Gumbands

Brooke Barker writes and illustrates books about animals. Some of the creatures are familiar, others may be rare, all have captured her attention (and her sense of humor) for a wide variety of reasons. Her most popular work is titled Sad Animal Facts, but she has also put together a follow-up titled Sad Animal Babies, and her newest book is called How Do Meerkats Order Pizza?

Day Bracey is a Pittsburgh comedian and podcaster who also organizes festivals, including the beautiful beer-based Barrel & Flow Fest that celebrates African-American culture, arts, cuisine and collaborations that encourage black-owned breweries, businesses and brilliant ideas across America.

Anna Singer sings. She paints. She shares classical music on our FM radio station. And she does all of these with style and grace and enthusiasm. And she’s a wonderful guest on this episode of GUMBANDS as well.

Sebastian Lobo-Guerrero knows how to tell a good story.

He came to Pittsburgh as a student at Pitt in 2001, studying geo-technical engineering (still his specialty), involving the complicated composition of the earth beneath our feet and under all sorts of structures and their foundations. As a Geotechnical Project Manager at a company called AGES Inc. with headquarters in Canonsburg, PA., he has worked on many projects, including several around Pittsburgh, the City of Retaining Walls as well as the City of Bridges.

Rick Sebak is celebrating his 50th anniversary year working in Public Broadcasting. For this episode of Gumbands, co-producer Rich Capaldi has taken Rick's seat, and Rick is the guest!

We continue our talk with pianist-composer-historian Tom Roberts, finding out about his moving back to Pittsburgh, his continuing connections with Leon Redbone, his work on Martin Scorsese’s movie “The Aviator,” and his ongoing work with discovering and preserving the often overlooked musical history of Pittsburgh and its mighty musicians from the decades before World War II.

Tom Roberts is a pianist, a composer, a 78 rpm record collector and a musical historian with special interest in late 19th century and early 20th century Pittsburgh musicians who are often overlooked.

How do you hold together a wide range of topics from bow ties to American Standard bathtubs? From French President Emmanuel Macron to elevator technology? From the old Mad Mex Restaurant on Atwood Street to the Shroud of Turin? From early lightbulbs to the kindness of Fred Rogers? You hold them all together with GUMBANDS.

John and Candy Tarallo sell salts and spices that are wonderful ways to make your foods taste better. They started selling their wares on a sidewalk table in the Strip District in 2014, and have since opened a small brick-and-morter Steel City Salt shop on Grant Avenue in Millvale.

For GUMBANDS, we talk to John about the history of this business, how it’s grown and the development of special spicy blends that he and Candy create themselves.

Jared Evans asks interesting questions in various locations around the Pittsburgh area, primarily in bars on weeknight evenings, attracting a local and loyal audience as well as unexpected newcomers. Often with saucy language, he runs a business called Radical Trivia that allows him to perform a bit as well as captivate and challenge drinking patrons of all sorts.