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “I tell you what freedom is to me: no fear.” So said singer and activist Nina Simone. But it’s doubtful there ever came a time when she reached the perfect embodiment of that idyllic state. How can any of us empty out our anxiety so completely as to be utterly emancipated? It’s not possible. That’s the bad news, Taurus. The good news is that in the coming weeks you will have the potential to be as unafraid as you have ever been. For best results, try to ensure that love is your primary motivation in everything you do and say and think.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Some things don’t change much. The beautiful marine animal species known as the pearly nautilus, which lives in the South Pacific, is mostly the same as it was 150 million years ago. Then there’s Fuggerei, a walled enclave within the German city of Augsburg. The rent is cheap, about one U.S. dollar per year, and that fee hasn’t increased in almost 500 years. While I am in awe of these bastions of stability, and wish we had more such symbolic anchors, I advise you to head in a different direction. During the coming weeks, you’ll be wise to be a maestro of mutability, a connoisseur of transformation, an adept of novelty.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Granny Smith apples are widely available. But before 1868, the tart, crispy, juicy fruit never existed on planet Earth. Around that time, an Australian mother of eight named Maria Ann Smith threw the cores of French crab apples out her window while she was cooking. The seeds were fertilized by the pollen from a different, unknown variety of apple, and a new type was born: Granny Smith. I foresee the possibility of a metaphorically comparable event in your future: a lucky accident that enables you to weave together two interesting threads into a fascinating third thread.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “Every masterpiece is just dirt and ash put together in some perfect way,” writes storyteller Chuck Palahniuk, who has completed several novelistic masterpieces. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you Leos have assembled much of the dirt and ash necessary to create your next masterpiece, and are now ready to move on to the next phase. And what is that phase? Identifying the help and support you’ll need for the rest of the process.
Go to realastrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text-message horoscopes. The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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.RESTAURANT REVIEW .
B52 BY MAGGIE WEAVER MWEAVER@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
B
52 WAS ONE of the first Pittsburgh
restaurants to have an all-vegan menu. Owner Omar Abuhejleh, a former attorney and founder of Allegro Hearth Bakery in Squirrel Hill, opened the Mediterranean-inspired eatery in January 2016. Since then, other vegan spots like Apteka and Onion Maiden have made names for themselves on the vegan scene. But even as meatless menus flourish in the city, Pittsburghers keep returning to Abuhejleh’s simple, traditional dishes. Abuhejleh’s menu fuses Mediterranean and American influences, pulling from his mother’s Palestinian background. His menu doesn’t scream vegan; there aren’t any bizarre substitutions or unpronounceable ingredients. It’s a commitment to health and heritage, comfort food that just happens to be vegan. Inside, the cafe is a blend of cozy and chic. A few subtle details — the ornate ceiling, hanging plants, gorgeous light box chandeliers — stand out in the otherwise minimalist space. At the front, there’s a case full of takeaway dips and baked goods. B52 can be whatever you need it to be: a grab-n-go lunch spot, a midday caffeine stop, or a long, spread out, multiple-course dinner. B52 is BYOB and makes up for the missing bar with a full bill of nonalcoholic drinks. The espresso menu lists well-crafted classics along with funky specialties like cinnamon rose lattes and cardamom nitro. In the basement, the cafe ferments kombucha, which makes appearances throughout the menu. Housemade sodas are a regular feature; the eatery’s blood orange and basil soda rivals any good cocktail. The eatery is open from early morning to evening, and menus change as the day goes on. Breakfast
CP PHOTO: MAGGIE WEAVER
Tofu scramble
B52 5202 Butler St., Lawrenceville b52pgh.com
and lunch cover one list, including items like toast and pancakes with savory sandwiches, salads, and mezze (a sampler plates of traditional Mediterranean dips and bites). At dinner, the menu is smaller, with entrees such as kabob and moghrabieh (Lebanese couscous).
I started out with a simple toast covered in cashew cheese with raspberry preserves. Even in such a basic dish, Abuhejleh’s dexterity with plant-based ingredients was clear. The bread, from Allegro Hearth Bakery, was thick and springy. A smear of housemade cashew cheese was sweet and tangy, any grit from the ground nuts masked by jam. Latkes were boosted with carrots and onions, paired with the restaurant’s homemade lemon and garlic tahini. A seitan shawarma, wrapped
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Every Wednesday.
What’s better than half off drinks? Nine dollar scrambles and pancakes!
No, the name isn’t in reference to “Love Shack.” The cafe sits at the edge of Butler and 52nd Street.
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up with romaine and onion, was smartly paired with pickled radishes and pickles. Seitan is all over the menu. The meat substitute, made from wheat gluten, is a hard flavor to hide. It’s one of my biggest issues with fake meat; often, it skews the entire taste of a dish. Abuhejleh’s dishes didn’t have this problem. In his kofta tofu scramble, the seitan was barely detectable. The dish, made from tofu (crumbled to look like scrambled eggs), kale, crispy pita, harissa, and kofta seitan, was superb. Abuhejleh created the perfect blend of spices to give the meat substitute a deep, earthy flavor. He was able to transform two staples of the vegan diet — tofu and protein substitutes — into a flavor-rich, homey representation of traditional Mediterranean cuisine.
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Listen live every Monday thru Thursday at 10 a.m. at lynncullen. pghcitypaper.com
part of what helps create your experience at Mercurio’s Gelato and Pizza in Pittsburgh. It’s not your standard pizza shop; in fact, this isn’t a “pizza shop” at all.
PAD THAI NOODLE 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.
SUPERIOR MOTORS 1211 BRADDOCK AVE., BRADDOCK 412-271-1022 / SUPERIORMOTORS15104.COM Thoughtfully prepared food, drawing inspiration from Braddock, its people, its history, and its perseverance. The cuisine best represents the eclectic style which has become a trademark of Chef Kevin Sousa. Fine dining in an old Chevy dealership with an eclectic, farm-to-table menu and a community focus.
And introducing ...
TOTOPO MEXICAN KITCHEN AND BAR 660 WASHINGTON ROAD, MT. LEBANON 412-668-0773 / TOTOPOMEX.COM Totopo is a vibrant celebration of the culture and cuisine of Mexico, with a focus on the diverse foods served in the country. From Oaxacan tamales enveloped in banana leaves to the savory fish tacos of Baja California, you will experience the authentic flavor and freshness in every bite. They also feature a cocktail menu of tequila-based drinks to pair the perfect margarita with your meal.
Pittsburgh City Paper’s new weekly talk show
Every Friday at 10 a.m. at lynncullen. pghcitypaper.com PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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FRESH HANDMADE FOOD LOCAL CRAFT BEER DAILY SPECIALS
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Are you tired of tracking down food trucks? Don’t miss our Weekly Food Truck Schedule! Available every Tuesday at pghcitypaper.com
CP PHOTO: MAGGIE WEAVER
.ON THE ROCKS.
SLOE BURN BY MAGGIE WEAVER // MWEAVER@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
S
LOE, A FRUIT WITH a taste some-
where between a plum, a cherry, and a currant, has almost no culinary use. It grows in the wild in Europe on bushes covered in thorns. On its own, it’s brutally sour to the point of being inedible. So it’s hard to believe that something called sloe gin exists, and even less predictable is its popularity. Soaking sloe in alcohol, mellows the astringency of the dime-sized fruit, turning the blackthorn berry into a winter aperitif. English growers, who use sloe hedges as natural fences, found workarounds to turn a horrible fruit into something tolerable. Harvesting sloes after the first frost mellows their natural sourness; preserving gives them a deep, raisin-like taste. Gin, already full of warm botanicals like pine and fir, is a natural fit. Since the spirit’s creation over two centuries ago, sloe gin has taken a turn for the worse. It’s one of the only liquors that practically requires a top-shelf bottle. Most distilleries across the U.S. have stopped making sloe gin properly — a simple process of soaking sloes in gin — and transformed the spirit into a cloying imitation that tastes more like cherry cough syrup than anything else. Plymouth Gin, a widely-distributed English gin distillery, was one of the first to return to sloe gin basics, bringing back its original recipe from 1883. Instead of
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bright red — the color of sloe gin parodies — Plymouth’s spirit is dark purple. A cast of rich, nutty flavors replaced the imitation’s syrupy, artificial taste. The spirit’s elusiveness (the Fine Wine and Good Spirits in Shadyside carries only one variety, and it’s a bad one) can be chalked up to its uselessness. In the U.S., sloe gin is best known for one cocktail, the sloe gin fizz. Sloe gin can be put into classics, such as a Negroni or French 75, but the spirit carries so much flavor that it’s best to complement it with lighter ingredients. The fizz warms up the cold-weather feeling of the dark, plummy spirit with gin, soda, citrus, and simple syrup. Throw an egg white in for froth, or swap out soda for champagne for an extra kick.
SLOE GIN FIZZ 1 oz. gin of choice 1 oz. sloe gin ¾ oz. lemon juice ½ oz simple syrup (Taste the sloe gin before adding any more sugar in. It might be sweet enough). Club soda Amarena cherry or citrus slice Pour everything over ice, top with soda, and garnish with a cherry or citrus slice.
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wn o t n i s t n a r u . a r t e s v e r o st ng e a b h e s h ’ h rt g e r h u t e og eB t h t g e n i r g u c n i r o t b e s it ri n e u p : a n City P one missio with
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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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THE LOCAL 913: TOM PAUL BY LIZ FELIX // LIZ@WYEP.ORG
Not every local musician is destined to be a full-time rock star, but for Tom Paul, that’s not an impediment to creativity. Paul has been making music for many years. “I’ve been writing music probably since my twenties and bought a 4-track reel-to-reel tape recorder with my first paycheck out of college and then bought a Stratocaster with my second paycheck at Lomakin’s on Liberty Avenue,” he says. “I thought I would be a songwriter, but as many of us learn, what we think we want to do is often different from our calling.” Tom STAY UP-TOPaul didn’t DATE WITH THIS stop making WEEK’S LOCAL songs, though. MUSIC NEWS His new album, It’s Only WITH CP MUSIC Tuesday, was WRITER JORDAN recorded at his SNOWDEN home studio AND WYEP in the South EVENING MIX Hills and pieced HOST LIZ FELIX together by a network Listen every of musical Wednesday collaborators at 7 p.m. on across the 91.3FM WYEP country. The title track sharply documents the mundane frustrations of daily life, showing a talent for words that also hearkens back to his formative years as a college student at Pitt, where he wrote short stories and poems. “I found I was able to string words together and get good grades,” he says. “But I really had trouble coming up with a complete story that resolved. I could make observations, but I couldn’t make conclusions. At this point in my life, I’ve seen a lot of things through to the end and I see where they go and how they get there and then the consequences of those endings.” Sometimes experience and maturity make all the difference. •
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PHOTOS: JOEY KENNEDY
2018 Blues and Heritage Festival
.MUSIC.
IN THE NAME OF THE BLUES BY JORDAN SNOWDEN // JSNOWDEN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
W
HEN ASKED to explain the inspiration behind his body of work showing AfricanAmerican experiences during the 20th century, August Wilson cited the four Bs: painter Romare Bearden, writers Amiri Baraka and Jorge Luis Borges, and lastly and most influential, the blues. “I chose the blues as my aesthetic,” Wilson said in a 1996 Playbill article. “I create worlds out of the ideas and the attitudes and the material in the blues.
I think the blues are the best literature that Blacks have. It is an expression of our people and our response to the world. I don’t write about the blues; I’m not influenced by the blues. I am the blues.” Blues not only influenced Wilson’s writing — found in the lyrical prose of the characters and their honest, sometimes humorous ideals and attitudes — it was found throughout his plays, with characters singing and listening to it. So,
BLUES AND HERITAGE FESTIVAL Fri., Sept. 20-Sun., Sept. 22. Multiple times. August Wilson African-American Cultural Center, 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. Free, with select ticketed performances. aacc-awc.org
for the August Wilson African-American Cultural Center (AWAACC), it only made sense to start the Blues and Heritage Festival, taking place Downtown from Sept. 20-22. “There hadn’t been a blues festival in the city of Pittsburgh for many years,” says Cydney Nunn, public relations and marketing manager at AWAACC. “Along with Highmark, [we] wanted to fill that void.” The Blues and Heritage Festival debuted last year and had about 5,000 people over the weekend-long event (not to be confused with the Pittsburgh Blues and Roots Festival at the Syria Shrine Center in Harmar). Blues and Roots
started in 2017 as a replacement for the now-defunct Pittsburgh Blues Festival, which ended in 2015 after a 21-year run. While The Blues and Roots Festival boasts a lineup of blues, rock, and roots music, The Blues and Heritage Festival focuses on blues, with a few jazz, soul, and reggae artists, like headliner and renowned gospel singer CeCe Winans. Kicking off the weekend is the Taste of Blues Party on Friday. Local restaurants — Eddie Merlot’s, NOLA, Wolfie’s Pub, Fogo de Chao, The Capital Grille, and more — are providing BBQ-inspired samples of their dishes, while Billy Price Band, Cash Box Kings, and Lyndsey Smith with Steel Town Horns round out the night. The bulk of activities take place on Saturday, with free workshops, lectures, and concerts from local and national acts, including Alton Merrell, Jimmy Adler, Soulful Femme, Kate’s Soulfood, Cash Box Kings, Soul Rebels Brass Band, Kingfish, and Third World. The evening closes out at 8 p.m. with a ticketed performance from Winans. Sunday features a single ticket performance from electric blues harmonica player Charles Musselwhite. “We wanted to make sure the festival
was accessible to the community, so keeping the majority of the festival free was imperative,” says Nunn. “The two ticketed shows offset the cost of bringing two headlining artists in town.” The festival had a similar model in its first year, but had two ticketed shows
on Sunday instead of one, and many of the performances took place inside the AWAACC. “Last year showed us what will work and what won’t,” says Nunn. “It’s a new festival, so our audience is still growing. We determined having one full day of
free outdoor performances would be more realistic as the city gets familiar with this festival.” Nunn says this year’s Blues and Heritage Festival will have more free outdoor performances, more food, and more cocktails. There is also an educational component taking place before the festival called Blues in Schools where local musician Eugene Morgan visits four schools — Propel, Urban Academy, and Braddock Hills — and educates elementary and middle school students about the origins of blues. Developed by African Americans in the South during the 19th century, blues was first recorded in the 1920s and quickly spread across the U.S. The genre is considered to be one of the most significant musical forms in American history, its influences felt in jazz, rock and roll, R&B, and hip hop. But blues in its original form doesn’t necessarily always get the spotlight it deserves — an imbalance the festival is hoping to correct. “We hope for our audiences to continue to grow and really make blues more prominent in the City of Pittsburgh as well as continue to give a platform for artists from our region to display their talents on a national stage,” says Nunn.
Follow staff writer Jordan Snowden on Twitter @snowden_jordan
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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SEVEN DAYS OF CONCERTS RESONANCE MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL THU., SEPT. 19 Out of town highlight: Called the “one ‘must not miss’ Papadosio event of the year” by Anthony Thogmartin of the Athens-based progressive-rock and electro-synth quintet, Resonance Music & Arts Festival features a mix of experimental electronic musicians, jam bands, and jazz/funk-fusion acts like Tipper, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Umphrey’s McGee, Andy Frasco & The U.N., Big Something, Sunsquabi, and Pittsburgh’s very own Black Moth Super Rainbow. If that’s not enough, there are also creators, muralists, and interactive installations scattered throughout the festival. Previously taking place in Thornville, Ohio, this year’s fest is at Cooper’s Lake in Slippery Rock, Pa., only about an hour’s drive from the city. It’s not often that there’s a camping-optional music festival with such a broad lineup in close proximity to Pittsburgh. Don’t sleep on it. 205 Currie Road, Slippery Rock. Continues through Sun., Sept. 22. $80-470. resonancemusicfest.com PHOTO: FORCEFIELDPR.COM
Black Moth Super Rainbow
FULL LIST ONLINE pghcitypaper.com
THURSDAY SEPT. 19
DJS
JAZZ
BREIS GORDAN, ROJAÜS, MR. YUKK. Scenario. 10 p.m. South Side.
RML JAZZ. South Side Works. 6 p.m. South Side.
PUNK
ROCK
CLOWNS. Gooski’s. 8 p.m. Polish Hill.
JAZZ ERIN BURKETT & VIRGIL WALTERS, ERIC SUSOEFF. Eighty Acres Kitchen & Bar. 5:30 p.m. Monroeville.
GRANT CHARNEY, ANTON EGO, POP EMPIRE, DAISY CHAIN. Mr. Roboto Project. 6:30 p.m. Bloomfield. KRISTIN HERSH ELECTRIC TRIO. Crafthouse Stage & Grill. 7 p.m. Whitehall.
OLIVER LAKE OGJB QUARTET. City of Asylum. 7 p.m. North Side.
DAVID LEONARD. Hard Rock Cafe. 8 p.m. South Side.
TERESA HAWTHORNE & LEGACEE LIVE. Hotel Indigo. 7 p.m. East Liberty.
METAL
COUNTRY/FOLK MOLLY ALPHABET. Pittsburgh Community Broadcast Center. 6:30 p.m. South Side. CALEXICO AND IRON & WINE. Roxian Theatre. 8 p.m. McKees Rocks. FROGGY COUNTRY CRUISE. Gateway Clipper. 8 p.m. South Side.
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE SLAUGHTER BEACH DOG, STRING MACHINE. Spirit. 8 p.m. Lawrenceville. TIM KAYE. Black Forge Coffee House. 6 p.m. Allentown.
TRIBUTE DR. JOHN TRIBUTE. Thunderbird Café & Music Hall. 8 p.m. Lawrenceville.
ACOUSTIC THE SHAMELESS HEX. Hop Farm Brewing. 8 p.m. Lawrenceville.
VENOM PRISON, HOMEWRECKER. The Smiling Moose. 6 p.m. South Side.
CLASSICAL
FESTIVAL
ROCK
WORLD
PITT GETS ALTERNATIVE. Mr. Roboto Project. 6 p.m. Bloomfield.
HOLLY BOWLING. Thunderbird Café & Music Hall. 8 p.m. Lawrenceville.
USTAD SHAHID PARVEZ. Eddy Theater. 6:30 p.m. Shadyside.
THECAUSE. Moondog’s. 9 p.m. Blawnox.
ERNIE HAWKINS. SongSpace at First Unitarian. 7:30 p.m. Shadyside.
OLIVER LAKE OGJB QUARTET. City of Asylum. 7 p.m. North Side.
THRIVAL FESTIVAL. Schenley Plaza. 4:30 p.m. Oakland.
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE
HIGHMARK BLUES AND HERITAGE FESTIVAL (PRE-PARTY). August Wilson African American Cultural Center. 9 p.m. Downtown.
RYAN HOFFMAN AND THE PIONEERS. Andy Warhol Museum. 8 p.m. North Side. LUCY DACUS. Mr. Smalls Theatre. 8 p.m. Millvale.
COUNTRY THE BEAGLE BROTHERS, CHRIS RATTIE & THE NEW REBELS. Thunderbird Café & Music Hall. 8 p.m. Lawrenceville.
CLASSICAL
DESCENDANTS OF CROM (PRE-PARTY). Howlers. 8 p.m. Bloomfield.
R&B CASTLE OG, AFTERNOON TEA, NLS RON. Cafe Verona. 7 p.m. Verona.
HEPCAT DILEMMA (VINYL RELEASE). Mr. Smalls Theatre. 7:30 p.m. Millvale.
COVERS
ELECTRONIC
BUCKWILD. Portogallo Peppers N’AT. 9 p.m. Braddock.
THE ART OF FORTEPIANO. Chatham University Music Program. 7 p.m. Shadyside.
FRIDAY SEPT. 20
THE FOUR NATIONS ENSEMBLE & CHATHAM BAROQUE. Westminster Presbyterian Church. 7:30 p.m. Upper St. Clair.
ROCK
METAL
DESCENDANTS OF CROM. Cattivo. 4 p.m. Lawrenceville.
WARRANT. Jergel’s Rhythm Grille. 8 p.m. Warrendale.
STEEL CITY SKA FEST. Spirit. 5 p.m. Lawrenceville.
WORLD
PITT GETS ALTERNATIVE. Mr. Roboto Project. 6 p.m. Bloomfield.
GOV’T MULE. Roxian Theatre. 8 p.m. McKees Rocks. FORGES, FORTUNE TELLER, GOOD GRIEF. Preserving Hardcore. 7 p.m. New Kensington.
KING FEZ. Hambone’s. 9:30 p.m. Lawrenceville.
BLUES BLUES BREWS & BBQ. The Palace Theatre. 6 p.m. Greensburg.
THE INNOVATING BASS AFTER PARTY. Metropolitan Club. 11 p.m. Downtown.
TINA DANIELS BAND. Moondog’s. 8:30 p.m. Blawnox.
CLUBHOUSE. Spirit. 10 p.m. Lawrenceville.
ELECTRONIC
CRAIG FINN & THE UPTOWN CONTROLLERS. Club Cafe. 10 p.m. South Side. THOR. The Evaline. 9 p.m. Bloomfield.
THE CHOIR OF TRINITY COLLEGE CAMBRIDGE. Calvary Episcopal Church. 8 p.m. Shadyside.
ROCKIN’ ON THE RIVER. Rivers Casino. 6 p.m. North Side.
NICK LOWE’S QUALITY ROCK & ROLL REVUE. Mr. Smalls Theatre. 8 p.m. Millvale.
SATURDAY SEPT. 21 FESTIVAL
HIGHMARK BLUES AND HERITAGE FESTIVAL. August Wilson African American Cultural Center. 1 p.m. Downtown.
BREAKROOM. ALL SUMMR. 1 p.m. Uptown.
BLUES
SUNDAY SEPT. 22 FESTIVAL DESCENDANTS OF CROM. Cattivo. 4 p.m. Lawrenceville. HIGHMARK BLUES AND HERITAGE FESTIVAL. August Wilson African American Cultural Center. 8 p.m. Downtown.
PUNK THE FALL KICK-OFF. Rex Theater. 5 p.m. South Side.
RELAXER, TEXTURE. Hot Mass. 12 a.m. Downtown.
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE
COUNTRY
BASTILLE. Stage AE. 6 p.m. North Side.
RASCAL FLATTS. KeyBank Pavilion. 7:30 p.m. Burgettstown.
ROSE OF THE WEST. Mr. Smalls Theatre. 8 p.m. Millvale.
BINDLEY HARDWARE CO. Music Nights On Jupiter. 7 p.m. Allison Park.
ROCK
TRIBUTE SLIPPERY WHEN WET (BON JOVI). Roxian Theatre. 7 p.m. McKees Rocks. HIGH N DRY (DEF LEPPARD). Hard Rock Cafe. 9:30 p.m. South Side.
JAZZ
POP
RML JAZZ. Settlers Ridge. 6:30 p.m. Crafton.
NECK DEEP. Rex Theater. 6 p.m. South Side.
OSO OSO, THE SIDEKICKS. Mr. Roboto Project. 7 p.m. Bloomfield. LILIAC, CHIP & THE CHARGE UPS. Crafthouse Stage & Grill. 7 p.m. Whitehall. MATTHEW AND GUNNAR NELSON. Jergel’s Rhythm Grille. 8 p.m. Warrendale.
HIP HOP BBGUNS, CORDOBA. Government Center. 7 p.m. North Side. CONTINUES ON PG. 24
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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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Ken Stringfellow
PHOTO: WHITE LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY
SEVEN DAYS OF CONCERTS, CONTINUED FROM PG. 22
WYEP PRESENTS AN EVENING WITH KEN STRINGFELLOW TUE., SEPT. 24 Ken Stringfellow, the founding member of late ’80s pop group The Posies, was intentional when choosing venues for his world tour, during which he’ll revisit his landmark 2001 album Touched, and share songs and stories from his long run in the music industry. All the selected locations have a listener-friendly, non-rock club atmosphere, and, most importantly, a real acoustic piano. Bantha Tea Bar checks all those boxes as the destination for Stringfellow’s Pittsburgh stop, with local singer Emily Rodgers joining him for a few duets. 7 p.m. 5002 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. $25-75. stringfellowpittsburgh.eventbrite.com
FOLK
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE
KYLE DANIEL. Hard Rock Cafe. 8 p.m. South Side.
STEADY SUN. Thunderbird Café & Music Hall. 8 p.m. Lawrenceville.
WEDNESDAY SEPT. 25
ACOUSTIC
PUNK
COUNTRY/FOLK
MATTHEW MAYFIELD. Club Cafe. 7 p.m. South Side.
PROPER., MINT GREEN, BASEBALL DAD. Mr. Roboto Project. 7 p.m. Bloomfield.
MONDAY SEPT. 23
AGNOSTIC FRONT. Crafthouse Stage & Grill. 8 p.m. Whitehall.
EXPERIMENTAL
EXPERIMENTAL
JOHN WIESE, COLIN SELF. 3577 Studios. 7:30 p.m. Polish Hill.
BLANCK MASS, HELM. Club Cafe. 7 p.m. South Side.
FOLK
HIP HOP
JOEL ANSETT. 912 Rickenbach St. 7 p.m. North Side.
PUNK CONFLICT, BEHIND ENEMY LINES. Cattivo. 8 p.m. Lawrenceville.
TUESDAY SEPT. 24 FUNDRAISER AUBERLE’S 15TH ANNUAL VOICES CARRY. Westin Convention Center Pittsburgh Hotel. 6 p.m. Bloomfield.
TYLER, THE CREATOR, GOLDLINK. Stage AE. 6 p.m. North Side. CHRIS BROWN, TORY LANEZ. PPG Paints Arena. 6:30 p.m. Downtown.
ROCK MIKE ADAMS AT HIS HONEST WEIGHT. Mr. Smalls Theatre. 8 p.m. Millvale.
WESTERN CENTURIES. Thunderbird Café & Music Hall. 8 p.m. Lawrenceville. JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE. Jergel’s Rhythm Grille. 8 p.m. Warrendale. BOB FLEMING AND THE CAMBRIA IRON CO. Howlers. 8 p.m. Bloomfield. SHAWN JAMES. Mr. Smalls Theatre. 7 p.m. Millvale. PENNY & SPARROW. Club Cafe. 8 p.m. South Side.
ROCK THE TURBOS. Arsenal Bowling Lanes. 10 p.m. Lawrenceville. THE PARLOR MOB. The Smiling Moose. 7 p.m. South Side. THE BLASTERS. Hard Rock Cafe. 7:30 p.m. South Side.
PUNK THE FAIM, STAND ATLANTIC. Rex Theater. 6 p.m. South Side. MICHALE GRAVES. Crafthouse Stage & Grill. 7:30 p.m. Whitehall.
JAZZ
JAZZ
ROGER HUMPHRIES + RH FACTOR. Katz Plaza. 5 p.m. Downtown.
JESSICA LEE, MARK STRICKLAND, LYNN SPEAKMAN. Rivers Club. 5:30 p.m. Downtown.
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
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BY HANNAH LYNN // HLYNN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
T
HERE IS A SCENE in the 2015 stock market crash movie The Big Short in which a hedge fund manager is explaining to a stripper mid-dance why her many home loans are faulty and will soon start to cost a lot more money. The scene is designed to make the stripper look financially illiterate and for the hedge fund manager to look like one of the good guys. It’s the exact opposite energy of Hustlers, written and directed by Lorene Scafaria, a glitzy, vengeful, and warm-hearted movie about strippers who take advantage of the deep pockets and black hearts of the Wall Street goons who decimated the American economy. In 2007, Destiny (Constance Wu) is the new girl at a strip club frequented by stock brokers who spend a lot and spend often. While she’s not new to stripping, Destiny is unaccustomed to the highrolling clientele and feels out of place until she gets taken under the wing of Ramona (Jennifer Lopez), an older, more experienced dancer. Ramona teaches her all her favorite moves; the two team up to make more money and end up forging a deep friendship. Then the market crashes in 2008, the Wall Street customers don’t want to spend money at strip clubs anymore, and everything starts to crumble. But before that, the movie is a glittering euphoria. The club is filled with extremely beautiful and successful
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Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez
.FILM.
strippers (played by an extremely fun cast of Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Cardi B, Lizzo, and Trace Lysette). When the women ready themselves for work, it has the energy of cheerleaders getting ready before a big game, only instead of rooting for football players to score, they’re rooting for each other to make a lot of money.
HUSTLERS Directed by Lorene Scafaria. Now playing everywhere.
It’s steeped in mid-aughts consumerism, filled with Juicy Couture track suits and season one of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, set to a soundtrack that includes Britney Spears’ “Gimme More,” Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls,” and a perfect use of Lorde’s “Royals.” (Plus, an incredible scene of Lopez stripping her heart out to “Criminal” by Fiona Apple.) For a while, the movie is in danger of spending too much time indulging in montages of stripping and shopping and champagne-popping, with no friction to break it up, but it’s all so fun that you don’t really notice. When it all comes crashing down, Destiny becomes a stay-at-home mom and Ramona gets a job at Old Navy. Fed up with retail, Ramona channels more energy into the club and devises
a plan to hunt for rich, married men who she can get drunk enough to spend an unreasonable amount of money. Ramona pulls Destiny back in, along with other strippers from the club (Reinhart and Palmer), and they enter a darker, riskier new era of success, aided by a home-brewed drug concoction they slip their prey. The women also form a deep bond; they start telling the men they lure that they’re all sisters, but they end up meaning it for real. The movie mostly takes places between 2007 and 2014, using Destiny’s interviews with journalist Elizabeth (Julia Stiles) to tell her story. Hustlers is based on real events laid out in a 2015 New York Magazine article, “The Hustlers at Scores” by Jessica Pressler. It’s only a partially effective device in the movie, as Stiles isn’t given enough lines or personality to make her character useful. Otherwise, the acting is strong, especially from Lopez, who easily gives the best performance of her career. The beauty of Hustlers is that it’s accomplished what so many other films have not, by making women into messy, complicated anti-heroes — something men are afforded constantly — without compromising good storytelling. It’s about beautiful women doing bad things to bad men, but it’s not filled with hollow themes of hashtag empowerment.
•
.LITERATURE.
THE FRIEND BY REGE BEHE CPCONTRIBUTORS@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
S
IGRID NUNEZ’S National Book
Award-winning novel, The Friend, is ostensibly about the relationship between a woman and her dog. But the story also includes quotes about writers and writing by John Updike, Joan Didion, and others that are acerbic and caustic. Nunez thinks of some of the comments — such as Didion’s “writers are always selling someone out” — as exaggerations “because that’s what writers do, exaggerate.” “And I do think — and I’m not really sure what the reason is for this — but we all know there’s this large element of selfdoubt and self-loathing in writers,” says Nunez. “Why are there so many comments of this kind, that writers have made about themselves and other writers? It comes from that selfdoubt and self-loathing.” Nunez appears Sept. 23 at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland as a guest of the opening night of Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures’ Ten Evenings 2019-20 season.
SIGRID NUNEZ 7:30 p.m. Mon., Sept. 23. Carnegie Musical Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $15-35. pittsburghlectures.org
Nunez was an accomplished but overlooked writer, winner of numerous honors including four Pushcart Awards, when she published the memoir Sempre Susan in 2011. Chronicling the years when Nunez worked as an assistant to the late Susan Sontag — whose talents included film, writing, and numerous other disciplines — the memoir earned attention for a writer whose highly praised work hadn’t quite translated to popular success. The Friend (Riverhead) brought the New York resident an entirely new, and well-deserved, readership, and seems at least partially autobiographical. Like Nunez, the narrator is friends with
PHOTO: MARION ETTLINGER
Sigrid Nunez
a famed, larger-thanlife writer. ”I think people might tend to read this as autofiction,” Nunez says. “I can’t really blame them because of the way the book is written and also because of all these similarities between that narrator and myself. I teach, I write, we’re close in age, she lives in New York City, I live in New York City. So it’s a natural thing. It doesn’t trouble me, but when people ask me, I do point out that it is fiction.” The book’s plot is deceptively simple: When the narrator’s mentor dies, she grudgingly agrees to take home his Great Dane. The story becomes a meditation on writing, love, and overcoming grief as the unnamed woman becomes increasingly attached to her new roommate, despite its size (180 pounds), which makes living in her small apartment a challenge for both. Nunez is especially skillful at making the dog more than a one-dimensional partner, a skill she humbly dismisses as simple observation. “I think it might have even been easier than other things that I’ve written,” Nunez says of her portrayal of the Great Dane. “I love all animals and I certainly love dogs. I’ve observed dogs my whole life, observed animals my whole life, with great love. I just wrote what I observed. It came quite naturally to me to write about an animal.”
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Follow featured contributor Rege Behe on Twitter @RegeBehe_exPTR
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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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PHOTO: CHRIS UHREN
Dee Briggs and Saige Baxter
.ART.
COMPANION PIECE(S) BY HANNAH LYNN // HLYNN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
O
N SAT., SEPT. 20, the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (PCA) will celebrate the opening of sculpture exhibits by the Center’s Artist of the Year, Dee Briggs, and Emerging Artist of the Year, Saige Baxter. As the titles suggest, the yearly awards are given to one established and one up-and-coming local artist. While Briggs has exhibited all around the city and beyond, this is the first solo show for Baxter. Whether it was intentional or not, the artists’ styles complement each other well; both artists frequently work with steel, making medium-to-large scale
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abstract works, including ones from Baxter made specifically for the exhibit (she documents her welding process on Instagram) and smaller works from Briggs, since many of her pieces are too big to fit in to the PCA building. “Normally, I work with outdoor sculpture, so this indoor exhibit is a new challenge for me,” says Baxter. “Each piece is made to have interactive elements for people to sit, lay, crawl, and walk throughout the sculptures.” Baxter started off as a painter, but when a professor in college introduced her to welding, she became
enthralled with “the grit, labor and love required to work with steel.” Like Briggs, she was influenced by growing up in a city where steel has such a heavy presence. For Briggs, who has a background in architecture, making large-scale sculptures is a challenge in designing, drawing, developing, and fabricating works that honor the material from which they’re made. She’s had large-scale steel pieces at the Mattress Factory, Three Rivers Arts Festival, and Public Parks in New York, but she’s also known for her Wilkinsburgbased House of Gold project, which involved painting
Celebrate the artists who inspire us. Vanessa German ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Saige Baxter
the outside of a house gold and then demolishing it carefully to salvage as much of the materials as possible. She also works with other metals, concrete, and stones like basalt, which she drove out to the Pacific Northwest to retrieve.
ARTIST OF THE YEAR/ EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR OPENING RECEPTION 6 p.m. Sat., Sept. 20. Exhibit continues through Sun., Nov. 3. Pittsburgh Filmmakers/ Center for the Arts, 6300 Fifth Ave., Shadyside. Free. center.pfpca.org
While she can’t buy steel materials locally (the stuff made here is specialized and not available commercially), Briggs does buy domestic steel to avoid the bigger carbon footprint that would come from importing it. “It’s very complex and layered. Buying new materials is not very environmentally conscious,” she says. “It’s a delicate balancing act of being as efficient as I can with the materials, being careful about the processes that I use.” Her pieces are usually not coated or
painted, and their appearance changes over time, as steel does when exposed to the elements. “I admire Dee’s attention to her audiences while carefully acknowledging the environment her sculptures are placed in,” says Baxter. “You need to listen to the people and add purpose to the space.” After teaching at an artist residency in Portugal that focused on reusing and recycling materials, Baxter says she “learned just as much as my students” and brought ideas back to workshops she teaches in Pittsburgh. While the two artists will have their own galleries of work, the show is, by design, billed equally for both of them. “I sort of insisted that the PCA market the exhibition as she and I together,” says Briggs. “We’ve got a great friendship and relationship, so I’m excited to be showing with her.” The exhibit will run through Sun., Nov. 3. Tina Dillman, director of exhibitions and programming at PCA, says that there is a retrospective planned for next year featuring past winners of the Artist of the Year award, including Thaddeus Mosely, Diane Samuels, and Jon Rubin, with more to be added.
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PHOTO: CHARLES PAUL AZZOPARDI
MOMIX
.DANCE.
STEPPING OUT BY AMANDA WALTZ // AWALTZ@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
It’s a busy week for dance in Pittsburgh, with three exciting new shows being staged throughout the city. Learn where to find them and what to expect below. Project Dance Pittsburgh 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat., Sept. 21. Market Square, Downtown. Free. projectdance.com ON SAT., SEPT. 21, Market Square
in Downtown will host a free performance by Project Dance, a nonprofit organization working to make dance more accessible through outdoor and open-air shows in cities around the world. The performance will feature
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local and international dancers representing a variety of styles, including ballet, jazz, modern, hip hop, and tap. On its Facebook page, Project Dance says the goal of these concerts is to bring “hope and healing to humanity and offer a positive message to those who attend.” The Market Square show is the centerpiece of a three-day event (Sept. 20-22) bringing dancers together to perform and develop themselves
professionally through meetings, expos, and networking opportunities.
VIVA MOMIX at the Byham Theater 8 p.m. Sat., Sept. 21. 101 Sixth St., Downtown. $10-65. trustarts.org THE PITTSBURGH Dance Council of the
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust celebrates its
50th anniversary with a fall season of contemporary dance performers from around the world. Included in the lineup is VIVA MOMIX, playing Sat., Sept. 21 at the Byham Theater. MOMIX, a Connecticut-based company of self-described dancer-illusionists led by founder and artistic director Moses Pendleton, will present several new works combining choreography with light, shadow, and props. It will also
PHOTO: SAMI SAUNDERS STUDIO
Time: Unbound
include a collection of the company’s established pieces. A press release describes MOMIX as “surreal, wondrous and massively creative,” all qualities evident in its past Pittsburgh performances. In 2011, the company’s production of BOTANICA took the stage at the Byham Theater with spectacular imagery, such as a “large triceratops skeleton that one of the dancers rides, and then is eaten by,” according to a Pittsburgh City Paper article about the show. VIVA MOMIX fits in with the goals set out by Randal Miller, director of dance programming and special projects for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. In a press release, Miller said for the milestone anniversary he wanted to create a dance season that “honors tradition while bringing the future into focus.” Over the past 38 years, MOMIX has taken innovative, forward-thinking approaches to contemporary dance, including performing in IMAGINE, one of the first 3D IMAX films to be released worldwide. The company has also worked in film and television, recently appearing on PBS’ Dance in America series.
Time: Unbound at Charity Randall Theatre Sat., Sept 21 and Sun., Sept. 22. Showtimes vary. 4301 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $10-18. exhalations.org EXHALATIONS DANCE Theatre attempts
to explore the concept of time with two performances at the University of Pittsburgh’s Charity Randall Theatre.
On Sat., Sept 21 and Sun., Sept. 22, the Pittsburgh-based contemporary dance company will present Time: Unbound, a showcase of seven new choreographic works exploring the “varying human experiences and perceptions of time,” all set to modern music by alt-pop duo Twenty One Pilots, Norwegian electronic act Röyksopp, and more. Katherine Mann, founder and executive director of Exhalations Dance Theatre, believes the performance strives to portray a difficult to define, abstract idea through creative movement. “[Time] really isn’t tangible despite our wanting to capture it in minutes or even years,” says Mann. “It’s something that is always moving but can simultaneously be a single moment. Dance is just so similar to time in that way. It is movement as a series of moments. Dance can capture the emotion behind this paradox in a way words just cannot.” She goes on to explain that some of the pieces include “constant movement to represent how time continually moves forward,” while others “depict how we as humans relate to each other through our own timeline.” A total of 16 dancers will bring to life contributions by Exhalations directors and resident choreographers, as well as a new work by guest choreographer Kelsey Bartman from fellow Pittsburgh company, Texture Contemporary Ballet. Mann adds that this is the first time the company will perform at the Charity Randall Theatre. “This is a new venue for us, but we’re looking forward to working in the new space.”
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Follow senior writer Amanda Waltz on Twitter @AWaltzCP PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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.ART . .
BACKSTAGE BY LISSA BRENNAN CPCONTRIBUTORS@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
NAME: Dani Kramer, Millvale WORK: Pin-Up Posters Courier Collective, owner/operator/courier
CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM
Dani Kramer
WHAT DO YOU DO? Distribute posters and handbills for nonprofit organizations in Pittsburgh and some surrounding suburbs. We occasionally use the T or bus but primarily bicycle. DOES EVERYONE DO THE SAME THING? We all pitch in to the best of our abilities, play to each other’s skills. We all do the physical work. DO YOU HAVE ANY RESTRICTIONS AS FAR AS CONTENT? We do. We won’t do anything racist, homophobic, [or] transphobic. We avoid any imagery with fur. If there’s ever anything in a poster that one of us disagrees with, we’ll discuss it. Every individual has free will to say no to things. WHAT ARE THE OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES? Contacting clients, taking job requests, planning, invoicing, banking, office stuff. One time-consuming thing is counting posters and handbills — it’s
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one of my favorite things to do. I turn on the radio and count for hours. DO YOU ALWAYS GET TO DO THAT? I volunteer every week. People are welcome to join me, but they know that it’s my favorite thing. HOW MUCH TIME IS SPENT IN THE OFFICE AS OPPOSED TO ON THE ROAD? We’re only in the office together for one hour each week, then release ourselves out into the wild. It’s 90 percent on bikes. DO YOU LOVE THAT? YES. It’s great. It’s tough in the winter, but it’s worthwhile. It’s keeping me healthy, I get to be outdoors, and get to spend so much time having really brief, pleasant interactions with tons of people all over town. And I don’t feel stuck. I’m not a social person, but I get to satisfy this need for human contact. I make a lot of good acquaintances. HOW DO YOU CARRY EVERYTHING? We all have waterproof panniers on
our bikes. I carry most of my stuff in a bookbag; probably not great for my spine. We try to limit each week to seven or eight full-size jobs; there’s only so much space on a bulletin board. We’re also taking down old posters and carrying them until we get to a place to recycle them. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PART? Pin-Up is a collective. It’s why I’ve stuck with this job longer than any other. We all have equal voices in the company and are working for each other/ourselves rather than for a boss’ profits. HOW HAS RIDING A BIKE IN PITTSBURGH CHANGED IN THE DECADE YOU’VE DONE THIS? It’s hard to tell because I know my attitude has changed. The more aware I am of danger, the more surly I’ve gotten — it was “ignorance is bliss” when I started. There are so many more people biking — safety in numbers, you’re definitely more visible. But I have less patience now when
people are jerks on the road. WHY ARE PEOPLE IN CARS SO MAD AT PEOPLE NOT IN CARS? We’re having more fun. EVER GET HURT? I’ve been hit a couple times. I think we’ve all had negative interactions with drivers and some close calls, but that’s part of the job. You try to operate as safely as possible, but when I’ve trained new people here, I’ve told them that when we’re in businesses hanging up posters, we’re representing Pin-Up. But when we’re on the road, we’re looking out for ourselves. DO YOU STILL BIKE FOR FUN? Yeah. I go camping a lot; on the Gap whenever I can. I love it. I love riding my bike. I think that so often, especially when the weather is pleasant, and I’m like, “Ah! I could be in an office right now, but I’m not!” It’s the best.
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PHOTO: TRUECOSTMOVIE.COM
The True Cost
.FILM.
FASHION FINDS BY JORDAN SNOWDEN // JSNOWDEN@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
E
VERY WEEK, Lawrenceville theater
Row House Cinema screens a selection of movies around a specific theme. For the week of Sept. 2026, Row House has teamed up with nonprofit Style 412 to present films that are about the fashion world or have otherwise influenced it.
Clueless Matinee Brunch 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Sun., Sept. 22. Clueless premiered more than 20 years ago, but its impact on fashion continues today. The film’s costume designer, Mona May, did what no one else was doing in the ’90s; she mixed high-end fashion items with mall clothes and thrift store finds. At the time, women in media were either depicted in all designer clothes or head-to-toe grunge. By combining those elements, May created iconic looks that hold up now, most notably Cher’s yellow all-plaid blazer and mini skirt.
wood’s life and legacy is chronicled in this documentary. She’s cited as the driving force behind bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into mainstream culture.
Zoolander On the surface, Zoolander, the 2001 film about a high-end male model brainwashed into killing the Prime Minister of Malaysia, is little more than a showcase for a cast of comedic actors (it’s directed by and stars Ben Stiller, along with Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell). The actioncomedy, however, oddly predicted, or perhaps spurred, significant events and trends in the fashion world. “Homeless” chic, athleisure, and boiler (industrial) jumpsuits all appear in Zoolander but have only become fashionable in mainstream culture over the last 10 years or so. The most important prediction was the rise of fast fashion. Which directly relates to the next film …
The True Cost
Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist British fashion designer Vivienne West-
Screening and Fashion 412 Panel. 7 p.m. Fri., Sept. 20. (Opening Night) This eye-opening documentary, directed
STYLE 412 PRESENTS FASHION FILM FEST Fri., Sept. 20-Thu., Sept. 26 Row House Cinema, 4115 Butler St., Lawrenceville. rowhousecinema.com
by Andrew Morgan, sheds light on the production of cheap clothing and the price we truly pay — economically, environmentally, and morally — for the clothes we wear. Filmed in countries where clothes are made all over the world, The True Cost features interviews with fashion power-players such as Stella McCartney, Livia Firth, and Vandana Shiva, and takes viewers from the runway to the communities where garments are made by workers living in poverty. Ahead of the screening, which takes place on the opening night of the film festival, there will be a panel discussion from leaders in the local fashion scene about shopping sustainably in Pittsburgh, moderated by Pittsburgh City Paper contributor Tereneh Idia.
Halston Thu., Sept. 26. 7 p.m. (Closing Night) Follow the rise and fall of a fashion icon in this documentary about Roy Halston Frowick, better known as Halston, who reached international stardom in the ’70s with his clean, minimalist designs (his simple, streamlined dresses were a hit on the disco dance floor). However, with the rise of the Wall Street era, Halston was forced to take a gamble when his clothing empire was threatened.
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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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CP PHOTOS: JARED WICKEERHAM
The American Institute of Architects exhibit on display inside Nova Place
PYRAMID
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HAT CAN architecture do for you? That question underlies the new exhibit by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) currently on display in the mall interior portion of Nova Place, where presentation boards illustrate and describe the many projects that member firms have submitted for this year’s Design Pittsburgh Awards. Commercial high-rises, residential blocks, academic buildings, office interiors, city plans, concert halls, and individual houses all vie for attention. Winners will be recognized in a ceremony at the New Hazlett Theater and a reception in Nova Place on Thu., Oct. 3. Tickets are still available, though the pricey $125 cost for non-AIA members, hints at how this enterprise, even with its People’s Choice award, does not really care for outsiders. (Pro-tip: Go visit the
exhibited boards in Nova Place for free.) Criteria for awards, roughly stated, include concept; detailing and execution; solution of difficult program constraints; design originality; and sustainability. Categories are separated by project size and whether the design is built or unbuilt. Surprisingly, there are no separate categories for historic preservation, interior architecture, or urban planning. It’s even more surprising that service and community building/rebuilding are not stated more explicitly as criteria. In this regard, the August Wilson House by Pfaffmann + Associates stands out. The project is admirable as historic preservation, turning a threatened and under-utilized property into a theatrical venue, arts center, and community hub. But, further, it is a profound cultural resurgence at a complex cross-
roads of social justice and creative arts. This project should win the AIA’s top award, the Silver Medal. Indeed, part of the fun is trying to pick the best projects in advance. Loysen + Kreuthmeier Architects’ Oakland Affordable Living, while austere, is thoughtful and rigorous. Indovina Associates’ 2554 Smallman Street condo project, at the other end of the design spectrum, is a little bit overzealous, but it displays some real architectural thinking in space and materials while reflecting better impulses from broader design culture. Both Eric Fisher and Andrew Moss have submitted admirable contemporary single-family house designs — a building type where the architect’s artistic capacities can be on especially conspicuous display.
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PWWG Architects’ Roxian Theatre and Margittai Architects’ Kingfly Spirits both revive historic structures of contrasting varieties, using significant alterations that manage to accommodate new uses and new code requirements while preserving and enhancing period charm. The limited format of the presentation boards doesn’t allow the full transformational nature of these (or really any) projects to come through fully, but they are still great achievements.
IT’S NICE THAT WE HAVE BITS OF GOOD DESIGN, BUT IN TODAY’S PITTSBURGH, BAD DESIGN IS MORE WIDESPREAD. Honestly, though, it would be at least as instructive to pick the worst projects, whether in the awards or just in the city itself. It’s nice that we have bits of good design, but in today’s Pittsburgh, bad design is more widespread. And if we don’t speak up, we are on track to get more. Strada Architecture is an underwriter of the awards, but its proposal for the multi-use grocery store apart-
ment complex on the Shakespeare Giant Eagle is exactly the kind of ill-conceived, watered-down architecture that has been the subject of national criticism in publications including Bloomberg News and Curbed. com. (The complexities of parking, traffic, landscape, and affordability are crucial components in a longer discussion.) Why are the designers proposing a kind of building that has been discredited nationally when better design approaches are available? Why does the profession praise its achievers, but not self-police its laggards, hacks, and profiteers? No one goes to a restaurant run by nice people if it has bad food. Why should architecture be any different? Every architect has an education that includes studio reviews and critiques in which outside experts study their design and submit criticisms, often harshly, during the process to improve the work. For some reason, this falls by the wayside in much professional practice. City Planning and the Contextual Design Advisory Panel do some of this work, but they are not sufficiently emphatic, visible, or binding. The AIA should resuscitate and promote such outside critiques of architecture, not just to praise the achievers, but to bring the bad actors back in line. This is something that architecture needs to do for itself before it can accomplish anything for the rest of us.
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Follow contributing writer Charles Rosenblum on Twitter @CharlzR PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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CP PHOTOS: JARED WICKERHAM
Harrison Wargo and Byron Nash in the studio
.MUSIC.
TUG OF WAR
BY ALEX GORDON // ALEXGORDON@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
A
S IF HE HADN’T given the world enough already, we can thank Paul McCartney for bringing together Byron Nash and Harrison Wargo. The two Pittsburgh musicians met after being paired in the same group at Pittsburgh Plays McCartney, the concert series founded by Josh Bakaitus (Live Nation) and Punchline drummer Cory
Muro. The rest of the band went out for a break, leaving Wargo and Nash to start improvising together on keys and guitar, respectively, and the chemistry was immediate. “Everybody was like, ‘What is that?’ And we didn’t know. We just made it up,” says Nash. “But it sounded like we knew what we were doing.”
“TUG OF WAR” by Byron Nash, produced by Harrison Wargo, is out on Spotify on Tue., Oct. 1. byronnash.com
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That session led to the creation of Nash’s new project, with Wargo as producer, based on a loose strategy of improvisation, experimentation, and looping. While both have been in the music scene for years — Nash in a handful of bands like Plan B and solo performing, Wargo in his project Badboxes and as a producer — they hadn’t met before the Pittsburgh Plays show. It’s an unlikely partnership and a deeply rational one: Both musicians are actively collaborative and stress the value of not putting too much pressure or structure on the creative process.
They’re up for trying anything. The result is a wildly fun and inventive collection of tracks that are hard to categorize but extremely easy to listen to. The first track to be released, “Tug of War” (Oct. 1), has Nash experimenting with auto-tune vocals over a catchy synth beat, but every song sounds different, with both members trying out new approaches that might not have fit with past projects. Pittsburgh City Paper joined Nash and Wargo in the studio to hear some new tracks and discuss their partnership.
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CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE ROLE OF MIXING FIDELITY IN THIS PROJECT, MIXING IPHONE RECORDINGS WITH POLISHED STUDIO SOUNDS? Nash: We’re all about it. We’re totally geeking out … It’s basically about what feels best. I don’t care how we achieve it, but as long as it sounds dope, I’m good. For the first song, we used autotune. There’s a purist thing about it where people are like, “Oh, you’re using autotune because you can’t sing.” WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE SEE AUTOTUNE AS DIFFERENT THAN OTHER TOOLS OF MODULATION IN MUSIC? Nash: There was a transition in the industry where you could get successful without being talented. That’s why. Wargo: T-Pain, I like T-Pain, but for some reason — it’s like a chorus effect or like a gated reverb, people get these ideas that they’re supposed to be cheesy. They don’t have to be anything. I MEAN, EVEN LIKE THE FIRST BANDS TO DISTORT THEIR GUITARS, PEOPLE PERCEIVED IT AS “WRONG.” Nash: That’s why I’m not freaked out about it. We push it further and further. With me being older and [Wargo] being younger and more tech-savvy, that’s how he grew up producing. I don’t have a limit on, I have pedals all over the place, all I’m doing is experimenting and twisting knobs and I feel like it’s the same thing … I just care about where we’re going with it. Wargo: Plus autotune’s cool. IF HARRISON SENDS YOU SOMETHING
AT 3 A.M., AND YOU COME OVER THE NEXT DAY, WHEN YOU WALK IN, HOW MUCH TALKING IS THERE? Wargo: I hate to talk. I hate talking about music. Nash: We usually talk when we’re done. It’s like our break.
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YOU MENTIONED HAVING CORY MURO PLAY ON ONE SONG. WHO ELSE IS CONTRIBUTING? Nash: Cory was the last drummer we had over, but we had my friend Bill Gendron too. Bill and I were in my first band Sporadic together, that’s how I started playing in bands. The whole thing with the duos, that’s where that started … We don’t have to talk. If I say, “Pull it back to like a J Dilla beat,” he knows exactly what that means. Wargo: I just let them do their thing. WHERE ARE YOU GUYS IN TERMS OF THE ALBUM? Nash: We’re not thinking of it as an album, more of a song by song thing. I said EP just because it made more sense for what an overall goal was, but really, I just want to make some songs because they might not even sound like each other. Wargo: They don’t. Nash: I think the first leg of us getting together, we had to flesh some things out, and now I feel like we’re just gonna be cranking them out super fast because we know how to work together. Wargo: I hope you’re right. Nash: I think it’s gonna flow better because we’re not trying to figure out what we’re going to do, we’re just going to make music.
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Follow managing editor Alex Gordon on Twitter @shmalexgordon PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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VIDEO: EXTRA t
Watch Paabout lk Lohrer tan King at The Lio paper pghcitym .co
SOUTH SIDE _________ MONROEVILLE MALL
CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM
Pat Lohrer holds up a photo of his great grandfather John Barnhart in The Benedum Center’s lobby.
.STAGE.
THE CIRCLE OF LIFE BY LISA CUNNINGHAM // LCUNNING@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
A
S THE AUDIENCE cheers during
The Lion King’s famous opening scene, where a breathtaking parade of actors in animal costumes march onto the stage of The Benedum Center for the Performing Arts to the music of Elton John’s “Circle of Life,” stagehand Pat Lohrer listens behind the scenes at stage right. He’s making sure the applause continues by ensuring that the props are correctly placed and in working order, just like he’s done for over 15 years. Lohrer, a 59-year-old stagehand from Peters Township, was born into the business; his family has worked in theater for five generations. His great grandfather John Epley Barnhart was one of the original founders of IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, whose logo Lohrer proudly wears on the sleeve of his official The Lion King shirt. The popular musical, playing at The Benedum Center through Sept. 29, is an impressive showcase of song, choreography, and puppetry, with a 14-person touring cast and an even larger ensemble of singers, dancers, understudies, and orchestra members. The costumes and props in The Lion King are as beautiful
as the choreography, as is the stage itself; the sets dance in sync with the actors as scenes change. Lohrer has been on the road with the production for 16 years, and the North American tour’s nearly four-week run in Pittsburgh gives Lohrer a chance to return home to the place where he got his start in the business over 40 years ago, back when The Benedum Center was known as The Stanley Theater. He says the newer theaters he visits in other cities just don’t have the same character as the one on Seventh Street in Downtown Pittsburgh.
THE LION KING Continues through Sept. 29. Benedum Center, 237 Seventh St., Downtown. $42-199. trustarts.org
More than a dozen of Lohrer’s family members came to see the show during its opening week, and he’s got family with him backstage for this stop in Pittsburgh, too. His brothers Mick and Ed are both carpenters who tour with Wicked, but when they were called in to help with this production, the Lohrer brothers were given a family reunion of sorts.
All three brothers are members of IATSE Local No. 3, where their father Edwin Lohrer, Jr. was a 43-year-member stagehand until he died in 1993, according to an IATSE newsletter. Two of his nephews are now in the business too. It’s only fitting that the play Lohrer has traveled with all these years is one with a story so strongly focused on family, with a young lion cub trying to live up to and honor his father’s legacy. Lohrer has toured the country and even gotten the opportunity to travel with a show overseas during his career. But while he’s visited some amazing places, he says the hardest part of his job is being away from home, often for four to six months at a time. While his wife joins him in some cities, coming home and getting the chance to not only see his family, but work beside them, makes it all worth it. The Lohrer brothers can get a little competitive about the family business, joking about whose show is the best. Even though he’s worked on many high profile shows, including musicals like Footloose, Mamma Mia, and Aida, Lohrer says The Lion King really is his favorite. “When you leave,” he says, “the audience reaction is incredible.”
Follow editor-in-chief Lisa Cunningham on Twitter @trashyleesuh
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EARLY WARNINGS SPONSORED UPCOMING EVENTS FROM CITY PAPER’S FINE ADVERTISERS
WED., OCT. 2ND ELIZABETH MOEN 6 P.M. SMILING MOOSE SOUTHSIDE. All-ages event. $10-$12. 412-431-4668 or ticketfly.com.
WED., OCT. 2ND THE FASHION OF THE FLESH 7 P.M. HIP AT THE FLASHLIGHT FACTORY NORTHSIDE. 21+ event. $15-$50 fofpgh.com
SUN., OCT. 6 FOUR CHORD MUSIC FESTIVAL
WED., OCT. 2ND SENSES FAIL 6:30 P.M. THE REX THEATRE SOUTHSIDE. All-ages event. $20. 412-381-1681 or greyareaprod.com.
WED., OCT. 2ND DAN BAIRD AND HOMEMADE SIN 7:30 P.M. HARD ROCK CAFÉ STATION SQUARE. Under 21 with guardian. 412-481-ROCK or ticketfly.com.
THU., OCT. 3RD CHURCH OF CASH 6:30 P.M. CRAFTHOUSE SOUTHHILLS. Under 21 with guardian. $15-$27.50. 412-653-2695 or ticketfly.com.
THU., OCT. 3RD TYLER RICH 6 P.M. JERGELS RHYTHM GRILLE WEXFORD. Under 21 with guardian. $15-$27. 724-799-8333 or ticketfly.com.
FRI., OCT. 4TH JIM JEFFERIES 7 P.M. CARNEGIE MUSIC HALL OF HOMESTEAD. All-ages event. $39.50$49.50. 412-462-3444 or ticketfly.com.
FRI., OCT. 4TH THE CHARLIE DANIELS BAND 6 P.M. JERGELS RHYTHM GRILLE WEXFORD. Under 21 with guardian. $69.75-$99. 724-799-8333 or ticketfly.com.
HIGHMARK STADIUM STATION SQUARE.
SAT., OCT. 5TH FALL FEST
MON., OCT. 7TH KULICK
11 A.M. SOERGEL’S ORCHARDS WEXFORD. All-ages event. Free. 724-935-1743 or soergels.com
6 P.M. SMILING MOOSE SOUTHSIDE. All-ages event. $10-$12. 412-431-4668 or ticketfly.com.
SAT., OCT. 5TH THE MELVINS & REDD KROSS
MON., OCT. 7TH THE BLACK KEYS: LET’S ROCK TOUR
7 P.M. THE REX THEATRE SOUTHSIDE. All-ages event. $28. 412-381-1681 or greyareaprod.com.
SAT., OCT. 5TH JUSTIN FABUS 8:30 P.M. HARD ROCK CAFÉ STATION SQUARE. Under 21 with guardian. $10. 412-481-ROCK or ticketfly.com.
SUN., OCT. 6TH FOUR CHORD MUSIC FESTIVAL 6 FEATURING THE OFFSPRING 12 P.M. HIGHMARK STADIUM STATION SQUARE. All-ages event. $59.99-$139.99. (412) 224-4900 or ticketmaster.
SUN., OCT. 6TH THE PGH FLEA 11 A.M. SPIRIT HALL LAWRENCEVILLE. All-ages event. Free 412-586-4441
FRI., OCT. 4TH RED ELVISES
SUN., OCT. 6TH MINI LADD PRESENTS: DEMONTIZED TOUR FEAT. BIGJIGGLYPANDA
7:30 P.M. HARD ROCK CAFÉ STATION SQUARE. Under 21 with guardian. $13. 412-481-ROCK or ticketfly.com.
8 P.M. HARD ROCK CAFÉ STATION SQUARE. Under 21 with guardian. $25. 412-481-ROCK or ticketfly.com.
7 P.M. PPG PAINTS ARENA UPTOWN. All-ages event. $28-$148.50. 800-877-7575 or ticketmaster.com.
MON., OCT. 7TH WARBRINGER / ENFORCER 8 p.m. CATTIVO Lawrenceville. Ages 21+ $15. 412-687-2157 or eventbrite.
TUES., OCT. 8TH NIGHT RIOTS 6 P.M. SMILING MOOSE SOUTHSIDE. All-ages event. $15-$45. 412-431-4668 or ticketfly.com.
TUES., OCT. 8TH BOULET BROTHERS: DRAGULA TOUR 7 P.M. CARNEGIE MUSIC HALL OF HOMESTEAD. All-ages event. $22-$70. 412-462-3444 or ticketfly.com.
TUES., OCT. 8TH STRUNG OUT WITH THE CASUALTIES 6:30 P.M. CRAFTHOUSE SOUTHHILS. Under 21 with guardian. $18.50-$31. 412-653-2695 or ticketfly.com.
FOR UPCOMING ALLEGHENY COUNTY PARKS EVENTS, LOG ONTO WWW.ALLEGHENYPARKS.COM PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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SEVEN DAYS OF ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
PHOTO: KELLY PERKOVICH
^ Thu., Sept. 19: Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre at RADical Days
THURSDAY SEPT. 19 FREE Twenty-five years ago, Allegheny County created The Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD) to help support and finance the region’s libraries, parks, and other municipal points of pride. To celebrate the anniversary, the organization is expanding its annual RADical Days holiday to a full 25 days of free admission to cultural gems around the city. (Note:
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there are different highlighted events each day, not free admission for all 25 days.) Additionally, libraries throughout the county will offer special programming, and McKeesport will waive all fees to use its pavilions and shelters. Kicking off free-admission season of RADical Days this year are the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh. Continues through Sun., Oct. 13. Various locations. Free. radworkshere.org
Entrepreneurship Day at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Running concurrently with Thrival’s Innovation Summit, the day-long event includes free programming for established and aspiring entrepreneurs. Split into morning and afternoon sessions, the lineup includes panels and intimate chats, all hosted by corporate and start-up leaders. 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1-4 p.m. 4400 Forbes Ave. Oakland. Free. Registration required. thrivalfestival.com
BoxHeart Gallery earlier this month. Venezuelan-born painter Salvador Di Quinzio shares his series Saltimbanques et Comédien, a collection of surreal paintings of “eclectic emblems and primordial landscapes.” In her exhibit, Currents of Color, Hiromi Katayama’s paintings on wood and paper feature bright trees, flowers, and butterflies. 5-8 p.m. Continues through Fri., Oct. 4. 4523 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield. boxheartgallery.com
WORKSHOP
ART
ART
Thrival teams up with Innovation Works and TiE Pittsburgh to present
Two artists with different but equally eye-catching styles opened exhibits at
The #notwhite collective, a group of 12 women artists who do not “fit neatly in
CHRISTINA DOLORES’ “UNWORTHIES, DISMISSED”
^ Thu., Sept. 19: Woman It Woman
cultural categories,” grabbed attention earlier this year with the launch of its Manifesto Project, a year-long residency with Bloomfield’s public-art mural series, the Sidewall Project. Woman It Woman takes the art off the street and into a gallery, bringing a wide range of the collective’s artwork, including sculpture, mixed-media, and video installations. Talk with the artists during the opening reception as they boldly celebrate “the multi-faceted aspects of female brown power.” 6-8 p.m. Continues through Fri., Dec. 13. Carlow University Art Gallery, 3333 Fifth Ave., Oakland. Free. notwhitecollective.com
ART Get ready for some interactive fun when Carnegie Museum of Art presents Third Thursday: Intimate Objects. The latest edition of this monthly event includes several new works by multidisciplinary performance duo slowdanger and experimental carnival group City of Play as part of the Performers at Play program. The evening includes Empathy Machine, Subtle Viewing, and Resonant Body, three performance installations by slowdanger that use dance and technology to help guests better connect with CMOA’s artwork. Participate in a social ceremony by City of Play, solve a puzzle box, or enjoy a one-on-one comic strip creation session with artist Cynthia Lee, plus more. 8-11 p.m. 4400 Forbes Ave. Oakland. $5-15. Free for members. cmoa.org
FRIDAY
SEPT. 20 FUNDRAISER Join Spring Hill Brewing Company for its third annual The Big Share event, which combines beer, food, and charity. The event benefits the Community Human Services (CHS) Food Pantry, and the price of entry includes appetizers, raffles, and speakers from CHS. There will be additional food and drinks for sale, including Velvet Arm, a beer brewed just for the event that features grapes and apricots from the food pantry. 6-9 p.m. 1958 Varley St., Spring Hill. $25 donation. chscorp.org
SATURDAY SEPT. 21 CLEANUP Time to take out the trash! The Garbage Olympics returns to encourage the community to clean up their neighborhoods during one of the dirtiest competitions in the city. Teams of volunteers from throughout the city will assemble to see who can collect the most trash. Once complete, everyone heads to Threadbare Cider House and Meadery for the closing ceremonies, during which the Clean Pittsburgh Commission hands out prizes for most CONTINUES ON PG. 42
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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CALENDAR, CONTINUED FROM PG. 41
PHOTO: EARLY MEDIA COLLECTIVE
^ Sat., Sept. 21: Party on the Mount
collected trash, as well as for the strangest item found and other categories. 9-11 a.m. Closing ceremonies at 12 p.m. Free. Search “2019 Garbage Olympics” on Facebook
BEER Hop Culture magazine is moving back to Pittsburgh and they’re throwing themselves a party. Juicy Brews Homecoming Craft Beer Festival, what the beer magazine calls a “proper homecoming,” focuses exclusively on IPAs and sour beers. The stellar lineup — including local favorites 11th Hour Brewing Co., Dancing Gnome Brewery, and Grist House Craft Brewery — will be poured by the brewers themselves. 1 p.m. Bay 41, 4107 Willow St., Lawrenceville. $20-55. hopculture.com
STAGE What bookworm didn’t spend half their childhood opening random closets, hoping to be transported into the magical land of Narnia? Little Lake Theatre introduces a whole new generation to
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the wonders of C.S. Lewis’ beloved children’s tale The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Families can also join cast members in a workshop at 12:30 p.m. before each show, where kids can create props that will be used in the show and get a chance to be included in the performance. 2 p.m. Continues through Sun., Oct. 20. Little Lake Theatre Company, 500 Lakeside Drive South, Canonsburg. $14-16. littlelake.org
PARTY Send summer out with a view! Mount Washington is celebrating the season’s end with their third annual Party on the Mount block party. Join the neighborhood on Grandview Ave. for the last summer bash featuring food trucks, live music, dunk tanks, local brews, craft cocktails, and familyfriendly activities until early evening. 3:30 p.m. Grandview Ave., Mt. Washington. $5-10. Search “Party on the Mount” on Facebook.
BEER It’s finally fall, so you know what that means: Oktoberfest! But that’s not until next month, and no one wants to wait that long to get the party going. Brew Gentlemen is kicking off the season early with Septemberfest, a family-friendly event featuring food from Driftwood Oven, Gyros N’at, a DJ, and of course, beer and pretzels. The event will benefit the Braddock Carnegie Library Association. 4-10 p.m. 512 Braddock Ave., Braddock. Free entry. brewgentlemen.com
STAGE What happens to the children who grow up witnessing domestic violence? Pittsburgh poet and playwright Kim El tackles the heavy subject in The Sunday God Gave Me, a dramatic coming-of-age story directed by Rita Gregory. Funded by the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh program, the performance shares a tale of love, fear,
and ultimately, survival. 8 p.m. Also 3 p.m., Sun., Sept. 22. New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. $20. newhazletttheater.org
SUNDAY SEPT. 22 PARTY Check out some of Pittsburgh’s best DJs during The LOOKOUT at Grandview Park Overlook in Emerald View Park. The family-friendly mass dance party combines a beautiful view with sets by Arie Cole, DJ SMI, Based Grace, and JX4. Guests are welcome to bring a picnic meal or sample cuisine from Casa Brasil and Leon’s Caribbean Restaurant. All proceeds go to the Brashear Association neighborhood after-school program. 12-9 p.m. 136-160 Grandview Ave., Mt. Washington. $5 suggested donation. BYOB. facebook.com/TheLookoutPGH
ZIO ” BY SALVADOR DI QUIN ART: “THE NEIGHBORHOOD
ues et Comédien
^ Sat., Sept. 19: Saltimbanq
MONDAY SEPT. 23
PERFORMANCE ART Sometimes distressing, sometimes comforting, always interesting: the music of John Wiese treads in abstract, mostly atonal, mostly arrhythmic sound. Co-headlining with Wiese at 3577 Studios is the slightly more accessible electronic artist Colin Self, whose performances are as visual and theatrical as they are musical. Opening things up is the performance art project U+1F440, formerly known as Bubblesort. 7:30 p.m. 3577 Studios, 3577 Bigelow Blvd., Polish Hill. $15. john-wiese.com
TUESDAY SEPT. 24 EVENT Women’s health care is as important as ever. With Republicans in charge in several levels of government both national and statewide, access to women’s health care, particular access to safe abortions, is under attack. Valerie Jarrett, a former advisor to President Barack Obama, will be in town
as the keynote speaker for the second annual Transforming Women’s Health Symposium. The Omni William Penn Hotel is hosting sessions focused on the opioid epidemic, the U.S. maternal health crisis, sexual harassment in the era of #MeToo, health equity for women and other marginalized populations, and sex education in schools. Registration is required, and tickets include lunch and networking session. 8 a.m.-4 p.m. 530 William Penn Place, Downtown. $25-250. adagiohealth.org/symposium
WEDNESDAY SEPT. 25 SHOW For 47 years, The Price is Right has been entertaining daytime television viewers and this Wednesday, you can watch it live. The Price is Right Live! brings the popular game show to Heinz Hall, so instead of yelling the prices of everyday items at your TV alone, you can yell them with an audience. Pull out your matching t-shirts and get ready: you could be the next contestant told to “come on down!” 7:30 p.m. 600 Penn Ave., Downtown. $44.75-74.75. pittsburghsymphony.org • PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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FOR INFORMATION ON HOW TO PLACE A CLASSIFIEDS ADVERTISEMENT, CALL 412-316-3342
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER
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HELP WANTED SENIOR DEVELOPER The West Penn Allegheny Health System, Inc seeks a Senior Developer to work in Pittsburgh, PA, to analyze, design, code, test, and implement systematic Business Intelligence solutions to meet customer requirements. Must be able to work shifts between 6:30am and 7:00pm M-F as well as 8am-4:30pm Sat/Sun. Must also be able to work 24-hour coverage on a rotating shift basis. Apply at http://www.ahn.org/careers.
Carnegie Mellon University seeks an Assistant Professor of Statistics & Data Science (Multiple Openings) in Pittsburgh, PA, to emphasize the Department’s educational mission (teaching, student advising, curriculum development, and supervising collaborative research projects) as well as research and/or administrative duties. Must have a PhD in Statistics, Biostatistics, Machine Learning or related area. Applicants for this position should submit: cover letter, curriculum vitae, statement of research, transcripts, and names and email addresses of 3-5 individuals who have been asked to provide letters of reference. Apply at https://apply.interfolio. com/66234
OFFICIAL ADVERTISEMENT
HELP WANTED MEDICAL TECHNOLOGISTS West Penn Allegheny Health System, Inc. seeks Medical Technologists (multiple openings) to work at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA. to perform routine and complex procedures; and verify analytic accuracy, precision, sensitivity and linearity. Must be able to work independently on afternoon and night shifts as well as possess an ICHP VisaScreen Certificate, if applicable. Apply at: highmarkhealth.wd1. myworkdayjobs.com
NAME CHANGE
NAME CHANGE
NAME CHANGE
NAME CHANGE
NAME CHANGE
IN The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: No. GD-19-12457. In re petition of Talon Montgomery Bruce for change of name to Talon Montgomery Bruce Miller. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 15th day of October, 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-16-7597. In re petition of Nana Ama Beeko for change of name to Ama Ohenewa Danso-Ayesu. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 23rd day of September, 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-19-7514. In re petition of Thuy Minh Duc Vo for change of name to Felicia Michele Castle. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 27th day of September, 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-19-11761, In re petition of Michelle Martin parent and legal guardian of Mekhi Martin-Younger, for change of name to Mekhi Younger. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 26th day of September, 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-19-1972, In re petition of Amanda Evans parent and legal guardian of Chelsea Michelle Pollnac, for change of name to Chelsea Michelle Evans. To all persons interested: Notice is hereby given that an order of said Court authorized the filing of said petition and fixed the 17th day of September, 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
REHEARSAL
STUDY Alcohol & Smoking Research Lab at the University of Pittsburgh is looking for men to participate in a research project. Must be between 21 and 28 years old and be a social drinker. Must be willing to drink alcohol. Earn up to $90 for participating in a two-session study. For more information, call: 412-624-8975, or email: asrl@pitt.edu
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OFFICIAL ADVERTISEMENT
THE BOARD OF PUBLIC EDUCATION OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PITTSBURGH
THE BOARD OF PUBLIC EDUCATION OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT OF PITTSBURGH
Sealed proposals shall be deposited at the Administration Building, Bellefield Entrance Lobby, 341 South Bellefield Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15213, on October 1, 2019, until 2:00 P.M., local prevailing time for:
Sealed bids will be received in the Bellefield
PGH. LANGLEY K-8 s #ORRIDOR #EILINGS AND ,IGHTS AND #LASSROOM #EILINGS AND ,IGHTS $EDUCT !LTERNATE s 'ENERAL %LECTRICAL AND !SBESTOS !BATEMENT 0RIMES
opened at the same hour for the purchase of
PGH. GREENFIELD K-8 s 2EPLACE %LECTRICAL $ISTRIBUTION 3YSTEM s 'ENERAL AND %LECTRICAL 0RIMES
Service Center, 1305 Muriel Street, Pittsburgh,
Project Manual and Drawings will be available for purchase on September 3, 2019 at Modern Reproductions (412-488-7700), 127 McKean Street, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15219 between 9:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. The cost of the Project Manual Documents is non-refundable. Project details and dates are described in each project manual. We are an equal rights and opportunity school district.
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Avenue Lobby, Administration Building, 341 South Bellefield Avenue until 11:00 A.M. prevailing time October 1, 2019 and will be the following equipment and supplies:
CALCULATORS General Information regarding bids may be obtained at the Office of the Purchasing Agent, PA 15203. The bid documents are available on the School District’s Purchasing web site at: www.pghschools.org Click on Our Community; Bid Opportunities; Purchasing - under Quick Links. The Board of Public Education reserves the right to reject any and all bids, or select a single item from any bid. We are an equal rights and opportunity school district.
LEGAL NOTICE Notice is hereby given pursuant to the provisions of the Fictitious Names Act of Pennsylvania that an application for registration of a fictitious name was filed with the Department of State of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, for the conduct of a business under the fictitious name of Stormwater Management Solutions LLC, with its principal office or place of business at 2324 Saddle Drive, Allison Park, PA 15101. The names and addresses of all persons who are parties to the registration are: Adam Motchenbaugh, 2324 Saddle Drive, Allison Park, PA 15101, Joel Papcunik, 2371 Saddle Drive, Allison Park, PA 15101.
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CANCEL CULTURE
BY BRENDAN EMMETT QUIGLEY // WWW.BRENDANEMMETTQUIGLEY.COM
ACROSS 1. Doorknob metal 6. Nocturnal mammal with a flexible snout 11. “Nice 1!” 14. Ephesian land 15. Atlanta campus 16. One: Prefix 17. Record producer born Brian Burton 19. Bring home 20. Minor hiccup 21. Mountain lake 22. His last word was “Rosebud” 23. Product lines? 25. Wuss 28. Pigs 31. Senior article 33. Get the cup 34. With 13-Down, “Groove Is in the Heart” band 36. Tops 40. Class for people who are hot all the time 43. Shovel dirt? 44. Signaled to start 45. Day when people talk about dieting tomorrow, briefly 46. Half of a Wimbledon win for Serena, e.g. 48. WWII stalker 50. Baby carrier brand with an apt-sounding name 52. “Didn’t mean that” 54. Superfluity
55. Female red deer 57. MMA star Holly 61. Serious stretch 62. Sudden surge of companies joining forces 65. Tpke. 66. Sketchy dude 67. Jazz drummer Gene 68. Freq. unit 69. “There ___ coincidences” 70. British racetrack locale
DOWN 1. Tophatter actions 2. Brown shade 3. 2019 Luc Besson thriller 4. Western shooter 5. Kamasi Washington’s instrument 6. Oil 7. Love of Spain 8. Attack, like a cat 9. Agcy. with a Taxpayer Advocate Service 10. Healthy bread choice 11. Relating to the moon 12. Topsy-turvy 13. See 34-Across 18. “Making Plans For Nigel” band 22. Old “American Top 40” DJ 24. Yellow sign with a silhouette
26. Kind of orange 27. Used a paper towel, say 28. Spoils 29. Brown bagger on the streets 30. “Listen Like Thieves” band 32. Starting now 35. Kick out 37. Foreign: Prefix 38. Ireland’s secondbest-selling musical artist (behind U2) 39. Leave in command 41. Cancels, as this puzzle’s theme answers 42. Model show? 47. “Yes ___!”
49. C, another way 50. Epitome of laziness 51. Oscar of “The Office” 53. The last version of it was El Capitan 54. Culture that has been canceled in the long theme answers 56. Cart-pulling beasts 58. Major burden 59. Elective surgery that sucks, briefly 60. “Milady” 62. ___ Nashville (country record label) 63. Go wrong 64. Jaguar of the ‘60-’70s LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS
PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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PEEPSHOW A sex and social justice column BY JESSIE SAGE // PEEPSHOWCAST@GMAIL.COM DEAR JESSIE,
After being monogamous for many years, my wife Jasmine and I decided to open up our marriage. While she wants to remain monogamous, she has been very supportive of my desire to explore polyamory and of my relationship with my new girlfriend. She is not, however, getting the same amount of support from her friends. They are telling her that she is being manipulated and disrespected. This is putting a lot of stress on a very new arrangement that we are still learning to navigate. What advice do you have for this situation? Zack
... YOU, AS A COUPLE, NEED TO LEARN HOW TO RELATE TO ONE ANOTHER AND NEW PARTNERS IN DIFFERENT WAYS ...
DEAR ZACK,
Moving from monogamy to polyamory is often a difficult transition, even under the best of circumstances. Not only do you, as a couple, need to learn how to relate to one another and new partners in different ways, but you also have to undo cultural programming that has taught you that there’s something broken about your relationship if one or both of you desire sexual or romantic diversity. The situation is even more complicated when the dynamic is asymmetrical, like yours. While you are experiencing the excitement of New Relationship Energy (NRE — a term poly folks use to talk about the
heightened excitement of a new relationship), she will need to shift some of her time, and her expectations of you, in order to accommodate the time you spend with your girlfriend. This is a process that takes a lot of care and communication, but can also be very worthwhile if it means that both of you are happier in your marriage. I am not surprised that Jasmine’s friends are less than understanding. In our culture, we are led to believe that romantic love is monogamous (“If he just loved me enough, he wouldn’t want to be with them,” etc.),
despite the fact that in long-term relationships, sexual and emotional desires do not always line up, making monogamy feel really stifling. I didn’t tell any of my friends when I first transitioned to polyamory. For years! I didn’t expect them to understand, and I didn’t want to feel pressure to explain myself, especially when I was still trying to sort my own feelings out. But this also took a toll; it is stressful to live a double life, to keep meaningful relationships a secret, and to hide large parts of yourself from people you care about. And
depending on how serious your new relationship is, it may be unfair to that person to be kept in the shadows. So, I applaud you two for trying to be open not only to each other, but also to your friends. I think that you two should communicate openly and honestly with each other about her friends’ reaction since they may be picking up some fear or hesitation on her part. This doesn’t mean that anything is wrong or that you should end your relationship with your girlfriend. It is normal to experience feelings of uncertainty or jealousy about your partner’s involvement with a new person. It is worth creating space where you two can explore her feelings since you are the one who made changes to your relationship structure. But you should do this with each other, not with her friends. Ultimately, it is none of their business and you do not have to answer to them. It is nearly impossible for someone outside of a marriage to understand its particular complexity and those who are strongly tied to notions of monogamy will view non-monogamy as a problem. I also suggest expanding your social circle to include other non-monogamous folks that both of you can talk to while you navigate this new terrain. Groups like Poly in Pittsburgh are a great place to start. Good luck!
•
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.
Too embarrassed to ask your friends about a sexual position? Want to know what it’s really like to work in the sex industry? Jessie Sage wants to hear from you! Submit a question for a chance to get it answered in an upcoming column. Email your question to info@pghcitypaper.com with “Ask Jessie” in the subject line. (All questions will be kept confidential.) 46
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WASHINGTON, PA LOCATION 95 Leonard Avenue - Suite 203 Washington PA 15301 Phone: (724) 249-2517
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NEW Office in Export/Greensburg offering integrative psychiatry:
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Immediate Openings Call today 412-668-4444 5855 Steubenville Pike Robinson Twp., PA 15136
341 Story Rd. Export, PA 15632
journeyhealthcare.com PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER SEPT. 18-25, 2019
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