Crimson and Gold Connection; Jon Bartlow

Welcome to Crimson and Gold Connection, keeping you connected with the people and current events at Pittsburgh State University. Thank you for joining me this week for the Crimson and Gold Connection on 89.9 KRPS, I'm Fred Fletcher-Fierro. It's become a homecoming tradition here at Pittsburgh State. The taste of Pittsburgh will be taking place Friday, October 13th, from 6 until 8.30 pm. The event will happen at the Plaster Center here on the campus of PSU. This week I'm joined by John Barlow. He's the director of alumni and constituent relations here at Pittsburgh State to get the details on this delicious sounding events. Thank you for joining me, John. Hi, how are you today?

I'm really good. Great. Thanks for coming into the studio. I'm very happy to be here. Just to lay the groundwork about the taste of Pittsburgh, what are some of the Pittsburgh restaurants that we'll be attending this year? Well, we always try to have some of those favorite restaurants that folks want to have. We realize that many individuals are coming from out of town and so, hey, we want to give them an opportunity to hit out their favorite places in one evening. Also favorites, Bardo's, the Maldelli, Bamboo, Pollucas. We have a few new additions this year as well. We always try to add some new ones. We've got a really great Mexican restaurant right across the street from campus called Guadalajara. They're going to be on board. We have Root Coffee House. This is going to be serving coffee. We always have a Citexo Food Services on board as well and quite a few others. It's a fun and as you said, delicious event. You mentioned a lot of people will be coming from out of town. It's PSU's Homecoming Week and this is one of three events that alumni and relations constituent services is having. Yes.

Yes. We just try to offer kind of a broad mix of things that are going to get our alumni and constituents involved when they come back to campus. This is one of them and so in addition to the food Friday night, we have a really, really talented live band, the Duke Mason band. If you haven't heard Duke Mason in his group, I really encourage you to come out just for the sole reason to hear them because he's played all over the country and all over the world and incredibly talented individual. He's very well known for doing Elvis music and for his relationship with Elvis's backup groups, the Jordanaires and the Imperials. You can close your eyes and listen to Duke and you feel like you're listening to Elvis Presley. He does a lot of other great tunes outside of the Elvis realm as well. We're very excited to have him performing that night. We've got a cash bar. We'll be acknowledging the homecoming King and Queen in their court. We'll be acknowledging the Dr. Kenneth K. Bateman outstanding alumni and it's just a great way to kick off homecoming weekend.

Yeah, it sounds like a great date night opportunity. It is. It is a great date night. Absolutely. Bricks out of the mold of doing something going to that one, you can visit multiple restaurants and maybe come up with a new restaurant that you haven't tried. Pre-registration is required though. Yes. Yes. We appreciate that because we have to let the restaurants know how much to prepare. I think the deadline is probably set for this Friday. For those of you listening, I'll give you a little hint. We'll take RSVPs after that. I would say certainly by early to midweek of homecoming week, we're going to have to guesstimate some final numbers for the restaurants. So just to clarify, you can show up the day of right there and pay cash to get in. Pre-register. Yeah. Okay. Next to Pittsburgh is only one of three events that alumni and constituent services is putting on during homecoming week at Pittsburgh State. Chicken Wars tailgate 2017 will also take place Saturday, October 17th from 11 a.m. until 1.30 p.m. before the pit stake real football team takes on Missouri, Western for the homecoming game.

Just a little bit about that. Yeah. Well, you know, it's kind of all about food and once again, for some of those folks who are coming back into town for this special weekend, you know, you don't have to choose which of your favorite chicken places to go to. We're going to have a representation from a few of them there. And you know, along with the great sides too, you know, that German coleslaw and potato salad that people around here love. So it's a great way to get your chicken fix and get ready for the pit safe football game that afternoon. So we certainly hope people will take part in the chicken wars as well. From what I read online, it's, you're going to be blindfolded or some of these eyes are going to be hidden and then you're going to have to, it's kind of a contest. You're going to have to match which chicken goes to dish, which chicken restaurant. We don't tell you where they're from. And yeah, you have an opportunity to guess which one, you know, you think it's from and then somebody will do a drawing and someone who is helping us make those guesses, they'll have an opportunity to win some goodies from our office. How long's the taste of Pittsburgh being going on here? You know, this, I believe, is the eighth year for the taste of Pittsburgh event.

And it's, it's, it's grown, you know, we typically have anywhere between 200 and 250 individuals at it. So it's a, it's a fun event. It's definitely something that we look forward to doing each year. Okay. One of the things that comes to mind too is they're going to be dancing. Is there like a dance? You know what? There is being the plaster center as big of a space that is, there's going to be plenty of room to dance. And I'll tell you, these guys are very danceable. So you might need to be the first couple out there and get it going, but you know, sometimes it just takes one, one couple to start the dance and then everybody else is on their feet. But actually, if there's a bar, it's a Friday night, there's plenty of food. Absolutely. I mean, it sounds like a real good party atmosphere. It is. It is. It's a great time. And it's a, you know, it's, it's a mix of different things. You know, we're able to, you know, recognize some, some individuals that night as well. So it's just a event that we're very excited to put on once again this year. And if people want more information about this event or where to go to register for it, yes, they can go to our website, it's www.pittstate.edu slash alumni, or they can just give us

a call. And that's two, three, five, four, seven, five, eight, six, two, zero area code if you're calling from out of town. This week on the Crimson and Gold connection, I was joined by John Barlow. He's the director of alumni and constituents relations here at Pittsburgh State University. John joined me to speak about the taste of Pittsburgh that will be happening as part of PSU's homecoming events. The taste of Pittsburgh will be held on Friday, October 13th in the plaster center here at

the pit state campus from six until eight thirty. Pre-registration is required for the event. If you want more information about either the taste of Pittsburgh or any of the other events that are being held as part of PIT State's 2017 homecoming, you can search PIT State alumni or visit their Facebook page at facebook.com slash PIT State alumni. For all of us here at 89.9 KRPS, I'm Fred Fletcher-Fierro. Join us for Crimson and Gold Connection Wednesdays at 8.50 and Fridays at 350.