A few more ways to (see someone) play outside this summer
Okay, so it’s only 70 degrees out there today, but in theory, we’re into the heat of the summer — and that means outdoor concerts. In addition to the Allegheny County Parks concerts (Steve Earle at South Park on July 17 is one of the highlights of the remaining schedule) and the newly revamped Amphitheatre…
MP3 Monday: Aydin
Last year, local accordian shoegazers Aydin released Cyclones and Honey, their second record. I reviewed it, noting that “their poppier moments are dreamy and delicious.” The three-piece continues to kick it with their spacey sounds; they’re the subject of our MP3 Monday this week. Take a listen to Silver Surf, off of Cyclones and Honey.
Short List: Week of June 25 – July 2
Hear ye, hear ye: With its Midnight Radio project, Bricolage Theatre revives the tradition of the classic radio serial — think The Shadow, The Lone Ranger, soap operas — with modern twists and Pittsburgh flavor. Following last summer’s trial run, Bricolage returns June 26 and 27 with the first of four monthly stage performances of…
Shaky Ground
Pittsburgh homes are being bought and sold by people who’ve never seen them. And that’s not always a good thing for the people next door.
Stone Mansion Restaurant
Like a house museum with a menu, the Mansion offers fine food in an atmosphere of history and romance.
Year One
Verily, this is true: Jack Black has become that tiresome guy at the party who thinks that repeating his jokes loudly (or with fewer clothes on) is gonna make them funnier. If Black is the boor, then Michael Cera is that quiet guy you never quite noticed before who, with his shy shrugs and half-whispered…
The Proposal
A high-powered New York editor (Sandra Bullock) forces her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her to avoid deportation to her native Canada. To “prove” their love, they immediately take off to spend the weekend in his ancestral Alaska town. The antagonistic couple forced by bizarre circumstances to pretend to be in love, whereby such proximity…
The Limits of Control
In films like Dead Man, Ghost Dog and Broken Flower, Jim Jarmusch has inched closer and closer to a cinema of, if not reality, then at least humanity. He does what he wants, and he doesn’t seem to care what people think of his work, nor whether they go to see it. The Limits of…
Anvil: The Story of Anvil
Toronto-based metal band Anvil, after a fleeting moment of recognition in the early 1980s, spent decades toiling in obscurity – still hoping for the big break. Sacha Gervasi’s documentary catches up with the group – now middle-aged men – as the members launch a disastrous tour of Europe and produce their 13th album. The film…
Glorious
Conversely, in Act II she puts on quite a show and offers a humorous, yet endearing, portrayal of Jenkins.
Laughter on the 23rd Floor
Simon shows how assimilation became a 1950s survival technique for Jews … reeling from the Holocaust in Europe and the anti-Semitic subtext of the Red Scare in America.
Test Questions
Changing the firefighter test would require money and agreement
Trash Talking
The Three Rivers Arts Festival refines the art of recycling.
Trouble Blooming
Should city be more proactive in battling Schenley algae?
Local cartoonist Ed Piskor joins Harvey Pekar to take on The Beats.
“[Burroughs] looked like a Dick Tracy villain, to a certain extent.”
Chernykh Discovers Asteroid # 3656 Hemingway, Ukraine, August 31, 1978
A poem by Micki Myers
This Just In: June 25 – July 2
Highlights from the local TV news: A flood of emotions.
Miami Vice Grips
G20 protesters likely to see police techniques meant to clamp down on dissent
An artist’s labyrinth is a novel memorial to the region’s industrial past.
With its granite cobblestones that appear to bubble from the grass, the labyrinth feels like a natural appendage to the riverside.
Norwegian industrial band Combichrist invades the future
Aesthetically, Combichrist is about as original as a Transformers remake, but still relevant in this age of rogue states and multinational corporations.
Show review: Black Dice with Awesome Color, Burnout Warcry, Dean Cercone at Garfield Artworks
A few minutes after I clothes-lined my friend to stop him from stepping on an array of Happy-Meal toys, coffee cans, maracas and other unidentifiable noisemakers littering the back of Garfield Artworks, he asked me if I happened to know how many decibels constituted a lethal sound (it’s 150), and, did I think Black Dice…
The African American Jazz Preservation Society of Pittsburgh presents day-long event
While much of its work has occurred with little fanfare from the mainstream, this weekend, the AAJPSP celebrates its legacy by hosting “Kicking It and Droppin’ Bombs: Pittsburgh’s Jazz Drumming Legacy”
WYEP’s free Summer Music Festival features north-of-the-border bands
The Montreal-based San Roberts Band heads a lineup of heavy hitters at Oakland’s Schenley Plaza on Fri., June 26.
Glaswegians Camera Obscura bring sniffly retro pop to Mr. Small’s
“We honestly spend about as much time talking about our outfits’ color coordination as we spend discussing the set-list before concerts.”
Hank’s Frozen Custard and Mexican Food
In the world of cuisine, some things go together and others don’t. So it’s OK to be skeptical of the integration going on at Hank’s Frozen Custard and Mexican Food. “Some people think the pairing of the two is a little strange at first,” agrees owner Jeff Kohlmann. “But for a lot of people growing…
Gay Rites
Another year, another bumper crop of GOP bigotry
Savage Love
I am a fairly successful man. I don’t make bank like Wall Streeters back in the day, but I haven’t been hungry since college. My girlfriend is younger. We met when she was in grad school. Like many recent grads, she’s not steadily employed and in debt. So I support her, house her, feed her…
Local jazz group Charles Wallace debuts at the New Hazlett Theater’s late-night series
“We’re able to experiment and go much farther off the page, [because] in this situation, we’re not background to anything.”
