EARTH DAY WEEKEND
Fashion, food trucks and music
The fourth annual Pittsburgh Earth Day celebration features a series of eco-friendly cultural events that aim to help grow Pittsburgh as a sustainable city.
On Thursday, the Fairmont Pittsburgh hotel, Downtown, hosts Richard Parsakian’s Ecolution Fashion Show, led by the Eons owner and featuring music by DJ Selecta and dance by Texture Contemporary Ballet. VIP cocktail hour runs from 6 to 7 p.m., followed by the 7:30 p.m. show. Tickets at www.showclix.com/event/ped_ecolution.
Friday begins at the Fairmont with the Sustainable Business Breakfast at 8 a.m., featuring local leaders discussing the future of green innovation (reservation only; www.showclix.com). There will be Food Truck Festival from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fourth Avenue adjacent to Market Square and PPG.
On Friday and Saturday, it’s Paint the Square Green in Market Square from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with local vendors specializing in Earth-friendly products and services along with live music. It’s free. Festivalgoers who are 21 years or older can participate in the Great Lakes Brewing Sustainable Sips Pub Crawl Saturday at participating restaurants in Market Square.
Saturday lineup: The Wurms (11 a.m.); Tres Lads (noon); Night Sky (1 p.m.); Joel Lindsey (2 p.m.); Spencer Allan Patrick (3 p.m.); DJ SMI (4 p.m.); Nox Boys (5 p.m.).
Details at PittsburghEarthDay.org and Pittsburgh Earth Day on Facebook.
Campfire and hikes
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Earth Day is a two-day event, beginning at 6 p.m. Friday with a free Community Campfire at Frick Park’s Falls Ravine Shelter, in Lower Frick. They will supply the fire and sticks — bring your own hot dogs and s’more fixings.
On Saturday, there will be naturalist-led walks and hikes throughout Frick Park at noon, 1:30 and 3 p.m. 2005 Beechwood Blvd. Info at www.pittsburghparks.org.
ReuseFest
Pennsylvania Resources Council marks Earth Day on Saturday with its seventh annual ReuseFest, a collection event at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC employee parking lot for materials destined for reuse by local nonprofits.
Local nonprofits will collect materials for free including bikes, medical supplies, usable building materials, household and kitchen items, gently used furniture and bedding, art supplies, pet supplies, skateboarding supplies, clothing, business casual shoes/jewelry/purses and vintage items.
There will also be food trucks, pop-up shops, children’s craft projects, giveaways and volunteer sign-up opportunities.
This year’s collection will support Brother’s Brother, Catholic Charities, Construction Junction, Dress for Success, Free Store Wilkinsburg, Free Ride, Global Links, Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Humane Animal Rescue, Off the Floor, Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse, and Trash to Thrash.
It runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 55th and Harrison streets in Lawrenceville. Information: www.prc.org/reuse or 412-773-7156.
ALL WEEKEND
‘Mississippi’ in Carnegie
Off the WALL Productions in Carnegie closes its 2017-18 season with the regional premiere of Evan Linder’s “Byhalia, Mississippi.” The bittersweet story, first staged by Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, tells the story of a “proud white trash” couple about to become parents while living in a town with a racially charged past that finds its way into the present.
Ingrid Sonnichsen directs a cast comprising Erika Cuenca, Brandon Meeks, Lamar K. Cheston, Hope Anthony and Virginia Wall Gruenert. “Byhalia, Mississippi” opens 8 p.m. Friday and runs through May 5 at Carnegie Stage, 25 W. Main St., Carnegie. Times are 8 p.m. Thurs.-Sat. and 3 p.m. Sun. Tickets: $5-$35; insideoffthewall.com or 724-873-3576.
‘White Chip’ at City
Sean Daniels recounts his road from a Mormon upbringing with a rebellious mother to the toast of regional theater, then losing it all to alcoholism and finding his way to sobriety — all the while keeping his sense of humor — in “The White Chip,” a world premiere at City Theatre.
It’s at City’s Lester Hamburg Studio Theatre, 1300 Bingham St., South Side through May 6. 7 p.m. Tuesday; 1 and/or 7 p.m. Wednesday; 8 p.m. Thursday.-Friday; 1, 5:30 and/or 9 p.m. Saturday; and 2 or 7 p.m. Sunday. (Check citytheatrecompany.org for special events.) Tickets: $38-$61; citytheatrecompany.org or 412-431-2489.
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THURSDAY
Jazz vibes
Jazz legend Roy Ayers takes the stage as part of “Then and Now: Celebration of the Legacy,” a gala presented by the A. Philip Randolph Institute.
The vibraphonist, dubbed by some “The Godfather of Neo Soul,” got his start as a bebop musician in the mid-’60s and and became a jazz-funk pioneer in the ‘70s. His music has been sampled by Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu, 50 Cent, A Tribe Called Quest, Tupac, and Tyler, The Creator, among others.
Tickets for the gala, which begins at 5:45 p.m., are $103. Tickets for the concert only, which begins at 9 p.m., are $53; trustarts.org. This event is 21+ and ID will be required.
FRIDAY
Melancholy music
The Warhol’s Sound Series continues with ambient/indie darling Julien Baker performing at Carnegie Lecture Hall in Oakland.
The 22-year-old from Memphis, Tenn., emerged on the scene in 2015 with an acclaimed debut album, “Sprained Ankle,” and followed it in 2017 with a move to Matador Records for “Turn Out the Lights.” It hit the year-end best-of lists on Pitchfork, Billboard, The AV Club, NPR and more. Stereogum wrote that “Sprained Ankle” “discusses depression, substance abuse and general crises of faith in detail.”
The concert is at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20, $15 members/students; warhol.org.
SATURDAY
Party in the park
The Wilkins Block Party, presented by grassroots artist collective Redfishbowl, takes place at the Vietnam Veterans Pavilion, Schenley Park, with 13 live bands, a craft beer and food truck roundup, and an artist market with tarot card reading, body painting, yoga and more.
The music lineup features Jasiri X, Beauty Slap, Starship Mantis, Livefromthecity + LUC, Spish, Memphis Hill, Jack Stauber, Blak Rapp Madusa, Cousin Boneless, Pinstripe Sunny, Zaneta Grant, Benji, Soul Man Idasa Tariq and Bat Zuppel.
Proceeds benefit 1Hood Media’s new program, Artivist Academy, which “aims to cultivate activism and entrepreneurialism in artists and activists.” It runs from 1 to 10 p.m. Free. Search Wilkins Block Party on Facebook.
X rockers
X Ambassadors, the Ithaca, N.Y., alt-rock band that broke out in 2015 with the hit “Renegades,” will release its second major-label album sometime this spring. It is already making waves with the single “Ahead of Myself.”
In advance of the album release, the anthemic band, made up of brothers Sam and Casey Harris and Adam Levin, returns to Stage AE, North Shore, with Son Little and The Aces.
Doors at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $30.50-$35; ticketmaster.com.
Wale at Carnival
Rap star Wale headlines the Spring Carnival Concert 2018with Shlohmo on The Cut at the Carnegie Mellon University campus.
Wale, who rode out of Washington, D.C., in 2009 with the debut album, “Attention Deficit,” is known for such hits as “Lotus Flower Bomb,” “Bad,” “No Hands,” “Running Back” and “My Love.” He released his fifth album, “Shinem,” in 2017.
Shlohmo is an electronic musician from Los Angeles and a founding member of the WeDidIt music collective.
The show is at 7 p.m. In case of rain, it will be moved to the Weigand Gymnasium, but no tickets are available.
Family Fun
Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum in Oakland presents a free Family Fun Event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Children can make cards to send to a soldier serving overseas, participate in a museum scavenger hunt, interact with historical re-enactors, and learn about military history. Children under 16 will receive a personalized dog tag.
For details, visit www.soldiersandsailorshall.org.
SUNDAY
Alphabet City reading
City of Asylum’s Alphabet City holds a Free Association Reading with poet Jeff Oaks, author of four chapbooks; Anjali Sachdeva, who just released her debut short story collection, “All the Names They Used for God”; Sarah Shotland, author of the novel “Junkette”; and Jeffrey Bolden, “a motorcyclist on the road of life.”
It runs from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at 40 W. North Ave., North Side. Free.
MORE TO DO:
THURSDAY: Seventeen magazine called them “your fave up-and-coming pop supergroup,” which means they might be headlining Heinz Field someday. For now, you can find boy band Why Don’t We, who have a single, “Trust Fund Baby,” written by Ed Sheeran, across the street at Stage AE. Doors at 6 p.m. $29.50/$35; ticketmaster.com.
THURSDAY: Folk singer-songwriter John Gorka, touring on the new album “True in Time,” plays the Roots Cellar, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, with Cliff Eberhardt at 7:30 p.m. $30; $10 full-time student; www.calliopehouse.org.
THURSDAY: Pittsburgh roots-rock band Bindley Hardware Co. plays the WYEP Local 913 Live happy hour at the South Side studios at 7 p.m.; www.wyep.org
THURSDAY: Magic Beans and Chillent do a free show at the Rex Theater, South Side, at 8 p.m. http://bit.ly/FreeMBPGH
FRIDAY: Russian Circles, the mighty Chicago power-trio last seen here with Mastodon and Eagles of Death Metal, returns to headline Spirit Hall, Lawrenceville, with Bay Area shoegazers King Woman and Circles at 8 p.m. $16/$18; ticketmaster.com.
FRIDAY: Kim Richey, the country-folk singer-songwriter who wrote hits for the likes of Radney Foster, Trisha Yearwood and Mary Chapin Carpenter and has recorded with Jason Isbell and Ryan Adams, among others, just released, “Edgeland,” her eighth studio album and first in five years. She plays Club Cafe, South Side, at 7 p.m. $18; ticketweb.com.
FRIDAY: Metalachi, billed as the world’s one and only metal/mariachi band, plays the Hard Rock Cafe, Station Square, at 10 p.m., $11/$13; ticketfly.com.
FRIDAY: Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness & Friends, led by the former singer from Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin, offers an acoustic evening on The Pen & The Piano Tour at the Palace Theatre, Greensburg, with Allen Stone and Zac Clark and Bob Oxblood of Jack’s Mannequin; $28.50 – $36.50; thepalacetheatre.org.
SATURDAY: The August Wilson Center for African American Culture celebrates its namesake during the month of his birthday with an August Wilson Community Day. Admission is free to the family-friendly event, noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, with local vendors in the lobby, plus dance, music, readings, a T-shirt giveaway, cupcakes and more. 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. http://aacc-awc.org/
SUNDAY: Canadian indie-pop band Stars, touring behind eighth studio album “There Is No Love In Fluorescent Light,” promises a “heart-swelling and magnetic live show” at Mr. Smalls, Millvale, at 8 p.m. $20/$22; ticketweb.com.
[“Source-post-gazette”]