Carnegie Mellon University is known for its robotics and software engineering programs. Lesser known is the university's legacy of producing writers. The 2006-2007 season of CMU's Adamson Reading Series will feature an all-alumni line-up. The schedule:
• Lisa Zeidner, author of "Layover" and three other novels, Sept. 14.
• Shannon Gibney, poet, magazine writer and managing editor of the Minnesota Spokesmen-Recorder; Kevin Gonzalez, poet and fiction writer; and Karen Rigby, poet and author of "Festival Bone," Oct. 18.
• Marshall Klimasewski, author of the novel "Cottagers" and short stories that have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Ploughshares and "The Best American Short Stories," Nov. 2.
• Sue Stauffacher, children's book author of "Donuthead" and "Harry Sue," Jan. 31.
•Javier Grillo-Marxuach, writer and supervisor of the first two seasons of the television series "Lost," he's also written for "Law & Order," "Charmed' and "Boomtown." Date to be announced.
All readings take place at 8 p.m. in the Adamson Wing of Baker Hall on CMU's campus and are free and open to the public. The program is presented by the university's Creative Writing department.
Details: 412-268-2000, or www.cmu.edu.
-- Regis Behe
'Pranks' on tap at the Brew House
The American Shorts Reading Series will present "Pranks" Thursday at the Brew House, 2100 Mary St., South Side.
Featured will be playwright David Turkel reading Donald Barthelme's "The Balloon" and actress and writer Elena Passarello reading "Monster" by Kelly Link. Also scheduled are a short film by Keith Tassick and the Tom Sarver Puppet Express doing an adaptation of Ken Kesey's "Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear."
The $4 admission includes light refreshments. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Details: 412-622-8866 or www.pittsburghlectures.org.
-- Regis Behe
Shadyside Presbyterian announces concerts
An international array of performers will be featured in the 2006-07 season of Music in a Great Space, which is presented by Shadyside Presbyterian Church. All ticket proceeds go to charitable causes through the mission and urban ministry committee of the church.
Baritone Guenko Guechev, chair of the voice department and director of the opera workshop at Duquesne University, and his wife mezzo-soprano Xiu-ru Liu open the season Sept. 17, followed by the Rastrelli Cello Quartet on Oct. 29,playing arrangements that range from classical to ragtime to tango.
Two of the most widely known contemporary organists -- Carlo Curley and Shadyside Presbyterian's J. Christopher Pardini -- will collaborate for a rare organ duo concert Feb. 2, followed by True North Brass Quintet, which exemplifies Canadian brass excellence, March 11. Organist David Higgs will perform April 15 and the Shadyside Chancel Choir and Choral Society will top off the season with Brahms' "A German Requiem" May 20.
All concerts are at 4 p.m. Sundays at Shadyside Presbyterian Church, Shadyside.
Subscriptions to the six-concert series are $48; $24 for seniors age 60 and older; free for students and children. Single tickets are $10; $5 for seniors and free for students and children
Details: 412-682-4300.
-- Mark Kanny
Pittsburghers read stories for Comcast program
Children love stories, and now it can be storytime anytime.
Read! 365, a special Comcast On Demand series, offers a selection of stories read by prominent Pittsburgh men, through the fall.
The series includes county executive Dan Onorato, who reads Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" and Max Starks, Pittsburgh Steelers' offensive lineman, who reads the Dr. Seuss classic "Green Eggs and Ham."
"We want fathers to understand ... how important it is to read to children," says Laurie Moser, Director of Read! 365.
Read! 365 is a campaign of Beginning with Books, which promotes the development of literacy at an early age. The goal of Read! 365 is to raise awareness of the issue of early literacy, and promote reading to children.
"I always said that if you come to kindergarten without ever being read to, you're coming without batteries," Moser says.
Read! 365 can be accessed by Comcast customers with enhanced cable and above through On Demand under "Local Events" in the "Your Town" folder.
-- Bethany Hofstetter
Aguilera's new CD not so sexy, she says
Christina Aguilera says she's toned down the sexuality on her new double-disc album, "Back to Basics," but has no regrets about the sultry image she's projected in the past.
"The sexuality coming forward on this record is more softened," the 25-year-old singer says in the July 31 issue of Newsweek. "It's more pin-up, tongue-in-cheek. It's playful. People take sex far too seriously."
Aguilera said she was proud of the image she projected on her last album, "Stripped," in part because it elicited strong opinions.
"If you liked it, you wanted to root for me -- 'Look, she's empowered.' If not, well, you'd stick all those labels on me."
Aguilera also told the magazine there was never a feud between her and a fellow ex-Mousketeer, Britney Spears.
"We were like best friends, but the media saw a navel and blond hair and had to create some drama," she said.
"Back to Basics" is set for release Aug. 15.
-- The Associated Press
Andrew Wyeth exhibit draws record crowds
The Philadelphia Museum of Art said its Andrew Wyeth exhibition drew 177,000 visitors in 15.5 weeks, the highest-ever attendance at the museum for a living artist.
"Andrew Wyeth: Memory and Magic," which closed July 16, displayed more than 100 works spanning the 89-year-old artist's seven-decade career -- portraits, still lifes, drawings, watercolors and landscapes, including pieces from the artist's own collection.
Wyeth and his wife of 66 years, Betsy -- who also is her husband's curator, business manager, critic and sometime model -- gave the museum five watercolors and four graphite drawings that served as studies for "Groundhog Day," one of the museum's few Wyeths.
Curator Kathleen Foster said that Wyeth was pleased with the show.
"This was his boyhood museum, so in a certain way he felt like he'd finally arrived," she said.
-- The Associated Press
Pavarotti plans to keep on singing
Luciano Pavarotti says he has no intention of letting the curtain fall yet on his singing career despite recent surgery for pancreatic cancer.
"I have every intention of returning to singing," the 70-year-old tenor said in an interview published Monday in the Italian daily La Stampa.
"I want to finish my tour. I can't give precise dates because I'll have to discuss it with the doctors, but I think I'll start again next year," said the man considered the greatest tenor of his times by many opera buffs.
Pavarotti was preparing to leave New York earlier this month to resume his farewell tour when doctors discovered a malignant pancreatic mass -- a kind of cancer that is often considered a death sentence.
He underwent surgery in a New York hospital, and all his remaining 2006 concerts were canceled.
Because pancreatic cancer is usually diagnosed at an advanced stage, it has one of the worst recovery rates of all types of malignancies. But Pavarotti's representatives have said his cancer was contained and doctors were able to surgically remove it, offering improved odds for survival.
-- The Associated Press
Irish rocker Geldof cancels concerts
Bob Geldof canceled two concerts in Italy this weekend after too few people bought tickets, Italian news reports said.
The 51-year-old Irish rocker, known for his anti-poverty efforts, had been set to perform in Milan on Friday night and in Rome on Saturday. Fewer than 50 people turned up in Milan and the show was canceled, La Stampa daily reported.
The Rome concert was subsequently canceled, said La Stampa and other reports. La Stampa said Geldof promised to give a free concert for Italian fans in September.
-- The Associated Press
'Black Dahlia' to premiere in Venice
Brian De Palma's "The Black Dahlia" will make its world premiere at the Venice film festival on Aug. 30.
The movie, starring Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank and Josh Harnett, is based on James Ellroy's novel about the mysterious killing of a fledging actress, nicknamed Black Dahlia, in 1940s Los Angeles.
The festival will run from Aug. 30-Sept. 9 at Venice's Lido, a beach resort island.
-- The Associated Press
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