The Pitt News T h e in de p e n d e n t st ude nt ne w spap e r of t he University of Pittsburgh
tpn coloring book inside April 18, 2016 | Issue 145 | Volume Vollu Vo lume u 106
Rainbow B.o.B., X Ambassadors rock Bigelow Bash practices self-defense Dale Shoemaker News Editor
About three years ago, John Kandray, his boyfriend and their friends were eating and drinking at the Little Italy Days Heritage Festival in Bloomfield when another group of men began making anti-gay slurs about them. “I had no idea what to do,” he said. The situation didn’t escalate beyond the insults, Kandray said, but it still made him feel helpless. Soon after, Kandray, now an assistant trainer, took up kung fu and other forms of self-defense as a way to protect himself and his loved ones. On Sunday, he shared his training with Pitt students as part of the first formal defense session Pitt’s Rainbow Alliance hosted for students. Three students from Rainbow Alliance sparred with three martial arts instructors in the William Pitt Union’s Kurtzman room for about three hours. Instructors from Steve DeMasco’s Shaolin Studios, a kung fu studio in Regent Square — taught the self-defense session. The session was one of a growing number of outreach classes the Shaolin Studios’ instructors are conducting in the city to train marginalized groups. Sunday’s session was part of a partnership between RainSee Self-defense on page 2
B.o.B. surfs the crowd at Bigelow Bash on Saturday afternoon. John Hamilton STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Leo Dornan Staff Writer
Surfing a crowd of Pitt students Saturday at Bigelow Bash, hip-hop artist B.o.B. grabbed a cell phone from a student and snapped a selfie from atop the crowd. This year’s Bigelow Bash, Pitt Program Council’s annual free spring concert, featured two headliners — B.o.B. and alternative rock band X Ambassadors. Filling Bigelow Bou-
levard and the nearby lawns, about 4,500 to 5,000 Pitt students and community members, according to Shawn Cassidy, special events director for PPC, danced and munched on free food during one of Pittsburgh’s first nice spring days. The crowd chanted “f*** Penn State” alongside the rapper, jumped for T-shirts that B.o.B. threw to the crowd and shouted along with lyrics. For Evan Helenbrook, a first-year
mechanical engineering major, that atmosphere was exactly what attracted him to the event. “I was just here for B.o.B. and it was so lit,” Helenbrook said. After performing “Roll Up” from his upcoming mixtape E.A.R.T.H. and a remix of Young Dro’s “FDB,” B.o.B. ended his set with a line of advice. See Bigelow Bash on page 3