Author Archives: Patrick

Rahnd-up: Burgh Blog(h)s

11/29/06 – UPDATE: New URL for Overheard in Pittsburgh – http://www.overheardinpittsburgh.com

– Pitt Girl: Call me, we’ll go out and find something fun to do that doesn’t involve Bob Logue in any way whatsoever.
– Carbolic sees nail, hits it squarely on head. And then they hit it again. And again.
– Go over to T & A, read a list of “Potential Names of Pornographic Movies Starring WTAE’s Bob Mayo”. But wait until after lunch to do so. Seriously.
– Overheard in Pittsburgh: It doesn’t? Shit.

Git Aht! – Things To Do This Weekend

(Things to do while detoxing your body of the Tryptophan…)

Friday, November 24
Good Friday Wine Tasting, 5:30 p.m., The Warhol, North Shore Side
warhol_wine_bottle It’s the last Friday of them month and that means wine and cheese at the Warhol. It’s a delightfully tasteful and refined way to start your weekend, although, let’s be honest – our weekend started Wednesday night, and then kinda paused for turkey and a nap yesterday, and will now kick back in. Sample four wines provided by Big Burrito, and mix it up with cheeses, fruits, nuts, and other assorted trappings of a wine tasting. Reservations are ok, but walk-ins are also welcome.

I’m not really big on wine tastings (as the people at a wine and cheese party I went to last night can attest. I was all like “Yo, where’s the American individually-wrapped processed cheesefood slices? Where’s the Velveeta? Where’s that 5 pound block of government cheese they gave us when I was a kid?”), but I do know what I like. I like wine that gets me toasty. That’s good wine. Beyond that, I’m a philistine.

Reel Big Fish, 7:00 p.m.,Mr. Smalls Funhahse, Milvale
lightupnightThe “Third Wave Ska Band” makes a stop at Mr. Smalls for an all ages show tonight. They were recently dropped by their label, which for most bands is a bad thing, but they were hoping for it for a long time, working to get out of it, get back to what they want to do, which involves starting off tunes with a trombone version of the Imperial Death March from Star Wars. They’re known for awesome covers at their live shows, including a fantastic version of A-Ha’s “Take on me” which was featured in the movie “BASEketball”. Like to hear it? Here it is:

Soulcialism, 10:00 p.m., The White Eagle, Sahsside
soulcialismAnother monthly (mostly) event, Soulcialism powers up the turntables and loads them full of the best in sixties and seventies Northern Soul music tonight at the White Eagle. Cheap drinks, great music, and lots of dancing make for a great event. No cover makes it even better. Work off the stuffing with dancing, and see if that cute girl wants to teach you the mashed potato or the bony marony.Saturday, November 25
Celebrate The Season Parade, 9:00 a.m., Dahntahn

bbjones
No, the other one.

Macy’s picks up the Kaufmann’s tradition and throws a party to get you to shop at their store out of the goodness of their hearts and to “Celebrate The Season”. I’m assuming this means the holidays and not deer season, but I’ve ben wrong before, so, y’know. Wear orange just in case.

A bunch of people I’ve never heard of will be there, but so will Jim Kelly, East Brady’s pride and joy, and Mayor Luke too. Don’t forget to drink if he mentions “moving forward“, even if it’s just to get the parade moving, um, forward. Still counts.

Motorpsychos, 8:00 p.m., RPMs, Bridgeville
RPMs dahn Bridgeville is a bit of a haul, but this is probably worth it based on band name alone. Buning Earth and The Cosmosonics are there too. Burning Earth are the headliners, I think, but c’mon. Motorpsychos. So, all right, maybe that’s not your cup of tea, so…

Don Aliquo and Mark Perna, 8:30, Gypsy Cafe, Sahsside
Don plays woodwinds, Mark plays keyboards and together they solve crimes while getting into one zany situation after another! It’s the “Reed And Ivory” show!

Actually, no, I think they’re just going to play jazz in a really cool setting, the Gypsy Cafe, an intimate place down at the corner of Bingham and 14th. But it would be cool if they solved crimes too. Admit it. It would.

Sunday, November 26
Dvorak’s “New World Symphony”, 2:30 p.m., Heinz Hall, Dahntahn
page_bowDvorak’s Symphony No. 9, to be precise, but hey, who am I to quibble with pop culture? This is his most popular work, influenced by his trips to America in the late 1800s, and he based it largely on Native American music and African American spirituals, at least according to wikipedia where I just looked it up. I remember playing this in high school orchestra, I think. I always hoped that one day I’d show up to orchestra practice and the director would hand out the sheet music to “Kashmir” by Zeppelin, but it never happened. Would’ve been way cool though, if a bit repetitive, but then again, what’s Bolero, fer chrissakes?

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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 conceding gracefully…)

Friday, November 10
40 Under 40, 6:00 p.m., Piatt Place, Dahntahn

l_p
Tastefully attired, says I

The annual listing of the city’s young movers and shakers was published a little while ago, and while we don’t like tooting our own horn (Hey! If I could do that I’d never leave the house!) we do have reason to be proud. (And don’t give me that crap about “Pride goeth before the Fall”, ’cause it’s been fall for like, weeks now. Hell, we’re coming up on Winter already.)

You see, iheartpgh.com’s own Lindsay Patross got selected as one of these young people with vision, and rightfully so. She works hard at promoting Pittsburgh and it’s surrounding environs, and she does a pretty good job of it, with the notable exception of letting me write stuff around here, but every hero has their tragic flaw, and in the grand scheme of things, that’s not so bad. Plus, she’s putting together a nice little second income source from the swear jar since I’ve been hanging around the luxuriously-appointed home office perched high atop the Gulf Building downtown.

The 40 Under 40 people (PUMP, WQED, and Pittsburgh Magazine) always throw a bash to celebrate, and this year it’s downtown at Piatt Place, where, for a small fee, you can hobnob with the elite. Like, for instance, Host Chris Heinz, or as he is often referred to by the young Progressive women in town, “McDreamy 57.” (No, I’m not sure what the 57 stands for. Maybe it’s his AOL screen name or something.) But your admission gets you complimentary food and drink, entertainment, prizes, and admission to the exclusive after-party at Trilogy, where all the truly big deals will go down. Quite frankly, the price of admission might be justified by seeing honorees Mayor John “Intimidatingly Tall” Fetterman of Braddock chatting with Maria “Beautiful, Petite and Way Smarter Than You” Simbra, KDKA’s brilliant medical reporter.

I offered to be Lindsay’s escort for the evening and haven’t heard back, which isn’t really surprising because there aren’t many people more Hoi and Polloi than I. This is a meeting of the Hoity and Toity, and while I greatly enjoy hobnobbing with the elite, they often look at me with that confused dog sort of thing, tilting the head slightly sideways while dropping the eyebrows, and then promptly calling security over to find out exactly how I got in.

The English Beat, 8:00 p.m., Rex Theater, Sahsside
Rudy, a message to you – go see this show.

English Beat was in town this summer playing one of the festivals. Some friends of mine made the show and said it was tremendous. If you missed it, you get a do-over as the Beat brings the ska back to town for an indoor show at the Rex, along with Specials guitarist Lynval Golding. Because of this, they’re incorporating Specials tunes into the set, so that’s reason enough to go right there. Hopefully, there won’t be too much fighting on the dance floor.
Saturday, November 11
Meet The Scientist, 1:00 p.m., Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Oakland
“What about the mollusks?” comes the cry from the rooftops. “We need to know about the life of mollusks!” they say, haunting me in my dreams, these demanding knowledge-seekers. “What mollusk is this?” they ask when they atop me in the street when I’m on my way to a happy hour. And do I deliver? Indeed, I do.

This week’s winner of the prestigious “Git Aht Award For Most Esoteric Event Ever” is this “Meet The Scientist” gig up at the Carnegie. See, they run these things every second Saturday, and this month is “Life In The Leaf Litter” starring Dr. Timothy A. Pearce, Curator, Section of Mollusks. How’s that for a job title?

Ok, look, there are people who care about this sort of thing, right? From the release: “Do you have a mystery mollusk specimen that you’ve been wondering about? Bring it to the Museum, and Dr. Pearce will help to shed some light on your critter!”

You got that? You can take your mollusk up there and have them identify it! Exclamation points!

Now stop bothering me with all this mollusk talk until the next Guinness Oyster Fest down at Mullaney’s.

Podcamp Pittsburgh, All Day. Pittsburgh Filmmakers
podcamppgh062This is like Woodstock for geeks. Join many important people as they discuss how to blog, how to podcast, and “new media monetization” which I think means something like “How can I make money in my pajamas or sitting in a coffee shop?”

A lot of people (upwards of 200) will be at this thing, including a whole host of people from the Pittsburgh flickr photographers group, a bunch of local bloggers, Justin K (no, I’m not even gonna try to spell it) from the Something To Be Desired crew, and many, many others. It’s a real loose kind of affair, so show up, see what interests you, and go from there. It’s free.

Lindsay covered this much better the other day.

Sunday, November 12
World Champion Piper!, 7:30 p.m., Kresge Hall, CMU
axe This isn’t just a performance of the pipes, it’s a performance by the WORLD CHAMPION piper. Lemme say it another way – there isn’t a finer piper in the world, and it’s been proven by competition. I remember because I put up a dime on it and I lost because I took Angus MacTeagle plus the points, and he was soundly thrashed by Alasdair Gillies, your WORLD CHAMPION piper, who also happens to be Director of Bagpipe Music at CMU. He recently resigned his post as Pipe Major of the Army Training Regiment at Glencorse Barracks in Edinburgh to take the gig here, so it must be special. I mean, would you ever resign something that had Pipe Major in the title? I wouldn’t.

Hey, bonus points if you can get him to play “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” on the bagpipes.

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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.

Jingle Your Bells – The 2006 Jingle Bell Run To Benefit The Arthritis Foundation

tmnt This is your chance to jingle, jangle, jingle. No, wait, that’s spurs. This would be the jingling sound made by the traditional Christmas Jingle Bell, the kind me Mum had on the back of the front door when I was a teenager so that she could hear what time I got in at night. Well ok, morning, really. The thing is, though, I mean, I knew they were there, right? So I got really good at opening that door in such as way as to make the absolute least amount of noise. Think ninja here, is what I’m saying.

jingle_bell_runWhere was I? Oh, right. The 2006 Jingle Bell Run/Walk takes place this year on December 2nd at 10 a.m., and the starting line is the North park Lodge. The main event is a 5k run/walk, and there’s also a 1 mile “fun run”, although usually the only fun run I do is a beer run. Whichever one you do, you get a jingle bell to attach to your person, wherever you want./p>

(To my regular reader(s): This is a respectable event, so please, attach it somewhere tasteful. You know… Like your shoelace, or your lapel, or your hat. Not on your “bathing suit area”, if you know what I mean. And I know you do.)

arthritis_foundationBut you can show up in a holiday-themed costume, and that’s actually encouraged. The idea is to have fun while raising the money for the Arthritis Foundation, a truly deserving cause. And hey, everybody who raises 100 bucks gets entered into a drawing for two free round tip tickets on Delta Airlines. If you win, allow me to make a suggestion – Vegas, late February, for two reasons: 1.) It’s warmer there than here at that time, and it’ll be a good mid-winter getaway, and 2.) I think that’s when I’m going and we could get all liquored up on the Strip. I mean, they know how to treat you in vegas – they got showgirls, they got Wayne Newton…

The 2006 Jingle Bell Run/Walk gets the way-ahead-of-time post to give you all a chance to get your sponsors lined up, raise some money, and figure out your costume. I’d suggest getting eight friends together and doing a Santa and the eight reindeer bit, and running the whole thing in formation.