From a celebration of post-punk brass bands to showtunes with the Pittsburgh Symphony, here's what's happening this weekend in the city.
Pittonkatonk returns
The Pittonkatonk May Day BBQ returns to Schenley Park’s Veterans Pavilion for community, pot-luck dishes and, of course, post-punk brass bands and many other forms of celebratory music. This year, the line-up features far-flung guests like Tamikrest (Morocco/France) and Kizaba (Congo), returning stalwarts like the Detroit Party Marching Band, and local favorites the Col. Eagleburger Band, 1Hood Media, Timbeleza, and Hugo Cruz and Caminos. It all starts at 1 p.m., and admission is free.
Rediscover the Velvet Underground
The Andy Warhol Museum presents the first-ever exhibit built around the newly rediscovered master tapes from the Velvet Underground’s first-ever recording sessions, the basis for the band’s epochal 1967 debut album. “The Velvet Underground & Nico: Scepter Studio Sessions” includes photos, rarely seen performance footage of the band … and, naturally, music from those mono ¼-inch reel-to-reels. The show opens Fri., May 12, and runs through Sept. 25.
"Change-Gang All-Stars"
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah visits Allentown’s Bottlerocket with “Chain-Gang All-Stars,” his debut novel and a book-of-the-moment. The novel depicts a near-future when prison inmates compete in televised death matches staged by for-profit corporations. Adjei-Brenyah will be in conversation with Pittsburgh’s own Damon Young. 7 p.m. Fri., May 12.
Showtunes with the symphony
Renée Elise Goldsberry, the Carnegie Mellon graduate who won a Tony for her role in “Hamilton,” joins the Pittsburgh Symphony this weekend. Goldsberry will sing favorites from that groundbreaking show, plus tunes from “The Lion King,” “Rent” and more. There are three performances, Fri., May 12, through Sun., May 14.
Seeking refuge
Pittsburgh Opera presents the local premiere of “We Shall Not Be Moved,” about five Philadelphia teens seeking refuge from trouble who end up literally haunted by the ghosts of the city’s deadly 1985 MOVE standoff with police. The work, with music by Daniel Bernard Roumain and a libretto by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, gets five performances, Sat., May 13, through May 21, at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center.
