(Things to do while trying to determine what we did to get put on notice…)
Make your own
Friday, September 29
Exposure: Pittsburgh, 7:00 p.m., Club Havana, Shadyside
The local photographers group holds it’s monthly show at Club Havana in Shadyside. It’s probably too cold tonight for the patio, although you’ll be spending a lot of time out there, Smoky Joe, regardless of weather, once the ban goes into effect. C’est La Vie, as the French say, but what do they care, they can smoke wherever they want. Hell, surgeons chain-smoke Gauloises during hernia operations over there. “Vive le Nicotine!” comes the cry from deepest Provence.
What? Oh, right. Tangented again, didn’t I? Dammit.
This show features photographer Sharon West, whose eye for shapes and colors astounds, and who just got back from Burning Man earlier this month with a boat-load of good shots from the high desert. Her work will be on display throughout the next month, so if you can’t make it, but want to check aht the art, stop in. The thing is, these opening gigs are usually a pretty good time, what with the drinking. And you’ll feel like a star who walked into a paparazzi convention, so expect to have your picture taken. Me? I don’t show up on film, so don’t bother. It has to do with my Eastern European ancestry, at least according to my uncle Vlad the Impaler. Drakul!
Filmmakers Vintage Local Films, 7:30 p.m. Melwood Screening Room
Former Executive Director of Pittsburgh Filmmakers Robert Haller returns to Pittsburgh to present a series of shorts about Pittsburgh mostly filmed in Pittsburgh. (And the winner of the 2006 Award for Most Uses of the Word “Pittsburgh” in a Sentence goes to… me. w00t!) The highlight will be “Rhapsody of Steel”, which is, according to the filmmakers site, a “23-minute masterpiece of animation and music, made for the United States Steel Corporation. Produced by John Sutherland, the film features Gary Merrill as the narrator and three-time Academy Award-winner Dimitri Tiomkin conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony in his own composition.”
(Thanks to Natalia for sending this one in.)
The Big Throw Back! Funk and Soul Dance Party, 10:00 p.m., Brillobox, Upper Larryville/Bloomfield
2 bucks! Ahhh…the Name is Bootsy, Baby.
DJs J. Malls and Omar-Abdul drop the mad funk at the Box. I really hope to make it over to this, because my love for old funk is only surpassed by my love of Mom, America, devastatingly intelligent women, a well-crafted drink (with and/or made by a devastatingly intelligent woman), and the companionship of a fine dog. So it’s like, sixth then, which is pretty high, really.
Saturday, September 30
Little Italy days, All Day, Bloomfield
Street festivals are a wonderful part of living around here with all of our neighborhoods, all of our enclaves of ethnicity, each culture contributing their own flavor… Summer’s chock full of street fairs, be they fire halls or churches, someone’s always running a chuck-a-luck wheel (Three! Lovely! Fives!) and a food stand, dogs ‘n kraut, yo, with bingo inside in the gym, 50 cents a card, threefa a dolla, here’s some popcorn to mark your card, yeah, we play four corners, good luck.
But then along comes Bloomfield’s Little Italy Days like a behemoth, trouncing nearly all of them with 10 to 12 thousand people showing up. The festival is jam-packed with events and entertainment, ranging from Frank Sinatra impersonators to the Liberty Avenue Procession of The Madonna del la Civita on Sunday. Strolling accordionists will provide a pleasant background as you make your way from the polenta to the zepoli, and don’t forget there are bars all along Liberty if you need to duck in for a moment, get your bearings, and grab a cold beer, see if they’ve got Nastro Azzurro.
Personally, I’ll be looking for the Sophia Loren impersonator. But that’s just me.
“Duke Of Ribs” Rib Cook Off 11:00 a.m., The Union Project
Lindsay tipped us off about this the other day, but I’m mentioning it again because ribs probably come in slightly lower than funk on my list. I dunno, eighth, maybe ninth. Somewhere in there, depending on how good they are. The sauce must be the Boss. On that matter, there will be no discussion.
The 27th Annual Latin American & Caribbean Festival 1:00 p.m., William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh
Another festival, this one featuring music, food, dance, and children’s activities from Latin America and the Caribbean. The whole shebang is sponsored by The Center for Latin American Studies at Pitt and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. This presents quite a vexing problem to me, a true noggin-scratcher, trying to decide not so much which one to go to, ’cause the answer to that is both if you can, but at which one do you eat? You’ve got great Latin American food over here, great Italian food over in Bloomfield… Sheesh… Lemme think about it for a minute…
Ok, my advice to you: don’t eat anything at all Friday. Save it all up for Saturday, grab a lunch at one, a dinner at the other. Probably a good idea if you walk from one to the other too, considering…
Man, I’m all Solomon-like in my tremendous wisdom. What’s next on the docket, bailiff? Oh, right, the child custody case. All right, let’s have at it then.
Sunday, October 1
Open Irish Music Session, 8:00 p.m., Murphy’s Tap Room, Regent Square
Get your fiddle on in the first of a series of Celtic Music nights to be held on the first and third sundays of each month throughout the fall. If you love the combination of Irish music and no cover, this is the event for you.
Etta James, 8:00 p.m., Byham Theater, Dahntahn
Etta James is a grand dame of American Music, a true legend, inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Blues Hall of Fame. Miss Peaches brings her act into town for a one-night only performance supporting her new album”All The Way,” a collection of songs she says is “an album of songs that I’ve always loved, tunes that I heard and thought, ‘wish I could have been the one to do that one first!.'” This is your chance to hear her perform them live, and a rare gem it will be.
—————–
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.
For a documentary film about the lives of 1930s movie stars/singers Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy, I’d like to hear from anyone, particularly in the Pittsburgh area, who might have known or seen Nelson and Jeanette. This would include hearing them in local concerts, opera or nightclubs, anyone knowing them personally (especially since Jeanette was a Philly native and Nelson spent his teenage and early adults years in Philly and singing around Pennsylvania). I’m looking for friends, fans, co-workers, family and/or lovers…and annonymity is assured, if you prefer. Anyone whose parents or grandparents might have had a connection, particularly in Pittsburgh, should also contact me. Any help or leads will be appreciated, you can email me at 
If someone comes up to you and tries to make a joke along the lines of “This is the wurst thing you can do this weekend”, you have my permission to dope-slap them upside the head. Don’t worry about the consequences, no jury of like-minded citizens would ever convict you. As a matter of fact, they’d probably take an opportunity to dope-slap them themselves. All that aside, the 
Wegman’s the guy that takes all the pictures of Weimaraners. This exhibition features 28 polaroids of dogs doing things like roller-skating, playing dress-up, and exercising on a bike.
The Tony Award winning musical opens this weekend at the Benedum Center. I tried to tell them to go away, that we already got one, but they persisted, so I proceeded to say that their mother was a hamster and their father smelt of elderberries. But even after all of that, they still wanted to stage it this weekend, so the production will apparently go off as scheduled.
Phat man Dee brings the pianos (and lots of ’em, I’m told) to the Quiet Storm tonight, and gets help from friends Nicholas Megalis from Cleveland, OH and Ratty Scurvics with Stix duh Clown of New Orleans, LA. For those of you unfamiliar with Phat Man Dee, she’s a jazz artist capable of both belting like a valkyrie calling warriors to the great hall for the never-ending feast, and then crooning so sweetly that fallen angels think about switching teams back to the good side. Bonus points for Dee: she rode a pink elephant (ok, fine it was fabric, but still) to her wedding.
I haven’t seen the video, but I heard that Tommy Lee trips sometimes when he gets out of the shower. I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin‘. Anyway, summer concert season is winding down, and the weather looks to be good this weekend (for the most part), so go out and enjoy open-air music thrown at you forcefully by two absolute legends of rock. And if you get a little misty when they play “Home, Sweet Home” that’s ok. Let it out, I understand. I get the same way when they play “Girls, Girls, Girls.”
Indiana PA’s own Jimmy Stewart in the classic Hitchcock flick about a detective afraid of heights.