Freaky studio in Pittsburgh plans art show

Artists at a ghoulish design studio in Pittsburgh have been given the challenge to individualize the same two blank masks to their own liking.

The one, above, decorates their lunchroom at Specter Studios in Pittsburgh's Sharpburg section.

Theirs will be unveiled Oct. 29 at a gallery show, Flesh & Bone, at Modern Formations, 4919 Penn Ave. The artists are Mike Doran, Chucky Hendershot, China Horrell, Dan Marsico and Michael Pezzulo.

Today, I took the dare to step inside the studio designed to keep local artists in Pittsburgh, and fortunately got out alive.

It's a warehouse kind of place where everything sold is handmade and creativity is the key word. A freaky-looking creature hangs from a noose in the stairway to the clothing shop. A frightening (secret) mask in development for the 2011 Halloween season would scare the hell out of the devil.

So take in this upcoming gallery show from 7 to 10:30 p.m.  at your own risk.

We are lucky to have open courts

Ukraine newspaper journalist Svitlana Vyunychenko, seat, left, inspects court records today at the office of District Judge Robert Redlinger in Washington, Pa., with her interpreter, Kostiantyn Iakovlier, and Eleeza V. Agopian of IREX in Washington, D.C. Vyunychenko is in the area as part of a newspaper exchange with the Observer-Reporter. (Beveridge photo)

This is one of those days that reminds me just how lucky I am to have been born in the United States, where our Constitution provides for open courts and freedom of the press.

It was the surprised look on the face of a visiting foreign newspaper journalist that reminded me of that while I showed her around the Washington County, Pa., courts, where obtaining public records is so, so much less troublesome than calling any private American utility to report a problem with a bill or services.

In Svitlana Vyuncychenko's homeland of the Ukraine, reporters face long delays and sometimes have to pay for public records that don't always explain much about why an alleged criminal has been arrested, she explains. There is a jail cell before the panel of judges there to hold the suspect when he or she appears before the court, often years after the arrest, she added.

Here in the U.S., we just asked a court official to see an arrest record explaining the case police have against a suspect. It's usually that easy, and even less of a problem when progressive courts make such records available on the web.

"Fantastic," Vyuncychenko says, reacting to this kind of access.

Heavily decorated for a veteran

A tiny library in southwestern Pennsylvania took the challenge seriously at a charity dinner tonight to decorate its table around a hero-themed book.

The Fredericktown Area Public Library staff actually brought its local hero to the affair and created a centerpiece shrine in his honor at the event to raise money for public libraries in Washington and Greene counties.

The overflowing assortment of old military uniforms, newspaper clippings and medals paid tribute to Ralph Natali, an 87-year-old who spent his decades-long career serving in the U.S. Navy and Air Force during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. His stuff overshadowed the table's book, Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation," about the successful lives of select World War II veterans.

The entry blew away the competition at the event, which drew more than 300 people to Bella Sera by Greco's in Canonsburg. And so did Mr. Natali in his happening sport coat and mod shades.

Porch sittin'

porch swing, originally uploaded by yvonnejeanne.

By Lorys Crisafulli

Every year we mark our calendar when we have our first meal on the back porch.

This year it was February.

My granddaughter, age 4, who lives in San Francisco, was so thrilled with all the snow in the backyard that she was eating the dry bread I had given her to feed the birds. When I realized she was that hungry, I suggested we go inside for lunch.

She had on so many clothes and big boots to remove that we both thought, "Why don't we eat out here?"

In no time I had the old standards ready - PBJs and tomato soup. Caroline enjoyed that meal as much as the birds enjoyed theirs.

Who said a picnic could only be held in the summer?

My porch has seen all kinds of parties, sales and just good conversation: this in addition to the fact that we have eaten most of our meals there from April to October.

Why does ordinary food taste better when eaten outdoors?

Of course there have been many card games, watermelon seed spitting contests and just rocking in the mismatched chairs out there.

Neighbors seem to enjoy showing up there from around the corner of the house. After something cold to drink, or a cup of coffee and a half hour or so of catching up with neighborhood news, we all go back to what we were doing.

Birdwatching is another pastime - the variety of feathered friends is endless and it seems as if every year we get visitors that were never there before. This year it was a family of pileated woodpeckers. Papa was so enormous and so ungainly that he was fascinating to watch.

We don't have a birdbath, but instead a plastic 3-inch-deep cake pan that all the critters drink from - rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks and even the groundhogs get thirsty.

The best thing of all was to watch a robin flapping around in the freshly-filled pan. That bird was in robin heaven.

The porch is not always a calm, restful place. We have had a "Pink Panther Party" with everyone dressed in PINK - even underwear. The Hawaiian Luau was a hit and so was the "Dress as a Tourist Party."

One of our best times was when our friend, Louisa, entertained us with her belly dancing routine. She was as funny as she was sexy, and when her snake, Houdini, got into the act we all got involved. The men enjoyed learning how to "shake their booties." Some of them even let Houdini sit on their heads.

If you have a porch there should never be an excuse to be bored. Just say "Hi" from there to a passerby and you will have a half-hour of pleasure.

The next event there will be to celebrate the completion of a calendar called the "Lads and Ladies of the Mon." It features 24 well-known men and women from the Monongahela, Pa., area whom have posed and laughed their ways through 12 months of hilarity.

For the 2008 calendar, "The Ladies of the Mon," we were photographed and interviewed by the Inside Edition TV show, KDKA, WPXI, WTAE and WQED on the now-famous back porch. We were even forever preserved in a segment that won an Emmy for WQED producer David Solomon.

The porch has not coordinated with the latest in well-designed furniture. There's a wicker sofa, a 1920s wooden rocker, redwood furniture painted white, other rockers of indistinct vintage and a kitchen table. But who cares?

We are ready to enjoy another evening on the porch.

Lorys Crisafulli is an entrepreneur and retired schoolteacher from Monongahela. She is known around the globe as Miss January, producer of a 2008 calendar featuring older women posing semi-nude for portraits to raise money for charity. Another calendar is in the works for 2011.

The outhouse stays put

Outhouse, originally uploaded by Scott Beveridge.

The following qualifies as being the most-unusual e-mail that has ever landed in my in box.


Scott,

A friend of mine asked if your outhouse was for sale. You
interested in parting with it??

(name withheld by me)

A town is born

This photo was shot July 1, 1900, in the center of what was about to become the bustling steel town of Donora, Pa. (Monongahela Area Historical Society)