10 Days that Unexpectedly Changed America: The Homestead Strike
I was wary of the History Channel’s new documentary about the 1892 Homestead Steel strike. After all, the cable network’s owner is a joint venture of the Hearst publishing chain, Disney-owned ABC and General Electric’s NBC. These aren’t folks I expect to see holding aloft solidarity’s flag. But the documentary is narrated by…
Steelhead Brasserie and Wine Bar
Location: Marriott City Center, 112 Washington Ave., Downtown. 412-394-3474 Hours: Dinner, Mon.-Fri. 5-10 p.m.; Sat. 5-11 p.m. Call for breakfast and lunch hours. Prices: Starters/small plates, $7-15; entrées, $20-35 Fare: Seafood with chops Atmosphere: Upscale hotel restaurant Liquor: Full bar Smoking: Designated sections When Steelhead Grill opened about 10 years ago in a hotel across…
THE BENCHWARMERS
After seeing some dweeby kid get picked on … OK, technically he was farted on … Gus (Rob Schneider) decides to start a baseball team for a couple of grown-up nerds he knows … Clark (Jon Heder), a booger-eating momma’s boy, and Richie (David Spade), an emotionally stunted man-child. With backing from a nerd-turned-billionaire (Jon…
Fertile Resistance
Protest’s future looks so bright, more police will be wearing shades. That was the conclusion presented to more than 60 anti-military recruitment activists from around the country on April 9, during the last day of Pittsburgh’s first Counter Recruitment Conference. It was not your typical conference. The seminars, held at Carnegie Mellon University, were attended…
LONESOME JIM
Steve Buscemi’s comedy-drama about tentatively embracing life would be more compelling if the film didn’t seem so lifeless. Casey Affleck is Jim, the prodigal son and failed writer, returning home to Goshen, Ind. He moves in with his parents (at Christmas, natch), refuses their job offer at the ladder factory and pals around with his…
Bettis’s Career in the End Zone
OK, everybody who is sick of the ubiquitous Jerome Bettis references in every sport, raise your hand. It doesn’t seem to be going away — apparently every athlete wants to be like Jerome. And I’m not talking about the millions in his bank account, or even his new TV deal. If I didn’t hear the…
Morrissey
Morrissey’s eighth solo release since the fateful demise of The Smiths proves that an artist can basically pull off the same sound throughout his career without sounding old, monotonous or bored. Thematically, the album can be summed up in five categories … birth, sex, murder, death and … Pittsburgh. And though…
Pleasure Technicians
When a band calls themselves Pleasure Technicians, they’d better practice what they preach. Well, these guys do. On Help Is on the Way, their first full-length release, they’ve taken a current trend … electronic rock … and bent it toward their own ends, crafting a synthesized rock sound that sets them apart from bands like…
The Recrudescence Incident
If you’re much surprised by how the new issue of Deek looks, you probably haven’t been paying attention. The creators of the locally based indie magazine have endowed each issue with a different visual style, from Unabomber typescript to trash-chic fan mag. Still, Deek’s April return from a five-month hiatus marks…
DJ Shine-O-Mite
Original man DJ Shine-O-Mite (a.k.a. Born Shamir Allah) broke mad ground in Pittsburgh. With rap group RXC, he helped form Theraputix, one of the city’s first regular showcases for local hip hop. He was one of the first … if not the first … area DJs to have an all-classic/retro-soul night (SoulPatrol.com should…
Command Performance
If you’re a male patrolman in the Pittsburgh Police Department’s Zone 3, you literally can’t take a leak without Commander RaShall Brackney knowing about it. Her office is separated from the men’s room by a thin wall, and Brackney can hear every flush. Not that she wants to: She prides herself on being an assertive…
A conversation with Eman Ahmed Khamas
Iraqi journalist, translator and human-rights activist Eman Ahmed Khamas arrived in the U.S. on March 5 with a delegation of Iraqi women, hosted by Global Exchange and CODEPINK, who are promoting a Women’s Call for Peace to end the escalation of violence in Iraq. The full text is available at womensaynotowar.org Khamas…
Hazelwood Picture Worth 1,000 Words … But $8,000 in Damage?
The steep sidewalk outside Hazelwood’s Elizabeth Pharmacy has been reduced to rubble … thanks to an effort to beautify the neighborhood. Painting the publicly funded mural on the Elizabeth Avenue building required a hydraulic lift, which broke up the asphalt sidewalk near the building’s Second Avenue corner. Now a hearing will determine who’ll pay…
Mass Citations Greet Mass Cyclists
Members of Critical Mass, a loosely organized group of urban-cycling advocates, have lodged a complaint about the conduct of one city police officer who stopped and cited four members during the group’s large monthly ride. On the evening of March 31, when a cavalcade of some 50 cyclists headed east down Penn Avenue past…
Sweat-Free Baseball Campaign Hoping to Share All-Star Spotlight
As the Pirates raced off to a 1-6 start, it’s hard to say how many local players will get to suit up when the All-Star Game comes to PNC Park July 11. But one hometown team is already making plans for the festivities … the Pittsburgh Anti-Sweatshop Community Alliance (PASCA). “We plan on…
Illegals Issue Here Crosses Border Into Public Awareness
One million marchers in Los Angeles. Half a million in Dallas. One hundred in Pittsburgh. Despite the numbers, organizers were pleased with the turnout for their Downtown rally for the rights of undocumented immigrants. At the April 10 demonstration, marchers carried signs reading, “We Are All Americans,” “Welcome the Persecuted” and “No Human Being…
Don’t Come Knocking
There are many ways into Don’t Come Knocking, but there’s only one way out: This is the work of Wim Wenders, the lugubrious German director in love with his Euro-vision of Americana, and of Sam Shepard, the playwright who’s made a career of exposing the tormented heart of the American West. …
Phat Girlz
Generously proportioned Jazmin Biltmore (get it … built more?) is frustrated: Society wants her to be thin; friends and strangers alike mock her size; and she can’t get anybody to take her fun, stylish fashion designs for large women seriously. Fate tosses her a meaty bone … a trip to a Palm Springs…
