A & E

Music

• She's got the music in her

Sam Phillips -- the singer, not the late, legendary producer -- never has had a breakout hit. It seems the term "cult figure" was designed to describe a performer like her: supremely talented, but never quite a household name.

Part of that is because of the circuitous route she's taken. She started her career as Leslie Phillips (her birth name) and recorded Christian music. Then, in 1987, she dropped Leslie, adopted Sam (her childhood nickname) and started releasing secular albums, notably "The Indescribable Wow," "Cruel Inventions," "Bikinis and Martinis" and, earlier this year, "Don't Do Anything." Her music has been described as acid pop, but that's far too harsh a term. She's witty, smart and listenable, and it's the kind of music that once heard, is affecting.

Phillips performs Friday at Club Cafe with Shay. Admission for the 7 p.m. performance is $35.

Details: 412-431-4950, or online.

-- Regis Behe

• Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic opens concert season

They're off to a fast start at Carnegie Mellon University. Less than a month into the fall term, on Wednesday evening, the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic is presenting its first concert of the season. The big-league program will be performed under a guest conductor -- one of five candidates for director of orchestral studies at the school of music.

The man on the podium will be Steven Smith, a former resident conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra who has been music director of the Santa Fe Symphony since 1999. The program will culminate in Bela Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra.

The concert also will feature the excellent pianist Samuel Oram, who graduated from CMU last year, as soloist in Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3.

The music starts at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Carnegie Music Hall, Oakland. Admission: $5.

Details: 412-268-2383.

-- Mark Kanny

• Like fathers, like sons

Karma Auger says he and the other members of the band called CAST are proud of their fathers, but even more proud to take music their own way.

Auger, the son of keyboardist Brian Auger, is joined these days by Julian Coryell -- a guitarist like his father, Larry -- and bassist Nicklas Sample, son of keyboardist Joe, in the band that is an acronym for Coryell Auger Sample Trio.

The band was formed about a year ago when Auger joined Larry Coryell at a gig in San Diego. Julian was there, too, and the two struck a musical kinship. The younger Coryell and Auger then asked another friend, Sample, to join them and ended up with a blues-jazz-rooted trio that showed signs of their fathers' work, but was their own, too.

"They certainly keep the expectations high," Auger says of the fathers' influences.

After shaping their act for a few months, Auger says, they decided to put together an album on their own, keeping rights to the music and marketing it through CDBaby and iTunes.

Now, they have put together a small tour from Pittsburgh, Cleveland and through the Midwest to get the word out about the band. They also are planning to put together another album in November.

CAST will play at 8 p.m. Saturday at Moondog's, 378 Freeport Road, Blawnox. Admission is $12.

Details: 412-828-2040.

-- Bob Karlovits

• Velvet Underground reinterpreted

No band is more associated with Andy Warhol than the Velvet Underground. As usual, Warhol's eye for culture-changing talent was way ahead of its time -- as the Velvets' seminal recordings would influence generations of cutting-edge rockers, and still sound fresh and exciting today.

Robert Forster is one of the many Velvet Underground acolytes whose life was changed by hearing the band -- way out in Brisbane, Australia, in the '60s. He went on to found the excellent underground pop outfit the Go-Betweens, built atop the legacy of the Velvet Underground's catchier moments.

Forster will be at the Andy Warhol Museum at 10 p.m. Friday, performing a reinterpretation of the music of the Velvet Underground with a full band. Justin Hopper of Viper Soul Club will host a pre- and post-show Mod dance party in the Warhol's entrance gallery. Tickets are $10.

Details: 412-237-8300.

-- Michael Machosky

Theater

• Steel painful

Doing its part in observance of Pittsburgh's 250th anniversary, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company is reprising "Dorothy 6" by James McManus.

The play examines the personal pain of steelworkers experiencing the closing of their mills and the loss of their jobs when the local steel industry imploded.

Performances begin tonight and continue through Sept. 28 at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, on the mezzanine of the Jackman Building, 542 Penn Ave., Downtown.

Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Saturdays and Sept. 12 and 26 and 2 p.m. Sundays.

Admission: $17.50 or $12.50 for students with ID.

Details: 412-394-3353 or online.

-- Alice T. Carter

• 'The Chief' returns

Tom Atkins returns to the Pittsburgh Public Theater to reprise his role as legendary Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney Sr. in "The Chief."

The highly popular, one-man play celebrates the lives of two Pittsburgh legends -- Rooney and his NFL team.

The show begins Tuesday and runs for only seven performances at the O'Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Downtown.

Performances are at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Sept. 20 and 2 p.m. Sept. 20. Admission: $45 and $60; $15 for age 26 or younger.

Details: 412-316-1600 or online.

-- Alice T. Carter

Bluegrass

The father of bluegrass

The word "legend" gets thrown around a little recklessly when it comes to music, but here's one case where it's actually not strong enough. Ralph Stanley is bluegrass music -- one of the last surviving links to this intrinsically American, old-as-the-hills music.

Like Johnny Cash and Ray Charles, he's found a new generation of fans through the movies -- specifically, the unexpected smash-hit soundtrack to "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" which uses his haunting a capella version of "O Death" and his song "Man of Constant Sorrow" (sung by Dan Tyminski) in key scenes.

At 79, he still performs about 100 dates a year with The Clinch Mountain Boys, and is coming to Pittsburgh on Friday night for a concert at Synod Hall, on North Craig Street in Oakland.

The show starts a 8 p.m. Friday with new bluegrass standouts King Wilkie. Tickets are $25 or $30 at the door. Details: 412-361-2262.

-- Michael Machosky

Comedy

The physical set

Physical comedy is a lot harder than it looks. Arnez J., who plays the Pittsburgh Improv today through Sunday, burns a lot of calories during a set. He doesn't just do stand-up comedy, he does falling-down comedy. A natural athlete, he was recruited to the Harlem Globetrotters before a knee injury benched him.

While working as a flight attendant, he discovered his talent for stand-up-in-the-aisles comedy, telling jokes to passengers (and not charging them). Onstage, he's utterly fearless when it comes to acting the fool or hitching up his pants for an inspired imitation of his dancing Uncle Charlie. Show times are at 8 p.m. today;8 and 10 p.m. Friday; 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $20-$22.

Details: 412-462-5233.

-- William Loeffler

Art

Two for the show

If you are itching to see what the Pittsburgh area art scene is all about, then Friday evening there's no better place to be than Lawrenceville. That's because two stellar exhibitions featuring the works of more than 250 regional artists will be featured during two concurrent gallery receptions, and both are free to all.

Over at Gallery on 43rd Street, assemblage and mixed-media artist Robert Villamagna will present his latest body of work in the solo exhibit "Estano Luchador." That's Spanish for "Tin Wrestler," which will make sense when you realize that the exhibition largely consists of works based on a variety of related subject matter, including Mexican wrestling masks, mobile homes and stories suggested by the materials themselves.

Only a few blocks away, Fe Gallery presents a salon style show with 250 pieces each by 250 visual artists living in Western Pennsylvania. "In the Making: 250 Years/250 Artists" is the gallery's contribution to Pittsburgh 250, a year long, citywide celebration of the city's 250th anniversary.

The opening reception for "Estano Luchador," which runs through Oct. 31, will be from 7 to 10 p.m. at Gallery on 43rd Street, 187 43rd St. Details: 412-683-6488. The opening reception for "In the Making: 250 Years/250 Artists," which runs through Jan. 10, is from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. at Fe Gallery, 4102 Butler St. Details: 412-860-6028.

-- Kurt Shaw

Museum

• Children's Museum gives peace a chance

The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh in the North Side is hosting a series of "Peace-Full Saturdays" during the month of September, with family yoga classes, origami classes and a book reading.

The activities are part of the citywide program "Remembering Hiroshima: Imagining Peace." At 11:30 a.m. each Saturday, families can take a half-hour yoga class at the museum. From 1-3 p.m. each Saturday, artist Emily Laychak will teach the ancient Japanese art of origami.

At 1 and 2 p.m. this Saturday only, author Ronni Alexander of Japan will read to kids from his book "Popoki, What Color Is Peace?" Activities are included with general admission of $10; $9 for ages 2-18 and senior citizens.

Details: 412-322-5058 or online.

-- Kellie B. Gormly

• Science center explores water environments

Carnegie Science Center's Wild Water Weekend on Saturday and Sunday will focus on underwater ecosystems -- how we interact with them positively and negatively, and ways to safely experience these environments.

Activities for the weekend include:

• Master SCUBA divers from the Pittsburgh River Rescue Unit will demonstrate water rescue, emergency medical care and diving from boats moored on the Ohio River near the center.

• From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days, visitors can tour Riverquest's environmental education center, Explorer.

• At 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Dr. Joylette Portlock of the Climate Project will discuss effects of global warming and anticipated changes in global climate.

• Visitors also can see the new IMAX film "Wild Ocean," which looks at the economic and cultural impact of the annual sardine migration along the Kwazulu-Natal Coast of South Africa.

The museum will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $14; $10 for ages 3 to 12 and senior citizens. There is an additional charge for the IMAX movie.

Details: 412-237-3400 or online.

-- Tribune-Review

SPECIAL EVENTS

Italian celebration

Festa Italiana, a celebration of the Pittsburgh region's Italian community and history, comes to Riverplex in West Homestead this weekend.

The event includes traditional and contemporary entertainment, Italian food and refreshments, an Italian marketplace, children's activities, dance workshops and performances, bocce games, wine tastings and an Italian Mass at 10 a.m. Sunday, celebrated by Anthony G. Bosco, bishop emeritus of the Diocese of Greensburg.

Hours for the festival are 4 to 11 p.m. Friday, noon to 11 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission: $8 in advance, $10 at the gate; $8 for age 60 and older and students with ID; $5 for those with military ID, active or retired; $3 for ages 3-12; free for age 2 and younger.

Riverplex is betwen Sandcastle and the Waterfront, behind Costco.

Details: 412-422-1113 or online.

-- Tribune-Review

Festivals

More new works

The Pittsburgh New Works Festival moves into week two with another trio of one-act plays receiving their world premieres.

Now in its 18th season, the annual Pittsburgh New Works Festival is dedicated to fostering the development of original one-act plays. Each year, it debuts a dozen original one-act plays each produced by a different theater company. A different trio of plays is performed during each of the festival's four weekends.

This week's trio:

• "The Mistress of Wholesome" by Jacob Appel, produced by The Summer Company, about a couple who are hoping to adopt a child, and the husband's mistress.

• "The Hope and Heartbreak of the Day Trader" by James Sievert, produced by mimeradio.org. Set in Paris, the play advises, "Don't despair when you're down, and don't gloat when you're up."

• "Man Woman/Hombre Mujer" by Chris Gavaler, produced by McKeesport Little Theater, is bilingual -- Spanish and English -- and takes place in a waiting room.

Performances: 8 p.m. today and Friday, 5 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 4 and 7 p.m. Sunday at Open Stage Theatre, 2835 Smallman St. in the Strip District.

Thursday performances are followed by "Mingles" -- parties that invite audience members to mingle with the performers and playwrights.

Admission: $10; $25 for a pass to all four programs plus the Young Playwrights plays. Reservations are strongly recommended.

Details: 412-881-6888 or online.

-- Alice T. Carter

SAFETY

Public Safety Day

The National Aviary is hosting Public Safety Day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. The event aims to teach visitors about how to be safe citizens and good neighbors.

Topics include fire safety, bicycle safety and school bus safety. Local fire and police officials will be attending the event to talk about safety topics, and a fire truck and police cruiser will be parked in the North Side Aviary's lot for visitors to see. All regularly scheduled Aviary activities will take place throughout the day.

The event is included with general admission of $9; $8 for senior citizens; $7.50 for children; free for children younger than 2.

Details: 412-323-7235 or online.

-- Kellie B. Gormly

Dance

'Shall We Dance'

The River City Brass Band is wrapping up its first series of concerts Sunday with a visit to a temporary home.

The band will closes its "Shall We Dance" series at Bethel Park High School, 309 Church Road, which is the site of Sunday afternoon concerts this season. It is replacing the auditorium at Baldwin High School, where renovations are taking place.

The concert features tap dancer Shelley Oliver doing works from those of J.S. Bach to John Philip Sousa, and a new work by composer David Sanford. The composition, "Monongahela 1971," was commissioned by the band as part of Pittsburgh's 250th anniversary celebration this year.

Oliver teaches at Muhlenberg College and lives in Easton, Northampton County. Sanford teaches at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

Music starts at 3 p.m. Admission: $18-$24.

Details 412-434-7222.

-- Bob Karlovits

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