Future events
local The Point Marion Lions Club is holding a benefit fund-raiser every second Saturday of the month through June. The smoke- and alcohol-free events are held at the Lions Club skating rink and begin at 6 p.m. The doors will open at about 5 p.m. The open stage starts at 6 p.m. The events will feature live music, entertainment and food. The doors and kitchen open at 5 p.m. A small donation will be accepted at the door. To participate or for information, call 724-725-5737.
Classical music and musical theater will highlight the 2003-04 season of the Asbury Festival Recital Series. Featuring the music of Marcel Grandjany, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, “278 Strings” will premiere in the Asbury sanctuary March 7. The series will conclude April 3 with a performance of Franz Schubert’s “Mass in G” sung by the Asbury Festival Choir and the Greater Uniontown Chorale in addition to Josef Rheinberger’s “Concerto No. 2 in F” performed by Asbury organist Jim Hutchinson. Asbury Festival Series subscription brochures can be obtained by mailing an address label to Asbury United Methodist Church, attention: Festival Series, 20 Dunbar St., Uniontown, Pa., 15401. Brochures will be mailed shortly to those on the series mailing list. Individual tickets will be on sale two weeks prior to each recital event at local businesses in Uniontown and Hopwood.
Advanced Strings, a group of guitar playing, banjo strumming, yodeling senior adults, meet every Thursday at Center in the Woods in California for its weekly jam session. For more information, call 724-938-3554.”Interpretations,” an exhibit of paintings and monoprints by Samuel N. Koleman, will run from Saturday through Feb. 7 at the Frank L. Meglega Art Museum on the upper floor of the Flatiron Builidng Heritage Center, 69 Market St., Brownsville. The Heritage Center is open noon to 6 p.m. Sunday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For museum hours, call 724-785-9331.
Artists Image Resource (AIR), Pittsburgh’s only professional printmaking studio, will present a collection of fine art prints at California University of Pennsylvania’s Manderino Gallery of Fine Art, located on the third floor of Manderino Library. All are welcome to attend a catered opening reception from 4 to 6 p.m. The gallery is open from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and 2 to 6 p.m. Sundays. The show will run until Jan. 15.
Washington resident Judy Hopson has crossed into Fayette County to exhibit her art at 64 Crayons Cultural Center in the Thompson House at 815 Water Street, Brownsville. Her third show, “Extravaganza!,” will be displayed throughout December. The exhibit features pottery, paintings and prints. Hopson plans to offer a pottery demonstration at the site later this month and a series of workshops in January.
For more information call 64 Crayons at 724-785-9010 or Bill Faust at 724-225-3512 or e-mail Geezersbks@att.net.A candlelight lecture series will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, at Nancy’s Fancy Tea Room, 428 N. Pittsburgh St., Connellsville. Guest lecturer Robert Adamovich will speak about the French and Indian War. It will be a three-part lecture series, but the other dates have not been selected. For more information or reservations, call Nancy Koller, owner of the tea room, at 724-628-0173. A small fee will be charged.
A cookbook is currently being planned for print by the State Theatre Center for the Arts Progressive Dinner Committee. The committee asks anyone with favorite recipes that they want included in the book to send the information to the State Theatre, 27 E. Main St., Uniontown, Pa. For questions or additional information, call the State Theatre at 724-439-1360.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater is searching for volunteers to work in a variety of capacities from “Ask Me” guides to garden helpers to pavilion assistants to transcription services. Those applying must enjoy nature, architecture or history. Volunteers are offered a flexible schedule, working one day a week or one day a month. For more information, call 724-329-1441, ext. 1203, or e-mail aturnicky@paconserve.org.
Friendship Hill National Historic Site announces its 2003-04 winter hours. The Gallatin House, including the visitor center, will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays. The house will be available for group tours by reservation Tuesday through Friday. A 48-hour notice is requested for tours. All other areas of the park, including hiking trails, will remain open from sunrise to sunset, seven days a week through the winter. The restrooms at the main parking lot will be locked at 5 p.m. every evening. For more information or to make reservations, call 724-329-5811.
The Carpathian Cookery cookbook, now in its 10th printing, is again available for sale. The 330-page cookbook features a protective plastic cover and includes sections on Christmas and Easter customs and recipes, traditional Rusyn foods and other ethnic dishes and many other recipes of St. John’s parishioners. For more information on how to order, call 724-438-6027.
“Fayette County: A Video History,” an educational video with more than 90 minutes of footage about the history of Fayette County, is available at the Fayette Chamber of Commerce, the Coal and Coke Heritage Center at Penn State Library, Connellsville Area Historical Society, Smock Historical Society, Uniontown Public Library or from the Fayette County Historical Society. The book “Abel Gray: A Romance of the National Road,” reproduced by the Fayette County Historical Society in 1998 from the 1876 writings of A.F. Hill published in the Uniontown newspaper, contains accurate depictions of the National Road. For more information contact the Fayette County Historical Society, Inc. at P.O. Box 193 Uniontown, Pa. 15401 or call 724-439-4422.
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Greensburg Civic Theatre will hold auditions for the British farce “Caught in the Net” at 7 p.m. Monday in the Greensburg Garden and Civic Center, 951 Old Salem Road, Greensburg. Jim Mikula directs this play, which is the sequel to the smash hit “Run for your Wife.” Auditions will be by cold readings. No appointment is necessary. Performance dates are Feb. 20-22. For more information, call 724-836-PLAY or visit www.gctheatre.org.St. Vincent College’s Department of Fine Arts and Music will host auditions for students interested in pursuing undergraduate degrees in music, music performance or music education. Admission to St. Vincent’s music programs are by audition only. Auditions will be held on four Saturdays throughout the 2003-04 academic year: this Saturday, March 6 and April 17. All auditions will begin at 11 a.m. in the Fine Arts Department located on the third floor of the Robert S. Carey Student Center. Appointments are required. To receive a copy of audition requirements, schedule an appointment or for more information, contact Joseph Bronder at 724-805-2123.
The Monongalia Arts Center in Morgantown, W.Va., will hold OpenMac Night at the center every month. Any bands interested in performing at one of the OpenMac Night events should contact Seret Englestad at 304-292-3325 or stop by 107 High St. in Morgantown, W.Va., for more details.
The Pittsburgh Symphony Pops and Mary Rodgers will pay tribute to composer Richard Rodgers at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 22 and 25 at 7:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Jan. 23 and 24 in Pittsburgh Symphony Heinz Hall. Mary Rodgers, the daughter of Richard Rodgers, will share stories and insights into the life of her famous father. For ticket information, call 412-392-4900.
Symphony With a Splash, the Pittsburgh Symphony’s three-concert series targeting professionals between the ages of 25 and 50, will hold its second concert at 6:45 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 8, in Pittsburgh Symphony Heinz Hall. During happy hour, beginning at 5 p.m. in the Grand Lobby, Rodney McCoy Productions will provide live jazz music. For ticket information, call 412-392-4900.The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium is offering an exploration of the animal world in “Skulls and Skeletons” featuring dozens of real and replicated skulls, skeletons, bones and fossils of present day to prehistoric animals, including the wooly mammoth and a killer whale. It offers a learning experience on the skeletal adaptations of reptiles, birds, mammals, fish and insects and why the various animal adaptations are crucial to their survival. The exhibit also features a real dinosaur bone for visitors to touch. The aquarium is the first venue for this exhibit. The exhibit will begin a nationwide tour after its Pittsburgh stop. “Skulls and Skeletons” will be in the Discovery Pavilion at the Kids Kingdom until January. For more information on the exhibit, call the aquarium at 412-665-3639.
West Overton Museums in Scottdale announce the first winter “Parlor Talk” lecture series at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 18, in the distillery theater. This first lecture is titled “Young George Washington and Fort Necessity” with James Tomasic. He has been involved with the National Park Service since 1991 serving as park ranger at Friendship Hill and Fort Necessity. The lecture is free and includes a question-and-answer session followed by light refreshments. Reservations are requested, but walk-ins are welcome. For more information, call 724-887-7910. West Overton Museums is located on Route 819 between Scottdale and Mount Pleasant.
Hoe-down square dancing, slow dancing, polkas, waltzing, line dancing and clogging at the following dates and times: 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan 10, and Saturday, Jan. 24, at the Ohiopyle Community Center, Ohiopyle; and 8 to 11 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16, at the Arthurdale Center Hall in Arthurdale, W.Va. There is a donation. Children 12 and under are admitted free. The Dave Dahl Orchestra will provide music and figure calling.
Smitty’s on the Water Front, 119 River Road, Speers, will offer dancing from 7 to 10:30 p.m. every second Sunday of the month. There is an admission charge. For more information, call 724-483-7333.
Wild West Garden at Phipps Conservatory will run through Feb. 22 with four different G-scale trains traveling tracks through the 1,250-square-foot western landscape. An interactive mining car explores an ore mine. Turn-of-the-century steam engines pass through mountains and canyons, traveling over bridges and through tunnels admist a variety of plants all to scale. Phipps serves the area in two locations: Phipps Consevatory and Botanical Gardens in Schenley Park and Phipps Garden Center at 1059 Shady Ave. in Mellon Park. For additional information, call the conservatory at 412-622-6914 or the garden center at 412-441-4442. To learn more about either location, visit Phipps online at www.phipps.conservatory.org.
The Fire and Ice Festival will be held Friday through Sunday, Jan. 16-18, in Somerset. The annual festival, held in the streets of Somerset every January, kicks off with a winter fireworks display at 6 p.m. Friday.
Ice sculptures will be on display and carving will continue throughout the weekend as the DiMartino Ice Company creates masterpieces for the entertainment of the crowd. Musical entertainment and activities for children and teens will also be available.
A 5K walk/run will be held at 10 p.m. Saturday. The “Hot Stuff” Chili Cookoff will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday in the basement of the American Legion.
The Andy Warhol Museum has announced its 2004 season for the Off the Wall performance arts series. For the fourth year, The Warhol will bring an eclectic batch of nationally and internationally acclaimed performance artists to Pittsburgh audiences. The 2004 season features everything from thought-provoking spoken word to physical theater and multi-media performances.
A reception to meet the artist will follow each performance. The 2004 season will welcome the following artists: Forced Entertainment at 8 p.m. Jan. 17; Sekou Sundiata at 8 p.m. Feb. 21; Richard Maxwell and the New York City Players at 6, 8 and 10 p.m. March 6 and 2, 4 and 6 p.m. March 7; Dael Orlandersmith at 8 p.m. April 10; New Paradise Laboratories at 7 and 9 p.m. April 24; Tim Miller at 8 p.m. May 22 and 23. For more information, call 412-237-8300.
Seton Hill University will present “An Evening with Jack Gantos” at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Cecilian Hall.
Gantos’ lecture will take place during the January residency of the master of art in writing popular fiction program.
A book signing will follow the free lecture. Gantos received the Newbery Honor in 2001 for his book “Joey Pigza Loses Control” and is known nationally for his educational creative writing and literature presentations to students and teachers.
For more information, call Wendy Lynn, administrative assistant for writing popular fiction, at 724-830-4600.