CP Podcast: Goodbye, Margaret
After six-and-a-half years at City Paper, our music editor Margaret Welsh is leaving the job to pursue other interests. So we invited a couple of friends to help conduct her exit interview before sending her off to greener pastures. Music journalist and CP contributor Meg Fair, recording engineer Madeleine Campbell and host Alex Gordon talk…
“Tomorrow’s Parties” launches “Strange Times” series at Pittsburgh’s New Hazlett Theater
Theater piece asks what the future will be like
Listen Up! Jan. 11
Every Wednesday, we make a Spotify playlist containing tracks from artists mentioned in the current music section. It can be a little jarring (Code Orange and Anne Feeney aren’t likely on many playlists together) but that’s because we try to cover a lot of ground in our music section. It’s a good thing. Listen while…
Opinion: If Steelers coach Joey Porter’s past actions are relevant to recent arrest, then so are those of the arresting officer
The past actions of a Pittsburgh police officer are just as important as those of a Steelers coach
Volunteer Fair on Thursday night at Pittsburgh’s Spirit
Dozens of groups seeking help to better the community convene at Help or High Water
Following arrest, media lists Pittsburgh Steelers Coach Joey Porter’s past legal trouble but ignore those of the arresting officer
Media reports list the previous legal troubles of Steelers Coach Joey Porter following weekend arrest, but fail to mention the previous legal woes of the arresting officer.
ICE deems Pittsburgh undocumented immigrant a priority; supporters scrambling to save him from deportation
Advocates are asking for additional support to avoid Martín Esquivel-Hernandez’s deportation.
Slideshow: Pittsburgh Steelers crush Miami Dolphins in first round of NFL Playoffs
The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Miami Dolphins, 20-12 Sat. Jan. 8 in an AFC Wildcard Game.
MP3 Monday: Violet Rose
This week’s MP3 Monday is Violet Rose’s “Repeat,” a cool, sleekly produced pop song that’s hard to shake. Rose is relocating to Los Angeles at some point in 2017, but you can still catch her last show as a Pittsburgh resident at Brillobox on Jan. 12. Stream or download “Repeat” below. To download, right-click here and…
Lynn Cullen Live 01/09/17
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Golden Globes. Trump’s rise to power and debts. How liberals are alienating themselves. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Studies show bike lanes can reduce congestion, contrary to Pittsburgh residents’ criticism
Pittsburgh City Council is considering a committee to field bike-lane complaints.
Lynn Cullen Live 01/06/17
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Tweeter in Chief is worried about his show. De-funding Planned Parenthood is on the agenda. Fake news. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Modernizing Medieval Meals
Historian Lisa Graves and chef Tricia Cohen combine their talents to create an illustrated historical guide to medieval cooking. Each recipe is modernized for the contemporary cook, while still harkening to its original roots on the tables of the Middle Ages.
Downtown Pittsburgh’s Strawberry Way named favorite ‘Street Transformation’
The former grimy alley way, now public-art pedestrian path has been nationally recognized.
Lynn Cullen Live 01/05/17
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Where is Steve Bannon. The coming repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Attack on Planned Parenthood. Simon and Schuster gives money to Brietbart. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Champagne Campaign
Our culture relegates sparkling wine to special celebrations. It’s bubbly, delicious and people like it because the joyful little lift goes straight to the head. It is seen as fancy but not snobby, and a little more accessible than wine. However, when you’re asked to pick one out, it’s hard to know what to look…
Virile Chickpeas
In the medieval period, people sought out magical cures and outlandish remedies for everything from colicky babies to protection against witches. Young women would eat strange foods to induce dreams of future husbands, and love spells were very profitable for midwives and healers. Doctors prescribed specific foods for certain ailments like boiled gall bladders from…
Pittsburgh City Paper Booze Battles: Paris 66 Bistro vs. Casbah Mediterranean Kitchen & Wine Bar
Each week, we order the same cocktail at two different bars for a friendly head-to-head battle. Go to the bars, taste them both and tell us what you like about each by tagging @pghcitypaper on Twitter or Instagram and using #CPBoozeBattles. If you want to be a part of Booze Battles, send an email to…
Brooklyn’s Big Thief houses heartbreak and self-loathing in cozy, familiar folk rock
BIG THIEF with SAM EVIAN 8 p.m. Mon., Jan. 9. Club Café, 56 S. 12th St., South Side. $10-12. 412-431-4950 or clubcafelive.com Big Thief is often referred to as a Brooklyn-based band, but its songs are written for someplace far away — the side of a freeway or an empty train yard — where you…
Holly Jolly Christmas Ale, Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon
“It’s like Christmas in a glass. I think it’s perfect for the holidays. It’s got cinnamon and nutmeg, but the flavor isn’t overwhelming. It’s not overly high in alcohol either, so you can have more than one.” Recommended by Jenny Hoff, bartender at Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon, South Side This beer is available on…
Pittsburgh hip-hop artist and music mentor, Shad Ali, takes on role of head instructor at CMU’s Arts Greenhouse
Arts Greenhouse — Carnegie Mellon University’s hip-hop-based arts-education program for Pittsburgh-area teens — recently welcomed hip-hop artist Shad Ali as the new head instructor. Taking over for former head instructor Paul Crocker, who left to pursue other ventures, Ali is excited to be a part of this program. It’s a fusion of two things he…
Pittsburgh-based photographer Lynn Johnson is one of National Geographic’s Women of Vision
WOMEN OF VISION continues through Sun., Jan. 8. Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. 412-621-3131 or cmnh.org Middle of the night. Back of a motorcycle. Out in the bush in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Such are the lengths to which photographers like Lynn Johnson have gone to get a story for…
Critics’ Picks, Jan. 5-11
[NERD METAL] + FRI., JAN. 6 Rather than spending your evenings quietly weeping into your Star Wars collectables, celebrate Carrie Fisher’s legacy tonight at the Rex Theater. 3 Rivers Comicon and New Dimension Comics join forces to host Galactic Empire, a mathy metal band that recreates John Williams’ finest work in a style that’ll open…
Savage Love
My brother is a virgin and turning 30 in a few weeks. He said he wants to hire an escort just for drinks and conversation for his birthday, but he doesn’t really know how to tell what’s a reliable service or what criteria he should be looking for to tell whether an agency is legit,…
Hidden Figures
Hidden Figures Directed by Theodore Melfi Starring Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Costner Starts Fri., Jan. 6 Theodore Melfi’s bio-pic Hidden Figures shines a spotlight on three African-American women who helped put men into space in the 1960s. Based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s eponymous book, it’s a feel-good tale of science, determination…
The Everyday Café in Homewood serves breakfast and lunch, plus gives back to the community
The name Everyday Café suggests a certain amount of coziness and familiarity. And this new coffee and sandwich shop, which opened in November, offers both. As part of the Oasis Project — the community- and economic-development division of the Bible Center Church, also in Homewood — profits from Everyday Café go back into neighborhood-based causes…
A glass artist and a collage artist team up to explore architectural decay
DISSOLUTION continues through Jan. 16. Pittsburgh Glass Center, 5472 Penn Ave., Friendship. 412-365-2145 or pittsburghglasscenter.org Architecture should be both useful and aesthetic. In Dissolution, an exhibit at Pittsburgh Glass Center, Seth Clark and Jason Forck explore what becomes of the aesthetics when architecture’s utility is lost to decay. Forck is a glass artist, and most…
Pittsburgh City Paper’s 2017 Almanac: Everything you need to know to get through the year ahead
Life can be full of uncertainty in these whirligig times. Will it snow the day I decide to wear new ballet flats? Will the new restaurant that opened last month still be open when I visit this week? Well, we’re here to help. In the pages of Pittsburgh City Paper’s 2017 Almanac, you’ll find everything…
A poet digs into the everyday
Memory has loomed as an important component of poetry dating to Horace, who’s considered the first autobiographical writer. Without it, verse loses its sense of personal connection, the ties that bind life events to something beyond wordy abstraction. Writing about the self both preserves and enriches what’s important. In her debut full-length collection, Ordinary Tasks…
Panther Party: University of Pittsburgh football fans make the trip to New York for Pinstripe Bowl
As hung-over college-football fans recover from the orgy of annual holiday bowl games, many might be wondering why there are so many of these under-attended, over-hyped gridiron exhibitions. After all, isn’t any game outside of the four-team playoff essentially meaningless? Well, don’t direct that question to any of the Pitt fans who made their way to the Bronx…
A Monster Calls
And so 2016 ends with four films about people processing grief. We’ve had Manchester by the Sea, Collateral Beauty, Jackie and now A Monster Calls, from Spanish director J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage). In this hybrid of fantastical fairy tale and coming-of-age drama, we meet young Conor (Lewis MacDougall), who lives in a rainy English village.…
Mike Wysocki makes his 2017 Pittsburgh sports predictions
Predictions are like podcasts; it seems like everybody has one. But I’m no ordinary predictor/podcaster. In August, I predicted that the Steelers would go 12-4 and that Maurkice Pouncey would not get injured. As long as the Browns didn’t somehow trip them up this past Sunday, the Steelers will finish 11-5, and Pouncey is still…
Members of the Pittsburgh music community reflect on the role of art and activism in the coming year
In the days immediately following Donald Trump’s election, some people took to the streets in protest while others looked (mostly unsuccessfully) for a bright side. A few people tossed around that evergreen phrase, “at least punk will be good again.” The idea, of course, is that protest and political unrest breeds great art. But at…
This Just In
Get a job! WPXI reporter Jennifer Tomazic drives all the way to Connellsville, Fayette County, to do a piece apparently meant to scare the hell out of senior citizens in the entire WPXI viewing area, while keeping them prisoners in their own homes. “New video of an 81-year-old woman who was robbed right in front…
The Pittsburgh stories of canonical novelist Willa Cather
These days, there are as many literary works set in Pittsburgh as there are movies shot here. But try to find pre-1930s fiction by a canonical writer depicting this tahn, and the list gets short after Willa Cather. Though famed for her novels of the Great Plains, Cather actually lived in Pittsburgh during her professionally…
Short List: Jan 4-10
SPOTLIGHT: Tue., Jan. 10 – Stage The puckishly named Forced Entertainment is renowned in England, a performance troupe known for shows like Complete Works: Tabletop Shakespeare, in which all the Bard’s plays are cast with condiment containers. “We’re interested in confusion as well as laughter,” explains the group’s website; Ben Harrison of The Andy Warhol…
Steel Cactus, in Shadyside, is unabashedly Mexican-American
Steel Cactus 5555 Walnut St., Shadyside. 412-709-6444 Hours: Daily 10 a.m.-2 a.m. Prices: Appetizers, soups, salads and tacos $6-14; entrees $10-21 Liquor: Full bar Local is an important concept in dining today, but it can be at odds with diners’ appetites for authentic international fare. Fortunately, in Pittsburgh, we have a shorthand for making any…
