Buzz

Homegrown dance crops up in Pittsburgh and Boston

MTVhive.com Wednesday, September 12, 2012

"...homegrown electronic music scenes have started cropping up in out-of-the-way cities like Pittsburgh and Boston, two towns not exactly known for their dance music heritage, garnering critical notice, cropping up on DJ charts, in mixes and the like," writes the author.

“Pittsburgh had a very rich jazz music tradition in the first half of the 20th century, but it lost a lot of the talent due to economic factors caused by the decline of the steel industry,” says producer Preslav Lefterov, a member of Pittsburgh Track Authority, a recording entity and record label started up in 2010 by Lefterov, Thomas Cox and Adam Ratana. “Pittsburgh didn’t have an equivalent to Motown or any massively successful acts in the ‘70s or ‘80s like Detroit did. But there has been an artistic turnaround happening since the early ‘90s.” Previously, Lefterov and Ratana released drum’n’bass tracks as Sight Unseen, while Cox ran the influential InfiniteStateMachine.com dance music blog. They started PTA in 2010 to “focus on classic American dance music, as molded by our own set of musical influences and our hometown.”

Read the full story here.

Pittsburgh's biking culture: the next Portland?

independent.com Wednesday, September 12, 2012

"Portland and Pittsburgh are very different cities, but both are building exciting bicycle cultures," writes the author. "Pittsburgh is no Portland when it comes to cycling infrastructure, cutting-edge advocacy campaigns, or multitudes of bike-related events, but it has been called “one of the burgeoning bike scenes in North America” by Good Magazine.

Read the full story.

Savoring the flavors of Pittsburgh

Miami Herald Wednesday, September 12, 2012

"Snuggled between a hill and a river, and less than a mile northeast of the gleaming towers of downtown, Pittsburgh’s Strip District offers a ragtag assemblage of buildings along Penn Avenue. From 16th to 23rd streets they appear, one after the other. Butchers and bakers, pizza makers and sandwich purveyors. Italian, Polish and Middle Eastern specialty shops.It’s all here, from prosciutto to pho.
Sylvia McCoy knows and loves each and every one. An elegant blond, she looks slightly out of place as she leads a walking tour through the stalls and stores. But she has been coming here since she was a little girl, when her Swiss immigrant dad would tow her along as he went hunting for the German treats that reminded him of home."

Read the full story here.

Dropping trou for Pittsburgh's Undie Bike Ride

Boring Pittsburgh Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Riding his bike in his underwear was never really on his bucket list, says the author of the blog Boring Pittsburgh which is anything but. But ride he did, along with his adventurous wife and others in various underwear dress.

"I was prepared for catcalls, whistles and jeers as our group of differently sized and shaped bikers rolled down the street. What I wasn’t prepared for was the good natured support and cheering encouragement from people on the sidewalks, drivers in the road and more than few fellow riders we enveloped in our mass of people. Certainly more than a few people wanted to know what the hell we were doing and why. A few yinzers in cut off Steeler’s tees hooted and hollered but the majority of it seemed good natured...."

Read the full blog here.

Is there any dinner better than one designed for food bloggers?

withthegrains.com Wednesday, August 29, 2012

This food blogger was excited to get to The Porch for a special dinner for food bloggers planned during Restaurant Week. It included a few perks, making us wish that we, too, were food bloggers.

Read the blog post.

10 Things to love about Oakland

yinzpiration.com Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Just in time for returning students, this 10 Things to love about Oakland article is authored by Brett Wiewiora, founder and CEO of local social enterprise startup Scenable. They just announced the launch of the Android (and coming soon on iPhone) app about Oakland called Oakland Scene. It's available for downloading here.

Read all 10 selections about Oakland here.

The best of Yinztagram photos

blog.bloglocal.net Wednesday, August 29, 2012

If you haven't heard of Yinztagram since it burst on the scene the past week, you must have been away and unwired. The local app, created by DeepLocal at the suggestion of Drew at Commonplace Coffee has made its way on Facebook and Twitter and just about every media in town. It's fun to try--where would you insert a Primanti's sandwich in your photos?--and even more fun to see what others have done.

See the best of photos here.

Best Fall Trips 2012: The 141 mile Great Allegheny Passage rail trail

National Geographic Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The 141-mile Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) rail-trail winds over the rivers and through the woods of western Maryland and southwestern Pennsylvania. Built mainly on abandoned rail beds, the packed, crushed limestone route is free of motorized vehicles. A 15-mile-an-hour speed limit ensures a leisurely pace for cycling, hiking, strolling, and birding. Spend a weekend, or a full week, exploring part of the route and the historic trail towns along the way.

Frostburg, Maryland (mile 15), hosts the Appalachian Festival, September 14-15, on the Frostburg State University campus. Free events include regional music and dance, goat milking and beekeeping, and traditional arts and crafts. October 5-7 is PumpkinFest in Confluence, Pennsylvania (mile 60), and the West Newton, Pennsylvania (mile 114), Miracle on Main Street Parade and Light Up Night is November 24.

Extend your ride all the way to Washington, D.C. (about 334 miles total) via the historic Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath. Mountainside Bike Tours specializes in custom Washington-to-Pittsburgh itineraries. Options include lodging, gourmet meals, luggage transport, and side trips to Antietam National Battlefield and Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater.

Read the other selections here.

Among the world's most livable cities? Pittsburgh. Dare we say again.

CNN Go Wednesday, August 22, 2012

While Melbourne topped the list and Vienna came in second, only Honolulu was mentioned of all U.S. cities before Pittsburgh, which came in at #30 of most livable cities in the world.

Read the full story here.

Once industrial, now chic: Pittsburgh wows 'em

National Post Wednesday, August 22, 2012

This writer was smitten before he got out of the taxi. From bursting onto the Pittsburgh scene through the Ft. Pitt tunnels, to visits to the Strip and Warhol and more, read how the author succumbed to the many charms of our city.

Read the story here.

On Rust Belt Chic and the Pittsburgh Potty

Urbanophile.com Wednesday, August 22, 2012

You've heard of the term rust belt chic. But the Pittsburgh Potty? It's highlighted in this piece about authentic cities that happen to be in the Rust Belt.

"Take the Pittsburgh Potty. For recent generations it was about the shame of having a toilet with no walls becoming the pride of having a toilet with no walls. From Pittsburgh Magazine:

We purchased a house with a stray potty, and we’ve given that potty a warm home. But we simply pretended as if the stray potty didn’t exist, and we certainly didn’t make eye contact with the potty when we walked past it to do laundry.

The Pittsburgh Potty is basically a toilet in the middle of many Pittsburgh basements. No walls and no stalls. It existed so steel workers can get clean and use the bathroom without dragging soot through ma’s linoleum.

Authentic: yes. Cool? A toilet?

Only in the partly backward Rust Belt of Harvey Pekar and friends. From the twitter feed of @douglasderda who asked “What is a Pittsburgh Potty?” Some responses follow:

“I told my wife I wanted to put ours back in, but she refused. I threatened to use the stationary tubs.”
“In my house, that would be known as my husband’s bathroom.”
“It’s a huge selling feature for PGH natives. I’m not kidding. We weren’t so lucky in our SS home.”
“We’re high class people. Our Pittsburgh Potty has a bidet. Well, it’s a hose mounted on the bottom, but still ….”

Read the full story here.

Sign up for GrubWithUs this Thursday, an end of summer feast, location TBD

iheartpgh.com Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The first GrubWithUs dinner in Pittsburgh, hosted by Lindsay of ilovePgh.com and her friend, Debbie, sold out. Join them for the second feast this Thursday, in a location to be determined. Sign up online, pay a flat fee for food and gratuity and then show up to eat and meet some new people.

Read more here.

Who says girls aren't as good at math and science?

90.5 WESA Wednesday, August 22, 2012

90. 5 WESA reports on this story:

"There’s an old notion that girls are not as good at math and science as boys. That thought still persists today even among teachers – according to a study by the University of Texas. Girls and educators in the Pittsburgh region are working against that stereotype.

“Girls can do anything that guys can do, and maybe even better…especially science,” was the answer given by a group of girls at Carnegie Science Center’s Click! Camp for Girls, when asked if they thought boys were better at math and science."

Read the full story and listen here.

Experienced Dreamer winner charms in this WQED video

WQED TV Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Meet Tess, the winner of the Experienced Dreamers contest, who is moving to Pittsburgh soon. Here she receives the keys to the city and she and her family explore the city in this Rick Seebak production from WQED.

See the video here.

Kyle Abraham on Pittsburgh and Pavement

New York Times Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Choreographer and dancer Kyle Abraham dishes about Pittsburgh and his latest work in this New York Times interview that took place in Brooklyn, where he now lives.

Read the full story here.