interviewed by shalmestere

[cellio]

(1) Over the last few years, Pittsburgh has turned up with increasing regularity on assorted "Most Livable Cities" lists. What do you like most? Least?

Things I like:

• It feels more like a small town than a large city. This is probably due in part to the fact that it's really a collection of neighborhoods (with fuzzy boundaries).
• People are reasonably friendly. Yeah, there are gang-infested parts of town that you just stay out of, but overall, the odds are that the person you say "hi" to will say "hi" back, and it's reasonably safe to walk down the street at 11pm.
• Parks and other nice places to walk.
• The paths may be weird and feel non-euclidean, but you can get most places within 15 minutes by car.
• The cost of living is pretty hard to beat.
• Universities and high-tech jobs.
• Houses are mostly old and full of character; also, houses rather than apartments/condos are the dominant form of housing.
• About 15 synagogues within walking distance of my house.
• Cloud cover. No, really. Pittsburgh is high on the list of "cities with the fewest sunny days" (Seattle tops the list), and I'm just fine with that. I function better when the bright sun isn't half-blinding me.
• Decent entertainment options, from theatre to the symphony to museums (including the quirky ones) to clubs.

Things I don't like:

• One-party rule, made even worse by a mayor who ruined the place financially.
• Public transit isn't so hot at night, on weekends, or when traversing paths that don't pass through downtown.
• Most drivers do not grok bicyclists. This is made worse by many bicyclists not grokking the rules of the road. Ok, many drivers don't grok other drivers either, but it takes the form of stupidity more than aggression.
• Chains and mega-stores are driving out small businesses. That might not be specific to Pittsburgh, though.
• The climate seems different from what I remember as a child; instead of having real spring and fall, we sometimes seem to dither winter and summer. It's kind of weird.
• I sometimes have trouble figuring out what to do for tourists. There's lots of cool stuff when you live here, but what do you do with relatives who are in for a few days?

(2) Some time ago, you moved your SCA persona from migration-era Scandinavia to al-Andalus. Does She'era enjoy any advantages that Ellisif would not? Or vice versa?

She'erah has a much better shot at literacy. She probably also has wider cultural opportunities; it's not that she'd really be hanging out with the Muslims in Cordova directly, but their mere presence gives her access to art, architecture, and music that are not from her own culture.

Ellisif might have stronger family ties -- that is, clan and not just household. I don't know enough about how the Jewish quarter in Cordova really functioned.

She'erah has better climate. Ellisif has easier-to-research clothes. :-)

(3) How would you feel about living in a community in which your faith has a greater demographic presence (e.g. Borough Park (ultra-Orthodox); Kew Gardens (Orthodox); Upper West Side (Reform-ish))?

That's an interesting question (and part of why these answers have been so long in coming).

I think I would be happy with a slightly stronger demographic presence, but the risk of going too far is that differences are accentuated and that can be awkward. My practice is almost certainly not going to be exactly like that of my hypothetical religious neighbors; if they're gentiles or Jews from a different movement then no one really blinks, but if we're "supposed" to be more similar than we actually are, that would seem to invite judgement (particularly of the negative variety). I've heard this complaint from people living in frum communities. It's not that it's "group think" per se; it's that people feel that having that connection gives them the right to judge.

I don't know what a Reform community would look like. Reform, pretty much by definition, isn't united by practice, but practice is what's readily visible. Few people initiate theological discussions with neighbors while out walking the dog, y'know? So we might have theology in common, but that's not obvious. (Sadly, many people who call themselves Reform do it as a default rather than because they've thought about it. This helps to nurture the impression that Reform = non-observant, when for the serious Jews those can be somewhat orthogonal considerations.) I don't know Upper West Side, so I'm afraid I can't judge based on that.

(4) For argument's sake, you are the director of your Barony's instrumental/dance music consort :-) Three enthusiastic newbies approach you about joining the group: A plays clarinet, B plays trombone, and C plays mountain dulcimer. What would you say to each of them?

You said this is my barony's group, so I'm taking that to mean a group that's open to pretty much all comers, on the "you should make an effort" line. No formal auditions, and no restricted membership. That's the way all the baronial groups operate here (choir, consort, drama troupe). There are also "private" groups kicking around, but there's an effort to have something available for random people. All that said, the groups work at a certain level and aren't necessarily going to slow down too much to accommodate players who aren't at that level, though we'll try to give newcomers some offline help. We'll encourage 'em, teach 'em, send 'em home with music to practice, but we won't dumb down the repertoire for 'em. And, all that said, while we prefer authentic performances to non, we recognize that this is really a continuum. Our consort has often been home to silver flutes, plastic baroque recorders, and guitars.

(I've done my best to describe prevailing attitudes in my own barony.)

Now, set against that, I'm a serious musician and a Laurel. :-)

To all of them I would first say "welcome" and talk to them about the sorts of music we do. I'd do my best to make them feel at home. I'd get them playing with us for at least one practice before talking more specifically about instruments; I want them to see that we're a fun group early (if they're inclined to believe that at all, I mean). For those who are used to reading music in some wacky transposition (read: anything other than modern treble and bass clefs), I would apologetically explain that we don't have special music for them but I encourage them to try reading the standard notation, which isn't as hard as it might seem and here, let me show you. Then...

To the clarinet player: Have you played other reed instruments, like cornettos or shawms? [Mention Pennsic loud band.] Would you be interested in helping to teach others in this group to play reeds? It would be an interesting variation to try from our usual soft instruments. (This is assuming that the few locals who own reed instruments are willing to help out. We've got two people who bring them around regularly.)

As I said, we play mostly soft instruments in this group, so we might have some balance issues with any reeds. Would you be interested in playing recorder some of the time? Here's one that has spacings similar to what you're used to; let me show you how the scale is laid out.

To the trombone player: Wow, neat -- we don't get many brass players. Do you have a mute? (Aside: we did actually once have a trombonist who succeeded in blending in with a recorders-and-strings consort given the right mute.) To this one, too, I might suggest trying another instrument some of the time, just for variety and flexibility. On the other hand, in some settings a trombone may be just what we want, particularly if we can get the reeds too. :-)

I'd also point him at the two local people who play horn fanfares for courts.

To the mountain-dulcimer player: Mountain dulcimer was the first instrument I played in the SCA too. Fun, isn't it? Do you finger-pick? A lot of our music might not work so well with a strummed style because the harmonies are a little different than you're used to. You might also find yourself having to work around some accidentals, particularly if you don't have the 6.5 fret. That's part of why I play hammer dulcimer now. No, it's not nearly as hard as it looks; I can show you if you'd like.

Do you play other fretted instruments too? If you play clasical guitar then you can probably play lute lines, which are pretty nifty. [The rationale here is that lots of mountain-dulcimer players leave their guitars at home in favor of the "older, more authentic" instrument, except that that isn't necessarily true. Yeah, I know about the scheitholt, but it's not clear to me how much it was played in groups.]

(5) What do you most enjoy cooking? What would you most enjoy having someone else cook for you?

To answer the second part first, I really appreciate a good grilled steak. A friend of mine is very good with this, so I get to indulge this from time to time. Somehow, I just never got the steak clues. (Aside: I find bison steaks to be more compatable with my only-semi-skill. One of these days I'm going to see what my friend can do with a gift of bison -- if I can make them taste good, then he can probably make them taste absolutely fabulous.)

As for what I enjoy cooking, there's not really one thing, but I really like cooking fish (and eating it, which is probably related :-) ). While assembly isn't "cooking", I also enjoy making vegetable salads. And I quite enjoy working on a good curry, though Dani's not as much of a fan so I don't do this often. Someday I'd like to learn Indian cooking. (I do a passable mattar paneer, but that's it.)

Comments

[alice-curiouser.livejournal.com]

Cloud cover. No, really. Pittsburgh is high on the list of "cities with the fewest sunny days" (Seattle tops the list)

This, alone, is reason to live there. Personally, I'd like to live in the "city with absolutely NO sunny days".

[cellio]

Oh, I think no sunny days would get boring -- but having them be a novelty is good. :-)

[zare-k.livejournal.com]

Chains and mega-stores are driving out small businesses. That might not be specific to Pittsburgh, though.

Definitely not Pgh-specific. I get the sense that presence of chains/big box stores is felt to represent a certain level of prosperity and progress. I've seen this happen in East Palo Alto (the dramatically poorer neighbor to wealthy Palo Alto)-- the per-capita murder capital of the US sometime in the early 1990s now sports an IKEA, a Best Buy, and other large chains. I haven't been over there in years but I read that redevelopment of their downtown area has definitely come at the expense of independent local businesses. I see this happening to a much lesser extent in my current neighborhood, which has a small new "urban village" shopping center with not a single independent business. It's hard to begrudge efforts to revitalize depressed areas, but I have reservations about investing so much in luring chain businesses that provide largely entry-level, lower-paid work and that don't have much stake in the health of the local community.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

I'm reminded of Kara Dalkey's _Steel Rose_--quite a good fantasy novel that reads as though it was written by the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce--"look, we're not a steel town anymore!".

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

About the negatives, some thoughts -- public transit in Pgh. is still much better than almost anywhere I've ever lived... drivers are positively delightful compared with New Englands... take tourists to the Aviary or the Strip District or the Inclines... or just drive the McArdle Roadway/Grandview Avenue tour...

One should point out that even when the GOP has been in power in the region (ie the county), they have been corrupt fatcats just as much as the Dems... it is just a region of stinky political nepotism. Always has been. Not sure if it's worse than other places, but the city definitely has it bad...

It seems to me that the resolute provincialism of Pittsburgh is at once its greatest strength and its greatest weakness. It's a great place to live and a great place to get away from.

[cellio]

Public transit isn't that bad in the central city during the work week. You can use it to commute, most likely. But they've been scaling it back quite a bit at other times, both cutting times and cutting entire routes, and if you're trying to do something weird like get from the North Hills to the Waterfront, you're probably not going to be happy.

Drivers: I'd much rather they be shy and clueless than what folks have to put up with in Boston, NYC, and LA (each of those being a city in which I have driven precisely once).

Thanks for the tourist recommendations. I'd completely forgotten about the aviary!

One should point out that even when the GOP has been in power in the region (ie the county), they have been corrupt fatcats just as much as the Dems

Yup. When any single party has a strangle-hold, bad stuff happens. I much prefer the model where the opposition has teeth; it tends to force most things to the middle.

[akitrom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know about the scheitholt, but it's not clear to me how much it was played in groups.

Well, if someone were to come up to me looking for an opportunity to play his hurdy-gurdy --which was pretty definitely never played with instruments other than, perhaps, percussion-- I'm sure I'd be able to find something for him to do!

I've found that one of the most serious challenges with odd instruments is not trying to be encouraging, because we all want the same thing: an opportunity to play music, as well as possible with a minimum of fuss. Rather, it's fining something for them to do. The Barony of Jararvellir's music guild was making a poor impression on fresh musicians for a couple of years, because the person in charge of the group treated everything like a recorder. You with the guitar, play the tenor line. You play harp? Look at the alto line. There wasn't any mechanism for people to find or arrange music for the particular strengths or characteristics of the instrument.

In the dulcimer / scheitholt's case, it's a matter of (1) would the person know how to chord, and (2) would he be willing to retune so often between pieces? But, for a sample of just what an Appilacian dulcimer can do with renaissance music, see if you can find a copy of Randy Wilkinson's "Elizabethan Music" recording, distributed on the Kicking Mule label inthe early 80's.

[cellio]

You're right; if someone showed up with a hurdy-gurdy I'd try to make it fit in too. I've never actually tried to do that (and I don't play myself), but my impression is that it could be given a line and hold its own against winds (or anything else with sustained sound) in ways that the lap dulcimer couldn't.

When dealing with a music group (and the members thereof) you have to find an overall balance among: having something to do; balancing/blending with the other instruments; meeting the group's authenticity goals; skill. It might be tempting, for instance, to ask the flute player to learn recorder instead, but if he's good with the flute and really awful with the recorder, how do you want to proceed?

You with the guitar, play the tenor line. You play harp? Look at the alto line. There wasn't any mechanism for people to find or arrange music for the particular strengths or characteristics of the instrument.

We've been relatively lucky there in two ways: sometimes that harp player will say "how 'bout I play the bass with some augments from the tenor?" (which is fine; we double parts all the time if we have a large group), and we have several people who can arrange music to suit. Our harp and classical-guitar players would sometimes write out their own lines to fit in with the rest of the piece, and that worked fine. (Sometimes it was subsets; sometimes it was new.) Several of us would play multiple lines at times. We, too, thought in terms of lines in the written music, but not necessarily in a one-to-one mapping. :-)

But, for a sample of just what an Appilacian dulcimer can do with renaissance music, see if you can find a copy of Randy Wilkinson's "Elizabethan Music" recording, distributed on the Kicking Mule label inthe early 80's.

I have that recording; it's stunning. Note that most of it is finger-picked, because strummed chords really aren't a characteristic of music of the period. Most lap-dulcimer players start by learning the strummed style (fretting the melody string and picking up the drones), which is why I asked the hypothetical musician about finger-picking. I know you can do spiffy things with that style of playing! :-)

[cellio]

It's hard to begrudge efforts to revitalize depressed areas, but I have reservations about investing so much in luring chain businesses that provide largely entry-level, lower-paid work and that don't have much stake in the health of the local community.

Yeah, me too. I want the people who do business here to have a stake in the place. It's also nice to be able to patronize a mom&pop shop and know the family. I don't mind paying more at a restaurant, say, when I know the folks that money is going to.

I've heard (but not verified) that Home Depot has a policy of hiring some large number of its employees (like 90%?) from within a fairly small radius of the store (a mile or two). If that's true it would be the next best thing to local owners; if the employees have a stake in both the community and the store, that seems like it could do only good.