“Please refrain from asking Ross to take his shirt off,” Sophia Gill, sophomore political science major and the lecture director for the Pitt Program Council, announced to the sea of fans in the packed William Pitt Union Assembly Room on Tuesday night. Lynch’s presence on Pitt’s campus sparked a frenzied excitement.  The Pitt Program Council hosted a 45-minute guided interview and a 15-minute audience Q&A with the actor and singer. The event was a full-circle moment for childhood and current fans to connect with Lynch, who many recognize from their childhoods. Gill jokingly warned the ..read more

The University of Pittsburgh’s Greek life community showed in full force on Saturday afternoon to cheer on their brothers and sisters in the annual Greek Sing competition. Teams consisting of several fraternities and sororities together competed in fully choreographed dance numbers complete with costumes and complicated musical mashups. In the end, the winning team was Delta Zeta, Triangle and Tau Kappa Epsilon, who performed a “Dancing with the Stars” themed performance. The competition included a panel of three guest judges — Sarah Siddiqui, SGB vice president of operations, Gretchen Natter ..read more

Over 60 student volunteers will get together on April 7 to build the stage where artists JID, Luh Tyler, My Favorite Color and Pitt Factor winner 9FiftySeven will perform. However, the efforts that go into planning Bigelow Bash entail much more. Bigelow Bash, Pitt’s spring music and arts festival, will take place this Sunday on Schenley Drive. At last year’s Bigelow Bash, hundreds of students came out to see performances by featured artists Claud and Carly Rae Jepsen.  As excitement builds for the event, Pitt Program Council members are tirelessly working to ensure that this year’s bash w ..read more

Amy Williams can’t recall a time before she was a musician. Growing up in a household of musicians in Buffalo, New York, Williams spent her childhood tinkering with instruments around her family — tapping at the ivory keys of a piano from the time she was a toddler. “I don’t remember learning to read music, and I don’t remember learning to read,” Williams said. “It happened around the same time.” Decades later, Williams is a professor of music at Pitt. As an expert on classical and contemporary music, she has taught numerous courses on music theory and composition. Outside of the classroom, Wi ..read more

The Pitt Program Council put on their semiannual Pitt Factor showcase, a battle of the bands to compete for an opening spot at Pitt’s semesterly concert. The council hosts Fall Fest in October and Bigelow Bash in April. On April 7, rapper J.I.D will headline this year’s Bigelow Bash. On the evening of Friday, March 22, eight acts performed at Pitt Factor, consisting of a diverse variety of bands, individual artists and a hip-hop dance group.  The event started with an explanation of the rules. Performers had exactly 20 minutes to set up, perform their act and disassemble their equipment ..read more

Histrionic spawned from a basement in Highland Park in 2014. Brothers Simon and Jude Sweeney and their friend Isaac Winograd fiddled with instruments, plucking at guitars and banging on drums, their youthful cacophony melding into harmony with each year of practice. A decade later, their band Histrionic is a fixture in Oakland’s music scene — earning them the accolade “Best Local Band” in The Pitt News’ 2024 “Best Of” survey, as voted by readers.  Winograd and Simon Sweeney’s friendship goes back to elementary school, when the two budding musicians jammed on their parents’ instruments. Af ..read more

Post Genre and 8Trak Entertainment hosted their third and final show of the “Live from Oakland: Genesis” series at the Atwood Church on Friday evening. Funky Lamp used the show to debut a new album, with support from Trip Lotus and Wild Blue Yonder. Gallery • 8 Photos Hannah Levine | Staff Photographer Trip Lotus performs at the Atwood Church during “Live From Oakland: Genesis” on Friday night. The post Photos: Wild Blue Yonder, Trip Lotus and Funky Lamp perform at Atwood Church appeared first on The Pitt News ..read more

The Pitt Band performed on Saturday afternoon in Bellefield Hall for their Winter Symphonic Band Concert. Gallery • 5 Photos Alex Jurkuta | Staff Photographer The Pitt Band performed on Saturday afternoon in Bellefield Hall for their Winter Symphonic Band Concert. The post Photos: Pitt band performs in Winter Symphonic Band Concert appeared first on The Pitt News ..read more

Greg Weston first stepped into WPTS Radio on the fourth floor of the William Pitt Union on Feb. 16, 2004. Two decades have passed since then, but Weston said the staff of WPTS still embodies the same artistic ethos he encountered 20 years ago. “People who are drawn to college radio are people who like to be free thinkers, who kind of do their own thing rather than just follow trends,” Weston said. “It was exciting for me to walk in there, then and now. I love the energy, love the creativity.” WPTS Radio, Pitt’s student FM radio station, hunkered down in the WPU on Friday and Saturday for its a ..read more

Post Genre and 8Trak Entertainment hosted their second show of the “Live from Oakland: Genesis” series in Atwood Church. Gallery • 10 Photos Bronco York | Staff Photographer Pitter Patter performs at “Live from Oakland: Genesis” in Atwood Church on Saturday night. The post Photos: Fosh, Pitter Patter and Moontown perform at Atwood Church appeared first on The Pitt News ..read more