innerworkings theater presents: a ritual in wearable sculpture, live green-screen, video projection, and sound.

May 21, 7-9pm

at inter-

5013 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh

suggested donation

a live performance by Arvid Tomayko & Wyona Gene Tourmaline

May 20th at The Government Center with New Orthodox, Mento Fellini, and The Ill-Fitting Party. New Orthodox is a wonderful band from New York State who put out a tremendous record entitled Bull Market on Corn earlier this year.

$10

8pm

5/20/25

715 East St

Gov Center

Jazz Poetry 2025: Jerome Jennings & iLL Philosophy, Carly Inghram, Montaser Abdel Mawgoud, Bo Mima

May 20 @ 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm EDT

https://cityofasylum.org/program/jazz-poetry-2025-jerome-jennings-ill-philosophy/

City of Asylum is thrilled to host this Jazz Poetry performance in collaboration with our first-ever Bridges Creative Summit! Each Jazz Poetry program begins with a full set by the band, followed by a collaborative performance with each poet. In these collaborations, poets share their work alongside the musicians, the two art forms melding to create that signature Jazz Poetry improvisational style that offers something exciting, new, and unique with each performance. 

This program welcomes sextet Jerome Jennings & iLL Philosophy. The brainchild of drummer and Emmy Award–winning composer Jerome Jennings, the group performs original compositions that fuse jazz with blues, bebop, Afrobeat, and hip hop, featuring turntables courtesy of DJ OOOChild. This performance is a collaboration and improvisation with talented poets from all over the world, including former ICORN resident Montaser Abdel Mawgoud; Bo Mima, the newest City of Asylum Writer-in-Residence; and Carly Inghram, a poet from Atlanta whose 2021 collection, The Animal Indoors (Autumn House Press), was selected by Terrance Hayes as the winner of the Book Prize of the Center for African American Poetry & Poetics.

Featured Musicians:

Jerome Jennings: drums, compositions

Stephane Clement: trumpet

Neta Raanan: tenor and soprano saxophones

Alexis Marcelo: piano

Malik Kiyoshi McLaurine: bass

DJ OOOChild: turntables

About the Band:

Jerome Jennings is a drummer, activist, and Emmy Award–winning composer. His debut album, The Beast, was a reflection of the everyday joys and traumas of Black life in the USA. It was named one of the top three jazz releases by NPR and received a four-star rating in Downbeat Magazine. Jerome’s sophomore recording, Solidarity, focused on the experiences of African American women, examining their lives through the prisms of the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements. His new musical group, Jerome Jennings & iLL Philosophy—drums, trumpet, sax, keys, bass, and turntables (courtesy of DJ OOOChild)—performs Jerome’s original compositions, which fuse jazz with blues, bebop, Afrobeat, and hip hop.

About the Poets:

Carly Inghram is a poet from Atlanta. She received an MFA in poetry from Columbia University. Her work is featured in The Indianapolis Review, Prelude, and elsewhere. Her debut collection, Sometimes the Blue Trees, was released from Vegetarian Alcoholic Press in 2019. Her 2021 collection, The Animal Indoors, was selected by Terrance Hayes as the winner of the Book Prize of the Center for African American Poetry & Poetics.

Montaser Abdel Mawgoud is an award-winning poet, writer, and literary critic from Alexandria, Egypt, based in Norway. He holds a BA in Arabic Language & Literature. Montaser has participated in numerous international festivals, and his works have been translated into English, French, Spanish, Romanian, Macedonian, Swedish, and Norwegian. He has published four poetry collections, including Wars and Defeats (2004) and In Praise of Small Towns (2019), as well as a novel, Typewriter Teacher and His One Colour (2021), among other works. He has two new books on the way: Archipelago Isolation (Svalbard Diaries) and In the Presence of the Mountains (Haiku poems). After the publication of his poetry collection, There Are Things That Will Never Be Tried (2012), Montaser Abdel Mawgoud was accused of blasphemy and atheism, facing legal challenges and pressure to withdraw his work. In 2018, Abdel Mawgoud arrived in Trondheim, where he was an ICORN Artist-in-Residence until 2020.

Lavender Lilt

Solar Stage (intersection of Grant Ave and Butler St)

Saturday, 5/17, 6:20-6:50pm

hhtps://lavenderlilt.bandcamp.com

Lavender Lilt is an up-and-coming musical project led by Nick Sirio. Based in Pittsburgh, PA, LL is a genre-fluid, multi- dimensional sound that explores flavors from folk to ambient to outright booty bumpin dance music. Along with Nick's multi-instrumental abilities, LL features wickedly talented collaborators who add flavor and depth to the sound.

MILLVALE MUSIC FEST will be Friday May 16th and Saturday May 17th, 2025! 

MMF25 will host over 300 Musical Acts on 28 stages as well as 60 visual artists, Spoken Word perfomers, Comedians, Food trucks and more great entertainment!  This is only within a walkable 0.6 miles... AND FREEEEEEEE!!! 

https://www.millvalemusic.org/

The Goodfoots - jam/funk

Purple Onion, 112 East Sherman St

Saturday, 5/17, 5pm

MILLVALE MUSIC FEST will be Friday May 16th and Saturday May 17th, 2025! 

MMF25 will host over 300 Musical Acts on 28 stages as well as 60 visual artists, Spoken Word perfomers, Comedians, Food trucks and more great entertainment!  This is only within a walkable 0.6 miles... AND FREEEEEEEE!!! 

https://www.millvalemusic.org/

Kenta / Hellcat Sneer - experimental hip hop

Mr. Smalls Funhouse, 400 Lincoln Ave, Millvale

Saturday, 5/17, 3pm

https://hellcatsneer.bandcamp.com/album/laughing-on-stratus-clouds

MILLVALE MUSIC FEST will be Friday May 16th and Saturday May 17th, 2025! 

MMF25 will host over 300 Musical Acts on 28 stages as well as 60 visual artists, Spoken Word perfomers, Comedians, Food trucks and more great entertainment!  This is only within a walkable 0.6 miles... AND FREEEEEEEE!!! 

https://www.millvalemusic.org/

The Uptown Community Day is back!!

Join us and enjoy our FREE community day festival Saturday, May 17th, 1-5pm! Come watch live paintings, eat good food, listen to great music and so much more! The event will be on Van Braam St., between Fifth and Forbes Ave. We hope to see you all there!

Saturday, May 17th

1-5pm

free

Open Mic Night

May 16th, 8-11pm

Community Forge, 1256 Franklin Ave, Wilkinsburg

A free night of music, poetry, comedy, and more! Whether you're a seasoned performer or trying something new, our stage is open to all talents. Show off your skills, support local artists, or simply enjoy the show - the choice is yours!

#Kinselland joins virtuoso band leader, Howie Alexander and MC Strange K for a night of open stage performances by YOU!!

Sign-ups to perform are in-person only, but bop on over to the registration here to express your interest. Register on Eventbrite, and mark your calendars and get ready to be part of a memorable evening at Open Stage Night at Community Forge!

https://www.forge.community/events/may-open-stage-night

Tough Pill is a creative music and performance series held primarily at The Government Center, third Thursdays of Every month in Pittsburgh. Tough Pill seeks to create space for practitioners while also expanding the scope of the experimental art audience. It's not always this, but it's always good... so always come!

Tough Pill 46: May 15, 2025
$10-15 suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds!

Check back for line-up.

Celebrate the release of Zach Peckham’s “Cycle Hum” on May 15, support touring readers, and check out new work from some familiar local readers and performers! Ceremonial Abyss on 5/15. All start at 7pm!

Fungus Books & Records

700 1/2 S Trenton Ave

5/15 at 7pm

Jazz Poetry 2025: House of Waters ft. Priya Darshini, Safia Elhillo, Haleh Liza Gafori, Rania Mamoun, Nathan Osorio

May 15 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm EDT

https://cityofasylum.org/program/jazz-poetry-2025-night-5/

For this dazzling Jazz Poetry performance, City of Asylum welcomes a celebrated group of poets and a Grammy-nominated band. Each Jazz Poetry program begins with a full set from a live jazz band, followed by a collaboration with local and international poets. In these collaborations, poets share their work alongside the musicians, the two art forms melding to create that signature Jazz Poetry improvisational style that offers something exciting, new, and unique with each individual performance. 

City of Asylum is thrilled to host musical group House of Waters, featuring Priya Darshini. Nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental album in 2024 and described as “one of the most unique groups you will ever come across” (The Bubble), House of Waters incorporates elements of West African, psychedelic, indie rock, and classical and world musics in their style to be at the forefront of jazz innovation. Sharing the stage with the group are Safia Elhillo, the Sudanese author of The January Children (Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, Arab American Book Award); Haleh Liza Gafori, Persian poet and musician whose acclaimed translations of Rumi (Gold and Water) have given new audiences insight into the mind of the 13th-century poet; Rania Mamoun, Sudanese activist and poet (and City of Asylum Writer-in-Residence) who beautifully captured the early days of the pandemic in her collection Something Evergreen Called Life; and Nathan Osorio, poet and scholar whose debut poetry collection, Querida, was selected by Shara McCallum as the winner of the 2024 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize.

Featured Musicians:

Max ZT: hammered dulcimer

Moto Fukushima: 6-string electric bass

Franco Pinna: drums

Priya Darshini: vocals 

About the Band:

House of Waters is a trio that makes those words come alive as they incorporate elements of West African, jazz, psychedelic, indie rock, classical, and world music into their astonishingly unique sound. The “Jimi Hendrix of the Hammered Dulcimer” (NPR), Max ZT is an innovator of an instrument rarely heard in contemporary music. With roots in Irish folk music, Max has studied in Senegal, where he trained with the Cissoko Griot family, and India, where he studied under the santoor master Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. His unorthodox playing style has been a pioneering force in revolutionizing dulcimer techniques. Moto Fukushima is a recognized master of the six-string bass. With a background in jazz improvisation, Western classical music, and the music of South America, Moto’s playing combines finesse, subtlety, and power that leaves audiences “slack-jawed in awe” (Jazzwise). 

About the Poets:

Safia Elhillo, Sudanese by way of Washington, DC, is the author of the books The January Children, Girls That Never Die, Home Is Not A Country, and Bright Red Fruit. Safia’s work appears in Poetry Magazine, Callaloo, and The Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-day series, among others, and in anthologies, including The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop and The Penguin Book of Migration Literature. With Fatimah Asghar, she is co-editor of the anthology Halal If You Hear Me (Haymarket Books, 2019), which was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award in 2020. Her fellowships include a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, Cave Canem, and a Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University. Safia received the 2015 Brunel International African Poetry Prize and was listed in Forbes Africa’s 2018 “30 Under 30.” Her work has been translated into several languages and commissioned by Under Armour, Cuyana, and the Bavarian State Ballet.

Haleh Liza Gafori is an American poet, translator, and musician of Persian descent. As a vocalist, she has performed as part of David Byrne’s One Note Series at Carnegie Hall and at Bonnaroo. The translator of Rumi’s Gold, she teaches workshops on Rumi’s poetry at universities and festivals across the country. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Rania Mamoun is a Sudanese activist and bestselling writer of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. She completed Something Evergreen Called Life, a poetry manuscript written during the COVID-19 quarantine, translated into English by Yasmine Seale and published by Action Books in March 2023. Rania has published two novels to great international acclaim, Green Flash and Son of the Sun, and Thirteen Months of Sunrise, a short story collection that was shortlisted for the 2020 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. Rania continues to organize for democracy in Sudan. Her writing has appeared in English, Korean, French, and Spanish translation. She has been a Writer-in-Residence at City of Asylum since 2019.

Nathan Xavier Osorio’s debut collection of poetry, Querida, was selected by Shara McCallum as the winner of the 2024 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize and published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. He is the author of The Last Town Before the Mojave, selected by Oliver De la Paz as a recipient of the Poetry Society of America’s 2021 Chapbook Fellowship. He received his PhD in Literature from the University of California, Santa Cruz and was a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Irvine. His work has also appeared in BOMB, Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, Boston Review, Public Books, and the New Museum of Contemporary Art. His writing and teaching have been supported by fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center, The Kenyon Review, and the Poetry Foundation. He is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Texas Tech University.

https://pitt.libcal.com/event/14615307

Slowly, With Feeling: a Live Study Session with Sailor Dia

Join Sailor Dia for a research presentation, discussion, and special performance at the August Wilson House. Dia will be sharing what’s sprouted from their research and development as a Community Artist Scholar at the August Wilson Archive. This event will feature a hybrid presentation and discussion that highlights what we can learn from August Wilson’s creative and business practices through analyzing Wilson's production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, a pivotal piece in his career.

The presentation will be followed by a reception which will feature a performance by Dia, as well as sounds by DJ Icy Pisces. Tours of the August Wilson House will be available during the reception. 

*Masks are provided and strongly encouraged for attendees who will be joining us in-person, inside the House. Registration is available for the in-person and virtual presentation, although in-person spaces are limited. All attendees are invited to serve their best scholarly look! This event is FREE and open to the public.

Date: Thursday May 15th, from 5:00pm-8:00pm
Location: The August Wilson House, 1727 Bedford Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15219
Sponsored by: The August Wilson House, and The University of Pittsburgh Library System with support from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation 

https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/james-simon/rumi-water-with-haleh-liza-gafori-and-special-guest-erik-lawrence

RUMI - WATER with Haleh Liza Gafori, and special guest Erik Lawrence and Tatjana Chamis

Wed, May 14th, 2025 at 7:30 - 9:30 PM EDT

james simon sculpture studios, Pittsburgh, PA

Event Details

Hi All! Join us for an uplifting and transportive evening of music and recitation. Acclaimed translator, performance artist, and vocalist Haleh Liza Gafori will immerse us in the images, rhythms, and liberating messages that pulse through the poetry of the beloved mystic and poet Rumi. Multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Erik Lawrence will accompany her.

At my Sculpture Studio 305 Gist Street $20. BYOB

Tonight we will celebrate the release of Haleh's 2nd volume of translations, entitled WATER. 

"Water [Gafori's new translation of Rumi] is immediate and timeless. These poems imprint on the heart. To read these verses is to enter mystery and paradox, to be burnished by the sacred fire and broken open by the holiest dance.” – Suleika Jaouad

"Haleh Liza Gafori's pitch-perfect translation of Rumi updates and amplifies his mindful, muscular soul. Music, wit, and empathy color her lens. What a sweeping, invigorating read." – Terrance Hayes

Gafori has created a musical and cross-media performance based on her translations and has presented her work via performances, lectures, and workshops, at institutions such as Philadelphia Museum of Art, Lincoln Center, Stanford University, Le Poisson Rouge, the Academy of American Poets, Sarah Lawrence College, and Bradford Literary Fest. Her work have been published by Columbia University Press, Paris Review, Harvard Review

and others, and her first book of translations Gold has been incorporated in the curricula of universities across the country.

Erik Lawrence: has toured the world as a saxophonist, flutist and composer. Erik has often been found support of a wide variety of legendary artists, counting his time with masters from many genres as part of his foundation, among them: American music masters: Levon Helm, Chico Hamilton, Sonny Sharrock, Hubert Sumlin, Buddy Miles, David Amram, Henry Butler; from the Spiritual music world Yungchen Lamo, Nawhang Khechog, Gabrielle Roth. He has gratitude for a more than 20 year association with modern jazz master Steven Bernstein and has played and recorded with Spin Doctors, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, My Morning Jacket, Roger Waters, Joan Osborne, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Aaron Neville, Big Chief Russell Moore, The Levin Brothers (Tony Levin and Pete Levin), and with the Jose Limon Dance Company. In addition Erik has worked with tea masters playing Tea Ceremony meditation music.  

The son of a renowned jazz saxophonist and educator, Arnie Lawrence, Erik began playing saxophone at the age of five. Since he has studied composition, music from around the world and has collected and dedicated himself to the study of flutes he has found in his travels to 41 states and 27 countries. 

Tatjana Chamis - one of the great violists of the Pittsburgh Symphony will open the show for us! Violist Tatjana Mead Chamis has distinguished her career with successes as a principal violist, chamber musician, soloist, Latin Grammy-nominated recording artist, teacher and lecturer, as well as advocating for underheard or suppressed music and experimenting with new music.

5/14 at 7pm

Frank Hurricane (touring)

w locals

Silenus & St. Christopher

Some Pepper

$10-15

DM @scobi_hotel on IG for address or email pittsburghsoundpreserve [at] gmail.com

WEDNESDAY MAY 14 / $5-20 / SLIDING SCALE / ALL AGES AT BANTHA TEA BAR

Sweet Abyss is enthralled to present an out of this world lineup consisting of the extremely talented A Psychic Yes and Me:You performing LIVE !! All the way from two faraway places that remain unassuming mysteries to the denizens of Pittsburgh - Britain and Cleveland, Ohio.

Me:You is an amazing duo from Cleveland and longtime friends & influences on the Sweet Abyss crew by way of Cleveland. The duo of RA Washington and LaToya Kent are multi-hyphenate artists, poetic agitators, & genre-free visionary scribes of possibility - playfully throwing influences of punk & R&B into a blender with echoes of defiance, yearning, openness, & freedom permeating their unique sonics. Longtime collaborators in spirit & sound, they operate the CLEVELAND TAPES multimedia imprint & are integral members of the multi-generational gendernonconforming astroblack amalgamous musical collective Mourning [A] BLKstar with releases on Don Giovanni Records & who will absolutely change your life seeing them perform live.

Closing out the night is A Psychic Yes with a gorgeous live set, all the way from across the pond, a “leftfield electronic musician” making standout tracks of the deep, psychedlic, and off-kilter persuasion. Somewhere between techno, bass, downtempo, balearic, whatever you want it to be, Sweet Abyss crew are long-time fans/friends and you can probably find a few of his tracks on many of their USB sticks - we are psychically saying YES to hearing him live in Pittsburgh!

They will be accompanied by opening, closing and playing in between DJing by none other than Sweet Abyss resident beat conductor Kiernan Laveaux - known for eating bananas & supplying dancers with shock & intrigue above layers of groovematic deliciousness.

Sweet Abyss is an event to center people that run afoul of societal expectations playing a wide variety of fun, strange, rhythmic sounds to dance or move their minds to. Dance to all kinds of synth-wave, trip hop, dub, disco, & electronic explorations. Hosted by residents Kiernan Laveaux, Malzof, Davis Galvin + Carrie Sours

GAY PSYCHEDELIC VIBES

ESOTERIC LOUNGE MUSIC

& MORE!!!

Jazz Poetry 2025: Reginald Dwayne Betts, LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, Volodymyr Rafeyenko, Anouar Rahmani

May 13 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm EDT

https://cityofasylum.org/program/jazz-poetry-2025-night-4/

Jazz Poetry Month brings so much talent to the stage, it’s hard to believe we’re only halfway through! Each Jazz Poetry program begins with a full set from a live jazz band, followed by a collaboration with local and international poets. In these collaborations, poets share their work alongside the musicians, the two art forms melding to create that signature Jazz Poetry improvisational style that offers something exciting, new, and unique with each individual performance. 

This performance puts the spotlight on incredible poets Reginald Dwayne Betts, MacArthur genius, poet, lawyer, and founder of Freedom Reads; LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs, a poet and sound artist whose latest work, Village, is described by Camille Dungy as “part instruction manual, part celebration, part dance party, part garden tour”; Volodymyr Rafeyenko, a writer, poet, translator, and literary critic from Kyiv, Ukraine, who became a Writer-in-Residence at City of Asylum following the outbreak of Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2022; and Anouar Rahmani, an Algerian novelist, journalist, activist, and Writer-in-Residence at City of Asylum whose literary work boldly challenges societal norms and advocates for freedom of expression, LGBTQ+ rights, and social justice. These four poets will share the stage with an incredible, soon-to-be-announced band, so stay tuned for further details!

About the Poets:

Reginald Dwayne Betts is a poet and lawyer. A 2021 MacArthur Fellow, he is the Executive Director of Freedom Reads, a not-for-profit organization that is radically transforming access to literature in prisons through the installation of Freedom Libraries in prisons across this country. For more than twenty years, he has used his poetry and essays to explore the world of prison and the effects of violence and incarceration on American society. The author of a memoir and three collections of poetry, he has transformed his latest collection of poetry, the American Book Award winning Felon, into a solo theater show that explores the post-incarceration experience and lingering consequences of a criminal record through poetry, stories, and engaging with the timeless and transcendental art of paper-making. In 2019, Betts won the National Magazine Award in the Essays and Criticism category for his New York Times Magazine essay that chronicles his journey from prison to becoming a licensed attorney. He has been awarded a Radcliffe Fellowship from Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Emerson Fellow at New America, and most recently, a Civil Society Fellow at Aspen. Betts holds a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Interdisciplinary poet and sound artist LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs is the author of Village (Coffee House Press, 2023) and TwERK (Belladonna, 2013). She is the author of three chapbooks, which include Ichi- Ban and Ni-Ban (MOH Press), Manuel is destroying my bathroom (Belladonna*), and the album Televisíon. Diggs’ work is truly hybrid: languages and modes are grafted together and furl out insistently from each bound splice. Diggs has received a 2020 C.D. Wright Award for Poetry from the Foundation of Contemporary Art, a 2016 Whiting Award and a 2015 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, as well as grants and fellowships from the Howard Foundation, Cave Canem, Creative Capital, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission, among others. Diggs has presented and performed at a wide and eclectic array of venues, from the California Institute of the Arts and The Museum of Modern Art to the International Poetry Festival of Copenhagen and the International Poetry Festival of Romania. As an independent curator, artistic director, and producer, Diggs has presented events for BAMCafé, Black Rock Coalition, El Museo del Barrio, La Casita, and more. She teaches at Brooklyn and Barnard College and lives in New York City.

Volodymyr Rafeyenko is an award-winning Ukrainian writer, poet, translator, and literary and film critic from Kyiv, Ukraine. He graduated from Donetsk University with a degree in Russian philology and culture studies, and from 1992 to 2018, he wrote his works in Russian, was mainly published in Russia, and was considered a representative of Russian literature. Following the outbreak of Russian aggression in Ukraine, Volodymyr left Donetsk and moved to a town near Kyiv where he wrote Mondegreen: Songs about Death and Love, his first novel in the Ukrainian language, which was shortlisted for the Taras Shevchenko National Prize—Ukraine’s highest award in arts and culture. Volodymyr learned Ukrainian from scratch and has dedicated himself to speaking Ukrainian, rather than Russian, his mother tongue, as an act of resistance and perseverance. Among other recognitions, he is the winner of the Volodymyr Korolenko Prize for the novel Brief Farewell Book (1999) and the Visegrad Eastern Partnership Literary Award for the novel The Length of Days (2017). Volodymyr’s prose is full of phantasmagorical images and storylines, as well as explicit and implicit allusions to well-known texts. He is sometimes called the “magical postmodernist” due to the intertextuality and richness of his prose. He is a Research Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh and a Writer-in-Residence at City of Asylum with his wife, Olesia Rafeyenko, since June 2023.

Anouar Rahmani is an Algerian novelist, journalist, and human rights defender whose literary work boldly challenges societal norms and advocates for freedom of expression, LGBTQ+ rights, and social justice. He has published four novels, each igniting critical discourse and controversy. As a pioneering advocate for human rights, Rahmani was the first to publicly demand the legalization of same-sex marriage in Algeria, breaking one of the country’s most significant taboos. He is also a prominent figure in the women’s rights movement in Algeria and the broader Arab world. Rahmani’s commitment to literature and human rights has earned him prestigious international recognition. In 2021, he was shortlisted for the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award and honored by the German Bundestag’s “Parliamentarians for Parliamentarians” initiative. He is a 2022 Artist Protection Fund Fellow and a City of Asylum Writer-in-Residence (2022-2025). His academic journey includes esteemed fellowships such as the Carnegie Mellon Scholars Fellowship (2022-2024) and the Scholars at Risk Fellowship (2023-2024). Rahmani holds a Master’s degree in law, States, and Institutions & International Law from Algeria and a Master’s in Global Communication and Applied Translation from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Forced into exile due to threats and repression, Rahmani now resides in the United States, where he continues his literary and advocacy work. 

https://arcane.city/events/little-hag-presented-by-dad-s-backyard-at-the-worm-home

Sunday May 11th 2025

Show 6:00 PM until 10:00 PM

Little Hag Presented by Dad's Backyard at the Worm Home

Little Hag, Studda Bubba + More in Garfield
Concert
Dads Backyard
All Ages $10

NJ based Little Hag is coming to the Worm Home thanks to Dad's Backyard! Local support from intergalactic clowns, Studda Bubba, singer-songwriter duo Wild Magic, and audio curiousities by mysterious friends, The Hooded Figures. We'll have a fire, we'll have hotdogs and seltzers, we'll have hella grass to touch. Always all ages, always a Harm Reduction space so please cover your cans if youre drinking and do your hard drugs n'at off site. We'll have narcan and test strips if you need it.

lowgardens, is an experimental performance platform focused on durational sonic research. Presented as a DIY listening room, lowgardens events host live sets and collaborations from Pittsburgh sound artists engaging in long form sonic curiosities. Audiences are invited to come and go at their leisure.

May 11

4-8pm at inter-, 5013 Penn Ave

Free (donations accepted and go towards paying artists)

the upcoming lowgardens features a collaborative installation between Lefafa and residents slowdanger. expect activations through projection mapping, spatial audio play and movement.

lefafa / Arush Kalra is an interdisciplinary artistwhose first artworks were site-specific installations inside the human heart. Trained in pediatric surgery and cardiac fluid dynamics, Arush helped co-invent a noval material for replacement heart valves and blood vessels. In 2012 he founded the valve design house, PECA Labs. These inventions are actively being implanted globally for complex surgeries. Arush’s design sensibilities, combined with a lifelong interest in music and film, have resulted in a series of audio-visual installations. In 2013, Arush worked in collaboration with visual artists and filmmakers, creating multi-instrumental live loops for their projects that eventually led to his first independent project, Rice Bowl Launch. Rice Bowl Launch amalgamates elements of atmospheric videos, stop motion shorts, photo-collage, and projection-mapping with live performance. In January of 2019 Arush co-founded the dedicated DIY performance venue Collision (Homewood). The space is now regarded as a potent launchpad for noise and experimental music.

Arush’s most recent project, Sick at Work pairs vocal narrative and experimental sound (derived from abnormal human heartbeats) with glitch visuals layered over color fields. The output is intended to be an organic/nostalgic French House inspired dance atmosphere — a tribute to the history of electronic music and its visual evolution. Arush aims to weave his scientific and artistic endeavors into a fabric that questions the neurological hierarchy of sound and vision.

SECOND SATURDAYS

doors open 8pm

performances 9pm-11pm 

$15​​

MAY 10  -  Opie / Throckmorton

https://www.thespaceupstairs.org/second-saturdays

​

TICKETS 5/10/25

Established in 2007, SECOND SATURDAYS have been the signature jazz-happenings at The Space Upstairs, becoming a beloved staple of the local arts scene. This unique venue is not just a space; it is an immersive cool and separate world, lit by naked light bulbs, accoutered in vintage couches, coffee tables, deconstructed instruments, and with random sticks of chalk about and a wall of books to invite spontaneous inquiry, creativity and contemplation. The improvisational postmodern-jazz dance performances by The Pillow Project are captured in vivid splashes of light, as the synergy between sound and movement turns the space into a living canvas of artistic expression.

Hosted by Founding Artistic Directors, Jaka Porter and John Lambert, The Space presents different musical guests each month. SECOND SATURDAYS are a modern speakeasy event that unfolds in our expansive 4,000 sq/ft warehouse-gallery loft-space. It’s the sort of atmosphere in which creativity thrives and quality connections can be encountered. This artistic haven has quietly become one of Pittsburgh's best-kept secrets, attracting those who seek alternatives to the mainstream entertainment scene.

​

*SECOND SATURDAYS are proudly sober events, emphasizing a community-focused atmosphere. Guests can enjoy a selection of housemade infused waters, specialty iced coffees, and other seasonal drinks and refreshments available for donation at The Space Bar. Additionally, don’t miss out on the Mocktail Happy Hour from 8p - 9p, where attendees can indulge in refreshing non-alcoholic beverages while mingling and enjoying the vibrant scene!

Saturday May 10th 2025

Show 7:00 PM until 10:00 PM

Max Johnson 3 at Bantha Tea Bar
5002 Penn Ave Pittsburgh

https://arcane.city/events/max-johnson-3-at-bantha-tea-bar

All Ages $15Described as “an intrepid composer, architect of sound and beast of the bass…” (Brad Cohan, NYC Jazz Record) composer, bassist, and improviser Max Johnson is one of the most prolific music makers in the jazz, bluegrass, improvised music, and contemporary classical worlds. Johnson has released nearly 20 albums and performed over three thousand concerts internationally. For this concert, Max Johnson presents his incredible trio with Neta Raanan on tenor saxophone and Connor Parks on drumset, celebrating the trio's 2024 album, "I'll see you again". This trio explores Johnson’s more traditional jazz compositions while always featuring Johnson's unique soundworld

May 10, 4-7pm

Mick’s Acoustic Jam

in Oakland

For details, talk to Mick: mcL2@pitt.edu

https://arcane.city/events/pittonkatonk-2025

TWO DAYS THIS YEAR!!!
Mark your calendars! The 12th Annual Pittonkatonk May Day Brass Picnic is coming back to Vietnam Veterans Pavilion in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, on May 9 and 10, 2025.

BANDS: https://pittonkatonk.org/

VENDORS - some new, some returning. more details soon.
Family-Friendly Fun: Music workshops, interactive activities, and more.
Food & Vendors: Enjoy the best from regional food and drink vendors.

Event Details:
📅 Date: Friday, May 9 (7pm - 10pm) and Saturday, May 10 (1pm-10pm), 2025
📍 Location: Vietnam Veterans Pavilion, Schenley Park
🎟️ Admission: Free & open to the public (Donations encouraged!)

Let’s make May 2025 unforgettable—where music meets the call for change. See you there!

VIDEO CLIPS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egQEUXqGK8E

Sounds and Visions returns to Signal Sauna. Come sweat it out to the cooling rhythms of Ali Berger, and drift away with immersive, hypnotic visuals by Lia Coleman, Friendlyspinach, and Fluxophile.

A soundscape to savor. An array of visual delights. A full-on feast for the senses. Steam, sound, and surreal sights — don’t miss it.

May 9th, 8-10pm.

Signal Sauna

$35 drop-in / $12 members

Space is limited — reserve your seat now!

https://app.fitdegree.com/t/dashboard/registrables/3412561?f=867&co=799

Ali Berger: https://trackland.bandcamp.com/

The NYC-based harp and violin / vocal duo of Marilu Donovan and Adam Markiewicz plays at Telephone with a stacked lineup of diverse local support.

Advance tickets can be purchased for $15 below or for a slightly higher price of $18 at the door on the evening of the event.

https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/errantbooking/leya-telephone-pittsburgh

Friday, May 9th, 2025

7pm

Telephone, 5120 Penn Ave

LEYA - harp + violin duo touring from NYC

Local support from:

Estelle

Clear Creek SP

Ricki Weidenhof + slowdanger

D.L.B.