Hi,
Tomorrow’s the anniversary of the Batraan Death March (1942), the break up of The Beatles (1970), Brahms Requiem first premiered (1868), the first PGA championship (1916), Odessa was retaken from the Nazis by the Russians (1944), the Safety Pin was patented (1849) and it’s the Salvation Army’s Founder’s Day. Birth anniversaries include journalist Joseph Pulitzer (1847), the first woman member of a US President’s Cabinet Frances Perkins (1880) and Dores Huerta, co-founder of the Farm Workers Union with Cesar Chavez (1930).
Wanna be a movie star? Banshee, the Cinemax series set to start filming here is looking for extras. Extras, stand-ins and photo doubles are being sought for the Season 4, you must be 18 or older. Casting call will be at the Casino Theatre in Vandergrift on April 13 from 4 – 8 pm. More info at Mosser Casting’s website.
Carrie Pavlik is starting a unique business, Steel City Grazers. She will rent out goats to clear weeds and vegetation around the city starting next month. Beside being quieter than weed whackers and more environmentally friendly, they work great on challenging hillsides and other hard to reach areas. She’s working to get at least ten goats to start this project. Carrie has partnered with the Allegheny County Conservation District and they will be holding a question and answer secession on Tuesday, April 14 from 8:30 – 10 pm at the District’s headquarters River Walk Corporate Centre, 33 Terminal Way, Suite 325B on the Southside, basically under the Liberty Bridge. More info at their websites.
Amy Morgan is teaming up with artists to have her ninth annual Teapots Invitational at her gallery Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery at 5833 Ellsworth Avenue, Shadyside. They will be displaying more than 60 creations using traditional clay pots, but also made from nontraditional materials and all made in various adaptations. It runs through June 13 and is free. More info at her website or by calling 412-441-5200.
With over 300 events, this year’s Craft Beer Week shows the momentum the craft brewing industry has. Some of the events like the river cruise are already sold out. One – Bikes, Brews and Oyster Fest still has availability at Blue Dust in Homestead. Blue Dust is a family owned restaurant on Amity Street (right next to the tracks) that has the best smoked brisket sandwiches in the city, way to go Jerry. 🙂 Blue Dust has always been a great source for craft brewed beers and their support of this isn’t surprising. It runs from 2 – 10 pm on April 25 and will feature four types of oysters, oyster po-boys, food trucks, live music and food trucks. More info on the various events on the Craft Beer’s website or info on Blue Dust’s event is on their website.
The Friends of the Killbuck Lodge are getting a big assist from the DIY network Barnwood Builders series. The log cabin (almost 200 years old) is in really terrible shape and they need to tear it down and rebuild it. Barnwood will start filming in June when they plan on tearing the cabin down, replacing rotted pieces from a log structure in Mt. Pleasant and re-creating the shell. Once that’s done, the Boy Scouts and Friends of Killbuck will finish the interior with all the needed updates.
Looking to start a restaurant but don’t know how to go about it? There’s a start-up in the Strip called Smallman Galley that’s there for you. Ben Mantica & Tyler Benson have set up a business incubator that trains culinarians on the things many chefs lack and is the major cause of restaurant failures, the lack of a solid business plan. People that want to open a restaurant generally have a passion for food, but many lack the critical aspect of actually running the business. So Ben & Tyler will set up four chefs in open kitchens for the first twelve months where customers come in for lunch or dinner and order directly from the chef. You can wait on the food and watch it be prepared, or shop the Strip and they will electronically notify you when it’s ready. In addition to the professional oversight of the culinary aspect of starting a restaurant, the chef trainees will actually start building a customer base through this process. The last six months, Ben & Tyler will work with the chefs creating a business plan, finding funding, etc to get the restaurant off the ground to a healthy start. They are also looking for established chefs to help guide these newbies through the process.
Uber has skyrocketed with business travelers as noted in a recent survey at airports the Uber shot up to 47% of ground transportation. I’ve been complaining about the poor service, surly attitudes and lack of reliability of our local cab service for years. This is across the board from the people that answer the phone, supervisors and drivers. We have had instructions on how to download the Uber app for a year now and every guest that used it are now converts. Yellow Cab has recently rolled out their “version” of Uber and typical of Yellow Cab, the attitude was “we know what we’re doing, we don’t need your input”. I know someone that was at their roll out and he offered suggestions, observations about the things Uber does compared to what Yellow Cab was rolling out and to say it fell on deaf ears would be a understatement. I’m not in favor of unregulated anything, Air BnN, Uber, or other alternatives to the traditional way of doing things. But Uber & Lyft, in Pennsylvania has agreed to our PUC’s instructions on criminal background checks, insurances, etc. So they have my support.
Pittsburgh’s having it’s first Dinner in White this year. Diner en Blanc started in Paris 27 years ago by Francois Pasquier who invited some friends to meet at a secret location for dinner. Guests need to be dressed in white from head to feet, bring a portable table with a white table cloth and napkins, white chairs and a dinner packed in a basket as well as beverage of choice. The reason for the white attire is so other folks participating recognize each other and to make it special. The event in Paris last year drew 15,000 people! The yearly event has spread to 50 cities (21 in the US) on six continents. The location is kept secret until the last minute, in fact some Diner en Blancs have you travel to several locations before finding the dinner spot. The admission and other details are in the initial planning stage, if you are interested, you can sign up on the Pittsburgh Dinner en Blanc website.
Well, that’s it for today. Enjoy this Spring weekend with cooler temps but lots of sun,
ed
