(Things to do while conceding gracefully…)

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

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
This 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
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.