La Pocha Nostra at Three Rivers Arts Festival
Performance art usually works best when it’s not patently obvious what the artists are trying to say. A poem, in other words, is better than a speech. That’s how it seemed to me Saturday night at Downtown’s Bricolage theater space, where this internationally acclaimed troupe staged a new version of Corpo Ilicito: The Post-Human Society…
MP3 Monday: The Metropolitans
This week’s mp3 comes from The Metropolitans, featured in this week’s Signal to Noise column. The loungy local band, which incorporates a full live horn section, just played its CD release show at Club Café this past Friday; check out “The Letter” from the band’s new self-titled album. The goal with the release “was to…
The 50th Three Rivers Arts Festival
It was hard to fully grasp how much different last year’s renovations had made Point State Park’s “big lawn” until I saw, early on the festival’s first night, even a few people inhabiting it. Hours before The Black Keys packed the grass out in front of the Hilton with a blistering set of blues-rock, the…
Short List: Week of June 4 – 11
Macbeth is among Shakespeare’s darkest works. All the murder, warfare, gruesome augeries and sorcery make even Hamlet seem cheery. Yet Lisa Wolpe, artistic director of the L.A. Women’s Shakespeare Company, made the Scottish play grimmer still. Her acclaimed Macbeth 3, an adaptation for three actors, literally sends the titular warrior to hell. Laura Smiley caught…
Without a Net
Pens show talent can stave off financial ruin. Maybe Detroit could learn something here?
The Song Retains the Names
Meet Kardaz — the band behind the Penguins fight song.
Virtual Certainty
A Pens win is a lock — if the team can just match the exploits of its video-game counterparts
Face Off
For true believers, it takes weeks to put on a game face
Skating By
Not a huge hockey fan until about, say, two weeks ago? Here’s how to avoid rookie mistakes when jumping on the Penguins bandwagon
My Life in Ruins
If you’ve ever joined a group tour at some tourist destination, you know that the experience is a mixed bag: traveling companions you’d never ordinarily be with (both good and bad); lots of cheesy jokes; and a brain shifted into idle, knowing that all you have to do is turn your head and respond accordingly…
The Hangover
The answer, according to Todd Phillips’ raucous comedy, is pretty much everything. Or at least that’s how it seems when three of the four wake up in a trashed hotel suite with: (1) no memory of the night before; (2) the groom missing; and (3) a tiger in the bathroom. Starting with the smallest of…
The Brothers Bloom
Rian Johnson’s off-beat rom-com caper that follows two brothers as they execute one last long con on an eccentric heiress. Brothers Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody), with their mark, Penelope (Rachel Weisz), in tow, set off for adventure in Old Europe, abetted by lots of charming retro flair. Though this is a contemporary…
Tyson
In James Toback’s fascinating documentary, Mike Tyson recounts his tumultuous life. Tyson is obviously a must for fans of the sweet science, but the film’s larger narrative about a man in search of redemption and understanding transcends any specifics about boxing. All the highlights and lowlights are there, from Tyson’s meteoric rise in the ring…
The Sewickley Café
Savor “American Continental” cuisine in an attractive garden setting
This Just In: June 4 – 11
Highlights from the local TV news: Cosmetic journalism.
Failing Grade
City schools lacking comprehensive recycling program
Reaching the Summit
Local protesters predict a lot of action will surround G20
Said Sayrafiezadeh’s memoir explores growing in Pittsburgh — poor, Iranian and sympathizing with the 1979 revolution.
“It’s that vague feeling when you have a secret — you think everyone knows.”
Among the Best
Director Talvin Wilks has done a lot to keep everybody colorfully moving on stage, making the experience look lively even if not much significant develops.
Mojo
Mojo is a solid bad-boy drama and a great summer escape for people who love frequent and creative uses of the word “fuck.”
The Loman Family Picnic
I have honestly not laughed this much at a show in a far too long time.
For its 50th anniversary, the Three Rivers Arts Festival returns to Point State Park with a shortened schedule.
Moreover, adds McMahon, a two-week festival might spur festival-goers “to get up and get out to do it” more than a three-week timeline did.
The latest in the Mattress Factory’s Gestures series is a thoughtful examination of our sense of place.
Hoch and Weleski use the silo as a way to, poetically, newly apportion the common land itself.
Pittsburgh n’@
Dispatches from the blogosphere: Why is the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh?
Local singer-songwriter Dan Koshute releases strong, varied collection Kiss Line
Dan Koshute’s voice resembles that of Order of the British Empire recipient Robert Plant. Quite a lot.
Brötzmann/Pliakas/Wertmüller Trio brings European free jazz to the New Hazlett
Peter Brötzmann has made a slew of improv records based around winds paired with a rhythm section.
The Dirty Faces open for the Meat Puppets at Mr. Small’s
“Growing up in Latrobe in the ’80s, I didn’t get the college station or read the magazines, so the Meat Puppets were my gateway band.”
John Vanderslice plays the Warhol supporting his new release, Romanian Names
“There’s a lot of optimism that you sense in those sounds and the lyrics are often countering that kind of sonic optimism.”
Bomb Testing
Critics say recent results show firefighters’ test skewed toward men
Natrona Bottling Company
Century-old local soda-pop manufacturer offers sweet treats.
War and Washington motivate two local releases this week by bands who couldn’t be more different
“I’ve seen a lot of rip-offs in my life / seen a lot of scams a lot of crooks and crooked schemes.”
Savage Love
My boyfriend and I have been together over eight months. We really love each other, and I see us spending our lives together. At least I did, until something he said a few days ago. For the last five months or so, he’s brought up marriage. Then a few days ago, he informed me that…
