Powdered Doughnuts and Peeping Toms
A poem by Jimmy Cvetic
Watt’s New: There’s more to choosing an electric company than just the price.
The cheapest options might be the worst for the environment.
Old East Liberty Borders gets new life as pop-up bookstore
“Some people call it activism, other people are calling it social commentary”
The Great Escape: Legislators trying to dig out from under the state’s ever-growing prison budget
“If you do not reduce your costs in corrections, you cannot have a healthy state budget.”
Vijay Iyer rejuvenates jazz tradition
Historicity wound up at or near the top of most jazz critics’ year-end best-of lists.
Sharon Van Etten has epic success
The virtuoso performances are, time and again, rendered by Sharon Van Etten’s voice, and her mind.
Szmidt’s Old World Deli
Greenfield is now home to a deli offering both new- and old-world tastes
Bacon Martini
Harris Grill marries the cocktail trend to its signature meat
Brooklyn Club DJ Spinoza Returns to Pittsburgh
“Is this an art show, or is this a rave?”
Savage Love
I’m a young heteroflexible guy who has been a “sugar baby” for wealthy older guys. I get money, I have fun being with them, and the guys seem to like having me around. I just got with a new guy who is really great except for one thing: He is HIV-positive. He says his doctors…
MP3 Monday: Mariage Blanc
YO! It’s so hot out, right? Hey, I have an MP3 for you. This one comes from Mariage Blanc, the group of indie rockers reponsible for last year’s album, Mariage Blanc. I hate to be a chooser, but I think the track I’m offering up for you today is my favorite of the lot. I…
More weekend events
Okay, so, I told you about what was going on last night, which is over. I told you about what’s going on tonight, which is about to happen. I started telling you about tomorrow — the second Nik & the Central Plains release show at Thunderbird, the Cameron McGill show at Brillobox. Now to bring…
Ceoffe leaves state job to campaign full time in District 7
Entering the final weeks of the campaign for Pittsburgh City Council District 7, challenger Tony Ceoffe Jr., is going to have a lot more time to hit the streets and get his message out to potential voters. Last week, Ceoffe — who is squaring off against District 7 incumbent Pat Dowd — resigned his position…
Friday MP3 BONUS: Cameron McGill & What Army
Hey! So I told you that I’d tell you about shows happening Saturday (and one on Sunday). I will. This is the first of those: Cameron McGill & What Army. The Midwestern band is fronted by Cameron McGill, who also plays keys in Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s. The jams are quiet, chill…
First Dance
A poem by Shirley Snodey
Charges dismissed in traffic case involving off-duty police officer
Criminal charges were dismissed today against a Carnegie man accused of leaving the scene of an accident with an off-duty Pittsburgh police officer. Blaine Johnston walked out of the courtroom in the municipal courts building downtown, raised his arms in the air and exclaimed: “I’m free!”. Johnston had been charged with leaving the scene of…
Weekend to-dos, part one
The weekend starts on Thursday, right? I mean – some of you might even have off tomorrow, but even for the rest of us … nobody does work on Fridays, do they? So let’s talk about what we’re up to tonight, then just kinda slide through the rest of the weekend. Tonight, as noted earlier…
Short List: Week of April 21 – 28
Thu., April 21 — Words Like many Pittsburgh natives, Matthew Gallaway fled to a bigger city. However, the young novelist returns momentarily to help launch Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures’ new series, Writers LIVE. Gallaway, an NYU law graduate and sometime indie rocker, comes to the Carnegie Library’s main branch to chat and sign copies of…
Park Bruges
The new restaurant is a cousin, not an identical twin, of the original Point Bruges.
The Last Lions
Jeremy Irons narrates this National Geographic documentary that examines the declining population of lions in Africa, by focusing on one lioness in a remote part of Botswana. After losing her mate, she and her three cubs stake out territory on an island also inhabited by aggressive buffalo. The scenery is lovely, and the lead lioness…
Super
After his wife runs off with a gangster, a sad sack named Frank (Rainn Wilson) re-invents himself as The Crimson Bolt, a masked crime-fighter. He’s successful enough that he gains an acolyte, Libby (Ellen Page). Their goal: Retrieve Frank’s wife from the drug ring. Super, written and directed by Troma vet James Gunn, shares some…
Atlas Shrugged, Part One
It takes train magnate Dagny Taggart and steel-maker Hank Rearden only a year to re-construct a railroad of the future through the Rocky Mountains. Yet it reputedly has taken two decades to develop this adaption of just one-third of Ayn Rand’s 1957 novel. It’s not worth arguing the merits of Rand’s philosophy here: This film…
Critics’ Picks
Dead Prez, Ellis Paul, Moonrises, Stone Temple Pilots and John Brodeur
Five Questions with Rhydian Dafydd of The Joy Formidable
“The song is the most important thing, and what you’re singing about.”
Jim Stein’s bees keep him busy
“They don’t stay in the neighborhood. You can’t put your bees on a leash.”
My Mogwai Moment
He stood tall, if only briefly, in a most awesome exaltation, thrusting his fist in the air to salute the sounds.
Mogwai
“I guess whoever happens to hear our music can make up their own word for it.”
Bitters reappear in local cocktail lists
Now that “everyone has their little bar book on their phone,” customers are requesting more sophisticated drinks.
Growing Together
Chatham hosts a lecture and workshop on permaculture
On the record with Rankin boxer Monty Meza-Clay
“It’s unheard of what I’m doing”
GOP lawmakers pushing restrictive welfare-reform bills
“This is about putting more and more roadblocks in front of people who need help.”
The Alice Project
Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama explodes Lewis Carroll’s Alice into extra dimensions.
Hunter Gatherers
Bricolage gets every last bite — and then some — of a vicious new comedy.
A new book uses August Wilson’s plays as a guide to Pittsburgh … and vice versa.
Wilson’s childhood Hill District home, the library he loved to visit, the jitney station where he set one of his plays … all are here.
The Carnegie showcases the gorgeous flights of imagination of a former Museum of Natural History director.
Avinoff’s paintings burst with color and life, mixing Audubon and Bosch.
A Conversation with Rhydian Dafydd of The Joy Formidable
Today’s CP features a short version of an interview I did last week with Rhydian Dafydd of The Joy Formidable. Here’s a less-abridged version. The band, which recently released its first full-length, The Big Roar, plays the Smiling Moose on Wednesday, April 27. The Big Roar has a very big sound. How do you…
