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Jonathan turns 50. Message received.
Born September 22, 1976·Pittsburgh, PA
Saturday, November 14, 2026, at WQED Studios in Pittsburgh. A live band playing the hits from the decade when I came of age, plus food, drinks, and the people like you who make the ’90s worth remembering. Dress like it’s 1996—or don’t. Just be there.
The particulars
Everything you need to know, in under a minute.
Who
Family, friends, and colleagues
From throughout my life so far — different decades, different cities, all in one room for a night.
What
Food, drinks, and a live cover band
Full bar and dinner. The band plays the 90s — and takes requests (see the RSVP form).
When
Saturday
November 14, 2026
Doors at 6:00 PM. Band starts once enough people have arrived that dancing isn't embarrassing.
Where
WQED Studios
4802 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Why
Celebrate
Get together in the neighborhood to enjoy yourself as I celebrate my 50th year.
Fit check
90s optional
Flannel, a Starter jacket, baggy jeans, a Rusted Root or DMB tee — all welcome. So is a normal outfit.
The venue
The building where Mister Rogers changed his shoes.
WQED signed on in 1954 as the first community-sponsored public television station in America — funded by Pittsburghers who chipped in a couple of dollars each because they thought the city deserved it. The bet worked.
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was produced in these studios for more than three decades — the sweater, the trolley, the whole neighborhood, made right here.
I serve as board chair at WQED, which is among the reasons the neighborhood matters so much to me.
DID YOU KNOW?
Early in life I lived next to Fred and Joanne Rogers in Point Breeze. I thought everyone was Mister Rogers' neighbor!
Getting there
- Address: 4802 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.
- Parking: Free spots in the lots on their side of the building.
- Neighborhood: Oakland — a short walk from Pitt, CMU, my house, and a dozen places to grab a drink beforehand.
- Coming from out of town? Say so in your RSVP note and we'll send hotel suggestions.
The year in question
I was born into a country throwing itself a 200th birthday party.
Red, white and blue on everything
Including, briefly, the fire hydrants
The year 1976 was the United States Bicentennial — two hundred years since the Declaration of Independence. Everything got repainted. Everything got a commemorative edition.
On the Fourth of July, Operation Sail brought 225 ships from 30 nations — 16 of them tall ships under full canvas — past the Statue of Liberty.
Also happening while I was busy being born
The year started off right as the Steelers beat the Cowboys 21–17 in Super Bowl X — their second championship win to date. Pittsburgh was the center of the football universe.
A 20-year-old Bill Gates publishes "An Open Letter to Hobbyists," accusing the Homebrew crowd of stealing his Altair BASIC. The software business starts here.
Queen Elizabeth II sends an email over ARPANET from a radar lab in Malvern. Username: HME2. Signed off, "Elizabeth R."
Apple Computer is founded in a Los Altos garage. The machine I'd later build websites on starts here. It's the machine I built this one on, too
Viking 1 touches down on Mars and sends back the first clear pictures ever taken from its surface.
The hit TV drama Charlie's Angels premieres on ABC at 10:00 PM. Born earlier that day, I was able to catch the first episode.
Jimmy Carter is elected. A peanut farmer from Georgia, two years after Watergate. That means Gerald Ford was in the office for about the first 4 months of my life.
Rocky opens — an underdog boxing movie from a Philadelphia nobody wanted to make. It wins Best Picture. Yo Adrian!
Why the 90s
I was building websites when websites were VERY new.
In the early-90s I built the website for a then local band called Rusted Root — back when a band having a website at all was a novelty, and building one meant hand-writing HTML in a text editor, slicing GIFs, and testing first in NCSA Mosaic and then in Netscape because that's what was available.
I spent those years around the Pittsburgh music scene: the venues, the bands, the people who booked them, and the people who showed up. Graffiti, Metropol, Rosebud, Club Café, and the Beehive. At one point, I found myself watching Rusted Root headline at the AJ Palumbo Center, with a band I was seeing for the first time and would still enjoy to this day—the Dave Matthews Band.
Fifty feels like the right moment to put the band back together — literally. Same decade, same city, different life perspective.
DID YOU KNOW?
My very first job was delivering The Pittsburgh Press newspaper, but I worked at GapKids for 3 years throughought high school, including until Stargate cashflow supported a salary.
Things that were true in the 1990s (at some point)
- A 28.8k modem was a real upgrade.
- Every site had a guestbook, and people actually signed it.
- "Best viewed at 800×600" was a legitimate design decision.
- You made a mix tape by holding down record and hoping the DJ shut up.
- The band's website was maintained by a fan. Sometimes me.
The soundtrack
A live band, and a setlist you help write.
A cover band plays all night. Here's roughly the territory — tell us what's missing in your RSVP and there's a real chance they'll play it.
One gift request
Give to WQED.
Celebrating 50 with this group of people is gift enough. If you’d like to mark the occasion in some way, rather than giving me a gift, I’d point you to WQED—the station that’s been making Pittsburgh better since 1954. Consider becoming a sustaining member or making a one-time donation if you're already a member. Completely optional, of course, but it would mean a lot to me.
Give to WQED →DID YOU KNOW?
In the mid-nineties I connected my alphanumeric pager to the internet — I called it Rosenpager® — and received messages from around the world.
Reply requested
RSVP
Please respond by Friday, October 16, 2026 so we can get the headcount right for food and drink.