Code Red Tape
“I don’t choose to be here illegally. To be alive I have to be here.”
This Just In
Highlights from local TV news.
Perfect Stranger
Sadly, the story is a mess — who needs logic when there’s Berry’s lush form for the camera to leer at? And don’t look for action. (Capsule review.)
Carlisle hitting campaign trail following criminal charges
One day after she was indicted on theft and criminal conspiracy charges, several supporters, and even some rivals, seemed happy to see Carlisle at a candidates’ forum.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Loach writes his heroes in small letters, and typically places them in complex social contexts, where nothing’s black or white.
Workshop will teach women the tricks of biofuel conversion
If you dream of tooling around Pittsburgh in a less-polluting set of wheels, your choices have just increased. Fossil Free Fuel is setting up shop in Braddock to help people convert their vehicles to run on biofuel — vegetable oil. They make modifications to regular vehicles that harness the heat of an engine allowing a…
Fracture
It’s a bit of a slum for the highly capable lead actors, but that’s a bonus for us.
Female power-trio the Great Ants releases debut, For Simply
“That night, we got together, and I swear to God, we rewrote every single one of our songs in one day.”
Bocktown Beer and Grill
Amazingly, an entire column is dedicated to the French fry, with a list of toppings longer than that at your average pizzeria.
Graham Reynolds and The Golden Arm Trio
“I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, and I’ve never done any drugs. So it’s kinda ironic, actually.”
Julius Caesar
As Cassius, Richard McMillan is bug-eyed and shrieky, so maddened by envy that he probably practices assassination by stabbing his own servants.
Hip Hop Week at Pitt concert features BNVz, Wiz Khalifa and others
“There are a lot of strong artists in this local urban scene doing positive things,” says Harris. “This campus is hungry for the music.”
Reefer Madness
The show’s humor comes from satirizing the film’s corny righteousness.
Dear and the Headlights craft convincingly melancholy debut
Ian Metzger of Dear and the Headlights is the kind of singer who could break your heart with a cover of Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”
for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf
At its best, Shange’s writing flows like song lyrics, in sensuous street rhythms, and she’s capable of brutal honesty, deep solace and heartbreaking vulnerability.
Antennacle and Bastard Noise perform at Roboto
“Sound is about physics and how it operates within space. It can either erase walls or construct them.”
Comedian Judah Friedlander is just plain better than you.
“I’ve tried to fight myself just to see what other people were up against, but it was a draw.”
Star Power
The Stanley Cup is a long way off; the Penguins will have their hands full just beating Ottawa in the first round. But given how this captivating team has already surpassed expectations, it’s not too early to fete the players with awards inspired by the Oscars. First we’ll bestow the Meryl Streep Award on Sidney…
The Playhouse Dance Company pulls out the stops for its annual Byham show.
“It’s a happy ballet where nobody dies.”
Second-Hand Smoke
I could filch a beer sometimes, but not smokes. Cigarettes were held in the first hand. Cartons stacked in the hall closet next to the 100-pack of matches. Plastic and foil for freshness. Five kids, lungs coated with soot. The second hand stuttered through minutes, hours, the etc. of our lives in that yellow kitchen.…
Young dancers will flood Pittsburgh to learn, and to perform.
A highlight will be the five evenings of jam-packed public performances at the Benedum Center, nightly featuring 16-18 dance companies from around the country.
Savage Love
I am a 26-year-old straight male interested in ballbusting. At a party, I met a lesbian who goes by “Buck.” She’s 20, dresses like a boy, and made it clear that she hates males and their anatomy. Before agreeing to play a friendly game of Truth or Dare, she specified that she would not “do…
Gaining Ground(s)
Spilling the Beans? During his decades selling life insurance, Worth Helms never imagined he’d spend his retirement as a Ugandan coffee mogul. Actually, “mogul” may be too strong a word: Helms receives no compensation for his role as president of the board of Ugandan Gold Coffee. Every nickel of profit the company makes goes…
New hockey arena or no, is knocking down historic buildings really the path to revitalization?
Don’t stand among some of the most vast expanses of open asphalt near a major downtown anywhere and tell me that you still need more room for a new building.
Spilling the Beans?
Leonardo Bravo and Luis Loja are different from most banana farmers in Ecuador. In contrast to workers on big plantations, many of whom are paid little and are exposed to dangerous pesticides, Bravo and Loja work in a small farmer cooperative that works in tandem with the fair-trade movement to ensure they receive fair prices…
Pittsburgh n’@
Local blogging round-up
Hip Mama founder Ariel Gore talks writing and motherhood.
“I love to see motherhood portrayed as being sexy. But at the same time, it’s like: Come on — somebody’s changing that kid’s diaper!”
CMU students produce and release pop albums as final projects
Don’t expect Goldberg or Vogelzang to stick around for very long after graduation — hey, this is Pittsburgh, right?
Wish List
There’s so much to say these days, especially after a glitch that caused me to disappear from the paper for far too long. Judging from the comments posted on the City Paper Web site, my words have inspired a need for your responses, and I thank you for reading and responding. However, some of you…
Air Guitar Nation
Alexandra Lipsitz steps up to present the half-silly, half-serious milieu of competitive air guitar. (Capsule review.)
The arts community has a new Pittsburgh-based online resource
“We’re hoping to create a virtual community to help artists succeed.”
Overdue Charge
I’ll confess: I almost admire Pittsburgh City Councilor Twanda Carlisle. Sure, she’s facing a slew of charges in an alleged kickback scheme. Carlisle is accused of paying city money to friends who supposedly performed services for her office; she then supposedly deposited cash in her own bank account days later. But she’s got moxie, at…
China Blue
It’s easy to pay lip service to the ills of globalization, but Micah X. Peled’s documentary quietly and effectively places us directly in it. (Capsule review.)
Taking the Lid Off
When I began my write-in campaign for mayor, I was met with bemused indifference. But thanks to grassroots support, I’m proud to say I’m now riding a wave of apathy. So I empathize with the Hill District as it faces plans to build a new arena next door. Some people outside the neighborhood think neighborhood…
Memory Book
Robert Gibb’s fine new poetry collection World Over Water (University of Arkansas Press) is about the past. More specifically, it’s largely concerned with images of the past — the photos, paintings and relics that are, increasingly, all that remains of the industrial-age culture Gibb inherited as the son of a steelworker family in Homestead. Gibb…
In the Land of Women
It’s not Garden State, that downbeat indie fave from a couple years back — but Jonathan Kasdan’s dramedy is a fair big-studio approximation. (Capsule review.)
