Thu., Jan. 28 -- Words
Many famous portrait-style paintings, from the Mona Lisa on, are of essentially anonymous people. Yet today's celebrity might be tomorrow's trivia answer. Nobody understood the intersection of art, celebrity and commerce quite like Andy Warhol. It all comes together tonight around a gallery tour and talk exploring the Mattress Factory's Likeness exhibit. Media, Celebrity Culture & Warhol features Amy Henderson, cultural historian at Washington, D.C.'s National Portrait Gallery, and Warhol Museum curator Eric Shiner. Bill O'Driscoll 6 p.m. tour; 7 p.m. talk. 500 Sampsonia Way, North Side. $10. 412-237-8300 or www.mattress.org
Thu., Jan. 28 -- Variety
Feminists know how to party. Case in point: The Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails (LUPEC). The group uses vintage-style cocktails (the Betty Ford, the Chatterly, the Royal Doris) to teach women's history and, says its mission statement, to encourage the tradition of "dangerous women calling themselves Ladies and getting together ... to work undercover while they chipped away at the patriarchy." Launched in Pittsburgh, LUPEC now has chapters nationally. Tonight, the Ladies request the pleasure of your company at The LUPEC Follies, a Prohibition-themed mix of performance, puppetry and, oh yeah, plenty of classy cocktails. Anna Reilly 8 p.m. Howlers Coyote Café, 4509 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield. $5 donation. www.lupec.org
Thu., Jan. 28 -- Rock
Tonight's the first round of WXDX's annual Winter Rock Showcase band battle at Hard Rock Café. Competing for cash, studio time, gigs and more -- even prizes from Supercuts -- are locals The Silent Wire, Sole Nemesis, Bishop Clay, Season Zero and Mace Ballard. The remaining semi-finals are Feb. 4 and Feb. 18; winners duke it out at the March 5 finals. May the best band win. Aaron Jentzen 8:30 p.m. Station Square, South Side. $5. All ages. 412-481-ROCK or www.hardrockcafe.com
Fri., Jan. 29 -- Music
International stars play with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra tonight as Manfred Honeck returns to conduct three classic pieces. Korean-born Sunhae Im lends her voice to a precocious Mahler solo, while Gil Shaham, an American violinist with a global, Grammy-winning career, plays Haydn and Mozart. Honeck, the world-renowned musician and conductor who's also the PSO's musical director, conducts as part of the BNY Mellon Grand Classics concert series. AR 8 p.m. Also 2:30 p.m. Sun., Jan. 31. Heinz Hall, 600 Penn Ave., Downtown. 412-392-4900 or www.pittsburghsymphony.org
Friday Jan. 29 -- Music
Chances are you've heard the name Kellee Maize: The emcee, concert-promoter, spoken-word artist and girl-power pusher is among the local scene's ubiquitous figures. Tonight, at Fate Lounge (the one-time Rosebud), she celebrates her birthday and the release of her second full-length album with an event called Resolution: A Celebration of Dream Followers. In addition to Maize, a slew of local talent performs -- The Commonwealth Family, Christiane D, DJ Huggy, and many more. Local artists (including photographer Laura Petrilla, celebrating the launch of a new Web site) will also display work. Andy Mulkerin 9 p.m. 1650 Smallman St., Strip District. $5. www.nakturnal.net
Sat., Jan. 30 -- Giving
Sweetwater Center for the Arts hosts two open-studio pottery sessions for a good cause. Kids and adults at the Sewickley studio can make wheel- or hand-built bowls with the help of instructors well versed in the ways of clay. The bowls will then be finished and sent to Rodef Shalom for Just Harvest's annual Empty Bowls dinner, where diners purchase a bowl and enjoy a soup dinner benefitting Just Harvest and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. AR 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 1-4 p.m. 200 Broad St., Sewickley. Free. 412-741-4405 or sweetwaterartcenter.org
Sat., Jan. 30 -- Recreation
With Pittsburgh: Yinz Play!, the Children's Museum turns itself inside out to become a funhouse version of the city itself. It's a series of interactive exhibits, wacky and otherwise, celebrating Pittsburgh, its people and its landscape. Climb and repair a large-scale replica of part of the Clemente Bridge; watch an animated video mural of Pittsburghers making silly faces; create your own virtual-fireworks display; and use recycled materials to add a new landmark to a scale model of the city. Another exhibit has fun with Pittsburghese n'at. Opening day includes a 2 p.m. performance by The Pittsburgh Banjo Club. BO 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Exhibit continues through June 6. Allegheny Square, North Side. $9-11. 412-322-5058
Sat., Jan. 30 -- Art
Seventy-five years ago, the Public Works of Art Program, part of FDR's New Deal, encouraged artists to interpret the "American scene." The Frick Art Museum's new exhibit, 1934: A New Deal for Artists, celebrates some of the American art that appeared during the nation's Great Depression. Coinciding with Westmoreland Museum of American Art's contemporaneously themed new show, Concerning the 1930s in Art, the Frick showcases works depicting laborers and cities, including Pittsburgher Harry W. Scheuch's take on the Cathedral of Learning. AR 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Continues through April 25. 7227 Reynolds St., Point Breeze. Free. 412-371-0600 or www.frickart.org
Sat., Jan. 30 -- Art
Back in September, Projekt 50/50 staged a one-night art show with a unique theme: Fifty artists dressed up 50 skateboard decks and displayed them. Tonight, that show's organizers return with an even more, er, unique take on the gallery show. All Crapped Out: A Toilet Seat Adventure again brings together 50 artists -- only this time, the medium is a toilet seat. The joke possibilities here are innumerable; we'll let you make your own, and simply add that it's happening at Firehouse Lounge. Beats will be provided by local electronic artists JX4. AM 7:30 p.m. 2216 Penn Ave., Strip District. $5. 412-434-1230 or projekt5050.com
Sat., Jan. 30 -- Opera
Benjamin Britten is among the 20th century's foremost operatic composers, and The Rape of Lucretia is historically significant as the young Britten's first "chamber opera" (a genre he pioneered). The score for eight solo voices and a 13-piece orchestra (with a libretto by Ronald Duncan) debuted in 1946. It's renowned for the beauty of Britten's music -- and controversial, for interpreting a tragic episode in ancient Rome through an explicitly Christian lens. A new Pittsburgh Opera production features the troupe's resident artists, including mezzo-soprano Lindsay Ammann as Lucretia, and Dan Kempson as Tarquinius. The work is sung in English, with texts projected above the stage. The first of four performances in Downtown's intimate CAPA Theater is tonight. BO 8 p.m. Also 8 p.m. Tue., Feb. 2; 7 p.m. Fri., Feb. 5; and 2 p.m. Sun., Feb. 7. CAPA Theater, Downtown. $45. 412-456-6666 or www.pittsburghopera.org
Sat., Jan. 30 -- Music
Local tunesmiths are the focus of the New Hazlett Theater's quarterly Songwriter Spotlight concert series, hosted by Joe Grushecky and Rick Witkowski. The featured guests tonight are soul man Billy Price, Bob Corbin of country duo Corbin/Hanner, and Americana singer-songwriter Carol Lee Espy. Each shares songs as well as the stories and processes behind them. For future installments, might we suggest the title, "PGH-1 Storytellers"? AJ 8 p.m. 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. $10. 412-320-4610 or www.newhazletttheater.org
Sun., Jan. 31 -- Gardening
It's about time to plan the vegetable garden. You can start with Eating Green II: Growing Your Own. The latest Jennings Environmental Education Center program on sustainable food helps beginners and veterans alike. Today, speakers including Barb Kline, of Mildred's Daughters Urban Farm (in Stanton Heights); Christine Glenn, of Slippery Rock University; and Jerry Stanley, of Buttermilk Falls Nature Sanctuary, cover everything from seed-planting to seed-saving. BO 2 p.m. 2951 Prospect Road, Slippery Rock. Free. 724-794-6011
Sun., Jan 31 -- Rock
"I fell asleep watching Veronica Mars again," sings Justin Pierre on Motion City Soundtrack's new album, My Dinosaur Life. Once again, the Minnesota band's high-energy hooks and eye for telling, mundane detail make for instantly appealing power-pop-punk. It's hard to believe, but the band's been around for 12 years now -- Dinosaur Life is its fourth full-length album, and its first for Capitol Records. Also on the bill tonight at Mr. Small's Theatre are Set Your Goals, This Providence and The Swellers. AJ 6:30 p.m. (doors at 5:30 p.m.). 400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. $20. All ages. 412-821-4447 or www.mrsmalls.com
Tue., Feb. 2 -- Stage
Jay-Z might be down in Tribeca (right next to De Niro), but the beat of Manhattan doesn't lessen above Canal Street. At the tippy-top of the island sits Washington Heights, a largely Hispanic neighborhood where hip hop, R&B, and traditional Latino melodies fill the streets. The same vibrant sounds drive In the Heights, the spirited Tony-winning musical set in this distinctive New York neighborhood. The 2008 Broadway hit's first tour includes a six-night PNC Broadway Across America stop at the Benedum, which starts tonight. AR 7:30 p.m. Continues Wed. Feb. 3, through Sun., Feb. 7. 719 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $22-66. 412-456-6666 o www.pgharts.org
Thu., Feb. 4 -- Words
Dale Jamieson has been thinking and writing about climate change for a quarter-century -- since long before it was widely accepted that it was already happening. Jamieson, a professor of philosophy and environmental studies at New York University, is among those arguing that rich countries are obliged to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions quickest, while helping poor countries adapt to things like drought and rising seas. His talk today at Carnegie Mellon's Humanities Center Lecture Series is titled "The Moral and Political Challenges of Climate Changes." BO 4:30 p.m. Porter Hall 100, CMU campus, Oakland. Free. 412-268-6094
