Downtown’s Phantom Gingko Trees
The Liberty Avenue bus stop outside the Wood Street Galleries Downtown is a frequently chaotic piece of sidewalk. but look up: There are gingko leaves on the building’s overhanging shelter, and yet no tree in sight.
Transit-rescue plan relies on support from a surprising source
When state and county officials announced plans to stave off transit cuts this morning, one of the surprises was a source Allegheny County Rich Fitzgerald was tapping for $3 million in additional revenue each year: the Regional Asset District’s 1 percent sales tax. The Regional Asset District was created in the mid-1990s as a way…
Six City Pools Still Open Through Labor Day
Six City of Pittsburgh swimming pools to remain open through Labor Day
Transit cuts averted, though new revenue sources remain hazy
State and local officials today announced they would pony up $35 million for the Port Authority, while the transit agency approved a new union contract with massive concessions and voted to postpone service reductions for another year. In total, the new contract with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85 is expected to save the agency $60…
Esperanza Spalding, William Shatner and more
Heads up: The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announced the 2012-13 Cohen & Grigsby Trust Presents series today. I’ve got the skinny over at FFW>>; the lineup includes Esperanza Spalding, Gilberto Gil and … William Shatner.
2012-13 Cohen & Grigsby Trust Presents series announced
This year’s series includes Gilberto Gil, William Shatner.
Protesters/Supporters gathering for Ryan in Carnegie
GOP Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan met with protests on Pittsburgh Visit. Follow live on twitter — @cpamyjo
Bricolage’s STRATA
There are less than two weeks left to see this crazily ambitious show — truly a theatrical event worth clearing your calendar for. “Play” doesn’t do STRATA justice. It’s an interactive performance set on multiple floors of a big Downtown building. (You probably won’t know which building until you leave.) The premise is that audience…
Knit a Giant Sweater for the Bridge
Are you a knitter or crocheter with time on your hands between now and next spring? A fan of public art and yarn-bombing? Then Knit the Bridge needs your help.Knit the Bridge hopes to cover the Seventh Street Bridge in colorful knitted and crocheted panels in conjunction with 2013’s FiberArt International, held here next spring…
Heads Up: Headlines for Aug. 21
Story of the day: Paul Ryan comes to western Pennsylvania this morning, with a welcoming committee organized by Democrats and One Pittsburgh waiting for him in Carnegie. Check this space later today for reports. As noted here yesterday, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has proclaimed that the new class of police recruits is the most diverse in…
Lynn Cullen Live 08/21/12
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan; Akin apologizes for how he really feels about rape; legitimate & forcible rape as opposed to….?; a fetus has more standing ground than a full-grown woman; if a rape victim gets pregnant, it’s her fault; Akin could still win the election; rape pregnancy statistics; rape & consent; if men could…
Bikers! Urban designers! Saddle up and submit plans for Shadyside bike corrals
Cycling issues around the city have been in the news a lot lately. But here’s a piece of good news: The Shadyside Action Coalition is seeking proposals to create bike corrals at metered parking spots in Shadyside. City councilor Bill Peduto has launched a public design competition for the corrals, which will be located on…
New White Wives single
Quick heads-up: A new single, via YouTube, from locals White Wives:
Cool cufflinks, fancy racks and more stuff on Etsy
A few items on Etsy — some awesome, some … odd — from local sellers.
Ravenstahl: We ARE TOO diverse!
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, whose commitment to diversity has been questioned by likely challengers to his 2013 re-election, has an answer for critics. From a press release this morning: Mayor Luke Ravenstahl today announced the start of the City’s newest police class, which is marked by the highest diversity among participants in over a decade. With…
Tickets for Big Pour on Sale Today
Get ready to refresh! Tickets for Construction Junction’s Big Pour go on sale at noon at its website. Beer waits for no man!
Heads Up: Headlines for Aug. 20
For Pittsburghers, the big news over the weekend is that the Port Authority’s union employees voted in favor of contract concessions that should stave off massive service cuts and layoffs next month. The next step: The Port Authority board will hold a special meeting to vote on the contract, and rescind cuts tomorrow. After that?…
New Rothfus ad claim: I’m not an alien!
Keith Rothfus, who is challenging incumbent Democrat Mark Critz in the 12th Congressional District, is introducing himself to voters with a TV ad that makes a surprising claim: Despite appearances, I am not an alien. See? Not an alien The ad, which has a humorous tone, makes a series of claims for Rothfus as a…
Miles Apart: A civil-rights trial ends up where it started
The Jordan Miles case has always been an object study in the Rashomon effect. A Homewood teen encounters three white cops on a wintry night in 2010, ends up looking like death warmed over, and everyone has a different account of what happened. Sadly, the recently concluded civil-rights trial stemming from that incident didn’t resolve…
Quantum Theatre’s The Golden Dragon
While it’s less-mind-bending and more accessible than some Quantum shows, playwright Roland Schimmelpfennig’s take on immigration, globalization and the gulf been the world’s haves and the have-nots will still hit a lot of people sideways. That’s one side effect of having a five-person cast playing 17 roles, and regularly crossing lines of race, gender and…
Stream this ish: Aug. 15 issue
Sounds from the artists featured in this week’s CP.
Pawpaws, Galtuevera and more: Local crowd-funding projects, week ending August 17
Some worthwhile and interesting local campaigns on Kickstarter and Indie Go Go.
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Aug. 17
In the wake of this week’s voter ID court ruling, Allegheny County’s own Mike Turzai — and Pennsylvania — once again get the star treatment from Jon Stewart last night. The Daily Show with Jon StewartGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook . Environmentalists call for more “green”…
Pittsburgh Artist To Exhibit in China
Noted local artist Jon Rubin will exhibit work at the 9th Shanghai Biennial, and his artwork is literally a slice of Pittsburgh, The Andy Warhol Museum announced today. Rubin’s installation work, The Lovasik Estate Sale, displays all the object in the home of one area family as they were arranged during the estate sale. Pittsburgh…
ATTN: Humorless newspaper subscribers — here’s your chance to drive Rob Rogers out of town (for a few days)
Post-Gazette editorial cartoonist Rob Rogers has been attending presidential political conventions for years. But this time, he’s trying something different: He’s launched a fundraising page at indiegogo to pay for the trip, so he can turn his experiences into a documentary. In partnership with the Toonseum, Rogers hopes to create a “mini-documentary” about his work…
Clean Up After Your Dog … and Your Crimes
After the city posted new “Clean Up After Your Dog” signs in Bloomfield, it took less than a month for one to be amusingly defaced. An unknown artist added a hairdo, as well as a bottle and a gun. Whatever you’re doing out there, people, keep it tidy. UPDATE: Upon further walking around and sign-studying,…
Barry Manilow does something cool
Give a kid a sax and get to see Barry. What’s not to love?
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Aug. 16
Not exactly “Braveheart”: A Scottish separatist is accused of sending all those e-mail threats to Pitt earlier this year. A new poll shows President Obama holding onto a 6-point lead against challenger Mitt Romney, despite a majority of voters disapproving of Obama’s handling of the economy. The poll was carried out between Aug. 7 and…
Lynn Cullen Live 08/16/12
Video Archive Guest: Tom Sokolowski; plaid is pululating; French r’s; Charro was a classical guitar player; the last two sisters to win Oscars in the same year; retard vs. retarded; American slang words; circumcision device similar to umbilical cord rings; businesses who pay less in taxes than the salary of their CEO; steelworkers sculptures coming…
New Clean-Air Group To Visit Pittsburgh
A new national environmental group fighting for cleaner air holds its first Pittsburgh event next Wed., Aug. 22. Members of the Moms Clean Air Force, a project of the Environmental Defense Fund, meets at The Church Brew Works that night. Hosts of the Bloomfield event include the Sierra Club. MCAF styles itself as “nap-time activists”…
Across country, same-sex marriage initiatives will help shape elections
This fall as voters pick between Obama and Romney, four states will vote on marriage equality as well. Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington will all have various ballot questions on same-sex marriage And advocates are at the ready. On Monday, The Freedom to Marry Campaign, announced it was pouring $3 million into the effort in…
After voter ID setback, attorneys pledge appeal
“It’s not the evidence. It’s the standard of review.” So said Penda Hair, one of the attorneys who sought to topple the state’s Voter ID bill, of a Commonwealth Court ruling upholding the law. That may sound like the legal equivalent of the Pirates blaming an 11-0 loss on a badly drawn strike zone. But…
“The raccoon fled the scene,” and other suburban police tales
A man steals $33 in socks from a dollar store, and some chickens escape to the Sewickley woods.
Read it and Weep: Voter ID upheld by Commonwealth Court
More on this later today, but as you’ve no doubt heard, a state Commonwealth Court has upheld the controversial Voter ID law. You can read the ruling for yourself here. The short version: It’s pretty much a disaster for the ACLU and those seeking to overturn the law. Judge Robert Simpson largely wrote off the…
Heads Up: Morning headlines for Aug. 15
Details of the proposed Port Authority contract with employees are becoming clear. In a bid to stave off pending cuts to service, provisions include a two-year wage freeze, givebacks on vacation and health benefits. One surprise: a “poison pill” provision that allows the union to void the new deal and return to the current one…
Do Mormons Rock?
It’s not Tommy Lee doing the chicken dance, but Brandon Flowers’ participation in the "I’m a Mormon" campaign may be a contender for VH1’s "Least Metal Moments." The clip, part of a massive campaign launched in 2010 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), ends with the Killers frontman saying, "My name…
Lady Beast releases debut album
LADY BEAST CD RELEASE with ZEITGEIST, MOLASSES BARGE, MURDERESS. Gooski’s 3117 Brereton St. Polish Hill. $5. 412-681-1658 Many have aspired to carry the heavy-metal mantle, but the members of Lady Beast — which releases its debut self-titled record Fri., Aug. 17 — know it takes more than a couple fast riffs and a jean vest…
A Mattress Factory show gets into the walls … and floors
GESTURES: INTIMATE FRICTION continues through Sept. 16. Mattress Factory Annex Gallery 1414 Monterey St. North Side. 412-231-3169 or mattress.org If walls could talk … no doubt the ones at the Mattress Factory’s Annex Gallery, at 1414 Monterey St., have something to say, as do the floors, stairs, doors and windows. The house itself is not…
CD Reviews
Erik Pitluga Erik Pitluga (Self-released) Six-tune solo release from the Color Fleet drummer. Minimally orchestrated folky rock, mostly voice and acoustic guitar, with additional guitars and percussion here and there. Pitluga’s voice is slightly gruff and ultimately genuine, with a natural ease about it that makes these good (though maybe not incredible) songs easy on…
After Chekhov
AFTER CHEKHOV continues through Aug. 26. Henry Heymann Theatre Stephen Foster Memorial Forbes Avenue at Bigelow, Oakland. $25-48. 412-394-3353 or picttheatre.org It’s such a fine idea: Take two characters from classical literature, and make them meet in a café. What would they say to each other? English teachers assign this task to their high school…
Lynn Cullen Live 08/15/12
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; Voter ID ruling; KDKA interview with sole black juror in Jordan Miles case vs. PG interview with a white juror; transit union news; Paul Ryan: another Sarah Palin?; god & guns; Ayn Rand believed abortion was a moral right; new City Paper out today: family relatives against same-sex marriage; Tommy…
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE continues through Sun., Aug 19. Apple Hill Playhouse 275 Manor Road Delmont. $16-19. 724-468-5050 or applehillplayhouse.org At a recent performance of Apple Hill Playhouse’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, one remarkable aspect was the audience reaction. A little background: Putnam is a musical conceived by Rebecca…
Critics’ Picks: August 15 – 20
[HARDCORE] + THU., AUG. 16 Canada’s Silverstein has come a long way since its 2003 Victory Records debut, When Broken Is Easily Fixed. Nine years later, the band has released six full-length albums, the latter two released by Hopeless Records. Most recently, Silverstein issued Short Songs, a 22-track album clocking in at under 20 minutes.…
Social Security
SOCIAL SECURITY continues through Aug. 25. South Park Theatre Corrigan Drive and Brownsville Road. $12. 412-831-8552 or southparktheatre.com Social Security, now playing at South Park Theatre, is a hack job. Andrew Bergman’s script is one of the crummiest farces ever to scroll out of a typewriter. This play doesn’t cater to the lowest common denominator;…
Family Business: Dealing with relations who hope your happy day never happens
The letter came in a plain, white business envelope. Even though it hadn’t been mailed in the tan envelope with a cake stamp we enclosed with our wedding invitations, we knew what was inside. Sure enough, handwritten on white computer paper was a response from a relative, explaining why she couldn’t come to our wedding.…
Local author Hali Felt offers a biography of an underappreciated woman scientist
Most high school graduates remember something about continental drift, the phenomenon that explains, for instance, why Africa and South America look like two adjoining pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. But few will recognize the name of one of continental drift’s earliest and most successful exponents: Marie Tharp. Redressing that wrong, and recounting the remarkable story…
Sound Plans: Recording studio to become "Refuge" for area youth
By day, Bob Wilson works for UPMC. His nights and weekends, however, are spent plying another trade: music. Since he first picked up a drum kit as a kid, Wilson has always had a love for sound. He’s self-taught on drums, bass and guitar, and once operated an informal recording studio out of a house…
Jerry Irwin’s half-century of photojournalism intrigues at Space.
JERRY IRWIN, PHOTOGRAPHER continues through Aug. 19. Space 812 Liberty Ave. Downtown. 412-325-7723 or spacepittsburgh.org Jerry Irwin, Photographer is the unassuming title of one of two current exhibits at Space gallery. There’s no hint that in his half-century career, Irwin, of Chester, Pa., has shot for the likes of National Geographic, Life and Sports Illustrated.…
Clearing the Air: Just because you can’t see pollution doesn’t mean it can’t hurt you
At lunchtime two Fridays ago, 30 young adults wearing dust masks gamboled into Market Square. Festive at first, trading high-fives, seconds later they began coughing convulsively. Then, one by one, they collapsed onto the pavement, inert. Over a PA, a voice spoke. "Pittsburgh’s air isn’t as clean as it looks," it said. "Each one of…
Take This Waltz
Take This Waltz Directed by: Sarah Polley Starring: Michelle Williams, Luke Kirby, Seth Rogen Starts Fri., Aug. 17. Regent Square Margot (Michelle Williams) should be happy — she’s young, married to a nice guy named Lou (Seth Rogen) and lives in a cute house in the heart of Toronto. But on a work trip, she…
Savage Love
I am a 22-year-old female. I liked guys when I was in school, but then I developed a HUGE crush on Tegan and Sara when I was nearly 20. I like the idea of being with women, but I have never had a major crush on anyone since. So I’m really confused over my sexual…
Neil Young Journeys
Neil Young Journeys Starts Fri., Aug. 17. Harris Unlike 2006’s Heart of Gold — Jonathan Demme’s first film about Neil Young — Neil Young Journeys isn’t strictly a concert doc. A third of it is footage of Young simply driving, in a 1956 Crown Vic, to a Toronto concert hall, winding through the small Ontario…
Stone Free
It’s morning in Wilkinsburg, a Ground Zero for derelict houses, broken windows, boarded-up doorways, blue plastic sheets doubling as roofs. The surroundings are foreboding, if not downright hostile, but not so foreign to five twentysomething masonry students from Garfield, another shopworn Pittsburgh neighborhood. They’re here in Hosanna House, formerly the Horner School — a clean,…
The Bourne Legacy
Tony Gilroy’s thriller is kind of a spin-off of the earlier Bourne trilogy. The Jason Bourne character is still of concern to those in the shadowy world of the U.S. government who know of him, but now the man on the run is Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner). It takes a while to piece together Cross’…
Short List: August 15 – 21
Tue., Aug. 21 — Music Pittsburgh-based drummer Poogie Bell grew up mostly in New York City, but made his debut here, on the radio and at Carnegie Music Hall, accompanying his jazz-musician father’s band when he was all of 2 years and 6 months old. "There was a feature of me in the Post-Gazette playing…
The Campaign
If you’re not getting enough gaffes and cringe-worthy moments during Obama vs. Romney, check out Jay Roach’s comedy, in which two feuding North Carolina congressional candidates make a mockery of our electoral process. The incumbent is Cam Brady (Will Ferrell, channeling George W. Bush’s brio, John Edwards’ hair and the careless vulgarity of his own…
Bar Marco
Bar Marco 2216 Penn Ave. Strip District. 412-471-1900 Hours: Wed.-Sat. 5 p.m.-2 a.m. Prices: $6-20 Liquor: Full bar Lots of restaurants serve alcohol, and many bars serve food of some description, but it’s usually pretty clear where any given establishment’s emphasis lies; one menu is almost always designed to complement the other. But Bar Marco,…
Farwell, My Queen
The melodrama never stops at the Palace of Versailles, even with revolution fomenting down the road in Paris. In Benoît Jacquot’s drama, the three days depicted in July 1789 tip the balance from high-court boredom and needlepoint discussion to fear and flight. We see these events through the eyes of a privileged servant named Sidonie…
Pittsburgh’s food-truck scene suffers a setback
A plan by Salt of the Earth’s chef and restaurant owner Kevin Sousa to give Pittsburgh’s food trucks a safe haven from burdensome city regulations has fallen through and is now on hold indefinitely, despite a grant award for the project by the Sprout Fund. Sousa is known for his avant-garde cooking and a distinct…
The Odd Life of Timothy Green
This is a Very Special Movie about a Very Special Boy who has Very Special Leaves growing out of his legs, and who helps a Very Special Town save its Very Special Pencil Factory. You can tell that Peter Hedges’ tale hoped to be a winsome fable, another heartwarmer about the power of love, family,…
Lawrenceville welcomes a new watering hole, the Allegheny Wine Mixer
If you are in the mood to try a wine made from an unfamiliar grape, the Allegheny Wine Mixer, a cozy new wine bar that just opened in Upper Lawrenceville, wants to pour you a glass. According to owner Jamie Patton, part of the Wine Mixer’s mission is to push customers beyond the boundaries of…
ParaNorman
Young Norman enjoys chatting with the dead people he alone can see in his small New England town, even if his propensities for hanging with the not-quite-dead and watching zombie films haven’t made him very popular at school. But things are about to break Norman’s way in this gorgeously animated stop-motion comedy fable from Chris…
The annual Spam cooking contest at the Washington County fair picks a winner
The canned pork-and-ham block, Spam, has its fans, and a few dozen were assembled under a tent at the Washington County Agriculture Fair at 9 a.m. last Saturday for the Great American Spam Championship. The fair-sponsored cooking contest counts as a regional qualifier. Among the more than two dozen entries in youth and adult categories…
Our name is Neon Trees. We’re musicians, we’re famous and we’re Mormons (mostly).
NEON TREES with WALK THE MOON and 21 PILOTS. 8 p.m. Wed., Aug. 22. Altar Bar 1620 Penn Ave. Strip District. All ages. $20-23. 412-206-9719 or thealtarbar.com Fame. When David Bowie reports from the path of excess, he’s a jaded show-biz insider, his cautionary tales only stoking the desires of the un-famous. When Neon Trees…
Author Jonathan Gottschall on the pervasive power of narrative
In his new book The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), Jonathan Gottschall explores the pervasive power of narrative through the lens of evolutionary psychology — that is, the adaptive advantages of human behavior. The critically acclaimed book doesn’t deliver answers so much as ask provocative questions. And Gottschall, 39, who…
Gay volunteer group celebrates first anniversary
When Jared Pascoe returned to Pittsburgh from Los Angeles, he brought some of the West Coast with him. Last August, Pascoe co-founded a Pittsburgh chapter of the L.A.-based LGBT-service organization, Gay for Good. “There was definitely a need for volunteerism from the gay community in Pittsburgh,” says Pascoe, 31, of Friendship. In the past year,…
