All weekend

PSO tunes up

The gala gets the attention, but diehard fans know that this weekend is the real beginning of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's season.

This season is the last hurrah for the trio of titled conductors, and Yan Pascal Tortelier gets things started with a curious piece, John Corigliano's [Co-ril-YAH-no] "Promenade Overture," which takes Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony in reverse. While Haydn's symphony ends with most of the musicians walking off the stage, Corigliano's work starts by having them walk on.

Things then get serious when the PSO welcomes pianist Alexander Toradze on stage for Peter Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. Next is "Symphonie fantastique," Hector Berlioz's moth-to-the-flame account of a love obsession loosely modeled after his own life. In it a young lovesick musician has an opium-induced dream in which he follows his lover, identified by a recurring theme, through a series of phantasmagorical scenes. 8 p.m. Friday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Heinz Hall, Downtown. Tickets: $17-$75; 412-392-4900.

-- Andrew Druckenbrod

Friday

Yikes, it's a scarehouse

Anyone can dress up and say boo, but it takes time and careful planning to scare the bejeezus out of people. Scott Simmons, executive producer of The ScareHouse opening in Etna, says organizers started sketching out the haunted attraction and then proceeded "with the same attention to detail and production that you would expect for a feature film."

For six months, a team of designers, carpenters and special-effects artists turned the former Etna Elks Lodge into "a gruesome gallery of monsters, mutants and mayhem."

It opens Friday and runs through Oct. 28 with two haunted houses -- Hall of Nightmares and Screamatorium -- that may be too intense for children under 13.

"This is really a unique combination of history and high-tech," Simmons says. "Local haunt fans are going to see some things that they will never forget."

ScareHouse is at 118 Locust St., Etna. Admission is $13. Doors will open at 7 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays to Oct. 28. Go to scarehouse.com or call 412-781-5885.

-- Scott Mervis

Akers away

New York cabaret artist Karen Akers makes her Pittsburgh debut with the show "Simply Styne" at Cabaret Pittsburgh, the Riverview Series, at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Friday in the symphony room of the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel.

Akers, fresh from annual engagement at the Algonquin Hotel's legendary Oak Room, was a Tony nominee for her role in "Nine" in 1982. She has appeared in films such as "Heartburn" and "The Purple Rose of Cairo" and has two PBS TV specials: "Presenting Karen Akers" and "Karen Akers on Stage at Wolf Trap." The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner describes her voice as "an instrument with the power of Streisand's, the dark-like passion of Piaf's and the lean irony of Dietrich's, but a voice uniquely her own, because it's coupled with an intelligence that creates moments of riveting theatricality."

In "Simply Styne," with direction by Eric Michael Gillet and musical direction by Don Rebic, Akers uses Jule Styne songs such as "Time After Time," "People," "Long Before I Knew You" and a "Gypsy" medley to tell of her own personal journey.

The Riverview Series tickets are $45 (plus tax; $20 plus tax for students), which include entertainment, beverage and hors d'oeuvres. Overnight cabaret hotel packages for two at the Renaissance also are available by calling 1-866-454-4400. The Riverview Series artists' fees are underwritten by Richard E. Rauh, with media sponsorship by WDUQ-FM. More info: www.cabaretpgh.org.

-- Sharon Eberson

Muddy's band

Ursuline Senior Services brings some senior bluesmen to town Friday night to celebrate its 25th anniversary year of being advocates for seniors.

The Muddy Waters Band, plus David "Honeyboy" Edwards will be at the Carnegie Museum Music Hall in Oakland for a show that promises the blues the way they were meant to be played.

Band members touring are Bob Margolin, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Calvin Jones, Mojo Buford and Pinetop Perkins.

Perkins and Edwards are both into their 90s, and have direct links to the beginnings of the blues almost a century ago (sure makes it sound like a long time).

There are some special events geared toward local senior artists in the Music Hall foyer before the show. Tickets are $75 for the entire evening program; $37 after 7:30 just for the concert. Call 412-683-0400.

-- Jim White

Saturday

German harvest

A visit to Old Economy Village is always a trip back in time, but Saturday it will transform into a traditional 19th-century German harvest festival.

ErnteFest re-creates a sense of what life was like for the Harmonists and other Western Pennsylvanians as they started to get ready for winter. Visitors can learn to make cheese, butter, sausage, apple Schnitz and cider. Foods will include bratwurst, sauerkraut and grape pies made from grapes grown at Old Economy.

The Old Economy Singers and the Old Economy 1830s Orchestra will perform early 19th-century music on period instruments.

Visitors can also see "Tracks, Trestles and Trustees," a model railroad exhibit that explores the Harmonists' role in railroad history.

ErnteFest takes place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Old Economy Village, Ambridge. Admission is $7 for adults, $4 ages 4-17; children under 4 are admitted free. Information: 724-266-4500 or oldeconomyvillage.org.

-- Adrian McCoy

Food run amok

Interest in locally grown and produced food is gaining popularity, because of the health benefits of buying fresh and in season and because of the environmental impact of long-distance shipping. Two Saturday events explore this issue from creative points of view.

Canadian photographer Diana Shearwood will give an artist's talk in her exhibition, "What's for Dinner?," at Silver Eye Center for Photography at 3 p.m. Saturday. Shearwood photographs the large, lush food ads that cover the sides of 18-wheelers, to draw attention to the kinds of food we eat and the way it's delivered.

"Instead of the pleasures of eating," Shearwood says, "the sometimes amusing and often disgusting images of food become sad reminders of a highly commercialized world that has run amok, symbols of a world where even our sustenance is not spared from a culture of insatiable conspicuous consumption."

A reception will follow from 4 to 6 p.m. The gallery is at 1015 E. Carson St., South Side. Admission is $5, free for Silver Eye members and students. The exhibition continues through Nov. 24. For information, call 412-431-1810 or visit silvereye.org.

At 5 p.m. Saturday, Bloomfield artists Robin Hewlett and Ally Reeves will perform "One Mile Meal: How Local Can You Get?" at the Brew House, 2100 Mary St., South Side. The performance starts earlier in the day when the two artists bike within a one-mile radius of the Brew House in search of wild edibles or local garden produce. The goal is to gather food to make dinner for the event, and then to generate discussion over the meal about the way food is processed, packaged and transported.

"This is local food to the extreme. But it's a way of getting a conversation started, and of realizing that we have more resources immediately at hand than we think."

Hewlett and Reeves have presented "One Mile Meal" in Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Their performance coincides with the "I Made It! Craft Fair." 412-381-7767.

-- Mary Thomas

Saturday-Sunday

Pow Wow

While the Penn's Colony Festival continues this weekend in Saxonburg, a gathering of the tribes from that same era will take place in Dorseyville.

The Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center is presenting the 29th annual Pow Wow from noon to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. There will be singing, dancing and drumming, starting with the grand entry of dancers in colorful regalia at 1 p.m. Aztec dancers will be the focus this year, and there will be shawl dances, snake dances and rabbit dances.

There will also be American Indian foods and arts and crafts booths with jewelry, baskets, clothing, quilts, pottery and more. The Pow Wow is at 120 Charles St. For details, call 412-782-4457 or go to cotraic.org.

-- S.M.

Sunday

Homer at Carnegie

"Winslow Homer: Society and Solitude" will be screened from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Carnegie Museum of Art, followed by a wine-and-cheese reception with writer-producer-director Steven J. Ross, who will introduce the film. Ross looks at Homer's life, from the early years in the New York City art scene through his progressive withdrawal to a reclusive lifestyle.

Admission ($12, members $10) includes the exhibition "Masters of American Drawings and Watercolors: Foundations of the Collection 1902-1922," which shows works by Homer among others, until 7 p.m. 412-622-3131 or cmoa.org.

-- M.T.

Riverbeat

RiverBeat, an interactive hand-drumming cruise for newbies and drummies alike, hits the high seas of Pittsburgh for its fourth year on Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. on the Gateway Clipper Fleet's Majestic.

The event, which last year drew 400 people ages 4 to 94, is led by former Rusted Root drummer Jim Donovan and Elie Kihonia, founder of Afrika Yetu and co-founder of UMOJA African Arts Company. The idea is to honor the rivers and "celebrate the beauty of the human spirit and healing power of recreational music making."

No drumming experience or musical talent is necessary. Drums and percussion instruments are provided, or attendees may bring a favorite instrument of their choice.

Boarding begins at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $30, including drum rental ($25 for seniors and students with proper ID). Call 412-281-3100 or go to afrikayetu.org.

At the Crossroads

Calliope holds its second annual Blues at the Crossroads at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, perhaps just incidentally at the crossroads of Fifth and Shady Avenues.

They'll feature two strong finger-picking guitar wizards, Steve James and Del Rey, masters of rootsy blues, folk and other fine American music.

There will also be an afternoon guitar workshop, and as Calliope notes, beer to go with the blues. The best kind of double-header. Call Calliope at 412-361-1915.

-- J.W.

Need to know

The Afro-American Music Institute in Homewood celebrates 25 years Saturday with fun, food and music. The activities, which include African drumming and Latin jazz, starts at 1 and runs through 8 p.m. The event is free. Call 412-241-6775. AAMI is at 7131 Hamilton Ave.