Forensic Pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht says sources in Los Angeles tell him prescription drugs have already been identified.

“They have identified as I am told three drugs – the Xanax, the Lorazepum and the Valium,” he told KDKA-TV. “And that doesn’t mean there weren’t other drugs present.”

Beverly Hills Police confirmed Houston’s body was found by a personal staff member in the bathtub at the Beverly Hilton. She was pulled from the tub unconscious and unresponsive – a state Dr. Wecht says makes for the perfect storm given that combination of drugs.

“So you have alcohol and you have three or more of these drugs and the next thing you know you are in a coma and you’re dead,” he said.

“And you go from semi-stupor, stupor, semi-coma, coma and then death. And you never awaken and nobody knows that you are having a problem and that’s why these people die,” he added.

Wecht says with recent cases like Michael Jackson, Anna Nicole Smith and Heath Ledger, investigators will trace any prescription drugs that are found in Houston’s system.

“They’re going to be checking out every one of her prescriptions,” he said. “Who prescribed what, when and in what amount. Was it feasible? Was it acceptable medically to have prescribed so many different drugs in that period of time?”

“There’s always some doctor … they can obtain drugs as easily as you can go next door and buy yourself a cup of coffee or a sandwich,” Wecht continued.

RELATED LINKS
More Entertainment News
Houston Leaves Behind Positive Impact On Local Fans
Dionne Warwick Reschedules Concert At Palace Theater
Music Icon Whitney Houston Dies At 48

Adele, who had the top selling album of 2011, was forced to stop performing after a polyp developed on her vocal cord. But with laser surgery, the singer returned to the stage Sunday night at the Grammy Awards sounding better than ever.

At just 23-years-old, Adele became an enormous success; but suddenly, the music died.

• 60 Minutes: “The year of Adele”

The British soul singer has sold 12 million copies of “21″ in the past year. But last October, she fell silent, canceling her tour and wondering if she would ever sing again.

She was suffering from vocal bleeding.

“That’s exactly what the problem often is in a singer,” said Dr. Stephen Zeitels, of Massachusetts General Hospital. “Unstable blood vessels will burst and when you have vocal bleeding you simply can’t perform.”

Adele entrusted her voice and her career to Dr. Zeitels, the director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Voice Center. He’s saved the voices of singers ranging from Cher to Lionel Richie, The Who’s Roger Daltry, and even Julie Andrews.

He’s fixed their vocal cords by using laser technology, enabling them to sing again in just a matter of weeks. Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler is another of his success stories.

“It’s exactly the technology I used with Steven Tyler,” said Dr. Zeitels. “It’s exactly what I use to treat all cancers endoscopically. It’s a wonderful technology.”

The surgery technique used to treat Adele’s vocal cords can also be used to remove cancerous polyps.

Adele received a standing ovation after singing at the Grammy Awards show Sunday night and she walked away with four awards.

RELATED LINKS:
More Grammy Awards News
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The iconic pop star performed several times in the Pittsburgh area; and while she was here, she touched many lives. And for those she had more intimate contact with, the impact has lasted for years.

When Ebony McKinney of Stanton Heights heard “The Greatest Love Of All,” back in 1987, the only thing she wanted in the world was to meet Whitney Houston.

And the only people who could make that happen was the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“I called the phone number and this woman answered the phone, and it turns out it was her mother,” Michele Atkins, the former director of Make-A-Wish. “And her mom said, ‘Whitney’s going to get some ice cream; wait a minute, let me to grab her.’ And Whitney came back in and got on the phone.”

Atkins said Houston couldn’t have been more gracious about the meeting and supporting McKinney. In fact after they met, they kept in touch.

“She was very giving, very real,” said Atkins. “I sometimes wondered if the reasons she had so many subsequent problems is she was so real.”

MORE COVERAGE:

• CBS News: Death of a pop diva
• Obituary: Whitney Houston Dies At 48
• CBS LA: News on the death Whitney Houston
• Photo Gallery: Whitney Houston Through the Years

Houston made two Pittsburgh appearances, once at the Civic Arena and the second at Starlake Amphitheater.

Rich Engler produced and promoted both shows. He was impressed by both her personality and her talent.

“What a sweet lady,” Engler said of Houston. “She was just very sweet, down to earth, quiet, very quiet, very much to herself.”

He still has an official tour pass from when he met her. The pass didn’t really mean much then, but it means a lot now.

Looking back on her career and her voice, Engler thought it would have lasted a lot longer.

“Nothing like it; dynamic, powerful and range out the wazoo,” said Engler. “She blew it away at the Super Bowl, the anthem. It was… chills. Amazing.”

RELATED LINKS:
Dionne Warwick Reschedules Concert At The Palace Theatre (2/12/12)
More Entertainment News
More Grammy News

The concert was scheduled for Valentine’s Day, but officials have now pushed it back to March 2 at 8 p.m.

Officials with The Palace Theatre say all tickets from the Valentine’s Day show will be honored on the rescheduled date in March.

Houston passed away Saturday, on the eve of the Grammy Awards, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.

For more on ticketing information for the rescheduled concert, visit The Palace Theatre’s website here.

RELATED LINKS:
The Palace Theatre
Music Icon Whitney Houston Dies At 48 (2/11/12)
More Entertainment News

Houston’s publicist, Kristen Foster, said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause of her death is unknown. Houston’s body was found in her 4th floor room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

News of Houston’s death came on the eve of music’s biggest night — the Grammy Awards. It’s a showcase where she once reigned, and her death was sure to case a heavy pall on Sunday’s ceremony. Houston’s longtime mentor Clive Davis was to hold his annual concert and dinner Saturday; it was unclear if it was going to go forward.

• CBS News: “Singer Whitney Houston dies at 48″
• CBS News: “Whitney Houston’s daughter rushed to hospital”
• CBS LA Coverage
• Photo Gallery: Whitney Houston Through The Years
• More Grammy News

At her peak, Houston the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world’s best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like “The Bodyguard” and “Waiting to Exhale.”

She had the he perfect voice, and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise.

She influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, who when she first came out sounded so much like Houston that many thought it was Houston.

But by the end of her career, Houston became a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.

“The biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy,” Houston told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side.

It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.

She seemed to be born into greatness. She was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin.

Houston first started singing in the church as a child. In her teens, she sang backup for Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson and others, in addition to modeling. It was around that time when music mogul Clive Davis first heard Houston perform.

“The time that I first saw her singing in her mother’s act in a club … it was such a stunning impact,” Davis told “Good Morning America.”

“To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song. I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine,” he added.

Before long, the rest of the country would feel it, too. Houston made her album debut in 1985 with “Whitney Houston,” which sold millions and spawned hit after hit. “Saving All My Love for You” brought her her first Grammy, for best female pop vocal. “How Will I Know,” ”You Give Good Love” and “The Greatest Love of All” also became hit singles.

Another multiplatinum album, “Whitney,” came out in 1987 and included hits like “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

The New York Times wrote that Houston “possesses one of her generation’s most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks of intensity.”

Her decision not to follow the more soulful inflections of singers like Franklin drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots to go pop and reach white audiences. The criticism would become a constant refrain through much of her career. She was even booed during the “Soul Train Awards” in 1989.

“Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?” she told Katie Couric in 1996. “You’re not black enough for them. I don’t know. You’re not R&B enough. You’re very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them.”

Some saw her 1992 marriage to former New Edition member and soul crooner Bobby Brown as an attempt to refute those critics. It seemed to be an odd union; she was seen as pop’s pure princess while he had a bad-boy image, and already had children of his own. (The couple had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina, in 1993.) Over the years, he would be arrested several times, on charges ranging from DUI to failure to pay child support.

But Houston said their true personalities were not as far apart as people may have believed.

“When you love, you love. I mean, do you stop loving somebody because you have different images? You know, Bobby and I basically come from the same place,” she told Rolling Stone in 1993. “You see somebody, and you deal with their image, that’s their image. It’s part of them, it’s not the whole picture. I am not always in a sequined gown. I am nobody’s angel. I can get down and dirty. I can get raunchy.”

It would take several years, however, for the public to see that side of Houston. Her moving 1991 rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl, amid the first Gulf War, set a new standard and once again reaffirmed her as America’s sweetheart.

In 1992, she became a star in the acting world with “The Bodyguard.” Despite mixed reviews, the story of a singer (Houston) guarded by a former Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) was an international success.

It also gave her perhaps her most memorable hit: a searing, stunning rendition of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You,” which sat atop the charts for weeks. It was Grammy’s record of the year and best female pop vocal, and the “Bodyguard” soundtrack was named album of the year.

She returned to the big screen in 1995-96 with “Waiting to Exhale” and “The Preacher’s Wife.” Both spawned soundtrack albums, and another hit studio album, “My Love Is Your Love,” in 1998, brought her a Grammy for best female R&B vocal for the cut “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay.”

But during these career and personal highs, Houston was using drugs. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2010, she said by the time “The Preacher’s Wife” was released, “(doing drugs) was an everyday thing. … I would do my work, but after I did my work, for a whole year or two, it was every day. … I wasn’t happy by that point in time. I was losing myself.”

In the interview, Houston blamed her rocky marriage to Brown, which included a charge of domestic abuse against Brown in 1993. They divorced in 2007.
Houston would go to rehab twice before she would declare herself drug-free to Winfrey in 2010. But in the interim, there were missed concert dates, a stop at an airport due to drugs, and public meltdowns.

She was so startlingly thin during a 2001 Michael Jackson tribute concert that rumors spread she had died the next day. Her crude behavior and jittery appearance on Brown’s reality show, “Being Bobby Brown,” was an example of her sad decline. Her Sawyer interview, where she declared “crack is whack,” was often parodied.

She dropped out of the spotlight for a few years.

Houston staged what seemed to be a successful comeback with the 2009 album “I Look To You.” The album debuted on the top of the charts, and would eventually go platinum.

Things soon fell apart. A concert to promote the album on “Good Morning America” went awry as Houston’s voice sounded ragged and off-key. She blamed an interview with Winfrey for straining her voice.

A world tour launched overseas, however, only confirmed suspicions that Houston had lost her treasured gift, as she failed to hit notes and left many fans unimpressed; some walked out. Canceled concert dates raised speculation that she may have been abusing drugs, but she denied those claims and said she was in great shape, blaming illness for cancellations.

RELATED LINKS:
CBS News: “Singer Whitney Houston dies at 48″
More Entertainment News

(TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

KDKA-TV found a number of possibilities. If you’re interested in a place to live, an estate in Palm Beach, Florida, is going for $59 million dollars on Christie’s International Real Estate website.

It has 10 bedrooms and is named La Casa Sin Nombre.

If a whole island is more your style, North Coco Plum Island is available in Belize. It’s just under $3 million.

If you’d like to build your own sports stadium, Heinz Field cost $281 million when it was built in 1999.

One woman in Market Square knew what she’d buy if she wins big: “I would buy a castle in Scotland, and then I would buy a pet dragon!”

We found an RV that can transport your car as well as you for just $2.5 million.

And you’re looking for something to eat in your new home or RV, why not try some European white truffles. They’re only about $3,600 a pound.

Powerball changed the rules last month to make the jackpots bigger and improve your odds of winning. Tickets are now $2. The odds of winning are now 1 in 175,223,510.

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Over the course of six decades, Glen Campbell became a household name regardless of what type of music you like. This weekend, he will be a featured performer at the Grammy’s.

It’s safe to say, Campbell’s seen and done it all.

He has performed with music royalty like Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder and Nat King Cole. He even acted alongside John Wayne in “True Grit.”

The eight-time Grammy winner still makes sweet music. This weekend, he takes a break from his Goodbye Tour to perform with Blake Shelton and The Band Perry at the Grammys.

“It’s one of the things I know how to do,” the country music legend said. “I could play guitar before I could talk nearly or making cords, you know.”

Alzheimer’s has him battling a cloudy mind, but he vividly remembers the first time he heard “Rhinestone Cowboy.”

“That was one of the best songs I had ever heard,” Campbell said. “People relate to that. I think they do anyway because you know you can put your heart in it.”

Campbell and his wife, Kim, have been married 30 years. She says he gets disoriented in his own home, but new medicine helps.

“They have made a difference. I have noticed that,” she said.

Yet, the music remains. Campbell is the only man to win four Grammy’s in one year for country and pop.

“I never looked at anything that this is country and this is rock and this is pop,” Campbell said. “I took it as music, and play it and sing it like I wanted to hear it.”

RELATED LINKS:
More News on the Grammy’s
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This year, those very expensive ads went gone to the dogs.

Early results suggest Doritos has two winners in the chase for super spots.

The commercial called “Man’s Best Friend features a Great Dane bribing his owner with a bag of Doritos to keep quiet about what happened to the cat.

A second spot with a baby in a sling also placed consistently in the top five.

In the dog-eat-dog world of advertising, a rescue dog named Weego fetches beer from the fridge for Bud Light.

Sketchers and Volkswagen also counted on canines to push their product.

A cute little dog sporting Sketchers’ new running shoe beat the greyhounds at the dog track.

Meanwhile Volkswagen featured a dog working out for months to fit through the doggie door to chase the new VW Bug.

Another popular spot came from the makers of M&M’s pushing its new line of chocolates.

Regardless of your favorite, they weren’t cheap to get on the air.

Thirty seconds set advertisers back $3.5 million so all of them hope they didn’t end up with a dog on their hands at the end of the big night.

RELATED LINKS

More Local News
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The newest game in Disney’s repertoire has knocked long-time leader “Angry Birds” from the top of the mobile app list. iPhone owners can download the game for 99 cents.

The development team in Los Angeles includes 23-year-old Mount Lebanon native Chad Cable. Will Grunewald, now a barista at the Coffee Tree shop on Beverly Road, was Chad’s classmate at Mt. Lebanon High.

“He spent a lot of time in high school doing artistic stuff,” Grunewald says. “And it really paid off.”

Teacher Susan Redding doesn’t play the game, but knows those who do.

“I have an 11-year-old daughter. I work with kids at Lincoln Elementary who are six, seven, and eight, and they all know about it.”

But lest we think the new app is limited to the younger set, Gruenwald says: “My mom plays it, but she’s more technically apt than I am. So you know, go figure.”

However, commercials are already being cranked out in preparation for kickoff.

Even though the Steelers are not in this year’s Super Bowl, they say they are going to play the game in Indianapolis nonetheless.

For advertisers, they say this is their time to shine.

Familiar faces are back, like the E-Trade baby who now plays the best man.

At $3.5 million per 30 second spot, even Super Bowl veteran Coca-Cola utilizes its logo and interactive polar bears talking about the game as it happens.

However, Honda may be rolling the dice with its spot that features a grown-up Matthew Broderick reliving his days as Ferris Bueller.

The full three-minute commercial mirrors the 1986 cult favorite comedy. The question is, will it play with generations who never saw the original?

Rival Chevrolet is also turning to comedy to sell its new Camaro.

The Chevrolet spot is really fully especially seeing as the parents put the big red bow on a dorm refrigerator for their son instead of the yellow car.

Exactly how well that money is spent is determined by how memorable the spots are with viewers and it could take weeks to determine which ones are the real winners on Super Sunday.

RELATED LINKS

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More Super Bowl XLVI Coverage
More Reports From Rick Dayton

Marsili gave callers and listeners an insider view on police work and told them where he will be promoting his new book, “Excessive Force: A Pittsburgh Police Thriller.”

You can listen to the interview here now! Also you can listen to Mike Pintek Weekdays Noon to 3 p.m.

Some of the city’s neighborhoods and surrounding area along with some of its people are featured in the new movie “One for the Money.”

The film is out today and to celebrate, the town of Ambridge in Beaver County – where much of the movie was filmed – hosted a VIP red carpet premiere.

It was one big night in Ambridge. Opening night, bright lights, the red carpet – all for “One for the Money.”

“This whole area needs a lift and I think all these movies that are being filmed around Pittsburgh right now are fantastic,” said Melissa Christi, of New Brighton.

“One for the Money,” starring Katherine Heigl and Debbie Reynolds, was shot in Ambridge during the summer of 2010.

• RELATED STORY: Actress Heigl Discusses New Movie Shot In Pittsburgh

On Friday night, they have turned the opening into a fundraiser to help repair the aging Ambridge Family Theater in the old mill town.

“Vandals broke up onto the roof of our theater and ripped off our rubber roof,” Glenda Cockrum, the owner of the theater, said. “We think they were looking for copper.”

In the movie, Heigl stars as an attractive bounty hunter who always gets her man. Several local actors are in the it as well.

Officials say 2,000 people tried to buy tickets for the premiere, but they could only accommodate 140 Friday night, and another 140 Saturday night.

“The community is excited as could be, and the Chamber had so many phone calls, we didn’t know what to do with them,” said Jeremy Angus, of the Ambridge Chamber of Commerce. “I mean, it was unbelievable.”

Parts of the movie were shot in Ambridge, Pittsburgh’s North Side, as well as at the old hospital in Braddock.

RELATED LINKS:
Ambridge Chamber of Commerce
Pittsburgh Film Office
Actress Heigl Discusses New Movie Shot In Pittsburgh
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“One for the Money” starring Katherine Heigl will be in theaters Friday.

On Wednesday, KDKA-TV’s Kristine Sorensen talked with Heigl via satellite along with author Janet Evanovich, who wrote the book that the movie is based on, about what it was like filming here.

Pittsburgh plays a town in New Jersey in “One for the Money.”

The movie was filmed in the summer of 2010 on the North Side, Ambridge, Braddock and Shadyside.

Heigl said she liked Pittsburgh from the start.

“I’m from the east coast. I grew up in Connecticut, so it felt like home to me. Even just the way it smells because of the trees that grow and the kind of flowers that grow and it was summer, so it was lush and beautiful and green,” Heigl said.

Movie producers said Pittsburgh’s architecture is similar to that of Trenton, N.J. where Evanovich set the book.

“I thought it had a real gritty look to it that mimicked a lot of parts of Trenton. It was interesting that she said she recognized the smell, but I wanted to say, ‘Yes, but did it smell like Trenton?” Evanovich said.

That summer, Heigl lived in Sewickley in a private home with her family.

While she was working, her daughter toured the area with her nanny.

“Every day we were filming, Naleigh got to go explore Pittsburgh. And doing all this fun stuff, like the butterfly museum and I kept going, “I want to go with her,” Heigl said.

Heigl also liked the relative privacy.

“There is no paparazzi in Pittsburgh. We had no problem with that. It was awesome,” Heigl said.

Heigl also loved the people and Pittsburghese.

“A lot of our crew was local and my driver was local. Just great people. Just grounded, down to Earth people. The accent I think is awesome. I can’t do it,” Heigl said.

But, she does do a New Jersey accent and dyed her hair brown for the role of Stephanie Plum – a bail bondsman.

The movie is described as an action-comedy.

RELATED LINKS

More Local News
More Entertainment News
More Reports From Kristine Sorensen

“Red Tails” opens at area theaters this weekend.

It has taken director George Lucas more than 20 years and millions of dollars of his own money to bring the story of the Tuskegee Airmen to the big screen.

Hollywood producers and distributors initially wouldn’t touch it.

“We can’t sell it. It’s an all-black movie and all black movies – thrillers don’t sell,” Wendell Freeland said.

Freeland, 86, is one of the Tuskegee Airmen. An attorney from Shadyside, he has already seen the movie, and says it’s a thriller and tells part of the story.

Before the young black pilots could fight for their country in a segregated society, they had to battle the Army Air Corps for permission to engage in combat during WWII. A 1920′s war college study challenged their readiness.

“It was presumed that Negroes could never do something like flying,” Freeland said.

The real Tuskegee Airmen given a chance piloting P-51 Mustangs defending B-17 bombers became some of the best and the brightest aces.

“Defending the white Flying Fortress to the gratitude of the whites who were in the Flying Fortresses on the way to Berlin,” Freeland said.

Wendell Freeland became a bombardier on B-25′s. During his two years of service, he was arrested twice – once for refusing to sign a base document that would have limited his civil rights and another for walking into a white’s-only officers club with purpose.

“And the colonel said, ‘Consider yourself under arrest.’”

Only last year was there groundbreaking for a memorial to these men in Sewickley Cemetery. A handful of local survivors, now in their 80′s, turned over the precious earth they pledged their lives to protect.

“It’s important,” says Mr. Freeland, “that this generation and younger generations understand what it was like, understand the discrimination and the segregation and the people who fought it.”

RELATED LINKS
Red Tails Movie
Tuskegee Airmen, Inc.

Last summer thousands of Idol hopefuls lined up at Heinz Field for a chance at stardom. After two rounds of auditions, the show’s host, Ryan Seacrest, and celebrity judges Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler descended upon the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in September in search of finalists.

The show featuring those Pittsburgh auditions will air at 8 p.m. tonight on FOX.

Based on what Lopez told KDKA in the fall, things could get interesting. “We were commenting how everybody was fighting us,” Lopez said. “We had a lot of fighters who wouldn’t go down, so maybe it has something to do with the fact that this is the City of Champions — they’re not going down without a fight.”

RELATED LINKS:

‘American Idol’ Back In Pittsburgh (9/29)
Hopefuls Pack Heinz Field To Audition For “American Idol” (7/15/11)
“Idol” Hopeful Talks About His Experience So Far (7/15/11)
More “American Idol” in Pittsburgh News
100.7 Star Photos: American Idol In Pittsburgh
Idol Hopefuls and Their Guitars-at-the-Pittsburgh AI auditions
American Idol Official Site

The California resident recently stopped back home long enough to share his story with KDKA’s Dave Crawley.

A well-dressed businessman drops from the sky onto a sidewalk café table. He immediately starts chirping like a bird as he gobbles up scraps of Doritos chips.

It’s one of five homemade commercials selected from 6,100 entries for the company’s “Crash the Super Bowl” contest.

“You win $25,000 and get to go to the Super Bowl,” said Joby Harris. “I thought if that’s all it takes to possibly see the Steelers in the Super Bowl, I’m going to submit something.”

Well, Harris’ favorite team didn’t make the cut, but the Dubois native who grew up in Saxonburg hopes his “Bird of Prey” commercial makes the final cut.

“Now, it comes down to votes,” he said. “Whoever’s commercial gets the most votes during this time, gets to be shown during the Super Bowl.”

The 36-year-old graphic designer showed off-beat promise at an early age.

“I’d get the action figure, and then I would make all of the play lands and play sets with toilet paper rolls and Cool-Whip containers,” said Harris. “And that began a love for model-making.”

He attended Knoch High School and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, and then took his dreams to Hollywood in 1996. The freelance graphic designer now lives in Pasadena.

“Every day for six months I had to listen to a bird fight with its own reflection in the window outside my office,” he recalled. “I could either go crazy or do something with it.”

His commercial concludes with the “man-bird” body slamming an office window. He produces lots of laughs with a budget of $500.

“All my friends worked for free,” he said.

The commercial producer from Saxonburg had one dollar in the bank at the time of production. If his ad makes the Super Bowl, it’s in the running for a USA Today “ad meter” prize.

“Whatever commercial wins that gets a million dollars,” he smiles. “Even if I don’t win, I’m grateful to come back and share with my city and with my friends, ‘Hey, I did something! I made it!’”

Pittsburgh has a “home team” to root for, after all.

You can vote for Harris’ commercial at www.crashthesuperbowl.com.

RELATED LINKS:
Vote4BOP.com
More Featured Stories
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Twenty-five years of wear-and-tear on the theater’s 2,881 seats, and now stage hands are in the midst of a three-and-a-half week refurbishment.

Operations manager Jacob Bacharach says the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust aims to retain the aesthetics of the originals: “To keep everything looking as if it’s brand new, as if it’s 1927 and the Stanley Theater just opened.”

The $450,000-project is a blend of restoration and replacement.

“We are effectively dis-assembling every seat, replacing every seat cushion with a new seat cushion, replacing every back with new padding, refurbishing and fixing some of the mechanical portions of the seats, the springs, the brackets and the standards that hold them in place.”

Three of the seats will be eliminated to make room for sound and light boards in the back of the auditorium. Cushions that audience members will be sitting on come fully formed from a large seating company in Michigan.

The project will be completed January 26th, just in time for a performance the following day.

This new venue, named Jergel’s Rhythm Grille, is located off Warrendale Road and will be the only entertainment facility of its kind in the area. It promises live performances seven nights a week on a 35-foot stage and boasts a restaurant with outside dining, bars, VIP party rooms and a cigar bar.

The owners, Rick Jergel and Ron Sofranko, have been in the restaurant business for decades. They are hoping Jergel’s will attract people from all over the region and are confident that it will thrive in this area.

“Between Marshall Township and Cranberry Township, attracting the North Hills area, as well as the regional markets of Butler, Beaver County, Westmoreland County and the whole Cranberry market,” Sofranko said.

Big regional acts are promised, from Joe Grushecki to The Clarks, as well as local bands, country acts, blues, comedians, and a handful of national acts as well.

“You don’t sleep,” Jergel said. “It’s full of excitement – it really is.”

RELATED LINKS
Jergel’s Rhythm Grille
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Kaley Cuoco, the host of this year’s show, also has the honor of being nominated for Favorite TV Comedy Actress for her role in “The Big Bang Theory,” which is also up for the Favorite Network TV Comedy award.

“We are thrilled to welcome Kaley as the new host of the People’s Choice Awards,” said executive producer Mark Burnett. “I’m looking forward to working with her on a fun-filled, comedy-packed show in January.”

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is certain to receive a few nods as it leads with nine nominations, including one in the Favorite Movie category, which contends with Bridesmaids, The Help, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Katy Perry (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Pop artist Katy Perry already feels the love, receiving seven nominations for her music, movie and TV work this past year. She is nominated for Favorite Animated Movie Voice for playing Smurfette in The Smurfs; Favorite TV Guest Star for her appearance in How I Met Your Mother; Favorite Female Artist; Favorite Song of the Year for “E.T.” featuring Kanye West; Favorite Pop Artist; Favorite Music Video for “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.);” and Favorite Tour Headliner. Perry faces fierce competition for the Favorite Female Artist award, contending with Adele, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. The FOX musical Glee tied Perry, also receiving seven nominations.

Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

With Breaking Dawn: Part 1 topping the box office for weeks, it is no surprise that nominations also went to its stars: Robert Pattinson was nominated for Favorite Movie Actor and Taylor Lautner for Favorite Action Movie Star. More mature actors also received the approval of the viewers, who nominated Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston for Favorite Movie Actress, and acting giants George Clooney, Harrison Ford, Morgan Freeman, Robert DeNiro and Tom Hanks for Favorite Movie Icon.

This year’s festivities have a little bit of Latin flavor with Cuban rapper Pitbull nominated as Favorite Hip Hop Artist, along with B.O.B, Eminem, Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj. Bruno Mars, an artist with Puerto Rican roots, and Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias are both nominated in the Favorite Male Artist category along with Eminem, Justin Bieber and country artist Blake Shelton

This will be the 38^th celebration of the awards, which according to Fred Nelson, President of People’s Choice, are meant to “reflect the constantly changing popular culture.” The fans’ “passion for entertainment is the heart and soul of the People’s Choice Awards,” he added.

The public determined the nominees and the winners by picking their favorites in 41 categories on the PCA website and through its Facebook page.

See the complete list of nominees.

See photos from last year’s People’s Choice Awards.

People’s Choice Awards
Broadcast by CBS, check local listings
Wednesday January 11, 2012
Nokia Theater
777 Chick Hearn Court
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 763-6020
www.peopleschoice.com

Dena Burroughs lives in Azusa, CA. She is a CSULA graduate with specialties in Creative Writing and Communications. She is also the LA Arts Examiner.

The Washington Post just named Pittsburgh the new “In” city.

The skyline says it all. The breathtaking view from Mount Washington is just one of the reasons The Washington Post named Pittsburgh the new “In” city, stripping the title from Portland, Ore.

“Where can you find a better view of Pittsburgh than up here, because you come up here with a pair of binoculars and you can look everywhere just about in this city,” says Alphonso Randolph, of Pittsburgh.

The scenery draws people from near and far. Several men visiting from Germany stopped to take some pictures on Friday afternoon.

Arthur Lea, who is visiting from London, was beyond impressed.

“It’s quite pretty; it’s a lot prettier than I thought it would be, especially on a nice day,” said Lea.

Other factors considered were the Steel City’s reasonable rent, art and all the biking and walking trails.

“It’s outstanding; it’s stress-relieving, you enjoy the beauty of the city, it has a whole different look from here,” said Jan Kaminski, a Pittsburgh resident.

And then, there’s also the world famous food.

You can’t really talk about Pittsburgh without mentioning Primanti’s. The Washington Post named their sandwiches some of the weirdest and most delicious in the country.

“We are the number one, so you know it has to be good… might be weird for some people that never had it before, but we’re the only one who can make them the right way,” Toni Haggerty, the manager at Primanti Bros. in the Strip District, said.

While the post listed plenty of Pittsburgh’s highlights, it also focused on the people. And Pittsburghers say that’s the true heart of the city.

“Wonderful city, wonderful people, and it’s a blessing,” added Randolph.

RELATED LINKS:
Washington Post: 2012 In/Out List
Washington Post: “Portlandia, your 15 minutes are up. Long live Pittsburgh”
More Entertainment News

Right now, Krenn’s removal from the air remains a mystery.

His agent, David Sedelmeier, says his client had no idea this was coming.

“He was surprised,” he said. “This was nothing he was looking for. Jimmy loves doing morning radio, he loves his listeners, he loves interacting with them. This is not the direction he was looking for.”

Sedelmeier said Krenn is overwhelmed by the support from fans.

“Jimmy’s a regular guy that has been very fortunate to have a great gig,” he told KDKA-TV. “He understands it’s been a great run of having that time. He just wished he could still be out there.”

KDKA called Clear Channel for a comment but did not hear back.

RELATED LINKS
More Local News
More Reports By Marty Griffin

Final preparations are underway today for the city’s annual New Year’s Eve celebration, First Night Pittsburgh; and those preps include a lighting test for “The Future of Pittsburgh” ball.

This marks the fifth year that the First Night festivities will include the raising of “The Future of Pittsburgh” ball atop Penn Avenue Place to ring in the New Year.

“In Pittsburgh, we raise the future as opposed to dropping the ball at midnight,” Veronica Corpuz, of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, said.

It’s a lot to raise though, the ball weighs a whopping 1,000 pounds and is more than six feet across.

Perhaps most impressive, it’s covered in 1,100 LED lights, which can combine to make 64 billion different colors.

“We set it right before midnight,” Corpuz says. “So at 11:59, we make sure the ball is moving up the flagpole; and right at the last 10 seconds, there is a great light display that happens. And, of course, the fireworks are all synchronized.”

The ball was made by a company in Wilkinsburg. Two employees from that company will be in Downtown Pittsburgh Saturday night, manning the controls and making sure everything goes the way it should.

“It is exciting,” said Joel Kennedy, of Technique Architectural Products. “There is a small amount of pressure too because it has to go off on schedule, but it’s nice to be a part of.”

This will be Kennedy’s first year on the roof of Penn Avenue Place during the big moment.

He says he and a co-worker start preparing well in advance.

“We come down, usually a few weeks out, and take it out of the containers and put it up on the pole, try and troubleshoot, make sure all the lights are working and just run it up and down,” said Kennedy. “Make sure it’s ready for the big night.”

Kennedy is expecting the ball to travel up 74 feet without a hitch; and other than changing a few light bulbs, the orb was in good shape.

The test runs have all gone flawless and now it’s just a waiting game.

ROAD CLOSURES & BUS DETOUR INFORMATION:

• First Night Road Closures
• Port Authority Bus Detours

RELATED LINKS:
First Night Pittsburgh
More Holiday Season

Should odd acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?

Nay! ‘Tis time for one last shot at the year we leave behind.

We’ll check the long and short of it, as we are backward glancing

At a year when Steeler great Hines Ward scored points with fancy dancing.

That hunt in Beaver Reservoir, where searchers looked about
To find a wayward alligator who never showed his snout.
LCB’s ill-fated kiosks weren’t welcomed on these shores.
“And, in some ways, have been detrimental to our stores.”

Summer Science Center snowballs are guaranteed to please her.
“Got snow from the fresh driven snow, and saved it in the freezer.”
In a year of great achievements, tire flipping has to rank.
An eating fest in Market Square was filling, to be frank.

When it came to Guinness records, competitors were stout.
Pitt students set a flashlight mark in which there was no doubt.
Walking thirty-five at once. Each dog was filled with pride.
The walker says they fill a space 25 feet wide.

A Renaissance of records. Mighty Milsom gets it done.
With a yen for tasting torches, he swallowed 41.
When the fire eater finished, the air was rather wispy.
What do torches taste like? “Feels absolutely crispy.”

For one brief shining moment, even Buc fans got to cheer.
“Clearly dramatic improvement from last year.”
Uncommon, but much stranger in this land of black and gold,
Where Steelers vie for sainthood and glories yet untold,

We all would watch the Super Bowl, and give it all we’ve got!
“Maybe I’ll get away for a couple minutes, but probably not.”
Ignore the mighty Steelers in Roethlisberger’s shrine?
Nothing was surprising in the days of Odd Lang Syne.