Show Report: Pittsburgh, PA

dark and sexy in pittsburgh 4.11.06

has anyone reading this blog ever been to pittsburgh? well i have twice and both times it was at night. what i remember about it was that i loved driving into city because of all the lights on the hills and bridges. out of all the cities to drive through at night pittsburgh always stuck in my head. oddly enough i never got to see much of pittsburgh so it remained a mystery. well, after my most recent stay i can confidently say pittsburgh is now at the top of my list of cities i want to live in when i decide i've had enough with the great weather, smog, high rent, and crowded freeways of la. sometimes pittsburgh reminds you of seattle, sometimes san francisco, sometimes detroit, sometimes ny and sometimes gotham city. its a beautiful mix of gothic victorian architecture with wonderful houses, churches, and best of all, bridges. tons of them all over the place connecting the city over the 3 rivers that slice through the landscape.

our stay in pittsburgh was made possible by 2 people. the first is kirk from mandrake project. kirk was the guy who sent me an email message one day a few months ago about hooking our bands up together. we became friends and this led to my putting pittsburgh on our tour schedule. the second person who made the show a reality was charles benefiel who promoted and booked us at the brillo box. google charles right now so you can see his artwork. he is a stipal genius. i'm not kidding, this guy is famous for his intense wonderful work. so check this out. we arrive in pittsburgh on the afternoon of the 10th and charles meets us at a 7-11 and tells us to follow him over to his house. we had no idea where we're going but we ended up in a neighborhood called manchester which at first look is kind of an intimidating hood. plenty of abandoned houses but almost all of them historic. i think all of us where like...um, where the fuck are we and who is this guy charles benefiel? anyway, it turns out that downtown pittsburgh is somewhat of a psuedo ghost town as most people have moved to the burbs and left the beautiful city to decay. like many others downtown charles bought a beautiful home for close to nothing and refurbished it into a classic with great wood floors and fireplaces all over the place. awesome stuff. six of us all slept upstairs - q, rob, ian and i were all in one room....sort of reminded me of charlie's family from the movie willy wonka and the chocolate factory movie.

ok, on to the show - great show at the brillo box that night - the only drag about this place was the stairway that you had to hump all your gear up. this sucked my ass big time and it now has the honor of being the worst club i have ever had to load in to. sorry brillo box but you have overtaken cafe du nord in san fran as the "club with that fucking staircase". the club itself (like cafe du nord) and the pittsburgh reception was excellent though. mandrake was awesome and their last song was especially the kind of sonic onslaught that i get into. i was way into it. oh yeah, i forgot the other dramatic moment for me. my trusty ashdown amp broke...again. this makes 2 times now. high priced shit like this shouldnt break...especially when you're on tour. i'm pissed. ironically there was a guy named dan in first band that also had an ashdown and he was nice enough to let me borrow it. the next morning charles went out of his way to wake up early and drive my ass to a guitar center where i bought an ampeg to get me through the rest of the tour. for those of you who dont understand - when your amp breaks on tour its like someone breaking your legs... incapacitating to say the least.

special steel town wighead thanx: special steel town wighead thanx: to kirk for being the spark to get us there, to charles and jacque for opening up their home to us and really taking the term "hospitality" to the next level. ben from mandrake for helping me carry all the heavy stuff down the stairs after the show. last but not least to all the peeps in pittsburgh like kevin and becky (pictured)...yinz great.

rider and dressing room wrap up: the brillo box gets a big nod of approval for being the first club to get us the 9volt battery and pack of parliment lights that we have been asking for on our rider. good deli tray too. this green room was located behind the bar - kinda bummed the bartender wouldnt serve me a drink after i got done loading the van - it was a particularly stressful night for me and one of those evenings when i just wanted to sit down at the bar with a drink and relax since i spent almost all the time before the show trying to sort out my amp problems and all the time after the show loading equipment. kinda of a drag that he didnt bend the rules for me even though people somehow were still drinking after close.

Mariqueen's Mind

The City: i have fallen in deep love with pittsburgh. it's just so beautiful. the architecture of the buildings downtown, the bridges, the churches, the townhouses, the inexpensive prices, the fact that there's never any traffic... i'm going to make it my mission to try and convince everyone i know and love to slowly migrate to pittsburgh. no joke.

The Venue: the brillo box was really fabulous. not only are the owners stellar, but we had tons of apples, a pack of parliament lights and lozenges [they had no idea what throat coat was... god bless them]... the only bummer for me was that the sound system wasn't quite fit for our band. i didn't have any vocal monitors and i ended up having to share a microphone with fran. i hate sharing. renee, the owner, along with her husband whose name escapes me... have done a fantastic job with the venue. it's only been open for seven months but it's already proven a tremendous success. the whole layout of the restaurant/bar is awesome... if i lived in the burgh [soon enough, my pretties] the brillo box would be my home away from home.

The Show: meh... since the sound system wasn't right the show didn't really seem to be right either. it was like playing a loft party. i had fun... mark and i had a magical moment. i gave the show a six out of ten.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: ugh... fuck it... im gonna dance.

Interesting Things After The Show: i hung out with the fabulously charming duo [thommy & brian]... most of the night was spent laughing and laughing and laughing and more laughing. i swear next time i come to town we're having a slumber party.

since there really isn't a section for me to talk about anything else i'm just going to take this opportunity to share with you the coolest part of pittsburgh. their names are charles and jacque. if it weren't for them opening up their home and their hearts to us i don't think i would've fallen so hard for the city. these two are the kind of people that give you hope that there are truly wonderful, smart and creative souls in the world. i love you two from the bottom of my heart and feel blessed to have crossed paths. until we meet again...

THE JAMES REPORT
Wow! Pittsburg is my new home. Charles and Jacque grace this planet with there imperial wisdom and beauty. They are the sparkling clear diamonds in a confused, often backwards world. Everywhere they are, good will follow. Thank you. And to all our fans who showed up at the Brillobox, you are the reason music exists. Can't wait to see you all again...future days will reveal all. Thank you.

we love charles and jacque

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