Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Dear Tig and Hannah,

Hello from Pittsburgh. I hope you both are well.

It might seem odd to write a letter to two different people who while connected by their professions and identities do happen to live on entirely separate continents. It is unlikely to think that Tig is going to read this and hit the share tools to make sure Hannah catches it, too. Okay, so it is unlikely to think that Tig is going to read this. Period. End of sentence. There’s no tension here. I’m writing this purely for my own entertainment.

You both are coming to town in 2022 – welcome to Pittsburgh. Or welcome back, as the case may be. Your teams hit it out of the park when they booked your venues, too. Very nice, very good acoustics, and both popular with the lesbian crowd. By that I mean that Emily and Amy have played at the venues.

Why am I writing?

I have this blog, the one you are reading perhaps unless someone printed this out and handed it to you like it was a real letter. But I have a blog that I founded 30 December 2005. That’s sixteen years of lesbian blogging Pittsburgh. 16 years is an eon in blogging years. It isn’t 900 years, but it is a bit of time. It is the second longest relationship of my life. The longest – of course – has been with my wife, Laura. She beat the blog by two years. Barely.

So I have this blog that covers LGBTQ issues and stories. Politics, too, because what are our lives if not political – as women, as lesbians, as people with disabilities, etc. So I’ve continued to blog and now am the longest running LGBTQ blog in Pennsylvania and one of the longest running LGBTQ blogs in the nation. Blogs are a lesser form of art so no one really tracks these things, not even Wikipedia. Pittsburgh has no traditional media outlet. We have several online outlets. BUT I’M THE ONLY LESBIAN site. Ahem. To be fair QueerPgh.com is also a very good site that you could consider. Everything else is owned by white men or run by straight folx. They aren’t all bad people. I’m not saying don’t interview with them, just please also consider this wee lesbian blog.

We frequently interview very interesting people and review shows. You are both interesting people and having upcoming shows (Tig on January 11 at the Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall and Hannah on May 5, 2022 at the Carnegie Music Hall) – we have A LOT of venues named after the dead white cishet men who built our City, well who got the credit for building it while most of our ancestors were crushed in the machinery and choking on the smoke of progress when they went to the local shops.

So I asked my buddy Brian Drusky about media access to these performances and possible interviews. And per his request, I sent in a formal request with all the exciting details about “unique monthly visitors” and my GLAAD award. So now I wait. Let me give a shout out to Drusky and other local producers and venues who are incredibly welcoming to this little blog.

Now Pittsburgh’s rapidly shrinking arts media will all be in line ahead of me, regardless of their alignment with Tig and Hannah’s values. I will most likely not be able to access a Q&A because I’m small, regional, and require everything to be done by email because of my disability – I must add that my wife will occasionally make exceptions and interview with me when the interviewee is someone she wants to talk with. In both cases, she would do that for her, me.

It was someone on Amy Ray’s media team who told me that the higher tier artists and creators don’t do written Q&A’s because they feel like they are doing my job for me. When I explain it is an accommodation for my disability, she says they usually don’t have time. I get it, but I also feel like that’s not the best way to whittle down your potential interviews.  Interesting fact – Rick Springfield shot me down because my questions were ridiculous. Harsh, but real.

Anyway, Tig and Hannah, please consider an interview with my site.

• You will connect with a lot of queer people, especially lesbians, who won’t be able to be able to attend your shows. People who understand the magnitude of being told there’s not enough lesbian content AND the magnitude of sending a dyke into the Star Trek franchise.
• It is a low-energy Q&A that involves a few minutes of typing. No eye contact, no selfies, no lesbian gushing about how much we love you.
• My wife would be very happy. We’ve been together for 18 years, but were just married on Feb 2, 2021. This would be a pretty bomb “paper anniversary” gift.
• Super COVID-19 friendly.
• Emily Saliers said that our site asked her the most interesting questions of a tour several years ago. Fuck Rick Springfield.

Happy holidays!