Review: Cheater Slicks, Unholy Two, 88 Sex Biz at Gooski’s
Editor’s note: Yes, this review is a bit late. Fault me for that; I had the copy and didn’t post it because I’m a dillweed. Don’t let it dissuade you from reading Rick’s solid prose on a good night at Gooski’s! Halfway to the show on July 2, I swerved my car to the opposing…
City council passes diesel-emission limits
Pittsburgh’s air will soon be a little easier to breathe. Today, City Council unanimously passed legislation requiring that contractors on publicly subsidized projects reduce their diesel emissions. The bill, known as the “Clean Air Act,” mandates that contractors receiving taxpayer support must retrofit their diesel-powered vehicles with pollution-control devices. “To have City Council taking a…
Squonk Opera on America’s Got Talent
It’s a big week for Pittsburgh performers out of town. This past Sunday afternoon, the Zany Umbrella Circus performed its new one, Mirette’s Circus, at New York City’s outdoor SummerStage series, on the Central Park Main Stage, no less. (The charming show had just world-premiered here last week, at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater.) And this Friday,…
MP3 Tuesday
Howdy! This week is like any other week, in the sense that there is a free MP3, from a local band, that is being brought to you, a City Paper reader, by me, a City Paper music writer. And yet it’s different from other weeks, because this week the MP3 we’re bringing you is from…
Aaronel deRoy Gruber, 1918-2011
Gruber, likely the longest-active prominent artist in Pittsburgh, died July 6, four days short of her 93rd birthday. Gruber’s work was internationally exhibited, but around here she was perhaps best known not just for her longevity, but for her ability to successfully shift between, and evolve her practice through, different media. The Pittsburgh native and…
Future Reading: What would losing the 2011 season mean for Pittsburgh? Here’s a peek.
Depending on whom you ask, we’re either a couple weeks away from the NFL’s owners and Players Association ending their labor dispute, or a long way from making a deal. What if the latter is true? What would Pittsburgh’s future be like without the NFL? Here’s a peek: July-August 2011 Pundits on sports-talk radio calm…
Shaking Up a Classic
For nostalgia buffs, the milkshake is an essential bit of postwar Americana, like burger joints and drive-in movies. But milk- or cream-based drinks have been around almost as long as American cocktails. In the 19th century, they were cocktails — made from cream, eggs, sugar and a base spirit like whiskey. And during Prohibition, New…
13 Ways of Looking At UPMC
For Jeffrey Romoff, il miglior fabbro I. This is not a hospital. It’s a song to the possibilities that live within us all. You will see how our organization reaches out to provide the hope, security, And peace of mind people need. II. With Highmark having announced its intention to compete with UPMC…
Savage Love
I met a woman who I’m really into physically, emotionally and mentally. Problem is, when we started having sex, she insisted on a condom for birth control. I haven’t worn one in probably eight or nine years. I would put on the condom and start having sex, and go limp because of the feel. This…
Local Bar and Restaurant
Local Bar and Restaurant1515 E. Carson St., South Side. 412-431-1125Hours: Mon.-Sun. 11 a.m.-2 a.m.Prices: $5-13Liquor: Full bar In this era of farmers’ markets and the 30-Mile Meal (one whose ingredients are gleaned from sources within 30 miles of where said meal is consumed), the word “local” has taken on a freighted significance, at least…
Local MC Beedie is ready for the boom bap big time
Local hip-hop up-and-comer Beedie aims to make a good living doing what he loves: making music. He credits his confidence in himself and a relentless work ethic for his progress. And so far it’s worked: This week the MC (real name Brian Green) released what he considers to be his official debut album, The Beat…
Critics’ Picks: July 8 – 13
Local shows by Chatham County Line, Chop Chop and Cut Copy, and the return of the Solar Concert Series.
CD Reviews
New releases by Balloon Ride Fantasy, Peacefield and Real Deal.
M.O.T.O.’s Paul Caporino takes on a Pittsburgh backing band
The garage-punk band M.O.T.O., the sole essential member of which is songwriter Paul Caporino, has been based out of a few locales in its 30 years — Chicago, Providence, New Orleans — but never Pittsburgh. But when M.O.T.O. toured Japan earlier this year in the wake of the earthquake disaster, Caporino took a Pittsburgh-based backing…
Animal Collective lives with the hype post-Merriweather Post Pavilion
In 2009, Animal Collective shot from weirdos’ favorite rock band to rock bros’ favorite weirdos. Its album Merriweather Post Pavilion, which held a massive blogosphere hit in the neon-quivering “My Girls,” was the most critically drooled-upon album of that year. The album pushed Animal Collective (David “Avey Tare” Portner, Noah “Panda Bear” Lennox, Brian “Geologist”…
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
When we were kids, we’d smash various toys together for fun. Then, we grew up. There seems to be little such hope for director Michael Bay and his never-ending Transformers saga (on loan from Hasbro Toys). The third iteration, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, is a two-and-a-half-hour mind-enema in which good, bad and good-bad robots…
Larry Crowne
The titular fellow (played by Hanks) counters an ignoble work dismissal by enrolling in community college. There, Larry discovers a gift for economics; becomes the make-over darling of the scooter set; and strikes a few sparks with his speech teacher (Julia Roberts). Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) co-wrote Larry with Hanks. Its characterizations…
Beginners
After his wife dies, Hal (Christopher Plummer) announces that he’s gay. In short order, he’s rainbow-marching, squealing during movie night and taking a much-younger boyfriend. He’s also diagnosed with terminal cancer. Struggling on the periphery is his grown son Oliver (Ewan MacGregor), who is depressed about his life and grief-stricken over the death of his…
A Hotel on Marvin Gardens
A Hotel on Marvin Gardens, by Nagle Jackson, is an odd little play. It wants to be a farce, with comic blunders, melodramatic bursts and absurd coincidences. The very plot smacks of screwball comedy: A mega-rich businesswoman, KC, invites her underlings to play Monopoly on her private island every April Fool’s Day. But KC’s guests…
House & Garden
Alan Ayckbourn’s House & Garden is really two scripts: House and Garden. Both take place in the same location — the manse and grounds of British aristocrat Teddy Platt — and both happen simultaneously. The new Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre production, co-directed by Andrew S. Paul and Melissa Hill Grande, is at the Stephen…
ModernFormations’ 10th-anniversary show is a vivid cross-section of local artists.
Per square foot, arguably no venue has promoted Pittsburgh-based artists in the past decade more energetically than ModernFormations Gallery. The Garfield storefront’s 10th-anniversary show, ret-ro-spec-tive, is a vivid cross-section. Both the anteroom and the larger, distinctively purple-walled back chamber display works previously exhibited there by 57 artists, including winners of the annual Spring Salon. Owner…
New ballet company adds “Texture” to dance scene
For years, former Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre dancer Alan Obuzor had dreamed of starting his own ballet company. In late 2010, he began taking steps to make that dream a reality. Obuzor, 28, had spent seven seasons with PBT before leaving in 2007 because of a recurring knee injury. He turned to family, friends and former…
Historian Rob Ruck traces what was won — and lost — when baseball integrated.
University of Pittsburgh senior history lecturer Rob Ruck studies sports and society. His books include Sandlot Seasons: Sport in Black Pittsburgh and The Tropic of Baseball: Baseball in the Dominican Republic. His latest, Raceball: How the Major Leagues Colonized the Black and Latin Game (Beacon Press), explores the game’s role in the African-American community in the…
On the Record with Pitt School of Medicine professor Dr. Richard Beigi
“This has tremendous promise to curb the HIV epidemic if used by women.”
Nude dancer says strip-club rules invasive, unnecessary
Since Pittsburgh City Councilor Theresa Kail-Smith introduced legislation to regulate where adult-entertainment businesses go, and what can — and can’t — go on in them, she’s heard from both supporters and critics. But one group hasn’t been part of the conversation so far. “The only people I’d feel more comfortable hearing from is the dancers,”…
Zone Defense: State bill seeks to usurp communities’ rights to restrict drilling
When Pittsburgh City Council voted to ban natural-gas drilling last November, the nine-member legislative body stood up to the gas industry — and its controversial methods of gas extraction — by exercising its local zoning authority. The same thing happened in Baldwin Borough in June, and in South Fayette Township last year when local officials…
Buck
Horses, like dogs, are man’s longtime co-workers. But Buck Brannaman isn’t convinced that humans and horses are interacting correctly, particularly during the critical period when an untrained horse is “broken.” Buck takes a holistic approach — more gentle firmness and respect for the animal’s perspective, and less restrictive tackle and indiscriminate whipping — swearing that…
Short List: July 7 – 14
Thu., July 7 — Stage Zany Umbrella Circus founder Ben Sota has been studying theater in Europe, and one result is Mirette’s Circus. Inspired by a children’s book about a little girl who becomes a tightwire artist in 1920s Paris, the new show employs circus skills, physical theater, masks, dance and live music to explore…
Custard Crossing
Tony Crankovic may be a case study in putting the cart before the horse. As a salesman traveling through the Midwest, Crankovic became obsessed with frozen custard and decided he wanted to open his own shop. In 2008, he bought a plot of land near some railroad tracks (hence the name Custard Crossing) in the…
MP3 …Wednesday?
Hey hey! Independence Day threw us for a bit of a loop, but FFW>> is back on all cylinders today, and bringing you this week’s free MP3 download. It comes from Le Cachot, a band I wrote about here a few weeks ago. They’re offering up the song “Falcon Crest” as this week’s MP3. *Download…
