February 17, 2016 - Pittsburgh City Paper by Pittsburgh City Paper

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

An Evening with Rangda 3.17 – 8pm The Warhol theater | Tickets $15/$12 Members & students

Vicky Chow & Tristan Perich: Surface Image

EVENTS

3.19 – 8pm The Warhol entrance space | Co-presented with the Music on the Edge series of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Music | Tickets $15/$12 Members & students

Bedroom Community Whale Watching Tour 2016

2.20 – 2pm EXPOSURES: ARTIST TALK The Warhol theater Elizabeth Rudnick and Jamie Earnest discuss their installations. FREE

Featuring Nico Muhly, Ben Frost, Sam Amidon and Valgeir Sigurðsson

3.31 – 8pm Carnegie Lecture Hall (Oakland) | Co-presented with the Music on the Edge series of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Music | Tickets $20/$15 Members & students

2.23 – 8pm SOUND SERIES: DISAPPEARS The Warhol theater FREE parking in The Warhol lot Tickets $15/$12 Members & students

2.27 – 8pm SOUND SERIES: GEORGE LEWIS The Warhol entrance space Co-presented with the Music on the Edge series and Pitt Jazz Studies of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Music. Advance Tickets $15/$10 students; visit www.music.pitt.edu/tickets or call 412.624.7529

An Evening with Son Lux 4.9 – 8pm The Warhol entrance space | Tickets $15/$12 Members & students

3.5 – 8pm SOUND SERIES: NEW MORSE CODE AND JAMIE JORDAN The Warhol theater Co-presented with the Music on the Edge series of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Music. FREE parking in The Warhol lot Advance Tickets: $15/$10 students; visit www.music.pitt.edu/tickets or call 412.624.7529

Songhoy Blues 4.12 – 8pm The Warhol entrance space | Co-presented with Pandemic Tickets $15/$12 Members & students

An Evening with Dawn of Midi 4.16 – 8pm

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

The Warhol entrance space | Tickets $15/$12 Members & students

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PNC Broadway In Pittsburgh is a presentation of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Symphony and Broadway Across America.

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

{EDITORIAL}

02.17/02.24.2016

Editor CHARLIE DEITCH Arts & Entertainment Editor BILL O’DRISCOLL Music Editor MARGARET WELSH Associate Editor AL HOFF Multimedia Editor ASHLEY MURRAY Listings Editor CELINE ROBERTS Assistant Listings Editor ALEX GORDON Staff Writers RYAN DETO, REBECCA NUTTALL Interns COURTNEY LINDER, AARON WARNICK, ANDREW WOEHREL

VOLUME 26 + ISSUE 07

{ART} Director of Operations KEVIN SHEPHERD Production Director JULIE SKIDMORE Art Director LISA CUNNINGHAM Graphic Designers JEFF SCHRECKENGOST, JENNIFER TRIVELLI {COVER ARTWORK BY RASHAD JAMAAL}

{ADVERTISING}

[NEWS]

can’t recall a time when there has 06 “Ibeen such a positive relationship between a mayor and a county executive.” — Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto assessing the first term of Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald

[VIEWS] we really devolved into a nation 16 “Have that thinks it’s OK for a black man to die because he was drinking in a bus shelter?” — Charlie Deitch on the further widening of the racial divide

Director of Advertising JESSIE AUMAN-BROCK Senior Account Executives TOM FAULS, PAUL KLATZKIN, SANDI MARTIN, JEREMY WITHERELL Advertising Representatives SCOTT KLATZKIN, MELISSA LENIGAN, ERICA MATAYA, DANA MCHENRY, MELISSA METZ, JAMES PORCO, MARIA SNYDER, KARIN TURKOVICH Classified Manager ANDREA JAMES Radio Sales Manager CHRIS KOHAN National Advertising Representative VMG ADVERTISING 1.888.278.9866 OR 1.212.475.2529

{MARKETING+PROMOTIONS} Marketing Director DEANNA KONESNI Marketing Design Coordinator LINDSEY THOMPSON Radio Promotions Director VICKI CAPOCCIONI-WOLFE Radio Promotions Assistants ANDREW BILINSKY, NOAH FLEMING

[TASTE] bites were coated in a barely21 “Catfish there breading but packed plenty of buffalo punch.” — Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth review Scratch Food & Beverage

{ADMINISTRATION}

[MUSIC] like the idea of having a real hit. 30 “IMaybe I’ll just start making that my goal.” — Kurt Vile on becoming semi-famous

[SCREEN]

{PUBLISHER}

Smith — the actress is on 35 “Maggie top of her game, but when is she not?”

[ARTS] were slaves, why are they (whites) 38 “Ifangrywewith us?” — From Larry E. Davis’ new book Why Are They Angry With Us?: Essays on Race

[LAST PAGE] regularly chronicles her existential 54 “She struggles and doles out Old Testamentstyle love.” — Frances Rupp on Wendy Bell’s Facebook page and interviewing style in this week’s This Just In

{REGULAR & SPECIAL FEATURES} CHEAP SEATS BY MIKE WYSOCKI 18 EVENTS LISTINGS 42 SAVAGE LOVE BY DAN SAVAGE 49 FREE WILL ASTROLOGY BY ROB BREZSNY 50 CROSSWORD BY BRENDAN EMMETT QUIGLEY 52 +

WHETHER YOUR ARIA IS IN A MINIVAN OR ONSTAGE, YOU’LL BE HEARD.

STEEL CITY MEDIA

— Al Hoff reviews The Lady in the Van

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Business Manager LAURA ANTONIO Circulation Director JIM LAVRINC Office Administrator RODNEY REGAN Technical Director PAUL CARROLL Interactive Media Manager CARLO LEO

GENERAL POLICIES: Contents copyrighted 2016 by Steel City Media. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in Pittsburgh City Paper are those of the author and not necessarily of Steel City Media. LETTER POLICY: Letters, faxes or e-mails must be signed and include town and daytime phone number for confirmation. We may edit for length and clarity. DISTRIBUTION: Pittsburgh City Paper is published weekly by Steel City Media and is available free of charge at select distribution locations. One copy per reader; copies of past issues may be purchased for $3.00 each, payable in advance to Pittsburgh City Paper. FIRST CLASS MAIL SUBSCRIPTIONS: Available for $175 per year, $95 per half year. No refunds.

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THIS WEEK

“I FEEL LIKE IN THE NEXT TERM WE WILL BE ABLE TO TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL.”

ONLINE

www.pghcitypaper.com

Ride along with a Pittsburgh snowplow driver at www.pghcitypaper.com. For our Pittsburgh Bicentennial series, we explore how snow removal has changed over the years. Read our feature on page 12.

The National Aviary revealed its newest resident to the public last week: a 3-monthold, two-toed Linnaeus’s sloth. See our photo gallery and video of the little guy at www.pghcitypaper.com.

{PHOTO BY JOHN COLOMBO}

EXECUTIVE

This week: The Pennsylvania state pinball champ is crowned, and a local herb guru offers healing tips for the cold winter months.

EVALUATION

Listen at bit.ly/citypaperpodcast or subscribe on iTunes.

CITY PAPER

INTERACTIVE

Instagrammer @lovelypgh gives us a pretty winter shot of the West End. Tag your Instagram images as #CPReaderArt, and we just may re-gram you. Download our free app for a chance to win tickets to see Blue Man Group on Feb. 23 at Heinz Hall. Contest ends Feb. 18.

Chief Executive Rich Fitzgerald

ICH FITZGERALD is the region’s No. 1 salesperson. It’s Jan. 12, the snowiest day of the year, but the Allegheny County Chief Executive is determined to attend all of his scheduled events, including announcements about the airport and a press conference for the Pittsburgh Marathon. “Not a lot of people outside the area know about the growth in Pittsburgh,” Fitzgerald says, as he exits his ofﬁce at the Allegheny County Courthouse. “It’s about getting that word out.” For his ﬁrst three events, he chooses to walk, snow be damned, at a brisk pace through Downtown Pittsburgh. On Penn Avenue in the Cultural District, he sidesteps a group of young people strolling

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

too slowly. He wants to walk, but he has places to be. At each event he talks, in his off-book style and thick Pittsburgh accent, about the growing economic vitality of the

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald talks first-term successes and second-term goals {BY RYAN DETO} region, like how the Pittsburgh International Airport added 17 new routes over the last year. And according to estimates, Allegheny County added around 8,000

residents since 2010, the first countywide population increase in more than 50 years. Fitzgerald has just completed his first four-year term as county executive, Allegheny County government’s highestranking official, and in that time, he has become a bit of a polarizing figure. He has gained support from Pittsburgh city officials, many of the region’s corporations and Gov. Tom Wolf, all of whom have cited Fitzgerald as a key component of the region’s economic growth. But critics have taken issue with some of his decisions and methods, particularly his management style and his role in facilitating natural-gas drilling, or fracking. Critics notwithstanding, Fitzgerald

won re-election handedly and says more growth is on the way for the county. Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto says the level of cooperation between him and Fitzgerald is “historic.” “I can’t recall a time when there has been such a positive relationship between a [Pittsburgh] mayor and a county commissioner or executive,” says Peduto. “There hasn’t been such a prolonged period where [they’re] working on a single agenda together.” Peduto says the partnership has a “yin-yang” balance, where Peduto has good relationships with universities and Fitzgerald has good relationships with the Downtown community. Their collaboration means city and county grants are applied for together, which expedites economic development. It also presents a united front on big infrastructure projects, such as the ongoing push for green solutions for the upcoming ALCOSAN sewage project. Fitzgerald says cooperation has led to success in his own administration, too. When he first took office, Fitzgerald says, he didn’t have many of his current staff members. “A lot of these folks weren’t in place … so I feel like in the next term, we will be able to take it to the next level,” says Fitzgerald. “Now, after four years, there is a level of comfort and confidence with what [my staff] can do.” But some think this so-called cooperation hasn’t been so easily won. Some of his opponents have criticized his methods. In 2012, shortly after taking office, Fitzgerald compelled many county board members to sign undated resignation letters, which would allow him to remove board members at will. He ended the practice in April 2013. Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner, Fitzgerald’s most vocal opponent within county government, expressed criticism over this tactic, and has claimed that Fitzgerald exerts too much influence over county council. Since he took office, only two out of more than 500 pieces of Fitzgerald-sponsored legislation have been defeated, according to council records. Fitzgerald says his relationship with the county controller has improved over the past eight months, but he did not provide any specifics. After each official was re-elected, last November, they agreed to work together. Fitzgerald says he has been able to accomplish a lot during his first term, including what is arguably his proudest goal, making the county financially stable again. “When I first took office, we had just a little more than $5 million in the [reserve

Feb 18, 2016 8–11 p.m.

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Tickets $10 ($8 members, $5 students) cmoa.org/3T

CONTINUES ON PG. 08

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EXECUTIVE EVALUATION, CONTINUED FROM PG. 07

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{PHOTO BY RYAN DETO}

Fitzgerald pumping up hundreds during a Steelers rally in January

fund], and when I met with the rating agencies, they were ready to downgrade us,” says Fitzgerald. “And I made a commitment in front of them … that we were going to raise the fund balance, and we did that.” The county’s fund balance, or rainyday fund, currently sits at around $ 40 million. Since 2011, says Fitzgerald, the rating agencies have upgraded the county three times. (By comparison, state government’s fund balance is an embarrassingly low $231,000.) THE SKY IS now cascading snow and the

streets are covered in blankets of white. Fitzgerald is contemplating whether to drive to the airport for a scheduled press conference for Frontier Air. “Well, the [Frontier rep] ﬂew all the way out here, we can make it to the airport for ’em.” On the Parkway West, trafﬁc is jammed due to the weather. “Take 65,” Fitzgerald calmly instructs his driver. Just like earlier on the Penn Avenue walk, Fitzgerald would rather not wait. Closer to the airport, Fitzgerald points out county-owned land and details the opportunities it presents. Last spring, a General Electric research facility was OK’d to build in nearby Findlay Township. Fitzgerald says he would like to lease county-owned land near the airport to more businesses like G.E., bringing increased revenue and jobs to the county. But some critics wonder whether the job growth is reaching those who need it most. Transit advocate Chris Sandvig, of

the Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group, told CP in September that areas near the airport were developed “without transit in mind.” Workers without access to cars would have trouble accessing jobs in the airport region because bus service is infrequent and sparsely routed. “For us to be a successful region, we need to be able to accommodate a diversity of development and jobs,” says Sandvig. “And the locations of those goodwage jobs need to be where people have affordable access to them.” Fitzgerald acknowledges the need for more equitable growth. “Pittsburgh’s growth is really heading in the right direction ... but we also want to make sure that some of the folks that haven’t been included before are included in the future.” However, Fitzgerald says he has no immediate plans to try to increase public transit along the airport corridor, even though he has verbally supported a bus-rapid-transit line between Downtown and Oakland, a corridor that already has buses arriving every ﬁve minutes. One Fitzgerald-backed project where equitable growth might occur in the near future is in McKees Rocks. In December, a $ 60 million CSX intermodal rail station broke ground in the McKees Rocks Bottoms. Dennis Yablonsky, CEO of the Allegheny Conference, a consortium of business leaders who drive regional economic development, says projects like these are “the best of all worlds,” because there is investment, jobs and “you start to affect a neighborhood that needs it.”

“HE HAS BEEN BAREKNUCKLED AGAINST OPPOSITION.”

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

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EXECUTIVE EVALUATION, CONTINUED FROM PG. 08

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Community College of Allegheny County president Quintin Bullock also notes Fitzgerald’s support of equitable job growth. Bullock says the county executive frequently references CCAC in speeches and details how the county-run college collaborates with businesses and industry to “help produce a well-trained workforce.” This has led to successful job placement for students in programs like nursing and especially welding, which has a jobplacement rate of 100 percent, according to Bullock. Bullock says this potential workforce comes from a variety of backgrounds. “Our student body is very diverse, with all levels of students, from persons who may be eligible for financial aid to persons who are self-paying.” Fitzgerald says that in his first term, building coalitions of government officials, business leaders and educators has contributed to his success. But one group has yet to join Team Fitz: environmental activists. John Detwiler, of the environmental group Protect Our Parks, has regularly attended county-council meetings and organized protests since early 2014, when Fitzgerald announced intentions to allow fracking underneath Deer Lakes Park. “I think the executive has tied his future, and the future of the county, to these old extractive industries,” says Detwiler. “He has chosen re-industrializing the county over sustainability.” Fitzgerald says money from fracking on airport land has led to lower gate fees at the airport, which means adding more routes, and that money from Deer Lakes drilling has gone toward enhancing the park and cleaning up its lakes. “We anticipate between $500 to $800 million over the next 20 years,” says Fitzgerald of airport fracking revenue. “That is money that the taxpayers won’t have to put into the airport … [and] the fact that we are able to fix up the parks without raising people’s taxes in my mind is a win-win.” Detwiler objects to Fitzgerald’s claims on two fronts. Philosophically, he’s worried that relying on third-party money to pay for public services holds county residents hostage to third-party interests. He also says there is irony in saying fracking money will go toward fixing and cleaning up Deer Lakes Park, considering fracking’s association with water pollution. To influence the county’s future fracking plans, Protect Our Parks amassed

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

more than 1,800 signatures and sponsored legislation in December 2014 that called for a two-year fracking ban on county-owned land (except Deer Lakes Park) so that studies could be done on the economic and environmental costs and beneﬁts. It was the ﬁrst piece of citizensponsored legislation in county history, but it failed by a 13-1 vote. “We differ with [Fitzgerald] on his goals and we differ from him on his methods,” says Detwiler. “He has been anti-transparent, he has been bare-knuckled against opposition.” As CP reported in November 2013, both activists, citizens and several members on county council took issue with how he handled the Deer Lakes situation. Residents who came to a public hearing on the matter and weekly to county council meetings were adamantly opposed to drilling in the parks. Other county councilors took issue that the negotiations for the drilling contract did not receive proper public vetting.

“THE LOCATIONS OF THOSE GOODWAGE JOBS NEED TO BE WHERE PEOPLE HAVE AFFORDABLE ACCESS TO THEM.”

THE TWO LANES of Ohio River Boulevard

are accumulating snow as fast as they’re accumulating traffic, but Fitzgerald is confident he will make it to the airport press conference in time. On the drive, he says he is pleased with the county’s progress and can’t think of any failures from his first term. When asked about the health-care problems at the Allegheny County Jail, he slightly changes his tune. In 2013, the county, looking to cut costs, hired forprofit health-care provider Corizon for the jail. By May 2015, 11 deaths had occurred under Corizon’s watch, twice the national average at jails. Fitzgerald then announced the county would not be renewing Corizon’s contract. “[Corizon] is probably something I wouldn’t have done [again]. Looking back on it, it just didn’t work. And once we figured that out, we decided to make a change.” At long last, Fitzgerald arrives at the airport. A crowd has formed in front of Frontier’s new desk. Just before the car comes to a complete stop, Fitzgerald pops open the door and hurries inside. He’d rather not wait — he has a county to sell. RYA N D E TO@ P G HC I T Y PA P E R. C OM

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SLICK CHANGES

Pittsburgh’s snow-removal system has come a long way over the years {BY REBECCA NUTTALL} Editor’s Note: This story is one in an occasional series celebrating Pittsburgh’s Bicentennial by highlighting aspects of the city that have changed over the years. ACCORDING TO the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, there have been seven major winter storms — those dropping at least 17 inches of snow — in Pittsburgh’s 200-year history. The blizzard around St. Patrick’s Day in the spring of 1993 goes down as one of the most memorable for Bill Crean. Although a second blizzard, dubbed Snowmageddon, is up there too. That storm dumped nearly 22 inches of snow in 2010. But there’s another storm Crean remembers that isn’t on any list or probably in most people’s memory. It was around New Year’s Day in a year Crean can’t recall, when temperatures dropped so suddenly that the city was covered in ice. “It was warm, everything was slushy and then it just froze over,” says Crean. “The temperatures just fell off the charts. Everything was frozen. That was pretty brutal.” As a supervisor for the Pittsburgh Department of Public Works, Crean’s a winter-weather veteran, chalking up 33 years with the department. Before Pittsburgh’s snow-plow tracker app, before calcium-chloride-treated salt, Crean can remember winters where workers walked behind city plows with shovels full of salt to treat the roads. “There was not much mechanical salting then. We had a handful of trucks that

had that capability then,” says Crean. “We did a lot of salting by hand.” “People are real spoiled,” he laughs. Decades later, Crean stares at a computer screen in his ofﬁce, examining a GPS-generated map of the city with crisscrossing lines depicting where his vehicles have been. In the 33 years Crean has worked in public works, he’s seen a number of improvements to snowremoval machinery and technology. And it’s likely that recent tech upgrades are just the beginning. “The technology helps us save money and manage our [resources] a lot better,” says Crean. “It’s more efﬁcient for sure.” Some of the developments in the past three decades, like treating salt with a calcium-chloride solution, were a necessity. (Salt is effective only at tempera-

“WE DID A LOT OF SALTING BY HAND.”

to optimize routes for snow-plow and salt-truck drivers. The system would also upgrade the drivers from pen-and-paper routes to a computerized system. “For example, if I have a driver who is familiar with the East End because that’s where they have always driven snow routes, it’s really hard for us to move them to another division … because they just don’t know the area,” says Haller. “Handing them a paper route that they have to read while they’re driving a 10-ton dump truck is not a great idea. So having routes that can be presented on a mobile device in the cab of the truck allows a driver to pick up a route in an area that they’re not familiar with, because they’re getting guidance.” If tech upgrades can keep his drivers safe, Crean is all for it. While he points out that the department hasn’t seen a fatality in the three decades he’s been A guide to Pittsburgh’s snow-plow tracker app on the job, Crean can tell countless stories of drivers flipping over or falling down hillsides. “We were pulling somebody out tures above 18 degrees.) But others, like the plow-tracker app, are more public- of a ditch once and everything was iced over, and the pickup we had arrelations measures. “I think Plow Tracker gives the public rived in was parked above us and it just started sliding toward us,” says Crea sense of knowing how their tax an. “So we had to jump out of money’s being spent,” says Crean. the way.” But while the app might Crean is also in favor appear superficial, officials g of technology like solarsay it does benefit publicRide alon y heated streets and porous works administrators. with a cit er riv d w paving materials that “Just from talking to lo -p w sno t a ly n soak up moisture besupervisors in our maino e onlin ity c h cause, ultimately, he says, tenance division, they g .p w ww m there’s only so much prephave all told me the tool paper.co aration his team can do. is helpful to them as well,” “You can be somewhat says Lee Haller, deputy direcproactive, but it is a reactiontor of public works. “If they hear ary thing,” says Crean. “You plan that there’s a complaint about a specific street, they can look to see if their vehicle for the worst and hope for the best. We can throw plows on every truck was there.” And this kind of technology is leading we own, expecting this 10-inch bomb to other developments as well. The city is and then we get an inch-and-a-half — currently working on a software system luckily.” RN U T TA L L @ P G HC I T Y PA P E R. C OM

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The University of Pittsburgh Center for Mindfulness & Consciousness Studies and We-PEACE Present:

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Register at: pittsburgh.shambhala.org (under classes & retreats) Questions? Contact Stephanie Romero at we.peace.pgh@gmail.com

STILL WAITING

For sick patients, the medical-marijuana debate has gone on far too long {BY CHARLIE DEITCH} THE FIGHT for medical-marijuana legalization in Pennsylvania has now gone on for two-and-a-half years. The bill has passed the state Senate twice and has been stalled more times than anyone can count. Advocates claim they have the votes to pass it in the House, but more conservative voices in the House leadership have blocked it from coming to the floor. In a way, the bill has made massive headway since 2013, while at the same time not moving forward at all. During this time, though, one thing has changed — Heather Shuker’s daughter, Hannah Pallas, has gotten sicker. “Look, I’m an optimistic person, and I know this will happen. The question is just when,” says Shuker, whose daughter suffers from intractable epilepsy and has hundreds of seizures every week. “In the time we’ve been fighting this, Hannah has definitely [regressed] to the point that she has atrophy of her cerebellum. Her brain is shrinking. She can’t walk like she used to, she’s not as coordinated. “There’s talk that the medicines she’s on — a dose normally given to an adult male — has played a part in this. We need to get her off these drugs and on something that has been proven to work.” As medical cannabis has become legal in other states over the past several years, anecdotal evidence has begun to emerge that shows patients with a wide variety of medical conditions, including intractable epilepsy have been helped. Most of that medicine uses an extract from the plant known as cannabidiol, which does not cause a high. Shuker isn’t the only one who’s growing impatient with the legislature’s stalling of a bill that polls have shown 88 percent of Pennsylvanians support. Last week, dozens of advocates staged a sit-in at the state capitol to protest inactivity on the bill. According to the Reading Eagle, Gov. Tom Wolf addressed the crowd, saying: “We can get this done. We need to get this done.” But Shuker and other parents are tired of waiting. There is bipartisan support for the legislation. Republican state Sen. Mike Folmer, of Lebanon County, is one of the main sponsors of the bill, along with progressive Democratic Sen. Daylin Leach. The new House Majority leader, Republican Dave Reed of Indiana County, has also pledged his support and appointed a

{PHOTO COURTESY OF HEATHER SHUKER}

Hannah Pallas

bipartisan task force to come up with compromise legislation. That panel made recommendations, but nothing has been put forward for discussion. Last week, City Paper obtained proposed legislation from Dauphin County Republican Ron Marsico that amends the Senate bill while making changes that would limit the amount of THC (the the psychoactive component of marijuana) at 10 percent. Unlike cannabidiol, THC is the component of marijuana that gets a person high, but it also has medicinal purposes says the National Institute on Drug Abuse. THC can combat nausea and inflammation and help with muscle control and pain management. Under Marsico’s proposal, doctors and pharmacists would have to take a fourhour course “regarding the latest scientific research on medical marijuana, including the risks and benefits of medical marijuana, and any other subjects deemed necessary.” Owners and employees of dispensaries would be required to take a two-hour certification course with a more specific purpose in mind. The course will show the employees how to recognize “unauthorized suspected activity under this act and the regulations … including criminal diversion of medical marijuana and falsification of identification cards.” Reed has promised that a bill will come to the House floor for discussion in the next legislative session, which begins March 14. It’s a pledge that pleases Leach, who told CP last week: “I was encouraged to learn that the House will hold a vote on my medical-cannabis bill during its first week of session in March. I’m eager to see how my colleagues want to amend the bill and am hopeful that the needs of patients

will be the top priority.” Shuker is hopeful that the needs of patients like her daughter will be considered sooner rather than later. Once a law is passed, it will take time to get a program up and running. In the meantime, her daughter’s quality of life decreases every day. Now, for example, she is fed through a tube and is unable to eat or drink by mouth, due to a high risk of aspirating into her lungs causing pneumonia. Last week, Shuker sent an email to House leadership, including state Rep. Mike Turzai (R-Moon), one of the bill’s biggest opponents. She tells Turzai that “it’s actually kind of sad that you are so far behind your peers” on the issue. She continues: “I do not know how you sleep at night. I only pray you never have to suffer as we have. My daughter and sick Pennsylvanians need legal access to medical cannabis now. Your excuses are old and ignorant.” For his part, Turzai has said he worries that marijuana would not just be used for medical purposes and could be an “entry drug” for high school students. Research studies, including those from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, have long ago debunked the gateway-drug theory. For Hannah, Shuker says the powerful prescription drugs she’s on now are not helping. “It’s extremely frustrating that my daughter has to take drugs like Ativan and phenobarbital that make her worse,” Shuker says. “Why is she taking these powerful drugs when she could be using medical cannabis? It doesn’t seem real to me sometimes that a sick child in the United States can’t get a natural plant that would actually help her.”

“IT DOESN’T SEEM REAL THAT A SICK CHILD CAN’T GET A NATURAL PLANT THAT WOULD ACTUALLY HELP HER.”

C D E I T C H @ P G H C I T Y PA P E R. C OM

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

HERStory Month

CELEBRATE THE POWER, LEGACY & ACHIEVEMENTS OF WOMEN OF COLOR

Women of Color Social Network™

Wine Tasting 2016 The PA state pinball champ is crowned, and a local herb guru offers healing tips for the winter on this week’s City Paper podcast.

Thursday, March 3, 2016, 6-10pm @Ace Hotel, 120 S. Whitfield St, 15206 $25 General Admission, $35 VIP| 21+

Listen every week at bit.ly/citypaperpodcast or subscribe on iTunes.

Join us for an evening of fine wines, small bites, live entertainment & great company. Network, learn, taste, celebrate & enjoy with dynamic

Is there something you’d like to hear on the City Paper podcast? Send your ideas and feedback to multimedia editor Ashley Murray at amurray@pghcitypaper.com.

www.womenofcolorherstory.org

women of color in our city!

SUMMER INTERNS WANTED City Paper’s editorial team is seeking several interns for the summer. Please send résumé, cover letter and samples to the appropriate editor listed below by March 24, 2016. Each internship includes a small stipend. No calls, please.

MUSIC INTERN The music intern will have a working knowledge of the local music scene and assist the music editor by writing new-release reviews and previews of upcoming shows, as well as artist features. Apply to music editor Margaret Welsh, mwelsh@pghcitypaper.com.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT INTERN The position is focused on reporting and writing about local people, performances, artworks and events, in fields including but not limited to theater, visual art, literature, dance, comedy, and film and video. Send a cover letter, résumé and three writing samples to arts editor Bill O’Driscoll, driscoll@pghcitypaper.com.

PHOTO INTERN We are looking for a photographer with an artistic eye who can tell a story through images. Editorial work will include shooting assignments to supplement the paper’s news and arts coverage, both in print and online. Weekend availability is required. Send a résumé and a link to an online portfolio to art director Lisa Cunningham, lcunning@pghcitypaper.com.

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[PITTSBURGH LEFT]

LANDMARKS PRESERVATION RESOURCE CENTER

A MATTER OF PRIORITIES

- A program of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Foundation

{BY CHARLIE DEITCH}

LECTURE: RESTORATION MONTPELIER: A PRESERVATION DILEMMA

BLACK LIVES MATTER.

DR. MATTHEW G. HYLAND, History Department, Duquesne University “Montpelier” was the lifelong home of James Madison, Father of the Constitution, fourth President of the United States, and genius of the American Republic. Since the time, National Trust for Historic Preservation, acquired Montpelier, the plantation home of President James Madison in Orange County, Virginia, in the early 1980s, stewards of the historic property have faced complex preservation and interpretation challenges. Modern intrusions in the architectural fabric of the house and grounds resulted in a sharp conﬂict between the historic Madison narrative and the twentieth-century DuPont imprint. Join us to hear about the preservation history of Montpelier that provides an intricate case study for today’s preservation practitioners. This presentation lays out the evolution of Montpelier from a slave plantation, a country retreat and horse farm for a branch of the DuPont family, to a presidential shrine.

This workshop is free to PHLF Members. Visit www.phlf.org to join! Non-members: $5.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23 • 6:00 – 7:30 PM RSVPS ARE APPRECIATED. CONTACT MARY LU DENNY AT 412-471-5808 EXT. 527 744 REBECCA AVENUE

WILKINSBURG, PA 15221

412-471-5808

$77

It makes me angry. Black Lives Matter? Not more than a dog’s, apparently. Although I have to question how much the dog’s life actually mattered. In the wake of Aren’s death he was called an officer and a hero. But he was neither. He was a tool of law enforcement, trained to attack when ordered. I’m sure he was loved by his handler, but when you think about it, he was there to serve the same function as an officer’s Taser or gun. How do I know he wasn’t a partner? A partnership usually indicates some level of equality, and that equality simply did not exist. I know because that dog was sent into a situation with zero regard for his life. He was sent into a situation that no human officer would enter. Aren didn’t have to die that afternoon. But more importantly, Bruce Kelley Jr. didn’t have to die that afternoon. He was outnumbered. And at the time he was shot, it appears that no human life was in danger. A dog was wounded and that’s a shame, but did Kelley deserve to die for that? If these men weren’t police officers, and had shot Kelley for killing their dog, would it be justified? I don’t think so. Does the life of a black man matter more than the life of police officers? Does it matter more than a dog’s? I know that some of you answered no to those last two questions. I know it because I know the reaction and public outrage that comes when an animal is killed. I also know what the reaction of a lot of people is when a black man dies after an incident with police: “If he was obeying the law, police would have left him alone.” But have we really devolved into a nation that thinks it’s OK for a black man to die during a traffic stop or because he was drinking in a bus shelter? I don’t want to believe that, but more and more evidence piles up every day. Yes, all lives matter, but as a white man in America, I have no fear that if I get pulled over for running a stop sign that my life will end with a bullet. Black men in America don’t enjoy that confidence. That’s why we have to keep reminding our society that Black Lives Matter. They matter just as much as yours or mine. And certainly they matter more than a dog’s.

TWELVE SHOTS SEEM LIKE VENGEANCE, NOT JUSTICE.

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Those three words have been part of our lexicon for nearly two years now. You’ve heard them. You’ve read them. But do you really believe them? A lot of people of different races believe it; but do you? Before you answer yes, I want you to think about it. Think about your reaction every time you’ve heard that phrase in the past. Did you recognize the words for what they are, a symbol of the epidemic of African Americans being senselessly killed by police? Or did you give the answer that police officers and white conservatives are fond of giving: “All lives matter.” I think more people than I’d like to believe have uttered this latter phrase, and it’s alarming. So much so that I begin to wonder whether black lives do matter to a lot of white America. I’m just not sure anymore, and it’s sickening. I finally came to that realization following the shooting death of Bruce Kelley Jr. a couple of weeks ago. Most people know the story by now. Kelley and his father were drinking in a bus shelter; they were approached by officers and a fight ensued. The younger Kelley got away from the cops and backup arrived, including a K-9 officer and his police dog, Aren. Kelley was surrounded and he had a knife. According to written reports, including a masterfully written column on the tragedy by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Tony Norman, Kelley indicated that if Aren attacked, he would kill the dog. Aren was released, Kelley killed the dog and officers put him down with 12 shots. Twelve shots seem unnecessary; 12 shots seem like vengeance, not justice. The days that followed brought a massive funeral for Aren. His coffin was draped in a flag; hundreds of human police officers came to pay their respects, buses were rerouted and streets were closed. Bruce Kelley was laid to rest by his family. Streets weren’t closed and buses weren’t rerouted. Why would they be? After all, Kelley killed a police dog who was trying to tear his throat out. I know undoubtedly that there are people out there that think Kelley got what he deserved when the dog’s handler put 10 shots into his body and another officer put two. It makes me sad. It makes me sick.

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

C D E I T C H @ P G H C I T Y PA P E R. C OM

! 8 2 days

Celebrating Arts, Culture, & the Hill District At the Elsie H. Hillman Auditorium at Kaufmann Center 1825 Centre Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15219

FOR THE LOVE OF WORDS — FEATURING DR. TAMEKA CAGE CONLEY

ARTIST OF THE WEEK: VALERIE GOODWIN

February 19 @ 7:30 pm — 9:30 pm

March 7 —12 @ 11 am -- 3 pm

HILL HEROES — THE TUSKEGEE AIRMEN Hosted by Harold Hayes

VOICES FROM THE HILL: BOOK LAUNCH Community Celebration: February 24 @ 6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

GEOGRAPHY OF FOOD: FEATURING PITTSBURGH’S OWN CHEF ELISE WIMS KAUFMANN CENTER FUNDRAISER

February 26 @ 6:00 pm — 8:30 pm

PITTSBURGH PREMIERE OF THE FILM: CAN YOU DIG IT?

March 18 @ 6 to 8 pm TICKETED EVENT

March 5 @ Doors open 1:30 pm, Film starts 2:00

FEATURING WORKS FROM: GENEVIEVE BARBEE February 15 — 20, Reception: February 20 @ 6 to 8 pm GEORGE GIST February 29 — March 6, Reception: February 29 @ 6 to 8 pm AMIR RASHIDD March 14 — 19, Reception: March 14 @ 6 pm — 8 pm

For more information, call 412-281-1026 N E W S

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LANDMARKS PRESERVATION RESOURCE CENTER

HARD BALL

- A program of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Foundation

{BY MIKE WYSOCKI}

DESIGNING KITCHENS FOR OLDER AND HISTORIC HOMES

HITTING A baseball is supposedly the most difficult thing to do in sports. And in 1931, neither Babe Ruth nor Lou Gehrig could do it against someone who threw like a girl. Seventeen-yearold Jackie Mitchell struck out both of the legendary sluggers in an exhibition game in Chattanooga, Tenn. That moment is credited as the turning point for taking women’s sports seriously. Before that, women’s softball games were nothing more than traveling burlesque shows, akin to foxy boxing. Games were billed as Blondes versus Brunettes and attracted only turn-of-the-century pervs. Now, though, women throw a softball underhanded at ridiculously high speeds. I still can’t figure out how they do that. In Pittsburgh, it turns out, we have a pretty good women’s softball team in Oakland. The Pitt Panthers went to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game last year, but lost to Florida State in the final. On the way, head coach Holly Aprile led her team to upset victories over Notre Dame and North Carolina — take that, traditional sports powerhouses! In 2015, Pitt compiled its best season in program history, going 37-22. Aprile begins her eighth season at the helm of this burgeoning program. Softball at Pitt has been around only since 1998, so the program is barely old enough to vote or buy a scratch-off ticket. Aprile is just the second coach in team history, and this year she has eight players returning. Leading the way is second baseman Maggie Sullivan. The San Diego native batted a Tony Gwynn-like .359 last season, tops on the team. Next to her on the field is powerhitting shortstop McKayla Taylor. She’s only a sophomore, but she clubbed 14 home runs last year — good enough for fifth in the ACC. Shelby Pickett would be a great first name for a first baseman, but it works well for a catcher, too. The Ohio State University transfer holds Pitt’s alltime single-season records for at-bats, runs and hits in a season. Pickett is like Pete Rose minus the bad hair and gambling problem. Every good team needs a clutch player. Jenna Modic is that player. Modic hit .538 in the ACC tournament, when it counted the most. She added two

JULIE GRAF, One of a Kind Design Remodeling a kitchen can be a challenging and costly endeavor. Renovating a kitchen in an older home can come with even more obstacles and uncertainty, so making sure the design and plan are right is critical. The workshop will touch on a variety of kitchen design topics including, assessing needs and function in the 21st Century kitchen, tips for embracing troublesome openings and obstacles, and choosing a style that is timeless for older- and newer-homes. Additional topics for the seminar will include planning for adequate lighting, differences in cabinet styles and ﬁnishes, typical space allowances, making the space adaptable for multiple users of differing ages and abilities, budgeting, and more.

This workshop is free to PHLF Members. Visit www.phlf.org to join! Non-members: $5.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18 • 6:00 – 7:30 PM RSVPS ARE APPRECIATED. CONTACT MARY LU DENNY AT 412-471-5808 EXT. 527 744 REBECCA AVENUE

WILKINSBURG, PA 15221

412-471-5808

{CP FILE PHOTO BY HEATHER MULL}

Mike Wysocki

jacks, and one of them was a grand slam. If that’s not enough, she can pitch, too. This team has a lot of California love: Seven players hail from the Golden State. From Oakland (Calif.) to Sactown, Pitt is where California girls come to get their softball groove on. Cali native Ashlee Sills patrols the Pitt outfield and can cover a ton of ground. Pitt’s pitching is in pretty good shape, too. The aforementioned Jenna Mordic is in the rotation, as is Kayla Harris. The Chesapeake, Va., native led the conference in saves and also won 13 games. Nine of those wins were complete games, and two were shutouts. The Pirates should consider her for the fifth spot in their rotation. Also joining the team is freshman Sarah Dawson. Last season, at her Massachusetts high school, she struck out 41 batters in 41 innings pitched. She also threw two wicked no-hitters. This team is deep and ready for another ACC run. It has been picked to finish seventh in the league, but expert predictions and a buck will get you one item at Dollar Tree. The Panthers start the preseason traveling to tournaments in Georgia, Florida and California before the regular season starts in early March. The team plays all of its home games at Vartabedian Field, right on the campus, at the Petersen Sports Complex. For the record, Vartabedian Field is not named after Sheldon Cooper’s thirdstory neighbor on The Big Bang Theory. But it would be cooler if it was.

SHELBY PICKETT IS LIKE PETE ROSE MINUS THE BAD HAIR AND GAMBLING PROBLEM

Do you know what your Pittsburgh city councilor has been up to? Follow the latest updates on our blog at www.pghcitypaper.com

MIK E WYSO C K I IS A STANDU P C O ME DIAN AND M E M B E R OF J I M K RE N N ’ S Q M ORN I N G S H OW E AC H WE E K DAY MO R NING O N Q 9 2 . 9 F M. F O L L OW H I M ON T W I T T E R: @ I T S M I K E W YS OC K I

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

Save your energy. Take the bus or T. Next time youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re headed to Consol Energy Center, consider transit. Steel Plaza T Station is a short walk and 61 and 71 routes have stops nearby. Hop on board, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get you there.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

the

CATFISH BITES WERE A FANTASTIC RIFF ON BUFFALO BITES

LESS IS MORE

{BY MARGARET WELSH}

Awareness of gluten allergies might now be widespread, but when Jeanette Harris learned that she had celiac disease, a decade ago, her food options were limited. So she started baking her own gluten-free treats. “I had a lot of friends who told me, ‘Your stuff is really good, you should consider making it your job,’” Harris says. Initially she was hesitant to turn her hobby into a career, but in October 2014, Harris launched Gluten Free Goat, setting up shop at Pittsburgh Public Market. She also began providing baked goods (which are also vegan) to locations around the city, including Espresso a Mano and Zeke’s Coffee. Donuts are Gluten Free Goat’s most popular item, and come in varieties like apple cider and lavender lemon. “My favorite comment is when someone says that they can’t tell that it’s glutenfree or vegan,” Harris says, noting that many of her customers don’t have any dietary restrictions. But she also loves being able to offer variety to those who are used to being restricted. “I know that feeling,” she says, “when you walk up and say, ‘Wait, I can have everything?’” Gluten Free Goat’s last day at the Pittsburgh Public Market is Sat., Feb 20. Harris plans to open a bakery storefront — which will also include a vegan and vegetarian café — on Penn Avenue, in Garfield, in late spring or early summer. Until then, Gluten Free Goat will continue wholesale services and special orders.

{PHOTO BY SARAH WILSON}

Fried Brussels sprouts with balsamic reduction, whipped goat cheese and roasted grapes

HILLTOP DELIGHT

MWELSH@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

{BY ANGELIQUE BAMBERG + JASON ROTH}

For information, email glutenfreegoatpgh@gmail.com or visit www.glutenfreegoat.com.

the

FEED

Cold winter weekends eekends are for slow cooking. ng. Put a big chunk of cheap meat (pork k butt, beef chuck uck roast) in an ovenvenproof lidded pot. Add garlic, onions, ons, peppers and a big ig can of diced tomatoes atoes (with juice); top off with meat. Set th water to cover meat oven for 300 degrees, and come back in 4-6 hours. Meat will be fork tender, and ready to use in a week’s worth of stews, chilis, casseroles, tacos, sandwiches and so on.

OR YEARS, dining options on the Troy Hill hilltop were thin on the ground. Pretty much, there were a couple of convenience stores, and there was Billy’s, con a decades-old neighborhood institution so d old-school it still had a cigarette machine old— the t kind with pull-out knobs — near the front fron door. Now, there is still just one restaurant on tthe hilltop, but although Scratch Food & Beverage is located in Billy’s old storefront, Bev it d did not so much replace Billy’s as evolve out of it. New owner Don Mahaney’s approach to change was gentle and inclusive; pro before he bought the restaurant, he spent bef time tim hanging out there, getting to know the clientele and considering how to bring the best of the old establishment’s past along into its future. The result is refreshing. Mahaney has

transformed the outdated space into an open and airy hangout, with books and games on wall-mounted wooden ladders, and a pinball machine; there is a piano on the bar side and big wooden tables

SCRATCH FOOD & BEVERAGE 1720 Lowrie St., Troy Hill. 412-251-0822 HOURS: Tue.-Fri. 5-10 p.m.; Sat. 4-10 p.m.; Sunday brunch 10 a.m.-5 p.m. PRICES: $6-14 LIQUOR: Full bar

CP APPROVED made for group hanging out in the dining room. Barn-plank paneling, mismatched thrift-store furnishings, table-top terrariums and mason jars complete the rusticchic decor.

The printed menu is a short list of appetizers, sandwiches and entrees, but the list of daily specials is almost its equal. Listen carefully, because part of the Scratch ethos is to take great care with every ingredient, such that a brief description hardly does justice. For example, the special beet salad sounded good and was nothing short of brilliant. Beautifully plated, substantial chunks of ﬁrm beet were lightly coated in balsamic vinaigrette, arrayed in a crescent with tender greens, dabbed with just a bit of whipped goat cheese and topped with savory, crispy crumbles, almost like a streusel. The piece de resistance was a slow-cooked egg, poached sous vide style. Unlike a fried egg, which is its own greasy, guilty pleasure, this egg had a ﬁrm but moist white, garnished with pickled mustard seeds, still CONTINUES ON PG. 22

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HILLTOP DELIGHT, CONTINUED FROM PG. 21

intact around a yolk that was delectably gooey, not quite runny, when released. The result was perfection: a salad worthy of the finest restaurants in the city. Browned butter, a simple way to develop layered, intense flavor, was a recurring ingredient and fantastic in the halusky. This is a regular menu item, the recipe for which changes daily. We lucked out, because during our visit the noodle component was spätzle, the thick, handcut dumpling of central Europe. Scratch’s measured up to the Bamberg family recipe, and the shreds of cabbage were light, tender and crisp. If church-basement pans of mushy egg noodles and mushier cabbage have turned you off in the past, Scratch’s rendition might renew your appreciation for what halusky can be. The Scratch burger is another item that changes daily. During our visit it included mushrooms, not a household favorite, so we stuck with a plain burger. It was straightforwardly beefy, without much in the way of juiciness or distinctive flavor, although the bun was great. Beef stroganoff evoked Billy’s-era fine dining with a unique approach to the starch. In lieu of the more traditional buttered noodles were cylinders that looked a bit like short breadsticks, but were actually tender puffs of eclair-like pastry. They were laid out radially atop the bowl in which a rich, but not heavy, sauce held tender beef and, alas, a rather skimpy trio of undercooked carrots. The “garbage plate,” on the other hand, was just what it sounds like, a mess of mac-and-cheese, home fries and a burger patty, festooned all over with cheddar and onions and a psychedelic spiral of sriracha and mustard. The all-over condiment application tended to obscure the particular character of the components, but the fries seemed good, while the mac-and-cheese seemed to lack much cheesy flavor of its own. We substituted a lentil-mushroom veggie burger for the all-beef patty; it was rather dry. Catfish bites were coated in a barelythere breading, but packed plenty of buffalo punch. Topped with pickled leeks and dipped in sriracha ranch dressing, they were a fantastic riff on buffalo bites. A sloppy joe was unusual, the sloppy sauce somehow being cooked into the crumbled meat, so that even a single morsel popped with that unmistakable flavor. It was a neat trick, the only flaw being that there was nothing to hold the meat together, so that this sloppy joe lived up to its name. Yet messy sandwiches aside, we can’t think of any place that’s nailed the gastropub concept as successfully as Scratch. INF O @PGH C IT YPAPE R . C O M

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

On the RoCKs

{BY DREW CRANISKY}

A SPOONFUL OF SUGAR Adding just the right amount of sweetener takes skill

“Nothing sweet.” It’s a phrase familiar to bartenders everywhere. Bottled cocktail mixes and rampant abuse of cheap schnapps and liqueurs (Alabama Slammer, anyone?) have led many to fear anything but the most basic mixed drinks. But thanks to a revived interest in classic cocktails and widespread adoption of craft techniques, bartenders today know how to use sugar to enhance drinks rather than numb teeth. “Sugar is to cocktails what salt and pepper are to a steak,” explains Kevin Liu in his book Craft Cocktails at Home. “Almost every drink needs sugar in some form and a great one often rests on finding the perfect balance of sweetness to other tastes.” While every bartender has likely been asked to use less sugar or leave it out entirely, it’s usually a bad idea. A mojito without sugar (something I was once asked to make) would be an overly tart, undrinkable disaster.

“ALMOST EVERY DRINK NEEDS SUGAR IN SOME FORM.” Sweetness can come in many forms. One can muddle granulated sugar, as is often done in an old-fashioned, or make it into a syrup for a more mixable sweetener. That simple syrup can be infused with all manner of herbs, teas, berries and more to create layers of flavor. Creative mixologists around the world have also experimented with unconventional syrups featuring everything from cayenne peppers to gunpowder (seriously). Bagged sugar isn’t the only starting point, of course, and ingredients like honey, maple syrup and agave add interesting depth along with sweetness. Even cocktails that are all spirits likely get a saccharine punch from some sort of liqueur or fortified wine. The martini, one of the drier and boozier drinks in the classic-cocktail canon, still relies on vermouth for a slight touch of sweetness. Cocktails are a balancing act, and adding just the right amount of sweetener, whether it’s bulk white sugar or gunpowder-infused molasses, takes skill. But break out of your vodka-soda routine — Pittsburgh’s talented crop of bartenders is up for the challenge. INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

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

BENJAMIN’S WESTERN AVENUE BURGER BAR

bar • billiards • burgers

DINING LISTINGS KEY

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

BAR MARCO. 2216 Penn Ave., Strip District. 412-471-1900. At this former firehouse-turnedrestaurant, a small but wellcurated menu makes a perfect complement to this venue’s wine and cocktail list. The tapas-inspired roster ranges from charcuterie plates and classics, like patatas bravas, to smoked-pork tamales and grilled radicchio and endive salad. KE CHENGDU GOURMET. 5840 Forward Ave., Squirrel Hill. 412-521-2088. An extensive menu at this unassuming venue lets diners explore the breadth of complex and spicy Sichuan cuisine, everything from silken tofu and sea cucumber to spare ribs and spicy rabbit. Try a simple starter, like delicately dressed cucumber strips or steamed dumplings, before more adventurous entrees such as hot pots, flaming pans and sizzling rice crusts. KF CORNERSTONE. 301 Freeport Road, Aspinwall. 412-408-3258. The contemporary American fare at this warm and welcoming venue offers a creative take on a traditional menu. Every dish is served with a twist, but none — such as fancified mac-n-cheese, slow-roasted brisket sliders, grilled lamb burger or pulled-pork nachos — is too twisted. KE

Slice…Nice

Yama {CP FILE PHOTO BY HEATHER MULL} on a stick), Cheeses of Nazareth and The Wrongest Dessert Ever, and offers free bacon at the bar on Tuesdays? JE J.W. HALL’S STEAK AND SEAFOOD INN. 2284 Broadhead Road, Aliquippa. 724-375-6860. This old-fashioned, family-style steakhouse offers a satisfying, well-executed menu of surf-andturf favorites, including broiled shrimp appetizer, langostinos and prime rib. The menu’s emphasis on steak and seafood rises to special occasions, while plenty of pasta dishes, sandwiches and pub-style appetizers accommodate regulars. LE

CURE. 5336 Butler St., Lawrenceville. 412-252-2595. Charcuterie specialties are just part of the locally inspired menu at this rustic-chic Lawrenceville restaurant. A short menu offers seasonal specialties (wild onions in spring), often combined with pork, but vegetables get a spotlight in dishes such as risotto with local mushrooms. LE E2. 5904 Bryant St., Highland Park. 412-441-1200. The popular, cozy brunch spot has expanded, adding a dinner menu that refracts traditional, Old World recipes through the prism of the contemporary American kitchen (fresh, local, seasonal). It’s as elemental as cannellini beans with red-pepper flakes, or as elaborate as seared scallops with butternut-squash mash, fried leeks and Portobello, and truffled pumpkin seeds. KF HARRIS GRILL. 5747 Ellsworth Ave., Shadyside. 412-362-5273. A neighborhood bar and grill (with two outdoor patios) where fun is as important as the fresh food and the cold beer. What else to make of a place that serves “Britney Spears” (chicken tenders

restaurant, but this is Sichuan cuisine that rises above its peers with food that’s well cooked, expertly seasoned and fearlessly spicy. The less-typical entrees include cumin mutton, dan dan noodles, tea-smoked duck and Chendu fried dry hot chicken. JF NOLA ON THE SQUARE. 24 Market Square, Downtown. 412-471-9100. Offering a boldly refined take on straight-up, traditional New Orleans food, NOLA’s menu is an invitation to kick back, relax and savor the flavors: cheesy griddle grits with a chunky tomato sauce and green beans; oyster stew; and catfish strips paired with spicy papaya. KE PASTITSIO. 3716 Butler St., Lawrenceville. 412-586-7656. This tiny storefront café boasts a Greek deli, complete with a steam table and a display cooler with salads. Its namesake bakednoodle casserole is a winner, but much of the menu changes daily according to what’s fresh. J

E2 {CP FILE PHOTO BY HEATHER MULL} MEDITERRANO. 2193 Babcock Blvd., North Hills. 412-822-8888. This Greek estiatorio offers hearty, homestyle fresh fare in a casual, yet refined, setting. Salads, appetizers (many of them lessfamiliar) and casseroles are on offer as well as heartier fare like kalamarakia (octopus), roasted leg of lamb and stuffed tomatoes. LF NEW HOW LEE. 5888 Forbes Ave., Squirrel Hill. 412-422-1888. It’s an oddly signed storefront

PIACQUADIO’S. 300 Mount Lebanon Blvd., Mount Lebanon. 412-745-3663. There’s still pleasure to be had in old-fashioned breaded chicken and veal, served up at this classic Italian-American restaurant. Indulge in old-school comfort foods, such as manicotti (made with crepes) and beans and greens (with sausage), as well as chicken and pastas specials. KE PLUM PAN-ASIAN KITCHEN. 5996 Penn Circle South, East Liberty. 412-363-7586. The swanky space incorporates a dining room, sushi bar and cocktail nook. The pan-Asian menu consists mostly of well-known — and elegantly presented — dishes such as lo mein, seafood hot pot, Thai curries and basil stir-fries. Entrées are

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Wilkins Twp. @ Penn Center • 412-829-3900

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CONTINUES ON PG. 24

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900 Western Ave. North side 412-224-2163

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DINING OUT, CONTINUED FROM PG. 23

J.W. Hall’s Steak and Seafood Inn {CP FILE PHOTO BY HEATHER MULL} reasonably priced, so splurge on a signature cocktail or house-made dessert. KE POINT BRUGGE CAFÉ. 401 Hastings St., Point Breeze. 412-441-3334. This cozy neighborhood bistro reflects a concerted effort to translate the European neighborhood café — warm, welcoming, unpretentious yet delicious — to Pittsburgh. Despite bits of Asian fusion, the selections are classic Low Country fare such as Belgian beef stewed with beer, and Italian influences in risotto, sausage and polenta. KE

flavors are numerous Asianinspired dishes, such as soup made from kabocha pumpkin. From po’boy oyster appetizers to crab cakes and over-sized short ribs, each dish is carefully conceived and prepared. KE UNION PIG AND CHICKEN. 220 N. Highland Ave., East Liberty. 412-363-7675. This lively familystyle BBQ venue hews closely to tradition. The smoked meats (ribs, brisket, pork shoulder and chicken) are “dry” (with sauces at table), and the sides are wellprepared classics: mac-and-cheese, baked beans, collard greens and coleslaw. Prices are higher than a roadside stand, but the quality is top-notch. KE

RED ORCHID. 5439 Babcock Blvd., West View. 412-837-2527. This cozy, family-run Thai restaurant offers a selection of mostly triedVIVO KITCHEN. 432 Beaver St., and-true cuisine (salads, rice and Sewickley. 412-259-8945. The noodle dishes, and curries), as well fare is contemporary American as chef’s specials, many involving with a vaguely European accent, tilapia filets. “Tulip dumplings” featuring elegantly simple and Thai toast make for excellent preparations of elemental, starters, and the kitchen straightforward shows skill in balancing ingredients, such as the flavors of more roasted mushrooms complex curries and with gorgonzola or meat entrees. KF . www per scallops with blooda p ty ci pgh m orange sauce. Flavorings SOUTH SIDE .co such as lemon, garlic and BARBECUE COMPANY. fennel reflect the kitchen’s 75 S. 17th St. South Side. Mediterranean heritage. LE 412-381-4566. Graduating from a food truck, this venue offers WAFFLES, INCAFFEINATED. barbecued meat — enormous 1224 Third Ave., New Brighton wings, St. Louis-style ribs, and (724-359-4841) and 2517 E. Carson pulled pork and chicken, also St., South Side (412-301-1763). available as sandwiches. The The fresh-made waffles here are adventurous can try the “bar-ba marvelous foil for sweet and cone,” a waffle cone filled with savory toppings. Sweet options mac-and-cheese, pulled pork and include the Funky Monkey slaw, topped with sauce. KE (chocolate chips, bananas, peanut butter and chocolate sauce). TRAM’S KITCHEN. 4050 Penn The Breakfast Magic has bacon, Ave., Bloomfield. 412-682-2688. cheddar and green onions inside, This tiny family-run storefront topped with a fried egg and sour café packs in the regulars. cream. Or customize your waffles Most begin their meal with with a dizzying array of mix-ins. J an order of fresh spring rolls, before moving on to authentic YAMA. 538 Third St., Beaver. preparations of pho, noodle 724-774-5998. This Japanese bowls and fried-rice dishes. The menu is small, but the atmosphere restaurant offers familiar favorites such as tempura, sushi and is lively and inviting. JF teriyaki, but takes an artistic approach to authentic cuisine. TWISTED THISTLE. 127 Market Thus fried gyoza dumplings are St., Leechburg. 724-236-0450. This garnished with a small tumblecozy restaurant, set in a restored weed of finely grated carrot, and 1902 hotel, offers above-average an octopus salad is graced with fare, reasonably priced. Alongside cucumber matchsticks. KF the contemporary American

FULL LIST ONLINE

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

LOCAL

“THE GROUP HAD A REALLY STRONG IMPROVISING CHEMISTRY.”

BEAT

{BY ALEX GORDON}

The roots of Carol Blaze, the one-man rock project by A.T. Vish, date back to his days as the drummer of Lowsunday. He pins it to around the year 2000, when he started recording atmospheric interludes to be played between songs or as pre-show loops at their gigs. Lowsunday ended in 2001, but Vish continued to compose in that vein, accumulating a mass of projects under the name Carol Blaze. In June, Vish self-released The Wolf of Vienna, a collection of rock songs built on the spacey foundations of his earlier projects. The finished songs are far from what you might consider “atmospheric,” but Vish’s aesthetic is all about that clash of ambience and structure. “I’m a huge Peter Gabriel fan. If you strip out all the rock stuff in Peter Gabriel’s songs, you always get down to this atmospheric dreamscape,” says Vish. “That’s sort of what my stuff is like. If you took off the guitars and the drums, it would just be something you could stare at the lights [to] for an hour.” This week, Vish is rehearsing for a line of upcoming shows, including a date at Club Café on Feb. 23. He’s performing solo with a backing track, which can be tricky when you’re working with songs this layered, and even trickier when the songs were written and rewritten over 16 years. “It’s so hard to fit 16 years into one interview,” says Vish. Agreed. Vish has quietly and notso-quietly maintained a prolific output throughout his career. He played drums for local productions of Hedwig and The Angry Inch and Without You; performed with Thickhead Grin, in addition to Lowsunday; and his songs have a consistent presence on the soundtracks of TV shows, including Pawn Stars and Pros vs. Joes. But for 2016, Vish’s main focus is Carol Blaze and sharing The Wolf of Vienna with the world. “At this point in my life, I’m done wanting to be a rock star. I don’t care about that,” he says. “For me now, it’s about sharing the music and just having some kind of feedback, feeling some connectedness, feeling relevant.” ALEXGORDON@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

CAROL BLAZE with MASS GOTHIC, MAZED. 8 p.m. Tue., Feb. 23. Club Café, 56 S. 12th St., South Side. 412-431-4950 or www.clubcafelive.com N E W S

A.T. Vish {PHOTO COURTESY OF A.T. VISH}

LONE WOLF

THREE’S COMPANY {BY MIKE SHANLEY}

{PHOTO COURTESY OF PAOLO SORIANI / ECM RECORDS}

From left, Mat Maneri, Craig Taborn and Ches Smith

ACK IN 2014, when reporting on the

Winter Jazzfest in New York City for City Paper, I pondered whether our town would give a warm reception to percussionist Ches Smith’s trio with pianist Craig Taborn and violist Mat Maneri. Smith is no stranger to Pittsburgh, having visited with intense pop outﬁt Xiu Xiu, as well as Good for Cows, a duo with bassist Devin Hoff that comes closer to metal. But neither of those groups touches on the other side of Smith’s career: He’s also one of the busiest drummers in modern jazz. Among his more high-proﬁle gigs in the latter category is a spot in saxophonist Tim Berne’s quartet Snake Oil, which has released three albums on the prestigious ECM label. Now Pittsburgh has a chance to witness a blend of abstract composition and group improvisation when the trio,

who just released The Bell on ECM, comes to town for an intimate performance. The group’s instrumentation promises something of a stark soundscape. Taborn’s piano (or, in the case of the trio’s Pittsburgh show, electric piano) sometimes acts as the

CHES SMITH / CRAIG TABORN / MAT MANERI 7 p.m. Thu., Feb. 25. City of Asylum, 330 Sampsonia Way, North Side. Free, RSVP required. 412-323-0278 or www.cityofasylum.org

bonding element, playing ostinatos while his mates roam freely. Maneri is just as likely to run his instrument through a series of effects pedals — including one that drops the pitch to bass level — as to pluck

and bow cleanly. Smith straddles melody and percussives by playing vibraphone, trap kit and tympani, sometimes all within the same piece. When the trio came together three years ago, its debut performance was created spontaneously. Since each member has a number of different projects occurring simultaneously, no long-term plans were set. “The group had a really strong improvising chemistry. It was super fun, right off the bat,” Smith said, following a performance at the 2016 Winter Jazzfest, in January. “They’re so busy, especially Craig. I just [thought], ‘I’m not going to start a band with them. OK, let’s never do that again.’” That changed when he mentioned the group to Manfred Eicher, the head of ECM, who was interested making an album. CONTINUES ON PG. 26

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At Winter Jazzfest, the group’s interaction still seemed predicated on free improvisation. After tolling a bell fastened to one of his cymbals, Smith began playing the vibes with mallets. But he quickly brandished a bow, and conjured a rich drone out of the vibes. After a few minutes, he and Maneri created such a loud wave of sound, they nearly drowned out Taborn, who literally leapt off his bench at one point as he flew across the keys. But when the dynamics shifted, the three-way conversation came together for a composed section, smoothing the lines between written and spontaneous interplay. Smith says many of the pieces on The Bell give the trio room to stretch out before they focus on the composition. “I’m encouraging us to approach even the written stuff as an improvisation,” he says. This is noticeable in the title track, where open space is granted as much room as filled space, and things take shape when Taborn locks into a loopy piano line in the final minutes. The title, “Isn’t It Over?” seems to refer to the way the 13-minute track changes shape three times before ending. In preparation for a performance, the group doesn’t discuss anything before hitting the stage. “In this band, it’s only a trio. Everyone’s aware of all the possible parameters, so I’d much rather leave it completely open,” Smith says. “[The implication] might be something like, ‘Oh, we will get through [the] letter of this tune, at some point.’ And then we just kind of listen. I really try not to have an agenda or even a preference as to when it comes because some great stuff can happen. I definitely don’t have to approve everything that’s going on. They have more experience than I do.” Growing up in Sacramento, Calif., Smith started off listening to classic rock and punk rock. “I didn’t understand what jazz was at all, so I was turned off by it,” he says. “It was based on a peer-group thing. I hung out with the metalheads and the stoners, even though I wasn’t a metalhead or a stoner. And then there were the [school] band guys. I had too bad of an attitude.” That changed when a drum teacher, who also had an appreciation for punk, turned him onto Tony Williams, who drummed with Miles Davis and later started Lifetime, one of the first bands to successfully blend hard rock and jazz. Smith also discovered John Coltrane’s lateperiod recordings, which invited a more multi-directional approach to drumming. “I listened to it and I had no idea what was going on. But I was kind of attracted to the sound,” he says. “I found out, oh, jazz is really subversive music, actually. Also, it’s just amazing music.” INF O @PGH C IT YPAPE R . C O M

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

ON THE RECORD

with Brian Case {BY IAN THOMAS}

Disappears

Disappears’ Irreal is an exercise in subtle menace. It’s a sound that echoes swaths of David Bowie’s output, such as 1977’s Low. In 2014, Disappears recorded a live version of Low as part of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s David Bowie Is exhibition, and will perform it again Tuesday at The Andy Warhol Museum. Frontman Brian Case shared some thoughts on the material via email. LOW IS SOMETHING OF A MINOR ENTRY IN BOWIE’S DISCOGRAPHY. WHAT DREW THE BAND TO IT? The whole spirit and story behind Bowie’s “Berlin” period is exciting … It’s not something you’d ever hear of these days — a superstar and his friend moving to another country to become anonymous and get clean, all the while recording what turned out to be five albums total? Amazing — and the music and process are still completely fresh. HOW DID YOU DISCOVER LOW? I heard it through a friend; she played the B-side every night when going to sleep and would listen to it to calm down. She was trying to create a new style of playing bass at the time, and I think this was a record she would listen to to get inspired. HOW DOES THAT RECORD INFORM WHAT YOU’RE DOING WITH DISAPPEARS? It has informed us, but it’s hard to say exactly how. We’ve spent a lot of time playing those songs. … We’re definitely making a record that has straightforward moments as well as a pretty heavy experimental tip, so at least we learned something. INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

DISAPPEARS 8 p.m. Tue., Feb. 23. The Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky St., North Side. 412-237-8300 or www.warhol.org

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25

V D AY P G H C A M PA I G N PERFORMED BY THE PROVIDERS OF MAGEE-WOMENS HOSPITAL

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{PHOTO COURTESY OF MATADOR RECORDS}

True believer: Kurt Vile

MOVING UP {BY BRIAN CONWAY} KURT VILE HAS been off the grid.

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

He speaks by phone from Coles Bay, Tasmania, where he, his wife and two kids are “just chillin’ out” after a few days in the rainforest. They’re not ready to fly back to Philly yet, so they keep pushing back the flight. He and his band, the Violators, have just wrapped up the Australia and New Zealand leg of their tour in support of Vile’s new album, b’lieve i’m goin down... It’s his most successful album to date, widely praised even though it didn’t necessarily tear up the charts. (It peaked at No. 40 on the Billboard chart.) Asked about the album, Vile starts and stops before settling upon exactly what he wants to say: “I think, in my head, I thought it would blow up in a similar way that friends of mine’s —” “I feel like I’m never gonna have —” “I’m always gonna have my own sort of rhythm,” he says. “It’s like, the record did well right away. They’re always sort of a grower, though.” Even if the album didn’t catch fire commercially, the lead single, “Pretty Pimpin’,” provided Vile with his first crossover hit. “Weird people like middle-aged stewardesses will sometimes ask who I am,” he laughs, “and they’re like, ‘Yeah, that song, “Pretty Pimpin.’” It just makes me laugh how a song can become sort of a commercial-radio constant.” The track is a stomper. From the downhome acoustic pluck to the ambling electric-guitar work to the self-reflective lyrics, it nicely encompasses most of Vile’s idio-

syncrasies to date. “I like the idea of having a real hit,” he says. “Maybe I’ll just start making that my goal. Actual real hits on the radio! That would be cool.” Vile says time off from the road like this is “the best time in the world” for him to think about music. Even though he’s on tour through the summer, he hopes to book studio time to lay down some tracks while they’re still fresh in his mind. “I think [the next album] is going to be a continuation of like, this honest American thing,” says Vile, who also mentions he still has a bunch of songs left over from the b’lieve sessions.

KURT VILE AND THE VIOLATORS

WITH XYLOURIS WHITE 8 p.m. Mon., Feb. 22. Mr. Small’s Theatre, 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. $20. 412-821-4447 or www.mrsmalls.com

“I think there’s always going to be this continuation,” he adds, “and this evolution, that you can see per record. It’s always going to sound new, but it’s always going to sound like this logical continuation, throughout eternity.” Asked if he feels like a bona ﬁde rock star now — “Kurt Vile” was an answer on Jeopardy! last week — Vile says the deﬁnition of “rock star” has changed in the Internet age, and that it’s not like he’s Neil Young, age 24, with a ranch and a bunch of hangers-on. “It just means that people listen to my music, and at my gigs, they might see me go into the door and ask me for my autograph. I’ve come to terms with that. It just, it makes me feel good about my job, like I should keep doing it, you know?” I N F O@ P G H C I T Y PA P E R. C OM

CRITICS’ PICKS “I think the Italian term is big-ass orchestra.”- Stewart Copeland Pittsburgh City Paper, 2/10/16

TEEN {PHOTO COURTESY OF HANNAH WHITAKER}

PHOTO CREDIT: JOSUÉ JACOB [WIKIMEDIA COMMONS]

STEWART

FEATURING:

ANDREW REAMER, PERCUSSION JEREMY BRANSON, PERCUSSION CHRISTOPHER ALLEN, PERCUSSION EDWARD STEPHAN, TIMPANI

COPELAND E OF TH

POLICE

PERFORMING WITH THE PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Pre-Concert Meet & Greet with Stewart Copeland!

This Friday, Feb. 19 at 8:00 p.m. This Sunday, Feb. 21 at 2:30 p.m.

One hour before each performance free to all ticketholders!

Marcelo Lehninger, conductor Stewart Copeland, percussion Copeland: Concerto No. 1 for Trapset, Three Percussionists and Orchestra, “The Tyrant’s Crush” (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra commission/world premiere)

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 1

[SYNTH ROCK] + THU., FEB. 18

[CLASSIC ROCK] + FRI., FEB. 19

Canadians-turned-Brooklynites TEEN are playing at Club Café tonight, with special guests Spacefish and Wayne Beck. TEEN’s single “Tokyo,” from its new album, Love Yes, is a confident number driven by Gary Numan-esque synths and a lot of attitude. I hesitate to use the word “swaggering,” but it really feels apt here. When vocalist Teeny Lieberson sings “fooling the Madonna,” she’s not talking about the pop singer, but TEEN’s music has the same effortless cool and won’t-leaveyour-head catchiness as a song by Ciccone — although Kate Bush is probably a more accurate comparison. Andrew Woehrel 8 p.m. 56 S. 12th St., South Side. $10-12. 412-431-4950 or www.clubcafe live.com

Locals The Granati Brothers have been playing together since the ’70s, and tonight they’ll celebrate the release of The Show, their first new record in more than a decade. The band, which toured with Van Halen in the ’80s, is a quintessential classic-rock band, complete with raspy vocals and rock ’n’ roll guitar and piano, in the vein of heavyweights like Joe Cocker and Bob Seger. Lincoln Park Rock School alumni, and Beaver County’s The Brighton Boys will open tonight’s show, which is also a benefit for the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center. AW 7:30 p.m. 1 Lincoln Park, Midland, Pa. $10. 724-576-4644 or www. lincolnparkarts.org

[APPALACHIAN SOUL] + FRI., FEB. 19

In a press release announcing Scheherazade, the first studio album in 10 years from Kentucky alt-country [POST-PUNK] + FRI., FEB. 19 band Freakwater, the band’s sound Luis Vasquez, the is described as one-man post-punk Freakwater “Appalachian Soul.” band known as {PHOTO COURTESY OF TIM FURNISH} I’ve heard a lot of The Soft Moon, terms to describe may not often be all kinds of music — compared to Trent Reznor, but it’s not a stretch to imagine The Soft especially those in the roots/Americana genre — but this one was new to me. But after getting Moon as a new version of Nine into the record, from the twangy, pained vocals Inch Nails. Both sing with hushed, throughof Janet Bean and Catherine Irwin to the gritted-teeth vocals and deal heavily in arrangement of the string instruments and the dramatic angst. While Reznor was influenced heartbreaking lyrical storytelling, I don’t know by industrial rock like Skinny Puppy, Vasquez how else I’d describe it. Bean and Irwin have takes inspiration from New Order and Joy been singing together since 1985, and in FreakDivision. Vasquez may hail from California, water since 1989. Along with longtime bass but his music has little in the way of sunny player David Gay, the band comes to Club Café optimism. Tonight, The Soft Moon will perform tonight to perform songs off its new Bloodshot at Cattivo, with support from The Gotobeds, Records release. Charlie Deitch 7 p.m. 56 S. The Garment District and Silence. AW 9 p.m. 146 44th St., Lawrenceville. $10-12. 412-687-2157 12th St., South Side. $12-14. 412-431-4950 or or www.cattivopgh.com www.clubcafelive.com

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WINDBORNE’S

THE MUSIC OF

This Saturday, Feb. 20 at 8:00 p.m.

Brent Havens, conductor • Brody Dolyniuk, vocalist The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and a full rock band perform Led Zeppelin’s classic songs like “Stairway to Heaven,” “Kashmir,” “Black Dog” and more in a brilliant combination of passion and power! MEDIA SPONSOR

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

MANFRED HONECK, MUSIC DIRECTOR JENNIFER KOH, VIOLINIST WILLIAM D. CABALLERO, HORN GEORGE VOSBURGH, TRUMPET CRAIG KNOX, TUBA

SATURDAY, SATURD DAY FE FEB. EB 27 27, 2016 • 8 8:00 00 P P.M. M CARNEGIE MUSIC HALL, OAKLAND

ORDER YOUR TICKETS NOW!

*GKP\ *CNN $QZ 1HƂEG | 412.392.4900 | pittsburghsymphony.org

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

412.316.3388 (FAX) + 412.316.3342 X165 (PHONE)

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

ROCK/POP THU 18 CLUB CAFE. TEEN w/ Spadefish, Wayne Beck. South Side. 412-431-4950. JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE. 28 North. Warrendale. 724-799-8333. MOONDOG’S. Nick Moss Band. Blawnox. 412-828-2040. PALACE THEATRE. Abba Mania. Greensburg. 724-836-8000.

FRI 19 CATTIVO. The Soft Moon, The Gotobeds, Garment District, Silence. Lawrenceville. 412-687-2157. CLUB CAFE. The Real New Fall, The Pressure, Love Dumpster. South Side. 412-431-4950. GOOSKI’S. Cavern, Iron Jaw Guru, Gran Gila. Polish Hill. 412-681-1658. JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE. Alakazam. Warrendale. 724-799-8333. LATITUDE 360. Totally 80s. North Fayette. 412-693-5555. LINDEN GROVE. Jukebox Band. Castle Shannon. 2/11/16 4:27 PM 412-882-8687. MEADOWS CASINO. The Hawkeyes. Washington. 724-503-1200. MOONDOG’S. SPUDS. Blawnox. 412-828-2040. PITTSBURGH WINERY. Boulevard of the Allies w/ For Dizzier Heights. Strip District. 412-566-1000. SHELBY’S STATION. Dave & Andrea Iglar Duo. Bridgeville. 412-319-7938. STAGE AE. Zoso - The Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience. North Side. 412-229-5483.

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Nursery, The Classifieds, Vatanda. Bloomfield. 412-345-1059. OAKS THEATER. Totally 80s. Oakmont. 412-828-6322. THE R BAR. The Rumpshakers. Dormont. 412-942-0882. SMILING MOOSE. Guttermouth, The Cryptics, Crooked Cobras, w/ Cumplete Basturds. South Side. 412-431-4668. THUNDERBIRD CAFE. Clock Reads w/ Chillent. Lawrenceville. 412-682-0177.

SUN 21 CLUB CAFE. Swimming In Dark Waters: Other Voices of the American Experience Rhiannon Giddens, Bhi Bhiman, & Leyla McCalla. South Side. 412-431-4950. HOWLERS. Hudson Falcons, Crisis In America & Filthy Low Downs. Bloomfield. 412-682-0320. MR. SMALLS THEATER. Born Of Osiris w/ Veil Of Maya, After The Burial, Erra, Bad Omens. Millvale. 412-821-4447.

THE R BAR. Midnite Horns. Dormont. 412-942-0882. ROCKS LANDING BAR & GRILLE. Tony Campbell & the Jazz Surgery. McKees Rocks. 412-875-5809.

MON 22 JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE. Balcony Big Band. Warrendale. 724-799-8333. MR. SMALLS THEATER. Kurt Vile & the Violators w/ Xylouris White. Millvale. 412-821-4447. THUNDERBIRD CAFE. Butler Street Sessions. Lawrenceville. 412-682-0177.

TUE 23 ALTAR BAR. Ron Pope & the Nighthawks. Strip District. 412-263-2877. ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM. Sound Series: Disappears. The first set feat. unreleased, original material & the second set the band performs David Bowie’s 1977 album, “Low”. North Side. 412-237-8300.

MP 3 MONDAY THE FREEDOM BAND

SAT 20

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH

COSTUME PARTY $2.50 BUD LIGHTS + $3 YAGER

140 S. 18TH STREET | 412-488-0777 | WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/JEKYLHYDESOUTHSIDE 32

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

DOWNEY’S HOUSE. The Hawkeyes. Robinson. 412-489-5631. HARD ROCK CAFE. Eagles Tribute. Station Square. 412-481-7625. THE HOB NOB LOUNGE. Kings Ransom. West Mifflin. 412-461-8541. IRON CREEK BAR & GRILLE. Dave & Andrea Iglar Duo. Bridgeville. 412-564-5292. JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE. Fabulous Booze Brothers. Warrendale. 724-799-8333. KENDREW’S. The GRID. Aliquippa. 724-375-5959. MOONDOG’S. The Turbosonics w/ Slim Forsythe. Blawnox. 412-828-2040. THE MR. ROBOTO PROJECT. Black Souled Pope, Skuzzy Puppy

Each week we bring you a song by a local artist. This week’s track comes from Pittsburgh’s longrunning reggae outfit The Freedom Band. Stream or download “No Confederate Nation,” from the new record Higher, for free at FFW>>, the music blog at www.pghcitypaper.com.

EARLY WARNINGS

WED 24 CLUB CAFE. Andy Frasco & the U.N. w/ Hedonism Bots, Memphis Hill. South Side. 412-431-4950. JERGEL’S RHYTHM GRILLE. Shari Richards. Warrendale. 724-799-8333. MR. SMALLS THEATER. Where’s The Band? Ft. Chris Conley (Saves The Day), Dan Andriano (Alkaline Trio), Matt Pryor (The Get Up Kids), Anthony Raneri (Bayside), Andy Jackson (Hot Rod Circuit). Millvale. 412-821-4447. PITTSBURGH WINERY. Laney Jones w/ Kelly McCafferty. Strip District. 412-566-1000. STAGE AE. Bullet For My Valentine w/ Asking Alexandria, While She Sleeps. North Side. 412-229-5483.

{PHOTO COURTESY OF STEPHANIE GRIFFIN}

CLUB CAFE. Mass Gothic w/ Mazed, Carol Blaze. South Side. 412-431-4950.

TUE 23 THUNDERBIRD CAFE. Space Exchange w/Throckmorton 4. Lawrenceville. 412-682-0177.

Florist

ACOUSTIC THU 18 DOWNEY’S HOUSE. Brian Belonzi. Robinson. 412-489-5631.

FRI 19 {SAT., MARCH 05}

Florist Mr. Roboto Project, 5106 Penn Ave., Bloomfield {MON., MAY 09}

Del the Funky Homosapien

FRI 19

SAT 20

Altar Bar, 1620 Penn Ave., Strip District {SUN., JULY 03}

Weezer Stage AE, 400 North Shore Drive, North Side

JAZZ

FRI 19

THU 18

MR. SMALLS THEATER. Skate Maloley w/ Derek Luh, EJAAZ. Millvale. 412-821-4447. SMILING MOOSE. The Cornel West Theory, WOLM, Thaylobleu. South Side. 412-431-4668.

TUE 23

FULL LIST ONLINE

BLUES FRI 19

SAT 20

WED 24

THU 18 JAMES STREET GASTROPUB & SPEAKEASY. Gene Stovall’s

N E W S

ATLAS BOTTLE WORKS. The Grifters. Lawrenceville. 412-904-4248. MIXTAPE. Samantha Sears, Tina Eckberg. Garfield. 412-661-1727.

TUE 23 PITTSBURGH WINERY. Heather Maloney w/ Morgan Erina. Strip District. 412-566-1000.

WED 24 ALLEGHENY ELKS LODGE #339. Pittsburgh Banjo Club. Wednesdays. North Side. 412-321-1834. PARK HOUSE. Shelf Life String Band. North Side. 412-224-2273.

REGGAE THU 18

Birthday Performance. North Side. 412-904-3335.

BRILLOBOX. Pandemic: Global Dancehall, Cumbia, Bhangra, Balkan Bass. 10th anniversary party. Bloomfield. 412-621-4900. DIESEL. DJ CK. South Side. 412-431-8800. MR. SMALLS THEATER. LAVA LOUNGE. The Night Bone Thugs-n-Harmony w/ Shift DJs. Obsidian: gothic/ DJ Afterthought. Millvale. industrial dancing. Top 40 Dance 412-821-4447. Party. South Side. 412-431-5282. REMEDY. Push It! DJ Huck Finn, DJ Kelly Fasterchild. Lawrenceville. JAMES STREET 412-781-6771. GASTROPUB & www. per RIVERS CASINO. SPEAKEASY. Jimmy pa pghcitym DJ Digital Dave. .co Adler Band. North Side. North Side. 412-231-7777. 412-904-3335. ROWDY BUCK. Top 40 THUNDERBIRD CAFE. The Dance. South Side. 412-431-2825. Pawnbrokers. Lawrenceville. SPIRIT HALL & LOUNGE. 412-682-0177. DJ Kelly. Tracksploitation. Lawrenceville. 412-586-4441. CLUB CAFE. Red Room Effect, Absolution Key. South Side. SMILING MOOSE. Rock Star 412-431-4950. Karaoke w/ T-MONEY. South Side. PITTSBURGH WINERY. Miss Freddye. 412-431-4668. Strip District. 412-566-1000. SPOON. Spoon Fed. East Liberty. RIVERS CASINO. Boulevard of the 412-362-6001. Blues. North Side. 412-566-4661.

HIP HOP/R&B

WED 24 ANDYS WINE BAR. Judi Figel. Downtown. 412-773-8884.

DJS ANDYS WINE BAR. DJ Malls Spins Vinyl. Downtown. 412-773-8884. ONE 10 LOUNGE. DJ Goodnight, DJ Rojo. Downtown. 412-874-4582. PERLE CHAMPAGNE BAR. Hypnotyza. Downtown. 412-471-2058. RIVERS CASINO. DJ Kingfish. North Side. 412-231-7777. ROWDY BUCK. Top 40 Dance. South Side. 412-431-2825. RUGGER’S PUB. 80s Night w/ DJ Connor. South Side. 412-381-1330.

SUPPER CLUB RESTAURANT. Frank Cunimondo, Patricia Skala. Greensburg. 724-850-7245.

SUN 21 DOMENICO’S RISTORANTE. Jim Adler, Eugene & The Nightcrawlers. Cranberry. 724-776-6455.

TA S T E

ATRIA’S RESTAURANT & TAVERN. The Flow Band Reggae Rockers. North Side. 412-322-1850.

SUN 21 CHATHAM BAROQUE. Shadyside Presbyterian Church, Shadyside. 412-682-4300. COMBINED CHOIRS. Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church, Fox Chapel. 412-396-6083. PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. Stewart Copeland debuts The Tyrant’s Crush,” which showcases the orchestra’s entire percussion & timpani sections on a variety of percussion instruments. Heinz Hall, Downtown. 412-392-4900. RESONANCE WORKS. Evidence of Things Not Seen is a cycle of 36 songs for solo voices & piano, using texts of 24 different poets including Auden, Colette, Whitman, Baudelaire, Yeats, & Wilde. Commissioned in 1997 by the Library of Congress & the New York Festival of Song, this work serves as a summation of Rorem’s work as a composer of art song. The movements are arranged in three groupings, entitled: “Beginnings”, “Middles”, & “Ends”

Rodef Shalom Congregation, Oakland. 412-956-6033.

TUE 23 ADAM LIU & FRIENDS. PNC Recital Hall, Duquesne Univ., Uptown. 412-396-6083.

OTHER MUSIC THU 18 CHATHAM UNIVERSITY EDEN HALL CAMPUS. Eden Hall Bluegrass Jam. All acoustic instruments & ability levels welcome. Eden Hall Lodge dining area. Gibsonia. 412-365-1450. RIVERS CASINO. Mark Ferrari. North Side. 412-231-7777.

FRI 19 RIVERS CASINO. Nieds Hotel Combo. North Side. 412-231-7777.

SAT 20 PNC RECITAL HALL, DUQUESNE UNIV. Songs Remembered & Forgotten. Pittsburgh Song Collaborative performance feat. artistic director/pianist Dr. Benjamin Binder w/ soprano Sari Gruber. Uptown. 412-396-6083.

SUN 21 HEINZ CHAPEL. Heinz Chapel Chamber Choir Festival. Three high school chamber choirs from the region will perform several a cappella works ranging in style. www.music.pitt.edu. Oakland. 412-624-4157.

CAPRI PIZZA AND BAR. Bombo Claat w/ VYBZ Machine Intl Sound System. East Liberty. 412-362-1250.

SAT 20 ROCKS LANDING BAR & GRILLE. The Flow Band. McKees Rocks. 412-875-5809.

FRI 19 ANDYS WINE BAR. Anqwenique Wingfield. Downtown. 412-773-8800. GRILLE ON SEVENTH. Tony Campbell & Howie Alexander. Downtown. 412-391-1004. JAMES STREET GASTROPUB & SPEAKEASY. Don Aliquo Duo. North Side. 412-904-3335. SWEETWATER CENTER FOR THE ARTS. Max Leake Trio. Sewickley. 412-741-4405.

SAT 20 ANDYS WINE BAR. Etta Cox. Downtown. 412-773-8800. FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble. Shadyside. 412-682-0591. JAMES STREET GASTROPUB & SPEAKEASY. Travlin’. North Side. 412-904-3335. MANCHESTER CRAFTSMEN’S GUILD. Mack Avenue Super Band. North Side. 412-322-0800. THE MONROEVILLE RACQUET CLUB. Jazz Bean Live. Every Saturday, a different band. Monroeville. 412-728-4155.

PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. Windborne’s Music of Led Zeppelin. Heinz Hall, Downtown. 412-392-4900. WESTMORELAND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. Presents Shakespeare in Love. Palace Theatre, Greensburg. 724-836-8000.

FRI 19

ANDYS WINE BAR. Tania Grubbs. Downtown. 412-773-8800. DUQUESNE UNIVERSITY. Jazz Ensemble. Dr. Thomas D. Pappert Center for Performance & Innovation. Uptown. 412-396-6083.

M U S I C

SAT 20

COUNTRY THU 18 ELWOOD’S PUB. The Fiddlers. Rural Ridge. 724-265-1181.

FRI 19 CLUB CAFE. Freakwater w/ Jaye Jayle. South Side. 412-431-4950.

SAT 20 ELWOOD’S PUB. The Agway Shoplifters. Rural Ridge. 724-265-1181. MEADOWS CASINO. Country Music Fest. ft. The Stickers. Washington. 724-503-1200.

CLASSICAL FRI 19 PITTSBURGH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. Stewart Copeland debuts The Tyrant’s Crush,” which showcases the orchestra’s entire percussion & timpani sections on a variety of percussion instruments. Heinz Hall, Downtown. 412-392-4900.

S C R E E N

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C L A S S I F I E D S

What to do February 17-23

IN PITTSBURGH

WEDNESDAY 17

Masters of Illusion “Believe the Impossible”

MONROEVILLE CONVENTION CENTER Monroeville. Tickets: sportandtravel.com. Through Feb. 21.

8p.m.

31st Annual THE PALACE THEATRE Allegheny Sport, Travel Greensburg. 724-836-8000. & Outdoor Show Tickets: thepalacetheatre.org.

Chuck Ragan & the Camaraderie

REX THEATER South Side. 412-381-6811. All ages show. Tickets: ticketﬂy.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 8p.m.

THURSDAY 18

David Cross “Making America Great Again!” CARNEGIE OF HOMESTEAD MUSIC HALL Munhall. Tickets: ticketﬂy.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 8p.m.

FRIDAY 19

Stewart Copeland Debuts

HEINZ HALL Downtown. 412-392-4900. Tickets: pittsburghsymphony. org. Through Feb. 21.

Aaron Carter

RON POPE + THE NIGHTHAWKS ALTAR BAR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23

HARD ROCK CAFE Station Square. 412-481-ROCK. Tickets: ticketﬂy.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 8p.m.

Ekoostik Hookah

Twelfth Night

REX THEATER South Side. 412-381-6811. Over 21 show. greyareaprod.com. 9p.m.

BYHAM THEATER Downtown. 412-456-6666. Tickets: trustarts.org. Through Feb. 24.

The Granati Brothers

MAINSTAGE THEATER Midland. 724-576-4644. Tickets: lincolnparkarts.org. 7:30p.m.

SOUND SERIES: Disappears THE ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM North Side. Tickets: warhol.org. 8p.m.

Paul Reiser

CARNEGIE OF HOMESTEAD MUSIC HALL Munhall. All ages show. Tickets: ticketﬂy.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 8p.m.

SATURDAY 20 Showcase Noir 2016

AUGUST WILSON CENTER Downtown. 412-456-6666. Free and open to the public. 11a.m.

Normal Ass Beer Fest

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

Joe Badaczewski ALTAR BAR Strip District. 412-263-2877. Over 21 event. Tickets: ticketﬂy.com or 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 5p.m.

SUNDAY 21 Born of Osiris

MR. SMALLS THEATRE MIllvale.

412-821-4447. Tickets: ticketﬂy.com or Tickets: ticketweb.com/opusone. 1-877-4-FLY-TIX. 8p.m. 7p.m.

MONDAY 22 Lee DeWyze / Wakey Wakey

HARD ROCK CAFE Station Square. 412-481-ROCK.

BACKSTAGE BAR AT THEATER SQUARE Downtown. Free and open to the public. 5p.m.

TUESDAY 23

Ron Pope + The Nighthawks

HEINZ HALL Downtown. 412-392-4900. Tickets: pittsburghsymphony.org. Through Feb. 28.

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

Blue Man Group

AMERICAN HORROR STORY

MAGGIE SMITH IS ON TOP OF HER GAME, BUT WHEN IS SHE NOT?

{BY AL HOFF} Writer-director Robert Eggers’ psychological horror film The Witch takes place in 1630, among the earliest settlers of New England. There, a family of immigrant Puritans, headed by father William (Ralph Ineson), is banished from the small settlement, and heads out into the wilderness. They establish a hardscrabble farm on the edge of the woods, but all is not well for William, his wife, Katherine (Kate Dickie, from Game of Thrones), and their five children. There is a tragedy of mysterious circumstances, the crops fail and winter is coming.

LIFE’S TRAVELS

Spooked: Anya Taylor-Joy

CP APPROVED

Living in isolation, the family fractures and its members grow variously mad, fearful, resentful and angry. The two eldest children — Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw) — venture, against orders, into the woods, which do indeed prove terrifying. Eggers’s film is a slow-burner, full of tension, long silences and bleak scenery, with its horror by way of human frailty more than jump-scares. The actors easily sell this intense tale, even through confusing old-style English; Taylor-Joy is particularly good as the focal point of the family’s anxieties. The film’s credits note that the story is adapted from period myths and fables. From our perspective, one can imagine how easily the privation and isolation of such settlements — already steeped in religious myth — could conjure the supernatural. It’s here that the individual, stripped of traditional support systems (family, community, the comfort of religion), proves ill-equipped to deal with the new world and whatever terrors it harbors. Is there really a supernatural evil force lurking in the woods? The film gives credence that there is, but there is also a fair argument that any such witch is just a convenient manifestation — a comprehensible vessel to contain and explain all the awfulness of this life. After such a lengthy and intriguing build-up, I’m not quite sure that The Witch sticks the landing in its last few minutes, but that wasn’t a deal-breaker for me. The preceding 85 minutes of dread, creepy woods and people losing their minds is a decent horror-film experience.

{BY AL HOFF}

Uneasy riders: Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings

HIS “MOSTLY true story” begins in 1970, in the Camden Town area of London. Playwright (and confirmed bachelor) Alan Bennett (Alex Jennings) moves into the up-and-coming boho neighborhood, and discovers a fixture on his street: a homeless woman known as Mary (Maggie Smith), who lives in a van. Mary is just barely tolerated by the residents; they are proud of being liberal and can’t risk complaining too much. Bennett proves more of a pushover, and in time, Mary and her van are ensconced in his driveway, “just until you get sorted out.” And there she stays for 15 years. Nicholas Hytner’s film The Lady in the Van is an adaptation of Bennett’s 1999 play. And here, Bennett is portrayed as two halves by Jennings: Bennett the reluctant participant in Mary’s life, and Bennett the playwright, who mines these experiences for marketable material. The tale is further broadened by contrasting Bennett’s caretaking of Mary with that of his elderly mother, who,

unlike Mary, is clean and properly behaved, but sinking into dementia. Bennett also gradually susses out the origins of Mary’s mysterious tics and asides (she speaks ﬂuent French, has an aversion to music and a streak of religious mania).

THE LADY IN THE VAN DIRECTED BY: Nicholas Hytner STARRING: Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings Starts Fri., Feb. 19. AMC Loews, Manor

CP APPROVED One might fear that a feel-good “inspired by” dramedy about a nervous Nellie of a playwright who forms an unlikely, but ultimately satisfying, bond with a mentally ill homeless woman could easily tip into sentimentality, preachiness or both. Fortunately, Lady in the Van narrowly avoids those traps, while still delivering the sort of wry but cozy British vibe that keeps the arthouse matinees viable.

Jennings is good, and has the trickier role as both the story’s tour guide and the generous straight man to Smith’s livelier, funnier part. And Maggie Smith — the actress is on top of her game, but when is she not? The 82-year-old Smith has been running up the score in her golden years, joining the Harry Potter Cinematic Universe, bringing needed heft to the Exotic Marigold Hotel and simply owning TV’s Downton Abbey as the Dowager Countess. Indeed, fans of Smith’s Countess will ﬁnd analogues in Mary — the sharp tongue, withering looks and imperiousness in spite of facts. (In one aggrieved moment, Mary declares with certainty that if “I went south of the river, I’d be greeted with open arms.”) But Smith also delivers — with her expressive face, and from beneath Mary’s many protective layers — the humanity of a woman, battered by circumstances and tragedies, but still gamely and ﬁercely going on. In her own time, in her own way and, yes, with some assistance grudgingly provided by Bennett and accepted by Mary.

AHOFF@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

N E W S

A H OF F @ P G HC I T Y PA P E R. C OM

TA S T E

M U S I C

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ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

ANNIE AWARD WINNER ®

FILM CAPSULES

BEST INDEPENDENT FEATURE

“

THE BEST

OF THE YEAR! -INDIEWIRE

A COLORFUL AND

“

JOURNEY!

”

A film by

alÊ abreu a EXCLUSIVE ENGAGEMENT HARRIS THEATRE

STARTS FRIDAY, 2/19

= CITY PAPER APPROVED

NEW THIS WEEK

ANIMATED FILM”

STIRRING ANIMATED

809 LIBERTY AVENUE (412) 682-4111 PITTSBURGH

BOY AND THE WORLD. In this Brazilian animated feature from Alê Abreu, a young boy from a small farm sets out for the big city searching for his father, who has left to seek work. In his travels, he finds delights small and grand, as well as helpful people. But he also finds tough times, especially for workers, whether employed by giant agriculture entities or toiling in factories. The charms of the city — the light and sounds — are underscored with darker aspects, such as pollution and a blind emphasis on consumption. The film is part whimsical child’s fable, and part cautionary tale about eco-issues. Boy and the World was nominated for Best Animated Film at this year’s Oscars, and it is truly a visual spectacle. Wildly colorful, it combines childlike drawings and kaleidoscopic effects with patterns and even collage. It is dialogue-free, its story told through visuals, sounds and music. Starts Fri., Feb. 19. Harris (Al Hoff)

HOW TO BE SINGLE. Four ladies take on the challenge of being single in New York City in this mish-mash of a comedy directed by Christian Ditter. It’s an ensemble affair whose pieces never effectively knit together: Dakota Johnson wants to get back with her ex; Leslie Mann decides out of the blue to have a baby; Alison Brie is working on a dating app; and Rebel Wilson is all hit-it-and-quit-it. The title is confusing, since most of the plot’s energy is expended on dating, even serious dating. It’s as though the

Boy and the World state of “single” is a bad dress you’ve either got to ditch ASAP, or pretend you like and wear anyhow. Having R-rated jokes and Rebel Wilson fall down repeatedly cannot save this: Face it, this film is a bad date, and deserves to be alone. (AH)

CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA. Olivier Assayas’ drama about a middle-aged actress considering a new role, her age and her legacy is a fascinating metaexamination of the same. Starring Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart. Feb. 19-22 and Feb. 24. Row House Cinema

RACE. Stephan James stars as track athlete Jesse Owens, who fought racism in America to make it to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where he confronted Nazism. Stephen Hopkins directs this bio-pic. Starts Fri., Feb. 19

DOPE. A high school nerd and his buddies get caught up inadvertently in some drug hustle, in Rick Famuyiwa’s fresh comedy. Feb. 19-22 and Feb. 24-25. Row House Cinema

RISEN. What really happened after Jesus left the tomb? Kevin Reynolds’ Biblical tale spotlights the search for the missing messiah. Joseph Fiennes stars. Starts Fri., Feb. 19

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. Kinetic (and thoughtful) actioner that revisits the 1980s dystopian franchise, now with a woman at the wheel. Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy star in George Miller’s film. Feb. 1921 and Feb. 24-25. Row House Cinema

SNOWTIME! During a school break, the kids in one snowbound town stage a huge snowball fight. This Canadian digitally animated family film is directed by Jean-François Pouliot and François Brisson, and adapted from an earlier work, The Dog Who Stopped the War. It’s aimed at kids, with lots of frantic action and silly jokes. It’s rooted in the small realities of kids’ friendships, but also finds space for some fantastical elements, like the properties of a giant snow fort. It ends up with a life lesson that is a bit of downer, and might be upsetting for more sensitive kids. Starts Fri., Feb. 19. AMC Loews (AH)

in Omnimax

WE ARE F***ING TWISTED SISTER. You won’t hear Twisted Sister sing its mega hit “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” Or see any of those 1980s MTV glory days. Or hear frontman Dee Snider testify before Congress in the infamous Parents Music Resource Council hearings. Nope, this lively and surprisingly engaging doc from Andrew Horn depicts the long, slow and frequently crazy rise of the band, from the early-1970s glam-rock days through various personnel changes to being the biggest unsigned hardrock band in the suburbs around New York City. It’s a tale from the dinosaur days of rock, when bands did pay dues — and play 10,000 shitty gigs — and then maybe got famous. Or, in the case of Twister Sister — played their hearts out, sold tickets and merch, and still narrowly escaped success time and time again. The band, crew, fans and assorted industry folks all weigh in on this amusing, glitter-flecked and sweat-soaked history. In the end, there are two saviors: perseverance and Lemmy. 10 p.m. Fri., Feb. 19; 9 p.m. Sat., Feb. 20; 7 p.m. Sun., Feb., 21; and 7:30 p.m. Mon., Feb. 22. Hollywood (AH)

REPERTORY Sponsored locally by:

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

MANNEQUIN. Michael Gottlieb directs this 1987 comedy about a guy who falls in love with the mannequin he created. Andrew McCarthy and Kim Cattrall star. 7:30 p.m. Wed., Feb. 17. AMC Loews. $5

We Are F***ing Twisted Sister INSIDE OUT. Pixar’s animated triumph about the world inside a young girl’s mind. A bittersweet tale about growing up, an examination of the inner self, and a lot of fun, too. Feb. 19-23 and Feb. 25. Row House Cinema SAME CIRCUS, DIFFERENT TOWN. Catch Justin Rainier’s doc, which showcases the long-running and ever-evolving Pittsburgh band The Damaged Pies. The band, celebrating its 25th anniversary, will play after the screening. Event rescheduled from last month. Noon (doors open at 11:30 a.m.). Sat., Feb. 20. Hollywood (T)ERROR. This recent doc addresses broad issues like freedom of religion, freedom of speech, profiling and domestic surveillance through one specific case. In 2011, Saeed “Shariff” Torres, a 63-yearold former Black Panther-turned-paid-counterterrorism-informant, is tasked by the FBI to ferret out, befriend and aid with the conviction of a “person of interest” in Pittsburgh, namely Khalifah Ali Al-Akili,

LISTEN UP! You read City Paper’s music coverage every week, but why not listen to it too? Each Wednesday, music editor Margaret Welsh crafts a Spotify playlist with tracks from artists featured in the music section, and other artists playing around town in the coming days.

How To Be Single of Wilkinsburg. Things get interesting when Al-Akili gets wind of the FBI investigation, and invites the filmmakers to document his pushback. On the surface, it’s a real-life thriller, but real chills come from the firsthand accounts and on-the-wall documentation of how problematic this sort of investigation is — one more rooted in pursuing criminalized ideologies than actual crimes — as well as the inherent risks of using paid informants. To be followed by a Q&A with directors Lyric Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe. 2 p.m. Sat., Feb. 20. Carnegie Library, 7101 Hamilton Ave., Homewood. www.sembene filmfestival.org. $6 (AH) WATERMELON MAN. Melvin van Peebles’ 1970 satire, starring Godfrey Cambridge, recounts what happens to a bigoted white man who wakes up one morning black. The film screens as part of the ongoing Afronaut(a) 3.0 series; the event also includes a talk and live performance of excerpts from Ricardo Iamuuri’s stage show, A BRAND NEW WORLD: kill the artist, and the short 1954 advertising-industry film “The Secrets of Selling the Negro Market.” 2 p.m. Sun., Feb. 21. Alloy Studios, 5530 Penn Ave., Friendship. www.kelly-strayhorn.org. Pay-whatmakes-you-happy WASTELAND. Lucy Walker’s documentary tags along as artist Vik Muniz returns to his native Brazil, and engages workers at Rio de Janiero’s massive landfill in an art project. Muniz photographs these catadores — they pick through the trash for recyclables — then, with their help, recreates the photos as giant mosaics using trash. The final artworks are impressive, but Walker knows that the people posed in them — who fill the canvas with their hopes and sorrows — are the film’s real stars. In English, and Portuguese, with subtitles. 6 p.m. Sun., Feb. 22. Sanger Lecture Hall, Chatham University, Shadyside. www.sembenefilmfestival.org. Free (AH)

MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH. There are CP THE many ways to approach Nicolas Roeg’s 1976 cult classic starring David Bowie as a copper-haired space alien; perhaps the readiest is as a grandiose parable of rock-star degeneration. In one reel, Bowie’s mysterious Mr. Newton goes from solitary nobody to technology tycoon. He lives reclusively: “My life is not secret, but it’s private.” But eventually the distractions of affluence drag him down: The ascetic Newton turns to gin, sex and the comfortably numbing pleasures of 20 TVs to watch at once. But those are just the bare narrative bones of this iconic film. The gorgeous 140-minute director’s cut showcases Roeg’s visionary widescreen style, stuffed with symbol, implication, crazy sets and memorably surreal interludes. 8 p.m. Sun., Feb. 21. Regent Square (Bill O’Driscoll)

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HERE ONE DAY. Kathy Leichter’s 2013 documentary examines the 1995 suicide of her mother, using, among other materials, a box of audiotapes her mother left behind. Leichter will lead a Q&A after the screening. The film is presented by JFilm and ReelAbililities. 7 p.m. Mon., Feb. 22. Rodef Shalom, 4905 Fifth Ave., Oakland. www.jfilmpgh.org. $10-12.

Find it on our music blog, FFW>>, at pghcitypaper.com

FILM FESTIVAL SHORT FILM CP SUNDANCE TOUR. This touring program features the award-wining shorts from this year’s Sundance, including: the animated existential sci-fi dark comedy “World of Tomorrow”; a beautifully filmed and vaguely disturbing doc about an under-ice search, “Object”; the comedy “SMILF,” about a young, restless mom; the slightly surreal animated comedy “Storm Hits Jacket,” about bad weather; “O Lucy!,” a dramedy from Japan; and “The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul,” a doc in which young actresses reflect on their troubled homeland. In English, and various languages, with subtitles. 5:40 and 7:35 p.m. Tue., Feb. 23. Row House Cinema (AH) AS GOOD AS IT GETS. Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt star in James L. Brooks’ 1997 comedy about neighbors who come together as unlikely friends. Plus, a cute dog. 7:30 p.m. Wed., Feb. 24. AMC Loews. $5

Spotlight (2015) - 2/17 @ 7pm, 2/18 @ 9:30pm, 2/19 @ 7:30pm, 2/20 @ 7pm, 2/21 @ 4pm, 2/23 @ 7:30pm, 2/24 @ 7:30pm A gripping story, fantastic cast, and multiple Oscar nominations.

_______________________________________________

Carol

(2015) - 2/17 @ 9:30pm, 2/18 @ 7pm Six Oscar nominations, including Best Actress and Cinematography.

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We Are Twisted F***ing Sister (2016) 2/19 @ 10pm, 2/20 @ 9:30pm, 2/21 @ 7pm, 2/22 @ 7:30pm - Some considered Twisted Sister a joke, others called them the greatest bar band in the world! A highly entertaining documentary.

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Same Circus, Different Town

- 2/20 @ 12pm - A charity beneﬁt featuring a documentary about the band Damaged Pies, with live performance afterwards.

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[DANCE]

“WHY CAN’T BLACK PEOPLE CLAIM IRISH ROOTS TOO?”

CONNECTING {BY STEVE SUCATO}

INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

CLEO PARKER ROBINSON DANCE 8 p.m. Fri., Feb. 19, and 8 p.m. Sat., Feb. 20. Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, 5941 Penn Ave., East Liberty. Admission is “pay-what-makes-you-happy.” 412-363-3000 or www.kelly-strayhorn.org

RACE TO THE TOP [BOOK]

Choreographer Millicent Johnnie’s Bamboula: Musicians’ Brew {PHOTO COURTESY OF JERRY METELLUS}

Just as food and music have created connections between cultures, dance, too, has bound one culture to another. In her latest work, Bamboula: Musicians’ Brew, for Denver-based Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, choreographer Millicent Johnnie explores the cross-cultural connections between the Zulu minstrel parades of New Orleans and the Minstrel Carnival in Cape Town, South Africa. The work headlines Cleo Parker Robinson Dance’s Pittsburgh debut, Feb. 19 and 20, at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater. The work, commissioned by the Kelly-Strayhorn, had its soft premiere in September as part of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance’s 45th anniversary celebration, says Johnnie, speaking by phone from New Orleans. The premiere performances this weekend will cap Johnnie and the company’s 10-day residency at KellyStrayhorn to further develop the work. Set to traditional African music, and jazz composed by Charles Vincent Burwell, arranged by Isaac Points and performed live, the 35-minute work is in many ways a sociological and anthropological study of the traditions of music, costuming, parading, blackface and “second-lining” found in New Orleans and Cape Town culture. “We’ve called the work Bamboula: Musicians’ Brew because of the connections to Africa made by vaudeville musicians that traveled from New Orleans to Cape Town in the early 1900s,” says Johnnie. The term bamboula has many meanings. It can refer to a type of drum, a dance, a wild party and a form of music. The work, says Johnnie, will contain aspects of all those meanings. (It also contains nudity.) Johnnie, who has also been tapped as a choreographer for Disney’s upcoming Frozen: The Musical, is one of many young choreographers the legendary Cleo Parker Robinson has fostered over the years. “I love that we are continuing a legacy of keeping alive the works of some of the greatest choreographers in the world, and that we are also nurturing the evolution of new ones,” says Parker Robinson by phone from Denver. Also on the Feb. 19 and 20 program are choreographer David Rousséve’s heartfelt tribute to Parker Robinson’s parents, “Dry Each Other’s Tears in the Stillness of the Night” (1993), and Theo Jamison’s “Dance as Ritual” (2008), based on the dance technique of icon Katherine Dunham.

{BY RYAN DETO}

MERICA IS TAKING a hard look at race relations. The Black Lives Matter movement, founded in response to the Florida shooting death of Trayvon Martin and subsequent acquittal of his assailant, George Zimmerman, has expanded to address racially charged incidents from Ferguson, Mo., to Baltimore, Chicago, New York City and beyond. These deaths, all involving unarmed black Americans, are forcing the country to confront racial issues that many find difficult to discuss. In his new book, Why Are They Angry With Us?: Essays on Race (Lyceum Books, $34.95), Larry E. Davis seeks to help us talk more openly about race. Davis, the dean and founding director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Center of Race and Social Problems, hails from Saginaw, Mich. He was the first African American to earn a dual Ph.D. in psychology and social work

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

{PHOTO BY MARANIE STAAB}

Larry E. Davis

from the University of Michigan, and the ﬁrst African American to be awarded tenure at Washington University, in St. Louis.

Before entering academia, he spent three years with the AmeriCorps VISTA program, working to ﬁght poverty in one of New York City’s poorest neighborhoods. Since arriving in Pittsburgh, in 2001, Davis has become a nationally recognized scholar on race relations and social justice. In 2013, he was inducted into the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare, a society for distinguished scholars and practitioners in those ﬁelds. Davis has also presented his studies to area leaders, including a 2015 report given to Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald that detailed the region’s racial disparities. As a professor who has taught courses on race for decades, Davis realizes that many people “shy away from the topic of race.” So he uses an approachable writing style that avoids jargon, and his book includes many personal anecdotes.

“It is an easy read because I wanted people to read it,” says Davis. “It is great to be profound, but in the end you want to reach an audience.” Davis says issues surrounding race have occupied him for as long as he can remember, and even earlier. The book’s ﬁrst personal anecdote, which Davis was too young to recall, recounts a 1960s train ride that he, his mother and his siblings took from their home in Michigan to his grandmother’s home, in Alabama. Due to her fair skin, his mother, who was black, was asked to join the whites-only car, but she refused and demanded to stay with her children. Davis writes that stories like these are “very much a part of the history of race in America.” Another one of Davis’ early thoughts on race drove his research and provided the title of his book: “If we were slaves, why are they (whites) angry with us?” he writes. Readers might scratch their heads for an answer, but Davis elaborates and gives more context to this simple, but stumping question:

Davis’ other thought-provoking questions include, “Why can’t black people claim Irish roots too?” (Davis writes how his grandfather was of Irish descent — making Davis himself just as Irish as, if not more so than, many of his white colleagues who celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.) Other topics include social media’s effects on racial equality, the erasure of black American’s ancestral history, and the problems with comparing black Americans to immigrants. Davis says the book is not meant to focus too strongly on any particular issue, but he hopes his topics will help initiate discussions on the intricacies of race. “It has been my raison d’être, all of my life, I can think of nothing that I have thought of more.” RYA NDE TO@ PGHC ITY PAP ER.CO M

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FUNNY BONES {BY BILL O’DRISCOLL}

Paul Reiser

Intuitively, it would seem that we would in the future attempt to treat more favorably those whom we have treated poorly in the past. One might expect that, following slavery and Jim Crow, the country as a whole would reverse its behavior and attempt to make amends. This has been the case for some white Americans, who have championed antislavery, anti-lynching, and, more recently, civil rights and affirmative action causes. But, given the extensive barbarous history of terrorism and the racial maltreatment of black people in this country, it would be reasonable to expect that the country as a whole would have made greater efforts to engage in corrective behaviors and befriend those whom they had abused, literally for centuries. … Why has such hostile behavior been most notable in the southern slave states, where one might think there would be the greatest efforts at reconciliation and restitution?

FEB FE B.. 122-2 21, 21 1, 20 2016 6

[COMEDY]

OP OPE OP PEN ENIN ING NG VALE V VAL VA ALE LENT NTIN NTIN INE’ ES WEEK WEE WE EKEND! EN ND D!!

412.456.6666 | PBT.ORG | GROUPS OF 10+ SAVE: CALL 412.454.9101

“

Artist: Amanda Cochrane :: Photo: Duane Rieder

Paul Reiser has a Pittsburgh story, and it helps conclude the full circle he’s made from standup comedian to sitcom star and movie actor, and back again. Around 1982, the young Reiser played the now-defunct Funny Bone, on Route 51. He hit it off with a waitress there, a college student from Pleasant Hills named Paula Ravets. The story, he quips today, “always has this sort of tainted patina of show-biz underbelly: a young waitress and a touring comedian.” After graduating, Ravets moved to Los Angeles and in 1988 they married. Reiser went on to co-create and star in the 1990s sitcom Mad About You. After that hit wrapped, he spent a decade helping to raise the couple’s two sons (Ravets is a clinical psychologist) and doing some writing and the occasional film. But three years ago, the standup bug bit. “Finally I said, ‘I’m just going to do it,’” he says by phone from his home, in Los Angeles. “I went up one day, called up the local comedy club here, and did exactly what I did when I started, when I was 19 — just go down and do five minutes of stuff and see how it goes.” While he was a little rusty after two decades away from the mic, “it was love at first sight,” he says. “I was like, ‘Oh, boy, I love this, I really love doing it, I love working at it, I love the process of it.’ It still gave me the same charge.” But the casual, every-other weekend touring schedule that brings Reiser to the Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall this Saturday wasn’t the only change; he also began getting more film and TV offers. He’s since played the dad in the Oscar-winning Whiplash and the club president in Amazon comedy series Red Oaks, which was just picked up for a second season. (He also had a small role in Concussion, which was shot here.) Still, Reiser finds that what comes most naturally is standup. Since that previous Pittsburgh gig, in ’82, he quips, he’s even got a new act — though it still trades in the relationship humor he’s known for. “I always tell my wife and kids, if it weren’t for them, I’d have no act,” he jokes. “So I’m grateful.”

Gale force singing and power ” - The Chicago Tribune

Shemekia

Copeland “ Copeland

embodies the blues” -NPR

FRIDAY MARCH 4, 2016

AUGUST WILSON CENTER TrustArts.org . Box Office at Theater Square 412-456-6666 . Groups 10+ Tickets 412-471-6930

DRISCOLL@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

PAUL REISER 8 p.m. Sat., Feb. 19. Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall, 510 E. 10th Ave., Munhall. $25-45. 877-435-9849 or www.librarymusichall.com

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{PHOTO COURTESY OF MATT POLK}

Caroline Nicolian and Luke Halferty in CLO Cabaret’s First Date

[PLAY REVIEWS]

DATE NIGHT {BY TED HOOVER}

THERE’S ONLY one aspect of First Date

you’ll need to process before you can get on with enjoying its CLO Cabaret production … and that’s, well, First Date. By which I mean you might need a few minutes to accept that the entire show depicts one blind date between uptight good guy Aaron and edgy artist Casey. “Really?” you might ask book-writer Austin Winsberg and the men who wrote the music and lyrics, Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner. “Are you sure?” But once you make that mental adjustment, First Date turns out to be an entertaining evening.

From the start we know exactly how the date between Aaron (Luke Halferty) and Casey (Caroline Nicolian) is going to end, so the creators are very clever in providing plenty of distraction along the way. The couple will occasionally slip back into a memory, and waiters in the restaurant double and triple as Aaron’s best friend, Gabe; Casey’s sister, Lauren; a few of Casey’s exboyfriends; Aaron’s exﬁancée, Allison; and so on. These are actually very funny bits, giving the writers a chance to bring some ﬂash to the show; these numbers also provide the impressively talented supporting cast — Maggie Carr, Connor McCanlus and David Toole — several opportunities to shine, which they certainly do. In addition to their strong voices, Nicolian and Halferty, as our little lovebirds, provide an essential engaging warmth that wins us over, placing us squarely in their corner. Director Benjamin Endsley Klein’s production is just as sure-footed and supple as it needs to be. If you’re going to spend an evening watching two people meet, you won’t do it more enjoyably than First Date.

YOU WONDER HOW SUCH A CHARMINGLY INTIMATE MUSICAL EVER LANDED ON BROADWAY.

FIRST DATE continues through April 24. CLO Cabaret at The Cabaret at Theater Square, 655 Penn Ave., Downtown. $39.75-49.75. 412-456-6666 or www.clocabaret.com

The show opened in New York in 2013. It met with, let’s say, indifference from the critics and closed a few months later. Since then, Winsberg, Zachary and Weiner have developed and revamped the script, and this CLO production is the ﬁrst First Date 2.0. They must have done a lot of work, because you wonder why some of those New York reviews were so nasty. But, too, you wonder how such a charmingly small and intimate musical ever landed on Broadway.

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

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

DISCO DUD {BY ALAN W. PETRUCELLI}

THOSE WHO are staying alive through

the winter might wish for the daze of Summer. Think of this madonna and the era of disco comes back to life. Just

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER continues through Sun., Feb. 21. Byham Theater, 101 Sixth St., Downtown. $12.75-49.75. 412-456-6666 or www.pittsburghmusicals.com

Lead actor Anthony Crouchelli, as Tony Manero, suffers the most: Do we really need to see so much of Crouchelli’s ass as he dresses? Props master Amber Kocher, take note: Make sure Manero’s shirt is right-side out, so we don’t watch him undress, dress, undress and re-dresss. Someone gave scenic designer Jonathan T. Sage’s really, really bad advice. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge set plays a pivotal role in the show; yet instead of using a rear projection of the actual bridge, he designed this … thing, best described as planks of fake wood, that’s ready for demolition.

IT’S AN AIMLESS, HEAVYHANDED PRODUCTION. Christopher Patrick is credited as makeup and wig designer, and his choices might have worked for a visually impaired audience. The performers would glide their hands over their hairpieces, one thinks, not so much to groom themselves as to make sure the hairpieces wouldn’t go ﬂying. The worst victim, again, is Crouchelli: His wig is so jetblack, yet his makeup isn’t adjusted; in the “right” light, the actor looks like a day player from The Walking Dead. If you wear boogie shoes to visit this disco inferno, you might end up in hell. INFO@ PGHC ITY PAP ER.CO M

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[DANCE REVIEW]

MORE PERFORMANCES ADDED!

FLYING HIGH

FEBRUARY 17 – MARCH 20

{BY STEVE SUCATO}

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s Peter Pan {PHOTO COURTESY OF RICH SOFRANKO}

a few of Donna’s classic tunes will thaw you, throb your senses and send you into a fervor. Listen to “Love to Love You Baby” and you can hear Summer have 22 orgasms in 16:54. But disco can’t do it all. The Valentine’s Day performance of Pittsburgh Musical Theater’s Saturday Night Fever — based mostly on the 1977 ﬁlm about self-love and self-worth during youngadulthood angst, framed with tunes by The Bee Gees — played to a few hundred people, not the 1,300-seat capacity of the Byham Theater. Was Cupid the culprit? Indeed, if Cupid’s name is Colleen Doyno. Pittsburgh Musical Theater’s executive artistic director directed Saturday Night Fever, and she does so aimlessly, with two heavy, cumbersome hands.

Last performed by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2011, choreographer Jorden Morris’ box-office hit Peter Pan returned to the Benedum Center for another triumph. The family-friendly production was engaging, and entertaining with the kind of G-rated charm reminiscent of classic Disney storybook movies. Based on J.M. Barrie’s classic Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up, the ballet couldn’t have been more perfectly cast Feb. 12, opening a rare two-week run for PBT. Principal dancer Christopher Budzynski was boyish and brave as Pan; soloist Gabrielle Thurlow was thoroughly darling as Wendy Darling; principal dancer Julia Erickson was caring as Mrs. Darling and forthright as Tiger Lily; and soloist Alejandro Diaz was dashing as Mr. Darling and cartoon-villainous as Captain Hook. While the entire cast’s acting and dancing was divine, the evening belonged to Caitlin Peabody as the lovable spitfire Tinker Bell. From foot-stomping fits and pouts to unbridled girlish joy, Peabody embodied the child-like fairy. Her wonderfully animated facial expressions and body language reached clear to the back of the theater to the delight of everyone who sat in it. (Note: The show’s cast varies nightly.) Peter Pan is set to a soundtrack by British composers from Barrie’s era, and the music — from Benjamin Britten, Edward Elgar and others — felt as if it were created specifically for this production. Spot-on period sets and costumes, both courtesy of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, added authenticity to the ballet’s look and Morris’ choreography nicely blended storytelling, accessibility, humor and heartstring-pulling moments. Though the show was perhaps a bit light on “grown-up” technical dancing, the pointe shoe fit perfectly with regard to the intended audience of the young, and the young at heart. The Darling kids’ adventure to Neverland and back played out faithful to Barrie’s tale, but with a comic tone recalling Abbott and Costello (ask your parents), bouncing from one zany scene to the next. Standout moments included Thurlow as Wendy feeding her brothers and the Lost Boys medicine, which made for some comic wincing; several sweet moments between Peter and Wendy fostering their budding romance; and a heartfelt, flowing and graceful pas de deux set to Elgar’s “Enigma Variations,” danced adroitly by Erickson as an anguished Mrs. Darling and Diaz as a supportive Mr. Darling, both pining for their missing children.

CP Readers get $10 off weekday tickets with the code CITYCITY

BUY YOUR TICKETS TODAY!

INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

412.431.CITY (2489) / CityTheatreCompany.org

PITTSBURGH BALLET THEATRE’S PETER PAN continues through Sun., Feb. 21. Benedum Center, 719 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $28-105. 412-456-6666 or www.pbt.org

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1300 Bingham Street, South Side

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FOR THE WEEK OF

THE PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST PRESENTS

02.1802.25.16 02.20.16

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

FEB. 20

Dhirana

ally of Pittsburgh homicide detective Jackson Channing (from Measure Twice) as Keller faces a mysterious assassin. Hensley, a former Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service, marks the new book’s release today with a morning Coffee & Crime event at Mystery Lovers Bookshop. The refreshments are courtesy of Oakmont Bakery. BO 10 a.m. 514 Allegheny River Blvd., Oakmont. Free. RSVP at 412-828-4877 or www.mysterylovers.

{DANCE}

{WORDS}

FEBRUARY 20 AUGUST WILSON CENTER 980 LIBERTY AVENUE 11AM – 8PM

If you’ve missed Robert Isenberg, this is the week to catch up. The prolific writer and performer (and CP contributor) left Pittsburgh in 2013, for Costa Rica. Tonight, at East End Book Exchange, Isenberg reads from The Green Season, a compilation of his newspaper pieces from Costa Rica, about everything from surf instructors to survivors of the sex trade. Tomorrow night, at Arcade Comedy Theater, No Name Players perform Elizabeth Crowne and the Vaudeville Conspiracy, a liveradio comedic mystery written by Isenberg (who’s now based in Arizona). Bill O’Driscoll Reading: 7 p.m. (4754 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield; free; www.eastendbookexchange. com). Elizabeth Crowne: 8 p.m. Fri., Feb. 19 (811 Liberty Ave., Downtown; $10; www. arcadecomedytheater.org)

FREE / OPEN TO THE PUBLIC LIVE MUSIC / DJ / ART DEMONSTRATIONS

{COMEDY}

2016 ART EXPO AND SALE

INFORMATION / 412-456-6666 TRUSTARTS.ORG Unique arts showcase features the work of some of the region’s ﬁnest artists representing the African diaspora, including pottery, paintings, jewelry and sculpture that are available for sale.

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

Although Dr. Tobias Funke was never the best actor on Arrested Development, the man portraying that trainwreck of a performer is quite the personality. Emmywinner David Cross visits the Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall for his national standupcomedy tour “Making America Great Again!” Named one of the top 100 comedians of

all time by Comedy Central, Cross is renowned for his abilities as a writer, producer and performer. Courtney Linder 8 p.m. 510 E. 10th Ave., Munhall. $39.50. www.librarymusichall.com

+ SAT., FEB. 20 {WORDS} For his third mystery novel, local author J.J. Hensley draws on his two previous books. Chalk’s Outline (Assent Publishing) finds college professor Cyprus Keller (from Resolve) an unlikely

{OPERA} Ricky Ian Gordon (Orpheus and Euridice; The Grapes of Wrath) is among our top composers for the stage, and this Carnegie

FEB. 23

{PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBERT DAY}

+ THU., FEB. 18

Collegiate practitioners of Indian classical dance gather tonight at Pitt for Dhirana. The fourth annual competition hosts eight teams, from schools including Penn, Penn State and as far afield as the University of California-Berkeley. Watch dancers honor this ancient art form at Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall. Proceeds benefit the Birmingham Free Clinic of Pittsburgh. BO 5:30 p.m. 4141 Fifth Ave., Oakland. $5-40 (free for kids 5 and under). www.dhirana.com

Twelfth Night

FreeEvent

{PHOTO COURTESY OF TERENEH MOSLEY}

With New York Fashion Week coming to a close, it seems appropriate that Pittsburgh have its own apparel enlightenment. Pittsburgh native Tereneh Mosley — founder and creative director of Idia’Dega, a global eco-design collaboration in ethical apparel — will showcase her work at The Residence in the Mexican War Streets. The opening reception, on Feb. 19, will kick off a small series of curatorial residencies presented by Casey Droege at a house owned by The Mattress Factory’s Barbara Luderowski. Idia’Dega at The Residence includes solo and collaborative work in sustainable fashion and accessories from the Tomon:10 and Eni:Hers collections. Tomon:10, Idia’Dega’s first collection, was created with the Olorgesailie Maasai Women Artisans of Kenya (OMWA) in 2014. Pieces like the Day Dress, comprised of organic cotton and hemp, echo the Maasai women’s clothing, down to a beaded ribbon belt designed and handcrafted by the women themselves. “This was the first time most of the women had ever drawn in their lives, since most had never gone to school,” Mosley says via email. “I think I started jumping up and down. The OMWA ladies started laughing at me. It showed us how much better the design process is as collaborators.” Courtney Linder Reception: 6 p.m. Fri., Feb. 19. Exhibit continues through March 3 (hours by appointment only). 310-312 Sampsonia Way, North Side. Free. 412-877-2588 or www.caseydroege.com

Mellon grad’s newest opera himself down the toilet. Fans has another Pittsburgh of Stephan Pastis’ syndicated connection: 27 wittily comic strip, “Pearls Before depicts Allegheny City native Swine,” will feel at home: The Gertrude Stein, her partner, cartoonist and illustrator trades Alice B. Toklas, and their life together in Paris in the 1920s. Pittsburgh Opera stages the local premiere of this critically acclaimed 2014 work in an intimate production at Pittsburgh Opera Headquarters. Mezzosoprano Laurel Semerdjian n plays Stein, with soprano Adelaide Boedecker as Toklas; other characters include Picasso, Matisse, Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The first of four performances is tonight. BO 8 p.m. Continues through FEB. 18 Feb. 28. 2425 Liberty Robert Isenberg Ave., Strip District. $42. 412-456-6666 or www.pittsburghopera.org in earthy wit, no less in his {COMEDY} kids’ books about a bumbling Tonight’s late show at Club child detective and his polarCafé is a novelty: In Comedy bear sidekick. Today, Pastis Roulette: Time Hop, each of visits Carnegie Lecture Hall for several comedians will perform Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures’ a set as if he or she were from Authors. Stories. You. series for a different era. Think “1920s,” children’s authors. A lemonade etc. — so maybe a little History reception and book-signing Channel, with punchlines. The follow. BO 2:30 p.m. time-travelers for this Race 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. to the Coffin-produced show $11. 412-622-8866 or include Bill Crawford, John www.pittsburghlectures.org Evans, Alex Stypula, Shannon Norman, Andy Picarro and {MUSIC} Anna C. Reilly. John Dick With Lent underway, Chatham Winters hosts. BO 10:30 p.m. Baroque offers two seasonally th 56 S. 12 St., South Side. $5 appropriate masterpieces. The (21 and over). 866-468-3401 group, which specializes in 17thor www.clubcafelive.com and 18th-century music played on period instruments, is joined by nationally acclaimed countertenor Reginald Mobley (pictured) for a program {WORDS} including Vivaldi’s Stabat One cover in the “Timmy Mater (“sorrowful mother)” Failure” book series shows and Bach’s Cantata 54, the titular hero flushing “Widerstehe doch der Sünde.”

The Music in a Great Space concert is at Shadyside Presbyterian Church. BO 3 p.m. 5121 Westminster Place, Shadyside. $10-15. 412-682-4300 or www.shadysidepres.org

+ MMON., FEB. 22

FEB. 22

Here One Day

{{SCREEN} {S CR In 199 1995, Kathy Leichter’s mother moth committed suicide at her h home, in Manhattan. Leichter, then an associate producer at WQED-TV, later discovered W a hidden box of her h mother’s audiotapes that m now form the core of n Here One Day, her 2013 H documentary film about d one on woman’s struggle with wit mental illness, and her relationships with her r family. Here One Day has family been making the rounds of bee national festivals; its Pittsburgh premiere is tonight, at Rodef Shalom, presented by JFilm and ReelAbilities. Leichter will attend for a post-screening discussion and reception for a film she hopes will raise awareness about mentalhealth issues. BO 7 p.m. 4905

in Afghanistan. As a foreign correspondent, Nordberg has reported extensively within war zones, culminating in prestigious awards such as the 2015 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize. Underground Girls profiles girls who pose as boys to circumvent repressive laws. Tonight’s reading, Q&A and book-signing are a part of the Women’s Institute at Chatham University’s Raizman Lecture series. The event, at Campbell Memorial Chapel, is free with registration. CL 6 p.m. 1 Woodland Road, Shadyside. Free. 412-365-1578 or www.chatham.edu

Fifth Ave., Oakland. $10-12. www.jfilmpgh.org

+ TUE., FEB. 23 {TALK} Revisit Western ideas of politics, patriarchy and gender with award-winning journalist Jenny Nordberg, author of The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance

FEB. 21

Music In a Great Space

{STAGE} After 25 years being blue, the theatrical innovators behind the three-piece Blue Man Group continue to rejuvenate their arsenal of comedy, theater, rock music and dance for their final U.S. cycle before embarking on a world tour. Starting tonight, Blue Man Group visits Heinz Hall for eight shows as a part of the PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh Series, presented by the

+ SUN., FEB. 21

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Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Come see them wield custom instruments and state-of-theart technology as the Blue Man characters explore cultural norms through fresh eyes. CL 7:30 p.m. Show continues through Feb. 28. 600 Penn Ave., Downtown. $31-80. 412392-4900 or www.trustarts.org

{STAGE} A classic Shakespearean tale of romance, satire and mistaken identity hits the Byham Theater tonight. Twelfth Night gets new life through London’s Filter Theatre production, in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company of Stratford-upon-Avon. The adaptation, presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, condenses the play into a fast-paced performance with an acoustic sound and atmosphere — an approach makes the show feel more like “a rock gig than a straight play,” according to London’s The Independent. CL 7:30 p.m. 101 Sixth St., Downtown. $15-35. 412-4566666 or www.trustarts.org

C L A S S I F I E D S

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THEATER 27. A snapshot of Gertrude Stein & her partner, Alice B. Toklas, shared lives at 27 Rue de Fleurus in Paris in the early 1900s, feat. their famous salon & its visitors, including Picasso, Matisse, Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald & others. Sat., Feb. 20, 8 p.m., Tue., Feb. 23, 7 p.m., Fri., Feb. 26, 7:30 p.m. and Sun., Feb. 28, 2 p.m. Pittsburgh Opera, Strip District. 412-281-0912. GUYS & DOLLS. Classic musical set in 1950s New York City & Havana. Wed-Sat, 8 p.m., Sun, 2 & 7 p.m., Tue, 7 p.m., Sat, 2 p.m. and Sun., Feb. 28, 2 p.m. Pittsburgh Public Theater, Downtown. 412-316-1600. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. Duquesne University’s Red Masquers will present one of Shakespeare’s most popular works w/ a 1960s twist. Sun, 2 p.m. and Thu-Sat, 8 p.m. Thru Feb. 21. Duquesne University, Uptown. 412-396-6000. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Shakespeare’s classic presented

by the Geneva College Theater. Bagpiper Theater. Sat, 1:30 & 7:30 p.m. and Thu, Fri, 7:30 p.m. Thru Feb. 27. Geneva College, Beaver Falls. 724-847-5099. THE ODD COUPLE. Unger & Madison are at it again. Sun, 2 p.m. and Thu-Sat, 8 p.m. Thru Feb. 28. The Theatre Factory, Trafford. 412-374-9200. PETER PAN. Presented by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Sat, 2 & 8 p.m., Fri, 8 p.m. and Sun., Feb. 21, 2 p.m. Benedum Center, Downtown. 412-456-6666. RHINOCEROS. Average citizens are transformed into beasts, as they learn to move w/ the times. Feb. 18-28, 2 p.m. and Tue-Sat, 8 p.m. Thru Feb. 28. Studio Theatre, Cathedral of Learning, Oakland. www.play.pitt.edu. 412-624-7529. ROCK OF AGES. A production of the 80s musical presented by Stage Right! Feb. 19-20, 8 p.m. and Sun., Feb. 21, 2 p.m. Greensburg Garden and Civic Center, Greensburg. 724-832-7464.

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER. Sun, 2 p.m. and Fri, Sat, 7:30 p.m. Thru Feb. 21. Byham Theater, Downtown. 412-456-6666. SISTER’S EASTER CATECHISM: WILL MY BUNNY GO TO HEAVEN? Celebrate the Easter Season w/ Sister as she answers the time-worn questions of the season like “Why isn’t Easter the same day every year like Christmas?” & “Will My Bunny Go To Heaven?” Thu, Fri, 8 p.m., Wed, 7 p.m., Sat., Feb. 20, 2 & 5:30 p.m. and Sun., Feb. 21, 2 & 5:30 p.m. Thru March 13. City Theatre, South Side. 412-431-4400 x 286. URINETOWN. A musical, satirical comedy. Thu-Sat, 7:30 p.m. and Sun., Feb. 21, 2:30 p.m. Geyer Performing Arts Center, Scottdale. 724-887-0887.

COMEDY FRI 19 PAUL REISER. 8 p.m. Carnegie Library Of Homestead Music Hall, Homestead. 412-368-5225.

[THEATER]

blogh.pghcitypaper.com

The ﬁrst hit is free. Actually, so are all the others.

{PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID FERGUSON}

Since the mid-’90s, The Vagina Monologues — Eve Ensler’s show of monologues on sex, love, rape, sexual violence, birth, orgasm and body image — has been read in the voices of many different women in theaters around the world. The cult classic is often performed near Valentine’s Day to remind people that this romantic holiday should be about real respect, consent and trust. This year, a production of the feminist work will be performed at Brillobox. All proceeds will benefit Pittsburgh Action Against Rape (PAAR). 7:30 p.m. Thu., Feb. 25. 4104 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. $10. vspot.vday.org

The PA state pinball champ is crowned, and a local herb guru offers healing tips for the winter. Check out bit.ly/ citypaperpodcast or subscribe on iTunes.

SAT 20 BILL CRAWFORD, JOHN EVANS, ALEX STYPULA, SHANNON NORMAN, ANDY PICARRO, ANNA C REILLY, W/ JOHN DICK WINTERS. 10 p.m. Club Cafe, South Side. 412-431-4950. THE CURIOUS THEATER. Two improvisers, equipped w/ wireless mics roam the bar performing a completely improvised show. Third Sat of every month, 8 p.m. Hambone’s, Lawrenceville. 412-212-7061. NORTH HILLS COMIC WARS. Proceeds for children w/ Autism. 7:30 p.m. Bauerstown Fire Hall, Millvale. 412-821-8022.

MON 22 COMEDY SAUCE SHOWCASE. Local & out-of-town comedians. Mon, 9 p.m. Pleasure Bar, Bloomfield. 412-682-9603. OPEN MIC COMEDY NIGHT. Mon, 10 p.m. Lava Lounge, South Side. 412-431-5282.

EXHIBITS ALLEGHENY CITY HISTORIC GALLERY. Historical images & items forcusing on the North Side of Pittsburgh. North Side. 412-321-3940. ALLEGHENY-KISKI VALLEY HERITAGE MUSEUM. Military artifacts & exhibits on the Allegheny Valley’s industrial heritage. Tarentum. 724-224-7666. ANDREW CARNEGIE FREE LIBRARY MUSIC HALL. Capt. Thomas Espy Room Tour. The Capt. Thomas Espy Post 153 of the Grand Army of the Republic served local Civil War veterans for over 54 years & is the best preserved & most intact GAR post in the United States. Carnegie. 412-276-3456. BAYERNHOF MUSEUM. Large collection of automatic roll-played musical instruments & music boxes in a mansion setting. Call for appointment. O’Hara. 412-782-4231. BOST BUILDING. Collectors. Preserved materials reflecting the industrial heritage of Southwestern PA. Homestead. 412-464-4020. CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs. Rare fossils, life-size models & hands-on interactives to immerse visitors in the winged reptiles’ Jurassic world. Dinosaurs in Their Time. Displaying immersive environments spanning the Mesozoic Era & original fossil specimens. Permanent. Hall of Minerals & Gems. Crystal, gems & precious stones from all over the world. Population Impact. CONTINUES ON PG. 45

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

VISUAL

ART

“Holding In” (handwoven cotton, dyed and painted with textile paint, 2009), by Andrea Donnelly. From the exhibition The Invisible One, at BNY Mellon Center, Downtown.

NEW THIS WEEK

ONGOING

ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM. Michael Chow aka Zhou Yinghua: Voice for My Father. 3 main bodies of work which include new paintings completed expressly for The Warhol show, vintage photographs of the artist’s father Zhou Xinfang, a grand master of the Beijing Opera & a collection of portraits of Chow painted by his contemporaries, such as Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat & Ed Ruscha, linking his practice w/ the contemporary art communities of London, New York & Los Angeles. Exposures: Jamie Earnest: Private Spaces / Public Personas. 3 new large-scale paintings that incorporate details from the private, residential spaces of both Andy Warhol & Michael Chow. North Side. 412-237-8300. CHROMOS EYEWEAR. Waxed Abstraction. Work by Marlene Boas inspired by the psyche. Lawrenceville. 412-477-4540. FRAMEHOUSE. En Plein Air. Feating work by Barbra K. Bush, Ron Donoughe, Sondra Rose Hart, Patrick Lee, Constance Merriman, William Pfahl & Barry Shields. Lawrenceville. 412-586-4559. THE RESIDENCE. Idia’Dega at The Residence. A multi-media eco-fashion exhibition. Opening reception Feb. 19, 6-9 p.m. North Side. 412-231-3169. SPACE. Causal Loop. Sculptural work, video pieces & wall pieces by Blaine Siegel & David Bernabo, who transform & join material things like wood, glass, metal, bone & non-things like sound & light into new significant forms. Downtown. 412-325-7723.

707 PENN GALLERY. I’m Not Real, You’re Real. Work by Elizabeth Rudnick. Downtown. 412-325-7017. 709 PENN GALLERY. Red & Green & Other Colors. A video & audio exhibit w/ work by Herman Pearl & Isabelle Strollo that stretches, dissects & distorts the commercial image to reveal the hidden spaces in between. Downtown. 412-471-6070. 937 LIBERTY AVE. Humanae/ I AM AUGUST. A series of photographs of everyday Pittsburghers by Angelica Dass. Downtown. 412-338-8742. ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM. Permanent collection. Artwork & artifacts by the famed Pop Artist. North Side. 412-237-8300. ARTDFACT. Artdfact Gallery. The works of Timothy Kelley & other regional & US artists on display. Sculpture, oil & acrylic paintings, mixed media, found objects, more. North Side. 724-797-3302. AUGUST WILSON CENTER. The Other Side of Pop. In this alternative examination of pop art & pop culture, artists depict relevant & influential cultures that are either unappreciated or unrecognized by mainstream media. Downtown. 412-258-2700. BACKSTAGE BAR AT THEATRE SQUARE. Fibers Fiction. Encaustic handmade papers w/ embellished stitching by Katy DeMent. Downtown. 412-325-6768. BNY MELLON. Teenie Harris Photographs: Great Performances Onstage. The archive documents notable events & Black daily life for over six decades through Harris’ photography for the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper. Gallery I. Downtown.

BOCK-TOTT GALLERY. 5 Artists: A Collection of Works. Works in various mediums by Brandy Bock-Tott, Jeffrey Phelps, Linda Breen, Joyce Werwie Perry & Cindy Engler. Sewickley. 412-519-3377. BOXHEART GALLERY. 15th Annual Art Inter/National Exhibition. Twenty-two powerful visual storytellers that are changing our world w/ imaginative imagery of wisdom, beauty, & truth. Bloomfield. 412-687-8858. CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF ART. Silver to Steel: The Modern Designs of Peter Muller-Munk. Displaying the work of 60s German emigre & Pittsburgh industrial design Peter Muller-Munk, who started as a silversmith at Tiffany’s. HACLab Pittsburgh: Imagining the Modern. An exhibition of over, under architecture highlighting successive histories of pioneering architectural successes, disrupted neighborhoods & the utopian aspirations & ideals of public officials & business leaders. Oakland. 412-622-3131. CHRISTINE FRECHARD GALLERY. Tony Havrilla. Paintings utilizing high contrast & perspective to create images that blur the line between realism & abstraction. Squirrel Hill. 412-421-8888. CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP MUNICIPAL BUILDING. The Cranberry Artists Network Members Show. Work from over 70 members of the Cranberry Artists Network. www.cranberryartistsnetwork. com. Cranberry. 724-776-4806. DELANIE’S COFFEE. Double Mirror. 40+ artists displaying their works. South Side. 412-927-4030. EAST OF EASTSIDE GALLERY. Color in Winter. Work by Frank Webb, Andy Sujdak CONTINUES ON PG. 47

middle-class home. Oakmont. How humans are affecting the 412-826-9295. environment. Oakland. MARIDON MUSEUM. Collection 412-622-3131. includes jade & ivory statues from CARNEGIE SCIENCE CENTER. China & Japan, as well as Meissen H2Oh!Experience kinetic porcelain. Butler. 724-282-0123. water-driven motion & discover MCGINLEY HOUSE & MCCULLY the relations between water, LOG HOUSE. Historic homes land & habitat. How do everyday open for tours, lectures & more. decisions impact water supply Monroeville. 412-373-7794. & the environment? Buhl NATIONAL AVIARY. Masters Digital Dome (planetarium), of the Sky. Explore the power & Miniature Railroad & Village, grace of the birds who rule the USS Requin submarine & more. sky. Majestic eagles, impressive North Side. 412-237-3400. condors, stealthy falcons and CENTER FOR POSTNATURAL their friends take center stage! HISTORY. Explore the complex Home to more than 600 birds interplay between culture, from over 200 species. W/ nature & biotechnology. Sundays classes, lectures, demos & more. 12-4 p.m. Garfield. 412-223-7698. North Side. 412-323-7235. CHILDREN’S MUSEUM OF NATIONALITY ROOMS. 29 PITTSBURGH. TapeScape 2.0. rooms helping to tell the story A play exhibit/art installation, of Pittsburgh’s immigrant past. designed by Eric Lennartson, that University of Pittsburgh. Oakland. uses more than 10 miles of tape 412-624-6000. stretched over steel frames to OLD ST. LUKE’S. Pioneer church create twisting tunnels & curving features 1823 pipe organ, walls for children to crawl Revolutionary War graves. Scott. through & explore. North Side. 412-851-9212. 412-322-5058. OLIVER MILLER HOMESTEAD. COMPASS INN. Demos & tours This pioneer/Whiskey Rebellion w/ costumed guides feat. this site features log house, blacksmith restored stagecoach stop. shop & gardens. South Park. North Versailles. 724-238-4983. 412-835-1554. DEPRECIATION LANDS PENNSYLVANIA TROLLEY MUSEUM. Small living history MUSEUM. Trolley rides & exhibits. museum celebrating the Includes displays, walking tours, settlement & history of gift shop, picnic area & Trolley the Depreciation Lands. Theatre. Washington. Allison Park. 412-486-0563. 724-228-9256. FALLINGWATER. Tour PHIPPS the famed Frank Lloyd CONSERVATORY & Wright house. Mill Run. . BOTANICAL GARDEN. 724-329-8501. www per a p ty ci 14 indoor rooms & FIRST pgh m .co 3 outdoor gardens PRESBYTERIAN feature exotic plants & CHURCH. Tours of 13 floral displays from around Tiffany stained-glass windows. the world. Orchid & Tropical Downtown. 412-471-3436. Bonsai Show. A display of orchids FORT PITT MUSEUM. & bonsai. Garden Railroad. Captured by Indians: Warfare & Model trains chug through Assimilation on the 18th Century miniature landscapes populated Frontier. During the mid-18th w/ living plants, whimsical props century, thousands of settlers of & fun interactive buttons. Runs European & African descent were through Feb. 28. Tropical Forest captured by Native Americans. Congo. An exhibit highlighting Using documentary evidence from some of Africa’s lushest landscapes. 18th & early 19th century sources, Oakland. 412-622-6914. period imagery, & artifacts from PHOTO ANTIQUITIES public & private collections in MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHIC the U.S. and Canada, the exhibit HISTORY. Shantytown. 12 examines the practice of captivity pictures that are the only ones from its prehistoric roots to in existence from the Great its reverberations in modern Depression in 1930s of what Native-, African- & Euro-American is now the Strip District. Showing communities. Reconstructed fort middle-class people living in poor houses museum of Pittsburgh shacks, but taking great steps history circa French & Indian War & to keep their style & cleanliness American Revolution. Downtown. intact. Displaying 660 different 412-281-9285. movie cameras, showing pictures FRICK ART & HISTORICAL on glass, many hand-painted. The CENTER. Ongoing: tours of largest display of 19th Century Clayton, the Frick estate, w/ photographs in America. classes & programs for all ages. North Side. 412-231-7881. Point Breeze. 412-371-0600. PINBALL PERFECTION. HARTWOOD ACRES. Tour this Pinball museum & players club. Tudor mansion & stable complex. West View. 412-931-4425. Enjoy hikes & outdoor activities in PITTSBURGH ZOO & PPG the surrounding park. Allison Park. AQUARIUM. Home to 4,000 412-767-9200. animals, including many KENTUCK KNOB. Tour the endangered species. Highland other Frank Lloyd Wright house. Park. 412-665-3639. Mill Run. 724-329-8501. RACHEL CARSON HOMESTEAD. KERR MEMORIAL MUSEUM. A Reverence for Life. Photos Tours of a restored 19th-century,

FULL LIST ONLINE

& artifacts of her life & work. Springdale. 724-274-5459. RIVERS OF STEEL NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA. Exhibits on the Homestead Mill. Steel industry & community artifacts from 1881-1986. Homestead. 412-464-4020. SENATOR JOHN HEINZ HISTORY CENTER. From Slavery to Freedom. Highlight’s Pittsburgh’s role in the anti-slavery movement. Western PA Sports Museum, Clash of Empires, & exhibits on local history, more. Strip District. 412-454-6000. SEWICKLEY HEIGHTS HISTORY CENTER. Museum commemorates Pittsburgh industrialists, local history. Sewickley. 412-741-4487. SOLDIERS & SAILORS MEMORIAL HALL. War in the Pacific 1941-1945. Feat. a collection of military artifacts showcasing photographs, uniforms, shells & other related items. Military museum dedicated to honoring military service members since the Civil War through artifacts & personal mementos. Oakland. 412-621-4253. ST. ANTHONY’S CHAPEL. Features 5,000 relics of Catholic saints. North Side. 412-323-9504. ST. NICHOLAS CROATIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. Maxo Vanka Murals. Mid-20th century murals depicting war, social justice & the immigrant experience in America. Millvale. 412-407-2570. WEST OVERTON MUSEUMS. Learn about distilling & coke-making in this pre-Civil War industrial village. West Overton. 724-887-7910. WILLIAM PITT UNION. Erroll Garner Exhibition. The display will feature materials from the Erroll Garner archive. Oakland. 412-648-7814.

DANCE SAT 20 DHIRANA. PITT’s annual Indian classical dance competition, all proceeds of the competition go to the Birmingham Free Clinic of Pittsburgh, which provides free medical care for Pittsburgh’s underserved population. 5:30 p.m. Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall, Oakland. 412-621-4253.

FUNDRAISERS SAT 20 2016 WINTER BREWFEST. Taste & choose your favorite brews offered by our home brewers competing in the Blind Tasting for those coveted Best in Category Awards & the Brewfest’s Tasters Choice Award. 6 p.m. Steel City Rowing Club, Verona. 412-828-5565. QUARTERS FOR A CURE. An auction & raffle to benefit Relay for Life, Mt. Lebanon. Dormont CONTINUES ON PG. 46

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*Stuff We Like

Recreation Center, Dormont. 412-443-7332. SHALERPALOOZA 2016. Class Funds Concert ft. Sidetracked, Trashbag Parachse, Offkilter, Remains Of This, Act 80’s, Tobacco Road, Villain, DJ Monsoon, DJ Remus, TEEOOH, Savanna Scholl, Kellie Milligan, Austin Kruse, Shaler Area Drum Line. 6:30 p.m. Mr. Smalls Theater, Millvale. 412-821-4447.

EVERYONE IS A CRITIC EVENT: Some Like It Hot at Row House Cinema, Lawrenceville CRITIC: Kelsey Witten, 26, a human-resources manager from Shadyside

SAT 20 - SUN 21

The Sun

{PHOTO COURTESY OF SKY TV}

A beautiful, hopeful little literary magazine out of Chapel Hill, N.C., that focuses on the personal stories of writers from all over the world. thesunmagazine.org

MON 22 12 PEERS THEATER’S FIFTH ANNIVERSARY FUNDRAISER. Special sports- & arts-themed performance of the Pittsburgh Monologue Project. Light hors d’oeuvre & silent auction provided. 7 p.m. Hough’s, Greenfield. 412-626-6784.

LITERARY THU 18

Fortitude Few caught this U.K. thriller set at an Arctic research station when it aired on the Pivot channel last year. Catch up now: international ensemble cast; murder with an X-Files edge; eco-issues; and the ever-present sound of squeaky snow. Streaming on Amazon Prime

Busy Box Several branches of the Carnegie Library offer these boxes for adults, which include coloring books, colored pencils, sudoku puzzles and craft supplies. www.carnegie library.org

{PHOTO BY AL HOFF}

{PHOTO BY ASHLEY MURRAY}

MINI GOLF FUNDRAISER “FORE” THE LIBRARY. Play mini golf in the library! 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sun., Feb. 21, 1-5 p.m. Shaler North Hills Library, Glenshaw. 412-486-0211.

BOOKS IN THE AFTERNOON. Lively discussions of contemporary fiction. Third Thu of every month, 1 & 6 p.m. Carnegie Library, Oakland. 412-622-3114. ENGLISH LEARNERS’ BOOK CLUB. For advanced ESL students. Presented in cooperation w/ the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council. Thu, 1 p.m. Mount Lebanon Public Library, Mt. Lebanon. 412-531-1912. THE HOUR AFTER HAPPY HOUR WRITER’S WORKSHOP. Young writers & recent graduates looking for additional feedback on their work. thehourafterhappyhour. wordpress.com. Thu, 7-9 p.m. Lot 17, Bloomfield. 412-687-8117. KNOW THYSELF: AN AFRICAN AMERICAN POETIC JOURNEY. Readings by Dessie Bey. http://dbeypoet.wix.com/ dessie-bey. 7 p.m. Point Park University, Downtown. 412-464-0321. TNY PRESENTS. February’s readers are Tyler McAndrew, Natty Soltesz, Madalyn Hochendoner & Kelly Andrews. 8 p.m. Belleville Arts Collective, Wilkinsburg. www.tnypresents. blogspot.com.

FRI 19 JENNIFER JACKSON BERRY, DEESHA PHILYAW, ELLEN MCGRATH SMITH. A Valentines’ Day reading celebrating the seductive nature of food. 5 p.m. Zeke’s Coffee Shop, East Liberty. 412-670-6231.

Lenten Fish Fries The cure for winter blahs: the community camaraderie, low prices and giant fried-fish sandwiches and other Pittsburgh comfort-food classics. Check the online map for locations: http://goo.gl/maps/JorlY.

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

SAT 20 POETRY SLAM - OPEN MIC. Drumming by Bryan Fazio of Sun King Warriors & lyrical upright bass by Slippery Rock University’s Jared Negley. All poetry forms welcome.

WHEN: Fri.,

Feb. 12

This theater is a unique experience; it’s not like anything else in the city. They offer a different take on movies — they don’t show the big films out at the moment. Every week is themed differently, and this week was for Valentine’s Day [“Row House of Romance”]. I really like older, classic movies and [Some Like It Hot] is actually one of my favorite movies. It’s definitely old-school but that’s something I like about it. The story is simple and speaks for itself. There’s no effects that get in the way, it’s all about the storyline. The cinema is eclectic and when you pair it with Atlas, the bottle shop next door, it’s really unique. The fact that you can bring beer in is really cool. It’s a pretty good bang for your buck. B Y C O URT N E Y L I N D E R

6-7:15 p.m. Thru March 7 Shaler North Hills Library, Glenshaw. 412-486-0211. MAKER STORY TIME. Explore tools, materials & processes inspired by books. Listen to stories read by librarian-turned-Teaching Artist Molly. Mon, 11 a.m.-12 p.m. Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, North Side. 412-322-5058.

WED 24 ONCE UPON A WEDNESDAY. Each week, a new fairy tale will be introduced as well as an accompanying craft. This creative program is geared for ages 4 & under, but all are welcome to attend. Registration required. Wed, 10:30 a.m. Thru April 27 Baldwin Borough Public Library, Baldwin. 412-885-2255.

OUTSIDE SAT 20 WALKING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND SNOWSHOE HIKE. Pre-registration is required at www.alleghenycounty.us/ parkprograms. 2-4 p.m. White Oak Park.

SUN 21 WALKING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND SNOWSHOE HIKE. Pre-registration is required at www.alleghenycounty. us/parkprograms. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Settler’s Cabin Park. 412-787-2750.

WED 24 1 p.m. Bottlebrush Gallery & Shop, Harmony. 724-452-0539.

SUN 21 STEPHAN PASTIS. Lecture from American cartoonist & illustrator. 2:30 p.m. Carnegie Lecture Hall, Oakland. www.pittsburgh lectures.org. 412-622-8866.

hosted by the Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange. This month’s meeting focuses on John Kinsella’s “Jam Tree Gully.” Fourth Wed of every month, 7:30 p.m. Coffee Tree Roasters, Shadyside. 412-928-9891.

KIDSTUFF

MON 22

SAT 20

WHAT’S YOUR STORY? An adult writing group for light-hearted stories. Second and Fourth Mon of every month, 12:30-2:30 p.m. Shaler North Hills Library, Glenshaw. 412-486-0211.

PAWS FOR A CAUSE. Meet at least one approved literacy dog, hear stories, read aloud to a four-legged friend & participate in a literacy activity. Readers of all ages & abilities. Registration required. 11 a.m. Baldwin Borough Public Library, Baldwin. 412-885-2255.

TUE 23

FULL LIST ONLINE

JENNY NORDBERG. The Raizman Lecture www. per pa w/ the investigative FATHER DAUGHTER pghcitym .co journalist & awardDINNER DANCE. Dress winning author behind up, dance & enjoy dinner The Underground Girls of w/ your dad. 6-8:30 p.m. Kabul. 6 p.m. Chatham University, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Shadyside. 412-365-1578. North Side. 412-322-5058. STEEL CITY SLAM. Open mic THACROWBATS. Watch this poets & slam poets. 3 rounds of acrobat group climb, tumble 3 minute poems. Tue, 7:45 p.m. & not fall. They’ll teach us how Capri Pizza and Bar, East Liberty. to properly stretch our bodies to 412-362-1250. prepare for some simple moves. STORYTELLING @ RILEY’S. Story 1-2:30 p.m. Children’s Museum telling on a theme every month. of Pittsburgh, North Side. Last Tue of every month, 8 p.m. 412-322-5058. Riley’s Pour House, Carnegie. 412-279-0770. CREATIVE INK TEEN WRITING WORKSHOP. No PITTSBURGH POETRY writing experience necessary. EXCHANGE. Book discussion Registration required. Mon,

SUN 21

MON 22

WED 24

WEDNESDAY MORNING WALK. Naturalist-led, rain or shine. Wed Beechwood Farms, Fox Chapel. 412-963-6100.

OTHER STUFF THU 18 A SOTO ZEN BUDDHIST SITTING GROUP. http://city dharma.wordpress.com/schedule/ Tue, Thu Church of the Redeemer, Squirrel Hill. 412-965-9903. AARP TAX AIDE. Please bring a copy of last year’s tax forms. Customers are seen on a first-come, first-served basis. Thu, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Thru April 14. Baldwin Borough Public Library, Baldwin. 412-885-2255. CAREER PORN: BLOGGING & THE GOOD LIFE. Lecture by Gabriella Lukacs, associate professor, Pitt Department of Anthropology. http://gsws.pitt. edu/. 4 p.m. Cathedral of Learning, Oakland. 412-621-9339. INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF PITTSBURGH. Social, cultural club of American/ international women. Thu, First Baptist Church, Oakland. iwap.pittsburgh@gmail.com. MEET, LEARN, PLAY: DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. Bring a 1st level character & some dice, or bring nothing at all. 5 p.m. Carnegie Library, Downtown. 412-622-3151. PITTSBURGH IN WORLD WAR I: ON THE HOMEFRONT AND IN THE FIELD. Historian Elizabeth

VISUAL ART

CONTINUED FROM PG. 45

& Ron Korczynski. Forest Hills. 412-465-0140. ECLECTIC ART & OBJECTS GALLERY. 19th century American & European paintings combined w/ contemporary artists & their artwork. The Hidden Collection. Watercolors by Robert N. Blair (1912- 2003). Hiromi Traditional Japanese Oil Paintings The Lost Artists of the 1893 Chicago Exhibition. Collectors Showcase. Emsworth. 412-734-2099. FRICK ART & HISTORICAL CENTER. Permanent collection of European Art.. Fast Cars & Femmes Fatales: The Photographs of Jacques Henri Lartigue. A 125 photos that document the life in the Belle-Époque & early-20thcentury France. Point Breeze. 412-371-0600. GALLERIE CHIZ. Not Enough Time.Inside The Artists’ Studios. Artist/Owner Ellen Chisdes Neuberg moves her studio into the gallery for six weeks & paints live during regular business hours. Shadyside. 412-441-6005. THE GALLERY 4. Redfishbowl Collective Artists’ Showcase. Recent Works from the Redfishbowl Collective. Shadyside. 412-363-5050. GLENN GREENE STAINED GLASS STUDIO INC. Original Glass Art by Glenn Greene. Exhibition of new work, recent work & older work. Regent Square. 412-243-2772. HOLOCAUST CENTER OF PITTSBURGH. In Celebration of Life: Living Legacy Project. A photographic/ multimedia exhibit honoring & commemorating local Holocaust survivors. North Side. 412-421-1500. JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER. Jane Haskell: Drawing in Light. An exhibition of 30 sculptures, paintings & drawings by the artist. Squirrel Hill. 412-521-8010. MARTHA GAULT ART GALLERY. A Collaboration of Creativity, Two Masters: David C. Driskell, Master Artist & Curlee R. Holton, Master Printmaker. Works on paper from their collaboration over 10 years, artistic careers, in mediums including aquatint, collage, drawing, etching, lithograph & serigraph. Slippery Rock. 724-738-2020. MATTRESS FACTORY. Ongoing Installations. Works by Turrell,

Williams traces the remarkable story of Pittsburgh during the Great War. 6:30 p.m. Mount Lebanon Public Library, Mt. Lebanon. 412-531-1912. RADICAL TRIVIA. Thu, 9 p.m. Smiling Moose, South Side. 412-431-4668.

N E W S

Lutz, Shiota, Kusama, Anastasi, Highstein, Wexler & Woodrow. Factory Installed. Artists Anne Lindberg, John Morris, Julie Schenkelberg, Jacob Douenias, Ethan Frier, Rob Voerman, Bill Smith, Lisa Sigal & Marnie Weber created new room-sized installations that demonstrate a uniquely different approach to the creative process. North Side. 412-231-3169. MILLER GALLERY AT CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY. Maximum Minimum In Unum. Exhibiting artists whose work eludes maximalist or minimalist classification. Oakland. 412-268-3618. MONROEVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY. Close to Home. An exhibition by Murrysville resident & artist Bob Bickers. Monroeville. 412-372-0500. MORGAN CONTEMPORARY GLASS GALLERY. 3d@mgg2. Local glass artists will be joined by artists working in various 3d media –metal, fiber, wood & ceramic. The artists include brian engel, edric florence, jason forck, glen gardner, rae gold, laura beth konopinski, kevin o’toole, michael smithhammer & laura tabakman. Shadyside. 412-441-5200. NEU KIRCHE CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER. Like a Body Without Skin. Work by Fiona Amundsen addressing the relationships between steel manufacturing industries & their mobilization into a united national front that produced everything from planes to bombs during WWII. North Side. 412-322-2224. NORTH HILLS ART CENTER. Winter Blues Art Show. Work by local amateur & professional artists in oil, pastel, watercolor, fiber, stoneware & other media. Ross. 412-364-3622. PANZA GALLERY. Verse Envisioned. Poems from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette & works of art they have inspired. Poets Liane Norman, Bob Valasek, Lawrence Wray & more reading on Feb. 27, 5-7 p.m. Millvale. 412-821-0959. PITTSBURGH FILMMAKERS. In the Air: Visualizing what we breath. Photographs that show the effects of western PA’s air quality. Oakland. 412-681-5449. PITTSBURGH GLASS CENTER. Lifeforms. An exhibition of the best biological glass models

RESOURCES FOR BLACK BUSINESS SUCCESS. Lender Relations Specialist Judith Kirby, U.S. Small Business Administration Pittsburgh District Office explains how qualifying African-American entrepreneurs & small business owners can utilize the SBA to

TA S T E

made in the spirit of the famous 19th & 20th century models of invertebrates & plants made by Rudolf & Leopold Blaschka for the Harvard University’s Botanical Museum. Friendship. 412-365-2145. SILVER EYE CENTER FOR PHOTOGRAPHY. Fellowship 16: Projects by Ka-Man Tse & Aaron Blum. Two solo exhibitions from our International Award & Keystone Award winners, selected from an open call for entries in mid-2015. South Side. 412-431-1810. SOCIETY FOR CONTEMPORARY CRAFT SATELLITE GALLERY. The Invisible One. Insight into the loneliness & confusion felt by stigmatized individuals. The three artists on display present hope for awareness, action & understanding through a variety of works composed of wood, fiber, clay & mixed media. Downtown. 412-261-7003. THE SOCIETY FOR CONTEMPORARY CRAFT. Mindful: Exploring Mental Health Through Art. More than 30 works created by 14 contemporary artists explore the impact that mental illness is having on society & the role the arts can play in helping to address these issues. Strip District. 412-261-7003. SWEETWATER CENTER FOR THE ARTS. Poetic Logic: Collage & Assemblage. This national juried exhibition will showcase artists working in collage, assemblage & other processes of incorporating elements of repurposed materials as a way of expressing our contemporary experience. Sewickley. 412-741-4405. TUGBOAT PRINT SHOP. Tugboat Printshop Showroom. Open showroom w/ the artists. Fridays 10 a.m.-4 p.m. & by appt. only. Lawrenceville. 412980-0884. WOOD STREET GALLERIES. Pastoral Noir: New English Landscapes. Visual, sonic & sculptural investigations into the English landscape w/ work by Tessa Farmer, Jem Finer, Ghost Box Records, Tony Heywood, Alison Condie, Autumn Richardson, Richard Skelton & Semiconductor. Downtown. 412-471-5605.

develop & grow their business. 12:15 p.m. Carnegie Library, Downtown. 412-281-7141. SALSA NIGHT. Free dancing lessons w/ host & instructor DJ Bobby D from 9:30-10 p.m. Thu, 9:30 p.m.-2 a.m. Perle Champagne Bar, Downtown. 412-471-2058.

M U S I C

Teutonia Mannerchor, North Side. 412-423-6144. RAISING FUNDS WHILE RAISING SPIRITS. Receive personal messages while supporting the library. 10 a.m. Bethel Park Public Library, Bethel Park. 412-835-2207. SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING. Lessons 7-8 p.m., social dancing follows. No partner needed. Mon, 7 p.m. and Sat, 7 p.m. Grace Episcopal Church, Mt. Washington. 412-683-5670. SECRETS OF LANDSCAPE DESIGN. Whether you do-ityourself or want your landscape done for you, Penn State Horticulturalist Evan Evanovich, of The Landscape Center, Bethel Park, will show you how to make your landscape compliment & add value to your home or business. 1:30 p.m. Mount Lebanon Public Library, Mt. Lebanon. 412-531-1912. SOUTH HILLS SCRABBLE CLUB. Free Scrabble games, all levels. Sat, 1-3 p.m. Mount Lebanon Public Library, Mt. Lebanon. 412-531-1912. STUDIO SATURDAYS W/ BRUCE SENCHESEN & MARIA PAUL KYROS. The artists speaks about their techniques & work. RSVP requested. 3-4 p.m. Gallerie Chiz, Shadyside. 412-441-6005. SWING CITY. Learn & practice swing dancing skills w/ the Jim Adler Band. Sat, 8 p.m. Wightman School, Squirrel Hill. 412-759-1569. (T)ERROR. Screening at the

TRIVIA NIGHT. Thu, 7 p.m. The BeerHive, Strip District. 412-904-4502.

THU 18 - SUN 21 31ST ANNUAL ALLEGHENY SPORT, TRAVEL & OUTDOOR SHOW. Celebrate the diversity of the region’s natural resources & the outdoor traditions treasured by thousands in the region. 3 p.m., Fri., Feb. 19, 12 p.m., Sat., Feb. 20, 10 a.m. and Sun., Feb. 21, 10 a.m. Monroeville Convention Center, Monroeville. 412-373-7300.

FRI 19 AFRICAN DANCE CLASS. Second and Third Fri of every month and Fourth and Last Fri of every month Irma Freeman Center for Imagination, Garfield. 412-924-0634. FRIDAY NIGHT CONTRA DANCE. A social, traditional American dance. No partner needed, beginners welcome, lesson at 7:30. Fri, 8 p.m. Swisshelm Park Community Center, Swissvale. 412-945-0554. MASTERS OF ILLUSION. Illusions, levitating women, escapologists, comedy magic, sleight of hand & dancers. 8 p.m. Palace Theatre, Greensburg. 724-836-8000.

FRI 19 - SUN 21 ALLE KISKI STRONG HOMEXPO. 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Sat., Feb. 20, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sun., Feb. 21, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills, Tarentum. 412-310-7781.

Sembene Film Festival. 2 p.m. Carnegie Library, Homewood. 412-657-6916. TROPICAL FOREST CONGO FESTIVAL. Celebrate food & culture of the African Congo w/ family-friendly activities, entertainment, food & more. 11 a.m. Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Garden, Oakland. 412-622-6915. VOICECATCH WORKSHOP W/ KATHY AYRES. A community writing workshop & writing space provided by Chatham’s Words Without Walls program. Sat, 10 a.m.12 p.m. Carnegie Library, East Liberty, East Liberty. 412-363-8232. WIGLE WHISKEY BARRELHOUSE TOURS. Sat, 12:30 & 2 p.m. Wigle Whiskey Barrel House, North Side. 412-224-2827.

SAT 20 - SUN 21 41ST PITTSBURGH ANTIQUES SHOW & SALE. W/ artwork, furniture, lamps & lighting, ephemera, Early American Pattern Glass, Art Glass, Depression Glass, pottery, primitives, toys, books, vintage clothing, silver & silver-plate, linens, jewelry, more. 10 a.m. and Sun., Feb. 21, 10 a.m. Crowne Plaza Hotel, Bethel Park. 412-734-5279.

SUN 21 AN AFTERNOON W/ CARTOONIST/ILLUSTRATOR CONTINUES ON PG. 48

SAT 20 2016 SOUTH SIDE SOUP CONTEST. A soup tasting contest. Benefits the Brashear Food Bank. 12-3 p.m. E. Carson St., South Side. AFRICAN AMERICAN GENEALOGY RESEARCH. Discuss various methods & library resources that can aid those searching, w/ limited information, for ancestors who were enslaved or emancipated. 2:30 p.m. Carnegie Library, Downtown. 412-281-7141. BEGINNER TAI CHI CLASSES. Sat, 9 a.m. Friends Meeting House, Oakland. 412-683-2669. COMMUNITY BALLROOM. 7 p.m. Salvation Army Temple, Dormont. 412-423-6144. EXPOSURES: ARTIST TALK. Artists Elizabeth Rudnick & Jamie Earnest discuss their installations at The Warhol & their artistic practices w/ Jessica Beck, The Warhol’s assistant curator of art. 10 a.m. Andy Warhol Museum, North Side. 412-237-8300. FROM SPIRITUALS TO JAZZ: FROM FOLK ART TO HIGH ART. Elizabeth “Betty” Asche Douglas will trace the evolution of the signature African American musical contributions from their origins to the present. 2 p.m. McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center, McKeesport. 412-678-1832. PITTSBURGH BALLROOM DANCE. Nightclub two-step lesson & open dancing. 7 p.m.

S C R E E N

A R T S

E V E N T S

C L A S S I F I E D S

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CENTRAL OUTREACH WELLNESS CENTER Walk-ins are Welcome

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centraloutreach.com

412-322-4151

FREE PARKING off Isabella Street

BIG LIST, CONTINUED FROM PG. 47

STEPHAN PASTIS. Creator of Pearls Before Swine & Timmy Failure. 2:30 p.m. Carnegie Lecture Hall, Oakland. 412-622-8866. ARGENTINE TANGO CLASSES. Learn Argentine Tango w/ the Pittsburgh Tangueros. Classes for all levels. Beginners from 5-7pm. No partner required. Sun, 5 p.m. Thru Feb. 22 Wilkins School Community Center, Swissvale. 412-661-2480. CALMING COZY COLORING FOR ADULTS. 2-4 p.m. Shaler North Hills Library, Glenshaw. 412-486-0211. EXPRESSIONS OF BLACK HISTORY. Character dramatizations of historic people, food tasting, cultural dance, music & more. 3:30 p.m. Triumph Baptist Church, Sewickley. 412-523-2422. LUNAR NEW YEAR PARADE. On Murray Avenue, between Phillips & Darlington. celebrate the Year of the Red Fire Monkey, w/ stunning costumes, music, marching bands & traditional Chinese & Thai Dragons. 11 a.m. 412-339-0523. MYSTICAL PSYCHIC FAIR. Experience the energy of psychic readers, energy workers, & healing. 12 p.m. South Hills Elks Lodge #2213, Bethel Park. 724-348-8063. RADICAL TRIVIA. Trivia game hosted by DJ Jared Evans. Come alone or bring a team. Sun, 7 p.m. Oaks Theater, Oakmont. 412-828-6322. REC ROOM: WINTER GAMES. Active & passive participation games, live bands, DJs, more. 3-8 p.m., Sun., March 6, 3-8 p.m.

and Sun., March 20, 3-8 p.m. Spirit Hall & Lounge, Lawrenceville. 412-586-4441. RUNNING CLINIC. Gait analysis, lectures & simple form tools to help run faster, easier & injury free. 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Jewish Community Center, Squirrel Hill. 412-339-5415. SUNDAY MARKET. A gathering of local crafters & dealers selling unique items, from home made foodstuffs to art. Sun, 6-10 p.m. The Night Gallery, Lawrenceville. 724-417-0223. WASTE LAND. Part of Chatham University’s Environmental Justice Film Series. 6 p.m. Chatham University, Shadyside. 412-657-6916.

pitt.edu. 6 p.m. Carnegie Museum of Art, Oakland. 412-622-3131. SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCING. Lessons 7-8 p.m., social dancing follows. No partner needed. Mon, 7 p.m. and Sat, 7 p.m. Grace Episcopal Church, Mt. Washington. 412-683-5670. TRIVIA NIGHT. Hosted by Pittsburgh Bar Trivia. Mon, 7 p.m. Carnivore’s Restaurant & Sports Bar, Oakmont. 412-820-7427.

TUE 23

A SOTO ZEN BUDDHIST SITTING GROUP. http://citydharma. wordpress.com/schedule/ Tue, Thu Church of the Redeemer, Squirrel Hill. 412-965-9903. INSIDE GAME DESIGN. Scott Benson & Bethany Hockenberry, members of the indie HERE ONE DAY. www. per development team pa Screening of the pghcitym Infinite Fall, will .co Documentary by Kathy discuss the development Leichter. 7 p.m. Rodef process of their successfully Shalom Congregation, Kickstarted game, Night in Oakland. 412-992-5203. the Woods. Q&A session and a IMPROV ACTING CLASS. Mon, sampling of Infinite Fall’s work. 7 p.m. Thru March 22 Percolate, www.nightinthewoods.com. 7 p.m. Wilkinsburg. 412-607-4297. Mount Lebanon Public Library, OUR KIDS: THE AMERICAN Mt. Lebanon. 412-531-1912. DREAM IN CRISIS. Lecture by SOUNDING NEW SOCIALITIES. Robert Putnam, Peter & Isabel A public panel discussion feat. Malkin. www.thornburghforum. George Lewis & Edwin H. Case. pitt.edu. 2-3 p.m. University Club, www.music.pitt.edu. 6 p.m. Frick Oakland. 412-648-8213. Fine Arts Auditorium, Oakland. PRUNING (AT) VERSAILLES: 412-624-4125. ARBOREAL POLITICS IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE. Lecture by Giulia Pacini. www.arch. BRUSHES BEFORE BEDTIME. A night of family art using various techniques. We will provide all of the supplies & art smocks. No age limit requirements. A “how to draw” segment will be included in each program. Registration requested. 6:30 p.m., Wed., March 30, 6:30 p.m. and Wed., April 27, 6:30 p.m. Baldwin Borough Public Library, Baldwin. 412-885-2255. FLEET FEET SPEED SQUAD. At the track. Coach Alex from Fleet Feet Sports Pittsburgh hosts weekly Wednesday night speed workouts. The workouts are free & open to the public. Anyone who wants to improve their speed & form are encouraged to join. Wed, 7 p.m. Jefferson Elementary, Mt. Lebanon. 412-851-9100. THE PITTSBURGH SHOW OFFS. A meeting of jugglers & spinners. All levels welcome. Wed, 7:30 p.m. Union Project, Highland Park. 412-363-4550.

MON 22

FULL LIST ONLINE

WED 24

AUDITIONS BEAUTIFUL CADAVER PROJECT. Open auditions for the world premiere of “northeastsouthwest”. 2 males, 2 females, ages 25-45. Feb. 18, 7-9 p.m. & Feb. 20, 2-5 p.m. 1210 Ingham St., North Side. 412-335-0978. FRONT PORCH THEATRICALS. Auditions for ‘The Spitfire Grill’ & ‘Floyd Collins’. Seeking trained male & female singers/actors w/ strong singing abilities in folk-rock & contemporary musical theater styles, in addition to strong acting

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 02.17/02.24.2016

capabilities. Open calls Feb. 19, 5 p.m. & Feb. 20, 5 p.m. If called back, dance call Feb. 21, 4-6 p.m. All applicants must register online at http://frontporchpgh.com/auditionform. Pittsburgh Musical Theater, West End. 412-551-4027. MON RIVER ARTS. Auditions for Legally Blonde the Musical. Prepare 32 bars of a Broadway musical, bring sheet music & come dressed to dance. Cold readings from the script. Feb. 28, 2-7 p.m. & March 1, 7-9 p.m. Mon River Arts Studio. Email monriverarts@gmail.com or call 412-405-8425 to schedule.

SUBMISSIONS BOULEVARD GALLERY & DIFFERENT STROKES GALLERY. Searching for glass artists, fiber artists, potters, etc. to compliment the exhibits for 2015 & 2016. Booking for both galleries for 2017. Exhibits run from 1 to 2 months. 412-721-0943.

Participant may enter 2 works in any medium (work does not need to be framed, but must be wired for hanging or prepared for display). Thru March 1. Sweetwater Center for the Arts, Sewickley. 412-741-4405. MT. LEBANON ARTISTS’ MARKET. Seeking applications for the market from artists working in jewelry, wood, sculpture, glass, ceramics, fiber, wearables, mixed media, leather, metal & 2D art. For more info or to apply, visit http://www. mtlebanonartistsmarket.com. Thru May 1. THE NEW YINZER. Seeking original essays about literature, music, TV or film, & also essays generally about Pittsburgh. To see some examples, visit www.newyinzer.com & view the current issue. Email all pitches, submissions & inquiries to newyinzer@gmail.com.

[VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY]

DOWNTOWN BEAUTIFICATION SATURDAYS

Join the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s Clean and Street teams and help clean up Downtown. The team is seeking volunteers for every Saturday through July to assist with activities like painting, picking up trash, and weeding and seeding. Individual and group volunteering is encouraged. For more information, email PDP@DowntownPittsburgh.com or visit www.downtownpittsburgh.com. THE GALLERY 4. A salon style competition to search for up & coming artists. Artists whose pieces reflect the gallery’s particular aesthetic will be selected to take part in a juried group exhibition. Artists will then be selected & presented with the opportunity to hold their own exhibition. Applicants are asked to send image files of up to 5 finished pieces to The Gallery 4’s email (thegallery4@ gmail.com).Please include title, dimensions, & medium(s) & write SALON APPLICANT 2016 in the subject line or submit directly via our website (www.thegallery4. us). No size limits or medium restrictions. Deadline March 26. Shadyside. 412-363-5050. THE HOUR AFTER HAPPY HOUR REVIEW. Seeking submissions in all genres for fledgling literary magazine curated by members of the Hour After Happy Hour Writing Workshop. afterhappyhourreview.com INDEPENDENT FILM NIGHT. Submit your film, 10 minutes or less. Screenings held on the second Thursday of every month. DV8 Espresso Bar & Gallery, Greensburg. 724-219-0804. INTERWOVEN STATES ART EXHIBITION. Open to artists of any age who were a student or instructor at Sweetwater in 2015.

PITTSBURGH SOCIETY OF ARTISTS NEW MEMBER SCREENING. Applicants must submit 3 gallery-ready art pieces that are exclusively created by the applicant & made within the last two years. Drop off is March 6, 12:30-1 p.m. at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. For more guidelines, visit http://psaguild.org THE POET BAND COMPANY. Seeking various types of poetry. Contact wewuv poetry@hotmail.com. RUNE. Accepting submissions of poetry, prose, drama, photography, drawing & graphic design for its 2016 edition. This year’s theme is “Growth.” Guidelines: 3 submissions maximum. Poems & prose up to 1,000 words, drama up to 1,250 words. Submit as email attachments to rune@mail.rmu.edu. Text files must be in .doc or docx format, art files in .jpeg format. Thru March 14. UPPAGUS. If you have been thinking about writing/ creating a poem, short prose or artwork commemorating David Bowie, send it to uppagus, an online poetry journal. www.uppagus.com. Thru March 5.

Savage Love {BY DAN SAVAGE}

My new girlfriend blurted out that she had a cuckolding past with her ex-husband. She says her ex badgered her into arranging “dates” with strangers and that he picked the guys. Her ex would then watch her having sex with a guy in a hotel room. The ex only watched and didn’t take part. I am really bothered by her past. She says she did it only because her ex pressured her into it and she wanted to save her marriage, so she agreed. But I suspect she may have enjoyed it and may have been testing me to see if I wanted to be a cuck. What should I do? I am really torn by my feelings toward her. CONFUSED IN NOVA

You suspect she may have enjoyed fucking those other men? I hope she enjoyed fucking those other men — and you should too, CINOVA. Because even if cuckolding wasn’t her fantasy, even if she fucked those other men only to delight her shitty ex-husband, anyone who cares about this woman — and you do care about her, right? — should hope the experiences she had with those other men weren’t overwhelmingly negative, completely traumatizing or utterly joyless. What should you do? If you can’t let this go, if you can’t get over the sex your girlfriend had with her exhusband and those other men, if you can’t hope she had a good time regardless of whose idea it was, if you can’t take “I’m not interested in cuckolding you!” for an answer — if you can’t do all of that — then do your girlfriend a favor and break up with her. She just got out from under a shitty husband who pressured her into “cheating.” The last thing she needs now is a shitty boyfriend who shames her for “cheating.”

on Indian men is more conservative and more tribal, anyway — more ceremonial. More of a peacock thing, really. And a lot of work! My Native wife certainly misses my long hair. But I don’t miss the upkeep and I don’t miss answering questions about my hair. I mean, I cut my hair 13 years ago (more than 25 percent of my life ago), and some people still ask me about it! Thirteen years! Also, Native men tend to cut their hair as they age. Long hair is generally a young Indian man’s gig, culturally speaking. “I would venture that Native dude is tired of being romanticized, ethnocized, objectified. We Indians get enough of that shit in the outside world. Maybe this dude doesn’t want that in bed. Or maybe he just likes the way he looks with shorter hair. Because I am getting so gray, long hair would make me look like a warlock having a midlife crisis. Maybe this Indian dude is just sick of all the sociopolitical shit that comes with long hair. Maybe it kills his boner. Talking about it has certainly killed my boner.”

“I AM GETTING SO GRAY, LONG HAIR WOULD MAKE ME LOOK LIKE A WARLOCK HAVING A MIDLIFE CRISIS.”

My husband is Native American. I’m white. We’ve been together 16 years, raising a couple kids. We love each other very much, so this isn’t a deal-breaker. I’ve got a thing for his long black hair. He’s a drop-dead gorgeous man, and while I gave up asking that he wear leggings or a breechcloth once in a while, I wish he would grow out his hair. I’m willing to wear (and do) anything he asks. He’s somewhere to the left of Sherman Alexie when it comes to this stuff, but could you tell me why I’m so wrong? He keeps his hair short, and the one time I made enough of a fuss, he grew it out and never washed it just to spite me. A long time ago, he participated in a sun dance, and he looked incredible. So I guess that makes me a blasphemous pervert, but really? Is asking for a couple of braids really so wrong? WHITEY MCWHITE WIFE

I forwarded your email to Sherman Alexie, the award-winning poet, novelist, essayist and filmmaker. Your question must have touched a nerve, WMW, because Alexie’s response arrived while my computer was still making that wooooshsending-email sound. Now I’m going to step aside and let Alexie answer your question … “What does ‘to the left of Sherman Alexie’ mean in this context? I doubt there are very many Native dudes more leftist than me! And long hair

Why would you call blumkins “sexist”? Are you excluding the idea that gay, bi and trans people might participate? There are many sexual practices that are degrading. If the partner consents, how is it “sexist”? Lastly, have you considered that a heterosexual female may want a blumkin of her own? I’m a heterosexual male, and I have no idea how you could defecate and remain erect — but to each his own! Your answer was irrational and sexist! THE PROBLEM ISN’T ALWAYS SEXISM

Go to Urban Dictionary and read every definition for “blumkin,” TPIAS. There are nine of them. We’ll wait. While almost all of the proposed definitions — including the top one — are gendered (“Taking a nice shit while your woman is sucking your cock”), even definitions that aren’t gendered (“Getting a blowjob while taking a stinky shit”) include examples of usage that are gendered (“Anthony really enjoyed it when Christy gave him a blumkin last night”). While a gay dude could suck his man’s cock while he was taking a stinky shit, and while a trans man could go eat his cis girlfriend’s pussy while she was dropping a deuce, the whole conversation about blumkins — and since blumkins are mythical, TPIAS, the convo is all we’ve got — isn’t about consensual degrading sex play. It’s about the symbolic degradation of women. And that’s sexist. It’s always a little frustrating to read columns where we hear only one side of the story. Maybe you could solicit letters from both partners? A couple would agree in advance what the problem was and both send in a letter, but they should not read each other’s letters. Keep up the great work!

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I love this idea, JAI. Any game couples out there? Throuples welcome, too! On the Lovecast, Dan and writer Ephi Stempler discuss companionate marriage: savagelovecast.com.

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Free Will Astrology

02.17-02.24

{BY ROB BREZSNY}

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): For a limited time only, 153 is your lucky number. Mauve and olive are your colors of destiny, the platypus is your power animal and torn burlap mended with silk thread is your magic texture. I realize that all of this may sound odd, but it’s the straight-up truth. The nature of the cosmic rhythms is rather erratic right now. To be in maximum alignment with the irregular opportunities that are headed your way, you should probably make yourself magnificently mysterious, even to yourself. To quote an old teacher, this might be a good time to be “so unpredictable that not even you yourself knows what’s going to happen.”

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In the long-running TV show M*A*S*H, the character known as Sidney Freedman was a psychiatrist who did his best to nurture the mental health of the soldiers in his care. He sometimes departed from conventional therapeutic approaches. In the series finale, he delivered the following speech, which I believe is highly pertinent to your current quest for good mental hygiene: “I told you people something a long time ago, and it’s just as pertinent today as it was then. Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice: Pull down your pants and slide on the ice.”

ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Old paint on a canvas, as it ages, sometimes becomes transparent,” said playwright Lillian Hellman. “When that happens, it is possible to see the original lines: a tree will show through a woman’s dress, a child makes way for a dog, a large boat is no longer on an open sea.” Why does this happen? Because the painter changed his or her mind. Early images were replaced, painted over. I suspect

that a metaphorical version of this is underway in your life. Certain choices you made in the past got supplanted by choices you made later. They disappeared from view. But now those older possibilities are re-emerging for your consideration. I’m not saying what you should do about them. I simply want to alert you to their ghostly presence so they don’t cause confusion.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Let’s talk about your mouth. Since your words flow out of it, you use it to create and shape a lot of your experiences. Your mouth is also the place where food and drink enter your body, as well as some of the air you breathe. So it’s crucial to fueling every move you make. You experience the beloved sense of taste in your mouth. You use your mouth for kissing and other amorous activities. With its help, you sing, moan, shout and laugh. It’s quite expressive, too. As you move its many muscles, you send out an array of emotional signals. I’ve provided this summary in the hope of inspiring you to celebrate your

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GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Coloring books for adults are best-sellers. Tightly wound folks relieve their stress by using crayons and markers to brighten up black-and-white drawings of butterflies, flowers, mandalas and pretty fishes. I highly recommend that you avoid this type of recreation in the next three weeks, as it would send the wrong message to your subconscious mind. You should expend as little energy as possible working within frameworks that others have made. You need to focus on designing and constructing your own frameworks.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The Old Testament book of Leviticus presents a long list of forbidden activities, and declares that anyone who commits them should be punished. You’re not supposed to get tattoos, have messy hair, consult oracles, work on Sunday, wear clothes that blend wool and linen, plant different seeds in the same field, or eat snails, prawns, pigs and crabs. (It’s OK to buy slaves, though.) We laugh at how absurd it would be for us to obey these outdated rules and prohibitions, and yet many of us retain a superstitious loyalty toward guidelines and beliefs that are almost equally obsolete. Here’s the good news, Cancerian: Now is an excellent time to dismantle or purge your own fossilized formulas.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “I would not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well,” said the philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau. In accordance with your astrological constitution, Leo, I authorize you to use this declaration as your own almost any time you feel like it. But I do suggest that you make an exception to the rule during the next four weeks. In my opinion, it will be time to focus on increasing your understanding of the people you care about — even if that effort takes time and energy away from your quest for ultimate self-knowledge. Don’t worry: You can return to emphasizing Thoreau’s perspective by the equinox.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You are entering the inquisitive phase of your astrological cycle. One of the best ways to thrive during the coming weeks will be to ask more questions than you have asked since you were 5 years old. Curiosity and good listening skills will be superpowers that you should you strive to activate. For now, what matters most is not what you already know but rather what you need to find out. It’s a favorable time to gather information about riddles and mysteries that have perplexed you for a long time. Be super-receptive and extra wide-eyed!

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LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Poet Barbara Hamby says the Russian word ostyt can be used to describe “a cup of tea that is too hot, but after you walk to the next room, and return, it is too cool.” A little birdie told me that this may be an apt metaphor for a current situation in your life. I completely understand if you wish the tea had lost less of its original warmth, and was exactly the temperature you like, neither burning nor tepid. But that won’t happen unless you try to reheat it, which would change the taste. So what should you do? One way or the other, a compromise will be necessary. Do you want the lukewarm tea or the hot tea with a different flavor?

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Russian writer Ivan Turgenev was a Scorpio. Midway through his first novel, Rudin, his main character, Dmitrii Nikolaevich Rudin, alludes to a problem that affects many Scorpios. “Do you see that apple tree?” Rudin asks a woman companion. “It is broken by the weight and abundance of its own fruit.” Ouch! I want very much for you Scorpios to be spared a fate like that in the coming weeks. That’s why I propose that you scheme about how you will express the immense creativity that will be welling up in you. Don’t let your lush and succulent output go to waste.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Asking you Sagittarians to be patient may be akin to ordering a bonfire to burn more politely. But it’s my duty to inform you of the cosmic tendencies, so I will request your forbearance for now. How about some nuances to make it more palatable? Here’s a quote from author David G. Allen: “Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind.” Novelist Gustave Flaubert: “Talent is a long patience.” French playwright Moliere: “Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.” Writer Ann Lamott: “Hope is a revolutionary patience.” I’ve saved the best for last, from Russian novelist Irène Némirovsky: “Waiting is erotic.”

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “If you ask for help it comes, but not in any way you’d ever know.” Poet Gary Snyder said that, and now I’m passing it on to you, Capricorn. The coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to think deeply about the precise kinds of help you would most benefit from — even as you loosen up your expectations about how your requests for aid might be fulfilled. Be aggressive in seeking assistance, but ready and willing to be surprised as it arrives. What good thing would you have to give up in order to get a great thing? Testify at Freewill astrology.com. Click on “Email Rob.”

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1. “Need I go on?”, briefly 4. Marching musicians 8. Big Apple force 12. Thai scratch 14. “The Wire” stick-up man 15. Rained hate upon 16. Programs that come with your computer that you never use and slow it down 18. Shares a side 19. Behind a firewall 20. Wedding cake section 21. Part that failed the Challenger 22. Springtime allergens 25. High 60s 27. On top of things 29. “I’m full” 30. Middle relievers stats 31. “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” secretary 32. “___ y plata” 33. Like one who could stand to lose a few 34. Some volleyball kills 35. Gin and tonic, top shelf, for short 36. Illuminati symbol 37. Polyphonic choral pieces

38. Roughly 30% of Earth’s total land area 39. The first one debuted on 9/2/69 at a Chemical Bank in Rockville Centre, New York 40. Playground comeback 41. Soccer shoe support 42. “See you later” 44. Errand runner 46. Safari entries? 47. Mouthwash ingredient 50. Newsstand pickup 52. It can give you a leg up 53. “Unh-unh” 54. [If I wasn’t on this leash I’d tear you to bits] 55. Talking Stick Resort Arena team 56. Signaled to begin 57. Computer hacker on “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” 58. Visualize

DOWN 1. Pulls back on the shore 2. Fairy story 3. Really rich desert 4. Bruce whose #12 was retired by the San Antonio Spurs 5. Blends together to form a new combination

6. ___ a soul (nobody) 7. Dr. known more for crappy headphones than any music he might have made 8. Prize won by Gandhi (... what? He never one won of these? Baffling!) 9. “Can the comedy” 10. Constant request from a four-year-old 11. Crown maker: Abbr. 13. My star sign 15. Irish Cream maker 17. “Divergent” protagonist 20. Rich deserts 22. Outline for victory

23. You can get to it in the closet 24. Fired 25. Loss 26. Worship 28. Smartens (up) 31. Treats on sticks 34. Less significant 38. Google offerings 41. Fiscal execs 43. Celebrant of Samhain, Beltain, and Lughnasad 45. Freaky odd 47. Salad bar utensil 48. Kaput 49. Choice word 50. Fast Company rival 51. Worthless coin 52. Kicker’s attempts: Abbr. {LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS}

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THIS JUST IN

{BY FRANCIS RUPP}

A look at local news online and on the tube

WENDY BELL HAS AN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS (SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO) WENDY BELL IS UPSET. More like angry, fretting for the future of the human race and, probably, blocking me from her “veriﬁed, public ﬁgure” Facebook page as you read this. While the thought of that cuts me deep, I cannot let it prevent me from doing my job. The anchorwoman’s anger was most recently evident during an embarrassing-for-all-of-us interview with Rick Flinn, the director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency. It occurred in the wake of a winter-stormfueled turnpike shutdown near Somerset on Jan. 23, which left motorists stranded for nearly 24 hours. The interview pretty much went like this:

Bell: “What would you like to say to everybody who’s watching?” Flinn: “[Doesn’t matter to Bell.]” Bell: “[WRATH! Accusations! Rhetorical questions! Mention of higher tolls!]” Flinn: “You’re absolutely right.” Bell: “So, you believe that this was handled as best as it possibly could have been? Because I got a lot of people who are emailing us here at Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 and they are not in the same boat with you. They’re outraged.” Flinn: “Again, the issue is responding to the event …” [Bell cuts him off.] Bell: “I think folks at home … you know, ‘I’m sorry’ might go a long way.” Bell’s misguided attempt to play an incendiary, populist Nancy Gracetype character was irresponsible. But even worse was a missed opportunity to elicit useful information for viewers. When the goal of an interview is to beat an apology out of someone, it’s time to step back. This interview was a sobering demonstration that the line between Bell’s on- and off-air “personalities” (read on) has become blurred. That muddles the credibility of the news she delivers. Bell is peddling outrage, yet her Feb. 13 Facebook post decries “outrage culture.” During the confrontational interview with Flinn, Bell emphasized that folks were “scared to death.” Meanwhile, that’s the very thing that local news does on a daily basis. It aims to scare you, because studies conﬁrm you are more likely to pay attention to negative information. That might be why WTAE hasn’t pulled the plug on Bell’s WTAE Facebook page, where she regularly chronicles her existential struggles and doles out Old Testament-style love. In a Feb. 8 post, she declares, “We’re Ruining Our Kids. This isn’t a blame game. It’s the truth. We’re raising an embarrassingly codependent, whining, lazy bunch of ﬁnger pointers who don’t even know how to answer the phone. Has your child ever addressed an envelope? I just had to teach

{SCREENCAP FROM WENDY BELL’S INTERVIEW WITH RICK FLINN}

this. TO MY 14 YEAR OLD [sic].” Oh, the humanity. She also apparently worries about kids who don’t exist, playing “if I had a daughter” in a Jan. 28 post: “When people who don’t know me learn that I have five sons, they often ask if I’m disappointed that I never had a girl. To be honest ... I’ve never once thought about it … She would have been Katie. Katie Bell O’Toole. Katie Bell. This, tonight, is what I would say to Katie if she were Michael, my soon-to-be 16 year old [sic] who’s trying his hardest to be himself in a world where everyone else seems to be doing the opposite.” She goes on to tell her imaginary daughter to be herself, stand up for others, pray, work hard, etc. She even describes her “shiny brown hair” and the “green flecks in your eyes.” She also tells her followers to “share this with someone you love. There’s a Katie Bell out there tonight in your life who really needs to hear it.” “If Katie were Michael?” Why can’t that advice just be for the children you actually do have? In her Jan. 25 entry, Bell also agonizes over whether her sons would have survived the Siege of Bastogne: “When the DVD [Band of Brothers] finished, Joe [her spouse] and I sat starting [sic] at the TV. I looked at him. He looked at me. And we nearly said it together. We’d be in trouble today if our boys were the ones fighting that battle. I love my sons. They are funny, handsome, smart little monsters who give me indescribable joy. But I worry about how far we’ve drifted from The Greatest Generation.” Please, stop doubting your kids. If you won’t do that, then at least stop doubting everyone else’s kids, and using the word “we” when you’re talking about you. The world isn’t ending; but I could see how, after watching the TV news, you might think that. Things are no worse now than they’ve been; they’re just bad in a different way. Guess what? They’re also good in different ways. I know that local-news folks are responsible for supplying their own wardrobes, but self-righteous indignation doesn’t look good on anyone. I N F O@ P G HC I T Y PA P E R. C OM

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