Temporary Move to New Blog Digs (It Ain’t Going Smoothly)

Dear readers, We are in the process of migrating our 13 years of blog content to a new webhost. Unfortunately, my current webhost has locked my domain and is unresponsive to my inquiries. I have pursued the appropriate steps to take it back into my control, but it could take awhile – up to 60 […]

Four Reasons We Use a Q&A Format to Interview Artists & The Exception We Made for Emily Saliers

  We like Q&A’s. Read our archive here (and the AMPLIFY archive here.) Recently, more than a few of our potential interviewees just didn’t return their Q&A so we were not able to promote their event/performance/activity. They also didn’t benefit from the SEO and outgoing links and all that lovely Interwebs magic. And there’s a […]

Turahn Jenkins Plan to Reintroduce Himself, Has No Plan to Support LGBTQ Community

Turahn Jenkins LGBTQ

The man who thinks LGBTQ people are sinful by nature wants to reintroduce himself and his campaign for District Attorney per his interview with The Incline.  Turahn Jenkins has had ample time to demonstrate that he’s learned lessons from his engagement with the LGBTQ community, but he seems more focused on saying that he’s ‘not […]

In Honor of Chicken Noodle Soup

When we were kids and felt sick, my mother – like many parents – made us chicken noodle soup. She used the Lipton Noodle Soup packets which were basically bouillon and wee bits of noodle, added water and her own twist of extra egg noodles to create a giant concoction of basically noodles with some […]

2018 LGBTQ Holiday Giving Projects: Supporting Persad, SisTers Pgh, and Garden of Peace

Every year during this season, I ask you to support particularly vulnerable members of our community. This year, we are once again focusing on Persad Center, but two different populations – isolated rural LGBTQ elders and LGBTQ youth. We have also invited SisTers Pgh and Garden of Peace to be part of our program because […]

My (Most Recent) Trauma Timeline and Losing My Voice

My (Most Recent) Trauma Timeline and Losing My Voice

In the spring, I was assigned to a new therapist who practices “trauma informed” therapy. It was time to work on some of the deep, dark stuff that I had been dancing around for years and began to really acknowledge just in the six months prior. I was still recovering from the hysterectomy and hadn’t […]

Q&A with Brittney Chantele About Working on the Score for City Theatre’s ‘Pipeline’

Pipeline Pittsburgh

This is a slightly different version of our artist Q&A. We wanted to learn more about the production of Pipeline currently on-stage at City Theatre. This play by Dominique Morisseau is a breathtaking endeavor, exploring the school-to-prison pipeline through the story on one young man and his mother. When I learned that 1Hood Media Academy […]

‘Cause everybody hurts Take comfort in your friends

Jeremy Shaffer Twists Synagogue Shooting to Support His Campaign

Jeremy Shaffer Twists Synagogue Shooting to Support His Campaign

Earlier this year, I wrote about Jeremy Shaffer’s shenanigans in trying to avoid going on the reord about LGBTQ issues. He’s a crafty one. He’s a man of faith, but doesn’t specify the name of his congregation. His kids are home-schooled and attend private Christian school, but he won’t go on the record about public […]

The Capitol Steps Return to Pittsburgh: Q&A with Piano Accompanist Howard Breitbart

Election Eve in Pittsburgh has a special guest this year – the Capitol Steps, Mon, Nov 5, 2018, 7:30pm at The Byham.  I’ve never seen a performance but I have listened many, many times to their NPR holiday shows. If you love satire and political humor, this might be the show for you. More than 30 […]