Festival of New Games Returns on Saturday
All-day event includes games for all ages
Consol unveils airport drilling plan
[View the story “Consol unveils airport drilling plan ” on Storify]
Lawrenceville singer-songwriter contest results
Last week in our Local Beat column, I told you about the singer-songwriter competition going on in Lawrenceville for the past couple of months. Last night was the finals, and here are the results: WYEP’s Bruce Mountjoy, left, with winners, from left to right: Zach Austin Longoria, Jay Stenger, Jordan Auth First place went to…
Public invited to chime in on state transportation priorities
The state is seeking public input on transportation priorities as part of a regular update to its blueprint for projects. Residents interested in participating can take an online survey at the State Transportation Commission’s website, where they can also register for the commission’s first interactive online public meeting. The input collection is part of a…
Lynn Cullen Live 08/27/13
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan; auto-pilot mornings; word of the day: twerking; naked yoga mom nurses in a headstand; was Miley’s VMA performance racist?; Blue Jasmine review; yes, it IS good for you to drink chocolate milk after a workout; why don’t we use drones to take out Assad?; sneezing at bright lights; anniversary of…
Lynn Cullen Live 08/26/13
Video Archive Back to school time; immensity of the world, of a city; noise is the arch-enemy of serious thought; Schopenhauer on women; how a Clark Gable marathon ties in with a recent obit; Pope calling random Italian citizens at home; kids just starting college are so over CD’s & don’t know how to read…
Fitzgerald submits two Port Authority appointments
Port Authority’s 9-member board of directors today bid farewell in its final meeting, as a new board will be appointed next month per new state law. But the break will be short for current members John Tague and Thomas Donatelli, whose appointments were submitted to county council by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald this afternoon.…
The Moth Sells Out the Byham
The storytelling series makes the jump to a bigger venue with an engaging night of local and visiting talent including David “Mr. McFeely” Newell and Shadow Lounge founder Justin Strong. More in Program Notes.
The Moth Sells Out the Byham
Local storytellers shine at packed venue
De La Soul joins lineup of Thrival Festival
The upcoming Thrival Festival at Bakery Square 2 had already announced performances by Scottish indie faves Frightened Rabbit and producer/musician RJD2 in addition to locals Formula 412; yesterday, the festival organizers confirmed De La Soul as the final act to be announced for the festival. The festival, which takes place Sat., Sep. 7, is sponsored…
Bev Smith poses “A Challenge to African American Women”
Four-day conference here to address racism, sexism and homophobia
Knit the Bridge Party Sunday
Free party includes music, food
Lynn Cullen Live 08/23/13
Video Archive Baseball scores; Ben Affleck to be Batman; Chelsea Manning & those pesky pronouns; anniversary of MLK Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech; alma maters; Obama & the cost of living; moments of silence; Callers: George, Moon / Joe. Audio Only Archive
PennDOT posts new bridge weight restrictions
Weight restrictions on bridges, including the Liberty Bridge, result from a lack of a transportation-funding bill.
Concert Honors Prisoner, Protests Solitary Confinement
Event marks 70th birthday of Russell “Maroon” Shoatz
Lynn Cullen Live 08/22/13
Video Archive Guest: Tom Sokolowski; you can lead a whore to culture, but you can’t make her think — Happy Birthday, Dorothy Parker!; McKees Rocks Bridge; Bradley Manning wants to be known as Chelsea; Russia, Putin, & the upcoming Olympics; favorite childhood sandwiches; art talk & bar trivia; Callers: Unknown. Audio Only Archive
Port Authority launches pilot of real-time bus tracker
Riders of the Port Authority P1 East Busway-All Stops route are now able to track real-time locations of the bus as part of a pilot program launched today. Real-time arrival information for the P1 is only available online, but the authority will install electronic countdown signs at various stops along the Martin Luther King Jr.…
Away Game
Former Steelers punter Josh Miller may be enjoying more popularity now than he had on the field. He’s co-host of an afternoon-drive show on sports talk radio station 93.7 The Fan, and his latest project — a book chronicling a road trip to Steelers bars around the country — will likely have a built-in audience…
New Releases
Mars Jackson HypeChill (Self-released) Hype and chill musical vibes collide on Mars Jackson’s new release. The Hill District-born rapper begins with fun, ambitious rhymes on “High Class Society,” a smooth production debut from prominent Pittsburgher DJ Nugget. Jackson’s strengths include his beat selection and versatility, as he molds sounds that range in influence from A…
Bangers and Smashmouth: The British fan’s guide to Steelers football
On Sept. 29, the Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings face off at London’s Wembley Stadium — part of an NFL effort to promote American football in the U.K. There’s bound to be some confusion on the part of fans who have their own idea of what “football” means. So we’ve collected a few pointers to…
Power Steering: New law governing PAT board makes it uncertain who’ll be driving the bus
Port Authority riders are used to change: route adjustments, fare increases, service cuts. But in the weeks to come, the transit agency itself will have new leadership at the wheel … and the road ahead may be bumpy. Under a state law passed in July, the authority’s board is set to be overhauled in September.…
Large-scale computer-generated art intrigues at Wood Street
RYOJI IKEDA: DATA.TRON continues through Sept. 8. Wood Street Galleries 601 Wood St., Downtown. 412-471-5605 or woodstreetgalleries.org Ryoji Ikeda’s data.tron is cold-hearted, aesthetically severe and, well, perfect. It’s mathematical, geometrical, computational and methodical — devoid of the messiness of nature and human nature, and willfully adrift in the abstractions of mathematics and data. data.tron consists…
All Gassed Up: CBS Radio hands over the mic to natural-gas boosters
On Aug. 15, at least, KDKA 1020 AM was not the place to turn for news about the environmental debate over natural-gas drilling, or about claims that some drillers use accounting tricks to reduce royalty payments to property-owners. But if you wanted to know the name Range Resources spokesman Matt Pitzarella uses in his daughter’s…
Brief reviews of exhibits at SPACE and Silver Eye Center
In Crowdsourced, 12 local artists were asked to draw directly on the walls of SPACE Gallery, and to collaborate with the larger public, including attendees of the July 12 opening reception. At its best, this exhibit curated by Robert Raczka (a CP contributor) is a playful excursion into new ways to do art. The works…
Designing Down Demand
When energy usage is discussed in terms of climate change, most people frame the problem as one of supply: How can we possibly produce enough clean energy for billions of people at current usage rates? Ed Mazria, by contrast, emphasizes this simple answer: We can’t. Fossil fuels, according to U.S. Department of Energy figures, now…
Crimes of the Heart at Little Lake
CRIMES OF THE HEART continues through Aug. 31. 500 Lakeside Drive South (off Route 19) Canonsburg. $12-20. 724-745-6300 or littlelaketheatre.org Let’s pop in and visit with an old friend. Time was you couldn’t swing a dead cat in this city without hitting a local production of Beth Henley’s tragicomedy Crimes of the Heart. Not only…
Out of the Woods?
A few years ago, I ran into a former neighbor at the grocery store. “I haven’t seen you around in a while,” I said. “What’s new?” “We moved,” he said. “Too many niggers moving into Brentwood.” I guess that was his way of describing a demographic shift documented in U.S. Census Bureau figures. In this…
Cemetery Club at Pittsburgh Playwrights/MerryRam
THE CEMETERY CLUB continues through Sat., Aug. 24. MerryRam Productions at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Co., 937 Liberty Ave., Downtown. $15-20. pghplaywrights.com Choice roles for women “of a certain age” being in short supply, The Cemetery Club offers tempting meat and potatoes to MerryRam Productions, in association with Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Co. Ivan Menchell’s 1990 comedy-drama…
Savage Love
My 14-year-old stepson has been stealing, wearing, soiling and hiding his toddler sister’s pull-ups. I’ve found them after he hides them in his closet, which also serves as a general storage area. After discussions with him, I’m certain that wearing them is a pleasure thing. (He says “curiosity,” but this has been going on so…
Local author offers the Civil War-era diary of an ordinary Western Pennsylvania woman
“Today is my birthday, 20 years of age,” begins the first entry in the pocket diary that Martha Feisler kept from September 1864 to August 1865. Almost 150 years later, most of the entries from this journal have been printed in Today Is My Birthday: The Civil War Era Diary of Martha Feisler. Kathryn Schanck,…
Short List: August 21 – 29
SPOTLIGHT: Fri., Aug. 23 — Stage The touring version of Broadway hit In the Heights visited Pittsburgh in February 2010. Thanks to Snowmageddon, turnout was light. But due to this crowd-pleasing musical’s contemporary Latin score and vibrant choreography, “[t]he energy in the audience was electric,” says Justin Fortunato, who was there. Now Fortunato’s Carrnivale Theatrics…
The Act of Killing
The Act of Killing Directed by: Joshua Oppenheimer In Indonesian, with subtitles. Starts Fri., Aug. 23. Melwood. Genocide is difficult to capture on film. The people who commit it rarely invite an audience, and if you just show up with cameras, you could become one of the statistics. What’s a filmmaker to do? In The…
Lula
Lula 515 Broad St., Sewickley. 412-749-1200 Hours: Mon.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Prices: $7-15 Liquor: Full bar Tapas developed in Spain, where, it is said, both the heat and the languorous nature of mealtimes dictated lighter, more modular menus than the traditional entrée plates heaped with meat, starch and veg. Since tapas arrived stateside, recipes have…
Lynn Cullen Live 08/21/13
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; CP Steelers issue out today; Bradley Manning heading to court; Mubarak to be released; corpse flower has bloomed; drink Boyd & Blair vodka!; why flowers look like genitalia; bar trivia; Obit: Elmore Leonard; 3rd gender allowed on birth certificate in Finland, Germany & Australia; the Brett Favre cul-de-sac; heat wave…
Hot Spot
The Edgar Thomson steel works isn’t the only source of smoke on Braddock Avenue: Beside the old St. Michael’s convent across the street, a community pizza oven pours its own plume into the air. The oven was inspired by an idea proposed by amateur baker Ray Werner. “He said, ‘Ovens do really exciting things,’ “…
The World’s End
If you loved Shaun of the Dead and guffawed through Hot Fuzz, you’ll want to finish out Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s “Cornetto Trilogy,” which concludes with The World’s End. It’s similarly executed — an ensemble comedy headed by Pegg and Nick Frost, and directed by Wright — and doubles, as did the others, as…
New East Liberty bar offers respite from the grind
“This is a gateway to East Liberty,” says Bobby Fry, one of the owners of The Livermore. The newly opened bar makes an impressive entrance: Picture windows, capped with stained glass, flood light into the South Highland Avenue space, which formerly housed the Waffle Shop. Reclaimed bowling-alley lanes line the counter and bar. The new…
Blue Jasmine
Woody Allen’s latest, a drama just lightly brushed with humor, stars Cate Blanchett as Jasmine, the Xanax-popping widow of a Bernie Madoff-style bilker (Alec Baldwin). Evicted from ill-gotten Park Avenue/Hamptons luxury after the law swooped in, bitter, brittle Jasmine seeks refuge in San Francisco with her sweet, working-class sister, Ginger (Sally Hawkins), whom she’d previously…
Steelers Digest
The cafeteria at Pittsburgh Steelers training camp is much like one you remember from high school — except the rich, popular kids here are really rich and popular. After the morning practice at St. Vincent’s College in Latrobe, reporters assemble outside the chow hall in hopes of cornering players and getting some inside scoops. On…
Paranoia
An ambitious mobile-phone engineer (Liam Hemsworth) becomes a pawn in a corporate espionage battle between two rival CEOS (Gary Oldham and Harrison Ford), in this not-very-thrilling thriller from Robert Luketic. If it weren’t so obtuse and dull, it could almost be a parody of similar slick films. It features, of course: the nail-biting downloading of…
Onetime Pittsburgher Mathew Tembo returns with Afro Roots
MATHEW TEMBO AND AFRO ROOTS. 6 p.m. Sat., Aug. 24. Umoja African Arts in the Park, Point State Park, Downtown. Free. All ages. (Festival runs 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sat., Aug. 24-Sun., Aug. 25.) umojacompany.org. Second show: 9 p.m. Sat., Aug. 24. Hambone’s Pub 4207 Butler St., Lawrenceville. $6. 412-681-4318 Mathew Tembo’s musical journey began in…
Casino Bulldogs hit their stride with fifth album
CASINO BULLDOGS CD RELEASE with TRIGGERS, THE YELLERS. 9:30 p.m. Fri., Aug. 23. Brillobox, 4104 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. $7. 412-621-4900 or brillobox.net The guys in local indie-rock band Casino Bulldogs have come to a comfortable place. “One thing that’s nice about having been playing for five years is that we’re a lot more efficient now,”…
Don’t Call It Rebuilding
Although he’s only a rookie, Le’Veon Bell is already a dyed-in-the-wool Pittsburgh Steeler. Want proof? Ask the second-round draft pick out of Michigan State what the rebuilding process this year has been like for the Steelers, a team that finished 8-8 last year, missed the playoffs and saw high-profile free-agent departures unlike any other team…
Singer-songwriter competition holds finals this week
DOS EQUIS SINGER-SONGWRITER COMPETITION FINALS. 9 p.m. Mon., Aug. 26. Lawrenceville Moose, 120 51st St., Lawrenceville. Free. wilsonmcginley.net Matt Wilson doesn’t fancy himself a music promoter, exactly — but in the course of working at the family business, beer distributor Wilson-McGinley, he ended up starting a summer-long singer-songwriter competition that wraps up this week at…
INT-angibles
When football experts talk about the NFL’s best shutdown cornerbacks, one name always seems to top their list: Ike Taylor. Wait. Actually, it doesn’t. In fact, there is a whole catalog of names that get spoken before Taylor’s: Darrelle Revis, Richard Sherman, Peanut Tillman and an aging Champ Bailey, just to name a few. Taylor…
Critics’ Picks: August 21 – 27
[PUNK ROCK] + FRI., AUG. 23 Was a time when Pittsburgh was overrun with street-punk bands; these days, they’re few and far between. But a couple that were active primarily in the mid-’00s are getting it back together tonight for another go: Tommy Gutless and Weekend Warriors — members from both are now in ska…
Refresh PGH Hosts 1st Annual Pittsburgh Sneaker Convention
Supply meets high demand as hundreds buy, sell, and trade at Refresh PGH’s 1st Annual Sneaker Convention.
