Pittsburgh Travel Agency

a dubious Pittsburgh connection

2008-08-08T23:39:00.001-07:00

I made a new tote bag. This one has no text, no special screen print...It is made from a section of a piece of fabric that was formerly acting as a curtain in the window. Cormac could not take that the colors of the curtain did not match any of the other colors in the room. I agreed that we could take it down and seconds, no less than seconds, later,he was gleefully tearing the curtain from the window. I thought, huh, that would make some good tote bags...so I washed, cut and sewed. The first one is available at the Agency on Etsy.
Pittsburgh connection? Well, going to IKEA can be an awful experience, but going there with my mom is hilarious! She really can't stand it and makes hilarious jokes,and we see how many little pencils we can have in our pockets by the end of the maze. This fabric came from the bargain bin in the "as-is" room in the Pittsburgh IKEA. The last stop in the store before my mom and I counted pencils.

hmmm-ie hmmm and the "funky brunch"

2008-08-07T19:34:00.000-07:00

A search for "The Dancer's Pointe, Pittsburgh dance supply store" brought me to this National Geographic travel blog entry about a brunch stop at the Zenith tea room in Pittsburgh. That is where this picture of a Mr. Peanut scooper and similarly posed drawing on a pair of nylons was taken.
A future post about the Dancer's Pointe and Pittsburgh Snax and Nut Company to come...

Little Pittsburgh talks about Big Pittsburgh

2008-08-06T19:09:00.000-07:00

A little while back, a travel to Pittsburgh in the New York Times.

a kitchen rainbow bow

2008-06-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

an old story

"you won't understand that guy's shirt"

2008-06-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, I was drinking my cup of "Big Ben blend" from Prestogeorge in the Strip district and talking to my dear friend, brain sharer and collaborator, Elizabeth. The day before, I had finally put the mountain of clothes that had grown since February away in the proper drawers, closets and laundry baskets. The mass of garments had covered two stuffed pals who reside on the arm chair that had provided the structural frame for Mount Laundry. While talking to Elizabeth, I rested my gaze on "Teddy" and "Teddy." One of the "Teddy"s is wearing the original "Pure Lunacy" t shirt. Well, not really the original original. Another brain sharer friend, Matt and I had seen the original Pure lunacy t-shirt while bargain shopping for bootleg Steelers props and such in the Strip District two years ago, when we were all still high on the recent ring. The original had a painting like flurry of an illustration of Troy Polamalu in a tornado cloud. And the shirt said in one corner, "The Polamanian Devil" and in the other, "Pure Lunacy." That is the start of Pure Lunacy for me. Teddy is wearing the first Pure Lunacy t shirt I made, iron-on letters applied with haste onto a t shirt from Gabriel Brothers,and he is wearing my Steelers hat, given to me by Matt on New Years Eve, 2006/07. Teddy has been wearing these items since the end of this past Steelers season (the shirt) and the end of cold winter (the hat).
My childhood was one without Star Wars. My uncle gave me an Ewok for Christmas when I was seven. I ditched the cape it was wearing and I named it Teddy.I knew about Pizza the Hut and Perriair. I didn't see Star Wars until 2001. Elizabeth has never seen Star Wars, but she really knows Pizza the Hut and Perriair, a Space Balls expert. She fell asleep the one and only time she tried to watch Star Wars. As we were talking, I thought about this formerly shared knowledge/lack of knowledge. Shared before we really knew each other, but it is hard to believe that (that we ever didn't know each other). And, Elizabeth was recently described as something like the all time greatest Steelers fan, which is true. And there he was all decked out, ready for the upcoming season, still dressed from the last, Teddy who is still more a bear than an Ewok.

waiting

2008-06-17T15:43:00.001-07:00

waiting for September. I guess that is part of what summer is about.

listen here to a little light jam for a nice Tuesday afternoon.

no one near Mall Road

2008-06-09T13:56:00.000-07:00

At the moment 11:44 AM of near empty gas tank anxiety, passing the West Texas road house, where you can have something like "great grub," and a tiny little hilltop bar, while having waited to stop for gas until we reached the exit we would take to get to the Gabriel Brothers on Mall Road, all on our way back to Columbus from Pittsburgh having had great weekends with family and superpals, queued No One on the local radio station, looks like 95.7. Before the video started (taken by Cormac, because I was driving) we (Meg, Cormac and I) thought that we would sing a long. We all felt shy, but you can,of course, hear my strained voice. And, if you strain your ears you can hear Meg hum the melody. Plus plus...anxious turn signal!

We passed a Bonanza Steak House and a Rax in the shopping plaza on the way over to the Gabriel Brothers, home of deals and irregulars! The Rax was closed, we think, but still! Memories of Chocolate Chip milk shakes enjoyed when Mandy and I would tag along to the Great Southern Shopping center in Bridgeville, PA on the days that Abby the poodle had his hair done. Followed by perfume wars at the JC Penney.

You don't have to strain your ears this time to hear No One on the radio on our way to get gas and then get deals at Gabriel Brothers

no one at wholey's fish market :: Pittsburgh

2008-06-07T13:02:00.000-07:00

Visiting Pittsburgh, 6/7/08, my mom,Cormac and I were waiting to place our order at Wholey's fish market. Just as our number was called, around 2:15, No One came on the radio. I shoved the burlap coffee sacs I bought for material's sake at Prestogeorge coffee roasters next door into Cormac's hands and fumbled for the camera. While the song played, and we placed our order, I continued to take little videos. This was my favorite. Wholey's has little decorations here and there.
Here is a good one. Strain your ears and you will hear No One at Wholey's looking at the mini ferris wheel.

She didn't cook plantains; that's for dang sure.

2008-06-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

Over the past week, I have been coming to understand, through practice, the love and belabored decoration of the backyard. Admittedly, too, I am also coming to understand the competitive spirit of the backyard. It is like a sport.
Cormac and I are renters, so our backyard additions are small and temporary. We can easily move our backyard to our next backyard, wherever that might be. But, we did feel more grown up after buying a patio table set and a grill. Our next door neighbors have a hammock and a bigger grill.
And, I planted a little herb garden in pots to sit on the table.
Our neighbors are installing a row of trees along our shared fence.

My Uncle Herb and Aunt Shirley camped every summer in Vacationland on Sandy Lake in Northwestern PA. The community where they parked their RV was called Retirement Village. So: Retirement Village, Vacationland.
My mom and I visited one day; I think we were surprising them. When we arrived, Uncle Herb was just finishing the installation of a "sidewalk," about 4 square feet in area, at the door of their camper. The sidewalk did not extend to the gravel road; it just ended. Uncle Herb meticulously planted flowers around the sidewalk.
He was very proud of the sidewalk.
He told us that every evening he would walk around the neighborhoods of Vacationland and scope out the new additions to each camper lot's landscaping. He wanted to have the best yard. A veteran of Las Vegas trips and after holiday meal "penny ante" card games, Uncle Herb would "see and raise" any lawn improvement he saw worthy of his competition. He was serious about it, but we all shared an afternoon of healthy laughter.
No one but Uncle Herb had a sidewalk.

During this week of acquiring backyard equipment, I cooked plantains for dinner inspired to keep the island alive here in Columbus as best as possible and because they are good. The smell of frying plantains smells just like Aunt Shirley and Uncle Herb's house in Pittsburgh.

Once again, my mom is cooler than me

2008-06-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

Check out Marlene Boyle's etsy site!!!!
She makes lovely pinch pots fired with plants. The plant's image is burned onto the surface of the clay during the firing.They end up looking photographic and ghostly. Also, coming soon if she lets me: Pgh Travel Agency will feature a studio visit with Marlene. I think she might be the only artist who works in clay in a carpeted room and you would never know it! She magically contains all of the clay dust. It is impressive. Ask Naomi.

This pot was fired with oregano.

Plus, when my mom has a pen to paper, you can rub her shoulders and her hand stays steady and her calligraphy impeccable.

Plus, plus, "Go Pens" and "Steeler Nation" !!!!!!!

what part do you play?

2008-05-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

1997, Pittsburgh, PA

I worked at a Starbucks in the Mt. Lebanon Manor Plaza. Before every Penguins home game, Darius Kaspairitis and another really big hockey player came in to get their superstitious pre game Cafe Mocha. Each time they came in, they were accompanied by a more svelte gentleman.

To be honest, I only knew that the two men played hockey because my fellow employees and several customers made a big to-do about Darius Kaspairitis.

One evening, I was working alone. My co-worker was on a break or counting change or picking up the free day-olds from the Manor bakery that we traded coffees for.
The svelte gentleman came in without the two big guys.
The rest went something like:

Me- Uh do you play hockey? (asking in a way that in tone meant : do you play hockey for fun, not professionally with the NHL)

Him- Uh, yes.

Me- Oh, cause I see you coming in with those hockey players all the time.

Him- mm.

As I walked over to the espresso machine I thought the situation over. And painfully realizing my mistake:

Me- Are you a Penguin?

Him- Uh, yes.

Trying to make my mistake better I continue:

Me- Oh, what part do you play? (asked as if he were in a theatrical production)

Him- you mean position?

The conversation was pretty much over at this point. I am sure that he answered my question. I was far too embarrassed to hear what he said.

He left. I relayed the story to someone, my co-worker, a customer (I can't remember). I do remember that whoever responded was like, duh, that's STU BARNES!

Stu Barnes played CENTER.

He was very kind to me on his subsequent stops for mochas. He was assured, I suppose, that he wouldn't have to talk hockey.

the clothes from the vacation laundry bag

2008-05-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

No one in seems like nowhere

2008-05-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

The airport feels placeless and timeless (timeless as in usually seems like such a scarce availability of clocks in a situation so reliant on being on time).
En route to Puerto Rico from Detroit, Cormac and I were about an hour and a half into our 8 hour layover in Atlanta's airport. We ate a snack in a sports bar before any games were on and before any beer was being served. I noticed that there was a clock that looked like it was transplanted from a classroom on the wall across the way from the bar. I thought I would take a picture of it. Then, "No One" started to play on the radio. And there you have it. Strain your ears and you will here No One in what seems like nowhere.

accidentally a good thing

2008-05-13T17:57:00.000-07:00

a package of your best idea booklets almost ready to go out in the mail...
Packaging decisions are a result of my messy studio.

Good Instructions from Moms

2008-05-12T20:40:00.000-07:00

a few Best Ideas from moms:

Last week in Pittsburgh my mom gave me an introductory book binding lesson. She sent me home with a bag full of papers, thread, needles and improvements.She was right, of course. Adding a few stitches to the "Your Best Idea" booklet made it so much better in look and function. Minimizing glue usage for stitching is more trustworthy. Trustworthy? trust-able? sturdy. won't fall apart.

In the bag of scraps of paper was a scrap with some of her calligraphy. The best coincidence makes for a perfect "Mum's Best for Your Best Idea Booklet!"

And, in the spirit of good instructions from moms.... My grandmother's recipe for Peanut Butter Bars. One Christmas, I asked for this recipe to be my gift from her. I received two index cards with the same instructions, same recipe, but one card was labeled "Jamie's Peanut Butter Bars," and one was labeled "Rosalie's Peanut Butter Bars." The peanut butter bars were my Aunt Rosalie's and my favorite; my grandmother, being the kind, thoughtful, super-smart, woman she is, wrote the recipe twice for me. I see where I get some of my artistic tendencies (my thesis show had several titles, trying not to leave anything out).

regrettably, I only have the recipe labeled "Jamie's Peanut Butter Bars," still, can't forget my grandmother's generous naming.

No one on the way to Pittsburgh, May 3, 2008

2008-05-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have heard this on the radio in the car. I suppose I have been listening to a lot of CDs or news lately.
On the way to Pittsburgh from Columbus on May 3, 2008. Cormac is driving. We are 10 minutes east of Cambridge, OH and 4 miles west of Fairview, OH at this point.

3 and a half hours and 2 bags of salty snacks

2008-05-05T17:30:00.000-07:00

Last Friday: I was driving (in Columbus) and wearing a cell phone headset (the prop from Jennifer Reeder's Accidents at Home and How They Happen) and called my pal Matt Barton. We hadn't talked in a while, and I missed him. So, first, I accidentally called his mom who I accidentally hung up on; I am still flustered when talking and driving even with a head set. Only difference when wearing it is that I look important and powerful, like corporate or Janet Jackson we could say... Then I called the right number and it went something like this :
(Matt B. lives in Colorado now)

Matt B: you coming to the burgh this weekend?
Jamie: uh, no?
Matt B: something about how he was in the Pittsburgh Filmmakers gallery installing for a show and this and that and that it was awesome and he was working really hard and this and that and that I should come and see it before the end of July.
Jamie: definitely, but uh I wish I could say I would come this weekend but I don't think I can say that dang it.

After hanging up the phone, the decision was made like duh. Of course I am going to go. I can't miss this! Luckily Cormac was up for the trip too, so on Saturday, 3 and a half hours and two bags of salty snacks later we were in Pittsburgh.

And the point of the story is:
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Matt Barton has out done himself!!!!!!!!
You have to see it if you are in Pittsburgh or headed there anytime over the next couple months!!!
This picture doesn't tell the story for sure, but imagine this plus !!!!! and you walk into it and it moves around in your eyes too!!!!

Part of the Pittsburgh Biennial.

memory correction

2008-04-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

Miss Joy was not the choreographer of the "I am a Little Pink Cloud" and "Hello Dolly" routines. Mrs. Yates was. Mrs. Yates was in her seventies at the time and still wore a leotard and tights and probably tap shoes when it was appropriate. Mrs. Yates was Miss Joy's mom. It was Miss Joy's dance school. She did teach and choreograph routines, just not mine. She still likely needed a cocktail, probably Mrs. Yates too. They probably went out together. Also, Miss Joy grew up in the house down the street, but it was Mrs. Yates's house. It has all come back to me now. Lavender trim.
corrections phoned in by Marlene Boyle

A Lavender glow

2008-04-26T16:24:00.000-07:00

I still remember the lyrics and vaguely some of the gestures of the first ballet routine I was part of at age four. We shouted the lyrics: I am a little pink cloud floating in the sky. I love to watch the sun and moon and the twinkling stars go by!!!!! We wore pink tutus. We rehearsed in a slightly dark studio with three pillars in the middle of it. Miss Joy was our choreographer. I went to the Joy School of dance at the time. I haven't thought much of that name until recently. It seems significant, the Joy School of Dance. We changed into tap shoes, same pink tutus. And we shouted the lyrics to Hello Dolly. Miss Joy lived down the street from me. I can't seem to remember why, but I keep thinking, Lavender, Lavender when I think of Miss Joy and her house. A lavender glow from the windows?

Yesterday I made a tee shirt as a garment-homage to the Little Pink Cloud routine.

you can buy this shirt on etsy here. I had to say it, right?

Posted for my Cloudy Pail, from a journal written in Pittsburgh, 1985

2008-04-03T20:31:00.000-07:00

Paint it Black and Gold::::Opensource business plan for Pittsburgh entrepreneurs and/or Pittsburgh's closed churches

2008-03-31T16:07:00.000-07:00

1. Paint the outside of your building (church) black and gold.

2. Only open your bar/restaurant on Steelers game days. This will mean that your establishment is open mostly on Sundays and an occasional Thursday, Saturday or Monday (those would be like special holidays).

3. Serve a good hearty, maybe Irish Breakfast
for the Sunday games. (I might suggest you additionally offer a vegetarian Tofu scramble)

notes from Pittsburgh 3/14-3/16; No one on the Ohio/Michigan Border; Pgh in Ann Arbor or close enough to "Pittsburgh's Last Stop Detroit"

2008-03-26T07:31:00.000-07:00

Reporting on this, that n the other thing:

Notes from Pittsburgh 3/14-3/16 (c of all).
A bliss cluster at the Zenith Tea room on the South Side of Pittsburgh on Sunday, March 16.
Cormac wasn't already standing like that. He posed in response. But, the cane was right there. This was a collaboration of "paying attention" between Diana Vencius, Cormac and myself.

Cormac says that it doesn't count as a bliss cluster
(by the way, a bliss cluster is like a coincidence, but seems to carry more meaning and weight and is the result of really seeing (as Greil Marcus ( who we will get to in a moment) says in an interview: something to the effect of seeing that the world is more interesting than we think it is...) and paying attention. A good friend called these events "Miracles" though I am more apprehensive to use such a biblically weighted word--bliss clusters do have a spiritual feeling to them however. And, I should note that my good friend Ricky Crano came up with the term "bliss cluster".)
ok, yes, doesn't count as a bliss cluster just any old time that "No one" comes on the radio; it was remarkable that time a few weeks ago because it was on several radio stations and my CD in succession. I understand this, though I do like marking events (mundane, sure) by noting where and what is happening when my still favorite (though I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T is sprinting forward)current pop song comes on the radio (on the radio often).
So, just as we crossed. I mean literally crossing over the Michigan Ohio border on Saturday March 22:

Going back in time:
December 2006 I bought this shirt in Pittsburgh at the Outlet Connection, my favorite variety store in Pittsburgh. Home of the amazing, there will never be another deal like this and there is never anything that costs 15 cents piano belt that I gave to my friend MikeO this past summer.
It was almost a year after Superbowl XL(Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Seattle Seahawks:::played in Detroit) so the sweatshirt was only 5 dollars. I really really liked this one because, as a result of being bootleg and avoiding all licensed names and images the sweatshirt reads "Pittsburgh 's Last Stop Detroit"
One place's last stop is another place.
Last March, I wore the sweatshirt to a class with Barry Shank (a really great professor in OSU's comparative studies department.) Greil Marcus was a visitor to the seminar that day. He looked at my sweatshirt and then asked something like "what is that sweatshirt...Pittsburgh's last stop Detroit....it boggles the mind"
Boggles the mind. Yes.
One place's last stop is another place.
He is a very interesting person and author. His conversation with our seminar that afternoon was truly inspiring and mind blowing.

...so Ann Arbor is sort of close to Detroit. And this is a moment of Pittsburgh in Ann Arbor, but maybe close enough to "Pittsburgh's Last Stop Detroit"
I did not arrange this. On Sunday, March 23 2008, Donnie Iris was right there at the front of the line in this Ann Arbor record store.
a final note. I made this tote bag today and am really excited about it. Cormac thought of this pose for the bag along side the Jerome Bettis book. "Pittsburgh's Last Stop Detroit" is also a reference to our dear "Bus".

Notes from Pittsburgh 3/14-3/16 (b of all) No one in Pittsburgh

2008-03-17T22:42:00.000-07:00

I realize that it shouldn't come as a shock when No One plays on the radio...
But as an extension to the "Afternoon/Evening of Miracles" post, I would like to present you with Mix 96.1 on March 15 at around 4:00 PM, driving up Liberty Avenue in Bloomfield passing All This N That. Meg and Cormac are with me in the car.

notes from Pittsburgh 3/14-3/16 (a of all)

2008-03-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

A weekend in Pittsburgh makes for a lot to say.
So tonight, the first installment of "notes from Pittsburgh (3/14-3/16)"

"The Donut Shop" or "Pink House Donuts" (as I always thought of it)

Totally amazing great, amazingly great donut shop.
Located on Steuben Street in the west end, near Crafton, Crafton Heights, the little pink house donut shop, known in the books as Better-Maid Donut Company is the treat of a lifetime. Sure, donuts are always a treat, but to go to "The Donut Shop" is more than just a trip for a donut.
The shop is open from 6AM til "sell-out" in the morning. If you get there later than 9 AM, it's slim-pickins.
Once, I went there to buy a 99 cent bag of one dozen donut holes as a birthday gift for my pal Mandy. I got there at 9:30. It was probably my first early-adulthood trip to the donut shop; I didn't know the protocol yet. Until this point, these donuts were a magical treat that would appear on the kitchen counter on an occasional Sunday morning, or they were an outing with Mandy and I riding in the backseat enjoying our free (because we were little -- and probably not-so-little-to-really-deserve-free-donut-holes-but-managed to charm our way into getting them anyways (to be honest, we were still chasing the firetruck that Santa rides around Crafton on, distributing boxes of mallow cups, on the Saturday before Christmas just a few years ago....)) donut holes, one of us always claiming that hers was the most specially made icing-filled one while the other only got the regular, plain one. Not sure when that started, and as I write this, I still believe that those special donut holes existed, magic. .......the birthday gift attempt a few years ago: 9:30 AM, me, the donut shop, donut holes....
I asked for the bag of donut holes, and the woman (who was almost positively the same woman who gave Mandy and I our free "little" kid donut holes) behind the counter replied, "holes?! you want holes?!!!!!! Honey you have to get here at 5:45 AM and line up if you want holes!" So, I bought a few of the sparsely remaining donuts in the counter and left the shop feeling a little embarrassed but glad for the reprimand.
This morning, I set my alarm for 7:30 (I figured there was no use in thinking that I could make it for holes) and shuffled out of bed by 8:00.
I made it in time for the full selection: sprinkles in three varieties: Steelers, chocolate, rainbow; plain (my favorite); cinnamon (my dad's favorite); glazed (my mom's favorite); french (I think these were Mandy's favorite); and holes (!!! I think that they must make more now).

With love, I leave you with the address and their unbelievably cute box:

PghTravelAgency is live!

2008-02-27T20:40:00.000-08:00

Finally!
After much stewing over it and encouraging others to do it, I have opened a shop on etsy.com. (!!!)
The shop will include all sorts of items. ("All This (and that)" for those of you familiar with Liberty Avenue in Bloomfield.)
We are starting with T-shirts. Please visit the store. The link is to the right. I have to thank Naomi, Wendy, Jeremy, Cormac, and my mom and dad for giving me the push onto the internet. Everything is made with love and a love of Pittsburgh.
For now, I will leave with a "bloopers reel" (and some good ones) of pictures from our product shoot last night.

............and it is with a heavy heart that we think today of Pittsburgh's beloved Myron Cope.............