The Blurgh

If you have nothing to do tonight, head on down to the Blank Walls in East Liberty. They’re having a live graffiti battle, and the winner will get to do his or her magic on one of the new public art walls being put up by the city. There’ll also be a band and refreshments, and it starts at 8 pm.

This is the second time that Blank Walls has held this kind of event–the first was right after the public art walls (which were Mayor Conway’s idea, btw) were approved by City Council 6 months ago. They are still in the process of being constructed, but the idea is to provide a place for graffiti artists to show their creativity in a safe and beneficial way rather than forcing them to do it illegally. Every month the walls will be painted over, and a new set of artists will be able to put up their work. Blank Walls and a few other galleries around town have volunteered to host events to pick the artists, and so far they’ve been a big hit.

I’m getting ready for finals, so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it yet. Drop me a line if you’re planning on going though…it just might persuade me!

So last night I was hanging out with my Dad at his recording studio (it’s called Washie’s, btw, and it’s in East Liberty), and as the night went on, more and more random people just started showing up. I haven’t talked about my Dad much on this site, but he’s an interesting fellow–probably about as laid back as one can safely be. He knows a lot of people in the local scene here, and he’s done a lot to promote local bands and to help them with getting their albums cut. Only a couple of bands/performers he knows have gotten more than regional popularity, but as he says, it seems like every year he’s busier, and that every year there’s more stuff going on.

So as I said, all these musicians kept coming in, sitting down, and chatting with my Dad and the other folks there. Some of them brought instruments, which they started pulling out, and the ones who didn’t were looking at the instruments my Dad had lying around. My Dad always said that it’s dangerous to get into music, because soon you end up with a room-full of instruments and no money!

As the night went on, people started cautiously playing little riffs and licks on the instruments, and slowly, the music overcame the talking. By that time, there was a full-blown jam session going down. My Dad plays a little bit of everything, and as he was walking over to his favorite bass guitar, he looked at me and gave me a smile and a nod, which I knew meant for me to go to the recording booth. Since I never showed any real interest or special talent for playing music, my Dad taught me from a young age how to operate all the equipment in his studio, and every now and then I help him out with a recording.

There’s an understanding among all the musician’s in the area that you could always go into Washie’s and jam, but that recording light would probably be on at the time. My Dad has never done anything with the recordings, but a couple of the musician’s have come back to listen to them and incorporate some things into their songs. I’ve always respected how my Dad just started doing what he wanted to do, even before there was a real tangible “scene” in Pittsburgh…it’s kind of reminds me of a chicken and the egg kind of thing. Did the success of Washie’s help create the scene, or did the scene enable Washie’s to succeed? I guess it was a little of both…