Say what good you will about all the festivals in Venango County, they also leave huge piles of stinking, rotting trash that draw insects and bored , ill-mannered children (both of which are equally repulsive in my book). Now The Pittsburgh Green Music Festival group hopes to author an official set of rules approved by environmental experts for a festival being certified green. Lets hope the local authorities sit up and take notice so that we can market our area as an emerging green municipality.

I'll be MCing a poetry slam tomorrow, Thursday March 1st at noon in the Student Union of Butler County Community College. Drop by if you have a chance.

Speaking of our neighbor to the south, The National Players' production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" that was to have been performed on Saturday, March 24 at 8:00 PM at BCCC's Succop Theater has been canceled.

The Titusville Herald covers Polk's Main Street Market weekly bluegrass get-together.

The Meadville Tribune profiles local geocachers.

The Music Library Association and the Society for American Music are holding their annual convention in Pittsburgh this weekend. Paper tiles include "Get Hip Records and the History of Pittsburgh Punk" and "African American Opera in Pittsburgh: The Impact of the National Negro Opera Company".

Pittsburgh area tenor D. Kenneth Davies has released a new CD that benefits the future Welsh Nationality Room at Pitt


Salon asks, "Are cookbooks obsolete"? But the better question may be, "Are articles asking if books are obsolete obsolete?" Yes. Yes, they are.

Show Showdown is a blog detailing four guys racing to see who can see the most Theatre in 2007. I'm...stunned.

Work got in the way of blogging yesterday which means I must belatedly celebrate the birthdays of some of my favorite artists:Edward Gorey, sexy dead poet Edna St Vincent Millay, and Pittsburgh's own Gerald Stern.

The Library of Congress has made available the The George Grantham Bain Collection
. . . the photographic files of one of America's earliest news picture agencies. The collection richly documents sports events, theater, celebrities, crime, strikes, disasters, political activities including the woman suffrage campaign, conventions and public celebrations. The photographs Bain produced and gathered for distribution through his news service were worldwide in their coverage, but there was a special emphasis on life in New York City. The bulk of the collection dates from the 1900s to the mid-1920s, but scattered images can be found as early as the 1860s and as late as the 1930s.

Available online are 39,744 glass negatives and a selection of about 1,600 photographic prints for which copy negatives exist.

There are tons of early Pittsburgh Pirate photos (remember to search for "Pittsburg" as well), Including this one with Honus Wagner:

This one called "Tusk, held by four men, excavated near Pittsburgh"

or "Miss Pittsburgh in Atlantic City"

and, of course, the "Pittsburgh Arts Committee"
Wing & A Prayer Pittsburgh Players performed at Central Elementary School yesterday
The muticultural troupe of dancers, drummers, singers and storytellers, was in town for a program, "Amandla: A Celebration of the African Arts"

Titusville's Four Sons Brewery sold for, gulp, $323. Please god tell me there was some sort of catch and I didn't miss out on one of those once-in-a-lifetime own a bar for less than an evening's bar tab. The Business Authority say they'll have anew owner within a month. Not to be cynical, but where have I heard that before.

Speaking of the Franklin Club, despite all the rumors that have been flying around, no buyers yet. No surprise there, it's a beautiful property but in need of tens of thousands of dollars (if not more) of repairs.

While the NYTimes hosts a slideshow of celebrity tattoos, local radio station KISS FM is running a tattoo contest. Which would actually be kind of cool until you read the rules and realize it's a random drawing. That means, that like so many local tattoos, quality of art means nothing - a Daniel Johnson tattoo has the same chance as a scorpion eating an eyeball as a tramp stamp. Still, I'll probably rustle something up to send in. venangago-go tatoo anyone?

The Warhol Museum has listed its March programs.

I never actually watched the OC, but was glad to see that Matt Pond PA and Wilco made Rolling Stone's best of the OC's music list.

Ironic that as Franklin makes moves to spend money make its downtown less pedestrian friendly by making the traffic islands narrower to allow bigger faster trucks through the downtown, Meadville is taking steps (including public art projects) to make their downtown more pedestrian friendly. Which town is going through a downtown Renaissance? Oh it would be rude to say, but sometimes, as my dear old babushka used to say, if you can't do something nice with Community Block Development funds, sometimes it's better to do nothing at all...

The News Herald highlights tomorrow's Franklin on Ice festival. Ice Carving starts at 9:30 am and goes until 3 pm in Fountain Park. Don't forget to post your photos.

Brothers is the next film in the Venango Campus series:

Michael has everything under control: a successful military career, a beautiful wife and two daughters. His younger brother Jannik is a drifter, living on the edge of the law. When Michael is sent to Afghanistan on a UN mission the balance between the two brothers changes forever. Michael is missing in action - presumed dead - and Sarah is comforted by Jannik, who against all odds shows himself capable of taking responsibility for both himself and the family. It soon becomes clear that their feelings have developed beyond mutual sympathy. When Michael comes home, traumatized by being held prisoner in the mountains of Afghanistan, nothing is the same...

Film starts at 7:30 at Rhoades Auditorium and is free.

Former Linesville residents have been nominated for a Grammy.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette profiles the Pittsburgh Beer Society...

Pittsburgh is attempting to link some its cultural attractions in a plan called "The Charm Bracelet":
The concept is to connect destinations -- among them, the Children's Museum, Andy Warhol Museum, Carnegie Science Center, National Aviary, Mattress Factory, New Hazlett Theater, Allegheny Commons park and sports stadiums -- in a way that positions the North Side as the city's "family district," just as Downtown's theaters and galleries are grouped as the Cultural District.

The Museum for African Art finally has a permanent home.

Jerry Sowden's image in this morning's News Herald cements my belief that he's one of the most underappreciated working artists in the area. Why can't I find any of his work in a local gallery?

My contribution appeared in the fine regional blog, Overheard in Pittsburgh, on the day after Christmas (caution - cursing ahead)

Looking ahead, Yankee Zydeco Company announced that they will be playing a free show from 7:30-9 p.m. as part of Oil City's Arts in the Park, Friday, August 10, 2007.

As part of Oil City's arts revitalization effort, a quilting guild is being established in Oil City.
It's for all quilters, beginners and professionals, hand-quilters and machine-quilters, traditional quilters and art quilters.
The NQA has certification programs for quilt teachers and judges, a Master's Guild to recognize outstanding quilting achievement, and a Grant and Scholarship program to give monetary assistance to individuals or groups studying or researching the field of quiltmaking.
An organizational meeting to determine the best meeting times and dates will be held at Oil City's National Transit Building on Saturday, January 13, 2007, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Please contact either Ms. Roby-Lavery at 814-677-3795 or Ms. Joann Wheeler at 814-676-5303 for more info.

The Arts Council of Erie's Art in Education Partnership is seeking professional artists in all disciplines to apply for inclusion in the 2007 Pennsylvania Directory of Artists. Artists accepted into this program are eligible to participate in residencies at schools and community service organizations funded partly by the AIE partnership.Individaul artists, ensembles, and companies may apply. Application deadline is March 15, 2007.
For more information and/or an application, contact: Michelle Martin at the Arts Council of Erie by calling 814-452-3427 or by emailing .Holly Nowak from the Arts Council of Erie will be in Oil City on Saturday, January 20, 2007 to explain the program in detail to interested area artists at 1:00 pm in the Great Room of the National Transit Building, 206 Seneca Street, Oil City. Local artist and composer Jill Mattson will co-present. For more information or to register for the free presentation, call Joann Wheeler at 814-676-5303

The Erie Playhouse has announced they'll be presenting one of my favorite shows, The Piano Lesson, on February 2 & 3, 8-11, 14-18. But, they also announced that due to contractual difficulties The Erie Playhouse is replacing Copenhagen with I Left My Heart: A Salute to the Music of Tony Bennett. Bleh.

Bill Miller's show "Vintage Linoleum Works" opens this weekend at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

Miller, who once scavenged through old mill sites as a founding member of the Pittsburgh Industrial Arts Co-op is a connoisseur of old linoleum, which he varnishes and then fills with images ranging from landscapes to portraits to political assassinations.

The opening is from 5:30 to 8 p.m. A $5 donation is suggested for nonmembers.