“Good People,” a comedy by David Lindsey Abaire, runs through the end of the week at the O’Reilly theater.  And on Friday, there will be a special night featuring the beer of Great Lakes Brewing, and food from some big names: Cookies & Critters, On Nom Bake Studio and the south side Pretzel Shop.

Tickets are $25 ahead of time, or $30 at the door.  Doors open at 7 p.m. for beer and food and the curtain rises at 8 p.m.

I’m not sure what beers they’ll have from Great Lakes, but I like pretty much everything they make (plus winter beers are my favorite, so it’s a good time to drink), so I’m excited.

Purchase tickets here (use code “LASTCALL”), and read City Paper’s review here.

Musings from Fayettenam has the scoop on what could possibly be the best development in reality television, quite frankly ever:

Brianna Mitchell, founder and creator of the Brownsville Film Office, told the Fayette County Prison Board on Wednesday that she has been in contact with Leopard Films USA about the potential television reality series that would follow the lives of those who have entered into the county justice system and the process they encounter.

Nothing is set yet, it’s just an “interest,” but to quote:

PLEASE, BABY JESUS. I’ll revoke all my previous prayers if you just grant this one.

The New Hazlett Theater on the Northside will be home to a production of “Next to Normal.”

The show runs June 22-July 1, and for this show, a portion of all ticket sales will go to charity.  What charity you may ask?  I’m not sure myself.  I’ve reached out to try to find out, and as soon as I know, I’ll post it here.

The six person cast features familiar faces from the Pittsburgh theater scene, as well as set designer Tony Ferrieri.

Find out more information and purchase tickets here.

The Baristas, my favorite web series (a close second: Waffle Shop Show, and coming in after, way too many to mention), is currently sitting in third place in a contest running on Facebook.

Unlike most Facebook contests, you don’t even have to “Like” the page (which usually turns me away).  Go to this link, scroll down and click “Vote” underneath The Baristas, showing Madison, Ben and I think that’s Glenn holding the cup (can’t go by facial hair anymore either…).  I’ve seen mentions that you can vote once every 24 hours, but I haven’t been able to verify that yet.

The Baristas is real close to overtaking the lead.  We can do this Pittsburgh, get clicking!

Monday is the season two second half of the first season premier of The Baristas, one of my favorite web series, shot and set here in Pittsburgh.

I won’t be able to watch until Tuesday, but I wanted to pass the word along to anyone looking for a new series to get into.

If I had the money, I would totally buy Affogato, and I do love that not only is it in upheaval in the show, but also up for sale in real life.

As an alumnus of Saint Vincent, this is big news (not quite as big as when the Hollow Tavern burned, or more importantly, Route 30 Beer), but the Adult book store just off campus was set on fire.  I drove past it (heading out past Ligonier for work) and the building is just decimated.

Now, here’s the thing.  There are a couple of businesses between Fraser Purchase Road (where Saint Vincent sits) and Route 981, which, depending on which way you turn, either takes you to the Arnold Palmer airport or into downtown Latrobe.  However, those businesses are either obscured from the road, or down in a small gully, so you never really notice they are there to begin with.

Fun story though, a year or two after I took the class, a group was getting ready to film their music video for the introduction to video production class.  They talked with the owners and were going to see if they could use some of the stage space during the day for their project.  While they were waiting to speak to said manager, they were admiring the printed profiles of the ladies who worked there, which were pinned to a bulletin board just inside.  Low and behold, one of the dancers took her picture with a very distinctive desk which was only found in one building: the lobby of the Freshman dorm.

The Wildside: In need of a new name for its facelift

Last Thursday, the state gaming board awarded  the last resort casino license to Nemacolin Woodlands, a short drive south of Pittsburgh, making way for up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games.

For those unfamiliar, Nemacolin is pretty much the center of opulence in Fayette County, and houses a five diamond French restaurant that I felt poor just walking past, not to mention the polo fields, immense art collection, cigar bar and various other attractions that will empty your wallet, although not as fast as the soon to be renovated Wildside.

The Wildside, which, presumably is where Joe Hardy will put in the new casino was originally built (and more importantly, wired) to be a casino.  It sits on Route 40, easy to access, with plenty of parking. Inside you’ll find a bar, pool tables, a restaurant, climbing walls, exotic bird enclosure, arcade, bowling alley and a giant model train.  The building was first a sporting and outdoor goods store, which has since relocated to downtown Uniontown, so it appears that in the end, everything comes full circle.

However, the name announced is pretty awful: Lady Luck Nemacolin.  This is a world-class resort that resides on Lafeyette Drive, has a restaurant named Laurtec and one (of two) golf courses named Mystic Rock.  The best they could come up with is “Lady Luck Nemacolin?”  Where is the glamor and excitement in a name like that?

I did a straw poll at work and it was unanimous: the name stinks.  Here’s hoping that they come up with something more grand, and soon.

The strangest thing about all of this: there is no mention of the awarding of the casino license on the Nemacolin website.  Some of the neighbors still think they will run into a few snags along the way, but to an outsider, it seems like a done deal.  Let’s hope Route 40 will get a few turning lanes (and better upkeep in the winter)!

And I love it!

Whoever is in their social media department deserves a raise:

See the rest of the series here and my post about their awesome Twitter feed here.

Sadly, it looks like someone in a legal department had a hissy fit.  Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Set designer Tony Ferrieri

What do trains, stinkbugs, raincoats, Iron City and umbrellas have in common?  Pop in tomorrow to find out.

Note: once again posting from my phone, I apologize for any wonkiness.  I will be able to clean it up later if need be.

Good gravy, that was strange.  Apparently WordPress did not like my mobile upload, should be fixed now!

A favorite web series of mine is coming back for a second season:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ8Fin9VIpk[/youtube]