Steeler mania

A Steelers exhibit at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center ... now, that's a hard sell for Pittsburgh.

The place should be jammed for "Pittsburgh Steelers 75th Season Celebration: Treasures From the Pro Football Hall of Fame," commemorating the 75th anniversary of our Super Bowl champions.

The 5,000-square-foot exhibition opens Saturday in the first floor McGuinn Gallery and will be on view until Feb. 10 and features more than 100 artifacts, including:

• The section of Three Rivers Stadium turf, i.e., sacred ground, from Franco Harris' "Immaculate Reception."

• Jerseys from such Hall of Famers as Mel Blount, Terry Bradshaw, Jack Ham and Ernie Stautner, game-used cleats from Jack Lambert and a helmet from "Mean" Joe Greene.

• Rocky Bleier's Purple Heart.

• The 2004 NFL draft card from Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

• A trading card wall, featuring more than 800 football cards from the 1930s until today.

• Game programs, tickets, pennants and commemorative game balls from the Steelers' 75 years.

• Video displays of all five Steelers Super Bowl victories.

The bronze busts of all 19 Steelers Hall of Fame inductees will be featured at the History Center during the first week of the exhibit, Saturday through Nov. 18, marking the first time that the busts have been on display outside of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission includes the History Center and Sports Museum: $9 for adults, $7 for seniors over 61, $5 for students with ID, $5 for children ages 6-18, and free to members and children under 6. More information is available at pghhistory.org.

All weekend

Pipe & Drum

The Balmoral Piping and Drumming School is hosting the first annual Balmoral Classic Thursday through Sunday, including the first U.S. Junior Solo Bagpiping Championship at Carnegie Mellon University's Mellon Institute and a Saturday evening concert at Carnegie Music Hall with the St. Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band from Dublin, Ireland. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, young bagpipers from across the nation will compete for trophies, scholarships, medals and a Clasp Collection set of McCallum Bagpipes. The evening concert begins at 7 p.m., with the band's 48 musicians and staff. The performance also will feature traditional Irish musicians on flute, fiddle, keyboards and percussion, as well as storytelling and dancing.

The weekend also will have two receptions and a remembrance parade on Sunday morning. Admission to the competition and parade is free and open to the public. Tickets to the concert are available through Pro Arts: 412-394-3353; proartstickets.org.

Friday

Morgan and Frick

Pittsburgh industrialist Henry Clay Frick and financier J. Pierpont Morgan had in common a love of collecting beautiful objects. When Morgan died in 1913, Frick purchased a portion of his collection. Some of the works went to the home he was building in New York at the time, later to become The Frick Collection. Approximately 70 pieces entered the collection of The Frick Art & Historical Center in Point Breeze, where several are included in "From J. P. Morgan to Henry Clay Frick." The exhibition opens with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday ($25, members $20; reservations recommended). Included are Renaissance and Baroque bronzes, rare Chinese and Meissen porcelains and 18th-century French furniture. The exhibition continues through Feb. 3 (412-371-0600 or www.frickart.org) at The Frick Art Museum, 7227 Reynolds St., Point Breeze.

-- Mary Thomas

Georgia on my mind

The Zedashe Ensemble formed in the mid-1990s in the former Soviet republic of Georgia to celebrate the folk music and dance suppressed by that regime. At 8 p.m. Friday, it brings the distinctive strains of traditional music from the Caucasus Mountain region to the South Side Brewhouse. The concert is a stop on its American tour. The group will sing three-part Orthodox Christian chants and folk songs, as well as dance in such forms as the ritual circle dance. $12; 412-281-6039.

-- Andrew Druckenbrod

Return of Blue Cheer

When the ultimate power trio played the 31st Street Pub back in February, even the skulls on the wall were smiling.

The San Francisco band, once billed as "Loudest Band in the World," was playing here for the first time in decades. The band's members must have liked us, because now the bruising blues-metal band is back for a show Saturday night at the Rex.

This time, Blue Cheer -- Dickie Peterson, Paul Whaley and Duck McDonald -- has a new record, "What Doesn't Kill You ...," its first in more than a decade.

Peterson told the PG earlier this year, "We still have a lot of volume, a lot of punch. We also use dynamics. We did back then, too, but nobody paid attention to that."

The show is at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15. Call 412-323-1919 and, if you go, bring something for your ears.

-- Scott Mervis

Saturday and Sunday

Handmade Arcade

Handmade Arcade, Pittsburgh's largest indie craft arts fair, has expanded to two days this year, its fourth. It will be from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Construction Junction, 214 N. Lexington Ave., Point Breeze. Admission and parking are free, and the first 200 shoppers each day will receive a Handmade Arcade goodie bag of gifts.

Unique wares by 86 local, national and international (Canada and Japan) crafters and designers will be sold, including duct tape wallets, jewelry made from typewriter keys and pillows made from vintage T-shirts. There will also be interactive craft demonstrations, family-friendly activities, DJs and food vendors.

In May, Handmade Arcade was awarded The People's Choice Award for "Best Arts Experience" by the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council.

-- M.T.

Day of the Condor

You've probably never attended a condor-naming party. Saturday is your chance, when the National Aviary throws one for its baby condor, who will be given a name that day. The female Andean condor chick was born June 28 at the Aviary.

The Aviary asked children to submit suggestions for names, and more than 750 were received. On Saturday at 10 a.m., the winning name will be announced. The winner gets a one-year family membership to the Aviary, plus admission to special programs there.

Special activities from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. include trainers' presentations, bird encounters, crafts, activities and snacks.

Admission is $9 for adults, $8 for seniors, $7.50 for ages 8 and up. Prices will be reduced for children age 2 to 7, who will pay a dollar amount equaling their age. Children under 2 are admitted free. 412-323-7235.

-- Adrian McCoy

Ricardo Cobo

Colombian-born guitarist Ricardo Cobo remains one of the hottest classical guitarists around. But he also "has the smoldering sensuality of Latin music deep in his blood," or so said the Washington Post last year. At 8 p.m. Saturday he will perform from both musical traditions at PNC Recital Hall on the Duquesne University campus, presented by the Guitar Society of Fine Art. Tickets $20-$25; call 412-394-3353.

-- A.D.

Sunday

Urban concert

Motorcycle accidents, Nicole Kidman, rehab -- they can't keep Keith Urban away.

The country hunk rolls into the Mellon Arena Sunday on the "Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy World Tour." The ladies won't have to worry too much where their seats are, because Urban will be projected on 56-by-28-foot high-def video wall.

The Columbus Dispatch recently wrote of the show that "the alleged country singer and his five-piece band doled out a set of flat-out arena rock" and that he "displayed an energy that suggested an end-of-concert confetti cannon was packed and ready to spew its contents at the end of every song."

He ran around in an Ohio State jersey there. Watch for the Steeler gear at the Arena at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $39.50 to $59.50.

-- S.M.

Pardini and friends

Visiting organists tend to get the top billing in Pittsburgh's big recital series, but there are quite a few virtuosos already here. At 4 p.m. Sunday, Shadyside Presbyterian presents its own organist, J. Christopher Pardini, in recital. Pardini, sitting at the church's Reuter pipe organ, will be joined by guest performers for a series of duets with cello, piano, voice and other instruments. $5-$10 (students and children free); 412-682-4300 or www.shadysidepres.org.

-- A.D.

Need to know

• The Academy Is ... . Maybe it's the awkward name that's keeping this Chicago emo band on the Fueled by Ramen label from being bigger. The band has a heartthrob frontman in William Beckett, who has a versatile voice for the band's anthemic songs. It also toured with Fall Out Boy, Motion City Soundtrack and All American Rejects. The band's second album, "Santi," brings it to Club Zoo at 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $22. Call 412-323-1919.

• We've seen tribute bands come through covering Kiss, Black Sabbath, The Doors, Led Zeppelin and, of course, the Beatles. You can guess what the Last Waltz Ensemble is up to. Yep, the Atlanta group tries to capture the ragged glory of Bob Dylan and the Band. It plays the Thunderbird Cafe in Lawrenceville at 9 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $18. Call 412-682-0177.

• Proceeds from items sold at the 59th annual Shadyside Presbyterian Church Bazaar will go to Veterans Place of Washington Boulevard, a transitional residence for veterans that provides job and life-skills training, counseling and psychological support. The bazaar will be Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Shadyside Presbyterian Church, Amberson Avenue and Westminster Place. Information: 412-682-4300.