#216, Pittsburgh, PA
It was late afternoon when we pulled into the parking space out front Howler's Coyote Cafe. Liberty Avenue was drenched in setting sunlight as we unloaded amp after amp and a trail of white picket fences through the narrow passageway onto the edge of the carpeted stage. The ceiling was hung with t-shirts of local bands and other acts who had passed through and left their Sharpie-signatured merch stapled to the ceiling. Big Green Tanks. The Beautiful Losers. Ninjas Who Met God. I spotted a bright red Bloodshot Records bumper sticker on the door and smiled. It was a little taste of Chicago, my hometown, in this Pittsburgh bar where we were about to play our first show of tour.
Pizza orders safely placed, all equipment snugly settled against the stage, I set out with my camera to see what numbers I could find. I hadn't been to Pittsburgh since my college years. I was going out with a DJ who went to school at Purdue and lived in Pittsburgh, and I spent a few days one summer touring the city with him. We saw Andy Warhol's grave, lay on the grass at Carnegie Mellon, and rode a car on the Duquesne Incline. I liked what I'd seen of Pittsburgh and was glad to have a chance to revisit the city. With a stroke of luck, our gig had landed us in Bloomfield, a residential area with plenty of houses in the 200 and 300 range -- you understand. It's all a work in progress.
The neighborhood was sleepy, a combination of aluminum sided homes and old brick buildings on a low scale. Telephone wires stretched and gaped across alleys. A suspicious man in a car yelled out to me, as I was taking pictures, "Sweetheart! Sweetheart!" Reluctantly, I turned to face him. "Who you lookin' for?" he bellowed. "Numbers," I shouted back. "Don't worry about it."
8 comments:
Howlers Coyote Café! You have to love a place with a name like that - especially in a residential area of a big city!
So glad you did Pittsburgh justice in the write-up. A great city for finding numbers.
Chuckled about the guy who shouted, "whatcha lookin' for?" as you snapped away.
It is so interesting the dialog between photographer and onlooker. People can be funny when they see a camera come out. Street people REALLY leave you alone. Better than mace to defend yourself on the streets-- camera protection.
Yesterday, when I was photographing inside a building downtown, a man came up and said, "May I help you?" I replied, "No thank you." He left, returned a few seconds later and rather shyly said, "Well...... I own this building." I decided that he deserved my explanation, "Well, you see, I maintain Greensboro Daily Photo and....."
Adam, you might have also liked the shop across the street: "Swagger Clothing" with the tagline "FINALLY NEW YORK STYLE BY PEOPLE ACTUALLY FROM NEW YORK." Phew - finally!!!
GDP, the only thing that makes people more nervous than a camera is a small notebook and pen. Tell them you're writing a novel and they'll either leave you alone or ask if they're going to be in it.
Gorgeous contrast of brick textures! I love it. Also, I love Pittsburgh, even tough I haven't been there since pre-college at Carnegie Mellon in the summer of 1993....
Er...even though.
Also, have you noticed that captcha is using real words all of a sudden? I got "motion" last time and "panders" this time. I'm crushed.
neat and clean
Sorry about the captchas, Ray. Just think, soon we'll have proper definitions for all of them. Then what?
Ken Mac, I'm glad to see you back!
The angle of the bricks is what appeals.
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