Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Thanks to an ill - advised double workout on Sunday, I damaged the tendons in both elbows, which is pretty much a worse case scenario for a writer and swimmer. Consequently, I’m grumpy as all heck.




In Oil City, Oil Heritage Days ended with one of the stupidest things I’ve seen in a while – a muscle car burn out contest on downtown's open streets with no barriers. Does no one read the news?

In a happier note, the Heritage Days' art show was incredible – I, quite frankly, expected a lot of kitsch and was instead amazed at the talent on display (full disclosure – both my daughter and I entered works in the contest and were awarded prizes). It was my first time attending the show and was so impressed that I grabbed a membership form to throw a (very) small donation their way. Strangely enough, you can’t get the form online, but check out the website nonetheless.

They’ve also announced the Oil City Bluegrass Festival for 2008




Linda Henderson is holding musician jam nights at Oil City’s Latonia Theatre this and every Tuesday evening from 6:30-9 musician and public welcome – assuming I’m not hopped up on pain meds, I’m going to try to make it.



While I hadn’t planned on heading to the Smoke on the Allegheny BBQ competiton this weekend fellow Etsy-er LazyTCrochet wrote to say that she’ll have a table at the craft show attached to the contest, so I think I will try to drop by after all.



Venango poet Philip Terman and big Pittsburgh poet Ed Ochester will be launching their books Thursday, August 9, 7:30 pm at Joseph-Beth Booksellers (2705 E. Carson Street (Southside Works – Pittsburgh). Terman’s book is Rabbis of the Air and you can see some samples of his work..



Urinetown is coming to Tool City! Auditions are Friday, August 10 from 7-9pm and Saturday, August 11 from 1-3pm Meadville Community Theatre 400 North Main St. Meadville, Pennsylvania 16335 (814) 333-1773



This weekend is Cambridge Springs’ Firefly music fest



The Jeff Goldblum film Pittsburgh, a part-scripted, part-reality film, gets its TV premiere on premium cable channel Starz Cinema at 10 p.m. Aug. 26. The cameras follow Goldblum back to his hometown as he stars in a production of "The Music Man." Having the basic-basic-QVC,CSPAN and BET 10 channel cable package, I won’t be seeing it, but if someone does (or wanted to tape it…) drop me a line and tell me how it is.



Headed to Pittsburgh for school in the fall? College Prowler is an award-winning college-guidebook publisher in Pittsburgh, PA with an immediate opening for an editorial intern. Send your resume, a personalized cover letter, and two writing samples (academic papers are fine) to kelly@collegeprowler.com.



The number one question I get asked as an artist is, “Who the hell do you think you are?” The second most common question is, “How do I become a writer?”

There’s a lot of roads of course, but I started with lots of practice in zines. To that end, Define the Meaning, a quarterly National zine created for fans of hardcore and punk are looking for 15-30 college students or college grads who have a degree in journalism. Define the Meaning will be expanding over the next year, so we need people who are interested in writing cd reviews, show reviews, doing interviews (phoners/email/in person): If you do a phone interview or in person interview you must transcribe the interview yourself. We are also looking to add vegan recipes, restaurant reviews, tattoo and skateboarding sections. If this is something you are interested in please send us a few clips you have done for other publications or some writing samples along with your resume to: Email: definethemeaningzine@gmail.com Aim: Jerseydtm


The 19th Confluence Sci-Fi conference will be held July 27th through July 29th at the DoubleTree Hotel Pittsburgh Airport


Think Captivity meets Dumb and Dumber. 200 writers from all over pay $395 apiece to take face-to-face meetings with legitimate Hollywood buyers and brokers.


Children, Creepy Middle-Aged Weirdos Swept Up In Harry Potter Craze



It’s gonna hard to say no to the Vincent Van-Go Teeshirt from Threadless





Not that community theater is for the half-hearted. The audition process can be cutthroat; one keeps hearing that it is infused with — and this word is said with a grimace and a shaking of the head — politics.
“It’s hard to get cast in these shows,” said Scott Avery, 56, who is playing Hortensio, a first-timer at Trilogy. “A lot of these groups have cliques.”


Do tell!


David Bazan will play Pittsburgh’s Garfield Artworks on October 25th


A Kerouac roadtrip and In 1907, exactly fifty years before Jack Kerouac's On the Road reached the New York Times bestseller list, Jack London--then one of the most popular authors in America--published a memoir titled simply The Road..



“The Mortal Kombat of poetry.”


Performance Poet Sekou Sundiata has died.


Iron and Wine’s Pitchfork set:
1.Sunset Soon Forgotten
2. Boy With A Coin
3. Weary Memory
4. Love Song Of A Buzzard
5. Peace Beneath The City
6. Beneath The Balcony
7. House By The Sea
8. The Devil Never Sleeps
9. Woman King
10. Flightless Bird, American Mouth
11. No Surprises (Radiohead Cover)


On a mission to tally the Virgin Marys in Somerville, MA lawns.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your blue ribbon!
I used to live in Somerville -- virgin Mary's in upended bathtubs abound. Glad to hear they're getting some respect!

Joann

Dittman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dittman said...

Thanks and I thought the Mary program is great! I think that one would fly in Elk County as well! ;)