THREE PANORAMAS

Took a long ride today.

ON THE 31ST ST. BRIDGE

On the way back from riding up to Observatory hill, now over the Allegheny, underneat a group of people getting wet doing back flips off the robe swing tied underneath a trestle. Click to enlarge.

PANORAMAS

A couple of views from last night’s cruise on the rivers. Downtown (top) and a view up the Ohio River. Click to enlarge.

SUNSET IN BRADDOCK

(Click to enlarge)

SOME PLACE, SOMEWHERE

This afternoon, on invitation from my friend D___ we did a little urban exploring at some old site somewhere. It’s just a short walk over the old Hot Metal bridge over the Monongahela River, then across a field that used to look something like this. A huge Deer Head sculpture crafted from cables greets you as you enter; the rest of interior’s now heavily tagged, filled with trash and debris, some of it flooded, and generally unsafe for anything living. That said, the moment we stepped inside D___ saw some bearded denizen scurrying away off to as D___ put it “One of six-thousand hiding places that guy probably has.” Built in 1885, it’s haunted ground, creaking and moaning as if giving off ethereal impressions of it’s former glory. We took the stairs up to the old crane that sits near the river and took in the view about six-stories up. Most of the place seems like it's on the point of collapse, but it’s obvious steel was built to last. Nothing gave in, no one fell through the floor. though D___ took a stroll on a catwalk I opted out on due to a slight edginess from lack of lunch. On the way out we stopped in one of the large wherehouses where the offices were located, opened flat files spilling their contents of blueprints all over the floor, rats making nests in whatever they felt like. I had the precient feeling and idea we were walking into the post-apocalyptic future.

THINGS I SAW WHILE WAITING FOR THE MECHANIC TO CALL

NIGHT GALLERY

Stills from the Braddock Light Show at Unsmoke Artspace.

BRADDOCK LIGHT SHOW

Unseasonably warm temperatures this weekend made Friday evening one of those dreamy occurrences that for all intents and purposes make Pittsburgh ground zero for unpretentious artistic culture. Unsmoke Artspace, a converted Catholic school in the heart of Braddock (and right across the street from United States Steel’s Edgar Thompson Plant) opened up two floors and a large outside space (complete with the most primitive of art, a pit fire), to an assortment of installations and performance that revealed themselves in places of discovery that made the entire exhibit a kind of gleeful treasure hunt as one roamed around the grounds. It reminded me in no small part of the 1998 Horsehead show at Magnuson Park in Seattle that left a profound impression on me as one of the more magical art events in my lifetime. This evening is a close second.

C. KLEID PRINTS AT THE EVER-WONDERFUL A.I.R.

Week one: C. Kleid mixes ink to match color laser proof for her David Sedaris poster. Week two: Laying down the black overprint for sublime results as a marching band rehearses in the room next door.

CARTS OF WINTER

Nears Swissvale, across the street from the Taco Bell and Applebees.

BRADDOCK

About 4 miles south of where we live in Wilkensburg is Braddock, a once-thriving steel town that with the demise of the mills found it’s population dwindle down to somewhere under 3,000. From the right angle Braddock looks like another riverside mill town, busy, determined, salt of the earth. Yet it’s really something of a strange and beautiful artifact, a post-apocalyptic vision with blocks of empty storefronts, filled with the remains of their occupants, collapsing in on themselves with their own sad neglect. So bleak is the impression it’s small wonder the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road had some filming done here. Unless otherwise informed, one could easily overlook it’s hidden history of French-India war battles featuring the future president George Washington and the country’s first Carnegie library, complete with empty basement pool that once hosted splashing aquatic enthusiasts. It’s a haunted place, of memories and people who once tread it’s sidewalks in happier more economically viable times, where now it’s no surprise to see a drug deal or feel the urge to stay away as night falls. Now artists have moved in, promoting a revival through art and the promise of cheap studio space, and their work pops up in hidden places, like the plastered image by Brooklyn-based artist Swoon who's done some work here. The same library mentioned above hosts a dedicated ceramic studio in it’s former public bathhouse, and the two enthusiastic gentlemen who run it are active participants in the ceramic water filtration project promoted by Potters For Peace, manufacturing these simple, effective devices for shipment throughout the world. Braddock demands repeated visits and a closer look.

THE BARN

UNTITLED

HALLOWEEN

For a city filled with as many churches as it has, Pittsburgh takes it’s Pagan rituals rather seriously. Our Regent Square neighborhood alone was filled with enough house parties and Trick or Treaters to make a horrified Evangelical think the end times were on their way. Even the police, who cruised the streets from 6-8 for a little oversight, provided a strange soundtrack to this memento mori that's my aboslute favorite holiday of the year.

LAURA HEIT

Most of two short pieces by the wonderfully wonderful artist Laura Heit from last weekend’s rather mixed Black Sheep Puppet Festival at the Brew House Association on the South Side. While Heit’s performance was all the things experimental theater should be: engaging, stimulating and absolutely entertaining, much of what we saw seemed haphazard and something of a shambles. We walked out after enduring enough of one excruciating performance that hardly featured much puppetry at all.

HALLOWEEN HOUSE

Over on the South Side is a magical place where all your very special Halloween dreams can come true. The price of admission is merely YOUR SOUL!

SWEEPING CHANGES

Taking another break from all that naughty yelling he does, our neighbor gets busy. Perhaps the most touching part of this tender event is when he takes the rubbish from the lawn and throws it into the street, which I guess for some is just one big fucking dust bin.

MOVEMENT

It was a few weeks ago, the end of summer. There was water in my camera, and we were heading somewhere on a very warm day. Seems so long ago. I made the music for something else but it seemed to work just fine for this.

HOUSE

The apartment just turned a hundred this year. It’s something like a perfectly preserved time capsule and aged to perfection. Residuals from the previous tenant are everywhere, accumulations of some other life.

NACHT MALERIE

A long walk home after a movie, spooky nocturnal settings and a bike light.