Multimedia Index: 2006

Sunday, December 31, 2006

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



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These stories were produced by Post-Gazette journalists (and some by readers) roaming the region and beyond to capture events in images, sounds and words. Click the pictures to view each multimedia package.

Presentations, including video, slideshows and audio supplements to online stories, may take several minutes to download over a dial-up connection. A toolkit is available for browser plug-ins to view these packages.

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If you're looking for the current index, it's here.

Dec. 22, 2006 ~ Video: A citizen's holiday salute to the troops in Iraq

OPINION / PERSPECTIVES: The war in Iraq became a lot more personal for Westmoreland County singer/songwriter Mary Deschamps when her nephew began serving as a soldier there in September. Ms. Deschamps wanted to send him a special Christmas message, so she wrote a song, "When You Come Home." With the help of family and friends the tune became a multimedia presentation for a Nov. 25 benefit for the Casino Theatre in Vandergrift. "It was dark and I could see the white Kleenexes going in the audience," she said. Based on that reaction, Ms. Deschamps offered to share this presentation with the Post-Gazette, so it could reach a wider audience. She hopes that Internet audience will include her nephew, Samuel Fischer, who is still stationed in Iraq with Troop 298 of the Pennsylvania National Guard.

Video By Mary Deschamps

Dec. 21, 2006 ~ Audio: Dennis Roddy's Journal / Immigration

PODCAST: Dennis Roddy is well known to Western Pennsylvanians as a writer and columnist, covering everything from national politics to the quiet lives lived anonymously by those around him. For the past eight years, he has turned his attention to his back yard, to the small apartment where new friends -- immigrants from the former Yugoslavia -- built a new life and a new identity as Americans. Reaching deep into his friendship with Nikola Drasinover and his family, Roddy uses his unique blend of narrative, interviews and natural sound to tell the story of a family's transformation and what it has meant to him.

Audio By Dennis Roddy

Dec. 17, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Gliding on ice in the dark

NEIGHBORHOODS / CITY: PPG Plaza is awash in lights and laughter these days. People are drawn to The Rink, where they can glide on ice while listening to holiday music and enjoying the magical feel of downtown Pittsburgh at night. In this presentation, Post-Gazette photographer Steve Mellon captures the sights and sounds of The Rink on a typical Saturday evening.

Slideshow By Steve Mellon

Dec. 15, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Teaching the testers

LOCAL NEWS: Yesterday afternoon eight men and women boldly chugged beers and drank hard alcohol for two hours as police stood by. Some became quite animated. Others were silent. One by one they lined up to have their blood alcohol levels checked. After the eight people were certified as being legally intoxicated class began. Six groups of officers from municipal and university police departments were learning how to properly conduct standardized field sobriety tests at the Pittsburgh Police Training Academy. The volunteer drunks added a note of realism as officers struggled to repeat memorized directions for tests with names like Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus. The volunteer drinkers included civilians and off-duty police officers. None were allowed to drive before or after the class.

Slideshow By Rebecca Droke

Dec. 10, 2006 ~ Video: A Florentine artist in Pittsburgh

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT: Fabrizio Gerbino moved to Stowe from Florence, Italy, three years ago with his American wife, Cynthia, and son Gabriele. The artist has been attracting attention here after being juried into the 95th and 96th Annual Exhibitions of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. He was invited to exhibit in the "Pittsburgh's Best" exhibition of last summer's Three Rivers Arts Festival. And his solo exhibition, "Tria Prima," is at the 5151 Penn gallery in Garfield through Dec. 29. The solo exhibition showcases Mr. Gerbino's exacting and engaging paintings, which are mostly hung on an intimate level with the viewer. One wall, however, displays "portal" paintings -- inspired by the burned facade of a church in Florence that Gerbino witnessed a decade ago. This presentation explores Mr. Gerbino's work and his move to the Pittsburgh area.

Video By Annie O'Neill

Dec. 9, 2006 ~ Video: Walking through an indoor tropical forest

ARCHITECTURE: As the wintry wind whips through the East End of Pittsburgh, visitors may find refuge from the Arctic outdoors with a virtual visit to Thailand in the new Tropical Forest room at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Post-Gazette architecture critic Patricia Lowry created this video tour of the room in the final days of construction of what is now the largest room at Phipps. The top half of the exhibit is wild and forested. Closer to ground level are a botanist's field station and a healer's hut. A village area on the floor of the conservatory has a formal garden. But that's only part of the story. This video also explores the Tropical Forest room's cutting-edge environmentally friendly design.

Video By Patricia Lowry

Review: Phipps adds lush forest to collection

Dec. 7, 2006 ~ Slideshow: The jazz scene

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT: When jazz was the popular music in this country, fans dropped their record player needles on stacks of acetate and vinyl disks, and packed the clubs at night. Pittsburgh was the birthplace of many talented musicians, including drummer Kenny Clarke, trumpet player Roy Eldridge, bassist Ray Brown and pianist Mary Lou Williams. Composer Billy Strayhorn graduated from high school in Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh, jazz is still packing in fans with national acts and standing-room-only local jam sessions. In this presentation, jazz afficianado and Post-Gazette assistant managing editor for photography Larry Roberts takes viewers on a tour of the Pittsburgh jazz scene.

Slideshow By Larry Roberts

Nov. 24, 2006 ~ Video: Small schools deliver big at Heinz Field

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Eight high school football teams appeared on the big stage -- Heinz Field, home of the Steelers -- to play for a WPIAL championship. The difference between home field and Heinz Field was largest for the two Class A teams, the Clairton Bears and the Rochester Rams. Fans spread across the lower levels of the stadium, eager to see a game between the two undefeated teams. Rochester was the Post-Gazette's No. 1 WPIAL Class A team and Clairton No. 2 since preseason. Fans and players took the venue in stride -- they aren't exactly strangers to the stadium. This is the second time in three years Clairton and Rochester have met there in the final.

Video By Curt Chandler

Nov. 22, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Freedom for Ryan

HEALTH: At Edinboro University, Ryan Ballou is blending in with the other students. And that makes him happy. At Avonworth High School, Ballou was the only student in a wheelchair, and he stood out. At Edinboro, he's one of several students with mobility issues. Ballou, 19, was born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. On his own for the first time in his life, he's enjoying his independence -- and being part of the crowd. Sometimes, he says, it's like other students don't even notice the wheelchair. In this presentation Ballou discusses the joys and challenges of his first semester at college.

Slideshow By Steve Mellon and Gretchen McKay

Nov. 19, 2006 ~ Slideshow: China, old and new

BUSINESS: Last September Post-Gazette business writer Dan Fitzpatrick spent three weeks traveling through China on a World Affairs Journalism Fellowship administered by the International Center for Journalists. Mr. Fitzpatrick discovered China is undergoing a dramatic transformation -- socially, politically and most of all economically. He searched to find what role are Pittsburghers are playing. In this presentation, Mr. Fitzpatrick provides insight into the economic superpower in words and pictures.

Slideshow By Dan Fitzpatrick and Lizabeth Gray

Index to stories and audio

China: The Wild, Wild East

Nov. 20, 2006 ~ Video: Ebenezer Baptist rises from the ashes

NEIGHBORHOODS / CITY: The members of Ebenezer Baptist returned to Wylie Avenue yesterday, wearing their Sunday finest to celebrate the reopening of the 131-year-old church, two years after the original building was destroyed by fire. The Rev. J.V. Alfred Winsett, Ebenezer's minister for the last 33 years, presided over a service welcoming visiting clergy and the return of 1,000 members temporarily exiled to other churches. The gray stone church has been replaced by a $7 million red stone building that embraces the future while honoring the church's storied past, including the sacrifice of the two firemen who died on March 13, 2004. The Pittsburgh firefighters will be remembered at a 3 p.m. memorial service on Sunday Dec. 3, 2006.

Video By Annie O'Neill

Nov. 19, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Great place to chill

LOCAL: Post-Gazette photographer Robin Rombach documents the first "plunge" made by two young polar bears in their new environment at the PPG Aquarium at the Pittsburgh Zoo. The polar bear exhibit officially debuts Wednesday morning. Visitors may also view the polar bears on Thanksgiving Day, when the zoo will remain open, and Friday, when visitors are invited to help the polar bears celebrate their second birthdays.

Slideshow By Robin Rombach, Lizabeth Gray and Anita Srikameswaran

Nov. 19, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Rich in Wright

ARCHITECTURE: Two houses built by architect Frank Lloyd Wright for Buffalo businessman Darwin Martin and his sister, Delta Barton, are being restored in this Lake Erie port city. The renovations are part of a big push in recent years by the Rust Belt city to restore its architectural and landscape legacy. Post-Gazette architecture critic Patricia Lowery takes viewers on a tour of the two Frank Lloyd Wright landmarks. The Martin home features an open floor plan that flows from room to room and Graycliff, on Lake Erie, has a water feature and cantilevered roofline that are a precursor of work that will be familiar to Pittsburghers who have toured Fallingwater.

Slideshow By Patricia Lowry and Curt Chandler

Nov. 19, 2006 ~ Video: How to carve a turkey

FOOD: Omni William Penn Hotel executive chef Jacky Francois has carved turkeys on both sides of the Atlantic. In this video Mr. Francois joins Post-Gazette food editor Amy Schaarsmith to discuss the different techniques for cutting dark meat and white meat from a Thanksgiving turkey, how to store meat and dressing, and where to find the tastiest tidbits on the big bird. The demonstration takes place in the Terrace Room at the Omni William Penn Hotel, Downtown.

Video By Curt Chandler and Lizabeth Gray

Nov. 12, 2006 ~ Video: Afro-American Music Institute Boys' Choir

NEIGHBORHOODS / CITY: They run. They fidget with their glasses. They squirm. They slouch. They call Choirmaster James Johnson "Uncle James," but he is more like Master Sgt. He restores order. "Sit down. Shut up," he yells to the sons of bankers, nurses and people who don't have jobs. If that does not work, he doles out push-ups. On some weeks, he makes the choir's Billy Eckstines and Erroll Garners of the future duck walk down the hall. In rehearsal, the young men stretch their voices and their minds. And something magical happens.

Video By Annie O'Neill

Nov. 10, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Veterans voices at the WWII Memorial

LOCAL NEWS: Jim Hilts' dad wanted to see the national World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., but he died before it was dedicated. The Coraopolis businessman knew there are many other aging vets who want to see the memorial, too. So he chartered a bus and organized a day trip in early November to get 43 of them there. The bus riders included former military personnel from Coraopolis, Moon, Sewickley, the Neville Island area, Glassport and Washington County. And the vets can't stop talking about it. Mr. Hilts plans to go again, and hopes others might organize trips for vets in other areas.

Slideshow By Steve Mellon and Bob Batz Jr.

Nov. 6, 2006 ~ Video: A day at The Swamp with the Garfield Gators

NEIGHBORHOODS / CITY: The Pittsburgh Steelers, Pitt Panthers and Penn State Nittany Lions all lost games over the weekend, but it was a picture of success for another Western Pennsylvania football powerhouse. The Garfield Gators qualified teams in four of five age groups for Sunday's Allegheny County Midget Foootball championships at Cupples Stadium on the South Side. Gator Saturdays are an institution in the Pittsburgh neighborhood. The sun has barely begun to rise before players carrying helmets and shoulder pads begin walking up Hillcrest Street to The Swamp, an appropriately squishy field next to Fort Pitt Accelerated Learning Academy. The crisp fall air is punctuated by the smell of barbecue cooking next to the concession stand.

Video By Curt Chandler

Related content

Reporters from the Post-Gazette's documentary project, City Shots, followed the Garfield Gators through the 2001 season, producing stories that focused on the team from the perspective of the coach, the ref and players on the big team.

Oct. 31, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Making of the mask

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT: Trick or treat is for kids. Once you grow up, most of the fun of Halloween is in pushing the limits from scary to grotesque. Post-Gazette staff reporter Dan Majors wanted something a little bit different to wear for Halloween this year. He wanted a mask of himself. So Mr. Majors visited Specter Studios in Sharpsburg, where he had his head molded, cast in clay and turned into a grimacing Dan Majors' mask.

Slideshow By Andy Starnes, Bill Wade, Dan Majors and Lizabeth Gray

Oct. 29, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Culinary alchemy

RESTAURANTS: Food for thought, the incorporation of molecular gastronomy by a cutting-edge chef has come to Pittsburgh. Chef Kevin Sousa is thinking outside the plate and breaking all the rules in the lab/kitchen of the Bigelow Grille at the Doubletree Hotel, Downtown. Inspired by famous Spanish chef Ferran Adria, Mr. Sousa has rearranged flavors, temperatures and textures and added aromas and humor to provide diners with a food adventure that is as fun as a trip to Disney World.

Slideshow By Douglass Oster and Steve Mellon

Related story

A revolution in the kitchen

Oct. 26, 2006 ~ Video: The creative work environment

BUSINESS: Video games during work hours, all-day slot car races, a pirate ship and a tree house. Who allows these things at the office? At Davison Design in O'Hara, the boss does. In fact, he pays for it. George M. Davison says that after listening to ideas from his employees he brought in a special effects expert and invested millions of dollars to create Inventionland, a designer's utopia that would make Walt Disney proud.

Video By Curt Chandler

Oct. 24, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Big Sal and Little Sal

LIFESTYLE: Salvatore Bondi, now 54, was "Little Sal" growing up in the city's Brookline neighborhood, because his father was "Big Sal" -- Salvatore Bondi of Sal's Barber Shop on Brookline Boulevard. Big Sal opened the shop in his father-in-law's former fruit market in 1945. As a boy, Little Sal would come downstairs and sweep for his Dad. He never cut hair there, but as he got older, he gravitated into the trade. Soon after he graduated from the barber college in 1973, he headed to Los Angeles, where he eventually opened his own salon, Capelli, in Westwood, near the UCLA campus. He and his wife would visit on holidays, but he never thought about moving back until 2001, when he started renovating his Dad's building. When it was time last year to sign another five-year lease on his salon, he opted to sell it to women who worked there, and he headed home. He wanted to work with his Dad.

Slideshow By Steve Mellon and Bob Batz Jr.

Oct. 20, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Flugtag? Or, was that really a flying pancake I just saw?

LIFESTYLE: Stacy "Chicky" Cicchitello and her teammates prepare "Mount Jamima," an aircraft built to resemble a flying stack of pancakes, for the Red Bull Flugtag at Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Red Bull, young people may know, is a caffeinated energy drink. Flugtag (pronounced FLOOG-tog), German people may know, is "flying day." The Austrian company that makes the drink has held more than 35 of these zany "freeflight" competitions. They're more like free-fall competitions, as most of the craft tend to plummet off the elevated flight deck straight into the body of water below. "I'm just going to have to get over my fear of crashing and just do it," says the courageous Ms. Cicchitello, 25, of Squirrel Hill.

Slideshow By Steve Mellon and Bob Batz Jr.

Oct. 12, 2006 ~ Slideshow: The art of Louis Comfort Tifany

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT: Louis Comfort Tiffany is most famous for his stained glass windows, which can be found across the world and in many Pittsburgh neighborhoods. People also know his lamps, too, but many are unaware that he created mosaics, vases, jewelry, metalwork and desk sets. This beautiful work never went on public display, because it was snapped up by wealthy tycoons sought the best in home furnishings during the industrial revolution. That will change when the traveling exhibition "Louis Comfort Tiffany: Artist for the Ages," opens Sunday at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Oakland.

Slideshow By Marylynne Pitz and Curt Chandler

Oct. 2, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Covering the big story -- The attacks of 9/11

LOCAL NEWS: Journalists cover a wide variety of subjects, but the big story is easy to spot. It's the event that's so big, people recalling it years later remember where they were and what they were doing when it happened. Alyssa Cwanger was in class at the University of Pennsylvania two when jetliners slammed into the World Trade Center towers in New York City. Shocked students were sent home from class. A third plane struck the Pentagon, and then a fourth plane, United Flight 93, crashed into a Somerset County field as its passengers fought with terrorists. In this presentation, Ms. Cwanger shares images made over the past five years while covering her big story.

Slideshow By Alyssa Cwanger and Curt Chandler

Related content

Photo Journal: Remembering Flight 93, 9/11/2006
Special Report: Forty lives, one destiny on Flight 93, Oct. 28, 2001
Photo Journal: More pictures by Alyssa Cwanger

Oct. 1, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Robert J. Pavuchak, photojournalist

LOCAL NEWS: Photojournalist Robert J. Pavuchak has been a fixture on the Pittsburgh news scene for some 40 years. His favorite subjects were everyday people, especially in the lesser known corners of Washington County, which he photographed for many years. Whether his subject was the governor or a kid with a balloon, he worked equally hard to bring their stories into the newspaper. Mr. Pavuchak retired last week. This multimedia presentation is a tribute his years of prize-winning work in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Slideshow By Curt Chandler

Oct. 1, 2006 ~ Slideshow: An evening with the Pittsburgh Banjo Club

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT: Pittsburgh was one of the centers of the banjo craze that spread across the United States in roaring 20s. An echo of the fun-time music of that era emerges each time the door opens Wednesday evenings at Allegheny Elks Lodge #339 on the North Side. That's when the Pittsburgh Banjo Club rents the lodge for a two hour public rehearsal. Anyone can attend. Food and drink are available. Dancing is optional. The sing-a-long is epidemic. Everyone in the audience and on the stage seems to be having a good time.

Slideshow By Alyssa Cwanger and Curt Chandler

Related story

Strummin' on the ol' banjo

Sept. 10, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Taken from the depths

MINE SAFETY: As the United States confronted mine disasters in West Virginia and Kentucky this year, Mexico's only coal mining region dealt with its own, one that killed 65 men and earned the distinction of being that country's worst coal mining accident in a generation.

The lives of many were changed forever by that one day. Yet they still wait for their loved ones to come home to them.

Ruben Martinez, a coal miner for 15 years, wrote of his experiences in a song called "Carbon y mas carbon," which translated into English, means "Coal and more coal." The song can be heard in this presentation.

Slideshow By Annie O'Neill and Jerome Sherman

Sept. 8, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Final farewell to Mayor O'Connor

NEIGHBORHOODS / CITY: Pittsburgh buried its mayor yesterday. Bob O'Connor's blunt charm and unpretentious manner lifted him from Greenfield to the mayor's office. Pittsburghers turned out by the thousands, lining streets with signs of thanks and grief, and crowding into the Roman Catholic cathedral for a funeral that was by turns poignant and playful. Brought to church in a horse-drawn hearse and prayed over by more than two dozen priests, Mr. O'Connor took a tour of his city one last time. A mile-long cortege spun through Oakland, Downtown, Greenfield, Squirrel Hill, and on to Hazelwood before the mayor was laid in the earth of Calvary Cemetery.

Slideshow Produced by Steve Mellon

Video

Celebrating the memory of Mayor O'Connor Sept. 8, 2006
A farewell to the mayor Sept. 7, 2006

Sept. 7, 2006 ~ Slideshow: McKeesport's Helen Richey is lost in history

LIFESTYLE: McKeesport native Helen Richey was the first female commercial airline pilot in the United States. She set records for endurance and speed. She was the first woman sworn in to pilot airmail and also one of the first female flight instructors. But unlike her famous friend Amelia Earhart, Miss Richey's legacy seems to have escaped the history books. But the McKeesport Heritage Center will soon have a new movie to teach visitors about the aviator Amelia Earhart dubbed the best female pilot she knew. "The Helen Richey Story, the Pride of McKeesport" is scheduled to be shown Oct. 8.

Slideshow By Curt Chandler

Sept. 5, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Labor Day parade dedicated to Mayor O'Connor

NEIGHBORHOODS / CITY: This year's annual Labor Day Parade not only celebrated the labor movement, it also honored the late Mayor Bob O'Connor, who lay in state at the City-County Building until last night. As the parade route passed in front of the City-County Building, union members and marching bands alike fell silent to honor and remember the fallen mayor inside. Along the side of the parade route, many spoke of the loss that the city has suffered and of the man who came to be known as "everybody's mayor."

Slideshow By Steve Mellon

Video

A Labor Day tribute to Mayor O'Connor

Sept. 4, 2006 ~ Slideshow: The Mayor lies in state

NEIGHBORHOODS / CITY: Hundreds of Pittsburghers filed through the great hallway in the City-County Building yesterday to pay their respects to the late Mayor Bob O'Connor. The mourners, some wearing their Sunday best and others wrapped in the comfort of their Steelers sweatshirts and jeans, each paused for a moment alongside the late mayor's flag-draped coffin before turning to express prayers, shared sadness and best wishes to his widow, Judy, and O'Connor family members. The procession began promptly at noon with a playing by the Greater Pittsburgh Police Pipes and Drums corps. and through the night.

Slideshow By Matt Freed and Annie O'Neill

Video

Bidding Mayor O'Connor goodbye

Related story

A saddened city pays its respects

August 16, 2006 ~ Slideshow: The show must go on

HEALTH: Entertainer Gorman Lowe was a fixture in the Pittsburgh theater scene until Type II diabetes caused his kidneys to fail seven years ago. For a time, he wasn't healthy enough to meet the demanding schedules of rehearsals and performances. But thrice-weekly dialysis treatments and dramatic weight loss have given his acting career a second chance. Mr. Lowe is appearing in "The Wild, Wacky, Wonderful World of Gorman Lowe," a two-act cabaret that opened about three weeks ago at the Greentree Holiday Inn's dinner theater.

Slideshow By Alyssa Cwanger and Anita Srikameswaran

August 9, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Yo Pittsburgh

LIFESTYLE: The graffiti on the wall says "Spin City." The room is called the Spinning studio. The participants are members of YoPittsburgh and their technique bears only scant resemblance to what their grandparents may have attempted during the yo-yo fad of the '50s. In this multimedia presentation, teenage members of YoPittsburgh demonstrate yo-yo tricks like the forkmount and the magic triangle. Just don't ask them to "Walk the Dog."

Slideshow By Steve Mellon and Bob Batz Jr.

Steelers Training Camp, July and August, 2006

Audio slideshows and video reports from the Steelers Training Camp at St. Vincent College in Latrobe:

Audio Slideshow: Preseason Game One at Arizona
(Aug. 13, 2006)
Audio Slideshow: Preparing for Arizona
(Aug. 11, 2006)
Audio Slideshow: Camp marches on
(Aug. 9, 2006)
Audio Slideshow: Week two begins
(Aug. 8, 2006)
Audio Slideshow: Big Ben @ Camp
(Aug. 6, 2006)
Audio Slideshow: Goal-line drills
(Aug. 3, 2006)
Audio Slideshow: Heating Up
(Aug. 1, 2006)
First peek for the fans
(July 31, 2006)
Audio Slideshow: Drills begin
(July 31, 2006)
Audio Slideshow: Sprint Day
(July 30, 2006)

Related gallery

Steelers Photo Journal: Steelers Training Camp 2006

August 6, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Double Happiness

LIFESTYLE: Garbed in flaming red robes and eye-catching headpieces, Christine Cheung and Justin Ging yesterday bowed first to the Heaven and Earth, next to their parents and then to each other, thereby marrying in a traditional Chinese ceremony. More than 100 guests attended the wedding, held at the Mandarin Gourmet Chinese Restaurant, Downtown. The bride's mother, Rossana Cheung, of Murrysville, said it's been at least three decades since such a ceremony has been performed in Pittsburgh.

Slideshow By Lake Fong

August 2, 2006 ~ Slideshow: A friend in his corner

SPORTS: Larry Chisholm and Randy Castriota couldn't be more different. Larry is an ex-convict who spent almost 40 of his 60 years in jail, a once-promising boxer who became a drug dealer and pimp in the Hill District. Randy is a scrap metal entrepreneur who was named Rotarian of the Year, a Brookline native who got his work ethic from strict but loving parents. The black Muslim ex-con and white Catholic businessman who grew up in different worlds in the 1950s would change each other's lives when Larry walked into Randy's office and asked to rent an apartment.

Slideshow By Martha Rial

July 19, 2006 ~ Slideshow: A half century of nurturing creativity

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT: Fifty years ago, the Chatham College Music and Art Day Camp was started as an experiment. Founders Mihail and Kay Stolarevsky hoped to provide training for young musicians of all kinds while allowing others to explore art forms. Since then, more than 20,000 young people have benefited from the couple's dream. After Mihail passed away in 1974, his wife, Kay Stolarevsky, took over as director. She stepped down in 1991 but stays active in the camp today as an adviser. This summer nearly 300 children from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade have flocked to the hilltop campus in Shadyside to dabble in hip-hop, create cartoons or learn the classics on a harp.

Slideshow By Martha Rial

All-Star Week, July 7-12, 2006

The Pittsburgh scene the week of the All-Star Game at PNC Park was documented in a series of videos:

Vodcast: All-Star Week comes to an end with an exciting game
(July 12, 2006)
Video: A red carpet ride to the big game
(July 11, 2006)
Video: Paddling for souvenirs
(July 11, 2006)
Vodcast: The All-Stars meet the press
(July 10, 2006)
Phil Garner press conference highlights
(July 10, 2006)
Ozzie Guillen press conference highlights
(July 10, 2006)
Freddy Sanchez comments on being an All-Star
(July 10, 2006)
Jason Bay comments on being an All-Star
(July 10, 2006)
Kids learn what's inside a baseball
(July 10, 2006)
It's bombs away for MLB mascots in FanFest Home Run Derby
(July 9, 2006)
Vodcast: All-Star focus shifts toward PNC Park
(July 9, 2006)
Vodcast: All-Star focus shifts toward PNC Park
(July 9, 2006)
Singing 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game,' FanFest-style
(July 8, 2006)
The All-Star Week spotlight shines on Forbes Field
(July 8, 2006)
Vodcast: Opening day for the All-Star FanFest
(July 7, 2006)

July 10, 2006 ~ Slideshow: A home on the rivers

HOMES: Jay and Lisa Schaffner live in a home that is 112 feet long and 24 feet wide. It was built in 1936, burned in the 1980s, renovated in the '90s and was purchased by the couple last year. It's named the Winnie Mae. Oh yes, and it floats. The Schaffners narrate a tour of their home on the waters in this multimedia presentation. The Schaffners and the Winnie Mae were profiled in the Great Places section of July's Seen magazine supplement distributed in home-delivered print editions of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Slideshow By Alyssa Cwanger and Patricia Sheridan

June 21, 2006 ~ Animated graphic: How to make a home run splash

ALL-STAR GAME: To paraphrase a line from the Godfather, sluggers at the 22nd Annual Home Run Derby will be trying to get Mr. Baseball to sleep with the fishes. Each year one of the most anticipated events of the All-Star weekend is the Home Run Derby. Sponsored by Century 21, the event will be held at 8 p.m., July 10 at PNC Park and will be televised nationally on ESPN. The churning waters of the Allegheny beyond the outfield fence provide a dramatic backdrop if not an inviting target for players to splash down their proverbial rocket launches. This interactive graphic shows how far a player will have to hit a ball to make a splash at the All-Star Game.

Animation By Dan Marsula, Bill Pliske and James Hilston

Related story

Year-by-year Home Run Derby results

June 18, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Their hearts belong to Dad

LIFESTYLE: Some people memorialize their fathers with a poem or a prayer -- some by leaving a big tip for grouchy folks who need a ray of sunshine in their life. We asked our readers how they honored their fathers, particularly on this day, and the answers were as inventive as they were touching. From singing a favorite Mills Brothers tune to introducing a grandson to a statue, their personal tributes help keep the essence of their fathers alive. This presentation captures some of their tributes on a day when fatherhood takes center stage.

Slideshow By Annie O'Neill and Cristina Rouvalis

Related story

Their hearts belong to dad

June 15, 2006 ~ Slideshow: The roses of Renzie Park

GARDENING: It's not well known, even though it's the second biggest in Pennsylvania, and right now, it's near full bloom: The rose garden in Renziehausen Park in McKeesport. The public garden and arboretum, started in 1938 in what locals call Renzie Park, has more than 1,800 roses of various varieties in some 40 beds, plus large plantings of perennials and a water garden. That means a lot of work for members of the Garden Club of McKeesport and the Pittsburgh Rose Society, who in the last 15 years have brought it back to gorgeous. Volunteers from all over the region gather on Wednesday mornings to prune, weed, deadhead and weed some more.

Slideshow By Steve Mellon and Bob Batz Jr.

June 14, 2006 ~ Slideshow: A stroke of fashion

FASHION: Up and down the streets of the Hill District, everyone knows Jorge Myers as a folk artist and one-man beautification crew. People thought he was either crazy or a genius when he began cleaning up abandoned buildings in 1999, boarding up the windows and doors with wood, plastering them with with his paintings, fashioning collages out of found objects in his neighborhood: old horseshoes, a rusting pitchfork, a refrigerator grill. But the buildings he decorated were razed to make way for senior housing and other developments. Mr. Myers needed a new canvas. He said, "I started looking at people as canvases." He was inspired to start painting their clothing. He has a new clothing line called "Why Not." This presentation offers a glimpse into his creative world, opening with Mr. Myers sounding a few notes on the trumpet he is learning to play and sharing his painting technique with readers by using a sheet of glass as a canvas.

Slideshow By Annie O'Neill

June 13, 2006 ~ Slideshow: HollyBurgh

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT: On June 4 in Los Angeles, as twice before in New York, more than 200 former Pittsburghers in the showbiz industry turned out to give testimony to their affection for their heritage. It was an opportunity to meet old friends, to discover how few degrees of separation there are among Pittsburghers, even those who have never met, and to sing the "Mister Rogers" theme song, "Won't You Be My Neighbor." The organizers were curious to see who and how many would turn up. The film and TV industries that dominate Los Angeles are notoriously star-driven. Just as it takes a name above the title to get a Hollywood project off the ground, wouldn't Angelenos decide to come only when they heard that one of the A-list expats had signed on? As it turned out, no worry. That's not the Pittsburgh ethic. As one after another of the expats noted, taking in the crowd pouring in under the palms, Pittsburghers are real folk. Debra Levine, daughter of one-time KDKA Radio personality Mike Levine, proved a prophet in her RSVP: "This will be the most condensed gathering of real people in the city of Los Angeles."

Slideshow By John Beale, Christopher Rawson and Curt Chandler

June 12, 2006 ~ Slideshow: A fond farewell

LOCAL NEWS: Bishop Donald Wuerl scanned the audience yesterday at St. Paul Cathedral and saw the the governor, local Congressional leaders, tthe mayor, the chief county executive, representatives from each of the 214 parishes in the six-county diocese and his housekeeper. "My joy this afternoon in this Mass with you is in the opportunity to say to you who have been so much a part of my efforts to serve the church, 'thank you,'" he said.

Slideshow By Bob Donaldson, Robin Rombach and Curt Chandler

June 11, 2006 ~ Slideshow: A new look at the Boy King

TRAVEL: "Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs" features more than 130 treasures from Tut's and other royal tombs, including some that have never before left Egypt. Fifty of the objects come directly from the young pharaoh's tomb, which was raided shortly after he was buried and then hastily resealed. They include a small wood and ebony chair with lion paw legs he likely used as his royal seat, a falcon collar of sheet gold that was wrapped around the neck of his mummy, and a golden ceremonial dagger and sheath that was meant to protect him in the afterlife. Close to 1 million visitors are expected to see the exhibit while it's in Chicago for its seven-month run. David Foster, project manager for exhibitions at the Field Museum in Chicago, provides an insider's view.

Slideshow By Gretchen McKay and Curt Chandler

June 5, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Smiling past 50 / AARP's Real People Model Search comes to Pittsburgh

FASHION: Gloria Rogers is proud of her appearance and her age -- "74-and-a-half, and no facelifts," she says. So one recent morning, she put on some fashionable clothes and walked to Pittsburgh's Point State Park to participate in a national search for models over the age of 50. "I'm a ham from way back," she says. Ms. Rogers was the first of several Pittsburgh seniors to take part in the "Faces of 50+ Real People Model Search." At stake was a chance to be chosen to model for future editions of AARP: The Magazine. See and listen to Ms. Rogers and other aspiring models tell their stories in this presentation.

Slideshow By Steve Mellon and Bob Batz Jr.

May 31, 2006 ~ Slideshow: A stroll on Lorigan Street

NEIGHBORHOODS / CITY: Bloomfield's reputation as Pittsbugh's Little Italy is as strong as anywhere on Lorigan Street. The small enclave is just a couple blocks below Liberty Avenue. Recently Lorigan Street has attracted new people who claim different roots, but this is a place where what used to be counts. If you want to know what's what, ask Isadore Sanchioli. For more than eight decades, this has been Izzy's world.

Slideshow By Diana Nelson Jones and Lake Fong

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Life on Bloomfield's Lorigan Street

May 31, 2006 ~ Slideshow: A house with history

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT: Anna Wagner was born into German immigrant family and lived for more than a century in and near Johnstown. Most of her 102 years were spent in the same house. She and the building survived the Great Johnstown Flood on May 31, 1889. The house also survived a being moved to make a larger back yard and later, a fire. This Saturday its doors will be opened to the public as a museum to immigrant working class life. The Post-Gazette toured the house in advance for this report with curator and historian Dan Ingram.

Slideshow By Marylynne Pitz and Darrell Sapp

May 31, 2006 ~ Video: The sleepy cabbie

HEALTH AND SCIENCE: Jamie Marlowe can still remember looking at the mangled remains of the car owned by his company, Yellow Cab of Huntington, W.Va., The driver never worked for Yellow Cab again, but his accident has become a permanent fixture on the Internet under the title "Sleepy Cabbie." The incident was captured by a DriveCam camera, including the driver's miraculous scratch-free survival after he is flung partially through a back window. DriveCam is used by several cab companies because it not only can monitor drivers but can record assaults on them.

Video by DriveCam and Story by Mark Roth

May 29, 2006 ~ Slideshow: A remembrance day, down under

WORLD NEWS: The U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Jim Nicholson, was so impressed by the outpouring of community spirit when he saw the the Australian celebration of Anzac Day for the first time last month that he told the Sydney Morning Herald he'd like to take the tradition home to America. This year, the streets of Sydney were jammed with 100,000 people who watched 20,000 paraders. The numbers remain strong because service medals, uniforms and banners are passed from generation to generation. As aging veterans become too feeble -- or die -- their sons, daughters and grandchildren don the medals and march for them.

Slideshow By V.W.H. Campbell Jr. and Curt Chandler

May 25, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Retirement is for old people

NEIGHBORHOODS / CITY: Sixty years ago today, Dr. David M. Flom hung out a shingle on Ward Street in Oakland. It's where he used to do most of his work, a place where he said he has "touched thousands and thousands of lives." He's touching fewer lives these days, working four- to six-hour days three days a week. But at the age of 88 he has not lost the love he found six decades ago for his profession. Dr. Flom earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pittsburgh, by working before sunrise at a produce shop and going to school during the day. When he opened his private practice in Oakland the Pittsburgh neighborhood was not the medical megaplex that it is today. There was only one other general practitioner in Oakland and he passed away shortly after Dr. Flom's office opened in 1946.

Slideshow By Annie O'Neill and Jim McKinnon

May 21, 2006 ~ Slideshow: The Art of Taxidermy

SCIENCE: More than a century ago, the founders of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History borrowed, then bought thousands of mounted creatures and hired a line of distinguished taxidermists who've had huge hands in shaping the institution into what it is today. That legacy is highlighted in "Stuffed Animals: The Art and Science of Taxidermy," which opens today at the Oakland institution. "The idea is to show the progression from the era of stuffing ... to where they actually made art," says Stephen Rogers. He works as collection manager of the museum's Bird as well as Reptiles & Amphibians sections. But he is a leading expert in the field of taxidermy, which means "movement of the skin." He coined his own term to personify his passion for it: "Taxidermologist."

Slideshow By Steve Mellon and Bob Batz Jr.

May 21, 2006 ~ Audio: People moved to help often become heroes

NEIGHBORHOODS / CITY: David Meekin was being crushed under his wrecked car until a group of motorists who had never met before stopped at the scene of the late-night accident last month. Two women, a man and five children rocked the car off Mr. Meekin and pulled him to safety. Danita Jones, of Lincoln-Larimer, and Kristin Williams, of Friendship, talked about their decision to stop and get involved.

Audio and photos by Alyssa Cwanger, story by Ryan Haggerty

May 18, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

NEIGHBORHOODS / CITY: Art teacher Carol Skinger wanted students at Grandview Elementary to see the neighborhood around their school in a different way. So she made digital photos of buildings in the Allentown section of Pittsburgh, converted the images to black and white, then asked her students to pick a building and add color. Join eight fifth-graders and Ms. Skinger as they take a walking tour of Warrington, past the store fronts displayed in the artwork.

Slideshow By Annie O'Neill and Diana Nelson Jones

May 15, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Essie's songs

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT: Essie Hill, at 86, is a living landmark at Central Baptist Church in the Hill District, and she is known by congregations for whom she has been a guest soloist. But outside those venues, her name does not resonate, and it should. In the 1960s, Mrs. Hill soloed on two bills with Mahalia Jackson at Forbes Field and has traveled with quartets and choirs through the years, but her solos and her concerts had tapered off before the release of her first CD of 11 songs last year, "Essie Hill Sings Songs of the Gospel." Most of the songs have never been recorded or listed for copyright, said Mani Stokes, a blues guitarist and accompanist at Central Baptist, "which makes them priceless."

Slideshow By Steve Mellon, Jim Mendenhall and Diana Nelson Jones

May 14, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Mother, daughter, best friends

LIFESTYLE: There are best friends, and then there are mothers and daughters who are best friends. Four sets of moms and daughters who share this bond sat down with the Post-Gazette recently to describe what makes their relationships so special. This show also includes links to written profiles of the four sets of mothers and daughters.

Slideshow By Steve Mellon and Mackenzie Carpenter

May 9, 2006 ~ Slideshow: The Director

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICALS: A chapter in Western Pennsylvania high school musical history came to a close last week as the curtain fell on the final performance of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" at Schenley High School. After 35 years in the director's chair, Roger Babusci took his final bow. He staged his first show in 1972. Eleven years later Schenley's cast presented "Ain't Misbehavin'" at the governor's mansion when Mr. Babusci was named Pennsylvania's Teacher of the Year. After 40 years in the Pittsburgh public schools, Mr. B is retiring.

Slideshow By Alyssa Cwanger, Christopher Rawson and Marylynne Pitz

May 9, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Bringing 'Dreamcoat' to the stage

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICALS: Schenley students sent off "Mr. B," teacher and director Roger Babusci, in style last week with an exuberant production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." Mr. Babusci retires from the school district this year, but not before Schenley's dancers perfomed with joy and abandon, creating an electric community event out of a jaunty cartoon of a show.

Slideshow By Alyssa Cwanger and Christopher Rawson

May 8, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Medical history in art

SCIENCE: Curator Louise Lippincott discusses Jules Adler's painting, "Transfusion of a Goat's Blood," a 51-inch tall and 77-inch wide oil on canvas, hanging at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Oakland. A French physician, Simon Bernheim, commissioned this painting of himself transfusing blood from a goat into a young woman.

Slideshow By Alyssa Cwanger

May 8, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Helping jailed moms cope

LOCAL: Women sent to jail face an especially bleak reality in which they can lose everything, including children and home, says Vernetta Byrd, program coordinator with Lydia's Place, a nonprofit group that helps female inmates at the Allegehny County Jail. In this presentation, Ms. Byrd provides an insider's persepctive to scenes captured by the Post-Gazette's Martha Rial as she documented the lives of women participating in the program.

Slideshow By Martha Rial

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Day One: When mom's behind bars / A life of alcohol and drugs has robbed Michelle Minko of a normal life with her children.
More pictures by Martha Rial documenting the experience of Michelle Minko.

May 4, 2006 ~ Slideshow: The Sago Mine hearings, Day Two

LOCAL: Four months ago the families of 12 miners thought their loved ones had miraculously survived an underground explosion in West Virginia's Sago Mine. Their celebration ended abruptly as the truth emerged. All but one of the 13 men working underground had perished. Yesterday the families listened as two members of the underground rescue team choked back tears and explained how the wrong message may have gotten out. The hearings also included debate on the possible causes and force of the Sago Mine explosion.

Slideshow By Martha Rial, Dennis Roddy and Steve Twedt

May 3, 2006 ~ Slideshow: The Sago Mine hearings, Day One

LOCAL: Questions about safety inspections, emergency breathing units, and what happened when lightning hit a tree dominated the first day of a hearing into the Sago Mine disaster, where the families of the 12 coal miners who died were given the rare opportunity to interrogate mining company officials. More than 100 people attended the daylong public session in the gymnasium of West Virginia Wesleyan College. Questions from the miners' families were sometimes emotional, sometimes angry, making the first day of the hearings part memorial, part fact-finding mission.

Slideshow By Martha Rial, Dennis Roddy and Steve Twedt

May 1, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Learning to Garden / Planting in peat pots

GARDENING: This is the fourth installment of a series of audio slideshows by the Post-Gazette's Backyard Gardener Douglass Oster to provide instruction on the basics of gardening. This presentation covers how to start seeds in peat pots. This is a great way to start seeds early that don't like to be transplanted.

Slideshow By Douglass Oster and Andy Starnes

April 30, 2006 ~ Slideshow: Prom 2006 from gown to tux