PICT’s Theater Online
When Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre announced this week that it would stream its Aug. 15 performance of The History Boys live online, the first thing I thought of was a conversation I had with some friends recently. We were discussing why stage plays documented on film or video always feel — no matter how…
Oh God Not Again
Another multiple shooting, another senseless tragedy perpetrated by some deranged cretin in Pittsburgh. And it seems like this shooter, too, has left messages for the rest of us on the internet. As Maria of 2 political junkies has also discovered, it seems the alleged LA Fitness shooter, George Sodini, has left a Web site behind. …
MP3 MONDAY: Margot B.
After two releases, 2005’s Unframed and the 2006 EP Inspired, local R&B singer Margot B. has aimed squarely for the dance floor with her new full-length album, Two Thousand Mine. The 10-track CD, produced mainly by E. Dan at the ID Labs studios, includes the single “Havoc,” produced by Juliano and featuring emcee Wiz Khalifa,…
Show review: Yes and Asia at the Amphitheatre at Station Square
The thrill of this package tour was hearing guitarist extraordinaire Steve Howe float effortlessly from his self-described “hard pounding guitar” in AOR gods Asia to the fluent, progressive rock orchestrations of Yes. Asia had its original core lineup intact (something Yes missed by a couple members) and were more than a perfect warm up, but…
Hot Zone
Councilors say rushed zoning-board appointments are purely political
Public Displays of Dissension
North Side group, union taking fight for benefits to public arena
Pseudo Slang offers hip hop for the heads at Most Wanted Fine Art
“It’s the renaissance of rap, classical bebop / The boom-bap, scat scooby-doo-bop.”
Chicago’s Baby Teeth offers synths, syncopation and snark on Hustle Beach
“I was inspired by these kind of all-inclusive resort setups.”
Alt-country siren Neko Case plays the Riverplex Amphitheatre
Case’s songs are pleasantly disjointed and asymmetrical, with choruses and hooks that sneak up, then disappear.
A Conversation with The Low Anthem’s Ben Knox Miller
“The last two live concerts I’ve seen were Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. I don’t think I’ve moved on.”
Tokyo Japanese Food Store
Bento-box lunches are among the treats at this Japanese grocery.
Savage Love
I’m a 26-year-old straight guy. Due to my being overweight, awkward and generally unable to attract women I’m interested in, I have only been sexually intimate with prostitutes and women of low caliber. I have never been able to sustain an erection during intercourse. I’ve climaxed during oral sex or handjobs. I’m not physically accustomed…
Josh Beyer showcases original sessions by local improvisers on WRCT
“You’re going to hear a session where everything is set up and sounds good before we’re taping.”
The Smithsonian’s touring Modern Masters bypasses some big names to focus on other luminaries.
Eschewing the realism of American art pre-World War II, postwar artists sought to express, abstractly, what it meant to live in the mid-20th century.
Mary Mazziotti’s “Domestic Death”
Because Americans frequently think about death only in terms of consumer products (funerals, tombstones, caskets), Mazziotti’s cheekily direct approach in this little show at Lawrenceville’s Borelli-Edwards Gallery is especially notable. Using humble embroidery, she’s repurposed kitschy vintage domestic linens – most, I’d guess, from the middle 1900s — as medieval-style reminders of mortality. Call it…
Police Mis-state
About a month ago, CP’s own Marty Levine wrote about what local activists could expect prior to the September G-20 summit. Among other things, one protest veteran warned: Pittsburghers will soon hear wildly inflated estimates about the number of protesters expected. That, he says, will increase public perceptions of a threat. And, he predicts, so…
Short List: Week of July 30 – August 6
Because Naomi Iizuka’s 36 Views is set partly in the loft of a shrewd art dealer with an affinity for Japanese antiques, the play supplies its audience with oodles of lovely props to admire. Quantum Theatre’s new production, opening Thu., July 30, showcases ancient scrolls and woodcuts, too. But the real visual treat, says director…
Fallout Shelter
Addiction counselors preparing to help those who get in too deep
Free Money?
Gambling has its compensations … sort of
Machine Politics
Rule No. 1 for slots players: Know your enemy
Playing for High Stakes
The Rivers aspires to be more than just a slots parlor
Hofbräuhaus
A convivial beer hall atmosphere, but some disappointing dishes
Amarcord
A revival of Federico Fellini’s 1973 classic.
Departures
What happens when a moderately talented cellist, working for an orchestra that goes belly up, returns to live in the house his mother left him — and ends up preparing bodies for burial? In America, a sitcom would happen. But in this case, what happens is a gentle dramedy that won 10 Japanese film awards…
Séraphine
Séraphine Louis was a woman when women artists were especially ignored. She was a humble and even childlike domestic. And in an era of dawning rationalism and mechanization, religion falling from favor, Séraphine credited her talent to brushes with the divine. Martin Provost’s poignant, beautifully filmed bio-pic is built around the contrasts in the life…
Pittsburgh n’@
Dispatches from the blogosphere: Did ESPN give Big Ben a break?
This Just In: July 30 – August 6
Highlights from the local TV news: Last call for Iron City.
Activist and author Frances Moore Lappé discusses how reviving democracy can aid the environment
“The environmental crisis is a crisis of democracy,” argues Frances Moore Lappé in her 2008 book Getting a Grip. Lappé burst on the scene in 1971 with her anti-hunger vegetarian manifesto, Diet for a Small Planet. In later books, she has explored what’s behind our more destructive values. The trouble, she contends, isn’t that there’s…
Gathering Steam
…While meeting of real anarchists goes widely unnoticed
Overreaction News
Channel 4 story about anarchists running amok lacked actual anarchists…
Comedian Jim Breuer stays funny as a family man
“Once we’re out and about I’ve got about eight seconds to find a bucket or a toilet.”
The All Night Strut
Picture Trafford: A tiny town of 3,000 people with sloped streets and brick row-houses. The curb is lined with pick-up trucks and the telephone poles are festooned with American flags. It’s a quiet place; you might walk for an hour and pass only one squad car, making rounds. “For Rent” signs are everywhere, even on…
Barry Manilow’s Copacabana
“At the Copa! Copacabana! Hottest spot north of Havana!” You know, this may be the first time I got a song stuck in my head before I saw the show. Based on the 1978 hit single “Copacabana,” by Barry Manilow (with lyrics by Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman), Copacabana — as a musical — started…
