Thursday 28
Jazz Jam
    CJ’s Restaurant & Lounge presents “The Roger Humphries & RH Factor Jazz Jam Session” at 8 p.m. at 2901-2911 Penn Ave., Strip District. There will be live jazz and fun every Thursday night. Must be 30 years or older and there is a dress code that will be enforced. No tennis shoes, sweats, or athletic gear. For more information, call 412-642-2377.
Friday 29
Thurgood
    The Pittsburgh Public Theater presents their MADE IN AMERICA series with the play “Thurgood” at 8 p.m. at the O’Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Cultural District. The one-man play stars Montae Russell as Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice. The play tells the story of Marshall, from his beginnings in Baltimore, Md., to his rise to the highest court. “Thurgood” will run through April 7. For more information, call 412-316-1600 or visit www.ppt.org.
Saturday 30
SUNSTARS in the Making
    The Kelly Strayhorn Theater presents “SUNSTARS in the Making” from 2-4 p.m. at 5941 Penn Ave., East Liberty. This event gives young women the opportunity to explore culturally diverse stage performances and activities that bring together dance, music and theater. There will be workshops, followed by performances by the YMCA Lighthouse Project, the Alumni Theater Company and 3 Talented Girls. Kim El, also known as Dr. Goddess, will also moderate a dialogue. For more information, call 412-363-3000.
Sunday 31
Straightening Combs
    The Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company presents “Straightening Combs” at 3 p.m. at 937 Liberty Ave., Cultural District. Kim El shares a story of the repercussions of low self-esteem and overcoming depression in Urban America. She takes the audience on a journey seen through the eyes of an African-American female coming of age. This is the last performance. For more information, call 412-400-8809 or visit www.pghplaywrights.com.
Monday 1
Fun-raiser Benefit Concert
    The Black Political Empowerment Project presents the 8th annual B-PEP Jazz Concert Fun-raiser from 5:30-11:30 p.m. at Bridges Restaurant & Lounge, Wyndham Hotel, 100 Lytton Ave., Oakland. Enjoy the music of Sean Jones and his Quartet, Roger Humphries, Etta Cox, Michelle Benson, Kenny Blake and more. Proceeds will benefit B-PEP and their Coalition Against Violence. For more information, call 412-758-7898.
Tuesday 2
JazzLive
    The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust presents JazzLive at 5 p.m. at the Backstage Bar at Theater Square, 655 Penn Ave., Cultural District. Every Tuesday guests can enjoy hot jazz from some of the most talented jazz musicians, cool drinks and great people. April is National Jazz Appreciation Month. There will be a performance by Brett Williams, followed by Lou Donaldson at 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.trustarts.org.
Wednesday 3
Solo Exhibits
    The August Wilson Center for African American Culture presents Solo Exhibits from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at 980 Liberty Ave., Cultural District. This exhibition showcases fiber art, printmaking, paintings and sculptures from the artists, Leslie Ansley, Tina Brewer and Jo-Anne Bates. Each artist has drawn inspiration from journeys recalling African-American heritage, reflecting on Diaspora or Pilgrimages to the African continent. The exhibit runs through June 29. For more information, call 412-258-2700.
 Saturday 6
Showcase 2013
    The P.R.O.M.I.S.E. Group presents the 5th Annual Blues, R&B Showcase 2013 from 9 p.m.-2 a.m. at the Hard Rock Café, Station Square. The evening will be hosted by The Muddy Kreek Blues Band and feature Vince Agwada Singer. The fundraiser supports the P.R.O.M.I.S.E.’s youth camps and other programs. For more information, call 412-258-0506 or visit www.promiseonthemove.com.

DEBBIE NORRELL

When commentating fashion shows I’ve always said that there is nothing new under the sun. I surely hope that people don’t think that drinking cough syrup to get high is new. I remember a young man who we called “Robo” back in the day. The nickname came for his love or addiction to Robitussin Cough Syrup. He always kept a bottle visible in his shirt pocket. He passed away as a young man. With all the talk about Lil’ Wayne going into the hospital for alleged seizures possibly from his cough syrup drink, I decided to look up what is called sirrzup, seerup or sirrup. There were more than 13,000 results. According to the Urban Dictionary:
Sirrup is a mixed beverage, which became famous through the postmillenium hip-hop community of southern U.S.A. Sirrup consists of Codeinesirup and lemon flavored lemonade, Jolly Rancher candy is optional. It’s most famous representative is definitely Lil’ Wayne, who is often seen sippin’ from a Styrofoam cup, filled with a purple colored liquid.
Let’s use it in a sentence: “Man, have you heard of DJ 100 percent Design? He must be sirrup sippin’ every day with those remixes.”
I remember watching an episode of “Behind The Music” about Lil’ Wayne. Towards the end of the episode he was asked about what was in the cup, what was he drinking? He got pretty upset and said no one needed to ask him about what was in his cup. Well about a week ago Wayne was hospitalized and many in the news media attributed the trip to the hospital to his codeine concoction. Not so says Lil’ Wayne’s family, they say somebody messed with his sirrup, he was poisoned. Reportedly he has hired an investigator to check into the alleged poisoning. Funny nobody said it is time to stop drinking the deadly purple drink.  
If you think you want to start using sirrup here is something you may want to consider. As tolerance for the drugs in sirrup builds, higher doses are required to feel similar effects. In this cough syrup combination, promethazine can actually double the amount of codeine that affects the body. Furthermore, carbonated drinks make the body absorb even more by pushing it through the stomach lining to the part containing blood vessels.
The major danger of cough syrup abuse is the high potential for addiction. Like morphine or other opiates, regular consumption of codeine can result in chemical dependency. Taken over a period of time, the body’s central nervous system will stop producing pain killers, or endorphins, naturally because it is receiving opiates instead. Then these inactive nerve cells degenerate and when the body no longer produces pain killers on its own, the addiction begins. When a user wants to quit, it often means a painful withdrawal period or an unpleasant medically supervised detox. Even then, relapse is always a danger. People can lose consciousness and have convulsions (can you say seizure). Those with prior respiratory problems such as asthma face even higher risks.

FROM WILLIE HALL’S 2013 FALL COLLECTION

(NEW YORK CITY)—For fashion designer Brehon Williams, it all started with rollercoasters.
“I always wanted to grow up to become a mechanical design engineer, designing rollercoasters,” said the 23-year-old Virginia native. “As I began to delve into fashion, all of the research—as far as architecture goes—started to be infused in my design aesthetic. Riding a rollercoaster is an experience, and I want whomever wears my clothes to have an experience in them.”
Williams’ fall 2013 collection of menswear and womenswear was a pleasing experience at the Rogues Gallery Presents show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week last month. Rogues Gallery Presents, created and produced by Black stylist Ron Cooke, provides a platform for emerging designers to get some of the spotlight during New York’s fashion weeks each February and September. Like most other fashion events staged during the week, although not officially part of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, RGP is a chance for designers with talent but perhaps less money, connections, or clout to get their work in front of some of the many editors, bloggers, buyers, celebrities, industry insiders, and everyday fashion-lovers who converge on The Big Apple for the nation’s biggest fashion fest.
Williams and three other Black designers were among seven designers to watch who presented collections in the show at Hotel Pennsylvania.  His designs are always influenced by menswear, and the looks he showed for next fall and winter were contemporary with creative color-blocking and exotic prints.
The line, he said, “was inspired by Africa—the tribes, the animals, and the color. I wanted to present a collection that was deeply inspired by my heritage without it becoming a joke and looking like a costume party.”
While Williams designs from his home in Chesapeake, Va., Mikasa La’Charles is based just north in downtown Norfolk. Her “Navajo Meets Hollywood” fall collection was full of young and sexy looks for women. She incorporated faux leather and a patchwork motif throughout the line, along with a dramatic cowl feature on several dresses.
La’Charles studied marketing at the College of William and Mary before studying fashion design and business at Parsons Paris School of Art and Design. She also studied in Europe, interned in New York City, worked with design brands such as Laundry by Shelli Segal and along the way taught herself to sketch and sew the designs she visualized.
“I’ve been dreaming about it since I was 5,” and began drawing women’s clothes at her childhood home in Philadelphia, she said.
Pursuing her passion is paying off. She debuted collections at VA Fashion Week in 2010 and 2011 and at Charleston Fashion Week in South Carolina last year, where she was named among the top 20 emerging designers on the East Coast.
La’Charles’ designs are sold in her online boutique, www.mikasalacharles.com. With an interest in every aspect of fashion, she also works as a stylist, teaches sewing classes and does freelance design work for two fashion companies – all while being a single mother to a 2-year-old son.
Becoming a recognized name is much more difficult for designers and usually takes much longer than the public realizes. Although Willie Hall of Brunswick, N.J. has been designing fashion for 30 years, she is still emerging on the scene.
She staged her first fashion show at the age of 18 and was passionate about creating prom gowns for girls who couldn’t afford retail prices. She soon began a 30-year career as a medical assistant, all the while continuing to design. In 1998, heeding her father’s advice to focus on doing what really makes her happy, she left the medical field and in 2003 returned to fashion school.
Hall volunteered for 19 seasons at the official New York Fashion Week, now Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, and has shown collections at Rogues Gallery Presents since its inception in 2008. Her chic fall womenswear collection featured elegant and edgy dresses and sportswear, from shorts and skirts to jackets and wide-leg pants.
“My inspiration came from my closet of fabrics, sourcing what you have already in front of you,” said Hall, 50. That meant a strong foundation of black and white with an infusion of vivid color. She said her philosophy is that “a woman should look elegant no matter what she is wearing. I design for women who are confident within themselves wearing a pair of pants or a gown.”
Her tailoring is impeccable, honed as a former assistant to design icon Andre Van Pier, whose creations in the 80s were worn by superstars such as Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna, Prince, Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson.
Designing for celebrities is a joy Diane Linston of Cleveland has experienced.  The 44-year-old Alabama native recently designed two outfits for actress Jazsmin Lewis and said she designs for “jazzy yet sophisticated women age 25 and up.”
Linston’s aesthetic is young and hip. Her strong fall womenswear collection included bold overcoats and denim separates, with creative surface detailing on every look for extra pizzazz.
She began sketching and designing at the age of 14, later graduating from the Virginia Marti College of Art and Design in Lakewood, Ohio. She was installed in the school’s Wall of Fame in 2001. Two years prior, she launched her brand, Styles of Imagination, and sold her designs at two stores in Cleveland.
Linston closed the stores in 2005 to launch her own brand, N.G.U. Designs. She showed a collection in 2009 at a show in Atlanta presented by stylist Dwight Eubanks, who since has had recurring appearances on The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
All of the designers are working toward establishing a retail presence with their designs, which is no simple feat. Williams, who won the Virginia Fashion Award for up-and-coming designers in 2009, said he “would love to get in a few small boutiques just to get my name out there.”
Linston wants to diversify into accessories and housewares and has designed plus-size blouses that she plans to pitch to department stores and the Home Shopping Network.
“My plan,” she said, “is to have the N.G.U. Collection in as many boutiques and specialty stores as possible.”

Good Friday Service
MARCH 29—Holy Spirit Fellowship Church, 1100 6th St., New Brighton, will host its Good Friday Service 2013 at 9:30 a.m. The theme is “Thank God it’s Friday” with guest speaker Rev. Marvin Moreland of Deliverance Temple COGIC. Breakfast will be served at 8 a.m. Registration is requested and all are welcomed. For more information, call 724-728-1064.
Prayer 4 Peace March
MARCH 29—House of Manna, 7240 Frankstown Ave., Homewood, will host its 4th Annual Prayer 4 Peace March from 9:30-11 a.m. The march will declare the hope of God for our city, and begin at Westinghouse High School and end at the New Renaissance Center. For more information, call 412-996-3303.
Seven Last Words
MARCH 29—Morningside COGIC, 5173 Dearborn St., Garfield, will host “The Seven Last Words of Jesus” Good Friday Service from 12-3 p.m. There will be a feet washing service at 7 p.m. For more information, call 412-361-9865.
Good Friday Service
MARCH 29—Friendship Baptist Church, 17 E. Walnut St., Washington, Pa., will host its Across Denominational Lines Good Friday Service 2013 at 7 p.m. The service will include guest pastors from Washington County and communion will be served. For more information, call 724-222-2382.
Good Friday Service
MARCH 29—First Baptist Penn Hills, 7450 Chadwick St., Penn Hills, will host its Good Friday Service at 7 p.m. The theme will be “Generation 7:31.” Seven powerful preachers 31 years old and younger will preach on the Seven Last Words. For more information, visit www.fbph.org.
Good Friday Worship
MARCH 29—Mount Carmel Baptist Church, 90 Port Perry Rd., North Versailles, will host a Good Friday Worship service at 7 p.m. This will be a celebration of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The guest preacher will be Rev. Johnathan Wilson, along with the worship ministry of Ed Kendeal and Tim Woodruff, and the C.A.Y.A. Praise Team. For more information, call 412-823-2841.
Seven Last Words
MARCH 29—Abyssinian Capernaum Baptist Church, 7515 Tioga St., Homewood, will host “Seven Last Words” for their Good Friday service at 7 p.m. There will be several guest preachers. For more information, call 412-680-3873.
Jesus in the Passover
MARCH 30—Judah Ministries International Worship Center, 525 Market St., McKeesport, will host “Jesus in the Passover” at 6:30 p.m. The evening will feature Sahara Teed as guests partake in a traditional Passover meal and celebrate the first communion. For more information, call 412-672-6000 or visit www.judahministries.net.
Luncheon/Fashion Show
APRIL 1—The SilverCord Interdenominational Association of Ministers’ Wives and Ministers’ Widows of Pittsburgh & Vicinity will host the 77th Annual Easter Bonnet Luncheon and Fashion Show at 12 p.m. at the Doubletree by Hilton Pittsburgh Hotel, 101 Mall Blvd., Monroeville. Reservations are required. For more information, call 412-824-3845.
10 Commandment Teas
APRIL 6—The Music Department of Bethel AME Church, 2720 Webster Ave., Hill District, will host its 7th Annual 10 Commandment Tea at 12 p.m. This will be an afternoon of praise and an inspiring Word of God. For more information, call 412-683-2160.
(To have items listed on the Church Circuit, send information at least two weeks in advance to: 315 E. Carson St., Pittsburgh, PA 15219; Fax: 412-481-1360 or e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .)