Find Your Art

Today was a big week if you live in Pittsburgh and have to be downtown. Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pride, Pirate Games, all the theater/comedy events...there's a lot happening. As someone who works two jobs, both downtown, I had a heavier-than-average workload this week. But I've reached the end and I even recall having fun a few times.

On Tuesday I saw the CLO's production of Mary Poppins with my mother as a late Mother's Day Gift (tickets were free; I'm such a cheap-ass). Yes, this isn't the "coolest" thing in the world by a long shot, but I did enjoy some nice childhood nostalgia (if you don't think that movie's great, you're wrong). There was tap-dancing and magic and we saw a woman fly across the stage and nobody died from a harness accident: Happy Mother's Day indeed. (You can read the review here, you probably missed the show at this point).

Wednesday I had some unexpected time between jobs so I went to the park by the Point to hang out. I had a sandwich, a book, a cherry Coke...it was like being in a commercial for Young People Having Fun! Except, of course, I wasn't prepared for the sun and ended up burning my arms and legs as penance for having fun. I wanted a little color, and that color is pink and it itches like a motherfucker.

The book I was reading was Greg Proops' The Smartest Book in the World. I've been slacking on my reading in general, but what little I've read of this so far has been awesome. Proops didn't write an autobiography, which I would've enjoyed anyway, but instead offers up a variety of subjects he thinks people should know about. I already have a list of movies started that he's mentioned in the book, like The Lifeboat and All About Eve. I'm learning words, I'll be learning some about baseball (yay?), and he provides some great quotes, like this:

"You are not required to agree with everything you read. That is submission. But laughing at it and trying to understand something you do not concur with is called being sophisticated."

Greg Proops

Boom.

So let me segue into my own thoughts about music. This weekend was Pride in Pittsburgh, and it sparked a controversy with its selection of outdoor concert artist. They picked Iggy Azalea, an Australian rapper/singer who gets in all sorts of heat for all sorts of reasons. Pittsburgh gays were outraged since Azalea used gay slurs in the past and wasn't a real ally, etc. Honestly I never cared, because I was never going to go anyway. For one thing, it's an outdoor concert in the street that you have to pay money to attend. No thanks.

Also, I have to admit, I really don't like Pride events. I think they're important for the LGBTQ community to know they're not alone and there's nothing wrong with anybody and we should all have the right to be happy. Totally all for that message. But for me personally...it's just so hot outside and there are too many people. I never know what to do. Walk around? Look at the tables of free stuff? That's fine but I couldn't really build an afternoon around that. I'm all for it, I'm just not going. Peace and love, from my apartment.

But onto my point about music: I saw countless articles about Iggy and Pride (she eventually pulled out, they got Nick Jonas, what a treat) and once again felt on the outside of everything. Because I was very excited to see Rhiannon Giddens performing at Arts Fest on Thursday. If you don't know her, she's one of the founding members of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, an all-black Americana group that does incredible work. Giddens has a powerful voice and excellent control over it, covering songs by Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Blu Cantrell's "Hit 'em Up Style", and Odetta. In addition to being excellent musicians, the Drops also aim to educate their audiences on the origins of folk/country music and the roots African American culture has in it. They're one of my favorites.

Rhianon Giddens

This concert reinvigorated me in the middle of my long work week. I sound like such a tool, but live music can really lift up my spirits when it's a great concert and music I dig. This was the ideal outdoor concert for me: the sun went down, the audience remained seated, and it was bluegrass and folk music performed excellently. It is moments like this, with great music surrounded by art, that I think "Damn, music is so important. Art of any kind is so important." I mean I'm a huge grump but a great concert can have me walking on air. The next day I had to work a double and I stayed in high spirits, fueled by the energy the music the night before had put in me.

Whether it's Mary Poppins, Iggy Azalea, opera, bluegrass, comedy, a good book, whatever, there is art out there for everyone. But I don't mean just "fun", which is also important to have. I don't mean "go to a country music concert and get shitfaced" or "go to a dubstep concert and take acid". That's not art hitting you, that's drugs hitting you. Find an art that hits you right in your soul when you're stone sober. I think that's an important thing to find. Your life advice ("But I didn't ask!") for today.