Home >  A & E

Friday, October 11, 2002

By Scott Mervis, Post-Gazette Weekend Editor

The Crows fly

The good news is, there’s a new concert venue in town. The not-so-good news is, it ain’t the Stanley or the Mosque - it’s another college gym.

	Adam Duritz - the man who once sang “I wanna be Bob Dylan” - brings Counting Crows to the Petersen Events Center Sunday night. (Ric Francis, Associated Press)

But let’s give the Petersen Events Center at the University of Pittsburgh a shot before we make any judgments. Breaking in the new facility Sunday night is Counting Crows, a band that produced one of the best debuts of the ’90s with “August and Everything After,” a record that rejected grunge to evoke the gentler wonders of the Band, Van Morrison and R.E.M. It hasn’t been that good ever since, but the latest record, “Rock Candy,” is much better than the single, “American Girls,” would suggest. And singer-songwriter Adam Duritz, though never the most compelling live performer, still towers above the characters who ended up imitating him. The band, which had been touring with The Who, headlines the Petersen Center at 7:30 p.m. Sunday with Graham Colton. Tickets are $20 to $30. Call 412-323-1919.

Time to dance

The Pittsburgh Dance Council presents …The Dance Alloy. Confused? Understandable. This is the first time the Dance Council has programmed a Pittsburgh company. The Alloy will perform the works of its artistic director, Mark Taylor, and New York choreographer Sarah Skaggs. Among the pieces are “What If; Translocations,” based on the work of Czech artist/architect Magdalena Jetelova, and “Nothing Like the Sun,” using the poems of Shakespeare, Constable, Whitman and others. It’s at the Byham at 8 tonight. Tickets are $20 to $40. Call 412-456-6666. Meanwhile, Junction Dance Theatre is producing “i.e. Harmony,” a multimedia work by its artistic director, Melanie Miller, based on the life of Elie Nadelman, the Polish-Jewish artist who shook up the art world early last century. It was presented as a work in progress at the Frick Art Museum last November. Now it’s a full-blown production that includes dancers Peter Boucher and Toma Smith, actors Brian Czarnicki and Robin Rundquist, set design by Frank Ferraro and video by Dennis Childers. It’s at the Kelly-Strayhorn, East Liberty, at 8 tonight and Saturday. Tickets are $12 to $15. Call 412-392-3353.

Highway songs

Lost Highway, the alt-country label that is home to the likes of Steve Earle, Willie Nelson and Ryan Adams, has a pair of strong female artists with new records, and both are coming here this weekend, on different bills at different clubs. Tift Merritt, a singer, songwriter and pretty hot guitarist, came to Lost Highway through Adams and released “Bramble Rose,” a debut that has critics referencing Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris. She’s at Rosebud at 7 p.m. Sunday. Kim Richey, well known to WYEP audiences, just released her fourth record, “Rise,” which combines her Nashville twang with some less organic pop, She’s at Club Cafe tonight and Saturday at 7:30. More about Richey.

Polka gold

Fifty years of polka-mania! Who has that kind of endurance? Jack Tady! And he’s only 64. The Russelton native formed his first polka band in 1952 when he was just 14. In the ’60s, he was crowned the Western Pennsylvania Polka King by Frank Yankovic. In the ’80s, he got his own radio show, “Jack Tady’s Polka Place,” on WEDO-AM. In the ’90s, he was nominated for a Grammy Award in the polka category. And more recently, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Polka Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Sunday, he will celebrate with a reunion of his bands and followers at the SNPJ Ballroom in Imperial. Tady says he would love to get the younger generation involved. “The old folks are dying and we’re losing the young kids,” he says. “We try to gear the show for younger people. Some people are trying to incorporate country-rock and polkas. That could be the way to go.” The music runs from 2 to 8 p.m. with Rob DeBlander, Larry Placek, Carl Stocker, the P.O.P.P All-Stars and more. Admission is $8; under 18 free. Call 724-274-7202.

Gore story

Storyteller Bob Gore isn’t taking the usual route of retiring to South Florida. He’ll be collecting his Social Security in West Africa. But first he has business here to attend to: a couple last stories for his fans. Gore, a popular fixture in the theater and storytelling communities here, will team up with Alison K. Babusci for “My Anansi, Your Anansi: 2 Storytellers, 1 Story,” a title that refers to “a favorite trickster of African folklore.” It will be the first time that the two have worked in tandem. The free performances are at 7 tonight and next Friday at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.

‘Body’ works

Some women are fairly open about their pregnancies and birth experiences. Others try to hide it. But can you imagine having the whole thing shot for the three-story-high Omnimax Theater? Heather and Buster Pike agreed, and their story is at the heart of “The Human Body,” a feature that explores the creation of life as it also documents a day in the life of bodies that have been up and running for a while. It opens today at the Carnegie Science Center and runs through June 26. Read more.

Puppet prof

In the world of unreal bodies, this weekend’s Black Sheep Puppet Festival brings from Chicago a professor of puppetry. Blair Thomas, actually an adjunct associate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, presents “The Poet, the Puppet & the Prisoner,” a piece based on the works of novelist Federico Garcia Lorca that chronicles the stages of man from beginning to end. It is performed at the Brew House, South Side, at 8 tonight through Sunday, and then Oct. 17 to Oct. 20. Tickets are $16. Call 412-394-3353.

What else?

Saturday’s your chance to take home a piece of the Mattress Factory. The 25th Anniversary Auction offers nearly 100 pieces by artists who have worked in residence at the museum. The Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails serve the drinks and the New Alcindors serve the music. It begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $75. Call 412-231-3169.

You may have seen Tommy Davidson in Spike Lee’s “Bamboozled.” Or in the recent “Juwanna Mann.” Or as the comic relief on “The Fox NFL Show” on Saturday nights. Now you can see him, in pure comic form, at the Improv at 8 and 10 tonight; 7, 9 and 11 p.m. Saturday; and 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $20. Call 412-462-5233.

How can we not mention Koko Taylor? The Queen of the Blues and winner of the 2002 W.C. Handy Blues Award for Traditional Blues rocks Moondog’s Saturday at 9:30 p.m. with her rousing Blues Machine. Tickets are $20. 412-828-2040.

Scott Mervis can be reached at smervis@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2576.