David Byrne
In the relatively short history of music marketing, film soundtracks have played a fairly minor role. There’s a good reason for that: Most of them are boring. The mini-saga of soundtracks, as it might be called, starts one day when a clever assistant at a big studio recognizes that the music commissioned for films can…
Liberation Won’t Be Televised
In a quiet Jersey City neighborhood, two cars filled with dreadlocked, cornrowed, Afro-ed and braided black men come to a stop. Nuke Knocka and Tomorrow get out their rented Pontiac Grand Am and meet up with Joe Blak, Young Zee and Franchise, who are in the rented Ford Focus behind them. The crew is in…
The Dismemberment Plan
When The Dismemberment Plan was blazing across the U.S. playing its farewell tour, set lists were chosen exclusively by fan request. I thought this was a great idea, except for the fact that all these other morons were going to be able to pick the songs I got to hear the Plan play for the…
Caviar Emptor
The illusion that voters could hold Pittsburgh officials accountable for the city’s financial mess died last week, in the third-floor courtroom of Judge Robert Kelly. There, Lawrenceville resident Jim Genco tried to impeach Mayor Tom Murphy all by himself, with some 4,000 signatures on his petitions, but no attorney to help him take on the…
Liberation Won’t Be Televised
In a quiet Jersey City neighborhood, two cars filled with dreadlocked, cornrowed, Afro-ed and braided black men come to a stop. Nuke Knocka and Tomorrow get out their rented Pontiac Grand Am and meet up with Joe Blak, Young Zee and Franchise, who are in the rented Ford Focus behind them. The crew is in…
Organize Locally, Annoy Globally
“It’s the first time that we had protestors,” says Fanny Price, who directed Philadelphia’s largest gay pride event, Outfest, Oct. 10-12. “We experienced them in full, and they were there all day. They dress like Mennonites and they hold the Bible up. They had their signs: ‘God Hates Fags’ and “Got AIDS Yet?'” Just three…
I’ve heard that former KDKA reporter Marie Torre was put in jail for refusing to name an informant regarding a news story. How long did she spend in jail?
Woodward and Bernstein took down Nixon, Upton Sinclair blew the lid off the meatpacking industry, and Geraldo Rivera exposed the mystery of Al Capone’s secret vault. But all these feats of journalistic courage pale beside that of Marie Torre. I mean, it’s one thing to bring down a president who suffers from 5 o’clock shadow…
Woodward and Bernstein took down Nixon, Upton Sinclair blew the lid off the meatpacking industry, and Geraldo Rivera exposed the mystery of Al Capone’s secret vault. But all these feats of journalistic courage pale beside that of Marie Torre. I mean, it’s
Somewhere deep within the labyrinth of the Pittsburgh International Airport (actually, right above the Tie Rack and the Clinique shop), Rev. Jack Fitzgerald holds Catholic Mass in his very own travelers’ chapel six days a week. His office (with runway views) doubles as a confessional, and the 70-seat room of worship includes a prayer corner…
One-Man Stand
Pittsburgh is on the verge of bankruptcy. The state’s education budget is being held hostage, and key issues that will determine the region’s future — from property-tax reform to gambling — are held in limbo. Not the most encouraging environment in which to start a new business. Unless you’re in the business of reporting political…
An interview with Jenny Toomey
When Jenny Toomey was front woman of ’90s indie-rock stalwarts Tsunami and co-owner of Simple Machines Records, one of the most staunchly independent labels of that era, some in the music business may have had just a hint of what was to come for her. It’s unlikely, however, that anyone saw the revolution: As executive…
Follow That Story
Less than a week after the irrepressible John McIntire taped his last episode of NightTalk on PCNC, the station’s management named his replacement: Ann Devlin. Pittsburghers may recall seeing Devlin on the boob tube on Pittsburgh’s Talking on WTAE-TV or on Cullen-Devlin on WQEX. Devlin’s first show, which will remain live and largely interview-format, will…
Double the Negatives!
I am sick and tired of these namby-pamby, do-gooder, holier-than-thou, self-appointed guardians-of-the-public-morality who don’t like negative advertising in political campaigns. Take the League of Women Voters. Take them on a long walk off a short pier. I’ve watched debates sponsored by the alleged gold standard of political watchdog groups in this town for seven years.…
Writing Life
The thing about Lee Gutkind is, up till now his critics have blamed him mostly for other people’s stories. For three decades, Gutkind has championed “creative nonfiction,” a genre capable of embracing everything from journalism to essays, histories and memoir, but basically consisting of the artful telling of truthful narratives. As an instructor at the…
In the Cut
Frannie Avery (Meg Ryan) has locked herself away. We know this because we see her wake up dead-eyed and hear her communicate in weary ironic grunts. She teaches English without enthusiasm at some low-budget Manhattan college. A trip to a dive bar’s subterranean restroom, though, proves titillating when Frannie stumbles across a couple engaged in…
Sylvia
At Cambridge, the precocious, brilliant, moody American poet Sylvia Plath (Gwyneth Paltrow) meets the precocious, brilliant, moody English poet Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig). They fall madly in love, marry and after a brief sojourn in America set up housekeeping in England. They struggle to raise a family, to write poetry and to reconcile a troubled…
The Human Stain
Robert Benton’s The Human Stain is a viable tragic romance with a literary glaze it borrows from its source material but doesn’t manage to pay back. Anthony Hopkins plays Coleman Silk, a classics professor retired in the New England college town where he spent his illustrious career, and where — powered by Viagra — he’s…
Buffalo Soldiers
Around the time the United States invaded Iraq, magazines of a certain disposition began running advertisements for “A Salute to America’s Military Heroes.” The salute consisted of little figurines of teddy bears in desert camo, standing on some sandbags and clutching little machine guns. For just $19.95 (plus $4.99 shipping and handling), one could be…
Jenny Toomey
There was a time when Jenny Toomey was well known for something other than her leading role in the representation of musicians in the new music-distribution debate. Yes, there was a time when Jenny Toomey — on her own, or fronting bands such as ’90s indie-rock staple Tsunami — got to actually sing, and play.…
