Pittsburgh Perspectives Festival
By Joshua Tarquinio
Sweet Plantain plays sweet strings at Insomnia Discotec
No notes.
Lots of musical notes, but no critical notes.
Okay, one critical note: You should have been there.
As usual, I googled for events the weekend of June 25, 2022 and found that Sunday would be the last day of the Pittsburgh Perspectives Festival, a concert series that described itself as, “A music festival to connect and support professional musicians and audience through diversity and inclusion, to amplify voices of musicians of color and create a sense of community.” I hadn’t even heard of it. My social media blows up when the Millvale and Deutschtown Music Festivals come around. There are radio announcements and signs. There’s a general buzz. Why did I have to dig for this thing?
The short answer is this was the first year for Perspectives and putting on a music festival is hard. The long answer is boring because it involves marketing and sociology, so I’m just going to write about my experience.
The Perspectives Festival was comprised of three dates in three different neighborhoods and spread out over a week. The first took place in Allison Park, the second was in the Hill District, and the final date was in Brookline.
Directors Maureen Conlon Gutiérrez and Katya Janpoladyan told me the whole festival had a classical lean but was accessible enough for anyone to enjoy. You didn’t have to be a music scholar to enjoy the show.
Insomnia Discotec at 810 Brookline Blvd hosted the final night. I don’t get up that way much, so I had to look up the club. I found photos of incredible drinks, a dance floor and swanky booths, a big stage and crazy lights, people at tables covered in food. Wait a minute. Is this a club or a restaurant? Only one way to find out.
Being a white guy, I don’t often have the soul-affecting experience of feeling like the “other.” I was in a part of town I didn’t quite know, the only people I saw on the sidewalk outside were a couple of guys speaking Spanish, then once inside, a young waitress who spoke no English gave me a smile I interpreted as something like, “You’re lost, aren’t you,” the people at the bar were regulars (and if you’ve ever walked into a strange local bar, you know the vibe regulars give off), then a waitress who spoke a little English gave me a wide-eyed smile part of me interpreted as something like, “Those regulars are going to kill you. Leave now.”
I asked if I could sit anywhere or if she would seat me. She didn’t quite seem to understand, but fortunately I’m half Italian. My hand gestures met her English halfway and I learned I could myself. I chose a four-top near the back.
The waitress brought me a menu, and I said, “Wow.” I am not a restaurant critic, so I will not go on and on about how amazing the menu looks, how fun the drinks seem, and how delectable my seviche tostada was. I’ll just tell you, dear reader to do yourself a favor and eat there sometime. Or dance. Or both!
Seviche tostada at Insomnia Discotec. Thumb for scale. Bonus points for serving food that looks like it does in the pictures.
Let’s circle back to my apprehension about feeling like an “other,” and the imaginary things the waitresses said with their eyes. I don’t consider myself xenophobic, but being human, one can’t always separate himself from his evolutionary psychology. Xenophobia kept our ancestors alive, strong, and functioning as per this article from Psychology Today. To be extra, super clear, I am not making excuses for xenophobia. I did not believe myself better than anybody else in the room. We no longer live in a time when it’s safer to stay away from people who look different from us. We do live in a time of racial tension though. And we live in Western Pennsylvania where, despite all the “Stronger than Hate” t-shirts and Facebook frames, we’re still fairly segregated and we still have a lot of racists. And racists make things dangerous for non-racists because racism is a self-perpetuating self-fulfilling prophecy.
Not-Completely-Hypothetical Example:
Kevin treats Miguel poorly.
Josh hates nobody and wants to be part of the solution, but looks like Kevin.
Miguel also deals daily with systemic problems created by other people who look like Kevin and Josh.
Miguel takes his frustration out on Josh.
The racist propaganda of other white people does not influence my basic level of respect for other people. It does affect my potential safety in situations where I interact with strangers.
But the purpose of the festival was to create a sense of community amid our diversity, right? And the only way to do that is to get everybody together—mix the rainbow up, stop segregating ourselves.
The total Perspectives turnout wasn’t huge, but hey, this was their first year. And when I asked about plans for the next one, the fire in the directors’ eyes could have roasted a case of Hatch chiles, so do not miss this show when it comes around again.
As the evening passed and Sweet Plantain dazzled on stage, the little concerns in the back of my mind were eroded by time and music. If nobody harassed me in the first hour, they probably wouldn’t at all. And that’s the whole point of the Pittsburgh Perspectives Festival! Getting people over their apprehensions by bringing strangers together. I jumped into a different community and only good things happened. Music is a universal language, right? Even if what we’re listening to doesn’t affect us personally, the rewards can be bountiful and the cost cheap. As a matter of fact, the Pittsburgh Perspective Festival is completely free to attend.
Sweet Plantain swings.
The music was sublime, a mix of classical, jazz, and some styles I’m not even sure have names. All of it brilliant. None of it too heady to enjoy. If you weren’t there, you missed something special. Follow the Pittsburgh Perspectives Festival on your social media platform of choice and don’t let the next one slip past you. Oh, and talk to somebody different from you in the meantime.
For more information on the Pittsburgh Perspectives Festival, visit https://www.perspectivesfest.com/
Insomnia Disctotec is at 810 Brookline Blvd, 15226
Find them on Facebook and Instagram
Joshua Tarquinio is an author and the co-creator of the Mr. Bones arts and entertainment video magazine. He has been working in media production since 2006.
The music was sublime, a mix of classical, jazz, and some styles I’m not even sure have names. All of it brilliant. None of it too heady to enjoy. If you weren’t there, you missed something special.