Posts Tagged ‘Pittsburgh’
On The Rest Is Noise
In which The Gay Recluse recommends a book about music. When we finished The Rest Is Noise, Alex Ross’ survey of twentieth-century (classical-ish) music, our feelings were mixed; not about the book, which — as we are hardly the first to point out (Google it!) — works brilliantly on many levels. It’s really beyond our […]
Filed under: Bad Rock, Gay, Good Rock, History, Landscape, Literature, Writers-American | 5 Comments
Tags: Aerosmith, Alex Ross, Classical, Free Jazz, La Monte Young, Led Zeppelin, Pierre Boulez, Pittsburgh, The Rest Is Noise, The Who, Walter Benjamin, WDVE
In which The Gay Recluse reads a book of signs. One strange thing about growing up in Pittsburgh was that even before we lived anywhere else, we used to say that it — i.e., Pittsburgh — was haunted. But when people would ask us why, we were at a loss to explain: either you got […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Communism, Disease, Dissonance, Dream, Faith, Knockbusters, Landscape, Obsession, The Times, Washington Heights | 4 Comments
Tags: Books, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Signs Project, Pop Culture, Signs, Walter Benjamin
In which The Gay Recluse fails to deliver the sun. Yesterday it rained so hard that we felt sure today would arrive bright and sunny, as so often happens in New York City, where weather really doesn’t tend to linger the way it does in say, Pittsburgh or Ithaca. We had visitors in from out […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Conspiracy, Longing, Memory, New York City, Weather | Leave a Comment
Tags: Cold, Fog, Ithaca, Pittsburgh, Promises, Rain, Sun
In which The Gay Recluse is rendered delirious by delays. As we were waiting at the Pittsburgh airport, we were struck by the unexpected beauty of this stone riverbed. And this one, too. It wasn’t too hard to imagine that we were out west somewhere. But only if we didn’t let the scope of our […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Dissonance, Infrastructure, Landscape, Photography, The Gay Recluse, Travel | 2 Comments
Tags: Airports, Cigarettes, Gum, Jails, Pittsburgh, Riverbeds
In which The Gay Recluse holds a contest. Sort of. Today we received an interesting submission from Reader Troy, who writes to us from Pittsburgh: I have an important question for The Gay Recluse. In the Pittsburgh airport there is a statue of Franco Harris, who I have no reason to believe is gay. Yet […]
Filed under: Architecture, Competitions, Gay, Hot Gay Statues, Infrastructure, Letters, Search | 4 Comments
Tags: Airports, Franco Harris, Hot Gay Statues, Pittsburgh, Steelers
In which The Gay Recluse leaves New York. Last month we went to Pittsburgh for a few days. Even though we “grew up” there, it was almost like visiting a new (as in unfamiliar) city. We always lived in the suburbs, and almost never went into the city except to see the Penguins! This time […]
Filed under: Architecture, Capitalism, Communism, Decay, Dissonance, Gay, Gentrification, Infrastructure, Landscape, Language, Memory, Nostalgia, Television, The Gay Recluse, Travel | 7 Comments
Tags: Altar, Bridges, Chuck Noll, City of Champions, Discos, Gay Clubs, Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh, Primanti's, Queer As Folk, The Penguins, The Pennsylvanian, The Steelers, The Strip, Wholey's
In which The Gay Recluse enjoys a game of “Would You Rather,” the elementary school game in which you must choose one of two offered alternatives and explain why. The Set-up: You are at the gym over lunch, about to get on to the treadmill for fifteen minutes when you realize — fucking-shit! — that […]
Filed under: Dissonance, Government, Memory, Pessimism, Politicians, Television, Would You Rather | Leave a Comment
Tags: 38-Special, Bethel Park, Bruce Springsteen, Charlie Rose, Condileeza Rice, Dead Battery, iPod, John McCain, Pittsburgh, Republicans, The Allman Brothers, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, WDVE
On Decembers Past
With so much pressure and anticipation, this — namely, the week before Christmas — was when we could stand it no longer: it was time to mount an expedition into that most forbidden and exotic of all domestic locales, our mother’s bedroom closet. To even enter our parents’ bedroom felt dangerous; it was the one […]
Filed under: Capitalism, Communism, Memory, The Gay Recluse | Leave a Comment
Tags: Bedroom Closet, Christmas, Family, Gifts, Pittsburgh, Transgression
With our old headphones broken and new ones en route, we were not able as hoped to sequester ourselves in the aural safe harbor that is our “portable media player” but instead had to brave the sound system at the gym. You ask: exactly how barren is this sonic wasteland? We will tell you! Today’s […]
Filed under: Bad Rock, Capitalism, Gay, Good Rock, Government, Memory, Nostalgia, Sickness | Leave a Comment
Tags: Alienation, Bob Seger, Conformity, Geddy Lee, George Harrison, Grand Funk Railroad, iPod, Journey, Morrissey, Neil Peart, Pittsburgh, Rush, Suburbs, The Eagles, The Gym, The Smiths, WDVE
On the Rape of Pittsburgh
In today’s Times, we read an opinion piece — “Where Everybody Knows Your Team” — by an author who grew up in Pittsburgh and — having now returned — wants us to know how watching the Steelers has long been an important thread of her life. “As any native can tell you,” she declares, “we […]
Filed under: Addiction, Capitalism, Drivel, Infrastructure, Sickness, The Times | Leave a Comment
Tags: Chuck Noll, Dwight White, Franco Harris, Lynn Swann, NFL, Pittsburgh, Terry Bradshaw, The New York Times, The Steelers
The Gay Recluse 