Theater troupe seeks help after burglary
Bricolage Productions, a theater company that’s done big things on a small budget Downtown, lost some crucial equipment to a burglar on Saturday. Ironically enough, the office break-in happened while the troupe was spreading some holiday cheer just yards away, staging its show Midnight Radio: Animated Holidaze, in its Liberty Avenue performance space. Taken were…
Community demands more funding for public education
More than 100 braved the cold outside Gov. Tom Corbett’s Downtown Pittsburgh office Dec. 9 to protest cuts to public education. The demonstration coincided with similar events in more than 60 cities around the country as part of the National Day of Action. “I want to go into education,” said Mayah El-Dehaibi, a senior at…
George Saunders at the Monday Night Lectures
The acclaimed short-story author gave a funny and insightful talk last night at the Monday Night Lectures. Read on in Program Notes.
George Saunders at the Monday Night Lectures
Author demystifies the writing process
Lynn Cullen Live 12/10/13
Video Archive Phone guest: Susan; snow stories; why you stay inside a car during a lightning storm — it’s not the tires!; anal bleaching, revisited; Mandela tribute this AM, president of South Africa booed; city council voting on traffic light cameras; facts don’t matter to BuzzFeed, Gawker, HuffPost. Audio Only Archive
Lynn Cullen Live 12/09/13
Video Archive Seat recliners on airplanes are jerks; labia reduction, anal bleaching & camel toes; Brazilian waxes doing away with crabs for good; Out of the Furnace review; pronunciation of Braddock; David Simon’s speech on socially divided America; the soon to be head of EPA on climate change; Callers: Susan, Hempfield / Unknowns. Audio Only…
The Wheals and EMay play Club Cafe Saturday
Local rock band The Wheals will perform at Club Cafe on Saturday with special guest EMay.
CMU art school hosts Open Studio Day — plus music — today
Studio visits, performance art, and a free School of Music holiday concert are offered
Lynn Cullen Live 12/06/13
Video Archive Guest: Chris Potter; Obit: Nelson Mandela; Santorum comparing Mandela’s fight to the right wing fighting Obamacare; unemployment rate is down; US has wildest weather extremes on the planet; Mandela’s real name means “trouble maker;” Peduto vs. Ravenstahl on pension proposal; what the pope is up to right now; yesterday’s Duquesne adjunct & fast…
School district unveils potential cuts, reinforces milestones
At the Pittsburgh Public School District’s 2013 State of the District presentation on Dec. 4, administrators unveiled possible solutions to the district’s impending $49 million budget deficit in 2016. The potential cuts total $44 million and include reductions at the central office level, school closings, and increased class sizes. “By spending our resources smartly, we…
Local Mystery Anthology Out This Week, with Book Launch
12 women crime authors included
Adjuncts deliver 20,000 signatures to Duquesne VP
Photo by Alex Zimmerman Protesters outside Duquesne’s administration building Adjuncts, theologians and members of the United Steelworkers rallied this morning at Duquesne University and delivered petitions with around 20,000 signatures in an attempt to continue to pressure the university to recognize an adjunct union. “The Catholic Church is very clear about workers’ rights,” said Father…
barebones productions’ Motherfucker and 10th anniversary
Three more performances for a provocatively titled play — plus some thoughts about this small company’s place on the local theater scene. Hats off in Program Notes.
Barebones productions’ Motherfucker and 10th anniversary
Company has unique niche in local theater
Lynn Cullen Live 12/05/13
Video Archive Trib billboard’s play on words; Google acquiring other tech companies in order to create new generation of robots; dystopian views of life coming to a reality; high tech bra able to monitor stress levels, prevent stress eating; Martin Bashir resigns over Palin comment; Callers: Unknown. Audio Only Archive
First Night Programming Announced
Ice labyrinth, musical headliner Charles Bradley among the attractions
Road to Perdition
Ordinarily, a Port Authority bus would seem like the perfect place for atheists to advertise. If you want proof that we live in a Godless universe, after all, you need only climb aboard a 51-Carrick at rush hour. But last month, the United Coalition of Reason sued the Port Authority in federal court, alleging the…
Savage Love
I’m a bi woman in a great relationship with my straight boyfriend. We occasionally invite other women into our sex life, which is really enjoyable for both of us. We’ve hooked up with both friends and strangers, but always as a couple because it makes us both feel safe. Enter the problem: I was visiting…
Short List: December 4 – 12
FREE EVENT: Fri., Dec. 6 — Art Though best known as a performer, Bill Shannon is also skilled in visual art and movement/installation hybrids. Shannon grew up largely in Pittsburgh before moving to Chicago and New York City and earning world-wide fame for his dancing on crutches (a skill that grew from his experience with…
The Pines Tavern
The Pines Tavern 5018 Bakerstown Road, Gibsonia. 724-625-3252 Hours: lunch Tue.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; dinner Tue.-Thu. 5-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 5-10 p.m.; casual dining (tavern menu) Tue.-Thu. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Prices: Appetizers, soups and salads $4-12; sandwiches and daily tavern specials $10-14; entrees $18-34 Liquor: Full bar We tend to think of…
Local organizers plan potluck to benefit typhoon victims in Philippines
For those looking to give something back this holiday season, Leah Lizarondo and Caitlin Grater-Kapoor want you to consider their potluck the perfect place to start. It’s a chance to demonstrate generosity abroad while enjoying a generous helping of food cooked up here at home. On Dec. 10, Lizarondo, author of the blog The Brazen…
Blood Brother
Steve Hoover’s independently produced Blood Brother is the little documentary that could: Made on donations, it won big at Sundance earlier this year. But it also tells a similar, inspiring story — how one unlikely young man harnessed his own reserves, persevered against tough odds, and transformed his life and the lives of many others.…
Local bars celebrate a real drinking holiday: the repeal of Prohibition
Although there are plenty of holidays that are celebrated by engaging in excessive drinking, the logic behind the boozing is often quite misplaced. Cinco de Mayo, a bacchanalia best known for getting hammered on tequila and Tecate, commemorates a Mexican victory against the French army in 1862. But revelers often regard it — incorrectly —…
A Perfect Man
Jeanne Tripplehorn and Liev Schrieber star in this semi-serious rom-com in which an American married couple living in Amsterdam breaks up and then ponders the whys and hows of getting back together. Kees Van Oostrum’s film is reminiscent of a European film, in which the action takes place only in a rarefied world of well-dressed,…
Raw beets are nutritious and make a fine juicing component
This year’s vegetable-garden roulette produced minimal potatoes, but plenty of beets. We’d never grown beets before, but some of them came up softball-sized. There’s nothing quite like this root vegetable’s dense magenta flesh and its hefty feel in your hand. Beta vulgaris is quite nutritious: high in folic acid, manganese, potassium and vitamin C. But…
Twice Born
Sergio Castellitto’s nonlinear melodrama spans a couple of decades, from the early 1980s to contemporary times. We follow the lives of a loosely connected group, who all meet up amongst artists and intellectuals in Bosnia before the war. The outsiders are an Italian woman, Gemma (Penelope Cruz), and her lover, a rakish American photographer (Emile…
Pittsburgh’s father of professional ballet — and of Point Park’s dance program — retires
Conservatory Dance Company presents Nicolas Petrov’s ROMEO AND JULIET Tue., Dec. 10-Sun., Dec. 15. Pittsburgh Playhouse, 222 Craft Ave., Oakland. $18-20. 412-392-8000 or pittsburghplayhouse.com. When Nicolas Petrov assumed the directorship of the Pittsburgh Playhouse’s ballet school, in 1967, no one could have foreseen that within a few years, the Yugoslavian-born dancer and choreographer would forever alter…
After the end of Ween, Dean Ween carries on in longtime project Moistboyz
MOISTBOYZ with PET CLINIC. 9 p.m. Tue., Dec. 10. Brillobox, 4104 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. $15. 412-621-4900 or brillobox.net Mickey Melchiondo Jr. has been in the game for a long time. Perhaps better known by his stage name Dean Ween, Melchiondo is an alternative rock guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He was a founding member and lead guitarist…
Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge at Little Lake Theatre
MRS. BOB CRATCHIT’S WILD CHRISTMAS BINGE continues through Dec. 14. Lake Theatre, 500 Lakeside Drive South (off Route 19), Canonsburg. $12-20. 724-745-6300 or littlelaketheatre.org The best way to describe Christopher Durang’s Mrs. Bob Cratchit’s Wild Christmas Binge, now at Little Lake Theatre, is to call it a curmudgeonly Christmas confetti cannon. In this loopy retelling…
Diego Garcia gets the girl back and returns with a new album
DIEGO GARCIA with CALEB POGYOR. 8 p.m. Wed., Dec. 11. Club Café, 56 S. 12th St., South Side. $10. 412-431-4950 or clubcafelive.com When he broke up with his long-term girlfriend, Diego Garcia — formerly the frontman of post-punk revival outfit Elefant — siphoned his heartbreak and disappointment into songwriting, and ended up with his first…
Lynn Cullen Live 12/04/13
Video Archive Guest: Tom Sokolowski. Callers: Mike, Unknown. Warhol. Pope sneaks out at night, he was also a bouncer at a bar when he was younger. Laundry talk. Eunuch – castrated male, castrati, young boys castrated to keep singing voice high for choirs. Current casts of Eunuchs in India, running for office, present themselves as…
Rapper and producer Tairey started young with help from a rapper dad
For 18-year-old hip-hop artist Tairey (full name Tairey Perez), the lifestyle and environment of a musician is one he is accustomed to. “My dad rapped when I was little,” he explains of his childhood in Massachusetts. “Him and my uncle and their friends were in a group, and my dad would always take me to…
Author George Saunders discusses how his writing style is evolving.
GEORGE SAUNDERS speaks at Monday Night Lectures 7:30 p.m. Mon., Dec. 9. Carnegie Music Hall, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $10-25. 412-622-8866 or pittsburghlectures.org George Saunders is definitely the same writer who visited Pittsburgh in 2007, trailing widespread critical acclaim, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur “genius grant.” The stories in his latest collection, The Tenth…
Critics’ Picks: December 4 – 10
[PUNK] + FRI., DEC. 6 Surely it’s something you’ve thought of many times: There are so many wall calendars out there with pictures of, like, Kate Upton, but why are there none with Submachine? Lucky for you, local punk-scene figure Ryan Warmbrodt has got your hookup — the 2014 Pittsburgh Calendar Comp. There’s a calendar…
New art gallery opens with potent group show On Paper
ON PAPER continues through Dec. 14. fieldwork contemporary art gallery, 4925 Penn Ave., Garfield. fieldwork412.tumblr.com The inaugural exhibit at Garfield’s fieldwork: contemporary art gallery showcases a diverse selection of works all exploring the same medium: paper. Curated by artist and Carnegie Mellon University art professor Ayanah Moor, On Paper features recent works by artists from…
On the Record with Pandemic Pete
PANDEMIC EIGHTH ANNIVERSARY. Fri., Dec. 6. Art show: 7-10 p.m. at Most Wanted Fine Art (5015 Penn Ave., Garfield) and 6-10 p.m. at Assemble (5125 Penn Ave., Garfield). Dance party: 9:30 p.m. Brillobox, 4104 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. $7-10. 412-621-4900 or brillobox.net In 2005, Pete Spynda, along with Caulen Kress and Justin Hopper, founded Pandemic, a…
Out of the Furnace
Out of the Furnace Directed by: Scott Cooper Starring: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Woody Harrelson Starts Fri., Dec. 6 Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace opens by sketching the critical traits of its three main characters: Russell Baze (Christian Bale) works at the steel mill in a fading town; his younger brother Rodney (Casey Affleck)…
George Takei’s real star trek — a civil-rights crusade enhanced by social-media celebrity — shows no signs of ending
George Takei will appear at the Steel City Con, Fri. Dec. 6-Sun. Dec. 8 at the Monroeville Convention Center. He will sign autographs from 5-6 p.m. Friday and beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. He will also hold a Q&A session from 2:15 to 3 p.m. Saturday. Convention admission is $15; $25 for a…
After a childhood trauma, local college student pushes for change to state anti-stalking law
According to the National Center for Victims of Crime, 16 percent of women will be stalked at some point in their lives. Pittsburgh college student Sarah Pesi is one of them. At age 12 she was stalked and harassed by an adult she met while she was working as a referee for a junior soccer…
Winterscape
A mountain road in snowfall, before the sun begins to rise, before plows and salt trucks make rounds, winds through hills and trees. Layers of ice lie in pavement like pavé diamonds set in platinum. They reflect car headlights and glow on the lampless road.It steals your breath. How different from city streets packed with…
Just Say “Okey-Dokey”
Sometimes even if you tell the truth Nobody’s going to believe you. “Nasty” Cornelius had been coming to the gym for a quick minute And had a couple of fights under his trunks. He was an on and off fighter More on than off. He mostly had losses on bad decisions And some wins on…
