City will repaint blue slide before Mac Miller memorial
Plans are for the rain to stop and the tears to fall on Tuesday at Blue Slide Park in Squirrel Hill, where Mac Miller will be memorialized with a vigil by his friends and fans.
The playground in Frick Park, at Beechwood Boulevard and Nicholson Street, holds special meaning as the Point Breeze rapper, who died Friday at age 26, played there as a kid and made his 2011 song “Blue Slide Park” the title of his chart-topping debut album.
The blue has worn off, as it does every few years from all the sliding, but Pittsburgh Public Works plans to repaint the slide on Tuesday with a special epoxy.
The vigil, presented by the local Nightfall Records, will begin at 5 p.m. and will include the playing of Miller’s music; the creation of drawings, paintings and murals; speakers beginning about 7:30 p.m. talking about how the rapper touched their lives; and a candlelight ceremony at 9:30 p.m. A documentary will be filmed during the event. Food trucks will be on site.
Those who wish to speak about Miller are asked to email Nightfallpgh@gmail.com with details.
Parking will be difficult as thousands are expected and very few parking lots are in the area.
Nightfall said in a post, “We ask that everybody coming to this event respect the neighborhood, the park, each other, and most importantly the reason we’re all gathering.”
Vigil organizer Brandon McCaslin said in an email, “Mac Miller is somebody that has inspired me throughout the course of my life, and is a huge part of the reason I’m in the music industry. When I was younger — I’m 24 now — I would travel often and I never had much time for normal kid activity. Mac’s carefree demeanor and incredibly happy personality was something that grounded me through many difficult times and inspired me to create an environment that would allow for artists and creatives to become a voice in the hopes that they, too, could change the lives of those around them; and that gave me the strength to persevere.”
Over the weekend, the outpouring by fellow artists continued with Drake, Ludacris, G-Eazy and even Elton John paying tribute at their shows.
According to USA Today, Elton John dedicated “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” to the late rapper at his Allentown show.
“I’d like to dedicate this song to Mac Miller. Unbelievably, 26 years of age, and passed away yesterday. It’s inconceivable that someone so young, and with so much talent, could do that. And I just would like to pass all of our love and best wishes to his loved ones, his family, his friends. And, Mac, wherever you are, I hope you’re happy now.”
In talking to reporters on Monday, Mayor Bill Peduto spoke about the rapper:
“Just a couple of things about Mac, because I got a chance to know him: No. 1, condolences out to his family — his parents live right by me — and to the friends that he’s had in Pittsburgh since childhood. A lot of people got to know this guy not just as a star but on his way up as a really good person. And [Allegheny County executive] Rich Fitzgerald was his baseball coach. His connections go all throughout the city.
“The second thing is, he had a very, very compassionate heart when it came to what he wanted to invest back into Pittsburgh. We had conversations about programs to create parks that would be known to be safe for all children and parents, and those parks would be marked with a blue slide, and it would be something that he would start in Pittsburgh and then take worldwide. So that wherever you saw a blue slide in a park, you knew that your family would be safe and the area was safe. I talked to him extensively about after-school programs and getting involved in helping to finance Rec2Tech, the ability to turn a recreation center into a place where a kid could learn coding or other things. He wanted to be able to give back to Pittsburgh. In his memory, we’re going to continue to work on those types of programs and hopefully get other local artists to be a part of it.”
On the suggestion by members of the public that the park be renamed in his honor, the mayor said, “I know a lot of people have been saying we should rename the park. There are strict rules on naming of public assets within the city now. I believe it’s three years after someone has passed that you can then name something after them. This was basically done in order to not have politicians naming things after themselves while they’re still in office.”
He acknowledged that he or a council member could suggest an amendment/ change/exception under that policy — which would then have to go before a committee and then head to a council vote.
When a reporter asked if he plans to pursue something like that — for the park — and where he is in the process, he said, “Right now, it’s to be able to make sure that the family is doing as well as they can and the friends have an opportunity to have a vigil. And then after that.”
Asked about his own thoughts on the renaming, he said, “I would not oppose it, but I do believe it should come from the community itself.”