Arts, Sports & Culture

  Our sports guy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sportswriter Emeritus Bob Dvorchak joins us to preview Cinderella Robert Morris University's second round game in the NIT, discuss Pitt's early exit from the NCAA tourney and the Penguins' winning streak.

  Michael Clinton is the president of marketing and publishing for Hearst magazines. The Pittsburgh native is a seasoned world traveler. He'll talk to our travel contributor Elaine Labalme about his latest book The Globetrotter Diaries: Tales, Tips and Tactics for Traveling the 7 Continents and how you can be a better traveler.

It's been said, "He travels fastest, who travels alone" as long as you know all of the good spots to visit.  This week our travel contributor Elaine Labalme discusses the joys of going solo when it comes to traveling.

Tuesday night, in an unlikely National Invitational Tournament first round game, tiny Robert Morris University upset the defending NCAA champion, the Kentucky Wildcats. Robert Morris University Coach Andy Toole joins us to talk about the victory.

  The political performers known as The Capitol Steps, are a singing troupe that began with a group of Senate staffers who set out to satirize the government that employed them. Collectively, they’re said to represent 18 Congressional offices and 62 years of collective House and Senate staff experience. This week, members of the Capitol Steps are coming to town to perform for the Traffic Club of Pittsburgh. We'll talk with Elaina Newport, a founding member and writer who worked in the Senate as a legislative aid.

Watch the Capitol Steps' 30 Years of Satire video

As President of the Forbes Funds, Kate Dewey is interested in how nonprofits can adapt along with changing technology. 

  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sportswriter Emeritus Bob Dvorchak joins us for his regular Monday segment. This week he'll preview Pitt's appearance in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, discuss NHL realignment and how free agency is draining the Steelers' star players.  

Each weekend Wigle Whiskey, located in the Strip District, offers distillery tours connecting whiskey lovers to Pittsburgh history. On the tour, Meredith Grelli tells 2 stories. The first is a story about turning organic rye grains into whiskey. The other is about the distillery’s namesake, the rebellious Philip Wigle; who almost died for the sake of whiskey. Here’s a taste of the Wigle tour.

This segment of Essential Pittsburgh originally aired on August 23, 2012

Award Winning Bagpiper, E.A. Channon, author of "Ballad of a Bagpiper: Whatever Blows Up Your Kilt" has performed for royals like Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana and icons like Bill Gates and President Reagan. He tells us everything we could possibly want to know about bagpipes.

Then, Pittsburgh St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee Chairman Pat O'Brien joins us to talk about how the Steel City's St. Patty's Day parade has become the second biggest in the country.

Whether it’s an exotic locale or a local day spa, a massage, facial and aromatherapy could be just what the doctor ordered. Travel contibutor Elaine Labalme offers some tempting spa suggestions.

1968 was a notable year in American history, the Vietnam War was raging, Martin Luther King Junior was assassinated, and the Women’s movement was gaining national attention.

Pittsburgh was among the hotbeds of change with civil unrest in the hill district, war protests on campuses and through all of that, the women’s rights movement was charging forward.

New York Times Best selling Author, Activist, and Actor Christopher Kennedy Lawford  chronicled his battle with near-fatal drug and alcohol addiction in the memoir Symptoms of Withdrawal. We'll talk with him about his latest book RECOVER TO LIVE: Kick Any Habit, Manage Any Addiction and his journey back to sobriety.

One of the best known music events in the country is the South by Southwest Music, Film and Interactive Festival. We'll take a look at the growing relationship between music and innovation at the festival, and how Pittsburgh innovation fits in. This year marked the first time Pittsburgh has had an official presence at SXSW. The Pittsburgh Innovation Party was hosted by Heinz College at CMU and the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Ari Lightman, Distinguished Service Professor and Director of the CIO institute at Heinz College and Brad Stephenson, senior web media and marketing manager at Heinz College have just returned from SXSW and talk about Pittsburgh's interactive presence.

And Pittsburgh-based electronic music Producer and DJ, Buku talks about his future plans, including a performance at SXSW, and the challenges of getting noticed in the music business. Sample his music at Soundcloud.

It may not be Hogwarts, but Community College of Allegheny County president and Harry Potter fan Alex Johnson is passionate about his school. He shares his reading recommendations with 90.5 WESA Morning Edition Host Josh Raulerson.

   The Penguins are at the halfway mark of their lockout abbreviated season, Pitt basketball is going into the last Big East tournament and will James Harrison remain a Steeler? Our sports guy Bob Dvorchak weighs in.

It may not be Hogwarts, but CCAC president and Potter fan Alex Johnson is passionate about his school. 

He recommends:

Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach

When one thinks of pure maple syrup, Vermont often comes to mind. However, Pennsylvania's maple season is also highly anticipated for those with a sweet tooth. Our local food contributor Rhonda Schuldt shares some maple syrup cooking tips and talks about the abundance of local festivals.

Celebrate Maple Season at a local festival:

March 16 & 17 - 10th Annual NW Pennsylvania Maple Association Taste & Tour Weekend in the Erie area 

March 16, 17, 20-24 - 66th Annual PA Maple Festival in Somerset, PA 

April 6 & 7 - The Beaver County Maple Syrup Festival at Brady's Run Park in Beaver, PA

It began nearly ten years ago as “an evolving experiment for improvisational free jazz movement, performance-happenings and new ideas in dance,” and The Pillow Project has never wandered far from its roots. 

Pearlann Porter heads the group that sees the word “jazz” as a verb. The group gathers the second Saturday of every month at “The Space Upstairs” in Pittsburgh's East End to perform.  Project members call the studio in a repurposed warehouse a “4,000 square foot canvas where audiences and artists interact.”

One of the must see events of the season is the blooming of the cherry blossoms in our nation’s capital. However, if you plan to see them you’d better act fast. Travel contributor Elaine Labalme tells us what you need to know in order to see the blossoms at their peak.

In 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American Supreme Court Justice of the United States. Before that Marshall was known for his successful arguments before the Supreme Court as an attorney, in particular for his victory in Brown v. Board of Education. The one-man play Thurgood, comes to the Pittsburgh Public Theater this month. It tells his life story: from humble beginnings in Baltimore, to landmark civil rights legislation, and his rise to the highest court in the land. We’re joined by Montae Russell, a Pittsburgh native, playing the role of Thurgood Marshall.

Don Block runs the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council, and practices what he preaches. He talk's with 90.5 WESA Morning Edition Host Josh Raulerson about his personal reading selections.

Our sports guy Bob Dvorchak discusses the Pitt Panthers newly released football schedule, the Penguins slump and the opening of the Pirates exhibition season.

Don Block runs the Greater Pittsburgh Literary Council, and practices what he preaches...

In 1973, five American fashion designers and five French designers came together for a Paris runway fundraiser. That fundraiser turned into a competition, and an industry changing event in fashion history. The documentary film, Versailles '73 looks at how that Paris show brought African Americans to the forefront of fashion.  Filmmaker Debra Riley Draper comes to the August Wilson Center this weekend for a screening of the award-winning documentary.

Paula Poundstone talks about her career as a stand up comedian, being a part of Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me…, life on the road, and her 16 cats.