Pittsburgh City Paper

MP3, er, Tuesday: B. White

John Lavanga — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:16:00 -0400

Hey all! We got it together a little late yesterday, so MP3 Monday is MP3 Tuesday this week.…

New Package Deal Provides Staycation Alternative

Bill O'Driscoll — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:40:00 -0400

Miranda Bauer likes Sandcastle and all. She just found that when she bought a membership there for herself, her husband and her young daughter, she wasn’t getting her money’s worth.…

Power pop at the Smiling Moose tonight: Cheap Girls

Andy Mulkerin — Tue, 21 May 2013 11:24:19 -0400

Here's one of those that we couldn't fit into the paper this week, but that's worth a listen: Tonight at the Smiling Moose, Cheap Girls — formerly of Rise Records, now independent — play, along with Diamond Youth and I Am a Sea Creature. Cheap Girls' 2012 release Giant Orange was produced by Against Me's Laura Jean Grace.…

Election Day thoughts

Chris Potter — Tue, 21 May 2013 10:27:00 -0400

Today is, obviously, a potentially historic day, pivotal for the future of our region. It's the day that Pittsburgh's men and women, workers and retirees, students and citizens of all kinds, go to the polls and ask themselves the question at the heart of our republic:

"Who the fuck are these judicial candidates?"

But there's a mayoral race too, as you may have heard.…

Former city cop acquitted in insurance fraud/road rage case

Lauren Daley — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:55:00 -0400

A former city traffic officer accused of insurance fraud, reckless endangerment and related charges in a 2010 road rage case was acquitted this afternoon in a non-jury trial.

Common Pleas Judge Jill E. Rangos granted Garrett John Brown's motion for insufficient evidence in the case that stemmed from an encounter — first recounted in this City Paper story — with donut deliverymen Matt Mazzie and Blaine Johnston in the early morning of Nov. 18, 2010.…

Performance Passes Someone’s Life Before Your Eyes

Bill O'Driscoll — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:20:00 -0400

An ad hoc group of performers is staging a curious sort of multimedia show tomorrow.

Starting at noon, in a nondescript building on Bigelow Boulevard, in Polish Hill, they’ll enact the stages of a single human life.…

Arts Funding Protest Draws Mayoral Candidate

Bill O'Driscoll — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:38:00 -0400

Bill Peduto was the lone mayoral candidate at today’s Downtown event demanding enforcement of the city and county’s percent-for-art laws.

The protest was highlighted by a couple dozen CAPA high school students mimicking the classic “eyeballs in tophats” costumes of cult band The Residents.…

Tonight: Bridgette Perdue at the August Wilson Center

Andy Mulkerin — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:27:00 -0400

About a year ago, Bridgette Perdue put out her first album of piano-pop tunes, Enjoy This Moment. Tonight, the irrepressively positive Perdue presents a special live event at the August Wilson Center, combining a concert with dance and other art forms.…

Johnny Angel off the air for now

Andy Mulkerin — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:03:00 -0400

Despite its storied rock-DJ history, even Pittsburgh has fewer and fewer regular old-fashioned oldies radio shows — and as of a few weeks ago, it's down to one less. The Johnny Angel Heavenly Soul Show, which had been on the air at 1320-AM WJAS since 2011, went off the air at the end of March, because DJ Johnny Angel — a longtime local performer and DJ — was unable to find the sponsorships needed to keep it afloat.…

Venture Outdoors Festival in Point State Park on Saturday

Bill O'Driscoll — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:00:38 -0400

The free annual hands-on expo for all things rugged or just plain recreational is set for 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

If you ever wanted to try a climbing wall, in other words, now’s the time. Plus things as low-impact as horseshoes.…

Calliope announces 2013-14 concert series, with Vieux Farka Toure, Bruce Cockburn

Andy Mulkerin — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:19:24 -0400

Calliope, the folk society, has announced its 2013-14 concert series, running from October through April. The shows will all take place at Carnegie Lecture Hall in Oakland.…

War of words escalating in final days of mayoral campaign

Chris Potter — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:32:00 -0400

We're now in the final days of the city's mayoral campaign, which means all the campaign rhetoric you've been hearing for the past several weeks is about to get dialed to 11. And based on a pair of dueling press conferences this morning, the race's two frontrunners -- City Councilor Bill Peduto and former Auditor General Jack Wagner -- are going to be attacking each other over ... the fact that they've been attacking each other.…

The Composure covers "Closing Time," plays Altar tonight

Andy Mulkerin — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:29:00 -0400

Know what's BIG right now? '90s nostalgia!…

New Aviary Show Highlights Misunderstood Birds of Prey

Bill O'Driscoll — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:00:56 -0400

You’ll see some spectacular stuff in Talons!, the new indoor free-flight show at the National Aviary. If you’re lucky, you might even get buzzed by a Eurasian Eagle-Owl, a cat-sized bird with deep orange eyes.…

Demonstration for Arts Funding Set for Friday

Bill O'Driscoll — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:05:10 -0400

A movement to get Pittsburgh to enforce a 36-year-old city law requiring that public construction projects set aside “1 percent for art” holds its first big press conference and rally Downtown, on Friday afternoon.

The Pittsburgh Percent 4 Art Campaign assembles artists, students and others at 1 p.m. at Katz Plaza — home of artist Louise Bourgeois’ landmark “eyeball” sculptures.…

Jordan Miles gets high-powered legal team for second trial

Charlie Deitch — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:43:00 -0400

Civil-=rights attorney Joel Sansone, who in 2008 secured a $28 million jury award against two state troopers who shot an unarmed 12-year-old in the back, will be leading Jordan Miles' second civil trial against the three police officers Miles in January 2010.

Sansone, who filed his notice of appearance on May 2, told City Paper today that Miles' new trial team will be led by himself and Detroit-based civil rights lawyer Bob Giroux and also consist of Miles' lead attorneys in the first civil trial, J. Kerrington Lewis and Tim O'Brien.…

In mayor's race, intriguing footprints on the money trail

Chris Potter — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:25:44 -0400

With one week to go before the May 21 mayoral primary, the money trail is becoming increasingly convoluted — as reflected by financial activity involving the campaigns of the race's two frontrunners.

For starters, a contractor whose work on Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's home has become the subject of stories in the Post-Gazette appears to be a financial supporter of Jack Wagner.…

Event reminder: Ride of Silence tonight

Lauren Daley — Wed, 15 May 2013 08:16:00 -0400

Tonight, cyclists will gather to remember those injured in crashes around the city, during the annual Ride of Silence.

Cyclists can meet between 6:15 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. at Dippy the Dinosaur at the corner of Forbes Avenue and Schenley Drive by the Carnegie museum in Oakland tonight.…

Savory Hill

Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

The fortifying menu of locally sourced, creatively prepared fine dining stands out in Moon Township by Angelique Bamberg and Jason Roth The fantastically named Moon is a township in transition between its past as a bustling service depot for Pittsburgh International Airport and its future as the collegiate, if frankly suburban, hometown of Robert Morris University. In this shifting landscape, hotels formerly occupied by USAir travelers now serve as dorms for RMU undergrads, and a restaurant called Savory Hill is a conceptual, if not physical, landmark. Outwardly, Savory Hill presents little to distinguish it from the other businesses on Brodhead Road, a secondary commercial thoroughfare which winds its way westward from the concentration of chain stores nearest the airport-university corridor.…

Ian Svenonius talks with dead people in his new book on rock bands

Andy Mulkerin — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock 'n' Roll Group isn't exactly a simple how-to for budding musicians. by Andy Mulkerin Ian Svenonius has never been one to think of a rock band as just a rock band. The frontman of Nation of Ulysses, The Make-Up and Weird War always has something else going on — usually something involving leftist politics and an aesthetic uniformity that feels a little bit dangerous, a little bit cool.…

David V. Matthews offers a strong debut short-story collection.

Bill O'Driscoll — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Matthews' style is crisp, even deceptively offhanded, yet there's plenty going on beneath the surface. by Bill O'Driscoll David V. Matthews' Meltdown in the Cereal Aisle is his first collection of short stories. It's self-published, but don't be put off: Meltdown is a nice piece of work, entertaining and slick in its way, but also rather sophisticated.…

Summer Guide 2013

Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Now that the sun is shining again, get out there and enjoy yourself. We've compiled a list of activities and events to keep you active and entertained this summer.

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Redeveloping History: Will arena development revitalize the hill or simply extend Downtown?

AmyJo Brown — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

"The developers, obviously, want this framing to be Downtown extended outward." by AmyJo Brown When Travis Williams of the Pittsburgh Penguins stood before a roomful of Hill District residents April 10 to discuss the team's plans for the Lower Hill District for the first time, he said out loud what nearly all in the room knew to be true. "It would be easy for me to stand up here and say, ‘Trust us,'" the team's chief operating officer told the crowd of about 120.…

The Great Gatsby

Al Hoff — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Baz Luhrman's adaptation is not a delirious train wreck but it's not a success, either by Al Hoff On one level, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is about puncturing grand myths and the manipulation of smaller truths. In that spirit, I'll confess to not having read the Jazz Age novel since the Carter administration, and will spare you the how-this-movie-ruins-the-book screed.…

Summer Outdoors

Wed, 15 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

ONGOING City Pools. Citiparks pools are open June 14 through Labor Day.…