Author Archives: Patrick

Git Aht! – Things To Do This Weekend

(Things to do while fleeing for your life from a good source of lycopene …)

Friday, April 27
Wine Tasting at The Warhol, 5:30 p.m., The Warhol, North Shore Side
warhol_wine_bottle Have some grape in the company of screen prints at the Warhol. Big Burrito provides four different wines and accompanying cheeses, The Warhol provides the atmosphere. If you see anyone dressed up as Valerie Solanas, keep your eye on them. If you dress up as Valerie Solanas, have someone keep an eye on you.

Phat Man Dee, 6:00 & 9:00 p.m., Backstage Bar at Theater Square, Le District de Cultural, Dahntahn
phatmandee Running two shows a night like she’s workin’ the Vegas circuit, Dee drops by the Backstage Bar for a couple shows, and she’s at the point now where it’s like “Yeah, sure, I can stop by on my way somewhere else, sing a song or two” like she’s running the joint, then maybe stopping off at Jilly’s for a whiskey. Dee’s got a growing repertoire and she’ll show it off tonight, so stop by before the show, after the show, during the show, for the show.

Jalsah, 8:30 p.m., The Zenith, Sahsside
clash According to the site, Jalsah is “a community event designed to promote awareness about middle-eastern music, culture, and dance. It is a place for both teachers, students, and non-initiates to network and learn more about traditional forms of music and dance.”

So, I think that means you can head on down there and jam out. I’m frantically calling around to see if I can rent a tuba. I’ve never played a tuba in my life, but I think they need one to add some bottom to it, some presence. The folks at Zenith trying to eat their delicious vegetarian meals would appreciate it, is what I’m thinking. Oom-pah.

Attack Theater “Games Of Steel”, 8:00 p.m., Kelly Strayhorn Theater, ‘Sliberty
GamesOfSteel Attack Theater brings the show back to town after performing on a country wide tour, and these are the last performances in the Pittsburgh area. Aiming to make dance more accessible, AT presents a show filled with ladders to nowhere, seesaws, and a live band. Dance Magazine calls the show “ever-entertaining and hellishly fun” which is coincidentally exactly what my ex-wife called our marriage in the divorce papers, but unlike Dance Magazine, she went on to say, “but I’m just tired of the marathon bongo-playing sessions/beer tastings/cohiba smoking on weeknights when I have to go to work the next morning. And besides, he leaves his friggin’ socks everywhere. I swear, I found one in the fridge.*”

(* Aht v. Aht , 149 F.2d, 103-104 (1st C.Pl. 2004))

Saturday, April 28
Charity Bar Crawl, 4:00 p.m., Shootz, Sahsside
Drinking For A Cause kicks off with an early one, but the charity involved is worthy so we’ll quiten down and bend with the breeze. Benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma society, the cost is 10 bucks and will tours all the way down Carson, starting at Shootz with the registration (not to worry if you can’t make it at 4 as they’re not moving on until 5:30, a much more palatable drinking hour) but other bars could be Jekyll’s, Tiki, and personal favorite Bar 11. Speaking of which, the scars have actually just about healed so I’m ready to go back to 11. Cause I go to 11. No, I’m not just gonna make 10 louder. Eff you.

Art All Night, 5:00 p.m., The Catalyst Building, Lawrenceville
Sleep All Day!No, Slaughter won’t be there, but The Spuds will, and that means something if you are, like me, of A Certain Age.

The annual mini-fest kicks off at 5 with events that are, y’know, for kids. Around 8, the music starts with The Spuds, followed by acts every hour or so the rest of the night (including Joy Ike who I saw performing at Flux a couple weeks back) until midnight when DJ Zombo spins until the wee hours.

The cool thing about the whole, well, thing is that anyone who wants to put a piece in can. Check the details on submissions here. This is an annual Good Gig, and last year they had over 10,000 people stroll through, so go early or go late, but you should go.

Sunday, April 29
Art All Night, 10:00 a.m., The Catalyst Building, Lawrenceville
And if you can’t make it Saturday night, well, it goes on into the next morning. So stop by after brunch and see it all until 2 on Sunday, with more music starting at 10 o’clock in the blessed a.m.
�����–
Because Knowing Where To Go (and drink) Is Half The Battle
(Further Suggested Reading)
knowing_halfPittsburgh City Paper
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Craigs List
This Is Happening�����–

Got an event planned? Would you like a whole flock* of yinzers with disposable income to show up? Let Git Aht know by sending the electronic mail to gitaht@gmail.com.

(* Note: “Flock� being, y’know.. very loosely-defined…)

Pittsburgh rated “Most livable” once again, Sienna Miller unavailable for comment

places_rated_coverSeen this morning in the PG, the 25th anniversary edition of the Places Rated Almanac ranks Pittsburgh Number One overall as “most livable”, so… good for us, I think.

Overall, the city scores relatively well across a lot of categories, although not near the top in any of them. Factor them all together, though, and we end up at the top of the metropolitan heap.

Quote of the article from author David Savageau: “It’s got a crummy climate, I know that.” So I’m thinking that if we could get the whole city on one of those big trucks that they use to move houses and take the whole kit and caboodle – hills, rivers, and all – say 500 or so miles south, we’d have an absolute choke hold on this rating forever.

Clearly, “Quality Of Local Bloggers Named Patrick Who Write About Stuff To Do On Weekends” wasn’t a factor, so thank the deity of your choice for that, or we might have finished lower. A lot lower.

(UPDATE: Pitt Girl spreads the good word… as does The Carbolic.)

Git Aht! – Things To Do This Weekend

(Things to do while shaving the playoff beard …)

Friday, April 20
Exposure: Steve Hall , 9:00 p.m., Tonic, Dahntahn

iheartpgh_exposure

Exposure’s been running for about a year and a half now, and it’s slowly grown from month to month, gaining more (I don’t wanna use this word, but dammit) exposure to the Pittsburgh art community with some of it’s members getting their own gallery showings. It solidifies it’s connection to that community this month as it becomes part of the Gallery Crawl (more on that in a bit), and it kicks off that association with photographer Steve Hall, who has been featured before, but gets the re-run with all new work.

Steve’s been heavily involved with the Pittsburgh flickr group almost since it’s inception, and his work continues to grow and mature. A lawyer by trade, his avocation is becoming more and more a passion, as Steve’s eye sees things differently, and he makes the result something you want to look at, something you’d want to put on the wall. As opposed to anything I shoot, which makes you want to put it in the wall, like some sort of horrendous photographic Cask of Amontillado, forever closed up and forgotten.

I digress. Tonic’s a good venue, and having the show be part of the Art Walk should bring a lot more people through to see the growing and talented local amateur photography community. It also gives the greater public a better chance to see drunk people with cameras. Ok, it gives them a chance to see me drunk with a camera, a situation often found on weekends. Thank god for autofocus.

Gallery Crawl, 5:30 p.m., Le District de Cultural, Dahntahn

sacred_heart_of_elvis

19 venues host the Art in this quarter’s version of the Gallery Crawl. The work ranges from original oils to culinary confections to mixed media. And now I’ve totally run out of my alliteration allocation for the week. Check out the link for a full listing, and you may want to show up early-ish, because it is a lot to get through. Luckily, it looks like it WON’T FRIGGIN’ RAIN tonight, so, y’know, bonus!

Green Drinks With Mayor John Fetterman, 5:30 p.m., His house, Braddock
fettermanMayor Fetterman helped to throw a great event last weekend when Flux was held in Braddock, and he’s back again this week as the host for Green Drinks, which has more to do with environmentalism than it does with, say, creme de menthe. He apparently likes to be around booze as much as I do, or, he’s a consummate politician who knows that to get a chance to bend the ear of the people, you give ’em booze. Either way, I like him.

I grew up a town over from Braddock, and I remember when it was still a destination – it’s shopping district was the one to go to, it’s restaurants were the places to eat. It was a vibrant community that was truly devastated by the collapse of steel in the 70s and has a hard time recovering. Enter Harvard graduate Fetterman, who sees this as a golden opportunity to enact change on a local scale, and I hope he gets it done. Whatever your politics, you have to appreciate the walk he walks as he talks his talk. And this is our Drinking For A Cause of the week. Congratulations!

�����–
Because Knowing Where To Go (and drink) Is Half The Battle
(Further Suggested Reading)
knowing_halfPittsburgh City Paper
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Craigs List
This Is Happening

�����–

Got an event planned? Would you like a whole flock* of yinzers with disposable income to show up? Let Git Aht know by sending the electronic mail to gitaht@gmail.com.

(* Note: “Flock� being, y’know.. very loosely-defined…)

Git Aht! – Things To Do This Weekend

(Things to do while waiting to die …)

So yeah, we’ve got the biggest population decline in the country if you don’t count areas devastated by natural disaster, and sure, you could argue that the weather in Pittsburgh is a natural disaster year after year, but the thing is, it’s not so much people moving away anymore, it’s that we’re dying off. Moving into the ground, as it were, rather than the Sun Belt. In droves. And those of us left behind aren’t reproducing enough to keep up the population. And we’re not attractive to immigrants. And any other reasons you’d like to come up with. Well, whatever, let’s make lemonade. From an IM exchange with a friend yesterday:

Patrick: Last one out, please turn off the lights. Thanks.
http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_095075136.html
Laura: “Pittsburgh! Where Pittsburghers go to die!”
Patrick: heh
Patrick: you’re quite the sloganeer.
Laura: natural population decline, what a nice way to say “dying in droves”
Patrick: indeed.
Patrick: kinda like using the phrase “released to industry” as opposed to “got fired”
Laura: “Pittsburgh! If you like rain and viewings, stick around!”
Patrick: “Pittsburgh! Crepe-hangers wanted!”
Patrick: “Pittsburgh is for Diers!”
Laura: “Pittsburgh! ‘Not quite dead yet’ for 40 years!”
Patrick: hah!
Patrick: “What happens in Pittsburgh, dies in Pittsburgh!”
Laura: HAHAHA
Laura: “Pittsburgh: When You’d Rather Die.” “You said you’d rather die than visit Pittsburgh? Now you can have it all!”
Patrick:pgh_bumper_sticker
Laura: HAHAHAHHA

So let’s get those new slogans to the tourism board ASAP. And now, Oh, the places you’ll drink!

Friday, April 6
Banff Mountain Film Festival, 7:00 p.m., Byham Theater, Dahntahn
banffLindsay mentioned this the other day here. Basically, it’s a film festival about mountains and the activities you can partake in while you’re on one, whether it’s sport of actually maintaining a residence on one. Friday’s events include guest speaker Arlene Blum, mountaineer (the real kind, not the kind where you call yourself that just ’cause you got drunk at WVU once, and quite frankly, who hasn’t?) and the first woman to attempt to ascend Mount Everest, so if you’d like to hear her speak, show up early.

An Evening With The O’Jays , 8:00 p.m., Benedum Center, Dahntahn
ojaysSee, this is where the hack writer will say something along the lines of “Hey everybody, jump on the Love Train and go see the O’Jays!” And since I’m a hack writer, I’ll say “Hey everybody, jump on…” You get the idea.

The O’Jays are one of the most influential groups of the soul era, and have contributed to the culture in ways so deep and profound that… Ah, screw it… “Hey everybody, jump on the Love Train and go see the O’Jays!”

Deneice Williams opens the show. Besides contributing to arguably the best/worst soundtrack of the 80s, she’s also been a backup singer for Stevie Wonder and Minnie Ripperton, so she’s got all the cred you’d ever need right there.

Halcyon: Downtempo & Trip-hop , 10:00 p.m., Z Lounge, Sahsside
jenna_bush_drunkNote to self:

Things to pick up at Giant Iggle:
– Glow sitck
– E
– Bottled water
– Prophylactics
– Penicillin
– Lye Soap
– Some sense of rhythm
– Some way of taking 15 years off of my age

Saturday, April 7
Breakfast With The Birds , 8:30 a.m., National Aviary, North Shore Side
toucansamEnjoy a continental breakfast (Read: croissants and coffee) with birds. I mean, the birds will be there eating breakfast with you, not as part of the menu. That’d be a little too “Restaurant-At-The-End-Of-The-Universe”-ish, really. “Cool, waiter, let’s meet the meat.”

After breakfast, you can take a special guided tour, take pictures, and wonder why the hell you got up so early on a Saturday.

Create A Haiku , 1:00 p.m., Children’s Museum, North Shore Side
event for children
i mention it here because
easter weekend slow

“You’re In Trouble” Premiere , 8:00 p.m., The Rex, Sahsside
The world premiere of a locally-produced film about “3 female thieves who rob houses by tricking guys to break in for them.” I’m glad to see films getting made locally, I’m a big supporter of things like filmmakers and film kitchen, I love the fact that we’ve got a vibrant creative scene that’s growing by leaps and bounds each day, but really, this had me at “one of the women starring in the film is named Shannon Booze”.

I’d change my name if we got married, is what I’m saying.

Dear Ms. Booze,
Call me.
Sincerely,
Your Future Ex-husband*

(*Look, I know I’m hell to get along with, so let’s just get that out of the way now.)

Sunday, April 8
Find eggs, eat chocolate, spend time with the kids. Done. Later, watch Sopranos. Fuhgeddaboudit.

�����–
Because Knowing Where To Go (and drink) Is Half The Battle
(Further Suggested Reading)
knowing_halfPittsburgh City Paper
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Craigs List
This Is Happening

�����–

Got an event planned? Would you like a whole flock* of yinzers with disposable income to show up? Let Git Aht know by sending the electronic mail to gitaht@gmail.com.

(* Note: “Flock� being, y’know.. very loosely-defined…)