Counter Attack
In a real democracy — like, say, the Ukraine — when they find out massive voter fraud changed the election results, they re-group and have a do-over. Here in this joke of a democracy called the United States of America, we have accepted that it is not within our power to hold fair,…
04-26-2007
A live-concert documentary in the tradition of U2’s Rattle and Hum and the Stones’ Gimme Shelter, Antoine Fuqua’s Lightning in a Bottle captures some of the biggest names in American blues music as they perform during a tribute show at Radio City Music Hall. Interspersed with the numerous live sets are brief snippets of backstage…
Am-Bushing the Truth
A FEDERAL JUDGE struck a blow for liberty this fall by ruling that a portion of the Patriot Act allowing the government to poke into people’s private lives without judicial oversight has “no place in our open society.” U.S. District Court judge Victor Marrero’s Sept. 29 decision was straightforward enough. But the case itself is…
A conversation with Scott Smith
Less than a year ago, Scott Smith, 38, of Regent Square, was a home beer brewer. Today, in a near-freezing unmarked industrial building in Homewood, Smith has just tapped his first kegs of craft beer done in his new microbrewery, East End Brewing (www.eastendbrewing.com). He showed off his brewhouse, mash tun and other…
The Aviator
It’s no surprise that in the long, storied and undeniably bizarre life of Howard Hughes, the first extended episode Martin Scorsese engages in The Aviator depicts the making of a film. What big-budget director wouldn’t identify with Hughes’ obsession to get his vision of World War I air battles on screen, or envy…
The Phantom of the Opera
I have long maintained that for the sake of preserving popular culture, we need to put the great American stage musicals on film, even the not-so-great great musicals, like Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, his longest-running Broadway show after Cats. So now, at last, here it is, directed by Joel Schumacher…
Meet the Fockers
A few years ago, in Meet the Parents, nice Jewish boy Gaylord “Greg” Focker (Ben Stiller) got engaged to nice blond girl Pam Byrnes (Teri Polo) and had to ingratiate himself to her folks: Jack Byrnes (Robert DeNiro), a retired CIA agent who could find a conspiracy in the sunrise, and his lovely…
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
If ironic distance were a perfume, Wes Anderson’s new film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, would be drenched in it. Yet as an alluring scent, it wouldn’t prove particularly effective. Life bobbles along with oceanographer and documentarian Steve Zissou (Bill Murray). His organization’s broke, and his partner has just been…
Dirt
A theme, if nothing else, is a good excuse — a central point from which to hang a bunch of tenuously related creations, a maypole for your ribbons. Ask for writing on a given theme, or seek it out, and you’re likely to witness that theme’s boundaries broaden to encompass pieces you like — or…
Owen
After he’s played guitar for Joan of Arc, drummed for The Owls, sung for American Football, and appeared on critical projects with bands like Cap’n Jazz and Aloha, any new release bearing the name of Mike Kinsella comes loaded — understandably — with weighty expectation. How ironic, then, that Kinsella’s absolute piece de resistance is…
Various Artists
“Nothing you can say about David ‘Junior’ Kimbrough can prepare people for … his music,” says Anthony DeCurtis in the notes to Sunday Nights, Fat Possum Records’ tribute to their fallen star. And it’s true: Kimbrough’s droning, stomping, Mississippi hill-country blues is one of America’s most intensely personal and unique musical offerings. …
Mates of State
Even after screening the entirety of Two of Us, which bills itself as a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of indie-pop band Mates of State, it isn’t clear at all what director Thadd Day had in mind when he first broke ground on his project. The answer, probably, is very little at all. Two of…
Freedom of Screech
When Justin Strong hung his cousin Chris Savido’s paintings in East Liberty’s Shadow Lounge, Strong always got a good reaction. “Bush Monkeys” — a portrait of George W. formed from small monkeys and chimps clustered in a marsh — hung in a Lounge window from September until November this year. But when…
Dough Nation
Just think: Pretty soon Pittsburgh could have the kind of responsive, open government already provided by Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia. Or at least we might end up with similar limits on campaign contributions. And it’s all thanks to a bill proposed by City Councilor Bill Peduto, who at a Dec. 16 public hearing said…
Bahama Breeze
Location: 6100 Robinson Centre Dr., Robinson. 412-788-5790 Hours: Sun.-Thu. 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-midnight Prices: Appetizers $5-9; entrees $14-20 Fare: Pan-Caribbean Atmosphere: Mega-cabana Liquor: Full bar Imagine the sun’s warmth filtered through palm fronds, a grass hut on the beach, the scent of tropical flowers, a million miles between you and your workaday cares…
Yield of Dreams
Amid some of Larimer’s and Lincoln’s vacant lots, grass-roots dreams of redevelopment are growing. It’s even possible that the long search for a neighborhood grocery store — a quest that’s included nonprofits, city councilors and impatient shoppers — might yet bear fruit and vegetables. On Dec. 15, community organizations and faith-based groups shared their…
Swann Song
And to think: We used to laugh at California. If you’re like me, that’s the first thought you had upon hearing that Steelers Hall of Fame receiver Lynn Swann was pondering a run for governor in 2006, despite not having a day’s worth of experience in public office. If you’re like me, you rolled your…
THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX
John Moore directs this remake of the 1965 actioner that depicts a group of wildcatters trying to survive after crash-landing their plane in the Mongolian desert. Also on board, he-men pilots Dennis Quaid and Tyrese Gibson, mutant nerd stowaway Giovanni Ribisi, and — luckily — loads of useful stuff like a generator, pipes and an…
What was the worst disaster ever to have hit Pittsburgh?
I’ve got a friend who insists it’s short-sleeved Oxford shirts for men. Clearly, some of us are still living with the fallout of that one. The rest of you can insert the name of your least favorite local politician or sports figure here. That will free me to take the high road, as…
A LETTER TO TRUE
Inspired by other dog-besotted artists and the national unease after Sept. 11, photographer Bruce Weber sets out to commit some random thoughts and images to digital video, presented in the rather awkward structure as a letter to one of his dogs, True. It’s a largely unfocused vanity effort, a combination of home-movie-style footage of Weber’s…
