News Around the Neighborhood
Tomoko Omura + Glenn Zaleski Quartet
Tomoko Omura + Glenn Zaleski Quartet from Alphabet City
Thursday, March 4
7:00 pm
Recently, you may have seen Glenn Zaleski, James Johnson III, and Jeff Grubs perform on our stage (with Yoko Suzuki), tackling the complicated music of Geri Allen. They return, this time with Glenn’s wife, Tomoko Omuro, in a pre-recorded broadcast from Alphabet City. (Run time: 60 minutes)
The Tomoko Omura + Glenn Zaleski Quartet is an improvisational, modern jazz group, featuring two in-demand NYC musicians and two top-talent Pittsburghers. Listen as they play original compositions with touches of classical, folk, and traditional Japanese music. You won’t believe your ears as you hear genres mixing delightfully and effortlessly. You won’t hear anything like this anywhere else.
Broadcast from our stage are jazz favorites: Tomoko Omura (5-string violin); Glenn Zaleski (piano), James Johnson III (drums), and Jeff Grubbs(bass).
Yoko Suzuki: The Music of Geri Allen
Yoko Suzuki Presents
The Music of Geri Allen
Thursday, February 25
7:00 pm
Audience favorite Yoko Suzuki is back to celebrate and showcase The Music of Geri Allen, broadcast from Alphabet City. (Run time: 90 minutes)
A concert featuring all new arrangements of Geri Allen’s original compositions.Yoko Suzuki (a former student and colleague of Geri Allen’s) wanted to ensure Geri’s music is still heard, most especially because of its complexity. Yoko has created new arrangements of Geri’s work in the 2nd concert of the series, a collaboration with local musicians. You won’t get to see something like this anywhere else.
This concert is a rare chance for audiences to hear Geri’s challenging music live, and understand from the musicians just what an intricate puzzle the work presents. Geri first performed at City of Asylum in the 2009 Jazz Poetry festival alongside Oliver Lake’s Trio 3.
Joining Yoko live from our stage are jazz favorites Tommy Lehman (trumpet), Glenn Zaleski (piano), James Johnson III (drums), and Jeff Grubbs (bass).
Celebrating Caribbean Filmmakers, Music and Culture
Presented by Sabira Cole Film Festival and JouvayFest Collective
Three Caribbean Shorts
Sunday, February 21
6:00 pm
In honor of Carnival traditions around the world, and as a way to celebrate the season together, JouvayFest and Sabira Cole Film Festival present Mout’ Open, Story Jump Out!, a film series exploring and celebrating Caribbean culture.
The second series installment, Sunday, February 21, features three short film screenings: Limeru Barana Short (2019), La’ DiaBlesse Curse (2020), and Paradise Lost (2015). These short films are closely tied to Carnival traditions in Trinidad and Tobago, and attempt to capture the complex history and dynamic energy of the art form.
The screening is followed by an expert panel discussion: “Global Caribbean Culture: Resistance and Spiritual Fusion.”
Featured panelists:
- Paradise Lost director Chris Laird
- La’ Diablesse Curse director Jared Prima and producer Millicent Johnnie
- Cultural producer Janera Solomon
- Moderated by Ogechi Chieke of SCFF & Sandra A. M Bell of JouvayFest Collective.
Read more about our panelists here.
Run time: 120 minutes, including panel & audience Q&A
Made Local: Ron Donoughe
Presented in Partnership with University of Pittsburgh Press
Thursday, March 18, 2021
Virtual Event
Free, with registration
Closed captioning will be available
For over thirty years, Western Pennsylvanian painter Ron Donoughe has been trying to capture the look and feel of a landscape, at different times of the day and through all four seasons. Starting with iron, brass, tin, and glass production, the river towns of the Pittsburgh region – from Brownsville to Braddock – ultimately helped make the city the one-time steelmaking capital of the world. With this industrial legacy in mind, Donoughe set out to document the small towns in this region, one painting at a time.
Brownsville to Braddock provides key insight on a forty-mile stretch of river towns. The post-industrial economy led to a decline in manufacturing, and with it, substantial job losses. These towns face many significant challenges, yet there is still beauty to be found. Donoughe finds it as he paints the human spirit through the mills, factories, parks, and homes. The people he meets share their stories of family joy and sorrows, along with a genuine love for the area they call the “Mon Valley.”
Ron Donoughe’s paintings can be found in the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, the Heinz History Center, the Duquesne Club, the Pennsylvania Convention Center, and numerous corporate and private collections. He has taught painting at LaRoche College, the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, and at workshops throughout the United States and France. His previous books include 90 Pittsburgh Neighborhoods and Essence of Pittsburgh.
Invitation to Riverlife’s Virtual Public Meeting on 2/25
I’m excited to share that Riverlife and evolveEA are co-hosting a virtual public meeting on February 25th from 6:00-7:30 pm to share an update on Riverlife’s efforts to “Complete the Loop”. Your feedback during a Riverlife focus group or interview last summer has been essential to our work and has contributed to the design recommendations that will be presented during the meeting.
We hope you can join us. Click here to register for the webinar via Zoom. Pre-registration is preferred. The meeting will also be streaming simultaneously on Facebook Live at facebook.com/riverlifepgh
Unable to join on February 25? We’ll have a recording of the presentation available after the meeting at RiverlifePGH.org/Loop
In addition to joining us on 2/25, we hope that you can share information about this webinar with your circles and contacts. Feel free to use the Facebook, LinkedIn, Email, and/or Twitter buttons on the Zoom registration page to get the word out about this event.
Thank you again for your contributions to Riverlife’s “Completing the Loop” efforts and we hope to see you on the 25th!
Thanks,
Anna Rosenblum
LEED AP EB O&M, EcoDistricts AP
Associate | Senior Project Manager
evolve environment :: architecture
Reel Q Presents a Regional Premiere of The Many Lives of Kojin
Film Screening and Talkback Presented by Reel Q
The Many Lives of Kojin
Wednesday, February 17
7:00 pm
Join us for the regional premiere and unreleased screening of The Many Lives of Kojin, hosted by ReelQ. This program includes an exclusive interview with director Diako Yazdani.
Film synopsis: Diako Yazdani, an Iranian Kurd and political refugee in France, goes to Irak where accompanied by Kojin, a 23-year-old gay friend, he confronts his devout family, friends and other members of the Kurdish community with their prejudices on homosexuality. Through humor and poetry, the director presents a powerful portrait where encounters between people are an invitation to a universal reflection on being different.
Netflix Filming Updates for Allegheny West
- 2/10/21-2/19/21: We will be permitting W North Ave between Brighton Rd and Galveston Ave for our work truck parking. NO PARKING SIGNS will be posted in advance. We will be prepping on Wednesday, 2/10 through Friday, 2/12/21. There will be no work at the location on Saturday 2/13 through and including Monday, 2/15/21. We will also prep on Tuesday, 2/16/21.
- 2/17/21: Filming will occur between approximately 6am-1pm.
- 2/18 and 2/19/21: We will be wrapping out and cleaning up.
CCAC Presentations will Highlight Industrialists of Allegheny West
From Ann Gilligan:
You may recall that representatives of CCAC Allegheny’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter, Alpha Mu Theta, joined us at our December Membership meeting. Their Honors in Action research project is focusing on the legacy of industrialism and industrialists in our Allegheny West neighborhood. They’ve researched local residents with ties to industry in our area, particularly the Denny family and the Painter family who had homes on campus grounds, and the effect they’ve had on our immediate neighborhood and the region as a whole. They’ve also examined the future of industry in our area and are planning to incorporate a discussion on CCAC’s new Workforce Training Center into a future presentation.
They are hosting a series of Zoom events on Thursdays in February. The first event on Thursday February 11, (info available here) will introduce the greater topic of industrialism and its overarching effects on society and will feature Dr. Jacqueline Cavalier, Professor of History at CCAC and active member of local historical societies and organizations. Our second event will focus on the legacy of industry in Allegheny West, and the third event will focus on CCAC’s new Workforce Training Center and the future of industry in our region, details are TBA.
Everyone is welcome to join.
Lecture: America’s Best Antique Skyscrapers
America’s Best Antique Skyscrapers
Mark Houser
Writer and Tour Guide
MultiStories
Thursday, February 18
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Fee: $5
This lecture will be held via ZOOM conference. Click here to get your ticket and RSVP.
Pittsburgh writer and skyscraper tour guide Mark Houser spent two years traveling the country for his new book, MultiStories, seeking out the most beautiful turn-of-the-century office towers. He will share his own photos of Beaux-Arts facades, dazzling lobbies, rooftop decks, and several behind-the-scenes surprises in venerable high-rises from New York to Chicago, Boston to San Francisco, Milwaukee to Miami — even Vancouver and Liverpool. He’ll also reveal some fascinating details about the early millionaires who transformed American cities by commissioning the world’s first skyscrapers.
About the presenter: Mark Houser is the author of MultiStories: 55 Antique Skyscrapers & the Business Tycoons Who Built Them. He is a frequent contributor to Pittsburgh Magazine and gives occasional Downtown rooftop tours for Doors Open Pittsburgh. Houser is director of news and information at Robert Morris University and a former newspaper reporter and editor. More at HouserTalks.com.
Virtual Workshop: Assessing What to Fix on Your House
Assessing What to Fix on Your House
Regis Will
Carpenter and Craftsman
Vesta Home Services
Thursday, February 11
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Fee: $5
This virtual discussion will be live from the Vesta Workshop via Zoom Conference. Click here to get your ticket and RSVP.
You will receive a login e-mail at 5:00 pm on February 11. (Don’t see an e-mail, be sure to check your Spam/Junk folders.) Please log in at 5:45 pm to allow us enough time to let you into the lecture.
Join us for a discussion on springtime maintenance checks on old and historic houses. Regis Will, a woodworker, craftsman, and restoration expert will discuss how to assess wooden windows, paint, exterior woodwork, roofs, and other aspects of how to restore, and maintain old houses.
About the presenter: Regis Will is the proprietor of Vesta Home Services a consulting firm on house restoration and Do-it-Yourself projects. He blogs about his work at The New Yinzer Workshop.