Pittsburgh, PA

The above statement was definitely true this weekend, as everyone seems to like an excuse to drink too much and get rowdy. Although the Irish have this reputation, there are a lot of other things to consider about them on St. Patrick’s Day.

First off, St. Patrick may not have even been from Ireland, but Scotland and second, he was responsible for bringing Christianity to the pagans, which is the main reason we celebrate him on this fine Monday. Most people don’t consider our take on this holiday to be a bit hypocritical or the fulfillment of stupid stereotypes, but anyways…since I’m Irish, I’m going to share some of my favorite Irish recipes with you instead, since they also have great food!

Irish Potato Pie

6-8 potatoes, peeled
6 bacon strips
3-4 leeks
salt and pepper to taste
one cup grated Cheddar cheese

Makes 6 servings

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Cook the potatoes in boiling water until tender. Drain.

In a skillet, fry bacon until crisp and drain well on paper towels.

Trim leeks so that you have the white part and a small amount of green. Wash well, and slice thinly. Add leeks to skillet and sauté over medium heat until soft.

Slice the boiled potatoes, and arrange half in the bottom of a pie plate. Season with salt and pepper. Layer with bacon, leeks and one half of the cheese. Cover with remaining with remaining potatoes and season again. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until top is browned and cheese is melted.

Dublin Coddle

Apple Mash

Steak and Guinness Pie

And for those of you who like to drink, here’s my favorite toast:

“May your glass be ever full.
May the roof over your head be always strong.
And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead.”

A great way to work off all of these meals is to head on over to the Harp and Fiddle bar/restaurant on Tuesday nights for their Ceili Dancing, which begins at 7pm. You can also enroll yourself in the School of Irish Dance here.

And of course, don’t forget to check out the NCECA events going on this week!

Whether you celebrate today for religious reasons, to celebrate your love of alcohol or because you’re proud of your Irish heritage, Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

Pittsburgh, St. Patrick’s Day, recipes, Harp and Fiddle, Strip District, food, dancing, Bell School

Tonight at Belvedere’s is the fifth annual Galactic AssDragon Classic, a battle of electronic music with the winner coming out with a 7 inch single pressed by the No Room for Talent label. There will be a panel of judges judging a wide variety of electronic sounds, from the screeching to the heart stopping bass coming out of anything from labtops to microphones to anything else the entrants have thought up.

Speaking of which, this year’s performers include Deepwinter, Statas, Mike and Ike Jones, Vasculator, Cockmongler, Doverspike and more! Be prepared for crazy stints by Mike and Ike and dead baby props by Doverspike.

The event starts at 9 and only costs $3 for a whole night’s worth of crazy entertainment. This really is a one of its kind event; trust me I know from last year. One word of advice, you may want to bring ear plugs!

Belvedere’s is located at 4016 Butler Street in Lawrenceville.

Also, this weekend is the South Side’s Mid-Winter Soup Contest presented by Iron and Glass Bank. The event is Saturday from 12-3pm and is a wonderful way to sample local soups and provide food for the needy for months.

A $5 donation and a can of soup will get you a map of the South Side and all of the participating restaurants, where you can sample soups galore.

Participants will need to register at one of these three locations:
The Brashear Association, 2005 Sarah St
SouthSide Works, 2629 E. Carson St
91.3fm WYEP FM, 12th & Bingham Streets

For more information, visit WYEP’s website here.

I should also remind everyone that tonight is the 15th annual Guinness Toast, so all of you Guinness lovers should be excited about this one! There are too many participating bars to possibly list them all, but some of my favorites who will be toasting include, 1311 in the S. Side, Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, Buckhead Saloon in Station Square, Caseys, Fatheads and Smokin’ Joes also in the S. Side and the Do Drop Inn if you’re out in my hometown, Natrona Heights. If you’re interested, I suggest visiting your favorite bar’s website (if they have one) and see if they are participating and if not, drink your Guinness anyways. Who needs an event to do that?!

And last, but not least the Fun A Day show is this Saturday at the Spare Room and will showcase everyone’s hard work this past month. For more information on this event, visit my previous post and/or their website.

Spare Room is located at 3923 1/2 Mintwood Street in Lawrenceville.

It looks like I’ll be in Lawrenceville all weekend, hope everyone has a fun weekend!

Pittsburgh, Galactic AssDragon Classic, Belvedere’s, Lawrenceville, music, Mike and Ike Jones, Doverspike, Fun a Day, Spare Room, art, Guinness Toast

So I’m sure in a couple of hours, men and women everywhere will be rushing around to get last-minute flowers and candy for their significant others and even the most wilted flowers will find a home tonight. However, Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be about mass consumerism and can be more about love as it was intended. I know I never really cared about expensive gifts or fancy dinners, although they never hurt! But just spending time with someone you love and showing your appreciation for them does wonders for a relationship.

If all else fails, you can always bake cookies! There’s a great sugar cookie recipe over at the Austin, TX blog here.

And just because you’re single, does not mean you can’t celebrate today. I know it’s a hard day for many who feel unloved, but I suggest for those of you in this situation, that you show someone else love today and I promise, it will eventually be shown to you. <3

And who says Valentine’s Day has to spent with your significant other? Why don’t you take your friends out for some drinks or dinner or even your mom for goodness sakes?!

Besides the usual dinner and drinks, here’s some alternatives for the occasion:

Hustlebot @ Modern Formations Gallery in Garfield

Hustlebot is a local improv group that will be performing tonight at Modern Formations and is a humerous way to spend this otherwise sappy holiday. The show starts at 8pm and costs $5.

The Gallery is located at 4919 Penn Avenue in Garfield.

Battle of the Sexes @ Shootz Cafe in the South Side

If you feel like having a competitive Valentine’s Day, why don’t you head to Shootz and compete with the opposite sex in pool, ping pong, trivia, darts and air hockey? Sounds like a good time to me!

Shootz is located at 2305 E. Carson by the Birmingham Bridge.

Lisdoonvarna Irish Matchmaking Festival @ Harp and Fiddle in the Strip

If you don’t have anyone to celebrate with today, you can always check out Harp and Fiddle’s annual Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival. It’ll be held this Saturday starting at 8pm. Singles will receive a free prize pack and festivities for the night will include, karaoke, games, matchmaking (of course) and specialty drinks. According the Harp and Fiddle website, over 70 couples have met at this affair in the past 15 years. Not bad!

And just in case, no one has said this to you yet:

Hope everyone has a fun Valentine’s Day and remember, you don’t have to be in love with someone to celebrate love today!

Pittsburgh, Valentine’s Day, Shootz, Harp and Fiddle, Matchmaking Festival, Strip District, Garfield, Modern Formations, Hustlebot, improv

Sorry for the teeny, tiny picture but I just had to mention that this Saturday is the Scary I Made It, featuring Halloween themed arts and crafts! Does it get any better?!

The craft show is being held in Braddock at 416 Library Street, between 12-5pm. If you were at Flux when it was in Braddock, then you should be able to find it easily; if not, just googlemap it.

For more information, visit their Myspace here or visit my previous post here.

Now on to the festivities!

There’s way too many to list, so here’s a couple:

(Click on the images for full size)

Krobar & Sport Rock Cafe’s Heaven & Hell Costume Ball:

Grannies, Trannies, and Booty Meat at Margarita Mama’s:
I’m going to this one, although I haven’t decided what kind of booty meat I’m going as yet haha

Buckhead’s Night of the Living Dead Party:
I’m only going to say this once: take advantage of the $2 U Call its!

Privilege’s Sexy Halloween Bash:

Halloween Mansion Party at Deja Vu:
My future husband Deshea Townsend is supposed to be at this one. Damn having to work!

Oh, how I love Halloween! I wish I could go to all of these.

Don’t forget to scroll down to see what else is going on this weekend!

Pittsburgh, Halloween, Margarita Mamas, Deja Vu, Buckheads, Privilege, costume, ball, Krobar

Yeah, he’s that cool.

Tonight at Club Zoo in the Strip District, Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, Against All Authority and Streetlight Manifesto will be playing. Woo hoo!

I’m unfortunately working during this show, which saddens me since I haven’t seen Against All Authority since I was a wee lass and although I kinda dislike LTJ, they still put on a good show.

Here’s all the details:
Club Zoo in the Strip District
All ages
Door open at 6pm, show starts at 7.
clubzoo.net
lessthanjake.com
reelbigfish.com

Photo courtesy of Paul Parks at www.reelbigfish.com

Club Zoo, Pittsburgh, Strip District, Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish, Streetlight Manifesto, Against All Authority, music

Looking to advance your career, enhance your social skills and network with other professionals?

Altar Bar is hosting just the event you need with their Entrepreneurial Thursdays happening August 9th. This is a recurring event, but does not occur every Thursday, so if you’re looking for something to do after work tonight, this is it.

The event starts at 5pm and has a cover of $10, but the price includes hors d’oeuvres and an open bar, not to mention the connections you make should justify the cost. And if you’re a student the price is only $7 with ID.

Tonight’s discussion will be centered around “Life Sciences and Health Care” and will feature jazz and R&B music by Jessica Lee.

Altar Bar is located in the Strip District at 1620 Penn Ave and used to be Sanctuary and is beside McDonalds.

For more details visit the Trib’s website.

Pittsburgh, Entrepreneurial Thursdays, business, Altar Bar, Strip District, networking, Jessica Lee

One of the great benefits of writing this blog is that I can promote any event/anyone I like and this post is all about supporting my friend’s bands, well minus Lucinda Williams, although I wish she was my friend!

This weekend brings a lot of good music to Pittsburgh, starting with the ever popular local, turned national band, Black Tie Revue.
They’re playing a free show tonight at the Smiling Moose at 10pm with Philadelphia’s the Teeth and Ohio’s Men of Gentle Birth. The band has really emerged as one of the most successful bands coming out of Pittsburgh in the past couple of years. They’ve been getting a lot of press coverage and played at the SXSW festival in Austin this past March. I couldn’t be happier for them and I’m not just saying that because I know the keyboardist and think he’s one of the best ultimate frisbee players ever!
If you’ve never heard of Black Tie Revue or want to check out some of their new songs, make sure you go to their website and/or Myspace to listen and buy their new album!

Go to this! One of my friends, well actually two are in the Main Events and it’s bound to get crazy! Listen to them on their Myspace. The Fitt has one too here and so does Federale. Show starts at 10pm Saturday at the 31st Street Pub.

Like I said, Lucinda Williams is not my friend, but she has been one of my favorite musicians ever since I can remember. She has some of the greatest, most thought provoking lyrics and her voice isn’t half bad either, despite what some people might say!
She is playing at the Byham Saturday at 8pm and although I can’t afford to go, I sincerely hope she gains some new fans in Pittsburgh this weekend. Go to her Myspace to listen to some of her new songs or buy the album on her website.

If your music tastes favor electronic music and dj’s, instead of power pop and alt-country and whatever craziness goes on at the Pub, make sure you check out Shy Fx and a whole bunch of other djs/electronic music at the Chinatown Inn Saturday night starting at 9pm.

For more details, go to 1337’s website.

And lastly, as I previously mentioned, the 13th Annual Pittsburgh Blues Festival held at Hartwood Acres starts today and continues into Sunday.

It’s a good weekend for shows, so check out at least one of them please! I’ll be at Black Tie Revue, the show at the Pub and Shy FX if anyone cares.

Pittsburgh, music, Lucinda Williams, Byham, Black Tie Revue, Smiling Moose, the Teeth, Men of Gentle Birth, Main Events, Forbidden 5, The Fitt, federale, 31st Street Pub, Shy FX, Chinatown Inn, djs, downtown, South Side, local bands, Hartwood Acres, Blues Festival

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl is sponsoring a series of Neighborhood Forums, the first of which will be held in the North Side tonight. There will be information about the initiative, Neighborhoods First Agenda and there will be input from the Mayor on the current conditions and future of the community. There will be a series of ten community conversations throughout Pittsburgh neighborhoods in the coming months.

For any readers who live in the city of Pittsburgh, you might want to participate in one of the following forums:

July 19 – North Side
August 1 – Downtown, North Shore & Strip
August 29 – Southside Flats, Slopes, Hilltop, Mt. Washington & Duquesne Heights
September 5 – Upper East End (Lawrenceville, Morningside, Garfield, Friendship, Bloomfield, Highland Park)
September 19 – 31st Ward, Hazelwood, Glen Hazel
September 24 – West Pittsburgh
October 24 – East End (East Liberty, Larimer, Lincoln Lemington, Homewood, Brushton and East Hills)
November 7 – Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, Greenfield, Swisshelm Park, Point Breeze, Regent Square
December 5 - South Hills (Brookline, Beechview, Banksville, Overbrook, Carrick)
December TBD – Oakland, Hill and Uptown

These forums will be listed in the “community events” calendars of the Post-Gazette and Tribune Review ahead of time.

Thursday, July 19th
6:30 -7:30 pm
Pittsburgh’s Grand Hall at The Priory
614 Pressley Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15212

For more information contact:
Jennifer Watson
Neighborhood Initiatives Coordinator
Office of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl
412-255-4765
Jennifer.Watson@city.pittsburgh.pa.us

The following information was taken from the websites of the Post-Gazette and Progress Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh, neighborhood forum, Luke Ravenstahl, mayor, North Side, downtown, North Shore, South Side, South Hills, Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, Oakland, Point Breeze, Strip District, Mt. Washington, Duquesne, Upper East End, East End, Hill district, Hazelwood