Trade Offs
Two days after demonstrations against the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) summit in Miami that ended on Nov. 21, the Miami Herald quoted police chief John Timoney’s words to a protester pinned against a car by undercover officers: “You’re bad. F— you!” (Above) Jennifer Wood That summed up the attitude…
For Whom the Road Tolls
If you believe the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission’s evaluation of the “Citizens’ Plan” — an alternative to the Mon-Fayette Expressway, released Nov. 20 — the people who prefer improved Main Streets, “urban boulevards” (like Bigelow) and public transit are a bunch of rosy-eyed idealists whose ideas about transportation and economic development don’t work in real life.…
Bird Curd
The Pilgrims were many things: courageous, resourceful, unyielding. Sexy, however, they were not. They weren’t exactly great friends of turkeys, either. The media-savvy People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, however, apparently saw Thanksgiving as a perfect time to address both those defects in the Pilgrims’ character. That’s why a half-dozen PETA activists led by…
A Conversation with Angelo Cammarata
So 14 years of Prohibition ended in a second?When beer came back, our family living quarters was right beyond our grocery store. We had an ice-cream fountain right in the front. That was our first bar. We had several customers waiting for the first beer, which we served at midnight, with the truck parked…
HOLIDAY GRAB BAG
Booze Crews Drink and Be Wary: Getting Through the Office Holiday Party Writer: Andy Newman If it were fun, it wouldn’t be called work. So what is a “work party” but your classic oxymoron, the teeth-gritting endeavor to make nice to that sniveling manager you already endure for 40 hours too many a week? Add…
Fan Clubbed
I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to think the Steelers may not make it to the Super Bowl this year. The Pitt Panthers may have been a bit overrated too. I don’t come to these conclusions hastily, which is one thing that separates me from a lot of fans. Last season, I…
The Last Samurai
Director Edward Zwick has made a romantic war movie about a last-ditch effort by a feudal class to assert its relevance in a rapidly modernizing world. It’s a muddled liberal’s war epic, one that sees Japan’s quite conservative 19th-century samurai, by confounding turns, as Native Americans, Vietcong and the rebels of the Confederacy. Zwick’s…
The Flower of Evil
Does the French New Wave still matter? Does it even still exist? If The Flower of Evil is any indication, the answer is a gratifying oui. Tranquil on its surface, malevolent just beneath it, the latest from Claude Chabrol — the most accessible of the New Wave founders — explores the public…
Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
The Western as a film genre has become so portable that filmmakers now have the temptation to set Westerns anywhere. To that end, director (and co-writer with Paul Fraser) Shane Meadows revisits Sergio Leone’s 1969 spaghetti Western, Once Upon a Time in the West, in a town so squarely in the middle of England that…
Crease Is the Word
John Allen Gibel says he belongs to a couple secret societies. He’ll even tell you which ones, though of course there are certain things — call them “secrets” — he won’t reveal. But Gibel is comfortable enough with his membership to spoof such organizations in Gas Ain’t Ironing: The Musical, which highlights the next…
Dos Noun & Mr. Burns
The Deadly Scribes were a klatch of Squirrel Hill kids hungry to get it on in the hip-hop game, progressing far enough to assimilate into the underground show and hire a J Rawls beat for their EP. But the high school years don’t last very long, and youths must seek a modicum of maturity or…
Celine Dion
Celine Dion wants to invite you into her world. On her latest release, 1 Fille and 4 Types, she wants to give you a little peek at what it’s like to be The Real Celine Dion — and she’s going to give it to you all in French. At first, it seemed like Celine…
These Arms Are Snakes
It might come as something of a surprise to alt-rock trend-watchers that New York is not the only city experiencing a post-punk resurgence just now. Seattle, believe it or not, has been back on the map for a good two or three years, and although the noise coming out of the Pacific Northwest is a…
Why are the bridges in Pittsburgh painted yellow?
Well, first of all, the bridges aren’t painted yellow. They are painted — ahem — “Aztec gold.” Yes, Aztec gold, the color that reflects the fact that we are, like that ancient civilization of Mexico, a people of the sun. And like the Aztecs, we offer regular sacrifices in honor of the feathered-serpent god Quetzlcoatl.…
Republicans Fight Dems to Bitter End in County …
The Republican rule that has more or less gripped Allegheny County for eight years ends in a month, but the GOP appears likely to go down swinging. At issue are competing budgets that highlight the challenges Democrats will face when they become lords of the Courthouse in January. Republican Allegheny County Executive Jim Roddey…
…And Dems Battle Dems Over City Budget
The inter-party bickering in the county is nothing compared to the scrapping in Democrats-only City Hall. There, council factions and Mayor Tom Murphy are debating whether to try to balance next year’s proposed $396 million budget by raising taxes and cutting spending, or leave it short $40 million in hopes of being designated a distressed…
