Pittsburgh remains one of the country’s most walked cities, says report
A benchmark report from the Alliance for Biking and Walking, shows consistent high numbers for walkers in Pittsburgh, even as Mount Lebanon officials pass new anti-pedestrian ordinance
Listen Up! March 9
Every Wednesday, we make a Spotify playlist containing tracks from artists mentioned in the current music section. Take a listen below!
U.S. Senate candidate Katie McGinty unveils economic plan for women ahead of Pittsburgh visit Thursday
The only female Democratic Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate talks about the gender pay gap and other economic issues that afflict women.
Free Admissions and the Health of Pittsburgh’s Arts Sector
What’s behind Pittsburgh’s rising attendance but falling tickets sales in the arts?
Open primaries set for Pa. Democratic U.S. Senate and Attorney General races
The state’s Democratic committee spread its love evenly across candidates in races that have yet to catch fire before the April 26 primaries.
MP3 Monday: Zoob
This week’s MP3 comes from Zoob, the solo project of Nathan Zoob of Wreck Loose and Mark Dignam’s band. Stream or download “S.O.S.,” from the new EP Curriculum Vitae, below, then check our our Q&A with Zoob in our current issue. Download link has expired, sorry!
Health researchers say fracking too close to schools, residences
Report says fracking activity in Pennsylvania and across the country is too close to schools and residences.
Shapiro leads Zappala in Pennsylvania attorney-general endorsements this week
Pennsylvania attorney-general candidate Josh Shapiro leads challenger Stephen Zappala in endorsements this week
Campaign 2016’s Silly Season: A Weekly Tweet Roundup March 4
This week, Trump gets the NASCAR endorsement, Ted Cruz peddles campaign yoga swag, and Ben Carson drops out … sort of.
What you need to know about Pittsburgh news this week
This week Braddock Mayor John Fetterman rallied for Bernie Sanders, the Pennsylvania Secretary of State visited Pittsburgh to talk voter registration, and Dan Savage’s HUMP! Film Festival stops in East Liberty.
Lynn Cullen 3/04/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. GOP debates. Julius Rosenwald. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Senior living facility raises questions about affordability, unions
A Pittsburgh City Council vote to approve a new facility’s sewage plan brought up questions about housing affordability and union participation.
Pa. Secretary of State Pedro Cortes talks about the Pennsylvania’s online voter-registration system
Pennsylvania Secretary of State is spreading the word about online voter registration. The registration deadline for the April primary is March 28.
Lawrenceville residents ask Allegheny County Health Department to strengthen McConway & Torley permit
Environmental groups and Lawrenceville residents deliver 1,000 petition signatures to the Allegheny County Board of Health, asking for a stronger permit on the McConway & Torley steel foundry
Lynn Cullen 3/03/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Texas abortion access Supreme Court hearings. Possible nominations? Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
The Bluest Eye at Point Park Conservatory Theatre Company
THE BLUEST EYE continues March 10-13. Pittsburgh Playhouse, 222 Craft Ave., Oakland. $10-24. 412-392-8000 or pittsburghplayhouse.com Point Park’s Conservatory Theatre Company’s production of The Bluest Eye is a work of great depth and pathos, like a symphony of adagios. Although it’s long, at nearly two hours, there is no intermission, the intensity building as it…
Ordinary Joe’s Sports Bar & Grille
Ordinary Joe’s Sports Bar & Grille 225 Commercial Ave., Aspinwall. 412-784-1010 Hours: Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-1 a.m.; Sun. noon-1 a.m. Prices: $4-15 Liquor: Full bar There is a maxim that it’s best to under-promise and over-deliver. Ordinary Joe’s, Aspinwall’s “newest restaurant and only sports bar” (as per its website), makes good on the first half of…
Sister’s Easter Catechism at City Theatre
SISTER’S EASTER CATECHISM continues through March 13. City Theatre, 1300 Bingham St., South Side. 412-431-2489 or citytheatrecompany.org Way back in 2005, City Theatre presented Late Nite Catechism, featuring Kimberly Richards as a nun named “Sister” overseeing an adult-education class in which she explained various points of Catholic dogma and doctrine. In practice, the show was…
A519 Chocolates in Millvale add to Pittsburgh’s food-scene reputation
The vividly colored, hand-painted chocolates from A519 are almost too beautiful to eat. But to savor the candy’s other pleasures — the satisfying crack of the hard shell, the luxurious truffle filling — it must be eaten. After spending time in the San Francisco Bay Area working at a two-Michelin-starred restaurant and for the chocolatier Chris…
Reviews of the first 50 pages of recent works by local authors
Something Is Rotten in Fettig, by Jere Krakoff. It’s easy to imagine a former civil-rights attorney who’s worked extensively in the criminal-justice system writing a book inspired by the experience. But you might not foresee the result as this comic burlesque of a novel. It takes place in the fictional republic of Fettig, a setting…
The Ace Hotel offers late-night cocktails in a stylish setting
Some hotels are content with providing comfy beds and clean towels. Not the Ace. East Liberty’s new Ace Hotel Pittsburgh is focused on being a vibrant piece of the community around it, from the Teenie Harris exhibition in the stairwell to an eclectic lineup of Pittsburgh DJs and events. And with a locally leaning menu…
The History Center’s Visible Storage puts its archives on display
The Senator John Heinz History Center has accumulated millions of treasures in its collections, including artifacts dating to 1849. Even in a seven-story museum, that requires quite an extensive storage scheme. In fact, Anne Madarasz, vice president of museum exhibits and collections, estimates that about 80 percent of its objects aren’t on public display. But…
Pittsburgh Police are cracking down on graffiti artists, but are arrests really the best way to handle the issue?
For years, the staff at Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area had a problem. One of its historic sites, the Carrie Furnaces, was plagued by graffiti. Those charged with maintenance couldn’t keep up. By the time one graffiti tag was removed, 10 more popped up somewhere else. But Rivers of Steel, which is tasked with…
Gods of Egypt
Gods of Egypt Directed by Alex Proyas Starring Gerard Butler, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Brenton Thwaites In 3-D, in select theaters As Gods of Egypt begins, a narrator explains (never a good sign) that the events we are about to see occurred “before history.” It’s a cover for a hot mess of a film that sounds more…
Advocates question the conduct of Allegheny County Port Authority Police officers surrounding death of Bruce Kelley Jr.
On Feb. 26, Port Authority’s leaders expressed their regrets in the shooting death of Bruce Kelley Jr., but offered little else. PAT CEO Ellen McLean said it was an “unfortunate and tragic incident” and PAT board chair Bob Hurley said “we are all very sorry” that a life was lost. However, both said they wouldn’t…
Theory of Obscurity: A Film About the Residents
Depending on your age and cultural background, you might know The Residents as: a long-running and deeply influential San Francisco-based music-art-video group; the source of many weird videos on MTV during the early 1980s; the giant-eyeball band; or “never heard of them.” Don Hardy Jr.’s new documentary makes some effort to profile the band, whose…
Troy Hill’s Hooligans are injecting new blood, new philosophies on revitalization into the neighborhood
They’re standing on Troy Hill’s Harpster Street, sitting on folding chairs, sprawled over those ubiquitous Pittsburgh front stoops. Snarfing down the pot-luck fare, largely vegetarian and vegan — three-bean chili and saffron rice; vegan meatballs in red-pepper sauce, carrot cupcakes, hot cider and soda — they’re the Troy Hooligans, a decidedly eclectic, informal, nontraditional bit of…
Zootopia
In this pint-sized animated crime mystery directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore and Jared Bush, a bunny on the side of the law — Officer Hops — and a swindler of a fox team up to investigate a missing-otter case. As they navigate a world where predators and prey have evolved past the hunter-hunted dynamic,…
This Week in City Paper History
City Paper has run so many stories about so many people over the years that it would be impossible to recall them all. But if you’re an avid CP reader you undoubtedly remember “Bill Dorsey’s Blues.” It would be impossible to have a historic retrospective of this paper without including it. Everyone knew Dorsey, a…
The monthly series Film Kitchen for Pittsburgh short films and video continues
Short films focusing on dance highlight this month’s installment of the series for local artists. Highlights include six compelling collaborations between filmmaker Paul Kruse and dancer and choreographer Jasmine Hearn, in the form of music videos featuring songs either sung by Hearn herself (like the bluesy “Wash”) or prerecorded (the trippy “Orb”). Louis Cappa’s “Objective…
The Pirates have had 44 first basemen since 2004 and yes, they’ve all sucked
The toughest job to get in Pittsburgh sports is head coach of the Steelers. It’s been open only twice since 1969. What’s the toughest job to keep in Pittsburgh sports? Without question it’s first baseman for the Pirates. That position has been an abyss since 1982. That year, Jason Thompson represented the Pirates at the…
Atlanta’s Fleetwood Mac tribute, Rumours, explores the power of persona
RUMOURS with THE ROCKERS 8:30 p.m. Sat., March 5. $13-15. The Altar Bar, 1620 Penn Ave., Strip District. 412-206-9719 or thealtarbar.com For Mekenzie Jackson, Stevie Nicks is more than her spirit animal. Stevie Nicks is her identity. When not fronting Atlanta’s Ex Wives — a twangy shoegaze band with a washed-out ’70s vibe — Jackson performs as…
Savage Love
Are you incapable of concision? Your answers are too long! You blather on, often rehashing the problem (unnecessary!) before giving four words (at most!) of (rarely!) useful advice. I’ve heard you say you have to edit letters down for space. Try this instead: Edit yourself! I want more of the letters — more from the…
On the band’s first release since 2008, Endless Mike and the Beagle Club takes on St. Paul
ENDLESS MIKE AND THE BEAGLE CLUB RECORD RELEASE 7 p.m. Thu., March 3. The Mr. Roboto Project, 5106 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. $8. therobotoproject.org As Mike Miller drove to St. Paul, Minn. for a major anarchist protest of the Republican National Convention in September 2008, Saul of Tarsus was on his mind. “I’ve always been interested…
Stuff We Like
American Experience. These beautifully produced documentaries on PBS look deep into historical events and figures. Coming up in April, “The Big Burn,” about a massive 1910 wildfire that helped define the newly formed U.S. Forest Service. Big Jim’s. This Greenfield tavern upends the notion that everything in Pittsburgh is changing: It’s had the same friendly…
Mixtape, in Garfield, blurs the lines between music venue, bar and art gallery
When Elaina Holko and Katie Molchan began making plans to open a bar, they knew that they wanted a casual hangout spot with some classy flair. After a year of looking for the right location, they found an old carpet store in Garfield. Holko and Molchan made the purchase and set about transforming the dilapidated…
Short List: March 2 – 6
SPOTLIGHT: Thu., March 4 — Art Edwin L. Gibson doesn’t much care for Black History Month; the actor, who is African American, says it’s insulting to limit celebration of black Americans’ contributions to four weeks a year. As director of the Hill House Kaufmann Center, Gibson is looking for new ways to celebrate art, culture…
Critics’ Picks, March 3-9
[DEATH METAL] + FRI., MARCH 4 Ask any death-metal fan about Carcass, and you’ll soon learn that the Liverpool, England, four-piece is just as revered by metalheads as The Beatles are by normal people. (Just kidding, death-metal heads. Don’t kick my ass.) Carcass formed in 1985, and the band’s development spanned many metal subgenres, from…
On the Record with Nathan Zoob
ZOOB RECORD RELEASE 9 p.m. Sat., March 5. Pittsburgh Winery, 2815 Penn Ave., Strip District. $10-15. 412-566-1000 or pghwinery.com Nathan Zoob is something of a fixture of the Pittsburgh music scene, as a member of Wreck Loose and singer-songwriter Mark Dignam’s band. Now he’s releasing his first solo record, as Zoob. The five-track album, Curriculum…
Blaine Siegel and David Bernabo team up for an intriguing show at SPACE
CAUSAL LOOP continues through March 27. SPACE, 812 Liberty Ave., Downtown. 412-325-7723 or spacepittsburgh.org Causal Loop, a two-artist show by local artists Blaine Siegel and David Bernabo, is as visually stark a show as I’ve seen at SPACE Gallery. The large main gallery is occupied by two dozen works. But Siegel’s mostly wall-mounted pieces are…
The Other Side of Pop reminds us of the importance of street art
THE OTHER SIDE OF POP continues through March 25. August Wilson Center, 980 Liberty Ave., Downtown. trustarts.org/AWC With the uptick in activity at the August Wilson Center, it’s worthwhile to think about what is happening in our rapidly gentrifying city. Rising rents are pushing African Americans out of certain neighborhoods. And while a city’s “livability”…
City Paper Podcast, or “Untitled” – Episode 007
City Paper podcast talks to Dan Savage about his annual HUMP! Film Fest, and we get a taste of the Pittsburgh Winter Beerfest.
Lynn Cullen 3/2/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Super Tuesday. Abortion rights. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Lynn Cullen 2/29/16
Video Archive You can listen to the audio archive here. Potter’s love letter from Cruz. Republican debates. Land’s End boycott. The Oscars. Audio Only Archive Listen to the Audio Archives on with our new Apple and Android Apps or the computer audio player.
Triple Nine
Bad cops, bad cops, whatcha gonna do? John Hillcoat’s crime thriller Triple 9 jumps us right into the action. We’re in “Atlanta, Georgia, United States,” as the screen so helpfully tells us, and one gritty, hot Southern night we hear a handful of cops complain about their extracurricular bosses, a cadre of Russian gangsters. But…
