America—whether we like it or not—is getting a new paint job real soon. The next resident of America’s address won’t have the option to literally paint The White House you know, any other color, but he’s already decorating his cabinet in a radical new scheme. Will it be Science Denial Green or Paedophile Pink? Fox … Continue reading You’d Better Swatch Out: Paint Color Tests| Pittsburgh Orbit
If there was any question about the black-and-gold beaded rosary, one only needs to look down. At the foot of the concrete statuary figure in blue (a monk? saint? pious Orbit readers, help this heathen out!) is a grave marker in red granite. Along with the deceased’s name, dates, and engraved rope-like border, is the … Continue reading Sudden Death, Over Time: Steeler Graves II| Pittsburgh Orbit
Crunch. In a pizza crust, it’s an underused device. The teeth love to plunge into stretchy, chewy, hot-out-of-the-oven dough—don’t pretend your choppers aren’t salivating at the very suggestion of it. We love chewy. It’s fresh bread’s most distinctive glorious quality, right? Who’d want to crunch when she, he, or they can live inside a luxurious … Continue reading The Pizza Chase: To Youngstown! … for Brier Hill Pizza, Where the Sauce is Boss| Pittsburgh Orbit
Off and on, for the last several years, one of the region’s most secretive art galleries has hidden in plain sight … you just have to know where to look, and get lucky when you do your looking. Across two faces of an ever-under-construction house in Millvale is a rotating gallery of both discarded / … Continue reading Lucky When You Do Your Looking: Outside Art, The Second Dimension| Pittsburgh Orbit
On a big open wall in a former Catholic school in Braddock hangs the largest painting artist John Lee has ever completed. Across its twelve foot span, an array of dancing figures—heads from all over the animal kingdom; bodies straight off American Bandstand—dance, twist, and turn in wild abandon. The painting still doesn’t have a … Continue reading More Heat Than Light: John Lee and Rachel McFarlane David at Unsmoke Systems| Pittsburgh Orbit
I know, I know … I know. Wrong holiday, dude! Christmas was three months ago—this one’s supposed to be about Jesus! Believe me: in just a ten-day survey, there were Jesuses, crucifixes, arrows, death beds, and blood aplenty. Dyed eggs and bunnies? Notsomuch. If your author had properly thought ahead, maybe he’d have been able … Continue reading Big Mary Country: An Orbit Vacation Postcard from La Tierra de María, México| Pittsburgh Orbit
Everything Under the Sun: Kaufmann’s, The Big Store. One of many ghost signs for home goods. Tarentum Everything under the sun! Everything for everybody! Everything to wear! Believe it or not…| Pittsburgh Orbit
Around every corner, a new phenomenon| Pittsburgh Orbit
Ten … and feeling the passage of time The year was 2015—late summer/early fall, probably. Your author was at The Cooper Hewitt Design Museum in New York City[1]. The exhibit was one of those …| Pittsburgh Orbit
Industrial limo, Millvale Riding in a limousine—or perhaps arriving in a limousine—is the height of elegance. At least, that’s the sales pitch. In car- and celebrity-obsessed America, renting…| Pittsburgh Orbit
You’d be happy too if you had love in your heart and paint in your hair. Outside art on Mt. Oliver Relaxing in the sun is a curious figure. Large enough to be an elementary-aged child, the wo…| Pittsburgh Orbit
