Local band New Shouts is new, fresh and most importantly, this week's MP3 Monday!
New Shouts is made up of former members of Camera and Derek White & the Monophobics, who sought to put together more of a soul sound than their previous bands had. They have a few downloads available Bandcamp, but for now we've got "Answers on a Postcard" for you as this week's delectable download.
Singer Cor Allen says the tune is about a long-distance relationship, and the correspondence between two people who care about each other. It's a jaunty and energetic number with hints of '70s soul and Cali surf music, and on the whole pretty sweet.
The band's first show is October 8 at Brillobox with Mariage Blanc.
Tags: FFW>>
Hi blogreaders! It's Friday and that means it's time for a round-up. It's been a busy week here so I'm gonna make it quick.
Tonight (FRIDAY), famed CP cover-boys Centipede Eest play the Brillobox along with Tusk Lord. One Centipede member (leg?) is setting out for sunny California climes soon, so you won't be seeing much of them in the future. Check it out while you still can! At Altar Bar, The Toadies play tonight, proving once and for all that they do still exist. King Sickabilly plays a show that's being deemed "Pork-a-billy," whatever the hell that means, at Howlers along with locals Supercharged Suicide and Devilz in the Detailz. And speaking of suicide, if you're looking for something that might inspire you to slit your wrists, Nickelback plays the CONSOL Energy Center tonight. But we all know you like that pickle better.
Tomorrow (SATURDAY), I'll likely be hitting both WYEP's Rock the Block party at their studio and the New Yinzer-sponsored show at Brillobox featuring More Humans, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, and The Mt. McKinleys.For a Pittsburghy rockin' good time, the Longtime Darlings play Moondog's in Blawnox. And over at Most-Wanted Fine Art, the headliner is Peace, Loving; the others are Brian S. Ellis, Tusk Lord, and Great Blue Heron.
Cool? Cool. Also, don't forget that El Ten Eleven is playing at Brillobox on Monday. I know, it's a Monday. But I checked those dudes out last time they came around and it was what I might call "bitchin' good."
Tags: FFW>>
Mystery continues to surround the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, the non-profit group that apparently received $125,000 of state money to compile a controversial report on environmentalists opposed to natural-gas drilling.
I first reported on this controversy -- which was opened up by online journalism organization ProPublica -- last week. Since then, Gov. Ed Rendell has disavowed the whole enterprise, while other politicians are calling for an investgation. City councilor Doug Shields, for example, asserted, "I want to see the 990s on this group," referring to documents that tax-exempt organizations must file.
That may not be so easy. While today's Post-Gazette notes that the group is registered as a non-profit with the state, I've been having some difficulty tracking down those 990s. The ITRR doesn't have a listing at Guidestar, a widely used clearinghouse for information about non-profit entities. Nor could I find a listing for the organization on the IRS website. (The agency does list two other Philadelphia-based terror-related groups,)
My colleague at the Philadelphia City Paper, Isaiah Thompson, has hit a similar brick wall.
Meanwhile, the ITRR has issued a statement on its website, and it may be the first time in my 15 years as a journalist that I have ever seen a press release with material redacted -- check out the big black boxes on the last two pages.
The release purports to defend the ITRR's work, but because information has been "redacted to protect client privacy," you'll have to be content with testimonials like this:
From a client in the energy sector: "This is a very comprehensive report – thanks for your efforts on our behalf."
From a Fortune 100 company: "Thanks for keeping us safe!"
Ohhhh-kay.The larger intent of the release, apparently, is to justify some of the group's more eyebrow-raising investigations, by noting that even well-intentioned events can become an occasion for violence. (ADDED: I should clarify that the material which follows is apparently excerpted from reports that ITRR claims to have compiled for its clients) It justifies scrutiny of LGBT events, for example, by noting that "'Gay pride' events worldwide have served as trigger events for such radicals with an anti-gay agenda."
As for the threat of environmentalism, the ITRR notes that a pipe bomb exploded at the home of an oil-industry exec early this year. And while it concedes that no one had taken responsibility for the attack, it quotes a series of remarks to assert that "anti-capitalist
and environmental militants expressed satisfaction" at the incident.
Well, maybe, and then again maybe not. For example, one quote cited in the report --
"One oil executive dead is just a good beginning as far as I'm concerned but there are plenty of other corporations that deserve the same or worse... Let's start with Monsanto and Koch industries.""
-- apparently was copy-and-pasted from a comment posted July 11 on this website. Another comment --
"Let the class war begin. This has been simmering for decades. Citizens have no recourse against hundred billion dollar transnational corporations, the president of the united states is freaking powerless against them. They are bigger than most countries in the world and more powerful, somehow they have colluded even with our coast guard who is protecting BP instead of our coast. The only thing these people listen to is huge sums of money, which citizens dont have, or violence. Until we destroy enough of their property to make a financial splash or start killing their executives and decision makers and profiteers, nothing will change. Why should it. ...What can we do but violence????????"
-- was posted here.
Objectionable rhetoric, to be sure. But it's pretty hard to saywhether the people posting this stuff really are "militants," or just jagoffs posting bullshit in their underwear from Mom's basement. The author of that second post, for example, is identiified purely as "progressive."
Maybe ITRR has secret ways of ascertaining the identity and motives of an anonymous online commenter. But I gotta say ... if their research simply involves grazing the internet for stupid comments, I've got an invoice to send somebody.
Tags: Slag Heap
There can't be too many student comedy troupes with as distinguished a set of alumni as this lot from Cambridge University.
Just since 1950, the 127-year-old company has been an early home to such stage, film and TV luminaries as Jonathan Miller, Peter Cook, Sasha Baron Cohen, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, David Frost, at least three future members of Monty Python's Flying Circus and at least one future member of Parliament.
Absolutely none of those people will be at CMU on Sat., Sept. 18, when CMU's own Scotch 'n' Soda Theatre hosts this year's model.
But various incarnations of Footlights continue to tour internationally -- they're regulars at Scotland's renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival -- and with a pedigree like that, there's little reason to believe the troupe's first-ever show in Pittsburgh won't provide plenty of laughs for your very affordable ticket.
The Cambridge Footlights perform their show Good For You at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Sat., Sept. 18
Tickets are $10 ($5 for local college students). www.snstheatre.org
Tags: Program Notes
The venerable and honorable Gertrude Stein Club of Greater Pittsburgh has issued its endorsements for the 2010 election. Statewide, Democrat Joe Sestak garnered the endorsement of the Pittsburgh-based organization, which is devoted to gender equity and LGBT rights. Sestak's backing is no surprise, since he scores highly on gay-friendly issue scorecards. The gruop made no endorsement in the governor's race, although Democratic nominee Dan Onorato did receive some qualitifed support.
The other Gertrude Stein endorsees are:
US Congress, 14th District: Ed Bortz (Green Party)
US Congress, 18th District: Dan Connolly (D)
State House, 19th District: Jake Wheatley (D)
State House, 23rd District: Dan Frankel (D)
State House, 24th District: Joe Preston (D)
State Senate, 38th District: Jim Ferlo (D)
All of which makes sense to me (though the Club endorsed Wheatley's opponent, former city councilor Tonya Payne, in the Democratic primary earlier this year). In the 14th Congressional District, incumbent Democrat Mike Doyle did get an "honorable mention," indicating that he has a significant amount of common ground with the club's political vision. But after all, Doyle is pro-life, whereas the club is committed to protecting a woman's right to choose.
State Rep. Chelsa Wagner, who represents the South Hills, also got an honorable mention
As for Onorato ... the Club endorsed progressive-without-a-prayer Joe Hoeffel in the spring. But Onorato walked away with the party's nomination, and the Club gave him an honorable mention as well. In a release explaining the endorsement, the club credits Onorato for "solid recent support for countywide LGBT protections" while noting that in the past he's been "less supportive of the LGBT community."
The Club also notes Onorato's "mixed/nuanced stance on women's issues." Given Onorato's frantic positioning on the abortion question, I'm taking that line to be a bit of wry understatement.
But God knows he's a couple steps up from Republican Tom Corbett.
Tags: Slag Heap
Not long ago, we wrote about an online music video by local black activist Jasiri X titled, "What if the Tea Party Was Black?" The premise of the song, of course, is that the Tea Party's aggressively anti-government rhetoric would be far more controversial -- and perceived as much more threatening -- if its members weren't white.
What I'm wondering this morning, though, is: what if the Tea Party were green? How tolerant would our government, and our media, be if it were made up of environmentalists expressing misgivings about, say, the rampant growth of natural-gas drilling in our state?
What prompts the question is a story I first mentioned last week. Your state government has been issuing "Intelligence Bulletins," keeping tabs on the actions of environmentalists. The story was first reported by online journalism outfit Pro Publica last week, but didn't get any local MSM traction outside of this blog (which yeah, doesn't really count) until last night, when Ed Rendell held a press conference expressing horror at the situation.
Now I'm not about to start digging a bunker in my backyard. I think this fiasco is more absurd than anything else. (I mean, if the government was so skilled at monitoring subversives, would the head of state Homeland Security have copped to the program in an e-mail to the wrong person?) But what pisses me off is ... how come it's only lefties who merit government scrutiny?
The Intelligence Bulletin that kicked off this mess is 12 pages long. Among the events it warns of presenting "additional risk factors" are the Jewish High Holidays and Ramadan (see? Muslims and Jews have some things in common after all! Let the healing begin!). Also supposedly presenting an opportunity for trouble: zoning hearings in Upper St. Clair, a Pittsburgh City Council hearing, and gatherings of such bloodthirsty groups as the Brandywine Peace Community.
It's a comprehensive list, except for one thing: It's only interested in political activity on the left.
It's not that conservatives are staying home. The Tea Party Patriots website lists tons of upcoming gatherings, some of which sound far more militant than a screening of Gasland. An Oct. 23 rally at the state Capitol, for example, is billed as a chance to show "We DO have a voice. We DO know when our government has gone awry ... We WILL be involved in forming the future."
Another event, slated for Sept. 12, was pitched as a chance to assert that "We The People are FED up and want [elected officials] to do their job as We The People direct them to."
(Note to state Homeland Security: Hey, I've helped compile a list of potential threats to public order. Can I bill you for $125,000 now, just like your vendor the Institute of Terror and Research Response did?)
None of these events are disclosed in the 12-page intelligence bulletin. In fact, the only mention of the Tea Party is a heads-up about a protest against them -- "Burn the Confederate Flag Day.," which the bulletin notes is "targeted at the Tea Party and 9/12 movements." Funnily enough, the bulletin does mention that TP groups are "holding rallies on the same day" ... but obviously doesn't view those gatherings as a threat, since it provides no details.
So see if you can follow this logic. On the one hand, you have a pseudo-populist movement that noisily asserts its Second Amendment rights, and whose members widely consider the current government to be illegitimate and marching toward socialism. On the other hand, you have a demonstration slated to burn the flag used by an armed rebellion against the U.S. government. And guess which of these two groups apparently merits scrutiny?
State officials have insisted that environmental groups merit additional scrutiny, because there have been acts of vandalism against some natural-gas drilling sites. There's no evidence tying these acts -- a scattered handful of occurrences which could easily be attributed to drunken teens, or methed-out militias shooting at black helicopters -- to environmentalists. Even so, Homeland Security Director James Powers warned that the presence of environmentalsts at public meetings may "spark something else" and "escalate to physical criminal acts."
And yet, no mention in the bulletin -- or anywhere else -- about the potential for bad blood resulting from angry Tea Partiers lashing out at "town meetings."
It's just a sickening irony. The Tea Partiers fret about government intrusion in their lives, about jackbooted thugs oppressing their rights. And yet time and time again, it seems, the only people who government is really worried about are those of us on the left.
Tags: Slag Heap
Though Sodajerk has departed from Pittsburgh and moved south, the fond memories of this once-local band live on in this week’s MP3 Monday.
“Songs for the Empty Handed,” the title song from Sodajerk’s newest album, is an upbeat guitar heavy track with some slight hints of Southern rock and ‘90s radio pop-rock.
Since the band relocated to Atlanta in 2005, there aren’t any local shows coming up, but fans can check out Sodajerk's website to see what’s the band’s been up to since its departure.
Tags: FFW>>
It's no surprise that fledgling Microscopic Opera's second production featured engaging music and fine singing. What was unexpected was the thematic intrigue of the show's narratives -- something opera doesn't always provide.
The contemporary chamber operas the troupe specializes in might be an expection to that rule. (Hard for me to say, because we hadn't seen many around here till now.) After all, Microscopic's premiere, this past spring, did feature the emotional gut-punch of Jake Hegge's "To Hell and Back."
But this show's intrigue was of a different species.
"Monkey's Paw" might seem an unlikely wellspring of such interest: Its source material was W.W. Jacobs' familiar story about an elderly couple making an ill-fated wish on the titular enchanted appendage.
But, for starters, Jonathan Kupper's musically lush new adaptation of the Victorian horror classic is suffused with a kind of religious fatalism that's rare in contemporary work.
For instance, a song sung by the couple's son, Herbert (Daniel Teadt), is one of consigning his fate to God yet acknowledging he mightn't live out the day. (He doesn't.) And the crepuscular one-act ends with the cast of four (including Raymond Blackwell, William Andrews and Carissa Kett) singing, "We are the monsters. We are the ghosts. We only haunt ourselves."
"Happy Garden" is significantly more contemporary, if no less fatalistic. It's based on a 1962 Kurt Vonnegut story about a future society where old age, disease and even death have been overcome -- but population is kept constant by requiring each birth to be balanced by a volunteer's assisted suicide.
Director Lisa Ann Goldsmith (who also directed "Monkey's") stages the new one-act in a wry, manic style that works for both Vonnegut and composer Katarzyna Brochocka's playfully atonal score. Key roles include the narrator, played by Mary Beth Sederberg with delightful weirdness and crazy hair, and a man in a maternity ward (Jeffrey Gross) who learns that his wife has just given birth to triplets. That means he must find not one volunteer suicide, but three.
As she sings the opening passage, Sederberg's wild eyes make it clear that this society's inhabitants have cracked under the strain of utopian perfection. But what's the alternative? As the character Dr. Hitz points out, before population was checked by his regime of control, "There wasn't even enough drinking water. And nothing to eat except seaweed."
Goldsmith and the cast (especially Gross and Erica Olden, as a perky gas-chamber attendant) milk every ounce of comedy from the script and then some. But, like good satire should, none of it goes down easily: Overpopulation and water shortages are bigger problems than ever. And Vonnegut's solutionless formula -- that the only planet we could survive on is one we'd never wish to inhabit -- offers nothing like comfort.
Likewise flying in the face of our society's general belief in progress, "Monkey's Paw" for its part suggests that getting what you want is worse than wanting what you haven't got.
The thematic unity of these two thoughtful works is reinforced by the show's enhanced production values. Since its first show, Microscopic has added a raised stage, and instead of a lone pianist, musical director Andres Cladera conducts a small orchestra. Underneath a borrowed professional lighting grid, it all sounded great in the donated empty retail space (located between the Borders and the state store on Baum Boulevard, in East Liberty).
"Monkey's Paw" & "Happy Garden of Life" continue with performances at 8 p.m. nightly tonight, Sun., Sept. 12, and Sept. 17-19. www.microscopicopera.com
Tags: Program Notes
Jordan Miles, the Homewood student left battered from an encounter with three Pittsburgh police officers in January, has started college now. Theoretically, he could graduate before we ever know what will happen to the police involved.
Or not. On August 27, KDKA's Marty Griffin reported that the FBI's investigation of the incident "is apparently over ... Sources tell the KDKA Investigators right now the Justice Department has no intention of pursuing charges against the three officers." According to Griffin, "attorneys representing the family" said Justice Department officials told them "We are declining the case involving Jordan" because "It's three against one."
The following day, the Tribune-Review came out with an account that seemed to controvert Griffin's story:
A federal civil rights investigation into three Pittsburgh officers accused of beating a Homewood teenager remains open despite a flurry of rumors that brought a rebuke from the police chief this week ...
"He's wrong. I'm telling you he's wrong," [a family attorney] said of a KDKA reporter.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department in Washington said the civil rights case remains open, but declined to comment further.
City officials sought to squelch speculation that the investigation is finished.
"Those rumors need to cease," police Chief Nate Harper said in an e-mail message from spokeswoman Diane Richard.
I sort of like how the Trib account can't bring itself to even mention Griffin's name. But unbowed, the inimitable Griffin returned Aug. 30 with a report reiterating that, while the family had filed a civil suit, the police would not be charged in a federal criminal case. What's more, Griffin added, "sources indicated the three Pittsburgh police officers will be brought back to full-time duty as soon as possible."
Well, that may or may not be very soon: Police spokesperson Diane Richard told me that as of yesterday, the agency had not yet received any notification from the Justice Department that the case had been closed. Such notification would be necessary, she added, before the city would even act on a request to return the officers to duty. But she had no indication about when, or if, such notification would be forthcoming.
Such word could come in a few days, as Griffin suggests. Conversely, the feds are not obliged to act for another several years: Under federal law, there's a five-year statute of limitations on criminal civil rights violations.
But on the central issue, Griffin and the Trib's dispatch agree: By all accounts, federal officials did tell the family that this matter boils down to a he-said/they said situation. (Echoing Griffin's report, Miles' attorney told the paper that the feds "were reticent about moving ahead because of the credibility about one boy against three officers.") If that's true, it suggests that they've found no other evidence to corroborate one side or the other. And if they haven't found such evidence by now, they're probably not going to.
So unless the family members are really confused, there's not gonna be any federal criminal charges here. The only question is when the feds are going to make that official.
What's notable about the Trib account, in fact, is that you have the city's police chief agreeing with the attorney suing his officers. Both men took pains to insist that the police are still under investigation. How often do you see that happen?
In a way it's not surprising. Because the day the feds do officially drop the case is the day Harper's headaches really begin.
The status quo has a pricetag, of course. As we've previously reported, it's costing thousands of dollars a month to keep the officers involved on administrative leave, pending resolution of the investigation. City taxpayers, in fact, are actually shelling out for overtime the officers would have been earning had they still been on active duty. It gives new meaning to the phrase "working hard hardly working."
So what is the city buying with all that money? Time, if nothing else.
First, the FBI investigation may not be the last word in investigating this case. The city's Citizens Police Review Board, for example, has been unable to investigate the matter, because as its bylaws clearly state,
Should the Review Board or its staff learn at any time that the District Attorney, the State Attorney General's office or the Department of Justice has initiated criminal proceedings against a Subject Officer, the Review Board shall defer any preliminary inquiry and/or investigation until such criminal proceedings have been withdrawn or concluded.
Even the police department's internal review of the officers is on hold, pending the federal investigation -- which never made much sense, and makes even less sense in light of recent reports. Unless, of course, you are looking for an excuse to delay taking action.
Suffice it to say that within city government, there are serious concerns about how the community -- especially in police Zone 5, which includes Homewood -- would respond if the officers are cleared and reinstated. Jordan Miles, and the officers accused of beating him, have been in a protracted limbo ... but for city officials, that's probably the least uncomfortable place to be.
After all, imagine how Griffin's report would have gone over last winter, when Miles' classmates were holding demonstrations outside City Council. Or imagine how a decision to discipline the officers would have gone over in March, when the FOP was wearing T-shirts in the St. Patrick's Day parade to show solidarity with the officers involved.
At this point, though, Miles and many of his friends have gone off to college; younger students are back in school. And Miles' attorneys have filed their civil suit. Football season is beginning, for God's sake.
"No justice, no peace" the old rallying cry declares. But it sure looks like law enforcement is keeping the peace by slowing down the justice system as much as possible.Tags: Slag Heap
A couple of developments worth noting on the Marcellus Shale front.
First, yesterday the non-profit journalism outfit ProPublica reported on law-enforcement warnings about environmental extremists that oppose natural-gas drilling in the deeply buried shale layer. The document (which City Paper has also independently obtained a copy of) is an "intelligence bulletin" dated Aug. 30 and intended for "potentially affected skateholders -- whether public or private sector."
The bulletin warns that extremists may "try to intimidate companies," and warns of "several recent reported criminal incidents toward energy companies." But it discloses no details about those occurrences -- and indeed cites a "lack of direct reporting" on threats. It does, however, itemize a list of events that "have been singled out for attendance by anti-Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas drilling activists." These include such radical gatherings as a Pittsburgh City Council hearing on drilling slated for Sept. 13, and a zoning hearing in Upper St. Clair scheduled for Oct. 4.
Many of the dates in the document have no connection to gas drilling: Also on the list are Ramadan -- an Islamic holy month that terrorists consider "auspicious period for attacks" -- and that Koran-burning idiot down in Florida. (Also noted in the report: critiques of PNC Bank's financing of mountaintop-removal mining practices.)
But the bulletin makes a point of warning that "environmental extremism [is] likely to become a greater threat to the energy sector." Citing an FBI report from August, it cautions that "Environmental extremists continue to target the energy industry by committting criminal incidents, primarily to opose the fossil-fuel industry." While thus far incidents have consisted of minor vandalism and trespassing, the report warns that environmentalists "may be transitioning to more criminal, extremist measures actions [sic]. Based on several recent reported criminal incidents ... environmental extremism will become a greater threat to the energy industry."
Moreover, it notes that "Pennsylvania has gained a prominent position in the production of natural gas from drilling operations within the Marcellus Shale Formation. Analysts expect that groups of environmental activists and militants on the one hand -- and property owerns, mining and drilling companies on the other -- will be focusing their attention on one another in the future months as production increases."
The ProPublica dispatch includes some assurances from public officials that -- as a gubernatorial spokesman says -- "All this security bulletin does is raise awareness of local officials. It doesn't accuse anyone of local activity."
But it's pretty clear that officials would prefer you not know they are paying attention. Philadelphia City Paper reported earlier today on a follow-up e-mail sent out by the chief of the state's Homeland Security operation. In that e-mail -- which was intended for a private audience, -- state Homeland Security head James Powers urges that the Bulletin "is not for dissemination in the public domain." It is, instead, meant only for "owners/operators & security personnel associated with our critical infrastructure & key resources ... [I]t should only be disseminated via closed communications systems."
Well, that horse is out of the barn, apparently. And ironically enough, the Powers e-mail leaked, apparently, because he sent it to the wrong guy.
"We want to continue providing this support to the Marcellus Shale Formation natural gas stakeholders while not feeding those groups fomenting dissent against those same companies," he wrote.
None of this strikes me as too surprising -- and I guess it's nice that somebody is paying attention to those city council meetings. A lot of this bulletin seems to be more in "heads-up" mode. And in any case, I suppose in these post-9/11 times, we've all suspected something like was going on.
Even so, I know of a few environmentalists who are a little creeped out by the idea of secret government surveillance. Although they have at least one bit of consolation -- judging from Powers' e-mail gaffe, the government isn't very good at it yet.
Tags: Slag Heap