Hi,
Tomorrow is Yo-Yo Ma’s birthday (Paris 1955), John Mellencamp (Seymour, IN 1951), Vladimir Putin (1952, St Petersburg) and Desmond Tutu (Klerksdorp, South Africa 1931).
Dormont’s having it’s Street Fair and Music Festival this coming Saturday from 4 p.m. until 11 p.m. They will be closing off Potomac Avenue from West Liberty to Glenmore. As expected there will be craftsmen, street vendors and live music. One of the performers will be Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers. Pretty impressive for little Dormont.
The Butler-Beaver Presbytery office is the site or the Artisan Marketplace Shop in Zelienople. If they weren’t the first, they were one of the original people offering gifts from 10,000 villages. That’s the group the enures that all gifts from third world countries are produced by individual crafts persons and not out of some sweat shop. I’ve been patronizing them for a few years now, they carry some very unique gifts you won’t find elsewhere. Tip from a regular, go early because they’re not like a Target that restocks their shelves throughout the holiday season. They are open from 10 until 2 Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. They are located at 1348 S Main Street, Zelienople. More info at their web site or by calling 724.452.7515.
A number of Unions are joining the Wall Street protesters. In case you’ve been under a rock the last few weeks, this loose group of generally younger people have been camped out in Zuccotti Park for the last few weeks. They have various issues they are protesting, but they all seem to hone in on Wall Street greed and it seems to be growing (obviously if the Unions are taking notice). I have a feeling this may grow into something. They are getting some offshoots around the country, Pittsburgh has Occupy Pittsburgh. About 250 people attended a meeting Wednesday at a Shadyside church. They decided to hold three rallies at 10 a.m. on October 15 at Market Square, the City-County building and Freedom Square up in the Hill.
Home Coming: Artwork by Pennsylvania artist Zachary Brown will be held at Elan Fine Art Gallery at 427 Broad Street in Sewickley from noon until 5 p.m. Fridays through Sundays until October 28. Zachary, originally from Sewickley, has recently graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design. He paints images of friends and family in a classical manor with a religious icon kind of slant. Kind of odd, kind of cool. More info can be found at their web site or by calling 412.749.0427.
The recently opened Acoustic Moose in Bellevue is a welcome new comer at 516 Lincoln Avenue. The building, with many previous lives, most recently was a pizza joint. Lindsey and Adam Gibson decided to open a coffee shop kind of restaurant (or is is a restaurant kind of coffee shop) 🙂 that serves a variety of non alcoholic beverages and healthy breakfast and lunchy kind of offerings. Some take advantage of the old brick oven from it’s previous life. They also encourage acoustic entertainers to stop by for an open mike kind of a thing. By the way, the name Acoustic Moose was Adam’s high school nickname when he used to perform. They are open from 7 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Open until on Wednesdays. 7:30 until 10 on Fridays and Saturdays they are open from 9:30 until until 7 p.m. More info at their web site or 412.415.3888.
Those gallery spaces on Penn Avenue (707 and 709) have new artists in them. 707 has Harish Saluja, who traditionally has done abstract art, but recently has turned to more traditional oils starting with mandalas. Mandalas are symbols of man’s place on earth (woman’s also). They were used in Hindu and Buddhist palaces with four gates leading to the four corners of the earth. Well structured, precise and representational is not what Harish has been known for lately. She has a number of large oils on display that reflect her Indian heritage and a number of miniature paintings. These started as doodling she would do on the phone that she would fine tune afterwards. They became quite popular and she sort of mass produces these. In 709 Thomas Bigatel and oil painter has combined space with Peter Johnson a wood worker that takes one large log and works with it pulling images out of it as he uncovers the original grains and other unique qualities of the piece. I didn’t see a web site for any of these artists, more info can be had by calling 412.325.7723.
OK, I tricked you. 🙂 Usually I start by whining, today I snuck it in the middle. If I may quote our illustrious mayor “I’m happy with the work so far.” I’m not addressing that the only time the Steelers/Pirates consortium do any developing is when their option is about to run out. I would like to address that statement of his. I just replaced four windows at $1,000 a piece. If next year, my same contractor came back and told me it was going to cost $10,000 per window, even though “I was happy with his work”, I am sure I would be seeking a new contractor. I do understand, I am not a politician, I’m just an Innkeeper. So I don’t know the interstices of political life, I just know dollars and cents. Dollars and cents drive what projects I take on, I choose projects I can afford. What I save today is what I can tackle tomorrow. I’m not saying the mayor should take Alco up on their $10 MILLION offer, maybe tell the Steelers/Pirates consortium to up the ante from $1 million.
Speaking of $10 MILLION dollars, Saks Fifth Avenue has decided to shutter their Smithfield Street store, even though there was a $10 MILLION dollar offer from the land lord, city and county to aid their remodeling. #1, give me $10 MILLION and I’ll create an Inn that has as many employees as Saks has and they would not have to depend on commissions on their sales. 🙂 But that’s not the point of this Whine. In the Trib article, the Trib quotes “local government leaders” as saying they wouldn’t provide details “on what they termed private talks”. EXCUSE ME, all money in government is either tax driven, fee driven or occasionally private money-is ALWAYS PUBLIC MONEY. What the hell is “private talks”. Excuse me cursing. What arrogance.
Brunton Dairy reopened Saturday. That’s the 7th generation family owned dairy in Beaver County that the Board of Health closed last July because a number of their customers got sick from Yersinia enterocolitica bacteria and it was found in some of their products. The bacteria was found in at lease one sealed container of their product, but the BoH never found anything at their farm or processing areas. There’s some conspiratorial theories around about this. Anyway, they are open, they are real nice people and not far. Actually, Kerry at KS Kennedy Floral right down the street from me carries their milk.
OK, I’m going to bed. Have a great day tomorrow, it’s supposed to be gorgeous,
ed
