The Weather Is Starting to Get Extreme 

or it must be Three River's Arts Festival Season 

Okay, so this past weekend was the opening of the 50th annual Three Rivers Arts Festival. It's this great outdoor Art, Craft, Music, Film and food festival held yearly in downtown Pittsburgh. Usually the festival lasts 17 days, but due to financial restraints, this year's event has been shortened to ten days.

Most of the people I work with hate this time of year. Not me. I love it. Our building is right smack dab in the middle of the festival with our plaza hosting the artists market. Sure navigating through the throngs of pram pushing parents takes a bit of patience, but I love the atmosphere all the activity creates. Plus this year there's a little stage right outside our door for acoustic acts to perform. 

It's really cool to walk outside and be greeted by a breeze blowing in your hair, people milling around, music floating on the current and the smell of food wafting in the air. It's such a let down when everyone packs it in at the end of the week, leaving the plaza empty and lifeless. Kind of like after Christmas when all the decorations are shoved back in the attic and the house feels plain and ugly again.

So anyway, one of the highlights of the festival is the artist market featuring an array of goods from leather purses, jewelry, textiles, jewelry, pottery, photography, jewelry, jewelry and did I mention...jewelry. Then sometimes there's an odd booth like this disturbing one

Eeewwww. Kreepy indeed. He might as well have stocked that puppy with clown heads as far as I'm concerned. Ick! But apparently, kids love those hideous things. Oh well. As Geo always says, "that's why they make chocolate and vanilla".

I think perhaps the biggest draw of the festival is the plethora of food booths. We span the globe in the gut-buster department. There's Mexican, Chinese, Polish (we do love our pierogies here) and French. Okay they're just crepes, but that's French, right?

We have the ubiquitous corn dog. 

Not just any corn dog...a hand-dipped corn dog. Yum? What? Is that the cadillac of corn dogs, or something? I never got the whole allure of the corn dog. I just don't associate corn encased hot dogs with tasty. Although I'm kinda liking saying "corn dog" a thousand times. Corn Dog Corn Dog Corn Dog 

And of course, let's not forget there's.... 

There are also tons of tasty treats...kettle corn, funnel cakes and divine chocolate covered strawberries.

One of the big crowd pleasers is the musical acts scheduled every night. I admit I'm not familiar with a lot of the bands booked, but there are always one or two worthy of traveling back to town. Besides..it's free. 

The first act on the main stage for this year's festival was The Black Keys with Jessica Lee Mayfield as their opener. JLM is a bit twangy country and an odd combo with the hard rocking sound of the Black Keys, but hey... whatever. Like I said, it's free. Her band was pretty good, but the songs all tended to sound the same. Plus I still don't know what she looks like since she didn't take off the gigantic, big-ass Jackie O sunglasses all night. 

Her brother, however, added an entertainment factor with his antics molesting his upright bass. Once they finished playing, there was suddenly a huge crowd which rushed the stage in anticipation of the arrival of the Black Keys.

I had no idea there were only two guys in this band. They make a HUGE wall of sound for only two skinny guys. Seriously. Insanely huge sound. They were good. Even this dude with the dog enjoyed them. The baby seemed to dig it, too. (One of the many curious sites one spies at a festival)

And, of course, no festival would be complete without a little...

BUTT CRACK!!

All in all, it has been a fine festival this year. I think there was only one night where a "Mother of All Storms" blew through curtailing activity. Not bad for this event. Everyone goes home tomorrow night, leaving our little home away from home quiet and boring again. 

Same time next year?

Lord Stanley, Lord Stanley. Give Me The Brandy!

I LOVE HOCKEY!!

Four and a half months ago, my beloved Penguins struggled to get a play off berth. Now they hoist the coveted Stanley Cup after one of the most exciting games in hockey history. It was a hard fought journey. They played their hearts out. They never gave up even after being down 2-0 in the series. They forced a game seven after a commanding win at home for game six. Thanks to Max Talbot's two brilliant goals tonight, they pulled out a 2-1 victory. 

I jumped... I screamed.... I cried... Our neighborhood exploded with cheers, car horn blasts and firecrackers. 

It's an emotional journey, especially for us fans, but the  boys came through. I'm so proud of them. They've made our town the City of Champions once again. 

And to Marion Hossa who left our franchise to play for Detroit because he wanted to win a Stanley Cup... Dear Sir: You chose poorly.

Lord Stanley's come to play. This summer the party's in Pittsburgh. Elvis has left the building...with a shiny, old cup.

Way to go, PENS!! 

Friday Photo #24

Thelma and Louise, circa 1991 

Okay, so long ago and far away back in 1991, Beets and I decided to pull a Thelma and Louise--leave our husbands at home, rent a convertible Mustang and head for the beach, namely Wildwood, NJ for some primo girl bonding. We packed our bikinis, Rita fixins, two packs of Newports and headed East to bask in the Northern sun, frolic in the surf and lounge pool side. We were 30 and 31, respectively, thin, vibrant and kinda hot despite the gi-normous sunshades. Hey, it was still basically the 80s--at least I'd lost the perm by then. We were just hitting our stride and had the world by the short hairs.

It was FABULOUS!!! That convertible was the sweetest! Believe it or not, we managed to stay out of trouble while still having some interesting exploits that make me smile to this day. This would be the first of many solo trips to the Jersey shore for me and Beets. Each adventure has deepened our bond of friendship, but this first journey will forever remain the best, the brightest and the dearest to our hearts.

Aaah, the memories. Here's to Soft Bob, water baloons, Harbor Inn karaoke, the haunted house and the "dickler". That's a story for another day.

Twilight Zone Moment of the Week...

or "do do do do .. do do do do"

Okay, so the weirdest thing happened today. My Mom, Big Mar and I were heading back to the car after a scrumptious breakfast at a local diner when this crazy-assed, uber angry woman across the street starts screaming and MF-ing at everyone in general and no one in particular. Her raging rant had something to do with Freaking Men ruling the Frelling world... I don't know. Whatever. Sell it sister like you don't need the money!

Anywho, my car is parked on the Mad Woman of MF land's side of the street. Great. I usher Big Mar north, crossing the street above Her Majesty of Madness, giving this chick a wide berth as we walk to my car parked two spaces in front of her ongoing verbal assault. 

Our journey takes all of two minutes. I help Big Mar into the passenger seat, start to walk to my side of the car, glance back at the corner...and the woman has literally VANISHED. Seriously. Gone. Without a trace. (I never really warmed up to  that show..)

WTF?!?

I didn't feel a shift in the space/time continuum, yet there was not one sign this woman ever existed. No car had stopped to pick her up. She was absolutely nowhere to be found. It had to be aliens, right? Surely aliens don't just hang out in empty Iowa fields looking for odd balls Cletuses to abduct. They vacation in actual cities at times to, you know, mix it up. Well how else would you explain it? 

Seriously weird.

On a similar weirdo note, how about this dude...

He wins, hands down, for freak of the week. I can't remember why he was arrested, but really does it even matter. I mean, COME ON! The guy's not just wearing a ladies one-piece... he's sporting boobies there. AND as our anchoress, Sonya pointed out he had the fashion forethought to wear the appropriate racer-backed brassiere to support his man-boobs without those unsightly bra straps ruining his line. I'm not even asking where he tucked the boys.

Ya gotz to love the strangies. Without them life would just be dull.

Is There Something You'd Like to Share With Me LG Versa? 

or where's that voice coming from? 

Okay, so the other day I was reading a text message from a friend and noticed this odd, square-faced, profile-looking icon in the upper right hand corner of the phone screen. Not being one to actually study the manuals of gizmos--much to Geo's shagrin, he reeeeeeally hates hates hates that I don't read manuals, mainly because I end up asking him questions about my phone, he gets annoyed, I get snippy, he gets testes..I mean, testy, then there's yelling, there's door slamming, yadda yadda yadda, next thing you know we're mopping blood from the floor. I kid. But it can be unpleasant...

Wait...where was I? 

Oh yeah. So I tap this button (insert you own off-color comment here) and lo and behold, this computerized chick voice starts reading the text message aloud in that creepy, stilted, Christopher Walken kinda way. 

Get Out!!! How cool is this?

So I start going through some of my old messages to have Stephen Hawking's wife read them aloud when I get to one from my bud, KJo wherein he has written laughter (Hahahahahahahaha) and "titties". The "hahas" came out sounding like the Tazmanian Devil character from Bugs Bunny cartoon fame. Funny enough, but "titties" came out accented improperly and in two very distinct syllables. Hilarious!

So naturally I shared my findings with KJo who IMMEDIATELY sent back a full page of off-color terms. I knew he'd come through for me. He's my hero, don't cha know.

I pushed the icon, and my little handheld Harlot spouted off words you can't say on television in her perfect 01001 computer dialect. When she got to "pussy" she read it as "puss-y" as in the contents of a festering boil. 

She's such a tramp.

The Things You Do In Pittsburgh When You're Bored

or it's Sunday at the Special K

Okay, so I'm going through my copious amounts of work email because I keep getting the "your system box is full" prompt which when you think about it, kind of crosses the sexual harrassment line. You know, really. Don't be talking trash about my "box". The state of my box ain't none of your business, dawg. And besides it's just ... rude.


Anywho, sifting through the muck and mire of mind-numbing work related emails, I stumbled upon one from the fan site iLike. I apparently signed up a while ago to track music/concert activity of you-know-who from a link on Facebook or Myspace or Satan's Quarterly.


I have no idea how to navigate through this site. I'm just a cavewoman. I can't wrap my pea-sized brain around most online sites. I was, however, able to stumble upon a couple of gems, namely my fantasy husband singing some pretty great covers of the Pixies' Wave of Mutilation and Bowie's Ziggy Stardust. I couldn't figure out how to download them into our iTunes, but there was a link to this stellar video. He is just soooo much fun to watch. Enjoy. I'll catch you on the other side.




Lordy, Lordy!! He is a honey!



By the way Mr. Miller has a new solo CD coming out on Tuesday 6/9. It is fantastic! Seriously. It's not just me being my usual biased self when it comes to all-things-Rhett. It's an extremely strong record. Many of the songs have a darker edge, lyrically, set to his signature bouncy, pop melodies. Plus he incorporates one of my favorite words, tchotchkes in cut 5.. "She's the sum of the tchotchkes she keeps.." Come on. That's fabulous. Triple word score there. But don't take my word for it. You can judge for yourself because the fine folks at CMT.com have the entire CD streaming here. Give it a listen then tell me you're NOT going to run out and buy that puppy.


Speaking of the blue-eyed lovely one, I'm posting a couple more of the promotion shots from his distant past that were shared during the listening party back in May for my online bud, Gonzo_Stojo mainly because I can't for the life of me figure out how to get them to her via Twitter. So, Jess--as promised--these are for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!





Oooooo. So pretty...




Don't know who the Dude in the middle is, but... yeah, that's Murry on the right. Nice beads. *sigh* Between the flowing hair, big baby blues and his killer book of poems, I'm betting he totally made the girls swoon... despite the goofy photos.

Excuse me, what?

or things uttered today on and off the air 

Okay, so this morning the female anchor turned to the weather man and said:

"Do you have time for a quickie?"

Guffaw or desperate ratings ploy?

One more thing. We have a director, with whom I enjoy working, who has this habit of calling the CGs, you know the names of reporters and locators for video packages thusly:

"Insert David.." 

Plus he has a delivery similar to Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, you know--"Bueller... Bueller..." 

Anywho, when the Dark Lord, Dick Cheney was VP we all secretly hoped he would call, "Insert Dick". Sadly he never made that call. I'm thinking his subconscious put the brakes on that one. He did, however, come close one morning with "Insert Johnson.."

he he he he  Yeah, we're ten.