I’ve been following this little local theater on Instagram for a few years now and have been dying to go to something, anything, there everything they do feels so me-coded that I honestly couldn’t imagine anyone I know wanting to go to anything there with me. I know, I could go alone, but I don’t always feel secure enough for solo outings!

But then a few moths ago, I saw a post from Glitterbox about an upcoming film screening from local artist Sandy Loaf and it looked EERIE and definitely reminded me of something that Henry and I would have rented at Incredibly Strange Video back in the day. So I figured, a film screening! That’s a good way to indoctrinate myself into the Glitterbox scene, and something that I thought Henry wouldn’t be too opposed to.

When I tell you I have been LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS EVENT! I was so giddy yesterday (well, until my neighbor pissed me off and killed the vibe) that it was everything I could do just to get through work.

This was one of the poles near Glitterbox, a good sign.

Meanwhile, Chooch the Film Buff was like, “Wait, what movie are seeing??” and then, “Sandy Loaf better get on Letterboxd.”

FINALLY!!

Of course, we were too early because I misread the info and thought that the movie started at 7PM but doors opened at 7PM and it started at 8PM. The door was locked but some people were coming out so I asked if it was open yet and they were like, “Um, not sure but it’s probably fine to go in!” so we were going to but then the door locked behind them and I was like, “I AM NOT KNOCKING ON THIS DOOR” but!! That gave us a little taste of how friendly the people were going to be that night! I got good vibes immediately. This will mean nothing to anyone reading this but I texted Chooch, “Basically everyone here seems like they could have been Cheryl’s roommate at one point in their lives.”

Cheryl was Chooch’s piano teacher for many years but she taught in a very avant garde, non-traditional way, using a keyboard and punk aesthetics, having been in bands for years. She moved around A LOT and had the coolest rotating array of roommates, all very artistic, non-binary, queer, trans, awesome. I loved that while Chooch was learning a musical skill, he was also hanging out with very cool and awesome people so there was no way he was going to grow up to be anything even slightly resembling MAGA. To this day, I credit Cheryl with teaching him so much more than keyboard, whether she knew it or not!

We eventually went back, after chilling in the car to kill time, once we saw people turning the corner toward the theater. Bro! Immediately, I was obsessed. It’s a small space, and the lights were dimmed and intimate. And there was a living room set up off to the side with the big face thing from “Smoker’s Lounge”!

Even the concession stand experience was wonderful! The person manning the counter was actually the projectionist and filling in for the regular concession person and kept apologizing to us but 100% there was no need! First of all, I want to shoutout the fact that they had TWIN PEAKS playing on a tiny TV. The whole fucking vibe of this corner screamed my name. DOES MY HOUSE NEED A CONCESSION CORNER?!!?

OMG HENRY DOES IT?!!? CAN WE?

I got a SPICY Jackworth Ginger Beer. Not-the-Concession-Person raved about it and said it was their latest obsession so I was sold. Hoo boy, it really did have a KICK, and not a quick kick either, but a rapid-fire punting that lasted even after I drained the can of the last fire-spitting drop. Delectable! It’s also made right in Homestead, which is wheee Glitterbox is located! Love the local support.

I kept the can because I wanted to put the label in my journal and now that I’m looking at it in daylight, I see that HABANERO is a listed ingredient. Well, that tracks!

I also got a snack-sized pack of Goldfish! And a Glitterbox sticker!

Before the event started, Sandy Loaf was experiencing technical difficulties getting her telephone microphone to work. The Not-Concession-Stand guy and someone else (Sandy Loaf’s sister, I think?) were trying to fix the issue and this might have been Henry’s favorite part of the whole night, trying to identify the issue from his hemorrhoid-inducing seat. The envy he must have felt when the man in front of us eventually succumbed to the same desire and got up to troubleshoot the issue. I don’t think he ended up being any help though so Henry probably wrote something smug about it in his imaginary diary after we got home last night.

Before “Smoker’s Lounge,” the evening started with:

16mm Projection by Flea Market Films

• There was lengthy footage of a forest fire with someone plucking at out-of-tune guitar which added an incredible amount of dread and tension to an already panic-inducing visual account of preventable devastation and tragedy. (It started with someone tossing a lit cigarette out of their car window.)
• Some pretty hilarious vintage commercials too, including one for Kent cigarettes (it was a whole theme, you guys–not only was Sandy Loaf’s film called Smoker’s Lounge, but the entire event was billed as The Smoker’s Lounge, with Sandy Loaf hosting it as “Dolores,” a chain-smoking, Peggy Lee-loving MC from another dimension. LOVED HER.) There was also a commercial for some headache medicine and I asked Henry if he used to take it when he was a kid – you know, since he’s an elder – and he was like, “WHAT? NO! That probably had MORPHINE in it.”

EDENISTIX ‘STRANDGORE’

• OK. This is exactly what I have been…craving? Oddly? It was so fucked, so chilling, the reverb, demonic soundtrack is stuck in my head and I will be haunted for life. It reminded me of when Chooch was little and OBSESSED with making me watch “the scariest videos on YouTube” compilations, like the one with a walrus person and some fucked footage of someone eating cereal that sounds so banal but it was somehow one of the scariest things ever. That was this. I was so clenched and tensed watching it that if someone had sneaked over to me and gently placed even just their pinky on my shoulder, I’d have invented a new version of “jump scare” that involves not just jumping but SOMERSAULTING out of their skin.

SPEED DATING IN MONSTERBURGH By Olivia Cunnally

• This was such an unexpected highlight! Turns out the person who checked our tickets at the door was the filmmaker! She came up onto the stage in a mask (made by Sandy Loaf, I assume!) and acted as the host of the interactive speed dating portion of the night. You guys, I got really nervous because I legit thought this meant that the audience had to speed date with each other and I started to sweat a little, because SOCIAL ANXIETY. I felt like I was in a class with strangers and was just told we had to find a partner to work on a project together, or worse—we had to READ OUT LOUD. I a still traumatized from the time I had to read one of my essays out loud in my creative non-fiction class at Pitt, ugh, I hated it so much. But no – it was just a film a various monsters talking about themselves and what they want in a partner and then the audience had to vote by cheering for each one. The one I loved the most – Jackie – was also the audience’s favorite so that was exciting! Even Henry said he thought it was “good.”

And here’s a short video from the intermission, just to catch the vibes:

And then finally, it was time for “Smoker’s Lounge”! It is allegedly based on true unsolved cases from 1988-1990 in Pittsburgh and focuses heavily on the steel mills and the long-standing, lingering pollution they created in this area. It was haunting, disjointed, confusing, artistic, creepy, alarming…I honestly can’t explain it but again — this felt like a student film we would have rented from Incredibly Strange Video and then I would have obsessed over it for months. This is exactly like that. I loved it and it was extra special to experience it with an audience AND the filmmaker. I am obsessed with Sandy Loaf.

On the way home, I was whining to Henry about how desperately I wanted to make new friends there and he was like, “Well, you should have talked to people.” Wow, thanks, genius. Can’t wait to read your upcoming self help guide to making friends, you fucking Girl Scout.

I always feel so uncool around cool people because I’m so plain on the outside. Like what should I do, go up to people and start showing them pictures of my house, like, “This is what my house looks like and I think you would like being in it, wanna be friends?” Henry just shrugged like, “why not?” OK I’ll try this tactic next time. Then maybe I can host stuff here for Sandy Loaf!? AFTER PARTY AT THE APPLEDALES?!

The mind is reeling.

P.S. Henry and I are in this photo!

Many moons ago, I went to the OG Troy Hill Art House (La Hutte Royal) with Corey and Kara. Since that time, three additional houses were added to the mix so I added it to the list of THINGS HENRY AND I CAN DO INSTEAD OF SITTING AT HOME IN REPOSE list. The best part for Henry is that touring the art houses is free (music to his ears), you just have to schedule an appointment. We’re actually going to La Hutte Royal in two weeks with Shawn and Jess (it just reopened this month after being revamped and I’m excited to see the changes!) so I picked “Lighthouse Darkhouse” for just the two of us to explore on a random Thursday night in an effort to get out of the house.

I was so excited to log off work at 5:30! We went to Allegheny City Brewing for beer and light dinner from the La Palapa food truck. It was a really good start to the evening, especially when one of the bartenders tried to fake me out by asking, “What is that?” when I slid over my stupid beer passport and asked for a stamp. He immediately was like JK! when he saw that my face was probably contorting into “embarrassed school girl” right before his eyes BECAUSE IT DOESN’T TAKE MUCH TO MAKE ME FEEL STUPID. So  then we chatted about how many stamps I had collected so far and I told him about my faux pas that nearly put me on the SHE’S GOT A PROBLEM path when I thought I had to complete the book by the end of 2025.

“Yeah, these books don’t expire,” he said. Thanks, guy, I know this now. But that’s why I had to take an extended break from stamp-collecting!

I liked this one was called Hullaballoo because that’s been a favorite word of mine since the BATTLE OF THE NETWORK STARS days. It was OK.

This is blurry because I was trying to take pictures without looking weird, which just made me look weirder.

This place was nice – the people behind the bar were very friendly, there seemed to be some regulars sitting at the bar (one guy had his dog in his lap and that was precious), La Palapa was satisfying. It did get super crowded and loud pretty quickly after we arrived though, plus a band was setting up and they were supposed to start at 7. I really didn’t want to walk out during a band again like we did in Columbus, so I was like, “Yo, we gotta SPLIT before 7.” This just meant we still had nearly an hour to kill before our 8pm appointment in Troy Hill so Henry suggested going down the street to another brewery in my dumb passport.

Before I move on to that portion, I just wanted to mention that the last time I had La Palapa was when Chooch and I ate at their Southside location after I went to Kyklops to give my down payment on my Marcy tattoo. I always associate those two things now!

Henry and I both small pours at Late Addition –  mine was a Scottish thing and I really liked it! I think I’m figuring out that in addition to Belgian (real Belgian), I am leaning toward Irish and Scottish things. And some German. MAYBE I AM A TRADITIONALIST.

It was just us and the bartender, and one couple in a booth. Then an older woman came in, presumably a regular because she immediately started talking to the bartender like she knew him on a “you serve me beer regularly” level. The couple left, so then it was just us listening to this older broad tell the bartender the most mundane shit, like the chicken parm lasagna she made for her kids in college and how that made her the most popular mom that weekend. “This is the sauce I made,” she said, thrusting her phone in his face. I had to hand it to the guy, if he was actually disinterested, I certainly could not tell.

Oh! They were selling the Pgh Beer Week glass thingies that I had wanted to get at the time but was also too ambivalent about going out to a brewery in search of one. But the broad bought one which made me squint to get a better look and I hissed to Henry, “They have the glasses here! I’m going to pee, buy one for me.”

And when I came back, it was sitting in front of my seat – yay! I like getting things.

Then it was nearly time for our Troy Hill Art House appointment! We did have a few minutes to kill so we walked around a bit after parking in front of the house – Henry kept saying, “This can’t be it” because truly it just looks like a regular house that you’d see in a city neighborhood. We circled back around 7:55PM and Henry was like, “WHAT ARE WE WERE SUPPOSED TO DO?” Well looking at my appointment confirmation on my phone, I was saying that I thought when I went years ago with Corey and Kara, we just stood outside and waited for someone to come out, and just when I got to the part that said ATTENTION – DOCENT RULES: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO OPEN THE DOOR OR KNOCK and was reading it out loud, Henry went ahead and JIGGLED THE DOOR KNOB and then RANG THE DOORBELL.

“Why did you do that?” I cried.

“It didn’t say not to ring the doorbell,” Henry shrugged.

“IF IT SAID DON’T ATTEMPT TO OPEN THE DOOR OR KNOCK, YOU SHOULD ASSUME RINGING THE DOORBELL IS ALSO OFF THE TABLE!” I wheezing in embarrassment at this point. It was a Ring doorbell and rang kind of loudly – I was expecting a tinny voice to come through chastising us, but the silence was almost worse. Henry was like OH WELL and went back to sit in the car, leaving me alone to look like the culprit! Thank god Ring cameras don’t lie.

While Henry was cowering in the car, acting like he felt no shame for breaking the rules, a group of 4 college girls came barreling at me out of nowhere. It was actually alarming how they seemingly just appeared out of thin air–like, it was a super quiet street and then suddenly: the signature sounds of a group of giddy girls. BOOM. BANG. BRAY.

I stepped out of the way to let them pass and then realized that they were looking for the Lighthouse. Four different versions of “This can’t be it” all at once, surround sound.

“You’re at the right place,” I buttinsky’d. “We’re waiting too!” And there was a collective sigh of relief from their group. Then I proceeded to tell them about Henry ringing the doorbell and they were like, “OH MY GOD HEE HEE” but like, for real and not sarcastically so I loved them from this moment on.

(I’m obsessed with wanting college aged kids to think I’m cool, but like not the sorority types—the cool, grungy, mom jeans-wearing kinds. That’s what these girls were like!)

A tinny voice came out of the Ring camera letting us know that he’d be right there, and about a minute later, the docent approached us from the other end of the sidewalk. No one was in the house when Henry rang the doorbell! Thank god. I was nervous that another tour was in progress. After we signed waivers and the docent opened the door for us (and it wasn’t even the door that Henry was trying to open!!!), the first thing Henry said was, “IS THERE A BATHROOM?” Oh for god’s sake I wanted to kill him. There wasn’t a bathroom, but there is one in one of the other adjacent art houses so the docent had us go in and wait for him while he called whoever was still at that house to tell them NOT TO LOCK UP YET BECAUSE SOMEONE’S GRANDPA HAD TO COME BY AFTER THE LIGHTHOUSE TO PISS.

!!!!!!!

Goddammit, Henry.

I don’t have any pictures of the rest of the evening because the Troy Hill Art Houses really stress that no photos and videos are permitted. I definitely broke the law at La Hutte Royal because the docent wasn’t following us around BUT I only posted three of them to my blog because I feel like Kara made up a loophole that was like, “You can probably take pictures as long as they’re not being shared publicly” so I took that for scripture.

It was a quick 30 minute tour and without giving anything away (because everyone should go and experience this – IT’S FREE!), it was just so incredible to behold, legitimately. Two people came into a house that had burnt so badly in a fire that it had no structural integrity and built a freaking lighthouse in the middle of it. The docent said that lighthouse is the only thing holding the house together. And yes– you get to go inside of it, because the actual house is not really accessible. The top has an actual lighthouse bulb thingie in it, and it works. And it’s blinding.

Embarrassment aside, I was impressed that Henry was interested enough to ask the docent legit questions about the artifacts and whatever inside. I asked about a feather that was hanging from the ceiling, wondering of its significance but apparently the artists just added it for the whimsy of the shadow it produced, lol.

Very near-future me: “Hey Henry, here’s a box of a 1000 neon-dyed feathers for you to tack to the ceiling, chop chop.”

After the tour, the girls giggled their way home and the docent told us to hang tight while he locked up and I blurted out, “BY THE WAY, HE’S THE ONE THAT RANG THE DOORBELL IN CASE YOU COULD HEAR THAT EARLIER” and then I felt so CLEANSED and FREE of that burden I was carrying. The docent just laughed and waved it off. “Oh no worries! I actually have the app on my phone because I live right down the right, so I can monitor it from there,” he said, WHICH WAS BASICALLY SAYING THAT HE KNEW HENRY RANG THE DOORBELL. I wanted him to be angry about it so Henry would feel like shit but he really seemed like he didn’t care after all – UGH. If it was that guy from the Bayernhof, he’d have passive aggressively woven references to it into his script for the whole 2 hour tour.

“And here’s our REGINA CORONA 27″ AUTOMATIC CHANGER DISC MUSIC BOX, it knows not to ring the doorbell.”

Anyway, he let us PEEK IN THE DOORWAY (the one Henry tried to act like was entitled to enter when we first arrived!) to see some “behind the scenes” magic. It was a chaos-tangle of lamps and chandeliers; I don’t even know what we were looking at but I felt so privileged for that sneak peek! Then we walked around the corner to one of the other houses, where idiot Henry got to pee. In addition to being one of the art houses, it also doubles as their office space and the artists’ housing. There was the super cool art fixture in the background, a bunch of bugs in Jello molds. Even just that part of it was super cool so I’m excited for when we hit that house up in the (near) future.

In sum: the tour was splendid, the docent was informative and friendly while giving us our space to explore, and those girls were so adorable! It’s nuts to me that these artsy gems are in some random neighborhood of Pittsburgh, hidden in plain sight (they are all inside legit houses that don’t have any signs or neon lights beckoning stragglers in off the street), and they ARE FREE. It’s like stepping inside someone’s crazy altered reality for an hour and forgetting the actual crazy reality you left on the doorstep.

It was a really good Thursday night!

We were really flying by the seat of our pants with this one. When I first bought the concert tickets, I was excited because it was on a Saturday and thought, “Oh, we can turn it into a weekend trip!” but then as it got closer, I was like, “Or we can just get there early, spend the day hanging out, and then drive back after the show.” And then it was the day before and I was like, “Fuck it, let’s just leave at noon, eat dinner there, go to the show and come home.” I just hate leaving Penelope, even for a full day or overnight, ever since Drew died. It seriously is the worst and I feel so guilty, and now she’s going through this extreme picky phase with her food so I feel like I spend most of the day offering her different things, hand-feeding her treats, it’s a whole thing. (Yes, she’s being actively checked out by the vet and we have an appetite stimulant for her now too. All of her bloodwork came back fine, it’s just that she lost 2 pounds since her visit last year and as of the beginning of the year has decided that she doesn’t like dry food anymore and will only eat wet food but only certain kinds and then when she finds one she likes and we buy more, she doesn’t like it anymore. It’s been a whole thing and while she is eating, drinking water, peeing and pooping like normal, the vet put me in panic mode.)

Well, that was a lot to say that I didn’t feel very inspired to leave super early and I didn’t do my usual cafe and vegan food investigation like I normally would when we roadtrip. Sigh.

But! On a happy note, it all worked out anyway. We decided to just drive to the venue and find a place to park, because it’s street parking or GTFT (get the fuck towed) in this area. We got super lucky and found a spot RIGHT OUTSIDE of the venue. It was only 3PM, too early for dinner, but there was a place called Caca Cacao that I saw right around the corner so without consulting Yelp for any alternatives, that is where we went. And it was amazing! Good people, good vibes, good drinks. Sorry to keep using the word “good,” but that’s just how it made me feel DEEP IN MY SOUL.

We ended up just sitting at the bar after we ordered. I didn’t realize at first that there was an outside patio—it was chilly and raining off and on that day, but there was a covered portion that looked cozy so I suggested that we just take our drinks out there once we got them. But then! One of the baristas commented on my Ouija planchette bracelet which inspired a lengthy convo about divination and spirits. I felt like a fraud a little bit for wearing that in the name of fashion when I have really only used an Ouija board maybe…twice? (My friend Evonne had a spirit board though and we used that several times over the years which was always goosebump-inducing.) So, I felt obligated to tell the barista that my mom was into that stuff when she was younger, and how my grandma blamed her Ouija board usage on the fire that legit burned down the house while my grandma was in Florida.

It actually turned out to be an electrical fire caused by a record player that someone left on. No one was hurt and then the house was rebuilt into the 116 Gillcrest that was my refuge and sanctuary growing up (wow, two references to Gillcrest in back-to-back weekend recaps, it must be heavy on my subconscious).

I also told her about how ALLEGEDLY one time my mom was driving at night—this was also during her Ouija days—and said that it felt like something was yanking the steering wheel in the opposite direction and she either DID wreck or she ALMOST wrecked. I can’t remember now how the story went but I know I was scared when she told me, but not too scared that I didn’t actively try to summon Satan for a large swathe of time when I was in high school because I wanted to be taken, LOL I was such a living, breathing After School Special, it wasn’t even funny. (I was trying to think of when this would have been but it could have been anywhere between 10th and 12th grade, honestly, I was such a psychotic case study.)

Then we were talking about being from Pgh and she was telling us about her friend who is something of a famous busker there. “He wears a mushroom hat and raps,” she said, but the only person I could picture was Downtown Jesus and thank god that’s not who she was referring to. Anyway, he’s supposed to be performing at some Draft-related event happening here and then today, he came up in a video in Henry’s feed. “He’s the Guinness secord holder for longest freestyle rap,” Henry said, “50 hours!”

I got a Froot Loops matcha latte and it was delectable and also, we ended up just staying at the bar since it was such a friendly and safe space!

And thank god we stayed because when the other barista came over to get Henry’s payment, there was about 3 seconds of silence while he was struggling to tap his card, and suddenly she goes, “You have really great hair.”

To me!!

She said that TO ME!

You have no idea how annoyed and self-conscious I am about my hair in this shitty stage of life, and for someone to tell me that it’s GREAT?? I almost cried.

“Your tattoos and rings are really cool, too,” she continued. “You’re just cool in general!” she added. And then to Henry, “And you’re cool for being with her!”

I was like, “OK is there a camera somewhere? Is this real? Did my therapist set this up to give me a self-esteem boost so she can have one session with me where I’m not like, “I’m just an NPC. Wah.”

And then I felt tongue-tied because I wanted to return the compliments but everything that ran through my mind seemed like it would be weird to say, like, “I love the shape of your face!” which is what I was thinking before this even happened because she had that perfectly adorable heart-shaped face and a blunt chin-length cut that looked perfect on her. But when I say things nice things to other women, it always ends up coming off as either lowkey sexual harassment or borderline boundary-crossing because something happens to my words on their way down the chute from my brain to my mouth where it’s like, “Wait did I just sound like I was coming on to that person?”

Anyway…

Then Henry was looking at the menu again and asked her what kava is because there was a whole section for it. It turned into a whole thing, like an actual history lesson, and it was so informative and interesting! Basically, it’s a non-alcoholic liquid made from the root of some type of pepper-like plant or something that relaxes the body, and recovering alcoholics will actually drink it because it gives you the same sensation without putting actual alcohol in your body.

Then she gave us a free shot of it to try!

It tasted unlike ANYTHING I had ever tried before. Very…earthy and dirty. Muddy. Not the most pleasant thing but I was able to finish the shot without needing to dramatically spit it out or anything! And after awhile it leaves a slight numbing sensation on the tongue. Super intriguing, and there are actual drinks that they make with it there so maybe next time we visit, I will bit the bullet and try something fancy.

They also have kind of simple syrup made with a plant that I have never heard of and both baristas were trying to explain it to a man seated next to me. They finally settled on it having a slight “date” taste and then they let him try a spoonful of it and he agreed and said it was delicious so now I definitely have to go back and try a drink with that syrup too!

That place was just way too cool. And also very calming. As we were getting up to leave, I called out “goodbye!” down the bar to them, and the heart-face girl was all, “Have fun tonight, guys!” and it felt so nice, like we were regulars there instead of legit strangers passing through from Pittsburgh. I wish more places were like that. I always say that I hate small talk but I DIDN’T USED TO. I used to know someone everywhere I went back in the day, from gas stations, diners, pool halls…now the only people I “know” are the other daily walkers and joggers in Brookline who give me head nods and half-waves every time we pass each other.

What a great start to our short time in Columbus! After this, we walked to a place on High Street for a quick dinner, but I will save that for the next post because the Penguins are losing their second playoff game in a row and I am too stressed and angry to give this blog my full attention UGH.

After our afternoon getting music boxed at the Bayernhof, we reconvened at the nearby Starlite Lounge in Blawnox. Henry and I had never been there before, but Shawn and Jess were there once for dinner and said it was completely dead on that day, so they were surprised to see that this place was poppin’ off at 5pm.

Turns out, there was some local music festival going on called Punkapalooza, and the Starlite was one of the venues.

It was a super lively atmosphere, and I was THERE FOR IT. Especially when some man ran up to us as soon as we walked in and asked for our IDs. I was like, “Oh! Ok…” because that never happens anymore  (obviously).  I started to root around for my wallet and goes, “I’m just messing with yinz! I don’t even work here.”

YEP. I had a feeling I was going to love it there!

They’re apparently known for their world famous pierogies, so I was stoked to try that and also get a GRILLED CHEESE, which I have not had in way too long, now that I think about it. Maybe Henry and I need to start doing our weekend diner dates again.

Our server was this young girl with blond braids and piercings who was pleasant enough but also just the amount of “don’t piss me off” to be employed at a dive bar. She reminded me of Tara Yummy’s friend Sophia and if this means nothing to you it’s because you probably have age-appropriate interests and aren’t subscribed to a bunch of young LA vloggers on YouTuber. I waited until after we left to mention this to Henry because I didn’t feel like explaining the whole thing to Shawn and Jess – I always get so in the weeds when explaining who obscure people are that I’m talking about that half the time I end up on a completely tangent and never do circle back to the person in question. Like, spit it out, Erin. It’s not that deep and also: no one cares.

I’m a terrible storyteller.

Speaking of the server, though: Shawn ordered a Screwdriver with Titos (and also Confidence^TM ) and I guess it was just because it was 5PM at this little dive bar filling up with hippies (we were very confused when punks started dressing like hippies but Starlite was swathed in tie dye) that the idea of ordering a Screwdriver made me crack up.

The server looked up from her order pad. “Ok. I’ll have to make sure they have the stuff for that,” she said in the underwhelmed tone of a certain generation.

“I wanted to get a Screwdriver in honor of Chuck,” Shawn mumbled, like he felt an explanation was in order. I thought that was a great idea but Henry and I had already ordered beer. :/

When she came back with the rest of our drinks, she relayed to Shawn that THEY DIDN’T HAVE ORANGE JUICE AND SOMEONE HAD TO GO OUT TO GET IT. Shawn very quickly tried to recall his order but it was too late, some poor go-fer was already sent on Shawn’s screwdriver side quest.

Obviously we all felt bad about this but I couldn’t stop laughing because this is usually the shit that happens to me, accidentally ordering things that put me in the hot seat.

Meanwhile, I made Henry order the Polish platter so he could share the pierogi and haluski with me.

“You can have the sausage, though,” I said diplomatically.

“Wow, thanks,” he muttered, because I guess this is one of the few annoying things I do – tell him what he’s going to order so that it can benefit me.

About a half hour later, Shawn stopped our server and very nervously asked, “I hate to bother you, but….screwdriver?”

“She hasn’t come back yet,” she said, and we were like BITING OUR FISTS IN SECONDHAND ANGUISH OVER THIS.

And then Henry, King of Local Grocery Stores, started running through his mental Rolodex of nearby stores where this person likely could have gone, unable to understand why this OJ acquisition was taking so long.

But then – Screwdriver! Shawn was basically to the point where he was going to present his back to the server for some flagellation.

After his first sip, we asked him if it was worth it and he said he didn’t know because he had never had one before! OH, I WAS HOWLING.

Meanwhile, our food was so good! An older woman was in charge of checking the Punkapalooza goers at the door helped serve our food and Shawn asked, “Are you the one who got the orange juice?”

SHE WAS.

He was several seconds away from throwing himself at her feet, I think, totally groveling, but she was just laughing about it and said it was no big deal. But it was to us! It didn’t even happen to me but I will always think fondly of the Starlite now because of this. What nice people!

Um, and the pierogi? FUCK ME IN THE MOUTH, HOT BOIS. I think it might actually have been the best pierogi I’ve had in this city. Just a classic potato pierogi but it was absolute perfection. Moist on the inside and chewy on the outside with just the right amount of crisp around the edge. Yes. Oh yes.

And the haluski!! Also some of the best I’ve ever had. I’d love to be able to compare it to the haluski that I bought probably 20 years ago from a lady and her young daughter going door-to-door but I WOULDN’T KNOW BECAUSE THEY NEVER CAME BACK WITH IT. One of the many times I’ve been scammed.

Coleslaw – bangin’.

Grilled cheese – they forgot my tomato but it was otherwise very classic and satisfying. I know it seems like grilled cheese is an easy order but you’d be surprised (or maybe not) at how many bad g’cheeses I’ve had.

Shawn ended up getting a second Screwdriver because he felt like he had to at that point. Meanwhile, we ended up totally overstaying our welcome (no one made us feel pressured to leave though!) and chilled in that booth for HOURS after our plates were cleared. It was 9PM by the time we finally called it a night and it honestly felt like old times – hanging out in a dive bar with good friends and talking until I started to lose my voice. Yes, more of this please!!!

We really were perplexed at how different the punk scene had become these days. Like, why did everyone look like Dead Heads, you know? So I finally decided to google “punkapalooza” and realized that it was actually spelled “pUNKapalooza” – not sure what the significance of the capital letters is, but it’s billed as Blawnox’s annual JAM BAND FESTIVAL.

THAT MAKES SO MUCH MORE SENSE.

If you were coming to visit Pittsburgh and asked me for an itinerary, you bet your soggy-ass bottom dollar that I’m rec’ing the Bayernhof Music Museum and also probably inviting myself along. I have been there three times over the years, with different people each time, but never Henry! Can you even believe that? He’s always happily sat these jaunts out, but now that we’re in our “cultural” season of life, I have been big-nagging him to go.

I was texting with my buddy Shawn the other day about how we need to schedule a hang-out soon and he said, “Hey, what about that music box museum you mentioned a while back?”

DONE. SCHEDULED. ON THE BOOKS.

I woke up Saturday morning so stoked!

Our tour was led by Lisa, who recently swapped roles with the old guide because he wanted to spend more time with his grandkids. I was actually going to ask her if he was still there and thank god I didn’t because I would have 100% referred to him as “Dick,” which is what Andrea kept calling him the first time I ever toured the place (YOU HAD TO BE THERE) but his name is actually Jim. That was all the way back in 2011, and then I went again a year later with Corey and Kristy. The last time I visited was with Kara and Chooch in 2018!

All of those times were in the winter so it was nice to see a beautiful springtime view from this window finally! Because this is my 4th visit, this will be more of a photo dump and less informational. You can click on those links up there for a deep dive but I will warn you that my first two visits were chaotic and giddy for no good reason so…enjoy that shit.

A brief overview though: The Bayernhof was built in the 70s/80s by the man in that painting up there, one Charles B. Brown III. He was a local businessman and eccentric who knew exactly what he wanted, eschewed the proper housebuilding channels and architects and basically went DIY. The kind of DIY one might be able to achieve with lots of $$$$$ though. As Lisa would tell us in that sitting room, it was built by three old men, two kids, and a blue station wagon.

One of the “old men” was Dave, a banker who gave him a $60,000 loan. They became friends and after Charles died in 1999, Dave and Charles’s longtime secretary / assistant spent the next 5 years getting the Bayernhof up and running as a museum, which was Charles’s dying wish. (Lisa referred to Charles as “Chuck” through the tour so we will do that too!)

One of the quirkiest things about the Bayernhof isn’t the music box collection itself, but the fact that Chuck purchased them from a museum that was closing in Florida. No, he had no interest in them prior to this but when he found out that they were going to be trashed, he said he couldn’t stand to know that good all-American products were going into the dumpster (never mind that they were mostly made in Europe!) so he bought them all, as-is, and put them in his house. Shawn asked if he ever got to. hear any of them in action while he was alive and Lisa said she wasn’t sure that he did – it was until his death that Dave & Co. started to get them refurbished so that they would have a reason to turn the house into a museum.

I was going to insert an aside here about my antique wheelchair collection but then got nervous about jinxing myself!

SQUIRREL.

You know, I can’t remember if this came up on any other tour I was on but Lisa said that one of Chuck’s quirks was that when he hosted dinner parties, which he often did!, he would ask what everyone wanted to drink and then would serve everyone a screwdriver no matter what, because that was his standard drink of choice at his parties.

My favorite part was when Lisa asked the room if anyone knew the name of the RCA dog and Henry very confidently said, “VICTOR” but he was WRONG. I forget what the answer was now because I was too busy sneering at Henry for being wrong in front of a group of 12. (Speaking of our group – everyone was very pleasant! No know-it-alls or anything, great questions were asked, and there was one elderly lady who I really loved – she was outspoken in the way old people are, talked about old-timey things,  and I really liked her.)

The organ thing that Lisa is standing by is one that was used in theaters back when movies were silent. In addition to playing a score, it was also used to make “train approaching” sounds, “baby crying,” etc. Shawn asked if they ever host silent movie nights there. Lisa paused and said, “No, but that is actually a great idea. Write it down on the suggestion card at the end, because they won’t listen to me if I suggest it.”

LOL. Relatable, Lisa.

(Did I mention that she was an amazing guide? Super knowledgeable, a great story-teller, and very friendly!)

Oh, there’s my old lady friend to the left! And that’s Shawn and Jess admiring whatever music thing is playing. It had violins in it and sounded feral. Lisa did warn us that it sounded like that sometimes. She reminded us that the house wasn’t built to be a museum and so the humidity levels can be a nightmare when trying to maintain the quality of the pianos, organs, etc. They have humidity measurers in every room so they know when they need to keep doors open, run humidifiers, etc. Because of this, not every music box runs smoothly all of the time.

It reminded me of our house. We have all of these DIY art things everywhere and the humidity warps plexiglass, accordions paper…this ain’t a museum, bruh.

I kept whipping my head around to see if Shawn, Jess, and Henry were having a good time. I was obsessed with them loving it there. I kept whispering, “Gillcrest vibes, right??” to Henry and he was actually whole-heartedly agreeing with me so it was felt like a bonding afternoon.

(Gillcrest is what I call my Grandparent’s house, RIP to both of them and the house.)

After the song on this organ thing finished, Lisa asked if anyone knew what it was and I practically dislocated my shoulder shooting my arm up to the ceiling and shouting, “BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY!”

I was right, so I hissed “yessssss” and pumped my fist like a fucking loser. Henry was so proud.

This harp one was cool too. I will tell you, there were definitely things here that were new-to-me, which means I should definitely keep touring the Bayernhof with new victims because who knows what other new/old things they’ll acquire?!

I liked the stained glass AND DISCO BALL on this one!

OMG AND THEN SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENED! DAVE WAS THERE!!! He was coming down the stairs after everyone took a turn looking at the organ with the disco ball and he stopped for a few minutes to chat with us about his friendship with Chuck – IT WAS AMAZING. I was sincerely geeking out, having been there so many times and hearing stories about how he helped Chuck with so much that went into the Bayernhof.

Dave asked if any of us had been there before. I shot my hand up AGAIN (so did the two people who were there with the old lady – I think one of them must have been her adult kid and their spouse) but Dave only looked at ME and asked, “And were you good?”

I fucking froze. I could feel the heat blossoming in my cheeks, like, “WHAT DO THEY KNOW, IS MY PICTURE PRINTED OUT FROM A SECURITY CAMERA AND POSTED IN THE OFFICE??” I mean, I actually wasn’t “good,” two of the times I was there! But I cleared my throat and in a high-pitched whine I said, “I was…nice.”

But then he went on to talk about how I knew then that every time it seemed like, “Wow, this place is crazy, it can’t get any crazier than that” it absolutely will. I was like YES, HELLO GROUP, ‘TIS I, ERIN-IN-THE-KNOW.

I felt so special, I’m not going to lie. DAVE PAID ATTENTION TO ME!!!

The wallpaper in the bathroom was Gillcrest vibes for sure.

I will never forget my first time here when Jim made Andrea get a fortune from this machine and she DID NOT want to participate. OMG we don’t talk anymore (me dragging her here was probably the beginning of the end for me) but this will always be one of my most cherished memories and every time I think about it, I start laughing alone. I kept pointing these things out to Henry. “That’s where Andrea told me she fucking hated me,” and “That’s where I had to stand and face the corner because I was laughing so hard that I was in tears.”

No one should have THAT much fun in a music box museum, but I surely did. Turns out it doesn’t translate very well into a story though because when I regaled Shawn and Jess with my history here afterward, they looked confused/unamused LOL. To be fair, Henry looks that way all the time when it comes to me, so I guess I’m the problem.

Kind of like that time years ago when Janna hit her head on the train at Kennywood and the next day at work, I couldn’t stop thinking about it and laughing hysterically alone at my desk, and at one point I tried to tell the story out loud to Barb and ended up having to run and I mean FUCKING FLEE to the bathroom because I was in so much pain from wheeze-laughing that my face was drenched with tears and I was in a pants-peeing emergency.

Henry was obsessed with the tangle of legs in that painting.

Some war artifacts or something. I always lose interest in those things. This was in the observatory, which is accessible by a very steep spiral staircase in Chuck’s room. “Anyone have a guess what we’ll find at the top of the steps?” Lisa asked.

No one was saying anything so I grunted, “Ooh! A wet bar?” because that’s the running joke of the Bayernhof is that while Chuck wasn’t even much of a drinker, he had a wet bar in nearly every room. In fact, when Dave & Co. took over after his death, they quickly found out that all of the soda guns were actually still connected and in workable condition, except that they didn’t know where the lines were so they had to go around and shut them all off lest they find syrup pouring out of the ceiling one day.

“Correct!” Lisa said, and my old lady friend said, “Hey, you’ve been here before!”

True! But the amount of things I forgot was astounding. I actually didn’t know for sure if that was what was up there, it just seemed like the most likely guess!

There’s one of those humidity things!

Not gonna lie, the Gillcrest master bathroom was cooler than this one:

Henry agreed and mentioned it a few times afterward! It made me sad the next day when we were rehashing the tour and making comparisons to Gillcrest because imagine what could have been if we tried harder to save the house. We could found a gimmick and tried to get some historical designation slapped on it! It actually makes me sick to my stomach knowing that some jerk house flipper bought the house in…what, 2017? 2018? Pretty much gutted it and then just let it sit there. I think Corey said the person ran out of money. So now my mom has to drive past it everyday when she leaves her house, this shell of her childhood home. It’s honestly why I avoid even going back to that street.

It hurts.

OK quick back story! After the first time I was there, I swore that I was going to go back with a framed picture of Andrea and leave it behind because she 100% thought I wouldn’t do it. I got Corey and Kristy to accompany me for a tour (I mean, this was real – I wanted to go back for non-nefarious reasons too!) and I kept panicking in every room because I never had a good shot at setting the frame anywhere. But then we got to the CANNING ROOM and I was like, “Ahoy, could this work??” because it was a very small space and Jim never came all the way in with us. So, after he turned and walked away, I pulled the frame out of my purse, slid it across the counter, and did my patented “there’s something wrong with that lady” giddy bray. This also made my brother crack up too because we have a laughing condition when we’re together.

It was so stupid, honestly, but it still cracks me up to this day. When I texted her this picture, well, I can’t remember what she said but she probably burned haunted herbs that night and cursed me.

(I truly miss her.)

“IS THIS NEW??” I asked Lisa, and she said they only just acquired it in 2022 I think she said? So it definitely wasn’t there for my last visit. “Buy me one!” I whispered to Henry, who frowned deeply.

Anyway, this thing plays off of books.

Lisa, holding one of the OG AUDIO BOOKS. Get it?

Because it’s a book.

Used to play music.

Audiobooks!

There was also another music box in this room. Lisa asked the lone kid on the tour with us to pick a number between 1 and 24. Immediately, I thought, “20” to myself and that’s what he chose!!!

I was so excited about this.

Anyway, the song for #20 was actually terrible, almost like a dirge, and Lisa said, “Well, I’ll have to remember not to play #20 again!”  I couldn’t wait to tell my group afterward that I was thinking “20” before the kid said it.

“I know you’re not lying,” Shawn said, “because that song was so bad, why would you want to pretend like you thought of that  number??” Exactly!

The infamous “horse-shoeing” depiction LOL! I was so obsessed with that I actually made pendants out of the first picture I took of it years ago. Kristy has one!

While Jess was taking this picture of me, the docent lady (not Lisa but the other lady who trailed behind us, closing doors and turning off lights, came over and said, “That’s the horse’s hoof in between his leg,” in a tone that implied that she thought I was being very immature. Le duh!

What an absolute banger of a day! Afterward, we went to dinner but I will save that for a separate post because Little Miss I’m Not Going to Write Much Since I’m a Quadruple Bayernhof Visitor just wrote over 2500 words. Sigh.

I love Mae Martin. Like, lovelovelove Mae Martin. Ever since watching their show “Feel Good” on Netflix several years ago, I’ve been enchanted by their nervous comedic delivery and pure adorability. When I saw they were coming to Pittsburgh on their The Possum* comedy tour, I was all in. Originally, I was going to go alone, but then Henry watched “Wayward” with me and I sent him some of their late night show interviews, and he was on board too.

*(SPOILER, THERE WERE NO POSSUMS AT THE SHOW.)

I thought I lost this jacket!

Having Chooch home this week has been so great – for us, anyway, LOL. It’s been pretty annoying for him, like when I made him take pictures of Henry and me before we left.

LOL, what faces.

Then, to further Chooch’s annoyance, we made him drive us downtown to the Byham Theater so that we wouldn’t have to either take the T or pay exorbitant parking prices. This was actually almost as funny as the Mae Martin show because Chooch was SO PISSED IMMEDIATELY when I put on NCT127 at high volumes and then Henry was nagging him for driving too fast through the church parking lot across from our house, and then!! Henry was digging around the backseat of the car (we make him sit in the back when Chooch is driving, LOL) for his hat and Chooch was like, “Oh well, I’m not going back” but then Henry was like, “NO, I THINK I HAD IT ON THE ROOF OF THE CAR!!!!” and then I realized it was his Canada hat, so I said, “Oh, you HAVE to turn around then!”

So, Chooch grudgingly looped around Brookline and went back to the parking lot.

“THERE IT IS!” I screamed, while Chooch was breaking his fingers in his intensity to get NCT127’s “Sticker” off the radio.

You can hear a clip of my unhinged cackling in the background, but it actually went on for so much longer – that irate flourish with which he snatched his lost hat SENT ME.

“Anything else you’d like to report missing?” Chooch said drolly after peeling out of the parking lot before Henry even had the car door shut.

“YOU,” Henry spat.

This of course made me lose it all over again and after another full minute, Chooch side-eyed me and said, “OK, it wasn’t that funny, you can stop now.”

AND THAT JUST MADE ME LAUGH LOUDER as I reached over to crank the volume on NCT’s 2 Baddies (another of Chooch’s most hated songs).

It was only about a 10 minute drive to downtown, with Henry and Chooch bickering the entire way over directions. Oh, I was wheezing. I missed this so much.

I’m surprised Chooch actually let the car come to a complete stop before booting us out at a curb.

I realized that I hadn’t been to the Byham since pre-Covid when my pal Michelle and her daughter were in town and invited me to the TROCKADERO BALLET with them!

It was such a great night, even when Henry the Doof dropped his phone under the seats in front of us (thankfully it was during intermission) and made me hold his beer while he gently tapped the shoulder of the woman in front of us to tell her he had to retrieve his phone which had landed near her purse and didn’t want her to think he was trying to rob her. She was super impressed by his politeness and commented on the gentleness of his shoulder tap, which irritated me because I hate when Henry’s inner feminist is on display and stealing my spotlight.

Sigh.

Her partner seemed equally impressed and I was like OMG WE GET IT, HENRY IS AN ALLY.

I wanted to pop into the conversation with a reminder that I have had to correct Henry’s misuse of pronouns when referencing Mae Martin all night, BUT THEN HIS BEER SPILLED ON MY LEG AND PULLED ME AWAY FROM THE SCENE.

Aside from Henry shifting uncomfortably in his seat all night, miming his discomfort and earlier diatribe of how poorly-designed theater seats are (maybe it was because people weren’t fat asses back then who ate king-sized Twix during shows, HENRY), it was a really great night. We had good balcony seats, everyone was respectful, and there were lots of laughs! Mae Martin is a treasure. Canada,  you produce the best people, I swear to god. I am fully in my Canada-era right now, I think. I mean, we came home and I forced Chooch to watch more episodes of the Nirvana the Band web series, which he said I’ve ruined for him and made it feel like homework, LOL.

The first half of Mae’s show was stand-up (I could have listened to them talk all night – they have such a nervously hilarious vibe that I am so attracted to!), then after intermission, their friend Matt came out for some improv (this was Henry’s favorite part of the night) and then Mae ended the show by performing several songs. Yes, they can act, make people laugh, do improv, sing, play guitar, AND they just taught themselves how to play harmonica after getting inspo from the Bob Dylan biopic.

I need, need, need Mae Martin and Matt Johnson to work on something together. PLEASE. My two favorite Canadians. <3

Anyway, it just felt really good to laugh so genuinely all night, starting with the drive down there courtesy of Chooch’s surliness and Henry’s rooftop hat mishap. This was almost one of those events that come up in my feed and I go to myself, “That could be fun” and then take no action. I’m glad that I bought tickets though! I had that niggling sensation that I would get FOMO if I didn’t. I think I was right to trust the niggle! I think I’m doing pretty good in my mission to “get out there more,” as prescribed by my therapist.

Afterward, Chooch was waiting for us in the parked car a few streets over, sitting there reading a book (The Martian) like a real dad. He went to the bookstore and visited his friend at work and then grudgingly came back (in time!) to retrieve us. What a sweetheart.

My God-tier Pittsburgh brewery posted on their IG story a few weeks ago about an event they were hosting with Self-Reliant Seitan (a woman-owned purveyor of vegan deli meats). Basically, a small bites pairing with small pours of Lolev beers. I immediately showed Henry and said, “We’re going.” Not a question. Not seeking permission. Tickets purchased straight away.

So, that’s where we were this past Thursday and it was the best time. (Ignore Henry’s blank face here; he was probably still mad because my new thing when he tries to sass me is to say, “Calm down, Pam Bondi.” I was going to say ‘if the shoe fits’ but hers are probably custom-made for her devil hooves.)

The spread! Do you know how hard it was to sit with this in front of me, waiting for the first pour to arrive? It was extremely hard for me but apparently the lady next to us had even less will power because she devoured the whole plate before it even started. But my resistance paid off because it was really fun and interesting to taste how complementary each beer was with the bite it was paired with. I guess this is how all of the normal people felt all those years ago at the Bigelow Grille vegetarian dinner with East End Brewery beers while I was dramatically gagging and acting like my palate was being dissolved by acid.

LOOK HOW FAR BABY HAS COME.

Aside from Henry and me, there were 7 other people there, so it was a nice, small group and allowed us ample time to talk to Emily of Self-Reliant Seitan, and the host, Amani who I recognized from the other times we’ve gone to Lolev and it was so nice chatting with her! Not to brag but I feel like she came over to our table more than the others AND she gave us two extra pours at the end of the night; I felt like teacher’s pet!

And Emily was very sweet and informative – the seitan really sells itself once you taste it, but she me even more inspired to buy some before we left. She doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar store yet but sells at various farmers markets and pop-ups so I told her that we will for sure be seeking her out while Chooch is home for spring break because I know he would also love this and I would like to send him back to Philly with some food anyway so why not super delicious locally-made seitan by a woman-and-queer-owned business?! Love to support ventures like this.

LOL. He mumbled “thanks” when he glanced over and saw that I’m including this picture. Cry about it, P-Bondi.

OK, now let’s get into the beer and bites! I am going to tell you right now that I can’t choose a favorite bite – I was obsessed with all of them. But there was a clear winner with the beer.

First up, we had Edo – a Japanese rice lager, paired with a chicken cordon bleu bite. Bro, I could have done with a chicken cordon bleu plate-sized serving, but am grateful for the bite. It was freaking delicious – I asked the resident meat-eater here and he said that taste-wise, he could barely tell it wasn’t real, except for the texture. For me, having not eaten meat since 1996, I was actually nervous that I was eating real meat.

(Henry just said, “Obviously I liked her products, or I wouldn’t have bought any!” This is true – he was pretty gung-ho to buy some that night!)

Also, Henry was laughing because we got there early so we each got a half-pour to nurse while waiting and I was like, “UGH what if I ending up getting one of the 4 that are going to be served later?” and of course the beer I chose was literally the first one on the list for the night, lol. Good thing I liked it!

Kara and Chris ended up not being able to make it, so I zoomed in on their plates, sitting sadly on a counter. :( We missed them!

Next, Kamo II and a sausage & mustard cream pastry. I swapped out one of my halves for one on Henry’s plate that was bigger LOL. You know when you’re left wanting more, it’s freaking good. Henry said this one definitely tasted real to him.

THIS WAS MY FAVORITE BEER! Zeus, a sweet IPA thing. I liked every beer that night (because, Lolev) but this one seriously sent me. It’s what I want in an IPA. And this salami and cheese cracker thing made me want to have a get-together in the worst way because I’d love to wait for my friends to start chewing and then scream IT’S ALL VEGAN, BITCHES!

I’m a light-weight.

OK this was the show-stopper. The ultimate pairing – a wrapped stuffed date and Demeter, a maple bourbon-y barely wine that had me feeling like I could breathe fire. Strong AF and not something I could drink on its own on a normal day, but it legitimately was perfecto with this wrapped date. Such a smart duo!

Henry has referenced this wrapped date bite numerous times since then so I think it’s safe to say we know who he’s thinking about as I write this on this Valentine’s Day, lol.

Of course, we had to take a picture to send to Chooch who was like, “wow you’re so cool” lol.

Amani told us that she’s organizing a local Mexican chocolate and beer pairing next month so I will be on the lookout for that one too!

Also! When I was in the bathroom, there was a CALL TO ACTION poster in the stall because Iroh, the MATCHA LAGER, is no longer in production and there was a QR code to scan to help bring it back. I didn’t have my phone in there with me, so when I came back to the table, I asked Amani about it and she said she was the one who made that poster because she’s adamant about getting the brewers to bring it back! When we were there in October, the bartender said that it was seasonal and usually comes back around St. Patrick’s Day since it’s green, so I was really anticipating that happening this year since that beer seriously had me considering changing my name to Iroh, startin an Iroh cult, writing an Iroh manifesto. I was obsessed. Anyway, I will actually cry if it doesn’t come back, but Amani said she thinks she’s making progress and that hopefully it will be back in action for the chocolate event. PRAY FOR US, EVERYONE.

What a nice evening! Of course, I was just drunk enough to trauma-dump on Henry the whole way home but he’s used to it. I have a few drinks and start ranting about my family. Who doesn’t!?

Everything sucks but carving out time to do things like this is worth it. Otherwise, we’d have been sitting at home, fuming over Pam Bondi, the Epstein Files, ICE, and that fucking piece of rotten shit jackhammering our country to hell. Sorry, it’s just always heavy on my mind.

Anyway – if you live in or near Pittsburgh:

• go to Lolev and knock back a Zeus
• buy Self-Reliant Seitan, make a sandwich, and eat it while reading my blog lol

My friend Kristy invited me to this cool Black History Month Beer Release at Burghers last night and I think an Erin from another time would have found a reason to flake because it was one day notice and on a work night and honestly what goes on up there in my head, the mental gymnastics I perform sometimes to make stupid excuses to not do things.

But I haven’t seen Kristy in years and our last plans were legitimately postponed because it was the day after I had that stomach bug  two weeks ago and I genuinely still felt like shit plus, was I contagious?? Maybe! And also, I had to do a presentation yesterday at work for a semi-large group of people and I knew that having something to look forward to later (that involved alcohol, which I would definitely be wanting) would help me get through it. I’m just no good with these types of things (don’t worry – I had therapy an hour afterward and my therapist was prepared to talk me off a ledge lol).

God, it was so nice to sit with an old friend and drink a beer that I ACTUALLY REALLY ENJOYED! It was a Black IPA called Roots & Resilience, and it was dedicated to all the impactful Black Pittsburghers. I also got to meet Kristy’s friend Marcus who is the first Black licensed brewer in the city!

Kristy writes for Pittsburgh Magazine and asked me some questions about my road to beer-liking for an article she’s writing, and that was so exciting for me! It also made me realize that the narcissistic Leo in me could do a presentation at work with NO WORRIES OR STRESS at all if the subject matter was ME. How pathetic am I.

Anyway, we talked about EVERYTHING bugging us and hoo boy, was it cathartic while also still being really fun. It has always been easy to talk to her, no walls, and it didn’t feel like it had been 10 years (??!!) since we last saw each other. I have to be better.

I came home feeling so happy and like a giant weight was lifted – I guess I didn’t realize how much I really needed deep, soul-baring conversation and I hope it helped her too.

P.S. she made me this adorable little Jeeter from Kennywood holding a beer!

P.P.S. the second beer I had last night was an Italian thing that Kristy recommended and it was totally refreshing. I think now that I have been here twice, I’m putting Burghers in my top 3 local brewery!

P.P.P.S. we were talking about the first time we met in person and it’s worth sharing on here again because it was so random and sums up our friendship perfectly, LOL.

How to Die in the Event of a Rape

Not much happened over the weekend other than acquiring the elusive beer can, us just trying to survive this gross heat wave with no A/C, and cowering in fear at the thought of WWIII thanks to that motherfucker who is unilaterally in control of America, and, in his pea-brain, the world.

However! We did meet Todd and Brittany for lunch at Novo Asian Food Hall and that was a definite highlight of the weekend! Obviously, I have known Todd for 10+ years now but this was only the second time I have hung out with Brittany and both times felt like the complete opposite of a first time meeting! We have so much to talk about! Even Henry sort of piped up here and there, lol.

I was sad though because the place I had my heart set on – Lolo – looks like it’s closed forever. So I settled on a veggie chicken sandwich from Kungfu Chicken and made Henry also order a side of FRIED MILK which I then forced upon Todd and Brittany, lol. I thought it was delicious! The general consensus from the rest of the table was that it was fine, but I was lowkey obsessed with it. I loved how jiggly the inside was! It definitely had the texture of tofu which I refrained from saying until I finally managed to get Todd and Brittany  to try it because I know that tofu has a reputation of being off-putting for some people but really, it’s just so misunderstood.

But still…..

Don’t Ask Me About Tofu

Our beloved Sumi’s Cakery also has a stall here now, and ended up closing their flagship bakery in Squirrel Hill because of it. This is actually dreadful because the bakery was so much better – more authentic, more real Korean flavors, just all-around MORE. They had some food-food on the menu too so Henry ordered rose tteokbokki and proceeded to sit at our table for over 30 minutes (he had food from Kungfu Chicken as well, so don’t cry for him like Sally Struthers) before the pager finally buzzed and he was given a refund because no one knew that they were out of tteok.

On the way out though, we did grab some bbang to go, and a slice of ube cake, and everything was delectable as usual but it just didn’t hit the way it did when it came from the actual bakery in Squirrel Hill :(

But regardless!! It was a terrific afternoon and we sat around for a LONG time after we had finished eating because there was so much to chat about. For instance, Brittany mentioned that she took Latin in college and I was like YO I TOOK LATIN IN HIGH SCHOOL and then we talked about languages and how it’s good to be forced out of your comfort zone when traveling in foreign countries where you don’t know the language. It made me think about a time recently where someone said in convo that they really think English is going to be the universal language soon and they were excited about this concept but I was NOT. Brittany agreed with me that it would be awful and part of what makes the world so great is that there ARE so many languages. I am super passionate about this topic to the point where I often regret not going to college for real and majoring in linguistics or something. (Oh, I know – it’s not too late except that I am tired and am already back in debt putting Chooch through college, let’s not add more tuition to that lol.)

Anyway, I feel like this happens every several years but I went down memory lane HARD re: Latin class. It was my worst class yet the one that has stuck with me the most into adulthood I swear to god. I was so bad at Latin but I loved being in that class at the same time.

I feel like a Latin Memories post is long past due.

Penelope, splooting on a Saturday night.

Other than that, the rest of the weekend was quiet. Henry spent most of Sunday running a new electrical line or something, I wasn’t paying attention, from the basement to Chooch’s room so that a window A/C unit can be turned on without blowing a fuse. Oh, the joys of renting an old piece of shit house! And in between that task, he took breaks to work on the crucifix drawer pulls for our dresser. I spent all day doom-scrolling and panicking and then I tried to distract myself by looking for quirky diners to stop at on our July roadtrip but all that did was make me panic even harder because who knows what will be going on in the world then and I’m over here watching a YouTube video about an Iowa diner that inspired “Roseanne”???

Ugh.

SHOULD I SAY IT AGAIN, LOUDER FOR THE MAGA IN THE BACK??

UGHFUCKYOURPRESIDENT.

We had the best weekend in Detroit seeing one of my absolute faves, Onew from SHINee. There is so much to unpack but I want to just say for now that our good friends Bill & Jessi (two more of my absolute faves!) made time to meet us for breakfast this morning before we headed back to Pittsburgh. We met at the Red Apple, a local joint that they first took us to probably the first time we visited them I think?! We’ve gone back several times with them since and it’s just a whole vibe – cozy and frozen in time, the perfect backdrop for breakfast and good convo.

I just love how we only see each other once a year but it always feels like we pick right back up. I told Henry on the way up yesterday that I couldn’t wait to tell them about Janna falling into the grave (look in my head it happened, ok??) because I knew they’d appreciate it AND THEY DID.

It was sad not having Chooch with us. His presence was missed big time. Bill & Jessi have always been THOSE family friends to him, you know? He has such a great relationship with them and I attribute a lot of who has grown into to the good quality friends of ours who have been there for him all these years, and Bill & Jessi are definitely that. And we’re all at that age now where we find ourselves openly marveling over how long we’ve been friends, every time we meet up! God bless, LiveJournal.

It’s not that I haven’t always appreciated my friends but you know how weird I have been lately! Every day feels like one big ‘ment’ anymore. (For you non-kpop fans, ments are when kpop artists talk during the concerts about how special the night is, etc. literally “sentiments.”) And I always feel like I’m in a safe space with them. I talked/cried about Drew and didn’t feel judged or that they were uncomfortable by my crying. I guess I didn’t realize how badly I needed to talk about it.

Anyway, enough blathering! It was just really the perfect end cap for a fantastic weekend and I am super full of gratitude. (I know, WHO AM I.)

Last Tuesday evening, Henry and I went to Crafthouse to see one of my old favorite bands, Cold. I was wavering on buying tickets for this because I knew it was going to be an emotional rollercoaster – it had been FIFTEEN YEARS almost exactly since I last saw them. Two mths before I started working at The Law Firm, actually! Sometimes it’s hard to believe that there were pre-Law Firm times in my life.

I finally sucked it up though and bought us tickets and I am so glad that I did. Yeah, it’s a drag to do these things on work nights at this age, but really it was so worth it.

I had to laugh though because as we were standing outside waiting for the doors to open, the people behind us were talking about health insurance. “The conversations happening in line now are wayyyyy different from when we used to go to see Cold back in the day,” I laughed and Henry did too but I don’t know why because he was old back then too??

Once we got inside and settled into a table, I started giggling which always makes Henry scared.

“I just realized that I didn’t change out of my NCT shoes,” I cracked up, raising my legs up and wiggling my feet. Henry groaned.

“AND I HAVE MY G-DRAGON LIGHTSTICK ON MY PURSE!” I pointed out. “And my Seventeen credit card!”

I had to get a picture of the full trifecta and Henry mumbled, “You’re so dumb.”

I am really leaning into the Empty Nester Lifestyle. I mean, not that this isn’t something we would have done with Chooch still in the house, because obviously we were still going to concerts back then too but it just feels…different somehow? Like, fresh? Like almost as though we ARE DATING? I dunno man, it’s weird.

Also, it felt kind of wild being around this certain demographic again. Cold is hard rock (actually they were even considered nu-metal adjacent there for a time) and I haven’t been in this scene in A LONG FUCKING TIME. I mean, this was my pre-Chooch life, really. This predated the Warped Tour and screamo and post-hardcore season of my life.

I have to say, on one hand I felt very comfortable and confident in this environment, it felt natural and familiar, I felt like my old out-going self. And it’s probably the only type of man that still CHECKS ME OUT, lol. I came back from the background and bragged to Henry about that. He just frowned.

But on the other hand, looking around at the majority of these people – especially the women – I am very thankful that I got out of this scene. I was always getting drunk back then off gross things like Smirnoff Ice and chain-smoking Camel Wides. I can only imagine how gross my voice would be today, how old I would look, how FUCKED my health would be in general. Hard Rock Erin was not it.

Literally, though, this one “rode hard & put away wet” woman came falling into the bathroom and Skeletor’d, “DO YINZ KNOW IF I CAN VAPE IN HERE??” Calm down, sis. Also, NO????

I took this to send to Chooch. He lowkey hates that his parents go out together I think, lol.

That guy’s face, though lol.

I just want to say that this was only our second time at Crafthouse and both times we had wonderful servers. I enjoyed my food a lot more this time – I went with the margherita flatbread and it was just right. Also, I Like Beer Now^TM and their selection is pretty good. Henry and I both had two different IPAs and both were good. Specifically, I had an Aslin Clear Nights and an Appalachian Brewing Co. Hop Offering. I don’t remember what Henry had because he refuses to update Untapped.

Good music aside, I just want to say that I really enjoyed this night so much. It was a tough decision to come out, but I’m glad I did and that Dumb Henry was with me. JUST LIKE OLD TIMES when it felt like we were seeing Cold several times a year for a while there. But be prepared for the show recap because it’s going to be so stupid-emo.

You guys! Chooch came home Thursday night and all feels right in the world (ok I’m gonna walk back on that one and just go with “in our house”).

First! During my lunch break on Friday, we walked to 802 Coffee where I, as per uje, ordered poorly and hated my latte but chooch’s was delightful (it was their dumb March leprechaun menu).

Then we stopped at the library specifically so he could say hi to Robert the Security Guard who always asks me how he is doing and just told me the other day that he keeps him I. His prayers. Get you a library security guard friend, you guys. Robert is such a gem and one of the few good things that came out of the pandemic because I only started talking to him during the very strict book pickups during the early part of COVID.

After work, Janna & Kara came over for pizza and to pepper Chooch with questions about college. So far, the first thing he tells everyone, including Robert, is that he has been playing Spikeball. (Shout out to Corey who got him this for Xmas and Chooch has said repeatedly that it’s one of the best presents he has ever got ok wow, RIP the memory of me presenting him with Hamilton tickets the first time it came to Pgh.)

It was a really chill night and also I liked this beer a lot even though I poured it wrong apparently.

Oh btw when Chooch came home Thursday night, he opened the fridge and yelled in disgust, “There is only beer in here!!!”

TO BE FAIR – we still have a lot of beer left from Chingumas. I put a moratorium on the weekend Duffy’s runs for build-your-own six packs because I was afraid of becoming an alcoholic. Now I will only drink in social situations like before. You heard it here first.

Smirking because approx. three of us asked him who he was texting and if it was this girl that I have latched on to because he let her name slip several times. They’re going to see The Weeknd with two or three other ppl and she bought all the tickets so I had to Venmo her money for him because I’m Mommy Dearest and also because concerts is the one thing I will never deprive him of.

(well, food and love too I guess lol.)

Anyway, it was such a wholesome night of reminiscing about psychos I attracted during the LJ years, game nights of yesteryear, and when Chooch was a baby with a giant head. It was the perfect start to the weekend!

This post is going to be all over the place because I have been in a creative/chaotic frame of mind the last couple of days which hasn’t happened in a long time but I was inspired to come out of retirement and make something sort of art-y for a gift, so I am currently riding the adrenaline on that one. It’s a good feeling but also, sheesh, settle down, child.

I had a really nice weekend, I’m so happy to say! Henry and I spent a lot of time talking about G-Dragon, speculating when he will come to the US on his tour (rumor has it – September), if BIGBANG will officially reunite, etc. This is nothing new, everyone knows Henry is a freaking hero, etc., but I am so glad that we have this common interest and it’s not just me making his ears bleed with all of my incessant Jonny Craig gushing like back in the day. Whoever would have thought that it would be Korea of all things that came forth as the glue to keep us together? I love this so much, every time I think about it! Here’s Henry with his bias list and constant Instagram reel sending. SOMETIMES HE EVEN SCOOPS ME ON KOREAN NEWS!!

Anyway, that’s my little love note to Henry, feeling mushy because my phone calendar alerted me that our “Dumb Anniversary” is next week.

Well, here’s some things from the weekend that I’d like to remember, because who knows – maybe one day in the future life will be worse than it is now and I will look back on this season and scoff about how naive I was.

I love when “Abbott Elementary” has Drexel Easter eggs in it! This one particular episode even had scenes that were filmed in one of the buildings that we visited on Admitted Students day. It’s just exciting to me, OK?? I had literally never heard of Drexel before Chooch was like, “Oh yeah btw I got into Drexel” and I was like, “Huh? Where even is that??” I just…don’t know stuff about colleges, OK? I’m a high school drop out, after all.

Saturday was so nice. Henry and I went to Pink Box for some later afternoon snacks and then walked it off for an hour in Homewood Cem while literally (literally!!) spending the ENTIRE TIME ranting about that piece of shit Elon and his VP Trump. My friend Nate and I are going to protest at a Tesla dealership and I know Henry is nervous about this because I have been on this kick lately about wanting to get arrested at a protest.

Even Chooch was like, “That is the LAST place you need to be.”

EXACTLY!!

On Sunday, I met Lauren, Sandy, and Nate at The Abbey for brunch. It was SUCH A GOOD TIME. First of all, I somehow had not seen neither Sandy nor Nate since the last brunch I went to with them LAST MARCH.  How is that even possible?!?

Anyway, what a great fucking time, I’m not even kidding. I miss seeing these guys every day at work. And the best part is that we didn’t even really talk about work at all!

Our waiter this time as opposed to when I was there a few weeks ago was so wonderful and charming without being aggressive and there were times when I almost slipped and asked if he wanted to join us, lol. He vibed with us so well. And when Sandy asked for separate checks, he didn’t react in a way that came off as him pegging her as tacky, WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED TO ME THE LAST TIME AND I FUCKING DWELLED ON IT FOR THE ENTIRE WEEKEND AND MAY HAVE EVEN TALKED ABOUT IT IN  THERAPY.

I dunno man, the stars were just well-aligned this time around.

My vegan pancakes – so good but I could only chip away at half of that biggun’ stack!

After brunch, we walked down the street to get some French delights from La Gourmandine to take home. It pains me to say this but I thought of someone other than myself for once and chose something specifically for Henry. Ugh. Some chocolate almond thing. I guess he deserved it because he was at home working on G-Dragon pins haha.

On my drive home (the Abbey has a parking lot now so I can drive there on my own without stressing about street parking which is 100% the reason I will usually make Henry drive me – I HATE driving around looking for a spot and then when I find one, I’m scared that my car will get sideswiped) it started POURING down rain. Like, torrentially. Then it stopped after I came home and I was on the front porch trying to get three of my Buddys to share walnuts when another storm came in out of nowhere (well, a meteorologist will likely have something to say about that) – this crazy-ass sideways rain, the street in front of my house began  to flood, and all the squirrels peaced out. Henry and I were watching this from the front door when suddenly there was a loud bang coming from the back of the house.

Oh, just a very substantial part of a tree breaking off and falling onto the roof of the backporch.

LOL ignore all the refuse back there. Our neighbors like to dump large trash items back there, like air conditioners, those pipe things, there’s also a Big Wheel type kids car that has been there for so long, I can’t believe it hasn’t sunk into the earth by now. But yeah, now this huge ass tree branch is in pieces on our porch roof, backyard, and driveway.

Oh well.

No damage was done to not-our house, so whatev.

Yeah, I really don’t think there was anything else to note. I was so drowsy the rest of the day, those fucking pancakes. This is why I usually always opt for savory breakfast fare but they were called ROSE WINDOW PANCAKES and came with nut butter, I’m such a sucker. They were so good but even Henry was like, “Jesus, this is a LOT of pancake” when I gave him my leftovers.

In non-weekend news: Chooch comes home for spring break tomorrow so hopefully I will have some blog fodder during his visit since my life is otherwise so empty these days lol.

Back at the start of the pandemic, I had somehow come across retrowave playlists on YouTube. Actually, I’m pretty sure the algorithm did its thang and my obsessive listening to the Black Queen organically planted me in the lap of this beautiful synth movement. I tend to not listen to Kpop while I’m working because it distracts me (I will start to try and translate what I’m hearing and then I need to stop what I’m doing to check if I’m correct, or I want to get up and jump around, or I will start daydreaming about Korea, etc etc etc) but there is something magical about retrowave because it’s soothing, nostalgic and it puts me in the right zone for working.

HOWEVER.

I accidentally began to associate this with Drew. I guess it’s natural since she was always with me while I was working, and I’d say things to her like, “OMG IT’S OUR JAM!” and try to make her dance lol.

Some of this stuff hits on a very emotional level to begin with – it itches the nostalgic side of my brain, you know? But, after she died, all of it became like that to me and I have not been able to listen to any of it since then. Which is sad because this was my happy place during the work week. Now, I’ve been struggling to find something else. Norwegian pop. Russian pop. Afrobeats. Romanian Club Hits.

But nothing hits like retrowave.

Then a few months ago, I saw that Ollie Wride was coming to PITTSBURGH on his US tour. Ollie Wride is one of the PRESTIGE singers in this genre. His voice sounds like he’s soundtracked the 80s high school coming-of-age movie from your dreams. He did a song with FM 84 several years ago and that song is basically at the top of the retrowave leaderboard of my heart. Probably the one I have listened to the most, and the first time that I really stopped and started looking more into these singers and bands. I found a version that was recording for a livestream during COVID and at that moment, I swore that I had to see Ollie Wride live if ever presented with the opportunity:

Please watch this and tell me it doesn’t plant you firmly into a pair of Jellies during the spring of 1987.

When I hear this song now though, I imagine Drew here with me, sitting on my work laptop because she liked the warmth. I am so broken over this, just the most pathetic sad sack.

Anyway, my likeminded retrowave friends Shawn and Jess were down to join us at this show so I felt good about it, like this could be a healthy step in the healing process. It’s either face it head-on or keep sitting here crying alone like a fucking maniac.

Shawn and I were dying because the show was held at the Crafthouse, which is a small venue across the street from a bar we used to be regulars at back in the early 00s, plus we were best concert buds back then too so this was such a fun “reliving our youth” moment.

And so, on Sunday evening, Henry and I arrived at the Crafthouse a bit before doors opened because we wanted to secure a good table. However, due to technical issues, the doors were delayed by about 45 minutes. We stood outside with a handful of other early birds and chatted about retrowave, darkwave and then bands I didn’t care about and then A LOT of stuff about the college where three of the people work and that stuff bored me so I lulled off into a happy place in my head – j/k the place in my head was where I retreat so that I can scream into a psychic pillow and start thinking about all the ways my life is being inconvenienced by things not starting on time. This is…who I am, you guys. I am working on it, and will probably talk about it tomorrow in therapy lol.

I do want to put out these things for remembering though:

• one of the guys mentioned Kraftwerk so I RAISED MY HAND and said, “My doorbell plays a Kraftwerk song.” Henry said later, “Yeah, I knew that was coming.”
• someone mentioned king gizzard and the lizard wizard and Henry and I chuckled to ourselves because Chooch likes that band too.
• I got to give The Black Queen a much-deserved promotion and was actually surprised that these guys hadn’t heard of them and simultaneously shocked that I wasn’t mansplained or talked over. The one guy even showed me his phone later and said, “Is this them? Cool, I’m adding them now – thanks!”

Anyway, we finally got to go inside around 6:20. We were in the third group that went in but there were VIPs who were already inside so all the good tables were taken. Then I was like, “NOPE” when we chose a table and a group with A BABY sat down at the next one. I just didn’t want to sit next to a baby, maybe I’M A MONSTER. So, we switched tables and it was much better.

I was excited to drink IPAs, who am I.

We were the coolest table in the house, except for maybe the one table that had a guy wearing a fitted leather jacket with SYNTH RIDER spelled out in studs on the back. I told Henry to get out the Bedazzler and do that to my pleather jacket.

I dunno what to say about my dumb pose other than I had two beers at this point and that is so many beers for me.

Henry went to the bathroom at one point and when he came back, I said I had to go too and asked him where it was. He told me and then said, “And say hello to your friend Bethany on the way there. She’s leaning against the wall.”

“Bethany??” I asked.

“Yeah, she said to me ‘your Erin’s husband Henry, aren’t you?’ and said she recognized me from Instagram.” That’s Henry’s most favorite thing to hear, btw. “Erin’s Instagram.” “Erin’s blog.” LOL.

Anyway, it was my friend Bethany from Balloon Ride Fantasy! I haven’t seen her since pre-pandemic when we met up for Korean food at Nakwon Garden (she used to live in Korea years ago as an English teacher!). She was there for the second opener, Vacances and came over to sit with us for a bit before Ollie Wride and it was so nice to catch up with her!

Speaking of openers, I’m not used to this because kpop concerts don’t have openers and it’s actually…nice lol. But that night, there were two and the other was Caleb Kopta. It was OK. I made eye contact with him a few times and tried to brag that we imprinted.  Henry was like, “That’s nice.” I did really like Vacances though and would be up to see them again since they’re local!

And then it was time for OLLIE WRIDE. “Sorry, Henry,” I said as I bolted for the floor by the stage. Jess quickly joined me and it was so nice to have a friend at a show with me! (Sorry again, Henry lol.)

I just want to say that Ollie Wride’s live vocals are immaculate. The high notes were done HIT, y’all. Sheesh. And the energy he brought onto that stage with him.

This jacket didn’t stay on long!

These pictures are so awkward because I was snapping them while recording but what can you do?! It was also amazing to be AT THE FRONT OF THE STAGE like in my other lifetime of going to shows. I’m always like, “no it’s fine, I don’t mind being back far” but then the show starts and I’m like SEE YA and I run to the front. It’s the FOMO in me, I’m a true Leo. And also not cool enough to just casually slink against a wall in the back and watch while texting. I can’t pull off that amount of effortlessly cool.

I don’t have the set list but I can tell you that he performed Back To Life and that was the first time during the night when I thought to myself, “Am I going to be OK? I’m OK…right?” I mean, I was screaming along and doing when Henry called my “happy sort of dance thing” because apparently, he was spying on me from the table like a creeper. And I can tell you for certain that I was very happy that night. Henry wasn’t being dumb, we had good beer, I was with two of my amazing friends, saw another friend….talked to strangers, even! If I can only make this a habit, maybe I’d feel less lonely on every other day.

Earlier in the night, I had made an offhanded remark about how I’m not outgoing and Jess stopped me.

“Yes, you are,” she said firmly.

“No, I’m not really,” I said, face scrunched.

“You are definitely outgoing, come on!” she argued. And you know what? I am fucking outgoing. I just let situations and people stifle me and I think it’s because I’m just too tired to fight it. But Jess is right, at my core, I am an extrovert and I am going to work on making that dominant trait again. (I’m also very obnoxious too which goes hand-in-hand with me being an extrovert so toning that down is a bridge I’ll cross when I get to it I guess.)

OK, the last song was, of course, Running In the Night which is when I did fully break. This fucking song.

I would have paid so much more just to hear this one song. But the entire night was so sublime. He performed Victoria too! And his band was incredible to watch, too. This night. Man.

We rejoined Henry at our table afterward. Most of the crowd had cleared out but we stayed and chatted some more, no one in any hurry to leave.

“Hey, there’s Ollie!” Shawn pointed over my shoulder, where Ollie was one table away with a tiny group of people. “He’s signing stuff! Go ask him to sign your record!” he urged. I didn’t even hesitate. I grabbed my record, purchased as soon as we arrived because I do not wait for merch, and waited my turn.

“What’s your name?” Ollie asked me when it was my turn.

“Erin,” I said, and then, “Can I tell you something weird?”

“Sure!” he said as he was signing my record.

“I associate your music with my cat,” I started, to which he said, “Oh, I have animals, too.”

“She died.”

He stopped signing.

“And tonight was really healing for me. Thank you,” I said as I was on the verge of tears all over again.

And he fucking hugged me.

“You got an Ollie Wride hug!” Shawn squealed (lol) when I came back to the table! And apparently, I hadn’t stopped recording after the last song, so there is a 20 minute long video of the ceiling of the Crafthouse with us chatting post-show. Sadly, I was a bit out of range for my phone to pick up my convo with Ollie but you can hear a hushed, “Aw!” from my table when he hugged me.

Unfortunately, you can also hear how fucking annoying I am talking about kpop scandals for 10 minutes straight but whatever – I’ll be keeping that ceiling rafter video for posterity!

I know everyone is so sick of hearing my cry and lament about my dead cat but I am really trying here. Tonight was a big step for me. I feel so emotional but in a good way because not only did I get to spend time with good friends, but I got to catch up with Bethany and also experience the fantastic Ollie Wride as the cherry on top. I’m really glad I didn’t pass this up. When I saw ten tour announcement last summer, I was scared because of what retro wave has become to me, but – safety in numbers. And I needed to rip the Band-Aid off so I can eventually go back to enjoying this amazing genre of music that used to be such a comfort to me.

And then maybe this can happen:

OK BYE I’M CRYING LOL.

My sister Amy and I have been staying vigilant with getting together more often over the last year or so and I am honestly loving it. I can’t remember if I ever really talked about it much on here but Amy didn’t come into my life until I was about 30, I think? She is my older sister and our mom was forced to put her up for adoption by our grandma. Anyway, despite having completely different upbringings, we keep discovering more and more uncanny similarities that make Henry actually guffaw (literally, it’s an inspired guffaw!) and Amy’s husband Dick frown in disappointment. Everything from us being brats about the dinners they make us to our refusal to put away our clothes that THEY have laundered for us. It’s just too good.

Anyway, Amy is also one of the catalysts behind my recent beer awakening. She and Dick enjoy going to breweries and yeah, I know I can go and either not drink or get a seltzer or a cider if available, but I wanted to hang with the big dogs, you know? So, every time, I would get a flight and end up saying, “That was OK but I never want to drink it again.” LOL. But now I can not only drink BUT ALSO ENJOY pretty much all types of beers except for stouts and porters! I’m also kind of a snob about it, but this should not come as a surprise to anyone.

We met up at Voodoo Brewing in Houston (PA, not TX!) and I was so stoked because my options have greatly expanded since I last went to a brewery. The girl working did not like me one bit. First of all, Henry and I were THE ONLY PEOPLE THERE so it’s not like it’s super chaotic and she was trying to serve 100 people like some glorified German bar maid. She just stood there and watched us as we looked at the options, never once asking if we needed help, offering suggestions, or I DON’T KNOW POINTING OUT THAT THERE WERE SEPARATE MENUS which I didn’t  know and only selected from the seasonal list which meant that I had just 3 from Voodoo and the other 3 from rando’ breweries and then when I was like, “Wait, what are those behind you?” and she monotoned that they were the ones that are always on tap, I asked, “Oh no, is it too late to change my picks?”

She said no, but she said it with an air of exasperation and annoyance. I said, “I’m sorry, did I screw this up?”

“No,” she said with a clipped edge. “This is just my last sheet of paper, that’s all.”

OK? AND? Use a napkin to write down Henry’s?? Also, why was that the last paper for flights when it was only 2:30pm?? That sounds like a Voodoo supply management problem not a me problem.

So far, we have established that I of course love my Belgians (the tripel-ier the better), IPAs (but not all – it takes a lot to WOW me though I do really have a taste for that stringent grapefruit rind essence), and THIS JUST IN, I have a crush on red ales now too.

I don’t like how Henry is leering at my beers.

LOLOLOL I posted this on Instagram too. I was only taking it for UnTapped purposes but this deserved to be enjoyed by all.

DON’T POINT AT ME.

My OG BESTIE CAT Marcy hated being pointed at. This just reminded me of that. She would growl and lunge at jutting phalanges and she was paws out / claws out all of the time, in case you were wondering. The only one she never maimed was Chooch and I still don’t know why because I don’t think she actually cared for him.

Amy and Dick are big football people and we are definitely not but we still always have so much to chat about and this is why I love hanging with them. I LOVE TO TALK. Amy and I were in tears at one point when Dick and Henry were comparing notes on us and I thought to myself, in that moment, “THIS is what I needed.” Real connection.

According to my Untapped app, the winners of the day for me were:

• Don’t Leave Me Edith – IPA
• Wynona’s Big Brown Ale – Brown Ale (this was Henry’s and I only had a sip which made me immediately regret not including it in my flight selection)
• Voodoo Love Child – Belgian Tripel
• White Magick of the Sun – Witbier

Next! We walked next door to Helltown Brewing and even though it was less trendy/flashy/artsy, the vibes were immaculate from the start. First off, it was way cozier and packed with friendly people – two of whom were Dick’s niece and her husband! We sat with them and they were wonderful, super down to earth and easy to chat with so I felt very human, like my old self.

Henry and I went to a haunted house last fall and Helltown actually had a little stand set up. I was like LET’S GET A BEER LIKE ADULTS, WE ARE EMPTY NESTERS and he immediately said, “YOU WILL NOT LIKE A SINGLE ONE OF THEIR OFFERINGS, WOMAN OF MINE” and I was like, “OK hold my future beer and let me be the judge of that.”

Jackass.

I got the Oktoberfest only because at that time, I was certain I wouldn’t like anything else (it was a small sampling of what they have – an IPA-heavy lineup). Anyway, we got one can to share and I liked it so much that I ended up drinking most of it.

So, I was pretty excited to come here and try some more! They actually have waaaay more of a selection than I thought.

Dick’s niece recommended the Mischievous Brown Ale to me and it was one of my favorites of the whole day.

I also really liked:

• Willow Hazy IPA
• Belgian Wit
• Red Eye Red Ale (WHO AM I)

LOL so…my whole flight basically.

But then Amy got a second flight for us to share and of that one, we got my favorite of the whole day – the Headless Wylie pumpkin/yam beer. FINALLY, a pumpkin beer that tasted like pumpkins to me! I was so impressed. And I also really liked Idle Hands – IPA. The other two were a lager and blonde / golden ale which were mid but drinkable. I for sure know what I like now though!

I made this face on purpose and Henry was annoyed.

I was hammered. Henry said I had the equivalent of 2 full beers, maybe 2.5 LOL.

HAHAHAHA.

I took this picture on purpose because Amy made Dick start talking to that guy down there about some football player and then he ended up being really cool and reminded me of my brother Ryan brother (Henry immediately co-signed when I mentioned this on the way home).

Stil fully daylight and I was practically sliding off my stool.

And then we made not-Ryan take our picture because it’s tradition.

I am so happy that this happened and can’t wait for next month!

(Normal people go out and it’s not some big PRAISE BE, SO GRATEFUL event but I am truly half dead inside because every iota of human contact I get is like, news alert, Erin made a connection with a person and now an ordinary trip to a brewery just became some major OMG U GUYS tale for the blog. I fucking hate myself lol.)