While being “on a record label” isn't everything for a band anymore, it's still a pretty big boost, particularly if it's lucky enough to find a label that actually puts the music above all else.
Jeff Betten liked the new album “Black Mark” by Pittsburgh's Host Skull so much that he took over its record label, Carnegie-based Wild Kindness Records, to make sure it got properly promoted.
Host Skull is a constantly shape-shifting musical entity driven by Pittsburgh's Dave Bernabo (Assembly, Vale & Year), who's equally adept at crafting melodic indie-pop and more experimental sounds, and Santa Fe-based musician/songwriter/engineer Will Dyar.
Sometimes, Host Skull appears as a jazz-improv trio; other times, it's more like a five-piece rock band, and unconventional instrumentation — like the viola, and pitched crystal “singing bowls” — keeps the surprises coming. For their live shows, Host Skull frequently collaborates with video artists, sculptors and dancers.
The album release party is at 8 p.m. Nov. 9 at Modern Formations Gallery in Garfield, with Mariage Blanc and The Caribbean. Admission is $7. Details: 412-362-0274
— Michael Machosky
Music with a view
Innovation doesn't stop at music programming forIon Sound, the new chamber-music ensemble in residence at the University of Pittsburgh. It will open its season Nov. 10 with “Eyes on Sound,” a performance that will feature live painting.
Artist Joseph Dermody will create a work while the ensemble performs music by contemporary composers Gilda Lyons and Michael Nyman and mid-20th-century composers Karol Szymanowski and Serge Prokofiev.
Dermody is also a classical music teacher at Concordia College in Bronxville, N.Y.
The members of Ion Sound, which was founded in 2006, are flutist Peggy Yoo, clarinetist Kathleen Costello, violinist Laura Motchalov, cellist Elisa Kohanski, and pianists Robert Frankenberry and Jack Kurutz.
The concert starts at 7 p.m. Nov. 10 at Bellefield Hall, University of Pittsburgh, Oakland. Admission is $15; $10 for students and seniors.
Details: 412-422-8042 or www.ionsound.org
— Mark Kanny
Find the rhythm of the season
Flutist Ellen DePasquale will make her debut with the Trillium Ensemble in the trio's “Autumn Rhythms” concert Nov. 9 at the Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, Oakland.
The music will feature works by Maria Grenfell, Jennifer Higdon, Carnegie Mellon University graduate Paul Schoenfield and a flute solo by Toru Takemitsu.
The concert also will include “Whimsy No. 1,” a medley of familiar songs that composer Matthew Heap calls “a childhood quilt.”
Besides DePasquale, the trio includes pianist Katie Palumbo and clarinetist Rachael Stutzman.
Music begins at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $10; $5 for children. Details: 412-302-8233 or trillium.ensemble@gmail.com
— Bob Karlovits
Turning it over to the top brass
James Gourlay will step aside as conductor of River City Brass in the current series of concerts, which he calls “perfect for a military person.”
The concerts will be directed byCol. Thomas Palmatier, director since 2011 of the U.S. Army Band, known as “Pershing's Own.” The series, “All American Heroes,” begins Nov. 7 and is a collection of patriotic songs to mark Veterans' Day and celebrate Thanksgiving.
The concert will feature such classics as John Phillip Sousa's “Stars and Stripes Forever” and “The Thunderer,” along with a premiere of Paul Lovatt Cooper's “Song for the Skies.”
Palmatier says Gourlay performed as a tuba soloist — as he will in these concerts — with the Army band in January when he asked Palmatier if he would like to conduct.
“It is a great band,” Palmatier says. “It is people who get together from some other jobs and produce great concerts. It is what music is all about.”
Concerts are Nov. 7 at Beulah Presbyterian Church, Churchill; Nov. 8 at Carson Middle School, McCandless; Nov. 9 at The Palace Theatre, Greensburg; Nov. 11 at Upper St. Clair High School; Nov. 14 at Carnegie Music Hall, Oakland. All begin at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $19 to $41. Details: 412-434-7222 of www.rivercitybrass.org
— Bob Karlovits
Back in time and memory
An improv show aimed at fans of classic '80 and ‘90s sitcoms takes audience members back in time and down memory lane.
“Midseason Replacement,” an improvised sitcom, will perform its one-year anniversary show at 9 p.m. Nov. 9 at the Steel City Improv Theater, Shadyside.
“Midseason” starts each show by asking an audience member to provide a childhood memory and their name. Using that for inspiration, the cast creates a unique show complete with a theme song, sound effects and more, all done in the same vein as shows such as “Step by Step,” “Full House” and “Family Matters.”
The team will soon head to Rochester, N.Y., for the Fall Back Comedy Festival. The current cast includes producer Mike Peditto, Dave Forman, Matt Lanning, Andrea Laurion, Brad McNary, Tamara Siegert, Alex Rudzki and Chris Wright.
“Midseason Replacement” performs at 9 p.m. every second Saturday of the month at Steel City Improv Theater, 5950 Ellsworth Ave. Tickets are $5 at the door, cash only.
Details: www.steelcityimprov.com/teams/midseason-replacement/
— Rachel Weaver
Many faces of the African disapora
Sembène – The Film & Arts Festival opens its 5th season of award-winning films that address the African diaspora.
The festival, which is named after Ousmane Sembène, the father of African cinema, runs from Nov. 8 through 29 in the auditorium of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Homewood, 7101 Hamilton Ave.
This weekend's films include “Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary — A Journey with Mumia Abu Jamal,” about the activist convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer in 1981, on Nov. 8; and Sembène's dark comedy, “Mandabi,” on Nov. 9.
The screenings all are 6:15 p.m., with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Other films include the Pittsburgh premieres of “Ornette — Made In America,” about jazz musician Ornette Coleman, Nov. 15; and “But Then, She's Betty Carter,” a documentary about the jazz vocalist, Nov. 22. The festival closes with “Urban Encounters: What to Do If You Get Stopped By the Police,” on Nov. 29, followed by a discussion led by Assistant Chief Maurita Bryant of the Pittsburgh Police.
Details: www.sembenefilmfestival.org
— Tribune-Review
Balmoral Classic features top-notch pipers
Award-winning piper Alasdair Fraser and cellist Natalie Haas will perform Nov. 9 at Central Catholic High School in Oakland as the closing event of the seventh-annual Balmoral Classic.
The bagpipe-Scottish music event is held over three days with a championship highlighting the best young bagpipers in the country.
It begins at 7 p.m. Nov. 7 with a free lecture by Andrew Wright on the Highland bagpipe at the College of Fine Arts Building at Carnegie Mellon University in Oakland.
From 7 to 10 p.m. Nov. 8, piper Bruce Foley, fiddler Vince Burns and guitarist/mandolinist Mary Coogan will perform at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association in Oakland. Admission is $20. Details 888-718-4253
The Junior Solo Bagpiping Championships will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Central Catholic. They are free and the winners will be announced at 7:30 p.m. just before the Fraser-Haas concert. Admission for the concert is $30; $25 in advance and $15 for students. Details: 888-718-4253 or www.balmoralclassic.org.
— Bob Karlovits
WeihnachtsMarkt at Harmony Museum
You can enjoy a German-style Christmas earlier than usual at the Harmony Museum in Butler County, which is hosting its annual WeihnachtsMarkt, modeled after the Christmas markets in Germany, on Nov. 9 and 10.
The market offers 50 artisans and vendors selling German and other European imported goods, antiques and more. The event also includes museum quilters and weavers, musical groups, food and alcohol, children's activities at a log house, the museum's model railroad display, and horse-drawn wagon rides through the Harmony National Historic Landmark District.
The WeihnachtsMarkt has drawn between 4,000 and 5,000 people for the past few years. Guests are encouraged to bring nonperishable food items for food bank donations. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 9, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 10. Admission is $7, $5 for senior citizens, and $3 for students and children 6 and older. Details: 724-452-7341 or www.harmonymuseum.org
— Kellie B. Gormly
Playhouse presents tragedy ‘Hecuba'
Point Park University's Conservatory Theatre Company will present its new take on the classic Greek tragedy “Hecuba,” by Euripides.
“Hecuba,” which runs Nov. 8 to 24 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, re-imagines the classic tale about the title character of Greek mythology, who was a queen and the wife of the king of Troy during the Trojan War, and the mother of 19. In this version, the story is more updated and explores the themes of a mother's grief and revenge, and it evokes more recent images of crimes against humanity.
Monica Payne, a recipient of the James Pendleton Foundation Prize, directs the play.
“Hecuba” plays at 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $18 to $20. Details: 412-392-8000 or www.pittsburghplayhouse.com
— Kellie B. Gormly
Play focuses on teen-dating violence
A new play, “You Belong to Me,” about teen-dating violence, will play at the New Hazlett Theater on Nov. 7 as part of the Highmark Foundation-sponsored Teen Dating Awareness Program.
The one-hour presentation includes the play — written by playwright Debbie Lamedman, in collaboration with Kansas high-school teacher Gary Shaw and his students — and first-hand testimony from Jodi Cuccia of Monroeville, whose daughter, Demi, was murdered by her boyfriend in 2007. The program includes a Q&A session, and tell attendees about community resources available to them if they are dealing with domestic violence.
Donations are accepted for the program, which begins at 7 p.m. Details: tda@primestage.com
— Kellie B. Gormly
Company of Pittsburgh ends season with ‘(title) ‘
The Company of Pittsburgh concludes its premiere season with the Tony Award-nominated musical “(title of show)” opening at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 7, at the Grey Box Theater, 3595 Butler St. in Lawrenceville.
Associate artistic director Nick Mitchell directs the quirky, heartfelt musical, which chronicles the trials of two New York City theater nobodies who decide to write an original musical starring themselves and their two actress friends.
The production stars veteran Pittsburgh musical theater actress Christine Laitta as Susan; Jim Scriven as Jeff; Chad Elder as Hunter; and Jodi Gage as Heidi.
The Company's intimate production features musical direction by Douglas Levine, who also appears as the show's onstage pianist Larry.
Admission is $20; $12 for students.
Details: www.companyofpgh.org
— Rachel Weaver
