Pittsburgh City Paper

Review: Ghost & Ides of Gemini at Mr. Smalls, May 18

Margaret Welsh — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:06:27 -0400

It would be so awesome to discover Ghost B.C. (the B.C. has been grudgingly added due to an over-abundance of “Ghost” bands), as a 14-year-old. You’d be drawn to the catchy tunes (which mostly maintain a Mercyful Fate vibe, but sometimes veer into pop and, weirdly, surf) but troubled by the anonymity of the members, scared out of your wits by front man Papa Emeritus II (an evil, but charming, skeletal Pope) and probably a little worried about what this band was doing to your immortal soul.…

Discussion scheduled on reproductive healthcare for incarcerated women and minors

Lauren Daley — Fri, 24 May 2013 10:59:00 -0400

The Women & Girls Foundation will host an issue briefing next week, called "Reproductive Health Care for Underserved Populations: Innovative Programming for Incarcerated Women and Minors."

A panel of experts will address efforts to improve reproductive health care for incarcerated women and the rights of minors to access confidential healthcare. Attendees will learn how partnerships, strategic thinking and a modest budget have led to changes across the state.…

County Democratic Chair: Harris must leave party post

Chris Potter — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:45:00 -0400

Nancy Patton Mills, the chair of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, didn't mince words. City Councilor Darlene Harris cannot serve as a Democratic ward chair now that she's registered as an independent.…

Fashion Show Benefits Habitat for Humanity

Bill O'Driscoll — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:20:45 -0400

Post by Olivia Lammel

Habitat for Humanity, Macy’s and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh have collaborated on a night of quirky couture for a good cause.

On Fri., May 31, Downtown’s Double Tree Hotel hosts the second annual Hard Hats & High Heels Fashion Show to benefit Habitat for Humanity’s Veterans Build program.

Models will strut down the runway in outfits designed by students at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, getups assembled entirely from home-renovation items found at the Greater Pittsburgh Habitat ReStore.…

Will Peduto face a "third" party challenger in the fall?

Chris Potter — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:50:00 -0400

Sort of a funny piece of business in this Post-Gazette story about Bill Peduto's win in this week's mayoral primary:

One of Mr. Peduto's critics, city council President Darlene Harris, switched her registration from Democratic to independent a month before the primary. Beyond confirming her changed partisan status, however, Mrs. Harris would not elaborate on the switch...…
[ Read more ]

[ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

A different look at AJ Richardson

Charlie Deitch — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:28:00 -0400

A funny thing happened last week during our cover shoot with Sheraden resident and mayoral candidate AJ Richardson — he lost his tattoos.

Our photographer Heather Mull shot this week’s cover in the studio of fellow photographer Jason Snyder.…

A Tale of Two Wards: Measuring the enthusiasm gap in mayoral race

Chris Potter — Wed, 22 May 2013 08:47:00 -0400

In days to come, pundits and politicos will be doing all kinds of analysis of yesterday's mayoral primary, looking for big-picture trends and story lines in Bill Peduto's triumph over Jack Wagner. But if you want to start getting a feel for how this race played out, you can do so by starting small -- looking at results in just two city wards, the 14th and the 19th.…

Peduto, and his coalition, sweep city elections

Chris Potter — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:38:00 -0400

Yesterday's municipal primary was a big night for Pittsburgh -- the election not just of a new mayor, but of a new governing coalition -- even if the number of people paying attention was small.

City Councilor Bill Peduto won the primary, which will almost certainly make him the city's next mayor -- a post he has sought for the better part of a decade.…

For local cyclists, all roads lead to the OTB Bike Café

Hal B. Klein — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

"It's amazing to see the level of advocacy for biking in Pittsburgh in all fronts." by Hal B. Klein The first thing most people notice when walking along the 2500 block of East Carson Street is that 45 feet of premium car parking has been transformed into a bike corral. Convincing the city to give up automobile parking in an area where finding a spot is nearly impossible "was a really big achievement" says Mike Kotyk, owner of OTB Bike Café. It's also just one of the bike-friendly community initiatives Kotyk has fostered in his bar, which goes well beyond the normal conviviality associated with a neighborhood watering hole. "I wanted to be a community hub [for Pittsburgh bikers] when we opened the place," says Kotyk. Inside the bar, colorful murals of bikers brighten the ceiling.…

Critics' Picks: May 22 - 30

Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Local shows by Scott Ainslie, JEFF the Brotherhood, Melvins, and Marina and the Diamonds [ACOUSTIC] + THU., MAY 23 Blues guitarist Scott Ainslie is just as much a preserver of the art of blues as he is a musician. He has transcribed recordings by Delta blues musicians, and learned a trick or two from Southern Appalachian fiddlers and many others.…

South Park Theatre's Moonlight & Valentino

Ted Hoover — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

These are characters who talk at rather than to each other. by Ted Hoover As I was sitting at South Park Theatre reviewing its production of Ellen Simon's Moonlight & Valentino, I kept coming back to the question "Why?" Not "why?" as in "Why do I review theater?" but "Why this particular play?…

The Mother of All Brunches

Roxanne Tuinstra — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

A yearly ritual in which parental stress — and happiness — reach new heights by Roxanne Tuinstra For the past six years, my family has been celebrating Mother's Day with brunch at the five-star LeMont. And for the past six years, I have had to think to myself, What have I done to deserve this? Or better yet, Why doesn't my husband keep our three young lunatics while I go to LeMont and stuff myself silly? Because as it is, I spend the morning trying to get the children into their Sunday best, practicing how to use napkins and not shirts, deciding which flip-flops are dressy enough to wear.…

Renoir

Al Hoff — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

In this bio-doc, the elderly painter Auguste Renoir finds inspiration in a new model by Al Hoff Gilles Bourdos' film depicts a few months in the life of Auguste Renoir, as the famed impressionist painter grows increasingly infirm. It's France in 1915, and while Europe is beset with war, it's a gorgeous, peaceful summer at Renoir's country estate on the Cote d'Azur.…

Tea-vendor Gryphon Saldin sets up shop along Butler Street in Lawrenceville

Andy Mulkerin — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

"We have a little more flexibility than a chain." by Andy Mulkerin Tea wasn't Gryphon Saldin's first passion — after high school, he wanted to go into video-game design. But little by little, the Ingram resident began to realize that perhaps his interest in tea was a more feasible way to make a living.…

New Releases

Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Recent records from Nightly Standard, Ben Valasek and the Growlers, and New Vegas Nightly Standard Nightly Standard (Self-released) Great songwriting, excellent performance and top-quality recording on this five-song EP from the local soul-rock-jazz outfit. Laura Frederickson's powerful vocals open the disc with a bang on the barn-burner "Not Meant to Be," and the shifts in energy throughout the next four tunes are pulled off masterfully.…

Aaronel deRoy Gruber's work gets an engaging survey at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art

Robert Raczka — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

The timing could hardly be better for re-recognizing her sculptural work that straddles art and industrial design by Robert Raczka Making the road trip to the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, in closer-than-I-remembered Greensburg, I expected small sculptures on widely spaced pedestals. Instead, I entered a veritable funhouse, an arcade-like gallery packed with colored Plexiglas and chrome constructions — some kinetic, some illuminated — that were originally futuristic and are now retro, as well.…

Savage Love

Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

What if your kinks aren't just things your second wife isn't interested in exploring, but attraction-killers? Twenty-one-year-old female here. When we were both 14, my first boyfriend took advantage of me. One day, we were kissing with him on top of me. We were both fully clothed, and he started rubbing up against me. I didn't realize he was dry-humping me until after he had to leave to clean himself up.…

The Van Allen Belt makes music as if it was a movie

Andy Mulkerin — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

"You're editing — scene by scene, frame by frame, measure by measure." by Andy Mulkerin The Van Allen Belt has, in the six years since its first release, grown into a Pittsburgh band with an out-of-Pittsburgh reputation, a band that's toured the West Coast and plays as much out of town as it does in. But it started out as a pretty cerebral project — a filmmaker's quest to make music while applying techniques from film.…

‘Death by a Thousand Cuts': Budget cuts from federal sequester taking toll on local social programs

Dan Sleva — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

"I think it's a disgrace that Congress ever created this sequestration process." by Dan Sleva In tough economic times, organizations like the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank usually see an increase in the number of people who need their services. But thanks to budget cuts brought on by the federal government's sequester, money to fund those services is getting harder to come by.…

Poet Scott Silsbe's new collection looks back on life.

Fred Shaw — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

"So much of memory is a breaking up/of beginnings and endings, major keys transposed/to minors." by Fred Shaw Nostalgia is something I've pondered more since my 40th birthday. From the 65 pages of poems in Scott Silsbe's new collection from Six Gallery Press, Unattended Fire, it seems he's been ruminating over his life, as well.…

Sienna Sulla Piazza

Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

A new fine-dining addition to Market Square brings an elegantly casual, Old World vibe — and superb cuisine by Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth The extensive reconstruction of Market Square was meant to create a European-style plaza, a curb-free zone where cars creep through, yielding to pedestrians who would converge there to commingle with their myriad agendas: coffee, meetings, lunch, errands, dinner, drinks. Improbably enough, the new square works pretty much as advertised, and has ushered in an astonishing profusion of new eateries, from fast food to fine dining.…

The Dandy Warhols' Zia McCabe talks about the band's success and the role of advertising in music

Kate Magoc — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

"Because we were able to transition into licensing so easily, it's what secured a future for us." by Kate Magoc After forming in the mid-'90s, The Dandy Warhols gained prominence in the early 2000s, with help from a major British commercial placement. The band is currently on a tour playing the entirety of its 2000 breakthrough album, Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia.…

First Aid: County offers program to help residents identify signs of mental illness

Lauren Daley — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

"A person may be able to help if they know how to respond." by Lauren Daley When it comes to discussing the stigma around mental illness, Mike Gruber easily rattles off a list of myths that the public often holds: People who have mental illness or substance-abuse disorders are dangerous, lazy, weak or even immoral. "All of those myths can cause shame and embarrassment," says Gruber, system-transformation coordinator in the Office of Behavioral Health at Allegheny County's Department of Human Services.…

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Al Hoff — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Mira Nair's adaptation of the popular novel is well-intentioned, if a bit heavy-handed by Al Hoff How seemingly ordinary people turn to espousing and acting on extreme views is the investigation of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, adapted from Mohsin Hamid's novel and directed by Mira Nair (The Namesake). But its protagonist, a possibly radicalized young Pakistani professor named Changez (an engaging Riz Ahmed), cautions upfront: "The answer to that question may challenge some of your preconceived notions."…

One More Slice: Customers pay respects to late pizza-shop owner, Joe Aiello

AmyJo Brown — Wed, 22 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

"It's going to be different." by AmyJo Brown Pittsburgh City Councilor Corey O'Connor's usual order at Aiello's Pizza has always been "two off the top" — a couple of slices, plain — to which he has always added crushed red pepper. And Joe Aiello, the late owner of the Squirrel Hill pizza shop, would always scold. "He would say, ‘What the hell are you doing?'" O'Connor says. O'Connor visited Aiello's several times last week, after he learned of Aiello's death on May 13 at the age of 71. Aiello emigrated from Sicily in 1967 and opened his pizza shop in 1978 after working at what would become his good-natured rival down the street, Mineo's Pizza.…