Wreaking Hlavac
OK, it’s way too soon to say I told you so, but … Pittsburgh police sergeant Eugene Hlavac — who was terminated by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl after being accused of hitting the mother of his child — was found not guilty yesterday. Hlavac, you’ll remember, had been promoted to sergeant by Ravenstahl back in 2007,…
“Piano Teacher to the Stars” Margie Balter visits Pitt on Fri., April 23
“Your neighborhood piano teacher was never this fabulous. Raised in Squirrel Hill, Margie Balter made her way to Hollywood, and over the past decade, her work has been featured in many a blockbuster — not that you can see it. Which is kind of the point: Balter helps actors look like they know how to…
The two Jack Wagners (?)
An interesting coda to my post yesterday about Dan Onorato’s position on abortion rights. According to today’s Morning Call of Allentown, gubernatorial candidate Jack Wagner has said he, too, would oppose changing the state’s abortion law — a position similar to the one Onorato has stated: He may oppose abortion, but Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jack…
Local filmmaker in national contest
Andrew Kelemen, who was featured in the April 7 CP as an artist in the Film Kitchen series, is among five finalists in a national contest to make a promotional short for the series finale ABC’s Lost. Kelemen, 24, of Squirrel Hill, has worked as an editor at WQED-TV and KDKA TV. (Here’s my Film…
The Two Dan Onoratos
There’s been an interesting little drama unfolding in Dan Onorato’s gubernatorial campaign. And it may well hold the key to his hopes for victory in next month’s primary. On Sunday, April 18, Onorato appeared with other candidates (or their representatives) at the endorsement meeting of the 14th Ward Independent Democrat Club. During that gathering, Onorato…
Sestak responds to Specter ad
Earlier today, we reported on Arlen Specter’s new TV ads attacking Sestak’s military record and history of missed votes in Congress. At an Equal Pay Day rally Tuesday at Mellon Square Park at noon today, Sestak said that he expected the negativity. “Arlen Specter is a disappointment,” Sestak said. “After 30 years in the Senate,…
Post-rock band Unwed Sailor plays Brillobox tonight
A last-minute plug for post-rockers Unwed Sailor, playing tonight at Brillobox. I reviewed the band’s 2007 album The White Ox for City Paper some time ago; since then, they’ve released Little Wars, also on Burnt Toast Vinyl. Also on the bill tonight are locals Dawn Cannon (who recently put out a USB/digital release) and Common…
Another Killer Specter Ad
Not for nothing is Arlen Specter known as a fierce campaigner. This morning, I caught his latest attack ad (viewable here) on Democratic rival Joe Sestak. The ad refers to Sestak as “No-Show Joe,” citing some 127 votes he’s missed in Congress. (Team Specter has even helpfully crafted a Web site on the matter.) It…
MP3 Monday: KardaZ / The Mighty Guins
It’s Monday, and it’s mid-April, and the Penguins are in the playoffs. This can only mean one thing: time for a free download of local band KardaZ’s “The Mighty Guins” song! Each year the, er, Guins make the playoffs, the band redoes the vocal tracks to fit the roster of the team that season. It…
Either/Orie — Dems launch write-in challenger for embattled state Senator
Spotting opportunity in state Sen. Jane Orie’s legal troubles, local Democrats are trying to secure a spot on the November ballot with a write-in campaign. And just in case Orie didn’t feel quite persecuted enough … their candidate once worked for the judge who supervised the grand jury that indicted her. Just weeks ago, Orie’s…
News out of the 20th state rep race
I’ve written previously about the complicated (read “disastrous if your last name isn’t ‘Ravenstahl'”) dynamics taking place in the 20th legislative district race, which is a combined special-and-primary contest to replace now-judge Don Walko. The presumed front-runner is Adam Ravenstahl, the mayor’s brother and the endorsed Democrat in the race. But his biggest advantage may…
14th ward independent Dems weigh in on May primary races
That bastion of East End progressivism, the 14th Ward’s Independent Democratic Club, has announced its endorsements for the May primary. The endorsements came after a club gathering held over the weekend; they don’t seem to be up on their Web site just yet, but here you go. The club’s choice for governor is no surprise:…
Back to Back at Mr. Small’s: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Girls
“Jesus, I dare you to come back,” sang Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s Peter Hayes, as the strobes flickered and the clouds of fog lit up with ominous red light. As I looked around Mr. Small’s last week — packed to the walls with swaying bodies — I thought about how long BRMC has been coming…
Weekend update!
Hey beautiful blog-readers!: Last-minute plugs for a couple shows worth noting tomorrow (Saturday) night: At Brillobox, El Ten Eleven returns (I gave them the Short List treatment once; Gramsci Melodic, whom I wrote about a while back, opens, along with Whisper Signal. This is where I will likely be. Starts at 9, costs you 7.…
Trib finds an academic elitist even Tea Partiers will like
Usually I leave deconstructing Tribune-Review articles to the good folks at 2 Political Junkies: God knows it’s important work, but you know — life is pretty short. Still, I couldn’t help but notice this passage from the Trib’s wrap-up of yesterday’s Tea Party event in Market Square Downtown: The tea party patriots have been given…
Amphitheatre at Station Square announces summer concert schedule
Area promoters are starting to announce their warm-weather shows, and we’ll have all the info for you in City Paper’s annual Summer Guide, coming out in just a few weeks. This week, Drusky Entertainment announced its upcoming shows at the Amphitheatre at Station Square — a mixed bag of local performers, nostalgia acts and a…
The city’s most prominent memorial to Stephen Foster continues to offend many.
“It’s just offensive on every level imaginable.”
Are the Tea Parties Cooling Off?
I tweeted a bit from today’s Tea Party event in Mellon Square Park Downtown, but here are some further initial impressions. First, although last year’s April 15 Tea Party took place on a dismal day — and though today was picture-perfect as far as weather goes — the crowd seemed smaller, and more subdued. This…
Fostering a Legacy
A new musical stage drama might rescue Stephen Foster from nostalgia
Short List: Week of April 15 – 22
Bob Golub’s Dodo: The Docu-Comedy tells a story both made in Western Pennsylvania and seemingly made for it. The nationally known stand-up comic spent years exploring his story of growing up poor in Sharon, Pa., one of eight siblings ruled by their father, a volatile, hard-drinking roofer and Steelers fanatic. Dissatisfied with both his one-man…
Our Place
A notch above typical diner fare, and the best dishes are something special
The Girl on the Train
André Téchiné’s latest film is adapted from a play, which itself was based on actual recent events. At the crux of the drama is a feckless act by a young French woman: Though not Jewish, she claims to be the victim of an anti-Semitic attack, while riding on a suburban Paris train.
But Téchiné takes…
Kick-Ass
Viewers will see plenty of that in Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of Mark Millar’s comic-book series. Despite trailers and TV commercials that make this action-comedy look like a colorful, chop-socky candy store, this film earns its R-rating in profanity and violence (however comic). Those cool with that should find Kick-Ass to be great fun: It’s Revenge…
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Adapted from Stieg Larsson’s mega-selling book and directed by Niels Arden Oplev, this two-and-a-half film tackles family history, a business investigation, an odd romance and a cold-case murder mystery — that remarkably all tie together. A middle-aged investigative journalist and young, anti-social female hacker pool skills to solve a decades-old mystery on a remote island.…
Hacker’s Paradise
CMU team takes second in international event
Cornered Store
Bloomfield store under fire by neighbors
Patriot Names
Local organization decries inclusion on list of radical political groups
Razzy Fresh
At this self-serve spot, you design your own frozen-yogurt treat.
Lynn Emanuel’s darkly comic Noose and Hook finds the world gone to the dogs.
There’s a loss of agency but a learning to like it; the narrator is wised up, in a way — fitted for chaos.
This Just In: April 15 – 22
Highlights from the local TV news: It was Ice Knowing You
BJM DANSE returns with works by two rising young choreographers.
“We see aspects of their personalities from the beautiful to the ugly.”
Nunsense
It feels a little bit pointless to come down on a show this vapid.
Poll dancing
It “has everyone talking” say the folks at DailyKos: A Rasmussen poll out this week showing Joe Sestak and Arlen Specter in a statistical dead heat. Maybe people are talking about it; I’m just not sure what it means. I’ve written about Rasmussen’s often-controversial numbers before: The long and short of it is that they…
The Ancestor Series
These are not happy plays, but there are laughs as well as sorrows, and a sense of triumph in all of them.
DJ Godfather brings Detroit ghettotech to the Rex Theater
More popular in the mid-’90s Motor City than hip hop, the raw ghettotech style reclaimed the African-American lineage of techno.
Local hardcore band Slices evolves from noise origins
“It’s always been aggressive and chaotic music.”
Local garage-punks The Atomic Drops kick off spring tour at The Smiling Moose
In true grassroots fashion, their regional fan base seems to increase with every concert.
Australia’s The Church celebrates 30 years with a unique retrospective tour
“We’ve always had the feeling we were creating music that we’d still be able to listen to as we matured. And I think we can.”
Local underground rockers also play the commercial-music game
Last year, the duo recorded a “Ghostbusters” spoof for an “active lifestyle” television PSA that ran in Delaware.
Savage Love
I am a mostly straight, 22-year-old woman. I am a pretty GGG kind of gal. I am generally not put off easily, even if I am told things that don’t quite do it for me. So I just started seeing this guy. I haven’t known him for long — no serious sexual activity other than…
Illustrator Chris Moeller’s artwork delves into both sword and sorcery and darker eroticism.
Comic books, graphic novels and video games reveal the uncontrollable universe and the dark recesses of the human psyche.
Thanks for the memos
Got a feeling that Infinonymous has got a copy of this as well, and it’s been leaked (and reported) elsewhere, but I’ll post it now, while I’m waiting for today’s Tea Party action to begin: an internal memo from the Dan Onorato campaign laying out their strategy for deciding whether to knock Hoeffel off the…
