Author Archives: Patrick

Git Aht! – Things To Do This Weekend

(Things to do while making visual aids for the presentation…)

(NOTE: Just a couple quick ones for now, more a little later. See, things are busy what with all the repairs I’m making to the loading dock area of the lavishly-appointed iheartpgh.com headquarters. We had a small “incident” with a truck that was off-loading Lindsay and Natalia’s gin allotment for the month. We store it in an on-site, underground tank. Of course it’s fully-licensed by the PA DEP. I’ve got the paperwork right here behind this crisp one hundred dollar bill, officer…)

Friday, February 23
The Big Throw Back , 10:00 p.m., Brillobox, Penn/Main
brilloAhhh… The name is Brillo, Baby!

The monthly funk fest rolls on, and James still ain’t in the ground. I’m gonna suggest to Maestro Omar Abdul and Co-Conspirator J. Malls that we have a bake sale, or a car wash, or something so we can pay for lawyers to act on our behalf and put James in a final resting place, if only to give all of us a place to travel to and pay our respects, sort of a much funkier Graceland. I’ll open the souvenir stand, and sell sequined capes in various sizes for people to wear home, but then throw off and come back, and then put back on to go home, and then throw off to come back while people cheer over and over and over.

The gig starts at 10, 3 dollar bill y’all. .

The Lunch Club Happy Hour , 7:00 p.m., Bar Louie, Station Square
They sent this to me telling me that they’re doing it “Because drinking alone is…lame.”

Apparently, hey’ve never experienced the joy of getting tight all by yourself while sitting on your army surplus cot in your fifth floor walkup in the village under a bare bulb and listening to Sinatra records while repeating to yourself “They’re all after me, I know it, I just know it.” Right? I mean, we’ve all done that, haven’t we?

We have, right? No?

Well, regardless, the Pittsburgh Lunch Club is the local chapter of the larger social networking site “The Lunch Club” which says it ain’t about the hookups, so right there, I mean, bad marketing. There’s a reason Tom sold myspace to Fox and skated out on all the emo kids with a half billion pieces of silver or whatever it was strapped to his Web 2.0 back… Still though, seems like a good idea, a way for people to network a bit, get out and press the flesh, even if said flesh-pressing is meant to be platonic. They’d like you to register for the local chapter, but I would imagine if you just showed up and said hello, they’d probably be ok with that. They’re getting together out front of the place at 7 and then heading in, If you get there later, ask for “The Lunch Club” and you’ll probably be pointed in the right direction.

Saturday, February 24
An Evening With Gene Collier, 9:00 p.m., Cefalo’s Nightclub, Carnegie
Mr. Collier is one of the best writers in the city, and the PG is lucky to have him, or maybe we’re lucky the PG has him. Consistently creative and funny, his ability to take you down the expected hallway of sports columnist cliche and then make a 90 degree turn away from reality into the absurd makes him a pleasure to read every time. Not to mention, he’s written a play. Well, have you? Right then.

His comedic mind goes on display tonight at Club Cefalo in Carnegie, a short jaunt dahn the Parkway West. The MacYapper, fresh from his attempt to out Pitt Girl, is a “special guest”, and two local comedians hand-picked by the Right Honorable Judge Rufus Peckham fill the opening spots. 10 bucks gets you admission to the gig, and that’s a bargain at twice the price if once it was twice the price it was on sale for half off. Bonus points if you show up as “Carbon Man*” to get an autograph.

(*Ask Gene when you get there.)

“There Was A Time”, 10:00 p.m., Remedy (aka Ray’s), Lawrenceville
Flier_with_rekkidGit Aht loves the Soulcialism event every month, and I also love the Big Throw Back, and I also love funk and soul music. All of these things come together in a sweaty, beer-soaked perfect storm of Deep Funk & Northern Soul at Ray’s Blue Marlin Remedy in Lawrenceville. A half dozen DJs spin tonight, notably Juddy from Soulcialism and DJ Malls from BTB, and they’re bringing others in from ahtta tahn (Philly, which I dig because I’ve always been a fan of the Philly Soul) and way ahtta tahn (London, which I dig because I dated a British woman once and I could’ve listened to her talk all day and night with her South London accent. I mean, her reading the back of a cereal box was a turn on, y’see…).

Ray’s, err, “Remedy”, is a good place to have a beer, or at least was when it was Ray’s. I’m not sure what’s going on here, if it’s been a wholesale change in ownership, or the name “Remedy” is just tacked onto one or two of the upper floors. Whatever (Whichever?) the case, they’ll still have beer, and tonight they’ll have good, solid, DJ-spun music that’ll make you dance.

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

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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.

Git Aht! – Things To Do This Weekend

(Things to do while adjusting to life in a post-apocalyptic world…)

Friday, February 16
The Great Guinness Toast, 8:00 p.m., Mullaney’s Harp And Fiddle, Strip District
toucan That yearly thing to get people to drink Guinness to set a new world’s record for largest toast that doesn’t involve a toaster happens tonight at locations varied and widespread, but the place to be is probably dahn Mullaney’s in the Strip. They’ll have giveaways all night and live broadcasts by local radio stations. They don’t say which radio stations, so, I mean, it could be anyone. I’m kinda hoping the whole crew from WQED will be there, if only to hear the dulcet quiet tones of a classical DJ doing the standard radio station location jive of “Hey, come on down to Mullaney’s, jump in the QED money machine, and then do a shot with me. And don’t forget to pick up your QED ‘Cellists Do It Sitting Down’ beer koozie. Let’s rock on now with Marche Slave by Tchaikovsky part of a ’20 in a row or 20 thousand dollars’ all day marathon.”

They usually get packed for this deal, and in addition to the toast, Seamus Kennedy performs at 9, so it’d probably be a good idea to get there early-ish.

Savage Republic, 8:00 p.m., Lawrenceville Moose, Lawrenceville
savage_republic_logoi Lindsay (who also braved the weather to drink at D’s the other night during our time of crisis) posted this up the other day and writes about it better than I could ever hope to, so just go read it there. I will say that this looks like a really good solid show, and why would one ever not go to the L’ville Moose?

Paul Tabachneck, 9:00 p.m., Cabaret At Theater Square, Dahntahn
backstage bar Free is good, so good… I like free a lot. Probably too much, but that’s something I’ve got to work out with my therapist, that poor, poor man. I’m sure he never saw this coming when he went to grad school or he might’ve made a different career choice. He’s earning his money, that’s for sure… I mean, I mentioned something about my childhood and he did that sort of “sucking in your breath through your teeth while wincing and saying ‘ooo'” thing. That’s probably not a good sign, is it?

What? Oh, right, yeah, the Tabachneck thing… The Cultural Trust’s page says that Paul is “A bright & engaging singer/songwriter” and that his lyrics “reflect on loves lost and let loose.” Ok, so far so good, we all love a good torch song, don’t we? He does some covers in his act, and is also known for his “dark humor”. And that’s all well and good, but of greater import is the fact that Happy Hour at the Backstage Bar is from 9 to 11. So, no cover to get in, and the drinks are gonna be on special at a non-traditional-happy-hour time of day – honestly, what’s stopping you? Also, it’s a smoke-free environment, and I know how important the whole “breathing thing” is to some of you.

Saturday, February 17
Rod Stewart , 8:00 p.m., Mellon Civic Arena, Dahntahn
Too subtle over there on the left? Never let it be said I won’t perpetuate an Urban Legend.

Stewart will be playing all the hits, I’m sure, although I’m not 100% sure whose hits those will be. They might be his songs or they might be tunes from the “Standards” albums he’s been putting out the past few years. I’m guessing a combination of both, but I’m not sure how well “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” will fly at this point.It could be bizarre, like Debbie Reynolds singing “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

An Evening with Aaron McGruder, 8:00 p.m., Byham Theater, Dahntahn
boondocks_wide The creator of the much-missed (by me, at least) comic strip The Boondocks comes in for a night at the Byham. The thing is, it doesn’t actually say what he’s going to do there. I’m assuming that means a speech of some sort, perhaps a look at his work, both the strip and the tv show, and a Q&A session. He’s never been afraid to speak his mind with regards to politics which is, in my opinion, a good thing in a comic strip author. Like that time when Cathy Guisewite got arrested for macing riot cops at that WTO protest in Seattle a couple years back.

Ok, I may have made that last part up.

—————–

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

—————–

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.

Git Aht! – Storm Watch Doppler Center Special Edition PSA

We’ve just received word that all state liquor stores will be closing early today. I mean, we can put a man on the moon, but we can’t keep the liquor stores open? It truly is a time of crisis, and it causes me to wail and gnash my teeth. One wonders what could be next… Will the Temple Curtain be rent asunder from top to bottom? Seas of blood? Dogs and cats living together? Mass hysteria!

Screw it… If I can get out of the bunker and off of the mountain here at the iheartpgh.com emergency survivalist compound (undisclosed location in Westmoreland county) I’m heading to D’s in Regent Square to watch the Pens game. Mmmm, beer.

(UPDATE: Burgh Report uses youtube to soften the blow. So to speak.)

Git Aht! – Things To Do This Weekend

(Things to do in between checking prices on flights to Florida…)

Friday, February 9
Ron Jeremy Book Signing , 7:00 p.m., Joseph Beth Booksellers, Sahsside Works
ron_jeremy_lg With appearances in Reindeer Games (2000), The Boondock Saints (1999) and 21 Hump Street (1988), Mr. Jeremy has carved out a career noteworthy for…

Ah, screw it, he’s a porn star, but a brilliant one. Well-educated and well-spoken, Ron’s never taken himself too seriously, and has always seemed to treat the industry he chose with exactly the right amount of respect it deserves, which is to say, not much most of the time. But the man has always known how to market, and he’s incredibly media-savvy. Well now he’s gone and wrote himself one o’ them there books, titled “The Hardest (Working) Man In Show Business“. (I get it, yeah. It’s a boner joke, right.) and his signing tour stops in to the South Side tonight. I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say he’ll probably sign body parts if you ask him to.

Soulcialism, 10:00 p.m., The White Eagle, Sahsside
fourcialismThis month is special, it is, as Soulcialism celebrates it’s Fourth Anniversary, or Birthday, or whatever word would be appropriate. (Ah, I see… “Fourthiversary”. There we go.) As always, it takes place in the smoky, funky, sweaty confines of the Eagle, Pittsburgh’s Premier Place for Punks to drink on the cheap.

Good music, good dancing, good people, go. Drink. Dance. Go up to the DJ table and ask about the CD, which has some great tracks on it. Just don’t sit at the far end of the bar near the wall-mounted gas heater, because you’ll either catch fire, desiccate completely and end up looking like one of those Peruvian mummies, or just melt into your component parts of the 6 dollars worth of chemicals we all are without water. DJs Juddy and Soccer John probably won’t be signing body parts, but who knows? It can’t hurt to ask, ladies.

Saturday, February 10
Arctic Fun, You Know, For Kids! , 11:00 a.m. (and all day), Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Oakland
top_of_the_worldAll manner of family-friendly activities going on up at the Carnegie today. Everything’s free to Museum visitors, too, so, y’know, good ’cause we love the cheap here at Git Aht, although to be honest, we love the cheap when it also involves the booze, but we can’t have the everything, can we? No, we can’t because where would we put it?

The guided tours start at 11 am, the kids can make polar bear puppets starting at noon, and you can even touch a caribou’s fur and antlers. One would hope that the Caribou is still involved with them, but ok, I can see how that might be a problem logistically, so I’m thinking that they’ll be detached from their original owner. It looks like they’ll have a live Snowy Owl though, so if you resemble a field mouse, you may want to avoid that demonstration. Just sayin’.

Loretta Lynn , 5:30 p.m., Pepsi Roadhouse, Burgettstown
lorettaLoretta is country, her whole life. The coal miner’s daughter, she married at age 14, had four kids by the time she was 17, and became a grandmother at age 29. She stood by her man even though he regularly cheated on her, and once left her while she was giving birth. It’s like, what else could you possibly heap on there?

And now, she gets to play the dinner show at the Pepsi Roadhouse in Burgettstown. Seems like a bit of a letdown, really, but the show should be good.

Sunday, February 11
Stomp , 3:00 & 7:00 p.m., Benedum Center, Dahntahn
stompEverybody knows about this, right? I don’t need to get into what Stomp is, what they do, how they do it?

Good. Personally, I’d go to the 3 o’clock show so I’m home to see the Police open up the Grammy awards. I haven’t watched the Grammys (Grammies?) in years, and I probably won’t watch these ones either beyond the first 10 minutes or so. Rumors are rampant that they’ll be doing a full reunion tour this year to mark the 30th (30th!) anniversary of the release of “Roxanne”. The old folks among us are hopeful that it’ll happen, and that if/when it does, they’ll make a stop here.

—————–

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

—————–

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.

Git Aht! – Things To Do This Weekend

(Things to do while celebrating a rodent…)

Friday, February 2
Exposure: Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m., Club Havana, Shadyside
rettig_headshot Marc Rettig (pictured) is this months feature photographer and this show wraps up the involvement with Club Havana. No word yet on where it’ll be moving to, but as long as they keep it at a bar, I’ll be happy. And drunk.

Marc is originally from Montana, and has lived throughout the US, coming to Pittsburgh about five years ago as a visiting professor of design at CMU. He liked it here and settled in, opening up his own business. As one of the members of the Pittsburgh flickr group, he displays his love for his adopted home through his work, sometimes visiting abandoned industrial spaces, finding beauty in the decay, art where there is ruin. His photography is done with a designer’s eye, but used as a creative outlet that has nothing to do with his work. The show promises to be a good one.

As always, there will be much drinking and dancing to the music provided by the DJs.

Saturday, February 3
Art Opening: (U=You)+(M=Me)+(O=Others), 6:00 p.m., moxie DaDA, North Side
John Eastman’s pen & ink drawings exhibit, (U=You)+(M=Me)+(O=Others) opens at the new moxie space on the North Side. The pieces are titled “UMOs”, and that means drawings of “contorted individuals from society reflecting humans as imperfect beings”.

Which, y’know, could mean that it’s a realism show, but it’s not. It’s an “Opening Reception” which usually means free stuff in the way of wine/beer and snacks. There’s nothing like that explicitly mentioned here, though, so freeloader beware.

Pittsburgh Pagan Potluck, 6:00 p.m., Moonstones, Dormont
potluckLocal Witches, Druids, Wiccans, Shamans, and the like get together and whoop it up at the Pagan Potluck. This is a chance to get to know your local pagan, and also lets the local covens network a bit. They want you to bring a dish, and sweet Lord, (I know, yeah) I hope someone makes a Stonehenge out of marzipan.

I’m not even gonna attempt to make a snarky comment lest I get, y’know, warts or something. I dunno, a plague of boils, the gyp, whatever… My mama didn’t raise no dummy, at least when it comes to dealing with witches and giving them the proper respect they deserve. Who wants the mal occhio, really? Not me, baby, not me.

Palm Saturdays feat: Humanaut, 9:00 p.m., Palm, Station Square
Get yo house on with Steve Porter. They’re very emphatic about this, so I’ll just quote: “ONLY 300 TICKETS WILL BE SOLD – PRESALE ONLY! There will be NO door tickets.”

So, he must be kind of a big deal. It’s 15 bucks, and doors open at 9.

Sunday, February 4
WYEP Alternative Souper Bowl, 12:00 p.m., Borders, Eastside ‘Sliberty
superbowlLocal music for a cause. It’s at Borders, so it can’t get the “Drinking for a Cause” label, but so be it, it’s still a good idea. Bring some non-perishable food items and enjoy the fun and live music from three great local bands with plenty of time to get home to watch the commercials that go on in between plays. Seriously, the Super Bowl’s kind of a pain in the ass anymore, because it takes so friggin’ long to watch the game. Ok, so ‘Em Stillerz aren’t in it this year, which my hypertension is thankful for, but still… I can’t even relax to watch the game because of the interminable commercials and half time show. Sure, it’s Prince, I love Prince, but do you think we’re gonna get a rollicking version of “Darling Nikki”? ‘Cos I don’t. Here’s hoping the assless chaps make an appearance, if only for the absurdity of it, and the controversy it’d cause.

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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.