The RiCECOOKERS at Three Rivers Arts Festival, June 9.

via The RiCECOOKERS Facebook page.

The RiCECOOKERS, an indie rock band comprised of four Japanese musicians currently based in New York, will play at the Three Rivers Arts Festival on June 9. The festival website summarizes the group:

The members staked their claim to fame when a famous Japanese film director Yukihiko Tsutsumi saw their performance by chance and immediately decided to use their song for his upcoming television drama series in Japan.

Though their fame grew in Japan at first, they had set their aim to make it in the United States. They have chosen to live in Brooklyn, while continuing to work on creating music and capturing the audience with their authentic, yet multi-faceted music.

Their music is described as “alternative rock”, which is mainly said to have been a product of influence by the grunge music of the 90s. However, they are not the 3-chords-talks-all kind of guys. They have added true musical skills acquired by attending Berklee, as well as adding a hint of Japanese melody. With this recipe, they have evolved the alternative genre to the music for the listeners in 21st century.

The RiCECOOKERS will play from 5:00 to 6:00 pm on the Dollar Bank Main Stage at Point State Park (map). The concert will be free and open to the public, as are all other performances in the festival.

Asian Pacific Heritage Day, Jung-ho Kang Bobblehead Day, August 11 at PNC Park.

August 11 will be Asian Pacific Heritage Day at PNC Park. The first 20,000 fans will receive Jung-ho Kang Bobbleheads. Kang (강정호) is an third baseman from South Korea who has made a big impact in just over one season with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He is the second Korean to play for Pittsburgh in the regular season, and the first position player to do so.

Finding Mr. Right 2 (北京遇上西雅图 2) in Pittsburgh through May 18.

The 2016 Chinese movie Finding Mr. Right 2 (北京遇上西雅图), also called Beijing Meets Seattle II: Book of Love, will play at the AMC Loews Waterfront theater through May 18.

Mongolian-inspired "nomadic folk metal" band Tengger Cavalry in Lawrenceville, June 3.

The nomadic folk metal band Tengger Cavalry will play at the newly-reopened Belvedere's Ultra-Dive on June 3. The band's Facebook page describes the New York based group thus:

TENGGER CAVALRY have been turning heads in the music world since the band’s inception in 2010 they blend the nomadic music tradition of Central Asia with heavy metal, creating a unique genre of music known as Nomadic folk metal. Having sold out Carnegie Hall in a legendary performance and been featured in CNN, Vice, the Guardian, Wall Street Journal and the Village Voice, among countless others, the band is ready to take on the world.

Tickets for the 8:00 pm show are not yet available, but those interested can RSVP online. Belvedere's Ultra-Dive is located at 4016 Butler St. in Lawrenceville (map).

Korean troupe Bereishit Dance Company (브레시트무용단) in Pittsburgh, March 4, 2017.

via FocusNews.

The Pittsburgh Dance Council released its 2016-17 schedule over the weekend, with Korean dance troupe Bereishit Dance Company (브레시트무용단) among the performers.

In this first-ever Korean dance presentation for Pittsburgh Dance Council, the Seoul troupe Bereishit presents contemporary work that draws upon eastern Asian culture. Witness Bereishit’s amazing display of space and rhythms choreographed with kinesthetic clarity and power. Elements of street dance and multimedia add to Bereishit’s potency.

Sport meets dance in the rigorous male duet BOW, inspired by the Korean tradition of archery. The intensely physical Balance and Imbalance juxtaposes the dancers alongside some of Korea’s most revered traditional storytelling genre drummers and pansori vocalists.

Tickets are not yet available for the March 4 event.

New restoration of 1973 Japanese animated movie Belladonna of Sadness (哀しみのベラドンナ) at Hollywood Theater, May 20 - 22.

The Hollywood Theater will show the a 4K restoration of the 1973 Japanese animated movie Belladonna of Sadness (哀しみのベラドンナ) on May 20, 21, and 22.

1974 Japanese martial arts movie The Streetfighter (激突！殺人拳) at Row House Cinema from June 10.

The Row House Cinema will show the 1974 Japanese martial arts movie The Streetfighter (激突！殺人拳) as part of its Four Degrees of Tarantino film series from June 10 through June 16. The Montreal Film Journal provides a summary of the movie that starts Sonny Chiba and that influenced Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films:

There are two intercrossing storylines in “The Street Fighter”, both revolving around Terry Tsurugi, a half-Japanese, half-Chinese man who created a martial arts style combining karate, Chinese boxing and dirty street fighting! A man for hire for anyone who can afford him, Tsurugi helps death row convict Junjou (Makashi Ishibashi) to escape, but when Junjou’s siblings fail to pay him, Tsurugi kills the brother and sells the sister as a prostitute! Sooner or later, this will lead to a confrontation between Terry and a rightfully infuriated Jonjou, but in the meantime Tsurugi also finds the time to get on the Yakuza mob’s bad side by getting in their way as they try to manhandle the heiress of an oil company to sign it over to them. This sounds like a lot of plot, but it’s thankfully rushed through and most of the running time is packed with the most insane, goriest martial arts scenes you’ll ever see!

Wikipedia says it was the first movie to receive an X rating in the US due to violence. It last played in Pittsburgh in 2013.

Showtimes and tickets will be available online later. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville (map).

Shen Yun in Pittsburgh, May 10 and 11.

The Chinese classical dance company Shen Yun will be performing two shows at the Benedum Center on May 10 and 11.

Dou kyu sei (同級生) movie at Hollywood Theater, May 8.

The Hollywood Theater in Dormont will show the 2016 Japanese animated movie Dou kyu sei (Classmates, 同級生) on Sunday, May 8.

Peelander-Z documentary Mad Tiger at Hollywood Theater, from May 6.

A 2015 documentary about Japanese punk group Peelander-Z will play at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont from May 6.

"Hands-On Workshop Series—Calligraphy with Xiaoxu", May 3 in Oakland.

Tuesday, May 3, is a free"Hands-On Workshop Series—Calligraphy with Xiaoxu" event at the Carnegie Library in Oakland.

Join us for HOW, a series of hands-on workshops for adults and teens. Learn from skilled craftspeople. Dig in and try things out in a creative, supportive environment. Join us for one or all of these free programs. Materials provided.

Chinese calligraphy is a traditional art form of writing characters using a brush and ink, which has developed over many centuries. You will learn step-by-step how to apply ink with the special brush, write Chinese characters, and take a piece of art home with you.

No registration is necessary for these sessions. Seating for all workshops is available to 20 participants on a first-come, first-served basis. You'll want to come early to be sure you MAKE it on time

The library is located at 4400 Forbes Ave. (map), accessible by over a dozen different buses that service Oakland.

Finding Mr. Right 2 (北京遇上西雅图 2) in Pittsburgh through May 18.

The 2016 Chinese movie Finding Mr. Right 2 (北京遇上西雅图), also called Beijing Meets Seattle II: Book of Love, will play at the AMC Loews Waterfront theater from April 28, a day before its nationwide premiere.

Chinese-American movie Pali Road (夏威夷之恋) in Pittsburgh, from April 28.

The 2015 movie Pali Road (夏威夷之恋), which premieres nationwide on Friday, will play at the AMC Loews Waterfront from April 28.

Zhiwan Cheung: Hanging Fruit at Andy Warhol Museum, from May 11.

The Andy Warhol Museum will host Zhiwan Cheung's original installation Hanging Fruit as part of its Exposures series from May 11 through August 14. The museum provides a summary:

Cheung’s practice focuses on the intersection of personal history, identity, and place. Through installation and video, Cheung explores the seemingly banal details of our everyday lives that can harbor important messages about race. The naming conventions of house paints such as Chinatown Orange, 50YR 18/650, found in home improvement stores and sold by Glidden Paints, is one example of how stereotypes are deeply rooted in our commercial society. For this window installation, Cheung places large plastic banana trees painted in bold, Chinatown Orange. One can find references to Warhol’s 1966 Velvet Underground album cover, now an iconic image of the screen-printed banana, with the exposed fruit on the inside of the cover. Store products hang within and emerge from the trees—a juxtaposition that speaks to the close connection between identity and commercial consumption.

On May 14, the museum will host an Artist Talk with Cheung at 2:00 pm.

Zhiwan Cheung is a Pittsburgh-based artist currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture at Carnegie Mellon University. More information about him and his work is available on his website.

The Warhol is located at 117 Sandusky St. on the Northside (map). It's open every day but Monday, and adult admission is $20.

1966 yakuza film Tokyo Drifter (東京流れ者) at Row House Cinema from April 29.

The Row House Cinema will show the 1966 yazkuza film Tokyo Drifter (東京流れ者) from April 29 to May 5 as part of its Spirit of '66 series. A 2012 A.V. Club review offers a summary:

Blank-faced Tetsuya Watari stars as the titular wanderer, a gifted yakuza enforcer trying to stay true to his own idea of honor. The film traffics in a lot of familiar crime movie archetypes: the pretty girl kept on the sidelines; the father-son relationship between Watari and Ryuji Kita, his trying-to-go-straight boss; and all the complicated lines of loyalty and betrayal that come into play when a rival gang tries to muscle in on Kita’s turf. The story is engaging enough, and Watari makes for an appropriately implacable (but still soulful) lead, but what sets the film apart from countless others telling a similar tale are the lengths [director] Suzuki goes to in order to make each scene a feast for the eyes. Violent reds, purples, greens, and blues paint the screen, and the editing forgoes traditional cinematic logic in favor of impressionistic cuts and a jagged, jazzy rhythm. Through it all, Suzuki walks a knife-edge of ironic sincerity, poking at yakuza clichés in an attempt to reveal some larger, wordless truth.

Showtimes and ticket information are currently online. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street (map).

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (ゴジラ・モスラ・キングギドラ 大怪獣総攻撃) at Row House Cinema, April 22 - 28.

Row House Cinema will show the 2001 movie Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (ゴジラ・モスラ・キングギドラ 大怪獣総攻撃) from April 22 through 28 as part of its Massive Movie Monsters film series. A 2003 Boston Globe review writes:

As a movie, "Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack" is as absurd as its title, and by those standards it's a hilarious success. Phony and retrograde to the max - the shaky ground has rarely seemed more fake, and the run-for-your-lives hysterics of the soon-to-be-trampled never fail to exhilarate - "All Out Attack" picks up where any old 1960s sequel might.

Tickets information and showtimes are now available online. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville(map).

Peelander-Z documentary Mad Tiger at Hollywood Theater, from May 6.

A 2015 documentary about Japanese punk group Peelander-Z will play at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont from May 6.

"Sounds from the East: Composers in Japanese Musical Modernity" at Pitt, April 20.

The University of Pittsburgh's Asian Studies Center will host Dr. Bonnie Wade of UC Berkeley and her talk "Sounds from the East: Composers in Japanese Musical Modernity" on April 20. An Asian Studies Center newsletter provides a synopsis:

Who "the creator of new music" is in Japanese culture changed from the pre-modern performer-composer of traditional musical contexts when the mid-19th century government of the emerging nation-state decided to absorb and normalize music from Europe and America as a technology in a massive modernization process. In this talk, Dr. Bonnie Wade will elucidate how the separation of the functions of performing and composing in the creation of new music was a response to the emergent conditions of Japanese musical modernity and situate composers as creative individuals who by exercising considerable artistic flexibility in their creative production remain "close to the people" while also participating in the shared
international cultural space of Western music.

Wade is the author of a 2013 book Composing Japanese Musical Modernity. The talk begins at 4:00 pm in 4217 Posvar Hall (map) and is free and open to the public.

1989 China/Avant-Garde Exhibition at Pitt through October 31.

Wang Youshen, Newspaper-Advertising, 1993

Hillman Library at the University of Pittsburgh will is hosting an 1989 China/Avant-Garde Exhibition – from Gao Minglu Archive through October 31.

Dr. Minglu Gao is a research professor in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture (HAA) at Pitt, and a leading scholar of Chinese contemporary art. Over three decades Dr. Gao has been building a collection of Chinese contemporary art unique in the world today. These unique primary materials include manuscripts, posters, paintings, and exhibit catalogs, as well as slides, videos, recordings, etc.

Since 2014, the University Library System has been working the HAA department, Asian Studies Center, and University Center for International Studies to create a digital archive of Dr. Gao's collection. This exhibit will showcase many of the items in Dr. Gao's collection, and present an unparalleled look into the world of Chinese contemporary art.

The Spring 2006 issue of Pitt Magazine has one of many lengthy profiles on Gao. Hillman Library is located at 3960 Forbes Ave. (map) in Oakland.

Japanese rock group ONE OK ROCK at Mr. Smalls, April 16.

The Japanese rock group ONE OK ROCK will play at Mr. Smalls on April 16 as part of the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour.