City Council: After a wild week of speculation, reformers come out on top
Amongst reformers and critics of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Doug Shields’ re-election as president is being hailed as a potential watershed moment, a sign that Ravenstahl may encounter a council less complacent than last year.
Savage Love
Please disregard my previous e-mail. As of the New Year, my girlfriend is no longer a virgin. No Longer Dating Virgin Girl Uh, gee. Sorry about that, NLDVG. I’m not sorry that your girlfriend is no longer a virgin, of course, as virginity is a scourge that I’ve dedicated my life to stamping out.…
Theater: Panel discusses the future of African-American theater in Pittsburgh
More than 50 interested individuals spent their Saturday trying to determine the future of black theater in the city.
Not-Very-Selective Prosecution
If you want to accuse Dr. Cyril Wecht of being abrasive, you’ll get no argument here. Tacked to my cubicle wall is a letter the former Allegheny County Coroner sent us back in 2001. “Perhaps some of the Muslim terrorists took over the offices of the Pittsburgh City Paper recently,” he wrote in response to…
This Just In: Jan 9 – 16
Highlights from the local TV news: Agony and ecstasy for Steelers fans.
Pittsburgh n’@
Mannarino or Melani: Pick your poison
Escape Artist
Francois Lighty should be back in jail by now. At least, that’s what the numbers say. When he was arrested in 2003, on charges stemming from a gunpoint robbery, he was young, black and male, and had been dealing drugs. He’d come to Pittsburgh on a Greyhound bus from his home in gang-riddled North Philadelphia,…
Make Bread … and Mistakes at Enrico Biscotti
Larry Lagattuta debunks the myth that baking bread is best left to experts.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly / The Bucket List
Two new films take different approaches in addressing life’s last chapter
Swallowing Resentment
Despite having pissed off drinkers — the most sizable contingent in Western Pennsylvania’s pool of potential voters — Onorato isn’t as dumb as he looks.
King Corn
Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz’s 1973 decision to subsidize production left us with way more way-cheap corn than we could use. So we found stuff to do with it, and much of that, such as feeding cattle and high-fructose corn syrup, has proved problematic. Now, pals Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis take a principled lark,…
Local filmmaker David Urbanic documents grassroots touring band Zelazowa
“It was one of those moments where you know nothing’s going to be the same again.”
Jimmy Carter: The Man From Plains
He left office in 1980 so reviled, but re-established himself as roving diplomat and mediator, fair-elections monitor, prolific author and hands-on home-builder. In Jonathan Demme’s profile, we see the 83-year-old Carter wearing all these hats and more as the man from Plains, Ga., hits the circuit to promote his 2006 book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.…
Talk is plentiful in William Zink’s Ohio River Dialogues
Ultimately, what might be trickiest about Ohio River Dialogues is separating its art from its politics.
One Missed Call
Eric Vallette’s thriller is a half-hearted remake of a 2003 Japanese film, in which some cell phones are calling their owners from the future to report their deaths. The cause of phones calling ahead with your death gurgle is never fully explained, though the sort-of reasons run the gamut from child abuse to computerized address…
Caleb Charland’s photographs at Silver Eye evoke the curiosity of scientific experimentation.
Inspired by children’s books of science experiments, the photographs seek to answer the questions “Is this possible?” and “How would that look?”
The Von Bondies hit the road again with a new set of wheels
“There’s a different kind of sadness or anger, but it’s not making me play the three chords I only knew when I was 19.”
Screaming Females bring punk ethos and guitar heroics to Roboto
“Basically if you’re from New Brunswick and you have a band, no matter what kind of music you play, you’re a punk band.”
Ball of Flame Shoot Fire releases top-notch debut
I’d call Grumpy Little Bird the first great new Pittsburgh record of the year.
The Working Poor exhumes the recent past with Eat the Middle Class
Kaleidoscopic lyrics that pull you into little worlds, each with its own tensions and conflict
A Conversation with Jeremy and Tim LeDonne
Jeremy LeDonne is a pretty typical 10-year-old … except for the fact that the Glenshaw youth has been a competitive ATV racer since the age of 4. When the national touring season begins this spring, he’ll enter it as the No. 2-ranked racer of 51-70 cc ATVs, having scored 109 points in the Power Sports…
Rivertowne Inn
This neighborhood bar and grill is warmly lit warren of cozy, tightly packed dining rooms buzzing with casual, convivial atmosphere.
Fiery Response: Controversy ignites over Hill District CBA
Hill District residents are burning mad at the proposed Community Benefits Agreement sent to them by the city and the county.
