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It’s great that Pittsburgh is starting to be known for something specific again. Zombiefest ‘07:
Pittsburgh might be the country’s “Most Livable City,” but this weekend at the ExpoMart in Monroeville, the first annual “It’s Alive!” Zombie Fest aims to demonstrate why our city is also a great place to live if you’re Undead
Zombie Fest will include readings and panels by horror authors and horror movie and video screenings, as well as displays of zombie-themed merchandise and horror-themed work by local and national artists. Organizers expect around 3,000 attendees.
People always wondered what was going to ultimately take over for steel.
I almost forgot to post about this.
While in Denver, one evening I got caught up in a fit of antisocial moodiness. So instead of doing the pub crawl down the 16th Street pedestrian mall with the whole entourage for the fourth straight night, I left the hotel, hopped in a cab by myself and lit out for the Bluebird Theater to catch the Deerhoof show that I knew was happening…somewhere. The cabbie knew the way.
The concert was great. I’m not a fan really, but good live music is good live music. They’ve got a very hard-to-describe sound. Power trio, deconstructed song structures, arhythmic, atonal, freak out, jerky, cloying, spazzy, experimental. Not something I’d normally put on, but they rocked out, undeniably.
The club was really nice too. Charming old theater-style venue with an uncrowded bar (serving Anchor Steam on tap!) and a thin haze of sweet-smelling smoke up near the stage. Different levels made it easy to see from anywhere and the audience was enthusiastic and fun.
Afterwards, when the crowd spilled out onto the sidewalk, I started talking with a few dudes who were hanging out, smoking. We chatted about the show, and the Mountain Goats concert I had seen last month. One of them lived in Philadelphia for a while and had visited Pittsburgh once. This was enough for him to keep high-fiving me every ten minutes and loudly proclaiming me to be his “Pitt bro!!!” (he was pretty smashed). Overwhelmed by our newly-formed bond of brotherhood, he and his pals insisted on taking me across the street for “carbombs”. When we got there, I learned these were shots of Bailey’s Irish Creme dropped into a Guinness stout. Chugged, naturally. After a few of these, and some conversation with the bartender about who was the biggest jerk in our little group, we parted ways and I had to locate a cab, not really sure where I was. Good times.
Oh yeah…My Pitt Bro told me he was an elementary school teacher / amateur porn star. I couldn’t tell if he was serious, half-serious or just drunk, but I had to make him promise not to send samples of his work to my cell phone (which is a work phone).
Pittsburgh gets Google Street View.
Starting today, Pittsburgh joins the list of 14 cities that Internet users can tour online by using Google Maps’ Street View. The service, which launched in May, offers three-dimensional, photographic views of cityscapes that a user can navigate street by street to locate everything from apartments to gas stations to theaters.
It’s pretty nifty. I already checked and you can see both my old office building and my new one. Sure, privacy doesn’t exist anymore, but who uses that in this day and age anyhow?
More as a reminder to myself. Lord knows that the concert scene here in Pittsburgh isn’t anything to brag about.
Tuesday, 10/9: Yo La Tengo @ the Andy Warhol Museum. Sold Out. Damn you.
Wednesday, 10/10: Old Time Relijun @ the Garfield Artworks
Tuesday, 10/16 : British Sea Power in Philly. Probably won’t make this one but I would give either left or right nut to be there.
Friday, 10/19: Wilco @ Palumbo
Wednesday, 10/24: Enon
Sunday, 10/28: New Pornographers in Asheville, NC (a little south of Pittsburgh, but worth the trip)
Monday, 10/29: Ryan Adams @ Carnegie Music Hall
Friday, 11/2: Fiery Furnaces @ Mr. Small’s
Sunday, 11/11: Deer Tick in Lancaster, PA
Monday, 11/12: Eric Bachmann @ Diesel
Thursday, 11/15: They Might Be Giants @ Mr. Small’s
Monday, 11/19: The Pipettes @ Diesel
And goddamn wouldn’t you know it, Cleveland has Man Man and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists tonight.
Upcoming CLE shows: Ween (10/25), Thermals (10/26), Jens Lekman (11/1), Lucero (11/6), Charalambides (11/7),
Warner Brothers president of production Jeff Robinov has made a new rule that “We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead”, according to Deadline Hollywood. Apparently, Robinov won’t even look at a script with a female lead.
Bigoted and/or stupid, take your pick.
This is me, at 9,517 feet altitude. click photos for larger.
Last week I got to go to Denver, Colorado for a work-related conference. Usually, our group just sticks to the program and skips the more casual and fun-oriented field trips. This year, we made the decision early to loosen up a little and go on some of the field trips. Nine of my co-workers also attended the conference, and a third of us went on the bicycle tour of Summit County, where Breckenridge is. You can see the Breckenridge ski resort in this photo (it’s the mountain in the center-right with the zebra-like pattern indicated by the ski slopes).
The ride was incredible. And incredibly difficult. It was around the Dillon Reservoir. 23 miles at 9,000 feet, with a 500-1000 ft. elevation gain during the ride. I haven’t ridden in a long time, and was very unprepared for it. The altitude wasn’t debilitating, but it definitely winded me. I had been running 3-4 times a week since early August in preparation for the cardio demand. It may have helped some with the stamina, but the muscle groups used for the were entirely different. It didn’t help that they gave us 35 pound “comfort” bikes with both front suspension and suspended seatposts. I did alright; although I got passed frequently, I didn’t quit, push or come in last, which were my three goals for the day.
The worst part of the ride was a 6 mile climb, with the last couple on the thin shoulder of a very busy mountain road with giant waste management trucks barreling past just a few feet away. I was in the granny gear the whole time and still panting like a dog with emphysema.
After the grueling incline, we stopped at a scenic overlook for lunch. When I opened the bag lunch sandwich, the bread was absolutely sopping with mayonnaise (the most disgusting condiment and my least favorite foodstuff of all time). I was so hungry I didn’t even pause, I just wolfed down the entire thing in about seven or eight bites. And at that moment, it was the best tasting food I had ever had in my life. Chipmunks that had lost all fear of human visitors brazenly tried to steal everyone’s cookies and take bites of the sandwiches right out of our hands. One was about the size of a small groundhog, so I guess they are pretty successful thieves.
I saw three western birds to add to my meager life list. A raven, a mountain chickadee (probably) and a Steller’s Jay:
On the way down, we rode right over the reservoir dam itself; I got this great photo of blue water, yellow aspen and a white sailboat just before we hit the final leg.
We finished up at a brew pub, where there was a whole spread laid out for us: beer, ales, stouts, quesadillas and wings. It might have been more useful to have had painkillers, ben gay, and a whirlpool tub. For the rest of the day and evening, my legs felt like someone was hammering poisoned railroad spikes into my thighs.
All in all, a fantastic adventure.
This is from a somewhat obscure claymation feature called “The Adventures of Mark Twain”. It’s quite simply terrifying.
