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Sunday, June 01, 2003

These independent artists create unusual work or devise distinct artistic events without the benefit of institutional support or widespread fame.

	Hip-hop band Strict Flow, from left,: Chad Glick, Masai Turner, Sied Chahrour and Eric Dan. Click photo for larger image. (Tony Tye, Post-Gazette)

Karl Mullen
Musician, artist,
Club Cafe booking manager
"31 Nights. 100 Bands. 1 City." So far, that series at Club Cafe, which brought life to January, has been the biggest story of the year in local music. While booking the likes of Norah Jones, Kathleen Edwards and Thomas Mapfumo into the bustling South Side venue, Mullen has been busy, busy, busy on the artistic side, re-forming Ploughman's Lunch, collaborating with Bricolage Theater Company, Junction Dance Theater Company and, most recently, a pair of international DJs for a project called Trinity. Mullen, a native of Ireland, arrived in Pittsburgh in 1976 and founded the punk band Carsickness. He's been a creative force here ever since.

Traci Jackson
Project director, Flux
What good's a good idea if nobody knows about it? Four years ago, Jackson left a lucrative job in product and exhibit development to apply her marketing skills to neighborhood development projects and the arts community. As founder and director of Flux, Jackson showcases neighborhood developments by using them as temporary venues for multidisciplinary artists. The party series, called Flux, is held in buildings and communities that are in a state of flux, simultaneously raising awareness of the burgeoning artists and the pilot development projects. "If you take the time in advance to understand what all the stakeholders need and what the issues are, you can focus on creatively solving the problems of creating awareness," says Jackson. "For me, it's about being able to apply what I've learned in design and product development to the nonprofit community development world and arts community. Those, really, are my passions."

Manny Theiner
Director, Pop Bus/SSS Records;
independent music presenter
Theiner's answering machine contains the following: "If you're calling long distance, please leave your e-mail address. And no, we don't have a fax machine." Theiner does a lot with a little to serve a community that wouldn't otherwise get the mix of avant-garde, noise, electronic, experimental jazz and goth concerts he brings to Pittsburgh. Priding himself on being a couple of trends ahead of everyone else, Theiner presents up to 150 concerts a year, including the likes of Peter Brotzmann, The Locust, The Rapture, Rasputina and Melt-Banana. "A lot of my favorite shows," he says, "were ones that hardly anyone saw."

Strict Flow
Hip-hop group: Masai Turner, MC Sied (Sied Chahrour), E. Dan (Eric Dan) and Chad Glick
The biggest name in local hip-hop -- or, as they rap on their single, "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's most famous boys" -- Strict Flow hit the streets beyond the 412 in February with national distribution for their latest release, "Without Further Ado," on the Caroline label. Their local rep is based in part on having opened concerts for mainstream artists as massive as 50 Cent, Ja Rule and Nelly, as well as such underground icons as Jurassic 5 and the Roots.