Film Notes: Labor movie series kicks off with factory fire doc

Two films about the deadly 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire will be shown Thursday 4/28/11 to mark Workers Memorial Day, honoring those killed on the job.

The Battle of Homestead Foundation will open its annual movie series with a documentary about the March 25, 1911, catastrophe that killed 146. A fire broke out in the upper floors of a New York garment factory where workers, mostly young Jewish and Italian women, were unable to escape due to locked and blocked doors.

Some tried to jump to safety but found certain death on the sidewalk below. Firemen's nets were broken by the force of bodies, ladders proved to be too short to reach those trapped, fire escapes were missing or overrun, and many women burned to death as shocked onlookers stood helplessly nearby.

The series at the Pump House of the old Homestead Works will show "Triangle Fire," an hour-long "American Experience" documentary produced to mark the anniversary of the tragedy, along with a 9-minute short, "Triangle Returns: Young Women Continue to Die in Locked Sweatshops."

The program is free and starts at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at 880 E. Waterfront Drive in Munhall.Also scheduled as part of the series, all free (although donations accepted):

• "Coal Country" -- Documentary exploring the impact, benefits and costs of mountaintop removal in contemporary West Virginia. Screens at 7:30 p.m. May 26.

• "One Day Longer: The Story of the Frontier Strike" -- This film examines one of the longest strikes in American history, as workers at the Frontier Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas went on strike in 1991 after the company slashed wages and benefits. The strikers held a 24-hour picket line for more than six years, and none of the union members ever crossed it. 7:30 p.m. June 30.

• "Struggles in Steel: A Story of African-American Steelworkers" -- A photography exhibit will accompany this documentary by filmmaker Tony Buba and activist and one-time steelworker Ray Henderson. They tell the forgotten story of the struggle for equality in Pittsburgh's steel industry and the labor movement through archival footage and eloquent recollections. 7:30 p.m. July 28.

• "People and Power, The Struggle Continues: A History of Steelworkers, 1880-1980" -- An overview of Pittsburghers with special attention paid to the Homestead plant, the 1892 lockout and strike, 1919 strike, organization of the United Steelworkers, post-World War II era developments, and fight against plant closings in recent decades. 7:30 p.m. Aug. 25.

• "The Coca-Cola Case" -- Documentary investigating charges of union busting and far more serious offenses at bottling plants in Colombia, Guatemala and Turkey. 7:30 p.m. Sept. 29.

• "Newspaper of Record: The Pittsburgh Courier, 1907-1965" -- Pittsburgh filmmaker Kenneth Love or an associate will introduce this new documentary tracing the Courier's rise to a national paper with 14 editions. It served as a record of African-American life and a vanguard of the civil rights movement. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27

For more information, see www.battleofhomesteadfoundation.org or call 412-831-3871.

Friday, April 22, 2011

By Barbara Vancheri, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11112/1141012-60-0.stm#ixzz1KancDCbs

Carrie Furnace Hard Hat Public Tours Kick off 2011 With “Rankin Deer Head” Artist Tim Kaulen

The 2011 season of the Carrie Furnace Hard Hat Tours will be kicked off at noon on Saturday, April 30 with guest tour guide Tim Kaulen (www.timkaulen.com) who was instrumental in creating the well known “Rankin Deer Head” sculpture on the property. Kaulen will offer an artist’s perspective of Carrie Furnace and the popular sculpture he helped create with other members of the Industrial Arts Co-Op more than a decade ago. A regional public artist, Kaulen is well-known for his use of recycled materials in projects seen at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Southside Riverfront Park, to name a few.

The Carrie Furnace complex, now managed by the Steel Industry Heritage Corporation as of 2010, used to be part of the US Steel Homestead Works. At one time, the site was key to preparing the country to enter World War II and providing the iron to create armor plating for ships and tanks. The pair of furnaces operated from 1907 to 1978 and the site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. Future plans for the site include its development into a heritage park with an interpretive center.

Public tours of the century old iron-making complex will also be held at 9 AM, 10 AM and 11 AM April 30, followed by Kaulen’s special presentation at noon.

Other public tours will be held 9 AM, 10 AM and 11 AM May 21, June 18, August 20, September 17 and October 15. On June 17, another special tour guide, Landscape Ethicist Rick Darke (www.rickdarke.com) will speak at the Historic Pump House on the topic of “Carrie Furnace in Global Context: New Parks and Gardens Forged from Industrial Landscapes.” He will also guest tour guide at noon June 18 at the Carrie Furnace complex. His work has been featured on NPR, the New York Times and Garden Design Magazine. The author and photographer of many books, he was also featured in: “Fallingwater” and “The New American Landscape: Leading Voices on the Future of Sustainable Gardening”, both to be published later this year.

For more information or tickets, contact Stacy Drane at 412.464.4020, ext. 32 or sdrane@riversofsteel.com

Spring Heritage Market at Historic Pump House in The Waterfront

Held 10 AM to 3 PM April 23

(Munhall, Pa) – Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is sponsoring a Spring Heritage Market 10 AM to 3 PM April 23 at the Historic Pump House, 880 E. Waterfront Drive, located in The Waterfront - a popular Pittsburgh area shopping district. The ethnic artisan market is a means for the national heritage area to support and promote the diversity and cultural history of the Pittsburgh region.

Free and open to the public, the event will include authentic, ethnic heritage art, such as Bulgarian-Macedonian pottery, Moroccan purses, Native American beadwork and Irish collectibles. Crafts representing the Pittsburgh region’s more recent green heritage include pop industrial art, handcrafted jewelry and baubles made from recycled materials, among others.

The event will also include a taste exploration of our region’s diverse culture with foods representing Cuba, Bulgaria-Macedonia, England and Hungary, among others. Sample soups, teas and chocolate and purchase other foods, such as homemade cookies and breads from The Rise Above Bakery and Cafe or Easter treats from Dorothy’s Candies.

Music will be provided by Mostefa Hnadi,owner of Global Market Retail, on the doumbeck drums in the morning and in the afternoon by Joe Grkman, Jr., - of the award-winning Slovenian Polka band Grkmania, who play regularly at Hofbrauhaus in Pittsburgh’s Southside. Visitors can also take part in a Pick-a-Prize Auction, with chances to win items such as Bulgarian pottery and tickets to the Pittsburgh Irish Festival.

The Historic Pump House is also on a trailhead of the Great Allegheny Passage via the Steel Valley Trail, and Golden Triangle Bike Rentals will be offering free bicycle rentals for brief path explorations. The market location is the historic site of the 1892 Lock and Strike. The structure was barely a year old when it took its place in history as the site of the infamous “Battle of Homestead.” On July 6, 1892 the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers and the Pinkerton Guards hired by the Carnegie Steel Company clashed on the banks of the Monongahela River beneath the Pump House – now considered one of the most dramatic conflicts in American Labor history. Today the Pump House is the only brick structure that remains of United States Steel’s Homestead Works. Now under the auspices of Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, the Pump House can be rented for private events.

For more information, please contact Sherris Moreira at 412.464.4060, ext. 46 or smoreira@riversofsteel.com.

The Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is managed by the non-profit Steel Industry Heritage Corporation (SIHC) in partnership with the National Park Service and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. SIHC works with communities throughout the region to identify, conserve, promote, and interpret the cultural, historic, recreational and other resources associated with steel and steel-related industries. The goal of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area is to use these resources to encourage community revitalization through cultural tourism, historic preservation, natural and recreational resource conservation, cultural and educational programs and related economic development. Rivers of Steel National Heritage area encompasses Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland counties. For more information, visit www.riversofsteel.com

Steve Pellegrino’s latest one-man show: ACCORDION STORIES

Story telling at its best interspersed with music and song.
Benefits Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank

April 28, 29, 30, 2011 8pm

Greybox Theatre, 3595
Butler St Lawrenceville PA 15201

Tickets: Adults: $15 plus food item(s)
Student/Youth: $12 plus food item(s) (Group rates available)

For tickets: www.QMproductionsinc.com, call 412-576-0898 or purchase at the door

The endlessly entertaining Steve Pellegrino grew up in the Mon Valley, the son of an immigrant Italian family, whose lives were affected by the great depression, union organizing and WWII. “The accordion and songs I heard growing up are used as connective tissue to share a family history as it reveals moments in our social and cultural past in America since the 1920’s. It is as much a reminiscence of growing up in these times as a history lesson in the saga of one of America’s great industrial valleys.”

QM Productions, Inc. is a non-profit production company in Pittsburgh producing quality music and theater events to raise money for local charities. Our audiences have the pleasure of seeing great shows and the satisfaction of helping those in need simply by attending our shows.

For further information:
www.QMproductionsinc.com
Nancy Gordon Galluzzo, President and founder - 412 576 0898

Spring Heritage Market at the Pump House

Saturday, April 23 · 10:00am - 3:00pm

Ethnic foods and crafts; button box music; free bike rides on the Great Allegheny Passage; Pick-a-Prize Auction and other surprises!

The Historic Pump House

880 E. Waterfront Drive

Munhall, PA

Just past Lowe's and across from U.S. Steel Building.

www.riversofsteel.com

St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish Fish Fry

Every Friday
11am to 7pm.

HUGE Fish Sandwich, Jumbo Shrimp Dinner with Steak Fries and Cole Slaw, Crab Cakes, Mac & Cheese, Pierogies, Potato Pancakes & homemade baked goods.

Eat in or take out (412) 462-1743

St. Maximilian Kolbe Parish
363 W. 11th Avenue Extension
Homestead, PA 15120

www.facebook.com/stmaxparish

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

COMCAST

Day of Caring!

at

The Carnegie Library of Homestead

10^th Ave in Munhall

Minor repairs, painting, landscaping, etc.

COMCAST will donate

$20.00 per volunteer to the Library

Saturday, April 30, 2011

8:00 AM – 12:00 noon

For more information, please call 412-292-4066