My ex-wife and I have been divorced for 18 years. After being married for four years, I had promised myself never to marry again. Well, that thought left two years ago when I met the woman I should have met before meeting my ex.

This is the problem. In my four years of marriage, we had two children, twin boys. They are now 20 years old. One has a wonderful personality and is a junior in college. His brother, however, has a nasty personality (like his mom) and refuses to keep a job. My ex-wife is angry because I won’t buy him a car. If I did that, my fiancée won’t be able to have the elaborate wedding she wants. What should I do?—Ethan

Thursday 6

New Orleans jazz night

The Allegheny H-Y-P Club presents “New Orleans Jazz “ from 6-9 p.m. at 619 William Penn Place, Downtown. The show will feature The Southern Comfort Band led by Nick Nichols. The cost is $20 and includes appetizers and entertainment. For more information, call Beth Kurchina at 412-281-5858 or e-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Pittsburghers will be transported back to a happier time in history when ’70s R&B group Blue Magic performs at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, 5941 Penn Ave., East Liberty,?May 1

BLUE MAGIC

“We came to Pittsburgh in the ’70s and we loved it,” said Wendell Sawyer, an original member of the group. “Pittsburgh is an industry town and although we were famous, everyone was the same. We’re going to take people back to a time that was filled with love and peace. Even though there was a war in Vietnam, people were feeling good because of the music that was on the radio. Some of that was our music.”

Call it kismet; call it an intersection of spatial parallels; or an artistic convergence. Whatever you call it, it happened when the August Wilson Center for African American Culture hosted the 2010 National Symposium Series, “Bearden in the Public Realm,” presented by the Romare Bearden Foundation.

KEY PARTICIPANTS—Johanne Bryant-Reid, director of the Romare Bearden Foundation in New York, John Edgar Wideman and John Brewer spoke at the event.

Bearden, regarded as one of America’s preeminent artists, is a graduate of Peabody High School and lived in East Liberty with his maternal grandparents until he went to college. His time in Pittsburgh influenced his body of paintings, murals and collages. The fruits of his 78 years influenced the work of musicians, authors and playwrights, including East Liberty neighbor, Billy Strayhorn.