Lawrence C. Connolly's Blog, page 33

Parade Day Preview

With St. Patrick’s Day Parade scheduled for March 11, a week in advance of the actual  St. Patrick’s Day weekend, Pittsburgh has the opportunity to celebrate all week long.

Last night at Riley’s Pour House, bagpiper John Walsh kicked off the weeklong celebration by marching through the pub in advance of our 8:00 show. John will be returning to Riley’s today along with the likes of Young John Gallagher, Mike Gallagher Himself, the Irish Belly Dancers, and … [more at The 21st-Century Scop].

Parade Day Preview

With St. Patrick’s Day Parade scheduled for March 11, a week in advance of the actual  St. Patrick’s Day weekend, Pittsburgh has the opportunity to celebrate all week long.

Last night at Riley’s Pour House, bagpiper John Walsh kicked off the weeklong celebration by marching through the pub in advance of our 8:00 show. John will be returning to Riley’s today along with the likes of Young John Gallagher, Mike Gallagher Himself, the Irish Belly Dancers, and The Wild Geese.

Entertainment will be...

Parade Day & St. Patrick’s Day Shows

March 11 (Parade Day)

4:00 – 7:30: Riley’s Pub Stage with bassist Duane Davis. 8:00 – 10:00: Riley’s Pub Stage with bassist Duane Davis and vocalist-mandolinist Lauren Connolly-Moore.

March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day)

5:00 – 7:30: Riley’s Garden Center Stage. 8:00 – 11:00: Riley’s Pub Stage with bassist Duane Davis.

March 18

8:00 – 11:00: Riley’s Pub Stage with bassist Duane Davis.

Details are still coming together, but the above are some dates, times, and details that we have so far. For mo...

Parade Day & St. Patrick’s Day Shows

March 11 (Parade Day)

6:00 – 7:30: Riley’s Pub Stage with bassist Duane Davis. 8:00 – 10:00: Riley’s Pub Stage with bassist Duane Davis and vocalist-mandolinist Lauren Connolly-Moore.

March 17 (St. Patrick’s Day)

5:00 – 7:30: Riley’s Garden Center Stage. 8:00 – 11:00: Riley’s Pub Stage with bassist Duane Davis.

March 18

8:00 – 11:00: Riley’s Pub Stage with bassist Duane Davis.

Details are still coming together, but the above are some dates, times, and details that we have so far. For mo...

Writer at Work: Trusting the Process

There’s a scene in Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Le Mystère Picasso, a 1956 documentary that shows the artist Pablo Picasso at work. The artist starts with random lines, splashes of color. There seems to be no method in what he’s doing, but as he paints, the details coalesce, but just as everything seems to come together, something goes wrong.

[Read more at 21st-Century Scop.]

Writer at Work: Trusting the Process

There’s a scene in Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Le Mystère Picasso, a 1956 documentary that shows the artist Pablo Picasso at work. The artist starts with random lines, splashes of color. There seems to be no method in what he’s doing, but soon a few recognizable images emerge — a boat pulling a water skier, a woman in a bathing suit, people at a café. As he paints, the details coalesce, but just as everything seems to come together …[read more at The 21st Century Scop].

Writer at Work: Trusting the Process

There’s a scene in Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Le Mystère Picasso, a 1956 documentary that shows the artist Pablo Picasso at work. The artist starts with random lines, splashes of color. There seems to be no method in what he’s doing, but soon a few recognizable images emerge — a boat pulling a water skier, a woman in a bathing suit, people at a café. As he paints, the details coalesce, but just as everything seems to come together, something goes wrong.

The artist seems to lose control of the wo...

Writer at Work:Santas, Wizards, & Life behind the Curtain

So it’s December 1997. I’m driving north out of Oakland, toward Bigelow Boulevard and downtown Pittsburgh. It’s a gray day, light snow falling. Colored lights trim some of the buildings, and then I see him … (read more at The 21st-Century Scop).

Writer at Work:Santas, Wizards, & Life behind the Curtain

So it’s December 1997. I’m driving north out of Oakland, toward Bigelow Boulevard and downtown Pittsburgh. It’s a gray day, light snow falling. Colored lights trim some of the buildings along North Craig Street, but it doesn’t feel like Christmas.

Then I see him.

I clear the rise toward Bigelow Boulevard, and there he is—fourteen-feet high and smiling down from a roadside billboard atop the snowy hillside. Red suit, white beard. It’s Santa. Or is it? I do a double take. This guy’s wearing rol...

Writer at Work: Standing up for Your Writes

“The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.”

C.S. Lewis gave that advice in 1937, in an article titled, “Breaking in Print.” But it didn’t originate with him. He got it from his mentor Mary Heaton Vorse, who seems to be the source of the oft-repeated advice.

You may have heard that advice inits more condensed form, a terse little maxim attributedto writers as varied as Oliver Stone and Stephen King:

“Writing equals ass in chair.”

As with most max...