Hot picks: Jazz and hip-hop come together at James Street
Just as jazz and the blues share roots, jazz and hip-hop come from like families.
That kinship will be explored in a happy-hour show Aug. 14 at the James Street Gastropub and Speakeasy on the North Side.
The program has been put together by the club, the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild and the Sprout Fund, the Pittsburgh agency that promotes ideas and projects that give the city freshness.
In the show, emcee MaVe Sami will lead a band with saxophonist Mark Jackovic, bassist William Macirowski and drummer Julian Powell in exploring how the rhythms and sounds of jazz help create the heart of hip-hop.
The music starts at 6 p.m. Admission is $20, $15 for students. Details: 412-322-0800 or www.mcgjazz.org
Music anyplace, anytime
Homewood's Jazz Workshop will honor its late founder, Harold Young, with a special program looking at his efforts to keep the music alive in the community.
At the “Keep Jazz Alive” program Aug. 14 in the Penn Avenue Parklet in Wilkinsburg, trumpeter E. Ron Horton will use everyday objects to make music. With buckets, brooms, paper-towel rolls, dried beans and rice, educator Horton will illustrate how it is possible to make music anyplace, anytime.
Young, who died in March, hired Horton for the Jazz Workshop in 2012 and since he has become director of the group's big band.
The workshop is part of the “Art in the Park” program of the Wilkinsburg Community Development Corporation.
The event begins at 4:30 p.m. It is free. Details: 412-727-7855 or www.wilkinsburgcdc.org
Music and higher powers
Eleven classic gospel songs and seven new jazz compositions accompany C.S. Wyatt's play “The Gospel Singer.”
Isaac Dumont, a singer who has developed a cult following as “Ruthie,” dreams of singing the gospel music his mother loved. But his partner, Donnie, who emcees at the Eden Club jazz haven, where Isaac entertains, has lost faith in himself and God.
Can Isaac restore Donnie's faith in people and God?
Monteze Freeland directs The Lab Project production that plays at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre on the third floor of 937 Liberty Ave., Downtown.
Performances are from Aug. 14 through 31 at 8 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays.
Admission is $15, $10 for seniors and students. Details: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/749879
Rapidly be having a great time
Going with the flow is the secret to theOhiopyle Over the Falls Festival.
The only state-sanctioned chance to race over the 18-foot waterfall in Ohiopyle State Park in Fayette County, is Aug. 16.
For fees ranging from $15 to $25, paddlers can enter races over a variety of drops in the falls and also participate in surfing and water acrobatics. Watching the competition that begins at noon is free.
Participants and fans can then take part in the Ohiopyle Town Party that begins at 7:30 p.m., featuring music by the Agway Shoplifters, food vendors and lights on the waterfalls.
Proceeds benefit American Whitewater, the Ohiopyle Stewart Volunteer Fire Co. and the state park. High-water date is Aug. 23.
Details: 412-242-4562 or www.fallsrace.com.
Calvin, Hobbes and Watterson
If you are a fan of the “Calvin & Hobbes” comic strip, you might want to go to the Harris Theater on Aug. 16 for a special screening of “Dear Mr. Watterson,” a 2013 documentary about the strip's creator Bill Watterson.
He retired “Calvin & Hobbes” on New Year's Eve in 1995, and fans felt disappointed by losing their regular dose of Watterson's cartoon characters. Since then, Watterson has lived a quiet, low-profile life near Cleveland, but longtime fans still love his classic work, and the movie explores how the simple comic strip impacted so many people.
The Toonseum and Pittsburgh Filmmakers are teaming up to present the film, which begins at 2 p.m. at the Downtown theater. The cost is $10, which includes a question-and-answer session with Toonseum director Joe Wos. You can purchase tickets at the door or online. Details: www.showclix.com/event/DearMrWatterson
4 B's equal A+ entertainment
Benny Benack III and Bilbo Baggins will provide an alliterative evening at Riverview Park on the North Side.
Benack, a trumpeter and singer who is in the midst of shaping the early days of his career in New York City, will be the Aug. 16 guest at the Stars at Riverview series.
He is the third generation of local jazz stars to bear that name, led off by his cornet-playing grandfather who provided the musical theme song to the 1960 World Series: “Beat 'em Bucs.”
Benack's gig will be followed by a screening of “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” the sequel to “The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey” where Bilbo and his band of adventurers meet an unexpected foe in the dragon-like Smaug.
The concert begins at 7 p.m., the movie at dusk. Both are free. Details: 412-255-2493 or www.pittsburghpa.gov/citiparks
Carefully crafted music
There's a quiet, understated charm to the music of the Garment District — a meticulous, made-by-hand quality that sets Pittsburgh indie-pop band apart. Multi-instrumentalist Jennifer Baron (who also coordinates the Handmade Arcade do-it-yourself craft bazaar) divides her songs between organ-driven instrumentals and psychedelic, experimental digressions that may or may not feature the dreamy, deadpan vocals of Lucy Blehar.
There will be a release party for the Garment District's aptly titled new album, “If You Take Your Magic Slow,” at 9:30 p.m. Aug. 17 at the Brillobox in Lawrenceville. Opening acts include Laughing Eye Weeping Eye and Jackie McDowell. Tick ets are $7. Details: 412-621-4900 or www.brillobox.net
Singing for a cause
• MuSic for MS, a charity music festival to benefit the Multiple Sclerosis Society, will be at 3 p.m. Aug. 16 at the amphitheater at Hartwood Acres, Hampton. The festival will include local acts Bill Deasy of the Gathering Field, The Weedrags and City Dwelling Nature Seekers and national acts The Town Pants and Humming House. Food and refreshments will be available. Tickets are $25; and $20 in advance. Details: www.musicforms.org
• Enjoy an evening of R&B and do something to benefit Mental Health America Allegheny County at the R&B Will Set You Free show Aug. 17 at Jergel's Rhythm Grille in Warrendale. The show is sponsored by the 10.08 Club, which produces concerts to benefit multiple Western Pennsylvania mental-health organizations. Notable Pittsburgh musicians Billy Price, Sputzy, Shari Richards and Kenny Blake will be among the performers. Doors open at 4 p.m. Admission is $28, $23 in advance. Details: www.the1008club.com
• The 11th annual Cindystock concert, a benefit that supports local cancer charities, will return Aug. 16 to the North Hills home of founders Cindy and Ted Yates. The event will include four mini-concerts by rock and blues artists Suzie Vinnick of Canada, Caitlin Canty of Nashville, and Pittsburgh musicians Shari Richards and Maura Elyse. The event, themed “Women of Hope” this year, raises funds to provide local cancer screenings and supports nonprofits, including the Cancer Caring Center, Adagio Health, Obediah Cole Foundation, UPCI Colon Cancer Project, Satchels of Caring and Hair Peace Charities. The concerts will be at the Yates home at 2552 Wexford-Bayne Road. Tickets are $40, which includes a buffet supper. Details: www.cindystock.org
‘Underneath the Lintel' is a man
Randy Kovitz returns with an encore performance of the single-performer mystery “Underneath the Lintel.”
Kovitz plays a librarian who goes on an obsessive quest for the patron who returned a book that is 113 years overdue. His journey across continents and through history becomes an examination of decisions we make.
Kovitz performed the play in February as a production of 12 Peers Theatre. He is revisiting the show, which has been called both funny and thought-provoking.
“Underneath the Lintel” plays at 8 p.m. Aug. 14 to 16 at Off the Wall Performing Arts Center, 25 W. Main St., Carnegie. Admission is $30; $20 for seniors and $10 for students.
Details: 724-873-3576 or www.insideoffthewall.com
‘Fire' almost out
“Ring of Fire” blazes on for only two more weeks at the CLO Cabaret. The show's initially scheduled run was extended because of its popularity.
But it has to close Aug. 24 to make room for “Dixie's Tupperware Party,” which will begin Sept. 4.
Richard Maltby Jr. and William Meade's “Ring of Fire” celebrates the music of Johnny Cash with parts or all of 32 songs associated with this much-loved artist.
The show will run through Aug. 24 at the Cabaret at Theater Square, 655 Penn Ave., Downtown. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays and 1 p.m. Aug, 14. Admission is $34.75-$44.75.
Details: 412-456-6666 or www.CLOCabaret.com
