Something for almost everyone at the Carnegie Carnegie
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The autumn years of one’s life are the time of winding down, approaching the end. But despite metaphors and Mother Nature, I think of fall as the time of fresh starts, the season of anticipation. School, my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, first snow, Christmas and other December holidays.
Things are certainly revving up at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall. As older siblings head back to school, moms and preschoolers find their way to library story times. We’ve added two new sessions: Mondays at 12:15 p.m. with Miss Kim and Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. with Miss Kathy.
As a very special treat, members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will perform “Musical Storytelling,” an interactive performance for pre-kindergartners and their parents or caregivers. The program takes place in our Studio on Nov. 14 at 11:15. It’s free, but pre-registration is required.
At the other end of the spectrum, the library is working with film buff Scott Nicholson to curate a Pop Classics film series. George Romero’s classic “The Night of the Living Dead” will be shown Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. Apparently, I am one of only two people at the Carnegie Carnegie who does not do horror.
Live performance definitely follows an academic calendar. Since September we’ve had:
• La Ti Do Cabaret’s concert version of “On Air,” a new musical chronicling the early years of KDKA.
• Guardian of Sound’s Acoustic Hop, rap song backed by violin, cello, flute, guitar and cajón (box drum).
• Pittsburgh Savoyards’ rousing showcase of greatest hits from “Pirates of Penzance.”
• Rick Sebak hosted ACFL&MH resident theater company Stage 62’s 60th Anniversary concert (28 years in Bethel Park, 32 in the Music Hall).
• Brother Rick and the Throwbacks fabulous doo wop and early rock ’n’ roll concert.
• Resonance Works’ Pittsburgh premiere production of the haunting opera “I am a Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams.”
• The pyrotechnic sounds of the Gypsy Stringz.
It’s too late for everything just listed, but go to www.CarnegieCarnegie.org and sign up for our monthly eBlast. You’re missing some great programs and performances!
Carnegie is a blues town; southwestern Pennsylvania is a blues region. Miss Freddye’s Home Cookin’ Band is coming to the Music Hall on Nov. 4. Some bragging rights: readers of another newspaper voted Miss Freddye one of the top three blues singers in the region and extended accolades to Stage 62, naming it one of the region’s top three theater companies!
Stage 62 is presenting the Tony Award-winning musical satire “Urinetown” Nov. 10-20. Don’t be put off by the title. I saw the Broadway production in 2002. A CMU production found Stage 62’s production a few years later the best of the three. I’m going again with my daughter and granddaughters.
The Carnegie Carnegie’s 35,000-square-foot facility has something for almost everyone. (I can’t really imagine ANYTHING one can think of for which library can’t track down bibliographic references.)
Libraries are also civic organizations. Election Day is Nov. 8, and the ACFL&MH is the polling place for Carnegie’s 2nd Ward, 3rd and 4th Districts. People vote in the Lincoln Gallery under the eye of our 16th President. I suspect Lincoln approves of citizens exercising their right to vote. (The Gallery displays 100 photographs of Mr. Lincoln.)
On Nov. 11, join us for our annual Veterans Day ceremony at 1:30 p.m. at the flagpole in front to the Library entrance. Congressman Conor Lamb of the 17th District will be our Master of Ceremonies. Lamb served on active duty in the Marine Corps from 2009-2013, before going on to serve in the Reserves.
The Carnegie Carnegie relies on Carnegie’s American Legion Post 82 to organize its Veterans Day program. Members bring appropriate military protocols, lending great dignity to a short, but very meaningful, ceremony.
Members of the 9th Pennsylvania Reserves will fire a rifle salute. A chaplain delivers an invocation, and a Legion bugler performs “Taps.”
The ceremony takes place rain or shine, and we invite everyone to join us in the Lincoln Gallery for coffee and light refreshments afterward. Our rare Civil War room, the Captain Thomas Espy Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, will be open. The GAR laid a lasting foundation for all subsequent veterans’ organizations.
The Espy Post has been documented by scholars as the most intact GAR post in the country. Once there were 7,500.
Our veterans deserve a good turnout.