Here are some links/articles/blog posts that are worth a look:

• Recipe – Chocolate Chip and Pecan Blondies from Burghilicious – These look amazing – click the link to check out the photos and get the recipe from Pittsburgh food blogger – Burghilicious.
• Maki – Cool Tool for Working on Website Mock Ups – Congrats to Pittsburgh's bearded studios (located in East Liberty) – Smashing Magazine (blog about making pretty websites) featured Maki – a tool that bearded created to make it easier to look at website mock ups.
• More Great Blogs from the Burgh! – Great round up of some more Pittsburgh blogs – food, beer, rivers – Pittsburghers are blogging their passions. Check out the profiles of 365 days/ 365 Beers, Brown Eyed Baker Blog , Table and Spoon and Today on the Allegheny River blog.

Follow IheartPGH on Twitter – we share more links there almost daily!

The Clarks @ The Fayette County Fair

• Maybe they will even perform the song Cigarette which mentions the Fayette County Fair.
• Friday, July 30, 2010, 7pm @ The Fayette County Fair

• Every Friday Nights at Salsa night at the Cabaret at Theater Square
• 10-10:30 Salsa Lessons
• 10:30-1:30 am Salsa Dancing
• Friday, July 30 – Los Ciegos Del Barrio from NYC - literally translates to “the Blind Boys from the Hood.” Together since 1997, most of the band members are legally blind and perform Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Cumbia, Reggaeton and Rock music in English and Spanish.
• Learn more about Salsa dancing in Pittsburgh at SalsaPittsburgh.com

• Saturday, July 31, Noon-4pm
• McKinley Park – located off of Saw Mill Run Blvd
• Climbing wall, biking, arts and crafts, music and more – all FREE!

Strip Fest

• Only in Pittsburgh can you assume that an event with this name is probably family friendly
• Saturday, July 31, 2010 – 2-5pm @ 23rd and Smallman Street in the Strip District
• Right By Nature Grocery Store is having a street party – Pig Roast, Beer Wagon, live music

• Free outdoor movies from the Dennis Theater
• Saturday, July 31, 2010 @ 9pm – To Sir With Love
• Parse Pavillion – located behind the Dennis Theater

• Saturday July 31 – Race Expo @ North Shore Riverfront Park
• Sunday August 1, 6:45 am Triathalon – Bike, Run, Swim

• Sunday, August 1, 1:00 – 3:00pm
• Butterfly walk with Walt Shaffer
• meet at the Frick Environmental Center, 2005 Beechwood Blvd.

Yo La Tengo – FREE @ Hartwood Acers

• Allegheny County Free Summer Concert Series
• Sunday, August 1, 2010 – 7:30pm
• Hartwood Acers

• Teams compete to make a film in just 48 hours – competition starts August 13
• Happy Hour/Kick Off – Tuesday August 3, 2010 6-8pm @ Joe Mamas in Oakland

Tomorrow I will be a panelist for one of the sessions at the Pittsburgh Craft Collective’s  The Business of Craft workshop.I am sitting here at my computer putting together some links and ideas on how I use social media – blogs, facebook, twitter – for IheartPGH and some of the other projects I manage for work.  I thought it might be interesting to have a conversation here in the comments about how other Pittsburgh groups, businesses, blogs, non-profits are using online tools. 

Some questions to think about

• Which tool is easiest to use and gives you the best result
• What tools and ideas have worked the best?
• What ideas haven’t worked?
• What other businesses and organizations are doing a good job using the web to keep people informed?
• How do you keep track of who and what you want to follow? Google reader? Hootsuite? Tweetdeck? Others?

Please feel free to share and ask questions in the comment.

Some related reading about social media…

• Social Media For Non-Profit Organizations (thenon-profittoolbox.com)
• Top 6 Social Media Mistakes And How to Fix Them (socialmediaexaminer.com)
• Why Do the Most Popular Social Networks Fail to Satisfy Consumers? (veryofficialblog.com)
• 7 Steps For a Successful Social Media Strategy (socialmediaexaminer.com)
• 7 pragmatic questions businesses should ask about social media (thehumanracehorses.com)

Here is the list of things we talked abbout on WDVE this morning. You can hear our weekend picks most Friday mornings at 6:45 on 102.5FM.

Pittsburgh Blues Festival

• Benefits Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank
• Friday, Saturday and Sunday (July 23-25, 2010) @ Hartwood Acers
• Friday is FREE with a donation of a bag of groceries to the Food Bank

• Saturday + Sunday, July 24-25, 10am-4pm
• Lessons take 45-60mins
• Bring a towel, they will supply the wet suits

• Saturday, July 24, 2010 @ The Union Project
• Day long workshop for anyone interested in starting/running a small business
• Lots of info about using the web and social media to promote your business

• Here is a chance to see where your food comes from
• Saturday, July 24, 2010 10am-6pm
• $10 per car load gets you in to visit 20+ farms in Western PA

(Empty) Pool Parties – 2 Parties in the Leslie Park Swimming Pool, Lawrenceville

• Surfs Up on Saturday, July 24, 6pm – $5  Music in the deep end of the pool – Enjoy the sounds of 1960s surf rock from DJ Zombo and other bands from Pittsburgh and Hunstville, Alabama
• Deep Sky Star Party on Sunday, July 25, 8-11pm – telescopes, star gazing and star mappers from Google will be there showing you how to find those constellations you can’t ever seem to find again.

• Saturday and Sunday (July 24-25) @ Schenley Park
• Vintage car show and races all day!

Image via Wikipedia

Jam on Walnut

• Concert on Walnut St. in Shadyside
• Saturday Evening
• July 24 – Survivor and Alexis Grace finalist from American Idol season 8

• Franktuary is now on the go – in addition to their downtown shop they now have a truck that makes stops around the city.  You can even request that they make a stop at your office.  Local hot dogs can now come to you.
• Look for the Franktuary truck on Friday on the Southside – Jane St. between 25th and 27th.
• Follow @Frantuary on Twitter for other stops

Here are some links/articles/blog posts that are worth a look:

• Profile of Kards Unlimited from Only In Pittsburgh – great post on Kards Unlimited – a 3rd generation business in Shadyside. Not only do they have really great cards but they also have a great selection of interesting books to read or give as gifts.
• Looking Sharp!: Neighbor totes – Pittsburgh's fashion blogger Sarah at Looking Sharp has a nice post on the newest reusuable totebags from the NeighborTeaze folks.
• All Stitched Up @ Wildcard – Sign up for this Bookbinding workshop at Wildcard on Thurs. July 22 and learn to make your own book. Or check out some of the great books – some with awesome Pittsburgh titles – for sale from Subu, Inc.
• Artists lift from the scrap heap for green-minded endeavors – Pittsburgh Business Times – Check out the great office decor at Commonwealth press created out of recycled skateboards! Also nice info about glass mosaics.

Follow IheartPGH on Twitter – we share more links there almost daily!

One of the things that makes Pittsburgh great – is the affordable cost of living here.  In recent years, a number of groups have started to promote and support local crafters and artists. Now there are lots of festivals, some shops and websites where you can purchase interesting, one of a kind, handmade items from local artists and crafters.  Over the past few years the craft seen in Pittsburgh has flourished with a couple of different groups working to promote handmade businesses.  A few years ago, I had a ton of fun spending an afternoon with some of the crafters at the beehive talking blogs and business and I honored to be included on their panel on social media this weekend.  Not only is the crafting movement a good thing for the local economy but its great to see  a groups of passionate people supporting their businesses and creating a fun community in Pittsburgh.

The Business of Craft is a day long workshop this Saturday, hosted by the Pittsburgh Craft Collective.  This is a day of workshops and speakers focused on how to improve your crafting business.  While this is being organized by crafters – I think that many of the topics will also apply to small business as well and there will lots of info on using the internet to promote your business.

I will be one of the panelists talking about social media and small business.  I am looking forward to meeting these amazing other presenters Tara Gentile of Scoutiegirl.com, Carrie Nardini of I Made It! Market, Alissa Martin of Pavement, Michelle Hammons of Burgh Baby, Mundania Horvath of Steeltown Anthem.

The Business of Craft
Saturday, July 24, 2010 9am-4pm
@ The Union Project

Click Here for the complete schedule and details

Local Business is Good Business for Pittsburgh

This is good for the local economy too – dollars spent locally have a greater impact on the local economy.  And it is just nice to meet the people who make things and to know where something comes from too.  From the 3/50 Project – which is a campaign about supporting local businesses:

For every $100 spent in locally owned, independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll, and other expenditures.  If you spend that in a national chain, only $43 stays here.

Here are some other blog posts about crafty things that might be of interest…

• Get Crafty at Make:PGH (craftzine.com)
• Craft website Etsy brings big sales to small businesses (telegraph.co.uk)
• Crafting and Social Networks — For Fun and Profit! (blogher.com)
• Urban Craft Uprising Arrives at Seattle Center (seattlest.com)
• Book Review + Giveaway: The Handmade Marketplace (craftzine.com)
• Crafting Community Helps The Gulf Coast (timesunion.com)
• Hello Craft’s Summit of Awesome in Portland (craftzine.com)

In case you haven’t noticed, Pittsburgh is a sports town.  Pittsburghers are and not just  serious about watching sports- but playing sports too.

Thanks to one of our Facebook fans for letting us know about this upcoming Sand Volleyball Tournament.  For me, just the word volleyball evokes bad memories of grade school gym clasess – but I know that there are a number of people who love volleyball.

The Sportsnuts Meet Up Group is organizing their first  4-on-4 Volleyball Tournament for this Saturday.  It looks like this group organizes other leagues too – the meet up page links to a roller-hockey league and a cornhole/beanbag league.

4-on-4 Volleyball Tournament
Saturday, July 24, 2010 – 10am
Sand Volleyball Courts, Robert Morris University

Click here for details

Teams and Individual players may sign up.

More details:

• Teams may consist of up to 6 players but keep in mind at least one female must be on the court at all times.
• Cost to play is $100/team
• the goal is for all teams to play all other teams at least once before the playoffs.
• Rally scoring will be in effect
• the format will be 4 vs 4.
• Players will not need to rotate their positions except to serve.
• This tournament is open to anyone over the age of 18.
• Prizes for first place will be cash and a trophy.

Looking for other sports leagues in Pittsburgh – the PSL (Pittsburgh Sports League) offers many different sports each season.  If you know of other sports leagues in town please share a link in the comments.

Surfs up with the Deep End Ampitheater at the Leslie Park Pool – Saturday, July 24th from 6pm until dusk.

The all-ages concert of live instrumental classic and modern surf music produced by Lawrenceville’s own nightlife provocateur, Michael “Zombo” Devine will feature an action-packed, super danceable line-up. The bill includes “best-of” bands Daikaiju, Kabuki Surf from Alabama, The Action Cats and the Wakening. Plus old-school classic sixties sounds and zombie surf music will be playing through out. Cool down this summer with a concert like no other at the Deep End Ampitheater at the Leslie Park Pool.

Photo: Last fall the empty Leslie Park Pool was used for an accordion pool party.

Here are some links/articles/blog posts that are worth a look:

• Coming soon – an opera perfect for Pittsburgh. – Evenings in Quarantine: The Zombie Opera. Check out their blog, learn more about the project and maybe even star as an extra in some of teh filming.
• Pittsbrugh's BrandingBrand on Forbes.com – Great blog post on Forbes.com about Steve Madden and how the company is working with Pittsburgh's BrandingBrand on social media marketing.
• Turning a Part-time Passion Into a Full-Time Enterprise | Fast Company – Great article in Fast Company about our friends in St. Louis – STL Style – they make great t-shirt for those who love St. Louis. We are happy to see people as passionate about their city as we are about Pittsburgh.

Follow IheartPGH on Twitter – we share more links there almost daily!

Here is the list of things we talked abbout on WDVE this morning. You can hear our weekend picks most Friday mornings at 6:45 on 102.5FM

Public Record- new arts collaboration based on  Pittsburgh crime reports from the 19th Century

• new living art project based on crime reports from 19th Century Pittsburgh
• Listen to local artists retell the stories on the spot where they occurred by cell phone or iphone app
• Launches at the Gallery Crawl on Fri. July 16 @ 937 Liberty Ave Gallery

Whiskey Rebellion Weekend

• Woodville Plantation, Bridgeville PA – you can revisit Western PA as it was in the late 1700s
• Sat. July 17, 3pm – 1.5 mile walk from Bower Hill to Whiskey Point
• Sun. July 18, Noon-5 – Whiskey Rebellion Day

Horse Trading Days

• Head on up north for Harmony and Zelienople’s annual festival – this year marks the 47th annual festival
• Thur. July 15- Sat. July 17 – 11am-9pm
• food, crafts, tractor pulls, history
• stop by the Bottlebrush Gallery in Harmony while you are there

Party Down in Polish Hill

• Sat. July 17 – Immaculate Heart of Mary Church Festival
• Sun. July 18 – Polish Hill Arts Festival 12-8pm
• Check out the new coffee shop, record shop and book store that just opened in Polish Hill too

South Side Works Exposed

• music and art street festival
• Friday, Saturday and Sunday
• local artists, local musicians, out door fun in the street at South Side Works.

National Ice Cream Day = Free Scoop of Ice Cream

• Sun. July 18, 2-4pm
• The Milkshake Factory 1705 E. Carson St., South Side

Slackline Pittsburgh at Schenley Plaza

• slacklining is all the rage with kids these days
• like a loose tight rope, but kind of low to the ground
• try it out with Slacklin Pittburgh, Sun. July 18 2-5pm at Schenley Plaza