One Night in Pittsburgh

I have to stop going to Pittsburgh for only one to six hours! I never get to do all the things I want, and I usually pack so much in that the drive back at night sucks beyond belief. I still haven’t been to any of the museums, let alone anywhere outside of the North Shore and Little Italy areas. Oh yeah, and IKEA. Seriously, can I please find someone to go on a day trip with who doesn’t need to hit the IKEA?

Saturday was my show at Box Heart Gallery (always super nice people) and it was a fun trip — albeit a fast one. Lots of interesting conversations and people. It is cool when people see my stuff in person rather than online, they always remark how different it is (some people thought my painting were airbrushed at first) and they can catch details that they didn’t notice before or that a computer screen just translate as well.

Pittsburgh is a place I’m going to try and make an effort to explore more the coming year I think. The architecture and layout is very different than most cities; I like the row houses that are much like the ones in Baltimore, and all the bars — no matter how renovated — all look like a watering hole out of film noir. Something about the leftover art deco decor and the layout — can’t put my finger on it. Speaking of watering holes, we of course stopped at my favorite place, Brillobox, for a an early dinner and beer slurping. The highlight was as we were walking in, a woman who looked much like Amy Winehouse (messed up hair, make-up, skinny and all) stumbled over to ask us for cigarettes; I totally thought she was on junk or crack, but as it turned out she was just REALLY hammered and one of the few patrons at the bar (she followed us in off the street which weirded me out, and I had my fist ready in case she was going to pull something). Someone put the band Television on the jukebox and she got up and danced by herself for quite a long time — and by danced — I mean moved in rhythm just enough not to completely fall over. This was at 5pm, so she must have started early, and it was our entertainment while we waited for our dinner. It was all good, as I remember one night where Ben and I got a little too loaded and abused that same jukebox like crazy — Duran Duran “Ordinary World” was put on at least three times, and not by me. Anyways here are some photos from the night….

Ben at Brillobox getting an eye full of the gal drunken dancing to Television; and wondering if they are hiring at that indie-rock strip club in Portland?

Me after beer, nachos, wine, cookies, and coffee. Next time, I’m getting a motel!

Sadly the Starbucks on the turnpike was closed at midnight, so we settled for McDonald’s coffee. I thought this notice about nugget sauce abuse was pretty funny. You know once and a while some dude is probably like, “this is bullcrap; this won’t stand!”