Andy Warhol would have loved the happening on the Seventh Street Bridge yesterday, and not just because its purpose was to rename the bridge in his honor.

	Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette CAPA students hold cutout masks of artist Andy Warhol during yesterday's dedication of the Andy Warhol Bridge. Click photo for larger image.

It was just that it was so cool, so rad, so what today's kids call "sweet."

First, there was this grand opening act in which a woman riding a "horsecycle" -- a metal sculpture of a horse equipped with four wheels and pedals -- made her way partway across the bridge toward the speakers' podium.

She was accompanied by a woman accordionist and a man playing an African drum. Another man wearing a horned hood operated a device that released white smoke from the rear of the horse.

Then the quartet passed between two men wearing replicas of golden bridge girders on their backs. One of them joined the accordionist's song on a multi-belled bugle.

The whole thing was Squonk Opera at its finest.

Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette CAPA senior Amber Kunkel plays the part of "Andy Warhol" during a special performance during the dedication yesterday of the Andy Warhol Bridge. Click photo for larger image.

There also was a short dance and drama performance called "Radiant Child" by students from the Pittsburgh High School for Creative and Performing Arts.

It featured senior Amber Kunkel as Warhol, dressed appropriately right down to the white hair, giving advice to a young artist played by senior Josh Kern. Behind and around them, other students -- some punked out, some just in black -- danced and lip-synched the pre-recorded score.

In between were speeches by a few of the kinds of people Warhol liked to hang with -- politicians and arty types including Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy, and the director of The Andy Warhol Museum, Thomas Sokolowski.

"Two down, one to go," Onorato said. The other part of the "two" is the Roberto Clemente Bridge, formerly the Sixth Street Bridge. The "one to go" is the Ninth Street Bridge.

"We'll need to make sure when we name the bridge ... that it has a reason for the whole region."

	Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette CAPA students cross the Andy Warhol Bridge after dedication ceremonies. The renaming of the Seventh Street Bridge coincides with the Warhol Museum's 10th anniversary. Click photo for larger image.

Onorato added, "This is bridging a lot of different things. Mayor Murphy and I, we got a chance to find a way to show that the city doesn't stop at the edge of the river. There are arts on both sides. The cultural district, as we can see, is more than just the Golden Triangle and there is potential for more arts on the North Side and the South Side."

The mayor noted that the Clemente Bridge ends near a sculpture of the late, great right-fielder at PNC Park.

"What are we going to do on this bridge to honor Andy Warhol? An icon. I challenge you to come up with something," Murphy said.

"In the U.S. we have only one bridge named for an artist, so Pittsburgh is demonstrating it is one of the great cities for the arts," said Sokolowski, who was master of ceremonies for the event, which also served to commemorate the museum's 10th anniversary.

Sokolowski brought the renaming ceremony to a dramatic close by popping the cork of a huge bottle of champagne and squirting it around.

Afterward, he said he'd have to think about the best way to respond to Murphy's challenge. An initial thought for such an icon, he said, was a robot of Warhol, who liked the machines.