PGH Stuff and Things N'at: August 2012

Due to a combination of extreme discomfort (stupid poison ivy legs) and a return to high temps (stupid sweaty poison ivy legs), I feel like I haven't been able to do much fun stuff lately. The good news is the itchiness is gone! Now I just have to wait out the disappearance of these scabs and patches of dead skin (I know, sounds really cool, right?!), but I'm back to shorts, skirts, and dresses. Stupid work pants be damned! So, in lieu of a post dedicated to one thing, here's a post dedicated to five things. Stuff and things n'at. Enjoy!

Love Front Porch
This morning while I was eating breakfast (toad in the hole smothered in cheddar cheese) and drinking coffee, I was catching up on my Google Reader. One of the PopCity articles I had missed last week was about Love Front Porch, based in Homewood. Do yourself (and Vanessa German, creator of Love Front Porch) a favor and read the site's About Me section. Or, if you're more of a watcher than a reader, press play:

I was inspired to donate to Love Front Porch, and I hope you will be too. The amount of time I spend in Homewood is basically zero. When I first moved back to Pittsburgh, a friend suggested I take a route through the neighborhood from my apartment in Bloomfield over to Regent Square. I felt incredibly unsafe. After that first ride through Homewood - even what as probably a less dangerous section that borders Point Breeze - I have stuck to braving Penn Ave when I need to get over to that part of the East End. Here's the thing though: I want to spend time in Homewood. It's a neighborhood in our city with a rich past (the Carnegies had homes there), storied culture (John Edgar Wideman sets many of his novels on those streets and Billy Strayhorn moved his family there), and buildings I want to explore (the Homewood branch of the Carnegie Library and Victorian homes in need of some TLC).  But, because Homewood is a hotbed of violence, I stay away. I want to love Pittsburgh as a whole, not just the sum of the parts where I feel safe. I wish Vanessa German all the luck in the world with her project. And I hope it can bring a sense of calm and community to a neighborhood that is ailing.

Strata
Sometime in July, I saw these weird posters go up around Downtown. I was intrigued.

When I found out the project was of Bricolage's creation, that was all the mystery I needed solved before purchasing a pair of tickets. I'm not going to reveal much about Strata. I was specifically instructed not to on my visit. But, participating in this was one of the more unique things I have ever done in my life. My dad accompanied me and he not only enjoyed himself, but he had a completely different experience than me. Bricolage has undertaken a huge endeavor here, and they have succeeded. Do yourself a favor and get refitnessed before time's up. The production goes until September 1. Who knows when something this incredible and bizarre will pop up in Pittsburgh again.

The Calm After the Storm - Pittsburgh's Beautiful Sunset
If you're an Instagram user (follow me at everythingbetterpgh) and you have any Instagram friends who live in Pittsburgh, chances are they posted a picture of the sky from Sunday evening. We had a terrible day of rain and scary storms (which I was fortunate enough to get caught in on my bike!), but by 8 p.m., the rain had cleared and looking up was a treat. These photos: unedited.

Looking down Friendship from my corner on Gross Street.

East Liberty Presbyterian Church and The Highland Building

Happy Birthday, Andy Warhol!
Today would have been Andy Warhol's 84th birthday. While I was getting ready this morning, NPR aired a bit about it, and the unassuming cemetery in my hometown of Bethel Park where he is buried. Listen to the story here, and scroll down to watch a great time-lapse video that brings Warhol's grave to life over the course of two years.

Movin' On Up: To the 16th Floor of PPG One
Not going to lie about the rough string of ten days or so I just had to live through. Between the poison ivy, the anniversary of my mom's death, a bike accident, and two flats in four days, I was seriously down in the dumps. Add to that a crazy week of work, but not because of my day-to-day responsibilities. We packed up our offices in the Henry W. Oliver Building and bid farewell to the Daniel Burnham-designed mini-skyscraper and have said hello to PPG One, i.e. the glass castle that is so essential to Pittsburgh's skyline.

Sixteen floors up, with one of those baller window-walled offices is where you'll find me, Monday through Friday.

Now that the move is over, I am so happy. Walking into that building today, sitting at my desk and looking out the window at Pittsburgh, the Mon, the Smithfield Street Bridge, and the South Side Slopes... I feel like I won the office lottery. When I started with the law firm I work with, I didn't ever expect to a) have a job where I felt so challenged and engaged with my work (I had started off as the receptionist, but am now a writer/paralegal) or b) sit in an office that I truly think would make anyone jealous. I remember being a kid and visiting my dad at his office out in Robinson and thinking "Look how important he is with this office and this big window and wow!" (I was also OBSESSED with playing with the Xerox machine in his office; I was a weird kid.) Tomorrow, he's coming up to see my office and my window and I can't wait to show it off.

I feel like this move has been the 180-degree flip I needed in my grumpy overall mindset. I am excited about all the stuff and things n'at that are to come.

Friday Night Light (on Penn): Evolution of a Main Drag, Vol. 1

A couple Fridays ago I got home from work with time to spare before my plans for the evening started. I was feeling restless. The weather was stunning. I decided to take a quick bike ride down Penn Ave to the East Liberty main business stretch and wander about.

I parked my bike at the new Target. Unlike the Market District, Target has mastered bike racks. There are so many of them. They are not parallel to the building or a foot from the building. Good work, Target.

This mural is directly across from the Target parking garage. There are many things I love about this mural: the various building in the skyline, the people on the street, and the two random German shepherds who are just hanging out unleashed.

Actually, they look more like wolves, now that I've taken another look at this photo. From my experience, wolves are not roaming the streets of Eat Liberty. But I kinda wish they were.

What a great mural. Good work, East Liberty.

I thought this was an interesting choice for the facade of this building.

And this building I thought was just plain awesome. Oh, to have the disposable income to buy all of the beautiful abandoned buildings in and around East Liberty and Garfield and rehabilitate them to their former glory.

Facade of the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater. I've never been inside the theater, but I hope that changes soon. Below is a mosaic (I think?) that is right before the main doors into the theater.

I love the long staircase leading up to the house. How very Pittsburgh.

The East Liberty Presbyterian Church intrigues me. I wanted to go in, but time did not allow it on this trip.

Names on the ground outside of the theater.

Two huge murals on the sides of the Novum research building. When you come into East Liberty on Penn from the Bloomfield/Friendship area, this is one of the first things you notice.

Love that these boys are on bikes.

Constantly changing sign atop the Waffle Shop, one of a few Carnegie Mellon University projects scattered around this area of the neighborhood.

I believe this is the building that will be coming down in order to build a small-ish movie theater. (I say small-ish because I've read it's only going to have 5-7 screens, which I'm totally in favor of. Not having to go to the South Side or -ugh- the Waterfront to see a movie will be wonderful...one day.)

Not really sure what this is, but I couldn't help but stop and look at it for a few minutes to try and figure it out. Eventually I decided I just enjoyed that he was trying to play lacrosse with these butterflies.

A fake movie poster in the window of the MT Theater, yet another CMU art project.

Most of the businesses have murals on the gates that protect their businesses after hours. Which means that after business is done for the day, this stretch of Penn gets even more colorful.

I got back on my bike and started back toward Bloomfield, but I had to stop and take a picture of this amazing sunset. It was a beautiful night to get out of the apartment and see some things I'd forever taken note of while passing by. Along the way I got to discover a little more of this stretch of Penn Ave. I rode back up the hill and had to make myself focus on the traffic around me. The sky was just too hard to ignore, and I kept looking up taking it all in.

The Roar of the Crowd: Midnight Radio's The Incredible Audio World of Pittsburgh Sports

Since my mom passed away in July, I've had the realization many times that I only have one parent now. Many of my personality traits and interests come from my dad. He was the one who instilled in me a love of Pittsburgh sports, and we've had many bonding moments - especially throughout the past year after I moved back to Pittsburgh - sitting at Heinz Field for a Steelers game or standing behind our seats in the last row of the Consol Energy Center for Pens games.

So when I read about Briolage's Midnight Radio episode about Pittsburgh sports, I knew it was something I had to go to with my dad. We made a night of it: burgers and beers at Winghart's in Market Square (seriously cannot effectively communicate how much I love love love Winghart's) and then a stroll through downtown to the Bricolage theater on Liberty for Midnight Radio Episode 3: The Incredible Audio World of Pittsburgh Sports.


Before the show, the audience enjoyed snacks and free beer in a tailgate-like setting. As we were standing around waiting for the theater to open up, someone tapped my dad on the shoulder. It was one of his old softball buddies from way back in the day - when my dad was playing softball in his 30s in and around Pittsburgh. They hadn't seen each other in years, so it was fun to watch my dad and his friend Randy catch up and laugh and act like they probably acted when they were around my age.




I had never been to a Bricolage Midnight Radio production before, but I will certainly go back after this experience. It was laid back, audience participation was encouraged, and full of great moments. At times I would close my eyes and just listen - afterall, it is a radio broadcast, but performed right before on stage.


Every part of the show was great - from the reenactment of the greatest Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins moments, to the fake news updates (including the tear-inducing hilarity of a yinzer wine review), to the on-stage musical performance of the Steelers polka. I honestly enjoyed every minute of this show. And so did my dad. When the lights went up at the end, he was grinning and already asking me when the next one was, so we could come again and bring my brother with us next time.

Sadly, by the time this posts, Episode 3 will be over, but there are two episodes left for this series. One of which is about ZOMBIES and that is incredibly exciting to me. Will definitely be taking that in come Halloweentime (aka, the best time).

On an odd last note, part of the performance included an audience-inspired MadLibs reading. Before the show, audience members filled out adjectives, nouns, etc. on a large blackboard. One of those words caught my eye, because it is a term I came up with during preseason last year! "Roethlisburgish" was my word, and here someone wrote down "Roethlisburgerish," which amused me to no end.

Here's proof of my word, as drawn by Eric Lidji.

This hangs on my fridge, because it is a work of art that should be admired by all.

The night was a grand success on all levels. The burgers and beer were amazing. The show was incredibly fun. It was good to laugh with my dad again, especially after weeks of being sad and adjusting to our new way of life. Pittsburgh sports have brought us together on more than one occasion, and I'm sure they will forever be a tie that binds.