Open Data Ordinance introduced in Pittsburgh
This morning, District 4 Councilor Natalia Rudiak introduced legislation for the city’s first Open Data Ordinance. The legislation would release a wide range of data collected from the city to the public, making it available for use in a variety of applications. “The possibilities are endless,” Rudiak said at a press conference announcing the legislation.…
Gross introduces land bank legislation
Pittsburgh land bank, city council, Deb Gross, URA, redevelopment, taxes, property
Winter JazzFest NYC recap
Mike Shanley sums up his trip to Winter JazzFest 2014 in New York
Lynn Cullen Live 01/14/14
Video Archive Done is better than perfect; inability of media to acknowledge news that doesn’t affect them; Rob Ford, Dennis Rodman both sorrier than Chris Christie; humans not that far removed from our cavemen ancestors; retired cop shoots man in movie theater…for texting; where people use smartphones in a secretive manner; more guns being confiscated…
Lynn Cullen Live 01/13/14
Video Archive Guests: Jamie & Ali McMutrie, Haitian Families First; Raggedy Ann still popular; Chris Christie being investigated for spending post-Sandy; WV chemical spill update; helping families keep their children in Haiti; post-earthquake PTSD; life in Haiti; Give Up to Give Back campaign; education, health & wellness programs in Haiti; worrying about the next natural…
Literary reading at SPACE on Sunday
Joy Katz and Rob Handel read at this photography exhibit
Stephen Foster anniversary commemorated Monday
Program marks the 150th anniversary of the songwriter’s death
Lynn Cullen Live 01/10/14
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; no way Chris Christie is telling the truth; Chris Christie vs. Richard Nixon; chemical spill in Charleston, WV, 300,000 without water; we live in a crappy information age; federal gov’t in a financial surplus got bumped by pigeons for newspaper front page; Peduto officially in office; Callers: George, Moon /…
Eight Democratic gubernatorial candidates set to attend forum at CMU
From top left: Allyson Schwartz, Katie McGinty, Rob McCord, John Hanger, Tom Wolf, Ed Pawlowski, Max Myers and Jo Ellen Litz All eight Democrats vying for the right to try and unseat GOP Incumbent Gov. Tom Corbett will attend a Jan. 26 candidate’s forum, according to Sam Hens Greco, chair of the city’s 14th Ward…
Mayor Peduto, council pledge to hold employers, developers accountable
At an event hosted by Pittsburgh United at the Hill House Association on Jan. 9, new Mayor Bill Peduto reaffirmed commitments made on the campaign trail and during his many years serving on city council. He pledged to hold developers and businesses who receive government subsidies from public tax dollars accountable, especially when it comes…
Free programs accompany Heather Henson puppet show
Talks on puppetry and … cranes
Creative Nonfiction magazine celebrates its 50th issue
Edition includes essays spanning 20 years
Lynn Cullen Live 01/09/14
Video Archive Audio Only Archive
Lovebettie looking to get a gig at the Grammys with your help
We’ve written a few times before about Lovebettie, the local rock band whose second record, Rise, came out last spring. If you dig the band — or just want to get a little bit of Pittsburgh into the Grammy awards this year — they could use your help. The band is one of 40 finalists…
Lone Survivor
Peter Berg’s actioner, based on “lone survivor” Marcus Luttrell’s memoir, recounts the 2005 mission in which four members of SEAL Team 10 (Mark Wahlberg, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Taylor Kitsch) attempt to capture a Taliban leader in a remote Afghan village. Things quickly go from bad to worse to tragic, as the men are trapped…
Pitt’s Mathew Rosenblum works between the notes on the scale
MUSIC ON THE EDGE presents H2 SAXOPHONE QUARTET playing MATHEW ROSENBLUM’S “MÖBIUS LOOP.” 8 p.m. Sat., Jan. 11. The Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky St., North Side. $10-20. All ages. 412-237-8300 or music.pitt.edu/mote Mathew Rosenblum is looking at some sheet music, and he’s excited. For one thing, it’s sheet music unlike what you’d expect: Through…
Longtime local music blogger Hugh Twyman presents new concert series at Eide’s
HUGHSHOWS LIVE. 2-5 p.m. Sat., Jan. 11. Eide’s Entertainment, 1121 Penn Ave., Strip District. Free. hughshowsredux.blogspot.com Been to a local concert in the last decade? You’ve probably crossed paths with Hugh Twyman. Since 2004, Twyman has been documenting the local music scene on his HughShows website, where he posts artist interviews, reviews and — primarily…
Critics’ Picks: January 8 – 14
[EXPERIMENTAL] + THU., JAN. 9 If your first New Year’s resolution was to see more experimental shows, Garfield Artworks is your place tonight (and probably for a good chunk of 2014). Headliners Hands! — a Boston collective centered around Ian Ayers and Charlie Porter — brings a little bit of who-knows-what to the gallery tonight.…
New Releases
Fist Fight in the Parking Lot Year of the Ox (Self-released) Two super-sludgy tracks bookend this five-song EP from the well-known locals, with some more upbeat heavy rock songs in between. Things get downright epic on the centerpiece, “Natural Fool,” where singer Abby Krizner’s voice shines, showing that she’s got way more than snarl. Those…
Producing Change: Food banks face challenges as they move from canned to fresh food
A few weeks ago, Jeralyn Beach got an email asking whether she could take 40,000 pounds of stage-two bananas. She knew it would stretch her staff: They had to be picked up in Philadelphia within 24 hours, weighed, cataloged and coordinated with local pantries that could get them into their clients’ stomachs before reaching stage…
Sticks and Stones: Group takes a stand against verbal harassment
More info: pittsburgh.ihollaback.org A woman is at the gym running on a treadmill when she notices a man staring at her. “I just love watching you run,” he says. Another woman is crossing the street when two men walking in her direction part to flank her on both sides. “Hey baby,” one whispers into her…
Progressive Party
If you wanted to know just how strong the momentum is behind newly installed Mayor Bill Peduto, you didn’t need to just witness the crowds at his Jan. 6 Heinz Hall swearing-in ceremony. Nor could you get the full picture from that evening’s celebration at the Heinz History Center, which featured gospel singers on one…
Savage Love
I recently wrote an article that described an MTF person I know as “transgendered.” The article was positive about transgendered persons I have known (she is one of many). Upon seeing a draft prior to publication, this person flipped out so hard that I felt compelled to cut off contact with her. I also killed…
A conversation with David Harris-Gershon
DAVID HARRIS-GERSHON speaks at City of Asylum 7 p.m. Thu., Jan. 9. 330 Sampsonia Way, North Side. Free. 412-323-0278 or cityofasylumpittsburgh.org On July 31, 2002, a Hamas operative placed a suitcase bomb in a cafeteria in Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, killing nine people. The location was chosen because of the school’s population of American students. David…
Short List: January 8 – 16
FREE EVENT: Sat., Jan. 11 — Art Last year, Melissa Hiller, director of Pittsburgh’s American Jewish Museum, was entranced by the work of a local artist she’d never heard of: Susan Winicour, who had died in July, at age 74. Winicour’s work was brought to Hiller’s attention by her predecessor at the museum, artist Leslie…
CorningWorks’ Recipes Our Mothers Gave Us Works a cooking metaphor for life
CorningWorks presents 2014 Glue Factory Project: RECIPES OUR MOTHERS GAVE US Jan. 15-19. New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. $25-30 (Jan. 19 is pay-what-you-can). 412-320-4610 or corningworks.org While life doesn’t come with an instruction manual, the wisdom of those who have come before us is supposed to offer guidance. But what if…
A Southern California-style taqueria is a welcome addition to the North Side
El Burro Comedor 1108 Federal St., North Side. 412-904-3451 Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m. -9 p.m. Prices: $3-8.50 Liquor: BYOB Changes are afoot on the Central North Side. Some are big, like the transformation of the Garden Theater into someplace welcoming to all. Others seem smaller, like the disappearance of two-thirds of…
Iranian artist Rokni Haerizadeh’s work at the Carnegie International attracts as it repels
2013 CARNEGIE INTERNATIONAL continues through March 16. Carnegie Museum of Art, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. 412-622-3131 or cmoa.org Dozens of drawings and a pair of animations by Iranian artist Rokni Haerizadeh join the contemporary art at the 2013 Carnegie International. The exhibit is the first in the U.S. for Haerizadeh, who lives and works in…
Eliza’s Oven does star turn in Strip District
While stage managing in New York City, Eliza Bowman gained quite a reputation — as a baker. Bowman fed cast members baked goods during long rehearsal hours before taking on baking the theater’s concessions with a friend. Suddenly, the women had a small business, Bowman recalls, adding, “I realized I liked doing that more than…
Lynn Cullen Live 01/08/14
Video Archive Weather & the media; Robert Gates’ new memoir; are we going back into Iraq?; reading of recently lost soldiers in Afghanistan; urban areas becoming commonly progressive; Democrats jumped to help Bush’s Medicare debacle, but Repubs not returning the favor w/ healthcare.gov; TX brain dead woman kept on life support until status of fetus…
Grit & Grace strives to keep cocktail culture fun
Just because you’re drinking a perfectly made cocktail — complete with house-made mixers — at a hip new Downtown bar, it doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun. That’s the idea at Grit & Grace, the latest concept from chef Brian Pekarcik and Richard Stern, owners of Spoon and BRGR. “Cocktails got really serious for…
Her
Her Directed by: Spike Jonze Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams Starts Fri., Jan. 10 We casually profess our love for Google maps, Minecraft, the unseen miracle that brings us Tumblrs of cats — but what if we really loved these software configurations and they loved us back? Exploring the fungible space between humans…
Downtown’s Apollo Café offers a slate of hearty soups
You can keep your broths, consommés and variously watery soups. I prefer a soup that is thick and rich — a meal in a bowl that fills the belly in a satisfying manner. If you can eat it with a fork, or stand a spoon in it, that’s perfect. The rotating board of hearty soups…
August: Osage County
Director John Wells gets much more right than wrong in his adaptation of Tracy Letts’ darkly comic, Pulitzer-winning August: Osage County. Letts’ screenplay preserves the essential story of a family whose three daughters (shades of King Lear) return to their rural Oklahoma homestead after the sudden disappearance of their father, an alcoholic professor — only…
The Armstrong Lie
A couple of years ago, seven-time Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong and documentarian Alex Gibney teamed up to film what they hoped would be Armstrong’s victory lap: winning the grueling, multi-day bike race in 2009 while consistently testing clean for performance-enhancers, thereby silencing the growing chorus of critics who suspected him of doping. Two…
