| Vive la Downtown! Business grants available to instill a touch of ...
Whether it's flowers spilling into the street from a florist shop or sipping coffee at an outdoor cafe, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership wants to bring a bit of Paris to the city of steel. Through a $1 million grant from the Colcom Foundation, the partnership is offering matching funds to Downtown restaurants, retailers and businesses as incentive to perk up their facades and sidewalks. The Paris to Pittsburgh program is one of two initiatives being launched by the partnership this year in a bid to add vibrancy to the heart of the Golden Triangle. It also is offering property owners loans to convert vacant or under-used upper floors into apartments in the hope of providing more affordable options for people who want to live Downtown. One of the goals of the Paris to Pittsburgh program is to make store and restaurant fronts more transparent, with large window or garage door-like openings that will allow patrons to move freely between the indoor and outdoor spaces.
Rubbery shoe from 1980s comes back as coolest thing for spring
Yes, it's true: Jelly sandals are in, and some of the top designers are taking them high fashion. You can spend $165 or $7.99 for the look. The jelly sandal is back – and this time it's not just the floppy rubber shoe in the bins at the 99 cents store. Luxury brands such as Givenchy, Gucci, Marc Jacobs and Fendi are all making jelly shoes for spring that cost vastly less than anything else they make – and yet, so much more than the jellies you ran around in through the '80s. Some of the top-dollar styles – such as the $165 Mod peep toe sandal from Givenchy – have great thick straps, which add an architectural element (a big trend in spring shoes). And the shiny rubber makes them look sleeker than your average jelly. Marc Jacobs is making his popular mouse flat in rubber for $160.
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Your Place: Garage door balky? Some WD-40 won't hurt
Question: When the temperature is very cold, my garage door opens about a foot and then stops. If I disconnect the automatic opener, I can open the door manually without a problem. If I reconnect the opener, the door opens normally. Do you have any ideas about the cause of the problem and any possible solutions? Answer: The cold is probably to blame. When this happened a few years ago with my garage door, I lubricated the drive in the middle - where the emergency release is attached - and it fixed the problem. I think the original lubricant on the screw drive either wore off or got thicker because of the colder temperatures. I sprayed WD-40 on the screw drive, and the door opened just fine. Your problem may not be exactly like mine, but my solution is worth a try. Q: Within six months of moving into my home, I was diagnosed with asthma and eventually developed a sinus infection that recurred for 10 months.
Restaurant tenant sought for Fava site
One of Baltimore's most distinctive buildings is hunting for a tenant. The four-story Fava Building in Jonestown, featuring a cast-iron facade salvaged from an 1869 warehouse, has been largely vacant since Gardel's Restaurant and Supper Club went out of business last fall. It formerly housed the Baltimore City Life Museums. A private entity, the 1840s Corp., owns the building at 33 Front St. and last year opened the 1840s Carrollton Inn, a 13-room, $2 million bed-and-breakfast inside three other former City Life buildings on the block. The inn is next to the historic Carroll Mansion, an estate owned by Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. .
The Imam of Quraa
In his Dream TV program two years ago, El-Shereii tried to analyze the sheikh's musical genius by replaying a few short recitations. “His recitation was miraculous, and he was a musical miracle as well. He was unique." Analyzing a different verse, the composer says: “He would go up to the very highest notes of the maqam, and he would do it with ease, enjoying himself. It is enough to drive you crazy. This man must have understood music very well, and must have meant what he was doing. He uses saba maqam at first to demonstrate huzn [sadness], then moves to the C, or agam, and then he takes his voice high up the notes when he says al-samaa (the sky) If this were not a musician, then we the musicians know nothing, and must go home. He knew what he was doing and did it depending on his knowledge of the [seven] qira'at [readings] and his very special expressive ability." .
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