MP3 Monday: The Freedom Band
This week’s MP3 comes from Pittsburgh’s long-running reggae outfit The Freedom Band. Stream or download “No Confederate Nation” from the group’s new record of original material, Higher, below. This download link has expired, sorry!
Pinball Wizards Visit Tomorrow for the Third Annual IFPA State Championship series
560 pinball pros compete here to reach the national championship
Two unconventional car-themed openings tomorrow for Pittsburgh artist Jason Sauer
Jason Sauer launches exhibits at nontraditional venues, including the Sewickley Starbucks and Brillobox.
Listen Up! Feb. 10
Every Wednesday, we make a Spotify playlist containing tracks from artists mentioned in the current music section. Listen while you read!
Pittsburgh’s National Aviary gets baby sloth
The National Aviary’s newest resident, a baby Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth, is set for public reveal on Friday.
Author Jelani Cobb speaks tomorrow on “Race and Justice”
New Yorker writer Jelanie Cobb gives free talk at CMU.
Valentine’s Day 2-for-1 deal for Pittsburgh’s Bike Share coming up
Pittsburgh’s bike share, Healthy Ride, is offering half-off bike rides all day Valentine’s Day
Son of Saul
Son of Saul Directed by László Nemes Starring Géza Röhrig In various languages, with subtitles Starts Fri., Feb. 12. Regent Square Every machine is made up of smaller parts working together. László Nemes’ Son of Saul looks at the mass-extermination machine that was Auschwitz, in 1944. His extraordinarily confident debut feature tackles difficult subject matter,…
U.S. Senate candidate Fetterman releases campaign ad parodying “Mean Joe Greene” cola commerical
Braddock mayor and Democrat John Fetterman, who is running for Pat Toomey’s U.S. Senate seat, released a parody of the famous “Hey Kid, Catch!” commercial, which starred former Steelers great Mean Joe Greene.
Artist Ricardo Iamuuri aims to reach people with sound
“It’s more about meeting sounds before they become manipulated,” says audio-visual artist Ricardo Iamuuri, who performs Thu., Feb. 11, at the New Hazlett Theater.
MP3 Monday: Rachel B
This week’s MP3 comes from Rachel B., an artist who moved from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh a year ago. Download “I’m The Boss” — a slick, brassy and self-assured anthem for the Lean In generation — below. This download link has expired, sorry!
Lynn Cullen Live 2/08/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Marco Rubio’s melt down. Visceral reactions to Ted Cruz. Republicans vote on ObamaCare for the 63rd time based on a “loss of jobs.” Gloria Steinum says that girls go “where the boys are.” Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new…
Campaign 2016’s Silly Season: A Weekly Tweet Roundup Feb. 5
The Republicans lost Rick Santorum, Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee, while the Dems said farewell to Martin O’Malley.
What you need to know about Pittsburgh news this week
This week, people lined the street to see the new tiny house in Garfield; the Carnegie Museum of Natural History opened a new exhibit on Pterosaurs; and DJ Afterthought talks to City Paper before his weekend show.
Pittsburgh City Council approves funds for Homewood ShotSpotter system
Pittsburgh City Council approved a funding increase for the city’s ShotSpotter detection system.
Lynn Cullen 2/05/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Democratic debates between Clinton and Sanders. Police dog memorial service and further reporting on the situation.Head of the Humane society under fire. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey endorses presidential candidate Marco Rubio
A couple days after Iowa caucuses, Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey official endorses Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in his bid for the Republican presidential nominee
In the Pa. attorney general race: Gov. Rendell endorses Josh Shaprio, Zappala picks up first labor nod
Pennsylvania attorney general candidates Josh Shapiro and Stephen Zappala pick up endorsements and campaign contributions.
Lynn Cullen Live 2/4/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Coming into the primaries. Who’s who amoung the candidates? Pittsburgh closes down streets and ramps for the death of a police dog. 10:15 procession to memorial. Are we conditioned against liking Hilary Clinton because of sexism. A record number of wrongful convictions overturned this year,…
Pterosaurs come to Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Video by Ashley Murray
Short List: February 4 – 11
FREE EVENT — Art Fri., Feb. 5, is a good night for gallery-crawling the eastern neighborhoods, with Unblurred on Penn Avenue and, just minutes away, Shadyside’s First Fridays Artwalk. But aficionados of glass art get a special two-fer, with new shows opening at both Pittsburgh Glass Center and Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery. Each exhibit is…
Mia Madre Trattoria
Mia Madre Trattoria Kennmawr Plaza, 200 Pine Hollow Road, Kennedy. 412-331-4000 Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m.; Fri. 11:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m.; Sat. 3:30-9:30 p.m. Prices: Appetizers $5-10; pasta and entrees $14-23 Liquor: Full bar For a minute there, it looked like the traditional dominance of the local restaurant market by red-sauce Italian joints might be fading.…
Freshly made soups are a reason to stop by Downtown’s Sal’s City Deli
Sal’s City Deli 245 Seventh St., Downtown. salscitydeli.com More than a decade ago, Ron Herbinko was a teacher at the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, where he taught soups, sauces and stocks. Today, he’s making fresh soups daily as the head chef at Sal’s City Deli, which sits in a space that once served as a Culinary…
Tiki bar Hidden Harbor debuts in Squirrel Hill
Hidden Harbor 1708 Shady Ave., Squirrel Hill. hiddenharborpgh.com Tiki gets a bad rap. For years, chain restaurants and seaside shacks across America have passed off cups of syrupy blue slush as proper tropical cocktails. True tiki drinks, the kind that rely on secret rum blends and fresh fruit juice, fell out of favor in the…
Some Brighter Distance, at City Theatre
Some Brighter Distance continues through Feb. 14. City Theatre, 1300 Bingham St., South Side. $18-56. 412-431-2489 or citytheatrecompany.org It’s true they have forever stained humanity with horror, but I’ll say this about the Nazis — they certainly spawned an awful lot of theater. City Theatre presents one of the newest entries in the canon, with…
Captured by Indians explores warfare and culture in 18th-century Pennsylvania
CAPTURED BY INDIANS continues through May 22. Fort Pitt Museum, 601 Commonwealth Place (in Point State Park), Downtown. 412-281-9284 or heinzhistorycenter.org/fort-pitt Captured by Indians is the melodramatic if accurate title of an exhibit at the Fort Pitt Museum about Europeans taken captive by Native Americans in these parts in the 18th century. But if the…
Ciara, at Quantum Theatre
Ciara continues through Feb. 4. Javo Studios, 5137 Holmes St., Lawrenceville. $18-51. 412-362-1713 or quantumtheatre.com Given that Pittsburgh was founded and, for a long time, run by Scottish-Irish immigrants, it’s not a stretch to imagine a link with the Glasgow depicted in Quantum Theatre’s latest production — David Harrower’s 2013 Ciara, in its North American…
At Neu Kirche, steel mills and warfare
LIKE A BODY WITHOUT SKIN continues through March 31. Neu Kirche Contemporary Art Center, 1000 Madison Ave., North Side. 412-322-2224 or neukirche.org As Pittsburgh continues to rack up accolades for “livability” and its food scene from sources such as The Economist and Travel+Leisure, there remains a distinct fascination with its past. Both insiders and outsiders…
A review of Dave Newman’s new poetry collection
The full text of Dave Newman’s “Johnstown, Pennsylvania” reads: “The chief of police / tasered his son / at Thanksgiving dinner.” Quirkiness aside, those seeking creative line-breaks, elevated language or experimental forms might be disappointed in his 173-page collection The Poem Factory (White Gorilla Press, $11.99). But if it’s a big-hearted speaker, a cast of…
The 2016 Oscar-nominated documentary short films screen
Oscar-nominated Documentary Shorts In English, and various languages, with subtitles Feb. 5-7, Feb. 12-14 and Feb. 10-20. Melwood. This weekend, Pittsburgh Filmmakers presents the Oscar-nominated Documentary Short Films. These typically cover tough topics, and this year is no exception — though it should be noted these films seek out the positive side of humanity as…
The Finest Hours
In real life, the U.S. Coast Guard does a lot of useful and even heroic stuff, but rarely do its exploits garner the big-screen treatment. Its last big cinematic splash was a decade ago, with The Guardian. But here comes The Finest Hours, a based-on-real-events actioner featuring a handful of hardy, salty men. In the…
New Releases
Pittsburgh Songwriters Circle 2016 Collection (Self-released) www.pittsburghsongwriterscircle.org Year to year, and track to track, you never really know what you’re going to get with the Pittsburgh Songwriters Circle’s annual release. The long-running group, sponsored by Calliope, provides a forum for folk-oriented musicians who don’t play out often, and this collection features tracks by 25 artists…
45 Years
Just five days before an English couple will host a party to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary, a small occurrence casts worrisome shadows over the seemingly sunny relationship. Geoff (Tom Courtenay) receives a letter stating that the body of his long-ago German girlfriend has been found; she had fallen into a crevasse during an Alpine…
Two women declared candidacy for the Pa. legislature for the 2016 election. Will more run?
It’s been eight years since Lisa Bennington left her Pennsylvania House of Representatives seat after serving just one term. But there are certain things she’ll never forget. “This is one of my favorite stories,” says Bennington. “The guy’s bathroom on the floor of the House is like a palace. There is literally a barber sitting…
Film Kitchen monthly screening series for local and independent artists
This month, the series for local and independent artists screens shorts by or about local comedic talent. The centerpiece is “The Comedy Confluence,” a 30-minute documentary about the fast-growing Pittsburgh comedy scene, by Andy Kelemen and Mike Rubino, that recently premiered on WQED-TV. The fast-paced, slickly produced film profiles standup comic Norlex Belma, all-woman sketch…
Cyclists wonder why Pittsburgh streets and sidewalks were plowed, but bike lanes went untouched
January’s big winter storm crushed cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. with substantial amounts of snow, but Pittsburgh didn’t receive nearly as much. After an extensive clean-up effort during the day on Sat., Jan. 23, most major roads were cleared by the evening. And by the time everyone went back to work on Monday…
After tours with Riff Raff and Mac Miller, DJ Afterthought is making his mark in the Pittsburgh hip-hop scene
HOMEGROWN MICS feat. DJ AFTERHOUGHT, RYAN BRONSON, PK DELAY, JOEL KELLEM, more. 10:30 p.m. Fri., Feb. 5. Club Café, 56 S. 12th St., South Side. $5-10. 412-431-4950 or clubcafelive.com Ryan Haynes doesn’t look back on his early Pittsburgh gigs with a lot of fondness. By his recollection, the scene was full of talented artists.…
Pittsburgh’s St. Clair neighborhood to get an urban farm and new housing
Last week, nearly 60 people gathered in the Ormsby Avenue Cafe in Pittsburgh’s St. Clair neighborhood to hear from the Hilltop Alliance about how their neighborhood could be transformed. The Hilltop Alliance is a nonprofit that serves St. Clair, as well Allentown, Beltzhoover, Knoxville, Bon Air, Carrick, Arlington, Arlington Heights, Mount Washington, the South Side…
Montreal’s Young Galaxy aims to hold on to youthful idealism
YOUNG GALAXY with CHALK DINOSAUR 9:30 p.m. Thu., Feb. 4. Brillobox, 4104 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. $12. 412-621-4900 or brillobox.net Because adulthood tends to be long on responsibility and short on resources, growing older has a way of pushing practicality to the forefront. It’s here that the mettle of the creative type is truly tested. When…
Wysocki: Pro basketball is still buzzing around Pittsburgh
Catch the buzz. That’s the slogan of the new American Basketball Association’s Steel City Yellow Jackets. Pittsburgh has always had an odd relationship with professional basketball. We used to have the Condors, so named because the owners knew the franchise was doomed. Plus, pro hoops is our city’s 17th favorite sport. So it’s a tough…
The Red Western aims to double listenership with two new releases
THE RED WESTERN CD-RELEASE SHOW 8 p.m. Sat., Feb. 6. The Andy Warhol Museum, 117 Sandusky St., North Side. $8-10. 412-237-8300 or warhol.org Conventional wisdom says the CD is a dying format. But playing in a band means bucking most conventions, which explains why The Red Western took the bold leap of releasing two CDs…
Savage Love
A large crowd braved a snowstorm to come out to Savage Love Live at Boston’s Wilbur Theatre in January. Questions were submitted on index cards, which allowed questioners to remain anonymous and forced them to be succinct. I got to as many of them as I could over two long, raucous, boozy hours. Here are…
Critics’ Picks, Feb. 4-10
[HIP HOP] + FRI., FEB. 5 By now, Cleveland’s Kid Cudi has garnered enough fame to need (almost) no introduction. Back in 2008, his debut single “Day ’N’ Nite” was practically inescapable. He’s since branched out into acting; served as bandleader on the IFC series Comedy Bang! Bang!; and has more than flirted with alternative…
Stuff We Like
London Spy. British spies just seem more troubled, and thus more interesting. Check out this latest import, a five-episode series on BBC America with a top cast (Ben Wishaw, Charlotte Rampling, Jim Broadbent). Catch up online at www.bbcamerica.com. Chocolate Babka from BreadWorks. This special bread is for sale just four times a year. Place an…
Lynn Cullen 2/03/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. PG charges for a opt out. RIP Gordon Goody, Leader of the great train Robbery. Universities deck out their athletics departments. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
City Paper Podcast, or “Untitled” – Episode 003
This week, DJ Afterthought shows us around one of the most successful recording studios in Pittsburgh, and in our Sound Bite segment, we head to the Butcher on Butler.
