Entertainment category, Page 221
TV Talk: Mt. Lebanon native Gillian Jacobs visits ‘Fear Street’ on Netflix
Gillian Jacobs, a 2000 graduate of Mt. Lebanon High School, isn’t a fan of horror movies, but she was up for the challenge in acting in several over the past year, including the Netflix “Fear Street” trilogy, based on the R.L. Stine books. “Its definitely a genre that I wanted...
105.9 The X alt-rock countdown returns over Fourth of July weekend
As the WDVE countdown of 500 songs has become synonymous with Memorial Day weekend, WXDX-FM 105.9, known as The X, hopes to claim Fourth of July for its 420 list of music. “If you are going to a Fourth of July party you can put on ‘The X’ and you...
Stage Right’s ‘Hair’ celebrates 1960s hippie vibe
For the Stage Right Theatre Company, the rock musical “Hair” isn’t just an anachronistic snapshot of the peace and love era of the 1960s. Cast members in their 20s and 30s are finding parallels between the “Age of Aquarius” and the present day, said Director Tony Marino. The troupe will...
‘Halloween’ comes to Venice as Jamie Lee Curtis gets lifetime awardVideo
The Venice Film Festival is awarding its lifetime achievement award this year to Jamie Lee Curtis, the American actor best known for her decades-long run in the “Halloween” slasher franchise. Curtis will pick up the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement on Sept. 8, when the latest installment, “Halloween Kills,” is screened...
TV Q&A: Do longer-tenured TV anchors get more vacation time?
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review. Q: Do KDKA-TV on-air talent who have been with the station for a while get a ton of vacation time? I’ve noticed sports anchor Bob Pompeani...
Greensburg, Latrobe art centers celebrate shared mission in joint show
Greensburg and Latrobe art centers will celebrate their collective mission of promoting art and artists across Westmoreland County with the annual joint exhibition, “Art Neighbors.” Featuring works by members of both organizations, the show will run from Thursday through July 31 in the Latrobe Art Center, 819 Ligonier St. An...
‘Today’ show episodes to be released as podcast
Now you can get Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb on the go. NBC News’ “Today” show is being made available in podcast form, giving the four-hour morning show a wider reach for viewers, the network announced Monday. “Starting today, listeners can get their daily dose of news, headlines and the...
Eclectic local band HABATAT vying for NPR Tiny Desk Concert slotVideo
When HABATAT dragged a desk onstage at a recent concert, it wasn’t just an eclectic performance art prop. The band, whose members hail from Greensburg and Johnstown, were getting ready to video a song for submission into NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert contest. HABATAT was onstage at FUNKy FEST, an annual...
Alt-rock band Cracker happy to be back on the road, heads to Harmar this week
It’s a long way from performing socially distant, one-man private acoustic shows in driveways to being back on stage with a full six-piece band. But that’s the road David Lowery, front man for the classic alternative rock group Cracker, has traveled in just one month of pandemic time. Cracker, led...
Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra to offer free patriotic concert at Greensburg amphitheater
The Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra announced its free patriotic summer concert at St. Clair Park in Greensburg will return July 9. Titled “Summer Sparklers,” the annual outdoor concert will be conducted by WSO Artistic Director Daniel Meyer at 7 p.m. in the park’s Robertshaw Amphitheater. Program favorites will include “The Star-Spangled...
Lawrenceville boutique owner beats trivia legend, wins big on ABC’s ‘The Chase’
The dictionary definition of “trivia” is “pieces of information of little importance or value.” Try telling that to Liz Quesnelle of Lawrenceville. Her knowledge of facts both great and small recently won her a third of a $660,000 pot on the ABC quiz show “The Chase.” On the show’s June...
The Palace Theatre to return to live shows starting July 30
In a bit of scheduling serendipity, The Palace Theatre in Greensburg will reopen to live audiences with a July 30 visit from The Happy Together Tour. Marking its 11th year of national touring, the show is headlined by The Turtles and features other hit-makers from the 1960s and ’70s, including...
TV Talk: WTAE anchor to depart, another Mister Rogers statue unveiled
WTAE weekend morning anchor Chris Lovingood will depart the station by the end of July after a three-year stint at the ABC affiliate. Lovingood joined WTAE in 2018 from a station in Fort Myers, Fla. In a Facebook post, Lovingood said he’ll move to WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C. “They have...
TV Talk: Paul Martino retires from KDKA-TV, on-air sendoff planned
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week. After a 37-year run at KDKA-TV, reporter/anchor Paul Martino hangs up his microphone this week with an on-air exit interview farewell that’s expected to air during the station’s 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts Wednesday. “I...
‘F9’ puts charge back into movie theaters with $70M openingVideo
LOS ANGELES — In the strongest sign yet that life is left in movie theaters, “F9” sped to a box office take of $70 million in its first weekend, the biggest opening for a film since the pandemic began, according to studio estimates Sunday. The ninth installment in the “Fast...
Freeport Theatre Festival’s ‘The Rainmaker’ features sisters serving as director, actress
Freeport Theatre Festival’s production of “The Rainmaker” is a family project for the Bronder sisters. Kristy and Jen Bronder grew up watching local theater together with their parents. Now, for the first time, they’ll be working together in a local theater production at Freeport Theatre Festival this summer. Jen Bronder...
Bruce Springsteen marks the return of live shows on Broadway
NEW YORK — In another sign of live entertainment’s rebirth, Bruce Springsteen returned to Broadway this weekend, strapping on a guitar and reviving a show for an audience that included a member of his E Street Band and the governor of his home state. Springsteen had ended his residency in...
Bill Deasy to perform at SouthSide Works ‘Music on the Mon’
Bill Deasy prefers not to have a predetermined set list. “I love playing live music and feeding off the crowd to determine what song is next,” said Deasy, who will be performing at 7 p.m. July 2 with three friends at “Music on the Mon” at SouthSide Works. “I read...
Sewickley theater to offer Wednesday open caption movies
A pilot program at the The Tull Family Theater in Sewickley aims to improve moviegoing for its patrons, especially those who are hard of hearing. Beginning Wednesday, and continuing weekly throughout the summer, captions will appear on the bottom of the screen of each movie shown that day. The program,...
Stop the slide: Here’s how to make summer learning fun
Summer is a time for vacations, picnics, fun in the sun and the dreaded educational slide. When students head back into the classrooms after summer break, teachers expect them to have lost some of the knowledge they gained the previous school year. This could be even more true after the...
5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: June 25-27
It’s the final weekend of June. Here are some ideas on how to spend it. Carrie Blast Drive-in Carrie Carpool Cinema at the Carrie Blast Furnaces will host baseball films this weekend. “A League of Their Own,” about women’s professional baseball, is being shown at 9:30 p.m. on Friday. “The...
‘PulpFest’ returns to Pittsburgh in August
Ask most people what “pulp fiction” is and the likely reply would be that it’s a movie about two hit men played by Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta. While that is essentially correct, it’s also true that decades before pop culture content was consumed digitally, it came in the...
Pittsburgh Irish Festival to feature Pine native Katie GrennanVideo
As a young girl, Katie Grennan performed for the Burke Conroy School of Irish Dance at the Pittsburgh Irish Festival. This year, she hopes to have others doing the jig. Grennan will be part of two bands performing at the event Sept. 10-12 at The Lots at Sandcastle in Homestead....
Irwin’s Lamp Theatre reopens Friday for shows, moviesVideo
The stage lights inside the Lamp Theatre will be lit again Friday for the first time in more than a year because of the covid pandemic. “There’s been a mountain of work to do,” said Bill Elder, general manager of the theater in downtown Irwin. Breakers, a Tom Petty tribute...
Revamped Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival returns to Green Tree hotel
The Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival, returning under a new name after a pandemic-year hiatus, will be held Thursday through Saturday at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Green Tree. Under new ownership, the festival will offer more than 50 classes in knitting, crochet, quilting, weaving and other creative arts, along with...
