Popcorn Company heats up Oakland

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/popcorn-company-heats-up-oakland/

Popcorn Company heats up Oakland

Pittsburgh Popcorn Co.

3710 Fifth Ave

Monday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Students can grab something both sweet and salty now as they wander down Fifth Avenue between Atwood and Oakland avenues.

The new branch of the Pittsburgh Popcorn Co., the third in the local franchise, opened last week. The two other stores operate in the Strip District and Downtown, and each store caters to a different market, according to owner Rob Day.

“We saw a pretty good market in terms of college kids,” Day said about the Oakland store. “People need a snack. If you look around Oakland, there aren’t a ton of snacks. Rita’s is seasonal, but this you can get all year round.”

The Oakland store is small — there’s a counter, carnival-themed posters and decorations, a popcorn maker and bins of fresh and flavored popcorn. There’s no sitting room — people get their popcorn and go. There are free samples so people can taste and pick their favorite from nine or 10 gourmet popcorn flavors, which rotate and change by the week. Flavors include cheddar, chocolate, kettle, peanut butter and s’mores, as well as a Flavor of the Week.

“We strive for the best popcorn experience possible and buy fresh products, including all-natural fresh cheese and caramel,” Day said. “I hate using the term ‘gourmet’ since it’s overused, but it’s gourmet popcorn.”

Day and his wife began the Pittsburgh Popcorn Co. after meeting in a popcorn shop in New York City. Genalle Day, a Pittsburgh local, wanted to bring the same experience to her hometown. Rob Day happily agreed, and they soon opened their first store in the Strip District in 2008.

“We thought, Pittsburgh never had [a popcorn store,] so we thought it would be a good idea,” Rob Day said. “I was sick of my corporate job and we decided to do it. I mean, everybody loves popcorn.”

Jarad Bailey, the Oakland store manager, loves popcorn as much as the owners and happily sells the treats while offering free samples to passers-by and anyone who steps inside the store.

“Popcorn is a super fun product,” Bailey said. “The idea is to be nostalgic and offer a new spin on something people already love.”

The Pittsburgh Popcorn Co. has different themes and different Flavors of the Week in each store, but the experience is meant to be the same at each location.

“All of our popcorn is made fresh every day,” Bailey said. “If you go to another store, it isn’t as fresh. It doesn’t taste as good. We probably make the best popcorn on the east coast, period. And it’s cool because it’s a Pittsburgh thing and a Pittsburgh product.”

Anyone is welcome to sample any flavor in the store and not feel obligated to buy popcorn, but for those who give into the temptation, there are three different bag and tin sizes.

Rather than sell multiple items and have them suffer in quality, the business sells only popcorn so that its sole product can be at its best, according to Rob Day, who has designed and implemented most of the flavors.

“I wake up one morning and have it in my head that this will be a great taste,” he said about the flavors. “I just come up with it out of thin air.”

Store hours may change in the future as the popcorn company settles into the Oakland area. The store expects to accept Panther Funds within two weeks.

‘Guardians’ simple and predictable

‘Guardians’ simple and predictable

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/guardians-simple-and-predictable/
“Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole”

Starring: Jim Sturgess and Emily Barclay

Director: Zack Snyder

Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures: Village Roadshow Pictures/Animal Logic

Grade: B-

3-D has become Hollywood’s newest flashy technology, drawing in crowds with the promise of something beautiful to look at. But the visuals in a film cannot promise a good story.

Fortunately, “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” stands as a complete story on its own, and its 3-D visuals only add to the movie. The movie follows the typical underdog-becomes-a-hero story, except that all the main characters are owls. It’s loosely based on a novel series by Kathryn Lasky, and the film combines the plot of three out of her 15 novels.

“Guardians” tells the story of a young barn owl named Soren. He grew up listening to the tales about the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, a group of owl warriors who once saved the land from a power-hungry gang known as the Pure Ones.

Overnight, Soren, his brother Kludd and other owlets are captured and taken from their peaceful home by surviving Pure Ones. They are told they are orphans who will be raised into soldiers, and any who do not accept the new law and are ungrateful enough to turn away their new family are made into slaves.

Soren and new friend Gylfie manage to learn how to fly and escape with the help of one Pure One who was forced into working for the cause to save his family. However, Soren’s brother embraces the law of his captors and exceeds as a soldier in their ranks. Soren seeks out the Guardians’ home at the Great Tree, collecting followers as he travels and searches for something of which he has no proof but still believes exists.

Throughout the film, audiences should be prepared to enter a fantasy land. Here, owls can harness fire, wear masks, carry weapons and use magic found in metal to trap their enemies. The Guardians come off as knights, fighting the evil in the land and living by an honor code — not living for the glory but fighting because it is their duty. Loyalty is respected, sacrifice is necessary and doing the right thing rewards the just.

The soundtrack contributes to the image of evil taking over the land. With the exception of one song by Owl City, most of the score lacks in lyrics and captures the feeling of going into battle and fighting an enemy, even when weak and supposedly helpless.

There is a blatant idea that the power-hungry Pure Ones, who believe in survival of the fittest and enslaving the weak to do their bidding, are flat out wrong. And almost every character that comes into contact with the enemy is corrupted, except for the dreamer Soren. All things considered, this movie is darker than expected, launching straight from a peaceful land into a terrifying tyrannical culture.

And it can’t be avoided: The visuals are stunning. The team that worked on “Happy Feet” was brought in for this film, and it seems its past experience animating birds benefited this new film. There are elegant, detailed close-ups of feathers and rain, stark definitions in objects and fantastic backgrounds enhanced by 3-D. The colors are vibrant and the lighting and shading work perfectly to set the tone and mood.

Guardians is simple, enjoyable fun: It’s predictable, but beautiful, telling a story that has been told time and again because people love to hear it and love to retell it. There are sure to be sequels, and with work and luck they will be as enjoyable as — and perhaps even better than — this film.

Author Dorothy Barresi talks poetry, teaching

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/author-dorothy-barresi-talks-poetry-teaching/

Author Dorothy Barresi talks poetry, teaching

For many students, the word poetry prompts bad memories of high school classes and anxiety at the idea of writing sappy love phrases.

But poetry remains alive and well, surviving as a literary form locally and on the Internet, according to author Dorothy Barresi.

Barresi is a professor of English at California State University, Northridge. She studied poetry in Pitt’s graduate program in 1980 and has published four books since 1991. The newest, “American Fanatics,” was released in August through the University of Pittsburgh Press. Her book has received praise for delving into the heart of American society.

Barresi looks back on her time at Pitt’s graduate school fondly, citing living away from home surrounded by writers as a phenomenal experience. Her style evolved through the graduate school program and her experiences afterward.

Today when she grades her students’ writing, the published poet tells them she knows that most of them have written poetry before, but that she wants to help their style reach a higher level.

“There are individual styles,” Barresi said of poetry. “There is an aesthetic bias you bring to a poem. I try to leave my bias out when I teach. I try to help the student write the best they can. Beginning poets need to know about economy, intensity, to create an image out of figurative language and to avoid a cliché. There are all kinds of things beginning poets need to know to take poetry to make a hobby an art.”

Barresi adored reading and language from a young age, collecting her writing — mostly fiction — in a journal. She fell in love with poetry after taking an undergraduate course.

“I was reading contemporary poetry for the first time,” she said. “It was a world of language and language play I didn’t even know existed.”

Today she continues to write and teach in a culture that is not always receptive to the art.

“I think poetry is mysterious,” Barresi said. “I think that’s one of the reasons the public backs away from something they perceive is challenging. It’s more of an instant culture that flashes and we get it. There are still thousands of people who love to lose themselves in language and get transported some place they didn’t expect to go. Poetry is lyrical and strange and takes us out of ourselves deep into ideas. So readers turn to get something they can’t get anywhere else.”

But Barresi stressed that poetry, in all its forms, remains an active component in society.

“I think thanks to spoken word performances and poetry slams that there is a[n] ... audience for poetry that isn’t always acknowledged in the academic word,” she said. “I have students who go to slam events and spoken-word events downtown where there may be music playing. I think it’s healthy for poetry that there are also these other forms. They’re a little looser on the page and aren’t so literary, but it’s all about language.”

The Internet provides outlets for self-publishing as well, allowing anyone with a hobby and love for poetry to write and post their works.

“It takes poetry out of a precious, special place,” Barresi said of the method. “It shouldn’t be like opera. It should be a community event. I think all those nonliterary vendors are fantastic. It increases an audience and makes poetry more of people’s everyday lives.”

Poetry still sells fairly well, according to Maria Sticco, a publicist with the University of Pittsburgh Press. And there are, of course, plans to adapt to the market.

“We are trying to keep up, getting our books ready for electronic readers,” Sticco said. “We’re in the process of making things electronic. We don’t have a choice. You keep up with the trends.”

Before getting her book published, Barresi’s manuscript was reviewed by members of the University Press. When reading any submission, Sticco said, editors gravitate toward stronger styles that use technique and verse well and that have varied content.

“People try hard to be clever and tie in poetry with something happening in the news,” Sticco said. “They try too hard. There are different forms and definitions in poetry. There is a pattern to a lot of poetry — even in free verse. Even if a lot of our poets don’t go to grad school at first, authors may go back to validate themselves.”

The poetry community is very collaborative, Sticco said. She said she admires that Barresi often supports and works with other writers.

“They’re all looking for a chance for people to hear their work,” she said. “We just want to get the poetry out there.”

With her new book released, Barresi can reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of her work as she begins a new collection of poetry.

“If I were asking myself how my work has changed, I’d say I am more interested now in writing about the culture and writing about where America is right now,” she said. “I still write about myself that way, but I am interested in looking outward now and having an overlay of cultural examination or asking questions about where we’re at in the country right now. In the beginning I wrote a lot about family. I think my gaze has turned outward. I like that, because one can only write about one’s angst for so long.”

Repo! The Genetic Opera

I’m ready to blow off some steam at the end of two long weeks of work - so what should I review today? How about something gory, intentionally bad and yet incredibly enjoyable?

(As always: remember, my blog, my opinion!)

“Repo! The Genetic Opera” is a 2008 release that made a stage performance a cult film of a weird hybrid sci-fi gothic opera genre. Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, “Repo!” explores a sci-fi year 2056 where a future epidemic of organ failures led to the creation of GeneCo; they’ll happily sell organs to patients, even offering assisted payment plans. Soon the company campaigned hard enough to make surgery fashionable. They even market an addictive painkiller to cope with the invasive procedures.

The catch? GeneCo owner Rotti Largo (played by Paul Sorvino) and his three children gain enough power to lobby for a law that makes repossessing organs legal. If payments are missed for any reason, the product is reposed by a Repo Man working for Rotti Largo, owner of GeneCo.

One of his Repo Men, played by Anthony Stewart Head, has a daughter named Shilo, played by Alexa Vega. Ill with a blood disease, he tells her he is a doctor and is working on a cure for her, keeping her locked in the house as he murders and repossess’ organs for Largo.

Like any teenager, Shilo finds ways out of her mansion – and once outside she not only meets Largo, plotting the future of his company, but her idol, singer Blind Mag (played by Sarah Brightman) and a drug distributor merely known as Graverobber (played by Terrance Zdunich); Graverobber is actually the narrator for this tale, while Blind Mag is a singer working for Rotti Largo against her will.

The rest of the film explores the past of the older characters and the journey Shiloh takes to find her freedom. Murder is revealed, contracts are broken, drug addiction is shoved in the audience’s face, and death is commonplace in this future drama.

Almost the entire movie is narrated by song – combining opera with metal and rock. Each actor brings a vocal talent to the screen – even the whiney-voiced Vega somehow reveals plenty about her character. Luckily, the rest of the cast is anything but annoying when they sing. Sarah Brightman shares a beautiful opera song about a caged bird (in Italian, but that’s what it’s about), for example. These songs manage to be fairly powerful and entertaining – and in the case of “Zydrate Anatomy,” catchy as Hell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG2u-wSvOZ8

By the way, if you didn’t guess from that clip (sadly it won’t embed into the post, so please click it), the character of Graverobber became very popular very quickly – his voice is downright sexy and his dark, charming persona gives him a bad boy edge among fans.

(And yes, that is Paris Hilton singing, too. I have no comment.)

The film combines live action with some comic strips that Terrence Zdunich drew himself; since the film didn’t have enough budget to do make-up and make the characters younger, the strategy became explaining the past with comics and using live action to tell the present time story. Every shot is filled with shadows and blue hue. I know it’s because of the budget, yet in some ways, it works; things are very dark in this future. And bloody. Yeah, this isn’t for your children.

So what remains to be said? Again, it’s important to remember: this is a cult film. It isn’t going to be considered a classic on any level, and cinematically, it’s not that good. It is, however, very enjoyable. It’s cliché and yet humorous, dark and yet laughable.

P.S. Do not confuse this with a recent rip-off called “Repo Men.” For more reading about these two films as a comparative topic, go to http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=14300

Great Big Sea has waves of fans

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/great-big-sea-has-waves-of-fans/

Great Big Sea has waves of fans

Great Big Sea

Byham Theater, 101 Sixth St.

Sept. 23 at 8 p.m.

$32-$40

Folk tales and music don’t just make a great accompaniment for bedtime — they make a fantastic career for performers.

Taking modern rock styles and combining them with folk songs the members grew up with, Great Big Sea creates a sound that both attracts audiences and creates cultural diversity. The band has been performing since 1993, gaining popularity in Canada, Europe and the United States alike.

“The thing is we’ve had two careers — one in Canada and one in America and Europe,” band member Bob Hallett said. “They’re different. The career in Canada began with a craze for this kind of music. Our music videos got played and we went on shows. We acquired physical rock stardom where people recognized you. In America, we began as a pulp band and proceeded to gather a following under the radar of the national media. It’s two different worlds.”

Hallett sings and plays a variety of instruments for the band, from a fiddle to a tin whistle and an accordion. The instrument line-up immediately sets the band apart from others.

“We’re not really a rock ‘n’ roll band,” Hallett said. “We use traditional music as the basis for our music. It’s our starting point for languages and rhythms. The deal is, we create a seamless thing between what we wrote and what we grew up with.”

Hallett and his fellow bandmates have been performers for a long time, staying in a band that originally started as an experiment of sorts.

“It was a post-university employment project,” Hallett said. “It was our part-time job in college — playing traditional music. When we graduated we could proceed into whatever careers available. We’d been doing this a long time and had evolved, so we gave ourselves two years to see where we wound up.”

And the band just kept on going. Hallett and his fellow musicians, Sean McCann, Alan Doyle, Kris MacFarlane and Murray Foster never felt the desire to leave the field, and over the years they changed and evolved to keep up while holding onto their original ideas.

“You can’t ignore what’s on the radio and around you, and doing this we’ve gotten to know new people,” Hallett said. “Their approach seeps in. If you have an idea these days, there’s no box and no idea that can’t be improved upon. The idea is to create an ever-evolving thing. We began in a specific spot, but that can expand in any direction.”

Hallett enjoys traveling and performing in new places and can’t complain about the advent of new technologies.

“Recording has gotten easier because it’s not required to go to an expensive studio to make a record,” he said. “You can do it with a laptop. But performing is a chance to do something new every night. Our families were all sailors and travelers, so for me it’s happy to wake up somewhere new every day. I enjoy the constant motion.”

The Canadian celtic rock band will perform tonight as part of a Trust Series, hosted by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

The goal is to bring in an array of entertainment and complement a variety of traditional and experimental arts alike, said Veronica Corpuz, director of public relations.

“When we program events like Great Big Sea, we look for quality of music and how well they’ll attract an audience,” she said. “We think that the type of music they perform and their success internationally helps to make the cultural mix robust.”

Great Big Sea has performed in Pittsburgh before and was popular then as well, she remembered.

“I think the kind of music they play is so resounding and vibrant. It’s uplifting and fun,” Corpuz said. “It’s the kind of music that mixes genres in a seamless way. It’s dynamic. It’s really explicit.”

When writing band music for performances, three of the band members collaborate and compromise, but after a song is put together it has many more challenges to pass.

“Everyone is musically prolific but we aren’t the kind of band where, if we wrote it let’s do it,” Hallett said. “It has to survive the opinion of everyone who hears it. It’s an ongoing process. That’s where it gets difficult. It’s easy to write a song, not easy to convince everyone it’s good enough.”

Hallett considers the band fortunate to have a rock solid fan base and an idea of what it intends to do as the music industry changes and the Internet remains a new tool.

“In many ways when we started, we followed a conventional model with a record deal,” he said. “On one end, major labels fund and create rock stars. They’re marketing muscles. They aren’t doing that anymore. It’s difficult to see where new rock stars are coming from. On the other hand, the Internet offers a huge opportunity. If you’re diligent, you can create your own fan base. The whole world is now open to you. It’s good and bad, and for a lot of artists it depends on where they are in their career. We were well-established so we could expand on a healthy fan base.”

But that doesn’t eliminate certain risks that go with traveling. Bad flights, bus accidents and the occasional loss of money have left a bad taste in Hallett’s mouth; but he’s stuck with music this long for a reason.

“There’s always something going wrong, but when you get an hour and a half of people living your songs, it’s worth it,” he said.

Dark Star Orchestra revives the Grateful Dead

Dark Star Orchestra revives the Grateful Dead

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/dark-star-orchestra-revives-the-grateful-dead/

Dark Star Orchestra

Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead

Sept. 22 at 8 p.m.

510 East 10th Ave, Munhall, Pa.

412-368-5225

Tickets: $25-30

Fans, rejoice: The Grateful Dead has been reborn.

At least, that’s the goal of bands like Dark Star Orchestra, which remake and re-enact the original eclectic rock band’s material every night.

Having performed more than 1,600 shows since 1997, DSO makes a point of recreating an entire Grateful Dead concert as faithfully as it can. Although the lineup changes, the band currently features seven members, including keyboardist and vocalist Rob Barraco, who was influenced by the Dead’s sound at an early age.

“For me as a teenager, [The Grateful Dead] was the pinnacle of music,” Barraco said. “No other rock band played with this level of sophistication and had this songwriting talent and lyrical ability to answer to every man. For me, that was important.”

Barraco, who said he was born with music in his “veins,” never wanted any other career but music. He performed with other tribute bands and even with Grateful Dead bass player Phil Lesh earlier in his career.

The manager for DSO asked if Barraco could step in when its then-keyboardist passed away.

“I did a tour, and I had so much fun and so much respect for these guys because they viewed the music the same as I,” Barraco said. “I asked if I could do it again. It was off and on for a few years, and I finally realized this is really what I want to do.”

Barraco became a full-time DSO member and soon mastered the Dead’s distinctive style.

“This music demands to be improvised,” he said. “We don’t copy. It would be impossible to do so. The Grateful Dead played so many live shows it would take years to recreate their work correctly.”

From the beginning, the cover band grew fast. It played once a week, and its crowd doubled every time. The Internet only fueled the growth, allowing the band to, in Barraco’s words, “share a journey with the audience.”

“We want to create the magic, too,” he said. “Younger kids who never got the chance to see the Dead, they want this experience, too. We provide that for the kids who would never have the opportunity.”

Other members of the original Grateful Dead have played with DSO, including Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Vince Welnick.

“[Bob Weir and Phil Lesh] had so much respect for us that they stole our guitar player for their band,” Barraco said. Jeff Mattson came in to replace the original guitarist.

On the road, DSO enjoys a family dynamic. Barraco loves spending time with his band buddies and seeing fans and friends he might have lost touch with if he didn’t travel so often.

“The Deadheads are a cool eclectic group of people,” he said, employing the popular phrase for Grateful Dead fans. “Most are generous and big-hearted. I love talking to them. They’re respectful.”

Even years later, DSO still retains its freshness for fans.

“One of the great things is the Dead had the ability to reinvent themselves every few years and be modern with the times,” Barraco said. “They never stagnated. Because of that, there is so much rich material to draw from. Because we change shows every night, we make sure we don’t repeat every night. We can go four or five shows without repeating a song.”

Appropriately, DSO CDs are all recorded live, although the group is now beginning to write original material with the help of veteran Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.

Though not a performer, publicist Dave Weissman came in to assist the band in 2002 and has been hooked ever since.

“They’re a big tribute band, and as those words represent, it’s mostly a tribute,” he said. “But they’re a spirit band. They try to step into what the Grateful Dead delivered when they performed. They get to have a fresh take on it every night.”

The Grateful Dead’s music changed so much from era to era that if someone ever grew bored of one style, he could move on to another.

“There’s a breadth and supply of music so great I don’t think they’ll ever get sick of it,” Weissman said.

“Many students were not of age when the Grateful Dead were around and [frontman] Garcia passed,” Weissman said. “This is a great way to carry the torch and hear what the Grateful Dead sounded like in their heyday.”

Both Barraco and Weissman share an excitement for their upcoming Pittsburgh performance. Barraco cited the music hall as a “cool place to play.”

“We already know we are going to play a cool show,” Barraco said. “All I can say is, it’ll be a mind blower.”

New exhibits dazzle the senses

New exhibits dazzle the senses

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/new-exhibits-dazzle-the-senses/

If you still think of paintings and drawings when you hear the words “art exhibit,” the new installations at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts might surprise you.

Amidst the PCA’s six new exhibits, there are two that make use of the senses in unusual ways. One allows the public to touch the pieces — “Touch Me, Please,” by local artistic guild Group A — and another features vocal recordings of Pittsburgh locals: “Five Men, Five Women, One Child” by Lenka Clayton.

The PCA is a nonprofit group that focuses on sharing local artwork and is “committed to the artist and the advancement of artistic excellence in visual arts,” Stefanie Moser, the PCA’s assistant to the director, wrote in an e-mail. The organization focuses specifically on film, video, photography and other digital and creative medias and crafts, she wrote.

“The Center is where the community can create, see, support and learn about visual arts,” Moser wrote. The center also offers educational programs.

Eric Shiner, the Milton Fine Curator of Art at the Andy Warhol Museum, juried the “Touch Me, Please” exhibit. According to Shiner, this particular exhibit defies the usual museum rules that prevent the public from interacting with the artwork.

“It’s an interactive environment first and foremost,” he said of the exhibit. “Guests will walk into a space and immediately feel compelled to interact and touch the artwork. It’s a mix of wall pieces, installation art and sculpture.”

Of course, Shiner was a juror, not an artist. This meant sifting through submissions to find works like Group A’s — pieces that stand out and are thematically appropriate.

“Normally art groups in the city ask me to be a juror for shows,” Shiner said. “What that entails is that artists submit about two art pieces each. I go through everything and pick the things I think are appropriate for the theme of the show. I just select the works that make sense for that exhibition. Ten to 15 percent [of the works] are accepted into exhibition.”

Group A members could not be reached for comment.

Clayton, creator of “Five Women, Five Men, One Child,” made an exhibit of a different breed — her piece is an audio documentary rather than a physical collection of items.

Clayton’s project is a composition of audio recorded by anonymous men, women and a child in Pittsburgh during a normal day in their life.

This exhibit features “11 assorted stereos sitting on white shelves in a semicircle around the gallery, from a quietly humming dusty stereo to a decorated karaoke machine,” Clayton said in an e-mail.

The voices often overlap and cut each other off or go silent altogether, creating an “ebb and flow” of various conversation and argument in the room, she said.

“The recordings are played in the gallery in real time,” Clayton said. “Words once uttered at exactly the same moment by people usually separated by geography and circumstance collide for the first time to form an accidental documentary of the city. It happened, but no one heard it.”

Clayton began this project after moving to Pittsburgh from abroad, and had no trouble finding the equipment and permits from local art groups and law offices. Clayton took inspiration for the show from a childhood dream.

“I wanted desperately to become a census taker,” she said. “I love the folly of attempting to count millions and millions of people individually. The census is a utopian idea, full of beautiful glaring holes. I passed the test to be a census taker but was never called on account of my not being an American citizen. This project was a response to the Census Bureau, my own incomplete census of every single word spoken by five men, five women and one child on the first of April, 2010 (census day).”

Some might think putting the project together would be an exercise in tedium, but Clayton remembers the development as a sensory adventure.

“The transcribing process was incredible,” she said. “It was like listening to a three-month-long radio soap opera that progressed a single word at a time.”

Renaissance Festival brings chivalry to Pittsburgh

Renaissance Festival brings chivalry to Pittsburgh

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/renaissance-festival-brings-chivalry-to-pittsburgh/

Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival

When: Sept. 4-6, 11-12, 18-19, 25-26

Where: On Route 31 East,

between West Newton and Mt. Pleasant. Take exit 51A off of Interstate 70. Festival is 1/4 mile on the right.

Phone number: 724-872-1670

Regular Gate Adult

Admission: $15.95

http://www.pgh-renfest.com/

Hear ye, hear ye — Pittsburgh’s fantasy king and queen have opened their doors to the city once again.

Returning for its fourth year under new management, the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival is an annual medieval-themed fair that combines combat jousting, music, comedy, games, carnival rides, costumed performers and a marketplace for handcrafted materials.

“Once you walk through the front gate, it’s all entertainment,” said Jim Paradise Jr., director of marketing.

Every year the festival acts are carefully selected to provide the best entertainment for local residents. The performers are a mix of new talent and old favorites.

One memorable act is Cast in Bronze, a music group started by Frank DellaPenna of Valley Forge, Pa. He plays a carillon, a four-ton medieval instrument made of different sized bells, historically used for weddings and town events.

“I am the Spirit of the Bells,” said DellaPenna, explaining that carillon players in the past were not seen while playing their instrument. To capture the same historical feel, he wears all black with a mask, keeping his facial identity a secret from the general public.

DellaPenna has performed in medieval-type fairs for almost 15 years. He was recruited to Pittsburgh during the Colorado Renaissance Festival.

When performing, DellaPenna plays his bells “as a silent and masked spirit, which is kind of different than what other people do,” he said. “I don’t speak, I perform. I only appear in costume to play the instrument, and no one knows me outside of the costume. It’s a mystical, magical thing.”

Paradise affirmed the uniqueness of the performance.

“Cast In Bronze is something you won’t see anywhere else,” Paradise said. “People sit, not laughing, but enjoying the sounds that come from him.”

Other festival acts this year include a hypnotist, a juggler, a fire-eater, a master piper and jousters. Jousting, in particular, is a quintessential Renaissance Festival staple.

“People enjoy the jousts,” Paradise said. “It says what we are and the different entertainment that we have.”

Bryan Beard, the owner, producer and jouster of Noble Cause Productions, came to the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival after Paradise recruited him from the Colorado Renaissance Festival.

Beard rehearses with three other jousters and their horses three times a week, ensuring that the “good guy wins” after each match.

“We have so many kids coming to see the show,” Beard explained. “They come to be entertained. Sometimes the bad guy will cheat, but they always lose in the end. The good guy is in black and gold, obviously, as a Steeler tribute, and he wins every time.”

Beard enjoys traveling with the crew but also has another investment in the shows.

“I like being able to present an idea of chivalry,” he said. “I don’t say it’s lost, but I say sometimes it’s forgotten. People living up to their own code, doing what’s right and kind — I think that’s something that needs to be emphasized as much as the negative.”

A daily marketplace offers spectators relief from weighty morality plays. Items sold include pots, art pieces, jewelry, handmade soaps, welding, swords and various leather bags and ornaments.

“It’s not your everyday item that you’re going to see,” Paradise said of the marketplace. “We need to be different, and the quality of what we bring in will be appreciated.”

In addition to a diverse product list, each weekend features a specific theme that alters the festival a little, making each day a little different for workers and visitors alike.

“For us, it’s having additional elements to the festival other than what we do every day to make each weekend different,” Paradise said.

Paradise cited Wine Revelry weekend (Sept. 11-12), in which a variety of local wines are available for tasting, as one such theme. Other upcoming themes include Celtic Fling (Sept. 18-19) and Oktoberfest (Sept. 25-26).

The festival has been ongoing in the Pittsburgh area for about 14 years, according to Paradise, with one missed year when ownership changed hands to a private company. The Festival is now managed by Rocky Mountain Festivals, Inc., which owns and funds the Colorado Renaissance Festival as well. Paradise said the new management provides a reliable lineup of features.

“I don’t want to change a lot because of the quality of what we have,” Paradise said about the lineup. “We may bring in two or three new acts and add them to the cast.”

For his part, DellaPenna returns every year because he is asked back and has a fan base in Pittsburgh. He doesn’t mind sharing his music, considering he owns one of only two traveling carillons in the United States. According to Paradise, entertainment like what DellaPenna provides is key to the fair.

“Some of the struggle that we have is that people look at people in costume and think it’s reenactment, but it’s truly a fantasy park,” he said. “You don’t have to come in costume. It’s the Shakespearean entertainment — outdoor, interactive entertainment that people enjoy. You become part of it.”

The Reserves sound like The Fray

The Reserves sound like The Fray

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/the-reserves-sound-like-the-fray/

Band: The Reserves

Album: Life

Grade: B-

Label: The Reserves Music

Rocks like: An upgraded version of The Fray

The old saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” holds true for CDs as well. The cover of Life by The Reserves is a bland image of a road. It hardly stands out on the CD rack, but when the music is playing the tunes are catchy and fairly enjoyable.

The opening track, “Ghost Writer,” kicks off with some upbeat drums and guitar over what sounds like an organ in the background. A little bit odd, but it certainly gives this first track a sound that stands apart from other albums. The track features lyrics about “not wearing your heart on your sleeve,” and the “the world not being ready for your dreams.” The song begs the question of what someone wants to be, playing like a storybook.

Other tracks have similarly strong beats, like “Red Eye.” Not all of the songs feature organs like the first — the album shifts from organ to piano to guitar. The band showcases their mastery of all three throughout the CD.

Vocally, singers Dave Greksouk and Mike Durham don’t do a bad job. Though they don’t always enunciate, making vocals difficult to understand, they aren’t the worst offenders, by far. Their voices are low and whispery and do an interesting job of setting the mood as they harmonize with the music.

All in all, these guys know what they’re doing. So here’s the lesson: don’t judge by album covers or CD titles.

Pillars of the Earth

Hello, all! It’s Friday, which means classes have wrapped up for the week and I have time to take a breath before the weekend begins. Review time!

This review is admittedly a bit late no matter how you look at it – this series premiered over the summer, and it ended about two weeks ago. However, I love this series too much to pass up a chance to comment on it in my free time.

Pillars of the Earth - Tv-series Intro (title-sequence) - Click here for funny video clips

Originally a novel by Ken Follet, ‘Pillars of the Earth’ recently hit TV as a miniseries released by Starz. The novel was published in 1989. The story? Building a cathedral in an English town during the 12th century. Believe me, this series is far more exciting than that sounds. It is incredible how much emotional invest went into this show (I found myself screaming at the TV at times). Of course, this could be because of the other stories – a deceased prince and king leads to a shift of power and war, corruption and politics get in the way of construction constantly, and drama between characters can take a very long time to be resolved, reminding us things were not always simpler in the “good old days”. Characters include Tom Builder (the man intent on building a cathedral), a corrupt Bishop and family, the town of Kingsbridge, and Prior Philip.

Romance? This novel has it. Drama? Oh, there’s plenty of that. Suspense? Good grief, yes. Part of the reason I yelled at the TV was each episode ending actually left me unsatisfied and angry. I know it was to keep me coming back, but I think they did their job a bit too well in this case.

This story became Ken Follet’s bestseller. Apparently Oprah recommended this book as well – I totally missed this memo, because I somehow didn’t hear about this book until the miniseries was released. Let it be known, I do intend to read it. Since I have not, this review is just me commenting on the miniseries. I have no bias towards the book. I’m sure things were added and removed, but from what I have seen, this may have been for the best.

The miniseries hit TV in an eight-part release after a year of production. The very first episode, I admit, was a confusing introduction. I watched it twice to make sure I knew which character was which. The very first episode explains that a prince has drowned and there are no heirs to Henry I – until years later when the pregnant Princess Maud is told her son will be the next heir. Oh, but then the king is murdered and Maud is tossed aside. The war to reclaim the throne for her son, Henry II, begins.

At the same time, Tom Builder is seen working with his family until they are fired by the angry, corrupt young William Hamleigh. He is angry because Lady Aliena, daughter of the Earl of Shiring, will not marry him. Tom and the family travel and meet Ellen and her son Jack, who introduced as people living off the land. There is also Aliena’s brother Richard and the oh-so-hated Waleran Bigod, a bankrupt bishop with quite a devilish hand in the entire series.

By the way, I didn’t even name half of the characters here.

The good news is that everything and everyone ties together perfectly, so it is far less confusing when you actually watch the show and get into it. Tom’s family travels with Jack and Ellen, trouble strikes Shiring (forcing Aliena and Richard to change their lives drastically), and the series quickly becomes exciting as people try to guess at what will happen next time.

Cast includes Ian McShane, Refus Sewell, Hayley Atwell, Eddie Redmayne, and oh so many more. I will say, I had no complaints with this cast. Every person carried himself or herself perfectly and created a strong, believable character that people could either adore or hate with a passion while watching this show.

Plot wise? Again, I can’t compare to the book, but I left this series with satisfaction – there’s definitely a feel of justice has been served. However, as I did say, the ending between episodes left me begging for more – every episode has a bit of good news but far more bad news, it seemed. Things got darker and more complicated right up until the end. There is a happy ending, but believe me, there is so much sacrifice made in the process.

On that note, this show really is character driven. The trailers showed a ton of war scenes, but in reality, I think the trailers showed every battle scene in the show – and out of eight hours, that’s not a lot. There’s a couple sex scenes, but none that are very long and none that don’t impact the characters somehow.

Overall, the people really are the focus. You want to see these characters grow and deal with their lives and see how they impact the dream of a wonderful cathedral in Kingsbridge.

So after watching the epic beginning that I will attach, find this series and give it a fair chance.

The Pillars of the Earth - Trailer - Funny bloopers are a click away