REMEMBERING MAC MILLER
Jordan Brooks came a long way for the healing.
The 26-year-old hairdresser left at 4 a.m. Thursday and drove 16 hours from her home in New Orleans with just a few stops, hurrying to make it to the North Side for the pop-up exhibition and listening room party Friday for the release of Mac Miller’s “Circles.”
“Since I was a freshman in high school,” she said, her eyes getting teary, “I’ve been listening to Mac. People don’t understand the loss who haven’t watched him progress, and so I knew if I came here, I could feel what everybody else was feeling and that it would be reciprocated.”
It was her second trip to Pittsburgh since the rapper’s death in
September 2018, the first being for the vigil at Blue Slide Park after that tragic event.
“I came for the vigil,” she said, “and I went into Frick Park Market and I talked with the woman there. And she was like so emotional, and it’s, like, you feel the loss when you’re here and it’s something I feel is healing, in a sense.”
The pop-up at 404 Suismon St., an auto parts store newly renovated as a gallery, is a collection of photography, artwork and collage of the artist produced by fans and friends, as well as his mom, professional photographer Karen Meyers. There are also six Pop figures of the rapper on display and a merch table to benefit the Mac Miller Circles Fund.
With temperatures in the 20s, the line for the noon opening began around 9 a.m. and wrapped around two long blocks. The organizers are allowing 15 people in at a time to see the show.
Ms. Brooks, who arrived in Pittsburgh around 11:30 p.m. Thursday, chose to delay listening to Miller’s sixth and final album — which hit Spotify and other streaming services at midnight — until she could make it part of this event.
One block down, at 900 Middle St., people enter a softly lit room with plush couches to sit back and listen to the 53-minute “Circles” in Ultra HD audio. At the first session, fans absorbed the lushly produced and contemplative album in somber silence — some lying back and closing their eyes.
Ms. Brooks was going to wait until the 5:30 p.m. session.
Lexa Houseman and her friend, Corrine Butts, had a shorter drive, from Cleveland to get to Suismon
Street. They started listening to Mac when they were in high school as well.
“It’s been a long time. It’s been a really interesting journey,” Ms. Houseman said.
“I feel like he’d be really happy with how everyone’s living up and telling his story still. There are still people who don’t know who he is, and it’s like, ‘Here, let us share with you.’ I think it’s really nice.”
She said of “Circles,” “I’m a huge fan, and I’m super happy with how it turned out.”